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  • Apapa: Broken national mirror

    Apapa: Broken national mirror

    WHEN His Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode appointed me the Chairman Wharf Landing Fees Collecting Authority, I was excited to have been given another challenge and opportunity to explore another critical sector in the economy of Lagos State. I was happy because I like great challenges but the Apapa situation and the horrible traffic chaos scared me stiff. My friends and associates called to celebrate with me but added a proviso that traffic in Apapa may be a big stumbling block.

    I have gone to Apapa to see things for myself. In search for a new office complex for the Authority, I came face to face with trouble in Apapa and Tincan Island Ports. Apapa, the goose that has been laying the golden eggs lies in ruins in the midst of plenty. The two national mirrors are broken into pieces, mercilessly plundered and ruthlessly pillaged. I lack words to describe these two great ports, the largest in the country except to add that our past leaders are wicked, irresponsible and totally heartless. They must have travelled severally to different parts of the world. They must have seen their seaports and the state of art infrastructure available. I have seen the ones in China, US and Singapore. Our leaders have returned to continue the business as usual. After all, to have ears is not to listen, to listen is not to hear, to hear is not to understand, to understand is not to put to practice.

    What of the big Managing Directors and CEOs of blue chip companies, the Customs, the Ship owners, the Shippers Council, the Ship owners, the business magnets etc who do business in Apapa and Tincan Island ? For years they have been making trillions at the ports but lack the capacity and capability to look through the windows of their cars and offices to see the ruins and the devastations around the ports. If they cannot collectively repair roads through Corporate Social Responsibility, what stops them from drawing the attention of the Federal Government which takes all the money from the ports? It pains me to no end that people with full dose of western education who should know better turn out to be the problem because they have refused to do what is right.

    The pandemic problems we have in Lagos ports remain an indictment to all of us, the political leaders, managers of blue chip companies, business managers etc. If we cannot work hard to develop this country for our young ones and generations yet unborn, let us accept the obvious and painful truth that we have all failed. No wonder the Republican Presidential candidate in the United States, Donald Trump described African leaders as meretricious mediocrity, empty heads and ethical failures. But how did we get into this dead end in Apapa? Both Apapa and Tincan Island ports have only two major ingress and egress – Apapa-Tincan-Mile Two-Oshodi expressway and Apapa-Ijora-Western Avenue axis and nothing more. Despite the growing business in these two major ports, the two roads have remained the same for nearly 50 years.

    To demonstrate how wicked, hopeless and helpless our leaders have been, even the two roads have been left to decay for years. The racket called the importation of petroleum products led to the massive building of Tank farms in Apapa. Today all the petrol products trucks head to Apapa and what we see is chaos all the way. The Europeans who built Apapa Wharf knew then that only the rail system will be suitable for evacuating the containers leaving the roads free for other users. The rail system that runs from Apapa to different parts of the country lies in ruins and today trucks moving containers out of Apapa and Tincan Island remain the biggest problem. People have been killed by container-laden trucks, vehicles and bridges destroyed. We need to restore the rail system in Apapa as a matter of urgency. We must also have the courage to move the tank farms away from Apapa. We must make our refineries to work to stop the importation of petroleum products.

    Another biggest problem is the concession of the ports few years back by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to private individuals. These concessionaires soon converted the huge truck parks in Apapa Wharf and Tin-can Island to places where empty containers are parked for years. Consequently, the parks which are capable of housing 3000 trucks at any given time have been rendered useless. Today, trucks use highways as parking lots constituting monumental traffic problems and robberies in the metropolis. The roads and volume of trucks that go in and out of Apapa on a daily basis have ruined Apapa GRA. Residents of Apapa GRA have left in droves. There are so many houses for sale and many to rent but no buyers and even those to rent. Roads, drainage systems, security, orderliness have been crushed in Apapa beyond imagination. It is that bad. Situations in Apapa should prick the conscience of any responsible and responsive Nigerian. No strangers from other lands came to destroy the peace and serenity of Apapa. Our leaders destroyed Apapa. They took everything in Apapa and left nothing. They plundered, pillaged Apapa and did nothing to add value to Apapa. Estate developers are counting their losses in Apapa. They are the worst losers. When leaders fail to do their job, everybody goes down.

    Thank God our own Distinguished Senator Oluremi Tinubu has risen up in the hallowed chamber of the Senate o to draw our attention to the broken national mirror called Apapa. Governor Ambode has been intervening and proffering solutions. Thank God President Buhari is on the seat. It is either we build Nigeria or we perish.

    Apapa remains a big challenge to all of us. We cannot be taking trillions from Apapa every year without giving anything in return. Federal Government owns Apapa GRA, Apapa Wharf and Tin-can Island. We want concrete actions now not idle talks.

    Revenues from the oil sector is dwindling and it behoves on all our leaders to be pro-active and hyper active now in looking at the alternative sources of revenue. Our ports in Lagos offer an alternative and may we not joke with this. Restoring the rail system, rebuilding the road networks, creating additional access roads and rehabilitating Apapa GRA is the way to go at least for now. We need to quickly create additional roads to Apapa Wharf and Tin-can Island no matter the cost to the existing two ways in and out of Apapa. Houses may be demolished to achieve this. We need to look for the funds and do the needful now or never.

     

  • Of responsible and responsive leadership

    Patriotism to country is the chief determinant of the quality of leadership the nation gets. At the core is the heart of the leader, an egocentric and a self-centred person is obviously primed for greed and avarice, and will make a bad leader. Altruism and love are profound leadership credentials as responsible and responsive leaders are simply those who love and care for the common good. Great leaders are often selfless, sacrificial and benevolent.

    Growing up in a country with a chequered history and profuse loyalty to region rather than nation; with ethnic and egocentric prejudices as king over ethical and egalitarian precepts; with religious bias as lord over nationhood and brotherhood; and with the jingoism of creed and clan diminishing returns on patriotism, one conclusion is predictable, that the cellar where leaders are brewed would yield naught but selfish and corrupt rulers.

    Countrymen and women, when we look at the ills of governance and locate our pain at the doorstep of region or religion, we offend logic and afflict posterity with bile of unresolved contradictions. I know that those who plunder our resources are by no means loyal to their region or religion, nor are they loyal to country, their creed and clan is greed. The successive watchmen that pillaged our collective patrimony were persons united by greed and avarice; to them the difference in creed or clan makes no meaning, in unison they worked untold damage to nation, they were utterly unpatriotic and continue so, beating the ethnic drum is their profit.

    When in unison they stole from and depleted our collective till their Iboness, Yorubaness, Hausaness, Ijawness, Ibibioness, Jukunness et al was never in issue, when they festered the decay of our ethical and moral plexus our religious differences counted for nothing. But when they lose power and are denied the key to our commonwealth, they seek to shoot down Nigeria from tribal, regional, religious and partisan trenches.

    We ignore the fact that we are where we are because we lowered the bar in our collective engagement to such banal estate that salutes tribal jingoists over patriots and nationalists. We must rebuild our union and make Nigeria work; we must commit ourselves to reworking the fabrics of this union, and germane to this process is loyalty to country, our nation must groom patriotic leaders.

    We must make fairness, equity and justice the minimum margin in our politico-social cum economic interaction. We must admit that successive regimes failed because they repudiated these age-old and time tested nation-building imperatives. To undermine lessons in patriotism is to condemn leadership to a cesspool where failure is definite. It is however salutary to note that when we give our best to country, our country will work and the basic quid pro quo is better life for all.

    Tied to responsible and responsive leadership is progress and prosperity, however there must exist an inviolable resolve by citizens to subsume ‘I’ with ‘WE’; to diminish ‘ME’ with ‘US’; and to make the core of governmental trust better life for the people. Chiefly there must be rectitude in governance, and those who seek to lead must slay sleaze. When we eschew corruption and malfeasance; when we serve our union indiscriminate of creed or clan; when we water the tree of patriotism, then the journey to the Isle of greatness would have begun.

    When we honour statesmen above tribesmen; when we make integrity honourable and villainy dishonourable; when we make good-men chiefs and vilify thieves; when we hallow our national memorabilia and denigrate anti-patriotic forces; when we punish wrong and salute right; and when we begin an overhaul of our collective morality then our voyage to the nation of our dreams shall become real.

    In this era of change, I believe that the Senate must look beyond the banal debate of witch-hunt, ghost-hunt or man-hunt and ask the Senate President Bukola Saraki to resign for the purposes of facing his criminal trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal; the truth is that the moral standing of the Senate should count more than the ambition of one man.

    First it was the forging of House Rules, then corruption charges against his wife, and now forgery and corruption charges before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. We must raise the moral bar beyond the diversionary antics of conspiracy theorists and ask him to step-down, the question must not be about the one hunting him, but whether he has erred before the law. I must add that witch-hunt is until date not an offence known to law, so the sanctity of our democratic space and the moral plexus of the Senate must count beyond the camaraderie of power mongers.

    Compatriots, we must begin an overhaul of our corporate values. We must rise beyond the ‘pawn in a chess-board’ cadre and refuse to be drawn into defending, and or excusing politrical and political conflict. To make leadership responsible and responsive to the people, Nigeria indeed must come first. I simply believe that if Senator Bukola Saraki feels witch-hunted he should step down and square up with the elements witch-hunting him lest governance suffers. We must congregate at the place where loyalty to nation dwarfs all partisan prejudices.

    I have always argued that a nation that ignores her children will suffer spiritual atrophy; a leadership that ignores the young condemns the future to an era of inexperience; and a ruling class that ignores the youth plans to fail. Nations are the aggregation of every social stratum, to succeed it must be about country, about the people, and not about personal egos and ids. Leadership in this clime must internalize the morals and mores of this argument and make the people the summum bonum of governmental trust.

    Having read that 50 Senators through a vote of confidence urged the Senate President to stay on and that after his first appearance before the Code of Conduct Tribunal another vote of confidence this time by 83 Senators urged and nudged him on, I wonder what happened to the moral gauge of the Senate. They argue that the goings on at the Code of Conduct Tribunal is a witch hunt, so Saraki can play the politics of survival as Senate President at the expense of service to nation.

    Like Caesar’s wife, leaders in this clime are expected to be above board, we must commit ourselves to a new paradigm in public trust where sentiments cannot and must not stand toe to toe with truth. We must broaden the frontiers of debate and always challenge leadership to profound service. And we must diminish that behemoth called sycophancy, court-jesting and praise-singing, from such leaders at level must flee.

    We must begin a massive rework of our morals and mores, we must redefine our corporate margins, and we must overhaul our collective values and insist on patriotism as the minimum benchmark for appointments by appointing authorities. The one who leads must understand that tied to leadership is the unalterable watch of history, and to be responsible and responsive to the led our inviolable cross.

     

    • Prof Nwaokobia Jnr, lawyer, writer & humanist writes from Surulere, Lagos.

     

  • States‘ aversion to joint ventures

    The desire to address prevailing governance inconsistencies led the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to design, in 2007, the State Peer Review Mechanism (SPRM) aimed at helping states promote good governance and accelerate development by adopting innovative and good practices from peer states. Despite this positive development, it’s paradoxical that Nigeria’s 36 States continue to seek foreign and domestic investors for their enterprise and development needs, while shirking inter-state joint ventures. Practice-based evidence reveals that Nigerian states are relatively passive and averse to inter-state collaboration on development matters.

    Interestingly, shared vision, need for cost-effective funding and the belief in integrated development, informed the founding of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) and the Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Edo and Delta Commission (BRACED), in 2006 and 2009.  However, in the south-east geopolitical zone, the efforts started in 2006 to establish the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC), were literally dead on arrival, hardly receiving any sustenance beyond getting the imprimatur of the south-east governors. Indeed, Governors Sullivan Chime, Peter Obi, Theodore Orji and Ikedi Ohakim had all signed the MOU establishing SENEC in March 2009. Thereafter, the SENEC became moribund, existing only in name, having failed to achieve its collective cardinal goal of promoting “economic competitiveness and sustainable development of the south-east geopolitical zone within the national and global economies.” Similarly, the BRACED Commission’s aim to “harmonize the policies of the States, drive the States‘ desire for economic cooperation and integration and help set them on a path for rapid economic development” floundered.  Yet the SENEC and BRACED bloc of states retain their common vision and shared aspirations as opposed to the unorganized bloc of states in the other five geopolitical zones.

    The SENEC and BRACED Commissions still represent futuristic and productive inter-state economic and developmental cooperation models, capable of yielding immense benefits, in a cost-efficient and synergized manner.  Had the commissions been fully established as special purpose vehicles (SPVs), they would have democratized development, rationalized public finance and expenditure, enhanced common security, promoted collective interests and addressed an array of unmet needs and infrastructure deficits in areas such as roads, electricity, heavy haulage, water, and removed hurdles that despoil the business environment. Their respective impact at the grassroots would have been immense. However, leadership groupthink, political differences, divergent party affiliations and loyalties — less so ideologies — continue to subjugate such common aspirations. Rather than pool ideas, fiscal and material resources in positioning common interest infrastructure based on comparative advantage, each state governor within the SENEC and BRACED orbit elected to go it alone. They did so even as they zealously paraded a common front in their respective zonal Governors’ Forum. What compels this faux policy thinking is the faux belief that the governors stood to personally derive political leverage and popularity through unilateral brand-name ventures, than through inter-state joint ventures.  This mindset is a toxic public policy fallacy that overlooks “a burden shared is a burden halved” maxim. Oddly, most incumbent governors still believe that the notional size of their annual State budget, translates to their States being more prosperous than States with smaller budgets; even when their budgets are underperforming and underfunded. Equally overlooked, is the fact that most State budgets are not results-based, reality-based or policy driven, even as the internally generated revenue improves.

    Additionally, lack of focus on issues-oriented governance, distributive policies and how best to cost-effectively help people meet their needs, have left many governors vulnerable. This may explain, for instance, why Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue State would be absent when President Buhari flagged off the construction of the 260km super highway leading from Cross River State to Katsina-Alain, Benue State, recently. Benue State, being a major agricultural producer with a vast value chain, stood to benefit the most from that Public Private Partnership (PPP) project initiated by neighbouring Cross River State.  The highway, a strategic national asset, is not only designed to serve as an evacuation route to and from the Bakassi Deep Seaport, but offers a high-value multiplier-effect and enhanced infrastructure for regional economic growth, to Cross River and the contiguous states, including Benue State.

    Examples abound of inter-state joint ventures that would have yielded higher returns on investment, employment and economic and social development, than states partnering with foreign or domestic investors or going it alone. Meanwhile, some states continue to vaunt the numerous memorandums of understanding (MOUs) they signed with investors, but hardly of any signed with their geo-political partners. Something is amiss with this public policy disposition. Some existing case studies offer examples of egregiously reduced numbers of inter-state joint ventures, especially in agriculture, our foremost niche sector outside oil. A majority of Nigeria’s 36 States are invested in the eleven river basin schemes created in 1976, primarily to promote all-year-round agriculture. Yet the schemes have failed due to the beneficiary states not taking full ownership of them and appreciating their utility and long-term value in assisting the states’ bridge “the gap between the rural and urban centres by taking development to the grass roots and discourage migration from the rural areas to the urban centres.” Hence from the Anambra-Imo Basin to the Osun-Ogun Basin and to the Sokoto-Rima Basin, Nigeria has lost enormous accruable development dividends in enabling sectors like hydro-electric power generation, water for irrigation, mechanized farming and sourcing of potable water. Ironically, these sectors still feature prominently on the priority to-do-list of most states.

    In the south-east zone, Anambra and Imo remain unlinked to Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi by rail lines. Yet a joint-venture on a regional rail hub linking Aba-Owerri-Onitsha-Enugu, would tie all the states in the zone to the national rail grid, thus maximizing benefits, improving transport and heavy haulage capacity of the states, while extending the longevity of their respective capital-intensive road networks.  Similarly, a joint-venture between Anambra and Delta states, in which the Asaba airport is upgraded to international status and linked by light rail to a terminal in the Onitsha Industrial Harbour River Port Complex, would create a twin-city and twin-state partnership with infinite possibilities. The trade and commerce benefits would be immense considering the seamless movement of commercial air cargo into Onitsha-Nnewi-Awka (ONA) Industrial Axis.

    Inter-state joint ventures are neither charities nor altruistic gambits; yet they promote states’ interest and the material well-being and social cohesion of the people in cost-effective ways. Unfortunately, these benefits are being foreclosed on by the crass competition between states. Such a disposition led to the collapse of the Nkalagu Cement Industry, a joint asset of the south-east states, at a time when cement is a high-value, strategic commodity tied inextricably to overall international infrastructural development. Whereas concessions and instant gratifications possible with private investors are generally absent when dealing with peer state governments, joint ventures remain efficient, effective and valuable policy options.  Regrettably, such inter-state ventures are now rare and, for most state governments, no longer form integral components of their public policy formulation or budgetary processes. It begs the question though, how states willing to engage PPP investors, can be trenchantly unwilling to engage their neighbours in joint ventures.

    Obaze, MD/CEO of Selonnes Consult, is a strategic public policy adviser and immediate past Secretary to the Anambra State Government.

  • Akwa Ibom election re-run: Matters arising

    The ruling of the Akwa Ibom Election Petition Tribunal that ordered for a re-run of the April 11 governorship election in 18 out of the 31 local government areas in the state is still far away from becoming a reality.

    It is possible the ruling will not stand – in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party that demands an upholding of the result of the election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    It is also possible it will not stand – in favour of the All Progressives Congress that wants a total cancellation of the election. The only thing that is certain is that the case will go up to the Supreme Court, as provided for in the Electoral Act.

    This is so because the ruling of the Appeal Court, where the two parties have indicated intention to go, will not satisfy both, for reasons that are well known.

    There are reasons to believe that another election, whether a re-run or a fresh election, may go in favour of the incumbent governor, Udom Emmanuel, whose election is being challenged by Umana Okon Umana, the APC candidate. In the event of an election, the governor would not be going into the competition making promises that would seem abstract.

    He would not be far removed from the people with promises that would seem far-fetched or unrealistic, as any other candidate would be. He would point to concrete achievements in the short period he has been in office as a pointer to what the people should expect in the next three-and-half years or so.

    Emmanuel’s performance after only five months in office has lent credence to the popular belief that the era of professional politicians whose horizon does not expand outside the public sector is long gone. The way to go now is involvement of a different kind of professionals in governance – those who have the pedigree in the private sector to understand the new direction the country must go, if we are to move with the times.

    The governor has proved beyond doubt that his effortless switch from the private sector where he proved his mettle into the public sector, and his eventual emergence as governor, was not happenstance. It takes one that is steeped in excellence and a leader with vision and clearly defined goals to show the kind of direction he has shown in so short a time.

    A meteoric rise up the corporate ladder saw Emmanuel in the hierarchy of Zenith Bank as executive director, as well as a director of the bank’s subsidiaries outside the country, after a stint with Price Waterhouse Coopers, the international accounting giant. It is no surprise that the state’s economy, specifically, industrialisation, is the focus of his administration.

    Interestingly, the governor has gone about the business of governance since assuming office as though he were unaware of a petition against his election, and the probability that he might not be there to see his early efforts come to fruition. He demonstrates the confidence of a man whose conviction on the mandate he received is unshakable.

    With little to worry about in the area of infrastructure, he has channeled his energy into building the structures that would launch the state on the path of industrial revolution. At the last count, more than 50 foreign investors have shown interest in investing in the state; thanks to the effort of a foreign direct investment committee he constituted to be the arrowhead of his administration’s investment drive. But he hasn’t had to wait for foreign investors.

    A hitherto moribund paints industry will soon roar back to life, with all the modern components to make it operate on international standards. With the attitude of one that is running a race against time, the governor has gone about performing ground breaking ceremonies here and laying foundation stones there, to ensure the state drinks from the well of his deep knowledge of the role of industrialisation as the driver of socio-economic development. A prominent project on the cards is an automobile manufacturing company in Itu Local Government Area, which he aptly dubbedOpening the Book of Industrialisation. Also coming on stream soon are a refinery and a fertilizer plant.

    The feeling in Akwa Ibom today is that the choice of a technocrat with rich private sector experience, from the pack of professional politicians and people who have little to show for many years in public service, may not have been a mistake, after all.

    Governor Emmanuel recognised on assumption of office that a strong moral foundation is sine qua non for building the state of his dream, for, no society can expect to achieve greatness with weak moral fabrics. The launch of the Dakkada philosophy was therefore partly meant to achieve the level of moral and ethical transformation that would make the state locally and internationally competitive to investors, as far as adherence to international best practices is concerned. The philosophy also drives home the point that the development of the state must begin with individual development, by spurring in them a new spirit of enterprise.

    But Emmanuel is not the only professional in government. We can point to Lagos and Anambra states where involvement of professionals in government has produced excellent results. For many Nigerians, especially Lagosians, the eight-year tenure of Babatunde Fashola, a lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was outstanding.

    Governor Willie Obiano, a former executive director with Fidelity Bank, has yet to serve a full term. But in the period he has been in office, reports of his achievements tend to create the impression that before him, the state did not have a governor.

    The two states have been beneficiaries of the private sector experiences of their helmsmen. This is what is playing out in Akwa Ibom state today, and what will likely put the governor in good stead for another election.

    Now, can anybody fail to notice, at the federal level, the energy, zeal and commitment with which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, another lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is going about his duties, with no comparison with any of his predecessors in the recent past? Agreed, his immediate predecessors came from the private sector. But as the old commercial said, “if it is not Panadol, it is not the same thing as Panadol”.

     

    • Ajiri, a business executive, lives in Lagos
  • PDP’s umbrella and Saraki’s dilemma

    PDP’s umbrella and Saraki’s dilemma

    This write-up is not aimed at maligning any personality or political organization. It is aimed at enlightening the Nigerian government and political class across all interested parties on the reality of national self-affliction and national self-destruction through ignorance of the power, utility, and astral divinity of symbols within the ambit of culture. What is more, it is an attempt to call on relevant arm/arms of government to look into the space of symbolism as an indispensable dimension of State intelligence, not only for the purpose of defence, but for conflict resolution, economic and human development. The human developmental dimension of this is based on the proper understanding and management of culture and the positive direction of its ambience.

    The dimensions of cultural ambience in focus are the socio-political and economic dimensions. The symbol in focus is the logo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It will be examined in relation to its scope of influence on politics and the socio-political spaces through the subconscious link to the mind and character. The startling effect of the PDP’s logo within the scope of party symbols and the sub-conscious frequency is a main focus. It is also a necessary concern to the PDP, APC, three arms of government and citizenry. Of the subconscious frequency stated, the central sub-conscious frequency of the Nigerian Coat of Arms is negatively dominant. However, at present, it is virally permeated-devastatingly-by symbol frequency of the PDP.

    In nature, there is an etheric order that determines the course of human consciousness, cultures, and destiny. The gate of influence of the non-material order of nature on man is the human mind, which, for the purpose of this article, will be referred to as Ori inu eda. The purity or impurity of human inclination to art and spirituality largely depends on the condition of the Ori inu. Ori inu is the determinant of Iwa as a psychological dimension of human character. In Ifa metaphysics, the Odu Ogbe-Ogunda states that ”ori kan kii buru titi lootu Ife, iwa nikan lo soro”…i.e., ”no destiny is perpetually unfortunate in Ife (literally referring to the Yoruba and the human race), the problem sustaining the unfortunate condition or ill being is caused by character deficiency”. Hence, in many cases, the bad condition of human character is a magnet of human misfortune within the ambits of afomo, akoba, or afowofa.

     In Ifa (Yoruba) metaphysical worldview, the process of healing (iwosan) is operatively more successful by crypto-diagnosis through etheric evaluation. This enables the identification of cause of ill being, oftentimes through cryptaesthetic diagnosis of Ifa divination, and occasionally through psychic and thought transcendence. The diagnosis of cause on the cosmic platter through any transcendental system in the world is deemed to be the most helpful form of knowledge; for it deals with the root of protracted problems. In the Yoruba worldview, the greatest plague that can befall a man is believed to be Ogun aimo, that is, ‘problem of ignorance’. It is thus presupposed that collectively, the worst problem that may bedevil any society or organization is a lack of knowledge-particularly-of the order and cycle of nature to which it is related.

    In some previous articles written by the present author and published by the Nation newspapers (Artistic Analysis of Nigerian Coat of Arms-June 30 and July 2 2007-and Nigerian Presidency and the Northern Death Spell – June 16 and 30, 2013), reference was made to the problems associated with the red eagle of the Nigerian Coat of Arms. From the metaphysical art dimension, its configuration is the sub-conscious root of a state of mind of social and political leadership which is fettered to the lower self and regressive reasoning that consequently results in avarice and corruption. Aside from being an open gate of cosmic corruption into the ethers of Nations who bear the eagle on civic symbols, the red eagle image is the astral gate through which the PDP logo permeates the Nigerian space like a violent gale. At this juncture, let us examine the party logo in the metaphysical historical essence.

     

    THE PDP LOGO

    The PDP’s umbrella is constituted mainly by colours green, white and red at the background. It is placed in suspension. For this reason, the logo’s base is deemed to be the air. Therefore, the frequency of the PDP logo is to be examined as elemental and horticultural phenomena. On the surface, the umbrella is a tool for temporary use as shield or shelter against rain and unbearable sunrays. It is a brainchild of mental creative energy that is evoked in the artistic imitation of the tree, just like the aeroplane is an imitation of the fusion of birds and dolphins, robots as imitations of man, and the camera as an imitation of the human eye in relation to perception of images, blinks of eyes, and memory.

    In the cosmic frequency of the umbrella’s influence on human consciousness within the entire body of the PDP and their extended influence, the operation is bound to occur through the third (astral) and fourth (physical) planes of natural consciousness. Hence, in the ascendancy of reasoning from within the mind and body, the PDP is expected to be limited to the dictates of astral frequency which, by the order of nature, is dependent on a horticultural frequency.

    The horticultural frequency essentially deals with relations of the umbrella to a tree and a consequent indication of a forest. In its social sequence, primitive consciousness is indicated. In such primordial state of being, the early man’s primitive instinct is a related psychological potential characteristic of members of the forest society. The animal kingdom is therefore set to reflect the astral frequency, in effect, on the psychology of human members of such forest society. The principal animal frequencies are expected to be in accordance to hierarchy of species in physical association and mythologies. Although, man, by the order of nature, is positioned to be a principality; however, in the order of creation, he is the last creature created in available legends, and all other creatures precede him. This is a reason why he is vulnerable to astral conquest by animal images in his dream experiences, sorcery, and Iwa-i.e., general existence of man in mind-body relations-as exquisitely exemplified in the symbolism of serpent in the Garden of Eden according to biblical mythology. Psychologically, man is subjected to a struggle to subdue the instinctive influence established by the general order of nature. Hence, the battle for the soul of man from the inception of his being is deemed to have always been between his lower self and higher self, and also virtue and vice.

    The animal principalities which are essential to understanding the destiny and culture of the PDP, and which directly relates to the present course of analysis, are the king of reptiles, beasts, birds, rodents and insects. However, in this piece, only the beasts, birds and rodents will be discussed with necessary limitation. Of the beasts, reference is to be made to the lion and tiger as kings of the beasts and jungles respectively. Of the birds, reference is to be made to the eagle and vulture with necessary limitation too. In reading the symbols, it is presumable that when the PDP rules on a presidential scale, the party and citizenry are placed ‘under the spell of the umbrella’ in its full astral essence and devastating magnetism.

                   Therefore, at the juncture of human relations to symbol, the tree’s nature with regard to the human society is to be examined from the socio-political philosophical perspectives of the ‘state of nature’ and ‘social contract’. The base of the tree’s existence is the earth. The umbrella and tree astral metaphor connotes a state of natural co-existence of humans with all ranges of beast, reptiles, rodents, birds and insects. Chaos is clearly indicated on, and under, the tree. What is more, by virtue of the pre-eminent subconscious frequency of the misconfigured eagle of the Nigerian Coat of Arms, the pure eagle essence becomes impossible in the life of the PDP. Hence, the ruling avian essence reverts to the vulture. In effect on the human psychology, there is thus bound to be a destructive spell of institutional kills (symbolically speaking) as a result of the prominence of debased appetites of the lower self in order to keep up vulture legacies that will translate to widespread poverty and filthy national magnetism. In the perspective of state of nature and social contract, what is expected in effect of such primitive cohabitation indicates the vision of Thomas Hobbes: of a society where life is expected to be very ‘nasty, brutish and short’. Under the spell of the umbrella, an ‘ethical crisis’ that is beyond the negligible is inevitable.

     

    PDP LOGO’S PROBLEMATIC EVOLUTION

    By understanding the umbrella, the biggest problems of the PDP are indicated in the umbrella’s horticultural and astral frequencies. From this, a metaphysical history of the party may be determined by probable prognosis, and a probable evolution and cycle of chaos can be indicated. The first thing that may be indicated in the party’s history, based on the culture of lions, is an evident insecurity of leadership within the organization. In this regard, leadership within the party can never be stable, but expected to suffer the fate of heads of lion prides. In the kingdom of lions, once a male lion builds enough courage and back up, he leads conspiracies and ambushes to overthrow/drive out the heads of a pride he aspires to control.

    In cases of success, the lion destroys his predecessor’s legacy in a bid to establish his own and enjoys the takeover while it lasts before another lion evolves into a challenger. While the lion psychology prevails in the PDP factor, the tiger cannot be ignored because it belongs to the big cat family. It is also parallel in authority to, and potentially greater than, the lion. In this regard, where Zodiac Leos of the party are not in the frontline, the zodiac tigers play out the central lion energy in the current evolution. The tiger is a solitary animal. Where a negative subconscious gate is opened through cultural errors into the consciousness of human zodiac tigers, their positive sides of dynamism, productivity, enthusiasm, independence and honour become overshadowed by negative vibrations such as impulsiveness, deviance, argumentativeness, self-centredness, disagreeableness, stubbornness, apprehensiveness and hot-headedness.

    As a dominant astral image, the lion essence determines the destiny of the PDP in time. The life span of the male lion is 12-16 years, while that of the female is 15 to 18 years. With regard to this write-up, analysis will be limited to the male essence; for an overwhelming majority of the party players are male. It is important to be cognizant of the fact that the PDP lost political authority at the presidency precisely at the close of sixteen years of national leadership.

  • No need to hide

    Every Christian child is taught, from an early age, to regard God as ‘a rock and hiding place’ from all travails of life. So when the storms reach an all-time high as they sometimes do, the child turned adult remembers that he can always hold on to God as a strong tower.

    With this in mind, I was fascinated by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s words at the Ikenne home of the Awolowos. The former President, who was accompanied by his only  paid glowing tributes to the life and times of Mama HID Awolowo. He, however, spoke from the heart when he said: “…..within this period, my wife and I have been hiding; we don’t even go out. We thought we’ll be hiding for at least 12 months….but in this particular case, we cannot hide…….”

    Why would our uncle and brother-former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria hide? And where did he choose to hide? In Yenogoa or Abuja?

    There are always two sides to a story, and the flavour added when the tale is retold, depends on the raconteur. In our brother’s case, there are the likes of Ayo Fayose who daily sings President Jonathan’s praise. GEJ (as he was fondly called in the early days) can do no wrong! Fayose even had the courage of his conviction to boldly declare: “Jonathan is a man to be recognized in the whole world. He conducted an election that worked against his interest but he gave it up. Jesus Christ did exactly the same.”

    We all know that there is a fundamental human right which entitles us all to freedom of expression. The Governor of Ekiti State will, undoubtedly, function well as a Press Secretary to GEJ. But I digress.

    The subject of my discourse is the rationale behind this seclusion. Can anyone of GEJ’s status or station in life really hide? He served as Deputy Governor, and later Governor of Bayelsa State. He then became the Vice President, and subsequently, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Remember how all Nigerians solidly cast their votes for him in 2011.

    The famous story of a young boy who went to school bare-footed charmed us all. We believed that he would empathize with the meek and lowly. We hoped that he would rescue us from the depth of poverty and despair. Indeed, we envisaged that, under his watch, nobody will pick food from dustbins. Alas, things did not turn out as we hoped!

    GEJ, I am told, is a good man at heart but had a team of women and men who were not-so-good. He believed in them, but many of them let him down. I am of the opinion that he chose a few really decent professionals who delivered first rate service to the people. It is a pity that the overall score was not an A! Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the new CEO of the African Development Bank, is a glaring example of his dedicated team members.

    Someone said we all need luck in life; that there are times you put in your best, but even that will not suffice to guarantee a brilliant success. It serves no useful purpose to reel out a catalogue of woes which led to GEJ’s exit from Aso Villa. I just remember that the Boko Haram boys did a lot of damage. The disappearance of the Chibok girls left a bitter taste in the mouths of all Nigerians. Many mothers are still being treated for depression cum hypertension as a result of their missing daughters. When you add this to the growing army of unemployed youths lounging around the street corners, you will understand why angry Nigerians voted GEJ out of office. For me, these are the best of times to highlight GEJ’s virtues nonetheless. You want to ask me why? The simple answer is that he is no longer the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (someone else is wearing that toga).Therefore, I cannot be accused of lobbying him for a public office!! But I am not going to hold hands with Ayo Fayose and start crooning like a Ballard singer waiting for dollar notes – not naira – to be pasted on my forehead. I am simply admiring GEJ- the husband of Aunty Patience. GEJ as a husband fascinates me. He lets his wife be. He gives her the respect she deserves and will never embarrass her. That, to me, is a good person to have as a husband. And having been given that leeway, no woman must attempt to abuse it.

     I recall that there were a couple of occasions when Aunty Patience got carried away and made some unpalatable comments about her husband’s competitor – General Muhammadu Buhari. But then we are told that all is fair during the kind of war both parties were waging. If you overlook the election saga and X-ray Aunty Patience’s role as the First Lady, you will agree with me that she scored some As. I am an old school teacher, so I shall reel out the criteria for scoring.

    These include: unalloyed loyalty to spouse, courage of conviction, determination to be taken seriously and forthrightness. Other qualities you might wish to add are: command of the English language and knowledge of one’s boundaries. But I choose to leave those out of my score chart. I warned you that I am looking at GEJ and Aunty Patience as a couple. I sincerely admire them.

    My maternal grandmother- Josephina Nowo – taught me to focus more on what is good about people. I have stuck religiously to this admonition. And it has brought me untold joys in a life-time of over six decades. Yes, we voted GEJ out of office, but Aunty Patience remains his greatest cheerleader. Even if she did not subscribe to “that famous phone call to Buhari,” she still remembers to give him daily hugs. Did you see her with her lovely braids and fashionable outfit during their visit to condole with the Awolowos in Ikenne a few days ago? And recall that they both went on a Safari to Kenya recently to unwind and catch up on lost times. The many years spent serving “thankless Nigerians” are best forgotten when God has blessed one with a devoted wife like Patience. She deserves our admiration for putting her weight solidly behind her husband all through his years of public service. All women should aspire to do the same. We just need a little more caution. We must be careful to “stay in our lane”. While we bask in the aura of our spouses’ love, we should constantly seek divine grace not to go off on a tangent.

    All things considered, life must go on, in or out of any office. There is no need to hide. Time, they say, heals all wounds. The loss of an election is, certainly, not an exception. I foresee a future where GEJ is running a noteworthy NGO and promoting a cause that is benefitting to humanity. I do not imagine that Aunty Patience can close her front door for long. Some of us believe that, should we get stranded in Portharcourt, Yenogoa is just around the corner and we can knock on her door, as long as we have an authentic National Identity Card. She, in return will demonstrate that she has a good heart by offering a meal of lobster and fresh fish. We look forward to seeing more of GEJ in his trade-mark hats. NO NEED TO HIDE.

     

    • Ogunrinade writes from Ibadan

  • Why Kogi must be rescued

    Why Kogi must be rescued

    It was a Tuesday morning on November 12, 2013 when the sad news of the death of a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Professor Festus Iyayi went viral.

    Like a retired General specially deployed to combat a difficult war situation, Iyayi had been invited to help broker peace between the Union and the Federal Government in a face-off between ASUU and the adamant Federal Government under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the time.

    About 500 kilometres to Kano where he was supposed to deliver on the clarion call at ASUU congress, his vehicle was rammed into by the convoy of Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada near Lokoja.

    Described by Wikipedia as a writer known for his radical and sometimes tough stance on social and political issues who employed a realistic style of writing, depicting the social, political and moral environment and system both the rich and poor live and work in, Iyayi died on the spot. Thus, Nigeria lost one of her finest to the carelessness of a reckless Governor.

    Iyayi’s tragic death was one of the careless habits of Wada. It was not long before he carelessly tumbled his own convoy again and broke his legs in yet another fatal accident. Since then, the state of Idris Wada has been shrouded in secrecy for fear that it might affect his second term bid as Governor of Kogi State. Any search on the internet basically has no viable result about a Governor that is willing to spend another four years.

    It is worrisome that a state that possesses several natural resources like coal, steel and other mineral deposits can remain in a terrible economic situation as it is today. Just one among the many natural resources of Kogi was mainstay of economy of some countries elsewhere. Kogi connects the South to the North with trade and tourism potentials added to agriculture, which is predominant among the hardworking people of the state. But none of these opportunities were tapped into by the PDP government since 2003.

    From 2012 to 2014 under Wada administration, the state earned N240billion as revenues from both the Federation Account and Internally Generated Revenue. The state gets N80 billion as monthly allocation and still borrowed, yet the Government of Kogi is unable to meet both infrastructural development and servicing of the recurrent expenditures adequately.

    As we speak, for poor management under the current government of Kogi, civil servants in the state queue to collect only 20 per cent of their total monthly income. Yes, you get N20, 000  if you earn N100, 000 monthly. If you are lucky enough to be on the scale of N50, 000 monthly salary, you walk home with only N10, 000; that is how bad it is.

    It leaves one to wonder on the defence of Kogi government that it uses 80 to 90 per cent of its revenue on recurrent expenditures. Despite the huge sum, Kogi continues to wallow in underdevelopment and poverty while the governor calls for N210billion intervention fund for its overall development.

    A state like Kogi does not need extraordinary hand to become great. It is a state that has set itself on the footing of economic prosperity provided a good manager is on board. The battle for the soul of Kogi is not just to be left as a political contest. Kogi itself is the soul of Nigeria considering all indices. The stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in my opinion, must help Kogi out of its current predicament of leadership deficit.

    Kogi State under Governor Wada has experienced negative development with nothing to show despite the huge sums received monthly from the Federation Account and the share in oil ‘windfalls’ courtesy of the Excess Crude Account.

    If you consider the unusual turn-around and developments in am state like Ekiti which is also among the states with the least federal allocation, you will but agree that Governor Wada has no reason to continue to hold the people of Kogi to ransom for leadership quest. A walk around Kogi will leave you wondering that all facilities put in place by the administration of Abubakar Audu (the Lugard House, Stadium, Hospitals and more) still remain the infrastructures Kogi can boast of.

    As my comrade in the state, Yahaya Wada puts it, “the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi State has presented the platform for us to re-write our future and that of the children yet unborn. This is the time to judge people by their words and actions not only by mere promises even when their past actions are antithetical to their words and promises.”

    Sadly, it is not unusual to see civil servants waiting at popular stop-points en-route Abuja to approach you calmly for momentary stomach infrastructure bail out. On spotting any vehicle suspected to be carrying an affluent personality who had stopped over to eat, the gentlemen would calmly approach you and reveal the critical state of their personal needs, asking for a little token to keep body and soul together. It is that bad in Kogi that many youth have no means of livelihood, a situation that has increased level of violence and criminality across the state.

    Beyond politics and struggle for political powers, the people must not be put in perpetual state of unhappiness. When families cannot access basic needs of life, the family institution begins to break down; accordingly, the social security system comes under threat. Every citizen deserves the right to fair treatment by the people entrusted with political and leadership powers. If leadership is not fixed, the secondary effect of such situation is that passing through Kogi to Abuja will continue to remain a nightmare and no one will confidently recommend historic confluence for a tourist outside Nigeria.

    The time to make all changes is now. The nation cannot wait. The people want change like yesterday. Carryover of depressions emanating from the misrule of yesteryear still has traces on the faces of our people.

    That Kogi must be salvaged and rescued is not an issue for debate. Let fresh air coming from the waterfront blow peace and tranquillity that will not be saturated by bad policies from the Lugard House. Let the ‘Confluence State’ remain a meeting point for good economy, world class tourism and safe travel passage.

    The fish should also cost less in Kogi while seriousness of the state’s Chief Security Officer should see a speedy conclusion of Lokoja-Abuja expressway with an international model. Above all, Kogi needs not be in opposition in time of CHANGE!

    Comrade Yahya made revelation which I quote directly below:

    “We may have waited for a long time to bring back Audu to rescue us, but it is better late than never. We may also have suffered various degrees of agony, penury and all forms of degradation since the inception of PDP led government in the state in 2003, but we now have a golden opportunity in our hands come November, 21, 2015.

    “There is no doubt that the forthcoming governorship election in the state is a two-man race between the incumbent Wada and the Prince of the Niger, the man I regarded as the face of modern Kogi State. It is one thing to make promises and another to fulfil them.”

    He said further: “From the foregoing, it is evidently clear that Prince Audu kept to his promises by developing the state during his time as the then Governor of my beloved state. Today after 12 years of his exit as the Governor of the state, the successive governments have failed to take up from where Audu left.”

    Leadership is about delivering on promises. Words are powerful; our words are the mirror of our character and integrity.

    Well, the current situation does not leave the Kogites without a choice. A walk on the streets of Kogi leaves you cracking your head as to why no significant development has been recorded since exit of the Kogi Prince in 2003. Just wondering… Wada, under the PDP as the ruling party, had all equations in his favour to transform Kogi. Nigerians don’t have ample time for experimental leadership anymore as far as I know. A state going bankrupt with social-economic amenities on their knees can hardly survive under cluelessness.

    Right now, the spotlight is on Kogi State. Without mincing words, that Audu/Faleke ticket will bring Kogi back to glory under the incorruptible Buhari government is a settled matter. Kogi must be delivered by Kogi because the state has sufficient men who have capacity to deliver this cause. In four years, Kogi must be playing host to all national interests and a hub for peoples’ confluence needs across the country.

    – Olulade is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Epe Constituency II

  • Media and moral decadence in Nigeria

    From time past, the media has been an instrument used in propagating our culture, teaching values and upholding morals in the society; media was a medium that preserved and taught morals to virtually everyone in the society irrespective of gender and age.

    The media represented our society the way it is without any iota of grotesque that would be degrading to the Nigerian culture. Proper dress sense was portrayed by the media in its activities of informing, educating and entertaining its heterogynous audience, the media imbibed in its audience morals basically in their programmes and in its entertainment shows i.e. talk shows.

    Media in the 80’s and 90’s taught decency in its activities as well as portrayed such; the programmes encouraged the development of morals in the society through its activities such as the dress sense especially of the average Nigerian youth.

    Nigerian culture deals with virtues that promote respect, decency and diversity in various social activities; it encourages culture of decency where everyone dresses properly irrespective of the gender.

    But, with the advent of civilization, the table turned hastily as the reverse is now the case where the once upheld decency spectrum has been wiped away over the period of time.

    After colonization the media has changed alongside the society, just as the society accepted modernization, the media also adopted Television, Internet and the Print media to perform the role of informing, educating and entertaining the people.

    Recently, the various media have abandoned the culture of decency and have been engulfed with indecent manner of dressing especially with the programmes it presents to the public. Programmes that are presented nowadays are full of pornographic images that could easily corrupt the younger generation and if caution is not taken, though the media tries to relate daily activities and life experiences in the society but presents it in a way that denotes loose values as indecency is a major part of moral decadence apart from corruption, terrorism and crimes.

    The media now portray the foreign culture instead of the Nigerian culture of decency which upholds proper dressing to the highest point, our programmes now reveals ladies, young guys who expose various parts of their bodies.

    This has made young ones devalue the Nigerian culture and imitate that of the foreign culture which encourages exposure of various parts of the body and hence causes the slow diminishing nature of the Nigerian culture.

    Media is a very important factor in the society that reflects the way of life of a person, media can influence the way one walks, talks, eats and even the way one does things generally, media also influence our attitude as one could watch a programme that portrays good English language and minutes later begin to speak in the manner in which he heard the presenter speak.

    As a major influence of the society, what people see is what they follow i.e. when such programmes that portray indecency are presented to the public; people tend to follow what they see because the media influence 99 percent of everything we do even without them knowing it. As the media is seen as the guiding light of the society, people are majorly influenced by what they see and hear.

    Youths they say are the future of tomorrow, how can they become the future in this state of moral lukewarmness which does not portray responsibility? The media in other words as an instrument of enlightening should not fail in teaching and propagating morals that promote decency.

    The media should serve as a mirror to the society; programmes presented to the public should not contain pornographic and obscene materials and should reflect our culture of decency so as to impact values in the Nigerian youths thereby handling over the baton of responsibility in making Nigeria the giant of Africa.

    The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) should serve as a check to ensure that strict rules are placed on media productions so as to allow for programmes that are decent and promotes morals in the society.

    – Asimole is student of the department of Mass Communication University of Benin.

  • Killing corruption before it kills us

    When Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was President, his body language was the thermostat that regulated the various agencies that prosecuted corruption. When he left, things fell apart partly because his successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, had a different moral temperature. As for Jonathan, for the most part, he simply left the goats with the yams- Abimbola Adelakun, Punch,September 24, 2015

    Over three decades after he left office as military head of state, his return as civilian President has continued to send jitters down the spines of corrupt public officers, because of his well known zero tolerance for corruption. President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that “if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us,” because the survival and continued existence of the nation-state is hinged on the decapitation of hydra-headed monsters like this, and its sister anomaly—insurgency.

    The foregoing aligns with Rev. Chris Okotie’s stance on corruption which he made known in an article titled Corruption as Crime Against Humanity. He said: “Our strange romance with corruption began with the enthronement of a kleptomaniac leadership at the exit of the military from our polity. The biggest mistake of the electorate is the sale of its franchise to greedy ruling elite who captured power and cornered our resources to the extent that it is now adept at the tricks of self-perpetuation… We now have corruption sharing the spotlight with terrorism as our

    biggest and most complex problem. They are like Siamese twins who have an embryonic relationship.”

    Just as is evidenced in the battle against insurgency, resistance to the anti-corruption battle led to his dethronement in 1985, after about 18 months in office. But the corruption vice has since eaten deeply into the fabric of the nation. That is why, with the benefit of hindsight and his appreciation of the limitations of his ‘powers’ as a civilian president, Buhari’s second opportunity to wrestle the monster must be complete and unencumbered by the political subterfuge of opposing forces.

    As he is aware, there are attempts to cripple the battle from infancy, so ‘people trying to stop him’ is not news: He has been questioned about his ability to succeed in this battle after over 30 years of the free reign of the vice. What will be news is when a review of the minutiae of his anti-corruption battle and economic drive is made, whether or not aspersions can be cast on the

    transparency and legality of his government’s actions. But to kill corruption, we must first of all unplug it from its life support. The Nigerian environment and socio-political climate have been conditioned by our past leaders to attract, condone and abet corruption. Failing to correct this systemic anomaly will be like gathering water with a basket: The battle would again fail.

    In Rev. Okotie’s opinion, and as he has repeatedly canvassed for all to hear, a paradigm shift is the prima facie solution to our endemic socio-political problems. When the same elements that designed and executed the template of corruption still bestride the corridors of power as elected officers, appointees or mentor-godfathers; old wine in new skins, then the battle will remain a cliché for un-seriousness and failure. If they are not jettisoned from holding offices or manipulating governance, all of Mr. President’s accomplishments in the anti-corruption battle will fall like a pack of cards.

    Today, even fraudsters, ex-convicts and looters of our coffers and their cronies are eulogised by the beneficiaries of their largesse. They are celebrated as they unabashedly flaunt their ill-gotten wealth at societal soirees. Because politicians and leaders have systematically eroded the economic strength of the masses, making them indigent, the impoverished masses seize any opportunity to grab the crumbs they offer, because survival and subsistence under economic hardship has dulled their resistance. Even the media, which must meet its financial obligations, promote the activities of these men.

    The justice system has its fault-lines, and in the past, the agencies responsible for prosecuting offenders were not truly independent. They are merely an extension of the President’s disposition. So, performing their statutory duties is only as good as his or her body language and to the extent to which he or she decides to battle or ignore the deviation.

    The story appears to be different under President Buhari. Financial institutions aren’t left out in the blame for this problem because their collusion with these perfidious government officials by hiding slush funds of dubious sources is still a problem. The singular affinity between banks, looters, cronies and launderers brings to the fore the depth of the malaise which Okotie described as “… the tripartite coalition of evil… Elitism, Satanism and Mysticism.” He posited that “if you can understand these three, you will understand how politics works…”

    Also, the problem of making appointments for political settlement, nepotism, cronyism and mediocrity has inflicted untold damage on the Nigerian economy. Mr. President must be wary of these and many more pitfalls which have all but wreaked the ship of state. He must be proactive enough to seek help from able and willing patriots who can offer advice and assistance to make his tenure a success for Nigerians. In Rev. Okotie’s article, he advised ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan, that “the emerging new generation of independent leaders, unencumbered by the pressures of political merchandising and deference to corrupt kingmakers, would be able to utilise resources for real development. Such leaders could fight corruption by decisively prosecuting its perpetrators in a transparent, expeditious judicial setting.” That advice went unheeded.

    Mr. President will do well to listen to this wise counsel. I believe he does at least, from some new faces in his cabinet.

     

    • Akhigbe, a former governorship candidate of FRESH Party in Edo State, wrote in from Benin
  • Comment

    Comment

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    But for the infighting in the APC itself, confirming Rotimi Amaechi by the Senate should have been by popular acclamation of ‘bow and go’. It is obvious that the PDP spoilsports were still belly-aching over the scars of the 2015 elections; of all the pre-2015 defections, I think Amaechi’s hit the PDP where it hurt the most: Goodluck Jonathan’s supposed stronghold of the South-south. Amaechi fought a good fight.

    From Harun Shaib, Ilorin, Kwara State.

    Prof Gbadegesin’s reflections and ideas in The Nation under the caption “Comment and Debate” remain ever remarkable. There are however, some unresolved problems and intellectual agitations. The connections in both theory and practice between “party supremacy and personal integrity”, critically viewed, challenged to the foundation the intended clarity. Accepted that the idea of  representative democracy came as a refinement of the Athenian city democracy and the concept of “party supremacy” within the context of “ party system” is  the hub of the refinement, the reference to late Chief Awolowo’s understanding of the meaning of the idea underscores the contained self-purpose in the practice of party-politics. The question remains : is  personal interest not party supremacy given the fact that immorality has not  any basis in the struggle for power, authority and influence, the cornerstones of political life ? From Dr Adebayo Salami, OOU, Ago-Iwoye.

    You wrote well, but will the politicians give any attention to your pontifications? Elected members of a party who decamp should forfeit such positions. That will be the begining of sanity. God bless.  From Dr Onyeme

    Party supremacy should be obeyed, despite your position in the party.  From  Gordon Chika Nnorom 

    There are various aspects of PDP life that have worrisomely become part of APC’s way of life today. For instance, many an APC member the other day would quickly find Saraki guilty and wouldn’t even want the list of ministerial nominees submited to him becos of the false assets declaration case against him, feigning ignorance of the fact that the Senate President remained inocent till otherwise established by the court of law. Today the same APC members are up in arms against anybody who would dare say Amaechi wouldn’t be screened, even in the face of the staggering case of embezlement hanging on his neck. Funingly enough, they now agree, contrary to their position on Saraki, that Amechi remains innocent till he is found guilty by the court. A case of so long the stinging odour oozes out from my mother’s kitchen it is all well and good. Needless to say that that is by no means the kind of change Nigerians voted for. God have mercy. From Emmanuel Egwu.

    Kindly help us appeal to our governor in Ekiti to pay us arrears of pensions for four months and federal pension entitlments since 2009. He has bluntly refused to pay us from the bailout fund. We are no beggars as been projected.  We are indeed suffering/dying instalmentaly. Some pensioners who are living on drugs could not buy drugs,NEPA bills, social/economic debts are numerous to contend with. The governor maintains that we are not captured in the in the bailout fund he requested for. We are being treated like parasites. We are no beggars under any circumstance. Please come to our aid. If need be, let the President know our plight. Feeding is geting difeicult for us on daily basis. From  Pastor Odunmbaku.

     

    For Prof. Olatunji Dare

    Thanks for your ironic but, nonetheless, searing lampoon on the still-born Ekiti Airport Project. How punchy and pungent  the climax and close of the article could have been, had we learnt inter-lingually that  your  acronym, GEJIA, means fatigue, both physical and mental, in Hausa. A fitting brand for godfather and godson alike. Thanks all the same for this elixir. From Prof. Bayo Lawal, Unilorin.

    Today’s insightful article is another evidence that most of our legislators do not understand the admirable American presidential system which we have copied. How can they be proposing to confer immunity on the principal officers of the National Assembly when organized crime, random crime, and quasi-legal crime have taken over the nation? If Nigeria wants American type of democracy by all means, the thing to do is to import Americans to put us through. From Adegoke O O, Bako, Ibadan.

    I believe there are some lessons Nigerians need to learn in the way Pa Edwin Clark has just dismissed Jonathan as too gentle a man to fight coruption in his time. This is the same Clark who claimed Jonathan was his son, acted as the atack dog of his governent, formd part of the Jonathan governing body, visited and had one on one talk wit him and yet was unable to let him know his failings. Or, was Clark also into one type of corrupt acts or the other in Jonathan administration also known to Jonathan but for which the former president lacked the courage to call him to order, which could simply mean the old man is now speaking out of personal experience? I tink this to be the more reason Buhari should be very cautious of some of those so-called elder statesmen who now mill around him pretending to love him and his government more than everybody. Nigeria remains a place where the worst may not have happened but where nothing is imposible From Emmanuel Egwu.

    Nigerians and civil societies groups should say NO to proposed immunity clause for our lawmakers because is avenue for them to use it to siphon our money for developmental projects. We would not fold our hands and watch so-called lawmakers take Nigerians for ride with their planned immunity which is not in our constitution for their selfish interest. After all, since their assumption, nothing good has been done for Nigeria in the National Assembly. Why do they want immunity?  From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia.

    Re: Immunity for all.When a law enforcement officer – a police officer, commits crime, he is derobed to go and face trial. Most of our politicians had earlier committed crime and defected to the then ruling PDP for “informal immunity” hence the hydra-headed impunity. Those aspiring to lead should start learning how to obey rules and regulations now because after their service years and the immunity expires, they will be trumpetting to the world that they are being witch-hunted. It is better to prevent the National Assembly from being crippled by criminal members than formaly immunising them. It will cripple democracy. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams”. (1 Sam.15:22/23). Principal officers of the legislature should show us good example of obedience and discipline and not being refractory under rigged immunity. Is the President immune from impeachment? From  Elder L .O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State. 

    Immunity for all is all we need to achieve the unachievable. You forgot to mention the armed and pen-robbers. Don’t they deserved immunity? From  F. T. Fabunmi, Osun State. 

    Immunity for all? Hell no, sir. It has to be circumscribed; only for National Assembly members.  Such that while Saraki enjoys the support of his colleagues to remain Senate President in the face of criminal allegations against him, Amaechi should not be screened as minister nominee on account of petitions against him. That is what I call serving the nation by  our lawmakers. From  Uwem Ekanem, Uyo. 

    Immunity for all. I do not support your views as this can be an invitation to breaking the law and order. From  Tomori Ogungbile.

    Manufacturers should also be given immunity so that officers from Standard Organisation of Nigeria would  not examine their products’ quality and so on. Thank you for your piece “Immunity for all”. From  Dr. Uduho.   

    Re-Immunity for all.  Any day that type of immunity being canvassed by the National Assembly and you, the country breaks down.  For developed world, immunity could be expanded because they know, follow and abide by laws/rules. They fear corruption and avoid it to a large extent! Here in Nigeria, they befriend corruption, break the law and most, get away with their sins. The immunity should remain where it is today. Even at that, a ‘law of Necessity to Prosecute’ where the constitution defines gravity of offence to make the immune officers to be investigated and prosecutable, possible. Our own immunity is corruption. It is a disease. Such must not be expansively granted! From  Lanre Oseni.

    ‘Immunity’  simply means not affected, influenced, protected or free from some thing. Immunity should n’t be limited. Our constitution that is our grund norms shows clearly that nobody is above the law. Though the President, Vice President, governors and their deputies enjoy constitutional  immunity, it must end when they have ended their tenure after which criminal charges alleged against such  person(s) the  law  must take it course.   In  summary, immunity should have a limit on application because  it’s not  a life assurance.  The immunity clause is a mere provisio to mitigate the exigencies of the moment but any criminal charges, such a person is bound to face the consequences  in a near future but temporarily left in abeyance pending when such immunity period expires. From Abang Joe, Calabar.

    The guilty are indeed afraid for without immunity, only a handful will remain in the hallowed chambers. The few who never held any office before winning the recent elections, that is. What a country! Anonymous

    Immunity for all… though quite ominously revealing and perilously embedded in anarchical tendencies, your argument is well articulated. I enjoyed the satire. From  Mike Omilusi, Ado Ekiti. 

    I just finished perusal of today’s The Nation. I like very much the idea of immunity for  all!  The configuration will be swift and final ! Wham !  From EFRA.

    Your piece on “Immunity for all” is a masterpiece. The “ANIMAL FARM” democracy in Nigeria is worrisome. ‘Some are more equal than others’ is the result of high corruption in Nigeria. Buhari should read it. More grease! From Olakumode 1, Ogoja, CRS.

    Immunity for all, is thought provoking. The idea of immunity for principal officers of the National Assembly is not only a crazy one, but speaks volume of the quality and character of personalities in the hallowed chambers. The question is-  why is the idea being mooted now that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki is before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for the criminal case of perjury? If they have their way, it implies   that governors can steal public funds as much as they can, during their tenure when they enjoy immunity, then rig their way to the Senate and again be shielded by another immunity from prosecution? No; it won’t work. Not under the anti-graft regime of President Buhari. Infact, Nigerians will be glad if most of these legislathieves that are found to be corrupt and so convicted are sent to jail to serve as deterrent to others. Period! From Chief Babs Alasa.  

    I’m writing in response to your article titled ‘Immunity for all’. I believe your intention was to show the absurdity of the immunity proposal and I believe you delivered very well on that. Anonymous

    But the message I got more clearly is that our country is totally dysfunctional.  From Kunle Igbasanmi.

    The imunity allowed the President, his vice, the governors and deputy, is logically meant to protect them from being distracted with court cases or so, in the course of administering their various areas of jurisdiction, though it unfortunately protects them from being probed while in office too. The distraction aspect, I think, could be the reason the same immunity is being canvased for principal oficers of the legislature/chief justice; and not so much because “Saraki is being presently hauled from one court to another to answer charges resulting from criminal investigations” against him, as your write-up seems to indicate. Though satirically suggested by you, extending such immunity therefore to every Dick and Harry in the society, it needs no telling, can only mean a license for anybody to engage in whatever unlawful act of his desire with no punishment attached, which no responsible government can afford to legitimatise for its people. From   Emmanuel Egwu.