The Nation Newspaper

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  • Open letter to GMD-NNPC

    Congratulations – accept my belated congratulations, Doctor. That’s what we used to call you back in my Hints magazine days.

    First, let me seize this moment to thank you for the opportunity given to me to serve as a writer and editor of Hints magazine under your watchful eyes (1990 – 1997). Being a writer yourself you easily recognized my talent and allowed me to flourish and express myself.

    Anyone who has had anything to do with you can attest to it that your charm and charisma loom large like the tropical sun; you carry yourself so well that you exude a princely aura. Some could mistake that for arrogance. But I know it is simply a measure of the self-assuredness that comes with success.

    Some keen observers of your odyssey will say you have had a chequered rise from glory to glory, riding on the wings of mother-luck. But I will like to say that the ‘Kachikwu phenomenon’ goes beyond ‘good luck’. It is one firmly rooted in hard work and unwavering pursuit of excellence.

    You always had clear goals and you worked hard to achieve them. Yes, without a doubt, you have also been lucky. But to depend and ride only on ‘good luck’ is a recipe for disaster; if you get my drift.

    The truth be told: it has not always been a smooth sail, Doctor. You have had your own spell of turbulence in life. I guess the period in question resulted from your ability to attempt the ‘impossible’ sometimes. You know what I am talking about. I mean your failed bid to acquire Texaco (having pulled together a consortium of friends.) Your sudden move from being an employee to an employer was a well-orchestrated masterstroke albeit temporarily. Your former colleagues (in Texaco), of course, would have nothing of your emergence as their employer and they never rested until they shot down the deal.

    Those really were trying times, Doctor. That was the only time I saw you really flustered. But you survived it. The big break eventually came and you grabbed it with both hands – the rest, they say, is history. You’ve been unstoppable ever since. In fact, you have now surpassed your dreams and expectations. Well done.

    The point must be made that you are no one to suffer fools lightly. In those days you had no patience for indolence and mediocrity. You pushed us hard. Although we worked under pressure, we enjoyed what we were doing week after week. Do you still have that fire? I suppose you still do, having begun the streamlining of NNPC. I am certain you will take your assignment very seriously if you are still the Ibe Kachikwu that I know.

    Doctor, no doubt, you are already a blessed man – successful in every material particular (permit my use of a cliché.) Therefore I expect you to look away from the benefits of the office for now and dutifully clean up the mess that NNPC has been for decades.

    I pray you do not yield to the temptation of glossing over the opaqueness of NNPC as those without noble intentions would readily do. History beckons you. This is a golden opportunity for you to step out and make the difference in a society where it is so easy for many to mortgage their conscience for the lure of lucre. Are you ready to make history as the man who turned around NNPC? I hope you are.

     

    I remember you, sir, as a stickler for excellence. (Permit my use of another cliché.) Oh yes, you were. You never believed in the limiting power of the word ‘CAN’T’ – to you it can always be done; and more often than not, your resilience paid off. I hope you still have the magic wand – the touchstone for success.

    Now, Doctor, you do have power in your hands – use it wisely with unwavering determination, not minding whose horse is gored. Be fair, firm and focused. They say wine gets better with age. I hope that’s the case with you. Indeed a lot of water has passed under the bridge.

    Parents United Network, an organization I co-founded have been in the vanguard of igniting a national moral rebirth. We believe that unless and until we create a new moral order and leverage on it for the change that we desire, greatness will continue to elude Nigeria.

    We rolled out a 14-part agenda for President Buhari three months ago. In that write up, we made some suggestions on NNPC. I will like to volunteer a few of them to you:

    First, you need to shut out all patronage seekers and praise singers and get down to brass tacks.

    Whatever it takes, dismantle the huge wall of secrecy and lack of transparency in NNPC. It has been the veil behind the perpetuation of pernicious corruption over the years.

    Carry out a comprehensive staff audit with a view to pruning down the workforce to a reasonable size. It is bloated and not sustainable for a viable NNPC. All those retrenched should be promptly paid their entitlements. This will enable them to set up small businesses and possibly become employers of labour themselves.

    Be determined to turn NNPC into a viable enterprise in the class of Petrobras. You can honestly endear yourself to Nigerians by making NNPC a veritable money spinner for the country.

    It is a big shame that NNPC still presides over the importation of fuel. You should work toward putting a stop to this evil which has become a cesspit for corruption. Apart from getting the existing refineries to work optimally, you should encourage massive modular refining. We suggest you enter into partnership with all the 36 states with a view to establishing one modular refinery in each state, to begin with.

    Many before you were just content with maintaining the status quo and feathering their nests. They would rather pander to the secret demands of the powers that be. So they failed before they even started. They had no will to tackle corruption. In time soon they got swept away.

    But things are different now. You are lucky to serve under a no-nonsense, highly principled President who will not bother you with extraneous demands. Besides, you are taking over on the strength of not being a product of the corrupted NNPC system. You cannot afford to fail, Doctor. I want you to know that your success at NNPC will be a thing of joy to us who worked closely with you in the beginning.

    I wish you the very best of times in NNPC.

     

    • Newton, former editor of Hints magazine is a writer and morality advocate based in Lagos

  • Celebrating Ngige @ 63

    Aging, they say is not lost youth, but a new stage of opportunity and strength. Age on the hand is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. But to Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige (OON)’s friends, well-wishers, relations, and even enemies, it matters because he has just added another year, healthy, hearty, and wavering undeterred.

    There is no doubt that right from outset, the personality called Chris Ngige had always has a date with history one way or the other. As a growing young child, Ngige has always carved a niche for himself in all his endeavours. During his days at St. John Secondary School Alor his hometown, Ngige was an exceptional student. No wonder he switched from Commercial to Science subjects in class four and still made distinction in his school certificate result in 1972. At University Of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Ngige studied Medicine and graduated with flying colours in 1979, despite continuous involvement in almost all the extra-curriculum activities within and outside the campus.

    Upon graduation, Ngige unlike many of his colleagues who travelled to overseas or picked jobs in multinational companies opted for a job at the Federal Ministry of Health where he worked for years, before leaving voluntarily in 1998 as Deputy Director of Hospital Services, Federal Medical Centres, and Teaching Hospitals.

    While in the Federal Ministry of Health, he was instrumental to the establishment of permanent sites for most of the federal medical centres and teaching hospitals, especially in the South-east zone. In continuation of his burning desire for public service which he has proved his mettle, he ventured into the murky waters of Nigerian politics as one of the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).  He was appointed the protem zonal publicity secretary of the party in the South-east in 1998, and later the assistant national/zonal secretary of the party in the South-east zone between 1999 and 2002. The same year he was conferred with the national honour of Order Of the Niger, OON, for his diligence, track record and accountability in public service.

    In 2003, Ngige has concluded plan to contest for Anambra Central senatorial seat before he was persuaded by the party stakeholders including the then President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to contest Anambra governorship seat. This was at a time Anambra State and PDP were in dire need of a worthy governor following the abysmal performance of the then state governor Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju. Within the short period of Ngige’s administration in the state, he redefined governance and provided a different kind of leadership that was unprecedented in the history of the state.

    Till date, Ngige’s landmark achievements, especially in the area of infrastructural development that cut across the state, are obvious and verifiable –a  feat his successors have battling to measure up with, but to no avail. Ngige’s demystification of the political godfathers in the state at the risk of his life will remain a case study for student of political history in the country. His survival of his political abduction on July 10, 2003 by his estranged godfather in connivance with security agents, was a clear manifestation that God was with him and he has not completed his good work for his people.

    The judicial/ presidential conspiracy that led to his removal from office as a governor is known to Nigerians. It was obvious that his removal from office was not about winning the election, but his refusal to open the state treasury to the godfathers which was the tradition in the state before he assumed office.

    Upon his removal from office, he was given a clean bill of health by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, led by its chairman then, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

    Ngige as matter of principle left the PDP and co-founded the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, with the likes of Senator Bola Tinubu, former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and others. This was at a time nobody gave his new party any chance of making an in road into the South-east zone, but Ngige proved the doubting Thomases wrong as the party has remained a force to reckon within the zone, especially in Anambra State, where the party won national and state assembly seats during the 2011 elections.

    It was that year that Ngige defeated Prof. Dora Akunyili of APGA in a keenly contested Anambra Senatorial seat election, despite Anambra State government’s support for Akunyili. While in the Senate, Ngige sponsored bills and contributed logically in debates. He awarded scholarship to many students in his zone and provided jobs for several others. Not left out in his largesse are several communities in the zone, he provided with borehole and electricity. Ngige worked assiduously alongside others for the successful merger of the key opposition parties that metamorphosed into the All Progressives Congress, APC. Ngige served as the secretary of the first rancour-free national convention of the party that produced the present leadership of the party led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

    At the peak of the 2015 general elections, Ngige was among the few men of character who solidly stood for the presidential candidate of his party APC, Muhammadu Buhari, especially in the South-east zone, where many were beclouded by financial gratifications and sentiment. True to Ngige’s belief and conviction, Buhari won the presidential election. This was despite the collective conspiracy by few disgruntled PDP elements in the zone to ensure that Ngige did not return to the Senate, and probably emerge the Senate President.

    But in the face all these, his people have taken solace in the fact that the “Change” which he has clamoured and worked for has finally come for the good of Nigerians with the Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency. This singular event has vindicated him as a man who saw tomorrow, when others are more concerned about today, immediacy and lining of their personal pockets at the expense of others. There is no disputation that at 63, he still have a lot to offer Nigerians in his burning desire to serve humanity selflessly at all times.  • Dr. Anyadiora, a lecturer wrote from Owerri, Imo State.

  • Between a wine connoisseur and an Ex-President

    Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate in Literature is the wine connoisseur. Olusegun Obasanjo (Obj), a military ruler during the dark ages of Nigeria’s contemporary history, is the ex-president. Obj prefers not to see Soyinka as a severally garlanded man with a host of literally prizes from all over the world. He snatches Soyinka from the company of the printed world and places him in the midst of forest hunters on an expedition to trap guinea fowls for dinner washed down with fine wine.

    Let us go to the carping old general to capture the picture. “For Wole,” Obj says “no one can be good nor can anything be spot-on politically except that which emanates from him or is ordained by him. His friend and loved ones will always be right and correct no matter what they do or fail to do. He is surely a better wine connoisseur and a more successful aparo (guinea fowl) hunter than a political critic…If I want somebody to give me the best wine, one of the people I will go to is Wole Soyinka and I know he has a taste for good wine…”

    Now why would a man, himself aiming to be an eminent author, accost an acclaimed writer and rather than seek to sip mastery of language from the master, all he begs for is inebriating wine? Why?

    But the so-called wine man is in no mood to brew the stuff for his host. He isn’t inclined either to part with his favourite guinea fowl delicacy. Soyinka has offered a concoction to prove he is a true son of the literary soil. Instead of a feast of wine and bird meat, there is a language war.

    Hear Soyinka: “I had fully attuned myself to the fact that our Owu retiree soldier… is an infliction that those of us who share the same era and nation space must learn to endure. However, it does appear that there is no end to this individual’s capacity for infantile mischief, and for needless, mind-boggling provocations, such as his recent ‘literary’ intrusion on my peace… I despise that species of humanity whose stock-in-trade is to concoct lies simply to score a point, win an argument, puff up his or her own ego, denigrate or attempt to destroy a fellow being… A special pit of universal opprobrium is surely reserved for (them).”

    Now this amounts to “spoonfuls of boiling oil, ladled out” by a lion over a prey he does not wish to devour. But it remains to be seen whether the victim would not have preferred the predator’s traditional assault of instant sentence of death to this slow living death. Are Nigerians learning anything new from this battle of two of their gods? We are getting as much as we got from a previous war between another military ruler Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) and this same Obj in August 2011. On the eve of his 70th birthday, the general from Minna, Niger State said Obj had wasted the petrodollars that came his way when he was elected President for eight years. IBB claimed the “history of Chief Obasanjo is an open sore that is irredeemably contrived in several incongruities and contradictions.” He said Obj is a plunderer.

    But Obasanjo is above board. He does not brook rebuke and so he fired back and described IBB as a ‘fool’ at 70. He said: “Babangida should be pitied and shown sympathy rather than anger or condemnation because of the old saying that a fool at 40 is a fool forever and I would say a regret at 70 is a regret too late…If Babangida had decided on becoming a septuagenarian, that he would be a fool, I think one should probably do what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 26 verse 4. It says don’t answer a fool because you may also become like a fool. When you go to the same Proverbs chapter 26 verse 5, it says answer a fool so that he will not think he is a wise man.”  This is a caustic banter unbecoming of ‘gods’, those we have dignified with mentorship and leadership positions, those we place in the hallowed grounds of near-worship. They can’t help behaving like those personalities on Mount Olympus in Greek mythology. These characters hoisted on exalted hills in the skies were supposed to be pontifical, infallible, and perfect. But they exhibited the foibles of lesser creatures, mortals over whom they lorded. These gods were vindictive, deceptive, lustful, overly ambitious, rebellious, jealous, rapacious, alcoholic, tyrannical and unforgiving. They were classed as powerful and all-conquering. But it was power bereft of control and morality. A Zeus who was the chief would slug it out with mortals for the love of a woman. Atlas would be condemned to the punishment of carrying the world on his shoulders for being on the side of other gods. Hercules was assigned back-breaking labours as the penalty for challenging Zeus.

    When therefore President Muhammadu Buhari insists he will pick untainted Nigerian men and women to form his long-awaited cabinet, I am tempted to ask if he will do so from among those who have called each other ‘wine connoisseur’ , ‘guinea fowl hunter’, ‘misfit’, ‘career liar’, ‘open sore’, and ‘a fool’ among other aliases. Or is he going to look for ‘angels’ mentored and recommended by ‘a fool’ who has a person with an ‘open sore’ as his friend who in turn has behind him a career of lies sustained by a culture of hunting guinea fowl capped with long nights in warm company with wine.

    Our age has one way or the other fallen at the feet of these illustrious men, ‘a wine connoisseur’, ‘a fool’, ‘a career liar’, ‘a misfit’, etc. They may have unwittingly renounced their majestic gait and abdicated their throne as a result of the indiscretion of these unguarded remarks in the ardour of fitful seizures.

    Still, between the so-indexed ‘misfit’ of a ‘wine connoisseur’ and an ex-president now downgraded as a ‘career liar’, there lie tomes of the chronicles of their stately deeds to guide Buhari choose men and women of steely stuff who would not be struck and dwarfed by paroxysmic outbursts.

    • Ojewale is a writer and journalist.          

  • Toronto’s futuristic experiment

    The North American city doesn’t get more multicultural than Toronto, Canada’s largest urban agglomeration of over six million people. Despite the socio-cultural challenges of metropolitan development, the city projected its reputation as a melting pot on a recent visit.

    About half of the population is foreign-born, spawning immigrant communities that colour the city’s interwoven fabric. Through a series of summer-time festivals highlighted by free Panamania concerts and shows attending the 2015 Pan-American Games, there emerged a deliberate attempt to keep the ethnically diverse people happy.

    The service seemed to work, as a wave of excitement caused by the official first day of summer on June 21 and trending social events motivated locals and converted the cynical tourist in record time.

    For the Nigerian visitor, however, the standout event would be the Underground Freedom Train Ride. In its third year, the subway ride commemorating Harriet Tubman’s clandestine cum heroic 19th century venture of leading African slaves from an oppressive American south to a free north has steadily gathered participants. Five hundred participants turned up for the inaugural event in 2013 while 800 graced the occasion last year.

    One thousand three hundred people (thirteen hundred to North Americans) undertook the symbolic ride on the Toronto Transport Company (TTC)-run subway from Union Station in the south of Toronto before midnight on July 31 to arrive in the northern terminus of Downsview Station on August 1 (Emancipation Day in Toronto and parts of the Caribbean).

    Touted as one of the three most significant events of the summer, the freedom ride confirmed top billing for exceptional ambience as much as diversity. Led by Osaze Dolabaille, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, drummers of mostly African extraction transformed a cold underground platform in the recesses of North America to a pulsating, rhythmic African heartland before a black, white and mixed-race congregation.

    Afterwards, poems, hymns and songs including Reggae legend Bob Marley’s Redemption Song succeeded a moment of silence and ringing of bells on the subway train provided by TTC in the spirit of the season.

    The organiser, Itah Sadu, hoped the ride would spur black consciousness. Impressed by the turnout, City Councillor Josh Cole anticipated a subsequent event bigger than one train could handle. “Toronto is an experiment,” he said. “And I’m proud to be part of that experiment.”

    Councillor Cole echoed popular sentiment. The cultural collage produced by immigrant communities across Toronto hint at a futuristic society of racial harmony. Established ethnic neighbourhoods include Chinatown, Greektown, Koreatown, Little Portugal, Little India, Little Italy and Little Jamaica. African communities exist mostly north of the city.

    Beyond language and mannerism, members of the communities tend to display objects of original loyalty as miniature flags and totems even if they and their offspring are second or third generation Canadians. Seeing the various neighbourhoods dovetail into one another on the hunt for food and entertainment only enhanced the city’s allure.

    For evidence of cultural interplay, by the way, look towards interracial relationships. You would see, on any given day, romantic pairings sure to tug at your heartstrings. In twos they move unmolested: the Black man on an evening stroll with his Indian woman, the White guy on a restaurant date with his Chinese girl, the Brazilian male at a show with his Japanese partner and, conversely, the White with the Japanese, Black with Chinese and Brazilian with Indian.

    The match-up is by no means restricted to both sexes. Canada recognises and protects the right to sexual orientation including those of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons. Speaking or acting against the group’s sexual orientation borders on infringement of rights, therefore.

    As a conduit for the freedom of expression, the annual Gay Pride Parade in Toronto is well organised and received. Crowds lined Yonge Street to watch this year’s parade – the 35th – which ended with speeches and music in defiance of the cold, rainy conditions of early summer.

    While houses of religious devotion are less pronounced in Toronto compared to Nigerian society, the multiplicity of religious adherence is not discouraged. And if African-Canadians do not adopt and worship the traditional gods of African religion as Afro-Brazilians do, they are no less taken with their roots.

    Lacking the latter-day connection of Brazilians to the continent, they stay true to the African beat, honing their drumming skills on the djembe, conga, bata and other drums constantly imported from Africa. From the pioneering efforts of ace drummers Muhtadi and Saikou Saho – both originally from Trinidad and Gambia – drumming classes are held across the city with students and teachers criss-crossing the racial divide.

    African dance classes are frequently advertised and it is only a matter of time before language classes and traditional religions gain momentum, after the Brazilian fashion. Whether African faith in a ‘western God’ is misplaced as suggested by some African-Canadians is another matter.

    What matters, to many, is striking a balance in an atmosphere of safety and freedom secured by community policing. Usually on the receiving end of the culture of selective police interrogation and recording referred to as ‘carding’, the black community railed against the policy until the backlash forced the authorities to soft-pedal.

    A similar easing on marijuana use is open to debate. While not entirely legalised, sale and consumption of the drug are allowed for medicinal purposes. But citizens and denizens light up for recreational reasons as well, with the offensive odour produced sometimes assailing the system in parks and public places.

    Mental health is also an issue. Some ascribe the incidence of disturbed individuals to the negative effect of a clockwork society, one that demands everyone puts in a hard, honest and, sometimes, long shift. Despite the criticism, many acknowledge a society where politeness and political correctness in part constitute an unwritten code of public conduct.

    Canada may just have stolen a march on the rest of the world in the pursuit of happiness. Hardly foolproof, the Toronto experiment remains an advanced model compared to the biggest cities of the world. The summer of 2015 attests to that.

  • Comments

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    ‘Re-where are they now -No doubt the various people mentioned in your article are all hale and hearty but silently scheming politically.  They must be monitored as they constitute danger to the political class. Some in the NASS are the brains behind illegal actions in the Assembly. Our  Ijaw Leader-Edwin Clark was given a university as his share for his political efforts. What  type of  university will be? All of them are to be watched closely as leopards can’t change its spots. From Pastor Odunmbaku’

    Re-War-weary already? All well meaning Nigerians and the world have no choice than to agree that, irrespective of whatever correlation, indiscipline and corruption are cog in the wheel of progress in any part of the world but worse in Nigeria. And in tackling them by PMB, ‘whoever eats no garbage won’t vomit garb’! Once we allow any government, Buhari now and others, later, development would sprout and blossom in all ramifications. To me, no stick is too weighty, on any indiscipline and corrupt citizens. Enough of those two cankerworms.

    From Lanre Oseni.

    Advice to President Buhari: Nigeria can be a great nation if we have peace; fix education system to produce non-job seekers; tighten CBN present forex control; 200 per cent luxury and 100 per cent non-Luxury.  Economic Reform: Tax on all imported goods that we can produce, in addition to normal Customs duty; encourage import of raw materials/industries for all other goods; encourage general export of goods  and reduce retirement age to 30 years or age 50 years in service, while 35 years or age 55 years for Judges/Lecturers to get youth employed, by both government and retirees. From Paul M.Jiya,Minna

    Why the PDP treasury looters are insisting that the President is slow in ‘kick starting’ the government is because they want the line between their 16 yrs misrule and the new dawn that beckons to remain blurred so that the traumatised masses will not know the extent of damage they did. So the President is right on the spot in what he is doing.  From Architect Eddie Ogbuefi.

    If indiscipline begets corruption, how can you say corruption is the mother of indiscipline? Since indiscipline is the first culprit and hence the source of corruption, then indiscipline is the mother of corruption (vide, Paragraphs 12 & 13 of your piece titled, “War-weary already?”). Anonymous

    Like the reported case of Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State, going public to tell the world about the magnificent kinds of achievements they have recorded for the people but which often fly in the face of the realities, has become the common attitude of most of our governors. They do this to divert our attention from prying into how they convert the funds meant for the advancement of the states to the development of their personal business empires usually scattered all over the place. For the change Buhari assured all Nigerians to be of effect, there ought to be a provision by which a governor whose claims of such achievements were found non-existent or contradict what was on the ground upon close investigation, should be appropriately penalised to serve as a deterrent to others. There is no way Buhari could record a change of appreciable impact on the nation if he should build up at the federal level only for the governors to pull it down from the state circles. From Emmanuel Egwu

    For Olatunji Dare

    “That the process of change can’t preclude pursuing the alleged forgery of the Senate rules to its logical conclusion and bringing to buck all those implicated in the odious infraction,” as you alluded, deceives nobody. It’s simply another way of saying that the APC leadership would stop at nothing come what may until it has its way. Nothing indicates that the party leaders would have let go the matter was there no forgery case associated with the process that threw Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu up. Against wrong to single Senator Saraki out as one only mindful of his leadership of the Senate than the service he should render to the people. On the contrary, the quest for personal leadership position and to attract unnecessary notice have for long become part of the trademarks of our politicians in our today Nigeria, among whom Saraki is a mere individual. As it is with the Senate president, so too it is with the APC leadership. Or, what hasn’t been said and written to make the APC leaders sheathe their sword. From Sunny Owoniyi

    “Kogi:The unending mess” bore your signature through and through; frothing with characteristic brilliance, the essay was as witty as it was insightful; speaks of injustices meted out to Nigerian minority tribes nationwide, and not only in Kogi State! Yet, you cracked a rib or two, when I tried to pronounce the “hilarious acronym PAAU”! It sucks. Cheers!! Anonymous   Thanks for INEC card reader that will decide the vote but I pray the Okun and Ebira unity to effect a change to freedom. Thanks for your write up. Anonymous

    Thanks for your article: The unending mess. For your information, it was not Governor Idris Wada that cost the “Okun Yoruba” the loss of Federal University, rather it was Governor Ibrahim (Ibro). All the same, I appreciate your write up. From Kunle Rogbesan.

    The unending mess-Don’t blame the Igala people in Kogi State,the Ebira and Okun have themselves to blame. Otherwise, how can nine be dictating to 12, simply because seven and five failed to form alliance to establish political force to stop the mess by Igala political elite. l hope that the Ebiras and Okuns have realised it’s now or never. Enough is enough my people. From Abdulmalik ADAVI

    Your  article titled’ The unending mess in Kogi  was highly commendable . It is  now glaring that  the much talked about  population  of Kogi East Senatorial  District  was initially built  on  false figure. Anonymous

    Kogi State is a failed state. It’s bizarre to have such an artificial contraption in the modern era. Probably, state creation will deliver the Yoruba speaking people of the state from their oppressors. Anonymous

    Thank you my brother, your column had actually made my day. From Lawal Idris.l, Lokoja.

    Prof. I’ve followed you from your days as a Columnist with Newswatch in the 80s and have continued to follow at The  Nation. You have continued to bash the Igala governors forgetting that Benue State has been run by the Tiv that claims to be in the majority since the creation of the state in 1976! Try to soft-pedal a bit. Thank you sir. Anonymous

    The electorate of Kogi State should vote to pick best candidate that would move the state forward. Let them not repeat the mistake of the past for wrong voting, as their election is coming soon. Progressive is the answer for development. Let them not play with it. From Gordon Chika Nnorom

    It was Ibrahim Idris not Idris Wada that insisted the sitting in Lokoja. Thanks. From Dr. Mbashir, A. Lanre (OHON GBEDE)

    Re: Kogi the Unending Mess. I write to appreciate your piece on the above topic, I can only say thank you. My prayer is that God will give you divine wisdom and tongue of the learned.  From Pastor Femi Jefferson

    Prof, Thanks  for your  tireless and  relentless concern  for a Nigeria. All we have  is a government busy doing nothing except impunity and ethnic cleansing. From Sani Ismaila, Nigeria/KogiI/IU Connection

    Reading through your column today in The Nation, your article titled: Kogi: The unending mess, I was moved to request you to send me your email so I can forward a piece, a write-up to you for reference today, tomorrow and forever. It is titled: Kogi Manpower Distribution-Marginalization in figures. Thank you.  Prince Emman Omadivi, Secretary, Kogi Central and West Forum for Equity & Justice.

    Kogi – the mess. Sure the Tivs are using the same template as the Igalas, maybe more. Corruption must still have a special role in the mess. There would soon evolve a society where government will not be everything. Then the initiatives for development will be for the self-willed communities. Anonymous

    I went through your article it was well written please sir I will be very grateful if you can help us educate our Okun brothers and sisters and that of Ebiras who have more card readers than Igalas to come together and have their rightful position in Kogi State as we have discovered that they are more in numbers by mouths during the last election please we have to show our numerical strength this time around. Anonymous

     

    For Gbenga Omotoso

    How did you omit the loud-mouthed, opaque, compulsive and inscrutable Ayo Oritsejafor, your signature piece, Where are they now?; Ayo’s ascension to the presidency of the Christian Association of Nigeria (C.A.N) utterly diminished Christendom. Anonymous   They need to prosecute them for their wrong doing in  the last administration, they are behind Nigeria problems. From Gordon Chika Nnorom

    They should be remembered often, mostly Obanikoro Musiliu. Anonymous 

    Re: Where are they now? Our dear Omotoso, your piece on the above topic reminds us of the Scripture that says,”A time for every purpose under heaven “- —”A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing ;”( Eccl.3:1,5b).Nigeria’s politicians are self-focused .Hence, they do not know what and when to embrace per time . However, the list topped by an 85-year-old greedy fellow ,  left out the ever relevant “Vila’s Chief Priest” from Warri ,and head of delegation to Jerusalem who virtually sold CAN to PDP .They all deserve to be remembered as they gradually withdraw themselves into oblivion . Long live Nigeria! Ladipo.O. David, Gwagalada

    Re: Where are they now? Within this write up, it is mentioned that my old columnist at The Guardian newspaper is up for hire. It is a pity that most of us, his readers have shifted our interest and love to the ever robust ’The Nation ‘.We expect the “changed” Abati to establish a newspaper after departing Villa and continue to enlighten the world on “ the miss-understood will-power of Jonathan”  or he goes back to the stable of The Guardian . He has almost become a dark spot in Nigerian journalism .Good luck. From L. O David , Gwawalada .

    Sir, why is it that, The Nation, never speaks against the APC? From Gbolahan.

    They deserve to be remembered. Especially my ex-governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State. From Joseph, BENUE.

    Good day Sir, thanks for “Where are they now?”. I have always craved for someone who would follow up on our men in power and after! Please keep up the good work. From Olumuyiwa GAM-IKON

    Great job you did to your article today. Wish you expand it to other like Oritsheja for. From Bode Benson.

    I read your article on the back page of The  Nation of Thursday 06/08/2015.  Well, I should ask about  the where about of the co-coordinating minister of the Nigerian economy under President Jonathan? What about the best governor in Nigeria, Dr, Emmanuel  Oduaghan of Delta State. The man many awarding organisations in Nigeria adjudged the best governor, not by what he actually did for Deltans, but how much he was willing to pay for several awards he received? Some say he has gone to China for deserved rest. Please when you see him, tell him Deltans are waiting for him to refund the billions he paid out for several contracts that were never started. From Young Francis

    Thanks for ‘’where are they now?’’ but it seems you have forgotten or afraid of Yakubu Jang, son of Jonah Jang who has properties in almost every street of Jos. The only school dropout turned billionaire in Jos. From Mr. Dalong, Jos.

    Re: No hiding place. You mistakenly wrote “as happened in the cases of Charles Taylor and Laurent Gbagbo of Liberia and Sierra Leone respectively” It should read Cote d’evoire instead of Sierra Leone. From L O . David .Gwagwalada .

    Thank you for your piece “Where are they now?” You have said it all. It is a great lesson to learn and think twice whenever you find yourself in position of authority. PDP thought they have power to rule us for 60 years. But God disgraced them all. If I were God I would not allow some PDP senators who are against democratic government and the actualisation of June 12 enjoy the number four citizen of Nigeria for eight  years. Psalm 1:4. Thanks. From Elder Isaiah. O. Fakunle

    Re-Where are they now? All the atrocities mentioned by you except Dr Akinwumi Adesina, teach us to remember the future while we are opportune to hold positions today. You forgot to mention the tortoise, Okonjo-Iweala and the garrulous, Maku! They are all around; they cannot talk, now. From Lanre Oseni.

    When some people are on seat they tend to forget they will one day leave the seat but now where are they? Their country is hot for them now. Anonymous

    I really enjoy your Where are they now? From Yemi Giwa

    Re: Where are they now? Please will the Captain Sagir Kolo Ekiti Polls saga just fade away like that? Please bring it back to front burner for Nigeria’s sake. Thank you. From Kola Atta, LAGOS

    Sir, your column is always thought-provoking. Yes these former leaders are worth remembering, however can they ask themselves if there past left any legacy for our dear nation or a sour irritating taste of disgust and public anger? From Nyebuchi Wobo, Port Harcourt.

    Re-where are they now -No doubt the various people mentioned in your article are all hale and hearty but silently scheming politically.  They must be monitored as they constitute danger to the political class. Some in the NASS are the brains behind illegal actions in the Assembly. Our  Ijaw Leader-Edwin Clark was given a university as his share for his political efforts. What  type of  university will be? All of them are to be watched closely as leopards can’t change its spots. From Pastor Odunmbaku.

    Where are they now? There’s no condition that remains permanent, whether good or bad: what is permanent is change. If one is a governor today nothing stops him from becoming an ex-governor tomorrow just as Gbenga Omotoso will some day be called an ex-editor – editor of the year. To proffer an answer to your question, I submit that the men/women of power and calibre of yesteryears have since been consigned to the dustbin of history of ex-this or ex-that. From Edet Essien, a lawyer.

    Re: where are they now? Orubebe, Musiliu Obanikoro, Bode George,Danbaba Merryln Ogah, Asari Dokubo and AIG Mbu? Please find out for us. Truly, “The horse’s tail last not forever”. From R. Omionawele, Ibadan

    These public figures need no remembrance till they die, because doing that is exactly pouring undiluted salt on fresh wound Hahaha…how are the mighty fallen! Sir, your article “Where are they now” is a masterpiece! This is also a warning to present political office holders that power is transient! Abati. What a pity! From Lion Ogorry.

    Truly, former president Jonathan’s administration had calibres and timbers. But, they did make our humorous moment.  Kudos sir. Anonymous

    Sir, your write-ups are beautiful. I read your columns every time, as a lover of The Nation newspapers. With you being awarded the ‘Editor of the year’, please keep your quality up. More grease on your elbows. From Evangelist J. O. Akinpelu, Akowonjo, Egbeda. 

     

     

     

  • Buhari and his expectant people

    From any angle it is viewed, leadership is by no means easy. For one, it necessitates inspiring people or followership towards achieving a common worthy goal, notwithstanding the odds. For another, leadership tends to try the soul of whoever is entrusted with it because of the burden of responsibilities and obligations involved. Apart from providing the compass of direction for people to follow, a person in such an exalted but tasking and sensitive position is also required to be driven by progressive and indispensable indices like vision, mission, pragmatism and dynamism. This is not to gloss over the requisite lofty values of leadership, including intelligence, honesty, integrity, accountability, trust, humility, discipline, diligence, common touch, patience, perseverance, confidence, courage, commitment, determination, equanimity, empathy, compassion and selfless service.

    If truth be told, the aforementioned leadership qualities are the hallmarks of President Muhammadu Buhari.  Since his assumption of duty, Buhari has been engrossed in the herculean task of rebuilding Nigeria from her political and socio-economic ruins. To this effect, he has warned that it would no longer be business as usual in governance in the country, especially with regard to inefficiency, corruption, mismanagement and impunity in public institutions and negation of the basic tenets of the rule of law, due process, human rights, justice and common good. The President has also promised expectant Nigerian people, many of whom victims of terrible legacy of misrule, a new dawn where leadership will be exercised in the strictest sense of the word.

    Evidently, within few months of being at the helm of our national affairs, Buhari has demonstrated the right stuff he is made of. Apart from shunning the razzmatazz of affluence, influence, fame, extravagance and arrogance often associated with power, he has opted, to the delight of our popular masses, for a low-key life with his family. In this connection, Buhari has refrained from recognising the so-called Office of the First Lady, which, after all, is not provided for in our constitution, but rather preferred his dutiful spouse, Hajiya Aisha, to be simply known and addressed as “the Wife of the President”. In so doing, he has saved Nigeria billions of naira that were often frittered away through that office under successive regimes.

    In the light of the current austerity in Nigeria partly caused by the decline in global crude oil prices since last year and partly by the monumental corruption, mismanagement and impunity attributed to the immediate past regime, President Buhari has unfurled a number of laudable measures to cut the cost of governance in the country. As part of such measures, he and his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, have set an example by slashing their salaries and allowances. Besides, their administration has shown keen interest in streamlining or merging some parallel ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government that are consuming billions of naira worth of taxpayers’ monies through annual budgetary allocations without showing much for their funding – no thanks to corruption and mismanagement that have militated against their workings.

    So far, the mere fact that there is now pervasive fear and caution in Nigeria about being caught for official corruption since the inauguration of the Buhari government is not only a cause for celebration but also a major achievement. This is considering the ineluctable fact that widespread embezzlement of public fund is mainly responsible for arrested development in the country, as egregiously shown in economic and industrial backwardness, poor infrastructure and social services, mass poverty, chronic unemployment and alarming increase in crime and violence. Against this backdrop, President Buhari has shown great courage and determination to combat this menace in all its ramifications by naming, shaming and prosecuting its perpetrators as a salutary lesson to others. Apace with this campaign is his administration’s implacable commitment to revitalising our ailing economy by means of diversification, human capacity building, agriculture, harnessing our abundant natural and human resources, resuscitation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), attraction of foreign direct investments, increased foreign trade, exploration of alternative clean energy sources, amongst others.

    In a dramatic show of leadership sensitivity, Buhari not long ago authorised the release of a huge bailout of N713.7 billion, to enable 36 states of the federation offset their outstanding debts, including arrears of salaries owed to workers in some states and commercial loans. Indeed, such an economic protection package remind us of social welfare initiatives formulated in the United States (US) during the extremely challenging times like the New Deal by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to cushion the effects of Great Depression of 1929/30 and the Great Society programme developed in the late 1960s by the administration of Lyndon Johnson in the heat of the deep divisions wrought in the country by racial segregation and the anti-Vietnam war campaign.

    As part of the new beginning in Nigeria, President Buhari has reassured Nigerians of his irrevocable commitment to build an all-inclusive system in the polity, including a broad-based government. This is encapsulated in his now famous statement that “I am for everybody and I am for nobody”, which has indicated his inclination to rise beyond the confines of sectionalism and the notorious political godfathers and cabals, in his determined effort to engender a new political society that will work for its struggling people.

    To address the serious challenges of ethnic militancy and religious extremism and the accompanying violence, bloodshed and depredation in Nigeria’s trouble spots like South-south (Niger Delta) and the North-east, the Buhari administration is articulating long-term regional development plans for the areas alongside other geo-political zones that have their peculiar security problems like armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, piracy, crude oil theft, farmers-herdsmen’s conflict and cattle rustling. Recently, the President issued a directive for the immediate implementation of the long overdue report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the clean up and remediation of the crude oil – devastated Ogoniland. Earlier, the appointment of Brigadier-General Paul T. Boroh (rtd), an illustrious son of Niger Delta, as the coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) by Buhari had elicited a groundswell of commendations for him from the key stakeholders in the region, including the former militants. This is just as the appointment of Major-General Tukur Buratai and Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd), all from the conflict-ridden North-east, as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and National Security Adviser (NSA) respectively. Interestingly enough, with the recent appointment of the new service chiefs, our armed forces have intensified their offensive against the deadly Boko Haram sect with ample support from our neighbouring countries in pursuit of his administration’s vow to crush the terror group by December.

    In a bid to improve Nigeria’s relations with the US, Buhari was on a four-day tour of that pre-eminent super power last July at the invitation of President Barack Obama. It is notable that part of the likely dividends of that newsworthy event for our country are possible relaxation of an embargo on arms sales and training of our military, provision of security and intelligence expertise in the war against Boko Haram, economic cooperation, trade, investment and assistance in tracking and returning of our looted funds laundered abroad. This is not to mention the pledges by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to set aside about $300 million to fight malaria in Nigeria, along with the gigantic sum of $2.1 billion being proposed by the World Bank (WB) for the rebuilding of infrastructure in the conflict-ravaged North-east.

    In all, with the resolve of President Buhari to overhaul the governance system and its institutions in Nigeria for efficient and unfettered service delivery, it is self-evident that he is a purposeful leader with the overall interest of our fatherland at heart. Although the task of national rebuilding facing his embryonic administration would be daunting, especially in a formidably difficult time like this marked by the cumulative effects of economic plunder and rot caused by some of our previous regimes, the prospects of our expectant people reaching the Promised Land are not yet lost. While hoping that he would remain focused in his avowed objective to turn Nigeria around by delivering the dividends of democracy, the citizenry are called upon to be patient with and supportive of his promising administration. At the same time, they should close ranks, irrespective of ethnic, religious, political or ideological affiliation, in order to forge ahead with mutual tolerance and forbearance as a people with a sense of common national destiny. This is especially now President Buhari is leading us gradually but assuredly in the historic march of change towards the realisation of our Manifest Destiny as a great national community.

    • Emeh, a social researcher, wrote from Abuja .

  • Abia election tribunal and quest for justice

    On Sunday, August 2, it was reported that the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia state was razed down by unknown elements. It does appear the new mantra of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state is “If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence and blame it on your opponent.’’

    That members of the PDP would attribute the fire to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and its governorship candidate in the April general elections, Dr. Alex Otti, was the most irresponsible and ludicrous accusation I have ever heard. As usual, nothing they did in the past and have continued to do in order to hold on to power surprises me anymore.

    These are the same people who accused Otti of sewing military uniforms for a couple of men during the campaigns. They later sent armed men, who invaded his residence at Umuru-Nvosi in Isialangwa South Local Government Area of the state ostensibly to kill him. The same people whose thugs tore up Otti’s billboards, attacked his campaign events in Ikwuano and Ntigha in Isialangwa North Local Government Areas.

    Again after the elections, when some unscrupulous officials of INEC in the state were arrested by security agents at the INEC headquarters in Umuahia with Card Readers and other electoral materials, PDP shamelessly said the suspects were working for Otti and APGA, in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

    Just last week after an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on Otti in Abuja, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and his media hands characteristically jumped on the matter, accusing Otti of making up the story so as to generate public sympathy even after the police authorities had confirmed the incident.

    This is why their recent accusation about the fire at INEC did not come as a surprise.

    I think this time they have finally outdone themselves. This time they have actually shot themselves in the foot. Having failed in all their previous efforts to derail the tribunal, the most recent being their failure to get Otti’s petition dismissed, they finally decided to destroy the evidence that was supposed to be brought to the tribunal for forensic examination by Otti’s team.

    Let us not forget that both the PDP and INEC previously conspired to refuse Alex Otti’s legal team access to those materials, in spite the tribunal’s order. So far they have got away with almost everything they have done. But let us see if they can get away with this one.

    Iam not a lawyer but I know that there is in law, something called the “Theory of spoliation”. In a layman’s language, it says that ‘“when a party destroys evidence, it may be reasonable to infer that the party had “consciousness of guilt” or motivation to avoid the evidence”.

    A good example of the application of this concept was a case in Texas, United States in 2013. It was a case named Brookshire brothers Ltd VS Aldridge 2013 . As reported, Jerry Aldridge had taken the bookstore to court for an injury he had sustained in the store when he slipped and fell. Aldridge with the assistance of his attorney discovered that the bookstore which had earlier refused them access to video footage of the incident, destroyed some video footage and withheld some from them.

    The judge found that the evidence destruction and the refusal to provide the additional video constituted spoliation and as a consequence the jury awarded Aldridge $1million in damage. Even though not all spoliation inference may be warranted depending on the circumstance, in this particular instance of the burning down of Obingwa INEC office, the issue is whether spoliation cannot be rightfully inferred.

    Long before the Abia tribunal started sitting, many in the opposing camp had wondered why Otti would not let bygones be bygones and go on with his life. My answer to that is yes, he could have done that, but it would have been a let down to the hundreds of thousands of Abia electorate who voted for him. The truth also is that even though Otti is the one who filed the petition, the real people behind the petition are Abia citizens. In doing so Dr Otti must have  hearkened  to the words of Ellie Wiesel, the Jewish holocaust  survivor and hunter of German Second World War criminals who once said – “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we must fail to protest”. To which Martin Luther King lent these words, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle, the tireless exercise and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

    Otti is a tireless crusader for justice but let the word go forth, loud and clear that he is not in the struggle alone. There are hundreds of thousands of Abia people both at home and in Diaspora who are with him, who believe in him and his cause because his cause is theirs as well.

    Human history has always been shaped from numberless diverse acts of courage as exemplified by Otti and each time a man like him stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope which in time builds a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and injustice.

    It is said that the cry of the poor is not always just, but then, the reality is that if we don’t listen to it, we will never know what justice is. There is a reason why hundreds of thousands of Abia citizens are crying and yearning for justice. There is a reason why they agonized and continue to agonize his electoral loss by trooping out to the tribunal venue each time it is sitting.

    Ours over the years have been a country where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where one class is made to feel it has no chance before our justice system and to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them. Ours is a country where for too long we talk about election rigging. Something whose negative impact we recognize and condemn. An act which those who participate in it enjoy, those in power ignore and we the citizens acknowledge but tolerate.

    As the case progresses, we will hope and pray for justice, as justice is the first virtue of social institutions, the same way truth is of a system of thought.As the legal jurist, John Rawls once wrote, “In a just society, there must be liberties of equal citizenship and the rights served by justice are not subject to political bargaining or the calculation of social interest.”

    Those who committed the crime of burning down the Obingwa INEC office must be made to pay for this crime. If and when it is proven that this was an act committed by PDP agents, the tribunal justices must apply the theory of spoliation whether or not it is part of Nigeria’s case law.

    ‘Those who committed the crime of burning down the Obingwa INEC office must be made to pay for this crime. If and when it is proven that this was an act committed by PDP agents, the tribunal justices must apply the theory of spoliation whether or not it is part of Nigeria’s case law’

    I would urge for reinforced security for the honorable justices as well as the court premises. These enemies of justice are ruthless and are very determined to hold on to power.

     

    • Ijomah writes from New York

     

  • Captives of liberty

    Some might say the correlation is far-fetched. But the power of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has obliterated national boundaries and shrunk our world. Our march of history is now conveyed in contemporary, real-life tempo by agencies of instant communication. When Pope Francis gave his opinion on gay in July 2013, he spoke directly to Justice Anthony Kennedy and his brother justices who formed the majority in the judgement that legalised gay marriage in the US. He also addressed directly such tendencies across the world, some of whom will rule on same-sex (related) suits in the future.

    I fantasised the likes of Justice Anthony Kennedy argue thus:  ”Eh! We are a liberal democracy. This is a holy man who should be the embodiment of the Holy Book saying, practically, there is nothing wrong with being gay. So who are we ordinary mortals to judge, condemn and deny gays marital rights? Even if we were to be sentenced to eternal hell on the Judgement Day, we already possess a plea in mitigation!”

    Here is how the Guardian (UK) reported the dangerous remarks of the pontiff on Monday, June 29, 2013.”Pope Francis says he will not judge priests for being gay.”

    “Pope Francis reached out to gay people on Monday, saying he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation…’ If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?’ Francis asked. His predecessor, Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis was much more conciliatory…”

    The comments of the pontiff, repeatedly broadcast across the world, are branded on my mind. “Is Pope Francis seeking worldly acceptance at the expense of the truth? If an armed robber is full of good works, who am I to judge him?” I knew instantly there would be repercussions, the scale of which I might have underestimated.

    I recall a similar sentiment by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, had attracted my censure some years ago, where I called on him to take the most honourable path by repudiating his leadership of the Anglican Communion. He had even expressed a more sacrilegious opinion in a letter he allegedly wrote before he became the leader of the Anglican Church: ”I concluded that an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage, if and only if it had about it the same character of absolute covenanted faithfulness.” This was blasphemy writ large!

    According to Pope Francis, ”When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn’t be marginalized. The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem…they’re our brothers.”

    No, Holy Father. Gays are not our brothers. They become our brothers only if they repent and forsake their evil ways. A gay person lives outside nature, outside the law of God. You cannot continue to be gay and please the Lord, the same way an armed robber cannot continue in his or her criminality and at the same time “accept the Lord and full of good will.”

    By the way, we do not know the exact passage of the Bible or Scriptures that guided the opinion of the pontiff. The Bible is unambiguous on the place of gay, sodomy, lesbianism, etc. Here is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV): ”9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

    If the truth must be told – this is a matter of life and death.  You cannot love the world and simultaneously love God. According to 1 John 2:15-17 (NKJV), ”15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

    The United States Supreme Court ruled on Friday, June 26, that same-sex couples could get married in the country. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who read the lead judgement in the consolidated suit, Obergefell v. Hodges, declared: ”The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity. The petitioners in these cases seek to find that liberty by marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages deemed lawful on the same terms and conditions as marriages between persons of the opposite sex.”

    This ruling is obscene and debases our shared humanity. It is the very second in the row of notorious liberties in the US that places humanity below the level of animals. The first being the right to kill (the so-called freedom to possess firearms), since it is easier to purchase a gun than buy candies in a supermarket. And so our humanity is continually assailed by captives of liberty, as Americans gun themselves down daily for no just cause. Yes, in the name of liberty!

    Gays are social deviants who ought to live on the fringes of society. At best, they are like those with mental affliction, who should be absorbed in the social homes and rehabilitation centres till their humanity is restored. Gay is obscene and violates human dignity. Therefore, the infamous 5-4 majority decision of the US Supreme Court ought to be reviewed and set aside. All laws banning gay or same-sex behaviour should be upheld. All lovers of humanity must unite to turn the heat on the US. We must not allow America to turn our world upside down.

    And to the likes of Anthony Kennedy, who may wish to rely on an excuse of being misled on the Judgement Day, the Bible – the commandment, the word – is within your reach:

    “11 For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.”  (Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (NKJV))

     

    • Soyombo, public affairs commentator, sent this piece via densityshow@yahoo.com

  • Bank debtors: Beyond “name and shame”

    From the onset the name and shame campaign by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sounds too ordinary to come from such a technocratic organization. The phrase lacks sophistication and sounds and reads like something coming out from die-hards of a political party wanting to get even with their rivals. Reducing a matter as serious as debt recovery (running into hundreds of billions of naira) to mere emotional expression reveals the weakness of the banks and the regulatory authorities.

    Although it would be wrong to say categorically that the programme is politically motivated, it will also not be wrong to argue that the phrase is in sync with the current political mood in the country. Coming at a period when the new regime is making a song and dance of anti-corruption and fraudulent economic and financial practices, there can be no doubt that Nigerians will be more interested in its political implications than the economic. And that is the danger, albeit the fact that the final objective of the name and shame exercise is laudable.

    Not unexpectedly, the exercise has already sparked off so much controversy bordering mostly on rebuttals by the affected organizations and individuals of their inclusion on the name and shame lists published by some banks. As it is, almost every company or director named in the lists has denied owing the banks. Although it is tempting to say that such denials are to be expected, the overall result is that beyond the “Political Effect” of the publications, the CBN and the banks might have failed, at least for now, in achieving the initial objective. For, in the face of the denials, the onus of responsibility now lies with the banks to prove that they are owed by the organizations concerned. And since the mere publication of names does not make the debtors culpable, it means that they will remain innocent until it is proved otherwise. And if the matters ever get to the courts, then we should forget it.

    In my view, a situation where almost every so–called debtor has put up a vehement denial shows that the lists published might not be error-proof. But they should be, given the assumed sophistication of the banks and the implications – political, social and economic – of the exercise. For me, it would be quite unfortunate if any of the banks published any of the debtor organizations and their directors without being 100 per cent sure. Yes, 100 per cent, because there should be no room for such laxities in that sector. That disputes have already arisen shows that the sector has, either by design or default, become part of the pervasive malaise in the Nigerian system. It is something we can ill afford.

    As I noted at the beginning, the first sign that the exercise might have been poorly conceived is the appellation given to it. Shame? Shame who? Shame who you do not have an incontrovertible evidence against? Agreed, the banks may still come up with such (fool proof) evidence but that   may take some time. As things stand, it would not be out of place for critics to accuse the CBN and the banks of playing to the gallery. The idea might have been mooted before the current political dispensation but the apparent tardiness of which the banks are being accused has given room for critics to see some political contents, however marginal, in the exercise.

    In spite of the haziness of the exercise so far, it should be hoped that it will overcome the initial setbacks to go ahead to realize the objective for which it was embarked on; which is to sanitize the banking system. Still, something tells me that the name and shame exercise might have been conceived as a one-sided effort. If we assume, at least for purposes of argument, that so much rot exists in the banking system, then it is proper to ask the following questions: Where were the banks? Where were they when things were going from bad to worse?

    We understand that most of the debts are accumulations of unpaid interests on the principal money borrowed. But that also raises the question as to whether the businesses where going concerns. Where the companies operational and at what capacity when the loans were granted? At what point did the banks notice that the facilities had become non-performing?

    If a company has ceased to carry out the business for which it obtained a loan, should the bank still go ahead to charge interest from a non-existent business ? How thorough were the appraisals before the loans were granted?

    There is no attempt here to teach the bankers their job but we believe that given that the banks also operate in a larger environment that has been be-devilled with several flaws, it would be wrong to assume that they (the bankers) cannot share in the blame. In any case, stories of sharp practices amongst bankers are quite familiar. Not too long ago, some bank chief executives were jailed for presiding over the granting of loans to companies in which they had huge interests.

    The point being made here is that while the overall objective of the name and shame exercise may be theoretically attractive, it also offers an opportunity for the banking sector to re-examine its modus operandi.

    There is this story that one of the cases involved arose because a certain bank manager was fond of dipping his hands in the money of his customer. He had approved an overdraft (OD) but each time the customer came to draw from the OD, the manager would also take out from the money and prepare the documents to read that it was the customer that took away the extras. Eventually, the bubble burst. A dispute arose over the figures and inevitably, the facility became problematic. Curiously, this particular debt is among those listed by the bank in the ongoing name and shame exercise.

  • Ooni: The limits of tradition

    Ooni: The limits of tradition

    Last week Wednesday, most newspapers (if not all) went to town with the front page story of the ‘death’ of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade. This was an absolute contradiction of Yoruba culture and tradition, of which Oba Sijuwade was (is?) the custodian. In Yoruba land, announcing the death of a monarch is viewed as a taboo, especially if it is done by an unauthorised person. The announcement is not made by just anybody. The case is made even more intriguing when most of the newspapers which announced the ‘death’ on their front pages are situated in Yoruba land and should know that an Oba does not die, as they say. Perhaps one would have expected the headline to read something like “Ooni of Ife joins ancestors’ or ‘Ooni passes on’.

    But in this age of internet and the vicious fight to retain readership and maximize space, the headline by most of the newspapers read ‘Ooni of Ife is dead’, ‘Ooni dies at 85’, these are shorter headlines and make for commercial success than a tepid one that says the respected monarch has passed on.

    It is clear from the confusion that dogged the story the day after that what the Yoruba tradition and culture had to contend with at this juncture was the stark reality of the fact that we are living in an age of technology (what someone has perhaps rightly called ‘Google World’). It is now a world where any tradition that does not want to change would either die or invent its own paradigm. This was the root of the issues that arose with the reported ‘death’ of the monarch.

    The moment the monarch was flown abroad for treatment in this age of internet, the culture and tradition given way and the rest have been taken out of the hands of the Traditional Council which was entrusted with the task of announcing the transition of the Yoruba monarch. It is my considered view that if the monarch had joined his ancestors in a hospital here in Nigeria it would have been easy to keep the news from the public until all traditional rites have been performed!

    Taking the sail out of the wind of our traditions and culture would continue until we get our health facilities right and we can treat our sick and invalid here, no matter how highly placed. The passing of the Ooni in a foreign land and hospital would not be the first of a royal father. In 2012 when Oba Oladere Olashore of Iloko Ijesa died in a London hospital the news hit the internet almost immediately. And just like the recent news about the Ooni, the family and the traditional council denied his transition until very much later when they could no longer deny the obvious.

    In Africa and most especially in Nigeria, our leaders, traditional or public office holders, are treated like some gods who are infallible and therefore could never fall sick. If, for instance, the Queen of England is taken ill today it would surely hit the front pages of major British newspapers and headline the other media. The report would not end there, it would also detail what sorts of ailment the Queen is suffering from. That is their culture and we cannot grudge them that. Our own society is not than open. We live in a world of denial.

    Recently, the United States Secretary of State John Kerry was shown on world television attending an international event supporting himself with crutches. This can never happen in our clime. Our leaders, ministers, or public office holders can never be sick, they are like gods. Remember the drama that attended the sickness and eventual death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua.

    As of the time of writing this piece, the true state of events on the health of the monarch is still unknown or more appropriately, his transition has not been ‘officially’ announced but we all know the truth. But what a better way to conclude this treatise than to resort to quoting another eminent son of Yoruba land, as the Yoruba Ewi (poetry) exponent Chief Olatunbosun Oladapo said in one of his records Ta la ntan? (Who are we deceiving?). Has the Ooni joined his ancestors or not?

    We are waiting for the official announcement.