Category: Comments

Contrary to widely held views that the just concluded elections were peaceful, free and fair, the reality on ground points to the play-out of violence, rigging and thuggery in many parts of the nation. These facts though were overshadowed by the unexpected but welcome peaceful aftermath which the nation enjoyed, especially after the Presidential elections of March 28, 2015.

Like most commentators have written on the subject, what would have happened if the organizers of the Abuja Peace Accord and other peace campaigners like Fresh Democratic Party (FRESH) chieftain, Rev. Chris Okotie, whose peace crusade articles went viral on the traditional and social platforms, receiving numerous accolades from readers, had not intervened vigorously on the side of peace, as the nation was literarily set on the precipice by the politicians during what was clearly the most contentious political campaigns ever in the annals of Nigeria’s history?

It is widely believed in military circles that the time of war is when you plan for peace. This appears to be true, because, despite the acrimonies between the two leading parties, PDP and APC, which surrounded the post-election season, the tranquil aftermath was a welcome relief. This celebration of a peaceful outcome must be credited to men like Rev. Okotie, US Secretary of State Senator John Kerry, former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Rtd, former United Nations General Secretary, Koffi Annan, former Commonwealth General Secretary, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Rev. Mathew Kukah amongst others, who sensed the looming danger and acted fast to nip it in the bud.

But the gains of the efforts of all these men may be lost on us if we rest on our oars, in the belief that all is well. With hindsight, we know that with politicians, all is never well. The tone of claims and counter claims that litter the election tribunals point to this, and as such, it is of paramount importance for other well meaning Nigerians in different fields of endeavor to lend their voices to sustaining this demand.

In his articles titled, “A Message for Jonathan and Buhari”, “Breaking the jinx of transition violence” and “The Light in This Present Darkness”, which appeared in some national dailies and also on his Facebook page, Rev. Okotie made a good case for the connection for peace and national development, despite the fact that he ordinarily should have been a participant in the process, had he not been schemed out by INEC, the electoral commission. Yet, he still chose to see beyond personal ambitions and put the nation’s safety first.

Now that the elections are over, a good review of the activities like ballot box snatching and so on, which occurred at flash points before, during and after the elections, must be carried out to help all relevant authorities understand the remote causes and templates for forestalling any future reoccurrence.

This means that Gen. Buhari and his incoming administration need to take into very serious account, the ill-effects of an unstable polity and economy, one of the inevitable fallouts of contentious and inconclusive elections. This must be so because, as the custodian of the entire apparatus of government, it behoves him to ensure that his tenure is not characterised by the socio-economic static, which has become the dirge song of the polity, does not rear its ugly head over the next four years.

Nigeria needs to move beyond the repeated bickering that herald our inter-party relationships and political seasons, and engage in politicking that attracts intellectual paradigms which galvanise purposeful projections. These wranglings always spill over into our economy performance and shortchanges the nation as a whole. The global community which continues to rally round Nigeria, a geographical space which is touted to be the next big market, with the hope that we would properly overhaul our leadership deficit to attract the needed Foreign Direct Investment which would translate into buoyancy in the economy. This is as much a lucrative investment for them as it is a good and welcome investment consideration for us as a nation.

To ensure that bad eggs in the political sphere don’t take advantage of discontent in the polity to rouse incendiary actions, government and elected officials must reflect deeply, a grasp of the present local and global realities is imperative. Our political leadership modus, which has largely remained un-changed since the 50s/60s, cannot suffice for the present day challenges of the 21st century Nigeria. A people who have a strong distrust of politicians and their failed promises cannot be too keen to believe another roll-out of promises which does not translate into their quality of life.

The political cul de sac and barriers which limit progress must be broken down so the nation can move forward. This is of paramount importance. It is the absence of these gains that makes the polity restive, and create politics of ethnicity and religious sentiments; tools which devious politicians invoke to create the tensions which put lives at risk during election and campaign seasons. The conflict of political affiliation cannot continue to deprive the people of their inalienable rights to good governance.

The time has come for the different tiers of government: the federal, state and local government, to partner on projects which will see a widespread and even distribution of the dividends of democracy. When these and many others are properly handled, then, and then only can the seed of disunity be destroyed and all portends for peace be engendered in a nation that has lingered too long at the bottom of all global indices of economics.

 

•Ochei Akhigbe, a former governorship aspirant in Edo State, wrote in from Benin via ochei_akhigbe@yahoo.com.

‘Even the most vocal supporter of President Jonathan that will be truthful to himself/herself will admit that the firing and hiring, disappointing and appointing that the president has embarked on just  a few weeks before hand-over is a confirmation of the cluelessness and lack of basic rudiments of governance that the country has been saddled with in the past five years. It is another reason why everyone gifted with the ability of deep reflection should give thanks to God that the president did not win re-election. He just doesn’t have what it takes to lead a nation into greatness. From Simon Oladapo, Ogbomoso’

For Segun Gbadegesin

The English adage that says ‘what is good for the goose is good for the gander’ can be very wrong. The goose is female and the gander is male. It is not everything good for the woman that is good for the man. For example, how good is the lipstick on your lips, as a man. How good is a high-heel shoe on your feet? Would you like to tie buba and iro to a party. How about pregnancy that women cherish so much. We cannot go the way of the white man foolishly because it is good for him.

I thank you Prof immensely for your thought-provoking article. You made me breathe fresh air off election.  However I wish you could refer to the all encompassing CONFAB we all are waiting for. Thank you . From Engr Ohizu, Warri

Thank you sir for your great and thoughtful write-up on the back page of  The Nation. Good talk from you great Nigerian!  From Aboh Agbochenu, Benue State.

God bless you sir. You spoke the mind of millions of patriotic Nigerians. The appointments are based on political rascality. Its objective is to compensate and please PDP members in strategic positions to guarantee economic returns after the President might have left office. From Tunde Bankole

What is interesting is the way we humans don’t pause to think about the ultimate effect of our actions, but rather are the first to complain when they start manifesting. And we never ever see the role we played in their cause. I think the APC had better wake up from its criticism syndrome and fixation on PDP, and realise that it is now the government. It should start planning how to execute the miracle it promised Nigerians. From ED Onwubiko, Jos.

Thanks for your piece in today’s The Nation.’ I am from Bayelsa State but I think Nigeria has had the worst President in GEJ in history. A peep into his academic claim is very necessary. Anonymous

It baffles one to comprehend such post-election appointments. President Jonathan is acting naively unlike a national leader. Probably he is planting them for continuity of his sagged administration and as cronies to tip the incoming ‘fresh government’. The solace is that APC is equal to the task. Thanks. From Wagor.B, Port-Harcourt.

Beloved Segun Gbadegesin, thank you so much, you’ve said it all. Thankfully, “Nigerians did not elect a naive President” From Ayodele.

God bless  you sir for this write -up.

From Aderemi John Quadri, Ikorodu

Re:Disturbing developments . Do some Nigerians really know the meaning of the word “Statesman”? It was not voluntarily that defeated President Jonathan conceded defeat to Gen.Buhari (rtd.) in the last elections .It seemed God must have somehow used President Obama to intervene. Speeches and actions of GEJ particularly after the elections do not qualify him to wear the tag of a statesman. He remains a former president . From David Ladipo, Abuja .

I read that penetrating article on why and how President Jonathan lost the election. I think we demand from him what he does not have in terms of sound and discernible mind. He’s sly and is guided by primitive instinct not even reasoning. I’m happy to see his back. From Adeoye

Sir, insofar as an appraisal of GEJ presidency is concerned, his recent hiring and firing is true to type, his administration has been grossly inept and clueless, so his statesman-like attitude of accepting the results of the election was because he was left with no choice but to concede. From Tokunbo Alake, Lagos.

One thing about President Goodluck Jonathan is that everything he does is by experiment and that is exactly what he has done in the case of those appointments. Nigerians voted for General Buhari because he is competent and he promised to fight corruption and fix the economy. Those appointees are corrupt PDP members who cannot survive because they have the blood of corruption in their system. As for Peter Obi, that position is too sensitive for him. I will embark on a one-man protest if he is allowed to retain the SEC chairmanship. Anonymous

Re: “Disturbing developments.” You have said it all. I totally agree with you that Nigerians did not elect a naive President. Yes, our President-elect is not a naive person. He is not a person who is lacking experience or judgement. If he likes, he can reverse all the appointments made so far but, only people will label him an inconsiderate and wicked President because, as a matter of fact, he is not bound morally and politically to retain all these new appointments. I want to be a little bit proverbial and philosophical, you see, when the thought of doing something great occupies our minds, we feel radiant and joyful. Then the process of disseminating this joy is what remains. Upholding negative thoughts in our minds can never give us joy, we all know that. Any bird that compares itself with the vulture will only end up in the pot of soup. Complaisance is a good virtue for a good leader. However, today, how many of our leaders imbibe this quality? If they promise that they are going to be complaisant, when they get what they want, they will turn their back and become unapproachable, erratic, irrational, autocratic, self-centered and self-deluding. From Prince Adewumi Oyeromade Agunloye

Re-Disturbing developments. To me, there is nothing disturbing in areas you cited. PDP disagreements should bother no- PDP apologies. When they are tired of accusations and counter-accusations, the rowdy attacks will subside. On later time appointments, I noted that you wrote nothing about same, when Ex-Governor Kayode was appointing some fresh Permanent Secretaries, creating 19 additional LCDAs and employing people to work, three to two weeks to the end of his tenure. I think your write-up should have been generalised on ‘What outgoing number ones in Nigeria; Governors and President should not be doing when exiting offices. From Lanre Oseni.

Sir, you have a hard pen, weigh your audience; they need to understand your message. Anonymous

‘Thankfully, Nigerians didn’t elect a naive President’ like GEJ. His late appointments go to show many things he forgot to do. He’ll see more when he finally returns to Bayelsa; an abandoned airport, uncompleted East West road, a local stadium, displaced neighbours at Otuoke, Kpansia and other pains too many to count. Anonymous

In addition to what you have catalogued in your publication, he also set up councils for 12 federal universities and four polytechnics which have been without councils for the past four years. Anonymous

 

For Olatunji Dare

Necessity is the mother of invention. I think most states like Benue and Osun should adopt the Imo formular. It is my strong belief it will reduce the tough times workers are faced with. On the Surkano approach, I do agree very few Nigerians can be that patriotic as almost all are corrupt. However Nigerian leaders should create proper mentoring for youths to prepare them for leadership. I also suggest patriotism should form part of our curriculum in all our schools. From Lukman Olumo

Dear Prof, your piece is a story that everyone knows is the truth, but with no politician bold enough to push for. The North is very strongly frightened by the idea, though wrongly and so Buhari won’t be able to sell it to his folks. Thanks for the piece all the same.   From Dr. Clement Emudainohwo.

The incoming government of General Buhari should cut all the so-called jumbo pay for the political office holders to save money for development of Nigeria rather than the money entering into private pockets. Let him reduce numbers of political appointees because it is conduit pipe of siphoning our money. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

 

For Tunji Adegboyega

Re: The baptism Buhari should expect. Tunji, you have again made my cup of tea with the above well-informed treatise. If one may ask, why are you disturbed whether GEJ – an ordinary civilian – is laying landmines for GMB? Is GMB not a master on the field to de-mine all buried landmines? Whether Jonathan likes it or not, the incoming government must render ALL his post-election defeat appointments null and void without any compensation to the beneficiaries and Nigerians will stand by such act . One begins to wonder that it seems these locusts called PDP are still suffering from somnabolism. Nigerians have collectively voted for a ‘Tsunami’ change and the time and the hour have come. Anything less than the  desired change would be totally rejected by the teeming masses. All our change, that is stolen wealth,  must be duly recovered from these wolves who have transformed (sorry) pauperised the entire landscape with poverty, hunger, ill-health, fraud of unimaginable magnitudes, armed robberies, etc. Nigerians should not lose sleep on GEJ’s latest post-election defeat antics because he has just woken up from his slumber. By the way, Mr President, where is ‘Mama Peace’, your Achilles heel now?  Let her come out of her cocoon because Nigerians are currently thirsty for more of her grammatical jokes! Things have fallen apart within the PDP household that has murdered sleep and will therefore sleep no more. Finally, a word of advice for GEJ: let him pack his bag and baggage now for onward transmission to Otuoke and stop inundating us with ephemeral appointments which are all circus show and a game of sanctimonious hypocrisy. From  Ch. Soji Oloketuyi, Ijabo Street, Igbemo Ekiti.

Could recent changes in the leadership of the Stock Exchange be another attempt at putting business fronts as protector of illicit investments? Buhari must shine his eyes. Anonymous.

Why all these hiring and firing at this dying minutes of the Jonathan administration? Do they not have political undertones to bring enemies for the incoming administration that would review the appointments and sacks that never followed due process? Obviously, the appointments are more of compensation for party loyalists. Let’s keep watching events unfold. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Anambra State.

I read your comment on page 13 of The Nation newspaper and I am utterly disappointed that a respectable profession like journalism has been infiltrated by people like you who are making their parochial views public. I also pity The Nation that promotes partisan and divisive views above unity of Nigeria. Anonymous.

Re: The baptism Buhari should expect. GMB cannot fall into any booby trap if he checks what amount our indebtedness is as at May 29, 2015. From there, we would know whether to continue to import fuel or begin to mend our refineries. Last minute appointments by GEJ would not be the first. Recall that ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi made appointments of some permanent secretaries, etc. and even created 19 additional LCDAs two weeks to his exit. I doubt it and stand to be corrected if you wrote any danger in that then. General Buhari (rtd) won’t be the headache of Nigeria as he is honest enough. I make reservations about whom the problems are. I am hopeful GMB will try to weather the storm. From Lanre Oseni.

Even the most vocal supporter of President Jonathan that will be truthful to himself/herself will admit that the firing and hiring, disappointing and appointing that the president has embarked on just  a few weeks before hand-over is a confirmation of the cluelessness and lack of basic rudiments of governance that the country has been saddled with in the past five years. It is another reason why everyone gifted with the ability of deep reflection should give thanks to God that the president did not win re-election. He just doesn’t have what it takes to lead a nation into greatness. From Simon Oladapo, Ogbomoso.    

 

 

 

Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, must have spoken the mind of many at the 19th Convocation ceremony of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, a fortnight ago  when he said the long-term challenge of funding university education in Nigeria should not depend on mere goodwill alone but on deliberate planning and looking inward. He pointedly advocated a revisit of the national education policy to make it possible for the children of the poor to have the best quality education.

To drive his point home, he advised Nigeria’s education managers to take a cue from the famous and up-beat Oxford University which at some point in its otherwise luxuriant history had to reverse its decision to admit only the children of the elite by creating a quota to ensure a worker with basic intellect had admission into the university.

In a veiled condemnation of the ever dwindling revenue allocation to education by all tiers of government, Oshiomhole wondered whether the $200 or its Naira equivalent being paid by an undergraduate per annum could deliver quality university education in the same clime where a child’s parent pays as much as N200,000/year for secondary school education but pays N50,000/year in a tertiary institution for another child of his.

To drive his point home, Oshiomhole attributed the same malady as being responsible for the propensity of an average Nigerian man to squander N1 million to serve the best culinary repast and choicest wines at his warped birthday bash but finds it extremely difficult if not entirely impossible to support his child’s education.

No wonder then that the Nigerian society appeared to have been strewn with what Dr. Adetolu Ademujimi described as education without character, warped and twisted morality as a result of which the Nigerian state is bedeviled with a high spate of armed robbery, drug peddling, kidnapping, different shades and shapes of terrorism, corruption as well as insecurity in the face of the multitude of its educated elite.

It is only a country with an unpardonably high dosage of education without character that could produce societal reprobates like religious extremists, internet scammers, accounting professionals who cook books, pharmaceutical firms that revel in fake and counterfeit drugs, legal practitioners that cut corners, Judges that sell judgments to the highest bidders to become what the late Hon. Justice Kayode Eso tagged ‘billionaire judges’ and doctors who forget surgical blades in the bowels of their patients, Journalists and musicians who praise-sing the worst in the society and deify them as heroes and models as well as teachers who spend more time outside the classrooms pursuing unholy pastimes, leaving their students unattended to.

Sometimes in the immediate past, The Nation’s Hardball painted a rather gruesome picture of the injustice education without character has visited on Nigeria.  Just look at the unpalatably irritating list: the most corrupt country in the world, one of the worst places to be born, a place of high infant and maternal mortality, one of the leading countries with the least school enrolment and a member of the countries with the most impoverished population as well as one of the countries with the highest polio virus prevalence.

There are some other seemingly elegant, but derogatory indicators like Nigeria being among the leading private jet owners, a country with the highest importation of rice and wheat despite its vast arable land, a country least conducive for setting up business and a country with the highest crude oil theft as well as being the country running the most expensive democracy in the world.

Traditionally, university degrees are awarded after graduating students must have fulfilled two paramount parameters/conditions: learning and character, with character coming before learning. In those days, if a student made a First Class in learning but scored low in character, the university would not award such a student its First Class because the university would not want to send a bad ambassador out to the world.

But today, how many of our universities can boldly say they award their certificates only to students who have been adjudged worthy in learning and character?

It does not end there. It is a well-known fact that Nigerians have an uncanny penchant to titles. They had since left the palatial palaces of royal fathers for the ivory tower, shopping for titles to satisfy and further inflate their already bloated egos. Unfortunately, the universities are ever ready to play ball by making these academic titles available for the highest bidders, not minding whether they are worthy and deserving of such titles in the first instance.

What does this picture reveal, particularly as education is a whole system of comportment, learning, dressing, character and respect for others?  Our educational system has lost colour and character and that is why the private and missionary universities have come in to fill the void as they are able to turn their students into total men and women who will fit into any position in life, no matter their course of study, be it Medicine, Engineering, Archeology or the languages and change Nigeria.

It is a well-known fact education involves a blend of three elements of the Head, the Heart and the Hand (the three H’s) and any society that fails to achieve this blend will end up producing half-baked graduates with certificates in learning who will be roaming the streets perpetrating all forms of crimes because they are bereft of character.

Because they cannot use their hands in small scale businesses, which will become big in future, they become over-dependent on the society, forgetting that their university certificates are not meant to secure jobs, but to make them all-rounder that can turn things around for good.

Nigerian leaders and followers, and particularly the students should always remember the mercurial words of Joseph Addison, an English Essayist, who once said that: “Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no enemy can alienate, no deposition can enslave. At home, (it is) a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude, a place and in society, an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives, at once, grace and government, to genius. Without it, what is man? a splendid slave, reasoning savage”.

If we are not to become mere splendid slaves and reasoning savages, we must appreciate the place and the import of education, garnished with learning and character, as a tool to developing a person into a total man.  For any parent to think he could pay $20 or its Naira equivalent to procure quality university education when some other parents are spending millions of Naira on their children at secondary school level is nothing but building a castle in the air. Indeed, it the equivalent of what the Master of the Rolls, Lord Thompson Denning, once described as building something on nothing. It will fall like a house of cards. Such bizarre and ludicrous investment is not only grotesque and calamitous, it is an unpardonable sin.

May we have the courage to plug into that which is just and profitable and may the wind of change blow in all directions, including our educational landscape.

Are you sure their engine is near or still very far?  Why people can still call themselves Engineers in Nigeria and live comfortably with such a professional nomenclature with ease displays the level of achievement (or more realistically underachievement) we attach to ourselves.

Engineers are not going to take kindly to this.  And what can they do? Talk back to me or produce something.  If they are going to talk or write, at the end of our discussion or confrontation, we would have yielded nothing of any practical use.

To draw from science, let’s approach this angle from the Physics, Chemistry and Biology of life.  Em…I think people may find this rather less exciting. While a lot of people would find science boring or difficult to decipher, including myself, it is amazing how they determine the quality (or lack of it) of our existence including the level of respect we command as a nation, continent or race.

Biology first then it must be, the science of life itself. Without it we basically do not exist – flora and fauna, the plants and animals, including humans.  No biology, no existence – so in essence it forms the basis of life. Its organic and inorganic sister on the other hand, Chemistry, by its chemically induced grace, allows us to survive – water, blood, bath soap, perfumes, soft drinks, hard liquor, petrol, diesel, kerosene, gases in all their various forms, etc. But is that not a good thing? No one is mentioning their goodness or not, but rather their meaningful value to our existence. With biology and chemistry, we would not die or to put it in a different light, we would be alive but…living?! Brace yourselves.

When we now move out of the bio-chemical world and approach the physical part of the sciences, physics in all its manifest glory, now that is a different ballgame. Practical physics, the foundational bedrock of engineering is the one area that the black race – supposed to be led by Nigeria – hardly excels at.

Look around you wherever you are while reading this write-up, take away physics from whatever environment you find yourself in and you would be sitting on the grass, under a palm tree, wrapped around with palm leaves and possibly drinking palm wine. So you would not die but exist and survive like my great-great grand parents did. Physics – applied physics that is – is what determines the level of relevance other nations or races ascribe to you and that as at 2015 is nothing to write home about.

Any hope of getting out of this? Ah…but we are celebrated for having among the best brains in Russell Group Universities in the UK or Ivy League Schools in the US not excluding other leading higher institutions around the world. That is true. In fact we just had one brilliant whiz kid, 17-year old Harold Ekeh, who relocated with his parents to the United States while he was eight and has successfully been admitted to all thirteen schools he applied including all the prestigious eight Ivy League Schools (The Source Magazine, April 27, 2015, p. 13).  Pretty impressive – but exactly of what use to Nigeria?  Taking a bet on people like him, who abound around the world’s best institutions, companies and research centres, he will almost likely end up in the United States or similar countries and that is the best of his brains lost to Naija Inc. Basically the Nigerian nation, or rather the opportunities and environment it presents, are useless to him and he is for all intents and purposes unable to be useful to the country so they are mutually useless to each other. With our best brains continually being coaxed or forced abroad, ongoing for decades, when would/can this process be reversed?

Based on present education, labour, national and manpower planning (we have one?), industrial and science and technology policies, it is hard to decipher an economic policy pathway to any semblance of future industrial development, growth or independence – certainly not on our existing university paper-based education policy. According to the current Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), the plan “…will also address age-old constraints that have persistently limited manufacturing. It will build-up industrial infrastructure, prioritize power for industrial use, reduce borrowing costs and mobilize funding for the real sector. It will also facilitate youth training in industrial skills,…” Unless there is an iron and steel industry, a multitude of modern sophisticated technical-vocational colleges, an avenue for agro-allied, industrial and manufacturing industries to thrive, or it being incorporated via the education sector into our curriculum design and application, there is no meaningful way that the country can create employment on a massive scale, reduce or even reverse the rural-urban migration drift and engender the survival and thriving of small and medium scale enterprises. These are the areas that can create sustainable self-employment opportunities and not the current government-funded ‘in vogue’ skills acquisition centres. So you have acquired the skill, to be applied where?  When equally transposed on the agricultural sector, this should boost agricultural production, become an export-based power-house, diversify our economy, increase our foreign exchange earnings thereby increasing our currency value, attracting foreign investors, and on…and on it is meant to, supposedly, go.

In reality, where are we on all these? Well, the federal government has just approved some new universities and it would be interesting to see what their level of contribution would be to practical application of physics or maybe the policy initiative is just another avenue for the consumption sectors of the economy (education being one of them) to produce more consumers from the paper-based professions. Didn’t you hear – another immigration recruitment exercise is coming on.  Just imagine the amount of revenue they would earn for Nigeria Plc…in our dreams of course.

Engineers…engineers, where art thou? Oh I forgot…they are in banks (or ministries) engaged in what someone, ironically an Engineer, once referred to in a discussion as ‘money engineering’ – indisputably our guaranteed route to the zenith of industrial development! Undeniably the keystone and access to our industrial growth is presently being laid within a union of united apathy of unimaginative standards being well and truly established. Such standards now provide the yardstick with which our country beats the drum of competing to be the first to achieve the last in the dreamy sky of industrial advancement.  Banking is now the Nigerian channel to industrial development, at least so it seems for now. Unfortunately, no engineering, and I mean the practical ones, please…, no industrialization.

So I ask again…engineers…engineers, where art thou?

 

•Dele Owolowo, Author ‘Nigeria’s Odyssey…’, is an Educationist, Trainer and Rural Entrepreneur with widely travelled background. owolowo.dele@gmail.com, Twitter: Dele Owolowo(@DOwolowo) or Facebook: Dele Owolowo

For Segun Gbadegesin

I read your article on the back page of The Nation of Friday, May1, 2015 which you titled: The mission and the call to action. I am impressed with your passion to advise and contribute your quota without insulting anybody. Please keep it up, always say the hard truth but in a manner that it would be useful. God bless our country and people like you. Anonymous

Re: “The mission and the call to action.” You have said it all. “Whatsoever thou resolves to do, do it quickly. Defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish.” This is a very good axiom for all of us. It is apt to say that the voters who voted for GMB during the last general election actually knew that he is going to perform and that is why they have given him their mandate.  The foregoing axiom will definitely spur him to action in the areas of economy and infrastructural development knowing full well that the PDP for the past 16 years, never did anything tangible to warrant their being retained in power and thank God, the people have kicked them out. We need to advise the President-elect not to renege on his campaign promises as these are what made the electorate voted for change. We all know what happens when promises are not kept. Nobody will be happy to see the APC fail at the centre. Governance should be felt the most in the areas of creation of employment, security, power generation, roads, education and health-care delivery. The President-elect must not fail. From Prince Adewumi Oyeromade Agunloye

Re-The mission and the call to action. You really drew the attention of the arms of government to the ingredients of good governance. However, General Buhari (rtd) may have good intentions on laudable programmes, our fears have always been ‘which type of legislature/legislators’ are we going to witness? The cash mongering legislators or the open-minded ones? Whichever it is, we keep watching but I do know that the APC would have learnt a big lesson from the precipitous fall of the PDP. From Lanre Oseni.

As Buhari pleaded with National Assembly members when he addressed them in their retreat for cordial relationship in goverance, let the lawmakers cooperate with Buhari leadership for development of Nigeria, afteral, Nigeria belongs to us. If Nigeria is better today, it is for everybody. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

I really enjoyed your column on ‘’The mission and the call to action”, in The Nation. From Simon, Makurdi, Benue state.    

If Gen. Buhari proposes better plans for Nigerians and Senate kicks against it, we the electorate will protest against the Senators. Gen Buhari should go on with his good agenda and discipline we know him for. Thank you. From Odigie Cletus.

 

For Olatunji Dare

President Goodluck Jonathan neglected Yoruba people despite their overwhelming support for him in 2011, do they expect Yoruba people to fold their arms? Politics is a game of who gets what, when and how. Is it a sin to now be in genuine mainstream when Yoruba people have always been labelled as opposition people? From Ademola a,akure.

Dr.Dokun Bojuwade is not dead. He’s alive and kicking. I have just left his residence now. From Tunde Adeniji, Old Ife Road, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Mr Tunji Dare , thanks for reminding Nigerians about the role late Uche Chukumerije played during and after the annulment of June 12 election. I am so glad you boldly did. God bless you. From Fakunle Olukayode

Sir, I am Dr. Dokun Bojuwade, I just finished reading Olatunji Dare’s column paying tribute to Chukumerije, where he made reference to me as Special Assistant (since deceased ) This is to let you know that  I Dr Dokun Bojuwade is hale and hearty and  alive in consideration of the divine economy of boundless eternity. I have only been watching events with detached soberness. From Dr Dokun Bojuwade, Red Brick House, Old Ife Road, Ibadan.

You said “But that dark era does not and cannot define Uche Chukwumerije”. It is because you discountenance the attitude of an Ibo man when the issue concerns the ascendancy of a Yoruba person. Chinua Achebe showed their true mindset on his comments about Awo in the twilight of his life. Uche Chukwumerije or any Ibo man will play the same role because Abiola or any other Yoruba is likely to benefit. That is the home truth. Anonymous

Dare your write up today on Chukwumerije is irking. May his soul rest in peace for killing June 12, 1993. He closed down Igbo radio and television station as Information Minister and many more evils he did then, so he was not a nationalist and fighter for  the downtrodden in your write up. Anonymous

Thanks for your piece today on Comrade Chukwumerije. He was the only Senator that wrote to us in support of our revolution in Nigeria. May the Almighty God grant him peaceful rest. From Okenwa Enyeribe.

The southeast governments should join hands and immortalise Comrade Uche Chukwumerije for his contribution to  oneness of Southeast region during and after civil war.He also contributed his quota to Nigeria’s unity. He was a leader worthy of emulation by all and sundry who believe in Nigerians. Federal Government should also immortalise Uche Chukwumerije for his outspokenness in National Assembly. May his soul rest in perfect peace, amen. From Gordon Chika Nnorom

Sir, praising the dead is part of the culture, but have  you forgotten  how many lives that were lost due to his scary propaganda during the June 12 saga? He was a brave and intelligent man, no doubt, but his 12 years at the upper chamber were unseen in Ngodo, not to talk of our senatorial zone. Wise one Yes! First rate legislator No! From Prince Kelechi Ulu Torti.

Hello and well done for your piece on ‘Remembering Uche Chukwumerije.’ Was this to hail him or expose his weak side? I fear your pen. From A. O. Solomon, Ikorodu.

Dear Prof. Dare, you’re a force to be reckoned with in Nigerian journalism as an ethical practitioner, scholar and columnist. However, you pandered to the unethical in your April 28 column in The Nation: “Remembering Uche Chukwumerije”, quoting thus: “….We rarely met thereafter, but kept in touch through his special assistant, Dr. Dokun Bojuwade, since deceased….”

Please, be informed that Dr. Bojuwade is in Ibadan hale and hearty. You may call his no. : 08032630616 to be certain. Warm regards. From: M. Angel Folorunso (then PA to Dr. Bojuwade).

Thank you for your in-depth revelation about the man Uche Chukwumerije. Even though I don’t know much about his activities during the civil war but with the role he played during Babangida era, I can conclude that he was good for nothing. I am sorry if I appear rude, but that was exactly how I saw him. All the same, may his soul rest in peace. From Abiodun Ayedun

 

For Gbenga Omotoso

Sir, if I were to be Orubebe; I would have gone on hunger strike for my actions or began to trek from Abuja to Delta State or look for the available flight   and hang on the tyres to any country of my choice.  Farewell Orubebe. From Sunny Igiri. P/H.

Mr Omotoso,it’s quite commendable to reminiscence on the flashpoints of our recent election but please let the media not  by so doing continue to whip up sentiment. Let us just see what happens as divined. From Emma Mbah, Alausa Police Barracks,Ikeja Lagos

Good day sir. How I wish and crave to meet with you at your convenience. I will be eternally grateful. Anonymous.

MrGbenga Omotoso, yours of April 30 in The Nation is quite incisive. There is nothing statesmanly about Jonathan conceding defeat. What would he have done other than that? The man never wanted Gbagbo style to be his portion. Nothing heroic about that. From Jev Amos, Makurdi

When Boko Haram abducted the girls, our gallant Army had the power to bring them back, but because our Commander- in-Chief doubted it because he was advised by Asari Dokubo that it was just politics. Our president refused to visit the girls’ parents till he was advised by a 17- year-old Malala to see the girl’s parents. Only the miracle of God will bring those girls back. From Odaliko

‘Reminiscences’ was a nice piece but chuckled when even you continued to refer to shameless Orubebe as ‘ELDER’! Elder indeed!! From Ohimai, Port-Harcourt

 

For Tunji Adegboyega

“Ifeanyi Ubah: weeping for his sins”! I am in support of your write-up in the May 3 edition of The Nation. Ubah will also lose landed property in Lagos and Ogun states controlled by the APC after May 29 when the new government must have come in. Thanks. From Ayodeji.

Your article on Ifeanyi Ubah was as funny as it was ludicrous! After reading it, I felt light inside me; an indication  of relief from boredom of staying indoors for many days as a result of  the artificial fuel scarcity created by Ubah’s Capital Oil and fellow oil cabal members. From Sunday, Ogunlolu, Uyo.

The Biblical Israelites moved from slavery and anguish into the wilderness en-route the Promised Land. Ifeanyi Ubah and his likes who have hitherto enjoyed the good life at the expense of the flesh and blood of ordinary Nigerians are just about to enter into their own wilderness,on their way to a life of pain and anguish. The pains of millions had been their source of joy and comfort; now, the table has turned. It is time for them to know what it feels like to be on the other end of the lash. He who destroys another to climb will find death waiting for him at the top, says the Holy writ. From Simon Oladapo, Ogbomoso. 

Tunji, thank you for your article on this man from Nnewi called Ifeanyi Ubah. Please, also run commentary on escorts in Anambra, it is just too rampant. And that is what they use in rigging elections in the whole of the southern Nigeria. Remove it and let them patronise private security firms and create employment. Please tell Buhari that these escorts are too many in the state. When the Ubahs, the Offors, Oduahs are moving about, you think it is a governor that is moving. From Innocent, Nnewi.

Your write-up on Ifeanyi Ubah is thought-provoking. Men like you are needed in the pen profession to expose these wealth guzzlers in the country. From Ikedi.

Thank you for your write-up on Mr Ubah weeping for his sins. I will love that we don’t allow the issue that made him cry (fear of prosecution) to be taken by all of us until they are made to face justice for robbing Nigerians. From Shittu Hussain.

Adegboyega, you really told Ubah the naked truth; let him go and hug a live electric cable because the likes of him don’t deserve to live after creating poverty for Nigerians; he’s weeping because he won’t have access to the (?) wealth again. He hasn’t seen anything yet. From Simon, Jos.

I really commend your frank and bold commentary on Ifeanyi Ubah; you’ve made my day. May God continue to guide and direct you always. From Asmau Hassan, Jos.

Ifeanyi Ubah crying like a baby in public was not because President Goodluck Jonathan lost his re-election but because of his target of having oil bloc which has now been stalled. The crocodile tears were more about the resource spent on the president’s failed re-election. Those who formed and worked for TAN had their hidden agenda of milking the country dry if GEJ won, but God had a better plan for the country, hence the president’s loss in the election. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

Thank you for your write-up on Ifeanyi Ubah. You’ve made my day. Those of them who kept collecting subsidy on kerosene must be prepared to return it.. Anonymous.

Tunji Adegboyega, you are not sound enough to write those things about Ifeanyi Ubah. Anonymous.

You were malicious in your write-up on Ifeanyi Ubah.  Try to practise balanced journalism. Dr Amadi.

A good one from you on a weeping oil cabal; he is one of the (?) we have in our country. I know he will surely weep. Reasons best known to him.  Anonymous.

Tunji, I just read your beautiful piece “The war that never was”. But we actually had a war to enthrone change; only it was an unusual war. From Rev. Koye Kolade.

Your article titled “An unrepentant PDP” was a masterpiece. God bless your handiwork and continue to give you the wisdom to say the truth all the time. Unfortunately, you were talking to people who are too greedy to listen. God has used this and other atrocities to sweep them (PDP) out of Nigeria. Anonymous.

The elections have come and gone. And despite isolated episodes of violence and electoral malfeasance, Rev. Chris Okotie’s admonition for peaceful engagements largely held sway. So, subsequent to another few weeks of litigations, a weapon in the psychological warfare and intimidation paradigm against of some of the results, May 29, 2015 will witness the fifth session of a democratically elected set of governments at different levels in Nigeria.

Having moved on from his exclusion from contesting in the 2015 Presidential election, the pastor-politician, who made it clear that he had forgiven INEC for surreptitiously excluding him from taking part in the elections, charged contestants and their followers to shun do-or-die politics, especially as the security apparatus are occupied with matters relating to terrorism by Boko Haram. The message seems to have been heeded, just as the Abuja Peace Accord played a part to restrain our political gladiators.

In his Facebook article titled, “The Light in This Present Darkness”, Rev. Okotie wrote: “… How… projects could be completed, and new realistic plans put forward to revamp the economy, ought to be the real issues on the table…” Reading the article, the banality of campaign and partisan politics in Nigeria is understandable. Our lucrative crony infested, power-at-all-cost politicking; the hallmark of our unique politics, has been so because power has been unduly concentrated at the centre in our bizarre federalism. The access to the largesse of governmental coffers means that our career politicians are up-in-arms against any opponent deemed to pose a threat to the aspiration for the lucrative offices in the nation’s corridors of power.

The breach of trust and the opacity of nocturnal political negotiations, which allows politicians to carry on their shenanigans with absolute disregard for the ethics of democracy, also create a sense of vulnerability and atmosphere for protectionism. Politicians, who funded their appetite for office by incurring heavy debts, mortgaging their properties to finance their ‘electoral obligations’, have not been too enthused to the reality of a loss at the polls: their reaction invariably was to steal, kill and destroy.

The nonchalant attitude of the ruling class and its failure to prosecute nation building programmes is reinforced by the odd symbiosis where the government refuses to enforce laws that will check lawlessness, so as not to jeopardize their chances at re-election. The people in turn accept governments that do not upset the apple-cart of rein-less followership. This symbiotic relationship worked well for both sides. That is why the entire governmental system and its organs are performing below par. The process of check and balances the citizens should provide is absent.

Despite this rot in Nigeria’s politics and government, there is an emergent wave of change in the air as a more demanding electorate gears up for a reversal of their political fortunes by demanding greater responsibility in the wake of this ‘electoral impasse’ which fuelled the uncertainties during the 2015 general elections. Across the globe, the wind of political change is sweeping, and realignments mean that old institutions are crumbling as new ones emerge.

The change or transformation the nation seriously needs may start with 2015, but it must not end there. The mediocrity and intellectual vacuum of our political class which constrains them from putting forward practical economic blueprints to harness our human and natural resources for the betterment of the masses manifests itself in their resort to dismal acts of character assassination, mud-slinging and vilification. Rather than engage the electorate on how the multi-faceted problems of economic decline, insecurity, and poor infrastructural base, can be turned around, we hear empty promises and shallow responses to challenges.

That is why the campaigns lacked substance. The seekers of political office believe the need to challenge our intelligence with even snippets of their plan of action on how to harness the viability of the nation was unnecessary: The people, who don’t matter, don’t care! Rather, scarce funds were allocated to funding frivolous propaganda, which woefully failed to swing the outlook of the electorate one way or the other.

Also, a situation where electoral, security and judicial apparatus display favoritism, and when different factions fabricate accusations against opponents, will not augur well for the nation’s nascent democracy where political maturity is expected of the players. Okotie said: “… if 16 years is not enough learning curve, what time do we need to catch up with Indonesia, Ghana, Botswana, Chile, India, Brazil and other developing countries which have continued to transit seamlessly, to the admiration of the world?” Here, is where our makeshift ruling class failed woefully.

Our incoming leaders must understand that, those past years of economic gambles cannot continue. A new approach is needed; one which sets achievable and realistic goals, with clear and concise strategies. There must be a clear picture of what Nigerians need; what the challenges are, and how the people can work in consonance with government to fix the complexities, instead of continually expecting that citizenry will bear the brunt of political indiscretions while the ruling class feeds fat on our common patrimony.

In the economy, we need fresh blood and fresh thinking which can proceed with sure-footedness; leaders that are attuned to 21st Century structural reforms, strong institutions, strong market economic stimulus, fiscal discipline, and reducing primary deficit. Our newly elected leaders must possess reformist credentials to correct the systemic failures inherent in government, trim-down unnecessary and duplicitous political appointments, rein-in corruption and plug the sources of leakages of our funds, and revamp the health, agriculture, and the solid minerals sectors of our ailing economy with a lean and effective civil service, functional and forward-looking parastatals, in tow.

In the long run, Nigeria will still survive, but at what cost? This is the grim question we must deliberate individually and collectively as a nation in the days going forward. The rules of engagement must change. This is my philosophical discernment of Rev. Okotie’s article.

 

•.Ochei Akhigbe is a former governorship aspirant in Edo State on the platform of FRESH Party.

‘If by now the PDP chiefs and the hawks around the party have still not realised the damage they have done to the country for 16 years, I think they need to examine themselves. They should understand that those who always have their way will one day find themselves where they do not expect. If taken someone for granted is good, let the PDP accept its defeat honourably and stop making noise; they should remain as opposition. And the APC should stop those PDP people defecting to its fold because it will be very hard for a leopard to change its spot. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos’

For Olatunji Dare

You piece on the “Perils of columnism” was so apt and refreshing. Just to comment that you have to situate Shaka Momodu, a Thisday columnist, within the same context. – Anonymous

I read you every week. Indeed, I look forward to reading you every Tuesday. Not so with Aribisala. Any article by him I skip, knowing he will be spewing rubbish. It is a shame he calls himself a pastor and I pity those who endure his sermons. As a columnist too, a disgrace. – From Vihive. 

I have just finished reading your column ‘At home abroad’ of Tuesday, April 21, 2015. I agree with you. The Aribisala aspect was even more agreeable to me because you were, again, absolutely right. Hmm. Well done, sir. Henceforth, I will be on the lookout for your column. I may take my opinions from you and call you out when you miss the mark. Again, well done, sir. – From Ifeanyi 

Your article about acclaimed Pastor Aribisala is of great. Such persons the Bible has qualified them thus:- Jer.5:30-31 Jer,14:14 Ezek.13:6-8. Let Aribisala note that he has spoken of himself not of God.- From T. Didan.

Good day, sir. How are you today? You are one of the columnists I respect in Nigeria. I am always happy after reading your essay. But I was disappointed that you failed to write an article condemning the threat from the Oba of Lagos to Igbo. Unless you want to tell me that you are in support of what the Oba did. I am now reading your essay titled ‘the perils of columnism; – Anonymous

Your assessment of Femi Aribisala on Tuesday was just too accurate to be controverted. I am taken aback that a priest could harbour and express such level of hatred for others without any qualms. Someone should please appeal to him to apologise for some of his utterances now that elections are over and to serve as an example of a true priest. From Sola Akinwande

Good day sir, I want to thank God for saving us from killing ourselves. Let’s give Gen. Buhari a chance to do what God called him to do. He should not say I am a Muslim, but we need to  pray together, and he should be very careful about rats and cats. God bless Nigeria. From Comrade Ogunsina Yinka David 

Before the elections some priests were marketing their churches by predicting things that will attract PDP to give them money and PDP was the highest bidder. – From Hon S.A Hande Makurdi

Urgently, educate and  sensitise the Yoruba to wake up from their slumber or else our sons and daughters will have no place in Lagos. With the sinister plan of the Igbo, they will, if care is not taken, dish out jobs to our children.  – From Dare

Aribisala is a disgrace to Journalism. I sometimes feel so ashamed to be a journalist whenever I read from him. May we learn from his stupidity. – From Kaltume A Shall,  Bauchi

A man can pass through the university system without it passing through him. That is the case of that paid agent of ‘pee – dee – pee’ called Femi Aribisala. He is a disgrace to his church and the newspaper house he writes for. With his level of education, I expected him to be more civil in his writings rather than throwing all caution to the wind, attacking Tinubu and GMB. He deserves pity anyway. From Samuel Olorunmbe

 

Re: ‘’The perils of columnism’’. Only God’s prediction can be hitch-free. There seems to be nothing wrong in Femi Aribisala making predictions that went wrong. Only a few would have given it to General Buhari. Ironically, he won landslide!

You have never written against your loved ones like Asiwaju Tinubu, Fashola and Rauf Aregbesola in your column. Yet, Aregbesola is owing Osun workers, about six months’ salary. Oftentimes, one’s love for somebody makes him overpraise or overlook his faults. Do not see only Aribisala’s faults. Every job, nevertheless, has it’s own hazards.  – From Lanre Oseni.

Just lapped up your erudite piece on ‘columnism’, prof; with this strange priest, there is a greater sin: he is all over the place, baleful articles, malicious interviews articulating with oracular finality how ‘Jega rigged the election for Buhari’. Surely, hatred addles the brain!

I have been reading your columns for decades. Sometimes you are right, other times you are not. Same with Femi Aribisala. You are both great. The ability to say something different is creativity. We cannot all sleep facing the same direction. You have condemned him, but God has not. Never! He should do more to put Gen Buhari on his toes. God bless Nigeria. – From Mell Teliva, Benin City. 

 

For Segun Gbadegesin

Conspiracy Theories:The next one will be Jonathan’s consipiracy with Buhari.-  Anonymous

This conspiracy theory column of today has made me happy. I had no plan to go out to work today but I feel like moving out after reading your column. Baba, may the almighty God continue to bless you with this unique kind of reasoning and wisdom. Thank you. – From Ishaq Nasarawa State.

Hope those sick with PDPmania would read your sincere article. – From Geoff, Makurdi, Benue State.

Re: Conspiracy theories.’A drowning man would desperately look for means to stay afloat. The PDP teeming defectors to APC is worrisome. APC may be next in screening conspiracy theory. – From Bola Adeniyi.

Re: Conspiracy theories. Sir, your analysis is very accurate and precise. I absolutely concur with you. They should stop whining and better hurry back to the basics of attitudinal change and organisational restructuring. – From Doo Timbir, Maitama, Abuja.

Thank you. My father told me if you continually see others as the cause of your problems, you may never move forward. Leave PDP, they will remain there for ever. – Anonymous

Prof Gbadegesin’s piece on conspiracy theories was an incisive analysis of the position taken by the PDP and its apologists on the political trend in Nigeria. I hereby award Prof grade A1 for that crystal-clear presentation. – From Ropo Ibikunle, Osogbo, Osun State. 

Also ask them, who conspired? Is it the four zones who used card readers or the whole of southeast who conspired not to use card reader but go manual? – From Adudu sunday, Nasarawa State.

PDP failed because Jonathan was a failure, his wife an aberration and their rigging machinery failed in other zones except the Southsouth and Southeast. How did they spend their $21.5billion if not for corrupting the system? PDP is dead and buried. – Anonymous

Re: Conspiracy Theories. Thanks; your pen will never dry. God save Nigeria; the voting pattern actually revealed that the conspirators are from Southeast and Southsouth zones. Thank God for his intervention. – From Ayo Ajayi, Ikare Akoko Ondo State.

Re: Conspiracy theories. You have spoken well and your questions addressed the issues succinctly. But to me, it appears you do not know the personalties in PDP. Let me tell you. Members of PDP are liars and their fathers are liars. They are wicked and their fathers are wicked. What do you expect from liars and wicked people? Ignore them and their supporters.They are birds of same feathers and they are fleeing together and wind of change will always get rid of them as it has gotten rid of them for good. Peace! – From Elder Bola Adeoye.

The PDP will not hear, heed or listen. They are the hunters’dog. The gang up of the Southeast and Southsouth will not last. It is the Southeast machination. They want to align and be first always hence their new romance with the oil southsouth. The southeast have not forgotten or forgiven the civil war. But do they forgot the abandonned properties in the Southsouth to the conspiracy theorist. Tinubu is not to be learnt from the politics of the Southwest. Time will tell. What Nigerians want is good governance from any leader be it Buhari, Akpabio, Okorocha, Fashola. – From  Moyo Idris, Lagos.

What a piece Segun! Conspiracy theory; please leave PDP to continue licking her inflicted wounds. I foresee a third force rising up to provide a strong opposition. Well done, Nigerians! – From Olusesan Akinyemi, P.H.

Congratulations on your excellence; our country is delivered. Please do your best to put Nigeria right. Wishing you good health and long life –  Anonymous

I am your ardent reader and an enthusiastic supporter of APC. Pls, reach out to them and tell them not to embarrass us with the squabbling for spoils. Some of us vowed that what happened in PDP will not happen in APC. Prof, please this is a passionate appeal. May God keep you. – From Mrs Pet Mmonu, Port Harcourt.

“Conspiracy theories.” You have said it all. The best that can happen to Nigeria is the evolution of two strong national political parties are the coming on board of the APC and joining the PDP.

Sir, with your article,you have exhibited your vigour and intellectualism. Kudos to you for your effort. Your opinion on the two parties is the best I have seen so far.

PDP should stop blaming APC or anybody for their Waterloo and woeful failure at the last presidential and gubernatorial elections. If truly they meant business, they should gird their loins and double their efforts to bounce back in 2019 instead of bragging, and yelling on the pages of newspapers. I pray God to spare your life for this your readers. – From Amidu Saheed Olowo, Ifo.

 

For Tunji Adegboyega

Re: An unrepentant PDP. The above captioned/well crafted piece refers. PDP should know that with the programmed second missionary journey of GEJ for the presidency, the party has reached the end of the road. Why the blame on Muazu when our abracadabra Bode George and his cohorts were flexing muscles with the hope that their rigging Tsunami would work perfectly? Have they forgotten the various massive looting of our treasury on daily basis? Were their ministers not scandals to their various offices? Can people forget the nauseating, ignoble roles of ‘Mama Peace’ crisscrossing the country in a notorious manner with her ‘dedicated’ grammar? What about the teeming unemployed youth who are restless without any plan for them? Can the PDP beat its chest to have in one day considered the issue of security? Now that PDP leaders are shedding their well deserved crocodile tears, they should know that all and several other factors – debilitating, unprogressive factors led to their appropriate extinction at the polls because their fruits which were ripe enough were eventually plucked by the Nigerian voters via the card reader. The locusts called PDP should note the axiomatic saying  that ‘one thing is certain about every mortal; the judgment of God and that of posterity’.  Chikena! And bye bye to Otuoke, GEJ. From Ch. Soji Oloketuyi, Ijabo Street, Igbemo-Ekiti.

What Nigerians needed was change; it would not have mattered who the national chairman of the party was or is. The PDP does not have a message for a credible messenger. We tolerated them this long because there was no structure to fight them as the one APC provided. From Okunbor Odaro, Benin.

Healing of wounds has come after 16 years of Nigerians in pains over non-performance. PDP has chewed more than it could swallow with its impunities in governance. It was God who decided to put paid to the suffering of Nigerians and deliver them from the shackles of the PDP, by throwing a righteous man like GMB forward. When someone like him takes over, Nigerians will rejoice because of his antecedent which spoke for him in the last presidential election. Let us pray for him to deliver. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

That the PDP could not resurrect to its pre-fall shell would amount to giving the new Aso Rock power- APC – a delicate over-confidence  that even in an under-performance, the APC will continue to rule. The logo should be, Perform! Perform!! Perform!!! Even many supporters of the PDP saw near-defeat at the point the party could not get the five governors who defected to APC back before the elections.  Muazu had nothing to do with the misfortune of the PDP. When a community of politicians has individual ambition rather than people’s interest, the pack must collapse. It is always good to be hopeful of good things. After all, when the German football team thrashed Brazil up to 5-0, the Brazillians, being hopeful of the final result, ended at 7-1 in 2014. PDP needs not repent if APC underperforms. From Lanre Oseni.

Vincent Ogbulafor, one time chairman of the PDP must be a prophet with a twisted tongue when he said the party was going to rule Nigeria for “60 years” ; he probably meant 16 years but the twisted tongue brought  out “60”. When the APC was busy campaigning, telling Nigerians what they intend to do, the PDP was busy looking for Buhari’s certificate. I congratulate them. Why then are they bickering after Nigerians have handed them the result of their assessment of the campaign? Do they actually think Nigerians are so daft that they cannot differentiate between a good and a bad product? From Simon Oladapo, Ogbomoso.

If by now the PDP chiefs and the hawks around the party have still not realised the damage they have done to the country for 16 years, I think they need to examine themselves. They should understand that those who always have their way will one day find themselves where they do not expect. If taken someone for granted is good, let the PDP accept its defeat honourably and stop making noise; they should remain as opposition. And the APC should stop those PDP people defecting to its fold because it will be very hard for a leopard to change its spot. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos.

As an ardent reader of your articles, kindly appeal to the president-elect and APC to faithfully implement their programmes, to cushion the effect of the suffering Nigerians.  Remember, 2019 will soon be here. Thanks for your inspiring and educative articles. From Elder Adedini.

You said it all; but, must I add, anybody that deserves to be in jail should not be spared and must be made to do that in Nigeria. From Emman Ugbo.

You know APC too is not doing the right thing by taking in all manner of defectors, including those who graduated from the school ol of fraud. Wait and see the harm they will do in a short time. Anonymous

Re: Ekiti, sick boy of Yorubaland?: Each time I read all the negatives pertaining to Fayose’s rudderless leadership, I chuckle not because  we often forget to attribute his coming to right quarters.  Ekiti deserves a better leadership.  But we should blame Fayose’s “progressive” predecessors who unknowingly  paved his way to power.   Ilupeju, Lagos.