The Nation Newspaper

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  •  Fayose death wish for Buhari

    Recently, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose placed an advert on the front page of The Punch suggesting that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, will die in office if elected president.

    The advert, which has the pictures of Murtala Muhammed, Sani Abacha, and Umaru Yar’Adua – past Nigerian leaders who died in office was accompanied by excerpt from the Bible book of Deuteronomy 30 verse 19.

    ”Nigerians be warned! Nigeria…I have set before thee life and death. Therefore, choose life that both thee, and thy seed may live,” it said, suggesting that General Buhari represents death, while his rival, President Goodluck Jonathan represents life. The advert put a huge question mark over the picture of General Buhari, which was placed beside the pictures of the late leaders. The advert then asked its readers: “Will you allow history to repeat itself? Enough of State burials.”

    It is crystal clear that Fayose and his cohorts are not only desperate, they are playing God by professing death for somebody on account of age and election. Fayose’ divisive advert is enough to plunge the country into political cum ethnic crisis, especially at this critical period when the polls are gathering momentum. If not, why was the advert placed on a day that President Jonathan was in Sokoto State for campaign rally? It may not be out of place to infer that the move was part of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) strategy to see if the forthcoming polls would be scuttled or postponed as result of induced violence or provocation of the North.

    But the North and the APC’s reaction to it have shown that they are more sagacious politically than President Jonathan and his PDP cohorts. Fayose and the PDP have forgotten that there is no correlation between age and death because sickness and death knows no age or tribe. Even if the likes of Sani Abacha, Murtala Mohammed, and Umaru Yar’Adua died in office as presidents of the country at different times, why would Fayose single out deceased former presidents of the country from the North in the advert? Have Fayose and the PDP forgotten that General JTU Aguiyi Ironsi from Abia State, like Murtala Muhammed, was killed while in office as Head of State? Or is it, as stated by the Buhari Campaign Organisation, that the PDP and its agents are planning to kill Buhari if he wins the election?

    Just like Fayose, every Nigerian has antecedents, and we know ourselves well. It is often said that leopard can never change her colour. A pig will ever remain so no matter how many times you bathe it. Claiming change of character in old age is a ruse; one cannot learn using left hand in old age.

    In PDP and the Presidency are many characters like Fayose who believe they know better than Nigerians. Unfortunately for them, Nigerians know them well as accidental and opportunistic leaders. One of the presidential aides recently declared that wat is better for the country to disintegrate, instead of APC winning the presidential election! Those behind the retinue of advertorials for President Jonathan’s re-election in print and electronic media are greatest beneficiaries of subsidy, aviation and power sector scams. They have used the money to form different support groups for President Jonathan’s re-election. Two of them that symbolized fraud and corruption before Jonathan’s government were from South-east zone. They lack character and integrity, but these are President’s friends who are driving his campaign with the country’s looted fund. These are people being celebrated in the Presidency today where corruption, sycophancy and mediocrity are being adored, celebrated, and encouraged.

    With this calibre of people hobnobbing with President Jonathan, Nigerians were not surprised at Fayose’s action. In the coming days, many more of such provocative, insensitive and divisive adverts, actions or comments will emanate from the president’s camp, because they have no useful message to give Nigerians. Fayose’s advert has also shown that those who claimed to be working for President Jonathan’s re-election are indirectly working against it, by doing more damage to his image.

    Again by the advert content, Fayose has agreed that Buhari will win the election, except that he wishes that he will die in office like Abacha, Muhammed and Yar Adua. What a daft and preposterous thinking by those who call themselves leaders! Recall that some of the President’s cohorts have been comparing him with great world leaders like late Dr. Nelson Mandela, US President Barack Obama and others without showing the correlation between Jonathan’s personality and that of these great world leaders. Unlike people like Fayose and other supporters of Jonathan’s re-election, the issue at stake now is not about age or death, it is about leadership, antecedents, performance and the future of the country. Besides, God is the creator and controller of the universe and not a mere mortal. Politicians must draw a parallel line between God and politics of hatred, because of its consequences. The holy writ says: “But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”

     

    • Olayinka, a cleric wrote from Ikeja, Lagos.

  • Open letter to Nigerian artistes

    The Nigerian music industry is enjoying a boom no doubt. Artistes are snapping up multi-million naira deals left right and centre and smiling to the bank. So strong is this new awakening that gone are the days when musicians were seen as never-do-wells. And guess what; schools are cashing on the opportunity by introducing music into their curriculum and the catch-them-young bug has bitten Nigerian parents as they now go the extra mile to purchase musical instruments for their children as the drive to replicate WizKid and Davido in their off springs goes into overdrive.

    And what is more? Corporate bodies are not left out of the scramble as brand managers have discovered the awesome power of music in driving their products and this has given birth to a multi-million naira industry. But the question is, how has the boom reflected on the goose that lays the golden egg? How has the boom impacted the lives and careers of the majority of Nigerian musicians?

    The Nigerian music industry has definitely come a long way against the backdrop of the dark ages of the late 80s to late 1990s which witnessed the total meltdown of structures which once made it the envy of the world as legends like James Brown, Paul McCartney and drummer, Jim Baker, either relocated to the country to pursue their careers or came here to record platinum selling albums in their search for African sound. Those were the years when Oliver De Coque’s album, Identity, sold over two million copies and Fela rejected an offer of $100,000 USD to remix his songs by his American manager, Jim Bishop.

    However, with the downturn in Nigeria’s economic fortunes in the early 80s, the music industry was one of the first casualties as it was hard hit and this gave rise to piracy which ultimately led to the exit of the big three labels, Sony Music, Premier Music and Polygram from Nigeria. Their exit created a shock which culminated in runaway piracy which crippled the industry and led to the relocation of a lot of artistes to the West while some like Bongos Ikwue quit outright and found success as a building contractor.

    However, nature abhors vacuum. The vacuum created by the exit of the big three created a leeway for the rise of Ajegunle music which produced stars like Daddy Showkey, Daddy Fresh and African China to mention a few. It led to the rise of what is now known as the afro-hip hop revolution of the late 1990s thanks to Kennis Music, Ray Power and AIT. Ever since, the industry has continued to grow, attracting talents from the Diaspora, patronage from blue-chip companies and telecoms giants with Nigerian sound dominating the African stage and going global, winning rave reviews and numerous awards in the process and above all, laundering Nigeria’s battered image!

    Despite these giant strides, majority of Nigerian artistes are still living in squalor and poverty. Nigerian artistes have no unifying platform – a sad development.

    It is pertinent to note that the need for a strong and virile union for artistes cannot be over-emphasised because without a union, there can be no industry. Remember the African saying which posits that while one can break a broom stick effortlessly, the reverse is the case for a bunch of broomsticks. The baseline is that for artistes to enjoy the growth of recent years, they need to throw away their egos and belong to a strong and virile union which will protect their interests. A close look at the industry will reveal that only a fraction of artistes are beneficiaries of the boom. Is it not ridiculous that multinationals like Guinness, Hennessey among a host of others are declaring billions of dollars annually as profits but this is not reflecting on the majority of Nigerian musicians?

    The Nigerian music industry is replete with tales of talented musicians who made millions of naira and then went bust before finally succumbing to terminal diseases that could have been treated. Why is it that whenever artistes are sick, they have to go cap in hand begging for a lifeline when in their active years they worked in a multi-billion naira industry? The reason is not far-fetched. It is the absence of a virile union which will not only protect the industry but also set up structures for its continuous sustenance and growth.

    Rewind to 2004: Star Mega Jam and 50 Cent is in town. Before we could say Jackie Robinson, all hell is let loose as Eedris Abdul Kareem insists on being treated fairly like his American counterpart. Though he got the beating of his life and his career never recovered from the move, today, his fellow musicians are reaping the benefits of that sacrifice. All this would never have been achieved but for the sacrifice Eedris Abdul Kareem made when he put his career on the line to demand for equal treatment for Nigerian artistes. While various stories have emerged about what motivated Eedris to make that move, we cannot deny the fact that it kick-started a new awareness which culminated in the betterment of the fortunes of musicians. It is pertinent to note that before this, Nigerian artistes travelled by road to shows across the country in rented buses while their foreign counterparts flew first class! That singular move Eedris made sent a signal to brand managers that the Nigerian artiste had come of age and so should be treated right. However, it is not yet Uhuru as a lot still needs to be done to harness, consolidate and finally, maximise the potentials of the industry.

    Today millions of naira is lost to digital downloads at bus stops and shops across the country. Alaba International Market, which used to be the hub of piracy, has bowed to the sheer power of the internet due to free downloads and this has created a new wave of pirates. Armed with a laptop and a modem, this new wave of pirates are robbing artistes blind, fleecing them off millions of naira on a daily basis but the question is, who will bell the cat? Your answer is as good as mine. It is these artistes whose intellectual works are being abused and this only further underpins the need for strong and virile unions which will regulate digital downloads and by extension, improve the lot of Nigerian musicians.

    But the question is, are Nigerian artistes ready for change? Imagine what would happen if D’banj, Wizkid, Davido, P Square, 2face and some others stage a march on the Lagos House of Assembly to demand for the implementation of anti-piracy laws. The results would be awesome because of the influence they wield!

    Twelve years after the release of Shakomor, the song widely believed to be responsible for the musical renaissance of the last 16 years, the Nigerian music space continues to grow employing millions of Nigerians and laundering Nigeria’s image abroad but majority of our artistes are living from hand to mouth. Consequently, the need for unity in Nigerian entertainment industry cannot be overemphasised. Artistes must put their egos aside and agree to work for a united industry.

    A stitch in time saves nine so goes the popular English saying. The gains of the last decade and half could be totally lost unless artistes unite. Once more, the time is here, an opportunity is on the horizon for Nigerian artistes to unite and move the industry forward and bring back the glory of the 60s and 70s. But first, they must throw away their garments of pride and unite for that change which they all so desire.

    • Gabriel is chairman, PMAN caretaker committee

  • Rifles, enemies, certificates and Kirikiri

    For many months, some vested interest groups, on realizing the imminent possibility of a successful Barack Obama candidacy for the presidency of the United States, sponsored the throwing of different arrows to puncture same. They either claimed that he was not a bona fide US citizen or was a Muslim, Kenyan or Indonesian or such inanities. Obama refused to answer those ‘issues’ and it was from him I first heard the phrase ‘silly season’ – meaning (in my view) the ‘hot’ period leading up to an election where people get so confused by a myriad of issues and personalities, that they will rather ‘cool off’ and enjoy more salacious jibes and mudslinging. In Nigeria there is no shortage of supplies of arrows and it will appear that even President Goodluck Jonathan whilst he detests ‘opposition’ and social media arrows, has his own arsenal and now fancies throwing a few himself. The problem with throwing arrows is that if an arrow is blunt no matter how poisoned or poisonous the thrower is, the target will suffer at most minor bruises and at times a backfiring may occur. Another problem I see is that Buhari like Obama being of similar frame provide very slim targets and often even the blunt arrow will miss the target!

    So an angry president in a fit of rhetorical soap box excitability, hollers– ‘when “they” were there how many rifles did ‘they’ buy for the military? ‘they did not buy even a single rifle!’ Does it mean that our President is of the considered view that a stock of rifles bought 30 years ago would have solved the insecurity problem? The criticism of the President on this matter goes beyond ‘buying rifles’ and is based on the non-exhibition of the desired empathy and demonstrable commitment to effectively being a Commander in Chief. It does not help when former President Obasanjo claims in My Watch that our President at least initially felt unconcerned because it was a ‘Northern’ problem. It does not help when highly audible international voices like Hilary Clinton pass a judgment of unseriousness on our President in the war against terror.  If it was a matter of rifles, the mountain of rifles seized or returned by the Niger Delta militants in exchange for an amnesty program may have gone a long way if transferred to the Nigerian Army. The current security challenges go beyond the buying of rifles or indeed shooting people with rifles. And even if shooting rifles is a component part of the war against terror, it is ammunition and not rifles that you need to keep restocking! The rifle buying arrow will have the effect of directing people’s minds to a comparative analysis of who might be better equipped as Commander in Chief to tame the insurgency. Buhari’s military background and demonstrable history of battlefield command successes, suggests it is not a comparison the president should invite. He would have been better off outlining concrete all-embracing plans to tame the insurgency including his touted Almajiri schools.

    Our amiable president, in Ibadan, a city famed for political enmities and violent political eruptions, hollered – ‘I have no enemies, I have no enemies I want to throw into jail!’ If that is an arrow aimed at drawing a distinction with Buhari, it represents a sadly mistaken reading of the mood of not only Ibadan people but of Nigerians generally. Nigerians need a president who is not afraid to make enemies. Nigeria has enemies, so why should our president not have enemies? All the locusts stealing Nigeria dry are enemies of Nigerians. All those election riggers and fixers who deny the people their democratic rights by stealing their sovereignty are enemies of Nigerians. The President needs to understand that in this battle for Nigeria’s survival, the friend of the peoples’ enemy is the peoples’ enemy! The concept of imprisonment is a long standing and pivotal ingredient of the rule of law required for cohesive social coexistence. There is no virtue in denying that fact or indeed in glorifying an attitude of condonation. Is the President saying that Boko Haram and the sponsors are not his enemies? Haba Mr President! These are the real enemies you need to have, not Rotimi Amaechi!

    So Buhari does not have School Certificate and he wants to contest against a PhD holder? A mismatch which should be evident to all and guarantee an easy victory for the PhD holder. So why the noise from the PhD holder’s camp? Why not go to court and have Buhari disqualified before or after the election and make the entire election a no-contest? Or could it be the case that the constitutional requirement is to ensure that aspirants to that office are educated up to at least secondary school level. If I was contesting for instance and I am eminently qualified to do so, and it is a fact that I have not bothered to collect my School Certificate from WAEC, am I doomed thereby? What if I swore to an affidavit that I am educated up to at least secondary school level and that I participated in the NYSC programme in 1985 (when Babangida overthrew Buhari!) but that I do not have the NYSC discharge certificate? Will evidence of my participation in NYSC not be sufficient proof of my education up to at least secondary school level? Having duly sworn to the fact of my educational eligibility on oath, is it not incumbent on any objectors to approach the NYSC to confirm or disprove my participation and hence educational eligibility? An aspirant to that office must also be above a certain age. I do not know but I suspect that our dear president does not have a Birth Certificate and therefore will have an affidavit. As it is silly season, if I start shouting that the president is below the minimum age and that he must produce his birth certificate to prove otherwise will I be taken seriously? Or will the retort be- how can someone who contested as Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice President and President not have met the age requirement? Have his opponents or INEC or the general public been sleeping?

    Lest we mislead some of our people, the constitutional requirement for showing education up to a certain level is different from say the requirements for gaining admission into a university. In the latter case, the certificate and the grades matter because it is a competitive academic exercise. There is actually no constitutional requirement that you must have passed secondary school leaving exams! If that were to be the intention, what amounts to a pass would also have been clearly stated. Or is it the case that a certificate showing a parallel F9 result will suffice? In fact, in my view a testimonial from a secondary school that you duly attended the school till the end will suffice and so too will an affidavit in lieu of the testimonial. It may appear somewhat of a watery requirement and easy to meet and the wording is suggestive of that intention.

    Lastly, Kirikiri! Many years ago I travelled in company of friends to Gashua. Anytime I asked a resident to show me Gashua prison, they got irritable and I kept hearing ‘Gashua is not a prison’. Indeed it is not and residents of Kirikiri must feel the same way. Being home to a nice golf course and significant Navy base, President Jonathan need not read meanings to and take umbrage at ‘sending people to Kirikiri!  Indeed I am going to Kirikiri on my own volition this weekend – to play golf. If on my way there and if ‘God does not forbid bad thing’, I drive too fast and knock down an innocent pedestrian and still end up in Kirikiri, that will not be the fault of those whose duty it is to send me to Kirikiri. It will be my fault and nobody should cry for me! If the bad thing becomes so bad that I knock down and kill 10 people, that is more serious wahala (on paper). If the sentence by the judge is 30 years on each of the 10 counts, then my total sentence is 300 years! Running concurrently though the total prison time is 30 years! That is the way the law works and even in Buhari’s time! At the Lagos rally, an aide behind the President (can’t say who) whispered into the microphone, 300 YEARS! And the President collected the arrow and lobbed it!

    Mr President, you should only listen to a soldier when discussing rifles not law! If not your 300 arrows will miss the Bourdillon Road gathering place of your targets and end up in the nearby Lagos Lagoon!

     

    • Ukpong is a Lagos-based legal practitioner.

  • Jonathan’s N10 change

    When the Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, announced the reduction of the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) from N97 per litre to N87 per litre effective from Sunday midnight, it seemed that our N10 billion investment in her globetrotting had not vanished into thin air after all. The incumbent President of OPEC gave us the vaguely validating feeling that we also belonged to the global village.

    All over the world, pump price of crude had been in free fall, as a result of the battle of wits between OPEC and the Unites States over fracking. Oil price has more than halved in the past months, tumbling from $100 to less than $50. This was our invitation to the party.

    Now the return of N10 on a N10 billion investment is a woeful loss. N10 can buy no more than a sachet of pure water or a HB pencil or a match box – even though a pickpocket caught in Onitsha, the land of the authentic Azikiwe, would be lucky to escape being lynched for filching N10!.

    She mandated the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Directorate of Petroleum Resources, to ensure compliance nationwide from the stroke of midnight forward. She closed by saying that she hoped that “everybody will benefit” from the reduction.

    The reduction should naturally translate to a potential saving of hundreds of naira. Nigerians buy many litres of petrol daily for their cars and their generators. But Madueke made a grave assumption.

    She assumed that the official pump price regime obtained across the country. But majority of the population buy at higher rates in practically all the states. People are forced to buy at whatever rate they are offered, notwithstanding the difference between it and the official pump price. In the city where I live, a litre of petrol could spike to N160. It’s sold at N97 only in NNPC filling stations. So in a way, the official fuel pump price applies to a few.

    The twin agencies responsible for petroleum price monitoring coexist with a plethora of parallel price regimes. They could not ensure that fuel is dispensed at N97 per litre. They would certainly not to be able to make the N10 reduction a common experience at the present level of their activeness.

    More to the point, the context of the announcement says a few things about the motivation of the heralds.

    Alison-Madueke made the declaration after dinner time on a Sunday. No, nothing in the book casts a certain time for such pronouncements. Yet, there was something tangibly awkward about the scheduling. It had to be enacted on a weekend and past dinnertime, when the largest audience possible would be hooked on the news. The court astrologers marked it down to the most apt minute!

    Then the venue. She published her tidings from the grounds of the State House. Nigeria’s seat of power has not always been the launching pad for a new fuel price regime. The choice and use of the President’s official address for this purpose indicates a clear intention to associate authorship of the reduction with the President. (HINT: What I offer you is not quite the result of the slump of crude price in the global market: It originated from the bosom of the man in residence. This is a gift from the President, an early Valentine gift from a presidential candidate standing for re-election to his people.)

    Credit to whom it is due, the President’s camp got the stagecraft right. The reduction would have had little impact if the minister had broken the news in her office, as is in a normal press conference. But this was an extraordinary press conference. And who could fail to imagine the quantity of ballots that may be given as payback to the President if the public is led to believe that the good news sprung from the sheer magnanimity of Goodluck Jonathan!

    The results of Jonathan’s transformational leadership often escape his faculty of recall, which is why he is often seen on live TV begging a rally to vote for him because he suspects that his main challenger cannot memorize a phone number.  With this development, Jonathan, the one whose aides once claimed brought Facebook to Nigeria, may now begin to add that he is the leader who gave us the law of gravity.

    People often joke that what goes up never gets to come down in Nigeria.  The price of goods rise and keep rising. But has he not performed the unprecedented feat of pulling down the price of petrol from a higher altitude?

    He and his team will put this N10 change under a magnifying glass and describe it exaggeratedly. They will have this branded as a product of never-before-heard alchemy.

    But the more discerning know nobody did us any favor. We were entitled to the reduction. And that reduction should have happened as matter of cause and effect. In reality, we should have started buying a litre of fuel with less money at about the same time other humans elsewhere began to enjoy cheaper fuel.

    And that brings us to question of why we were made to lag behind the rest of humanity in this lower fuel price season. Did our President think that we didn’t deserve to share in this global behind?  Was he so reluctant that he was left alone, the only leader who would not approve a decrease?

    Even when President Jonathan came around to “doing it”, he grudged to exercise himself in not-my-will tokenism.  He approved only N10 reduction. By his own measure of proportion, even the theft of a sum of money that could have purchased a Peugeot car doesn’t make a thief. So he settled for the most contemptible amount that appealed to him.

    On a personal level, the announcement caused me grievous embarrassment.  At first, the impression I got was that the government was just out to mock. How could you purport to be responding to the global price and serve the people such deplorable trifle?

    For one, the margin of reduction does not bear close resemblance to the degree of the fall of crude price. Ten naira does not, in any way, represent the remotest approximation of the percentage that should have been shaved off the fuel pump price if the price adjustment was truly meant to reflect the prevailing market trend.

    The gesture presents itself as a patronizing appeasement, a concession granted to force silence. It is a callous and conceited reply to the query: Why are Nigerians barred from tasting cheaper fuel even when other people have begun to take it for granted?

    It was a pacifier shoved into the mouth of a protesting child.

    You asked for a decrease in fuel pump price: here is it. Will you now keep quiet or research another reason to keep blackmailing the Presidency?

    The other time, the Jonathan administration ambushed us with a fuel price hike on the dawn of a new year. And the whole country erupted into spontaneous anger. The timing and the scale of the increment melted the divisive identities of the people and united them as clusters of families across the states of the federation. The very air that hung over Nigeria became so agitated with fury and voices.

    The matter was subsequently resolved in the interest of public peace and motion. The whole country had ground to a halt.

    But the resolution did not touch the fundamental issues. Three years after, our refineries still run below capacity. We still import finished petroleum products. The fuel subsidy cabal still thrives.

  • Is Jonathan Nigeria’s problem?

    The buck, we are told, stops at the table of the leader. That said, a country turns out to be great only when the people in it elect to make it so. I have observed with keen interest the condemnation President Jonathan gets from Nigerians these days – and he has had a measure from me as well, but I am baffled at some criticisms which I figure are not envisioned to campaign for social justice especially since some of these decriers fail to take zealotry (religion) out of their schisms.

    His lacklustre performance so far notwithstanding, I refuse to believe that he alone is responsible for the state of affairs of our country as it is at the moment. We are all as guilty as this president.

    Compare his advisers to that of developed climes and you will wonder if they truly have the interest of Nigeria at heart. Most political analysts see them as people only interested in feeding fat from the national cake, particularly with the combative way in which they engage the opposition.

    In contrast, during the Richard Nixon Watergate scandal, two of his principal presidential aid and defence lawyers Fred Buzhardt and Leonard Garment did what no persons had done before that moment: they asked President Nixon to resign due to the overwhelming evidence against him over the Watergate scandal. Can any of President Jonathan’s advisers show the same courage to tell him to his face that he has underachieved?

    Why is it that we hear that the resignation of top individuals from a party leaves the party ruined without a structure, needing the persona of other individuals to help bring it to life? Isn’t it outrageous and pathetic that our parties are centered on individuals and may not last beyond these individuals? How is President Jonathan responsible for the politics of anointment by states’ chief executives that have seen many of these endorsing wives and kinfolks to seek elective offices without grooming and recruiting capable candidates with widely-held support?

    I watched a CNN feature interview directed by Nick Robertson recently where soldiers recounted the distressing experiences they face in the fight against insurgency. They even have to buy their kits as revealed, but that is not news. Most Nigerians know that the armed forces are underfunded. What is stupefying is why no high-ranking senior officer has had the guts to spill the beans and step down, on moral and ethical principles. I recall with nostalgia the spat between General Victor Malu and President Olusegun Obasanjo over the latter’s directive that a US intelligence unit should have unrestricted access to our intelligence facility but that General refused, leading to his ousting from the army as reported at the time. Do we still have officers with guts and have they chosen to be political or apolitical?

    Whatever happened to our civil society groups after the end of military rule? Do they still passionately charge leaders to deliver electoral undertakings to the people and also stir up the youths from their state of disinterest for national growth?

    Isn’t it true that Nigeria is quickly becoming a place where people hide under the cloak of religion to promote hatred and the condemnation of people of other faiths? Instead of religious leaders to campaign for concerns that will be beneficial to their members, they now either prophecy that candidates will win or lose. How such predictions help our body politic remains an open question.

    The world woke up recently to the shocking news that 17 lives were lost in France to terrorist acts. It was really sad news for people who truly value life and humanity. What I found interesting was the bi-partisan meeting that was held immediately by President Francois Hollande and former President Nicolas Sarkozy who is now a leading opposition figure.

    There was no trading of blame, brickbats and bedlam like we have here with our political class that have all failed to rise above partisanship for the growth of Nigeria. You could see two great statesmen who care for their nation rousing citizens to stay united and not be cowed by terrorism and to fight against it in their homeland and also to stay alert. But in Nigeria, it took our president forever and a day to visit Maiduguri, leading many to assume that people who die in the northeast regrettably are lowlifes who do not matter. Little wonder Odumegwu Ojukwu said, Nigerians “suffer from selective amnesia,” and when they chose to remember, suffer from “selective myopia”. If not, how come the members representing these constituencies in the Senate and House of Representatives have not resigned their offices to protest the government’s grotesque abandonment of their people who fall prey to the killing machine of the ‘Haramists.’? Have we ever heard of resignations in those houses to protest the maladministration of this regime?

    Didn’t we read in the press that the ACF has chosen to endorse General Buhari because it is the policy of the outfit to endorse northerners for election even when concessions and merger made this development possible? And given our country’s need for a reawakening, should we still be encouraging regional prejudices to fester?

    The debates in the House of Commons entices youths in the United Kingdom to be politicians and to play an active role in that country’s national life but ours has been unexciting and mind-numbing at the national level, while some state assemblies remain closed, others have their members hounded out of the state and our office-bearers are yet to groom young people to be good citizens by their own good conduct.

    Did the elders from the Niger Delta not play politics with the carrying off of the Chibok girls by misleading this president that there was never an abduction which made him to act 21 days after when it was too late? And even after videotapes revealed that they were abducted, some of them still hold this deceptive viewpoint.

    Many years into democratic rule, most states do not have active developmental plans, technocrats are not employed but acquaintances, and the government remains the highest employer of labour instead of the private sector and machineries of state have been used to stifle opposition that is relevant in a democracy. How is the President responsible for all of these contradictions?

    It would require a long epistle to describe the tumble-down federal civil service where the practice of engaging people to boards of government organizations without recourse to national experience and age is widespread which till now is responsible for the lack of the development and implementation of rolling plans in the country.

    Why are the DSS and the Police not able to prevent ill-feelings before they aggravate? Why haven’t they been able to prevent gun-running so unparalleled in our history that youths now dare to kill as often as reported in the press these days?

    We are as guilty as this president for the decay Nigeria finds herself in and it is binding on all of us to rebuild her.

     

    •  Abah writes from Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • Okowa’s Delta plan

    As transitions go, the unity of purpose and inclusiveness in the PDP politics of Delta State is remarkable even if it is not sometimes recognized such. After a fierce governorship primary in the party, the coming together of majority of the contestants and their followers to work and to promote a common front in the February general election is a masterstroke in political bridge-building.  Credit should naturally go to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and other political leaders for making this happen.

    In so many ways, Ifeanyi Okowa, the PDP candidate, represents the natural trajectory in the future of Delta State; a modern, progressive, inclusive state, a success story in overcoming the artificial barriers and fault lines of the state.

    With over 17 years’ experience in politics rising from council chairman, through several political offices as commissioners for health, water resources, agriculture and natural resources and secretary to the state government, including a second elective office as Delta North Senator, Okowa’s evolution has taken an instructive path that is structured for success.

    What is apparent from this political narrative is that Okowa understands politics and he definitely understands Delta State. Much of his success has perhaps to do with his approach and style of politics. His common touch, human empathy, attention to detail and deep understanding of the dynamics of politics and resolute commitment to his goal has served him well.

    At the tactical level, Okowa is clearly a politician who knows how to exploit weaknesses and can construct a strong system. This is not as simple as it may seem; because in the power contest, to grasp very quickly where the weaknesses lay and at the same time husband your own resources in effective way to take advantage of a given opportunity are key elements that can decide the game. If anything is Okowa’s secret arsenal, that may well be it.

    Against great odds, Okowa has always found ways to triumph. His playbook is an interesting one and should become something of real interest to Deltans should he win the governorship on February 28, which in all likelihood is his to lose given the dynamics. Yet if his evolution is anything to go, it is unlikely that he is sitting on his oars. He knows there remains many mine fields.

    Lest this article gives the impression that Okowa’s interest is about power and how to organize to win it, his views on Delta, governance and the economics of the state is quite thought-provoking and reassuring in terms of a strong desire to consolidate on the existing successes of the Uduaghan administration. In many ways, Okowa’s ideas can be said to be an off-shoot of the Uduaghan programme. It has to be, considering that for nearly four years of Uduaghan’s administration, Okowa was secretary to the state government.

    His focus on inclusive growth, industrialization, job creation, agro-based industrial sector, urban renewal, human capital development, environment protection, is just the right emphasis that will secure the future of Delta state. Just like ‘Delta beyond Oil’, the economic aims of Okowa is directed at diversification and promotion of non-oil based economy. Actually in the light of recent crash in crude oil prices, it makes very little sense if not the height of foolishness to seek to build the economy of Delta State on oil, even with the abundance of this resource here.

    Okowa is not looking in that direction. This is good news.  For instance, on the issue of industrialization, he says: “The state under the outgoing administration has embarked upon certain large industrial activities such as the Warri industrial Business Park, Asaba ICT Park, Free Economic zones and 10 small scale industries under Public/ Private Partnership scheme. If completed by 2015, my administration shall accelerate the positive challenges that these mega industrial activities will offer. If not fully completed, I shall see to it that these valuable economic activities are duly completed, and engage the private sector effectively to drive commerce and grow industries.”

    This statement speaks to consolidation of policies, which is a good thing from the point of view of the resources that are already invested in it and the opportunities that these initiatives will bring. If Delta State is to make progress in tackling challenges of development, it is the ability of different administrations to understand and pursue a policy of continuity that will make that possible. The idea of discontinuing what a preceding administration had done simply because it will appear as if credit for a success will now be shared instead of looking into the merit and value of a given initiative is the sort of small-minded thinking that should have no place in serious leadership.

    Happily Okowa is showing that he is big in his thinking. Clearly for him, what is important is Delta State and how to advance its development. I also like the fact that he is talking about agriculture and industrialization in a very constructive manner. He says “Delta state has tremendous potential in agriculture. My administration will pursue multiple strategies that will boost agriculture produce and encourage free market for raw materials and foodstuffs. Our asset-based economic growth strategy will engender inclusive growth, job creation, and re-birth of local communities.”

    This sort of thinking will surely lift Delta State on the path of balanced growth and development. Okowa’s emphasis in agriculture is the sure pathway of investing in the local communities and by this usher in the sort of real grass root development the state has been yearning for. Having once straddled the ministries of agriculture and water resources, Okowa surely have great insights on the challenges ahead in these two sectors, which are central to any meaningful development.

    In addition, Okowa has always been a man with grass root interest perhaps that has to do with how he developed his political career from the local government council as secretary to the local council. So he, from the early stages of his political development understood the needs of the people at the grass roots. It is obvious the lessons he picked up then, he had retained which explains why in Delta State, Okowa has wide grass root followership.

    Now is the time to pay back to the people their loyalty to him. With his current thinking, it is clear he has his mind in the right direction. He wants to bring prosperity to the grassroots and he wants to make the people feel a part of the Delta dream. With four years ahead of him with victory at the polls, there is no debating the direction he will move. Delta State PDP is excited with his candidacy. He is definitely readying himself to build on what is on ground.

    Yet, no one expects that the dynamism of the Okowa plan is not going to be different, even if on some issues he shares similar views with Governor Uduaghan. That in itself is not a bad thing. In life the only thing constant is change.

     

    • Odili, a member of Delta state PDP media and publicity campaign committee, wrote in from Asaba, Delta State.
  • Muhammad Ali: Down, but not out

    Muhammad Ali: Down, but not out

    LATE last year, the world’s best known sportsman and mostrecoganised face, Muhammad Ali, was hospitalized. The whole world held its breath praying to God to spare the life of the greatest boxer that has ever lived. Our prayers were answered a fortnight ago when Ali was released from a United States of America, his home country, hospital after a urinary infection had been treated by doctors. Today, Saturday, 17th January, 2015, the fastest most quick-witted, most handsome and first three – time world heavyweight boxing champion, Ali, is 73 years old. May Allah (SWT) spare his remarkable life for more years. Amen. Ali, was a phenomenon in the ring. There has been no athlete/ sportsman or woman who held the whole world in awe since he quit boxing in 1982. His story in and outside the ring is that of faith, courage, skill, determination and creativity conquering poverty, bigotry, fear and oppression. I am a long-standing fan of Ali, from the time he burst on the world’s consciousness in 1964. You remember his unbelievable defeat of Sonny Liston against all odds, to become the youngest world heavyweight boxing champion at 22 years. That yet – to – be – equalled feat of Ali made good his boasts of “I am the Greatest. I will defeat the ugly bear (Liston)”. When another star, this time in music and on our soil, Ebenezer Fabiyi Obey alias “Chief Commander”, clocked 60 years on 3rd April, 2002, I wrote a diamond jubilee birthday tribute in honour of Ali and Obey, titled “Obey the Ali in you”, which was published in some national dailies (For ease of reference, The Comet on Sunday newspaper issue of 21st April, 2002). The stories of thee two icons, Ali in boxing, Obey in music, are similar and exemplary. To mark Ali’s 73rd birthday today, I recall my 2002 tribute (below) to him. “The fulcrum of this piece is an exhortation to the individual to obey his or her inner voice urging the body to actualize those noble dreams that will add value to life, as exemplified by two of the world’s great stars, Muhammad Ali, the boxing legend and the former “Chief Commander” of juju (miliki) music, now turned evangelist, Dr. Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi. These two talented persons, aside from divine grace, actualized their dreams through the mastery of their different arts, hardwork, self-confidence, creativity plus the breakthrough given by their different motivators – a police officer/boxing coach for Ali, and a recording company chief executive for Obey. “Ali clocked 60 last January, while Obey coincidentally attained the same age on the 3rd of this month (April 2002). Their age is a period in life when any good dream ought to have been realized, or be within easy grasp in a Godly, orderly and progressive setting. Satisfied that they have made good marks in their different professional callings, Ali and Evangelist (Dr) Obey- Fabiyi have retired and today are fishers of men for God. Salvation of mankind and the kingdom hereafter are now the main pre-occupation of both men as Ali is an Islamic minister while Dr. Obey-Fabiyi heads an evangelical ministry. I am, however, weaving this piece round the lives of the two in their hey days in the ring and on stage. “As I said earlier and going by its title, this piece is to fire the zeal of future stars out there who, presently are unknown and helpless like Ali and Obey once were before providence smiled on them, leading both men to their destined ports of fame and fortune. “First, Muhammad Ali. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on January 17, 1942 in Loiusville, Kentucky, United States of America, the world’s best recognized face was steered to his destiny by a theft incident. One day in 1954, aged 12, he had been riding around on his new bike bought for him by his father as a Christmas present. Also riding around with the young Cassius, on his own bike, was Johnny Willis, his closest friend. A heavy rain terminated the two young boys fun on their bikes, and in want of something else to do, Cassius and his friend headed for an auditorium where the annual bazaar, the “Louisville Home Show”, for African- Americans in business was being held. They were attracted particularly to the show because the poster read that free popcorn and hot dogs would be served. “By the time the two young friends thought they had their fill and wanted to go home, Cassius’ bicycle had been stolen! In their search for the bike, someone told the boys to go downstairs to the gym in the auditorium, where a policeman, Mr. Joe Elsby Martin, was training some boxers. They followed the advice. In the gym, Cassius was told by the policeman/trainer to lodge a formal complaint which he (Mr. Martin) wrote down. The future world heavyweight boxing champion boasted that he would “whup” the person who stole his bicycle even “if the guy is an adult”. The 12 – year old (Cassius) confidence made Mr. Martin to ask if he was a boxer or learning the art. But Cassius replied in the negative repeating his earlier boast to “whup” (beat) the thief. And according to Ali in his autobiography, “The Greatest,” as he was about to go, Mr. Martin tapped him on the shoulder and gave him an application form in case he was interested in joining the gym where they boxed every night, Mondays to Fridays. “The sight, sounds and smell of the boxing gym excited the young Cassius so much that he started to dream. Hear him. “I can see myself telling my next door neighbor, ‘I am getting ready to fight for the heavyweight title of the world, and coming back the next night to say, ‘I am now the heavyweight champion of the world!” It did come to pass. One thing did not just lead to another, determination, rigorous training, strategic planning and faith in God culminated into turning a young, poor boy to the man who would break all known records in boxing, if not sports history. Ali brought science, beauty, money and a yet – to – be – equalled dignity to the game of brain, blood and brutality called boxing. Sad to see what’s happening to the game now. “The generations who watched Ali “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” in the ’60s and ’70s would not dismiss his claim of being the greatest boxer that has ever lived. What about his beautiful poems and wisecracks which led to a professorship offer by a British University, and the uncanny predictions of the round his many opponents would fall. As a good sportsman and world champion, Ali, never in his career, hit his opponents below the belt or after the bell had gone. He was a decent boxer. “I have watched all his recorded fights – thanks partly to the late Segun Oyedele of the NTA, Ibadan. Ali won the first richest prize in sports. He was the first and only boxer in history to have won the world heavyweight title thrice. Ali did not stop at boxing, he became a champion of human rights. His refusal, based on religious/personal beliefs, to be conscripted into the US Army to fight in VietNam in 1967 with the now famous quip, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong” endeared him to millions all over the USA and the world. I was a signatory to the worldwide call to the US-based World Boxing Authority which stripped Ali of his title from 1967-70 to rescind its decision. His draft refusal and the eventual victory at the USA Supreme Court which ordered the restoration of his title and the release of his boxing licence, to some extent, pricked the conscience of the USA and her eventual withdrawal from the VietNam war. “Today, Ali is an international peace ambassador, an icon for the ‘can do’ attitude in addition to being a philanthropist and symbol of pride for millions of oppressed people of the world. “There has never been anyone else in any other sport remotely near him”, wrote British television interviewer, Michael Parkinson. Today, ironically, a disease described as the Parkinson Syndrome, has slowed down Ali in speech and movement, but not his spirit of adding value to life.” “In Ali’s former camp, posterity will record in gold names, such as Mr. Martin, the policeman/trainer, Angelo Dundee, Ali’s coach, Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown, the cornerman with the ready yells of “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”, Mr. Elijah Muhammad, Ali’s spiritual mentor and Herbert Muhammad, the photographer who managed Ali’s purse”. Yes, indeed Parkinson Syndrome and other old age ailments might have slowed Ali down, but he is not out. If I may play on a pun, by saying that Ali was one boxer who never, not even once, failed to come out of his corner to answer the bell calling for the start of a boxing round. The whole world loves Ali and we pray for his well-being. Muhammad Ali, down but not out. Happy birthday, Champ. •Oloye ’Lekan Alabi, D. Litt (h.c), Aare Alaasa Olubadan of Ibadanland

  • Ambode: The strategist Lagos needs

    Everyone has the legitimate right to aspire to serve in any political office or position in a democracy provided he has not been convicted in a court of law.  However, at all times, conscious efforts must be made to ensure the emergence of the best candidate for the polity to enjoy the benefit of a good leader.  The onus rests on the voters to actually elect a worthy leader for the state or nation.

    Currently, Akinwunmi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress and Jimi Agbaje are busy selling themselves to electorates across the length and breadth of Lagos State with a view to getting the approval of the voter to become governor of the State of Excellence in the elections slated for February.

    Beyond emerging as the party’s flag bearers, each passing day, Nigerians in general and Lagosians in particular, are striving to see what these men bring to table to lead the commercial capital of the nation in terms of experience and competencies beyond the stoic desire to lead Lagos for the next four years.

    Agbaje, 57 has been at the political treadmill since 2005 and has contested for the position of Lagos State governor two times, going for his third while his archrival, Ambode is making his first attempt. Agbaje is a 1978 graduate of pharmacy from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). He was a practising pharmacist with over three decades before he veered into politics. “I started my pharmacy on the shopping floor, which is about the community- people, customers, and patients. Therefore, you find that you are dealing with your environment. So, going into politics is just an extension”, he says indicating how close he has been in touch with the grassroots.

    By comparison, Ambode seems to have a more robust career, focus and landmark accomplishments. Born on June 14, 1963, he is an accomplished accountant, an administrator and a public finance management expert. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Brandsmiths Consulting Limited – a firm with specialisation in public sector finance management.

    He had a sterling career in the civil service where he rose to become the Accountant-General and held many sensitive financial positions in the Lagos State government in a 27-year career in the Lagos State Civil Service.

    He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management. His desire to give back to the society is expressed in his founding the La Roche Leadership Foundation, a non-profit organisation focused on developing the next generation of leaders.

    Ambode began his education at St. Jude’s Primary School, Ebute Meta, Lagos in 1969. Always brilliant, in 1974, while still in Primary five, he sat for the National Common Entrance Examinations and excelled and was admitted to Federal Government College, Warri in the same year. He spent seven years in Warri, where he completed his Ordinary and Advanced Levels and had the distinction of achieving the second best result in all of West Africa in the Higher School Certificate Examinations in 1981.

    He then proceeded to the University of Lagos where he studied Accounting, graduating at the age of 21 in 1984. He completed his mandatory National Youth Service Corps year serving with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sokoto, Sokoto State, where he started his relationship with public service.

    After his NYSC, he commenced his career at the Lagos State Waste Disposal Board (now LAWMA) as Accountant Grade II. He enrolled for Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) examinations and at the same time was awarded a Federal Government scholarship to pursue a Masters Degree in Accounting at the University of Lagos. By the time he turned 24, he had qualified as a Chartered Accountant and had completed his Masters Degree programme in Accounting, specialising in Financial Management.

    His career was fast-tracked and in 1988, he was appointed the Assistant Treasurer, Badagry Local Government. In 1991, he was posted to Shomolu Local Government as Auditor. He was later deployed to Alimosho Local Government as Council Treasurer. Ambode was posted back to Shomolu as Council Treasurer and later on to Mushin Local Government as Council Treasurer. He crisscrossed many Local Government Councils in different roles in a 10-year period, which has equipped him with a first-hand experience of the direct impact of governance on the citizenry across the State.

    In 1998, Ambode was awarded the US Fulbright Scholarship for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship programme, in Boston University, Massachusetts, USA. His Fellowship Year was spent studying Public Leadership with emphasis on Finance and Accounting. During this programme, he had professional internships at The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Cabinet Office of Administration and Finance (Governor’s Office), and City of Boston Treasury Office as well as with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

    On his return from the programme, Ambode became acting the Auditor-General for the Local Governments, Lagos State. This position was confirmed by the State House of Assembly in 2001.

    In January 2005, he was redeployed to mainstream public service as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. By February 2006, he was given the added responsibility of Accountant General for Lagos State, in charge of all the financial activities of the state and directly responsible for over 1400 accountants in the state service. Under his watch, the State Treasury Office (STO) revolutionised the way Lagos State finances were raised, budgeted, managed and planned. In his six-year tenure as the Accountant General of Lagos State, the state’s financial performance improved visibly with the budget performing at a remarkable average of 85% annually.

    This high rate of performance stems from Ambode’s personal belief that “public financial management is about ensuring that public money is well spent and it is made to stretch as far as possible. It provides leaders and public-sector managers with information to make decisions and to know if they are using resources effectively”.

    He voluntarily retired in August 2012 after 27 years of service and founded Brandsmiths Consulting Limited, a public finance consultancy group.

    As a stickler for high performance whose  decisions are never based on race, gender or religion, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress [APC} in Lagos State in his manifesto promised, to set up a four-year N25 billion trust fund to cater for unemployed people in the state under  the Lagos Employment Trust Fund (LETF). The fund would provide a minimum of N1 billion naira annually for entrepreneurial ventures across the state’s five divisions of Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos and Epe.

    As a financial management expert, he also plans to protect the growth of small and medium scale enterprises by providing tax incentives: “we will implement government policies that will encourage the private sector to employ more citizens and foster economic development”.

    Also of critical importance in his plans are the issues of health, education and housing. For education, Ambode’s administration if elected says, “would provide free education up to senior secondary level, as well as provide one meal per day for students while bursary and scholarship initiatives for tertiary institutions will executed in partnership with the private sector as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.”

    His housing plans is a bit more revolutionary as plans to improve the state’s current policy of home ownership through Lagos HOMS and provide ownership options, such as Rent-to-Own-Programme (R.O.P).

    “We will encourage the creation of a Corporate Social Responsibility Trust Fund (CSR-TF) by the private sector, to be managed by a Board of Trustees charged with the responsibility of identifying growth opportunities yearly and financing such opportunities to further boost economic development across sectors and communities in the State.”

    Good luck is when opportunity meets with preparedness; therefore determining where the pendulum swings should not be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. It is obvious in this situation that one is more prepared than the other.  Ambode’s career trajectory, work and life experiences, revolutionary vision and open mindedness make him the better choice of the two for the job of leading Lagos in the nest political dispensation.

    • Adewale is a public affairs analyst

  • Elections and the imperative of peace

    It is heart-warming that the two leading candidates in the February presidential elections, President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, as well as other candidates, have made public commitment to embracing peace before, during and after the elections. It is particularly noteworthy that the President Jonathan and General Buhari openly embraced and shook hands at the event while also mutually openly denouncing violence in their respective speeches. This commitment to peace was made at a recent workshop on how to ensure violence-free elections held in Abuja. The event, which was chaired by former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, also had in attendance a former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Anan and some representatives of the country’s registered political parties.

    The resolution of political parties and their leaders to toe the line of peace is especially momentous in view of the several acts of violence, arson, thuggery and the ensuing tension that have pervaded the political landscape of recent. Now that the major gladiators in the political process have openly pledged to uphold the peace, it is expected that their teeming supporters across the country would equally see the wisdom in toeing same line. It has been stated, over and over again, that elections should not be a do or die affair. If the overriding interest of all aspiring public office holders, as they often make us to believe, is to better the lives of Nigerians, it would be contradictory for them to turn the political scene into an orgy of violence. Doing this would only compound the woes of the people as violence could further complicate the economic and security troubles of the country.

    Going down memory lanes, our previous attempts at democracy were hampered by acts of violence that engulfed the electoral process. In the First Republic, the ‘wild wild west’ chaos and other such political violence that followed the 1965 general elections heralded the coming of the military. A series of events that followed eventually culminated in the civil war (1967-70), whose wounds are yet to be completely healed. In the Second Republic, yet another attempt at entrenching democracy in the country was bungled, partly as a result of the tension and crisis that followed the 1983 general elections, which were widely believed to be heavily rigged in favour of the then ruling National Party of Nigeria, NPN.

    It took us another 15 years, from 1984 to1999 to be precise, before we could have another go at democracy. Presently, we have had an unprecedented 14 years of un-interrupted civil rule. This should be enough motivation for principal actors in the political process and all stakeholders to play according to the rules. Doing anything to the contrary would only make a mess of whatever gains we have made in the past years, in our bid to build a virile democratic culture. This is why it is vital that political parties and, indeed, all concerned Nigerians, must maintain decorum in all they do, with regards to the coming elections, so that the future of the nation’s democracy will not be jeopardised.

    The elections, therefore, offer us another huge platform to get things right. We should no longer hide under the usual pretext of a ‘nascent democracy’ to do things crudely. This is the time to get it right. The only interest that should be paramount in the ensuing political contest should be that of the country. It is not in anyone’s interest for the country to be engulfed in crisis because of election; something that is a mere routine in other climes. We have had enough of bloodshed in the country. In the past four years, we have lost too many innocent souls to the criminal activities of insurgents. It is, therefore, irrational to adjoin political turmoil to the growing lists of our national troubles. In the 21st century, killing or maiming people in the name of an election portends backwardness and barbarism. If relatively smaller and less endowed neighbouring countries could conduct peaceful and credible elections, it behoves on the most populous Black Country in the world to demonstrate the needed political leadership, worthy of emulation across the continent.

    However, it is often said, there can be no peace when justice is compromised. It is, thus, very crucial for INEC and the various security agencies to be fair to all in the coming elections. From past experiences, the inability of past electoral umpires to conduct fair and credible elections had been largely responsible for the resultant chaos that trails the outcome of previous elections. Hence, INEC’s officials, at all levels, must not compromise the electoral process. The vote of every Nigerian must be made to count. Same goes for the security agencies. It is unethical for security agencies to display partisan tendencies while overseeing the conduct of a national election. The police, in particular, should be civil and impartial in their conduct before, during and after the coming elections. Their allegiance should be solely to the country, and not any parochial political interest.

    Universally, peace is a vital precondition for development. Without peace, no meaningful development could take place in a chaotic atmosphere. According to Martin Luther King, “peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” It is, therefore, essential that the media, political parties, civil society organisations, the academia, faith based organisations, electoral monitoring groups, NGOs and other related bodies come up with well streamlined political education and enlightenment campaigns that would centre on the need to embrace peace in the political process. As it has been rightly highlighted, irrespective of our varying political leanings, we remain brothers and sisters living in the same house. It, hence, behoves on us to ensure that the house does not collapse. It will be foolhardy to do otherwise. Long live Nigeria.

     

    • Ogunbiyi is of Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Babangida Aliyu’s new morality

    While inaugurating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial campaign committee of his state, self-styled Chief Servant of Niger State, Governor Babangida Aliyu was reported to have remarked to his new ‘disciples’ that their first task was to win the state for the party at all costs in the coming elections. Aliyu, in his own words said; “If you cannot lie, get out of politics. Anything you are involved in has its own rule. You are in politics to win, win first and let other things follow. Don’t be the one crying louder lest you will be the one they will take to court. If you are talking of honesty or morals, go and become an Imam or Pastor. Politics cannot be the way it used to be. The challenges are more now, the variables have changed….Our society is not as grateful as it used to be, the values and morals have gone down. If you want to win, use the modern morality.”

    While the statement was indeed loaded with everything that a public figure such as a governor must never say in public, it should not be entirely surprising that it came out of the PDP camp. After all, we had been warned on several occasions that the party would rule for at least 60 years as far back as when the party was barely four years into coming to power at the federal level. You may call these pronouncements their moments of delirium or naïve optimism, but they probably must have perfected something towards the realization of this objective, no matter how sinister, appalling, ridiculous, despicable, and nauseating – going against all the tenets and norms of democracy. But for the statement to have emanated from none other than Babangida Aliyu who was, not too long ago, among the PDP stalwarts that formed the ‘New PDP’ because they told the world, himself in particular, that they jumped the ‘old PDP’ ship because it had lost the moral anchor upon which it was founded requires further interrogation.

    From the surface, Aliyu’s statement should no doubt draw the ire of those nostalgic Nigerians who may still retain the ‘old and medieval morality’ in their DNA, which is no longer suitable for the current Nigerian reality. These custodians of the ‘old morality’ are now being made to realize, by Aliyu, that the societal mores as the glue that binds and sustains the human community, which prevents their lives from being nasty, brutish and short, where the people ‘eat’ their own kind are of no value. But if one is to dissect Aliyu’s every word, phrase, and sentence in the statement, one cannot but feel sorry for the man. He may actually be crying out for help not only that he may be saved from himself, but also that the country may be saved from his likes before it is too late.

    Nigeria is no doubt in a big mess. It is believed that the rot in which the system is mired is fundamentally structural, which can consequently be fixed with the leadership that is endowed with vision and noble ideals. But the moral depravity into which the people have sunk, as exemplified by some of their behavioral pattern, and as encapsulated by Aliyu, is completely a different matter. It’s hard to see how the society can really thrive if this moral decay is not quickly arrested. Otherwise, why should an occupier of a seat that embodies order, justice, and equity in a society make such a patently egregious public statement and still be called the chief of state? In developed societies, Governor Aliyu would have been history in the government house by now, having been forced out by the sheer weight of his own moral burden to continue in office. Or he would have been forced to resign by the people for desecrating their unwritten but psychically ingrained moral codes. These societies are called “developed” not only because of the physical infrastructures of the road networks, bridges, monuments, skyscrapers that adorns their landscapes, or their institutions that works unceasingly almost with precision but more so because of those intangible but noble, societal ideals they all subscribe to and fervently aspiring towards. A violation of any of the ideals by those entrusted with public office is therefore met with swift retribution. No ifs and buts about it. This is the real reason why they’re more evolved. Our own president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has admitted – probably without realizing it – that even our close ‘cousins’, the South Africans, are more evolved than us when he referred to them in his presidential flag-off speech in Lagos as the “superior power.” This was in reference to the system that kept Henry Okah behind bars in that country. By implication, our president believes that the government he heads is inferior to the South African government. Our condition cannot get any more depressingly pathetic than that.

    Yet, we must interrogate Aliyu’s statement for whatever it’s worth. Telling members of his committee to get out of politics if they cannot lie should not set us on the edge of our seats. It is already a given that a significant part of the stock-in-trade of politicians (even the world over) is to lie. Thus if a politician promises to build bridges, give generous tax breaks, build schools, and provide boreholes to a multitude with diverse interests but eventually built just the bridges and gave the tax breaks, he has done well by those who needed the bridges to commute as well as those who would reap financial windfalls from the tax breaks. But to those looking forward to the schools for their wards, and others already thirsty for potable water but got neither, the politician had lied. Contestants enter a game because they wanted to win but how far each contestant would go to achieve his ultimate goal, including contemptuously violating the rules of the game becomes a question him alone must come to terms with. If the integrity of the game, his own values and morals matter to him, he would contest within the confine of the rules and still see himself a ‘winner’ even if he had lost. But if these virtues are insignificant to him and sees morality as belonging to the dogs, he would go to any length to extract a win, by hook or crook. Babangida Aliyu is in the league of these latter contestants.

    His advice that the committee should “go and become an Imam or Pastor” if they want to talk “honesty or morals” was indicative of a very desperate man. He probably shouldn’t have used Nigeria’s Imam or Pastor as the embodiment of “honesty or morals” because they too, as collectives, are hopelessly compromised members of society. A monk would have been apt. Again, where in any developed societies would they have a man still presiding over a national religious body whose aircraft was involved in illegal cash haulage and arms procurement? Aliyu’s sermon that “Politics cannot be the way it used to be” because “the challenges are more now” and “the variables have changed” was indeed very instructive. We should ask, what makes him think that “politics cannot be the way it used to be”?

    Why are the challenges more and who is to blame? Has the Chief Servant reflected on why “our society is not as grateful as it used to be” because “the values and morals have gone down”? Whose fault? Aliyu’s injunction to his ‘disciples’ that they should “use the modern morality” if they “want to win” may well be the mother lode of this statement. The problem is that the Chief Servant fell short of informing us what this “modern morality” entails. What are its attributes? We need to know all this so that those of us who are still ‘trapped’ in the old and medieval morality may convert to this new and improved “modern morality”. But by deductive reasoning, Aliyu’s brand of “modern morality” cannot be a social ‘good’ because it is inherently full of vices. It therefore ceases to be called morality. It can either be immorality or amorality. Or it can be a cross between the two. This is what the Chief Servant of Niger State wants the indigenes of his state in particular, and Nigerians in general to have as their new and modern moral compass. A leader cannot get any more depraved than this.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com