The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Too many cooks

    •Plans by security agencies to deploy 360,000 men for polls may be counter-productive

    Conduct of elections could be the primary function of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but other agencies of state are involved in ensuring that things go well and the results are generally accepted. For example, we have the security agencies that are to ensure provision of adequate security. It is not just about the quantity, but the quality. How many are deployed for the purpose; how well are they equipped; what training did they receive and who coordinates inter-agency relationships? These had posed great challenges in the past.

    At a training workshop in Abuja, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Suleiman Abba, and the Commandant-General of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Ade Abolurin, disclosed that 300,000 police officers and men, and 60,000 NSCDC operatives would be sent to the states to provide security cover at polling units and collation centres on election days. The IGP said those to be used for the purpose had been specially trained and were awaiting instructions. He had also released manuals to guide all policemen that would be used for the purpose.

    On the surface, this appears laudable, especially with the involvement of INEC in the training and coordination of the agencies. But, the number of men and materials being deployed is enough to frighten people and could be counter-productive. Is election being equated to war? At the level of polling units in the country, there would, on the average, be about three operatives, many armed, for every unit. Yet, the United Nations has advised that armed men be kept away from voting centres as their presence could intimidate voters. The security chiefs should be reminded that voting is a civic responsibility of all qualified citizens and the net of participation should be made as wide as possible.

    Apart from the police and the NSCDC that have made their plans known, other security agencies usually drafted for election work are yet to speak out. The Department of State Security (DSS) is usually involved as are the Armed Forces, the Prison Service and the Department of Customs. Releasing all the men would amount to overdramatising what is at stake and suggesting that elections in Nigeria are as deadly as war. If the police plan to release 300,000, what remains for the important purpose of securing other important sectors of the society on those days, and at what cost?

    It is even the more frightening that the NSCDC plans to bring in 25 dogs from the United States of America. How many Nigerians would be so committed to dare ferocious dogs by moving close to areas where they are deployed? Political participation is the soul of democracy. It has always been said that turnout at elections in Nigeria is usually low, sometimes below 50 per cent of registered voters. At a point when voter card production and distribution remain great challenges and are capable of disenfranchising many would-be voters, measures that could keep those with the Permanent Voter Cards away from the centres should be avoided.

    We are also worried about effective coordination of the agencies. INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, has disclosed that the commission would be involved in ensuring that the operatives conduct themselves in acceptable manner. However, the fact that the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) is a co-chairman bogs the mind as his recent utterances tend to paint the picture of a man who lacks faith in the process.

    As is the case in India, the capacity of the electoral commission to fully take responsibility for the conduct and management of elections should be boosted before the next general elections. All agencies and operatives deployed for election purpose should abide by rules and guidelines drawn up by the electoral commission and should subordinate themselves to the body throughout the period of electioneering.

  • Peace accord and its question marks

    SIR: Since the signing of the peace accord two weeks ago several cases of violent attacks have been recorded across the country in the course of the campaigns for the February elections. Three of such incidents bear mentioning here. The day the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari flagged off his presidential campaign in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at least one person was shot dead while several others sustained injuries when party members and supporters travelling to the venue of the rally where ambushed and attacked by ‘’unknown’’ gunmen. The party’s offices in Rivers State have been similarly attacked, allegedly with bombs. Also, President Jonathan’s convoy was reportedly stoned last week in Kano and Bauchi while on a campaign visits to the states. These are clearly acts of physical violence in obvious contradiction to, and negation of, the spirit and letter of the peace accord signed in Abuja.

    Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State last week committed what would, perhaps, go down in the history of electioneering campaigns in Nigeria as abomination when he caused to be published on the front page of The Punch an advert wishing the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, dead. Such acts, no doubt, do much violence to the sensibilities of all Nigerians who support the Buhari bid for the presidency. Even though the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, have since distanced themselves from the advertisement and its author/sponsor, it is an act of violence which puts a big question mark on the commitment of the party and its members to the peace accord it signed to be of good behaviour both in words and actions.

    Peace accord notwithstanding, Nigerian politicians will always be abusive while campaigning. Their members are also more often than not fanatical in their support for the candidates. It is, therefore, easy to incite them especially where they feel inadequate or unsure of electoral victory. This can be overcome if political leaders continually remind their members and followers that electioneering need not be violent if the aim is to gain power for the good of the people. Those who seek to serve must ensure that fellow citizens are not dehumanised and traumatised on alter of gaining power. In spite of what has happened already, I look forward to a free, fair and credible election on February 14 only if the electoral umpire, INEC, dots its ‘’I’s and crosses its ‘’t’s very well. It must live up to the true meaning of its name as an independent umpire. It must ensure that those who win do so squarely while those who lose do so fairly. This is the only way winners and losers will embrace themselves as they did at the Abuja peace accord signing.

    • Nasamu Jacobson,

    Benin City, Edo State.  

  • Beyond pardon

    Beyond pardon

    Fayose’s nauseating advert on Muhammadu Buhari breaks all limits in reason, decency, Yoruba culture and even universal decorum      

    PETER Ayodele Fayose, unfortunately the governor of Ekiti State, has since his assumption of office, plumbed the unthinkable in un-gubernatorial conduct. Though His Excellency seems assailed with verbal and allied thuggery, one would wish he always remembered he was still governor!

    Governor Fayose it was, who presented his budget for 2015 to a phoney House of Assembly, a clear and impeachable constitutional crime. Fayose’s assembly is phoney because it is made up of seven members; and seven is less than the quorum of nine, in an Assembly of 26. It is trite that the basis of a House sitting is a quorum. Otherwise, its sitting is null and void.

    The same Fayose, as fundament of his political rascality, engineered the purported sacking of a majority by a near-hopeless minority — or how do you describe seven members, claiming to be 10 (another forgery and clear constitutional crime), and purporting to sack 19, among them the Speaker, earlier elected by  the 26-member House?

    The audacity powering this brazen crime is, of course, conspiratorial cover by the Nigeria Police in Ekiti — a cover now getting awkward, with the Ekiti State Police Command’s late pitiful pretence to make peace between constitutional brigands and those who obey the law, instead of strictly enforcing the law as the Constitution commands of the police.

    Even before his inauguration, Fayose’s thuggish temper was clear, with the invasion of the Ado Ekiti High Court complex, with the in-coming governor reportedly superintending the mugging of judges, shredding of court records and general menace to the civilised and respectable community. It was a classic example of a dank morning foreshadowing a nasty gubernatorial day!

    Still, with his latest misadventure into morbid and reckless political advertising, Fayose has crossed from mere political rascality to the nadir of infamy of the most soulless kind.

    In a coarse and utterly offensive front page advert he placed in the January 19 issue of The Punch and Daily Sun newspapers, Fayose’s logic of morbid lunacy argued that since the trio of Gen. Murtala Muhammed, former military head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha, another military dictator and former head of state and President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, elected Fourth Republic president, all died in office and they were all natives of the North West political zone, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate in the February 14 election, would also die in office!

    Fayose’s proof? Buhari’s age of 72! Did Murtala, Abacha and Yar’Adua die at 72? And President Shehu Shagari, Second Republic president, also from the North West: did he too die in office — and at 89, is he not still alive, ageing gracefully? This x-ray, of course, exposes the illogic and fraud in Fayose’s morbid deviousness.

    The utter outrage and horror that greeted this advert would temper many — but not Fayose! He not only bragged that he had no apologies for his reprehensible outburst, he followed it up with another front page advert in Daily Sun on January 22: “We all called OBJ [Olusegun Obasanjo] Baba at 62 in 1999. What do we call Buhari at 72 in 2015? Baba Baba (meaning grandpa)?” rang the Fayose infantile pitch. “Buhari is too old to govern Nigeria,” he declared.

    It is a disturbing peep into the gubernatorial mind as sick, troubled and callously callow!  That may well be a clear and present danger to the polity, since, even with his dangerous mindset, Fayose is still in charge of his people.

    But away from gubernatorial hearts of darkness! That such a reckless advert could pass the scrutiny of any newspaper, not to talk of birthing on the front page of otherwise respected national newspaper brands, underscores the sorry state of institutions, public or private, in Nigeria. With the Fayose pseudo-advert, it is clear the media must work hard to strengthen its own institution — lest the Fourth Estate itself become a huge joke!

    On this score, newspaper proprietors should partner with the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to ensure such outrageous adverts never blot newspaper spaces again — no matter how high the temptation of the subversive cash attached to it.

    The Jonathan Presidential Campaign also made a show of distancing itself from the Fayose disgrace, even if it strangely saw nothing disgraceful in the governor’s misadventure. It is Fayose’s opinion, Femi Fani-Kayode, the campaign’s chief spokesperson, quipped, to which he is entitled.

    How the president and his men run their campaign is strictly their business. But even the president must realise that nothing de-markets him more than the antics of the Fayoses and the Fani-Kayodes in his team. Still, everyone must carry their own cross!

    It is also meet that the APC has lodged a formal complaint with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) on the repulsive advert. No matter the provocation, we must insist on meeting even the most indecent of challenges with the most decent reproaches.

    On every account, Fayose, in this disgusting advert, has crossed the bounds. Yoruba culture, to which the governor claims affinity, frowns at wishing even the direst of your foes dead. So, everything – culture, honour, good breeding, decency, decorum and universal common sense – rebukes him; and harshly too.

    The governor would do well to change tack, and quit his perilous ways. Whereas it is indecorous for him to wish Gen. Buhari dead, following partisan bile from his infantile mind, it is certainly decent to warn the governor that should he persist in his current ways, he faces sure destruction.

    So, to Fayose: choose life! That counsel is imperative, if the governor must save his persona, at grave risk of careening to willful self-destruction!

  • Enough

    •Now that the certificates of General Buhari have been unveiled, we should now turn to issues

    At long last, the result is in. General Muhammadu Buhari’s education is as he claimed. In the past few weeks, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) propaganda machine went to town and ratcheted up the emotions of detractors and even fair-minded Nigerians against the candidacy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer. They labelled him a liar and impostor in what was brewing as a certificate controversy.

    He had claimed that his certificate was with the Nigerian Army, and they should provide the paper to quiet the tension triggered by the matter. The Nigerian Army did not show much zeal until a few days ago when its spokesperson, Brig.-General Olajide Olaleye, announced in a press conference what was an apparent contradiction. The army affirmed that he had graduated but “neither the original copy, certified true copy, nor statement of result is in Gen. Buhari’s personal file.”

    What happened to his file? Did anyone interfere with protocol and slipped into the file room and salted it away? How did the general rise from a humble officer in the early 1960’s to become not only the head of some  commands  and even fought a civil war and commanded a division that routed invaders of this country? Was the army so careless that it recruited an uncertificated Nigerian that soared to become the commander-in-chief of that army? Did someone want to smear the army’s name?

    These are questions that must be answered. It is not only embarrassing to the general, it should be a matter for criminal investigation. A soldier of that standing and prominence could not have risen without a clear documentation. How can the army affirm a premise and lose the proof, and come to the public eye and expose its own inefficiency? In a day where the army bumbles in a fight against Boko Haram, which is defeated often by a smaller Chadian army, this is not a time for the esteemed Nigerian Army to expose itself over a small matter like certificate location.

    Or is it some members of the political class that infiltrated the file room and carted away the paper to deepen suspicion of a fibbing general?

    That explained why General Buhari was compelled to give a press conference, and he described the controversy as inspired by “mischief.”

    Well, he was proved right. Copies of the certificates have been unveiled. It is now clear, on the evidence of the certificate copies, that he sat for the University of Cambridge West African School Certificate Examinations  and obtained five credits in English Language, Geography, Hausa language, History and Health Science. He had a pass in Literature in English. His examination centre number is 8280 and candidate number is 002 and the examination took place in 1961.

    The authenticity of the Cambridge printout of the results affirms his claim a day earlier that the late General Shehu Musa Yar’adua was his classmate.

    Was the drive to slur the image of the general driven by mere politics or intended to use the political class to damage the army? Or was it an earnest quest to fulfill the requirements of the constitution? The constitution requires any aspirant to the position of president to have at least a secondary school certificate or its equivalent.

    How come a man who graduated from the American War College that approximates with a master’s degree does not have his secondary school certificate? It is an irony all-Nigerian that his maximum certificate is available but not his subordinate papers.

    A lot of distracting rhetoric has overwhelmed this certificate saga, and we believe it is high time any further hoopla over it was laid to rest. The candidate has run for political office, that is the presidency, more than once, and it is now that some mischief makers want to make storms over it.

    There are more important matters about the economy, education and inequality to address and not a trifling like a bogey of a certificate scandal.

  • The choice before Abians

    SIR: Recently while addressing a group of women who paid him a courtesy call, former Head of State Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was quoted as saying “Good governance comes from the selection of leaders. It is up to you to decide who you casts your votes for, because if you throw away your votes you have lost out’’.

    I guess he should have said “if you allow your election to be rigged after casting your vote, you have lost out mightily”.  True words indeed nevertheless except that as usual, it was coming from a notable Nigerian who like other past office holders, only become paragons of virtue after they have left office.

    In the next few weeks, Abia State like the rest of the country will be conducting its governorship elections after its first real campaign since the creation of the state. I use the word “real “literally because Abia  has never had what you might call a real campaign or election, hence what we have had in the past were coronations. Orji Uzor Kalu while leaving office picked his successor and coronated him. Now his replacement T.A Orji (Ochendo) is attempting to coronate his own successor in the person of Okezie Ikpeazu. If we should let them succeed we might as well declare Abia State a monarchy. This is why the choices we Abians make in this election will be the most momentous of our political lives.

    The Abia electorate cannot get it wrong again by allowing the imposition of another handpicked member of the Ochendo family because if we do we will have no one to blame but ourselves. Past electoral exercises in Abia informs us that they were somehow rigged. Not that it was absolutely necessary for them to do so, since all the four elections Abia were basically one-party affairs, once under PPA and later PDP. They were more or less no contest elections. The opposition was non-existent.

    While it will be wrong for us to sit back and let Ochendo and his group steal the elections, I believe also that we may be giving them too much credit for their rigging prowess in view of the fact that the political environment in the state has changed dramaticallyfrom what it was four years ago. For instance, this time around, there are real campaigns by two formidable candidates. While one candidate, Alex Otti is formidable on the basis of his intellect and administrative antecedents, his opponent’s only claim to formidability is the billions of state money being spent on his behalf. The electorate are also more aware, and if I am right, determined to fight to secure and protect their votes.

    It is highly improbable that the PDP will not attempt to rig the election. This is because as one Havard scholar Biodun Jeyifo recently asserted, “the PDP will never attempt to clean up the augean stables of filth and rot it has created, but rather attempt to rig itself into perpetuation and misrule” and as is the case with Abia State. If they succeed in doing so, they will be emboldened to raise impunity to new levels and we the citizens of Abia will be astonished by new forms of monumental corruption, waste and mismanagement as we have never seen before.

    This is our chance to make things right as we may never get a chance like this again for another eight years.  We must listen to the words of Obasanjo when he recently said” Find out the track record of achievements of those you want to vote for. What have they achieved in the past and not what they have said”.  We know Alex Otti. We know his record of achievement in the past.  We know of his excellent academic credentials, his managerial expertise and his determination and resolve to bring change to Abia State. Voters must vote right and vote for change. Change they believe in, as Obama would say. They also must not leave their vote to chance or expediency. As Henry David Thoceus once said “A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance”.

     

    • Nnanna  Ijomah,

     New York  

  • Ondo bank robberies

    • The state should learn from Lagos and its neighbours in curbing this menace

    Once bitten, twice shy”. This best described the situation of the banks in Akure, the Ondo State capital, which hurriedly closed shop on Monday, following a rumour that armed robbers were planning to attack some banks in the town. A bank official said their bosses asked them to close operation for the day. “We don’t want what happened in Ikare-Akoko last week to happen to us, so, immediately my boss received the information, he ordered us to close for the day”, she said. Customers who were on their way to the banks were denied access even as those already inside were anxious to get out, to avoid being caught in any crossfire.

    Coming less than a week after armed robbers invaded three banks in Ikare- Akoko in Akoko East Local Government Area of the state, in which about 20 people were killed and an undisclosed amount of money carted away, the panic was understandable. According to reports, the armed robbers who attacked the banks on January 13 came in about four vehicles and blocked all routes leading to the area where the banks are located. They killed some people in the banks as well as gunned down five others in their bid to escape with their loot. They also reportedly killed at least three policemen at a nearby police station. Indeed, the entire town was taken by surprise and schools remained closed the second day because parents were afraid of releasing their children to go to school.

    Even though the police promptly responded to the robbery scare on Monday when alerted by the banks, patrolling the areas where the banks are sited in armoured personnel vehicle, the bandits appeared to have had a field day during their simultaneous operations in the three banks on January 13.  Sadly, this was not the first time such rumour would throw the state capital into panic. Last November, a similar rumour made the rounds in the town that armed robbers were planning to rob some banks. The banks hurriedly shut down.

    This kind of panic is not good for business because each time banks shut down abruptly, businesses suffer. Moreover, robbery and insecurity generally have remained a major issue in many parts of the country. Yet, provision of security is a basic responsibility of government. In Nigeria’s peculiar federalism, the Federal Government controls the Nigeria Police Force and people have questioned the effectiveness of this centralised police system. Unfortunately, the argument for state police has not gone down well with those in power at the centre. Yet, it is becoming obvious that the present arrangement is no longer adequate if truly the country is to have an effective policing system.

    In some states where there is relative security, like Lagos, the state government has invested heavily in security. Indeed, it has even set up a security trust fund through which it has been able to provide some essential gadgets for the state police command. Without doubt, this has helped the command tremendously in its efforts at combating crime. This is a template that some other state governments have adopted and it appears the best that can be done in the circumstance. The fact is that even though the Federal Government has the lion’s share of the country’s resources, it has not been able to provide adequately for the police force. So, state governments that want relative peace in their domain have also had to help the police either directly by way of funding or by providing the police with requisite tools.

    We can only hope the Ondo State Police Command would honour its promise to fish out the armed robbers with a view to making them pay for their crime. This is the least that is expected of them now.

  • Mbu comes to Lagos

    •Against the background of the February polls, his appointment is a bad omen

    Just a few weeks before next month’s general elections, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, has ordered the redeployment of 14 Assistant Inspector-Generals of Police (AIGs) to various departments, zonal commands and formations of the force across the country. It is not surprising that one of these postings in particular, that of Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, AIG in charge of zone 7 Abuja, to take charge of zone 2 command comprising Lagos and Ogun states, has raised eyebrows.

    Mr Mbu is one of the most controversial police officers of this dispensation. Given his track record of impunity and hubris, it is inexplicable why Mbu should be entrusted with such a sensitive assignment at a critical period where the police must not only be impartial but must be manifestly seen in that light.

    Under Mr. Mbu’s watch as Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, the state steadily degenerated to a near state of anarchy. It is surprising that the Nigeria Police Force was seemingly oblivious of, and indifferent to, the grave damage done to its credibility and professional integrity by Mbu’s temure as Rivers State Commissioner of Police.

    Mbu’s acts of sheer lawlessness in Rivers State are legion. For instance, on his directive, a caretaker committee lawfully set up for Obi/Akpo Local Government Area was prevented from functioning, as the secretariat was sealed up by the police. Again, when five colleagues of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State paid a solidarity visit to him (governor) last year, they were molested and harassed at the Port Harcourt Airport, with the police looking on.

    Other acts of temerity recorded in Rivers State during Mbu’s tenure as CP included withdrawal without just cause of security details of principal members of government loyal to Governor Amaechi, blockage by the police of a road leading to the Government House, Port Harcourt, forcing the governor’s convoy to take another route to his official residence, and the forcible prevention of a delegation of people, including traditional rulers from Orashi community from paying a courtesy call on the governor. These are apart from various instances of incendiary rhetoric.

    In normal climes, any officer with evidence of such brazen partisanship would have been long shown the way out of the force. But when the criticisms against Mbu reached a crescendo, the police authorities simply redeployed him to Abuja and even elevated him from the rank of CP to AIG. Not surprisingly, therefore, Mr. Mbu saw no need to depart from his chosen path of impunity. He even had the effrontery to boast on his departure from Rivers State, in a veiled reference to Governor Amaechi, that he was the “lion” who had tamed the “leopard”.

    Thus, in Abuja, Mbu ordered the arrest and detention for almost 24 hours of an AIT reporter, Mr Amaechi Anakwe, who described him as ‘controversial’ on a TV programme.  The reporter was taken to court but no charges were pressed. In the same vein, he sought, without success, to ban the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners from protesting against the plight of the abducted Chibok girls in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Against the background of a peace pact between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential candidates, Mbu’s appointment is not a way to implement it.

    Given his unsavoury and unprofessional track record, no one can be blamed for believing that there are sinister motives for Mbu’s deployment to Lagos at this time. All the same, we welcome Mbu to Lagos. Hopefully, he knows that Lagos is on the radar of the local and international media. Furthermore, Lagos is a very conscious and politically sophisticated state that has always been the waterloo of dictators. If Mbu does not change his ways, the same fate of dismal failure awaits him in Lagos.

  • Nigeria: The search for humanity

    SIR: Nigerians readily point to the country’s bad reputation as the result of a foreign conspiracy. It is only logical that this is true. The international media’s focus on Nigeria ranges from the barbaric to the unbelievable – surely no nation is capable of generating so much negative news with such consistency. After all, we are the biggest economy in Africa, and a few of our citizens are the continent’s most wealthy individuals on the Forbes list. We, however, concede to our share of problems – every nation has them.

    We believe our bad image comes from the fact that stories out of Nigeria are mostly told by foreigners. They tell it wrong. They lack the proper narrative. They surely are incapable of understanding what it means to be Nigerian. What it means to bask in the glory of being the most populous and industrious black nation on earth.  For this reason, it is important we tell our stories ourselves. Kill off the conspiracy. Perhaps only then would we reflect that we are a people in need of redemption.

    A recent survey on Twitter asked its users to describe their countries in one word. The pool of tweets from Nigeria reflected a few predominant words: Corruption, Fraud and Boko-Haram. It is impossible not to agree that these define the worst of our nation. They reflect the concern of all Nigerians – except the nation’s privileged elite. On the surface, they explain the reason why we have the highest number of school age children not enrolled in school; the despicable state of our infrastructure; an unacceptable infant mortality rate and high poverty indices. Security? I wouldn’t add that to the list. We have none.

    Sadly, these commonplace concerns do not tell the true story. Nigeria is gone. We have lost it. It is lost with our humanity. Ours is a nation without a soul. In this moment, we cannot blame our leaders. The bane is ours to bear. We have given up our collective humanity.

    As news of the atrocities committed in Baga trickles in, it becomes clear how many lives have needlessly been cut short. Satellite images show tales of absolute horror; entire villages wiped out and bodies litter the streets. The carnage barely made our local news, like many others before it. We continue to dispute the number of actual dead – the government in an attempt to save face revised the figures from about 2000 to “JUST a few hundred in the interim.” Where is the outrage? Where are the millions of angry people on the streets denouncing this massacre, and demanding answers from those charged to protect us? In any society, the entire country would have stood still for weeks, with overwhelming outpour of empathy towards the victims.

    But this is Nigeria. Nothing shocks our conscience. The best of us are content to wish away these horrid deaths. The average Nigerian justifies it – viewed through a narrow prism of religion or tribe, which somewhat make these deaths acceptable – and our government simply denies them. It has become a daily fact of life. We have grown fatigued to care about the lives of others, or express shock. We seem incapable of feeling empathy when the victims are neither family nor share our faith or tribe.

    Make no mistake. I too am Nigerian. I too share this trait of indifference. I too whisper a silent prayer, and hope not to be our country’s next victim. I too bow my head in shame. In this, I do not trade blame.

    Sadly, there will be no quick fixes. There can be none. Without doubt, making a difference is a lifelong commitment. It is a long walk. But I hold faith. That someday we shall shed our shackles of tribal and religious bias, and hold the creed that an attack on one is an attack on ALL. Our resilience as a people makes this possible. Our diversity gives me hope. Perhaps the next time I hear news of carnage; I will make time to join a protest march. Perhaps, the next time I feel the warmth of my bed; I will donate a blanket to an initiative in support of internally displaced persons. Perhaps, next time I hear of a soldier’s death in combat; I will spare a day to visit families of dead soldiers and share their grief. Whatever my actions; I MUST do more.

    • Ayobamidele Akande,

     ayobamidele.akande@gmail.com

  • Tackling terror

    •While condemning the bloody incidents, French society must address its racial and socio-economic alienation of immigrants

    Described as the worst assault in France for decades, the recent terrorist attacks on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and a Jewish supermarket both in Paris, by Islamic terrorists have sent shock waves within and beyond France. This murderous attack in which 17 persons died demonstrates once again how an act of terrorism anywhere can pose a threat to humanity everywhere.

    Rising in solidarity with France to show that terrorism cannot and will not be tolerated, over three million people, including President Francois Hollande and 39 other Heads of State, staged a march across France to protest the killings. This is highly commendable.

    Claiming they were acting in defence of Islam, the attack on Charlie Hebdo was executed to avenge satirical cartoons on Prophet Mohammed by the irreverent magazine. This must have also been the motive for the violent attack on the Jewish deli in a week of mindless violence in Paris.

    Questions have been raised in some quarters as regards the state of preparedness and alertness of the French security agencies. This is because all the key actors in the terrorism drama, the brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi as well as Amedy Coulibaly and his wife, Hayet Boumeddine, were well known to the French security agencies, which had cause to place them under surveillance at different times.

    Even then the French security agencies rose to the occasion with admirable promptness and efficiency. Within days, the masterminds of the terrorist attacks had been traced and located. And in exchange of gunfire with the security agents in a bid to evade arrest, three of them were shot dead. The fourth suspect, 26-year-old Hayet Boumeddiene Coulibaly, has reportedly escaped from France but with the police hot on her trail.

    We condemn terrorism under whatever guise. This is another reason why we applaud the protest march by the French president and others a few days after the attacks. No respectable nation will bow to terror. We also commend the global response to the unfortunate incident.

    However, it is important to trace the root causes of deviant behaviour by the perpetrators of these violent acts. All the terrorists involved in the Paris tragedy were children of French immigrants. Perhaps, one of the key problems has to do with the alienation of immigrants in the mainstream of French society. Still influenced, subliminally, by the ideals of the 1789 Revolution, which espoused the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the French have historically sought to treat people of diverse races equally. Thus, through its ‘assimilation’ policy, France tried to transform its colonial subjects into respectable French citizens enjoying equal status with the colonial overlord.

    It is this promise of equality and fraternity for all irrespective of race that makes France an attractive destination for immigrants. Unfortunately, the reality is markedly different. A significant number of French immigrants live on the margins of society and are unable to participate reasonably, economically and culturally, in the benefits of a prosperous society. Some of them then become frustrated, alienated and vulnerable to being brain-washed into anti-social deviants.

    Across the western world, the problem is fundamentally the same despite its divergent manifestations. An aristocracy of race has been replaced by an aristocracy of class, which underpins gross inequalities between social classes that bodes serious danger to the society.

    In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, where diverse forms of religious extremism such as Boko Haram thrive, the problem is often one of absolute poverty that leaves millions of people trapped in a level of poverty that makes their current existence meaningless. A necessary condition for tackling the problem of terrorism at the roots is thus to address the problems of poverty and inequality, both within societies and at the global level of the international political economy.

  • A broken pact

    A broken pact

    •United States ambassador exposes Jonathan’s failure to fight terror

    If the statement by the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, is correct, then it would imply that the Federal  Government is not only adept at reneging on agreements locally, it is also an attitude it has carried to its dealings with the outside world. Entwistle who spoke on a Channels Television programme, was reacting to insinuations that the United States was not willing to help Nigeria in curbing the activities of the Boko Haram sect. He said contrary to this, his country was willing to assist Nigeria in the war against terror, but it was the Federal Government that reneged on its part of the deal.

    According to him, the U.S. was to provide world-class military personnel to train one battalion of the Nigerian Army to international standards on how to handle terror war while Nigeria was to provide the equipment. Unfortunately, while the American government actually brought in the experts, Nigeria could not provide the equipment, necessitating the cancellation of the deal because America could not continue to retain the experts in Nigeria without the equipment to work with.

    “We had started the training, at the request of the Nigerian government, of its battalion up to a world-class standard. We brought in the best military trainers in the world. But the agreement with the government was that we will provide the trainers in order to do this properly, while the Nigerian Army will provide the equipment needed to do the training”.

    According to Entwistle, “It is a partnership. We were doing this together. It is not something we are doing for you. Training started, but sadly it got to a point that we had to stop because the equipment was not available and after several weeks of waiting, we could not keep the trainers here and the Nigerian government decided to end the training.”

    This is a shocking revelation. Before this clarification, the impression out there was that the United States was not keen on helping Nigeria so as to make a prediction said to have emanated from the U.S. some years ago, to the effect that Nigeria would disintegrate this year, come to pass. The envoy had at another forum debunked the report, saying that even if there was any such report on Nigeria, the American government had no hand in it.

    The circumstances leading to the termination of this deal do not portray the country as serious. We did not provide equipment because of corruption and indiscipline of the Jonathan government. Yet we want to blame another country for our footloose ways. Who signed the deal on the part of Nigeria? It is unacceptable that they were not aware of what it entailed. They knew that we did not have modern equipment for the training and yet went ahead to append their signatures to the pact.

    Why blame the Americans for the lack of progress made in the fight against Boko Haram, simply because they failed to accede to our request to sell cobra helicopters to us? Recently President Goodluck Jonathan blamed the past military for not buying weapons in the 1980’s as if we need to hack back to three decades ago for modern warfare. What weapons has he bought for the 21st century?

    The U.S. government has explained that it has procedure for selling such sophisticated aircraft because of the abuses to which they could be put. And, in fairness to it, there is no doubt that the Jonathan government lacks the maturity and the political discipline to handle such.

    It is astonishing that we always expect people to bend their rules in order to accommodate us. It is unfortunate too that in spite of the over three trillion Naira committed to defence in our budgets in the past three years, we still lack appropriate military equipment. That this is happening at a time the country should have in stock the most sophisticated military equipment, considering the havoc that Boko Haram has wreaked on the nation in the last five years, makes the matter the more puzzling. We are tempted once again to call for a proper audit of our defence budgets in recent years. It is pointless accusing soldiers of mutiny when they lack the tools of war.