The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Re: Oduah: Canonising corruption

    Sir: I read with utmost disappointment a letter with the above title in your esteemed newspaper where one Babatope Babalobi vented his frustration against the former aviation minister, Stella Adaeze Oduah.  Ordinarily, such deliberate and cowardly writing deserves no attention but for the purposes of decency, good conscience and posterity, it becomes necessary to correct certain impressions in order to answer some questions concerning the issues raised in the article.

    It is  not true that the former aviation minister was found guilty of any criminal matter by any court in the land for any wrong doing as to prevent her from holding any elective or public office in the country. The issues under reference emanated from disputed cost of bullet-proof BMW cars meant for her ministry. She  did not steal the money or failed to purchase the cars. She also did not ride in them.

    But at the heat of it all, she opted to leave the office in dignity.  Not many Nigerians holding public office would bow out with humility and dignity as she did.

    Princess Oduah cannot be said to be a saint but it should be noted that there is no office or ministry that has never been mired in more serious controversies. Please check the records.      Why Babatope Babalobi after a very long time since the imbroglio suddenly became exceptionally aggrieved raises so many questions.

    Is this not a hatchet job against the Princess over her victory in her senatorial ambition?

    On the issue of Oduah’s academic standing, whose interest is Babalobi protecting or does he not know where to lodge his complaint? ls it the Phd holders, engineers and professors who held sway in the aviation industry when our airports were mere motorparks and our aeroplanes dubbed flying coffings?

    Today, Oduah has recorded history as the amazon of the aviation industry whose positive contribution in the sector will remain indelible.  In his jaundiced view, Babalobi failed to commend Oduah for upgrading Nigerian airports to compete with those of the civilised world. If no other people are proud of Oduah, the Igbos are because the feat she performed at the Enugu airport, lifting it to international standard is remarkable not to talk of approval for Asaba airport.

    Concerning her victory at the PDP primaries, it showed how popular and likeable she is among the people. For the avoidance of doubt, unless the PDP wants to lose the Anambra North senatorial seat, they should not field another candidate. In the senatorial district, Oduah has touched the lives of many in practical terms. She has a foundation that has given succour to widows, scholarship to the indigent, employment to the unemployed, loans to farmers, promotion of sports talents etc.

    Oduah’s life is full of achievements which have really not gotten into her head. She has respect for the elderly, priests and religious leaders irrespective of denomination.

     

    Chukwunwike Ononye, 

    Akili Ozizor, Anambra State

  • Serious allegations

    Serious allegations

    Obanikoro’s allegations that Bode George is turning SURE-P cadets into an illicit force, for election duties in 2015, should be probed

    Chief Bode George, chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, is in the news again.  He is in the news at the moment over weighty allegations that funds for the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) were being misapplied; and that the SURE-P task force being trained in Lagos was actually meant to terrorise inhabitants and also destabilise the coming 2015 general elections in Lagos State.

    Musiliu Obanikoro, former Minister of State for Defence and leading PDP member, in exasperation after he lost the primaries, went on air to level these grievous allegations against  George.

    A breakdown of the allegations, as reported and beamed live on Television Continental (TVC), a satellite television station, shows the following: that Bode George is purportedly sponsoring and training thugs illegally for election purposes through the SURE-P Task Force at toll gate along Magodo expressway area; that members of the Task Force bear arms and ammunition allegedly in preparation for election violence; and that the SURE-P boys allegedly provide round-the-clock security for George’s Ikoyi residence.  But he is not known to occupy any top public office at present to warrant such protection, by people paid from the public till.

    In fury, Obanikoro also stated that the only time the PDP in the state knew peace was when George was in jail.

    We believe that the outburst of Obanikoro should not be shoved aside, as coming from someone who lost in the just concluded PDP governorship primaries. As a former ambassador, Minister of State for Defence and frontline member of the PDP in the state, he knows what he was saying about what goes on in the innermost circle of the party and, most especially, on issues he raised.

    To us, indeed, he spoke as someone who should know. In our view, such severe allegations should not be treated with kid’s gloves; or dismissed as the ranting of an irritant party man.  Rather, they should be treated with official promptness because they bear criminal imputations that could be injurious to Lagos and the entire electoral process if not properly addressed now.

    We could not fathom why SURE-P,  designed to bring succour to the long suffering people of Lagos and Nigerian in general under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, could be turned, for selfish reasons, to an avenue for creating a possible destabilisation force with obviously the sole aim of threatening free and fair elections in Lagos State come February, 2015.

    Hitherto, there have been reports of massive recruitment of able-bodied people into the SURE-P cadre and they were reportedly seen along the toll gate express-road, being given military drilling.  That supports the allegation that they might be deployed to cause disquiet in the polity.

    On several occasions in recent past, the task force cadets had reportedly engaged the officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) in avoidable battles over who controls highways in the Lagos metropolis. The squabbles emanating from this have led to the unleashing of serious injuries on some LASTMA officials by SURE-P cadets that are reported to be routinely armed.

    Yet, they have proved to be grossly inefficient in providing effective traffic management on major roads that they have illegally taken over. In retrospect, we can authoritatively state that during the era of Adeseye Ogunlewe as Minister of Works under the Obasanjo presidency, he came up with a gang called FERMA task force through which they terrorised Lagosians on the road. Just as that ill conceived gang did not last long, we are not under any illusion, like its promoters, that this SURE-P task force will disappear like its predecessor did.

    Still, we demand the intervention of the presidency in addressing the Obanikoro allegations against George. It is sad to note that the SURE-P funds meant to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal have been allegedly hijacked by Bode George and his faction of the party.

    This amounts to nothing but an abuse of SURE-P funds and, in essence, which should not be allowed to continue. But for the crisis that was an aftermath of the PDP governorship primaries, the public will still be in the dark.

    We wonder: how can money, specifically meant to be shared for the good of all Lagosians, now be turned into the exclusive preserve of a few in the state branch of PDP hell bent in creating mayhem come 2015?

    President Jonathan must ensure, as a matter of urgent duty, that nothing is done or allowed to be done to compromise the coming elections in Lagos or anywhere in Nigeria.

  • Serious allegations

    Serious allegations

    Obanikoro’s allegations that Bode George is turning SURE-P cadets into an illicit force, for election duties in 2015, should be probed

    Chief Bode George, chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, is in the news again.  He is in the news at the moment over weighty allegations that funds for the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) were being misapplied; and that the SURE-P task force being trained in Lagos was actually meant to terrorise inhabitants and also destabilise the coming 2015 general elections in Lagos State.

    Musiliu Obanikoro, former Minister of State for Defence and leading PDP member, in exasperation after he lost the primaries, went on air to level these grievous allegations against  George.

    A breakdown of the allegations, as reported and beamed live on Television Continental (TVC), a satellite television station, shows the following: that Bode George is purportedly sponsoring and training thugs illegally for election purposes through the SURE-P Task Force at toll gate along Magodo expressway area; that members of the Task Force bear arms and ammunition allegedly in preparation for election violence; and that the SURE-P boys allegedly provide round-the-clock security for George’s Ikoyi residence.  But he is not known to occupy any top public office at present to warrant such protection, by people paid from the public till.

    In fury, Obanikoro also stated that the only time the PDP in the state knew peace was when George was in jail.

    We believe that the outburst of Obanikoro should not be shoved aside, as coming from someone who lost in the just concluded PDP governorship primaries. As a former ambassador, Minister of State for Defence and frontline member of the PDP in the state, he knows what he was saying about what goes on in the innermost circle of the party and, most especially, on issues he raised.

    To us, indeed, he spoke as someone who should know. In our view, such severe allegations should not be treated with kid’s gloves; or dismissed as the ranting of an irritant party man.  Rather, they should be treated with official promptness because they bear criminal imputations that could be injurious to Lagos and the entire electoral process if not properly addressed now.

    We could not fathom why SURE-P,  designed to bring succour to the long suffering people of Lagos and Nigerian in general under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, could be turned, for selfish reasons, to an avenue for creating a possible destabilisation force with obviously the sole aim of threatening free and fair elections in Lagos State come February, 2015.

    Hitherto, there have been reports of massive recruitment of able-bodied people into the SURE-P cadre and they were reportedly seen along the toll gate express-road, being given military drilling.  That supports the allegation that they might be deployed to cause disquiet in the polity.

    On several occasions in recent past, the task force cadets had reportedly engaged the officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) in avoidable battles over who controls highways in the Lagos metropolis. The squabbles emanating from this have led to the unleashing of serious injuries on some LASTMA officials by SURE-P cadets that are reported to be routinely armed.

    Yet, they have proved to be grossly inefficient in providing effective traffic management on major roads that they have illegally taken over. In retrospect, we can authoritatively state that during the era of Adeseye Ogunlewe as Minister of Works under the Obasanjo presidency, he came up with a gang called FERMA task force through which they terrorised Lagosians on the road. Just as that ill conceived gang did not last long, we are not under any illusion, like its promoters, that this SURE-P task force will disappear like its predecessor did.

    Still, we demand the intervention of the presidency in addressing the Obanikoro allegations against George. It is sad to note that the SURE-P funds meant to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal have been allegedly hijacked by Bode George and his faction of the party.

    This amounts to nothing but an abuse of SURE-P funds and, in essence, which should not be allowed to continue. But for the crisis that was an aftermath of the PDP governorship primaries, the public will still be in the dark.

    We wonder: how can money, specifically meant to be shared for the good of all Lagosians, now be turned into the exclusive preserve of a few in the state branch of PDP hell bent in creating mayhem come 2015?

    President Jonathan must ensure, as a matter of urgent duty, that nothing is done or allowed to be done to compromise the coming elections in Lagos or anywhere in Nigeria.

  • With love from Nigeria

    •That is the great story to the world, from Nigerian Ebola volunteers to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea

    An interesting set of ambassadors from the country’s health sector may help to redeem Nigeria’s image on the international stage.

    This positive contribution can be expected from the volunteer health workers dispatched by the Federal Government to Ebola-stricken Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in a commendable humanitarian move.

    The collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) is noteworthy; and a strong sign that the country’s health professionals are favourably rated in this respect.

    A health team of 250 volunteers, consisting of doctors, nurses and pharmacists from Lagos and Rivers states and the Federal Capital Territory, has been sent out already under the intervention programme.

    The initiative is remarkable not only on account of the country’s involvement but also because of  the continental dimension. Not only that: for once, the federal authorities have put politics aside, and reached for the very best vanguard against Ebola Nigeria could offer, tapping from the  expertise of Lagos and Rivers states.

    A second batch of 250 health workers is expected to leave the country for the affected nations in January. “Altogether we will be sending 504 volunteers to help contain Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia,” the Director-General, Nigerian Centre for Diseases Control, Abuja, Prof.  Abdulsalamin  Nasidi, said.

    It is reassuring that Nasidi further said: “The Federal Government and the AU have a MoU on this mission. Their allowances, life insurance and disabilities’ would be covered by the AU.

    The Federal Government has also opened up Ebola Treatment Centres in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja for any worker that may need to be evacuated back to Nigeria. However, we are hoping for zero casualty.”

    This arrangement reflects impressive seriousness, which is definitely appropriate, considering the gravity of the mission. It is hoped that the partners would be faithful to the letter and spirit of the agreement.

    It is worth mentioning that the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has thrown the West African sub-region in particular into understandable apprehension, and there is no doubt that the epidemic constitutes a public health crisis of international concern.

    In this context, the Nigerian volunteers deserve credit for their courageous and risk-defying decision to be part of the answer to the deadly Ebola problem in the neighbouring nations.

    Indeed, it is worth contemplating the overriding motivation for such a rare display of self-sacrificing heroism, especially in a country where this kind of dangerous volunteerism is markedly uncommon.

    This development further highlights the possibilities and value of soft diplomacy; and it is a point to consider that the country may well be able to redefine how it is perceived  through such subtle but impactful image-building.

    Sadly, the country’s Ebola experience, triggered by the regrettable July visit to Lagos by the late Patrick Sawyer, a naturalised American of Liberian origin, was not without a few painful casualties.

    However, it is significant to note that the country’s current acknowledged Ebola-free status, a result of prompt and thoroughgoing intervention, particularly by the Lagos State government, understandably explains why its health personnel are believed to have something to offer.

    “Lagos also volunteered 28 experts. Almost 98 per cent of them were part of the team that helped contain Ebola in Nigeria, so we are prepared,” Nasidi said.

    Furthermore, it is instructive that, according to the Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Dr.  Tamuno Parker, no fewer than 100 volunteers were from the state and the state government also donated 5,000 Personal Protective Equipment to support the mission.

    He said: “We urge them to use the same strategy that we used in Nigeria. They must not get too complacent or overconfident. They will be working closely with the AUC and their experts and to achieve much, they must subject themselves to their command. The world is looking at what Nigeria would do in these countries to contain Ebola in West Africa.”

    So, importantly, this project should be considered as an opportunity to demonstrate that this country is still capable of good things, despite the heavy cloud of negativities generally associated with it.

  • That Buhari letter to APC delegates

    SIR: I wish to draw attention to the salient issues raised in the open letter by Muhammadu Buhari, the APC Presidential candidate to the delegates of his party published in The Nation of yesterday, December 10.

    He mentioned insecurity, corruption and economic collapse as some factors that have brought the country low. He further stressed that it is overdue for all and sundry to work together to lift Nigeria up.

    You will agree with me that this is a humble and articulate stance of someone that really knows what he wants; what are expected of him and that, he can only achieve the objectives with the co-operation of all well meaning Nigerians.  This also is a position that could be taken only by someone that realizes that something is definitely wrong somewhere and is willing and ready to make amends for a better future. He went further to state that he has served Nigeria to the best of his ability and that he has always tried to give more to the nation than the country has given him which is the principle that has guided his public life. To me, this is an open claim and challenge to anyone that can come forward to raise objections.

    Buhari went further to say that he is not a rich person this is also an open claim and a challenge to anyone that has contrary opinion about the true status of the man to come forward and expose him to the world otherwise, he would be considered to be the only former Head of State of this country to be in that position. To this end, he said he is not in a position to give the delegates a fistfull of dollars or naira to purchase their support. Most importantly, he said even if he could do so, he will never do it because the fate of the nation is not for sale. This statement can only come out from someone that is principled, committed, patriotic and full of dignity.

    Furthermore, he said that he does not intend to rule Nigeria but to democratically govern it with our help. This is also a statement that can only be said by someone who knows the differences and objectives of democratic governance compared to others. Continuing, he said he is seeking a country where Christians and Muslims will practice their faith in peace and security, a Nigeria where corruption will no longer trespass into our national behavior but a country where our diversity could be used for our national prosperity.

    The content of the letter should be embraced by our politicians and leaders as guiding principles to good governance. It is a clarion call and challenge to everyone that truly want to serve. I will be looking forward to reading such eye catching, conscience pricking and hope raising statements from all our leaders going forward.

    •Raymond Oise-Oghaede.

  • In praise of Mrs Williams

    •Here’s a toast to 42-year-old Mrs. Juliana Godwin who represents an exceptional will to live

    Valour is made of this: it is the ability to surmount the most daunting of odds; it is the will to stay alive and to live. It is the story of 42-year-old Mrs. Juliana Godwin, mother of four grown up children who hails from Ryom, Plateau State.

    Julie, if we may take a bit of liberty, has just done the extraordinary: she enrolled as a student of Junior Secondary School, Gosa, Airport Road, Abuja. She is not only starting as a first year student, she attends as a day student dressed in her girlish school uniform, white socks and sandals which she wears proudly. She explained that she chose to start from JSS1 because she had never stepped into the four walls of a secondary school. “I told myself I will start from JSS1 as it will help me to have the foundation of secondary school education…” she said.

    Julie looks gay and upbeat in her uniform noting that she is already experiencing positive changes in her life. “I am the oldest person in the class of 80 students. I participate in every school activity, and I am happy with that. Even when I come late to school, the teachers do punish me just like other students and I have no problem with that…”

    While other adults in Julie’s shoes would rather hide under the cover of darkness and attend late evening school or engage a private tutor, she had enrolled in the same school her children attend.

    Daring to return to the classroom at 42 is however, half of Julie’s pulsating life story. She had dropped out of LEA Primary School, Ryom, Plateau State in 1983 because, according to her, her father could no longer sponsor her. She got married, had four children with her husband before the family relocated to Gosa Village Abuja from Jos. And her longish life’s journey just commenced.

    In between rearing children, she learnt dress making. She is also skilled in hair-plating. Because she had to support the family and sometimes served as the sole bread winner, she hawked ‘pure water’ in Gosa market. In between, she sold pepper and tomatoes and a bit of roast corn among other menial preoccupations.

    But it is from these petty trades that she saved up enough to pay for her admission among other expenses. She takes care of her children’s school fees as well, she said, noting that: “My husband was against my decision (to return to school) and quarreled seriously with me. But I didn’t give up my decision.”

    Between 1983 when she left primary school and 2013 when she decided to return to school, Julie’s narrative has been 30 long years of unmitigated toil, penury and deprivation. But as we have seen, these vicissitudes of life did not break her spirit or quench her appetite for life and to live. She has proved that neither age nor life’s troubles are barriers to education.

    There must be thousands, if not millions of Julies out there all around the country who are caught up in the snares of unremitting matrimony which compounds their penury and condemns them to eternal privation and poverty. Not many can muster the will and determination to break out of such vice grip as Julie has achieved. This is why we showcase her as a brave heart and an exemplar of valour.

    Education will not only enrich the quality of her mind and add value to her life, she may well be on the path to breaking the chains of lowliness and humdrum. She already dreams of heading on to the university and studying Marketing after her secondary education. Julie is a model for all other Julies in all the nooks and crannies of the land. Her message is simple: education is not time-barred and an uneducated mind is a wasted life. We toast to Mrs. Juliana Godwin’s courage and we say, go on girl the sky is your limit!

  • Obama presidency and racism in America

    SIR: Obama phenomenon – no doubt – was a watershed moment in American politics. It instilled a sort of equality complex in the minds of many black Americans who hitherto feel segregated just because of their body pigmentation. But today, those psychological gratification and inclusion has already began to wane. From the streets of Miami – Florida and Ferguson – Missouri along   Staten island – New York and down to Cleveland – Ohio , African Americans are not just being discriminated and killed but also judicially deserted.

    Racism is something that deep rooted in American history. And thus any worthwhile analysis must consider its history. The evolution of racism in American started with the transatlantic slave trade. According to transatlantic slave trade database, between 1626 and 1850, an estimated total of 305,326 Africans were forcibly transported via US vessels to the Americas.  Many of them worked out their lives in sugarcane  plantations under harsh climatic and unacclimatized environmental conditions.

    These inhuman treatment meted against the and stolen Africans in the united States of America continued until President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1865 which freed slaves in the defunct Confederate States of America and the 13th Amendment of December 6 , 1865 that finally established the freedom of slaves in United States of America.

    Today, America is once again awash with streets protest . Eric Garner is the latest rallying point in the recycling racial violence that are burning American society like a wide bush fire set in harmattan.

    Eric Garner- an African American- died in Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten island,New York , after a police officer put him in apparently chokehold for 19 seconds – a tactic banned by New York City  Police Department (NYPD)- on suspicion of selling “loosies”, single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps.

    Before Eric Garner,  it was Michael Brown. And before Michael Brown,it was Trayvon Martins. And just recently we heard about Tamir Rice , a 12-year old black boy shot by a police officer just for brandishing toy gun. All happening under Obama’s watch. The question all these phenomena are begging is : Is Obama’s presidency a disappointment to the Black Americans?

    Day after day, race relation in America is getting worse and judiciary is not even helping matters. In the Trayvon Martins’ case, a black teenager (17) was shot dead by Gorge Zimmerman, the coordinator of neighborhood watch in the gated community where Martin was temporarily living. The six female jurors acquitted Zimmerman. In a shocking judgement on Michael Brown’s case, the grand jury ruled that the officer – Darren Wilson – that shot Michael Brown should not be indicted even when the multiple gun wounds on Michael’s body suggested otherwise. Eric Garner’s case followed suit and it’s now generating much protest. Tamir Rice case is on-going and following  the judicial principle of stare decisis, Tim Loehmann might be acquitted. This is not a good story for American judicial system. The picture being portrayed is that the police can continue to shoot unarmed black youth without being prosecuted!

    Black youth are 21 times more likely to be shot dead in America than their white counterparts, according to an analysis ProPublica. Black people are arrested 10 times more often than white people in this country, USA Today reported last week, but black people don’t commit 10 times more crimes.

    Obama’s presidency has helped to expose the fact that America still has to do more to combat racism. Of course America has made strides from 60’s to date. Nevertheless, a lot is yet to be done for Martin Luther king Jr’s dream to be completely fulfilled.

     

    • Asikason Jonathan,

     Enugwu-Ukwu , Anambra State.

  • Crass emptiness

    •Obasanjo, playing the cynic with a court order is diminished, not enhanced

    The sight of a former elected president, playing the cynic over a court order that stopped the presentation of a book, is annoying.  Yet, that is the situation former President Olusegun Obasanjo has put himself.

    Justice Valentine Ashi, of the Federal High Court sitting in Wuse, Abuja, had on December 5, granted an ex-parte order, stopping the public presentation of Obasanjo’s new book, My Watch.  But for whatever excuses, the former president went ahead to present the book in Lagos on December 9.

    Buruji Kashamu, an Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) partisan, and from newspaper reports, no public friend of Obasanjo’s, had gone to court claiming Obasanjo’s latest autobiography risked permanently injuring his person.  The court granted the ex-parte; pending further hearing on December 10.  But by releasing the book on December 10, Obasanjo appeared to have rendered the court process nullity.  This is most condemnable.

    But the former president’s comments at the book launch was even more unfortunate: “In a normal judiciary,” he said of the judge that granted the ex-parte, “the judge should be sanctioned and I hope something will be done.”  Obasanjo based his argument on the point that he had written the book, and his publishers had published it — so, not releasing it is out of question?  Again, that sounds eerily much like self-help, the impunity that daily drives this country to the edge.  it must be condemned by every lawful person.

    But even assuming — without necessarily conceding — that the court of Justice Ashi erred, the judge works in the judiciary, a key institution of state that has strict processes.  It is called the rule of law, which insists on due process.  Obasanjo should have sought redress under this process, instead of resorting to self-help.

    If the former general feigns ignorance of due process, pleading his military background (which would still be wrong, for even the military is set up by the law; and that institution is duty bound to obey the law), his status as a former president, elected in a democracy, is a harsh rebuke of that stance.

    A man the law exalted as president over fellow citizens cannot turn back to treat that same law as an ass, without necessarily making himself one.  Yet, that is the lawless path Obasanjo has taken.  It is not only condemnable, it is utterly reprehensible.

    Obasanjo and Kashamu do not interest this newspaper, beyond the fact that both are citizens, duty-bound to obey the law, if Nigeria is not to descend into anarchy.  In their respective eyes, they could regard each other as saints or devils.  But when court proceedings are involved, each should shed their sainthood or devilry and conform — conform because that is what ordered and civilised society dictates.

    By his rash conduct, however, Obasanjo has failed this litmus test.  He has thus paved the way for an unpleasant sight of a court hauling a former president, who should earn the reverence of all by virtue of his former position, before a court of law for contempt.

    Indeed, Justice Ashi has hinted that much.  At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday (December 10) the court gave Obasanjo 21 days to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt of court.  To make the point that law rules, and arbitrary power or resort to self-help should never be tolerated, Justice Ashi should do everything to preserve the sanctity of the judiciary.  If a former president wilfully makes himself a scapegoat, so be it.

    Obasanjo, as an elder citizen, a former president and his often loudly asserted love for Nigeria and its wellbeing, must shun the Nebuchadnezzar complex — that hubris that tells an individual he is greater than the state.  It was such hubris that landed him in trouble with the late Sani Abacha; and it was only divine intervention that saved him from the gallows; and gave him a second chance.

    Regretfully, the former president seemed not to have learned from his past.  That is unfortunate for a man of his age, standing and status, especially as role model for younger Nigerians struggling to imbibe democratic ethos, after decades of military impunity.

  • Unbelievable callousness

    •Gyping IDPs their relief materials is akin to full descent into savagery

    One of the most serious challenges confronting Nigeria today is that of offering succour and the opportunity of a humane existence to thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), forced by no fault of theirs to relocate from their normal places of residence, in search of safety and preservation.

    It is not surprising that statistics just released by the Internally Displaced Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) indicates that Nigeria has 3.3 million internally displaced persons, which is the highest in Africa. The country in this regard ranks globally behind Syria and Colombia with 6.5 and 5.7 million IDPs respectively.

    A major reason for the high incidence of IDPs in Nigeria is the Boko Haram insurgency, which has practically laid the entire North-East region of the country prostrate. The insurgents have sustained a high tempo of murderous killings that have destroyed whole communities. Thus, the United Nations Human Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nigeria estimates that there are currently 650,000 IDPs in the North-East alone.

    The problem has been worsened by alleged unorthodox and extreme methods by the Nigerian military striving to contain the insurgency, as well as incessant clashes between pastoralists and sedentary farmers over grazing lands in such states as Benue, Taraba, Zamfara and parts of Kaduna State.

    Natural disasters such as flooding have also compounded matters in certain parts of the country. It has been reported, for instance, that many of the victims of the 2012 flooding attendant on heavy rainfall across the Nigeria are still in search of permanent places of residence.

    It is an indication of the abysmal depth of our moral descent as a people that some unscrupulous officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) callously sought to exploit the plight of these unfortunate Nigerians for pecuniary gains. An attempt to divert relief materials meant for displaced persons in Taraba State by officials of NEMA was recently foiled by vigilant men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Gombe State.

    In the words of the Gombe State Corps’ Commandant of NSDC, Shem Obafaiye, “I received intelligence report about their activities and directed my men to swing into action immediately. My men were on ground when they were loading. After loading, the first vehicle waited somewhere for the second one to load and they both moved to a private store located at Nasarawa area of Gombe, where they usually drop such relief materials. At the point of off -loading, my men apprehended them”.

    The men of the NSCDC deserve commendation for their sense of duty, diligence and professionalism that enabled them to abort this criminal enterprise.

    In our corruption-laden environment, it would have been all too easy for the NSCDC officials to ask for their own share of the loot and look the other way.

    However, this may be only one instance of a more expansive network of theft of relief materials meant for displaced persons across the country. Necessary and urgent steps should thus be taken to properly enumerate displaced persons, identify their camps and establish rigorous and fool-proof methods of getting relief materials to them.

    What this aborted diversion of relief materials in Gombe State suggests is a rather casual and unserious approach to what is supposed to be serious business.

    There is the need not just for water tight security but also high standards of transparency and accountability in the entire chain of procurement, transportation and delivery of relief materials to IDPs.

    Those implicated in this shameful incident must be brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others.

  • Unrepentant outlawry

    Unrepentant outlawry

    •As DSS raids APC data centre again

    The second raid of the data centre of the All Progressives Congress (APC), by the Directorate of State Security (DSS), despite a restraining order by Justice Mohammed Yunusa, of the Federal High Court, Lagos, is a further confirmation of that security agency’s descent into anarchy.

    While every law abiding citizen of our country should worry about the first raid, made in the absence of any justification by the agency, the second, in clear disregard of a subsisting order of court, is a manifest show of contempt against the rule of law.

    We recall that Justice Yunusa had on November 26, made an order restraining the DSS from further sealing off the data centre of the APC, or indeed taking any further steps in connection with the property.

    Yet, last week, despite that subsisting order, the DSS again allegedly raided the centre with over 40 armed officials; and carted away over 30 bags filled with APC’s membership registration forms.

    The claim that the APC was using the center to clone the Permanent Voters Card has not been substantiated by the DSS before the court; yet the agency recklessly disobeyed the order made by the court.

    We urge President Goodluck Jonathan, as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the National Assembly leadership, to rise up to their constitutional responsibility to protect the constitution.

    We note that in direspecting the courts, the DSS is making a mockery of our constitutional government. The DSS must also be made to realise that their very existence is predicated on the rule of law; otherwise, they would be no better than the other armed gangs, raiding our country.

    On this matter, we stand in solidarity with the court, and urge all law courts to be bold and bear allegience only to the consitution, despite the acts of intimidation and impunity by many of the law enforcement agencies.

    Justice Yunusa must also hold the agency to account and commit to jail, if need be, those who held his court in contempt. The learned Justice and indeed all courts need the solidarity of the entire legal community, and indeed all Nigerians, to stem a clear and manifest danger constituted by some security agencies to our polity. To ignore such conducts as exhibited by the DSS is to invite a resort to self help, which is antithetical to democracy.

    The leadership of the DSS must also rein in their goons who are bringing the agency to disrepute, unless they sanctioned the illegal raids. In making their choice whether to serve the country or the interests of the temporal office holders, the DSS must remember that if by their partisan conducts, the country is set ablaze, there would be no agency to work for.

    To help them to make an informed choice, we remind the agency that the laws of the land envision that security agencies should act as non-partisan institutions of state, in order to help stabilize the divergent and contending political interests, in our young democracy.

    President Jonathan, as head of the executive arm of government, to which the DSS belongs, should note that the several acts of lawlessness by the security agencies, under his command, cast his government as an outlaw. That is a great disservice to our country.

    As we have preached many times, the legitimacy of a democratic government is predicated on the rule of law, and any recourse to arbitrariness, as we witnessed with respect to the conduct of the DSS in raiding the data center of the APC, despite an order of a law court, is an invitation to anarchy.