The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Mutiny: 12 Soldiers only spoke truth to power

    Mutiny: 12 Soldiers only spoke truth to power

    SIR: This is certainly not the best of times for the Nigerian military. It has continued to remain in the news for the very wrong and bizarre reasons. It is either the “late”? Abubakar ‘lunatic’ Shekau-led Boko Haram group is forcing its officers to consider a ‘tactical manouvre’ into Cameroun borders or officers within the force are engaging each other in needless internal bickering. As things presently are, our entire military set up appears to have lost the verve and patriotic bent to meaningfully prosecute the insurgency.

    The military is presently enmeshed in another round of fresh controversy. Just last week, the media reported the shocking verdict of a court martial that tried 18 military officers for allegedly attacking Major General Ahmed Mohammed, the General Officer Commanding of the 7th Division, Maiduguri over the mindless killing of their colleagues by insurgents. Delivering the judgment, leader of the court martial, Brigadier General Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, sentenced 12 of the 18 officers to death by firing squad. Expectedly, the verdict elicited loads of reactions, with many queuing behind the ‘condemned’ military officers.

    These men truly don’t deserve to die. Their action only drew global attention to the chronic stench, endemic rot, mega fraud and cesspool of corruption that the Nigerian military has become. Their action exposed a military where its top brass feed fat on its budget, sell arms and ammunitions to insurgents and arms its junior officers with dane guns to confront heavily armed insurgents.

    Frankly speaking, those presiding over the affairs of the entire military make-up in Nigeria are the very problem bedeviling the institution. These same elements are chiefly responsible for why the war on terror isn’t recording spectacular success as expected. The surest way to meaningfully take this war against terror to the bedroom of Abubakar Shekau (we learnt he’s dead?) and his fellow lunatics is to wield the big stick on the military’s top brass. Certainly, some of them should be shown the next available exit route. The nation cannot continue to shoulder the enormous wage bill of trained military officers who cannot live up to the task of stoutly defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

    Before either the President or the head of the military signs the death warrant of these soldiers, Nigerians and indeed the world request that the army’s top echelon should first and foremost subject itself to public scrutiny. Those who wish to go to equity must keep their hands clean. The military’s top brass should tell us in unambiguous terms how they have been expending the huge yearly budget approved for the entire military. We expect them to give detailed account of how they have spent or managed the money. It is only after then that they can go ahead to approve the firing of these men accused of committing insurrection.

    I keep saying this. The alleged attack on Major General Ahmed Mohammed wasn’t a premeditated one. The said soldiers were only helpless and frustrated. They felt the system deliberately ordered them to the war front without first and foremost providing them with all they needed to prosecute the war.

    This is one case that most Nigerians won’t want to see it go the way of others. These guys weren’t conscripted into the Nigerian Army. They willingly applied to serve their fatherland, with the hopes that our country will be better for it at the end. Unfortunately, instead of getting medals, cash rewards or national honour for service to fatherland, the same country has concluded plans to end their lives rather prematurely by facing the firing squad should their appeal fails to scale through.

    You cannot beat a child and expect him not to cry. We sent them to the war front with dane guns and expect them to crush Boko Haram in one fell swoop. These 12 military men only spoke truth to power and nothing more.

    • Abdullahi Yunusa

    Imane, Kogi State

  • Mr. Lion

    Mr. Lion

    •How could Mr Mbu, a cop have tamed an elected governor? Food for thought

    Former Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, now an assistant inspector-general of police, once again allowed the politician in him to take precedence over his calling as a disciplined policeman. Speaking while handing over to the new FCT Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, in Abuja, Mbu referred to himself as a ‘lion’ who tamed the ‘leopard’ in Port Harcourt. Although Mbu did not name names, it was clear that he was referring to Governor Rotimi Amaechi of the state, with whom he had a running battle for the better part of his tenure as police commissioner in the state.

    “I advise you (CP) to carry the senior officers along in your administration. It is only a lion that can tame a leopard. I tamed the leopard in Port Harcourt; each time he remembers my face, he would remember how I tamed him,” Mbu said at the occasion.

    Mr Mbu was apparently reacting to a speech made by Governor Amaechi when he received the outgoing commissioner of police and also newly promoted assistant inspector-general of police, Mr Tunde Ogunshakin, and other top police commissioners, during a courtesy visit on him at the Government House, Port Harcourt. Amaechi said the former police commissioner deviated from his professional calling but resorted instead to taking sides with politicians in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Amaechi’s words: “Unlike Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, who clearly showed us that he was a registered member of PDP, in your own case (Ogunsakin), you know that, we had disagreement, but you realised your responsibility to ensure the security of lives and property as the paramount responsibility of the Nigeria Police”.

    This was fair comment. Even if it was not, there should not be any doubt as to who is in charge in a state between the governor and the police commissioner. It indeed is an aberration for a police commissioner to see himself as a lion where a sitting governor, popularly elected by the people, is. It is the height of impudence which speaks volumes about our warped federalism and makes a mockery of the law which says the governor is the chief security officer of the state. How can the governor be the chief security officer  when he has no control over the police boss who sees himself as answerable to the inspector-general of police or even, in Mr Mbu’s case, answerable directly to the President or, more specifically, the First Lady.

    Such insubordination never happened and indeed could never have happened even in the years of military rule in the country, when arbitrariness reigned supreme. When governors barked out orders to police commissioners in the military era, they were not only carried out, they were performed. That we saw the kind of gross insubordination by a police boss to a sitting governor during Mr Mbu’s time as police commissioner in Rivers is symptomatic of the new lows that many institutions of state have fallen under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency.

    We congratulate Mr Ogunsakin for restoring the confidence of the people of the state in the police force and wish him success in his new assignment. The state has indeed benefited immensely from the professional way he handled his assignments within about seven months. We can only hope his successor would follow his good steps, bearing in mind that it is true that the people of Rivers would continue to remember both Mr Mbu and Mr Ogunsakin as police commissioners who served in the state, but in different ways.

    In the same vein, we congratulate Mr Mbu on his promotion. At least he acted out the script of those who posted him to Rivers State diligently. He is apparently still basking in the euphoria of his elevation, hence his seeing himself as a lion; this is understandable. Anyway, we think Mr Mbu would be more useful to Nigeria in Sambisa Forest at this point in time when the country is in dire need of lions to tame the many leopards masquerading as Boko Haram there.

  • Dining with the devil

    Dining with the devil

    •President Jonathan must reassess his ties to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff

    It is often said that eternal vigilance is the price of victory. Given the very serious security challenges currently being confronted by Nigeria, it is surprising that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has persistently refused to take this wisdom to heart.

    Quite apart from the Federal Government’s inability to rally cross-party support for its anti-terror campaign, increasing disquiet at its dubious arms-procurement processes, as well as the uncertain morale of the armed forces, there are its inexplicably close connections to individuals suspected of contributing significantly to the rise of insurgent groups like Boko Haram.

    The most prominent of these links is that between the Jonathan administration and the former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. Ever since his defection to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in July, and even before it, Sheriff has been the beneficiary of courtesies and preferential protocol arrangements that would be more appropriate to a sitting head of state.

    When Maiduguri Airport was closed in June in response to military directives, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno State, and 286 pilgrims on their way to perform the lesser Hajj in Mecca were forced to comply. However, the airport was reopened in July for the sole reason of allowing Sheriff’s private jet to land, allegedly to facilitate his intention of declaring for the PDP. Why would the Federal Government override security concerns and extend a courtesy to an ex-governor that it had denied his successor?

    Then there is the controversial appearance of Sheriff at a meeting between Presidents Jonathan and his Chadian counterpart, Idris Deby, on September 8. Sheriff was not only in the official Chadian delegation which welcomed Jonathan at the airport, he was also at Deby’s formal reception for Jonathan. Although the president’s media aides have been at pains to stress that Sheriff was not on Nigeria’s official entourage, the fact that he was able to meet the president without any apparent hindrance does not inspire confidence in government’s vaunted attempts to combat Boko Haram.

    The latest demonstration of Senator Sheriff’s “most-favoured person” status was the 200-man close protection detail that attended him when he recently visited Maiduguri to pay his condolences to a bereaved friend. This security escort far exceeds that of any governor, and can only be rivalled by that of the president himself. Significantly, Sheriff’s escort comprised soldiers rather than policemen who usually provide security cover for non-military VIPs. In effect, soldiers who could have been employed far more usefully against insurgents were deployed to protect an individual suspected of a major role in the creation and sustenance of the very same insurgents they should have been fighting!

    The Jonathan administration must realise that such displays of moral ambivalence are far more disadvantageous to its credibility than any perceived gain. It strengthens growing perceptions that the Federal Government is more interested in manipulating the insurgency than in fighting it. It weakens national resolve to unite against terror. It gives heart to individuals who sponsor terrorism and provide succour for those who perpetrate it. Perhaps most distressing of all, it poisons all aspects of social, political and economic life by destroying trust, ruining nationalist fervour and degrading patriotic obligation.

    If indeed the Federal Government is assiduously fighting terrorism, it cannot be seen to be cozying up to individuals like Sheriff, whose innocence in insurgency-related matters is yet to be established. It should expedite the process of thoroughly investigating his activities in order to determine his culpability or otherwise, and in the meantime should seek to distance itself from his like.

  • FG as money launderer?

    FG as money launderer?

    •No explanation can remove the illegality and odium of the $9.3m cash haulage scam

    Call it serial bungling, insinuate mind-numbing corruption or official money laundering, all these tags will stick like a desperate tick on the Federal Government, considering the manner governance is conducted in Nigeria today.

    The latest in the list of this scandal-drenched environment is the report of the arrest last Monday in South Africa of a Nigerian private jet with a cash haul of $9.3 million. The jet had on board, two Nigerians and an Israeli. A curious twist in the tale however, is that the jet belongs to a well-known clergyman, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the country’s apex Christian body. Oritsejafor is also a well-known confidant and consort of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The Federal Government had intervened quickly on the side of the private jet crew, claiming ownership of the cash and knowledge of their mission. According to it, the cash was meant for the procurement of arms in furtherance of the raging war against insurgency in Nigeria. But the South African authorities are not convinced. By the end of last week, that country’s Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), had obtained a court order to freeze the cash.  In a statement, NPA said, “The money was initially detained by the South African Revenue Service as it was neither disclosed nor declared at Customs and was above the prescribed legal limit for the amount of cash that may be brought into the country.”

    NPA also raised questions about Nigerian authorities’ explanation that the cash was meant for arms procurement. It notes that Tier One Services Group, the firm the Nigerian government claimed it was to procure arms from is not authorised to sell or rent military hardware. Further, the invoice issued by Tier One to a Cyprus-based firm purportedly in respect of procurement of armaments also raises suspicion as to its true intent and leaves classical money laundering trails.

    There is no doubt that this singular heist has portrayed Nigeria and her government as dubious, having scant regard for rule of law and indeed anachronistic, to say the least. As the South African Authorities have pointed out, the issues here border on criminal breach of foreign exchange laws; a breach of international arms procurement conventions and has tell-tale signs of official-backed large-scale money laundering.

    The intervention of the Federal Government has also shown up Nigeria as a banana republic, a jungle nation of the 21st century where anything goes. The Federal Government makes it seem legitimate under some guises to ship out undeclared currencies through her ports. But that is not the law of the land: every sum above $10,000 must be declared and approval required before it can be ferried out. Does the Nigerian Customs have record of this cash; did they approve its shipment?

    Many more questions arise: why would the Federal Government pay cash for arms procurement? The only plausible answer is that it is buying from the black market. Why would a country of Nigeria’s status seek to purchase arms from dark alleys and corner markets patronised by terrorists and hoodlums?

    Why would government use a private jet, and why the uncanny coincidence of using one that belongs to the CAN president? And some questions for Oritsejafor: we thought he was a clergy man; now he runs a jet charter firm? He told the world he needed the jet for evangelism when Nigerians raised eyebrows over its purchase sometime ago!

    Speculations have actually been rife as to the devious uses most Nigerian owners of private jets have been putting  them to and we are now more inclined to begin to take a more critical look at ownership of private jets in Nigeria.

    In spite of all the explanations that the Federal Government has proffered, two most sacred institutions in the land have been badly tainted by this scandal – the Presidency and the church. We urge the National Assembly to look into the matter and find ways to mitigate the shame and odium it has brought to the nation.

  • Don’t kill them

    Don’t kill them

    •Military authorities should commute the death sentence on 12 mutineers

    The news on May 14, that some soldiers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army mutinied by firing shots at their General Officer Commanding, Major-General Ahmed Mohammed, left many Nigerians apprehensive, knowing that mutiny is a very serious offence in military service. Ever since, Nigerians waited with trepidation on the outcome of the General Court- Martial (GCM) that was set up to try the 18 soldiers indicted for the offence. Last week, the GCM handed death sentence on 12 of the alleged mutineers, jailed one for 28 days, and discharged and acquitted five others. The death sentence has however left many numb, despite the enormity of the alleged offence, under military law.

    We condemn the alleged mutineers for taking the laws into their hand; however, we doubt the propriety of death sentence, as punishment for any offence. Again, while mutiny cannot be justified in military service, it may be more helpful for the overall wellbeing of the nation and the Nigerian Army to consider the circumstances that made soldiers turn their guns on their commander. If as alleged, the soldiers were disillusioned over a possible official complicit in the ambush and killing of their colleagues fighting the Boko Haram insurgents, then a death sentence instead of stemming such grievous reaction in future, may, unfortunately, aggravate it.

    Surely, the military authorities have a serious matter of discipline among the officers and men, on their hands. For, if the allegations against the mutineers and that against the leadership of the command are both correct; then justice must be seen to have been done to all soldiers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army, regardless of rank or position, to appropriately rest the case. In our view, to appear to pamper one side, while maximally punishing the other, will create a far more insidious malice within the national army, and that will be more dangerous than the alleged act of mutiny. It is therefore important that the letter of the law is in tandem with the spirit of the law to appropriately resolve this very unfortunate incident.

    In our view, the Army Council should not confirm the death sentence passed by the GCM. Indeed, the council should consider a far more reduced punishment, should the death sentence stand, after the soldiers have fully exploited the legal opportunities of an appeal. To achieve a more sustainable resolution of that crisis, the military command must thoroughly examine the alleged incidents of indiscipline among the rank and file. For instance, we recall the accusation that resources meant for military hardware and other equipment for the fighting soldiers, were misappropriated. One recent reaction was the protest by the soldiers’ wives, over claims of unnecessary exposure of their spouses to danger, by handing them inferior equipment.

    Also noticed in recent times are accusations that budgetary allocations and allowances for the welfare and the benefit of soldiers, especially the junior rank, are routinely misappropriated by some of their senior officers. We recall that a protest against such conduct had also resulted in the trial of 27 soldiers for mutiny in Akure, Ondo State, some years back.

    We earnestly hope that it is not the conduct of the senior officers that is sometimes responsible for the subsequent acts of misconduct by the junior rank. That is why a far more comprehensive enquiry of the status of our national army should be discreetly and urgently undertaken by the national leadership, and appropriate solution to the challenges taken. Meanwhile, we urge the 12 soldiers condemned to death to test their conviction at the court of appeal.

  • Sale of Enterprise Bank

    Sale of Enterprise Bank

    •We can only hope useful lessons have been learnt from past mistakes

    It was a replay, somewhat, of the fabled phoenix mythology – a bird said to have arisen from the ashes of its predecessor. Thursday last week, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) announced the Heritage Bank-sponsored HISL Investment Services Limited as preferred bidder for Enterprise Bank, one of the three bridge banks created after the 2009 banking crisis. Heritage Bank is the regional bank which arose from the ashes of the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria after acquisition by IEI Plc from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2012.

    The statement by AMCON’s Head, Corporate Communications, Kayode Lambo, read: “The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria is pleased to announce HISL Investment Services Limited as preferred bidder and Fidelity Bank Plc as reserve bidder for the acquisition of the entire issued and fully paid up ordinary shares of Enterprise Bank Limited. This follows the receipt of the approval of the Board of Directors of AMCON. HISL is sponsored by Heritage Banking Company Limited.”

    The deal is however subject to its payment of its winning bid of N56 billion. Under the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA), HISL was expected to have paid 20 per cent or N11.2 billion of the bid price last Friday – September 21, after the execution of the agreement.

    The balance of 80 per cent or N44.8 billion is due by October 13.

    Seen in the context of AMCON’s attempt to bring closure to the 2009 sanitisation of the financial services sector, particularly the three bridge banks which it gave rise to, the development represents a milestone of sorts.  Presently, AMCON is reportedly set to announce the preferred bidder for Mainstreet Bank on or before October 31; the sale of Keystone Bank is expected to commence later. More fundamental is the implication of the development to the winding down process of the child of necesity called AMCON. Only two weeks ago, the corporation also took another step in this regard when it sold its 12.5 percent stake in Ecobank to Qatar National Bank (QNB) for a princely $200 million.

    Having said that, Nigerians are obviously entitled to wonder if the arrangement is not another familiar  corporate-Nigeria story of the small fish swallowing the big – the sort of changes that throw up far more complex questions than the solutions could hope to resolve. We hope, if only for the sake of the Nigerian banking public, that the process ends as expected.

    No doubt, it says a lot about the ambitions of the regional bank that it is taking over a behemoth with over 160 branches across major cities and commercial centres, and one with over 177 Automated Teller Machines, 57 cash centres and 2,000 Point of Sale terminals. (We saw this once when Access Bank acquired the obviously bigger but now defunct, Intercontinental Bank). At this point, we can only hope that appropriate lessons have been learnt from the set of factors which birthed in the take-over.  It is also our expectation that the regulator in particular and players will be up and doing to bring the process to a speedy conclusion.

    It should be realised however that a changing landscape of banking means nothing if it does not deliver on the ultimate objectives of financial inclusion and service delivery. Years of financial sector reforms seem to us as sufficient to deliver on those promises. Hopefully, the take-over of Enterprise Bank by Heritage should provide some fillip.

  • Another drain pipe

    Another drain pipe

    •FG’s plan to set up devt bank seems another ploy to duplicate agencies

    The Federal Government’s decision to start a development bank with N10 billion is tantamount to following a lead to nowhere. Over the years, successive governments have always believed that the best way to spur development is to establish a new agency, institution or parastatal and throw money at challenges. And, because this is a lazy and jaded approach, such measures have always failed.

    There is no doubt that one challenge that Nigerians would want to disappear immediately is poverty. Nigerians want the pride of their country restored and realise that the only way to do this is to have a country listed among developed countries –  one respected for its solid economy and fair political practice. At the moment, given government policies and the level of commitment of its officials, this appears a dream.

    We find it difficult to understand why the Jonathan administration thinks the establishment of a development bank would perform the magic. Has the President and his advisers thought through why the Bank of Industry (BOI) is still struggling to come to terms with its mandate?

    At the moment, banks are dedicated to promoting agricultural development, renewal of infrastructure and there have been suggestions that it will serve the country well if a Construction Bank is established. Yet, we remember that the cornerstone of the banking sector reform by the Obasanjo administration was to have banks strong enough to play this role and even compete internationally. The banks have not changed. Interest rates still stand at the same cut-throat levels that cannot grow the critical sector.

    One other measure that the governments of Nigeria have found attractive is the provision of intervention fund. In recent years, such dedicated funds have been made available to airlines, the textile and the entertainment industries. Yet, the effect has been negligible. Home movies produced by Nollywood are still technically deficient. The thinking that goes into writing, acting, editing, directing, producing and packaging the movies fall far below regional and international standards.

    The Obasanjo government had thought that providing cheap funds for the aviation industry was enough to improve safety of passengers and rescue the sector. It failed. Some of the companies that accessed the funds made available merely funnelled the money into other things that did not benefit the country. They still collapsed and, because they were sufficiently criminally minded to fund the ruling political party, the proprietors got away with the crime.

    It is therefore surprising that the government is yet to learn from all these that merely throwing money at problems does not necessarily bring about changes. What a leader is expected to do is study the situation and motivate the leaders of the industry to buy into workable plans.

    We are concerned that the new move to establish development bank is being made at a time that another general election is at hand. Experience suggests that our governments begin ingenious search for means of misappropriating public funds for selfish political gains when elections are around the corner.

    Duplication of agencies never helped the country in the past. Nothing suggests the result would be different this time. We therefore call on the National Assembly to patriotically rise to the defence of the country by blocking this move. It is another drain pipe.

    Besides, money is only one of the challenges of development in the country. We need power, which is crucial, yet, in spite of the huge funds sunk into the power sector, electricity supply remains as epileptic as ever. We have to be more serious about this as well as fix other infrastructure if we truly desire to achieve our developmental goals.

  • Curbing the menace of noise pollution

    When I look at our dear country, the question that comes to my mind is, when shall we grow out of this present primordial stage?

    Anytime I wake up in the night to read, it is either one church is observing a vigil or another one is busy carrying out deliverance service on their members. In Port Harcourt where I live there are churches scattered all over and even the one mosque situated about three kilometers to my house is not exempted as early in the morning sounds emanate from the loud speakers calling their members to come for early morning prayers in the mosque. Along our streets, audio cassette sellers are busy dishing out  their own sounds from their strategically located speakers while self-acclaimed doctors dealing in herbal mixtures use their loud speakers to dish out wrong medical information to unsuspecting members of the public. The police escorts to bullion vehicles as well as government officials also contribute theirs  quota with sirens to the sound pool.

    Please,can’t we have noiseless zones in this country?.How do we intend to succeed in this part of the world when we are not given the right environment to develop our brains?At times different floors of a four storey building will be occupied by different churches and their services may clash such that the sounds emanating from their loud speakers can cause destructive interference (thanks to physicists). The annoying aspect of all this is that when one rises to fight this nuisance, the religious houses will dub one an agent of darkness.

    What a modern colonialism?

    I call on our governments, if they still exist, to enact laws that will regulate the noisy activities of these religious houses. The way we have industrial estates, that  should be the way we will have religious estates. Residential areas must be strictly residential in the real sense of it. If one runs away to the hotels to avoid the noise pollution, some churches have taken over the main halls in many hotels.

    Our religious leaders should tell us how their experiences were like all the time they visited London and other saner climes for their holidays. Also, even in the Middle East where both Christianity and Islam originated, do they have the type of noise pollution we have in this country?

    The most annoying aspect of our present government is that if a moslem governor starts regulating this noise pollution, the opposition political party will attempt to score political point by telling the citizens that the governor is carrying out a religious agenda just as the reverse would be the case if a Christian governor wants to rid the state of this noise pollution. The type of opposition we have in Nigeria today is such that if a governor wants to deal with teachers that forged certificates and dates of birth to secure teaching jobs, the opposition will go and join forces with the teachers and their relatives/sympathisers  to vote out the government from power.

    My only concern is the inability of our ministries of environment to rise up to the challenge. Socrates, it was that said that an unexamined life is not worth living. How then do we intend examining our life in the midst of our present noisy environment?

     

    Dr Paul John

    Port Harcourt,Rivers State.

  • The Soyinka challenge

    The Soyinka challenge

    Nobel laureate joins those who want Stephen Davis’ claims on Boko Haram alleged sponsors probed

    Professor Wole Soyinka is no doubt a respectable voice of conscience and courage in the country. In this era of dearth of men of honour, he remains a shining light. So, when he speaks, the nation listens, because he is not given to frivolity.

    Soyinka, 1986 Nobel laureate in literature issued a statement titled: ‘The wages of impunity’ in which he corroborated earlier accusations by an Australian negotiator, Stephen Davis, that an unnamed top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was among top sponsors of the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria. Davis, in his widely publicised image battering interview also named former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State and Lt.-Gen Azubuike Ihejirika, retired Chief of Army Staff, as two of the major sponsors of Boko Haram. Soyinka calls for immediate arraignment and international probe of the two men.

    The Nobel laureate has every reason to believe Davis whom he claimed he had worked with in the background ‘during efforts to resolve the insurrection in the Delta region under President Shehu Yar’Adua.’ He cautioned that the government should not dismiss, out of hand, Davis’ claims, saying such ‘cannot be wished away by foul-mouthed abuse and cheap attempts to impugn his integrity’ which in the end might turn to ‘an absolute waste of time and effort.’

    The outrageous thing is that Soyinka’s confirmation of Davis’ allegations, especially on the identities of the top CBN official and others that are allegedly funding terrorism has been treated with official levity despite the fact that their names are, according to the Nobel laureate, already on the table of the president.  He disclosed his willingness to share the names of the suspects with President Goodluck Jonathan when he is ready to “abandon his accommodating policy towards the implicated, even the criminalised, an attitude that owes so much to re-election desperation.” This is a plausible approach when dealing with a president that has been less than sincere in stemming the Boko Haram tide in the country.

    It is very clear though that the presidency has made a mockery of this scandalous mess by refusing to respond to Soyinka’s widely reported epistle in the media. What could have informed the graveyard silence of the presidency and the apex bank in the nation over an issue that is threatening her corporate existence? Why should the nation’s custodian/regulator of her financial policy pretend not to be aware of the grievous allegation against it that is already generating hullabaloo in the public domain? In this particular instance, could we rightly conclude that this criminal silence means consent?

    We cannot just fathom a scenario where such weighty allegations bordering on terrorism sponsorship coming from an outstanding statesman like Soyinka will be shamelessly swept under the carpet by a government that wants the world to take its professed battle against Boko Haram serious. The CBN is too pivotal an institution to be involved in the funding of Boko Haram’s criminal attempt to bring down the country. We cannot just afford to turn the other way except the riddle behind these allegations is convincingly resolved. The sanctity of the nation’s sovereignty is non-negotiable.

    It is a good thing that a non-governmental organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), is taking the matter up with the CBN. The apex bank has been given 14 days ultimatum to address the issues levelled against it. In this era of Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, it cannot discountenance the ultimatum. The president too needs to say something on this issue.

    The prevailing culture of shameful silence by the presidency and the CBN over Soyinka’s weighty accusations cannot continue sine die; that is why we are calling on the two sides concerned to come out and explain what they know about the matter. Is it true that the president is aiding and abetting the alleged criminal sponsors of Boko Haram because of his ambition to seek re-election in 2015? Could this be the reason why the CBN has turned itself into a lame duck apex financial institution?

    Of course, Nigerians deserve to know and are definitely waiting anxiously to hear from the two powerful institutions of state – the presidency and the CBN.

  • The ‘Black Scorpion’

    The ‘Black Scorpion’

    •Benjamin Adekunle (1936 to 2014) fought for his country but his country did not fight for him

    By some accounts, he was Nigeria’s best, or he represented the best from this part of the world in the world of soldiery. Yet when he died September 13, he was probably the most underappreciated soldier in Nigerian history. By implication, he was one of the least appreciated Nigerians ever.

    Benjamin Adekunle who left the army as a brigadier-general, gained fame as the commander of the third infantry division of the federal army during the Nigerian civil war that lasted 30 months and ended in January 1970. He renamed the division, The Third Marine Commando, and he grew in fame and legend as the “Black Scorpion.”

    Some untruths and unfairness surround his biography. One, he has been carved up as a cartoonish hater of the Igbos. This was not helped by his own wayward rhetoric.  For instance, in an August 1968 interview with Randolph Baumann of Stern magazine, he spoke irreverently about the Igbos. “I want to see no red cross, no caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionary, no United Nations delegation. I want to prevent even one Igbo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shot at everything that moved, and when our troops moved into the centre of Igbo territory, we shot at everything even those that did not move.”

    That was a language of butchery. But from the facts on ground, his division effectively moved into Igbo land when he had been removed.  His division actually was ruthless in battle like any powerful military force, but that same division was not recorded to have violated any Geneva Conventions in that it not only reabsorbed captured Biafrans, it also retrained those who did not choose to return to their divide of battle. His insensitive rhetoric was borne out of an incriminating vainglory for a man who spent a good time of war in Lagos seeking supplies of men and weaponry. His division was the most effective tactically and in discipline. But it suffered the most from the high command in Lagos from the viewpoint of supplies. The other divisions manned by Shuwa and Mohammed were the most stocked and were prone to the savagery of war with recorded tales of cold-blooded murders, pogrom and rapes.

    Adekunle was a tested man of valour and a great tactician as well as strategist. His troops fought in the most delicate and demanding theatres. They fought in the miry terrain of the Niger Delta and ran the stretch from Sapele all the way to Port Harcourt, and that was the height of the glory of his division before he was recalled from the battle. His division was taken over by Olusegun Obasanjo, but Obasanjo thrived on the discipline and strategy that Adekunle wrought. That division eventually secured the surrender of the Biafran forces.

    Yet the same man who died barely a week ago did not enjoy the high laurels of the land, not even of his colleagues. He had a fiery temper that tempted his colleagues in the north to fear him for his iconoclasm. His Yoruba generals allegedly envied him and the Igbo soldiers never forgave him. But as the encomiums from all have shown since his death, he made his mark fighting for the unity of Nigeria, in spite of his foibles.

    From all accounts, he died in pain and neglect, and he suffered this for quite some years. Neither the governments of the day nor the elite of the soldiers remembered him. Is it a telling irony that the man who fought for the unity of Nigeria died from neglect at a time the same unity is threatened by the same sort of forces that Adekunle fought for? It is, tragically.