The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Jinxed bridge?

    Jinxed bridge?

    •Govt should repair the old Niger Bridge pending construction of the new one

    THE Niger Bridge in the commercial city of Onitsha has had a chequered history. Completed in 1965, it became a war casualty few years later during the Nigeria Civil War. It was resurrected as peace returned to Nigeria. Now the bridge, challenged by age, has become a creaky danger, and there is apprehension that it could collapse. Being the major link between the South-West and South-East, and some states in the South-South and North-Central, the bridge is one of the busiest in the country. During the last Christmas holidays, many commuters spent hours just to cross the bridge.

    The dangerous state of the bridge deserves urgent attention. Interestingly, President Goodluck Jonathan, like his predecessors, has promised to build the long overdue second bridge across the River Niger. But while waiting for this forlorn promise (since there are no signs of any seriousness to keep the promise), we counsel the government to repair the existing bridge to avoid possible loss of lives and property.

    The danger posed by the bridge should also worry the governors in the South-East, particularly those who prod the people of the region to remain committed to the Jonathan administration. We also counsel the governments of the South-East to consider taking over the bridge, which principally serves their people. If the governors are committed to their people’s welfare, and the Federal Government will let go, the states can take over and repair the existing bridge, and go ahead to build a second Niger bridge. We shudder at the monumental cost in human and material resources were the bridge to suddenly collapse while in use. Such fears should compel the governors to show a sense of emergency on this matter.

    Unfortunately, for many observers, the desire by the governors to remain ‘politically correct’, is one major inhibition to their exercising their moral authority to demand a better deal over a new Niger Bridge. As we have always counselled, states must stand up to demand a robust federal system for Nigeria to move forward.

    That is why we do not support the present system that grants legal authority to the Federal Government to own more assets than it has shown the capacity to manage. One proposal made by the Federal Government on a second Niger Bridge is to bring in private capital to develop same, and toll it. Now we ask; why can’t the states whose economies will get a boost from a new bridge have the right to take that step by themselves, instead of waiting indefinitely for the Federal Government?

    To make progress on the matter, the governors of the region may alternatively pressure the President to keep his promises to a region that gave him enormous political capital. While we appreciate that some politicians will usually make promises they have no plans to keep, just to get the votes, we also believe that those who have been made promises have the duty to demand for the pay checks. Anything short of effectively repairing the existing Niger Bridge and building a new one should be seen as a betrayal of the people of the South-East by the Jonathan administration.

    The people of the region should never accept a rehash of the worn-out promise of a second Niger Bridge as the 2015 presidential election approaches. This is because the Peoples Democratic Party, ruling since the country’s return to democracy in 1999, has had more than 14 years to deliver democratic dividend but has been delivering empty promises.

  • Mystery bodies

    Mystery bodies

    •The Ezu atrocity underscores Nigeria’s security crisis

    AS shocking as it certainly is, the discovery of 18 decomposing male corpses floating in the Ezu River near Amansea on the border between Enugu and Anambra states is not the most tragic aspect of the whole affair. What is truly disturbing is the almost total lack of information surrounding this gruesome crime.

    The discovery was announced by the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bala Nasarawa, on January 21, but the advanced state of decomposition of many of the corpses clearly shows that they had been dumped in the river long before that date. None of the bodies showed any signs of physical trauma. There have been no reports of missing persons in any of the communities along the river, nor is there anything to provide clues as to the identities of the dead men. So far, no motives for the crime have been adduced.

    The gravity of these murders and the mystery surrounding them make it imperative for the authorities to get to the root of the matter. The autopsies that are being carried out on three of the corpses should reveal the cause of death, and could help to provide clues which might reveal the identities of the bodies. Comprehensive investigations should be undertaken in both Enugu and Anambra States as to whether any communal disturbances took place in the recent past. Members of the public with useful information should be encouraged to come forward with genuine guarantees of confidentiality and protection.

    No expense should be spared in getting to the root of this matter, because its successful resolution could signal a turning-point in a country notorious for inconclusive murder investigations. The list of unsolved murders is legion: Dele Giwa, Jerry Agbeyegbe, Marshall Harry, Bola Ige, Funso Williams and Chimere Ikoku are only some of the better-known ones. In almost all cases, government officials promise action, the police swear that the perpetrators will be apprehended, and the media provide a blaze of publicity. After a few weeks, however, the matter is virtually forgotten and everyone moves on without looking back.

    It is this short attention-span that must be guarded against in investigating the Ezu River murders. The police and the governments concerned must go after every available piece of evidence in ensuring that those behind the killings are caught and made to face the law. Useful lessons can be learnt from the “Boy Adam” case involving the headless and limbless torso of a young black boy found in London’s Thames River in September 2001. In spite of corpse’s condition, the police were able to discover how he died, how he had been treated prior to his death, and were able to trace him to a specific region of Nigeria. In March 2011, 10 years after investigations first began, the boy was conclusively identified. A similar display of determination and preparedness to utilise modern technology should be applied in the Ezu case.

    Mass slayings like the Ezu River murders are a troubling indication of just how bad Nigeria’s security challenges have become. Citizens are now being killed in tens and in dozens, what with the Boko Haram insurgency in the country’s north-east, pipeline vandalisation in the south-south and the south-west, and sectarian clashes in the middle-belt. They testify to the erosion of communal values and the decline of civic pride and good neighbourliness. It is as if no community is immune to the madness of widespread mayhem. The social and cultural restraints that made the murder of one’s fellow-man a taboo appear to have disappeared.

    If things are not to become worse than they already are, the country must improve the way in which it investigates these offences. When the criminals who perpetrate these murders begin to realise that they can no longer get away with their crimes, progress will have been made in resolving Nigeria’s crisis of security.

     

  • Mint-fresh fraud

    Mint-fresh fraud

    ALTHOUGH corruption has become a national problem, with almost every aspect of our lives compromised, there are some institutions that we expect should have zero tolerance for it. One of these is the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd (NSPMC), otherwise known as the Mint. Located in both Abuja and Lagos, the Mint prints the country’s banknotes, postal orders as well as stamps.

    These are sensitive functions that require utmost honesty. Unfortunately, the cankerworm of corruption has infested the organisation, with allegations of fraud rocking it. At least about N2.1 billion reportedly disappeared from its vaults last month, prompting the House of Representatives to set up a probe panel to investigate it, after considering a motion sponsored by 61 legislators. Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Albert Sam-Tsokwa, led the debate on the matter.

    Perhaps what is equally curious is the fact that no one knows exactly by how much the institution has been defrauded. According to Sam Tsokwa: “We are disturbed that there has been conflicting information on the actual amount of money declared missing. While the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it was about N2 billion, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) has claimed that the amount was N1.5 million, and the media adviser to the managing director claimed that the actual amount missing was N900,000.

    It is saddening that this is happening in the Mint, which once was a place that many fresh graduates longed to work. The pay was good, things were done professionally such that people accounted not only for finished products but also wastes, and no one involved in production was allowed to go home unless figures tallied.

    All these appear to have gone with the winds, given the rate at which fraud is being perpetrated in the organisation nowadays. At least 70 of its members of staff have been sacked in the Lagos office alone over fraud-related matters in recent times. Last September, one of them was allegedly caught with N1.5million, being his share of stolen money from the Lagos office. Some reports even alleged that in the last audit of the organisation, over 750,000 pieces of unfinished notes estimated at about N371million were alleged to be missing.

    What is obvious is that there are security breaches in the Mint. And that is why both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) whose governor is the chairman of its board, and the House of Representatives, have set up committees to investigate the circumstances that made such thefts possible.

    Even as we await the findings of both panels, one other thing that we cannot gloss over is the fact that welfare matters have been relegated in the organisation, compared to what used to obtain. This is evident in the high staff turnover as well as the inability of the organisation to honour its obligations to its retirees, some of whom were there a few days ago on appointment, only to be told to come back for their entitlements. These do not augur well for an organisation where trust is essential for optimum performance.

    It is unfortunate that the Mint has become a victim of a national malaise in which there is no connection between what people do and the reward. Otherwise, some of its junior staff would not have been caught with the huge amounts they were alleged to have stolen. Perpetual injection into the economy of such cash not backed by productivity is part of the crises that the country is facing today. Unfortunately, nobody takes responsibility for the crimes against the state and hardly is anyone punished.

    We know we have sunk to the extent that people are no longer shocked by the amount of money stolen, no matter how huge, but we should not allow this to be the norm, especially in a sacred organisation like the Mint. We welcome the investigations into the NSPMC’s affairs and hope that they would be thorough and productive. If the Mint is not safe, where then can be safe?

  • Okah’s conviction

    Okah’s conviction

    LAST week, the media feasted on the news that Henry Okah, Nigerian militant leader, has been convicted by a South African court, for masterminding the 2010 Nigeria’s 50th Independence Day car bombing that killed 12 people and left several others injured.

    The interesting news was not only Okah’s conviction but the promptness of that country’s judicial system. Okah’s commendably speedy trial took three months: October, 2012 to January, 2013. Justice Neels Claassen, presiding judge at the Johannesburg High Court convicted Okah on charges ranging from conspiracy to commit terrorism, to detonating explosives, and concluded that “… the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused.”

    Okah’s antecedents in terrorism gave him up because he was as far back as 2007 arrested on gun-running charges in Angola. He was transferred to Nigeria in 2008, but was never convicted. Okah was released after two years under an amnesty for oil militants, and returned to South Africa, where he has been living since 2003.The conviction has clearly shown that South Africa is no haven for international terrorists.

    The Nigerian justice dispensation train has increasingly become an embarrassment. What explanation can be given to defend the fact that Okah’s brother and two others, facing trial for a similar case can still not predict when their trial will come to an end? Their trial, which started before that of Okah in South-Africa, is still foot-dragging in the country’s court. James Ibori, former Delta State governor, who was jailed by a UK court even when the crime was committed in Nigeria would still have been standing trial, were he to still be in the country.

    Unfortunately, things seem to be getting worse in the country’s justice dispensation train. It is in this country that Ebenezer Egwuekwe, 62, aka Otokoto, from Imo State, spent 16 years behind bars before he could get justice at the appellate court. Apart from being slow, the justice chain is highly ineffective – a systemic rot that has been routinely overlooked by constituted authority. Otherwise, we expect that the killers of Bola Ige, late Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, killed over a decade ago, should have been found. Several other notable Nigerians and even uncountable number of other citizens have been killed without any trace of their killers. Due to avoidable systemic fault, those criminals still move freely in the society, wreaking more havoc in the process.

    While it has taken the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) the judgment in South Africa, to wake up from its deep slumber to belatedly realise the need for judiciary overhaul, we state that the refit has for long been overdue. The criminal justice system is a long chain comprising the police, the prison and the court. Except the major components of this chain become refined and reformed, it would not be long before the people lose complete interest in the judiciary, nay the criminal justice system. When that happens, it would be an open invitation to anarchy.

    The NBA and other stakeholders should speak out and positively act more to correct this anomaly because many of its members, through odious professional tactics, contribute largely to bringing the judiciary into disrepute.

    We call on Justice Maryam Aloma Mukhtar, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), to quickly unfold her reform agenda for the judiciary. However, the criminal justice system would be better off if the professional delinquency of counsel, impunity of judges and tyrannical deceits of policemen can be stopped immediately.

  • Band of brothers and sisters

    Band of brothers and sisters

    Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta’s decision to rescind restrictions on women in combat is being compared to President Harry Truman’s order to end racial segregation in the armed services (which took years to implement) and Congress’ vote in 2010 to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allowed for the expulsion of openly gay service members. But in some ways Panetta’s decision is even more significant than those earlier actions.

    Although regulations excluding women from ground combat units date back only to 1994, the practice long predates those rules and reflects notions about differences between the sexes that until recently were almost universally held across a variety of cultures. Panetta’s decision would have been inconceivable had it not been for the larger emancipation women have achieved in the civilian workplace, in access to education and in their personal lives.

    It also reflects changes that already have occurred in the military. Politicians routinely refer to the “brave men and women in our armed forces,” and for good reason. As Panetta pointed out in announcing the new policy, women now account for 15% of service members. During the last decade, 61 female service members were killed in action in Iraq and 23 were killed by the enemy in Afghanistan. To a great extent, the idea that women have not been involved in combat operations has been a legal fiction. At the same time, the fact that women have been “attached to” or “co-located with” combat units rather than officially assigned to them has made it harder to achieve promotions.

    The new policy has its critics. Some worry that the Pentagon is purporting to repeal biology by ignoring the fact that, in general, men are physically stronger than women. But Panetta indicated that there will be no weakening of physical requirements for strenuous assignments. It may be that some “gender-neutral” physical qualifications will disproportionately exclude women; that is no reason to discriminate against those who can meet the standard.

    Other arguments against women in combat are rooted in psychology, such as the notion that the presence of women would undermine “unit cohesion” (the same argument was made about openly gay soldiers) or former Sen. Rick Santorum’s suggestion that chivalrous male comrades would neglect their mission because of “the natural instinct to protect someone that’s a female.”

    The best refutation of those arguments is the experience of men and women who have served together in Iraq and Afghanistan, a band of brothers and sisters that made Panetta’s action both possible and necessary.

    Los Angeles Times

     

  • Abuja job racket

    Abuja job racket

    The recent firing of Nigeria’s immigration boss, Mrs. Rose Chinyere Uzoma, after admitting that she apportioned many slots to persons in the inner sanctum of power, including the mother of the president, has unveiled a seedy part of our culture. Few jobs, especially in the public sector, come without moral compromises. Bribes are the key to the employment kingdom.

    Also, at lower levels, a syndicate with specialty in employment racketeering characterises job placements in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The obnoxious group reportedly charges prospective job seekers in federal ministries, departments and agencies, (MDAs), huge amounts of between N400, 000 and N500, 000. Shockingly, the syndicate reportedly fronts for heads of some MDAs with base in Gwagwalada, Karu and other strategic areas in the FCT.

    At a recent plenary of the Senate, some senators raised the alarm over the injurious activities of the syndicate. Senator Abubakar Bagudu raised a motion on employment irregularities in the MDAs, which he justified by referring to a statement credited to Mrs Uzoma, the out-going Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), who reportedly said that: “4,000 employment slots approved by the Federal Government were being sold to job applicants and some allocated to other personalities.’’

    She reportedly added that due process requiring advertisement meant to arouse the notice of interested members of the public to apply was not adhered to. It is also claimed that such recruitments always favour some states of the federation, in utter negation of the federal character principle.

    What the immigration boss said, more fundamentally, is a scourge that has gutted every sphere of our national life. If entry level jobs in our civil service cannot come without the greasy palm, it is because even the plum office holders of the land secured their privileges after bribing their ways. It is common knowledge that whether it is the position of local government chairman or governor or minister or even president, it is almost impossible to enjoy any choice position without compromises that involve separating from huge sums of money and plying the “facilitators” with such good fortune.

    Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume at that plenary supported and corroborated Bagudu’s position with his own unpleasant experience with the syndicate: “A constituent came to me that he needed N200, 000 to secure employment in one parastatal. When I refused to give him the money, he said that was the only requirement needed and if I didn’t give him the money, the job was as good as gone … After much pleading, I caved in and gave him the N200, 000 only for him to come back to me days later that the price was no longer N200, 000 but N400, 000. This person was a graduate of geography who had stayed at home for four years without a job.”

    What kind of country allows an employment opening to sell this way? What has happened to competence? Would whoever gets employed through payment of bribe not be interested in recouping his money?

    Senate President David Mark bewails the desperation but could not find any tangible solution other than to blame the civil service commission and to direct victims to meet with relevant committees during public hearings and perhaps, point out those that demanded money for employment from them. He also charged the Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs and Employment, Labour and Productivity to do a thorough job in order to reduce the cankerworm or possibly eliminate the criminality/injustice in the employment chain.

    The Senate leadership must realise that a good leader does not bemoan but rather inspires the followership towards a good result. In a situation like this, buck- passing will lead to nowhere; neither is the adoption of unworkable committee/public hearing method that has not brought forth any good in the past.

    We see Senate’s attitude as incapable of bringing succour to victims. How can we be so sure that the affected committees would do justice over the matter when they meet with the heads of the MDAs? Given our penchant for sectional, ethnic and religious favouritism, there is no guarantee that the committees would not look the other way. After all, many members of the chamber did not exactly win their seats from local popularity based on wisdom, altruism or selfless service.

    Furthermore, we doubt whether the matter’s mention would have been deemed necessary at the Senate’s plenary but for the fact that some senators are directly affected by the syndicate’s activities. It is shameful for a senator, where the minimum wage is N18, 000, to have doled out N200, 000 to a constituent, to be paid as a bribe for the constituent to get employed in a federal establishment.

    The Nigerian law provides criminal punishment for a bribe giver and taker and it becomes worse where the giver is a lawmaker like we have seen in this case. In addition, what fate awaits those job seekers in the same FCT who cannot afford such a high amount and with nobody to bail them out?

    If they borrow to secure the jobs, as top political office holders do – from richer people, from the banks, from political mentors, etc – they start their jobs without innocence but with the spirit to recoup. Corruption breeds corruption.

     

  • Zik’s mausoleum

    Zik’s mausoleum

    The question regarding whether Nigeria has respect for her departed great citizens could not be more opportune than now, with the abandonment of the mausoleum of Rt. Hon. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Owelle of Onitsha, by successive administrations in the last 17 years. The regime of late General Sani Abacha initiated the project as a mark of honour for then departed Nigeria’s first president in his Onosi Onira, Onitsha, country home.

    The project as designed by Abacha in 1996 was to have a conference centre and library for the promotion of tourism and research. But nearly 17 years after, the promises by successive leaders to complete the project have come to naught. What makes it sadder is the fact that from the initial project cost of N100million, the contract cost shot up to N250 million under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

    However, on October 3, 2012, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan approved an upward review of the contract sum to N1.496 billion. But it is over three months that the new contract for the project was approved without any sign of work around the mausoleum site. The entire place was reportedly desolate, having been overgrown by weeds. Yet, FEC gave the contractor 13 months’ time frame to complete the project.

    The abandonment of the mausoleum, without hesitation, has a semblance of criminal collaboration between some politicians and civil servants. The pointer: One time works minister, Dr. Nduesse Essien, was reported to have claimed that some un-named officials of the ministry awarded the reconstruction of the compound to the tune of N100 million without his knowledge. As then political head of the ministry, he should know. Also, Chief Chukwuma Azikiwe, eldest son of the late nationalist, reportedly affirmed the dilly-dallying of government officials on the matter.

    So far, the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development is now saddled with the responsibility of handling the project, upon FEC’s renewed approval late last year. Despite reported assurances from the ministry, no work has re-commenced on the project, which underscores its underestimation of the significance of Zik to the country. The excuse that commencement of work is delayed because formal handover by the ministry to the contractors has not been done is untenable. We ask: How long would this take the ministry?

    Our heroes and heroines must be treated with respect, not only while they are alive but also long after they have died. This is the only way to encourage selfless service and genuine commitment to the national cause, and not by the contemptuous way that successive governments have been handling the construction of the mausoleum for this great leader and nationalist. The way Zik’s mausoleum is officially handled is just a mere reflection of the morass that has crept, over time, into the country’s system.

    The mausoleum project for the late elder statesman is a laudable initiative. The late Zik actually deserves more from this country. But we deprecate the present move of turning the project into a platform of corruption by civil servants and politicians in government. This continuing abandonment is an insult to the person and memory of Zik, and more significantly, to his monumental contributions to the nation.

  • SURE-P probe in troubled water

    SURE-P probe in troubled water

    Six federal ministers, among whom were the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; Minister of Transportation, Mr. Abdullahi Umar; Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu; and Minister of Niger Delta, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, were reported to have shunned an investigative hearing into the implementation of the Federal Government’s Subsidy Re-Investment Programme (SURE-P) being conducted by the House of Representatives. Others who shunned the hearing were the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Emeka Worgu; and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Jonah Otunla. It will be recalled that the House of Representatives had on November 15, 2012, mandated the committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream ), Finance, and States and Local Government to investigate the implementation of SURE-P.

    Mr. Dakuku Peterside, lead chairman of the probe panel, angrily accused the ministers of knowingly undermining the investigation. “This is a deliberate decision of the ministers not to honour the invitation of the House,” he fumed, before postponing the session to February 12. It is not clear whether the absent ministers will find the humility to honour the invitation when the hearing resumes. While only a few of the heads of agencies invited to the hearing bothered to send representatives, the rest did not even offer explanations for their absence. The Petroleum minister, said an aide, was yet to fully resume work from leave, as if that was a sufficient mitigation. There will be many more of such provocative affronts in the coming months, as the National Assembly steps up its oversight responsibilities.

    But few Nigerians are actually surprised that the legislature is often and openly disrespected. Right from the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, when the culture of subverting the legislature took root, the upper and lower chambers had been periodically destabilised by a meddlesome government obsessed with controlling or at least influencing legislative functions, in addition to its primary executive functions. The presidency’s disguised contempt for the legislature naturally rubbed off on many government ministers and appointees, some of whom, like the former Federal Capital City (FCT) minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, openly insulted the legislature and accused them of seeking gratification to do their oversight job.

    Admittedly, the National Assembly has itself not helped matters. Apart from sometimes indulging in unhealthy and questionable interactions with ministries, agencies and departments, some of which had backfired even in the recent past, the legislature also gives the impression it does not know where its powers end and those of the executive begin. Legislators have sometimes called for the sack of ministers or attempted to cajole the presidency in matters that lie exclusively within the purview of executive responsibility.

    Yet, no misinterpretation of powers or misconception of power boundaries justifies the absence of anyone one, not to talk of ministers, invited to any legislative hearing. It appears that the ministers’ deplorable behavior is a reflection of the presidency’s own condescending view of the legislature. Only recently, a few ministers voiced their frustrations with being frequently summoned by the legislature to answer one question or the other. They were too busy to be tied down to answering questions, they said in obvious indication of their limited understanding of democracy and its dynamics. Indeed, if the executive had treated the legislature with the respect the constitution envisages and our democracy demands and deserves, it is unlikely the ministers would show such appalling disrespect and ignorance. For in the end, Nigerian democracy will not be served if those in authority continue to manifest the kind of abhorrent behavior the six ministers showed on Tuesday.

    Both the presidency and the National Assembly must recognize that a problem exists in their relationship, just as it exists between the executive branch in the states and the Houses of Assembly. This misunderstanding is potent enough to either undermine democracy or at least stultify it. They, therefore, have a responsibility to mend fences and create fora where both parties to the misunderstanding can be enlightened. Yet, no matter how sometimes misguided the legislature may be in interpreting its powers, ministers have absolutely no right to openly disrespect the legislature, let alone ridicule it both in words and by their absence. For that would mean not only undermining institutions upon which our democracy is built, but also their own legitimacy as cabinet members. Ministers can’t claim not to have this elementary understanding.

  • Degenerate deed

    Degenerate deed

    How could a man be buried alive over alleged land dispute?

    It could sound like a spiritualised deduction, but it is difficult to escape the thought that infernal demons were probably on the loose in Imo State, in the light of reports that a community leader in Eziali village, Mgbidi, Orlu West Local Government Area, Chief Oliver Ononaku, was buried alive over a land dispute. He was reportedly seized last December by a five-man gang allegedly hired by his antagonist, and interred in Ozara, a neighbouring village, after which his abductors demanded a N30 million ransom from his family, ostensibly for his release.

    It may not be a bit far-fetched to think of demons at work, if the remark of another community leader, Chief Iroku Nduka, on the happening, is anything to go by. He was quoted as saying, “The community will begin a cleansing ritual to avert the wrath of the gods.”

    The claim that Ononaku was buried alive, if true, presents a heartrending picture of abysmal bestiality. The very thought of this possibility is nauseating. If, on the other hand, he was killed before burial, it does nothing to redeem his murderers. What foul fury sanctioned his elimination? Or did he just suddenly expire in captivity, and was entombed afterwards? From whatever perspective, it was a degenerate deed that must not go unpunished.

    Indeed, that Ononaku’s corpse has been located and exhumed by the police, and the inhuman gang members and their alleged sponsor arrested, is cold comfort. However, this seems the best that could be expected under the circumstances. At least, proper funeral rites for Ononaku can now be performed, and those allegedly responsible for his death can get their comeuppance.

    The apprehension of the suspects was not without moments of drama, and stretched the ingenuity of the police. It is laudable that creative policing was not only employed in this incident, but also brought about the desired result. According to the narrative, following the victim’s disappearance and his kidnappers’ demand for money from his family, the police force reinvented itself in this particular case. A police source narrated: “The money was made available and the suspects told them where to put it. But a plain-clothes policeman, who pretended to be a mad man, was planted where the ransom was dropped. When one of the suspects came out of the bush to collect the money, he was shot and arrested by the supposed mad man. The suspect confessed to committing the crime. It was his confession that led to the arrest of the man who hired them and other members of the gang.

    They led the police to where Ononaku was buried. The body was exhumed and deposited in a mortuary.”

    Beyond the man’s tragic death, the police approach had elements of risk taking and the comic. It does require mental elasticity to picture a policeman disguised as a lunatic, and getting away with the pretence. Here was life imitating art, and the mimetic capacity of the policeman that effectively played the mad man’s role deserves applause. It is commendable that the police went to such great lengths to crack the case.

    Against the background of criticisms of the police for alleged inefficiency, this is one instance in which the force has impressively demonstrated that it can live up to its billing as a crucial crime-fighting outfit. With the suspects in the net, the police must carry out a thorough investigation to get to the root of the matter for justice to be delivered. It is bad enough that Ononaku was abducted. Even worse, it is unacceptable that he lost his life in such repulsive circumstances. In the final analysis, the trial and punishment of the culprits must be pursued expeditiously to send a clear message to would-be kidnappers and killers that they will not be accommodated by the society.

  • Following the elections in Israel, a reset

    Following the elections in Israel, a reset

    TO LOSE favor in Washington was once political poison for Israeli prime ministers. Twice during the 1990s, Israelis voted out leaders who quarreled with the U.S. president; the second one was Benjamin Netanyahu. So one of the more remarkable aspects of Israel’s current election campaign, which ends at the polls on Tuesday, is that Mr. Netanyahu hasn’t been afraid to play up his notoriously bad relations with President Obama.

    Last week the Bloomberg columnist Jeffrey Goldberg reported that Mr. Obama had been privately repeating the observation that Mr. Netanyahu’s Israel “doesn’t know what its own best interests are.” Rightly or wrongly, Israelis judged that to be a White House leak intended to damage the prime minister’s electoral chances. Rather than flinch, however, Mr. Netanyahu pushed right back, boasting that he had “rebuffed the pressure” that would have had Israel “curb our pressure against Iran” and withdraw to its 1967 borders.

    Evidently, Mr. Netanyahu calculates that being seen to stand up to this U.S. president is good politics in Israel — and he may be right. A recent poll showed that half of Israelis believes the prime minister should pursue his policies even if they lead to conflict with the United States. The big story of the campaign has been the surge of far-right parties that reject not only Mr. Obama’s view of Israel but also the two-state solution that has been U.S. policy for more than a decade.

    This disturbing trend is partly the result of Mr. Obama’s poor handling of Israel, which he has not visited and where he is widely regarded as supportive of the nation’s defense but unsympathetic to its psyche. If the White House were trying to undercut Mr. Netanyahu, it would be guilty of the same poor judgment the Israeli leader showed in tilting toward Mitt Romney in the U.S. presidential race. No scenario contemplated by political analysts foresees anyone other than Mr. Netanyahu emerging as prime minister from the bargaining that will follow Tuesday’s election.

    The question is whether the incumbent will choose, or perhaps be obliged by the electoral math, to include parties from the center and left in his coalition. If he does not, Mr. Netanyahu could find himself isolated both within his own government and internationally: He is one of only two of the top 30 candidates from his own Likud Party to endorse Palestinian statehood.

    For that reason, the wise U.S. policy would be to concede, and maybe even welcome, Mr. Netanyahu’s reelection while quietly urging him to construct a centrist government. In the coming months Israel and the United States will likely have an urgent need to communicate clearly and cooperate closely on the threat of Iran’s nuclear program; and they must try to preserve the prospect of Palestinian statehood. Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu may be political foils, but as each begins a new term their deeper interest lies in a reset of their relationship.

    – Washington Post