The Nation Newspaper

Category: Mobolaji Sanusi

  • Re-thinking the northern quagmire

    Re-thinking the northern quagmire

    Indubitably, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State loves his kith and kin in the northern part of Nigeria – a region that is currently embroiled in self-inflicted turmoil through the subversive inclinations of the malevolent Boko Haram insurgents. But he has most probably and suddenly realised that frank talk with his kinsmen remains the only panacea to the catastrophic activities of insurgents that are threatening the region with imminent annihilation.

    Kwankwaso dared to say publicly what most northern elite know, but had been shying away from, for selfish reasons and indeed, lack of valour. In apparent allusion to the upsurge in rebellious activities, especially in the north during a courtesy visit by members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of security challenges in the north, he said: “We have a situation in this part of the country where parents give birth to 20 to 30 children, chose only two of them and send the rest away to God-knows where. Children are sent to places that they don’t know. They are left to fend for themselves. We have a situation where you go round the city and find garrison of children, able-bodied youths begging. These children were abandoned by their parents and they were sent away and brought into the state. They grow up to hate themselves, hate their parents, hate the leaders, hate the government and the society. They feel they were deprived, they feel injustice and they become enemies of the state and constituted authorities. They thereby become vulnerable to crime and violence.”

    No northerner, dead or living, has been more apposite in precisely depicting the northern quagmire that is gradually assuming national and international dimensions. Yet, previous and present leaderships of the region, despite their education and exposure, continue to promote a feudal cum political system that forcibly makes the greatest number of their people to remain perpetually poor and subservient to them. The Boko Haram is surely the creation of the northern political and feudal class that overtime, takes delight in breeding a largely uneducated society of almajiris in their region. Among these hoi polloi in the north, poverty, illiteracy, feudal and religious fundamentalism, and indeed, irrationality, have become a culture. This fact informs why these almajiris have become easy tool for fomenting hubbub in the hands of northern feudal/political elite, even when this elitist class keeps its own well-groomed and educated Hausa/Fulani children far away from such flashpoint areas. These almajiris and not the exposed kids of the northern leadership class, constitute a substantial chunk of Boko Haram followership now working assiduously to destabilise the country.

    Kwankwaso puts the blame of insurgency befuddling the region on;“ parents, the communities, the local government authorities, state governments and the Federal Government” but failed to tell bewildered Nigerians about steps that he has taken so far as governor of Kano state to remove the plague of almajiris and by extension that of Boko Haram from Kano. As parents, how far has he and other northern elites cum oligarchy gone in ensuring restoration of family cum societal values in the youth and the community at large; and as governor, how far has he with other governors, past and present in that region, gone to ensure that that region do not stray into anarchy? What efforts have been taken by Kwankwaso and others in his class to change the stereotype against western civilization, even when the northern leadership is an ardent admirer and beneficiary of western education? He wants parents to take responsibility of their families, yet, poverty still reigns unabatedly not only in Kano but other northern states. The administrations of northern states have done very little to impress it on their people to place high premium on western and not Islamic/Arabic education. The latter has given impetus to the creation of more almajiris by the system.

    Let us ask Kwankwaso and the entire northern elite to tell Nigerians how many wives and children most of them have? And how do they fund them; could it be through allocated resources that ought to have been used to develop their entire people and infrastructure or through immoral exploitation of the archaic system in place? Do northern governors at any time bother to put in place any social security or safety net that can dissuade abandonment of children or begging on the streets by northerners in the country? The streets of most states across the federation, especially Lagos, have been taken over by northern states’ indigenes that also double as emergency commercial okada drivers – mostly becoming harbingers of death on roads in the Centre of Excellence. Since the religion of Islam which the northerners have unfortunately turned into a culture permits marriage to more than one wife, inevitably leading to rearing of several children; and in view of the debilitating underdevelopment of the region, provision of safety net/social security by any sincere government in that region should be a necessity. But northern leaders including Kwankwaso seem not to be giving such beneficial policy any useful thought. Whatever is rampant in the north in the past and even today is that what is meant for the people as democracy dividends are cornered by the few and the oligarchy that are ruling the region.

    However, this deliberate oversight and invidious greed of the northern feudal/political/oligarchy have put the entire country in this Boko Haramic mess. And one agrees with Kwankwaso that ‘what started in Yobe and Borno is now everywhere in the north. It may eventually engulf the country – if we don’t check it now.’ It is a national issue that must be addressed. This statement should be the raison d’etre, and motivating bulwark that should goad on all northerners wherever they might be to give intelligence and inspirational support to the country’s military of Joint Task Force (JTF) comprising troops deployed to quell the Boko Haram insurrection. Boko Haram must be checked now and everybody, whether in the north or anywhere, with useful intelligence hints about this evil group, must come forward and give such to security agencies.

    The Boko Haram cankerworm should not be seen from the prism of being problem of our non-performing and inept President Goodluck Jonathan alone- Boko Haram was largely seen ab initio as a northern problem; but it has since become a Nigerian/international problem that must be destroyed – if only to prevent a re-enactment of what happened in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote D’voire and of recent, Mali, in the country. The truth as it is now is that this northern nightmare – whether almajiri syndrome or Boko Haram – needs a rethink!

  • Emergency declaration: Reason, not politics, please!

    Emergency declaration: Reason, not politics, please!

    Indeed, most Nigerians may not be fans of President Goodluck Jonathan because of his dowdy and most times grouchy approach to public affairs. As president with awesome powers, his country men and women would have wanted him to deploy his supposed high educational attainment for good causes by coming up with inspiring policies and actions that are rare in history. As a minority from the South-South, most of us, ab initio, looked up to him to rise to the occasion by proving to doubting Thomases that a good leader can also emerge from his ethnic region; and also make the nation’s political kingmakers regret decades of denial of leadership roles at the centre for people from the Niger-Delta. But he absolutely failed to so far lead the nation aright, leading us to the question of whether he thinks that the Nigerians unnecessarily disparaging him on virtually all his actions.

    In all conscience, the truth is that the president has clearly run adrift on salient issues of power generation, economy, employment generation, poverty alleviation and other developmental matters that Nigerians daily crave solutions for. Worse still, insecurity has bloomed to a level that can modestly be equated with that of a state of war. In view of these, most analysts have always viewed every policy decision by the president with contempt. It should not be so, especially on his latest action of state of emergency. Before now, most Nigerians wanted the president to take decisive action against Boko Haram that means, “Western education is sinful.” The sect comprises Islamic insurgents that have rejected western values and is calling for replacement through enthronement of Islamic education. The group has constituted itself into the greatest threat to the nation’s corporate survival today. In Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and Nassarawa states, among other northern states, the foot paths of Boko Haram have been awash with indelible blood-stains of innocent Nigerians. The churches were its members’ prime target; mosques are not spared, while public buildings, including police and military stations and barracks respectively, have witnessed devastating bombings. Even market places do have a dose of Boko Haram’s cruelty against humanity.

    The group refused to dialogue with the government. It actually has the effrontery of rejecting the amnesty shamefully canvassed for it by the northern elite. Yet, the killings of innocent souls continue unabated. The president had folded his arm long enough before waking up from his deep slumber. Yes, he did wake up; thus early this week, he declared a state of emergency in three states – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. Deafening hullabaloo greeted the emergency rule declaration. The president deserves commendation for complying with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    But most analysts still believe that a state of emergency will not solve the problem that is an equivalent of war that the Boko Haram has unleashed on the northern part and by extension, the entire country which lives under the fear of the cankerworm. A state of emergency is actually a governmental declaration suspending within a jurisdiction, few normal functions of government arising from a total or imminent breakdown of law and order. Such declaration could on some occasions be the consequence of natural or contrived disasters like the Boko Haram’s. But most times, it arises during periods of civil unrest, internal armed conflict or a declaration of war.

    Those that are averse to the declaration of war on Boko Haram by President Jonathan might be right to an extent when viewed from the aphorism that the greatest test of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem/crisis before it becomes an emergency. The reality today is that this current president failed that test having failed to recognise early enough that the Boko Haram insurgency is serious subversion until the problem now inevitably called for an emergency. As a result of his dithering nature, the president could not muster in good time, the desired courage, despite having been imbued with such constitutional powers to act in the nation’s interest before the matter gets out of hand. Now that Boko Haram members in some parts of Borno State have hoisted their subversive flag and have shown considerable disdain for the sovereign entity called Nigeria, our irresolute president has finally acted.

    There is a truism that it is better late than never. The issue now is not to berate the president for acting late. Rather, we should all be elated that the man, for once, realised the need to not only act but to also talk tough after his many years of timidity in power. Those that are talking about true federalism, state police and sovereign national conference as means that could finally solve the Boko Haram cankerworm could not be completely right because the motive of the promoters of the sect is far from these germane issues threatening peaceful coexistence among the various ethnic groups in the country. The undisclosed fact is that promoters of Boko Haram are only goading foment of trouble for President Jonathan so as to create a leeway passage for the return of a northerner to power at the centre in 2015. It is too bad that the president has, due to so many false steps until the last one on emergency, failed to impress anybody, which is why it has become the norm for every sane Nigeria to desire a change of leadership come 2015. How are we so sure that if a northerner emerges as president in 2015, he will carry out the much-desired surgery on the Nigerian Federation?

    However, the political leadership of the other regions must be careful so as not to fall prey to the selfish agenda of the northern elite that are already seeking amnesty for members of the group they created – an insurgent group hiding under the guise of Islamic religion (of peace), to foist mayhem on Allah’s creation. The president should not be deterred by criticisms against his declared emergency. One could only hope that he would quickly seize the moment by mustering effective force which yours sincerely believes will quell the insurgents and send a signal to their promoters in the hierarchy of the northern elite that their waterloo is imminent unless they jettison this inimical act to our national stability.

    Whatever any group or persons might say about the state of emergency declared in the three states, the fact remains that force, according to Dwight D. Eisenhower, when effectively deployed, can protect in emergency even when ‘only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.’ Even if Jonathan has obviously failed woefully in our collective estimation, can we in all assurances say that the northerners can guarantee all the above desired true federalism ingredients if they reclaim power in 2015? This poser is why we must, on this emergency rule matter, allow reason, not politics, to prevail.

  • Fafowora’s memoir and Nigeria’s moral abyss

    Fafowora’s memoir and Nigeria’s moral abyss

    Ambassador Dapo Fafowora belongs to the golden era of the country’s Foreign Service. He was nurtured in the best of British civil service traditions of that epoch. His 549-page biography entitled: ‘Lest I forget: Memoirs of a Nigerian Career Diplomat’ was formally launched yesterday at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos. Though yours sincerely is yet to settle down with the book, Kunle Abimbola of our Editorial Board, in his earlier column in the week, gave a good adumbration of the book. He described it as ‘rich in anecdotes and even richer in sound knowledge of modern history.’

    The book, ostensibly, reveals Fafowora’s betrayal by notable figures in Nigeria’s public firmament, including General Joe Garba and Professor Ibrahim Gambari, both foreign ministers under Murtala-Obasanjo and Buhari/Idiagbon military administrations respectively, and of course, Lawal Rafindadi, the demised Director-General of defunct Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO). The ‘treacherous’ acts of the trio according to Fafowora’s memoirs, led to his early retirement by the Buhari-Idiagbon regime. While Garba and Rafindadi were no more living to defend themselves, Gambari is very much alive to give his riposte to allegations of backstabbing and ethnic jingoism levelled against him by Fafowora. No doubt, the enlightened public, especially the media will feast on this for some time to come – not with the rigorously scathing review accorded the book by our luminous Professor Adebayo Williams.

    The best part that appealed to me in the book is where Fafowora gleefully declares that he has never in his glorious public service life ‘given or received’ bribe. He effusively stated in the book: ‘I have never in my entire public career, spanning nearly 50 years now, either given or received bribes, or any other form of gratification. I find doing so repugnant and personally demeaning.’ In a country where corruption has been elevated to the status of national ethos; where if possible, inhabitants are ready to bribe God, it is heart warming to know that someone of notable standing can still publicly make this kind of statement. Of course, to make such avowal means that the Ambassador is very sure of himself. Perhaps, few ‘countable number’ of Nigerians can stand tall in the podium of public arena to make such. Fafowora has done that and till now, nobody has come out to controvert it. The public is watching!

    The declaration of Ambassador Fafowora reminds me of the truism in the aphorism of Italian diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli that is fondly remembered for writing ‘The Prince’, a handbook for ruthless public officials to wit: “It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.” In this era of dearth of impeachable men in the nation’s Foreign Service, it is good to still note that a man like Ambassador Fafowora once passed through that path and still exist to give honour to that title of an ambassador that has now been widely bastardised.

    It is not only in the Foreign Service that the nation needs moral/ethical revival. In Law, Engineering, Medicine, Architecture, Banking and Finance, Public Administration, Political Science, Mass Communication, Sociology, the artisans, and even history all witnessed a situation where experts unabashedly distort facts – unfortunately, experts without honour that see what others are but forget what they are. How many of today’s experts in the country are able to conquer that hunger of the flesh which has become a terror that incarcerates men. Most men’s inability to conquer the flesh has created a society where it is very difficult to live above board. Those that are custodians of honour are the most dishonourable in public and private enterprises.

    Most men, especially those in the corridors of power in our society have no deference for honour of the mind- they are conscienceless human beings. They see no sense in the words of that renowned English essayist, Joseph Addison, where he said it is ‘better to die ten thousand deaths’ than for a man to ‘wound his honour.’ For as long as their flesh are appeased, to hell with honour and integrity.

    That is why the few men of integrity in the country today, like Ambassador Fafowora, have hard-to-believe tales of injustice to tell in the course of their service to fatherland. He, like others in his shoes, sustained wounds for the sake of conscience. In a society facing dearth of honourable men, Fafowora must be ready to forgive the unjustifiably blows of forceful retirement at an unripe age of 43 that a thankless country like ours inflicted on him. I hope ambassador as we fondly call him on the Editorial Board of The Nation takes solace in that 18th-century English poet, Alexander Pope, best known for his epic poem, ‘The Rape of the Lock’, and his translation of Homer’s Iliad when he said: ‘Act well your part, there all the honour lies.’ Ambassador has really done well. Congrats sir!

     

    Airtel/NCC and ruse of SIM card registration?

    Does the SIM card registration work? This question becomes pertinent in view of my experience this week with my new Airtel mobile network line. Sometime last month, I requested a special line from Airtel and was initially allotted one that was embargoed, presumably on the orders of a top notch after I had paid the charged fees and collected receipt at its Ikorodu outlet. After I threatened to sue the company, I was offered another special number (07011117777) which I reluctantly accepted in order to save the job of the employee that duly issued the payment receipt after complying with requirements for award of special numbers.

    Sometime this week, a text from Airtel requested me to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to an inquiry regarding whether or not I had problem with my line. Once I answered yes, the Airtel network service immediately disappeared from my Nokia handset that Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday afternoon when l went to lodge my complaints at the Airtel office on Oba Akran Road, Ikeja, I was surprisingly informed that my SIM card had been swapped and the thousands of naira on it transferred.

    Now, the questions: How can an Airtel SIM card duly registered with my thumb prints duly taken be re-registered by another person so effortlessly in less than 24 hours? Were my details no longer in NCC/Airtel information banks? Could such criminal act have been done without the connivance of an insider? Is someone that is not pleased with the number acting funny? Of what essence is the entire SIM card registration, including thumb prints that gulped not less than six billion naira of tax payers’ money – if this kind of fraud could go unchecked? I demand answers to these questions from the network and NCC, otherwise, the need for judicial recourse might become inevitable soon.

  • Nigeria’s quest for drinkable water

    Nigeria’s quest for drinkable water

    ‘Water is the driving force in nature’
    – Leonardo da Vinci

    This week, I have found it irresistible to shun the lure of political discourse in preference for an area we have often ignored – happenings in our environment – at our collective peril. There is hardly any pointer to the fact that most governments are deeply concerned about our environment despite significant admonition signals from environmental disasters that have become a recurring decimal in countries around the world. In Japan, China, India, Afghanistan and others, earth tremors/quakes and other related disasters have become routine. While one is not praying for such misfortunes in the country, it is pertinent for our government at the federal and state levels to take proactive steps to prevent such catastrophes from happening in their domains in future.

    My fears for the country’s environment are not misplaced, and have indeed been reinforced by Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe, Minister of Water Resources. She raised the alarm last weekend on the peril posed by indiscriminate drilling of boreholes in the country. And in reiterating the obvious, she said such a habit could have shattering effects on our environment if not checked. The negative impacts of such a trend according to her, could result, now or in the foreseeable future, in over abstraction of ground water-which effects include salt intrusion, aquifer depletion and water quality degradation amongst other environmental hazards.

    The minister seems to know the panaceas when she said: “The need for proper and effective regulation of groundwater abstraction is of utmost importance. The public needs to be sensitised on this.” But it is doubtful if the federal government is doing anything to stop the habit in form of regulation or awareness campaigns. Obviously, this reality would not have officially become a public issue if not for the courtesy visit on the minister by members of the Association of Water Well Drilling Ring Owners and Practitioners in Abuja.

    It would not be inconsiderate to say that the states, and especially the federal government, are the worst culprits in this increasing land degrading attitude because of their tongue-in-cheek approach to environmental and water issues in the country. The truth is that the impact of the Ministry of Water Resources and even water corporations of most states in the nation, unlike in the past, is not being felt by inhabitants of this country despite the billions of naira officially budgeted and claimed to have been spent on potable water provisions. Where is free flow of drinkable water in most parts of Nigeria? The tradition of public water supply that used to be enjoyed by the citizenry until the mid-80s in major towns and cities has suddenly disappeared in states across the federation. It is, to say the least, unsettling and ridiculous, seeing states, and even federal government, sink boreholes and go ahead to shamelessly celebrate such with disturbing pomp and ceremony. And it is worrisome that no one seems perturbed by these curious happenings!

    Yet, water is so important to human existence. It remains a key component in determining the quality of lives of citizens of any nation. Those in the corridors of power could not claim ignorance of the fact that water is one of nature’s most important gifts from God to mankind. Human survival depends on drinkable water which is why people, anywhere, are concerned about the quality of water they drink. Water remains the most essential elements of good health because it is necessary for the digestion and absorption of food; it rids the body of wastes, it possibly remains one of the most noteworthy factors in weight loss; water can serve as appetite suppressant since it contains no calorie and thereby could help the body metabolize stored fat. It also serves as a natural air conditioning system. Water supplies oxygen and nutrients to body cells and helps to maintain proper muscle tone among other important functions. Why will serious governments that are genuinely interested in protecting lives of the citizenry, anywhere, not be committed to providing or fail to provide drinkable water in nooks and crannies of its corporate jurisdictions?

    Perhaps, it is sad to note that virtually all governments across the country have abandoned this responsibility of providing, in abundance, drinkable water for the citizens to enjoy for a healthy living. It has been scientifically proved that water covers over 70 per cent of the earth’s surface, but despite the fact that only one per cent of the earth’s water is available for drinking by human being, governments in responsible countries take provision of portable water as a serious matter. Why can’t Nigeria’s government?

    Government’s failure in this regard has compelled Nigerians to take the bull by the horns by forging ahead to provide water for their domestic needs. Ab initio, most households dig wells for their water needs but now, boreholes digging, perceived to be better that well’s water are in vogue. In the street where yours sincerely lives with less than 100 houses, close to a third of the houses there have boreholes dug for their personal domestic uses. Yet, a single standard borehole would have served the entire street or even more. This trend has become the norm in different parts of the country simply because governments are not doing enough to make public water system to work. Even if they failed to provide water, they ought to see the danger of indiscriminate digging of boreholes by every Tom, Dick and Harry and should have come up with legislations to moderate such menace.

    The chaotic boreholes are proved to be capable of causing earth tremor/quake. Also, since underground water is linked through percolation, the contamination in one borehole could lead to contamination of others in a particular area thereby causing devastating effects on the health of people within the vicinity. This would have defeated the purpose of providing drinkable water that is odourless and tasteless by individual households. Also, very few of borehole water are treated with chlorine that is meant to destroy disease-producing contaminants that are likely present in the water through contact with many different substances, including organic and inorganic matter and chemicals. Even the supposed public water system that is expected to provide clean, refreshing and healthier water wherever they exist could not be trusted in this regard.

    The continuing indiscriminate digging of boreholes does not guarantee clean and healthy water for the populace anymore. There should be preconditions and condition subsequent to be spelt out by government for digging of boreholes. The public are not aware of these conditions because our governments are not alert to their responsibilities. At any rate, if water is indeed considered by government as vital to human existence, quality water treatment solutions and facilities should be provided for free. The government should stop treating them as a luxury under the guise of scarcity of funds when corruption in corridors of power and other high places loom large. The president, through his minister of Water Resources, and state governors in the country, need a wake-up call in this regard and this piece should serve that essence!

  • Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” — Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884) 

    Last Friday and Saturday, the entire world stayed glued to their satellite stations watching the CNN. They were eager to witness the denouement to the search for the surviving on-the-run suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing in the United States of America (USA). That night, the US system showed the entire world why its remains world’s number one country.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, Tamerlan, 26, from the same mother and both resident in the US, were the suspected masterminds of the dastardly act that claimed three lives, critically injuring 180 others near the finish line of that marathon race. Both of them were born in former Russian territory known as Kyrgyzstan and are of Chechen descent. In their bid to escape from justice, Tamerlan was killed in Watertown, Boston while Tsarnaev escaped on foot, albeit fleetingly. The manhunt for Tsarnaev brought out the best of America’s disdain for terrorism and her readiness to protect the sanctity of human lives and property in her territory.

    The FBI and the Watertown police launched a citywide lockdown by conducting a house-by-house search for the alleged killer. The federal and the Watertown police displayed professional agility and civilised disposition in the discharge of their police duties. They were well kitted with the best of police combat costumes as they drove round Watertown in armoured patrol vehicles. This must have informed the confidence and commitment displayed by these men.

    Their ceaseless security vigil since the day the bomb blast occurred became fruitful when Tsarnaev was eventually nabbed, after a brief gun duel with the police, in a tarp-covered boat he had been hiding in the backyard of a house. The Watertown police siege scenery was a reminder of what policing in Nigeria should be but which unfortunately, it is not. The kits adorned by the American police were procured with money and it is not as if this country does not have the funds to procure such. But corruption has been the greatest inhibition to our goal of attaining that security standard. The lives of those America police are insured against the hazards of their profession. Nothing of such is available for their Nigerian counterparts. Billions of naira is yearly budgeted for police equipment, welfare, training and overall national security but the money never gets down. Yet, we expect such policemen officers to be the veritable aegis for maintaining peace and security in our country.

    It would not happen because it is what is sown that would be reaped. That brings us down to the handling of Boko Haram insurgents in the country. Quite unlike what we all witnessed in Boston, the handling of the insurgents by the Nigerian police, military and intelligence agencies has been laughable. The handling of this intractable problem by security agencies has made mockery of the nation’s competence in making her territory a safe haven for inhabitants. Could the problem be that of waning motivation among security operatives? Could it be one of incompetence or even misplaced priority of how to handle security, especially police affairs in this country?

    For instance, the police institution that is the pride of the US has become an albatross in, especially, the northern part of the country today. Even the intervention of the military through the Joint Task Force (JTF) has exposed the military as suffering from the same official lethargy that has become the lot of the police and other security agencies in the country. At the same time the US police was commendably hunting for, before eventually apprehending Tsarnaev, the Nigerian military was struggling in a battle with the Boko Haram miscreants. At the end of that battle, not less than 185 lives were lost in the gun duel between the JTF and Boko Haram insurgents.

    Most of the people killed, according to reports, were women and children. About 2000 houses and more than 50 motorcycles were burnt in the commercial town of Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Baga is a fishing town on the shore of Lake Chad adjacent to the Chadian border. It is a shame that a military general commanded JTF has not succeeded in its attempts to reclaim 10 local government areas in Borno State including Marte, Magumeri, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadamin, Kukawa, Kaga, Nganzai and Monguno that have been taken over by Boko Haram killer members. This exercise is a complete mockery of the essence of the Nigerian military which is to quell insurrection against the state that the Boko Haram is currently championing. Yet, Mr. President could not rescue the already bad situation.

    Sometime last year January, not less than 186 people were killed in coordinated attacks by Boko Haram fighters in Kano State. Tens of others were killed, even in military barracks, by the unscrupulous sect members in other northern states at different occasions without any clue being gotten by security agencies. The approach of government has always been like begging the issue without any concrete result coming out of bombings that have become routine in the country. Could this kind of things happen in the US for this long period without a solution being arrived at by the security agencies and the government, even if there is northern elite complicity as being insinuated in the current case in the country?

    Whilst President Barrack Obama rose to the occasion as witnessed in the Boston’s case in the US, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria turned to his cliché of calling for an investigation into the matter. As usual in the latest Borno state Boko Haram shootouts with the military, he has ordered a powerful probe, that would be a shameful end to the incident. He sits in the comfort of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, from where he is demanding from Brig.-General Austin Edokpaye, Commander of JTF in Borno State, a comprehensive brief of what transpired which even when given to him, he most possibly would not act on. The question is: Will Obama take the same position if the Boko Haram were to be in America? The question is no! The American government would have wiped them out of its territory. That is a sign of a country with serious leadership focus of how its affairs must be administered. President Jonathan’s arm-chair Commander-in-Chief approach to security matters especially, has become serious embarrassment to credible citizens of this country. The venomous situation, currently witnessed in most parts and the displayed inefficient official disposition, cannot continue if the Nigerian project is still of importance to those in the corridors of power.

    Whether against Boko Haram insurgents, unscrupulous militants or even armed robbery/kidnappers siege, when is Nigeria going to witness the type of effectively triumphant security agencies that kept vigil for humanity in Watertown, Boston last weekend? This is a food for thought for all reasonable Nigerians within the country and in Diaspora that want the country to witness peace/stability. Eternal vigilance, as deployed by America in Boston, is truly the price of liberty – apologies to that great thinker, Wendell Phillips.

  • Nigeria’s troubling period

    Nigeria’s troubling period

    “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life” ¯ Jomo Kenyatta

    Nigeria, our dear native land, is going down a path never witnessed in her history – and it is no news to the discerning. It is on a perilous path that is unsettling to the watchful. Crime and criminal activities appear to be trademark attributes in astronomical dimension in contemporary Nigerian society. People in virtually all the six geo-political zones live in perpetual fear. Everyday, people are tensed up by thoughts about their safety, which the state has failed to guarantee. While the problems of corruption, epileptic power supply, rampaging unemployment and sweltering poverty among others, look Herculean, intractable insecurity grows monstrous.

    In other climes, insecurity or terrorist acts are treated by leaders as a very serious problem. When the 9/11 bombings by the terrorist Al’Qaeda occurred in the United States (US), the country’s president then, George Bush, was vehement in his resolve to track the terrorists down when he vowed: “This is an act of war against the United States. We’ll hunt down the terrorists. They can run but they can’t’ hide….” When London was bombed during Premier Tony Blair’s era, his statement to his country men was re-assuring when he said: “We’ll track down the terrorists and bring them to justice.” Even though terrorist activities are still a bourgeoning problem to the world, there are no doubts that these leaders and also their successors in office are doing everything to make their countries safe havens for their citizens. They take as a national duty, the job of taking extra steps to protect their countries’ borders and also monitor activities of people living in their territories through well coordinated and efficiently effective intelligence networks.

    Why can’t Nigeria imbibe the same leadership spirits demonstrated by past and present leaders of the US and the United Kingdom? Why is my country finding it so difficult to halt the perverse tides of bombings, killings, abductions and kidnappings for ransom that are gradually looking unstoppable for government and its security agencies? Why are these avoidable problems becoming larger than the Nigerian state by every passing day?

    However, an insight into the clueless official approach to the problems was a remark reportedly made by President Goodluck Jonathan after the Christmas day bombing in Madalla, Gudaka, Damaturu, Maiduguri and Jos by the Boko Haram group years back. Then, he had described bombings in the country “as a burden Nigerians must live with until it fizzles out.” Again, the question is: How long will it take for the current spate of inexorable insecurity in the country to fizzle out? At another occasion of bombing, the president reportedly said: “Terrorism is a global phenomenon. May be it is Nigeria’s turn.” These are embarrassing, defeatist and un-presidential statement, especially from a sitting president that is currently nursing a covert ambition of seeking people’s sacred mandate again in 2015. In more enlightened society where poverty has not incapacitated the people, those statements during such challenging periods are enough to send the president on political Siberia.

    The current administration under President Jonathan has regrettably demonstrated its lack of capacity to comply with provisions of section 14(2b) of 1999 Constitution (as amended) that provides: ‘It is hereby, accordingly, declared that: The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.’ If government is expressly expected to constitutionally guarantee security of lives and property, then, the internal insecurity being faced today as a result of rising Boko Haram butchery, Jos ethnic/religious carnage, armed insurgency and kidnapping for ransom amply shows colossal failure of government to protect the governed.

    Since October 1, 2010, Nigeria’s Independence Day, when there were twin bombings in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the country seems to have parted ways with peace. When the CIA report of 2005 during the civilian regime of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, predicted the collapse of Nigeria in about 15 years time, the administration engaged in sophistry, dismissing the report rather than embarking on rigorous scrutiny of the predictive indices believed to be capable of leading the country to the predicted collapse. The current general state of insecurity in Nigeria has now lent weight to the report.

    Most northern states are under perpetual siege of the Boko Haram onslaught; the eastern states are being tormented by cantankerous kidnappers/abductors that have turned ransom payments and killings into a vocation. The armed robbery siege in the south west is gradually being overtaken by creeping scants of kidnappings. The general notion among law-abiding citizens of this country whose psyche has been brutalised is that government security apparati, including the military, police, State Security Service (SSS) and other intelligence agencies are incapable of guaranteeing the safety and security of Nigerians.

    This regrettable development has brought forth the concomitant negative indices of fear and lack of confidence/trust in government of the day to protect them from these rampaging unscrupulous elements in their midst. This negativism in any polity limits peoples’ ability to be both socially and economically creative and stable. At the same time also, it acts as de-motivation to meaningful investment drive. Government is supposedly held in trust for the people but Nigerians no longer have faith in their government because it harbours criminals that put up the behaviour that hurt and sabotage the system and their wellbeing. In the end, such inimical activities injure the collective interests of the state.

    The government is proposing amnesty to Boko Haram that is not willing to lay down arms and do away with bombs; it has refused to come up with solutions to the menace called kidnapping/abduction that is moving beyond borders across the country. The government is making things look as if these vices are bigger than the country. May be because the president is well secured within the fortress of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, he thinks that these vices will gradually fizzle out.

    May be Mr President and the governors of states where these vices are prevalent need to learn something from the aphorism of Jomo Kenyatta, that audacious Kenyan nationalist, where he said: “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” With the increasing high level of insecurity in the country, whoever thinks he is secure simply because he has the privilege of state security compliment revels in self-delusion. What Kenyatta tried to say is that insecurity in most parts of any country necessarily translates to insecurity in her corridors of power, no matter how highly fortified: This troubling time of Boko Haram and kidnapping for ransom can be surmounted with sincere official approach and more importantly, if the right steps are taken by truly determined leadership. All these are a desideratum at the moment. Should we then pray? Maybe!

  • Steps without imprints

    Steps without imprints

    ‘Integrity is the life blood of democracy. Deceit is a poison in its veins.’ — Edward Kennedy

    Ordinarily, most Nigerians would have thought that the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) had become history, but for the recent sudden attempt by Dr. Frederick Faseun, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) leader and his team, to revive it. It was coming 30 years after the military, through a coup de tat, compelled its death and that of other existing political parties on the nation’s political firmament. It was on December 31, 1983.

    Incontrovertibly, the UPN was the dominant party in the West during the Second Republic and it tenaciously held on to the ideals of social democracy. The party’s manifesto comprises: Free education for all; Free medical treatment; Full employment and Integrated rural development, among others. For the progressives, however, UPN is only dead in name. Reason: Ever since, the principles that the party stood for have in subsequent republics been the guiding spirit in the progressive camps. Even under the military, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) adopted the guiding principles of UPN as its manifesto and that in addition to the strong personality character of the late MKO Abiola, helped the party to win a truly pan-Nigeria presidential mandate on June 12, 1993.

    When the Fourth Republic commenced in 1999, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) adopted the same principles of the late sage’s party. Then Action Congress (AC) and now Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have done the same thing. So, it is just like the defunct UPN has continued its domination of south-west political turf under a different name. But from the blues came the idea by some people, including Dr. Faseun, to revive the UPN. So, the move was met with curiosity because some pundits read motives to the idea of reviving the party, more so that this coming at a time when the south-west party, ACN is on the verge of forming an alliance with other major political parties across the country.

    Questions were raised over the proprietary interest of promoters of the idea. Are they genuinely interested in promoting the ideals of the late sage under the current dispensation? Is there any external influence goading them on to secure undue mileage from the south west in the 2015 elections? Could it be that those averse to the move to re-awaken UPN are raising dust where none exists?

    But Faseun has reportedly said: “UPN is an idea whose time has come. And no amount of blackmail will stop it.” This obviously, is in response to the allegations that the OPC headed by him had been awarded the contract of protecting oil pipelines in the south-west purportedly made by Lai Mohammed, chief scribe of the ACN.

    There should not have been any argument over the mens rea of OPC to collect the said contract from the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Faseun himself confirmed that he spoke to the press on January 17, 2013 and in subsequent newspaper and television interviews, about the OPC contract proposal to Mr. President to secure pipeline against vandalisation in the south-west.

    To Faseun, his organisation was only toeing the line of militants in the Niger Delta who secured pipeline protection contracts in their areas. According to him, he has led the OPC to Abuja to defend the proposal and “equity and federal character dictate we should get a similar contract.” By this admission of intent, Faseun has unfortunately put the OPC on the same pedestal with Niger-Delta perceived ex-militants that are destructive and violence-driven.

    It is doubtful if Faseun realised the import of the message he was conveying by trying, for pecuniary reasons disguised under the ambit of equity and federal character, to usurp the power given to security agencies by the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Perhaps he should be asked the following questions: Is OPC and the militants (whether ex or not), known to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? What does he believe in; the rule of law or that of the jungle?

    The Jonathan administration applied the rule of the jungle by awarding pipelines protection contracts to the so-called notorious ex-militants that were ab initio, responsible for the vandalisation of oil pipelines. Can the president in all honesty say publicly that since the award of that immoral multi-billion-naira oil pipelines protection contract to militants, he has succeeded in stopping the incidents of pipeline vandalism? What he can possibly get is to create a fiefdom of lawless men and overnight illegal oil bunkerers in the OPC like we have among the militants now. But God forbid! Again, is Fasheun not aware of the fact that the contract has not stopped the criminality? Or was his push to get this contract at all cost his own idea of social justice…or his idea of even remedying the injustice of perceived marginalisation of his Yoruba people by the present administration? Let it be known to him that he can not remedy injustice with crass infraction of and contempt for the constitution that his latest move for the pipeline contract has become.

    In view of the desperation of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its non-performing leader, President Jonathan, to win elections in the south-west and retain power at the centre at all costs, it would not be outrageous to believe the insinuation in some quarters that the presidency would attempt to use the contract to lure Faseun’s OPC to create problems for the opposition parties in the region. The declaration by Faseun that he plans to revive UPN is just too inopportune and a confirmation of the widely held hint of Faseun’s Jonathan-mania, considered by many as not altruistic but a disguised attempt to despoil the name of the revered Obafemi Awolowo, for the unnecessary sake of promoting the unpopular President Jonathan’s re-election ambition in 2015.

    The Yoruba should come out against any attempt to bring down the lofty name that Awolowo and his true disciples left for the UPN during their hey-days in politics. Fasheun should be checked by that amiable OPC leader, Gani Adams, otherwise, the hard-earned shaky goodwill of the OPC will be frittered away just like that. This illegal and immoral contract is as bad as contemplating it by Faseun. And to think of using such alleged slush funds to revive and fund a party created by inimitable Awo is an insult to the sage in his grave and all free born Yoruba in general. The revival would not serve the interest of the Yoruba race. Perhaps, he should deploy his resources and energy to other areas of beneficial interests. I strongly believe that the move, to the discerning, is nothing but a step without imprints.

  • Who craves politics of patronage?

    Who craves politics of patronage?

    I look on that man as happy, who, when there is question of success, looks into his work for a reply, not into the market, not into opinion, not into patronage ——Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Every passing day, those in the corridors of power make mockery of the entire soul of government. They seem to have forgotten that the social contract between the government and the governed makes it compelling for leaders to provide purposeful and beneficial governance for the people. The truth as at today is that Nigerians are being denied this invaluable right because of the deformed inclination of most of their leaders. Can Nigeria ever get it right when leaders without conscience are in power? Will the country ever move forward with rulers that erroneously believe that today is forever? Can leadership without principle – but one centred on what to grab from the system – take the nation far? Today’s discourse will readily show the difficulty that lies ahead for the country.

    Just recently, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, national chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) gave the public an insight into why the whole essence of good governance might remain elusive in the country. At a recent meeting of the Northwest zone of his party in Kaduna, Tukur befuddled the nation with his proffered laughable panacea to looming threats of his party’s political extinction that emanates from imminent merger of four strong opposition parties. He betrayed the fears and desperation of the ruling party’s leadership with his disreputable panacea on keeping the party united ahead of the 2015 elections when he said: “PDP is all about patronage. We are going to dole out our patronage to all our members who remain in the party…There is a heavy war ahead in 2015. A group has come up and wants to sweep the mat off our feet. We cannot allow that to happen.”

    He went further: ‘…Let me inform you, we are going to give patronage to all our members who have contested elections and lost. There is enough in the party to go round everyone. There is no need to leave the party.” Also a Peace Panel headed by Governor Ibrahim Shema reportedly mentioned patronage for PDP members in an alleged secret memo published during the week.

    This statement by Tukur gave his party away as one that is ready to play the politics of do-or-die at the expense of the wellbeing of Nigerians. The politics of clientelism of PDP leadership, as conservatives, is geared towards preserving the status quo ante as long as possible thereby making almost any means in their perverted political view to be legitimate. The practice of patronage has grown to become a challenge that is usually provoked by a complacent political class that is historically willing to subordinate its ethical values and legal standards to that of its greedy leaders. In the process, the political system and the entire society are held hostage to the egos of a few leaders who consider the country as their fiefdom and its people as a malleable mass that could be easily trampled upon.

    The essence of clientelism is therefore meant to keep people dependent, with lots of largely unfulfilled promises. In the end, the people remain perpetually the troops needed for prosecuting political battles. Ordinarily, when the candidate of a political party wins an election, the newly elected has the right to appoint a reasonable number of competent persons to jobs in his government. But in the interest of good and effective governance, the appointees do not necessarily have to be members of the victor’s party. A patronage system of appointing persons to government positions on the basis of political support and work rather than on merit or objective criteria by any ruling political party will be detrimental to societal wellbeing.

    Nigerian leaders should endeavour to be good students of history. Nigeria does not have to exist for centuries before getting things right. After all, there is an avalanche of historical books and documents from well developed democracies that could guide our political leaders in their approach to governance, especially on this issue of patronage. For instance, the patronage system thrived in the United States of America’s federal establishment at a point in history.

    During that epoch, the loss of a presidential election by a political party usually gave birth to bitter fights and blanket turnover in their federal government. Even in 1881, President James Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States was assassinated by a disgruntled office seeker who did not get political appointment. This goaded the Congress to pass the Civil Service Act/Pendleton Act of 1883 (5 U.S.C.A. § 1101 et seq.) that created a Civil Service Commission and advocated a merit system for the selection of government employees. The Hatch Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1147) restricted partisan activities of federal employees. And by 1980, 90 percent of federal positions in the United States had become part of the civil service system thereby reducing drastically undue political patronage. Even currently, there is some display of decency in the award of political patronage in that country.

    Why can’t Nigerian leaders, most especially from the ruling PDP, emulate such political virtue of knowing the limit of political patronage? It is sad that everything, including the important and the inconsequential, are seen from the prism of patronage. Even the essential issue of fuel subsidy is being treated by the PDP leadership in government as a weapon of political patronage. No wonder several of those arraigned beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy loot are sons, relatives and close buddies of leading PDP members.

    In the United States, good precedent in this regard was set when President Garfield did not baulk from continuing investigation into the Star Route Scandal that showed that the Republican Party members were involved in the mail route contracts that were fraudulently awarded. This investigation culminated in the all-important above mentioned civil service reforms that curbed undue political patronage in that country. May be one should call on President Goodluck Jonathan to emulate the Garfield example by bringing to books, culprits in the fuel subsidy roguery rather than blooming the spoil system to enhance his 2015 ambition – even when he has not provided good government for Nigerians to savour. A political party like PDP that is all about patronage but bereft of ideas and good policies as confirmed by Tukur is not good for this country, now or beyond 2015. The entire PDP family should realise that Nigerians want progress in the management of their affairs, not insensate patronage meant to maintain the ineptly debilitating status quo ante.

  • Asiwaju and the spirit of gratitude

    Asiwaju and the spirit of gratitude

    ‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them’—John F. Kennedy

    Yesterday was another birthday of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, foremost national leader of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) – and perhaps in weeks ahead, that of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The birthday, as usual, was celebrated with another welcome ritual; a lecture for which the Muson Centre, Lagos, seems to have become the natural host. It has remained an annual event since the irrepressible fighter for the downtrodden left power as governor of the state in 2007.

    In contemporary age, no former governor or president commands the kind of political respect people accord Tinubu across the country. It could be justifiably asserted that very rarely do we have people being celebrated years after leaving power. The man is an exception to the Yoruba proverb: ‘kosi yago fun elesin ana,’ meaning, yesterday’s horsemen command no reverence. What his mostly political associates, admirers and followers across the land celebrated yesterday was not just his birthday but the momentous impacts his accumulated years of experience as a politician have had on Nigeria’s political firmament.

    The painful reality in the country is that for 14 years, the type of government that we practise could be aptly described as a civilian – not a truly representative democracy. And whatever misgivings some people might have against him, the fact remains indubitable that Tinubu has been playing a crucial role in ensuring that the nation has in place what can be genuinely called a legitimate constitutional government. He has implacably championed the enthronement of real democracy in the South-west, as least. Even now, he is fighting more relentlessly to extend genuine democratic frontiers to the entire country through the APC.

    Whoever accomplishes the towering stature that Tinubu has attained in the headship pecking order of this country must look forward to the type of approbation that the Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaban Borgu has received so far. After all, it was William Arthur Ward that opined a long time ago that: ‘Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.’ Nigerians, not only from the South-west but the entire country fully expressed their appreciation for Tinubu at yesterday’s birthday lecture. They wrapped their gift and gave it to the man through this annual event that has contributed immensely to the states’ and national discourses.

    Nigerian in this age and challenging political time, must show more gratitude to a person like Tinubu because his likes make us happy by standing up courageously to federal and the ruling People’s Democratic Party(PDP) tyranny. People like him are the pillar of succour for the majority because they are the charming gardeners that give hope to our hopeless state of despair thereby making our souls blossom in the process. Whatever his inadequacies as a human being( all of us are fallible), the man has proved, beyond every iota of doubt in today’s Nigeria that he is a risk taker, and in life, it is hackneyed that anyone that would not take risk cannot go far.

    Who is Tinubu? Tinubu is that man who surmounted the challenges of his humble beginning to be a model in Nigeria and African politics. When life seemed to beat him down, he fought back gallantly. When all hope looked forlorn, he dared and triumphed. In darkness, he illuminated his life and those of many others that met him. Any time things are tough and difficult, he dares to be tougher. During periods of infliction of injustice in this federation, his voice of courage usually stands out. More importantly, when his friends and fellow countrymen and women are in distress or need, he always lends a helping hand. Most of those whose paths cross his must smile before leaving. He was never tired as he keeps going and surmounting all vicissitudes, mostly contrived by his political adversaries.

    What some Nigerians are doing to Tinubu through this annual celebration of his person deserves high commendation. Mostly in the geo-political regions across the country, people wait till the exit of their great sons and daughters before celebrating them. Rather than give recognition to well deserving citizens, it is only accorded, especially in traditional and official quarters, to men of shady characters. No wonder, there are several of such men and women holding very important government positions or acting as big-time government contractors and agents today. This grimy attitude has been elevated to the level of a national credo. Take for instance, the demise of Chinua Achebe, that great Nigerian writer in far away United States that has elicited the best of superlatives, especially from government circles. When the man was alive, nothing was done by successive administrations to show gratitude to him or even to give hope to him that Nigeria, after his demise, will be a better place for all to live in. Our country pretended to be oblivious of former United States’ President, John F. Kennedy’s words that ‘…the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.’

    Just because the nation cannot live by her appreciation, nothing was done to celebrate late Obafemi Awolowo when he was alive. The same thing applies to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. The two were rather vilified in their life time by leaders that impute wrong political meanings to whatever action that they took at the period. Even now, nothing seems to have changed.

    Even if nothing has been done before to celebrate our icons in different fields of human endeavour, the successes from the annual celebration of Tinubu and the lessons from Achebe’s death in exile, far away from a thankless country called Nigeria, should be a wake-up call to the need for the nation and her people to imbibe the spirit of showing gratitude to worthy men amongst us while still alive.

    The leadership of the nation should work out plans on how to give sustained recognition to the deserving. I am not referring to the award of national honours that has become something for every Tom, Dick and Harry with the exception of the very few that are usually lumped together with questionable honourees. Nigeria needs to nationally celebrate icons like Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka; the nation must accord unconditional respects and recognitions to former Commonwealth of Nations’ scribe, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and ambassador par excellence, Alhaji Maitama Sule, amongst others. These accomplished Nigerians are our pride as a nation and their celebration should not be left for private concerns to undertake always. Here’s wishing the Lion of Bourdillon, plenteous happy returns of yesterday.

  • Fuel subsidy: Mr President, test your popularity

    Fuel subsidy: Mr President, test your popularity

    ‘Many bad policies are simply good policies taken too far’—— Thomas Sowell

    An eerie air of deluding power now overwhelms Nigeria’s President – and it is sad. From being a ‘lame duck’ vice-president at inception, President Goodluck Jonathan later proceeded to benefit from immense public sympathies at a point that the late President Umaru YarÁdua’s cabal was hell-bent on circumventing his ascension to power. He was voiceless and vulnerable. But God gave him voice through the people – and the opposition that rallied against the move to pervert the nation’s constitution.

    Perhaps, there is something spiritual about the Latin aphorism, vox populi, vox dei. This dictum, meaning, ‘voice of the people is the voice of God,’ has remained as constant as ever. Indeed, the wish of God as typified by the deafening opinion of the Nigerian people that justice must be done even if heavens would fall at that period prevailed over the evil few that would have preferred a dead president to continue to rule by proxy.

    As at the time Jonathan got to power, he was very popular. Most Nigerians thought he would deliver the much-sought dividends of democracy, despite being a product of a debauched political party. He was given a chance but to the consternation of the people, he has proved, so far, to be the weakest and most clueless man that ever ruled the country. Mr President promised us, on assumption of office, peace, but violence and insecurity dominate today’s national discourse. He assured us that the economy would bloom, but it is regrettably receding at an alarming rate. What about power that has remained unsteady since he assumed office. Nigerians rely on generators powered by petrol to provide their individual homes electricity on a daily basis. Even in Otuoke, the President’s village in Bayelsa State, it is predictable that over 90 per cent of domestic and commercial activities there rely on generator for power supply most of the time.

    He promised Nigerians a new lease of life but unleashed high per-litre price of petroleum products, especially petrol, on Nigerians. Now that the president has said that he would completely remove fuel subsidy, it seems to me that he daily steeps into the abyss of undue self-importance that ruined previous occupiers of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, the country’s seat of power.

    President Jonathan, in his keynote address at the Nigerian Summit 2013, organised by The Economic Conference, insisted that his administration would remove the entire subsidy ‘after consultation with the people’. To Mr. President, the existing erroneous subsidy on petroleum products constitutes waste of resources that should be channelled elsewhere. In his deluding view and that of his reactionary economic team, the main beneficiaries of fuel subsidy are the wealthy because majority of poor Nigerians are unduly made to bear the brunt of ‘consumptive excesses of the well-heeled middle class’.

    He laughably hinted that since his decision to remove the phantom ‘fuel subsidy’ has become a foregone conclusion, his ‘government would engage the public on the modality for… and to continue to enlighten Nigerians on the need to remove fuel subsidy’ in possibly the months ahead. Jonathan maintained this position because his entire team are very far from the people that they claim to govern. Otherwise, they ought to have known that there is no middle class in the country again. The two classes in Nigeria today are: The rich and the poor. And the former group is dominated by members of the ruling class, their cronies, family members, big contractors of government and mostly those in the private sector that conspire with those in power to pilfer public treasury. The most thriving business entrenched by the current administration is corruption. After all, the president recently granted presidential pardon to his boss and mentor, Dieprieye Alamieseigha. This matter, though one of digression in today’s discourse, will be a topic for another day.

    The president should recall how he assumed the presidency for the first time. It was not through his power, but that of the people. The Nigerian people spoke and rose against the feudal aristocracy from a particular section of the country that still think that to rule Nigeria is their birth right. It was at that point in history that the relevance of section 14(2a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that sovereignty belongs to the people really came to the fore. The people also spoke when they gave him the pan-Nigerian mandate in the 2011 presidential elections. The president now bubbles with confounding self-esteem acquired through regrettable confidence reposed in him by Nigerians.

    If the president still believes that he is popular because of his so called ‘giant strides,’ he should come out now and set the tone for how the 2015 presidential elections will look like for him and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Mr. President should come out and take time to ‘enlighten’ Nigerians on his reasons for planning to remove fuel subsidy. Subsequently, he should organise a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ referendum to determine whether Nigerians agree to his infamous plan to remove fuel subsidy.

    Not until when Mr. Jonathan approves and conducts a referendum on this issue will he realise that Nigerians are not only weary of his clueless governance style but also repulsive of his incessant moves to always impoverish them through his thoughtless moves on fuel subsidy. Nigerians showed him a bit of this revulsion when they revolted against his initial plan on fuel subsidy removal of January 2012. The one that will come if he attempts to increase fuel price will assume an unimaginable proportion. This President must be compelled to conduct a referendum on this issue.

    Those whispering the wrong things for selfish reasons in to his ears will leave him to his fate when the chips are down. Like other leaders of the country before him, Jonathan except he turns a new leaf which is very unlikely, will live to regret most of his inactions and incongruous actions after leaving that exalted seat.

    Members of the opposition in the country have two tasks in their hands: First is to compel Jonathan to truly engage Nigerians, through a referendum, on whether or not fuel subsidy should be removed. Two, the opposition should endeavour to make it a political sloganeering tool in the months preceding the 2015 elections that Nigerians should not vote for Jonathan and his party that are hell-bent on compounding their impoverishment and melancholy through his planned removal of fuel subsidy.

    The people should be made to understand that if for deft political strategy, he deferred the move, he will definitely do it after 2015 when he will not need their votes again. Thence, Nigerians must be mobilised now to say no to the inhuman move of the President to remove fuel subsidy that his party’s henchmen and top government officials have turned into conduit pipes for depleting public funds meant to develop the country. The day of Jonathan’s waterloo is around the corner and that will be the day Nigerians turn him down if he agrees to this referendum challenge. The voice of the people is that of God in case he has forgotten.