The Nation Newspaper

Category: Waheed Odusile

Why always the Nigerian Football Federation?

Watching Italian international Mario Baloteli make his debut for Liverpool against Tottenham at the weekend one could see why the young man wanted to return to the English Premier League. His much hyped erratic nature and eccentricity is best suited for the English league where the fans like to hero worship.

And probably for the first time in his turbulent career, Super Mario cut the picture of a happy man enjoying his game and Liverpool fans appreciated him, in sharp contrast to his troubled time in England the first time he came to the EPL to join Manchester City, a couple of seasons or so ago.

His period at City, though better forgotten, will always be remembered by the message “why always me” that he inscribed on his inner wear when he pulled up his jersey after scoring a spectacular goal. Of course he knew why he asked that question and the fans knew why too.

When I read yet another twist in the craziness going on in the house of Nigerian football called the Nigerian Football Federation, one was left with no other choice than to ask; why always the NFF. Between the time this piece was written and the time you are reading this, it is not unlikely that the situation at the Glass House as the NFF headquarters is called might have taken another turn for the worse.

I wouldn’t want to bore you with the stories of the removal, reinstatement, removal and yet another reinstatement of Aminu Maigari, the embattled president of the Nigerian Football Federation. Maigari, undisputedly a cat with nine lives has been removed several times in recent weeks by his opponents, who in spite of strident denials, are definitely working out the scripts of their masters in government. But on each occasion, the world football governing body FIFA ordered his reinstatement citing illegally in the process.

I have no sympathy for Maigari and the entire football house; they deserve what is happening to them. My worry and annoyance is the way they are turning themselves and indeed Nigeria into a nuisance before the global family of football. By now FIFA would have been tired of Nigeria and probably considering bringing down the hammer on the glass house. That would be nice; don’t you think so? Bring down the hammer and smash the glass house. But wait a minute; would that solve the problem?

I don’t think so. And since beheading is not the solution to headache, may be FIFA needs to take another look at the laws governing the administration of football worldwide with particular focus on developing countries where the government is the one paying the piper and think it deserves to be allowed to dictate the tune.

Just as it is with the larger society, especially our government, bad leadership is the bane of Nigerian football. We have selfish leaders all over the place who think only of themselves and self interest. And the selfishness is not restricted to the rank of NFF officials alone. Look at the Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi. He wants as much as N11 to N12million per month to coach the senior national soccer team. That to me is grotesque.

While the jury is still out on whether Keshi has done enough for Nigerian football to deserve that humungous salary, I believe he has done his best and you cannot ask a person for more than his best. But the question is, is his best good enough for Nigeria? Or put succinctly, is Keshi’s best worth N12 million monthly? I doubt it and I say NO to it.

To deserve the N12 million or so that he is asking for, Keshi would have to deliver a semi final ticket for the Super Eagles at the world cup on a consistent basis and the African Nation’s cup every three years. Did I hear you say haaa? A coach who wants to be taken seriously and earn top salary must deliver consistently at the highest level. Does Keshi have capacity to do this? I have a serious doubt.

We wobbled and fumbled to the last AFCON Finals in South Africa where we won the cup. We all saw the deficiencies in that team but God gifted us the cup and those deficiencies were really exposed at the World cup in Brazil. Do I need to say more? And Keshi wants us to reward him with a N12million salary? What kind of leaders are these for goodness sake? If the coach of Argentina could resign for failing to win the world cup even though he took his team to final match, why must we reward the failure that Keshi was at the highest stage in world football with a mouthwatering salary offer, when his more successful colleagues elsewhere are throwing in the towel for not meeting reasonable targets?

And those who wants us to break the bank to pay Keshi are quick to threaten us that more mouth watering offers are waiting for him elsewhere are he will dump us if we fail to act on time. And I say let him go if he wants to go. They told us South Africa was chasing his signature, what happened? Shakes Mashaba got the Bafana Bafana job. They even mentioned Angola. If he is so sure of himself let him go there and shame his detractors in Nigeria by winning trophies including the world cup for that employer that is offering him that multimillion dollar contract.

I hear that he is back again to tinker the Super Eagles. The truth is that we don’t need him again as he cannot take our football further than where he has taken it. My fear is that we may regress from where we are now that he is back. I suggest he be put in temporary charge while we look for a more technically knowledgeable coach that would play with the flair and swagger that Nigeria is known for and win trophies in style. We don’t need Keshi anymore the same way we don’t need Maigari and co, but in removing them, we should take the normal steps and avoid ridiculing ourselves before the world.

I am sure no other FIFA member federation has received more warning letters from the world governing body than the NFF. If there is a desk officer at FIFA for each federation, the person handling Nigeria would want to go on leave any moment from now to avoid further headache as a result of the infighting in the house of Nigerian football. The question to ask I repeat once again is why always Nigeria? Why always the NFF? Can’t we put our house in order?

September 2, 2014
She died to save our lives

And so death came calling on August 19 for Dr Stella Sade Aneyo Adadevoh, the senior consultant physician who treated the late American-Liberian Ebola patient Patrick Sawyer.

Sawyer, you will recall was the one who imported Ebola into our country from his native Liberia on July 20 and infected those that had primary contacts with him at First Consultant Hospital, Lagos where he was taken after he collapsed on arrival at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja.

Dr Adadevoh, an endocrinologist, was one of a few medical personnel that attended to him at the hospital. She was not even on duty on that day but had to come in response to an emergency. She was the fifth casualty of the problem brought on to us by Mr. Sawyer. Two of the nurses I think and a protocol officer attached to ECOWAS office in Lagos that had contact with him had equally died.

As I write this piece, there are some Nigerians in isolation in Lagos being monitored for signs of Ebola after they have had direct or indirect contact with late Sawyer. A few others not in isolation but are remotely linked to the Liberian are equally under watch and told to report the slightest sign of an outset of Ebola to health authorities once they noticed any.

As public enlightenment on how to avoid contracting Ebola and what to do in case one was infected continues, people are now wary of handshakes and an embrace or bear hug is being avoided like a plague. Connoisseurs of vintage bush meat are beginning to look elsewhere while hunters and sellers of hunted roasted animals are lamenting their plight blaming Sawyer for the calamity that has befallen their business.

But while the rest of us are running away from Ebola some people stayed and confronted the deadly disease in other to save millions of Nigerians that today could have been infected with the virus if Patrick Sawyer had been allowed to leave First Consultant Hospital, Lagos as he requested, even after he had been diagnosed with Ebola. Among this honourable group of patriotic Nigerians was Dr Stella Sade Aneyo Adadevoh.

This patriot could have ignored the call for emergency when Sawyer was brought into her hospital after all she wasn’t on duty. But she remembered that her duty as a physician was to save life and pronto she rushed to the hospital. If she considered that her colleagues in public hospitals were on strike at that time, she could have refused to attend to any emergency or fresh cases in solidarity with the striking doctors, but she didn’t.

As Ebola presents itself like ordinary malaria fever or typhoid fever, Dr Adadevoh and her colleagues at First Consultant Hospital could have treated Sawyer for mere malaria without running a test and discharge him immediately to go home but they didn’t. They suspected something grave was wrong with the Liberian and when test confirmed he had Ebola they raised alarm and treatment began him. But for Dr Adadevoh and the nurses, it was too late to protect themselves, Sawyer had infected them with Ebola; and now they have paid the ultimate price to save the rest of us from this deadly disease. What a patriotic thing to do!

Imagine what could have happened if Adadevoh and hes colleagues had thought of themselves alone and allowed Sawyer to go home and mix freely with the rest of the society. If he had been discharged and allowed to go to Calabar as he had planned, by now many Nigerians in that axis would be carrying the virus. And with Nigerians penchant for travelling, an infected person could export this disease from here to say Europe, America and the rest of the world. If that were to be the case the world and not just West Africa could have been facing an epidemic by now. But this Nigerian has saved the whole of humanity this calamity. What a sacrifice.

What should we do to immortalize this great granddaughter of the father of Nigerian nationalism; the late Herbert Macaulay? Apart from personal post-humous national honour for Dr Adadevoh, her death to save our lives should draw government attention to the deplorable state of our public health facilities in this country. When Sawyer arrived at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, officials at the Port Health Services could not detect anything wrong in his system (even after he collapsed) to warrant him being detained and quarantined at the airport. He was allowed to enter the country with Ebola and travelled with it as far as Lagos Island from Ikeja. What if the man had detoured on the way to the Island or pleaded to be allowed to go home instead of the hospital, nobody would know that an Ebola patient has entered the country.

The first contact with the patient on arrival in the country should have been Port Health which should detain and quarantine him. But I doubt if there is any quarantine centre or facility at any of our ports, land, air or sea. What of the state of our preparedness for medical emergency. Sawyer was already in the country and his status known before we began to set up isolation centres for this kind of contagious disease. And how many of such centres do we even have in the country at present?

Part of our preparation for emergency should have been taking a pre-emptive action against the entry of Ebola into Nigeria once it was reported in some West African countries. But we took no action. A responsible and responsive government would have embarked on a thorough screening exercise at the various points of entry for everybody coming into the country from the affected countries, including Nigerians returning home. If this had been done, Sawyer would not have gone beyond Lagos airport before being quarantined.

The importation of Ebola into Nigeria from Liberia should tell governments in West Africa that no country is immune in the sub-region to any crisis or plague in any of ECOWAS member states and as such we should collaborate and see ourselves as one. If the Liberian government had been thinking about the health of the neighbouring countries, it wouldn’t have allowed Sawyer to escape and export Ebola to Nigeria via Lome in Togo.

The fact that any disease could be airlifted across continents via just one intercontinental flight should also alert the developed countries to their responsibilities to the rest of humanity. Ebola has shown that it is no respecter of race or colour of skin or social status. It is an enemy of humanity and the whole world must stand together to fight it, if need be with our lives just as Dr Adadevoh has done with hers to prevent the spread of the disease. ADIEU patriot. We will never forget your sacrifice.

August 26, 2014
This Ebola virus disease

These are not the best of times for roasted bush meat sellers out there whose means of livelihood are being threatened by the Ebola Virus Disease which literally flew into the country on July 20 from Monrovia, Liberia.

The dreaded disease arrived in Lagos on that day when a Liberian/American, Patrick Sawyer already infected landed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja and shortly after collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital where he was confirmed to have been infected with the virus. He died a few days. Two of the medical personnel that attended to him later tested positive to the virus, one of them, the nurse later died.

And since that incident, business has gone down for bush meat sellers as their customers, out of fear of contracting Ebola whose origin has been traced to certain bush meat commonly eaten in West Africa, have been boycotting their delicacies, some opting for fish.

In these hard times, one can imagine what these sellers are going through now trying to put food on the table for their families against the odds. And with help not likely to come from any source, one can only pray that a solution to Ebola would be found quickly before it becomes an epidemic.

While our sympathies go to these unfortunate bush meat sellers, our condolence to the family of the late nurse who like other brave medical personnel dared Ebola by attending to Sawyer, even at the risk of their personal health.

The ease at which Sawyer was able to import the virus into the country without being detected even when he knew he had been infected back home in Liberia raises doubt about the ability of our Port Health authorities to detect and prevent the importation of dangerous/infectious diseases into the country. It also calls into question the kind of cooperation (if any) existing between health authorities across the West African sub region.

Quite annoying was the revelation that the Liberian authorities knew or suspected that Sawyer was carrying the virus and they could not stop him from flying into Nigeria, even when they knew he was heading to Lagos. And if they couldn’t stop him at home why not alert their Nigerian counterpart that Sawyer was heading to our country and he should immediately be quarantined on arrival. Now the failure or inability of the Liberian government to do what every responsible government should do to safeguard public health has thrown Nigeria into trouble over this Ebola outbreak.

If there is nothing in the ECOWAS protocol to compel governments in the sub region to prevent exportation of diseases from their country to other member states, then the Authorities of Heads of States and Governments should act fast to review the laws where necessary. The founding fathers of ECOWAS probably did not for see an Ebola outbreak or a trans-West Africa public health crisis when they agreed on the protocol in the 70s. It is about time we took a second look at the relevant provisions of the protocol, including those dealing with cross border crimes like armed robbery and terrorism, and even the 90 days residency without visa/work permit.

The ECOWAS protocol has encouraged free movement of people and goods across the sub region by citizens of ECOWAS but the downside of this unfettered freedom of movement is the freedom to move about with deadly diseases like Ebola and most tragic of all, the freedom to spread terror like Boko Haram. Something has to be done and urgently too.

But if Liberia couldn’t do what she supposed to do to prevent exportation of such diseases as Ebola to Nigeria or any other country, did that also excuse the Nigerian government from protecting her citizens from such dangers as Ebola? I mentioned Port Health earlier; in an ideal society this body should be the leading the fight against importation of all forms of diseases into the country. But is this body capable of protecting Nigerians? I have my doubt. And I will tell you why.

In most parts of the world a yellow card is expected from travelers at the point of entry into their destinations. The card is supposed to confirm your status as regards immunization against some diseases. West Africa is an endemic region for Yellow Fever and other forms of malaria, hence all travelers from Nigeria and other ECOWAS member states are expected to be vaccinated against the disease before they could be allowed to enter another country. But you can get that card in Nigeria from any of our public hospitals, Health Centres, Local Government headquarters and the Port Health without being vaccinated.

So if we can give a clean bill of health to someone who is probably infected with a dangerous disease without testing his health status, how can we then prevent someone with dangerous disease from entering the country, since we are not averse to exporting such? Until we stop and arrest our crooked ways people like Sawyer will continue to bring diseases like Ebola to us.

I am sure if the man from Liberia had not collapsed on arrival, he would have entered the country freely and spread the disease to God knows how many Nigerians he would have had contact with before being struck down by the ailment. The fact that a flight was coming from an Ebola infested country should have alerted our health authorities to quarantine all passengers on board that flight for any sign of the disease. How many flights had arrived Lagos from Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and the other countries similarly affected by Ebola before the one that brought Sawyer into our country? Did we bother to check them? It is not unlikely that many people carrying the virus had been flown in from these countries before the July 20 flight that brought Sawyer; where are they now?

It has often been said that we attach little value to human lives in this country as a few deaths here and there, even in their thousands no longer mean anything to us. A responsible and responsive government would have placed restrictions on all flights coming from these Ebola infested countries the moment the outbreak of the disease was reported there. But here in Nigeria, our government and its agencies had to wait until Ebola was flown into our country before they could act; and by then it was rather late, what a shame. Ebola is here with us now. How do we fight it?

Even when the affected state called on the Federal Government to close our borders with some of our neighbours, the call was treated as a political talk coming from the opposition and it was dismissed. Now we are somehow in a crisis. May be if we had closed the borders that would have at least sent a message to our neighbours to act fast against the spread of the disease. I haven’t heard Benin Republic say anything yet, but if Ebola gets into that country or is already there and nothing is being done, then Lagos is in trouble. And if the disease becomes an epidemic in Lagos then Nigeria is in trouble. And if anything happens to Nigeria, West Africa is gone. It is as simple as that.

I agree this is no time to apportion blame as all hands must be on deck to fight the Ebola Virus Disease. Wherever the cure/drug is Nigeria must get it, no matter the cost. We cannot afford an Ebola epidemic. It is too grave to contemplate.

August 12, 2014
Osun on the march again

As the final countdown to Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Osun State begins, global attention would once again be focused on Nigeria as the wobbling and fumbling continues in the nation’s quest to join the leagues of real democracies.

And as had always been the case with elections in western Nigeria since independence, it is going to be a straight fight between federal might and the people’s will. Why the federal government or rather the party at the centre is always interested in controlling south west Nigeria against the wish of the majority beats one’s imagination. I don’t want to hazard a guess, but suffice to say that each attempt whether successful or not have always had grave consequences for the country.

Attempt by the NPC/NCNC controlled federal government in the first republic to take over western region through its lackeys in the region led to the western regional crisis that later snowballed into the crisis that eventually ended Nigeria’s first attempt at democratic rule. Recall what happened to the second republic when the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) of President Shehu Shagari forcefully claimed victory in Ondo State. The only ‘successful’ takeover of political power in the south west by the party at the centre to date was in 2003 when ‘son-of-the-soil’ President Olusegun Obasanjo manipulated the process, using the federal might, to claim victory for his Peoples democratic Party (PDP)in all but one of the south west states.

But not too long after, the people realized their mistake and took back what they lost to the PDP, safe Ondo State. Again, applying the federal might policy of intimidation, the federal government is on another mission to forcefully take over the south west targeting Ekiti and Osun states as prelude to pocketing the remaining four states of the region in the 2015 general elections. And with Ekiti already in the bag, Abuja is full of confidence that Osun too will fall. In the last few weeks, the state has been fully militarized by the Commander-In-Chief, President Goodluck Jonathan, who in defiance of wise counsel has moved soldiers, State Security operatives and of course the police into Osun to ‘deliver’ the state to the PDP. Whether he succeeds or not and what becomes of our democracy after Saturday is in the hands of time. For Jonathan, securing Osun, Ekiti and the rest of the south west states is not so much for the wealth of the region, but the millions of votes he needs to secure a second term. Whereas his party men in the region are only interested in the key to the treasuries of the Yoruba states in order to squander the resources.

With this premise, it is easier to understand the battle that lies ahead for the people of Osun State as the local ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate Governor Rauf Aregbesola confronts the PDP and its flag bearer, Senator Iyiola Omisore stoutly backed by the government at the centre.

Saturday’s election is not so much in the hands of Aregbesola or Omisore but the people of the state who must decide the direction they want to take their future. Where Osun State was before Aregbesola came in and where it is today should be their guide, and I will use education to illustrate my point here.

As a beneficiary of the Bola Ige administration free education programme in Oyo in the second republic, I recall what most members of my generation then were going through to go to school and stay in school before the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) came to power in the region in 1979 and education was made free. No more school fees; no more buying of books, all our parents had to do was feed us and buy our school uniform. I can still recall the happiness on my parents’ face when newly sworn in governor Bola Ige announced this at the Liberty stadium on October 1, 1979. They both heaved a sigh of relief as they listened to the pronouncement on radio. Before then they had been finding it difficult paying the school fees of my siblings and I. Even though the skeptics, especially in the NPN said it wasn’t possible and derided the quality of education we were getting in public schools, millions of parents stood by the UPN and their governors defying the federal might to secure their children’s future. Today that decision has been well justified; their sacrifice have not been in vain, their children are now successful men and women in their various fields, thanks in no small measure to the free education programme of the day. The NPN federal government did offer rice and money that time but they rejected them.

If one looks at the contributions of the Aregbesola administration in the last four years or thereabout to improving the standard of education in Osun State, one is tempted to say that if only for that he deserves, without blinking an eye, a second term in office. And that is the truth.

I don’t want to talk about the beautiful schools he has built all over the state or even the reclassification of schools that he has done, as some are wont to argue that aesthetics are not enough to make good schools, what about the free feeding programme on which over N3 billion is being spent annually; free school uniforms. What about the tablet of knowledge or ‘Opon Imo’ (a miniature computer or tablet) containing the entire senior Secondary School syllabus, books and WAEC/GCE examination papers given to Senior Secondary School students to prepare them for their final exams.

Any parent or guardian that understands what it takes to buy whole set of books for their children or ward(s), buy their uniform, pay their school fees and above all feed them (at least once a day) will appreciate the burden that Governor Aregbesola has taken off their shoulders. And it is only right and even godly to appreciate the man by giving him another term in office. This is the least they can do for a man who has taken it upon himself to better their lot. To Governor Rauf Aregbesola, serving the people (of Osun) is a commandment from God. I chose to dwell on his education programme (only a fraction of his achievements in this sector) because I believe, like Chief Obafemi Awolowo who saw the future of his Yoruba people in education far back in the 50s that is the best foundation for the future.

Aregbesola has laid a solid foundation for the future of his people in Osun, the people should allow him to build it further by rewarding him with a second term. Any other decision to the contrary could lead to eternal regret. A word is enough for the wise.

August 5, 2014
Thank God for Buhari’s life

I wonder what the likes of Lai Ashadele, an avid reader of this column and one of its fiercest critics has to say on the failed attempt on the life of former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari last week in Kaduna.

And after the failed twin bomb attacks, one of which was targeted at prominent Islamic preacher Sheik Dahiru Bauchi by the terror group Boko Haram, it would be interesting to know what Ashadele and the rest who support the Goodluck Jonathan administration have got to say on the fight against terror in Nigeria.

To these people and others like them in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the opposition is behind Boko Haram and they are quick to refer to statements made by some prominent politicians in the north in the run up to the 2011 presidential election to the effect that they would make the country ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan if he contested in that election.

This belief has tainted their view of the fight against terror such that every criticism of Federal Government’s failure to drive the terrorists out of our country and secure the lives and properties of every Nigerian especially those living in Boko Haram’s theatre of operation is seen as unpatriotic and unfriendly of the Jonathan administration.

To them, every critic of the administration is a hater of President Jonathan irrespective of whether what he/she is saying is true or not. So when the opposition says this war against terror cannot be won the way Jonathan is handling the matter they are quickly shouted down and their views dismissed as scaremongering.

Some key opposition figures have even been accused of financing the terrorists. But now that Boko Haram has gone after General Buhari, I wonder whether the rabidly pro-Jonathan supporters within and outside the PDP like Ashadele still believe that the opposition has a hand in what the terrorists are doing.

The Kaduna attack on Buhari offers the Federal Government an opportunity to rethink its strategy in the war against terror and embark on an all inclusive campaign against Boko Haram, bringing all hands on deck and harnessing all resources available to Nigeria in this regard.

It is about time that both the government and the opposition sat together to fashion out a common front against Boko Haram and all other forms of terror in the country. The time for finger pointing is over. We are confronted with a problem that could consume all of us if care is not taken.

The other day, a bomb exploded at Apapa near a gas tanker but it was quickly dismissed as a mere explosion, even though Boko Haram claimed responsibility. When the United States embassy in Nigeria issued a travel advisory to its citizens recently warning of a likely terrorist attack on a popular hotel in Lagos, the Americans were accused of crying wolfs. In the south east, scores of northerners suspected to be Boko Haram operatives were recently arrested.

What all these point at is that Boko Haram now has the capacity to strike anywhere in Nigeria, and the earlier we see the problem as our problem and not that of the north alone the easier it will be for us to win the war on terror.

I say thank God for Buhari’s life. If the terrorists had succeeded in killing the retired General and the Islamic Cleric, only God knows where Nigeria would be by now. And as President Jonathan rightly pointed out while receiving Sallah homage from Muslim leaders in FCT, none of us would be sitting pretty in our homes today if those sons of the devil had killed General Muhammadu Buhari and Sheik Dahiru Bauchi.

The war that that South-south loud mouth Asari Dokubo had promised to unleash on Nigeria if Jonathan is not returned to office next year would have landed on his doorsteps by now even before he has the opportunity to cork his AK-47 rifle. The fire that he promised on the rest of us non-Ijaw Nigerians if Jonathan is rejected in 2015 would have been burning in his homestead now before he could even change from his loin cloth to a trouser.

In the north Buhari is god, forget what any other person says to the contrary and his supporters, call them Almajiris if you like, worship him and are ready to die for him. To them, he is the only person that can end their miseries, take them out of poverty, end corruption in Nigeria and make the country great and achieve her potentials. They want all those who have contributed to Nigeria’s ruin jailed, and Buhari, they believe is the only one who can do that. Every mistake of Jonathan, especially government’s failure in the war against Boko Haram makes Buhari popular before them and the retired General is seen as the Messiah to come. And the message is gaining popularity in the south as well. You can imagine this man being killed in that bomb blast. By now Nigeria will be on fire no doubt.

That he survived unhurt was an act of God and as some would like to say, God indeed is a Nigerian. But then we shouldn’t stretch our luck too far, or rather Jonathan should not stretch his good luck too far.

Sparing the life of Buhari I believe was God’s way of showing His love for this country and those in charge of our affairs should appreciate this. Stoking trouble all over the place, especially in opposition controlled states, just to win control ahead of the 2015 presidential election might be to Jonathan’s advantage now, but ultimately will be of no benefit to Nigeria. It could spell doom not only for our democracy but also for our existence as a nation. The Federal Government is flexing its muscles in Osun State now, threatening to use its might to take the state from the opposition in the August 9 gubernatorial election, just like it did on June 21 in Ekiti. If it succeeds, that could just be the beginning of the end for our democracy and our country. Nigeria in the pocket of one man! That would be worse than our experience under Abacha, and Jonathan, it does appear is set for this. Who will or can stop him? I don’t know.

But does he need to do all these to win another term in office? I don’t think so. All he needs to do I think to return in 2015 is defeat Boko Haram, fix the power problem, fix our roads, hospitals, fire the Oil minister and put her and former Aviation minister on trial to prove his credentials in the fight against corruption, #bring back our (Chibok) girls, tell First Lady Patience to stay more at home and act more like a statesman and less as a politician. If he tries these I think Nigerians could be persuaded to give him another chance.

More important however, is to ensure peace and security; the attacks on Buhari and Bauchi have shown that nobody is safe in the country. Boko Haram could strike at anybody, any time, anywhere.

July 29, 2014
That $1billion loan

When the Independence building opposite the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos went up in smoke during the General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime, not a few were shocked that the headquarters of the Nigerian Armed Forces could burn for hours with the military high command helpless.

Though the multi-storey building then housing the Ministry of Defence was eventually saved from total ruin, the effect of the fire did expose the toothlessness of our military in defending itself. I remember one top Iraqi diplomat in the country then expressing surprise that the so called giant of Africa could not fight common fire outbreak at its Defence headquarters, wondering what would happen if there was an enemy attack on the building, or may be the country.

As a defence Correspondent for National Concord newspaper at a time during the Buhari/Idiagbon regime in the 80s, I was part of the annual Naval Week and was privileged to be there when then Head of State and Commander-In-Chief, Major General Muhammadu Buhari in company with the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, service chiefs (can’t recollect seeing then army chief Major General Ibrahim Babangida there) and a host of other top military chiefs came for the ceremonial Fleet Review by the C-in-C. The flag ship NNS Aradu, with the full compliments of its helicopters, was there leading other battle ships and boats. I remember a happy Fleet commander of the Nigerian Navy, Commodore Allison Madueke proudly showing his fleet to the Commander In Chief. Everybody was happy and proud of our Navy. NNS Aradu was reputed to be one of the best during World War II and there was none like it in Africa, with perhaps the exception of then apartheid South Africa.

But as we were beating our chest, tragedy struck; one of the boats, the one ferrying the Commander In Chief caught fire and within a twinkle of an eye, Buhari and his team were moved to another boat, the fire put out and the fleet review continued. We again applauded the Nigerian Navy.

Contrast this with the Defence headquarters fire narrated above which happened much later, and you begin to appreciate the progressive decline that has been the lot of the Nigerian Armed Forces over the years. As I write this piece, I doubt whether NNS Aradu is still sea worthy. One after the other its three helicopters crashed under Babangida’s watch and I am not sure they were ever replaced. And if the flag ship is bad you can imagine the state of the entire fleet and the Navy itself.

As Aviation Correspondent much later on, it was with pride that my colleagues and I used to go the Nigerian Air Force hangar at the Ikeja airport to see our C-130 transport aircraft fleet, the helicopter fleet; they were many. Each time our soldiers were going on peace keeping missions around the world under the UN blue helmet, it was the Nigerian Air Force that was flying them there with pride. Our military planes were flying all over the place, either supporting our soldiers in ECOMOG in Liberia/Sierra Leone (delivering supplies or bombing Charles Taylor rebels) or taking part in joint military exercises with the Nigerian Army and the Navy.

Years after, especially after the failed Vatsa coup against Babangida, the systemic decimation of our Air Force it does appear began and today the Nigerian Air Force is a shadow of itself. I remember then Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Ibrahim Alfa (late), lamenting the sorry state of our military at his flying out ceremony saying it is a military of anything goes. Not much has changed since then, and if anything did change, it was for the worst. The Air Force that supposed to be the teeth of our armed forces is today lying prostrate while Boko Haram terrorists move about at will killing and maiming Nigerians especially in the north east region. We’ll come to that later.

I can’t say much about the Nigerian Army because I’ve had very little or no contact with them in my over three decades of practice, but the little relationship I developed as a reporter tells me that is just a shade better than the rest of our armed forces in terms of operational capabilities and meeting the modern day threat to our existence as a nation. If the experience of that fire at the then defence headquarters is anything to go by, I don’t think much has changed; Boko Haram has proved it. And Musiliu Obanikoro, the Minister of State for Defence seemed to have confirmed this in his interview with journalists this past weekend.

The truth of the matter is that as things stand today, there is a serious doubt about the capabilities and abilities of the Nigerian Armed Forces as an effective fighting machine. If there is a serious threat to the territorial integrity of Nigeria as a country today, very little from the look of things can come from our military. That is the truth; though not palatable. And if in doubt, ask yourself why Boko Haram is still waxing stronger more than three years after we declared war on the terrorists, or rather the terrorists declared war on the rest of us?

The problem with our military cannot be laid at the doorsteps of one person, definitely, not President Goodluck Jonathan, but he cannot exonerate himself from the sorry state our armed forces have found themselves today as the Commander-In-Chief. Years of neglect and looting of the massive financial resources allocated to the armed forces in our national budgets have left our military just a shade better than Boys Scout. Poorly kitted, badly armed, maybe not properly trained, and now ethnically and religiously divided, what better thing can we expect from this bunch of people? The officers and men are not to blame though as the leadership of the country, both political and military has failed them, it has let them down. The question is where did all the money appropriated to the military over the years go? Why did we require another $1billion (N160billion) loan to equip our armed forces to be able to confront Boko Haram and other threats?

I am not against Nigeria taking the loan being requested by Jonathan, but before the Senate approves the request, serious questions must be asked and adequatae answers given as to what happened to all the billions appropriated to our military in the past. If this is not done the loan might just be money in the pockets of Jonathan and his PDP to fight the 2015 general elections. And if the Ekiti experience is a pointer to what is to come in 2015, with more ‘legitimate’ money Jonathan can and will buy the military, don’t forget his Ijaw kinsman is Chief of Army Staff, deploy them to ‘enemy’ (APC) territory, terrorise the opposition, distribute bags of rice (even if expired) to the ‘hungry’ voters and spread some cash too and you capture their votes. I hope this is not what the $1billion is meant for. David Mark’s Senate must do its work here and Nigerians must ‘shine their eyes’.

July 22, 2014
These are mad dogs

Public transportation in Lagos metropolis has remained a major source of concern for successive administrations in the state. With a population estimated at close to 20 million most of who reside in the metropolis, moving from one point to another could be hellish especially at peak periods of the day.

And to ease the pain commuters go through on the road while they pursue their daily bread, the state government has over the years put several schemes in place especially with regards to public transportation.

Gone are the moving ‘coffins’ called Molue buses that used to typify public transport in the emerging mega city, replaced by BRT buses that provide reasonable comfort for the commuters. And to make the BRT buses attractive dedicated lanes were created by the government to allow these buses move unhindered and unaffected to a large extent by the ‘crazy’ Lagos traffic.

These dedicated corridors called BRT lanes, crisscrossing the major roads in the city, are forbidden to every other road user and violators face certain punishment according to the law setting up the scheme.

The novel idea which began about a decade or so ago has brought huge relief to commuters especially the car owners who have been lured away from putting their cars on the road all the time, thus reducing the number of vehicles on Lagos roads especially during peak periods. The success so to speak must have encouraged the government into putting more of these buses on the road as well as opening up more BRT routes.

Considering the assertion by some that Lagos perhaps harbor the worst set of drivers anywhere in the world, seeing the BRT lanes empty while there is a heavy traffic jam on the other lanes gives one the joy that most Nigerians are law abiding and self respecting. However there is a tiny few who have chosen to disobey the law. Among them unfortunately are those people entrusted with the maintenance of law and order.

Our law enforcement agents are the number one law breakers in this country and I stand to be corrected. They are closely followed by those so called VIPs whom late Afro beats legend Fela Anukulapo-Kuti rightly called Vagabonds In Power. They see themselves as super Nigerians, superior to the rest of us. To them, the laws are meant for the rest of us to obey. They make the laws; they break the laws, but we must obey.

Every little traffic congestions you hear their drivers blowing the siren to clear the road for them to go. They always want to have the right of way, even driving against the traffic. To them in Lagos, the BRT lanes are legitimate routes, as long as they get to their destinations at their own time.

Among this class of lawless Nigerians, especially here in Lagos unfortunately are a few members of our armed forces, including the police. Not contented with having a free ride on commercial buses (you ask them for transport fare at your own peril), these uniformed personnel (I must confess they are mostly Non-Commissioned Officers) always want to be given the right of way every time they are on the road even when they were wrong, and any argument with them could attract a slap, a punch, a severe beating with belt or horsewhip, or even you being hit with the butt of their gun. If you are lucky to escape you go home and lick your wounds. Complaining to their superior officers could be a waste of time and even dangerous as ones woes are likely to be compounded with more punishment. So Nigerians, I mean the rest of us have learnt to avoid them at least here in Lagos. But what do you do when they thrust themselves on your path and you can’t avoid a clash with them?

This was the situation last Friday in Lagos when two soldiers on a motor bike decided to disobey the law by riding on the BRT lane on the ever busy Ikorodu road. There are different versions of what actually happened. While one account had it that the soldiers were knocked down by a BRT bus and one of them died in the process, another said the soldiers were riding their bike on top speed and ran into a BRT bus that broke down about two days earlier and had been abandoned on the BRT lane. There were other versions, but one thing was common to all of them, a soldier riding a bike died while on collision with a BRT bus on a BRT dedicated lane. What happened afterwards was beyond imagination.

Some soldiers from the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army descended on Ikorodu Road and unleashed mayhem on motorists and passersby around Palm Groove area. Their targets were the BRT buses and no fewer than four of them were burnt down to avenge the death of their colleague which they blamed on the driver of a BRT bus. In addition, camera phones, I-pads of people who attempted to record the reign of terror by the soldiers were seized and smashed. Some were even roughened up.

While the mayhem lasted, the few policemen around folded their arms and watched the show of terror by the irate soldiers. Some reports say that the soldiers were egged on by a senior officer who felt the only way they could avenge the death of their colleague or get recompense for the injury their colleague suffered was to destroy public property.

While the action of the soldiers is totally condemnable, equally worthy of total condemnation was the attempt by the Minister of State for Defense, Musiliu Obanikoro, a Lagos indigene to exonerate the soldiers blaming instead, the usual suspect, Area boys.

For far too long, the officers and men of our armed forces have seen themselves as being above the law and have been conducting themselves as such. No society that prides itself as being a democracy would tolerate such disdain for the law by those who are supposed to ensure adherence to the law. The soldiers wouldn’t continuously do things like this if such had been severely punished in the past, but unfortunately the military high command seems to be tolerant of such practices by its officers and men.

Recourse to self help is not the prerogative of uniformed armed men alone, if this acts by a few bad eggs in our armed forces are not checked and punished, what stops others either in uniform or not from avenging whatever wrong they have suffered in the hands of (who knows who) by taking out their anger on the general public.

The ‘Unknown Soldiers’ that burnt down Fela’s Kalakuta Republic during General Olusegun Obasanjo regime in the late 70s are yet to be identified and punished, so also were the ‘Mad Dogs’ in the Nigerian Air force that assaulted late Bashorun MKO Abiola under the military dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida. The soldiers that burnt down the police barracks at Surulere, Lagos are yet to be identified. For how long shall we continue to harbor these mad dogs in our military? It is about time they are shown the way out. Enough is enough.

July 8, 2014
Ekiti: So much for stomach infrastructure

When a colleague said it sometime last year I thought he was joking. It couldn’t be true, I said. That one can just walk into any beer parlour, as we call it here, anywhere in Ekiti State and chant osoko and green bottles would start to flow free of charge, courtesy, Ayodele Fayose, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the just concluded gubernatorial election in Ekiti State?

I immediately dismissed it as one of those talks by ‘enemies of progress’ to bring down the person of former Governor Fayose and probably ridicule the good people of Ekiti State. Haba! In the land of honour, with more professors per household than anywhere in Nigeria; how can such motor park tactic bring support for a candidate, particularly one seeking the office of the governor of the state? I didn’t even give a second thought to it.

But as elections day drew nearer, more people started to talk about it as well as other efforts including distribution of foodstuff and throwing money at people on campaign grounds, by Fayose to win votes. This must be a joke, I said and I hope Ekiti people would not allow this man hoodwink them a second time.

As these things were going on signs were emerging that there could be a surprise in Ekiti; some hitherto respected people started speaking from both sides of their mouth and the PDP hierarchy including President Goodluck Jonathan started beating their chest and the police in Ekiti state started misbehaving; I knew something was going to happen.

My mind quickly went back to 2003 when Fayose first came in as elected governor of Ekiti state defeating the incumbent Niyi Adebayo of the then Alliance for Democracy (AD) party. In the run up to that election, Fayose among other tactics went about with water tankers supplying water to the people; and he won their hearts; they voted for him. Two years or so down the road before he was booted out, some say illegally, it did not occur to him, I think, to provide every household in Ekiti with potable water, if he did that with what will he campaign the next time?

I told myself, lightening will not strike twice in the same place, Ekiti people would not allow it. But I was wrong; lightening did strike twice and with venom too. Fayose’s campaign with no tangible achievement of his first tenure to point at and no promise of a better future to hold on to, swept away, like a tsunami, the incumbent, winning in all the 16 local government areas, defying all logic.

Some have put his victory down to the incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi losing touch with the common man, not being one of them, staying aloof and speaking ‘too much grammar’; his records of outstanding achievements in all sphere of governance notwithstanding. Fayose was the man of the people whose name could bring out several litres of beer at the local pub; who would go to‘paraga’ joint to ‘jolificate’ with his people; who would throw wads of naira notes at people or stop by to buy banana or groundnut from the roadside hawker. He could do these things and more and the people ‘loved’ him for it (he was literally putting money in their pockets, food on their table, beer in their tommy, even if they had to struggle to pick the money on campaign grounds) and they rewarded him on June 21, with the key to the government house in Ado Ekiti for another stint at governance.

For and in all of these I have no grudge against Ekiti people even if I am disappointed. They have made their choice; a people deserve the leadership they get. Life itself is dynamic. The majority have the right to be wrong; even at that, it is too early to say the majority in Ekiti was wrong in that election. So, those who were disappointed like me should sheath their sword and allow Fayose to govern, after all he says he is a changed man now, wiser and has learnt from his mistakes. The next four years should prove that. Only time would tell if a leopard can change its spots.

Though some people have raised eye brows over whether it was possible for the people of Ekiti who benefited so much from Governor Fayemi to so reject him massively at the polls and questioned how that huge figures were recorded, my worry is not so much about that but the bad example the Ekiti election is setting in the way the electorate judge and reward performance with their votes.

My fear is that any desperate first term governor or president with an eye on a second term could abandon physical infrastructural development of his community and the human capital development of his people for populist programmes that would put money in the pockets of the electorate in the immediate at the expense of their future. And if the Ekiti example is anything to go by any such tactics would succeed especially in a poverty ridden society as ours.

Our politicians we know are desperate, only few of them have genuine programmes that could take the country to the next level and are prepared to stick with such programmes no matter the odds. For what he did in Ekiti, which even the people have acknowledged, Governor Fayemi must be praised for not dancing to the tune of those advocates of stomach infrastructure even if his people have punished him with an electoral defeat. Even if he didn’t mean to take it this far, discerning Nigerians, including a lot of Ekiti people know the course he had taken was the right one and time would vindicate him.

One good thing we have been witnessing in the South West where the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been in near total control of the states is the unprecedented level of infrastructural development that had been going on in the past three years. The people appreciate this, and the APC should not out of panic and in response to the Ekiti setback abandon this for cheap political gains. Nothing good comes easy. After all, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the founder of the modern Yoruba society didn’t find it easy implementing the free education programme in the then Western Region for which everybody has continued to praise him. He saw the future of Yoruba in education for his people and he stuck with that programme, even though at a point he suffered electoral losses, he never wavered.

The rest of Nigeria should not go the way of Ekiti in next year’s elections if truly the people there voted for stomach infrastructure; the PDP, particularly President Jonathan should not trick Nigerians into going that way just because it wants to win election in 2015. It is a route that leads only to destruction.

We cannot talk of curbing corruption if we expect our politicians to bring the money out for us to share; we cannot expect our roads to be good, our hospitals to be better and schools to be world class if all we are interested in is stomach infrastructure. Let us decide on what we want and live with the consequences Ekiti people have made their choice, let nobody cry for them.

July 1, 2014
Press and state security

One of those things every student of Mass Communication is taught in school is how to navigate the dangerous terrain called state security.

In Nigeria it is more dangerous, in fact very dangerous because the security of our leaders and their families is often confused to mean security of the state. And quite often you find journalists and media houses being harassed by overzealous, in most cases, illiterate gun-toting security personnel for publishing stories they consider embarrassing to their principal (or the spouse/children) the fact that such stories are true notwithstanding.

And when mistakes or gaffes of our leaders are reported or the media try to hold the government accountable in line with the duties assigned to the Nigerian Press by the constitution, such journalists or media houses get harassed, abused and treated as enemies of the administration who must be punished one way or another. And there are one thousand and one such punishments in government’s arsenal, including the use of the security forces that will conveniently cite breach of state security when meting out whatever punishment they deem fit on the ‘erring’ journalist/media house.

Over the years the Nigeria Press has had to contend with series of such punishments from our security forces acting on the orders of our political leaders. One of the laws they often use to carry out this harassment/punishment is the Official Secret Act, enacted by the British colonialists to keep every government document away from the prying eyes of the media/public. Even after independence, the legislation was still retained in our laws until not long ago when a high court nullified it. But even after that security agents have not ceased harassing the media, though I must admit the scale has dropped since the advent of this democracy.

But while the Nigerian Press has over the years gotten used to this type of punishment on account of what was published or intended to be published, getting punished on account of what somebody else is doing, has done, plan to do or could do has never been the case, until last week.

The Nigerian Armed forces in an unprecedented manner prevented some major national newspapers including this newspaper from circulating for three days last week on suspicion that the terror group Boko Haram and similar organizations may be planning to use the transportation networks of these newspapers to circulate their weapons of terror and destruction.

To say that the media and indeed all right thinking Nigerians were shocked was an understatement. Initially nobody could understand what was happening as the Nigerian military in the typical Nigerian style felt it owed nobody any apology or explanation for its action. But I think somebody reminded the soldiers almost twenty four hours later that this is a democracy, and in a democracy you don’t behave that way, and so belatedly, General Chris Olukolade, the military spokesman gave one of the most laughable reasons you can ever think of, for the seizure of the newspapers, now in its fifth day today.

Granted the fact that the fight against terror is a new territory and experience for members of our armed forces, looking for Boko Haram’s bombs and ammunitions in newspapers’ circulation vans looks so amateurish and smacks of a Boys Scout operation.

If there was any intelligence report suggesting there could be a plan to infiltrate newspaper distribution business by Boko Haram or any such terror organization, an intelligent application of such report would have been for the security agency concerned to approach the media owners, take them into confidence to the extent that it would not compromise or threaten state security and seek their cooperation. As Nigerians they would readily cooperate.

There is no way the military will understand the business more than the people running it. Except the military are saying they don’t trust other Nigerians and if that is the case then it would be difficult for them to win the war against terror.

Our soldiers and other security agents I believe are doing their best but to win the war, they need other Nigerians and they are not likely to get everybody on board if they continue to act in the way they have done in this latest clamp down on the media.

Since the clamp down began last Friday nothing incriminating has been found in the circulation vehicles or even with newspaper agents and vendors from whom the newspapers were snatched and yet the soldiers have continued to disrupt the circulation of some newspaper, especially The Nation. Is there anything more than we are being told by the military? Is there a deliberate attempt to cripple the businesses of those newspapers considered ‘unfriendly’ to the government? These are some of the questions the military and indeed the government would need to answer to remove any iota of doubt as per the reasons given for this war on free press.

Foolishly, some of Federal Government’s propagandists have indicated that the administration knew nothing about the clamp down and didn’t order it; meaning, the President and Commander-In-Chief does not know what his commanders are doing on the field. If this was the situation then what does the Commander-In-Chief know? And we want to win the war on terror? This is rather grave, if that was the case.

If the clamp down is a sign of what is to come from the administration, then the people at the Villa in Abuja need to be reminded that the Nigerian Press is resilient and would fight to the last. And if history is anything to go by it will come out triumphant at the end of the day no matter how long it took.

The media fought for then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to be installed acting President when President Shehu Yar’Adua was incapacitated by illness, the Press was largely on his side in 2011 (because we felt that was the right thing to do in the name of equity and fairness) in order to give our compatriots in the South-south a fair chance of also ruling this country which after all belongs to all of us (and in case anybody wants to forget, the wealth of the country for now comes from there), and the Nigerian media have been fair to his administration even in the present dispensation; so for him to declare war on the Nigerian Press would be a fatal mistake. It is uncalled for.

MBU JOSEPH MBU

Since the Commander-In-Chief doesn’t seem to know what his field commanders are doing, would it also be right to say the Inspector General of Police does not know what all his commissioners are doing? Or how do you explain the order given by the Commissioner in charge of the FCT Police Command, Mbu Joseph Mbu banning public protests, especially the #Bring Back Our Girls protest in Abuja that was denied and rescinded the following day by the police high command?

Well whatever was the truth of the matter, Mbu Joseph Mbu should know that his days are numbered in the Nigeria Police and when that time comes he will have to answer for all his actions.

June 10, 2014
Discordant tunes

There is this friend of mine who has this habit of always calling me each time he felt worried about happenings in the polity.

“Ol boy”, he said last Friday when I picked his call. “What kind of government is Jonathan running in this country?” he asked referring to the federal government. “Can’t they get their acts together? In one breath he is ordering an all out military onslaught on Boko Haram, and at the same time granting amnesty to the terrorists. Which one are we to believe?”

And before I could even attempt a response he launched into his second concern about happenings in the country. He is worried that the All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition party in the country, and in his enlightened estimation, the only hope of rescuing Nigeria from the misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), does not seem to be getting its acts together. He is particularly worried about the seeming civil war within the APC in Ogun State with Governor Ibikunle Amosun and former governor Olusegun Osoba at daggers drawn. “What does Osoba wants?” he asked but quickly added that Amosun should also take things easy and learn to respect his elders.

I could sense that he was feeling very bitter and the best I could do as a friend was to calm him down and assure him that Nigeria ‘go survive’ even when I share most of his concerns.

We later went into those things that friends talk about for a few more minutes before he hung up.

Coming a day after the celebration of the so called Democracy Day to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Nigeria’s return to democratic rule, and about six weeks after over 200 school girls were abducted in Chibok, Borno State by the terror group, Boko Haram, I sat back after the conversation to reflect on the two issues he raised.

Since the 15th April abduction of these girls, the Goodluck Jonathan administration has been going forward and backward, blowing hot and cold at the same time with little to show for it in terms of tangible achievements that could raise our hopes that our girls would return home quickly and safely. It’s been all movement no action. The federal government could not even speak with one voice.

Granted the fact that Jonathan failed to respond openly, as if in denial, to the abduction of the girls until about three weeks later, what manner of response have we been getting from the government ever since it came out, albeit belatedly, to admit that our girls are missing?

When the whole world expected a robust and tough response, at least in the open, from the federal government, the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, the man under whose watch many job seekers were killed during the ill-fated Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise, came out to announce that the Jonathan administration was ready to negotiate with the terror group, but the backlash forced the government to back out of that statement and launched into a policy flip-flop on the rescue/return of the Chibok girls.

And when we all thought that the administration had learnt its lesson from that Moro’s statement, Boni Haruna, another of Jonathan’s ‘emergency’ ministers and latter day friends opened his mouth to announce amnesty for Boko Haram, at least for those insurgents who renounce violence and lay down their arms. Haruna, Jonathan’s Minister for Youth Development, claimed the president had actually granted the amnesty. A day or so later the presidency said there is no amnesty on the table.

With such policy summersaults and discordant tunes coming out from the presidency one begins to wonder how our partners in this war again terror, especially against Boko Haram would see us; inconsistent, unreliable? More importantly, the insurgents would probably be laughing at us and see the federal government as an unserious partner, if at all they, or some among them is contemplating peace or ceasefire.

If we want to negotiate the release of the girls, fine, but we don’t have to tell the world that we are talking to the terrorists for their release. We can still be fighting Boko Haram and at the same time negotiating with them on how to bring our girls home peacefully and safely. After all, the United States just secured the release of its only servicemen captured by the Taliban in its war against terror, after reaching a secret agreement with the terrorist group. Sgt Bowe Bergdhl, 28, was released by the Taliban in exchange for freedom of five of its members held in Guantanamo Bay by the US. No noise was made while negotiations were going on and the US has not relented in its fight against Taliban while the terrorists have also not renounced violence and terror.

Granted the fact that this is a new territory (fighting terror) for our government, but by now it ought to have learnt how things like this are done, at least from those that had passed through that route before. This kind of policy inconsistency could put government negotiators in harm’s way in their dealing with Boko Haram or whoever were the abductors of our girls.

I am not surprised that the military high command denied knowledge of the Australian negotiator reportedly appointed by the Federal Government; I don’t expect the government also to admit there is such a person(s). Things like these are never done in the open or openly admitted, they are only acknowledged if and when they went well. All we are interested in is #Bring back our girls, safely. How Jonathan and his team does that is left to them, but they should stop disgracing themselves and the country in the public and before the international community with their lack of coordination. The discordant tunes must stop and the presidency must speak with one voice. Make your position clear Goodluck Jonathan on this matter and Nigerians would follow.

On the seeming civil war in Ogun APC and by extension in some other chapters of the party, I just hope that the opposition would not shoot itself in the foot and gift the presidency to Jonathan again in 2015.

The Jonathan government is discredited already but the APC should not help it bounce back into reckoning by its own internal wrangling. The leaders of the party known and unknown must step in to resolve the crisis in Ogun APC before it snowballs into another thing that could thwart Nigerians genuine efforts at sending Jonathan and PDP packing next year. Suffice to say that the era of godfathers in our policy is gone, it never served us well. Whoever has been elected should be allowed to rule. What some people did not accept when they were governors they should not force it down the throat of others. As Yoruba would say, ti a ba fi agbo fun eegun, a nfi okun e si le ni, meaning literally, when you give the ram to the masquerade you release the rope.

June 3, 2014