The Nation Newspaper

Category: Waheed Odusile

  • Mbu Joseph Mbu

    Not a few from my generation and above should be able to recall events in old Oyo state in the second republic, particularly in 1983 as the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) engaged the ruling Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in a political battle for the right to occupy the government house at Agodi.

    The NPN you’ll recall was the ruling party at the centre and had among its ranks party bigwigs from Oyo State such as prominent Ibadan indigenes, Chief Augustus Meredith Adisa Akinloye (now late), national chairman,Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide (SAN) Attorney -General and Minister of Justice and Dr Omololu Olunloyo, among others.

    So with so many political heavyweights in its rank coming from the state, the NPN did not see any reason why it should not be in control at Agodi, and so the federal government of President Shehu Shagari deployed every resources at its disposal, notably the Nigeria Police and the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to rig the party into power and denied Chief Bola Ige (now late) of the UPN a second term in office as governor. Dr Olunloyo, the NPN candidate was declared elected by FEDECO.

    Of course the people of Oyo state didn’t take the electoral robbery lightly as there were clashes here and there between the opposing political parties, even before the election, but Chief Ige opted to pursue his grievances against the result at the tribunal, but he failed. The federal might had spoken.

    In all of this, there was a certain police officer named Umaru Omolowo, remember him? He was the Commissioner of Police in Oyo state and his role was more than despicable. He did his part very well in ensuring that the NPN had its way. He wasn’t really acting alone as the Police in the second republic, under Sunday Adewusi as Inspector General operated more like the armed wing of the NPN than a security agency serving the interest of Nigeria. So as a member of this armed wing of the ruling party Omolowo was a “good” officer and acted his script very well.

    I remember a particular incident when a chieftain of the UPN, himself a prominent Ibadan indigene was attacked in his vehicle and seriously wounded by some hoodlums believed to be NPN thugs. He had machete cuts on his head. The man ran to a television studio and he was shown live with blood dripping from his forehead, but to the surprise of the general public Omolowo said nothing of such happened and the man sustained the head injury in a vehicle accident. Incredulous you say, coming from a commissioner of police without any investigative evidence to back his claim?

    That was not all, every other similar incidents the man either waved aside as not true or looked the other way as the NPN thugs had their way. Everything he saw through the prism of the NPN and what every other person saw he didn’t see. To him they were fictions. Chief Ige and his supporters cried foul but the CP played dumb and when he spoke he did according to script.

    No sane policeman should be proud of what the Nigeria Police did then. There were even people confirmed to be NPN thugs who were armed and given police uniform, by who? Nobody could tell,  but the police did little or nothing to arrest them. What these thugs did to political opponents of their masters is better imagined than experienced. The scars are still there at Oke Ado and other areas inhabited by non indigenes that were attacked in the NPN’s government vow to rid Ibadan of people from certain parts of Yoruba land believed to be supporters of the UPN.

    The role the Nigeria Police played in the south west especially in Oyo and Ondo states in support of NPN’s desperation to wrestle control of the region from the UPN contributed largely to bringing about the demise of the second republic.  The story is still fresh in the memories of those old enough then to appreciate what was going on at that time, and they are quick now to draw inference between what CP Omolowo was doing then in Oyo state and what Mbu Joseph Mbu is doing now as Commissioner of Police in Rivers state.

    There is indeed heightened political tensions and security challenges in Rivers state now and what is happening coincided with the appointment of Mr Mbu as the head of the Nigeria Police Command in the state. While it might be difficult to blame him solely for this, what is undeniable is that there is no love lost between him/his command and the government of Rivers state.

    The government is of the belief that the CP is part of an agenda by the opposition (within the ruling PDP in the state) and some Abuja politicians to bring down the administration of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and therefore wants him removed/redeployed. The governor has been crying out over this for sometime now alleging bias by the Commissioner of Police against his administration and the majority of the people of Rivers state. He said crime rate in the state is going up, kidnapping returning to the streets of Port Harcourt and militants are beginning to have a field day again. These he said had been long forgotten in the memory of the people of the state, but recent and on going happenings in the state (political/security) could throw the people back to those dark days of the recent past when people had to raise up their hands to pass through the streets of Port Harcourt. He said the government hasn’t been able to hold any internal security meeting for some time now because decisions taken often find their way to politicians in Abuja some of whom are opposed to his administration. He strongly suspects Mbu as the leak.

    In fairness to Mbu he didn’t respond to these allegations until recently, but even before then, he had acted in such a way and manner to suggest that the governor is probably right.

    In a clear interference in the political crisis in the state, the CP deployed his men to the secretariat of Obio/Akpor local government to “secure” the place against alleged planned attack following the suspension of the leadership of the council by the state House of Assembly (acting legitimately) and appointment of a caretaker committee. Against all pleas, even by the government, Mbu refused to vacate the premises even after a court had ordered him to remove his men. He bluntly said his men will remain in defiance of the court. The local interpretation of this was that he was doing so to protect the inerest of Minister of State for Education Nyeson Wike, a former ally of Amaechi, but now with the Abuja group, who hails from the area. You can imagine, a law enforcement officer disobeying the order of a court of law and record, with competent jurisdiction, and even doing so with impunity. But after a strong public pressure including demonstration by women wearing black, he did withdraw his men, but almost immediately the generator house of the secretariat was bombed and pronto, he returned his men, claiming the bombing as justification. But then conspiracy theorists have claimed that the attack on the council was with the knowledge of the Police and was allowed to be carried out by opponents of the government just to prove a point. What point? Your guess is as good as mine. Since then nobody has been arrested for the attack and the police are still at Obio/Akpor council secretariat even as the court order subsists. What a law enforcement officer.

    Mbu also didn’t do much to convince his accusers of his impartiality when he  gave permission to a group of opponents of the administration who besieged the premises of the House of Assembly to protest the suspension of the leadership of Obio/Akpor, and even allegedly led the team of policemen to give protection to the protesters some of whom were reportedly armed. And yet he reportedly vowed not to give permission to rival protest in support of the government.

    In the face of the shadow boxing between the police command and the state government, Mbu came out last week to reply Governor Ameachi’s accusations and did so in a manner that called to question his integrity, training and may be competence as a public officer. This is not a defence of the governor as he probably took the liberty of the privilege of his exalted office to say certain things about the police command and the CP that the ordinary members of the public knew or suspected but couldn’t say.

    So, may be the governor was speaking the minds of the silent majority in Rivers state who are not comfortable with the deteriorating political and security situation in the state and the seemingly biased role of the state police command, especially CP Mbu. But for the CP to call the governor dictatorial smacks of insubordination and was insulting. He should be called to order and sanctioned appropriately. No public officer, especially a member of the security forces should behave or be allowed to behave that way to a democratically elected leadership. Sure, no CP would have spoken like that about a military governor during the days of military dictatorship. Yes, we in a democracy but it also has its own rules and culture, and nobody should be allowed to brach them. There is need for decorum, albeit on both sides. But as the Yoruba would say, wherever is called the head, you don’t walk with it.

    Back to the management of the security situation in Rivers state, the governor is crying out now that things are getting bad and some people are committing security infringement with impunity and the CP is saying he is crying wolf. That was the position of CP Omolowo in the second republic on the political and security crises in Oyo state than and we all know what happened to that political dispensation. We should not open our eyes and allow this republic to go that way. Together, let’s safe this democracy.

     

  • Boko Haram:the end in sight?

    President George W Bush’s tenure as America’s leader would probably have passed without much to remember it for were it not for Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorists.

    The 43rd president of the United States had his work cut out when Al Qaeda struck mainland America on September 11, 2001 bringing sorrow, tears and blood to an hitherto, fortress America. And Bush, after a slow start took on the challenge and responded in such a strong fashion that finally defined his presidency.

    His war on terror, initially wrongly christened a crusade, later identified the so called axis of evil and rallied the rest of the world against Al Qaeda and its backers. It drove him into the second Gulf War that led to the overthrow of the then Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, the war in Afghanistan and the countless military actions in Pakistan and some Gulf Arab countries against the terrorists.

    Though he couldn’t kill or capture bin Laden, his presidency set the tone for the Obama administration in the continuing war against terror. And if anything good would be said about the Bush presidency it probably would be that he confronted and fought terror and weakened Al Qaeda. History would probably judge him right on that, even though he could have done it better.

    As the Nigerian government continues its own war against the home grown terror called Boko Haram, the success or otherwise of the ongoing military action in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states could well define the Goodluck Jonathan presidency.

    Like play, like play, as we like to say in Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency which began like a child’s play has assumed a notorious and murderous dimension that could consume our country if proper actions were not taken. Just as Gowon treated Biafra at the outset of the civil war as a police action, federal government’s initial reaction to the emergence of this group of home grown terrorists was less than serious. The political elite especially those of northern extraction didn’t pay much attention either. At best they saw it as a problem of the north east, the Kanuri people, alone. But when the group, which was firmly on ground in the north east decided to export terror to the north west, north central and even Abuja the whole country took serious note of their activities. But even at that, a section of the northern elite, especially some elders and leaders of thought in the north east zone was against the limited military activities deployed to that region by the federal government, complaining of high handedness and brutality against the civilian population by the soldiers.

    Though the military Joint Task Force (JTF) sent to the region to battle the insurgents recorded some qualified successes, Boko Haram was all the same getting stronger and even popular among the people, and the government was beginning to lose control of that section of the country bordering Cameroun and Chad. So, something had to be done and urgently too to arrest the situation and save Nigeria from disintegration. And so entered the state of emergency declared on the three states by the federal government.

    Even though President Goodluck Jonathan’s action could be said to have come rather late, some have argued that it is better late than never and recent reports seem to suggest that the military could be winning the war. Though as I warned on this page recently, it is too early to role out the drums and celebrate or declare victory as the terrorists are not relenting.

    One area that gladdens the heart in this war against Boko Haram is the resolve of the locals, especially the youth to collaborate with the JTF to fish out the Boko Haram members in their community. A group of youths known by the locals as “Civilian JTF” and whose ages range between 17and 25 years has for some time now been moving from one street to another, house to house in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital identifying and arresting suspected members of Boko Haram and handing them over to the JTF.

    Armed with iron bars, cutlasses and wooden batons, the group apparently fed up with the trouble and hardship that Boko Haram has brought on the community decided to launch it’s own war against the terrorists and rescue the people from Boko Haram.

    One had argued repeatedly on this age that until the people themselves turn against Boko Haram there is nothing much the security agencies can do to end the insurgency and defeat terror. These terrorists are not spirits, they live among the people, they attend the same mosque for prayers, so, there is no way they would not be known in their local community. So, if they operate with seeming impunity that’s because the people condone them and in fact support them.

    It would be necessary to recall here that there was a time (during the Babangida years) that Benin City, the Edo state capital and to a large extent, the entire state was under the terror of a gang of armed robbers led by a Bini man called Lawrence Anini. Together with his right hand man Monday Osunbor and the rest of the gang, they robbed at will and even dashed out their loot to members of the public, the Robbinhood way to escape arrest especially in a difficult situation. Because the robbers evaded arrest successfully for so long, the people began to believe that they were spirits who could not be arrested. But it took a presidential charge by Babangida to the then Inspector General of Police, Etim Inyang to get the police to arrest the gang. The rest is history, but suffice to say that the Bini people actively cooperated with the security agencies to fish out Anini and co and rid their city and state of the menace of these robbers.

    That Maiduguri youths have taken the initiative to fight and fish out Boko Haram members in their midst without minding the likely repercussion on their personal safety is a clear indication that the days of the terrorists are numbered. It is a pointer to what can be achieved when a people are determined. Their decision, not without it’s dangers though, was in sharp contrast to the position of the so called Borno Leaders and Elders Forum that had criticized the deployment of the JTF to the state in the past on the grounds of high handedness and indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians by the soldiers.

    The Borno youths have shown that to defeat terror and overcome evil, all men and women of goodwill must come together to collaborate with both the government and the security agencies. Boko Haram is beatable and the war is winnable, but all of us must get involved.

    The war on Boko Haram could define the Jonathan presidency and decide whether he returns in 2015 or not. Even with victory in sight, the way and manner it is conducted could determine whether the president would be praised for a job well done or get blamed for the collateral damages. Stories abound about the “atrocities” of the JTF, but nowhere has the kind of war we are waging against terror been won without the innocent suffering, but what must be done is to have a clear cut rule of engagement for the military and follow such strictly and anything to the contrary must be punished severely.

     

    Madam at the top

     

    Strange things are happening at the presidency that all men and women of goodwill need to come together and stop. It does appear that there is more than one commander in chief of the Nigerian armed forces going by the way and manner the wife of our president, Dame Patience Jonathan has been conducting herself both in private and in public.

    Those who know one or two things about the political crisis in Rivers state where the first lady hails from, claim Madam at the top, as part of her war against the sitting governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has been meeting with heads of security agencies, including the military in the state dishing out instructions and woe betide who amongst them dared flout her orders.

    Emboldened by her show of federal might over the state government, crooks, hoodlums, kidnappers, cultists et al are returning to the streets of Port Harcourt to terrorize the people without any fear of arrest. Kidnapping is returning now and the state police command appears not bothered: part of a conspiracy to return terror and fear to the state preparatory to the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers? Quite a lot is happening with Madam exercising powers she doesn’t have. Nigeria shine your eyes.

     

     

     

  • Before we end the emergency rule

    Before we end the emergency rule

    The federal government seems to be enjoying a rare moment of success in the war against terror and President Goodluck Jonathan is feeling on top of the world. There are even talks in government circles that the state of emergency imposed on Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states might not last its full six months course.

    Even the National Assembly, particularly the Senate has caught the bug of victory over Boko Haram “in sight” that is pervading official and military circles in Abuja. President of the Senate David Mark recently echoed President Jonathan when he said the emergency rule would soon be over.

    But amidst this optimism lies the danger of dropping our guards and allowing Boko Haram a way back and causing more havoc. And that seems to be the case in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital last weekend when some members of the terrorist organisation sneaked through the security cordon within and around the city, hiding their guns in a coffin to gain access to where some informants were staying and shot them dead.

    The president seems to be under some pressure to end the military action and declare victory albeit prematurely and that would be dangerous for Nigeria. If he succumbs to the pressure from both within and outside the Peoples Democratic Party, the Boko Haram insurgency could become like a snake cut into half, when it strikes, it would be more deadly.

    For the first time President Jonathan seems to be doing something right. The military action seems to be heading for success and Boko Haram look certain to fizzle out or retreat into neighbouring countries. This looks good, but then with 2015 elections near the corner, the politician in the president is inclined to wanting to reap the success too quickly and risks destroying the gains. As was the case with former United States president George W Bush when he declared victory over Iraq in the second Gulf war prematurely, any hasty withdrawal of the military from the theatre of operation against Boko Haram could prolong the insurgency and harm Jonathan’s political future. Not that he has done well overall to deserve another term in office, but if he could restore peace and security to the north east and other trouble spots around the country may be he could have a chance.

    Supporters of the military action. I guess they are more in numbers, want peace everywhere in Nigeria not just the north east, just as critics of the military action. They would support every action by the military to bring about peace and security but not high handedness and crimes against the innocent as the military in states under the emergency rule are being accused of. Every criticism of the military in this regard is often seen by the government and the military high command as an attack on Nigeria by “enemies” of the country. Even media reports are seen in this light. This is rather unfortunate. The other day Aljazeera reported certain atrocities against innocent civilians and the government’s only response to it is to condemn the report without any evidence to disprove it. Now the government is hyper sensitive to every seemingly negative report of the military action in the north east almost to the point of paranoia, yet no effort has been made to take Nigerian journalists to theatre of action to see things for themselves. Telephone communication to most parts of the region has been cut, so getting first information on what was happening is pretty difficult,so the Nigerian press is left to publish/report handouts from either the military high command in Abuja or what foreign news agencies could glean from their contacts in Nigeria.

    While it might look unpatriotic to rely on foreign wire reports to get information on the military operation, the hand out from the military cold also be suspect, as the military cannot be relied upon to day the whole truth. So, as it is done elsewhere, it wouldn’t be out of place if the military should arrange “embed” some Nigerian journalists as part of the military media team covering the military action against Boko Haram. If the local journalists are there live, the tendency to want to rely on foreign wire report would be reduced and trust the Nigerian journalist to also be patriotic.

    The federal government it does appear gets annoyed only when these reports and criticism of some perceived excesses of the military in the fight against Boko Haram doesn’t favor it. Each time the United States had something not too good to say about the military action and even the activities of Boko Haram, the federal government was always on the defensive, and at times abusive.

    At a point the US was to classify Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation but Abuja kicked against the move, but last week President Jonathan finally came to terms with the reality that what we had on our hands was a gang of terrorist and has so acknowledged and classified the group together with its sister organisation, Ansaru. What this points to is a simple fact that these foreign countries and/or international agencies couldn’t possibly have anything against us other than the best interest of the country and the international community.

    Now that we seem to be getting on top of the Boko Haram insurgency, the need to engage our neighbouring countries in the fight is imperative. Some of the fleeing terrorists have found their way to Niger Republic in particular where they recently attacked a prison in an effort to free some of the inmates who are members of their organisation. The Ghanaian president recently called for a regional approach to the fight against terrorism in the sub region. A coordinated effort supported by the rest of the international community would go a long way to rid Nigeria and indeed the West African sub region of threat and menace of these terrorists.

    The war against terror is not one in which victory can be declared, it is a long one to be fought over generations and must not be left to the military alone. We are all involved.

     

    As PDP presses the self destruct botton

    Not picking your national chairman’s call could cost you your membership especially if you are a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At least that seems to be the reason behind the suspension of the Sokoto State governor Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko last week from the party. Alu, as the governor is fondly called was the second governor elected on the platform of the party to be suspended by the leadership under the guise of instilling discipline in the party.

    Remember Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is still on suspension to ostensibly instill discipline in the party. At least that was what we were made to believe by the Bamanga Tukur led executive of the party but Nigerians are not deceived. All is geared towards clearing the way for a Jonathan candidacy for the presidency on the platform of PDP again in 2015. To achieve this, all real and perceived obstacle must be removed. Well let’s see how far Jonathan and Tukur can go.

    How many more “recalcitrant” governors would be suspended to achieve this remain to be seen but it does appear that some people in the party would stop at nothing to return Jonathan to the presidency even destroying the party and possibly our democracy. But Nigerians are watching. May be we need the PDP to self destruct to save this democracy. Time will tell.

  • Jang and his gang

    Jang and his gang

    Almost two weeks after 35 of Nigeria’s 36 state governors met in Abuja to elect a new set of leaders for their association, the Nigeria Governors Forum, and we are nowhere near knowing who actually got the nod of the governors to be their chairman.

    Though a winner (Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State) was announced at the end of voting, the loser’s camp led by Governor David Jang of Plateau State is claiming victory.

    But while the result declared by the returning officer showed that Amaechi got 19 votes as against 16 for Jang, no other result has been produced, so far, to show that Jang and not Amaechi was duly elected.

    So, apart from the usual noise of rigging that we often hear from losers after every election in Nigeria, no concrete evidence has been put in the public domain by Jang and co to back their claim. The allegation of rigging has not been proven either. And his response to a video recording of the event now on YouTube was a tame condemnation that it was immoral for whoever made that recording to do so; the facts contained in the video he could not fault.

    And in the face of all this, Jang went ahead to open an office for his faction of the NGF which he says is authentic and even had the gut to lead his gang to the presidential villa in Abuja to pay homage to President Goodluck Jonathan who not only received them but met with them behind closed doors, an action that could only mean his official endorsement. So in the eyes of the president 16 is higher than 19 and the candidate with the least number of votes can actually be declared the winner as long as it helps his own cause. That sadly appears to be President Jonathan’s understanding of democracy.

    The implication of this for our democracy is quite obvious, but for those who chose not to see it, giving victory to the loser in an election without recourse to the court or going through due process of challenging the outcome can only mean one thing for our democracy, disaster. What becomes of the time tested dictum that the majority carries the vote?

    Next week will mark the 20th anniversary of the June 12 election, when Nigerians voted in a presidential election but their votes were not allowed to count.

    With the majority clearly in favor of a particular candidate that the ruling military junta was not comfortable with, the powers that be then would rather annul that election than allow the majority to carry the day. And so the election of Bashorun MKO Abiola as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on June 12, 1993 was annulled by military fiat and with it went the 3rd Republic. The will of the majority was subverted and Nigeria went into crisis. You know the rest of the story.

    It does appear that we have learnt nothing from that experience. No matter how imperfect an election was the outcome must be respected as long as that was the wish of the majority. If the military had allowed Abiola to assume his mandate, it was possible Nigeria could have fumbled and wobbled then (but definitely not crumble, as the anti June 12 forces then wanted us to believe) if he didn’t perform well, but the people would only have blamed themselves for that choice and would have changed him at the next election. We lost that opportunity and it took us a long time to get it back in 1999 and now we are toying with it again.

    The NGF election might look small and may be insignificant in the context of the larger politics, but the message we are sending by this long drawn dispute over who won the chairmanship portends danger for our democracy. If in an election involving only 35 electors and we are still alleging rigging then what happens when there are 70 to 80 million voters? An election among state governors who are supposedly members of the political elites and yet we are still disputing the outcome?

    All the state governors have been a let down in this matter and they should be ashamed of themselves. What are they teaching the rest of us ordinary mortals? But the greatest let down here is President Goodluck Jonathan. His denials notwithstanding, the whole furore over the NGF election is all about his second term bid. He feels that a Rotimi Amaechi led NGF would be injurious to his ambition to return to office in 2015. How he arrived at his conclusion is still baffling. What can Gov. Amaechi do if Nigerians believe Jonathan deserves another term in 2015? But does the President deserve another term? Has he done enough to earn our votes again in 2015?

    I think Jonathan is just a failed president looking for someone to blame for his failure. Trying to cast Amaechi as the stumbling block to his second term chance, if he has any chance at all, is simple escapism. Jonathan should ask himself this basic question. Are Nigerians better off now than they were when I took over? If he answers in the affirmative, then he should ignore the NGF, both Amaechi’s and Jang’s factions and throw his hat into the ring for the 2015 presidential election and wait for the people to decide. If he deceives himself by saying yes when he knows that he has not measured up to expectation, he will definitely fail at the polls. Nigerians would reject him and nothing will happen, the threats of Asari Dokubo and his fellow thugs notwithstanding.

    But before we get to that election the president and his group have to be very careful about what they say and what they do. Lest they plunge this nation into further crisis. Parading Jang and his gang as the real NGF and threatening any PDP governor that refused to fall in line is not the right way to go. If truly Jonathan is the leader of the country, instead of meeting with a faction of the NGF, he should call a meeting of all the 36 state governors and sit down with them to resolve the crisis in the Forum. This will serve not just his interest but the larger Nigerian interest.

    For Governor Jang much more is expected of him as an elderly person and he should apply the wisdom of an old man and not lent himself to being used to cause the downfall of this democracy. He should not be a tool in the hands of Jonathan and wife to fight their ‘enemy’ real or imagined. He should let Jonathan carry his cross, fight his battle. If the NGF goes down, Nigerians will neither forget nor forgive Jang. If truly Jang won as he insists, then he should provide the evidence, if not he should keep quiet and not heat up the polity unnecessarily. As for the rest of his gang, particularly Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, I reserve my comments. Those who know him well say he is just behaving true to type. They say he is a serial betrayal; a man of low or no principle; a fair weather politician. What can one say other than to watch, hoping he doesn’t end up destroying himself politically. Yoruba can forgive anything, everything and anybody, but not betrayals. He should ask the Akintolas. Yoruba don’t forget, and the time would come one day when questions would be asked about his conduct in this present dispensation. That time is near. And as we say here, a three year old pounded yam can still burn the finger.

    The Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi would also do well by reaching out to the other 16 governors who for one reason or the other did not vote for him. I am sure the founders of the NGF adopted the consensus option in choosing the chairman of the forum in the past to avoid this kind of division that an election, especially among a group of equals could bring. Now we have seen the wisdom in that and can appreciate it better. But that is not to say that electing the chairman was a bad idea, after all we are in a democracy, but governors are expected to be mature enough to rise above the kind of pettiness that often accompany election disputes in Nigeria. We expect a lot better from them and Amaechi should show that he is or can be better by extending a hand of friendship to the other camp, including the President’s and prove that the trust of the majority of his colleagues who preferred him to Jang and indeed that of millions of Nigerians are not misplaced.

    The NGF must rally together and remember what brought them together; fighting for the interest of their people. Anything less will only bring the forum public scorn and hatred, irrespective of who the chairman is.

     

  • Last throw of the dice

    Last throw of the dice

    No fewer than 2000 Nigerians have reportedly fled to Niger Republic from Borno State as the effect of the state of emergency and concomitant military action declared on the state and two others in the north east last week by President Goodluck Jonathan begins to bite.

    And as the people head to destination unknown in desperation, one can only hope that their flight from home would not be permanent and that the president would return peace to the troubled region very soon.

    Restoring peace and security to Borno, Adamawa, Yobe states in particular and the rest of northern Nigeria under threat of annihilation from the rest of the country by Boko Haram insurgents would be the greatest single challenge and achievement of the Jonathan presidency and could determine whether he gets another term in office in 2015.

    The fact that the man has decided to use the sledge hammer now shows how desperate he is to get the Boko Haram problem behind him and face the other dangers facing his bid to retain power post 2015 presidential election.

    Jonathan probably reckons he needs to quell the insurgency first before he could ask us for our votes again but he may have left his action too late as it is doubtful whether the latest of his military actions against the terrorists would not just end the problem but also endear him to Nigerians, especially our compatriots in the north.

    To win this war he needs time and that he doesn’t seem to have as presidential election is due in about twenty months from now. Before polling day the party primaries and other pre-election party activities to choose the presidential candidate would have taken place much earlier, say late next year or early 2015.

    To be in a good position to get his party’s ticket and win our votes at the polls, he would need to have run Boko Haram out of town by not later than this time next year and begin a physical and political building process in the affected region to restore faith and confidence in himself and his administration.

    But can he “finish” off Boko Haram in one year?

    According to the military high command, the ongoing military onslaught against the terrorists is beginning to yield positive results. But it is early days yet and nobody should be carried away by the initial success of the “shock and awe” tactics employed by the military. This is expected more so as helicopter gun-ships and fighter jets were being deployed for the first time against the terrorists. But we have all seen this type of tactics employed elsewhere and victory declared only for the Commander-In-Chief to eat his words. Recall that former US president George W. Bush went on a US Navy ship in the Mediterranean to declare victory prematurely in the second Iraqi war for domestic political gains, only for the Iraqi insurgents backed by Al Qaeda to storm back forcefully in a series of hit and run attacks that left the Americans and their allies gasping for breath.

    The way President Jonathan spoke and his body language during his national broadcast announcing the state of emergency showed a man desperate to win the war on terror and combat insecurity and not a man convinced and determined to do so. And in his desperation he could do a number of things including genocide and other crimes against humanity just to be seen to be tough and on top of the situation and convince his doubters (who are in their millions) that he deserves another term in office.

    This is where the danger lies. I can’t see this war ending in six months or one year, but the longer it persists the worse it would get for President Jonathan’s second term ambition. So the man would want to end it quickly, and in doing so, his military could be given the power to even commit murder within the amorphous power conferred by the provision of the state of emergency.

    We have seen how brutish our soldiers could be even when operating under normal times as in the Odi town massacre and Zaki Biam destructions and killings. We have seen a taste of it in Baga under Jonathan’s watch; even in Jos. As his desperation grows, more of such could happen, but it would be counter productive both for the nation and the president’s political agenda/ambition.

    To inflict a collective punishment on the people in Boko Haram infested areas could only end the war but not bring peace as the innocents that suffered could end up being alienated from the government and holding grudge against the Nigerian state and her institutions like the police and other security agencies. Remember injustice was at the core of Boko Haram’s grievances, albeit misplaced, against the Nigerian state.

    There is therefore, the need for the rule of engagement to be clearly spelt out for our military in this war against terror and all those involved should be told in clear terms that any breach will be punished with the full application of the law. Both the commanders and the troops should know this. And just as well, the terrorists should also know that they would account for their actions not just to God but also to Nigeria and the international community.

    The tendency is also there for Jonathan, the politician, to want to beat his chest too early to claim victory in this war; this is not just dangerous and could amount to merely postponing the evil day, but could also give a false sense of security and lure the people into complacency and into harm’s way of Boko Haram. Iraq is there as an example, even after the Americans have exited peace is still elusive.

    So, the military must be thorough and professional and remain as long as it takes to restore peace to the north east and other troubled spots in the north and should not succumb to any political pressure to declare victory prematurely.

    But it would be foolish to think this war on terror on its own would bring peace and guarantee security not just in the troubled areas alone but all over the country without a political programme. Jonathan must pursue a political solution side by side with this war and in doing this must carry along the political class, the elites, elders, opinion leaders, and religious leaders in particular and the youth. Every segment of society, every good hand must be brought on board to achieve peace and security in that region.

    Some have argued that the declaration of state of emergency is half-hearted because the democratic structures are still in place in those states and could be a hindrance to the effectiveness of the emergency rule. This is neither here nor there. But suffice to say that if everybody is sincere, we can all work together to restore peace to our land and the president must take the lead, sincerely. But I have my doubt whether he can stay above politics and do the right thing in the interest of our unity and security. But he was no other choice. This is his last chance; his last throw of the dice. So to speak. If he fails, his 2015 project would go with it.

     

  • If the heavens will fall…

    If the heavens will fall…

    Going through the newspapers or listening to news broadcast especially in the last few weeks, a first time visitor to Nigeria could be forgiven for thinking that the country is about to cease to exist.

    If he is a would be foreign investor he would be perfectly in order to reconsider his position especially after listening to the drums of war being beaten by supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan who would want the whole world to know that there would be no country called Nigeria post 2015 presidential election, should their son, Jonathan, fail to clinch re-election as Nigeria’s president in two years time.

    The would investor and indeed the first time visitor would be mistaken however to think too seriously about all this noise of Jonathan in 2015 or no Nigeria by some over fed glorified thugs speaking on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The likes of self proclaimed jihadist and Niger Delta militant Alhaji Asari Dokubo, Niger Delta activist Ms Annkio Briggs and regrettably, chairman of the Niger Delta amnesty committee, Mr Kingsley Kuku are now the leading voices in the Jonathan camp threatening the rest of us to either return their son as president in 2015 or face the music, as if that music will also not be played in the Niger Delta.

    Why anybody who takes them or their likes seriously would be mistaken is not because what they said was not strong enough to warrant serious action being taken against them in a more “serious” society, but because here we have gone through that route before and nothing happened. Anybody here during the Abacha military era and listened to the likes of Mallam Wada Nas or “Noise” would think that if anything happened to his man Abacha, Nigeria would collapse. Abacha died and Nigeria is still alive.

    When Asari and co said its either Jonathan or nothing in 2015 I am sure they are either looking for more money from the president or just trying to justify the money they had just collected. If their position is based on sound reasoning they would have known that in a democracy decisions are made by votes and the majority carry the day. If they want Jonathan to be re-elected in 2015 it is not by threatening the rest of us that their son would get our votes, they have to plead with us and convince us why Jonathan deserves our votes again. And they should begin their charity at home in this regard first, by convincing the Niger Delta people that their son had done well to earn their support for a second term. They should point at the East-West Road that he had “done”, the rivers and creeks of the Niger Delta that he had “cleaned up”, free of oil pollution and now conducive for fishing and farming, the gas flaring that he had “stopped” and/or converted to energy, millions of their children that are now “gainfully” employed and other physical infrastructure including healthcare and education that they now enjoy.

    When they leave there they should come to the south west and point at the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, how their son had turned it into a ten-lane super highway, how the people now sleep with their two eyes closed thanks to the super efficiency of his police force, how the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan now ranks among the best in the world in healthcare delivery.

    Before venturing into the north to campaign to the Hausa/Fulani people, they should cross the border to Iboland and tell Ndigbo how Jonathan has been able to eradicate erosion ravaging their land, end their “marginalization” in the scheme of things in the country and his plan to install an Igboman as his successor in 2019.

    Going up north I think does not require much talking, they should just walk the streets of Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Damaturu in particular and tell the people how their son confronted and defeated Boko Haram to restore peace to their land. In particular they should hold rallies in Baga, Biu, Potiskum and trumpet the achievements of the president in the areas of security and job creation. How he was able to wean their children from the scourge of Almajiri and set them on the path to western education. They should hold a big rally in Jos to celebrate the restoration of peace to the Plateau.

    And to cap it all, a mother of all rallies, drawing no fewer than five million Ijaws (as the 4th largest ethnic group in Nigeria as they claim) and may be another five million from elsewhere in the country should be held in Abuja where Asari Dokubo, Annkio Briggs, Pa Edwin Clarke et al would real out their son’s achievements to include uninterrupted power supply across the federation, first class healthcare, education and fantastic road network among others. If they can do this and Nigerians see the proof, they won’t think twice before voting for Jonathan in 2015. But in the absence of this, no amount of threat and intimidation from Asari Dokubo and his likes would deter Nigerians from voting out Jonathan in the next presidential election if they so desire.

    By the way, are these presidential salesmen telling us that all is well with our polity and their man is the best we can get or deserve? Was it not this same Asari Dokubo that told Jonathan not too long ago to forget 2015 because he has not performed well? Was it not him that openly confessed that he would be ashamed to go out to canvass votes for Jonathan again as a fellow Ijaw because the man has let his people down? This was sometime last year. Between then and now what has changed for better in Jonathan’s performance index to warrant Dokubo and co threatening to bring down the nation if he failed to win in 2015?

    When he made that statement last year many thought he was making sense but those who know him better said the man was talking because Jonathan had just revoked his multimillion-dollar pipeline protection contract and wanted the president to know that he was not happy and could ruffle a few feathers. Has the contract been restored?

    Whether the man is working for his money or not I think he is doing more damage to Jonathan than the opposition could ever have done and those close to the president had better call him to order. I don’t subscribe to ordering his arrest as being canvassed on the floor of the House of Representatives, it would only be conferring relevance on a thug, while at the same time I do not buy the argument of those criticising the call for his arrest on the ground that those who had previously made similar inflammatory or treasonable comments were not arrested. One, two wrongs don’t make a right and if what the previous hate mongers or anti-Nigeria sentiments peddlers said then are manifesting now, it’s because allowed it.

    If those who vowed to make Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan if he became president are actually behind the insurgency in the North, they are succeeding because they know the president can not do anything. And nobody can do anything to Asari Dokubo because he is speaking the mind of the president.

    There are too many Dokubos around Jonathan but they and their principal should know that nobody can predict the outcome of a war or when it would end. You can only talk about the beginning. And as the Yoruba would say, if the heavens are going to fall, they would not fall on the roof of one man. If Nigeria is going to be history if Jonathan is not re-elected as Dokubo, Kuku et al have threatened, where would the Niger Delta be? Before Nigeria would cease to be the Niger Delta would have taken one of the heaviest beatings in modern warfare. So, those beating the drums of war had better thread softly less they are consumed by the sounds of their music. Biafra thought Nigeria could be history; we all know the story.

    Jonathan would do better to focus his energy and attention on bringing peace and security to the land and deliver on his promise on power supply, tackling corruption, providing social and economic infrastructure, improving the economy, creating jobs and so on instead of unleashing his thugs like Dokubo on us to insult our sensibilities. If for whatever reasons Nigerians fail to re-elect him president in 2015, nothing will happen, Nigeria will continue.

     

  • A Lady Macbeth in the House?

    A Lady Macbeth in the House?

    Behind every successful man there is a woman, we are told, but no one seems ready to openly admit the converse that lurking behind every failed man is a certain woman. The closest I have heard people admitting this negative tendency is the African proverb that says that behind every wicked masquerade there is a wicked commander.

    History is replete with the manipulative roles wives and/or concubines have played in the making of despotic rulers. Conversely also, some of the most successful leaders the world had produced had wonderful wives, who inspired them to greatness and goodness. No man born of woman, it should be noted though, is immune to the influence, good or bad of a woman. She could either be his wife, concubine, sister or mother. And in rare cases his daughter. However, most often than not, the unseen manipulative hand behind the good or the wicked man (leader) is his wife.

    As the political temperature in Rivers State rises towards boiling point, Nigerians, especially those from that oil producing state should shine their eyes and use their magnifying glasses to see the wicked commander(s) behind President Goodluck Jonathan’s wicked masquerade.

    Our dear First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was reportedly annoyed last Thursday when a crowd of supposed supporters went to Port Harcourt International Airport at Omagwa to welcome her back home after a “hard week’s” work in Abuja, and a certain gentleman in the crowd called Chikaodi Dike, introduced himself as the chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area in Rivers state.

    Madam, a “daughter of the soil” who expectedly had been following keenly the ongoing face-off between her husband, Jonathan and her state governor Rotimi Amaechi over God knows what, reportedly asked Chikaodi whether he is the suspended or new chairman of the council, to which the man replied as being the latter. The response got her annoyed and Madam was reported to have described Chikordi “an illegal chairman”.

    To those familiar with the power speak in Abuja, this was euphemism for trouble and it didn’t take long to arrive as armed policemen invaded Obio/Akpor local government secretariat the following day and sacked the interim administration of Chikaodi put in place by the state House of Assembly following the suspension of the former chairman and his councilors. The council (administration) as I write is under the jackboot of the Nigeria Police deployed by “Madam and Oga at the top”.

    And since last Friday Obio/Akpor local government area and indeed the whole of Rivers State has been under a state of fear, fear of what trouble could come next (from Abuja), part of which was manifested Monday when thugs opposed to the new administration in the council invaded the premises of the state House of Assembly.

    The descent to this ugly situation and seeming insecurity in Rivers State did not start last week, it’s been building up for a long time and could be linked to President Goodluck Jonathan’s yet to be declared ambition to run for another presidential term in 2015 and the need to secure the two million or so votes of Rivers State to ensure victory.

    President Jonathan is well within his rights to want a second term in office while First Lady Patience would be failing in her duty as his wife if she refused to pull all the strings at her disposal to help her husband realize this ambition. The problem here is not that she is pulling strings, but the kind of strings she is pulling. If the First Lady calls the head of a local council administration lawfully put in place illegal and the police sack that administration the following day, who does not know where the order to the Police came from: Madam. She is exercising a power she does not have; that of the Commander in Chief. This is dangerous for our democracy.

    Our constitution recognizes one centre of power; the Presidency, headed by Goodluck Jonathan as President and Commander In Chief. If his wife talks or gives directives and we see such manifesting almost immediately, then it is either the man gave the order to support the wife’s position or has ceded part of the power of the C-I-C to the First Lady. And this is not the first time Madam will be acting as such. In fact those close to the corridors of power at the Presidential Villa say even Service Chiefs do sometimes take order from her.

    Since the police sacking of Obio/Akpor council administration there has been no official word as to who sent the policemen. And with the seeming ease with which thugs invaded the Rivers State House of Assembly without any strong attempt to stop them, this could only mean that “Oga and Madam at the top”, are directing the affairs from Abuja with the connivance of a certain former Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area who currently sits in cabinet with the president as Minister of State for Education. This could only mean one thing; despotism.

    President Jonathan and wife Patience are using the powers invested in him as Commander In Chief to bully and persecute both real and imaginary enemies. He is unleashing his police on Rivers State now, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is expected next while some lackeys in the state House of Assembly are being propped up for a hatchet job to impeach the governor. We have gone through this path before. If all fail they plan to foment trouble and cause chaos preparatory to a planned declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State all aimed at either getting Governor Amaechi out of the way or make it impossible for him to govern effectively and have a say in his successor.

    Nothing is new, but the surprise is the enlisting of such technical agencies of government like the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and their parent Ministry of Aviation in this war of persecution against the Rivers |State Government. The more they came out to attempt to nail the state government over the purchase of an executive jet the more they exposed their inefficiencies and made a fool of themselves. If truly the aircraft has been flying illegally in Nigeria since it entered service last October where have all these agencies been since then? Is this how to manage our sky? As for EFCC, the anti graft agency can only go down if it continues to make itself available for use by politicians to settle political scores.

    The aggregation of all this naked use of state power to bully, persecute and oppress perceived enemies by President Jonathan is that it takes us closer to dictatorship. And if you add the increasing clampdown on freedom of speech/expression/press, you get what I am talking about. Unraveling before our eyes is a budding despot and he is being pushed all the way by a Lady Macbeth beside him, in the full glare of a rudderless and toothless ruling party. And Nigerians are watching.

    This is the time for the so called Council of State, comprising of sitting and former presidents, former Chief Justices of Nigeria and others to call an emergency meeting in Abuja to deliberate on the Rivers crisis and insecurity in the land and proffer solutions. The National Assembly should not fold its arms either. And where are the elders of Rivers State? Let’s save our democracy.

  • Understanding Jonathan/Amaechi family feud

    Understanding Jonathan/Amaechi family feud

    In Nigeria, being good, upright, truthful and forthright could be a bad idea especially if you are in public office. It has also emerged in the past few years in our country that dictatorship, high-handedness, intolerance and vindictiveness can lice successfully with democracy, albeit, Nigeria’s brand of democracy. And where you have all these in abundance as is the case here, cronyism, nepotism, incompetence et al become the order of the day with corruption reigning supreme.

    To understand what I am talking about, let’s take a look at the on going face-off between Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state and ‘Oga and Madam at the top’ in Abuja’ President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

    In between, throw a certain character called Nyesom Wike, who sits in cabinet with President Jonathan as Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education, but who in reality is a tool in the hands of Madam and does all the dirty jobs for the First Family, including trying to destabilise the Rivers State government to soften the ground for Madam, an Okrika from Rivers State, to have her boy installed as the governor of the state now or sometime in 2015. All these geared towards getting Rivers State and its two million or so votes in Jonathan’s corner in the 2015 presidential election.

    Rivers votes have always been crucial to winning a presidential election in Nigeria. I recall as a teenager in the second republic how votes from the old Rivers State tilted the balance in favor of Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Glued to my father’s  radio, I was monitoring the result of the 1979 presidential election state by state as being announced by the then Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO).

    With most of the result out, Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the then Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) was in the lead with over four million votes closely followed by Shagari, and optimism was in the air, especially in the old western region that Awolowo was on course to clinching the country’s presidency. But overnight the picture changed when the result from Rivers State was released and NPN got over one million votes and catapulted Shagari to over five million votes. That put paid to Awolowo’s presidential ambition that year and the result put Rivers State as a must win for any presidential candidate in Nigeria.

    That trend has not changed as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the successor to NPN has consistently benefited from this solid backing from Rivers since the advent of this democracy, up to the 2011 presidential election that brought in President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Rightly or wrongly, however, the Jonathan camp believes that could change in 2015 if Governor Rotimi Amaechi is not in their camp in the run up to the next presidential election. And it does appear to them that the governor’s body language is not in sync with their 2015 ambition. This, those close to the governor say is not true as Amaechi is totally committed to not just the PDP but also the Jonathan presidency both now and post 2015 election.

    The problems they say are the people around the president (read my lips, Nyesom Wike & co) who would rather create a gulf between Jonathan and Amaechi for their own selfish ends. They say the President and Governor Amaechi used to be in the same corner right from Jonathan’s days as Vice President to late President Umar Yar’Adua.  And amidst opposition to Jonathan elevation to the position of acting President when Yar’Adua took ill, Amaechi it was said stood by the man from Otuoke, and finally when he ascended the presidency and later ran for election in 2011, the governor delivered Rivers votes to the president. So, at what point did their “quarrel” start?

    It is very difficult to say the two are quarreling as both have denied this, but it will also be playing the fool to say all is well between them. All that can be said about the unease between them is that it doesn’t bode well for Rivers State on one hand and our democracy on the other hand. While both have refused to acknowledge it, their seeming quarrel can not but be related to the 2015 presidential election. Jonathan believes rightly or wrongly that Amaechi plans to team up with a presidential candidate, most likely from the north, to challenge him in the coming presidential election. And the governor has vehemently denied this, both in private and publicly. He had even gone on the record to say Jonathan is a good man and means well for the country, but that the president is surrounded by some “bad” people.

    This is what everybody close to the President seem to be saying, but not a few Nigerians are confused when they hear this as President Jonathan has not convinced them that he is nice or meant well for the country. And examples abound to prove their point.

    Jonathan, apparently driven by determination to return to office in 2015, from recent events and actions of the Federal government, doesn’t seem to believe Amaechi. The governor it does seem from the point of view of the president must be muzzled or bullied to tow the line or punished if he refused.

    If recent events are anything to go by, then the punishment option appear to have been taken by the Jonathan camp even when there is little or no evidence to suggest that Amaechi is against the President’s 2015 project.

    Remember the on going feud between Rivers and Bayelsa States over disputed oil field along their border in the Kalabari area? Not a few in Rivers State believe this was punishment on the people for the “sins” of Amaechi. Similarly oil fields have been ceded from Rivers to Akwa Ibom State in what many believe to be compensation for Governor Akpabio’s support for the president.

    Other punishments bordering on security and even economic matters have been meted out to Rivers all in a bid to show Amaechi ‘we have the federal might’.

    Directly the presidency is fighting to ensure that Amaechi does not return as chairman Nigeria Governors Forum when the Forum elects new officers in a few weeks time. Why you may want to know?

    Amaechi as Chairman of the Forum has been speaking the minds of his colleagues especially on the vexed issues of excess crude account, sovereign wealth fund, true federalism, fuel subsidy and so on to a presidency that doesn’t seem to want to listen. For speaking truth to power on behalf of his colleagues, the presidency wants him out as NGF chairman and have been using the Governors of Benue, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, expectedly Bayelsa states and to some extent Katsina State to cause trouble for Amaechi in the NGF.

    We all know the story of the creation of the PDP Governors Forum, to frustrate the Rivers State Governor, even when both the PDP and Governor Akpabio, the PDPGF chairman, have denied it.

    The story of insecurity of lives and property in Rivers State prior to the coming on board of the Amaechi administration is well known, so also is how the Governor has successfully restored peace to his domain. Part of the measures was to spend millions of Naira to equip the security forces deployed in the State. But while the security forces were grateful, their masters in Abuja appear less so. As we write, two armoured helicopters meant for security operations in Rivers state and environs, fully paid for by the state government have been denied clearance at the port in Lagos by the federal government who believe (wrongly) the choppers are meant for the so called Lamido/Amaechi 2015 project, which only exists in the imagination of the presidency. You can see how there minds work in Abuja. These are equipments that can be used to fight terrorism anywhere in Nigeria.

    To cap it all, the war on Amaechi by Jonathan’s Federal Government has been taken to the ridiculous level of impounding the governor’s official aircraft for allegedly violating aviation rules and regulations.

    Having covered the aviation beat for years, I know the powers invested in the regulatory authorities and as such would not pick issues yet with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) over their actions regarding that aircraft. But they had better be on solid ground else they would be dragged into the political mess by Jonathan and be disgraced.

    Amaechi, we all know cannot be kept quite and will continue to say the truth. And as long as he continues to deliver the dividends of democracy to his people, he will always triumph, no matter the odds. He has gone through this before and emerged victorious. His current travail this will not be an exception. He should be patient.

    President Goodluck Jonathan is however advised to beware of his latter day friends, the Nyesom Wikes of this world.

     

  • Before the amnesty

    Before the amnesty

    December 1991 was historic in the life of Algeria as the north African Arab country held her first free parliamentary election and was on course to becoming a real democracy after decades of military-styled dictatorship. Against the sitting government’s expectation, the Islamic Salvation Front known by its French acronyms FIS, won the polls. Trouble.

    Both the government and its western backers, particularly France never saw this coming. An Islamist government in a North African country, just on the other side of the Mediterranean, over looking Western Europe? No,no,no, this is unacceptable, the government in Algiers and its allies seemed to be saying and before the Islamists could even savor the joy of their victory, the Algerian military moved in and cancelled the election. Another trouble.

    The Islamists would have none of this. How can you deny us the fruit of our labour? They were asking the military and when the soldiers refused to change course, the leaders of FIS felt they had no option but to claim their mandate, albeit forcefully. With most of their leaders now in jail or detained by the military, FIS took up arms against the state and Algeria effectively plunged into a civil war in January 1992, a year and few months before the then Nigerian military government annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which consequences threw the country into a political crisis that even the advent of democracy in 1999 has not been able to fully resolve.

    For over a decade Algeria knew no peace as the civil war which reached its height between 1997 and 1998, when innocent civilians, especially whole villagers were massacred by Islamic extremists who had initially focused their attacks on government and its agencies and sympathizers including intellectuals and journalists, but abandoned political course and changed tactics to attack ordinary people and other soft targets, claimed no fewer than 100, 000 lives in a population of just 35 million.

    The arrival of democracy or a semblance of it in April 1999, with the election of President Abdulaziz Boutlefilka brought no immediate relief as the Islamists now buoyed by an emerging global terrorist organisation called Al- Qaeda were getting stronger even in the face of relentless military onslaught by the Algerian government.

    But with a combination of carrot and stick approach and a dodgy amnesty programme packaged in a Charter on Peace and National Reconciliation approved in a October 2005 referendum, the government granted pardon to both the Islamists and soldiers that participated in the civil war and killings on both sides thus setting the stage for the relative peace being enjoyed by Algeria today. Relative peace if you close your eyes to the activities of Al -Qaeda in the Maghreb, the terrorist organisation that masterminded the January 2013 hostage taking and attacks on a BP run gas field in eastern Algeria.

    Today, the Algerian government can claim to be on top of the security/terrorism situation in the country in spite of its flawed amnesty programme which has been dubbed amnesia in some circles. Can Nigeria say the same?

    Although the Federal Government amnesty programme for Boko Haram is still on the drawing board, I’ve gone this far to draw the Algerian inference because of the Nigerian government’s decision or readiness to draw inspiration and learn from such countries as Algeria that have had to combat terrorism such as we are witnessing today with Boko Haram.

    As the Foreign Affairs editor at Concord Press then, I could recollect that though the two key leaders of FIS, the spiritual leader and the political head were in jail but were still in firm control of the organization such that when the Algerian government decided to talk peace, the two were involved. In Nigeria nobody is sure who the real leaders of Boko Haram are and where they are. So, who do you discuss peace with?

    Again as the example of Algeria shows, FIS had a grouse against the Algerian government which it felt could only be resolved by resort to arms. What is the grouse of Boko Haram against Nigeria and what have the rest of us done to the group as a people to deserve all these killings and terror being inflicted on us?

    If we know what wrong we have done to Boko Haram then may be we can begin to appreciate where they are coming from and begin to talk. Flowing from such talks could be amnesty for the terrorist group as part of the solution to the problem. But offer of amnesty before talks is putting the cart before the horse.

    Amnesty is supposed to be forgiveness for wrongs done or crime committed. So, what wrong or crime has Boko Haram committed? Of course we all know it but government has to put such in black and white for all, including the terrorists leaders to see, so that when the peace talk that all seem to be clamouring for begins, both sides would be talking on points. Boko Haram, it is expected, would also put Nigeria’s crime against it on the table.

    When both sides agree to pursue peace then the terms would be set and responsibilities assigned. We can then begin to talk of ceasefire and amnesty. It is the absence of this kind of behind the scene talk that I think was responsible for Boko Haram’s rejection of the Federal Government’s offer of amnesty. If truth must be told, the terrorist group had by that action ridiculed the Federal government and exposed the whole idea of amnesty as an afterthought. Don’t forget that President Goodluck Jonathan was initially opposed to the idea when it was first suggested by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar. Those who twisted the president’s arms to accept the idea of amnesty do not appear to have done their home work well on Boko Haram leadership. If they had done that the embarrassment caused by this rejection by the terrorists’ leader Abubakar Shekau would have been avoided.

    This failure notwithstanding, the Federal Government should not go back on the offer of amnesty, if anything, it should move swiftly to reach out to the leaders of Boko Haram, if not directly initially, but through their proxies and sympathizers of which there are many in the north. The northern leaders who have been calling for the amnesty should also move out to ensure that the core Boko Haram leadership buy in to the amnesty programme. And their hands can be strengthened in this regard if government comes out as soon as possible with the terms of the amnesty programme which I think should be holistic, both for Boko Haram and the victims of their crime. It should not just be about forgetting and wiping out the crime, but also compensating the victims and preventing the circumstances that led to the insurgency in the first place.

    It is clear that the divide and rule tactic employed by the security agencies to factionalise Boko Haram has not worked as the escalation of attacks by the group in spite of a faction declaring a ceasefire not too long ago, has shown, hence the need to bring the Shekau’s faction into the picture.

    If the amnesty must work, all the necessary hands must be involved then we must talk and agree to forgive and forget and move forward as one. There should be no distraction as being currently exhibited by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). Jonathan should call his people to order.

     

  • Good riddance to NECO?

    Good riddance to NECO?

    If feelers from Abuja last week are to be believed then the National Examination Council (NECO) the rival examination body to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) could be scrapped soon by the Federal Government paving the way for WAEC to reclaim it monopoly of Senior Secondary School Certificate examination in the country.

    The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) being conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for students seeking admission into tertiary institutions in the country is also to be scrapped, leaving the institutions free to conduct their entrance examinations, but with JAMB serving as the clearing house.

    The decisions as contained in the white paper on the Steve Oransanye committee on the streamlining of government agencies, if eventually implemented would not only profoundly affect the face of secondary and higher education in Nigeria in the foreseeable future, but also the quality of the trained and educated workforce that would come out of our universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

    Prior to the setting up of NECO, WAEC was largely solely in charge of the organisation and conduct of secondary school final examination in English West Africa, leading to the award of the then West African School Certificate (WASC) ordinary and advance levels. It was also in charge of he General Certificate of Education (GCE) ordinary and advance levels for external students.

    But like all monopolies, WAEC became too powerful and sadly inefficient leading to wide spread criticism of its performance, one of which was alleged frustration of the higher education ambition of hundreds of thousand of students who sat for its examination and who either failed even after so many ‘retakes’ or had their results withheld permanently.

    Even those who passed with six credits or more at either one or two sittings waited for years before they got their certificates ( for the few lucky ones), while many others had no school certificate to show (apart from notification of result) even up till now, more than two/three decades after they sat for and passed WAEC. Meanwhile several fake results were in circulation bearing the logo and ‘signature’ of WAEC. Many had secured university/polytechnic/college of education admission or even employment using these fake results at the expense of the truly qualified ones and to the detriment of the system. These and many other problems posed to our educational system must have prompted the then Federal Government to consider setting up a truly Nigerian secondary school examination body to not only rival WAEC but also meet the yearnings of out teeming youths for access to higher education, but operating in accordance to international standard.

    But can we say in truth and fairness that NECO has been living up to expectation since it was formed? Regrettably,the answer is neither yes or no. And that sums up what is called NECO today.

    From the outset the body was inadvertently made to look inferior to WAEC in the minds of both parents and students, admission authorities at the various higher institutions of learning and even employers of labour. This could be attributed to the initial seeming alarming rate of success recorded by students in contrast to WAEC’s examination. And with confidence in NECO waning, even students were not attaching much value to NECO’s certificate and that has dodged the examination body up till now.

    But as another window of opportunity to students NECO can be said to have lived up to expectation and has in a way made WAEC to sit up and improve its service delivery to it customers. But should that be the only thing about NECO? Certainly not. Couldn’t something be done to improve it and make it live up to expectation instead of scrapping it? I think so.

    If one considers the problems and shortcomings of NECO since inception, one would be tempted to say scrap it, but then would a return to WAEC’s monopoly solve the problem it was created to solve? I don’t think so.

    Compelling or encouraging WAEC to increase the frequency of its examinations to create more windows of opportunity for student is good, but that is not enough to think there is no need for NECO again. I thought so initially, but considering the fact that WAEC is a West African body, who would Nigeria convince other countries in the project to also buy-in to this new thinking? How much of influence does Nigeria have in WAEC to think she can sway others in the examination body to refocus to suit our own needs? Would that not be better done with NECO?

    Instead of scrapping NECO, government should investigate why it is not performing as designed and device a way of improving it. Apart from the job losses that a scrapping or absorption by WAEC would cause, there is no guarantee that WAEC could be relied upon, after all it has failed us before. NECO could still be made to do the same thing we want WAEC to do and be compelled to even do it better. This will in turn also improve WAEC and ultimately to the advantage of the students and the betterment of our education system and delivery. The more examination bodies and window of opportunities for the students the better. After all, even in spite of WAEC and NECO, Nigerians still write Cambridge and other foreign secondary school certificate (O&A levels) examinations here at home for admissions into foreign universities. Let the choice be many, but government must set and maintain the standards comparable with what obtains elsewhere in the world where we have top rate education standard.

    This brings to mind the UTME which is also set for the axe. There is not much to say about that joint entrance examination other than its a failure. JAMB started very well with its exams but as the population of university admission seekers expanded the ability to cope dwindled such that instead of the body serving as a facilitator for the attainment/ fulfillment of the higher education yearnings of the students, it became more of an impediment. With fewer university places available to the hundreds of thousands of secondary school graduates every year, JAMB began compounding the problem with its arbitrary cut off and educationally disadvantaged states policy in which for instance a student with a lower score gains admission to the same university at the expense of somebody with a higher score just because the former comes from an ‘educationally disadvantaged’ state. How do you sustain merit and encourage hard work in this kind of a setting? And to compound JAMB’s problem, polytechnics and colleges of education entrance examinations were added, and that’s one of the reasons we found ourselves where we are today.

    As with most public examinations in Nigeria, the higher institutions have lost faith in JAMB and have gone ahead to conduct heir own post-JAMB screening exams to determine the suitability and capabilities of those who passed JAMB and offered admission by the body. Many who passed JAMB have been found to have failed the universities’ post-JAMB exams even where the questions were similar. So, the question is, how did they pass JAMB in the first place? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

    So, a return to the past when each university was conducting its own separate admission examination for prospective students will be a welcome development. It will not only engender competition, but also ensure that only the best from our secondary schools proceed to university, polytechnic or college of education. This will ultimately raise standard in our higher institutions and make their product to be once again competitive in the international arena. It is no longer secret that our graduates find it difficult to secure post graduate admission into foreign universities again due to the low regard the international community have for our university graduates. It wasn’t like this in the past. What a shame.

    I am not saying this is the main or only reason for this low recognition of our graduates and their certificates, the problems are numerous, but hey are not insurmountable, scrapping the UTME could be one of the solutions.