THERE is a Yoruba adage that says that the bird does not, by happenstance, perch on the rooftop if not to listen to the rhythm coming from within the house. Put succinctly, the perching of the bird in any setting is not always an ordinary adventure; it could be something deeper than what the common mind can fathom. Therefore, the Knucklehead bird perches on President Muhammadu Buhari’s Aso Rock rooftop, to observe not only his body language but also to decode the words coming forth. In these hard times, common sense compels one to weigh every action and inaction of those in corridors of power in order to aggregate the exact direction of the ship of state. In a society where government officials randomly deploy cheap propaganda to shield the gaping truth about the terribly sickly state of the economy, it behoves one to sieve through the panoply of cacophonous voices coming out of the presidential grove. Sometimes you are tempted to believe that President Buhari is on the same page with the masses. At other times, you can feel the palpable disconnect in such outrageous dimensions that you begin to question the veracity of the change mantra. We may not know the kind of drumbeats the President has been listening to in the last few months neither do we know the sources of those sounds. What we do know is that the rhythm, tenor and tone of those drumbeats are miles away from the grieving dirge of anguish that has gripped our land. If Pa Buhari could, for a moment, shift his eardrums from the sonorous voices of those who are adept at telling him what he wants to hear, perhaps he would have a firm understanding of why his promised mandate of hope is ebbing and a thick plume of doubt now fills the void. If he could lend us his ears, he would come to the painful reality that his yeoman’s efforts in the last one year have only bred a new generation of disgruntled, disenchanted and alienated citizenry because all they see is motion without movement – the same malaise of cluelessness that plagued previous administrations before him. If change is not the absence of pain but the presence of hope, then we need to interrogate the Buhari change and its implication for the country. In a recent speech, the President, while pleading for patience and understanding, waxed lyrical about how deeply he was concerned about the unmitigated pains being felt in the land. He spoke of reaping the gains of suffering that was, at best, temporal. Listen to him: “As a government that was propelled into office by the power of the people, we cannot but feel the pains of our compatriots, and we deeply empathise with them. We are working round the clock to ease the pains of Nigerians, and the efforts of the government have started yielding fruits as we seek to make the petroleum products available nationwide, restore gas supply to the power generating firms, reflate the economy and put Nigerians back to work. We understand that Nigerians have started questioning whether this indeed is the CHANGE they voted for, while some have even gone as far as saying that by voting for our party, Nigerians have entered one chance. Well, I can tell Nigerians that our CHANGE AGENDA is real, and that indeed, they will get the change they voted for. Nigerians have not entered One Chance, because the One Chance drivers and their conductors have been driven out of town”. Unfortunately, Mr. President, these fine sophistries are no longer tenable excuses for hope deferred. The pains people go through daily out there on the streets cannot be mitigated by a President’s poetry of a future imagined. As the government bumbles through its policy initiatives, thousands lose jobs daily; government workers are owed salaries running into months while the list of the unemployed grows in leaps and bounds. There is frustration in the land as it is becoming increasingly difficult for breadwinners to meet their obligations. Add that to the fact that this government has not implemented any of its job-creation policies beyond its idealistic hue and you would understand why a big question mark hangs over this change mantra. It is as if the President heads a band of somnambulists, who have simply failed to appreciate the enormity of the crises on their hands! When the President declared that ‘one chancers’ have been driven out of town, what exactly was he talking about? Has the President noticed that some of his ministers are not better than those he claimed to have driven out? Or what better one-chance strategy can be compared to the one being relayed by the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, who vowed to deal with banks and communication firms for daring to sack workers they had willingly engaged when the economic barometer was on a positive swing? It is, to say the least, delusional that a former governor and senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would vomit such outrageous rant at an international labour forum. When this government was busy thumping its chest about the trillions of naira it repatriated into the treasury of the Central Bank of Nigeria through the Treasury Single Account, was it not aware that it would have grave effect on the fortunes of the commercial banks with subsequent job losses and, possibly,bankruptcy? By the way, what laws of the land empowers the Federal Government, which hires, punishes and fires its workers, to intervene on how a duly registered private entity decides to keep itself afloat the sinking margin of a troubled economy? Will Mr. President lend me his ears and call Ngige to order? In this democratic journey, it should be given that there should be a limit to ministerial rascality. C’mon! By the way, is the President aware that the people are incensed at the seeming lack of openness in the Presidency’s interface with the populace? These days, you hardly know what to believe. Somehow, the Presidency seems not to be feeling the pulse of the people again. It is becoming estranged and alienated from the real people. It is becoming reactionary instead of being proactive. This is very disturbing because it is telling on its approval rating. The signs are there for everyone to see. For example, a crowd of religious bigots in Kano murdered an old lady over a simple disagreement on where to or not to perform a religious rite and it took the Presidency more than 48 hours to issue a terse statement, condemning the barbaric act with a cloudy reference to religion and religiosity. TheN, the President, like all mortals, was having a health-related ailment and the Presidency lived in denial until an online medium broke the news. Even when it was finally agreed that the President would be indisposed for ten days to enable him receive adequate medical attention for an ear infection in the United Kingdom, his media minders still insist that the President is hale and hearty! How? Didn’t the President do the right thing by writing to the National Assembly that his deputy would take over as Acting President? Did he not tell reporters that he was sick just like every other mortal was bound to fall ill occasionally? So, why shroud a known fact with the pouch of open secrecy? Then, there is that question as to whether it makes sense for the President to add to the billions of dollars being wasted on medical tourism by Nigeria’s select group of elite. If the medical facilities that are in this country, including that of the prestigious National Hospital, cannot handle a President’s ear infection, what it means is that nothing has changed. With three other ministers officially confirmed to be on sick bed as at Wednesday, how is anyone sure that these ones are not also somewhere in Europe or America undergoing treatment for back pain or recuperating after surgery or any other ailment for that matter! If all the eggs that come out of this change basket remain the same as it was in the past, why should the President expect anyone to believe him when he speaks on the imperative of patience amidst this extravagant waste? Listen sir, it sounds like a bird with a broken beak each time your administration repeatedly blames the present hardship on the 16 years of “mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency”. When what you dubbed a “temporary pain” begins to take the form and shape of an inelastic and endless stream of hopelessness, the people have no option but to romance doubt. They question why they should continue to trust a President that has fetched them a harvest of regrets instead of “abundance joy as we put our country firmly on the path of sustainable growth and development”. If only the President would listen and do something about the sorry twist in the tale, maybe his aching ear would get some relief, listening to the true beats that demand his urgent action. Just maybe!
Category: Yomi Odunuga
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Will Tambuwal make a difference?
Going by the way most state governments stormed national newspapers with colourful adverts proclaiming their achievements in just 365 days in office; it is quite difficult to understand why economists and financial analysts insist that the Nigerian economy is dancing on the cliff of recession. If that were the case, what magical wand did the state governors spin such that they could fork out the millions of Naira that went into the media blitz in which truckloads of ‘achievements’ were highlighted? Anyone who knows one or two things about media practice would tell you that such packages do not come cheaply. With states presumably operating on a shoestring budgets and 28 out of the 36 of them owing workers’ salaries from last year, it was some sort of miracle that quite a large number of the national dailies came out with bumper editions with layers and layers of adverts. I admit that some of the projects listed as giant strides for some state governors were, at best, laughable if not ridiculous. I wonder how these so-called state chief executives feel when they see that their media minders have merely filled the blank pages with extra-sized pictures of boreholes, tricycles and bicycles published as evidence of ‘good governance.’ Hian!
In those days, it was so bad that a governor from the South Eastern part of this raped country considered it an achievement of no mean feat that the first Mr. Biggs outlet (a private firm) was located in the state capital during his tenure. His counterpart in a state in the South-West also thumped his chest that an Olympic-sized swimming pool was completed in record time in the governor’s lodge He even went ahead to display it on the state’s official almanac for that year. Somehow, that state appears to be blessed dim-witted fellows as leaders. It is from the same state that a serving governor occasionally comes out with grassroots political stunts like eating in the local ‘buka’, selling beans or cutting cowhide popularly called ‘ponmo.’ Don’t be surprised if such “people-oriented’ projects make it to the state’s official almanac with flowery captions! That is how low we have sunk. Therefore, when I noticed the flurry of adverts in the newspapers on May 29, I had taken time. to study the publications. Of course, there were those that give hope like in Kaduna State where Mallam Nasir el-Rufai is gradually setting the pace. There was Lagos State where Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s revolutionary governance style is not only wowing his teeming supporters but also wooing a large chunk of those opposed his election. Then, there was a pleasant surprise from Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal’s Sokoto State.
First, a confession: I never gave Tambuwal a chance as a governor because of the circumstances that led to his emergence. Though a crowned prince for the position in the twilight of his tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the governorship ticket was a second choice and I assumed he never prepared for that responsibility. If he had enjoyed the support of the powerful forces in the All Progressives Congress, he would have gunned for his first choice—the Presidency. He did struggle to scale that hurdle at some point but it was manifestly clear that the game was up. Naturally, I had thought that he would sit out his tenure as governor and take a fresh shot at a presidential ticket at an opportune time. But he proved me wrong too early. From all indications, the former lawmaker knows what governance is all about. Where others are wasting scarce resources on white elephant projects, including the construction of air-conditioned overhead bridges, Tambuwal has adopted identifiable developmental models in deploying the resources available to the state.
In a country where lackeys are routinely settled with appointments into juicy political positions, it was almost unbelievable, in fact incredulous, that Tambuwal has only appointed one Special Adviser since he took over on May 29, 2015. Elsewhere, his colleagues appoint hundreds of aides, including domestic staff paid for by the state in addition to enjoying the perquisites that come with such elevation. While others waste billions of naira to attend to the needs of these varied hangers-on, Tambuwal has, within a year, been able to set up some key nuggets for the general development of his state. They include three Micro-Finance banks to be established in the three senatorial districts; take off of the state contributory health scheme in four communities, and; approval granted for the upgrading of six hospitals to premier health facilities in various parts of the state. Tambuwal also ensured release of funds for the completion of 22 major projects inherited from previous administration in the areas of housing, energy, power, agriculture, water resources, mining, rural and community development.
The Tambuwal administration was said to have sponsored 22 doctors and engineers for medical and engineering studies in foreign universities under the Higher Education Scheme Programme; attracted 25 International Development Partners to Sokoto to work in the health sector; engaged 213 Doctors and Health Professionals to develop Sokoto State Strategic Health Plan for 2016-2020 in collaboration with RTI/LEAD/USAID. He also provided funds for the completion of 500 housing units for 300 civil servants who benefitted from home renovation loan guaranteed by the government
He also recruited 500 new teachers to boost manpower in secondary schools; employed 500 junior and mid-cadre staff into the state civil service, along with drivers, messengers, mechanics and other clerical/administrative officers. For children with cleft palate or Noma syndrome, arrangements were concluded for 583 such Noma patients to receive free plastic surgeries at the state-run Noma Children Hospital. Tambuwwal’s administration ‘created’ 1000 new millionaires in Sokoto after the payment of retirement benefits to 1,907 pensioners. In addition, it purchased JAMB forms for 8,000 Sokoto youth for the 2016 examinations and over 6,500 epilepsy and psychiatric patients received free medication from the government.
He seems to have a good perspective of how to touch his people’s lives with meaningful impact and the list goes and on. There was not a single mention of the ‘renovation’ or ‘rehabilitation’ of the government house to ‘meet international standard’ befitting the status of state governor. What stands out is the people-oriented slant of the projects. That, to my mind, is Governance 101. As a friend said, the mistake most leaders make is their misconception of the exact needs of the people they govern. Where they were expected to tackle basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing, they wander into the phantasmagorical realm of building bridges that people would never use and projects that merely satisfy the bloated egos of the elite. Countless of such tasteless ventures filled up the pages on May 29. Only few stood out and Sokoto State was one. When states that owe workers’ salaries running into months start flexing muscles on the pages of newspapers over projects that cannot attend to these basic needs, then something is fundamentally wrong somewhere. You cannot continue to impoverish and alienate the citizens and expect nothing short of the growing riotous outrage in many parts of the country. Time was in the past when governments exhibit sheer incompetence and get rewarded with another term in office. With dwindling fortunes and almost zero IGR, serious-minded state governors are becoming more ingenious in the management of resources.
I do not need to list the names of those still playing to the gallery. They know themselves. Why should some select few be creating jobs and attending to the needs of their subjects while their counterparts toy with their subjects’ future with grandiose silliness If Tambuwal and few others have learnt how to cut their flowing babariga according to their cloth, why is it difficult for the noisemakers among them to fall into line? Well, I presume that one year is too short to begin a festival of praise for a man who still has his eyes fixed on the bigger prize— President Muhammadu Buhari’s present seat. It is, however, ennobling that he has shown early signs of seriousness unlike many others, still groping in the dark. Asked of his plans for 2019, his response was nothing but a lesson in political gerrymandering. Listen to him: “In my view, it is wrong to bring up the issue of 2019 when we are just a year old in office. This is 2016 so the discussion about 2019 is unnecessary at this time. My philosophy is simple: during political season, discuss politics, during the time of governance; the focus should be governance towards actualising people-focussed development.”
For now, Tambuwwal appears to be moving fast towards being a unique exception but ironically, he does not deserve too much adulation yet because being the nation’s number five public official must have equipped him to see farther vistas. More relevant than the speculation of higher future office is the verdict of Sokoto people who have a right to experience real change as they are seeing now. For now, we can only remind him that the jury is still out there, monitoring to see how enduring his current show of passionate zeal and commitment to good governance would be. Part of the great values of democracy lies in the people’s right to determine future sanctions or applause for those given the opportunity to lead. Will Tambuwal be one of the few exceptions to the rule? The time ticks for him still.
Grateful to be 50
Just like yesterday, this young man made it to the proverbial golden age last Thursday. All through that journey of doubts, successes, betrayals and trials, God has been there even when I was the least qualified to share in His grace. It is for that reason that I am here, saying ‘Thank you Lord for the gift of life.’ I am eternally grateful for the way He lifted me up when I thought I had lost all. Thank you Lord . . .for everything.
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To those who stole our future…
No week passes by in Nigeria without the anti-graft agencies issuing statements on the mindboggling larceny perpetrated by the men of power or the lucky lackeys hobbling around them. Oftentimes, it is quite difficult to soak it all in that such daylight thievery actually happened under the nose of a government that made serious noise about giving corruption a sucker punch. Yes, the national treasury do have its own history of unenviable leaky patches here and there, you still cannot but wonder if those were big enough to allow the scandalous freighting of billions of dollars into private pockets without any encumbrance whatsoever. At a time when you had concluded that, even in death, General Sani Abacha had an unassailable record as Nigeria’s most callous looter, you got jolted to the reality that Abacha must have operated an archaic system when compared to the supersonic, light speed with which his modern-day counterparts steal blindly. And this is in spite of the fact that the nation is still grappling to recoup a large chunk of the slush funds stashed in foreign banks by the dark-goggled soldier!
Earlier in the week, the Swiss government announced plans to return yet another $300m of the Abacha ill-gotten wealth even as the President Muhammadu Buhari government struggles to trace how previously returned loot were re-looted by light-fingered senior government officials. When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission routinely reels out billions of figures that allegedly went into private pockets in the name of servicing electioneering campaigns, you are tempted to conclude that those officers must relish a game called pumping up the figures. How on this fantastically corrupt plane can that happen? You mean that, in this climate of cashless economy, people still withdraw billions of naira in cash, stack them in the boots of their cars and drive to guesthouses to share? Could it be true that highly placed military officers (the best breed of gentlemen) actually withdrew such humongous figures; convert them into rolls of dollars to buy mansions for themselves, family members and even paramours? That all manners of characters go with empty Ghana-must-go bags into the office of the National Security Adviser only to come out with heavily pregnant, dollar-laden bags which are dispensed on such spurious sub-heads as procuring prayers for smooth elections, funding prayer warriors to the Holy Land and rendering consultancy advice! That, right under our noses, a penniless man becomes a billionaire in less than 24 hours and we give him a pat on the back with a chieftaincy title to boot!
Without mentioning names, those who have persisted in stealing this country’s future know themselves. That is if they have not sold their conscience to the gods they worship—the one that has no compassion for humanity. On the other hand, is there any justification for the voracious appetite most of these persons deploy when they descend on the national treasury? They confound the world with the greed in their thieving eyeballs! They not only steal more than they need throughout their sorry lives, they packed monies presumably for generations yet unborn. They bury raw in latrines and sewages. If what happened in the past was wanton looting, what is happening now is, for the want of better words, unmitigated robbery. Lawmakers change cars at the rate their wives change diapers for their spoilt children. Some of them foolishly display their state of the art cars and aircraft on the social media believing that’s the new cool. These are persons who never owned or managed any cottage industry to profitability or had any tangible means of income before politics thrusts them into our consciousness. Privileged members of the executives including governors buy cars they may never ride more than few months before them into parts of the furniture in their gardens; they build houses they would never live in and tie down luxury items that may never adorn their bodies. They spend billions of naira on medical tourism mostly to check the beatings of their pulse or attend to sore throat in the most expensive facilities abroad. At the height of the lunacy, some even do their laundries in the world’s best capitals. Members of the judiciary equally joined the sickening wagon, as they become superrich, selling justice to the highest bidder. They just did not know how to put an end to the sickening madness.
Today, the government says Nigeria is broke and we wonder why. If only we have taken an inventory of the figures being rolled out daily by the anti-graft agencies, we would have easily located where and when the shoes started to pinch. Where were we when government, in subsidising the rich, doled out trillions of naira to portfolio businesspersons in the garb of a nebulous oil cabal? How did the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation fail to remit a whopping $12.9bn into the Federation Account as at 2013 in spite of regulatory checks? Under whose authority did a minister in that sector derive the power to, unilaterally transfer millions of dollars to individual accounts as part of the war chest for the 2015 elections? Did we think the national treasury is a limitless pouch of foreign currencies when government closed its eyes to a crazy regime of import waivers that has sunk N447bn liability on that abused wallet according to findings by an ad-hoc Senate Committee on Import Duty, Waivers, Concessions and Grants? If it was normal for public officers to waste billions of tax payers’ funds on flying chattered jets and lodging in top notch hotels across the globe, why should it surprise us that the purse is getting drier and drier by the day. When we produce nothing but prefer grandiose lifestyles lived only by celebrities in other climes, why should we worry that our economy is dovetailing into recession, as oil prices remain low?
While the privileged few relish this contest to outdo one another in this grave game of malfeasance, millions others are out in the cold hoping that the crumbs would fall on their laps. The irony is that those crumbs never get to them. Funds appropriated to build schools, hospitals, houses, roads, infrastructural facilities and services simply disappear into private pockets. People just siphon the money and launder to the many equally corrupt tax havens spread across the world. It does not matter if a little token from the slush funds is all that is needed to save lives or educate millions of children forced out of school by poverty. It does not matter if millions of unemployed graduates are already romancing the depression button out of anger and absolute alienation from an opportunity to trudge a path to economic freedom. It matters less if the primary beneficiaries of this stolen wealth use such to strengthen their economies and then turn around to label us as fantastically corrupt. We have become a laughing stock among the comity of nations—a blessed country with abundant natural resources watching helplessly as its hapless citizens feed from the dumpsite.
Do not get it wrong. It is not as if kleptomania is genetically Nigerian. It is just that we seem to have laid it bare of any humanity. Some of our leaders are too fixated to stealing that they hardly remember their responsibilities to the people they pretend to govern. All they do is to steal, steal and steal until they become money drunk. It is, therefore, not strange that President Buhari was shocked that otherwise responsible men would just convene a meeting where the sole agenda was to share $1.2bn funds originally meant for the procurement of arms to fight insurgency. Even CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was surprised by the way Buhari kept repeating that what was being shared was billions of dollars! The sad reality is that the Dasukigate, as the arms deal swindle has come to be known, is a tip of the iceberg in the rot that has held us down as a nation. And so, one year into the Buhari government, we are yet to get to the roots of how much these robbers of our tomorrow have creamed off us. In fact, no one cries blue murder again when news stories circulate about the next looter in billions. It has become a recurrent theme in the Nigerian narrative—a nation that wasted its past, toys with its present and steals, with reckless abandon, its future. Interestingly, those who are expected to be indignantly riled by this whole charade are either sleeping with hands crossed or waiting for an opportune time to rip their share of the national cake. Shame.
Yet, something tells me that there is a glimpse of hope from all this. If this government can walk its talk by ensuring that these robbers of our commonwealth get the full wrath of the law regardless of their status, it is not impossible that the process of reclamation may take a firm root. Henceforth, let these privileged looters sit their butts down here and treat their emergency big man’s diseases right in Nigerian hospitals. We need to put an end to the maddening rush to visit Europe or America on medical grounds by these crooks. Like I said before, let these shameless marauders of our collective till understand that the tide has changed. A new Sheriff is in town. They may blame it all on a vengeance-seeking Buhari to satiate their craving for a psychological balance in times like this. That does not in any way preclude the fact that these pretentious statesmen (a misnomer if you ask me) and fluke democrats have cheaply sold their honour and integrity in the twilight of their lives. No amount of brash idiocy and crass resort to spewing hollow verbiage can restore the high esteem in which these persons were once held by the society. The earlier they start living with the reality of self-chosen and unenviable fall from grace to grass, the easier it would be for them to grapple with the certainty of an enduring public odium. Pity.
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Has the Pdp really learnt anything?
In an addendum to my piece titled, ‘Between the PDP and its Judases’ published on May 23, last year, I had argued that: “Some persons derisively describe PDP’s major lingering ailment as Eedi Ajatuka – a Yoruba description that connotes a group’s paranormal but largely self-chosen descent into perdition”. Today, the bubble of deceit has burst and the party is obviously at the latter stages of an implosion long foretold. Many are already battling to win the prize as the writer of a fitting epitaph for the fallen edifice. Adamu Muazu, the man Jonathan handpicked to replace Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had thrown in the towel, having superintended over the routing of the party from the national political space. Tony Anenih, ‘the leader’ – a man famed for his infamous quote of ‘no vacancy in Aso Rock’ for every sitting President, now wrestles with age-related health challenges. He vacated the political space in PDP for Jonathan to have a free hand in reconstructing a party under intensive care with a life support machine to boot. Anenih’s post has since been taken over by a more sober Walid Jibrin. Papa Anenih just couldn’t permanently fix his rump on the Board of Trustees chair! Olisa Metuh and his co-travelers are already on their way out and will soon be replaced by another group of their ilk, without the usual free flowing money this time around. Something tells me this flailing once-upon-a-time leading party in Nigeria may soon be in the morgue, smothered by sheer, unrestrained arrogance.
Truth is: although the PDP reserves the right to pride itself as the only national party in the land; the sad reality is that it has not managed its affairs better than the opposition parties. It has been a huge failure in internal democracy. For 16 years, it operated at the whim of one man—the voice from Aso Rock. It was the norm under Obasanjo and the pattern continued with unabashed temerity under Jonathan. That, in my humble view, is not party supremacy. It is the basest form of political gobbledygook. If the party must look itself in the mirror, it must start by accepting that it has thrived on deceit and has not lived up to the minimum standard it set for itself. I doubt if there exists any tale of self-inflicted betrayal that could be bigger than this. By the way, that is what Judases do. They just gave the PDP, its leadership and the President a bloody nose.”
That was a prognosis that has lasted one good year. Today, you ask, what has changed in the PDP that gives hope of a positive revival as the party holds its national convention? Agreed that the party’s rank of rambling noisemakers has been vicariously depleted by the present administration’s fight against corruption, it is not impossible the remnants baying for its soul could have set a fresh template for its survival if they so wish. Unfortunately, nothing suggests that these persons are prepared to veer off the same self-destruct lane. The same hawks that corralled it into the biggest electoral rout in 2015 are still the ones holding it by its balls, daring anyone to save it from jumping into a pit it dug for itself.
The PDP is dancing on the brink of doom and those that should stop the taunts of the drum are busy throwing stones at one another. On one side of this interesting fight is Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, who is busy perfecting a self-perpetuating agenda in office after dribbling his way to the chairmanship seat some months back, with the help of the party’s serving governors. On the other side is a band of heavyweights led by Prof. Jerry Gana and Chief Ojo Maduekwe, trying everything within and outside the books to seize the party’s machinery from a man known for his opportunistic hobbling from one party to the other. Somehow, these persons are, justifiably so, uncomfortable with the way and manner Sheriff emerged as chairman. Apart from his deep pockets, nothing else qualifies Sheriff for that office. Having found himself there, one had expected that he would have embarked on reconciliatory parleys with all the aggrieved parties. Those in his camp said he did his best to bring everyone to a round table. Well, if he ever did, I presume it to be a failed venture as things have completely broken down with the Gana faction threatening to hold a parallel convention today in Abuja while Sheriff and his gang would converge on Port Harcourt for the same purpose.
The problem here is not the possibility of the conventions holding on the same day at different places, but the aftermath. Though the Sheriff group seems to have the support of some deep pockets in the party, including serving lawmakers and some members of the Board of Trustees, led by Senator Walid Jibrin, the Gana group equally boasts of some formidable and tested politicians. Any attempt to ignore the threat posed by these persons may finally sound the death knell of a party perennially gasping for breath. Or what do you make of a coalition of 12 groups including former ministers, former governors, former members of the National Assembly and former powerful presidential aides? If in doubt, here are some names of the forces currently stacked against Sheriff and his “co-jesters.” They include but not limited to these former governors—Lucky Igbinedion(Edo), Bonnie Haruna (Adamawa), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Donald Duke (Cross River), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Mahmood Shinkafi (Zamfara), Abdulkaldir Kure (Niger), Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna), Achike Udenwa (Imo), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Okwesilieze Nwodo (Enugu), and Gbenga Daniel (Ogun).Others, according to a report in The PUNCH, include 14 former ministers who served under the PDP-led Federal Government when the party held power at the centre——Prof. Tunde Adeniran (Education), Inna Ciroma (Women Affairs), Adamu Maina Waziri (Police Affairs), Jerry Gana (Information), Abubakar Suleiman (National Planning), Taminu Turaki (Special Duties), Ishola Sarafa (Solid Minerals), Zainab Maina (Women Affairs), Josephine Anenih (Women Affairs), Ojo Maduekwe (Transportation), Prof. ABC Nwosu (Health), Dubem Onyia (Foreign Affairs), Bala Mohammed (FCT) and John Odey (Environment).
I wouldn’t know if anyone has done a contextual analysis of this list. I know high-wired politics when I see one. This is not just an ordinary gathering of like minds, striving to save a beloved party from dying. It is more about the return of a powerful godfather to emblematise his stranglehold on a party that once shoved him out as chair of the BoT. He may have once torn his membership card in fits of rage. But I doubt if he doesn’t have one more political mischief to play before bowing out of the scene. When you see yesterday’s men striking an under-the-table-deal with those who play a not-so-commendable role in our recent history, then there is cause to worry. It is either they are communing to bring the party to its knees or they are plotting to hatch a new baby out of it. Whatever it is, the smell is nothing but putrid!
In my closing remarks in that piece last year, I had asked if Jonathan would have the free time to revive the dying party with the cooperation of his herd of lackeys in halting the final implosion of a behemoth that waddled in deceit in a marriage of strange bedfellows under the fraternity of a “nest of killers”. Well, with the present scenario, we do not need to hazard a guess about how woefully he has fared. Nothing has been learnt. Nothing has changed as the plot thickens with various camps itching to lounge forward against one another with sharpened daggers – all in daring contention for the remaining shreds of their torn umbrella!
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Love. Marriage. And Death
“THEN said Almitra, ‘Speak to us of Love.’
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And When his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And When he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. . .
THEN Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls ….
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow. . .
THEN Almitra spoke, saying, “We would ask now of Death.”
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
IN the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond…
—Excerpted from Khalil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’.
Many tragic conclusions to numerous love stories had ignited that famous question in one of Whitney Houston’s unforgettable oldies, “Where do broken hearts go?” Love, they say, is a beautiful experience that conquers all. Yet, it has its irony, its paradox. It is dangerously wicked. On its bad patch, it destroys all. It is soft with an angelic tenderness but destructively hardened. It has made nations and it has brought empires down to rubbles. At one moment, it lights up an indescribable passionate fire. At the other, it bursts into a ravaging plume of fire. In the Shakespearian play, Romeo and Juliet died for love. However, the experiences of quotidian living show that people now kill for love. Dreams deferred. Homes destroyed, families shattered and bonds broken. Then you ask what is it about love that it makes mincemeat of common sense?When in love, every silly act makes sense!
Men, who have become tragic heroes of love, often blame it on the devil. Who is that by the way? If only the devil could react with the speed of light, he would have slapped hell or common sense into some brains. When fathers violate their daughters, was that love or the devil in action? When fathers marry daughters and turn them into mothers, was it propelled by love? When husbands pummel their wives to death in fits of uncontrollable anger, was love the propelling factor? When wives plot the end of their wayward husbands or when they kill them to inherit their properties, could love have been involved? What sort of love makes one to commit suicide just because a partner wants out of a romantic relationship? Could it be love or could it be the ubiquitous devil? Could it be plain madness?
In the Nigerian society, the issue of love, marriage and death is rarely brought to the front burner of discourse. Because we are willing slaves tethered to the rope of religion and cultural orientations, we hardly interrogate the matter with the utmost urgency it requires. I dare say that we are too sold to the ideal when common sense demands something more malleable to present realities. Even when it is clear that those key nuggets that ought to hold marriages together no longer exist, it is common to find ‘concerned’ relatives, friends and well-wishers asking the affected parties to keep hope alive. Yet, all we have ever offered after every tragic twist to a love gone sour is the usual platitudinous cant of an inconsequential hue. All this while the victim lies cold in a lonely morgue!
As the casualties of domestic violence and romantic flare-ups grow daily, Nigerians, more than ever before, are becoming conscious of the need to speak out and address this glaring danger. Truth is: the rate at which couples maul one another to death or inflict permanent incapacitation over issues of love is no longer tolerable. The latest victim of that unfortunate incident being Mrs Ronke Shonde (nee Bewaji) who was allegedly clobbered to death by her husband, Lekan Shonde. First, let me say that the heated debates the Shondes case generated in the social media and the attention given to it by a generality of the nation’s print media were unprecedented. Two, going through the commentaries, it became manifestly clear that most marriages are hurting. Wives, husbands and partners cover the hurt with plastic laughter in the public space while they die quietly with the condensed bitter bile piled inside of them.
Do you really want to know the scary truth about why conjugal irresponsibility is growing in leaps and bound these days? The social media is one major factor. It has cheapened promiscuity and lascivious lifestyle. It has helped in destroying whatever sacredness was left of that institution called marriage. The quantum of carnal rascality that goes on daily in the social media is unimaginable. It erodes trust and plants shadows of doubts in the minds of couples. Many homes have been broken by the flirtations that go on in the name of social media interactions. A careful reading of the Shondes’ saga shows how a mere suspicion of his wife’s alleged infidelity, mode of dressing and a possible romance with a colleague in her office eventually led to her death.
Love.Marriage.Death. That is the defining paradox of conjugal bliss. Why should love unleash the beast in us? I am sure that Lekan Shonde would not have imagined that the Year 2016 would herald hisentry as the poster boy for all that is bad about love, for playing the lead role in the death of someone he vowed to love till death do they part. Would Ronke have been alive today if he had not become jealous of her secret activities onWhatsApp and postings of sexy photographs on Facebook? Would he be holed up in a dingy cell at the Lagos Police Command today if he had not succumbed to the temptations of filtering through his late wife’s text messages? Would he be the villain of a love story gone sour if he had ignored that caller who told him that Ronke was in Abuja for four days with a lover boss? Did he even care to verify Ronke’s side of the story when he eventually summoned the courage to confront her about the tales of infidelity? Moreover, even if the stories turn out to be truth, was snuffing life out of the mother of two lovely children the best option?
No matter how we try to rationalise it, Lekan committed a grave error and he would have to live with consequences of his action or inaction for the rest of his life. Ronke is dead and gone but quite a sizable number of women are already voicing their frustrations against a society that criminalises the woman on matters of infidelity and domestic violence. They ask questions that should prick the conscience of every cheating man: If a wife, girlfriend or partner decides to turn violent or plot the death of every cheating male, how many men would be alive today? Why can’t the men walk away or seek for divorce in the case of glaring infidelity instead of turning women into punching bags or cold remains in body bags? Why do men think they have the right to serial cheating while the women should remain eternally faithful? Why do we turn into beasts when we catch a glimpse of our wives’ flirty attitude but assume they should take it as one of those things when we are the culprits? Some would even tell you, with tone of finality, that African men are naturally promiscuous. Excuse me?
No matter how we look at it, these nagging questions still come down to one thing: Where do the broken-hearted go? In denying responsibility for the murder of his wife, Lekan painted the imagery of a depressed partner who probably committed suicide. I simple laughed. Lekan, I dare say, was the depressed one. He was so broken that, in his own words, he contemplated suicide. That was shortly before the ‘devil’ pushed him to ‘stroke’ a fatal blow on his wife. The rest is history. I pity him just as I pity countless others who are walking time bombs waiting to explode. I may not know how many more are reading this that would end up as victims of a love so brutal. I may not know how much longer those in hurting, abusive and failing marriages can endure before they take that deadly step. All I know is that the time has come for us to remove those shibboleths of deceit in marriages. It is high time we redefined the rules guiding how man and woman should bond in conjugal bliss before we all become nut cases!
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Our silent conspiracy, our loud hypocrisy
No, some murderous, cold-blooded ‘herdsmen’ presumably from the bottomless pit of hell committed the most heinous form of murder in far-away Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State and the 19 state chief executives from the Northern part of the country suddenly realised the political expediency of rising to the defence of the nomadic Fulani herdsman. Interesting. Lest we forget, Nimbo is just a painful reminder of the deadly killings, the endless bloodied fields that daily dot our landscape. Before Nimbo, there had been countless senseless and inexplicable massacres across the nation – all credited to the so-called unknown ‘Fulani herdsmen’ without any conscious effort to separate the whiff from the chaff until tempers began to boil over the carnage in Enugu. Since then, there has been counter-arguments by those who ascribe the origins of the killer herdsmen to inexact places at home and in Niger, Chad, Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso. Now the geography expands ad-infinitum.
The concern now is not just about the ease with which these harbingers of tears, blood and sorrow perpetuate the act. It is more about the sophistication of the weaponry and the expertise of the operation in a country where only the nation’s legitimate forces of coercion and the likes of Boko Haram have claimed near-exclusivity in the widespread use of AK-47. Yes, it is not impossible that the nomadic Fulani herdsman may have an axe to grind with those perceived as impediments to their cows’access to free grazing, what we did not question as a people in most of those attacks was the haste with which every murderous action became the burden of the Fulani herdsmen to bear.
For me, it is very easy to fathom why the coalition of northern governors has become united in staunch defence against what appears to be the ‘persecution’ of the Fulani. Basically, it is in line with our general leaning to primordial sentiments of race, religion and culture. I think we underrate the damage these primordial sentiments inflict on our collective psyche as a nation when we theorise the timeworn belief that corruption is the biggest malaise bedevilling the Nigerian nation and that spirited efforts must be made to stop its spread before it consumes us all. How long did it take for these governors to know that it was an ‘insult’ for people to continue fingering Fulani herdsmen in the massacre of hapless citizens in different settlements from Maiduguri to Kaduna and from Jos to Benue? If the Enugu killings had not generated such heat with a dangerous slant of ethnic cleansing, I doubt if we would not have continued with a crazy conspiracy of silence that somewhat emboldens these marauders of hate to perpetuate more havoc.
While we relish the public show that we have made of our unity and indivisibility as a people lumped together with the 1914 amalgamation, we have collectively refused to let go of our ethnic cleavages and tribal affiliations. That is why, for us, every criminal act must be contextually located within a geo-political or religious prism. That is why it was easy for a section of the country to heap unmitigated invectives on President Muhammadu Buhari on the assumption that, as a Fulani man, he must have armed ‘his people’ to kill ‘their people’ as payback for his electoral setback in that particular region. It is even more shameful that among those peddling the rumour would be found otherwise well-enlightened public figures. I understand that tensions are justifiably worked up in times like this but nothing justifies the hypocrisy of hate and illogic. Perhaps, if the governors, including those in states that were initially attacked by these herdsmen or cattle rustlers or terrorists, had not maintained a discomfiting silence at the onset of what has become commonplace, maybe these killers would not have transformed into daredevil kidnappers and wasters of precious lives.
Of major concern to this writer is the clear and present danger the unbridled lapse into primordial sentiments poses to Nigeria’s unity. It is like there is no limit to how far people can go in the vomit of irrational and provocative statements. Everyone, including the leaders, appears to be poking peace in the eyes and daring it to do its worst. While Nigeria longs for those to defend its sovereignty, ethnic jingoists have taken over the public space vomiting absurd and incendiary rant. If the Northern Governors Forum is not threatening fire and brimstone over the matter, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State would be unveiling a plan to poison the source of water for the herdsmen’ cattle in Ekiti State should any community be attacked. If a so-called Northern Senators’ Forum is not making salaciously indicting statement about a potentially deadly reprisal should any Fulani herdsman be flushed out of the South-East region, you can be sure that their counterparts in the South-East are equally beating the war drums and pointing accusing fingers at a Fulani President whom they perceived as biased. It is a crazy orchestra of broken rhythm in a country inhabited by ‘blood brothers.’ Shame.
The sad reality is that Nigeria gains nothing from this loud conspiracy of silence. When the South-West militia called the Odua Peoples Congress goes on the rampage, you can be sure that a large number of Yoruba people would be backing them in solidarity. It doesn’t matter if what they commit genocide against another race. It is the same case with the Niger Delta militants in the South-South, the MASSOB or latter day IPOB in the South East and the insurgents in the North until they started turning their weapons against their people in a crazy frenzy to turn the streets into a canvas of blood. This hypocrisy is the oil that fuels the multidimensional crises that tie us to the rudder of underdevelopment. The same tendency switches on the mute button in us when one of our own is indicted for stealing the country blind.
That is why, in spite of all the stories of billions of dollars returned loot, the late General Sani Abacha remains an idol among his ‘people.’ It is exactly the reason why the muted stories of diverted funds has not stopped the eager reception of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endless pontificating about his presidency being the golden age in Nigeria’s fight against corruption. It is also the reason why the immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan swaggers on as the hero of democracy in spite of the jaw-dropping heist that was allegedly perpetuated under his watch. It would be the reason why the likes of Mrs. Dieziani Madueke may one day be welcomed by her people as the hitherto unsungheroine of the Jonathan era. It would only conform with the past tradition of thronging the airport with drumming and praise-songs to welcome those who fled the country years earlier, over past misdeeds.
That is our story. We are a country that idolises shameless villains. That is the story of a country that flourishes in selective amnesia a conspiracy of silence garbed in vile hypocrisy. Pity.
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A time to muse
Already, words are out there that over N5bn has been spent on the Buhari constant shuttles till date. Now, how does the loud silence in Aso Rock help the matter? Beyond the feeble argument that the President prioritises the expected gains that would accrue to the country before hugging the skies, the new vista of transparency and accountability compells a more open system in which the populace is availed of the financial liability or otherwise of such journeys. That is yet to be done by a government that holds aloft the flag of change. But then, is it not our democracy?
Buffeted by a rash of criticisms over the secrecy surrounding the delivery of 38 Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps at an inflated price of N35.1 million each to some lawmakers in the upper legislative chamber, the leadership of the Senate quickly came up with a statement justifying the purchase. Ordinarily, if the Sunday Trust had not scooped the story, I doubt if the Senator Bukola Saraki-led Senate would have bothered to offer any explanation no matter how tendentious. By the way, this is not the first time exotic cars would be purchased at inflated prices in the National Assembly or even The Presidency. It has become a norm. It formed the major fulcrum of the allegations the then Hon. Dino Melaye levelled against Speaker Dimeji Bankole some years back. The issue of bloated figures in car purchase is a recurring decimal in the lives of successive leaderships in the two legislative chambers. You may then want to know what could be responsible for the outcry over this latest transaction. The answer is simple. The Saraki leadership promised to publish the details of the N120bn appropriated by it through direct line charge. It was in line with its commitment to embrace change and make the legislature more accountable to the people.
Unfortunately, the National Assembly has refused to walk its talk. The leaderships of both chambers continue with the old practice of locking the details in the closet. As I write this, the House of Representatives is on the verge of purchasing 360 ‘utility’ vehicles worth N3.6bn for all its members who had earlier collected millions of naira as car loan last year. Of course, the usual excuse is that such cars are for oversight functions and not for the private use of individual members. That is crass baloney. If the general public and organised labour had not threatened a showdown with these over-pampered set of Nigerians, it was doubtful if the Chairman, Senate Services, Ibrahim Gobir, would have justified why the cars suddenly became a necessity. By the way, his argument that 36 Toyota Land Cruiser VXR V8 were bought at N36.5 million each and that the fund was appropriated in the 2015 budget reeks of scented lie. Could the 2015 budget had forecast a more than 100 per cent increase in the value of the dollar to the Naira in 2016? In any case, no one has ever sighted the breakdown of the N150bn the Senator David Mark-led Senate appropriated for itself in 2015. So, how could anyone trust Gobir’s defence? It is also trite illogic for Gobir to argue that the N1.314bn utility vehicles would be ‘shared’ among the three senators from the state. So, the Federal Capital Territory is no longer at par with the states” Some lies do not just stick. They expose the rot within. In the same vein, Gobir’s ‘moderate’ price of N36.5bn per exotic toy for the lawmakers does not make any economic sense because such bulk purchase normally comes with appreciable discount. In this case, it appears those who made the transaction left their bargaining chip at home. Lest I forget, did the Senator just remind us that the purchase was made legitimately with the 2015 appropriation? So, what would happen to the N4.7bn the Senate reportedly set aside in the yet-to-be-signed 2016 Budget to buy vehicles for its members out of which Senator Saraki had already spent over N300m to upgrade his official fleet? I am sure the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, must also have benefitted from the fleet upgrade too. Instead of struggling with the truth and hiding the humongous shame behind one leprous finger, wouldn’t it have been better if Gobir had simply told us that the other senators would soon take delivery of their car gift? After all, have we not come to accept the fact that this car matter has become a routine rather than an exception to the rule?
But then, what does a musing journalist know about democracy, its norms and the abuse of power? Nothing other than to engage a wailing pen to speak to the deaf. Pity.
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A time to muse(1)
I doubt if there is any country on this planet earth, in which logic-defying events intercept its national discourse like Nigeria. Sometimes, you wonder if we will ever get to that point when the nation would have gone past the odious cycle of muck and dirt in its socio-economic and political interface. If that were an impossibility in the yore days of military jackboots, no one would have thought that to be an unachievable reality with the advent of participatory democracy. Sadly, as Nigeria prepares for its 17th anniversary of civil rule, it gropes in the dark in a perpetual struggle to master the basic ethos and norms of a people-centred governance practice. From May 29, 1999 when General Olusegun Obasanjo mounted the saddle as a democratically elected President, the country has merely succeeded in replacing the military interlopers who fleeced the country blind with an elite class of light-fingered demi-gods disguised as democrats. For, if we must say the truth, democracy is just a limping tourist in our midst and true democrats are a rarity in an atmosphere suffused with an overdose of numb complexities. How can our politics mature when the voting majority sees nothing criminal in surrendering the power of the thumb to the whim and bloated egos of the men of power?
Until otherwise proven, I am yet to see that true democrat. Greed and banal egotism have blurred the sense of shame that ought to guide the conduct of the noisemakers in our politics and the polity. Yes, democracy confers freedom on all citizens but such comes with huge responsibilities. For example, one character that persists in abusing the privileges of that high office with infantile stupidity is Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State. This is not just about his right to exhibit a constitutionally-recognised freedom of speech but the despicable mouth diarrhoea that accompanies it. Of course, quite a number of politicians do vomit inanities , but Fayose has taken it a notch higher. He simply lacks the finesse and comportment to run even a local government area. His brand of political antagonism defies common sense and logic. Even when his principal target of this unmitigated verbal war of attrition, President Muhammadu Buhari, has ignored him for more than a year, Fayose continues playing his silly game as if that equates developmental strides for Ekiti indigenes. For a man who went public with his death wish for the then presidential candidate, it is not surprising that Fayose continues with his self-chosen unabashed role as Buhari’s Number One critic. He seems to get a special kick from the ferocity of the gloating and ranting. Well, that is okay as long as he did not cross the perimeter fence of decency. After all, it is a democracy. Isn’t it?
If this warped democracy of ours has not conferred immunity on certain categories of politicians, I doubt if Fayose would still be in that seat today, spewing malodorous gibberish against the President and relishing a failed attempt to bring the country to disrepute in the international community through his recent action in China. For the avoidance of doubt, Fayose took the farcical drama to a new low by writing the Chinese Government not to have any financial dealings with the Federal Government of Nigeria. It is even more laughable that Fayose, claiming to be speaking for the generality of Nigerians who “are totally opposed to increment of the country’s debt burden”, was also said to be in China in pursuit of investments for his state. Aside the outrageous fallacies, brazen lies and blackmail contained in the letter which his spokesperson said he would personally deliver to the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, Fayose’s egregious idiocy beggars belief. Could he have forgotten so soon that the oath he swore to on assumption of office, among other things, mandates him to exercise his restricted authority in such a way and manner that it would not “impede or prejudice the authority lawfully vested in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?” So, where did he derive the power to direct a sovereign government to reject a loan deal legally made by a representative of another sovereign state in which he is just like every other citizens who surrender their mandates to Buhari to exercise? We may not know what pushes Fayose to do what he does. What we do know is that the immunity clause which seems to empower his riotous behaviour has an expiry date and he may need to brace himself up for the consequences of his actions even if he thinks he is un-“impeachable” as the chosen one to lead Ekiti State out of darkness. By the way, did he submit that letter to President Xi Jinping at the crowded mall where he was seen posing on the rostrum? Well, what do I know about political razzmatazz? Is that not what democracy is all about?
It is manifestly clear that the serial abuse of Nigeria’s democratic experiment would continue as long as the people fail to ask the right questions and tie the leaders to the stakes of truth. Our inability to put the active players in the political space to the mirror imperils our growth and stagnates development. A truly participatory democracy permits a constant interrogation of the system irrespective of political leanings, ethnic or religious backgrounds. It is for that reason that I believe The Presidency need not ignore the request by some Nigerians for a public disclosure of the cost of the President’s diplomatic shuttles since his inauguration on May 29 last year. When we shroud such things in official secrecy as it was in the past, it fires the speculative engine.
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Our girls, our shame, our failings
BURYING my thoughts in the cadenced candour of poetry would only have produced an elegy. In truth, words fail me. Rhythm means nothing in Nigeria’s atmosphere of organised cacophony. How I wished someone would tell me it was all a dream and that what we have been reading in the newspapers about the traumatising experience of the abducted schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, were the fictional exertions of Nigeria’s growing tribe of newsmen in the new media. That there was no abduction, heroic escape, phony ‘release’ of 80 of the girls to our ever-vigilant security forces, the principal’s denial, the parents’ brave efforts in the dead zone called Sambisa Forest, the empty promises and that the yet-to-be-accounted for 234 girls were all part of the crafted twists and turns in a work of fiction.
Sadly, these heart-wrenching stories and more have become constant narratives of the horrible reality that haunt us daily as terrorists luxuriate in the widespread attention they attract as well as the benumbing official incompetence in high places. Just when you thought you had seen it all, something more grotesquely stupefying happens and jolts you to the reality that this might just be the beginning of yet another cycle of confounding happenstances. We really need not ask how we got here, do we? Never mind how we got to this stage of paralysis and collective amnesia. What is important is how and when we are going to get out of it – if we ever do. Abuja may continue to delude itself with its dud promissory notes of ‘ensuring that terrorists are made to pay’ for their odious monstrosities. Even when such empty promises are being repeated ad infinitum, it does not obliterate the fact that this country is sick – so sick that it requires the best expertise in the Intensive Care Unit for it to wobble through this harvest of doom after gloom.
That Nigeria bleeds while its leadership parties sums up the story of a country in dire straits. Blood flows on our streets and we belie this humongous horror with plastic laughter. Where others see laughter as catharsis, we have mastered the art of laughing out our impotence. As bombs after bombs boomed, we offer the most tendentious excuse ever: Terrorism is a new reality in the country and it is our share of the global crisis but we will overcome it someday, our mind echoes, in our self-hypnosis towards detaching ourselves further from our reality… Churches, mosques, entertainments spots and workplaces were attacked with countless lives cut short and properties wrecked – yet we offer the same excuse. We said we were on top of the game and even offered a definite timeline for flushing the insurgents out of our lives. Each time we boasted about our competence, these forces of doom jeered back with deadly bombs and killings that are even more audacious. We were still talking, wondering and wandering about, seeking the best strategy to keep the enemies at bay when the terrorists brought horror to the backyard of the holders of state power.
Hardly had we buried the mangled body bags of the Nyanya bomb blast when these blood-sucking terrorists hit the Girls Senior Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014. In what was reported to be a six-hour operation, they herded over 200 young girls into trucks and carted them away. They ruthlessly crushed the sole resistance on their way – a lone soldier – and soullessly went away with the bounty of a senseless attack.
For the parents, it has been two years of sorrow, tears and blood. In contrast, a community of pessimists sees the abduction story as nothing but a sham. They said it was a packaged political propaganda aimed at ridiculing and ousting the then government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. The erstwhile President and Commander in chief of Nigeria’s armed forces sang danced and vibrated political notes at a rally in Kano while the affected parents and family members were wailing, praying and hoping that it was just one bad dream that would soon fizzle out. Well, it never was. The Chibok girls are still missing as those who still care to give a thought about them hold on to hope, in spite of the poignant hopelessness that dampens the spirit of millions who live very far away from Chibok.
This national embarrassment has lasted two harrowing.years and no one knows how much longer this tragedy would linger. When the extracts above was published on May 3, 2015, I never imagined that it would still be relevant on this date, long after the abduction incident. I had thought that all the muscle flexing in high places, including the military hierarchy with the presumed support of the international community would yield some results even if with a tint of tragedy. How could I have known that the entire countdown from different media organisations would end up with the same refrain: Where are the Chibok girls? If you ask me, to whom do I seek answers? The military that keeps playing around the matter promising a rescue whose operational manual is yet to be discussed? Do we ask former President Olusegun Obasanjo who, in his usual straight-faced brashness, told whoever cared to listen to forget the girls as Mr. Jonathan’s indecisive inaction in the early days foreclosed any hope of a rescue? Maybe we should ask President Buhari who told Nigerians the other day that he is yet to receive any reliable intelligence on the missing girls. It is a tough one really. One can only hope that this is not like the unanswered question of the Dele Giwa murder: who dunit?
Two years on, Nigerians should salute the courage and resilience that the likes of Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili and Hajia Aisha Yusuf continue to put into the drive to find the girls and reunite them with their traumatised families. Here, I speak of the parents who are still alive, clinging to some kind of hope of a reunion in the solitude that encompasses their homes. At some point, Oby and the other members of her group became the butt of jokes by some members of a society that has lost its humanity. Harangued, blackmailed and intimidated by the forces of the state backed by The Presidency, they could have given up the fight. After all, none of their children was involved. It is to their credit that we still have a semblance of agitation and protest for the release or rescue of these children. So many questions dance round our heads. Who knows what had happened to them since that day of the heinous crime against their innocence? Could it be that some of them had been used as suicide bombers? Did Shekau carry out his threat of marrying them off to the Boko Haram fighters for a paltry N2000 bride price or even sold them off as slaves to some paedophiles in far-flung countries? Could they have been radicalised to the point that they have become threats to their families and the society?
Questions and more questions pop up without any answer and the countdown continues. Asked if she ever knew that the agitation would stretch this long in a recent interview in this paper, Oby said: “How could anyone have? I mean there was no way. As a matter of fact, you will recall that I started the advocacy on the social media the very next day after the abduction. From the 15th, I started screaming that they should please run after these people and get the girls back. And it was on the 30th that we embarked on our first march. There was no way in all of this that I could have imagined that we would be talking two years after. The current government took over when it was already a year plus of the abduction but if after seven months of the new government, we met with the President and the response to us was that no credible intelligence, for whatever that meant it just didn’t come out the right way. It was just not the right thing to say to parents who, when they met with him with our movement previously in July, he gave that assurance that he was going to do his utmost to rescue our Chibok girls. Seven months after, you are then told about lack of credible intelligence. I am sorry; the government of Nigeria exists to find credible intelligence. So, there is no credible intelligence, so what next? Are the parents supposed to take no credible intelligence and just walk away?”
What more is there to say on this matter? As I wrote earlier, it is to our collective shame that no definitive action has been taken to free the girls from their captors neither have we resolved the fate that has befallen them. It is not just about the shame of the abduction but the mindlessness of its handling. At this point, it is hard not to talk about our failings as a people and as leaders. Sometimes, you wonder if there is any marked difference between the insurgents in Sambisa Forest and their counterparts in the corridors of power. A leadership that has lost its humanity or one that attends to issues on the whim of political expediency is not any better than governance that has gone rudderless. While the executive and legislature wallows in the shamelessness of their endless bickering over the 2016 budget, may we remind them that the missing girls of Chibok deserve their attention too? Somehow, this national calamity would have to come to an end one way or the other. How can we rest when our girls remain in captivity, enslaved and violently abused by evil-minded men? Question is: would the state live with the shame of this national tragedy or would it summon the courage to bring them to the warm embrace of their parents and return whatever is left of their dignity? Two years on, this poser remains unanswered. Where then is our humanity and sense of shame? At this point, the words of Nigeria’s immediate past First Lady comes to mind: In everything that we do, let us remember that their is God who sees all. Sans the crocodile tears, God is indeed not smiling at those who allow this perfidy to last this long. But do they care?
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Buhari and our blurred lullaby of hope
Days ago, Nigerians not only celebrated the resurrection of Christ and its implication for mankind especially those of the Christian faith, it was also time to take a sombre introspection into how the President Muhammadu Buhari Presidency has fared exactly one year after millions of the populace trooped to the poll to effect a change at the centre. It was a moment to weigh the pros and cons of hope so deeply invested in anticipated change that it redefined the history of electoral contest in the country. At some points, we need to ask ourselves introspective questions about whether anything has significantly changed after former President Goodluck Jonathan vacated the seat of power on May 29, 2015 and Buhari mounted the saddle promising to be friends to everybody and to nobody. He also clearly warned that the rulers and the led should be wary of the consequences of their action or inaction. It may not yet be judgment day for a man who has spent more time puffing and huffing about the fight against corruption while every other thing seems to have stagnated.
Turning on the self-reflective mode becomes more imperative as citizens groan amid a sickening regime of fuel scarcity, job scarcity and massive downturn in electricity supply. It may be a difficult pill to swallow but the leadership at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation must admit their shortcomings in terms of inadequacies in service delivery. If the hood makes the monk, the mere change of the behemoth’s structures, or rebranding, as some would call it, would have conferred some tag of effectiveness to the Dr. Ibe Kachikwu-led energy powerhouse. However, events in the last three weeks or so could only mean one thing: it would require more than the swag and debonair posture of the Minister of State for Petroleum for any effective and positive turnaround at the NNPC to be felt by the populace. Of course, one understands the frustration that could have pushed Kachikwu into making that sacrilegious statement about his inability to turn water into Premium Motor Spirit. What one cannot understand is the ease with which some of the President’s men sit around without doing their part on the multiple crises that continue to plague the Buhari Presidency.
You do not watch with arms akimbo and expect magic to happen. That, more than anything, accounts for the dwindling fortunes of a President that rode into power with an unprecedented job approval rating.
Now, millions of those that stood behind him a year ago are beginning to ask questions. Due to the set ways of the bureaucracy that he inherited and the ways of some of Mr. President’s appointees, citizens believe he is becoming annoyingly slow and that his claim of having good intentions no longer holds water in a season of increasing hardships where glaring realities are exact opposites of alluring promises made. Truth is, good intentions writ large on the canvas of indolence is a recipe for failure. The crippling economic realities seem to have gravely diminished whatever flicker of hope that was rekindled at the inception of this administration. After ten months on the hot seat, things have simply appear to have nosedived right in our presence. The nation’s currency has plummeted and it is gradually becoming a worthless piece of minted paper. The energy situation is, to say the least, in tatters. The power sector is groping in the dark for survival. Unemployment skyrockets as job losses scale up at a frightening ratio. Criminal activities persist and the blood of the innocent still flows on the streets. Hopelessness reigns. In short, we still live in the Hobbesian milieu as it was under Jonathan. So, we ask, what has changed?
Ask me and I’d say the only visible difference, for now, is the change of baton. We seem to be back to the old time rhythm of movement without motion—the era of clueless interlopers in our politics and polity. A race that we had expected to be a 100-metre dash to economic rebirth is playing out to be the longest marathon ever. Yet, Buhari thinks otherwise. Hope is still a viable commodity.
Speaking at the 8th Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Colloquium the other day, Buhari waltzed lyrical about hope in the midst of hopelessness. He said he could identify with the frustrations, doubts and angst that pervade the land. He said he could see through the sorrowful blood that drips from the wearied eyes of the vulnerable. He said change is a long-suffering venture and it takes the strong to breast the tape. He spoke of his plan for the future; his determinations to diversify the economy, ensure food sufficiency, eradicate waste and reduce poverty. Sure, we have heard that before in the recent past.
I must confess that the scriptwriter did a good job even if Mr. President who is more of a task-oriented leader came out with his usual matter-of-fact presentation that makes no pretence about oratorical prowess. Yet, certain points stood out. As I listened to him speak at the International Conference Centre, Abuja that day, what came to mind was the imagery of a President that saw hope with blurry eyes. If words were all that was needed to get this country kicking again, Buhari would have made significant progress right from the day he made his inaugural speech. Unfortunately, governance is not measured by the quantum of fine sophistries a leader delivers at every state functions. It is gleaned in the measurable index of developments that influence lives and change the narrative of a country for the better.
He did blurt out some sensible, nay inspiring vibes. What is not clear to many is how far anyone can hold him to those words judging from a seeming abysmal dithering to walk the talk in the last 10 months. Hear him: “As the nation grapples with decades of dependence and profligacy of natural resources, and the coincidence of shrinking of oil prices, the Chickens have indeed come home to roost. Diversifying the economy can no longer be a slogan. It has become a necessity. In the coming months, Nigerians will see much more action. We welcome more companies that are willing to invest. We are going to hold ourselves accountable; we will measure results. To the young, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in Agriculture are now worthy of consideration.”
And then, this! “And I know there will always be some skepticism. Some have become disoriented and impatient enough to think that barriers are insurmountable. But the people in this hall disagree. Anyone who claims great change is impossible can only look at the extraordinary successes that Nigerians have achieved. Despite the odds, we have incredible examples of entrepreneurs who have set up processing facilities, green house farming, commercial off-taking systems and retail chains.”
If only I could nudge off the screaming imagery of skepticism that was playing on my mind, maybe I would have aligned my thoughts with that of the optimists that the President thought were with him in that hall. However, I just could not bring myself to that level this time. I just could not fall victim to the vacuity of a politician’s promise that easily again.
Nonetheless, it remains obvious that there is hope for Nigeria. But seriously, Buhari and his team would have to do more than the ritual of speechmaking to convince us that we are not on another rollercoaster ride to nowhere. It is not enough to tell us about the “injustice of poverty” when its ghost continues to grow in leaps and bounds as the economy hits an all-time low. As I write this, nearly half of the nation’s active working class is on the queue in a deadly search for Premium Motor Spirit. Thousands, if not millions, of young men and women of school age are equally on the streets hawking petroleum products at black market rate in addition to those selling consumables on major roads; millions of others are beating the streets armed CV-laden files hunting for jobs. Daily, the bands of skeptics grow as hope for a renaissance dims. Yet we must all hold on to hope. Keeping hope alive would help us go boldly and with unity of purpose, through the crisis of nationhood. No nation flourishes when hope dies. In the face of all our challenges, let us keep hope alive.