Category: Yomi Odunuga

I may not be a religious freak but I am conversant with what the Christian faith says about obtaining divine

favour from the Creator of the universe. In a society that has sold its soul to worldly possessions, I really cannot understand why some of us criticise our modern-day inspirational speakers, who chose to sell their message of prosperity from the sublime ambience that the pulpit offers. Even the Bible tells us that not all that call His name should be taken as His true sons. It admonishes us to watch, pray and be mindful of beingprey to the devilish antics of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. It beseeches us not only to engage in deep introspection but also to continually strive to pattern our lives after the noble trajectory of Jesus Christ. At least, this much we were told in Sunday school in our formative years.

To be sure, we were not told that making Heaven or living a Godly life was going to be a walk in the park in a society where only the fittest stands the chance of trudging on. There are numerous temptations and far too many tantalising carrots delicately placed on that narrow

path. That is why we need His divine grace on this journey. That grace, I must admit, does not come easy, too. For some of us, growing was made difficult by all manners of strict rules bothering on religiosity. At a point, we were made to understand that the Afro Beat icon, FelaAnikulapoKuti, must have sold his precious soul a million times to the devil  for daring to accuse the religious leaders amongst us of feeding fat on us while we sheepishly worship them like the ignoramuses that we were.

In my little household then, it was a sacrilege to mutter a single line from the chorus of that AbamiEda”s take on how excessive religiosity had entrapped us. Moreover, come to think of it, the pastors and Imams of those days were not living half as large as the ‘poorest’ clergy now live. They could be well dressed in their oversized coats of many colours,but they were not anything near the super models that now minister unto us, teaching us how to demand our inheritance from God. The pastors of yore sure knew the Bible and did apply it to quotidian challenges. Yet, they couldn’t” measure up when compared to the transliteration of Biblical verses of modern day pastors and its eclectic application to suit specific purpose. They were obviously filled with Holy Ghost, fire-spitting and tongue-speaking, but they did not apply the right economic mix and were not, therefore, that commercially viable. So, what the hell was Fela talking about?

Turn over the page to the modern times and what do you have? Today’s spiritual leaders are the architects of their own fate. They have, literally speaking, taken their faith and fate into their own hands.

Unlike in the past when brethren were admonished to prayerfully meditate on Jesus’ eternal words in the book of Matthew 7:7 that reads “Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you”’, today’s e-pastors have mastered how to snatch victory from the jaws of perseverance, by fire by force! If Fela were to be alive today, I have no doubt that he would have upgraded the lyrics of his classic to accommodate the extravagant disposition of present day ‘men of God’. My thoughts, anyway.

The question has been asked: should there be a limit to the

‘blessings’ that the clergy gets from God? Not really. However, something is not just right with the way the church is being run today. In the last two decades or more, many a psychedelic churches have sprung up with questionable business module that tends to portray them as limited liability companies other than altars of worship for the gathering of the saints. When the General Overseer dies, his wife takes over while the eldest son or daughter is naturally ‘anointed’ to take over from the mother at the appropriate time. This worrisome development is being replicated in most of the new generation churches today with countless General Overseers, Bishops, Senior Evangelists, Daddies and Mummies superintending over the business of communing with the Creator.

It will be interesting to know the percentage of those who throng these worship places to strengthen their spiritual relationship with God and those who see them as fertile grounds to harvest prosperity messages! How many of them really understand that spirituality in Christendom transcends the ululations of grandiose living as exemplified in the lifestyle of the man on the pulpit?

Question is: How come the clergy is no longer content with living a moderate yet comfortable lifestyle? Gone forever is the Spartan ways of the clerics of old. It appears today’s pastors are in a hurry to enjoy the good things of life. They are in a fierce battle to rule the world, dominating the hedonistic symbolisms of Mammon. Even erecting monuments for God has become a worldly contest. Many now move around in convoys of bullet proof SUVs and heavily armed guards. It will not be surprising if some of them preach the Word with a loaded gun strapped to their waists. It is a disturbing trend these days; they now speak about their Gucci suit, their Raymond Weil wristwatches, their PocoRabanne perfumes, Italian belts and all manner of vain fashion accoutrement before talking about the import of Jesus’ choice of riding a donkey into Jerusalem when he could have picked the best of the horses! Sure, this is not a place to dwell on the growing rate of lascivious excesses in our worship places.

In her contribution to reports that the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria and Founder of Word of Life Bible Church, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, was ‘blessed’ by his flock, which he has shepherded for 40 years, with a 10-seater Bombardier/Challenger jet worth over 40 million dollars, a lady had suggested on her Facebook page that the government should consider introducing Pentecostal Evangelism as a course in our universities so that more potential pastors would have the opportunity to perfect their skill on how to prosper in the Lord’s vineyard.  You may call it funny but her contribution says a lot about the gradual descent of religious piety into the realm of mercantilism. Evidently, the swagger and showmanship that many a pastor have brought into what was once a solemn assembly of the faithful is not helping matters. Wither the old rites of worship in a society where even the most outrageous dressing, homosexuality and lesbianism can be excused with a biblical quotation? Lord have mercy!

The righteous outrage over a plane gift notwithstanding, I believe we are missing the point, expending energy on criticising the pulpit. Before we crucify the pulpit, we must first engage in self-introspection. Why, for example, do we worship at a particular church? Is it because a particular preacher sends adrenaline down our spines each time he mounts the podium or because of his style, the grandiloquence of his speech, the pitch in his Queen’s English, his deployment of American slangs or simple because of his exquisite dressing? Are we there to serve God or Mammon? If we do not want to be labelled hypocrites, we must first take the log out of our eyes before daring to take the speck out of our pastor’s eye.  If we had not complained against the rabid acquisitions and stupendous wealth of our spiritual leaders amidst the crying suffering among the congregants, why do we cry blue murder just because of a slight upgrade in status? Can’t we just see the latest acquisition of a flying toy as a necessary tool in the desire to bring the gospel closer to the lost in our villages and hamlets?

As my good friend Lara Wise puts it, those who whine over the perceived greed that has taken over the pulpit do so because they have refused to set their standard beyond man. She wrote: “God’s standard is same for everyone; pastor, church and congregation. I keep saying this, no pastor, whether jet-flying or bicycle-riding, deserves to be your standard. That way, nothing they do or do not do surprises us.

And why do I get this sneaky hunch that we are yet to hear and see more happenings in the last day Christendom that will shock, annoy, depress and distract us?”

No other person could have put it better. Those who frequent certain altars for blessings without any patterned course or giving a hoot about how they come into sudden wealth should just claim their own private jets now! For those who truly crave the glory of His kingdom, Lara says they should look unto Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith.” For those who are still dazed by the sickening material cravings of self-styled, end-time preachers, let them be consoled by his soothing words in Mark 10:18 to wit he admonished: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God.” So why fret when mere mortals fail to practice what they preach about him? Why?

Anyone who keeps tabs on recent developments in the polity should be deeply troubled going by our abysmal level of stagnation on many fronts. Not that one had expected a magical change from the almost

irredeemable lethargy of the past; somehow, one had thought the current regime would walk its talk of injecting a breath of fresh air into governance. However, some 16 months down the line after a political campaign that touted possibilities of fresh air, it is becoming increasingly clear that it will take a long while before Nigerians can truly exhale. This is not just about the persistent stench of astounding corruption as it continues to immerse the pretentious lot claiming to fight it. It is more about prevalent palpable decay and the complete loss of those values that were once held so high—brotherly love, collective sense of patriotism and a

strong belief in a united Nigeria. Today, countless human lives are wasted or simply made redundant by an economic module that attends to the insatiable needs of the rich few while the poor, voiceless majority wallow in penury. Even the educated folks that are supposed to be a comfortable and economically productive segment are no longer at ease as they groan under the yoke of unemployment. It is, indeed, a scary scenario.

Definitely, the gloomy picture is worsened by the scandalous revelations of the humongous plundering being visited on our collective patrimony by a generation of callous thieving elite class, including cohorts in the corridors of power. At least, courtesy of the many probes carried out at different levels of our national life, we

now know that the fat cats in the oil sector no longer steal millions of Naira as they now count their loot in millions of dollars. It is not by accident either that while Nigeria cannot boast of a single jet as a token symbolism for its moribund national carrier, the nation’s nouveau riche boasts of the largest collection of private jets in Africa. State governors now buy aircraft as a symbol of class. After countless probes and threats to expose the powerful cartel within the oil sector, all we get to see are peripheral gestures—a huffing and

puffing that emboldens many others to dip their hands in the bounty called the national cake. While the middle class shrinks by the day, the usual lip service is being paid to the electoral promise of alleviating the crying anguish within the community of the poor and vulnerable. Even those given the responsibility of alleviating poverty were alleged to be lining up their pockets instead. Pity.

If this were to be an election year, I doubt if President Goodluck Jonathan would be able to provide positive answers to a few simple questions. Is the standard of living better now than what it used to be three years back? Are Nigerians safer today anywhere in the country than they were in 2009? Is there a significant difference in the

unemployment ratio compared to what Jonathan met as ‘Action President’ in 2010? Is the economy sliding towards a cliff-hanger or are the projections on the positive trend? Is this President generally seen as

a national icon or is he perceived as the product of a particular region? In addition, is the average Nigerian faring better under a Jonathan presidency than they were before his emergence as the nation’s Number One citizen?

Beyond the occasional but vain celebratory spasms that Nigerians are treated to, I insist that this President is yet to prove to us that his hands are on the plough. His deeds and performance are the exact opposite of what he promised the nation on May 29, 2011. Hope was the summation of his speech. Hope is the missing factor since his ascendance to power. He spoke extensively of a ‘transformation agenda’, pledging to do things differently. Well, maybe we saw glimpses of that at the early stages when the joy of victory utterly beclouded our critical sense of judgment. Today, we are not sure anymore. We are not sure if anything is being done differently. And if they are, then someone needs to explain why the effects are not being felt. Has the health sector recorded any significant improvement and has there been any reduction in what the nation loses to medical tourism? Is the education sector any better? Whither agriculture and infrastructural development? Has the power sector shed its toga of inefficiency in spite of the endless injection of millions of dollars? What is being done about the crying rot in the oil sector? What about the outrageous shenanigan that played out right in the presence of the

President during the submission of the Petrol Revenue Special Task Force report by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu? In short, what has changed?

In his congratulatory message to the re-elected President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, Jonathan applauded the overwhelming victory recorded by Obama in the fiercely-fought American presidential elections. He described it as an “endorsement by the good people of United States of his leadership, progressive world view and the very good work he has done in the past four years towards ending global economic depression and fostering global peace and security.” It has also been said that Obama got the chance to exhale after the November 6 election because he did not sit on his hands, lapping up the goodies of that office while Americans groan under economic depression with huge job cuts. In spite of the tough challenges, he

walked the talk and saved many from jumping over the cliff. Therefore, it was not any wonder that he got a reward of another four years during Tuesday’s neck-to-neck election. Obama promised change and he did change some things. Now, he wants to move forward, positively!

Back home, we ask again, what has changed in Nigeria? Is it the unemployment statistics where six PhD, 704 Masters and 8,460 Bachelor degree holders jostle for employment as Executive Truck Drivers in a cement factory? Is it the millions of unemployed graduates wandering the streets in search of just any job? Is it the quality of medicare that is obtainable in our health centres? Is it the fact that gunmen no longer kill and main with scant regard for human lives? Is it that culprits of the various heinous crimes committed against the state

have been brought to book as repeatedly promised by this government? Is it that pensioners no longer die on the queue while some fat hawks steal pension funds in billions? Is it that the cost of governance has been drastically reduced or that lawmakers no longer approve stupendous allowances to themselves? Are our roads safer now than they used to be? Are we seeing the sunny side of life or are we mounting up the figures of the deprived, the alienated and the abused?

Surely, it is a backward movement when the highly educated among us now scurry for employment as professional drivers. It is wasted education and it paints a darker picture of how deep we have sunk in

the development index if we excuse the ‘executive’ tag on the job description. Is it not possible for some of these persons to take jobs as ‘executive’ gunmen if the price is right? Just thinking aloud, anyway.

In all this, one thing is clear: it is still cloudy out there and time is fast running out for any meaningful change. Does it mean the tide cannot be changed? No! What it means is that Jonathan has to take the gauntlet, be presidential and summon the political will to do that which he said he would do. As Obama said in his acceptance speech, “progress will come in fits and starts. It is not always a straight line. It’s not always a smooth path.” We all acknowledge that fact and that is why many still wait on Jonathan to press the action button on time. Unfortunately, that button remains untouched 16 months after while he keeps nibbling at other matters of lesser value to our collective dreams. We have heard his sermons; we have shared his lamentations; we have even heard him roar. But, painfully, we are yet to see that flicker of hope which Obama describes as “that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting!”

Mr. President, I hope these words from a man who just got another four years for a job well done will sufficiently ignite the hidden fire in you so that the rest of us far outside your inner caucus can begin to feel the sunny side of life! As it is, all it takes is that courage to keep reaching, to keep working and to keep fighting for a better Nigeria. Evidently, being clueless or showing a semblance of it neither has a place in this task nor the pages of history. Are you now ready to take the bold step, Sir? If you are, then step forward!

Being text of presentation by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, on the occasion of the submission of reports of special taskforces to President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Abuja.

It gives me great pleasure and a sense of fulfilment to welcome you all today to this historic occasion of the presentation of the reports of three special task forces; the Petroleum Revenues Task Force, Governance and Controls Task Force and the National Refineries Task Force to President Goodluck Jonathan.

That of the PIB Technical Committee was presented to Mr. President in June.

We set up these task forces under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan to bring sanity, probity, efficiency and reform to all parastatals  of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources ahead of the passage of the new Petroleum Industry Bill currently being considered by the National Assembly.

We set up these task forces to bring about change and full transparency to the oil and gas sector and draw a road map for ending corruption and waste in this critical extractive industry to the full benefit of the peoples and governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at all levels.

In setting up these task forces, we went beyond partisanship in appointing the members; we invited time and tested professionals and technocrats. We invited labour and civil society and put them all together to design a way forward for the greater good of the people of Nigeria. When I took the shortlist of task force members to the President for his consideration, he did not hesitate to approve them all, even though the list contained those who were known critics of his administration and members of opposition political parties.

The President gave the necessary backing to ensure that all were carried along in our reform of an industry not too known for transparency over the last few decades. We salute the President for such uncommon courage and leadership.

Once the task forces were inaugurated, I let them do their work without let or interference.

I never for once called in members to seek to influence them one way or another and I gave them full access to the parastatals, to deal with all elements of their terms of reference, to the extent that some members have even said I was too aloof from their work. This was deliberate as we wanted full independence of thought and action for the task forces. Indeed, it has already been agreed with the task forces that within two weeks, we will hold working meetings to review what we have done and what needs to be done going forward.

Mr. President, whatever the skeptics and critics may say, we are determined, under your able and steady leadership, to reform the oil and gas industry to root out waste, inefficiency and corruption and to transit NNPC and other parastatals to a post PIB world.

Once considered and approved by Mr. President and the Federal Executive Council, it is my determination to ensure the full implementation of the White Paper from the reports of these task forces. Mr. President, once approved, the road to implementation will begin. To this end, we are already setting up a unit at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to ensure full compliance with the letters and spirit of these reports.

Mr. President, this is a new moment for the Oil and Gas industry, this is a new beginning.  To ensure we keep the momentum for reform, we urge our fellow compatriots in the National Assembly to pass the new PIB into law as quickly as possible, to give some of the necessary legislative backing for our transformation efforts within the Oil and Gas industry for the benefit of all Nigerian people.

Let me at this juncture, thank you Mr. President for giving your authorisation for the setting up of these very critical task forces.

Let me also thank robustly the chairmen, alternative chairmen, deputy chairmen and the distinguished members of these task forces who put a lot of time and effort into this very critical assignment which has made history for us.

For me, it has been a most privileged and humbling experience. I thank you Mr. President for this opportunity. I thank you all.

•Hello Yomi, that last statement summarises it all! Can they ever take charge? Absolutely NO? They are not in charge and they don’t seem to want to take charge. My heart bleeds for this country even though I have lost all hope. I regard myself living in a war zone like Somalia, Afghanistan and et al. Pray, are recent happenings in this country any different from what happens in the two countries mentioned above? As much as I find the action of the Aluu killers repugnant and wickedly without justifying the action of these murderers though, but again, I can imagine what the community would have been going through in the hands of armed robbers without succour from police or the government which may have driven them into taking the laws into their hands in the name of self-defence cum jungle justice. This is the other angle of the story no one is neither looking at nor ready to talk about. Most communities in Nigeria now would probably do what the Aluu people did since armed robbers have successfully overthrown the government in Nigeria. The only reason why this is now news is because it turned out to be a mistaken identity! Unless we are pretending not to know, it is a fact that everyone is government unto himself now in Nigeria—you provide your water, electricity, health and security, even infrastructure like roads and all. Just a few days ago, truck drivers blocked the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission shamefully came on air, advising motorists to use alternative routes without any government agency doing something about it by enforcing the law. This government is a failure, a total one at that and sadly it cannot get any better .May the souls of those boys rest in peace.

Regards,

Fola Aiyegbusi, hefzibar2006@yahoo.com

•Your column of Saturday, October 13 titled ‘Blood on a flooded canvas’ was passionate, mind-rending and thought provoking. With what happened in Aluu, Rivers State and Mubi in Adamawa State in such short interval, I am afraid this nation has descended below any known level of primitive society and probably beyond redemption. My heart goes to the families of those who lost their wards in the two tragedies. These incidents must not, like previous occurrences, be swept under the carpet. Justice MUST be done!

Mike Reis, 08033255703

•Aluu, village of doom, harbor of barbarians; your name evokes memories; memories prickly piercing, it could spill blood as tears. Memories whose stitch leaped beyond pains. Your deed outplaced evil like a gust of wind, it resonated a plethora of condemnation even from the most heartless of soul. You snatched tomorrow from yesterday. In the most grotesque of wickedness from a coterie of lush pearls whose potential could have revamped our ailing land to the abode of death, a place all breathing soul dread. A vessel of conscience you should revel not be; you slumped to the deepest of all coma sacrificed to the orbit of the vicious; a flood of immeasurable vexation that will swamp your land to the abyss of history is a perfect reparation that will appease the anguished soul of your victims. Sir, I have not been able to calm my sad heart since I got wind of the incident.

Deyinfa Daniel, 08033710241

•For how long shall we be hearing, seeing and reading tragic stories/occurrences in my land, Nigeria? Boko Haram, Mubi killings, Port Harcourt killings. The jungle justice by Aluu village was callous and crude, no matter the allegation and accusation. Yomi, such will not abate until the Nigerian government recruits about 5 million policemen, 10 million soldiers, 1 million Air force and 2 million Navy. 12% security forces securing 150 million is fairly adequate. We should begin to think of policing the streets, villages and cities in addition to cautioning our wards on waywardness.

Lanre Oseni, 08094608990

•Claude Mekay in his poem said to us: “If we must die, let it not be like the dogs ….if we must die, let us nobly die”. Therefore, it is our obligation to condemn in strong term the despicable animalization and the unacceptable ‘aluunization’ of those Uniport students at the abattoir of jungle justice. I call for the arrest and prosecution of those that sucked out life from the Aluu 4. This is an unforgivable evil.

Godfrey, 08076823815

•The piece tells the sad story of Nigeria and her founding fathers. Aluu is another sad story. Who can count them? The mass killings that have become recurring decimal in our daily lives. When will the existing social order that dehumanizes the majority be destroyed?

Amos Ejimonye, Kaduna.  08039727512

Re-constitutionalism, NASS and the ‘we’ question

Yomi, the solution to a good constitution that will stand a test of time revolves round us all—

the parliamentarians, the journalists, the ASUU community, politicians, town elders etc. We must be honest and shun all forms of biases be they political, ethnic or religious. There is no need for sovereign or national conference. Rather, rational and objective selection of two representatives each from all the 774 LGAs should make presentations to the joint houses of senate and representatives on suggested amendments brought from each LGs.

Lanre Oseni.  08023023745

I write this piece overwhelmed by the drudgery of having spent too much quality time reflecting on the tragic maladies plaguing the nation. I have struggled within myself to find some order amid the sickening madness but there seems to be none. These days, the headlines are soaked in gloom, blood and tears. Occasionally, there is some hearty laughter and robust giggles in the homes and along our streets. People still throw banter and share jibes at pubs. Nevertheless, all this, though cheery, does not preclude the fact that the Nigerian story is being told in parenthesis of pain and sorrow. In that sobering moment of deeper reflections over the endless splattering of blood across our landscape, the comments posted by my old pal at the university, Abiodun Shasanya, came streaming in. How on earth could I have missed the crying witticism in that posting which dubbed the newscaster as a bloody liar? Shasanya quipped on his wall: “This newscaster is a liar. He starts the news by saying good afternoon and then spends more than 30 minutes telling us why it is not!”

All I see is the paradox and pun in the Nigerian story as being told today. Hardly can you lay your hands on any newspaper with soul-lifting headlines. Crude barbarity has taken over the front pages no thanks to a collapsed moral ethos; deepening intolerance and a growing gang of irritants. Death has become too cheap. In the past, distinguished members of the free readers association often congregate at the newsstands to unleash their verbal venom on the looters of our collective wealth and the shambolic handling of their cases by the anti-graft agencies. We had thought that was the zenith of our lunacy—the crazy lure for filthy lucre. However, we were dead wrong. Today, we are faced with crazier and deadlier realities threatening the basis of our collective existence. The irony? It appears those who should put an end to the glaring regression into a state of anarchy have run out of the usual tendentious excuses and empty platitudes!

Truly, the newscaster and her co-travellers in the print media are nothing but a bunch of bloody liars. Looking resplendent in shimmering attire with an infectious smile to boot, she captivates the audience with a soothing voice that announces the ‘goodness’ of the moment. However, what follows after those peripheral gestures are details of news items that touch on the absurdities going on around us. These are stories of bombs, killings, maiming and slaughtering of the humankind; the decimation of families and desecration of worship places. Suddenly, we are faced with the stark reality of the Hobbesian prognosis of the primitivism of life as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Violence of the meanest kind has taken over our streets and we have become living victims. That is not an easy thing that can be easily covered up by the plastic grin etched on the face of the newscaster or the newshound.

The actuality of our vulnerability was brought home by the events of this week. It beggars belief that the hawkers of terror could so easily infiltrate places that we thought were immune against their weapons of sorrow. The hands of terror have made hitherto impregnable fortresses to appear so vulnerable. In less than 48 hours, the Command and Staff College, Jaji and the Abuja headquarters of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) were demystified. As I write this, the security apparatchiks in the country are busy knocking heads together, trying to fathom how suicide bombers could wreck the kind of havoc that took 17 lives and left more than 30 persons injured in a church attack last Sunday, at the uniquely prestigious training institute for the military. It must be noted that no military officer in Nigeria rises to the ranks of Colonel or General without passing through Jaji. Also, the authorities are obviously at a loss and are determined to unravel the sort of dare-devilry that would push gunmen to attack the SARS base, freeing over 30 detained robbery suspects after a prolonged gun battle with the police. No wonder the VIPs at the National Assembly are expressing vocal concerns in view of the worsening trend of insecurity.

You are right if you call it stuffs Nollywood films are made of. Just that this is no movie. It is real and scary. Loss of lives, blood-curdling violence, bombs, bullets and dynamite recur in our daily nightmare. Even, rocket launchers, weapons of mass destruction, human arsenals and such other nightmarish words now confront us daily. News headlines are not in any way comforting. On Monday, following the Jaji attack, this paper screams: “11 die as suicide bombers hit church in military base…30 hospitalised…Mark, Tambuwal, North’s governors: it’s barbaric.” On Tuesday, the headlines were crying blue murder in bold, black font: “Gunmen free 30 detainees in Abuja police office attack; Eight shot dead in Plateau….bloody attack at drinking joint; Police Station, banks bombed in Auchi; Jaji death toll hits 30; and Boko Haram sends dialogue offer through letter. And on Wednesday? It was made worse by the graphic details of how robbers unleashed terror on a “Day of dynamites, bombs and bullets in Edo: 15 die…government takes stock of massive attacks on four banks, others.

It was a week where, for once, the government at the centre was wise enough to keep mum. What would the government’s spokesmen and apologists have said, anyway? Would they have blamed the chilling news of killings, bombings and callous murder of the revellers at the pub on the ‘lying’ newscaster? Would they have commiserated with families that lost their loved ones and then renew the tasteless official vow to apprehend the culprits? Would they have denied that the twin attacks on security formations in Kaduna and Abuja portend very bad omen for the rest of us? Or, on the other hand, would they have reassured us that they are on top of the situation and suggest again, that we should go to bed with our eyes closed?

Well, it does not really matter what excuses they would have given for the state of anomie that we have found ourselves. What is clear is that most Nigerians now live in fear of the unknown. Death is becoming cheaper by the day. It could just meet you on the way to church just like it happened to the family of three that was gunned down on Sunday in Kano. It could come through the clinical elimination that has become a regular occurrence in some states in the North. It could reduce bubbly lives to charred remains in worship places as witnessed in the numerous suicide bombings. We now know that we could end up in body bags for daring to take a trip to the local banks. You can even be marked for death from Ak-47 bullets, just for daring to share a drink or merely hang out at a drinking joint. Whichever way you look at it, you are damned to die, anyway. Unfortunately, that is the hallucinating reality that many Nigerians now bear without daring to talk about it.

Yet, if the responsibility of the government is the security of lives and property, then it must be seen to be doing just that. In a society where it has become fashionable to blame the sheer incompetence of a do-nothing regime on ‘evil spirits’, it would not be surprising if those who swore to an oath to protect us take the cagey of nibbling at their fingers or, at best, offer excuses. My candid advice is this: if the many months of being ‘on top of the situation” has only helped to embolden terror gangs to be more brazen, then it is high time these folks get under the situation in order to “exorcise the evil spirit behind this darkness” that has taken over our land (due apologies to the Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi who recently blamed our wobbly electricity crisis on ‘evil spirit’). And the faster they start thinking of this, the better for all of us. Need we remind them that, with worsening security challenges, platitudes are simply not enough?

Beyond the countless flaws that have been identified in the 1999 Constitution, most Nigerians still believe that the document – in spite of its dubious populist posturing – cannot be said to represent the aggregate opinion of the people regarding how they should be governed. In fact, its opening statement—-‘we the people’—has been described as not only deceptive but also an abnormality since the document was hastily put together and condescendingly handed down by the military in the hurried steps to return to the barracks in 1999. As a matter of fact, ”We, the people” is no mere opening statement in the American constitution; it forever affirms credibility, people-power and commitment to the ideals of democracy and freedom for all Americans. Ironically, for us in Nigeria, our military era fabrication of “We, the people” has continued to reflect the mindless and shortsighted official manipulation of the people by their so-called ‘leaders’.

With the advent of representative democracy, many stakeholders in the Nigerian project stepped up the clamour for a people-driven constitution. Among the strong voices in this league were those who insist on the convocation of a sovereign national conference where selected representatives from the divergent political divide would converge to discourse the basis of our existence as a nation. However, questions have been raised about the legality of such a body when the National Assembly is constitutionally empowered to amend the constitution if need be. In addition, a relatively tempered school of thought argued that a painstaking amendment of the constitution by members of the National Assembly is all that is needed to engender a people-oriented constitution.

The idea of national conference was put to the test under former President Olusegun Obasanjo in an experiment where several influential Nigerians were brought to Abuja for a discourse on the national question. This gathering of the wise, which lasted for more than three months with huge financial burden on the national budget, turned out to be an exercise in futility as the reports and recommendations made neither carry any weight of law nor were they taken into cognisance. The apathy in the constitution amendment process lasted for a while until the 5th session of the National Assembly took the bold step to amend the constitution and the Electoral Act sometimes in 2006. Unfortunately, this otherwise noble effort at constitutional review was bungled when extraneous factors like the issue of tenure extension for Obasanjo and allegations of hi-wired politicking including multi-million naira bribe scandal crept in. And so, rather than attend to the issue of constitutional reform, the 5th Assembly ended up playing a significant part in halting Obasanjo’s third term agenda which was eventually crushed on the floor of the Senate after months of intrigues.

Conscious of the Nigerian public’s waning confidence in the ability of a highly-partisan nay a genuflecting National Assembly to evolve the kind of constitution being clamoured for, the 6th session of the Assembly did more than enough to revive that public trust when it carried out some fundamental amendments in the 1999 Constituents and rectified major lapses noticed in the Electoral Act. Yet, the changes made are still considered today to be nothing more than  a drop in the ocean considering the barrage of proposals that have been tendered before the National Assembly in yet another fresh effort to give the nation a truly people-oriented constitution.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, at a meeting with key stakeholders in Abuja last week, hinted of an all-inclusive programme that would involve the grassroots unlike the previous sessions that were restricted to the elite and a few other persons. If Ihedioha’s words are anything to go by, then one can safely assume that this is the first time a conscious effort is being made to engage the people in fashioning out a constitution that ought to bind us together. Dubbed the ‘Peoples’ Public Session’, Ihedioha explained that the strategy would enable the committee collate a wide-ranging views on the templates that would subsequently be tabled before the House to deliberate on.

His words: “As representatives of the people, it is our desire to ensure the participation of all our people wherever they may live. We are interested in the views of market women, traders, artisans, youths, students, religious organisations, labour and media. We are interested in the views of the poor, the downtrodden, and the unemployed as well as the view of the rich and well-to-do. Indeed, the private sector, academia and the public sector all have a stake in the stability of our nation. We should hear them. We need to hear also the views of all ethnic nationalities that are also represented in all the Federal constituencies. The proposed People’s public sessions are aimed at responding to the demand of Nigerians for a bottom up approach to constitution making. The intention of the House is to bequeath to Nigerians a truly peoples’ constitution.”

Like the respected columnist, Olusegun Adeniyi, pointed out during the session, it will be interesting to see how the members of the Ihedioha committee react to the contributions of these persons during the village square gathering where tempers are definitely expected to flare. Would they, for example, exhibit a high level of comportment that would be greatly required when participants veer off the tracks of constitutionalism and demand for food and shelter instead? Would they understand the psychological trauma that could force the unemployed to unleash a barrage of verbal attacks against the system when speaking at the peoples’ session? Do they have the temperament to handle the religious slant and the outright unabashed ethnic bias? And how do they sift the diverse opinions in such a way that the import of the message is not lost on the leadership?

Be that as it may, it is important to note that the templates highlighted by Ihedioha, if properly handled, should significantly take care of the flaws that this latest effort aims to achieve.  For a document that has continued to attract jeers for varied reasons, it promises to be an intriguing session when stakeholders debate on such templates as the controversies surrounding the proposal for state police; single tenure of 5, 6, 7 years for president and governors, rotation of the president office between the North and the South; creation of one new state from each of the nation’s six geopolitical zones; state police; inclusion of the six geopolitical zones in the constitution, independent candidacy, tenure for local government chairmen, 50 per cent control of resources by states; possibility of a unicameral legislature, and abolition of State, Local Government Joint Account.

One is also anxious to know how the pendulum swings when the discourse shifts to such issues as whether Nigeria should continue with presidential system or return to the parliamentary system; abolish the State Independent Electoral Commission(SIEC); fund Local Government Authorities from either the Federation Account or by the states from their allocations; abolish indigeneship or citizenship for residency; amend Section 308 to limit immunity for President, Vice-President, Governor or Deputy Governor to cover only civil proceedings; legalise the rotation of governorship among the three senatorial districts in each of the 36 states; reserve certain percentage of elective offices for women; lower the qualifying age for contesting various elective offices; and effect judicial reforms as proposed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria among others.

As things stand today, these issues are quite germane in the fresh march to constitutionalism. However, we do not delude ourselves by assuming that a perfect document would come out of these interventions by both chambers of the National Assembly. The institutions cannot but live by the promise to be fair to all in the collation of all shades of opinion. Those involved must also be wary of falling into the trap of political manipulations which made nonsense of past attempts to inject the “we” factor into the amendment processes. If they eschew graft and, for once, focus on the need to set Nigeria on the path of truth and justice, the 7th National Assembly may jolly well etch the names of its members in gold. But then, that is a big ‘if’ in a society where primordial interest often takes precedence over and above national ethos. Can this 7th Assembly break this seeming ancestral curse and end the jinx? We, the people, await the verdict of history over them as they take the plunge to reflect what we truly crave for in that all-important article of faith!

The Nigerian economy must have become used to the daily assault inflicted on it by professional pilferers. This, more than anything else, explains why it is perennially on a life-support machine. It is, indeed, the eighth wonder of the world that we still have something called by that name— an economy wobbling on crutches but occasionally getting positive ratings from some international rating agencies. Regardless of ratings, the ordinary folks here directly understand that the much-touted “growth” in our economy promises no tangible development for more than 100 million souls eking out a living across countless Nigerian towns and villages. The poor state of the economy, I hasten to say, is hardly helped by a budgeting process that has become an annual ritual of padded and bloated figures.

Moreover, in spite of the public outcry over the highly vexatious ‘envelopes’ that are regularly hidden within the Appropriation Act, there seems to be no end in sight to the craze to sex up the budget in whatever ways possible. It is no longer news that the folks behind this well-organised Nigerian bureaucratic banditry do it with some measure of cold aplomb and outrageous impunity. I doubt if those involved in this backward economic wizardry care about how we feel or give a hoot about the Nigerian masses who are the ultimate victims of a sickening official predilection to loot!

The question has been asked: will Nigeria ever have a people-friendly budget? Of course, those baking this national cake will be fast to tell you that the question is irrelevant as all budgets, regardless of the bloated contents, are meant to cater for the people. They may not be forthcoming on why humongous figures are set aside to meet the expensive tastes of certain public office holders. They will definitely find the right excuse to justify whatever was appropriated.

So, it is not in any way surprising that the first person to defend the ‘reasonable’ estimates proposed in the 2013 budget was the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Describing the proposals made for personnel, overheads, sitting allowances and travels for the ministry in the 2013 fiscal year as “modest and justifiable”, my good friend and media aide to the minister, Paul Nwabuikwu, would go on to declare that a N43m estimate for cleaning and fumigation of the ministry’s corporate office was within the industry limit. Well, having studied some parts of the budget details in the last few days, I could not agree less with Mr. Nwabuikwu that, in a nation where experts have cried themselves hoarse on the need to cut down on the neck-breaking speed at which the cost of governance is growing, the agency charged with the responsibility of drafting a workable financial framework for the “Nigerian people” ought to be commended for “managing the finances of the country in a manner that protects and enhances the interests of the country.”

Moreover, since we seem to be on the same page with the eggheads in government on the shape and form of a people-oriented budget proposal, I assume it will not be out of place to seek clarifications on how certain incongruities often embedded in the budget contribute to the realisation of this singular objective. How, for example, did they come to the conclusion that about N92m would be needed for the landscaping of some houses under the management of the Presidency, including the residence of the Vice President? What economic value would the construction of N550m car park, zoo and slaughter slab add to the lives of the over 70 per cent Nigerians wallowing in abject poverty? What’s wrong with all the ‘modern’ slaughter slabs scattered around the Federal Capital Territory anyway? How did the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation reach the N180m being proposed to buy 18 Toyota Hilux vans and one Camry car when investigations show that it takes far lesser an amount to transact such business? Can anyone in the know explain to us why the chief auditor of the nation’s accounts should be given N5.3m in 2013 to procure 50 fire extinguishers at an average cost of N106,000 each; N7m for explosives detectors and N23 to ‘monitor’ ongoing projects in Ministries Departments and Agencies? And what happens to the agency tasked with monitoring such projects by the way?

Besides, it is disturbing that some of these items keep popping up in one budget after the other that one can’t help but conclude that the drafters of the budget have run out of ideas. A report published in this paper had drawn readers’ attention to the fact that the 2012 Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly approved about N22m for the improvement of facilities including slaughter slab for The Presidency. Yet, the same Presidency has proposed to spend N60,600,300 on the  construction of a zoo and another N15,349,202 on the construction of a slaughter slab at Aguda House in the 2013 budget proposal currently before the National Assembly! Since our economic

wizards at the State House are yet to tell us the real status of the N6m approved for the landscaping, drainage and access road to the State House Medical Centre in the 2012 budget, why should the National Assembly approve the request for a princely sum of N45m for the landscaping of the Veterinary Unit in 2013? Are these proposals justifiable by any stretch of imagination?

The concern here, it must be pointed out, is not just faulting the relevance of some of the projects. It is to evolve a means of blocking the numerous leakages in the economy and reduce official graft. Questions have been asked regarding the propriety of spending N5.8b for the construction of residences, offices and guest houses for presiding officers of both chambers of the National Assembly. Why should The Presidency shoulder such responsibility through the Federal Capital Development Authority when the National Assembly, in the last three years, continues to appropriate about three per cent of the country’s entire budget (N150bn) to itself without as much as availing the general public a breakdown of what it does with the money? I just can’t understand why the FCDA should also be responsible for the N3.5bn being proposed for the construction of the National Assembly complex Phase 111, parts 1 and 3 in the same budget. We may ignore the fact that N500m was appropriated for the same project in the 2012 budget, but we cannot but ask the National Assembly Service Commission to give us a detailed breakdown of what it has been doing with the N1.5bn allocated to it yearly.

In the last weeks, the media has feasted on these figures, pointing out the duplications and the contradictions. We now know that the Vice President’s residence may gulp N2bn next year; that though about N3bn was spent on the rehabilitation and renting of offices for the displaced staff and provision of additional security measures for the United Nations building in 2012, an additional N1bn is being proposed to be spent on the same initiative in 2013; that it would cost us over N2.8 billion to rehabilitate and repair residential buildings for the president, vice president and their aides in 2013; that about N733,893,900 has been proposed for refreshment, meals, food stuff and catering materials supplies for both the president and the vice president; that in the drive to attract investors and relate well with the international community, about N2.96 billion would go into travels by the President and his deputy; and we equally know that, on the average, the overhead for the State House alone in the next fiscal

year has been pegged at N7.48bn according to another report. Point blank truth is: this budget is frustratingly skewed against the people with almost intolerable expenditure layout and unacceptable allocation for capital projects and infrastructural development!

The last time I checked, this is how it stands: Aggregates expenditure is N4.92 trn; N380.02bn for statutory transfer; N591.76bn for debt service; N2.41trn for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure; N1.54trn capital expenditure. While the share of recurrent is 68.7 per cent, that of capital expenditure is 31.3 per cent. Has that not been our story since the beginning of the democratic journey?

Now, we ask this simple question: with all the padding and overloading, how does this yearly ritual favour the common man? How does this ‘enhance and protect’ the interest of the Nigerian people? With the unflattering verdict issued by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation that Nigeria now ranks among African nations’ worst performers in governance and other issues related to indicators of development, it would take more than the window-dressing of a sexed-up budget to get out of the quagmire of underdevelopment. Ordinarily, the face-off between the Presidency and the National Assembly over the poor implementation of the 2012 budget would have been something to cheer about, but that would be tantamount to building castles in the air in an economy where these forces regularly conspire to put a semblance of reality to what is purely a choreographed drama. If not, why the conspiracy of silence over the billions of Naira tagged as ‘unspent funds’? The sad reality is that when the huffing and puffing is over, we may end up with a far more bloated budget than was ever anticipated by the executive. That, by the way, is how the cookie crumbles.

“Justice is the only thing that can assuage the pains and emotional traumas consuming us and clear the name of our son so that he can rest in peace.”
—Mrs. Chinwe Biringa.

Some said it was the crudest form of barbarism on display.

Others, shell-shocked by the gory details in the horrific video, described it as the height of man’s inhumanity to his kind. These and such other words remain an understatement. The beasts in the four-minute video I watched deserved worse appellations. Anyone with the smallest jot of milk of human kindness running in his veins can never be found in the midst of the cannibals in that video. Those primitive butchers belonged to another age and time. And it does not matter if they claimed to be indigenes of Omuokiri village, Aluu, a suburb in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. They are monsters in human clothing. The real sons and daughters who may wish to save whatever is left of that name should denounce those blood-sucking bigots now! I really do not want to believe that the entire Aluu community is a conclave of savages. However, while the tears continue to flow, we need to ask questions. If you are a regular follower of news trend in Nigeria, you will be amazed to see how soon we will hear about more human lives being wasted in needless tragedies. How and when did we lose it as a people? Why is life so brutal, crude and short in this country? Why the utter disrespect for human dignity and the sanctity of life?

 We ask these questions not just because of the ruthless murder of four university students by some persons in Aluu over what has turned out to be a spurious allegation that they stole laptop computers and Blackberry phones. We ask because we cannot fathom any justification for the monstrous jungle justice meted out to the boys by the gathering barbarians. How did striping the victims naked, pummelling them to stupor, smashing their heads with cudgels of all types, circling them with used tyres and setting them ablaze equate the due punishment for stealing laptops and handsets if we were to believe the Aluu murderers’ outrageous tale? Who mobilised the crowd of low hirelings and street urchins chanting ‘die, die, die’ as the murderer-in-chief incredulously kept the pace with the bloodthirsty mob’s predilection for making burnt offering out of innocent youths? How could a whole community go gambolling as the blood of four youths was needlessly spilled?

With its egregious reflection of a thoroughly damaged collective psyche, Aluu, for me, is a classic example of all that is wrong with our society and I blame it all on a failed governance structure. I perfectly understand the nation’s outrage over the latest spillage of blood on our flooded canvas of woes and the flurry of condemnations that has greeted it. Any man born of a woman should be petrified by what happened in Aluu where a set of deranged individuals joyously participated in the sordid murder of Biringa Chiadika Lordson (Theatre Arts, Year 2); Ugonna Kelechi Obuzor (Geology, Year 2); Mike Lloyd Toku (Civil Engineering, Year 2) and Tekena Erikena (who had completed a basic studies course at the University of Port Harcourt). In one moment of unexplainable madness, a community that ordinarily ought to protect them cut these lives short. Their dreams, hopes, aspirations and desires were burnt to ashes. Parents who had looked forward to the day their children would return home with academic laurels and certificates of honour have become recipients of death certificates. It was a wicked twist of fate.

You do not need to be a procreator to feel the painful lamentations of Mrs. Chinwe Biringa who, like many other parents, craved justice in our unjust society where mindless impunity prevails. Mindful of how such cases had been swept under the table in the past as one tragedy eclipsed the other and haunted by the video of her son’s morbid attack, Mrs. Biringa had petitioned the National Assembly, demanding that the truth behind the killings must be unearthed.

Her paragraphs of sorrows read in part: “I rushed to the scene only to see my son’s dead body being taken away naked to a mortuary. I could not believe my eyes and I collapsed. What did my son do? What did the other three young men who died with him do? First, we heard that the four students were alleged to have stolen a Blackberry phone and a laptop computer. This could not be farther from the truth. My son has had a Blackberry phone and in fact, a laptop computer since he was in primary school. To waylay them and beat them with planks until they died like chickens is the most savage thing one can witness in Nigeria of 2012. First, they were stripped naked, marched around like frogs and then beaten to death. What savagery and bestiality. My husband and I want only two things, namely: a) to clear the name of Chiadika, b) justice!”

Yes, justice may ease the pain. However, can it heal the scar etched deep in the heart following such tragic loss? Will it bring the children back to their parents’ bosoms? Will it re-ignite the sparks of laugher and convivial union that once made homecoming such a wonderful experience? Will it wash off the memory of how some bastards acted the roles of the accuser, the judge and the executioner in an evil act where four lives were sadistically wiped off the face of the earth?

In all this, one thing stands out: the Aluu 4 incident happened because we did nothing – absolutely nothing – about the countless extra-judicial killings that have taken place in this country of wonky legs. Here, I speak not only of what was once a routine in big cities like Lagos where alleged armed robbers, witches, wizards, kidnappers, one-chance fraudsters and all manner of criminal elements as well as unlucky innocent ones were lynched and burnt alive in the name of jungle justice. I do not speak of the usual human rights abuses where policemen and their counterparts in the armed forces ‘waste’ lives without any due recourse to the law. I do not even speak of the excesses of the high and mighty who fiendishly trample on the rights of the weak among us, ordering the killing and maiming of presumed enemies with the assurance that power silences all infractions, no matter how deadly.

Probably, Aluu 4 would not have happened if decisive actions had been taken in the past to deal with the evil men that strut our streets daily, spilling the blood of the innocent. In a country with a government charged with the responsibility of securing the lives and wellbeing of the citizens, it is a shame that criminal elements have continued to hold the nation by the jugular. Numerous ‘investigations’ of violent crimes and ethno-religious conflicts end without any so-called government White Paper or other definitive actions. Yet, some persons claim not only to be in charge but also in control of the ship of state. How reassuring? Were they not in charge when over 40 students were murdered in cold blood in Mubi, Adamawa State? Where were they all this while as gunmen killed and maimed with reckless abandon across the nation? What have they done, in concrete terms, to put a halt to our headlines of pain and sorrow? Why should our story continue to be written with tears and blood on a flooded canvas?

In this moment of national pain, it is not out of place for the President to show a more humane side. Unfortunately, that genuine feeling for humanity seems to be missing. At a period when many parents are grieving over the needless loss of their wards to unprovoked attacks and morbid killings, the least I had expected from the President, during Tuesday’s nationwide broadcast, was to spare a line for them in his seven-minute speech. It is called empathy and, if properly delivered, it can soothe the pain. Instead, a costly presidential howler made nonsense of whatever message he was trying to sell about his administration’s belated efforts to tackle the floods that ravaged most parts of the country. What I heard was a cold, plastic message from his high pedestal; throwing money at our problems as usual. You hardly find a care for human feelings and there seems no stirring of human passion whatsoever.  As usual too, there was “no quotable quote” to comfort bereaved families. How could he have missed the opportunity to show us that he feels our pain and understands the general rage in the land?

Again, this is not about the President and the now prevalent lethargy in all tiers of governance. It is more about how we have completely lost the moral ethic that should bind us together – a sense of social solidarity or what the father of Sociology, Ibn Khaldun defines in Arabic as Assabiyya. Khaldun, a truly great African put down thoughts on Sociology and philosophy some four centuries before European “fathers of sociological thought” like Auguste Comte articulated it. The less the sense of Assabiyya, the more the society tears apart. It is about our descent into anarchy. It is about a nation that is sliding into an unwelcome categorisation of a failed state, a Hobbesian ‘state of nature’ where everyone is a law unto himself. It is about communities being controlled by marauding vigilantes instead of proactive law enforcement agencies. It is also the gory picture of Nigeria as painted by one of the greatest believer in the Nigerian dream, the iconic Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili when she cried out that: “We are broken, we need to be mended and nobody will mend it other than ourselves. We are getting to the precipice and we need to pull ourselves back. The government has to take full responsibility; it has to be in charge to prevent anarchy. The only way out is for the government to prove that it is really in charge!”

Are they listening? Put bluntly, can they ever be in charge?

I cannot easily recollect who made the statement or what prompted it.

However, I still vividly remember that a notable Nigerian (or could it be the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo?) once described a particular regime as not only grossly incompetent but also tactlessly incoherent with a leadership that proved incapable of bequeathing a single quotable quote with which the trampled populace could remember it by. Today, that particular administration and the dictatorial farmer that headed it have become a footnote of history. Because its key actors could not aspire beyond gratuitous self-glorification, they missed the

opportunity to inspire a generation of leaders. How did they end up without one memorable quotable quote? That, I assume, must be a record low for any government regardless of its ideological slant. For, if the truth must be told, the Nigerian political space is not lacking in leaders who are fantastic speechmakers and hollow rabble-rousers but, in practical terms, are nothing short of perpetual under-achievers.

Here, I do not speak of the sublime and captivating power of oratory that seemed to have died with the passing on of icons like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Aminu

Kano, Ozumba Mbadiwe of “timbre and calibre” fame and a few others.

Instead, the focus is on those accidental sound bites that occasionally crop up in the warped speeches of majority of the ones that pretend to lead us now—those cathartic moments of epiphany that give a semblance of seriousness to the pure deceit often offered on the campaign train. Not that you did not know that the words were flowing from the tip of the tongue, you just could not help but be touched by its emotive essence no matter how crude the delivery.

Somehow, the events of the outgone week rekindled in good, old Knucklehead those memories. At least, we now know that there is more to this country than the triple maladies that continue to stifle its growth—religion, ethnicity and corruption.

In a sense, we may label the Jonathan administration clueless going by the plethora of problems confronting it and the fits of excuses that have been tendentiously offered to justify its lethargic approach in solving them. As the killings fields get wilder and murderous bestiality takes a life of its own, it is evidently clear that it requires more than Aso Rock’s huffing and puffing to stop this madness. Nevertheless, we cannot, in all good conscience, deride it

for lacking in quotable quotes! I am, indeed surprised by the fact that in these climes where sycophancy has been elevated to industrial proportions, no one has deemed it fit to sponsor multi-million Naira wrap-around newspaper adverts on the pages of all national dailies, celebrating our President for his ‘five-star’ performance during the 67th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. I mean, if some shameless folks see nothing wrong with listing the construction of an Olympic size swimming pool in a Governor’s Lodge as landmark achievement, why are they pussy-footing about celebrating our President’s quotable quotes on the world stage? At a time when his “I once had no shoes” statement was becoming a cliché, Jonathan impressed and truly inspired with his down-to-the-earth speech at the UN headquarters some two weeks back.

Hear him:  “Events of recent weeks have demonstrated how interconnected our world is and the extent to which one incident can spark off general mayhem and conflagration. Freedom of expression should not be a licence to incitement.  The freedom that we all hold dear and true should be exercised wisely and cautiously. Freedom of expression and religious tolerance must not be mutually exclusive but should be complimentary to each other. Much as we eschew violence and deplore the needless losses of lives and destruction of property, we also condemn the deliberate denigration of religious beliefs and sensitivities which in turn lead to counter reactions.”

Crux of the matter? Humanity, I believe, can be saved from the growing harvest of anguish and deaths if the rest of the world connects with Jonathan’s wise counsel. For every freedom, there must be a responsibility. It is, therefore, irresponsible for anyone to defend or justify the vexatious anti-Islam film which has heightened tension across the globe. The question is, would anything have been lost if that film was never contemplated? Not at all! Yet my greatest fear is that Jonathan’s prognosis could just have been buried in President Barrack Obama’s oratory in the speech he delivered same day.

Nevertheless, the key word here is simply this—respect. Why denigrate another person’s religious beliefs? By the way, if all world religions preach peace, why is the world being torn apart by religionists? Shouldn’t freedom be exercised with restraints and utmost caution so that we do not, needlessly so, hurt the sensitivities of others? Let us chew over these things please!

As things turned out, Jonathan was not the only one that was caught in the quotable quote bug. While the President was sweating to influence the world at the UN gathering, the President of the Senate, David Bonaventure Mark, was also busy at home unleashing the deadliest knuckles on one of Jonathan’s trusted associates, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku. The journalist-turned-politician and former deputy governor of Nasarawa State appeared to have bitten more than he could chew. He incurred the wrath of the members of the National Assembly for daring to describe their resolutions for or against executive decisions as “merely advisory”, adding with some impetuous arrogance that the President was not under any compulsion to implement such resolutions.

If Maku thought he had delivered a sucker punch against an intruding legislature, then he must have underestimated the rage of a disparaged Senate. By the time his case was brought before the Senate, he did not only recant the statement he made as a free citizen in a democratic setting, he got  more than a bloodied nose from Mark’s counter attack which came in torrents deadly blows. Listen to Mark’s vintage quotable quote that has gone viral on the social media: “I think the Information Minister is a careless talker. He did not think properly, He is not an educator and we need to educate him. Next time he does that (talk recklessly), we will take a resolution here that any minister who talks recklessly be removed.”

Ouch! When and where did the Senate acquire the power to fire a minister appointed by the President of this Federal Republic? Moreover, I thought the Senate was kicking against the denigration of the constitutional responsibilities of the hallowed chamber on national issues! Can one denigration justify the other? Put bluntly, is Mark not guilty of a bigger crime by disparaging the status of a federal minister as someone who is incapable of any intellectual construct? Has he not abused that privilege conferred on him as the nation’s Number Three citizen? Has he not offended the sensitivity of Maku? In addition, while talking down another citizen from such exalted pedestal that was turned into a bullying pulpit, did Mark tread with restraint and caution?

In other climes, there wouldn’t have been any need to resort to subtle threat. However, since Maku has recanted, blaming the ministerial indiscretion on the usual scapegoat——the Nigerian press, I refuse to push this argument further. All the same, it is important to note that Maku did not impress anyone with his cheek-in-tongue quote that because “pressmen pressed me” for headline, he had to find something to say since he “could not make any declaration because Mr. President did not ask me to make any such declaration. If I had said that the policy had been stopped I would be wrong because I was not instructed to speak.” What illogic!

I am appalled that Maku could blame the so-called indiscretion on reporters who wanted a headline by all means possible. Was he saying that he uttered those words to satisfy the headline-chasing reporters without giving a thought to its implication? Do we take it then that Mark was right in marking Maku out as a careless talker? Whatever it is, those operating from the bully pulpit should understand that it

has no place in modern politics. Those who cannot stand the heat should please get out of the kitchen. It is, indeed, infantile for the Senate President to speak so condescendingly of a leading member of the executive unless he is ready to defend the right of the rest of us to criticize and perhaps speak condescendingly of some non-endearing peculiarities in his office too. Free speech should not be equated with the abuse of privilege. As President Jonathan puts it, freedom of expression should be exercised wisely and cautiously. It is not a licence to incitement! Is it not time we all start seeing the bigger picture?