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Tag: Again

  • Osun guber: Again, zoning on the front burner

    Osun guber: Again, zoning on the front burner

    The race to succeed outgoing Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State in 2018 is gathering momentum. Aspirants from the three senatorial districts of the state are laying claim to the coveted position, largely on the strength of a number of unwritten zoning arrangements. Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, examines the various arguments for and agains these claims.

    JUST as it has done in nearly all the electoral contest in the state since the return to democracy in 1999, the debate over which of the senatorial districts, as well as zones in Osun State, should produce the next Governor of the state, is the most topical issue as the date for the 2018 governorship election draws nearer.

    Across party lines, politicians, indigenes, residents and other stakeholders in the state are daily slugging it out on various platforms and at various fora in unending arguments over which part of the state Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s successor should come from. This time however, the debate goes beyond the usual senatorial zoning arrangement as a new dimension is introduced into the zoning war.

    But in spite of the raging debate, aspirants from all nooks and cranny of the state are already jostling to win the tickets of their respective parties in their bid to contest the governorship election next year and succeed Aregbesola as governor of the home of the living spring. Consequently, not a part of the state is left out of the demand that it be allowed to produce the next governor of the state in 2018.

    “In Osun, we are known to adhere strictly to the tenets of zoning in politics as laid down for us by the founding fathers of the state. It is a good thing that some of the founding fathers like Chief Bisi Akande are still around. We will not jettison zoning because it has ensured peaceful coexistence amongst us as a people,” Hon. Laolu Oke, a former spokesperson of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) in the state, said.

    Osun has three senatorial districts namely Osun Central, Osun West and Osun East. Before now, the zoning arrangement was largely believed to be premised on these senatorial districts. And arguments in the past had largely been hinged on this structure. But as we speak, a new zoning order is being introduced by some of the proponents of zoning.

    It is this new order that has heated up the debate this time around because it threatens the zoning arrangement hitherto being followed in the politics of the state and threatens to bring about a new dimension in the struggle for succession after Aregbesola’s tenure. But not all stakeholders in the state are willing to accept the new order.

    To most proponents of zoning by senatorial district, no aspirant from the Eastern district, where the incumbent GovernorAregbesola hails from, should be jostling to become governor in 2018. This, according to findings by The Nation, is premised on the fact that by the time Aregbesola completes his second term in office next year, the district would have spent eight years ruling the state.

    The governor is from Ijesha in the eastern senatorial district. And aside Aregbesola, some of those kicking against the emergence of another governor from the senatorial district are quick to mention the fact that the late Bola Ige, who is also from the same senatorial district, once ruled as governor of the old Oyo State, which the current Osun State was a part.

    Similarly, the Central senatorial district produced Chief Bisi Akande who was governor between 1999 and 2003, as well as Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who ruled from 2003 to 2010. Between these two former governors, it is on record that the central senatorial district had had the opportunity to govern the state for more than a decade.

    So since the return to civil rule in 1999, the western senatorial district hasn’t been chanced to produce a governor for the state. But to its credit is the fact that it produced the first civilian Governor of the state between 1993 and 1994 when the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke ruled the state for a period less than two years.

    “Given the fact that both the East and the Central have had two terms each governing the state and the West only spent less than two years through Adeleke in the third republic, it is natural and in line with our zoning policy to allow the West to produce the next governor of Osun state. That is why we are saying only aspirants from the West should throw in their hats,” Oke added.

     

    A new dimension

    While a good number amongst the proponents of zoning are queuing up behind Osun West senatorial district as the next area to produce the governor of Osun State in 2018, there are those who strongly feel that the idea of zoning is not just about senatorial district but largely about addressing all forms of marginalisation in the state.

    This school of thought believes that it will be wrong to share political positions and patronage using the senatorial districts. Rather, proponents of this new order are canvassing a consideration of what they described as the six original divisions of the state in deciding which part of the state to zone the governorship slot come 2018.

    Explaining the new argument, Chief Adeoye Owolabi, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from Osogbo, the state capital, said “There are two divisions in each of the three senatorial districts in the state. It was these divisions or sub-groups that were lumped together to form what we now have as Osun State.

    The divisions in each senatorial district are distinct people and should not be ignored in any zoning arrangement. This is to avoid a situation where one division will be taking the slot of the district while the other is left unattended to. This is why we are saying we must return to the original divisions that makes up Osun State. We have six of them,” he said.

    While breaking down the components of the three senatorial districts in the state, Owolabi and some other analysts that spoke with The Nation explained that in the East Senatorial District, there are Ife and Ijesha divisions while the West senatorial district consists of Ede and Iwo divisions. The Central district is made up of Osogbo and Ila divisions.

    With the above analysis, The Nation gathered that the people of Oshogbo and Iwo divisions are claiming to have been marginalised in the governance of the state since its creation. According to Owolabi, it is unthinkable that Osogbo, the state capital and a leading division, not only in Osun State, but in the whole of Yoruba land in the first republic, is yet to produce a governor in the 26 years of the state’s existence.

    Similarly, a University don, Professor Wasiu Gbolagade called on the various registered political parties in the state to ensure that their governorship candidate emerge from Iwo division of the state. He insisted that in the interest of fairness and equity, it is time for the people of the state to allow the division to produce a governor for Osun State.

    Gbolagade, who is a Professor of Mathematics at Osun State University (UNIOSUN) lamented that since the return to democracy in 1999, the division is yet to be given a sense of belonging in the politics of the state. He argued that it is important for the leading political parties to promote equity and fairplay by ensuring that Iwo indigenes emerge as their candidates.

    To back up their claims, both Owolabi and Gbolagade explained that all the other four divisions have produced governors for the state. “Aregbesola is from the Ife/Ijesha division and so was Bola Ige. The late Isiaka Adeleke represented the Ede division while Bisi Akande and Olagunsoye Oyinlola are from Ila division.”

     

    The gladiators

    In spite of the raging zoning debate, aspirants continue to throw in their hats into the ring for the 2018 governorship contest in the state. And a look at the leading political parties revealed that not less than fifteen contestants are already painting the state in various colours in their bid to make it clear to the people of the state that they are serious with their aspirations.

    In the ruling APC, no fewer than ten aspirants are all over town either openly or subtly, pursuing their governorship ambition. While a few are bold enough to have openly declared their aspirations, many more are yet to make categorical declaration of their intention to contest for the governorship ticket of Governor Aregbesola’s party.

    Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yusuf, who hails from Ilobu in the central senatorial district, leads the pack of APC stalwarts jostling to succeed Aregbesola as governor. The Deputy Speaker has publicly declared his desire to wrestle for the party’s ticket ahead of the 2018 governorship election.

    Others being fingered to be interested in the APC ticket include the Chief of Staff to the governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola from Iragbiji in the West senatorial district and the former Chairman of the defunct Action Congress (AC) who is the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti. The SSG is from the West senatorial district too.

    From Osogbo, the youthful legal practitioner, Abdur-Rasheed Kunle Adegoke (K-RAD), is reported to be highly interested in the race. Though he has not declared formally, our checks reveal that he has gone far in consultations towards realising his governorship ambition.

    And still from Iwo division are the likes of Hon. Gafar Salensile, and Mallam Rasheed Olawale, a media partitioner.

    The Managing Director of the Osun Investment Company Ltd, Mr. Bola Oyebamiji from Ikire in the West senatorial district; the Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam; former Speaker of the House of Assembly and member representing Ejigbo/Iwo Constituency in the House of Representatives, Prof. Mojeed Alabi are also being touted as aspirants.

    Others believed to be seriously interested in jostling for the governorship ticket of the ruling party include the immediate past Commissioner of Regional Integration and Special Duties, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, and former Chief of Staff to the Oyinlola administration and Chairman, Local Government Service Commission, Elder Peter Babalola.

    Those expected to contest for the chance to represent the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the governorship election include former deputy governor and former chairman, Appropriation Committee in the Senate, Dr. Iyiola Omisore and former Federal Commissioner in the National Population Commission (NPC) in Osun State, Chief Lere Oyewumi.

    Others are former Speaker, House of Assembly and the PDP’s deputy governorship candidate in the 2014 election, Hon. Adejare Bello, from Ede in the  Western senatorial district as well as former chairman of Ife East Local Govern

  • Again, herdsmen attack Benue community, kill eight

    SIX days after Fulani herdsmen invaded Logo local Government Area, home of ex-governor, Gabriel Suswam killing about 20 people, the insurgents between Tuesday and Wednesday again made a violent incursion into the Mbavuur council ward of the local government killing four people and injuring 16 others. The herders also proceeded to Mbaya council ward in neighbouring Buruku Local Government Area where they killed two people and overran the entire council ward with more than 4, 000 cattle grazing freely in the area.

    This brings to six the total number of people killed during the week. The twin attacks came as governor, Samuel Ortom yesterday allegedly disowned his Special Assistant on Fulani Matters who doubles as National Coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria Benue State chapter, Alhaji Garus Gololo over comments he allegedly uttered on the “presence of herdsmen in parts of the state”. In Logo Local government, former chairman of People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Ndiisaa Terhemen told

    The Nation that the invaders first stormed the Tse- Igboughul village on Tuesday about 8 PM when most people had gone to bed and were shooting randomly during which two people were killed. Terhemen added that the attack which spilled over to the next day (Wednesday), saw the killing of four people while ten others who sustained varying degrees of gun shot wounds were rushed to hospitals in Zaki-Biam and Ugba, headquarters of the local government for treatment.

    Saturday Nation gathered that in Buruku, the homestead of member of the House of Representatives representing Buruku Constituency, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Yisa Orker Jev, the invaders penetrated several communities to Mbaya council ward where they murdered two victims and left them in their pool of blood, bringing the total number of people killed as at press time to about eight.

    Residents who deserted their homes in the two local governments, left their food items and livestock at the mercy of the insurgents. Sources from the affected communities who spoke with our correspondent said the attack which came at the peak of farming activities, has grounded all economic and social services as some schools, hospitals and business premises have been forced to close up.

    Reacting, the Chairman of All Progressives Congress in the local government, Mr. Mbatseen Terngu, confirmed the killing, saying over 4,000 Fulani cattle were grazing roaming freely in the area with the herdsmen destroying their farmlands. An aide to Hon. Orker Jev, Desmond Ikyume, told The Nation that the attackers made incursion at about 8 pm on Tuesday night and surrounded the village, adding that what followed was sporadic shootings and massive exit of inhabitants.

    Mr. Ikyume added that one of the victims was stabbed to death on the stomach with a sword, adding that corpses of the victims were deposited at the hospital. Meanwhile, Governor Ortom yesterday said he had no connection with his Special Adviser on Fulani Matters, Alhaji Garus Gololoany longer,as he said, he is neither his appointee at the time he was quoted to have granted the interviews nor at the time of issuing this press statement”.

    Ortom in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, released to journalists in Makurdi, accused the Fulani chief of disputing the remarks he (Ortom) earlier made that herdsmen have taken over twelve local government areas in the state. “We wish to state that as a citizen of this country who enjoys the right to freedom of speech, Mallam Gololo is at liberty to air his opinion on any issue of national or state interest, whether or not his opinion is right as it is evident in the said publications that he failed to get his facts correct”.

  • There we go again…

    STRANGELY, everyone seems to be cool with the ease with which the simplest things often get enrobed in webs of controversy. Nothing is as simple as they initially appear. Pitifully, we have succeeded in raising a generation of hardened cynics, sheer doubters and conspiracy theorists who have their own peculiar way of perceiving official pronouncements. Worse still, on the flip side lies the fawning band of praise-singers that hardly interrogate the issues before jumping into the fray, barking inanities against whomever dares their sentimentally-chosen sacred grounds. In the real sense of it, extremists from both sides of the divide have taken over the space and buoyed by the power and extensive reach of the social media, they have relegated commonsense to the fringes. Indeed, commonsense is on a long break.

    This, I must admit, is not helped by a governance style whose main operating code is hinged on an unwritten mantra of official secret act. Add to that a bureaucracy with a high reputation for mischief and you have the full template for the needless confusion that has gripped the land. I doubt whether there is any other place in the world where a deep-seated feeling of mutual suspicion between the government and governed is a notch higher than what obtains presently in Nigeria. Evidence of this abounds in our socio-political life and it is not about to fizzle out that soon, going by recent developments in the polity.

    Take, for example, the news on the freed Chibok girls. Ordinarily, one would have thought that the release of additional 82 out of the over 200 girls that were abducted from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, by the Boko Haram terrorists some three years back should ignite some spasms of rhapsodic ecstasy across the length and breadth of Nigeria as it was in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It is clear that an enraged gang of sadists that finds it difficult to forgive President Muhammadu Buhari and his team for the electoral victory of 2015 is bent on stopping the party before it begins. Among this set of people are those who would swear on their grandparents’ graves that the Chibok story was a fabricated tale ingeniously raked up to ensure the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan by powerful forces in the North.

    They wonder why some well-fed, Hausa-speaking young ladies, allegedly in captivity in rocky Sambisa fortress inhabited by cold-blooded Islamic fundamentalists, should be paraded as the victims of Chibok. They snidely plead with the authorities to kindly release the remaining 131 girls like the 21 that regained their freedom late last year following a swap deal. They would go on to suggest that the freed girls (well, some came looked like women) were mere pawns in a complicated political chess-game aimed at changing the narrative from the President’s failing health to something more worthy of riveting attention.

    Some even conclude that Chibok was a hoax in which hired professional criers got paid to pose as the traumatised parents of girls whose abduction only exist in the warped imaginations of those who wrote the script! It is sickening when the picture becomes clearer that people embark on this route simply to score cheap political points. No matter how we look at it, Chibok was, and still remains, a national embarrassment of global ramifications.

    That it ever happened stamped a big imprimatur of failure on the Jonathan presidency. Above all things, it threw a big question mark on our collective humanity and stretched the elasticity of our dumb resort to fate and faith in the midst of our groaning ineptitude. Yes, the bloodsucking terrorists were brazenly callous in invading the school, adducting the girls and smoldering it until the burnt carcasses emerged from the raging plume of smoke.

    Yes, Abubakar Shekau did have his moment of blissful madness when he lined up some of the girls to gloat about his latest assault on the Nigerian nation in a video recording that went viral with his threat to marry off or sell off the girls in accordance to his own brand of Islam. But the question remains: what did the Jonathan government do to forestall what has turned out to be three years of grief, anguish and trauma for the parents of these girls? If an outrageously enraged few among us have not reawakened the consciousness of the docile millions, would the Chibok narrative not have ended like many other countless tales of deaths and sorrows that went unreported? Today, those who kept the debate on the front burner of national discourse like Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu, have been called names and denigrated just for asking the government to stop sleeping on their hands while the girls waste away in the hands of their captives. It is quite difficult to imagine all the terrible things that could have happened to the girls wherever they may be.

    That the Bring Back Our Girls group remained resolute in their demands is a testimonial to the fact that good people can still stand up to be counted in this jungle of mischief? Would those conspiracy theorists, doubters and peddlers unfounded rumours on the cyberspace have preferred eternal damnation for these victims of terror instead of the swap deal that has rekindled hope for the other parents, who await a likely return of their children someday? How, on earth, did they come about the perverted idea that the ruling party hatched the plot just to grab power by any means possible? And even if that was the case, what exactly did the Jonathan administration do to thwart the senseless act beyond the huffing and puffing that ripped the soul of the nation? Must we reduce everything to bread and butter politics to the point of twisting the truth on its neck? Like I once noted, those who doubted that Chibok happened in modern-day Nigeria could as well brush off the tragic impulses that the Boko Haram menace inflicted on our nation before the insurgents were pushed back to the rocky plains of Borno State. If they deny Chibok, they should also question Buni Yadi, Yobe State, where scores of students were either slaughtered or burnt alive in their school dormitories by the same savages. Maybe they would also dismiss the twin bomb blast in Nyanya, Abuja as a mere propaganda to whip up sentiments against the Jonathan government. There was also Kano with hundreds of fatalities still fresh in our minds.

    There have been countless suicide bombings that one wonders why anyone would put the abduction in Chibok beyond a group that romances violence with glee. Where is the empathy that these ones should naturally feel not only for the girls but also for their relatives? What sense does it make to turn logic on its head just to prove a point that nothing good can come out of the Buhari administration? And what manner of person gets a kick from the perpetual suffering of innocent victims of terror? In short, when did we become this sadistically unfeeling towards our fellow human beings? When did we throw decorum and caution to the winds in the name of playing politics of bile and hatred? It is the same feeling of mutual suspicion, conspiracy and mischief that played out on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday when the its President, Bukola Saraki, read Buhari’s letter transmitting power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, so that Buhari can attend to his failing health in London.

    But for Saraki’s wisdom, a simple procedural issue of constitutionality would have been turned into another round of farcical drama on the floor of the Senate–a rowdy session where members would set ego on rampage over nothing. I shudder when I read that Senator Mao Ohuabunwa queried the ambiguity in Buhari’s letter for daring to note that Osinbajo would ‘coordinate the activities of the government” while he would be away for unspecified number of days. Regardless of the fact that Buhari quoted Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which specifically spells out how and when the President should transmit power to his deputy, Ohuabunwa read a vicious, invidious and surreptitious plot to denigrate the office of the Vice President and make him a sitting duck in office during Buhari’s absence. His reasons? He said the letter, as couched by Buhari, “really does not convey anything because coordinating has no space or any place in our constitution”, adding with senatorial impertinence that, “ we have been having letters like this and you tell us who is the acting president and we know who to deal with as a Senate. This is the highest legislative body of the country and if you are sending us letter it should be direct and unambiguous. So, I am saying that this letter for me is not right and maybe should be sent back.”

    Ambiguity? What ambiguity? If Ohuabunwa and his colleagues who raked up an infantile allusion of a palace coup against Osinbajo were not up to some cruel mischief, they would have stuck to the provisions of Section 145 of the Nigerian Constitution and save the country another round of hollow verbiage. In clear terms, the section reads: “Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.”

    This is what the law says and that should have settled the matter instead of raising dust over Buhari’s somewhat self-indulgent addendum that his deputy would now be the chief coordinator of the activities of government. What else would he have been doing before? In any case, there was nowhere in the letter that Buhari tags Osinbajo as Coordinator of the Government just like he never addressed him as Acting President in his January 17 letter when he travelled on medical vacation to the United Kingdom.

    He only said the “Vice President will perform the function of my office.” And what, by the way, is the function of the office of the President if not to coordinate the activities of government? Or did Buhari say he would equally be coordinating the activities of government from his sick bed in London? Did he not transmit the letter as required or was the Senate in any way hamstrung from performing its responsibility regarding the matter? Well, on this one, Saraki should be commended for putting an end to the gathering storm before it transforms into a tornado of endless inanities. The Senate, I believe, can do its job without festering the fertile imagination of a so-called cabal in The Presidency to “exploit the loophole” in a letter that empowers the Acting President to coordinate the activities of government.” We shouldn’t just go there please!

  • Making St Mary’s ‘great again’

    Making St Mary’s ‘great again’

    FOR old students of St. Mary’s Grammar School, Eme-Ora in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, it was to be a time for celebration as the school hit 50. But it turned out to be a time for sober reflection on the school’s decrepit condition.

    At a forum, where they held  the  golden jubillee, they spoke with nostalgia of their school’s glorious days; and how it helped their formative years. They recalled how they fetched water from the village stream, read with lantern and carried blocks to help build more classrooms.They praised the mission teachers that taught them moral values.

    Founded in 1967 with over 1000 pounds support from the Eme-Ora Progressive Union to the Roman Catholic Mission, the girls only school was initially christened St. Mary’s Girls Grammar School. It kicked off with 25 classrooms and six dormitories, including staff quarters.

    The old students lamented what has become of their school. Except for the two blocks of 12 classrooms built by the immediate past administration under its red roof revolution, others, they claimed, were an eyesore.

    Buildings that once served as dormitories have been overgrown with weeds, they said. Although there are 12 classrooms being used by pupils of the junior and senior secondary schools, the perimeter fencing had long given way and the premises is now being used by herdsmen for cattle grazing.

    At the Senior Secondary School (SSS) section, only three teachers are government employees. Others are fresh graduates deployed there for their mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and those on the community and the Parent-Teacher Association payroll.

    Equally dilapidated are the school’s library, administrative block, science laboratory and examination hall.

    Teachers used old desks and chairs; while there are no toilets for staff and pupils.

    Despite these challenges, management believes the school is still keeping its head above water.

    Principal of the SSS Mrs Grace Ajayi said some individuals, including herdsmen, were encroaching on the school premises.

    “I was transferred here in 2010. The school, then, was in a very bad condition. We had dilapidated buildings with no teachers for many subjects. The two blocks of 12 classrooms were renovated by the state government. We have over 300 students in the senior secondary school.

    “We need perimeter fencing. People trespass here and herdsmen disturb us a lot with their cattle. The laboratory science block is in tatters. Our chemicals in the lab have expired. We don’t have staff. We have only three teachers from the government, while others are employed by the community and PTA.”

    In his address, the Odion-Uhonmo of Eme, Chief Edward Orhewere, said the challenge was how to restore the school’s glory.

    Pioneer principal of the school, Reverend Anneth Sullivan, who resumed in 1967, recalled how she grew the school from nothing to something with concerted efforts by the community and pupils.

    “I came to Nigeria 50 years ago precisely in 1967, but I didn’t come straight to the school. I operated from Uzairue. I used to drive down here. With the help of students and staff, we were able to do things. We were few but the staff were dedicated. Everybody worked as a family,” the octogenarian educationist recalled.

    “Social amenities were not available, so our focus was on the school. I was not bothered about the lack of electricity at that time because it was not the most important thing in life. Your good health, your God and relationship with the people are much more important. It is difficult to manage without water but you can manage without electricity. When I came 25 years ago, the school was in a mess, but I had hopes that it would grow to that height we dreamed of.”

    In her welcome address, a pioneer pupils and National President of St. Mary’s Grammar School Old Students Association, Onosele Ovbiagele-Ndekwu, urged the government and well-meaning individuals from the community to rescue the school.

    “I am a pioneer student of this school and the first set to graduate in 1972. When I gained entrance to this school, we had students from Ibadan, Lagos, and other cities. It was an all-girls school. We were having about 25 blocks of classrooms and six dormitories.

    “Today, the school has lost its popularity and is abandoned. We are trying to see how we can come in and assist. The old students want to make the school great again; so, we have decided to renovate the administrative block.

    “We can see many classes are not in use. We are appealing to everybody to do little things to make the school great again.

    The National Secretary, Mrs. Patricia Oisamojie spoke on the same vein.

    “The school has given us a list of what they need. You see their hall is protected by planks.”

    Another pioneer pupil, Dr. Fidelia Okoh, Founder/Rector of Palms City Polytechnic in Uromi awarded scholarship to the pupil who won the debate to mark the school’s Jubilee.

  • Again, season of goodwill

    Again, season of goodwill

    I begin with an apology. The last instalment of this column was not meant to slight anybody, not the least those worthy compatriots of ours who deserve to enjoy the warmth and felicitations that this season offers. No.

    Some readers protested that some names of prominent Nigerians were missing from my mailing list. They may have felt neglected, they reasoned. Others were kind enough to suggest who should get what. Again, I apologise.

    President Muhammadu Buhari was listed – to the delight of many. But, to some distinguished readers, if the President deserves to be on the list, why not the First Lady –sorry, I take that back- the wife of the President? Aren’t they right? No gift will be too much for Hajia Aisha Buhari, vivacious, affable and radiant.

    A friend has suggested a compilation of my former boss’ series, “Anxiety in the other room”. But the problem is that Mr Femi Kusa, the frontline journalist-turned-herbalist, is yet to conclude the series even after five instalments in this newspaper.

    I have a less complex idea. Madam will get a copy of a poem a potential  literary champion is working on. It will be framed in fine, well polished and glossy mahogany. The fellow, who wishes to remain anonymous until the work is completed, offered me a rare glimpse into the first few lines, which he has permitted me to share with you.

                 Take me to the other room

                 Where there is no sorrow

                 The other room where all pains dissolve                                                

                  into joyous cries

                 The other room where men become babies

                 The other room where all proposals are                                 

                 signed and sealed

                 Oh no room like the other room  

    Another reader made a case for former First Lady Patience Jonathan, who he said had gone through a lot since her husband left office. The other day in Enugu, some youths carried placards, protesting against the seizure of Mrs Jonathan’s $15m in some bank accounts opened in the names of some companies. Others joined the protest yesterday in Lagos and Abuja. To be fair to the former First Lady, she complained to her husband’s ex-aide who facilitated the opening of the accounts that the documents were not in her name. He promised to change that. Apparently, he never did, even as Her Excellency continued to run the accounts.

    Many, including the youthful protesters, have praised “Mama Peace” for coming up to claim the cash, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) described as “proceeds of crime”, even after she had let everyone into what was otherwise a family secret – that the fortune belongs to her mother. But, some idle fellows parading themselves as social critics and analysts have been asking  exasperating questions, obviously in their dubious plan to enrage her: “How did she get the money? Was it from her ice cream shop? Kickback? “

    It is fitting and proper to remark that despite the provocation, Mrs Jonathan remains firm. From me, Her Excellency will get a lorry-load of T-shirts with the inscription: MY MONEY GROWS LIKE GRASS. Those youths protesting for her will at least have a uniform for better identification so that their gathering will not be penetrated by touts and other criminal elements.

    Going by the readers’ protest, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, a chief, deserves to be listed even ahead of his Kaduna counterpart, the impulsive Nasir El-Rufai, the one who claims to have  been fighting for peace even as his political opponents cry out that he is a clear and present danger to peace.

    Wike’s opponents have accused him of uncountable allegations, some of them  criminal. Deriding his hard-won electoral victory, they alleged that he rode into office on a road awash with blood and strewn with smashed heads and limbs. They said the governor was borrowing money recklessly, but it is to His Excellency’s credit that nobody has claimed that he is inconsistent.

    On his inauguration, he vowed to protect the rights of Rivers people. Needless to say, the governor has done this with remarkable agility. He once rushed out of bed, braved the night and all its dangerous oddities to save a judge whose home was being  invaded by Department of State Services (DSS) operatives. His critics, obviously those who may have forgotten that he is a lawyer, said he was obstructing justice. Do they know the law more than the governor?

    Wike has vowed that his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will win Saturday’s by-election. He once advised that the officials coming to conduct the last Assembly polls should write their Wills. Thankfully, no official died in the elections, which the PDP won.

    Now the governor says security agents plan to help him make history by making him the first governor to get killed in office. The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) says His Excellency is merely raising hell to cover up a massive plan to rig the ballot. Before the dust raised by the allegation could settle, the governor launched another, saying his security aides had been withdrawn. The police denied it.

    I have ordered a big family-size piano, which will be mounted in His Excellency’s living room. A young man well grounded in classical music can always sit down to work the keyboard for the governor’s favourite hymns whenever he seems to be in a foul mood. The Bible (David playing for Saul) days again? Why not? Doesn’t the world know that His Excellency is a believer? A cheeky fellow once remarked that Wike holds the enviable record of a governor whose head has been touched by all the Pentecostal giants in the land. I won’t confirm that because I don’t have the figures.

    A reader suggested a gift for Ekiti State strongman Ayo Fayose. This being a family paper, I will not go into the details, which are full of seditious propositions. You may call him a stunts man of the Ballotelian class and a hell raiser of the Wikerian school, but you can’t accuse Fayose of docility. No.

    When His Excellency stormed the Assembly last year to table the budget, he came with his own gavel. After a short speech, in which his opponents said he was rambling, Fayose turned to the gallery, which was jammed by visitors, and asked: “Those who want this budget passed speedily say ‘yeah’”. The lawmakers kept quiet, but the gallery erupted in a shout of ‘yeah!’. “Those who doesn’t (sic) want this budget passed speedily, say ‘yeah’”. All was quiet.  “The ayes have it,” the governor said, turning to an aide who gave him the gavel. He then banged the table and said: “Mr Speaker, I hereby present the budget.” Applause. Applause.

    On Tuesday, Fayose returned to the House to submit next year’s budget. He was decked out in a black vest, a pair of military fatigue (camouflage) trousers and a fez cap of the same material. Tall and trim, His Excellency was, of course, the cynosure of all eyes. His appearance brought back memories of the great Fidel Castro, the Cuban legend who has just passed on. Only the thick, dark cigar was missing.

    He explained his dressing to his bewildered audience, who apparently thought Fayose had emptied his bag of stunts, saying: “We are in serious wartime in Nigeria. We are at war in Nigeria.”

    Perhaps for modesty, His Excellency did not bring a gavel, but he stressed that the Speaker is his representative. “I’m the Speaker. He is the Acting Speaker. Therefore, if I say this budget will be passed by me, it will be passed,” Fayose said.

    I have ordered for His Excellency some cartons of the best Cuban cigar – to complete this new dressing. He need not smoke it – I understand he doesn’t smoke. He can just chew the stuff.

    Also missing on the maiden mailing list is the indefatigable defender of party discipline, rule of law and loyalty, Ali Modu Sheriff, the former Borno State Governor, who is in the thick of the crisis that has hobbled the PDP.

    Some party chiefs are now ruing the day they drafted Sheriff in as acting chairman. When they asked him to step aside for a Caretaker Committee headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, the former Kaduna Governor, Sheriff went to court.  Thus began an internecine war that has cost the opposition party so much.

    His opponents accuse him of being an accessory to the rise of Boko Haram, the terrorist sect troubling the Northeast, urging security agents to take him in. Sheriff denies it all and vows to pursue justice for his faction of the party. I planned to send His Excellency a book on leadership, but a colleague of mine doubted if he would appreciate that. He asked me: “Does he read? Have you forgotten how he boasted while in government that only a negligible percentage of his people was reading?”

    I wasn’t really persuaded, but to be cautious, I changed my mind. Now His Excellency will get 100 cartons of the best brand of spray starch for his big babariga  to remain crisp and smooth as he shuttles from one court to the other in search of justice.

    Now a little family secret. “Editorial Notebook”, you must have noted, never talks about this reporter so as not to be accused of abuse of privilege. My wife has also demanded, as a matter of conjugal right and privilege, to be on the mailing list. She even suggested some “romantic” gifts, which a poor reporter can hardly handle in these days of recession.

    After a long rumination over this sensitive issue, I have decided to give her my Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card for just 24 hours.

    Again, the mailing list remains open. After all, we are still in the season of goodwill. Compliments!

  • Again, two students killed in Makurdi

    Two students of the Federal University of Agriculture (FUAM), Makurdi, were again killed yesterday by suspected cultists.

    The university has been shut following the deaths.

    Four students of the institution were killed on Wednesday in their hostels.

    After an emergency meeting yesterday, the university’s management ordered students to vacate their hostels before 12pm same day, saying the university will “proceed on two weeks break until further notice”.

    According to the Information and Protocol Officer, Mrs. Waku Rosemary, the break is to enable the school authority restore normalcy.

    It was gathered that the university has not known peace in the last three weeks following incessant killings and rape of students by gunmen.

  • Again, Invisible Borders artists hit the road

    From May 12 to June 26, a set of nine artists from Nigeria will be on tour of 14 states of the nation.  Entitled Borders within 26, the trans-Nigerian road trip, embarked upon by these artists known as the Invisible Boarders will traverse these states to register their presence in forms of films, photographs, writing and more.  It is to show that Nigeria is one and that artists can use this format to solicit for love and harmony.

    In a press conference, the artists reminded Nigerians that this is the 6th edition of this road trip.  “This is also the first time we are getting hundred percent support from Nigeria.  This also shows the support we have from Diamond Bank and other corporate bodies who have come in to make this possible,” the artists said.

    In a statement, they said:  “The artists of the road trip will travel across 14 states, making about 15 stops in cities scattered across all the regions of the country.  Photographers, filmmakers and writers invited to participate in the six-week road trip will undertake to produce images and text that reflect impressionistic, yet critical readings of contemporary Nigeria.  The central questions would be: Who am I in relation to the artificial map?  How am I a product of what I have been inevitably named?  How do I interact across the several visible and invisible borders I confront as a Nigerian?

    According to Emeka Okereke who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, “What is foremost is the encounters: we shall meet, converse, dine, play and live with Nigerians from all walks of life, with hopes that the works produced eventually will be precipitates of those encounters.

    The physicality of the geographical enclave is equally of importance – a space, an environment is always a reflection of the people therein.

    This project follows in the tradition of the artistic road trip intervention established by invisible Borders in the course of five editions.  This implies that the artists will travel together in the same vehicle, all the while living, working and interacting with each other.  The route will be fluid, allowing for detours, but equally encompassing.  Beginning in and returning to Lagos, the artists will move circularly through several Nigerian cities and towns whose history shaped and continue to shape a contemporary Nigerian Identity.

    Each participating artist will be tasked with developing one major body of work as a follow-up to the trip.  Writers will be required to produce long travel essays (of up to 7,000 words), while photographers will be required to produce at least an encompassing body of work from the trip.

    In addition, invisible Borders will present several short, personal, narratives by residents of the towns and cities en-route, with the aim of creating a crowd-sourced narrative of contemporary Nigeria.

  • ‘Osun ’ll rise again’

    ‘Osun ’ll rise again’

    Osun State House of Assembly member from Obokun Constituency Hon. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye has expressed optimism that the House would add value to governance in the state.

    He spoke in his Constituency Office, Ibokun, during a courtsey visit by some traditional rulers in Obokun Local Government. He said the state would witness more development.

    Oyintiloye noted that, with the calibre of lawmakers, with different experiences, exposure and professional backgrounds, the House would be proactive, vibrant and advance the course of good governance in the state.

    The lawmaker also said with the quality and experience of the elected leadership of the house, there would be mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence.

    He told the royal fathers  that the atmosphere of love that permeated the House at the inauguration was a good omen for the growth of democracy.

    He expressed optimism hat the House would pursue its legislative duties, checks and balances and oversight functions without compromising its independence as a separate arm of government.

    “The past House of Assembly, especially the immediate one, has shown very good examples by passing laws that would be beneficial to the people and assist the government to deliver.”

    “I am optimistic that diverse and rich professional background of different members of the state Assembly will contribute positively in the discharge of our legislative duties.’

    “The Assembly being a theatre of democracy is designed to make law for the development of the nation, state and local government as the case may be, and I am convinced that Osun Assembly will not be different.

    “The tradition of non-intervention of executive arm of government  in the legislative business and its functions would also go a long way in assisting the state legislators to deliver their constitutional responsibilities”, he said.

    Oyintiloye charged the people of his constituency to always provide necessary guidance as the occasion may demand.

  • Again, here we go!

    All things being equal, the presidential and national assembly elections will hold in five days time. There is no foreseeable reason they should not hold after the initial postponement. This is more so given that the two major planks on which the shift was hinged have been very substantially addressed. The liberation and recapturing of local governments, towns and villages under the stranglehold of the Boko Haram insurgents have reasonably progressed. So also is the distribution of the PVC.

    The other matter of whether or not to deploy the card readers is now at the table of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the sense that it is its prerogative to decide when and how to use them if it is fully satisfied with the outcome of the trials. Though, those experimental outings came out with some hitches, it is to be expected that the electoral body has taken note of them making, amends where necessary.

    Expectations are high that this set of elections should come and go. So much heat has been generated by this particular election that Nigerians are eager to have them pass by. The eagerness is not as much for any personal interest or enthusiasm but because of the general belief that this election could make or mar the country. Many are therefore desirous to have the elections pass by for them to resume their normal lives.

    Before now, many of our citizens living outside their ancestral homes had fled those areas for fear that harm may come their way. Many more are likely to flee days before the elections especially those residing in the northern parts of the country and Abuja. This is not a matter of speculation. Neither can it be dismissed as the doomsday prediction of an arm chair Journalist. It is real. The fear is palpable that unmitigated violence is likely to breakout thereafter irrespective of who wins. And in this regard, we have in mind the presidential election which at any rate comes first. There is general apprehension that its outcome is most likely to be disputed. And when such disputes arise, they manifest in violence often leading to the destruction of lives and property. This is more so as the election is viewed rightly or wrongly as a defining moment for the nation’s corporate survival.  Two factors account for this. The first has to do with the history of elections on these shores and the penchant by politicians not to accept defeat even when there is sufficient evidence they lost. This conclusion is very evident from the plethora of litigations that follow elections on these shores. Even where losers are known to have conceded defeat, congratulated their opponents with a promise not to challenge such verdict, it has been very disappointing seeing the same people reverse themselves only to proceed to the tribunals later. This election is unlikely to depart from this ruinous pattern. There is even more reasons for it to assume more dangerous dimension than previous ones.

    And this brings us to the second point. Despite whatever pretences one may wish to make, the election is largely seen from the prism of ethnic and religious lines. These factors have been palpable in the language of political discourses since campaigns began and even before then. The north wants power return to it as a matter of right. The south-south wants one of its own currently occupying that position to be given another term of four years before power can now move. There is yet to be any national consensus on the matter and we are going to the elections with such destabilizing and potentially explosive tendencies.

    There have also been threats from here and there if certain events go certain ways during this election. Accusing fingers have been pointed at each other by the major political parties. We have been inundated with accusations of plans by the political parties to rig the elections especially the ruling party. INEC has not been spared on this. If anything, the recent demonstrations in Lagos by some ethnic militias asking for the sack of Jega can only add to the general foul air that now surrounds the coming elections.

    The net effect of all these is the likelihood that the outcome of the election is likely to be disputed, especially so if there are observed lapses from the arrangements put in place by the electoral body. It would even seem to me that people are likely to be looking out for faults to discredit the elections.

    When we pair this observation with the high stakes of the election, one can then understand the stark reality that awaits this country in the next few days. But elections are not an end unto themselves but means for the advancement of public good. If that is the proper conception of the matter, why must hell let loose because one political party or individual failed to realize his ambition? Why has ethnicity and religion become prime considerations that determine the direction of the power matrix in this country? And if our leaders emerge on the basis of such mundane platforms, can they really pass as nationally acceptable leaders? Can they in all fairness, still remain loyal to the central authority irrespective of their attachment and loyalty to primordial considerations? These are some of the moot issues.

    Again, why are we simulating obstacles so as to find a convenient ground to wrestle the electoral body to the ground? And what of the likely consequences of such on the general wellbeing of the ordinary people that are being promised heaven and earth if they vote in a particular way? These are some of the contradictions arising from the polluted atmosphere that pervades the political atmosphere as we go into the elections.

    If blames are to be apportioned, the political class is largely culpable for heating up the political environment. And the reasons for this are largely self-serving. The same political elite that have despoiled this country, mortgaging its future are at it again. And in the pursuit of their personal interests, they have now mobilized the common people against each other.

    It is the same common people that will bear the brunt of whatever adverse repercussions that may arise out of a contentious election.

    If the overall interest of the people is the prime factor for seeking political office, nothing should be done to throw this country into crisis whatever the outcome of the polls. Our laws are replete with established processes for redress and those who feel shortchanged should avail themselves of such avenues. There must be conscious efforts to redirect this country from the part of a self-fulfilling prophesy of disintegrating this year. That is the huge challenge before us.

    Above all, much still depends on the INEC on the day of the election. The elections must not only be free and fair but must be seen to be so. Already, the electoral body has been put on edge. It does appear the electorate is not prepared to take excuses from it. It must therefore work hard to deliver to Nigerians an outcome that will give no room for acrimony. That is the surest way of disappointing those who are waiting for the slightest infractions to cause trouble.

  • Iheanacho injured again

    Iheanacho injured again

    Any hope of Flying Eagles star midfielder Kelechi Iheanacho featuring for Nigeria at next month’s Africa Youth Championship(AYC) is now almost gone, after he got another injury, playing for Manchester City Under-19 in the UEFA youth league.

    Although yet to be granted a work permit, that will enable him play for the club main team, the Taiye Academy product is allowed to play for the Under-18 in the UEFA youth league as a player on trial.

    The competition is opened to European youth clubs and UEFA, for the use of players who are not contractually binded to their clubs.

    In his first game for the team since starring in preseason with the first team, the Nigerian was named on the substitute bench for the City side, against Germany Schalke 04.

    Iheanacho, who only recently returned from an injury lay off was introduced as a second half substitute, but had to be substituted with 10 minutes left to play after picking up an injury that ended his participation in the game.

    Nacho, as he is fondly called, has been tipped to gate crash into the Nigeria team, preparing for next month’s AYC, after making a remarkable recovery from an injury that was expected to keep him out of the tournament.

    His participation at the tournament is looking a little doubtful, even though there is no report of how long he is expected to be out of action, but it appears to be a re occurrence of the same injury he has just recovered from.

    If ruled out of the tournament, his absence will come as a setback to coach Manu Garba of the Nigeria Under-20, who was hoping he will make up for the injury enforced absence of Tottenham Hotspurs, Musa Yahaya.

    It will also be a blow to Manchester City’s aspiration of landing him a work permit as they were hoping a strong showing at the youth championship, will solidify their claims to the home office to grant him a permit using the special talent rule.

    Manchester City who were 1-0 up conceded a late goal after Iheanacho’s departure, but still hung on to win the last 16 tie on penalties winning 3-1.