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The chicken has come home to roost

When Nigerians spoke up about insecurity in the North, they were labelled as detractors, when the opposition party and concerned leaders spoke up, they characterized them as power hungry, Islamists fundamentalists and exponents of janjaweed ideology.When the international media did, they were termed APC opposition collaborators, apologists or even pawns. When Hilary Clinton did, she was ridiculed as incompetent, and infact the cause of the problem and the reason why the girls were abducted, when the American Government did they were called busy bodies who have their own unresolved problems, when former PDP governors and other politicians did, they were immediately described as disgruntled.

Whatever the case maybe, those who complain, object, criticize, observe or even perceive that PDP or Jonathan administration should have, could have, or could be doing more, or should be, or could be doing more are simply labelled enemies of the Jonathan administration . They are considered “sick”, senseless conspirators and saboteurs, and they are described in many other unprintable words that should never be used in the kind of discourse that is the subject of the matter. The kind of language that must never be bequeathed to any coming generation, language that is uniformly condemned and rejected all over the world, yet used freely and repeatedly by key operatives of Nigerian government, and Nigeria’s ruling party, PDP.

But now, a past president, leader of PDP, and former chair of PDP BOT, and more importantly, a benefactor of the current President, one to whom the President has in the past owed his allegiance, and repeatedly credited as the instrument of God in his meteoric rise in politics and leadership, and one who is the catalyst of his name and luck, Goodluck , has spoken. He said the President did not believe the Chibok girls were missing initially. According to him, Jonathan considered it a political gimmick, and chose not to err on the side of caution when the lives of some of the most vulnerable Nigerians were at stake.

The former president from his military and presidential experience expressed the thought that this unfortunate approach adopted by the President wasted the most vital window of opportunity in rescuing the girls, and taking them out of harm’s way, the vital initial twelve hours. In the words of former President Obasanjo, President Jonathan finally, slowly and reluctantly answered the call to act only when the international community put pressure on him and the matter overshadowed the World Economic Forum being hosted in the nation’s capital.

The former president described the current president as slow, and failing to meet Nigerians expectations! This is historic and unprecedented! There is no record of a former democratically elected president describing a successor in this manner.

Over the weekend, on account of the wondrous technology of communication, broadcast and cable television, we were treated to the “American Wonder” of the value of citizens, and to what lengths nations should go to secure them. The news as monitored demonstrated the real role of the President of a nation with the deployment of the best of America’s special forces to secure a non-contentious release of a soldier who though in captivity for five years, remained unforgotten by his country. America, of the “AmericaWillKnow# fame, swapped five dangerous terrorists just to secure the life of one non-commissioned officer – a Sergeant. The president got personally involved and spoke directly to the King of Qatar who took custody of five dangerous prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, who America gave for just one of its own.

What was most touching and telling was that Mr. Obama personally took charge of securing the release of “just” one low level American soldier. One whose existence in many ways should not mean much to him, going by Nigerian warped standard, one whose capture and detention did not stop him from winning elections. He called the parents, brought them to the White House and shared his podium and moment of glory with them. They hugged, backslapped, and walked away together holding each other fondly, endearingly and so ordinarily, perhaps to eat brunch together in the White House.

Days before this happened, no security report of danger to his life could stop President Barrack Obama from flying across the world to celebrate Memorial Day in the heart of the war, and where he was most likely to be in harms way. He chose the epicenter over the attention-center. He chose Bagram, Afghanistan, over the White House in Washington DC. Nothing could stop him.

Contrast this with what is happening at home. When recently we had Children’s day, our own President Jonathan didn’t go to visit the children who are in despair, children who have been unable to attend school on account of the Boko Haram insurgency, children whose lives have been changed forever by fear, tragedy and loss, children who have lost parents or siblings, some of whom want to be like him in the future. Our only connection with them is the technological wonder of cable TV, with CNN meeting with them, touring their school, meeting their teachers, listening to them and transmitting their pain, their hopes, their aspirations to the world. CNN could go, but our own President could not.

We are today a people traumatized more by our leaders than our attackers. Our attackers have banked on the failure of our leaders to traumatize us even more. We are a people in despair, in pain and sorrow, not just for the lost souls or missing girls, but for the soul of our nation and the missing leadership. Traumatized by terrorists, traumatized by an incompetent government, traumatized by poor infrastructure, traumatized by darkness, traumatized by impunity, traumatized by our helplessness when those who steal go unpunished, traumatized when children are missing and the president is dancing, traumatized when he, and the leadership of his party deny the obvious, when they belittle the lives of our children by disputing their abduction, when they insult the pain of parents, the fear and grief of communities, traumatized when we realize we can’t depend on our government to protect us, or come to our aid. Traumatized when the government spokesperson labels us who are victims of this government as opposition controlled states, traumatized when to them, those who are concerned enough about the safety and destiny of our girls, are reduced to mere “campaigners” who are 90% opposition. Traumatized to discover that our president only sees electoral capital, not human capital, not Nigerian capital, not citizens of Nigeria, traumatized at the reality of our exclusion by the president and the PDP.

At a point, trauma leads to delusion and irrationalbehaviour. How much more trauma can we take? As a nation, we are unraveling, things are falling apart, the center is not holding, anarchy is upon the land, but the reason is simple. There is a failure at the center. There is rot, incompetence, callousness, ineptitude, a scale of corruption and stealing,a level of impunity that is emanating from the center. The stench is so bad, you can smell it far north, far east, far south, and far west. That is why things are falling apart, that is why the center isn’t holding, that is why anarchy is upon the land, that, I submit is the reason for, and our greatest trauma.

•Mohammed is Interim National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC)

June 4, 2014
My rift with Obasanjo over, says Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the rift between himself and former President, Olusegun Obasanjo is all over, re-iterating that he harbours “no hatred or enmity” against his former boss.

A statement released and signed by the former VP’s Media Office read that he spoke on Tuesday in Abuja when he granted audience to the leaders of the Northern Youth Leaders Forum, a group that recently embarked on a mission to end the rift between the former President and his deputy.

The release stated further that the team, led by Comrade Eliot Afiyo, had weeks ago met former President Obasanjo in Ota, at which event he announced that he had forgiven his former vice president.

He was quoted to have said: “I don’t harbor any grudge against my former boss. Yes, we had disagreements in office. These were mere disagreements. I harbor no hatred or enmity against him or anybody. I never had anything against him and I will never have,” Atiku said while responding to the group.

He explained that in politics, he has opponents, but no enemies. “Politics is not war,” he emphasized.

Atiku thanked the group for successfully brokering peace between him and President Obasanjo, adding that this single effort had marked the leaders of the youth organisation as serious-minded people who are fully prepared to take over the leadership of the country from their seniors.

Meanwhile, Atiku reflected on the current security situation in the country appealing to the Federal Government to take the challenge more seriously. “If we can go to other countries to rid them of these kinds of problems, it shows that we have the capacity to put this one down immediately so that the suffering of the people can be reduced.”

In an earlier speech, chairman of the group, Comrade Afiyo described Atiku as an “honest and forthright leader, a courageous and dogged democrat, a loving and compassionate guardian, an accommodating and caring shepherd and a role model.”

He expressed happiness and satisfaction with the joint decision by both Obasanjo and Atiku to accede to their request to bury the hatchet, adding that this is a development that will go a long way in healing the rift in the country.

June 3, 2014
All APC presidential aspirants ’ll get fair chance, says Fashola

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has said all aspirants for Presidency under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be given fair chance to contest the position.

Fashola spoke yesterday at the Lagos House in Ikeja when students of Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom (UK), led by Rear Admiral Jonas Haggren, visited him.

He said: “There is nothing unusual in the emergence of the presidential candidate of the APC. It will be an open activity and a high level of accountability. I believe everyone who has aspiration will be given fair chance to express and ventilate that aspiration, subject to the rule of politics that we are all aware of. That is votes, persuasion, lobbying and others. “Nothing unusual will happen. There will not be anything behind the closet.”

The governor noted that the insecurity in the land was a threat to national life.

He was, however, optimistic that the country would overcome the challenge.

Fashola said: “It is not only to electoral process; it is even to human existence and business activities. I believe we will be done with this in short time, specifically in a way that it will not impede the ability and desire of Nigerians to make a choice at the next election.

“Every election brings up the contest of ideas and opportunities to make the choice, either to keep the incumbent government or to elect another party to govern the country. I do not think that it will be different in Nigeria next year.”

On the need for human capital development in the country, the governor stressed that the most important resource any nation can have is its people.

He said: “Our oil and gas as resources today are only seasonal resources. Until the late 1950s, no one was talking about the oil. We were all concerned about agriculture and agro-products. It is important to pay attention to the strategic resource that provides the sizeable portion of our income and revenue till date.

“I think we should pay attention to the people in the way they utilise the resources. That will be the basis for real diversification: to educate, strengthen them in terms of health care and life expectancy; to provide skills for them by way of education, it is only those skills that can form the basis and the totality of the understanding that the resources are not an end.

“It is only a means to a larger end. There are local issues in terms of securing the oil assets and platform, but they only go back, to my view, as demonstrative of the reactions to lack of education and the lack of skills to earn a living in a competitive and more productive way.

“But the message is out there. We have experienced the boom cyrcle. It will not be like this forever. The proceed that comes from the Oil and Gas sector today must be put to use in terms of providing infrastructure that will help improve the standard of living in the country.”

June 3, 2014
Reps’ delayed response stalls hearing in govt’s suit against defectors

House of Representatives’ delay in filing its defence on Federal Government’s suit against the House prevented the Federal High Court yesterday from taking further steps on the case.

The Federal Government, in the case filed on its behalf by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), is praying the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain the House of Representatives from allowing 41 of its members, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to further participate in the activities of the House.

He also directed the plaintiff to, within five days, after being served with the defence’s response, file his reply on point of law.

Justice Mohammed adjourned the matter till July 8.

June 3, 2014
Fani-Kayode quits APC

Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has renounced his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) returned to Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

Fani-Kayode, in a statement yesterday, stated that he left APC because he considered nation-building as more important than party politics, party affiliation or party formations.

He said being a devout and committed Christian, “I cannot remain in a party where a handful of people that have sympathies for Boko Haram and that have a clear Islamic agenda are playing a leading role.

The former minister who joined the APC in February this year explained that the more reason why he decided to quit was that some people are working hard silently to impose a Muslim/Muslim ticket on the party for next year presidential election.

His words: “I believe that religion ought to play no part in politics but a situation where members of the Christian faith are not treated as equals and where all substantive positions of the national executive of the party are made up of almost exclusively Muslims is unacceptable to me.

“In fairness to the members of the party there are many leaders within its ranks who share my views and who are also opposed to the religious agenda that the few have but I am not prepared to stay and fight from within because the presence of any closet Haramites on the same political platform as me is something that I find utterly repugnant.”

Fani-Kayode, who claimed to be a leader and foundation member of APC said: “I cannot be in a party where a number of leading people question the secularity of the state and yet those people are not called to order by the so called party leaders and where such people seem to hold sway.

“I cannot be in a party which appears to have politicised the whole of the Chibok issue and who are not sincere in trying to get the girls back,” he added.

APC’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said last night that the party would react.

But as of the time of going to press, the reaction was not received.

June 3, 2014
Rescuing Nigeria from PDP’s misfortune & misguided vision in 2015: Open letter to apc leadership

After 15 years of uninterrupted democracy, it is important on this august occasion of May 29, 2014, to write this special letter on how to rescue our dear nation from the hands of unprepared and clueless leadership piloting the affairs of our nation at the moment which, if not checked, may collapse this country in line with earlier predictions by United States of America, and other prophets of doom.

In this regard, I write this open letter to the leaders of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), through the following indefatigable leaders of our party: Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Bukola Saraki, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu and Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

This letter is addressed to you G7 based on your individual merits and most outstanding leadership roles each of you played in what APC is today. Of the major characters within our party, you G7 were selected for this letter. But for avoidance of doubt, His Excellency Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, apart from leading the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to the amalgamation, is the national leader of the party and cannot be ignored in this type of letter because the part he played in what APC is today can’t be over-emphasised. Same goes for His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, who led the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to the party, while Ogbonnaya Onu led the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). The importance of Atiku Abubakar in the party, being one of the leading lights, is very obvious. Bukola Saraki leads the National Assembly caucus; Amaechi is the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum while Owelle Rochas Okorocha leads the APC Governors’ Forum.

The fact remains that Nigeria is currently at the cross road, confused and not knowing what tomorrow portends, occasioned by the visionless and misguided leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the centre. Today, we have a government that cannot protect or guarantee our security as contained in our constitution. According to Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, “This is a government which is not only in denial mentality, but in denial about certain obvious steps to take… It’s one of those rather child-like situations that if you shut your eyes, if you don’t exhibit the tactile evidence of the missing humanity here, that somehow the problem will go away” – A Government that have succeeded in making us a mockery before the international community and African leaders, which major achievements are traumatising, transforming Nigeria into darkness and digitalising corruption to such a level where a whopping sum of $10 million can be said to have developed wings and unaccounted for. A government where a minister spends a whopping sum of $10 million on hiring of planes for movements, both private and official, while Nigerians are wallowing in poverty. It is based on this unacceptable state and the fear of the future of our country that makes this letter imperative.

Apart from the above, I was motivated to alert the leadership of APC through this medium as I may not be privileged to attend the caucus or NEC meeting, where crucial issues affecting the future of the party shall be tabled and discussed. Besides, as a stakeholder in the project Nigeria and having played a great role as National Publicity Secretary of the nPDP, a major component of the present APC, I am stimulated not only by my patriotic consideration but encouraged by John F. Kennedy, one of the greatest presidents of America, who said: “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” No doubt in this crucial time of our history, PDP has messed up our country. The party has deviated from the democratic path it was founded on and has become a mockery of democratic principles. If some patriotic Nigerians do not rally around each other to ease out this party come 2015, then it will be an understatement to say that Nigeria is doomed and has no future under PDP after 2015. But God forbid!

I am also aware that it was because of the visionless leadership of PDP that brought up the amalgamation of other opposition political parties to form what is today known as the All Progressives Congress. As I commend and congratulate all the people and forces behind the formation of this great party, let me state that if Nigeria is not rescued from the maladministration of PDP come 2015, to some of us, all the efforts in forming APC would have become an exercise in futility.

For leading Nigeria to its present comatose state, one cannot be far from the truth if one says that President Goodluck Jonathan is a colossal failure in terms of his leadership of our nation. This view is shared by many Nigerians and some key actors of world politics.

For example, Dr Peregrino Brimah, after the Jos bombings of Tuesday, May 20, 2014 which claimed more than 200 lives, according to latest counts, have pushed Nigeria to formally occupy the first position in the ranking of nations with the worst governments in history. He went further to present other criteria which recently moved Nigeria up the list as follows:

Arecent World Bank report listed Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the world. A report from the World Bank in April listed Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the world, with the largest number of people said to live on less than $1.25 a day. The others are India, China, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo. President Jonathan instead of addressing the issue on poverty as raised casually dismissed the report by saying: Nigeria is not a poor country.

The rebasing of Nigeria’s economy, setting Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa, while revealing the true economic position of Africa’s largest nation, simultaneously re-certified Nigeria as the nation in the top position for worst leadership in social welfare and opportunities for the people. With 70 per cent of the nation living under a-dollar-a-day, economically factored, Nigeria has the poorest people of any nation in the world today. With the rebased economy rating, Nigeria has the most unparalleled HDI (Human Development Index) to revenue and economy ratio of all nations. Poorest people in the Nigeria case, is derived from or correlates with poorest leadership.

Is it not surprising that Nigeria, at the end of 2013, surpassed Mexico in kidnapping, recording the cruelest and second highest single abduction events in recent history. By the end of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, Nigeria surpassed Syria, Libya, Iraq and Central African Republic (CAR) in deadly acts of terrorism and sectarian violence. The Nyanya bombing was ranked the fifth worst bombing of its kind in world history, post 1970, by the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI). The Jos bombing, with over 200 reported dead in one attack, is second only to 9/11 and the disputed Syria chemical weapons attack.

In combined values, with about 80,000 people killed in four years of largely unchecked Boko Haram violence, and with over 4,000 killed in the first quarter of 2014 alone, Nigeria has fast outpaced other nations of the world in deadly terror. Nigeria’s leadership in December of 2013 secured the world’s top position in insecurity and failure to protect life and discourage terror. Current rankings put Nigeria’s leadership second only to Hitler, after surpassing Saddam Hussein, in the current century, in terms of deliberate internal wastage of life.”

With Nigeria’s leadership admitting that they could not account for up to or more than $20 billion oil revenue earnings discovered missing in a single 18-month period examined; the nation’s finance minister admitting this to BBC and the official government engagement of Price Waterhouse, an international accounting firm, which further confirmed this financial mishap, Nigeria secured its position as the most haplessly and a ver unserious nation.

According to Mrs. Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State, in separate events in New York City, said the Nigerian government under President Goodluck Jonathan squandered its oil resources, and indirectly helps corruption to fester in the troubled country. Her words: “They have squandered their oil wealth; they have allowed corruption to fester, and now they are losing control of parts of their (own) territory because they would not make hard choices.” The former U.S. Secretary of State at the function organised by the International Crisis Group also emphasized that: “The Nigerian government has failed to confront the threat, or to address the underlying challenges. Most of all, the government of Nigeria needs to get serious about protecting all of its citizens, and ensuring that every child has the right and opportunity to go to school.”

While to Sarah Saawall, US
Under Secretary of State,
“Corruption prevents supplies as basic as bullets and transport vehicles from reaching the front lines of the struggle against Boko Haram”.

A new report on global life expectancy by the World Health Organisation has rated Nigeria low in its report titled “World Health Statistics 2014” and published few days ago, life expectancy for both men and women is less than 55 years in nine sub-Saharan African countries namely: Nigeria, Angola, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. The yearly report is the definitive source of information on the health of the world’s people. It contains data from 194 countries on a range of mortality, disease and health system indicators, including life expectancy, illnesses and deaths from key diseases, health services and treatments, financial investment in health, as well as risk factors and behaviours that affect health.

General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria former President in his assessment of Jonathan’s performance in office posited: “I don’t believe he has performed to the expectations of many Nigerians, not just me.” While US Senator John McCain in his view feels that we don’t even have a government in the right sense, “We shouldn’t have waited for a practically non-existent government to give us the go ahead before mounting a humanitarian effort to rescue those girls”

“Mr. Jonathan, who leads a corrupt government that has little credibility, initially played down the group’s threat and claimed security forces were in control. It wasn’t until Sunday, more than two weeks after the kidnappings, that he called a meeting of government officials – New York Times.

The Economist, writing under the Editorial ‘A Clueless Government described the PDP Government in Nigeria, ‘perhaps the worst aspect of the Nigerian Government’s handling of the abduction is its seeming indifference to the plight of the girls’ families. It took more than two weeks before Mr. Jonathan addressed the matter in public. His government’s sluggish response and its failure even to clarify how many girls had been abducted provoked protests in several cities across Nigeria – itself an usual event

We should be asking ourselves: Is this the type of PDP that Nigerians voted for during the general elections of 2011? Of course, not! Nigeria is certainly more divided under this administration than ever and only divine intervention can enable us survive the visionless and clueless leadership that now pervades our nation. These are some of the reasons why the leadership of APC should move fast to rescue our nation from the sordid state it is at the moment.

I am so saddened over the mess President Jonathan has made of our country, because I could recall warning Nigerians that Jonathan was not prepared for the office he was being pushed to occupy, after messing up the zoning formula of PDP entrenched for the sanctity and peace of the nation. But nobody took me serious. I am warning again, that if PDP under President Jonathan is not stopped by 2015, Chief Uzor Kalu would have become a true prophet. After all, he once said: “Jonathan might be the last Nigerian President. Jonathan might be the Gorbachev of Nigeria. And that is the truth, so we better wake up. Political class, business class, military, civilians must now stand up to work for our internal security. We are suffering from pains of our people; we are suffering from pains of the Nigerian system. This is not about which part of the country you come from, it is about Nigeria.”

Chief Tom Ikimi, one of the major pillars of the party, in his open letter to the national chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande titled, “My fears for APC, by Ikimi” of May 9, 2014 expresses the fears of some key actors of the party. He wrote: “I have taken a few days rest, but my intention of proceeding to an extended holiday seem to be disturbed by the overwhelming unfavourable reports I have received from across the country on the present status of our party. I have spoken to party members and leaders across the country and the feeling is unanimous regarding the downward trend of things. The latest problems arise from the congresses where in the South-South region; there are fundamental problems in Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers and Edo. I have been informed of similar problems in most other states across the country. Parallel excos have emerged in Ogun State!

“I am compelled to express strong reservations on the present state of affairs in our party, and my heart bleeds when I look back at the efforts and personal sacrifice many of us made to bring this national platform to fruition.”

I believe some of the issues raised by Chief Ikimi in his letter should be addressed as we should not be seen repeating some of the evils that scared us away from PDP.

If we still have audacious strategists in the party, I will suggest that we in APC should heed to the wise counsel of elder statesman Alh. Balarabe Musa, who had earlier advised that “the North should forget the ambition of insisting on the presidency in 2015, rather a credible President for the country should be allowed to emerge from the South-South in 2015 to replace Jonathan.”.

I fully persuade our leaders to carefully study this proposal from Musa and make the contest for the APC Presidential ticket an open one that anybody from any section of the country can bid to take. If we make the presidential primary free, fair and transparent, whoever emerges no matter where he or she is from should be allowed to go with the full support of the entire party. This is the only way I believe we can achieve the APC’s aim of rescuing Nigeria from the evil grip of the PDP before this great nation is ran aground.

The most important thing that
should be at the back of ev
ery progressive Nigerian’s mind is how to free Nigerians from the shame that PDP has brought to us all. And, if we miss this opportunity, only God will determine the fate of our nation.

In this regards, let us be guided by the foremost African, Nelson Mandela’s words: “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it”. And the counsel of management philosopher, Peter Drucker: “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” This is if truly we want to bail this country from the mess of PDP.

Knowing that some people will start to ask questions on my pedigree in penning down this letter, let me state that apart from the facts enumerated above of the need of this letter, my past acts in the struggle for a better and greater Nigeria position me for this letter. I was the national director of the dreaded Turaki Vanguard that fought to stand still the infamous third term agenda and some anti-democratic elements during the second term tenure of President Obasanjo. I was in charge of the public relations unit of the outfit. Apart from being the immediate past national publicity secretary of “new Peoples Democratic Party” (nPDP), I initiated and headed the Igbo Crusaders Political Outfit and South-East-South-South Amalgamated Political Movement (SESSAM), which I used to promote and propagate the ideals and visions of the founding fathers of PDP in the North-East of Nigeria, though sadly the party has been hijacked by elements that never knew the ideals and principles why PDP was formed in the first place.

With this clarification, the point that I have been in the centre of the struggle for a better Nigeria is not in doubt, prompting the penning down of this letter. So it will be sad should anybody dare suggest that I was either influenced or motivated in writing this letter for any other consideration, if not for patriotic reasons.

The fact remains that should APC loose out in the 2015 general election, but God forbid, the true colour of President Goodluck Jonathan will be revealed to Nigerians and none of us may survive the heat. The ball is now in your court to do that which is necessary to rescue Nigeria from the imminent doom that awaits her, should we fail in this mission.

Let me, therefore, conclude this letter by asking you all to listen to what the most outstanding African, both dead and living, Nelson Mandela, said about our present predicament: “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”

Regards and remain blessed.

•Chief Eze was the immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New PDP

June 3, 2014
APC to Fed Govt: account for huge monthly allocations

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has challenged the Federal Government to account for the huge budgetary allocation it receives monthly from the Federation Account.

The party said this became necessary because of the government’s poor record of development.

In a statement yesterday in Lagos by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party noted that while the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was right in asking Nigerians to challenge their governors to account for their monthly allocations, “such challenge should not be limited to the state governments alone”.

It said: “Yes, Nigerians should seek accountability from their state governments, but it is important to note that the biggest challenge should be directed at the Federal Government, because it takes the biggest chunk of the monthly budgetary allocations.

“While all the 36 states together collect only 26.72 per cent and all the 774 local governments collect 20.6 per cent, the Federal Government alone takes 52.68 per cent, hence it bears the greatest responsibility to Nigerians in the provision of social amenities, creation of jobs and infrastructural development

“Since Education, Agriculture and Health, for example, fall under the Concurrent List, Nigerians must – in addition to challenging their state governments – ask the Federal Government what it has done with its huge chunk of federal allocations, against the background of massive unemployment, dilapidated infrastructure and the poor health facilities that have seen public officials, including the President, scurrying to foreign hospitals for medical treatment.”

APC said whatever achievements the Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government has attributed to itself since assuming office have constituted a mere tokenism compared with the quantum of funds that have accrued to it.

“It is, therefore, imperative that he who must come to equity must come with clean hands, and those who point a finger at others must realise that four others are pointing at them. It is not just enough to say certain states have received certain allocations, Nigerians also want to know how much the Federal Government has received in total till date and what it has done with it.

“The Federal Government must lead the way in ensuring accountability for the funds from the Federation Account, just as local and state governments have a responsibility for accountability,” the party said.

It warned against using such allocations as an instrument of blackmail by a non-performing Federal Government.

June 3, 2014
Discordant tunes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 3, 2014
‘With internal democracy, APC ‘ll survive’

Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant Senator Ganiyu Solomon spoke with reporters in Lagos on his ambition, zoning, the agitation for a Christian governor and the fate of the party in the next general elections. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

What are your expectations about the next governorship poll in Lagos State?

Democracy translates to participatory governance, which means everybody gets involved; you participate. And that differentiates it from a dictatorial government. Dictatorial government is just about a few people, and that was what we had during the military era. There was the accusation that, ‘all these parties, you’re not allowing internal democracy.’ And they kept saying, ‘yes, we’re guaranteeing internal democracy.’

I remember when Chief Akande spoke on this, because he was the first person to give something close to a manifesto, of sorts, before the official launch of the party. And part of what he said, apart from fighting corruption, is that in this our party, we are going to make sure we imbibe the culture of internal democracy. So, anything that will make the party look at another direction, instead of a particular direction, will make it short on internal democracy. So, to me, it’s about perception. Some people may say the body language of the leadership is tilting towards this person; at the end of the day, it’s about perception. I say this because I relate with the leadership; none of the leaders have said, ‘I don’t think you can go,’ or ‘you’re not going,’ or has sent somebody to me to say ‘you’re going back to the senate.’ As far as I am concerned, any way, the issue of the Senate is closed; I am not going back to the Senate. Maybe, we should start with that: I am not going back to the Senate; that is settled.

What is your reaction to the endorsement of Mr. Akin Ambode for the governorship election by the Olowo-Eko, Oba Rilwan Akiolu?

Let me say that, in making the pronouncement, Kabiyesi was expressing his preference. He has also expressed his personal opinion. We’re talking of a party now; I don’t know which part or provision of the constitution of the party says a traditional ruler endorses or can endorse. Whatever he says is his personal wish, which is not the same thing as the wish of the generality of the people.

At the end of the day, we have a party structure. Let me also tell you that he made the pronouncement at a time when we had not even concluded putting party structures in place. So, it couldn’t have been in consultation, with who? Is it with the political leadership? Is it with the traditional leadership? We’ve had different opinions since then. We deliberately did not come out to say anything about it because we felt it was a political statement. And what do you do with political statements?

You either respond or you leave it. In this case, we decided to leave it. It has happened a number of times when a traditional ruler in one state would say, ‘this is the person we want.’ At the end of the day, the man would not go anywhere. It has happened several times. I don’t want to cite instances. Even in Lagos, it has happened. In our own case, such statements would not deter us. It will not deter the party man. What is the weight of a vote? Every vote carries the same weight, regardless of the status of the individual. So, what anybody can do is to go behind his chosen, preferred, aspirant, mobilise people behind him, and provide a level playing field. It is not even for them to do that, that is the provision of the constitution; that is the tenet of democracy – provide a level playing field. And there must be transparency. Whoever wins becomes the party’s candidate, every other person queues behind him. It is not by pronouncement it is not by proclamation;, yes, they were using proclamation years ago to annex, to cede, land , to cede society, to cede country, but not now. That is now out of vogue; this is democracy, you can’t do that. So, we’ll just leave it at that – it is political and we, politicians, take as political, and consign to its proper place.

Consensus or primaries, which would you recommend to your party?

Now, we have a much more bigger party; that means it has also increased our stakeholders. And let me also remind you recently, we had a very aggressive membership mobilisation drive which brought a lot of people into this political party. These people now are interested; how do you do consensus? Do you do consultation down to the grassroots level? Do you do consultation up to various sectors of the political parties? Because you need to do that. Then, how do you now aggregate their opinions? If you meet a particular group, they would have somebody. If you meet another group, they would have a different person. So, you have to meet various groups at different levels, up to the lowest rung of the ladder, from the top to the bottom. How do you now aggregate their preferences? You have to do it; it has to be very scientific. Whatever you do, you must make sure it can stand the test of time. What is that test of time? The election. What I will recommend is to have primaries. It will put everybody’s mind at rest.

We believe you’ve been consulting with political leaders in the state. Have you consulted with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and what did he tell you?

Yes, I’ve consulted with him. There’s no way you’d want to run for governorship, or any serious political office and you don’t meet your leaders. I met him and he said, ‘well, you can go ahead with your ambition; at the right time we’ll roll out the party programmes and so on, but right now we are busy putting up the party structures.’ We agreed that putting up party structures will not stop me from meeting people, going ahead with my plans. That is it.

There are some issues that may shape the primaries-zoning and religion. We want your opinion on these issues, zoning and religion.

I always try not to go into discussing religion, because people can be very emotional about religion and, given what is also going on round the country, it is a very sensitive issue. In this particular part of the country, we don’t discuss religion when it comes to governance. This is the very first time some people are bringing it up. And I can tell you that they are bringing it up because of their own selfish interests. I don’t want to go further, but look at the average family here, you have them muslims, you have them Christians. I have a cousin who is a reverend; my sister is a deaconess; go to Methodist Church, Palm Avenue, that is the church our grandparents attended. That is where they had their burial. So, how will I do anything against a Christian community, for instance? It has never been an issue. Some people have come out to say governance is not about religion. Religion will not put food on your table. You’d have to look at people you believe have integrity, who have what it takes to govern. And I will not also want to go into comparison, as some people would want to do. The moment they succeed in bringing this, and somebody comes on board, and the only credential he’s waving is ‘I am a Christian,’ or ‘I am a muslim,’ his royalty, whether we like it or not, will go to that group, first and foremost. And it will now exert a big influence on his policies, on his roles, on anything he does, because he would now think he’s obliged to that community. That is about religion – like I said, it is very very sensitive, people can be very emotional about it. Now, about zoning. Again, in the history of Lagos – I challenge anybody to prove me wrong – this would be the first time that anybody would sit down and say ‘we’re zoning to this particular person’, and they made a mistake of it. Those people that were doing it made a mistake of saying they were zoning to a particular town. You can only zone to a senatorial district, because that particular town does not constitute the whole district. And when eventually they said, ‘Ok, Epe.’ Its part of the East. We have some other towns, some other divisions, as part of the East. The other divisions rose up and said, ‘no, it’s our turn, because Epe has done it before.’ These are things that are avoidable, if we ourselves had not inadvertently brought it up.

However, in my own case, if they think that would be a deterrent, no. I also have a roof in the East. And also because they’ve made it possible to move from one senatorial district to another, or ven move across – move from a senatorial district, jump over to another senatorial district. So, it’s all well and good. Whatever I am saying is not new to Lagos politics; there are precedents. It is accepted, it has become a norm, so we do it.

You said you’re also from the East, where?

How?

My dad was from Ipakodo. You go to the palace, they will tell you. They will tell you also his role in upgrading the Obaship. My mum is from Ituwolo, and my maternal grand mum is from Ibeshe. So, whatever way you want to push it, I am there. They can’t talk of zoning as a way of stopping anybody. It is also not a provision of the party, which means anybody, even from the Central, can run. It is the party members that would say, ‘no, we prefer this person.’

It depends on who the individual is. You go ahead, just leave party members to their thing, that again would promote democracy. It would make the candidates to talk to people, to talk to people across the other senatorial districts. You just don’t fold your arms and say because somebody has zoned it to your area, that is the end. You also need the other districts. At the end of the day, you’re not going to be governor of Lagos East only; you’re supposed to be the governor of Lagos State.

What are your chances of getting the party ticket, given the possibility that you’re believed to be independent-minded, which is probably one of your undoing?

I’d gone through this root before, and I know what it requires, I know what it takes. And I have also said that it would be foolhardy of anybody to join a political race without doing self-assessment. In Lagos State, anybody from our party throwing his heart in the ring in 2011 would have been foolish, because there was no way he would have defeated the incumbent. In the same way, I think I have done my own assessment, and, with respect to members of my own party, I know their thinking, I know where they are leaning towards. And I know that they are agitating very strongly that this time around, they should be allowed to indicate their preference. With that in place, I stand more than a good chance of clinching the ticket, and finally by the grace of God.

Have you also talked to Governor Fashola?

I said any serious contender will do a far and wide consultation with the leadership of the party, and when you’re talking of the leadership of this political party – I don’t know how you read – by the time you mention a few names, and you’ve not mentioned the governor, you still don’t know where you’re going, you’re joking. He’s a leader of the party, both at the national and state levels. Definitely, he’s one of those I’ve consulted.

What would you do if there is a free and fair primary election and you did not win?

A free and fair primary election? Oh, I’ll queue behind whoever wins. If there was none – we ‘ll leave that to that time. We will act accordingly.

What happens, if you lose in a flawed primary election? There are speculations that you would move out of the APC.

We still need to sell our party; we still need to sell our party to the general populace, which is much more important, and that is why I will not engage in a bitter fight, because at the end of the day we still need to come together to fighter a greater ‘devil’. The second option, where there’s a close margin, where there is free, fair transparent primary election, the people would have spoken and there is nothing you can do; it becomes our party issue. You rally round whoever emerges, and try to work out things together. As for the last scenario, where some people think they can outsmart the others, we’ll act accordingly.

June 3, 2014
Ekiti: Beyond Fayemi
Nigeria is said, and the country has indeed validated beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s a country of such an amazing and perplexing paradox, the magnitude of which is probably unequaled anywhere in the world. As it is in the centre, so it is in its component parts. If the new socio-economic paradigm that has taken shape in Ekiti State, with the highly unusual endorsements by his erstwhile political detractors and the public admissions (however grudgingly given) by some other contestants of a job well done were to have happened in a sane, normal and progress-inclined society, the June 21, governorship election would have been a foregone conclusion. In a more civilized clime, some of those contesting with Governor Fayemi would have scaled down their campaigns considerably to mitigate cost of a lost cause, while those still in the race would be hanging in there hoping for some miraculous divine intervention. With such a glaring, strong and unprecedented performance record, in partnership with the support of key opposition political figures and the enthusiasm of a huge majority of everyday people in Ekiti, Fayemi’s worries by now should not be June 21, but what to say on his inauguration day. But in Ekiti, a governorship election is not over until another Ayoka Adebayo goes into hiding.

The recent defection of the former governor of Ekiti State Engineer Segun Oni from his relative comfort in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is probably indicative of the heavenly stars alignment for Fayemi’s victory. The defection and the speech from Segun Oni should be seen by the PDP as the final warning to collapse their rigging machine and take it back to Ondo, their surrogate satellite state. But no, they wouldn’t. What he said on that fateful day was even more instructive and a food for thought. In a society in which politics is driven more by the egos of its players, for Oni to have subsumed, if not jettisoned his pride for the sake of the good of Ekiti people which is being championed effectively by Fayemi shows a quintessential leadership quality of the former governor. In his speech, he asked Ekiti people to ask themselves who is in a better position to give them and their children a better future. He also said among other things that “tomorrow is greater than today and yesterday” where the focus should not be “on personal interests” but the future of Ekiti and its children. These are powerful statements of which true statesmen are made.

Segun Oni’s decision to finally get rid of the PDP from his system may not have been an easy one, considering his status in the party hierarchy as a former chief of state. The audacity of the PDP to throw up, once again, Ayodele Fayose as its governorship flag-bearer was probably more than enough to stomach by any fairly decent, morally upright, and progress-inclined individual whose modus vivendi is the public good such as Segun Oni. Even if one should take out or set aside the strong leadership credential of Fayemi in the Ekiti governorship election matrix, the emergence of Fayose in the current political landscape, courtesy of his party should be seen as the greatest insult that can be bestowed upon a people in a just, equitable, and democratic dispensation. This is the context within which the election should be seen—first and foremost. This opprobrium should not only be seen by Ekiti people as such but every right-thinking and discerning people of Yoruba descent with a modicum sense of history, who are spread to as far as Isanlu in Kogi, Omu-Aran in Kwara and the marshy enclave of Delta. It is a reprehensible but deliberate disrespect to the collective sensibility of Ekiti people in particular who, as small as they are, have contributed, and continues to contribute probably more than their own fair share to the growth and development of this country in many facets of nation-building, and by extension, a slight on the Yoruba race.

The decision of the PDP to throw up Fayose, a former governor whose rap sheet is as long as the Niger River shows the depth of moral depravity and crass political primitivity that the PDP behemoth has sunk. Here is a man whose tenure in office was the most traumatic experience that Ekiti people ever witnessed in their collective memory until his cup runneth over and was booted out through impeachment. Here was a governor who dragged his state’s traditional institution through the mud and God help that traditional ruler who had the effrontery to caution him about the direction in which the state was headed. Here is a man who caused Chief Afe Babalola –a well-respected countrywide indigene of Ekiti whose contribution to the creation of the state made it possible for Fayose to become a governor in the first place –to cry out for help because his life was in mortal danger during the errant government of Fayose. Here is a man who, as a governor, carried his hooliganism beyond the call of duty, having reportedly brandished lethal weapons on several occasions in order to intimidate voters and his political opponents. What about the state poultry farm that turned out to be a huge financial scam from which the state is yet to recover financially? Meanwhile, several billions of naira allegedly went into his pocket and that of his cronies and the case is still in court as of today. It’s hard to believe that President Jonathan and his party thinks that Fayose’s electoral value and his political indispensability in the state are very hard to ignore to the extent they’re willing to foist him on the people with all these antecedents. Even if one must accept this twisted logic, should the party not have found a way to co-opt the judiciary into clearing his name from the several criminal litigations he’s facing in order meet the minimum moral threshold of a civilized society?

The point, however, must be made that the forthcoming Ekiti governorship election is beyond Fayemi just as the one in its sister state in Osun slated for August transcends Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. It’s about another attempt to subjugate a race of people who, having found a common socio-economic underpinning and the political philosophy that works for them in charting their own course, in which the blueprint was handed down by their progenitor now referred to as a sage and a president Nigeria never had. It’s about truncating a new set of their leaders like Fayemi and Aregbesola who have probably been identified by some clairvoyants as unexplainably carrying the genes of their late sage, hence their going into overdrive, once again, to ensure that the sage’s spirit is not allowed to reincarnate in these leaders. June 21 and August 9, are the two significant dates in which the Yoruba race can either cross the Rubicon or be stopped in their tracks in their journey towards their socio-economic and political emancipation. The choice is theirs to make.
- Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com.
June 3, 2014