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Tag: betrayal

  • APC dismisses ex-governor Sylva’s claim of betrayal

    •Says comment uncharitable

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State has dismissed claims by the former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, that the party betrayed him during the governorship election in the state, saying the claim was a ploy to save his face and launder his image.

    The party said it is uncharitable, childish and unacceptable for the former governor to describe leaders of the party as betrayers and rats when he did not physically contribute to building the party from the foundation in the state, but has benefited immensely from it.

    The Joseph Fafi-led faction of the party under the leadership of former acting governor of the state, Nestor Binabo, said it view with utmost disappointment the comments credited to Sylva where he described APC state exco and the people as “rats.”

    In a statement by the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Christopher Abarowei, and made available to newsmen in Abuja, the party said the former governor’s naivety exposed “him to recurrent and avoidable catastrophic defeats” in the governorship election in the state.

    The party said “It is on record that these  people Sylva ignominiously referred to as rats facilitated his victory in 2015 governorship primary when it became clear to the blind and audible to the deaf that he has lost consensus of the party.

    “We want to also point out that Sylva withdrew in his quest to be the National Chairman of our party when it became clear to him that he has lost to party consensus. His naivety exposes him to recurrent and avoidable catastrophic defeats in the polls.

    “Who betrayed Sylva when he lost to Senator Ben Bruce in 2015? The fact is that he lost woefully to Bruce, polling only 16,924 votes as against his opponent’s 88,454 votes. Furthermore, it became a management of shame when Sylva withdrew his case against Bruce from the tribunal without a cogent reason, with records showing that Sylva did not even cast his own vote in his polling station.

    “We therefore see Sylva’s claim of betrayal as ploy to save face, launder his image and to hold-on to any available straw in trying to deny the fact that he is a serial loser.

    “Let us remind Sylva that he did not physically attend any of our congresses in the state in 2014 and never knew the source of the funding of the processes. It is therefore childish and unacceptable, when leaders of our great party in Bayelsa State who laboured to build a solid foundation from the modest 43,000 membership to what we have now, to be accorded undeserving and derogatory terms like ‘betrayals and rats.”

    While asking the former governor to show good qualities as one of the leaders of the APC and be abreast with the fact, the party said: “one of the hallmarks of a good leader is to accommodate different shades of opinion so as to win the ultimate prize of  occupying Creek Haven in 2019 and stop dishing out despicable languages in trying to score very cheap political points which should be reserved for the opponents as we work assiduously for the success of our great party in the 2019 elections,  both at the state and federal levels of governance.”

  • Shettima warns caretaker chairmen against ‘betrayal’

    Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima has warned council caretaker committee chairmen against aiding Boko Haram insurgents.

    The governor, at the swearing in of the chairmen yesterday, vowed that anyone caught in the act will face prosecution, adding that anyone not ready to relocate to his local government was free to reject the appointment.

    “Indeed, any of you not ready to relocate from Maiduguri to live, work and worship with your people in your local councils, is advised to reject this mandate.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, we are declaring a zero tolerance for the services of any chairman who is not ready for permanent residency in his local government throughout the period of his tenure,” Shettima warned.

    Findings showed that the governor’s warning may not be unconnected to news that a caretaker chairman and vice chairmen of two councils were arrested for allegedly aiding insurgents.

    His words: “There is an important issue we must not ignore or pretend about. It is no longer news that some months back, a chairman and two vice chairmen were arrested for security-related matters. Any caretaker chairman who shames this administration will face the music alone.

    “The Borno State government will not only disown such a person, but will take legal steps to ensure he does not hold any public office associated with the state.”

     

  • ‘Mimiko joining PDP was a betrayal of progressives’

    ‘Mimiko joining PDP was a betrayal of progressives’

    The Director-General of the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps, Dr. Pius Olakunle Osunyinkanmi, has said Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko‘s defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a betrayal of progressive ideals.

    This, Osunyinkanmi said, explained the reason why the progressive elements in the Labour Party did not move to PDP with the governor.

    In a chat with reporters in Abuja, the TAC DG said: “Technically speaking my press statement said we were resigning from PDP but the truth of the matter is that we were never authentic members of the PDP.

    “This is because the governor only came to ditch the Labour Party in the Villa and you know the controversy that surrounded it then.

    “As we speak today nobody of the Labour Party extraction can claim to be a valid member of the PDP in Ondo State.”

    He added: “The movement to the PDP was a movement that was meant to consolidate the emperor-like mentality that has suddenly become the hallmark of the LP leadership.

    “ This was a marked departure from progressive tendencies – and so quite a number of people were hoodwinked into joining the PDP in the desperate move to save the party from internal implosion.”

    Osunyinkanmi said he did not leave the PDP because of any political interest, but because of Mimiko’s unfaithfulness to the  progressive tenets and principles.

    He stressed that joining the All Progressive Congress (APC) was the right thing for any progressive to do, as it is natural for progressives to align.

    The TAC DG, however, said his latest action has not  affected his friendship with the governor; stressing that his relationship with Mimiko was akin to that of  father and son.

    The DG added that a relationship that spanned well over 24 years could not be wished away on the altar of political expediency.

  • Melaye, Olafemi: betrayal and opportunism in Kogi

    Melaye, Olafemi: betrayal and opportunism in Kogi

    NEITHER Dino Melaye (Sen– Kogi West) nor Clarence Olafemi, former Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly and acting governor, represents the integrity, character and future of the Okun Yoruba people of Kogi State. But in one way or the other, especially when they indulge their permissive ways, they make news and the media are bound to report them. Early this week, as part of their ambivalent responses to the Kogi electoral conundrum, both Senator Melaye and Hon. Olafemi got together a group of like-minded politicians they claimed numbered some 48 and announced they had become public and unabashed turncoats and are thus shifting allegiances to Governor-elect Yahaya Bello. They had become converts to the doctrine of party supremacy, they said, almost facetiously.

    Mr. Bello, previously an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, had been promoted by his party to candidacy when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) mysteriously and mischievously declared the November 21 governorship election inconclusive. Former governor Abubakar Audu and his running mate Abiodun Faleke were coasting home to victory when out of the blue, and citing a corollary of the electoral law, the electoral umpire declared the election stalemated. At the point the declaration was made, and as the supplementary election would confirm, the election was already won and lost, and well beyond dispute. Mr. Belllo had earlier lost the primary, sulked badly in childish petulance, and surreptitiously worked for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the poll. His promotion to candidacy instead of elevating Hon. Faleke to the stool of Prince Audu produced the conundrum which the APC and other party and political do-gooders exploited to create the moral dilemma afflicting the state.

    Since the election, the governor-elect has been working tirelessly to pressure many Kogi political leaders to leap into his bandwagon. He especially singled out Okun Yoruba leaders to work his sorcery, believing that if they rallied to his side, it would undermine the tenacity and enthusiasm of Hon. Faleke. Should Hon. Faleke, who despite his protestation both INEC and the APC insisted remained on the ballot as Mr. Bello’s running mate, relent, the governor-elect believed his position would be strengthened, and the moral dilemma and electoral conundrum dissipated. While Hon. Faleke himself has remained resolute, and leading Okun leaders and elders still support him, a few like Sen. Melaye and Mr. Olafemi have succumbed to pressure. It was not surprising that the two public Okun personalities bowed to pressure, given their antecedents and Machiavellian way of life, and their unverified claim to have some 48 other unknown Okun elders on their side.

    In 2008, when Governor Ibrahim Idris’ reelection was annulled, Mr. Olafemi was sworn in as acting governor. He held that office for about 60 frenetic days, and in the process showed such unexampled loyalty to Alhaji Idris that it was difficult differentiating it from  servility. Asked what he felt about being made acting governor and whether he wouldn’t consider it appropriate to exploit his new status, he said he saw himself only as holding the fort for the deposed governor, whom he was certain would return as governor. The deposed governor had nothing to fear, he cooed, for everyone, including himself, would work for Alhaji Idris’ victory. It did not occur to Mr. Olafemi that if an election could be annulled, it was also possible that the opposition could produce a victor. But Mr. Olafemi whined, and sighed, and cooed, and composed panegyrics for the indifferent and condescending Alhaji Idris.

    Mr. Olafemi’s servility, however, stood, and still stands, in striking contradistinction to the psychological constitution of the Okun people and their worldview. Okun people owe no one apology for who they are, and how they had over the decades displayed self-assurance and independence. Their sense of justice is reputed to be quite remarkable, while relationship with their superiors and inferiors is guided by sound moral principles that cannot be compared or confused with servility. Mr. Olafemi, a first class mathematician and computer scientist surely had the intellect to undergird and nurture those lofty principles the Okun people had ennobled over the centuries. If he chose not to, it is strictly his own choice, not a reflection of the Okun people. Indeed, it is the misconception of the Okun people as malleable, as exhibited by the likes of Mr. Olafemi, that is at the bottom of the injustice meted out to them by the APC and other bodies like INEC and the Attorney-General’s office.

    Sen. Melaye on the other hand is not a first class brain like Mr. Olafemi. But he more than makes up for his obvious intellectual shortcomings with a natural vehemence and uncanny wiliness that are hard to replicate even in satire. Thuggish, brutish and unprincipled, he however speaks very fluently, though on the kind of gibberish and hooey that people of his class are conversant with and wallow in. He sees nothing wrong offering his services and lending his beefy weight to ignoble causes. When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) hauled in the wife of the senate president, Toyin Saraki, for interrogation, he accompanied her, and even gave a rousing speech on behalf of other misadvised legislators to justify their errantry. He fights at the drop of a hat, and will not bat an eyelid to calmly offer the most dubious but persuasive explanations on both sides of a subject.

    The Kogi West senator, who replaced the controversial but cultured Smart Adeyemi in the upper chamber in June, campaigned on the side of Prince Audu for the election of President Muhammadu Buhari. Soon after, he parted ways with the late politician and then threw in his lot with Senate President Bukola Saraki who was beginning to fight his own disreputable battles in the Senate. Unlike Mr. Olafemi who belittles his intellectual accomplishments to subscribe to ideas and notions at variance with and inversely proportional to his talents and potentials, Sen. Melaye contradistinctively exaggerates his puny gifts to embrace causes and opinions that clearly negate and refute his worldview.

    Both Sen. Melaye and Mr. Olafemi have become turncoats over the Kogi stalemate for different reasons. Yes, they are united by their private ambitions, but both proceed from different backgrounds and are manifestly unprincipled. In fact, their equal lack of character betrays them into actions and statements that are opportunistic and dishonest. Soon after the APC began talking of substituting the late Audu with someone else other than Hon. Faleke, Mr.Olafemi, whose ambition to be either governor or deputy has remained unquenched, launched a fierce lobby to run with whichever devil the party may anoint. By ditching Hon. Faleke and embracing Mr. Bello days after the contrived stalemate, what mattered to Mr. Olafemi was not the interest of the Okun people, whom he noisily claimed to advance and protect, but his own private ambition for which he was unafraid to fritter the little integrity and sensibleness he had left.

    In the case of the more intemperate Sen. Melaye, his consuming passion is to become the governor of Kogi State one day. Should Hon. Faleke mount the throne now, the rambunctious senator would be out of the reckoning perhaps for the rest of his productive years. For him, a bird in the bush is more than a million in hand. It of course matters little to the senator that he is unelectable, or that he does not absolutely have the qualification to mount the stool despite the fact that far inferior people like Alhaji Idris and the present governor, Idris Wada, have occupied the position without merit of any kind.

    All things considered, the Okun people at home and outside are sensitive to the historic nature of the interplay of forces in Kogi State. More, they are sensitive to the implication of not fighting for what should be theirs, consequent upon the tragedy that befell Prince Audu. They understand the poignant messages the events that accompanied the tragedy are sending, and they are acutely aware of the politics and subterranean actions playing out in the state. They know that what is happening now will reverberate far into the future, and affect coming generations of Okun people. They are shocked that the fairly intellectual Mr. Olafemi can’t seem to understand the background and logic of the political stalemate. But they expect nothing noble from the senator who imposed himself on them. Whatever the ruffian Sen. Melaye does and the tactless Mr. Olafemi plots, the majority  of Okun people are unlikely to shirk the historic fight thrust on them by posterity, or betray their son, Hon. Faleke, who has embodied the spirit, struggles and pride of the long-suffering people of Kogi West senatorial district.

  • The politics of succession, betrayal and corruption

    The  death of the APC candidate in the last Kogi  State governorship elections that INEC declared inconclusive  has opened a Pandora  box on the politics of succession in Nigeria which has taxed immensely the spirit  and letter  of our constitution and is already  making a mockery  of our rule of law. It  is definitely as controversial and debatable  in terms  of global  politics as  the accusation that Russian President Vladmir  Putin levied  this  week  on Turkey for shooting down  a Russian bomber which Turkey said violated its air space and for which the Turkish president said he was not ready  for any apology. However  this diplomatic  argument  on  air space  use  in the fight  against  terrorism by both nations claiming to fight terrorism and ISIS surely  glows in honesty and clarity when  compared with the   reported  claim by the Senate President that he was representing the President at the funeral in Ikenne of Mama HID the wife of Immortal Awo this  last week. Just as the President himself was said to  have breezed in by helicopter  at  the event  to  show that he is representing himself to  pay honour to the better half  of the  Immortal  Leader  and  idol of the Yorubas.

    The  three events I have mentioned and the personalities involved provide  good  food  for thought  first  on constitutionalism and the rule of law;  next  on the  use of diplomacy  and security coalitions and arrangements in fighting terrorism in a world that the terrorists have  made borderless and are using suicide bombing and surprise as the main weapons of war against governments still relying on regular defence institutions and organisations to curtail such new faces of terrorism; and  thirdly they show that   the  war on  corruption in Nigeria in which an APC government has won the election on an anti  corruption  and change slogan cannot be won until the APC puts  its house, indeed its upper chambers of leadership in order first  and foremost  in the interest  of the Nigerian nation.

    Let  me now treat the three events serially  to tailor  my conclusions on their composite nature as the subject of discussion today. I start    with the death of the APC candidate in the last Kogi  State elections,  the clamor for constitutional  interpretation and  the  scramble  for succession.  My  view is that the whole exercise  has been made extravagant by the excessive  predilection of our local  TV stations to call on any lawyer and more  so a SAN  to  comment on any matter concerning the constitution because  such people are lawyers and the result has been  revealing in that it has been dismal and uninformed. Students of political science and their lecturers have a better grasp of such  matters even more than the SANs  for the simple reason that they study the nature, growth and spirit of national constitutions and know why certain concepts exist in the constitution. Whereas lawyers mostly  look at the constitution when they have such briefs or their clients have an interest. That explains why there have been as many  different opinions on the succession issue in Kogi as the number of lawyers or SANs  interviewed. That  is surely is not right.

    The truth is that the concept of running mate provides for the sort of situation that  cropped up on the death of the APC candidate last week. There  is no provision for single candidature in our constitution for governorship election and Kogi  cannot be an exception.  Thankfully his running mate has  finally  found his voice   above  the din and cacophony of confusion  and has announced that he is the one to run to conclude the hitherto inconclusive elections in which  the APC  candidate died. Before that there  was  the bizarre suggestion that the son of the deceased candidate should take over as if it was an hereditary issue and that certainly makes a mockery  of the rule of law. Indeed  not recognizing the running mate immediately as the constitutional and natural successor shows  our disregard for  constitutionalism  and the rule  of law and explains why running mates have  been wrongly labeled spare tyres. The Kogi  election should show clearly that when governor has  a  running mate that running mate should succeed  him in case of any mishap  including death. That is constitutionalism and nothing else and that is what we should  promote and champion as a nation especially at  this  point in time in the spirit  of our revered constitution and  democracy.

    Given  the scuffle between the presidents of Russia and Turkey  over the shooting down of the Russian plane one  could say this was bound to happen sooner than  later given the proximity of Turkey  to Syria and the hostility between both sides. Like  a revolution as Mao noted, fighting terrorism  cannot  be a tea party and  when nations with borders deploy the most sophisticated  war planes against each other in borderless fights  against  terrorists who are moving targets, people  are bound to get killed as and indeed accidents must  and do  happen . What  I cannot  understand is the stab in the back  charge by the Russian president against the Turkish president who was unrepentant on CNN on the shoot down.  I  doubt  if Russia  can do more than whine and threaten, of course in vain, because of the simple fact  that Turkey,  as a member of NATO is automatically covered by the clause in  the NATO  defence pact which says that any attack on any  member  is an automatic attack  on NATO. Is  Russia ready to square up  to NATO  on this Turkish  shoot down  issue?. I doubt  and for now both  sides should let sleeping dogs lie while they look for ways of  eliminating ISIS urgently  as  they  profess   instead of shooting themselves in the air.

    Let  me now round up  with the icing on the cake in today’s  analysis which  is the reported representation of the president at the famous funeral in Ikenne this week. On the face of it if the president was not available at an occasion he could be represented by the Senate President who represents an  independent  arm of government in our presidential  system based on separation of powers. But  that is if the Vice President is not present at  the occasion as he is the natural representative of the president in his absence. But  then the Vice  President of Nigeria  the  illustrious son of  Ikenne,  Professor  Yemi  Osinbajo  was present at Ikenne   his  home town, both in his personal capacity as his wife is a granddaughter of the deceased, and official capacity as the Vice  President of Nigeria.  So  who was the Senate President reported to be saying he was representing?

    Yet  the Senate  President has an on going battery of cases on his false declaration  of assets trial at the CCT which  has reached the Supreme Court. In  defending himself he has said loud and clear in the submissions of his lawyers  at  different courts  that his trial was political and was because he is Senate President, a  post  that it  is an open secret that both the president and his party did not like the way he bamboozled them, to get into. In addition anti corruption agencies and the Police IG are reported to have warned him not to politicise  his trial at the CCT. That declaration of representation by  the  Senate  President reminded me of a US Secretary  of State who  just  said that he was in charge after former President  Ronald  Reagan was shot  and wounded some time. When that former Secretary of State wanted to be president later the Americans never took him seriously because they believed he did not know  the constitution enough  as the US Vice President is in charge in case anything untowards happens to the incumbent US president.  Again long live the Federal  Republic  of Nigeria.

  • Fayose: we are destroying Fayemi’s legacy of betrayal

    Fayose: we are destroying Fayemi’s legacy of betrayal

    Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has said that his government was destroying the bad legacies left behind by the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi.”

    Fayose, who was reacting to Fayemi’s interview in some newspapers in which he said that “his legacy was being destroyed,” said no responsible government will sustain a legacy of debt that was incurred on projects with no direct bearing on the welfare of the people.

    In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said it was necessary for Fayemi’s negative legacies to be destroyed. He added: “Even in the APC, his legacy of betrayal of Senator Bola Tinubu, the man who made him governor, is being destroyed.”

    “If he served Ekiti and its people well, why was it that he was roundly defeated in all the 16 local councils in the state in the June 21, 2014 governorship election and his party was also defeated 16 – 0 in the Presidential, National Assembly and House of Assembly elections?

    “Even, his own party men described his electoral defeat as the worst in Nigeria,” he said.

    The governor, who said it was shameful that Fayemi, who left two months’ salary and four months cooperative and unions deductions from workers salary, as well as pensions and gratuities unpaid could be talking about his legacies being destroyed.”

    The governor said: “When Fayemi became governor, he chose to close down two universities established by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Segun Oni and abandoned the Oba Adejugbe General Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, claiming that the state could not fund more than one university.

    “The same Fayemi, who said Ekiti had no money to fund more than one university preferred to take N25 billion bond to build a new governor’s lodge, civic centre, pavilion and execute other irrelevant projects.

    “Furniture alone, in the N3.3bn governor’s lodge that he built for himself and his wife cost N604.9 million and Fayemi wants such legacy of profligacy to be sustained in Ekiti? We are sorry to tell him that we won’t sustain such legacy of waste.

    “Even vehicles bought for traditional rulers and political appointees, his government did not pay and uncompleted Oba Adejugbe General Hospital and State Pavilion were inaugurated with fanfare.

    “Today, Ekiti State is under the yoke of debt, courtesy of Fayemi’s mismanagement of the state resources and what we are destroying are those legacies of mis-governance he left behind.

    “One bad news that we must however tell Fayemi is that; we won’t only destroy his legacy of mis-governance and betrayal in Ekiti, we will also make sure that economic devourers like him will never taste power in the state.”

  • BETRAYAL

    BETRAYAL

    Like a knife in her back

    their from the world of the dark

    pretending to be a friend

    their deadly at the end

    realizing it

    is the death of Britt

    piercing through her heart

    is their aim using their dart

    Forgive and forget

    is an unaccomplished target

    in this mission

    the only hope is restitution…

     

    They take her kindness

    for weakness

    is it good to be good?

    a little girl stood

    looking up to the sky

    whether the star were down or high

    wondering what they thought

    whenever she was hurt……….

     

    Reaping what they’ve sow

    is a promise unfold

    whether good or bad

    its just what they will have

    an abundance of harvest

    will or not give them rest

    its all what they reap

    after they took that leap

  • Fed Govt’s betrayal of conscience

    Fed Govt’s betrayal of conscience

    Nigeria’s Federal Government openly traded off its dignity in what amounted to a betrayal of conscience penultimate Tuesday night (December 30, 2014). This occurred at the United Nations Security Council meeting where voting on a proposed resolution to stop the perennial Israeli occupation of West Bank area of Palestine took place.

    The proposed resolution was to be an historic anticlimax of the 66-year-old Israeli/Palestinian conflict with a view to paving way for a two-nation solution. If passed, the resolution would have ventilated a peaceful atmosphere for the Middle East and by implication, the entire world.

    In the YES or No voting of the 15 member-nations of the Security Council, nine votes were required as the simple majority to determine the liberation of the Palestinian people from the political and economic siege of Israel.

     

    Voting pattern

    Out of those 15 member-nations, eight voted in favour of the liberation while two voted for continuous Israeli siege on Palestine. The eight nations that voted for the latter’s liberation were Argentina, Chad, Chile, China, France, Jordan, Luxembourg and Russia. Those that voted against liberation were the United States and Australia.

    The five remaining countries that opted for abstention were Lithuania, South Korea, Rwanda, Britain and Nigeria. Incidentally, two years prior to this stage of determining the fate of the Palestinians (2012), Nigeria’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Prof Joy Ogwu, had glowingly supported the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood and reiterated Nigeria’s recognition of the State of Palestine. That was one year after Nigeria confirmed her diplomatic relation with Palestine on October 31, 2011. And definitely acting on the instruction of her home government, Professor Ogwu at that time voted in favour of the admission of Palestine into UNESCO as a full member-state, despite a fierce opposition from the US and Israel.

    During her speech at the UN General Assembly in 2012, Prof Ogwu underscored the right of the Palestinians to live in freedom thus: “It was quite fitting that the international community had given Palestine a non-member observer state status in the United Nations. This was not only timely but also right and just.” She then went ahead to pledge Nigeria’s commitment to working towards Palestine’s admission into the United Nations as a full member state.

     

    Dramatic u-turn

    But dramatically, when the matter came up on December 30 2014, Nigeria suddenly made a u-turn that held the entire diplomatic world nonplussed. Rather than living by her words as a dignified nation, she shamelessly cheapened out and threw her conscience to the winds apparently in return for a clandestine agenda yet to be fathomed.

    Thus, to the amazement and perhaps disappointment of most members of the Security Council, including those that voted to block the Palestinian right to a home, Nigerian government betrayed that glory as its negative decision became pivotal to UN’s rejection of the long awaited resolution that would have brought peace to the Middle East.

    The implication of this is that with the blocking of peace in the Middle East in which Nigeria played a principal role, the rest of the world, including Nigeria cannot sleep with both eyes closed for now.

    This is because, the Middle East conflict especially between Israel and Palestine has been the major determinant of global peace or otherwise since 1967 when Israel, aided by the imperialist West, further occupied the Arab lands which she has since consistently refused to relinquish thereafter despite all efforts.

    Before the voting, the anxiety created by the impending abstention of certain member-states had put a global diplomatic focus on Nigeria being an African champion of liberation movements in the past. It will be recalled that Nigeria’s role in championing the cause of liberation especially for African countries before now was legendary.

    The tenacity of such role (during the cold war years) as a vital part of Nigeria’s foreign policy that aided the independence of countries like South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Algeria and others had once pitched the country against the imperialistic tendencies of some Western countries.

     

    How Nigeria broke

     relation with Israel

    It was against such imperialistic tendencies that Nigeria’s Federal Government under General Yakubu Gowon broke diplomatic relations with Israel for 19 years from 1973 to 1992 when the Military President Ibrahim Babangida restored that relation. In those years, religion was not at all in consideration as the issue of liberation was seen purely as a humanitarian affair which deserved human feeling rather than sheer political contention or religious sentiment.

    If religion had been at the front burner of Nigeria’s foreign policy, General Yakubu Gowon, a Christian, would not have taken Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in observer status in 1969 and General Ibrahim Babangida, a Muslim, would not have restored Nigeria’s diplomatic relation with Israel in 1992 after 19 years of break (since 1973).

    Thus, through her consistency in human face foreign policy, Nigeria had earned tremendous prestige in the comity of nations and this had earned her the appellation of ‘Giant of Africa’ which she still enjoys today as a special privilege.

    Now, by deviating from that highly prestigious foreign policy and by pitching its tent with the imperialist countries the government seems to have sacrificed conscience on the platter of unwarranted and irrelevant religious sentiment which is a reflection of the situation at home in Nigeria under the current regime.

    This may be linked to fortuitous diplomatic visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Nigeria among other African countries in June 2014 in preparation for the unfortunate betrayal for which the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked and praised President Goodluck Jonathan for a job well done.

    Nevertheless, Nigerians are urged to overlook the embarrassing diplomatic goof and wait for another chance bearing in mind that no diplomatic policy is permanently static. God bless our country!

     

    Clarification on

     published fables

    In a front page lead story (without a by-line) published in Sunday Tribune of December 28, 2014 and entitled ‘Division Within Core North Widens’, the Ibadan-based newspaper claimed that “the elite and opinion leaders among the Hausa-Fulani stock are split down the line about who to support between the two major contenders (President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari).

    The newspaper went further to state that “the elites who lined up behind General Buhari included the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa‘ad Abubakar, who is leading some northern Emirs; 11 Arewa turks, led by former minister Mallam Nasir El-Rufai; four core northern Governors led by Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and a loose coalition of clerics said to be linked to various street groups across the northern region ……..”

     

    Fabricated news story

    Under the same news headline, Sunday Tribune came up with a sub-heading entitled ‘South-West Muslim Council Backs GEJ’, and quoted one Mallam Hakeem Adelani who it called the Secretary-General of the ‘Muslim Council’ as saying that since ‘Yoruba Muslims were not goats and rams’ they would rather vote for Jonathan than Buhari’.

    The quoted fake secretary was also reported to have said that a mosque-to- mosque campaign would soon commence in the region to sensitise the Muslim Ummah towards the clandestine political agenda of some evil politicians who want to use the name of Islam for their evil machinations.

    The concern of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) here is not about Nigeria’s political murky water in which some dirty elements in the society are swimming, but about the smearing tendency of some dirty minds in the region who think they can drag Islam and some highly placed Nigerian Muslims into their murky water. In view of the above, therefore, the following clarifications are necessary:

    The Role of MUSWEN

    The Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) is the main umbrella of all the Muslim organisations in the Southwest and it does not have the so-called ‘Muslim Council’ (of no particular state) on its membership list.

    MUSWEN is the only Muslim body authorised to speak for the entire Muslims in the Southwest through its Executive Secretary, Prof D.O.S. Noibi or its Media Consultant, Alhaji Femi Abbas.

    Any other person or persons claiming to be speaking on behalf of the Southwest Muslims without the authorisation of the above mentioned duo can only be a fraudster using a Muslim name to tarnish the image of Islam in the region.

    The fictitious name called Hakeem Adelani said to be the Secretary-General of   the Council is not known to MUSWEN or recognised by any of its member organisations in the region.

    MUSWEN is neither a political body affiliated to any political figure or party in the country nor is it involved directly or indirectly in Nigerian partisan politics.

    As a credible religious body which fervently believes in freedom of expression and association, MUSWEN has never and will not be involved in partisan politics let alone influence the electorate’s voting rights along religious line.

    The frivolous statement published by Sunday Tribune in the name of the Southwest Muslims is therefore a mere fabrication by enemies of Islam aimed at subjecting the name of the highly revered religious body to ridicule.

    Consequently, MUSWEN calls particularly on all Muslims in the Southwest and the country in general to ignore the insensitive and irresponsible statement reported in the cited Sunday Tribune and credited to a fictitious Mallam Hakeem Adelani who may be non-existent in reality.

    Meanwhile, MUSWEN hereby calls on the Federal Government once again to urgently address all forms of insecurity in the land with particular attention to the socio-economic sources of unrest by taking bold and practical steps towards stamping out corruption and indiscipline through the leadership’s personal examples and thereby strengthen God’s consciousness in all Nigerians.

    Finally, MUSWEN admonishes all Nigerian politicians to refrain from heating up the polity through incendiary utterances and public actions in their campaigns towards the elections that will begin in February 2015 and remember that there can be a Nigeria to be called their country only if there is peace. God save Nigeria!

     

    The ranting of a dubious cleric

    “A man who does not wear dignity as a dress cannot proclaim dignity by demand through sheer bravado” By an Arab poet.

    Self-respect is like a glass house. Anybody who values it will surely not throw out a stone from it. And when a pig decorated with a valuable ornament takes it to a refuse place it must not be a surprise. Refuse bin is the natural habitat of the pig.

    Nigerian Muslims should not be bothered by a recently published ranting of a so-called Nigerian cleric leader of the Christian faith whose antecedent is very well known. In the two parts publication in a Nigerian national newspaper last Friday and last Monday, the self-glorified irritant turned himself into a Mr. know all and quoted the Qur’an copiously out of context giving it a drunkard’s interpretation to incite Nigerian Christians against Nigerian Muslims.

    The megalomaniac wanted Nigerians to believe that the only way of ‘curbing insurgency’ in the country is to either wipe out the Qur’an from existence or edit it to suit his own satanic thinking.

    In his devilish search for a solution to insurgency, after a long, unwinding rigmarole typical of an evident ignoramus, he concluded that unless the Qur’an is edited to suit his own parochial way of amassing devilish wealth in a typical capitalist manner, the world would not know peace. To him, Qur’an (which has been in existence for over 1400 years) is the main cause of the five year old insurgency in Nigeria.

    Such an evil conclusion by a criminally avaricious agent of devil cannot surprise any sane person. Some recent exposures about his clandestine activities have confirmed his satanic tendencies.

    Rather than compounding a fundamental national problem like insurgency with a satanic solution this self-appointed public tutor should have explained to Nigerians his own role in the recent illegal currency trafficking that caused a face-off between Nigeria and South African.

    The total amount of money said to be involved in that devilish deal was $15 million. This is not the right time for any diversionary tutoring. But since people who are not related to relevance often recourse to irrelevances as a proof of their existence, the diversionary tactics can be understood even as the commercial cleric needs to be pitied. However, for the benefit of relevant information and knowledge about the divine Book called the Qur’an, a full reaction to that provocative, inflammatory outburst will be published in this column in a foreseeable future, in sha’Allah.

  • 21 years after the great betrayal

    The June 12, 1993 presidential election was free and fair. It was won by the presidential candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), the late Chief Moshood Abiola. But, it was annulled by the military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU revisits the illusion of hope and the aborted journey to democracy.

    Twenty one years after, the pain of the annulment lingers. There was confusion, outrage and condemnation of the barbaric act. But, the military stood against the people. Democracy was subjugated by the barrel of gun. The hope of a peaceful transfer of power to the democratically elected President, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, was dashed. The rest is history.

    Successive elections have been tainted by fraud. Had the historic poll been affirmed, perhaps, Nigeria would have laid a solid foundation for the sanctity of the ballot box. In 1999, the presidential election was resolved at the Supreme Court. In 2003, 2007 and 2007, it followed the same pattern. The puzzle is: can the miracle of June 12, 1993 be repeated?

     June 12, 1993, was a historic day. Nigerians rose above ethnicity and religion as they chose between Abiola and his National Republican Convention (NRC) rival, Alhaji Othman Bashir. It was a peaceful exercise nationwide. There was no thuggery. There was no violence. Although it was during the raining season, heaven withheld the showers. Malpractices were not reported. Domestic and foreign observers hailed the poll, saying that Nigeria was coming of age. Through the election, the electorate had issued a red card to the military. But, the sit tight military rulers resisted the change. After annulling the poll, the symbol of the struggle was caged. Consequently, the victor became the villain. The political class was polarised. The faithful were in disarray. Abiola never returned alive from detention. Up to now, the circumstances surrounding his death are in the realm of conjecture.

    The history of treachery and betrayal will be narrated from generation to generation. Many were jolted out of their delusion that the military could voluntarily return power to legitimate authorities without a popular uprising. The blame for the criminal annulment goes to the former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. The former military ruler had posed as a populist leader, branding deceit and prevarication, and projecting a transition process that was programmed to fail and prolong the military rule.

    The Head of State and Commander-In-Chief did not spare any though for tomorrow. Therefore, he missed the opportunity to write his name in the letters of gold. Babangida’s fate underscored the futility of personali-sation of power. In justifying the annulment, which aborted the dream of his friend, Abiola, to succeed him, he alluded to the conflict between loyalty to friendship and ‘love’ for the nation. “My commitment to the cherished values of friendship has been confronted with the demands of statecraft”, he said. When that confrontation emerged, he said he decided to abandon friendship for national service. “I love my friends, but I also love my country. It is the height of patriotism that whenever the love for one’s country is in conflict with any other love, the love for one’s country takes precedence”, IBB added.”

    Despite the finality of the annulment, Babangida’s life in power, from that June 1993 to his inglorious end  in office was full of tension. “History’s judgment will always be harsh on him”, said Comrade Joe Igbokwe, a rights activist, who noted that the former military leader will carry the cross for life because he lacked the opportunity to reverse the annulment.

    Historically, it has been difficult for the military to midwife democracy. In 1979, the electoral process was discredited by the Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, said that the best candidate will not win the presidential election.

    When IBB unfolded his transition programme, the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, cautioned against the illusion of hope. Weary of the prevailing political situation, he doubted the sincerity of the transition drivers. Awo, who was invited by the Political Bureau chaired by Dr. Cookey to contribute to the debate of the future of the country, predicted that Nigeria was embarking on a fruitless search. He warned that when Nigerians imagined that the new order had arrived, they would be terribly disappointed. When Awolowo returned to Ikenne from Lagos, following his visit to the Evil Genius in Doddan Barracks, he urged his followers to learn to eat and win with the devil with a long spoon.

    It was an understatement.  IBB started to gamble with the transition timetable very early. He shifted the poll twice. The third attempt was resisted by the human rights community. On poll day, voters were determined. They were ready for the festival of change. Even, the mood in the army and police barracks was not different. Soldiers, their wives and children, displayed enthusiasm. According to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) chaired by Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, 14 million voters participated in the voting. The contest showcased the potency of the Option A4, the open ballot system and the symbolic importance of the two party system. According to the poll results, Abiola scored 8,341, 309 votes, representing 58.36 per cent of the total votes cast. Tofa, it was said, was ready to concede victory. In fact, the NRC National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Doyin Okupe, declared that the poll was devoid of rigging, affirming that Abiola won a popular mandate. However, based on the order from above, the announcement of the result was stopped abruptly. The game of deception had reached the peak.

     A feeble and spurious explanation for the annulment later came from military Vice President Admiral Augustus Aikhomu’s media aide, Mr. Nduka Iraboh.  “In view of the litigation pending in the various courts, the Federal Government is compelled  to take appropriate steps to rescue the judiciary. These steps are taken to protect our legal system and the judiciary from being ridiculed and politicised, both nationally and internationally.

    “In an attempt to end this ridiculous charade, which may culminate in judicial anarchy, the Federal Military Government has decided to: stop forthwith all court proceedings pending or to be instituted and appeals thereon in respect of any matter touching, relating or concerning the presidential election held on June 12, 1993, the Transition to Civil Rule Political Programme (Amendment No 3, Decree No 52 of 1992 and the presidential election.

    “Basic Constitutional and Transitional Provision Decree No 13 of 1993 is hereby repealed. all acts or omissions done or purportedly to have been done, or to be done by any person, authority etc, under the above named decrees are hereby declared invalid. The National Electoral Commission is hereby suspended. All acts or omission done or purported to have been done by itself, its officers or agents under the repealed Decree No 13, 1993, are hereby nullified,” he said.

    On June 26, 1993, IBB also came on air. But, his explanation was clearly an after-thought. He said the process of authentication and clearance of the presidential candidates was not thorough. Nigerians also disputed the allegation that bribes were offered and accepted by the NEC officials. When the heat was turned on him by protesters, Babangida was forced to voice out his pre-determined destination. He declared that, although he knew those who would not succeed him, he did not know those who would succeed him. Television viewers later saw a staggering military President boasting that “we are not only in government, we are in power.”

    With the cancellation of the results, Abiola’s vision for Nigeria died. The businessman-turned politician was very passionate about the masses. His slogan was the abolition of poverty. He had fought many personal battles, but the  ‘June 12’ battle was the fiercest battle of his life. Rejecting the annulment, Abiola declared himself as the custodian of a sacred mandate. He said, having voted for him, the people of Nigerian expected him to assume the reins on August 27, 1993. “ I intend to keep that date with history”, Abiola said.

    IBB understood MKO. He was not indifferent to his determination to reclaim his mandate. Courage and the resolve to succeed were the hallmarkss of Abiola’s life.  In a birthday message to him in 1992, Babangida acknowledge Abiola’s courage, stressing that “ a major feature of your life, so far, is the doggedness and determination with which you pursue any venture embarked upon”.

    Abiola was not prepared for the post-June 12 challenges. He was not an experience politician. But, he had the masses behind him. Amid the military onslaught against his mandate, he jetted out to seek international support. By the time he returned home, his party had split. The SDP leaders started to speak from the two sides of the mouth. Also, his business was subjected to torture. His business investment was ebbing away. The military dictator clamped down on his newspapers, The Concord, and other media organisations sympathetic to the cause.  of popular rule. Former Information Minister Comrade Uche Chukwumerije, now a senator, mounted the hottest propaganda against the just cause. He said, by travelling abroad, MKO had gone down in history as the first Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yoruba to have deserted the battle field. As June 12 divided the polity, associates were changing allegiance. The Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) led by Senator Arthur Nzeribe, engaged in infamous deformation of the struggle, collating imaginary signatures of people against the election.

    The late Admiral  Aikhomu also doubted the fitness of Abiola for the Presidency. He said the rich man is not the philosophical king. The military accused him of leaving the country illegally to mount an illegal campaign abroad against his fatherland. Gradually, MKO was losing grip of the situation. There were conflicts of advice and suggestions by eminent Nigerians.

    For Abiola, history merely repeated itself on June 12.  A decade earlier, he had sought to rule the country. But, he was edged out of the race in the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1982. On June 12, 1982, he struggled for the presidential ticket with President Shehu Shagari. He could not obtain the nomination form as the gate of the party secretariat was shot against him. Former Transport Minister Dr. Umaru Dikko told Abiola that “the Presidency is not for the highest bidder”. Two years before, he had also aspired to lead the NPC. But, he was defeated by the more experienced Chief Adisa Akinloye.

    However, in the aborted Third Republic, his albatross was the Minna-born military General, who had assumed full executive powers, without the accompanying checks and balances. Resistance to him by the rights community and the decimated political class failed. Abiola, his wife, Kudirat, the SDP leaders who were loyal to him, human rights groups, labour, students, and the members of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) managed to sustain the struggle.

    The symbol was ready to lay down his life, which he eventually did. Without a gun, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the military.  In his famous Epe Declaration, the President-elect insisted on his mandate. “Never before has there been such a cynical and contemptuous abrogation of solemn commitment and fixed programme”, he said in response to the unsigned statement announcing the annulment. Abiola explained that Tofa, and the two political parties never went to court to complain about the poll. He wondered why the Abuja High Court granted the unprecedented injunction to the Nzeribe, who was not a candidate and who never voted during the election. He observed that these diabolical events were planned ahead to create confusion and discredit the poll.

    It was a futile struggle. Although IBB left office, he did not hand over to the winner of the election. He stepped aside to save his face.

    The interim government led by the boardroom guru, Chief Ernest Shonekan, succeeded him. But, it  was short lived.  On November 10, 1993, Justice Dolapo Akinsanya of the Lagos High Court dismantled the interim apparatus, saying that it was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.  On November 18, 1993, Abacha sacked Sonekan and stepped in as the military Head of State.

    The pro-democracy crusaders were back to square one. Abacha abolished all democratic structures at the state and federal levels, disbanded the National Electoral Commission (NEC), banned the two political parties and set up the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC). Then, he promised to hand over to Abiola. He failed to keep the promise. Credible progressive leaders, who accepted ministerial appointments, were trapped in the administration. The military Head of State later initiated a self-succession plan, which collapsed when he mysteriously passed on.

    Abiola was detained, following his self-declaration as the President. He was held incommunicado. The Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who succeeded Abacha, did not release him from detention. Few days after Abacha died, Abiola also died in detention in controversial circumstance. His death in detention provoked outrage and condemnation. Human rights activists alleged that he was killed with style. The autopsy is still in the realm of conjecture. Twenty one years after, the symbol has not been immortalised by the Federal Government.