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Tag: Between

  • Scheduled for May 3 Nigerian premiere, ‘Between’ gets review

    It was a gathering of stars as filmmaker Daniel Ademinokan premiered his latest work ‘Between’ in London last week at the Odeon Greenwich. Some guests at the premiere were Weird MC, Mike Aremu and Stella Damasus.

    But Nigerians will have to wait for May 3 to watch the movie in the cinemas.

    However, ‘Between’ has been getting good reviews.

    One of the reviews shared by Daniel on his Instagram by Nollywood trailers describes the movie as well-crafted and excellently delivered.

    “’Between’ tells the story about a lady Chelsea played by Stella Damasus who has had a few failed marriages and has lost hope in finding love. The irony of it is that she is a marriage counselor. She decided to live her relationship life like a man and believes that she can predict how a man perceives love or should I say dating. Chelsea enjoyed her single life and has a habit of picking up men at bars just to fulfil her sexual desire but she missed the memo that says a man is wired differently when it comes to random sex.

    “I can tell you that you will enjoy this movie very much. Stella Damasus is an actor and more. She interpreted the role perfectly and delivered on it. All the expressions were in the right places, not exaggerated and the variations in the tone of her voice in her dialogues was on point. We shouldn’t expect less from a veteran actor the she is. But I must say this woman can cry for Africa kilode?

    “After leaving the acting scene for so long, she reminded us of what we have missed. She carried the character from the opening of the first scene till the end. I must say this is an Oscar worthy acting. All the other characters in the movie were well cast. From the inquisitive assistant that believes she must not only manage her bosses official duties but also her private life, (she is just an Amebo) to Cowboy X, the supporting lead actor.

    “One character actually stood out in the movie. It was the office nerd, that I believe has a crush on his boss, Chelsea, but dare not say it. His is a minor role but he shined with it.

    “The story, which is well written and directed by Daniel, is layered with so much twist. Whenever I thought the movie has ended, there will be a twist and then another journey. I will crown Daniel, the master twister. Daniel did an amazing job in directing this movie. The only question I have for him is how did he direct that love scene of Chelsea without him killing somebody (Cowboy X)?

    “The transition from every scene was genius. The sound is at the right level, picture perfect I couldn’t just find any fault in the movie. But in the quest of fault finding did I mention that the film is 2hrs 20mins long with a cast of 95% white and 5% black. I can say it is 2hrs 20mins worth spending in the cinema. I will give this movie a 5 Star.”

    Still in celebration mood, the filmmaker was also featured on the cover of the 13th anniversary edition of Mode Men magazine.

  • Between heroism and villainy

    SIR: Are there heroes, heroines and villains in the real sense in Nigeria, particularly if the definitions of the terms are followed?

    Heroism and villainy are both function of deeds; they also relate to time and space. In our time, anyone can be addressed as a hero or villain. In the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Michael Okpara and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, their deeds only elevated them to the gilded pantheon of heroism. Nothing else, they were no average Joes. These colossuses exhibited commitments to causes, targets, ideas, that were accepted by not only the heroes but by people who identified with the heroes as worthy people, their pursuits and celebrated them.

    In our day, however, the standards for shaping people who should be addressed as heroes are not clear. Goodluck Jonathan abrogated the rotational presidency agreement of his party but he is venerated in the eyes of people in his geographical region, South-south and you dare not speak ill about him over there. I know that much because I was in Port Harcourt for more than a decade.

    Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to run for office for the third time against the reasoning of the constitution and Ibrahim Babangida annulled June 12, presidential elections, however, both are consulted widely with photo-ops by would-be political office seekers without constituencies seeking for elective offices.

    Jingoists have cashed in on this to cunningly robe people on ethnic or regional basis. Muhammadu Buhari is a hero to many people in the North and Southwest and a villain to others outside of these regions.

    Owing to the deal with Senator Ike Ekweremadu who is a deputy senate president in the 8th assembly against democratic norms, Senator Bukola Saraki is a hero before many people in the Southeast and South-south regions of Nigeria. They could Billy-club you for daring to say that he is not a true democrat.  ”One man’s hero” it is said, “may be another man’s villain.”

    Statesmanship doesn’t matter anymore in Nigeria.

    To rally the national troop for national growth like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Michael Okpara and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe did is out of fashion. What matters are to deepen the age-old chasm that had been created regionally. “Authentic heroes pursue a cause which must gladden the hearts of all. Heroes act out heroic script without fail.”

    What comes to your mind when you think of Adolf Hitler? Good! How about Abraham Lincoln? Well said!

    Lets us go further to Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. What can you remember about them? No! Their legacies were destroyed by careless mistakes that they made.

    Can you compare any politician in this era to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Michael Okpara and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe? What is your own definition of a hero?

    Do these people qualify to go to Valhalla?

     

    • By Simon Abah, Abuja.

  • Between Ubah, Olukoya, Aliko et al

    Hardball is at it again foisting his football peccadilloes on you guys. But this is a football story that has to be done. The news is that two clubs in Lagos have qualified to play in the GLO Premier League top division next season. They are MFM FC (Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry Football Club) and Ikorodu United Football Club, (IU FC).

    So what the heck? Easy, the story is that Lagos State, the largest city state in Africa had no football economy for over two decades. What on earth is football economy, you ask? It is about private stadia, about weekly football matches, thousands of young men and women working and making good living as footballers, coaches, referees, etc. It is about many more people working as stadium managers, sports wears and equipment producers and sellers.

    It would be about many more talented young footballers in Lagos getting noticed by scouts from big European leagues. It is about weekly gate-takings and merchandising. It is yet, about the psychological satisfaction of supporting your own local football club; buying its kits and wearing them proudly. It is the joy and therapy of taking your family to a late Sunday evening football outing. It is so much more.

    For over two decades, Lagos has missed all these despite its huge population. While most other states had at least one club playing competitive football in their city every weekend, Lagos had none. For a state that had the legendary Stationery Stores FC, among notable others; it is a wonder why successive governments did not see the huge potentials of football economy for so long.

    Today, Lagos has I.U.FC and MFM FC to play top-flight soccer every weekend from next season. How salutary. While one knows little about I.U.FC, MFM FC is a dream come true for Dr. D. K. Olukoya Founder and General Overseer of MFM. Those who know him say after God and family, his other passion is youth development through football.

    He had therefore taken his church football club from an academy and through the lower rungs of our league to the elite division. We hear he is raising the bar of football club ownership by building a stadium. Going by his methods and zest he is aiming for the world stage.

    Ifeanyi Ubah, the enfant terrible, recently bought over a flailing Udoji United FC and converted it to Ifeanyi Ubah FC. We hear a 50,000 capacity stadium is rising in his hometown, Nnewi. We don’t need an expert to tell us what this singular move would signal for the youths of Anambra and the economy of Nnewi.

    Aliko et al means business mogul Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chi Limited, Sterling Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Seven Up, etc. While Aliko nurses a strong desire to acquire Arsenal, London’s iconic football club, the aforementioned Nigerian firms are jointly spending millions of pounds in sponsorship promotion of such English clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal FC, Manchester City and Chelsea FC.

    It is sorry enough that at least a quarter of Nigeria is watching the English Premier League every weekend; do we need to ship out millions of pounds to them as well? Thousands of talented Nigerian youths are wasting away, who will help develop our rich but comatose football economy? Imagine what a few more Olukoyas and Ubahs will do for our country.

  • Between Orji, Otti and Abia people

    With the victory of the All Progressives Party (APC) at the presidential election, it is becoming increasingly clearer that the political calculations in Nigeria have changed. The way things are right now, it seems Chief T.A Orji-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, is on its own. Until lately, the obvious rejection of the government and its sponsored PDP governorship candidate, Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, by the people, had largely appeared as an issue merely within the state’s politics.

    For the discerning mind, things started to change right from the time President Goodluck Jonathan visited Aba to commission the Alaoji Power Plant. Mr. President neither utter any word in solidarity with Orji’s senatorial ambition nor Ikpeazu’s governorship bid. While Orji won his senatorial election, it may not be a smooth ride for the PDP’s governorship candidate, Okezie.

    Ordinarily, with the governor going for senatorial election, it was expected that the President would drum support for him and the party’s governorship candidate. But obviously pandering to the prevailing sentiment in the state and relying on proven reports of the government’s poor performance profile, the President tactfully avoided that otherwise, important segment of the visit.

    Jonathan’s action however did not come as a surprise to informed residents of the state. If anything, rather, it was predicted. For one, the President must have been tutored on the psychology and general attitude of the people, especially the Aba ma Ndi-Aba, philosophy. The expression which literally means “Aba knows its own people” comes handy on purpose, often in appreciating virtues and or denouncing perceived vices.

    It is a clarion call of sort. In the past, when certain individuals were seen to have acted in situations that were considered noble by residents of the city, they were celebrated and adopted as worthy members of the entity. They needed not be residents of the commercial city. What mattered most was that they were seen to have put up actions that had impacted positively on the people.

    It was in this respect that late Igbo icon, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, remained a hero to Aba indigenes even in death. The people, not given to sycophancy or forgetting favours, regularly recall how the Biafran leader literally put his life on the line in defence of his kinsmen. Little wonder that when he died, Aba residents insisted on his lying in state in Aba Township Stadium where they paid him last respect.

    Governor of old Imo State, late Dr. Sam Mbakwe, was equally revered by inhabitants of the commercial city for his glorious role in fighting for the Igbo man before, during and after the civil war. Besides, his frontal attack on the Ndiegoro flood menace, which earned him the sobriquet “weeping governor”, his people-oriented governance remains a sacrifice that Aba residents do not forget in a hurry. There are other examples.

    Conversely, there were instances where those perceived to have worked against the interest of the city and Igbo land in general, were paid in what was considered their own coin. The expression was in such instances echoed in derision.

    The way things are right now, the best of the Orji-led PDP government in the state, is not good enough in the state. This explains why the governor is not appreciated by most of the people in the state. With acute credibility problem on the government it has literally been treated as an orphan by many that ordinarily should have adopted it. Part of the grouse against the administration is its non-payment of staff salaries. Teachers recently embarked on indefinite strike to force the government pay backlog of salaries as well as outstanding leave allowances said to be up to eight months. Their counterparts in Abia State Polytechnic had also threatened going on strike because of being owed over six months’ salary arrears. Workers in other establishments also owed salaries and allowances had on occasions, been at logger-heads with the government.

    Besides, for an administration that has been adjudged to have failed the people in several facets in the last eight years, Jonathan must have reasoned – and wisely too -that overt fraternity with the governor would amount to a huge baggage on his re-election bid.

    This, of course, is not without reason. For a people that have literally been raped and criminally neglected in the life of the current regime in the state, their eyes are already focused on change. To them, in fact, the proverbial train has departed the moribund PDP station and headed clearly towards the direction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)’s Dr. Alex Otti.

    The APGA governorship candidate, is incidentally, physically, mentally and morally prepared for the challenging task of recovering the State from the PDP-induced years of the locust. While volunteering for service from his comfortable career with Diamond Bank as its group managing director, he had adequately rolled up his pants, realising of course, that the journey in reinventing the state, was going to be tedious.

    However, at many forums, he has declared that service to Abia and not exercise in self-aggrandizement, has been the driving force behind his aspiration. It is in this regard that he has laid out an encompassing template on how he intends to restore the state to a position of envy among its peers. In his manifesto which touches on the entire wellbeing of the people, he has established roadmaps towards repositioning the state’s education, health, agriculture, economy and other sectors.

    He has also given hints on how he intends to re-engineer Aba, the hitherto commercial hub of the South East and South-South regions that has painfully suffered criminal neglect in recent times. Otti, by this singular act, has struck on the hearts of the Abia voters.

    Jonathan must have read the writing on the wall. He must also have read and perfectly interpreted the glaring indices of the T A Orji-led PDP government rejection on the faces of the people. That must have informed why he tactfully avoided campaigning for the governor and Ikpeazu during his Aba visit. And he was right.

     

    •Nwachukwu, a political scientist, writes from Aba, Abia State

  • Re: Between Edo governor and Benin palace

    I read your piece of last week concerning the above. I must commend you for your objectivity. I agree totally with you that it is the duty of all right-thinking people of Edo State to continue to support Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to finish well, especially in the face of relentless hostility of a few self-centred political godfathers.

    However, the only point I disagree with you is the aspect where you lumped our revered Oba of Benin among those working against the Comrade Governor. The fact that two of the Oba’s sons who were hitherto given backroom assignments in the corridor of power by Oshiomhole chose to decamp recently to PDP is not sufficient reason to impute or conclude that the Benin palace has turned against the Comrade Governor. As a matter of fact, discerning observers see the errant duo as the black sheep of the family.

    On the contrary, the Benin monarch has always given the governor unqualified support since he assume office in November 2008. As a progressive himself, the Benin Oba has always maintained that his blessings are for anyone ready to work for the progress of Edo State and that is what Oshiomhole has been doing.

    •John Iyamu, Iyaro Quarters, Benin City, Edo State

  • Between Agbaje and Ambode

    In Jimi Agbaje, suave gentleman and pharmacist, as Lagos candidate, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has altered its preference for roughnecks as South West gubernatorial hopefuls.

    Witness: Ekiti’s Ayo Fayose, demagogue of the first rank; and, from his gubernatorial deeds so far, constitutional outlaw, if he can get away with it — for which gubernatorial kind would get his budget “passed” by a rogue parliament of seven ultra-minority members (less than a quorum of nine in a legislature of 26); and claim to be in constitutional governance?

    And Osun’s Iyiola Omisore: a truly controversial figure, with suspect community value, that ran a truly menacing gubernatorial campaign, complete with hooded gunmen, even if that campaign eventually failed.

    In Mr. Agbaje, however, it is something refreshingly different.  Obviously, Eko o ni gba-gba ku gba (Lagos won’t take any nonsense)!

    Akinwunmi Ambode, Mr. Agbaje’s All Progressives Congress (APC) equivalent, is made of no less stellar stuff.

    A famed civil service technocrat and professional accountant, the former Lagos Accountant-General and permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Finance, was reportedly the silent wheel behind the financial re-engineering that kept Lagos afloat, when President Olusegun Obasanjo bared the fangs of his imperial presidency, over the creation of additional local governments in Lagos, under the Bola Tinubu administration.

    Still, whatever Mr. Agbaje did as a private investor; and Mr. Ambode, as a public sector technocrat, are all in the realm of supposition, since neither had taken direct charge as the Lagos chief executive.

    Therefore, their first point of contact, with the electorate, at least, would have to be their proxies — mentors, if you like: show-me-your-friends, fashion.

    For Mr. Agbaje is the triumvirate of Olabode George, Adeseye Ogunlewe and Musiliu Obanikoro.

    In a spade of a few weeks however, Mr. Obanikoro has turned Mr. Agbaje’s co-contestant for the Lagos governorship ticket; sworn virtual enemy, on the allegation that the primary was rigged in Mr. Agbaje’s favour; and now a supporter of a sort, on account of some post-primary intra-PDP entente.

    For Mr. Ambode would appear former Governor Bola Tinubu and current incumbent, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.

    Though Asiwaju Tinubu said before the Lagos APC gubernatorial primaries that he backed no candidate, whispering campaigns persisted Mr. Ambode was his man.  Since the candidate emerged, Governor Fashola, from his public comments and actions, appears backing Mr. Ambode to the hilt.

    So, where stand the two, proxy-wise?

    That Chief George and former Senator Ogunlewe broke into an involuntary embrace, after Mr. Agbaje’s win over Mr. Obanikoro, spoke volumes.  Why?

    No prize for guessing right — for it needs no especial perspicacity: some merry real-politik trade-off was afoot.

    Both George and Ogunlewe need Mr. Agbaje’s good name.  Mr. Agbaje, on the other hand, needs the twain’s political structure, on which to erect his own gubernatorial run.  Quid-pro-quo: a sweetheart deal was born!

    Yet, from that initial merriness, Mr. Agbaje’s brand appears heading for collateral gloom, considering the duo’s rather unflattering public perception, when the issue is Lagos.

    Mr. Ogunlewe, as a senator of the Federal Republic, was one of the first sets of renegade Alliance for Democracy (AD) Lagos senators, that gifted PDP their AD mandate, resulting from former President Obasanjo’s AD destabilisation plot.  The senator had the temerity to come back, in 2003, to re-contest the Lagos East senatorial seat on the PDP platform.

    He was electorally guillotined — his seat given to Senator Nimbe Mamora, who after two distinguished terms, rose to become widely acknowledged as one of the finest senators of his age.

    That 2002 sweet poison of soulless defection would come back to purge the federal ruling party, with the APC defection of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, prompting the rash police invasion of the National Assembly.  Talk of parents eating  sour grapes and children’s teeth being set on edge!

    Still, Mr. Ogunlewe was not done with Lagos.  As President Obasanjo’s Works minister, he levied virtual war on Lagos, with his Federal Roads Maintenance Authority (FERMA) corps, that tried to elbow the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) corps from Lagos roads, claiming they had suzerainty over federal roads in Lagos.

    In one of the senseless skirmishes, Mrs. Derin Disu, then chairman of Lagos Island Local Government, was thoroughly assaulted and harassed.  Her “crime”?  Having the temerity to confront Mr. Ogunlewe’s FERMA corps!

    Mr. Ogunlewe’s partner in the Jimi Agbaje project, Chief George, has contributed little to the public space, except military conceit and insufferable arrogance.  He invented the word “capture” for winning elections, so many times thundering the PDP would “capture Lagos”, a diction that has a ring of do-or-die, foul-or-fair menace.  Even as military governor of old Ondo State (now Ondo and Ekiti states), George’s record was nothing to crow about.

    Mr. Obanikoro too would follow Mr. Ogunlewe’s template of defecting to PDP with his Action Congress (AC) senatorial ticket, after ironically replacing the late Wahab Dosunmu, who committed a similar electoral perfidy by taking his AD ticket to PDP.  Like Mr. Ogunlewe too, Mr. Obanikoro sought election (though as Lagos governor), but was defeated by Mr. Fashola.

    Ironically too, both George and Obanikoro appear doomed to the Ogunlewe script.  While Ogunlewe used FERMA to traumatise Lagos, Obanikoro has accused George of using the SURE-P cadre, a bric-a-brac federal corps noticeable on Lagos roads, as alleged armed bouncers to fix elections.

    Obanikoro himself, as short-lived Defence minister of state (Army), wasn’t shy of despatching his soldiers to disrupt work at the Ilubinrin, Lagos Island housing project of the state government, aside from trotting them to try and fix elections at Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections in 2014.

    This would appear Mr. Agbaje’s exalted company in his gubernatorial quest!

    Mr. Ambode’s company?  Former Governor Tinubu and the incumbent, Governor Fashola.

    Now, in the eyes of the other camp, Tinubu is the worst that could ever afflict any polity.  And Fashola is nothing but his eternal stooge!  That might well be.  Besides, one man’s meat is another man’s poison; and, in war, all would appear fair!

    Still, on a less emotive plane, the Tinubu-Fashola lineage has brought a 1999 Lagos from its abyss of infrastructural decay, environmental paralysis and sheer anomie, depressing results of years of hopeless military rule; to a 2015 near-financially independent Lagos, renascent and vibrant, confident of facing its future, even if it is always work-in-progress.

    Inversely, the PDP at the federal level, has brought a 1999 Nigeria, flush with cash but nevertheless inefficient and wasteful, to a 2015 Nigeria, broke and beggarly, set to enter again the debt trap, it only exited in 2005/2006.  That is Mr. Agbaje’s preferred space shuttle into governance.  Wish him the best of luck!

    There is partisan muck, of course; of which both camps are not necessarily guiltless.  Still, Mr. Ambode would appear rooted in an already established tradition of developmental Lagos, tested and proved, with verifiable results.  That, with all due respect to his good name, cannot be said of Mr. Agbaje.

    Ambode’s reported rich contribution to Lagos’ financial re-engineering is reassuring, giving the impression that with him, Lagos would remain in safe and tested hands, and not just passing to partisan rivals, bustling with a me-too syndrome, but hardly exhibiting any cogent reason it could raise Lagos higher.

    That is the clear choice Lagos must make, between Mr. Agbaje and Mr. Ambode.

  • Between Abeokuta and Abuja

    In a day the All Progressives Congress (APC) held a hugely successful congress in the 236 wards in Ogun State, I returned to Abeokuta at about 8pm to the warm embrace of the illumination provided by the new highways. From Breweries Bus-stop, cruising towards the city-centre, I was fascinated by the illuminated skies around Akin Olugbade road, provided by the lights adorning the beautiful roads constructed by the Amosun administration. Momentarily, I thought I was somewhere in Europe.

    Who could have imagined this is possible in Abeokuta?

    I recall that Pastor Tunde Bakare came to Abeokuta not long ago and echoed the same words: no one would have thought these things are doable. But Senator Ibikunle Amosun has surprised everyone. A couple of our friends in the media who are from Abeokuta have equally expressed pleasant amazement. One said he found it difficult to locate his house by virtue of the transformation of the state capital.

    If Amosun could accomplish all these in less than three years, one can imagine what the state will look like by the time he completes eight years.

    Hear the United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, as reported in the Vanguard, Nation, Daily Independent (28/02/14). “What I see is fantastic, rapid development in Abeokuta. The roads, the bridges, the flyovers are very, very impressive.”

    Imagine if the Ambassador had had the opportunity to visit Ota, Aiyetoro, Ilishan/Ago-Iwoye, Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu and out-of-the-way areas like Ilara/Ijoun, etc. where the “very very impressive roads, the bridges, the flyovers” he saw in Abeokuta are being replicated!

    Interestingly, I passed through Ota on that fateful day of the APC Ward Congress on April 5, and gasped for breath! This is an area I frequented between 2005 and 2011. Is this Ota? Who could have imagined the possibility of all these three years ago? The beautiful Ota township roads, the pedestrian walkways – under construction; that axis used to be hell in terms of appalling state of the roads and attendant human sufferings.

    So, it is actually possible to jump-start development… But my mood has now changed.

    To think that Amosun accomplished all these – to speak in local parlance – by managing money, cutting this, cutting that, reducing that cost, cancelling that other one altogether – sometimes making enemies in the process, since some people are already used to getting free money from political office holders at the expense of development – has the tendency to make one feel downcast. Here are the reasons.

    The Federal Government sits on 52 per cent of the revenue allocation from the federation account while the 36 states share 26 per cent. It has been like that before President Jonathan came to power, so it has nothing to do with him per se. Among those 36 states is Ogun. When you divide the 26 per cent by 36, you have 0.7 per cent – but that is assuming the allocation is shared equally. But it is not, so Ogun State ends up with about 0.3 per cent out of the 26 per cent every month.

    Despite the gargantuan 52 per cent being collected by the federal government, virtually all the federal roads in Ogun State are in tatters: Atan-Agbara road (Agbara is an industrial hub in Nigeria), Owode-Ilaro road, Ikorodu-Sagamu highway, etc. I’m sure the Minister of Works has never heard the names of some of these roads let alone their locations. You see the futility of having federal roads in Nigeria. You see the grave injustice in the federal government getting as much as 52 per cent while the states are starving.

    Wait a minute; the Nigeria Police Force is an agency of the federal government. But it is from the paltry sums being collected by the states that the police are equipped. So, from the meagre 0.3 per cent Ogun receives from the federation account, the police are also being funded! Until the federal authorities started their problem of don’t touch this federal road, don’t touch that one, Ogun had been taking from the 0.3 per cent to repair the completely failed portions of the so-called federal roads. Imagine the amount the state government spent to repair parts of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and several other federal roads! This is because the masses don’t like to differentiate between federal and state roads. Once any road is in Ogun territory, then Amosun must be responsible for its maintenance and reconstruction!

    Again, despite the pretensions in the concurrent list, power is still in the exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution. By the time the modernization going on in Abeokuta, nay Ogun is completed, there is no guarantee that the entire state capital can be illuminated like London, Paris or Berlin because Abeokuta currently gets 20 megawatts whereas it needs at least 80 megawatts, according to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company! This much I experienced last Saturday, after I exited the illumination of Akin Olugbade, Ibara-Totoro and The First Bridge, and moved to Abiola Way, facing Ijaiye/Sapon from Iyana-Mortuary – all modern highways constructed by the current government.

    Is it then proper for electricity to still be in the exclusive list (notwithstanding the so-called deregulation, backed by a subordinate legislation) when each state, local council, community, household, etc. ought to have the freedom to generate its own electricity and use it for its own purpose – in the 21st century?

    For the umpteenth time, I ask that these federal roads should revert to the states. The Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and National Assembly (NASS) should ensure that in the new revenue allocation template, Abuja (FG) gets 25 per cent from the Federation Account, while Abeokuta (Ogun) receives 1.5 per cent. Each of the 36 states should receive at least 1.5 per cent from the federation account. We are all from the states, there are no federal people. Concentration of powers and money at the centre has ruined Nigeria, drained it of vitality and made its development elusive for many lamentable years.The federal government should now concentrate on core federal matters such as foreign affairs, currency, and defence while powers are devolved to the states. With more revenue to the federating states and a truly federal constitution, the states will be in a position to maintain the highways (at cheaper costs), open up the bowels of their lands, revive agriculture, provide potable water, construct railway, generate and distribute electricity, provide security for their own people, and indeed, develop at their own pace – re-enacting and promoting healthy rivalries of the glorious days of the 50s and 60s… and building a strong and enduring United States of Nigeria.

    • Soyombo, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abeokuta.

  • Between APC and PDP

    Events in Nigeria have shown that Nigeria is a land full of milk and honey. But in the past 15 years, Nigeria has been a nation where evil triumphs to the extent that a land full of milk and honey is full of abject poverty, cries, neglect and misery. Just get a copy of any newspaper any day; it is all bad news – of corruption, graft, embezzlement, kidnapping, killings of all descriptions – ritual and non-ritual, Boko Haram, rape, gangsterism, armed robbery, lies, sophistry, extreme love of money, impunity, miscarriage and perversion of justice, adultery and everything that is bad under the sun!

    The sins in Nigeria are committed out of indescribable love for money and power. The love for money and power which is the root of corruption, is jealously guarded by politics which, in Nigeria today, is the sure road to unclean wealth and corrupted power. Every Tom and Harry wants to go into politics because it is a lazy way of making easy money out of the common wealth of Nigerians. The road to political power as money spinning machine is extremely dirty, full of sins, lies, deceit, ungodly, unclean and unrighteous behaviors. Because of love for money and power, politicians can go to any length, including killing of political opponents, blackmailing and outright rigging. This is why politics in Nigeria is simply a do or die affair, and not for service but for personal self aggrandizement.

    Now, between the APC and the PDP is the presidency. While the PDP would like to hold on to power at all costs, the APC would like to do everything at its disposal to upstage the PDP at the 2015 elections. However, there is already a general feeling in the country that after more than 14 years of PDP’s reign, there is need for a change. The reason for this is that when the masses of Nigerians look back to many years of general poverty, want, neglect, woes, general hardship and unspeakable agony caused by corruption, they clamour for a change of government. The question now is: Should all these be allowed to continue for another four years of extreme grief and gnashing of teeth? The people have to decide their own destiny by saying enough is enough!

    The 2015 elections would be the most keenly contested in the history of Nigeria, with the two big parties – APC and PDP – making it a fight to finish. Nobody on earth knows precisely what would happen, whether or not there would indeed be election, or what would happen after the election.

    But winning elections may not be easy for the ruling party, as the opposition party is poised to give them a fight. But in order to do that, the APC must get its acts right. The APC’s successes in the 2015 polls depend on many factors. The most important is unity, selflessness and strong resolve to succeed. If the party wins, everybody wins; if it loses, everybody loses as a result of greed, selfishness and ambitions of some individuals. This, of course, depends on the party’s ability to appreciate the importance of winning. To do this, the APC should go for the best candidate that can sell, like hot cake, against President Jonathan who, although is rated low on popularity rating as a result of the catalogue of woes his administration has unleashed on the people of Nigeria, enjoys the power of incumbency and a huge war chest to prosecute the election to a horrible conclusion. In this connection, we can only pray that it is not all Nigerians who take money from a political party that would vote for that party as a matter of necessity. Voting is a matter of conscience, not of bribe. It has happened before, and there is no reason why it should not happen again.

    Perhaps one of the greatest factors that would determine the success or failure of APC at the national and presidential elections is its choice of presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Already, the North has been given the presidential slot. Obasanjo from the South West had occupied the seat of president from 1999 – 2007. At present, Jonathan, from the South-south, is occupying the position of president. The South-east may justly claim that now, the presidency belongs to their zone as that position had previously been occupied by Obasanjo from the South-west (1999 – 2007). But already the presidency has been zoned to the North. If APC thinks of getting support from the South-east, it must choose its vice-presidential candidate from that zone. Apart from giving this zone a sense of belonging, it would boost their chance of producing the next president in the near future. Also, if it wants to enjoy popular support in all zones of the federation, it must avoid Christian/Christian or Muslim/Muslim ticket, as the issue of religion in 1993 may not be the same or volatile as it would be in 2015.

    On this matter, I had made a suggestion before, that a candidate from the South-east like Imo State, an APC state, stands the best chance of producing the vice-presidential candidate. A candidate from Rivers State in the South-east is also a good candidate, but notice that his zone has produced the incumbent president. Therefore, if it is agreed that the president must come from the North, the logical choice is a candidate from the South-east. Party and national interest must be placed above personal interest and ambition. APC must not throw away this divine chance to rule Nigeria. So, be careful and be wise!

    What is going on in the judiciary is something to be carefully watched by all Nigerians. Nigerians as well as the international community know very well that there was not only a division but a commotion and earthquake in the PDP. It was a crisis that went on for a long time, from which a faction sprang up and which eventually led to a full blown division when members who saw themselves as pushed to the wall broke away as a faction, thus leading to a full blown division in the PDP. Even the President and the chairman of the PDP ran from pillar to post to prevent the materialization of the faction and eventual division in the PDP, all leading to a smoke. Eventually, a faction of five of the governors who were members of the PDP left for, and merged with, the APC as the last resort. If this was not a serious crisis, faction and division that led to a point of no return, one does not know what it is. Newspapers were awash with the news of the crisis which was even known to the international community. Yet somebody came out as if he was from another planet, to say there was no crisis, faction or division in the PDP. When some governors and legislators defected from other parties to PDP, the defectors were received with pomp and pageantry. That precedent was soon forgotten.

     

    •Prof Makinde, FNAL is DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State

  • Between the US, Egypt and Nigeria

    As Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan took the stage in Davos, Switzerland at the 2014 World Economic Forum to talk on’ Africa’s Next Billion’ Egypt announced that it was piqued by President Barak Obama’s decision to excludeEgypt from the list of 47 African nations the US President was inviting to a confab in the US in August this year. I do not know the theme of the Obama African Conference from which it has omitted Egypt, its staunch ally in the Middle East, but the theme of this year’s Davos Conference was – The Reshaping of the World; Consequences for Society, Politics and Business.

    Nothing mirrored the challenge of the 44th Davos World Economic Forum theme more than the immediate response of israel’s President Shimon Peres to the speech of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Day One at Davos. Peres, at 91 the oldest Head of State in the world, lamented that while the Iranian president had spoken eloquently at Davos on cooperation with the UN on its nuclear programme, he had been silent on asking Hizbollah to stop sending rockets into Israel and in asking for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This, to Peres, is a missed opportunity for the Iranian leader, as according to him, the Israelis and Iranians have not been historical enemies in the past. That deep diplomatic rumble and new expectation on the socio economic platform of Davos, provides the parameter for our topic of the day as we reflect on the theme of Davos 2014 – The Reshaping of the

    World; Consequences For Society, Politics and Business – with regard to the relations between the US, Egypt and Nigeria in recent times.

    Really, we should start with the nature of the relations between the three nations which has often been patronising on the part of the US against the two other nations in recent times. With regard to Egypt its Foreign Affairs Spokesperson did not mince words in condemning the exclusion of Egypt from the Obama African Confab in August as lacking in vision while admitting that Egypt remained suspended from the AU because of the military intervention that deposed former President Mohammed Morsi.

    In Nigeria’s case, helping Nigeria to contain the menace of Boko Haram has reportedly become the cornerstone of US policy in making the Sahel region safe from the ravages of terrorism and religious militancy.

    In either case the leadership in Egypt and Nigeria has shown great incapacity to contain threats to national security and stability and Uncle Sam had offered help and direction in that regard and the two nations could not but oblige. What then had led to this hand wringing and thankful postures from these two nations in the face of what could have been termed, at other times, as meddlesome and intrusive diplomacy on the part of the US and its foreign policy Advisers? These are the issues we are addressing today to show that the Davos 2014 World Economic Forum theme is very apt indeed for the contemporary politics and international relations involving these three nations.

    First, let me state clearly that it is not fair for the US president to give the Egyptians the cold shoulder over his August 2014 African Confab. This is because he had a hand in the situation in Egypt ending the way it has, with a military coup and the deposition and trial for treason of elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Indeed the Obama Administration claimed responsibility for the success of planting democracy in Egypt when Morsi was

    elected as the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, in the best tradition of former President George Bush’s American policy of planting democracy in foreign lands. Obama’s foreign policy on Egypt spurred the demonstrations that dislodged former dictator Housni Mubarak but relations turned sour when a counter demonstration against Morsi was hijacked by the army which deposed Morsi and installed a puppet Interim Adminstration in a military

    coup. Legally US policy on coups is not to recognise any government that stem from military coups but the US government like the proverbial ostrich has refused to admit a coup happened in Egypt and applying the appropriate sanction according to its policy. Instead, it has cut arms sale to Egypt.

    Meanwhile a referendum last week approved the new Egyptian constitution erasing the Morsi era for ever and paving the way for the Egyptian Army chief General Sissy to be the new bride being sought now for the presidency of Egypt by a confused and embittered Egyptian electorate.

    It is my considered view that rather than leaving Egypt in the cold, the US could have shown magnanimity in inviting the N African nation to the August conference rather than isolating it, after pushing its people into a heady and intoxicating desire for democracy which did not come the way Obama had planned and expected. Anyway whether Obama admits it or not, the people of Egypt are happy with their democracy because they know it has taken an Egyptian route and has its root in Egyptian blood shed at Tahrir Square and Egyptian cities and towns where Egyptians demonstrated first against the dictator Mubarak and later against the Muslim Brotherhood. No US snub of Egypt can change the history and course of the street revolution of the Egyptian people and their yearning for democracy in their own land and according to their wishes and aspirations.

    With regard to Nigeria the Americans seem to have adopted a policy of helping a drunk out of a china shop. This however is not out of pity but from an urgent need in curtailing the spread of terror in the Sahel, a danger lost in plain sight to the Nigerian government. Before now US policy in Nigeria was based on oil. With ascendant militancy in the Niger Delta and the discovery of oil in Gabon and Angola the US has found alternatives to Nigeria’s oil in the same vicinity and can afford to step aside which it would have done conveniently and speedily, if Boko Haram had not arisen. The US has had to take the initiative in prodding the Nigerian authorities in taking Boko Haram seriously because it knows how deadly its spill over effect will be in the Sahel and ECOWAS sub region. The US knows that the Abuja government does not want anything to rock the boat of governance hence its pretending that the Boko Haram menace is being contained , although the daily statistics on casualties on both sides, don’t agree with this posture.

    That explains why the US has offered to train the new Rapid Response force that the former Army Chief said had been put in place before his removal last week. It also showed why the new Chief of Defence Staff promised on behalf of the new service chiefs recently that Boko Haram threat will be put out by April this year. Which is really cheering news for now, which however could be an albatross later if the self imposed deadline is not met.

    There is no doubt that Nigeria has a well trained and large army but Boko Haram is not an army neither has it scruples on disrespecting the established rules of military engagement or using civilians as human shields or burning churches and mosques.

    Aside from US squirming on Nigeria’s handling of Boko Haram, France set the tone on Sahel region protection with the forceful intervention in Mali last year. Now the new Interim Prime Minister of Central African Republic who was elected in Chad has asked for the aid of even the EU in preventing sectarian and religious violence in that African nation whose parliament had to move to neighboring Chad because it could not meet in the capital Bangui because of the religious anarchy there. It is such danger that the US proactively sees in the Sahel and that is what is propelling its new foreign policy in Nigeria and one hopes that this policy succeeds in the best spirit of reshaping the region along the line of the challenging theme of Davos 2014.

  • Between Macaulay and Lugard

    “If you know your history, then you would know where you are coming from” – Bob Marley in Buffalo soldier. “Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft” – Winston Churchill

    I thank Allah for His mercy. Yours comradely recently turned 53 years. But how old is Nigeria was the question that preoccupied my mind at the annual early morning January 8 fitness exercise that  usually heralds my birthday.   President Goodluck Jonathan has promised a centenary amalgamation celebration this year, meaning officially Nigeria is already assumed to be 100 years old.  To this extent my rhetorical question; how old is Nigeria remains purely academic.

    Nigeria is certainly a country that is increasingly knowledge-shy and in which by the day rigour of knowledge is proving to be a sacrilege. How else does one characterise a country that last year (2013) shut down all public universities including the (departments of history) for six months on account of God-knows-what and for which no minister has lost his job?

    Certainly a country in which all its polytechnics are still under lock and key for Allah-knows-what-reason, academic analysis is certainly a luxury. However, this unacceptable underdevelopment of Nigeria through repeated schools’ closures only makes academic analysis even more urgent and necessary. Is Nigeria indeed 100 years old? Is amalgamation worth being celebrated? In his New Year message, President Jonathan devoted a great deal to the 100 years of Nigeria’s amalgamation by the British colonial authorities.

    I agree with the legendary Reggae star Bob Marley, who in the popular track, Buffalo Soldier sang that; “If you know your history, then you would know where you are coming from”. The point cannot be overstated. Nigeria was in existence well before amalgamation of 1914 by the British. For instance, the first official trade union, Civil Service Union was formed in 1912. That was two years before the British administrative amalgamation of the north and southern protectorates. Therefore, simple common sense shows that there was indeed a country called Nigeria before Lord Lugard and his amalgamation. Also let us remember that Lord Lugard the first Governor-General of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria amalgamated a colony, not an independent nation. Indeed Nigeria did not join the League of Nations (the preceding global union before United Nations was formed in 1945). And Lord Lugard was a British (note; not Nigeria’s!) representative to the League of Nations from 1922 to 1936. Nigeria only joined the United Nations after its legitimate independence in 1960. While Lord Lugard desired to keep the amalgamated colony in perpetuity for eternal exploitation, the true founding fathers of modern Nigeria, the nationalists reclaimed a country that was already in formation in its diversities and inter relationships thousands of years well before Lord Lugard arrived Nigeria. No wonder that Nigeria has outlived the British colonialism which terminated in 1960 after independence.  Of course, 1914 is a landmark in colonial exploitative campaign in Nigeria. However President Jonathan should avoid the pitfall of presenting Lugard as the founding father of modern Nigeria. Lugard (and indeed none of the British colonial masters) was NOT the founding father of Nigeria! The founding fathers of modern Nigeria are Nigerians themselves.  They are the nationalists who lowered the notorious Union Jack and replaced it with Nigerian flag of Green, White and Green in 1960.

    One notable founding father was Herbert Macaulay. Macaulay (not Lord Lugard) was one of the first Nigerian nationalists who fought British imperialism for which he was jailed twice. Herbert Samuel Heelas Macaulay was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, engineer, journalist, and musician who as far back as 1908 started the struggle to expose European corruption and exploitation and freedom for Nigerians well before Lugard’s arrival in Nigeria. He formed the first Nigerian political party on June 24, 1923, known as the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP). He was popular with the Nigerian masses such that he won all the seats in the popular elections of 1923, 1928 and 1933. Subsequent nationalists like Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Raji Abdallah, Aminu Kano, and Tafawa Balewa got inspiration from Macaulay to commendably achieve independence in 1960. In 1944, Macaulay co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) together with Azikiwe and became its president. The NCNC was a patriotic organization formed to bring together Nigerians of all stripes to demand independence. According to history, in 1946 Macaulay fell ill in Kano and later died in Lagos. The leadership of the NCNC went to Azikiwe, who later became the first president of Nigeria. Azikiwe himself was born on November 16, 1904, in Zungeru, present day Niger State 10 years well before Lugard’s amalgamation in 1914. The historic fact  that Zik was born in Zungeru further indicates that there was never a distinct North or South as clinically presented by divide-and rule-colonial strategists. On the contrary, there were peoples of Nigeria who have related and settled in different parts of present day Nigeria well before   Lugard arrived and formalised what was obviously a compact and a united territory. What is worth celebrating is Nigerian independence not colonial amalgamation of a colony. America celebrates it’s independence from the British rule in 1776 not when the British formalised it’s colonisation in 1607. And if you ask me further I would have preferred we truly celebrate Nigeria last year as a 50 year old Republic. The year 1963 was when we had the first Republican independent constitution. All these conclusions remain purely academic in a country that is increasingly knowledge shy and even suffers loss of memory (history) in addition.

     

    • Aremu, mni is Vice President of Nigeria Labour Congress