The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bitter

  • Jerusalem: The world’s bitter harvest

    Jerusalem: The world’s bitter harvest

    “…And fear a calamity that may descend not only on those who caused it (but also on others who had no hands in its cause); and know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe”. Qur’an 8, Verse 25

    Preamble

    Foresight is a product of intuition. A person without intuition cannot be foresighted. And intuition is Allah’s special endowment for some rightly guided human beings.

     

    Admonition

    On Friday, January 20 2017, the day a new American President, Donald Trump, was sworn into office as successor to President Barak Obama, yours sincerely intuitively wrote an article published in this column. It was entitled “Welcoming A Trump of Sadism”. An excerpt from that article goes thus:

    “Like the hands of a clock, many democratic countries in the world swear in a new President every four or five years at the exit of an old one since that tenure of office is often renewable. Now, it is the turn of the United States of America to do that again. And the man to take charge as from today, for the next four years, all things being equal, is called Donald Trump, a man that most people including Americans, have seen as a wild bull surging into a china shop. Two weeks before the publication of that article, another article relating to the same subject had been published also by yours sincerely in this same column. It was entitled “Waiting for January 20, 2017”. In the latter article, yours sincerely cited the example of Adolf Hitler’s oath of office and his inaugural address of 1933 that culminated in history’s worst disaster called  World War II which started in 1939 and ended in 1945. The dramatic events within that period of 12 years were the dominating factors of the 20th century history. Here is the excerpt:

     

    Oath of Office

    “As from today January 20, 2017, Donald Trump’s oath of office will become the symbol of despotism for the seeming global anarchy ahead. His assumption of Office as the 46th American President, subsequent to that oath, will confirm the loss of America’s long time cherished glass house that has always been a proud heritage.

    From the look of things, a wild bull may be taking over in the world’s china shop most likely to confirm the contents of a popular 20th century Irish poem by W. B. Yeats published in 1921 by William Butler. (W. B. Yeats was the original author of “Things Fall Apart”).

    In that sadistic poem, Yeats really proved to be the drummer for certain future dragons that would dance sadistically on the surface of a tragic brook.  One of those dragons was Adolf Hitler of Austria who became the Fuhrer (the Leader) in Germany. Another is a 21st century American President named Donald Trump who the world is unlikely to watch with comfort. Incidentally, both ‘dragons’ cultivated their satanic pedigrees in Germany….”

     

    Yeats’ Poem

    “The Yeats’ poem that formed the drum to which Trump will dance with uncalculated steps starting from today is as follows:

    “Turning and turning round in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer;

    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world;

    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned;

    The best lack all convictions, while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. The Falcon in that poem is Donald Trump while the Falconer is the United States herself”.

     

    The meaning of Trump

    “The name TRUMP is a short form of trumpet, a musical instrument with which the decision of a tyrant is often announced in a local cultural setting. Ever since he was declared the winner of the American Presidential election of November 2016, this Trump has been trumpeting his tyrannical plans for the world for the world to note. And the jitters rolled out from that trumpet have started gripping the world with icy hand. That an American President elect had begun to rule before taking an oath of office is a clear indication of what the world should expect from the china shop in which a bull will start to operate as from today…..”

     

    Illegal recognition

    On December 6, 2017, almost one year after assuming office, President Donald Trump of the United States addressed a Press Conference in at the White House in Washington in which he declared the whole of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The rumour about that illegal declaration had been dustily thick in the air before now. Although President Trump gave two reasons for his illegal declaration none had a realistic genuineness. The first reason, according to him, was fulfilment of his campaign promise to the American electorate. The second was what he called the reality on ground in the disputed Jerusalem territory. The real truth of the matter is that Trump is ambitious to be an American hero. Thus his short course to realizing that ambition is to call the illegal declaration his greatest achievement in one year when he celebrates one year in office in January 2018.  It must be recalled that in the UN resolution on the status of Jerusalem to which the US is a signatory, it was agreed that to ventilate the atmosphere for permanent peace in the Middle East, a two state solution should be adopted in the controversial land whereby Israel and Palestine would co-exist as two separate states sharing one capital city as a matter of expediency. That resolution had proposed West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. But with Trump’s unilateral declaration of the whole of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last week, without any consideration for the UN resolution and the plight of the Palestinians whose home land had been forcefully occupied in 1948 by the Zionists with the aid of Britain and the US, a declaration of another World War seems to have occurred.

     

    The grand design

    The Israeli/Palestinian crisis is not new and it did not start in 1948. The design for that crisis had been placed on a clandestine table about 115 years ago.

    That grand design was first expressed in 1902 by a British Prime Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman as follows:

    “There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources.  They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate them from one another….If, per chance, these people were to be unified into one state it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never- ending wars. It could also serve as a spring board for the West to gain its coveted objects”.

     

    Follow Up

    Sir Bannerman’s observation was in further pursuit of an earlier demand by Theodor Herzl, a leader of the Zionist movement founded in 1879. Herzl, an Austrian Jewish lawyer and journalist demanded thus:

    “Let sovereignty be granted us (Jews) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest, we shall manage for ourselves…”

     

    Balfour Declaration

    In response to Theodor Herzl’s clandestine demand, another British Prime Minister, James Arthur Balfour issued a devastating declaration that now bears his name which conceded a major part of Palestine to the Zionists as a home. That (Balfour) declaration has since put the Middle East in an incessant turmoil. It read thus in part: “His majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective…. The rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country shall not be prejudiced by the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. The original thought was to secure the Present Uganda, an African country for the settlement of the Jews which would be named Israel. But the remembrance of  Kenya’s Mau Mau uprising during that country’s struggle for independence from the British colonialists changed the thought as Palestine was found more suitable as Jewish settlement because of common traits among the Jews and the Arabs.

     

    Implementation

    To facilitate that objective effectively, some other Middle East countries had to be incapacitated economically and politically by excising from them, a juicy chunk of their lands. Thus, Lebanon was excised from Syria and Kuwait from Iraq to create a passage route for the Western countries to the East. The strategy was to cause a dissention among the citizens of those Arab countries with the intention of breaking the yoke of the Muslim unity which Bannerman had targeted in his infamous observation quoted above.

     

    Occupation strategy

    When the British colonialists that had ruled Palestine for decades wanted to leave that territory, they just suddenly did so without handing over authority to anybody. The strategy was to enable the Jews who had been secretly invited to the land and militarily equipped under the British rule to take over the land by using the weapons in their possession. And that was precisely what the Jews did to gain the control of the Palestinian land in 1948.

     

    Reactions

    Shortly after Trump’s catastrophic pronouncement, prominent people around the world started to condemn it as an illegal unilateral decision that would never be implemented. Among those people were the Secretary-General of the United Nations, The Pope, The President of France, The Chancellor of Germany, the Prime Minister of Britain, the Presidents  of Turkey, Egypt, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and a host of others. The Kings of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Qatar have also condemned Trump’s reckless pronouncement and described it as outrageously rude.  Even some scores of Israeli citizens including members of Knesset (Israeli Parliament) who know the implications of Trump’s illegal decision have staged (peaceful) demonstrations in front of American Embassy in Tel Aviv to express their objection to that unilateral and disastrous decision that could subject them to unnecessary insecurity. And in the US, quite a number of prominent people including top Republican party members and Senators have described Trump’s decision on the status of Jerusalem as an embarrassing major flaw that could entail dangerous backlash for America.

     

    UN’s Emergency Meeting

    Meanwhile, as a practical demonstration of its expressed condemnation, the United Nation’s Security Council quickly called an emergency meeting to assess the implications of Trump’s unilateral decision and to deliberate on the Council’s next stage of action as well as global way forward. When the matter was put to vating, 14 out of 15 members voted against Trump’s decision.

     

    EU’s position

    On its own, the European Union as a conglomerate of major countries in Europe with common belief in matters of common interest has taken a position on the controversial issue. It will be recalled that for many years since the end of the World War II, EU has been in strong alliance with the US through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And that military alliance has strengthened their economic ties with the Us inspite the random inadequacies of the latter. But  in recent times, the relationship between the two blocs has been deteriorating at the instance of President Trump whose unbridled arrogance has become an unmanageable embarrassment to EU. Just a couple of months ago, Trump suddenly pulled the US out of the global climate change group with total disregard for appeals against such decision. Now, with the current crisis created by his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital, EU has started a tacit review of its political and economic relationship with the Cow Boy’s country called America. If that position is backed up by law, the US may shrink back into her pre-World War II Isolationism that may remove her from the position of the first role player in the world.

    This is an indication that if Americans do not act fast to checkmate this 46th US President called Donald Trump, he may become the final nemesis of the American Empire.

  • What next for PDP after bitter convention

    What next for PDP after bitter convention

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Caretaker Committee (NCC), led by Senator Makarfi, has handed the baton of leadership to Chief Uche Secondus at its national convention held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the weekend. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU highlights the challenges that will confront the new leadership.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairmanship poll has been won and lost. The party is now battling with post-convention crisis. Can its new leadership restore unity and harmony?

    Before the convention, the main opposition party was just recovering from a major leadership crisis foisted on it by the rift between its displaced chairman, Senator Alli Modu Sheriff and the governors under the opposition party’s platform. During the exercise at the Eagle Square in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the cracks widened. At the end of the national congress, the platform became more divided than it was a year ago. It was meant to be a unifying meeting. But, the PDP was further torn apart by its convention. The so-called unifying and reconciliatory convention sowed a new seed of discord. It heralded more acrimonies, bickering, intrigues, antagonism, bitterness and confusion.

    Uche Secondus, the anointed candidate of the governors, became the chairman as projected. Those who lost out said he assumed the reins in an atmosphere of strife and rancour. There was jubilation in his camp as the electoral officer declared him winner. Secondus’ supporters said the intra-party poll was peaceful during voting. The transparency was attested to by a team of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Prof. A.T Okosun. There was also no security breach. Delegates to the elective convention shunned unruly behaviour, although the directive that the venue should not be turned into a 2019 campaign ground was flouted. Throughout the exercise, there was no skirmish. To ensure a free and fair exercise, delegates on the Convention Electoral Committee were asked to step down.

    According to poll results announced by the Electoral Sub-Committee Chairman and former Benue State governor Gabriel Suswam, Secondus scored 2,000 votes of the 2,396 votes cast; Chief Raymond Dokpesi got 66, and Prof. Tunde  Adeniran 230.  Prof. Taoheed Adedoja did not get any vote.

    But, Adeniran, Dokpesi and Adedoja did not concede defeat. Their supporters alleged pre-election manipulation and impunity. They queried the distribution of what they described as the “unity list” to delegates, which made them to vote along pre-determined patterns. Although the governors had their way, fresh problems of disunity, distrust, polarisation and ruptured confidence may have been created.

    Adeniran, political scientist and former Education Minister, expressed bitterness. Rejecting the outcome of the polls, when collation was still on, his media aide, Taiwo Akeju, alleged that the process lacked credibility. It was compromised and it is travesty of democracy, he said. To save PDP from disaster, he called for a fresh election, advising that the party should be handed over to the Board of Trustees (BoT), which should conduct a fresh poll. Also, Dokpesi alleged that the exercise was marred by irregularities and malpractices.

    Former National Planning Minister Prof. Olanrewaju Sulaimon, who contested for the National Publicity Secretary, rejected the results, saying that he was excluded from the race because one of his names was omitted from the ballot box. A reporter, Kola Ologbondiyan, from Kogi State, was declared winner. Sulaimon claimed that the omission created confusion for delegates. Urging the electoral committee to cancel the polls, he forwarded a letter of protest to the panel and threatened to go to court.

    He said: “To my chagrin and utter constellation, I was informed that my name was conspicuously missing from the list of candidates vying for the post of National Publicity Secretary, which lists were pasted in booths earmarked for voting into the office of National Publicity Secretary. I therefore, pray that the august body would do the right by me by cancelling the purported election,” he said.

    Indeed, a commotion was averted at the venue when an aspirant for Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Demola Kehinde, protested the alleged distribution of what he described as “unity list” to delegates.

    “What kind of party is this? What is the list meant for? What is it meant to achieve? Look at delegates with the sheets. They are telling them to vote in a particular way,” he alleged. However, his protest was ignored by the electoral committee.

    The former National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, had anticipated the brewing tension in his opening and farewell address. The former governor of Kaduna State acknowledged the clash of divergent views and interests.

    In a breath, he said the apprehension of the aggrieved aspirants was misplaced, stressing that the convention will be transparent. Makarfi recalled that a culture of preference for litigation as against conflict resolution was costly to the party. In another dimension, he urged the incoming leadership to brace for the odds, advising winners to carry along the losers.

    The convention reinforced the supremacy of the PDP Governors’ Forum as the most potent and influential bloc in the main opposition party. The governors have become the major financiers of the party since 2015 when it was dislodged from power by the All Progressives Party (APC). He who pays the piper dictates the tune. Despite their intellectual arsenal, experience and robust ideas, all the aspirants combined could not withstand the financial war chest of governors who queued behind Secondus, the former acting chairman. There was naira and dollar war and the highest bidder got the crown.

     

    As it was in the beginning….

    Observers had predicted that the PDP may not be able to rise against its past impunity. To aggrieved aspirants, the impunity has returned in disguise. The seed of acrimony was sowed as the party prepared for the Abuja conference. At the botched Port-Harcourt convention, the party had resolved to zone the chairmanship to the Southwest. But, a year after, top leaders began to sing a different tune. Micro-zoning to the Southwest was set aside and the slot was zoned to the larger South, comprising Southwest, Southeast and Southsouth. Southwest stakeholders cried foul, saying that it smacked of inequality and justice because the region has not produced a chairman before. However, Makarfi and the BoT Chairman, Walim Jibril, insisted that micro-zoning lacked justification. Some Northern elders, especially founding chieftains, including, Col. Ahmed Ali, Prof. Jerry Gana and Senator Ibrahim Mantu, however, rooted for candidates from the Southwest.

    However, the Southwest also failed to put its house in order. The region went into the convention as a divided house. There was no rallying point and the sheep were scattered in the absence of a shepherd. Instead of producing a consensus candidate, seven aspirants from the zone threw their hats into the ring. Senator Ningi was irked by the lack of strategy by Southwest stakeholders. While receiving Chief Bode George’s nomination form, he said it was unthinkable that the younger aspirants from a race that value age, experience and the concept of Omoluabi, could not step down for their elders.

     

    Battle not yet over

    On the eve of the exercise, George pulled out in protest. Although he had traversed the six zones during the campaign, the tours ended on a sad note. He doubted the capacity of the NCC to provide a level playing ground at the convention. In particular, George had an axe to grind with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who he chided for what he described as an unguarded statement against Yoruba. He said the ticket has been auctioned, lamenting that the party has departed from the path charted by its founding fathers.  Brimming with anger, he predicted that the PDP was on the way to perdition.

    “I cannot be part of this screaming aberration. I hereby withdraw from this brazen fraud and absolutely preconceived, monetised, mercantilist convention,” said the former deputy national chairman, who shunned the convention.

    To avoid a looming disgrace, three Southwest aspirants -former Lagos State governorship candidate Jimi Agbaje, former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel, former Oyo State Governor Rashidi Ladoja and Aderemi Olusegun-also withdrew from the chairmanship race. Applauding them, the Convention Planning Committee Chairman and Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, said they stepped down “in the interest of the unity of the party.”

    It was an after-thought.  All entreaties by party chieftains to step down for a consensus candidate from their zone had fallen on deaf ears. A deputy national chairmanship aspirant, Alhaji Sarafa Ishola, a former Steel Development Minister, also opted out of the race. Apart from Ekiti, the mood of other Southwest states of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Oyo, suggested a feeling of exclusion.

     

    The place of the Southwest

    Reflecting on the plight of his zone, shortly before delegates filed out to vote, Agbaje said it was unfortunate. The convention, he said, has implications for unity, cohesion and future political permutations. “The presidential ticket has gone to the North. The chairman will come from the Southsouth. The Southeast wants to produce the vice presidential aspirant later. What will be the Southwest do? Won’t the Southwest compete with the Southeast for the presidential running mate? If the Southwest and Southeast compete for the vice presidency, which zone will win?” he asked.

    But, a PDP senator from the Southeast, disagreed, saying: “It is a sealed agreement that the vice presidency should come to us, subject to the wish of the presidential candidate.  On this, Southeast, Southsouth and North are on the same page.”

    The fate of the aspirants have been determined and sealed before the convention. While the governors dictated the tune, some concessions were given to ex-governors, ministers and some members of the NCC. At the zonal level, some candidates had emerged and they ran unopposed at the convention. Among them were: the Deputy National Legal Adviser, the National Auditor and the Treasurer.

    According to observers, PDP governors may also seize the moment during the party’s presidential primaries next year, using the same predictable strategies, including incumbency factor, team spirit, group solidarity and enormous financial resources. But, the senator said this also is debatable because “the only factor that will count then is how to win the presidential election.”

     

    Between party interest and personal ambition

    The convention was conducted on the altar of personal interest. Sources close to the dissolved NCC said Makarfi objected to the micro-zoning of the chairmanship to prevent micro-zoning of the presidency. “If the chairman was micro-zoned to the Southwest, Atiku may push for micro-zoning to the Northeast and as you know, Makarfi, who is from Northwest, has a presidential ambition,” a source said.

    Another source also gave an insight into the rejection of the Southwest aspirants. He said: “Agbaje was turned down because of his disposition to the struggle to rescue the party from Sheriff. He was the anointed candidate of the governors in Port-Harcourt. However, after the botched convention, he distanced himself from his sponsors. He never showed up in court during the battle against Sheriff. After the party was rescued from Sheriff, he showed up again. That time, there were other considerations. Politics is dynamic.”

     

    The odds against Southwest aspirants

    According to the source, George, Agbaje, Daniel, Adeniran and Adedoja were also put on the weighing scale and it was discovered that they may not be able to deliver their states during elections. It was noted that George and Agbaje have never delivered Lagos and Daniel’s relevance in Ogun had waned. Also, Adeniran was not considered as an electoral asset in Ekiti.

    “In fact, when the Northern elders insisted that Adeniran should be adopted as candidate, Fayose threatened to leave the PDP and the matter was dropped,” he added.

    A source close to Wike said he insisted on Secondus’ candidature because he considered it as a payback time. “Secondus supported Wike to be governor, despite Amaechi’s stiff opposition and despite the fact that the deputy governor who was also interested hails from Secondus’ town,” he added.

    The leadership’s burden

    Between now and the presidential nomination, many challenges will confront the party under the new leadership. The first critical task is the post-convention reconciliation, which is inevitable for the resolution of pre-convention and post-convention crises. “The Southwest is aggrieved. It should be pacified,” said Agbaje.

    Echoing him, a chieftain from Osun State, Chief Tunde Odanye, said reconciliation with the Southwest will restore its lost sense of belonging and erase a feeling of marginalisation.

    Secondus have four important issues to tackle in the Southwest. Around 3am on Saturday, Senator Buruji Kashamu from Ogun West, a loyalist of Senator Modu Sheriff, was suspended, following his resort to litigation at the expense of the party.

    Secundus will get his baptism when he leads his party next year at governorship elections in Ekiti and Oyo states. Can the PDP retain power in Ekiti? Can it build on its success in the senatorial bye election in Osun State?

    A party source said, if the Kashamu issue is not properly handled, he may play a spoiler’s role in future elections. “Kashamu is popular in his district and he has money to deploy to fight a battle,” a source, who feared that the suspended chieftain may become a willing tool in the hand of the ruling party, said.

    Reconciliation with aggrieved aspirants, especially George and Adeniran, may be difficult at the initial stage, but it is not impossible. The onus is on the chairman and the reconciliation committee to reach out to the chieftains, their associates and supporters to bury the hatchet and put the past behind them.

    However, a National Assembly member said if they chose to be passive henceforth, or leave the party, they may not be missed. “How relevant are they as leaders in their states? They are big names. But, do they have the winning formula?” he asked.

    There are litigations hanging on the neck of the Southwest zonal leadership. The factional executive committee, led by Makanjuola Ogundipe, is still at loggerheads with Eddy Olafeso’s executive committee. How to broker peace through political solution is a  challenge.

    The fourth assignment in the zone relates to the Osun PDP debacle. It is polarised into two factions, making it impossible for the troubled chapter to harmonise its delegates. The crisis affected the compilation of the list of delegates from the state. Less than 15 delegates from the state voted at the convention. As pointed out by Makarfi, the new leadership will have to attend to the unfinished business of restoring normalcy and peace to the chapter. Other polarised state chapters that require urgent reconciliation include Anambra, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Kwara and Nasarawa.

    More importantly, the PDP has to tackle the challenge of perception arising from the way it conducted its convention. A picture of acrimony painted by the exercise may be discouraging to would-be returnees, who may not want to retrace their steps to a crisis-ridden party.

    Defections also have implications. As new members arrive, there will be need for the harmonisation of party structures to accommodate their interests and ambitions. Thus, Makarfi urged Secondus and his executive committee to open the doors of the party to the returnees and ensure that they do not suffer from any disadvantage.

    Ahead of 1999 presidential election

    How will the party also handle its presidential primary without risking another post-primary crisis? No fewer than six gladiators are struggling for the ticket. They include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former NCC Chairman Makarfi, former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa, former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, former Kano State Governor Sule Lamido, and Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo.

    More aspirants may still join the fray. A section of the party is even thinking that a reputable and competent northerner from the business world who is acceptable to the North and the country can be drafted into the race, if that will make the PDP triumph over the APC in 2019 general elections.

    The governors have been accused of imposing a chairman. Will the presidential primary be hitch-free, transparent and credible? Will the same allegation trail the shadow poll?

    For PDP, hope has become the elixir of life. Its target is to bounce back to power? But, can it realise the dream? Makarfi said the NCC has laid a solid foundation for Secondus to build upon. On the podium, he looked vibrant; exuding the agility and strength of a potential presidential contender. “We have laid a good foundation for the repositioning of the PDP,” he said, advising the new leadership to consolidate on the gains.

    Acknowledging the division in the party, which has not faded, owing to the competition for party tickets in 2015, rancorous party congresses at the state level and the scramble for party offices, he said members should not close the door of dialogue. He said for conflict resolution to replace the culture of litigation in the party, party stalwarts should resolve to make sacrifices and work for harmony.

    Makarfi said the onus is on the Post-Convention Reconciliation Panel chaired by Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, to listen to the grievances of the aggrieved, ventilate them and reconcile them with the party. He also urged the new executive committee to always ensure a level playing ground for contestants in the future to avoid a situation whereby fresh problems are created while trying to resolve new existing challenges.

    The former Kaduna State governor urged the new leadership to broaden the horizon of participation in party affairs by giving room for participation in the affairs of the party to women and youths.

    He suggested the establishment of a Students Loans’ Scheme in future by the PDP government to encourage students and stem the prevalent drop out in the tertiary institution by indigent students.

    Jonathan’s wish

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan also reflected on the 2015 electoral tragedy that hit the party, saying the platform can still bounce back in 2019 poll, if it puts its house in order.

    Urging party faithful not to despair, Dr. Jonathan, who alleged that the APC was persecuting top PDP chieftains, advised them to endure the pains and resolve to forge ahead with determination. He said the winners must promote a culture of inclusiveness by carrying along those who lost at the convention.

    The former president advised the party to put its house in order, maintaining that it can only regain power as a united family.  “PDP should remain at the forefront of leadership by example. I urge members to continue to support the party. PDP has become a strong voice, a reference point as the nation moves closer to another election season. It is growing from strength to strength. Defectors are coming back. There is a reunion.

    “PDP is the only stable party that has not changed its name and identity. It continues to make promise and fulfil its promises. Those who will win the election today must carry the losers along,” he stressed.

    For Atiku, it is another home-coming. He said for PDP to survive, it must cultivate Nigerians and convince them that past mistakes will not be repeated.

    The former vice president said: “We must work to earn the trust of Nigerians. If we get power, we should use it to work for Nigerians.”

    Atiku said the poor performance of the APC will make Nigerians vote for the opposition party in 2019.

    “Under the APC, Nigeria is not working and our workers are not working. APC promised three million jobs. Under APC, Nigeria lost three million jobs. Under the PDP, Nigeria was united. Under the APC, Nigeria is disunited, more than it was during the civil war. APC promised restructuring, it has denied promising restructuring. PDP waged war against corruption; APC is waging war against the opposition,” he added.

    Atiku lamented that, despite its achievements in 16 years, PDP lost power because it made mistakes. He said: “We made mistakes, but we put our nation first. APC is blaming previous government, instead of solving problems. Let the PDP get winning again so that it can get working for Nigerians again.”

    The BoT Chairman, Jibril said the convention meant that PDP was on the move again, ready to take power in 2019.

    As if he was reading his lips, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose said: “PDP is well positioned to take over the affairs of the country. There is nothing wrong in falling; not rising again is the problem. PDP will rise again. The convention shows that PDP is well organised and ready to bounce back.”

    To the aspirants, he said: “We are voting for the PDP. In any contest, one will win, another will lose. PDP will be the ultimate winner. When PDP returns to power, a bag of rice will come down from N20, 000 to N5, 000.”

    Senate Deputy President Dr. Ike Ekweremadu said: “Our religious and traditional leaders are worried about the suffering of the people, the jobless, the victims of Boko Haram attack and youths trapped in Libya. The former president and vice president are bothered by the disunity in Nigeria.

    “I am proud of the 16 year of PDP, and what it brought; the telecommunication, justice to the Southwest through the election of Chief Obasanjo as president, justice to the minority ethnic group through the election of Dr. Jonathan, amnesty to the people in the creeks, debt forgiveness. But, today, we are in debt. It was 16 years of light. Now, it has been two years of darkness.”

    Former Special Duties Minister Kaiti Turaki said: “Today, PDP is more united and prepared to salvage Nigeria. We have learnt our lessons. We have appreciated our mistakes. Nigerians have had an opportunity to make comparison. They are now wiser.”

     

  • Adamawa: Halting the bitter cacophony

    In every contest, there is bound to be a victor and a vanquished; a winner and a loser. In principle, to jostle for a political office among a horde of aspirants, is to consent to the fact that one person is bound to triumph and the rest obligated by the rules of the game to accept defeat.

    Indeed this belief is a golden rule.  It is not exclusive to politics. Even in the prominent faiths that we adhere and believe in, magnanimity in victory and gallantry in defeat especially, is what distinguishes real sportsmen from dilettantes and desperadoes. The outcome of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election in Adamawa State has exposed some politicians to belong to the latter category of sportsmen.

    A few disgruntled politicians and their hangers-on, who lost in the race for the PDP’s ticket, have succumbed to the pull-him-down-syndrome, hacking down the winner and throwing venom at the party’s hierarchy. The tracks of the journey that culminated in the December 10 Adamawa governorship primaries are sadly being missed in the hysteria of the bitter defeat that the unsportsmanlike aspirants are finding hard to swallow.

    The outpouring of vitriol being orchestrated by a few individuals at the flag bearer of the PDP, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, is a defective strategy. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.  Playing the victim by individuals who displayed crass sense of lawlessness and undemocratic tendencies from the very day the whistle was blown can be counter-productive for people who have always believed in eating their cakes and having it. The trait they showcase today – which is akin to the character of a bull in a China shop – was the same thing that marked their actions from the very day that Ribadu decided to join the PDP.  But a political party is an assembly of like-minded people seeking the advancement of their nation, state or community. It is not a personal fiefdom.

    For a party that is known to be accommodating, some mischievous individuals in its Adamawa chapter are fighting as much as they can to keep Ribadu at arms length. The reason is not farfetched. For individuals who are so used to “business as usual”, and feed from the wreckage of Adamawa’s underdevelopment, the coming of a man of Ribadu’s inclinations will never be a comforting development.

    Enter the party primaries. The same people who are crying wolf where there is none now were the same people who kept throwing spanners in the wheels of the party, in the run-off to the primary elections in Adamawa State. The first misbehaviour was the production of a dubious delegates list which contravenes the rule of having the Congress Committee conduct the delegate congress and compile a list using the result. And, eager to push that illegality down the throat of the party and its leadership, those desperate politicians went ahead to publish that purported delegates list in what many now know to be in gross contravention of the electoral guidelines of the party.

    Moreover, when the national headquarters of the PDP sent a committee to conduct the state assembly primaries in accordance with the INEC and the party rules, the experience of the committee members became so harrowing and unbelievable because of the personalities that the committee itself blamed. It was something like an offshoot of a Nollywood blockbuster. The committee was intimidated, harassed, and even unlawfully imprisoned by top officials of their own party.

    In effect, the environment was not only uneven and dangerous for the conduct of free and fair primaries; it was the quintessence of the most heinous behaviour, so unbecoming of the status of people who have been in leadership in a state for that long. That horrendous experience of the Ambassador Tim Ihemadu-led committee has been well documented in the print and electronic media for posterity, as recounted by the committee, to the chagrin of the Adamawa people who, for mere selfish reasons have been made to look as most uncivilized, given bad name, and are now being described as backward when compared to the rest of the country all resulting from the actions of a selfish few.

    It was the nasty treatment meted out the Ihemadu Committee in an attempt to manipulate the process of coming up with the party candidates that first stoked the alarm. It was obvious, with the kidnapping of that committee during the state assembly primaries that those desperate to hijack the process were not in politics for the benefit of the people. Not only was a level playing ground denied the aspirants in Yola, but even the safety of officials that would conduct the election became ominously undermined and compromised.

    The National Working Committee of the party, therefore, tapped into its powers provided in the party’s constitution to move the primaries out of Yola. By way of answering those parroting a breach of constitutionality, it should be stated that the same constitution that directed the conduct of primaries at constituency headquarters, foresees the likelihood of special, yet unwarranted situations and therefore empowers the party hierarchy to name alternate venues of primaries, irrespective of location.

    It was for this reason that the party relocated primary elections of some 10 states to the Federal Capital Territory. Adamawa was therefore not an isolated case, as some disgruntled individuals would want the gullible and ordinary people to believe. As stated in the Electoral Act, the party duly informed aspirants and INEC, of the change of venue ahead of time. It is also why those who were crying wolf are not complaining of time, because they have been duly notified and given ample notice but angry with relocation to further their unholy mischief. The truth is that were it not for the harassment of the committee and the informed fear of loss of lives, since thugs were drawn into the business by the people who had no hope of winning, even if the ballot had been held in Yola, the result would still have reflected the truth. Thus, one can say without any iota of equivocation that those who chose to stay away from the primaries in Abuja would still have shouted foul if they had lost in Yola too. As it was to be expected, the elections in Abuja were conducted in a very orderly manner under a most transparent and peaceful atmosphere.

    In fact, it is in the cacophony of voices after their loss that the defeated politicians showcased themselves as bad losers who are prepared to drag anyone with them to the abyss of bitterness. Theirs is a case of a stubborn corpse that refuses to go peacefully.

    But thankfully, some of the desperate politicians have come out to show their selfish agenda. In the past two weeks, some three to four of such wannabe politicians have jumped to little known party platforms in a do-or-die style of realizing their dreams. But even more dangerously are the few who have chosen to half-heartedly accept the verdict of the people by remaining in the PDP, but yet have not desisted from exhibiting anti-party tendencies.

    Importantly, however, the Adamawa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders are with the party’s flag bearer Malam Nuhu Ribadu and the process that produced him. The cacophony is coming from a few disgruntled losers and their cronies. Hiding under the toga of the hapless word, “stakeholders”, they are shouting themselves hoarse in a bid to demand dubious legitimacy. Those that are not happy with the outcome of the Adamawa governorship primaries are a very few individuals who for a long time have always had things their own way. Democracy, the saying goes, is a game of numbers and the people have indeed, spoken.

    As the general election nears, it is evident that the people of Adamawa State are ready to give their votes to the candidate that will inject meaning in their lives and their state and no bitter politician can change the destiny of a people to whom fate has brought an emancipator.

     

    • Kwantangara is coordinator of Neighbour2Neighbour for Ribadu.

  • Bitter leaf can cure insomnia

    The bitter-leaf plant contains Vernodalin, Venomygdin and Saponin. Bitter leaf should always be taken fresh. Boiling or cooking reduces the potency of most herbs. The Igbo of Eastern Nigeria eat a lot of bitter leaf.

    Everybody seems to know it. It grows everywhere. Bitter leaf, vernonia amydalina, is a very homely plant.

    Wherever it grows, it flourishes. And it’s ever green. The Igbos call it Onugbu. The Yorubas call it Ewuro. The Hausas call it Shiwaka. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the plant its bitterness. Every part is bitter.

    The Igbos use the bitter leaf mostly as a vegetable, while the Yorubas use it more as a medicine. Bitter leaf is popular among the old for its bitterness. But the young of today do not like its bitterness. They would rather prefer biscuits, ice cream, chocolate and other sugary products. Their philosophy is ‘Life is sweet; therefore, food must be sweet’.

    The fact is that bitter herbs are good for the body. They remind us that life is not always sweet; that life is not ‘a bed of roses’; that both sweetness and bitterness are essential parts of life and so are not opposed. Bitter herbs help to tone the vital organs of the body, especially the liver and kidney.

    The liver is the largest organ of the body. It weighs between one to three kilogrammes in the adult. Its major functions are (a) secretion of bile and (b) formation of glycogen. The liver is essential in the metabolism of fats and protein; it must, therefore, be well taken care of.

    The kidney is another important organ in the body. The kidney is the organ that helps to expel waste materials from the body. It secretes urine that flows into the urethras. If the kidney breaks down, there will be a general disorder in the body. Bitter leaf is very useful in the care of the kidney and the liver. It is for this reason that we refer to bitter leaf as a cure-all, for if the kidney and liver are healthy the whole system will function well.

    Always remember that raw vegetables are better than cooked ones. And half cooked vegetables are better than over-cooked ones. Bitter-leaf, like other plants, is a sacred plant. Therefore, respect it and pray over the plant before you cut it. We need to cultivate an attitude of reverence for God’s creatures so that we can be in harmony with them.

    The following are some of the uses of bitter leaf.

     

    Stomach ache:

     

    Chew the tender stem of the plant like a chewing stick and swallow the bitterness. This is a well-known remedy for stomach aches. In some cases, the ache stops within a few minutes. An alternative is to pound the fresh leaves in a mortar and press out the juice. Drink three tablespoons of the undiluted juice. This brings immediate relief.

     

    Skin infection:

     

    For skin infections such as ring worm, itching, rashes and eczema, the pure, undiluted extract of bitter leaf is excellent. Simply apply it to the affected part daily.

     

    Diabetes:

     

    Diabetics should listen carefully to this good news. They do not need to despair or lose hope. God has not abandoned them. God has given them bitter leaf as a sign of God’s love and care. From time immemorial, herbalists have been using the bitter leaf plant in the treatment of diabetes. Bitter leaf not only reduces the sugar level drastically; it also helps to repair the pancreas. Squeeze 10 handfuls of the fresh leaves in 10 litres of water and take two glasses thrice daily for one month, this amounts to six glasses daily.

     

    Loss of memory:

     

    Loss of memory can be a symptom of diabetes, or a sickness on its own. Whatever its nature may be, bitter leaf is good for this ailment. Take one glass thrice daily for at least two months.

     

    Prostate cancer:

     

    Prostrate cancer is common among men who are over 40 years. Its symptom is difficult and painful urination, among others. Bitter leaf is very good for this ailment. It increases the flow of urine and reduces the pain, as well as regulates the spread of the cell. Simply squeeze the fresh leaves in water and take a glassful four times daily. Don’t be surprised if you begin to urinate very frequently when you take the bitter leaf extract. It’s part of the cleansing and healing process that your body needs.

     

    General weakness:

     

    Do you often feel weak and tired? Do you lack vitality and vigour? Then get up and take a walk into the bush. You don’t need to trek far before you find a bitter leaf plant. Squeeze the leaves in water and take a glass thrice daily. Soon you will experience a new lease of energy.

    Stroke: Bitter leaf solution calms the nerves, strengthens the muscles and cleanses the system. I have seen the marvels that bitter leaf extract has done for many people and I testify that it is good.

     

    Pneumonia:

     

    Squeeze the fresh leaves of the plant in water. Take a glass-full thrice daily. Warm the solution on fire each time before drinking. Remember, do not boil, just warm. Continue the medication for a month. You do not need to squeeze the leaves each time you want to drink it. You can squeeze a large quantity at once and add some honey.

    This will help preserve the solution.

    However, note that if you store bitter leaf extract for twenty-four hours or more, the bitterness will disappear or diminish. But the efficacy remains.

    Insomnia: Bitter leaf extract has done wonders for those suffering from sleeplessness. Simply take two glasses of bitter leaf solution every night. You will experience great calm and well being. You may add a little honey if you wish.

    Arthritis: Arthritis or rheumatism patients who have tried bitter-leaf solution as described above attest to its effectiveness. It soothes inflamed joints and eradicates the pain.