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Tag: blame

  • NDLEA to Kashamu: stop the blame game

    NDLEA to Kashamu: stop the blame game

    •Ogun APC hails agency 

    All was calm yesterday at the Lekki, Lagos home of  Senator-elect Buruji Kashamu.

    But the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agecncy (NDLEA) operatives maintained their presence, keeping vigil to ensure that the politician,  who is holed up inside his home, did not slip away.

    The House was stormed by the operatives on Saturday but the politician remained indoors, refusing to surrender himself.

    The agency is expected to approach the court today for an order or a warant to enable it effect the arrest of the politician. An extradition request has been sent to the Federal Government by the United States (U.S.).

    The U.S. claims he has a drug related case to answer, but the Ogun State senator-elect insists he is innocent.

    The NDLEA yesterday advised him to concentrate on the facts of his case rather than blaming former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Olabode George for his problem.

    Its Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Ofoyeju Mitchell, who said this yesterday, explained that the agency has so far been acting on the side of the law concerning Kashamu’s extradition.

    According to official report, Kashamu has been on the wanted list of both the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

    Kashamu was indicted in the Northern District of Illinois, United States on charges brought against him by ICE.

    According to U.S. court documents, Kashamu was accused of being the leader of a prolific heroin trafficking ring based in Chicago, Illinois. He was then known as “God”, “Daddy” and “Kasmal”.

    He is wanted to stand trial on charges of conspiracy and importation of controlled substances, namely heroin, into the U.S. dating back to 1994.

    Kashamu, who holds dual Nigerian/Beninese citizenship, has taken multiple preemptive actions to thwart U.S. extradition efforts such as making claims that he was a victim of mistaken identity, and that his deceased brother was responsible for the crimes he was being sought after in the U.S.

    He has filed injunctions at federal courts in the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. and in Nigeria to prevent his arrest and prosecution.

    “These are issues that Kashamu should prepare to address rather than point accusing fingers at eminent elder statesmen who have no connection with the ongoing investigative process. The senator, who was placed on house arrest at the weekend, is expected to appear in court in less than 24 hours.

    “We expect Kashamu as a distinguished senator-elect to demonstrate ample confidence in the Nigerian judicial system and stop the blame game,” NDLEA said.

    The Ogun State All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed moves by the NDLEA to extradite Kashamu to the U.S.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sola Lawal, the party said the NDLEA has lived up to the integrity and impartiality, which it is expected to uphold.

    The party, while distancing the people of the state from the person and character of the accused, said: “People should not mistake the person of Buruji Kashamu, who won election in the state, as what our people stand for.

    “They have always been people of dignity, integrity and transparency. The qualities inherent in Ogun State people had led to many firsts in diverse areas of endeavour.

    “The emergence of Kashamu in Ogun politics, therefore, is only a pointer to the decadence that eats up the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which produced him. No doubt, in a more civilised and politically correct socio-political environment, such an individual would not have become a candidate of a right-thinking party, how much more winning an election.”

  • Ekiti: Ifa is not to blame

    The majesty of Greek and Yoruba cultures came alive when Prof. Ola Rotimi (God bless his soul!) adapted Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (King Oedipus), a play, to the African setting in The Gods Are Not to Blame.

    The two plays show both the Greek and Yoruba traditional societies as religious, superstitious and even fatalistic. But even with the larger-than-life presence of the supernatural in these two societies, people still make their own choices — to make or ruin themselves.  So, it was with Kings Oedipus and Odewale, and their corresponding tragedies.

    The gods and choices are, of course, reminiscent of Ekiti in modern Nigeria — one of only perhaps two states, the other being Bayelsa, that is ethnically homogeneous.

    Figuratively speaking, Ifa has been kind to Ekiti!

    Four years ago, Ifa gave Ekiti Kayode Fayemi (sure, the former governor is a staunch Catholic, even boasting the baptismal name of John, but Fa suggests his name is an Ifa derivative, in Yoruba meaning “Ifa ennobles me”).

    And just last year Ifa gave Ekiti Ayodele Fayose.  No, no: it was not like the Israelites of old, pestering Jehovah to give them another king.  But from the incumbent’s crushing loss at that election, it might not be so dissimilar.

    Well, the replacement is another Fayose (literally in Yoruba, “Ifa will do it”) — though again Fayose boasts a baptismal name of Peter (can you imagine: Peter the Rock!); and at the last count, worships at the Deeper Life Christian Church, where he laid prostrate — poor lamb of God! — at the thanksgiving, just after his inauguration.

    Anyway, Ekiti made their own choice: Fayemi out, Fayose in, chikena!

    Fayemi had his weaknesses: many said he was distant and cold.  Other said he built roads but ignored the grumbling tummy.  Yet others, particularly the avant-garde and sophisticated, said he was Plato’s philosopher king, among a democratic rabble.  He rippled with ideas but left his people winded and far behind; so they couldn’t buy into his vision.

    Yet, in four years he envisioned, laboured and tried to build lasting and transformational legacies, en route to vaulting Ekiti from its pristine rural state to glorious modernity. But all that is history now — except the cold, concrete stare from his physical infrastructure!

    Then enter,  Fayose, the man of the people, though in the mould of Chinua Achebe’s fictional Chief Nanga, MP!  As Fayemi was cold, Fayose is warm. As Fayemi hugged physical infrastructure, Fayose hugs stomach infrastructure.  As Fayemi ate and drank with his books and policy wonks, Fayose eats and drinks — agbo jedi! — with his people, live in the streets!  The Ekiti masses couldn’t have had it better.

    Yet, in four months, Fayose is about undoing what Fayemi has done in four years: structured governance, executive-legislative harmony, respect for and integrity of the judiciary, and even general security and safety.  For four years, hooliganism and open opportunity violence appeared banished from Ekiti.  But just in four months now, these vices appear back with a vengeance.

    Two “donations” from Ifa; yet two diametrically opposed results!

    Still, Ifa is not to blame; Ekiti Kete made their choice.

  • Don’t blame Amalaha – Ruth Ogbeifo

    Don’t blame Amalaha – Ruth Ogbeifo

    Nigerian veteran weightlifter, Ruth Ogbeifo, has laid the blame for Chika Amalaha’s weight-loss drug use mishap at the ongoing Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on the doorsteps of Nigerian weightlifting coaches, describing them as incompetent.

    The 2000 Olympic silver and 1999 World Championships bronze medallist flew into Glasgow from London on Tuesday evening fuming in reaction to the news of Chika Amalaha’s drug case and has no kind words for her coaches.

    “I feel very sad about this development and that is why I had to rush in from London to see our weightlifters. I sympathise abjectly with Chika. She is just a young girl, very strong and promising in the sport and did not deserve to be brought into this kind of situation. I blame our coaches squarely for her predicament. As I see it, the issue is about meeting the right weight and she couldn’t have accessed drugs all on her own.

    “I understand she competed about three months ago in Mauritius and she won without drugs, so how come she used those drugs now? Even if she got them herself, it is the duty of the coaches to know whatever medications their athletes are using and to research to be sure if the drugs contain banned substances.

    “The problem is that the coaches are lazy, incompetent and do not qualify to handle national team athletes. The point is that maintaining the required weight in your class is a primary condition in weightlifting and one of the main tasks of a weightlifting coach. You have to constantly monitor your athlete to be sure of what she is taking, what she is eating, what she is drinking in other to maintain a stable weight.

    “There were times we had to stay very, very light on food for months. A regular and well supervised programme assures that, but our coaches are just doing nothing. Coaching in weightlifting goes beyond telling athletes to bend down this way or hold their arms up this or that way. It is total supervision of the athlete which obviously was absent in this case.”

    Ogbeifo is apprehensive about how the sports establishment may now relate with Amalaha from this point and advises that she should be consoled and encouraged rather than alienated.

    “My biggest fear is how they will treat this little girl. She is strong and has passion for the sport but I fear that, as is the case in Nigeria, the authorities may discard her. I plead with them to console her and encourage her. She has a bright future and what happened is entirely not her fault. It is the coaches. The authorities have to find a way to make her forget about this incident and move on with focus on realising the place of her dream in weightlifting.”

    On the future of weightlifting in Nigeria, Ogbeifo maintains that it has to start from the training of the coaches.

    “We have a huge problem there. The coaches we have are not just up to it. First of all, they lack the training and experience. Many of them have not even won any medals in weightlifting and those that may have won need to be retrained and refreshed. There is a huge difference between the coaches who handled us and how they handled us in our days, and what obtains now. Secondly, there is so much nepotism in the system.

    “There are camps in Nigerian weightlifting and the coaches have the tendency to drop the best athletes for their favoured ones. I know Nigerian weightlifters and there are times when I am alarmed to see that the best lifters have been left at home or discriminated against while average ones are called to camp and taken to competitions.

    “That is also the reason why we are now beginning to see frequent cases of drug use. The politics in weightlifting is very strong and the people outside including administrators may not know it. We need to do something about opening up the place for merit to prevail. That is the only way we can save our weightlifting.”

  • Tennis players blame hard surface for poor performance

    Tennis players blame hard surface for poor performance

    Players at the ongoing Central Bank of Nigeria Tennis Open Championships on Wednesday blamed their poor performance on bad state of the back court at the National Stadium, Lagos.

    Maku Sunday, an unseeded player in the competition, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the players were not familiar with such a court.

    He said that the players found it difficult to display their skills on the rough surface.

    “The court is in a bad shape. I just wonder why they had to use the court. I was not comfortable playing on it.

    “Although I won the game in the court in my first match of the competition, it does not mean  that I enjoyed my game,’’ he said.

    Maku said that the players needed time to adjust.

    An unseeded female player, Aminat Quadri, said that she missed more points in the game because of the rough surface and needed more time to adjust to it. `I was faced with the difficulty of the court and had to adjust to it before my opponent could take advantage of it.

    “Luckily, I won my game. It seemed that my opponent also faced the same challenge but was unable to recover in time,’’ Quadri said.

    Tyav Tyolumum, also an unseeded player, told NAN: “I lost my first game on that court. I was not pleased with the results.

    “I am not used to the ground coupled with the fact that it is not painted; the lines are not clear enough to tell whether or not you have a good ball in.’’

    An unseeded player, Rita Obasigie, said that she almost fell down because of the slippery nature of the court.

    “I am not happy that I did not qualify for the second round, although I played my best.  I did not like the court on which I played,’’ she added.

    Noah Yusuf, an unseeded male player, said it was the first time he was playing on such a court and had to complain to the referee.

    “This is the first time I am playing on this court. I felt this is one of the reasons I lost; it was not easy to put the ball in play without falling.

    “The lines are not clear; so, you are unsure whether to play close to the lines or not,’’ he said.

  • Fumes: Residents blame landlords for deaths

    Some residents of Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital, have blamed deaths caused by generator fumes on lack of available space to keep generators.

    The residents, who are mostly tenants, said landlords do not create spaces for their tenants to put their generators.

    Their comments followed the death of Victor Oluluwe, his expectant wife, Precious and his niece, Nneka, who died after inhaling generator fumes at the weekend.

    The only survivor is Sopuruchi, who is receiving treatment at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH).

    The remains of the deceased have been deposited at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH).

    A tenant, Jude Madume, said he keeps his generator close to his window because there is no other place to keep it.

    In his view, nobody should blame the couple for keeping their generator close to their living room, when there is no space to keep the generator without complains from the neighbour.

    “I heard the news of the death of a family of three. But sadly, this is not the first time we are hearing this kind of news. Landlords should be cautioned about building houses without space. As I speak to you, I keep my generator at the back of my window.”

    Another tenant, Onyema Yejieme, said from last December till date, Elekahia community has witnessed seven deaths caused by generator fumes.

    He added that most of the houses in that area have no space for generators.

    “People are dying from generator fumes. The landlords are to blame. The family which died had no space to keep the generator, which was why they chose to keep it where they kept it. I will say people should not pay for any house that has no space.”

    A landlord, Pius Amadi, said the landlord association never supports building without space.

    “Lack of land in Port Harcourt town has forced many landlords to build without plan. I don’t like the kind of building I am seeing in some places in Port Harcourt, how can a landlord build in every available space in this compound?”

  • Blame NNPC for fuel scarcity, says IPMAN

    Blame NNPC for fuel scarcity, says IPMAN

    The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of being behind the current fuel scarcity in some parts of the country.

    The Kwara state chairman of IPMAN, Ilorin Depot, Alhaji Rasheed Olopade told reporters yesterday in Ilorin that they have not been loading fuel from the depot for some time now.”

    The Kwara State Government on Tuesday ordered IPMAN to end the scarcity.

    But Alhaji Olopade said: “The NNPC should answer that. Even the loading we have been having is skeletal. When about 300 marketers want to buy and they only sell to two marketers, will that go round? We have been managing since last three weeks. We have been loading two independent marketers.

    “Before because marketers had fuel, it did not show but now that the fuel has been exhausted, the new one we are loading cannot sustain the customers.”

  • High accident rate: Govt to blame (II)

    High accident rate: Govt to blame (II)

    Hence the low functions – Performance ratio which no arm of the government seems to be interested in analysing. Hence the need for an urgent review.

    •The judiciary should be more proactive in pronouncing appropriate judgments against drivers who kill people or destroy public/private properties through avoidable errors.

    •Public and private sector organisations should be compelled to have and operate driver/safety policy, appraised and monitored regularly by appropriate agencies.

    •The Graduated Driver Licensing scheme must be thoroughly implemented without any form of bias or favouritism. A joint conference on this is needful.

    •The Highway Code has a list of errors and omissions. There are several traffic signs being used in various parts of Nigeria and in other countries which are not in the Highway Code. The Highway Code should, therefore, be updated to reflect the road traffic realities. Objective comparative analysis should be made with the Highway Codes of other countries. Many states governments use different shapes and colours for traffic signs.

    •In Britain, the Driving Standards Agency (which is the Regulatory Agency) produce and update every two years the official Theory Test, Practical Test and Hazard Perception DVD, which the driving schools use to train and prepare drivers for the processing of their Licence. No one obtains the Driver Licence without passing the rigorous Theory and Practical Tests. There is no room for shortcut no matter who you are in the United Kingdom. Candidates of compromising Driving Schools will fail the tests and be sent back for further training and studies. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) must realise their functions and be more proactive in this area. We cannot plant vegetable and be expecting to harvest orange.

    •It has become very expedient more than ever before, that the Federal Ministry of Transport in collaboration with other Federal and state government agencies should package a result-oriented national conference to enable all the stakeholders make their input towards ensuring the accomplishment of the Nigeria’s part of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020). Otherwise, in 2019, we shall be singing the song we are singing about the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). The Presidency, the Executive Arm of Government, the Legislative Arm of Government and the Judicial Arm of Government at the Federal and state levels must come together to review the state of safety on Nigeria roads and Chart the way forward.

    FRSC and the various state driver institutes should totally relinquish the training and re-training of drivers to driving schools while they set standards, regulate and monitor the driving schools. Training and re-training of drivers should have a practical content which only the driving schools can provide.

    The FRSC, the VIOs and the Police should come together to harmonise their roles for the safety of lives and valuable properties perishing on Nigeria roads every day. Income and ego must not be the motivating factors in their activities but the safety of irreparable lives and properties.

    Once again, I hereby re-iterate that the decrees or acts regulating the activities of all government agencies responsible for transportation and Road Safety must be objectively reviewed and updated to enhance safety on the roads.

    The governments and relevant government agencies should assist the driving schools with the road facilities to boost their standards for safety of lives and properties.

    There must be a standardised and uniform Theory and Practical Tests (covering the National Curriculum of Driving Schools), to be administered on all the novice (learner) drivers and those seeking the renewal of their Driver Licence with strict enforcement by the relevant agencies in collaboration with the driving schools in all states and the Federal Capital Territory (a complete replica of what obtains in the United Kingdom), driving schools have an obligation for high standards and discipline. Once driving schools are well-positioned to generate good income, they can then be tasked to maintain very high standards like their counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States. A stitch in time saves nine.

  • Wolves blame bumpy pitch for Akwa loss

    Wolves blame bumpy pitch for Akwa loss

    Warri Wolves coach Solomon Ogbeide has blamed a bumpy pitch for his team’s 0-1 loss to Akwa United in a rescheduled league tie on Wednesday.

    Former Akwa United handler Ogbeide told MTNFootball.com that the Dan Anyiam Stadium Owerri pitch never gave his side the opportunity to express themselves coupled with the fact that the heavy rains at kick-off made it more difficult to play good football.

    “We did not play good entertaining football today no thanks to the bumpy pitch which never gave my players the chance to exhibit what we are known for. All the same, I congratulate Akwa United for the win. They took their chances while we failed to take those that came our way,” stated a very bitter Ogbeide.

    He stated further that Akwa had only just won one of the three meetings scheduled for the two sides as he was sure of picking the final ticket of the Federation Cup at their expense in Bauchi soon.

    “Yes, we lost today but that is the much Akwa can go against us. I am going to take my pound of flesh in Bauchi when we play the Federation Cup and in Warri for the return leg of the league.

    “I hope to see them come out to play in Bauchi; they will be put to the sword,” he boasted.

    Akwa United had to rely on the quick reaction of Emmanuel Ariwa on 82 minutes to secure all three points from this highly controversial encounter after both sides had missed glaring chances.

    Warri Wolves strikers Musa Najere and Oghenekaro Etebo were a handful for the back line of the hosts, who stood their ground while Mfon Udoh, Ezekiel Mbah, Emmanuel Enize and Ini Akpan were the tormentors –in-chief for the coach Justin Tenger-led side.

    The majority of possession in the first half belonged to the visitors, while the tide changed completely in the second period as Akwa United threw all they had at the visiting Wolves, who had goalkeeper Okiemute Odah to thank for some superlative saves.

     

  • ‘Blame Jonathan for Rivers crisis’

    ‘Blame Jonathan for Rivers crisis’

    All Progressives Congress (APC) Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed spoke with reporter in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area, Kwara State on the crisis in Rivers State. Correspondent Adekunle Jimoh reports.

    Rivers State has been embroiled in political crisis.

    What is your take on the development?

    What is happening in Rivers State should not be seen as a local matter. Even in a war, war starts on a very insignificant misunderstanding. But what is happening in Rivers State is worrisome in many respects because, it is clearly not manufactured in Rivers. It is manufactured in Abuja. It is a proxy war between the President on one hand and the Governor of Rivers on the other. And it has much to do with the perceived impression of the President that Ameachi would be a stumbling block not just to the party PDP, but his own ambition to run for a second term.

    Now, what is the genesis of the Rivers State problem? It started with the perceived role of Governor Ameachi in his position as chairman of the Governors Forum as being too confrontational. And that he is behaving as a unionist. But Amaechi’s defence was that he was speaking on behalf of his colleagues as governors. Issues such as the Sovereign Wealth Fund or the excess crude account or issue that border on federalism, Amaechi became the mouthpiece of the governors to advance their position against what they saw as the overbearing influence of the centre. But the presidency and the PDP saw that as being confrontational. That was what earned him a bad name in their book.

    The unending internal crisis in PDP, which has pitched the governors against the chairman of the party, is again, a sore point in the presidency. The governors as a block were unhappy when former governor Oyinlola was removed as the secretary of the PDP; they were unhappy also with the treatment Adamawa State Governor Muritala was getting. So they asked Amaechi to speak out their minds, which he did, that again, was counted against him.

    The disputed oil wells between Bayelsa and Rivers states, when Amaechi suddenly discovered that the funds accruing from this disputed wells, which was put in suspense account, had now been credited to the Bayelsa State government. Of course, he naturally got upset and he led the delegation of the elite in the state to go and complain to the President. Again, that didn’t endear him to the President. Overall, there is the issue of no love lost between Amaechi and the President’s wife, who also happens to be from Rivers state. On many occasions, there have been reports of his being snubbed by the first Lady. Matters came to a head during the Governors Forum elections. The presidency was very unhappy and uncomfortable and mounted a campaign against Amaechi’s second coming. Despite the fact that the PDP has a controlling majority number of 23 governors, when elections were held, Amaechi came tops and the President did not behave statesmanly.

    If the President had immediately issued a letter of congratulations to Amaechi, that would have probably given the image of a statesman, but he went the other way by recognising the Jang’s faction. That means he does not believe in majority rule, he does not believe in the rule of law.

    I think the humiliation that the President suffered from the Governors Forum that is now spiraling into what is happening in Rivers.

    How would you react to the role of the police in the crisis?

    We must be honest, the role the Police have played in this matter is condemnable. When you have a police commissioner that says the problem in my state is the governor, then you know that he must have had some assurances from somewhere else. So, when we in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), said put all the problems on the doorsteps on the President, this is what we were saying.

    There is no way the President can wash his hands off this matter. Unfortunately, Nigerians like compromises. Until the truth is told, that the President is behind the entire problem in Rivers, so long shall we have bitter crisis, not only in Rivers but elsewhere. What it translates to is that it does not matter whether you are 27 or 30 if you have just two or three who have the backing of the President and the police, they can make the state ungovernable for you.

    Is it true that IBB, Atiku and others are jostling to become BOT chair of the APC?

    The Nigerian rumour mill is the most active in the world. And it amuses me, when some stories make page one of headlines of newspapers. A party which is yet to be given its certificate of registration; a party which is yet to have permanent offices; a party yet to have its convention at which ward, local and state officials would be elected; a party that has not even got the guidelines for primaries election within and outside the party, how can that party, all of a sudden, now start talking about Board of Trustees (BoT). I think the alleged jostling by General Ibrahim Babangida, Abubakar Atiku and others for the BoT chair of the APC is a figment of the rumour peddlers’ imagination. The people you have mentioned so far, am not aware that they have indicated interest to join the APC. So, where will the issue of fighting for the chairmanship of the BoT come from?

    Do you think the registration of the APC is being delayed?

    In the history of Nigerian politics, there has never been a merger. This is he first time some political parties are merging. What we had before were alliances and cooperation. The implications of a merger are huge. The day your certificate is issued, names of all the merging parties would cease to exist. We have met all the requirements.

    How do you see the APC vis-a-vis 2015 general elections?

    The 2015 elections will not be about one party replacing the other or about one president being refundamental because it will be about how do we avert imminent civil war again. That is why the leaders of APC must be able to make the ultimate sacrifice to rescue Nigeria. In Nigeria today, there is a low burning war. The entire North-east is like it is not part of Nigeria. The insecurity in the Northwest is palpable. The ACN has restrained itself from making further comments on the Boko Haram insurgency because of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others’ mischief. They are quick to label us as an Islamist party. That is completely untrue. But as long as we are unable to address the root causes of Boko Haram, for so long will the solution elude us. We are not saying that there might not be religious overtones in the issue of Boko Haram, but bad governance, corruption and hardship has created a fertile market for Boko Haram.

  • Blame Jonathan if Rivers governor is killed, says Soyinka

    Blame Jonathan if Rivers governor is killed, says Soyinka

    President Goodluck Jonathan will be vicariously liable if Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi is killed, Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka warned yesterday.

    He said despite the Presidency’s denial that Jonathan is not behind the protracted trouble in the state, the President’s handwriting is on the wall.

    “The perception out there in the world is that he (Jonathan) bears a vicarious liability with what is happening in Rivers State,” Soyinka said.

    Soyinka and activist-lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) jointly addressed a news conference in Lagos on the state of the nation, particularly the political crisis in Rivers.

    Soyinka said he had first hand information from his colleague who was in Rivers State Governor’s Lodge when a tear gas was thrown into the premises.

    “My colleague was with the governor during what amounted to a siege. Anyone who said teargas was not thrown into the premises is either ignorant or is lying,” he said.

    The dramatist accused First Lady Patience Jonathan, whose office he called an “unconstitutional appendage”, of contributing to the crisis.

    He said Mrs Jonathan “cannot be a First Lady without first learning to be a lady.”

    “She is getting away with murder because she has the backing of her husband,” Soyinka said.

    He urged President Jonathan to call his wife to order, saying: “Please curb the excesses of your wife. Too much is too much. The vulgarity has become intolerable. We have now reached the bottom of obscenity and it’s got to stop.”

    Describing the five lawmakers who claimed to have “impeached” the Speaker as “the five fingers of the controlling hand”, Soyinka said democracy in the state had been threatened.

    “We’re sitting down here, pretending nothing is happening. The democratic ground on which we are supposed to stand is being eroded,” the playwright said.

    He added that if not the President, then there must be those around him who want Amaechi out by all means.

    The poet chided Rivers Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, describing him as “a political policeman in Rivers State”.

    He said the governor had rejected the police chief, yet the powers that be have refused to remove him.

    “Are we waiting for a smoke bomb to be thrown into the Governor’s Lodge before we take action?” Soyinka asked.

    Either that, or there could be an “accidental discharge” similar to the case of the “Unknown Soldier” only that in Amaechi’s case, it will be “the Unknown Policeman”, said Soyinka.

    He compared Amaechi’s situation to that of the 12th Century Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, whose life was extinguished by a sword’s crushing blow on a cold December evening at the King’s instance as he struggled on the steps of his altar.

    Becket’s troubles with King Henry II, Soyinka recalled, reached its peak when the Archbishop excommunicated the Bishops of London and Salisbury for their support of the king.

    Becket, he said, remained steadfast in his refusal to absolve the bishops.

    According to Soyinka, the news threw King Henry into a rage in which he was purported to have shouted: “What sluggards, what cowards have I brought up in my court, who care nothing for their allegiance to their lord. Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest!”

    The consequence was that the king’s outrage inspired four knights to sail to England to rid the realm of the annoying prelate.

    Becket fled to the Cathedral where a service was in progress. The knights found him at the altar, drew their swords and began hacking at their victim, finally splitting his skull to pieces.

    “Are we not moving towards absolute monarchism?” Soyinka said.

    He said the signals emanating from the Presidency bother on impunity, conveying to “followers” that they too can act with equal impunity.

    First, he said the Federal Government took away Amaechi’s aircraft in dubious circumstances, making it imposing for a “duke” of the kingdom to be with a “carriage.”

    According to Soyinka, Nigerians are being treated to the same kind of experiences under the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration where governors were illegally removed from office.

    “It’s insulting; it’s condescending. I feel, as a citizen, personally insulted. So I wonder what we have done to deserve this level of governmental banality. What is happening in Rivers is only a variation of our old familiar theme,” Soyinka said.

    According to him, the Presidency ought to be more concerned about the worsening situation of insecurity, the latest of which manifested in the “butchering of our children in school”.

    “We should be bothered about the wastage of our future, and the closure of schools. It is a defeat for schools to be closed,” Soyinka said.

    He explained that his condemnation of the brigandage in Rivers State does not mean he is calling for a mass protest akin to those of the Arab world.

    “We haven’t reached that moment where anyone is calling the citizens to action,” he said, adding: “We all have a duty, including the media.”

    For instance, Soyinka said it was wrong to refer the so-called new “Speaker” in media reports as if he is legitimate.

    “Stop treating this clown as an equal of the elected Speaker, though you can quote him. You can describe him as ‘self-declared’ speaker.

    “Help the public to put everything in the right perspective. Preparation of the mind of the public is critical. Don’t call them by a title which they have not earned properly.”

    Falana said it was shameful that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated a man unconstitutionally elected by five lawmakers as their new leader.

    “Those who set the engine of illegality in Rivers State are currently outside the country. It follows the same pattern,” Falana said.

    According to him, he will not be surprised if the Presidency soon hosts “the new speaker” just as President “received a man who scored 16 votes and grounded the plane of a man who scored 19 votes”.

    “Just this morning (yesterday) the Minister of Finance issued a statement from abroad that she was not responsible for the darkness in the country.

    “Why hasn’t the President issued a directive as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for the security forces to restore order in Rivers State?

    “We are calling on the Inspector-General of Police to begin enforcing the Police Code of Conduct fully and by removing the Rivers Commissioner of Police Joseph Mbu without further delay.

    “He has treated the court of law and the Code of Conduct of the Police with contempt. He should be sanctioned by the Police Service Commission,” Falana said.