The Nation Newspaper

Tag: calamity

  • Makarfi to APC: you don’t have immunity against calamity

    A leading presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has warned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to avoid bursting the bubble that can truncate Nigeria’s democracy.

    The former Kaduna state governor condemned what he called intimidation of the opposition.

    He said: “I am cautioning APC; they should not be smiling and grinning. We must never burst this bubble. They should not be carried away by the comfort of power and think they are immune from calamity.”

    Makarfi noted that Nigeria’s survival will depend on how the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies conduct next year’s general elections.

    According to him, the conduct of the polls may mar or make the nation’s peace.

    Makarfi, who addressed reporters yesterday in Kaduna, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should conduct free and fair general elections in 2019.

    The former governor urged security agencies to be professional in their conduct.

    He scored INEC and security agencies low in their performances so far, saying their conducts could make or mar the country before, during and after the elections.

    The former Caretaker Committee Chairman of the PDP noted that this could spell doom for the nation as the action or inaction of the two agencies could threaten the nation’s peace and survival.

  • Adebanjo: Obasanjo’s presidency a calamity

    •Anyaoku, Tinubu, Ukiwe eulogise statesman at 90

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been campaigning against President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election, has been described as a failure by elder statesman Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

    In his autobiography titled Telling it as it is, which was presented in Lagos yesterday as part of activities to mark his 90th birthday, Adebanjo described Obasanjo’s presidency between 1999 and 2007as a “tragedy” and a “calamity”.

    Devoting two pages – 187 and 188 – to the Obasanjo presidency, Adebanjo wrote: “The man who carried on as if he was all-in-all failed woefully on all counts as President. His eight-year tenure (1999-2007) was a tragedy. His scorecard is nothing to write home about. What did he do in eight years? Before he came, we were buying fuel (petrol) for N20 per litre, and crude oil was $23 per barrel. In 2007, under his regime, we were buying fuel at N75 per litre, and crude oil was between $65 and $75 per barrel. In the worst days of Abacha, one dollar was over N120.”

    Adebanjo was a disciple of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He was a member the Action Group (AG) in the First Republic and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the Second Republic.

    At the beginning of this Republic, he was a member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

    He also wrote in the book that Obasanjo humiliated the late Awolowo, when the latter visited him to discuss the interest of the Yoruba when Obasanjo became the military head of state after the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976.

    Adebanjo wrote: “There are many incidents to show that Obasanjo was anti-Yoruba. He has no interest in, or sympathy for the Yoruba cause, he only has his own interest for everything he does. That is my conclusion, and I have copious evidence to prove it.”

    Adebanjo also blamed Obasanjo for the collapse of the AD by picking the late Chief Bola Ige, a member of the AD, as a minister in 1999 against the wish of the party.

    He said: “As far as I am concerned, the moment Bola Ige joined Obasanjo’s government, following his (Bola Ige) loss of AD’s presidential primaries where he polled six votes against Chief Olu Falae’s 17, marked the beginning of the end for the party. In my opinion, these are the scenarios which led to the collapse of the AD.”

    Extolling the virtues of Adebanjo, All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said he regarded him as a great leader who is committed to democracy.

    Tinubu, who strolled into the hall unexpectedly, told the audience that he was on his way to Abuja to attend his party’s meeting when he was informed that Adebanjo’s book launch was holding today (yesterday) and he decided to be there, even if it was for only two minutes.

    He described the celebrator as “a nationalist worthy of emulation. “He has been a father to all of us in politics; he is a man of principle, who is always ready to defend his position on any issue”, Tinubu said of the nonagenarian.

    He went on: “If not for his honour and integrity, I wouldn’t have been Lagos State Governor.  He stood against rigging the Alliance for Democracy (AD) governorship primary in 1999. He insisted that direct primary should hold. And when the result came, some people wanted to manipulate the result; Adebanjo stood his ground that the result of the primary should be upheld. If he had been a corrupt leader, he would have taken money and my name would have been substituted.

    “I respect you; you are a mentor to me. We can disagree. If you call me a rebel, you taught me the act of rebellion. If I go the other side, I am not a bastard, I have a good father. Please, continue on the path of integrity and honesty you are known for.

    “You can’t but praise and honour him for his principled stance on restructuring. Restructuring means true federalism; there should be opportunity for each federating unit to govern according to its blueprint; it is about management of resources. I agree with Chief Adebanjo on this. We thank God for you and want you to continue to serve humanity in good health.”

    Former Commonwealth Secretary General Chief Emeka Anyaoku described Adebanjo as one of those responsible for creating the history of Nigeria. He described him as a symbol of passion for Nigerian success.

    Anyaoku recalled that Nigeria was doing well with four regions, with each region developing at its pace. “If we are to talk about the progress we made in those days, we think of Awolowo’s achievements in the old Western Region, first in their nature: free primary education, first television service in Africa and prudent management of Western Region resources. In the Easteern Region, under Dr Azikiwe and later Dr Michael Okpara, agricultural development was significant. The North under late Ahmadu Bello was renowned for groundnuts pyramids, cotton and high quality hide and skin that were sought for by foreign countries. There was healthy competition among the regions.

    “If the military had not intervened in 1966 and remained in power for long, Nigeria could have developed.  I don’t know how a country with much diversity like Nigeria can develop without true federalism which Awolowo advocated and struggled for throughout his life. Adebanjo was his associate and has remained a true disciple of Awo’s legacies.”

    He said: “Adebanjo is very focussed. I continue to be amazed by the prowess he demonstrates at 90. I am 85 and I am looking forward to be 90 and retain the same attributes that Adebanjo has.”

    The book reviewer, Professor Wale Adebanwi, said  Adebanjo’s early embrace of political conflicts and battles and his unflagging boldness in the face of tyranny have made him one of the most formidable and consistent political fighters the country has ever known.

    Adebanwi noted: “There is a certain joy that politics brings to the author which triumphs over all the disappointments and the disabilities of the political system; there is a certain peace that his moral vision invests him with that is undisturbed by the perennial crises and political violence that he has lived through and that surround him.

    “To be able to account for this paradox, we need to read the first three chapters of this book which locate the personal and the political and then unite them in a certain embrace of the world that explains his irrepressible, stern but cheerful nature and the vigour of his ideological convictions.”

    He said the author raised the question of Chief Bola Ige’s decision to join the Obasanjo administration, which might be ranked as one of the gravest, and as it turned out , most fatal political errors ever committed by leading progressive politician in Nigeria’s history.. However, the author described Ige as “brilliant”, one of the greatest Awoists.

    Adebanjo thanked all that came to honour him on the occasion. He urged the guests to donate to his Foundation by buying the book. He said the proceeds would go to the Foundation that would keep managing his church in his country home, Isanya Ogbo near Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

    At the occasion were Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (retd), who was the chairman, former governors of Ogun State Chief Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel; former Deputy Governors of Lagos State Mr. Kofo Bucknor-Akerele and Mr. Femi Pedro; business moguls Mr Tony Elumelu and Oba Otudeko; Chief Olu Falae, Prof. Tunde Adeniran; Secretary to Ogun State Government Chief Taiwo Ade Oluwa, who represented Governor Ibikunle Amosun, his counterpart from Ondo State, Mr Ifedayo Abegunde, who stood in for Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, the wife of the Ogun State Governor,  Mrs Olufunso Amosun,  Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Alhaji Tanko Yakakasai and Chief Bakare Oluwalogbon.

    Others were Chief Kola Daisi,  Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mr. Sam Amuka Pemu, Mrs Nike Akande,  Prof. Banji Akintoye, Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, Prof.Pat Utomi, Mrs Bisola Clark, Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Mrs Omotola Oyediran, Dr. Doyin Abiola and Dr Kanyin Ajayi.

     

  • IDPs bombed in error escape fresh calamity

    IDPs bombed in error escape fresh calamity

    A fresh calamity almost hit the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp Rann, Borno State, on Thursday night, 48 hours after its accidental bombing by a Nigerian Air Force plane.

    This time, it was Boko Haram that was on the loose.

    About a hundred of its fighters, fully armed, sought to overrun the camp but were repelled by soldiers, witnesses said.

    The battle raged for about four hours, leaving 15 of the invaders dead, according to the commanding Officer of 3 Batallion of the Nigerian Army, Lt. Col. Patrick Omoke.

    Omoke, who briefed the Chief of Army Staff, who was on a working visit to the area yesterday, said one of the Boko Haram terrorists was captured alive by the troops.

    He also disclosed that the insurgents came in two hilux vehicles at about 5pm and were engaged for more than 30 minutes.

    He said that one Hilux vehicle was seized from the terrorists while they fled with another one.

    Omoke  said interrogations revealed that  the captured suspect speaks Shuwa Arab, the main language of the people of the area.

    Some of the Boko Haram terrorists  killed  were discovered to have been dressed with IEDs  to their bodies.

    Gen Buratai, while interacting with the troops, said he was in Rann for an operational visit to understand the challenges the troops were facing with a view to improving on them.

    Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) whose members have been assisting in treating the IDPs especially victims of Tuesday’s accidental bombing said yesterday that the death toll in the incident had reached 90.

    Most of the victims were women and children.

    An agency report yesterday said the Boko Haram botched  attack occurred as aid workers were trying to help bombing victims.

    “This incident happened just an hour after a (Doctors Without Borders) rescue helicopter left the town and has a traumatizing effect on everyone in Rann,” one aid worker was quoted as saying.

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Tukur Buratai, was due at Rann yesterday.

    The town is the  headquarters of Kalabalge Local Government Area.

    The Air Force has launched an investigation into the accident.

    Doctors Without Borders said yesterday that “around 90 people were killed when a Nigerian air force plane circled twice and dropped two bombs in the middle of the town of Rann,”  adding that the death toll could still rise further.

    It cited “consistent reports from residents and community leaders” that as many as 170 people were killed.

    “This figure needs to be confirmed,” it said in a statement.

     The victims of this horrifying event deserve a transparent account of what happened and the circumstances in which this attack took place,” MSF General Director Bruno Jochum said.

    Humanitarian workers were distributing food to between 20,000 and 40,000 people living in makeshift shelters at the camp when the bombing occurred.

    MSF’s Jochum said civilians were paying the price of a “merciless conflict” between the government and Boko Haram, the jihadist group that wants to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

    One aid worker, who asked not to be identified, described the incident as “horrifying” and “a huge setback to humanitarian work in the northeast”.

    ‘We can’t understand why we were targeted’

    Some of the survivors of Tuesday’s accidental bombing at Rann are still wondering why they were targeted by the Air Force jet that bombed the camp where they queued up for food.

    Abubakar Shehu, one of the victims who lay with fractured arms and legs at the Surgical Ward of ICRC in Borno Specialist Hospital could not figure out why the camp was attacked.

    “I cannot say that this was a deliberate attack on us, but I cannot still understand why this happened.

    “Whatever it is, I have accepted my fate as a Muslim.”

    Ya Kolo, a relation of one of the victims receiving treatment at the Specialist Hospital, believes that the victims should have justice and adequate compensation from the Federal Government.

    “Those who did this must pay for it. The Federal Government must see that the victims are adequately compensated,” he said.

    A woman, who identified herself simply as Aisha, was seen seated beside her three-year-old son who was affected by the air strike.

    Our correspondent observed that many children, some without their parents, were being brought into the emergency unit of the hospital while some others were stabilised in the surgical ward.

    Some of the relatives, mostly women, who sat outside the hospital ward, were not interested in speaking with the reporter.

    Four days after the attack, Sani Adamu was yet to hear from her parents who live in Rann.

    He said: “For the past four days, I have been visiting this hospital to get information about my parents, but up till this moment, I cannot determine whether they are dead or alive,” Sani said.

    Like Sani, Hamsatu Adamu and many other persons were waiting to know about their relatives who live in Rann.

    “Because we cannot travel to Kala/Balge to find out about the situation, we are always coming here to find out from the people that are brought in, to see if we can see any of our relatives or find out whether they are dead or alive,” Hamsatu informed.

  • Health sector calamity

    Health sector calamity

    • Nigeria is second in maternal mortality and first in HIV children!

    UNICEF representative in Nigeria Ms. Jim Bolken told federal legislators last week that five women die hourly at childbirth in the country. This sad news only confirmed what has been an abiding part of health care in the country.  At present, a woman’s chance of dying at childbirth is 1 in 13. With this revelation, it is clear that the country is not securely on track to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially reduction of infant mortality by two thirds and of maternal mortality by three quarters. According to the UNICEF country representative, most of these deaths are prevented in other countries, just as they are preventable in Nigeria.

    All the problems that lead to maternal mortality: poor nutrition during pregnancy, hemorrhage, infection, obstructed or prolonged labour, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, etc. are preventable through timely intervention. In the country, over 40 percent of women still do not have access to pre-natal medical care. Less than 20 percent of health facilities provide emergency obstetric care while only 35 percent of deliveries are attended by skilled birth-care professionals.

    Ms. Bolken did not mince words when she told federal legislators that over 30,000 healthcare facilities in the country remain in comatose condition. She added that maternal mortality rate remains the most significant indicator of healthcare service and warned that unless the governments at all levels and health-related agencies nationwide provide adequate fund to the health sector, the 2020 MDGs stand the risk of  not being realised.

    The news about HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country is as alarming as the revelation about maternal mortality. At the marking of this year’s World AIDS Day, the country’s public health professionals and researchers revealed another shocker about HIV/AIDS in the country: 2.9 million Nigerians are still not on treatment for their infection. New HIV infections have increased in the country to 632 daily, with 174,253 dying from the disease in 2014. About three million of the 16 million currently living with HIV across the globe live in Nigeria. While 11 million in the WHO African Region are receiving treatment, only 500,000 in Nigeria have access to retroviral drugs. According to WHO Regional Director for Africa, “the number of people acquiring HIV infection is still too high and young women and girls continue to be disproportionately at risk.”

    Just as with maternal mortality, so does Nigeria appear a disaster zone with respect to HIV/AIDS, not to talk of death of children under five. Preventable or treatable infectious diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea still account for more than 70 percent of the estimated one million under-five deaths in the country.

    Paradoxically, there is no dearth of right rhetoric among government leaders about the centrality of good health to national development. There is no better illustration of good intention on the part of governments in respect of nurturing a healthy citizenry than the National Health Act of 2014. This Act contains all the right words about health care:  achievement of Universal Health Coverage, government commitment to meet the MDGs target, improving funding of health care services at the grassroots, provision of basic health care to be funded from Federal Government Annual Grant with not less than one percent of its Consolidated Revenue Funds, etc.

    But with the dismal statistics about health care in the country, it is obvious that what is missing on the part of government is not good intentions but effective implementation of good public health policies. Any country that treats its public health with levity stands the risk of continued underdevelopment. The wisdom that health is wealth does not apply in a country that is unable to prevent its mothers from dying of preventable complications and its infants from dying of treatable infections.

    While it may be premature to blame the new Federal Government for the depressing statistics in the healthcare sector, it is proper to call on the government brought to power on the promise of change from business as usual to give urgent attention to a sector that looks ready for declaration of emergency. The lack of political will that turned Nigeria into the second country of funerals for infants and young mothers in the world has to come to an end under the new administration at all the three levels of government but with the right leadership that comes from the power of example by the Federal Government. This is the time to implement all the good policies in the books with regard to provision of universal health.

     

  • IBB: Yakowa’s, Azazi’s deaths a national calamity

    Former military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida has described Saturday’s air crash that led to the death of Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa, former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Patrick Owoeye Azazi and four others as a national calamity.

    In a personally-signed condolence message to President Goodluck Jonathan, the former Head of State said the deaths of “these patriots have left the heart of the nation bleeding, adding: “This is a big blow to all of us. These deaths are hurting and touching; conveying a nostalgic feeling each time my mind confirms the story as true.”

    Commiserating with President Jonathan, who has just buried his younger brother, Meni, Babangida lamented that the weekend helicopter crash in Bayelsa State and the attendant death of the former governor and NSA was one too many.

    Eulogising the duo, he said: “These gentlemen remained patriotic and diligent Nigerians, trying as it were to build bridges of understanding across the geopolitical divides by exhibiting and sustaining our sense of communalism and brotherliness.”

    Babangida, who said he felt a deep sense of personal loss, noted that the duo were distinguished in their callings and helped to consolidate the gains of democracy.

    According to the former military leader, “Patrick Yakowa was a complete gentleman, who was not only down to earth but also preached good neighbourliness as one of the fundamental principles of uniting a pluralist country, such as ours.”

    Gen. Azazi, the former head of State said, “was a gentleman officer, who put his all in helping to stabilise the polity through patriotic interventions and undertakings. He was frank and blunt. He was one of the finest products of a military profession that has helped to sustain the gains of democracy.”

    Gen. Babangida prayed that the departed should find favour in the sight of Allah in the hereafter, adding that He should grant their families and Nigerians the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses.