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  • Comment on Obasanjo harsh, says PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday took on All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over his comments on former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    It said the former Lagos State governor was took harsh on the former leader.

    In a statement by its spokesman Kola Ologbodiyan, the PDP said the attack was because of Obasanjo’s allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari plans to manipulate the forthcoming elections.

    The statement reads: “However, PDP states in unequivocal terms that President Obasanjo, contrary to Tinubu’s claims, did not at any time, assure our party that he holds sway throughout the Southwest and as such will deliver Osun State to the PDP.

    “It is also important to state that the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, did not also claim to have rigged election in the Southwest.”

    The opposition party said it will be difficult for the APC leader to deny ever being close to its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

    Atiku, who defected from the PDP, contested the 2007 presidential election on the defunct Action Congress (AC) platform. The party was sustained until it metamorphosed into the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    The PDP went on: “Moreover, it is an established fact that Obasanjo remains a statesman and a global figure who always speak the truth to power and put the interest of our nation above all.

    It is on record that President Obasanjo and PDP genuinely fought corruption in this country. With the establishment of ICPC, EFCC, SFIU in the police as well as the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to investigate economic crimes and corruption activities as well as trial of Nigerians believed to have committed wrongdoings.”

  • Buhari’s Ghadaffi comment: Presidency hits back at critics

    THE Presidency said yesterday that the criticism trailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent comment on the killings by herdsmen is aimed at demeaning, de-marketing and demonising him ahead of next year’s election.

    Buhari, while meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in London on Wednesday, had spoken on the likely impact of gunmen trained by former Libyan leader, Muammar Ghadaffi, on the killings by herdsmen in Nigeria.

    Some critics took that to mean that the President said Ghadaffi armed the herdsmen who have been on the rampage in the country.

    Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, declared yesterday that such critics “have virtually flown off the handle, ululating as if wailing was going out of fashion.”

    Adesina, writing on his Facebook wall, said: “They twisted the meaning of Mr. President’s words (yes, some people twist everything, even the words of God; 2 Peter:3, 15,16). They claimed he was blaming Ghadaffi, long dead, for the killings in Nigeria.

    “But let’s see the vacuousness and intellectual laziness in the twist they have given what President Buhari said, out of sheer malice and evil hearts. Sadly, even a Senator was involved in the sickening display of poisonous heart. That’s what you get when small minds get into high places.”

    “Here’s what Mr President told Archbishop Justin Welby: ‘The problem is even older than us. It has always been there but now made worse by the influx of armed gunmen from the Sahel region into different parts of the West African sub-region. These gunmen were trained and armed by Muammar Ghadaffi of Libya. When he was killed, the gunmen escaped with their arms.

    ‘We encountered some of them fighting with Boko Haram. Herdsmen that we used to know carried only sticks and maybe a cutlass to clear the way, but these ones now carry sophisticated weapons. The problem is not religious, but sociological and economic. But we are working on solutions. The problem is even older than us,’ said President Buhari.

    “If anybody is not challenged with a simple understanding of English language, does this mean pre-Ghadaffi? The former Libyan leader was born in 1942, and killed in October 2011, making him 69 years old at the time of his death.

    “So, did he cause clashes between farmers and herdsmen, which the President said was older than most living Nigerians? Only rabidly mischievous minds can conceive such.

    “It has always been there, but now made worse…’If you say something has been exacerbated by a factor, does it mean such factor is the cause? Simply illogical.

    “The President talked about the influx of militia trained, armed and used by Gaddafi, who now dispersed into different countries, including possibly Nigeria, after the Libyan strongman’s death.

    “Are some people claiming ignorance of such development, despite it being global knowledge? So deep must be the ignorance of such people. Simple research will show them the Libyan influence on proliferation of small arms all over Africa, after Gaddafi’s death.

    “The President then talked about the herdsmen we used to know, who carried just sticks, and at worst a cutlass, saying those armed with sophisticated weapons were unknown to this clime. Is that not true?

    “If herdsmen have suddenly turned murderous in a country, it calls for all sorts of interrogation, including intellectual, as to what may have gone wrong. The causes could be multifarious. And solutions must be jointly proffered.

    “A President has sensitive security reports available to him. President Buhari gave another vista from which the herdsmen/farmers clashes could be considered, but rather than be reflective and do critical interrogation, the wailers engaged in their pastime: they began to wail, including senators and people who should naturally be level-headed and examine issues dispassionately. Very sorry.

    “But we are working on solutions, President Buhari told the cleric. They ignored that. It holds no meaning for them. They are interested in problems, not solutions. Problems serve their pernicious interests more. Pity!

    “That is what hatred does to the heart. It stunts the mind and poisons the soul. Such heart plays petty partisan and divisive politics with every matter. It is what President Buhari at that meeting called ‘irresponsible politics’. And as we head for general elections next year, much more of it would be seen, except such people reform, and put on their thinking caps.

    “The tendency now is to twist and slant every word from President Buhari in the negative, all in a bid to demean, de-market, and demonise him, and make him unattractive to the electorate. But those who do it are to be pitied. Sensible Nigerians know what the President is doing for the country, and would queue behind him at the polls next year. At the end of it all, the detractors would be holding the short ends of the stick and looking small, forlorn and disconsolate. Where would they then hide their faces?”

    Senator Eyinaya Abaribe had sparked an uproar in the Senate on Thursday when he called President Buhari incompetent for ‘blaming’ the incessant attacks in parts of the country by herders on militias trained by Ghadaffi.

    Senators elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) vehemently protested the statement, shouting ‘point of order’.

  • President Buhari’s comment on Yoruba worldview

    President Buhari’s comment on Yoruba worldview

    A simple illustration is the solidarity found in multi-religious Yoruba families between husband and wife during Ramadan and Lent. 

    As the electioneering season approaches politicians must avoid exploiting ethnicity and religion by linking ethnicity with religion and religion with politics. Such must be avoided at all costs if we are to live in harmony. In this respect the rest of Nigeria could learn from the South Western States who have successfully internalised religion, ethnicity and politics—President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Year Speech.

    I had forgotten about the president’s New Year speech after doing a Sunday piece on the president’s separation of process from structure. Since many of my regular readers have insisted that I comment on the president’s short lesson in Yoruba sociology, well captured in the epigraph overleaf, I succumb today to the pressure to comment on the President’s short but full-bodied comment on the Yoruba Character.

    Any attempt by our leaders to understand the cultural differences that make our polity and society diverse ought to be encouraged. The difference between Nnamdi Azikiwe’s famous statement, “Let us forget our differences” and Ahmadu Bello’s “Let us understand our differences” seems to be paying off half a century after the two founding fathers make the famous comments and almost twenty years after the departure of military rule. Appreciating the culture of the other, such as President Buhari did in his 2018 New Year message, is one of the gains that can add value to the development of a multi-ethnic and multicultural Nigeria, just as borrowing models from global best practices does to individual countries in the context of globalisation.

    But my focus is not to comment on the extent of the president’s sincerity in what looks like an acknowledgement of the most cited value of the Yoruba: openness to diversity. I have no reason not to believe that the president was sincere when he made such comment voluntarily. Many of his critics have not accused him of insincerity or grandstanding for this comment. I believe President Buhari means what he said in his New Year Speech about Yoruba culture, especially his emphasis on the value of tolerance of cultural and religious plurality as a necessary condition for peace, stability, and harmony in a multiethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria. What the president could not have included in his short speech is reference to cost and benefit of making the entire country adopt a value referred to by the president as ‘successful internalisation of religion, ethnicity and politics.’

    To break down President Buhari’s concept of “internalising religion, ethnicity, and politics” in simpler terms, this statement underscores the centrality of tolerance of difference or diversity in the three major realms of self and group definition or identity: religion, ethnicity, and politics. It must have taken the Yoruba many years of experiment and experience to come to accept that what matters most for interaction with others is readiness to respect the humanity of such people and see them as agents of history rather than pawns, regardless of how they differ from each other in the God they worship or the way they worship God or which political party they identify with. The imperative to respect the humanity of the other more than an individual’s way of expressing his or her humanity forms a major part of socialisation among the Yoruba, even though this is prone to challenges from day to day. But President Buhari’s observation is largely correct, despite new challenges to socialisation of young ones in the Yoruba region of the country. One of such challenges is failure to ensure that children are competent linguistic members of their culture.

    Largely, tolerance of plurality of perspective as a foundational principle of managing differences and grievances exists in many other Nigerian cultures, but it seems to be most noticeable among the Yoruba. For example, it is normal for spouses in a Yoruba multi-religious family to allow each other to belong to whatever religion each has grown up with or prefers to identify with. A simple illustration is the solidarity found in multi-religious Yoruba families between husband and wife during Ramadan and Lent. Similarly, political ideologies are generally not allowed to separate families. This came to national attention in 1979 when two brothers in Lagos belonged to two starkly different political parties: UPN and NPN without any trace of bitterness. Some pundits not familiar with the nuances of this culture cried foul and called such behaviour the height of opportunism. It was not opportunism but tolerance of plurality.

    Is the President right to call for adoption of this value by other cultural groups in Nigeria? He is. The only surprise is that the country’s political leaders had avoided this cultural model in the construction of the country’s laws and institutions for the long period of military rule and feudalisation of governance  for which military dictators are known all over the world.  The danger not recognized by Buhari’s short reference to Yoruba culture is that the military or feudal mode of governance is fast becoming attractive to many politicians across political parties and cultural zones today, largely because such model had existed for long enough for many politicians not to see it as normative.

    President Buhari’s recommendation of Yoruba tolerance for diversity in major areas of human experience certainly requires a Cost and Benefit analysis. For individuals to adopt “internalisation of religion, ethnicity and politics,” it will require readiness on the part of individuals to accept the need to reduce the size of their power or control over others that they ought to accept as fellow agents rather than subjects or subordinates in the journey of life. Put more simply, individuals need to live as if others are their partners rather than vassals as they are generally seen to be in feudal political systems. If borrowing a model of religious and ethnic tolerance is to take the route of socialisation of individuals, it may take centuries for the polity and society to develop the respect for plurality of perspective that a multi-cultural state requires to function in harmony.

    It is, therefore, necessary to adopt an institutional approach that can influence individuals to move away from almost half a century of feudalisation of  political process and homogenisation of perspective that had been in vogue on and off in the country since 1966.  It is important for President Buhari to recognise that the energy being put by Yoruba individuals and organisations into demand for re-federalisation of the country results from the Yoruba tolerance of difference, rather than from an attempt to water down what other groups perceive as advantages of history— from colonialism to decades of military rule.

    President Buhari’s apprehension of the good side of Yoruba political and religious laissez-faire political system is part of a worldview that can strengthen the federalist spirit which President Buhari promised during his 2015 campaign. The thrust of the 1999 Constitution is anti-federal and derives from a worldview hobbled by too much centralisation that suits military rule. He does not need to be second guessed for citing aspects of Yoruba worldview as foundation for peace and harmony in a multicultural society. He ought to be congratulated for seeing the way out of the morass into which the country has been pushed since the rise of unitary governance model for a country that requires a federal system that can sustain peace and progress for all.

    • Roposek@msn.com
  • Lalong ‘sorry’ for Benue comment

    Lalong ‘sorry’ for Benue comment

    Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong,  has tendered his unreserved apologies to the people of Benue State and Nigerians over the comments he made following the murder of 73 people by herdsmen in Benue State.

    Lalong had told newsmen that he warned Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom  against passing the anti-grazing law which was believed to have caused the deadly killings by the herdsmen.

    The governor’s statement was widely criticised as highly insensitive and suggestive of justifying the killings and grave injuries inflicted on the villagers by the unidentified herdsmen.

    However,  Lalong, at the weekend in Abuja,  told newsmen that his comments would not in any way help in the resolution of the crisis.

    While expressing his belief in the sanctity of human lives,  the governor said Plateau State has a strong affinity with all states in the Middle Belt especially Benue which was carved out of Plateau State, noting that his initial comments were misconstrued and misinterpreted.

    He said: “I am here to comment on my statement concerning the lingering issue. That is my comment after the presidential visit in respect of the crisis in Benue State.

    “Once again, let me use this opportunity extend my deepest sympathies and extend our condolences to the people of Benue State over this great loss. My prayer is that God will continue to give them and every Nigerian the fortitude to bear the loss.

    “I must say that I humbly apologise for my comments because I have seen that it was really misconceived and misinterpreted. That generated a lot of social media written here and there about the issue. I apologise for that because neither the argument for or against helps the matter because it involves lives.

    “I have great respect for the sanctity of human lives and the unity of the Middle Belt. I would not say Plateau is fighting Benue State at all. We are brothers and sisters. Benue was created out of Plateau. Nasarawa was created out of Pleteau.

    “We still remain brothers and sisters. So I extend my prayers to all of them and I pray that God Almighty will give them the fortitude to bear the loss and grant the souls of the departed eternal rest.

    “This is to tell those who are for and against that there is need, especially at this time when lives are involved, for all of us to join hands to ensure that we work towards the resolution of the matter and helping in ensuring peace not only in Benue, but in Nigeria.”

  • The NLC President’s New Year Message: A Brief Comment

    It is instructive to read the New Year message of the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), side by side with President Buhari’s own message, as I did. Still talking of change, of infrastructural projects and economic and social programs that would benefit the masses in the future, Buhari’s speech seemed very much like a manifesto for a forthcoming election than a report of demonstrable accomplishments, though of course, a few of such “accomplishments” were highlighted in the President’s speech.

    In contrast, Comrade Ayuba Wabba’s, message was graphic in detailing the reversals and hardships that Nigerian workers in particular and the masses in general continue to needlessly endure under the APC administration. One item that stood out: 4 million jobs lost in 2017 as against the 3 million new jobs promised by the government. This implies an employment deficit of 7 million job losses if we factor in what the administration had promised. And also this: months and months of unpaid wages and salaries all over the country.

    One can be forgiven for thinking of Comrade Wabba’s message as a counter-manifesto to Buhari’s speech. A luta!

  • Oshiomhole criticises PDP’s comment on hospital

    Oshiomhole criticises PDP’s comment on hospital

    Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has described as untrue comments by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he deceived President Mohammadu Buhari to inaugurate the new five-star Central Hospital Complex by borrowing equipment to instal in the hospital.

    Oshiomhole said the comments of the PDP was the cry of a people still licking their wounds from the Supreme Court defeat.

    Oshiomhole told reporters  his administration paid 75 per cent of the total value of state-of-the-art equipment ordered.

    He said figures churned out by the PDP as cost of the hospital did not make sense ‘even to a fool’.

    Oshiomhole noted that the contractor got caught in the foreign exchange crisis and could not get enough forex to order for the equipment.

    His words: “First, it is good news for them to agree that a new hospital has been built because in some other statements they had said there was no new hospital. I have seen PDP turn out numbers that did not make sense even to a fool as regards amount of the project.  The only point that I think is worth commenting is when I read somewhere that we hired or borrowed equipment to bring to the hospital for the President to inaugurate.

    “Again, it shows how empty-headed PDP leadership in Edo State and their spokesperson are. If you borrowed equipment from someone, how come the lender has not come to recover his equipment. And those equipment are still there.

    “As you can see even from the one that has been delivered and installed. But the contractor which is not a one-man business, Verment, they are not one local contractor that PDP can go and sublet contract to.”

  • Reps blow hot over Acting President’s comment

    Reps blow hot over Acting President’s comment

    Speaker Yakubu Dogara said the powers of the three arms of government were clearly spelt out in the constitution.

    “From the very pedestrian interpretation of the functions of the three arms of government, one makes laws, the other executes the laws, the other interprets the law. So, a declaration as to which of the arms has the power and rights, in as much as it is related to the interpretation of the law, is the function of the judiciary and not of the executive.

    “I don’t even want to believe that the acting president made that statement; I don’t want to believe that, sincerely speaking. Because when it comes to the issue of the budget, I think we better say this thing and make it very clear, so that our people will have a better understanding. When it comes to the budget, the power of the purse in a presidential system of government rests in the parliament.”

    Accusing the Acting President of breaching his priviledge by his comments, Hon. Abubakar Lawal said the Constitution and the House Rules were clear on the procedure for passing the budget. “For someone to come out and say that we have no power, it’s a breach of our privilege,” he said.

    Cheered on by his colleagues, Dogara, added: “The reason why the Constitution designers made it that way is because the executive is just one man, it is just the president. Every other person in the executive is acting on behalf of the president, so the relationship between the president and every other person there is that of  servant and the master.

    “It is only in the parliament where we have representatives of the people that there is equality and you can say your mind on any issue, you can bring matters of priority the way you like.  The only time you can be cautioned is when you go outside the rules of debate but in the executive, it is not the case.

    “Of recent, especially in this part of the world, people exercise executive functions on behalf of the president  and want to be like experts in emotional  intelligence. Even when the president has not said anything, people are trying to understand what the body language says so that they can tailor their arguments to suit the body language of the President, otherwise that might give them a sack.

    “So, the entire architecture of presidential democracy is that it should run on the basis of consensus and convention between the parliament and the executive, and when there is disagreement between the executive and the parliament, the framers of the Constitution were smart enough to say look, our hope is in the representatives of the people and not in the executive, so the parliament can even go along.

    “In the case of the budget, for instance, if it were the case that parliament disagrees with the executive on the budget, the worst the executive can do is to say they will not sign and after 30 days, if we can muster two-thirds, and it doesn’t have to be two-thirds of the entire membership, once the quorum is formed, two-third of the members sitting and voting, we can override the veto of the President and pass it into law.

    “The only other option open to the executive is to say because we didn’t assent to this, this is the budget of the parliament, so we will not implement. But the point is that all of them, including us, are under an oath to faithfully execute the laws of this land. Then the question that will follow is if this is a law of the land and the answer is yes.

    As men of honour, whether legislators or executive, we are bound by  the oath of office to faithfully execute that law.

    “In the case of the executive, if it is not done, all of us know the very consequences. I don’t want to call it by its name, we know the consequences. So in this kind of government, the winner is obvious.  So I don’t think we should bother ourselves belabouring this issue.

    “We all know where these powers are and under our watch, there is no way this House will be a rubberstamp of any executive .

    Dogara said budgets are priorities of the government, but that as representatives of the people they can discern which are the priorities of the people as opposed to the priorities of the government.

    “We can say even though these are priorities of the government, based on our job of representation, these are not the priorities of the people and we can refuse to fund them.”

  • Yari denies comment on meningitis as Emir, others kick

    Yari denies comment on meningitis as Emir, others kick

    Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari has denied saying that God is punishing Nigerians with Meningitis outbreak.

    The governor was on Tuesday quoted as saying the outbreak of Type C Cerebrospinal Meningitis in some parts of the country was God’s way of showing his anger against Nigerians for turning their back on Him.

    He reportedly made the remark while speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammdu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Though Yari yesterday explained that he did not say “God is punishing Nigerians with the outbreak”, Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi described the governor as part of conservative northern leaders, who discouraged attitudes and activities that would have developed the region.

    The Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also criticised the governor.

    Minister of State for Health Osagie Ehanire disagreed with the claims that those who died and the living patients of meningitis are sinners.

    But Yari, who made clarifications on the comment through his Special Adviser on Media and Public Enlightenment, Mr. Ibrahim Magaji Dosara, said he never said Meningitis was a divine punishment from God for fornication.

    He said he only lamented the paucity of appropriate vaccines to confront the outbreak of meningitis in his state.

    The governor said he merely asked Nigerians to move closer to God and plead for His mercy to avert further infectious diseases and other health crisis in the state and Nigeria.

    The statement said: “No doubt, as a God-fearing man and a Muslim, the governor believes in the powers of Allah to inflict whatever punishment He decides on the human race. However, the governor who spoke in Hausa had a particular audience in mind when he spoke to the BBC Hausa reporter.

    “The governor added, for example, that fornication “should not spread so much in society, that it becomes common place and if that happens, Allah promises to inflict, on its perpetrators (people) a sickness that would have no cure.”

    “Let it be known too that the governor still insists that all diseases come from Allah and that at no point in his interaction with the reporters did he insinuate that Allah was punishing Nigerians, but instead drew from the teachings of great Islamic traditions to buttress the point he was trying to convey.”

    The emir, who spoke while delivering a keynote speech at KADINVEST 2.0, an event organised by the Kaduna Sate to encourage investments, said:  “Don’t give these kinds of explanation. That is not an Islamically correct statement to make.

    “(If) you don’t have vaccines, you don’t have vaccines; Go and get vaccines.”

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting, Ehanire said the outbreak of the disease was not a punishment from God.

    He said: “The Federal Government does not have views of that nature and I am not sure the state government can really continue to make that statement. When things happen, yes you can begin to look this way and that way for the cause of it, but like I said, nature played us unfortunate stroke. But that is not to say we committed sin or anything. It does happen that things occur out of the blues.”

    A statement issued by the spokesman of the PDP Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, described the governor’s statement as shameful and unfortunate.

    The statement said: “Governor Yari should not blame God for his failures but that of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to avoid incurring God’s anger on their crass ineptitude in governance.

    “However, we wish to advise him to resign immediately for making such statement as a state Governor and the chairman of Governors’ Forum who is supposed to bring hope to the people and not despair.”

  • Ex-minister slams deputy governor for anti-Mark comment

    Ex-Minister of Interior Abba Moro has urged Benue State Deputy Governor Benson Abounu to  promote and protect his people’s interest, instead of working at cross purposes with them.

    Reacting to the attack on him by Abounu following the Benue South rerun between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), he said the deputy governor had no reason to ask former Senate President David Mark to withdraw.

    Moro, the director-general of the Mark Campaign Organisation, said:  “Abounu knows the interest of our people. He was around when political stakeholders in Benue South endorsed Senator Mark to contest the election in September 2014. Abounu neither protested nor challenged the decision.

    “But for some funny circumstances that propelled Daniel Onjeh to pick the APC senatorial form to fulfil all righteousness, who is Onjeh to stand election against Mark?

    “Abounu knows that there was no contest between Mark and Onjeh in the first instance. But whatever the circumstances that led to the nullification of the election by the appeal tribunal over the signature of the Returning officer, it is instructive to people who forget their yesterday to remember that a day of reckoning will always come.

    “Whatever the interest of the people is, any responsible leader must respect such. This quest for immediate gain is not sustainable.

    “Let me thank Abounu for at least admitting that Mark attracted some good projects to Benue South, including appointments into boards and agencies of the Federal Government. At least, the narrative is now changing from ‘he has not done anything to some projects yet to be completed’.

    “I don’t like name-dropping, but since Abounu mentioned the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, in his narrative, let him also confirm from our respected Ogbeh who nominated him for the post of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he presided.

    “Abounu must be reminded that the Idoma are watching. Nigerians are watching those who will mortgage the interest of their people for personal gains.

    “Whatever the situation is, I boldly say that as a proud Idoma man, no external influence or forces can foist anybody on Idoma people. No outsider can love us more than we love ourselves. Abounu should tell his co- travellers that the Idoma cannot be teleguided. We have spoken in our votes for Senator Mark.”

  • Comment

    For Gbenga Omotoso

    Re:Dokpesi: Back From A Trance. Trance is a state in which you are thinking so much about something that you do not notice what is happening around you. Dokpesi first entered into trance with his dumping Buhari during 2011presidential election. His communication business has been managing to be on air, but his organisation is in financial distress, struggling to pay salaries .The Scripture teaches, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine.”(1 Tim.5:17).Here, politicking is always a fortress for distressed medical doctors, actors, lecturers and business-men; and PDP is their jetty. For Dokpesi, coordinating distressed PDP, he is not yet back from trance, but digging deeper. He helped to destroy Jonathan/PDP trying to salvage his distressed organisation. It is too late to cry when the head is off.  From Elder L .O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State. 

    Dokpesi is an embodiment of evil, for him to say Goodluck Jonathan caused them 2015 election. He has no moral justification; he should cover his head in shame. From Dipo Ogundele.

    They say Dokpesi is brilliant, but by his remarks on Jonathan, he just sounded like dumb. Pity our great country. Anonymous

    Dokpesi must have finished spending the money given to him by PDP for the so-called hate documentary against our able president and he is looking for more…with people like him in PDP, it will remain stagnant because he is a sycophant to Jo-nothing. Anonymous

    Dokpesi should not be taken serious; he is a political prostitute like the Babatopes & co. They have nothing to offer but to mortgage the Nigerian youths’ future for naira sake. From Elder S. O. Eze, Ilorin.

    Re-Dokpesi:Back from a trance. If Nigeria only has ‘Elders’ like those ones in PDP, we are then doomed in this country. But thank God for people like President Muhammadu Buhari, Audu Ogbeh, Rotimi Amaechi e.t.c who would run away from lies and speak the truth about the state of the nation then. Dokpesi is supposed to be a grandfather; he is although talking like a child. Many politicians are like harlot, no atom of shame. If I were him, I will keep shut in the public. From Engr. Mamadu.

    Re:’How’s Lagos.’ There is no doubt and a sane person who has observed the growth of Lagos would conclude that, here is a city and a state horizontally and vertically growing every hour. Yet no record of the influx of the people from all over Nigeria and ECOWAS that uncontrollably troop in like the Syrians, Libyans and Iraqis barging Europe. Landowners, estate developers and land speculators/grabbers are NOT helping matters as they just open virgin and swampy areas for settlement without government knowledge. These are the areas where the huge problems of Lagos start from. You cannot plan development without proper statistics and fiscal discipline. Ambode /Lagos State and the Federal Government need special collaboration NOW as there are Federal Government abandoned problems, structural and human in Lagos. Ambode, do your best in your tenure and leave the rest. From Elder L,O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State.

    Chief Dokpesi was the chairman of the committee that organised the rally or for the endorsement of the candidature of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for the Presidential election in 2014 where he was ratified as sole candidate. E. K.Clark and Dokpesi can be described as men who have short memory. Many are still coming from them. Nigerians should be patient for Nigeria’s enemies. Evangelist Olaiya Ojo.

    Raymond Dokpesi should quit this latest job of reconciliation. Olisa Metuh has rubbished him by his recent attack that of all statements credited to Dokpesi, nobody sent him. Anonymous

    Re – Dokpesi: Back from a trance. He needs to wear a veil and keep quiet; even when asked to make comments, he should simply say – no comment! From Bello. S.A.A. 

    Human memory seems to be too short otherwise for Dokpesi to have demonised the person of former President Jonathan by uncouth language speaks volumes. The high chief to me needs deliverance. From Are Gani Adefemi, Igboora, Oyo State.

    Dokpesi acted Judas Iscariot and later decided to return the thirty pieces of silver. It is too late; we all know that as moneybag, he was a kingmaker of the PDP.  From Anusa P.O.  FGC, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.

    Raymond Dokpesi’s apology to me is crocodile tears. He should apologize to Nigerians on the negative campaigns his TV station AIT aired during the campaign and not for PDP. Anonymous

    You said it all; PDP and Dokpesi introduced to Nigerians a new face of campaigns. Dokpesi should be told that if President Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu forgave him, that Oshiomhole will not, for the evil meant for him because of politics. From Paul, Port Harcourt.

    Isn’t it the same Dokpesi alleged to have been bailed out by GEJ and the first lady by helping him offset billions he owed? Not to mention the billions his very partisan news media outfit AIT was paid to perfect the hatchet job for GEJ and the PDP? Dokpesi should be asked to shut his mouth and hide his head in shame! Anonymous

    PDP and Dokpesi are still sleeping; next election they should field anyone they like. They are a goner. The people of Nigeria are waiting for them by 2019 which I know they will not have anyone to field. APC is the party for a new Nigeria. Anonymous

    I really wish PDP will come back stronger, better and more disciplined. GEJ did his best; anyone castigating him is ungrateful. From Otuka Ezechukwu, Abia State.

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    Re: Ministers and challenge of change. Corruption is the albatross of Nigeria’s development .We should try and understand the word minister. It means a senior member of the government who is in charge of a government institution for the benefits of the people. You are NOT in charge to LOOT the COMMONWEALTH, but give quality service to the nation. Corruption is satanic, it moves in when you start the work with elaborate thanksgiving service. This is followed with goodwill messages and the reminder to use the chance to fill your financial pot holes. Thus, the institution under a bossy and corrupt minister becomes dysfunctional. It is the duty of the Minister of Budget and National Planning to coordinate the activities of all the MDAs for substantial benefits to the nation; and to prevent proliferation, wastages and leakages. The ministerial team is solid enough. Let them run right. From Elder L .O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State.

    Buhari, from all indication, means well for the country. The only problem we have are some of the negative influences around him. Nigerians voted for him because of what he can do for the country. They didn’t vote for the political job-seekers in his government. He must be open to good counsel from any quarters alright but shouldn’t hesitate to reject any form of advice that doesn’t tally wit the change policy for which he was voted into power in the first place .He should be able to learn some lessons from how those who would pretend loving Jonathan and his government eventually turned to be the same that pulled him down. If at the end of the day, he fails to perform, it is only his name that will be entered on the wrong side of the nation’s history, not those who served wit him. This he must know, which is why he should indeed belong to all but with particular attachment to none – all in the interest of good governance, Nigerians and national growth. From Emmanuel Egwu.

    Re: Ministers and challenge of change. If we recall, the PDP government egregiously took the nation by the jugular vein for 16 years and almost strangled her to death before reprieve came through the massive votes of the people for a deserved change. I am unhappy that this euphoria of a well-deserved change waned completely because of the delay in appointing those who are going to be the projectors of this change. We have now gotten all the ministers in place, and they are faced with great tasks and challenges; one only hopes that they will perform as those that have been chosen are all men and women of high integrity and good antecedents. You see, we have God and Devil in religion, positive and negative in science, good and bad in philosophy, deception and vague promises in politics. These elements, especially deception and vague promises, don’t make people have confidence in politicians but as things are now, any politician who is deceptive and make vague promises will meet his waterloo at the next election when his tenure elapses. My candid advice, therefore, to all the ministers, is that they should all try to execute the programme of their party. The masses are waiting. From Prince Adewumi Oyeromade Agunloye.

    On NASS jumbo pay-the NLC, TUC and other related organizations should come together to wage war with the lower and upper houses of the National Assembly on the jumbo pay they are   receiving. They don’t deserve the pay and the outrageous allowances being given to them .They spend less than 200 days in a year for their so-called legislation period. They are after money but not services. Their salaries must be drastically reduced while some allowances must be cut off particularly wardrobe allowance. This is the time for these labour organizations to act with all seriousness to save the civil servants from cheating and extortion. Sitting allowance must be introduced for all legislators. Enough of unrealistic pay for jobs not done.  From Pastor Odunmbaku.

     

    For Olatunji Dare

    Those who knew and were equally privy to the killing of Dele Giwa, but instead of exposing the killers and free their conscience from torment would rather find fulfilment in coming up with all manners of defence-mechanism to protect the killer(s), will also be visited with equal unpleasant consequences of their action as would with the actual murderers. Time may have reduced the pains of the journalist’s death in the minds of his family members and concerned Nigerians, but the weight of the crime remains indelible before God and can’t be mitigated or erased by a thousand self-exculpatory interviews or mendacious remarks by the culprits and their accomplices until justice is done to that. Those who must kill fellow Nigerians to cover up their crimes must equally see killings more gruesome visited on them at a time they least expect of them, unless there is confession and atonement to that. Hence, the unrighteous must never go unpunished. From Emmanuel Egwu.

    Hhmnn!  Re: My Own Anniversary; a sublime attempt at ‘self putdown,’ which otherwise emerged as literary masterpiece. I have kept a faithful pace with this column’s evolution from then till now. Sir, the punch to the nose, or a kick to the groin might still come, if you waited long enough. Only pray the punch is not the crude Mike Tyson type, or of the straight to the target Jet Li variety.  From Wole  St.Jones, Lagos.

    Re: My own anniversary. Like the Apostle Paul, Prof. Dare is taking cue from, he said “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labour more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me”-1 Cor.15:10. The grace with you, you’ve not hoarded but diligently spread to fill space in the hearts of knowledge- seeking Nigerians for uplifting Nigeria. Someone said, “So you are the Olatunji Dare?” Definitely, for so many positive reasons, you are already being celebrated by million of Nigerians. May the grace of the LORD continue to uphold you and your family. Happy Anniversary. From Elder L.O David; Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State.

    Sir, your piece My anniversary is dignified and it is journalism at it’s best. Let me congratulate you on your fifth anniversary .You are indeed recognized by me and thousands of supporters who loves your column. You are a journalist per excellence. God will grant you more useful years and more ink to your pen.  From Ojo A. Ayodele, Emure-Ekiti.

    Olatunji Dare! Congratulations for celebrating yet another anniversary. I have always enjoyed your column every Tuesday especially during electioneering. It’s been inspiring. May God continue to bless and enrich your coast. Please consider the publisher’s request for a book. It will be meaningful. Congrats once again! Anonymous

    Felicitations for having so exquisitely survived five years on a hectic schedule! If I understood the postscript to your article, “My own anniversary” of November 10, why did you not craft us a fresh treat? Anyway, for my students’ sakes, I must point out two ‘slips of the keyboard’ therein which, coming from you, are inexcusable: first, the right idiomatic expression is not ‘all things…’ but ‘other things being equal’. Secondly, Peter, of course, was the apostle who denied his identity; how could you have missed this? From Andrew Aba, BSU, Makurdi.

    Re: “My own anniversary”. I wish to thank God for your sense of humility and declare like Prophet Elijah said to the widow of Sidon that, “your jar shall always be filled”. Irrespective of your “evaluation” I have however over the years found your column to be profound in logics, reliable in statistics, factual in presentation and impartial in analysis. From Tony Ogunbiyi.

    My prayer to God is that you will never know your value. The moment you know your value, you are ‘valueless’. Your back page column is a must for me on Tuesdays, so my prayer is that God will continue to guide and guard your movement. From F. T. Fabunmi. State of Osun.

    Re-My own anniversary. Whether or not advertorials were carried out or not, your column had been/remains a success even while you write from ABROAD! I earnestly congratulate you for meeting up every Tuesday and pray that God prolong your life, Amen. I am extremely proud of you. Please, keep the flag flying. From Lanre Oseni.

    Here is my own view of your article: My own anniversary. The only newspaper that I enjoy reading is The Nation. Due to cost of a week’s supply, I have settled for the Saturday/Sunday weekend editions and the Tuesday’s because I enjoy the prof’s column. Kudos to my man of the pen! You are not only endearing in your essays but also engaging. I hope my candid expression makes some sense? Cheers. From Igebu Chris, Agenebode.