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Tag: Coup

  • Cleric warns against coup

    Cleric warns against coup

    Coup cannot work now and will not succeed, says Apostle Sunday Popoola

    The presiding Apostle of the Word Communication Ministries and Founder of Christ Family Assembly Churches, Apostle Sunday Popoola, has warned those contemplating coup in the country to desist from it as it will not succeed.
    He spoke on the speculated coup at the Interdenominational church service at the National Christian Centre, Abuja as part of activities marking the 2017 Democracy Day.
    According to him, the service was mainly to thank God for 18 years of unbroken democracy, to reflect on how Nigerians have played their roles in the polity and thirdly to pray and seek the face of God for Nigeria’s glorious future.
    Noting that Nigerians are fed up and are waiting for something to spark, he called for their patience with the current administration as it means well for the country.
    He said “If you are out there like me, you will know that Nigerians are fed up and are waiting for something to spark. We need to be patient with the present government which has something to offer.
    “Coup cannot work now and will not succeed.”
    The cleric also called for institutions to be strengthened through radical reforms.
    Like Prophet Ezekiel, he asked “Can this dry bone call Nigeria rise again? It can.”
    According to him, leadership is a problem that must be solved in the country, adding that Nigerians must choose their leaders via their votes and ensure that their votes counts.
    Three attitudes Nigerians must have if the nation is to have a glorious future, he said is to have nothing to proof, nothing to loose and nothing to hide.
    He said the nation’s Civil Service needs serious review if indeed the administration was serious about change.
    The cleric said what Nigeria needs now is talking with one voice of unity, united political engagement.
    Popoola said 100 years after amalgamation, the country cannot continue to blame the imperialists.
    According to him, the 2014 National Conference must be revisited and the different nations that make up Nigeria must decide the future.
    He called for institutions to be strengthened through radical reforms.
    “Leadership is a problem must be solved, we must choose our leaders via our votes and ensure our votes counts.” he say
    The cleric noted that praying endlessly without corresponding action is in vain.
    The church, he stressed must take the lead on how the nation must go.
    He prophesied that Nigeria shall live and will be among the world power in the next 10 years.
    The First scripture reading Ezekiel 37:1-14 was taken by Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen
    The Second scripture reading was taken by Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
    Prayers were said for President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. Prayer were also said for peace, security and flourishing development in the country, families, parents, children and the youth in Nigeria, for total victory over bloodshed, armed robber, Book Haram, kidnapping, strife, violence and disunity in Nigeria, for the church in Nigeria and all over the world.
    Those in attendance were the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Samson Supo Ayokunle, wife of the Acting President, Dolapo Osinbajo, Speaker’s wife Gimbia Dogora, Mrs. Nkoyo Onnoghen, Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, members of the legislature, judiciary, the military, clerics, royal fathers and members of the diplomatic corps

  • Coup, for whose interests?

    SIR: I grew up in the barracks enough to know that there are no bad soldiers but very bad officers.

    Nigeria’s finest military officers have had cause to attend the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, United States Military Academy -West Point and Mons Officer Cadet School – Aldershot for military trainings but most who became military-political officers via coup never lived up to the values instilled in them in these world class institutions mentioned above. They even destroyed the mores of the military. We saw Colonels in Nigeria who were military governors, shook hands with Generals. Hands I must say, extended by these Colonels. Generals toadied up to Colonels in power. We have seen Generals who weren’t members of the oligarchy and whose rank in some countries equals that of some people in the middle-class become stupendously rich in Nigeria.

    We are here today, thanks to them. So when people celebrate a rumuored coup, I ask for whose interests?

    The first successful coups in tropical Africa happened in Congo-Kinshasa now DRC, Togo and Dahomey now Benin Republic. Sixteen countries in Africa overthrew their governments upon gaining independence from their colonial masters.  How are these countries today? Any dramatic change?

    Latin America suffered 56 successful coups between 1935-64. Twenty of these coups were in the states- Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela. I must ask: how is Venezuela now? Chavez made trillions of dollars in oil sales but today they can’t buy drugs and food in Venezuela.

    Corruption had been touted by coupists as reasons for staging coups in Nigeria; others mentioned endemic violence and the falling standard of living. What is ironic is that these coupists upon gaining power began to live comparably to their western counterparts leaving the people to groan without hope for a better life.

    The difference between these coupists in Nigeria and in Latin America is that hardly do you have ours as heroes while almost all of the national heroes in Latin America of the nineteenth century were military men.

    Reforms were carried out by military experts in Latin America but messed up by civilians after them. Their academies include the theory and practice of administration and economic planning with high academic standard.

    I know that civilian administrators have messed up Nigeria. No need dwelling on the ills of corruption, militancy, Boko Haram, nativism, kidnapping, zealotry, and the disillusionment with the educated elite.  But is the armed services in Nigeria any better, as history has shown?

    The armed service is loyal to the elite not the people and we have not witnessed an upsurge of social mobility but crony capitalism under them.

    A coup will ban political activity, federal and state parliaments would be dissolved with immediate effect, the civil servants will rejoice; they loathe politicians who do not understand policies like soldiers, and scramble for positions in military governments then they will go plundering state resources with their military collaborators. The military having had their fill would unban politicians and parties. Then we would start another circuitous political drama with same politicians who wouldn’t grow up.

    We the bloody civilians with no money will continually suffer.

     

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt.

  • Military: There’s no coup plot against Buhari’s govt

    There is no coup plot or any plan whatsoever to derail the present democratic governance, the military said yesterday.

    It expressed their unalloyed loyalty to the constitution and President Muhammadu Buhari as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces would not derail from protecting the nation’s democracy and would completely surbordinate themselves to civil rule, the military said.

    The Director of Defence Information at the Defence Headquarters, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, at a news conference in Abuja, said the clarification became necessary following the comments credited to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai and the reactions the comment generated across the country and at the international level.

    He said : “What I am telling you on behalf of the Armed Forces of Nigeria is that nobody should be afraid of any coup. The Armed Forces is totally loyal to the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, and in complete subordination to civil authority.

    “At all levels of commands, we are out there, including our troops, and we will remain focussed and conscious about the oath of allegiance that we have taken and guided by the constitution of this country. So, that is my remark to you, to build on that and then reassure the general public that there is nothing like coup; nothing like that would ever be supported or encouraged.

    “If there is a sign of anything like that, then there are instances and guiding rules and regulations and procedures, which we normally follow, and we want to assure Nigerians that we are not in a different world, on our own. We know what is happenning all over the whole world, our armed forces , and crop of officers and men we have are modern. We are in tune with the best international practice of governance and that is democracy, democracy, democracy.”

    Maj.-Gen. Enenche who was flanked at the briefing by Army spokesman Brig.-Gen Sani Usman and the representative of Navy spokesperson, Commander Edward Yeibo, said the statement credited to the Army chief about relationships between some civilians and army personnel was routine, to ensure conformity with ethics of the military in all ramifications.

    The Defence spokesperson said: “ Professionally, it is a command responsibility to caution officers and men on routine basis to conform to the ethics of the military in all ramifications, which includes interactions and exchange of visits, among others. This command responsibility is exercised right from the highest echelon, such as the office of the Service Chiefs down to the lowest levels of command. Hence, the caution from the Army in this case .

    “ Secondly, administratively, officers and men are regularly cautioned to exercise command and control by Appropriate Superior Authorities through commanders at various levels. This is to prevent members of the armed forces from derailing from their core focus of total dedication to their oath of allegiance. Thus, it is a usual practice in military administration.

    ”However, it is pertinent to state that if there are signs of actions that point to likely breaches of military code of conduct, as it were, cautions or warnings are issued with possible investigations following. Thus, in the present situation, the Armed Forces and the Army in particular has employed the due process to ensure that officers and men remain committed to performing their constitutional roles. As such, the mention of coup plots from some quarters are assertions which are not confirmed.

    “At this juncture, let me assure all Nigerians and lovers of this country that the Armed Forces is and will remain totally loyal to the Commander-ln-Chief (C-in-C) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and in complete subordination to civil rule.

    “Furthermore, all fears about a coup should be allayed as the contemporary Nigerian Military is abreast with the best international practices in governance, which is democracy. In this regard, the military high and other levels of command will continue to ensure effective training and administration, to ensure that the armed Forces of Nigeria, retain its place of pride amongst the military globally.”

    He dismissed as untrue the allegations that soldiers were unduly attached to some politicians, saying “only the Minister of Defence and the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces have soldiers attached to them”.

    Maj. Gen Enenche cautioned Nigerians against jumping into conclusions on certain issues, insisting that administrative procedures which  require time, would have to be explored.

    He said the armed forces were concerned about the interception and proliferation of arms at the nation’s borders and ports, adding that they are working alongside other security agencies and committees established by the government to arrest the situation.

    On the renewed efforts of insurgents and recent bomb explosions by the Boko Haram group, Maj.-Gen. Enenche described those involved as diehard insurgents who refused to be de-radicalised, adding that such groups blow up themselves when they are about to be apprehended by security forces.

    He that within a short period, the armed forces would clear the Northeast of such insurgent groups.

     

  • A season of parties

    A season of parties

    It has been a season of revelry.

    Minna was throbbing with the rich and the powerful on May 13. So was Lagos where the pulsating rhythm of the state’s 50th anniversary flowed into other jollification, including the society wedding of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s son. Abuja was also in a party mood; former Edo State Governor Lucky Igbinedion turned 60. Deputy Senate President Ike  Ekweremadu  clocked 55.

    Minna snatched away the prize for hosting the biggest of the parties, not because of its lavishness and grandeur, but for the  impressive congregation of the crème de la crème of politics and power. A mixture of grandees and prominent personalities – in business and the professions.

    That was only to be expected at the wedding of former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s daughter Halima.

    The array of private jets that landed at the city’s airport was breathtaking. For days it became the subject of gossip in the social media. With such men of means, why do we have so much poverty with us? Do these people live among us?

    Some of the comments were lurid; others lucid. For how long are we going to begrudge our men of affluence, their taste and style?

    Anyway, that isn’t the story. Just consider the A class guests list and the sitting arrangement. The chance meetings. Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan shared the front row with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They sat beside each other.

    I do not know if they had met since the 2015 election, which then incumbent Dr Jonathan lost. They exchanged greetings quite all right. But banter? What was going through their minds as they maintained their straight faces. Those occasional smiles were about other matters at the party, I bet.

    What would Dr Jonathan have loved to tell Tinubu, the architect of the coalition of progressives that dealt the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) its most devastating blow ever?

    “Were you fair to me? Are you pleased with the situation of things now? Why didn’t you help me? What exactly did I do wrong? They said I didn’t fight corruption and I tried to educate them; corruption and stealing are two different issues; we don’t have to mix them. Now you can see how complex the whole thing is. I won’t criticise anybody o, but is this the change you envisioned?”

    “Thank you, your Excellency. We had to do what we did to save everybody, including you. To have allowed the nonsense to go on endlessly would have amounted to a class suicide. It had to stop. No apologies.”

    Former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and his rival Ahmed Makarfi were there. Both are leading the two major factions of what is left of the PDP. They shook hands and smiled. What was going on in their belligerent minds?

    “You’ll soon see yourself, yeye man; the Supreme Court will deliver the hammer blow.”

    “You can’t chase me out of a house that  others and I sweated to build.”

    “We’ll see what you’ll do after this case. We’ll see the man who has the people’s support.”

    “On the rule of law I stand. You people invited me to save the party and you decided to dump me. Just like that.  No. Nobody can use me. I’m too big for that.”

    Former Niger State Governor  Babangida “Servant Leader” Aliyu, fresh from a brief detention, was there. He was all smiles, perhaps to tell his adversaries whose efforts have landed him in court for alleged corruption, that he wasn’t finished yet. Talk of resilience. Did he pump his successor Abubakar Sani-Bello’s hand? What kind of meeting was it? Warm? Cold? Felicitious? Convivial?

    This is the first time in a long time that former First Ladies Turai Yar’Adua and Dame Patience “Mama Peace” Jonathan have had the unusual chance of sitting next to each other. When last did they meet? What did they talk about? Was it just the usual “good to see you again”? Did the Abuja land dispute in which they tore at each other like some prized fighter crop up?

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai was there. So was Senator Shehu Sani, his arch-rival and critic-in-chief. Did they exchange pleasantries? Both were photographed – separately – smiling broadly. The two prominent citizens have been locked in a bitter war of wits over the governor’s style. Sani was once suspended for anti-party activity, but the senator would not keep quiet. He keeps hurling invectives at His Excellency, overstretching his capacity to tolerate dissent

    Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso was there – red cap and all. Did he run into his successor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje? Interestingly, Ganduje would not drop the red cap, the symbol of Kwankwasiyya, the political movement nurtured by the former governor, even as both politicians are holding each other by the throat over the control of the state’s politics. In Kano, it is Kwankwasiyya versus Gandujiyya. And there they were, the two leading lights, partying.

    It was perhaps Abdullahi Dikko Inde’s first outing in a long time. The former Customs chief had disappeared from the social radar after some yet unproven allegations of serious fraud.

    Right there in Minna were men who have played major roles in the Nigerian story – from the military era to civil rule. They symbolise our success and failure, our defeat and victory, our heroic struggles and villainous enterprises, our gains and pains.

    From Minna, the party moved to Lagos where former President Olusegun Obasanjo hosted a colourful wedding for his son, Olujonwo and Tope, daughter of frontline businessman Chief Adebutu “Baba Ijebu” Kessington.

    There were governors and former governors, foremost businessmen and traditional rulers. Chief Olabode George was there. “O, he has settled with Baba,” a colleague screamed upon seeing the photograph of the PDP chieftain and his wife Roli at the wedding.  Beside George sat Makarfi, cool and composed as usual. Then somebody asked: “Where is Sheriff?”

    Former Governor Gbenga Daniel was also there, all smiles. And so was Dr Doyin Okupe, Obasanjo’s former spokesman who once fell out of favour. “Okupe? Baba has really changed; he is magnanimous now,” a guest remarked.

    Chief Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion’s 60th birthday party in Abuja was nothing close to those fairytale birthdays of yore that the family patriarch Chief Osawaru Igbinedion celebrated on at least three continents. In New York, Johannesburg and, of course, London.

    Apparently in the spirit of the recession and in line with the body language of the present administration, Lucky Igbinedion decided to celebrate his day in Abuja.  A touch of modesty there.  Those he thought  he had lost some weight – in cash – got the message.  How wrong they were!

    The celebrator, decked out in an all-white Bini outfit, , fire-red beads dangling from his neck and his trademark heavy moustache lush as ever, was in a festive mood.

    “So, Lucky is now 60,” a colleague said, wondering how old the former governor was when he ruled Edo State. The cynical fellow recalled how Chief Igbinedion mounted the podium to campaign for his beloved son in whom the people had apparently lost confidence.

    The old man saved his son’s shot at a second term when he told a cheering crowd of supporters: “Una say Lucky fail, Lucky fail. Yes. If your pickin fail for one class, he no go repeat?”

    The message hit home. Igbinedion got another term. He was later to be convicted for corruption and ordered to pay a hefty fine.  Action man that he is, he simply strolled to his car, opened its trunk, dug out the cash, paid the fine, and walked away a free man.

    At the Abuja party was Chief James Onanefe “Ogidigboigbo” Ibori, who has just finished doing a term in London. He was the toast of the show, I am told. Everybody wanted to shake his hand. But for the fact that it was well advertised as Igbinedion’s birthday, the event would have been mistaken for one of those parties to welcome Ibori from the London trip – his longest and, definitely, most memorable ever. Only two days ago, he was awarded a staggering sum of one pound (N483) damages against the UK authorities for a two-day illegal detention after his release from jail. Justice – at last.

    Unknown to many, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark had been preparing for his 90th birthday. Today. He took some time off the planning the other day to throw a jab at Obasanjo over some aspects of Segun Adeniyi’s books, which he felt the former President influenced. Obasanjo, a master of repartee and put-downs, simply ignored the Ijaw leader.

    The merrymaking goes on – recession or no recession.  Will they ever spare a thought for the poor?

     

    The coup talk and all that hysteria

    It is reassuring that the military came out yesterday to say that there are no plots to roll out tanks and halt our democratic march. Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai’s warning to officers hobnobbing with politicians was nothing out of the ordinary, the Defence Headquarters said.

    But why did the clarification come this late? Was somebody flying a kite?

    I gather from knowledgeable sources that the mammy market has not recovered its  rhythm since the Gen. Buratai warning shot.

    With the clarification, we can safely and merrily return to sharing bowls of steaming-hot peppersoup with our military brothers.

    All’s well that ends well.

          

     

     

  • Coup, in this age?

    In the past, the public got to know of any problem within the military when the offenders were being executed. In the military, the punishment for any crime against the state was death. The military does not joke with its stability. This is why any rumbling is quickly put down before it snowballs into something else.  Officers and soldiers know that their loyalty to the state, especially the Commander-in-Chief (C-i-C), must not be called to question. Once a soldier’s loyalty is in doubt, he is a goner. Loyalty must be total; there is nothing like partial loyalty, which is the same as being disloyal.

    There is no room for warning once a soldier crosses the line. The rules are rigid and clear. Discipline is the keyword. A soldier must be disciplined through and through and this must show in his conduct. Whether in and out of the barracks, he must reflect the military discipline. This is why soldiers are one of a kind. They are not like civilians because they live a regimented life. Soldiers are the soul of a country because they stand as its bulwark against external aggression. But some of them have sold their souls to the devil because of a mess of porridge.

    Those are the ones who connive with all sorts of character to do the unthinkable – the takeover of government. Soldiers are not trained to be coup plotters. But at a time, it was the in-thing in Nigeria for soldiers to stage a coup. They carry out the illicit act at times with the help of outsiders, that is non-soldiers. But, most times, it is a plot by soldiers working with some of their superiors. Nigeria has had its fair share of coups beginning with the first military putsch of January 15, 1966. Six months later, there was another coup, which brought in then Lt Col Yakubu Gowon as head of state.

    By now, we should have outgrown coups. Our military should not at this age and time be talking of any plot to take over government by any other means except the ballot box. By Monday, the Buhari administration will be two. Although President Muhammadu Buhari does not enjoy good health, that should not be enough reason for some people to want to use the military to force him out. Why are those people in a hurry to shoo Buhari out? Is it a constitutional offence for the president to fall ill? The Constitution does not say that the president is a super human being that he cannot fall ill. What it frowns at is where the president is incapacitated by his illness that he cannot do his job. To avoid having a lame duck president,  it makes provision for the vice president to take charge in acting capacity and not as “coordinator of government affairs”.

    Those thinking of removing Buhari through coup do not love this country. They must have something to hide; if not they will not be talking of a coup when we have a president who is on a mission to rescue the country, his health permitting. If they are not satisfied with the president’s performance, all they need do is wait for another two years to exercise their franchise to vote him out. Anything short of that will be breaching the Constitution, which allows the president to hold office for four years at the first instance. Assuming that the president is not performing, which is even not the case in this instance, is it the covert plot to remove him the way to go?

    Many of our politicians will never learn. They are always looking for the easy way out of any challenge without giving a second thought to its fall-out. We were in this country when some politicians invited the late Gen Sani Abacha to take over from the contraption called the Interim National Government (ING) and hand over to the late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, who won the June 12, 1993 presidential election. The late Abacha took over power and held on to it until he died. Unlike 1993, we are not in any crisis now. So, why are “some individuals approaching some officers and soldiers for undisclosed political reasons” as stated by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai last week.

    The “undisclosed political reasons” is euphemism for a coup. The army chief knew what he was saying when he raised that alarm. We are lucky that we are no longer in the era of the military where anything goes, otherwise, some people may since have been arbitrarily arrested and court-martialled for treason. Coup, pustch, forceful take over of government or whatever name it may be called, is no longer fashionable. At least, not in this era of advanced technology. If soldiers gather anyhow these days in beer parlours to drink and take pepper soup, ala the coup theory propounded by that fine police officer, Alex Ogugbuaja, before they know it, they will find themselves on social media with details of what they are doing.

    How can any sane person even think of holding talks with soldiers for ‘’undisclosed political reasons’’ in this age when nothing is no longer secret. Gone are the days that Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) facilities can be shut down by a bunch of soldiers to facilitate the forceful take over of government. Before they strike now, they would have been caught and made to face the consequences of their action. But this matter should not be allowed to end like this. The military should ferret out those trying to compromise its men and bring them to book. It should however not be a witch-hunt of opponents of the government.

    If we allow this matter to die without investigating it to logical conclusion, we may be leaving fire on our roof to go to sleep. How are we sure that these people will not make another move? We should not fear their gathering, though, because it will be in vain. Whenever they gather to plot against the people’s will, they will fall for the simple fact that coup is an idea whose time is gone.

  • Presidency dismisses Coup plot reports

    Presidency dismisses Coup plot reports

    Mr Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, has urged Nigerians to ignore the media reports on Coup plot, saying it should not be stretched beyond what the military authorities had said.

    Adesina stated this at a media chat with State House correspondents to mark two years of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration on Tuesday in Abuja.

    According to him, what the Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Tukur Burutai, said about the issue was a “routine warning that goes to military officers.’’

    The presidential aide addressed the correspondents alongside the Senior Special Assistants to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu and Mr Laolu Akande (Office of the Vice-President).

    Adesina said: “The Army has spoken and let us take that position. What the Chief of Army Staff said was a routine warning that goes to military officers, don’t hobnob with politicians and the army has explained the position.

    “Let’s take that position and not stretch it beyond what the military has said because they are the ones that can give us the definitive position and they have spoken on it.’’

    The presidential spokesman also debunked the assertion that the ruling party had failed in fulfilling its political obligations and promises to the electorate in view of the reported hardships being experienced by a cross section of Nigerians.

    He maintained that it was unfair to assess the performance of the Buhari’s administration within its first two years.

    “People can always express their opinions, there is liberty on that but you don’t have a scientific survey that has given you the percentage of people that believed that the APC has failed.

    “The second point is that, when a government via a party is voted into office, it is voted for a four year term under our own democratic arrangement.

    “When you have spent two years which is like a midterm, the first half of a game, you don’t then determined that it has succeeded or it has failed.

    “No. You can be accused of being atomistic using a small part to determine the whole. You can’t write the report card of this administration when it is just hitting the half way mark, that will not be fair.

    “This administration will take Nigeria far beyond how it met it. So if anybody says APC has failed just tell them is too early in the day because is a four year-term and this is just two years. You don’t reach definitive conclusions in two years.’’

    Malam Garba Shehu, who spoke on the Human Rights records of the Buhari’s administration, said the records were impeccable.

    “The Human rights records of this administration are impeccable, there are unimpeachable. I think we should avoid speaking in general terms.

    “The thing to do is to pin point specific cases to buttress assertions that people make and then we can tackle them.

    “As we speak to you now, we are not aware that the administration of Muhammadu Buhari is in breach of the constitution of Nigeria with regards to the protection of the rights of Nigerians.

    “Journalists in this country ought to bear testimony on this, there is no single journalist that has been expelled from his duty because he has reported or failed to report, there is no single journalist who is in government detention because they have expressed some views that the government does not like.’’

    According to Shehu, the Buhari’s administration is complying with the decision of the courts of the land.

    “I assure that if anybody tries to do otherwise the president will not allow him to get away with it.’’

    Laolu Akande, who spoke on alleged weak prosecution of corruption cases across the country, said: “The truth of the matter is that our criminal justice system does need a profound and deep reform.

    “The important thing is that this government is working on it. As a matter of fact now, the Acting President has put together a national coordination prosecution team for all the prosecution trying to see how in the medium term we can bring some progress.

    “But also working on judicial sector reforms on the long term on criminal justice system to strengthen both the investigation and prosecution at the courts.

    “And I know it is going to take a while for us to address it,” he said.

    On food security, Akande revealed that the government had recorded tangible achievements in the nation’s agricultural sector.

    According to him, the committee on food crisis is still working, while the government has reduced importation of food items especially rice.

    He disclosed that about 40,000 farmers in Kebbi state had become millionaires due to government favourable agricultural policies.(NAN)

  • Labour warns against coup, says Nigerians will resist it

    Labour warns against coup, says Nigerians will resist it

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) said on Tuesday  that any attempt by the Nigeria military to topple the current democratic dispensation in the country will be resisted by the working people  and all Nigerians who Laboured  to bring about democratic change in the country.

    In a statement signed by the National President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Secretary General, Comrade (Barr.) Musa-Lawal Ozigi, the union said all Nigerians, irrespective of political affiliations must rise up and kick against any form of military intervention, adding that the recent rumor should be considered as an aberration.

    “It will be recalled that our military, indeed all Nigerians have condemned coups in Africa and even outside the continent, a feat that was commended at the level of the international community. To hear that the military is nursing such a misadventure, even if by rumours only must be seen as ignoble.

    “One beauty of democracy is that there is freedom of speech, at least it has allowed us to challenge our thieving politicians at all levels. This is not the case with the military which does not possess any iota of democratic blood, with their exhibition of autocracy and brute force.

    “We wish to sound it that workers and the masses of Nigerians laboured and sacrificed greatly to enthrone democracy that has now been hijacked by a negligible few that have now become the lawmakers, the governors and so-called political leaders to the detriment of the working class and citizens of the country.

    “Let it be known that the people have voted for democracy and will strive to protect it.  What should be paramount to all progressive Nigerians now is how to move the country forward and not to distabilise it. We know who caused the problem of the country.

    “Truly, Nigerians are abreast of the fact that we have a serious challenge with the present democracy and the crop of leaders that we have at various levels of government. It is a challenge all of us must strive to correct, certainly not by coup.

    “The military, mainstream politicians and privileged Nigerians should be careful not to throw the country into another political pandemonium and disappear into thin air leaving the masses to suffer.  Let the rumour be what it is, a rumour. Nigerians are no longer ready for any hoodwinking. We have come of age,” TUC stated.

  • Turkey’s coup: death of extradition request 

    SIR: Since the July 15, 2016,  failed coup in Turkey, politics in that country has assumed a  chilling dimension, with the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan-led  Justice and Development Party (AK Party), capitalising on every possible opportunity to nail perceived enemies and trample on the rights of a significant number of Turks, in more than a warlike, menacing manner.

    But the move by Erdogan, and his co-travellers in the ruling AK Party, to further take this persecution to foreign lands without minding international borders, and the sovereignty of other countries, appears to have hit a unshakeable brick wall. This is not unconnected with the Turkish government’s recent quest to willy-nilly extradite, from the United States, the highly respected Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen.

    That move has apparently now fallen like a pack of cards and literally suffered its well-deserved death as the Intelligence Committee of the United States (US) Congress has dismissed the claims upon which the extradition is being sourced.

    Gulen is the Pennsylvania-based moderate Sunni cleric the Turkish government accuses of masterminding the failed July 15 coup, despite having no concrete evidence linking him to the aborted coup.

    Over the past few months, Turkey has been mounting pointless pressures on the US authorities to extradite Gulen, even as it continued to clamp down on members of the Gulen-inspired Hizmet Movement, which the Turkish government now brands as Fethullah Gulen Terror Organisation. Thousands of perceived sympathisers of Hizmet Movement, and other right activists, now languish in various prisons cells without trial, while many more have been forced out of government jobs.

    Erdogan has not stopped there.  Scores of charity organisations, universities, businesses, media organisations, among others, linked to Gulen or Hizmet Movement, have been shut down by the authoritarian Turkish leader, who is now seeking more dictatorial powers, in the executive presidency referendum scheduled for April this year.  Despite the condemnations that continue to trail his undemocratic actions from far and near, especially the European Union (EU) into which the country seeks membership, the Turkish president appears to be more ruthless and highly obsessed by his ill-conceived quest to humiliate and extradite Gulen, by using the failed coup as a smokescreen.

    But Devin Nunes, chairman of the powerful Intelligence Committee of the US Congress, in an interview on Chris Wallace’s “Fox News Sunday”, aired on FOXTV recently, made some important remarks about Gulen’s extradition quest and his alleged involvement in the failed coup.

    Nunes, a member of the Republican Party and a close ally of President Donald Trump, did not mince any words in the interview when he made it clear that there was no evidence linking Gulen to the failed coup. “I haven’t seen evidence that Gulen was involved in the failed coup,” he said.

    The Head of German Intelligence Agency (BND), Bruno Kahl, in an interview published recently, also believes that there is no serious evidence linking Gulen to the failed coup.

    Despite these near foolproof views from Germany and US, Erdogan, in a clear case of a man afraid of his own shadow, is bent on using underhand tactics to get Gulen extradited. The Turkish government was allegedly said to have recently   engaged some individuals and firms using third party in US to help in lobbying for the extradition of Gulen and also spy on businesses associated with the cleric. Though it is hardly surprising that the Turkish government would engage Washington DC lobbyists to help out in its case to extradite Gulen, in order to score cheap political point, what is clear is that the United States will not stoop so low to allow for the unwarranted extradition of Gulen under any guise, knowing full well the present nauseating human rights abuses and authoritarian credentials of Erdogan.

     

    • Abdulraman Sadik,

    Kaduna

  • 1966 coup changed the national spirit that prevailed at independence Septuagenarian journalist

    1966 coup changed the national spirit that prevailed at independence Septuagenarian journalist

    My name is Alhaji Tajudeen Tijjani Ajibade”, the veteran journalist started. “Before I talk about independence, it is important to talk about my background. I was born in Ibadan on Sunday, 1st of June, 1947 to a Nupe woman and a Nupe father, people the Yoruba refer to as Tapa. My parents came from Bida, but I was born in Ibadan. My parents decided to name me Tajudeen because of the environment they found themselves. Although it is a Muslim name, the Yoruba bear it most. My parents lived in the palace of Balogun Ogunmola because my father’s sister was married to the Balogun Ogunmola of Ibadan. Up till today, our house is located in Oriolowo’s compound around the famous Mapo Hill.

    Nigeria since independence

    Talking about Nigeria before independence, at independence and now, a short history about myself becomes necessary. For a long time, I did not even know I came from the northern part of the country because everyone was equal. I grew up like any other child and nobody discriminated against me. Nobody ever spoke about my background until I grew and my father had to tell me by himself. And that was even because I am the only son of my father. As at that time, I only heard people call my mother Gogo, but what did I care? All I knew was that she was my mother.

    So, when we were growing up, there was no discrimination of any sort. We attended free primary education in the old Western Region. I started my primary education in 1954 at Islamic Primary School, Odoye, Ibadan. As at that time, Nigeria was actually very stable in terms of economy and politics. People were living together without anybody thinking about where someone came from.

    Suddenly, things started to unfold after the 1966 coup. The background to what is happening in Nigeria today is the 1966 coup. I am not condemning it. I am not saying it is good or bad, because I don’t know the reason why the coup plotters came in. But since it was the coup that led us into civil war and the civil war led to everyone moving from one place to the other and people started to know where they came from. That was the beginning of ethnicity, religions sentiments and what have you.

    Again, there was a military government that created states. That states creation polarised us the more. Now people talk about their states than even the nation. They talk about their local government area than their states. Those are the things that were not happening before.

    When I came to Kaduna in my late tens too, despite the fact that I bear Ajibade, nobody discriminated against me, except that they called me a Yoruba boy when they wanted to describe me. But it really didn’t matter, because I used the name while going to school to work in New Nigerian Newspapers for many years, I worked in Standard, Punch, Sketch and edited a few newspapers, and I was at home everywhere.

    So, anyone who grew up during our time will be sad and would ask: is it not the same Nigeria we were living in that has turned into this unsettled nation? A country where people think about differences in religion and ethnicity, and because of that, people are not friends again, as if it is not the same people that grew up together, went to church and mosque together. During Christmas, we used to go to church with one Samuel who was our friend. During Sallah, we would go to the mosque with one Mohammed, so that we would come back and slaughter the ram. It was fantastic.

    The sudden change in this country we call Nigeria is really very unfortunate. In those days, nobody asked where you came from to get employment, all you needed to do was fill a form, and once you are qualified, they gave you job. It is unlike today that you have to go to your local government to get your paper. You have to even go to your ward for them to identify you. Even for admission into schools, you have to go through all that. No country can move forward like this.

    A lot of things started happening after the 1966 coup. The military were coming, civilians were also coming and there was no stability, politically and otherwise. Why did things get suddenly wrong to the extent that we started talking about federal character and zoning system, which means even if you are qualified and you are not from the zone where certain things have been zoned to, you can’t get it?

    So, these are some of the things that are crippling this country, which I think we have to work seriously hard to get out of the woods. Because if we don’t settle it before people who saw Nigeria pre and post-independence vanish, it will get more polarised so much that people will not talk about Nigeria again but their local governments. Because in Nigeria of today, somebody will tell you I am an indigene of Sokoto or Kaduna. Nobody says I am a Nigerian.

    Americans are bigger than us, but there are no indigenes. You are just an American. We were working for Nigeria to get to that stage. That is why when they talk about national issue, we support it. We don’t care where it starts from, because we believe in nationalism.

    The way out

    So I think there is clarion call to both the old and the young to look inward and see exactly what our problem is. The late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo were said to have met somewhere, and when they were talking and Awolowo called Sardauna, ‘Prince, why can’t we settle our differences?’ Sardauna replied: ‘Omo Oba, let’s understand our differences before we can settle them.’ I think we should go back to such conversations. Let us first of all understand our differences and find a way of settling them; those differences that are making us live apart.

    Nigeria of our dream is not the Nigeria that we have today. I have never bothered about where someone comes from. My concern is what you can do for this country and how we can work together to move Nigeria forward as a single entity devoid of sentiments of religion, ethnicity and others. That was how we grew up

    My prayer now is that the leaders that are there today will be able to do something better for us to go back to the good old days of one Nigeria, one destiny, one nation. That was the slogan of the NPN in those days.

    Why we are in serious economic crisis

    What actually killed us was the abandonment of what we had or the abandonment of what we were using before the advent of oil and gas. We have all concentrated on oil and gas, forgetting agriculture and other things. This led to the deaths of many industries and people started coming into oil and gas. But what many people don’t know is that the whole money we have made since the discovery of oil in Oloibiri, India made it in software in just about two years.

    There are countries of the world who don’t have oil and they are doing fine. But since God gave us oil in Nigeria, we were thinking that the oil should be a blessing to us, but it turned out to be something else. At least before oil was discovered, we had what we were running the country with.

    But above all, what I want to see before I leave is a united Nigeria, like it was before and shortly after independence. The Queen gave independence to Nigeria and called it one country. But what are we seeing today? We have what you can call 36 countries in Nigeria. May God help us.

  • Aftermath of the coup in Turkey

    In the night of July 15, Turkey went through the most catastrophic tragedy in its recent history as a result of the attempted military coup. The events of that night could be called a serious terror coup.

    Turkish people from all walks of life who thought the era of military coups was over showed solidarity against the coup and on the side of democracy. While the coup attempt was in progress, I condemned it in the strongest terms.

    Twenty minutes after the military coup attempt surfaced, before the real actors were known, President Erdogan hastily blamed me. It is troubling that an accusation was issued without waiting for the event’s details and the perpetrators’ motives to emerge. As someone who has suffered through four coups in the last 50 years, it is especially insulting to be associated with a coup attempt. I categorically reject such accusations.

    I have been living a reclusive life in self-exile in a small town in the United States for the last 17 years. The assertion that I convinced the eighth largest army in the world – from 6,000 miles away – to act against its own government is not only baseless, it is false, and has not resonated throughout the world.

    If there are any officers among the coup plotters who consider themselves as a sympathizer of Hizmet movement, in my opinion those people committed treason against the unity of their country by taking part in an event where their own citizens lost their lives. They also violated the values that I have cherished throughout my life, and caused hundreds of thousands of innocent people to suffer under the government’s oppressive treatment.

    If there are those who acted under the influence of an interventionist culture that persists among some of the military officers and have put these interventionist reflexes before Hizmet values, which I believe is unlikely, then an entire movement cannot be blamed for the wrongdoings of those individuals.

    No one is above the rule of law, myself included. I would like for those who are responsible for this coup attempt, regardless of their identities, to receive the punishment they deserve if found guilty in a fair trial.  The Turkish judiciary has been politicized and controlled by the government since 2014 and, consequently, the possibility of a fair trial is very small. For this reason, I have advocated several times for the establishment of an international commission to investigate the coup attempt and I have expressed my commitment to abide by the findings of such a commission.

    I’ve witnessed every single military coup in Turkey and, like many other Turkish citizens, have suffered during and after each one. I was imprisoned by the order of the junta administration after the March 12, 1971 coup. After the coup of September 12, 1980, a detention warrant was issued against me and I lived as a fugitive for six years.

    Right after the February 28, 1997, post-modern military coup, a lawsuit asking for capital punishment was filed against me with the charge of “an unarmed terrorist organization consisting of one person.”

    During all of these oppressive, military-dominated administrations, three cases accusing me of “leading a terror organization” were opened and, in each case, I was cleared of the charges. I was targeted by the authoritarian military administrations back then, and now, I face the very same accusations projected in an even more unlawful manner by a civilian autocratic regime.

    I had friendly relations with leaders from various political parties, such as Mr. Turgut Ozal, Mr. Suleyman Demirel and Mr. Bulent Ecevit, and genuinely supported their policies that I found to be beneficial to the larger community. They treated me with respect, especially when recognizing Hizmet activities that contribute to social peace and education.

    Even though I distanced myself from the idea of political Islam, I praised the democratic reforms undertaken by Mr. Erdogan and AKP leaders during their first term in power.

    But throughout my life, I have stood against military coups and intervention in domestic politics. When I declared 20 years ago that “there is no turning back from democracy and secularism of the state,” I was accused and insulted by the same political Islamists who are close to the current administration. I still stand behind my words. More than 70 books based on my articles and sermons spanning 40 years are publicly available. Not only is there not a single expression that legitimizes the idea of a coup in these works, but, on the contrary, they discuss universal human values that are the foundation of democracy.

    Emancipating Turkey from the vicious cycle of authoritarianism is possible only through the adoption of a democratic culture and a merit-based administration. Neither a military coup nor a civilian autocracy is a solution.

    I openly call on the Turkish government to allow for an international commission to investigate the coup attempt, and promise my full cooperation in this matter. If the commission finds one-tenth of the accusations against me to be justified, I am ready to return to Turkey and receive the harshest punishment.

    The most important characteristic of the Hizmet movement is to not to seek political power, but instead to seek long-term solutions for the problems threatening the future of their societies. At a time when Muslim-majority societies are featured in the news for terror, bloodshed and underdevelopment, Hizmet participants have been focusing on raising educated generations who are open to dialogue and actively contributing to their societies.

    Since I have always believed that the biggest problems facing these societies are ignorance, intolerance-driven conflicts and poverty, I have always encouraged those who would listen to build schools instead of mosques or Quran tutoring centers.

    Hizmet participants are active in education, health care and humanitarian aid not only in Turkey, but also in more than 160 countries around the world. The most significant characteristic of these activities is that they serve people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds – not just Muslims.

    Despite receiving threats, I categorically condemned numerous times terrorist groups such as Al Qaida and ISIS who taint the bright face of Islam. However, the Turkish government is trying to convince governments around the world to act against schools that have been opened by individuals who did not take part in the July 15 coup attempt, and who have always categorically rejected violence. My appeal to governments around the world is that they ignore the Turkish government’s claims and reject its irrational demands.

    Indeed, the Turkish government’s political decision to designate the Hizmet movement as a terrorist organization resulted in the closure of institutions such as schools, hospitals and relief organizations. Those who have been jailed are teachers, entrepreneurs, doctors, academics and journalists. The government did not produce any evidence to show that the hundreds of thousands targeted in the government’s witch hunt supported the coup or that they were associated with any violence.

    It is impossible to justify actions such as burning down a cultural center in Paris, detaining or holding hostage family members of wanted individuals, denying detained journalists access to medical care, shutting down 35 hospitals and the humanitarian relief organization Kimse Yok Mu, or forcing 1,500 university deans to resign as part of a post-coup investigation.

    It appears that, by presenting the recent purges as efforts that target only Hizmet participants, the Turkish government is in fact removing anyone from the bureaucracy who is not loyal to the ruling party, while also intimidating civil society organizations. It is dreadful to see human rights violations occurring in Turkey, including the torture detailed in recent reports by Amnesty International. This is truly a human tragedy.

    The fact that the July 15 coup attempt – which was an anti-democratic intervention against an elected government – was foiled with Turkish citizens’ support is historically significant. However, the coup’s failure does not mean a victory for democracy. Neither the domination by a minority nor the domination of a majority that results in the oppression of a minority nor the rule of an elected autocrat is a true democracy.

    One cannot speak of democracy in the absence of the rule of law, separation of powers and essential human rights and freedoms, especially the freedom of expression. True victory for democracy in Turkey is only possible by reviving these core values.

    English translation originally published in Le Monde on August 10.

     

    • Gülen is an intellectual, preacher and a social advocate.