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Killings: Police raid brothels, dark spots in Ekiti

The Ekiti State Police Command has begun a massive crackdown on hotels, pubs, brothels, relaxation centres and black spots to curb killings across the state.

Police Commissioner Bello Ahmed gave the order following the spate of killings by a suspected killer gang.

The latest security cordon was thrown round the state following the killing of two persons in the last one week.

They include the commissioner on the board of the Federal Character of Commission, Mr. Bunmi Ojo.

On Tuesday, armed policemen began a clampdown on black spots where scores of suspects were arrested and detained at police stations in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

The swoop on suspected criminal hideouts continued yesterday with a police source saying many suspected cultists had been arrested.

Police spokesman Caleb Ikechukwu, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the raid would continue until the state is rid of killings and other forms of violence.

He said: “We have been raiding even before the July 14 election, but we intensified efforts for mass raid when the killings were becoming incessant.

“We need to curb such unwholesome situation and this will continue until normalcy returns.

“We are quite aware of the fact that when raids are conducted, some innocent people will be arrested and that was why our men normally screened the victims to know their identities.

“But many of those arrested were suspected cultists and our people should not exhibit fear.”

Also, a prominent transporter, Mr. Samuel Agbede, has denied complicity in Tuesday’s violent clash among members of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Ado-Ekiti.

Agbede told reporters that he had resigned his position as RTEAN Chairman since July 20.

The former union leader wondered why his name was mentioned in the media as a union boss.

He said a caretaker committee, led by Mr. Olalekan Amusan from RTEAN headquarters in Abuja, had been in charge of the union since he left office.

Agbede said members attempting to forcefully take over leadership of the union should be arrested, instead of linking him to the crisis.

He claimed nobody was killed during the violent clash between members of the union on Tuesday.

RTEAN members staged a violent protest, following the arrest of one of their leaders and former State Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Olanbiwonnu, by the police.

Agbede said he stepped down as RTEAN chairman due to what he called the desperation of Olanbiwonnu’s loyalists to forcibly take over the leadership of the union.

He added: “I was shocked and embarrassed to learn that my name was mentioned in the leadership tussle in RTEAN. If I was interested in the position, would I have resigned as the state chairman? I value my name and integrity. That was why I took that step.

“What led to the crisis was the arrest of Mr. Olanbiwonnu by the police, following attacks by his group on three members of the caretaker committee suspected to belong to another camp.

“It was those who were attacked that reported to the police, leading to Olanbiwonnu’s arrest. It was this arrest that made his supporters to destabilise the town. So, I have no hands in it.”

August 16, 2018
The dark gentleman

When the Greek philosopher Pliny the Elder opined that “there is always something new out of Africa,” was he not referring to the quiet storm of Zimbabwe?

The unfolding scenario in that country has no precedent in history. Where else do soldiers “remove” a despot and say it is no coup? Robert Mugabe cannot issue an army command, but he still claims to be president? Where is the power when the “coupists” negotiate with the “ousted” fellow? Some unimginables have happened: photo ops handshake and smiles with him. Under house arrest he struts out of confinement to a university graduation. His nine-decades feet still crisp, his slight stoop packing an authoritarian halo.

The nonagenarian is defiant, his removers seem complaisant. He puffs, the soldiers doff their fatigues. Everyone seems fatigued by it all, but Mugabe farts on the power transition. It is comical, but no one is laughing. He is abandoned by his wife Grace, which calls to mind the femme fatales of political intrigues: Cleopatra, Medea, Lady Macbeth, Yaa Asantewa, Livia. Grace was the heir apparent until her hair had no royal apparel.

Yet reports have it that when he breaks down in tears, it is not Grace, the 52-year-old scheming termagant she craves. She calls his dead wife from the days when he was still hailed a hero. The world swooned and pined for him to shepherd the country to the shores of justice. But we learn a lesson from him: If power changes with hurrahs, they don’t always usher in heroes. He was a hero before he became a horror.

Horror for the economy that grovelled for food, investments and jobs. He is not only megalomaniac, he is blood thirsty. He has taken advantage of the three great sources of human mobilisation: Faith, tribe and ideal. Faith was a little simple. It was faith in the motherland. He converted it into faith in Mugabe. He became the god of democracy, the one constant in the life of the people. Only the God in heaven could claim that. He could not be removed, pummelled opposition and doubt, and turned the nation’s currency into at once a pariah and plaything. It was faith in the motherland that turned him against the economic mainstay of its agrarian bulwark: the white farmers. He took their land and handed them to “his people.” It was black against white. He turned the concept of racism upside down. He pauperised his people but won many to his side. He looked coy when he was cunning.

Tribe of course was important. His Shona tribe took upper hand over the Ndebele rivals. It is a story of persecution, sometimes pogrom marked by mass killings, mass burials and a sense of false righteousness. Tribe also came in the guise of part loyalty. His ZANU PF warred against Joshua Nkomo’s Zanu PF. He always routed them, with fire, blood and money.

During the last annual LABAAF/CORA, a book festival held in Lagos, Nigeria’s poet laureate Niyi Osundare mused on the rise of tribalism that births such grandiloquent misfits as TRUMP and wave of right-wing populism across Europe and Asia. In my comment, I said we need to save democracy from itself. If we gripe at Mugabe who managed to fatten in power forever, we should not forget he was not the first. Even Hitler, Francisco Franco, the sawdust Caesar Mussolini rose to power on the wave of the vote. Trump was voted in. Duterte, the happy brute of the Philippines, is popular despite senseless killings. Vladimir Putin has become president, prime minister and president and a de fact Russian leader for life on the life of the vote. Mugabe never claimed not to be a democrat. They rig elections using the political machine. We saw it recently in Kenya. We see it all the time in Nigeria. Democracy may be the best form, it wears a false toga. We accept it even if we don’t believe it.

Men like Mugabe never believe they are tyrants. Neither do their faithful. So, a sense of justice drives them like their opponents. Hence, they have no compunction when they kill and destroy. They are not like the Satan in Paradise Lost who says, “All good to me is lost, Evil be thou my Good.” Poet John Milton shows that as the subconscious voice while the self is not conscious of this depravity. Mugabe is reported to have gone on hunger strike. Only the just do that. The last great leader who did it was Mahatma Ghandhi and he deployed it to change the country’s mood from bellicose to cosy. Mugabe is suffering from delusion of grandeur, which comes from a false sense of good. But he is no Ghandhi.

I kept thinking of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the tyrant who loved those who flattered him over the daughter who told him the truth. He died a mad man though thinking himself a saint. Nothing sums up Shakespeare’s best play better than the line: “The prince of darkness is a gentleman.” Mugabe still thinks himself a gentleman.

November 20, 2017
Are dark days of Eighth Senate over?

The Eight Senate will mark its mid-term on June 9, having been controversially inaugurated on June 9, 2015.

Two years in the life of a four-year tenured Assembly is half time; enough time to evaluate the trajectory and performance of the highest lawmaking body.

In the field of soccer, half time is not only a period to rest awhile, it is also a period to look back at the performance of the team, a period to amend one or two pattern of play, and a period to consolidate to excel and surpass in the field of play.

A semblance of peace seems to have returned to the upper chamber after a troubling turbulent start on June 9, 2015.

The emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President against the directive of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) threw the chamber into a revolting melt- down.

Smooth legislative activity became the first casualty. Personal interest soared. Senators appeared oblivious of the world around them. Intrigue, scheming, wily and tricks became the rule rather than the exception in the chamber. Interest groups were formed and disbanded. Clandestine meetings and plots took the shine off legislative duties. It appeared everybody was for himself; nobody for the country.

Like a group of spoilt children unmindful of the expectations of their parents, the lawmakers laboured to outwit and undo one another.

The simmering leadership tussle in the chamber reverberated far beyond the shores of the Senate.

Stakeholders were concerned that the country’s renascent democracy may be harmed. Distraught Nigerians felt cheated by those they gave their votes to represent them at the highest legislative assembly of the country.

The seeming foot- dragging of President Muhammadu Buhari to step in when it mattered most did not help matters. The senate boiled. A series of attempts by concerned interests within and outside the chamber to broker peace failed. Legislation continued to suffer giving rise to the accusation of insensitivity against the lawmakers. Something was bound to give way, some thought.

It may appear the dark days of the Eight Senate have been consigned to history. Saraki seems to have pacified and won over his troublers. The shrewd Kwara central lawmaker seems to have stabilised the senate and lined his colleagues behind him.

The prevailing peace in the Senate did not come easily. Compromises and trade-off were made. Rejiging of committees to accommodate some arrow-heads of the ‘Saraki must-go’ instigators were hurriedly consummated. Some appointments which seemed to have been in line with the party mandate were made. First, boisterous Senator Kabiru Marafa, who carried the unenviable challenge of openly pushing for regime change in the Senate, was named chairman, committee on petroleum (downstream). With the appointment, Marafa literarily recoiled to his shield apparently to enjoy the fruit of his ‘hard labour.’

The biggest loser in the political chess game was Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume who lost his plum position of senate leader to Senator Ahmed Lawan. Ndume was not only axed as senate leader, he suffered the indignity of being sent on suspension over allegation of failure to conduct due diligence in the matter of the purchase of exotic car for Saraki and certificate scandal of Senator Dino Melaye.

Senator Samuel Anyanwu’s committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions blamed Ndume for not conducting due diligence before drawing attention of the Senate to the trending issue of purchase of a treated Range Rover.

Ndume, who was handed a six-month suspension, cried blue murder. The Borno South cerebral lawmaker had tagged his ouster as senate leader as a legislative coup. He warned others, especially Ekweremadu, to watch their backs. Ndume put a spirited fight to save himself when he was dragged to the Ethics Committee. He told the committee he meant no harm to the duo of Saraki and Melaye. Ndume’s plea that he was merely drawing attention to issues that could tarnish the image of the Senate if left unclarified, did not convince the committee. When the hammer of suspension fell, the first of its kind in the Eighth Senate, Ndume was speechless. He has been stoic in his dealings ever since, savouring the bitter taste of suspension.

Although the executive arm of government laboured not to be dragged into the Senate brawl when it lasted, recent events appeared to show that all may not be well between the two arms.

It is rather curious that a government that controls near absolute majority in the Senate fails to pull through its requests more often than not.

Indication of some crack between the Executive and the legislature started with the controversial rejection of the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The celebrated altercation between the upper chamber and the Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, followed in quick succession. The investigation of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, was no less notable.

While the senate turned down the confirmation of Magu for the EFCC top job due to unfavourable security report by the Department of State Services, the upper chamber sent the Customs boss packing from its chamber for refusing to wear Customs uniform as directed by it.

The retired army colonel was invited to explain Custom’s unpopular plan to check customs papers of old vehicles in the country. Like the ‘Ali Must Go’ of April 1978, Ali remained defiant damning the Senate to go to hell with its order for him to wear Customs uniform.

The probe of the SGF over abuse of office for allegedly awarding mouth watering contracts to a company he has interest in under the Presidential Initiative for the Northeast (PINE), was another in the line of show of strength.

The Senate did not only adopt the recommendation of its ad-hoc committee on mounting humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, it went ahead to resolve that Lawal should be relieved of his office as SGF and prosecuted. Lawal felt scandalised and fired back by telling the lawmaker that they were talking ‘balderdash.’ The SGF also accused the Senate of unfair treatment by not giving him opportunity to defend himself. Not to be outdone in its game, the senate mandated its ad-hoc committee to re-invite Lawal for questioning. Again, the SGF failed to honour the invitation. The Senator Shehu Sani led ad-hoc committee reaffirmed its recommendation that Lawal abused his office through the award of contracts. Senate concurred.

In line with the senate resolution, Lawal was suspended to enable a Presidential panel of enquiry headed by no less a personality than the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, to valuate the Senate resolutions. Observers believe that the Senate may have had its way on some of the issues, the Presidency will extract its pound of flesh at the appropriate time.

One contentious issue that has dogged the Eight Senate and indeed the National Assembly is undue delay in passing the budget.

The 2016 budget was almost truncated by intense rivalry between the executive and the legislature. The problem with the 2016 budget erupted when it was unceremoniously declared ‘missing.’ When the fiscal document was eventually ‘found,’ the allegation of padding crept in. The padding allegation consumed the chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumini Jibrin. The Kano State lawmaker was suspended for spearheading the padding and sundry allegations.

The 2017 budget, on the other hand, took the two chambers almost six months to pass. The disclosure of details of National Assembly budget may be considered one major land mark achievement of the Eighth National Assembly. The leadership of the National Assembly, until this time around, has shunned agitations that it open up details of its budget. It is to Saraki’s credit that he has consistently promised to release details of the budget. When Saraki threw open the budget last week, it marked the first time since the country’s return to democracy that details of National Assembly budget is opened for the rest of Nigerians to see.

Perhaps, civil society groups who were at the forefront of the campaign for open National Assembly budget should savour greater percentage of the credit for the budgetary milestone. One thing is still outstanding though. Full disclosure should be full disclosure.

It ought necessarily to include the take home pay of individual lawmakers, allowances not excluded

The Senate appears not to be lacking in passage of bills. In the last two years, it has passed not less than 36 bills. Some economic related bills initiated to grow the economy and lift the country out of poverty were passed.

Some of the passed bills included Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act Cap.B2 LFN 2011 (Repeal and Enactment) Bill 2015; Public Procurement Amendment Act; Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, (Repeal And Re-Enactment) Bill 2015; Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Bill 2015; National Centre For Cancer and Treatment (Est.) Bill; Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun and for Other Related Matters Bill, 2016; Forestry Research Institute Act Bill 2015; Soil Science Nigerian Institute Act Bill 2015; High Court of FCT Amendment Act Bill; Electronic Transactions Bill 2015; National Assembly Budget and Research Office (Establishment) Bill, 2016; JAMB Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (SB 245); Food Security Bill, 2016; Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Est. etc.) Act Bill, 2016; Defence Space Agency (Est. etc.) Act Bill 2016; Federal University, Wukari (Establishment, etc.) Act Bill; Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme Act Bill, 2016; National Institute for Cancer Research & Treatment (Establishment, etc.) Act Bill; North East Development Commission Bill (Establishment, etc.) Act Bill 2016; and the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Education Institutions Bill 2016.

Other bills are the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods Act 2004 (SB 55); Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service Bill 2016; National Poverty Alleviation Commission (Est. etc.) 2016; Air force Institute of Technology (Est. etc.) 2016; National Sports Lottery Act, 2005 Amendment Bill; Nigerian Peace Corps (Establishment) Bill; 2016 Appropriation Bill; INEC Amendment Bill; Ports & Harbours Reforms Bill; Credit Bureau Services Bill 2017; Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Bill National Inland Waterways Act CAP N47 LFN Repeal & Re-enactment; 2017 Appropriation Bill; The Nigerian Independent Warehouse Regulatory Agency Act; and the National Sports Commission Establishment Bill and the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIBG), which the chamber has just passed. Yet,Nigerians are still awaiting other land-mark bills that would change their lives for the better.

It may not be a bad outing for the Senate, so far. It may do well to focus more on people-oriented bills and be more stringent in its oversight responsibilities to track appropriated funds. That way, the upper chamber may yet redeem its image that continues to hang in the balance.

May 29, 2017
Light in PDP’s dark tunnel?

Following Ahmed Makarfi and Ali Modu Sheriff’s sudden resolve during the week to cooperate with the Governor Seriake Dickson’s Reconciliation Committee’s efforts, there is renewed hope that the prolonged leadership crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party may be resolved amicably. But Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu and Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan report that there are still many bumps on Dickson’s route. How far can he go to save PDP?

Most observers and top stakeholders had concluded that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership crisis has deteriorated beyond political redemption.

Considering the extreme positions of the court-backed National Chairman, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff and the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi’s factions, concerned observers and members had dismissed any suggestion of possible peaceful resolution of the prolonged crisis, pointing out that even if the Supreme Court finally gives the expected final ruling; the faction that will eventually lose out would likely pull out and further deplete the former ruling party in Nigeria, which blossomed at its peak to emerge the biggest political party in Africa.

That was before Thursday, March 23, 2017, when the two factions suddenly agreed to a ceasefire.

Reports had attributed the achievement of the truce to Thursday meeting of the groups with Bayelsa State Governor and the Chairman of the party’s Reconciliation Committee, Hon. Seriake Dickson, in Abuja.

Following comments attributed to Dickson before the meeting, which the Makarfi group interpreted as a proof that the governor had taken sides, many had expressed doubts that the Abuja meetings will not hold and that even if it does; it will not achieve any tangible result. But the first sign of a possible successful meeting was when the representatives of the warring factions arrived at the venue.

While Sheriff, the current National Chairman, was represented by Ahmed Gulak, Bernard Mikko and Cairo Ojougboh, Makarfi, the Chairman of PDP National Caretaker Committee, was represented by Prince Dayo Adeyeye and Rt. Hon Dave Iorhemba. The Nation gathered that the first 40 minutes of the gathering was tension soaked, a situation that changed significantly towards the end of the first hour of the over two hours deliberations.

At the end the meeting, chaired by Dickson, the communiqué signed by the representatives said, among others, that “all actors of the party should desist from making derogatory, inflammatory and divisive statements against party officials, stakeholders and members.

“That the party should not dissipate her energy amongst itself but to focus on how to unite and be a formidable opposition capable of taking over power from the failed APC-led government.

“That all key actors in the on-going peace process should henceforth desist from making public press statements attacking each other and statements insinuating negative acts capable of dragging the party to the mud.”

They also agreed that ”all key actors in the PDP have agreed to work together with National Reconciliation Committee led by Governor Seriake Dickson to engender peace and genuine reconciliation.”

The first sign of a possible ceasefire this week was when Dickson successfully held a meeting with Makarfi on Wednesday at the temporary Secretariat of the Markafi group. Before then, there have been reports of allegations and counter allegations, which deepened the crisis.

At the meeting Dickson had said “All officials of the PDP at the state and zonal levels elected before the May 21 botched Port Harcourt election convention remain valid.

“My committee will also meet with other key organs of the party to present the template. But let me add that this report is not cast in stone,” he said.

In his tacit response, Makarfi not only promised to study the template but to relate with other organs of the party on the report before making any serious pronouncement.

It would be recalled that barely a day before the meeting, Makarfi was quoted as expressing surprise at the current role being played by Dickson.

Asked to comment on the current role of the Bayelsa State governor, Makarfi had said, “Well, I am as confused and perplexed like the majority of the PDP members, because His Excellency, Governor Seriaki Dickson, will be in the best position to know why what happened happened. I would be wrong to outrightly say he has ulterior motive, maybe exuberance on his side, whatever it is, I don’t know, but I want to remind people that this peace issue has been on for a long time. General Ali Gusau had hosted us to several meetings in order to achieve political solution, one of the highlights then, which was suggested was that, both Ali Modu Sheriff and I should go. I opined that, the problem was not just Ali Modu Sheriff and I, there are other party issues. So, for us to clear the field once and for all, I opined that, if people are to go, it must be comprehensive, not just the two of us. And my fear was when the Court of Appeal made its pronouncement that, the status quo before 21st May should be reverted to, which confirms all fears at that time. And status quo means that, all national officers of the party, not just working committee should return to their seats. I think you see it now? Any political solution that is not all encompassing will still not solve the problem… So, you will be back to square one and in the eyes of the court is that you would have carried out an illegality.”

Makarfi made the comments while reacting to Dickson’s unexpected call for him to step down in the interest of the party.

He made the call while speaking with newsmen on in Abuja, where he said the stage was now set for all the chieftains and elders of the party to impress it on the caretaker committee to cede its authority to the Modu Sheriff-led leadership.

For those who knew that Dickson and most of the PDP governors had supported Makarfi, the development came as a surprise.

Explaining, Dickson said: “When the idea of making Sheriff the National Chairman of our party was hatched, I personally kicked against it.

“I also turned down all the overtures from Sheriff because I did not believe in him and what he did.

“So now, my position is that we have to move forward. I am a politician of conviction, I am not a politician of convenience and I am not a typical Nigerian politician,” Dickson said.

Pointing out that the party had “come to a threshold when the right political decision should be taken to end the prolonged crisis,” he said, “The Makarfi led caretaker committee should remember that it was a brain child of the majority of party members including I at a convention in Port Harcourt.

“I and up to 80 per cent of the population of the PDP members were for Makarfi but the unfolding events have compelled us to adopt a political resolution instead of embarking on further bickering.

“As politicians and democrats, we must first obey the constitution and all other instruments of civil rule and which includes obeying the judiciary,” he said.

He also said: “ We had expected that the Court of Appeal would give us judgment, but it rather upheld Sheriff as the National Chairman of the party.

“Whether anybody likes Sheriff’s face or not, the Makarfi-led caretaker committee was stripped of its authority to manage the affairs of the party the day the judgment was delivered.

“It was in the spirit to honour the court’s pronouncement that the party’s reconciliation committee that I chair submitted its report on how we shall move forward to Sheriff.

Jonathan’s factor

The Nation investigation shows that what happened in the Abuja meeting has its roots in former President Goodluck Jonathan and other PDP leaders’ recent moves to resolve the crisis. According to a Makarfi supporter, who pleaded not to be named, the agreement was possible because the former President and other PDP fathers have persuaded our members that a political solution will impact on the party more positively than a legal resolution. “What truce we are seeing today began the day the leader (Jonathan) changed his earlier stance of keeping away to re-unite the party. Nobody wants to pull down the house, but all that we all wanted was equity and fairness according to law and common sense,” he said.

It would be recalled that about three weeks ago, the governors of PDP, after holding a meeting with Jonathan resolved to adopt political, instead of legal approach in resolving party’s prolonged leadership crisis. The crucial meeting was attended by the governors of Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Taraba, Cross River, Abia, Ebonyi, Gombe and Bayelsa states while Rivers State was represented by the deputy governor.

Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, who briefed newsmen on the outcome of the forum’s meeting with Jonathan in Abuja, that Tuesday night, explained that the meeting was at the instance of Jonathan, adding that in their resolve to resolve the matter, all interests in the party would be represented.

“He, Jonathan, is genuinely concerned about what is going on in the party, and he thought that an interactive session with the governors will go a long way to dousing tension.

“We know that there are so many matters before the court but we believe that a political solution will go a long way to solve this matter.

“If we believe in this party, we will all be willing and ready to pursue a political solution, which at the end of the day every interest will be well represented. That is the position of this meeting,” he said.

Doubts, skepticism

The resolutions notwithstanding, concerned stakeholders and observers have expressed fears that the principal players, Makarfi and Sheriff may not give up their individual pride and personal claims so as to allow real peace in the party.

Contributing to this fear, the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of PDP, Senator Walid Jubril, warned, while receiving the report of Dickson’s committee, that it was selfish ambition that was destroying the party, pointing out also that “Any attempt by any member to leave PDP for an unborn party is not a good decision. You cannot build a solid house and abandon it midway. We must never behave as never do well. We must resolve our compromises. We need two strong parties, PDP and other one.”

He advised his fellow party men to consider political solution, which he described as a ‘welcome,’ approach even as the judiciary is doing its work.

Even Dickson had to caution the two factions. While presenting the report to the revered organ of the party, the governor expressed the same sentiment when he said “We will also be failing to point out that whether we succeed or how soon we succeed will be based on the collaboration of all of us.

“Let us leave all personal grievances and ambitions behind. This party is not about Makarfi and Sheriff alone. Let us all unite, leave egos and ambition.”

He also revealed that Sheriff has written an undertaken not to contest for the position of National Chairman of the party at the planned convention and to allow the convention committee free hand to operate by ensuring that all party officers resign ahead of the convention.

Close associates of the principal actors confirmed at the weekend that the factional leaders were ready to give peace a chance.

‘We are committed to peace in PDP’

Reacting to the fears, associates of Sheriff and Makarfi told The Nation, during the week that their leaders are committed to real peace in PDP.

Former National Vice Chairman of the PDP and the Deputy National Chairman of the Sheriff’s faction of the party, Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh, who represented him at the last Abuja meeting with Dickson, expressed total commitment of the National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, towards restoring peace in the troubled party.

Ojuogboh, while expressing optimism that the current reconciliation effort being spearheaded by the Governor Dickson-led committee will spell peace and progress for PDP, said that Sheriff and everybody in his group are ready to work towards putting the party back on the path to lasting peace.

While regretting that the unending leadership tussle within the opposition party has adversely affected its performance as an opposition party as well as its preparation towards returning to power as soon as possible, Ojuogboh assures Nigerians that the PDP, being a strong and well rooted political party, will not disintegrate, in spite of its many challenges.

“Like we have said severally, it is the desire of the majority of our members nationwide that the party should be handed over to the people. I want to tell you that that is what Senator Sheriff is really interested in doing. All of us working with him believe in that assignment too and we will never be distracted in achieving that.

“Long before now, we have announced to the whole world that the PDP National Working Committee would as soon as possible organise a national convention that would lead to the election of credible leaders of the party. And now, we have a reconciliation effort that is supporting that desire. So, we are ready to work for the return of peace to our dear party,” he said on Friday in brief chat with The Nation.

It would be recalled the crisis came to a standstill when the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt on Feb. 17, 2017, affirmed Sheriff as the National Chairman of the party against a resolution of May, 2016 National Convention of the party that sacked the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

In place of the NWC and National Executive Committee of the party, the convention had constituted a National Caretaker Committee headed by Sen. Ahmed Makarfi to manage the party and organise an elective national convention.

The situation became further complicated when Sheriff challenged the development in court and got judgment, affirming him as chairman while Makarfi, supported by PDP Governors Forum and elders, including the Board of Trustee (BoT) headed to the Supreme Court for the final ruling.

Since then, observers had said the much awaited national convention may never materialise.

Unity convention

But following the turn of events, more PDP members now foresee a successful elective National Convention in which new leadership and generally accepted leadership of PDP will emerge this year. But the truce is coming even as the Supreme Court has fixed May 4 to hear the objections raised by Makarfi. This explains why some concerned stakeholders insist that the bumps on the route to peace in PDP are yet to be fully leveled.

“Yes, our members attended the meeting with Governor Dickson. That does not mean that the matter in court has been dropped. Until that is done, we cannot really say the legal solution to the PDP crisis has been abandoned in favour of a political solution. You and I know that a political solution can never be superior to the rulings of a Supreme Court, both in the case justice and of equity,” said a Makarfi associate who said he was not asked to speak for the faction.

Hinting on the behind-the-scene negotiations that led to the current understanding, Walid had assured Dickson that the BOT will meet with other organs of the party, “So that we can call our convention before or latest by June. “I want to assure our members that peace will return to PDP and all our differences will be resolved.”

The Nation’s investigation by Friday shows that the successes so far achieved by the Reconciliation Committee, especially the report and the communique of the last meeting with Dickson will only serve as the take-off basis for further negotiations. It remains to be seen if what happened in Abuja on Thursday, March 23, 2017, is truly a light in the PDP’s leadership dark tunnel.

March 26, 2017
Forced into the dark

Three visually-impaired Nigerians, who lost their sights to violent attacks, share their stories of pain, regrets and rehabilitation. writes Adeola Ogunlade

Ebong Essienkan is an IT consultant and trainer with over two decades experience as a software developer for local and multinational companies in Nigeria. As a graduate of Mathematics and a Masters degree holder in computer science, Essienkan was doing quite well, with lots of opportunities to further climb up the social ladder. To top it up, he runs a primary and secondary school with his wife in Alagbado area of Ogun State, where he gives vent to his desire to develop a new generation of change agents.

Things, however, came to a halt in 2013, when Essienkan on his way back home from executing a job in Akowonjo, Lagos, was attacked by gun-wielding robbers, who shot rapidly at him. They took his car and other valuables in it, but in the process, the bullet also hit his eyes, rendering him blind ever since.

For a man whose means of livelihood greatly depended on his sight, Essienkan had thought that all hope was lost. “My eyes were instrumental to my work. In developing new software, your eyes and other sense organ work together. My sight was the immediate tool for me to get access to information and use my computer as an IT consultant.”

He, therefore, focused his thoughts on retiring gracefully or doing something else. And then his family came to his rescue. They insisted there was no way he was going to retire in that tender age and introduced him to the Nigeria School of the Blind (NSB), Oshodi, Lagos, where they told him that he could be rehabilitated and empowered to carry on with his IT dreams.

Speaking to this reporter on the occasion of his graduation from the NSB, Oshodi, along with 37 other blind trainees, Essienkan said: “By the grace of God, I made use of the opportunity to do a one-year advanced course in computer. I can now reply email, do power point presentations, and access Microsoft word. I used my brail writer machine very well, so I can relate with the outside world well.”

Life as a blind man

Essienkan explained that his training has also helped him to convey information through words of mouth and various multi media platforms. “With this training in NSB, I am back to being a contributing member of the society. I am no longer dependent because of the loss of my sight like the average blind person who needs support to live.”

He also revealed how he and his wife are involved in training young people and helping them, so they can become contributing members of the society. “I am currently based in Alagbado, Ogun State, where I teach students and teachers mathematics, and I double as an IT consultant and school proprietor. Especially because my wife and I read mathematics, we focus more on mathematics, which is our way of contributing our quota in the preparation of tomorrow’s world leaders.”

As a passionate mathematics teacher, he also says he wants to encourage children to love mathematics and disabuse their minds of the wrong notion that mathematics is difficult.

Initially, access to computer was of importance to Essienkan here at the school, but now he says he can play a difficult keyboard. “I can handle the keyboard effectively. Life is back!” He says with that dint of elation.

Having also worked as a software developer over the years, ICT had become a second part of him. He was deeply involved in software development. He had also trained a lot of people in that area and is hoping to get back into it. “The ultimate for me probably is to sit down and develop new software, particularly software packages that are accessible to the blind. We have noticed that a lot of software applications are not accessible to the visually impaired. If I was not blind, I would not have known.”

Although the introduction of the Automated Teller Machine is a welcome development in the financial sector as it has made business and banking transactions a lot easier, Essienkan says the visually impaired community has been shut out of its boundless opportunities.

“We know that ATM machines are very personal and if you have to move to someone who will help you type your secret code on the ATM, your account is open to fraud.”

As an IT consultant and because of his current situation, Essienkan notes that he has privileged information that the visually impaired have been left out in some of the development stride all around the world. The internet community is good, as a lot of websites are visually impaired compliant. Although, he also says, some are not.

Quite surprisingly, one of the popular websites, Yahoo, is not friendly with the visually impaired, Essienkan says. “If you are filling a form to register for an account with Yahoo and other social platform, it will get to a point where you will be asked to enter a particular code; and you must enter that code. But the blind cannot enter that secret code. The secret code must be read and imputed into the system.”

So ultimately, Essienkan has an urgent call to duty. It is therefore left to see, how environmental factors will impact on his dream.

Expectations from the government

“Visually impaired people are a group of people who are contributing members of society and should not be left to wallow in the dark,” Essiekan says.

According to him, efforts should be channeled at making the brail system of reading and writing compulsory in schools, as it will go a long way in engendering everyone, particularly the upcoming generation to supporting the visually impaired in the society.

“For us to be effectively integrated into the human society, I think members of the society need to be abreast of ways of interacting with us. Everyone must be able to read and write for us, just like Mathematics and English language are compulsory in schools. Whether we like it or not, whether in old age or accidentally, the reality is that people lose their sight.”

Essienkan also suggested that the government and society should finance and subsidise the visually-impaired people from a generic point of view, because as he put it, “a lot of poor people are finding it hard to manage life. And it takes time.”

January 18, 2015
As the giant gropes in the dark

I find it hard to keep mute on the state of my nation. This I believe is due to the fact that I have no other country than Nigeria. Even if I relocate to the United States and apply for a citizenship card, my origin will still be Nigeria. It is this understanding that makes me take Nigeria’s issue as serious as my own problems.

The fact that some people refer to me as a critic of the government will not certainly make me quiet if I see that things are not going in the right direction. I do have a strong belief in the saying of Plato that: “the punishment we suffer if we refuse to take an interest in matters of government is to live under the government of worse men.” One cannot be far from truth if it is concluded that the saying of Plato is what is currently playing out in Nigeria. Many Nigerians have shelved their responsibilities of getting acquainted with governance. It is as a result of this that the government is losing its track by focusing more on the irrelevant things and paying less attention to the important ones.

Now, the defection of Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the opposition party, All Progressives Change (APC), has generated political uproar across the country and the subsequent violations of the 1999 constitution as amended. As the debate raged on, Femi Gbajabiamila said “the legislature is a separate, but an equal arm of government. It is not inferior or subservient to the executive. Their powers are separated under the constitution and it can never be an extension or department of the Presidency or the PDP”. This gives the question of why should the President order the immediate removal of the Speaker’s security details. This I believe is a violation of his fundamental human right as prescribed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which gives him the right to freedom of association. This action in itself implies that there is no respect for the office he occupies.

When politicians defect from other parties to the PDP, it is regarded as a normal political move but it becomes a problem when they defect from PDP to other parties. Both Governors Mimiko and Ali Modu Sheriff of Ondo and Borno states respectively did not have their security details withdrawn when the duo defected to the PDP. The Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly who defected from the Labour Party to the PDP also did not have her security details withdrawn. What makes Tambuwal’s case different?

The security agents that are supposed to uphold the nation’s laws have turned to political machineries. It is not in the duty of the Nigeria Police Force to interpret the constitution, but that’s solely for the judiciary. The reason given by the Inspector General of Police is not reasonable enough because it is outside his jurisdiction.

There is no part of our nation’s constitution that says that the Speaker of the House of Reps should come from the majority party. Section 50 (1) (b) only says “there shall be a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives who shall be elected by the members of the House from among themselves…” With both the IGP and the Attorney General of the Federation saying that Hon. Tambuwal has lost his position as a result of his defection is unfounded and a big blow on the nation’s democracy when those who are supposed to protect the laws turn out to be the opposite. After all, the duo are acting on instructions from above. It is absolutely not surprising when a learned fellow like her make such statements in Nigeria because Aondoakaa made similar interpretations of the constitution during the late Yar’Adua’s administration.

Nevertheless, I urge the APC not to put their whole trust on Hon Tambuwal because his defection could be a political plot to recover Sokoto State to the PDP as there is a tendency for him to go back to his previous party if he eventually secure the governorship seat. I enjoin the APC to be very careful and make their calculations accurate.

In a country like Nigeria facing security challenges, one could have expected the President who is the Chief Security Officer to focus more on how to put an end to insurgency or rather, bring the situation under control. But alas, what we have is false report on ceasefire. The insurgents continue to gain weight and strength daily. Our Nigerian Army are being sent on impossible missions by not providing them sufficient fire-power to engage the extremists. In such scenario, we expect nothing from them other than to retreat and save their own lives first.

When Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh was appointed the Chief of Defence Staff, residents of his community heaved a sigh of relief believing that their lives and property are secured. But little did they know that he was not the type they thought. It had been reported in the media that few hours before the insurgents took over the community, helicopters trooped in to transport his immediate family members out of the town; an act indicating that we are now in the era regarded as security of self, where you cater for yourself only and leave others to their own devices. This was the same officer who promised to solve the insurgency problem within six months.

Nigeria being referred to as Giant of Africa is an explanation of the saying “a single eyed man is a king in the land of the blinds”. Our educational sector has grown worse, the health sector has become dilapidated and there is no security anywhere in the country. The power sector is in comatose. Can someone define the word ‘giant’ as it appears in the Nigerian context?

All said and done, despite the Council of State in their last meeting passing a vote of confidence on the present administration on how the battle against insurgency is being handled, I found it hard to accept their resolution. This is not to say the President is doing nothing but his best is not enough as we are yet to see fruitful results from the way insurgency is being handled. I implore our leaders to focus more on national security and not tackling the defection of politicians. Its better the sleeping dog is allowed to lie.

Mubarak recently finished from General Agriculture, UDUS

November 20, 2014
In dark time

As rock hollows, tide after tide, glassily strand the sea, so do our hearts impede our spirited strides. As we grow older, wisdom shrinks in our bumbling husks to the size of the Touch-me-not, at twilight. Like feudal lords over serfs, a rapacious ruling class holds sway over us. The same families are still in charge because we have refused to take charge.

As you read, the Nigerian youth regresses into a fleeting fracture of the towering immensity and hope he ought to represent. More worrisomely, many of the nation’s youth seem to develop mental arteriosclerosis 40 years before they get the physical kind from chain smoking, binge drinking, gluttony and mental indolence.

It’s every man for himself; the ruling class will not bat an eyelid even if our youth is wasted beyond redemption, as long as their children inherit their stash of the country’s looted wealth.

The ordinary youth however, continues to perpetuate that sly, sharp instinct for self-preservation that passes as “wisdom” among the rich but arrant foolishness of the masses. Hence the successful doctor, banker, journalist, engineer, accountant to mention a few, amongst us, do not care about anything and anybody else.

Yet we pine for positive social change in which we could thrive. The few that claim to be intellectually endowed and progressive in thought amongst us seek to acquire knowledge and skills necessary to actualize their dreams of bliss but even this few have no taste at all for the vagaries of honest industry.

We live and thrive on a perversion hence when we cry for a historic revolution and youth-friendly society, our thoughts pander to a more permissive and corrupt society that will aid our mad, desperate dash for unearned wealth or what we deem our share of the Nigerian dream.

This is our Nigerian dream: a lush, breathtaking future that de-emphasizes honest toil and accords our vanities a caressing glance. We dream of strings of bank accounts at home and abroad; we hope to drive the best cars, live in palatial mansions in highbrow areas and enjoy the most lucrative contracts and job offers even when we do too little to deserve such perks.

Our lust for the fleeting banishes reality. And this depravity is pervasive. Decades ago, it manifested as worrisome and inordinate self-love; today, we re-establish it as the language of the socially inspired and politically correct. Hence the frenzy by which we seek out and worship industry titans, political messiahs, entertainment superstars and other celebrity icons. It’s all part of our desperate ploy to substantiate our vanities by seeking ourselves in those we worship and establishing a false intimacy with them.

If modern gospel of prosperity and motivational literature won’t make us celebrities, then celebrity idols, reality television and sheer violence will. We impatiently wait for our cue to walk on stage inside our theatre of the absurd to be admired, feared or envied. Our vanities cramp the growth of our human spirit: they restrict the resuscitation and positive engagement of our productive faculties. Thus we find it hard to subscribe to such faith, simple decencies, honesty and values that demand that we enthusiastically dedicate ourselves to progressive personal growth and realistic rejuvenation of the Nigerian enterprise.

That is why we have pathetic fops like Asari Dokubo and company threatening to destroy Nigeria and perpetuate ethnic genocide if President Goodluck Jonathan retains his seat or is booted from office come 2015. It is unforgivable idiocy and utter insanity for any youth to lend himself to such pitiful causes despite glaring political and socio-economic constraints that the incumbent administration foist upon us. This is not to absolve preceding governments of culpability but it is simply too repulsive in thought and action for the contemporary Nigerian youth to root for leadership that has done too little to improve standard of living in the country even as it gorges on resources meant for the sustenance of the collective.

A societal madness has begun to occur: bigoted, unemployed youth and bigoted, employed youth; lost souls wandering the streets of Nigeria’s major cities, day and night, like loose molecules in an unstable social fluid have begun to ignite. Thus our cities have become covens of immense cruelty where youth, fired by angst, a lingering sense of hurt and revolt, take alarming steps from threatening violence to perpetrating it. Traditional neglect of the youth as negligible integers of growth has evolved to dangerous generalizations and the demonization of peaceful majorities.

Today, economic forces create an overriding sense of disenchantment and futility among the youth. Additionally, the tyranny and insensitivity of the ruling class accentuates reactionary attitude and self-aggrandizing pursuits amongst the youth. The prominence of social justice and equality movements has dissipated as we become more concerned with identity politics than the greater good. Ironically, the ruling class, their close associates and scions are the only beneficiaries from this splintering of Nigeria into racist and more selfish associations.

A prevalent crisis of confidence has occurred in reaction to the social turmoil. More youths are feeling empty and without purpose yet we continue to moot revolution like the next best thing we could orchestrate after our last follies have fallen silent. We forget, still, that there is a time to speak and time to act; time to scream and silently orchestrate the inestimable violence of uprightness.

Our much vaunted “Occupy Nigeria” movement failed because the Nigerian youth is innately lacking in grit, honesty and ideal; thus we remain perpetually exploitable – victims of what George Bernard Shaw, terms “the stupid system of violence and robbery which we call Law and Industry” and an opportunistic malady that Noel Ignatin rightly identifies as “the original sweetheart agreement.”

Eventually, the Nigerian youth is written off and our grievances dismissed as the crazed rant of a pathetic mass of revolutionary impostors. Here, then, is the crucial temptation facing us; either we acquire at least a provisional and concrete ideology and the ability to commit ourselves to more progressive enterprise, or we expose ourselves to greater exploitation and disillusionment. More often than not, we are tempted to give up and retreat, in search of some comfortable, greener pasture where we can luxuriate and “survive” according to the idiosyncrasies and social conditioning several “developed” nations deem worthy of us; this is always the resort of cowards and the feeble-minded.

The alternative is to drastically overhaul our values to become more progressively inclined and concerned with the political, the economic and social; to acquire the competencies and the skills necessary for the tasking work that must be done if the social structure of Nigeria is to be even slightly modified. Solutions can never be discovered without profound understanding of law, governance methods and the economics and social organization of humane statehood.

It’s about time we cultivated progressive interest in such realms and practicable goals and norms for their actualization; without these, we will continue to flounder in the sea of often ‘well-meaning’ but ineffective good intentions.

These are dark days for the Nigerian youth. We are going through a particularly unpleasant form of hell but it’s a hell that we have made for ourselves by our ghastly greed, laziness and inarticulateness. But we have still got youth on our side and thus the possibility of change.

September 19, 2014
June 12: A beacon in the dark

IT was the best of times; it was the worst of times”.

These words from Charles Dickens befit the 20th anniversary of the most bittersweet event in the history of Nigerian electoral politics – the June 12, 1993, Presidential election.

For a fleeting moment, we tasted a precious thing: free, fair and honest elections where the people truly elected who they wanted as their leaders.

We thought that historic election would bring the best of times. Just as we tasted the euphoria of the moment, it was snatched from us for reasons we shall never understand; its annulment cast the nation into the worst period of military dictatorship.

June 12 showed the people’s capacity to exercise political wisdom; it also showed the folly that brews when a powerful few believe they know what is good for the people better than the people themselves.

June 12 shined the light of hope; its termination enveloped us in darkness. Some claim we regained civilian democracy in 1999; that claim is not completely true. What took place in 1999 and what is taking place now is but a shadow of June 12. Things are such that many wonder if we, having lost this great chance, will ever revisit the fullness of that moment. I pray we do. The fate of the nation and the over 150 million people occupying it hang in the balance. The past has not always been kind to us; we hope the future does what the past has not.

Two decades have elapsed since Nigerians cast their votes across ethnic, religious and regional divides for Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola.

Despite the passage of time, June 12 remains etched in our national conscience. It symbolises Nigeria. A day that began with full promise, ended in twisted disappointment because a cunning few thought their interests paramount to the wishes of an entire nation.

Since June 12, we have struggled to reach the level of democratic quality experienced that moment. Today, we live halfway between sun and storm. While better off than the bleak days of reactionary dictatorship, we have yet to reach the democratic level of June 12.

This is why we must never forget June 12. We must never lose hope that we can attain the level of democratic practice of that day. We cannot change the past; thus, we cannot return to correct the bad turn taken. However, we can dedicate ourselves to a better future. We can go forward to a new, more complete June 12 that has an ending as benign as its beginning.

The annulment of June 12 and the regression to full-scale dictatorship hurled the country into a severe crisis of legitimacy. June 12 reminds us that, although the vast majority of us want democracy, reactionary elements work to stifle these aspirations. These elements are not always in uniform. No military dictatorship could do to us what they have done without having its full complement of civilian lackeys and courtiers.

Against these forces, the people struggled for democratic restoration at great costs. Many of our compatriots spilled their blood and lost their lives. As such, the struggle for internal democracy has proven more costly than our quest from colonial independence. Sadly, if asked the identity of our worst enemy, all we can do is point into a mirror.

After fourteen years of civilian rule, June 12 is not nationally commemorated because of the power of these reactionary forces. Chief MKO Abiola deserves a posthumous honour recognising him for being so stalwart in his democratic beliefs that he refused to forfeit his mandate. At the costs of personal deprivation and his life, this man stood his ground. In doing so, he stands as our tallest hero in the cause of Nigerian democracy.

Many of those who have come to power since 1999 try to belittle June 12. We must not sweep the lessons of that day under the carpet. Those things will only reemerge later, in ways uglier and more resistant than the first time. We must imbibe these lessons that they may keep us from tragedy’s repeat and move us to finally realise the full blossoming of our political democracy.

Those who discount June 12 don’t do this because of regional chauvinism or anti-southwest motives. June 12 belongs to all Nigerian except a certain class frightened by what full democracy would mean for them. This has nothing to do with region, religion or ethnicity. It has everything to do with a person’s view of democracy. Reactionary forces detest June 12 because it reminds them their days will be numbered should the people’s will ever be respected.

At its essence, June 12 serves as a reminder that the struggle for democracy is never-ending. Just as there are heroes willing to lay down their lives and livelihoods to secure the people’s future, there are still elements that would rather snuff out democracy than let the people attain freedom’s stride.

When we talk June 12, we talk not about dead heroes and dead evil. We talk not about ghosts. We talk about today and the future to come.

At some point, this government must ensure appropriate national recognition for Chief MKO Abiola and those who sacrificed to protect the mandate so openly and freely won that day. We must safeguard one-man-one vote, which made June 12 a watershed. We must ensure electoral integrity where the sovereign right of the people prevails.

If things continue as they have for the past 14 years, we shall never attain the quality of elections or the promise of good governance June 12 represents.

The country has drifted for too long. The current government is long on problems, short on solutions. We have too much poverty, too much unemployment, too much violence, too much hunger, too much corruption, insecurity and disease. We have too little electricity, jobs, progress, justice and hope.

If we are the giant of Africa, it is a masochistic fellow who revels in shooting himself in the foot instead of feeding his starving children.

There are many lessons to draw from June 12. Here, I would like to focus on three of them.

First, the current one–party dominance of the political economy rewards bankrupt governance and corrodes the national fabric.

A more balanced system featuring a countervailing progressive party to oppose the ruling retrogressive promotes democratic competition that augurs great change. This is why agents of the inefficient status quo busy themselves casting roadblocks in the way of the formation of the new party instead of focusing on good governance. They have opened their bag of tricks to thwart the merger. But, there is no stopping an idea whose time has come.

Let them waste their time. After all, they have wasted so much of the nation’s.

The other clear lesson from June 12 is, given their free choice, the masses prefer progressive government. Thus, Nigeria is politically bifurcated nation. We have a hard working and progressively-minded citizenry under thumb of an unabashedly retrogressive political elite. The only way this is sustainable is for the elite to impose themselves as a quasi-elected modern aristocracy.

Third, June 12 was a product of an open, fair electoral process. Despite marginal improvements in the current process, we still have a grossly unreliable voters register. This is because the current hybrid, half electronic, half manual system is both engine and fuel for malpractice. To solve this obvious problem, we must demand a fully integrated biometric voters’ register that guarantees accuracy and eliminates multiple voting.

The use of the biometric system for elections in Nigeria should be non-negotiable. Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Liberia employed forms of the system and it worked in these cases. It is modern and reliable. Nigeria should not be different. Additionally, the National Assembly must pass measures deepening electoral reform by enhancing INEC’s autonomy and ensuring electoral tribunals are reconstructed to have truth and respect for the rights of every citizen as their objective. Currently, most tribunals and the legal processes they employ are constituted in a way that legitimates misconduct instead of punishing it.

Nigeria today stands with one foot on the rock and one in the rising waters. We need to decide whether we want to stand or sink.

Nigeria is trapped by a defective federal structure that promotes underdevelopment for the many in the guise of the vast enrichment of the few.

Twenty years after the happy June 12 election and its dismal termination, sufficient lessons should have been learned. I know that the conspirators now must have their regrets. But there is yet hope for redemption. The only way for redemption is for them to embrace a new thinking that will reflect the will of the people. They must now join hands with the progressives to propel a people-oriented government to office. Then the dream of June 12 would have been fulfilled.

Because those in power look the wrong, undemocratic way, they have learned the wrong, undemocratic lessons.

They have learned not to give the people the chance to truly express their political will. The current system does not foster the public’s will. The system squeezes it.

The system is so corrosive that even an election among 35 governors for the chairmanship of the governors forum becomes an exercise in blatant mischief where the loser is tagged the winner because he is a well-paid courier delivering to those in Aso Rock as they wish.

In the end, there is no end. That is the essential lesson of June 12. A nation never keeps democracy except it continually fights for it. To slumber is to lose. We remember June 12 so that one day Nigerians from all walks of life and all parts of the nation can describe an election as, “It was the best of times,’’ and mean it as the full and complete truth. This is the Nigeria we seek. For today and for tomorrow.

June 12, 2013
A cry in the dark

All was calm at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) last Thursday after a downpour on the night. The rain caused the ever-busy walkways of the hostels to be deserted by students, some of whom had left to read for their examinations. Those, who did not have exam the next day, stayed in their hostels.

It was 9:30pm. Suddenly, there was a loud cry from a bushy uncompleted building behind Hall 8 hostel.

“Somebody help me! Somebody help me! Jesus Christ, somebody help me!” the distressed person, ostensibly, a girl, screamed.

The scream drew students to the building to ‘rescue’ the girl. As the students ran towards the hostel’s back gate, some were looking for an inhaler, thinking it was an asthmatic seizure. As they moved closer to the building, the story changed. The rescuers started shouting: “It is a rape”; others claimed “It is a murder”.

In anger, many students rushed to the scene. Some ‘rescuers’ immediately alerted the Vice President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), Mercy Mbakwu, who called the Chief Security Officer (CSO). With the students threatened to move into the bush to search for the ‘girl’, Mercy pleaded with them not to do so before the arrival of the security officers.

The security officers arrived with some male students, who went in search of the ‘girl’ and the ‘rapists’. Some students claimed they saw a man running out of the building after the ‘girl’ screamed, adding that they could not “apprehend” the culprits because the access gate to the scene was locked.

“By the time we went to turn around to rescue the girl, the rapist had run away. We saw a pair of Dunlop slippers belonging to the girl,” one of the eyewitnesses said. The rescue team trailed the ‘criminals’ without success. Also, the distressed ‘girl’ could not be found in the building.

In frustration, students blamed the management for its failure to erect streetlights round the hostel’s back side and the car park area.

Mercy addressed the students, urging them to return to their rooms for a headcount to ascertain those not present so as to reach them on their mobile phones. She promised that she would channel students’ complaint to the management.

As she was addressing the irate students, the SUG president, Bassey Eka, arrived with some students. The union president led students into the bush with rechargeable lamps to search for the ‘girl’.

Female students waited impatiently to know the outcome of the search. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that four men were caught close to Big Kwa River, flowing through the back of Hall 8 to the staff quarters. Our correspondent gathered that the suspects were later allowed to go after convincing the rescue team that “they were travellers passing through the community”.

Barry Inyang, 200-Level Law, who was among the search team, told CAMPUSLIFE: “We discovered that there is an uncompleted building in the bush. In the building, we saw a man who identified himself as Maduka. He took us round the building, showing us different rooms where some workers sleep. We saw mosquito nets, which show that there are people staying in the building. Maduka told us that some of the workers ran away from the building when they heard some footsteps and strange voices, thinking that we are armed robbers.”

A student, who refused to disclose her name, said: “There is a possibility that the girl mixed up with other female students for her not to be embarrassed by the incident.”

The next day, students gathered in groups to discuss the incident. A 300-Level student of Economics, who did not give her name, queried: “How could the school leave the hostel premises unlit?”

Mercy Ajuka said: “If this situation is not arrested now, who knows what would happen next time”.

Others who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, asked that the hostels be well lit for security reasons.

May 16, 2013