The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Enough

  • Yemi Osinbajo…chastity is never enough

    It is acceptable wisdom across political and social circuits that the most virulent critic poses no threat to the devious and corrupt public officer. Thus no matter how brilliantly the critic articulates censure of a crooked official’s savage, mediocre performance, he poses no threat to the office and grotesqueness that the officer symbolises.

    Indeed, the harshest critiques have been known to bounce off the hide of the Nigerian politician as bed bugs fall off the tresses of the poodle’s medicated hair. This no doubt manifests as another malady in the Nigerian scheme of things. It is the ultimate malady.

    Very few people are genuinely interested in eliminating corruption and improving the quality of life in the country. Since the era when large segments of the citizenry, bludgeoned to acquiescence by corrupt leadership, swallowed dissent to hide behind the ‘Yabis’ of unrepentant government critics like late Fela Kuti, Nigeria has suffered freefall down the steep crag of institutionalised corruption.

    Very few Nigerians would dare the dangerous activism of self-appointed government critics like late Afrobeat maestro, Fela and human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi. The duo were two of Nigeria’s most vocal critics even in the face of brutal backlash from the government and its apologists.

    Today, we suffer the absence of Fela Kuti and Fawehinmi among others. What we have left are pathetic impostors pretending to defend the citizenry’s rights. Despite the posthumous honours accorded Fela and Fawehinmi, few mothers would want their children to engage in such dangerous agitation in the  interest of the collective. ‘Were dun wo, ko se bi lomo,’ meaning: While it is fun to behold the antics of a lunatic, it is anathema to sire one.

    Late Fela and Fawehinmi are no lunatics, but they are the figurative madmen by whose tireless activism and exploits, Nigeria’s critical mob attained a semblance uprightness and political awareness. Despite their activism, the citizenry whose rights they aspired to protect towed the path unabashed spinelessness. This emphasises the role of the critic.

    There is no gainsaying that since the advent of Nigeria’s democratic experiment, the nation elevates corruption as its cultural essence. At President Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence, state-sponsored corruption mutated into the Nigerian persona: bigotry, decadence, terrorism and official looting were weaponised by public officers and their cronies in pursuit of selfish political and economic interests.

    The Nigerian decadence, ingenious in pleasures and cruelties, became the politically-correct personae, an acceptable profanation of morality and rape of ancestral norms. Thus in Jonathan’s era, corruption’s chthonian reverence assumed the imagery and dimensions of politicised orgy. Morality became un-Nigerian as the immediate past administration evolved a program and formula for looting the country silly.

    Enter President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC); Buhari was  expected to clean Jonathan’s mess and rid the polity of corruption and administrative ineptitude wrought on the nation by successive military and democratic tyranny. Having sacked Jonathan and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with remarkable ease at the March 28, 2015 general elections, Nigerians believed he would rid the country of deviously orchestrated misdemeanours characteristic of Jonathan’s PDP.

    But like a recalcitrant bug that will not go away, mismanagement, corruption and a legion of more carefully orchestrated misdemeanours have resurfaced in the nation’s corridors of power, on Buhari’s watch.

    However, this writer would be committing duplicity similar to that which the incumbent government inflicts on Nigerians even as you read, if he fails to acknowledge the flashes of competence betrayed by Buhari and his bumbling team. Buhari’s initiative at establishing one purse for the Nigerian government is worthy of commendation. Mr. President’s military campaign against the dreaded Boko Haram is commendable too.

    Although, he has failed woefully at keeping his promise to rescue Chibok girls and exterminate the terrorist sect within his professed timeline, the military has succeeded considerably, at containing the terrorists’ activities.

    Skyrocketing inflation, rising debt profile and a weakened Naira, resurgence of Biafran clamour and other secessionist tumult, to mention a few, crept on the country in the wake of Buhari’s leadership. There are the usual hardships too, like unstable electricity, corruption in the oil and gas sector, politicised anti-corruption fight and cutthroat intraparty squabbles afflicting Buhari’s ruling party.

    Suddenly, the hero mutates into a villain in the estimation of an impatient electorate. The latter, split by ethnic and political bigotry since the March 28, 2015 presidential elections, yielded to greater animosity, political and tribal divisions as Buhari’s reticence about northern herdsmen’s murderous quests across eastern and southern farmlands resonate uglier narratives about his presidency.

    Then Buhari falls sick. However, in a manner reminiscent of late President Musa Yar’Adua’s ill advised circumstances, the presidency, allegedly held by the jugular, by a mythical cabal, fails to satisfactorily explain the actual nature of Buhari’s ailment thus substantiating dreadful conjectures by the electorate. Despite devoting public fund to Mr. President’s medical tourism abroad, Buhari’s ‘handlers’ and facetious media team have suddenly lost their voice alongside their wits.

    Now, we have Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the saddle as Nigeria’s Acting President. Since he assumed office by constitutional dictates and at Buhari’s behest, Osinbajo, a presumably ‘quiet giant’ and ‘unflinching enforcer,’ has attracted flak from the mythical northern cabal. He attracts remarkable plaudits too, which is scary.

    Nigerians should be wary of heaping praise on Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, lest he falls victim to hubris. We do not need him to be more ‘likable,’ ‘chaste,’ ‘humble’ or cut like a paper ‘intellectual.’ Nigeria needs Osinbajo to be more efficient. He should man up and clear some of the mess left by his boss, if he is indeed man enough for the job.

    Acting President (AP) Osinbajo recorded no extraordinary achievement as Nigeria’s Vice President. And he is yet to achieve any remarkable feat as Acting President. Except his closet and raucous sycophants consider his emergence as VP or AP his extraordinary achievement.

    No one expects Osinbajo to become an overnight success. No one expects him to magically resolve Nigeria’s institutionalised corruption and administrative ineptitude. After all, corruption remains a remarkable feature of his APC platform despite the party’s initial posturing otherwise. A cursory glance at the party’s current and estimated membership will convince you.

    No doubt, Osinbajo is incapable of ridding his party of corrupt but despite this sad reality and the hideous politics pitted against him, Nigeria expects him to perform creditably. He could begin by actually attempting to serve the interests of the impoverished and presumed dispensable divide.

    Unless Nigeria experiences ‘Change’ that reflects positively in the lives of the citizenry, Acting President Osinbajo will be dismissible as just another ‘ceremonial minder’ holding forte for an incapacitated President.

    Perhaps Osinbajo will evolve as everything but another disease of governance and civilisation. Let him remember that Buhari started out as a man devoted to wiping out corruption. He sought to do that while conveniently turning a blind eye to his inadequacies and self-imposed handicaps, or compromises, if you like.

    He forgot that nature and history only cares to identify individuals as intrinsic part of species and never as a lone genus. Will Osinbajo fare better?

  • Osundare @ 70: Talent not enough

    Osundare @ 70: Talent not enough

    A survey of Nigeria’s major newspapers last Sunday would reveal a complete blackout. Not even a quarter – let alone full – page advert featured to trumpet a major landmark.

    Save for a short tribute by President Mohammadu Buhari. Yet, it was the 70th birthday of one of Nigeria’s finest poets ever, a master prose stylist, an original thinker and, above all, a moral titan.

    Well, that should be expected in a land riven by philistinism. He is not to be counted among the tribe of politicians that can hardly boast any principle.

    Neither is he one of your wealthy tycoons with no identifiable business address, nor the false prophets in garish cassocks. Professor Oluwaniyi Osundare operates at a much higher intellectual and ethical frequency. Surely, only the deep can call to the deep.

    Indeed, what sets the Ekiti-born bard apart is not so much the gift of a unique facility that spews lyrical lines effortlessly – that prodigious power that infuses words with life and tweaks same to evoke the deepest meaning possible.

    (By the way, just anyone with writing talents can scribble anything.) Rather, what distinguishes Prof Osundare from the rest is a skyhigh moral capital, a fierce refusal to be purchased or captured, in an environment where intellectual promiscuity has quite become fashionable.

    He flourishes in the tradition set by Professor Wole Soyinka. Other than poetry, he has also been involved with Nigeria in the last four decades as a public intellectual. Whereas many have lost their innocence along the way in cavort with power, he remains uncorrupted and incorruptible.

    Two years ago, he was named winner of the coveted National Merit Award. Soon came the gossip that the trophy might begin to becloud his critical lens, muffle his trenchant voice, to the pleasure of the already fawning Goodluck Jonathan who had the statutory privilege of physically presenting him the prize in Abuja.

    That, as against spitting fire of old, the “people’s poet” might soon begin to “lick ice cream” like many others. It was a defiant Osundare who fired back a bazooka:

    “Nobody is keeping me quiet!” Speaking at a lecture organized in his honour in Ibadan, he clarified: “Nigerian government didn’t give me award; it’s the NNMA committee that recommended me; it’s a peer-review award. We were many academics on the list before I was chosen.

    This is the only award regiment in Nigeria that I recognize. “We must learn to celebrate the best in us. This is a beautiful country. We must not judge Nigeria by the thieves in Aso Rock and in the government houses in the states. There’s so much beauty in Nigeria.

    “We have a country to build, not a ragtag assemblage that we have now. It’s we that have to build it, not Indians or Americans. Don’t give up hope; don’t despair.

    It used to be said, ‘As long as there‘s life, there’s hope’, but for us, it should be ‘As long as there hope, there’s life in this country!’” Many happy returns of the day, Prof.

  • Wrecking Nigeria! Enough is enough

    My message in this column today is an answer to the statements which Professor Ango Abdullahi, a respected Hausa-Fulani elder and president of the Arewa Elders Forum, uttered in an interview with The Punch a few days ago. Professor Abdullahi said again and again that the North (by which he must really have meant his North-west) is ready for Nigeria’s dissolution. By that he means that his Hausa-Fulani nation of the North-west (or Arewa North) would rather see Nigeria dissolved than see the Nigerian federation restructured in ways that most other Nigerian peoples (the vast majority of Nigerians) are demanding. He has said about the same things on other occasions before. And various Fulani leaders have said before that they would rather go to war than allow the Nigerian federation to be restructured into a proper federation. Many have even said that they would start a war rather than see their Arewa North lose power-control and resource-control over the Nigerian federation. And many have bragged that the North is ready for war – or more ready for war than the South.

    One Fulani notable named Aliyu Gwarzo wrote in 2014, ‘’When I say that the Presidency must come to the north next year I am referring to the Hausa-Fulani core north and not any northern Christian or Muslim minority tribe.

    The Christians in the north such as the Berom, the Tiv, the Kataf, the Jaba, the Zuru, the Sayyawa, the Bachama, the Jukun, the Idoma, the Burra, the Kilba, the Mbula, and all the others are nothing, and the Muslim minorities in the north, including the Kanuri, the Nupe, the Igbira, the Babur, the Shuwa Arabs, the Marghur, the Bade, the Bura, the Igalla, the Zerma, the Bariba, the Gbari and all the others know that when we are talking about leadership in the north and in Nigeria, Allah has given it to us, the Hausa-Fulani.

    They can grumble, moan and groan as much as they want but each time they go into their bedrooms to meet their wives and each time they get on their prayer mats to begin their prayers, it is we the Fulani that they think of, that they fear, that they bow to and that they pray for.

    Some of them are even ready to give us their wives and daughters for one night’s sport and pleasure. They owe us everything. This is because we gave them Islam through the great Jihad waged by Sheik Uthman Dan Fodio.

    We also captured Ilorin, killed their local king and installed our Fulani Emir. We took that ancient town away from the barbarian Yoruba and their filthy pagan gods. We liberated all these places and all these people by imposing Islam on them by force.

    It was either the Koran or the sword and most of them chose the Koran. In return for the good works of our forefathers, Allah, through the British, gave us Nigeria to rule and to do with as we please. Since 1960 we have been doing that and we intend to continue. The Igbo tried to stop us in 1966 and between 1967 and 1969 they paid a terrible price. They were brought to heel and since then they have been broken.

    No Goodluck or anyone else will stop us from taking back our power next year. We will kill, maim, destroy and turn this country into Africa’s biggest war zone and refugee camp if they try it.

    Many say we are behind Boko Haram. My answer is what do you expect? We do not have economic power or intellectual power. All we have is political power and they want to take even that from us.

    We must fight and we will fight back in order to keep it…The war has just begun, the Mujahadeen are more than ready and by Allah we shall win. If they don’t want an ISIS in Nigeria, then they must give us back…our power”.

    By now, the rest of us Nigerians have become accustomed to hearing our Fulani brethren talk in these ways about the affairs of Nigeria, and about those of us who are not Fulani or Hausa. For us, it all paints a horrid picture about the realities of citizenship in the country called Nigeria. Even if the Fulani were an absolute majority in Nigeria, it would still be unacceptable to hear them talk in these ways about the rest of us.  But they are not close to being a majority. At an estimated Fulani population of about 7-9 million out of the total of about 49 million Hausa-Fulani, the Fulani are a small minority among the Hausa-Fulani; and they are a much smaller minority among the total of about 190 million Nigerians.

    Whatever may have been the privileges enjoyed by the Fulani in the composite Hausa-Fulani society before the coming of British rule, the only thing that the Fulani can claim as qualification for their dominance over Nigeria since independence is British manipulation of everything in Nigeria before independence (census, constitution, politics, and the pre-independence election of 1959) in order to place Nigeria under the control of the Fulani. As one British official of the last years of British rule has since written in his memoir, the British wanted to leave Nigeria at independence in the hands of “a friendly people”. The reason for that is well known. The Second World War, 1939-45, had devastated the economy of Britain. British cities were in ruins. Reconstruction demanded a lot of resources. Nigeria was Britain’s largest and richest possession in Africa, and the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta promised to make Nigeria’s economy even richer. So, the British went all out to leave Nigeria in the hands of a friendly people – the Fulani.

    By accepting to be partner with Britain in such an arrangement, our Hausa-Fulani leaders entered into something that was bound to hurt our country; and it has hurt our country very calamitously. Its most destructive outcome is that it lured the Hausa-Fulani part of our country’s leadership into an unwholesome mentality concerning our country – the mentality whereby they view Nigeria as their empire bequeathed to them by the British, an empire that they must forever find ways to subdue and control.

    But, attempts to subdue and control the rest of Nigeria, to subdue giant and dynamic nations like the Yoruba and Igbo, as well as smaller but equally proud nations like the Kanuri, Ijaw, Edo, Ibibio, Tiv, etc, etc, was bound to be an impossible task. It has proved to be an impossible task, in spite of its appearing to have won some ephemeral successes. The employment of federal power for a big assault on the Western Region in 1962 in order to destabilize and subdue that region and crush its Yoruba leadership seemed successful for a start. But when the Yoruba responded, their response shook Nigeria to its foundations. Disaster upon disaster followed. The massacre of tens of thousands of Igbo folks in northern towns in 1966, and the 30-month bloody civil war which claimed nearly two million Igbo lives, all together seemed at first to have subdued the Igbo nation. Well, look what we have today! Are the Igbos subdued? The peoples of the Delta seem very small in the face of Nigeria’s military might. That military might has been hauled at them again and again for over five decades, and they are by no means subdued.

    Even the relentless distortion of our federation in an attempt to pile all power and resource control in the hands of a federal government controlled by Arewa North, how successful has it been in achieving its objective? Sure, it has reduced our federation to chaos and poverty, and paved the way for Nigeria’s disintegration. But does the intended northern control of all of Nigeria now look achievable or sustainable? All there is to show is endless Fulani threats of war, inter-ethnic vitriol, religion-based disruption – and the probability that Nigeria will never be a country happily bound together by love and mutual respect.

    It is time the Fulani leadership gave up this ambition; it is time they join hands with the rest of Nigeria to work for an orderly and sustainable federation. But if they choose to continue to hug the mirage of dominance over Nigeria, the rest of us must now seriously begin to tell them that having no Nigeria at all will soon be the outcome.

    My academic colleague, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, says the North-west will welcome the dissolution of Nigeria. I respond promptly that we in the South-west will welcome the dissolution of Nigeria too. As for the South-east and South-south, and the North-central too, there is no doubt about their responses. Since that is what the majority of Nigerian peoples and Nigerians seem to want, then let’s be civilized men enough to meet face to face and get it done. Enough is enough.

  • Enough of that!

    Those who have had to contend with the debilitating effects of last May’s increase in fuel price from N86 per litre to N145 have obvious reasons to worry with emerging reports that the price of the commodity may go up again.

    This time around, the actual price at which the commodity is primed to sell at the filling stations is put at N151.87k per litre. The new price regime is said to be predicated on the continued fall in Naira value which sold at N400 per dollar at the parallel market.

    On account of this, marketers are said to be pushing to sell their products at this market value so as to remain in business. They contend that if they have to sourceforeign exchange at the prevailing market rate, they have no alternative than to sellat the new price. Alternatively, they have called for government intervention by way of subsidizing their foreign exchange purchases.

    Apparently worried by the development, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC, MrMaikantiBaru said he has not received any directive to increase fuel price. He however admitted that several factors necessitated the current agitation “especially the issue of exchange rate that has moved and we don’t expect any serious changes”.Baru further said that the review could be done by the right body which is the PPPRA.

    It is obvious speculations on an impending increase in the price of fuel are not without foundation. That much was admitted by Baru even as he has not been directed to effect any price increase. He admitted that at issue is the continued slide in Naira value which by extrapolation meant that marketers now have to pay more to import the commodity and will suffer serious business reverses if the situation persists.

    And when we pair his statement that they don’t expect serious changes with the other that the review could be done by the right body, it becomes obvious that there is the possibility of a price change barring some intervening variables. What the man has done is an admission that there are issues with the current pump price of petrol even as it is not within the purview of his corporation to determine when or not to increase fuel price. That is my reading of the situation.

    That has not in any way foreclosed possible increase by the PPPRA which is statutorily charged with that responsibility. By the same token, if directed to increase the price of the commodity, the corporation will have no alternative than to comply. That much can be gleaned from Baru’sstatements.

    Where that leads us now is the real issue. And if you ask the average citizen, he is likely to tell you that another fuel price increase is in the offing as there is no smoke without fire. This line of thought is further given credence by the logic of deregulating the downstream sector of the oil industry. By that logic, since the Naira has fallen and marketers have to spend more to import the commodity, the difference ought to be passed over to the consumer.

    That is why the marketers are leading the agitation for a further price increase. And if the government has its way, it may go ahead to further adjust the pump price of fuel after all, hell did not let loose when it hiked it to the current regime a few months back. It could as well accede to the pressure from the marketers.

    But that will be very insensitive to the current debilitating economic realities wrought on the ordinary citizens by the last increase. If the truth must be told, the reality on the ground cannot permit any further increase without sentencing the ordinary man to his early grave. Today, many families cannot afford to put food on the table on account of the economic recession which our leaders have openly admitted.

    Spiralling inflation, job losses and unavailability of employment opportunities especially for the youths have combined to inflict untold hardship on majority of our citizens. That is the reality on the ground now. The situation is not remedied by the inability of the government to realistically and effectively come up with social intervention measures to cushion the excruciating effects of the last exercise.

    Before now, governments have tended to justify proposals for fuel price increase with a promise that it will put in place a number of palliatives to cushion their effects. We are yet to see any of this come on stream. Yet, speculations are again on that another price increase is being pushed forward by the declining value of the Naira.

    The marketers have asked to be allowed to sell their products at their market value to remain in business. You cannot possibly fault them. After all, they are in business to make some profit.But can the Nigerian society as it currently stands survive another price hike? My answer is no. What to do?

    It is obvious that the current pass has everything to do with the declining value of the Naira due to recent exchange rate policy of the government that has been largely criticized for its inconsistency. It is obvious also that if the marketers continue to source foreign exchange at the current rate, something may have to give way.

    What the situation requires is some form of intervention on the part of the government. Some have argued that intervention by the government is needed in order to avert the foreboding possibility of another price increase. This school believes the government should somehow grant some exchange subsidy to marketers so as to avert an imminent price increase. To this school, if the government could grant some foreign exchange concession to pilgrims, it has more reasons to do so in view of the sensitivity and wider repercussions of the matter.

    There are some others who contend that the demand of the marketers does not seem to add up given that some of them are even selling slightly below the approved market price. If so, how come they are talking about price increase and non-profitability of the business, they query? To this, the reaction is that some of the marketers took to this unwholesome practice to remain in business and those who indulge in it may soon come to a head.

    In all therefore, it is inevitable that some form of intervention by the government is the only way out of the situation. Governments have social responsibility to their citizens. That is the raison d’etrefor their existence in the first instance. Whatever policies a government intends to implement must wear a human face as no society can possibly grow beyond its people.

    Yes, we can talk of appropriate pricing and all that. We can talk of generating more money through appropriate pricing to tackle nagging development challenges. We have also heard of the losses to the nation on account of smuggling of the product. All these may count as justification for deregulating the downstream sector of the oil industry.

    Bu there is a limit beyond which this reasoning cannot proceed without serious repercussions for the wellbeing of our citizens. That is the point where we are now. It will be highly irresponsible on the part of the government to nurse the idea of another fuel price increase. Enough of that!

  • Tears are not enough

    It is ironic that the tragic death of six doctors in an accident on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway has been attributed to the failure of the health care system. The victims were among the Ekiti State delegates on their way to the 56th Annual General Conference/Annual Delegates Meeting of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Sokoto. The driver also died in the accident.

    The Chairman, NMA, Ekiti State, Dr. John Akinbote, was quoted as saying that lack of immediate and proper medical attention caused the April 24 deaths.

    Dr. Akinbote told reporters on his bed at Saint Gerald’s Catholic Hospital, Kaduna, where seven other survivors were receiving treatment: “Those who died would have survived if we got good medical attention from the point of the accident to the Doka General Hospital in Kaduna.”

    What he said about the state of things when the accident victims got to the General Hospital sounds incredible. It is inconceivable that a public hospital could be in such a useless state. Dr. Akinbote said: “It became worse when we got to Doka Hospital, there was no doctor to attend to us and the only nurse on duty had no first aid facilities to administer treatment.”

    Considering Dr. Akinbote’s status, it is reasonable to assume that he knew what he was saying when he said emphatically: “I am sure if the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) personnel who took us to Doka Hospital and the nurse on duty had medical facilities to give first aid treatment, our doctors and driver would not have died.”

    Following the tragedy, the NMA directed all doctors to observe one week of mourning, and said in a statement that doctors should wear a black band on the left arm of their white coats.

    But not only doctors should be mourning. The country should be in sorrow, and not only because the six doctors and their driver died. To go by Dr. Akinbote’s picture of Doka General Hospital in Kaduna, it is obvious that the health authorities should hang their heads in shame. The same thing goes for the FRSC, which perhaps should have facilities for first aid treatment based on Dr. Akinbote’s observation.

    It is not enough to shed tears as people in power have done concerning the disastrous deaths. Those concerned should take proper action. Fixing the health care system is more positive than futile crying.

  • Enough of Rivers killings

    •Tomorrow’s re-runs should be a civic celebration to harvest votes, not a barbarous war wasting lives

    Twenty-four hours to the Rivers State National Assembly and House of Assembly election re-runs, voided for irregularities in the 2015 general elections, there is heightened anxiety, if not outright angst, in the land. The reason is not far-fetched.

    Rivers, in the build-up to the re-runs, has turned a crimson creek from heinous killings. News reports claim no less than 34 have already been slain: beheaded, clubbed to death or burnt, in fearsome violence. That an irate crowd in Omuku, bore aloft the headless remains of Franklin Obi, a local politician, in protest against his cruel decapitation, just epitomises a helpless people traumatised into sheer savagery!

    The violence that heralded the voided elections, held in March and April 2015, was hardly better. Indeed back then, opposing partisans, backed with election observer reports, claimed no less than 100 were slain, most of them traced to partisan rage, aided and abetted by the subversion of the state security apparatuses.

    Given the unfortunate turn of events, the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Rivers governorship election (voided by the Rivers Election Tribunal and the appellate Court of Appeal, but upheld by the apex court) may have inadvertently legitimised electoral violence. It would appear a classic case of how a court’s application of brute legalism tended to have turned the people involved into near brutes!

    But after all said and done, what is the state’s duty tomorrow? Simple: to conduct a peaceful, orderly and, as the cliché goes, free and fair election. It is a moot point however, given the heralding violence, if the election could again be free or fair. This is because of the palpable tension, resulting from the terrible sabre rattling, from both sides of the partisan divide.

    The emotive angling of what should otherwise have been a simple and straight-forward election is even more scary. If it is not a tussle for supremacy between incumbent Governor, Nyesom Wike and former Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, both Ikwerre sons, it is dubbed, by the Wike side, an invasion of federal security forces, to “subdue” and “electorally enslave” Rivers people.

    Ironically, it was the same “federal invasion”, skewed towards the Wike side, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was Nigeria’s ruling party, that was responsible for the murderous impunity that turned the polls into an orgy of violence and slaughter, which eventually rendered the results nugatory.

    On the other hand, the new All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government is framing it as a bounden duty to secure the polls, and make them free and fair. President Muhammadu Buhari’s vow to deal with sponsors of electoral violence in Rivers State, saying it is “primitive, barbaric and unacceptable”, issues from that very logic.

    Given the rivers of blood that troubled state has turned into of late, that cannot be unreasonable. Indeed, it is imperative the bloodshed be stanched; and the big sponsors of the partisan violence be arrested, tried and punished according to law.

    But what the APC Federal Government cannot afford is slip into the subversion mode of the former Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan. It was that government’s willful commission and omission that have snowballed into the present Rivers mess. Rather, it must secure the election with no partisan bias. So, any officer of the law caught aiding or abetting rigging or violence must be apprehended and punished.

    It does not matter which side wins the Rivers election. What matters is the process: transparent, free, fair and peaceful. That way, the process wins; and the democratic system is further deepened.

    But equally important: every perpetrator of violence, both at the 2015 election  and tomorrow’s in Rivers — and elsewhere — must be fingered and lawfully punished. That is the only way to dam the Rivers threatening but steady dissent into savagery and barbarity.

  • Enough is enough

    •Fulani herdsmen unleashing terror across the land should be checked now

    It has now become a regular occurrence. Fulani herdsmen take over farms, graze their cattle and thus provoke the farmers. In the process, many are killed and maimed. This is unacceptable.

    Just last week, the herdsmen moved to Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State and, in the process, engaged policemen in gun battle. The divisional police officer, Mr. Okozie Okereafor, attached to the Vunokilang Police Station, some of his men and about 60 villagers, were gunned down and houses razed. Also, in Kaduna, two policemen who dared confront the rampaging Fulani men met their untimely death.

    It is time to check these audacious criminals who keep challenging the state without effective check by the security agencies. It is hard to imagine that, in the 21st century, a country like Nigeria could still encourage itinerant cattle rearers who continue to leave tales of woe in their trail. In the North Central, the clashes between these nomads and farm owners have continued to provoke communal strife.

    In some cases, farmers enraged by the sheer audacity of the cattle rearers are known to have taken out their frustration on innocent Hausa-Fulani men who had settled in their areas for decades. It has led to dislocation of many, thus separating them from their means of livelihood.

    In the East, the story is not different. It led to an attempt by the government of Imo State to force registration and identity cards for non-indigenes in the state, Although the measure provoked national outrage, the root cause ought not to have been overlooked. In many places in the South West the herdsmen are known to have beheaded farmers and harassed them out of their settlements. Only recently, kidnapping has been associated with them. In response, the Yoruba elders threatened, in the aftermath of the abduction of Chief Olu Falae, that any repeat could lead to the expulsion of nomads from the region.

    We are miffed by the inaction of the Federal Government in spite of all these incidents. The suggestion that the government could map out grazing reserves for the herdsmen is laughable. The government has a pressing duty to come up with an effective policy that would rein in the criminals operating as cattle rearers. Unless this is done now, it could snowball to another social conflict beyond the capacity of the security agencies.

    It is unfortunate that members of the murderous gangs are yet to be apprehended and prosecuted.

    The Federal Government should engage critical stakeholders from all parts of the country in the bid to check this ugly development. The Afenifere and Oodua Peoples Congress in the Southwest that have spoken out on the despoliation of their territory by the marauding nomads, Nigerian farmers, state governments, including those of Anambra, Cross River, Imo, Abia, Plateau, Benue and the Arewa Consultative Forum should be invited to come up with ideas on what to do to arrest the trend.

    We should learn from other countries modern methods of cattle grazing. It should be noted that leaving the sector entirely in the hands of illiterate nomads  is an admission that we are not ready for developing the agricultural sector and promoting good social relations.

    We also call on the Federal Government to do a general appraisal and overhaul of the security situation in the country. All criminals, starting with those in illegal possession of firearms should be served notice that the days of impunity are over. The police should be equipped to apprehend such offenders and diligently prosecute them.

  • Not enough, please

    Not enough, please

    The Army authorities should further review the 10-year jail sentence on soldiers charged with mutiny

    The commutal of death sentence passed on 66 soldiers charged with mutiny earlier in the year is remarkable. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai, had promised soon after assuming office that he would look into the petitions forwarded to his office on the matter. Many civil society activists, human right lawyers, international organisations and retired soldiers who considered the sentence and procedures adopted as high handed and inhuman had called for a review. In response, Gen. Buratai ordered a legal review, after which he announced that 66 of the 71 soldiers so charged had their sentences commuted to 10 years’ jail term.

     We commend the Chief of Army Staff for ordering a legal review. However, a moral review of the circumstances of the said mutiny is also necessary if the end of justice is to be served. The men had been charged with disobeying their commander after they had been ambushed in Borno State by a band of marauding Boko Haram insurgents. The soldiers were said to have objected when their commanding officer ordered a particularly dangerous expedition at night. They, however, proceeded on the journey that eventually claimed the life of their platoon commander, a young captain, and a number of their colleagues. Incensed by the commanding officer’s poor sense of judgment that came at such a great cost, they confronted him. The act was consequently considered a mutiny.

    The soldiers also complained that they were ill-equipped for the battle. They claimed to have been given only 30 bullets each and no food ration.

    We note that 579 soldiers earlier convicted by courts-martial have their cases pending before the military authorities. We urge Gen. Buratai and the military high command to speedily consider the appeals. The extenuating circumstances should be given full consideration in the review. While the men are soldiers and should therefore be prepared for whatever comes their way in battle, it should be noted that they are also human beings who, like others, have families, aspirations and plans. The least the authorities could have done was fully kit and equip them for every battle to which they were sent. In this case, we consider it more of a collective failure of the military than the men’s. Recent revelations on how funds released for purchase of weapons and the general welfare of the fighting troops were shared and disbursed for other purposes should inform a far lesser punishment or even the discharge of all the accused soldiers.

    It is unfortunate that former military chiefs, led by Marshall Alex Badeh, who starved the troops of necessities, turned round to charge them with mutiny and condemned them to death. We recall how Marshal Badeh himself sounded sanctimonious when confronted with the campaign for a reprieve for the condemned soldiers. He blurted: “Is it because we brought them to Abuja to be tried that we have all these calls? They could have been tried, condemned, executed and buried in the field – all in five minutes”. The same Badeh, when he was being pulled out after his retirement, confessed that his greatest regret was that he sent men to battle without equipment. So, it was the military and political authorities of the day that failed the men and the country.

    We call on Gen Buratai to set a standard and demonstrate that the Nigerian Army does not operate below internationally-sanctioned values by not only releasing these men but building the institution.  We also call on the Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also a retired general, to ensure that all institutions of state act in a humane fashion. Institutional failure should not be blamed on individuals. At a time this administration is selling its change agenda to Nigerians and the international community, President Buhari has a duty to ensure a thorough review of cases in which the end of justice might have been ill-served. Cases of institutional failure abound in our country. Many men who occupied high positions in the past had used such positions to oppress and repress others.

     We also call the attention to the case of Gen. Enitan Ransome-Kuti, who was earlier dismissed for losing a battle. He is said to be a gallant officer who had served the country diligently through the ranks. Unless there are other facts unknown to the public, a single reversal is inadequate to come to such a drastic verdict.

    We insist that if democracy is to be deepened in the country, impunity and injustice must be consigned to the past. Justice and fair play must be given full effect in all situations as the military makes effort to end the Boko Haram insurrection.

  • TALENT IS NOT ENOUGH, SAYS MUYIWA ADEMOLA

    TALENT IS NOT ENOUGH, SAYS MUYIWA ADEMOLA

    TO most people, you can be whatever you want to be so long as you are talented, but Nollywood actor Muyiwa Ademola holds a dissenting view. Also known as Authentic, Ademola says that talent is nothing without education.

    The actor made his views known while advising school students who aspire to be actors and actresses at the BON awards book reading in Akure held last weekend.

    “Don’t think gift is enough, it is not. There are so many people that are talented. Anybody can act but one thing that will make you stand out is education,” he said.

    Authentic found his way into movie lovers’ hearts thirteen years ago when he shot the movie, Ori, which ruled television screens nationwide. He has been consistent since then with top notch movies like Alapadupe, Owo Okuta (Law of Karma) Fimidara Ire among others.

  • MTN: Enough is enough

    SIR: The recent decision of MTN to contract its Customer Care Centres across the federation to an Indian firm named ISON BPO is an exhibition of highest degree of disrespect to – its most generous host community the world over – Nigeria, if one considers the deleterious implications of this ill-advised and ill-conceived act.

    At the centre of this unfolding brouhaha is a pan-Nigerian firm, Communication Network Support Services Limited (CNSSL). The indigenous firm which boasts of about 6,000 staff (mainly young Nigerian graduates) has been a major manager of the Customer Care contract for MTN in the last half a decade, with a nearly perfect records.

    Although MTN argues that the need to maintain competitiveness in its operations informed the disengagement of CNSSL, yet it failed to register in public sphere in what aspect(s) the Nigerian outsourcing company was found wanting in fulfilling its contractual obligations to the South African company.

    The claim by MTN that ISON BPO (Indian) is preferred to CNSSL (Nigerian) due to the former’s so-called international experience holds little water – if any. The sermon that the Indian company will, henceforth, be trusted with MTN Call Centres across Anglophone Africa is equally punctured and rendered null and void by the exclusion of South Africa from the list. The last time I checked, English language was the lingua franca in South Africa.

    This is simply ridiculous!

    The incontestable market value of Nigeria will always retain her pride as Africa’s leading economic hub, hence the envy of her peers (South Africa inclusive).

    I’m not sure if the South Africans needed a tutorial to realise that Nigeria symbolises an unavoidable ‘foe’ that is far more strategic than a close ally.

    The path of sanity will be for the proponents of this callous and inhumane subterfuge to keep it firmly in the realm of thought ONLY. Nigeria has endured enough pains and agony from South Africa and its economic scavengers; this latest attempt to further alienate Nigerians – even in their territory – must be resisted at all cost. Now is time to act.

     

    • Funmilola Ajala,

    Lagos