The Nation Newspaper

Tag: eyesore

  • Minna: Real estate as eyesore

    SIR: My positive fascination with the 16-year PDP government was the transformation that the policies of this government engendered in the infrastructural shape of towns and cities across Nigeria. This was especially evident in the banking sector boom up until 2009 when Sanusi Lamido Sanusi introduced policies that threw the growth-curve into tailspin. This infrastructural shape transformation was seen in urban gentrification whereby expanding business interests meant that businesses would buy off decaying portions of the urban built-up environment and then proceed to transform these wretched landscapes into glass-and-concrete edifices that beautify the local ambience and also encourages other holders of slum leases to sell at good prices.

    Basically, I was smugly pleased that urban gentrification was progressing well and this was especially evident at the Mobil neighbourhood of Minna, the Niger State capital where decades-old structures were gradually bought up by investors. Alas, this urban gentrification trend soon slowed and was halted when the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government was sworn in in 2015.

    Over here in Minna, the crux of this gentrification was the planned relocation of the Bosso Market away from the Ungwan Kanawa area of Bosso province of Minna to a prepared layout at the Western Bye-Pass by the PDP local government council administration that ended in 2015. Regrettably, this planned relocation was put off by the current APC government and thence lies the issue of this piece because the linear contiguous area stretching to opposite the main gate of the Bosso Campus of the Federal University of Technology Minna that would have been gentrified by relocation of the Bosso Market is actually the worst imaginable stretch of real estate in Nigeria because of the sheer rot and unimaginable eyesore that this landscape has turned into.

    There is no worse descriptor in terms of dirt and general rank that this stretch of land describes. It is a shame that a government exists as guardian of the urban landscape but is blissfully negligent of this blight on the physical soul of Minna and by extension on the biological soul of Minna, if we would.

     

    • Sunday Adole Jonah,

    FUT, Minna, Niger State.

  • EYESORE: Deplorable state of public schools in Abia, Ebonyi, Cross River

    EYESORE: Deplorable state of public schools in Abia, Ebonyi, Cross River

    Promises of quality education is one of the cardinal issues that public office holders at all levels in the country  often ride on to get the mandate of the people. This is always followed by huge annual budget to the sector to show their commitment to the people. But to what extent do these huge annual allocations affect the quality of education and the conditions in which pupils learn? INNOCENT DURU, who recently embarked on a  painstaking  tour of some public schools in urban and rural areas in  three states-Abia, Ebonyi and Cross River-reports that many of the schools are in terrible state of disrepair and are largely fuelling the rising  incidence of children dropping out of school in those regions. 

    Ebonyi State Government House in the capital city, Abakaliki, is by all standards, a beautiful edifice to behold.  Everything about the complex says it all that a huge sum of money went into the construction. This goes on to show that the government appreciates a healthy and lovely environment.

    But few poles away from the exquisite Government House are two public primary schools that are supposed to serve as reference points to what the government is doing in the education sector. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The sight of the schools makes one to immediately develop goose pimples. The buildings of the schools, Central Urban  School 1 and 2 and Urban Community  School 1 and 2, are in a shambles and the conditions in which the pupils learn, absolutely unfit for where human beings, especially the young ones who are often referred to as the leaders of tomorrow  should be groomed. While the roofs of some of the classrooms have been blown open,  making sunshine and rain to have unhindered access to the poor children, some other classrooms are pervaded by sordid darkness.

    Regrettably, some of the pupils who spoke with The Nation, said the physical darkness is not so much of  problem to them like the  darkness that their bestial learning conditions casts on their future.

    “We are not happy about the condition but our concern is more about the implication it has on our future. Our foundation is not getting the right fortification and the consequence is bleak academic future for us. Our teachers are doing their best but the system is frustrating them and also making life miserable for us,” one of the pupils said.   That was the beginning of a gale of emotional outbursts  by both the pupils and the teachers who wondered what happens to the budgetary allocations to the sector in the state.

    Findings showed  that annual budgetary allocation  to the education sector in the state has continued to rise in the last three years without any commensurate effect on the condition in which the hapless pupils study. From a budgetary allocation of N2. 077 billion in 2015  by the immediate past administration,  the present administration in 2016 increased the allocation  to the sector to  N5.909 billion. In the 2017 appropriation,  tagged “Budget of Inclusive Growth in Economic and Poverty Reduction in Economic Recession,  the economic sector, which includes the education sector  got the lion share of N57.7 billion. A pupil of Urban Primary School 1 and 2, who simply gave his name as Uche (not real name), and some of his friends  were found battling to arrange for something to sit on even when lectures were going on. Frustration was written all over their faces as a result of their  ordeal which they said is a daily occurrence. Uche said the ugly development doesn’t allow them to concentrate in the class because they frequently fall from the planks they put together as chairs. He said: “We hardly concentrate in the class because we always have fears that the planks we place on stones can fall apart and cause serious injury to our bodies. My colleagues and I have always fallen from this dangerous sitting arrangement. This distracts us a lot.  I will immediately leave the school for a better one if I see someone that can help me.  A number of my colleagues whose parents  can pay the bills of private schools have left. My parents are poor and don’t have the means to send me to private school but I don’t like this school again.”

    Aside from the bad seats, a  female  pupil, Julie (not real name), said  she is always tensed up whenever there is heavy wind.  “Sir, look at the roof and see how some of the sheets are dangling.  Wind can violently blow any of them towards our direction and if it comes in contact with any of us, it can inflict serious injury if not death. So, when there is heavy wind, our attention is always on the roof and not on the teacher.  See how we are sweating because the sun is coming directly on our head. Even if the roof is okay,  the fact that it does not have an asbestos makes it to absorb so much heat  which comes down directly on us. It affects our learning. At times, we sleep out of tiredness instead of listening to lectures”,  she said. The pupils are not alone in the messy state. Their teachers and even the head teachers are also not left out. Unlike the pupils who have a place to call a classroom, the head teachers  don’t have any as the roof of their offices has collapsed forcing them to use an open space as an office. One of the teachers, who did not want her in print because she is a civil servant,  was close to tears as she shared her plight with The Nation. Taking our correspondent round the school, she rhetorically asked: “ Is this what a school should look like?” She continued: “You have seen the condition of our pupils,  now look at our conditions as teachers and head teachers. Look at the  roof of  our head teacher’s office. It  has collapsed on several occasions and she has always  used her personal money to fix it but it is not getting better.  When it rains, the office literary becomes a swimming pool as water will gather everywhere.

    “The whole office is in a mess. You can manage to enter it now because it is dry season, if this is rainy season, you can’t even go close to it. She has  abandoned the office and decided to stay in this open place to stay away from the danger that may arise from the dilapidated office.  With all the years she has  put into service, is this the kind of place that she should be using as an office?

    “The library where the children are supposed to be reading is also in a big mess. Several  government officials have come here to look at the state of things and promised that they would do the needful but we have not seen them till date. We don’t have toilets. The pupils enter inside the bush to defecate. If you check the back of the building, you will see the whole place littered with excreta.”

    Another teacher said: “We are in a deep mess in this place. Look at the roofs, they have all been blown away. When it rains, the children and we the teachers will have to run away.  At times, we would be beaten  by the rain to the point that these innocent children will begin to  shiver.  When it so rains, classes for the day will come to abrupt end.  This is affecting the education of the children because when they so miss lectures regularly, they will forget what they have learnt.

    “Anytime there is consistent downpour, some of them stay away. In the course of this,  a  relation who needs a maid or an apprentice may come and take them away. When this happens, the poor parents who are not keen about the children’s education will gladly allow them to be taken away. The population of our pupils keeps dropping from time to time. This is seriously contributing to the high rate of school drop out in the state.”

    The situation is not better off at Central Urban  School 1 and 2 where the pupils  sit on bare dusty floor to receive lectures. The classrooms  were pitch dark and were as hot as a bakery. Palpable heat emits from the roofs and the walls,  causing the pupils to be sweating profusely. To cushion the effect of the intense heat on them, the helpless kids used everything at their disposal to fan themselves. Some of them who had developed aches in the course of fanning themselves partially loosened their buttons and used their mouths to blow air into their bodies while lectures were still going on.

    One of the embattled kids said: “My friends who attend private schools call me a pig because I am always dirty for no fault of mine. No matter how much I try to be clean, the dusty nature of the class will make me dirty within few minutes of entering the classroom.”  Chiyenre (not real name), another pupil of the school, appears to have started developing  apathy to education because of the condition of the school.

    She said: “There is nothing that encourages us to come to school and when we come, everything here kills our interest in education. They make us look like animals and never like human beings. Is this the condition our leaders studied and became what they are today? They are treating us this way because our parents are poor. Our colleagues who left the school for other places tell us they have everything.”

    Bemoaning the plight of the pupils, an indignant teacher said: “The environment is not conducive for the children to learn. The classrooms have no furniture. Besides, they  are dark and very hot. You can see the kids sitting on dusty floor and fanning themselves.  Is that not enough to affect their level of concentration in class and by extension, their interest in education?

    “We don’t have any toilet for our teeming pupils. They make use of the bush and abandoned classrooms. This makes the whole place stink. It exposes the kids to health hazards. One finds it difficult to believe that this is happening in an urban setting. With what you see here, you can imagine what the situation will be in rural communities.   Ours  is worrisome because, we are very close to the government  house. It will even shock you that we buy chalks by ourselves. All these are happening here because the children are from the poorest homes in the society. If this were a school of the rich that can make case with them, this would not have been the story.”

    A parent of one of the pupils in the school who gave his name as  Nmamdi said: “We know that this is not what a school should look like. But we make our children to attend it to fulfill all righteousness because we are really poor. I heard that over 200 pupils in a northern school use a toilet and it sounded ridiculous. But I can tell you that their condition is better because they even have one. Here the children don’t have any. They defecate anyhow.”

    A youth leader in the state, Mazi Alex Okemiri, noted that enrollment in public schools in the state is drastically dropping. According to him: “Parents of many pupils entering  JSS 1 can’t afford the cost of registration which is about N5,000. After that they would not pay school fees. Recently secondary school pupils were asked to pay N1, 200 as examination fee while the primary school pupils were asked to pay N600. This made many  pupils to drop out of  school.  The governor later said he was going to refund the money to those that paid but that has not been done till date. Governor Umahi should emulate former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, by visiting public schools to personally  know their  problems.”

    “The burden of taxation in the state is making life unbearable for the poor rural people and this makes it difficult for them to meet up with paying their children’s fees. If  poor women take farm produce of about N500 to market, they may end up paying N200 as tax. This affects their disposable income and consequently makes their children to drop out of school. It is a common sight in the state to see girls within the age of 14 and 15  who are already pregnant  because they dropped out of school.”

    A resident, Magnus Ibe, berated the state government for allegedly abandoning education and pumping huge sums of money into construction of overhead bridges in the state. His words: “The bridges are good but they projects are for future use. The money spent on this is more than enough to rehabilitate the dilapidated schools and make our children have classes befitting for human beings. Of what value are the bridges when the future of our children is in jeopardy?  Whatever achievement the students record is through personal efforts and not as a result of the support of the government.”

    If the condition of learning in Ebonyi State is disgusting, then, that of schools in Abia State evokes pity. Our correspondent who visited some schools in the state reported that they look more like secluded places for rehabilitating  people suffering from dreadful contagious diseases than places of learning. One of such schools visited by The Nation is Alaukwu Secondary School located in Umuobiakwa, the hometown of the present governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu. The buildings are without windows and doors with the roofing sheets rotten and embarrassingly fallen apart.

    Judging by the repulsive look of the buildings,  one will be quick to wager that the place is not a school or that it has ceased to be one. “It is a school.”, one of the neigbours interjected when our correspondent unequivocally maintained  that the rusty and dingy environment couldn’t be a school. The neighbour continued: “You are right to doubt if the place is a school. The whole place is deserted because public school teachers are on strike. The state of the school is a slap on the community which is the hometown of the governor. Charity begins at home but that is not the case for us. What you see here tells you the attitude of the government and the predecessors to public school. Our children are schooling in the most bizarre environment. The school looks like where people suffering leprosy or violent mental patients are kept. It is a shame.”

    The Nation’s visit to Owoahiafor Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, in Obingwa Local Government Area of the state, was also revealing. Even though the teachers were on strike, our correspondent combed the area in search of the pupils. The effort paid off as some of the pupils cornered by our correspondent relived their unpleasant experience in the school. One of students, Joy (not real name), said:  “We always stand to receive lectures because there are no furniture  in the school. The entire chairs in the whole school are not up to 30. I pay the sum of N4, 500 as school fee but there is nothing to show for what our poor parents struggle to pay for.  They are always quick to send us away from school anytime our parents couldn’t pay the fees.

    “When it rains, we always abandon our classes to take shelter in  any class that is not leaking like ours. We have just this secondary school  and a primary school in the whole community comprising eight big villages. Many students have left the school because of the poor condition. It is mostly those of us that our parents can’t afford to pay higher fees in private schools that are still here.”

    Another student of the school, Ebere (not real name), also said: “My parents struggle to  pay my school fee of N5, 655.  As small as you may think the school fee is, a  number of my friends have had to quit because their parents couldn’t afford it.  We receive lectures in the most unthinkable manner. We stand to receive lectures and before you know it, we get tired and lose concentration. There is no how we can concentrate by standing up to receive lectures.  We don’t feel happy about this because they are putting our future in jeopardy. Education is our right and not a privilege. It is not enough to establish a school without providing  the necessary equipment to enhance our learning. If I have my way, I will leave the school for a better one in the city.”

    Checks at Amaisii Community Primary School, in Umuokpo area of Obingwa Local Government Area also showed that the education of the pupils has been in danger for years.  To get information about the condition of the school, our correspondent embarked on another tortuous  search for the pupils and the teachers who were on strike. After a very long time of searching, the  efforts eventually yielded the desired fruit by providing a teacher and the head of the parents\teachers committee. The  teacher, who preferred to be anonymous, said:  “I have taught in this school for many years. We have no chairs from primary one to six. The pupils sit on the floor all through the day. When they come in the morning, they look clean but shortly after they arrive the school, they will look like pigs as dust would have messed up their whole body. This makes them to suffer from cough and catarrh from time to time.

    “Apart from dust, hoodlums have turned the dilapidated classrooms to their toilets. They defecate everywhere since they have unhindered access to every part of the school. When as a teacher you open your table, it is the sight and smell of faeces that welcome you.  It is the pupils that pack the excreta on a daily basis because we don’t have cleaners to do that.”

    She added: “The long  hall we had collapsed recently when there was a downpour  and seriously injured somebody that was taking shelter in it. If the building had collapsed during school hours, you can imagine what would have happened to the poor children. As we speak now, the few buildings that we have are already weak. We only sit there to teach with bated breath. We don’t have toilets. The pupils hop from one bush to another to defecate. The children are learning in the most inhuman condition. I can bet you that those in government cannot allow their dogs to stay in these terrible buildings called school.”

    The School Parents\Teachers Committee Chairman, Chinyere Uzoukwa, said: “The condition under which our children are learning is despicable. They can never learn well in this condition that is not befitting for pets. We have written many letters to the government but got no response. The community is doing its best in supporting the school but the challenges in the school are beyond what the community can address. We want to use this opportunity to appeal to  our governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu to do something about the condition of the school.”

    The condition in which pupils in public schools in Ababene, a suburb of Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State, is awful and unimaginable in this  age and time. The conditions are simply a mockery of what schools should be. One of the schools, Ababene Primary School IV, is like a local drinking joint. It has just two buildings, one of which has partly collapsed. The other part without roof is covered with dry palm fronds which do not shield the children from sunshine or rain.

    One of the  pupils in the class said: “ None of us is happy to be in this place. When the sun shines, it comes straight on our heads. When it also rains, it comes straight on our heads. While we can manage to endure the scotching sun to stay in the class and listen to our teacher, it is impossible for us to stay in this kind of place when it rains. We  always get drenched and our books soaked with water when it rains suddenly. This makes us to be feverish. When it rains for many days, we would not come to school because there is no place for us to hide from the rain.”

    In the other building, the pupils were seen sitting on stones in the course of receiving lectures. Because they have no tables to write, they all turned their laps to one. One of the pupils said: “We are not different from crawling animals because we sit, write and do everything on this  dusty ground.  Our notebooks are always looking like what pigs trampled upon because of the dusty floor.  As students, we are supposed to be looking neat but the classrooms don’t make this possible. We are always not better than mechanics  or our parents who go to farms because the dusty classrooms  messes our bodies up. This does not make us to learn well.  Apart from messing up our books and bodies, the dusty floor also makes us to have cough and catarrh very often.”

    Apart from the students, the teachers are also unhappy with the condition of the school. One of them said: “We are suffering a great deal here. We are objects of ridicule and humiliation in the community. Teaching as far as we have it here is not a noble profession. The government doesn’t show any concern for either the teachers or the pupils. Some of us are owed five months salary, while some are being owed more than seven months salary. “Yet, they still don’t deem it fit to provide us with what we need to teach the pupils. We always have to borrow money to buy chalk, diary , registers and other materials since the government is not showing any concern. What is keeping us here is our love for the children and our commitment to giving them a better future.”

    Another aggrieved teacher said: “Imagine, our head teachers don’t have offices.  Their office was in the collapsed building. Since there is no alternative for them, they now sit under this mango tree. Because of this, they get exposed to all manners of insults. If you discipline a child today, tomorrow, the family members will storm our office under the mango tree and give us the beating of our lives. This happens simply because they have unrestricted access to us under the tree.

    “If we are in an office and they need to knock before entering, it would not be like that. People constantly treat us with contempt because the government itself has dehumanised us. if you ask any of the children if they will like to be teachers in future, they will all say God forbid. This is as a result of what they see happening to us. The government should have a rethink and do something about our situation and that of the pupils.”

    Pupils are susceptible to health, psychological problems- Medical doctor, psychologist

    Enumerating the health implications of the untidy  conditions the pupils learn, a public health expert, Dr Rotimi Adesanya, said: “The habit of going to open toilet makes the kids to be susceptible to suffering from water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, Hepatitis A and E. This is because flies feast on the excreta and go on to perch on their food. “The dusty floor can also cause asthma for the kids and for those that already have it, it can worsen it for them. Urgent steps need to be taken to address such unhealthy conditions.”

    A psychologist, Diran Abayomi, said, the despicable conditions the pupils are studying, could make them to have inferiority complex when they meet with their colleagues from better schools, adding: “Apart from this, the conditions will impact negatively on their level of concentration. Many of them will not pay attention to what they are being taught. Many of them will ultimately lose interest in education. Another problem that can arise from this is that, since hoodlums sometimes hang out in some of such schools, some of the pupils may begin to imbibe bad characters. This could be responsible for the growing menace of Skolombo Boys in Cross River and militancy in the Niger Delta region.

    Our governors  are tackling  the problems -Commissioners

    The Commissioner for Education in Ebonyi State, Prof John Eke,    in a telephone chat with  The Nation, debunked the claims that the government is in sensitive to the situation in the public schools, saying that the state government has never rested on its oars in the its quest to make public schools attractive to the people.

    According to him, “The government of Ebonyi State has renovated more than 100 schools. We constructed and distributed 50, 000 furniture for the  children.  We have also transformed blackboards to whiteboards. We  are also retraining our teachers. We are also paying them salary on or before 15th of every month. We have done our usual promotion to motivate them.

    “The project to supply furniture was launched three days ago ( penultimate Friday). As I am speaking with you now,  they are being distributed to every school. The government has spent N1.7billion for renovation. We have intervention fund from the Universal Basic Education Commission. Past administrations couldn’t access it because of counterpart funding. While we are renovating and building new ones, we are also setting up some schools.”

    His  Cross River counterpart, Mr Goddy Ettah, also defended the state government about the situation in some of the schools in the state. He said: “Contracts  have just been awarded as an intervention to  improve the infrastructure in our public primary schools. Recruitment has also been done to make up for the shortfall in the number of teachers.  That is for primary schools.

    “Talking about the secondary schools, the government has just taken over about 15 community schools. Before, we had automatic promotion of school principals. When the position of a principal is vacant, the vice principal becomes the principal. Now, there is an interview process. With this, a vice principal cannot automatically become a principal and principal in one school cannot become one in another school. We are  trying to put round pegs in round holes and square pegs in square holes.

    “We have increased our monitoring and supervision.  We have also improved security in our schools. Recently, a team from Canada came to conduct a need assessment to enable the state government know where to intervene. You don’t intervene in a problem you don’t know. You need to know the problem.”

    Also speaking, the Abia State Commissioner for Education, Prof Ikechi Mgbeoji, admitted that some schools in parts  of the state are in bad state, but added that the government is frantically addressing the situation.

    He said: “We have a lope-sided construction of schools in the state. Many schools in Abia South Senatorial Zone are better than those in Abia North.  Abia South produced the governor. If  you look at schools in this place,  they look quite terrible.

    “But we  have renovated  28 schools across the senatorial zones. We have built toilets each  for 13 schools now. We are working on improving infrastructure for the schools. We have also done 13 boreholes in some schools.”

  • Eyesore! Ogun grapples with threat of epidemics, as corpses litter major roads

    Eyesore! Ogun grapples with threat of epidemics, as corpses litter major roads

    Why should dead bodies be left to decompose unattended to in the open in this day and age? Is it the collapse of a system, bureaucratic bottleneck or ignorance of the dangers to society? These are the questions Daniel Adeleye sought answers to; as he attempted to unravel the reason behind what has become an eyesore in parts of Ogun State.

    Dateline: Tuesday, July 26 2016
    Time: 7:45
    Location: Asbestos/Imperial area, off Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway

    A blast of cold filled the air, as workers trooped in their large numbers to resume at their various offices/work-places. Many more were still trooping out of the popular Lagos yellow mini-buses otherwise known as danfo, while some had come in via the Lagbuses. Asbestos/Imperial area in Sango-Ota is not new to such hurly-burly and human and vehicular traffic due to the huge presence of factories cottage industries in the area and Sango-Ota area in general.

    The axis also serves as gateway to neighbouring Republic of Benin as well as other satellite settlements, hence the daily crowd of people, especially on work days. The same scenario plays out every end of work, naturally.  But there is something unusual this particular morning. Even before he caught the foul air, this reporter had noticed a certain briskness in the passers-by as they surged ahead of him.

    More unusually, nearly everybody covered their noses. Some with their palms, others with hankerchiefs. Those who didn’t have handkerchiefs, made do with tips of their clothes, and some – the females – used their handbags; whatever that was meant to achieve.

    Huge odoriferous stench rent the air, which grew stronger as movement progressed. Just as this reporter made to ask what it was that was causing such atmospheric discomfort, he spotted a lifeless body of a human being right ahead of him, already decomposing. The wind wailed, as bottle flies buzzed with excitement, even as people warded them off from coming near them. Women held their breasts; children recoiled with fear and horror, holding tight onto their mothers; while the men shook their heads in pity and dismay, even as they spat out their contaminated spittle.

    Many cursed their luck that brought them that way; and many like this reporter, must have wondered why the corpse was left to rot away in the open and become such a nuisance in this day and age. What exactly are the relevant authorities doing?

    But that is just one instance. The most recent as a matter of fact.

    Dateline: Monday December 21, 2015

    Location: Sango Overhead Bridge

    One cannot forget in a hurry the horrific image of a decomposing corpse, dumped right on the Sango Overhead Bridge, not too far from the site of the above narrative. As is typical of a Monday, people were heading for their normal business activities, with many hoping for a fruitful week, especially with the harsh economy that was beginning to bite really hard, following the downturn in global crude oil price. But lo and behold, a young woman’s corpse lay conspicuously on the bridge. You really couldn’t miss it, except if you took some other alternative route or lucky to have somebody warn you ahead.

    Worse, her private parts had been removed; giving way to suspicion that the victim was killed for ritual.

    Most disappointingly, the carcass remained on the spot for several days, probably weeks, constituting unimaginable discomfort to road users and people going about their business activities at the makeshift market below the bridge… until whatever was left was mercifully evacuated just before Christmas.

    Of course, it left a sour taste on the palate of those whom, for certain reasons, inevitably had to pass through or near the spot during those horrible days.

    A source told The Nation that the fear of indiscriminate arrests by the police caused many to desert the place. One of them, a lady said, “Nobody could tell how the corpse got there, so nobody wanted to be saddled with the responsibility of writing a statement and explaining what they knew nothing about.

    Headless body at Ijako/Owode

    No sooner had the Sango-Overhead Bridge people heaved a sigh of relief and began enjoying free air again, than the horror shifted to Ijako/Owode axis, also in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area.  A headless body, most probably another victim of ritualists, lay by the roadside, causing commotion and literally shutting down commercial activities in its immediate environment. Walking past, especially in the later days of the rotting corpse became a sight only for the steel-minded, while the poignant odour caused many to nearly suffocate, as they tried unsuccessfully to hold out the bad air.

    The horror lasted some odd days; and that was despite repeated calls on the appropriate quarters in the local government to wake up to their duty.

    Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Long Bridge

    Recently, another corpse was left to rot in the open for days at Kara area of Obafemi-Owode Local Government, by the long bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, as one approached Lagos. It caused such huge atmospheric discomfort, until the Fulani herdsmen, who graze their cattle in the area, were left with no choice but to cover it with sawdust and cremate it.

    According to residents and regular passers-by, about three such cases had earlier occurred in the last four months in that axis, which falls under the control of Obafemi Owode and Ifo Local Governments. They alleged that it is either the relevant government agencies came late or never came at all, leaving the decomposing corpses to literally disappear through the help of natural elements like the sun, wind, rain and unsuspecting pedestrians.

    Sagamu Local Government is not left out in this tales of woe. Around July 2014, a few days to the annual Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) convention, a corpse was dumped directly opposite the Redemption Camp along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The corpse was ignored for days until it ruptured and pandemonium broke. All businesses and human activities around the area literally shut down until the remains were mercifully evacuated.

    Shame of a state

    The above may just be few of cases like this in Ogun State. Going by the indices, it may also be concluded that the departments responsible for keeping the environment free of such unclaimed human corpses, lack direction and therefore need some rejuvenating. Ogun State is by all ramifications, a frontline state in Nigeria and perhaps Africa, when it comes to civilisation, having enjoyed some of the earliest contacts with the modern world. The state boasts of some of the most recognisable elites the nation has ever produced, including the best educational heritage and facilities dating as far back as over a century and half; not to talk of its enviable position as host to the highest number of universities in the country. Add this to what has been acclaimed as the state’s remarkable performance in terms of revenue generation and infrastructural development and you begin to wonder where the crack occurred.

    Do the local governments under which these ugly occurrences play out understand the plight of people living and doing business in these areas? What is the supervisory ministry doing? Is it that Oke-Mosan, the seat of the Ogun State government never listens to the radio or television? Do they even understand the health implications for the people, and the psychological impact such decomposing corpses could be having on young people? What does such negligence portend of our regard for the human being?

    At the Imperial/Asbestos area late July, the first direct respondent to The Nation’s enquiries was Adekunle, a carpenter, who had come to help his colleague on a furniture job in the area. Many people, including those who operate small businesses in kiosks in the area and even managements of some of the big and medium scale companies around declined to comment. But Adekunle, who wore a deep pensive expression, chided government officials, for their failure to act with speed, thereby leaving the corpse to decompose and cause the public so much hardship.

    He said the odour that emanated from the corpse so decimated him psychologically, that it took him two days to fully get himself back.

    “As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have a responsible government in this part of the world and it’s very sad. Immediately the corpse was sighted here, we learned from a reliable source that companies around us here teamed up and went to complain at the local government, but yet there was no intervention.

    “I came here to work that Monday, but after spending a few hours, I had to leave because of the bad stench emitting from the corpse. I know how much I spent to treat myself before I could regain myself. Thank God I didn’t bring my son, who had insisted on coming with me.”

    Even though the corpse had finally been interred about 24 hours before The Nation got to this particular scene, the stench generated still filled the atmosphere. The refusal of the companies to comment on the matter made it difficult to understand how much the incident affected their activities and productivity or how much pressure they even put on the authorities. However, a protocol officer who didn’t want either his name or that of his company mentioned, said when they got to the director of Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation in Ado-odo/Ota Local Government on a Monday, two days after the corpse was dumped at a junction leading to their company, they were told at the environmental office that the police and Chief Magistrate needed to sign a warrant paper before such corpse could be evacuated. They said without these signed papers, the environmental department of the council could not do anything.

    He however said the story remained the same when they went back the following day. By Wednesday, the head of the environmental section told them that both the police and the Chief Magistrate of Sango-Ota division had assented to the warrant form, but the post- mortem had to be done on the body before it could be buried.

    He said: “At this point, we pleaded with the officer that even if the post- mortem would be done before the burial, they should at least evacuate it from the spot to the mortuary. But he insisted that his department would not do anything until all the due processes were followed.”

    On the impact on his organisation, he said, it constituted psychological trauma on their workers and customers; and that’s aside the health and environmental hazards.

    “Our workers and customers were more or less having their freedom of movement infringed, because most of them started nursing fears of possible indiscriminate arrest by the police. Nobody could explain how the corpse got there, whether it was a victim of assailants or ritualists and investigation could be going on underground.

    “And for us as a company and the kind of products that we produce, it is important for us to do away with anything that could contaminate our environment,” he explained.

    The role of the public health officers can definitely not be over-emphasized in this regard. They have control of all factors that may have direct or indirect effect on physical, social or mental wellbeing of citizens in the society. The question however is if they are still really up to the task. Why are they treating cases of decomposing corpse with kid gloves?

    In his own submission, the Director of Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, Ado-odo/Ota Local Government, Alhaji Isiaka Alabi Onifade, told our reporter that in any organised entity, there are usually procedures that must be followed in doing things. He said environmental and health officials have no power of their own to bury any corpse, whose source of death had not been ascertained.

    He opined that the delay in evacuating corpses in public places often comes from the police and the magistrate, who must sign the warrant form, before evacuation and burial could take place.

    “There are some steps which have to be taken before we can do anything. Nowadays, a judge will request for a pathological report on such a body before signing the warrant paper for the burial; and it takes a whole lot of time to get a pathologist,” he stressed.

    Asked why such corpse could not be deposited in the morgue, while the other steps follow, Onifade said it’s not their duty to carry such corpse to the mortuary, but the police’s. “Ours is to seek the last solution to such corpse.” He said.

    He continued: “In this era when all tiers of government are struggling to pay workers’ salaries, people cannot be dying anyhow and they expect that government alone has the responsibility of burying them.”

    He said formerly, it’s only the police that needed to sign, but that has since changed and the magistrate must also sign. He explained that these agents are not under the control of local governments, hence the usual delay.

    Onifade therefore tasked the general public that it’s the duty of all to maintain healthy and sanitary environment and not just the designated health officials as they think. “People should be very vigilant. If they discover any such corpse in their areas, they should, as a point of duty, report immediately to the appropriate quarters, so that the process can commence immediately.” He concluded.

    Reaffirming Alabi’s stance, the supervisory councilor for health in Ado-odo/Ota Local Government, Hon. Olaleye Owolabi, said unless such a case is reported directly to his office, he may not be aware because he cannot be everywhere.

    Owolabi, said one of the contending issues confronting government is that people don’t really see it as part of their duties as citizens to report such cases to the appropriate quarters.

    “Sometimes people will see such and look away. That is one of the challenges we’re facing as a government. If they report such cases to the police early enough, the police will go to magistrate and the two bodies will perfect the warrant for us to take prompt action.”

    “But without this process, there is nothing anybody can do. The corpse may have its own family (and one cannot just evacuate and bury).” He reiterated.

    Delay not from us, the police

    The term ‘warrant’ refers to a specific type of authorisation issued by a competent officer, usually a police or a judge, as the case maybe, that permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights and afford the person executing the written protection from damages when the act is performed.

    A police source at Sango-Ota Divisional headquarters, who spoke to The Nation off record and preferred anonymity, said the delay came as a result of the time the corpse was dumped and absence of the magistrate to append her signature on the warrant form for the burial.

    He explained that “The corpse was dumped during the weekend, and on Monday when the Magistrate at Sango-Ota Division was to sign the warrant, we were told she was not around. And without her assent, there is nothing we could do as police. On Tuesday when she came, she requested for the pathological reports before she signed, so on our own expense, we went to get a pathologist from Abeokuta, who did the post-mortem on the corpse before the magistrate finally signed the warrant.”

    Our source however declined comments on why the previous cases were not promptly attended to.

    ‘You don’t need a magistrate’s signature’

    Reacting to the above assertions in Abeokuta, the Chief Registrar of Ogun State Judiciary, Mr Olusola Oloyede Esq, debunked that a magistrate needs to sign a warrant form before health officials could do their jobs.

    Oloyede affirmed that it is the duty of health officials to remove such corpses; and that a magistrate only needs to sign a corona’s reports carried on such corpse after it has been removed from public view.

    Oloyede said: “It is the duty of health officials to remove corpses on the roads. After they have removed it and maybe corona is being done on the corpse, that is only when magistrate could be involved, to sign the corona’s reports.”

    He therefore declared unequivocally that it is the health officials who have failed in their responsibilities.”

    It’s grave danger – MD,

    The medical director, Ogun State General Hospital, Ota, Dr Adedayo Sobanjo, confirmed that bodies left unattended to indeed pose grave danger to health and the risk of spreading epidemics becomes very high.

    “The flesh of human being or any animal, if left open or even buried underground will have to decompose. If it is underground, it may not pose any danger, but if it is left in an open place, maggots will begin to feast on it and bacteria would escape into the air. The people around there are also prone to being infected from the bacterial that come into the decomposing bodies”, he explained.

    Sobanjo also added that such bodies in the open places can actually pollute water, if there is any source of water, especially stream or river, which people use for their needs, around the scene. “Yes, it constitute dangers for people around, such decomposing bodies can contaminate water.”

  • Warri: Eyesore of an oil city

    Warri: Eyesore of an oil city

    To those not familiar with the city named Warri, Delta State, it once served as the colonial capital of the then Warri Province. Today, Warri is described as an oil hub in the Southern Senatorial District of Delta State. Warri used to be a small powerful commercial centre with surrounding towns like Effurun, Ekpan, Ubeji, Edjeba, Ogunu, Aladja, Enerhen, Ugbuwangwe to mention but a few. Though all these towns mentioned above and others are now referred to as Warri for ease of reference, but they still maintain their political autonomy.

    The oil cities of the World I know, some of which I have been privileged to visit, are Texas in the United States, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Perth, Jakarta, Singapore, Dubai, Calgary etc. etc. The level of development, the network of roads, and the states of the arts infrastructure in these cities are better imagined.

    The Warri some of us used to know was a bubbling commercial city where all the Riverine communities from, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ilaje and others from Isoko, Ibo, Hausa and Urhobo used to converge. There was a waterway linking Effurun, running through Agaga layout behind Enerhen Junction down to Deco road, Lower Erejuwa road, through Macro road and Warri prisons into Warri River.

    If the above mentioned waterway had been well channeled and maintained, it would have been one great source of transportation that traders and others would have used to ferry their goods and wares from the hinter-land down to Warri metropolis. In some other cities of the world, such routes are usually a beauty to behold. The Thames River in London and the artificial river channels in Dubai are typical examples of such routes that were developed to an attractive level and tourists hot spots.

    There was a road behind the Main Market then known as Hausa road, from the Market road end down to Hausa road where there were structures that provided accommodation for people, besides warehouses like the UAC, Hotels, stores like the Odibo trading stores, Kay Challarams, etcetera. All these were bubbling with different commercial activities to the delight of all. The boats and canoes owned by persons from the Riverine Communities berthed along the river bank. The Stores on this stretch displayed goods like provisions, and hard ware’s like roofing sheets, nails, bucket, umbrellas, shoes, doors, and iron – rods for construction etc. A stranger may want to know what then happened to all of these.

     

    The Itsekiri / Ijaw politics over the ownership of Warri led to the dismantling of all the structures along the Hausa road end. The place eventually became a Sand Beach and a home for lunatics and hoodlums.

    This piece is not intended to look into the bitter and unnecessary rivalry between the different ethnic nationalities in Warri. Instead the intention is to focus on the rot and decay in the infrastructure and the total collapse of what was in place then and the absence of a good developmental plan for a place that should be regarded as one of the best cities in today’s Nigeria. If Warri could not measure height with Lagos in terms of infrastructure, one expects that at least Warri should be better than Calabar and Uyo as an oil city.

    In a revealing article titled ‘’A Postcard From Warri’’ published in The Guardian of October 27, 2000, ace Journalist and former Presidential spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, depicted the sorry state of Warri as follows: ‘’Warri is a haggard old lady, with tired feet and a mouth that has been robbed of its teeth. She looks as used as an over-experienced prostitute. The neighborhoods were crowded. The whole scene seems indescribable: humanity trapped in small spaces with threats of poverty and discontent written on their faces and over the environment’’.

    That was the testimony of a visitor to Warri, who captured his experience as decay took over Warri in 2000.

    Even our Warri Carnival, which the Alders League used to organize in Abraka, was affected. The state government informed whoever cared to listen, that they have plans to develop Warri. They commenced with the dualization of some of the roads, and eventually abandoned them for reasons best known to them. Shell, Chevron, and other Oil and Gas companies came up with a few developmental projects in and around Warri. For example, the Osubi Airport Project, School Buildings, and Halls, Health facilities, Town Halls and many more sprang up in some strategic places due to the efforts of these multi-nationals.

    But our greed showed up. Government couldn’t reach a compromise with Shell. We continuously disagreed on principles and modalities on how to handle various issues. Consequently, there was a breakdown of law and order. As a business concern, Shell couldn’t continue to operate in a hostile environment. Government couldn’t help. The Dutch oil major had to move officially from Warri – Delta State to Port Harcourt – Rivers State. That singular act signaled the comatose situation in Warri and environs. All other allied companies moved along with Shell.

    The huge amount of money the state used to generate from Shell in form of IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) shrunk drastically. Those in government cared less. Majority of the citizens suffered. The absence of a good plan if at all there was any, led to taking of unproductive decisions. Warri of course suffered for it.

    DESOPADEC – the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission that is charged with the sole responsibility of developing the oil producing areas unfortunately became politicised. If you were not a PDP card-carrying member, no matter your ideas or professionalism, you cannot be patronized. So those with very good developmental proposals would rather sit at home and watch helplessly as the state took a nose dive for the worse.

    The goose that lays the golden eggs was consequently abandoned. The government claimed to have spent billions of naira on Warri and its environs. Previous regimes, no doubt made some appreciable efforts in the development of Warri. Examples are the Federal Government College, Warri established in 1966; the Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals, 1978 and the Nigeria Gas Company established in 1980. Evidence of their impact abound.

    One also recalls how Brigadier General Samuel Ogbemudia built a very solid road, the Warri / Sapele road, that served Warri for a very long time until we recently used our own hands to create very comfortable homes for lunatics right at the centre of the roads in the name of some incorrigible ideas driven by the greed to steal from the public till. For over a year now, we have been compelled to accept and ply this deplorable state of the popular Warri/Sapele road. The loss of man hour caused by the regular traffic jams on this bad state of the road runs into billions of naira if we have to quantify it in terms of naira and kobo.

    Government should as a matter of urgency set up a body to draw up a comprehensive development plan for Warri and its environs. The focus should be on Warri urban; the utilisation of the Warri waterways/channels; railway line to link up everywhere; Beautification and creation of a peaceful environment that will attract investors; redirecting the attention of the youths towards self-help projects.

    Wafarians are gifted. Warri no dey carry last was the slogan we use to revel in. But today, the reality is that we no dey anywhere. Warri is one big shame, an eye sore of an oil city. The task of rebuilding Warri is however a task for everyone.

     

    • Sir Odibo, an entrepreneur and public affairs analyst wrote from Warri, Delta State.

     

  • An eyesore on Calabar’s gateway

    An eyesore on Calabar’s gateway

    Its size embodies the promise it held when it was conceived. But, this estate on the gateway to Calabar, the Cross River State capital, for over two decades, has not lived its original dream, writes
    nicholas laku

    It lies on the left as you enter Calabar, the Cross River State capital, through its only entry point by road – the Odukpani-Calabar Road. It was conceived to be an estate to cater for the housing needs of residents/civil servants. It has served various purposes over the years but none for which it was intended.

    The rows of decrepit single storey buildings in the massive estate are now overtaken by weeds. Staring at the walls of the buildings, one can tell that at some time, they used to be white. Most areas are covered in algae. In many places, the roofs are either missing or have caved in. The doors and windows are missing in almost all the buildings. Where roads used to be are now thick bushes. What remains are ruins. “Ghost town” describes it better.

    The abandoned housing estate at Ikot Ekpo community in Calabar Municipality is one that has always aroused the curiosity of many who pass through that road, whether they are  first-time visitors to Calabar or residents who have lived in the city for years.

    The land was acquired during the Shehu Shagari  administration for low cost housing for civil servants. When the administration came to an end, following a military intervention, the project was abandoned.

    In 1992, it was gathered, the project was taken over by the then governor, Mr Clement Ebri, who purchased the estate from the Federal Government and continued where it stopped.

    The estate was handed over to the Cross River State Property and Investment Limited (CROSPIL) to manage after being bought from the Federal Housing Authority. CROSPIL, it was learnt, got the Certificate of Occupancy of the estate.

    The estate was completed and was to be commissioned in December 1993 for the state civil servants, but the late Gen. Sani Abacha coup in November 1993 disrupted the arrangement.

    For the second time due to military intervention in government, the estate was abandoned.

    A source in CROSPIL said: “Everything was ready. The houses were completed and ready to be handed over. Everything was in place. There was electricity, pipe-borne water, good road networks and so much more. It was a wonderful package. But the coup torpedoed all that as civilians were chased away.

    “Since then people started vandalising the place. People were going there to steal the materials used in building the houses to build their own houses or sell them. Over time the place decayed to the state that you find it today. It is really sad I must say.”

    In 1998, CROSPIL sold it to the Federal Ministry of Commerce to cater for the housing needs of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority workers.

    The Donald Duke administration was said to have re-acquired it from the Federal Government. After that, issues about the ownership of the estate have been shrouded in mystery.

    Cross River State Commissioner of the Lands Ralph Uche said the estate is not owned by the government.

    According to him, the estate was sold to a private developer, who has left the place to rot to the state it is.

    One of the major complaints about the estate was that it was poorly planned.

    “The way they built the houses, you see that each of the houses are too close to the other. You will be in your bedroom and someone will be in his house looking directly at you. Parking space was also a problem. In fact, whoever designed the houses got it wrong. That might be one of the problems bedevilling the place. I don’t know. But, we are not responsible for that place,” a Ministry of Lands official said.

    At a time, it accommodated displaced persons who were involved in a communal conflict between Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. The displaced persons, it was gathered, became a nuisance to people in the community and had to be ejected.

    At the moment, the dilapidated houses are occupied by various rodents and reptiles who roam free. The part of the estate closest to the road has been cleared and occupied by unidentified people.

    Our reporter, who went to speak with some of the occupants, was harassed. “What do you want? Who are you? What is your business here? My friend, will you leave this place?” a group of men threatened.

    However, an occupant, who begged not to be named, volunteered some information. He said most of the occupants were people who had nowhere to live and were there to ensure a roof over their heads.

    “Like myself, I am a hustler. I came from the village but as I talk with you, house rent I cannot pay. So, this place that is just here like this nobody is living here, I just came and cleared one room and I am staying here now. That is the thing.”

    Even though the state government says the estate is not its, residents feel the run-down state of the place is not good for its image, as it welcomes all who enter the renowned tourist city by road.

    Mr Ubong Asuquo said: “Even if the state government says it is not in their hands, we feel they should move to do something about the place, which is more of an eyesore and not worthy to be on the only gateway to the city reputed as the nation’s paradise.”

  • Beyond the Ikeja Police College eyesore

    Beyond the Ikeja Police College eyesore

    It was a story right under our noses, but we pretended not to see it. Since what you don’t see, you don’t tell, the story went untold for years. But thank God for Channels. The television station seized the bull by the horn by walking where others in the same business with it feared to tread. The nation is praising its bold move today because of that brilliant piece of public journalism. Its expose’ on the Ikeja Police College showed clearly how far gone that institution is. Institution? Yes, the college is supposed to be an institution, but in its present state, it has shed that toga. It is more of a pigsty now than a training institution.

    The college was not always like this. In the late 60s and early 70s, it was a neat and prim place. From the outside, passersby craned their necks to see what was happening inside because a lot of activities were always going on there. At such times, the trainees were either being drilled or involved in one sporting activity or the other. At its gate were smartly dressed policemen with batons keeping an eye on those coming and going. They were firm and courteous. That was the golden era of our country’s foremost Police College, which many could not recognise from the Channels documentary. Those who know that place well will weep at its present state.

    As a college, that facility ought to be properly maintained and its needs always met in order to make good policemen of those being trained there. As a place where people are trained in the art of dealing with fellow human beings, nothing should be spared in ensuring that the trainees are in top mental, physical and spiritual shape, except if we want them to become animals on leaving the college. Indeed, with the kind of policemen we have these days, I say with all due respect that those being churned out of there these days are no better than animals. Who then should we blame when our policemen misbehave in public? Is it not those charged with giving them the best but who have cornered everything?

    The college is in bad shape today because of the age-long corrupt tendencies of the police leadership and the institutions saddled with the task of ensuring that we have a good policing system. I believe that past Inspectors-General of Police (IGs) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) should be held responsible for the disgraceful state of the college. I don’t know if any of the past IGs passed through the college, but if there is an old student among them, he should cover his face in shame that his alma mater has gone seedy. The deterioration of the college started long ago and it must have been during the tenure of one of them.

    Many IGs would also have come thereafter without doing anything about the problem. The Channels expose’ seems like a bad dream to me and I have not stopped pinching myself to say that it cannot be true that the nation’s leading police college is in such a sorry state. Is it that past IGs were not aware of this mess? Is the Ikeja Police College not under the IG? If an IG is not concerned with what is happening in a police college where the rank and file is trained, then what will interest him? What about the PSC? What are the functions of this Commission? Should it not also be interested in the training and welfare of policemen? Should it only be concerned about discipline, appointment and promotion of officers?

    The rot at the college has exposed the high level of corruption in the top echelon of the police. There is no doubt that in the police budget over the years, allocations would have been made for the college. What happened to the vote? How was it spent, that is if it was spent on the college at all? With the situation on ground now, President Goodluck Jonathan should order a probe into how the police college got to this pass. The inquiry should go back the last 20 years because from the look of things the mess didn’t just start yesterday. We must know those who drove the college to the ground and bring them to book.

    Getting to the root of how the police top echelon nearly killed this famous college should be of more interest to the president than looking for those who granted Channels access to the college. Those who invited Channels to expose the rot in the college have the nation’s love at heart. How can we say that we are the giant of Africa and have such a good for nothing facility as our police college? Is it not a shame? We killed the Nigeria Airways, we killed the Nigerian National Shipping Line, we ran the Nigeria Railway Corporation to the ground, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is virtually bleeding. Now, the Ikeja Police College is almost gone. Haba! what is wrong with us as a nation? Are we cursed?

    Let us thank God for what Channels has done. With its documentary, the television house has saved the college from imminent death. Our leaders are now forced by the report to give attention to the college. Yes, money will be pumped into the place to make it look good once again. But before we do that, I insist that we get those who turned the place into a pigsty or else the money spent now may make no difference in the near future if another set of thieves and never- do- well come and mess up the place again. If they see how those before them are publicly humiliated now they will think twice before dipping their hands in the till when they are put in charge of the place.

    •Government has raised a panel to probe the rot.

     

    Orubebe vs Amaechi

    It is not often that public officers fight dirty in public. When they do, we watch with glee because it is fun. This is exactly what we are witnessing in the face-off between Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Niger Delta Minister Godson Orubebe. Their clash has its origin in 2015. Those close to President Goodluck Jonathan believe that Amaechi is interested in the 2015 presidency. Despite his denial, they don’t believe him. So, to ensure that Amaechi does not eventually declare his presidential interest, everything possible is being done to rattle him. First, it was the president’s wife, Dame Patience, who took the fight to Amaechi in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, the other day when she accused him of tormenting her people, the Okrika, with the demolition of the waterfront, an exercise which the governor maintains is to beautify the Garden City.

    Then came the purported ceding of Rivers oil wells to Bayelsa, the home state of the president, which Amaechi claimed was done because of the belief that he is interested in the 2015 race. It is only in our country that those whose political interest clash with that of the president are harassed and hounded all over the place as if they have committed a cardinal sin. Come to think of it, is the presidency the birthright of anybody? The answer is no. So, if Amaechi wishes to contest the presidency in 2015, he is free to do so, whether or not he is in the same party with the president. It sounds illogical for any one to stop Amaechi from contesting the 2015 presidential election, if he so wishes, because he is in the same party with Jonathan. With his henchmen jumping the gun before the 2014 date he set for himself to tell us whether or not he will contest in 2015, we now know how the president’s mind is working.

    Mark my words, Jonathan will tell us next year that he is going to contest in 2015. But he should not because of his ambition give his loyalists a free rein and allow them to overheat the polity. There was no need for Orubebe to have attacked Amaechi the way he did under the guise of fighting for the president. He should leave Jonathan to fight his own fight and the time for that will soon come. I tell you, it’s going to be a decisive fight. Just wait and see.