The Nation Newspaper

Tag: girls

  • Our Girls; UK Polls; Solar Energy Revolution; Bank Of Industry; Tesla Powerwall solar batteries

    Our Girls are still missing since April 15, 2014. We pray the Chibok Girls will soon be free. Their painful stories must be documented as documentaries and stories, by Nollywood and in text books of contemporary Nigerian history ‘Lest we Forget’ for we are a very forgetful country. We even have a government which forgets, without apology, to pay its fuel bills promptly precipitating totally preventable misery for all, even government officials themselves. Even haughty National Assembly (NASS) was jolted by a power cut during session. Welcome to the real world. Why did government not pay two weeks ago to entirely prevent this fuel horror?  UK polls: No violence, murders, cheating at polls. Nigeria must learn the correct civilised political dance.  But let’s talk solar and progress in 3-6 MONTHS! AFRICA –GO SOLAR! NIGERIA –GO SOLAR, PLEASE! IF WE GET SOLAR RIGHT WE WILL POWER NIGERIA OUT OF PENURY AND REPLACE THE UNSUSTAINABLE ‘GENERATOR GENERATION’ WITH A SOLAR SEASON OF SILENT POWER WITHIN ONE YEAR. Nigeria needs modern solar factories to mass produce solar equipment, AN OPPORTUNITY LOST by Obasanjo in 1999 with cell phone factories. He preferred tobacco to telecom factories.

    The Bank of Industry (BoI) is supporting solar ventures but at what price or result? Did the BoI strangely post a profit of N5.2billion? Is it supposed to make huge profits or minimal profits on low interest loans? So how did BoI get N5.2b profit? The Buhari government should note that its ‘latest best friend’, China, has interest rates of just 5.1% vs 21-25% for the common man and common business in Nigeria-a CBN/Bank sector corruption. Bring down Nigeria’s interest rates.

    The Nigerian electricity single federal national grid groans in the federal darkness of just 2,800Mw in 2015 instead of the needed 150,000Mw for the population. Hurray, Independent Power Plants were finally approved, along with some scanty railway services, in a 40 years late decentralisation scheme. That federal might was wielded by selfish Fellow Nigerians, whose ideas still cripple plague us. Those ‘False Federalism’ ideas strangled development.

    Now, together with individual solar power, the sun is at last seriously creeping into Nigeria. A batch of 170 schools and some health facilities will be serviced by the 5MW Lagos Solar Project in Lagos and a 1,000MW Damaturu Solar Power Plant, Yobe State. Every single Nigerian state should take note of these and other solar events nationwide and try to save themselves by getting their citizens and businesses off the national grid. This will help the troubled grid to cope as it is assailed by unrestrainable ‘vandalism’ and ‘vicious pricing systems’ and ‘poor delivery systems’ decimating the gas supplies. And IF NIGERIA GOES SERIOUS SOLAR, DO NOT GO ‘OLD SOLAR’ with old lower efficiency technology. Nigeria must not become the ‘SOLAR DUMPING GROUND of even one or two year old equipment’. Solar research moves monthly. On April 20, the Tesla electric car guru Elon Musk announced the ‘NEW ENERGY REVOLUTION’ with TESLA SOLAR GREEN HOME BATTERIES with a 7kWh unit costing $3,000 and 10kWh Unit $3,000-ideal for homes and offices to get off the grid or when you are thrown off the grid. The Buhari government should lead the way to state, LGA, Private sector and CBN to Google this and other new solar technology to rescue from the grid and bypass the backward government officials still with 19th century ideas on power. ‘Tesla Solar’ should be receiving visits now.

    Nigeria does not need to reinvent the wheel. It should use that huge red powerhouse in the sky freely sent by a gracious God. NIGERIA JUMPED FROM LAND LINES TO CELL PHONES UNDER OBASANJO. IT MUST JUMP FROM GENERATORS TO SOLAR ENERGY UNDER BUHARI. It needs brilliant intelligent go-getting professionals in the corridors of federal, State and LGA to get their political bosses to take on board with solar and other cutting edge technology. ‘POWER NIGERIA AND YOU EMPOWER NIGERIANS’, ‘SOLARISE NIGERIA AND WE WILL ALL SMILE’. Remember the New Environmentally Friendly building just opened in the Pan African University, Lekki, Lagos? Have your government officials visited it for ideas to use during the next four years or are they just ‘armchair solar supporters’? ‘SOLAR MAKES SENSE’ –EXCEPT to entrenched FUEL CARTELS AND GENERATOR SELLERS. The CBN should set Nigeria free from the huge cost of excessive fuel and oil consumption to power and maintain Nigeria’s one million generators by setting up a $5billion solar Loan Scheme, low interest, 3.5 year repayment scheme to solarise Nigeria so the money will be back in the bank before 2019. The money can be used to purchase equipment and support factories to produce solar technology with today’s cutting edge solar science. The GENCOs and DISCOs will not like it but Nigeria requires 150,000MW.  Every Nigerian state is larger than 20-50 countries and must face the responsibility to the citizens who deserve more than exercise books, a few potholes filled and unfulfilled promises. States must provide Independent Power Plants to power their citizens into the 21st century. To date we have too little and it is nearly too late. At federal, state and LGA, we expect rapid fire progress.

    FOUR YEARS IS A SHORT 1460 DAYS. What are your LGA, state blueprint in power, education, health, transport, youth development, library services, youth centres? Without the detailed budgetary lines international examples and close monitoring, the money will be stolen again by politicians, party and civil servants using imaginary contracts.

  • Our Girls; FMB; Politics-Nigeria’s disaster; Xenophobia; INEC vs anarchy; Nigeria-teach history

    Our Girls still missing since April 15, 2014. What hope for them to escape their evil captors?

    Ten to 32 farmers were killed by herdsmen in the ongoing FULANI HERDSMEN/FARMERS WAR which has claimed over 5000 lives, second to Boko Haram. What can and will Buhari do when he takes over?

    The Kotangora House, Marina, Lagos fire reveals the building is owned by Federal Mortgage Bank which has seriously failed the housing loan industry. FMB should sell Kotangora House and use the billions for its unfulfilled role.

    The earthquake and Mount Everest avalanche in Nepal killing 3,000+ are warnings to Nigeria’s leadership to take governance seriously. Bad governance also kills thousands, for example THE OKADA MOTORCYCLE EPIDEMIC. Daily I see deadly disease and death in potholed Nigeria. The ONLY NATURAL DISASTER IN NIGERIA IS POLITICS losing trillions to theft and incompetence. Even in ‘working’ states, the costs in corruption and taxes are too high on the few paying. Tax Consultants take too much. Taxation must follow the democracy axiom – BETTER TO TAX MANY A LITTLE, THAN A FEW A LOT.  Taxes in overtaxed states must be reviewed downward.

    The Gallipoli Campaign 100 years ago, claiming 130,000+ lives, was marked on 25-4-2015. The Armenian Deportation or Genocide claiming 600,000-1.5million lives was marked on 24-4-2015. These are history, win or lose. Countries which ignore history, cannot survive. Nigeria abandoned teaching history.

    The Xenophobic attacks in South Africa are partly because the complete history of the anti-apartheid struggle is not taught but summarised as ‘Let us forget the past except for a few heroes’. Most young South Africans are angry at their poverty and joblessness caused by failures of their own government which spends millions on the President’s home. The migrant African worker is easier prey who would not be in South Africa if not for the failures of African governments back home!

    Films, plays, books, songs, stories must tell of those who stood against apartheid and for freedom in Angola, Mozambique, and Congo. How many African salaries, jobs, scholarships, medical services and lives helped South Africans? Africans collected pocket money for South Africans. South African and Africans schools should teach history from the old anti-apartheid diplomats to correct the ‘shortage of history’ or ‘history deficit’. Nigeria sent Nigerian volunteer doctors including Dr Wole Ogunseyinde to Angola and Mozambique in 1970s. Ignorance is an African denied his history, fed 100% rubbish politics!  And Burundi President wants a third term!

    America is taught history in Hollywood blockbusters, even failures like the Bay of Pigs. Our Nollywood should too. Where in Nigeria is the Commemorative Plaque/Memorial for Nigerians who helped kill apartheid? We remember historians Professors Tekena Tamuno-TNT, and JFA Ajayi. Let the new government TEACH HISTORY ‘Lest We Also Forget’ our past. Xenophobia spreads faster than Ebola. HISTORY IS A VACCINE AGAINST XENOPHOBIA. Any reprisal attacks on South African business in the countries of victims of xenophobia in South Africa, is also xenophobia and must not happen. Two ‘human rights’ wrongs do not make it alright.

    We expect a lot of INEC – A good honest election to triumph over entrenched political anarchy. We expect INEC to deliver a MORAL AND MATERIAL MIRACLE in a country where political corruption and vicious violence are stepping stones to ‘respectable’ political glory. The Nigerian political system has ‘legalised the illegality’ of exorbitant Salaries and Perks, SAP, salaries for life, and pauperised Nigeria by budget self-allocations and 30-70% contract kickbacks.

    The average Nigerian says there are no ‘clean politicians’. If a past ‘clean’ governor has a huge election war-chest of billions, would those stolen billions have not paid for enough roads, text books and medicines, water, filled potholes to guarantee re-election? Our politicians must TURN FROM STEALING TO SERVICE or Nigeria is doomed! Are our politicians morally capable of STOPPING STEALING FOR FOUR YEARS, voluntarily or from fear?

    Why do we expect INEC officials to overcome a dangerous tested political evil monster? They mostly would do a good job if other Nigerians did not participate in dirty politics. Is it INEC officials who bribe, intimidate, ransom, threaten GBH-Grievous Bodily Harm, shoot, bomb, bury in coffins, stab and spread murder and mayhem? No, it is politicians who ‘use any means necessary’ to outwit INEC officials. The politicians are never caught, fined, barred from re-run elections, prosecuted or jailed. So ‘brawn’ claims a violent victory over ‘brain’. We are mostly ‘volunteer voters’ offering time and presence at polling booths to help democracy. A volunteer voter votes for democratic principles and the manifesto inducement of future ‘good governance’.

    This is different from voters voting only under direction for short term profit like stomach infrastructure, bribery, the coerced voter who is ‘selling’ the vote for inducement, bribes or beatings. Who is wiser – the voter who takes immediate returns or the one who votes for political reasons? INEC, how did under-aged and Chadian foreigners register? Who used those PVCs? How many PVCs did not match the voters but the INEC officials said ‘Yes’ from fear?

    It is not INEC which needs education or must educate Nigerians. Nigeria must teach ‘POLITICAL NATIONAL MORAL DEMOCRACY EDUCATION’ to 14+ year olds who will be 18+ in 2019 in schools and the family through teaching Civics and History. The problems include that the Northern feudal system fears that real democracy with free education will take away an obedient multitude and cheap labour –like cattle herdsmen and almajari youth. The price of democratic progress.

    ‘It is not INEC which needs education or must educate Nigerians. Nigeria must teach ‘POLITICAL NATIONAL MORAL DEMOCRACY EDUCATION’ to 14+ year olds who will be 18+ in 2019 in schools and the family through teaching Civics and History’ 

     

  • Help on the way for girls, says Fayemi

    Former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi yesterday lamented the inability of the federal government to free the 219 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram more than one year ago.

    Fayemi, who described the callous act of the insurgents as highly ignoble, said the experience of the pupils, their parents and family members is saddening and  traumatising, made worse by the failure of the government to properly coordinate its effort at getting the girls back.

    In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olayinka Oyebode, Fayemi urged the incoming administration of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari to make the rescue of the Chibok girls a top priority.

    “As a father, I can imagine the level of pains, trauma and devastation being experienced by the families of the abducted girls, unfortunately, the government’s attitude to the rescue has been at best uncoordinated, dismissive and lackadaisical “, said Fayemi, adding that the lives and future of the abducted girls are as important as the lives of every Nigerian citizens and should be treated as such.”

    Fayemi, who headed the directorate of Policy, Research and Strategy of the General Buhari Presidential Campaign Council, said the current air of hopelessness surrounding the girls’ whereabouts and the pall of silence from the government would soon give way when the Buhari government injects life into the efforts at rescuing them.

    He urged the parents and families of the abducted girls not to lose hope, but continue to pray for their successful release, assuring them of divine intervention as well as a strategic intervention by the incoming administration.

    “And to you our girls, be assured help is on the way. Remain strong and hopeful. I am convinced you will all live to tell the story of your release. I am convinced that as the whole world mark the first anniversary of your abduction by Boko Haram, soon the whole world would rise to celebrate your release from captivity”. He added.

     

  • EU, Soyinka, Reps, others to govt: bring back the girls

    EU, Soyinka, Reps, others to govt: bring back the girls

    Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka led hundreds of Nigerians yesterday to demand the release of the missing Chibok schoolgirls.

    The European Union (EU), in a statement yesterday, also called for the girls’ release.

    Soyinka spoke at a forum organised by Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, the President of Women Arise, one year after the girls were taken away.

    Actionaid Nigeria yesterday marched for the girls. It marched with 219 youths, to represent the girls still in captivity.

    The EU statement reads: “A year has passed since 287 school girls from Chibok, in north-eastern Nigeria, were abducted by Boko Haram. Though some girls escaped, others have since been taken and more than 300 girls are still missing. We express our solidarity with the plight of the families and with the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign.

    “All efforts must continue to be made to rescue and reunite the girls with their families, and bring the perpetrators of this terrible act to account. The EU remains ready to assist the Government of Nigeria, including the newly elected President and local authorities, as well as others in the region in their fight against Boko Haram and all forms of terrorism and criminality.”

    To Soyinka, Nigerians must join hands with the government to ensure that the children were found.

    “We must make sure that such assault on our humanity doesn’t happen again.

    “The survival of humanity and of the nation must remain paramount,” he said.

    According to him, terrorism is not a Nigerian phenomenon alone and may not be going away soon.

    “However, we must not get used to it. Our children are being dehumanised. I believe that our responsibility is to assist by becoming vigilant.

    “We must become policemen/women; vigilante of our communities. We must encourage others to be protective members of their community,” Soyinka said.

    Former presidential candidate Prof. Pat Utomi   also called for the girls’ freedom. He said humanity, the world over, was a shared one and anything that diminished any human and did not touch others was bad.

    “Terror is not something we should tolerate. We must confront terror and not sit in our homes complaining.

    “We must stand up to enforce what we demand. The measure of the progress of any civilisation is how they hold the dignity of the human person.

    “It’s not just about rescuing the girls alone but about staying together and fighting for what is right.

    “It is however important to recognise that nothing gets done without a strategy,” he said.

    Utomi suggested that plans must be put in place that would help rehabilitate the girls when they eventually return.

    “Their psyche must have been so tampered with. The nation must ensure that they are re-oriented,” he said.

    On the just concluded elections, Utomi said: “We can hope that we have started moving forward.

    “We used to be a people that assumed nothing will change but we are beginning to realise that things can change, so, it is a new dawn for our country,” he said.

    Speaking at the forum, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mrs Funmi Tejuosho, expressed concern over what the missing girls could be passing through.

    “These children are lost and we don’t know what is happening to them. We must never relent until they are found,” she said.

    Dr Okei-Odumakin, who is also the President of Campaign for Democracy (CD), said more should be done to enhance security of lives and property in Nigeria.

    “The whole world stood in unison to call for the return of our girls since they were taken from the Chibok secondary school.

    “We will continue to raise awareness and to insist that our military gets better welfare to boost their morale,” Dr Okei-Odumakin said.

    Also yesterday, the House of Representatives urged President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to do everything possible to re-unite the remaining  219 Chibok girls kidnapped over a year ago in Borno state to their parents, before handing over to the new administration on May 29.

    The resolution of the House was sequel to a motion sponsored by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, APC, Lagos under matters of urgent national importance.

    Mrs Dabiri-Erewa, moving the motion, said it is one year since Boko Haram stormed the school in Borno and abducted over 200 girls.

    “It is exactly one year since Boko Haram terrorists stormed the premises of GSS Chibok in Borno State and took away almost 300 students who were preparing to write their school certificate final examination.

    “It is unfortunate that the innocent girls were captured virtually unchallenged and government was unresponsive for over two weeks and one year on, it deeply hurts that no concrete information is available as to the whereabouts of our missing girls from Chibok.”

    Members who spoke in support of the motion include Friday Itulah, Nnena Elendu- Ukeje, Jumoke Okoya- Thomas, Nkoyo Toyo, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, Ife Arowosoge, Stella Odogwu.

    Friday Itulah noted that the issue of the Chibok Girls “is a sore thorn in the flesh of this administration. The Jonathan administration should ensure that before the 29 of May we are celebrating the return of the girls.”

    Hon. Stella Odogwu said the issues surrounding the missing girls is a mystery.

    “It is a criminal act that should not be condoned.”

    Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas urged prayers for the girls. “We should not forget the girls in prayers. It is easy to forget. It is the duty of the government to protect the citizens. We hope Nigerian will never see this kind of situation again.They said 50 were found. If this is true then the others can come back.”

    Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha expressed surprise that “they are not back” and admonished that the girls should not be forgotten. Her colleague, Ife Arowosoge, wanted definite answers over the issue.

    “Are you sure they are in Nigeria and are alive? The chief of Army Staff must tell us,” he insisted.

    Tambuwal in his ruling noted that the motion is an important one and that “it is dear to our hearts”. He further said “I wish to add that as a nation we must do everything humanly possible to bring the girls back.

    “We pray that God in his infinite wisdom and mercy should guide our security agents on the recovery of the girls.”

    He said it is sad that the girls have been missing for a whole year. “Even the claim by the Military that they know where the girls are have turned out not to be correct. I think we have to be serious about it.”

    When he called for a vote on the motion, it was overwhelmingly supported by all members.

    Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy yesterday said they appreciated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari for “his kind and soothing words” on the occasion of the one year commemoration.

    The group demanded that the safe return of the girls be made top agenda of the transition between the present and the incoming government.

    In a statement by Dr Oby Ezekwesilli and Hadiza Bala-Usman , they stated: “Today, 14  April, 2015 is that dreadful day we never imagined will come without having  back our missing precious 219 Chibok schoolgirls, abducted exactly one year ago today.

    “We thank Nigeria’s president-elect for his kind and soothing words on the occasion of this one-year commemoration; wherein he promises among other things to do everything he can to #BringBackOurGirls when he becomes the president, if they are still alive. However, this does not address our concerns. We demand that the safe return of our girls be the top agenda of the transition between the present and the incoming one.

    “We have just concluded a march by #ChibokGirlsAmbassadors (part of the global schoolgirl march). We express our immense gratitude to our #ChibokGirlsAmbassadors for being the right voices to carry the message of their generational peers on a day like this.”

    They urged the United Nations to “deploy relevant instruments in ensuring the prompt rescue of our Chibok girls and other abductees, as well as improve the security situation in the country”.

    The Chibok girls ambassadors and members of the #BBOG advocacy staged a peaceful protest to the Ministry of Education to demand for the release of the girls and demand to know what the ministry was doing to assist with the rescue efforts.

    Although the ministry locked them out for almost an hour without allowing the children into the premises,  its Director, Human Resources Management, Mohammed Umar, later met with them and the girls gave him an ultimatum of May 29 for the Chibok girls’ rescue.

     

  • Boko Haram abducts 30 boys, girls in another raid

    Boko Haram abducts 30 boys, girls in another raid

    Cameroon kills 39 sect fighters

    No fewer than 30 boys and girls were at the weekend abducted in a Borno State village as BokoHaram continued to violate the “ceasefire” it allegedly reached with the government.

    Some government officials had a discussion with some Boko Haram representatives in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago after which a ceasefire was pronounced by Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.

    Talks are going on in N’Djamena, the Chadian capital, believed to be coordinated by President Idris Derby.

    The release of the abducted 219 Chibok girls, since April, is believed to be top of the discussion.

    But the sect has continued its violence without let, although its representative at the Saudi talks said the attacks were being carried out by “armed robbers”.

    Boko Haram at the weekend killed 17 in attacks. It abducted 30 girls and boys in a Borno village and killed four Nigerians in an attack on a Nigerian refugees’ camp in Cameroon. The Nigerians in the camp were those who fled Boko Haram’s attacks.

    A local chief confirmed the attack and abductions to reporters yesterday.

    “The insurgents… grabbed young people, boys and girls, from our region,” said Alhaji Shettima Maina, who is in charge of the Mafa village around 50km east of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital

    “They took all boys aged 13 and over… and all girls aged 11 and more. According to our information, 30 young people were abducted in the last two days.” Another village elder, Mallam Ashiekh Mustapha, confirmed the account to the French News Agency (AFP)

    Both men said 17 people were also killed in recent days in a Boko Haram attack on the nearby village of Ndongo.

    Kidnapping young women and girls — as well as forcibly conscripting young men and boys to fight for Boko Haram — is a well-established tactic by the militants.

    Some estimates put the number of women held by the group in the high hundreds. Most are believed to be forced into marriages with rebels.

    Mr. Maina said his village and areas around it were targeted in nearly daily raids by Boko Haram, prompting many residents to flee to the city of Maiduguri for safety. He said he had pleaded for help from the government but that so far none had been forthcoming.

    The sect members also attacked a refugees’ camp, where Nigerians running from insurgency are camped in Cameroon. Four Nigerians were killed. A Cameroonian was injured. It was one of the three raids they carried out on Cameroon territory.

    But Cameroonian forces subsequently killed 39 Boko Haram men. Cameroon’s Defence Ministry, in a statement yesterday, said Friday’s fighting in the far north of Cameroon near Nigeria also claimed four civilian lives.

    Their latest attack targeted the village of Glawi, “killing four Nigerian refugees and wounding one Cameroonian, before being pushed back by defence forces which pursued them until the borders,” the ministry said, adding that a dozen militants were killed by troops.

    Another two groups of Boko Haram Islamists entered Cameroon at around the same time, but were “immediately intercepted and neutralised by our defence forces who destroyed three 4×4 vehicles equipped with machine guns, killing 27 assailants,” said the ministry statement.

    The toll issued by the ministry has not been confirmed by independent sources. There was also no details on any casualties suffered by the army.

    The Cameroonian army regularly issues updates on the number of Boko Haram fighters it has killed.

    Last week, it said it killed 107 Islamists during fighting that also saw eight Cameroonian soldiers dead.

    Cameroon President Paul Biya has vowed to “totally wipe out” the Islamist group, after 27 Chinese and Cameroonian hostages kidnapped in May and July on Cameroon’s territory by suspected Boko Haram Islamists were released.

    Cameroon shares a border of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) with Nigeria, where Boko Haram has been waging a bloody insurgency since 2009 in which 10,000 people have died.

  • How the girls haunted Jonathan

    How the girls haunted Jonathan

    This columnist cried to the rafters after the Chibok girls were whisked away by the bandits in the name of God. I titled the piece, Swap the Girls Now, on May 19, 2014, and not a few thought it a heresy.

    The presidency forswore dining with the enemy, which was what the whole idea was interpreted to be. Now, they want to exult that they have actually dined with the damnable foes and are on the verge of releasing the girls after six months in captivity. But is this an act of heroism or desperation by the Jonathan administration?

    When the tragedy first occurred, the Jonathan administration did not accept it. They asked questions rather than provide answers. Some of them asked, how was it possible that hundreds of girls could be abducted in a convoy and no one stopped them? So they said it could not be true. The enemies of Jonathan were at work again. They did not wish him well. Even the president went live on national television asking the parents of the abducted to provide the names of the students. His wife categorically said the girls were not missing. That was the first scene of the drama. It was the stage of denial.

    Later the same administration knew that it had happened. It started to tell the country that it knew what was going on. It was the work of the opposition party, the APC. When Oby Ezekwesili rallied the young and the old behind her #Bring Back the Girls movement, they accused her of working with the opposition party. They wanted to rally Nigerians behind Jonathan’s innocence. He is an innocent man. He provided the soldiers. He declared emergency. What else could he have done? The APC should leave Jonathan alone. They put the point as nakedly as they could. This became worse when CNN flew into the country, and reported day by day the updates of the events. Doyin Okupe said to the nation on CNN about the Nigerian military being on the trail of the militants with aircraft and tanks, etc. We never saw any result. It was the stage of propaganda.

    When propaganda did not work, they saw that the whole of the world focused on us. John McCain, senator and former presidential candidate in the United States, lambasted our bumbling military and leaders. Ditto Hilary Clinton. We heard nothing but silence from the vaults of the presidency. They wanted to divert attention from what was going on in the country. They wanted to see if it was possible to scale the acceptability of the president against the narrative of the missing girls. So, they orchestrated a new campaign called Bring Back Jonathan. It back fired. It was the desecration of the innocence of an idea. Like crude oil spilling on pristine waters, it was a dangerous gamble. They also made surreptitious moves on the media to play it down. But three newspapers, inspired by The Nation, began a permanent column on the front page, urging the federal government to bring back the girls. They had no answer. They sulked. They demurred. They cowered. It was the depression stage.

    Not long after, Malala, the now winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, came calling. They had no choice but to allow the relations of the missing girls to visit Aso Rock. It was a grudging concession. The humiliation was colossal. It took a teenager to wake them out of their supercilious torpor. The president had called off, in official cowardice, a trip to the village to show solidarity. Now, in a torpedo of the African tradition of visiting the bereaved, it was the bereaved that visited the condoler, and what condoler! This was the end of denial. They no longer could say, even to themselves, that it was a politically motivated kidnap.

    Again, the matter had begun to sour. The matter became intractable. More and more people died from the bullets of the godless bandits. Territories fell, Boko Haram flags flew defiantly, video clips proclaimed the rhetoric bluster of their leader, pictures from the northeast bled with gore and streamed with tears, soldiers mutinied, their wives blighted the streets with protests. What the Jonathan administration thought would go away became a monstrous albatross.

    It became difficult to blame the opposition, although there was some level of gloating from the APC that it was Jonathan’s cross. But Jonathan is leader and leaders take responsibility. From depression, they descended to a place of ambiguity. They had no answers. The imagination was empty of rhetoric. Ezekwesili and her followers drummed up the campaign. Although CNN and the international media had moved elsewhere, Nigeria was still on the radar. The conversation never ceased. It was like a low burning flame that never petered out, stubborn, illuminating, spreading, lapping up more victims of leaves and dry paper. The big house, with its big kerosene tank, is threatened.

    Then the inner sanctum of the regime started worrying. Not because the girls were not released. But because the TAN campaigns were revving up and it was getting close for Jonathan to unfurl his ambition. He will not have “I have no shoes” kind of mantra to latch on to. Rather the Chibok girls will stick to him like what we in the Niger Delta call jiga, that little worm that hid under toes of shoeless boys playing around rivers and ponds. He did not want that. They – he and his team – had to get this Chibok nonsense out of the way. They moved into the desperation phase.

    That explains why he eventually dined with the enemy. Remember that picture of him with Ali Modu Sheriff with Chad leader? That was part of the deal. Hypocrisy is the hallmark of the desperate. He can don any identity in order to get things done. Why did he not say, well, Modu knows a thing or two about this matter, and we can parley with him so we can get the girls out? Rather his party called APC Boko Haram party when Modu was an APC man. But when he became a PDP man, Olisa Metu and presidency votaries lost their tongue, only to regain it in chatting with him on the Chibok girls.

    So, are we to thank Jonathan if the girls actually come out? Or he will thank himself for having taken an albatross out of the way of his ambition. It is what we can call a gift horse in the mouth. A cynical boost of goodwill. He would not release the girls if not because his campaign is about to take off. It is an act of selfishness. It reminds me of Lord Byron’s lines in his Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte, “He had no objection to true liberty except that it would make the nations free.” Jonathan was less interested in the Chibok girls’ freedom than the freedom for him to campaign for the second term.

  • I’m proud of my girls – Namibia’s coach, Jacqueline Shipanga

    I’m proud of my girls – Namibia’s coach, Jacqueline Shipanga

    • Floors Okon’s excuse of fielding a weak team

    Despite crashing out of the African Women Championship (AWC), the head of coach of the Brave Warriors of Namibia, Jacqueline Shipanga says she is proud of her team.

    The Namibians put up a stiff opposition against title favourites, the Super Falcons of Nigeria in one of the last round of matches in group A played yesterday at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek, but had to succumb to the more experienced Nigerians 2-0.

    Speaking in an interview with SportingLife, Shipanga, who is the toast of the Namibian fans, revealed that before the competition started the Prime Minister of the country had a chat with her where she told him that she was building a team for the future.

    “Honestly, I’m happy with what we have achieved at this tournament because when we started to revolutionise women’s football in our country we never knew that the progress would come this fast.

    “I told our Prime Minister that this team will rule the African continent in 2016. I encouraged our government to host this championship to enable our girls get the experience of playing against the best on the continent.

    “I’m fulfilled that our objective of hosting has been achieved. We couldn’t have had the rare privilege of playing against the Super Falcons.

    “My girls made the Namibian people proud and happy with the way they fought against Nigeria till the end of the match. You saw how ecstatic the fans were after the game. That was proof that they were impressed with the team’s performance.”

    Shipanga however disagreed with coach Edwin Okon’s statement that the Falcons struggled in the game because Nigeria rested their key players ahead of the semi final.

    “With due respect, I want to disagree with the Nigerian coach about fielding a weak team. In women’s football, all the players are equal. The point is that we were prepared to play the game of our lives no matter the players our opponents parade.

    “If the coach of the Falcons had paraded those players he said he rested, we would still have played them with the level of confidence with which we played the game,” she said.

  • Day cleric wept for Chibok girls

    Day cleric wept for Chibok girls

    About four months after over 200 school girls were abducted in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents, the founder, Omoluabi Network, Pastor Ladi Thompson, shares his thoughts with reporters in Lagos. It turned out an emotional encounter, reports DADA ALADELOKUN.

    It was an event to seek divine intervention in the plight of the innocent school girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State, over four months ago by Boko Haram insurgents. Tears flowed freely on the occasion.

    Reporters, who were there to get the latest  about the  girls, also caught the bug of fellow-feeling that momentarily tortured the man in Ladi Thompson, activist pastor and founder, Omoluabi Network, a non-governmental humanitarian body.

    “Who is that sane human being in this country today that is not worried to the marrow over the abuse and bondage of those children is languishing helplessly in God-knows-where? How about their traumatised parents? Why won’t one cry one’s heart out as a parent?” He asked as he went into momentary soliloquy of prayers for the girls. It was at his organisation’s Lagos office.

    Breaking his seeming silence over the girls’ “100 days in captivity and the future of Nigeria,” Thompson said: “The case of the Chibok girls is a grave concern that is of paramount importance to the history of a Nigeria. The issue must not be a platform for inconsiderate adventurism, political jobbery or insensitive mockery. It should be about concern for the missing girls, those who were kidnapped before and after them, their grieving parents and those that have died because of the shock; the relatives that have developed illnesses and diseases including psychological disorders and the ravaged communities that have been under siege since then.

    He said: “As a nation we must be educated to know that the satanic device that has swallowed our girls for 100 days is not in the same boat as the problems that were solved by Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jnr and other heroes of the non-violence advocacy. While there is need for us to pressure our government to acknowledge the satanic war form that is threatening our national future, it must not be done in way to deride or denigrate the Nigerian president, his government and the noble soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The real problem behind the Chibok attack is a different kettle of fish and cannot be resolved with a wrong medicine.”

    Affirming that the insurgents are Islamist ideologues seeking to destroy the Nigerian state to eradicate women’s rights, the political vote and religious plurality, he said that the mixture of global resurgence of Islamism with an ancient strain in the country is what produced the venomous hybrid known as the Boko Haram.

    He described Boko Haram is an “unrelenting, fascistic, vicious and amoral socio-economic-judicial-militaristic-financial-cultural-linguistic hydra, which is masked in a religious garb.

    “The level of intelligence at which this war is being waged seems to beyond the ability of the Nigerian mind! There are nations that would readily sponsor any group that will weaken the Nigerian government and divide opinions in the nation. I dare say that the “Bringbackourgirls” campaign needs to reconsider its strategy because the Boko Haram intelligentsia may have encouraged Shekau to taunt them publicly in order to help their campaign,” he said.

    The destiny of the kidnapped girls, he feared, is a pointer to the future of Nigeria if decisive actions are not taken in time, adding: “Creative campaigns have to be mounted to pressure the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government fully recognise the fact that we are in state of war. We need to evacuate all civilians from the war zone and concentrate on crushing the menace speedily.

    “Jonathan must be pressured into building bridges across all political divides and persuasions to forge an accord that can dispassionately solve this problem. He must create new machinery that will systematically weed out all the moles and compromised persons in high places. The new machinery must remove the religious cover of the Boko Haram to free the average Nigerian Muslim from needless pressure and join in the task of nation building.”

    Advising Nigerians to look inwards and stop expecting salvation from their colonial lords or any other world power, Thompson explained: “While there is no doubt that the southern half of Nigeria worships the very ground that Americans tread upon, we need to do a critical assessment as to whether the love is reciprocal. We must accept the fact that a large expanse of northern Nigeria worships the Arab culture with equal fervour.”

    “The mysterious dealings of the US state department in Nigeria have not helped matters either. Up until 2012, they seemed to see Boko Haram as a freedom-fighting group and they fought tooth and nail to prevent its Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) designation. Nigerians have to accept that salvation cannot come from abroad. Instead of tearing down and disrespecting Jonathan, we need to encourage, strengthen and pressure him to action.”

    “We expect the president to offer all his political opponents the olive branch so that individuals like the Osun State governor and many other Nigerian assets can work together on the same table. Governor Rauf Aregbesola in particular had been shouting himself hoarse on the danger that the unattended almajiris’ problems would eventually trouble Nigeria. But all hope is not lost,” he added.

    As a solution, Thompson said: “We must call for a formal recognition of the declaration of war that Boko Haram has been waging and suspend all political activities for a season to focus on defending the integrity of our nation and restoration of value to human worth. Nigeria should be the site where the global resurgence of Islamism will meet its Waterloo.”

    He, however, warned: “If we ignore the ominous signs in the horizon, Nigeria will be taken by surprise and the curtains will be drawn on the hopes of the West Africa’s giant.”

    Thompson, who said the Boko Haram won’t ever be totally defeated until the monster of corruption is tackled in Nigeria, urged the nation to come up with a partnership between government and the grassroots to engineer an Africanised socio-cultural solution to the monster. “By so doing, we will also carpet the dubious foreign interests that wish to distract Nigeria from the true nature of the Boko Haram,” he added.

    “Bodies like the Gabasawa Women & Children’s Initiative,” he advised, “should be encouraged because they have served in the North Eastern states for more than a decade, sponsoring children and comforting victims irrespective of creed, tongue or religious persuasions. Applying love with skill and applying pressure with surgical precision we shall surely overcome.”

     

  • He doesn’t want to see my girls

    He doesn’t want to see my girls

    I’m a new wife. I remarried five years after my first marriage crashed. I had two daughters from that union and I told my new husband that they are very important to me. When he came into my life, he promised to take care of my girls and for the first few months, he did that. Barely a year after, he changed and has become very hostile to my girls. He recently told me to send them to boarding school because he cannot stand their presence in the house anymore. Do you think I should continue with the marriage or move on with my girls? Jumoke

    Response

    A lot of times, people make promises that they do not keep. That, unfortunately, is what you are faced with right now. You have to make up your mind what you want to do at this point. You also need to understand the issues involved; is he afraid that they are getting all the attention he should be getting or are they tempting him to the extent he could even rape them? Your daughters are very important and you need to make this fact known to him. If they are grown up girls, then he may just be uncomfortable with their presence if he is the type that cannot discipline himself. Your daughters’ safety is very important and you must avoid any damage that can be done to them psychologically and emotionally.

     

    Should I look for another woman?

    I have been in a relationship for about six years with a live-in lover but she has never been pregnant. I have actually been waiting for her to get pregnant before proposing to her. Now that this has not happened, do I look for another girl to avoid marrying a woman who cannot give me children? Ade.

    Response

    This certainly looks like a conditional love and it may not really work out. You need to talk to her about it because she may actually be on pills to prevent what you are looking for because she is also not sure that you want to marry her.

     

    He is fooling around

    My world is crashing down around my eyes and ears; I have been seeing and hearing all kinds of emotional betrayal from my sweetheart. I just found out that my fiancé of three years is having an affair. I found some letters in one of the cabinets that are quite revealing and I became devastated about what was going on. When I confronted him, I expected him to lie about it but he just said: “Yes, I have a girlfriend, so what! I can’t imagine the rest of my life without girlfriends, so get over it or just get out of my life!”

    I became withdrawn and he later apologised for his choice of words. He promised to change and considers his fooling around to be “safe and harmless escapades.” Pamela.

    Response

    My sister this is a tough one indeed. It is sad to know that he has flaunted this woman in your face but it is obvious that you are the one he loves.  If he has promised to be good then you should give him another chance.

     

    She is getting out of hand

    I have been in a number of failed relationships before I met my current girlfriend. We came close and I liked her but she had some funny attributes that I didn’t like. I thought that I could mange and change these traits and we got married about a year ago.

    Unfortunately, there are some things I thought I could tolerate before we were married that are now really bugging me. She is also very hostile to my friends and family members and it is really hurting me. I understand she wants our lives to be about us, but I try to keep it separate and the resentments are starting to fester. Okechukwu.

    Response

    You need to be in charge of this relationship and that is what is lacking here. Let her know what you want and tell her the limits. If you continue to allow her to dominate the relationship, it would destroy the peaceful and cordial relationship you are desperately trying to have.

  • W.TEC seeks girls for technology camp

    The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is seeking teenage girls (11-15) for its Girls Technology Camp, scheduled to hold between August 3 and 16.

    The girls, who will be camped at Laureates College Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, will be exposed to tuition on coding and building apps, designing computer games, building a computer system, website design, video production, photography, career talks.  They will also go on excursions.

    A statement by Adeyemi Odutola, Media Officer for W.TEC, noted that the aim of the camp is to stimulate the girls’ interest in computers and other information technology tools. For the duration of the one week camp, the girls will participate in technology workshops, career talk sessions, team-building exercises and excursions.