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Tag: Goodluck Jonathan

  • Oil benchmark: Senate, Reps meeting deadlocked

    Oil benchmark: Senate, Reps meeting deadlocked

    The conference committee meeting between the Senate and the House of Representatives to agree on appropriate oil benchmark for the 2014 budget ended in a stalemate yesterday.

    The meeting held behind closed doors was attended by members of the Senate Finance Committee and their House of Representatives counterparts.

    The Senate fixed the benchmark at $76.50 per barrel, the House fixed its at $79 per barrel.

    Members of the committee kept sealed lips when they emerged from the over three hour meeting.

    Members of the House had, before the meeting, vowed not to shift ground on the benchmark.

    A member of the committee said no decision was reached by the two sides.

    Findings showed that the meeting was adjourned till 10am today.

    President Goodluck Jonathan had asked the two chambers to harmonise their differences on oil benchmark to enable him to present the 2014 budget

  • Jonathan’s anti-graft fight is weak, says Tambuwal

    Jonathan’s anti-graft fight is weak, says Tambuwal

    ICPC chief rejects foreign account for public officers

    EFCC not after President’s enemies, says Lamorde

    House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal condemned yesterday President Goodluck Jonathan’s attitude to the anti-corruption battle.

    He faulted the President’s handling of the N255million bullet proof cars scandal, the pension scam and the “rot” in the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC).

    Tambuwal said the President’s body language was promoting corruption, adding that the administration has not addressed high-profile corruption cases exposed by the legislature.

    Tambuwal was responding to questions after presenting a paper at a one-day roundtable to mark the International Anti-corruption Day by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.

    He spoke on the “Role of the legislature as the vanguard for anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria”.

    Tambuwal said: “Take the subsidy probe, the pension, the SEC probe and recently the bullet proof car cases. After the House of Representatives did a diligent job by probing and exposing the cases, you now see something else when it comes to prosecution.

    “In some cases, you have the government setting up new committees to duplicate the job already done by the parliament. Take the bullet proof cars case; the NSA, with all the security challenges confronting the country, should not be burdened with a job that can best be handled by the anti-corruption agencies.

    “The government has no business setting up any administrative committee in a case that is clear to all Nigerians. What the President should have done was to explicitly direct the EFCC to probe the matter. With such directives coming from the President, I am sure we still have good people in EFCC who can do a good job.

    “By setting up different committees for straightforward cases, the President’s body language doesn’t tend to support the fight against corruption.”

    Earlier in his paper, Tambuwal identified corruption as the bane of Nigeria’s development.

    He said: “For us in Nigeria, the reality that no greater challenge than corruption confronts us as a people is not in controversy. Indeed, if the roots of the overwhelming majority of our woes were traced, they are sure to terminate at the doorsteps of corruption.

    “This is a commonplace fact known to all Nigerians and requiring no corroboration. Yet, for the avoidance of doubt, it is important to state that in its 2012 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by the global corruption watchdog, Transparency International ranks Nigeria as the 36th most corrupt country globally! Nigeria placed 139th of the 176 countries assessed, scoring 27% in contrast with the least corrupt countries; Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, which scored 90%.

    “A survey of the social media showed that 98% of Nigerians who commented not only agreed with the country’s corruption ranking but, in fact, felt Transparency International was too generous to Nigeria.

    “A few of the comments read: ‘We don’t need a report to tell us what we already know”, another ‘Wow, I taught (sic) we were No.1. I wonder what country (sic) is before us. We all need prayers and serious fasting for our nation”. The other “to be fair, I always thought Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world”, yet another, “Me too… 35th is actually being nice”.

    “A list of manifestation of corruption, especially in the public sector of Nigeria, is legion, ranging from direct diversion of public funds to private pockets, contract over-pricing, bribery, impunity, nepotism, general financial recklessness, fraudulent borrowing and debt management, public assets stripping, electoral fraud, shielding of corrupt public officers; among others.

    “It is a well established fact that corruption thrives well in any environment or society where there is community indifference or lack of enforcement policies. Societies with a culture of ritualised gift, giving where the line between acceptable and non-acceptable gifts is often hard to draw. Societies in which values have been overthrown by materialism, societies in which laws are observed more in the breach.

    “It would appear that these environmental preconditions are all prevalent in the Nigerian society and no wonder, therefore, that corruption has found fertile soil to blossom.”

    Tambuwal said the legislature had done its best to enact laws to fight corruption.

    He said if the laws had been strictly applied, Nigeria would have gone a long way in reducing corruption.

    He, however, confirmed moves by the National Assembly to make the anti-corruption agencies independent.

    He said: “In the exercise of this mandate, the National Assembly has enacted the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2002 and The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act 2000′ for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting public officers and other persons suspected of involvement in corrupt practices.

    “In both legislations, the Commissions are given extensive powers of investigation and prosecution to deal with all cases of corrupt practices and abuse of office that may arise.

    With respect to the specific objective of injecting transparency and accountability in the management of the resources of the nation, the National Assembly enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Public Procurement Act 2007. Both legislations make copious provisions aimed at engendering transparency and accountability in the public space.

    “I make bold to say that if the provisions of these legislations and indeed others were diligently enforced, significant milestones would have been accomplished in the fight against corruption and corrupt practices in Nigeria. Sadly, however, these Legislations are observed more in the breach by the majority, including government and government agencies.

    “I am pleased to report that the House of Representatives is currently working on some proposals for the reform of these laws, with a view to reinforcing the independence of the agencies administering these laws including their mode of constitution and disbandment. I wish, therefore, to call on members of the NBA and indeed all Nigerians to prepare to buy into these reforms by making their inputs now or when the time comes for public hearings.

    Tambuwal condemned undue secrecy surrounding government activities.

    He pleaded with Nigerians to take advantage of the Freedom of Information Act to check secrecy in government.

    He added: “One other area, which has been of great concern, is the culture of undue secrecy that surrounds the operation of government. Whereas our Constitution enjoins in its Section 14 (2) (c) that ‘the participation of the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution” government business tended to be run like secret societies to the exclusion of the citizenry.

    “It was clear that this tended and was indeed intended to aid the concealment of corruption, such that even in times of suspicion, members of the public, including gentlemen of the fourth realm, could not access public information.

    “The National Assembly has passed the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to enhance the right of access to public records and information about public institutions. This is one Legislation that attracted massive public interest and it is my expectation that Nigerians will make maximum use of the right created under this legislation in order to defeat the culture of undue secrecy in the running of government business.”

    The Speaker took time to justify the oversight functions of the National Assembly.

    He said: “The other function of the legislature is oversight of the other arms of government. Section 88 mandates the National Assembly to investigate the conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charged or intended to be charged with the duty of or responsibility for( i) Executing or administering laws enacted by the National Assembly or ( ii) Disbursing or administering moneys appropriated or to be appropriated by the National Assembly.

    “The main object of investigation according to sub section 2 (a) and (b) of Section 88 is for law reform and to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws or administration or disbursement of public funds. Similar provision is made in Section 128 of the constitution for legislatures at the sub-national levels.

    “Another critical role of the Legislature is the provision of adequate funding for Anti Corruption Agencies through appropriation. Unfortunately, efforts to exercise this function by the legislature is often misconstrued by the executive arm and even some members of the public. Yet without adequate funding, the anti-corruption agencies can not execute their functions satisfactorily. I wish to call on the other arms of government and indeed the general public to corroborate with us in the exercise of this mandate.

    “It is in exercise of this mandate that the House of Representatives and indeed the National Assembly has been carrying out oversight of government agencies and series of investigations or probes over allegations of corruption and corrupt practices. As you are all aware, the legislature has over the years exposed several cases of corruption.

    “It is important for me to stress once again at this stage that the mandate of the legislature is to expose corruption. It does not have further mandate to prosecute. That mandate of prosecution lies with the Executive and Judiciary. I have heard public comments to the effect that the public is tired of investigation by the legislature since the people indicted in their findings are never prosecuted and sanctioned.

    “Let me reiterate that the Legislature will not abdicate its responsibilities on the account of inaction or negligence of another arm of government. If nothing else we will at least continue to name and shame. As noted earlier, the war against corruption is the responsibility of all and I call on the citizens of this great nation to rise in the exercise of their constitutional power to insist on the prosecution and sanctioning of persons indicted by the Legislature or by any agency whether public or private concerned in the fight against corruption.

    “In the exercise of the mandate of oversight the legislature is able to audit both pre and post expenditure of agencies of government and to give appropriate direction on the administration and disbursement of funds and execution of programs and projects under the Appropriation Act. Indeed the Public Accounts Committee of both the House and Senate has the specific mandate to review the disbursement and administration of public funds by ministries, Departments and Agencies.

    “As representatives of the people, Legislators will continue to be for all Nigerians their eyes to see, ears to hear and mouth to speak out against corruption anywhere and at anytime it rears its ugly head.

    “The task may appear daunting but I wish to assure that wit will, zeal, passion and determination, we shall eventually overcome this hydra-headed dragon. Only let us be single minded that it’s a task that must be done in order to preserve the country for posterity.

    The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau(CCB), Mr. Sam Saba, rejected moves to legalise operation of foreign account by public officers.

    He said such a policy would encourage money laundering.

    His words: “Legalising the operation of foreign account for public officers will further encourage money laundering. In some African countries, refusal to accept asset declaration form attracts three years jail term. But in Nigeria, the fine is only about N5,000.

    “ And sometimes, a governor can even pay for his aides. We need a stricter law, if we are serious about fighting corruption.”

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Kayode Oladele, said the agency was not going after those with differences against the President.

    Lamorde said: “It is not true that EFCC go after those who are against the president. Presently, we are investigating some Permanent Secretaries and judges over corruption allegations.

    “Some have even said the governor of Jigawa’s sons are being prosecuted because their father is part of the G-7 governors. They fail to ask if his sons actually committed the offence.”

    “These are some of the issues we should face and not accuse the commission of investigating only those who are against the President.

    “We have so many challenges as a commission because of our criminal justice system. We need very strong policies to fight corruption. Lawyers should see the fight against corruption as a challenge to all.”

  • It’s bye to PDP, say governors

    It’s bye to PDP, say governors

    •Kwakwanso, Wamakko to Jonathan: we’re for APC

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s battle to make the five governors who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reverse their decision has failed.

    The governors said yesterday that there was no going back on their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The governors are Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).

    They also asked Jonathan to henceforth invite them for meetings as APC governors instead of PDP.

    The G-5 conveyed their final decision to Jonathan through Kwankwaso and Wamakko during a salvage meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    Jonathan, who, watched in bewilderment as the governors made up their mind, offered to prevail on the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to step aside for the sake of unity in the party.

    But the governors told Jonathan point blank that it was “too late”.

    The meeting, which started at about 10.40pm on Sunday, got to a head at about 3am when Kwankwaso and Wammako bade Jonathan and 15 PDP governors farewell.

    According to sources, when Kwankwaso and Wammako got to the Villa, they met Niger State Governor Aliyu Babangida already seated.

    It was learnt that shortly after the Presidency got a signal that the aggrieved governors honoured Jonathan’s invitation, other PDP governors and leaders came for the session.

    At the session were the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki( a prime facilitator of the peace meeting); Governors Aliyu(Niger); Sule Lamido(Jigawa); Ibrahim Shema(Katsina); Isa Yuguda(Bauchi); Sullivan Chime(Enugu); Saidu Dakingari(Kebbi); Idris Wada(Kogi) and the acting Governor of Taraba State, Garba Umaru.

    Also there were Liyel Imoke(Cross River); Jonah Jang(Plateau); Muktar Yero(Kaduna); Theodore Orji(Abia); Godswill Akapbio(Akwa Ibom); Emmanuel Uduaghan(Delta) and Martins Elechi(Ebonyi).

    It was gathered that the President and PDP leaders came with expectations that they could win back three of the five governors, especially Kwankwaso and Wamakko.

    Col. Dasuki was said to have done a yeoman’s job in facilitating the presence of the two governors at the meeting.

    To get a commitment from the governors, the NSA was said to have sent Aliyu, chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, to them with a plea to honour the President.

    It was learnt that the Presidency acted on security reports that three of the G-5 governors were still disposed to PDP, if certain wrongs were corrected.

    A source said: “The meeting began on optimistic note but it later turned into a shock for the President and the leaders present.

    “When the tone for the meeting was set, Kwankwaso stood up and gave a lengthy explanation on why the governors chose to defect to APC.

    “He listed the grudges of the aggrieved governors as lack of internal democracy in PDP; hijacking of party structure at the state level; recourse to impunity by Tukur and the National Working Committee(NWC); why Tukur must go for PDP to survive; arbitrary suspension of leaders /members; and disrespect for the rule of law. The governor complained also of unilateral appointments by the Presidency without consultation with governors or party structure at the state level; and use of anti-graft agencies to haunt those with dissenting voices in the party.

    Another source added: “The President and the PDP governors listened with rapt attention. They later pleaded with the governors to remain in PDP as all their grievances will be addressed.

    “In fact, at a point, the President offered to prevail on Tukur to step aside as a sacrifice to resolve the crisis and move the party forward.

    “All the governors also bought into the idea of Tukur leaving the party.”

    It was learnt that Wamakko said it was too late to reverse their defection to APC.

    Wammako, who reportedly endorsed all the issues tabled by Kwankwaso, stunned the meeting when he said: “We came to formally inform you that we have left PDP for APC. When you are calling us for any meeting, we should be invited as APC governors.”

    The two governors left at about 3am. The PDP governors continued the session.

    A PDP governor, who spoke in confidence, said: “We tried to persuade them to return to our party, but they stuck to their decision. I think they do not want the public to see them as inconsistent.”

  • What South Africa must do after Madiba, by Fashola

    What South Africa must do after Madiba, by Fashola

    LAGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has said the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela calls for deeper reflection of the anti-apartheid struggle and the role played by the African continent, especially Nigeria in the journey to liberate South Africa.

    Governor Fashola who made the remark yesterday while addressing journalists at the State House in Alausa said inspite of the role played, Nigeria is currently on the receiving end of policies by the present day South Africa.

    He said it is expedient for President Goodluck Jonathan to use his presence at the burial of Nelson Mandela to put the nation’s leadership role back in the international limelight.

    He said: “I remember we did not go for Commonwealth Games because of South Africa. I remember we took drastic measures against the foreign collaborators of apartheid regime and nationalized assets. Brigadier-General Joe Garba was our Foreign Affairs Minister and Professor Bolaji Akinyemi was the Director-General of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). There is no home that the anti-apartheid campaign was not then. Our university halls were named after Mozambique and all of these places. We founded all of these organisations in Angola and Zimbabwe among others.

    “Apart from scholarship to South Africans, I remember when the late President Yar’Adua and I met Thabo Mbeki in South Africa and he was telling me about their relationship that dated back to the days when he was a lecturer at the University of Zaria and former President Mbeki used to come for exchange programme then.

    “There is no home that the anti-apartheid campaign was not then. Our university halls were named after Mozambique and all of these places. We funded all of these organisations in Angola and Zimbabwe among others.

    “We are the ones being driven out of South Africa. The British can enter South Africa. We have to take a visa. These are deep questions because they hurt me. People like Fela nearly lost their voices, singing about freedom. I hope that as our president is going for Mandela’s burial, I hope that it would be to go and take the leadership roles that we deserve or we should ask ourselves if we have really lost it, what is the way back. As I said, history has been revised and our voices are not heard on the international stage. This is our glory because we contributed so much to this course, and perhaps we ask ourselves what the investment pay-off has been.

    “There are more questions to answer. When you look at the part of the world where ovation is now the loudest, it was the part of the world the pain was the most vicious. In a very cruel irony, history is being revised. The people, who collaborated with the government that enthroned apartheid at that time, are the people that are paying the biggest tribute now.

    Eulogising the late freedom fighter Fashola said the legacies he left behind has proved beyond doubt that Africans are not inferior.

    “Mandela has proved we are not. There is nothing wrong with our genes. There is nothing wrong with our blood. It is just our attitude and disposition we must re-examine. Beyond that, there is nothing we cannot do. I believe there must some inspiration from there if any is needed. Really, it is to put spring on our heels so that we can reach the sky.”

  • Mandela memorial holds in 95,000 capacity stadium

    Mandela memorial holds in 95,000 capacity stadium

    The major events marking the final funeral rites for the late former South African President Nelson Mandela will hold today. No fewer than 80,000 people, including about 60 world leaders will participate in a memorial service at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg.

    Ahead of today’s event, a special joint session of parliament was held in Cape Town yesterday to allow South African politicians from all political parties to mark the passing of the nation’s first black president.

    President Jacob Zuma urged the country to remember the values of peace and forgiveness that Mr Mandela lived by and uphold them.

    His sentiments were echoed by the anti-apartheid icon’s family, who released a statement calling on South Africans to “keep the dream alive”.

    The huge memorial service is due to take place at the stadium where Mr Mandela made his last public appearance during the 2010 World Cup Final.

    President Goodluck Jonathan, United States President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are among the dignitaries.

    A programme released by the South African government showed that Obama would speak, as would Ki-moon and Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao. Other speakers include Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Cuban President Raul Castro. South African President Jacob Zuma will give the keynote address.

    Though security remains a concern, an AP reporter walked unsearched into the stadium yesterday by showing only a national press card issued in Europe. It took about three minutes before a security officer asked journalists to leave the stadium’s field. However, reporters freely roamed throughout the stadium and walked the aisles to see the ongoing stage construction.

    Officials from the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg also toured the venue, but declined to speak to journalists.

    From tomorrow, Mandela’s body will “lie in state” in Pretoria at the Union Buildings where he governed as president between 1994 and 1999.

    A funeral cortege carrying his remains will pass through the capital daily until Friday, with South Africans being urged to line the streets to form a “guard of honour”.

    The state funeral will take place in Mandela’s ancestral homeland of Qunu in the Eastern Cape on Sunday.

    Many world leaders are expected to travel to the usually sleepy rural village to join Mr Mandela’s family, friends and former comrades in bidding farewell to the revered statesman.

    Former US Presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and their wives will also be present at the event.

    George H W Bush is the only living US president who will not attend. His spokesman said the 89-year-old is no longer able to travel long distances.

    The American leaders will join dozens of other dignitaries, including about 60 heads of state who have confirmed their attendance at this week’s memorial events.

    Cameron will attend the main memorial service on Tuesday, while Prince Charles will represent Britain at Sunday’s state funeral.

    Celebrities, including Bono, Oprah Winfrey and Sir Richard Branson are expected to head to the country to pay their personal tributes to the man they considered a friend.

  • ‘I came to Aso Villa to inform Jonathan of our defection to APC’

    ‘I came to Aso Villa to inform Jonathan of our defection to APC’

    Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko yesterday explained that he was at the Presidential Villa to inform President Goodluck Jonathan of his and four other governors’ defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Wamakko, who arrived for the meeting at the First Lady’s Conference Room with his Kano State counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso, stayed for the five-hour meeting with President Jonathan and 14 PDP governors.

    Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting ended around 2.45a.m., he said the forum provided him the opportunity to say the truth concerning their grievances, which led to their defection.

    But Wamakko did not respond to the question whether he was pressurised by the President to return to the PDP.

    He said: “Well…the meeting went on very well because some of us came here as governors … in PDP matter and our position has been known. On behalf of the five of us, I have already briefed Mr. President; our position as G-5, that we are no longer in the PDP and that we are already in another party.”

    “But as a President of this country, if he calls us, we will come and listen to him and respect him as a leader of our country; otherwise, what we had there was mostly a PDP affair.”

    On why he sat through the about five hours PDP meeting, Wamakko said: “We had to tell the President and Chairman of the BOT our position. We can’t just be going about talking; we had to come and tell them the truth where the truth must be told and that is why we came here.”

    The Akwa Ibom State Governor and Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio, said the meeting was part of the on-going dialogue to resore harmony and peace in the party.

    He said: “I think the meeting we had was part of the dialogue Mr. President … months back at that time we had the G-7 governors. The last time we met, we met with the G-2 governors and today we had the G-3 and so it is part of the continuing dialogue to ensure harmony and peace in the party and Mr. President is not relenting.”

    “He is very serious about consulting with all strata and all the bigwigs in the party, particularly the governors who are aggrieved, with a view to bringing everybody on board and ensuring harmony and unity of the party and the governors. I don’t think the issue of APC was discussed.”

    On whether all hope is lost with Wamakko’s declaration to journalists at the end of the meeting, Akpabio said: “Please, you have to distinguish the issue state-by-state. You have to take the issues state-by-state. I wasn’t here when the governor of Sokoto was talking to you and I know that the governor of Sokoto State is just one member of the PDP in Sokoto and if he says he is leaving the PDP, I am sure there are still thousands of other members of PDP who will say, ‘we are staying within the PDP’.

    Among governors who attended the meeting which started on Sunday night include Niger, Abia, Kebbi, Kogi, Katsina, Bauchi, Plateau, Enugu, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna, and Taraba states.

    Also at the meeting were Vice President Namadi Sambo, Chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki.

    The President left the meeting about an hour to the end.

  • Conference: ‘Fed Govt won’t interfere’

    Conference: ‘Fed Govt won’t interfere’

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said the Federal Government will not interfere in the structures and processes of the proposed National Dialogue.

    Jonathan spoke in Abuja during an audience with leaders of Ohaneze Ndigbo and the Southeast at the Presidential Villa.

    A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the Jonathan administration had left it to Nigerians to determine the framework, content and process of the dialogue.

    He said: “If you listen to the radio, watch television and read on-line, you will realise that Nigerians are talking. We listen and read the commentaries. But all the discussions and ideas need to be harmonised. We must come to a point where we can move in one direction.”

    On the worries expressed in some quarters over the time frame for the dialogue, the President said the process would be completed before the 2015 elections.

    According to him, the Presidential Advisory Committee on the National Dialogue will soon present its report to him, having concluded its nationwide consultations.

  • Mandela: Life walk to legend

    Mandela: Life walk to legend

    Long Walk to Freedom, that is the title of Nelson Mandela’s definitive autobiography that captures his life odyssey: a classic of exceptional suffering that cleared the Mandela essence of any dross of bitterness; and left only the purity of exceptional grace and magnanimity.

    Was Mandela human or divine? Were it to be the medieval ages in Europe, this question would have earned the asker a charge of apostasy, and probably a one-way ticket to damnation.

    Indeed, were Mandela to be native of the Yoruba nation in Nigeria, instead of his Thembu nation in South Africa, his deification would only be a matter of time.

    He would therefore be in the class of Ogun, Oya and Sango – phenomenal humans deified after their death for their great deeds, as distinct from Olodumare, the Yoruba Supreme Being, Obatala, god of creation and Orunmila, god of divinity: godheads, according to Yoruba cosmogony, that existed with Olodumare from the beginning; and Olokun, Osun, Olumo rock, Idanre hills etc, awesome natural phenomena that provide their communities with spring of life and security.

    Indeed, such is the infectious beauty of greatness that, at Mandela’s passage on December 5, the Nigerian ruling elite have joined, with their empty rhetoric, the band wagon to share in the matter of the moment.

    Doyin Okupe, the peculiar master of Okupe-istic cant, has swiftly canonised his boss, President Goodluck Jonathan as “Nigeria’s Mandela”! Even for the un-rigorous Jonathan presidency, that claim sounded particularly comical.

    And their Baba, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, weighed in with stunning self-indictment. He had gone to Mandela, he read out a statement with graveness and piety peculiarly Obasanjo’s, and urged him to go for second term.

    But Mandela had told him “Olu” [pronounced with distinctly un-Yoruba accent], “have you ever seen a nation where an 80-year ran the show?” – or something to that effect. Yet, Obasanjo did two terms and was plotting an illegal third, before political realities stripped him of the costly illusion! Of course, he denied the third term gambit. But he should tell that to Nasir El-Rufai, the no-nonsense, all-conquering hero of The Accidental Public Servant!

    Okupe’s roguish canonisation of his boss and Obasanjo’s holy self-indictment just prove one point: greatness is sweet. But only a few are willing and ready to pay the price.

    The Mandela-Obasanjo parallel is a classic study in greatness and non-greatness.

    The one went to jail for 27 years, under apartheid, perhaps the most evil political system ever imposed on any people, yet as president, after helping to kill that system with rare grace, he felt he owed his nation!

    The other went to jail, for a few years, despatched by the same post-12 June 1993 presidential election political contraption of convenience he helped to erect, but as president after, felt his country owed him!

    The one endured the harshest of cruelties to, with near-divine grace, forgive and forget. The other never lets pass a slight, with his graceless vindictiveness.

    As for Okupe and his laughable canonisation, it is the same story of court zealots leading their principals down the road of perdition. In the Nigerian power cosmos, so was it at the beginning, so is it now and so it ever shall be, except of course some drastic change happens. If Nigerian leaders cannot pay the price for greatness, how can they lead their country to greatness?

    Nelson Mandela never bothered about the trappings or gravy of power, the Genesis to Revelation for our leaders here. All he went for were fundaments of common humanity: irrespective of race, creed or colour. And that he did it as the most globally acclaimed victim of a hideous system that dignified or criminalised strictly on the basis of one’s colour, without betraying any bitterness, was the stuff of which legends are made.

    Mandela was such a force for universal good in the 20th century and beyond simply because he shattered the ingrained Western racial bigotry of the Joseph Conrad school: Africans were savages and Europeans were the guiding angels divined to bring — by cruel force, if necessary — Africans and other Black peoples of the world out of their savagery.

    Though the Afrikaner overlords of Apartheid South Africa would later develop Afrikaner Calvinism, a rogue theological ideology on the pedestal of the Dutch Reformed Church to justify their evil, anti-Black racial discrimination would appear to stem from sentiments from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which bigotry Chinua Achebe, in his famous 1977 essay, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” took apart.

    Though racism predated Conrad’s 1899 work, Heart of Darkness would come as noxious understanding, if not outright justification of the evil, with the matter-of-fact rendition style of a not altogether unsympathetic narrative voice.

    But even with all of these, Mandela’s sheer humanity and political sagacity came across with two principal statements, among others. He declared, in his post-Robben Island prison years, that never in South Africa would one race oppress the other. He also declared that what he fought for was not majority, but democratic rule.

    The race-neuter quality of the first statement was not lost on many, for it insisted on equity and mutual respect for all races, in South Africa’s rainbow coalition, which Mandela would inspire from 1990, after apartheid as state policy since 1948.

    The equity and justice of the second statement is even more telling. Majority rule would have consigned South Africa to reverse apartheid: perpetual Black rule, which nevertheless would not be undemocratic, for democracy, in its most cynical form, is a game of numbers.

    Still, Mandela’s stress on democratic rule, as against majority rule, is a muted promise that one day, even a white South African, hopeless minority though he might be, could rule the rainbow nation, so long as he gets the go-ahead of the Black majority.

    No wonder then that while other African leaders would virtually invest anything to get photo-ops with American, European and other global leaders, it was the other way with Mandela, as who was who in the world happily scrambled to land a photo-op with him.

    The African, hitherto a savage in the bigoted White eyes, had in Mandela turned a global icon, without whose aura none of these world figures was complete! An armada of these leaders would also be at his funeral on December 15.

    Nigerian leaders that fatally distract themselves with the dross of office, instead of seeking greatness, have the Mandela story to seek redemption and change their ruinous ways. But perhaps they are beyond redemption?

    In that case, Nigerians must seize the moment and stop suffering fools gladly, by ending the relay of selfish, arrogant and incompetent leaders.

    Meanwhile, Madiba’s was a glorious life walk to legend — and you could feel that the way common South Africans trooped to Mandela’s Johannesburg home, at the announcement of his passage, to celebrate his life. How many Nigerian leaders would enjoy such privilege after their passage?

    Adieu Madiba. When comes another?

  • Jonathan leaves for South Africa, Kenya

    President Goodluck Jonathan will on Monday  leave Abuja to join other world leaders in South Africa to attend the Memorial Service on Tuesday as part of the burial ceremony of former President Nelson Mandela.

    The President, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, will be accompanied by the Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, to the Memorial Service holding at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

    Jonathan will also pay his last respects to Dr. Mandela at his lying-in-state at the Union Building in Pretoria on Wednesday, where he served as South Africa’s first democratically-elected President.

    The statement reads: “At the conclusion of the event in Pretoria on Wednesday, President Jonathan will leave for Nairobi to honour a long-standing invitation to be a guest of honour at Kenya’s 50
    th Independence Anniversary celebrations.”

    He is expected to return to Abuja on Thursday, December 12, 2013.

  • Intimidation, threats can’t make us great, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that intimidation and threats by some politicians in the country cannot make them great like great leaders across the globe like the late Nelson Mandela.

    He made the remark while making a tribute to late Nelson Mandela during the special inter-denominational memorial service held in his honour at the Aso Villa Chapel in the State House, Abuja.

    Unlike Mandela, he pointed out that many politicians in Nigeria resort to intimidation, threats and show of force in their communication.

    According to him, it would be difficult for a politician to be truly great than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

    He said: “In-fact, if you listen to those of us who are politicians, from all political parties, the way we talk, some of us speak as if Nigeria is their personal bedrooms that they have control over.”

    “Read the papers, listen to the radio and televisions and the social media and see how politicians talks, we intimidate, we threaten, show force in our communication, these definitely not the virtue of great men. They are certainly the vices of tiny men.”

    “Sometimes when I listen to politicians, the ones older than me, my contemporaries and some even the younger ones, I come to the painful conclusion that it would be probably easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a politician to be truly great.”

    “So for today that we are celebrating the great son of Africa, Nelson Mandela, who by all standards has been accepted by the whole world, we should be concerned about the kind of comments people make about us.” He added

    Stressing that the problem is not limited to Nigeria alone, he said: “But I always look at the word greatness with some kind of pessimism, because making a great name is not just enough because even at the political circle, we have so many great names that are dictators, ran a very very repressive and oppressive government that sent a lot of
    people into repression, some people became extremely notorious but they have made big names, so to be truly great is key, and Nelson Mandela is one rare person.”