The Nation Newspaper

Tag: greed

  • Greed and politics of defections

    Nigerians are a very peculiar people; they carry out their daily activities with certain peculiarity and are clearly indomitable in all spheres that they find themselves. Nigeria, is itself a nation of uncommon circumstances, hence the atypical nature of its populace.

    It is that special flora of its societies that makes Nigerian a force to reckon with in the comity of nations. Nigerians are brilliant, witty, sassy, imaginative, creative and unconquerable. They just survive whatever the circumstance might be.

    Dumping one political party for the other has become the stock in trade of many of the nation’s politicians and as expected, they have always justified their actions by canvassing excuses such as “irreconcilable differences” and “lack of internal democracy” in their previous parties.

    Unlike Late Sir Ahmadu Ballo, the Late  Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe and  late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who were guided by ideologies with which they laid the foundation for the development of their regions and Nigeria at large, many of today’s politicians quickly defect to another political party once their personal interest is threatened.

    In 2013, David Morris wrote: “Contrary to popular wisdom, the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats is not on the size of government but the purpose and goals of government. Both parties believe in taxing heavily and spending lavishly when it comes to national security that protects our nation from external attack.”

    He continued: “what Democrats see as steps to enhance security, Republicans view as steps that restrict liberty. They assert that government-created health exchanges interfere with the right of insurance companies to manage their own affairs, while the requirement that everyone have health insurance constitutes an act of tyranny. Minimum wage laws interfere with the economic liberty of business and the freedom of the marketplace, take for instance President Obama’s Healthcare bill which has since been code-named “Obamacare”.

    What we have in our system of democracy as opposed to the American system, where we claim to have copied our democracy, is a group of individuals, driven by gluttony for power and guilt of conscience. The ultimate being that they should be allowed to freely dip hands into the public treasury at will.

    But the politicians of today do not care about ideologies or principles; they are barefaced prostitutes running from one party to the other, depending on the one in power. They are bereft of shame or dignity, and don’t give a hoot about what the public thinks.

    Columnist, Donatus Okpe, said: “If Ideology is a body of non-compromising beliefs or principles, in the face of its decades of systematic institutional failures, Nigeria should not expect miracles from whoever wins March 28th (Presidential) election. She is a country where the past holds the history that is too weak to inspire the present.”

    It is funny to read and see that barely days to the emergence of the former opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), at the centre, politicians in Kogi State and other parts of the country started decamping to the winning party. It is really nauseating to see a people without principle; without the capacity to endure and nurture their ideals and try to sell it.

    Nigerians were not shocked when the former governor of the crisis-ridden Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, announced his defection to the ruling PDP because his close associate, Inuwa Bwala, had earlier told journalists before the defection that Sheriff was no longer comfortable with the APC structure and had decided to join the PDP.

    Sheriff, who had won elections three times on the platform of the defunct ANPP, justified his sudden love for the PDP, saying he took the decision in the interest of the country. He had said: “Our interest should be on what makes the nation move forward. My decisions will be guided by the interest of the nation first. My thinking of moving to the PDP is also in the interest of the nation.”

    Former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who had waited long for the PDP to abide by the court judgement nullifying his sack as the party’s secretary, openly criticised the party when he defected to the APC shortly before the August 9 governorship election in the state.

    Even before he dumped the APC, Nigerians had expected that the former Minister of Foreign Affairs during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, Chief Tom Ikimi, would return to the PDP following his failure to realise his ambition of clinching the APC’s national chairmanship position.

    Ikimi, who is believed to lack clear ideological base, had also traversed the defunct APP, ANPP, ACN and APC. The former minister had said shortly after he failed to get the APC national chairmanship position during its convention in June that the convention was a “charade”.

    The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, we cannot forget that he criticised the party for lack of internal democracy before dumping it for the Labour Party in 2006. The governor has also collapsed his political structure under the “Iroko Frontiers” to a group called “Believe Nigeria, Trust Goodluck” for the purpose of supporting President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid.

    It was believed that Mimiko returned to the PDP to position himself for either a ministerial or ambassadorial appointment if President Jonathan had won the election. Now that the tide has changed, I guess he would have to re-decamp to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to fulfil his ambition.

    Save for Buhari’s populist ideology, I hardly see anyone that principled not to be tempted to join that ‘cross-carpeting bandwagon’. He stands tall when he straddles the nation’s political landscape. His moral fortitude can only be compared to that of the ilk of Aminu Kano and the rest who had political conviction.

    There are those few among us whose greed and cupidity would not allow to remain in one party. They are always gallivanting from one party to the other, always wanting to be with the ruling party. That is a strange culture of jumping a sinking ship for selfish reasons.

    My fear however is with the rate of cross-carpeting and decamping that have formed recurring decimal of our political experience. Wouldn’t it lead to the implosion of relatively burgeoning All Progressives Congress?

    Thankfully, the President-elect and the National Chairman of the APC have both advised PDP members to remain in their party in order to form a credible opposition.

     

    •Mohammed, 300-Level Mass Comm., KSU

  • Greed, arrogance caused PDP’s defeat –Bishop Kukah

    Greed, arrogance caused PDP’s defeat –Bishop Kukah

    The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev. Dr. Mathew Hassan Kukah, yesterday blamed greed and arrogance as the major reasons for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s loss of the 2015 general elections to the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    He said this in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, while delivering a convocation lecture at the Ebonyi State University titled ‘Transition to Democracy: Can Nigeria Ride the Wave?’

    Kukah also identified lack of party cohesion, insensitivity to its supporters and inability to control its stalwarts’ excesses as other reasons for the party’s failure.

    He, however, blamed these on the poor foundation of the party at its inception, maintaining that the party “was really not a party and never worked hard to become a party.”

    His words: “Successful transitions are based on the typology of the transition. Was it negotiated as it was in South Africa or is it an emergency transition? I don’t believe we have a transition in Nigeria, because I followed the circumstances that brought in Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and I know the story pretty well.

    “But what we had was really an attempt at becoming a democracy. PDP has reaped the ill wind it sowed because clearly PDP was really not a party and it never worked hard to become a party. It became a distribution agency.

    “It is true that these elections could have swung either way. Many would argue that President Jonathan and his PDP could have won the elections had they not succumbed to the hubris that has become the hallmark of the PDP. We all know the story of the peculiar circumstances that brought the party into being.

    “We also know that despite that, the party became an association of takers and buccaneers more than anything else. The party could not deal quickly with the issues of greed and arrogance of some of its men and women in power.

    “The party could not control the excesses of some of its ministers and henchmen/women. It simply saw itself as presiding over a distribution agency.

    “Many would argue that it became insensitive to the needs of its supporters. It had no mechanism for internal cohesion and simply believed that it was the elephant that could not be slain.”

    Bishop Kukah also charged the President-elect, Gen. Muhamadu Buhari, to work hard to restore public confidence in government and politics

  • Greed as incitement for class war

    Greed as incitement for class war

    ‘The most dreadful of all wars, the war of the poor against the rich, a war which, however long it may be delayed, will come and come with all its horrors.” ———Orestes Brownson (American Unitarian, Catholic convert and founder of Workingmen’s party) 

    It was in the course of flipping through newspapers some days ago that I came across a mind-boggling story on Aare Afe Babalola, an incandescent legal luminary. He reportedly escaped being stoned to death by protesting angry students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti. The students’ grouse was against power outage in their community for over one month. They also attempted to vandalise one of the hostels of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), owned by the topmost advocate, which is located opposite the Polytechnic. The students, in their wild reverie, hijacked vehicles and blocked the Ado-Ijan-Ikare Highway. They queried why ABUAD campus should enjoy uninterrupted power supply while they wallow in darkness in their Erinfun community.

    But for timely intervention of the police, the story may have been different despite police’ claim to have arrested 30 students which they thoughtlessly plan to charge to court for breach of public peace. The legal icon was actually trying to intercede in the matter before the incident got out of hand. The likes of Babalola are blessings to any community. As far back as the second republic, he deployed his influence to bring the Federal Polytechnic to Ado-Ekiti, his area and reportedly donated many gigantic structures to the institution. But the fact in issue in this case is not about an individual; it is beyond that because what happened in Ado-Ekiti could be a reflection of what to expect on the national scale-an imminent revolt of the poor against the rich and that of the governed against their government.

    The transferred aggression of the students against hard-working people like Afe Babalola, who ordinarily should be spared such torment, should not be waved aside as misplaced. The reality is that when anguished people vent their spleen against a degenerative system, both the guilty and the innocent fall victim: No one is spared. It could be said that his university was established from his decades of toil in the legal turf. But can this be said several past leaders who had passed through the corridors of power? More precisely, we have leaders, past and present, whose pastime remain the destruction of public educational system in the country only to come up later to establish their own universities? That is the reason behind the debilitating state of education and fall in standards across this defective federation. A largely poor and exploited populace pretending to be educated could be serious threat to the wealthy and those in power in any nation. That is what transpired in Ekiti state. Afterall, Abraham Lincoln once said that ‘wealth is like manure, and does no good unless spread around.’

    For instance, Ibrahim Babangida holds the infamous record of running a government under which the egregious degeneration of public universities began in the country. He later established his own private institution called Al-Amin International School. Olusegun Obasanjo’s first tenure as military leader witnessed serious contempt for university students’ welfare as epitomised by the ‘Ali Must Go’ saga in which soldiers brutalised the students. His second coming as civilian president for two terms of eight years witnessed unreasonably prolonged lecturers’ strikes in tertiary institutions. He too also established The Bells University in Ota, Ogun State. His then deputy, Atiku Abubakar also went ahead to establish The American University somewhere in the north. There are others like them too numerous to mention for space constraints.

    Rather than dissuade this odious trend, successive administrations have consistently shunned the rational path of proper funding of not only public universities but other publicly owned educational institutions in the country. Some top government functionaries, past and present, gleefully flaunt private universities and secondary schools built with questionable income while occupying public positions.

    Shamefully too, the amenities they would not provide for the public schools despite budgetary provisions for such have suddenly become the beacons of standards in their privately owned odious schools replete with opulence and grandeur at the expense of public till. Apart from the avalanche of infrastructure in these schools run with ill-gotten funds, lecturers there don’t go on strike while children of the poor are priced out of attending them through prohibitive tuition fees. These men of power’s schools continue to thrive for as long as the undermining game against public schools continues.

    The role of religious organisations including mosques and especially the churches is quite un-encouraging. In the face of blinding poverty, the churches exploited the religious weaknesses in Nigerians by collecting tithes from the poor as well as stolen money from public till from highly placed Nigerian members to build universities and secondary schools that underprivileged members cannot afford to send their wards. The corruption in most churches has denied that sect the opportunity of sustaining its position of being the moral fulcrum of the Nigerian society. If anything, the graft in such places of worships has further amplified the class disparity in the larger society.

    The traditional institutions have lost its moral steam in communal and societal guidance. What exist mostly in virtually all communities are traditional rulers that glorify criminals and till looters without any tinge of conscience thereby aiding the widening disparity between the rich and the poor. Of course, the once momentous role of the upper middle-class intellectuals that once served as the conscience and repository of policy/ideas formulation for the country has since disappeared. The quality of knowledge/competence oozing out of citadels of learning is quite low, while mostly apolitical high grade civil servants of yore have vanquished from this clime. The middle class has disappeared as what we now have are lumping bourgeoisie that perpetually relies on shady deals to sustain their questionable lifestyles.

    To sustain the increasing unequal class disparity in the country, some Brettonwood institution’s propelled economists have been strategically positioned in the current administration to come up with economic theories that would further make life more miserable for the common man on the street. They see economics, in their pursuit of capitalist ideals, as a circle where market economies automatically adjust themselves. But John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) who was one of the greatest economic thinkers of the 20th century came up with an idea that puts a lie to this through his call for deficit financing and state intervention. This has manifested through World Bank officials in government’s concocted and insincere bailouts and other intervention policies that at that time saved capitalism from self annihilation. Again, here in Nigeria, state interventions, relying on the Keynesian political-economic model during economic crisis was usually predicated on fraudulent aegis that has no direct benefit for the common man but pockets of those in power, thus broadening the already wide gap between the rich and the poor. The rich/powerful in the country always seize such opportunity for nepotistic advantage and to further solidify their economic foundations.

    This continuing state economic affront is why class struggle might be imminent in the country. After all, Karl Marx once said: ‘The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle: lord and serf, patrician and plebeian, gild master and journeyman; they all stood in constant opposition to one other; engage in now hidden, now open fight; a fight that result in revolutionary reconstitution of the society at large or in absolute ruin of the contending classes.’ The ruling elite class in the country must do something drastic about the worsening exploitation and tyrannisation of the less privileged in our society. Otherwise, it is they that have more than something to lose and not the common man who has got used to suffering in the midst of plenty.

  • Cleric advises leaders against greed

    The Anglican Bishop of Aba diocese, Bishop Christian Ugwuzor has urged leaders to be mindful of their actions in the discharge of their duties, even as he advised them to shun greed.

    The cleric noted that greediness is responsible for the senseless attitude of some leaders who amass wealth to the detriment of the people they should take care of. Bishop Ugwuzor gave the advice during the thanksgiving service to mark the retirement of former Nigeria’s Consul-General to South Africa, Ambassador Okey Emuchay from the country’s Foreign Service at St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Aba.

    Speaking during the thanksgiving service, the ex-diplomat had pleaded with churches in Abia State to help him realise his governorship ambition, even as he said prayers remain one of the tools that will help in achieving his governorship aspiration.

    Emuchay, who said he is running on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), added that he was embarking on a tedious assignment that would require the prayers and support of the church.

    He said: “I will need your prayers and support for the taxing job I want to embark upon, to seek the support and understanding of residents. I pledge not to disappoint the people. I have not disappointed before and I will not disappoint you this time around.”

    In his remark, the Bishop of Aba, Bishop Christian Ugwuzor, said God would select a governor from the multitude of aspirants for the state, even as he expressed concern over the litany of governorship aspirants in the state.

    Earlier in his sermon, the cleric urged Nigerians to seek the face of God and eschew evil tendencies during their political campaigns. He said our business is to pray and at the end of the day, God will choose a governor for Abia State and its people.

    Bishop Ugwuzor said: “Public office holders should stop amassing wealth at the expense of having good relationship with God. It is not only sinful but also evil. It is regrettable that Christians are taking to idolatry, hatred and jealousy.

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s foster father, Chief NA-bai Inegite, who represented the family on the occasion, thanked God that Emuchay, served the country meritoriously, describing him as “a worthy son of our family.”

    In his speech, Governor Theodore Orji congratulated the ex-diplomat for a successful career in the Foreign Service and retiring meritoriously in good health and with enviable record.

    Represented by his deputy, Chief Emeka Ananaba, Orji said although Emuchay was ‘retired, he is not tired.’

    “Okey, the governor said, you have travelled far and wide and you have represented our people. You have been our ambassador. I wish you well.”

    The governor said: “The choice is yours. You can decide to go to your village or community and rest or you can come out and deploy the abundant experience you have garnered for the benefit of your people.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • My love of extravagant lifestyle and greed for money led my husband into crime (4)

    THAT foreign vacation was just the beginning. After our return from the trip which we all enjoyed despite the rain that fell a lot of the time and prevented us from exploring the city as much as we would have liked, I intensified my efforts in upgrading our lifestyle and status. Some months later, our house on the city outskirts was completed and my husband wanted us to move in immediately.

    “We don’t have to pay rent again; we are free from Lagos ‘landlord wahala’,” he said happily the day he broke the news of our impending relocation. There was nothing bad in moving to our own property. The problem was the location which was far from the city centre, in an undeveloped area with poor facilities. It did not just fit in with the kind of environment I wanted to live in – a posh place like that of Runo and my other friends.

    Hilary noticed my lack of enthusiasm for the new house.

    “What’s the matter, dear? You should be happy that we now have our own property,” he stated.

    I told him about my misgivings about the move, like lack of good roads in the area and decent schools for the children and other issues.

    “Besides it’s too far from town. How will I be seeing my friends when we will be living so far away,” I grumbled.

    “Don’t worry. With time, we will adjust and you can always come to town once in a while for visits,” he stated.

    Shortly after, we moved to the new house. God knows I tried to adjust to our new environment but it was just impossible. There was no electricity as the power company had not deemed it fit to erect poles and connect us. When the residents in the area tried to fix the poles and get a transformer through self-help effects, we learnt the utility company refused to give permit as they said it was illegal.

    The roads were more like village footpaths and were virtually impassable during the rains. In fact my husband had to park his car as it was always breaking down due to the bad roads. He had to resort to taking public transport to and from work. Worse, I could not get any good school around for the children to attend. I was not happy in the new place and at a point, I told my husband that I could not stay there anymore.

    “Our village is even better than here. I can’t stay here any more o! The suffering is just too much!” I complained late one evening on his return from work.

    “So, what do you want me to do? We just moved here! Endure, with time you will adjust to the situation. Afterall, others are coping here so why can’t you?” he countered.

    I was not ready to listen. I had had enough and I wanted out. I had even made up my mind to move back to the city on my own if he was not ready to do what I wanted. Runo had told me I could move to her house anytime I wanted, saying there was enough room for me and the kids if I could not cope with ‘that bush place’ as she called our new place.

    I kept on harassing my husband so much and even threatened to quit the marriage if he refused for us to relocate, that he finally acquiesced.

    I found a nice duplex in a very quiet, lovely estate in the city. The rent was on the high side and Hilary complained about how expensive the house was but I pointed out the advantages like proximity to his workplace, a good school for the children and other nice amenities. I was so happy the day we moved in.

    ‘At last, I’m living somewhere I can be proud to bring my friends to and not be ashamed,’ I thought happily.

    I bought new furniture and household appliances as we had left most of our old stuff in our personal house. It cost a lot of money but the effort was worth it.

    “Nice decor. You did a good job here,” Runo, who had very high tastes and standards, stated when she visited sometime later after we had settled down in our new home.

    “Thanks. It was’t easy convincing my husband to move here. You know how he is,” I said as I served her some chilled wine.

    ***

    Most of our neighbours were wealthy people and this showed in their lifestyle especially the kind of cars they drove. No rickety or ‘tokunbo’ vehicles in sight but sleek, classy cars. I wanted to ‘fit it’ so I told my husband we needed to upgrade our cars to poshier models. To my surprise, he did not even argue about the cost. The following month he bought three brand new cars for the family, an SUV for me, a nice salon car for himself and another for taking the children to school.

    You might be wondering where all the money to fund this expensive lifestyle we were living was coming from for a worker with an average salary such as my husband. As the chief Accountant in the company, I knew he earned well and there were perks attached to his position as well. But I knew it was not just his earnings alone. Truth was that, I did not care as long as my husband did whatever I wanted. At a point I got bored of staying at home as the children were in school so I did not have much to do. To keep busy, I told my husband to open a business for me, at least a shop where I could sell ladies clothes, accessories and gift items.

    I found a space in a shopping mall not too far from our house. With the capital my husband gave me, I bought goods worth millions of naira to stock the store and the business took off. With time, I started travelling out of the country to buy goods for the shop with money Hilary gave me and some of the profit from the business.

    We were living really well, the kind of ‘hight class’ lifestyle I had always wanted and I was happy. It was not up to the standard of my very rich friends like Runo but at least we were getting there. With time, I hoped to be among the top class people, living really ‘big.’

    After that first vacation in London, we would spend subsequent holidays abroad in different countries including the U.S, South Africa and France. My husband never complained anymore about the cost; once I make a request, he would grant it unlike before when he would grumble about the money. You might think my husband is a weak man who can’t say ‘No’ to his wife. It was not that- something else was involved which I will explain later.

    Anyway, things continued to go well for us till about two years ago. One day, my husband came home and told me he needed some money for a project he was doing.

    “I need about a million naira. I will pay you back once the ‘project’ works out,” he assured me. I had some cash I wanted to use to order some goods but I felt that could wait.

    The following day, I gave him the money. Some days later, he asked me for another one million and I became suspicious.

    “Dear, what kind of project is this that you keep demanding for all this money from me? I can’t take more money from the business or it will affect it. As it is, it was the money I needed to restock that I gave you last week. I don’t have money left,” I told him. He looked downcast but he did not say anything.

    A few days later, he came back from work around noon which was unusually early. He said he was feeling unwell and had taken a few days sick leave from work.

    “Let’s go to the hospital if you are sick,” I stated. But he said it was not necessary, that he simply needed bed rest. I gave him some paracetamol and he went upstairs to bed.

    He had been at home for about three days when we got unexpected visitors early one morning. Three policemen came and picked up my husband on corruption and theft of funds charges.

    “Mr Hilary, you are under arrest for theft, fraud, conspiracy to defraud and other offences,” one of them said.

    I could not believe what was going on. My husband a thief? How come? Who did he steal from? Were some of the thoughts that were going through my mind as I watched the officers handcuff my husband.

    “Please, leave my husband alone! He is a good man, he hasn’t done anything wrong,” I shouted as they led him away. They ignored me, took my husband to a waiting vehicle and drove away.

    It was later the full story of my husband’s fraudulent acts came out. Some external auditors who came to check the company’s books where he worked discovered massive fraud in the account department, with my husband alone responsible for the disappearance of over 70 million naira!

    I nearly fainted when I heard the large sum he had stolen.

    “So, all the money we have been spending was company funds,” I said when I went to see him in the police cell where he had been detained.

    He shrugged and said:

    “Who caused it? You and your incessant demands and love of a flamboyant lifestyle pushed me to this. I had to meet up and where was I supposed to get the money from? The moon?” he said sarcastically.

    Due to the case, our properties were seized including our personal house, all the goods in my shop, cars and others. Even our accounts were frozen. My in-laws on hearing what happened to my husband and my role in it, came and took my children away, stating that I would infect them with my ‘bad character’ and ruin their lives with my greedy ways.

    Even my step daughter Estelle, now a big girl attending one of the universities in town, refused to have anything to do with me, calling me a ‘bad woman who ruined my father.’

    Later, the company took the case to court and my husband was given a ten year prison sentence.

    He has been in prison for about a year now. Our lives have been turned upside down by my husband’s actions which nearly everyone is blaming me for. I know I wanted to live ‘big’ but I never told him to go and steal.

    After a while, I had to move out of the duplex we lived in to a room apartment in another part of town as we could no longer afford the rent on the property. My business is gone, husband in prison and my children taken away. To worsen matters, I have been struck by a strange ailment which I have found out is spiritual. You see, a friend had taken me to see a native doctor sometime ago who gave me a charm that would make my husband love me more and do my bidding all the time.

    The downside was that I must not stop using it on my husband or there would be a problem. It turned out the strange sickness is the problem.

    Now, I live in constant pain and misery, all alone now, no money, family or friends. Runo and the other rich friends of mine all abandoned me as soon they heard about our troubles.

    So was it all worth it? We lived big and enjoyed life, living beyond our means on stolen money, but now we are paying the price. A very high price at that! Where do I go from here?

    Concluded

    What do you advice Annette to do about her situation? Readers reactions are welcome!

    Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator and other individuals in the story.

    Send comments/suggestions to 08023201831(sms only), psaduwa@yahoo.com or psaduwa007@gmail.com

  • My love of an extravagant lifestyle and greed for money led my husband into crime (3)

    ABOUT a week later, I brought up the matter of the trip abroad to my husband again but he made it abundantly clear that there was no money to embark on it at that time. He said we could wait till a few years time when his two younger brothers that he was sponsoring at the university graduated and the financial burden on him was reduced.

    “Just be patient, dear. We will travel at the appropriate time. God’s time is the best,” he said reassuringly.

    But I was not ready to listen to his sermon about being patient. I so much wanted to travel; and I felt it was his responsibility as my husband to do things to make me happy so what was all this talk about being patient?

    ‘Afterall, my name is not Patience,’ I thought to myself one day as I was mulling over the matter. ‘My mates are out there having fun and he says I should be patient! Till when?’

    So, one Saturday evening, on his return from an engagement, I drew his attention to a company’s website on the computer that organised trips to different locations in the world with a nice discount for family bookings.

    “Honey, it will be less expensive if we book online. Maybe we should try them,” I said, looking at the screen.

    “Annette, what’s the matter with you? I’ve told you before that we can’t afford this vacation right now. I just don’t have the money for it,” said Hilary.

    “That’s what you say all the time- you never have money for anything to do with me. But if it’s your relatives, money will miraculously appear from nowhere!”

    That did not go well with my husband and he made that clear.

    “And what’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded angrily. “Are you saying I don’t take enough care of you? Or the children? Are you now saying I’m a bad husband just because I refused to sponsor your frivolous holiday abroad?” he queried.

    “Call it whatever you like. All my friends are going off to exotic places this period while am stuck here in Nigeria. Why should I be different? Do they have two heads?” I countered.

    “Can you just hear yourself? So, you want to be like your friends now, abi? Has it entered that mind of yours that our situation, money wise is different? In case you have forgotten, let me remind you that I’m just an ordinary employee where I work and not the owner of the business. We are not multi-millionaires like your friends,” he stated firmly.

    “That’s your problem. All I know is that I’m travelling this year whether you like it or not,” I told him.

    “This your new found attitude of wanting to live beyond your means, live a flamboyant lifestyle like your friends will get you nowhere. You have to learn to cut your coat according to your size. Stop imitating what others are doing. You should be satisfied with what God has blessed us with,” he maintained.

    I did not answer him but simply left the room and went to the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

    If my husband thought that I had given up, he was in for a surprise. I kept on nagging him about the issue for days. When he still did not budge, I began denying him sex and any intimacy. I moved to the children’s room and refused to return to our bedroom despite his pleadings. Not just that, I started going out more frequently and returned home late. We had a house maid who did most of the housework and also took care of the children so I had a lot of time on my hands.

    The fight

    One evening, I returned home very late at about 10 pm to meet my husband standing in front of our apartment, his hands folded on his chest. He looked really angry, like he was ready to pounce on me any minute.

    “And where are you coming from at this time of the night?” he demanded, glancing at his watch.

    “I went to see a friend and…” I began to say but he cut me off.

    “You went to see a friend? You left the children at home with the maid since morning and you are just returning now. Have you forgotten you are a housewife, Annette. You are not a career woman so you have no excuse for staying out late like those women who work,” he noted.

    “Look, Hilary, I’m tired and need to rest. So, stop with all these questions,” I said and pushing him aside, went into the house.

    He followed me inside the house. The children were already asleep and the maid was with them.

    “I hope they ate before sleeping,” I asked her.

    “Yes, Madam. I gave them dodo and beans as you instructed,” she replied.

    I went to the kitchen to find something to eat as I was hungry. I was warming some rice in the microwave when my husband entered the kitchen.

    “Your movements these days is becoming suspicious. You go out all the time and return late. Tell me, are you having an affair or what, Annette?” he asked.

    I ignored him and continued with what I was doing.

    He came to where I stood and grabbing my hand, said:

    “I’m talking to you, woman! Answer me! Are you cheating on me?”

    “And what if I am! Afterall, I’m still young and attractive even after two kids and men chase me all the time. So, if my husband can’t give me what I want, maybe somebody else outside will,” I said with a sneer.

    “You dare open your mouth and tell me this bullshit? How dare you!” he said angrily, followed by two resounding slaps on my face. I screamed and covered my face and head with my hands in protection as he repeatedly hit me. He was about hitting me again but was stopped by the maid who had run into the kitchen on hearing my screams.

    “You better watch yourself, woman if you want us to continue living together in this house. I won’t tolerate my wife gallivanting all over the place, prostituting herself. You hear me?” he threw at me as the maid led me out of the kitchen.

    The following day, I went to see my friend, Runo. She was shocked when she saw the bruises on me from the beating my husband gave me.

    “You mean he did this to you just because you want a vacation abroad? How much will it cost him? He must be a stingy man!” she said.

    She brought out her first aid kit and applied some medication on the cuts on my face and arm.

    That day, I did not return home but spent the night at Runo’s place. My husband kept calling to know my whereabouts but I refused to pick his calls. He also sent text messages, apologizing for what he did, promising that he would never lay a finger on me again as long as he lived.

    By the third day, I wanted to go home as I was missing my children whom the maid said had been asking for me.

    But Runo did not want me to return yet, stating that Hilary needed to be taught a lesson.

    “You need to be firm. Stand your ground and don’t give in too easily or he will continue to take you for granted and be treating you like a punching bag,” she explained.

    I had been in Runo’s house for about a week when my husband showed up on her doorstep one evening. He had never been there before so I wondered how he was able to locate the place.

     

    He was full of apologies.

    “Please, honey forgive me! It will never happen again, I promise. I miss you so much. The children too miss you. Please come home!” he pleaded over and over.

    Seeing how remorseful he looked, I finally gave in and agreed to return but on one condition.

    “Anything you want, just name it. I will do anything for you. I just want you back!” he stated.

    “Alright. All I want is that vacation, that’s all,” I said.

    To my surprise, he readily agreed to my demand.

    “I told you he will agree to your demands in the end. You just have to know how to manipulate men to get what you want from them,” Runo stated later as I went to the guest room to pick my bag and the few belongings I had come with.

    I don’t know how my husband raised the money but a few weeks later, he had made all the necessary arrangements for our trip to the U.K. We planned to stay with his cousin Johnny who had been living there for over ten years and was a British citizen.

    I was so happy when the day of our journey finally arrived and we flew out of the country…

    To be continued

    Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator and other individuals in the story.

    Send comments/suggestions to 08023201831(sms only), psaduwa@yahoo.com or psaduwa007@gmail.com

    Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator and other individuals in the story.

    Send comments/suggestions to 08023201831(sms only), psaduwa@yahoo.com or psaduwa007@gmai.com

  • My love of an extravagant lifestyle and greed for money led my husband into crime (1)

    YES. Everything the title of my story says is true about me and more. Infact, if I say all the things I did just to live the good life, my story will not end before Christmas.

    I now know what I did was wrong and I’ve made so many mistakes in life which I’m paying for right now. My husband is no more with me as he is paying for the crimes he committed and my two children have been taken away. As if that is not bad enough, I’ve been struck by a strange ailment that has defied all cure. My life is a big mess right now and I have no one to blame but myself. And all for what? Just to be on the same level or even higher than my wealthy friends? Was it all worth it?

    ***

    My tale began when I met Hilary, my husband of ten years. It was at the company where he worked then. I had gone there for a job interview and Hilary was one of those on the panel conducting the oral part of the interview.

    Later, as I was leaving the company, the receptionist told me her ‘Oga’ wanted to see me. It was Hilary, who turned out to be the Chief Accountant in the company.

    When I went up to see him in his office, he congratulated me on my performance, saying that he had been impressed by my response to the tough questions I was asked. That day, he raised my hopes by stating I could be among the lucky ones picked for the few vacant positions the company wanted to fill.

    Based on that, I looked forward to getting good tidings of a job offer soon. So, you could imagine my shock some weeks later when the names of successful candidates came out and my name was not on it. It was when I contacted Hilary that he told me what had happened.

    He said my name which was originally on the list had been substituted at the last minute by another candidate who was the relative of one of the directors of the company.

    “Honestly, I tried my best to ensure you got the job but the ‘powers that be’ had their way. But don’t worry, Annette. I’m sure something good will come along soon. So, take heart,” he said. Though disappointed, I felt touched at his concern for me. This was a man I did not know showing so much interest in my wellbeing, and in a society where many people have grown selfish and wicked and only cared about themselves and personal interests.

    Anyway, after that initial encounter, Hilary and I became friends. Back then, he was close to forty, divorced from his first wife whom he said abandoned her matrimonial home when things were rough for him at a point in his life. He had a daughter, Estelle, who was already in junior secondary school when we met. One day, he invited me to his house where I met Estelle who was on holidays from the boarding school she attended then. At 12, she was tall for her age and looked quite mature.

    “She’s growing fast. She needs a mother around at this time to guide her,” I told Hilary as I left his house that day.

    “I know. But getting a woman who would take on that responsibility isn’t easy,” he stated.

    “Just keep praying. God will answer you one of these days,” I opined.

    Not long after that, Hilary informed me that God had answered his prayers and that he had found the woman after his heart.

    I remember it was a weekend and I was at home, taking a break from job hunting when Hilary called me to break the news to me.

    “I want to introduce you to her so you can assess her for me as a fellow woman,” he said. Later that evening, I went to Hilary’s house to meet his prospective wife. On getting there, he was alone in the house. Estelle and the maid had gone to the market to do some shopping, he said as he saw me looking around the living-room.

    “But where’s the lady you said you want to marry?” I asked, puzzled.

    “She’s right here, in front of me,” he stated, drawing close to me.

    “But…” I began to say, then it dawned on me. I was the one he wanted to marry!

    “Yes. Annette. You are the one I want, as my wife and Estelle’s mother,” he said. Then he went down on one knee and brought out a case from his pocket.

    Inside was a beautiful engagement ring.

    To be honest, I did not see the proposal coming. All along, I had just regarded Hilary as an older friend and even ‘brother’ who was always kind and generous to me. Yet, here he was, wanting to marry me. That day, I did not outrightly accept Hilary’s proposal but simply told him  to give me time to think about it.

    It took me a week to decide whether to marry him or not. The truth was that I was not in love with him, I simply liked him as a person, not as a lover. But he assured me, the love he felt for me should be enough for both of us and that I would grow to love him later. So, based on that and encouragement from my parents who saw Hilary as a mature, responsible man, I accepted him.

    ***

    Hilary and I settled down to married life after our wedding. In less than three years, I had two babies, a boy and a girl. My husband was so happy at the births of the children whom he said made the family complete. As for Estelle, she was so excited at having younger siblings to dote on and spoil.

    Everything was going well until a few years after our marriage when I met up with Runo, an old school mate and one of my best friends in school. We had not seen each other for a long time after we left school. It was at a meeting of our Old Girls association that I reconnected with her and other old mates of mine.

    I was impressed when I saw her. She had become what we call ‘a big girl’. She had a fleet of posh cars and lived in a big apartment in one of the most exclusive estates in the city where mostly wealthy foreign workers lived. She told me she used to work in an oil company but resigned a few years before to start her own business.

    “I now do supplies, contracts and other businesses with the government and some blue chip companies,” she informed me when I visited her at home one Saturday. I marveled at the beauty and classy look of her home, wondering how she was able to achieve so much at her age.

    “Seriously, Runo, I envy you o! This place is like a mini palace,” I stated.

    She laughed and offered me a drink from her well-stocked bar.

    As I returned home that day, I kept thinking about what I had seen in Runo’s house. Though my husband and I were not doing badly and lived quite well and comfortably, compared to Runo’s lifestyle, we were like paupers. I did not even have a car of my own yet Runo had over five state-of- the art cars! Not just that, the rent she paid in her apartment in a month which she told me was in dollars, was enough to build a nice house in the suburbs.

    Looking back now, I think it was from that day that my desire to live the high life like Runo began. I felt that if Runo, who was not even as brilliant as I was back in our school days, could have all those good things and live so well, why not I?

    That day, I told my husband that I needed a car as I was tired of walking everywhere or occasionally taking cabs whenever I went out. Fortunately, he said he had had it in mind to get me one so he did not mind. The car he bought for me, a used or Tokunbo model, was not bad, thought could not be compared to one of Runo’s classy models.

    With time, I met some of Runo’s close circle of friends and they soon became my friends too. Most of them were single, high flying ladies with so much money to burn, I wondered if they had direct assess to the vaults of the Central Bank.

    One day, one of them named Lola who got married not long before we met, invited us to the new home she and her husband had just moved into in the G.R.A. It was a very beautiful place with its own swimming pool, gym, a tennis court and other facilities. As I gazed around in admiration, I wondered what it was like to live in such a house and in such a beautiful and serene environment. I compared it to our three bedroom apartment in the area of the city where we lived and the difference was clear.

    I wanted a house like that too, not minding the fact that my husband’s income could barely pay the rent for a BQ in that expensive location.

    So, a short while later, I drew my husband’s attention to the fact that our neighbourhood was becoming too noisy and we needed to relocate to a more quiet place.

    “Honey, my friend Lola and her husband just moved to the GRA last week. I think it’s time we upgraded to a posh environment as this neighbourhood is getting too noisy and crowded,” I said.

    “You are right, my Sweet. But those areas are expensive. You know we can’t afford it for now. Besides, you know about my building project near Mowe. We will leave here once it’s completed,” he replied.

    To be continued

    Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator and other individuals in the story.

    Send comments/suggestions to 08023201831(sms only), psaduwa@yahoo.com or psaduwa007@gmail.com

  • Why we must declare war onWhy we must declare war on greed

    SIR: It seems to me that we are on a long “moral holiday” reminiscent of the ancient Feast of Fools. The Feast, which had many cultural and historical variants, was generally marked by unrestrained hedonism and lawlessness. During its observance, it was customary for masters to serve slaves.  The Lord of Misrule had the provisional power to legislate vices. Right and wrong meant nothing. Children were not required to observe codes of proper conduct. They were at liberty to do anything to get money. Greed reigned supreme.

    Greed is a menacing force. It is destroying our material and moral universe, and dragging us towards a black hole. It has so heightened our self-absorption that we do not wholeheartedly inspire the best in others and contribute to the well-being of our nation.  The fact is; patriotism and greed hardly coexist. Corruption flourishes where greed is not denounced. Hence, many wealth-besotted Nigerians think it is okay to underhandedly enrich themselves from public coffers, if they have the opportunity. In view of this, any strategic plan to combat corruption would be ineffectiveness in the long run, if fighting greed is not integrated to it.

    Greed corrupts motives. Greedy leaders do noble things, but with seedy intentions. As long as crabs walk sidewise, it is wrong to expect greedy leaders to be propelled by pure motives and set things right. They cannot. History’s verdict is; money-lovers are bad leaders. Don’t forget, the love of money is the spring of all evil. Greed reduces our capacity to build anything of enduring value for humanity. It makes us to scoff at the conventionalities of transparency.

    Whenever there is brewing corruption scandal in Nigeria, if you have the luxury of time to read some comments it has elicited on social media, you are likely to get the feeling that greed has muddled our sense of priority and undone our collective capacity for critical reflection. This is evinced in how we confer primacy on side issues, overlook the substance and spin conspiracy theories that seemingly make government and people of other tongues and tribes the scapegoat of the ethical failings of grafters from our ethno-religious affinity.

    One of the marks of a greed-ravished society is that religion acquiresthe essential character of business conglomerates.  ”Get gold, forget God” becomes the subtext of sophistic sermons of preachers jinxed by illusion. This has given rise to the perception that religion is a system of embellishing delusion in order to promote devotion to money.

    This sentiment is reinforced by spiritual airheads who market totems of handmade gods, exploit unsuspecting miracle seekers and build empires from proceeds of deceit.  In fact, it is foolhardy to expect religious leaders who graduated from the Business School of Balaam, a prophet turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil to draw attention to the dangers of living primarily to make money.

    One of the greatest minds of modern era, Albert Einstein, noted; “Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.” Greed rules by delusion. It makes us to tune out the voice of truth and reason.  Wherever greed rules, domestic happiness does not come with prosperity.  The saying, “The shoemaker’s son always goes barefooted” is true mostly of the greedy.  For, greedy people do not seek riches to enrich the world, but to impoverish humanity and turn society to a junkyard of shattered dreams.

    Dear compatriots, let’s not forget; freedom from want is a precursor to inner enlightenment. The joy of wholeness will elude us, if we live like moral cretins that are enslaved to wants. The journey to personal wholeness begins with the knack to rightly differentiating needs from wants. Conflating needs and wants makes us victims of the crushing yoke of consumerism.

     

    • Omozuwa Gabriel Osamwonyi

    aceomozuwa@gmail.com

     

  • Systemic greed and people’s wrath

    Systemic greed and people’s wrath

    Last week did not end without giving us something to chew for some time to come about the ingrained graft in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. From the blues came the news that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had obtusely procured two black armoured steel BMW 760 Li HSS vehicles for the use, comfort and safety of Ms Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…And Dr. Fola Akinkuotu, Director General of NCAA shamefully rubbed his salt on our injury. He said it was for the safety/use of ‘aviation-related foreign dignitaries’, at a face-saving media briefing that further exposed the entire despicable transaction to mockery.

    And as if greed in a purportedly good cause is still not ravenousness, he laboriously tried to defend this obvious act of conspicuous public consumption by erroneously stating that purchase of two cars at a scandalous price of N255, 155, 000 is not morally reprehensible for an organisation that bemoans its inability to meet all obligatory aviation needs of the country owing to ‘cash constraints’. The portrayal of these two luxury cars as ‘operational vehicles’ and the supposed official frowning at how their documents leaked to the media is bunkum and an insensate supercilious stance by a thoughtless NCAA management. Such defensive move by Akinkuotu is capable of inciting the already mourning public against the system that ludicrously looks helpless in the face of avoidable incessant air crashes. Don’t Nigerians have a right to know how NCAA spends public funds? May be the NCAA henchmen needs to be tutored by its legal department that an illegally procured document under the Evidence Act is admissible in the Temple of Justice.

    At a point when airports across the country need urgent rehabilitation, when major international airports in Kano and Lagos are begging for redemption and when most airports across the country are bereft of perimeter fence among others, it is sad that the Ministry of Aviation and its agencies wallow in the cesspit of depraved spending that is offensive to public economic reality. The American freedom crusader, Martin Luther-King Jr once said: ‘The prosperity of a country depends, not on the abundance of its revenues…but it consist in the number of its cultivated citizens; in its men of education, enlightenment and character.’ Whither the prosperity of this country when despite her intimidating revenues, she has been at the mercy of touted cultivated men without any iota of civilisation; expectedly educated men with perverse tricks and more worrisome, eloped character.

    It is annoying to note that when the news was broken by an internet-based medium, NCAA promptly denied the story. Equally, several attempts were made by the agency to wish it away to no avail until it was forced to come out with a statement that has further damaged its credibility. Also, some irritants from the agency tried to politicise the matter by attributing it to enemies of the minister. Even someone was quoted as saying in one of the internet publications that the minister was too rich to be burdened with public agitations against the decision to procure these highly expensive automobiles for her ‘operational use.’

    The questions to ask are: Who is after Oduah…and what for? If indeed the woman was rich to an extent where she could procure the best of automobiles of her desires before she was appointed a minister, did she have to use government money to get the BMW cars under contention? Does she not have better cars in her domestic garage if indeed she is very wealthy as the public was made to believe? The truth is that the woman, like most rich people before her in government, have proved not to be less greedy in the quest for material acquisition than probably the famished poor fellow that got newly appointed into public office. The fact is that the rich in power own everything because apart from holding the levers of power, they also control the corporations. As a result of their greed, they tried to pocket everybody in their selfish quest to get more for themselves and less for others.

    The systemic rot in the country has created very rich monsters that loathe a well-informed, well-educated population of citizens that is capable of critical thinking. Akinkuotu got it wrong if what all he thinks is to have breed a group of Nigerians that are dumb and apathetical to goings-on around them. Otherwise, why was he complaining about how the documents concerning the wasteful BMW automobile purchase leaked to the media? The whimper regarding the much-vaunted attempt by this administration to combat graft will come to naught if nothing is done to Oduah in the prevailing circumstance.

    The other time, a minister was accused of spending lavishly on aircraft charter on all her journeys running into billions of naira in a country where millions are hungry and poor and yet, the president never did anything-not even a probe into the allegation or official words of caution to the affected minister to allay the fears of Nigerians that are worried about the development. So far, the presidency in the Oduah case has pretended not to be aware of the scandal that this car purchase had become. In other climes with high value system, this kind of scandal would have led to the resignation of the minister.  Why not here even if our value system is warped. What the presidency’s silence in this regard means is consent and it is embarrassing to note that a government that is failing in its duty to pay state governments’ their correct monthly allocations is indirectly condoning mismanagement and greed in one of its parastatals. If this kind of obviously nauseating purchase could be made in NCAA, then worse things that are going on in other federal agencies of government and ministries can be better imagined.

    President Jonathan, his ministers and other aides should beware of the wrath of the poor people in the “grab it all” syndrome that has now become the hallmark of his government. The words of Orestes A. Brownson, that American Unitarian Catholic convert and founder of Workmen’s Party will suffice, where he said: ‘The most dreadful of all wars, the war of the poor against the rich, a war which, however long maybe delayed, will come and come with all its horrors.’

    In the same vein, our own immortal sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, once warned: “The rich and the highly-placed are running a dreadful risk in their callous neglect of the poor and the downtrodden.” This official debauchery must stop.

  • Avoid greed, violence, cleric warns politicians

    The Anglican Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Rt. Rev. Christopher Omotunde, has warned political office holders against greed and other excesses.

    Omotunde spoke at St. Andrews Anglican Church, Okeila, Ado-Ekiti, capital of the state over the weekend at the burial of late Chief Obayemi, a notable Ado-Ekiti indigene and member of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the second republic.

    Obayemi was the father of Hon. Fatima Rasaki, wife of General Raji Rasaki (Rtd.), former Military Governor of Lagos State.

    The cleric urged political leaders to observe limits in material acquisition, saying “life is a zero sum game, vanity upon vanity, all equals vanity.”

    He said: “What endure in life are legacies of selflessness, patriotism, and commitment to humanity in all regards.”

    He equally encouraged Nigerian leaders to eschew violence and unite for the peaceful progress and development of the country, adding “they should endure to forgive their perceived political opponents.

    According to the cleric: “politically motivated violence is a disturbing trend in the country today about which something urgent must be done.”

    Omotunde recalled the times of Chief Obayemi, the Baba Ijo of St. Andrews Anglican Church, Ado-Ekiti, stating that “he forgave all his political adversaries and eventually triumphed over them all. He died an immensely accomplished man at a ripe old age.”

    Omotunde further urged Nigerians to halt the unbridled struggle for money and other worldly objects, stating “no one takes anything away from this world. This is where it all ends.”

    Meanwhile, dignitaries from across Nigeria on Friday were in attendance at both the church service and reception which followed at Christ’s School in the capital to honour General Raji Rasaq and his wife, Fatima Rasaq.

    They included former military administrators of Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti States, Rear Admiral Joseph Olaseinde, Rear Admiral Abiodun Olukoya, Commodore Kayode Olofinmoyin and Navy Capt. Atanda Yusuf respectively.

    Others were the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Arisekola Alao; Ibadan High Chief, Akogun Lekan Alabi; Senior Chief Lateef Oyelade; and former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi.