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Tag: Jonathan

  • Will Jonathan bow to NJC on Salami?

    Will Jonathan bow to NJC on Salami?

    Many could not believe their ears when the National Judicial Council (NJC) came out with its position on the suspension of President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) Justice Isa Salami last week. In papers fitted in court, NJC said President Goodluck Jonathan lacks the power to determine Justice Salami’s fate, adding that he could not reappoint the Acting President of the Court of appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu without its consent. Lawyers view this as a healthy development and want parties to resolve the dispute without further delay. Eric Ikhilae, Joseph Jibueze and Precious Igbonwelundu report.

    • Lawyers hail Council’s stand

    The judiciary, arguably, attracted the worst comments in its history on the case involving the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, and suspended President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) Justice Isa Ayo Salami.

    Since Justice Salami’s suspension on August 18, 2011, the judiciary has attempted, in vain, to remedy the nastiest decision it ever took. It played into the hands of politicians and got its hands burnt. Today, the judiciary seems to be a victim of its undoing.

    The realisation of this fact may have informed its new position that the Presidency lacks the powers to determine Justice Salami’s fate. The National Judicial Council (NJC) astounded all last week when it made a dramatic ‘U’ turn from its earlier position, arguing that the President has no constitutional role in Justice Salami’s recall.

    At the height of the crisis last year, the NJC, under Katsina-Alu, wrote the President recommending Justice Salami’s sack, for alleged ground of unethical conduct. Despite the pendency of Justice Salami’s suit, challenging the composition of the Justice Ibrahim Auta panel (that recommended his sack), President Goodluck Jonathan wasted no time in approving his suspension.

    In May this year, the NJC, under the immediate past CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, voted for Justice Salami’s recall and communicated same to the President. Rather than act with the dispatch with which he enforced the earlier recommendation from the body, Jonathan became creative in devising reasons to avoid giving effect to the recommendation.

    The President, speaking through the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), argued on May 22 that the Presidency would not act on NJC’s request because of pending cases in court in respect of the matter.

    Again, determined to reverse its earlier position, the NJC went before the Federal High Court, Abuja to challenge President Jonathan’s powers in facilitating Salami’s return to office and his retention of Justice Dalhatu Adamu as Acting Court of Appeal President. Justice Adamu’s appointment has been renewed about three times.

    Citing the provisions of Sections 153, 158, 237 and 238, the NJC queried President Jonathan’s powers to determine Justice Salami’s fate.

    The NJC, in a written address it filed in a suit by some rights activists, acting as Registered Trustees of the Centre for the Promotion of Arbitration (RTCPA), argued that under Section 238 (5), the renewal of Justice Adamu’s mandate by President Jonathan ought to be proceeded by its (NJC’s) recommendation.

    Section 238 (5) reads: Except on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, an appointment pursuant to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section shall cease to have effect after the expiration of three months from the date of such appointment, and the President shall not re-appoint a person whose appointment has lapsed.

    Sub-section 4 reads: If the office of the President of the Court of appeal is vacant, or if the person holding the office is for any reason unable to perform the functions of the office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding the office has resumed those functions, the President shall appoint the most senior Justice of the Court of Appeal to perform those functions.

    Observers argued that the dilemma, in which the judiciary now finds itself, resulted from the obvious moral decadence in the society fueled by corruption, which has permeated all its segments. They noted that the most worrisome angle to the Katsina-Alu/Salami saga is the negative impact it has on the judicial system.

    They said rather than allow reason to prevail and justice to take its natural course, they were manipulated in the case, resulting in a fragmented and highly bruised judiciary. Rather than speak with one voice on the issue, observers noted that the judiciary was divided by interest.

    They observed that there are those who believe that Salami should be kept outside, despite the injustice this position may occasion, in view of the benefit they are deriving from his continued suspension; and the others who believe that it is just to allow Salami back.

    This polarisation of opinion, they argued, is reflective in Justice Adamu’s position in the case by RTCPA. Adamu argued, in his objection to the suit, that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the reinstatement suit, because the plaintiff lacked the locus standi to bring the action.

    In the application filed by his counsel, E.O Kanda, Adamu said a search conducted at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on the plaintiff showed that it was registered as a non-governmental organisation (NGO), whose constitution did not give it the power to sue in representative capacity.

    He further argued that with the plaintiff’s locus taken away by its own constitution, no suit would be deemed to be before the court. He objected to the hearing of the suit on the ground that it constituted an abuse of court process and amounted to forum shopping.

    According to him, Salami had filed similar suit, seeking among others, to be recalled. Adamu added that though the plaintiffs in both suits were different, parties and the reliefs being sought were similar. He added that the current suit could only survive if it was consolidated with the existing one.

    Rights activists, Bamidele Aturu and Jiti Ogunye faulted Salami’s suspension in the first place. They argued that the Presidency acted in error when it suspended Salami and appointed Adamu in acting capacity.

    Aturu, argued last year in a statement titled “Justice Salami’s purported suspension- a farcical illegality,” that NJC’s suspension of Salami, in spite of service on it of the process filed by him, challenging the setting up of the Auta Committee, is a condemnable illegality.

    “That the brazen decision was taken by a body that has responsibility for overseeing the judiciary shows that our attempt at building a liberal democracy is imperiled simply on account of the illiberal persons that superintend the administration of justice in this country.

    “The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Ojukwu v Military Governor of Lagos State has made it clear that it is an act of lawlessness for a party to present the court, as the NJC as brazenly and contemptuously done in the instant case, with a fait accompli. What the NJC has done is nothing but a farce. First the NJC evaded service, then, it pronounced definitively on a matter that is pending in court; what nonsense?” Aturu noted.

    Ogunye in his article titled: “Justice Salami’s suspension by the NJC is illegal and unconstitutional,” published in the wake of the suspension, argued that the NJC has no power to suspend Salami from office, but that it can only, competently, recommend his suspension, to the President, in deserving cases, and the President can only act on such recommendation if it is supported by a two-third address of the Senate.

    “Although the National Judicial Council has the power, under the Third Schedule, Part I, Paragraph I, Section 21(b) of the Constitution to recommend to the President the removal from office of the President of the Court of Appeal and exercise “disciplinary control” over him, it is clear that by virtue of Section 292(1)( a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, any recommendation of removal of the President of the Court of Appeal from his Judicial Office can only be effected by the President, acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate.

    “It is our contention that just as in the case of removal of any removal of the President of the Court of Appeal from office, any exercise of power of “disciplinary control”, over him, such as this suspension, must be subject to the approval of the President, acting on an address of two-third majority of the Senate.

    “The correct interpretation of the above-cited provisions of the Constitution is that if the President of the Court of Appeal can only be removed from office only when a two-third address of the Senate directs the President to do so, in the same vein, the President of the Court can only be effectively and consummately suspended from office by the NJC, with a two third endorsement of the Senate and a decision of the President to that effect. This is the principle of checks and balances that is crafted in the Constitution,” Ogunye said.

    Lawyers, including Dr. Joel Adedigba, Executive Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Adetokunbo Mumuni and a Senior Advocate, who pleaded not to be named, praised the new position by NJC.

    They said although the NJC’s position appears a reversal of its earlier stance, parties should ensure prompt resolution of the crisis so that the judiciary can focus on effort to rebuild its battered image.

    Adedigba said: “The current situation has provided the court with another opportunity to formally ensure justice in the Salami-case. The decision to right a perceived wrong is now left for the Judiciary. I say this because the case, in which the NJC queried the President’s power to determine Salami’s case, is before a court. If the court wants to do justice, this is the opportunity.

    “If it wants to continue to act as an appendage of the Executive rather than an independent equal, the choice can be made in the course of this case.

    “The judge handling the case should allow an accelerated hearing so that the case can be decided with dispatch. Even of those opposed to Salami’s return want to appeal up to the Supreme Court, the court can speedily hear the case, determine it and ensure that Salami returns to office before his tenure expires,” he said.

    Mumuni said: “The point being made and the position now being canvassed by the NJC is the correct position of law.

    “However, the NJC acted earlier in the Salami matter as if the Presidency had a role to play in the discipline of a federal judicial officer. This is what the Presidency took advantage of to meddle in a matter clearly outside its constitutional pursue purview.

    “It is better late than never. Now that the NJC has re-discovered itself and made the constitutional position known the presidency should just keep a long distance from the matter and let the NJC’s recalling of salami be so that this monumentally embarrassing saga will be put behind the judiciary,” Mumuni said.

    The SAN said: “Sadly, a group of individuals within the NJC initially didn’t want Justice Salami back. That group may be losing its influence now, and with the appointment of a new CJN in the person of Justice Mukhtar, there is a breath of fresh air.”

    The Senior Advocate observed that until the new CJN came, the old NJC and the Presidency worked in tandem. “It suited all parties that Salami was not recalled. My worry was that push for his recall was taking an ethnic and political colouration which was not good for the judiciary.

    “The new position being considered by the NJC, although seemingly contradictory to its earlier position of waiting on the President, is encouraging. But will they have the moral will to push it through?

    “I think the ongoing Constitution amendment should spell out a few things more clearly. The Constitution provides that a President of the Court of Appeal shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the NJC subject to Senate confirmation. But it is not clear who recalls him in a situation where he is suspended. Ordinarily, it is he who suspends that should recall.

    “I think the judiciary should not depend on the executive for such decisions if it must be truly independent, otherwise political considerations will always be brought to bear by the ruling party and other powers that be.

    “We also see what may be a clear violation of the Constitution as the Acting Court of Appeal President ought to have left since. His first three-month appointment ought to cease and the President was not supposed to reappoint him after his first appointment had lapsed. How many more times has been reappointed now? I’ve lost count.

    “I also believe Justice Salami should withdraw his suit. We are at a point of reconciliation, and if his court case will stand in the way of his recall, let him withdraw it.

    “But I think the NJC under Justice Mukhtar should be commended for even considering taking steps to correct what many see as injustice and victimisation of Justice Salami. It is never late to do right. Let us wait and see,” the senior lawyer said.

     

  • Jonathan to service chiefs: end terrorism

    Jonathan to service chiefs: end terrorism

    SERVICE chiefs yesterday got a marching order from President Goodluck Jonathan to end terrorism and crude oil theft.

    The President challenged the Armed Forces’ chiefs to come up with new security architecture to combat the twin security challenges.

    Jonathan promised to help families of members of the Armed Forces who died in active service.

    He spoke at the decoration of the service chiefs with their new ranks.

    The President was assisted by Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

    The brief event took place at the Presidential Council Chamber, Abuja. The new Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sahad Ibrahim was decorated with his new rank. Before the new posting, he was a Vice Admiral.

    Also decorated were the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, formerly, Rear Admiral and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Alex Bade, formerly Vice Marshall.

    The service chiefs were accompanied to the ceremony by their wives and relatives.

    Jonathan said: “I will like to use this forum to specially charge you to rise up to the many security challenges confronting our nation today. More specifically, the Chief of Naval Staff, along with his officers and men, has the honorary responsibility of providing security in our territorial waters.

    “The unacceptable rising incidences of crude theft must be tackled frontally.

    “Even with the direct adverse implication of the activities of crude oil theft on our national economy, I expect the Chief of Naval Staff and other serving Chiefs to go to work to urgently bring the issue of crude oil theft to an end.

    “May I further reiterate that the security of life and property in this country is a sacred obligation which our administration will do everything in its power to live up to.

    “We cannot allow threat to national security to compromise our national transformation effort. While we remain committed to repositioning Nigeria for sustained growth and development, we shall proactively prosecute the fight against terrorism with total commitment and effectively check the activities of all criminal elements in our dear land.

    “In this regard, we will step up initiatives aimed at strengthening and repositioning our security agencies for greater efficiency to discharge their constitutional responsibilities.”

    The President said the newly appointed officers together with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ehijerika, who retained his appointment, were appointed in recognition of their notable attributes of patriotism, excellence, loyalty, dedication, courage and unwavering faith in Nigeria.

    The President also commended the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseye Petirin and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Mohammed Dikko Umar.

    He said they have served their father land meritoriously with steadfast patriotism, unwavering gallantry and dedication; adding that “they have both eloquently optimised the motto of the Nigerian Airforce, Willing Able and Ready.

    “On behalf of a grateful nation I wish them God’s abiding guidance and provision in their future endeavours.”

  • Adoke’s many controversial steps

    Adoke’s many controversial steps

    Since his appointment as Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice on April 6, 2010, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) has earned more criticisms than praises from the people.

    He was appointed by then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to replace Michael Aondoakaa, who was controversy personified while in office, following the death of President Umar Yar’Adua. Many thought with Aondoakaa’s exit, the office would be controversy-free but that has not been the case. The situation is also not helped by a government reputed for many wrong decisions on critical issues.

    Adoke’s reign has attracted controversies, the latest being the unpopular role he is believed to be playing in the unexplained and equally unpopular decision of the government on Bakassi.

    Adoke’s name also featured prominently as being behind government’s plot to cripple the anti-corruption agencies and the questionable withdrawal of cases against prominent Nigerians, politicians and multi-national agencies.

    For instance, when a case against four persons over fraudulent fuel subsidy payments was withdrawn at the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lawyer said he was instructed by Adoke to withdraw the charge. The defendants were charged with offences bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, forgery and use of false documents.

    They were alleged to have forged bills of lading and other documents, with which they perpetrated the fraud.

    At the twilight of her tenure in office, former EFCC Chairman Mrs Farida Waziri and Adoke engaged in unfriendly exchanges, resulting in public speculation that Adoke was playing the card of a government determined to ease Waziri out.

    At a point, Adoke was said to have written two letters dated July 20, 2011 to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), seeking clarification on the rank of Mrs Waziri at the time of her retirement.

    Adoke has also been criticised over the series of controversial withdrawals of some high profile court cases, including those against the Vaswani Brothers; the case against the former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Ahmed Bello, and the former Chairman of the Police Equipment Fund (PEF) Mr. Kenny Martins.

    The AGF was at a time, accused on interfering in cases like that against former Chairman, House of Representative Committee on Power, Ndidi Elumelu; the N5 billion fraud case against a former Chief Executive of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Ransome Owan, and 17 directors and members of his board have also stagnated on account of alleged interference in the cases filed by the EFCC.

    Adoke was also criticised over the November 22, 2010 agreement between the government and Siemens under which Siemens was to pay N7bn to the Nigerian Government in exchange for prosecution for alleged criminal conduct.

    He attracted the anger of his professional colleagues recently for lamenting growing unethical conduct among legal practitioners in the country.

    Adoke was reported to have, at a ceremony for the conferment the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on some lawyers on September 12, stated that “it is a matter of deep regret that lawyers, including some Senior Advocates routinely engage in unwholesome practices unbecoming of members of this noble profession.”

  • Jonathan tasks new services chiefs on terrorism, oil theft

    Jonathan tasks new services chiefs on terrorism, oil theft

    President Goodluck Jonathan has charged the leadership of the country’s armed forces to deal decisively with the twin security challenges confronting the nation, terrorism and crude oil theft.

    Specifically, the president tasked the new service chiefs to come up with a new security strategy to combat the threat of terrorism and crude oil theft.

    Besides, the president also promised to give succor to families of members of the armed forces who lost their lives in active service to the nation and on international duties.

    He gave the charge on Monday when he decorated the newly appointed service chiefs with their new ranks.

    The President was assisted by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

    While wives of the service chiefs stood by while the decoration lasted.

    The brief event which took place at the Presidential Council Chamber, Abuja, saw the newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sahad Ibrahim been decorated with his new rank.

    Before the new posting he was a Vice Admiral.

    Also decorated were the newly appointed Chief of Navy Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, formerly, Rear Admiral and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Bade, formerly Vice Marshal.

    The service chiefs were accompanied to the ceremony by their wives and other close relatives.

    Jonathan in his brief remark said, “I will like to use this forum to specially charge you to rise to the many security challenges confronting our nation today. More specifically the Chief of Naval Staff along with his officers and men has the honourary responsibility of up scaling security in our territorial waters.

    “The unacceptable rising incidences of crude theft must be tackled frontally. I expect the Chief of Naval Staff and other serving Chiefs to immediately go to work to urgently bring the issue if crude oil theft to an end.

    “May I further reiterate that the security of life and properties in all parts of this country is a sacred obligation which our administration will do everything in its power to live up to. We cannot allow threat to national security to compromise our national transformation effort.

    “While we are determined to reposition Nigeria for sustained growth and development, we shall proactively prosecute the fight against terrorism with total commitment and effectively check the activities of all criminal elements in our dear land. In this regard we will step initiatives aimed at strengthening and repositioning our security agencies for greater efficiency to discharge their constitutional responsibilities.”

    He also noted that the newly appointed officers together with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ehijerika, who retained his position, had been appointed in recognition of their notable attributes of patriotism, excellence, loyalty, dedication, courage and unwavering faith in Nigeria.

     

  • Jonathan can do it alone, so to speak

    Jonathan can do it alone, so to speak

    In less than a week, President Goodluck Jonathan managed both by his blandness and by his irrepressible extemporaneousness to stoke three fierce storms. On Thursday, he announced the appointment of new service chiefs, and as if justifying the suspicion in the Southwest that he was indifferent to the sensibilities of the zone, no one from the zone was appointed to that exalted hierarchy. The implication, say analysts from that zone, is that when the president takes top level security decisions, he will have to assume he knows what the zone thinks. The second storm was the declaration in his Independence Day speech that Nigeria’s rating in the anti-graft war had improved to number three in terms of real efforts to combat corruption. He ascribed the improvement to a study said to have been carried out by Transparency International (TI). But the global corruption watchdog said it carried out no such study, while presidential aides glumly explained they took the information from a newspaper.

    Before Independence Day celebration, the president, at a church service, argued that no one person could save a nation. Comparing himself to the biblical Nehemiah, the president suggested that only the cooperation of the people could make a leader achieve feats. Not so, said analysts. The president must first show the way, offer brilliant and principled leadership, and then persuade the people and mobilise them to achieve the impossible. The president is unlikely to be persuaded by such analysis, for he summarily jettisons anything that does not fit into his worldview. He wants cooperation first; he wants critics, whom he sighed always abused him, to sheathe their swords first; and he wants the snobbish Southwest to drop its political and media opposition to his government first. That, to him, is the only way the virtues of Nehemiah can be brought out.

    It is certainly not the fault of Jonathan that the quality of leadership in Nigeria has fallen. It has been falling since independence, not only in Nigeria but elsewhere in Africa, and indeed all over the world. In the turbulent decades of the mid-20th Century, it was rare to hear the president of a great nation plaintively declare he could not do great things alone. Great leaders have the capacity to walk alone, look only to their inside even if they take advice on the outside, judge right, take bold decisions, and swaddle their policies, which are often prescient, with messianic conviction. Somebody must persuade the Nigerian president to talk right, speak more persuasively and inspiringly about his visions, and believe implacably in himself. Somebody must tell him that by his endless waffle he communicates his hesitations to the whole country.

    Last Sunday, the president told the church congregation in Abuja he alone could not do the job of taking Nigeria to great heights. He is absolutely wrong. He alone can do it if he puts his mind to it. The rest of us are available to be mobilised and led, since we must, for the sake of democracy, endure the remaining years of his first term as best as we can.

     

     

     

  • Total disconnect

    Total disconnect

    Suggesting that all is well with the country in his Independence Day speech, shows the president as not quite attuned to reality

    Nigerians must have resigned to the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan, much like others before him, is not given to making rousing speeches that move a people to reach for greater heights. Repeatedly, the president’s speeches have come flat like expired beer, with little vigour, candour or sound bites. Whereas the citizens are supposed to look forward to the Presidential Address on Independence Day, people hardly remember it these days, and when they listen, there is hardly anything to hold on to.

    If Nigerians thought President Jonathan and his people could not muster an exciting speech, they never reckoned that the day would come so soon when the address for such an auspicious occasion as the country’s independence celebration would be riddled with unverified points of fact, half truths and outright untruth. This last October 1st address was not only the limit of a poorly written speech, it also gave an eerie inkling as to how the Presidency works.

    Apart from poor craftsmanship, for an administration that has not managed any sector of the economy, the address sought to paint a rosy picture of the situation in the country. The President actually said that, “…our nation is indeed making progress.” He went on to point areas such as electoral reforms, power, oil and gas, job creation as among sectors that his administration has made improvements.

    If President Jonathan and his handlers had been a little more rigorous in managing the affairs of state, it would have occurred to them that there is really nothing to report whereupon they would channel their thoughts to other themes instead of a speech filled with spurious and unsubstantiated claims. One such claim about the government’s fight against corruption generated embarrassing opprobrium a few hours after the President delivered the speech, forcing aides to issue rebuttals. The address has claimed that,” we are fighting corruption in all facets of our economy, and we are succeeding.” It went further to quote Transparency International (TI) as rating Nigeria the second most improved in the effort to curb corruption. In response to an obvious falsehood, presidential aides would bluster that they quoted a popular business paper which had made the initial error and which, having gone unchallenged, was merely a ‘notorious fact’. It was nothing terribly serious, they seem to suggest.

    But has corruption abated in Nigeria in the last two years? Not by any margin; in fact it has risen exponentially. The fuel subsidy scam which broke out last January has no comparison in Nigeria’s history. We see how the major anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has come a cropper as it has been hijacked and seemingly clamped by the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF). When last did the EFCC successfully prosecute anyone or put any corrupt official behind bars? What we hear daily is how cases are bungled as if by design, by senior EFCC lawyers draped in silk. Indeed, corruption has become Promethean in nature and the real wonder is that the President cannot feel the heave of this massive monster.

    The President said, “We have cleaned up our electoral process; our elections are now globally acclaimed to be free and fair. Nigeria is now on a higher pedestal regarding elections.” This assertion is very far from the truth as many Nigerians know. Elections in Nigeria are still haphazard and very dangerous venture and votes ordinarily do not count unless the entire nation’s army is mobilised to watch over the ballot. How can it be said that there is an electoral process when mere voter registration is still manual and subject to manipulation and abuse? Not even the report of President Jonathan’s electoral reform body (the Uwais panel) was implemented. The truth is, there is no electoral institution, or it is at best, weak and unsustainable.

    The President also remarked that, ‘particularly in the last two years, the Nigerian economy has done appreciably well despite the global financial crisis. Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown by 7.1 percent on average.” In the first place, the statistical basis of this supposed growth cannot be relied upon as the country’s data bases are weak, poorly managed and often applied dubiously. If indeed the country’s economy has been enjoying such growth rate, where is the result to show for it in real terms?

    Adjunct to the seeming phantom growth is the assertion that: “We have improved on our investment environment; more corporate bodies are investing in the Nigerian economy…Nigeria has become the preferred destination for investment in Africa.” The President’s speech also stated that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reported that 249 members joined the fold as at July this year. No proper time frame was stated. However, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) said recently that between 2009 and 2011, about 800 companies closed shop because of increasingly unsustainable environment which includes poor power situation, energy crisis and government policy flip-flop. There are still no appreciable improvements in these regards. If indeed 249 firms set up shop in Nigeria recently, where are they?

    It is futile to go on point by point about this address. It is apparent that having not been able to record any tangible achievements in nearly one and half years, the President’s speech-writers, faced with a blank sheet and a blank situation, had to cobble up a speech anyway. We appreciate their dilemma. We urge the President to take it as a wake-up call. Let him focus and begin to deliver promptly on some of his promises. It will be another October 1st so soon. Let the President reconnect with the people.

  • Mubi massacre and the limits of outrage

    Mubi massacre and the limits of outrage

    Nigeria’s descent into depravity is a challenge that is now beyond President Goodluck Jonathan and the security agencies

    The cowards who slaughtered forty-something unarmed students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi on Independence Day are yet to openly own up to their devilish act. So we may never get a full understanding of their motivations and agenda.
    Still, there are all kinds of pointers that put the usual suspects in the frame. All the circumstantial evidence suggests that this was something sectarian and political; it was not just the arbitrary act of rival school gangs fighting over turf or girls.
    This was cold, calculated and pre-meditated. The guns started blazing at 10.30pm the previous night and did not stop booming until 3.00am the next morning. For over four and a half hours more than 40 young Nigerians were methodically executed in their hostel for reasons they will never know.
    The act was also deeply symbolic. The killers could have carried out their deadly spree on any other day, but they chose to do so on the day Nigeria celebrates her independence as a nation. If you think that is coincidental, then think again.
    The timing is important because beyond damaging national cohesion, it presents a public relations conundrum for a beleaguered government which rose out of the ashes of one of the bitterest political contests in Nigeria’s history.
    The attackers asked for the identity of their victims before dispatching them to untimely death. Other eyewitnesses said they called the victims by name and then killed them. Clairvoyance is not required to conclude that the identification parade would have been to sort out Christian from Muslim, Northerner from Southerner.
    Several months ago in the same Adamawa State, gunmen burst into some churches and slaughtered over 20 worshippers. Other innocents would be killed where they gathered to grieve their loss. A couple of weeks ago in Bauchi, it was another tale of unprovoked deadly assault against a hapless community.
    What should be evident by now – going back to similar attacks in places like Bayero University, Kano – is that certain people and forces are hell-bent on pushing our buttons until we slide into an undeclared sectarian and ethnic war.
    Their strategy is clear. If past outrages have not done the trick, then up the scale by killing more people in the kind of numbers that will generate global headlines, and stir even the most stable and sober to reach for their sword.
    What is especially depressing about the Mubi massacre is not just the sheer scale of its savagery, but its exposure of the helplessness of the authorities to guarantee the security of citizens. Senate President, David Mark, captured this reality vividly in his reaction to the killings.
    He said: “Today it is Mubi, who knows where and when it will happen in the next town. How many policemen can you put in various universities and polytechnic in this country? It is absolutely impossible. There is no way; it does not matter how well you fund the security agencies.”
    One of the reasons the execution-style killings have riveted attention is because the victims are students. But the reality of present day Nigeria is that in the North-East and other parts of the north, the mindless slaughter of scores of people has been a weekly occurrence. We are only shocked when the body count is especially high.
    Let’s forget the hollow posturing: what is happening is a national crisis that is far beyond the capacity of President Goodluck Jonathan and the security agencies to manage. The almost daily killings give the lie to claims by the president and other officials at different international fora that government is containing the Boko Haram insurgency and the freelance killings.
    Mubi is evidence that this crisis will not be addressed by merely reshuffling the leadership of the national security apparatus. General Andrew Azazi was fired as National Security Adviser (NSA) and Colonel Sambo Dasuki hired in his stead, but the switch has not made one jot of a difference. Dasuki has shown that he’s no magician.
    It’s not as if the agencies have not had their moments. But where they make some progress like in the slaying of the Boko Haram spokesman, Abu Qaqa, that gain is immediately cancelled out by a statement-making type of Mubi massacre.
    After each of these bestial outings, Jonathan and the National Assembly leadership serve up the usual chorus of outrage. This time, for added effect, Mark has called for the death penalty for perpetrators of such heinous crimes.
    Unfortunately, knee-jerk reactions based on the emotions of the moment will not solve anything. The death penalty is a dubious solution that has not stopped serial killers in America, or mass murderers whether in Rwanda or the Balkans.
    Nigeria needs help and Jonathan even more so. He needs to call an urgent national gathering, or family meeting, that transcends political affiliations and ethnic origins.
    Such a gathering is imperative to hammer out a national consensus that certain things like the mass murder of innocents are unacceptable. We need to agree that our differences can be resolved without recourse to senseless slaughter.
    We need to agree that we can pursue our political aspirations within the ambit of law, without recourse to the bloodshed blackmail.
    We have to agree that that all who will not subscribe to this national compact become our common enemy who should be fought and defeated by all means necessary.
    Without such a consensus, no president – whether of minority or majority ethnic group origin – will be able to deal with what is happening right now. Without such a deal, we will never have enough men under arms or in our security agencies, to thwart evil men when they decide to embark on killing sprees in deserted outposts of our vast land.

  • Jonathan counts his blessings

    Jonathan counts his blessings

    FG suffering from ‘celebrating too soon syndrome’

    President Goodluck Jonathan must have been a generous lecturer in his years at the Rivers State College of Education. In spite of the abysmal performance of his government on many fronts, the President still gave himself a pass mark in what was supposed to be his speech on the occasion of the country’s 52nd Independence anniversary, last Monday. Indeed, his self-assessment reminds one of the lizard which falls from a wall and nods in self-appreciation of the ‘feat’ it has performed since the people around were not willing to acknowledge same.

    Let’s start with President Jonathan’s claim on security. Is it not surprising that the President who always tells Nigerians that his government is ‘on top of the security situation’ has not celebrated the last two Independence anniversaries at the usual Eagle Square in Abuja? His aides are never short of excuses; no matter how illogical. I am sure if you ask them why this is so, they would readily tell you that it is because the celebrations have to be low-key; or that the President could mark the anniversary anywhere in the country; he could even choose to do it in his native Otuoke in Bayelsa State. But low-key or high-key, Nigerians want to see their President in a place they can connect with, like the Eagle Square, and not Aso Rock where only the privileged people attend cocktail circuits on behalf of themselves.

    This year, the President still could not come out of the ‘rock’ to felicitate with his ‘fellow Nigerians’ on Independence Day; yet he was decked in full military ceremonial uniform. If someone promises to borrow one a dress, we have to assess what he is wearing before knowing whether to take him seriously or not. How does the President expect us to believe that his government is ‘on top of the security situation’ when he keeps waving to us from the safe confines of Aso Rock on Independence Day? Or, does he not give a damn about that, too?

    If he has security reports that ‘danger looms’ if he goes to Eagle Square for the event, what of the rest of us that are not privileged to have such reports? The best people to score the President on security are the relatives of the many victims of the Boko Haram crisis, as well as the over 40 students massacred in Mubi, Adamawa State, hours after the President had beaten his chest that the security situation was improving.

    Perhaps the most astonishing claim in the President’s October 1 speech was that alleging that Transparency International (TI) rated Nigeria second after the United States, in anti-corruption efforts. This claim has been denied by TI and it has remained a source of embarrassment to the country. What the TI alleged claim has shown, further still, is the penchant of our government officials to do selective exposure, selective perception and selective retention. What do I mean? These people see only what they want to see. Take the case of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) that recently alleged that some 800 companies closed down in the country between 2009 and 2011. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (apparently in cahoots with the Federal Government, countered this and said, rather, that some 249 more companies had registered to operate in the country. They did not specify any time frame. Interestingly, it was the MAN statistics that the President referred to in his speech. In other words, that is what constitutes sweet music to the government’s ears. But the government would be making a big mistake if it thinks that Nigerians believe such manipulations. Again, they are the ones whose children left schools years back and are still roaming the streets in spite of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) 13-year rule in the country. So, they are in a better position to know whose statistics to believe, NACCIMA’s or MAN’s.

    The truth of the matter is that the kind of indefensible claim that the government made about its anti-corruption efforts is the way Nigerian officials bandy figures and claims; they had been doing it within for long, it is only that the attempt to begin‘charity’ abroad this time has backfired. They said they found the claim in Business Day newspaper. Would they have seen the report (even if published in the New York Times or Times of London) if it had been negative? Even if his aides had included such a claim in his speech, the President ought to have been truthful to himself to know that it is a bogus claim. Whatever his government is doing to fight corruption is based on pressure from Nigerians; it is not a thing the government initiated of its own volition. Perhaps the fuel subsidy scam is about the most important anti-corruption war the government is fighting, and we know what it took Nigerians to make the government rise to the occasion.

    Even then, we are not sure if there would be any gain from the efforts if the matter is left completely in the hands of the present government. TI is not a frivolous body, neither are its scores as cheap as the President’s when it comes to assessing countries’ corruption profiles. Rather than apologise for misleading the President, one of his aides who should know said we need not lose sleep over the claim and that “People should focus on the message, namely that a lot of progress has been made and is still being made to tackle corruption in the system”.

    In the first place, this is in itself debatable; to now claim that Nigeria is the second country after the United States, in anti-corruption efforts, is taking a silly joke too far. Isn’t there a gulf between sleep and death? Let no one make any mistake about it, the so-called ‘notorious facts’ that the President relied on in his anti-corruption claim was just a reflection of the shoddy manner the country is being governed. When government is honouring people, the medals would not go round; the next year when the medals go round, other arrangements would be mismanaged and recipients would be stranded on arrival in Abuja for the ceremony.

    Another example is the Gross Domestic Product that the President claimed to be growing at 7.1 percent annually in spite of the global economic crisis. The question to ask is how does this translate to better life for Nigerians? Nigerians reject to live by figures alone; even though they know that that is what they are as far as their government is concerned – mere statistics!

    Also, President Jonathan’s claim on free and fair elections suffered from the same ‘celebrating too soon syndrome’. The President had a free election last year because Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for him. If there is another poll today, the story would be different because the result would be significantly different from last year’s.

    Perhaps the only area that the President could claim to be making some progress is power supply. In spite of the phenomenal increase in the amount of megawatts available in the country, it is yet too early to lay claim to any credit in this regard. Let’s see how far this can be sustained so that we don’t dance ourselves lame even though we may never have an opportunity of having the real dance later.

    All said, President Jonathan is not competent to count his blessings yet. He is too generous with marks in his self-assessment. What we need is an impartial external examiner in Nigerians to rate him appropriately. They are the beasts of burden carrying the brunt of the country’s many challenges.

  • Jonathan appoints new CDS,Naval and Air Chiefs

    Jonathan appoints new CDS,Naval and Air Chiefs

    President Goodluck Jonathan has approved new appointments in the Armed Forces.

    According to a statement by residential spokesman, Reuben Abati on Thursday Vice Admiral O.S. Ibrahim (Kwara) was appointed the new Chief of Defence Staff, while Rear Admiral D.J Ezeoba (Delta) was named Chief of Naval Staff.

    Air Vice Marshall A.S. Badeh (Adamawa) is the new Chief of Air Staff

    The incumbent Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. O.A. Ihejirika (Abia) retains his position.

    President Jonathan thanked the outgoing service chiefs for their meritorious and commendable service to the nation and wisheed them well in their future endeavours.

     

  • Jonathan sets up committee to review judgment on Bakassi

    Jonathan sets up committee to review judgment on Bakassi

    President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to look at the option of appealing the judgment of the International Court of Justice on the Bakassi peninsula.

    The decision was reached at a meeting between the President, the leadership of the National Assembly and other stakeholders at the State House in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting which started late Wednesday night ended in the early hours of Thursday.

    Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, told State House correspondents after the meeting that the committee would also consider how to take care of the displaced people of Bakassi.

    Imoke, who did not disclose the composition of the committee, said it would work within a specified time.

    NAN reports that Nigeria has an October 10 deadline to appeal the ICJ ruling which ceded the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to neighbouring Cameroon in 2002.

    Imoke said Jonathan had shown great leadership quality by convening the meeting and standing firm on some of the decisions taken.

    Speaking also, the Senate President, Senator David Mark, said the executive arm of government and the lawmakers were now on the same page on the Bakassi issue.

    He said they would work together to achieve results.

    A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola, who was at the meeting, said the federal government had shown candid concern on the Bakassi issue.

    He commended the move by government to follow dialogue, the rule of law and diplomacy in ensuring that Nigeria gets justice and the people were not wrongly dealt with.

    Ajibola expressed optimism that the committee set up would handle the matter accordingly and in good time.

    NAN reports that the meeting was attended by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, and some other principal officers of the National Assembly.

    Also in attendance were Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of Justice and AGF, Mohammed Adoke.

    Some leaders and representatives of selected groups from Bakassi, as well as presidential aides, were also in attendance.