The Nation Newspaper

Tag: letter

  • Conclusion of a 2012 letter to Gen. Gowon

    Your Excellency, we urge you to see this perspective. Trying to heal Nigeria’s diseases with a supposedly almighty Nigerian wand has never worked, and it will never work. Military regime after military regime thought that the way to solve Nigeria’s problems was to pursue a centralizing, forced-unifying and forced-integrationist path. Well, they succeeded in centralizing, but that made the problems of Nigeria enormously worse. In the place of the locally based leaderships and local loyalty and passion that had moved the regions forward fairly strongly in the 1950’s, they strapped on all parts of the country a leadership with a pseudo-national orientation, a leadership divorced from the ruled in all localities, a leadership with no empathy for, or loyalty towards, the ruled. Then, as civilian politicians, using all their political power and influence, and the huge wealth that they had acquired in political offices, they proceeded to institutionalize the new brand of leadership by creating a powerful political party, the PDP, to encapsulate it all. And the outcome is that this super-party is able to force its candidate at election time on any state or local government, rig him into position, and demand of him loyalty to the culture of the party and not service to his own people. In the process, public corruption, already mountainous and all-pervasive, grew greatly in stature and confidence – and the common people for whom the state and local governments were established could only watch helplessly as they are robbed and raped. To be able to get any share at all, most ordinary Nigerians began to worship the robbers and rapists. Things could not be worse even if Nigeria were conquered by a horde of foreign bandits.

    In short, Your Excellency, the solution is not more centralization, or the fostering of more, or other, super-powerful political groupings. The solution is to restore control to the people – to empower the people to nurture again a leadership that is produced by the people and that serves the people. And there is no other way to accomplish this than by empowering each ethnic nation to call out its traditional ethical norms and laws and cultural influence for the guidance of its own affairs. There is no other conceivable way to get it done. There is some news as this is being written, that some super-powerful politicians are working on creating another super-powerful party to seize power from the PDP. Even if this new group manages to achieve the seizure of power, there can be no real change. The supermen of the defeated group will only stream to the party of the new holders of power – and the country will then return to square one. In the end, it will only be like replacing the leopard with the hyena as gate-keeper to the animal farm; neither will do anything other than steal the goats. It is because more and more Nigerians are coming to see these truths that the volume of voices is growing for either the replacement of the 1999 Constitution by another constitution that restructures our federation, or the outright dissolution of Nigeria.

    Your Excellency, we are distressed that, in your statement, you would castigate the Nigerians promoting these demands as “idealists who cannot wait to see a “perfect” Nigeria,” and who “agitate for the cancellation of the 1999 Constitution on the premise that there was too much concentration of power and resources at the centre”, and as “demagogues and other anarchists who will sooner take Nigeria back to the chaos of the 18th century”, who want “to see the country balkanized into small territories to be headed by tribal leaders”, who “desire the country’s break-up into “geo-political territories, whereby big ethnic groups may swallow up small ones without a challenge”, and who are “asking for a new constitution that will allow them keep 100 per cent of money derived from the sale of oil that is extracted within their territories”.

    We really must urge you, Your Excellency, to rethink these sentiments. “Chaos of the 18th century”! Is that the way a leading son of Africa like you, sir, should describe the history of your people? What was the chaos of the 18th century? The Hausa kingdoms? The Sokoto Caliphate that came later to unify most of the Hausa kingdoms? The Yoruba kingdoms and the Old Oyo Empire? The Kanem-Bornu Empire? The kingdoms of the Edo, Igala, Nupe, or Tiv? The kingdoms of the Western Igbo or the village democracies of the rest of Igboland? The states of the Ibibio or the city states of the Ijaw?   Are these and other significant cultural and political creations of our history the chaos of the 18th century?

    In a way, it is greatly valuable that you voiced these sentiments – valuable because you thereby highlight a very important weakness and flaw in the way many leading citizens of Nigeria view their country and handle its affairs. For such citizens, our past as peoples was generally one of barbarism, chaos and oppression; it was the white man, the British, that brought civilization, order, peace, and law to our lives. Therefore, why should we even think of examining what they created and gave to us? Why should we ever think of looking closely at the Nigeria that they gave us, and why should we ever want to strive to mould  it, or the management of it, to suit our own cultural ways? We had no culture!

    Your Excellency, please ponder these things, and it will strike you what terrible consequences this way of looking at our past has wrought in the corporate life of Nigeria. Do you see in the rulers and leaders of Nigeria and its various states today the same near-sacred devotion to the public good, the same dignified joy in service to their subjects, that characterized the rulers and chiefs of the Yoruba kingdoms? What researchers are finding is that Yoruba kingdoms were ruled according to certain pan-Yoruba ethical norms that limited the power of rulers, respected the dignity of the individual in society, promoted the welfare of all in society, and provided a high code of conduct for rulers, chiefs, and other prominent persons (a code of conduct that was fiercely enforced through powerful ritualized institutions). According to these researchers, this political culture had the effect of making the Yoruba person a citizen who values his freedom of choice in society, who expects to be decently respected by those holding authority in society, who expects probity and accountability in his rulers and chiefs. On the basis of these standards, can those who lead and rule the Yoruba in Nigeria today be really called Yoruba leaders? Of course, the Yoruba are being used here only as an example. Many other Nigerian nations have much to be proud of too.

    The noise of anger, desperation, resistance, conflict and turmoil are audible all the time from every part of Nigeria. What those noises mean is widespread rejection of the prevailing conditions of governance and leadership among all the peoples of Nigeria. Even the common people of the Arewa North, whose leaders have ruled Nigeria much longer than leaders from other regions, have seen very little that is aimed at the improvement of their quality of life. In all regions of Nigeria, it is the political leaders that are doing well for themselves; the welfare of the masses of the people is no longer a factor in government at any level. Create constitutional arrangements and systems that empower each nation to produce and control its leadership in its own way, and the quality of leadership and governance will improve dramatically across Nigeria.

    Finally, we ask you to note the conclusion enunciated by Karl Meier in his book on Nigeria entitled: This House Has Fallen. He stated that the only long-term solution in Nigeria to the crises that arise in a multi-ethnic state is for the various Nigerian nationalities, however many they may be, to “sit down and negotiate how they want to govern themselves and how they want to share their resources, and to decide whether they want to ultimately live together. Until they begin that process of internal reconciliation, at best Nigeria will lurch from crisis to crisis. At worst, it will fall apart”.

    We also ask you to acknowledge that there are countless Nigerians of your calibre who believe that Nigeria, like other multi-nation countries in the world, may, or even will, (or perhaps even should), dissolve into many smaller nation states. Given that, our continuing to follow the path we have followed since independence – the path of nation-building through a highly centralized state structure and the depression of our ethnic nations – holds a high potential for a violent end. Even if the ultimate fate of Nigeria will be dissolution, let us work to make it peaceful – let us make a violent parting unnecessary.

  • A 2012 letter to Gen. Gowon

    Nigeria seems to be crumbling in every way imaginable. The country’s economy is shrinking agonizingly. The masses of ordinary Nigerians are being crushed by a run-away inflation. The Naira has lost as much as 85% of its value in just two years, and it continues to fall. The supply of electricity, poor in the best of times, seems to be dropping towards an absolute zero. Productivity is being destroyed at a fearful pace and unemployment is sky-rocketing. The sharp declines in crude oil prices in the world starting in late 2014 forced the Nigerian economy into a nose dive, and since late 2015, nationalist revolts in the oil-bearing Niger Delta have blasted much of the oil exports and the economy. The folly of basing the economy only on crude oil since the 1970s, ignoring other obvious assets of the economy, and discouraging local resource development initiatives, now stares a helpless Federal Government in the face. Recession deepens, and there are alarms about a coming depression.

    We see staggering incompetence and rigidity in the management of our country – at a time when nothing short of courageous change can avail anything. Our President, who cannot find the funds for implementing his budget, is trying to beef up the armed forces in order to fight wars against those sections of our country that seek some sort of regional resource control or autonomy. Some influential countries in the world are preventing Nigeria from procuring the destructive weapons for such wars, and that the image of Nigeria, poor in the world at most times, is declining further abysmally.

    As I ponder these depressing thoughts, my mind flashes back to a letter which I and some other Nigerian patriots, resident abroad, wrote in 2012 to General Yakubu Gowon, former military Head of State of our country. It is a long letter – too long for this column. So, I will reproduce a part of it today, with some space-saving modifications, and use the rest in future:

    “Dear General Gowon: We write this letter in response to a speech delivered recently on your behalf by Alhaji M. D. Yusufu, at the second anniversary seminar of the Arewa Consultative Forum earlier this year. It is our hope that you will view the contents with the consideration they require and deserve.

    First, Your Excellency, please note, that of all the Nigerians who have had the privilege of serving Nigeria as Heads of State, your tenure is generally regarded most favourably. You are about our only living former Head of State not known to be a billionaire, and that endears you to a lot of Nigerians. Whatever you say about Nigeria deserves to be received and considered with the utmost respect.

    It is for these reasons that very many Nigerians feel very deeply about the opinion you expressed in the speech under reference, in which you say that Nigerians demanding change in the structure and management of Nigeria consist of “four groups” trying to destabilize Nigeria:

    a). “idealists who cannot wait to see a perfect Nigeria … (who) agitate for the cancellation of the 1999 Constitution on the premise that there was too much concentration of power and resources at the centre.

    b). those who want to see the country balkanized into small territories to be headed by tribal leaders . . . made up of demagogues and other anarchists who will sooner take Nigeria back to the chaos of the 18th century.

    c). those who desire the country’s break-up into “geopolitical territories, whereby big ethnic groups may swallow up small ones without a challenge”.

    d). those who demand “a new constitution that will allow them keep 100 per cent of money derived from the sale of oil that is extracted within their territories.”

    In short, Sir, your opinion of all who challenge the status quo in Nigeria today is wholly negative. As far as you are concerned, all who challenge the status quo or who ask for a serious look at Nigeria as it is, are despicable elements who are simply impatient with the pace of Nigeria’s evolution, or are demagogues and anarchists whom no system of order can satisfy, or ethnic chauvinists who want their own large ethnic groups to dominate smaller ethnic groups or who simply do not want the resources of their own ethnic territories shared with the rest of Nigeria. Sir, please look deeper. When you do, you will find that probably most of the persons who are actively asking for change for Nigeria, or who are intensely dissatisfied with Nigeria as it exists today, are motivated by very positive and commendable purposes – persons who seek meaningful order out of the near chaos that Nigeria now is. Such persons deserve not opprobrium but acceptance and encouragement from all far-sighted Nigerians. Another Nigerian, Peter Ekeh, in a paper titled “Urhobo and the Nigerian Federation: Whither Nigeria?” demonstrated a clear understanding of the realities of today’s Nigeria when he said: “It is an indication of the stress and turbulence of our times that Nigerians are everywhere re-examining the purpose of the Nigerian state and the relationships between their ethnic groups and the Nigerian federation”.

    The truth, Sir, is that most informed Nigerians, and very many friends of Nigeria in the world, are intensely worried about the way Nigeria has turned out to be. That is why speeches, articles and even books about Nigeria’s future are being churned out increasingly. And that is why the pages and editorial columns of Nigerian newspapers are continually filled with the evidence of the stress and the turbulence raging in the minds of thinking Nigerians concerning Nigeria.

    The most important question, then, is this: What are the roots of Nigeria’s very profound sicknesses – Nigeria’s intractable political instability, intense criminality, fraud, and violence in Nigeria’s political processes, the political assassinations, the all-pervasive and resolute corruption in the management of Nigeria’s public resources, the disregard for law, etc. There are some who would opine that the causes of these aberrations are simply human greed, the lack of adequate leaders, or even a weakness in the make-up of the moral consciousness of Nigerians. This is tantamount to saying that, before the British came and favoured us with the creation of Nigeria, we were all morally, socially and politically depraved and incapable peoples, intrinsically unable to produce solid and respectable leaders of men or to manage orderly political entities.

    But people who hold such opinions must ask themselves certain important questions. The Hausa people, long before the 19th century, created a number of splendid kingdoms, and their rulers ruled those kingdoms with dignity and poise. In the course of the 19th century, as a result of a revolution, Fulani emirates replaced the Hausa kingdoms in an inclusive Caliphate whose leaders promoted scholarship and commerce. In European mediaeval times, the Kanuri people on the Lake Chad built a large empire which held sway over expansive territory, commanded enormous commerce and established diplomatic relations with the then centres of civilization on the Mediterranean. The Nupe on the Middle Niger and the Tiv on the Benue, though not very large peoples, were very strong peoples, each of whom built a strong kingdom and managed with distinction the trade, and the channels of trade, across its own river.  In the forest country of the south, the Yoruba built the most advanced urban civilization in tropical Africa, established well-ordered and gorgeous kingdoms  – all of which were already far advanced before the first European explorers came to the coast of West Africa in the 15th century. The Edo had also established one of Africa’s most prestigious kingdoms before the 15th century. If these peoples were depraved and incapable, how did they achieve these great things?

    No, the true explanation for Nigeria’s huge, stubborn, and perpetually worsening diseases is to be found not in any inherent flaws in us as peoples, but in circumstances created by the very existence of Nigeria itself. To understand, one needs to look at what has happened, and what is happening, in countries similar to Nigeria in the world – countries comprising two or more ethnic nations, each with its own language and culture, and each living in its own homeland: Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Spain, Britain, Canada, India, etc. And then, one needs to examine seriously how Nigeria is being ruled and managed

    First, in all parts of the world, the inter-relationships of ethnic nations in multi-ethnic countries tend to generate and promote conflicts, weakness, corruption, slow growth, etc.  On all continents, ethnic nations – even the smallest ethnic nations – are waking up and demanding the freedom to have autonomous and independent countries of their own. The observable reality is that as each ethnic nation becomes more and more literate, more and more educated and informed, it tends to become more conscious of its cultural heritage, more emphatic about the differences between it and other nations, more defensive of its interests, and more desirous of managing its own affairs and controlling its own destiny. There is nothing bad or condemnable about that. It is just the way that humans tend to behave, and all we need is to manage it appropriately in our Nigeria.

  • Open letter to GEJ

    SIR: I never thought I was going to write to you again since your eviction from the “Rock”. But seeing how ardently you are trying to invade our memories with “Ebele-Trojan Virus”, in a bid to reformatting it- clearing off and replacing existing data, in an attempt to rewrite history thereby playing on our intelligence, it became increasingly incumbent on me to pen this short note.

    In a speech you delivered at the Annual Gala Dinner of Nigerian Lawyers Association in the US.., you said and I quote: “Under my watch, not a single Nigerian was sent to prison because of anything they wrote or said about me or the Administration that I headed.”  You must have forgotten about the military attack on Nigerian newspapers that happened right under your watch on June 6-7, 2014. An event that saw soldiers seize and in some cases destroy thousands of copies of several newspapers including Leadership, The Nation, and Punch newspapers. The general distribution centre for all newspapers in Area 1, Abuja, was also sealed by soldiers and several newspapers circulation staff were also harassed and detained in the process.

    Again, we have not forgotten the assaults on the National Assembly that happened on November 20, 2014, when policemen were stationed at the gate of the National Assembly Complex and denied the then Speaker of the House- Aminu Tambuwal and some federal lawmakers entry to the complex where they were slated to carry out their duties.

    From the havoc caused by the Boko Haram insurgency, to the massive loot and corruption under your watch, to the killing of innocent unemployed Nigerians during the Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment scam, to the attack on media houses by the military, the invasion of the National Assembly and assaults on members of the parliaments, to the collapse of systems and infrastructure in the country amongst others, in a saner society, you should have been behind bars by now.

    You cannot do such grave evil to our nation- squander our commonwealth among your friends and allies- and watched lackadaisically as Boko Haram decimated our military and made a total mockery of us, and yet come back to us and speak ostentatiously about your achievements- doing that is evil!

    I consider this as a spat in our face- as another grave evil perpetrated by you to repaint and rebrand your mischievousness in an attempt to rewrite history falsely. You cannot in less than two years come back to us like an angel walking on the street of Babylon in a spotless garment. You cannot appear to us like a saint that just came down from heaven- you are not!

     

    • Ogundana Michael Rotimi,

    Lagos. 

  • Letter to CJN

    Whatever happens or goes wrong in the judicial system, lawyers (particularly some senior lawyers) are involved. There are some who have the capacity to influence and intimidate the courts and they do it with relish…sometimes (and when it matters) some members of the Bar representing NBA on the NJC hardly stand up for the truth, not to talk of speaking the truth.
    – Justice Ayo Isa Salami, ex-President of the Court of Appeal.

    My Lord, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mahmoud Mohammed, it is with heavy heart that I start with the above quote from the parting shot of Justice Ayo Salami to the judiciary three years ago after a two-year battle to retain his seat as President of the Court of Appeal (PCA). As you are aware, Justice Salami was suspended from office by the National Judicial Council (NJC) on August 18, 2011 not for professional misconduct or corruption but for refusing to apologise to then CJN and NJC chairman Aloysius Katsina-Alu.  Though you were not then a member of NJC, which you now head, you were privy to all that happened as a Justice of the Supreme Court (JSC). My Lord, I will not bore you with details of that matter, but recent happenings in the judiciary make it imperative for me to refer to it. And I will be drawing heavily from some of Justice Salami’s remarks at the valedictory session held for him on October 31, 2013 in Abuja because he spoke a lot about NJC.

    By virtue of his position, PCA, as he then was, Justice Salami was an automatic member of NJC, but his membership amounted to nothing when he had issues with his chairman, former CJN Katsina-Alu. His fellow members disowned him in the face of glaring evidence that he did no wrong because they did not want to incur the wrath of Justice Katsina-Alu.

    Justice Salami exposed the inner workings of the NJC at his valedictory session. From what he said, it is not the august body that we all think it is. It seems that rather than stand up for what is right and just, the NJC will do anything to protect its own, especially those in the good books of its chairman. The NJC was not set up to be the tool of the CJN and his acolytes. It was established to ensure that the justice system works smoothly, with judges seen to be alive to their sacred responsibilities. Should such people become objects of scorn and ridicule? The answer is no.

    Unfortunately, this is what is happening today. Two Justices of the Supreme Court – Inyang Okoro and Sylvester Ngwuta –  the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Enugu State Chief Judge Justice I.A. Umezulike, Justice Kabiru Auta of the Kano State High Court, Justice Muazu Pindiga, Gombe State High Court, Justice Bashir Sukola and Justice Ladan Manir, both of the Kaduna State High Court are today fighting a battle of their lives following allegations that they desecrated their offices. They are being investigated by the Department of State Service (DSS). Six others – all of the Federal High Court – Justices Mohammed Nasir Yunusa, Hyeladzira Ajiya Nganjiwa, Musa Haruna Kurya, Agbadu James Fishim, Uwani Abba Aji and Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia are being probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  These are men and women who sit in judgement over others being accused of some of the offences they try people for.

    My Lord, Justices Okoro, Ngwuta and Ademola have written to you, stating their innocence. Without their stating so, our law presumes them innocent until otherwise proven. Their letters have become subjects of public debate, with many wondering if they were actually written by those judges. Indeed if such letters should come to these judges in the course of a case what weight will they attach to them in evidence? Can they convict any felon on the strength of such letters? My Lord, their lordships, in their own words and in their own hands, admitted that there were attempts to induce  them to pervert justice and they kept quiet until they ran into trouble!

    The issue now is : should they continue to sit while allegations of corruption are hanging over their heads like the sword of Damocles? My Lord, to you, this is a dilemma, but to the public, it is not. The judges put themselves in the position they are in today. A smart and incorruptible judge, if it is true, would have reported to the police immediately he was approached to subvert justice. His complaint would have stood him in good stead in the day of trouble. Without a police report, I am sorry to say, Justices Okoro’s and Ngwuta’s claims that some ministers sought their help in some election petition cases sound like fairy tales. But, My Lord, they claimed to have reported the matter to you. Is that so? What did you do? Did you refer the matter to the police? The world is waiting to know the steps your lordship took.

    To keep silent in the face of at tempts to bribe a judge is to encourage corruption. If a Justice of the Supreme Court does not know this, then who will? The man on the street? My Lord, you have about two weeks left counting from today to bow out of service. With November 10, your retirement date fast approaching, you have but a little time to decide how you wish to be remembered after your exit. One major decision you have to take between now and then is what to do with the embattled judges. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which always side the NJC, has called for their suspension. Whatever anybody, especially some so-called senior lawyers, may say, the Bar cannot be faulted on this score. It cannot be proper for the judges to continue to sit not even while being investigated, not to talk of when their trial eventually starts.

    My Lord, you have kicked against the Bar’s demand, saying it is against the law establishing the NJC. That law, until amended, only gives NJC the power to discipline judges and recommend appropriate actions against them. It does not confer NJC with the power to conduct the sort of investigation being carried out against the judges by DSS and EFCC. My Lord, I am at a loss over your objection to the suspension of these judges. To me, suspending them will not be breaching the NJC law.

    It is misplaced fear to say that their lordships’ suspension will negate the law and also affect their integrity. To restore hope in the judiciary, their lordships must step aside to face trial. If they do not, you will be shirking your responsibility as NJC chairman. This is no time for esprit de corps. To save your own name, you must let the law take its course.

    Justice Salami may be right after all when he said : ‘’The problem with the Nigerian judiciary is that some dishonourable people not fit to be judges get into the stream and then make it to the highest level of the judicial career…’’ Will the outcome of the judges’ trial prove Justice Salami wrong? Time will tell.

  • Wikki accept Maikaba’s resignation letter

    Wikki accept Maikaba’s resignation letter

    • Praise  coach’s contributions to  Bauchi side

    Wikki Tourists have accepted the resignation letter of their former head coach, Abdu Maikaba who is on the verge of joining Akwa United ahead of the next  NPFL season.

    Maikaba tdropped his notice to quit the Bauchi side on Saturday after he submitted his technical report for the past league season to gradually bring his association of two years with Wikki to an end.

    The chairman of Wikki, Isa Matori told SportingLife that Maikaba had told them immediately the season ended that he would be seeking another adventure and that there was no time the coach deceived them regarding his future plans.

    Matori said: “This is to bring it to your notice that coach Maikaba did not deceive Wikki Tourists. We were very much aware of his intention to change environment immediately after the conclusion of the league season. He didn’t make it official then because he was not sure if the agreement with his new employer would be sealed.

    “Now that he has concluded agreement with Akwa United, he has officially submitted his letter of resignation and the management of Wikki gladly accepted and wished him well. The Wikki management sincerely appreciate the role Maikaba played in the last two seasons with the club and we are aware that he would leave one day. We wish him the very best in his coaching career and his new assignment with Akwa United.

    Matori disclosed that they were aware of the expected departure of Maikaba who missed the 2015 CAF Confederation Cup ticket by the whiskers with Wikki.

    The Bauchi side finished the campaign third on the log with 57 points from 36 matches.

  • Fed Govt attacks U.S. Congressman for anti-Buhari letter

    The Federal Government has described as sadly out of tune with reality a letter from United States Congressman Tom Marino to Secretary of State John Kerry, asking the U.S. to withhold security assistance to Nigeria due to some perceived infractions by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    In a statement in Abuja yesterday, Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed said Marino was poorly informed about the issues he commented on, wondering why he failed to get first-hand information from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, or other credible source before engaging in what is a ‘propaganda of his imagination’.

    The minister said by asking the U.S. to refrain from selling war planes and military equipment to Nigeria based on a faulty premise, the Congressman has demonstrated a poor understanding of global security issues.

    ‘’Insecurity anywhere is insecurity everywhere. Had Congressman Marino understood this, he would not have made the kind of call concerning the U.S. security assistance to Nigeria. The Boko Haram insurgency that Nigeria decisively dealt with under President Muhammadu Buhari is not just a Nigerian problem but a regional and international crisis,’’ he said.

    Alhaji Mohammed said Marino definitely did not have Nigeria in mind when he wrote that the U.S. withholds security assistance until President Buhari ‘demonstrates a commitment to inclusive government and the most basic tenets of democracy: freedom to assemble and freedom of speech’.

    ‘’An administration that operates purely on the basis of respect for the rule of law and a strict adherence to constitutional order is not one to deny the citizens of their constitutionally-guaranteed rights. This administration, therefore, does not need the goading of Congressman Marino or anyone for that matter to do what is right.

    ‘’Concerning running an inclusive government, had Congressman Marino done his home work before despatching his letter, he would have realised that no part of the country is left out in the distribution of political appointments, for example, or in the appointment of ministers, which was done in accordance with the Constitution that mandates that the President appoints at least one minister from each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

    ‘’Had the Congressman sought information from credible sources before engaging in a flight of fancy, he would have been presented with a comprehensive information on the appointment of CEOs for Federal Government’s parastatals, agencies and commissions that shows that the appointments were almost evenly matched along the line of the six geo-political zones in the country: With the North west having 51, Northcentral 46, Northeast 45, Southeast 41, Southwest 45 and Southsouth 45,’’ he said.

    ‘’The Congressman may wish to note that each geo-political zone comprises six states, with the exception of Northwest (seven) and Southeast (five).’’

    The minister described Marino’s observation that the Buhari’s administration’s anti-corruption effort is ‘selective’ as a tired argument that clearly shows that the U.S . lawmaker must have appended his signature to someone’s concocted line.

    ‘’That line was invented by those seeking to cause an unnecessary distraction from the administration’s anti-corruption effort, and it has been roundly rejected. Congressman Marino’s decision to exhume the dead postulation without an iota of proof is a reflection of whose side he has taken in the effort to rid Nigeria of corrupt elements. Needless to say that the anti-corruption battle will continue unhindered, irrespective of whose ox is gored. And in this fight, only the guilty needs be afraid,’’ he said.

  • Open letter to PMB

    Often, people usually talk about the first 100 days of a president’s achievements in office. In many countries, it has now become a standard yardstick to gauge the effectiveness of the presidentin getting his or her new policies passed. The first 100 days is so important in a democratic system of government. It is a period that welcomes the new change as everybody is in the mood of accepting new ideas, programmes and policiesthat will move the country forward. There is hardly any serious opposition to the new President’spolicies during this period. The period is usually regarded as that of grace or honeymoon. Smart presidents usually capitalize on this period to get their policiespass into laws. A good example isUS President Obamawho got his affordable health care, Obamacare, passed into law during this period.

    The 100-day yardstick was established byFranklin D. Roosevelt of the United States in 1933.When he was sworn in as the president on March 3, 1933, the US was faced with the catastrophic state of depression. In addition, there was mass unemployment. The unemployment rate stood at about 25 percent. There was also the problem of inflation, bank failures and widespread loss of confidence. Banks were shutting down. Accountholders were losing their life’s savings. Businesses were running out of enough cash to keep going. FDR had no choice but toaddress the problem head on.He said in his inaugural speech March 4: “This nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require.”

    His success in winning congressional approval became the model for future presidents in dealing with Congress during the first 100 days in office.

    PresidentMuhammadu Buhari may not be FDR: The problems he currently faces in Nigeria are similar to what President Roosevelt faced when he took office in 1934. Presently in Nigeria today, there is a high rate of unemployment, massive inflation, acute non-payment of salaries,and starklylack of both local and foreign cash flow.There is no regular power supply, potable water, security and standard road network in other words, basic amenities.

    Unlike FDR’s 100Days, President Buhari has a much longer grace period of one yearto address Nigeria’s teething problems. It is unimaginable for a worker or family to be without a monthly salary for six months. This is a serious egregious problem that needs to be addressed urgently.

    We all know that President Buhari did not create all these problems.It is a lot of sacrifice for him at this stage of his life and instead of staying with his beautiful family, chose to once more try to lead this country aright. However, one cannot but wonder how a career militaryofficer with military background that once ruled this country with draconian decrees–is now at the helms, navigating the intrigues of democracy with Senators and Congressmen some of who were still in theirdiaperswhen he first came to office,  December 31, 1983.

    President Buhari, you got this job again for over a year now, there is no time to waste. The problems are enormous and mounting. Among many of these daunting problems- two of them stand out that need urgent attention now, massive unemployment and non-payment of salaries. Confronted with similar situation in 1934, FDR said in his inaugural speech March 4, that “his task is to put people to work.”In order for the President Buhari to address these problems of mass unemployment and non-payment of salaries head on, he needs to embark onbuilding road network across the nation NOW.

    From history,nearly all advanced nations of the world first started by investing in road building.They embarked on road building for the primary purpose of addressing the issues of acute mass unemployment, economy and nation building. The end product of their actions paid off asthey were able to put many people to work and stabilized their economies. They developed superb road network infrastructure that are regularly maintained across their entire nations. Road building started in the ancient Rome, and the modern history shows the Germans builttheir Super-highways – autobahns in the 1930s. The Americans under General Dwight D. Eisenhowerwas captivated with the German highway system which influenced him to embark on massive construction of the interstates highways in the United States. We have seen how new developing nations and emerging economies have also started by investing on building roads.

    This is an opportunity for President Buhari now to start on nationbuilding by constructing modern highways. Start by constructing new and dualizing all trunks A and B roads across the nation. This is a shovel-ready project that will instantly put people to work. Employ credible indigenous and foreign road construction companies that will constructmodern road networks with rest areas. These will provide instant employment for millions of young and able-bodied across the nation.

    The benefit of road construction cannot be over emphasized as it will bring jobs to every corner and nook of Nigeria instantly. Consider that nearly all road contracting firms pay their worker weekly or bi- weekly. It will instantly jump-start the current stagnant economy by putting money into peoples’ pockets. Road construction provides both direct and indirect employments.

    Road construction provides direct employment for highway construction professionals such as road firm employees- road engineers, designers, tractor operators, managers, accountants,clerks, specialists, drivers, quality controllers, skilled, and unskilled laborers, etc.  The local area for the road construction usually provides thecatchment zone for the unskilled laborers thereby ensuring job opportunities for the locals.

    Road construction also provides indirect employment also. These include supply of materials for the roads such as cement, sand, asphalt, bitumen, quarry, iron rods and metals fabrication industries.There will be supply contractors for the road materials and equipment. Also importantly, are the local foods and water supply industries-from the local farmers to the food canteens and fast foods forworkers.

    Also most importantly is the maintenance. The maintenance culture is what Nigerians need to cultivate both individually and institutionally. As individual needs to maintain their houses so also is the government. The road maintenance department will provide jobs for hundreds of thousands on permanent basis for the new highway network.  This will replace the mundane Public Works Department- PWD.

    In general, workers in this road construction willsubsequently spend and invest their earnings in the immediate local communities thereby generating economic activities acrossthe geographicalareas, which will have ripple effects on state, and national economies. It will also provide thousands of road construction related incomes and jobs such as housing and transportation. It will also create a large number of new roadside related businesses.

    The implication of this is that it will relieve federal, state and local governments from the acute stress of youth unemployment by providing jobs.Gainful employment will curb spate of robberies and other nefarious activities that exist as a result of unemployment. Providing jobs will restore a sense of purpose and wellbeing to individuals. Road construction will generate the revenues that will stabilize the economy that will form the bedrock upon which other government programmeswill be built such as agriculture and mining all of which need good solid road for transportation.

    For President Buhari, there is a discernable pattern of governance and achievements between the way he governs now and the first time he came to office between 1983–85which was characterized with probes, War Against Indiscipline and loss of jobs due to downsizing in other words, Lean and Mean Workforce. While the intentsmay be altruistic and noble at both times, the middle class is being crushed economically due to lack of employment, loss of jobs, and in many cases non-payment of salaries. It presents a state of sacrifice with a hope of a better morrow which many may not even live up to reap the dividends.

    It is time to add another approach by doing something new and bold that will assuage the plight of workers and the middle class.The middle level will benefit immensely by investing on road building head on.Dear President, probes alone will not cut it; the ordinary man is neither directly affected by probes; all he needs is job and he needs it now.

    President Buhari, if this is what you can achieve in your first term of your second coming in office, people that voted for you will not be disappointed as it will be regarded as substantial investment in nation building and also an observable project that will go a long way to justify your second coming. It is the easiest and most achievable nationwide project whileother challenging projects such as regular power and water supply, may follow later.

    Failure to embark onaggressive nationwide road construction will be another missed opportunity that will be catastrophic and regrettable.

     

    • Dr. Fagbemi, writes from the United States.

  • Love letter to gallant Kenyan women

    It is an old story which expectedly, won’t leave the social media circuit. It is the story of Kenyan women who took to the streets to protest their husbands’ underperformance and inability to get them pregnant.

    A touchy bed bedroom matter you would say, but some perspectives: first, it will amount to an over-generalisation to describe them as Kenyan women as stories have conveniently headlined. They are actually a section of women from a county known as Limuru, Kiambu. So it is not a country-wide phenomenon (unless more facts unfold to prove one wrong); not even country-wide.

    Having made that important clarification, the grouse of the women is that because their husbands imbibe too much alcohol, their ability to perform at optimum in bed as well as the other important function of getting them pregnant may have been impaired.

    Pressing the point further, they noted that married women abound in the county but only few are pregnant. And the problem is with both the young and old they claim, threatening to relocate to another county if nothing was done to assuage their obvious conjugal woes. For solution, they recommend that government should make strict laws to curtail their men’s binging on alcohol to certain hours during week days and weekend.

    This uprising actually took place late last year but it remains in the front burner because the issues raised are deep (no pun please), universal and I dare say, pervasive. Some Nigerian men have been talking like Don Juan in the social media, threatening to invade Kenya and give succour to the aching women. But I wager that that may be sheer braggadocio. I wager again that the average Kenyan fella is no different from his Nigerian brother in every material particular. We shall return to this later.

    One is inclined to see these women as heroines for taking to the highways, what is considered a bedroom taboo. These Kenyan women are truly stars of a new narrative having bucked the trend to voice their frustrations against what is obviously an incipient penile tragedy looming across Africa and the emerging worlds.

    One cannot help but love and admire the courage of these gallant amazons who have exhibited characteristic Masaiac courage in standing up, defying African tradition to highlight what might well be the new scourge afflicting the modern African man. Challenging what looks like a looming matrimonial atrophy.

    It is said that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. But let’s tweak that a little to say, there is no fury like a woman aroused and left unfulfilled. In fact it may well be better to scorn a woman by not starting at all than to leave her mid-sea. This I believe is the contention of these brave women. Why take a wife and bond her under your roof if you are not man enough at your conjugal duties? They are simply demanding for their men to man-up in the bedroom and stop sabotaging it all with excessive booze. A wife of course has a fundamental right to love and sex from her legally married husband. A full-fledged woman (and have you seen a typical Kenyan woman in her prime?) in a freshly consummated matrimony cannot ask for anything less than a regimen of steamy, intimate sessions which should culminate into a baby bulge in the shortest possible time. This is not too much to ask.

    Imagine the trauma and psychological agony of the denial of this matrimonial entitlement; and out of no genuine reason than male foolishness and waywardness. And you expect the other person to live and die in mind-bending silence? So protest may well be some form of therapy.

    Inebriating the mind, body and soul from the Central, down to the South and East of Africa, it is a well known fact that since the post-colonial era of the 60s, alcohol consumption has remained an issue. Many writers of these regions have highlighted it in their works. One such is Meja Mwangi who in Going Down River Road paints a grim picture of independent Africa covered in dusty poverty and suffused with cheap alcohol. The kind of liquor that chews the guts and damages the soul, not to mention libido.

    But these gallant Kenyan women may have rekindled a light and someday soon, Africa just might begin to pay attention to the effects of alcohol on the continent. Because the African man is of innate physical strength, he could imbibe heavily for a long spell of his life without his system being impaired. But this may be changing as modern living takes its toll.

    The hitherto redoubtable African stud is giving way to an effete mulatto nourished on junk-ish Macdonald’s fries and ersatz rice from Asia. Today’s African man bred on processed food is less vital than his father and even less so, his grand father. Yet he consumes even more alcohol today due to the stress of modern living. Of course too much alcohol bugs down his organs, wears his muscles and causes much lethargy to his libido. And don’t forget the new scourge of the African man, his withering prostrate gland.

    Like Kenya, like Nigeria. It may well be the same problem with Nigeria but because the Kenyan women are upfront and less inhibited, they have forged a noble coalition against their drunken husbands. There is, however, evidence of heavy drinking in Nigeria too. In the last decade, Nigerian men may have been imbibing more alcohol and performance enhancing drinks more than ever. From beers to spirits, wines, energy drinks and even wild, local concoctions.

    In the last five years, there has emerged in Nigeria, a rash of alcoholic ‘bitters’ both from the big brewers and dingy backyards. Many go by such suggestive names like ogidiga, mokogan, jango bitters, lion bitters, champion bitters, hit-and-run bitters; all sorts. And there is a legion of unlabelled others with exotic primary colours ostensibly made to imbue libidinal prowess.

    In a place where health and regulatory authorities have been overwhelmed and just anything goes … down the Nigerian man’s gullet and into his system, there is indeed danger ahead. With sustained consumption of these delirious poisons, not only will our male libidos suffer in the long run, more kidneys will crash and livers will fail.

    If nothing is done, in 10 years very few Nigeria men will be able to bring on a viable erection for nary one minute. Quietly, our new lifestyle is scourging our man and manhood. The African male specie must begin to re-learn a lot about life and living in this age lest African women migrated to ‘far countries’ to find conjugal bliss.

    In summary, the best masculine physiognomy is one in which the blood and the entire body systems are clean, fluid and uncluttered, not necessarily the muscular. Too much alcohol, too much junk food and lack of conscious physical exercise will only put a man out of action early in life.

    To think that simple antidotes work magic: natural foods, fruits and vegetables, moderate to no alcohol, a lot of water and hygiene is it. In fact, some of the simple cures for poor libido include watermelon, ginger, garlic, nuts, bananas, sweet potatoes and bitter leaf juice. And talking about hygiene, most of us men would climb into bed to our partners with breath booming with booze and such stuff we picked from those corner bars and we expect it to actually turn her on. I doubt that it does.

    But just as most women are thought to keep clean and many actually do; men too must be conscious to be clean, especially for bed. And guy, here is one test for you as you climb into bed tonight: take a peek at the sole of your feet – what you see is a testimony to the state of your body and even your soul.

    Once again, this is to the brave Limuru, Kiambu women of Kenya.

     

    OUK versus TA: Unending pettiness

    One is much troubled that the current debilitating inertia in Abia State has been reduced to a joking matter by none other than a former helmsman of the state who held sway for about 12 years. The stand-off in that state portends a huge economic and infrastructural debacle that may not be easily quantifiable. The people of the state are paying and will pay heavy price for some time to come.

    But former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu writing in his column (SaturdaySun, July 9, 2016) only trivialised issues by heaping all the blames on his arch-enemy, immediate past Governor T.A. Orji. In 41 paragraphs of a running drivel, he blamed all the woes of Abia and some of his own on TA.

    But one is a witness of the Abia story from 1999 to 2007 when OUK ruled Abia; and 2007 to 2011 of TA’s tenure he usurped. As it is well known, it was the locust years of Abia when nothing worthwhile sprouted in the land and nothing stood; a time of extreme violence when all Abia elders and statesmen were chased out of town.

    It is a long, sad story that one believes history has noted accurately. But suffice to say that at a time when worthy Igbo elders were brainstorming in Owerri over the Igbo condition, OUK was busy stoking the fire of parochial politics in Abia. What a pity, what pettiness?

  • Senatorial letter writer

    Once upon a time, on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s first coming as military head of state, there was a public letter writer.

    As Buhari’s Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh, famed journalist and lawyer, wrote what he called “Letter to My Countrymen”.

    In those missives, the minister engaged his compatriots on the best of patriotic practices.

    His principal, Gen. Buhari, scoffed at the fictive Andrew, that nevertheless epitomised the very popular notion among Nigerians back then, to “check out”, telling them: “Nigeria is our country. We must stay and salvage it together.”

    Minister Momoh reinforced that message, with his letter writing engagements, pleading with, persuading and logically prompting his compatriots to give their country a second chance; and join in its rebuilding.

    The media?  O, those ones were at their cynical worst. With the Buhari government’s exploits on Decree 2 and Decree 4 (under the second law, two top journalists were gaoled), they were too grumpy to be receptive to Buhari’s — and minister’s — redemptive pleas.  That was then.

    Now, at President Buhari’s second coming as elected president, a letter writer of a different hue has emerged.

    He is no less than Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy Senate president, who incidentally had written and launched, with fan fair, a book on “patriotism”, writing letters to hang his country on the gallows of the “international community”.

    Indeed, the quixotic search for the “international community”, in times of personal throes, is not new.  It was patented by Olisa Metuh, in the opening days of President Buhari’s tenure, as a sort of coping mechanism, that Mr. Metuh’s party had lost federal power.

    Senator Ekweremadu can, of course, insist that his letters didn’t hang his country — and Hardball would be the first to admit he didn’t necessarily have to admit that, since it was Hardball’s interpretation, and Hardball is not infallible.

    Besides, Ekweremadu and Hardball approach this matter from different prisms. Both are therefore logically bound to arrive at contrary destinations.

    Still, Hardball insists it is rich for the deputy Senate president, an integral part of the agency of the Nigerian state (not just a partisan apparatchik, like Mr. Metuh) is writing a letter excoriating his country, that gave him such a high platform to stand.

    It is even more condemnable that the so-called letter is premised on a base personal motive, which moves to confuse alleged personal indiscretions with the institutional health of the Senate and (illogic of all illogics) to conflate putative personal comeuppance with the mythical collapse of democracy!

    But while still at base motives: in that “international community”, where would a minority senator emerge as deputy Senate president, through an illicit and soulless trade-off, fuelled by crass careerism, and still show his opportunistic face, in the comity of “international senators”?

    Mr. Ekweremadu can write whatever letters he likes.  But in playing the victim and demagogue, he should at least recognise his limits. Surely, as a lawyer, he should know: he who comes to equity must come with clean hands!

    So, he should quietly go have his day in court and stop embarrassing himself and his country.

  • Letter to black hairs

    Hi guys,

    You may wonder why I am writing you. The reason is not far-fetched: The race for the Edo State Government House, which will see the people voting on September 10.

    I suspect you may know that already fight has broken out in the two major political parties in the state. Men who want the coveted seat about to be vacated by Governor Adams Oshiomhole are already breaking or planning to break one another’s head, all in a bid to outsmart the other. Blackmail, mud-slinging and name calling have started.

    Men who were friends some months back are now sworn enemies. Families are being torn apart all because of this seat that comes with enormous influence. Enemies of a few months back are becoming allies. Principles do not matter. The end will justify the means.

    Many are searching for godfathers forgetting that there is God the father who can do and undo, who when He says yes nobody can say no.

    I need to let you know that before Oshiomhole’s emergence, the governorship of the state was not decided by the people. It is not that the people were not allowed to cast their votes. But the votes never truly counted. Results that were contrary to the will of the people were written in bedrooms and foisted on compromised electoral officers.

    I remember Oshiomhole was robbed in a similar manner. It took the courts for him to get back the seat. Now, Oshiomhole is packing his bags and I have got a dilemma. My dilemma is not about electoral robbers. My dilemma is about the people who are coming out to seek the office. At the last count, there are over 20 of them. But a cursory look at them all gives me a headache. It is not that they are not qualified to run the state. It is just that their ages make me wonder if the young will ever grow. They are mostly men in their late 50s and 60s. Their hairs are grey already. And I ask myself: where are the Donald Dukes of Edo State? Duke became governor of Cross River some months to his 38th birthday. He is 54 now, some 16 years after quitting office.

    I will be the first to admit that there are young people who have been given opportunities and they have failed big time. Some are failing as you read this. They are looting and squandering their people’s money. They have committed and are committing all kinds of atrocities that give the old ones the excuse to play Robert Mugabe. I am ashamed of them and will always be. But that is not an excuse for the youths to be contended with being used as political thugs as we are seeing in Rivers or be contended with being special assistants that no one listens to.

    Guys, there is power in youthfulness. As a youth, you are daring and not afraid of experimenting. And what is life without experiment? There will be nothing like Science or Chemistry without experiment and we will just be contented with what we have and not seek new ways of doing things.

    I need to let us know that it took a youth for history to be made in America. Its first black leader, Barack Hussein Obama II, was born on August 4, 1961. He is 54 now and will vacate office early next year after being president for eight years. What this means is that he became the leader of the world’s most powerful country at about 46. Before then, he was a senator — a confirmation that he has been in political leadership position since his youth.

    I want to remind us that before Obama, there was Williams Jefferson Clinton, who we all call Bill Clinton (Clinton, by the way, is his step-father’s surname). He is 69 years now.  He left office as American president some 15 years ago. He was some 54 years at the time. Before then he was governor. He won the governorship in 1978 at 31 and became the youngest governor the country had seen in 40 years.

    In the United Kingdom, there was Tony Blair; there was Gordon Brown; and there is now David Cameron. All young people when their people trusted them with running their lives.

    Cameron, now in his second term, is 49. He has been the UK Prime Minister since 2010. He became the leader of perhaps the world’s second most respected nation at 43.

    For those who will say the youths do not have experience to handle such sensitive office, the Clinton story will suffice. When Clinton set out to be governor, he decided on an ambitious agenda to reform education and health care systems. He won and as governor he was hampered by his youth and political inexperience. He made several blunders. One of them was the poor handling of riots by Cuban refugees interned at Fort Chaffee. Another was the highly unpopular fee hike on auto licenses, which he instituted. So much were these errors that after his first two-year term (At the time, Arkansas governors served only two-year renewable term), he was defeated in 1980 by a little-known Republican challenger, Frank White in 1980.

    But he never gave up. He went to work at a law firm for two years and staged a come-back. He admitted his errors and promised to right his wrongs. Arkansas people gave him a chance and they were better for it. They were so pleased with him that this time Clinton held onto the job for four consecutive terms.

    And before anyone will ask about the local examples, I will return to Donald Duke. This dashing man, who was governor from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007, is son to Henry Etim Duke, the second indigenous and longest ever serving Chairman, board of Customs and excise duties (now known as Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service). He received LLB degree in 1982 from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; the B.L in 1983 from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos and the L.L.M. in Business Law and Admiralty in 1984 from University of Pennsylvania. He was practicing law in Lagos before the call of office took him back to Calabar, which he made the cleanest city in Nigeria.

    Like Clinton, he was not experienced. He made his mistakes but till today he is remembered for his contributions to the fields of agriculture, urban development, environment, investment drive and tourism. No one else can take the credit for Calabar being seen as the “cleanest city in Nigeria.”

    Duke created the idea of the Obudu Ranch International Mountain Race, which has now grown to become one of the most lucrative mountain running competitions in the world.

    Permit me to give two more examples from Cross River, which seems to have perfected a model of always giving the number one seat to a young man. Duke’s successor and friend, Liyel Imoke, showed what youthfulness can do to the way a state is run efficiently. His successor, Prof. Ben Ayade, has started well too. With his like, I am proud to be young and be at the fore-front of the campaign for our youths to be given chance to lead.

    There is also the young Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Luke Onofiok. He is a young guy of 37. He is a lawyer and community organizer who right from school had shown leadership qualities.

    Many of our early leaders, such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and so on were not Metusellahs when they burst onto the political scene. The likes of Gens. Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo were in their youths when they took over power. Their hairs were still black. Gowon was even unmarried, indicating he was still ‘grooving’ about town when he became the Head of State of a country whose problem was not money but how to spend it. I can go on and on.

    Guys, I was excited when a Daniel jumped into the Edo political lion’s den. His name is Linus Idahosa. He is 37. I have checked his CV and it speaks volume. His imprints are all over what is now known as new Nollywood. He is husband to adorable Stephanie Linus, the brain behind the award-winning flick ‘Dry’.

    Politics, my guys, is too serious a business to be left to grey hairs alone. As Edo decides, I urge the young ones to participate, not just as party men and women but as aspirants and candidates. If the big parties shut the youths out, the not-so-popular ones are there. They can make them popular like Idahosa plans to do with the Young Democratic Party (PDP). I agree the odds may seem high but I urge the youths to come up with unusual campaign strategies. Above all, the black hairs should not rely on godfathers but have their gaze on God the father, who knows all and can do everything.

    I long for days when our fathers will play advisory roles and let us run the show. The time is now. I believe. What do you guys think?

    • A version of this piece appeared in the Southsouth and Northen editions of this paper last week.