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Tag: lies

  • Ekiti labour leaders slam Fayose for ‘feeding public with lies’

    Ekiti labour leaders slam Fayose for ‘feeding public with lies’

    Ekiti State labour leaders have accused Governor Ayo Fayose of feeding the public with lies to whip up sentiment against the workers’ strike.

    In a statement after an emergency meeting yesterday at the Labour House in Egbewa, Ado-Ekiti, they denied being part of a meeting, where money coming from the Federation Account was shared sector-by-sector.

    The statement, which was in response to the governor’s claims during his monthly media chat, was jointly signed by Paul Olayemi of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), John Adebayo (Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Blessing Oladele (Joint Negotiating Council (JNC).

    It blamed the governor for mentioning just four of the 10 demands presented to him by the unions. According to the workers’ leaders, no solutions were given to even the four.

    They said the governor’s resort to divide and rule to break the strike won’t work since they were resolute to ensure that the five months arrears of salaries are paid.

    They said: “The ongoing strike is not an ego trip or politically-motivated, but about the rights of workers and pensioners who are dying daily out of hunger and frustration”.

    The labour leaders berated the governor for deciding to go on strike too, noting: “This (decision) leaves much to be desired”.

    They said contrary to the statement by the governor that he incorporated representatives of labour unions in the state’s monthly cash allocation meetings, “the meeting is only a briefing and not a cash allocation meeting”.

    “So, the idea of labour leaders sharing monthly cash allocation and the governor approving does not arise. There has never been any advice or suggestion given to government by the organised labour at this forum that has ever been taken,” the statement said.

    They added that there was ever a time they reached accords with government to pay only net salary, which would exclude cooperative deductions, bank loans and union dues.

    The labour leaders expressed regrets that the governor himself had condemned net payment when he came on board.

    They added that Fayose dismissed same as a “fraud” during his election campaigns.

    The organised labour expressed shock over the internally generated revenue (IGR) figures reeled out by the governor, which they said were contrary to that ever declared by the state’s accountant general at any of their meetings.

    According to them, while the accountant general gave figures, which ranged between only N150 million and N200 million, except that of N268 million for April, the governor during his media chat gave N267 million for September 2015; N252 million for October 2015; N195 million for November 2015; and N181 million for December 2015.

    They added that the governor said for January, February and March, the accruals were N389 million, N381 million and N302 million.

    “Labour was embarrassed to hear the monthly IGR read on air by his excellency,” the statement said.

    The leadership of the unions berated the governor for planning to pay only the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), a section of workers in the state, which had decided to pull out of the ongoing strike action.

    They urged workers to remain in their houses until otherwise directed by their unions.

    Their words: “On the issue of outstanding salary, it is common knowledge that workers have performed their duties efficiently and effectively for the period of January to May 2016 and hence, they deserve their pay without further delay.

    “Therefore, contrary to government’s decision to pay the sector that opted out of the struggle is tantamount to divide and rule tactics usually employed by government in situations like this.

    “It should be noted that labour has neither suspended nor call off the ongoing industrial action. Hence, we are using this medium to implore the workers to stay at home and observe the strike action until the leadership of organised labour gives further directives.”

  • Akwa Ibom election petition tribunals: Separating facts from fiction, half truths and lies

    Akwa Ibom election petition tribunals: Separating facts from fiction, half truths and lies

    For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.” – Bo Bennett

    In its characteristic way, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State is seeking to manipulate the system to get reprieve from crimes it committed during last elections by adopting the roles of a victim. According to a news report, circulated by the party’s propaganda machine, it claimed its members are being harassed by the Department of State  Security (DSS), alleging that this agency of government is aiding and abetting the opposition at the venue of the electoral tribunals currently sitting in Abuja.

    Reading this report, one wonders if the State Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State, Obong Paul Ekpo, can recall vividly three months ago how  his party obviouly used the same agency and other security forces to harass, intimidate and kill innocent voters, who dared to resist snatching of ballot boxes by PDP political thugs. Why is PDP raising alarm over alleged harassment of members now the muzzle is facing it?

    As was expected, reportage of ongoing Akwa Ibom State Election Petition Tribunals have become highly controversial, reflecting conflicting interests in the state. On one side are reports from media correspondents on ground in Abuja, where these tribunals are ongoing and on the flipside are political appointees based in Uyo, who rely on second hand information, which are further sieved and skewed before release to the public through state sponsored media outlets and online platforms.

    Funny enough, these government apologists readily circumvent thorny questions raised as cases progress to exaggerate momentary and inconsequential issues, devising well known publicity stunts to sustain lies even though it would have been a lot easier to accept facts staring everyone in the face.

    Whatever is their reason for this deception, it is more important to note that ongoing election tribunals are different from previous ones as they have so far shown independence of the Judiciary, giving hope that the rule of law shall prevail above gimmicks and undue influence. The onus is therefore on both petitioners and respondents to argue their case on points of law regardless of whatever is peddled outside court rooms. This is the first and most critical fact.

    Secondly, supporters of the interim government are at liberty to present various shades of truth about what transpires in court daily, but they cannot undo major gains already made towards recovering what was stolen from the people. Their indiscretion cannot alter a dot in the coming judgment as it will be based on proven facts as stated in law “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.

    Another stanch fact is that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and most of their candidates, including Udom Emmanuel, Godswill Akpabio and others, are before state election petition tribunals in Abuja, to defend allegations of stealing the mandate of Akwa Ibom people during the last elections. Hard pressed Akwa Ibom people have risen as one in a historic move to recover their mandate from a regime that has held them captive for nearly a decade and they will stop at nothing to ensure all respondents answer for their roles in manipulating a simple and straight forward electoral process into some twisted, complicated farce.

    To achieve this feat, the people are determined to take the whole stretch as could be seen in dispassionate testimonies of principal witnesses currently recounting their personal experiences of massive electoral irregularities, fraud and violence allegedly perpetuated by PDP and its agents in active connivance with some corrupt INEC officials. There are recorded evidences proving that April 11 elections in Akwa Ibom State were far cry from credible, free and fair elections stipulated in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) and 2010 Electoral Act (as amended).

    Incidentally, these evidences and testimonies are received regularly in court notwithstanding what lies are peddled about them afterwards. The fact is, having listened to and adopted these evidences and testimonies, the tribunals may rely on them to deliver judgment.

    Above all, from available records published by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, one can decipher the whole story on how electoral fraud were committed by the INEC in Akwa Ibom State. All it takes is a closer look of voter accreditation computed by INEC staff at polling units across the state compared to what INEC Permanent Voter Card, PVC, readers automatically computed and sent to INEC servers in the Headquarters unknown to Okojie and his cohorts.

    Before going through the records, recall that on the 2nd of April, 2015, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, issued a very clear directive to all its officers that ONLY the “Card Reader” electronic machines be used for the accreditation of voters for the governorship and State House of Assembly elections scheduled for April 11, 2015.

    This directive was reportedly confirmed a couple of days later, by Prof Attahiru Jega, the then Chairman of INEC, during a world press conference where he maintained that the April 2 INEC directive, emphasizing that in places where there are card reader malfunction up to 5 pm, elections in these places should be shifted to Sunday, April 12, 2015. Incidentally, there was nowhere in the over 2,500 polling units across Akwa Ibom state that field officers of INEC reported the malfunction of their card readers meaning there was nowhere in the state where elections were shifted to Sunday, April 12 as such  governorship and state house of assembly elections held on April 11 without problem but how come the numbers computed into the INEC server, which were automatically generated when  Permanent Voters Card (PVC) were verified at the Polling Units across Akwa Ibom state are different from those hand filled in FORM EC 8D by INEC staff at these  polling units? The fact is, those results written in forms EC8D were doctored by INEC staff unaware that back-up PVC verifications were being simultaneously documented in the INEC servers in Abuja!

    Shouldn’t it bother all concerned how the accreditation of voters in Akwa Ibom produced two (sets) of numbers per local government by the same electoral body, one handwritten on FORM EC 8D and the other automatically accredited by INEC Server via PVC; #Akwa Ibom? Answering this question will confirm that indeed an electoral fraud was committed.

    Can INEC explain the following inconsistencies in voter accreditation?

    Abak LGA | Form EC 8D = 45, 358 Accredited | INEC Server = 25,546 Accredited, Eastern Obolo LGA | Form EC 8D = 14,592 Accredited | INEC Server = 6,521 Accredited, Eket LGA | Form EC 8D = 53,576 Accredited | INEC Server = 26,472 Accredited, Esit Eket LGA | Form EC 8D = 28,279 Accredited | INEC Server = 18,812 Accredited, Essien Udim LGA | Form EC 8D = 89,313 Accredited | INEC Server = 8,729 Accredited, Etim Ekpo LGA | Form EC 8D = 45,922 Accredited | INEC Server = 15,481 Accredited, Etinan LGA | Form EC 8D = 44,228 Accredited | INEC Server = 3,383 Accredited.  Also, Ibeno LGA | Form EC 8D = 19,032 Accredited | INEC Server = 11,980 Accredited, Ibesikpo Asutan LGA | Form EC 8D = 39,467 Accredited | INEC Server = 22,512 Accredited, Ibiono Ibom LGA | Form EC 8D = 64,623 Accredited | INEC Server = 10,369 Accredited, Ika LGA | Form EC 8D = 34,697 Accredited | INEC Server = 10,487 Accredited, Ikono LGA | Form EC 8D = 45,666 Accredited | INEC Server = 10,767 Accredited, Ikot Abasi LGA | Form EC 8D = 24,958 Accredited | INEC Server = 9,956 Accredited andIkot Ekpene LGA | Form EC 8D = 52,335 Accredited | INEC Server = 23,218 Accredited.

    Note also Ini LGA | Form EC 8D = 33,554 Accredited | INEC Server = 6,850 Accredited, Itu LGA | Form EC 8D = 27,808. Accredited | INEC Server = 15,557 Accredited, Mbo LGA | Form EC 8D = 13,853 Accredited | INEC Server = 8,545 Accredited, Mkpat Enin LGA | Form EC 8D = 35,412 Accredited | INEC Server = 7,623 Accredited, Nsit Atai LGA | Form EC 8D = 24,748 Accredited | INEC Server = 9,606 Accredited, Nsit Ibom LGA | Form EC 8D = 13,090 Accredited | INEC Server = 13,088 Accredited, Obot Akara LGA | Form EC 8D = 35,836 Accredited | INEC Server = 13,189 Accredited, Okobo LGA | Form EC 8D = 24,280 Accredited | INEC Server = 13,745 Accredited, Onna LGA | Form EC 8D = 54,050 Accredited | INEC Server = 15,864 Accredited, Oron LGA | Form EC 8D = 27,468 Accredited | INEC Server = 17,142 Accredited, Oruk Anam LGA | Form EC 8D = 81,021 Accredited | INEC Server = 21,753 Accredited, Udung Uko LGA | Form EC 8D = 14,094 Accredited | INEC Server = 11,165 Accredited, Ukanafun LGA | Form EC 8D = 48,271 Accredited | INEC Server = 9,846 Accredited, Uruan LGA | Form EC 8D = 38,006 Accredited | INEC Server = 11,599 Accredited, Urue Offong/Oruko LGA | Form EC 8D = 8,141 Accredited | INEC Server = 5,405 Accredited and Uyo LGA | Form EC 8D = 47,990 Accredited | INEC Server = 38,022 Accredited

    In summary, Total Form EC 8D = 1,158,624 Accredited | Total INEC Server = 437,128 with a wide difference of 721,496, more than 50% error yet Akwa Ibom state was among the states that first published election results!

    Figures do not lie and, if the ‘sanctity of the ballot’ (borrowing the phrase from Obong Victor Attah), and by extension, credibility of last elections were founded on voter accreditation, using Permanent Voter Card machines, then one can rightly assert that there was no election in Akwa Ibom state especially on April 11 considering gross discrepancy between FORM EC 8D, compiled by reportedly compromised INEC staff, and those automatically computed by PVC readers and sent to INEC servers.

    Going forward, none of those sham elections (Governorship and State House of Assembly) held on April 11 would be deemed credible using records from PVC readers’ printout from INEC servers. For instance, it is safe to question Form EC 8E compiled by reportedly compromised INEC staff which says Governor Emmanuel Udom got 996,071 votes. How did he get these outrageous figures when PVC readers printout from INEC servers say there were only 437,128 accredited voters in Akwa Ibom State for the April 11 governorship? Mystery surrounding facts such as this is what the election petition tribunals seek to unravel not mannerism of witnesses or whether they spoke correct grammar or not.

    Ukpong, writes from Uyo.

     

  • The lies against Ikpeazu

    Writing recently in The Guardian newspaper, some insufferable critic, going by the name of Nnana Ezeocha, futilely struggled to besmirch, the character, person, vision, reputation, capacity and public service pedigree of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, Governor of Abia State. In a sickening stunt, to impress his paymasters, Ezeocha booby trapped himself into a veritable swirl of contradictions formatted in the said piece. His analogy between military coupists and felons, would have been appropriate, if his client-Dr Alex Otti, had not been roundly trounced at the polls. The sophisticated people of Ndi Abia saw through the hocus pocus, of the untested and grapevine-peddled, self-serving achievements of a money market operator and rightly dumped him in preference for Ikpeazu. In Nigeria, every politics is local. Juxtaposing the Abia 2015 dynamics with the shenanigan of Anambra 2003 which are mutually exclusive, is patent chicanery and cannot fly.

    What constitutes the core essence of a credible politician is the sum total of his functional public service track records. Unfortunately for Dr Alex Otti of APGA, his quest was bereft of credibility as the critical mass of the electorate, who massively voted PDP, were not swayed by the mumbo-jumbo of ’financial engineering’ in some bank which did not impact on the economic fortunes of the average ‘Aria Aria’ market trader. People never ceased to ask, what was the quantum of loans, overdraft, working capital, if any did Diamond Bank under his watch made available to Igbo nay Abia customers? What money market instruments, did his bank package to facilitate enterprises in the state during the period under review?

    Just like the pre election campaign hustings, when Dr Alex Otti through his spin doctors made so much heavy weather about his bogus World bank/IMF assisted development template for Aba, Ezeocha regurgitated the same Alex Otti vomit of ‘a man with a burning desire to reinvent their state’ 

    But those lies collapsed like a pack of cards, when the same World Bank publicly denied it had granted him a $100 billion (One hundred billion dollars) loan to develop Aba. That lie presaged Otti’s loss at the polls. His debacle had nothing to do with the then governor, now Senator Theodore Orji, nor with Independent National Electoral Commission. Now that the matter is now being adjudicated in the tribunal, we leave the matter there for now. However we quicken to add that, Alex Otti’s pages with the Abia people had always been blank. Therefore the issue of nostalgia does not exist even in the realm of imagination.

    Some people are miffed at the dazzling speed Governor Okezie  Ikpeazu deployed men, materials and resources to commence the fixing of Aba. What economic rookies, bandy about as knee-jerk and hasty initiatives is a product of clear sighted thinking, perspective long-term planning by Ikpeazu who hit the ground running. They e0  asily forgot that long before the April elections, he had been in the trenches, on the drawing board, solely driven by the Abia agenda. His antecedents can be tracked. His background check is in the public domain.

    For upward of two decades, he had been a key player in the corridors of politics as a home baked politician who understood the nuances of the average Abian. During this period, his activism and services had been domiciled in the trenches with our people, fighting and battling with the various administrations for the elevation of Abia State.

    A spin-off of this hands-on experience is his blueprint for development- a clear headed, well-defined manifesto that derived its motive force from a bottoms-up all-inclusive community based approach with Aba as the centre-piece and hub of enterprise and production. For a proactive and process driven “Aba boy” imbued with a clinical mind, designing and working roads in the middle of the rainy season, and sourcing for funds is a franchise and endowment that belongs to the eclectic few like Ikpeazu.

    Fundamental to this is the enactment of policies for planning and housing to facilitate access to land, service and investment codes, realistic, flexible and compatible with local conditions. In the informal sector, Ikpeazu long before the mandate was delivered to him, articulated these clearly in his OKEZUO 2015 website. Professional grumblers and cash and carry analysts could do themselves a favour by gleaning through the intellectual rigor, intelligence, strategies and competencies that were imputed into the Ikpeazu Doctrine.

    It is to his credit, that Ikpeazu has countermanded all the practices, processes of his predecessor. How do you characterize such a person to be a stooge? The first essential element of a blogger, critic, columnist, writer commentator who must show an ultimate allegiance to citizens is an obligation to truth. He or she must strive to put the public interest and the truth above their own self-interest or assumptions. Deploying such uncouth utterances, like “419”, pirate, stolen, on a sitting governor without evidence is mere gossip and evidence of bad breeding.

    In the immortal words of Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, of The American Press Institute: This journalistic truth is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Then journalists try to convey a fair and reliable account of their meaning, subject to further investigation. Journalists nay bloggers should be as transparent as possible about sources and methods so audiences can make their own assessment of the information. Even in a world of expanding voices, “getting it right” is the foundation upon which everything else is built – context, interpretation, comment, criticism, analysis and debate. The larger truth, over time, emerges from this forum. Journalists have an obligation to protect this watchdog freedom by not demeaning it in frivolous use or exploiting it for commercial gain.

    At the risk of repetition, Ikpeazu had affirmed at several public fora that there is no governor in Nigeria that is anybody’s stooge. Even if you played a role in canvassing for votes or helped an aspirant to mount the saddle, you do not expect him to be your puppet. Yes you can articulate ideas that are brilliant on the drawing board and if it dovetails into the main frame of a focused administration. The critical mass of Abia people are perceptive, that Ikpeazu, is the only person that is self-effacing, to entertain all shades of opinion, gumption and suggestions. He espouses the view that if your reasoning is superior, we will go and test it but if the reverse is the case, you go with me. To be sure, Ikpeazu is not embarking on a voyage laden with excess baggage of arrogance but is humble enough to realize that the support of the citizenry is a sine qua non.

     

    • Torti is a public policy analyst and management consultant.
  • APC: Ladoja sponsoring lies against Ajimobi

    APC: Ladoja sponsoring lies against Ajimobi

    •Accord: it’s not true

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has accused the governorship candidate of  Accord, Rashidi Ladoja, of sponsoring the circulation of a “leaflet of concocted lies” against the Abiola Ajimobi-led administration.

    It said the electorate would not be swayed by such lies.

    In a statement by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, the APC said Ladoja has a penchant for fabricating lies and circulating same to mislead the public, especially to win undeserved electoral mandate.

    It claimed that the former governor was always at the forefront of attempts to institutionalise dirty politics in the state since 2002, when he succeeded to out-do other contenders to get the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The statement reads:   “The crude manner in which Ladoja secured the governorship ticket to contest the 2003 election remains fresh in the memory of the original members of the PDP.

    “The lies he told against the late Lam Adesina to dislodge him from the Agodi Government House were largely responsible for the failure of that administration to complete its well deserved two terms in office.

    “We recall that Ladoja also sponsored many lies against the Adebayo Alao-Akala administration in the build up to the 2011 elections but the effect was not in his favour as majority of the electorate knew what to do with their votes. He then sought to discredit the mandate given to Ajimobi by sponsoring infantile lies again.

    “Not satisfied with the “hand of fellowship” extended to him by Ajimobi who accommodated several nominees in his government, Ladoja used his loyalists within the corridor of power to obtain some classified information which he either doctored or twisted to mislead the public.

    “At a debate recently, he was confronted by the governor on some falsehood coming from his camp and he left no one in doubt of his character as one who thrives on perjury and mudslinging.

    “Ladoja has again begun to sponsor damaging publications, engage the services of rumour mongers and lie merchants to work against the governor and the APC after it became clear that the electorate would vote for the governor based on performance, promise and track record.

    “We came across a leaflet being circulated in Ibadan in which Ladoja and his sympathisers packaged some lies and tagged it ’50 reasons why Ajimobi should not be re-elected’.

    “We are also aware of a wicked rumour being circulated that scores of passengers disappeared with two Ajumose shuttle buses. These are the handiworks of the same disgruntled elements.

    “As we urge the public to verify every claim from politicians with a view to ascertain its genuineness or lack of it, we call on the Accord  leader to change his ways and turn a new leaf as politics should not turned to an instrument of character assassination, subterfuge and mudslinging.”

    But the Director-General of the Rashidi Ladoja Campaign Organisation, Adeolu Adeleke, denied the allegation.

    He said: “It is part of APC propaganda. If some people levy allegations against a government, and it believes that it is a lie, it should feel unconcerned.

    “We have more reasons than those stated in the leaflet on why Ajimobi should not be re-elected. That shows we are not behind it.”

  • Disrespect, death wish and lies

    Disrespect, death wish and lies

    Governor Ayo Fayose thought he pulled off a great score with his insolence of an advert against General Muhammadu Buhari. And he did. For infamy, that is. And PDP faithful, including Femi Fani-Kayode and Olisa Metuh, bedecked themselves as Goebbels reincarnates because of their juvenile tales about Buhari’s certificate. Except that they are counterfeit remakes of Goebbels, who was known as Hitler’s liar-in-chief.

    If Fayose’s lack of culture unveils the mistakes voters make in a democracy, the likes of Fani-kayode and Metuh indicate the failure of a generation – for throwing up barbarian upstarts as party denizens and role models. You can throw in the legal infantilism of a man like Mike Ozekhome.

    Fayose’s lack of respect for elders and jockeying with death remind me of my encounter with former Senate President Chuba Okadigbo. He had insulted, with flamboyant irreverence, the Great Zik in public and dismissed his words as the “ranting of an ant.” Zik was upset and railed back at him with avuncular rage, cursing him that he would rise to the top but fall precipitously, like humpty dumpty. Those with superstitious imagination believed that Zik’s curse hit Okadigbo in his later years as his song grew suddenly dark and passed away like a jolt.

    But beware of curses, even if they convince the facile minds. However, it was his sense of guilt that struck me when I confronted Okadigbo at the Lagoon Restaurant in Lagos a few years after his errant rhetoric against the great politician. I asked Okadigbo if he had apologised to Zik, and if the great Owelle accepted, or if he had not, and why not. He was having lunch with some guests and was put off, because he had expected me to cushion him with flattering questions as most reporters did.

    Okadigbo flew into contained fury, and rambled about his peace moves with the old man and that it was not my business. I reminded him that when he ribbed the Great Zik, he exulted in public and why would he want to make it a private mea culpa if he did. That ended the dialogue.

    Buhari does not have Zik’s flair for the dramatic, so Fayose may not expect a curse from the old general. Nor is it necessary. Fayose, in his primitive gusto, just showed to the Ekiti people why democracy can expose its own underbelly, its fatal terrors. When a clown mounts the throne, and whips up ethnic hate, it is no longer fun or funny. For those practitioners of the high art of comedy, it is a most dangerous oeuvre into the dark soul of society. It is like what playwright Samuel Becket describes as a laugh laughing at itself. It is sad. He made us laugh at ourselves in a gloomy way. Fayose wished GMD dead, and when it ignited an uproar, he repeated it. His party dissociates itself from it without condemning him. Not even President Jonathan, who the advert favoured. It was consent by silence, by a wink and a nod.

    The newspapers that aired the adverts preferred money to decency. They now know they made a mistake. Freedom of speech is no licence to indecency. That was why the Pope cautioned the French and the editors of Charlie Hebdo magazine that desecrated Islam in the name of freedom of speech. As Machiavelli noted, “where everybody is free, nobody is free.” Machiavelli was no prude himself.

    What was wrong with age? Did Churchill, the last lion, not roar with Britain at age 70 when he led his country in victory over Germany in the Second World War? Did the British not re-elect him at age 76? Did he not die at 90 exactly 50 years ago? Did Charles de Gaulle not reign in France until he was 79 years old? Were Churchill and De Gaulle not the greatest modern leaders of Britain and France? Did Mandela not salvage South Africa from the abyss of ethnic and racial turmoil at 76 years old?

    Do we remember the presidential debate when Reagan was asked about his age, and won over Americans with a quip? “I will not make age an issue in this debate.  I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” It was Reagan’s winning quote of the election. Fayose is no student of history, but he did not need to study history to learn decency. His Yoruba upbringing might have taught him a thing or two about dealing with elders.

    The certificate scandal should not be on whether Buhari was qualified. We should ask a different question. How come the file of an army’s commander-in-chief does not contain his certificate? How did he get other equivalent certificates and those that surpassed secondary school certificate? The question should be directed at a desecrated institution. Who sneaked into his file room? After all, how did he gain admission into Mons Officer Cadet School in the United Kingdom, or Defence Staff College in India? How did he obtain a master’s degree in Strategic Studies at the America War College in Pennsylvania, United States?

    When he released his certificate, Fani-kayode, whose devotion to political harlotry is irredeemable, started clutching at straws. He also had fits of hallucination with his mendacious partner, Olisa Metuh. In this age of harlotry, Fani-kayode has swiveled in the chairs of political loyalty from PDP to APC to PDP. He is entitled to his own beds and partners.

    When he released his certificate, Buhari must have thought he had laid the matter to rest. But hallucination was at full throttle. Fani-Kayode and Metuh saw what they wanted to see. In semiotic and literary circles, it is in tradition of what is called hermeneutics, or reader response theory. Thinkers like Althuser, Roland Barth, Shklovsky, and a few others explicated this human trait. Minds of mischief read mischief. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is, says the Bible. The text loses innocence in the eyes of the wicked. So even if Buhari takes the certificate from Cambridge and places it before him, they would not accept. They are worse than Thomas Didymus, who saw the evidence of Jesus and exclaimed in agreement, “My Lord and My God!” Fani-kayode and Metuh would start asking questions like, where are his uniforms and the spoon he ate rice with, etc?

    In the West, it is easy to know if a person graduates from an institution. When I practised journalism in the United States, a Nigerian had lied to me that he was a neuro-surgeon, and his family and friends about did not deny it. I published a story on him. Then his estranged white wife materialised and denied that the man ever attended a university. He was a fake. All I did was place a phone call to the university he claimed gave him his certificate. They told me he never walked through their portals. The fake did not challenge the university. I used the instance to teach my students in the same university on the pratfalls of sourcing and reporting. Let’s not forget the disgrace that billionaire Donald Trump brought on his head when he tried to prove that Obama was not American. The racist failed to distort his birth certificate.

    But it is not the driveling of men like Fani-Kayode and Metuh that should worry fair-minded Nigerians. It is when a lawyer like Mike Ozekhome plays devious games with truth and legal integrity by backing falsehoods. If Buhari has a master’s degree, it means his maximum is more than the required minimum. American War College could not admit him without requisite qualifications. Ditto to Mons Officer Cadet School in the UK. Facts are sacred, and opinions can be foolish. It is that sort of obsession that Charles Dickens mocked in his novel, Hard Times. Facts are meaningless without their use.

    The pettifogging over certificate arises from mischief to divert attention from the real issues of the campaign, about war on terror, corruption, infrastructure deficit, failed education, etc. We can now ignore the Fani-Kayodes, Metuhs and Ozekhomes.

  • Tinubu’s return exposes PDP lies, says APC

    Tinubu’s return exposes PDP lies, says APC

    The grand return of former Lagos State governor and national leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu after a three-week vacation in London has further exposed the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a party of gossipers and false fabricators, who live on chasing the wind, the Lagos State APC has said.

    In a statement yesterday by the Publicity Secretary of the party, Joe Igbokwe,  the APC said it is shameful that the PDP, which was “hallucinating” about taking over an educated, enlightened and sophisticated state like Lagos should thrive on gossips and lies about the health status of Asiwaju Tinubu.

    Igbokwe said the PDP tried to con Lagosians by manufacturing lies and gossip about the health status of Tinubu.

    “How good it is to debunk lies, how wonderful it is to counter mischief? How sweet it is to disprove rumour and false fabrication than the arrival of a hale, agile and spotless Asiwaju to Lagos the very day Lagos PDP released their usual nauseous gossip insinuating that Asiwaju is ill? It goes to expose their minds as that of hollow and clueless gossip and vendors of lies,” Igbokwe said.

    He also described as satanic the allegations by the PDP as published in some national newspapers that Lagosians were paying the medical bills of Asiwaju. “The party manufactured an illness for Tinubu when there was none and went further to con stories of Lagos tax-payers paying illusory bills for a concocted hospital bill paid by imaginary tax-payers.”

  • ‘Your destiny lies in your hands’

    An epidemiologist and founder of Holistic Lifecare International, Prof Dayo Oyekole, answers the question on esoteric lifecare atonement.

    The Esoteric Lifecare Atonement (ELA) involves the use of divine power and spiritual forces for the redemption and total emancipation of mankind from diabolic forces of nature. It is certainly an unpardonable piece of intellectual dishonesty to deny the existence of black arts like juju, witchcraft, incantations, invocations, charms, and some other supernatural powers.

    This message of the Esoteric Lifecare Atonement (ELA) comes to you neither by accident nor by your own conscious request. It is without dogmas, ideologies or theories and therefore, it does not seek to convert you to any creed or belief. It is a turn in the wheel of your destiny which brings it into your hands.

    To start with, have you ever asked yourself whether there is more to the universe, than physical reality as we know it – whether we are alone in the universe, or are there others on physical as well as non-physical levels; whence do we come, why are we here and whither are we going?

    Honestly, we have no idea why the world was created. It was certainly created by a mind of inconceivable vast scope; the creative mind which for want of a better title, we call God; but why and for what purpose we can only surmise. We can say however, that inborn in all of us there is something which urges us on to strive for what we regard as an improvement in our present conditions, or in a limited number of cases, an improvement in the human lot generally.

    As to what constitutes ‘improvement’ we have widely different ideas but broadly, it would seem that it is sought along two apparently incompatible roads- the material and the spiritual. The clear-cut separation of these roads is a comparatively modern phenomenon, for at one time, both were regarded as more or less the province of some philosophical and theosophical schools. As might be expected, the separating of the roads has led to tremendous imbalance.

    The world has had enough saviours. What are needed for the new age are individuals who willingly embrace the burdens of individuality, without losing sight of collective responsibility. We will never achieve our true potential or prosperity until we can be critically self-governing from our own inner source. Honesty and fearlessness in the search after truth are the major pre-requisites for finding it. Without these, no spirit soars. With these, none fail of progress.

    Millions of us, be it Christians, Muslims or traditional worshippers, young or old, educated or illiterate, male or female, all possess charms in the pocket, around the waist, neck or finger, in the farthest corner of the boxes, on the ceiling or walls, buried around the house, under the bed or carefully razored into the skin. No wonder then why those who do not even believe in these forces, still have a morbid fear of them and that is why in their dreams and daily activities, they continue to be haunted by the machinations of the black arts. This is why you find so many so-called religious leaders still consulting the medicine men, for prosperity and protections. Can any sane person then deny the existence of the black arts?

    Religious fanaticism and western education which in the name of civlisation has taught us that these things do not exist and that we should therefore neglect them, have consequently done more havoc and contributed in no small way to the existing confusion in the mind of the modern African.

    If they had faced the facts and studied the actual situation, they would have realised that the black powers do not only exist but can also affect both the good and bad with equal force. For snobbish reasons, many of us refused to accept the truth and the result has been the perpetuation of ignorance, mental degradation, toiling agony, wickedness, indiscriminate brutality, mass poverty, misery and suffering wrecked by man upon man.

    The only solution to the myriads of problems is to go back to our root through authentic and holistic research into the “wisdom of the ages” which could be used to tackle the weakest link in the vicious cycle that has kept these diabolical and devastating black arts in equilibrium.

    The Esoteric Lifecare Atonement as a means of deliverance

    The holistic approach as exemplified by the divine Esoteric Lifecare Atonement (ELA) will reveal what natural powers you have; how, when and where you can unleash the powers to work for you in overcoming the evil forces without recourse to diabolic means.

    Many people think they are unlucky in life and resort to dubious or diabolic means of solving problems. There is nothing like luck; a person is either blessed or cursed. It is the negative forces that inflict diseases and social ills into the lives of people; so that they will spend all their money seeking treatment and eventually it will take their lives and would have wasted away without fulfilling their divine destinies.

    The evil forces sometimes manifest in the form of impatience. It makes people rush into decisions and make drastic steps that make them lose money, possessions, relatives, family and even their own lives. While economies may nose-dive through human errors of mismanagement and corruption or unavoidable global economic recessions, such omissions or commissions should not be an excuse for protracted failures in life. For a period in the life of an achiever, there is bound to be a crucible of tests and trials that bring some odd results for hard labour. You must not despair, even as colleagues and neighbours make disparaging comments about you. Whatever hardship you are passing through is to refine in you a stronger personality to manage a success bigger than your present frame of mind can cope with. Sometimes, the delays in your life today are allowed by God to remove evil and sorrow from your tomorrow.

    Your destiny is in your own hands. Whatever may be your pursuit in life; business, politics, love, marriage, getting a child, examinations, promotions, protection, health, money, beauty, slimming, education etc., and whatever may be your age, sex, religion or belief, you can now command success in any field of your choice.

    For further information on the Esoteric Lifecare Atonement, as a divine solution to your health, financial, social and spiritual problems, send an E-mail: Kolemetric@yahoo.com

  • Where lies the rule of law in Nigeria?

    Where lies the rule of law in Nigeria?

    Consider the following situations if you will:

    In 2012, Jose Dirceu, Chief of Staff of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva (popularly known as “Lula”) was sentenced to almost 11 years imprisonment for masterminding a cash-for-votes bribery scheme to win support from legislators for the government’s programmes. At the time, he was the most powerful man in Lula’s government.

    In the Philippines, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is facing criminal charges for electoral fraud. The allegation is that she ordered the tampering of electoral returns in favour of a supporter to enable him win a Senate seat in the 2007 election.

    Three-time former Prime Minister, multi-billionaire and one of the most powerful men in Italy (even without political office), Silvio Berlusconi, was convicted for tax fraud, fined the equivalent of about N1.6 billion, sentenced to prison and banned for life from holding public office (the conviction doesn’t take effect until an appeal court confirms it).Berlusconi’s trial started in 1996, but was put on hold because he enjoyed immunity from prosecution while he was Prime Minister.

    In Great Britain, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (their Minister of Finance), sat in a first class compartment on the train when he only held a standard class ticket. The ticket inspector insisted that he must pay the £160 upgrade for the first class seat. A scandal “ticket gate” broke out and was a major embarrassment to the Conservative government and almost cost Osborne his political career.

    All the foregoing situations show clearly the supremacy of the law in those countries. Numerous other examples from other parts of the world can be cited. The great jurist Lord Denning puts it “Be you ever so high, the law is above you”.

    Is this the case in Nigeria? Cash-for-votes schemes are allegedly commonplace but who has ever been prosecuted for it? Allegations of tampering and manipulation of electoral results are made in almost every election petition and even where such petitions have succeeded, has anyone that matters in INEC or in government ever been prosecuted? Would a Silvio Berlusconi in Nigeria not have used his position as Prime Minister to sack all the officers investigating him, sent them to unwanted “promotion’ courses or even have them imprisoned? He would most definitely have destroyed the evidence against him making any prosecution after his immunity has lapsed impossible. We don’t have an efficient public railway system in Nigeria so we need not waste any time situating George Osborne in Nigeria.

    The rule of law hardly exists in Nigeria today. Law enforcement agencies and government officers are the biggest violators of the law and they do so openly, shamelessly and with impunity such that law-abiding citizens are made to look either stupid or weak. The highest office in the land appointed INEC Commissioners some of who included persons who are known prominent members of a political party contrary to the dictates of the law, which disqualifies such persons for appointment. Despite protests to this flagrant violation of the law, the appointees remain in place. Treasury looters are either walking freely or are given slap in the wrist fines. Government officials and the rich and powerful have police orderlies and escort, not necessarily for protection but to keep them above the law. These policemen ensure that they beat traffic by driving everyone else off the road in clear violation of traffic laws; gain access to privileged places they would not otherwise be entitled; avoid queuing at airports when they arrive late; park their vehicles in no parking zones and so on.

    Yet those very people who openly violate the law know its value. They treat the law with disdain while in office. They undermine and obstruct it, but once they are out of office or have fallen from grace, they turn to that same legal process for redress. If the law and our institutions are to be robust, independent and just for all and sundry at all times, public officials must learn to respect those institutions, in and out of office.

    It does not require a sociologist or criminologist to figure out that where the law is not supreme, there can be no proper and orderly society. Without order, there can be no peace and certainly without peace, there can be no progress. Martin Luther King jnr had said it – “without justice there can be no peace”

    No nation can be great unless its institutions are bigger than its individuals no matter how high and powerful those individuals are. History should rightly judge President Umaru Yar Adua for his attempts to make the observance of the rule of law one of the cornerstones of his administration’s programmes. We must start strengthening our institutions by adherence to the rule of law instead of weakening them by strengthening individuals. From the poorest economies and weakest political systems to the strongest and most advanced, for proper functioning of society, the rule of law must prevail and infractions to it must be punished no matter who the offender is. The final say here goes to President Obama who said when he visited Ghana in July 2009 that “ Africa does not need the strong man, but it needs strong institutions”. We need to heed those words in this country.