The Nation Newspaper

Tag: logic

  • Malami’s twisted logic

    Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami must have shocked many last week when he rationalized the inability of the government to arrest and prosecute northern youth leaders who issued quit order to the Igbo. Apparently responding to mounting criticisms over his request for the re-arrest of leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu for allegedly flouting bail conditions while turning a blind eye to the arrest of leaders of the northern youth group, Malami said the inability to arrest the latter was because of its “security implications”

    Hear him “the way the government works is that a lot of consideration naturally comes into play. One is investigation which is not time-bound; two, security considerations; three, consideration of public interest. But one thing that is certain is that the government is ever alive to its responsibilities and whoever is found wanting, regardless of the length of time, will definitely be brought to book”

    On face value, it would appear all is well with Malami’s reasoning. It is hard to fault his conclusions that investigations are not time bound. Also, the place of security consideration and public interest in determining the direction of government action and policy cannot be ignored. Yet this rationalization is patently defective in addressing the issues of bias and double standards thrown up by government’s selective handling of the two groups.

    Worse still, a strict interpretation of the purport of his arguments would not only expose their inherent duplicity but equally portray the attorney-general as a man who spoke from both sides of his mouth. All the issues canvassed as the basis for government’s refusal to arrest the northern youths for their incendiary and inciting statements also apply in the case of the IPOB.

    In effect, security considerations and issues of public interest are also prime factors that should have instructed him against approaching the court to quash the bail granted Kanu sometime ago. Or is he making us to believe that these considerations are only relevant when it comes to dealing with northern youths? If that is the issue being canvassed, he is alone in it as it makes no sense.

    Before now, the view has been copiously canvassed that it was a grave mistake on the part of the government to have arrested Kanu in the first instance for non-violent agitations for self-determination. Much of the interest and followership his campaign generated of late was a consequence of that arrest and incarceration in spite of the bail granted him by the courts. That detention made a hero of a man little or nothing was known about except perhaps, those who were privy to his pirate radio broadcast.

    Thus, canvassing for his re-arrest as Malami has done would not only amount to insensitivity to the mood of the nation but also a caricature of the very reasons he adduced for government’s indifference to the devious antics of the northern youth groups including the hate song that bears their imprimatur. And if one may ask, what further investigations is Malami talking about when the very youths behind the threat have since addressed several press conferences including the most recent in which they purportedly suspended their order? Or is it surprising that a serving governor was handy during that occasion?

    The issue of investigations being open ended as a potent reason for not apprehending those behind that threat and the hate song that corroborates their spurious claims, strikes as a subterfuge for evading the reality. It is unconvincing and cannot survive the rigours of serious scrutiny. It is inherently deficient in explaining the contradictions brought to the fore by the double measures.

    No doubt, there is ample reason for utmost caution in handling the current agitations and restiveness in parts of the country including the ones under focus. But the way to them is not to shut our eyes to the dangerous pronouncements from some sections while others are hounded in very discriminatory manner. That is the issue that has been brought to the public domain by the current posturing of the minister. He will have to contend with subsisting allegations of bias in the manner he handles issues relating to Kanu and the northern youths.

    Incidentally, many do not share the view that the northern youth group should be allowed to walk away with their quit order and threat to confiscate the properties of the Igbo in the north. Not with the domino effect of that order as we have seen in some other parts of the country.

    Perhaps, the gravity of the quit notice and duplicity in government’s inaction was succinctly captured in a recent report by a United Nations human rights group when it called for the prosecution of those behind the ultimatum. The UN body which described the ultimatum as an issue of “grave concern” deplored the hate song and audio message being circulated on the internet and social media targeting the Igbo.

    The human rights crusaders said though some national and local figures have denounced the hate speeches and incitement, they “are deeply concerned that some prominent local leaders and elders have not condemned the ultimatum, hate speech and the perpetrators”.  While calling on the government and well-meaning people to condemn hate speeches and incitement to violence in the strongest possible terms, they also asked it to take urgent steps to address the root of the constant friction between the various ethnic groups that are at the centre of the current pass.

    The position of the UN human rights crusaders underscore the issues that have been raised about the tepid manner the authorities handled the characters behind the quit order and the hate song that have put the lives of a key segment of this country in great jeopardy. They also highlighted the contradictions and limits of the arguments canvassed by Malami for treating the northern youths with kid gloves even when their offence is loaded with the frightening prospects of activating an orgy of genocide in this country.

    Those who have found courage to condemn the hate song were quick to draw a parallel between events that led to the genocidal war in Rwanda and current hate song trending in the internet and social media against the Igbo. Why the government thinks the agitations of Kanu or his alleged flouting of bail conditions are of more grave concern to national survival than the quit notice and the hate song, remains largely illusory.

    In all, if Malami cannot find the courage to bring the northern youths to book; if he is not acting out a script for the powers-that-be, he should tread softly in pressing for the revocation of the bail conditions granted to Kanu. He should listen to the voices of those well-meaning Nigerians who have cautioned against escalating the overheated political tempers in the country.

    The solution to the current agitations and restiveness from across the country does not substantially lie on such arrests and prosecution but in proactive measures to fundamentally address the objective factors that propel and sustain them. That is the issue Buhari has to contend with. It is not enough to rehash such constructs as the unity, indivisibility and non-negotiability of Nigeria. It also makes no sense to give the impression that discussions on how the constituents can live harmoniously have been foreclosed.

    Nigeria was a product of negotiations through the various constitutional conferences that presaged independence. Much of the problems that have continued to stultify nation building and meaningful development were wrought on this country through the arbitrariness of the military sojourn in politics. A government that is genuinely committed to national progress and stability cannot afford to toy with issues of fairness, equity and common sense of belonging as the minimum conditions for peace and co-habitation.

  • When commonsense and logic take back seat

    I think it was in the late 1980s, when a solitary voice of a ‘rogue’ clergy decided to speak truth to power during a national day celebration, that God would punish Nigeria or apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.  It was trenchant and scathing message that lampooned and lacerated the soul of the government of General Ibrahim Babangida.  It was a government that was a bazaar of corruption and waste laced with abuse of human rights and due process.  It was a message to Nigerian leaders to demonstrate responsible leadership that caters for the well being of the people.   Never again has Nigeria gotten such voice like Bishop Ukaegbu from the pulpit and exalted altar of God as what we have today are partisan politicians in cassock.

    Nigerians are unanimous in the knowledge and perception that corruption has brought the nation to its knees and nobody appeared to have the leadership courage and conscience to tackle it because it is defended by the institutional apparatchiks of state. Alas, we found one man with gut and mindset fixated in taking on the monster.  However, rather than offer our support, we have chosen the usual sectarian ethno-religious arguments to whittle the drive to our misfortune.

    Just last week, the National Judicial Council directed some judges who were alleged to have committed some infractions in their line of duties to return to work for lack of evidence or the inability of the anti-graft agencies to press charges against them. While this may have been in the spirit and letter of the law and constitution, it certainly will bring credibility question to the judiciary because it is an institution that should be above board and all appearances of impropriety.  To have people in the temple of justice who themselves are perceived to be in a cloak of filth will be a disservice to the people and a moral burden to the judiciary.  I do not know why Nigerians are lacking in honour and integrity to know when to call it a quit when they no longer possess the moral compass to navigate public office. How will those judges face a litigant who himself may be facing similar charge to which he himself was only cleared as a result of clumsy and lackadaisical investigation by the operatives of the anti graft agencies?

    People have tried to kill the fight against corruption on the altar of sentiment and emotion rather than appeal to common sense and logic and where necessary offer honest suggestion in order to strength the agencies behind the wheel.  My worry is that we are about to lose steam because the fight has been centred on one man, an individual, the President himself, Muhammadu Buhari.  This is sad enough because it is not supposed to be so.  Our major problem appears to be that institutions in our country have been built around individuals who appear to be strong men; whereas, we need strong institution rather than strong men.  The agencies, especially the EFCC is still relatively active today because the President is alive and breathing and may God continue to give him breath but should he be out of the scene – God forbid – it will be good bye to the fight against graft and corruption as the hyenas in the National Assembly and their cahoots would taken us back to the years of the locust.

    We are sitting on a time bomb and the only thing that is certain in our today Nigeria is uncertainty.  There is increasing worry about security even when the security forces appear to be reining in the insurgency in the North-east.  Armed robbery and burglary is a daily experience of Nigerians everywhere including the city centre of Abuja, the seat of government.  Kidnapping and abduction have taken a frightening dimension with no respite in sight as security agencies appear hopelessly clueless or complicit in the entire enterprise.  They would tell relatives of victims not to pay ransom but often times; they are the conveyors of the same ransom.  One wonders how these bandits would haul away the loot from their criminal enterprise without trace.

    How come that the government cannot think out of the box and put security surveillance in pursuit of these criminals through aerial survey using drones, chips and trackers?  Look at the Lagos State Model College, Igbonla incident where six pupils were abducted; it is of course a sad reminder of the Chibok Girls abduction. Now the agonizing parents are left to start raising money for the ransom where we have both the state and the federal government in a matter involving lives of our citizens, innocent children.  Worst still, we are not seeing any action and concrete steps by the state or even civil society organizations to put pressure on a sleeping government to wake up to its responsibility.

    What is becoming apparent is that the men of criminal underworld are carving territory for themselves while the state busy itself in the city centres concerned with raising money through internally generated revenue (IGR) to oil the state bureaucracy to the detriment of the safety of lives and property of citizens.  Have we all lost our common sense and humanity that lives even of children cannot provoke our leaders into action?  Where are the promised democratic deliveries when we do not have food on our tables, no electricity to power our business and above all, there is no security of lives and property?

    This is time for the citizens to hold their heads together when the politicians are losing theirs, scheming for 2019 when we are losing territories criminals, bigots and ethnicists. The dialogue should not be centred on geopolitical, ethno-religious considerations which the ruling class has used to perpetually put unbearable burden on Nigerian masses.  This is time too for our leaders to employ common sense and simple logic.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq. writes from Abuja.

  • Logic of roads construction and maintenance

    The Federal Roads maintenance Agency (FERMA) placed advertisements in The Nation of Tuesday May 9 apparently to demonstrate to those of us who are asking if the agency has folded up or has been wound up by the federal government that created it that it is alive. This agency seems to exist in the minds of those who created it and in the minds of the hordes of civil servants earning their living without doing anything to justify the salaries being paid to them. Even the advertisement referred to is full of lies.

    The agency claims to be rehabilitating Ife-Ibadan “Express way”. I travel on this road every week and I can confirm no work has been done on this road. In fact, the approach to Osun River Bridge near Asejire is so bad that a few vehicles have plunged into the river because of the bad approach to the bridge. The road from Ikire to Ilesha is hardly motorable. I also noticed that what the agency calls South-west zone apparently does not include Ondo and Ekiti states whose federal roads have been abandoned and the people there left to their own fate and yet those neglected two states produce the bulk of the cocoa Nigeria still exports and from which some billions of dollars are earned annually.

    I recently travelled from Lagos to Sagamu following the blockade of the Lagos-Ibadan express way as a result of religious activities on the express way. I was sad about what I saw on that road. It is perhaps correct to call the “road “a bush path. Driving on the road was like driving on the moon. Yet this was the first road the British constructed in Nigeria. I saw thousands of trailers and other kinds of vehicular contraptions whose drivers took their lives in their hands to drive through the road. It took me five hours to ply a road of perhaps 60 kilometres. I kept asking myself – where is the federal government? Where are Lagos and Ogun state governments?  This Ikorodu-Sagamu road is so strategic to the economy of not only the South-west but the whole country. It is not just the economy that this road is vital to; it is also strategic in defence consideration. What if Lagos suffered a sea invasion and it was necessary to move troops from the hinterland to the coast in case the enemy blocks the express way?

    The major power generating station of Egbin is along this route. Sagamu is a major cement producing hub, necessitating movement of huge articulated trucks to and from Lagos for construction.  Ikorodu itself is a putative port waiting for development. There is an army barracks on the road as well and Ikorodu area has witnessed incessant attacks and challenge by terrorists in recent times. If one may say the area is part of the Niger Delta which is increasingly becoming the soft under belly of Nigeria. If all these are not enough to attract government attention, there are innumerable small factories of iron and steel makers converting used and discarded vehicles into useable iron implements. There are also secondary and tertiary institutions in the axis.

    Planning roads construction and maintenance should not be done haphazardly or merely on federal character basis but on its utility value to the economy and security of the nation. I know our resources are limited but this is why there must be some kind of rationalization in the use of these resources. I lived in Germany for about five years and as many people know, Germany has the best network of roads in the world. The famous Autobahn (express roads) run from north to south and from east to west. They were largely constructed like their old railways to move troops from east to west and vice versa to confront their enemies on two fronts. Adolph Hitler may conveniently be forgotten by the Germans and the whole world, but he left a legacy of these roads and the small affordable people’s cars (Volkswagen) to ply them. Walter Ulbricbht, the communist leader of East Germany (DDR) came up with the plastic car the “Trabant “in a miserable mimicry of the NAZI dictator. No one can deny that the efficient transportation network of Germany is a major factor in the economic miracle Germany witnessed since the end of the Second World War.

    The point I am trying to make is that roads construction reflect a strategist worldview and goals he hopes to achieve and not just constructing roads as social welfare scheme.

    We need to take a holistic view of our road network and seriously plan what we hope to achieve. I will give a few examples .There is a need to have four arterial roads running from north to south in this country. One road should run from Sokoto through Kotangora to Kaiama, Iseyin, and Abeokuta to the port of Badagry. Another road should run from Kano to Kaduna, Abuja, Lokoja, Okene to Benin.  Another should run from Abuja to Minna, Mokwa, Ilorin, Ibadan, Lagos while the fourth should run from Maiduguri to Yola, Jalingo, Makurdi, Ogoja to Calabar.

    Then there is a need for an East-West road from Lagos, Sagamu, Ijebu-ode, Benin, Asaba, Onitsha, Enugu, Aba, Port Harcourt. There is also a need for a coastal road from Lagos through Igbokoda, Warri, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, terminating in Calabar. This may appear a gigantic order but it is always better to plan big. In China, the country initially relied on harnessing its huge human resources rather than its technological know-how to build roads, dams and houses. I do not see why with a serious government, Nigeria cannot do the same.

    We are told that we have a population of 180 million people. Of course, I remain sceptical about this apparently exaggeratedly fabricated figure! To challenge the demographic cheaters, those who inflate population of their states should be asked to mobilize such population figures for development. The factor of economic necessity rather than the nebulous federal character determining what roads to construct and maintaining should be paramount. If the federal government were to stick to this kind of strategic conception and planning, then roads construction and maintenance will begin to make sense.

    Other feeder roads will have to be devolved into the zonal authorities in a hopefully restructured Nigeria with devolved resources and responsibilities.  But in the meantime, something has to be done to fix roads that are vital to economic recovery. I do not see what will be wrong if Lagos and Ogun states governments were to collaborate in fixing this Sagamu – Ikorodu road and then jointly billing the federal government or getting private entrepreneurs in to reconstruct the road and toll it.  This terrible state of most roads in Nigeria would have to be addressed as a matter of urgency because as I write, people are dying on these dilapidated roads.

    This road master plan should go hand in hand with a new railway age in Nigeria in which road transportation should not be the major way of moving people and goods around the country. There is no major developing country that depends on one mode of transportation. If we are aspiring to be one of the 20 biggest economies in the world, we cannot be enduring this primitive and almost primordial transportation system that even our grandparents would recognize especially the fact that our roads follow the same footpaths established by our illiterate ancestors.

  • Some George-an logic

    The political roforofo (mud) fight, over the tussle on the Ondo Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rightful candidate in the governorship election, is attracting more partisans by the day.

    Since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), bowed to a court order and replaced Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, with Jimoh Ibrahim as the PDP candidate, the polity has had no peace.

    First, Ondo Governor, Segun Mimiko, stormed Abuja to confer with President Muhammadu Buhari on the imperative of not allowing Ondo to “burn”.

    Then, a lobby from the Ibrahim camp alleged bribery of the panel of judges handling the case, forcing the thoroughly embarrassed judges to recuse themselves; and returned the case file to the Court of Appeal president, for re-assignment to other judges.

    Well, the latest joiner of the fray is the inimitable Bode George, incidentally a former military governor of the old Ondo State (now Ondo and Ekiti states), who reportedly crowed, at the height of the hubris of military rule, that the Ondo folks would know a “Lagos boy was here”.

    Old man George is not finding the Justice Okon Abang order, unhorsing Jegede, funny at all — and he is not coy to say so. That is perfectly legitimate and democratic.

    What is neither democratic nor legitimate is George’s rather quaint logic of blaming INEC for obeying a court order, even if he admitted that, before that order, INEC had dutifully listed Jegede (and would likely follow any future orders, however the pendulum swings).

    Hear Pa George: “Even, until Abang’s mischievous ruling, the INEC had rightly listed Jegede as the legitimate candidate of the PDP.  Now,” he queried, “why upset the apple cart?”

    But pray, how is that INEC’s business or headache?  If INEC did something (which George admitted was ‘right’) but the court ordered otherwise, what is INEC’s fault in all of that?  Upsetting the apple cart or not, it is the courts George should be talking to, not INEC, doing its job as a lawful corporate citizen.

    But, of course!  Demonisation of persons and institutions, because they cannot get their way with them, is the standard fare of Nigerian politicians.  So, George was only beating an over-beaten path!

    From INEC, George also latched onto the Presidency, in a case clearly the judiciary’s.  He wanted the president — virtually at least — to overrule the courts, even he has no direct locus standi, beyond that his own party would also contest the Ondo governorship.

    “I appeal to President Buhari to ensure that justice invariably prevails in Ondo State. Though the case is now before the appellate court, the body language of our president is equally important in ensuring the preservation of our democratic tenets.” Is he the Chief Justice of Nigeria?

    Besides, the “body language of our president”?  Is the president then some Draco or Solon, lawgivers in antiquated Greece, evolving its democracy?  Or an elected president in 21st century Nigeria, who though operates in a democracy still evolving, is nevertheless bound by constitutional checks-and-balances?

    Now, if George pushes a “body language” now to favour his party, how can he, in all good conscience, not to talk of sound logic, declaim a body language that, in future, disfavours the same party?

    Yet, George provides the antidote to his George-an illogic, by his pitch to the judiciary.  Hear him: “Our judges must at all times refrain from arbitrary rulings that can plunge our democracy into the abyss. Justice must prevail in Ondo State.”

    About time!  At long last, the old man is properly directing his message!