The Nation Newspaper

Tag: love

  • Love and sacrifice define children theatre

    Love and sacrifice define children theatre

    It was captivating and interesting to see nursery and primary school pupils perform a play based on the life of legendary female warrior, Moremi Ajasoro. The play opened with war, many were killed and many were captured as slaves by invaders of Ile Ife.

    The play dates back in ancient Ile Ife kingdom when the people of Ile Ife were constantly under attack. This led the king, Oranmiyan, and his elders to consult the oracle who told them that the solution to their problem was a woman. When Moremi heard this, she consulted a god of a nearby river, Esinmirin, and offered herself as a woman who would save her people. During the next raid, Moremi let them to capture her and took her as prisoner to the land of the Igbos where she got married to the ruler. Moremi later escaped and returned to her first husband after learning the secrets of the Igbo people. Her discovering helped her people have victory over the Igbo people.

    The stage was properly set in a traditional design, setting the atmosphere for the audience to travel back in time and relive the sacrifices made by Moremi to free her people from invaders. The audience was mesmerised and there was a loud laugher in the hall when young Oranmiyan, played by Isaac Yinka-Dunsin, sang 2Face’s African Queen for young Moremi, played by Tomiwa Apena. The tragedy of love and sacrifice of Moremi was performed by the pupil of Beautiful Beginning School, Magodo, Lagos, during their Annual Awards and Graduation Ceremony at MUSON Centre, Lagos.

    Costumes used were mostly traditional attire of the Yoruba people. The play was directed by Tony Biyi Boyede of Theatre Centrik and he did a good job by selecting about one hundred and fifty casts who delivered. Tune Kelani who was present to see the play commended the school for their effort. Lead character Moremi was played by Anjola, Tomiwa and Iteoluwa. Oranmiyan was played by Isaac Yinka and Sigmound Onachie-Modi.

    “The art of storytelling through theatre dates back to time immemorial, with music, dance, stage comedies and tragedies. The theatrical production of Moremi Ajasoro strongly portrays the cultural and historical context of the Yoruba people, of Ile Ife, though here we only seek wisdom of strength and will that drive one to the success land of victory, not the tribal aesthetic, also the lesson of culture, said the school director,” Mrs Bukola Ogunleye, who also participated in the play, said..

    The school also presented awards to Tune Kelani, and Bolanle Austen-Peters who was present to receive the award, as well as Omowunmi Dada who was represented by Judith Dada.

    The pupils presented beautiful poetic award citation to these unique individuals. “I noticed some talents here today; there are exceptional talent in the girl and the boy that represented Oronmiyan and Moremi, they stood out. But the unfortunate reality is that we start everything very late in Nigeria, if children are trained from this early stage in life, it builds confidence in them,” said Austen-Peters. “Acting is something we should encourage in our children, and Nigeria should also encourage this as part of our curriculum,” she concluded.

    There were also other activities such as Benin royal dance, bata dance, and ballet dance, and award presentation to the teachers, students and parents.

  • To love and to hate

    To love and to hate

    President Muhammadu Buhari is caught in between love. Everyone wants to show they love him.

    It is happening everywhere like an epidemic. The EFCC tries to show him love. The NNPC is keeling over with that delicate emotion. The NTA is transmitting it in pictures and words.

    Of course in politics, we see it in droves. Bukola Saraki says he loves Buhari. The Owu chief, too, who clobbered him electorally and in snide comments would show only love now.

    Atiku, the peripatetic harlot of Nigerian politics, who battled him with war chest after war venom is awash with PMB love.

    The first show of love was the staff of Aso Rock who reported early to work in the spirit of the gangling hero of the day. Soldiers in their high and peacock perches are saluting him in lusts of deference.

    Let us not forget the walks, the advertorials, the politicians who now know that they only can swear by PMB. The ethnic titans, the religious zealots, the men cocooned in conspiracies against the man whom they thought had no chance to topple the simpering hero who now clucks in Otuoke.

    We forget that not long ago, these same persons had the venoms of rhetoric against this man. This is the man who did not have the qualification in the Army. He was the man who was too old, too groggy, too northern, too Muslim, too austere for the times.

    Now, we see the love of Buhari. But the love comes in different incarnations. There are those who love in order to keep their jobs. See EFCC has suddenly woken as the moral avatar, dusting up all sorts of revanchist cases. If Buhari is the man who can change our moral tone, so let us go after the so-called bad guys. It does not matter that under Jonathan we only pretended except when we went after his enemies, like Timipre Sylva.

    The NNPC felt the shadow of love. The pot of gold is the vault of lies. Many stories of fraud tenanted that institution. Buhari is aware. Fear flew in the halls, screamed in the files, boiled in our crude oil, scarred our ears. They wanted to show love, but how? This was one place that the phrase tough love had a new meaning. It was tough to lie about what was clear thieving of the national treasury. Buhari knew about it and he took a first step and dissolved the board. The list of the board members told us what sort of men presided over the kleptomaniac bazaar of our resources.

    Like the denizens of the DSS. No resources of wit to tap in order to show love. Now the president does not want them near him, at least for now. But he will have to use them. In a democracy, the secret service is the fulcrum of security. He knows that. But he is confronting an irony. The bastion of love is the secret service for a leader. But it’s like what Shakespeare said in Romeo and Juliet, love has become the hate. The bard called it “fiend angelical.”

    The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, now says he loves the President. He says he will work with the President. But he is at odds with the President’s directive and his party. He loves the President but humiliates his party. He benefited from a moral sewer of a process that installed him as president. He won a battle, and when his party with the President’s nod said he should conceded offices, he defied. Wasn’t that love, Saraki style?

    He loves the President and he is lying that he gave up his ambition for Buhari as though we were not in this country when he bowed out of the race. He knew better than Atiku that he did not want the humiliation and disaster of primary defeat. He bowed away from public disgrace, not for Buhari’s ambition. How does the PMB, whom he loves, implement his programmes when he, Saraki, cohabits with men who confess antipathy to the landlord of Aso Rock?

    He worked with Atiku, the man who now wants to play bee to Buhari’s honey. He spearheads mutiny so he can be the power Trojan of the APC. How does he explain his actions to his latest hero of today? That he undermines him in order to love him? If he loves him, he should tell his co-conspirator Saraki to yield to the party rule. Both are fair-weather men. They have always been. Within the PDP, or outside. As for Atiku, he never saw an opportunity of self-aggrandisement he did not embrace, even if it meant kissing Lucifer.

    As for the Owu chief, we saw him make a colourful act of tearing his PDP card in public. I hope we do not see, in the near future, another enactment of return. He would brandish a new card as the prodigal come home in a flourish. He did not tear PDP in his heart. He worked, in underhand shadows, with PDP men and Atiku to undermine Buhari. They plotted to make PMB’s early days a tempest. Is that not love, the Ota way? We know how he showed love in the past. Dance with the man’s wife today, oust him tomorrow. Dine pounded yam today, his office dies tomorrow. Remember Okadigbo, Ogbeh, etc.

    PMB will be taking a class in love these days with Judas’ silhouette in the background. He must feel special now that all those who knew him as enemy now bedeck him as the emblem of affection.

    He reminds me of a character in the most ambitious of all novels, War and Peace. Leo Tolstoy’s character was mocked all the time. No one laughed at his joke. He did not belong to the royal class. He was adopted by one of the mainstays of the upper class. He was renounced in love and society. But suddenly he came into a big inheritance. Suddenly Pierre was the most sought after in Russian society, anything he did made men cringe and any joke made them laugh. They craved the largesse of his purse if they sneered secretly at the large heart it came from. His new power became a lesson in understanding people. He eventually knew who loved him and who did not, but he learned later that the world was full of love, if in counterfeit expressions. United States President Harry Truman once said that if you wanted a friend in Washington, “buy a dog.”

    Graham Greene, in a short novel, titled the Third Man, shows how a man can be two at the same time. A man is buried supposedly and all mourn him as this great guy. But he is killed eventually after his lover knew him to be a fraud, the police know him to be a liar and his best friend know him to be a traitor. He dies once but mourned twice. The first fake burial calls him hero. The second knows him as villain.

    So, Buhari will worry who is real or fake among those brandishing love. But the real lovers are those who voted and who fought for him when he was mocked as a gangling zealot of tribe and faith.

  • Promoting unity, love

    Promoting unity, love

    Despite the Boko Haram insurgency, students of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) still found time to share love and promote their culture at the Nativity Night organised by the Redeemed Christian Fellowship (RCF). TAIWO ISOLA (400-Level Human Anatomy) report.

    Despite  the Boko Haram insurgency, students of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) rolled out the drums, last week, to celebrate culture and spread the message of peace among themselves. It was all at Nativity Night, a yearly cultural fiesta organised by the institution’s chapter of the Redeemed Christian Fellowship (RCF).

    The event with the theme: Unified praise in Christ held at the university’s Ecumenical Centre.

    It  was witnessed many students. Major ethnic groups, such as Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Kanuri, Ibibio, Idoma, Urhobo and Efik, among others, were all represented. Students turned out in their various native attires to showcase their cultures.

    Yoruba students were beautifully dressed in Aso Oke (Damask) with Abeti Aja caps to match; their Igbo counterparts were resplendent in their native attires, while Arewa students adorned various shades of Babanriga with caps to match. Ijaws, Kanuri, Tiv, Igala, Fulani and Ibibio students too were not left out. Each group carried its cultural symbols, such as beads, calabashes, baskets and tubers of yam with elegance during the stage performance.

    The event started with cultural exhibition during which various local delicacies were served. Participants had the opportunity to eat delicacies prepared by other ethnic groups. Michael Iwuagwu, a student from Imo State, tasted Amala (yam flour) and Ewedu (pasty vegetable) for the first time during the food exhibition. He described the food as extremely delicious.

    The event also featured a drama, which emphasised the need for unity, peace and love among the people, irrespective of ethnicity and religion.

    Speaking, the RCF President, Joseph Ogunbameru, said the purpose of the event was to foster unity among students, irrespective of their cultural background. He said: “We, as a people, have decided to come together to celebrate God under one umbrella of love and unity. It is the zeal to worship God and the pursuit of unity that has kept us going over the years. We want to show the world that we can overcome all prejudices dividing us and unite. This is the kind of event we need at a time ethnicity is tearing apart our common humanity.”

    The highpoint was cultural performance and pageantry by all ethnic groups, with each tribe entertaining members of the audience its traditional dance. The performances attracted drew thunderous applause from the audience.

    The guest artiste, Patience Maji, a gospel singer from Bauchi State, said she defied security situation in Maiduguri to perform at the event because she believed in united country.

    Describing the event as successful, the chairman of the organising committee, Temidayo Adesina, said the fellowship held the event to glorify God for keeping the university safe despite the many attempts by insurgents to invade the campus. She said: “We are showing to world that we can achieve great things despite our diversity. This is why we asked each ethnic group to praise God in its own language.”

    A participant, Faith Hadison, said: “The event has added value to my life by helping me learn how to relate with people from different cultural backgrounds. The Shata dance by Hausa students and the Tiv dance fascinated me the most. I also love the Igbo’s presentation because they showcased their heritage very proudly. This is the best way to achieve unity and love in this country. We should not be fighting ourselves because we are people created by the same God.”

    Another student, Bege Newton, who could not conceal her excitement during the Arewa cultural display, said: “The event gave me an opportunity to interact freely with other people and learned their cultures. I felt excited to be part of the event.”

    The event ended with entertainment by Aladura Dance and Drama Group.

  • It was love at first sight when I met my husband

    It was love at first sight when I met my husband

    How do you cope seeing that at 10pm, you are still at work, when do you find time to rest?

    I thank God for everything. When you believe in God, somehow, He finds a way to give you rest. He gives you the strength to find rest. God finds time for me to rest. As clearing agents and shipping agents, we have so many products. Sometimes I leave the office late in the night. As shipping agents, we are at work whenever the ship comes around because we have to monitor our products. Out here, we have to be on our toes. Our customers are sensitive, we realise that so we treat them well. And we are always there for them. So in such a situation, it is God who provides time for me to rest.

    How do you balance being a working mother with the home front?

    As a mother, I love children. Thank God that they are grown up and are now in the universities and secondary schools. I create time to be with my children. What I do is that on weekends, I find time to be with them and we go out, hang around shopping malls, just having a day out together. Also, my husband finds time to be around me. He comes around my office too.

    You are a popular face in social circles, how does that affect your lifestyle?

    There is the good side of it, and then the bad side of it. The good side is that I am likeable, friends come around me and a lot of people also want to do one business or the other with me. Being popular is actually also good for business. But the bad side is that one has to be wary of the people you meet or do business with. There are also people who feel bad about one’s popularity and really go out to try to hurt people. So when you are popular, you still have to be careful.

    What businesses are you into?

    I thank God that my business has grown a lot from the trading that I used to do. These days, I am into maritime business. We are involved in import and export businesses, clearing and forwarding, consultancy, interior furnishings and supply business. I have a group of companies; one part is involved in importation and another part is into sales of electronics.

    I am also a contractor to some state and federal governments. I have franchise for Samsung products and we import too. We feed the market with our household appliances. That is apart from the clearing, forwarding and shipping work that we do. We have also ventured into the oil and gas industry. We started Arikay Oil & Gas Company 10 years ago. So I can simply say that, as at today, what we have presently is a group of companies.

    What attracted you to your husband?

    He is my God-given husband. You know when God gives you a husband, you will never have a problem.

    Does he support you in your businesses?

    Yes he does. He is a hardworking man. So when such a man has a wife who is equally hard working, who is also a good wife, he will not have any excuse but to support such a wife. It is also important that a wife is trusted, because when a man has a wife that he trusts, he will wholeheartedly support her in all the things that she does. So my husband is always there for me. He knows that our lives are better because he gives me the opportunity to assist him.

    Why does your husband trust you?

    My husband trusts me because he has the fear of God and so do I. The trust that we have between us has helped our marriage. The truth is that if a husband and a wife do not trust each other, definitely, the marriage will collapse. I am glad that my husband and I love each other passionately. We are actually like twins.

    So what will you say has been the secret of your marriage?

    The secret has been that we do not keep any secret from each other. We tell each other everything. We share everything.

    Your advice to married couple?

    Couples should trust each other. A husband and wife must put God first in everything they are doing. It is important that they do not lie to each other. Wives, especially should not keep boyfriends. They should not be involved in extra-marital affairs as that kills relationship fast. I am shocked that some wives today have boyfriends all over the place.

    I believe that women, especially should not be sharing matters about their husbands with people outside their home. That is because in sharing such matters, one will not know who among the persons she is sharing their marriage secrets with will use it against them. Some of the women they are sharing their marital secrets with may be interested in her husband. I advise that wives make their husbands their father, friend and everything.

    Do you take holidays with your family?

    We all went on holiday last year in Dubai. Hopefully, this year we will be in America or Switzerland for holidays. But let me tell you the truth, I love going out on holidays like that with my family. But I really do not want to go far away like that. I want to holiday around here in Nigeria or even Africa with my family. I really urge that African governments and especially Nigerian leaders develop this country so that we can have facilities and infrastructure that will make life convenient and enjoyable.

    I love Dubai. Last year and the previous year when I was in Dubai, I couldn’t help but remember the first time that I started going there some many years ago. I started comparing what it was then and what it is now, and I couldn’t help but glorify God at the marvellous change that has taken place over there.

    I pray that Nigeria becomes like that too soon so that people will be coming from their countries around the world to do tourism here too. It would be lovely if we can have visitors from abroad come for summer here. I pray for this new government so that they can give us regular electricity, water and life. This is Africa. We are well endowed with natural resources.

    You have talked so much about God. So can we say you are a religious person?

    I am a good Christian. I love God, without Him, I will not be where I am today.

    You have indeed been active in the business of clearing and forwarding, that is not usually a female terrain.

    When I started, it wasn’t but now, the women are there in full force. If you look around, you will notice that the women have taken their due position in the business and are also doing very well. We women are more reliable (laughs) and we are always out to ensure that we impress our clients.

    Do you think that your background help shaped the person that you are today?

    Of course, when you have a good background, with parents who spent time to teach you about life, then it is likely that you will be okay. I come from a Christian royal family, where we were taught the principles of living, how to relate with people, how to handle the issue of trust and how not to get involved with bad friends. I thank God for my background. My parents taught us well. But my father is late now. My mother is still around; before long, she will be 90. I want God to give her more life.

    How did you start out in business?

    I started quite early, that was when I was in school. I started with my parents who were also in one business or another. You just need to be hard-working, focused and be prayerful. From the beginning of my life, I worked very hard. I would say l inherited the business side of life from my mother. That is because I used to follow her to work. She mentored me in business. It was from there that I made money early in life going as far to the North as a food distributor, among other things.

    How did you meet your husband?

    The first time I saw him, I knew he would be my husband. It was indeed love at first sight. I loved his countenance immediately. I noticed he is a calm person and I fell in love with his patience. He is actually a nice man. He is also honest.

    Your first car..?

    (Laughs) My first car was an orange coloured Volkswagen Jetta car. But even then, as at the time I bought it, it was considered an expensive, luxury car. Then when you had a Volkswagen car among your friends, you were considered ‘a big girl.’ Owning a car then even meant you were on the upper social ladder.

    What is your style these days?

    I love lace, I wear that a lot. I love to look good, I like to dress well and be neat. I love it when there is a rhythm in the colours that I wear, and one colour matches another. You know that Nigerian ladies dress fashionably well. I can say that Nigerian ladies are number one in fashion. Without Nigerian ladies, most shops in Korea, Austria, Switzerland and other such places will suffer a recession. People don’t wear those fashionable materials there.

    You have been identified with philanthropy in recent times, are you considering going into politics?

    Never! Everybody cannot go into politics. I will rather continue to spend and support people in politics. And I want to commend the democratic process that has led to the hope for change that has just taken place. It is commendable to know that as a nation, we are finally developing principles. I am happy with the political change in the country. It has already reflected in the activities at the port. The officials of the Nigerian Custom Services are very much newly improved and they are doing great presently in ports operations. Right now, containers can be cleared within two days. You can even do some services same day. So right now, no demurrage, the Lagos port has been decongested, while Apapa road has been cleared of traffic. So the change is here.

    Are you happy with the role women are playing today in Nigeria?

    Yes, I am. The truth is that, I see more and more women becoming great in life, impacting more people and doing well. Women are daily aspiring into greatness, they are in business, they are intelligent and they are daily achieving in all spheres of life. There are women accountants, judges, engineers; they have even become senators and ministers. Sooner they will be governors and president in Nigeria. I see that happening soon.

    Your husband dotes on you with much affection, do you ever have issues?

    I don’t know of any marriage that does not have its ups and downs but I can say once again that I love everything in my husband just as he loves me. The way you see him, that is just the way he is. He is very understanding. Sometimes I work late and get home late. But he would be there for me. We handle our family matters between us. No matter how successful a woman is, she should be submissive to her husband. Part of my success is actually the fact that I am submissive to my husband. I respect him a lot and you know in such a situation, respect also begets respect.

    Have you ever had a nasty experience?

    Yes, when you are in business, different things are abound to happen. But I thank God that He has been kind and made a lot of things favourable for me. There have been cases where there were misjudgements over a decision, but the fact that I have focus and I am intelligent helps.

  • Akume preaches love

    Akume preaches love

    Senate Minority leader George Akume yesterday called for love and peace in the spirit of Easter.

    In a message, Akume said: “My heart is filled with immense happiness and I give gratitude to God as I congratulate all Christians, the people of Benue North-West Senatorial District, supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the people of this nation on this year’s commemoration of the death and resurrection of our Lord.

    “I am thankful to God for his enduring mercy over us as individuals and as a nation and I also want to appreciate Nigerians for their steadfastness and patriotism in the face of unpredictable political atmosphere. As our Lord Jesus is our spiritual hero by his death and resurrection, so also Nigerians have distinguished themselves not just in the choices they made in the presidential and parliamentary elections, but also in the way and manner they conducted themselves.

    “As we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Saviour, we should not be carried away by the festivities, but take out time to reflect deeply on the most important principles of all religious faith, which include love, tolerance and selflessness, and continue to imbibe and practise same in all our interactions among ourselves and with God.

    “That we are devoted to the celebration of Easter is an indication that we are conscious of our obligations to the Almighty.  I urge all Nigerians to show the same level of religious zeal and take the sacred responsibility of participating constructively in nation-building.

    “The death and resurrection of our Lord should act as a reminder and as a stimulant that will make all of us join hands with the emerging agents of positive change as we strive to ensure that Nigeria becomes great in the shortest possible time.

    “I wish all of us a very memorably Easter and I advise that we celebrate it with love, restraint and respect for our differences, where such exist.”

  • Aisha Umma Wali finds love again

    Aisha Umma Wali finds love again

    Aisha Umma Wali, Mohammed Babangida’s first love and estranged second wife, is happy again. Aisha, whose marriage to the scion of Babangida’s dynasty was ‘annulled’ last year on the ground of irreconcilable differences, informed sources squealed, has found another Prince Charming and may be giving marriage another thought.

    The marriage between Mohammed and Umma took place in 2008 with an elaborate celebration lasting several days in Minna and Kano. Initially, his decision to take a second wife put a strain on his marriage with Rahama but Mohammed was able to steer the affair of his matrimonial home with such dignity and maturity that Rahama (daughter of Alhaji Indimi, the Maiduguri-born oil billionaire) objected to having a co-wife, she finally gave in and agreed to Mohammed’s wish.

    Five years after their union, Aisha Umma Wali, daughter of Ambassador Aminu Wali, sources said, filed for divorce since the marriage did not produce any child.

  • Jonathan’s love: Neither for Nigeria nor Yoruba nation

    In two days time, Nigerians will have a choice to decide whether to continue enduring the pains inflicted by Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) buccaneers that have continued to wield power and influence over our lives.  March 28 offers us an opportunity to give a verdict on President Goodluck Jonathan who four years ago made a solemn promise “to uphold ‘democracy and rule of law’, ‘banish corruption and its attendant vices, ‘respect human life and human rights’. It is a payback date for Jonathan who beyond self, appears incapable of loving anyone, whether Nigeria in spite of self serving mouthing of ‘for the love of Nigeria’ or the Yoruba nation that made him that he is aiming to turn its land into a battle ground because of his desperate ambition to rule for ten years.

    In 2011, to secure the PDP ticket, President Jonathan after subverting his party’s constitution allegedly doled out $1 billion to PDP governors on the eve of his party’s primary ostensibly for mobilization. For this Saturday election, 2015 election, President Jonathan whose first international engagement after victory was a visit to Uganda’s Powered Museveni, a ruthless dictator in the last 30 years has no opponent in his party’s primaries. All unanimously adopted him.

    In the run up to 2011, Jonathan overlooked the PDP/Halliburton $180m LNG Bonny plant contract scam in deference to his corrupt PDP benefactors. By 2015, stealing in billions has replaced corruption. Thus those PDP stalwarts, their children and their fronts involved in the monumental N1.6 trillion fuel subsidy scam are today busy raising funds and campaigning for Jonathan’s re-election instead of being behind bars.  In fact, about 17 of the 22 PDP elected governors in 1999 that had been indicted by the courts or still in court defending their integrity have been re-integrated back as governors, lawmakers or party officials. In the period, N5b pension fund fraud was uncovered right inside the Head of Government office. One Director of Pensions in the Police Affairs ministry was indicted for stealing N32.5 billion. Of the over 200 banking officials that Sanusi Lamido alleged to have contributed to the collapse of the banking sector, only one, according to him was successfully prosecuted as at the time he was removed from office, over alleged ‘missing’ $20b.

    For four years, Jonathan exploited our ethnic and religious differences. Unidentified suspected Fulani herdsmen mindlessly murdered women and children in their sleep. The president has been tolerant of the assaults of his Ijaw and ethnic irredentist, on critics of his inept leadership. Today as it was in 2011, President Jonathan is urging leaders of different ethnic groups resident in Lagos to join forces to defeat their chief host and owners of Lagos. Yet, Jonathan belongs to the Ijaw nation that regarded Igbo properties in Port Harcourt as abandoned properties 45 years after the civil war.

    For four years when not in Jerusalem or Rome, sometimes accompanied by some dubious members of his cabinet, the president was seen at home moving from churches to synagogues, and dismissing as subversive elements, critics of government and conjuring metaphors of the triumph of Biblical David over Goliath, and the Egyptian enslaved Israelis over powerful Pharaoh. But to the president, his opponents who worship their own God without becoming public nuisance are Islamists bent on Islamising Nigeria. For four years, insurgents operated with little resistance killing over 19,000 innocent Nigerians, turning over 1.5 Nigerians into refugees in their country. About 300 young girls abducted from their dormitories have remained in captivity for close to a year. With crisis in the international oil market, the naira now exchanges for about N220 to one dollar. What a shame!

    But in spite of the baleful legacies of unfulfilled promises, President Jonathan is breaking all rules in a desperate bid for re-election in two days’ time. He has turned Yoruba land into battleground. It is not as if President Jonathan, the master of political subterfuge has ever had anything but contempt for the Yoruba on whose back he rode to power. This finds expression in the fact that besides his chief of staff and the Accountant General of Nigeria, no Yoruba of note featured among the holders of the first fifty important positions in his administration. Dismissing Obasanjo who betrayed Nigeria to make him president as ‘not a statesman but someone not better that a motor park tout”; he identified those who in his judgment should lead the Yoruba nation. They include the likes of Kashamu Buruji, Gbenga Daniel, Fani Kayode, Musliu Obanikoro, Ayo Fayose, Olusegun Mimiko Doyin Okupe and Gani Adams.

    The Jonathan recognized Yoruba leaders say they are ready to deliver the Yoruba votes to Jonathan. Pa Ayo Adebanjo who, some two years back, publicly praised Bola Tinubu for liberating Yoruba land from Obasanjo and PDP has joined forces with Jonathan’s errand boys to say the aspirations of the Yoruba can only be achieved by voting for PDP and President Jonathan who has promised to implement the confab report tucked away along dozen other committee reports until the eve of a national election. But Pa Adebanjo has never struck many people as a successful politician, a successful lawyer or even a successful Awo follower.

    If we see politics as ‘an art of the possible’, any politician who is condemned to the past and not the future and what it holds, is a failed politician.  In a nation that has according to General Alabi Isama been ruled since independence by a coalition of Igbo and Hausa Fulani elite, even while pretending to be at war, Pa Adebanjo cannot see what Yoruba stands to gain in a combination of Hausa Fulani and the main stream Yoruba political tendency to which he has identified for an upwards of fifty years. He even discountenanced the presence of his Ijebu kinsman, Prof Osinbajo on the Buhari ticket. Pa Adebanjo is prepared to throw away the baby with the bath water because of selfish bitterness against Tinubu.

    Pa Adebanjo  is not ready to forgive Buhari even after he had said ‘dictatorship goes with military rule’ and after the children of those directly affected publicly pardoned him because of their deeper understanding of the limitation of ill-equipped military junta suffering from messianic complex, Pa Adebanjo has shown he cannot comprehend the essence of Awoism, Awo as philosopher and Awo as a brilliant politician.  For instance Awo jailed by Hausa Fulani and Igbo ruling elites came out of prison without bitterness. He moved on to write books because he was deep enough to know the crisis was ideological. It was the ruling elite in the north and east that reached a consensus to send Awo to prison, hoping erroneously that, he would be too old by the time he returns to question how they govern Nigeria.

    On the Lagos metro line project of over 30 years ago, it is a good that that Alhaji Lateef Jakande during his 80th birthday celebration recently put the blame squarely on President Shehu Shagari’s administration. The same Shagari, whose administration guaranteed billions of dollars as external loans for NPP and NPN coalition partner governors, prevented the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing the seventy million mobilization fees for the project, long after the specified amount had been deposited by Lagos State government with it. Pa Jakande also accused Shagari of abandoning the Third mainland bridge due to ‘pettiness.’

    Adebanjo is selfishly asking Yoruba people to vote for Jonathan that has nothing but contempt for our people. Our youths, in two days time, must demonstrate that our selfless forbearers’ investment in us have not been in vain by rejecting Jonathan and his errand boys and errant old men.

  • For the love of country

    For the love of country

    During the oil subsidy crisis, he thoroughly bad- mouthed Yorubas and canvassed that non-Yoruba elements in Lagos, who he claimed are more than Yorubas, should gang up against their hosts

    While some of us continue to relish the past and insist that our leadership position is not threatened, the more discerning among us realise that failure to correctly appraise the situation could only be calamitous to the destiny of the Yoruba people. The truth of the matter is that the lives and destiny of over 30 million souls cannot and should not be trampled upon by reprobates, renegades, revisionists, and impostors. The contemporary self-proclaimed spokesmen and supposed protectors of our people just have to cease and desist from their sanctimonious and opportunistic crusade and become true subscribers to the common cause’.

    The Jurisprudential Professor of Professors, Akin Oyebode, in his lead paper at the authentic  Pan -Yoruba Summit in Ibadan,  Thursday, 19 March 2015.

    ‘For the love of country’, ‘for the love of country’ etc. So goes one of the multibillion naira television adverts of President Goodluck Jonathan urging Nigerians to vote him for another term of four years with his duplicitous government that keeps assuring foreign envoys of peaceful elections while for two whole months it has continued to deny visas to over twenty foreign journalists from such stables as the influential The Telegraph, The Times and Channel 4 News; something that should take no more than two weeks. Candidate Jonathan showed the extent of his love for Nigeria and Nigerians this past week when he inspired the country’s wretched of the earth, to lay Lagos prostrate.  Earlier, another  phalange of these  miscreants, operating  under the aegis of  the  anti-Nigerian ragtag organisation which  recently publicly launched vehicle and driver’s licences, as well as what it called the  passports  of its still-born Biafra Republic without a whimper from the  security agencies-  by the way,  dollarized Afenifere should try doing the same  for Oduduwa Republic  to gauge  the real depth  of Jonathan’s love for  Yoruba. Unlike them, however,   those under the lead of the carpenter completely shut down  Lagos and laid  it  prostrate for hours,  causing  the citizenry untold hardship. The scallywags, members of the outlawed Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), who had long become thugs -for hire, brandishing assorted guns and live ammunition, broken bottles  etc, with the PDP- police and  DSS, even soldiers, watching in amusement, smashed their way through Ikorodu Road,  laying waste everything on its way, including APC billboards.  With the resultant traffic snarl, Lagos was completely crippled for a whole day.

    In his desperation, President Jonathan showed, through these characters, that he would not mind a version of Boko Haram sprouting in Yoruba land the way they brandished live ammunition without a single security operative raising an eyebrow. Coming so soon after  the  president included  both Fredrick Faseun and Gani Adams  in his reckless pipeline surveillance contracts, both factions of the Oodua People’s Congress have shown  themselves no better  than mercenaries as they were  campaigning for  the president’s re election  which they believe  the INEC chairman’s sack, even if  in total disregard  of laid down procedure, will guarantee. And I ask, what exactly is driving President Jonathan into this paranoia: love of country or an eagerness to cover up the massive looting under his watch?

    And this is what baffles about his Lagos/ Yoruba politics. During the oil subsidy crisis, he thoroughly bad- mouthed Yorubas and canvassed that non-Yoruba elements in Lagos, who he claimed are more than Yorubas, should gang up against their hosts.  During the current campaigns, he has met with literally every ethnic group residing in Lagos, preaching the same serpentine hate message. Yet, both within and outside Lagos, he has spared nothing in presenting as a Yoruba friend; romancing Afenifere and heavily compromising all, but few of Yoruba Obas. Such duplicity!

    Happily, Yorubas know their friends just as they know a Greek gift. The historic desecration of Lagos by the OPC, in a complete reversal of roles by a group founded primarily to defend Yoruba land, will haunt them eternally. This shameless, mammon-induced perfidy will, forever, scare them. How they can so easily shred whatever remains of their tattered integrity since they came under the tutelage of the likes of former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, simply confounds. It must be mentioned here, for emphasis, that the treaty which ended the Kiriji War in 1886 forbade Yorubas fighting against themselves. Their action is, therefore, an abomination the consequences of which will not escape.

    Nigerians must go out on 28 March, 2015 to show that they are not deceived by this type of ‘love of country; by voting out candidate Jonathan.

    Six weeks was only a decoy for rigging

    Readers of this column must have read me say, severally, that PDP cannot win a mere local government election without rigging. The coming elections will be no different, only the rigging method will change. With Capt Sagir Koli, through the Ekitigate tapes, blowing the cover off the military, at its rigging best, which the likes of Obanikoro had relied upon for victory, and INEC’s PVC and Card Readers now a fait accompli, they are already gunning for new methods.  This is precisely what inspired the postponement even after the Council of State had okayed it. My auditory nerves have been on active mode since the Ekiti photocromic rigging, waiting for these shameless riggers.  The answer came shortly after the president’s visit to one major Yoruba town.  A megalomaniac politician, who, of course, should know the finer details of the plan talked too much to those he believed were his supporters. That was how we got to hear that card readers would be sabotaged and that under no circumstances would President Jonathan hand over to General Buhari. All signals are also to be jammed by agents of the PDP on 28 March, 2015.

    Incidentally, it would appear the APC also picked up this information and it’s Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has since addressed a press conference during which he gave more details which included the name of the Israeli fixer contracted to supply 750, 000 units of fake Card Readers which will be planted on PDP members at the polling centres to jam the INEC Card Readers. Olisa Metuh, PDP’s Publicity Secretary, on a Channels TV appearance with Alhaji Mohammed on Thursday, 19 March 2015, had no answer to this allegation.

    Traditional rulers on wonder errand for President Jonathan

    Nigerians woke up Wednesday, 18, March 2015, to read that the president has sent traditional rulers on some mundane errand across the country; an abomination in the first place. This was, however, not completely surprising having just returned from shaking hands with most of their Southwest colleagues. After all, one good turn, they say, deserves another. Divided into 11 groups, their mission is simple: regardless of the fact that elections have not yet been held, talk less of knowing what the results will be, just go where I send you, seat them down and plead that they accept whatever the outcome, no matter the sanctity of the process. In my opinion, no self regarding person, however hungry, should have accepted this formless assignment.  This is why not a few Nigerians have reasonably read meanings into this misadventure. Granted nobody wants a recrudescence of the 2011 post-electoral conflagration, but how do you explain this graceless job?  What exactly do President Jonathan and the PDP have in stock for Nigerians?

    And what are they agitated about after signing a Memorandum of Undertaking supervised by two of Africa’s greatest international diplomats, Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and Annan, a former United Nations Secretary-General? What is President Jonathan or the PDP afraid of?  Why do they think they have to beg Nigerians to accept the outcome of what everybody expects to be a free, fair and transparent election? Is this a case of the guilty becoming sleepless ahead  of what would surely be the consequences of a compromised election; no matter  what force is arraigned against a cheated  people? I think it is important these royal errands ask why this has become a necessary enterprise.

    Or does it have anything to do with the rumour making the rounds that Nigerians are about to experience June 12, all over again?  Is it true that we could soon have procured, a court judgment at the 11th hour, on Thursday or Friday -26/27 March, 2015 – invalidating the use of card readers?

    I feel certain President Jonathan loves Nigeria much more than to have it incinerated.

  • I hate Buhari and I love Jonathan!

    I hated General Muhammadu Buhari. Intensely.

    This feeling developed in 1984. First, his non-smiling visage including that of Tunde Idiagbon, his late deputy, evoked no warmth. The apocryphal story that they wear permanent scowls because there was nothing cheerful about Nigeria’s situation at a period when South West Nigeria, encompassing his official abode, made Alawada Baba Sala the highest rated comedy show was paradoxical to me then.

    I was especially livid athis War Against Indiscipline (WAI) dictum mandating Nigerians to queue for virtually everything in a country where lawlessness is deified as wisdom. I scoffed at his directive’s impracticality against the odious rat race in Nigeria, especially in Lagos. Personally, my timely arrival at all destinations is guaranteed with a good meal for balanced legs, firmly tucking my handbag under my armpits to escape Houdini-inspired pickpockets, energetically elbowing other jostling prospective bus passengers and hopping, banana jump-style onto a moving Molue bus.  And I’m good.

    But the orientation worked. Apart from queuing, archetypal stubborn Nigerians became excellent examples of WAI-themed orderliness and discipline in thought, behaviour and expectation through eschewing all forms of indiscipline.

    Thirty-one years ago, Buhari foresaw that leaders’ ability to effectively lead is always dependent on the quality of followership behind him which Indiscipline obstructs in Nigeria.

    Economically, I blamed his austerity measures for causing reduction in my pocket money despite my Economics tutor’s adulations of Buhari’s removal or reduction of national expenditure excesses, startof Nigeria’s first vicious anti-corruption war, reducing the balance of payment deficit by tightening importation and executing 15 percent cut from his predecessor President Shehu Shagari’s 1983 Budget.

    Consequently, total capital expenditure decreased by 16.08 percent, capital defence expenses by 80.9 percent, while agriculture, transport and communication, education and health spending decreased by 78.7 percent, 76.1 percent, 58.2 percent and 58.7 percent respectively.

    These austere policies alienated him from the elite.  Probably, the country’s international airports would overflow with the rich departing Nigeria immediately upon his announcement as the country’s new president.

    Again, I smirked at his tenure’s controversies. Many journalists and politicians bemoaned Decree No. 4. Human rights groups flayed him for his government’s decision to execute drug peddlers. These issues among others denigrate peoples’ fundamental human rights. My distaste grew. Recently, an American friend prodded me to soft-pedal on Buhari because interpretations of profound political events continually evolve. “Even Abraham Lincoln is still vilified in certain parts of USA today for abolishing the slave trade,” he said.

    Then, a revelation from Dora Akunyili, the indomitable former Director General of Nigerian Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and former Minister of Information thawed me. She returned the remainder of allotted funds to PTF’s coffers after returning from a company-sponsored foreign medical trip while working, on secondment from University of Nigeria, with Buhari, the chairman, at Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF). The overwhelming positive impression she made on him led to Buhari’s recommendation of her when former President Obasanjo approached him for help in appointing a cerebral, bold and incorruptible NAFDAC’s DG to rid the nation of counterfeit drugs. Akunyili was Igbo and a born-again Christian. Buhari is Fulani and a devout Muslim. To Buhari, what mattered was the content of her character; he is neither a religious extremist nor a tribalist.

    Still, I mocked his perennial ambition to rule Nigeria again. I wondered why him? I dismissed him as lacking today’s energy and dynamism in tackling the country’s myriad problems. However, as the nation experienced three civilian leaders since 1999 without a commensurate improvement in Nigeria, I had an epiphany. Why not him? He is very fearless, disciplined and passionate about changing Nigeria. At his age, embezzlement cannot be his political aim. And as rumours spread about his health, I noted his vigour and lucidity outshine that of some in my generation. Besides, I churlishly cherish the idea of burdening Buhari with the job since his ilk saddled us with them in the initial analysis.

    Now, I love President Goodluck Jonathan. His affable persona and Mosaic dove-like demeanour is endearing. His ascension to power, never through vaulting over-ambition, but by events proudly proclaimed by his loyalists as predestined via positive happenstances provoked a fervent envy at his lot. In typical Nigerian copy-cat syndrome, the name, Goodluck, quickly became a fad. His trajectory from “having no shoes”to gaining a doctorate degree and variously occupying the topmost offices at state and national level is a record yet unmatched on Nigeria’s political landscape.

    Jonathan’s unemployment panacea as contained in his Transformation Agenda especially fascinated me for the plan noted “unemployment surged from 11.9 percent in 2006 to 14.6 percent in 2007 and 21.1 percent by January 2010.” Noticing the plan’s solutions, I practically swooned.That admiration quickly faded. No decisive or profound happenings occurred to concretise the hero-worship. Granted, we cannot beckon on Utopia overnight, but after six years of Goodluck, many previously employed when he created the plan are now jobless. Reno Omokri, Jonathan’s former special assistant on social media, said over 250,000 Nigerian youths are employed. Certainly, not from the general population but probably within the rehabilitated and amnestied militants now buying warships or moving from point A to point B in luxury jets.  Even, those are hardly half of that statistic.

    Everythingis in shambles. Equally troubling is Obasanjo’s revelations that Jonathan squandered $25 billion left by his administration in the Excess Crude Account and depleted $45 billion foreign reserves, which increased to about $67billion under Yar’Adua, to $30 billion. The response, that the balance is now $34.4 billion, is laughable.

    Feeding expenses is skyrocketing yet the Central Bank of Nigeria says inflation is less galloping now because it is at 9.50 one-digit rate and food import bill reduced from N1.1 trillion in 2011, to N648 billion in 2012, “placing Nigeria firmly on the path to food self-sufficiency.” But that statement rings hollow on any shopping excursions at Lagos’Mile 2 commodities market.

    In the 1960s, Nigeria was ranked an emerging economy alongside Malaysia and Singapore. Under Peoples’ Democratic Party’s rulership within 16 years, Nigeria declined from being a low middle-income country and amongst the 50 richest countries worldwide to one of the 30 poorest. Today, Singapore has the third highest per-capita GDP globally and Malaysia’s, $14,800.

    Nowadays, our bedfellows are Somalia and Syria.

    Jonathan’s buck-passing is mind-boggling. He said his inheritance of Nigeria’s problems excuses his inability to provide quick solutions. But, Jonathan’s emergence and continuing candidacy is on PDP’s platform,the same party under which the nation’s woes worsened. This implicates him. It is Jonathan’s conditions of service to provide solutions to Nigeria’s problems. He willingly applied for the position. And with or without a lion-like heart, Jonathan ought to have delivered. He did not.

    Not surprisingly, I am no longer enamoured with Jonathan or his continued rule.

     

    • Ogunbayo writes from Lagos.

  • President and his love of office

    The late music maestro, Sunny Okosun, once captured the current situation in Nigeria when, in one of his hit songs, he said: “Which way Nigeria”. The situation in Nigeria now calls for a more sombre and serious concern than the way the government seems to summarise it. No doubt, this is not the best of times for the Jonathan government which seems to be getting everything wrong even in its build up to the coming election. The country has been thrown into such a frenzy since the president decided to pursue his second term ambition in such a desperate manner. The whole country is now enveloped with confusion that nobody really knows or can predict the direction the country is headed.

    From politicians to businessmen, economy watchers, industry captains, professionals to the ordinary man on the street, everybody seems to be singing the same song “which way Nigeria”.

    Indeed, Nigerians are genuinely confused, as nothing seems to be working except the agenda to re-elect the president. Our people are worried because nobody is offering them explanation on why the economy is in shambles or how long the country will continue to cope with the no security, no light, no water, no employment and no food situation. They are in the dark as to when the rebased economy of the nation will translate to better life for them. They are eager to see the 25,000 km road the Jonathan government claims to have constructed and the improved rail system the federal government says it has built. People want to see where the achievement reported in the SURE-P scorecard are situated or who the beneficiaries of the government youth employment programmes are. They want to know who are those benefitting from the much publicized agriculture programmes of the federal government when majority of Nigerians are hungry. They truly want to know why our currency has been devalued twice in less than two months if everything is alright as the government wants us to believe. They are tired of living on promises that nobody will fulfill. They find it hard to believe that our country is destined to fail and cannot comprehend why it should be the duty of the President to come and be personally involved in inducing Lagosians with money or why our Vice-President should be desperate to the extent of leaving government business in Abuja and move office to Kaduna, for one week, to go and, like his boss, personally share money shamelessly.

    Our condition is even more worrisome now as the government appears not to know what to do to stop the naira from its daily slip against other currencies. Everybody is alarmed because never in our history has the naira been so battered, not even in the dark days of the Abacha regime because the naira was stable at 83 to one dollar even in the face of sanctions against the country then.  Unfortunately, the President seems more comfortable with the deceits and concocted message of acceptance he gets from his aides and the manipulated report of upwards movement of the economy he receives from his voodoo economists who for selfish reasons, always tell him that there is no cause for alarm. That is why he is still being fooled that Nigerians want him and will vote for him. But if only the president can ponder over the precarious situation the country is in now and compare it with when he was elected four years ago, he will be able to appreciate the extent at which things have really gone bad. In 2011, the naira was 120 to one dollar and Nigerians were crying; that time, kidnapping had not become so lucrative as it is today and that time, impunity had not reached the level it is now. That time, people still looked up to government to provide them security and that time, the country was one whole entity without a Boko Haram republic. Today, because the President has used the last four years pursuing his ambition, Nigeria has attained a terrorist nation status and more people have been killed by the insurgents than even during the civil war. We have entrenched corruption as a way of life so much that even stealing, to us, is no longer corruption; our naira now exchanges for over 200 to the dollar, and everybody now virtually lives in the hand of God, as the government cannot guarantee security for anybody. In fact, the only people that are getting it right, as far as the president is concerned, are the liars who tell him that the whole country wants him to run.

    The big question is of what use is the mandate that the President is seeking when he cannot use it to better the people. Why does he need another four years when he has not justified the current term?  Why should Nigerians re-elect him when he has failed his promises to them? Why is he going back on his words that whatever he cannot achieve in four years he won’t be able to do in 100 years? One is not sure that it is the same picture of Nigeria that the people are seeing that the president is seeing. Or could it be that it is his obsession for power that is taking the best of him?

    The president has to come clean about his agenda for the country now. He has to weigh his options and take a quick decision on the direction he wants the country to head for the sake of keeping the country together. He has to now decide which friends he wants to keep so that he can take a decision on which formula to apply to stop the country from meandering like a rudderless ship as it is currently doing. The President must now accept reality that change is inevitable and that change cannot be achieved if the country will still do things the same way by the same people using the same formula and allow the Nigerian people have their way. Everybody knows that Nigeria is sick and needs deliverance but whether the President will jettison his penchant for office and allow the CHANGE pill being offered by the people to save the country depends on how patriotic he is and more importantly whether he actually sees himself as the father of the nation. Perhaps it is right for the President to know that it doesn’t remove anything from him to step down and bow to the wishes of the Nigerian masses who are clamouring for that change. In fact, doing this will portray him as a statesman who loves Nigeria and will make him go down in history as the hero of our democracy.  It will give him a global fame, increase his coast and give him respect and recognition across generations. This is the best the President can do for himself, our country and our generation so that our case will not be like Libya or Syria.

    Therefore, the president should quickly call his praise singers to sheath their swords, mellow down on their aggressive and desperate politics and stop heating up the polity. Their unguarded statements in the name of politics and their careless behaviour are not in his best interest . What Nigeria needs now is to make a statement that we are truly the giant of Africa which will always show the world the best part of us. That is why the president should move the country forward with maturity, magnanimity and understanding. By allowing the people to have their way, he too will write his name in gold.

     

    •Ibirogba is a member of Lagos State Executive Council