The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Naming

  • Labour plans naming, shaming of debtor-governors

    NIGERIA Labour Congress (NLC) President Comrade Ayuba Wabba yesterday warned state governors owing salaries of their workers and pensioners that international disgrace and embarrassment await them in the countries they visit henceforth.

    Wabba, who is the newly elected president of International Trade Union Confederation, the global trade union body, said workers across the globe would be mobilised to embarrass any governor who travel to other countries without first paying salaries of workers and their pensioners.

    He said Nigerian governments have no basis to treat workers and pensioners the way they are being treated because the country has enough resources to take care of its people.

    Speaking at the 2018 International Pensioners Day celebration in Abuja, Wabba also told the governors that it was criminal for them to deduct pension contributions from workers’ salaries and failing to remit same to the pension fund administrators.

    He asked Nigerian workers, especially those working in the nation’s airport to be on the watch out for such governors and inform him accordingly of the countries such governors are heading to.

    Wabba said workers in such countries would promptly be mobilised to embarrass and chase away such governors on arrival in such countries.

    “With our new position offering leadership to all workers across the world, because ITUC represents 207 million workers in 163 countries with 331 Labour centres.

    “I have told our members clearly that any governor that refuses to pay salaries and use our resources to travel and enjoy himself elsewhere, they should be sure that they will be confronted anywhere they go.

    Read also: PDP: we’re committed to peaceful elections

    “In my capacity as ITUC President, we have already issued that notice. Just be on the watch out. Our workers at the airport should be on the watch out for any of them not paying salaries, if they are leaving the shores of our country; just let us know the country they are going to and we will mobilise workers over there and from the airport, they will be disgraced and chased away.

    “That is the way to go because Nigerians must demand for accountability, transparency and the rule of law. We have more than enough and we are not a poor country. We are the leading economy in Africa and have the resources. It is all about mismanagement with few people looting our resources.

    “Looting is no longer done in millions, but in billions and you wonders what the person will do with it. We should use our resources to build our country and make life bearable for all Nigerians. I want to thank you for all the sacrifice you have made to build our nation.”

    He hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for paying 50 per cent of benefits of Nigeria Airway retirees.

    “Many of them have died, but this is worthy of commendation. However he should also look at the balance and the same gesture should be extended to all other retirees,” he said.

    Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) National President Dr. Abel Afolayan said pensioners have gone through thick and thin in the process of payment of their retirement benefits.

    The leadership of the union, he said, is determined to end the pains, tears and unbearable sufferings arising from payment of pensioners’ legitimate entitlements at the federal and state levels.

     

  • Naming and shaming corruption

    The great Chinua Achebe once spoke about the fact that his novels were not innocent. For each of them, from ‘Things Fall Apart’ to ‘No Longer at Ease’, ‘Arrow of God’ to ‘Anthills of Savannah’ and ‘A Man of the People’, there was a motive. Reading through Bolaji Olatunde’s sophomore novel, ‘Hang No Clothes Here’, gives me the feeling that the author is guilty of having a motive for the ambitious work.

    For me, the motive seems to centre on naming and shaming corruption in many facets of our lives, especially in Abuja, the police, among politicians, in the church and what-have-you.

    The book reminds me of the Apo Six wasted by policemen in Abuja, our Federal Capital Territory without any just cause. It brings to mind the failure of local, state and federal authorities. It reminds me of the brazen corruption, which every successive claims to be fighting. And it makes me think again about the role of destiny in what we become in life. ‘Hang No Clothes Here’ examines all these themes through the life of an Assistant Superintendent of Police, John Braimoh.

    The book kicks off with an attack on Braimoh and his family on their way to church. The men who attack him warn him to appear before a panel and say the truth or risk incurring their wrath. He has been having nightmares as a result of the matter and his philandering pastor has prayed against the nightmares.

    With such an opening, Olatunde, who is also a playwright, sets the mind of a reader ablaze, with questions. With 505 pages to the end of the book, a reader must be patient to flip the pages to answer the questions agitating his or her mind.

    Braimoh eventually appears before the panel and offers what Donald Trump will prefer to describe as ‘alternative truth’ instead of the lie that it truly is. Not long after appearing before the panel, Braimoh and other colleagues in the know of the mysterious death of some youths are transferred to far-flung places. Lagos is where Braimoh gets sent to. He is yet to settle in Lagos when he is summoned back to Abuja following the mysterious death of his brilliant first son.

    Back in Abuja, his colleague and friend Dennis Omoruyi tells him of a plot that can ensure they are returned to the FCT. It involves cracking drug cartels operating out of the nation’s capital. The quest sees Braimoh risking his life and in the process discovering that Omoruyi’s hands are soiled. No wonder he lives far beyond his means. Thanks to ‘correct runs’ and his audacity to threaten a colleague given the task of probing him.

    The novel also explores ‘local’ corruption in the activities of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board set up to fight hawking, but which turns out to become a means of exploiting the poor. On page 22, it is noted that “The seized goods had to be bailed out, with good money and the bail, one could swear, never got to the AEPB’s coffers.”

    We also see jibes being thrown at elected officials who are fond of manipulating people by giving them small gifts to do their dirty work. On page 66, the author writes: “I know their game. These cutlasses are the ones they’ll use to fight the coming elections. All those thief, thief governors in Yoruba land. If your people like, they should let them steal the election again like they did in 2003. Your people hmm! Once they see small small money, their body go start to shake like say they hit one kain jackpot. For a small thing like a cutlass, these hungry people I’m seeing can kill for this yeye governor… O boy, we don’t have leaders again o! What we have is leader-shit.”

    Olatunde lays bare the corruption in the police. We hear of cheating in the police entrance examination. “I found out later that she was there to write for another candidate who was admitted. The cadet she wrote for is now an ASP,” writes the author.

    Male chauvinism, as represented by Omoruyi, also gets its due in this book. Omoruyi, on page 67, screams: “I can’t marry any woman till I die. Women no too get sense like that o. Why do you think the Bible said they should not talk in the church?”

    Omoruyi sees women as good for ‘sex and cooking and rearing children’. The fool later falls in love and craves marriage.

    The challenges posed by marriage across tribal divides also get explored. But generous treatment is given the political class fond of stealing public funds, stashing them in foreign accounts and impoverishing their nation. It also flays spending money on medical tourism when the stolen funds can go a long way in giving us the best medical facilities and basic amenities.

    The novel goes beyond the physical realm. A chunk of it deals with the metaphysical and destiny. The opening lines of the book actually let us in early enough on the role of orisa in the life of the protagonist. His trials and his triumphs.

    The beauty of this work is in its treatment of the metaphysical. The whole novel is actually like conversations between Braimoh and his Travel Companion. To this Companion, he talks about his marriage, his career and his misfortunes in ways a reader is bound to follow and see where it will all lead. “The mind is heavy with the past and it must be unburdened, but slowly…”, he declares on page 123.

    After Braimoh discovers Omoruyi’s role in his son’s death and the fact that he has hidden important facts from him, he turns against him and it is not surprising he takes him out when the chance comes his way.

    After taking out Omoruyi and discovering scary facts, Braimoh has to run from his past because returning to it will end it all. He chooses as dictated by the orisa “to live a life devoted to learning the mysteries of life”.

    I doff my hat for Olatunde for his handling of predestination and all that. His picturesque representation of Abuja is outstanding. The FCT sure comes alive in this work. No book that I have read has made me see Abuja in its birthday suit like this intriguing novel. His stunning treatment of Abuja reminds me of what Toni Kan and Igoni A. Barret do to contemporary Lagos in ‘The Carnivorous City’ and ‘Black Ass’.

    Olatunde demonstrates a good grasp of story-telling, which makes the book a page-turner despite its 505 pages. For me, it is a great read. He sure merits being shortlisted for the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prose Prize.

    I, however, wait to see what a European or an American reader, especially pro-gay rights-oriented, will think of his treatment of the touchy subject of sexual preference. Perhaps doing this review on an American soil makes me cringe at Olatunde’s typical African treatment of the subject. He spares no punch.

    Please go and get a copy of this book. I recommend it.

  • Naming a dog ‘Buhari’

    SIR: A citizen, Joachim Chinakwe Iroko was recently arrested by the Ogun State Police Command and immediately charged to court over alleged attempts to cause ethno-religious violence within the division. The suspect was accused ofnaming and labelling his dog with “Alhaji Buhari” and paraded same in a community largely dominated by northerners and Muslims.

    The issue is that no offence was committed by mere naming of a dog after President Buhari or any other persons. As a matter of fact, a dog that is gallant and terrifying could be named after a renowned soldier. A gentle one will in similar manner be named after a hero with such traits; a good-looking also takesafter a hero in like manner. Possibly, a dog that is a no-nonsense warlord in its environment could be named after a distinguished public figure on anti-corruption like President Buhari.  In other words, no harm was done to the President by the act. However, the locus situ (place of the event), inferred intentions and the manner it was done could competently make it constitute a crime in criminal law, particularly attempt to cause ethno-religious violence or breach of public peace. If the accused only named his dog ‘Buhari’ but did not tag the name and deliberately parade it in Hausa-Muslim community, his arrest by the Police would have amounted to false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and even a breach of his Freedom of Expression which is a fundamental right available to all citizens. Incidentally, the Police vested with powers to ensure a peaceful and harmonious society is under a duty to arrest and prevent anyone suspected to be involved in acts capable of creating chaos and breakdown of laws and orders.

    Commendably, the arrest of the suspect and largely the situation as a preventive security is a desideratum rather than the reactionary security. The police should likewise be commended for charging him to court closely rather than the usual torturing and illegal detention. Interestingly, the court is the temple of justice and the focal point of the judiciary; the last hope of the common man. Hence, if truly the president is linked to dragging the accused to the court, he still deserves no condemnation since the cardinal purpose of a court is justice and conflict resolution.

    However, the President Buhari should be respectfully disassociated from the matter since it is not a civil matter. For the fact the matter was charged to the court without delay should be viewed extensively as a dividend of democracy knowing that both parties are now facing the court which has a competent jurisdiction to strike out even the President’s case if it is found top lack merit. Hence, to tag the President a tyrant over a civic responsibility; dragging a citizen to the court of law, is regrettably a misnomer, rather implies the president believes in the rule of law and equality before the law which are the hallmarks of democracy.

    Nevertheless, citizens’ actions that could lead to anarchy should be condemned overtly and discouraged at all cost knowing too well that where the rights of one ends is where that of another starts. Anarchy does not know boundaries or relatives. It could destroy beyond imaginations. Prior to taking some reckless and aimless actions, wisdom demands they are thoroughly self-scrutinized to weigh its likely values or demerits to the society at large. This is meanderingly, a core concept of community-policing.

     

    • Carl Umegboro,

    umegborocarl@gmail.com

  • SANs, top politicians disagreee over naming of suspected looters

    SANs, top politicians disagreee over naming of suspected looters

    Prominent Nigerians yesterday disagreed over the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to “name and shame” looters of the treasury.

    While some are of the view that the Federal Government acted well by not reading the names of those who have refunded looted cash, others believe the non-disclosure of their names has robbed negatively on the anti-corruption war.

    Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Niyi Akintola  yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on corruption and the economy because, according to him, Nigerians are suffering.

    He said the President disappointed Nigerians by refusing to disclose the names of looters, whose activities led to the economic adversity and despair in the land.

    The lawyer, who spoke with The Nation on phone, advised President Buhari to suspend the rule of law for a season so that he can genuinely fight against corruption with speed and efficiency.

    He said the N74 billion recovered from suspected looters fell below expectation, adding that the Federal Government should beam the searchlight on former government officials.

    But, to a Lagos politician, Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Basorun, disclosing the names of suspected looters is risky and may be counter-productive.

    He said: “The disclosure by the Federal Government that the huge amount has been recovered is excellent. It is the right step in the right direction. But, no name can be mentioned now. If you mention their names, they will not return the rest of the money.. If you mention their names, they will resort to litigation to frustrate the process.”

    Akintola, who recalled that he was at the forefront of the clamour for the return of looted funds, maintained that the non-disclosure of suspected looters is a minus to the anti-graft war.

    He said: “The refusal to disclose names fell below expectation. We should name them and name them. Who made the refund? from which ministry? Which agency? We want to know from what sector. We are yet to get refund from the oil sector. What about the pension scam; the aviation sector? They claimed to have repaired Yola airport. It has spoilt again. They said they repaired the Murtala Muhammed Airport, but they are using buckets to clear the water there during the raining season.

    “What about the SURE-P? There is the allegation that the recruitment of beneficiaries in Yobe is sectional. A minister even told me that they are not even from the state. What about the NNPC?”

    In Akintola’s view, it is sad that only N78 billion was recovered in the last one year.

    He said the Federal Government should declare a state of emergency on corruption and the economy, stressing that the anti-graft battle will only be fought with speed and vigour, if the country can suspend the rule of law for one year.

    The lawyer also advised the Federal Government to expand the personnel for fighting corruption, adding that, apart from expanding and fortifying the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC), the State Security Service (SSS), the police and other agencies should be part of the coordinated approach.

    He also said the anti-corruption war should be extended  to the 36 states by governors, who should investigate the activities of past government officials.

    Akintola added: “Attention is not paid to corruption in the states. Governors should look at the states. They take bonds and spend it on elections.”

    The lawyer also urged the government to spend the recovered money judiciously by investing in capital projects for the benefit of the people.

    He added: “Government should stop being bad economic managers. They should use the money to tackle infrastructural decay. Don’t keep the money in the bank. Inflation will catch up with it. The money will not be productive.  Obasanjo left N70 billion in the reserves. The Jonathan administration spent it and left N17 billion when it was leaving. The Bible says the foolish man is keeping money without knowing who will spend it.”

    The chairman of United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said looters should be punished to deter others.

    He said: “The money recovered so far is mind boggling. The amount, put together, is about N3.5 trillion, an amount more than 2015 budget. President Buhari must be commended for refusing to be blackmailed that the anti corruption fight is one-sided.

    “Government should be encouraged to deploy the money toward doing what is good for the people.  The government should also map out measures to make public officers account for any money entrusted to them because there will always be a day of reckoning.”

    Okorie added that those who were allocated funds and never bothered to find out the source of the money, but refunded the money should be spared.

    “Those who used their offices to make this kind of money should not be spared because there is no evidence that they have returned all the money in their care.

    “This will serve a lesson to people who are likely to engage in such practices in future, that there is no running away from law.”

    Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN), Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN) and Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN) said the government deserved praises for not hiding the returned assets.

    But, another former NBA President Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), said the looters should be “named and shamed” to deter others.

    Olanipekun said: “May I first commend those who advised the Federal Government not to publicise the names of the purported or so called looters. Doing so would have resulted in protracted litigation against the government for libel and defamation. I doubt if the recovered sums would have been sufficient to meet or offset the damages which various courts would have awarded against the government by those who believe they’ve been defamed and blasphemed.”

    According to him, Nigerians should be careful at labelling every person who returns money to government as a looter without weighing the peculiar circumstances and the contingencies compelling the return.

    For instance, he said a citizen who was awarded a contract by the past administration and who received advance payment cannot be fairly described as a looter if the present administration compels him to make a refund, using coercive powers of state to back up the demand.

    “Another citizen who, on his own volition goes to the government to make a refund or return of money transferred or lodged into his account by a serving government functionary who wanted to use him as a front cannot, in good conscience, be described as a looter.

    “Rather, he should be commended. It’s also fluid whether we can stigmatise any citizen as a looter without a court pronouncement adjudging that person as such,” Olanipekun said.

    He urged the government to lay more emphasis on preventing corruption and wanton looting of the treasury rather than always crying over spilt milk and entertaining Nigerians with stories of looting.

    “Why is the treasury so porous? Why is government the easiest way of making money without working? Why do political office holders see political appointments as a payback time by their appointors?  Why is the race and struggle to become ministers or commissioners or board members still a question of do or die?

    “Why is politics the most lucrative profession and enterprise in Nigeria? Why do we have so much excesses at the federal level to the disadvantage of the so-called federating states , and to the extent that a federal assistant director is more powerful than a governor? Why are we afraid and scared at restructuring our warped and fake federalism and diluting the awesome powers and riches at the centre? More questions than answers?

    “For now, I advise the government to divert all the funds claimed to have been recovered into revamping our decaying infrastructure, particularly our educational sector at the tertiary level and all the federal roads which are caving in , if they’ve not already totally caved in.

    “Before then, the government must let us have details of the accounts where the recoverd funds are lodged without necessarily revealing the names of the payees. This is very important as higher figures had been released and or bandied in the past as coming from recovered loot.

    “We should be very transparent on this matter. If any money has been recovered on behalf of any state , the federal government should return it to the state concerned immediately , and should not convert it to federal property,” Olanipekun said.

    But, Akeredolu said looters should have been named. His words: “We commend the government for its efforts so far in the recovery of these sums.

    “I hold the view that releasing the names of those from whom the monies were recovered would send a clearer message of the government’s determination to rid the country of this cankerworm called corruption, which has eaten too deep into the fabric of our society.”

    Former governor of old Anambra State Chief Jim Nwobodo commended the Buhari administration for making public details of recovered looted funds.  He said: “It is a plus for President Muhammadu Buhari and his government. It is a good thing that the government was able to recover such huge amount within one year.

    “The recovered fund will assist the government in executing projects contained in the 2016 budget. Those criticising the president’s fight against corruption should have a re-think. The anti-graft war is yielding positive result.

    “I support the president in its efforts to get rid of corruption in the system. He should not relent until every kobo looted from the public treasury are recovered. Now we have a leader that Nigerians can trust.”

    To Fagbohungbe, naming names could result in needless litigation, and may defeat the purpose.

    “If their names are published, those who still want to return stolen money may become reluctant and scared. If they are charged to court, the matter will be prolonged.

    “Technically, what they have done is plea bargaining. We should not forget that government needs the money to execute a lot of programmes. The government should go ahead and direct its attention to recovering more of the stolen moneyý. Litigation will only impede recovery,” Fagbohungbe said.

    But, Prof Ajayi said except there was an agreement, the government should name the circumstances in which the assets were returned.

    “There is no law that says you cannot disclose. It is neither in the Constitution nor in any law. I do not know of any except there is an agreement not to do so,” he said.

    To Ngige, there is no point naming suspected looters when they have not been tried and convicted by a court of law.

    “The government’s decision is right and proper. This will encourage other looters to return their loot or part of it. The government deserves commendation for its act of transparency in informing the nation on the details of the recovered loot,” he said.

    Prof Akinseye-George said it would be improper to name those who returned looted assets, especially if there was a promise by the government not to do so, as any government which does not keep its promise would be seen as not trustworthy and lacking in integrity.

    “Breaking the promise not to mention their names would be a disincentive to others. They will go into the trenches and use the ill-gotten money to fight the government, using the rule of law. That’s why the lawyers are there to protect all, including suspected looters. All the cases so far being prosecuted have not yielded as much as those plea bargained in terms of assets recovery. All the negative publicity in the papers are meaningless without convictions.

    “Stealing from the country was condoned by past Governments and many Nigerians were involved. Politicians needed huge sums of money to win elections. Delegates to primary elections and voters in general elections were bribed openly by political ‘money bags’. Where did all the money come from? No genuine business man would spend his hard-earned money the way politicians spent looted assets,” he said.

    According to Akinseye-George, while asset recovery is welcome, government ought to pay attention to the root causes of corruption.

    The first major cause, he said, is the excessive use of money to influence the outcome of party primaries and general elections. This, he believes, calls for a fundamental overhaul of the electoral system because it creates an unhealthy rivalry amongst political office holders who often feel pressured to abuse their offices in order to gather funds to compete in future elections.

    “The former administration entrenched corruption. The present administration is merely treating the symptoms of corruption. We need to begin to address the root causes. This is the greatest change Nigeria needs.

    “If this Government does not make it impossible for corrupt people to manipulate elections, they will use their money and influence to block the change intended by this government. It is a great shame that former PDP governors and some incumbents are already regrouping to take over the government when they should be behind bars. Government must not treat the issue of corruption with kid gloves,” he said.

    A member of the Ogun State Judiciary Commission, Abayomi Omoyinmi, said the looters should have been named.

    “ýI feel the government should have named such persons, not necessarily that it will amount to shaming such persons, but at least for the people of Nigeria to know people or persons that have looted our treasury.

    “In any case those that are charged to court are known already. I say this because some of these people do not care about shame,” he said.

    Former Minister of Works and Housing Chief Ebenezer Babatope said the government should have done more than releasing the figures.

    “They are just talking about corruption without getting to the root. What message and lesson is the government impacting? Government said it had recovered money, but no name is written against the money recovered. You cannot publish amount without giving us names of those who took the money. That is not how to fight corruption; the names of those who took the money should appear beside the amount they returned.”

    To Lagos lawyer Mr. Festus Keyamo, the returned money indicate that a lot of stealing took place in the past.

    “The money was not picked from the dustbin, human beings were responsible for that. It only goes a long a way to confirm what has been going on in the country. My own concern is that people are still bringing partisanship into the issue.

    “This is our common patrimony, and I thought that we are on the course of recovering our common patrimony; therefore, we should put partisanship aside in order to recover the looted funds.

    “It is just like the case of an armed robber who stole money and someone pursues the robber and recoveres the money, but another person is saying ‘why did you fight the robber so hard to collect the money?’ Some are saying that the federal government is recovering money without regard to the rule of law; I think that is not fair enough on the government. We must encourage the government to recover looted funds.

    “The last time we had something like this was during the regime of General Murtala Mohammed; we had such aggressiveness in fighting corruption. We also had this in the first coming of Buhari and incidentally he is the one that is doing the same thing again. I think everybody should support him in the fight against corruption,” Keyamo said.

    The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said the government should publish the names of high-ranking public officials from whom the public funds were recovered.

    It also advised the government to  spend the recovered funds in a transparent manner so as to remove opportunities for re-looting of the recovered loot.

    In a statement issued yesterday by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation described the publication of the recovered stolen funds as a positive development towards entrenching a culture of transparency and accountability in government.

    The organisation advised: “The recovered funds must be spent to directly benefit Nigeria’s most vulnerable populations, particularly to improve their access to quality education, healthcare including for children, women and the elderly, and regular and uninterrupted electricity supply. It will be a double jeopardy for victims of corruption if recovered funds are re-looted, as it was the case with Sani Abacha recovered loot.”

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. John Olushola Bayeshea yesterday the release of the list of recovered funds by the Federal Government has vindicated President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to transparency.

    He said the government should also involve Nigerians on how the loot will be used for the nation’s development.

    Bayeshea, who with our correspondent, said: “I think it is a very transparent and honest information frpm the government. We don’t have this kind of transparency often. This is the first time I will see the Federal Government being transparent. That is vintage Buhari.

    “I am saying so because when ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration recovered some funds from the Abachas and others, we never knew the value of the amount. And under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, the situation got worse. The $2.1billion arms procurement cash was part of the Abacha loot but it was re-looted.

    “I hope the money will be well utilized and the government should publish what they will use the recovered funds for. Nigerians should be carried along.”

  • Toddler disappears during naming

    Toddler disappears during naming

    •Human parts found near herbalist’s home

    There is tension in Inuosegba community off Akorede Estate in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, following the discovery of items-severed human wrist, pupils’ bags, uniforms and ladies underwear- in a building.

    The discovery was made during the search for a missing 18-months-old child.

    The toddler, identified as Hezekiah Opeyemi Ogundele, was playing at the venue of a naming ceremony at 4:10 pm on Sunday.

    But while the ceremony was yet to begin, the child was discovered to have vanished.

    It was gathered that the naming of Mr. Olusola Osunleke’s daughter was put on hold indefinitely.

    Apprehensive guests, including the cleric, who was to officiate at the ceremony, began to comb the surrounding bushes and homes, searching for the child.

    During the search, they discovered the severed wrist of an adult human being, ladies’ underwear and children’s items near a bungalow, 35 metres away from the venue.

    Upon approaching the building, two persons sighted near the premises claimed they did not see a toddler.

    It was gathered that later in the day, Ogundele’s uncle returned to the building, forced the door open, where he saw strange things.

    Following surveillance of the building, a commercial motorcycle operator who visited the building was arrested and handed over to the police at the Lafenwa Divisional Police Headquarters, Abeokuta.

    The Nation visited the building believed to owned by a herbalist,  Olasile Ifayemi, and witnessed vandalising of the over seven room bungalow,  desecration of his shrine and destruction of over a dozen pots of horrifying fetish objects.

    The palpably bewildered residents said they never knew that a young herbalist lived in their midst and runs a ritualists’ den in the neighbourhood.

    Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), police battled to control the crowd which was bent on torching the building.

    The 26-year-old fashion designer and mother of the missing child, Elizabeth, said she was preparing to attend the ceremony when she discovered that her son has disappeared.

    According to her, during the search she saw two young men in a building adjacent to the Osunlekes’ house and asked them if they saw her son, which they denied.

    She said while walking away, she instinctively looked back and saw the two men making strange signals to each other which prompted some women to storm the building but they scared the women away by stripping themselves naked.

    But before the men got to the building, the occupants had fled. But one of them who returned later was apprehended and kept in police custody.

    “I started searching for my son, and searched a new bungalow where I saw two men sitting outside the house. I asked if they saw my boy, but they looked at each other and replied no.

    “As I turned away, they started laughing.  I searched behind the house where I saw many fetish objects. I quickly turned back and I couldn’t find the young men again, so I called my husband Daniel and he reported to the police.”

    Police Commissioner Abdulmajid Ali said investigation has begun.

    He said: “I want to make it clear to the people that I am here to work and reduce crime.

    “The site that was discovered has no relationship with the boy and other human parts found there.

    “We will let you see what really happened when we finish our investigation.”

  • Naming the nameable

    Although it sounded like incremental repetition, it added little to the state of things and ultimately proved to be effectively unuseful.  If the ambition of Nobelist Wole Soyinka was to concretely reinforce the allegations by Australian Stephen Davis concerning certain perceived local pillars of the rampaging Islamist guerilla force Boko Haram, his intervention did not match his purpose.

    It was disappointing that the tigrish public intellectual apparently fell below his own standards as his lent his influential voice to the urgent project of unveiling those who nourish the terrorists. In his publicised statement on the characters named by Davis, titled “The wages of impunity,” Soyinka unbelievably chose the path of harmless assault. In particular, his mention of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, a former governor of Borno State, merely followed the beaten track.

    Intriguingly, the literary champion failed to supply the missing letters that would have defined the identity of the unnamed senior official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fingered by Davis. This lost opportunity to provide additional information of a radical nature, which the moment represented, may never be regained.

    It is apt to wonder whether similar reasons informed the conscious silence of the two men, and what those grounds could be. Between Davis, the foreign “negotiator”, and Soyinka, the native mediator, was a common ground of mystifying unspecificity. In the case of the famed writer, his pauses were especially perturbing because of his dramatised conviction. He said: “Finally, Stephen Davis also mentions a Boko Haram financier within the Nigerian Central Bank. Independently, we are able to give backing to that claim, even to the extent of naming the individual. In the process of our enquiries, we solicited the help of a foreign embassy whose government, we learnt, was actually on the same trail, thanks to its independent investigation into some money laundering that involved the Central Bank.”

    Having gone so far in building a base for his insight, Soyinka was expected to carry the architecture of truth to a logical conclusion. But he acted against his own construction. The same man said in the statement: “Truth – in all available detail – is in the interest, not only of Nigeria, the sub-region and the continent, but of the international community whose aid we so belatedly moved to seek.” Or perhaps it was a different mind that promoted unrestrained truthfulness in the context of the socially tormenting terror war.

    The truth is that an anti-climactic treatment of the idea of full disclosure, such as Soyinka demonstrated, cannot be in the country’s interest, both in local and international terms; and it is puzzling that the master of fiction, which is known as  “the truthful lie”, did not pursue non-fictional truth to its fullest extent.

    In what was tantamount to ridiculous buck passing, Soyinka said: “That name, we confidently learnt, has also been passed on to President Jonathan. When he is ready to abandon his accommodating policy towards the implicated, even the criminalized, an attitude that owes so much to his re-election desperation, when he moves from a passive “letting the law to take its course” to galvanizing the law to take its course, we shall gladly supply that name.”

    The theatre of war created by Boko Haram is so gravely threatening that the kind of dramatic suspense employed by Soyinka is not only dangerous and unacceptable; it raises the serious suspicion that the script may be a travesty of truth. If, truly, the pluralistic entity Soyinka credited with possession of the truth knows these things, why wait for Jonathan to act on the same information that has allegedly been passed on to him? Does Jonathan actually have this information?

    In a profound sense, by keeping his cards close to his chest on such a burning issue, Soyinka can be reasonably criticised for adopting an “accommodating” approach towards the inculpated, the same accusation he made against Jonathan.  Evidently, this is a case in which illumination is accompanied by opacity; for it would appear that Soyinka does not see the concealment of identity as suggestive of subtle complicity. It is a tragic unawareness for a critic who reasoned that “The unleashing of a viperous cult like Boko Haram on peaceful citizens qualifies as a crime against humanity.”

    Armed with a claimed knowledge of the friends of terrorisers in high places, particularly those who fund terroristic activities, which is invaluable information that can assist in the resolution of the crisis, it is untenable to conveniently accuse someone else of alleged lethargy, or even an abandonment of responsibility. It may not be far-fetched to qualify such attitude as vicariously guilty of a crime against humanity.  By supplying “that name”, it is possible to galvanize the law from the outside, without necessarily attributing such responsibility exclusively to Jonathan. Assuming that the information is available to Jonathan, what if he eventually ignored it for whatever reason?  How long will others in possession of the same detail wait to reveal it?

    It mirrors a clear contradiction for Soyinka to express intense unease about the situation, yet indirectly contribute to its perpetuation by this deafening quiet. Should he be taken seriously then, and his observation, “we twiddle our thumbs, wondering when and how this nightmare will end, and time rapidly runs out”?

    Naming the mysterious individual shouldn’t be such a big deal, unless there is perhaps something else Soyinka knows which makes him tongue-tied; the same reflection applies to Davis. If the individual is not nameless, and therefore nameable, what is the import of this performance of silence? To expect the presidency, and possibly the CBN, to react to nothingness, which the unspecificness represents, when they could be more stingingly pricked by a direct, detailed and explicit picture, amounts to a denial of personal responsibility, which is distinct from institutional responsibility; and it is also a ludicrous trivialisation of the confrontation with evil.

    There is no doubt about Soyinka’s tigerishness and dazzling track record as a conscientious opposer of evil, but at 80 years of age it is probable that his claws are blunted and only an impotent rage is left. If a personality of his stature will not name names when it is socially redemptive to do so, then the society is in abysmal trouble.