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Tag: North

US and 12 North’s governors

How I look forward to that day when a president or governor of mine would be in power for four years without travelling to any oyinbo man’s country for one reason or the other. That for me would be the day that Nigeria finally attains independence. But Nigeria remains in bondage – colonial bondage, mental bondage that has left us bewilderingly underdeveloped.

Look all around you. It has to be a British international school or American university for it to be of acceptable quality. There has to be a white skin managing our football or running our shop for it to gain validity. On the social media, you see our young, virile men wedding some shrivelled white women who could have been their grandmothers right here in Nigeria’s marriage registries with friends and relatives ‘rejoicing’ with them.

We didn’t want the Whiteman; we fought for freedom from colonialism but today ship about 80 per cent of our resources both at individual level and as a nation back to the Whiteman. Every young man or woman wants to travel ‘abroad’. Most of our pregnant women would rather travel to the US to be delivered of their baby. We want to dress like the Whiteman, we eat mainly imported food.

But most troubling is that our leaders – the politicians, intelligentsia and the business class who ought to know better – seem to think that what defines their essence best are their foreign bank accounts, mansions abroad, the foreign schools their children attend or how many times they fly abroad each year.

Our men in power who ought to show better examples if not patriotic zeal seem not to know any better or care. With only a few exceptions, most governors travel abroad more than they tour their states. Recall that President Olusegun Obasanjo shuttled the world as if time was running out on him. He claimed he was trying to reunite an estranged Nigeria to the rest of the world. He claimed he was on the hunt of foreign investors.

President Goodluck Jonathan also did a bit of sight-seeing and Muhammadu Buhari after him has not lagged behind in executive junketing. It explains why Nigeria’s Presidential Jet Fleet is among the largest in the world. Obasanjo and Jonathan acquired more jets and Buhari would not let go of them even in these lean times. Such is the colonial tragedy that a country that cannot maintain a national carrier has more jets in its presidential fleet than UK, US, Germany and Japan put together.

This long prologue brings us to the matter of the day. As you read this, 12 governors from the North may still be in the United States of America. According to report, they have travelled under the auspices of the US Institute for Peace (USIP). They were also hosted at the White House on Wednesday. It was not reported whether the governors met with President Barack Obama. But they met with Obama’s National Security Adviser, Susan Rice; US secretary of State, John Kerry among other top state officials. Recall that last August when Kerry visited Nigeria he only toured northern Nigeria and met with the 19 governors of the North. That visit sparked heated controversy, as many in the South viewed it with deep suspicion. They wondered whether Kerry was on a state visit or a visit to the Northern Nigeria.

The Christian Association of Nigeria described it as divisive and inimical to the unity of Nigeria.

With this current visit, which was almost secretive, apprehension is rife as to the motive. Yes with religious extremism in the north of Nigeria, which culminated in the Boko Haram terror war of the past five years, it is understandable that the US would want to engage the leaders of the North a lot more. But other parts of the country, especially leaders with foreign mentality, would feel left out and indeed take it as being punishment for being of good behaviour.

Beyond the north-south dichotomy, as far as most of these governors are concerned, it is the photo opportunity with Obama, Kerry or Rice that matters. For them, visiting America is merely a junket of sight-seeing, shopping and salting away a few more dollars.

Our governors are hardened and cast in bronze. Nothing moves them except the sweet perquisites of office, looting of treasury and the next election. This is the life of most Nigerian governors; they don’t care much about anything else. They know the cause of the problems at every level but they would rather not do the right things.

For instance, which of the governors would truly be accountable? If governors apply as much as 70 per cent of the resources available to their states, there would not be so much poverty and strife in Nigeria.

It is common knowledge that the complete decimation of our local government administration is at the root of most of Nigeria’s problems today. Which of these governors in the US would commit to properly setting up the LGAs in his state? Which of them will apply the funds of the LGAs judiciously, accountably and for the people in the LGAs?

Even if Obama visited these governors everyday; if they lived in the US and worked in Nigeria, nothing will change if they have the same overlord mindset.

Just as Alhaji Kashim Shettima, governor of Borno State, who led the northern governors, feared that Nigerians did not trust their motives for being in the US, we do not trust them; they have not earned our trust. Hear him: “Majority of our citizens will quickly conclude that we are here on jamboree…

“Our visit to Washington is an opportunity to re-engage with our American partners on the most vital issues that can help us to quickly make transition from volatility to a phase of peace development in northern states of Nigeria.”

It is remarkable that elected chief executives of Nigerian states would have to travel thousands of miles to the Whiteman’s land, burning public funds to gain insight on the problems in their backyard. This is happening in 2016. What a calamity!

Abati and the demons of Aso Rock

It might be said that the average Nigerian’s mind may still be fixated at the levels of spirits, demons, principalities and strange, unseen powers. Reuben Abati knows this and he exploited it to the hilt. Last weekend, the social media was abuzz with Abati’s article: The spiritual side of Aso Rock.

Abati was the chief spokesman for the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan. To conjecture or ‘reveal’ if you like that some unseen spirits live in Nigeria’s number one address is indeed a wild-fire material and to come from a ‘learned’ authority who has just left that rarefied edifice, must be some form of holy gospel.

But Abati, one of the best of this profession, was clearly playing to the gallery. He is trying to whip up primordial emotions and perhaps escape with some excuse as to the crashing failure of his boss while in the saddle. We are neither impressed nor taken in.

Both Abati and his principal were swept off by the strong tidal currents of power. It’s understandable, it happens to even the best of leaders. Abati needs to be more sober and reflective so we can all learn the mistakes of that colossal failure. To fail twice would be double tragedy.

October 21, 2016
The North in Nigeria today
- Continued from last week
Those who insist that President Buhari’s administration can do much better in managing the recession, in the all-important fight against corruption within the laws of the land, and in rebuilding a nation united around the values of justice and honest enterprise are not his enemies. Most of them are people who voted for him because they shared his belief that we can live secure lives; that leaders do not have to steal our resources and that our children can live in, and work in a nation they can be proud of.

When northerners say they bear the brunt of bad or poor governance more than other Nigerians, they speak from a solid experience of living under leaders who were inept and corrupt. When the Nigerian economy deteriorates, we feel the pain more sharply than other Nigerians. With security, we can feed ourselves and feed the rest of Nigeria. But when the costs of inputs become prohibitive, threats to lives limit our productive capacities, herds are stolen or limited by hostile and damaging political interests, the economy of the North suffers. We recognise that restructuring the Nigerian economy will involve a tremendous boost in productivity of the assets which the North is blessed with. We look forward to a restructuring process that involves our assets and our interests, but we ask the President and our governors to pay close attention to relieving the hardships and stresses which critical and strategic transitions will involve. We ask to be involved as genuine partners, not as targets of policies and programmes that are designed in capitals. Our people are hardworking and we have no desire to depend on any section of the country beyond what is made necessary by the law and the logic of an inter-dependent economy.

We expect our governors to be in the frontline of the search for credible policies. There are excellent blueprints and suggestions on improving the northern economy which they can utilise. Please reduce your travels around the world. Real investors will come to you. Spend the money you expend on travels in paying salaries and pensions and expanding employment opportunities for young northerners. Out of the adversity that makes it difficult for you to pay salaries, you must discover opportunities. You asked our people in 2015 to trust you. They did. Now you should trust them. You should trust them to elect those they want to lead local governments, the same way you were elected. Do not force them to live under unelected leaders, and allow councils to spend their own funds. If you do not move beyond lamentations, the people will tally up the days you spend outside the country or in Abuja, or how many months they went without salaries and pensions, and how many young people graduated into crimes and drugs under your administration. They will remember what their permanent voter card and the card reader did in 2015, and they will turn their back on you, the same way they did to your predecessors. We will pray for you and support you to find a way out, but if you cannot have the pristine integrity, tenacity, compassion and faith in the people which President Buhari is known for, you would have let down a man whose momentum got you where you are today.

To our fellow citizens outside the North, we say today, as always, that our faith in the prospects for a strong and united Nigeria is still solid. We hear and understand the clamour to re-visit the philosophy, structures and operations of the Nigerian state, and we join in support of any enquiry and change in the manner we live that will improve our security and the quality of our lives. The North has nothing to fear from any restructuring process, provided we are involved not as a problem but as partners who have a stake in a Nigeria that works for all of us. The North has many issues with the operations of the Nigerian state, but it does not routinely insult and blame the elite from other regions for them. On the contrary, we will welcome an opportunity to engage all parts of Nigeria in honest and open-ended discussions on constitutional reforms, the operations of our federal structure and national economy, and all issues which represent major sources of grievance. We want to join others who want to ask why we are paying our legislators so much, whether we need all those in power who take home so much of our resources, why corruption finds it so easy to find space in our judiciary and all critical institutions. Like all Nigerians, we have questions over the manner our nation operates. We want to work with others to establish a basis for identifying what is priority, what is essential, what is fair, what is avoidable and what we need to do as a nation to isolate violence from its central position in our lives.

Until that time when we are able to reach across and speak to each other with deserving respect, the North will continue to share its vision of a nation which has room for all of us in the manner we relate with other Nigerians. We will continue to welcome every Nigerian to live and do business in the North, as evidenced by the existence in many parts of northern cities that are entirely owned by Nigerians from the South. We ask that governors from states that encourage or condone hostility to lawful herdsmen should desist as these actions threaten the very foundations of a peaceful and united country. We ask governors in the North to continue to give land to Christians to build their churches without any legal hindrance, the same way we will demand that Muslims in Christian-dominated parts of the country be given land to build mosques and own property as they should under the law. We urge our governors in the North to pool resources together to establish adequate and safe grazing reserves, as well as engage their colleagues in some states in the South to resist the temptation to endanger the lives of herders or the economy around cattle in which all communities in Nigeria are beneficiaries.

The summit will provide a platform for raising issues that should be raised. We are aware that a few politicians have made an entire career out of demonising and insulting the North and all it stands for. We will not feed these people with more reasons to be important. What the North will do, as it has always done, is to insist that justice is done to it and to everyone else. When people count political appointees and reach conclusions over marginalisation from there, we also count. But we also open up budgets and analyse how much money is allocated to projects in the South and the North; how much is spent on salaries and allowances by the Federal Government whose employees from southern states are in a vast majority. We will demand our fair share of all positions in government, but we see federal character not just in political appointments, we scrutinise quality; we weigh allocations to agriculture, water resources and solid minerals against other sectors; and we ask questions regarding the current condition of roads, such as the Abuja-Kano dual carriage way. We see federal character in the absence of a bank owned by a northerner; in the dangerous de-industrialisation of the North and in the allocation of electric power to various parts of the North.

The North does have a voice, but we prefer to speak in a manner that makes it heard. So, those who are disposed to listen, please listen. Northern votes were not wasted in electing President Buhari. In 2019, we will also use our votes in a manner consistent with our interests as northerners. We did not make a mistake in putting up a solid, united front as northerners in spite of our ethno-religious differences. Those who seek to drive a wedge between us ignore the fact that all northerners suffered the effects of Boko Haram, poverty and poor governance. All northerners feel the pains of this recession. We will not walk away from each other into the damaging arms of political and religious merchants who make capital out of our weaknesses. What we did in 2015 we will do again. Any politician interested in northern votes should work for every northerner, Muslim or Christian, Kilba or Egbira.

For us in the North, policing lives and livelihoods of communities is now a major problem. We understand that some Nigerians want the nation to look beyond the agitations for Biafra for the possibility that genuine grievances exist. We appreciate the wisdom of discussing with people blowing up our assets in the Niger Delta, and the possibility that the nation could discover a more permanent solution to recurring violence. We support the demands that the fight against corruption must be isolated from partisan influences. We support demands for painstaking respect for the rule of law in the fight against corruption, but this is a fight that should not be compromised.

Being a keynote address presented at the Pan-Northern Summit, held at Arewa House, Kaduna on October 10 and 11.
October 19, 2016
Searching for oil in the North
SIR: I would want to use this opportunity to let the Federal Government, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to go back to their records of the oil and gas discovered in OKWIJI in APA LGA of Benue State in the early 70s. Since the discovery, nothing has been done about it.

Hence, I personally consider it a wonderful gesture by the Federal government to explore for oil not only in OKWIJI but other parts of the Northern Nigeria.

I would suggest that the federal government set up an expert committee or delegate some oil exploration experts to Okwiji in Apa LGA of Benue State to see things for themselves without delay. I am ready to give further information any time I am called upon and can as well take either the federal government delegation, the Minister of Petroleum and the GMD of NNPC to Okwiji at their convenience.
- Ngbede Samuel
Ojantelle Ochekwu

Apa LGA, Benue State.
August 19, 2016
The long-awaited tales from the North

Title: Season of Crimson Blossoms
Author: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
Publishers: Parresia Books
Pages: 347

What is it with love that makes one fall in love with a particular person and not the other? Why is it that a girl considered by many as lavishly beautiful and fit to go with a fine macho man would rather go with someone many find intriguing or hard to explain? That is love and that is why we talk about the beauty and the beast. This may not be what Abubakar Adam Ibrahim sets out to explore in his debut novel Season of Crimson Blossoms, but that may be the picture that would resonate deeply in the mind of a reader of this first impressive novel.

It is the story of Hajiya Binta Zubairu, who at fifty five and after many years of living as a widow falls in love with a waif who comes into her house to rob her of her valuables. For her it was love found in a strange and unexpected place. The boy she falls in love with is so young that his son who she loves and adores is by far older than the crook she falls in love with. But love is a feeling psychologists, doctors and scientists have spent eons to try to understand, explain and find explanations for.

Mallam Haruna, the radio carrying successful washman of caps who has been doing his job so finely that his clientele expands as far as to rich and powerful politicians who perhaps would have been expected that Binta would agree to marry is rejected and repulsed by her. All his entreaties to be her suitor fall on deaf ears. Rather she falls for ……who goes by the moniker Reza, Hausa word for razor blade; a name given to him by those who consider him as dangerous as that little weapon. He lives up to the name because he lives in the dark shadows of life and works as a ‘finisher’ for a certain politician for whom he carries out dirty assignments. If he is not working in the shadows for the senator he is the lord of the manor at San Riro where children of questionable origins congregate and live their lives as enforcers for dirty politicians who prefer to use them as canon fodders while sending their own children abroad to read courses that are of little importance to the country.

The novel is a multilayered story of life in the northern part of the country and a detailed look behind the veil and hijab by one of their own. Readers who are not familiar with life in the north are going to have a surfeit of glimpses into it in this book, from people like Dijen Tsamiya, an old wizened marriage counselor who teaches new wives the technique of conceiving and how to “always put your legs up so his seed will run into your womb.”

Hajiya’s discreet affair with a vagabond like Reza was to be her undoing, a few people including her fellow women as the madrasa have been suspecting her movement with Reza, His decoy visits to her house was no longer safe and good they had to relocate to a hotel downtown for their rendezvous which made Haruna to confirm the suspicion he had always been having. Her own restraint in going to the hotel and the return of her daughter who is having a troubled marriage also make her house improper for their trysts. The final crush comes when her only son Munkaila comes on a visit and meets Reza just coming out of the house, this is followed by an unexpected tragedy.

At the end of the book the reader is left wondering who deserves what fate in the story; the con politician who sends his own children to safe school abroad, Reza and his fate in the hand of the politician or Hajiya and her cruel fate of losing a loving son due to her indiscretion? Season of Crimson Blossoms is a book readers would find many interesting vignettes to hang on to and Ibrahim surely is a writer whose talent would continue to blossom. This is a strong story well woven with a rich tapestry of language. He is a writer to bank on.

This leads to another rising voice from that part of the country, Elnathan John’s debut novel Born on a Tuesday is another well knit story of religious intrigue and subtle fight for supremacy within the same faith. Dantala, an almajiri who was sent far away from home finds himself thrown into a world that he tries to understand and find meaning of but it continues to confound him. People whose exterior are pious but are really pilferers of money from the mosque collections, living amidst Dan Daudu (homosexuals), false religionists, dubious politicians and killers.

After leaving home he finds himself living on the fringes with crooks, killers and political thugs while studying at a Sufi school and meets Banda, a gang leader and nominal Muslim. Dantala’s story is that of homelessness and encounter with political violence which he hates and thus decides to run away and seek refuge in a mosque. This also turns out not to be as calming as he thought it would be. He finds out that religion also has its own drawbacks and masqueraders, he falls in love with the daughter of his teacher and in his effort to not to be seen as too forward he lost it and the girl goes with another man.

There is no doubt that both Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Elnathan John have contributed to the understanding of life in the north in their first novels, it is also significant that the books are among the 11 novels shortlisted for the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) grand prize. The language and insights in the books are compelling and very detailed, Ibrahim and John are surely writers who would be heard from in years to come; this they have proved by been shortlisted for the Caine Short Story Prize, they are promising and engaging.

August 14, 2016
Southwest has endorsed zoning to North, says Kashamu

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Senator Buruji Kashamu has said that the Southwest chapter has endorsed the zoning of the national chairmanship to the North.

He also said the zone will back the chairmanship aspiration of the Acting Chairman, Senator Modu Sheriff, at the national convention.

In a statement, the senator from Ogun East District said the Southwest PDP’s position is consistent with the position if the National Executive Committee (NEC).

The zoning formula has created crisis in the party, with many chieftains from the region rejecting the zoning of the chairmanship to the North. They complained that it was unfair for the North to produce the chairman when the party has considered zoning the presidency to the region.

The chieftains, including Chief Olabode George and Chief Ebenezer Babatope, have also condemned Sheriff’s aspiration to remain in office, recalling that he had promise to handover to a new helmsman at the convention.

But, Kashamu maintained that there is no going back on the zoning arrangement, adding that it has received the blessing of the Southwest PDP.

He said: “The NEC has endorsed our proposal that the position of the National Chairman should be retained in the North and the North-East in particular.

“The NEC has also zoned the offices of the National Secretary, National Auditor and National Publicity Secretary to the South-West.

“I wish to say that we would mobilise delegates from the Southwest to support the incumbent National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to continue in office, if he indicates his interest in contesting for the position of the National Chairman at the May 21, 2016 National Convention, scheduled for Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

“I wish to say that, after consultations among the PDP Governors in the zone, NEC members, BoT members, NWC members, National Assembly members and other critical stakeholders, there will be another South-West PDP leaders’ meeting where the agreed zoning formula will be made public.”

Kashamu added: “It is, therefore, incumbent on all interested aspirants and stakeholders to return to their various domains for consultations and come up with their policy statements and programmes on why they seek the offices they seek.”

The politician said although he has been criticised for his proposals and actions, he will remain committed to the best interest of the party, the people of the Southwest and Nigeria.

May 13, 2016
Okpekpe road race plans prizes for North Ibie athletes

• Organiser to introduce training camp at Okpekpe

The organiser of the 4th Okpekpe 10 kilometre road race, Pamodzi Sports Marketing (PSM) has planned to reward North Ibie athletes with various prizes, Sportinglife learnt at the weekend.

According to an insider, who spoke to Sportinglife’s Abuja correspondent in confidence, said first prize of N150,000 ,second prize of N100,000 and third prize N50,000 will be available for winners in the male and female categories.

The North Ibie comprises of Okpekpe Clan and the Three Ibie Clan : Imiegba, Imiakebu and Itsukwi of Etasko East Local Government Area, Edo State.

These novel prizes, said the source, are to pave way for these communities that are of the same historical background besides their common Ibie language, to also benefit from the goldmine.

“We are coming up with these new prizes for our people to also benefit from the road race,” said the highly placed source.

Pamodzi Sports Marketing (PSM) is also planning to introduce a camp in Okpekpe where the national athletes could camp for training.

This, according to the source, is also aimed at spurring Okpekpe Youths that are interested in the sport to also practice.

In this year’s race, the competition will begin with the take off of the international athletes, the national athletes while the North Ibie category follows.

Sportinglife gathered that besides the fact that the organiser has always beefed security, PSM will this year tag participants in the last category in order to checkmate malpractice.

Sportinglife’s source said: “Normally, once the race takes off no vehicle or bike moves again. We will have to accredit them at the start point with a different label before they take off. ”

Sportinglife also gathered that the SuperSports which usually holds on the eve of the road race will this year hold at Otsele Primary School, Okpekpe.

March 14, 2016
‘Abia North prepared to vote APGA again’

Chief David Onuoha-Bourdex is the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for Abia North Senatorial election. In this interview OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE, he speaks on the nullification of the March 28, last year’s National Assembly election and the rerun ordered by the Court of Appeal

How do you feel about the rerun election ordered by Court of Appeal for Abia North Senatorial zone?

I feel disappointed because we had a timeline for the things we promised to achieve for our people. But, on the other hand, I feel the temporary setback would restore credibility to the process and legitimacy to us more than if the court had declared us as the winners of the election. It might interest you to know that among the candidates for the Senate seat, we are the party prepared for election. We had a contract with the people and we communicated our manifesto to the people. In my manifesto, which was well documented and given to the voters, we outlined the vision that would drive our senatorial representation. The document is aptly titled the change you deserve is coming; we promised to mainstream the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Abia North Senatorial district in the legislative agenda of the National Assembly. In the course of the electioneering campaign, I told our people that I have dreamt, envisioned and lived my dream of pioneering innovation, wealth creation and raising the bar of economic development in our society. You can therefore imagine our frustration when political jobbers that had no clear-cut vision or mission for the good of our people, used dubious methods to steal the mandate given to me by the good people of Abia North Senatorial district. Of course, I decided to challenge the vote to convince my people that we mean business.

But, what gives you the confidence that you were the choice of the voters, being a new comer to politics?

That is the point I am making; our people have never been allowed the freedom to choose their representatives. I say this without fear of equivocation. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had never won elections in Abia State. It has always been rigging, manipulation, inducement and falsification of results. It was those three evils of imposition, intimidation and impunity that became the undoing of the party in 2015. I saw that the people had become tired and frustrated by these serial abuses of democracy. That was part of the reason why I titled my vision document the change you deserve is coming. It is written in black and white; so we saw the change that was coming and told our people that clearly. We may be new in politics as your question suggested, but we have been around as leaders in various ways. That is how we earned the trust and confidence of the people. Those you call the old faces in politics are those that fouled the system; they are the ones responsible for the alienation of the masses. They are those who see politics and public office as opportunity to plunder, kill and maim. On March 28, the people voted against that trend, but they wanted to falsify the wishes of the people. But, we said no and made our voice strong because we are confident of the support and prayers of the masses. Now they have seen that indeed I possess the vision, the drive and self-actualisation to pioneer that change in Abia North’s political leadership.

Former Governor Orji Kalu has been giving the impression that the election was nullified because of his petition…

If you are looking for those that are good at making impressions, I am not interested. I am only interested in how to change the reality of warped and imposed leadership that had kept our people to the ground. I told you that I set agenda by which the people evaluated my candidacy for the senatorial seat. And what were the salient points on that agenda? I said it loud that we needed to reposition our people and our people to benefit from the polity. As an innovative entrepreneur, I know that we have huge potentials in Arochukwu, Ohafia, Isuikwuato, Bende and Umunneochi to lead the change in urban city development. So, I was able to unfold my vision to the people. How the available resources and potentials in these areas must be tapped through good political leadership with the capacity to interact and collaborate with others in the Senate, to harness and ignite these enormous potentials of our people in the areas of entrepreneurship, agriculture and commerce. So, it was not about impression, we did not want to impress anybody but we set out a compass for social action to uplift the people and create health and happiness in the zone. Did you read the personal attacks the other candidates are hauling on themselves? Both the PDP and PPA candidates are behaving like the sons Eli in the Bible; they are fighting themselves because they have nothing in stock for the good of the people. The rerun election is going to be a referendum on the candidates’ antecedents. The people of Abia North know their sons and daughters. They cannot be deceived by impressions.

But, some people say Abia State has been voting the PDP since 1999 and that your party is not on ground….

When you say some people, you did not say whether they are from the state, in or outside the state. Those people must be referring to the old things that I told earlier the people rejected. You remember how Jesus Christ said that those who came before were robbers and marauders? I am saying that those that held Abia down since 1999 came through the windows and even had to break the roof to grab the mandate. And in 2015, after 16 years of rape and plunder, the people’s eyes were opened and they said enough is enough. They rejected the highway men and settled for the new leadership with focus, humanity and vision. It is with that acute vision that we discovered that all the while our constituency suffered from high-level of weak industrialisation and commercial growth. We pointed out too that while the PDP was busy sharing money, our agricultural sector was relegated to the background, despite the large arable land at our disposal. Moreover, we were bedeviled by poor educational institutions, low social amenities and near absence of federal infrastructure, especially roads and bridges.

With a different party at the centre, do you think you can achieve all that lofty vision and what are your chances in the rerun election?

The political grass is now greener at the national level than before. What I mean by that is that the rejection of the PDP that started from the federal level can only make meaning if it trickles down. I am further strengthened by the rejection which my people handed to the old order. So, by voting for APGA in Abia State, the people have ensured that all things shall become new. You see the same way the PDP was rejected at the centre, our people in their wisdom have decided to vote APGA. We share in the national vision of purity, prudence and patriotism. You can see from the driving philosophy of APGA that the emphasis is on the wellbeing of the people, not in amassing too much money for the promotion of bribery and corruption.

February 12, 2016
Jos North protests appointments

The Anaguta ethnic group in Jos North Local Government Areas of Plateau State has warned the Plateau State government against taking actions that will sabotage the prevailing peaceful co-existence in the volatile city of Jos.

The ethnic group alleged that Governor Simon Lalong is using political appointment to set residents of the city against one another by suppressing the minority tribe.

The issue of political appointment has always led to violent conflict in Jos North local government Area as exemplified in the 1994 and 2001 Jos crisis. The conflict of Jos that lasted over a decade was caused by the lopsided distribution of appointments.

According Mr. Jonathan Nyam who read the text at the press conference, “Governor Lalong has refused to recognise the Anaguta ethnic group as a stakeholder in Jos North local government as the governor refused to give us any political appointment to serve in his government”

He added: “All past administrations in the state both military and civilian government have always given appointment to Anaguta people in recognition that we are one of the three native tribes of Jos North.

“But to our greatest surprise, Governor Lalong gave the slot of Commissioner to settlers who have been working hard to take over our land from us.

The group alleged that the only appointment given to Anaguta people by Governor Lalong is a “paltry” supervisory councilor in Jos North, adding that he gave the slot of commissioner to settlers, who have been competing with them to take over their ancestral land.

Nyam said: “No doubt that this administration of Governor Lalong did not follow the principle of democracy and social justice as provided in section 14(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended) as well as section 14(4) of the said constitution.”

January 25, 2016
The North and Dasukigate

But talking of Nigerian courts is another kettle of fish entirely where it concerns the north which, incidentally, controls the judiciary a full hundred percent – the CJN, the President of the Court of Appeal, even the Attorney-General of the Federation are all from the north, one reason we are having a rash of calls for properly restructuring the country.

I ask, as you begin to read this article, to pay more premium on its therapeutic purpose, rather than see the columnist as an unreconstructed ethnic jingoist, trying to further widen the gaps between our many ethnic groups. That said, why is it so easy for the average northerner, from what we have seen, time and again, and the one now unfolding, menacingly, before our very faces, to go after, and luxuriate, in unearned opulence, mostly funds from public sources to which they usually collectively like to assume a legitimate claim? Or who would forget the late Kano State governor, Barkin Zuwo, in a hurry? As at now, and still counting, the following northern ‘who is who’, have been implicated in the nauseatingly unravelling Dasukigate – and there must be many more from where these ones come from: Col Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser, a former Minister of State, Finance, Bashir Yuguda, ex-Director of Finance, ONSA, Shuabu Salihu, former Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, for whom the PDP laid a red carpet as President Jonathan welcomed him into that party, a former Executive Director of NNPC, Aminu Babakusa, and the governor’s son, Sagir Attahiru. Not satisfied, they even brought in their companies to partake of the bazaar which, left to Dasuki, should all have gone to northerners like himself. And, of course, you still can bet your last dime that we are yet going to have the names of a retinue of Alhajis and Alhajas whose daily job is no tougher than merely visiting the office of the National Security Adviser to be loaded with unearned money while millions of Nigerians from other parts of the country slave away in the hot African sun, not knowing where the next meal would come from. These things happen when a people have no shame; just as it speaks to an excessive cronyism. For instance, all the ONSA staff mentioned in this shameless scam are from the north as if it were a family business. These things can only happen in a culture that worships money and would do just about anything to amass it, no matter how earned. There are, of course, still a good number of decent northerners who abhor this type of public shame even as we appreciate the fact that those named are innocent until proven guilty before the law. But talking of Nigerian courts is another kettle of fish entirely where it concerns the north which, incidentally, controls the judiciary a full hundred percent – the CJN, the President of the Court of Appeal, even the Attorney-General of the Federation are all from the north, one reason we are having a rash of calls for properly restructuring the country. One critical Institution of state the status quo in the judiciary has negatively impacted, over the years, is our electoral system. So bad was the unfair use to which some northern elements put it that on 9 May, 2010, in an article captioned: THE HAMMER VERDICT, (a play on the judge’s name), I wrote as follows: ” . . .the meeting was subsequently informed that the then President of the Court of Appeal -a Katsina man, -who empanelled the Election Tribunals in cahoots with the presidency, which another Katsina man heads – had taken the opportunity to plant malleable, and thoroughly pliable northern judges in the electoral tribunals holding in the South-West, even appointing them chairmen, to ensure that the Southwest remains tied to the apron strings of the feudal north. Consequent upon this, the three, then on-going tribunals in Ogun, Osun and Ekiti, all had three northern members, among them, naturally, the Chairman. Of the three tribunals, only the result of Osun is being awaited with the two already declared going in favour of the PDP. (As expected, Osun was later declared for the PDP only for both Ekiti and Osun results to be reversed at the Appeal Court). It is hoped that the ongoing ‘name and shame’, of otherwise respected northerners would teach appropriate lessons if they want Nigerians from other parts to accord the north its deserved respect.

The time to start that change of heart should be now that we are laying the building blocks of the new Nigeria we are now eagerly constructing under the sterling lead of General Muhammadu Buhari, incidentally a northerner, a Nigerian Army General, former Head of State, as well as former chairman, Petroleum Trust Fund, who not only does not own a petrol station, but would most probably not recognise an oil block if he sees one. You appreciate this rather unbelievable Nigerian ‘exemplarism’ when you remember that some of his former colleagues, even juniors, now live in hilltop mansions, in stinking opulence, far away from the Nigerian hoi polloi. Northern leaders, emirs, top political leaders, clerics, as well as their several socio-political organisations would be doing Nigeria a great favour if they would not attempt to pressure the president into allowing those complicit in this heist to have any soft landing whatever. The possibility has already been floated and although we think Nigerians know President Buhari well enough, there must be a limit to which he can stand up to such pressure, especially from the high and mighty, some of who he may personally have high regards for. It must, however, be poignantly told the president that if he collapses, and buckles to any such entreaties and he would have written off his place in history, which God forbids. Today, the world over, people remember Turkey’s Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, just as the world is celebrating Lee Kuan YEW, the man who took Singapore from the Third, to the First world; incidentally the title of his magnum opus. I personally believe that it is too late in the day for a spartan Muhammadu Buhari to have his integrity compromised. Which is why it was good to read from highly regarded northern leaders like Professor Ango Abdullahi, chairman, Northern Elders Forum, and Ibrahim Coomassie, his counterpart at the Arewa Consultative Forum, both expressing support for the president’s anti-corruption war and, emphatically disclaiming any intent to prevail on the president to soft pedal. Not a few Nigerians have poured cold water on these public disclaimers but, because of their own integrity, and the many ways these things can detract from the respect due the north, as I have dutifully tried to show in this piece, one can only hope that these leaders will not, themselves, fall into the tempting hands of the PDP people who would do anything to save their arses. The north must realise that those named are certainly not the type of ambassadors they should want to see as the face of the outstanding legacies of the Uthman Dan Fodio’s, the Ahmadu Bello’s or even the Tafawa Balewa’s. Although President Shehu Shagari was, in the NPN, surrounded by about the worst specimen of humanity, from all parts of the country, he served and left with his personal integrity intact. No self-respecting elder, who loves the north, should be seen interceding for these illegal bounty sharers.

To further persuade any would-be peace-makers – these men do not even deserve a plea bargain – they should understand that anybody benefiting financially from funds which should have been spent, equipping our fighting forces, could never have wanted to see an end to the murderous Boko Haram scourge. The result then is that these people are, one way or the other, vicariously responsible for the thousands of murders by Boko Haram, responsible for the fate of millions of our compatriots currently uprooted from their homes and living as internally displaced refugees in their own country. They should ponder the fate of thousands of widows and orphans who no longer have anybody to turn to as bread winner. We can only imagine what future awaits these compatriots of ours, victims of corrupt men in power, who would rather lay their ugly hands on monies that never belonged to them. They showed no mercy and should receive none. Nigeria needs money no doubt, but so do we need to teach our youth abiding moral lessons.

Whoever is found guilty must go to jail. They must have their comeuppance.

December 20, 2015
North to begin oil exploration next year

The New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), a business conglomerate of the 19 northern state governments, has disclosed plans to commence exploration of oil and gas in the Lake Chad area of North-East.

“Oil and gas blocks have been discovered in the North. But for security challenges in the North-East, exploration would have gone far,” the company said in a media briefing after its annual general meeting in Kaduna yesterday.

The Board of Directors’ Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Dalhatu, who addressed journalists, expressed regrets that the insecurity in the North-East had affected the take off of the exploration.

“But we have since re-engaged our people to be totally committed to the oil exploration and exploitation of both oil and gas resources. We believe that will spring boot revival of economy in the region,” he said.

Asked when the exploration will commence, the NNDC’s board chairman said: “We are commencing the exploration within the year 2016. We are already talking with technical partners that would help us explore the resources.”

According to him, the company was able to post profit despite political instability and the activities of insurgents in the northern parts of the country.

He said the continuous decline in government revenue, which resulted in reduction of foreign reserves as well as devaluation of the naira, posed challenges to the operations of the NNDC.

Dalhatu also reiterated that despite the tough operating environment and the continuous security challenges, the company remained resolute and focused in realising its objectives.

The chairman said the operating income of the company increased by 42 per cent from N651.2 million to N923.9 million while a 73 per cent increase was recorded in operating profit before tax from N137.2 million to N237.2 million.

He said further increases were recorded in earnings per share of 87 per cent from 16.7 kobo to 31.2 kobo and 4.4 per cent net assets per share from 14.1 to N18.5 when compared with results of the preceding year of 2014.

“Notwithstanding the tough operating challenges, the company continued it efforts of developing quality manpower for the North and for the country in general,” he stated, adding that in that respect, 541 charteres accountants were sponsored to qualification by the company since the inception of the programme in 2007.

“We shall continue to consolidate on the achievements recorded so far as we are convinced that given a more stable polity and improved business environment, the goals and objectives as enshrined in the company’s five-year strategic plan will be archived,” he said, adding that this includes 15 per cent annual returns on investment.

December 12, 2015