The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Northern

  • The trouble with Northern CAN

    It seems to be that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in this dispensation, has arrogated to its northern chapter, a role of ignominy hitherto, played by others during the Jonathan administration.  It’s common knowledge that this organization, with a leadership that sometimes is not in talking terms with God is set to go on collision course with Nigerians.  Nearly all Nigerians support President Buhari’s war on corruption so Nigerians are serious about uprooting corruption in their nation.

    Recall that in the Vanguard online news of April 26, Northern CAN said Nigeria will slide into confusion if Jonathan was arrested.  Of course, Nigerians who are waiting for all those who looted their treasury to be brought to account were shocked that an organization that is affiliated to God, could utter such unrighteousness.  Why would they embark on such an unholy advocacy?  Should men and women not reap what they sow?  Isn’t that what the Bible prescribes?

    If Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), Chief Oliseh Metuh, Alex Badeh Akpobolokemi, etc., etc., are facing investigations and are being charged to court, why would Nigerians be confused if anyone, no matter how highly placed, suspected to have stolen public funds, is pulled in, if found culpable?  It leaves one with a clear pointer as to who is behind the continued misguided utterances of men who speak from the pockets of their sponsors and not through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

    It has further become clear that as the National CAN in the past, looked away from the stealing that went on under a supposedly Christian President, the Northern CAN, is now being used to castigate every action of the government of President Buhari.  Their meddlesomeness is becoming irritating.  They want to dictate who get appointed, and who should not be arrested if found culpable.  One wonders, what sort of people do we have in this association?

    I know President Buhari is not averse to criticisms, so a body such as CAN has a role to play in being the conscience of not just the Christians it represents, but also other Nigerians of good faith.  However, in playing that role, CAN should have all its facts so its criticisms can be constructive, sound, fair, just and believable.  The role some CAN members are playing now, am afraid, appears to be part of the work of the “National Association of Corruption Fighting Back.”

    The change mantra is being taken seriously by the President.  Consequently, he has adhered to the provisions of the constitution with regards to federal character.  Nowhere in our constitution is it stated that religion must be a criterion for appointing people to positions.  However, the following Northern Christians, excluding the inherited ones, were appointed by the government of President Buhari.

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation,Engineer Babachir David Lawal; Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,Chief Audu Ogbe; Hon. Minister of Youths and Sports,Comrade Solomon Dalung; late Hon. Minister of State, Labour & Productivity, Barrister James Ocholi; Senior Special Assistant to the President onPolitical Matters, Hon. Gideon Sammani; Special Assistant to the President on Political Matters,Ayuba Birma; Special Assistant to the President on Social Events,Ayuba Balami; Personal Assistant to the President on Social Events,Mrs. Faith Pukuma; Senior Special Assistant to the President,Legal and Documentation, Prof. Adamu Usman; Administrator of Villa Chapel, Reverend Isaac Ambi; Executive Secretary, Nigeria Christian PilgrimsCommission, Pastor Tor Uja and Managing Director, Nigeria Inland WaterwaysAuthority, Boss Mustapha.

    Not many southern Nigerians can work out the religion or tribes of most northerners as many names are common to both Christians and Moslems in the north, the same way many northerners assume that Okon Bassey and Pere Tamuno are Igbo men.  It therefore, behoves Northern CAN to assume the role of educating southerners with facts, with a view to allaying their anxiety occasioned by perceived marginalization.

    For every appointment made, there are probably a million others who are qualified too.  But only one can be appointed.  It’s therefore sad that if an appointee is a Christian who is not known to Northern CAN, his or her Christianity becomes a nullity and of no effect.  Could this be the fate of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and other Christian appointees?

    It’s obvious that the aim of all these misinformation is to divide a region perceived as President Buhari’s stronghold.  The role of an association such as CAN is not that of dividing the north along religious lines.  It should be that of uniting the whole country so Nigerians can collectively focus on building a strong nation where people experience equal opportunities irrespective of tribe, religion, etc.

    Again, one does not need a religion to do a good job.  All religions of the world encourage merit.  There are those who may not subscribe to any religion but can do a great job.  Should it not be of paramount concern to the Northern CAN that people who can do the job be appointed?  Should they not be holding to account those who are failing in their duties?  Should they not be solidly standing behind the righteous work of this government in fighting the capital sin of corruption?

    The CAN in Nigeria in the immediate past became controversial.  This led to the Catholic Church in Nigeria withdrawing its membership of the association.  The present utterances of the Northern Chapter of CAN show that they have not repented of their past.  They need to forsake their past transgressions and return to the scriptures.  That’s the only way they can find resurrection and maybe, those who left the association may then return.

     

    • Onochie writes from Abuja.

  • Northern group wants pipeline vandals prosecuted

    A northern group under the aegis of Voice of Northern Nigeria Youth Initiative has called for the arrest and prosecution of any individual found guilty of vandalizing oil installations in the Niger Delta region.
    The Niger Delta Avengers had continued to destroy oil installations belonging to multinationals, leaving the country to lose billions daily. National President of the group, Yusuf Musa, during a briefing on Wednesday, in Abuja, explained that the country could no longer endure bloodsheds in the region.

    He called for the questioning of any powerful individual supporting the Niger Delta Avengers, including former president, Goodluck Jonathan, if found to be involved with the group. Musa, called on elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark, to intervene in the situation by calling the new agitators to order to protect the region.

    President of the National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDE-A, Israel Akpodoro, recently accused President Jonathan to have created the Niger Delta Avengers prior to his exit in office last year. Musa said: “We the voice of northern Nigeria youth initiative wants to align ourselves to that stand of the leader of the ex-agitators. “He is a very patriotic Nigerian for him to have revealed this
    information. It is for the Federal Government to seriously attend to this issue because Nigerians are tired of bloodsheds. We are tired of crisis.

    “Jonathan, Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Edwin Clark should be invited for questioning. Already, leader of ex-agitators have said it that Jonathan has hand in this. He should be brought to book because nobody is above the law. We need the militants as Nigerians so we do not want anybody to be killed.” He stated that the country, after winning the war on Boko Haram could not afford to embark on another battle with the emerging Niger Delta group.

    Musa, emphasized that the country needed peace, adding that any individual who “has hand in crisis of this type should be arrested and
    prosecuted.” He further said the lives of Nigerians are at stake considering the current state of the economy. In his remark, an All Progressive Congress (APC) chieftain, ‎Chief Peter Igho, threw his support for questioning of those involved. He stated that the people of Niger Delta should be cautioned to promote peace in the region. “People like Israel can still manage whatever problem or destruction of pipes in the region if given the opportunity,” Igho added.

  • Northern governors vow to reposition North

    Northern governors vow to reposition North

    Northern governors under the auspices of the Northern State Governors Forum said yesterday that they are working hard to restore and revive the legacies left behind by the late Premier of the north, Sir Ahmadu Bello.

    Speaking on behalf of the Forum, during th 50th anniversary of the death of the premier, the  Chairman of the forum and governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, said while the late Sardauna did very well for the north, it was the responsibility of present day leaders in the region to invest on the people.

    He said the present day leaders of the north would build on the legacies the late Sardauna left behind and  work on how to create jobs for the millions of people that are coming first in the North.

    “Unemployment in the north is extremely high. Nigeria is a country of two nations, the South is much more stable and prosperous, the north on the other hand is in a poverty trap. In Nigeria, poverty wears a northern cap, if you are looking for a poor man, get somebody wearing a northern cap,” he said.

    Shettima said that the governors would be holding discussions with the Islamic Developmental Bank to see how they can come in.

    “Sardauna was a leader of his own generation and every generation come up with its own style of leader. Sardauna did remarkably well for the North and for the nation, our duty, especially for those of us in the North is in our interest to invest in the people.

    “Nigeria’s population will double in the next 23 years. By 2020, Nigeria’s population will be around 210 million. By 2030, there will be about 270million Nigerians and by 2050, when old men like me might not be around, the population will be around 440million.

    “By then, we will be the third most populous nation on earth and most importantly, 70% of the population will be living in Northern Nigeria. Deforestation, desertification, joblessness, hopelessness, illetracy, unemployment, low access to health facilities are all recepies for disaster.

    “It is in our enlightened self interest as northern leaders to invest in the people, to invest in agriculture, to create jobs because, there is a direct correlation with endemic poverty and most of the crisis threatening the north,” he said.

    He assured that the northern governors were working assiduously as a team to address the monumental challenges confronting the north.

    Answering question on when north started to decline , he said, “I rather look forward than to be mourning about the past, the most important thing is how we can build on the legacies he has left behind and how to create jobs for the millions of people that are coming first in the North.

    “The emergence of Yakubu Dogara as the Speaker, House of Representative and B.D Lawal as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, had a tremendous influence on inter-communary relationship in northern Nigeria such that we are now more united than before.

  • LBS Northern region alumni meet in Abuja

    Alumni of Lagos Business School (LBS) in the North gathered at the Northern Zonal Dinner organised by the LBS Alumni Association (LBSAA) for high-level networking and entertainment.

    The yearly event, which held last week  at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja was one of the most anticipated social events of LBS outside Lagos.

    President, Northern Zone of LBSAA, Nze Chidi Duru, said the Abuja Zonal Dinner was memorable as many institution’s alumni who have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields and other key business leaders in Abuja and its environs attended.

    “The event created a platform for high-level networking among icons of the Nigerian business community and highlight the School’s leading role in nurturing Nigeria’s business leaders,” he said.

    According to Ms Bunmi Afolabi, director, Alumni Relations, LBS, alumni who reside and work in the north, enjoyed the evening, which offered great learning and entertainment.

    She said: “We had two profound professionals – Mr Babatunde Fowler, Chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Mustapha Bello, Chairman, Invest in Northern Nigeria Limited – speak on some critical business issues at the dinner. The event was spiced with rib-cracking comedy and pleasant music.”

    Many corporate organisations supported the event. They included Grand Towers Plc, Airtel Nigeria, Fidelity Bank plc, Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited and MessageWise Limited.

  • Northern or National Conference?

    Despite pretensions in some quarters, Nigeria is really sick and would require a dose of varying therapies to recover. No matter how we try to paper over the endemic malaise, the foreboding realities are manifest in increasing evidence of disenchantment by the component units with what the federation holds for them.

    There are palpable feelings that the government at the centre has proved innately deficient in delivering equitably. This is not entirely new. Such feelings have been the motivating force for agitations for national conference or its sovereign variant. They also account for the resurgence of ethnic-nationalism and religion-induced strife. Ironically, at each stage a conference was about to be convened, you will find sections still opposing it for one reason or the other. That was the experience of the National Conference organized by the last administration.

    Since the Buhari regime, we have witnessed discordant tones regarding what his government should make of the recommendations of that outing. While some have called for its implementation, others especially from the north want that document thrown into the dustbin. There are some others who would want Buhari to take a dispassionate look at the document with a view to adopting its recommendations with higher prospects of moving the country forward. Such has been the level of dissonance.

    But a new dimension was introduced into the matter last week when a group of northern leaders under the name, Northern Re-awakening Group (NRG) came out boldly to call for another national conference to specifically address problems of the north-east zone that has been the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency and other parts of the north. Not only do they want another national conference, they would have nothing to do with the one convened by Jonathan on the ground that he had a different agenda for setting it up. Ironically also, many of the prime movers of the NRG were participants in that conference.

    In a communiqué after their summit and retreat with the theme “Rebuilding a safe, secure and economically inclusive Northern Nigeria”, the NRG sought to justify its demand on the alleged marginalization of the north with statistics of the disparities in development levels of the north and the south.

    According to them, while the north has the highest number of people below $2 per day, a 2013 World Bank Report showed that poverty in 16 out of the 19 northern states doubled since 1980. They said that the north has the lowest literacy rate in the country and while Lagos posted 92 per cent, Kano has 49 and Borno trailing with less 15 per cent. In terms of the number of boys and girls that are out of school, they said 65 per cent northern boys and 53 of the girls are not in school as against 20 per cent for the South-east.

    Ostensibly, the bandied disparities in development indices are meant to persuade the public to the desirability of convoking another national conference to specifically address the marginalization of the north. The NRG is within its rights to highlight the problems of the north and seek solutions to them. That was the purpose of the retreat. And it accounted for the dignified attendance it attracted including the presence of Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and no less than five northern governors among others.

    Their resolve for a national conference is an admission that all is not well with the country and some fundamental changes are imperative to effectively tap into the innate potentials of its disparate peoples. That point cannot be discounted. But the advocacy for another national conference and the reasons adduced for it are flawed on many grounds.

    First, it is not clear whether what the group wants is a northern conference or a national conference. A proper reading of their presentation, suggests they want a conference attended by all sections of the country to solely address challenges from the north. Conceived this way, it is a northern conference that will draw the participation of other Nigerians. That is where the problem lies. The failure to resolve this conceptual lacuna did incurable damage to whatever they intended to achieve by their call. It is patently childish and amateurish to conceive of a national conference that will set out solely to address problems of a section of the country to the exclusion of others. Such a weird advocacy is a recipe for confusion and unmitigated disaster.

    Secondly, there is no problem that is found in one part of the country that has no variant in other parts. One is therefore at a loss to fathom how any person in his right senses would ignore a holistic perspective to national problems in preference to a sectional handle that stands dead even before it takes off.

    Thirdly, the entire idea is again flawed by the same arguments they raised against the last conference whose recommendations are with the current regime. If they do not trust the former because Jonathan put it together, what in their imagination gave them the comfort that a sectional conference sponsored with taxpayers’ money will not draw this country closer to the precipice? Or is it a veiled attempt to appropriate the current leadership of the country to do the bidding of the north?

    Again, the last conference was attended by the north and many of the issues confronting this country were exhaustively addressed. A group that is not propelled by parochial and sectional lure will not be in a hurry to embark on a hazardous and wasteful journey to another conference. One may not even bother about cost if embarking on another conference is all it will take to see this country through. Before then, we needed to tell Nigerians why the recommendations of the previous conference are deficient in tackling identified challenges. That is the real issue to confront rather than resort to theatre tactics.

    It is also not enough to bandy statistics on the development disparities of sections of the country without accounting for the factors that brought them about. The group erred woefully for failing to show why the north lacked behind in those human development indices. We needed to know whether the progress in education and income per capita in the south was due to special attention by the federal government or a product of the survival instincts and initiative of their peoples.

    The presentation of those figures conveyed the unmistakable impression that either the south is responsible for the fate of the north or the federal government aided the development of the south against the north. None of the two propositions holds water. On the contrary, we do know of the existence of such principles as quota system and educationally disadvantaged states that were designed to get some states catch up. The north has been the major beneficiary of both discriminatory policies. It is a matter of regret that the southern states which are being referenced upon have been the ones bearing the brunt of such discriminatory educational policies over the years. Yet, we are still in a hurry to flaunt disparities in human development statistics to further perpetuate the inequities of extant order.

    The challenge before the north is to find out how these states moved fast in the literacy ladder and other human development indicators and tap unto them. It is good a thing they are worried by the abysmal conditions of their people in the face of plenty. They should rise to the challenges of the socio-cultural and institutional hiccups that hold down their people and frontally dismantle them.

    Before then, the exhortations of Osinbajo in his address at the opening ceremony blaming the present crop of northern leaders for the backwardness of the region due to selfishness and personal aggrandizement, should serve a sufficient food for thought.

  • Northern group to Saraki: resign now

    Northern group to Saraki: resign now

    The Northern Ethnic Nationalities Unity Congress (NENUC) yesterday called for the resignation of the Senate President Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

    The call came just as the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) secured a bench warrant for the arrest of the embattled Senate President by the CCB Tribunal over allegations of false declaration of assets dated back to 2003.

    The group said the Senate President should resign before he drags the image and reputation of the office he presently occupies further in the mud.

    Speaking with reporters yesterday, the National President and Convener of the group, Mr Bako Benjamin, said it is disgusting that the Senate President would rather be seeking court’s protection than going before the anti graft agency to clear his name of the charges.

    “Let the Senate President come to equity with clean hands. Let him defend himself against all the charges levelled against him in the spirit of the new wind of change blowing across the country,” Benjamin said.

    He said the anti-corruption war spearheaded by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration would be futile if people like the Senate President continue to seek protection from the law courts rather than presenting themselves for the acid test.

    Benjamin, who noted that the recourse to the court itself is an admission of guilt, said: “Seeking protection from the law courts is sending a strong signal that he (Saraki) has something to hide.”

    The group, he said, has therefore given the Senate President a three-day ultimatum to honourably resign to prevent impeachment proceedings against him for his eventual removal from the exalted office.

    NENUC said Saraki’s continued stay in office is “capable of sending wrong signals to the international community and pose a huge question mark on President Buhari’s commitment to ridding the nation of corruption.

    He said NENUC would not hesitate to mobilise other well-meaning Nigerians to march on the National Assembly in protest should the Senate President refuse to honourably resign from office within reasonable time.

     

  • Cement Company of Northern Nigeria declares N1.918b profit

    Cement Company of Northern Nigeria declares N1.918b profit

    • BUA supports govt’s sugar policy

    Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc (Sokoto Cement), a subsidiary of BUA Group, has declared a profit after tax (PAT) of N1.918 billion for the 2014 financial year. This represents a 23.05 per cent increase from a PAT of N1.559 billion in 2013.

    Speaking at the company’s 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja, the Chairman of CCNN Plc, Mr. Abdulsamad Rabiu, said despite lower cement sales recorded in the last quarter of 2014 mainly due to pockets of unrest in CCNN Plc’s business markets, the company’s focus on efficiency and strategic investments resulted in steady growth during this period.

    Rabiu said from a high of N2.77 billion in 2013, CCNN Plc’s production and operational expenses significantly declined to N2.40b in 2014.

    Shareholders were also apprised about notable developments the company took in the financial year, including CCNN Plc’s proposed N48b cement plant expansion, which will modernise production facilities and raise the company’s output to 2.0 million metric tonnes of cement annually.

    Other business of the day included an amendment of articles 117 and 119 as contained in CCNN Plc’s Articles of Association, which saw shareholders assent to changes in reportage of financial results as well as the recognition of electronic mail addresses respectively.

    Analysts expect BUA Group, CCNN Plc’s chief shareholder to further boost revenue in 2015, with the coming on stream of its three million metric tonne Obu Cement plant in Southern Nigeria.

    Ms Adetutu Adegbayibi, an Investment Research Analyst at Meristem Securities anticipates that CCNN Plc’s figures for 2015 could show a PAT of N1.94 billion, 1.93 per cent higher than 2014.

    Established in 1962, CCNN Plc, which is one of Nigeria’s oldest cement companies, produces and markets cement under the brand name ‘Sokoto Cement’. The company also runs the only cement plant in North-West Nigeria. Its primary catchment areas are Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, and Kaduna States.

    Nigeria’s food and infrastructure conglomerate BUA Group, has reaffirmed its commitment to implement the Federal Government’s backward integration policy in the sugar industry through its sugar subsidiary, BUA Sugar.

    BUA Group operates a state-of-the-art sugar refinery in Lagos and plans to commission its second mega sugar refinery in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, by the end of this year. The combined capacity of these two refineries of around 1.5million metric tonnes/year will make BUA Group the largest single refiner of sugar within Nigeria.

  • Memo to northern Nigerian youths

    SIR: It is your responsibility to make our office-bearers and spiritual leaders to be responsible and accountable. The angels didn’t do it for Nelson Mandela and wouldn’t for you. Stand up to be counted for the right reasons and there is no better time than now especially as Nigeria is presently encircled with the mantra of ‘change.’

    I am in a wonderland and find it hard to understand why you have chosen to take the back seat when burning national issues present themselves.

    How else can I explain the quietude displayed by you even in the face of dire consequences starring you eye-ball-to-eye-ball?

    These issues are legion. Politics and religious tenets do not mix but you have aided the political classes today to work with religious schisms to pull the youths apart.

    Why fall for these ruses? A man who chooses to use religion as a path to seeking elective office is a demagogue with nothing to offer. How many countries in the world succeed today by interpreting religious precepts over and above democratic principles or even the constitution of the country?

    It is inappropriate for you to be comfortable with leaders whose aim is to enslave you in perpetuity. Such leaders care more about the welfare of cronies than yours and send these yes men out of the country for religious pursuits at the expense of the development of state.

    What you need are leaders that can secure your future and that of your progenies and not mortgage it.

    Unlike your forebears, who appreciated the impact of ‘people power,’ today’s elected executives fritter your commonwealth on issues not related to development and they are not denounced.

    They ask you to work with an austere regimen but dole out monies frivolously to associates, buy up most of the properties in Abuja and I am left to wonder if there would be any property left for you to buy in Abuja at an appropriate time.

    Why celebrate administrators that cannot be credited with completing meaningful projects? They leave the states massively in debt and run to Abuja when their tours of duty are over.

    Like most youths elsewhere, why do you enjoy working with typecasts shoved down your throats for decades by people who say, “hate the other side”. You have worked with the charge surprisingly well. But how long are you going to work with such prejudices and stereotypes that pit one region of the country against another?

    Education is useless if it does not impact positively on the lives of millions of uneducated, ignorant youths who are teetering on hopelessness and poverty.

    Seek education enthusiastically; ensure your children attend schools and give the girl child an equal an opportunity for learning and development as the male child. Do not discriminate against children due to accidents of birth. Only small-minded people do so.

    When will you finally ask the elected, why are we so poor? Why are our youths known for begging? Why are these young boys in every major Nigerian city homeless?

    You wield a lot of power and can effect a positive change for the development of this country.

    Think about it again; at ages compared to your northern forebears ( some of you are even older now) they seized the moment to become nationalists but why have you kowtowed to intolerant politicians and some religious leaders whose mission is to pull this nation apart?

    Life has always been grim for the rural dwellers and today it is also greyer for the city dwellers with no supply of portable clean drinking water by government.

    Where then is the dole of democracy and why make the work of elected officials easy by not demanding accountability on issues impacting on your welfare?

    We need not recount the dangers of VVF caused by early marriages (child bride). How many of the rich give away their daughters at that age? They do not, because they secure the future of the girl child before marriage. Why should you – when they do not?

    Why don’t you raise awareness against the unwholesome practices where our girl-children are now abandoned due to being burdens and have become a menace to society?

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt

  • Myth of northern domination

    SIR: Ever since President Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated as president, some indecorous critics have taken it upon themselves to be fighting imaginary wars, making a mountain out of a molehill. There’s hardly a day that would pass by that friends won’t at every turn ask me: “where’s our change”?

    On every appointment, a very close friend of mine would send the names of the appointees on my facebook wall to notify and remind me that no South-east person has been appointed by the president.

    To many of my southern friends, the appointments so far is an indication that President Buhari is pursuing a northen agenda so that a particular region would continue to dominate Nigeria.

    I don’t want to comment on the few appointments made so far, considering the fact that the president has over a thousand appointments to make in no distant time but interesting facts abound about this northern domination which I have seen but don’t know if others have seen it or pretended not to notice.

    I noticed there is a BBC Hausa station but no BBC Yoruba or Igbo. Was this caused by Buhari to continue northern domination? What about Africa Magic Hausa? It’s even on GOTV but Africa Magic Igbo is not on GOTV, just DSTV and on a higher bouquet plan. So Africa Magic Igbo is not given equal opportunities with Africa Magic Hausa. Who’s to be blamed? Buhari!

    Boko Haram has been attacking only the north and they have not come to the south. Another evidence of the north wanting to have everything under Buhari. Lets blame Buhari.

    Again, Shekau has been silent but when he speaks in his videos, what language does he speak? Hausa without Igbo or Yoruba translations. Hausa domination of other languages, is that not so?

    What of the recent arrest and detention of some former northern governors by EFCC and the 12 hours siege at the Abuja residence of the immediate past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) last week Thursday, by men of the Department of State Security Service (DSS). Was those acts part of the northern domination of Nigeria?

    Now that relevant authorities are going after politicians of northern extraction, who were fingered in corruption cases, some malicious partisan whistle blowers really seem to be comfortable with it but when same authorities will begin their manhunt of corrupt politicians from their regions, they will still cry out that President Buhari is on a vindictive mission.

    It is only those who are yet to recover from agony of defeat and some ethnic bigots that would insist President Buhari is pursuing a northern agenda through his appointments. The President in his inaugural speech assured Nigerians he would be president of Nigeria and not president of a particular region and so far his few appointments has been purely on merit and competence. This is a clear depature from what was obtained in the past and even the blind could see that President Buhari is keeping to his inaugural promise of belonging to nobody but everybody.

    The truth is, common sense is not really common here in our polity. Or how can one explain the resort to checking where Buhari’s appointees are from not their abilities? With the monstrous problems facing us, we are really carrying elephants on our heads and scratching the grounds for crickets with our feets. May God save us from us!

    • Joe Onwukeme,

    *Enugu.

  • Boko Haram kills 23 in northern Cameroon

    Boko Haram kills 23 in northern Cameroon

    The Boko Haram insurgents have killed 23 people and burnt down a village in an attack on Mozogo district in Cameroon’s Far North Region, an official said at the weekend

    Regional governor Mijiyawa Bakary said: “We are still gathering the facts from our divisional officers, but what we know for now is that the attackers killed at least 23 people. The damage could be more.”

    A soldier on the front who did not want to be named told CNN by phone that the insurgents carried out a similar attack along the Waza-Mora highway on Friday, killing a Cameroonian soldier.

    The soldier said “a corporal was killed and three soldiers were wounded. The attackers also confiscated a (Toyota) Land Cruiser belonging to the Cameroon military.”