The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Olusegun Obasanjo

  • Girls rescue talks stuck as govt, elders disagree

    Girls rescue talks stuck as govt, elders disagree

    Negotiators not at ease with unconditional release demand

    The  Federal Government’s back-door talks to rescue the 217 abducted Chibok girls still in Boko Haram’s custody, may have suffered a setback.

    The government is demanding an unconditional release of the girls, promising to fulfill the demands of Boko Haram leaders after.

    But the facilitators of the talks are seeking a truce which will result in the simultaneous swapping of the girls with some insurgents in detention.

    The facilitators/mediators, some of whom are clerics and Northern leaders, are afraid of the consequences of the government reneging on any “deal”.

    They think that they may be exposed to danger.

    Also yesterday, it was gathered that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo is yet to get a Presidential go-ahead for talks with Boko Haram contacts.

    President Goodluck Jonathan only gave a verbal approval to him.

    Obasanjo wanted a situation where he would sit down with the President and get a firm commitment on offers from the government to the insurgents.

    The ex-President may, however, wait for a while because the government was uncomfortable with his comments that the President did not believe the girls were abducted in the first place.

    The rescue bid for the girls has been slowed down by some unresolved issues.

    It was gathered that there was a major challenge on: •agreeing on terms for the release of the girls; and •establishing trust that each party will keep to the bargain.

    To sources, who spoke in confidence on the negotiation, the resolution of the two issues is crucial to freedom for the girls.

    One of the sources said: “We seem to have a little setback. I think the fear of people who are negotiating is whether the government will honour its own part of the talks.

    “The government is demanding unconditional release of the girls whereas the negotiators are seeking simultaneous swapping of some insurgents with the girls.

    “The government is saying the insurgents should release the girls and it will unfold its package. There is also a suspicion in government that the insurgents may not live up to their pledge.

    “Some of these clerics and Northern leaders are scared that they might be endangered if the government does not make concrete offers to the insurgents.

    “The facilitators want to collect the girls and hand over the insurgents at the same time.”

    Asked of the attitude of the insurgents, the source, who is believed to be respected by Boko Haram leadership, said: “They have been listening to some of their contacts out of sheer mutual respect but if the government does not act, they do not mind keeping the girls for five years.

    “They are prepared to keep the girls. If there are terms acceptable to both parties and firm commitment, anybody can secure the release of the girls.”

    Another source said the Federal Government does not have much confidence in Obasanjo’s initiative.

    The source said the government would prefer a collective intervention by past Heads of State, as floated last Thursday by President Goodluck Jonathan, than Obasanjo’s singular plan.

    It was gathered that Obasanjo’s comments, which alleged that the President did not believe that the girls were abducted made the Presidency to be “cautious” on his initiative.

    The source added: “I think there is a problem between Obasanjo and the President. When the two leaders met at the burial of ex-Governor Michael Otedola, Obasanjo told Jonathan what he intended doing and the President said it was a good idea.

    “They both agreed to discuss the details later, if Obasanjo is really going into it. The President gave some security insights into the abduction, including the alleged involvement of some people opposed to his administration and some foreign elements.

    “But it was shocking to the government when Obasanjo came out and said Jonathan doubted the abduction of the girls. The comments angered the President and some forces in government.

    “This is why the President and Obasanjo have not sat down to discuss the modalities of the latter’s initiative. Sensing this, Obasanjo was also absent at last Thursday’s parley on the Chibok girls with past leaders.

    “By declaring that not all the girls can return home safely, Obasanjo is not only divulging security matter, he is also doubting his own mission. Do you expect the government to have faith in his initiative?”

    It was gathered that Obasanjo refused to resume talks with Boko Haram contacts because he was yet to secure a firm commitment from the President that whatever terms agreed upon would be accepted by the Federal Government.

    A third source added: “Obasanjo said he won’t move an inch forward on the talks with Boko Haram again until he gets the consent and commitment on whatever is arrived at from the Federal Government.

    “Baba said he cannot act on newspapers reports on the government’s commitment. He does not want to discuss with the insurgents and fail to meet their terms.”

  • N20b libel suit: Obasanjo picks ex-PDP National Auditor as witness

    N20b libel suit: Obasanjo picks ex-PDP National Auditor as witness

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has declined to testify in a case brought against him by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest, Buruji Kashamu.

    He has picked PDP’s former National Auditor Chief Bode Mustapha, to testify on his behalf when the hearing begins.

    Kashamu sued Obasanjo for alleged defamation of character over his (Obasanjo’s) claim in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and the former PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, that Kashamu was a fugitive wanted in the United States.

    The suit is before Justice Valentine Ashi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Wuse 2, Abuja.

    Obasanjo’s lawyer, Gboyega Oyewole, told the court yesterday that the former President had chosen not to testify in person but to call a witness. The lawyer pointed at Chief Mustapha, who was in court.

    Oyewole said his client had filed the necessary processes, in line with the court’s earlier order and withdrew the applications he filed, challenging some averments contained in one of the plaintiff’s affidavits.

    He sought a date for hearing of the applications, including the main suit.

    The plaintiff’s lawyer, Alex Iziyon (SAN), did not object to Oyewole’s decision to withdraw his application.

    The lawyer also agreed that a date be fixed for hearing.

    He told the court that he intended to call two witnesses for the plaintiff.

    Justice Ashi, who hailed the maturity the lawyers displayed in the case, urged them to work harmoniously while still protecting the interest of their clients.

    The judge adjourned till July 28 for the beginning of hearing.

  • Nigerian leaders too proud to apologise

    Nigerian leaders too proud to apologise

    UNTIL former President Olusegun Obasanjo bettered him in bad reputation, former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida came across to Nigerians as the most unrepentant subverter of the national ethos and constitution. General Babangida had annulled the 1993 presidential election adjudged the fairest and freest until then. Consequently, after two turbulent interregna  for that was what they really were  the winner of that election, and a friend of Gen Babangida himself, Moshood Abiola, lost his life in government custody. The events themselves led to the emergence  some say foisting  of Chief Obasanjo on the nation in 1999. Historians agree that Nigeria has still not recovered from that historic blunder; for rather than get better, the national ethos has decayed considerably, and values have withered badly.

    Worse, Gen Babangida continues to equivocate endlessly rather than simply apologise. First, he said the annulment was necessitated by his realisation that some key military officers were poised to pounce on Chief Abiola should he be sworn in. Better therefore to control the looming explosion rather than abandon the system to uncontrolled outcomes, he reasoned. Then, secondly, after much pressure and insults, Gen Babangida finally agreed that he bore full responsibility for the annulment, as if anyone, no matter how whimsically or tenuously, thought otherwise. As for full and real apology, the general has refused till today to offer one. It is almost as if he does not realise that more than anything else, that annulment defined his government, and will define his place in history. How anyone can head to the grave with such a burden on his conscience is difficult to fathom.

    But if Gen Babangida has been somewhat timorous in offering us an apology, Chief Obasanjo has been enthusiastic and even feisty in shirking responsibility for his sinister roles in perverting the course of Nigerian history and aggravating the comprehensive decay of the national ethos. As for apology, he will not even contemplate it. Speaking truculently on the abduction of more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls and the spectacular clumsiness of the President Goodluck Jonathan in rescuing them, Chief Obasanjo denounced the president as slow in responding to an abduction he misjudged, and for being in more ways than one unfit for office. But while the former president is an expert in passing sweeping judgement on both his betters and inferiors, he never accepts responsibility for anything, and is determined, until his dying days, never to apologise for anything, no matter how obviously complicit he is in that thing.

    In the Bloomberg TV interview in which he passed acidic comments on President Jonathan, Chief Obasanjo would not even agree that he foisted President Jonathan on us. Said he: “I always tell the President himself; if God doesn’t want you to be there, you won’t be there. On instrumentality of people, yes, because God wants him to be there. But having been there, you have to perform. That is what I believe. When you get there, no matter how, just perform and keep on performing.” It is clear that in the imperious and sanctimonious view of Chief Obasanjo, President Jonathan is a misfit in government. But what is in dispute is how and why the president got into office. As far as his theology goes, Chief Obasanjo sees himself as nothing more than a willing and available helping hand to put President Jonathan in office; indeed, a helpless instrument the indomitable God can use at will.

    Put laconically, Chief Obasanjo blames God for giving us President Jonathan. The former president’s theology, as this column has always maintained, has not grown beyond the evocative story of Adam and Eve or the casuistries he and his bucolic friends propagated during his undistinguished time in office. It will be recalled that the Biblical Adam blamed God for giving him a wife that exposed his weakness and nurtured his disobedience. But neither the Bible of which Chief Obasanjo is so vagrantly enamoured, nor credible philosophers, ancient and modern, encourage such lax applications of moral rules.

    By universal agreement, President Jonathan is judged a failure in office. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo shares the biggest part of the blame, for he knowingly sought out the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and President Jonathan to plant them in office after unscrupulously and painstakingly destroying all opposition within and without his party, the PDP. If Chief Obasanjo suffers from amnesia, we do not. We still feel the agonizing freshness of history.

  • She will be missed- Ita-Giwa

    She will be missed- Ita-Giwa

    Former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on National Assembly Matters and the Chairman of the committee on Environment at the National Conference, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has commiserated with the government of Anambra over the death of the former NAFDAC boss, Dora Akunyili.

    In a statement yesterday, Ita -Giwa described the deceased as a dependable woman who fought tirelessly in reducing fake drugs and control during her enviable stint as NAFDAC DG.

    She praised her courage and commitments to national course and prayed that the families will have the fortitude to bear the loss that her death has created.

  • Bayero pillar of support to me, says Obasanjo

    Bayero pillar of support to me, says Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said that the   late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, was a pillar of support to him when he was in power.

    Obasanjo, who was on a condolence visit to the emir’s palace in Kano, described the deceased as a legend and icon who would be missed by all Nigerians.

    “He had been a pillar of support, a confidante, an adviser and a friend,” the former President said.

    “As a just ruler, his reign spanned over half a century. He was very active in building this country politically, socially and economically,” he added.

    Obasanjo   advised the successor to the throne to emulate the virtues of the late Bayero, who he said left a big vacuum in the heart of his admirers.

     

  • MKO confronts OBJ

    Shhhhh! Please read this piece very quietly and with ample touch of solemnity, Hardball is reporting for you from a higher plain that requires utmost quietude. Your hardworking Hardball transcended this plain to a realm where he could pick up the vibes of the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO for short). Of course you must remember the great Egba high chief and Kakanfo (generalissimo) of Yoruba land. Who does not remember the great business mogul- turned politician; the one who took Nigeria’s politics by storm and achieved what is probably the most famous mandate in history?

    At the peak of his power, MKO tobogganed an entire fractured nation into one voting machine that gave him an unassailable victory in the presidential election of June 12, 1993. Christians, Muslims, pagans, everyone turned out en masse to vote in MKO in a watershed election that will remain a landmark in Nigeria’s history. But this sweet victory was simply annulled. This singular act of squelching the will of the people snow-balled into a national and international ruckus, whose embers still smother even as you read this.

    The great MKO embarked on a long, tortuous and, eventually, terminal quest to reclaim his mandate. He was detained, he went on exile, he was imprisoned and eventually he was killed. His wife too was killed, his family dispersed and his large business empire damaged beyond repairs. While the whole world campaigned for MKO to be sprung from prison and handed his mandate, a certain clansman of his by the name  Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military head of state (also known as OBJ), announced to the world that that brother of his they were all weeping over was not the messiah they thought him to be.

    So it was that MKO perished in the struggle and not a line of eulogy from his brother, OBJ. A leadership vacuum soon materialised  from this crisis and who is propped up to claim the mantle of power – you guessed it – OBJ. He became the sole beneficiary of a Presidency that MKO was viciously denied. OBJ ruled for eight years as ‘executive’ president. In all this period, he virtually outlawed MKO and probably would have imprisoned him a second time if he could. While he built a monument to the memory of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, he could well have danced on MKO’s tomb. This was seven years ago as OBJ left office in 2007.

    Dear reader, you must necessarily be put through the gamut of this long back-grounding because this is not an ordinary occurrence.

    Now, last Saturday, at a birthday party in Abeokuta, OBJ acknowledged that, “Indeed, Abiola contributed to the development of this country. He sacrificed everything for the development of this country.”

    As Hardball could pick, MKO was so riled by what he considers OBJ’s height of chicanery that he confronted him: “Seeee-guuun, ah, e wa simi abosi? On bo wa ba mi ni bi o, wa gbadun mi to ba de bi, mo n retie!” Translated roughly, a furious MKO had harangued OBJ, calling him Segun as he used to and wondering when he would quit treachery, ending with a note of warning that he would be joining him and would be waiting for him. OBJ could only utter, “ah, Moshoodi!” before the apparition vanished. It turned out a dream afterall!

     

  • Obasanjo, Alake: Abiola died for Nigeria

    Obasanjo, Alake: Abiola died for Nigeria

    Presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief Moshood Abiola, paid the supreme price for the country, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Alake of Egbaland,

    Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, said yesterday.

    The duo lamented that Abiola’s failed mission to reclaim his stolen mandate stopped Ogun State for producing the third President of Nigeria.

    Apart from Obasanjo, who ruled Nigeria as a Head of State before winning the 1999 presidential election, former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, also from the Gateway state, presided over the affairs of the nation.

    Obasanjo and Alake spoke yesterday at the 4th founder’s day of Nobel house College, Abeokuta and 85th birthday celebration of an industrialist and philanthropist, Chief Olatunde Abudu.

    This was ahead of the 21st anniversary of the 1993 presidential election believed to be the freest and fairest in the nation.

    Obasanjo, who was a guest at the event, was reacting to a remark by the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, that Ogun State could have produced three presidents if not for ‘bad belle.’

    Obasanjo said: “As Kabiyesi has said that Ogun State would have produced three presidents if not for ‘bad belle.’ I want to agree with him that Abiola sacrificed for the nation.

    “Indeed, Abiola contributed to the development of this country. He sacrificed everything for the development of this country.”

    Last December, Obasanjo also noted that the office of the President of Nigeria should have been permanent for Ogun state’s deserving sons and daughters.

    The former President lamented that were it not for “bad belle,” the state would have had the rare luck of producing three leaders at the centre but the prospect of achieving that feat was aborted by persons not disposed to it.

     

  • Chibok girls: Obasanjo joins rescue mission

    Chibok girls: Obasanjo joins rescue mission

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has met with some Islamic clerics and two facilitators of dialogue with Boko Haram –  in a bid to seek freedom for the 276 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram.

    The meeting agreed on five options on how to set the girls free without firing a shot, if they are acceptable to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Obasanjo also told the team that if the Jonathan administration does not give him clearance to proceed with the talks, he would quit the mission.

    The Presidency was yet to be briefed by Obasanjo as at the time of filing this report.

    According to a source, who pleaded not to be named, Obasanjo met with one of the early facilitators of peace talks with Boko Haram, Comrade Shehu Sani, Alhaji Mustapha Zanna, who was the lawyer to the sect’s slain leader, Mohammed Yusuf and some Islamic clerics who have the sect confidence.

    It was gathered that the meeting was held at Obasanjo’s Abeokuta, Ogun State capital home. Many visitors were barred from the mansion during the meeting, it was learnt.

    Apart from being physically touched by the plight of the girls and the global outcry that greeted their abduction, Obasanjo, said the source, reportedly felt that the international backlash for the nation was not good.

    A source said the ex-President expressed surprise that some members of the African Union (AU), who Nigeria had helped, took advantage of the girls’ ordeal to condemn the nation for not having the ability to liberate the girls.

    Obasanjo was said to have pleaded with the Boko Haram contacts to work with him to resolve the abduction saga in the interest of the nation.

    The source said: “The ex-President summoned the meeting in Abeokuta out of his love for the nation.

    “Feeling somber,   Obasanjo said he called for the meeting to seek alternative ways on how to free the Chibok girls.

    “The ex-President sought to know the state of the girls. He repeatedly asked questions on their safety and health. The Boko Haram contacts briefed Obasanjo that Ahmed Salkida, who facilitated the crashed talks, reported to the government that the girls were being well taken care of.

    “The session then tried to study how the previous talks failed at the last minute. People at the meeting who had knowledge gave Obasanjo a breakdown of what happened.”

    After about 20 minutes of reviewing the talks, said the source, all the parties realised that in spite of the fact that the Federal Government agreed on the swap of the abducted girls, there was lack of trust by the government.

    “The Federal Government was unsure whether or not the talks will produce results. There is therefore the need to restore the trust.

    “The meeting shifted to the way forward on how to rescue the girls.

    The options are to:

    •restore  trust between the government and Boko Haram leaders;

    •explore possible ways in which Boko Haram could be engaged;

    •convince Boko Haram to release the girls as a precondition before the sect’s demand for the release of their members is considered;

    •possibility of handing over the girls to some Islamic clerics in trust until the government fulfils its own part of the bargain; and

    •immunity for Boko Haram leaders to meet with Obasanjo and government representatives.

    The source added: “Part of the discussions or the points of the meeting was that Obasanjo is working on an idea that would see the insurgents handing over the Chibok girls to their own clerics in trust.

    “After that, he (Obasanjo) will then look into the possibility of considering their own demands and how to go about meeting these conditions.”

    A third source claimed that Obasanjo added some caveat.

    The source said: “Baba said the fresh initiative on talks with Boko Haram should be done in phases. He said he had to seek clearance from the government on whether he should wade in or not. He wants to seek a commitment on whether the Jonathan administration is prepared to walk this path or not.

    “He said if the government agrees, he would meet with the Boko Haram leaders and later with government representatives, depending on the outcome of talks.

    “If the government says ‘no’, Obasanjo said he would stop from mediating with Boko Haram contacts and leaders.”

    But the delegation asked Obasanjo to step in quickly because “the girls are most likely to be brainwashed and they would come back as different people we know them to be”.

    In what appeared a lighter part of the session in Abeokuta, Obasanjo was reportedly asked by the delegation if they should bring some of the leaders to his house. “I will prefer to talk to their representatives now until I get clearance from the Federal Government, not now.

    “I will meet with the leaders after I have received necessary backing from the government,” he was quoted as replying.

    Attempts to speak with any of those at the meeting were difficult as at press time.

    But when our correspondent got across to Sani, he simply said: “Yes; we had a meeting in Abeokuta last Saturday, but go and find out what transpired from the ex-President.”

    Asked of what was discussed, he replied jocularly: “We discussed Boko, but if you add Haram, na you sabi.”

  • 2015: Obasanjo, Jonathan at war over running mate

    2015: Obasanjo, Jonathan at war over running mate

    A fresh moveby former President Olusegun Obasanjo to regain relevance in the PDP is being resisted by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    President Jonathan is said to have rejected Obasanjo’s proposal to replace Vice President Namadi Sambo with Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State as his running mate in next year’s election.

    Obasanjo, The Nation gathered, made it clear that the only  condition  that  Jonathan would get his support is if he picked Lamido as his running mate in 2015.

    Lamido has already activated a machinery to oil his campaign ahead of the PDP National Convention where the party’s flag bearer will be picked.

    Although he has not made any formal declaration to that effect, he is the only PDP member known to be willing to confront Jonathan in seeking the party’s presidential ticket.

    The President himself is yet to formally declare to seek a fresh mandate.

    A few weeks ago, Chief Obasanjo in Jigawa State described Lamido, who many see as his political son, as capable of leading the country.

    Obasanjo was said to have told President Jonathan that Lamido  has more political value than Sambo but the President was not persuaded by the proposal.

    A presidency source said  Jonathan said he would run with Sambo and even reminded Obasanjo that one of Lamido’s  sons was arrested for money laundering.

    The source said:”The president had argued that with Obasanjo openly criticising the administration’s anti corruption credentials, it would not be in the best interest of the PDP to bring in Lamido when the money laundering case against his two children was still pending.

    “Obasanjo also tried to convince the president that Lamido would be able to bring back the five PDP governors that defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) if assured of the vice presidential slot.

    “But the president countered that any loyal party chieftain and prominent beneficiary of the party’s platform should not necessarily wait to be given a slot before he could be of such service to his party.”

     

  • Shehu Sanni writes Sultan on girls’ fate

    Shehu Sanni writes Sultan on girls’ fate

    Rights Activist Shehu Sani has asked the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, to mobilise Northern clerics to rescue the abducted Chibok girls from Boko Haram’s captivity.

    He said the Sultan and others must not allow the girls’ fate to get worse, adding that the abducted girls have guns on their heads and chains in their hands and every second counts to save them.

    Sani, a key facilitator of talks with the extremist Boko Haram and President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria made the plea in an open letter to the Sultan, who is the President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).

    The May 16 letter was obtained yesterday by our correspondent in Abuja.

    Sani, who once facilitated ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s visit to Boko Haram leaders, said the Sultan and other clerics would have to lead talks with the sect if the nation wants the girls released.

    The letter reads: “I’m writing to you as a concerned citizen, privately and proactively involved in the campaign to end the stand off and resolve the abduction saga, that has kept for one month, over 280 of our girls of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State as hostages in the hands and in the grip of the insurgent group, Boko Haram.

    “I have read the clear and unambiguous position on the issue by the Jammaatu Nasril Islam of which you are the leader, and that is commendable.

    “I have also followed your consistent position and opposition to all forms of violence or mayhem perpetrated in the guise of religion. However, I believe you can do more than pronouncement or public statement on the unfortunate incident.

    “Your Eminence, this letter is a personal appeal for you to move beyond your present position and directly intervene in the resolution of this national problem that has attracted so much international interest, attention and concern.

    “This is not a matter for the Federal Government or President Goodluck Jonathan alone or the security forces alone to resolve but it’s a national emergency which will predictably affect the future of our people and our great country.

    “You have a moral duty and a spiritual responsibility to be visibly and actively involved in seeking the resolution of this impasse happening within areas you have religious influence.”

    He asked the Sultan to secure the Federal Government’s nod to intervene in the fate of the abducted girls.

    He added: “Your eminence, you have the listening ears of the Federal Government and you also enjoy the respect of all religious clerics in northern Nigeria and beyond.

    “I advise that you should facilitate the intervention of selected Islamic clerics to ask the permission of the Federal Government and reach out to the insurgent group to demand for the release of the Chibok girls and take custody of them; the Islamic clerics to intervene should also appeal to the Federal Government to consider the release of all persons currently in detention without trial arrested on suspicion of security breaches.

    “Arbitrary arrested and prolonged detention of citizens, if there is any, clearly breaches our fundamental human rights as succinctly spelt out in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and our national laws.

    “Until the Chibok girls are released, they represent the encased conscience of our country. We must not let what will happen to them to be worse than what is happening to them.”

    Sani reminded the Sultan that the image of the nation is at stake.

    He said: “Your Eminence, as long as the Chibok girls continue to remain in captivity, it’s not only the credibility of the Federal Government that is at stake but the moral perception of the nation and the relevance of your institution and influence is under question and so also the image of all Muslims in Nigeria, irrespective of their verbal stance on the issue.

    “Religious clerics particularly in the North, should move beyond prayers and independently move further to reach out to the insurgents and amicably retrieve these girls via means that will guarantee their safe return.

    “This option is an alternative to the use of force and the unavoidable consequences of it. The insurgents have consistently justify all their actions on religious ground,as a spiritual leader you have a duty to engage them or intellectually confront them in line with divine teachings that promote and assert the imperatives of  peace, dialogue and harmonious coexistence.”

    Sani urged the Sultan to save the girls from being killed by the insurgents.

    He said: “Your Eminence, this is a simple appeal for you to use your vantage position to resolve this matter and so as to get the hovering drone off our skies and the pains off our hearts.

    “I’m quite informed about the limitation of your institution but I’m confident that your active intervention based on this advice can help in resolving this problem as every second counts.

    “The Chibok girls have guns on their heads and chains on their hands and we have a dangling sword of posterity hanging over our heads.”