The Nation Newspaper

Tag: people

  • Great people, good nation

    •A vulnerable Nigerian receives abundant assistance 

    In spite of the spreading moral decay into which Nigeria appears to have fallen, it is heartwarming to see unambiguous demonstrations of love, empathy and generosity by distinguished corporate bodies and ordinary people to fellow-citizens in desperate need.

    This was the case of Owolabi Oladunjoye, a 17-year-old bus conductor who was one of 14 victims involved in an accident on the Third Mainland Bridge on January 23, 2015. Having fallen unconscious, he and another victim of the crash were taken to St. Nicholas Hospital on Lagos Island by a Good Samaritan, where he was admitted and treated until he regained consciousness several days later.

    After identifying himself and admitting that he did not have a fixed address, Mr. Razak Yusuf, a housekeeper in the hospital, undertook to locate Owolabi’s relations in Lagos. After a great deal of effort, they were traced and his mother in Ede, Osun State, was contacted. The management of St. Nicholas Hospital presented the convalescing Owolabi with a monetary gift to aid him in paying for his West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), which had caused him to abscond from home.

    This tale is significant for the way in which it reveals a happy convergence of corporate social responsibility and a strong sense of moral obligation. St. Nicholas must be commended for the manner in which it chose to live up to its ideals by admitting two accident victims and treating them without demanding any money from the person who brought them in. Both were given comprehensive treatment free of charge, including intensive care for Owolabi, who was also given financial assistance and a commitment to further medical checks. The hospital found a suitable confederate in Mr. Yusuf, who went above and beyond the call of duty in tracing Owolabi’s relations across two states and the nooks and crannies of inner-city Lagos.

    When corporate organisations and individuals act with such selflessness, with no other thought than that of the wellbeing of their compatriots, it becomes evident that there is some hope for the prospect of Nigeria becoming a true home for all its citizens. St. Nicholas did not behave with the notorious indifference of many Nigerian healthcare institutions which usually demand the payment of hefty admission fees before treatment, even in emergency cases. It did not seek to simply stabilise the patients and then get rid of them. Mr. Yusuf was not tasked with the assignment of locating Owolabi’s relations, but he did it as if he had a personal interest in the outcome.

    These are the institutions and people of whom Nigeria can justly be proud. Unlike the greed, corruption and selfishness with which the nation is only too familiar, they reveal an admirable capacity to rise above the predatory instincts that abound in contemporary society.

    Owolabi’s predicament throws up several issues whose resolution could help to mitigate the occurrence of similar situations in future. His inability to pay his WASSCE fees would not have arisen if they had been covered by government. It would not have been so easy for a minor to get employment as a bus-conductor if there had been a proper process of training and registration in place. He might not have remained unidentified for so long if the interminably-delayed national identification system had been set up. The actions of St. Nicholas would not have been so unusual if the federal and state governments had ensured that hospitals obeyed laid-down regulations regarding the mandatory admission of all emergency cases.

    It is clear that Nigeria is full of organisations and individuals who are willing and able to make sacrifices for the progress of their nation. Such sacrifices must become the rule rather than the exception if the country is to attain its true potential for greatness.

  • Whither Nsukka people?

    SIR: We have taken time to ponder over the fate of Nsukka people since the return of “democracy” in 1999. We have thought of the hopelessness of our people, their stinking poverty and deliberate deprivations unleashed on them by the PDP government. What has this government – federal and state – got to show in Nsukka? Is it roads, health facilities, employment, farm inputs, water supply or electricity? All they see are broken promises, failed and failing infrastructures.

    By deliberate plot, PDP has a design to further weaken Nsukka zone. The party has side tracked all the Nsukka aspirants who have experience and who are highly educated. At the governorship level, the choice of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in preference for very articulate and political activists like Ikeje Asogwa, Sam Onyishi (Peace Mass Transit) Engr. Since his eleven years, eight months in the House of Representatives, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has never spoken a word in the National Assembly, not even motion for adjournment!

    The picture is not better with the PDP’s choice of the senatorial candidate for Nsukka. Here again the same scenario plays out. The game plan is simple: impose some one on Nsukka who cannot rival any of the other two senior senators from the other senatorial districts, namely, the incumbent senators Ekweremadu and Gil Nnaji who are also candidates for this election. So in the senate, the Nsukka man, Chuka Utazi, would be a green horn. The effect is that given his lack of experience and standing vis-à-vis the other contesting senatorial candidates, any major positions or slots in the senate meant for Enugu State would automatically go to senators from East and West senatorial districts. It is clear that PDP team in this election is not Nsukka first eleven. They cannot score the goals needed to move Enugu State forward let alone Nsukka, in the years ahead.

    This is where Okey Ezea (Ideke) of All Progressives Congress (APC) readily comes in. He has the experience. He has the vision. He has a manifesto, a requisite blue print needed to move Enugu State forward. Above all, he is no body’s godson.

    Should the evil design of the PDP cabals succeed, (God forbid) then Nsukka would be shut out in the scheme of things in the next dispensation. Nsukka man may be governor, but as has been pointed out, the voice would be that of Jacob but the hand would be that of Esau.

     

    • Ifeanyi Ugwueze,

    Concerned Nsukka Patriots, Nsukka

  • Agbaje promises ‘justice’ for Makoko, Badagry people

    Agbaje promises ‘justice’ for Makoko, Badagry people

    Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje has promised to review the 2012 ejection of some Makoko, Yaba Mainland residents by the government.

    At an interactive town hall meeting in Lagos Mainland Local Government, Agbaje assured the victims’ representatives of justice if he is elected.

    The town hall meeting, held at the Nigerian Army Officers’ Mess at Sabo, Yaba, was attended by civilians, soldiers, Christian and Moslem clerics, youth, artisans and others.

    During the question-and-answer session, a participant asked Agbaje what he would do about their case.

    “I will urge you not to bother yourself about what is happening now, the injustice can only last till May 29. I assure you that when we come in on May 29, there is also an eraser that will be used to rub off the injustice perpetrated in Makoko.”

    Agbaje also visited Badagry and Mushin as part of his tour of the 20 local governments, which began last Friday. In Badagry, where his running mate, Alhaja Safurat Abdulkarim, hails from, he vowed that he  would redress the marginalisation of its people in governance.

    A PDP government, he said, would appoint commissioners, directors and permanent secretaries from the area. He said PDP party elders zeroed in on Badagry to produce his running mate in recognition of its contributions to the state’s development.

    “Alhaja Safurat became the choice personality for the post because of her humility, character, commitment and experience as a teacher and an accountant,” he said.

    In Mushin, Agbaje reiterated his commitment to his three-pronged agenda, of: Health, Education and Security.  He decried the fallen standard of education, saying like the case of hospitals, the party in power has underfunded the sector.

    To the Igbo people in the audience, Agbaje vowed to stop the ‘deportation’ of indigent non-indigenes.

    “Lagos without non-indigenes is not Lagos,” he said. “You, my brothers and sisters from the North, the Southsouth, or the Southeast have contributed to the growth of the economy of Lagos.”

  • Inciting the people

    •Jimi Agbaje’s impolitic statement about Niger Delta and President Jonathan lacks the virtue of a statesman

    If Mr Jimi Agbaje, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State has his way, the presidential candidate of his party, incumbent Dr Goodluck Jonathan, will be gifted a second term in office, irrespective of the will of the electorate in next month’s presidential election. This was the import of Mr Agbaje’s widely publicised argument at an event in London that the South-South zone could shut down the oil sector with negative implications for the economy if President Jonathan fails to win re-election.

    In his words on the occasion, “Now, in 2015, we are saying that the South-South has presented a candidate and we are talking about equity and some are saying he should not be given a second term. This is a very difficult thing. In argument, some have said ‘what will happen?’ Well, people will be upset and they have shown that they have the power to shut down the system. I am not saying it is justified but the reality is there. If the system is shut down, where are we as a country”?

    Agbaje’s brazen and immoral attempt to blackmail Nigerians into accepting President Jonathan’s election as a fait accompli is predicated on the country’s current heavy reliance on the Niger Delta’s oil resources as her dominant foreign exchange earner. This pharmacist who aspires to govern Nigeria’s most cosmopolitan and sophisticated state has thus descended to the level of uncouth ex- Niger Delta militants like Asari Dokubo and Government Tompolo, who have threatened the disintegration of Nigeria if their Ijaw kinsman is not re-elected.

    Despite his posturing over the years as a democratic activist with strong commitment to federalist principles, Agbaje’s contention in this instance eloquently testifies to a deficient appreciation of democratic culture, a complete lack of understanding of constitutional values and an embarrassing ignorance of the socio-political and economic dynamics of a federal polity like Nigeria.

    Nigeria’s extant constitution provides for a maximum of two terms of four years each for the country’s president. It does not exempt the incumbent President from seeking the endorsement of the electorate for a second term if he so desires. It is, therefore, difficult to understand the constitutional basis for Agbaje’s strange doctrine of what amounts to an automatic second term for Jonathan for sentimental, sectional considerations. Surely, no true democrat should ever contemplate such an anomaly. The only basis for an incumbent’s re-election is the expressed will of the electorate in free and fair elections.

    Obviously trying to mitigate the fierce criticisms attracted by his comments, Agbaje has rationalised his assertion by saying that he is concerned about the possible outbreak of violence if either General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  or President Jonathan does not win the February 14 election. Of course, he is only being clever by half. The clear intent of Agbaje’s shallow analysis is to either cow Nigerians into voting for Jonathan out of fear, or incite violence in the South-South if Jonathan loses. A genuine democrat would rather be concerned about free, fair and credible polls that reflect the popular will since it is only those that make peaceful electoral change impossible that make violent change inevitable.

    It is instructive that Agbaje also contends that President Jonathan has performed very well in office but his achievements have not been publicised well enough. Well, it is up to the likes of Agbaje and the PDP to effectively convince Nigerians as regards the achievements of the President rather than fanning the embers of fear and violence if the Nigerian electorate exercise their right not to re-elect him if they so choose.

  • People Power Project

    Apart from its sheer symbolism, the publicised move by northern yam farmers to boost the campaign funds of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, with a donation of N5bn speaks volumes about the mass appeal of his remarkable Crowd Funding Project. Reports said Rev. Jacob Musa, Public Relations Officer of a group named Buhari-Osinbajo Presidential Appeal Campaign Fund (BOPCAF), declared in a statement that the money would be raised by its members in Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger and Kaduna states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    More dramatically and spectacularly, according to the information, an unusual fundraiser based on yam selling was scheduled for Jan 4 at the Mararaban Demshin village yam market in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State.  Musa said: “We have contributed five million tubers of yam to be donated in support of the funding of Buhari’s presidential campaign. The five million tubers of yam will be retailed at a special price of N1, 000 each towards raising the sum of N5 billion in support of the APC candidate.”

    Symbolically, tubers of yam hint at the natural cycle of sowing and reaping, possibly suggesting that the time has come for the Goodluck Jonathan presidency to get its comeuppance after a long night of irredeemably poor governance.  Musa, who painted a picture of the Jonathan era, was quoted as saying that the group’s political involvement was a “campaign against poverty, crime, killings, kidnappings, armed robbery, castle rustling, rape, cultism, election rigging, looting of public funds, smuggling, terrorism and other social vices now prevalent in the society.”

    The clear difference between Buhari’s focus on the people for funding and Jonathan’s reliance on moneybags for resources, even if not definitively ideological, is at least promising in terms of individual orientation and direction. Buhari said: My strength mainly is the ordinary people. N100 is plenty of money for them and I know that they are going to make the sacrifice required for the change we are looking for, especially when I made them a promise to be transparent and personally responsible for the money.” It is a reflection of Buhari’s widely acknowledged immaculateness that the bank account details of the Buhari Support Organisation are officially in the public space: Acct No. 2026724405; First Bank Plc. He disclosed that the people had contributed N54.4 million so far.

    However, it’s a long walk to “Change”, that enchanting word which is the APC slogan ahead of next month’s presidential election. Although money by itself is unlikely to give Jonathan electoral victory, especially given his provable low-rung performance in office and associated weakness in the critical area of people appeal, there is no doubt that his reelection campaign war chest of at least N21bn raised at the December 20 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fundraiser in Abuja is truly intimidating.

    While the contest might be portrayed as a battle between the masses and the moneybags, the electoral clincher would hopefully be beyond Jonathan’s cash stockpile and the expected grassroots financial contributions to Buhari’s pursuit of presidential power.

    Fundamentally, the country’s historically significant 2015 presidential election represents an unquantifiable opportunity for the electorate to demonstrate not only discerning political consciousness but also confident mastery of its ultimate sovereignty. In other words, the election is better appreciated as a People Power Project.

    It is interesting to note that Jonathan, perhaps in an indirect and self-serving manner, appears to have come to an impressive realisation of the supremacy of the vote or the primacy of the voters. He reportedly said to a visiting delegation of traditional rulers and leaders from Bayelsa State: “If Nigerians didn’t want me to be here, when I contested elections in 2011, I wouldn’t be here. But they voted for us and we are here.”  Without exploring the purity of his alleged win in 2011, it is sufficient to highlight the solid implication of his reasoning, which is that the people have the power to vote against him and deflate his dream of a second term. The question, therefore, is whether this would happen, not whether it could, because it is always a democratic possibility based on people capacity.

    Jonathan further said: “I don’t expect praises now, until I leave office…People don’t often give credit when the man is still there. They often do it when he has left and another man is in charge. When they make comparison, they will begin to see the great things the former man did.”  At least, to go by his words, it is a positive sign that he can accommodate the idea of official impermanence. Of course, he is entitled to his own self-rating, however exaggerated, or more precisely, however revealing of “hallucinatory realism”. What matters, in the end, is whether the people see Jonathan’s first-term performance from his own conceited perspective. So, he could leave office sooner than he is clearly anticipating, if the people say so by their votes.

    Power to the people is a catch-phrase that must be actualised by the people themselves for meaningful change. It is noteworthy that Buhari said: “Currently, 82 support groups have been registered under the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) with over 475, 796 coordinators and total membership in the region of 8,492,226 across the length and breadth of this country.” Probably the main the challenge facing the progressive camp in the countdown to the defining election is people mobilisation, which will likely come with the difficulty of spreading political awareness and enlightenment as well as delivering the crucial message of the need for game-changing political action within a population that is usually fatalistically absorbent. Indeed, how far the people are ready to go to protect the sacredness of their votes will be decisive.

    It is thought-provoking that Jonathan said in his New Year message: “After the 2011 general elections, some unpatriotic elements embarked on an orgy of violence, resulting in the destruction of lives and property. That will not be allowed to happen this time around. This government will act decisively against anyone who disrupts the public peace, before, during or after the 2015 general elections.”  The question is: What if the people are triggered to defend their votes?

  • I’ll serve God and our people, says Peterside

    I’ll serve God and our people, says Peterside

    The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Mr. Dakuku Peterside, has said he will serve God and the people if elected next February.

    He spoke at a praise/dedication service at the Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt yesterday.

    Peterside said: “I am openly admitting that we acknowledge that power belongs to God.

    “We have chosen to begin from here because by divine unction and direction, we have come to understand that time tested truth that while ‘Some trust in chariots, and some in horses’: we are most assured when we’ remember the name of the Lord our God.”

    He added: “When on October 26, 2007, our governor took over leadership in our beloved state, we all agreed that power belongs to God. And so, we set our heart that if that faithful God would graciously give us an opportunity to serve Rivers people in any capacity, we would do so with all our heart and soul and strength and that at each point, we would raise an altar of Praise and Thanksgiving to His Holy Name. We are therefore, here today, to stand true to that vow.

    ”When by the grace of God and the decision of our great party, the All Progressive Congress, the mantle to take the baton of leadership fell on me, I  Dakuku Adol Peterside, your son, who grew up among you, watched over by the elders, decided that I would humbly invite my fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, friends and everyone in our state, to come join me praise the King of kings and establish Him as always as Lord and God over Rivers State.

    “Having worked closely with our leader, our brother, our governor and our friend , I have seen his passion for excellence and a new and better Rivers State. I have been challenged by this passion and believe that a greater Rivers State is possible if we all join hands.

    “Together I believe we can provide leadership that will accelerate the actualisation of a greater Rivers dream of improved middle class, first class safe environment, equal and more socio-economic opportunities and create a greater sense of community, a Rivers State that will be the pride of Africa.

    “On my honour, I pledge this day, before God and His priests assembled here, that when I am elected and sworn into office as Governor of Rivers State in 2015, I will serve God and our people. We will not sell our dear Rivers State to the devil. Not for anything!”

    The cleric, who gave the exhortation, Apostle Israel Alubah, an Ogoni, stated that Wike and his governorship aspiration had failed, with the refusal of his hired chopper to take him back to Port Harcourt from Bori-Ogoni last Thursday, during his “thank you” tour.

    Alubah noted that the PDP’s standard bearer flew in an helicopter into Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoniland, but to confirm God’s disapproval of his governorship aspiration, the chopper could not start after his campaign and he angrily returned to Port Harcourt by road, only for the helicopter to start shortly after Wike and his allies left.

    In his sermon entitled: “Our God can do it again,” the cleric described Peterside, an indigene of Opobo, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area and the Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum (Downstream),  as a destiny child.

    Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi read the only lesson, taken from II Chronicles 7: 11-19.

    The dedication was attended by Amaechi’s wife, Dame Judith; Peterside’s wife, Elima; his running mate, Okorie Honourable Asita, and his wife, Patricia; the representatives of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Magnus Ngei Abe; and the Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

    Others in attendance were a member of the Board of Trustees of the APC, Sam Sam Jaja; Rivers Deputy Governor; Tele ikuru, an engineer; the Rivers Chairman of the APC, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya; the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, George Feyii, among other eminent personalities.

  • ‘We’re committed to our people’s well-being’

    In its commitment to better the living standards of the people of Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, under the leadership of the former chairman, Hon. Bolaji Kayode Robert has inaugurated two modern primary health care centres, even as it distributed some empowerment items to members of the community under its poverty alleviation programmes. The event took place at Ijanikin, Oke Ijewu before the tenure of the council’s leadership elapsed.

    This, the council chief said, was in line with the vision of the council to provide quality health care system and sustainable income for the people in a bid to reduce the poverty level among the people.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Hon. Robert said: “As our tenure in office draws to an end, since all earthly things are temporary and finite, and all things born or made of man is transient, I am bold to say that the promises I made when I assumed office have been kept.

    “By the grace of God, together with a dynamic team, we have made Oto-Awori a better place than we met it. We have been able to simplify the art of governance and give the people a new lease of life.

    “Our LCDA has witnessed excellence in governance in the past six years of our administration, with life-changing programmes and projects which had raised the standard of living of our people .We have been able to turn around the fortunes of Oto-Awori LCDA in all sectors through selfless and wholehearted commitment to service.

    “We all desire a society where things work, where the environment is clean and hygienic, where lives and properties are safe and secure, where education and health care services are available and affordable. These have been our targets and we have not disappointed you, as you all testify to the astronomical growth experienced by the LCDA.

    “Today’s inauguration is another promise kept. After the construction of our modern secretariat, we realised that the old PHC was not too befitting, as it was too small for both the health workers and the nursing mothers. Our administration is so passionate about the health of our people and we would not compromise in any way when it comes to quality health care delivery.

    ‘‘We are equally going to launch three ambulances as well as other health equipment for the smooth operations and adherence to international best practices. It is the people’s right to enjoy all the health benefits that accrue to them as at when due.

    ‘‘Aside from the inauguration, we are going to distribute poverty alleviation equipment to our people. Or approach to poverty eradication is to teach our people how to fish and not giving them fish always. This policy was well demonstrated through periodic distribution of poverty alleviation equipment and materials.’’

    Robert’s administration also inaugurated council hall and donated three ambulance buses to boost health care delivery.

    Some of the items distributed included freezers, power generating set, sewing machines and hair dryers, among others.

    One of the beneficiaries Mr. Yemi Ope-Sanwo thanked the council for the gesture.

     

  • Buhari, Amaechi and people power

    Of all the possible expressive metaphors, why did Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) go for the gun?  It would appear that the former military ruler and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential hopeful is still in love with the weapon nearly 30 years after his military government was toppled and after three futile electoral attempts to be president. He blurred the fundamental distinction between the gun and the vote at a rally in Kaduna where Nasir El-Rufai, a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), formally unveiled his governorship aspiration.

    Interestingly, Buhari reportedly said to the crowd: “Your card is your gun against incompetence in government and deception.” He added: “We have suffered enough. You know what it takes to repair Nigeria, especially as regards infrastructure, security and employment. Let us get the infrastructure working; let’s get security materially, physically and morally.”

    Considering that his party’s symbol is a broom, it may have been more fitting, and by far less jolting, if Buhari had stuck to the familiar image of sweeping as a means of removing the unwanted. It is possible to interpret his language of violence as a reflection of the depth of his political frustration, which is understandable in the context of the observable continuing ruin of the country by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). There is no doubt that the picture of the gun, perhaps more than any other euphemistic expression, drives the point home not only about the need for direct action but also the necessity for a destruction of the status quo.

    The suggestion of blood and death, in the framework of social resistance, was similarly communicated by Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi of the APC at another rally in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, where Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed publicly announced his pursuit of re-election. In an impassioned speech, Amaechi said: “I am very impressed by the number of persons that I have seen here today. What you must do is to stop the PDP from rigging.” He continued: “When you vote, do not go home at all. They will bring soldiers and police, remain there. If they want to kill us, let them kill us. If you go home, you will hear a different result. Stay there and make sure nobody rigs you out.”

    This striking convergence of thoughts, particularly the frightening verbalisation of violence, mirrors the decay and the defiance in the country’s political arena. Against this background, next year’s general elections promise to be, in a manner of speaking, a battle to the death for the country’s soul. It may be considered reassuring that the situation is not without instances of non-violent combativeness. APC leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said at Ahmed’s event: “The best thing to do is to sweep them away through broom revolution.”  Significantly, his choice of words, even with the apparent lexical ambiguity, plays down blood and guts.

    It is a tribute to the essential concept of political sovereignty that, by clear implication, the APC’s approach is to rouse people power. It is a positive and creditable corporate stance, which has an excellent potential for achieving the desired regime change. However, the party will need to get its act together in order to surmount the objective challenges of organising for power and change, especially given the crippling socio-economic conditions that have blunted political consciousness across the country, resulting in an unbelievable atrophy of the exercise of political sovereignty. In other words, the people seem to have lost their voice, if not their votes.

    To save the sinking ship, words, whether hot or cold, will never be enough. How well the campaigners for change can demonstrate difference and distinction will likely be an indispensable factor in awakening the people. Sadly, it is still possible to argue, as various observers have done, that the opposition is yet to acquire a distinctive and unimpeachable stamp of progressivism.

    It would amount to a gross failure of discernment to trivialise the capacity of the Goodluck Jonathan administration for self-perpetuation. Indeed, Jonathan’s stunning choreographic approach to the 2015 presidential election may qualify as arguably the most systematically planned and methodically controlled pursuit of power in the country’s history of democratic politics, which should not necessarily be seen in constructive terms. Consider his unprecedented exclusive endorsement for re-election by the PDP state governors, Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee, which effectively foreclosed the conventional presidential primary to choose a candidate.  Add to this picture the reinforcing activities of the myriad Jonathan support groups practically begging him to be the PDP presidential candidate in the coming election.

    In a manner that may have been thought impossible based on reason, the desperadoes have not only redefined the noble concept of “transformational government”; they have also gone to the ridiculous extent of labelling the Jonathan administration as an exemplary case in point. It is instructive to note that Jonathan has continued to display a reptilian sneakiness, and perhaps the ultimate joke concerning his open concealment of his re-election ambition must be his show at his party’s September 20 “Southwest sensitisation rally.”  In his speech on the occasion, he referred to the various endorsements and introduced a calculated complication. He said: “I also have the right of refusal and I thank the party for giving me the opportunity.”

    Whoever thought he might exercise this “right of refusal” must be living on another planet. So, news that he had set up a Presidential Declaration Committee to work towards a November date when he would formally declare his presidential ambition was unsurprising. When he eventually pronounces his hunger for power, or finally puts his power-hungry scheming beyond question, the countdown to an unforgettable power struggle would begin in earnest.

    There is no doubt that the country is at a historical juncture of colossal consequence. It is a ripe moment for a full and far-reaching performance by the people, who will need to reclaim their sovereignty by seizing the stage. It remains to be seen whether they would be guided by Buhari’s image of the gun, or Amaechi’s be-ready-for-death presentation, or Tinubu’s picture of a thorough sweep.

  • ‘The mall is a place to meet young people’

    ‘The mall is a place to meet young people’

    The popular Rythm and Blues (R&B) artiste, Tuface Idibia, has taken his ‘Vote Not Fight’ campaign to the Ikeja City Mall, Lagos.  He spoke with TONIA ‘DIYAN on the importance of the campaign. Excerpts:

    Tell us what brought you to Ikeja City Mall?

    Today is the last day of the Triple Trek Campaign tagged: ‘Vote Not Fight’, which I am headlining. Election no bi war! I want to talk to the youths to shun violence during elections. I am also marking the release of my Face to face Album. The album is 10 years old this year and Kennis Music will be releasing it. I have also done a compilation of some of my songs, which I will be releasing soon. I remixed them and uploaded the sounds.

    Why did you choose Ikeja City Mall for your campaign?

    So many people patronise the mall, particularly, young people. And if you want to pass a message across to people, who are young ,  a shopping mall as this, is one place you can do that successfully. Therefore, I have found Ikeja City Mall more conducive to pass my message. I have walked round the mall with my colleagues, it is a massive place.

    What do you think about the response?

    I think Nigerians really want peace. They want free and fair elections. People are tired of politicians using them to win elections and after they get into power, forget about them. The response here today is an indication that people, especially the youths, want peace.

    Are you looking forward to doing a song for the election?

    Yes, I might do a song. I’m not sure yet. I can’t say for now, but I’m looking forward to something.

    Aside the campaign, what do you think of the mall?

    The mall is a welcome development in Ikeja and its environs. It is big, massive and I like it.

    Do you go out to shop and how often?

    I go out to shop once in a while, its fun.

  • ‘We are committed to improving people’s welfare’

    The Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Micah Jiba has urged residents of the council to be patient and support his administration to enable him to deliver dividends of democracy to them.

    Hon. Jiba, who made the appeal while speaking with newsmen, said his administration has not completed projects that would improve the lives of people, saying that there are more projects to be put in place which would enhance the living standards of the residents.

    According to Jiba, government that means well for the people does not stop delivering dividends of democracy to its people until the last day of its administration, adding that his desire was to improve on the living standard of the people the best way possible.

    “There are many people that we are yet to reach in the council, mostly at the rural areas. I believe that with the remaining period before the administration’s tenure elapses, we will be able to reach out to them. We will ensure that nobody is left out as government works hard to improve the standard of living of the people.

    “My desire is to reduce poverty among the people at the rural areas to the minimum. They are part of this administration and they need us to improve their living standard.

    “That is why we always go back to our people to find out what they need. If they tell us their immediate needs, we will ensure that we provide them for them. That is what we are still doing because; we have to satisfy our people. We cannot afford to disappoint them,” he said.

    In a related development, Hon. Jiba has vowed to make local government areas in Nigeria autonomous, if given the mandate to become the next National President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

    Hon. Jiba, who spoke during a press briefing in Abuja, said he did not see the reason for local government, which is part of the three tiers of government, cannot be autonomous, since over 70 per cent of Nigerians are from the grassroots and the local government.