The Nation Newspaper

Tag: politicians

  • ‘Jobless politicians, problem to society’

    ANAMBRA State Deputy Governor, Emeka Sibeudu, has charged political office seekers to find first means of livelihood before venturing into politics, describing a jobless politician as a problem to the society

    Addressing reporters yesterday in Umunze to mark his third year in office as Governor Peter Obi’s deputy, Sibeudo appealled to politicians in the state to shun unnecessary criticism and diversionary acts capable of retarding the pace of development in Anambra.

    He however, enjoined them, to join hands with the administration of Governor Obi in building a better Anambra for the children yet unborn

    He assured that “the remaining one year will record more people-oriented projects as well as more democracy dividends aimed at improving the living conditions of the people.”

     

  • Polity, Politics and Politicians

    Polity, Politics and Politicians

    THE turf is, no doubt, tough. For more than four years now, I have used this platform to comment on the political environment, the politicians who parade themselves as leaders and the nature of politics in the country. Of central concern to me is how the activities of those who seized or happened on power underdevelop Nigeria. I have raised issues with the Visionless Vision 20:2020.

    Questions have been asked here about the principles that inform actions of those in power and reasons for the loud silence from the general public. Commentaries, reports and investigations on critical national issues have formed the fulcrum of my activities in the past 25 years. And, I believe it is time to look back, serve the menu in a different dish and see if the soul of the country can be stirred thereby.

    This is the main reason for the compilation of my articles and the launching coming up on Tuesday. Throughout my period of reporting politics, dating back to The Nigerian Economist days, the same questions have been repeatedly asked and they are still relevant today. What is the political turf made of? Who are the major and fringe players? What is the mode of recruitment? What are the motives for actions taken by the rulers?

    Elections present special challenges to reporters and politicians. When you are striking a balance, you please nobody. When, based on objective analysis, you come to the conclusion that the pendulum would swing in a particular direction, the other camp raises the alarm. You could only have been bought over. With the loser, you could never win.

    During the period that I have been privileged to stand in the gap for the people, the powerless and dispossessed, I have, many times, received insults. Been hounded about and exposed to danger. I covered riots and wars. Yes, I was in Liberia, but was lucky to have survived. In a country where men in power see themselves as the law, criticisms are regarded as sacrilege. This has never deterred me from talking to power. The attendant angry responses were many.

    These scenes are covered in The Nigerian Political Turf: Polity, Politics, Politicians, due to be presented to mark my years in journalism. It is indeed a first volume of a work that even a careful selection could have reduced to about 1,000 pages. The 362 pages represent a forerunner to a more powerful second volume that will be released by His grace next year.

    The underlying philosophy is that, if Nigeria must change for the better, the discerning section of the public must rise to the challenges of the moment, we must work to free our country from vampires who have held it hostage. And, where we see men who have contributed positively to the change movement, we need to acknowledge them. This is done in the present volume and more will come in the second part.

    To underscore this, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State will be on hand to deal with the theme of the book. He is billed to speak on Nigerian Polity, politics and Politicians: The perspective of an active participant. All patriots and nationalists have been invited to come around to reason together. It is a platform for discussion and sharing ideas.

    It is time to revisit what when wrong in past Republics and transition schemes. How did General Ibrahim Babangida impact on the polity? How and when did the promise fade? What impact did his ban on oldbreed politicians and the attempt to breed a new leave on the turf? What informed the endless IBB, Abacha transition schemes? What about the interim arrangement. How was the house built and why did it crumble within three short months?

    The most important task before us as a people is to ask: What is the way out. Dr. Fayemi has the charge to lead this discussion and provide us with food for thought as we prepare for a very uncertain future. It cannot be the end of the debate. It cannot foreclose further discussions, but, with dignitaries with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, Governors Fayemi, Uduaghan, Fashola, Amaechi, Gaidam, among others, there is no doubt that the outcome would advance the course of progress and advancement.

    The future is here. We all must put our hands on deck to save a sinking shape. I am, overall, convinced that the future will be brighter than the past.

     

    • This article was first published on August 5, 2012.

  • 2015: Politicians want INEC to ‘frustrate’ election riggers

    2015: Politicians want INEC to ‘frustrate’ election riggers

    Some politicians on Sunday in Lagos charged the Independent National Electoral Commission) to devise ways to frustrate election riggers in 2015.

    It will be recalled that INEC on Friday promised to frustrate riggers in the 2015 elections with a “clean” voter register.

    The commission also said it was working on scientific measures to counter problems such as multiple voting, sale of voter cards and snatching of ballot boxes.

    Speaking on the issue, a former Chairman of the FCT Chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Sunny Moniedafe, said he hoped the commission could keep to its word.

    “I hope INEC can keep to its words because our dear country is where it is today as those in government feel they do not need the voters to win elections.”

    According to him, Prof. Attahiru Jega is not the problem in the conduct of elections.

    Moniedafe alleged that the commissioners in the past were the ones, who messed up Nigeria’s electoral process, saying, “if they can change, it will be better for everybody.”

    The National Public Relations Officer of KOWA Party, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, also wished that INEC did what was right.

    “Let INEC do the right thing; we have found out that in this country that those in authority are known to be saying one thing today and doing another tomorrow,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Prof. Sonaiya as saying on the issue.

    She urged INEC to ensure that the 2015 election, if not the best should be near-perfect, adding that expectations of Nigerians were high.sONY

  • Mark warns politicians against 2015 campaigns

    Mark warns politicians against 2015 campaigns

    Senate President David Mark on Wednesday warned elected and appointed political office holders to concentrate on delivering good governance to the people instead of dissipating their energy campaigning for the 2015 general elections.

    Mark spoke while addressing Senators on resumption from the Christmas and New Year break in Abuja.

    Mark said: “You will recall that at the commencement of my stewardship in the 7th Senate, I promised on behalf of all of us that this Senate will always stand with the Nigerian people, at all times and in all circumstances, because we are their elected representatives.

    “We have remained unflinching in this respect. And we will continue to do so in 2013 and the years ahead.

    “Therefore legislative activity for 2013 should perfectly dovetail with the synthesised expectations and wishes of the Nigerian people.

    “Such expectations and wishes are not difficult to discern. The inputs we have made in the 2013 budget are in acknowledgement of some of these expectations.

    “The task of the Senate in 2013 would be to work to restore confidence in the ability of the government to rise to the challenges elicited by the public expectations.

    “We will seek to bring succour to our nation, and re-energise our people’s faith in one indivisible nation, and in constitutional democracy.

    “We will do this by pursuing a legislative agenda that not only promotes the common good, but is also responsive to the national mood and expectations.

    “Some of these expectations can be met within the framework of existing laws, provided that the legislative task of oversight is discharged with firmness, diligence, transparency, courage and commitment.”

     

  • Politicians must take potholes seriously. They kill people and business and taxes!

    Politicians must take potholes seriously. They kill people and business and taxes!

    Let the deaf hear. Potholes are a yardstick of political success. It is official. Do you know why we talk about potholes so annoyingly frequently in the column? It is because potholes are the symbol of national failure, destroying lives and businesses and making a mockery of going to school to learn about good governance, Internally Generated Revenue, Foreign Direct investment and tourism proposals and repositioning Nigeria using 20-2020 vision. Potholes are a simple assessment of the commitment of politicians, political parties and individual governments to a social and moral contract with the citizens. The ‘Politics of Potholes’ is not about ‘making straight’ the path to an LGA chairman’s country home or to a particular governor’s son’s wedding venue. Potholes are about failed responsibility to the people and about abuse or non-use of power. Potholes are not a game of ‘guess how many potholes are in my LGA, state or country’.

    Potholes are murderous and about human suffering and blood, human blood, not contracts. Are politicians and civil servants blind, misinformed or totally incompetent? The people bleed and see the blood on roads, cars, danfos and buses and staining the operating uniforms in Nigeria’s operating theatres where we remove the ruptured spleens and broken limbs of ‘Pothole Attack Victims’. Potholes are not about ‘excuses’ and inflated non-executed contracts and delayed budget. Potholes are about societal decay, incompetence and delay and the abdication of government’s responsibility to the citizenry. Nigeria is just one big ‘Government Neglect’ pothole in spite of sufficient funds to fix every road within one dry season since it refuses to work during the rainy season out of mental and engineering laziness not due to a lack of civil engineering capacity.

    Unfortunately, the most powerful ‘road user’ voices in the land are silent. We do not hear of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NMA, NURTW etcetera, market women at their AGMs catching ‘anti-pothole fever’ and shouting about potholes. No country with our pothole achievements should have travel and entrepreneurship programmes. We are all held hostage in our own country, confined by the strictures of our potholed roads. For millions, daily travel is a nightmare for which serious prayers are needed to avert a disaster. Often prayers are not enough. And our government seems powerless to prevent the continued infliction of massive unnecessary pain on the collective psyche and physical bodies of the population. The deliberate clogging of the Ogere traffic artery on the Lagos-Ibadan road is a case in point and a recurrent national shame and security disaster waiting to happen. The trailers used to commit these terrible crimes are owned and registered by the high and mighty in the petroleum industry who are now donating to flood relief almost nationwide.

    That Ogere park is too often strangled by tanker and trailer drivers is not news, nor is it news about the impunity with which they do it. Only in Nigeria would that be a two or less lane road. Even Ikorodu road should and can easily be six lanes each side. No one will be brought to book for holding the nation to ransom for 11 hours. Since all the major players in the Ogere hold up are known, they should be fined by the federal government to act as a deterrent to their staff repeating such a crime against the citizens of Nigeria in future. We are used to students shutting down trunk ‘A’ roads for perceived transgressions. This new one where adults embark on similar activities is an unwelcome event that puts at risk millions of lives and billions of naira. A Boko Haramic conflagration in that circumstance would have had catastrophic repercussions. Only God can quantify the losses caused by such a decision. But who cares. It reminds us of the danger of putting police with ‘big shots’ to attempt to drive roughshod over the rest of us. We must also remember that in all likelihood, the shot tanker was probably wrongly parked causing unnecessary go-slow or full stop. Remember that the Ogere is notorious for indiscipline and obstruction just like its predecessor Sagamu. It was these same people’s fathers who blocked Sagamu to the extent that it prompted the building of the expressway in the first place. This was typical knee-jerk reaction and no long term plan to anticipate problems and build additional lanes in advance. Since then, 40 years the road has not improved, but it has deteriorated and in fact narrowed to its present sorry state where one tanker can paralyse the key artery out of the port city of Lagos. What a shame and we are not at war. By now in any forward looking country, there would be five major and several minor roads out of Lagos. But like they say, there are more bridges in river-less Abuja than in the whole of the rest of the country put together. Na wa O! Such selfish politicians cannot build a great Nigeria which is as weak as the smallest pothole.

    Now that potholes at federal level have been declared wanted dead or alive on or before December, let us pursue with equal vigour the execution of potholes on state and LGA roads. All Nigerians must renew ‘The Great Nigeria Anti-Pothole War’ and fight it to its logical conclusion-no more deaths. Nigerians must no longer accept rough and rubbish roads. Nigeria can afford and must provide standard roads.

  • Jonathan warns politicians against promoting violence

    Jonathan warns politicians against promoting violence

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday warned politicians against the use of political hoodlums to ferment violence in the next Saturday gubernatorial poll in Ondo State.

    The President said he was ready to provide adequate security to ensure that electorate are allowed to exercise their franchise without any fear.

    Jonathan who gave this warning at the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] governorship Candidate’s, Chief Olusola Oke, Grand Finale Rally held at Democracy Park in Akure, the state capital, said those who are planning to use thugs during the poll are only wasting their resources on projects that would never see the light of the day.

    His words, “I was told that some politicians in the state are mobilising thugs to rig the election in favour of their party, they are only wasting their time because on that election day, those hoodlums will not be useful to them.

    “This election will be free and fair, there will be enough security personnel that will man all the various polling units. PDP does not promote thuggery, and we are warning some desperate politicians who are planning to cause mayhem during the poll to desist from this.”

    Jonathan urged the electorate to vote massively for PDP candidate, saying he had seen that the people are agitating for a change in government.

    He described the state as one of the blessed states that has enough resources to make the people live a comfortable life.

    His words, “Ondo state is blessed, this state is one of the luckiest states in Nigeria, the state is blessed for farming, and also as one of the oil producing states in the country. My administration has already concluded the plans to encourage farmers in the state. Ondo State farmers will soon be rich, the farmers will soon be smiling, but we are urging them to vote for PDP.

    “PDP love Ondo State, and we want to rule this state in order to ensure its grows like other states, we have presented a credible candidate for you, a man of integrity, a man who will bring rapid developments to the state.”

    The National Chairman of PDP Bamanga Tukur, who led the National Working Committee of the party to the rally, said they are in the state to support the PDP candidate, and to dispel the rumours that they were not supporting Oke’s candidature.

    Tukur, who presented the PDP flag to Oke and his running mate, Hon. Saka Lawal, said they are assured that PDP would win the gubernatorial election.

    Also at the rally, the Vice-President, Namadi Sambo who is also the Chairman Presidential Campaign Committee for Oke, Senate President, David Mark, and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi all promised that there will be free and fair poll in the state.

    Mark particularly said that what PDP is giving to the country is an environment to conduct a free and fair poll.

    The Senate President said: “After voting, wait patiently to ensure that your votes are safe. Already we are aware the plans by some desperate politicians to rig the poll, but they are being shouting in the media that it was our party that is planning to rig, we don’t rig poll and we will never allow them to rig election.”

    Amaechi, who is the Chairman of Governors Forum, appealed to the people to support the PDP leaders in their bid to return to power in the state, saying that was the only way the people can benefit from the sympathetic gestures which other PDP states get from presidency.

    Oke, shortly after receiving the party flag vowed that PDP would win the coming gubernatorial election, saying that the people had known the difference between the previous PDP led government and the present ruling Labour Party [LP].

    “We will make the people smile again, in our government there will not be room for suffering, we will run a government that is transparent, we will improved the people standard of living. We will encourage industrialization; we will reduce the high rate of unemployment” Oke promised.

    Dignitaries, at the event were, Governor of Bayelsa Dickson Seriake, former Governor, Olusegun Agagu, National Vice Chairman of PDP, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja, National Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, South West Deputy Chairman, Segun Oni, Women Leader, Ambassador, Kema Chikwe Senators, Bode Olajumoke, Hosea Agboola, Hosea Ehinlanwo, Dr. Olaiya Oni among others.

  • ‘Politicians greatest problem of true democracy’

    Justice of the Supreme Court, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammad, has

    described politicians as the greatest problem of democracy.

    He urged them to desist from do-or-die politics even as he decried their recklessness and disregard for court orders.

    Justice Mohammad spoke at the 2012 Dr. Felix Okoye memorial lecture held at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Lagos.

    In his lecture entitled “judicialism and electoral processes in Nigeria: what the Supreme Court did; what the Supreme Court may do”, the judge described the recommendations as enduring and durable.

    Highlighting the roles the apex court has played in shaping the political sphere of the country, Justice Mohammad said a lot of Nigerians have criticised the Court without examining facts.

    He maintained that no matter how hard the Supreme Court tries to put things right, its hands were tight as a result of the constitutional provisions.

    The judge said: “We should not forget that the role of the judiciary is to implement the law and not to make laws. So, when there are bad laws like Section 85(7), which provides that the court should hear and dispose of an election matter within 60 days from the date of delivery, the Supreme Court cannot do anything about it because any contrary action by the apex court will amount to a disregard for the ground norm.

    “The politicians who did it had their reasons; maybe so that they can enjoy their offices as cases that are not filed within 60 days are struck out. Still, it has some positive sides because I can tell you that before we went for vacation, there was not one election matter at the Supreme Court.”

    He urged the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of the Muhammadu Uwais Panel on Electoral Reforms.

    Using the case of Governor Rotimi Amaechi against Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and Sir Celestine Omehia over the substitution of the former’s name by the party, the judge said it was obvious some judges and lawyers were being used to delay the course of justice.

    According to the judge, the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court clarified the issues of substitution of candidate’s name by political parties as well as elongation of tenures of elected officers, among others.

    He said:”It is for us as a people and the politicians in particular to learn to accept defeat gallantly. There must be an end to the culture of do- or-die politics in this country.

    “Both the leaders and the led must appreciate the role of the Court in general and the Supreme Court in particular in the development of the democratic values and practices.

    “It is if and only when this is done and we all learn to accord respect to the orders of court that we will join the rest of the democratic comity of nations as having arrived.”

    Justice Mohammad said if the request of the Chief Justice of Nigeria to the National Assembly that all interlocutory appeals terminate at the Appeal Court is accepted, the burden on the Supreme Court would be lessened.

    He said: “As at yesterday (Monday) we were still treating matters of 2001, yet there is no week that we do not deliver an average of 10 judgments unlike our counterparts in other countries.”