Lagos Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal yesterday raised the alarm on the importation of thugs by unscrupulous politicians ahead of next year’s elections.
He spoke at a lunch by the University of Jos (UNIJOS) Alumni, at Airport Hotel, Ikeja.
According to him, intelligence report showed that most of the thugs were from Niger Republic.
He urged the public to inform the police whenever they noticed strange faces in their neighbourhoods. According to him, crime has reduced in Lagos following the introduction of community policing.
The police chief said: “Intelligence report available to us indicates that some unscrupulous politicians are importing strange people into the state, to use them as hoodlums.
“We cannot wish away these reports, so we must call on the public to help us verify. This is why we are urging them to be vigilant and report strange faces in their midst.
“At the last inter-agency security meeting I organised, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) said they seized over 1,000 Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) from aliens. So, it is not like we do not have them. These foreigners are in our midst and we must join hands to locate them and flush them out.”
Edgal said the intelligence showed that Alimosho, Apapa, Alaba Rago, Idi-Araba, Badagry, Epe and Ikorodu axis could be harboring the thugs.
“This is like a wake-up call to people on the need for more vigilance during this election period. If they notice influx of persons, they must alert security agencies immediately so that action can be taken,” he said.
The command, Edgal said, averted a clash between herders and farmers in Badagry few months ago because the residents volunteered information.
He said a senior security officer’s wife brought in herdsmen from the north to graze her cattle, and the herders allowed the animals to stray into farmlands and destroy crops.
“This led to a quarrel. The herders injured an indigene and the locals in turn held one of the herders hostage. Fortunately, we had community partnership with the people and information was urgently passed across.
“I deployed policemen on the scene and thereafter, requested that all parties be brought before me for a meeting. I met them and we addressed the issue. So, it is as a result of community policing that we have not been faced with the challenge of killings caused by herders/farmers clashes.”
As the 2019 elections approach and political maneuvering intensify, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to be careful not to violate the money laundering Act.
Banks that violate the Act in the guise of handling money for politicians, the apex bank warned, risk stiff penalty. CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele gave the warning yesterday at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
The apex bank held its key interest rate at a record high level as it sees inflationary pressures persisting even as prices are becoming more stable.
The MPC maintained the benchmark rate at 14 per cent.
Emefiele told reporters that the CBN’s position and warning was handed down to the DMBs Chief Executives at a recent meeting to intimate them of the dangers they may be exposed to as a result of the activities of politicians.
He said: “On the 2019 elections, we had a meeting with the banks. We advised them to be very careful of money laundry issues. If they are caught, they will be heavily penalised. But banks have their rules and criteria; I don’t think banks will do anything that will violate the rules. When they go wrong, we will deal with them.
“When you say banks lending to politicians, banks have their acceptance criteria and I don’t think that the banks will do that at this time. Everybody must have learnt their lessons and I believe that the right thing for everybody is to conduct their businesses carefully. But we as central bank, we are staying behind and watching to make sure that when things go wrong or about to go wrong we will deal with it appropriately.”
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday raised the alarm on desperation of politicians ahead of the 2019 general elections saying it was a sign of danger.
The President, CAN, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, said if something urgent was not done to curtail such desperation, it could set the country on fire.
Ayokunle, who spoke when he paid a courtesy call on the Bayelsa State Government, at the Government House, Yenagoa, also appealed to politicians to stop the violence and killings across the country.
CAN President, who was received by the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Real Admiral John Jonah (rtd), said the church was on its knees praying seriously for God to rule over the affairs of Nigeria ahead of the election.
He said: “We are also parlaying with those in government, who can make things happen. Nigeria has to maintain peace and order to ensure free and fair election in 2019.
“From the intra-party election, the kind of desperation we see in our politician is quite unacceptable and give us palpable fear that if care is not taken, the people may set the nation on fire, God forbid.
“The church says no to any kind of violence and manipulation in this forthcoming election. And in line with that, we are not only speaking, we have decided to register with INEC as election observers”.
He disclosed that CAN was training election observers to monitor the conducts of the forthcoming polls adding that it had already trained 300 monitors.
He said: “We are already training observers all over the federation. We have trained over 300 persons presently from all the geopolitical zones of the country and these ones will train others.
“It is our own hope that we will be able to place three observers in each polling booth so they will continue to report to us at the national office. I and my team will be visiting President Muhammadu Buhari, next week, to discuss the conduct of the election”.
Ayokunle, also called on the Federal Government and the security agencies to arrest persons involving in killings across the country including armed herdsmen.
“All the herdsmen that are committing the crime must be brought to book. If they are not arrested that means they are being encouraged to continue in their evil ways,” he said.
The CAN boss described the 15,000 seater Ecumenical Centre built by Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, as a masterpiece.
He said that the edifice surpasses the Abuja Ecumenical Centre built by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and solicited for good maintenance culture to preserve it for future generations.
He requested the state government to allocate land to CAN to enable it build a secretariat for the Bayelsa Baptist Conference.
He demanded completion of access roads to the Baptist Centre at Iyambiri-Zarama in Yenagoa Local Government Area, completion of a hospital and health centre under construction as well as provision of medical equipment in the area.
While appreciating Dickson for appointing clergymen into positions of trust in his administration, Ayokunle prayed God to give him the wisdom, good health and foresight to continue his developmental projects in the state.
He also used the occasion to commiserate with the governor on the death of his mother, Mrs. Goldcoast Dickson, who died of cancer in the USA.
In a remark, Deputy Governor, John Jonah said churches made tremendous contributions to the development, peace and stability in the country.
He appreciated the CAN leadership for the visit, noting that Bayelsa state is a Christian state with a Thanksgiving Day backed by law to appreciate God.
He added that CAN’s request for land, among several others would be conveyed to Governor Dickson.
He charged the clergy to continually pray for Bayelsa state and the country at large in view of the myriad of challenges facing the nation.
The Senior Pastor, Father’s Touch Ministry Church, Nyanya, Abuja, Pastor Evans Idoko, has accused some politicians of using religion and ethnicity to divide Nigerians ahead of the 2019 election.
Idoko made the allegation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Sunday in Abuja.
“It’s regrettable that the unity of Nigerian is strengthened during sporting activities and otherwise becomes the case during electioneering activities.
“It is an indication that politicians have taken pleasure in using religion to divide Nigerians against themselves for political or selfish reasons. It must stop forthwith! Nigerians must resist it because it will take us nowhere,” he said.
He recalled with nostalgia how Muslims and Christians lived together peacefully some years back irrespective of religious or ethnic differences.
He said such divisions have been responsible for the obvious hatred among Nigerians, which, he said, has slowed down socio-economic and political development in the country.
“As 2019 political activities gather momentum, we appeal to politicians seeking elective offices to eschew hatred and bitterness, and promote courses that will promote peace and unity among Nigerians,” he said.
Idoko advised that the church should take the front row in moblising Nigerians to participate in the forthcoming 2019 general elections.
“It doesn’t come by words alone. We have to take a step further to empower people educationally, financially and otherwise so they could have voice and knowledge to take their rightful place in Nigerian political and economic discussions,” he said.
He explained that the church could partner with the Social Exchange Market, to disburse financial grant to citizens not minding their religion or ethnicity.
“We are all one body in Christ Jesus,” he said.
The cleric said that such empowerment initiative should be borne out of utmost desire of the church to rekindle the hope of Nigerians.
He, however, encouraged churches, corporate organisations and individuals with financial ability, to assist to lift the poor off poverty so they could confidently participate in political and economic activities.(NAN)
Spiritual Head of the One Love Family, Sat Guru Marhaj ji has advised any candidate that wants to win the 2019 elections to come to him for spiritual guidance and knowledge.
He made this known when he visited the premises of the Nation Newspaper on Thursday.
According to Guru Mahraj ji, whose original name is Mohammed Saheed Dan Ibrahim; it is unfortunate that just anyone just want to get into government.
“In a society where money is our god, nobody thinks straight except the traditionalist. It is sad that some people just think that it is easy to be in power, as long as they have money. No it is not. We have lost great people like Ojukwu, Awolowo and others who were not in power during their time because of money, but to bring the black man back.
“We have seen a lot of corruption going on. Our airways are gone. We have to fight corruption. We have to examine whoever wants to lead us and see his history. And every Nigerian, including myself believes that Buhari is on course. It is left for INEC to plays its role properly in 2019.
He further noted that he respects every government, ”but it is important to note that I am the light, the living perfect master and the solution to Nigeria woes is in my hand if the people in power can connect with me”.
He however voiced out his support for President Muhammadu Buhari, when he said “I will vote for the All Progressive Congress because of President Buhari’s stance against corruption and his sincerity of purpose in moving Nigeria forward.”
In preparation for the One Love Family Golden Age Festival which will take place from 9th to 17th November at Maharaj ji Village, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Oyo State, Mahraji said that it is golden time in the history of the human race to meet, walk, talk, eat, drink and dance with that very special Golden boy
She is now a royal. But for some who share her original faith, she has dumped one royalty for new loyalty. An ethereal damsel now earthbound. She has parlayed Zion for an earthly palace. I refer, of course, to the new queen on the Ife throne. Her picture, now viral, portrays her stepping on a map of blood spill as part of her wedding rites.
It signals her transition to a Yoruba regal. The blood could have emanated from any mammal or bird. But those who cherish her as a Christian evangelist are griping away over why she has abandoned the blood of Christ for the body waste of a mere beast. For them, she degraded the entrails of the highest. She disintegrated from a royal priesthood. She is no longer heavenly by stepping up to a lesser deity, less commanding than her former grandeur.
But traditionalists see her as a convert. Secularists see her as a realist. Some may say she is assimilated but not converted. Or vice versa. A few see her as a mere hybrid of faith, one who has seen her rite as a glorious nexus of two worlds: a marriage within a marriage. By being the wife of the Ooni of Ife, Naomi is trying to wed Jesus to Orunmila, in the spirit of the Yoruba ancestors.
For some Yoruba, this is nothing novel. History has shown the Yoruba nation to be inevitably syncretic, a soul where faiths conjoin in peace and harmony. Hence, it was easy for the Yoruba to embrace Islam and Christianity without rancour or philosophical remorse. Where some others saw a breach, the Yoruba felt at ease. Some Christian sects display this paradox of worship in the southwest in their modes and rituals.
Those who have read Wole Soyinka’s translation of Fagunwa’s A Forest of A thousand Daemons, see how Christian and Yoruba worldviews segue. But many have failed to understand that Naomi, the evangelist Yoruba queen, only reflects how, as a people, we have not crested the 21st century’s materialist wave. We have first to look at our political elite to grasp this.
It is the power of pastors, marabouts, babalawos, dibias, etc. In the last PDP presidential primaries, some contestants relied less on what they saw than on the eyes of their seers. To one aspirant, a marabout fleshed out the vision. He saw the aspirant smothered in his voluminous babaringa swearing in ministers.
Naomi walking on blood during the ritual
Another marabout saw another aspirant hanging his suit in the presidential office. The first was a man awash in ceremonial glory; the other in a grand grind of presidential duty.
Nor is it restricted to marabouts. Pastors con many with rose-tinted visions. A few years ago, one politician bucked crystal-clear evidence by insisting a sitting governor would hand over to him because his prophetess saw the vision. An older politician counselled him, half in derision, to return to the prophetess for clarity. A few years ago, a prophetess could not foresee the assassination of a politician barely an hour after he left the woman of God in wee hours.
Are they gullible or desperate? It reflects an underrated market that flatters ambitions. They invest politicians with hope. Hope emboldens them to action. After paying the seers, they move into the battle fray. All but they can see they have no chance. But they pooh-pooh advisers, pundits, the robust mockery of hard reality. They hear, like Joan of Arc in Bernard Shaw’s play, the mellifluous falseness of their voices. The seer at work.
They are men of faith. They yield to the destiny of heaven. They already know their foot soldiers. They craft their path to power. They develop a sense of their human uniqueness. They are, like Queen Naomi, royals set apart by the Almighty. The flatterers who gulp their money also wonder. But they follow the candidate because it is bread and butter. Sometimes, the candidate infects them with his confidence because the candidate is fired by a celestial vision. His veins rise. His eyes shine. God glows over them. He walks on high winds. His belief cows any doubt. Everyone is on board the train to the presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial saddle.
These candidates don’t have to wait for the miracles first or else they won’t contest. They hope for miracles. They are believers as risk takers. The marabouts and co. know that. As Dostoyevsky noted, seers possess three qualities that enthral people: miracle, mystery and authority. For the candidates, they wield authority with their sense of mystery, and so miracle must come. For other believers, miracles affirm their mystery and authority. Not like Jesus who said, blessed are those who believe even if they don’t see.
It is the power of faith. Faith is the best friend of destiny. Some people want miracles before they have faith. Those are the worst of believers. Even Jesus did not like people who wait for miracles before believing. Hence he poured woe on some followers: “You wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. But I shall not show you any sign except that of prophet Jonah.” Paul mocked the Jews for seeking signs. Paul defined faith as hope without evidence.
Jesus did not yield to the miracle of the Satan, who wanted to give him the world. Rather, in his fleshly status, he endured for heaven’s command and succumbed to a shameful death. Our pastors and mallams these days want our people to believe them only if they perform miracles, even though the scriptures show that the devil also performs miracles. In his massive novel, The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky writes, “Faith does not, in a realist, spring from the miracle but the miracle from faith.”
These candidates are not waiting for the miracles first. Hence some people believed in Father Mbaka and others of his ilk. Miracles are prophecies that happen only if you want them. Prophet Habakkuk says to run with the vision. To fulfil, you must act. Apostle Paul confirms it. You can derail prophesies like Macbeth. Or fall into woe like Oedipus. Prophecies are not cast in stone, even Jesus’ birth was about prophecies reinforced by prophecies of persecution.
These faithful politicians exhaust their faiths before getting into power. When they get there, there is little faith left to fix roads, feed the poor or furnish schools to enlighten us and hospitals to heal us. With faith gone, no morality is left. They lose the fear of God. And as Dostoyevsky noted, “when there is no God, everything is permitted,” including and especially bad governance
From error to a new era
Governor John Kayode Fayemi soared into office with one of the best speeches ever delivered in our democratic experience. In rhythm, diction, evocations and content, Fayemi blended poetry with rage to rouse a people from an era he characterised as an error. My only complaint was in his “never again” part of the speech. It should have replaced “should” with “shall” to match the grandeur and intensity of the hour. No matter. He promises to bring back a governance of high principles and high dreams against Fayose’s cynically grovelling stomach infrastructure.
But the new governor must blend that with a “common touch,” a charge that may have been exaggerated about his first coming but nonetheless a potent counsel as he recharges his people to cancel an error. He must note that he won with a thin margin, and he has to bind the wounds of the followers of the stomach. It is no mean task. He will have to elevate a people of PHD to a realm of ideas from a pedestrian mentality. I wish him the best.
Not presidential
Bukola “Eleyinmi” Saraki came back to another storm. This time, he did the last thing first and first thing last. Rather than ask the Senate Clerk whether he granted Godswill Akpabio a permit to sit, Saraki asked him to change his seat. Again, he knew new sitting arrangement had not been resolved, so what seat was he asking Akpabio to take? Eventually the former Akwa Ibom governor spoke, and Saraki only created a convulsion in a healthy body. Was it an effect of his presidential snafu in Port Harcourt? He did not act presidential in the Senate.
The Peacemakers
Rev Kukah
The peacemakers said it was nothing partisan. But Atiku belongs to one divide. So, I want the trio of Bishops Kukah and Oyedepo as well as Alhaji Gumi to reconcile the other side. They should begin with Gumi, who loathes Buhari. Then they can reconcile Danjuma with Buhari. Their mission will be complete. Until they do it or, at least try, their mission remains partisan in my book. After all, Apostle said “follow peace with all men.” Peace beckons the clerics.
Traditional rulers in Ondo State, under the aegis of ”De 130 Krowns Club Obas”, have cautioned political class to shun desperation in their political adventure.
The Owa-Ale of Ikare-Akoko, Oba Kolapo Adegbite-Adedoyin, who is the new president of the monarchs’ group, spoke at the annual general meeting hosted by Ilaje royal fathers held at the palace of Odede of Igboegunrin, Oba Olatunji Kalejaiye, in Ilaje Local Government Area.
Oba Adegbite-Adedoyin said, “If you truly want to serve the people, you don’t need to be desperate or induce voters with money, our democracy must be jealously protected from desperate politicians.”
The royal father reminded the state and federal governments on the need to rehabilitate roads in Akoko/Owo axis and Akure-Ikere Ekiti road, without further delay to tackle insecurity and loss of lives and properties of the citizenry.
Owa-Ale lamented that roads such as Owo-Ikare-Okeagbe road, Ikare-Ajowa road, Owo-Ipele-Isua-Akunu, Akure-Itaogbolu-Iju-Ekiti road and other arterial roads in the state have become impassable.
He, however, lauded the efforts of the state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, to improve the state particularly in areas of security, infrastructure and education.
Editors have urged politicians and security agencies to avoid intimidating voters for democracy to thrive in the country.
This is part of the nine-point communique issued at the end of the 14th All Nigeria Editors Conference in Asaba, Delta.
The communique was signed by Mrs Funke Egbemode and Mrs Victoria Ibanga, President and General Secretary of the Guild respectively.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Delta State Government hosted the conference attended by more than 400 editors.
The conference participants deliberated on the theme “Credible Elections, Sustainable Democracy and the Nigerian media’’.
The editors observed that elections in Nigeria were not built on truth and urged politicians to do away with the culture of winning at all cost so as to avoid electoral violence.
They decried the level of insecurity in the country, stressing that the nation deserves more than rhetoric and political slogans on issues of citizens’ welfare.
While commending the 91 registered political parties for displaying maturity during the party primaries, the conference also frowned at the allegations of vote buying by politicians.
They urged the umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remain independent in its practice by allowing citizens’ votes to count.
The editors also expressed the need for Nigerian journalists to intensify efforts towards sustaining investigative, balance and analytical reportage as these were being threatened by the emergence of the social media.
“The conference challenged media practitioners to join in the mobilisation of Nigerians through unbiased reports to take collective responsibility in choosing leaders for the nation in the next general elections.
“Editors, at the end of deliberations, agreed to defend the truth through professional practice,’’ the communique read in part.
The Guild expressed appreciation for the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the conference and thanked Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for the support towards the successful conference.
Let’s face it, there is nothing on the ground to suggest that the practice of politics here has significantly transformed from the bloody nuances that defined its dark peculiarities before and after the military era. If anything, treachery and nail-biting dog-eat-dog intrigues remain the defining factors in the swinging of the pendulum of political fortunes in our clime. And so, it is nothing short of self-delusion for one to believe professional politicians here when they regale one with hollow tales about how they have learnt great lessons from the past or make vacuous vows about doing things differently in the future. Curiously, it appears they all suffer a chronic malady of being perennial learners from the best democratic ethos etched in the consciousness of those we tag advanced democracies for want of better words. Where others throw their hats in the ring for the uplifting pleasure of rendering selfless service for the general wellbeing of the people, here, ‘service’ is violently and ruthlessly foisted on the populace with ‘do-or-die’ principles of desperate politicking. And, in doing that, nothing is spared in the unfortunate war of attrition to rout the ‘enemy’ off the battleground or, even the face of the earth. In Nigeria, politics is not war by another means; it is war by whatever means available!
It is therefore not surprising that, on and off the political tuft, it has been a tale of woe for those who dare to be different in a choking ambience of raw treachery and high wired deceit. People wonder why there is a dearth of ‘good men’ in politics. Well, the answer is not that difficult to fathom. The entire architecture of our politics is not designed to accommodate such elements. If in doubt, ask Prof. Pat Utomi who had tried everything within the books to get elected. Each attempt had always come with logic-defying challenges. As things stand today, the erudite Delta State born Utomi is not likely to win a slot as a local government councilor if the powers that be refuse to endorse him. By now, it should be clear to him and many others who are presently gloating over the grim realities that confronted them on the political space that there is a remarkable difference between the theory and practice of politics. Those who were quick to laud the presidential assent to the Not Too Young to Run law now know that, without a paradigm shift, the law changes nothing in a contest where the rules of engagement only exist in the books. And that is why many who joined the change wagon without reading the body language of those holding tightly to the political machinery are still biting their fingers and wondering what hit them.
From Lagos to Imo, Zamfara to Delta, Edo to Adamawa, Gombe to Ogun, the narratives remain poignantly eerie. If party primaries could be this rancorously rowdy with so much bile and vile flying like an intercontinental ballistic missile, one could only imagine what would happen during the general election which is just some months away. It gives one the jitters really. The truth is that all the political parties suffer from one malaise—the suppression of internal democracy. The All Progressive Congress once touted it at the basis of its embrace and eventual victory in the 2015 election. That may be true. But, from all indications, the APC dare not boast about it again. The Peoples Democratic Party, with all the life-changing experiences and introspection it claimed to have gone through, is not any better. The other parts of the ten leprous fingers mushrooming as parties with clear-cut ideological (outright propaganda) bent are even worse. Those ones make no pretensions about what I call ‘agbero’ mentality in which they foist candidates on their members after fraudulently collecting huge money from the aspirants. A particular case in Imo readily comes to mind. One of the aspirants was told on the day of the primary election that his name and that of many others had been ‘screened out’ by a conclave of party hawks and the name of the anointed candidate would be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission. Here, I speak of a young man who had put all his savings on an electoral process that offers nothing but heart wrenching punches with cold-blooded gusto. And it is called politics.
Come to think of it, how come all the political parties fall abysmally short of realising the 35 per cent affirmative action for women in politics? The results flowing in from the real and parallel primaries from states indicate that the figures of women participation are dwindling. The terrain, I presume, is too hard for a woman without the heart of steel to walk through. Anyway, that should be expected in a climate where even hardened men battle fruitlessly to get a mandate with tales of daylight rigging or distribution of voting figures filling the pages of newspapers. It happened in Zamfara. It was worse in Cross River State where, with election not holding in two out of the three senatorial zones, a gubernatorial candidate was said to have emerged for the APC in a selection process allegedly superintended by an umpire who had the effrontery to announce his preferred candidate. And Rivers State? It was a charade. In Delta, despite the party’s official accreditation of a team to monitor the process, a factional leader still had the presence of mind to organise a parallel primary election with the emergence of candidates for the gubernatorial, senatorial and House of Representatives seats in a sickening madness that would only add to the crises before the national leadership. Already, the APC and PDP have a lot on their trays and more are piling up.
Yet, at the root of all these self-inflicted crises is brutal greed. Ask them in Imo, Lagos or even Ogun states. In fact, some state chief executives would do anything to make sure they have their way. In Imo, they spoke about kidnap, killings and attempted assassination. The incumbent government was even pushing for the arrest of the Secretary of the election committee sent from Abuja. In Ogun, the governor who was once a senator snatched the senatorial ticket from the incumbent months before the dates for the primary election were fixed. Oyo State was not any better. Candidates were imposed and accepted grumpily by delegates who have sold their birthright for the price of a pottage. In short, all is fair in an electoral war in which fairness and credibility are dictated from the deep pockets of different shades of god fathers. No matter the irregularities or daylight electoral robbery, all it takes is for the national headquarters of the parties to pronounce the result as credible and the decibel of antagonistic voices would apply the brake of deafening silence. And it is this conspiratorial submission that has bred and fed the incongruities in our political life where the powers of choice no longer rest on the thumb but in the pockets of stony-faced party hawks across the nation. It is for that reason that the PDP would be holding its National Convention in Rivers State today and it is not unlikely that the outcome would be another low in our discourse of electoral heist and tragedies. That’s what we call politics here. It is a war in which all instruments of mass destruction are deployed to achieve a personal goal in a winner takes all contest!
And so, when next you want to know why good men avoid politics in Nigeria like a plague and leave the field for those who can wrestle with the pig in its sty, it would be apt to find out how those trendsetting theorists of political idealism and emancipation had fared when they decided to join the fray in a bid to change the narrative. The sad thing is that the ‘change’ mantra has not brought any change and neither has it changed the festering sore of political malcontents threateningly wielding their tools of warfare in our polity. Or has it?
The Senior Staff Association of NigerianUniversities (SSANU) has warned workers against voting for politicians that will not create a conducive working environment.
In a communiqué issued after its 34th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, at the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, its National President, Samson Igwoke, said some politicians forget to pursue popular policies that can improve the lives of the people after they get into office.
SSANU berated the Federal Government for refusing to obey court orders on the re-engagement of sacked university staff school workers.
The communiqué, signed by Igwoke and the National Public Relations Officer, Abdussobur Salaam, warned against the proliferation of universities.
The communiqué read in part: “NEC calls on all Nigerians to be more circumspect and careful in the choice of leaders who would determine the affairs of the nation for the next four years.
“NEC urges Nigerians to be wary of politicians who make promises they never mean to keep, noting that the hopes of the ordinary Nigerians have been dashed and their trust in those who seek to lead them have been betrayed time and time again.
“NEC notes that it is the way of politicians and members of the political class in Nigeria to seek all means, fair or foul, to control the wealth of the nation at the expense of the ordinary citizen who continues to live in abject poverty, pain and hopelessness.
“NEC, therefore, urges citizens to realise the great power they have over the electoral process by obtaining their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) in order to exercise their powers and ensure that themselves and their children are not used for political violence and other unwholesome acts that can jeopardise the electoral process.”
The union noted that the minimum wage negotiations were becoming unnecessarily protracted, saying that it does appear that the Federal Government is not sincere about the negotiations and that the decision of the Federal Government team to unilaterally postpone the meeting of the Committee sine die, on the grounds of further consultations, is flimsy.
The communiqué added: “SSANU joins the Nigeria Labour Congress to call on the Federal Government to face the serious business of reviewing the national minimum wage lest it incur the wrath of the Nigerian workers and their millions of dependants who have been long suffering and patient.
“Workers should not be pushed to the wall, as the implication of this, could have dire consequences on governance.”
On the proliferation of universities that do not have the required equipment for excellent teaching, SSANU expressed worry about the rate of approvals granted for new universities by the government.
It observed that the establishment of universities has almost become constituency projects as every Senator seems to be sponsoring a bill for the establishment or upgrade of an institution to a university in his or her constituency.
While stressing that the universities may have challenges meeting up with the increasing admission needs of the country, SSANU insisted that the solution was not the proliferation of universities.
The union said rather, the government should improve the funding and infrastructure of the universities to increase their capacities and the number of students they could admit.
