The Nation Newspaper

Tag: politics

  • ‘Politics not a man’s show’

    ‘Politics not a man’s show’

    Simiat Arikawe is a student-activist par excellence. She is the first  woman Students’ Union Government (SUG) Speaker of the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH). During her tenure, she convened the maiden Lagos State Tertiary Speakers’ Forum (LSTSF), which hosted politicians, including House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji. TOLULOPE OGUNLEYE (Computer Science, Lagos State Polytechnic) profiles  Simiat, who has just returned from the United States where she attended a leadership training.

    Call her iron lady, you may be right. Call her a gentle reformer and progressive student-activist, you may not be wrong. Simiat Arikawe, the immediate past speaker of the Students’ Union Government of the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), brought these attributes to bear during her reign as the head of students’ union legislature in the college.

    She recently led a group of youths to Virginia in the United States on leadership training sponsored by the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji. Following her return, she took the gospel of responsive leadership to youths. The training, she said, gave her “more drive and energy” to pursue a value-driven platform to empower youths to invest their energy in promoting good governance through participation in governance.

    The leadership training, she said, enhanced her leadership trait and gave her basic knowledge of political dynamics and how to build capacity for good governance.

    She urged other political office holders to imitate Ikuforiji’s gesture in giving back to the society, saying “building human is building the nation.”

    Simiat, who initiated Lagos State Tertiary Speakers’ Forum (LSTSF), said she believes student unionism could be used to drive good governance, noting that engaging the youths to execute violent causes could be reduced if they are mentored and given a role to play in the society.

    Listing her achievements as students’ union speaker, Simiat said she recommended the use of legislative gown and wig by 65 members of the legislative arm of the union.

    On what influenced her interest in campus politics, Simiat, a graduating student of Accounting, said she was motivated to offer selfless service to his colleagues. Initially, she did not want to get involve in campus politics because she felt her chance to be elected was slim. But students in her department pressured her to represent them. Banking on popular support, Simiat took up the gauntlet and ran for a seat in the legislature.

    She led members to the Ogun State House of Assembly to observe plenary session, an outing that opened the eyes of first-time members to the business of lawmaking. Their encounter with Rt. Hon. Suraj Adekunbi, the Speaker, was an unforgettable experience for members. Simiat also led her colleagues to the Lagos State House of Assembly and National Assembly to observe legislative procedure. The students met with Speaker Tambuwal and discussed various issues.

    She also organised the maiden parliamentary summit, which brought all leaders of the legislative arm of the Students’ Union Governments in the Southwest to converge on YABATECH to discuss leadership challenges.

    How does she feel leading people? Simiat replied: “It is challenging when you lead people of different characters because you just have to be calm and be a good listener. As a leader, you have to render yourself as a servant and imbibe the habit of team work.”

    Simiat’s vision is for the youths to assume leadership position in the country.

    “My goal is to see the youths taking charge of the country’s leadership. We have the potential to take Nigeria to the next level but many youths have sold their rights to politicians, who gave them arms in return. We want to change this notion. In my own capacity, I want to engage them in a way they will see themselves as partners in leadership and development.”

    What is her advice for women, Simiat said: “Ladies must participate in politics and stop seeing it as a man’s show.”

  • Politics versus governance

    In their raw, basic forms, politics and governance may offer something to lift your spirits. While the one basically entails influencing other people, the other essentially hints at the tangible and intangible contribution of a governing body to the welfare of the governed. At home, since they say both terms exist there, too, a father or mother may actually relish balancing the strengths of one child over the weaknesses of another, the boisterousness of one over the aloofness of the other, the nagging of a girl-child over the independence of the boy. Parents must work hard at this and succeed, not just for their own peace of mind but also the welfare of the children. At this level, politics and governance may be fun, even something to look forward to and acquit one well in. But at the level to which our politicians, sometimes also called people in government, have brought them, both terms have since become unwholesome, dirty and scary. Last year ended on such an inglorious note. And the new year is taking off on an even more troubling note as we count down to election year. Putting politics and governance side by side, I sometimes wonder which is better. Can you take one and leave out the other? They say both are inter-woven, but I ask, why do we have more politicking than governing? And why is the politicking getting more devious by the day, and governing less apparent as the clock ticks? The politics and governance of today are measured by the standards of our past heroes, and oftentimes modernday efforts fall far short of what used to be. Now, that is a tragedy. Society must progress or it retrogresses. There is no luxury of mid-point stagnation. This is because the world continues to revolve, and this is not merely a geographical fact. Ghana was once derided in this region, its people thought of merely as itinerant cloth-menders and the like. Those days are long gone. The table has since turned, and Nigerians are besieging Nkrumah country for education, for business and for a breath of fresh air. Japan once inspired little respect, thought of as that country of copycats. In time, the copycats began to come to their own, even exporting their produce, mostly electronics, to a once scornful world. The China apotheosis is much too loud and clear to warrant analysis in this space. Politics and governance in these parts fall far short of the country’s famous potential. To that extent, the world’s most populous black nation is yet to take off, and even its eventual takeoff is difficult to see. Last year ended with Nigeria’s leaders and their aides quarelling in, or over, open letters. The same year, Nigerians watched, bemused, as governors simply could not choose any of them to chair their common forum. So what did they do? They promptly split in two, with Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi presiding over the majority half, and Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang settling into the smaller part. But as if that was not troubling enough, the Presidency fancied cosying up to the Jonah half, rather than the Amaechi camp, neither mending the rift nor minding the reproach it brought to the entire country and its people. Beyond party politics, there should be standards below which no society should fall. Such divisions detract and distract. They rob a country’s leaders of focus, of their debt of governance to the people. I mentioned a while ago that our national politics and governance are gauged by the standards of past leaders. The names of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and some others are invoked by present-day politicians partly to lead us to believe that today’s men and women have not forgotten yesterday’s heroes, and partly to further claim that the new players are keeping pace with Nigeria’s genuine leaders of yore. This mindset is disgusting, in the least. First, by this token, present-day politicians and office holders create the impression that they are still under the shadows of their predecessors. This is a multiple tragedy. A child is expected to achieve more than the parents, not tell the world that the shoes of his father is too big to be filled. Our past leaders were great, but they were nowhere perfect, nor did they achieve even half of what they should have achieved. Awolowo blessed the Southwest with free education. Why shouldn’t the crop of new leaders in the region better his effort by significantly raising the quality of learning? Awo fought poverty with agriculture. Have we checked to see how many are poor and unemployed in the Southwest? Michael Opara left unforgettable infrastructure in the Southeast, in places far removed from the state capitals of today. But what is the profile of growth in the region now? How does the Igbo man fare today? The Sardauna unified the North but how united is the region after his departure. Now, if we today’s leaders cannot match yesterday’s heroes, what hope is there of even bettering past standards? The fundamentals of politics and governance are missing in this country.

  • Our variant of politics

    SIR: Representative government or democracy is the most popular type of government in our today’s world. Military rule is viewed as an aberration.

    There are places, especially in the Middle-east, where the Islamic theocracy blends with monarchical type of government to form a type of government. But, then, the wind of democracy blowing across our world has swept away some military dictatorships. Nigeria is now a democratic nation. Our 14 years of unbroken democratic leadership is a milestone that calls for celebration, our country men having suffered under oppressive military dictatorships.

    Now, Nigerians are increasingly familiar with democratic culture. They participate in periodic elections to vote in new leaders. But, our brand or type of politics is egregious. Politics is the means by which politicians try to acquire political power legitimately. What shaped our peculiar politics are cultural factor and our moral values.

    Since 1999, when the fourth republic dawned, our manner of politicking has become set and fossilized. In the past, politicking in Nigeria had got to do with the proposition of ideas and ideologies. There were politicians who belonged to the left of the centre and there were the rightists. They would woo the voters with their parties’ manifestoes and programmes. In the first republic, Chief Obafemi Awolowo identified with democratic socialism. As a leader in the Western Region, he implemented the free education policy, which was in harmony with his party’s political ideology. Today, many prominent people of Yoruba extraction occupying exalted positions in the government owe their successes in life to Awolowo’s benefaction and socialist welfarism. NCNC had its political ideologies, too; and, its leader, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an orator, dazzled audiences with speeches that showed his party’s economic and political leanings.

    Sadly, our type of politics is no longer issue-based. Our politicians seldom talk about issues that affect us, not to talk of offering solutions to them. When they’re compelled to appear on television for debate, the debate session will degenerate into a shouting match. One cannot make out what they’re talking about.

    In the run up to the 2013 Anambra State governorship election, one of the contestants, a debtor whose company was under receivership, gave kerosene, motorcycles, cars and monetary gifts to people so as to sway them to his political party. Giving money to people during political parties’ rallies is the in-thing and fashion now. Our politics has been bastardized and monetized. Giving money to the voters has dislodged soliciting for the people’s votes based on their parties’ manifestoes and positions on issues.

    It is our politicians’ desperation for power that informed their resort to politicking based on dishing out money to people. Clinching political power offers them unlimited access to our financial tills. Our perception of power is warped and perverted. Political leaders see their occupation of exalted political offices as an opportunity to amass wealth. Here, in Nigeria, we worship those with ill-gotten wealth, but feel contempt for the man with probity. Against this background of moral unscrupulousness, many electoral workers can compromise their moral principles and work ethics for pecuniary rewards.

    So, politicians do collude with electoral workers to perpetrate electoral fraud. Those entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the sanctity of elections pervert the electoral processes.

    The culture of election fraud leads to the emergence of social misfits as our leaders. The ultimate sovereignty in a country resides with the people. But, election malpractice causes the subversion of the people’s political will.

    We should articulate ways of eradicating these bad characteristics that define our way of politicking.

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra State.

  • Between politics and missing funds

    Between politics and missing funds

    The recent revelation by Governor Rotimi Amaechi that a whopping $5b was missing from the country’s excess crude account is only the latest in the long tale of missing funds in Nigeria. In this report, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, takes an in-depth look at the politics of missing funds in Nigeria and why they are hardly ever found

    In Nigeria, money has become a spirit, with wings as powerful as that of a royal Eagle. As a result, tales of missing billions of Naira have become so recurrent in the public sector that it would seem inconceivable for a month to pass by without large sums springing out wings and flying away from the reach of common citizens.

    Before January 2012, when millions of Nigerians staged an effective protest against federal government’s removal of fuel subsidy, the issue of missing billions of Naira has remained a mere secret topic by few intellectuals and subjects of idle gossip in drinking joints and kitchens.

    Then, many thought that only corrupt, frontline public office holders, like presidents, governors or minsters were guilty of direct stealing from the public treasury.

    But since after the protest, which encouraged private campaigns to clean up the country’s economic sources, like the oil sector, government has been forced to set up committees on missing funds.

    As a result, more awareness has been created and public officials have become more outspoken on the country’s missing trillions.

    So, last weekend’s revelation by Governor Rotimi Amaechi that a whopping $5b was missing from the country’s excess crude account is only the latest in the long tale of missing funds in the country.

    Trillions that developed wings in two years

    Just between April and October 2012, barely nine months after the 2012 protest, a lot of revelations of stolen trillions of Naira in the oil sector alone, were made.

    It would be recalled that in the wake of the nationwide strikes against the fuel subsidy removal, a House of Representatives committee was constituted to investigate the matter. Chaired by Hon Lawan Farouk, the committee’s report, released in April 2012, revealed a monumental scam. It shows that oil companies were being paid hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies by the government for fuel that was never delivered. The scam was estimated by the committee to have cost Nigeria about $6.8 million.

    In August of that same year (2012), barely four months after, former World Bank’s Vice President for Africa, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, reportedly revealed that an estimated $400bn of Nigeria’s oil revenue were either stolen or were misspent since independence in 1960.

    That same year, a Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force report, released in October, said about $29bn have been lost by the country in the last decade through what has been described as “price fixing scam.”

    That was not all for 2012. Just in the oil sector alone, reports citing leaked information from the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force Report, also said in October 2012 that Nigeria may have been losing $6 bn in a year to oil theft alone.

    Following the staggering revelations of missing funds in the oil sector last year, and the protest over the increment of the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit from N65 to N97, President Goodluck Jonathan’s government moved to cushion the harsh effects on Nigerians by setting up the agency known today as Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), to manage the proceeds from the fuel subsidy removal. It is reportedly “financed by the savings or the difference which would have been used to subsidise premium motor spirits.”

    According to earlier reports, “the difference between the N65 cost as full subsidy and the N97 as partial subsidy is what the government uses to fund the project.” The arrangement is that the funds saved would be divided among the three tiers of government for development purposes.

    But the recent allegation this year, by the Senate, that N500 billion was missing from SURE-P has again revealed that it even this so-called re-investment package may have been turned to another drain pipe.

    In the course of the controversies surrounding the SURE-P saga, Plateau State House of Assembly’s SURE-P Chairman, Dalyop Mancha was reported as declaring that funds from the project were not disbursed to the state and local governments since January last year.

    To find the truth, concerned Nigerians and organisations have urged government to institute credible investigation on the matter.

    For example, an organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) last week asked the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to “urgently begin a thorough and efficient investigation into allegations of corruption, following a shortfall in the remittance of accrued funds for the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) projects of over N500billion from January 2012 to September 2013.”

    In a petition sent to the commission and signed by the organisation’s executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni, they said: “SERAP is seriously concerned that the failure to account for the shortfall of about N500billion out of the over N800billion which ought to have accrued for the SURE-P projects is a flagrant denial of the social and economic development of millions of Nigerians.”

    It is while this SURE-P’s missing millions is still on the table, last week that Amaechi came up with excess crude account $5 billion bombshell.

    Given the seemingly unending takes of such missing billions, Nigerians are wondering why the government and the anti- corruption agencies seem helpless, even when it is an agreed fact that such large scale corruption is responsible for underdevelopment and lack of respect for political leadership.

    SERAP for example lamented, in it’s response that “the inability of government officials to account for huge amount of resources mapped out for the improvement of the country is a serious impediment and setback to the goals of development for which the SURE-P funds have been set aside to achieve in the first place. The denial of the rights of millions of Nigerians has contributed hugely to extreme poverty and civil strife.”

    Why are Nigeria’s missing funds hardly found?

    Politics and other selfish interests have been adduced as the reasons missing funds in Nigeria are hardly found and recovered.

    Dr. Frederick Mba, in his explanation of why missing funds are hardly found in Nigeria told The Nation that missing public funds are intricately linked to politics in Nigeria. As he puts it, “The so-called missing funds are stolen public resources. The truth is that nobody is looking for these monies because the authorities are shamelessly involved in their disappearance. They are not missing. They are stolen by the same officials and used for political campaigns, and personal luxurious life. If they look for these monies, they will surely find them,” he said.

    But a top security official, who refused to be named, told The Nation on Thursday that many of the missing funds have been recovered. He however failed to name the alleged recovered funds.

    Over the years, stories of missing billions in Nigeria have confirmed allegations of large scale corruption in the country. Before, especially during the military era, these monies were hardly recovered. But today, as more Nigerians, including public officials like Governor Rotimi Amaechi are boldly speaking against these corrupt practices, more Nigeians are optimistic that some of the missing trillions may be recovered one day, notwithstanding the political clout of the culprits. How soon this dream would be fulfilled remains to be seen.

     

  • The tautology of politics

    The tautology of politics

    The crisis bedeviling the nation is not just a crisis of politics but a crisis of the grammar of politics, or political grammar, if you like. As Albert Einstein has noted, insanity is doing the same thing all over again and expecting a different result. In grammatical tautology, there is an unnecessary repetition of meaning, using multiple words to effectively—or ineffectively—say the same thing.

    In political tautology, the same actions are repeated all over and we are told to expect a different result. The result is a crisis of political disorientation or mental disequilbrium in which the actors are conditioned by a stubborn mindset to believe their own lies no matter how outlandish and to seek to inflict same on a cowered populace. As everybody knows, incantation and political magic thrive on repetition and the linguistic violence of formulaic bombardment.

    Let us now begin to plot our way out of this jungle of post-colonial political tautology. The greatest and most compelling argument for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference is the brutal abrogation of the political rights of Nigerians by colonial and post-colonial administrations, whether military or civilian. But this is also the greatest and most compelling incentive against its convocation.

    Nowhere in the world has the sovereignty of a people or nation for that matter been ceded lightly. It must be demanded or fought for; or there must be some compelling disincentives which force the hands of the rulers. The struggle for sovereignty affirms the sovereignty of struggle as the organising principle of all emancipated human societies. From Magna Carta to the Chartist movement, from the world-historic revolutions to the American Civil Rights protests, it is the struggle to affirm the sovereignty of the people that turn the habitants of a nation-space from inert, passive entities and nonentities to full blown citizens . This is when the nation in itself becomes the nation for itself.

    As it can be seen from the recent Delta Central Senatorial abracadabra, the brisk abolition of the electorate in Offa and the programmed electoral anarchy in Anambra State, Goodluck Jonathan , while paying lip service to a National Conference, is also relentlessly steamrolling the country towards a historic catastrophe that it cannot survive in one piece. What then is the purpose of a National Conference when evidence abounds that rather than attempt to solve the National Question the powers that be are working towards a predetermined National Answer and final solution?

    All over the world, national conferences are always an elite-driven affair. They are a specific mechanism to redeem and retain elite control of the levers of power. In the total absence of pressures from below and the margins, this is not a bad thing, and since current politics in Nigeria is a play of giants disconnected and disarticulated from the populace, Jonathan may yet get away with blue murder. But this is going to be a temporary respite until there is some fundamental retribution which will alter the character of the current political class.

    While waiting for this world-historic rupture and disruption of the mental conditioning of the political elite, it is appropriate to add that in the dispiriting fog of political tautology, nothing can be more refreshing than a fresh breath of scholarly analysis and its illuminating insights. This is the time for our thinkers, philosophers and intellectuals to rise above the fog of mental debilitation in order to fashion a new order for the nation.

    Ben Nwabueze, distinguished professor of Constitutional Law and a foremost legal theorist, is without any doubt the leading illuminati and intellectual star of our current political curfew. Snooper is not always on the same political page with the cerebral titan, but whether you agree with him or not, Nwabueze is a serious reader’s delight any day.

    Approaching his mid eighties, it is obvious that Nwabueze’s capacity for hard work remains undimmed and undiminished by advancing years. There is a seminal rigour to even his most casual pieces and an analytical clarity which marks him out as a master of clinical exposition. In the current depressing state of the nation, there is something to be cheered or even wildly applauded when a man of such age and distinction devotes all of his God-given sterling intellectual talents to solving the problems of his beloved nation as he deems it fit.

    Yet there is the troubling and persistent feeling that current favours, current partisanships and current passions often get in the way of the analytical rigour and seminal exposition. Despite the forthright eloquence, the radical fervour and the simmering contempt for the inanities of the Nigerian political elite, one often goes away with the impression that the distinguished legal theorist is nothing but a defender per excellence of the ascendant political status quo.

    His latest outing, defending the proposed Jonathan National Conference, gives the game away in all its damning and tortured ellipsis. Nwabueze is right to affirm that all the so-called conferences we have had so far are nothing but elitist conclaves which have never given the Nigerian people the right or choice to determine their sovereign destiny. He is particularly spot on in dismissing the 2005 Obasanjo National Dialogue as a sham, or charade lacking in immanent integrity and seriousness of purpose. Nwabueze believes, and tries to make us believe, that the proposed Jonathan Conference would be quite different.

    Yet the main plank and platform for staking his considerable integrity on Jonathan’s fidelity and seriousness of purpose is based entirely on faith and the fact that his group had submitted a draft proposal to the government, and not on a rigorous analysis of the political antecedents and current inclinations of the said administration. Last Thursday in a moment of late lucidity, Nwabueze seemed to be backing away in anticipatory disapproval.

    There can be no doubt about Nwabueze’s sterling standing with the administration. His nominee, Solomon Adun Asemota, the equally distinguished lawyer and respected advocate of a sovereign conference of ethnic nationalities, was eventually coopted after the Nyiam fiasco. But when matters as critical and crucial as this are entirely judged on the basis of cronyism and mutual back-rubbing, one must begin to wonder about the integrity of the whole process.

    In any case, let us not press our luck too far on this ethnic nationalities business. It is one of the pious myths of the decolonising project and the post-colonial nation process that the native people were not consulted before they were boxed into a colonial cage. The reality was that there were no people to consult as such. Force is the organising principle of the colonial project. Nigeria came into being after numerous native armies and economic conglomerates were put to sword by the colonial overlords or militarily browbeaten into submission.

    If we are looking for the real pre-colonial owners of what became Nigeria, we will have to search for the relics and debris of the ancient Ibadan army, the Ekiti insurgents, the Niger Delta barons, the Ilorin army, the Arochukwu magnates, the Nupe generals, the caliphate troops who took a shellacking in 1903, the abducted king of Benin, Jaja of Opobo, the Ijebu armed forces and many others.

    These are the lost and lapsed sovereigns of the numerous pre-colonial states in what eventually became Nigeria and not some mythical, fluid and flux nationalities. In a multi-national nation, there is nothing wrong with ethnic identity politics, but the unpleasant fact we are trying to avoid is that Nigeria, like all colonial nations, is a creation, concoction and contraption of state violence. And violence has been its organising principle ever since. This is what explains the centrality of arms and their bearers, despite the civilian lulls and lullabies.

    How then do we humanise this violence-suffused entity and make real life livable for its stricken and afflicted denizens? As a corollary to that important question, what are the possibilities of a sovereign national conference? Pray but keep your powder dry, says the famous admonition. Nwabueze is surely right in vesting the Jonathan administration with full sovereignty. There can be no dual sovereignty in a functioning state except as a precondition for anarchy.

    It is interesting to note that all the African countries listed by Nwabueze where sovereignty was seized by national conferences are Francophone nations. The French, taking a cue from their own history, imposed a system of presidential monarchy on their African holdings. The idea is to let an authoritarian strongman rule as father and founder of the nation until a biological coup d’etat intervenes and blows the lid off the roiling cauldron. This is what has led to civil wars in the two Congos, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea and simmering discontent in Togo. The current harshly monarchical presidential system which does not take into account the fact that Nigeria is powered along by a negative equilibrium and by competing and countervailing centres of power is bound to end in similar grief.

    Nwabueze is at his most bearish and bullish when it comes to the vexed issue of the permanent conflict and endless contestation between legal and popular sovereignty and between the people or forces claiming to represent them and the ascendant sovereign authority. This is also where the political and intellectual contradictions appear in boldest relief. The legal titan is of the opinion that if Jonathan reneges on his promise, if he decides to play hanky-panky by throwing the buck back at a delinquent National Assembly, then the proposed National Conference can assert its authority and seize sovereignty.

    This is a direct and dire warning to the Jonathan administration. The patience of its most ardent intellectual supporters is wearing thin. Nwabueze does not tell us how this will happen, and probably rightly so. But if history is our infallible guide, it is a damp squib. On the few occasions when the Nigerian people have acted with a pan-Nigerian concert to assert their sovereignty, sections of the elite have always moved in to scupper the nascent national consciousness, leaving room for the best organised power cartel to seize sovereignty. It is unlikely to be different this time around. The constitutional pundit ought to know. But this is the bane of political tautology. Professor, welcome to the political laboratory of the great scientist Albert Einstein and his theory of insanity.

  • ‘Christians that avoid politics are cowards’

    ‘Christians that avoid politics are cowards’

    The Senior Pastor of Great Commission Bible Church, New Oko Oba, Lagos, Rev. Olu Johnson, spoke with Sunday Oguntola on Christian participation in politics and sundry issues. Excerpts:  

    Starting this church from the scratch, were you ever aware it could come this far?

    Well, we knew God was taking us somewhere. We knew God would make this work great but we did not have all the full information on what we are seeing now. When God calls, He does not show one everything on the way. He expects stepping out in faith before blessing the work. So, we stepped out in faith and knew God will take us far. But how far we would go was never totally known to us. If we knew everything from the beginning, we wouldn’t have needed God again.

    Is that to say the journey was fraught with difficulties?

    Sure, because anything worthy will be fought by the enemies. We have never had a smooth sail but God has been faithful to us. We had ups and downs. You know, I used to be an accountant in a multi-national firm with massive interests. I was at the peak of my career when He called me. He told me to preach on the streets after resigning. I started with crusades and outreaches in remote areas before God asked me to have a church base. The church started with no chairs or anything. But God has bought us this far. 15 years down the line, we can only say thank God.

    Why did it take the church as much as 15 years to get a befitting auditorium?

    As I explained, it is an evangelical church, so we concentrated more on outreaches and winning souls in remote areas. Whatever resources we got were channelled to rural evangelism. We were so engrossed with it that we did not even realise we had no befitting auditorium, as you call it. We were busy conducting crusades within and outside the country. But now we realise we need to build a church tower while He has promised to build us a city.

    Is this to say that the church will now take precedence over evangelical outreaches?

    I can assure we don’t move without divine direction. We cannot hide away from our identity and inclination towards evangelism. We remain an evangelical church, no matter where we are. So, we can’t change now. We shall continue to save souls and build the church as the Lord helps us. I believe this structure will even encourage us to do more on the fields and expand our horizon.

    The church will complement the evangelical outreaches and vice versa. The church stands on its own while the ministry is now independent. I have published books I have not been able to market. So, the church can function whether I am around or not. We have leaders who can see to the needs of the church.

    Building a structure of this magnitude certainly comes with different challenges. Can you recall some of them?

    You see, when God gave us the instruction to build this tower, we had nothing in the bank. But we had faith. When God gives an assignment, the devil will fight. But if you focus on the problems, moving forward becomes impossible. When I looked at the purse of the church, I ran off to the UK to do ministry. But God came back again and I returned to commence a 101-day fast and prayer. God said that it is His project and never mine. There was no strategy but only faith. As we started with what we had, God started supplying until it got to this point.

    What do you have to say on the proposed national conference?

    Well, it is a long-awaited exercise. This is what we should have done long ago. The amalgamation of Nigeria was done by force, without dialogue, consultation or consent. It is good that we are coming to talk 100 years after. I believe we can address injustices, marginalisation and inequalities. I believe the country is at a standstill and we need to discuss on how we want to move forward.

    You are passionate about Christian participation in politics. But do you think Christians are prepared and trained to survive the murky waters of politics in Nigeria?

    When we say our mandate is to dominate and occupy till Christ comes. To have dominion, we need a domain. We have the responsibility to show the Kingdom of God on earth through governance. So, I am sure we need to get involved regardless of the fear that we would be polluted. But if we are not there, they will bastardise the place worse than it is right now.

    On whether they are prepared, I believe it is an ongoing process. Already, the awareness is there. What we need is to start getting involved and learning through the process. Yes, we need training but we cannot wait till eternity to get started. We cannot continue to cry wolf when we are not involved. If politics is dirty, then who will clean it up? Do you clean it up by staying away? In fact, I believe the dirtiness there is an opportunity for Christians to show the difference. Christians who run away from politics are cowards.

    Do you believe that Nigeria is under a curse like most people say?

    I don’t think so. The problem is we have seen so much in other places that we want them here immediately. You see we should learn to move at our own pace. There is no point in trying to be like others. Take the cashless policy, for instance, it is a good innovation but it is obvious we are not ready for it. We only want to do it because that is what others are doing. We should be forward-looking while we enjoy where we are. America is over 300 years while Nigeria is just 53 as an independent nation. So, we should not overstretch ourselves running after them.

    So, there is no curse anywhere. We are only experiencing teething problems with nation-building that others have gone through. We have eroded our rich cultures in the process. Family values are being destroyed and damaged. Wives are leaving their husbands at the slightest opportunity. We import everything. Everything is now cheap but inferior. Our government should stop some of the bilateral agreements with these nations that import inferior products.

    Can you talk briefly about the convention?

    It’s our 15th annual convention and God is helping us to mark it with the dedication of our auditorium. The National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, will be here to minister with other notable men of God. We believe it will be a platform for God to bless and take us to the next level.

  • Be involved in politics, Munroe tells Christian leaders

    Be involved in politics, Munroe tells Christian leaders

    Leading motivational preacher, Dr. Myles Munroe, has called on Africa Christian leaders to be actively involved in governance.

    This, he said, will enable them raise a new breed of Kingdom citizens to steer the affairs of the continent.

    Munroe spoke at the International Biennial Conference on National Transformation organised by the Institute for National Transformation (INT) recently in Lagos.

    The conference, with the theme Come, let us build the broken Walls of Africa: Building Human Capacity to meet African Needs, attracted over hundreds of church leaders, lawmakers, civil society groups and ambassadors from Nigeria, Uganda, United Kingdom, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, United States of America, Ukraine and India.

    Munroe identified the needs to raise government filled with Kingdom citizens in Africa to sustain democracy and deliver good governance.

    He argued that if 90% of politicians know God and adhere to scriptural principles and values, the Kingdom of God will manifest on earth.

    The renowned speaker said it is wrong to discourage Christians from politics in the name of avoiding pollution, saying this theological misnomer was responsible for the drawbacks on the continent.

    He charged: “Let us go into government and help rescue Africa from money bags, sycophants and self- centred individuals who have taken the continent hostage.”

    In his opening address, the Director General of Institute of INT, Professor Vincent Anigbogu, called for renewed efforts toward capacity building of godly characters for the achievement of peak development in a globalised world.

    Anigbogu said: “Africa must intentionally develop and deploy the human capacity in the seven spheres of society: which are education, government, business, and media, and social, religious and celebration spheres.” “Such people,” he said, “must have required character traits, should demonstrate competency in strategic leadership and quality management skills adequate to lead Africa in a globalised world with its complexities. This is no small feat.”

    A lawmaker from Uganda, Hon Richard Lutalo, said that reaching out with the gospel has helped in the healing and reconciliation of warring tribes in the country.

    He recalled that over 5,000 Ugandans recently met with Jaffar, the son of the former Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, who pleaded for the forgiveness of his father’s sins while in power.

  • Oyo politics after Lam Adesina

    Correspondent BISI OLADELE writes on the implications of the demise of Alhaji Lam Adesina for the progressive family in Oyo State and how Governor Abiola Ajimobi has been building on the legacies of the departed leader.

    A year ago, former Oyo State Governor Lamidi Onaolapo Adesina died, following a protracted illness. He died at St Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, where he was receiving treatment until he died on November 11, last year.

    Until his death, Adesina was the leader of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State. He started playing the role, since he was defeated in the 2003 election, which cut short his second term dream.

    Great Lam, as he was fondly called by his admirers, was loved by many. In his moderate Felele, Ibadan home, the former governor welcomed the great and the small. He wielded a great influence.

    Adesina was an astute politician. He was the rallying point for the old and new generation of politicians the elite and the unlettered. He was approachable, simple, unassuming, humorous, but firm. His principles were well known among members hardly did they flout them.

    He stabilised the party among emerging internal blocs and served as the judge on virtually all matters.

    So, when the curtain was drawn one year ago, political watchers feared a depletion or disarray in the party.

    Yet, events of the last 12 months have proved that the ACN (now All Progressives Congress) has the capacity to survive, even without its old leaders. It looks like a system that only needs to be sustained by principles of fairness, forthrightness and decency. Hence, Governor Abiola Ajimobi and Chief Michael Koleoso have paddled the canoe of the party without blemishes after Great Lam’s departure.

    However, the massive urban renewal exercise of the Ajimobi Administration, which peaked in the first quarter of the year, may possibly have taken more time, to accomplish, if Lam were alive. As an elder-statesman, residents that were dissatisfied with any policy of the current administration lodged their complaints to him. After educating them, he would convey their feelings to the governor and offer useful advice. Lam may have advised Ajimobi to move slowly as traders removed from the roads under bridges.

    As the governor ruminates over appointment of new members of the State Executive Council, Lam would have done a good buck of the fixing as he would have offered very useful advice to the governor in making his selection. His house would have become a Mecca of sort for political jobbers seeking position. In a way, Lam was largely handling the political aspect of the administration for Ajimobi when he was alive. The governor now takes care of both governance and full politics.

    That was the experience in the build-up to the 2011 elections when all political office hopefuls thronged his Felele residence.

    As the leader of the party, Ajimobi would have given him some concession, on a few candidates because it was believed that he knew the party and the members inside-out, having stayed so long in the progressive party.

    Today, however, aside the party leadership, a notable Islamic leader and a first-class traditional ruler seem to hold the ace in the administration.

    Lam was a staunch critic of the leader of the Accord Party (AP) in the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja. He had attributed the his loss in the 2003 election to Ladoja, whom he accused of rigging him out against the wish of the people.

    The AP leader has been criticising the Ajimobi Administration, since the beginning of the year. Both Ajimobi and Ladoja fell apart politically last year, due to irreconcilable differences.

    If Lam is alive, Ladoja would have received more verbal attacks from the deceased as he will reel out data on how the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor allegedly destroyed all his legacies when he succeeded him in 2003. He never spared Ladoja and he brooked no criticism from the AP leader. Lam’s death obviously created more breathing space for Ladoja.

    For instance, when the National Assembly election favoured the ACN in 2011, even before the governorship election in which Ladoja (AP) was a candidate, Ajimobi (ACN) was a candidate and Adebayo Alao-Akala flew the flag of the PDP. Lam, while addressing reporters at the Southwest Secretariat office of his party on Old Ife Road, Ibadan, he tongue-lashed Ladoja and Alao-Akala, saying it was “pay-back time” for what they did to him in 2003. Alao-Akala was Ladoja’s deputy governorship candidate in the 2003 election.

    “Both of them rigged me out in 2003. Now is the pay-back time for them. They have already lost this election because the, people of Oyo State have rejected them,” Lam said.

    Adesina also criticized the PDP. In spite of the fact that the party has not been able to pick its pieces in the state, Lam would have sustained its derogation and criticism of its activities, if he is still alive.

    The planned national conference is one development that would definitely have attracted strong comments from Lam Adesina. His view on such important matters which were strong, were always sought by reporters. Lam was a reporter’s delight. His orientation as an activist made him so.

    Members of the older generation of politicians are gradually passing away. Unfortunately, not many cerebral politicians are seen on the political stage in Oyo State again.

    The people of Oke-Ogun, the northern part of the state, are surely missing Great Lam. Lam had a strong political bond with them. They trusted and loved him till the end. Chief Koleoso, with whom he led the party, until his death, hails from Oke-Ogun. They must have missed his visits, friendship and political relationship.

    Though Lam and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, were not in very cordial terms towards the end if his Administration, the monarch and Lam found a common ground again in 2011, to the dismay of many watchers. Therefore, Lam’s hands of fellowship cut across boarders, giving him out as a true leader.

    As the APC faithful and the people of Oyo State remember Great Lam, it is expected that the party will continue us to build leadership on the principles of the deceased who was a man of integrity. Party men, he would emphasize, must subject their personal interest to that of the party. He would advise legislators to vote along party lines and remain faithful to their oath of office.

    He enjoined politicians to keep a simple life and keep service to others as their top priority. Lam urged party faithful to shun corruption but to live a type of life that would ensure they enjoy peace after leaving office.

    It is expected that the APC would keep these ideals as it soars in the administration of the state.

     

  • Anambra stampede: CAN and politics

    SIR: Last week’s avoidable tragedy at the Uke Adoration ground in Anambra State, that claimed over 28 persons, once again brings to the front burner the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) ‘s frequent meddling into the country’s murky political waters, and the consequences of such action on its members in particular and the country at large.

    It is not in dispute that the remote cause of this sad incidence was the visit to the venue of the weekly adoration crusade, organised by the Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, Uke, by some politicians in the state, who reportedly turned the religious gathering to a political fan-fare of sorts seeking for the votes of the congregation towards the November 16 governorship election. Accusations have continued to fly across the different political camps in the state.

    However, as the politicians continue to “dance on the graves” of these innocent victims, this piece will concern itself with the quirky directive issued, few days after the ugly incident, by the Southeast CAN urging its members to desist, henceforth, from allowing politicians to use their altars as campaign grounds.

    Without sounding blasphemous, the body, as it were, was merely playing to the gallery by such directive. Truth is: CAN has derailed from its primaary objective which saddles it with the duty of promoting the spiritual growth and stability of her members. It is befuddling that the body has over the years, continued to fraternise with all manner of politically inclined persons whose main motive is to use it and her members as a ladder to their political heights. This is abundantly evident in the recent threat by some of her members to pull out from the body. The altar has been sold! It is a common sight today to see some of these politicians receiving “laying of hands” before the congregations during major elections.

    Curiously too, the region’s body has also warned its members (churches) “to steer clear of partisan politics”. The practicability of this directive remains to be seen, at least not when the body’s national leadership keeps hobnobbing with the government in power.

    The body at the national level most times had reduced itself to an image maker of the government in power (especially at the federal); thus the region’s move to “ban all politicians from attending our churches with their political teams for campaigns” is like crying over spilt milk.

    The association must return to its spiritual duties and leave politicking to the politicians. A situation where the leaders of the body endorse (either by commission or by omission) candidates for election should be discouraged, as such action indirectly impede their members’ freedom of choice and endangers healthy competition in our body of politicking.

    While Nigerians sympathise with the families and loved ones of the victims of the tragedy, the best way to immortalise them is for electoral body and the politicians to ensure that the November 16 election is free and fair. And whoever emerges the winner must deliver dividend of good governance to the living in the state.

     

    • Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

    Lagos.

     

  • Kwankwaso counsels Imams against partisan politics

    Kano State governor, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, has advised Islamic scholars and Imams of Juma’at mosques in the state against engaging in partisan politics.

    The advice is contained in a statement issued by the Director of Press, Malam Halilu Dantiye.

    Kwankwaso gave the advice while addressing Imams of Juma’at mosques from the 44 local government areas of the state at the Government House.

    “It is not appropriate for Ulamas and Imams to turn their pulpits into platforms for political comments and inflammatory remarks,” the governor counselled.

    He reminded them that their partisanship could be misunderstood and degenerate into misgivings or even lead to unrest.

    He therefore urged them to preach peace, tolerance and mutual understanding as leaders of the people.

    “It is annoying that some Imams use their sermons to blackmail political leaders. They have turned into politicians in disguise and this is not the best for our society,” he lamented.

    He assured them that his doors would remain open for constructive advice, pointing out that he is bound to make mistakes as a human being.

    “As religious leaders, you have the right to seek audience with me and I will be ready to listen to you so that together, we can move the state forward.”

    The governor also enjoined people to avoid rumour mongering in order to ensure that peace and harmony reigned supreme in the state and the country at large.