The Nation Newspaper

Tag: politics

  • Politics, politics: breaking the age barrier

    Last week, the news of the signing into law of the “Not Too Young To Run Bill” by President Muhammadu Buhari caused mild ripples in the political landscape of Nigeria. The passage of the Act was hailed as a victory for young people all over the country and the beginning of a new era in Nigerian politics. However, while there are positives to take from the development, the Act has not managed to shake the table of Nigerian politics in any substantial way.

    Apart from the obvious technical issue regarding the appropriate procedure for amending provisions of a written constitution, there are many other far more practical concerns emerging from the passage of the Bill. There are unexplained omissions from the original Bill in the final Act signed by President Buhari which betrays a lack of commitment to the true spirit of the Bill by lawmakers.

    The Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives by Tony Nwulu, the House of Representatives member representing Oshodi-Isolo Federal Constituency. The Bill sought to alter sections 65, 106, 131 and 177 of the 1999 constitution. The aim was to reduce the age qualification for the office of the President, Governor, members of the Senate, House of Representatives and the State Houses of Assembly. The creation of the right to independent candidacy in elections was another major aim of the Bill.

    The document that was passed into law by President Buhari on May 31, 2018 altered the age of qualification for President from 40 to 30, members of House of Representatives from 30 to 25 and state House of Assembly members from 30 to 25. The age qualifications for Governors and Senators remain at the original 35 years.

    While one can spend hours ruminating on the intention of the lawmakers in keeping the age qualification of governors and senators higher than that of the president and others, there is likely to be no better insight into this discrepancy than the baffling propensity for one-upmanship and the exaggerated sense of importance of the senators. Again, in their little way, the senators seem to have played their hand in an endless battle for supremacy over the federal executive. However, what takes the cake in the public charade that the Act has become is the disregard of the provision that sought independent candidacy in elections. The omission of that provision in the final Act has watered down, to an unacceptable level, the purported rights created for truly young people to participate in elections through their candidacy.

    As the political terrain is set-up right now, political parties have immense power in determining the future of the country. Their choices influence the political mindset of the electorate and limit the choices of the people in determining their own fate. The new Act may have been passed in its limited way, but it is left to the political parties to decide whether young people are good enough for leadership. In an essentially two-party system run on massive funds and accumulated political capital, young people stand little chance of influencing politics in the way the Act intends.

    Whether or not there is an underlying mistrust of youth in the decision of the lawmakers, history does have lessons to share on the matter of young people in great leadership positions. Going as far back as the period before the common era (356-323 BCE), Alexander the great had conquered an empire that stretched from the Balkans to modern-day Pakistan by the age of 32, after little over a decade as King of Macedon. In the late 18th century, a young Napoleon Bonaparte took the world by storm after the French revolution. He became a general at the age of 24, went on his first major military campaign at age 26, got himself elected as First Consul of France at age 30 and became Emperor at 35, all while conquering a large part of Europe and beyond. In more recent and familiar history, a 33 year old Odumegwu Ojukwu began a war in 1967 that he held for three years against a British backed federal government led by 32 year old Yakubu Gowon.

    These examples in history at once show how far the determination of youth can go and at the same time the limits to youthful over-ambition. Nonetheless, those individuals left lasting legacies in their time that resounds throughout history till this present day. Youthful vigour has its advantages and many disadvantages, but denying the youths the chance to shape the future is a much more damning cost to progress than the price of their over-ambition. Sometimes the courage and determination to take the leap of faith is lacking in the aged, and the uncertain progress of the Nigerian state in these many years may portray this problem more vividly than most realize.

    Perhaps, what we need is not a “Not Too Young To Run Bill” but a “Too Old To Run Bill”. Past leaders have hung on to the reins of power for far too long and the spirit of adventurism of youth may be the missing ingredient in solving Nigeria’s problems. It is true that the young are taking more time to reach self-actualisation in today’s world, especially in Nigeria where the average person only finds financial independence after the age of 30. The aim is not to empower partially-formed adults, but to encourage well rounded individuals with enough youthful vigour to carry Nigeria past the line of development. Nine of the past United States presidents, including Barrack Obama, were below the age of 50 at the time they were elected. This list includes Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton. Donald Trump is the oldest US President at 70 and he may yet prove to be the worst.

    Since its passage at the National Assembly in 2017, the “Not Too Young To Run” Bill has been adopted by 25 state assemblies in Nigeria. This may seem like an encouraging sign, but the true potency of the Bill will not be felt in the near future, not with the obvious limitations highlighted above. In more realistic terms, the original age qualifications for the elective positions may be more practical, but the Bill at least sends a message to the old hands of Nigerian politics that the country is tiring of spent forces that take us around in circles.

    In the run in to 2019, with all that has been said, it is surprising that the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, seems to be more forward looking in terms of age than the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. Only recently, 31 year old Adebo Ogundoyin of the PDP won the by-election of Ibarapa East State constituency in the Oyo State House of Assembly. This is even as the PDP is toying with names like Ibrahim Dakwambo that seems like a sprightly, youthful option compared to the likely candidature of Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general elections. The opportunism of the PDP in this regard may reap benefits that the APC is unprepared for.

    While there is audible clamour for younger candidates, elected officials like Yahaya Bello, the youngest serving Governor and Dino Melaye, one of the youngest senators, both elected under the flag of the APC, have proven to be bad examples with their indecorous conduct and personal and official excesses. They are proof that there are no guarantees either way, but the cynicism of age and the present politics of accumulated interests tips younger, untainted candidates ahead of the rotten pack of old timers.

    The one takeaway from the emergence of the Act is that relatively young Nigerians under the banner of the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement, YIAGA, with support of the Vice President, were able to conceive the Bill and push it through the works to a conclusive end. It is a sign of better things to come. The movement should however know, in the midst of the celebration, that it is not yet Uhuru for inclusive politics. At this time, the passage of the Act is an empty victory.

  • Culture, impunity and politics

    We  live in a fast changing  world  and environment  and some events  and happenings   come so fast that we need  to nudge ourselves that we are not hallucinating. I   take on a few of such  unbelievable melo dramas and scenarios  today  and I am  sure you will  find them  not only fascinating  but   also  revealing about  the changes in our  world. The  events  I have picked  hover around the concepts in today’s headline and affect  our values, our  restraints and self control  as a  nation and a  people  and of course  our lack of  these simple virtues  too.

    At  an event  to mark  our Democracy Day the man  who  conducted  our  last  presidential  elections told an audience  made up richly of the results and products of  the   2015 elections   that  our National  Assembly  is made up of   bribe  taking Committees  Chairman and  federal  law makers who took  bribe with impunity  in the guise of  doing committee work. Prof Attahiru  Jega   former   INEC   Chairman  lamented and wondered what  the security  and investigative  authorities  were  doing  on the   matter.  The  following day   it was reported that the Senate  President  in the Senate  asked Prof  Jega   to  name the Committee  Chairmen  involved. That  reaction  from  the Senate  President  to me is a confirmation  that   a  culture of  corruption with impunity rules  the entire  Nigerian  political  system  and that is what Jega,  a professor of political science  was   trying  to point out at the  Democracy   Day  Lecture  titled ‘  Peace Building   and Good  Governance  for  Development  in  Nigeria. ‘

    I  have  not read  Jega’s  paper  but from  his observation  as well  as the reaction of   a  product  of   the election he   conducted  in  2015, he is not only  distancing the quality  of that election from its products  in the National  Assembly. He is also  saying that peace and sustainable development  in Nigeria are not possible under such a corrupt  political  culture which  thrives on the malfeseance  of  bribe  taking  by  legislators who  treat  such  deleterious behavior   with  levity      and   unworthy   of their attention   since    that  is their  political   norm  or  set  way  of life,  in making laws for Nigeria.

    Just  this week  a former  Minister  of  Finance  in  the last   Administration  Mrs   Ngozi   Okonjo  Iweala  revealed  at  a book  launch,  a huge amount  added  to the budget  for  legislators constituency  funding  before  the budget  for one year   could  be passed.  Yet   the legislators  in that legislature at that  time  have not found it appropriate  to  resign or  deny such financial misdemeanor. Which  also confirms the culture of corruption with impunity   as stated earlier.

    However,  as  a seasoned political scientist  and university trade unionist Prof Jega  cannot claim to be a novice on   the workings of the Nigerian presidential  system  and politics. Indeed  last  week  his former boss  the last president accused  him of irresponsibility  in wanting to go on with the   2015  presidential  elections  and assuring the security  chiefs that he could go on with the elections when  about 40%  of the electorate were  yet to  have voters  card,   which    would  have disenfranchised almost  half  of the electorate. That  was a true  accusation and I know because I was one of such potential  voters  in my area in Lagos state. That is a charge that the former  INEC  boss  must  live with  or explain forever.  In  addition  Jega  cannot  just  wonder  why  the investigative authorities   seem  powerless  in calling legislative bribe takers  to  order. The constitution has tied the  hands of the security  apparatus in making their leadership  confirmation  of appointment  a legislative   duty.  For  now the boss of the EFCC is  unconfirmed  because of  his role in   probing legislators  and the Inspector  General  of  Police has  been  proclaimed unfit  for office  because  he delegated a  function of appearing before  the Senate  which is his  legitimate  right.

    Anyway  since Jega  himself  is a professor  and the last  presidential election had professors  as INEC state Chairmen  I  want  to remind the former  INEC Chairman  of the highly  suspicious  demeanor of some of these   otherwise brilliant  egg  heads  on presenting their state  results before the INEC Chairman in the 2015 presidential  elections. Especially that of  Rivers  and Kano. The professor for  Rivers  was shivering  as if he stole something  and was being probed  by the INEC  boss.  The  Prof   for Kano  surprised  even  Jega when  he  answered  by    vigorously   shaking his head   in the affirmative,  Jega’s  incredulous  question  that there were  no spoilt  ballot  in the total  massive  votes  announced  for  Kano. Of  course  Jega  believed  that the university  system  have the best  brains but by now  he must  have known disciplinary   or   professional  excellence is not necessarily the best for counting of votes and the attendant honesty  and integrity  that go  with  it. That  should  have  been in his  Democracy  Day  lecture  which  I admit  I have not read.

    Let  me round off  with a story  from another university  environment  in the USA  to show that  a culture  of corruption  and  lack  of ethics  is not limited  to  the  Nigerian politicians and legislators.  In  the University  of Southern California [ USC ], Faculty  members  have signed a petition for the University president to resign  because  he did nothing to a University Gynaecologist  who  served for 30  years  and retired  in 2017  after messing up  with  female  students and patients in the University. The randy  gynaecologist  Dr George  Tyndall was accused of inappropriate   conduct  between  1990  and 2016  in the treatment of 52  women  who have  made  reports  to the police.

    Dr  Tyndall  was accused of doing pelvic examination without  gloves with his fingersand using racist and   in appropriate   sexual  language during consultations. He made comments  ‘about  patients bodies  and their sex lives and   the  tightness of their vaginal  muscles and touched  patients inappropriately during breast examinations’.  Appropriately  though the USC President  C L Max Nikias  stepped  down  this week  after  demonstrations by thousands of students and  alumni  signed a petition  asking for  his resignation.

    The  lesson  to learn in this  USC gyni  case  of  unethical  behavior  is that power  corrupts  and absolute  power  corrupts  absolutely and professors  and doctors who wield  technical  knowledge  and power  are not immune  to temptation to misuse  and abuse  their power  and the trust  of their  patients. What is important however is that those around them  should  be bold  to expose  their  excesses. In the USC  case  nurses  who stayed  with the randy  gynaecologist  were  said  to have looked away  when  innocent   and worried patients  smelt  a rat  in the way the doctor was using his fingers on them.  Such  nurses  are being summoned  by their professional  bodies  for  severe  breach  of ethics .  In  addition  the fact  that the University  president was asked  to resign  means that those  who  put him in power  have asked him   to  bear responsibility  for  playing  Nero  while  Rome burns in the  randy   gynaecologist’s    clinic  and examination room  for  30  years in USC. There may  such  Neros in our universities  and teaching hospitals  and   indeed   globally. It  is the duty of society  to show  them that  they  are not god  because of  their knowledge  and  must  obey  the ethics of their profession and the morals of  cultured  society.  Once again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

     

     

  • ‘Women’ll do more in politics’

    The new Woman Leader of the Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC),  Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, has promised to protect the interest of women across the state. Speaking to journalists after the swearing-in of the new executive members of the party at its state secretariat on Acme Road, Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday, Okoya-Thomas promised to bring a new lease of life to the women and other members of the party.

    According to her, “We will bring in a new generation of women in politics into Lagos APC and protect the interest of all the women in our great party especially in the grassroots. I promise to uphold this throughout my stay in office and I have no doubt that other members of the new executive under the pragmatic leadership of the new chairman of our great party would co-operate with me in this task,” she enthused.

    The former member of the Federal House of Representatives promised to listen to suggestions from women and carry them along in her task of making things better, adding that the APC-led government believes in women empowerment and participation in politics. “My aim is to build on what my predecessors have achieved and make more women to actively engage in the political process of Lagos State by vigorously mobilizing more women into the APC, especially the new generation of politically conscious women.”

     

  • Politics, Governance & Human Development

    From its essentials, Politics is about attaining and using power in public life to be able to influence decisions that affect society. In principle, that should be a worthy cause, but what we have experienced with most of our politicians in Africa and other third world countries is the crude politics of mediocrity, greed, insensitivity, hate, nepotism, and confusion. They base their campaigns on problems that are on ground, but when they get into office, they start complaining about those same problems they pledged to tackle and on which platform they were voted into office. What did they expect to meet? Indeed, we seem to have missed the road on how to use politics to better the lives of the people.

    Leadership is the most crucial factor in development – be it for a small family unit, business enterprise, institution or geo-political entity like Nigeria or its constituent states. Leadership is not just an insignia for display, but all about performance – producing results and fulfilling a mission in the interest of the led.  It is the responsibility of the leadership to harness our abundant human and material resources for the common good.

    Across the world, Good Governance is acknowledged as the basis for meaningful and sustainable development.  Due to failure of real politics in Nigeria, the country has been inflicted with a battered economy, corruption, mismanagement, infrastructural decay, mass impoverishment, and worse of all, a palpable citizen apathy and mistrust of Government. Good Governance is about the people whose well-being is the primary responsibility of Government. Good Governance is common sense; not rocket science. It is part of this mis-governance that led the country into recession – our inability to save for the rainy day.

    Some reports say that inflation in Nigeria is coming down, but that is not entirely correct because there is a strong link between inflation and demand. The current situation in our dear country is that majority of our people do not have money to purchase their basic needs. When people stay away from acquiring their basic necessities, they do not have “effective demand”.  Responding to that situation, those with the stocks may be compelled to reduce their prices in order to stay in business. That also does not reflect effective demand.  Using this scenario to claim that inflation is coming down is totally debatable.

    Similarly, the public could be told that a country indebted to the tune of about 20 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product [GDP] is not under any financial threat. This may appear so if the money so borrowed is being effectively utilized for production or the real sector. Alas, if the borrowed funds are for consumption – like payment of salaries, overseas vacations and chartered flights — the country is not only under financial threats, but in serious crisis. Flowing from this, how do we explain the situation where a country’s total external debt of US$32 billion was cancelled in 2008, but ten years later becomes freshly indebted to the tune of US$70 billion? It is mind-boggling, to say the least. The matter is further worsened by the fact that there is no tangible project to show where the funds so borrowed were invested or utilized. Such is the alarming trend that the International Monetary Fund [IMF] has cautioned Nigeria to watch it or end up in the path that Greece plunged unto a few years ago.

    Largely due to gross infrastructural deficit, Nigeria has missed out being part of an association of major emerging economies. Formed in 2006 with the acronym ‘BRIC’ – comprising Brazil, Russia, India & China — the group was joined by South Africa in 2010 to make it ‘BRICS’.  The acronym was coined by the then Chief Economist of Goldman Sachs, Jim O’Neill with the prediction that they would grow faster than the developed countries and play an increasingly important role in the world. Looking at the performance of those 5 countries, that prediction is being proved correct.  It is also sad to note that Nigeria – by virtue of its large economy and huge consumption market – was the preferred potential African country to join the association. While we present potentials, South Africa boasts of such infrastructure as power, roads, railways and the like in good enough shape to be accepted.

    Essentially, the Treaty among BRICS – signed in 2014 – facilitates their co-operation for socio-economic development, mutual financial assistance, project support and international trade. Indeed, those with the knowledge of real international business should be able to estimate what Nigeria lost by missing such an opportunity. Meanwhile, some 8 years after its ‘Brother’ African country became a member, that esteemed status and tremendous benefits still elude Nigeria.  One common thing about this countries is the progress they are making on all indicators of  human development index.

    The Human Development Index [HDI] refers to the quality of life enjoyed by citizens of any country in focus; and one of its measures is Per Capita Income. In a recent assessment by a UN agency, Nigeria was rated a lowly 152 out of 185 nations covered.  Similarly, on an official invitation to Nigeria, the global philanthropist, Bill Gates noted that the Government’s Economic Recovery & Growth Plan [ERGP] did not accord human capital development a decent place. He succinctly advised the nation’s political leadership to rise to the responsibility of promoting the welfare of the people, especially the grossly-neglected teeming youth population. But, rather than respond positively to the realities before us, we engage in unproductive retorts and distractions that do not add value to the economy or the citizenry.

    One of the surest ways of  rediscovering ourselves as a country is by telling the truth, acknowledging that we have not done very well, especially when juxtapose with other countries. Every Nigerian – literarily-speaking – must be held responsible for the cumulative failures of our leadership over the years. The ‘rascality in governance’ is not only the fault of the leadership, but to a great extent that of the followership. While conveniently refusing to hold their leaders accountable, Nigerians tend to celebrate mediocrity and impunity in governance. The leader is a reflection of the led. Our leaders are thrown up through poorly distillation process.

    The Chinese method of rating their leaders is simple – show us what you have done in the past before we entrust you with a bigger responsibility. If a man has not created anything, he cannot manage anything. We have to see those who want to lead us today and ask them questions on their pedigree and performance. We should no longer allow people to come from nowhere to assume leadership; else we will go back to the same mess.

    Capacity in governance is not a function of age; and neither is integrity or even educational qualifications. One of the leading States in the USA is California; recently adjudged the fifth biggest economy in the world. The Governor, Jerry Brown will be 81 years old this May. He has the capacity and is doing very well. On the contrary, we have seen young leaders in Nigeria widely regarded as a calamitous failures.

    Youths constitute a large proportion of our population and their future is in jeopardy. They have to take back their country, especially through active participation to elect good leaders.  However, it is not just about “youths” taking over, but increasingly participating in choosing their leaders and the governance process.

    We have to instil responsibility in governance. Why should a leader owing workers & pensioners spend millions of Naira decorating streets for Christmas when people are hungry and nobody is questioning the rationale behind that? How can people charter flights to social events with public funds when regular tickets will take them there conveniently, and yet the people that own the funds keep quiet? What of people who owned practically nothing when they got into public office, transform into owners of palatial mansions and expensive cars, and a ‘Man of God’ goes to pray for him that his source of income will multiply when he knows the person has stolen public money? And worse still, the people will be chorusing ‘Amen’ to such prayers instead of informing the Police to arrest thief.

    We have no other country apart from Nigeria. You must rise up to the desired change. The society we abuse today will take revenge on us tomorrow. There is no way we can lift our Human Development Index from its current low level of 152 out of 185 nations to any appreciable level if we continue to celebrate those that misappropriate public funds without asking them appropriate questions and holding them to account on good governance.

    Given purposeful & committed leadership, the basic needs of majority of Nigerians – as elsewhere – are attainable. These needs include: peace, progress, security of life & property, decent healthcare & social services, affordable housing, equity & justice and operational infrastructure. They should be the raison d’être of governance.

     

    • Excerpts of a Presentation by the former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi to an International Conference held at the Claretian Institute of Philosophy [CIP], Maryland-Nekede, Owerri.

  • Politics, leadership  and  blackmail

    The Nigerian  presidential system  of government is under siege.  Just  as the American  government of  President  Donald  Trump  has  been  since his unexpected  victory  at the 2016  elections of the USA   whose  expensive presidential system  we copied, albeit  under  military  rule. The  Nigerian  political  system  siege is  not only about politicians and leader ship and it is not necessarily because  the 2019 election is around the corner. It  is a siege  of blackmail, self  interest,  political  survival, relevance   and that  most dangerous and subjective   of  all   issues, faith. It  has become in recent times   a real test of our collective faith in our politics, our  political   institutions   and   parties  and is slowly  but steadily taxing our faith  in our unity and   security  as one   people and  one nation. It is sadly   both a dangerous  proposition  and development. That is our food for thought  today.

    Let  us start  from  the presidency in both  Nigeria  and the US . Then  we  will  look  at  the  polemics  between  the Nigerian  Vice  President  and his fellow Christian  leaders questioning his faith. Then  we round up  with the  declared  war  between  the Nigerian  Inspector  General  of  Police  and the import  of that  for our security, rule of  law  and democracy. In     this instance   the Senate  President   has accused  the IGP  of   planning    a charge  against  him  based   on information  he got from his state     governor.  That is an institutional clash between  the law making senate  and the security    managing police force. It  is a sure  recipe  for anarchy   and   insecurity  if  great  care  is not  taken by the presidency  of this nation.

    By  the time I  am  through    you  will  realize that we face an erupting lava  from  a raging political  volcano   similar  to the   natural    one  currently  threatening  the citizens of  Hawaii  in the US  and  eating up their  power lines and houses  with   molten  mud  and  red  hot   smoldering    lava of fire.

    The  first  scenario came from  a  serious allegation this week    against  the Nigeria president that he is not doing enough to protect Nigerian  Christians against Fulani  herdsmen  killing Christians in Benue State  which is predominantly Christian.  The  president replied  that he has Christians in his cabinet  and he can  not preside over  the liquidation of  Christians in  Nigeria. Yet  the facts are there  that many  Nigerians of Benue  state  stock  have been killed by Fulani  herdsmen in recent times. It  is tempting to say  the president  is being blackmailed but the facts are  there and are not  helped  by the fact that the president once noted  wryly  that if he had  not gone  to school  he would have been  like  the Fulani  herdsmen. Anyway  he told the US president  during his last  visit  that  Fulani  herdsmen carry only sticks  and do not use rifles  and guns  as reported  in   the   killings which  again  is debatable   and controversial  in the  light  of the situation on the ground in Nigeria.

    Of  course  in the  US,  the US  president  has adapted  very  fast  to the politics  of  blackmail  he faces in his nation  and has indeed  carried the fight to his attackers  and traducers.  His main fight now is to defend the legitimacy of his election victory against  the wide media  notion that   he was helped by the Russians. He is defending himself vigorously    with a new communication  weapon, twitter  which  he has   adopted against  governance  convention and tradition. He  had  a problem  with his Attorney  General  who recused  himself  from the Russian interference  probe which  is the greatest  threat to the legitimacy  of the Trump  Administration. Another  threat  to his  credibility  is the evidence  now surfacing that he paid a porn  queen  to keep  quiet  after having sex with her just  after  he married his wife  who  about then gave birth to his last  son, a  boy. So  Trump  is in a nasty  fight  for his political  life  and his opponents are  not sparing any  stone unturned  to  dent both  his legitimacy and credibility. Not  unexpectedly  for a successful  businessman familiar  with   litigation and  business  inquests  he is holding his own  and is not allowing his  personal  litigations on adultery  and extra marital  affairs, a taboo in US and  UK politics,  to overshadow  his diplomatic  success in protecting US trade interests, reducing  unemployment  to less than  four per cent and the diplomatic  success  on the Korean Peninsular  where   he is scheduled  to meet  the N Korean leader  for  a historic    denuclearization summit in Singapore  on  June 12. Like  in R L Stevenson ‘s book ‘ Kidnapped’ , Trump,  in facing and assailing his many political  adversaries  has lived  up  to the statement in that book that says – play  me foul, and I play you  tricky!

    We  now look  at the case involving the Nigerian Vice  President Professor Yemi  Osinbajo  and some Catholic leaders doubting  his faith  to his face,  on account  of the killing of Christians  by  Fulani   herdsmen  and   the charge   of  Islamisation  of  Nigeria  by the Buhari  administration, thereby  prompting him  to say  that he will  vacate  his position in a jiffy  if it affects  his  faith. He  made allusion  to his distinguished career  as a professor of the law of evidence before his conversion  as a born again  Christian. While  not holding brief  for him let  state clearly  and unambiguously  that  I  have  a soft  spot  for him   as  a person  and as a leader  in this nation.  Most  especially   for   the   brilliant  way  he led this nation in the many absences of the ailing president.

    • Continued online www.staging.thenationonlineng.net

  • Former Deputy Speaker calls for active participation of women in politics

    Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives  and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in 2019 in Imo State, Rt. Hon. Chukwuemeka Ihedioha, has charged women to be more involved and active in the nation’s political activities as it will create more opportunities and options in electing the right persons into political offices.

    Ihedioha made this call when he met with the PDP women during a recent visit to the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of the state.

    The ex-lawmaker in the lower house of the National Assembly told the women that it is about time, they left the shadow of their male folks to seek political offices and help fix the nation from the grassroots.

    He said: “Imo State is blessed with politically vibrant women like in all the states of the federation. But you have to get involved now to help put things right. You are the mothers of the nation, and as a result, you cannot afford to play the second fiddle role any longer.

    “You have to be more proactive. There couldn’t have been a better time for your total involvement than now. I mean 2019.  If women could lead great countries like Britain, Brazil, Argentina, Korea and Liberia, among others, there is no way women cannot occupy more elective offices here. This is why I maintain that my administration, once I become governor, will work closely with women. Women will be hugely empowered and supported.  Aside taking up paramount responsibilities, we will ensure that a political machinery is put in place to groom and develop more women for leadership positions in the nearest future.

    “No nation succeeds without the key support of women. We all know what the Holy Book says about a virtuous woman. There is also a parlance that beside a successful man, there is always a hard-working woman.

    “For me, Imo women will be in the forefront of this agenda which we hope to pursue. Imo women will lead the charge of a new dawn in Nigerian politics which my administration will propagate.”

    Ihedioha seized the opportunity to talk about the last ward congresses across the states. He said: “It is a clear proof that our great party, the People’s Democratic Party, is back and better. We’re the party to beat. The future is bright for all Nigerians as we approach the 2019 election with excitement and keen interest”.

  • Women urged to participate in politics

    Ahead  of 2019 election, women have been  told to participate actively in politics in order  not to lose out completelty.

    Speaking at a Christian Women Gathering referred to as ‘Better Deal for Women and Tagged :Respect the Rights of Women/ Children to a Safe, Peaceful and Developed Nigeria’ which was held today at Rockview Hotel Festac, Lagos, the Convener, Global Alliance for Mothers of the Nation, Ambassador Priscilla Otuya, pointed out that as Christian women, they are not only saddled with the responsibility of giving ceaseless prayers and intercession for the peace of the nation, but to also contribute their quotas to the development of the country.

    The gathering according to Otuya, was to speak for the silent majority.

    While lamenting the harsh living conditions which women are subjected to on a daily basis by working hard to cater for their families, Otuya enjoined them not to give up because they have put their hands on the plough and hence should not look back.

    Otuya enjoined President Buhari  to ensure that the remaining kidnapped Dapchi girl, Leah is released and returned safely to her parents.

  • Winnie… A life of struggles, love and politics

    For Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the first wife of former South African President, the late Nelson Mandela, the struggle has ended. She died yesterday. OLUKOREDE YISHAU examines her struggles, her politics and her relationship.

    IN October last year, she had a minor surgery and came out in ‘high spirits’. In January, Winnie Madikizela Mandela lost her appeal in her quest to get access to the late ex-South African President Nelson Mandela’s Qunu homestead. Yesterday she gave up the privilege to live. She was 81.

    Hers was a life of struggle. She was not the first woman Mandela married. And they only lived together for five of their 38 years of marriage. But, of the women in the ex-president’s life,  the late Winnie towered above all.

    Their relationship was a love story, which some believe was tragically tempered by politics. It was a love story almost like no other. A love tale classical in nature, yet down-to-heart. The late Nelson Mandela’s relationship with Winnie Madikizela was an affair of two larger-than-life protagonists.

    The late Winnie endured a lot because she was his wife: the years of imprisonment, solitary confinement and house arrests. But, no matter his loyalty to her, the late Winnie and his family always came second to his other great love: the ANC (African National Congress) and by extension, the liberation struggle, a fact Winnie saw as an act of betrayal.

    Their love story gave room for love letters laced with poetry, music, imageries and drama. For the 27 years he spent in prison, Mandela wrote Winnie several letters from Robben Island.

    In one of such letters written on April 15, 1976, Mandela said: “My dearest Winnie, Your beautiful photo still stands about two feet above my left shoulder as I write this note. I dust it carefully every morning, for to do so gives me the pleasant feeling that I’m caressing you as in the old days. I even touch your nose with mine to recapture the electric current that used to flush through my blood whenever I did so. Nolitha stands on the table directly opposite me. How can my spirit ever be down when I enjoy the fond attentions of such wonderful ladies?”

    The one he wrote on October 26, 1976 was about Winnie’s detention. It drilled of sadness. In it, he said: “I am struggling to suppress my emotions as I write this letter. I have received only one letter since you were detained, that was dated August 22. I do not know anything about family affairs, such as payment of rent, telephone bills, care of children and their expenses, whether you will get a job when released. As long as I don’t hear from you, I will remain worried and dry like a desert.

    “ I recall the Karoo I crossed on several occasions. I saw the desert again in Botswana on my way to and from Africa—endless pits of sand and not a drop of water. I have not had a letter from you. I feel dry like a desert.

    “ Letters from you and the family are like the arrival of summer rains and spring that livens my life and make it enjoyable.

    “ Whenever I write you, I feel that inside physical warmth, that makes me forget all my problems. I become full of love.”

    Then on June 26, 1977, he wrote of their daughters, their unfulfilled dream of having a baby boy and all that. “We couldn’t fulfill our wishes, as we had planned, to have a baby boy. I had hoped to build you a refuge, no matter how small, so that we would have a place for rest and sustenance before the arrival of the sad, dry days. I fell down and couldn’t do these things. I am as one building castles in the air,” he said.

    His letter of November 22, 1979 was poetic-prose at its best. It was about her visit five days earlier. He described what she looked like and how he “felt like singing, even if just to say Hallelujah!”

    But, time and political tides blew their love away. And on April 13, 1992, at a press conference in Johannesburg, flanked by his two oldest friends and comrades, Walter and Oliver, the late Mandela announced his separation from Winnie. He said the situation had grown so difficult that he felt that it was in the best interests of all concerned – the ANC, the family, and Winnie – that they part. He said though he discussed the matter with the ANC, the separation itself was made for personal reasons.

    His statement at the news conference reads:”The relationship between myself and my wife, Comrade Nomzamo Winnie Mandela, has become the subject of much media speculation. I am issuing this statement to clarify the position and in the hope that it will bring an end to further conjecture.

    “Comrade Nomzamo and myself contracted our marriage at a critical time in the struggle for liberation in our country. Owing to the pressures of our shared commitment to the ANC and the struggle to end apartheid, we were unable to enjoy a normal family life. Despite these pressures, our love for each other and our devotion to our marriage grew and intensified….

    “During the two decades I spent on Robben Island, she was an indispensable pillar of support and comfort to myself personally…. Comrade Nomzamo accepted the onerous burden of raising our children on her own … She endured the persecutions heaped upon her by the government with exemplary fortitude and never wavered from her commitment to the freedom struggle. Her tenacity reinforced my personal respect, love and growing affection. It also attracted the admiration of the world at large. My love for her remains undiminished.

    “However, in view of the tensions that have arisen owing to differences between ourselves on a number of issues in recent months, we have mutually agreed that a separation would be best for each of us. My action was not prompted by the current allegations being made against her in the media…. Comrade Nomzamo has and can continue to rely on my unstinting support during these trying moments in her life.

    “I shall personally never regret the life Comrade Nomzamo and I tried to share together. Circumstances beyond our control however dictated it should be otherwise. I part from my wife with no recriminations. I embrace her with all the love and affection I have nursed for her inside and outside prison from the moment I first met her. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will appreciate the pain I have gone through.

    “Perhaps I was blinded to certain things because of the pain I felt for not being able to fulfill my role as a husband to my wife and a father to my children. But just as I am convinced that my wife’s life while I was in prison was more difficult than mine, my own return was also more difficult for her than it was for me. She married a man who soon left her; that man became a myth; and then that myth returned home and proved to be just a man after all.

    “As I later said at my daughter Zindzi’s wedding, it seems to be the destiny of freedom fighters to have unstable personal lives. When your life is the struggle, as mine was, there is little room left for family. That has always been my greatest regret, and the most painful aspect of the choice I made.

    “We watched our children growing without our guidance,’ I said at the wedding, ‘ and when we did come out (of prison), my children said, ‘We thought we had a father and one day he’d come back. But to our dismay, our father came back and he left us alone because he has now become the father of the nation.’” To be the father of a nation is a great honour, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy. But it was a joy I had far too little of.”

    The separation of April 1992 became a divorce in March 1996, having spent only five of their 38 married years together. And Winnie became history in his life. Now, she is history to South Africa, which she loved.

    Winnie, who felt betrayed by the Madiba, once said: “This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family. You all must realise that Mandela was not the only man who suffered. There were many others, hundreds who languished in prison and died. Many unsung and unknown heroes of the struggle, and there were others in the leadership too, like poor Steve Biko, who died of the beatings, horribly all alone. Mandela did go to prison and he went in there as a burning young revolutionary. But look what came out.

    “Mandela let us down. He agreed to a bad deal for the blacks. Economically, we are still on the outside. The economy is very much ‘white’. It has a few token blacks, but so many who gave their life in the struggle have died unrewarded.

    “I cannot forgive him for going to receive the Nobel (Peace Prize in 1993) with his jailer (FW) de Klerk. Hand in hand they went. Do you think de Klerk released him from the goodness of his heart? He had to. The times dictated it, the world had changed, and our struggle was not a flash in the pan, it was bloody to say the least and we had given rivers of blood. I had kept it alive with every means at my disposal.

    “Look at this Truth and Reconciliation charade. He should never have agreed to it. What good does the truth do? How does it help anyone to know where and how their loved ones were killed or buried? That Bishop Desmond Tutu who turned it all into a religious circus came here.

    “He had the cheek to tell me to appear. I told him a few home truths. I told him that he and his other like-minded cretins were only sitting here because of our struggle and me. Because of the things I and people like me had done to get freedom.

    “Look at what they make him do. The great Mandela. He has no control or say any more. They put that huge statue of him right in the middle of the most affluent ‘white’ area of Johannesburg. Not here where we spilled our blood and where it all started. Mandela is now a corporate foundation. He is wheeled out globally to collect the money and he is content doing that. The ANC has effectively sidelined him but they keep him as a figurehead for the sake of appearance.”

    She certainly will be remembered for different reasons. For victims of the violence she allegedly supervised during the Apartheid struggles, she would remain a villain. For beneficiaries of her struggles, she will be a heroine. Different strokes for different folks.

  • ‘Youths should participate in politics’

    A Youth activist, Chris Ifeoluwa, has urged the youths to participate in politics, instead of complaining about bad governance.

    The activist, who is the convener of the ‘Not Too Young To Run’ initiative in Surulere Federal Constituency I, Lagos State, said the time is ripe for generational shift.

    He spoke at a conference in Lagos with the theme: ‘The youth and their significance to the struggle for a new Nigeria,’ to create awareness for youths on political participation.

    Ifeoluwa said there is the need  for fresh ideas in politics to replace the penchant for the preservation of self-interest by politicians.

    Other speakers called on youths to embrace politics and registered before next year’s general elections.

    Ifeoluwa, who is an aspirant to the House of Representatives, said: “Let the youths stop lamenting and blaming the older politicians. We are young and vibrant and if we feel things are not done properly then it’s high time we took up the mantle.

    “Do not say there no to fifth term in your bedroom. Come out openly and say no to fifth term in Surulere Federal Constituency I and let people hear our voices.”

    At the primary, the aspirant will compete with Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who may be seeking re-election after spending 16 years in the House of Representatives.

    While reeling out his campaign promises, Ifeoluwa also donated books and other educational materials to students in selected schools across the nine wards in the constituency. He said the donation was to ensure that students have access to reading materials, thereby aiding their academic excellence and ultimately securing their future.

    He ssid the intervention was necessary to make learning attractive and take pupils off the streets. He said the highly successful men and women all over the world had their roots in proper and sound education. He urged them to make good use of the items.

    Ifeoluwa added: “I also urge the students to take advantage of the good educational policies currently running in Lagos State, given the foundation laid by our able leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to be able stand out in the future.”

    The aspirant also organised a one-week free health programme for the people of his constituency. The programme included free eye test and distribution of drugs to people with different ailments.

    He said: “The one-week free health programme ended with a visit to Heart of Gold motherless home where donations were made to the kids.”

  • Politics in the Age of the Internet

    The power of information technology was again splendidly displayed this past week as millions in some 800 locations across the world marched in solidarity with American students spearheading  protests against the gun violence that has turned their schools and streets and other social spaces into killing fields.

    “March for Our Lives” was a triumph of mobilisation and organisation.

    Not since worldwide protests in 2003 against the imminent invasion of Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom based on transparent falsehoods has the world witnessed such a display of common purpose.  The rallies did not stop the invasion, perceived a “disaster” in its immediate aftermath, and now regarded as a crime, the horrid dimensions of which unfold with each passing day.

    Last weekend’s rallies may not in the short or even medium result in significant gun regulation in the United States where “the right of the people keep and bear arms” intended by the framers of the Constitution as legitimation for raising “a well-regulated Militia” essential to “the security of a free State,” has almost become an adjunct of “the right to the life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” clause of the Declaration of Independence.

    But it cannot be said, even now, that the rallies were unproductive.  They have served notice on lawmakers beholden to the National Rifle Association that the marchers and their supporters will henceforth employ the power of the ballot to challenge the power of the bullet that the NRA has relentlessly underwritten and sanctioned in the political and social life of the United States.

    That is no idle threat.  The NRA itself has in the wake of the protests lost much of its vast portfolio                      of its corporate endorsements and sponsorships.  It is not about to collapse – far from it.  But its stranglehold on gun legislation may slacken under sustained pressure from “March for Our Lives.”

    Steve Ballmer, co-founder with Bill Gates of Microsoft, said some ten years ago that the state of information technology then was no more advanced than that of the Model T Ford motorcar of the 1920s which, among other benefits, guaranteed its purchaser any colour so long as it was black.

    There was no Facebook then, no Twitter, no Snapchat, no Skype, no Instagram; none of the thousands of internet platforms and applications large and small that have become commonplace since then.  I say nothing about AI, or International Intelligence.

    With information technology, the possibilities are truly limitless, and so is the power.

    But it is a weapon that cuts both ways.  Its power can be harnessed to multiply human happiness or deployed to deepen human misery, to foster solidarity or to promote hatred and war, to cure and heal, or to kill on an industrial scale.

    When the fax machine came on stream in the mid-70s, it was hailed as the latest in a long line of “technologies of freedom” which, by making point-to-point and group-to-group communication through word and image feasible and affordable, has dealt the censor a severe blow on the way to ending his or her creepy occupation.

    They called its latest manifestation social media, as distinct from the older media that promoted a unidirectional flow of communication for the most part, with scant feedback opportunities.  Social media would democratise communication and move the world closer to what the Canadian media philosopher called a “global village.”

    Back in 1945, the British science writer Arthur C. Clarke had hinted at the feasibility of designing such a world. In a paper for the technical journal Wireless World, Clarke raised the possibility of placing “artificial satellite” at such a distance from the earth that the satellite would stay stationary relative to the same spot and lie within optical range of half the earth’s surface.  Three repeater stations set 120 degrees apart in the correct orbit, Clarke postulated, could give television and microwave coverage to the entire plant.

    As Clarke saw it, that was a project “for the more remote future – at least half a century ahead.”  Twelve years later, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite Sputnik.  Within four decades, fears were already being expressed that the geostationary orbit, the “parking space” for communication satellites 93 miles above the earth’s surface, would soon be crowded.

    How many people saw then that “technologies of freedom,” now symbolised most powerfully by the Internet, would within decades also come to be regarded as weapons of intrusion and invasion of privacy, for spawning and propagating conspiracies, conducting drug trafficking and human trafficking and child prostitution, spreading fear and hatred on a scale not previously known and threatening to strain even further the delicate consensus undergirding human society?

    Now, social media seems poised also to upend political community as we know it.

    Each passing day brings fresh indications that Russian security operatives acting on orders from President Vladimir Putin hacked into the computers of the Democrat National Council, vacuumed  material that would hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances and play to the advantage of her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, and planted on Facebook false and scurrilous information designed to serve the same ends in those states where tight presidential races are won or lost  based on the electoral college system rather than the actual vote.

    Donald Trump’s presidency, it is now being said, and not just in the ranks of his implacable foes, was founded more on Putin’s designs than on the sovereign will of the American people or Trump’s personal merits.

    The evidence is less substantial, but there are many on the other side of the North Atlantic who hold that the Russian authorities had employed similar aid the Brexiteers in the campaign on Britain’s future in the European Union.  They won, but rarely has victory tasted so unpleasant.  One more victory like that, and Britain would become a European backwater.  Not that Nick Farrage and his followers would mind that anyway.

    Last month’s general elections in Italy, a metaphor for political instability, furnish even more dramatic evidence that information technology can be employed to alter the political landscape almost beyond recognition.

    Italy’s trainload of traditional parties was almost swept off the political tracks, leaving in substantial reckoning only two: the Five Star Movement and the League.

    Five Star is a web-based party platform called Rousseau that promises to deliver “direct democracy,” a vehicle for articulating and ventilating resentments and fake news run by tech-savvy Italians. Like its 31-year-old leader, Luigi di Maio, who was elected through Rousseau, Five Star stands for little else. The party swept the impoverished south, eclipsing the Christian Democrats in their traditional redoubt

    In the north, it was the League that triumphed. Its leader, Matteo Salvini, is a fiercely anti-immigrant nativist who has called for cities to be “cleansed” by the police.

    The center-left Democratic Party took just 18.7 percent of the vote and its leader, former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, is set to quit.  In the age of television, the three-term former prime minister and one-time media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, who resembles Donald Trump in so many ways, was the politician to beat.  He still owns several influential television channels but with the Internet ascendant, his centre-right Forza Italia limped through the race with just 14 percent of the vote.

    The League and Five Star Movement have the numbers to govern, but they will not find it easy to put together a government.  Months of horse trading lie ahead.  Even for Italy the near future will be nothing familiar.

    Now shift gears and fast-forward to Nigeria’s general elections scheduled for April 2019.  The indications are that it will be most bitterly contested in memory.  Much of the contest is going to be waged on the Internet, to reach tens of millions of Nigerians connected to that global network with a steady drumbeat of lies half-truths and with hate-filled propaganda.

    Nigeria is, of course, not the United States, nor Italy.  Tribe and religion and careerism may fuel bubbling resentments, but they may also temper them.

    However, given today’s shifting alliances and the insurgent new formations, growing public disenchantment with the existing political order and the likely deployment of information technology on a wide scale but with scant inhibition in the forthcoming general elections, is it entirely inconceivable that the outcome may bear some resemblance to recent election outcomes in the United States and Italy?