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Tag: powerful

  • Amaechi: powerful people sabotaging maritime security

    Amaechi: powerful people sabotaging maritime security

    The Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi yesterday said the maritime security contract approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is being frustrated by some powerful Nigerians.

    The contract, Amaechi said, was awarded by the government about two years ago to secure the nation’s maritime domain.

    Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the Nigerian Maritime Administrator and Safety Agency ( NIMASA), in Warri, Delta State, Amaechi threatened to give the names of those that are sabotaging the efforts of the government  if the issue becomes messy and could not be resolved on time.

    The theme of the event is ‘ Implementation of Executive Order 1 on Ease of Doing Business in a Secure Maritime Environment.’

    Amaechi identified high level of insecurity and criminalities going on in the  Delta region as one of the major reason  to protect the waters.

    He said the eastern ports are not attractive to business because of the ‘war’ insurance rate imposed by the international shipping companies on any vessel calling at the ports in the area.

    “The war insurance means if the goods cost $10,000 in Lagos I will $20,000 here because there is extra cost on it. There are people in the system sabotaging the $195million contract that will restore sanity and security on our waterways,”he said.

  • Mo Abudu makes list of 25 most powerful women in global TV

    Mo Abudu makes list of 25 most powerful women in global TV

    Founder and CEO of EbonyLife TV, Mo Abudu has been recognised by ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ as an influential woman in the media industry.

    The media outfit released its annual list of the ‘25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television’ and the Nigerian media personality is the only African who made the cut among others from North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australasia.

    The category recognises female executives from around the globe who are rewriting the rules of TV, during a time when ‘women have to work twice as hard for the same recognition’ as men.

    The article describes Abudu as a woman who ‘has been at the forefront of media innovation on the continent’ and whose goal for the coming year is ‘to successfully produce Africa’s first sci-fi TV series’. The first time she was included in this list was in 2013, immediately after the launch of EbonyLife TV.

    Reacting to the recognition, Abudu said; “It’s an honour and privilege to be acknowledged again by ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. I am proud to represent Nigeria and the thousands of women in Africa, striving to make their mark in a male-dominated industry.”

    The Hollywood Reporter publishes its list of Most Powerful Women in Global Television annually with luminaries deemed by its editors to have made a significant impact on what audiences are watching worldwide and how women are represented on TV.

    EbonyLife TV  is responsible for landmark drama series The Governor, Sons of the Caliphate and Fifty (the series), along with pan-African talk show, Moments.

    EbonyLife Films made its debut in 2015 at the 59th BFI London Film Festival with Fifty, the highest-grossing Nollywood movie that year. In 2016, EbonyLife co-produced The Wedding Party, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to become the biggest movie in the history of Nigerian cinema.

  • How powerful is Code of Conduct Tribunal?

    How powerful is Code of Conduct Tribunal?

    Indeed, these are interesting times. Recent events in our country including public declaration of assets by the President and Vice-President and the controversy surrounding the proposed arraignment of the Senate President before the Code of Conduct Tribunal may have forced a closer examination and appraisal of the relevant stipulations on the Code of Conduct for public officers, if for no other reason than the quest for public information and enlightenment.

    However, as a law officer, I will warn myself not to comment on the merits or otherwise of any of the pending cases in court. This approach is in line with ethics and demands of professionalism.

    The preliminary point to be made is that the Code of Conduct Tribunal is statutory being a creation of the constitution. The seriousness of the provisions on Code of Conduct for public officers is underscored by the fact that it is incorporated into the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) under the 5th Schedule Part I. there is also a special legislation enacted for this by virtue of Chapter C15 Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, No. 1 of 1989 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 with commencement date of 1st January 1991 which is an act to provide for the establishment of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal to deal with complaints of corruption by public servants for the breaches of its provisions.

    The Vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), GCON, in a paper titled: “Strengthening the Code of Conduct Bureau”, argued as follows:“The Code of Conduct for Public Officers is a component of the Nigerian anti-corruption and transparency framework. It is perhaps the first formal legislation creating offences and sanctions for official corruption and other acts in breach of the prescribed ethics for public officers.

    Of considerable significance is the fact that the entire code of conduct regime under Nigerian Law is provided for in the Constitution.

    The Constitution provides for the Code of Conduct itself, the categories of public officers who are subject to its provisions, the Code of Conduct Bureau, which  is to enforce compliance with the Code of Conduct, and the Code of Conduct Tribunal-which is to try cases of infraction of the Code of Conduct. This is both its strength and its weakness.  The entrenchment in the Constitution means that it cannot be altered at all as might an Act of the National Assembly .

    This also means that amendments to the provisions establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal is not possible by an Act of the National Assembly without an amendment to the Constitution itself. It is in fact unconstitutional to repeat constitutional provisions verbatim in another Law of the Legislature. [A.G Abia State V. A.G Federation (2002) 6 NWLR (Pt. 763)  264 SC.]

    However Section 15 (4)  of Part 1 of the  5th Schedule of  the Constitution to the effect that National Assembly may confer on the Code of Conduct Tribunal such additional power s as may appear necessary to enable it more effectively discharge the functions conferred on it by the Schedule.

    It is also noteworthy that some of the provisions in several other anti-corruption legislation overlap the Code of Conduct  provisions of the Constitution.“

     

    Analysis

    Against this background, this analysis will focus on the salient provisions of the Code, namely: “conflict of interest with duty; restrictions on specified officers; prohibition of foreign accounts; retired public officer; certain retired public officers; gifts or benefits in kind; restriction on loans, gifts or benefits to certain public officers; bribery of public officers; abuse of powers; membership of societies; declaration of assets; allegation of breach of code; agents and nominees; exemptions; code of conduct tribunal; staff; tenure of office of chairman and members; powers; interpretation.”

    The searchlight shall also cover salient provisions of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and the powers and operational modalities of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

     

    Restrictions on Public Officers

    Every public officer is obliged to forestall conflict of interest with his duties including not to “(a) receive or be paid the emoluments of any public office at the same time as he receives or is paid the emoluments of any other public officer…” the only exception is where the public officer “… is not employed on full time basis, engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade but nothing in this sub-paragraph shall prevent a public officer from engaging in farming.”

    There are also restrictions on public officers to maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria including restrictions against acceptance of gifts or benefits in kind. Restrictions on loan, gift or benefit also apply to certain public officers who could not draw facilities except from government or its agencies, a building society mortgage institution or other financial institution recognised by law. Further restrictions include prohibitions against bribery of public officers, abuse of powers and membership of societies incompatible with the functions on dignity of his office. More importantly, every public officers shall declare assets at end of every four years and at the end of his term of office and submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau a written declaration of such properties, assets and those of his unmarried children under the age of 18 years, subject to verification by the appropriate authorities. Of course, there are consequences for the breach of any provisions of the Code of Conduct, with complaints on such breaches referable to the Code of Conduct Bureau, the actions of the agents and nominees of such public officers are also attributable to the public officer concerned.

     

    The Code of Conduct Bureau

    The Code of Conduct Bureau is established pursuant to the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act with aims and objectives which include ensuring “…a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.” The functions of the Bureau shall be to “receive assets declarations by public officers in accordance with the provisions of this Act; examine the assets declarations and ensure that they comply with the requirements of this Act and of any law for the time being in force; take and retain custody of such assets declarations; and receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of this Act and where the Bureau considers it necessary to do so, refer such complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established by section 20 of this Act in accordance with the provisions of sections 20 to 25 of this Act; provided that where the person concerned makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, no reference to the Tribunal shall be necessary.”

     

    The Code of Conduct Tribunal

    The Code of Conduct Tribunal is established under the 5th Schedule Part I to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and pursuant to the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act referred to above.

    There are far-reaching provisions detailing “establishment, staff, tenure, powers to impose punishment, rules of procedure and institution of proceedings, power to issue search warrants including interpretation” of the words used under Part 3 of the Code of Bureau and Tribunal Act. In all of these provisions, it is important to examine the jurisdiction, scope of powers of the Tribunal to impose punishment, reference of cases to the tribunal and court to which proceedings on appeal lies for the decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

     

    Jurisdiction

    The Code of Conduct Tribunal has jurisdiction to adjudicate upon complaints brought before it by the Code of Conduct Tribunal arising from breaches of the provisions of the Code of Conduct for public officers stipulated under the 5th Schedule Part I of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and breaches arising from the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act No. 1 of 1989 with commencement date of 1st Januray 1991.

    Prosecutions for all offences are instituted in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the Attorney-General of the Federation or such officers in the Federal Ministry of Justice with authority to institute such proceedings by the Attorney-General of the Federation. It is however not clear whether anyone can challenge such delegated powers by the Attorney-General of the Federation.

     

    Scope of powers

    Section 23(2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides: “The punishment which the Tribunal may impose shall include any of the following:  Vacation of office or any elective or nominated office, as the case may be;

    Disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding ten years; and Seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.”

    The tribunal also has power to issue search warrants by virtue of section 25 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

     

    Reference of cases to the Tribunal

    Section 3 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act assigns the responsibility of receiving complaints for breach of the code to the Code of Conduct Bureau and reference of such complaints to the Tribunal is also vested in the Code of Conduct Bureau, where any party makes a written admission of such breach or non-compliance, it will not be necessary for the Code of Conduct Bureau to make any reference of such complaints to the Tribunal.

    “Prosecution of offences shall be instituted in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the Attorney-General of the Federation or such officers in the Federal Ministry of Justice as the Attorney-General of the Federation may authorize to do so.”

    Private legal practitioners may also obtain a fiat of the Attorney-General to undertake such prosecutions. There is however a caveat to the effect that: “…the question whether any authority has been given in pursuance of this subsection shall not be inquired into by any person.”

     

    Appeals from the Code of

    Conduct Tribunal

    With regard to appeals from the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the provision of section 246(1a) of the 1999 Constitution is important as it provides: “.An appeal to the Court of Appeal shall lie as of right from decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal established in the fifth schedule to this Constitution”.

    It follows from the above that only the Court of Appeal has appellate and supervisory jurisdictions over the proceedings of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and not any other court.

     

    The Constitution  Vs  the Act

    The Constitutional provisions for Code of Conduct of public officers is very elaborate (see: Part 1, 5th Schedule CFRN 1999) Various sections of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act are in conflict with the Constitutional provisions on the subject matter e.g: ‘The non-liability and indemnity clause enuring for the benefit of the Chairman and Members of the Bureau in any action or litigation against them for liabilities incurred in the course of the discharge of their offices is not recognised by the Constitution (see Section 19 of the Act) unlike the Act, the Constitution obliges the Bureau to make  declaration of assets of public officers available for inspection  of any Citizen of Nigeria on terms to be determined by an Act of the National  Assembly (Compare Para 3 (c) Part 1, 3rd Schedule CFRN and Section 3 (c) of the Act.

    While under the Act, the Bureau’s powers is limited to receiving complaints about non-compliance with the Code of Conduct and referring same to the Tribunal, the Bureau has powers to investigate such complaints, ensure and enforce compliance with the Code under the CFRN 1999. (Compare Para  3 (d) & (e) of the CFRN and Sec 3 (d) of the Act).

    The proviso to Section 3 (d) of the Act in respect of waiver of reference on admission is not recognised under the Constitution.

    While the National Assembly is mandated to make laws for the discipline of staff of the Bureau in the Constitution, the Act mandates the Presidents to make rules in that respect (Compare Section 4 of the Act and para 3 (f) Part 1 Schedule 5 of the Constitution) Under the Constitution, the public officers prohibited from owning foreign bank accounts are restricted to political office holders and do not include members of the judiciary while the Act makes a sweeping generalisation in that respect. (Compare par 3 Schedule 5 of the Constitution with Section 7 of the Act).

    The age of the declarant’s children whose properties must also be declared vary.  Under the Constitution, the age limit is 18 years while the Act peg the age at 21 years. (compare par 11 Schedule 5 of the Constitution with Section 15 of the Act).

    There is no provision in the constitution in respect of declaration of asset by a serving officer similar to Section 15 (c) of the Act.

    Under the Act, the Tribunal’s power to impose the penalty of vacation of office is in respect of all public offices whereas the penalty can only be meted in respect of legislative offices (Compare par 18 (2) (a) & (b) of the Constitution with Section 23 of the Act.

    The power of the Tribunal to issue search warrants under Section 25 of the Act is not stipulated for under the Constitution.

    These and other provisions of the Act are void for being inconsistent with and duplicating the provisions of the Constitution.

     

    Lacunae in Constitutional Code of Conduct Provisions

    No provision for enforcement of compliance mechanism  in respect of powers granted the Bureau in paragraph 3 (d) Part 1 Schedule 3 of the Constitution.

    Providing  for a “without prejudice” prosecution contrary to the “double jeopardy” prohibition provision Section 36 (9)  of the Constitution.  (see par 18 (6) Schedule 5 of the Constitution).

    Non-inclusion of coercive powers of the Code of Conduct Tribunal as contained in the Section 25 of the Act.

    Disregarding the immunity clause in its power-of-prosecution provisions (see Attorney General of the Federation V. Atiku Abubakar (2007) 8 NWLR (Pt 1035) 117.

    Limiting the penalty of vacation of seats only to Legislative Houses members.

    Excluding judicial officers from the prohibition from maintaining foreign accounts. The Code of Conduct provision has since then maintained a permanence of some sort, in the 5th schedule of all constitutions following thereafter; 1989, 1993, 1995 and the current 1999 constitution.

     

    Board membership

    The CCB comprises the following: A Chairman, and nine other members, each of whom at the time of appointment, shall not be less than fifty years of age and subject to the provisions of section 157 of the constitution, shall vacate his office on attaining the age of seventy years.

     

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, there is no doubt that our current legislations on Code of Conduct may need to be strengthened. The focus of any Prospective Legislation on Code of Conduct in the words of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN should address the following areas:

    “Conditions for inspection of  assets declaration forms of  public officers by any Nigerian Citizen Legal Regime for the appointment, promotion, dismissal and general disciplinary control of staff of the Bureau Additional functions of the Bureau in addition to those conferred by the Constitution.

    Expansion of the list of public officers  prohibited from maintaining foreign accounts Exemption of any cadre of public officers from the provisions of paragraphs 4 & 11 of the Code of Conduct.

    Conferring wider powers on the Tribunal to enable it carry out its functions more efficiently Expanding the scope of punishments to be meted by the Tribunal for infraction of the Code of Conduct Enacting rules for the Practice and Procedure of the Tribunal.”

    Finally, the jurisprudence in this area is most likely to be enhanced by the judicial pronouncements and outcomes of the ongoing cases in the land now that activities in this area is currently on the rise.

     

  • Relaxation and the powerful effect of music

    Relaxation and the powerful effect of music

    Continued from last week

    Music as a therapy is an ancient concept.  In Ancient Greece, Apollo was the god of music and of medicine.Many indigenous peoples all over the world still use singing and chanting in their healing rituals. In modern times, Michigan State University established the first music therapy degree program in 1944 and more than 70 colleges and universities now have degree programs that are approved by the American Music Therapy Association. To be certified as a music therapists, one must have the bachelor’s degree, some specified clinical training, and one or more internships.

    60-61 Family Health 25-04-2015.Music is used as part of the treatments for many ailments including dementia, depression, cancer, various chronic illnesses, pain, autism,various psychiatric disorders, rehabilitations,   etc. Parts of its effects are to distract from pain and discomfort, to facilitate relaxation and healing, and to improve attitude, social interaction, and compliance.   “Music therapists primarily help clients improve their health in several domains, such as cognitive functioning, motor skills, emotional development, social skills, and quality of life” (Wikipedia).

    What about ordinary life? We considered Saul earlier.  Yes indeed, Saul was King, powerful and influential.  David was a handsome, talented, and popular subject that obviously had Divine favor.  David inadvertently kept stirring up discomfort in Saul: threat, rivalry, envy, anger, rancor, fear, bitterness, melancholy, enmity, etc. – a legion that drove Saul to try to kill David. The folly of Saul’s preoccupation with the Divine favor of David drove Saul into deeper and deeper trouble (as the prophet Isaiah would later say: “Woe to him who contends with his Maker”). Thus Saul pursued David. In today’s perspective, privileged Saul got his powerful allies in the secret services to put David under 24/7 surveillance, to chip David’s body with a GPS-linked monitoring device, to bug and put hidden cameras in every nook and corner of David’s home including his bathroom, to invade David’s phone calls, emails  and computers with spyware, to send two dozen cars to follow and spy on David daily, plus accusers, stalkers, saboteurs, and vandals around everything David did, and all David’s relatives, friends, and associates would become ready or reluctant informants and agents.  Saul’s lance would be a cell-phone electronic device that shot David with a dose of DNA damaging radiation for slow cancerous death.  David’s life became a nightmarish game of hide-and-seek.  Saul’s demon, at one time before Saul knew David well, had been pacified when David sang and played his harp but Saul sent David away when David’s life unfolded as a threat and Saul’s demon therefore became unleashed.

    Many experiments have shown the positive effects of music. Perhapsthe best experiments or observations one can learn from are the ones made on one’s self.  We begin with the concept of ego or love of self and sense of self-importance.  Definitely, there are many positive and many negative qualities of ego.  If you look back to the last few hours of your life and try to remember: what have you been thinking of, what preoccupied your mind, what made you feel good, what made you feel bad, etc., you may be pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised at yourself.  Unfortunately, more often than not, our awareness and thoughts are absorbed by negativities.  In fact, we may safely assume that Saul was a regular guy afterall.  Then we continue the experiment by watching a Youtubevideo or listening to a music CD or download of our favorite song(s); perhaps “Happy” by Pharell, “Gangnam Style” by Psy, “Aye” by Davido, Mavins Record’s “Dorobucci” or your favorite hymn(s). (Yes, music by 2-Face, Whizkid,9ice, P-Square, Olamide, D’banj, et al., may all be used).  After enjoying the music, examine your mind again and determine the effect of music on your mind.

    Ego is always very powerful and very active, and sometimes dangerously so.   Music is one of those influences that are powerful enough to pacify and temper the ego.  It is a pleasant distraction or a mental speed-breaker that we should keep along our path of everyday journey.  Many ordinary people are not hospitalized by illnesses but we all do have other battles – in our minds and spirits.  Anger, hatred, restlessness, conceit, fanaticism, rivalry, vengeance, envy, obsession, fear, rancor, bitterness, greed, covetousness, lust, enmity, etc., – we have so many little demons that can affect us.  Music was good for Saul, music is good for all.

    Dr. ‘Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA.   For any comments or questions on this column, please email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 08160944635

  • A powerful minister and his enforcers

    A powerful minister and his enforcers

    Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, is a very powerful man. He has at his beck and call hundreds of thousands of men enlisted in the Nigeria Police. An indeterminate number of officers belonging to the shadowy Department of State Security (DSS) are equally available to do his bidding at the snap of a finger.

    In a country where the authorities over the years have not been squeamish about deploying armed agents of state to disconcert the opposition and claim ‘victory’ at the polls, the concentration of such power in the hands a brazen partisan is potentially disastrous for our young democracy.

    When he proudly announced at a book launch last week that he had given orders to the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba and the DSS to arrest anyone who makes ‘inflammatory statements’ ahead of the 2015 elections, the gravity and implications of his utterances were clearly lost on him.

    At the same event he made the incendiary claim that All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo were working to foist an interim government on Nigeria.

    Explaining his order for a crackdown, Adesiyan said: “Many of those in the APC are disgruntled PDP members who are no longer relevant and because they could not have their way, they have started to heat up the polity. They have said they will form a parallel government if they lose.”

    This same statement had riled President Goodluck Jonathan who at one of his campaign stops at an Abuja church wondered how a politician, and a Christian to boot, would dare utter such a statement.

    Everyone knows that the ‘Christian’ politician being referred to by Jonathan is his bête noire and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi. I have no doubt that but for his constitutional restraint of immunity, the Aso Villa would have moved against the outspoken governor.

    Amaechi, never one to sidestep a controversy, infuriated his foes afresh with his remarks insisting that soldiers recently court-martialed and convicted for mutiny had the right to protest being asked to fight Boko Haram insurgents without being adequately armed. Since those comments were made all heel has broken loose with the army and DSS piling in the governor for saying things they consider an invitation for soldiers to be mutinous.

    It might help to remind readers here that the same comments the governor made have been repeated by the likes of Major General Ishola Williams (retd) who went on to state that soldiers protesting suicidal orders was not unheard off. The remarks of the former Chief of Defence Operations, Planning and Training, at Defence Headquarters have been largely ignored, but Ameachi’s have triggered near ballistic reactions given his political profile.

    In the light of what Adesiyan has revealed the response of the DSS is a follow-up to instructions from above. But beyond that it is especially sinister.

    The organisations’s Deputy Director of Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, warned political office holders not to ‘hide under the privileges of their offices to perpetrate and encourage the commission of acts inimical to the general interest of this nation.” This, she said pregnantly, was the “final warning.”

    I am struck by the finality of Ogar’s threat. Assuming Amaechi or some other public officer protected by law from prosecution were to say something which the agencies consider inciting, would they violate that individual’s constitutional immunity?

    In today’s Nigeria nothing is impossible. If a squadron of policemen could seal off the National Assembly and humiliate its members by teargassing their chambers without consequences, then there is no low our security forces will not plumb in their desire to please whoever holds power at a given time.

    I am all for peace and security. But democracy is also about free speech and freedom to choose who will lead a country or community. It is about exercising such freedoms without some non-judicial arbiter standing as a middle man to determine what constitutes appropriate or inflammatory comment, or determining what is constitutional or not.

    It was that sort of effrontery that prompted the Inspector-General of Police to declare that Aminu Tambuwal was no longer Speaker of the House of Representatives because he decamped from APC to PDP. In an outrageous power grab that remains as yet unpunished, he assumed the role of the courts to add to his powers as an enforcer.

    Since that event, legislators have been crossing the carpet at the National and state assembly levels at a dizzying rate. Embarrassingly, the great enforcer of the Nigerian constitution has suddenly gone absent without leave.

    Whatever section of Nigeria’s statutes the security services are depending on to clamp down on people for their comments, they would find that such provisions  don’t define what constitutes ‘inflammatory comment.’

    When does a comment become inciting? What is the empirical gauge for judging its flammability other than the jaundiced assessment of the likes of Adesiyan and Abba?

    With barely six weeks to go before the general elections, I dare say any strong criticism of the incumbent and his embattled administration would rank as ‘inflammatory comment’ in the books of the Police Minister and his enforcers.

    On the day Adesiyan was making his arrest order public, he was also accusing two former Nigerian Heads of State of planning treasonable acts without providing any shred of evidence. In my book that ranks as a grade one ‘inflammatory comment.’ But who’s going arrest the arresters?

    Is all this anxiety over “inflammatory comments” not an indication how fragile the Nigerian federation has become? Instead of looking for vulnerable scapegoats should we not be pointing the finger at failed leadership that has brought us to this pass?

    If there’s a grave danger facing our democracy today, it isn’t from the occasionally heated statements made by excitable politicians. It is emanating more from the pedestrian interpretation of what constitutes threat to national interest by Nigeria’s security agencies.

    Politics is activity that excites passions and roils emotions. It involves contest: we should expect the temperature to rise during any election cycle. All the lazy and clichéd talk about ‘heating up the polity’ arise from ignorantly trying to turn politics into Sunday Mass: it is not! It is passionate business that generates heat, insults and sometimes, unfortunately, violence. Live with it.

    This is the understanding that seems to elude our all-powerful minister and the enforcers that are ever so gung-ho about arresting people for speaking their minds. The police, DSS and others should stop inserting themselves in the middle of the political mudfight. By presenting themselves as interested partisans they erode the integrity of their institutions and lose respect in the eyes of the people.

    That is why aside the economy and insurgency, one of the most pressing challenges confronting the national leadership that will emerge this February is reforming our security services to make them relevant to the needs of an emerging democracy in the 21st century. What we have now are services whose mindset is stuck in the military era of the 70s and 80s.

    That reform must, however, be National Assembly-led because the abuse of the security agencies has always been a crime perpetrated by the executive branch. If APC wins the Presidency don’t be surprised if next day security agencies start threatening PDP members who make critical comments about the new powers-that-be. The system is that backward and servile.

    We need a police and DSS that are truly engaged with protecting the people from violent criminals and insurgents. We don’t need a bunch of armed men and women who are confused about what their roles are and have lapsed into some sort of ‘thought people’ dragooned to screen what we say in the heat of the moment. Don’t turn Nigeria into North Korea please!

    But more importantly we need a decentralised police and intelligence agencies structure that does not leave such powerful institutions in the hands of small-minded individuals with anything but a democratic temper and mindset.

  • ‘POWERFUL FRIENDS’ MOVE TO STOP KESHI’S SACK

    ‘POWERFUL FRIENDS’ MOVE TO STOP KESHI’S SACK

    AFRICANFOOTBALL.COM can exclusively reveal today that “some powerful friends” of coach Stephen Keshi have moved to stop the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) from sacking him.

    We first broke the move by the newly elected NFF executive committee led by Amaju Pinnick to fire Keshi after the team sunk into a more dangerous situation of not qualifying for next year’s AFCON following a shock 1-0 loss in Sudan at the weekend.

    Pinnick has since consulted with some top government officials the plan to dismiss the Eagles coach and has even sounded out some likely replacements. The NFF bosses will have an emergency meeting Wednesday night, just hours after the Eagles reverse fixture against Sudan in Abuja, with Keshi’s future top on the agenda.

    However, a top source has now informed AfricanFootball.com it is not likely Keshi will be asked to go because “some of his powerful friends” have stepped in to help him save his job.

    “The general thinking is that Keshi will be sacked and some of the top officials consulted on this have even given their approval, but there are some of the “powerful friends” of the coach who have warned against any such move,” the source informed.

    “So, as it stands it is now a matter of who has the more powerful friends between the coach and his employers.”

    The source further hinted: “You could see how apologetic and nervous Keshi was after the loss against Sudan and how boastful and daring he has grown thereafter.

    “This is a direct result of the assurances he has received from his powerful friends that his job is safe. The powerful friends” were among those who facilitated the return of Keshi from the United States of America for the opening AFCON qualifiers last month and were the ones who put so much pressure on the NFF secretariat to give the coach a contract during the recent leadership crisis that engulfed the federation.

    A top NFF executive committee member also told AfricanFootball.com: “We have to look at the bigger picture. Will a new coach really change things immediately or do we leave Keshi to complete what he has started?

  • REC:governors too powerful

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Cross River State, Mr. Mike Igini, has said governors have become too powerful such that whoever they want occupies any position in their states.

    Igini spoke at a constitution review parley in Calabar, the state capital.

    He said governors thwart electoral processes by the way they impose their desires and personal decisions on the system.

    “Governors do not respect electoral rules. There are situations where our governors alone decide what happens at elections. They decide who should be elected at local government elections.

    “They decide who should go as members of the House of Representatives or who should be a Senator, thereby thwarting the electoral processes.”

    He said the excessive power of governors should be checked in the on-going constitutional review.

    Igini warned against the inauguration of state police, saying governors would unduly influence them to their own benefit.

    He advised that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be properly strengthened through appointment of men of transparent dispositions who earn the trust of Nigerians.

    He also urged Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials of to work harder.