The Nation Newspaper

Tag: reign

  • Reign of impunity

    Each time I see Governor Akinwunwi Ambode dutifully attending a state function in Badagry, Epe or Ikorodu –  the far flung parts of the state of excellence, Lagos, which he governs with vigour, my heart goes out to him. At such moments, I wonder in contemplation how he gets to those functions, despite the chaos of traffic orchestrated and ricocheted by articulated tankers, trailers and trucks, running a dubious ring around a state Ambode is doing everything humanely possible to change for better. While at it, I momentarily forget the daily torment, faced by residents as a result of traffic menace.

    Considering the enormity of the responsibility on Ambode’s shoulders, to personally attend to numerous issues of state across the metropolis, I wonder how he gets through the gruelling traffic around Apapa, Old Ojo Road, Mile Two, Ijora and now Western Avenue. Of course, the Alpha Governor, if I may borrow from Sam Omatseye, does not move around the state in obtrusive convey of siren blaring black limousines, even though he presides over the fifth largest economy in Africa.

    So, when I saw him through the media commissioning projects in Badagry last week, I kept prevaricating privately how the governor got to the venue. Did he fly a chopper? Or did he set out around 4am to beat the traffic? Perhaps he went through the waterways my mind redounded? After all, he governs the state of aquatic pleasure. But my mind remonstrated that he is still developing the needed infrastructure to have a seamless water transport.

    So how did he get there, considering the chaos caused by tankers and trailers snarling on Oshodi-Apapa expressway, especially around Mile Two, or further down Old Ojo Road, at Alakija through which he may have passed?

    Still in thought, I remembered that he could have passed through Iyana-Ipaja-Okowonjo axis, and I shuddered at the menace of Okada riders. Those daredevils who crisscross the road with reckless abandon. Without siren, would Okada riders harass his motorcade, as they do to other motorists? Despite rising through the ranks, and exhibiting great humility since he was popularly elected the governor of Lagos, I know for sure that his security apparatchik will not allow him ride an Okada, as the ordinary folks ironically do, to beat the cruel traffic?

    Penultimate Monday, I was in a court at Apapa. The magistrate got to court by 11am, even though he left Badagry where he lives since 4am. As he apologised and told how he was frustrated by the traffic, I sat in quiet contemplation wondering how the man has been able to sit at 9am, on the previous occasions I was in his court. The next day, I was at Ikeja High Court, and the Judge sat around 11.30am. While lawyers and litigants sat in indignant wait, I shared the previous day’s experience as told by the magistrate with a colleague sitting next to me.

    To ply the Ikorodu Road, through the Western Avenue to Lagos, a commuter would have to factor in the chance that hundreds of articulated trucks usually park on the road starting from Apapa Wharf, all the way on those high flyovers towards National Stadium. So, a journey that should take 30 minutes from Anthony to Lagos, with normal traffic build up in a mega city, could take several hours as tankers, trucks and trailers block the highway. Of course, it will be unthinkable to go to Apapa on that route unless the commuter is on sightseeing that will last days.

    Last week, the media reported that the overstretched Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, promised that the park designed for less than 400 trailers and trucks, started many years ago, would soon be ready. The park opposite the Tin Can Wharf has been under construction forever. It is the substitute for the parks within the Wharf, which the previous government auctioned off, without thinking. Unfortunately, with the expressway that passed Tin-Can now craters, big enough to swallow trailers, the road to the new park, when it is commissioned, will be within the Apapa G.R.A; roads trailers and trucks are already destroying.

    Despite the promises by the minister, all appears quiet about the much advertised agreement between the federal government and the Dangote Group to rebuild the dilapidated roads from Apapa through Tin Can, and Apapa to Ijora. While Dangote group is formidable in its area of core competence, like manufacturing, I doubt their capacity to rebuild those destroyed roads. The matter is made worse with the confusion over terms and conditions for the private intervention.

    Some weeks ago, I was relaying to my colleagues on this newspaper’s editorial board, the sad experience of owning a business outfit in Apapa. While I suffer the indignity of commuting to my office in Apapa, my heart bleeds each time I see that many of the new businesses which sprang up following the rebuilding of Apapa Business District roads by Lagos State government have closed. The roads rebuilt with solid asphalt and walkways, gave Apapa a new lease of life.

    All those have become inconsequential, as tankers and trailers take over the roads, walkways and open spaces. As I argued, as their businesses close, owners of the businesses, accounting/approving officers, and the banks that gave the budding entrepreneur the loans with which the businesses were likely established, are all on the way to financial and health crisis. In fact, those commuting on these roads daily lose part of their life span, to these gridlocks. Of course, all the permutations and business plans, as Lagos State rebuilt the infrastructure in Apapa area, have been negated by the impunity of drivers of the tankers and trailers.

    As cars meander in-between the trailers and trucks parked for days on the bridges and flyovers, I ponder how much longer those expensive bridges and flyovers would stand as it carries permanently the dead weight of the trucks and trailers. Even though I am not an engineer, I know for certain that the flyovers and bridges were not designed to carry those dead weights continuously. Merely driving on them, one will notice they are built on springs. So how much longer will the springs bear the weights before they give way?

    Invariably, before long, most of those flyovers and bridges will become weak, and if not re-calibrated, will begin to give way one after the other. Of course, with the nation’s resources depleting even as our needs keep rising, would it be far-fetched if those from saner clime consider us a crazy people for allowing tankers, trailers and trucks to destroy valued national assets which we do not have the resources to replace? Unless there is a conspiracy to punish Lagos residents, federal agencies should support Lagos State government to end the reign of impunity on Lagos roads. More so, with oil boom gone forever, those bridges and flyovers are irreplaceable.

  • That peace may reign

    The Junior Chamber International (JCI) Nigeria has organised a symposium in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, to promote peace and justice in the country. The event was held to commemorate the United Nations International Day of Peace. AZEEM OLOGUNTERE (500-Level Law, University of Ilorin) reports.

    The need for the youth to promote peace in their communities was a subject of discussion at a Peace Summit held in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, to commemorate the United Nations (UN) International Day of Peace tagged: Together for peace: Respect, safety and dignity for all.

    Organised by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Nigeria, under its Peace is possible campaign, the event with the theme: Identifying the barriers and pathways to peace in Nigeria was attended by participants from diverse backgrounds, including businessmen, students, representatives of civil society organisations, security agencies and government officials.

    The summit featured keynote speeches, panels of discussion and interactive discussions, which were geared towards equipping the participants with skills to engender peace in their communities.

    In his keynote speech titled: Shaping language to achieve peace, Prof Tunde Ajiboye of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) described peace as “an atmosphere of tranquility, neutrality, faith and inner positive disposition.”

    He emphasised the importance of the appropriate use of language as a pathway to sustainable peace in Nigeria.

    The panel of discussion featured a journalist, Femi Okunlola, founder of Passion for Peace Initiative, Jimoh Olalekan, founder, Hope for Girls and Women Foundation, Sukurat Adelodun, and an agricultural entrepreneur, Rotimi Olawale, who spoke on how the youth could engage themselves to promote peace.

    The second panel was preceded by comments and questions by the participants and guests, after which a Mandela Washington Fellow, Adewale Badejoko, an advocate against gender-based violence, Sa’adat Bibire, and a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocate, Abideen Olasupo, explained the roles of young people in building lasting peace.

    At an interactive session with the JCI President Babajide Ojowherein, participants shared their thoughts on the solutions to ethno-religious conflicts bedevilling the country, including Boko Haram insurgency, Biafra agitation, farmers and herdsmen clashes, among others.

    The convener of the summit and Peace is possible campaign Director, Paul Akingbola, said: “Peace is not just the absence of war, but the prevalence of justice is. Young people, being the most vulnerable tool for the perpetration of violence, have the power to enthrone peace in their communities. It is high time young people showed commitment and take positive actions towards building the peaceful country of our dream.

    “Since the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 emphasises the importance of peace, justice, and strong institutions to development locally and globally, we need to think about the cost of violence and conflicts in our daily life.”

    A South African and Let’s do it world ambassador, Mariette Hopley, said it was important to live in peace, noting that the world would be a better place if peace became the watchword of the people. According to her, the quest for a peaceful and just society begins with everyone living in the society.

    In 1981, the UN set aside September 21 as the International Day of Peace to galvanise global actions against organised violence and conflicts and to demonstrate the indispensability of peace to global development.

    In preparation for this year’s Peace Day, JCI International with support from the government of Sarawak, a Malaysian State on Borneo, held an International Summit on Peace in Kuching from September 6 to 8.

    Paul was Nigeria’s delegate to the summit, where more than 600 young people from 125 countries, gathered to discuss peace.

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan, and MSNBC News anchor Richard Lui, delivered keynote speeches at the summit.

  • Ex-minister Etete: peace must reign in Bayelsa

    Ex-minister Etete: peace must reign in Bayelsa

    The former Minister of Petroleum and one of the elder statesmen in Bayelsa State, Chief Dan Etete, has urged the parties contesting tomorrow’s election to allow peace reign.

    He said it was only through peace that the state could develop.

    In a statement, Etete enjoined the people to accept the poll’s results, saying Bayelsans should support whoever wins, to develop the state.

    He said: “Since July when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the timetable for the election and fixed it for December 5, a lot has happened. Politicians across the divide, in order to drum up support for themselves, have done everything under the sun, including intimidation and threat, to make their position clear to the people.

    “Some organisations have even gone to the extent of threatening President Muhammadu Buhari over the election. A militant organisation went as far as saying: ‘We wish to admonish President Muhammadu Buhari not to engage election riggers in the governorship election, as such vicious and surreptitious antics shall not only be vehemently resisted, but may also lead to waking the sleeping dog from sleep. We call on the United Nations and, indeed, the international community, to bear us witness as we are not unaware of the planned use of ‘federal might’ to intimidate the people of Bayelsa State in favour of their chosen candidate.’

    “May I say with every sense of responsibility that such threats have no place in democracy. There is enough room for everyone if only we can agree that all of us cannot rule at the same time. The founding fathers of this state, of which I am privileged to be one, have lofty dreams for the people and the state since its creation in 1997.

    Almost 20 years after, I am glad at the achievements of this great state. I am particularly happy that within its short existence, Bayelsa can with pride compare to other federating units in Nigeria in terms of human and material development. I am grateful to the Almighty that the first President from the Southsouth hails from Bayelsa State.

    “Gradually the Ijaw nation is beginning to enjoy a pride of place in Nigeria. We can only go higher at the rate at which we are developing, provided we do not use our hands to destroy what the founding fathers have toiled very hard to build.

    “It is on this pedestal that I stand to call politicians in the state, whether of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), or the All Progressives Congress (APC), and others to be cautious in tomorrow’s election.”

  • That peace may reign

    It was Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest American activists of all times, who said: “I refuse to accept that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

    In making this assertion, one would not be wrong to assume that the late Martin Luther King dreamt about the many hostilities that countries, especially developing ones like Nigeria, would face when they get to the crossroad of decision making. Hence, his belief that brotherhood is achievable, no matter the level of deterioration of societal values.

    There is acrimony all over the world. The United States and Russia are engaged in a cold war over the crisis in Ukraine. There is the war against insurgency in Nigeria to which billions of state resources have been committed. In soccer, there is an ongoing war against racism. For instance, English Football Federation has introduced a strong sanction to whip football clubs and players into line.

    In politics, there is always war of words between opposing political parties. As the nation waits for the  elections, there have been acrimony and war of words between politicians. While some see it as healthy, others see it as an invitation to the destabilisation. Off course, peace is not the absence of war but relative peace is achievable through respect and brotherhood.

    Being independent-minded, humans have freewill to make choices from what they want and by their philosophies. Therefore, people have rights to make their choice of all the candidates seeking elective positions in the coming general elections.

    But, it is appalling to see that politicians try to make these God-given rights of the people difficult by inducement and violence. While some resort to violence to gain political relevance, others buy votes by taking advantage of prevalence economic situation in the country.

    It can be said that no election has generated fear and tension as the coming general elections. The situation is further worsened by the prediction of a foreign agency that the outcome of the election could divide the country.

    Already, drumbeats of war are in the air. Before the elections, several people have been killed and scores injured. The political atmosphere is tensed.

    Since the amalgamation of the Nigeria, the nation has passed through crisis, including a ruinous civil war in 1967, and yet, it is still surviving. But the significance of this election has made pundits to predict breakup.

    With some foreseeing war, many people are beginning to raise concern for peace and stability of the country. Many southern traders in the North, who travelled home for the Christmas, have refused to return because of violent outcome that may follow the election.

    We have had group of ex-Niger Delta militants who have threatened war should President Goodluck Jonathan loses the election. There are other similar elements in the North, who are threatening to foment trouble should the election goes against their wishes.

    Apart from the areas where the Boko Haram insurgency has continued to thrive, there are some place in the North that are naturally hostile and violence-prone. In the Southern part, we also have such places where electoral violence is a culture.

    In all of these, the peace of the country and its people is being threatened as the polls draw close. Corps members, in particular, are most likely at risk because they will be used as ad-hoc staff to conduct the election.

    The violence visited on Corps members after 2011 general elections is still fresh in our memory. I could remember the apprehension that gripped the family when my brother, who was then a Corps member in the North, narrated to us how he escaped when political thugs snatched ballot box at the polling unit he was a presiding officer. If he had tried to stop them, the story would definitely have been different today.

    Obliging to serve one’s fatherland in any part of the country should not be a death sentence. Over the years, people had argued that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) should not post Corps members to areas outside their region. While this call may be good as a result of the volatility of various communities, but by living with other people and learning their culture strengthen unity.

    As we eagerly await the election, parents are worried as to the safety of their children in places far away from home. This is not supposed to be so. Nigeria is our country and we should be able to live in any part without fear.

    Peace is a necessary ingredient for the continuous coexistence of the country. And for peace to reign, the life of every citizen must be protected at all cost.

    So, in the face of challenges, the fact remains that Nigerians can choose to surmount these challenges by toeing the part of peace and mutual respect.

    Like Prof Charles Soludo noted in his recent article to the Minister of Finance, this is not the time to keep quiet, Nigerians must play their part to ensure a lasting solution to our current challenges by lending their voices and playing their roles positively in their little corners, whether in position of authority or not so as to ensure a better legacy for the generations yet unborn for. Albert Einstein said: “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”

     

    Philip, is a Corps member, NYSC JALINGO

  • Reign of anarchy

    Reign of anarchy

    •Auchi robberies show police still have a long way to catch up with bandits

    For three hours that seemed interminable, residents of Auchi in Edo State last week had a taste of hell as an army of robbers terrorised the town in a shocking operation carried out with bullets, dynamites and bombs. Reports said the bandits incredibly numbered over 100 and rode on motorcycles and buses, leaving a trail of death and destruction. In the reign of anarchy, 15 people were killed, four banks robbed, and a police station vandalised. The quarters of soldiers attached to the state’s security outfit, Operation Thunderstorm, also came under attack. The scale of the violence prompted Mr Rasaq Momoh, the lawmaker representing Etsako West II in the state House of Assembly, to describe the incident as a “terrorist attack.”

    An unsettling aspect of the Auchi raid is the reported size of the group of bandits involved, which should draw attention to the state of the nation, with high unemployment figures and widespread poverty constituting a huge threat to social security. We recall that a similar crime happened in Lagos recently when a gang of violent robbers seized the streets of the city for several hours in what was tagged “Bloody Sunday.”

    From the evidence, despite the use of terror tactics, the Auchi incident was actually an attack by the robbers on some banks, GTB, Access Bank, First Bank and Ecobank, where they left in their wake shattered windows and doors, smashed ATM machines and broken walls, and got away with money. Their greed was evident in an opportunistic move, as they even stole from a female road-side trader, Iyabo Omon, who said, “They took the chickens and other items I displayed for sale.”

    Clearly, the police were caught napping when the bandits struck, which is both unbelievable and inexplicable. It was a massive minus that the robbery attack took the police by surprise, showing that they were ill-prepared for such a raid. How can the police force explain that within the period the siege lasted, paralysing the entire town, its men failed to come up with any resistance? If anything, the daring bombing of the Auchi Police Station by the brigands showed a helpless force, as reports said many of the policemen fled in the face of superior firepower.

    If the police appeared unpardonably weak in the circumstances, the inaction of the state’s special security unit was no less intolerable. It was to be expected that where the police were vulnerable and handicapped, the men of Operation Thunderstorm would be equal to the challenge. Of what function then is this security outfit, if it could not confront the daredevils in what was, to all intents and purposes, an emergency? The fact that the robbers were audacious enough to take their attack to the outfit’s command quarters without serious reprisals defeated its security essence.

    One curious but incontestable reality discernible from the security challenge is that criminals are in possession of very sophisticated modern weapons; they, therefore, tend to have an advantage over the police in a shoot-out. It is baffling that the government has allowed criminals to outclass the law enforcement agency in this crucial area, with the ridiculous result that policemen have been known to take to their heels in encounters with robbers, as was the case in Auchi. It deserves to be noted that the Edo State Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu, highlighted this disturbing deficiency on the part of the police when he visited the scenes of the crime and urged the police to upgrade the quality of their arms.

    No doubt, the government is expected to pay more than lip service to this requirement and equip the police with effective weapons to maintain law and order in the society. The police should be given all it takes to combat crime in this day and age.

     

  • Osun SAS and the reign of rumours

    Osun SAS and the reign of rumours

    For some time now, the rumour mill in the State of Osun has been unduly astir and agog with its worrisome pastime of tickling the ears of people with fantastic untruths. The emerging pattern appears to be that anytime the government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola introduces any comprehensive people-oriented policy, those whose pseudo patriotism inspires to harvest defeat from the jaw of victory quickly move to town, spawning a web of lies to discredit the programme.

    Few months ago, some local political irritants and their unconscionable federal sponsors sought in vain to make sense of their hollow claims that the governor had concluded plans to first Islamise the state and then secede using the services of the young men it had trained in Cuba. These accusations fell flat and their sponsors were soon put to shame.

    The latest in this concatenation of ridiculous and reprehensible rumours concerns the activities of the joint security taskforce code-named Swift Action Squad (SAS), recently inaugurated by the state government to combat criminality and make the state unappealing to criminals of whatever pedigree. The objectionable gist in the current rumour making the rounds is that the men of this new security team are fashion police put in place by the government to deal with ladies who dress indecently, and to harass innocent citizens!

    Of course, since the rumour began, not one of the many ladies so punished by men of the SAS for wearing “too sexy clothes” has come to validate the bland claim. Except in the waning and circumscribed imagination of the peddlers of the rumours, nobody has come forward with a shred of evidence to prove a case of harassment or act of impunity against the joint patrol team of security men.

    In the version voyeuristically favoured by one Alabi Sodiq (circulated on some blogs and published in the September 4, edition of Thisday newspaper), it was claimed a young lady was “arrested” by SAS operatives on Saturday August 25, at Iwo. He claimed that the lady “was accused of wearing a top revealing her breast and the soldiers forced her to remove her top so as to totally reveal the breast she was ‘trying to flaunt’. Then, goes the story, a passing innocent Okada rider, who had no idea what was happening, was also stopped and asked by the soldiers to fondle the exposed breast of this young woman. The Okada man tried to turn down this offer and that’s a decision he would be regretting for a long time. He was mercilessly beaten and at the end he had to do as asked”.

    On the surface, it appeared Sodiq was doing the right thing that any public-spirited, law-abiding citizen would do – calling the attention of the authorities to the unlawful actions of a security unit, more so that, in his claim, the information was not fictitious. But in truth, this was blatant disinformation meant to cause needless apprehension in the peaceful people of the state. Except that he saw a young girl running for whatever reason on sighting a patrol vehicle, every other thing in his boondoggle was a product of hearsay. Perhaps because he is alien to the culture of crosschecking the facts of his claims beyond any scintilla of doubt as any credible writer and well meaning citizen would have done, he unquestioningly accepted the hogwash he was told hook, line and sinker as gospel truth!

    For those living in or visiting any part of Osun, it is very clear that all of the red security vehicles used by SAS have bold numbers inscribed on them, both front and back, for easy identification. The easiest thing for anybody who witnessed the wrongdoing of these security men to do is to take down the number and include it in their reports. But in the circulated reports against SAS, not one person – not even the seemingly observant Sodiq– has provided the vehicle number of the particular SAS unit that carried out the rumoured act. There has not even been any simple verbal description of the vehicle. Not one of the different versions of the wicked rumours gave a clear description of the actual place where the incident occurred. I have heard and read different places like Osogbo, Ile-Ife, and Iwo mentioned without any precise location within them identified as the place where passers-by witnessed the event.

    Assuming I were ignorant of what the average Nigerians can do with their camera phones at the scene of a sordid event, I might not have bothered surfing the net for a video or picture from episode. However, since the story was a product of the fevered imagination of rumour-mongers with sinister intentions, no single picture or video clip exists to affirm the veracity of the claims. It was Nigerians, not foreigners, who witnessed the beastly assault some low-minded Naval ratings executed against Uzoma Okereke sometime in 2010, that recorded the shameful acts and uploaded it on the Internet for the world to see. Did camera phones or other similar devices go into extinction while soldiers assault and harass a lady and an okada rider (the imaginative creations of mischief makers)?

    Moreover, I remember that the Special Adviser to the Governor Aregbesola was on live broadcast of the state television station about two weeks ago to encourage witnesses or victims of the untoward acts of SAS to contact him or the TV station with useful information. He gave out his personal number and six other numbers for this purpose. Not a single person has ventured in that direction.

    I have the hunch that those behind these rumours are incorrigible enemies of the state, who are unhappy with the progress being made. It is not even unlikely that these supine and faceless people behind the misleading tales are the ones who are exceedingly uncomfortable with the reality that they may not be able to rig elections because there is a crime-fighting military apparatus on ground. Politically-motivated crimes are stamped out in Osun and the graceless sponsors are in distress, hence the horrible rumours. What is more, in the better-forgotten years of the Oyinlola administration, Osun citizens were at the mercy of criminals. Today, it is a different story with the current administration. With the solid presence of security men in strategic areas around the state, it is very possible that criminals are sorely troubled that the party is over. This too could be another reason for the ruinous claims against the new security outfit the government has put in place to ensure the security of life and property of the people.

    While it is not impossible that some of these security men could be guilty of certain excesses in the performance of their duty, it is also not inconceivable that some weightless politicians and their foot soldiers incapable of deep introspection would resort to cheap lies and rumours in order to destroy a scheme that serves the people of the state very well.

    In his address at the inauguration of SAS, Aregbesola did not mention fashion policing as part of the duties of this security scheme. What will make sense is for people to report any unseemly conduct by members of the squad, with verifiable evidence. It is another way we can all participate in the onerous task of ensuring the security of the people of our various communities. Let all mischief makers, rumour-mongers, and political irritants know that no edifice of lies can survive where the sledgehammer of truth is active.

    • Alowonle writes from Osogbo