The Nation Newspaper

Tag: repeat

  • ‘Ekiti ‘ll not repeat mistake of 2014’

    ‘Ekiti ‘ll not repeat mistake of 2014’

    Former House of Representatives member and governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State Hon. Bimbo Daramola is 50 years today. He spoke with EMMANUEL OLADESU in Lagos on his aspiration and how the party can bounce back in the Fountain of Knowledge.

    What is your assessment of the Fayose administration in Ekiti?

    It’s obvious that we have not cut a very good deal. If I say this, most people will interpret that to mean, one, this is sour grapes. That he is saying this because his candidate did not win at that election. Don’t forget that I was the Director-General of the Kayode Fayemi re-election. So, if I begin to put up my assessment, whatever I put up is going to be tainted to imply that it is because we lost election. What do you expect? But the truth of the matter is that I am also a stakeholder in that place. I am an Ekiti State indigene. I lived the first 25 years of my life in the state and I have my concerns. So, in terms of tangible impact and all of that, I am not too sure that the past four years have vindicated those who voted for Dr. Peter Ayodele Fayose.

     Do you think your people have benefited from the concept of stomach infrastructure?

    Let me make this clear to you. We would let history makers decide whether Ekiti people actually voted for stomach infrastructure because today, they are hungry. You need to reconcile the paradox of winning election on the basis or riding on the popularity, so to speak, of stomach infrastructure or a political philosophy that amplifies tokenism as against enduring political philosophy like the one Dr. Kayode Fayemi did. So, today, if eight months salary have not been paid, you will now connect the dot to know that that stomach infrastructure as a philosophy has failed.

    So, I am not too sure that Ekiti people voted for stomach infrastructure and I am convinced that today, nobody needs to be told; civil servants who have not been paid for eight months, pensioners who are languishing in debts and wallowing in poverty and all of that need to now undertake an introspection to determine whether the choice of Peter Ayodele Fayose was right in the first place.

    I think there were a number of things that worked against us in that election and I dare say one of them will be the fact that we had people even who were beneficiaries, people who were officials of government who decided to take a pound of flesh against the administration at the time. And of course, you cannot oversight the fact that the Federal Government at that time reined heavily against us. They wanted to win at all cost. As I sit with you, I have a CD to show to that effect. My 87 year old man was beaten black and blue. So many people were sacked from their polling units and all of that. I can do the polling unit in the morning from the bush, having been beaten and harassed and all of that.

    And election is a process, when you eventually see them count the ballot paper and all of that there are conditions precedent to that and you should be generous enough to know that if the process leading to the end of the story is wrong, it is not likely that the result would have been right.

    Your state is preparing for another election. What do you think should be the defining issues in who becomes the next governor?

    Track record! If you allow me to speak to that I will tell you. You know the only thing that validates your promises is your reputation. If you say I am going to do this for you tomorrow, the only thing that makes you believe is the fact that he said it yesterday and he did it. So, Ekiti people should be looking out for a man who has proven beyond reasonable doubt, against all circumstances to say first and foremost what is you reputation? Come with your strong reasons.

    Why would you say you are the best candidate?

    I am not going to say I am the best candidate. I like to shy away from words like the best superlative descriptions like that. But, I know that I am going to be a very good governor. One, I have a reputation that goes ahead of me. I was in the House of Representatives for four years and by the grace of God I challenge you to go to my constituency and see what I have done and compare it, humbly speaking, and compare it with 16 years of representation before me. Today, we have a 32 bed hospital built by me, we have intervened in the lives of many people; medically, educationally, all kinds of manners and ways. There is no town or village in my constituency that does not have the impact of Bimbo Daramola. I never cut deal with anybody. I am in touch with them. The young people believe in me, the elderly trust me, so, what else are you looking for? As a parliamentarian I was opening rural road network from my pocket.

    Why really do you want to serve as governor?

    When we lost Dr. Fayemi’s election, I keep saying we because I appropriate that lost too. The loss of Dr. Fayemi in that election was my lost, because I was massively involved in the enterprise. May be the governor, his wife and a few others will say we did much more. Now, what got me interested in this race, riding on the back of our lost at Dr. Fayemi’s election and it was logical we were going to lose anyway because there will be bandwagon effect, so I pulled away, I said I was done with politics but when people began to show interest in this race and there were twenty four people at that time, eight assembly members came to me and said we are not saying you should run or you should not run but look at these twenty four people, tell us one of them by your own estimation, who thoroughly represents the ideals and the ideas of these party?

    I can humbly say to you that I have been an active member of this party for twelve years. I am a die-in-the-wool progressive, I have never shifted my ground one day, I have remained with the people. And more than anything else, I have the will to do. That is one of my strongest edge.

    If you win the mandate, what are those things you will be doing differently?

    The first challenge that I am going to deal with is the perception that is very rife in town that Ekiti is a dead zone – a far flung place, a rejected place, a desert – a place that should be forgotten. That is the very first thing I needed to break and that is why the mantra of my campaign is ‘Restoring our Pristine Identity.’ The same state that had the appellation of the state that breeds professors already is now the scumbag among the committee of states, so, I need to fix that. And there is something I call the softer side of government, if you don’t get the idea of softer side of government; any idiot can build schools, do roads and things like that but it will take a man who is completely deep to know that one of the challenges that we have in Ekiti State today is the fact that we have been stereotyped and our minds are beginning to accept that stereotype to accept that nothing good can come out of Ekiti State.

    So, the first thing I am going to do is, one, bring out the value that is inherent in that state and once I have the value restored and everybody accepts there is value, value added to any product, people will pay for it.

    I have no doubt that given the opportunity you will make a good governor, but you must first cross the hurdle of party politics and primary to get the ticket and there are several others also eyeing the ticket, so, how do intend to cross the hurdle of the primary?

    Let me make this clear abundantly, I am not a desperate man. If it is the will of God it is going to happen. Number two, I am a man of faith. Number three, I am in with a strong resolve. Number four, in terms of nitty-gritty, out of the may be 2400 delegates that will be showing up at that primary elections I am too sure 1500 of them have met with me one-on-one. As the Director-General of a gubernatorial election, I was the quasi-candidate, so, I was just wearing the face of Dr. Fayemi.

    Every village that I visited, every youth leader, every woman leader, every chairman that I spoke to will have a recourse to the day that I took the battle of Dr. Fayemi on my head as if it is my battle and indeed it is my battle and indeed it was my battle and so it is about time to tell them that the same person who did that is the person who is right here now before you.

    About 46 or 50 people who are jumping around wanting to be candidate will need introduction. I don’t need any introduction. So, in the minds of these delegates, everyone of them has the picture of who Bimbo Daramola is.

    Do you think Governor Fayose will use the power of incumbency to determine the outcome of the election?

    He has already gone ahead to pick his candidate of the PDP. You know you can’t take that away from him. Ayodele Peter Fayose has political mastery but he doesn’t have political mystery. There is nothing mysterious about Fayose but the man understands the psychology of the people. For instance, when he gives you food he is in your face and let your face take him to your heart. That is a simple philosophy. Even if you feed some livestock s for too long, they become loyal to you. So, that is the simple analogy. Let me tell you another things Ekiti people want a governor who is in touch, who runs shoulders with them, who they feel is their own, who they can take ownership of, and I am that kind of person. They call me lover of the elders and friend of the youths.

    Primary is an attempt to bring the best out of a family; to bring your best foot forward, there is no family that will be desirous of running a relay race or 400m race and go and bring a great grandfather to run the race, you will rather pick a young man.

    Do you see other party leaders who are also eyeing the ticket conceding it to you as a younger and vibrant person?

    I have a very good relationship with virtually all of them, I believe so, except the new entrants that we don’t know. You can imagine a man like me who may not know some of these aspirants. If you leave Redeemed today as a pastor who has your own leisure and you go to Winners Chapel would they make you a pastor the same day?

    My answer is that some of these people in the race who I desire that beyond the fact that they claim that they have fat wallets or deep pockets; do you think Ekiti people will be ready to gamble for another four years by voting a man they don’t know? That is why I said I am a die-in-the-wool APC member. The DNA of APC is inside of me. I told you about primary elections as elections within a family, if there is paternity dispute in a family what kind of test do you conduct? You conduct a DNA. So, let them go and conduct DNA test on some of these people.

  • Biafra: Mistake Ndigbo must not repeat

    it is understandable that Ndigbo were pushed into Biafra in 1967. But posterity shall not forgive them if in 2017 they now push themselves into Biafra.

    The first time was a disaster, and for a people fighting for survival in an unjustly cobbled-up republic where their adventurous and enterprising (misread as domineering) nature marked them out for persecution, the Biafran project, then, was more or less a historical necessity. But this second time would be a monumental failure because it finds itself in the ambient political milieu of a globalized world – with all its technological and socio-cultural appurtenances.

    A time when the same Ndigbo has virtually dominated their country’s socio-economic space; and with competent political leadership stands better chances of being the virtual super-tribe of the whole West African sub-region while leveraging on its placement within the Nigerian nation-state.

    It is also a time when the European Union speaks with one voice, after coming to terms with the reality that the European countries must overcome their sordid past of internecine conflicts. A time when a mortar fired in a Nigerian civil war would hit the economy of faraway Zambia and weigh down the stocks in the South African market.

    Nevertheless, the present call for Biafra is more sonorous than the one made five decades ago because it now has a deep-seated philosophical underpinning. The mystical backing is the pseudo-scientific sociological/anthropological proposition which proclaims Ndigbo as Jews – fellow descendants of Abraham with the Jewish nation. This belief is fast gaining ground in the South-east, yet it still is essentially a myth, not acknowledged by mainstream academia, or accepted by the mainstream Jewish community.

    Technically, it is a pseudoscience, as vague as the Aryan Race myth which undergirded Adolf Hitler’s proclamations about the superiority of Germans to other Caucasians and humans.

    On this, Nnamdi Kanu is a ‘prophet’ in the mould of Hitler. He is a genius with the rare gift of saying the exact things that resonate with the innermost yearnings of a whole ethnic group, at the subconscious level. It is an uncanny, almost spiritual phenomenon. Perhaps, that is why the IPOB leader has ascended the unspoken office of Biafran high priest, adorning himself with the regalia of the Jewish religious scholar.

    That was exactly what Hitler did. He raised Nazism to the pitch of faith, and the Swastika as its mystical symbol of divine presence.

    And this is not where his similarities to Kanu end; he was also put behind bars. And like Kanu, his incarceration period sealed his fate as the de facto “supreme leader” whose struggles becomes a sacramental consecration epitomizing the collective struggle of all his brothers and sisters throughout past and present generations. Hitler accordingly wrote his infamous “Mein Kampf” (my struggle) inside those prison walls that deified him.

    What is more? While constantly raising the genealogical credentials of the German people, Hitler vehemently repudiated the right of the Jewish race to exist as human beings. They were devils, animals, rodents nibbling and feeding off of the socio-economic heritage of the German people. There place was in hell or in the zoo with other vermin!

    Hitler’s hate speech was as vitriolic as it was venomous, and his fellow Germans took vicarious joy in visualizing with him a land free of Jews and a world ruled solely by German giants and their machines.

    Interestingly, this is also the stuff of Kanu’s emergence. He raised Biafranism to the tone of Superiority Anthem. He started his radio Biafra as a propaganda tool and soon endeared himself to embittered Igbo-Nigerians with his hate speech directed at the Nigerian nation – which he called a “zoo”. He hurled hate at Northern-Nigerians and warned Ndigbo to cut ties with “Yoruba (Pentecostal) churches”.

    Now, if majority of Ndigbo accepted Kanu, it is simply because he succeeded in invading their consciousness and channeling their hidden atavistic instincts, even without their realizing this.

    However, the problem is not Kanu’s movement. Nationalism laced with venom is as old as civilization. The problem is what Ndigbo would do with his message, as it has already awakened a people to become an overnight raging mob. The concern is that at the height of their exuberance, they could be blinded to the consequences of their rage-induced mass action.

    So, before the Biafran vanguard begins to vault over the frontiers in a prepaid aggression, they should pause and ask, what is really the best strategy to achieve Ndigbo’s agenda? Is Ndigbo better off outside Nigeria or inside a restructured Nigerian federation? Which one would best serve their enterprising spirit and globally minded youthful population?

    To the first question, I think Ndigbo are better served under a truly-federated republic of Nigeria, as it was before former military leaders centralized it in 1966, than as a stand-alone startup christened Biafra.

    To the second question, it is sensible that Ndigbo’s enterprising spirit would need a wider socio-political space to become a global player in today’s 21st Century world.

    Germany’s place in the European Union is an example. No doubt, Germany is a great country in its own right, yet it has understood the place of regional leverage in today’s world of goodwill and diplomatic consensus. It is a world where everybody understands that as human beings, we are wont to segregate, and are perennially haunted by the “me and mine” mentality.

    That, even within a homogeneous tribe, excuses and justifications would still emerge to justify sub-group dichotomy, bipolarization and mutual distrust.

    That, there is the likelihood that once Biafra were achieved, a new minority would emerge and a new struggle erupt, just as we presently see in South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia.

    This means that Ndigbo cannot afford to destroy what it has built from 1970 on the altar of a perceived El Dorado. The truth is that there is no paradise on the earth plane. Nations are sustained by continuous negotiations and compromise. Even families of same parentage can only live peacefully not because they are always happy with each other but because they have better things to gain by continuing to share in their brotherhood.

    Is it not ironical that the same Nnamdi Kanu who is pushing for a total exit from Nigeria, is also promising his followers that Biafra would be a “confederation” where Ijaws, Efiks, Ibibios, etc., would maintain their ethnic integrity within the Biafran nation? The question, if he can practice “confederation within Biafra” why can’t he practice “confederation within Nigeria”?

    The world of 2017 is a place of cooperation and compromise. Humanity has evolved better ways of living together as creatures of equal legacy. The world has come to agree that we all are co-travellers in the earthly journey; there is no superior race or tribe, and there is no better way to talk to each other than “talking”.

    The Igbo, a great progressive African tribe, should not allow the ethnic/nationalistic fever that was whipped up like a ghost in the night by some anti-earth elements to blaze off its ever innovative, adaptive, egalitarian, progressive faculties. When the chips are down, those foreigners and ethnic minority neighbours some misguided Ndigbo are counting on to help them actualize Biafra, would not hesitate to abandon the Biafran/Igbo dream for its own ethnic hopes, no matter how untenable.

  • A repeat feat

    •Two Nigerian youths accepted to study at all eight Ivy League varsities in the U.S.

    It is good for Nigeria’s image that, for the second consecutive year, a Nigerian-born high school student has been accepted to study at all of the eight Ivy League universities in the United States. Coming after Harold Ekeh’s feat last year, Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna’s repeat of the feat this year speaks volumes for the capability of the country’s young minds when the environment is right. It is noteworthy that Ekeh was born in Nigeria and arrived in the United States when he was eight, while Uwamanzu-Nna is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants.

    Remarkably, the two academic stars were products of Elmont Memorial High School (EMHS) in New York. Spoilt for choice, Ekeh eventually chose to attend Yale University. He was the Long Island high school’s salutatorian. Uwamanzu-Nna, who was Elmont’s valedictorian, is similarly spoilt for choice and will have to choose from the eight highly rated universities.

    No doubt, their high school deserves kudos for providing an enabling environment that helped them achieve news-making academic distinction. The school’s principal, Kevin Dougherty, was quoted as saying: “Having two students get accepted into all eight Ivy League institutions in back-to-back years is humbling but also speaks to the incredible commitment to children by the families and staff within the EMHS Community.”

    Uwamanzu-Nna’s acceptance by four other universities to which she applied makes her story even more attention-grabbing, and she understandably described the experience as “surreal”. She said: “My recent accomplishments reflect the hardworking ideals of the town of Elmont, my supportive parents and my dedicated teachers. I am elated, but most importantly, I am thankful.”

    There is a lesson for Nigerian youths in her dramatic success story. She attributed her 101.64 GPA to hard work, saying, “I’ve struggled with numerous classes in the past…But I guess what allowed me to be successful… is my persistence and my tenacity.”  Her performance and her words make her an inspirational figure and a positive example.

    Uwamanzu-Nna’s ambition to pursue a science-related major should stimulate girls in a country like Nigeria which faces considerable challenges concerning girl-child education. It is expected that her choice of university would likely be influenced by whether her varied scientific interests, which include biochemistry and environmental studies, could be better advanced at a particular school.

    Her brilliance shows promise, and it is interesting that her research work as a teenager holds some promise for Nigeria. It is relevant to note that Uwamanzu-Nna was a finalist in the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search for her research on cement that could help prevent underwater oil rigs from rupturing. Nigeria’s oil sector may well be a future beneficiary of her research efforts. It is a testimony to the value of her work that she received an invitation to the White House Science Fair.

    Her patriotic spirit, significant for her age, is a reason to be optimistic about Nigeria’s future. She said: “Though I was born here in America, I have visited Nigeria many times. And I’ve seen that my cousins don’t have the same opportunities that I have. So definitely, whatever I do, I want to make sure that it has an impact on Nigeria.” It is heart-warming to see that Uwamanzu-Nna remains a Nigerian at heart, despite her Westernisation.

    The essential message that it is important to think of what one can do for one’s country strongly recommends itself, especially at this juncture when Nigeria and Nigerians are going through a period of political change that is expected to promote greater patriotism and stronger commitment to the country’s development.

    Nigeria should not only recognise but also internalise the ultimate import of Uwamanzu-Nna’s impressive progress, which is that human potential requires constructive socio-economic conditions for actualisation.

  • Europa League tie: Ejide warned not to repeat mistakes

    Europa League tie: Ejide warned not to repeat mistakes

    Hapoel Beer Sheva goalie Austin Ejide was heavily criticized for his blunder which led to the winning goal scored from the penalty spot by Split’s Mate Bilic in the second qualifying round of the Europa League last Wednesday.

    Allnigeriasoccer.com reports that Ahead of the reverse tie in Cyprus on Thursday evening, Roni Moskovitch, who won two championships with the Camels in the 1970s, has taken stock of the performance of the Nigeria international in the first leg.

    “I do not think he can be stable throughout the year but there is no doubt that Austin is among the best goalies that have been here.

    “Austin should have the peace he needs to not repeat the mistakes. He has a good team so his involvement is not so great in itself.

    “He should occupy himself mentally and physically so that he would not be surprised,” Roni Moskovitch was quoted as saying by one.co.il.

    Unarguably, last season was Ejide’s best since he arrived at the Israeli championship after helping Hapoel Beer Sheva finish second in the topflight.

    He has been on Nigeria’s rosters to the World Cup three times but never kept goal in any of the tournaments he attended.

  • Don’t repeat Anambra mistake in Ekiti, monarch cautions INEC

    THE Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that next year’s governorship election in Ekiti is free of “human errors”.

    Oba Adejugbe spoke in his palace at the weekend while hosting Governor Kayode Fayemi at the end of the latter’s tour of the 132 communities in the state.

    The monarch said the Anambra election showed that a lot needs to be done “with the present INEC as constituted by the Federal Government”, adding that “the electoral malpractices witnessed in Anambra last month were uncalled for and unjustifiable”.

    He said: “Ekiti does not want an election that will be inconclusive or rigged like they had in Anambra State. For an election to fail in one state is disappointing to Nigerians and bad for Nigeria’s image.

    “All stakeholders, including the police, INEC, youths and politicians must work according to the rules. They have to be cautious for Nigeria to attain greatness and get its democracy right.”

    Oba Adejugbe urged traditional rulers to appeal to stakeholders in their communities to put the people’s interests above partisan interests.

    Applauding Fayemi for his “massive” investment in education, health, electrification, road and urban renewal projects, the monarch urged the government to look into the perennial scarcity of water in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    Fayemi urged monarchs to champion the campaign against violence, adding that next year’s election was important to the survival of Ekiti.

    He said: “I appeal to our monarchs to warn politicians and youths against violence. Election will come and go, but Ekiti will remain because we have no other state to call our own.

    “We need to adhere strictly to the rules guiding the game of election. We have to be civil and engage in issues-based campaigns, rather than whipping up base sentiments and heating up the system unnecessarily. This will do Ekiti no good.”