The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Saturday

  • All these “compulsory” functions: I used to love my Saturdays

    STUDIES have revealed that in ancient times, the Sabbath Day was what today is Saturday. It was also designated a day of rest, right after temple worship. Then Western civilization came around and moved Saturday to Sunday, creating extra time for rest, roughly one and a half days in total.

    Then came Nigeria, and our current system has effectively reversed things to a six day working week, albeit in another guise.

    The otherwise free day that was Saturday has been completely annexed by the Nigerian “calendar-gods” and it has now become not only the busiest, but the hardest day of the week.

    Sunday is a bit tricky as well. In our parent’s days (for the Christian, churchy kinds), all they had to do was GO to church, and that was it. Now nobody simply GOES to church, everyone is a church worker, meaning you are in church very early, and leave very late each Sunday. Now this one is a joy; but the encroachment, and now complete takeover of my Saturday IS NOT. And I have decided that I am going to Take It Back!

    I used to love my Saturday mornings; the one time in the week that I could have a lie-in, guilt-free, and get out of bed driven purely by primordial need: for feeding! Here’s my typical Saturday: Quick food shopping is all that’s needed and then I cook a super-brunch which is sufficiently loaded enough to package me… back to bed! The rest of the day is spent lounging happily indoors. I wear my absolutely most comfortable tee shirt or tank top, bra-less and free for one whole day, just the way my Creator designed things, before Adam and Eve had to go and bite that crazy apple!

    With an easy pair of shorts, I’m on a roll till early Sunday morning when I finally take a bath (that of the previous day, actually).

    Then boom. I don’t really know when the change started- I only know that I do not like it at all; at all.

    My life is now such that after a busy working week, I face a very hectic Saturday, ending (or is it starting) the week with a busy Sunday morning.

    By Monday morning (in my office we have production meetings at 10 am), I am simply useless to myself and to everyone else. I stagger to work with the legendary Monday morning blues-in my case occasioned by the enervating Saturday morning slog.

    Please understand with me; like the saying goes, everybody loves a celebration, and so do I. I like going to weddings (white weddings, traditional weddings), thanksgivings, baby dedications, birthday parties, even big burials. But there can be too much of a good thing, and the loss of the day Saturday is too much of a sacrifice. It’s reached that point now that no-one visits or gets visited. That’s because no-one ever meets anyone at home!

    It is not only me, but if a lot of folks stopped to look closely, they would find the same dizzying speed being recorded in their weekly schedules. Meanwhile, more letters keep pouring in for one to “reserve” upcoming Saturday in the year, pending the distribution of invitation cards or tags!!

    These are all presented as “social” events or functions. But they are all presumed compulsory. Refrain from attending one event and you would spend the rest of that month answering everyone’s question: what happened, we didn’t see you at So-so’s wedding.

    Haba, YOU were there, wasn’t that enough occupation of the social space?! Some people don’t seem to realize that the compulsory tone to these social functions actually removes the very theme of socializing from these events.

    Theoretically, these events are excellent meeting points. But if you make it a routine to go to just one event each week; in one year you will come to realize that you will keep on seeing the same faces event in, event out, all year round.

    Worse, they too will keep seeing your face in the place; everywhere, and all of the time!

    I love to tell everyone that I grew up in the North, and there, the approach to life is as simple as it is real. The whole philosophy boils down to the fact that Life is for the Living. May I add also, that the Living Are Not For the Stressing.

    Take death for instance, which is a natural part of life. The day you pop, is the day you drop whether you are Muslim, Christian or even animist. This makes sense because hey, the day one passes on, IT’S ALL OVER!

    No fussy “befitting” burials for anyone in the North- the deceased wasn’t Michael Jackson; or whoever counts as this world’s greatest star. That is the simple truth, no matter how dear the dearly departed was. He/She is gone –IT’S ALL OVER.

    Look at weddings too. A typical Hausa man may have say 3 daughters, and all of “marriageable age”. Only one however, has a suitor. No problem – Hausa man simply “arranges” 2 more suitors for the other two and presto: All 3 get MARRIED ON THE SAME DAY! Added to this stroke of genius, the wedding ceremony itself is over in forty minutes flat!

    It’s only later on that they have the wedding dinners and banquets – even that aspect is entirely optional.

    Methinks this is the way to go, not me having to wake up very early on a  Saturday morning to rush my breakfast (I hate rushing my food, I am a slow eater). This MUST be preceded by zero hanging out on Friday evening.

    After that I have to dress up in the compulsory, though beautiful uniforms of the occasions; only to go and sweat profusely in the stuffy places of worship/reception halls, where the celebrant would have invited the whole world. The parking nightmare over, lunch would be served at 3pm after a tedious FOUR hour church service (one hour lost on African time, 10am service starts effectively at 11am).

    Incredibly, while I take all the pains to crisscross the nation to be at these do’s, the couples themselves do not even bother too much about it all: many of these mentioned society weddings have since crashed.

    Meanwhile, a lot of times I have found myself doing two or more of such the same day Haba – I Won’t Do; not anymore.

    I’m going back to dressing down, not dressing up, on Saturdays, in fact I’m not going to be dressing at all. Saturday is now going to be my ‘Back to Nature Day’, and so shall it be.… but if yours is a function in the North, feel free to invite me for your quick and painless event. I will joyfully attend.

    Cheers, happy Sunday!

    07055547031 sms/whatsapp.

  • ‘Go out and vote on Saturday’

    A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Ifako-Ijaye Constituency 11 on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Rasheed Makinde, has donated a multimillion naira water project to his constituency.

    The project, which was inaugurated by Speaker Mudashiru Obasa on Monday, is located at Osita Street, Akinbowale, Ifako-Ijaiye.

    Obasa said Makinde had performed well, hence the need to give him another mandate.

    He hailed him for his contributions to the assembly, saying he is expected to do more.

    Obasa urged voters in Ifako-Ijaye to come out en masse on Saturday and vote during the governorship and house of assembly elections. He said their turnout during the Presidential and National Assembly polls was not impressive.

    Makinde thanked the constituents for their support.

    He promised to give them more dividends of democracy if they return him to the assembly through their votes on Saturday.

  • See you at the polls on Saturday

    FEBRUARY 16 is here. It is just a few hours to Nigeria’s date with history. The general election begins on Saturday.

    It has been a long, tortuous journey full of drama, venom and malice. The battles have been fought on many fronts – newsrooms, boardrooms, restrooms and staffrooms. Internet “hyenas” and “jackals” have been at their most venomous, splashing hatred and lashing everybody.

    The tension has been so thick one could slice it with a kitchen knife. Elders and leaders have become mere dealers, with some claiming they have the key to a race’s brain box. Others have dumped the garb and dignity of statesmen to jump into the arena of politics, spewing out lies and concocting weird scenarios.

    It is an old ambush-and- hit war strategy: whip up sentiments against the opponent with a big heap of lies, play the victim by urging the world to keep an eye on him, rally people of like minds and dreams behind you and  get set to strike. Raise as much hell as you can and then go for the kill; hammer him.

    Obasanjo, a combatant of some repute, has been a master of this “shock and awe” strategy, which he used against Dr Goodluck Jonathan just before the 2015 elections. He accused the former president of breeding snipers who would be unleashed on the populace if he lost the election. Dr Jonathan lost and returned peacefully to his Otuoke redoubt, holding Mama Peace by the hand. The strategy has been deployed against President Muhammadu Buhari, a soldier, who seems to be unperturbed. Naturally. Has it worked? We shall see on Saturday.

    So prominent is Obasanjo’s role – he rallied some parties to form a stillborn coalition and delivered a lengthy diatribe of a press statement excoriating Buhari –  that the respected former president became the object of derisive jokes on the social media. There is this picture of Obasanjo in which he is dressed in a big “agbada”, cap and dark shoes. His neck is turned to the right as his head falls in total submission to the awesome power of nature. He is asleep at a public function. The caption: “Nobody should wake him up until the election is over; im wahala too much.”

    The religion card has been played in a desperate bid to heighten the tension. Buhari was accused of planning to Islamise Nigeria and Nigerians. As I write, the Church is getting stronger and nobody has claimed to have been Islamised.

    Besides, ethnic jingoists stepped up their campaign that Buhari was planning to enthrone a Hausa/Fulani hegemony – an age-old song. Will religion and ethnicism play a role? We shall see on Saturday.

    Guns were booming in many communities. Farmers and herders who had been together for ages suddenly became bitter enemies, killing one another and destroying structures that represented many years of toiling and sweating. Homes were burnt. Cows were stolen. Human life became a ping pong ball smashed across a table until it got broken, replaced by another, which is also smashed and broken for the morbid cycle to go on.

    Now, the guns are silent. Some peace. A governor made a huge show of the funeral of the victims of such killings. Obasanjo and his co-travellers turned the state into a tourist attraction. Tragedy-for-sympathy became a political tool and state policy. Take a bow Benue Governor Samuel Ortom. He dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and shortly after, the killings stopped. That was magical.

    Will all this count in this election? Let’s wait till Saturday.

    Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen was accused of failing to declare some choice assets of his. He was told to face the Code of Conduct Tribunal after an investigation by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). His Lordship, a honest man, simply told the truth – he forgot to declare the said assets, among them an account through which some $3m had passed.

    Indiscretion? So thought many patriots. Not so the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). It rose like the Eiffel Tower in defence of the symbol of its trade and insisted that Justice Onnoghen should face the National Judicial Council (NJC) and not the CCT. A wise man, Justice Onnoghen would rather not sit at judgment in his own matter; he sent the NJC on an indefinite suspension and then launched a series of legal battles to stop his trial. The CCT, unbowed, yesterday ordered his arrest.

    As I said, eminent lawyers lined up behind Justice Onnoghen. They were falling on top of one another to enlist in his army. But there were some renegades, who felt the procedure should not trump the substance. Did he do it or not? That should be the question, they roared for their lonely voice to be heard amid the popular din. Step forward for recognition, the indomitable Prof Sagay Itsejuwa Esanjumi, SAN.

    Stalemate. Not quite. Armed with an order of the CCT, Buhari suspended the CJN and swore in an Acting CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad . The crisis, rather than recede, boiled over. The NBA ordered a two-day court boycott, which many shunned even as the association’s officials launched an enforcement that sent the public wondering: “Are these lawyers or NURTW (Up National!) members?”

    The NJC has somehow found the courage to sit. It has given the CJN seven days to defend himself against the allegations hurled at him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The opposition PDP joined the fray. It accused Buhari of planning to emasculate the Judiciary ahead of the elections. The Senate rushed to the Supreme Court to find out if the President was right in suspending Justice Onnoghen. Curtain-twitching busybodies launched pro- Onnoghen protests, calling for his reinstatement because “he has committed no offence”. Incidentally, CJN Onnoghen was later to reveal graciously the secret of his remarkable wealth – farming. Now, where art thou ye doubting Thomas who see no redeeming feature in the government’s diversification efforts!

    Will the Onnoghen matter affect the election? We shall see on Saturday.

    After the CJN Onnoghen matter and the Obasanjo tantrums, the international community stepped in. The EU, the U.K. and the U.S. cautioned that credible elections should be guaranteed. The Federal Government was angry. It warned that it was all Nigeria’s internal affairs and that our sovereignty should be respected. APC Chair Adams Oshiomhole was furious. He said Nigeria had long ceased being a colony.

    The United States has since assured Nigerians that it has no preferred candidate, but interested only in free and fair elections. Will all the parties agree on what constitutes a free and fair election? What are the parameters? Is an election free when the winner gets his prize and becomes magnanimous in victory and  the loser imbibes the spirit of sportsmanship, believing that Olympics is not for winning, as they say?

    Saturday is here. We shall see.

    When Nasir Hell (a slip there; I take that again) El-Rufai, the tempestuous governor of Kaduna State, jumped into the fray, it became a full-blown street fight. He warned foreigners to behave so that there will be no need for body bags. That was highly inflammatory; combustible. The governor was pilloried to no end. But the Presidency lent him a hand, stressing that His Excellency spoke in the national interest.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told the international observers that they are just to observe and not monitor the elections. What is the difference between an observer and a monitor? We shall find out on Saturday.

    The Chinese, apparently, won’t be left out of this momentous moment – thanks to the social media. A friend sent me this yesterday: “Breaking News. The Chinese President has spoken on the February 16 election. He says, “chai choi ting. Young tei won feng. Nigeria chun fun chom 2019 feng chaing kin koo kung.

    “After looking at the whole thing, I agreed with the Chinese president. After all, it is in our national interest.”

    See you on Saturday at the polls.

    The Benin City torture victim

    THE police in Benin City, the Edo State capital, are holding five suspects who allegedly stripped naked a young girl, beat her up and poured hot pepper into her private parts – all in a savage bid to make her confess to stealing a phone. The video of the obscenity went viral on the Internet.

    The girl denied stealing the phone. She confessed under duress, she said. “They took me to a jujuman who said I was the one that stole the phone, but I maintained my innocence, until he brought a live snake to frighten me. It was then I said I took the phone, but I don’t know where it is. As soon as he left, the boys pounced on me, stripped me naked and started beating me.”

    Otoghile Joel, Lucky Igbinoba (aka One Man Squad), Edobor Osemwengie, Kingsley Iyamu and Ekponmwen  Friday are facing 14-count charge bordering on unlawful attempt to kill, kidnapping, attempted murder, unlawful administering of noxious substance into private parts and unlawful trial by ordeal. There are other charges.

    Prosecuting counsel Peter Ugwumba told the court that no phone was missing and it was all conceived to extort money from the victim.

    The poor girl’s account of her ordeal is moving. It is a vivid illustration of the bestiality that has displaced our humanity. Rights activists and all lovers of decency should pay attention to this case. I trust the court will determine who is right or wrong in this matter and dispense justice without favour.

  • Okeho centenary book launch Saturday

    The centenary celebration of the return of Okeho to its original settlement from the old site (Okeho Ahoro) will climax tomorrow.

    Okeho is the capital of Kajola Local Government in Oyo State.

    The major event for the grand finale is the launch of a book, titled: Okeho in History, by Prof Segun Gbadegesin, the Asiwaju of Okeho.

    The chief launcher is the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban of Borgu.

    Other dignitaries expected are: Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi; his deputy, Otunba Moses Alake-Adeyemo; Communication Minister Bayo Shittu; President of Dangote Group of Industries Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III.

    Residents of Okeho migrated from the present location to the old site in the 18th century, following incessant raids by slave traders from Dahomey (Republic of Benin) and attacks by Fulani warriors.

    Following a civil disorder on October 19, 1916, at Okeho Ahoro, the colonial administrator, Captain Ross, urged them to relocate to the present location, and by early 1917, they had resettled.

  • Obaseki to be installed AAU visitor Saturday

    All  is set at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma in Edo State, for installation of Governor Godwin Obaseki as a Visitor during the institution’s 21st convocation on Saturday.

    Its Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ignatius Onimawo, said at a pre-convocation  briefing that four persons, including Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr. Tony Elumelu, and CEO of Ray Royal Construction Company, Bishop Matthew Okpebholo, would be conferred with honorary degrees.

    He said 10 out of the 2,395 graduands to the awarded various degrees bagged First Class.

    He added that a backlog of over 17,000 certificates inherited from past administrations had been processed  for collection.

    “In the last one year, this university has embarked on initiatives to improve processes and procedures of teaching, learning and administration  to cope and be relevant in the face of  global challenges and dynamic technological advances.

    “Our university has made several giant strides that have positioned it in better light in the comity of universities.  I am happy to announce that as at today, we have improved in all the criteria by which we were ranked as the best state university in Nigeria,” he said

     

  • Bassey Andah lecture holds Saturday

    The Bassey Andah Foundation would hold its 18th memorial lecture on Saturday at the Transcorp Hotels in Calabar, the Cross Rivers State capital.

    The event’s theme is: “The Nigerian environment: A threatened heritage”.

    Keynote speakers are Lawrence Ikechukwu Ezemonye, a professor of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Forensics and deputy vice-chancellor (Administration), University of Benin; and Mr Nnimmo Bassey, an architect and Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Coordinator, Oilwatch International.

    The event will be chaired by Prof Oladele Osibanjo, Executive Director, Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the African Region.

    The Bassey Andah Foundation was inaugurated to immortalise Prof Bassey Andah, who was a thorough bred scholar and teacher and astute University administrator.

    He died December 22, 1997.

     

  • 2016 COWBELLPEDIA first stage exam holds Saturday

    2016 COWBELLPEDIA first stage exam holds Saturday

    Thousands of JSS2 and SS2 pupils are expected to participate in the first stage examination of the 2016 Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematics T.V Quiz Show this Saturday in centres across the country.

    The examination will determine those who will participate in the television quiz show stage of the competition sponsored by Promasidor Nigeria Limited.

    A total of 108 pupils in the junior secondary (54) and senior secondary (54) categories will proceed to the quiz stage.  They will be made up of the top 20 candidates nationwide in the first stage examination as well as the best in each of 34 states.

    Festus Tettey, Head of Marketing, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, said that the written examination will be conducted nationwide by the National Examination Council (NECO).

    He said each school can present their best five pupils for each category.  However, two of the pupils must be girls in line with the firm’s efforts to encourage the girl-child to take interest in Mathematics.

    Managing Director of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Mr. Olivier Thiry, said the company significantly increased the prize money for the finals for both pupils and teachers this year.  He said, the top prize winner in each category will go home with one million naira in addition to other prizes, while the teacher will get N400,000.

    “All these improvements are to underscore Promasidor’s effort to provide a credible platform that discovers, recognises and rewards excellence in Mathematics, a critical component of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in Nigeria. This is in addition to the quality nutrition that is provided by the Cowbell brand for the nourishment of the Nigerian populace, especially children,” he said.

    The first and the second runner-up will take N750,000 and N500,000 as well as plaques, mathematics textbooks and computers.

  • ‘Nigeria needs more Saturday Boxing shows’

    ‘Nigeria needs more Saturday Boxing shows’

    The Chairman, Lagos State Amatuer Boxing Association, Monsuru Liasu , has said that the “Saturday Boxing Show” has helped amateur boxers in the state  develop their skills and hopes it can be replicated in other states.

    Liasu told SportingLife recently in Lagos that the competition was good for developing boxing at the grass roots and for the boxers to show their talent.

    “We are always happy with the show because it gives our boxers the opportunity to showcase their skills.”

    “If programmes like this can be replicated by other states’ boxing associations, Nigeria would be the frontrunner when it comes to boxing in Africa.” Liasu said.

    “If you check the profiles of boxers that have been representing the country in international events you will find out that most of them are products of the monthly boxing show.”

    A representatiove form Ikoyi LDCA, Julius Solomon lauded the Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame (LBHF) investment in amateur boxing is beginning to stamp its footprints on the Nigerian boxing scene While thanking the former Commissioner for Finance and current Chairman LBHF, Mr Wale Edun for leading the initiative.

    Meanwhile, in the competition, Lion Boxing Club’s Dare Ogunyanju defeated Adeniyi Adewale of Ola Akins Boxing Club in the 49kg weight class by a 3-0 unanimous decision while the 56kg contest between Salua Nurudeen of Lagelu Boxing Club and Michael Adegboyega of Ikorodu Pioneer Boxing Club ended with the same score line in Nurudeen’s favour.

    The only female contest of the day was a one sided affair as Awise Zainab of No Shaking Boxing Club knocked out her challenger, Yemisi Akintayo of Kamlat Boxing Club in the third round to win the 51kg weight category fight and take home the Best Boxer of the Day award.

  • Borno’s black Saturday: 11 yrs after

    Let me from the start make it clear that I am writing this feature from a dual position. First as a writer and then as the Chairman of the Committee of the Affected Victims of the February 18, 2006 sectarian riot whose memories rather than abate are in the upward trend even after over a decade of the unfortunate incident. This is more so when the event is strongly perceived as the fore runner of the current Boko Haram insurgency now ravaging the North East of the country.  February 18,2016 marked the eleventh year of the Borno Black Saturday, the day the sanctity of man was defiled, veil of peace torn asunder and the Borno philosophy of “Home of Peace and Hospitality” shattered to “Home of Pieces and Hostility”.

    The day will not just go. The memories are always there. They are memories of sadness, memories of misgivings, memories of injustice, memories of man’s inhumanity to man and memories of promise made and promise broken.

    February 18, 2006 will not just go. It was the day Borno State of Nigeria re-enacted or replayed the “Sharpeville Massacre” of the notorious regime of apartheid South Africa. It was the day a very dark cloud of smoke accompanied by dead silence hung over the city of Maiduguri. It was the smoke of the burning of bodies of our innocent brothers, sisters, children, husbands, wives, churches, homes, stores, cars and other valuables. It was the day when in a twinkling of an eye Maiduguri recorded unprecedented numbers of orphans, widows, widowers and refugees in various parts of Maiduguri with no place to lay their heads and nothing to eat. The day was indeed a reminder of what Shakespeare called the “architecture of ruins”.

    It was a black Saturday indeed, especially for the Christian community of Maiduguri metropolis and the entire Christian community in Borno State and indeed for men of conscience. The black Saturday will not just go because the blood of the innocent souls that perished has constituted a nightmare to the authors, sponsors and mentors of this bloody carnival and the murderers who murdered the innocent sleep “will sleep no more.”

    The black Saturday refused to go and is raising more questions than answers, especially to erstwhile Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, who was on ground and indeed a living witness to this dastardly act on the fateful day and pledged to compensate the innocent victims of this unprovoked attack but swallowed his words. He prevaricated with the lame excuse that he was waiting for federal government’s financial assistance until he left office.

    Talking of the dark clouds of silence that hung on Maiduguri on the black Saturday reminds one of the visit of Pope Benedict VI in May (2006) to Auschwitz. This place (Auschwitz) was a concentration camp in Poland during the Second World War where millions of Jews were gassed to death by the Nazis. In an emotion laden speech, Pope Benedict declared: “To speak in this place of horror, in this place where unprecedented mass crimes were committed against God and man is always impossible . . . in a place like this, words fail, in the end, there can only be a dead silence, a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: why Lord did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this? How many questions arise in this place! Constantly, the question comes up: where was God in those days? Why was He silent? How could He permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil”.

    February 18, 2006 means  different things to different people. To many outside Borno State, it was a normal day that started well and ended well. But to the people of Borno State, especially the inhabitants of Maiduguri, the state capital, it was a day of comedy to some. It was a day of tragedy to some; it was a day of triumph to some; it was a day of misfortunes to some; to some, it was day of defeat and to some, it was a day heaven came crumbling. To the victims of February 18, 2006 who were mostly Christians, it was a day of baptism by fire and a day the Satan was let loose, ran amok and wreak havoc.

    This day, a group of insignificant elements with deep rooted prejudices against the Christendom and acting on strict directives of their alleged devilish inspired sponsors or mentors unleashed on innocent souls an unprecedented holocaust. And before the shout of Jack Robinson, Maiduguri was neck deep in inferno, bloodletting, man’s inhumanity to man, terrorism, looting, arson and to say the least barbarism. It was a grand design conspiracy carefully thought, carefully planned, carefully mapped out, carefully directed and meticulously executed. The action was spontaneous and exact in all the areas affected.

    Apart from the incalculable damage to property and other valuables, the gruesome murder of innocent souls occurred in many residential compounds.

    There were conflicting figures on the number of causalities and extent of destruction. For example, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Borno State Chapter, 56 churches were destroyed, while residences, shops/restaurants, hotels and offices, numbering about 100 were razed and about 100 souls perished.

    But, according to the chairman of the state government high powered committee of inquiry into the incident, Ambassador Ahmad Baba Jidda, the Secretary to the Borno State Government, “35 residences were destroyed, 52 churches were burnt down, 14 shops raised and vandalized, seven hotels were also raised and three offices, including a library was destroyed”.

    The committee also said:”21 persons were confirmed killed, 61 others sustained various injuries and were treated and discharged, 254 suspects were arrested during the mayhem, out of which 176 were released on bail and 76 have cases to answer”. According to Ambassador Jidda, 16 memoranda were received from individuals and organizations. The Jidda committee put the cost of the property destroyed at N1, 446,145,735.00.

     

    Delivering a paper at the EYN Church on February 18, 2007 at Wulari, Maiduguri, as the guest speaker at the one-year memorial service on February 18, 2006 sectarian riot, Reverend   Dr.   Mathew   Man-Oso   Ndagoso   regretted   the insensitivity of former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff to the plight of the victims of the unfortunate incident. He noted that it was sad to note that after the governor had pledged several times to compensate the victims, he went back on his words. The reverend warned on the consequences of the repeat of February 18 episode.

    Today, after over a decade and in spite of passionate appeals from well- meaning Nigerians, including traditional rulers, clerics and statesmen, to the authority for compensation to the victims, the dark cloud of silence that hung over Maiduguri Black Saturday subsists and will not go as it awaits justice and fair play.

     

    • Victor Izekor, a public affairs commentator, writes from Maiduguri at victorizekor@gmail.com
  • Kogi will seal its fate on Saturday one way or the other

    Kogi will seal its fate on Saturday one way or the other

    In six days, Kogi State will banish its vacillations and vote for one of the two leading candidates in the governorship election. The choice is between Governor Idris Wada, who is rounding up his first term, and former governor Abubakar Audu. One was a pilot, and the other a banker and accountant. The first a commoner, so to say, and the second a prince as a matter of fact. In stark ways, the two candidates are different, but for the electorate, the difference between them is blurred, and the choice difficult and foreboding. If they vote Governor Wada, whom his supporters describe as friendly, sensitive and easygoing, they will have voted continuity, conservatism and extreme mediocrity in line with his four-year record. But if they cast their ballots for Prince Audu, whom his opponents dismiss as uncouth, proud and abrasive, his antecedents as a rough-hewn and impatient moderniser show they will be voting for radical change and rapid infrastructural transformation.

    The choice facing Kogi is indeed inelegant. They are in short being called upon to vote with their heads or with their hearts, to buy a house for its bold and brilliant painting or for its structural integrity; to determine whether they prefer the scaffold or the building, or beauty instead of character. Left to most Kogites, they would have preferred either a Wada with the transformative proclivity of an Audu, or an Audu with the gentle manners of the accommodating and forgetful Wada. Instead, they will pick one with all his warts, and they will groan and squirm in making that choice. But needs must when the devil drives. On Saturday, barring last minute changes and shuffles, a majority of Kogites will half vote All Progressives Congress (APC) and half vote Prince Audu, the former because they are accustomed to casting their lot with the ruling party in Abuja, and the latter because their instincts tell them only the prince can rouse the state from its somnolence and retardation. In both cases, Prince Audu will be the winner.

    In the view of a significant number of Kogi voters, Governor Wada has demonstrated how terribly limited his range is: in imagination, scope of projects, and vision. He may not have disquieted the state with insensitive and dismissive comments, nor lathered it with the haughty grandstanding common with proud and impatient rulers, but in four detached years, he has almost moulded the state into a sepulchral pit of dry ideological bones, broken inner city roads and highways, and moribund factories. If he is to be rewarded with another four years, as he and his supporters have campaigned, it will not be because he had done well, but because Kogites had suspended reason. In short, the chances of reelecting the frequently amnesiac and absentee Governor Wada are not half as bright as the chances of electing a boisterous Prince Audu. For though the prince has not often talked peaceably with the people, he had outpaced all his successors in the practical art of governance and projects execution.

    In their campaigns round the state, the APC ticket of Prince Audu and Abiodun Faleke has made tremendous impact in mobilising the electorate. More Kogites have defected to the APC than have crossed over to the lines of Governor Wada’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The one-way movements have made sense. A few months ago, the contest was billed to be a close one. But fortuitously for Prince Audu, the seemingly dithering APC in Abuja has managed to assemble a cabinet that appears capable of inspiring the nation. The Buhari stock has never really gone down nationally, let alone in Kogi State which gave him a thunderous approbation in the March presidential poll. Now, that stock is high and on the rise, just days before the Kogi poll. Whether in Kogi East, West or Central, it is now more than ever likely that voters will speak with one voice; but if not with one voice, then with dissenting voices rendered in whispers — barely audible, barely significant.

    In the substantial rally the APC held last week in Okene, Kogi Central, a senatorial district previously thought to be either non-committal or outrightly opposed to the APC, the crowd surprisingly warmed up to the piddling soapbox histrionics of campaigning APC leaders. Other than perhaps the animated bombast of Edo governor Adams Oshiomhole, no one had the rhetorical fluidity or charisma to rouse the people into a frenzy. President Muhammadu Buhari is being pressured to bow to the nonsensical argument by PDP politicians to dissociate himself from the Prince Audu campaign on account of the EFCC case against the challenger. It is expected that the president will resist that strange and indefensible pressure not to be in Lokoja, Kogi State for the final rally. He will know that if he doesn’t go to Lokoja, he will be sending the inadvertent message he is contemptuous of his party’s choice, and that the PDP can as well have the state — as if the president can guarantee the rectitude of past and present PDP governors in the state. Given his cult following in Kogi, should the president campaign for Prince Audu, it will probably trigger a walkover for the APC. But whether the president makes a campaign appearance in Kogi or not, the outcome of the election is not in doubt. Governor Wada has not done anything to deserve to win; and Prince Audu has mercifully not said anything to deserve to lose.

    Moreover, throughout his time in office, Prince Audu’s government received less than N20bn from federal allocation, with which he founded a university and a polytechnic, and built a modern commissioners’ quarters, new and vital road arteries, Confluence Hotel, and many other significant projects. On the contrary, the two PDP governors of Kogi collected over N500bn in about 12 years and ended up grounding the state with nothing substantial to show for the money. Given the massive defections from the PDP, it appears the message has gone out loud and clear that the state’s PDP governors were an unmitigated disaster. Instead of a narrow victory, the APC is more likely to achieve a rout on Saturday, despite fears the PDP is rumoured to be buying voter cards and may be planning to use violence to disrupt polling, just as it imprudently wanted to use the bailout money — N50bn, the highest in the country — to sway votes.