The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Search

  • Search for sustainable education

    Education, in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, is in crisis today. For many years, African Universities have at a geometric rate waned in quality, substance and prestige.  Over the last two decades, many of our Universities have become classic examples of what American scholar, Gareth Hardin, described as the Tragedy of the Commons.  Hardin theorised that assets that are commonly held by members of the public often perish as a result of neglect and lack of proper care.  Soon after independence granted to African countries by Colonial Masters, African Universities started experiencing severe dosage of financial starvation, infrastructural decay and political neglect. Those who attended or taught at any Nigerian university between 1965 and 1990 could easily appreciate the extent of the geometric depreciation of necessary physical structures and facilities in our universities. A combination of lack of adequate funding, dearth of qualitative practical training curriculum; and inability to attract the best teaching minds have all stagnated Nigerian institutions of higher learning to the current appalling point whereby the Centre for World University Rankings, and other global rankings that rank Universities based on facilities, programme and instructional content, mention no African University in the top 500 category. This is in a continent with over 1000 universities.

    Some scholars cast the blame for the current decline in the quality of education in Africa on pedagogical approaches of colonial education that eroded and devalued traditional African cultures; perpetuated intellectual servitude and technological dependence; and enshrined societal inequality that remain deep-rooted till date.

    Some blame the falling standard on the arbitrary partition of Africa by European powers in Berlin in 1884 by lumping together historically incompatible people independent or antagonistic groups, animists, Christians and Muslims into political units which continue to wobble with widespread intertribal wars, religious and boundary disputes, civil disobedience, pervasive lack of internal democracy within political parties, insurgencies, kidnapping, ferocious terrorist acts, killings, murder and widespread destruction of properties.

    As you all know, most if not all these countries have failed to transform into viable nation states thereby rendering attainment of quality education unattainable.

    Some blame the ‘decline’ of  falling educational standards in Africa post colonialisation, on the failure of African leaders to replicate and consolidate on the modest achievement of the colonial era with respect to qualitative education. Those in this school of thought point to failure of successive African governments to properly maintain educational institutions and structures that were put in place by colonial leaders and failure of governments to devote significant portions of yearly budget to education.

    To demonstrate the incompatibility of the ethnic groups lumped together arbitrarily by the European powers, I have compiled the number of tribes and ethnic groups in each of the areas of influence allocated to each of the European powers at the Berlin Conference in 1884. In Dahomey now known as Benin Republic, there are 42 ethnic groups including Yoruba; in Nigeria there are 370 ethnic groups including Yoruba. In Cameroun, there are 250 ethnic groups.

    I align with the last two schools of thought. The search for sustainable education in Africa cannot continue to follow the simplistic argument of blaming the European powers. We must genuinely ask ourselves, what have successive African leaders done to transform into viable states those areas carved out arbitrarily by the European powers in Berlin? What have they done to build upon and improve colonial structure on education? What can we do to transform the incompatible ethnic groups in each of the areas of influence carved out for the European powers into a nation?

    I have conducted a survey of the quantity and quality of education during colonial times in Africa to determine where we were, ascertain where we are now; identify how we got here; and then prescribe how we can get to where we need to be.

    In the education sector, perennial failures by successive governments to prioritise investment in education, has resulted in a situation whereby several of the infrastructure in place in several African universities are those erected pre-independence. Aside from the dilapidated classroom and laboratory infrastructure in several African universities due to age, many of the structures have been stretched beyond their original carrying capacity due to excessive demand traceable to over population. As the United Nations Regional Bureau for Africa, recently noted:

    The pace of skills and technology development and innovation has been slow in Africa, mainly because of the absence of a critical mass of highly university-educated skilled labour, and lack of high quality laboratories and scientific equipment…

    Lack of facilities, and deterioration of infrastructure as a result of age and rapid expansion, have stifled innovation, research and academic scholarship across Africa.  Many of our best brains, such as Professor Wale Adebanwi, are here in Oxford, Harvard etc and have been unable to come back home due to poor working environment and lack of an innovative and supportive academic environment for world class scholarship. As a World Bank study titled The Challenge of Establishing World Class Universities, noted:

    In academia, the adage “you get what you pay for” appears accurate regarding better-quality work being done where salaries are relatively highest. World-class universities are able to select the best students and attract the most qualified professors and researchers.

    In conclusion, it is evident that a combination of factors has rendered the search for sustainable education in post-colonial Africa illusory and utopian. They include:

    (a) lack of true federalism among the states created at Berlin conference in    1884 having regard to amalgamation of many incompatible tribes,

    (b) failure of successive African government to invest adequately in     education

    (c) failure of the government to sensitise the public that no government alone can fund quality and functional education

    (d) lack of support for private institutions for research and educational development by government.

    (e)  inadequate emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship in our     educational institutions,

    (f) poor leadership,

    (g) uncontrolled population,

    (h) poor working conditions and environment in our University, and

    (i)  failure to adopt global approach to learning.

    All hope is however not lost.  We all as Africans, and major stakeholders and leaders in the higher education sector, have pivotal, sacred and indispensable roles to play in contributing our strategic opinions and efforts to reversing the current trend. As John Galbraith, an economist and public intellectual, once noted:

    All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major problems of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

     

     

    • Excerpts of a paper delivered by Aare Babalola at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

     

     

  • 2019: Search for Northern consensus candidate deadlocked

    There are indications at the weekend that the search for a consensus northern presidential candidate for 2019 election had been deadlocked. The Nation investigation shows that barely four days before the next summit of the group, scheduled to hold on March 29, 2019, Election Committee of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) is yet to agree on any consensus candidate.

    A reliable source from Kano, who is close to one of the possible aspirants for the presidential seat in 2019 and another source from Gombe State told The Nation at the weekend that after the February outing, the election sub-committee, saddled with the task of searching for the envisaged consensus candidate, has not made any tangible headway.

    “There is a form of deadlock, confusion. I can confirm to you off record that since the last public outing, the elders have not been able to hold any successful meeting with any of the major actors on this consensus agenda. In fact, confusion has trailed every effort made so far as none of the aspirants seems ready to submit to the group’s screening. This is because some of them, especially the ones from the Northwest here, believe that the elders were secretly sponsored by an interested party from the Northeast, who simply wishes to use the elders to secure the consensus ticket without any serious opposition. They therefore vowed not to be manoeuvred by the elders. So, what we have now is a no man’s land. Everyone is on his own,” our source from Kano said.

    Explaining further, he said: “As you must know, this whole issue about consensus candidate is a PDP or opposition’s affair; count APC out of it. It is well known today that no one from the North will contest against Buhari for APC’s ticket. So, what the press calls the search for a northern consensus candidate is the effort of some Buhari opponents in the North and in PDP to raise a consensus candidate amongst themselves. But so far, it is not working. They have not been able to hold any successful meeting with any of the known presidential aspirants; this I can confirm to you.”

    The source from Gombe State, who is an associate of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, however said he heard the elders are working round the clock but refused to comment on the allegation that even in PDP, the consensus arrangement is not working. “All I can say is that the group is yet to come up with any consensus candidate. It may not be correct to say the idea can’t work in PDP. The point is that PDP has many qualified and determined aspirants; so, it may not be easy to narrow it down to a single consensus candidate. But that is not to say it is not possible. I can assure you that even within APC; Mr. President may not get the ticket so easily.”

    Commenting on the development, a social commentator and APC member in Abuja, Wilfred Ogbotobo, said, “As far as I am concerned, the whole idea of consensus is a stunt. The North is not a political party; hence the whole thing is a charade. It is an attempt by aggrieved egos to mainstream their relevance when their conservative political interests are at stake. The Adamu Ciroma class tried it in 2011 on behalf of Atiku but it didn’t make him to clinch the PDP ticket. Some of the names that are now being associated with this consensus drama were key players in the PDP then. It is a gimmick that has lost its element. Buhari didn’t clinch the APC ticket or won the general election in 2015 by the workings of a northern consensus that Nigeria needs urgently. Who are the northern elders involved? They are all NPN/PDP members and sympathizers. So, what do you expect from them?”

    Earlier this year, NPLF as part of its preparations for the next general election, set up some sub-committees, including the 2019 Election Committee, which, amongst others was given the task of getting a northern consensus candidate for 2019.

    Leaders of the forum include the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed; former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu and Senator Paul Zannan.

    Since then, top politicians from the north have been touted as possible targets for the envisioned northern consensus candidates. They include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido; Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo; Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; and Senator Ahmed Makarfi, former PDP National Chairman.

     

  • Dapchi and the search for meaning

    Dapchi and the search for meaning

    A horrific nightmare? A national embarrassment? A national shame? What is Dapchi? How does one even start making sense of a senseless occurrence? Indeed, a recurrence! How does a government that rode to power on the adjudged weakness of an incumbent government defend itself against a reasonable charge of weakness and ineptitude? What goes round comes round!

    In the face of a mounting evidence of self-generated crises, does a loyal supporter pretend visual or hearing impairment? Or mental incapacity? Not now! After the truth is canvassed privately without effect, a self-respecting conscientious rational being has a responsibility to his or her conscience to speak truth to power publicly. In 2003, after “A Mad March”, I called out on “Those Who Must Speak Now”. Now I count myself as one among those who must speak now.

    Call it what you may. Deja vu it is not. This present, like the recent past, is real. This is not a fantastic psychiatric recall of an illusory experience from the past. We were there at Chibok only four years ago and the memory is still fresh with us all, especially with survivors and grieving parents and relations of the lost. Did we then not make a vow that it will never happen again? How did the ball get dropped and who did it?

    The wise admonish us that when a people fail to learn from experience, they are inevitably condemned to repeat it. How did we fail to learn from the experience of Chibok?

    Chibok was four years ago in April 2014 when Boko Haram terrorists abducted more than 250 young girls from their boarding house. They were sexually assaulted and exploited. At tender ages, away from their parents, their abductors hawked them as sex slaves. They mothered their children against their will. For three years, attempts to get them released and rejoined with their families failed amid partisan political jabs. Candidate Buhari and APC won the general election of 2015 with a promise to rescue the Chibok girls and end the menace of Boko Haram.

    The Buhari administration hit the ground running and in the first few weeks of inauguration it ordered Service Chiefs to relocate to the Northeast. That was greeted with relief and appreciation. The military reported progress and soon many of the Chibok girls regained their freedom, though the trauma of the ordeal, including forced motherhood, couldn’t be erased. At least, there was a national sigh of relief with a presidential promise to resettle the survivors and pursue the culprits till the scourge is permanently extinguished. Now this!

    If anything was learnt from Chibok, it was that terrorists had an easy access to the school because there was no security presence there. The police were not a match for the sophisticated weapons of the terrorists. There was no military presence. Therefore, it made sense that the military was deployed to Dapchi for the protection of the young students at the Dapchi College of Science and Technology. That was a strategic move that deterred the terrorists.

    In addition, between 2015 and 2017, the military and other security forces succeeded in the coordinated operation against Boko Haram. Unfortunately, that success had been misconstrued to mean complete routing. Apparently, someone prematurely declared “Mission Accomplished” and withdrew the army from Dapchi.

    Was it a case of political intrigue to embarrass the administration ahead of 2019? I know some within the party and the administration might be tempted to think along this line. But they should perish the thought and avoid going there because they mocked similar thinking four years ago. And frankly, to go there is to admit to the charge of ineptitude. For why couldn’t a competent administration invest thought and resources in foiling any political intrigue on the part of the opposition or other malcontents?

    If you knew that an earth-shaking occurrence took place a year to the last election and it cost the ruling party the election, does it not stand to reason that you would arm yourself against a similar occurrence under your watch? Who are the insiders of the Rock that strategize about the good of the president and the nation? Who are the security advisers? What explanation is forthcoming from the Minister of Defence? And the Minister of Internal Affairs? Are these the President’s men in whom he is well-pleased? Surely, they couldn’t be accomplices in any scheme to embarrass him! Or can they?

    So are the Service Chiefs. Indeed, some mischievous observers would see poetic justice boldly scripted in a chapter of this episode. Has the President not been recently accused of staffing the Defence headquarters with his people? Can they be implicated in a plot to embarrass him? Or are they just incompetent?

    The death of a baby is responsible for the mother’s plight in the hands of her tormentors. Unfortunately, when an administration that was celebrated at inception as the patron saint of peace and security appears to have lost its ward, it unwittingly energizes mockers and tormentors. Having succumbed to the clever tackle of the terrorists, it has opened the space of reproach to small indignities. Hear PDP and company! And wait in vain for APC publicity crew’s response. Mischief!

    The national outcry against the obvious shoddy handling of the farmer-herdsmen conflict was still raging with little progress toward its resolution. It was already being characterized as the Boko Haram of APC without knowing that the real Boko Haram of APC was around the corner. Three years into the life of the administration, the initial teething problem can no longer be an excuse. The actual practice of lunacy is shortchanged when the preparation for it takes forever.

    It didn’t help that, like 2014, the initial administration reaction was utterly confusing. “Thank God, students were not abducted. Oh! we are sorry students were actually abducted.” “But thanks to the military, abducted students have been released. Oh! too bad, abducted students have not been released.” It is anybody’s guess how parents and loved ones were supposed to handle the confusion. Do we care about our children and their parents?

    Unlike 2014, however, reason prevailed in quick succession. Cabinet members were sent to Yobe on fact-finding mission. The President ordered the military chiefs to relocate to the sector and he promised parents that their children will be returned to them, a promise that he cannot afford to break.

    Seeking the presidency is seeking a legacy for party and candidate. For the party, it is about placing its vision for the nation at the center, working hard to have it realized within the time it has, and hoping that it becomes engrained in the fabric of the nation.

    A political party’s vision could be the establishment of a security infrastructure that keeps the people safe for a long time. It could be a welfare program that takes seriously the burden of social life on people and relieves it on their behalf. It could be a vision of a structure that takes account of the diversity of the population and seeks to make it more productive of harmony in the long run. Having bought into the vision of the party, the presidential candidate is expected to promote it and implement it to its logical conclusion. At this point in the life of the administration, it is not too early to ask, what will be its legacy?

    Surely, there have been some achievements. The economy is improving. Foreign reserve is rising. Corruption is being attacked. Citizens normally expect these of any administration. Securing a legacy requires more. And for that more, attention must be paid to the various strands in the fabric of the party. Are leaders working at cross purposes? If so, can there ever be an alignment of leadership and followership?  When egocentric and ethnocentric leaders pursue their self-interest at the expense of party solidarity and victory; when they poohpooh the concept and practice of internal democracy and the grassroot revolt; if the party fails in the end, what is their gain? Or is their plan to jump ship before it hits the iceberg?

     

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  • Air Force steps up search for 110 kidnapped girls

    Air Force steps up search for 110 kidnapped girls

    Minister: govt ’ll rescue them

    The Nigeria Air Force (NAF) has deployed more assets in a day and night search for the 110 schoolgirls abducted last week by suspected Boko Haram men.

    The Federal Government said yesterday that 110 pupils of the Government Girls’ Science Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi are unaccounted for.

    Dapchi is the headquarters of Bursari Local Government Area of Yobe State. It is about 100 kilometres from Damaturu, the state capital.

    The figure is higher than the 105  given by the parents of the pupils at the weekend.

    The school was on February 19 attacked by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in military fatigues who took away the girls in 11 trucks.

    Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation Lai Mohammed, gave the latest figure yesterday after a meeting of the Federal Government delegation with Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam and other stakeholders on the Dapchi attack in Damaturu, the state capital.

    Minister of Interior Abdulrahman Dambazau and Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole Maj.-Gen. Roger Nicholas were in the team.

    A statement by NAF Director of Public Relations and Information Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, urged Nigerians, including the rural dwellers who might have information that could lead to the location of the girls, to bring such information to the attention of the military authorities.

    AVM Adesanya said : “The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed additional air assets, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, to the Northeast in a renewed effort at locating the missing Dapchi girls.

    “Before now, following confirmation of reports that some of the girls were yet to be accounted for, the NAF had deployed some ISR platforms and helicopters to search for and possibly locate the missing girls as well as the rogue Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs).

    “Although these search operations were conducted in a covert manner, for obvious reasons, the efforts did not yield the desired results.

    “Accordingly, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, directed the immediate deployment of additional air assets and NAF personnel to the Northeast with the sole mission of conducting day and night searches for the missing girls.

    “It is noteworthy that the renewed efforts at locating the girls are being conducted in close liaison with other surface security forces. While the NAF will spare no efforts at possibly locating the girls via its air operations,

    “It also seizes this opportunity to call on anyone, especially the locals, who might have any information that could lead to the location of the girls to bring such information forward to NAF authorities or other relevant security agencies.”

    Mohammed said efforts were being made to get the girls back. He explained that a situation room to give succor to the traumatized parents and guardians would be created. The deployment of policemen and Civil Defence men in schools has been decided by the government.

    “Far reaching decision were taken here today: one, is that henceforth, the police and the Civil Defence corps will ensure that their presence is strong in every school to serve as a deterrent to the insurgents. Secondly, the security agencies and outfits are working together and synergising to ensure that these girls are recovered as fast as possible.

    “We are working on very important things that would not be very impudent to talk about but we want to assure Nigerians that no stone will be left unturned in our determination to rescue these girls,” he said.

    On how the figure of the abducted pupils was arrived at, Mohammed said it was based on the briefings from the principal of the college, Hajia Adama Abdulkarim, and the Commissioner for Education, Hon. Mohammed Lamin, that 906 students – out of who 110 have not been accounted

    for – were in the school on the day of the attack.

    He said the security agencies were working on many leads regarding the whereabouts of the girls.

    ‘’This is the second time in four days that a Federal Government delegation would visit Yobe State since the unfortunate incident. This is a measure of the seriousness with which we are addressing the issue. The security forces are leaving no stone unturned in their search for the girls.

    ‘’We are back here in Yobe as part of efforts to provide some succor to the parents of the girls, to let them know that they are not alone and also to reassure them that we will not rest until we have found the girls. We will carry the parents along on the efforts we are making,’’ Mohammed said.

    Mohammed explained that his statement in Dapchi last Thursday that “Boko Haram is  looking for oxygen to breath” is at aimed at  like trivialising the abduction but rather to underscore the major success the government has achieved against the insurgents in the last few years.

    He said: “If you look at what this government has done in containing the Boko Haram insurgency, you will agree with me that this is actually looking for attention. It is actually more like oxygen. Just one life is very important. We are not making it look trivial, but we are just saying that we must remain focused. It is a very huge task and we want to assure Nigerians that the days of Boko Haram is almost at an end.”

    Apart from the governor, members of the state Executive Council, the principal and vice principal of the school, representatives of the parents of the missing girls and security

    agencies attended the meeting.

    Mohammed said “No stone will be left unturned in our determination to rescue these girls,” the minister said.

    He said the federal and state governments as well as parents would collaborate with security agents to rescue the students.

    The minister reiterated that the insurgents were being contained and now looking for soft targets.

    “Government will remain focused and resolute in the fight against insurgency to rescue the students and every Nigerian in their custody.”

    Dambazau said the delegation embarked on the trip to get the facts right ‘’so that the approach to the solution can be correct’’.

    ‘’We must get back the girls and also ensure that this does not happen again,’’ he said.

  • Perilous search for the Golden Fleece

    Sir: It came as a rude shock to many few weeks ago when news filtered in that 26 Nigerian dead bodies, mostly teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 18 were found in an Italian warship named Cantabria. Subsequent investigations by the Italian authorities revealed that the girls drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy and also that two of the girls were pregnant. They also did not find any sign of sexual molestation or rape on the dead bodies.

    However, this is not the first time that this has occurred. As a matter of fact, the success rate is far higher than the failure rate which has only served to incentivize many young people to try their luck. According to statistics from the Italian Foreign Ministry, over 100,000 migrants successfully crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy this year alone. What are the factors propelling our youths to embark on such hazardous journeys often through deserts where they could be attacked by bandits or devoured by wild animals looking for food to eat? They could drown in the Mediterranean while trying to cross from Libya to Italy often on overcrowded dinghies and without life jackets. Who are the sponsors of these youths as recent research indicates that it costs nothing less than $6,000 to ferry these youths to Europe through these dangerous routes? What steps can be taken by the various authorities to stop this illegal migration?

    The Nigerian government through the Ministry of Information and the National Orientation Agency in collaboration with the media should embark on a massive sensitization campaign to disabuse the minds of young people about the illusion of prosperity overseas. The current economic hardship bedevilling our nation has made many to falsely assume that you can literally pick up gold from the streets of Europe and America. The campaign should also promote the virtues of self-reliance, hard work and the dignity of labour among the youths. The youths should be told in clear, unequivocal, unambiguous and unmistakable terms that the days of depending on the government for white collar jobs are over. That it is only through the engaging of your divine and God-given talents that you can be successful in life. One wonders how they are able to raise the princely sum needed to embark on the trip when they complain of economic hardship principally induced by lack of jobs. The same energy that they use in generating such an amount of money can also be used to generate funds which can be invested in productive ventures which will not only benefit them but also the larger society.

    The African Union should take proactive steps in not only blocking the smugglers routes but also criminalizing illegal migration with punitive measures for both the smuggler and the illegal migrant. The European Union most especially Italy should stop granting refugee status to those who cross the Mediterranean successfully. They should be immediately deported to their home countries. A similar tragedy occurred some years ago when over 2000 migrants (many of them Nigerians) perished in the Mediterranean sea close to the Italian Island of Lampedusa while on a perilous voyage to seek the proverbial golden fleece. This is one tragedy too many and all hands must be on deck to forstall a reoccurrence of this avoidable waste of human capital and future leaders.

     

    • Peter Akus,

    Ifo, Ogun State.

  • In search of new Nigeria

    It is very worrisome that after over five decades of nationhood, our nation isn’t really fulfilling the aspirations of its founding fathers. It is disheartening to see that currently, our beloved country seems perpetually bedeviled with a myriad of problems that suggest a nation on the brink of collapse or extinction. There are a lot of insecurity issues, economic woes, political instability, belligerent youth restiveness, indiscipline and many others. Surely our beloved nation has seen turbulent times that leaves you wondering how we got into this quagmire.

    There is a precarious air of volatility currently pervading the country. It suffices to state that not everyone, not even adults can boast of possessing the needed acumen that can sustain them into securing an enviable pedestal either now or in the immediate future because life is just so unpredictable in our dear country where you will agree that anything can happen anytime. It is the youth especially that suffer so much from this uncertain state as their future hang in the balance. Their thirst and lust for money brought about by the present harsh economic quagmire has blindfolded some of them, thereby making them ready to do anything just to make money.

    It will definitely not be out of place to opine that the state of giddiness being experienced now in spite of all the lamentations about our situation is brought about by the levity with which each successive government has tackled and is still tackling corruption which I see as a bane to our present predicament. Nigerians have been described as special species as many wonder how they continue to cope with innumerable daunting challenges. They are daily surrounded with embroiled corruption going on around them coupled with shameful acts of impunity and retribution inflicted on their psyche by the elite. Ours is a country where trillions of hard and local currencies are looted and stashed in homes and unexpected places while those found culpable are only tried in the media. Hence the big question, how do we tackle a dreadful national malady as corruption?

    Corruption has become a grave blight of our nation, to the extent that the few who have access to the country’s collective wealth continue to get richer while majority wallows in abject poverty. Gone are the days when we had the upper, middle and lower classes. We have become a laughing stock; serious investors shun our nation for the fear of corruption. Unfortunately, in the midst of all these, our culture of wastage lingers on as scarce national resources are filtered away in unproductive ventures when they could have been committed to better use.

    There is a need therefore for government to do more than it is doing presently. Sincerely, stiffer penalties and stringent measures like international travel ban, circulate their names to embassies for possible blacklisting, enforcement of repatriations for those who might have managed to get away, newspaper disclaimer listing, amendment of existing relevant laws that will ameliorate the ease of enforcement and so on, should be meted out on whoever is found culpable no matter whose ox is gored. We should actually borrow experiences from other countries like China, Egypt and so on, on how they were able to solve their corruption issues.

    Indiscipline is another major bane of our nation and it cuts across all sectors. When Nigerians go abroad, they adhere strictly to the laws, rules and regulations of their host countries. They are fascinated about how things work, how it is possible to trade and do business seamlessly and how it is possible to use your details to apprehend you whenever you run afoul of the law. However, whenever this same people return home, they frustrate every laudable effort to do things right. How sad!

    The business environment isn’t really getting better either. As it is usually with us, we want everyone to go into one business enterprise or the other, enticing them with one loan or the other. While this is not really a bad idea, it has to be emphasized that most of those who access such loans have little or no expertise in the business area they want to venture into. Of course, the consequence of a failed business is usually more devastating on the economy and on the morale of the individual involved.

    In as much as it is good to encourage local business enterprise, we need to start thinking about developing potentially viable areas such as ICT, sports, arts, tourism etc. Lots of opportunities abound, especially for the youths, in these core areas as they represent new globally recognized money-spinning ventures.  Therefore, all tiers of governments and other stakeholders must have a rethink and make efforts at developing these promising areas if only for their job creation potentials.

    In as much as things are not going really well in the country, it needs to be stressed, however, that there is nothing about our current situation that is insurmountable. Several countries around the world have had similar or same experiences. The only difference is that while others identify their challenges and frontally work on them, for example Japan and Switzerland with limited territories but amongst the strongest economies of the world, we seem to cover up ours and keep on living with the pretext that they never exist. Unfortunately, countries that attain valid nationhood are those that demonstrate sufficient resolve to solve their problems.

    Over time, human beings have proven their resiliency by demonstrating that great things are possible and man is capable of incredible successes in spite of monumental odds. Nigerians must not be an exception but remain hopeful. I wonder if it will make any difference to this generation if government at this time can re-introduce back into our schools at all levels our past History, Civics and Government, Health and Social Studies, books, literature, films and all forms of records to show our past and present history. Hopefully this will help us most especially the youths to have a rethink and chart a way forward for themselves that will secure and safeguard their future.

    While directing our energy towards a search for a new Nigeria, we must necessarily change our attitude to life and work pattern, respect the laws and regulations of our country, shun bribery and corruption, be more proactive, productive and invest more in our nation. Most importantly, we must as a matter of urgency stop recycling the political elite in order to save our beloved country.

    We cannot afford to remain too docile as a people. We must speak out and allow our voices to be heard. We must not despair but keep doing the right things to save our country from this tempestuous period by doing all we can to escape the condemnation and damnation of history and posterity. We cannot be the people and the generation that gave up even as others fought to save their own countries. Nigeria is our beloved country; we must work to salvage it together.

     

    • Olowu-Adekoya is of Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning & Budget, Alausa, Ikeja.   
  • Still in search of the savant Nigerian leader

    Still in search of the savant Nigerian leader

    As the thirtieth anniversary of the earthly departure of Chief Obafemi Awolowo approaches, snooper has been ruing what went wrong between Nigeria and the man famously described as the best president the nation never had. Is there a nexus between structural compatibility and leadership genius? Except in revolutionary situations which smash all differences, a leader operating in a hostile habitat, no matter how greatly endowed, is bound to be eventually overwhelmed by political adversity.

    A nation cannot be greater than the choice of conflicts imposed on it from without or within. It is possible that President Buhari is already ruing the day he decided to cut short his medical vacation. What with the recent Ife crisis which has introduced a frightening dimension to the National Question and the “mago-mago” we all witnessed in the Senate last Wednesday with respect to the second dismissal of Ibrahim Magu.

    So, who exactly is deceiving who in this country? What was the point and purpose of the meeting between President Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly on the eve of the confirmation hearing ? The senate president famously hinted to television correspondents that he was obviously not talking to himself. Somebody must have been talking to himself, Could it be General Buhari himself?

    But they should have told Magu that he would not be talking to himself. As soon as he was summarily wrong-footed by the opening salvo, a flustered Magu continued to flip and to flop till the bitter end. The EFCC boss ought to have known that there is no mercy killing in this business. With the deadly DSS still on the prowl, Magu ought to have perished the thought of a soft-landing.

    President Buhari deserves some respite and some rest. Unfortunately, this country, being a hostage itself, does not take hostages. This column will not add to his problems. This morning, the column takes a strategic respite from the Nigerian palaver by concentrating on nobler pursuits. Five years ago snooper monitored a seminal interview of a great leader on CNN. It was as if Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean avatar, knew his time was up and was biding the global scene a farewell . A few months later, he was gone.

    In retrospect and with the benefit of historical hindsight, Lee Kuan Yew genius could not have flourished in a regionally, culturally, religiously and economically polarized nation badly in need of structural unbundling. A great unbundling had already taken place. Singapore was a product of forcible restructuring. The old colonial island-junkyard was summarily expelled from the Malaysian union. Had he ruled the old union, Yew, an ethnic Chinese and himself a monarch by temperament, would have unravelled in a violent confrontation with the rigidly stratified and monarchical Malays,

    Half a century after, it is an engrossing paradox of history that both Singapore and Malaysia have achieved stardom through different routes and by harnessing the cultural and creative strengths of their individual societies.

  • Search for internal democracy in parties

    Search for internal democracy in parties

    Following the curriculum recently developed by the Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), party leaders have expressed views on how to maintain internal democracy, reports Tony Akowe, Abuja

    The lack of internal party democracy is no doubt one of the major problems facing the current democratic dispensation. It has been used as a campaign weapon by political parties. It was a sing song of the All Progressive Congress (APC) during campaigns for the 2015 General Election and the party has continuously insisted that it is the only major party in the country that practices internal democracy. Many believe that the crisis rocking the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today is the absence of internal democracy which led the party to impose candidates on the people for elective positions in the past.

    Worried by this development, the Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) developed a curriculum for the administration of political parties in the country in 2013. Acting Director-General of the institute, Jonathan Mela Juma, believe that after the 2015 General Elections, which saw the change in government from one political party to the other, there was the need to review the curriculum to accommodate new views that will help move forward political governance in the country and boost the capacity of the political parties. He also believes that with new officials elected for Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), there was also the need to include them in the scheme of things. Juma said the 96-page document, which was produced with support from the Democratic Governance for Development Project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP/DGD II) is to be used to train the leadership and other key stakeholders of the parties to deepen democracy and participatory governance in the country. He also disclosed that donor agencies have been responsible for the sponsorship of the training of the political leaders since inception of the centre in 2013 to2015 and that the present effort was sponsored by the Federal Government due to the need to deepen democratic value in the country.

    However, leaders of some of the political parties in the country believe that the current democratic practice does not in any way encourage opposition and growth of smaller political parties. National Chairman of Labour Party, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, condemned a situation where the party in government is allowed to use government money to suppress the opposition to the extent that they are not able to raise their head. According to him, the party in power hardly allows the opposition political parties breathing space and do everything to muscle them. He also condemned the idea of making the President the leader of the parties at the national level and governors leaders of the party at the state level, adding that the current crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party was partly created by such action, saying, once there is no President, the party collapses.

    On his part, the National Chairman of the Citizen Popular Party, Chief Sam Eke, said “Money politics will always come into play since there is no electronic voting. I want to see a curriculum that will provide for electronic voting in the country. Many of the parties should be encouraged to go into merger talk with the sole aim of producing one candidate to contest elections rather than the army of candidates we have contesting elections today and making no impact. A lot of the parties will begin to have electoral success once this is done.

    “I also want to see a curriculum that will provide for computerized party registration because it will discourage a situation where a single individual will buy up party membership cards and sharing same to his supporters. Party financing should also be part of the curriculum. People now pay for votes. Is that part of democracy?”

    For Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), building a curriculum for the political parties should not only lay emphasis on internal party democracy and how to achieve it, it should also focus on party administration and party financing. According to him the curriculum should focus on three key areas: These are party administration, capacity building and how party leaders emerge; party financing which should centre on how the party gets its funds because the current system is very expensive and is like running a government. You must have offices in all local government headquarters, the state capital and the federal capital with each manned by officers. It should also focus on internal democracy within the parties.

    Presently, there is no more inter-party crisis like it was during the first and second republic. What we have now is intraparty crisis because of lack of internal democracy. But Godson Okoye, National Chairman of United Democratic Party said “Nigerians work and operate with different purposes in mind. We must work with the national interest at heart. There must be something that people are working toward in the national interest, something that everybody identifies with. If we don’t, no curriculum will work in Nigeria.”

    The curriculum developed by the institute argued that as political parties take an increasingly high profile in public affairs and governance, it is very important that the parties reflect the democratic principles that they espouse in their political campaigns. It said “while many parties call for a more democratic character of the state, an equal number struggle to guarantee that their internal practices reflect the democratic principles that they publicly champion so strongly. Some ways in which parties can enhance internal democracy and also build more democratic participation through activities outside campaigning for office and taking power need serious examination”. It stressed that “principles of internal democracy and democratic participation are not only important as ideals, but also as they meet the interest of political parties to build themselves as attractive and inclusive institutions over time”. The document stressed the fact that most political parties recognise both the challenges of organising free and fair internal party elections and the importance of creating a party that allows equal opportunities for aspiring leaders and candidates to contest election for leadership positions. According to the booklet, “in a situation where parties are relatively fluid and have limited sense of who their actual membership is, organising democratic internal party elections is especially difficult. Likewise, direct primaries for candidates are challenging, given a situation of limited resources and the interest of powerful individuals in the party intent on influencing the election towards their candidate of choice.” It suggested the creation of a clear set of rules on how internal party elections are to be conducted, with the appointment of a neutral and credible party electoral commission or equivalent body to oversee these elections. It also wants the adoption of a clear cut policy on who is allowed to participate in party elections, preferably through the establishment of a national party register containing a list of all eligible voters or, if the primary is open, clear rules for how voters are to be identified and validated.

    The curriculum described managing internal democracy in a party as a work in progress as certain individuals will have interest in manipulating democratic processes to their advantage. It stressed that closely monitoring how democratic processes might be subverted is essential to protecting democracy, pointing out that internal party democracy can be subverted through the manipulation of party membership list. This, it said, can be done through individuals acquiring party identity cards, producing fake copies of party membership list, altering the existing party membership list in a biased way, setting illegal qualification for becoming members, among others.

  • PDP’s fruitless search for peace

    PDP’s fruitless search for peace

    The PDP recently initiated a fresh process to reconcile it warring factions ahead of 2019 elections. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE examines issues that have militated against the efforts to attain unity in the party.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been engulfed in crisis since it lost last year presidential election. Since the March 28 election, the division in the party has grown from the ward level to the national level. The challenges facing the party, stakeholders believe, may difficult to overcome.

    Attempts to get the party on course have failed. The recent one initiated by the National Caretaker Committee, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi seems not be getting the support of the faction led by Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff. After the botched August 17 National Convention in Port Harcourt, leaders of the party have become more concerned that something urgent must be done to reposition it party ahead of 2019 election.

    Observers say the bid to reconcile the warring factions failed because of the various court cases instituted by stakeholders. If the peace move must work, they insist, the two factions would have to move the battle away from the courts and go back to the negotiation table. But, those who went to court have not sheathed their swords; rather, they are waiting for the court process to complete its course to legitimise their claims.

    Analysts say the meeting between the National Assembly caucus and the National Caretaker Committee is another waste of time. They say nothing fruitful will come out of it, since the other factional leader, Modu-Sheriff, still sticks to his guns of being the legitimate leader of the party. Though the meeting between the National Assembly caucus and leaders of the party was to midwife a new process of reconciliation, other meetings called thereafter have not been successful as those invited did not turn up for discussion.

    The meeting, according to the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, was to brief the National Assembly caucus on the moves to return peace to the crisis ridden party. He noted that the caucus was made up of the Board of Trustees (BoT), governors and other stakeholders, who have been in the forefront to reposition the party for the 2019 election.

    Adeyeye explained that the peace move was endorsed by those who attended the meeting. The party scribe said Sheriff and Makarfi have resolved to meet former President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP governors to intimate them on the reconciliation plans.

    Former President Jonathan has not made any categorical statement on the reconciliation. Analyst say the former leader is too occupied with other local and international assignments instead of dissipating his energy on crisis resolution in PDP.

    Sources said the effort being made to unite the PDP was being frustrated by the Sherriff, despite court orders that effectively nullified his tenure as the interim chairman. The source said the party leaders had resolved that if the entire peace overture to the factional leader of the party fails, some members of the party are contemplating a new party for the 2019 election.

    He said: “We will not allow them to kill the opposition; more so now that Nigerians are being hit by harsh economic realities. The All Progressives Congress is struggling to face the reality and it must pack out of Aso Rock by 2019. A weakened PDP is in the interest of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Modu-Sherriff is there to ensure they achieve their objectives. Again, from the revelation of the President’s Wife Aisha we know that APC may not get the support of Nigerians, so if the PDP peace plan fail, we will float a new party.”

    Another PDP chieftain, who also wanted to maintained anonymity, said the reason why the new move by the party to bounce back may fail is that the ruling APC will continue to work against the unity of PDP in order to elongate its tenure. The chieftain said it would be disgraceful for the APC to fizzle out having spent only four year piloting the affairs of the country.

    According to him, “Sheriff is a willing tool in the hands of President Buhari. He has found in him what APC needed to choke and distabilise the PDP out of reckoning. As long as Sherriff remains in the PDP, the party cannot overcome the crisis that it has plunged into.”

    Former Minister of Transport Chief Ebenezer Babatope said the party will fly again. He noted that what is happening in the party is a storm in the tea cup. He explained that the issue was no longer in the hand of Sheriff but at the domain of the judiciary.

    He said: “We are going to have unity before 2019, things are going to be okay, we are going to resolve our crisis and then we will be prepared for the election. We call on President Buhari and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to arrest those who have hand in the peaceful and tranquil existence in the PDP.

    “We have been shouting and shouting that they should arrest the Justice Abang Okon who is causing trouble for the party. He has been delivering judgment to ruin the PDP, widening the gap for the peaceful return of the party to national reckon. So, we beg all Nigerians to help us appeal to the President Buhari and the EFCC to call to order this justice who is hell bent to destroy the party. He is the number one notorious judge perverting justice for reasons that are not justified.”

    Lagos State PDP chieftain Tolani Animasahun expressed optimism that the PDP overcome its challenges. She said the party was not the first nor will it be the last to be held down by internal wrangling. She explained that party crisis was expected in any democratic settings, noting that where people don’t observe political conflict is only common in society where there is dictatorship, where everybody is subjected to the rule of one man.

    She added: “Looking at the political situation the world over, you will agree with me that what is happening in the PDP is not peculiar; it is a global phenomenon. In Britain and America political parties have witnessed one turbulent or the other. They had their low moments, what they did was to sit down, assess the situation and get back on course.

    “That the PDP is going through a small crisis does not mean the end of the party. It is a normal thing and I strongly believe that when the time comes we will get over it. What I think is really wrong is beyond the PDP, I think it permeate the society as a whole. We have not really seen ourselves as one; this I think is playing out at the various political party levels. We have too many groups put together, these groups have cultural divergence which sometimes disagree and putting them together has become a real challenge.

    “That is where the crisis in the country actually started; it merely nosedived to the political level and other strata of the society. It is something we have to continually work on. It is not can be achieved over night; we have to continually work on the peace process.

    “All we are concerned with is that democracy should be rooted in the country. We cannot achieve this at once, it will be gradual, we cannot afford to go back, and all that we need to do is to put heads together to achieve results. We must learn from the mistakes committed while trying to achieve a stable political atmosphere.”

    Former Chairman of the Labour Party Dan Nwanyanwu said the PDP cannot overcome the problem that it created for itself. He explained the leadership of the party was not serious about unity for the party. He said: “The problem with the PDP is selfishness, personal interest and greed. The truth is that most of the officers of the party are not acting in the interest of the party. They want to take control of the soul of the party. They want to be in the position to determine what happens in the party in 2019.

    “They tend to forget that even when you have a party that is when you will be talking about 2019. They think it is business as usual like they had done it in the past 16 year. They though, it was the period when they had the President and whatever happened they laugh over it and simply see it as family affairs now they don’t have that head. I think it was deliberate or refuse to look into what is happening in the party. Some governors when and brought Modu-Sheriff to be chairman, this is a man that is too new to be the chairman of the party.

    “The reason they brought him is because they thought he has big pocket that he will bring out money to run the party which they themselves supposed to do as governors, senators, lawmakers, commissioners, and council chairmen.

    “Now the man has got the power, I do not see PDP resolving their problems because at every stage spanner is thrown into the wheel. Some governors were supposed to meet on Tuesday, they did not come, and they are now quarreling over list of members that will handle another convention. “Some said there are other groups apart from the Sherriff group, they want to manufacture another group to that they can have control over the convention they are planning to hold. As an only looker, you have to place these things where they are, unless the PDP buries it selfishness and greed, no reconciliation is possible.”

    The Chairman of United Progressives Party (UPP), Chekwas Okorie, believes the PDP is doomed, Okorie said the factionalisation of the party has grown to the extent that reconciliation will be difficult. He added: When a party is factionalised from the national level to ward levels then it becomes extremely hard to achieve unity. When you go to the ward level of the PDP, you now have Sheriff faction and Makarfi faction.

    “I am talking from my experience at the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) crisis. When you talk of reconciliation, you must find a way of reconciling all the factors involved. So, if you multiply the number of states, numbers of local governments, numbers of wards up to the national level then you will understand that what the toying with is not a small issue.

    “So, no reconciliation just at the national level can be settled the crisis it has precipitated at the others levels of the party. The matter is made worse by the court cases it has at the judiciary, bearing in mind that our judiciary is a bazaar.

    “That is to say the PDP cannot overcome it challenges because the party is now a shadow of itself. But, incidentally the ruling APC is not better than the PDP. So, what we are expecting in view of what is already happening the political climate.

    “There is going to be realignment of political parties, there are discussion going on underground over the issue. There is going to be realignment of four political parties that feel strongly about the country. One will be a breakaway from the APC, one from the PDP and the third UPP which I represent, discussion is already on to achieve this.”

    Observers said that, for peace to return to the PDP, the leadership of the party must reconcile itself to the issues, which bother on unemployment, insecurity and the biting economic reality. The PDP is made up of an army of unemployed youth, who are frustrated, because of their inability to enjoy what they used to enjoy from the national cake. Many of them are said to be enjoying the division in the party, because are being armed and sponsored by the factional leaders to foment trouble.

  • PDP in desperate search for peace

    PDP in desperate search for peace

    Since the emergence of former governor of Borno State Ali Modu-Sheriff, as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the opposition party has been in a major crisis. The disagreement within the fold has rendered it incapable of playing its opposition role effectively. Attempts to shove Modu-Sheriff aside and move forward have been vehemently resisted. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI evaluates the effort to bring peace to the party.

    After the protracted crisis that hit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following the emergence of Sen. Ali Modu-Sheriff as National Chairman, the party has embarked on a fresh reconciliation. This follows last week’s national caucus meeting convened by the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee and attended by members of the Board of Trustees (BoT), state governors and principal members of the National Assembly elected on the party’s platform.

    At the end of the meeting, stakeholders agreed to hold a fresh convention in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on August 17, to elect new national executives. Though the former Borno State governor did not attend the meeting, there were prospects of peace, with one of his close allies, Sen. Buruji Kashamu, not only attending the meeting, but also pledging his support for the reconciliation effort initiated by the Makarfi-led committee.

     

    Glimmer of hope

    The two-term former governor of Kaduna State told reporters after the meeting that the party would amend its constitution to address some of the reasons why a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, nullified the last amendment done by the party.

    Makarfi assured that there will be full reconciliation with the disputed National Chairman and other persons associated with him.

    But, the question is, how far can the PDP go with the current reconciliation effort? In this regard, Sheriff has become more accommodating. For the first since he was shoved aside by stakeholders of the party, the embattled former chairman has conceded that he would be willing to let go of his claim to the chairmanship, if he is allowed to nominate 10 out the 20 members of the organising committee for the proposed convention.

    Sheriff gave the indication on Monday, when a delegation of Abia State chapter of the PDP paid him a solidarity visit in Abuja. He said he was ready to let go, in deference to the intervention by the governors of Taraba and Gombe states, but insisted that the conditions that he gave must be met.

    The former National Chairman is not done. According to him, the proposed August 17 convention must be held in Abuja, not Port Harcourt, as being suggested. He said the conditions being proposed by him were based on the agreement reached at the reconciliation meeting held at Taraba State Government House, under the chairmanship of Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, deputised by Senator Ibrahim Mantu.

    Sheriff said the impunity which prevailed in the party in the past and led it to the present sorry state must be stopped. He said: “The Makarfi Committee should resign; it does not exist in the PDP constitution. What exists is the national chairman which I am. I remain the chairman until 2018. Some people want to make PDP their personal property. That will not happen; if you don’t stand on the truth, the end result will be destruction.”

    Kashamu on Monday appealed to Sheriff to sheath his sword in the interest of the party. In a statement attributed to him, the senator representing Ijebu East District in the Red Chamber insisted that he did not dump Sheriff as widely reported, but only hearkened to the reconciliation initiated by leaders of the party.

    He said: “I can only plead with our great leader, Senator Sheriff, who has been hurt, to soft-pedal and let go, in the interest of the party and our teeming members. He has shown that he is a principled man and a courageous person.

    “Since he and Senator Makarfi have said they are not interested in contesting for the office of National Chairman of the party at the National Convention, he should encourage all his people to participate in the process leading to the rescheduled National Convention.”

     

    No longer family affair

    Many observers are amused by the leadership tussle in the party. The presidential candidate of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said what Sheriff is asking for is an unreasonable demand. He said: “Even Sheriff must know that he is making an impossible demand; it is just a way of prolonging the matter.” He added that even before the emergence of Sheriff, he had predicted that the PDP was on a free fall and that what held the party together in its 16 years at the helms was the fact that it was the ruling party.

    He said: “It managed to patch up disagreements, claiming it was a family affair. There would never be a reconciliation that would make it a formidable platform that it claimed to be in the past. Even the APC will experience its own implosion in no distant time and its members will go their separate ways.

    “What Nigerians should be looking forward to is a realignment of forces. In future, we are likely to see a coalition of political parties forming governments, rather than the present winner-takes-it-all where one party would emerge as the ruling party.

    Similarly, former Biafran warlord, Col. Joseph Achuzia, said Sheriff’s belligerent posture is typical of Nigerian politics. He knows that the PDP is fighting for survival; so, he is only trying to position himself. His words: “Sheriff is not in a position to make the demand he is making, but he knows that the party is equally desperate. It is typical of Nigerian politics; if he keeps quiet without making the demand, it would be assumed that he has lost the battle.

    “The PDP is doing everything possible to get its acts together; otherwise, it will fizzle out, like many other political parties. With the look of things, there is an agreement in the offing.”

    The PDP has been involved in protracted crisis since it lost the last general elections. But, it was the emergence of Modu-Sheriff as the party’s helmsman that threw it into current crisis. The appointment of the Makarfi-led caretaker committee, which received the endorsement of the party’s BoT and most members of the dissolved National Working Committee (NWC), was part of the mechanism put in place for reconciliation, when it became obvious that the Sheriff-led executive was bringing too much friction into the party. The Dickson-led reconciliatory committee is also part of the reconciliation process. But, Sheriff and members loyal to him have been using the courts to frustrate the committee from carrying out its mandate.

    The governorship election scheduled for September 10 in Edo State made it a battleground the Makarfi-led leadership and that of the sacked National Chairman. Sheriff threw spanner into the works of the other group, which enjoys wide acceptance from stakeholders, when he announced the suspension of the Edo State Executive Committee, saying the move was in line with the provisions of section 31 (2) (e) of the PDP constitution. He went ahead to conduct a parallel primary, where one of those that participated in the earlier one, Matthew Iduoriyekwemwen, was picked as the faction’s flag bearer in the race.

    A Federal High Court sitting in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, had ruled that the process that led to the setting up of the Makarfi-led committee during the last PDP convention was in accordance with the provisions of the party’s constitution. By the judgment, the court was believed to have conferred legitimacy on the caretaker committee. In the judgment, Justice Mohammed Liman also held that Sheriff didn’t have the power to unilaterally postpone the PDP convention, since there was a caveat in the party’s constitution that he was to preside over the national convention with other national officers.

    But, the court judgment did not put an end to the crisis; as Sheriff tenaciously clung to power, saying he will not quit until the 2018 convention. His claim is predicated on interlocutory orders his group had obtained from the various courts. In one of such interlocutory orders, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang, restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the “PDP and their agents from dealing with or according any facility required by law (regarding the governorship elections to be conducted by INEC in Edo and Ondo states) to any other person or groups other than the Sheriff, Prof Wale Oladipo and Fatai Adeyanju-led NWC.

     

    Who’re Sheriff’s backers?

    With almost all the major stakeholders against him, the question that comes to mind is, who are those backing the former Borno governor? A careful interrogation of Sheriff’s antecedents will provide an insight into his staying power. Since coming into limelight, Sheriff has presented an image of a political juggernaut that brooks no opposition to his leadership. When he fell out with Mala Kachalla whom he installed as the governor of Borno at the beginning of the present political dispensation, the embattled politician, credited with a huge financial war chest to prosecute any campaign, single-handedly took the ticket from Kachalla who decamped from the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) to the equally defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) with ignominy. His subsequent eight years tenure as governor of Borno cemented his hold on the then APP and extended his sphere of influence to the national level. This was crowned when he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). The above experience comes in very handy for Sheriff in the current face off.

    Besides, he appears to have the support of some powerful politicians. Kashamu, a politician who thrived on controversy, was one of those behind him. Apart from his attempts to stave off his deportation to the United States of America to face some charges, the serving senator from Ogun used his alleged deep pocket to position himself as a power to contend with in the stormy politics of the Southwest. But, Sheriff seemed to have lost his support, as latest developments have shown.

    Another strong Sheriff backer is Chris Uba, the Anambra-born power broker fingered in the plot to remove a former governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige, in 2003. Since that incident, Uba has had his hand in many controversies that dogged Anambra politics. In fact, he challenged the emergence of his brother, Andy Uba, as the senatorial candidate in the last election and pursued the case to the Supreme Court.

    Uba’s support for Sheriff, according to observers, is for political survival and relevance, as well as to expand his sphere of influence. One of such observers puts it this way: “For a man who has the record of being the youngest member of the BoT of the PDP, he cannot afford to see his investment in the party blown away by the emergence of a leader that he would not have an influence on. Sheriff appears to be giving him a listening ear that he is not sure to get from any other outsider that he may not be too familiar with.”

    Sen. Hope Uzodinma is believed to be another prominent supporter of Sheriff. Uzodinma has been in a fierce battle with the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, over who controls the structure of the party in Imo State. Ihedioha was the party’s governorship candidate in the last general elections and is perhaps still interested in the seat he lost to Governor Rochas Okorocha.

    Uzodinma, on his part, is also interested in taking a shot at the Imo State governorship election in 2019. With Ihedioha neck deep in his support for the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee, it was natural that Uzodinma would pitch his tent with Sheriff. He was rewarded with the chairmanship of the Sheriff-led faction of the PDP governorship election committee for Edo State.