The Nation Newspaper

Tag: season

  • Sunshine can’t win the league this season – Boboye

    Sunshine can’t win the league this season – Boboye

    Sunshine Stars coach,Kennedy Boboye  has admitted that his team can’t win the Glo Premier League title after they suffered a 3-0 loss against Warri Wolves in Warri last Saturday.

    Following the heavy defeat, Boboye was of the opinion that it would take a miracle for his team to win the league title this season.

    Sunshine Stars are hoping to win what would be their first ever title but now find themselves five points behind leaders,Enyimba.

    Sunshine will travel to Kano next weekend to face champions Kano Pillars in  another high profile game.

    Coach Boboye admitted that this defeat by the seasiders leaves his team with little hope of winning the title.

    “It’s going to be difficult for us to now win the title,” the former Sharks tactician confessed after the game.

    “We came here (Warri) with the intention of winning the game, but my boys especially the midfielders failed to play to instructions.

    “We will do our best in the remaining six games, but it’s going to be a massive task for us if Enyimba beat Heartland in Owerri or pick a point there.Our next game is against Kano Pillars in Kano which is a difficult place to go.”

  • Ezeji celebrates 20th season after Heartland bow

    Ezeji celebrates 20th season after Heartland bow

    Veteran Victor Ezeji made history Monday when he came on as a late replacement for Heartland to feature in his 20th season in the Nigeria league.

    Ezeji came on in the 84th minute for Fortune Omoniwari in a rescheduled Nigeria league match at Bayelsa United on Monday.

    Earlier this season, it looked like Ezeji had retired from the game, but the League Management Company will then sanction the striker’s switch to Heartland.

    The 34-year-old Ezeji has featured for Sharks, Dolphins, Enyimba and Sunshine Stars in the past 20 seasons, scoring in all these campaigns.

    He was the goal king of the Nigeria league in 2007.

  • Season of elections at EKSU

    Season of elections at EKSU

    Faculties of Science and Social Sciences of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) were alive with electoral activities as students went to the polls to elect their leaders. OLATUNJI AWE (400-Level Political Science) and TOLULOPE ODUSANYA (300-Level Linguistics) report.

     

    As the largest in Ekiti State University (EKSU), the Faculty of Science activities usually draw students’ attention. So did its election. Its chapter of the National Association of Science Students (NASS) held election, penultimate Wednesday, at the Science Pavilion.

    The election was not without drama from the beginning to the end. First, an argument ensued when supporters of one of the presidential candidates, Oluwadamilola Ibikunle, pointed out an error in the spelling of his name on the ballot paper. Members of the electoral committee immediately corrected the mistake to avoid a crisis.

    Because of the correction, the election, which was billed to start at 8am, was delayed for two hours, drawing reactions from supporters of other candidates.

    At 10:30am, voting started, with the outgoing president, Oluwatosin Fajire, casting the first ballot. Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE afterwards, he said: “The election must be free and fair. If anybody misbehaves, such person would be handed over to the school security.”

    The document that would make students eligible to vote was NASS receipt or the association’s identity card. Students turned out massively for the exercise, but many of them did not see their names on the voter’s list. Some had their identity cards and receipt, but their names were missing on the list.

    Many students left in disappointment, but the exercise continued. The NASS presidency was a keen contest between Oluwadamilola, a Chemistry student, and Ayodele Eyinfunjowo, a Statistics student.

    While students of Department of Biochemistry had their names on the voter’s list, many of them were unable to vote. Their president, Isaac Oyegbade, said the election coincided with their continuous assessment test in the department.

    He said: “If one of us is contesting election, this is how he would have been edged out. We want the electoral committee to ensure the next election is held on time, so that Biochemistry students can have opportunity to participate and choose people who will lead the faculty.”

    The voting ended at 4pm as counting started immediately. At 10:50pm, Oluwadamilola was declared president-elect, having polled a total of 713 votes, against his opponent Ayodele, who scored 621 votes. Oluwadamilola’s supporters moved round the faculty in jubilation.

    On Friday, students of the Faculty of Social Sciences also went to the poll to elect their leaders. The exercise, which held in front of the faculty, started at 11am, some three hours behind schedule because of inadequate preparation by the electoral body.

    Students turned out en mass, but many could not vote because of the scanty information about requirement. Some, who did not have their identity cards with them, protested their exclusion, calling the electoral committee not to disenfranchise them. It was later resolved that students should be allowed to present electronic receipts as alternative for identity cards.

    At 1:20pm, the electoral committee members were overwhelmed by a crowd of students, who wanted to cast their ballots. School security officers moved in to control the crowd.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that some security officers used electric bats to control the crowd, a development that led to some students raising objection on the use of ‘force’ against them. This led to commotion at the venue for a few minutes. It took the intervention of the Chief Security Officer to restore order.

    The voting ended at 4:15pm and counting started afterwards. At 11:30pm, the election results were announced. Ilemikekun Oluwaseun Abiodun, a 300-Level Political Science student, was declared president-elect of the faculty, with 674 votes against his opponent’s 661 votes.

    Political Science students casting their ballots
    Political Science students casting their ballots

    Five of the nine executive positions of the faculty were won by students of the Department of Political Science.

     

     

     

  • Awaiting the season of anomie

    What Nigeria has remained a theatre for circus governance is not in doubt. That in the execution of the Nigerian project Ndigbo have borne the burden of hubris is also not in doubt. That at critical points in our history, Ndigbo have been violently stabbed in the back by people they thought were their partners. At each point, Ndigbo have been betrayed and subjected to ridicule and very often cast in the role of a felon.

    In the course of time I have had intimate discussions with people like Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at the Chancery of the Eastern Mandate Union before their deaths concerning their experiences in Nigeria and what nature of conspiracy has bogged Ndigbo in Nigeria before, during and after independence. In the run-in to the Nigerian civil war, for example, so many conspiracies took place against Ndigbo even by certain individuals who held closed-doors with some of our leaders that time. For instance, Ojukwu narrated to me what he and other Igbo leaders agreed with certain leaders from western Nigeria on what to do on getting to Lagos. Somehow these agreements were reneged on the altar of political expediency. Ndigbo were traded off by the same people who ate, planned and dinned with us. Outside Igboland, I have also discussed extensively with people like M.D Yusuf, Chief Edwin Ogbu and Kam Salem.  My sources confirmed that what Ojukwu told me about massive betrayal of the Igbos was true; that agreements were reached which were latter breached on the altar of political expediency. These are hard facts which will be found in my forthcoming memoirs.

    Apart from the choreographed genocidal pogrom against the Igbo especially in the North, the Gowon regime, which prosecuted the civil war, saw starvation as a weapon of war. The federal government adopted this policy of starvation and pursued it with devotion leading to death of thousands of Igbo children.

    At the end of the war, the federal government gave out the paltry sum of twenty pounds (£20) to all Igbos who had accounts in banks, i.e. irrespective of the amount that person had in his or her account.

    As if that was not enough, the federal government, at that time, formulated and implemented the Indigenization Decree – a decree that effectively shut out the Igbo from the commanding heights of the economy. This unwritten policy of “identify and cut the Igbo to size” has continued even unto this day. No energy is spared in cutting Igbo to size when the chance arises. The end point of all this has always been to destroy the Igbo economy.

    Take the case of former Alpha Merchant Bank, for example. This was a Merchant bank that was doing exceptionally well at that time. It was owned by the late Eke Kalu with a Yoruba man, Jimi Lawal as the Managing Director. At that time, news came that some French businessmen who were substantial shareholders in Afribank wanted to divest their interests in the bank. Eke Kalu, the owner of Alpha Merchant Bank declared their interest to acquire the shares from the Frenchmen.

    Consequently, Eke Kalu went to Cote d’lvoire to negotiate the deal with the French share owners. Eke Kalu was told that he would pay ten million pounds for the shares. Determined to raise the required capital, Kalu travelled to London where he floated Alpha Securities Ltd, through which he was able to raise the required amount.

    By the time he came back with the funds, the French partners had sold the shares to Mandarin Bank of Zambia. Not ready to lose such opportunity, Kalu headed to France to further discuss with the French share owners. The Frenchmen expressed regrets that they had sold it to the Zambian bank noting that there was nothing they could do. The French men however encouraged Eke to talk to Mandarin Bank and add perhaps another one million pounds to them; and they could possible do business. This condition was accepted and Eke travelled to Lusaka and struck the deal. The money was paid to Afribank.

    But, you will recall that this was a period when the Abacha junta was trying to ingratiate itself into the psyche of Nigerians by parroting “war against corruption” and descending on banks. Incidentally, those running the Afribank at that time, especially a very highly placed management staff from the North alerted Abacha that an Igboman was at the verge of acquiring Afribank. Abacha was nonplussed.

    Just as this information was coming in, the ex-CBN governor, Paul Ogwuma was leaving Abacha’s office with an instruction to liquidate the Bank belonging to one Alhaji Bello. As the information of the impending acquisition of Afribank reached Abacha, he called Paul Ogwuma and ordered him to liquidate Alpha Merchant instead and leave Alhaji Bello’s bank.

    The papers for liquidation were duly filed before Justice Ukeje’s tribunal who declined the request to liquidate Alpha Merchant Bank insisting that the Bank was healthy. Angry at her refusal, Abacha removed and reposted her to the ministry and appointed a more pliable judge to execute his programme. Most Nigerians at that time did not see this as a pervasion and travesty of justice. They were encouraging Abacha to go ahead with what he was doing. Abacha only had to accuse a bank of being involved in one misconduct or the other; whether it is true or false, for him to take the bank out of business. The political class at that time kept urging Abacha to set up tribunals to try those accused of corruption.

    Now the same old politicians have come again calling on Buhari to set up tribunals to try so-called corrupt politicians. Tribunal is antithetic to democracy. It is an ad hoc judicial structure set up by dictators to do their special bidding. Setting up tribunals to try corrupt people in Nigeria is absurd. The courts are there, why circumvent them? I have had my own experiences with tribunals. If I had been tried by a tribunal in 1982 in the sedition suit instituted against me by Chief Jim Nwobodo, I would not have been free today. Even where the lower court had compromised its integrity and pronounced me guilty, the Appeal Court overturned that nebulous judgment and set me free in what has become a locus classicus in sedition cases in Nigeria. If the tribunal had tried me under Abacha I would have been rotting away in jail by now. It was the High Court in Enugu that set me free before I took the matter to the United States.

    Today, the same people are shouting all over the place asking Buhari to set up special tribunals for corruption trials; to jail people without trial. Is this a democracy or what? Buhari is not a stranger to tribunals. In 1983 he empanelled over ten tribunals to try politicians and even when the tribunals found men like Ekwueme, Pa Ajasin etc., not guilty, he still remanded them in prison custody. Today, he still thinks it is business as usual. This is a democracy and such unilateralism is unacceptable. Again Nigerian politicians are preparing the ground work for despotism and dictatorship just as they propped up Abacha, who decimated their ranks.

    Why is it impossible for the Nigerian circulating elite to understand that this is not a nation yet; that we are treading the path of destruction; that the stiff-necked fowl usually ends up in the old woman’s pot of soup? Why is it difficult for us to understand that Nigeria’s hope of survival is the round table; that we must come to a round table to resolve our differences? Tribunal is not the round table. Rather, it is the tinder that would spark the conflagration that is waiting to consume Nigeria. Until we humble ourselves to the negotiating table, the fate of Nigeria remains precarious and uncertain like the flight of the butterfly.

     

    • Dr. Arthur A. Nwankwo, Chancellor, Eastern Mandate Union (EMU)     

  • Chicken season

    Now that the party is over It is quite unfortunate that Nigerians, especially governments across board, are yet to come to terms with our NEW REALITY. And what is this new reality, you wonder? Well for the interest of those who may not know or who cannot appreciate it, THE OIL BOOM IS OVER! The petro-dollar is not flowing into the country anymore and may never flow the way it did for over 40 years. That is our new reality.

    Remember that at the peak of it in the 70s, the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, was reported as saying that Nigeria’s problem was how to spend money. His fellow soldiers of fortune overthrew him ostensibly to come and have a taste of the gravy.

    Still quite ignorant about how to manage our oil boom, the succeeding Olusegun Obasanjo government organised one of the biggest jamborees in modern human history, the 2nd African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977. It was the heady days of a new-found oil wealth in the hands of ill-bred military generals. That was how come that for about one month, contingents from about 60 countries of the world were quartered in Nigeria carousing and squandering the riches of a fledgling nation with hardly any institution, structure or infrastructure.

    It is instructive to note that the first such world’s Black festival held in Dakar, Senegal was largely bankrolled by UNESCO. But for the second edition, Big Brother Nigeria had to show the world that it had arrived, so she doled out her new found petrodollars as if there would be no tomorrow, just to impress the world. Why is it that no other country on the continent has dared to embark on such folly as hosting an African arts and culture festival almost 40 years after FESTAC 77?

    Following the same trajectory of wastes, General Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s military president from 1985 to 1993, continued the binge. At the peak of his reign, he said in an interview that he could not understand why Nigeria’s economy had not failed. Yes, he was apt to wonder why because it was an era of especial official graft bordering on brigandage. In a free for all treasury-plundering, Babangida’s era epitomised corruption and ineptitude in leadership.

    It peaked with the spiriting away of over $12 billion Gulf War crude oil sales windfall. Babangida never gave account of this huge accruals to the federation account till today. The last time we heard of this matter, an obviously compromised judge threw out the case brought before it by a rights group.

    If the junta were stupid with resources, the civilians fared no better. If you thought the Alhaji Shehu Shagari era (1979-1983) was a sorry period in the life of this country, these past 16 years of the PDP have only left us haemorrhaging mortally. This is where we are now: after Presidents Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria is left, a wounded mass, bleeding to death.

    Back to the beginning To return to our starting point, how many of us realise today, the dire straits the country has lapsed into? From the presidency to the MDAs, state governments and the general populace; and if we truly do, what is our response to it? Many state governments are still spending millions of dollars sending people to junkets called pilgrimages to wherever; even the Federal Government had to do ample damage to the exchange rate by allowing pilgrims to purchase dollars at an artificial rate of about N160 to a dollar.

    Many governors are still chartering private jets and doing the foreign trip runs, oblivious of the crisis in the land. The other day, one of them organised one such elaborate economic summit that do everything but help the economy of the state. In fact, over the years, economic summits have become one of the tried-and-tested ways of disemboweling a state’s treasury. We are yet to see any state government raising nary a panel on practical ways of diversifying state’s economy both in the immediate and long term.

    Considering the chicken option And to think that there are thousands of things that we all can do to begin to turn our fortunes around in just 12 months. The chicken option is one. This is the chicken season: anyone who has a little space in his compound could start breeding a dozen chickens or two now, which would be ready for consumption in December.

    Poultry products have been banned in Nigeria since 2010, yet more than 70 per cent of the chicken and turkey consumed in Nigeria is smuggled. Breeding chickens for about 170 million Nigerians is a multi-billion dollars business. The poultry economy is a large one with its long value chain. Starting from the maize plantation to feed mills, hatcheries, veterinary services, chicken pen technical services, the eggs business, processing and packaging lines, transportation and freezing services and sales outlets services; it’s a long lucrative chain. There is more: even manure and wastes for crops and fish farming.

    Between the Presidency, Customs and MARD The conditions are perfect for Nigeria to breed her own poultry. The only thing that had made us to depend on imported poultry preserved for months with harmful chemicals was cheap oil money, which had robbed us of our senses. Now that oil money is no more, we will do well to hurry back to the basics – agriculture.

    Since President Muhammadu Buhari mounted the saddle, the Nigeria Customs Service has woken up to its duties; trying to curb smuggling of poultry products and making seizures. But smuggling still goes on even at a frenetic rate now because supply has dwindled here.

    This is where the presidency must step in, reinforce the ban and charge Customs to sit up. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) must rise to the occasion and provide support and incentives to poultry farmers. Banks and financial institutions too must see the big opportunity and cash in. The market is huge and waiting to be exploited and turnaround time is short.

    Finally, some of us have forgotten the true taste of chicken. Home-bred chicken tastes better, is more nutritious and will not require harmful chemical preservatives. Let us stop eating smuggled cadaver in the name of chicken and turkey!

  • Iheanacho wins Man City’s EDS Goal Of The Season

    Iheanacho wins Man City’s EDS Goal Of The Season

    Kelechi Iheanacho’s first goal in Manchester City’s 3 – 1 win over Manchester United has been voted the best goal scored by an academy player last season by the official website of Manchester City.

    Manchester City have posted on their official website the top ten eye – catching goals scored by the Elite Development Squad during the 2014 – 2015 season.

    And in number one position is Nigeria youth international Iheanacho, who netted in the 55th minute in the game staged at the Academy Stadium on May 23.

    The 18 – year  – old expertly turned his man in the center before slotting into the bottom corner. It was a goal of technique, skill and composure, mcfc.co.uk said.

    Iheanacho failed to take that form to the Under 20 World Cup, having fired blanks in the two matches he featured in during the tournament in New Zealand.

  • Martins scores seventh goal of the season

    Martins scores seventh goal of the season

    Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins and Leo Gonzalez scored second-half goals as the Seattle Sounders beat Dallas 3-0 on Saturday to regain the overall Major League Soccer points lead.

    Late in the 55th minute, Neagle took a pass from Brad Evans, ghosted towards the left side of the penalty area and drilled a 20-yard shot into the far right corner past goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.

    Martins, subbed on in the 61st minute and wearing a mask to protect a surgically repaired broken nose, made it 2-0 in the 73rd minute with his seventh of the season.

    Gonzalez scored in second-half stoppage time to secure a comfortable win and move Seattle to 29 points, one point ahead of D.C. United atop the table.

    New England Revolution got goals two minutes apart to start the second half as they defeated Chicago Fire 2-0.  After playing a goalless first half, the Revolution won a corner kick in the 48th minute.

    Chris Tierney sent the ball to the front edge of the six-yard box, but Andy Dorman’s header floated high towards an unmarked Diego Fagundez.

    His drilled shot went inside the far post to open the scoring.

  • Season of agenda setting

    It is the season of agenda setting. Even members of Jonathan administration that ran the nation aground could not resist the bait. The Minister of Finance, from far away New York, set her own economic agenda for Buhari. Not even the pummelling by her political adversaries who accused her of presiding over the depletion of our foreign reserve, running a deficit budget of N1trillion while federal and some state workers are owed salaries arrears of about N700b, paying N1.6 trillion as fuel subsidy to those who never imported a pint of fuel, frittering away billions through indiscriminate granting of import tax waivers, and leaving behind a debt portfolio of $60b, could restrain her. She is not alone. The Minister for Power who doubles as Aso Rock prayer warrior has advised the president not to revisit the unbundling of PHCN even though we today generate a miserable 1321MW down from about 4500MW before the lucky 18 new distribution companies took over with government N50b subsidy. For Danjuma, Jonathan administration must be probed and stolen assets recovered.  Obasanjo just wants the president-elect to level up with Nigerians and avoid playing the ostrich.  Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN) wants Buhari to ‘summon the political will to tackle the problems of corruption’. For the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry {LCC}, Buhari must ‘block of all fiscal leakages and waste in government’.  NLC on its part wants the president to solve all employment problems. These goals are not unattainable for president-elect who according to Obasanjo ‘is a tested hand’. Besides, politicians are supposed to be miracle workers.

    Unfortunately the most important item is conspicuously missing.  If I were Buhari’s adviser, conscious of the brevity of time and knowing for a fact even without the morbid wish of an embarrassment called Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, that Buhari has only one life, I will simply say: restructure, restructure, restructure. The reason is simple. Buhari has a unique opportunity to leave a lasting legacy by putting an end to our nightmare which started in 1966 when half-educated soldiers destroyed the foundation upon which our nation was built. We have watched with dismay as power-drunk half-educated soldiers who did not even understand the framework of the independent constitution bequeathed on to us by the colonial masters and our founding fathers, took advantage of restive ethnic groups, deprived of justice and freedom by new inheritors of power during the First Republic, to carve our nation into an unviable and unwieldy 36 states and 774 LGA. Buhari has something else going for him. Like some of our founding fathers who worked assiduously along with the British impartial arbiters between 1946 and Sept-Oct 1958 Lancaster House constitutional agreement, he is forthright, honest and fair-minded. He is therefore in a position to confront the beneficiaries of current anarchy fraudulently described as federal arrangement who trade in the name of ‘one Nigeria’, to acquire political power or political patronage in form of huge contracts and oil blocks.

    It is true that our nation came under severe strain and threat by various ethnic groups that have always wanted a nation of their own within the greater Nigerian nation.  It is true   that by acts of omission or commission, the new inheritors of power betrayed the promises of independence and the ideals of federalism. It is also a documented fact of history that the dominant ethnic groups, the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba and the Igbo had at different times threatened secession just as some minorities notably the COR states of Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers, led by Isaac Boro and the Tiv and the Birons led by Joseph Tarka organized popular uprising s which were only suppressed by the military.

    But the cause of friction and ethnic suspicion has always been about the quest for justice, freedom and self-actualization by those who consider themselves marginalized.  The dominant ethnic groups are aware they need Nigeria no less than the oil-producing Delta who in the absence of a federal cover could be enslaved by their more aggressive Igbo neighbours or even by the Hausa-Fulani, their traditional ally who recently threatened to go to war over sharing of revenue from oil which they hilariously claimed actually belongs to the north from where it seeped down to the Niger Delta.

    At the end what most groups want is a Nigeria where the nation-state performs its traditional role of ensuring fairness justice and liberty for all. And this is exactly what federalism sets out to accomplish as a social philosophy that strives to ensure the state does not limit the freedom of individuals and its constituent units. And this was why Hugh Clifford, the colonial Governor-General stated in 1945 that the objective of British policy on Nigerian federalism is “to see the various peoples of the various territories develop themselves along the lines of their own culture and their own tradition”. As if to underscore the soundness of the logic of the British arbiters, Awo in 1947 admitted that “Nigeria is a geographical expression” while Balewa during a debate in the House in 1948 admitted that “Nigeria is a British intention”.

    And despite our differences, the federal arrangement worked until the intervention of military adventurers and ‘an army of anything is possible’.  Asked why he was the only governor not found wanting among Gowon’s 12 military administrators  after his fall from power in 1975, Brigadier Oluwole Rotimi, the then military governor of the defunct Western Region was reported to have attributed his good fortune to the professionalism of the region’s bureaucracy, rated at the period, as the best in Africa. As our political elite and mainstreamers who cornered all the funds for teaching hospitals move in droves to India for their ailments, few Nigerians today remember UCH Ibadan was once rated one of the best three teaching hospitals in the Commonwealth including Britain, Australia and Canada. Even our police have not always been like this. Because some of our founding fathers thought ‘‘its regionalization would make it extremely difficult for a totalitarian regime to emerge in Nigeria”, it wasn’t until 1958 the AG accepted concurrent jurisdiction over the police.  The Sept-Oct. 1958 constitutional agreement to have a single police force under Inspector General of Police responsible to the federal government’ according to Awo ‘preclude exclusive centralization and ‘provide the regional government with the executive instruments under its immediate control for discharging its responsibility for law and order”.

    If Europe after two world wars is employing the value of federalism to accommodate disparate groups ranging from France and its sexual licentiousness, Greece and Spain’s indolence and German fastidiousness, for us there can be no alternative to a viable federal structure. Fiscal federalism which for instance allows the oil-producing states to take control of 50% of oil revenue is preferable to the current anarchy which allows those  Charles Soludo, the former CBN governor described as ‘faceless thieves,’ pocket about $40m a day or $60b  or N12.6 trillion in four years from proceeds of stolen  400,000 barrels per day. This is in addition to the unspecified amount the nation spends on amnesty programme and as government patronage in form of contracts to identified enemies of the state. Fiscal federalism will only mean the oil-producing states will be made to earn their pay by ensuring there is an uninterrupted supply of gas to the five other geo-political zones to turn turbines for the purpose of generating electricity to power industries or for irrigation.

    With adequate power for the textile industries in Kano, irrigation in the cotton, groundnut and tomato belts of the north, we will not be addressing the crisis of unemployment and the problem of insecurity. Those sponsoring armed Fulani herdsmen to perpetuate evils, hiding under grazing ground at an age when it is cheaper to import beef meat from Europe because of government subsidy will be thrown out of market.

    But this is exactly what the ‘faceless thieves’ and their backers who are opposed to restructuring detest.  The huge chunks of money they steal go into importation of the labour of other societies while our youths roam the streets.  They just don’t give a damn.

  • Season of trekking

    Season of trekking

    Little did Suleiman Hashimu, who started it all, know that his decision to trek from Lagos to Abuja to celebrate the March 28 victory of Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will introduce a new dimension to celebrating electoral victories. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE catalogues Hashimu’s experience and those of others who have emulated him.  

    The victory of the incoming President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the recent election has elicited different reactions from different persons. From those who called to congratulate him like outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan, to those who wrote him or those who put up newspaper advertisements in newspapers, the new leader has been inundated with congratulatory messages.

    But, the ones that appear to have grabbed everyone’s attention are the increasing number of youths trekking long distances to express their love for him over his success at the poll. It was one Suleiman Hashimu who hails from Katsina State that started it. When news filtered out that he was on his way to Abuja from Lagos by foot to congratulate Buhari, Nigerians received the news with mixed feelings, doubting the possibility of such a mission.

    Even after his reported arrival to his destination, some still question the authenticity of his claim. They said no media attention was solicited before Hashimu started off. They asked who monitored him. What happened when night fell and how did he manage to find his way through the long and tortuous road to the capital, particularly since a longer part of the way is through the bushes?

    It was even speculated that he met armed robbers on the way and they used the opportunity to write the President-elect and mandated the lone wayfarer to deliver it. But, many Nigerians believe scenarios were impossible. They say such are the sort of speculative reporting concocted by idle users of the socio media who are always out to cause sensation. They insist that the young man should have been posting pictures of every point he got to on the internet.

    Just when it appeared as if everyone had forgotten about Hashimu, the news went viral in the social and regular media that he has surfaced in Lapai, Niger State, where he was given a rousing welcome by residents of the town. According to one account, he stayed at the palace of the emir for two days before he continued his journey.

    He finally arrived his destination on April 20 to a heroic welcome from the crowd of admirers, including the President-elect. According to the long-distance trekker, he was in Lagos when Buhari was announced the winner of the March 28 presidential election. The next day, he added, he embarked on the journey as early as 5 am. He told reporters in Abuja that the journey took him 18 days, but failed to provide details whether the take off was witnessed by any group or persons.

    In addition, Hashimu did not provide details about his itinerary and resting schedule along the 746 Km journey, which ordinarily will take a car nine hours. He said it was in fulfilment of a promise he made to God two years ago that if Buhari wins, he will trek from Lagos to Abuja to celebrate the victory.

    Receiving him, Buhari said: ‘’I want to congratulate you for making it. You are a young man and you are lucky that your health did not fail you. I heard many stories about you. I understand you wore many shoes. I also understand that there were people who were generous to you.’’

    Responding, Hashimu said: ‘’I made the promise because of the love I have for you. I thank God that I made a promise and I fulfilled it. I passed through Kwara and Niger State, trekking from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm every day. I made this promise two years ago. I am based in Ibadan and I started my journey from Lagos because it is the most popular city in Nigeria. I took off from Berger junction in Lagos, but I am bothered about what people say. I have made it.’’

    Though he did not receive any cash reward for the feat, sources have it that it was beyond a handshake. It was speculated that an Abuja-based businessman quartered him at the Transcorp Hilton  Hotel, Abuja, and had him properly fed and entertained.

    Hashimu’s feat has opened the floodgate for other trekkers, who are also using the method to express their feeling and to congratulate the President-elect. Right now, 45-year old Mallam Adamu Abdullahi is on his way from Maiduguri to Abuja on a similar mission. He would be trekking about 868 kilometres; meaning that he would be traversing a longer distance, compared to Hashimu.

    His intention is to use the opportunity to draw the attention of the President-elect to the menace of Boko Haram in the Northeast and to plead with him to wipe it away from the region. From Borno, Abdullahi would be passing through Yobe, Bauchi, Plateau and Nasarawa states. The above states have some things in common: they are all experiencing some sort of insecurity, in the form of communal clashes, cattle rustlings and religious crisis.

    Addressing reporters prior to his departure in Maiduguri, Abdullahi said the journey will take him 20 days and that his intention is to complement the efforts of Hashimu; to congratulate the President-elect and plead with him not to relent in his pledge to stamp out insurgency in the Northeast, where life has become brutish, nasty and short.

    According to him, his expected date of arrival in Abuja is May 20. He urged Nigerians to join his aged mother, Mrs Zulihat Abdullahi, and family to pray for his safety as he embarks on the solitary journey through the crisis-ridden region.

    Just last week, the Lagos State APC Secretariat, Ogba formally received Afolabi Adams who trekked from Abeokuta to Lagos to congratulate the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on his role in pulling off in the merger that produced the APC, which would become the ruling party from May 29.

    Adams commenced his journey on May 18. He arrived the APC secretariat two days later and was received by party stalwarts. He narrated how he commenced the journey and the stopovers he made. According to him, he had to sleep in hotels and party secretariats on his way to Lagos.

    He said: “I started this journey at OPIC Roundabout at exactly 6.40 am. Media men witnessed my take off. After that, I walked towards Olomore, Ita-Oshin and after some hours I found myself at Ewekoro near Itori.

    “I received a rousing welcome at Ewekoro. The council secretary and other official received me and accompanied me to see the traditional ruler (Kabiyesi) of Itori who also gave me a warm reception. The royal father gave me his blessing and wished me a safe journey to Lagos.

    “The Olu of Itori said he was very impressed by what I was doing to honour Asiwaju Tinubu. Later, I trekked to Ifo and from there to Sango Ota and finally I arrived the secretariat in Lagos.”

    He added that Tinubu is the father of modern democracy in Nigeria. He said the National Leader’s determination to oust the People Democratic Party (PDP) from power was overwhelmingly supported by people like him because under the PDP their lot has been unemployment, poverty and lack of social amenities.

    Adams called on the national leader not to relent in the bid to ensure social justice across the country, describing him as a dogged fighter for the oppressed. He said hope came alive for the youth of the country when INEC declared Buhari as the winner of the election, adding that if it had been otherwise the country may not have been able to endure another four years of perpetual suffering in the midst of plenty.

    He charged the youths to support the APC government and exercise patience because lots of damage have been done by the ruling PDP that would take time to fix. He said the country would face challenges because of the depth of the rot introduced by the out-going administration.

    The Lagos State APC chairman Otunba Dele Ajomale expressed joy because Adams’ courage to do what others may not had the stamina to contemplate. He said it takes a very agile and physically-sound body to trek from Abeokuta to Lagos and commended him for the effort.

    He said the man was carving a niche for himself, stressing that the party will not renege on the promises made that might have prompted the young man to embark on the journey.

    He explained that Tinubu has always fought for the oppressed of the country, not minding whose ox was gored. He described the National Leader as a monumental asset and a gift to the country. He urged the youths to engage in meaningful projects that will showcase the image of the country across the globe.

    Besides, the trekking embarked upon to celebrate the victory of APC, others have equally promised to introduce another dimension to the victory celebration. Some are now emulating the Hashimus, the Abdullahis and the Adams’ of this world obviously for economic reasons. Such people believe that there is no way they would not leave empty-handed after the sacrifice they made and that who pioneered the celebratory trekking must have been financially rewarded or promised job offers.

    The economic realities of the times have made many people to devise methods of survival.

    To use the phrase that became popular after the June 21, 2014 governorship election in Ekiti, they are seeking ‘stomach infrastructure’, but how their hosts would respond to situation is another matter.

    The former military Head of State started receiving congratulatory messages after he won the APC primaries at the Teslim Balogun Stadium late last year. His admirers must have started preparations on how to celebrate him if he wins the 2015 elections. Since independence, the country has been ruled by the conservatives, except for periods of military interventions.

    So, the success of the progressives at the general elections could not have provoked anything less than the novel way of celebration being witnessed across the country. Incidentally, those engaged in this manner of celebration are the youths, who have also borne the brunt of the social-economic malaise in the country.

  • Lobi unveil squad players for 2014/2015 season

    Lobi unveil squad players for 2014/2015 season

    Lobi Stars have named a crack team for the 2014/2015 Premier League season.

    The club’s Team Manager, Barnabas Imenger told SportingLife that the Suswam Boys are seriously preparing for the league season opener against Bayelsa United and have registered the players they intend using for the start of the season.

    He listed the goalkeepers as: Terkaa Melai, Edet Eteka and Ekoli Agbor. He also said Lobi Stars have capable players in defence and they are: Ikpeen Terna, Bunde Moses, Anthony Agbaji, Felix Osia, Samson Gbadebo, Shehu Nasiru, Edum Cyril, Anyaefiema Ifesinachi.

    He also said that Joseph Essien, Douglas Achiv, Etche Idakwo, Khoya Edward and Emmanuel Ajia are the midfielders in the team.

    Imeneger listed the attackers as Nanen Imenger, Ukeyima Akombo, Uche Ihurualam, John Paul, Tsafa Terpase, Imo Uche, Umar Famous, Peter Onoja, Ngomo Mougaol Fabric, John Aodongogu, Arinze Obioma and Ifeanyi Jonah.