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Tag: silence

  • The deafening silence…

    The deafening silence…

    The world seems very crisis-ridden at the moment. What with the wars between Russia and Ukraine and in Middle East by Israel/Hamas/Hezbollah. While these are in the global media, there are the unspoken wars in the seemingly ‘peaceful’ corners especially in Africa. There are the decades-old Somali/Al-Shabaab militants, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies, the Janjaweed Coalition.

    Besides these ones, the West Coast of Africa has been embroiled in coups and counter coups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger with the attendant collateral damages in human deaths and destruction of infrastructure. In all the conflicts, women and children become the most victims of the fall out; deaths, displacements and sexual abuses. Economic and social issues that impact development are on the increase as Sub-Saharan Africa continues to teeter towards instability and underdevelopment.

    In Nigeria, it’s been no less a thing of worry that the socio-economic conditions have impacted women and children more than any other demographics due to a number of socio-political variables. Nigeria has had more internally displaced people (IDPs) than at any peace time in the country due to the attacks by bandits, kidnappers and other insurgents that have been attacking communities, raping, killing, abducting and harassing citizens.

    In all the conflicts across the world, men are the decision makers, they are often the leaders, the instigators, the recruiters of foot soldiers, armies and mercenaries. This is basically because globally, there is a patriarchal bent to socio-politics. In some countries, there are very few women in government. Men make the decisions that impact on about half the population of the world if not more.

    The Roundtable Conversation is concerned about the Nigerian situation, the largest black nation on earth with more than two hundred million people. Sadly, due to some cultural and religious manipulations, the society is almost exclusively run by men as most countries embraced democracy after the colonial experience. However, the Nigerian brand of democracy is run with systemic exclusion of women, those living with disabilities and the youth. The policies that concern these demographics are often made by men.

    Despite the advocies for inclusive politics, Nigeria still lags behind in women representation especially in the legislative houses at local state and federal levels. In some states, there is no single woman in their houses of assembly. This then means that all laws and bills concerning the welfare of women are either not raised or are handled by men who know nothing about the needs and reproductive health of women. Most women are denied education in certain parts of the country because of poverty and the child-marriages that invariably stalls both the physical and intellectual growths of women.

    Today, Nigeria has just four women in the Senate, down from seven in the 9th Assembly. In the House of Reps., the number of women went from 22 in 2019 to about 11 in 2023. On the contrary, Rwanda, the phoenix emerging from the 1994 genocidal war has become the country with the highest percentage of women in parliament in the worlf with more than sixty percent of women in parliament. About  half the cabinet is made up of women. The Rwandan economy is doing well and now one of the investment and tourism hubs in the continent.

    Kenya on the other hand, had a constitutional review in 2010 making it illegal for any gender to occupy more than two third of any position. They had elected three female governors after that and in 2022, added four more female governors making it seven female governors in Kenya at the moment. On the other hand, Nigeria, the most populous black nation has never elected a female governor. No major political party has ever nominated a female presidential or vice presidential candidate.

    On the other hand, women constitute a great percentage of the informal economy that contribute to the nation’s GDP but largely left out of decision making.

    Despite women being very few in governance, they still exist. The Roundtable Conversation feels that few as women are especially in the National Assembly, they have been largely mute in addressing the issues that affect the country especially women. While we understand the many challenges that these few women face in the discharge of their duties, we believe they can do better and they can do more.

    Getting lost in the legislative houses seems a defeatist attitude that can never be an option. These women belong to political parties and must not be lost in the crowd just because of their gender. There are huddles on the way but attempts must be made to jump those huddles. Raising their voices for good governance is an option. We however assume that they seem to value the much touted ‘party loyalty’ than pulling their weight to get the men in the executive to act in the interest of women.

    While we understand that legislative processes involve the say by the minority and the way by the majority, it seems the minority is not making much moves. The fight for change by women in global history is not won in silence. The power to vote was fought over centuries and was eventually won. Today women are Presidents, Prime Ministers and Heads of Governments. It took the voice of a few strong women.

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    The Margarte Ekpos, the Gambo Sawabas, the Funmilayo Ransome Kutis did not make history by staying mute. The Aba women of 1929, the Amazons of Dahomey, Queen Amina, Queen Idia and the Egba women that contronted the then Alake of Egba land did not stay behind the scenes. The few women in the Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly seem to have run into the shadows after being trusted by the voters. Make no mistakes about it, there are a few vocal women but we want louder voices, a chorus.

    We want women to raise their voices about issues creating more poverty in a nation where more than 133million live in multi-dimensional poverty, more than 20million children out of school, more women and child illiteracy, maternal and child mortality, more child-brides than most African and developed countries etc. We don’t want mere tokenism of just chorusing to male sponsored bills.

    Being benchwarmers at any level of government is not acceptable from any gender but in a world where women are increasingly endangered, any woman that has a chance, has a voice and refuses to maximally use it must feel some sense of failure. Being numbers in government is not enough. Nigerian women must work and act like women are in dire straits in the country.

    The women must decide whether the political space for women would continue to shrink or expand.  Acting as mere errand women for male politicians is one reason most female politicians make little or no impact in igerian politics. The women must aspire to be in leadership positions in political parties so as to redirect the functioning of the party structure in ways that merit becomes key more than gender and financial muscle.

    Women in Nigerian politics must start by dismantling the ‘Women Leader’ position in political parties. It is a very degrading tokenism and a mockery of the female intellect. What by the way is Woman Leader? It is an eloquent testimony of second classism. They are flattered by a vauous tag that makes no political sense. It is a position that just organizes fellow women to vote for men. It has little or no political dignity for the women.

    While everyone understands the impact of financial power by the men in Nigerian politics, it is enough reason for women to fight through bills to enact laws that can streamline political party funding as done in stable democracies where the people contribute to support their favourites making the game fare and accessible. The moment there are structural chnges to how political parties are run in Nigeria, things will change. Merit and capacity would begin to matter. Donors will support candidates based on what they perceive as their professional and private pedigree. With a transparent and fair political party structure, more qualified women would be ready to throw their hats in the ring and contest for political offices and while no one is insinuating that women are saints in politics, men are not either. The question is, has Nigeria fared well under the present lopsided male dominance?Ironically, while men edge out many women in the political field through unfair means, women in the academia, sports, corporate governance, banking and other sectors have proven to be great performers. It is then surprising that the same men who appreciate women in most of these fields somehow exclude many from political spaces. The result is the poverty, the insecurity, the conflicts, the intractable low lifespan especially for the men who never seem to realize how impacted their choices of excluding women in the political space impact leadership.

    The Roundtable Conversation believes that the status quo must be dismantled and women must realize that the men who are the beneficiaries would not lead the struggle. Women in politics must be more proactive and work for their welfare. There must be a shift from the fatalism that tend to convince women that leadership is a male prerogative. No one knows the gender of God. He might just be a woman given his works and how structured the universe is. Culture and religion must not be tools to push exclusion. No bird flies with one wing. Our women politicians must wake up and smell the coffee. A lot needs to be done.

    The dialogue continues…

  • When silence is not golden

    When silence is not golden

    Agric minister should respond to claims by some states that they never got 20 trucks of food items

    The controversy trailing the distribution of the food items allocated by the Federal Government to states is a disservice to the efforts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government to ameliorate the impact of food inflation on the citizens. Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri who was supportive of the #Endbadgovernance protests, and a few other governors denied receiving the food items earmarked for their states by the Federal Government. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, had announced in July that each state received 20 trucks of rice for distribution to the most vulnerable.

    Considering that Governor Fintiri belongs to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), many thought that he was playing politics against the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government with such a serious issue. 

    At a press briefing, Iliya James, the state commissioner for information and strategy, while acknowledging the receipt of fertiliser from the Federal Government, denied receiving the food items. He said that what the state was sharing came from the state government. So, what happened to the state’s 20 trucks of food?

    Surprisingly, his claim has not been refuted by the Minister of Agriculture or the Minister of Information or even the spokespersons of the Federal Government. We are surprised that the Minister of Agriculture, who made the announcement, and who has the responsibility to distribute the food items, has kept quiet since the claim. Considering the crisis afflicting the polity in the past few days, over the so- called #Endbadgovernance protests, the minister’s quietness is not golden.

    If the food trucks have not been sent, or had not reached the state, he should say so. If they had been sent, he owes the nation an explanation on where the food trucks are, and who received them. Twenty trucks of food is an enormous intervention in the midst of the crisis and hardship that the citizens are facing, and they cannot disappear into the thin air. Indeed, the Ministry of Information is supposed to have video footages of the trucks arriving each state, and same should be publicised across the media.

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    As the trucks depart to the states, the media should be briefed, and when they arrive their destination, a similar briefing should take place, so that those for whom the items are meant can track the efforts being made to alleviate their sufferings. We dare say that if the food items were properly distributed, some of those who joined the recent protests and riots could have been more circumspect. 

    Sadly, only a few of the states that had received the food items have owned up, but they have not shared information on how the items were shared.

    The Borno State government, for one consistently advertise its effort to ameliorate the food challenges facing its people, and has acknowledged receipt of the foods. Imo State government also acknowledged receipt of the food trucks. In Edo State, it is alleged that the state government received the items, but did not distribute them and there are video footages of rioters helping themselves to bags of rice from the consignment. We have argued that the food crisis facing the country is not the business of the Federal Government alone.

    States and even local governments, which have all received enhanced monthly allocations from the federation account should stand to be counted. The removal of subsidy which has been lauded by many people, and which has dealt with the distortion caused by fuel subsidy, must not return because of the delinquency in managing the extra incomes. The Federal Government must robustly blow its own trumpet, and ensure that Nigerians are aware of its programmes to alleviate the economic hardship they currently face.

  • Silence as the enemy

    Silence as the enemy

    By Feyisetan Akeeb Kareem

    SIR: Silence is the enemy when you keep quiet against human rights violations in your communities and don’t confront it. Silence is the enemy when you keep quiet against bad governance in your communities.

    Silence is the enemy when you keep quiet against injustices committed by security agencies, political leaders, community leaders and the elites in your communities.

    Silence is the enemy when you know those who sell hard drugs destroying the lives of the youths in your communities and say nothing about it.

    Silence is the enemy when you know criminals who commit atrocities in your communities and do nothing about it. Silence is the enemy when you know corrupt colleagues in the civil service and do nothing to stop it.

    Read Also; I’ll justify the trust Nigerians place on me – Tinubu

    Silence is the enemy when you know staffers in courts who collect illegal fees for affidavits and oaths in courts and do nothing about it.

    Silence is the enemy when you know police stations across the 36 States and 774 Local Govt. Areas that collect money for bails that are not accounted for and you keep quiet as an officer of the law and an advocate of justice.

    Silence is the enemy when you engage in corruption as a civil servant and a private sector actor.

    Silence is the enemy when you can’t say truth to power because those in power are of your ethnic, tribal and religious affiliations.

    Silence is the enemy when you can’t summon the courage to hold your political leaders accountable. Silence is the enemy when you know civil servants who demand bribe to do their jobs and you don’t report them. Silence is the enemy when you know lecturers who demand sex from students or collect money to pass students and you don’t report them.

    Silence is the enemy why the Nigeria of your dream hasn’t come to reality because you remain silent and refuse to action to confront it.

    • Feyisetan Akeeb Kareem, <karfeyio@gmail.com>

  • Silence in Senate, House over Buhari’s rejection of Electoral Act Amendment Bill

    IT was all pin drop silence yesterday in the Senate and the House of Representatives after President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to decline assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill, 2018 was read to the two chambers.

    All Progressives Congress (APC) senators came in their numbers to the Upper Chamber apparently to prevent an anticipated plot by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators to initiate move to override the President’s assent on the controversial Bill.

    The House of Representatives also failed to debate Buhari’s refusal to sign the Bill into law for the fourth time.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki merely read to senators the letter dated December 6, 2018, which detailed reasons Buhari based his decision to decline to assent to Bill. Saraki filed it away after reading the letter.

    The anticipation that a Point of Order will be raised for the consideration of the presidential letter was dashed when senators kept quiet.

    A source noted that “apparently in line with the rule of the Senate, no senator was allowed to comment on the contents of the Presidential letter”.

    It was, however, gathered that APC Senate caucus met on Monday to articulate how to foil any attempt to override the President’s assent.

    Investigation also showed that the APC caucus mobilised members to ensure that they attended yesterday’s sitting.

    It was gathered that members of the APC caucus were particularly spurred to action by the comments of Senator Dino Melaye on a national television on Monday on the voided Bill.

    Melaye, a senator said, was too critical of the President for rejecting the Bill “for us to leave anything to chance”.

    According to the senator, “We were fully on standby to oppose any motion by Melaye and other PDP senators on the rejected Bill. We were prepared. We know the stand of Melaye on matters of this nature. Nobody should be taken for granted.”

    The turnout in the chamber yesterday was the highest by APC and PDP senators in recent times.

    It was unclear what the next line of action will be on the rejected Bill.

    In the House of Representatives, before the floor could degenerate into a rowdy session, following the reading of the President’s letter conveying his rejection of the  Bill, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, said in line with House rules, the letter would not be considered on the day it was read.

    Dogara said the letter will be considered on another legislative day.

    The President, in the letter dated December 6, 2018, said he declined assent to the Bill as a result of the likely confusion the new law would create for the process of the  2019 general election.

    Noting some other errors in the document, the President included a proviso if he must sign the bill into law that a clause that the law becomes operational after the 2019 election be inserted.

    As the Speaker concluded reading the letter,  Ali Madaki, (PDP, Kano) raised a point of order, saying  there was an urgent need for the House to debate the President’s communication because of its importance to the future of the country.

    He was shut down by a counter point of order from the House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila.

    Gbajabiamila said no House rule supports Madaki’s suggestion that the matter be debated immediately because of its importance.

    “We have never, by precedence, by custom and tradition, we have never debated a letter, which is by way of information.

    “If there is the need to debate the President’s letter, we will table it on the order paper for debate. Several letters have been written by several presidents before.

    “It never happened. If you want to debate the letter, place it on the order paper. We are fully ready to debate it,” Gbajabiamila said.

    At this point, the Speaker ruled and stepped down the matter for another legislative day.

    Dogara said no matter how urgent, House rules dictate that such matters are scheduled for another legislative day for consideration.

     

  • Gowon: Silence is no longer golden

    When a nation is adrift and the future seems shaky with attendant national disaster, it behoves on men of conscience and past leaders of such a nation to speak out and point out ways of avoiding the danger confronting such a nation. I will like to make a brief incursion into history to buttress my point. When the ominous dark cloud of war was gathering in Europe in the late 30s, Sir Winston Churchill in Britain spoke out against the appeasement policy of Prime Minister Chamberlain towards Hitler whose army was rampaging across Europe. In France, Charles De Gaulle also later spoke and acted against the Vichy regime of Petain who collaborated with Nazi programmes of oppression and genocides. Over here in Africa, the legendary Nelson Mandela of South Africa condemned his successor Thabo Mbeki when he was becoming aloof and impervious to the yearnings of the Black South Africans. It is also on record that Archbishop Bishop Desmond Tutu condemned strongly the anti-democratic policies of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

    It is no exaggeration to say that since independence our dear country, Nigeria had faced many dire situations that threatened its corporate existence. The latest of these is the gory activities of the fiendish Fulani herdsmen in many parts of the country especially in the middle belt region of Plateau, Benue, Kaduna and Taraba states. These Fulani herdsmen go about with sophisticated weapons like AK47 to kill and maim innocent people. They burn houses, and take over people’s land by force.  In fact some of their apologists have told the whole world that the Fulanis own the land of the proud Tiv people by conquest. These Fulani herdsmen had brought sorrow and misery to the people. These marauding herdsmen are bad news to the people of Nigeria as they have brought untimely death of up to 2000 people and we are still counting.

    The heinous activities of these herdsmen who have been referred to as Fulani militias by some people had attracted the attention of the United Nations that had classified them as terrorist organization on a scale above the dreaded Boko Haram. Back home, two of our past leaders, Generals Obasanjo and Babaginda had condemned the activities of these malevolent herdsmen. These leaders had no doubt failed the nation in the past but with regard to their condemnation of these herdsmen, people are ready to ignore the messengers and concentrate on the message. These leaders have now been joined by the taciturn General Theophilus Danjuma whose Taraba home state, has been ravaged mercilessly by these rampaging Fulani herdsmen.  Danjuma is not known to be frivolous and for this reason he commands a lot of respect in the country and that is why his intervention on the atrocities of the herdsmen is causing a lot of concern in the government circles especially for his call on the people to defend themselves because the statutory organ empowered to protect the people have failed as they were colluding with the evil killers.

    Whatever may be the past shortcomings of these leaders, I think Nigerians owe a debt of gratitude to Obasanjo, Danjuma and Babangida for speaking out against the latest threat to the corporate existence of the country. Unfortunately there is an important voice missing in the condemnation of the quagmire imposed on the country by these Fulani herdsmen. That missing voice is that of General Yakubu ‘Jack’ Dan-Yumma Gowon, the man who was the shining face of Nigerian unity at the darkest moment in our history when the country was at the brink of breaking up. I believe but I concede that I may be wrong to say that we may not have a country called Nigeria today if General Gowon had not been the Head of State during the political crisis in 1966 and during the ensuing civil war that ravaged our country between 1967 and 1970. His calm posture and moderate ways with which he handled delicate national issues thrown up in the political crisis and the war won the hearts of many people for the cause of Nigerian unity which he championed. His policy of ’no victor, no vanquished’ calmed the nerves of protagonists of succession and won him international acclaim.

    Despite his lofty and unforgettable achievement as the man who prevented the disintegration of Nigeria, General Gowon has disappointed many people including his numerous ardent admirers for his tepid approach and attitude to issues that could destroy the corporate existence of the country which he championed in a godly fashion between 1967 and 1970. This unfortunate disposition of the General had been observed by this writer with concern as one of his admirers as far back as 1994. In that year out of frustration, I wrote him an open letter which was published in The Punch of August 30, 1994. In the letter, I implored the General with all the respect I could muster, to call the late malevolent Sani Abacha to order before he destroyed Nigeria by his draconian actions. Nothing was heard from General Gowon on many atrocities committed by Abacha before he expired in 1998.

    It is pertinent here to catalogue briefly, instances where General Gowon let the people down with his deafening silence on vital national crises. In the first coming of President Buhari in 1984, we were inundated with oppressive retroactive decrees which sent some people to their untimely death. We also had under his military administration, emasculation of press freedom with the infamous Decree 4 which led to the imprisonment of two leading journalists, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor. Nothing was heard from General Gowon on this vicious erosion of people’s freedom. This attitude continued under the succeeding Babaginda military regime that annulled the freest election ever held in this country – the June 12, 1993 election. General Gowon up till today had never condemned the annulment. Also the debilitating economic policy of Babaginda dubbed by some people as Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) without human face which was roundly condemned by Obasanjo and leading economists in the land did not get any attention from this architect of one Nigeria. None of the Obasanjo’s dictatorial tendencies during his second coming also caught the attention of General Gowon as he kept quiet during this period. We also did not hear any voice of condemnation from Gowon on the unbridled corruption and waste that characterised the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Now to the present regime of President Buhari which every body knows is riddled with nepotism, sectional arrogance and other failings. All these shortcomings of the administration pale into insignificance when compared with present gory action of the rampaging fiendish Fulani herdsmen which Buhari administration has made very tepid attempt to curb. Plateau State where General Gowon comes from is one of the states in the eyes of the storm with regard to the killing and maiming of people by the herdsmen, despite the pretence of the governor, Simon who prefers the praise of President Buhari to the safety of his people. General Gowon is yet to make any statement on the misfortune of his people and other people who are being killed by the herdsmen all over the country. Many people still look up to Gowon to say something on this unacceptable situation in our country. When he led Nigerians in the war against the disintegration of the country, I am sure he was not bringing us together to be slaughtered systematically by the Fulani herdsmen some years later. General Gowon owes it a duty to the memories of the people who fought gallantly to keep Nigeria one, to speak loud and in an unambiguous way against the carnage being perpetrated by the Fulani herdsmen in different parts of our country. The earlier he does this, the better for his image.

    I know that General Gowon runs an outfit called ‘Nigeria Prays’ in which he mobilizes people in different parts of the country to pray for Nigeria.  This is commendable but it is my humble opinion that prayers do not preclude loud and clear condemnation of evil in whatever form or guise it may appear. In ending this piece, I will like to draw attention of General Gowon to an Anglican hymn which among others says that the person who is on the side of the Lord is somebody who is “Noble, True and Bold”

     

    • Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.
  • When silence means contempt

    When silence means contempt

    The president has always seen silence as a mark of dignity in a time of crisis. When he opens his mouth eventually, he spews out venom that neither gives him nor the office he occupies any form of dignity.

    Tall, gaunt, lean of face with a straight stare and loping strides, his smile comes across more like a lickspittle than a royal. Yet, behind that simpering exterior is a granite heart. However, little cunning or high thinking dresses up his hearty resolves. So, in the final analysis, what we have is not the Buhari of nobility but a pretension to the high moral act. Sometimes that façade confronts us in the form of silence.

    Occasionally he does speak. When he breaks his silence, he ruptures not only peace but logic. As I have noted in the past, Buhari’s soul is a battle between the martial impulses of his breeding and the entitlement of his ambience as a Fulani hierarch. And then there is a third. He has managed, since his ouster from power as head of state, to cultivate the talakawa. So, he sees himself as a sort of royal with a common touch. He is simultaneously on top and at the bottom, a prince and pauper, a head and herdsman, at once erupting from the floor and swooping down from heaven.

    How does such a man operate in a democracy? Well, unless democracy tames him, he will see it as his right to tame democracy. That is the war going on with the man we elected president. His silence on the N9 trillion scandal only portrays his contempt for institutions and persons who want to tame him like colt to the discipline and humility of popular persuasion. If democracy is about the triumph of popular persuasion over collective will, Buhari is bending to the side of the will. As French philosopher Jean Jacque Rousseau has argued, collective will often cloaks despotic arrogance. Robespierre and Danton, even Napoleon, were culprits.

    As a soldier Buhari works with diktat. As a royal, he sees the world from the hill top. As a talakawa patron, he gives them love in his own light. In return, they give him worship. Democracy therefore will work for him the way he operates with the talakawa. He expects us to bow down to him. He is the king of our democracy. He abides the contradiction.  Men like Churchill or General Dwight Eisenhower had high-born sensibilities, but hey were cowed by the institutions of democracy. Buhari acts otherwise. The thing is that Buhari is not high-born, he has acquired the streak by age and his rise in the military and social graces of the land. When you expect to give, it means you define the love in your own image. The targets of your love only do one thing: worship you.

    What we have is the making of the Aristotelian tragic flaw. Like Sophocles’ Oedipus and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Buhari’s flaw is hubris.  That explains why his speeches and comments in times of crisis tend to be condescending.

    We witnessed it early in his tenure when he would not set up a cabinet. Or when his wife rattled him, or when he reacted to the scandal around his army chief, or when recently he fouled the air when he returned from his medical leave and came down in primitive anger against the Southeast. There are some storms he has never found worthy of his tongue. Chief among them is the poisonous lop-sidedness of his appointments. He is still mum on Babachir Lawal and Ayo Oke, and even the rumbles among his principal officers in the presidency. Some jump out of the shadows. Like his request to a World Bank chief that the institution should focus work on the north.

    This perhaps explains why he has been frozen from the neck up in spite of the uproar over his NNPC appointments. So, following from that, why would we expect him to say something about the new tempest on Nigeria’s oil. All he did was retreat to is familiar terrain on the N9 trillion ambush of our national treasure.

    Now, he may see his silence has golden, as a way of standing above the rolling waters, of asserting his rectitude. But that could be so if he has come out with a line of wisdom through his lieutenants. His lieutenants have actually been quiet, too. It was all left in the hands of the culprit-in-chief to hand over the boil to his appointee, Maikanti Baru.

    If his explanations had found traction in reason, we could have pardoned the president. We could say, well, it was all a case of mistaking a mouse for an elephant. But the big elephant in the room has remained one man: Muhammadu Buhari.

    He acts as though it is mere matter. It will pass over, his image as a man of purity will shield him, so he does not have to be above board.

    After all, some of his followers have been treating him as a god. They swear by him, they risk cholera by drinking water on dirt roads, they worship head on the ground as though on prayer ground. So how can he submit to mere mortals to explain.

    He does not need to explain when Baru says he sought permission from him (Buhari) to make such a consequential decision. He does not need to react when he bypasses the man he appointed to the position as board chairman of the NNPC. He does not see it fit that he set up a board that the NNPC Act invests with powers and a mere mortal he puts there as GMD subverts their authority and boasts about it in Buhari’s name. Does he not know that as president, the only person to whom he can hand over authority is a minister or vice president?

    The constitution says so. Or does he read the constitution? If he cannot delegate to himself since he is oil minister, he automatically hands over to his minister of state. By bypassing that, he has violated due process. And he does not want to talk about it? By the way, is it damning to note that these contracts were purportedly signed when he was on medical leave? He himself had said his men brought him files to sign in London. If he did not sign Baru’s, did he give him a nod. If he did, he violated the oath of office, and is that not enough for him to resign, or for impeachment proceedings to begin?

    Does he not know that matters like this should involve the BPP? Did he not hear the voice of Oby Ezekwesili on that? Did he not hear his GMD draw false equivalences by saying that Kachikwu did the same thing, therefore there was nothing wrong? Is that the way to fight corruption?

    If a man like Baru can play fast and loose with our endowment as a people, where do we place those who are faithful like Dakuku Peterside in NIMASA and Professor Ishaq Oloyede at JAMB. The president was quick to order the probe of the predecessors and rightly so. But he is easy on the humongous erring of his “man” Baru. They say it is not cash contract, and so not contract “as such.” Abi dem think say we be mumu?

    As far as this column is concerned, unless Buhari reviews and annuls the contracts, his war on corruption is melodious lie, an exercise in hypocritical grandstanding. He is therefore hiding in silence. The silence is roaring, and our ears are full with its every decibel.

  • Between Aisha’s ‘noise’ and Buhari’s silence

    SIR: Aisha Buhari has created a niche for herself as an exceptional wife of a president by her audacious assertion against corrupt practices visible enough for her to decipher. She blew the lid off the cleavages of cabals adding dead weight to the strides her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari is trying to make in repositioning Nigeria and fight against corruption. She was at a time, emphatic that her husband will return from medical vacation to chase away the hyenas and the jackals from the animal farm called the presidency. Now she has locked horns with management of State House clinic over poor service delivery.

    Most people berate her audacity, insisting she is supposed to be anonymous, others feel she is trying to control her husband. The cabals think she is a witch, determined to stop them from taking their own chunk of the “national cake”. She has indeed turned herself to a whistle blower, taking her role to a new height every day, in desperate effort to save her husband from looming shame.

    Her revelation on the State House clinic only confirms fears of most rational Nigerians over the way and manner scarce resources are siphoned by key officials under the Buhari led administration. Considering the allocation of N4.2bn in two years to keep the place operational, it is shocking the clinic does not have a serviceable X-ray machine. Her observation is not only an indictment on officials in charge but a pointer to security risk on the life of our president who has been managing health issues. Those who squandered the state house clinic funds must be treated as terrorists.

    The silence of President Buhari over gazillion of corruption allegations is making critics think popular opinion about his integrity is overrated. While the observations of Aisha is based on what she can see, there are many systemic acts of corruption allegedly perpetuated under the administration of Buhari buried with propaganda, blackmail of past administration, which many right thinking Nigerians are beginning to get irritated about. The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay asserted that leaders of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), are promoting corruption, adding that the National Assembly is enjoying from proceeds of corruption. He was promptly attacked and threatened fire and brimstone by those who were his loyal fans while he was taking swipe at corrupt officials of the immediate past administration.

    The wife of president Buhari has refused to turn a blind eye to the traffic of corruption moving before her on daily bases while the culprits smile happily to the banks with outrageous stash in their accounts. She knows that her husband is the one to carry the leaking sewage at the expiration of his tenure(s) in office. She is aware of the fact that those biting him and at the same time blowing breeze on his wound will be the first to cast stones once Buhari is out of power. Knowing her husband very well, she knows he will be the least affluent while the increasingly powerful cabals will be supper rich. She knows that her husband will be silenced and allowed to carry the basket of shame alone.

    Sadly, president Buhari is too silent, too casual about myriads of allegations flying around those close to him. The case of former or suspended SGF, Babachir Lawal who the Senate exposed over N270m IDP grass cutting scandal is fresh despite silence from the presidency. A report has been submitted to the President as Nigerians await pronouncements, which is rather taking too long. Nigerians will not forget the allegation against Abba Kyari, the president’s Chief of Staff over N500m bribery by MTN.

    There are many unfortunate cases where the present change administration has refused to convince the people they are capable of bringing Nigeria from the brinks of systemic corruption, waste, administrative laxity among other inherited and self-induced challenges. Under the present circumstance, we can only pray that the voices of the Aisha’s break the silence of the Buhari’s.

     

    • Israel A. Ebije,

    Abuja.

  • Sound and silence

    Sound and silence

    There is a time to speak and a time to be silent. When former President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke about what was said about him in a 2010 book, it was clear that he considered silence inappropriate.
    It is intriguing that his reaction to the contents of the book came after six years, but this in no way weakened the significance of his strongly worded response. It is thought-provoking that the hot aspects of the autobiography were not publicised until now. This may be a reflection of Philistinism, particularly among the country’s media workers who are supposed to be knowledge workers.
    Obasanjo said in his statement: “Kabiyesi, I believe that I should set the record straight for posterity and to caution you from engaging in unedifying rumour-mongering and untruth.” His reaction to claims by the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, Ogbagba II, was unmistakably loud.
    Obasanjo’s response: “The extract from your autobiography, “Awujale: The Autobiography of Alaiyeluwa Oba S. K. Adetona, Ogbagba II”, published by Mosuro Publishers 2010, pp. 187-195, which I attach to this letter was presented to me for my attention. Your assertion in the publication was a tissue of lies and untruths.”
    This was a subtle way of calling Oba Adetona a liar. But it may well be that Obasanjo is more deserving of the label. At the centre of the claim and counterclaim is Globacom Chairman Mike Adenuga who Oba Adetona claimed was unfairly treated by Obasanjo because of his relationship with the then Vice President Abubakar Atiku, with whom Obasanjo had a serious conflict.
    Oba Adetona said in his autobiography: “The kernel of the matter really, as I told him, was his disagreement with Abubakar Atiku, his deputy, and they had taken the matter almost life-and -death level. Mike Adenuga was a pawn in the crisis…”
    Obasanjo’s defence is food for thought: “Kabiyesi, the total sum of what you have put down in those pages of your book is that I dislike Mike. Maybe I need to remind you that if there was any iota of truth in such a position or mindset, Mike would not have been granted the mobile telephone licence which made him a billionaire. It was my prerogative as the President so to do.
    He continued: “You may also be reminded that in the first round of the auction which Mike did not make, the country earned $285 million for each licence. The country earned only $200 million from the licence transaction with Mike and in the subsequent transaction with Etisalat, the country earned $400 million. It was a deliberate action on my part that a Nigerian should own one of the licences. Anybody else but Mike could have been that Nigerian.”
    On the question of lying, it is interesting that Obasanjo said: “The invitation to Mike to contribute to the building of the Library block of Bells University was issued to him by the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Julius Okogie, who never told me about inviting Mike to so contribute until Mike pulled out. And that I have not and I will not talk to Mike about it should convince you that I know nothing about its genesis.” It is curious that Obasanjo claimed to know nothing about the invitation to Adenuga to help build a structure in the university he founded.
    Oba Adetona’s version: “It was in Ota that he solicited for the construction of the Administration Block of his university, Bells University in Ota. Mike agreed and Carchez Turnkey Projects Ltd handled the project for him… However, the construction project at Bells University slowed considerably while Mike was in exile and a few solicitous calls from Obasanjo to Mike while he was in exile did not change the pace of work. On his return from exile, the school Bells University had the temerity to write to him seeking for a meeting to discuss the continuation of the project. When I got to know, I offered to be in attendance at the meeting and sent word round that I would be in attendance. I had the intention to lambast all of them. They must have sensed it because up till now, the meeting has not been held!”
    Also interesting is Obasanjo’s claim that Adenuga approached him, asking to be considered for a national honour. He said: “It is of interest to me that Mike did not tell you that when he wanted national honour, he came to me and I did not react until Babangida recommended him and said, “Of all those I have helped, Mike is one of the most appreciative.” Is this account true? Does this give a reliable insight into how Adenuga was made Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) in 2012?
    How much did Obasanjo achieve while he was President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007? This is how Oba Adetona answered the question in his book: “All the enormous goodwill which Obasanjo carried into office was squandered with a performance that left him with a second term short of tangible achievements. Eight years in office was ample time to put electricity on a very strong footing. Eight years was enough to put down a strong foot against corruption and make a clear difference. Eight years was adequate for orderliness and the rule of law to triumph in every facet of our society. These were the basis upon which I gave him my support for the office. Some new State Governors have shown how much good can be achieved in a shorter time.”
    Obasanjo’s answer to that answer: “Kabiyesi, if I have squandered all the goodwill I had, you would not have contacted me on behalf of All Progressives Party, APC, to receive them in 2014 and you would not have been personally present when I received them as I demanded. I probably have greater goodwill today internally and externally than I had in office.”
    As things stand, Oba Adetona and Adenuga need to respond publicly to Obasanjo’s sound. This is not a time to be silent; it is a time to speak out.

  • Culture of silence

    Sometime ago, I listed 13 issues that were likely to spell the death knell of Nigeria and I remember listing criminal silence on the part of Nigerians as number one. I have critically examined the factors that had kept Nigeria on her knees for this long and I have concluded that the timidity of our people, the fear to raise a voice in the face of severest oppression and deprivation and the loss of self-esteem ranked the highest in the scale of culprits.
    Sadly enough it had not always been so. In the pre-colonial days we had great warriors of note and empire leaders who were ready to lay down their lives in the defence of what they held dear. There were citizens who were very bold, fearless and articulate and were prepared to dare and challenge any tendency towards absolutism, autocracy or untoward tyranny. In those days no leader would dare steal what belonged to the people. Any leader whether a monarch or priest or even warrior that overstepped his or her bounds would be shown the way to the death chamber. In Yoruba land no king or queen would dare go against the wishes of his or her people or for that matter act contrarily to the established norms. The punishment was certain death!
    Great men and women of distinguished valour were too many to be listed in a three-page essay. But they existed and history has continued to do justice to their memory.
    Nowadays people simply keep quiet and you wonder whether the cruel padlocks used on our forefathers who got carted away as slaves were reserved for them. So many things have gone wrong with the polity, and these precursors of the calamity that has now virtually fallen on our heads have always been with us.
    With our eyes wide open we allowed unchallenged the various bogus population censuses that were allowed to pass. With our eyes open, we watched in damned helplessness like zombies the crass award of lopsided legislative seats to a section of the country which would allow perpetual imbalance and master-slave relationship in the land. We allowed creation of many unviable states and crazy number of local governments by the unitary military government at the centre.
    With our eyes open, we allowed the so-called federal character and quota system jargons to define national participation in the affairs of the land and we allowed instead the jettisoning of merit and fairness.
    With our eyes open we allowed the worst insidious design that was meant to cripple education advancement. That criminal strategy is called – Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board – JAMB. JAMB to me has always meant JAMBAFORITI, the pinnacle of academic treachery. However brilliant you may be, JAMB has a built–in mechanism to make you look like a fool. In our time once you secured good grades at the West African School Certificate level, or the Cambridge University Higher School Certificate or the Ordinary or Advanced Levels of London University General Certificate in Education, you were right there at the university gate. Mothers were not required to expose the colour of their underwear to any lecturer or any vice chancellor or their fronts!
    So many young Nigerians have been sent to their early graves by the wicked antics of JAMB. And JAMB for all you may care was designed to slow down the educational advancement of some sections of the country called Nigeria.
    With our eyes wide open, we allowed the stationing of the entire national armoury in a section of the country. All sensitive Defence, Intelligence, Security, Immigration, Customs and the ports strategic leadership positions are held by a cabal. And some idiots will tell you not to talk about the anomaly or raise questions because of a so-called national security. Security for whom? For the oppressor so that he can continue with his antics forever?
    With our eyes open we allowed a persistent decline of a federation into the abyss of unitary totalitarianism. And we all kept quiet in a culture of criminal silence.
    With our eyes open all the major resources of the country were forcibly taken from their owners, put in the hands of a cabal at the centre only to be shared in a most inequitable basis to all the supposedly federating units of the polity. Nigeria is the only land space in the world where natural owners of God-given resources are not allowed to determine what to do with their resources. Texas in the US and Alberta in Canada are in charge of their oil. Those states only yield a percentage of their earnings to the government at the centre.
    With our eyes open, we allowed the culture of indolence, easy money and lack of competition to become our national anthem. The money from oil became nobody’s property. And because it was always there in large quantum, all sorts of rogues and vultures emerged in the centre to ride the country roughshod.
    With our eyes wide open, we allowed rogues, ruffians and charlatans to dictate how our lives would be run and governed. Thieves of various shades and sizes seized our common patrimony and we applauded them in mosques and churches even as they nonchalantly rape all of us with unprecedented impunity.
    The culture of silence found mother and father in doctrines that teach people to turn their left cheek if and when they are slapped on the right. Or worse still, a doctrine that teaches people not to worry about making success of their lives on earth but should be content with an imaginary mansion in a place called heaven! Paradoxically, the owners and preachers of the doctrines are busy amassing wealth here on earth and robbing their flock silly.
    Ask an average Nigerian [is there anybody so called?], he or she will tell you his or her religion has taught him or her to keep quiet in the face of persecution, deprivation and oppression, because he or she is sure to inherit the earth!!!
    The culture of silence is about to kill this place called Nigeria. And unless people wake up to their responsibilities and ask pungent questions, the so-called poor masses shall continue to suffer in silence until, like the deaf and dumb, erupt like an angry volcano.
    It is not yet too late. But time is not on our side. Those who have ears should listen to the few who have refused to submit to the culture of criminal silence.
    People should stop grumbling in beer parlours and at their clubs. The time to speak up and be counted is NOW. Enough of this Made-In-Nigeria internal colonialism!

  • Silence of the critics

    Sir: The rudderless ship of our nation seems to be sailing on serene waters. An Igbo adage says that a cow that does not have tail its god drives away flies for it. In spite of the economic hardship pressing on the heart and mind of the citizens, critics of the President Buhari administration are singing a more ruminating tune. The conviction is beginning to set in among many that even though he may not be a political wizard, his heart seems to be in a good place. His honesty will draw people with vision closer to him.

    It is becoming evident after all that the president has a listening ear to the many woes afflicting our people. Those critical of his government at the beginning are witnessing a quiet response to the issues offending their feeling. Take the road infrastructure for example; construction work is visible in most of the crucial major highways. Lagos – Ibadan Expressway is a case in point where massive work is going on. Whether the action of the president satisfies the fine prints of the constitution, the judiciary is another area where he is making a strong mark that it will not be business as usual. Arrest of alleged corrupt Supreme Court judges is still shaking the pillars of the justice system.

    The president has even proved many critics wrong with his enlightened mind. Unlike the rigid impression most people have of the submissiveness of women in the Islamic religion, he tolerated the criticism of his leadership by the first lady. Though, how he reacted to the outburst might have created a counterbalance to the credit due to him as a modern leader. The winning point is his equanimity in the face of a political provocation from within. Most African leaders would not allow their wife the disposition to entertain such public expression of disenchantment with their action.

    Issue of ethnicity that bothered most people with his initial outlook in office is receiving a reversal approach. Northerners are the people complaining more about not feeling the impact of government. The president that shielded himself in a cocoon of the Hausa is now consulting broadly among other tribes. Perhaps, he is opening up as a consequence of political expediency. Nothing is wrong with that. It had concerned many critics that he was hitherto not stretching his canopy to welcome the plurality of the society.

    It will be recognized that the fear that the president may look back to his military past and choose to wield the tool of banishing dissenting voices has not been remarkably pronounced. Critics have, without open intimidation, expressed their opinions about their perception of failures of the administration. Not less is the mockery of the outward appearance of the president suffering from slowness of age in making policy decisions.

    The fact remains, the country needs a vibrant criticism of its leaders. Out of the kaleidoscope of opinions, a distinct directive emerges that will characterize the leadership style. It cannot be boldly stated that the president has stamped the mark of approval of his administration on the heart of the nation. Notwithstanding, the baby steps his government is making have encouraged many that there could be sunshine after the rain. Whipping from critics will not stop till our leaders learn to behave.

     

    • Pius Okaneme,

    Umuoji, Anambra State.