The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sour

  • Sour grapes from FFK

    His Rotten Verbal Majesty, Femi Fani-Kayode, has some newly plucked sour grapes, just to endure President Muhammadu Buhari’s safe return, despite his evil pronouncements that the president would not come home alive from his medical vacation in London, UK.

    The good thing though, is that the biting sourness is for his and his teeth alone — and maybe Ayo Fayose’s, who nevertheless has begged.  As they say in the scriptures: it is tantamount to the fathers eating sour grapes and setting their children’s teeth on edge.

    Given the historic nuisance value of Fani-Kayodes in past and present politics, FFK could well be living this biblical aphorism.  The only difference is that he needed no forebears to procure him any sour grapes.  On that, he is more than self-sufficient.

    After it came to be known the president was coming home, after Charly Boy, the maverick Area Fada almost came a sad cropper, after his Ourmumudondo Return-or-Resign protest at Wuse Market, Abuja, FFK merrily tweeted, claimed it was Charly Boy’s derring-do that got Buhari scuttling home.

    Well, Nigeria is an equal-opportunity crank-dom, where every crank that has access to the social media, presses his democratic right to claims, no matter how wild or bizarre — and expects his backers to hail.

    On that, FFK was both hailed and nailed, depending on where his readers stood.  But it was clear he was trying to underplay his bizarre boast that President wouldn’t come home alive.  Sour grape 1 — and was his teeth not set on edge, seeing the president come in to a tumultuous welcome!

    Even before living that down, the president let off a granite speech, 7am on Monday, warning to those he called “trouble makers”, who always ran away at the first manifestation of the trouble they brewed — or else!

    Well, Hardball wouldn’t totally agree with the president on all fronts.  Nigerian unity is neither settled nor closed.  It is still a work-in-progress, depending on so many variables —but certainly too many, for a country that has had flag independence for 56, going to 57 years.

    Still, that should be no reason for a few to use that to threaten Armageddon, blaze hate and banish lawful citizens from legitimate aspirations, nationwide.  That is where, as the Yoruba say, the zealots have taken their sacrifice beyond the mosque!  So, the president was quite spot on, to read the riot act.

    But perhaps all that didn’t concern FFK, as his sour grape, No. 2, bit deep!  As the president was marshaling his points, FFK, from his reportage later, got his sight — indeed, his whole being — fixed on his president’s hands.  His triumphal report?  The president couldn’t read his speech without his hands shaking!

    Well, better shaking hands than FFK’s morbid prediction, which fell pat on FFK’s irate face.

    You can’t make a case for the left-handed at old age.  FFK’s psyche appears so poisoned it doesn’t appear to make sense, telling him to change tack.  He would appear beyond redemption, when the issue is polite dissent; and resisting taking a tumble in the sewers.

    Still, he would do well to listen to God’s admonition.  If you don’t give life, you can’t predict its exit.  That is tantamount to playing God — and playing God, as FFK’s bizarre conduct has shown, is nothing but roaring folly!

  • Jibrin Vs. Dogara: A case of sour grapes?

    When in December 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2016 Budget to the National Assembly (NASS), hopes were high that the ‘budget of change’ would revive the dwindling fortunes of the economy. Ever since, it has been one controversy to another.  From initial report of the budget being missing to several padding of figures to its line items, Nigerians were inundated with different tales daily. While these controversies raged, the chairmen of the appropriation committees in the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator DanjumaGoje and Hon. JibrilAbdulmumin being at the centre of it all were literally in the eye of the storm. AbdulmuminJibrin, the member representing Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State, however was the more controversial owing to the fact that he was more visible and vocal.

    The storm would later degenerate into a face-off between the executive and the legislators – no thanks to the outbursts of Jibrin. At almost every instance, he not only sought to cast aspersion on the executive, he it was that sold the narrative that the former was responsible for the padding of the budget. The general belief then was that the National Assembly discovered this padding and was doing all it could to correct the situation. That was what Jibrin sold to Nigerians.

    The story has however changed. Last Thursday, Hon Jibrin released a statement accusing Speaker YakubuDogara and the leadership of the House of Representatives of unilaterally allocating to themselves projects worth N40billion out of the N100billion allocated to the entire members. Jibrin had been sacked a day earlier by the Speaker for what many considered as the role he played in the budget impasse. Jibrin’s story however was that his sack was the result of his refusal to admit the Speaker’s request for the N40billion, N30billion of which he said is personally for the speaker’s constituency.

    Jibrin’s decision to spill the beans would ordinarily be a welcome development.  However, the question that begs for answer is why the decision to open up at this late hour? If Jibrin is claiming to be accountable or with clear conscience, why did he choose to speak after his sack from the appropriation committee?

    In his statement on Thursday, Jibrin accused Speaker Dogara, among other things, of wining with President Muhammadu Buhari and dinning with the president’s enemies. He said his decision to open up is because the Speaker added in a statement announcing his replacement – despite asking to be allowed to resign – that the House leadership had already concluded plans to oust him from the appropriation committee.

    Does this not smack of selfish game play by Jibrin? Does the statement not indicate that he decided to speak out because it has to do with his person and not because of his love for taxpayers, the National Assembly and even the nation? Should the self-righteousness being claimed by Jibrin not have been demonstrated long before his sack?

    It ought to be clear to discerning Nigerians that Hon. Jibrin’s volte face declaring support for the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, the same man he sold to Nigerians as having presented a hugely padded budget, is nothing but a smokescreen to pitch tents having lost credibility in the eyes of the House leadership.

    It is now public knowledge that Jibrin used his position and privilege as the chairman, House Committee on Appropriation to sneak in projects to the tune of N4 billion for his constituency, at a time some lawmakers had no projects in their own constituencies. Worthy of note is the so-called Muhammadu Buhari Film Village which he single-handedly inserted in the budget and sited it in his village without the consent or knowledge of the President – a project that has since been flatly rejected by the people of Kano State. Need one mention also the N250 million project for the construction of an International Tourism Market in Argungu, Kebbi State, smuggled into the budget of the National Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC)?

    Nigerians can today better appreciate why President Buhari refused to sign the budget.

    In the situation, Speaker Dogara was faced with two choices: Either to back an erstwhile ally and strong supporter said to have used his privileged position as chairman of a very powerful committee to engage in untoward activities, or to honour his vow and oath as Speaker and hence protect the nation’s interests. The first option was a no go hence he chose the latter.  In fact, Dogara before then held series of meetings with President Buhari, where he pleaded and promised to handle the situation. This was why the speaker, after exhaustive consultations, informed Jibrin of his removal – a decision was taken ever since the Speaker was presented with overwhelming details of Jibrin’s many infractions.

    Jibrin must come out to tell Nigerians what his game plan is and what he hopes to achieve by throwing spanners in the wheels of the House. Jibrin has successfully muddied the waters by refusing to explain to his audience that there is a statutory allocation for constituency projects and that recommending these is neither a crime, nor is it padding, as attracting federal attention to their constituencies is one of their duties as lawmakers.

    It should be clear and evident to all discerning minds that AbdulmuminJibrin is a man drowning in the pool of his own serial infractions, and hence will surely do/say everything he can to drag someone down with him. As it appears, the bigger that fellow, the better it will be for him. In this particular instance, it couldn’t get bigger than the Speaker himself. Jibrin has released several documents which supposedly prove Dogara’s complicity in some crime, but not one of the many pieces of paper he has released so far would stand up to scrutiny either before the unbiased public or in a court of law. Nigerians will readily recall that Dogara’s tenure as chairman of the House Services was marked with not a single allegation of wrong doing and his stellar record in the 6th and 7th assemblies was why majority of members passionately supported his speakership bid.

    The evil that men do lives after them and those who come to equity must do so with squeaky clean hands. Unfortunately for Jibrin, this is one battle he cannot hope to win as Nigerians are only too aware of his antecedents.

     

    • Onyemere, a public affairs analyst and social commentator, wrote in from Lagos.

  • Sweet and sour

    •That captures Ernest Shonekan at 80

    That might Brand Shonekan have been today, had Chief Ernest Shonekan, who just turned 80, not strayed into the quicksands of Nigerian politics, graveyard of too many a reputation?

    It perhaps would have been solid and stellar, if state economic control, to which the UACN Plc he managed as executive chairman was central, had not declined.  Whatever happened, Brand Shonekan would still have been admired, seldom scorned, as the true giant of the old economic order.

    But Shonekan as business brand; and Shonekan as political brand are two extremes: the one is sweet; the other is bitter. When the two come together, the mix would seem extremely sour!

    That appears a fair public perception of Chief Shonekan, especially in his not-forgetting, not-forgiving native South West. That, in the dusk of his life, is on account of his abysmal role in helping to sustain the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which Bashorun Moshood Abiola, his fellow Egba man, won.

    At the end of it all, MKO lost everything: his wife, his life and his business empire. But from this rot, of brazen injustice, Chief Shonekan has emerged as “former Head of State” and member of the National Council of State (NCS), though he neither won an election nor staged a successful coup!

    Indeed, that was the basis of the judgment of Justice Dolapo Akinsanya, of the Lagos High Court, that sacked Shonekan’s Interim National Government (ING).  ING was the perfidious body the retreating Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who annulled the June 12, 1993 election, put in place to pass power to Gen. Sani Abacha, who was neck-deep in the June 12 conspiracy and treason.

    Chief Shonekan’s role was aiding and abetting that crime, for suspect sinecure.  And perhaps for his pliancy, after Gen. Abacha sacked the illegitimate ING, the new military strongman, with military fiat, revalidated Shonekan’s ING, which would appear illogical, since its judicial voiding, in the first instance, provided the excuse for Abacha to romp to power.

    Yet, Chief Shonekan’s earlier years as a public figure gave little indication as to his unflattering perception today. He was a blazing star in the Nigerian establishment. His UACN, corporate scion of the Royal Niger Company, was the private sector side of the Nigerian coin, as the colonising British would have loved it.  In the uncharted channels of Nigerian military-era politics, however, that star would appear irredeemably blighted.

    Chief Shonekan celebrated 80 with family and friends. But MKO lost his life, and one of his wives, to the June 12 crisis. The dead, after all, don’t parade families!

    Yet, by June 12, MKO did no wrong by winning a free election; and Shonekan did no right by conspiring, with others, to sustain the annulment of Nigeria’s cleanest election to date. Still, Shonekan got all the treats, and MKO all the knocks. So much for the Nigerian sense of justice!

    As it stands, history would be harsh to Chief Shonekan, for his June 12 perfidy. But he might mitigate that verdict by a public apology — both to Nigerians as a whole and to the MKO Abiola family. He needs to do that when he still has life.

    At the political level, Chief Shonekan’s 80th birthday is a harsh reminder of the grave injustice Nigeria has done to MKO and his family. It is high time the Nigerian state drew a closure by doing what is right to the only Nigerian president never inaugurated.

    Besides, he died for this democratic republic to birth and live. That should count for something among the present, past and even future beneficiaries.

  • Southern Nigeria Peoples’ Congress : The grapes are sour

    SIR: I was amused to see the report and picture of the nebulous body called Southern Nigeria Peoples’ Congress in some national papers of 26th August, 2015.  This fire brigade, self–serving organisation exposes much of the Nigerian character; when we are having things our way, we laugh and relax.  When things are slipping by, we cry foul.  Going by the screaming headlines reporting the outcome of the meeting – “Anti-graft war, lopsided appointment; Gbonigi, Ekwueme, Clark, others slam Buhari,” the conferees deserve some pity.

    The crux of their grouse are political and senior management appointments made by the Buhari administration, observing that these appointments have not being fair (to whom they did not tell us), and asking Buhari to respect the configuration of the Nigerian polity. Pray, when did the concept of Southern Nigeria Assembly start?

    Obviously many things escaped the knowledge or memory of the participants, especially those from the South-West.  Have we in the West forgotten so easily our misfortune in the last five years when the federal government administered the country as if our region was not part of it?

    I have written on two occasion drawing attention of Nigerians to the apparent imbalance, if not outright discrimination, in the appointments to first and secondary levels of political positions; and most importantly, to executive and management positions in the MDAs, especially the Agencies.  I told Nigerians that vital government positions in these sectors were lopsided in favour of the South- South and South-East.  I even posted the figures as follows – South-South and South-East are 70%, North -Central, North-West and North-East about 25 to 27%, and South-West just about 2%. 

    Was there a Southern Assembly called to pontificate on this during those unfortunate years? Did anybody in the Northern zone gang together to accuse the South-South and South-East of foisting themselves on the Nigerian nation?

    Are our Yoruba leaders aware that public service appointments, notably in the Ministry of Power and its agencies and indeed many other MDAs, were still being rushed almost hours before the new administration took over? Did the Federal Character Commission blink an eye to these infractions? There are many more questions to answer.

    Looking at the photograph in one of the papers of 26th August 2015, I observed that Bishop Gbonigi is a “fish out of water”.  A fish rightly belongs to water, but when it is on dry ground it becomes an uncomfortable being indeed!  The revered Bishop known for transparency and total commitment to equity and fairness shares very little with the likes of Edwin Clark, the super godfather of the last administration and all it stood for.

    Reading through the write-up, there are familiar names like Dr. Kunle Olajide, Chief Bode Ajewole, Chief Ebenezer Babatola and Prof. Olu Agbi, among others. For obvious reasons, I don’t want to make any remark about these, but it is  sufficient to say that the situation in Nigeria deserves a deep study. How many appointments has Buhari made to attract the inappropriate accusation of lopsidedness or unfairness?

    I don’t remember in all my years when ‘Southern Nigerian Assembly’ took a sustainable position regarding the administration of the Nigerian nation. The involvement of the Ondo State Governor is not surprising. It is in pursuance of his new- found love – struggling for leadership in Nigeria. While I wish him good luck in this legitimate pursuit, I want to remind the aggressive governor that he is a Westerner, a Yoruba man before he becomes anything or everything later.

    I remember in the late 50s and early 60s that on the rare occasion that Azikiwe and Awolowo struck a deal on how to confront what they called the ‘Feudal North,’ the joint position usually changed barely 24 hours after the misguided accord. This was usually because the leader from the Eastern Region would not opt for collaboration with what was yesterday a feudal North, ‘in the national interest.’ Was Awolowo naïve all this time? At first he was trusting and later on he stood his ground for principles which he followed faithfully throughout his political career.  In fairness to Azikiwe, he was more pragmatic and realistic to know that Nigeria can never be ruled successfully with political affiliations horizontally but vertically.

    The last five years taught us a lasting lesson. The Nigerian nation is a collection of nationalities and therefore of interests. Its administration must reflect this for us to survive and to make a mark on the continent.

     

    • Deji Fasuan, MON, JP,

    Isato, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State

     

  • Nigeria sweet and sour

    Nigeria sweet and sour

    •That is the mixed memory from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games

    Nigeria came clear as sweet and sour at the just-concluded Glasgow Commonwealth Games, held in Scotland, complete with the symbolic hero and anti-hero.

    Hero: Blessing Okagbare, Africa’s fastest woman, who in her own words, “put on a show” to win the 100 metres dash, in a Commonwealth Games record of 10.85 seconds, thus becoming the fastest woman in the 71 countries of the Commonwealth. This was aside from annexing the 200 metres gold in a sprints double.

    Anti-Hero: 16-year-old Chika Amalaha, who ironically won the first medal — and a gold — at the Glasgow Games. She tested positive to banned diuretics (drugs that increase the frequency of urination) and masking agents. Might it be that even at the best of times Nigeria’s rot is never far away?

    The added pity is that the teenage Miss Amalaha, who probably is too young to even contemplate spiking her system with dope, is off to weightlifting Coventry for the next two years. She competed in the women’s 53Kg category. If her coaches were responsible for her troubles, they should be fished out and punished. For her, this is a critical juncture: she could either sink into oblivion even before her career takes off; or shove the challenge aside to make good. But the two-year ban is avoidable.

    Miss Amalaha’s lost gold cost Nigeria a better performance than the last games, at New Delhi, India, in 2010. At Glasgow, Nigeria had 11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals, a total haul of 36 medals. In New Delhi, it was 11 gold, 10 silver and 14 bronze medals: 34 medals in all. Miss Amalaha’s lost medal could have given Nigeria 12 gold medals — which would have been the highest in its participation in the Commonwealth Games.

    But warts and all, the athletes must be commended for their focus, patriotism and the near-Spartan determination to make their country proud. Being a period of acute national stress and distress over terrorism, these braves put smiles on the faces of their compatriots.

    Their achievements are even all the more sparkling because sports administration would still appear to lag behind the athletes. For instance, while athletes from Ghana — who just managed two bronze medals in all — were fully paid their allowances, Nigerian athletes, from news reports, were promised the balance of theirs for Abuja, after the games. Then, there was the reported dissonance over kitting, such that wrestling coach, Daniel Igali, said he had to make special arrangements, exclusive to his athletes, for the wrestlers to look corporate and respectable.

    Still, the ladies went all out to grab mouth-watering results. The physically challenged, male and female, particularly at the power-lifting segment of the games, went ahead to mine gold, silver and bronze, in the most heart-warming manner. Only the men generally lagged behind. The male segment of Team Nigeria contributed least to the medal share. They should be encouraged to buckle up and prove their worth in the next Olympics, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

    But even with the shambolic administration of Nigerian sports, the Emmanuel Uduaghan administration in Delta State deserves special praise for putting its imprimatur on the Nigerian success story at Glasgow. A good chunk of the athletes that dazzled at the games, led by the nonpareil Okagbare, originated from the Delta stable; and, for their training, locally and abroad, enjoyed Delta grants. Other states should buy into the Delta example.

    Still on achieving better future results: Maurice Greene, Nigeria’s athletics coach and former US international sprinter did a crash programme by poaching young but promising Nigerian-Americans to run at Glasgow. That is not bad. But much more than poaching promising materials from abroad, Coach Greene should also beam his attention on discovering local talents. With better local training facilities and combining local talents and talents in the Diaspora, Nigeria’s future prospects in sports is bright.

    wealth Games