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Tag: Taming

  • Taming your anger, frustration and aggression (4)

    In marriage, you are expecting (“expect” means a manifestation that follows desire and intention) to have a happy marriage and that your spouse should behave in a certain way. If this expectation is defeated by any of the means stated above (see last week), you will become deeply unhappy and angry. One can also be angry against the government for “failing to meet certain expectations”. In a similar manner, many people are “angry” against God for apparently “failing” to do certain things for them. Some are even angry that God did not provide their ideal spouse for them. The thing to remember is God is not the decision maker here. You are. You saw your spouse and/or partner and decided that he or she is the person you want to be with. You are in charge here.

    Who can be angry or frustrated? Anger can occur in anyone (note also that dogs, sheep, hippos etc, could all display anger when frustrated!) who is capable of forming a desire or intention. This includes children and teens who sometimes desire their own way in order to change society. They can become angry if they don’t achieve this. This is the reason for the rebellion in them when they are frustrated. Other people who can be angry are married couples, in-laws or anyone in any form of relationship-formal, informal, private, public, sexual, non-sexual, business etc. The root and dynamics of frustration is the same. The bottom line: disappointment leads to anger. Anger leads to destruction and aggression.

    Nevertheless, the angriest person is a person who is so unwise that he or she knows very little about what he or she ought to do, legally or morally, to bring about happiness without causing offence (harm), verbal or physical. Such a person will be very frustrated indeed, as well as very angry. Anger, you remember, is a sign of discontent.

     

    Manifestations of Anger and Frustration

    With these explanations, one can come to a profound conclusion that anger is the clearest manifestation of a frustrated intention. As I have said in the book, The Road and the Key to Happiness, a frustrated or defeated intention leads to unhappiness. Also, an intention, good or bad, that goes unhindered, gives happiness. And like depression, anxiety, bullying, threats, vengeance, selfishness, blaming, unpredictable behaviour and evasive action, they are all signs of unhappiness. Anger is one of the octopus-like manifestations of sadness.

     

    How do you prevent anger?

    The most important prevention tool is wisdom. You must have strategic foresight to forestall any attempt to disappoint your intentions. It is that simple.

     

    What fuels and influences anger?

    Decision making processes are and should remain under our conscious control. The decision making process is central to happiness. Anger is also subject to decision making processes. However, except for when this process is removed from the individual, such as when one is under the rule of certain laws, as in military orders for example, or during, say, anaesthesia, the decision process is subject to our control.

    Thus, drugs, illicit substances, alcohol and outside emotions such as humiliation by anyone either in public or private, may fuel anger. Ironically, if anger cannot be controlled voluntarily, medication may be called for to subdue the hostility, but not the failed intentions. The main issue here is that drugs (cannabis, cocaine, alcohol etc) can fuel anger, even to criminal levels. Once again, I am conscious of the fact that all divorces or family conflicts cannot be blamed on drugs or alcohol misuse. There are also people who may simply have other reasons for being angry. However, the influence of substances on human behaviour and criminality has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

     

    Anger management

    Whilst it is important to prevent an event before it causes harm, what happens if the event has taken root? The short and long answers to this question are that anger must, in one way or another, be subdued or resolved/expressed. There is no running away from it, anger, to make it go away; it must be resolved.  One way is to deal with the root of the problem. Other means include, counselling (see later) which operates through the power of expressed words, as explained in my other book: The Secret and Supremacy of the Expressed Word. Another means of dealing with anger is forgiveness; if this method has not already taken place then it should be advocated. I cannot see any other means by which irretrievable wrong can be resolved other than by means of forgiveness. Amongst many, other means include honest tolerance, listening, poetry, music and writing—all are forms of expressions of intentions. In general, all forms of anger must be expressed, one way or the other, in keeping with the principles in the book, The Secret and Supremacy of the Expressed Word.

    The outcome of anger: Except when you deal with or express the anger or obtain the result of the original desire that was frustrated, anger, if it was either subdued or not, will lead to offence. The first offence that anger will lead to is hate.  Secondly, hate will lead to offences against humans or man-made law. Hate or malice can lead to threats, conspiracy, and destruction of properties, self-harm, suicide, and homicide. At least, hate can cause the pulling out and use of the most severe weapon of all: bad words. Try it, make your spouse annoyed, and then experience the power in words as a result! I hope those in relationships are paying attention. Does this sound familiar? You are not alone after all. In most cases, anyone who actually commits any of these offences listed in the preceding paragraph, is likely to either end up in the hands of the police, get harmed (self harm or being harmed via others), killed or disgraced and be disregarded. If there are children in the vicinity, children may learn and be induced into a vicious cycle which may become established later in life.

    If any of these do not occur, hate and anger can lead to a diagnosis of poor mental health, even though the person may not be dangerously unwell, as in what we call personality disorders. However, this will depend on the culture, the law and the society in which such angry individuals reside. The outcome may include admission to a mental health hospital directly or through the prison system. The label following the diagnosis of mental health disorders is clear for everyone, with eyes, to see.

  • Taming your anger, frustration and aggression (4)

    What is the end product of anger?  Happiness comes upon us when our legitimate and valued desire becomes reality. Unhappiness results when our legitimate or illegitimate but valued desires are frustrated.  Therefore, when our desire is defeated, regardless of how many times we may try, it results in frustration. Despite concerted efforts to overcome the frustration, if the valued desire fails, it results in unhappiness.  It should, therefore, be noted that the end result of anger is unhappiness, whatever the cause of it.

    Anger becomes a problem and pathological either on a single occasion or in multiple times when anger is accompanied by hostility and or any form of destruction or aggression (violence, war, beatings, destruction of property etc). In short, anger becomes pathological if the verbal and physical expression of the angry person now causes psychological or physical harm. Ironically, this harm may be self-harm or harm to other individuals. It may also be physical harm to properties that belong to other persons. This is called uncontrollable anger. This should not be confused with defensive and legitimate anger which may also be in some ways similar to, but different from, pathological anger.  The latter type may be in response to a seriously threatening situation. If such a threat is not removed, it may cause greater damage. This is the main basis that most people will give good reason for their anger.

    They will say they are under threat and so they act in self defence. It is the same reason that nations justify their angry war reactions. In case of our personal relationship situations, it is the same reason that spouses and partners give for their reactions in domestic affairs: self-defence, which in most cases, is not even recognised in law.

    The bad news for the spouses is that such reactions often appear tenuous to the police and the law courts.

    Scientists have said that uncontrollable anger can be due to genetics and a person’s environment and so forth. These are not the issues here. The issues are that there is a connection between anger and your relationship to others.

    You cannot get angry except when human beings or inanimate object defeat your intention. It is that simple.

    The problem is that most people do not know how to constructively overcome their mental, human and non-living obstacles, and that is what causes frustration and anger.

    The chains of how anger develops are:  “A feeling of displeasure”. This means,  not being pleased. The question then arises as: “Displeasure with (or about) what?” The answer is displeased with frustrated intention and desires.  The result of this displeasure is a “belligerence” which means first unhappiness then hate follows, leading to violence and hostility, and many other features, and finally, if unresolved, the unhappiness continues.

    These outward behaviours of belligerence are in fact due to a “wrong” which is the intention that was defeated. What is a wrong then?

    A wrong arises when a given intention established by, say, Mrs B, the person causing the “wrong”, negatively influences or frustrates the desire and intention of another person, Mr B. The next thing is that Mr B will react in an angry manner to Mrs B. The event could then take a different life of its own from that point onward. Police could be involved. The couple, or one of them, may end up in hospital. This is exactly what happens in some spousal relationships.

     

    Another example:

    If Mr. X behaves such that his behaviour does not allow the intention of another person called Mr. B to be established, then Mr. B will be frustrated because of this. Then Mr B will get angry at Mr. X. Let us take a practical example: You are driving on a road, in a hurry to catch an important meeting.

    Then suddenly, another car, driven by Ms S, crosses your path so that you cannot move or be on time for your meeting. Your desire and intention has been curtailed and frustrated.

    You get out of the car and react in some way to and against Ms S. But you know that, usually, such behaviour is not accepted in normal human relationships or in society, or even under God’s laws.

    Now what has happened is that you are angry at Ms S for the frustration of your desire and intention.

    This is the “wrong” that you are reacting to. Your reaction is called “belligerence” against a given wrong. And your reaction is called anger. It’s pathological if you cause harm.

    Another example: assuming that you asked your 13 year old daughter not to go out at night and told her that she should do her homework.

    She refused to listen. Either you reacted or did not, and it caused some resentment in you and you are angry. Equally, because your daughter’s intention is also frustrated, she is angry against you too.

    Similarly, if you intended, regardless of your age, that you

    (a) should not fall ill but you did, or (b) that your family or parents should not divorce, or (c) that none of your parents should die and they did, you will become unhappy and angry with any of these situations.

  • Taming your anger, frustration and aggression (3)

    Take another example: You just came back from work and you intended to have a short sleep–a kind of rest. You lay in your bed at about 6pm on a hot day. The teenage boys in your neighbourhood would not allow you to rest. They were screaming and running whilst playing football.  Unable to sleep, you got up and called their attention to the fact they were disturbing you. They did not heed your request. You failed and they continued. You went back to bed. The noise became louder and louder. At last, the football was kicked violently. It broke through your windows and it landed on your belly in your bedroom with some of the broken window glass. You were enraged. Not only that, your intention had been frustrated miserably. Your sleep and peace were badly shattered. Your expectation to be in relative calm within the walls of your own home was terribly disturbed. You got angry.

    These kind of scenarios call on the individual (or couple, society, state, company or even nation) to take protective action to preserve the person from irrational response. This type of irritation, on a larger scale, calls on a nation, as the case may be, to refrain from violently reacting to the frustrated intention. On the other hand, the person who is angry may take measures to protect himself/herself, or take measures to ensure that his or her desire and intention are realised.  That is a biological reaction towards self-preservation. You simply take action to reduce your dissatisfaction.

    Frustrated intention or defeated desire is of the same kind of feeling to having a sense of rejection. You want something you could not get because “you were not good enough” for some individuals or “authority” that had blocked you. It represents a failure of desire and this is why it is so painful to the person concerned, who is now angry. Often, the individual feels threatened. This is because his/her desire to enjoy life or derive certain benefits from the desire has been despondently defeated or thwarted.

    In the majority of occasions and probably in the majority of people, anger passes without further action/manifestation on the part of the irate person. He may just take the disappointment in his stride, so to speak. An example of this is seen in many homes and in public places.  It is also seen in many marriages and other relationships regardless of their form. Your spouse could annoy you tens of times in a day. Yet, you cannot afford to be angry on all those occasions. You will have to allow a lot of them to pass. If you don’t, you run the risk of mental illness or being labelled as such.  Anger is seen amongst bosses in many businesses and it passes without destructive impact, in most cases. Imagine if your boss at work reacts angrily to all forms of dissatisfaction that his subordinates bring to him! Who on earth would be able to work with such a boss?

    People don’t react to every situation they are displeased about. They simply allow the feeling to pass. This is a type of anger that is called controlled anger. It is a protective and normal biological anger. Such a person (or people) is often not under serious threat and so may not react to remove the threat. Even if they do, they have a credible way out of it.  If they are under serious threat, there would be a strategic way to overcome the frustration. Picture a situation in which you left the bathroom tap in your office on, and water from it filled your office, destroying confidential and security papers in the process. Just consider how irate the boss will be, yet he cannot afford to be seen to be manically angry. That is biological anger.

    Common causes of anger and frustration: Specifically, anger can arise from just about anything, including but not exclusive to financial issues, children matters, career, sexual frustration, failure in investment and property, general life concerns, health-related issues, general sense of inadequacy or persistent failures, persistent domestic opposition from spouses or lack of support from supposed loved ones (parents, spouses etc).  The list goes on and on. A person who is readily coming into conflict with the law may be an angry person too, as his intended desire is frequently blocked by the law. These felons become hardened against the law and work hard against it in a way that is best described as a hard rock meeting an irresistible object. In the end though, in most cases, the law wins.

    A death or disease in the family or the death of a friend may lead to anger in those who are bereaved, by reason of the loss for which they could not do a thing about.  Therefore in general, any intention or expectation about anything that fails may lead to anger. In the public domain, anger may come due to perceived political problems. It may be due to a dislike for a government course of action or government economic policies. Some people just don’t like the treatment they receive in life. They loathe life as a result. As we shall see later, hate is a result of anger. Some come to loathe the world and living—for its challenges. Some hate the world and they just can’t figure out why there are so many difficulties and apparent anarchy in the world.  Clinically, sleep deprivation and poor quality of sleep can also cause a person to be angry because the intention to have good sleep is frustrated.  Remember, anger is always due to frustration: a failed intention.

  • Taming your anger, frustration and aggression (1)

    The article was culled from my book: Relationship: What You Should Know and Do. It is being published with some minimal editing.

     

    In the last few weeks we had dealt with issue of abuse in its various forms. In many circumstances, at the underbelly of abusive behaviour of an individual lies frustration and anger which if unresoved peacefully may result into aggresive and abusive behavior against other persons. In this article, we will take a look at anger in general and in subsequent weeks, we will examine anger and frustrations in more detail.

    You only need to look around our neighbourhoods, drive on our roads, use public transports, get engaged buying and purchasing a good in a market from a woman or man or live with other fellow human beings to gauge the depth of deep-seated anger in individuals on one hand and the larger society on the other. Everyone is angry over one thing or the other. However, as the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. There is no anger without frustration and there is no aggression without anger.

    While there are various and manifold reasons that generate anger and frustrations, there is no denying the fact that anger, frustration and aggressive behaviours are a common sight in our society: in schools, in religious places of worship, in healthcare settings, in the farm, in polity, on the road and indeed everywhere. Young people and old, women and men seem to be getting angry and aggressive on what may look like innocent issue.

    There is a relationship side to anger occurring. No matter what, the relationship may be short, or it may be long. The association may be near or in far flung distance from the person who is being annoyed. Interestingly, you may also be angry against a non-living object. One may be angry against one’s car if the car let the owner down.

    I have been asked if anger is in itself a crime. No, anger on its own is not a crime. Controlled anger, like all intentions without actions, is not a crime. It’s the action from being angry that may be a crime. Such actions may endanger the life and property of others.

    Much has been made, especially in modern times, of anger and its management. Many books have been written about it. There are also complicated attempts to explain the foundation of fury in biological terms. Celebrities of various shades colours, sizes and geographic locations, in both platonic, employment and/or intimate relationships, have been convicted in courts of law in the everywhere in the world because of destructive consequences of anger. They have been reprimanded for consequences of their anger and as such have been sent for anger management or in some cases given severe punishment, including community service as well as imprisonment.

    Those are the lucky ones. Has the reader not heard of rage at home leading to murders, rage leading to the public destruction of property, or anger leading to wars? For your information, there is no deliberate war, no intentional destruction of humans and property, no deliberate killing, no premeditated harm that ever occurs without anger underlying it.  Anger is the root of all non-purposeful destruction.

    Anger can be demonstrably verbal (words), or by physical acts, or by, can you believe it, silence. Anger can be subdued. In such a case,  it is very hard to immediately know the true feelings of individuals who, apparently without you realising it, are annoyed with you.

    Anger occurs in the low and the high, to the rich and the poor, to the old and the young.

    If you are angry, it means you want something that, in some way, may satisfy your desire. Otherwise, if you have anger with another person whom you cannot reach nor be influenced by, then it is futile to be angry. Imagine being angry with the country’s President while he is not even aware of it as you reside in a little village house in one remote part of the country.

    You may just be able to ruminate while you cannot do anything concrete about it.  To be able to influence someone for good or ill means you have to be in a relationship with the person, or be about to have a relationship with the person, no matter how short that relationship is. The person must be receptive to your views, questions and opinions, or at least be willing to learn about the cause of your anger. This is as true in intimate relationships as it is in platonic ones. It is a matter of fact in business associations or in mere friendships.

    Yet, at the core of all relationships which come to an end, there is either an unresolved anger which is pretentiously subdued, or anger may be acted out as in domestic violence (DV).

  • Taming the shrew of violence

    It is perhaps trite to aver that violence of various shades is precipitously on the rise across the world. Homes, workplaces, schools, religious grounds, and relaxation hubs are fast becoming dreadful places to many people, especially women and children, on account of the indescribable violations and acts of violence increasingly playing out there. Where violence is intensely focused – as in Gender-Based Violence (GBV) –, age, educational status, class, religion, race, ethnicity, and tribe are immaterial. Thus, where women and girls across varied societal strata are not being violently involuntarily engaged in sexual acts (rape, prostitution, pregnancy, abortion, et cetera), they are either being freely violated by nefarious traditional practices like early marriage, genital mutilation, and insufferable widowhood rites, or psychologically violated through patriarchal discriminatory systems.

    All of the foregoing averments are supported by extant statistics and research findings ably undertaken by international organisations like the United Nations, governmental organisations in the Euro-Western axis, and international non-governmental organisations. The World Bank document – World Development Report, which provides data and research outcomes on development from country to country, outlined and discussed in its 1994 report 10 particular risk factors confronting women and girls. Of those 10, according to the report, rape and domestic violence rank above war, highly dangerous diseases, and automobile accidents as potential causes of danger to women and girl-children. While sexual and domestic violence against women and children have not abated, war, diseases, lack of access to education, unemployment, poor maternal and reproductive health, among others, continue to make happy, healthy, and halcyon living horrendously impossible for these groups of people over the last 22 years since the publication of that study.

    Globally, it is estimated that, in their lifetime, 36% of women and girl children suffer wide-ranging sexual and physical violence. And in many third-world countries, about seven out of 10 women are subjected to shocking sexual and physical violence. In terms of displacement, records have it that women and children are more affected than men. More than half of the estimated 60 million globally displaced persons happen to be women.

    In the area of underage marriage, statistics published by the UN reveal a more disturbing reality. A disproportionate number of women across the world today became wives when they were children. According to the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW)’s ‘Child Marriage Facts and Figures’ (2012), one-third of girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18; and one in nine are married before the age of 15. ICRW found out that 70 million women (ages 20-24) around the world had been married before the age of 18. It feared that if this trend progresses apace, 150 million girls would be married before their 18th birthday over the next decade. In other words, an average of 15 million girls will be married each year before they reached the age of consent.

    ICRW further reported that the hotspots of this abominable violence are Western and Sub-Saharan Africa, due to population size, and South Asia, where the largest number of child brides reside. Poverty, lack of education, violence, and health challenges define child marriage, which sadly is supported by a variety of religions in many countries of the world.

    Accordingly, in a bid to tame the remorselessly vicious shrew of violence, a number of countries have enacted laws and are making progress, and some are still in the process of putting in place laws that prohibit gender-based violence and ensure justice for victims. The famous UN ‘In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence against Women’ (2006) reported that 89 countries already have laws on domestic violence. It noted that more countries had put in place national action plans to put the malevolent wind out of the ruinous sail of violence against women. In international and regional organisations, a number of protocols on violence and issues of women’s rights have been legislated. Across countries, many NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) are playing critical roles in creating awareness and enlightenment on these laws and those enacted locally.

    In Nigeria, where GBV is alarmingly on the rise, the advocacy efforts of about 14 years of a couple of NGOs resulted in the emergence of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015. After its precarious journey through the frustrating labyrinth of the National Assembly, the bill was passed by the 7th Assembly and was signed into law on May 28, 2015, by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    As its Explanatory Memorandum shows, the VAPP Act ‘prohibits all forms of violence against person in private and public life, and provides maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders’. Made up of 48 sections amenable to easy comprehension, the VAPP Act makes available sharp legal fangs against all kinds of violence, some of which include rape, incest, physical injury, Female Genital Mutilation, harmful widowhood practices, stalking, forced isolation/separation from family and friends, abandonment of dependants without sustenance, forceful eviction from home, and administering substance with intent – all of which are rife in many states and communities across the federation. Though women and children are often the victims of these offences, the Act protects men too. As the title indicates, it is for all persons.

    The daily occurrences of violence, especially against women and children, underscore the dire imperative for robust and concerted actions on the part of critical stakeholders in the society. The statistics on GBV in the South-west alone are so discomfiting. According to a report obtained from the New Initiative for Social Development (NISD), among the female population of 1,183,470 in Ekiti, 25.8% have experienced physical violence and 6.6% sexual violence; of the 4,394,480 in Lagos, 43.9%, 5.8%; of the 1,886,233 in Ogun, 22.8%, 4.3%; of the 1,715,820 in Ondo, 43.7%, 5.2%; of the 1,682,810 in Osun, 12.8%, 2.2%; and of the 2,778,462 in Oyo, 48.0%, 3.9%.

    It is equally worrisome that while some of the states are without effective laws to curb the menace and even pussyfoot when bills that seek to address it are brought before their lawmakers, those which already have legislations against the scourge record very low or zero implementation arising from inaction on the side of the implementing ministry officials, lack of awareness of the law on the part of the people, especially victims, and ignorance of procedure on the part of law enforcement agents. Ogun, Ondo, and Oyo states are yet to domesticate the VAPP Act and do not have similar piece of legislation. Interestingly, Osun House of Assembly had already enacted a piece of legislation that prohibits GBV two years before VAPP came into existence (Protection Against Domestic Violence Law 2013).

    As at the time of writing this piece, a bill similar to VAPP is before the Oyo State House of Assembly lawmakers. But for the spanner thrown into the works by the lawmakers during the speakership of Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu, this would have been passed. The present lawmakers have a duty to sensibly speed up action on the passage of the bill in order to rescue the state from the damaging whirligig of GBV. A 2013 report by the News Agency of Nigeria revealed that more than 20 cases of rape were reported on monthly basis in Ibadan. That year, the Oyo State Police Command reported that 365 rape cases and indecent assault were reported and investigated in the state. This is even more than the total number of armed robbery recorded in that year (59 robbery cases were reported while 103 arms and 198 stolen cars were recovered). This horror has been on the increase since then, with many more underage girls falling victims.

    Having played a crucial role in the emergence of the VAPP Act, the NGO – NISD – is not resting on its oars. Prodded by its experience of the incredible fact that legislations on violence against women enacted by State Houses of Assembly are neither publicised and/nor made available through mass production of copies by the implementing ministries, NISD took a major step to print and circulate, beginning from the South-west, copies of the VAPP Act as a means of creating sustainable awareness and enlightenment on the Act among members of the public.

    More, in collaboration with the official development agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, Department for International Development (DFID), NISD organised a one-day workshop in Ekiti State for journalists and media practitioners in the South-west in order to enlist them in the efforts to tame the shrew of violence. For the organisation, enlisting journalists in the efforts is essential to the promotion of a violence free society.

     

    • Ademola writes from Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State.

  • Taming Fayose and the judiciary

    Fayose has become not just an Ekiti nightmare and a national embarrassment but also a bad advertisement for the country in the international arena. Speaking recently during an intellectual engagement, at the University of Lagos, a visiting US scholar instinctively said America has its own equivalent of Fayose in Donald Trump, the Republican front runner in the November race for the White House. Both are easy preys to political enemies that have variously described them as ‘vacuous, rabid, hallucinating, lacking in depth, and having an infantile mind’. Substituting notoriety with popularity, Fayose often takes impetuous decisions such as dancing naked on the street without him realizing it.

    Last Wednesday was one of such occasions when Fayose during a workshop to promote women participation in politics, said without feeling – ‘I don’t know if there are missing girls. It is a political strategy, because I don’t think any girl is missing. If they are missing, let them find them’. As far as he is concerned, the Oby Ezekwesili-led #BringBackOurGirls campaigners that drew the attention of the international community to the plight of the abducted girls, are office seekers.  But what was galling, was that this was coming only two weeks after a high ranking British foreign service official disclosed that the abducted Chibok girls were indeed sighted inside Sambisa forest few days after their abduction.

    But first who is Ayo Fayose who was first foisted on Ekiti by Obasanjo in 2003? Before he was impeached in 2006, his tenure was marked by unprecedented level of violence resulting in the assassination of some prominent Ekiti sons. He later confessed, he ‘had to flee, (some claimed in the booth of his car) with all his ‘property left in the Government House’. He was apprehended by the EFCC and accused of financial mismanagement along other criminal charges. And  in his own words, “During the seven and half years of political wilderness, I was taken to court over what I knew nothing about 59 times, aside the 45 days I spent in Ikoyi Prisons during my trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)”. In 2011, he lost a senatorial election contest to Babafemi Ojudu with a margin of over 30,000.

    But the turning point came in 2014 when he allegedly received $2m from ex-President Jonathan to outwit his other PDP candidates in their party’s primaries.  And for the ‘coup against the Ekiti’, according to Dr Temitope Aluko, his alter ego and self-confessed partner in crime, ex-President Jonathan provided $37m  and  ‘1,040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 ‘unrecognised soldiers’ brought from Enugu in addition to  44 special strike teams brought in (with) Toyota Hilux buses from Abuja and Onitsha.’ The April 2014 battle was led by the then Minister for Police Affairs Adesiyan, Musliu Obanikoro, junior minister of defence, Brigadier General Aliu Momoh  with another contingent of 12,000 mobile police men, 26 sniffer dogs,15,000 NSCDC personnel’.

    It is on record that as governor-elect, he was accompanied to court by thugs who beat up the judge presiding over his eligibility case. He also employed the services of the thugs to chase 19 elected members of the state House of Assembly out of town while he ran the state with seven PDP members. His hand-picked cronies went on to win the subsequent election into the state and national houses of assembly having driven serious contenders out of town with the help of thugs. The opposition went to court to contest Fayose’s election on the basis of his constitutional banditry, his status as an impeached governor, and the use of military to win the flawed election. The Supreme Court however upheld Fayose’s election.

    In his inaugural address, Fayose offered ‘peace, prosperity, and progress, employment, food, and stomach infrastructure’. You can put tar on the road but if I don’t have a car and I’m hungry, then that tar is meaningless’. And in pursuit of his government policy of stomach infrastructure, he eats ‘boli’ roasted plantain and drink agbo ‘jedi’, (native concoction for pile) on the streets with his grass root supporters. Last December, he directed all civil servants across the state to come to Ado Ekiti for some cups of rice and chicken. Many spent a whole day only to receive chicks instead of chicken. Today, a state that introduced N5, 000 social welfare packages for the elderly under Fayemi is battling with unpaid five months salary arrears.

    Fayose has always tried to divert attention through repeated attacks on the person of President Buhari who has so far ignored his asinine theatrics. Perhaps the search for attention explains Fayose’s ill-adviced decision to play politics with the abducted Chibok Girls which has become a national tragedy. The irony is that like those PDP stalwarts that shared $2.1b loan earmarked for military hardware to fight the insurgency, Fayose who allegedly got $37m and about 30,000 security personnel to rig the 2014 election at a time our ill-equipped soldiers could not even defend their own barracks is culpable for the abduction of these innocent children.

    But who is to tame Fayose with the Supreme Court saying its hands are tied by its earlier flawed ruling despite the fresh evidence that showed the 2014 election was a sham (the military authorities retired Brigadier Momoh who anchored the rigging of the 2014 Ekiti election)? The buck stops on the table of Buhari and his APC- a party in government but not in power.

    The model builders that came up with the doctrine of ‘separation of powers’ spoke of ‘checks and balances’; but the theory in truth was designed to be a balance of terror. Both the legislature and judiciary are institutional tools which the executive as temporary custodian of state powers needs to manage society for good or bad over a given period often specified by the constitution.

    In the last 16 years, PDP as the ruling party has been able to use the judiciary as an accomplice in their members’ betrayal of our nation. Either in the electoral theft of opponents’ mandate, the collapse of banking sector and the stock exchange, oil subsidy fraud and the mismanaged of the privatization process, or the systematic looting of the nations resources, the judiciary played a supportive role. With the introduction of plea bargaining by the judiciary, enemies of state emerged from temporary detention to become governors, senators, king-makers and god fathers. Those the PDP power wielders could not bend in the judiciary, they break. Thus we had a Justice Isa Salami who was unjustly suspended and prematurely retired for ruling against PDP in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states.

    Besides the bizarre Supreme Court ruling in Ekiti and Rivers which seem to literarily challenge the people to embark on self-help, the judiciary appears not to be enthusiastic about the executive’s current war on corruption.  For instance all that was asked of Bukola Saraki, the Senate President was to defend himself against allegation of false declaration of assets. But this he has evaded in the last eight months with the connivance of the judiciary that has tried to undermine the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) of 2015. The judiciary behaves as if it is not vulnerable.

    That the tail is now wagging the dog with the likes of Fayose saying Buhari and APC have no capacity to rule, is the fault of President Buhari and his APC. The executive’s control of the awesome apparatus of state power is a reminder that the doctrine of separation of powers does not envisage the judiciary or even the legislature acting as if they are answerable to none.  If President Buhari and Odigie-Oyegun, the APC chairman, unfortunately, both non politicians, are however having problem as to how to wield power, they can consult Obasanjo, Jonathan, his godson and their PDP or create time to read Niccolo Machiavelli the founder of modern political science for his advice on the brutal reality of building a state. It is an affront for those who ought to be behind bars to test the resolve of custodian of state power.

  • Rivers: Taming the tide of anarchy

    SIR:  ‘A people who would build a nation in which strong democratic institutions are firmly established must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.’ – Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar pro-democracy activist.

    The regretful narrative of election violence reminds me of Robert Kaplan’s classic – The coming of Anarchy. In the book, he painted a picture of how episodic experiment in democracy, scarcity, crime, overpopulation, ethnicity, and indeed tyranny are rapidly destroying the social fabric of our planet.

    Strictly speaking, politics in Rivers has become a red rag to a bull evoking not merely violent response, but the one that throws evenhandedness and goodness to the winds. Politics and electioneering is wearing objectionable character and indeed has unfortunately become petty, unjust, and envious with the unforgiving, control-freak masquerading as leaders with hidden self-serving agenda with no gaze at judiciousness for the people they seek to serve or govern, in charge.

    The infusion of money and power into political contest has made savagery a weapon of economic and state control. Therefore, it is no coincidence that one of the worst forms of political savagery and thuggery is taking firm root in Rivers. Also, the shadows of military and authoritarian overhangs over the democratisation process have become a humdrum in the affairs of men who want to cling to power at all cost at the centre and  the state level and this must be addressed as a matter of urgency to checkmate the banality of violence in future elections.

    The culture of impunity and banditry playing out in the politics process of Rivers are nothing but a reflection of people that are in dire need of psycho – social healing and to very large extent social maladjustment test to ascertain the suitability or otherwise of the leaders for public office at the state and centre.

    All things considered, elections in Rivers State reflect resistance on the part of the APC and PDP to inclusive or transparent political processes. Election administrators, political parties, and candidates in the legislative spaces also display a disturbing lack of interest in strategic planning, often treating elections merely as one-day events rather than lengthy political processes that are critical to Rivers State’s peace. The challenge lies in persuading the so-called political elites within and outside the state to embrace their people’s aspirations and to maintain the momentum of democratic progress in order to forestall the coming of anarchy. Let peace reign in River State.

    • Samuel Akpobome Orovwuje,

    Lagos.

  • Taming the menace of Boko Haram

    It is not an understatement that one of the greatest challenges confronting the nation and which the governments have been battling without any iota of achievement is the insurgency of an Islamist sect called Boko Haram. While some people believe that the insurgency is a result of social, religious, economic, and political imbroglio, the main cause of the insurgency in Nigeria still remains a closed book to the majority. This sect started as anti-government policy campaigners, vandalising government properties and killing innocent people under the pretext of being anti-western education. It claimed to be an anti-western culture, working against the modern ways of governance and trying to establish Islamic Sharia rule.

    Nigerians, especially majority of Christians and even some of the Muslims who were of the view that Boko Haram represented Islamic doctrine had challenged devout Muslims to find means of curbing the nefarious activities of the sect that is painting Islam a bad colour. Its injurious acts could even ignite another religious war in the country if not quickly nipped in the bud. However, with time, it is increasingly becoming clearer to Nigerians and the international community that Boko Haram was just a criminal gang using the name of Islam to perpetuate evil.

    The menace of the sect is rooted in the Northern part of the country especially in Borno, Bauchi and Yobe States. When the cause of the insurgency was first believed to be political, the federal government of Nigeria set up a panel to engage the sect members in a dialogue as a tactic to bring down the intensity of the insurgency. The strategy has proved to be unworkable since the sect refused to be engaged in any discussion with the government. Maybe this is because the arrangement was not well planned from the beginning by government. We are all aware that the insurgency was formed in the Northern part of the country by some unscrupulous Northerners. We do know what the sect claimed to represent at its formation – being an anti-western education, and we also know that the level of education among the people of the North is nothing to write home about. Some of the youths in the region are less or not at all exposed to western education but Arabic teachings. And they are highly submissive to their leaders. They are easily influenced by their leaders. These youths are the ones that are mostly influenced to join the sect and wreak havoc on the country. If there could be liberation of their minds from ignorance, these youths will be useful for development rather than being deployed as Boko Haram members.

    While I do not condemn the dialogue strategy by the government, I still hold the view that one best way of taming the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northern part of Nigeria, is for the government to find a way of educating the Northern youths by funding their education properly and making them be at par with their Southern counterparts. This could be achieved by opening more schools in the area. He who opens schools closes the gate of war. Give them new orientations and open their eyes to the modern world: modern governance, modern education, modern war ammunition of pen rather than sword and bombs which they are currently exposed to.

    It is glaring that military attack solution launched by the government has not achieved much since the Joint Task Force(JTF) went to the troubled states of the federation. This is because the Nigerian military is under equipped. The Boko Haram’s sophisticated weapons are more efficient than those of our military. This is why the military are often overpowered by the insurgents. And the other reason is the hypocrisy of the government and the federal government’s insincerity about the root cause of the matter.  The JTF itself has not been helping matters; it is a bundle of deceit. How many times have they claimed to have killed the leader of the insurgents? Only for Shekau to most times reappear on you-tube through which he has been dishing out fresh threat of deadly attacks either on the JTF itself or on innocent citizens. JTF too has been killing innocent people in the guise of killing Boko Haram members. If JTF has been truly killing larger number of Boko Haram members, then why do we still have them more in the battle field? Let the JTF declare its inability to subdue the insurgents and pave way for a new workable strategy.

    The April deadline to end the Boko Haram insurgency promised by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh remains just only a month without any sign of victory in sight. Well, we shall all wait and see what Badeh will do, maybe he will eat his words or probably extend the deadline for crushing the insurgents.

    That some northern politicians who were aggrieved by President Goodluck Jonathan’s disregard for zoning arrangement, which was the vehicle that brought him to the seat of Vice President in 2007, when he contested for the presidential post in 2011 are the brain behind the Boko Haram insurgency to make the nation ungovernable for Jonathan may not be the real reason since there has not been any solid evidence to prove the authenticity of the claim. If this is the cause as claimed by some political observers, then Jonathan should in the interest of national peace apologize to those people so that the menace of the sect can be curtailed. Since Jonathan was also the product of zoning, I would suggest he tenders his apology at least to appease those he has wronged about zoning and let the country enjoy her deserved peace once again.

    It is interesting to note that because of the monstrosity of the sect’s perfidious acts, the University of Ibadan Vice Chancellor, Professor Isaac Adewole, has publicly said that the school was ready to initiate a study of the Boko Haram. I would implore the institution to embark on this quickly alongside another on new beneficial technological areas that could more benefit the nation .

    Since everybody seems to be expecting the President to make his intention known about 2015 presidential election-the major reason why the polity is seriously being over heated- the president should not think twice about dropping this ambition if this is the only condition that would allow enduring peace to return to the north and Nigeria in general.

     

    •Adebayo, a journalist lives in Lagos.

  • Taming the menace of kidnapping

    Taming the menace of kidnapping

    SIR: The growing level of insecurity in the country should be tamed without delay. Cases of robberies, terror attacks, rape, kidnappings and other wild crimes have become a daily occurrence.

    Just a few days ago, a gang of gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect kidnapped a 92-year-old elder statesman, Alhaji Shettima Monguno, at the Mafoni Jumaat Mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State, shortly after performing the jumat prayers.

    Before he regained his freedom, the kidnappers were said to have contacted the family of the former Federal Minister of Petroleum and demanded the release of some terror suspects being detained by security agents, as bargain.

    In a story, “Kidnapping: Nigeria’s Fastest Growing Industry!”, The Street Journal noted that the rate of kidnapping in Nigeria has risen considerably in the last 10 years as not less than 1,500 people were kidnapped on an annual basis thus making kidnapping more or less a new “cottage industry” in which the nation is fast catching up as the sixth worst country.

    Recent trends revealed that high profile cases usually generate media attention, as many remain resolved without attracting any publicity because the affected people prefer to quietly pay the demanded ransom quietly and just move on, as soon as the release of the victim is secured, leaving many victims to cope with post-kidnap trauma.

    We should be bothered that kidnapping is not only a criminal offence but a direct threat to national security going by its wide internal security implications and negative effects on public image.

    It is time we began realistic youth empowerment policies that will give direct benefits to targeted youths in the forms of Micro-Credit Scheme, Skills Acquisition Programme and Youth Empowerment through Agriculture, among others.

    Secondly, there is urgent need for security agencies to review the existing strategies in handling kidnap cases. The emphasis should be more of intelligence gathering. By so doing, it will be easier to nip such in the bud at an early stage of hatching. It is worrisome that many cities do not have Closed Circuit Television systems to monitor the movement of people in curbing criminality.

    There should also be a better engagement of telecommunication companies in the prevention and apprehension of culprits. With the just-concluded registration of Subscribers’ Identity Module cards, it should be easier to obtain the databases of the people – both the victims and their captors – for useful information.

    More than ever before, the people must be regularly sensitized on the antics of kidnappers and ways to evade such. The apparent cases of increased kidnapping further lend credence to the call for the establishment of state police. If we are serious about fighting crime, the federating units should be encouraged to run their own police within the existing law, to enable them protect the lives and property of their people.

    It is saddening that the cold war between the Federal Government and Lagos State Government has been attributed to the stoppage of the Lagos Safe City Project meant to provide 10,000 solar-powered closed circuit cameras in the metropolis.The laudable project was to be funded by the Lagos Security Trust Fund while the cameras were supposed to be managed remotely through a central security command unit.

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

    Abeokuta