The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Trump

  • 2016: The year of Donald Trump, xenophobia and corruption

    It is difficult not to see Donald Trump as the man who has dominated world affairs for good or bad in the year 2016. Put simply , it was his year whether you like it or not; or worse still if you can not stick the man, his guts, utterances and now tweets which he uses infamously to announce his coming policies, likes and dislikes.

    Grudgingly Time Magazine picked him as the Man of the Year but of a Divided United States. Which really does not matter since the same magazine established the main criterion that the man of the year must have influenced world affairs for good or bad and had picked Ayatollah Khomeini, and Adolf Hitler before, for its cover magazine just as it picked Donald Trump for 2016. In addition and most unbelievably Donald Trump turned American politics on its head by making global and American security an election issue and whipped up hysteria on Islamic militancy and terrorism by promising to make America safe and great again.

    The convincing way in which he won the presidential election has shown that the US electorate believed him and my initial view here is that a nation deserves any leadership it gets and that is the problem of Americans and indeed the rest of the world for at least the next four years of a Donald Trump presidency.

    Also Donald Trump branded Hillary Clinton ‘Crooked Hillary ‘over her handling of the Clinton Foundation affairs, her destruction of her e mails under investigation, and the Benghazi killing of the US ambassador during her tenure as Secretary of State. But really on the issue of corruption I intend to tackle the matter from a Nigerian perspective while leaving the Americans to their own designs and perspectives as reflected already in the results of their 2016 presidential elections. Again I say it is difficult to pick the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari as the Man of the Year in Nigeria just as it was not difficult to pick Donald Trump as the global Man of the Year and the reason is clear, as well as the difference. Donald Trump triumphed against all odds and was elected president of the USA.

    President Buhari on the other hand tried his best in the fight against corruption but left the battle ground in the fight against corruption in 2016 gasping for breath or literally out of breath. This is because corruption and its anti corruption war brigade waxed stronger against the rule of law in both in the legislature, which has taken on the government brazenly and contemptuously on the matter, and even amongst the security agencies that were expected to be both the foot soldiers and vanguard of the war against corruption.

    As at the end of 2016, the DSS had written against the integrity of the boss of the EFCC the official anti-corruption institution of the land in the process of the confirmation of the appointment of the EFCC boss, who made his mark in the fight against corruption by taking on key members of the institution with the power to confirm or refuse his confirmation.

    Worse still the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was implicated in a case of conflict of interest in the handling of contracts for the welfare of millions of Nigerians displaced by the Boko Haram war in the North East. Coming on the heels of the 2.1 bn dollars diversion of funds meant for war by the last Administration, but used as campaign funds instead and exposed as such by the Buhari Administration which however is yet to prosecute or punish any alleged culprit on that account, one can see why the war on corruption has not achieved much other than its strident and well known battle cry in the year 2016.

    The only hope now is for the Buhari administration to revamp its strategy in 2017 and re engage the slippery and fortified forces of corruption swiftly and decisively as justice delayed is justice denied. More so in the fight against corruption on which the credibility of the Buhari administration hangs like the famous Sword of Damocles.

    In addition to Donald Trump’s victory won as his detractors said on the platform of xenophobia, sexism and racism, 2016 was also the year of Brexit another result based on insecurity and fear of migrants into Europe and the attendant fear of Islamic militancy and terrorism. No one can seriously say such fears were unfounded but the Americans believed anyway they were real and voted for Trump who vowed to stop migration and destroy ISIS which he said President Obama was so afraid of or so compliant with that at first, he was scared to call the Islamic terror group by its name.

    Again the American electorate believed Donald Trump and voted for him because they saw rightly or wrongly that he has the stomach for a fight that his predecessor spent eight years dodging. More pointedly, Trump has appointed as his National Security Adviser a general fired by Obama for suggesting that the war against Islamic terrorism should be an ideological war similar to the Cold War between Communism and Capitalism and should be fought with all American resources and vigor as was done during the Cold War .

    Indeed the fired general, Michael Flynn, now Trump’s NSA, said Islamism is a political ideology of the Islamic faith and is a weaponised faith out to settle historico – cultural grouse with the rest of the world. For this view this general was fired by Obama and is now employed as NSA by Donald Trump whose views the US electorate believed in making him their next president. One therefore does not need a soothsayer to see the direction of Donal Trump’s foreign policy on ISIS or the fight against terrorism now to be fought on an ideological battle field with all American resources and guts which Trump thinks the US and its people have aplenty to take on not only ISIS but even the entire world as we know it today.

    Again it is difficult to discuss 2016 without mentioning the outgoing US President Barak Obama, now a lame duck president who seems to be relishing that role albeit like the famed stable keeper who closed the stable doors after all the horses have bolted. A few examples after the 2016 US presidential elections where he congratulated the winner and promised a smooth transition of power, will suffice.

    The Obama White House announced that the Russians hacked the elections and is planning sanctions against Russian hackers and officials yet to be identified. The Obama Administration rightly refused to veto a UN Security Council Resolution condemning Israel for building on occupied territories captured in the 1967 Six Days War won by Israel, against UN resolutions on the issue. On this PLO veteran and eloquent spokeswoman and states woman Hanan Ashrawi wondered why the US had been supporting Israel for the last eight years on a matter that all previous US presidents, whether Republican or Democratic have always given the Israelis friendly diplomatic and international cover to the detriment of Palestinians.

    Again, Secretary of State John Kerry, a few days ago outlined US foreign policy in the Middle East and stressed that not using the Security Council veto to protect Israel reflects US values and that sounded so pathetic, forlorn and confusing. This is a policy that will surely be booted out of the window when Donald Trump is sworn in as President by January 20, 2017. Anyway it reminded me of the same American values that Kerry invoked on the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar Assad on his people at the beginning of the present Syria debacle.

    American values and morals were articulated brilliantly but never followed through by the Obama Administration and that bred ISIS and the migration to Europe that fanned Brexit and trumped up a Donald Trump victory. Indeed the Obama Administration’s strangely belated actions on the global diplomatic scene make the recall of two home truths inevitable. One is that procrastination is the thief of time. The other is that an actor quits when the ovation is loudest. Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Trump: The man who stunned the world

    Trump: The man who stunned the world

    THIRD RUNNER-UP

    THERE were rumours. And there were facts. Although the facts sounded like fiction, more fiction was accepted as fact during the campaign of Donald J. Trump, a billionaire, reality show maven, real estate mogul, sometimes seen as a clown and, at other times, as a political scarecrow.

    In the end, when he won the United States presidential sweepstakes as the next leader of the most powerful country on earth, it was surrealism as fact. Many wondered how the country, known for its temperance on values, for its aversion to bigotry and as the most welcoming place on the earth to the kaleidoscope of human races, elected Trump as their president.

    He was the person who loathed Blacks, mocked Hispanics as drug traffickers and rapists, mocked the disabled, promised to ban Muslims, plotted to build a wall to fend off Mexicans, to introduce security measures to paralyse the liberty of African Americans and decided to turn his back on key international agreements and protocols, including on climate change.

    Trump’s decision as an also-ran comes not as a plaudit, but for his infamy, for the devilry of his candidacy and firestorm of his disgraceful rhetoric.

    In a year when the world, especially the West, gleefully and rapidly hated the other, Trump was, in 2016, the most important face of xenophobia, of a divided and dividing world, or a closed border, of incendiary insults. He brought drama to bile and it turned out to be brutishly glamorous and intoxicating.

    He loved his crowds. They loved him back. They hailed, hooted, boomed. He rode that wave with hubris, delivering ever-ready odium, like a shark that sights blood half a mile away.

    The campaign began almost as though it were a joke. “Many a truth is said in jest,” noted Shakespeare. No one gave him a chance, even in the party, the Republican Party, otherwise called the GOP or Grand Old Party. The party elite said he was not conservative enough, or he was too footloose with his rhetoric. He was a hater’s hater. They said he was a clown. But as his rhetoric blazed, so did his poll numbers rise. He felled heavyweight after wheel horse of the Republican Party. Exit Jeb Bush. Exit Marco Rubio. Exit everyone except the man everyone else expected outside the stage. It became clear that he was no longer a fellow of infinite jest, according to Shakespeare in Hamlet. The joke was on the nation and the world who dismissed him as a force.

    Nigerians despised him. His rhetoric was so outlandish that lies that were attributed to him became consecrated as evidence. He was even quoted as saying obscenities about Nigerians, and it went viral. Denials were even denied by many who had access to the facts, in Nigeria and the United States. It looked like the man had sent a train in motion, and everyone else was on board for a ride behind an inebriate driver.

    Hillary Clinton, his opponent, was not a great candidate. She was drab in rhetoric, in fashion and style. Her message lacked anything sudden or earth-shaking.She seemed to want to be president because she had to be. It was her turn. Many expected her to run. So she obliged. But everyone who rooted for her was not interested in Hillary. They just were interested in Trump not winning. It was billed as an anti-trump movement against the trump movement. The Trump wind was wild and whistling and howling and uprooting obstacles. They wanted a counterfoil.

    But WikiLeaks, Russia and few more scandals threw their power balls at Clinton. She was more scrutinised than her opponent. For every three of Trump’s indiscretions, Clinton had half an indiscretion, but the half was sometimes amplified more than the three.

    He attracted the worst of the American soul: bigots, white supremacists, closet racists, religious fanatics, et al. White males gravitated to him because of his red-blooded register, his caper, his appeal to a muscular, reckless Americanism.

    Eventually, the polls came and state after state, his numbers rose above Clinton. People expected some states to go Clinton’s way, as the polls anticipated victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire. But the pollsters saw voters disgrace them. Florida was the first to tilt the balance and, later, North Carolina. Everyone on the Clinton team was shocked.

    So was the world. Now, we are in the after-daze of his victory, still not sure what the new world would look like. Nigerians at home are wondering what would happen to their family members who have not yet secured any papers, and whether they would be hauled on the plane and sent home, putting an end to their mercies of dollars parcelled across oceans on Western Union.

    That is the nature of the Trump impact. Nigerians wait as Trump is poised to mount the world’s top stage.

  • Trump, Nigeria and the Romney effect

    Trump, Nigeria and the Romney effect

    UNITED States President-elect Donald Trump’s dilatory approach to picking his Secretary of State has had the unintended consequence of exposing the poor quality and character of many politicians. No one exemplifies this sorry fact than former U.S. presidential contender, Mitt Romney, who ran for the White House in 2012, but has briefly lobbied to be picked as the U.S. number one diplomat. The U.S. does not of course have a monopoly of such politicians, but it is remarkable that despite all he said about Mr Trump during the recent presidential campaigns, Mr Romney could offer himself for the Secretary of State position. Does he not have shame? Does he think it is patriotism?
    Here are just two of the nasty statements Mr Romney made about Mr Trump: “Dishonesty is Donald Trump’s hallmark … His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power … Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. We have long referred to him as “The Donald.” He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name. It wasn’t because he had attributes we admired …”
    “Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat. His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.”
    There is nothing to show that Mr Romney’s observations on Mr Trump were misplaced, or that on assumption of office, the president-elect would suddenly transform into a statesman. The essential Mr Trump manifested in the campaigns, and both he and his team think he will remain the same person many sensible and judicious people unflatteringly think him to be. If the chances of Mr Trump transforming into a better leader is slim, if the chances of offering America and the world what he does not have do not exist, why would Mr Romney seek to work under that phony? except that he himself is probably a phony. To Americans appalled by their presidential choice, and to the agitated world, Mr Romney would be a reassuring pick for Secretary of State. Yet, the fact is that most politicians do not have character, as the Kaduna State governor, Mallam el-Rufai, has shown in his attacks against his mentors.
    All over the world, the quality of leadership has declined steeply. It is evident in Nigeria, where for the past 17 years or so, including even the present, only fifth-rate leaders have assumed office. It is a tragedy that the names being peddled for 2019 presidential election and beyond are also fifth-rate politicians whose charlatanism is so offensive that it makes the sensible to despair. Other than white racists, America must feel the tragedy of having the vacuous Mr Trump take office immediately after an intellectual and wit like Barack Obama. But that tragedy is commonplace in Nigeria, indeed second nature to them, as politicians crisscross political parties in search of either refuge from predictable government tyranny or the proverbial fleece of power, wherever it can be found.

  • Nigerians in U.S. hail Ogunlesi’s appointment by Trump

    Nigerians in U.S. hail Ogunlesi’s appointment by Trump

    The Nigerian community in the United States (U.S.) has hailed the appointment of Bayo Ogunlesi by President-elect Donald Trump into his Economic Advisory Team.

    The appointment, they said, could signal a positive trend for Africa.

    The Nigerians told the News Agency of Nigeria  (NAN) in New York  that Ogunlesi had been an excellent ambassador for Africa and Nigeria.

    Former  President of a Nigerian U.S.-based group, the Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians Inc. (OAN Inc)Mr. Michael Adeniyi  told NAN that “Bayo Ogunlesi is an excellent and extraordinary Nigerian”.

    “He is very humble, brilliant and outstanding in every way you can think of. He has achieved outstanding success in Wall Street and he’s a proud ambassador of Africa, which he started in Kings College.

    “For him to be appointed into Trump’s Economic Advisory Team is a honour to Africa and especially to Nigeria. He will add value to the Trump’s team and he’s worthy of celebrating.”

    Another Nigerian, Prof. Yetunde Odugbesan-Omede, a professor of Global Affairs and Political Science at Rutgers University and Farmingdale State College, said Ogunlesi has all it takes to contribute to a positive American economic outlook

    “Mr. Ogunlesi has an impressive background and will be able to add his perspective and vast knowledge on how to move America forward that will yield positive economic outcomes.”

    Odugbesan-Omede, however, said it was too early to say if the appointment would have any impact on Nigeria.

    Spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN Mr. Akinremi Bolaji said Ogunlesi’s appointment was a positive development for Nigeria and Africa.

    “I am not speaking for the Nigerian diplomatic community because I am not in the position to do so; it for the Embassy in Washington to do.

    “Speaking as a Nigerian, it is a good indication and positive development for Africa and Nigeria that we are among the best brains everywhere.

    “It is also to show you that one in every five Blacks is a Nigerian. It is a good indication for our economic and foreign policy.

    “It also shows that Africa and Nigeria have good ambassadors everywhere. Ogunlesi has to see himself as a representative of the Black race as the only Black man that made the list by further distinguishing himself.

    “I advise him to use his opportunity well and he should bring together people of integrity who will not smear his integrity.”

    Bolaji said the younger generation has a lot to learn from his distinction, adding “journalists have a lot to do to tell us how he was able to weather the storm and got recognised worldwide”.

    Ogunlesi, who is the chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm and one of Fortune 500 companies, was named a member of an economic advisory forum to Trump.

    The 63-year-old Nigerian is the only African face in the 16-man team.

  • Trump appoints Nigerian to strategic policy board

    Trump appoints Nigerian to strategic policy board

    In what could be viewed as a deft move the United States President-elect, Donald Trump, has named a Nigerian investment banker, Bayo Ogunlesi, to serve as a strategist on his economic policy team.
    He is to serve in the 16-member group to be led by Stephen Schwarzman of the American equity firm, Blackstone, according to the Cable News Network (CNN).
    Mr. Ogunlesi, a private equity tycoon, came into international limelight in 2010 for his acquisition of Gatwick International Airport in London. The deal was worth about $2 billion. He is going to serve as a member of the board, which also included CEOs of General Motors and IBM.
    The group will have a direct line to Mr. Trump and be tasked with giving the president-elect nonpartisan views on how government policy impacts the economy and jobs.
    The forum is to hold its first meeting during the first week of February at the White House.
    Ogunlesi, 63, is the co-founder and chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners, an investment firm with a primary interest in infrastructure and real estate development. He is the first Nigerian to be appointed by Trump. His appointment came a year after President Barack Obama named Adewale Adeyemo as his Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics.

  • Trump, Castro and the new world order

    It is an amazing coincidence that Donald Trump is coming on board as the President of the US just as Fidel Castro of Cuba packed up and was cremated. That really is the stuff of history and comparative political analysis. Here are two people quite powerful in their own ways and convictions and quite defiant of the odds and the status quo in their numerous achievements in leadership and ideological orientation.

    You may say Trump is untested but he has already made history in the unconventional campaign he conducted to win the presidency of the US in the 2016 presidential elections. If you remember that President Obama was given the Noble Prize for peace as an untested leader at the outset of his presidency which is ending with Trump winning the presidency on a slogan of making America great and safe again, you will realize that kudos can be earned by world leaders for both tested and potential capabilities.

    Anyway the core of any comparison between Trump and Castro will have to be on their comparative achievements on the ideologies of the Cold War between Socialism and Capitalism which each amply represents respectively. This may sound like a tall order but it is a comparison that I find fascinating and which also can be quite elucidating. At Castro’s death, Cuba’s economy was in shambles and he had handed over power to his trusted Brother Raul who put in place some economic and capitalistic reform without abandoning socialism the political creed of Castro which has been largely castrated by globalization.

    Indeed when the former Soviet Union collapsed and dissolved into its constituents states the fate of Cuba’s economy was sealed and Cubans lived on subsistence and some fled their nation risking their lives on the high seas to get to Miami in Florida, US. Very much like the migrants crisis on the Mediterranean with Arabs fleeing wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghans risking their lives to get a better life in Europe.

    Ironically that situation contributed in no small measure to Donald Trump’s success at the US elections. Just as it contributed in no small measure earlier to the loss of Castro’s grip on power in Cuba as globalization stretched the practice of socialism to its limit in terms of the optimum utilization of available resources. Nevertheless Castro left a credible legacy acknowledged by even his opponents and detractors in the US on education and health. Cubans are known to be some of the best doctors on earth and Cubans have good health facilities. Also Cuban doctors have been exported as it were to help the health and education systems of many nations in the developing world.

    This is in spite of the dwindling economic resources of Cuba and the economic embargo of the US on that nation which the Obama Administration tried to redress albeit as a lame duck presidency which was also quite belated. More importantly though Castro was a revolutionary who stayed in power for almost 50 years. When he started out to wipe out the corrupt Baptista regime he together with his colleagues were idealists who wanted to spread socialism in Latin America. Indeed his most famous colleague my idol Che Gueverra a doctor was killed while trying to bring socialism to another Latin American nation but even Che himself was an Argentine and not Cuban.

    So while Castro and his colleagues of yore were trying to establish Socialist International, the advent of globalization created borderless nations and made the world a small village in terms trade and the mobile movement of labor goods and services and the exchange of information, knowledge and ideas globally. This then is the bizarre meeting point between the collapse of Castro’s socialist Cuban economy and Donald Trump’s grouse with globalization and his determination to scuttle all international trade agreements.

    Trump has promised to bring jobs back to US soil as he has started doing by making a deal with the global giant Carrier to make 1000 jobs available in the US rather than taking them to Mexico as the US company was planning to do. Here again lies the historical and insightful nature of the emergence of Donald Trump on the US and global political and economic scene. Clearly Trump was underrated by the US political class in both the ruling Democratic Party and his own Republican Party as a novice in politics who will fail because he did not want to be politically correct. But that rating was a great mistake just as the polls which Trump never acknowledged as correct and in which his success at the polls have proven him right.

    I say again that the American establishment and media erred in treating the US most colorful billionaire controlling about 500 brands as unlettered and uneducated in the politics of the US where he made his huge wealth. Now he is creating a cabinet of his wealthy peers and those who hold very conservative views that reflect Republican American values and those who scoffed at his campaign and presidential credentials are about to laugh at least for the next four years with the other side of their mocking mouths.

    In effect then,one can safely say that while Trump will not allow American jobs to go overseas on the altar of globalization he has learnt something from the way that the same globalization eclipsed some of Castro’s socialist dreams and achievement in Cuba. In addition Trump has promised that it would be America first and he will make America great again. On that score he should be careful not to make history repeat itself too soon and I will illustrate with two presidents before him, Richard Nixon of the Watergate scandal and Trump’s outgoing predecessor Barak Obama.

    Undoubtedly the Watergate scandal marred the Nixon presidency but out of office Nixon whose National Security Adviser and Secretary of State was Henry Kissinger was a very brilliant writer on global affairs and diplomacy. In one of his writings he observed that any US president who focused on domestic affairs at the expense of foreign and international relations would pay a very steep price later in terms of the cost of redress of looking inwards. That opinion is best illustrated in the way the Obama Administration came into being promising and winning the presidential elections on a slogan of bringing US troops back home on a global peace agenda.

    Eight years and two terms later the Obama Administration coaxed or coerced Hillary Clinton to campaign on the Obama legacy especially on foreign policy in the Middle East and the Democratic Party lost power decisively. Hillary was defeated by a crafty billionaire who changed the topic from the traditional issues of the economy and domestic issues to foreign policy, migration and security and assured Americans that America will be great again and Americans will feel safe under his leadership.

    In addition the slogan of peace that brought Obama to power has also fanned the rapid growth of Islamic terrorism and militancy and has cost the French President Francois Hollande his presidency mainly as a result of the terrorist attacks on French soil especially Paris and Nice. That discredited peace slogan too made Donald Trump credible to the US electorate in the last presidential election which saw him emerge as president elect. So the onus is on Donald Trump to know which lessons he will learn.

    The US has a crucial rendez vous with world politics, given its role on globalization and the promotion of human rights and democracy globally. Definitely Donald Trump cannot shut that down merely to put America first or make America great again.

    The fact that he has chosen a general who was sacked for criticizing the Obama foreign policy on terrorism as National Security Adviser and another general called Mad Dog as his Defence Secretary and his Attorney General once tried to stop a conference of gay people means that has his ideas on confronting ISIS and in dealing with gay rights both strong legacies of the Obama government. Trump now has the authority to do whatever conforms with the values of the electorate that gave him his mandate. Nothing however should make him keep the world waiting because he wants, first, to put his American house in order. Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

  • Trump, Oyegun and the 2019 challenge

    AS the world grapples with dreadful anxieties about the inevitability of a President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in Washington DC, the shocking reality of Trump becoming the 45th President of the self-proclaimed world power hit many Nigerians like a thunderbolt.

    For Trump, the author of the bestseller, ‘Think like a Champion’, victory at the polls against a formidable and experienced opponent like Hillary Rodham Clinton justifies his personal cant that quitters never win. We may not like his crude and oftentimes demeaning pronouncements that preceded his steps towards the White House.

    But, in more ways than one, Trump played the populist tune, wowed his crowd and got the presidential prize in an election that poignantly highlighted the deep-seated divisiveness in the American society. It was one historic election with lots of histrionics and a rather sublime ending. Nonetheless, the world was stunned that someone who was considered the greatest joke by the establishment could sweep the poll at such an auspicious moment.

    Many across the globe are waiting, with bated breath; to see what direction America is headed with Trump in charge. Some three weeks after, Americans are still divided on the outcome and questions have been raised on the use of the Electoral College system over the popular votes which Clinton clearly won. Somehow, what happened in the USA could be said to be similar to what happened in Nigeria in 2015 when, in spite of all odds, General Muhammadu Buhari won a keenly contested election against former President Goodluck Jonathan. Like Trump, majority of those who voted for Buhari did so with blind trust.

    In spite of the countless fault lines and scary prospects of a likely failed presidency as espoused by the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Buhari still scaled the hurdle in a blaze of glory that shocked everyone. In the U.S., that shock is at a global scale. I could understand why the Democratic Party’s candidate, Hillary, declined to give a concession speech on the night Republican Trump snatched victory from the deadly jaws of defeat. She needed to assimilate what had just hit her and the damage it would have on the legacy of the outgoing President Barrack Obama. It was a devastation that rubbished all projections and left both the winner and loser gaping.

    In Nigeria today, we have gone past gaping. For, if we must say the truth, the enthusiasm that propelled Buhari into power has waned significantly 17 months after. Was that what happened in America after Obama’s eight years of change have failed to change the way Washington does things? Well, the jury is still out on the Obama legacy. What is clear is that whilst sectional sentiments played a significant role in Buhari’s emergence, race was pivotal to Trump’s victory.

    The sophistication of America’s democracy notwithstanding, the demographics show that the Republican candidate targeted the teeming band of disgruntled and uneducated white voters. With his diehard supporters holding aloft an irreverent banner of dreadful ‘ideology’ and occasional chants of ‘Lock her up’, he caused an upset whose consequences are yet to unfold. It is not impossible too that many of these persons just wanted to see a fresh face in the White House, someone who had no links with the establishment and Donald Trump just fits that description at this point in time.

    It was his moment to exhale. However, it was humbling that Trump graciously admitted that he had to live above the showmanship and ugly shenanigan of the campaigns if he must succeed as a President. He acknowledged the deep gulf of mutual suspicion that the election had wrought on the psyche of the people and promised to unite Americans. With a hint of diplomatese, he said while he would put the interest of America first and make himself available to deal fairly with other countries in the global community. The problem is that those are the usual tones deployed in politics.

    Until the world starts seeing a Trump who not only uses tempered language but equally walk his talk, they would continue to nurse palpable fears about his Presidency like Nigerians presently do with Buhari. For, in truth, Nigerians are gradually losing patience about the promise to turn things around for the good of all. Aside its war on corruption, there has hardly been any other notable strides that would place this administration in a good stead to return to power in 2019.

    This is not just about how the massive goodwill that shot this administration into power is being badly affected by the day, it is more about its seeming delay in adding value to the lives of the people struggling to wade through an economy in recession. You ask: how many jobs has this government created for both the educated youth and the educationally disadvantaged? The records are poor, very dismal. As I write this, the plan to recruit 10,000 policemen is enmeshed in National Assembly versus the executive politicking on recruitment quota. And we thought they say they are going to do things differently.

    The N500bn Social Intervention Scheme which was projected to employ 500,000 teachers and about 200,000 persons in agriculture in addition to the training of hundreds of youths in ICT are all shrouded in secrecy. Yet, people lose jobs daily in every sector of the economy. Many families now live in constant fear of an unsure future.

    It is pointless projecting a better deal in 2017 at a period when the Senate has thrown out the government’s request to borrow $30bn and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which it opaquely described as empty! And so, with an All Progressives Congress whose leadership torn through the middle, one is shell-shocked that its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has declared that a Buhari return to power in 2019 as a fait accompli. And what exactly were the points Oyegun tabled to justify this? First, he says the president is the only Nigerian politician alive with a capacity to win 12 million votes “without major campaign.” Second, he is the only man with courage to make changes that Nigeria needs. Third, that even if the growing band of disgruntled members ship out of the APC, new members would fill the vacuum as there is “no strong party anymore.”

    Four, octogenarian Oyegun said he would fast and pray to ensure that Buhari agrees to run for reelection in 2019. And lastly, he reasoned that an additional four years is needed “to get this country to subscribe to a new morality, a new ethic and turn its back on corruption of the very type we are trying to uproot now.” How simplistic can this man be? The ‘No Vacancy’ position would have been justified if Oyegun had carefully highlighted Buhari’s major achievements instead of rambling about 12 million votes, which left his party leader hanging in the sun to roast in the 2011 presidential election. He forgot so soon that thunder would have struck twice in 2015 but for the powerful coalition that stopped the PDP in its stride.

    Do we then say that Oyegun now derides that coalition as insignificant should these members decide to move to another party? How forgetful can some people be? In any case, has Oyegun gone back to the region that produced the 12 million votes for Buhari to access the ratio of those who would still stand by his candidacy after 17 months of deferred dreams? Could he be suggesting that no other Nigerian is eminently qualified to contest for the Presidency should Buhari turn down his plea to re-contest after his fasting and prayer bid? I do not know if Oyegun has taken anything away from the outcome of the American election since he granted the above interview to a national daily some few weeks back. If he has not, then the right time to do it is now. There is a big lesson to learn from the Trump victory. It is one that should humble all those who walk with the swagger of invincibility.

    Trump did not win because he was the most loved among the candidates. He won because he played his politics right and tapped into the sentiments of disgruntled citizens who were fed up with the establishment that is long on words and short on deliveries. If he looks back, he would see that more Nigerians are getting more impatient about the Buhari administration’s promise to turn things around. The ethnic divide and mutual suspicions, which have always defined our perception of governance, have deepened due to a rash of appointments that favour a particular section of the country. Therefore, it is not an impossibility that millions of the silent majority fervently wait to give a dose of the Trump treatment. Hillary Clinton’s defeat, in spite of Obama’s approval rating which was 55 per cent before the November 8 election, should send warning signals to those who relish empty triumphalism while quoting figures that may jolly well amount to an unexpected defeat! The time for some deep retrospect is now. But would the APC take that bold step of readjusting itself to the wailing anguish of despair in the land as the first act of a redemptive process? Only time will tell.

  • Re: Soyinka & Trump’s illegitimate kids

    Re: Soyinka & Trump’s illegitimate kids

    On 30th of October, this year, 2016, it was my brother-in-law’s wedding which coincided with our normal Sunday church service. For a usual Sunday service that spans over 4 hours, an additional marriage ceremony was no doubt belabouring and time-sapping.

    But as if the day was not loaded enough, an elderly woman insisted the church must find a way of squeezing in her thanksgiving ceremony. Indeed her request was granted and everything was going-on successfully; one after the other until the thanksgiving woman, as the last event, retired back to her seat, where she slumped almost immediately, prompting some members to carry her outside the church for a first aid before taking her to the hospital. In all, she never made it alive to the hospital.

    As I recounted the incident later to some persons who were not at the event, I saw the usual attitude of people trying to launch into explaining God’s every reaction to our actions:

    Just as some of my church members earlier had concluded it was wrong for the woman to insist on having her thanksgiving at all cost; on her preferred date. And not even one person bothered about her prior medical condition.

    For most of those who slammed in their reasons for her death, no matter her health condition, it is simply preposterous for death to occur in the church. Personally, I see nothing wrong in a woman insisting on thanking God as swiftly as her pregnant daughter and her unborn grandchild survived a life threatening operation, coupled with the message of a successful journey from her only son, who had wandered through the desert into Europe.

    Sometimes when doing the right things fails to guarantee the desired results, I become more philosophical about life, rather than getting more religious. This is the same feeling I have been subjected to since Donald Trump emerged as the American president. For most of us, we thought Trump was unknowingly reinforcing the wrong dispositions because God, we assume, had programmed him for a big shameful loss. And Hillary Clinton was doling out the masterstrokes because it was God’s plan to make her win the presidential election historically.

    As those who hastily gave reasons for the thanksgiving woman’s death because of the pretext that every church is God’s house, which is enough to submerge all rational thinking about her health status; likewise it was right to conclude that God would never allow Trump, a considered preacher of sectarian or racial hatred, to lead unarguably the most powerful nation on earth.

    Relying on such distasteful disposition we have of Trump, it was of no relevance to appreciate that the Muslim religion has become so tainted with hate-oriented carnages of late, needing a cautious discrimination until the world comes up with an app which could make it easier to differentiate a radical Muslim from the non-radical one from afar.

    And because of the exigencies of electioneering, we also considered it was self-annihilating for Trump to openly recant that America’s continuing provision of a safehaven for fleeing Africans, Latinos and Asians from the tyranny and corruptive effects of their roguish leaders, was far from being the solution for the symptoms of such induced wandering.

    PREFERABLY therefore, Trump should lose for not believing it is America’s lot to fix the problems in all other parts of the world even as America is yet to fix its own. For most of us, America must remain a cleansing and bonding receptacle of all that are bad, good, ugly and beautiful. As a model for the world, its benevolence must keep shinning through, and not necessarily taunting immigrants with the arduous task of returning back to fix the problems in their homelands.

    But on a practical note, is Africa not a buoyant continent to sustain its own? Is its wealth not substantially confirmed by nature? Is it not a fact that plants and animals which are not bound by immigration restrictions prefer staying in Africa?Are plants and animals not disappearing or becoming threatened only because of the same misrule which has failed to replenish and protect them?

    Do African men not love Black women more? In spite of Africans’ flair for Western inventions; are marriages between Blacks and people of other races not still considered as means to an end, and not an end in itself? In earnest, if not for the continuous leaching of Africa by its leaders, Africans would have been validly exempted from Trump’s snide immigration and jobseeking remarks.

    All the same, it is not an all-round pitiable situation for Africans. As a matter of fact, Africans should thank the president elect, Donald Trump for reminding them that nature has already used symmetry to define where every tribe ought to find its natural abode. Africans should examine their lifestyles to rightly determine where they belong.

    It is not condemnable for Americans to decide that it is time for them to look inward and address their problems first before any other people or race. Its method of solving such internal problems with the exclusion of others should also not be putrefied as discriminatory. It is simply a wakeup call for Africans to note that running to hide in a safe place with one’s wound, does not make the wound disappear or become healed.

    After the Jews’ holocaust, the remaining Jews had no home to return, no family and poverty was ravaging. Between 1945 and 1948, they rallied in their thoughts and gave birth to the miracle state of Israel. Thankfully, Trump has correctly identified Africa’s problem as emanating from their corrupt leaders. Just before he starts sending Africa immigrants back home, he should please push it as a matter of America’s policy to be giving any corrupt African leader who sets his feet on American soil ‘the Ibori treatment’.

    In the case of Nigeria, we shall be supplying overwhelming evidence of such present and past leaders to have them appropriately jailed. The same persons, who unfortunately in Nigeria, would have been compensated with higher political offices and stately wealth, rather than having them jailed. If Trump can simply launch ‘the Ibori treatment’ into the global perspective of justice, Africans would immediately stop foraging other continents for survival.

    THANK you for this article Mr. Odion. Especially for calling out our uninformed youths who have used the anonymity of the social media space to disparage someone of the stature of WS. That he had to address the issue in order to educate these brain-dead Lilliputians is in itself heart-breaking.

    Funso Famuyiwa YOU confuse us the more with your grammar. What are you talking about? The man promised to tear his green card after Trump’s victory and it is running to two weeks now. Instead, what we hear is grammar.

    The honour of a man is for him to honour his word. Oluwatobi David, Ikoyi, Lagos.: 08128801999 RATHER than resort to hurling cheap insults and abusing the messenger, it will be beneficial to some of you who comment here to learn first, the simple art of reading and comprehension.

    It is evident from some of the comments here, that many of you either skipped or missed completely, their English Comprehension classes while in school. It is a crying shame that Nigeria used to take pride in its education but sadly, it has now become a “dumbed -down” society where many “so-called” school graduates can neither read, write nor spell properly.

    People no longer have the ability to either think critically or read between the lines or to engage in a debate in an intelligent manner. Everything has boiled down to anonymous, unintelligible cheap shots and easy social media styled name-calling exercises. Learn to read, digest and fully comprehend an article first before jumping up to criticize the author.

    Well, you just might learn something useful along the way. And guess what? You would at least come across as a thinking person. Don’t get me wrong.

    Anyone has the right to disagree with any writer here but I hasten to say that you do not reserve the liberty or the license to respond only with sheer insults and no facts, basis or logic whatsoever to back up your errant comments.

  • Trump and the Middle East question

    SIR: Just when the people of the Middle East thought things couldn’t get any worse, Donald J. Trump is elected president of the United States. Now, their apprehension about the president-elect dwarfs their disappointment with President Obama.

    It could be a blessing in disguise.

    America, in one magic moment, revealed how it has changed, for the worse. Poor America, they feel so insecure, vulnerable and fragile. Like the rest of us.

    So, instead of reaching for its famed “can-do” spirit, lifting itself up by the bootstraps, it turned to a strident, bellicose type of nationalism. The kind usually associated with strutting generalissimos of Third World nations with their chests covered with made-up, self-awarded medals.

    Maybe the people of the Middle East will look and realize that America is no longer the great democracy to emulate. That its modern style of empire and role as keeper of the world order for the world’s own good are stumbling and failing, even in its own eyes; and that those in the Middle East should not be turning to it for rescue.

    America voted to reduce its liberties. To narrow the range of people entitled to justice and equality before the law. To live in a place where the police should not be criticized; where fighting political correctness is more important than fighting racism; where Muslims are suspected and people who appear Hispanic can be rounded up if they’re not carrying their papers.

    Whereas America’s imperial outreach allowed her to experience other cultures, but now they have chosen to shrink their outlook, with the expectation that the world will continue to revolve around them. It won’t.

    Like the rest of us, the country is now divided between those who want to make their nation great again alone and those who want to make it great together.

    Mr. Donald Trump said he would bring back torture and ban Muslims from entering America, and he compared the threat of “radical Islam” to Soviet Communism. He wants less engagement in the region, and fewer “free riders” like the Saudis who don’t pay enough for American protection. And he wants the United States to abandon the costly nation-building in the Middle East.

    What nation-building? In Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia, civil wars continue unabated. The Arab and the Muslim worlds only hope that the United States stops contributing to the destruction. Trump does not exactly seem concerned for the wishes of Middle Easterners and their right to live in peace. It sounds more like what he really wants to do is pal around with other strutting, authoritarian types. Expect him to cosy up to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and join him in supporting Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad.

    Expect America’s new president to work closely with Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has embraced Netanyahu’s positions on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and on abandoning the two-state solution. Instead of Americanizing the Middle East, Trump seems set on “Israelizing” America, stirring fear of Muslims and trying to wall out “the other.”

     

    • Ibrahim Muhammed Sani Hadejia,

    NOUN Gusau Study Centre, Zamfara State.

  • Trump to meet Mitt Romney

    United States President-elect, Donald Trump, is to meet one of his severest critics, Mitt Romney, as he continues to build his transitional team.

    Media have speculated the post of secretary of state could be discussed.

    During the election campaign, Mr. Romney called Mr. Trump a “fraud” and “phony,” while Mr. Trump said Mr. Romney’s unsuccessful campaign against Barack Obama in 2012 was “the worst ever.”

    Mr. Trump has settled several posts so far, a number of them controversial.

    The nominee for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was rejected from becoming a federal judge in 1986 because of alleged racist remarks, the BBC reports.

    Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the new national security adviser, has drawn concern over his strident views on Islam.

    Separately on Friday, Mr. Trump settled three lawsuits for fraud brought against him over his Trump University.

    He will be at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, all weekend to conduct more meetings with potential appointees.

    Mr. Trump tweeted: “Will be working all weekend in choosing the great men and women who will be helping to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

    Asked about the Romney meeting, Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the presidential transition, told reporters, “The president-elect wants the best and brightest people to put this country forward: people who supported him, people who didn’t support him.”

    He said Mr. Trump usually started conversations by soliciting opinions and thoughts, and then deciding if a candidate warranted appointment.

    “The conversation with Mitt Romney is just that: an opportunity to hear his ideas and his thoughts,” Mr. Spicer said.