The Nation Newspaper

Tag: war

  • Assessing Buhari’s anti-corruption war

    SIR: Since the inception of the present Buhari administration in May 2015, the major thrust or rather agenda of the federal government is the relentless and total war against graft in all its ramifications. Nearly two years into the tenure of the administration, the nagging question remains: to what extent has the battle against this monster called corruption been carried out?. In other words, what are the empirical indices to buttress the fact that the war against graft in both high and low places in our national life is indeed yielding positive results? Or is the nation merely witnessing an episode of orchestrated war against corruption while the cankerworm continues to eat deep into the fabric of the nation’s socio-economic life.

    The recent chilling and utterly disturbing report of mindless corruption involving some supposedly eminent justices in the hierarchy of the judiciary is bound to send a dangerous signal that the so-called battle against corruption is far from being won. If anything, endemic corruption was already entrenched in our national life. How else could one explain the most recent horrible revelations of mindless corruption allegedly perpetrated by some highly placed public officials in the Buhari administration?

    It is a matter of deep regret that since the inception of the current war against corruption, not a single high profile case involving highly placed public officials has been successfully prosecuted and conviction secured. It is utterly ridiculous and totally unacceptable that since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, cases of highly placed public office holders such as former governors, ministers among others arraigned in the courts for corrupt practices are still pending in the various courts.

    To further add insult to injury on the psyche of the Nigerian people, some of these shameless accused former public officers have since found sanctuary in the ruling party hoping to obtain clemency for their heinous crime against the state.

    The so-called war against corruption in the country will ever remain an illusion, or a mirage, or better still an endless pursuit of shadows unless and until the nation adopts the internationally acceptable modus operandi that entails speedy trial and severe sanction for those convicted of the heinous crime.

    We can borrow example from the British authorities which summarily convicted and sentenced Chief James Onanefe Ibori, the erstwhile governor of Delta State to 13 years imprisonment with hard labour after pleading guilty to the charge of corruption and money laundering brought against him. Ibori’s conviction and sentence in far away Britain after he had earlier been discharged and acquitted by a Nigerian judge on the same charges speaks volumes about the highly corrupt and rotten Nigerian judiciary.

    In climes such as the Peoples’ Republic of China, the looting of the national treasury or corruption by public office holders carries the mandatory death penalty hence the complete sanity and discipline in the handling of state coffers or public funds by public office holders.

    The present archaic and unproductive system of entering into the so-called plea bargain by corrupt public office holders who had bled the nation almost to her death must be jettisoned forthwith if the nation must wake up from her deep slumber and tackle the corruption scourge head-on before the monster devours the Nigerian state. The plea bargain system totally negates the principle of criminal justice which stipulates that an offender who brazenly breached the laws of the nation must in the same manner suffer the consequences of his or her action.

    It is pertinent to mention that there are other forms of corruption that are today ravaging our society which include gross injustice in the sharing of the nation’s resources as well as the imbalance or lopsidedness in the distribution of important and sensitive political offices among the various ethnic groups that make up the Nigerian state.

    This form of corruption obviously breeds discontentment, distrust and disunity and must equally be tackled decisively in order to quickly restore the people’s confidence in the nation’s political system.

     

    • Nze Nwabueze Akabogu (JP),

    Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State.

  • The ‘war’ in Southern Kaduna

    Reacting to latest mayhem in Southern Kaduna, Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kafanchan, Ibrahim Yakubu told a press conference last week that “53 villages in four local council areas came under attack resulting in the death of 808 people, torching of 1,422 houses, 16 churches, 19 shops and one primary school”. This cycle of violence in the name of religion must have prompted Pastor Adeboye, a leading member of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to praise Ayo Fayose of Ekiti for his courage in facing up to the challenges posed by Fulani herdsmen in his state. Commending the controversial governor, he had said “We thank God for your courage, for your boldness. We are grateful to God for being willing to take risks so that your people can be protected. You have been a governor who knows when to say enough is enough in defence of his people.  And I am sure you know what I am talking about and I am sure the world knows”. I am sure many understand this is not an endorsement of Fayose’s puerile fantasies, infantile rhetoric against Buhari or his receipt of N1.3b ‘Dazukigate’ slush fund as confirmed by Musliu Obanikoro for the pacification of Ekiti in 2014 and acquisition of mansions in choice areas of Lagos and Abuja while salaries of worker are in arrears of several months.

    Adeboye was probably frustrated by lack of resourcefulness of other governors including his brother pastor, Jonah Jang of Plateau who at a period he should be addressing the Fulani herdsmen’s challenge was attempting to steal the chairmanship of governors’ forum after losing the election by 16 to 19 with the help of President Jonathan who once said stealing was not corruption.

    Fayose has not done much beyond his threat to arrest cows and arm his people against Fulani herdsmen who seem to have forgotten Lugard’s declaration after the defeat of the Caliphate in 1903 that the British, the new conquerors, had taken over the powers they once wielded over the conquered Hausa territories but today speak in the National Assembly as if the whole Nigeria is Fulani fiefdom.

    A governor is the chief security officer of the state. The strange ‘unitary’ constitution imposed on federal state by the military has not clearly spelt out how this was to be done with the control of the police and other state apparatus of power by the federal government. But a more resourceful governor from the besieged Middle Belt region could have borrowed a leaf from Lagos State that outwitted the inefficient federal government and its traffic bodies and set up LASTMA to solve perennial Lagos traffic gridlock.

    If nothing else, such an outfit can monitor the movement of Fulani herdsmen who the federal government with its awesome control of apparatus of state power claims is invincible. In seven years, there has been no record of court appearance or indictment of any member of a group described as the ‘fourth most deadly terrorist group in the world’ despite the fact that the group often takes possession of conquered territories. Except the Sultan of Sokoto who claimed ‘Fulani herdsmen are criminals’  and Governor El Rufai of Kaduna who admitted  paying them compensation to forestall further mindless killing of innocent Nigerians, both ex-President Jonathan and  President Buhari have said very little about them.

    I sympathise with Pastor Adeboye and his other Christian leaders who have been forced despite Jesus admonition of ‘turning the other cheek’ to now canvass ‘an eye for an eye’ as contained in the Jewish Torah and in their Arab  half-brother’s Holy Quran, as answer to brutal killings of their members. Unfortunately, the cycle of violence and mindless killing of the innocents have nothing to do with religion. It is nothing but a continuation of 1802 Fulani war over their host’s land as source of economic and political power fought in the name of religion.  The Zangon Kataf mid-May 1992 rioting which spread to Kaduna resulting in the death of about 100 people was according to Babangida who should know better, designed to derail his “transition without end’. We have since realized it afforded him an opportunity to nail Major General Zamani Lekwot, his political rival.

    The May 1999 Southern Kaduna Kafanchan outbreak of violence was undoubtedly political. It afforded many residents of Jama‘a emirate to protest not only against the appointment of a new Emir of Jama‘a but the entire emirate system. The appointment of an emir does not often reflect the wishes of the people. Theoretically, the people of an emirate select their emir for the sultan’s endorsement. But in reality, the choice is often restricted to the linage of the first 12 first flag bearers appointed by Uthman Dan fodio back in 1804.

    The June 24, 2012 bombing of the Christ the King Catholic in Zaria, leading to the death of 14 worshippers, with 32 injured, the bombing of the ECWA Church, in Wusasa, leading to the death of three people as well as the attack on Kaduna Shalom Church International by a suicide bomber leading to three deaths were all means to an end by those who hide under religion to pursue their selfish economic agenda. The Southern Kaduna  Christian youths  who came out on a revenge mission killing over 70 Hausa Muslims within two hours, and the response of their Muslim counterparts two days later attacking Christian targets in Tudun Wada, Unguwan Mua’azu, Trikania, Panteka and Kawo played out as scripted by their authors.

    The truth is that little has changed between the relations of the Fulani and its neighbors since pre-colonial period. Fulani settlers were once considered as aliens by the Hausa, their chief host with whom they were engaged in endless conflicts over grazing right and destruction of agricultural crops. The Fulani ended the conflicts by taking over political power from their Hausa hosts after the jihad.   It is instructive that of the 12 flag bearers appointed by Uthman Dan Fodio after his victory, only one was Hausa. Although the deposed reigning king of Gobir was not a believer, Islam had existed in the Hausa states for over 400 years before the Jihad.

    The crisis in Southern Zaria like those in other parts of Hausaland is over land. The Zango Katafs with their neigbours, Ikuku, Kaje Kamatan tribes consider themselves the owners of their land. They had coexisted in relative peace with the Hausa settlers who handled the marketing of their farm products. The Fulani conquest of the Hausa states changed the equation as the Zango Katafs had to pay a tribute of about 100 slaves annually to the Emir of Zaria. They were in fact in revolt against Zaria as at the time of the British conquest. Although the British colonial power took the power to levy away after the 1903 defeat of the Caliphate, they have after independence continued to view some of these areas as part of their grandfather’s fiefdom. Ahmadu Bello said this much during the Tiv populular uprising shortly after independence.

    The ongoing mindless killings by Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt region and the militancy in the Niger Delta unfortunately remain part of the unfinished Awo’s battle at the London constitutional conference that heralded Nigeria into Independence. He was the last man left standing insisting that ‘freedom for Nigeria must be freedom for individuals and groups making up the federation’ long after both Zik and Ahmadu Bello had reached a secret agreement to accept British proposal that the minority issue be postponed until after independence. Awo paid for his principled stand. Accused of encouraging the minorities to rise against their feudal lords in the name of democracy, he was incarcerated in 1962 with the Mid-West created out of the west, the most homogenous of the regions in 1963, not as an answer to demand of restive groups for self-actualization but to weaken Awo’s political base.

  • War against Boko Haram ‘over’

    War against Boko Haram ‘over’

    The military is to intensify its mop-up of the remnants of Boko Haram fighters after calling it a day on the anti-terror war.
    The next chapter will focus on post-conflict repairs of destroyed infrastructure in the Northeast, it said yesterday.
    The military on December 22, last year captured Camp Zairo, Boko Haram’s headquarters inside Sambisa forest, killing several fighters. The survivors “fled in disarray in different directions”, according to Major-General Leo Iraboh, Theater Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole.
    The army has since occupied the major part of Sambisa forest and the former headquarters of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram.
    In a telephone interview with our correspondent yesterday, Acting Director, Defence Headquarters, Brig.- Gen. Abubakar Rabe described the war against Boko Haram as history. The military will focus on eliminating the remnants of the insurgents in their hideouts, he said.
    The Defence spokesperson said: “The war on Boko Haram insurgency is over, I can assure you of that. We have won the war against the terrorists, but from this year, we will concentrate on post-conflict repairs in the Northeast; that is the next chapter in our history.
    “We will also intensify our mop-up operations against the remnants of the terrorists, we are focusing on eliminating them in their hideouts and we are warning members of the public, especially the communities in the Northeast and other parts, to be wary of fleeing Boko Haram terrorists and report them to security agencies. This is necessary because they are in disarray ,” Gen. Rabe said.
    The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai has said that Sambisa forest would serve as a training camp for the army. The COAS said the army was already opening up roads to Sambisa and Alagarno forests following the capture of the terrorists stronghold.
    “I have already directed that we should conduct Nigerian Army small arms championship in that forest next year (2017). And we are going to use it also to test fire our fighting vehicles, other key equipment and weapons that require testing whenever we want to induct new weapon and equipment into the Nigerian Army inventory,” Gen. Buratai said.
    But despite the claims of the military of tactical victory over Boko Haram, northern Borno continues to pose a challenge, with the terrorists launching surprise attacks on soldiers and military installations. On December 30, last year, fleeing Boko Haram fighters attacked troops from 3 Battalion and 112 Task Force Battalion stationed in Rann, but the attack was quickly repelled. Many of the insurgents were killed. Four soldiers were injured.
    In Southern Borno especially Chibok Local Government Area, there are still many villages where Boko Haram fighters control and the people have been forced to flee. According to sources, villages surrounding Chibok town, including Kumjalari, Kubrivu, Kaumutayahi, Kakilmari and Kwada, are still being raided by Boko Haram even as the residents have become Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Chibok.
    According to some of the IDPs, Boko Haram fighters are living in Kumkalari, a village about 20 kilometres from Chibok town and harvesting the crops planted by the residents.
    Sunday Garba, a spokesman for the IDPS, said: “When our wives tried to get some food from the farms so that we won’t starve, they were chased away by Boko Haram. The terrorists have harvested our guinea corn and they are right now as we speak harvesting our beans; how do we survive now?”
    The news of the fall of Sambisa was taken with little enthusiasm in Chibok, especially as the nearly 194 still missing schoolgirls were not found in Sambisa where they were believed to have been kept.
    “It is not good news for us because we all believed they were kept in that forest. Have they been moved away to other countries as threatened by the terrorist leader Shekau or where are they exactly?
    “The best thing is that the army should try and occupy the whole of Sambisa so we know for sure that the girls are not there again. Then we can start looking elsewhere for them,” a leader of Chibok said in a telephone interview.
    But Director Army Public Relations, Brig.- Gen. Sani Usman said the army will not rest until all the kidnapped citizens are rescued. “ We are not resting on our oars until all the girls and others who have been kidnapped are rescued. We are asking for the support of all Nigerians and we will not rest until they are reunited with their loved ones,” he said.

  • War against illegal bunkering, kidnapping in Delta

    War against illegal bunkering, kidnapping in Delta

    They had almost turned Delta state into a no-go-zone and virtually converted the image of the ‘Heart Beat’ state to something of a heartache as the most common reports were of kidnapping and massive oil theft and unbridled attacks on national oil and gas assets. They were gradually tagging a strange identity on the state that naturally ought to have been identified as peaceful and progressive.

    This ugly and heartbreaking trend was gaining concern from virtually every quarter, especially in government and this was why the Delta State House of Assembly’s Committee on Security, chaired by Hon Michael Diden, almost immediately after its inauguration in November 2015, constituted a special task force, comprising of men of the 19 Battalion, the state police command and community vigilante, to curb these dangerous criminal activities. This task force’s categorical terms of reference were to ensure the eventual eradication of kidnapping and oil bunkering activities across the state, working with all community and security stakeholders. The kidnap and killing of the Obi of Ubulu-Uku, Obi Edward Akaeze Ofulue II, in the earlier part of the year was a high point of the notoriety of the burgeoning criminal enclave in the state.

    The challenges posed by hoodlums against innocent and unsuspecting citizens of the state in the first quarter of the year, particularly in Sapele, Jesse, Oghara and Mosogar, Effurun, Ughelli, and three other cases in the riverine communities of Omadino and Aja-Ogolo in Warri South council area, Oria-Abraka in Ethiope East, and Ebrumede in Uvwie council area, coupled with vandalism of oil facilities by criminals, alone, left nothing to be desired.

    Swinging into action to fulfill its mandate to rid the state of the menace of crimes, tainting the image of the state in the consciousness of the wider-world, the task force went after some targets, recording huge successes. The successes recorded by the committee in the rescue of over 12 victims, including a teenage girl, Alima Rivina, Deacons of the Heaven on Earth and Mountain of Fire Churches, the wife of Committee’s chairman, Mrs. Light Diden and a host of others, were not without the prompt responses from men of the Nigerian Army, DSS, police and Anti-kidnapping committee, a sub-committee of peace and security committee.

    Narrating the experience on the tedious task so far, the member representing Warri North Constituency in the state’s House of Assembly, who is also the brains behind the new security initiative, Hoourable Diden, who is popularly called Ejele, said the terrains where these criminal activities take place and the unusual brazenness of the criminal masterminds had posed serious challenges to the task force, he however noted that the challenges, breathtaking as they seem, have not deterred the committee and its task force from following the mandate to success.

    “There were times we had to chase these vandals from one community to another. There were even cases of shoot-outs by these vandals to scare our men away from apprehending them. It was a tug of war at a point in February this year, at Aja-Osoro / Ubgoritseduwa communities in Warri South council area, when we went on a joint team with the 19 Battalion to raid the communities of illegal oil brunkerers, who were into local refining of petroleum products. They carry out the cooking of crude oil. Some of these camps were fortified against external invasion, they even have sophisticated arms with which they tried to fend us off, but if not that we went with well trained soldiers and superior weapons, we wouldn’t have been able to dislodge the hoodlums”, the chairman of the committee disclosed.

    According to him, in that raid alone, more than five cooking camps were destroyed, even as adding that the task force was able to prevent the communities from further tampering with facilities or siphon crude oil from the wells at Okpomani Oil Field. Speaking further, he said four months after the successful operation, the task force, in collaboration with the local Conoil surveillance workers at Okogho/Ubaleme Field, oil thieves who were specialists in the siphoning of crude oil into waiting vessels for local refining, burst the hideouts of some sophisticated syndicates and brought their decades of oil theft activities to a halt. He said several of their operational tools were seized and destroyed.

    Speaking further, Ejele said between July and September at Okwo-Oro, along Sapele-Warri Road, three petroleum tankers were intercepted by the Land Patrol Team of the House Committee and handed over to the police command in the state, adding that the task force recovered the ones that were illegally ferrying finished products (Kerosene/petrol) to the northern part of the country at Adeje/Okwo-Edjeba communities.

    “With our early intervention, we were able to chase the vandals from this point (Adeje/Okwo-Edjeba) with the help of the Adeje local vigilantes. They were unable to load from the point. This same group of vandals two months ago relocated from there to break open another point along the same major trunk, but this time at Okwotolor. We were still able to forestall their activities. This time with the help of the military”, Hon. Diden disclosed.

    Recounting the successes so far achieved by his committee in the fight against kidnapping across the state, Ejele said the people now breathe a bit easier. According to him, kidnappers had sneaked into the oil City of Warri, Ughelli, Sapele, Mosogar, Jesse and Orero-Okpe communities, making the months of April, May and June the most difficult and dreadful in the memories of several residents and families from these areas. Kidnapping syndicate held these communities like an evil hold throughout their reign. Travelers through these communities had their hearts in their mouths until they arrived at their irrespective destinations. Traders closed from market places early while shop owners locked-up before night.

    They were armed to the teeth with various weapons ranging from pump action riffles, locally made pistols, shot guns to AK 47 riffles. Their ages ranged from 18 to 22 years, said Sinfianu, one of the suspects now in police custody. The list of casualties of this terror armed gangs is endless. It inflicted agony, tears and sorrows in many homes across the state. No day passed without any reported cases of kidnapping in these communities.

    They were brutal, wicked and could rape their female victims with impunity, said a top police source. The activities of these terror armed gangs soon became a thing of the past. Like the saying goes that any episode that has a beginning must have an end. Residents of these communities can now sleep with two eyes closed as the hoodlums have been chased away through the combined efforts of anti-kidnapping committee and other security agents.

    In the State capital, Asaba, for instance, kidnapping has become a forgotten occurrence as their last attempt to kidnap a female politician (name withheld) was foiled by a crack team from the anti- kidnapping committee.

    “Both the general public and the business community are appreciative of this development in the state. The reason for this feat is the regular policing of the cities by special squad from the anti-kidnapping and other security agents operating within and around Asaba. Their regular presence on the streets must have given the criminals much cause for a rethink” said a resident of Warri, Eng. Tobore Kemute. Surveillance of known black spots has also helped in nipping the activities of these criminals in the bud.

    According to Barrister John Ogbemi, a resident of Asaba who said he had lived in Asaba for over Twenty years. We have witnessed several years of kidnapping both at nights and broad day light. “They have inflicted pains, sorrow, agony and tears on residents. But recently, statistics in the state have shown that record of kidnapping and vandalism of oil facilities has changed. Social life, particularly night activities, have returned to Asaba. The committee which was set up to compliment the effort of other security operatives has made us proud”, said Barrister Ogbemi.

    Some of the leaders of the kidnapping syndicate and vandals were recently swooped-on by a crack team from the state police command and surveillance squad from the anti-kidnapping committee led by Austin Opubor, Mabiaku Omassan and Abraham Obarume. The suspects were trailed by members of anti-kidnapping to their various hide-outs where they were arrested with mobile phones of the victims.

    Giving graphic details of the arrest of one of the suspects (name withheld), Mr. Austin Opubor, Mabiaku Omassan and Abraham Obaruine said “immediately we got report of the kidnap of the victims, we mobilized our personnel to the field because we believe that the police cannot achieve it all alone without the support of other stake-holders. Making a major breakthrough in apprehending some of the suspects so far was quite tasking”.

  • A world of war celebrates the prince of peace

    A world of war celebrates the prince of peace

    I did not plan on writing on religion so soon after last week’s conclusion of my two part series, “Risky path toward theocracy.” But two related events last Sunday changed my course.

    First, in his sermon, my pastor alluded to the troubling senseless violence going on in the country. Kidnappers are on the loose. Militants are wrecking disaster. Armed robbers are on the prowl. To us, it was stale news. Then he threw in the bombshell about human beings beheading fellow human beings and cutting them into pieces as if preparing them for the cooking pot. It must be one of those fake news, I told myself.

    I certainly did not want to believe such a terrible story of human cannibals in the civilised world. But my pastor’s follow-up question was pertinent: what is the role of Christians in a world that is lost in evil? Are we contributing to human depravity or aiding and abetting sin? In the midst of abject poverty that leads people to crime, suicide and homicide, what is the Christian message? It was a sermon, so there was no room for answer.

    Second, however, at a house fellowship in the evening, the discussion topic was the coming of the Prince of Peace and the question was “how can the message of peace that Christ delivered be effectively disseminated today?” Unlike the pastor’s question, this question was a call to open discussion. My contribution to that discussion is the subject of the column today.

    The paradox could not be starker. The world is in tumult. From east to west, from south to north, peace is elusive. There is external aggression and vicious internal repression. International terrorism rivals domestic disturbance. Religions preach peace but practise war in its various dimensions- in word and in deed. How then can the message of peace be disseminated when the messengers are neck-deep in war?

    Let us step back a little. Before Christ, there was religion but no Christianity. That’s pretty pedestrian. What is significant is that the religion of the Old Testament celebrated violence as God’s ordinance through his prophets. Declarations of war were considered divine and any order to destroy an entire nation with its innocent children had to be carried out to the letter. Within communities, it was an eye for an eye. And the ultimate punishment reserved for the blasphemous was death on the cross, which became the lot of Christ himself.

    Then Jesus the Christ was born as God’s final gift to a sinful world. He was to serve as the supreme sacrifice for humankind. He preached and practised peace in word and deed. He fed the hungry. He healed the sick. He blessed the poor. He intervened to save a poor adulterous woman from her hypocritical accusers. He even saved one of his assailants from the sword of an angry disciple who had sliced his ear in defence of Christ. And he taught his listeners to avoid conflicts by turning the other cheek so their attackers can gratify their aggression.

    For true believers, then, Christ had set the bar for the promotion of peace and the dissemination of his message. Believers are to promote the well-being of the poor because doing it for the wretched is doing it for Christ himself. They are to be peacemakers so they can be true children of God. And even if they were persecuted, as he predicted, they should rejoice in the understanding that they have a place in heaven. In any case, he also admonished that just as his kingdom was not of this world, they also are not of this world. They must therefore not build their treasures here on earth.

    Where are those true believers now? The first disciples tried their best to abide by the master’s instructions. They prayed their ways through persecutions in the hands of the established religious traditions. They were martyred but did not give up the faith or betray the cause of Christ. They were poor in material wealth, giving their lives to itinerant preaching and healing without pomposity. It was because those who witnessed their actions saw in them the attributes of Christ that they named them Christians or Little Christs. Generations later, those Little Christs were a rarity. Today, they are virtually non-existent.

    From being the persecuted in the aftermath of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, the “Little Christs” became the persecutors once they gained political power. They went after pagans like lions after their prey. Whereas Christ preached with compassion, the political Christians, with the backing of the state, preached hate. In concert with the entrepreneurial class of the time, they endorsed the Atlantic slave trade, which killed millions of Africans and took many more to the New World as chattel slaves in the plantations of “Christian” capitalists where they were treated as expendable properties. Slavery was abolished only when it was no longer useful for capitalism.

    Meanwhile, from the same New World that treated Africans only as tools of labour, came missionaries that preached the gospel of Christ in the African homeland. But the land that sent them to Africa continued to treat the sons and daughters of Africa they had enslaved as expendables, unworthy of the rights and protections that were extended constitutionally to their fellow human beings. It was fellow (White) ministers of the Church that attacked Martin Luther King Jr. for being too aggressive about civil rights. His response to them was the Letter from Birmingham City Jail which exposed their hypocrisy.

    They have not changed. Obamacare provides health insurance for the poor, with tens of millions benefitting. Evangelicals overwhelmingly supported a presidential candidate and congressional candidates who promised to repeal the law. One presidential candidate with evangelical credentials even rated Obamacare as worse than slavery.

    Perhaps foreign Christians are a different species that falsely identify as Christians. What about native Christians from the heart of Africa? What has been the state of Christ’s message of peace and compassion?

    Recall that Christ himself predicted all that is being experienced today. Didn’t he tell his disciples to be aware of foxes in sheep’s clothing? Did he not tell us that many will falsely come in his name? What has been common to most if not all Christian evangelicals today is the shameless love of money, fame and power at the expense of the peace of God and compassion for fellow humans.

    The Internet is saturated with fake news and one must not indulge in lending many of them credence. But reading about a pastor who made a deal with a man to have the man fake death and be placed in a coffin so that at a rally, the pastor will “resurrect” him from his death, I wonder what Christianity is becoming. Is this how to disseminate the message of Christ? How about the exploitation going on in a number of African mega churches. The poor are in need of help with food, shelter and education, but many churches are milking them dry.

    There are notable exceptions, of course, where members are taught the principles of success and economic breakthrough, without the emphasis on the miraculous. But even in providing opportunities for higher education which is the modern avenue to success, many poor families are left out in the lurch with costs way beyond their reach.

    We have wondered aloud why, despite the phenomenal growth of Christianity, with churches littering every city corner across the land, there is more violence and less peace in the land. The epidemic of violence appears congruent with the expansion of churches.

    The reason is not far-fetched. While Christ’s message is delivered in all sanctuaries 24/7, the practice of that message has not been commensurate with the words. So the world of war persists even as it celebrates the prince of peace. So long as word and deed are poles apart, the paradox endures. Fortunately, so do the words of Christ. In the fullness of time, the hypocrites using his name in vain as tools for their personal worldly gains will receive their judgment and be damned in hell.

  • Why anti-graft war is weak

    SIR: The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, is worried and anxious over the unstable and diminishing impact of the President Buhari-led anti-corruption fight.  We advise the President to formulate a clear, coherent anti-corruption template for Nigeria to be rid of corruption.

    Given the controversy generated by the refusal of the Senate to confirm Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over allegations of corruption proffered against him, we call for the disclosure of the DSS report which led to the inability for the Senate to confirm Mr. Magu.

    It is also important for President Buhari to take responsibility for some of the allegations surrounding key members of his administration, including the Secretary to government of the federation and the Chief of Staff’.

    We are also alarmed at the warm reception given to the Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu by the ruling APC despite the case against him by the EFCC. The implication of this is that politicians who are facing prosecution for one form of corruption or the other, now try to evade prosecution by joining the ruling party. What has been lacking in the anti-corruption war in Nigeria is the absence of a roadmap indicating as clear as possible the direction, scope and focus.

    The president needs to be decisive and come out clear on these issues so as not to trivialise his anti-corruption effort. President Muhammadu Buhari won the popular vote because he expressed strong interest to rid Nigeria of corruption. Therefore, his inability to prosecute key organs/personalities of his administration allegedly embroiled in one incident of corruption or the other sends a dangerous signal and deals a crucial blow to his commitment to successfully fight corruption.

    Since Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Treaty, ANEEJ recommends that the Buhari administration align itself with the ratification and implementation of all UNCAC tools especially the Institutional Integrity Initiative of UNCAC, to effectively tackle and prevent corruption in the public and private sector in the coming year 2017.

     

    • Rev. David Ugolor,

    ANEEJ, Benin City

  • How to win war against pipelines vandalism

    How to win war against pipelines vandalism

    Total Exploration and Production (E&P) Nigeria Limited is always at the forefront of the fight against pipeline vandalism and bombing of other facilities of oil companies in the crude oil and gas-rich Niger Delta.

    The oil giant again exhibited leadership in the oil industry, when it organised in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, an awareness workshop on campaign against vandalism, with the theme: “Environmental Safety Awareness on the Danger of Vandalism of Pipelines/Oil and Gas Facilities,” for youths from the oil giant’s host communities in Rivers State.

    One of the benefiting youths, Bright Green, who is the President of Pipelines Committee of Rumuekpe in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers state, in his remarks, called on other youths to avoid vandalising the facilities of oil companies.

    Green admonished the management of Total oil firm to be holding the workshop quarterly, for the young ones and other Niger Deltans to learn more about the evils of vandalism.

    A resource person, Dr. Emma Ogueri, while also speaking, urged Niger Delta youths to have positive identity for themselves, especially by acquiring qualitative education or having skills through learning trades.

    Ogueri said: “Do not fold your arms and allow some youths to vandalise facilities of oil companies in your communities. Our environment is our common heritage, we must protect it.

    “Our future generation depends on the present generation. Support healthy living. Vandalism is over-action in action. Let us dialogue. No gain, neither dividend nor payback in vandalism. Just stop it.”

    Another resource person, Bently George, noted that crude oil from vandalised pipelines would go into the water table, which he said would become dangerous to human health, stressing that vandalism would lead to environmental degradation and pollution.

    The Deputy General Manager (DGM), Community Affairs and Development of Total E&P Nigeria Limited, James Urho, in his welcome address, stated that strangers would not vandalise oil companies’ facilities in Niger Delta communities.

    He urged people of the crude oil and gas-rich communities not to relent in scaring and reporting vandals within and around facilities of multinationals in their areas.

    Urho’s remarks came barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari declared in Abuja that people without expertise would not be able to travel 70 kilometres offshore in the Niger Delta to bomb pipelines of oil companies.

    The Total’s DGM, while addressing the no fewer than 300 youths, including women, pointed out that the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the oil giant and its stakeholders must be respected, for peaceful coexistence.

    He said: “The issue of vandalism of oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta has been of great concern, not only to the companies, but most importantly to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is because hydrocarbon and its products are the main source of revenue towards the growth of Nigerian economy.

    “The campaign against vandalism should be adjudged as very crucial at this point, when Nigerians are battling with economic recession. Vandalism of facilities in our local environment has affected our means of livelihood, while destroying the ecosystem.

    “The effects of vandalism are enormous. Apart from damage to the environment, there could be instant death of the vandals from pressure effect.”

    Urho also revealed that there had recently been incidents of vandalism of oil and gas facilities in some of Total’s operational areas, which he said had caused serious environmental damage and in most cases affected socio-economic strengths of the various communities, while urging people of Niger Delta communities to say no to vandalism.

    End will definitely come to vandalism of the facilities of multinationals in the Niger Delta by militants and other restive youths, when the people of the various communities cooperate with the oil firms, security agencies and other stakeholders, to halt the menace and not to be collaborating with the saboteurs for pecuniary benefits. A word is enough for the wise.

  • Rivers : Elections as war

    Whenever it is time for elections, Rivers State goes into war mode. Port Harcourt, the capital, and environs come under tension. Movement is hindered; people stockpile food at home out of fear. Do not blame them, they are only taking precautions in order not to be caught on the wrong side when hoodlums and other miscreants hired for the election start their thing. The state is now on edge as it prepares for a rerun election on Saturday. The ruling party in the state does not want to lose, while the opposing party, All Progressives Congress (APC), which is ruling at the national level, wants to win.

    This has been the case since Governor Nyesom Wike took over from his former political godfather Rotimi Amaechi on May 29, last year. For years now, there has been no love lost between Wike and Amaechi. They used to be bosom friends and political soulmates before they fell apart. Since they became estranged, the state has become their battle field. Now that they are in opposing camps, they see every election as a battle for supremacy and they approach it as  such. Saturday’s will not be different and the signs are already there. As in the past, the signs are ominous. The drums of war are being beaten and we can all hear the sound, but how do we stop this impending bloodbath?

    This is the challenge before the police, which have promised to do all they can to ensure free and fair election. We should not have our hearts in our mouths whenever election is coming in Rivers. Elections should not be seen as war not only in Rivers, but in all states of the federation.

    If our politicians truly love us and not just our votes, our lives will matter to them. They are using us as cannon fodders to attain power. It is 48 hours to the legislative rerun, yet the country has known no peace because of the election that will hold in only a fraction of Rivers. The din over the poll is deafening. Because of its determination to keep its turf come what may, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is throwing everything into the election. Led by Wike, the party has been accusing virtually every institution of state, beginning from the Federal Government to the police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of plotting to rig in favour of APC.

    During a campaign at Khana Local Government Area of the state on Monday, Wike, who will not allow any opportunity to go by without blaming his arch-political foe Amaechi of one thing or the other, was as usual unsparing in his criticism of those he believes are out to deprive him and his party of victory on Saturday. The rerun is a contest between Amaechi and Wike on who owns the state. Who is more popular between them? And in a free and fair election who will carry the day between them? In their days in PDP, they fought elections together and always won. But since their relationship became sour, they have personalised elections and other matters.

    In their characteristic manner, they want to use this rerun to prove a point about their strength. Their positions are reversed today. During the last general elections, Wike had federal might on his side because his party was then in power. Today Amaechi is enjoying federal might with his party in power in Abuja. Wike has been making noise all over the place for the fear that Amaechi, who was President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign chief, may use federal might against him.  Wike is used to having federal might on his side and deploying it in his use as we saw in the 2015 governorship election when former First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan relocated to the state to give him maximum support. He won hands down.

    Why should he now be afraid of the same federal might? Your guess is as good as mine. He knows that you cannot beat the federal might no matter how powerful you may be. Wike is afraid of being given a dose of his own medicine. He believes that he should cry out now in order to have something to hold on to if his party loses the election. There were governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states with minimal fuss. So, why has Wike suddenly turned megalomaniac over a rerun? He and others interested in the rerun should allow peace to reign so that the election will be free and fair. He is alleging that his life is in danger. The governor specifically accused the police of planning to kill him. What will the police gain by doing that? He has also accused INEC of planning to rig the election in favour of APC.

    The police and INEC have denied his allegations, describing them as unfounded and baseless. Police Commissioner Francis Odesanya said Wike lied about his claim that 200 policemen were withdrawn from the Government House, telling reporters : ‘’Go to the Government House, the policemen are there…if the governor said I have withdrawn his police personnel, then it is the work of an investigative journalist to find out the truth in the allegation…’’ In its reaction, INEC accused Wike of instigating violence ahead of the rerun. Wike should stop blowing hot over this election in order not to send the wrong signal to the outside world. He should, like other  politicians interested in the election,  work towards its peaceful conduct. There should be no room for trouble makers this time around in Rivers over this rerun. Enough of bloodshed during elections in that state.

    The police must provide adequate security for INEC workers, election monitors and voters. It is their job to ensure that everything goes well during the exercise in order not to give Wike and his ilk something to hold on to if anything goes wrong. They must see to it that trouble makers are kept at bay during the poll. Anything short of this, the police would have failed in their duty and also opened themselves to public scorn and ridicule. We cannot continue to lose precious lives to elections in Rivers. This cycle of bloodletting must stop.

     

    The NYSC way

    No matter how hard hearted a person may be, the story of the late Ifedolapo Oladepo will melt his heart. She was deployed in Kano for the one-year mandatory  National Youth Service. Ifedolapo left home hale and hearty. But on getting to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Camp in Kano, she took ill. Everything was said to have been done to save her life, but she died. Since her death, the social media has been abuzz, with many commentators blaming the NYSC for not doing enough to save her life. The NYSC has since denied that it was negligent in the handling of her case. It said it did all it could to save Ifedolapo. At a briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, NYSC Director-General Brig Gen Sule Kazaure said the camp doctors battled to save Ifedolapo’s life, all to no avail. The doctors probably did not know what the first class Transport Management graduate was suffering from beyond the rashes she complained of having on some parts of her body. The autopsy, according to the NYSC,  showed that she died of kidney infection. What happened to the medical test Corps members are expected to undergo before being allowed into camp? Did she do that test? What is the result? Perhaps, if the NYSC had known that she had such serious condition, it might have exempted her from service on health ground, to enable take care of herself. What has happened has happened. I hope that we have all learnt a lesson from this so as  to avert a recurrence in future.  My heart goes out to Ifedolapo’s family, especially her grandmother. May her soul rest in the bosom of the Lord.

  • Pakistan, Russia fighter jets set to join Boko Haram war

    Pakistan, Russia fighter jets set to join Boko Haram war

    Finish off insurgents, Buratai tells troops

    The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will take delivery of war -planes and helicopters from Pakistan and Russia to boost its fleet ahead of the final push against Boko Haram insurgents, it was learnt yesterday.

    Nigeria has failed to procure fighter jets from the United States and Brazil.

    Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who broke the news in Abuja, said  Air Force personnel were undergoing training in many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt and China.

    The news came as Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai ordered his men to end the insurgency this month.

    Air Marshal Abubakar said: “We have been enjoying support from other countries. Sometimes arms procurement is shrouded in a lot of politics. Unfortunately, I’m not a politician, so I cannot say much on that. But what I can tell you is that right now we are expecting the Pakistani Chief of Air Staff in Nigeria soon. Pakistan has accepted to sell 10 trainer airplanes. And that is why the Pakistan Chief of Air Staff is coming for the induction ceremony in Kaduna.”

    The Chief of Air Staff said the Air Force was assisting the Army and the Navy in the North and South fighting terrorism and militancy through operational strategy, air interdictions strategy and soft-core strategy.

    He said the objective was to create an enabling environment for the ground and surface forces to operate with little or no hindrance.

    He said the Service was carrying out massive reactivation of redundant aircraft and many of them are already involved in the fight against Boko Haram.

    “Another sub -strategy is the reactivation of airplanes. We have embarked on the reactivation of airplanes and today we are on the 13th aircraft. What I mean by reactivation is that aircraft that were not involved in any fight before the coming of this Federal Government; they were parked before but are today part of the fight.

    “The 13th aircraft as I speak to you is being worked upon in Yola and we are hoping that before the end of this month that airplane will be flying. When you train, you must reactivate the platform to be used in flying.”

    He praised the competence of NAF pilots, saying:  “In the last 18 months, we have flown almost 3000 hours with no incident. The pilots are among the most competent. Because the training curriculum is very clear. And that is why now in the Air Force you look at the wings, pilots wear wings. We have categorised the wings according to their skill levels.

    “We also organise simulation training for our pilots, we organise evaluation visits where pilots are evaluated without any notice. We have also sent over 700 personnel of the NAF to different parts of the world to train and acquire the skills required for them to be effective.

    On the incident involving  an Augusta AW101 helicopter which was handed over to the NAF from the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF).

    Air Marshal Abubakar said: “What happened in Makurdi was not a crash.

    Immediately we received the aircraft from the Presidency, we took one of them to Kaduna to paint it into desert camouflage. They removed the seal of the President and painted it into a combat machine.

    “When they finished the painting, they were supposed to go to Maiduguri but they needed to go to Makurdi to pick certain things before proceeding to Maiduguri. So the aircraft took off from Kaduna,

    landed perfectly in Makurdi. They were just taxiing to go and park when the incident happened. I don’t want to pre-empt whatever investigation that is going on.

    “Those same pilots were the ones that picked the 21 Chibok girls that were moved out in the night and brought them back to Maiduguri and from Maiduguri to Abuja. So accidents happen and we are investigating to find out why it happened and we will make it public when we get the picture of what really happened.”

  • Not war, just routine election

    •In Ondo, let the choice of the people prevail, in the best tradition of democracy

    Someone following news of the governorship election in Ondo may be excused if he thinks a war is about breaking out: Police deploy 26,000 troopers, three helicopters, 12 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and 20 gunboats!

    Yet, it is only a routine governorship election, fixed for tomorrow, to elect a successor to Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

    But can you blame a government’s determined effort to secure an exercise that ought to be a merry celebration of free choice, in the face of flawed politicians, sworn to running a democracy without democrats?

    That is the state of Nigerian democracy; and the war cries and whoops, en route to the election, is proof Nigeria has a long way to go in democratic processes.

    On this score, the opposition‘s allegation, as symbolised by the Alliance for Democracy (AD), that some All Progressives Congress (APC) elements are “plotting” to “rig” the Ondo election would appear predictable. That was APC’s call too, when it was in opposition.

    But we wish these allegations could be roundly dismissed as crying wolf when there was none. Nevertheless, no one, in all fairness, can do that.

    Inasmuch as opposition parties tend to be hysterical in their allegations on election eves, hardly anyone can vouch for the ruling parties themselves to play fair and square. All these, with jumbo conspiracy theories, are playing out in the run-up to the Ondo polls.

    At the end of the day, however, it is only a routine election, with a wide field, even if some four parties appear visible and dominant: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Ondo ruling party, with Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, as candidate; All Progressives Congress (APC), with Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, as candidate; Alliance for Democracy (AD), with Olusola Oke as candidate; and Social Democratic Party (SDP), with Olu Agunloye, as candidate.

    Clearly, Ondo’s political temperature shot up a few Fahrenheit because of faction dissonance, in both PDP and APC.

    In PDP, Jimoh Ibrahim, from the Ali Modu Sheriff faction, had a go at the ticket of Mr. Jegede, Mimiko’s protégée, who also belongs to the Ahmed Markarfi faction of the party. It is good the courts have resolved the issue and the election can go ahead as scheduled.

    In APC, feuds from a disputed primary are also posing a big challenge to the Akeredolu candidacy. Indeed, Mr. Oke’s defection, consequent upon that feud, seems to have gifted AD the momentum it probably never could have boasted of.

    At the end of the day, however, partisan intrigues and electioneering passion would matter less than a people’s cold and reasoned decision of what deal is best for them. That is what is required of the Ondo people tomorrow. They will swim or sink, in the next four years, by their decision.

    But while the people do their civic duty, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) too must do its. It must conduct a free, fair, transparent and credible election. That is its sacred duty by law.

    The security agencies should rise up to the occasion. The state’s security apparatus to this election is awesome. But all that would be useless if it ended up siding one side against the other, thus illicitly tilting the polls. That would be completely unacceptable, for it would be tantamount to electoral subversion, the most brazen crime in any democracy.

    So, let the people freely make their choice and let every vote count. Finally, let the people’s will be respected. That is what is expected tomorrow.

    As for politicians with do-or-die mentality, let the Ondo experience serve as their latest learning curve. Only one person wins an election. But his win is invalid without votes against him. Besides, who wins today may lose tomorrow and vice-versa.

    That is the spirit of democracy that must be imbibed by all, if our democratic polity must survive.