The Nation Newspaper

Tag: war

  • Still on DSS, judges and the anti-graft war

    SIR: It is now fashionable for all manners of people to denounce the Federal Government’s ongoing war on corruption. Lawyers, laymen and even street hawkers seem to have something to say on the way the war against corruption and how its beneficiaries are being prosecuted.

    But none of the frontiers of the battle has generated as much frenzy as the arrest of judges by the DSS. The ‘leader’ of the campaign against the DSS action is no other than Rivers State Governor, Barr Ezenwo Nyesom Wike.

    Lawyers have been killed in the most bestial and gruesome manners – some like Ken Atsuwaete, when handling sensitive cases, including election petitions – yet lawyers, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) maintained a disturbing silence. But the arrest of judges for alleged corruption, which we all must abhor, has brought out all manners of condemnations. How do you posit this hypocrisy of the NBA and other interest groups!

    No doubt, Nigeria cannot continue to live like this! We must accept that change is the only constant in life and we must swallow this bitter pill.

    In each era in all societies, some persons are thrown up as agents of change. President Buhari and All Progressive Congress in Nigeria personify this today. From the sickening, baleful and topsy-turvy state of the nation before President Buhari came on board, only heaven knows what would have been the fate of our dear country today.  God graciously brought Buhari to rescue us from the debris of corruption, lawlessness, hopelessness, insecurity, poverty and the brotherhood of vultures riddling and hovering over our country and collective patrimony.

    It is indeed an irony that agents of these saboteurs and their cronies who brought us to this awful and shameful state now indulge in exasperating polemics, tirade and pedestrian claims of political intolerance, persecution, witch-hunting and all sorts of balderdash.

    Those who stole a nation’s commonwealth with impunity, impoverished and oppressed the people, subjected them to unending sorrow and even sent many to untimely graves through wicked actions and inactions, think they will go in peace? Nay, they and their collaborators, be they judges, lawyers or whatever, must face the music for their actions.

    Rather than go on sober reflection and restitution, the evil vultures are regrouping in numbers using all manners of barmy and untoward tricks to bamboozle the people; selling them dummies to portray the government in bad light in other to thwart the good effort of Buhari and his god-sent team.

    With the mind-boggling level of revelations in corruption cases, from the amount stolen to the high calibre of persons involved, there is no better time than now to deal decisively with this cancerous corruption and its agents, before it kills our country. This evil must be tamed.

    Those entrusted with the position of trust that betray the trust must be told that it is time for account rendering.  All the whining and unsubstantiated claims of witch-hunting are peripheral as far as the good people of this country are concerned.

    For those running from court to court in search of reprieve, you must know that no amount spent to procure court injunctions, smear campaign lies, denial or shenanigans against Buhari’s person and this government can save you. It is better to stop chasing shadows and running from pillar to post and accept the reality of judgement day that is upon you – you cannot fight change.

    More than ever before, government should be encouraged to continue to wield the sledgehammer on the camaraderie of vultures feasting on our collective patrimony.

     

    • Lanre Atere,

    United Kingdom.

  • As Ogun declares war on land-grabbers

    SIR: On Monday, November 14, , a law against land-grabbing became operative throughout the length and breadth of Ogun State. The sentences imposed against violators of the law range between 25 years of imprisonment and death sentence.

    These gangsters wield dangerous weapons and demand obedience or capitulation from their victims. They operate like a mafia, “by fire, by force”. They are found in virtually every developing communities or new towns, where construction work is a defining feature. Their leaders live big.

    Sometimes they operate as rivals groups where there is a conflict of interest but their ultimate goal is the same – fleece their victims! Sometimes there is mutual collaboration. What you observe from one community to the other is only a variation in their degree of bestiality. Some of them come with documents, pasting them all over your new building or ongoing construction work with the same authority you could only have expected from government officials. The usual claim is that the land belongs to their family and that you had paid the wrong person or party. And for any resolution, you will have to repurchase the land! Any attempt to argue with them may leave you battered, maimed or butchered, in the worst scenario.

    And once there is construction work going on, they or another insatiate gang still reserves the right to be “settled” so they could allow workmen to continue else they seize all the tools in sight after some thorough beating. You have to abide by their terms willy-nilly.

    The government of Ogun State has done all within its power to tame these monsters. And some of them, we must acknowledge, have been tamed. But the position of the state governor is not to condone illegality in any form. It does not matter their largely restricted locations, reduction in the degree of their violent conducts or numbers. Any form or degree of illegality must be extirpated from the polity. This position of the governor is quite commendable and in line with the constitution. One is not really surprised because since assumption of office in 2011, Amosun has made security of life and welfare of all residents’ top priorities.

    According to Governor Ibikunle Amosun, “We want to let people know that Ogun State will not be comfort zone for any criminal or so-called omo oniles (land grabbers). They have engaged in maiming, killing and lawlessness. But now, the law will go after them. We are now having an enabling law to prosecute and anybody that runs foul of this law will have himself or herself to blame.

    “To the kidnappers, they know that this is their end. Anybody that involves himself in kidnapping, armed robbery and all these social vices will not be allowed in Ogun State. I want to believe that with the operation of this law, criminals will run away from the state.”

    The state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, equally has a word for the violent syndicates: “This is a clarion call to all criminals, armed robbers, kidnappers, cultists and so on that there is no place for them in Ogun State. They should relocate because there is no room for them. We are ready to enforce the law.”

    We commend the Ogun State House of Assembly and the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for the new law and congratulate the people of the state for the further reprieve the new legislation will provide. It is, however, their responsibility to report any breach of the new law to the police, who must act with deliberate speed to prosecute offenders. Security of life and property is the responsibility of all.

     

    • Daniel Olakunle

    Akute, Ogun State

  • How to win anti-graft war, by Sagay

    How to win anti-graft war, by Sagay

    Forner university don and legal luminary Prof. Itsey Sagay spoke with reporters in Lagos on the anti-graft war and how the judiciary can join President Muhammadu Buhari to win. Political Editor emmanuel oladesu was there.

    What is your position on the DSS raid on the homes of some judges and justices?

    I can respond to this as Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption because we have an official position, and that position is: There is nobody that is above the law in this country. The only people who are enjoying immunity against criminal prosecution are president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors. Anybody outside this group is totally subject to the full weight of the law for any crime he/she commits.

    Why we look at the judiciary, with all respect, is that we expect them to conduct themselves in such a manner that they are totally above suspicion. I personally have done a study of the judiciary in the past. The judiciary I refer to is the golden era of the Supreme Court – Supreme Court of Oputa, Nnamani, Obaseki and Bello among others. I studied their supreme courts and the image and aura that accompanied their conduct and the air around them were carried on from the colonial era.

    These are people no anti-corruption agency in Nigeria will dare accuse of corruption because they have such high moral of authority. These are the people, who when President Muhammadu Buhari was the military head of state, held, on many occasions, that actions of that government were illegal in one way or the other and the government obeyed immediately because of the authority these people had. So, any judicial authority that wants to maintain that aura and authority must be credible. You cannot be corrupt and expect to be respected.

    You cannot reduce yourself to a level where you are purchasable, where what I will call irresponsible and low type of lawyers will carry money to you and buy your soul and you sell your judgement. The highest bidder will now hand over money to the judge.

    So, when you bring us down to that level where nobody can determine the outcome of a judgement based on arguments, the law and facts, then, you have destroyed the judiciary. Those judges, who are corrupt have destroyed the judiciary and nothing is too much for their punishment.

    Who are the corrupt persons? They are the politicians and lawyers who share part of the proceeds of crimes. These politicians and lawyers are stabbing Nigeria one after the other and our blood is flowing. Judiciary has stabbed Nigeria. If they want to destroy Nigeria, we have to uproot those people for our country to survive.

    In your view, do you think the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government is sustainable?

    It is sustainable, if Nigeria wants it to be sustainable. After all it is a democracy. If you are taking legitimate steps to root out corruption in the judiciary, that is the first place. We must root it out from the judiciary, otherwise we are going nowhere. After you have cleared out the political class and the lawyers we are left with nothing. You will go there and you will find justice. Judiciary is the first point of call. We must purge the judiciary of corruption. That is where we have to start.

    The said punishment must be after judgement. There has to be a mindset for those who are looking for corrupt persons. There will be investigation of suspicious behaviours, secretly acquired of illegitimate funds, leading to investigation, arrest and prosecution.

    It is the judge, who will hear the case. He is the one who has to be to cleared and seen to be neutral. He is the one who will assume innocence before conviction. Although, the case by angry Nigerians is that the process of innocence should be removed and that those charged should prove their own innocence. The prosecutor cannot have the mindset that we are talking about. Otherwise, there will be no investigation and there will be no prosecution.

    The Legal Adviser of the APC, Dr Muiz Banire has stepped down from his position following allegations that he induced a judge, how is Amaechi’s case different from that?

    That one is different. N500,000 was found in an account of a judge, which was paid by Muiz Banire. There is no such link. No such was found against Amaechi. It is just the mere words of the judges. There is a lot of difference.

    His take on the role of the NJC in the fight against corruption

    I will blame them totally for the ineffectiveness of the fight against corruption to certain extent. NJC is established for a routine misconduct. There are no volumes of corruption that have not been found in our judiciary. People who have taken a whole lot of money from politicians will pay salaries of thousands of Nigerians for many years. When it gets to that stage, then you are dealing with a serious disease. The NJC is not meant to do that. Their job is geared towards routine misconduct in normal situations. What we have is not normal. It is an epidemic. It is just too much.

    Do you think the NJC is overburdened?

    My personal view is that none of those operating at the level of NJC should be serving justices. They should be retired justices with clean records because we had a situation in which one of those accused of corruption and misconduct was a sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria and he influenced the whole process to the extent that an innocent President of the Court of Appeal was suspended and not allowed to return to his seat until he retired because the corruption and misconduct of that CJN was in consonance with the President and the party in power.

    It is better to have a group of people who have nothing at stake, nothing to lose and no objection. Too many people are currently holding positions who are themselves living on huge sums of corrupt money, sitting and considering people who have been brought to court. How would you feel? You know you have committed the same thing. You know the money is somewhere and can be found in future. You don’t caution yourselves by dealing with a fellow traveller in that area. That is the problem.

    Some are worried that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC acting chairman, Magu has not been confirmed. Are you worried?

    I am not bothered and neither am I surprised because some of those who are to confirm him are under investigation. And to a typical Nigerian, there is no sense of duty, no sense of respect and no embarrassment. They are ready to fight dirty and expose themselves. People are in positions they forced themselves on in this country. Otherwise there should be no reason why they should not confirm him because they think they are saving themselves against the crimes they have committed.

    The embattled justices are being accused of having huge sums of money in their possession. As a senior lawyer, is there a provision of the law that stipulates the amount of money a Nigerian should have in his possession?

    There is a provision in the ICPC Act and similar provision is in the EFCC Act. The ICPC and EFCC are entitled to investigate any person who is living above his income, in order to determine where he is getting his extra income for his style of living. There is also a provision in the ICPC Act that entitles the government to bring an application to freeze an asset owned by somebody who cannot account for how he got it. In that case, he is obliged to provide evidence on how he acquired the money. If he cannot account, he loses that asset and presently before the National Assembly, there is a bill, which is very clear, that at any point in time that the security agency and anti-corruption agencies can ask you to account for any asset you have and how you acquired the asset, what you are doing to acquire it and if you cannot, they will give it to the state. That is how it is all over the world. We are among the few exception of countries that have not been practising this.

    I am optimistic that we will get some convicted or acquitted. We are interested in seeing cases come to conclusion. You are either convicted or acquitted. We don’t want to see suspended cases again starting from 2003, which have not been resolved. But with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, we are bound to see a major improvement because that act has blocked all the loopholes.

    Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, who are the colleagues of politicians they are exploiting and sharing the proceeds, feel totally committed to looking for loopholes. Rather than defending their clients, they look for loopholes to deny that the court has jurisdiction and drag that issue to the Court of Appeal and to the Supreme Court for a period of 10 years or more. By the time, he comes back 10 years later, the court has the jurisdiction to try the case, witnesses and prosecutors are no longer there. There are new prosecutors not familiar with the case. All sorts of complications would have arisen to make the case almost impossible to resolve.

    This new act has provided four major things that are very helpful. If you make an application that the court has no jurisdiction, or any other preliminary objection, the court is empowered to hear your objection. After he hears it, he says, ‘fine, let us go to the main case.’ He hears the main case and gives ruling for the objection and judgement at the same time. So from there you move to the Court of Appeal.

    Secondly, the court is now committed to give day-to-day hearing. No adjournment. You must hear the case every day until it is completed.

    Thirdly, if a judge is promoted, no matter how far he has gone with the case, the case has to be given to another judge. The judge is at the verge of giving the judgement when he was promoted. That has ended.

    Finally, an appeal does not constitute stay of consideration. So you can appeal 20 times. These are the tricks lawyers are using. They just appeal. The appeal has been eliminated; a case goes on at the same time. If they are firmly implemented and that is what my committee urged to be implemented. Cases will go on with little or no interruption till the end. If that is done, we will see numerous cases decided this year.

  • FUTA staff, students on war path

    FUTA staff, students on war path

    Students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in Ondo State have backed  their embattled Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebiyi Daramola, and Bursar, Mr. Emmanuel Oresegun, as the staff unions continue their protest for the duo to go over fraud allegations. DANIEL OLADELE reports.

    Workers and students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in Ondo State, may be on collision course as the crisis over the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Adebiyi Daramola, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) rages.

    The institution was thrown into confusion last week when the news of EFCC’s invitation of the VC and Bursar, Mr Emmanuel Oresegun, hit the campus. Both were summoned by the anti-graft agency for interrogation over alleged misappropriation of  funds.

    The VC and Bursar were released the next day, eliciting protest from members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT). The protesters picketed the Administrative Block, calling on the embattled VC and the Bursar to go.

    The protest, which started at 2p.m., disrupted academic activities. The protesters moved round the campus, chanting anti-management songs.They expressed displeasure with the “leadership style” of Daramola, insisting that he must step down.

    Some members of the staff said: “Prof Daramola cannot be facing corruption allegation and still be the VC; we don’t want another Saraki-style in FUTA”. The protesters also warned the VC against coming to the campus.

    SSANU Chairman Comrade Dele Durojaiye said the union members would not stop the protest until the VC and Bursar stepped down.

    He said: “We forwarded petitions against the management on the monumental fraud and corruption going on this university. And that is what we are fighting for. What we are saying is that the moment you are being investigated by any anti-graft agency, you should step aside. We want the government to dissolve the council, because we believe the council is equally corrupt.

    “We are also telling the government that not until Prof Daramola is removed, this university will be under lock and key. We don’t care if it takes more than three months. We are joining forces with reasonable Nigerians, with President Muhammadu Buhari to fight corruption in this university.”

    The leadership of the protesting unions directed their members not to go back to their duty posts, but to converge in front of the new Senate Building daily until the VC and Bursar are gone.

    The FUTA management, which spoke through the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Prof. Olatunde Arayela, said there was no basis for the protest, because the VC had not been pronounced guilty by any law court. He advised the workers to return to their offices, saying it was unfair for anyone to call for the VC’s resignation over an unproven allegation.

    “The VC and Bursar were only invited for interrogation and as law-abiding citizens. They heeded the invitation but not detained by the anti-graft commission as reported, Prof Arayela said.”

    Students have thrown their weight behind the embattled VC and the Bursar, accusing the union members of sending “frivolous petitions” to the EFCC.

    Students’ Union Government (SUG) President Oluwasegun Oladele, who spoke for the students, said they rose in defence of the embattled VC and Bursar because they found the allegations baseless and an attempt to smear the person of Daramola.

    The students said the workers’ protest could plunge the school into a needless crisis, calling on them to stop it.

    A statement by the SUG president reads: “The Students’ Union deems that the petition against the VC and Bursar as frivolous, baseless and an attempt by the petitioners not to only throw the institution into crisis, but also tarnish and destroy the hard-earned reputation of Prof Adebiyi Daramola.”

    The SUG said members of the staff lied when they claimed the management had not approved their productivity allowances since 2012. Oluwasegun said: “This is totally false. And from our checks, the Governing Council did not approve the payment of the allowances, rather re-appropriated the money to provide services for students.”

    The SUG accused the staff unions of being only interested in “business as usual”, insinuating that SSANU and NASU wanted the management to share the school’s Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) as welfare packages.

    The SUG highlighted some of the VC’s achievements, saying the management, led by  Daramola, had carried out student-oriented projects which have impacted on academics and students.

    Oluwasegun added: “We advise the staff unions to join hands by supporting the lofty vision of the Vice Chancellor and the university management to develop FUTA.They must know that we are not in any way fighting them, but we want them to be considerate and be partner in progress in FUTA.”

  • Four killed in Rivers community’s cult war

    •Homes razed as council chief, monarch call for calm 

    Four persons were feared killed and several homes razed in a weekend attack among suspected rival cultists at Akporo-Sogho community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    The local government authority, which confirmed the clash, said suspected cultists were responsible for them.

    The chairman of the local government’s Caretaker Committee, Baridah Nsaanee, led a team of security agents, accompanied by the Bori Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Cletus Omuoke, during the inspection of the damage.

    Nsaanee urged the residents to remain calm and allow security agencies fish out the perpetrators.

    The CTC chairman warned that the amnesty the state government offered cultists would not shield them from prosecution, if they returned to crime.

    Also, the Paramount Ruler of Akporo-Sogho community, Abel Abalubu, urged the local government and the police to station security agencies in the community to forestall further killings.

  • The unending ASUU – Oloyede war

    The unending ASUU – Oloyede war

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) still appears bitter with Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar Prof Ishaq Oloyede for the sacking of 49 University of Ilorin (Unilorin) teachers in 2001. Oloyede was Unilorin’s deputy vice chancellor (DVC) then. Following his appointment as JAMB Registrar last month, ASUU renewed its war against him. It accused him of nepotism and fraud while he was VC between 2007 and 2012. He denied it all. The university also defended Oloyede, accusing ASUU of bad belle. ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA and ADEKUNLE JIMOH (Ilorin) report the intigues surrounding the matter. 

    unilorin-crisi

    Ever before Prof Ishaq Oloyede became Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had sworn never to have anything to do with him. Their squabble did not start today. It started over 15 years ago when Oloyede, who was then University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) deputy vice-chancellor (DVC), presided over the panel, which recommended the sacking of 49 teachers.  So, when he was invited to deliver the convocation lecture at the then embattled Lagos State University (LASU) last year, ASUU thwarted the arrangement.

    The ASUU, Oloyede rift dates back over 15 years when he was DVC, and Prof Shuaib Oba Abdulraheem as the Vice Chancellor (VC).

    In 2001, Oba Abdulraheem’s administration sacked 49 teachers for participating in an ASUU strike. Oloyede chaired the panel that recommended the firing of the lecturers led by the then Unilorin ASUU chairman, Dr Taiwo Oloruntoba-Oju. When Oloyede succeeded Oba Abduraheem, ASUU expected him to right the wrongs of the past, but he did not.  Although ASUU suspended the local chapter of the union, Oloyede’s administration was said to have encouraged it.

    The union took Unilorin to court and won at the Supreme Court after a nine-year legal battle. ASUU accused Oloyede’s administration of not “fully” complying with the verdict and declared war against the then VC.

    When Oloyede was appointed JAMB Registrar last month, ASUU renewed its war against him. The union wondered why Oloyede was appointed to head such a sensitive agency despite what it called his anti union and draconian legacies while at Unilorin.

    At a briefing at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUCOM) in Ikeja, the union asked that Oloyede ‘s tenure at Unilorin be probed. The union vowed never to interact with him and not to allow him into any public universities where it has members.

    ASUU National President Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, who addressed reporters at LASUCOM, urged the government to investigate what he described as Oloyede’s tyrannical and nepotism tendencies.

    Said Ogunyemi: “Oloyede took nepotism to unprecedented heights as vice chancellor of Unilorin. The system was manipulated to employ his relatives.

    “In May 2012, Prof Oloyede as VC suddenly doubled the amount of pension being deducted from Unilorin staff under the pretext that deductions were not enough. This was in contravention of the Pension Reform Act which prescribed 7.5 per cent.”

    But, the university management described ASUU’s allegations as “bad belle”, saying it would not dignify the union by responding to those claims. However, the two unions in Unilorin- the suspended ASUU believe to be loyal to management, and the one inaugurated by ASUU national in April, are trading words  over Oloyede’s appointment.

    The faction led by Dr. Usman AbdulRaheem believed to have management’s ears, hailed Oloyede’s appointment as worthy and well deserved. He described ASUU national leadership’s position on Oloyede as “baseless, reckless and ill-conceived”.

    Abdulraheem said ASUU national was disillusioned, asking it to retrace its steps.

    He said: “What ASUU National Executive Committee (NEC) is lamenting is its serial failure to foist unpopular leadership on the branch. Majority of our members had insisted and still insist that ASUU NEC will continue to fail woefully and sulk until it embraces the elementary democratic principles in the election of leadership.

    “We advise the executive of the union to retrace its path to the dreams of our founding fathers- Mahmud Tukur, the late Festus Iyayi and Attahiru Jega and embrace democratic norms and meritocracy.

    “It is yet another evidence of the meddlesomeness of a union (leadership) that has lost track of the laid down objectives of its cherished founding fathers. Otherwise, what kind of reasoning will produce such an outburst over a well and widely acknowledged appointment?

    “The purging of Unilorin of anarchy, academic idiocy and laziness, which the ASUU NEC is grieving over, has yielded positive result in terms of academic productivity, integrity and stable calendar in Unilorin.

    “These have been widely acclaimed and appreciated by Nigerians and non-Nigerians. This feat has become the envy and goal of many higher institutions in Nigeria. Prof I.O. Oloyede’s achievements and antecedents in other areas are iconic, intimidating, as well as outstanding.”

    But the ASUU loyal to the national body kicked against Oloyede’s appointment.

    Its Chairman, Dr Kayode Afolayan, said: “ASUU UNILORIN aligns itself wholly with the statement made by ASUU president on the issue of Prof Oloyede. The branch is in agreement with the union’s publicied opposition to Oloyede’s appointment as JAMB Registrar and for the reasons stated.

    “This is not the first time that allegations of fraud, nepotism and having anti-workers tendencies have been raised against Prof Oloyede from within the University of Ilorin itself. The allegations were raised even while he was VC, but they were always suppressed by the powers that be within the university.

    “To the best of our knowledge, Prof Oloyede has not denied the statements himself. ASUU as a body does not make statements frivolously, so it is necessary that the man should defend himself.

    “Meanwhile, the public should discountenance any earlier statements in support of Prof. Oloyede purportedly made in the name of ASUU UNILORIN. These are persons whose supposed illegal tenure had been annulled by the National Industrial Court (NIC) as far back as 2013. But they have continued to occupy office because the impunity that goes on in Unilorin supports them.

    “The statements were made by pawns that were obviously planted there to perpetually sing the praises of the university administration and do the bidding of the powers that be in the university.”

    Speaking with The Nation on phone, Oloyede insisted that he would not dignify ASUU with a response.

    “I see this as distractions,” he said.

    “See, the man making the allegations have you ever heard his name in academic circles? I don’t allow people who are failures in their respective callings to distract me.

    “I don’t respond to such people. Search for scholars on google, you won’t find his name there. So, I do not respond to academic failures,” he said.

    Defending Oloyede, Unilorin management described ASUU’s allegations as lies, and smacking of envy.

    A statement by the institution’s Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr Kunle Akogun, said management was shocked that ASUU could be raising such allegations against Oloyede whose appointment has been hailed by people.

    In a statement titled:  “ASUU’s bad belle on Prof. Oloyede’s appointment” Unilorin said: “It is baffling that despite the national applause elicited by the recent appointment of Prof. Ishaq Oloyede as JAMB Registrar any group, can still come out to oppose such highly commendable decision of President Muhammadu Buhari. Of all the appointments made so far by the Buhari administration that of Prof. Oloyede has been singled out as a veritable round peg in a round hole!

    “It is in this regard that the management of the University of Ilorin views the allegations levelled by ASUU against the person of our former vice-chancellor as not only spurious but also irritating, as it smacks of ‘bad belle‘. The allegations are mere tissues of falsehoods aimed at tarnishing the good image Prof. Oloyede has built for himself and the ‘better-by-far’ university. We would, therefore, not dignify the association with any response.

    “Oloyede’s tenure at the University of Ilorin (2007 – 2012) catapulted it to an institutional model for the Nigerian university system. During the period, Unilorin was ranked among the best in Africa. Also, during his tenure as Chairman of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCU), public universities in the country regained their voice and institutional autonomy got a remarkable boost.

    “Prof Oloyede’s trajectory is a study in service excellence, administrative acumen, and religious commitment to the achievement of set goals, and unapologetic insistence on fairness for all.

  • How to win the anti-corruption war

    Rev Seun Adeniyi, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to adopt what he called “community advocacy” in the prosecution of his administration’s antic-graft war.

    He said this strategy will yield more dividends than attempting to fight the war on corruption ‘’by fiat’’.

    Commending the initiative of the Buhari-led government to embark on the crusade, the Methodist clergy also appealed to all Nigerians, especially at the family level, to join the government in the crusade.

    The cleric, who is also the Director-General of Felates Club of Ijesa land, Osun State, spoke during the 50th anniversary of the club in Ilesa, Osun State.

    He said: “If we are to tame corruption, it has to start from our individual families in the community. Most of the present-day families in Nigeria are not patterned after the mind of God. We are selfish and covetous. Corruption has been with us for ages and any attempt to eradicate it by fiat will be counter-productive.’’

    The Director-General said some of the programmes of the club have been targeted to provide palliatives at the family and community levels, to discourage tendencies towards corruption.

    He said some of the communal programmes of the club include the provision of 40 scholarships for brilliant but indigent students, a community library and support for widows.

    According to him, the adage that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop and that all work without play makes Jack a dull boy, inspired the club to build a community /event centre for recreation and the yearly Ayo Games Competition, which has been graced by many participants and personalities across the nation, since inception in 2009.

    Notable among them is the renowned Yoruba Poet, Chief Adebayo Faleti. The club has also organised interactive sessions, including the Osun State Community-based Poverty Reduction Programme at Premier Hotel, Ibadan..

    Rev Adeniyi said the club’s scholarship scheme has received support from a member and Chancellor of Lead City University, Prof. Jide Owoeye, who also gives out two tuition-free scholarships yearly. The library scheme is already being replaced with an e-library, while the International Breweries Ilesa,  one of the sponsors of this year’s Ayo Games, gave out  a Motor Cycle as the winning prize  as part of the  50th anniversary celebration of the club.

     

  • Like going to war

    Like going to war

    Sometimes we think when a war is over that it is over. It is the deception of the senses. The war comes again in new incarnations. There is still hunger. We still hear of murder. We still shrink at loud noises for fear a bomb has gone off, shrapnel is flying and bodies are falling. A crash, a thud, a boom.

    With the war against Boko Haram now smouldering, we focus less on the hordes hurling bombs and rolling into town after town with their messianic flags. Yet the news still nestles. Recently, women protested lack of food in the IDP camps. Pictures show images that recall the pangs of Somali tragedy. A little child with shrunken jaws, eyes popping out and legs spindly from kwashiorkor. Their homes are now empty land, if not still smelling of the bonfires of militant vanities.

    Most have no homes again. If they return, it is not to what was there. It’s all gone even if the house and the football field or the markets are intact. It is all different now because they have had different lives in the past few years. The meek is now a cynic, the fearful is now fearfully brave, the generous now poor and stingy, the fat is now lean, the athlete now limps. The farmer wants to be a farmer again but in vain. The yam seller has no farm, the teacher wants students, the student has to catch up or has become a mother now, and has to be a new student of something else: motherhood.

    So it is for the authority. It is a new society. Post-war societies are new societies. But making those new societies is like going to war. That is what Governor Kashim Shettima is doing these days. We witnessed it in eastern Nigeria and parts of the Niger Delta after the civil war. The society is new again, battered, broken, prostrate, in ruin. It has to rise again. It has to be born again. As Salman Rushdie wrote in the opening paragraph of his controversial novel, Satanic Verses, “to be born again, first you have to die.”

    The United States confronted same at the end of the civil war, and reconstructed large swaths of a mammoth continent. We saw it after the Second World War where the big hulk of Germany rose out of its Nazi ruins, or the Balkans after the nightmare of its dictators. Some Iraqi and Syrian towns rescued from ISIS are grappling with that.

    The job is a collective one, as Governor Shettima is doing. He is the fulcrum of the rebirth. He knows he cannot do it alone. Gone are the days when Boko Haram was only about 20 kilometres away from the state house. He never squished. Thanks to Buhari and the reinvigorated army, the government house and he will not know oblivion.

    The same collaboration is needed to rebuild the town. Maiduguri will have to be reborn in many ways, like Gworza, like Bama, etc., not only in physical infrastructure, but also mental and psychological. As Christ noted, “except a corn of wheat falls to the ground and die, it abides alone. But when it dies, it brings forth much fruit.” Now, the state cannot abide alone.

    The task has started. International envoys are coming around. BBC and CNN cameras click at scenes of hope and despair. Bono visited Borno, so did other top world celebrities, including our own Aliko Dangote. The Irish rock star has made quite a few donations, in cash and kind. Dangote is releasing tranches of the N2 billion he pledged. Recently, Governor Shettima and he visited a new estate under construction for the refugees.

    The IDP camps, though, are the centres of gravity. We see the remnants of war. We see easy morality, stealing goes on even in the midst of scarcity, especially because of scarcity. A baby boom is upon the north as though the IDPs want to replace the lost souls in a frenzy of casual promiscuity. It is a burden on boys whose virility preys on idleness and women whose fertility beckons procreation. Shettima and the government deal with about 50 births a week. The rich get richer, wrote Scott F. Fitzgerald, the poor get children. The government cares for them and also has to contend with another sort of fertility. Get the men and women to work again. Schools are being rebuilt; citizens are getting animals for farm and other supplies.

    The task is heavy. The federal government must have to play a major role. Part of the story behind the food protests was that the federal government is slow to play its part of an agreement with the Borno State government. According to the terms, the Borno State Government is supposed to supply the protein and the Federal Government has to supply the carbohydrates. Both are important, and complement. It reminds me of a story the late Chief Hope Harriman told of his time as a student in Government College, Ibadan. The students had gathered for their lunch. The eba was ready, and they waited for the soup with the protein inside. The British teacher saw them and wondered why they were standing idle. They replied that they were waiting for the other part of the meal. The teacher replied out of frustration, “why don’t you eat this while you await the other.” The students laughed and educated him that eba was nothing without the soup.

    Sources say Treasury Single Account issues have trammelled National Emergency Management Agency efforts to release funds for the food. This has to be sped up. TSA is good but people should not die. It will fulfil Apostle Paul’s words that the letter of the law kills. Let us invoke the spirit.

    Heraclitus said the law of life is struggle. One triumph challenges another spirit to triumph. So, post-war is like new war. In his play, Mother Courage, Bertolt Brecht tells a story of a woman who loses her children while she profiteers in the Thirty Years War. When the war ends, it is as though it has not.  She learns that “in decent countries, folk don’t have to have virtues.” Virtues are taken for granted. In a place like an IDP camp, virtues collapse under the need to survive. That brings thieves, brigands, rapists, the hungry, the sick, the lonely. After surviving the war, they have to survive the peace like Cyprian Ekwensi’s novel of that title about the civil war. That is the new war, and it is our war. If we let it fester, it will come to us in our halcyon corner.  Governor Shettima needs as many helpers around the world as he can get. Happily, they are coming, if not enough.

     

    Kudos to a dramatist

    Wole Oguntokun is one of our unsung heroes. In a philistine world, he is fighting for the revival of a crucial part of our lives: the theatre. While governments do little and the corporate world funds flimsy entertainment, Oguntokun has set up Theatre Republic in Lekki, Lagos where Nigerians can watch plays, both Nigerian and foreign, from his plays to Soyinka’s to Greek plays.

    “Everything is self-funded,” he told me in a phone conversation. The greatest accolade we ever had in literature came from plays, yet we are not taking advantage of Soyinka’s gift of the Nobel Prize. Oguntokun is a theatre warrior, and he needs to get big-time support. No society thrives without high culture. Hence in Britain and the United States, billions are poured into the high arts by both government and corporate organisations.

  • WAI: War Against Inertia

    ast week on this space, I had interrogated the new Agriculture Promotion Policy in an article titled: “Ogbeh’s ‘low energy’ agric policy”. Not a few readers have since taken me on, expressing their disappointment that I did not do enough to review the content of the document.

    But the point of the article is not to review the policy just for its sake, but to help call attention to the critical condition the country has sunken and proffer solutions. The policy in itself is not the end but the need to make our agriculture productive and profitable in the shortest possible time. In any case, a review of the policy in the traditional sense would take about half a dozen instalments. I wager that you don’t have that luxury of time just as we do not have such space.

    But to reiterate, the document simply lacks the urgency of now, which is why one described it as ‘low energy’. And one had proffered one’s simple panacea on what is to be done: we need to stop the importation of staple food items almost immediately. With well-structured task forces we can produce all the rice, chicken, fish and tomatoes consumed here by Christmas 2017 with excess to ship across the borders. This should be the target of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD). But one is afraid to say that implementing that document as presented would take at least five years – and result is not guaranteed.

    Without boring you with a rehash of last week’s piece, it is the same virus one found in the Agric policy that plagues the entire administration of President Muhammadu Buhari – a visible lack of urgency that sometimes borders on inertia. At a period that demands speedy response to key, targeted issues, it is utterly frustrating to notice little motion in the expected direction. And one must note that it is not about funding or a lack of capacity in the human administration, but a dire absence of adrenalin, that urgency to run.

    While the PMB administration plans to reintroduce the ‘War Against Indiscipline’ (WAI), which was the president’s brainchild during his first coming in 1983, we will rather suggest a War Against Inertia. There is no doubt that PMB means well for the country and will love to see immense progress in his time, but he may end up achieving little if the presidency cannot diagnose the root of its problems.

    Why is it that the more this administration tries to change things for the better, the more the economy and indeed the polity seem to sink deeper into mire. About one and a half years on, nothing seems to be happening and now we have drifted from a ‘technical’ recession to a full blown one.

    Examples abound of a few quick things that could have been done and missed opportunities. One that came to mind first was PMB’s promise before his inauguration to float a national carrier. But a few months after he ascended to power, he told us that it was no longer his priority.

    Yes it may not be the country’s immediate need, but it is sure a necessity. To the extent that government does not need to commit huge funds to it; it will curb foreign currency flight and indeed earn us forex; it will create jobs and catalyse the growth of our aviation industry. Not least important is that it would boost Nigeria’s image by emblazoning her name into the sky and across the world. It ought to have been done. In the last one year, Ivory Coast set up her national carrier; she cannot be better than Nigeria in any sphere; it may well be just the ability to get things done.

    That ought to have been ticked off as one major accomplishment of this administration. It may also have helped resolve the miasma arising from keeping a large presidential air fleet, which has sure become an embarrassment in a time of economic depression.

    If half of our foreign currency earnings are spent on importing petroleum products, one would have thought that the major mantra of the PMB administration would have been to refine by any means possible. An administration with eyes squarely on the ball would have set a target with timelines for ending the importation of petroleum products.

    As it stands, Nigerians do not know what exactly is going on in that regard. We the people and the government too seem to be waiting for Dangote’s refinery to come on stream. But the trouble is that regardless of what Aliko has told us, his refinery will be ready when it will as he is not under any obligation to respond to the nation’s matters of strategic importance.

    Imagine how reassured Nigerians would feel now seeing that work is going on day and night on projects to end fuel importation; knowing that there is relief in sight at a stipulated time. We expect that this administration would have listed the main guzzlers of foreign exchange and worked out radical measures to drastically curtail if not end their importation. If we no longer earn forex, then we must stop spending it recklessly. That we do not see drastic actions in this regard is nothing but inertia.

    Let us close with the Chibok girls and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) matters. It is bad enough that PMB promised he would free the girls by December 2015, but not to be seen to have done anything is what riles the parents and agitators. A panel was to have been set up to reconstruct the entire Chibok affair – zilch. If any concrete attempts are being made to rescue the girls, we do not know and no one bothers to show us.

    It is scandalous that Nigeria cannot manage her internal refugees. It signals an acute state of inertia that hundreds of thousands of our children are dying for lack of food under the watch of the federal government. Who really is in charge of the IDP matter? There must be an arrowhead and if he is not effective, he must be fired, pronto!

    One wants to wager that the PMB administration suffers more from inertia (an unwillingness to take action) than a lack of revenues.

     

    What Zuckerberg and Ezekwesili have in common

    The straight one word answer is ‘genius’. To break it down further, they both share traits like passion, brilliance, empathy and the common touch. Mark Zuckerberg needs no introduction; he is the American founder of Facebook, while Obiageli Ezekwesili is a Nigerian chartered accountant, former minister, former World Bank vice president and co-founder of Transparency International. Today she is the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOGs) arrowhead. This week, the two iconic figures were in the news. No, they were on the streets. Mark was walking freely on the streets of Lagos in spite of the scare-mongering of the US government about how unsafe Nigeria is for her citizens. But all Mark cared about was to touch Nigerian youths in a special way to make them rise to the kilimanjaro of their aspirations.

    At the other end of town, Oby rekindled the BBOG campaign by sealing her lips and sitting defiantly on the road leading to the Presidential Villa. All she wanted was to rid the government of its lethargy and make it act decisively to free the school girls held by terrorists.

    It takes one man… or woman to change the world.

  • Anti-corruption war: No sacred cows

    SIR: President Muhammadu Buhari made no mistake when he said if we fail to kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. It is not disputable that the hydra -headed monster has done incalculable damage to virtually every facet of our national life. At every stop during the campaigns, he trumpeted his desire to crush the monster that has been a barrier to our journey to development. Now that Buhari is president, there is no doubt the war against corruption has begun. It is evident in the amount of cash and property recovered by the anti-corruption bodies. And for the first time, those who misapplied or misappropriated public funds, thinking that day of reckoning will never come in their lifetime now know what hit them. Even the military is not spared as long hidden skeletons are excavated and dossiers of iniquity opened.

    But concerns about the nature of President Buhari’s anti-corruption war remains despite the success it has so far recorded. Buhari is accused in some quarters of fighting a selective war. Some of these accusations range from the ridiculous to the mundane. But one cannot in all honesty dismiss all as mere lamentations of the tribe of wailers.

    Curiously, one wonders why the illegal recruitment at the CBN has been allowed to stand despite the hue and cry that greeted it. Sons, daughters and relatives of the rich and mighty, especially the President’s friends got engaged by the CBN without due process.

    Just as the dust raised by irregular CBN recruitment was settling, the FIRS secretly employed 350 new staff. Like that of the CBN, it was neither advertised nor approved by the Federal Character Commission as the service rules stipulate. What is even more irritating is the watery argument by the CBN that they were ‘targeted recruitments’. And I ask, what are the sins of the ordinary man that makes it a taboo for him to be ‘targeted’ for plum positions? Are less privileged Nigerians only meant to be shepherded to polling booths on election day to give expression to the dream and aspirations of ambitious politicians?

    Away from the hoopla generated by irregular recruitments, one issue many Nigerians have expressed dissatisfaction with its handling is the corruption allegations leveled by an online news portal against the Chief of Army staff (COAS ), Gen. TukurBuratai. He was accused of buying mansions worth N120m in Dubai with proceeds of graft.

    The least expected of the nation’s anti-corruption bodies is to swing into action with a view to ascertaining the veracity of the allegations; not the feeble clearance and defence by the Federal Government and the Nigerian Army.

    The chief locust that messes up our collective fabric cannot be killed if the nation’s anti-corruption bodies choose to see with one eye. It is gratifying that the president says he belongs to everyone and belongs to no one. To be fair, nothing suggests that the President would shield his ministers or army chiefs or party members from prosecution. But silence in the face of brazen nepotism- which is in fact corruption- and allowing it to stand as witnessed in the case of illegal recruitments could send the wrong signal to the children of corruption and make a mockery of the war against graft

    Every appearance of evil must be rejected and shot down. Let the searchlight of the nation’s anti-corruption agencies be beamed the way of the broom, the umbrella and everyone that has their hands soiled no matter whose ox is gored.

     

    • LadesopeLadelokun,

    Ogun State.