The Nation Newspaper

Tag: wish

  • Akinwunmi: A father’s wish

    Akinwunmi: A father’s wish

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s aide Idowu Ajanaku eulogies his principal’s commitment to the welfare of Lagosians and the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN).

    When Pa Ambode  named his son, Akinwunmi, it was an expression of the wish that he  grows up to be a courageous, brave and bold individual. There is no doubt that the wish has come true. Akin in Yoruba nomenclature is used for a bold and courageous achiever. Governor Ambode has not disappointed Pa Ambode, nor has he disappointed Nigerians and the expert fisher of men, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu. When Asiwaju identified Mr Akinwunmi Ambode as his choice for the governorship of Lagos State it was greeted with venomous criticism. True, he has not held any political office. He is not a politician. Yet Asiwaju Tinubu was able to see beyond this and transformed him from an Aspirant to the position of governor of Lagos state.

    There is no point over flogging his  achievement in the development of Lagos State since he assumed office. What is note worthy is the courage and boldness he has demonstrated by taking decisions that any other person would avoid. He did not allow sentiments and blackmail to deter him from doing what he believes is in the best interest of Lagosians. His ability to read and interpret the political barometer of Lagos State underscores his responsiveness to the aspirations of Lagosians. The projects he has embarked on in the last two years are appropriate and judicious.

    Ambode has shown that Lagosians can be provided with infrastrures that are comparable to what obtains in mordern cities of the western world. The aesthetic beauty of those structures is indicative of passion to renew Lagos.

    What strikes an observer like me is the quietness and humility he has exhibited. It seems that he has deliberately avoided advertising his achievement by himself. He has not allowed public adulation to detract him from his goals for Lagos state.

    I was at the occasion where Ogbeni Aregbesola described him as the Governor–General. I strongly believe it is prophetic. He has recently put on the mantle of integration of Western Nigeria, an idea which seems to be beggin for actualisation. The communique issued at the just concluded summit of Yoruba  is exciting and Ambode immediate response is to pledge investing positively to the actualisation of the Development Agenda for the Development of Western Nigeria ( DAWN).

    I salute Governor Ambode’s courage and determination to make Western Nigeria great again. I salute the foresight of the master fisher of talents that gave Lagos state and Western Nigeria this rare gift of a transformer. With Ambode it is certain that Eko sese bere ni.

  • Ortom laments inability to fulfill mother’s wish

    Ortom laments inability to fulfill mother’s wish

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has lamented his inability to fulfill his late mother’s request to buy a mattress for her before she passed on.

    He spoke at Azom, Kwenev, in Guma Local Government Area, when he visited her graveside during a reception organised by her kinsmen in his honour.

    Ortom described his mother, the late Mrs. Wajina Ortom, a petty trader and farmer, as the epitome of hard work and the mainstay of the entire family, adding that she laboured to provide food for every member.

    He said she requested that he buy a mattress for her in 1982, but he was not able to fulfill the wish, until she had a miscarriage on the farm and died in 1983.

    The governor expressed appreciation to God that He prospered the seed she had sown by using him as a blessing to multitudes of people.

    He pledged that the state government would empower the Vigilante Group to complement the security agencies in the task of curbing crime.

    Governor Ortom stated, however, that they would operate under the guidance and supervision of traditional rulers and other community leaders.

    He promised to provide an earth dam and other critical infrastructure for the community as soon as the financial fortunes of the state improved.

    President of Kwenev Community Development Association, Mr. Stephen Ikomon, commended the governor for the appointment of several indigenes into government positions and requested for more of such.

    He listed lack of portable water, construction or rehabilitation of the Agasha Road, compensation for land acquired by the Nigeria Airforce, and establishment of a police station as challenges of the community for which he solicited assistance.

  •  Fayose death wish for Buhari

    Recently, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose placed an advert on the front page of The Punch suggesting that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, will die in office if elected president.

    The advert, which has the pictures of Murtala Muhammed, Sani Abacha, and Umaru Yar’Adua – past Nigerian leaders who died in office was accompanied by excerpt from the Bible book of Deuteronomy 30 verse 19.

    ”Nigerians be warned! Nigeria…I have set before thee life and death. Therefore, choose life that both thee, and thy seed may live,” it said, suggesting that General Buhari represents death, while his rival, President Goodluck Jonathan represents life. The advert put a huge question mark over the picture of General Buhari, which was placed beside the pictures of the late leaders. The advert then asked its readers: “Will you allow history to repeat itself? Enough of State burials.”

    It is crystal clear that Fayose and his cohorts are not only desperate, they are playing God by professing death for somebody on account of age and election. Fayose’ divisive advert is enough to plunge the country into political cum ethnic crisis, especially at this critical period when the polls are gathering momentum. If not, why was the advert placed on a day that President Jonathan was in Sokoto State for campaign rally? It may not be out of place to infer that the move was part of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) strategy to see if the forthcoming polls would be scuttled or postponed as result of induced violence or provocation of the North.

    But the North and the APC’s reaction to it have shown that they are more sagacious politically than President Jonathan and his PDP cohorts. Fayose and the PDP have forgotten that there is no correlation between age and death because sickness and death knows no age or tribe. Even if the likes of Sani Abacha, Murtala Mohammed, and Umaru Yar’Adua died in office as presidents of the country at different times, why would Fayose single out deceased former presidents of the country from the North in the advert? Have Fayose and the PDP forgotten that General JTU Aguiyi Ironsi from Abia State, like Murtala Muhammed, was killed while in office as Head of State? Or is it, as stated by the Buhari Campaign Organisation, that the PDP and its agents are planning to kill Buhari if he wins the election?

    Just like Fayose, every Nigerian has antecedents, and we know ourselves well. It is often said that leopard can never change her colour. A pig will ever remain so no matter how many times you bathe it. Claiming change of character in old age is a ruse; one cannot learn using left hand in old age.

    In PDP and the Presidency are many characters like Fayose who believe they know better than Nigerians. Unfortunately for them, Nigerians know them well as accidental and opportunistic leaders. One of the presidential aides recently declared that wat is better for the country to disintegrate, instead of APC winning the presidential election! Those behind the retinue of advertorials for President Jonathan’s re-election in print and electronic media are greatest beneficiaries of subsidy, aviation and power sector scams. They have used the money to form different support groups for President Jonathan’s re-election. Two of them that symbolized fraud and corruption before Jonathan’s government were from South-east zone. They lack character and integrity, but these are President’s friends who are driving his campaign with the country’s looted fund. These are people being celebrated in the Presidency today where corruption, sycophancy and mediocrity are being adored, celebrated, and encouraged.

    With this calibre of people hobnobbing with President Jonathan, Nigerians were not surprised at Fayose’s action. In the coming days, many more of such provocative, insensitive and divisive adverts, actions or comments will emanate from the president’s camp, because they have no useful message to give Nigerians. Fayose’s advert has also shown that those who claimed to be working for President Jonathan’s re-election are indirectly working against it, by doing more damage to his image.

    Again by the advert content, Fayose has agreed that Buhari will win the election, except that he wishes that he will die in office like Abacha, Muhammed and Yar Adua. What a daft and preposterous thinking by those who call themselves leaders! Recall that some of the President’s cohorts have been comparing him with great world leaders like late Dr. Nelson Mandela, US President Barack Obama and others without showing the correlation between Jonathan’s personality and that of these great world leaders. Unlike people like Fayose and other supporters of Jonathan’s re-election, the issue at stake now is not about age or death, it is about leadership, antecedents, performance and the future of the country. Besides, God is the creator and controller of the universe and not a mere mortal. Politicians must draw a parallel line between God and politics of hatred, because of its consequences. The holy writ says: “But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”

     

    • Olayinka, a cleric wrote from Ikeja, Lagos.
  • Same-sex law is Nigerians’ wish, says Presidency

    Same-sex law is Nigerians’ wish, says Presidency

    The Presidency has said the same-sex prohibition law is the wish of Nigerians.

    Presidential spokesman Dr Reuben Abati spoke yesterday during a live programme, Stream, on international cable news network, AlJazeera English.

    Abati, who joined the programme through Skype, said President Goodluck Jonathan did not arbitrarily sign the bill into law.

    According to him, the bill passed through the required procedures before it was passed by the National Assembly and forwarded to the President for assent.

    Abati said: “It is not as if the President just woke up and just signed the bill into law. It is, in fact, a private member bill and the gentleman who sponsored it has been going round defending it. When he proposed the bill originally, it was supported by 25 other senators from different political parties.

    “The law itself went through the normal procedures, in terms of hearings, in terms of receiving memoranda from Nigerians. At the end of the day, the bill was supported by majority of Nigerians. It is a law in which the people have expressed confidence. Inside Nigeria, there is no controversy (over the law).”

    The presidential spokesman said the bill dated back to 2007 and that Nigerians were carried along before it was passed into law.

    Gay rights activists, who participated in the programme, however, argued that Dr Jonathan signed the bill to shore up his waning popularity.

    They said the bill was anti-democratic.

    The gay rights proponents alluded to the fact that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had lost members to the opposition and saw, in signing the bill, an opportunity to sway public sympathy.

    The United States (U.S) Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, has denied a report that his country will cut the funding on HIV/AIDS because President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law the anti-gay bill. He said to the U.S would support Nigeria to achieve an AIDS-free society.

    Entwistle spoke in Abuja during the premiere of a TV series, Shuga.