The Nation Newspaper

Tag: wrong

  • Wrong, Haruna, wrong

    Columnist Muhammed Haruna took on Bishop Matthew Kukah last week and took exceptions to his views on Islamic practice in the North. I am not interested in wading into the issues he raised. But I just want to make a correction. Haruna admitted that Muslim women are forbidden to marry unbelievers, including Christians. He wrote this in response to Kukah’s praise of the Yoruba pious liberalism. But Haruna remarked wrongly that Christians, like Muslims, are not allowed to marry outside their faith, because Paul said Christians should not be equally yoked with unbelievers. A mischievous allusion!

    Paul said that with regard to sin and works of darkness. Neither Paul nor any true Christian would call a Muslim work of darkness, even if they share a different faith. Christ said let the wheat and tears dwell together. On marriage, Paul made it clear in 1st Cor. 7: 13 and 14 that a Christian man or woman can marry an unbeliever if they are pleased to do so, and they can even be sanctified by it. So there! Haruna should read his Bible before erring on sacred matters.

  • My emotions led me into wrong relationships before I met my husband – UK-based charity worker Olasubomi Iginla-Aina

    My emotions led me into wrong relationships before I met my husband – UK-based charity worker Olasubomi Iginla-Aina

    United Kingdom-based charity worker, Olasubomi Iginla-Aina, is the CEO of Lightup Foundation, a UK-based NGO. Among other things, Olasubomi through her NGO, has taken it upon herself to travel round some of the poorest nations of the world to give succour where necessary to the poor and downtrodden in society. The main idea, according to her, is to inspire and empower young people across the world to take actions which create positive change and real impact in their communities. But in the course of doing this, Olasubomi, an architect, also has to live her personal life. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, she tells us the story of how she scaled through a polygamous home to move up the ladder of life and eventually got a consultant psychiatrist as husband in the UK. 

    You came to Nigeria from the United Kingdom to host the sowing of what is to be known as the Biggest Bag in the World, a project for Guinness Book of World record, and you chose your alma mater as the venue. What is this love for Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School about?

    I attended Yewande Memorial School. I used to be on the debate team for my school then and I remember I used to tell my friends while I was in primary school, that I will in future attend Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School in Surulere, Lagos, and I will be the head girl. It used to be one of the good schools then and everybody wanted to bring their children there. As soon as I got into JS 1 there, a teacher spotted me and called me, ‘head girl’. The reason is that I started carrying myself like a head girl from JSS 1, I started to get concerned about the plight of others and caring for other students and I noticed that a lot of the prefects and other students just wanted to work with me even though I was in JSS 1.

    The leadership stint was in me and while I was in SS3, I was doing some studies at Yaba College of Technology at the same time, because I passed my GCE earlier. It was after the WAEC that I started preparing for GCE and luckily, I got 4As and 5Cs. A in Yoruba, A in Mathematics, A in Physics and C in all other five subjects. So, I passed my GCE early and I went further to do Poly-JAMB for Yaba-Tech and just while I was in SS2, I already had admission to Yaba Tech but I could not go because Yaba Tech had a student strike then. So, I started Yaba Tech when I was in SS3 and it was somehow cumbersome. I would come to Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School today and tomorrow I would be in Yaba Tech.

    How were you able to do all that?

    Well, I grew up not having a mother and that increased my sense of urgency and sense of survival. I was doing architecture in Yaba Tech. I didn’t have a mother; I didn’t have proper guidance. I was just doing it and naturally enjoying it until one day, the HOD came to greet my new principal at Lagos Anglican Girls’ Grammar School and I was the head girl of the School despite the fact that I was studying at Yaba Tech. And because this lady was always proud of me, she said: ‘Subomi come and meet my friend’; she didn’t know I knew the woman but the woman herself didn’t know me because I was a new student at Yaba Tech; and when she extended her greetings to me and said ‘Hello’. I humbly maintained a dodgy calmness because I didn’t want her to say ‘Oh, lady, but I have seen you at Yaba Tech’. I was silently praying ‘Oh, Father God, don’t let this woman match this face with the one she sees at Yaba Tech, just let me leave this place in peace’ and I left the place. So, I have been much attached to Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School. Again, while I was there, I desired to move to the University of Ife (OAU). I also wanted to be the Student Union President when I get there. It was another self-made decision that God helped me to actualise. And my friends said then that ‘girls don’t become presidents’ and all that, they didn’t understand me. And one day, I left Lagos for Ife.

    How did that happen?

    When I passed my JAMB, there was nobody to go and lobby for me. You know parents used to go to lobby for their children to say ‘Oh, this is what my kid got in school.’ There was nobody to do that. So, I just went to Ife on my own that day and I went to see the HOD at the Environment Department. When I got to his office, there was an elderly woman that sat down with me. She came to advocate for the plight of her daughter. And we were to see the HOD one after another. I was supposed to be the next person because I was there before the woman but this woman stepped in to see the HOD. I was shocked because I had been waiting patiently before the woman came. So, I went in with her and there, the woman was busy advocating and telling the HOD about her daughter and the man was saying ‘don’t worry, she will be fine bla-bla-bla’. And as she was about to leave, because the man all the while thought I was the woman’s daughter, the HOD faced me and said: ‘Young girl, don’t worry, you will be fine, you will get your admission’.

    Seeing the scenario being played out, the woman said: ‘No, she is not my daughter’ and the man looked at me and I said: ‘She is not my mother’.  ‘So, who are you?’ I replied him and said: ‘Sir, I actually came also to advocate for admission; I also got a good grade’. He said: ‘Where is your mother?’ I said: ‘I don’t have a mother’. He said: ‘Ah! Where is your father?’ How was I going to defend a polygamous man with over eight wives and concubines? The man said: ‘Oh, so you came on your own volition?’ and I said: ‘Yes, I also came to get admission’. The man said: ‘Just wait! Just wait!’ And he then dismissed the woman as he wrote my name down and he said: ‘I will make sure I monitor your admission and you will get admission into the school because you have everything it takes.’  When I came back, he said: ‘Oh, you are the number 9th on the admission list’ and that was how I became a student of the Architecture Department.

    You later went on to become the Vice President of the Student Union, what was winning an election like there?

    I wanted to be the Student Union President. I was so concerned because a lot of touts were the ones that became the SUG leaders, and they kept closing the school every time because touts were the ones leading us, they were the ones taking decisions for we that call ourselves ‘sane’. So, I felt there were some things wrong and needed change. I kept telling my friends: ‘Why should we go home because of a nuisance or somebody who feels he is all in all?’ and a lot of them were not even students. So, why should we go home as a result of people who have no life ambitions? Some of us can assume this position and influence a change’ they said ‘no, no, we don’t do that here. Apart from the fact that such position is not for a woman, they will kill you because most of them are cult guys.’

    How did you overcome?

    I fasted and saw in one revelation God showed to me, two moons and I saw my surname, ‘Iginla’ written between those moons. Everybody called me Shuby in school. I was tempted to use Shubby for the election but in that revelation, Iginla was the name I was given, so I needed to follow the instruction to be able to win that election; so, I used Iginla. Now, everybody had been showing off that they wanted to contest and I had just nine days to Election Day. So, I had nine days to prove to the entire Ife campus that I was around and that I can do it.  I asked God what next thing to do, because I did not have any money. Omo ti ko ni iya kii legbo leyin (A motherless child cannot afford to have a sore at the back of the skin).

    So, I stood up and I made my first move. A lady came into my room and I said: ‘Please, just get me chalk’ and N200 fetched us a pack of chalk, and all through that night, myself and a friend of mine in architecture wrote I-g-i-n-l-a everywhere in Ife such that there was nobody that woke up within the campus community of Ife that day that would not see Iginla, because I didn’t have money for posters.  Even up to the toilets and the most hidden corners, there was no how you would wake that you would not want to brush your teeth or take your bath, you must see Iginla in every toilet, we wrote Iginla everywhere and by the time it was morning, everybody was asking ‘Who is Iginla? Because they didn’t see any poster due to my economic challenge.

    But the question refused to go away! “Who is Iginla?” was the question everywhere; but on this particular occasion, I went to Adekunle Fajuyi Hall and I was speaking, telling them about my manifesto and there was this particular guy who did not interrupt my conversation. But my spirit kept going towards the guy. After talking to everybody, I got attracted to him, because he never made a comment, he was just drawing as he was in the Arts Department. So, I spoke to him that I needed a mascot. He promised to get me one by 9pm. By 9pm he knocked at my door and said ‘I am going to be the mascot’ and I said ‘I don’t have money’ he said ‘Just go and get me a white clothe and get me paint’. I don’t know how I got that money to buy paint and we did it. By the time he came out in motion ground where students went to take pictures at Ife, there were lots of camera men there. All of them, it was as if Bill Clinton was in motion ground. People were just taking pictures and there was a sudden mass attention and people started following the mascot with the name Iginla on it.

    Now, God did another shocking thing. There was a lecturer called Ogunbameru, he had about 5,000 students; he was doing a general elective course. Ogunbameru mounted the stage and said ‘Look here, I don’t know who this Iginla is, but I want you people to vote for him’ (Instead of her). That was what he said because nobody knew if it was he or her, he said ‘because he (Iginla) is environmental friendly. He is a not messing up our walls, Ife is a beautiful school but you guys are messing up our halls with laminated posters and you are spending money, nobody knows where you got the money from and you are going to steal the money back when you get into power. Go and vote for Iginla because he is environmental friendly, he is using chalk to write on the wall so that when it rains, it will wash off. And Iginla will not steal your money’. The man was companying for me in front of 5,000 students and two of my friends rushed into my room, they said ‘Where did you know Ogunbameru?’ and I said ‘I don’t know him at all’. I went on to win.

    So how did you move from being a Vice President to become President?

    I had a revelation from God about my president, that he was about to run into crisis. I started looking for him everywhere in school. By the time I saw him, I said ‘Look here, you are about to run into error, please, be watchful of your acts from now so that you will not be removed’. He did not listen to me. One morning I was going into the Acting Department and somebody rushed to me and said ‘Subomi, hope you did not get injured?’. I said ‘injured? What happened?’ She said overnight, there was serious fight and the president was involved. Everybody was involved and there was serious pandemonium everywhere and people had been rushed to the hospital. I packed my bags in confusion and ran to Lagos; and I was terrified, I said ‘I told him’ because I saw everything that was going to happen to him in a revelation that God gave me, so I knew the severity. Within the next 24 hours, I was by the radio listening to the crisis, that Ife had scattered and everything had gone bad.

    I knew there was going to be a parliamentary sitting that night; within that 24 hours, the PRO of OAU was in Lagos; he came to my house but didn’t meet me and he wrote ‘The die is cast, the mantle has fallen, you are now the President of Ife SUG’ You must report within 24 hours to Ife.’ That was how I emerged the President of Obafemi Awolowo University Student Union Government ; and from there, God started helping me and I realised that He had actually deposited a lot in me  which I had even identified when I was in secondary school. I will enter into an election room, for a club for which I am not a member and I will be chosen. I was the President of Jet; I was the president of Red Cross; I was the President of Arts and Craft; I was the head girl. I later realised that I will get somewhere and something will happen and I will have to replace the leader. It has happened not once, not twice and I realised that it was a calling I had to live with.

    You later relocated abroad?

    I actually started Lightup Foundation here. I was involved in a lot of charity projects not directly with the Federal Government; I was just doing my own thing. I was able to use my funds to do a lot of things for the people. By God’s grace I had a very rich father who left wealth for his 41 children. My father, Alhaji Alade Iginla, made each one of us a millionaire in naira through his ‘shares.’

    What number are you among the children?

    I think he had many wives and my mother’s position I wouldn’t know because she passed on when I was very young. I don’t even know which number I am as his child. In 2005, there was draught in Niger Republic and I volunteered myself as a charity worker over there. I felt there were lots of wealthy Nigerians who have money but wouldn’t spend. So, if I have money, I should be able to use it to serve humanity. There was a day I called my insurance broker and I said to him: ‘I wanted to withdraw a large sum of money’ and the guy had to sit me down, he wanted to be sure it was not 419 people that were working on me. He said: ‘What do you want to use this money for? I said: ‘don’t you hear that people are dying in Niger Republic and I have shares? Let’s sell the shares and get food for them. And I sold the shares and got the money.

    I volunteered for Nigeria and we bought food from the Northern parts of Nigeria and took it there. We went to several provinces and localities. We met the governor of the capital of a state, we met chiefs and traditional rulers there and they supported us well. We distributed foods in all the communities, the capital and all the rest. We met UNICEF, we met Washington Post and they interviewed me, it was very colorful. In fact I got to Republic of Niger and I heard somebody say ‘Iginla’ and I looked back, I said ‘Who knows me here?’ And it was actually an Ife student who was guiding Washington Post on assignments and it was really a wonderful experience. Later I decided to travel to America; I prayed that God should direct me to America. I wanted to be sure if that was the direction from God, I didn’t want to go to a place where I am not supposed to be. But I prepared documents to submit to the UK embassy because my mind wanted America, I acted in the flesh, I didn’t know when I addressed all my letters and documents to the US consular officer and I submitted it to UK consular officer. You can see the confusion of course. US was what I wanted but I was forced by the will of God and it was submitted to the UK consular officer. I didn’t know how they didn’t see it, they did not deny that visa. I was going there for the first time and I applied for two years and they gave me two years.

  • Ministerial list: Where Nigerians got it wrong

    The response of a large section of my compatriots to the ministerial list under the four-month old administration of President Muhamadu Buhari is, to me, a general mental disposition of the Nigerian citizenry that leaves much to be desired. The the stream of opinion that seeks to devalue the painstaking process that preceded the list submission further gets worrisome by the unfortunate enlistment of some supposed statesmen and respected social critics in the army that has been misfiring the shots. Whether sincerely or mischievously espoused, the view that the list of nominees is not worth the long wait is a mistaken one that sadly suggests that many citizens that sweated and sowed the seed of change on March 28 do not really understand what exactly must change for their dream Nigeria to be.

    What our country has always lacked are institutional frameworks or formworks which role is to statutorily reshape the varied personalities elected or appointed into governmental offices into a standard character-shape suitable for the manifestation of governance as an organic whole.

    Since independence, governance in Nigeria has been fully shaped by personality factors. In other words, it is the personal character-traits – beliefs, opinions, thoughts and personal idiosyncrasies – of the man that controls the power levers at any point in time that has always determined the shape, size and quality of governance. This is exactly why successive administrations in the richest black nation on the surface of the earth have, so far, failed to translate even half of our potentials into concrete socio-economic and political greatness.

    To really appreciate the need for Buhari, a leader the vast majority of the citizenry trust and believe in, to have waited for four months before announcing the names of some of his close associates as ministerial nominees, one only needs to look back into time to behold the untold disasters that character difference amongst the ministries of the same government has foisted on our collective destiny. It has always been the case that Nigerians expect a state apparatus to perform or behave as determined by the personal vision, mission, skills, vigour and zeal of its operator. This is why my people are wont to praise or condemn appointments purely on personality factors.

    Thus, at any point in time, Nigerian government has always cut a picture of a mixed-bag. A mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of comparative performance of ministries that are supposed to interrelate to produce a single unified result – good governance.

    If anything is alterable, logical and mathematical truths do not belong to the class of such amendable facts. So, our government as a melting point of positive and negative, each in its raw form, has always cumulated in the negative, simply because positive multiplied by negative is equal to negative.

    This is just why the institution and operation of artificial due process regulations have not and would never help us. Perhaps, we have relegated the truism that holds that no one can give what he does not have.

    Due process, ideally, is a device of entrenching sincerity and transparency in the handling of official transactions. It then follows that an administration that sets out to legislate a pattern of due process for governmental business must itself satisfy the preliminary criteria of integrity, credibility and discipline. Unfortunately, it is a common piece of knowledge amongst Nigerians that our past leaders that sought to demand equity never came with clean hands. Hence, a purely fictitious regime of due process has been deployed to rob us. Day and night robbery by the thieves that we have, in the past, appointed as our security guards and bandits we have crowned as knights of our markets.

    Now that we have Buhari whom even the Olisa Metuh’s of this world subconsciously believe in and trust as a man of integrity, honour and discipline, is it nor high time that we patiently tap from hindsight in order to acquire and deploy the foresight required for genuine change to be?

    Foresight capable of manifesting the truth in our individual and collective psychology – that Buhari, with all his reputed finesse, is but a passing phase in the history of Nigeria, a socio-economic and political milieu made of permanent socio-cultural nations. Therefore, should our new anchor of change behave true-to-type, as most had expected, by rushing to put in place egg heads who, in turn, would excitedly set out to do things differently, would the immediate gains that would result not end in nullity, in the long run, when successors in the mould of past jaundiced leaders may be unavoidable?

    Otherwise, the gains will be gargantuan and everlasting. I mean, the gains that will proceed from the establishment of governance frameworks such as the Treasury Single Accounts initiative and many other revolutionary systemic reforms which the new government has spent quality time to package prior to scouting for operators who would still be schooled and reoriented to operate their respective ministries according to some new uniform pattern to be unveiled in due course.

    Without being on Buhari’s team, I need no one to tell me that the four months that it has taken to nominate ministers has not been expended on mere list compilation. Rather, the suspense-filled period has been devoted, I am convinced, to evolving and mapping pragmatic patterns that would insure the running of ministries against the risks of personal whims and caprices of office-holders. A development that would not only, for the first time ever, introduce character into governance at the federal level, but also come with the realistic potentials of preventing official corruption. The latter, proactive and preventive measures against sleaze, rather than the curative we have been used to, is a sure dividend that would flow from the helmsman that has, in abundance, the quality of integrity and discipline that would foreclose the intentional errors inbuilt in past efforts – I refer to the type of loopholes deliberately designed and integrated into what we used to regard as due process in the past.

    However, it is not surprising that even the closest hint to this position from the government in this direction has, so far, failed to influence the perception of the many. The explanation from the seat of power that it took some considerable time to study, analyse and project ahead from the handover notes passed unto it by the past government, just four days to its exit. If anything, my people had never in the past heard any administration refer to such vital documents in its character and policy formulation and implementation. After all, Nigerians were aware that, once in power, our ‘leaders’ were always too busy to study such lengthy documents let alone act on the basis of what is contained therein. The regular ill-fate of panels’ reports and white papers in our clime is perhaps responsible for their scepticism.

    What a pity! Governance, in the past, had, thus, been perfunctory and the citizens made accustomed to devastating suspense and eagerness in respect of ministerial lists in a hasty bid of knowing where the pendulum of governmental patronage and favouritism swings. But, this is a government of change that has no choice but do things differently. Hence, it is not the individuals that have been nominated that really matters in projecting what is to come as much as the newly-packaged system they have been nominated to operate. Two Yoruba proverbs help to emphasize my drift on the benefits of having strong system/institutions rather than strong individuals. First, “The absence of openings on a wall blocks the entry of the lizard” and lastly, “None is immune against the pilfering proclivity in an environment that is stealing-conducive and enabling”.

     

    • Olokode a journalist writes from Lagos.

  • ‘I don’t know where I went wrong’

    Three months after we got married, my wife moved out of the house with no reason. As I speak, I still don’t know why. She packed her things gradually and till she left I didn’t know. I am back to bachelorhood again.”

    These were the words of 35-year-old Ganiyu Kazeem, who pleaded with the Agege Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve his one-year-old marriage to his wife, Salimot.

    He said his marriage almost crashed few weeks after it was consummated because his wife was fond of going out without his consent.

    “Since we got married, she never spent the whole day at home. She always visited her mother’s house like we were not married,” he said.

    The petitioner, who lives at Adedosu Street in Agege, Lagos, said his wife also gets angry too quickly, which often results in their quarrel.

    He said: “The three months she spent with me wasn’t peaceful. Even when I tried to go near her, she said no. There was a day she left home for three days that I had to report at a police station when I couldn’t find her but when I informed her siblings, I was told she was at her step mother’s place.”

    Kazeem said she later returned home to pack her belongings.

    “Since we got married, she never spent the whole day at home. She always visited her mother’s house like we were not married”

    “Before I got married, I came home weekends because I work on the sea but since I married her, I returned from work every day to make her happy still I never felt welcomed. Even the Imam who joined us during our Nikkah with some family members have tried their best to make peace between us but it’s been futile. I really don’t know where I went wrong,” he said.

    The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Williams, while noting the respondent’s absence in court despite several summons, adjourned the matter till August 10 for judgment.

  • 2015 elections: OPC got it wrong

    Ever since 1959, general elections in Nigeria have always been turbulent because of the fierce competition by major ethnic nationalities in the country to take over power at the centre. This cannot be divorced from the divide and rule tactics adopted by the British Colonialist to maintain their stranglehold on the hitherto independent economic partners, which they cobbled together for administrative convenience to gain economic advantage. The major political parties at the twilight of independence were formed on ethnic lines as a result of the mutual distrust and suspicion amongst the leading political elites who want to take over power from the British.

    This development further polarised the country and do further damage to the psyche of the potentially prosperous state. Consciously, the British colonialist ensured that they handed over power to the most reactionary section of the emerging ruling class whom they felt are amenable to control.

    Thus, Nigeria became a neo-colonialist state with a stooge as leader, a mere appendage of the British overlords and their Western Imperialist allies. Rather than work assiduously to heal socio-political and economic wounds, the ruling party at the centre the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) maintained the status quo and also embarked on the balkanization of the Western region to weaken it. And the needed drive towards nationhood was sacrificed on the altar of political expediency to maintain a numerical advantage for electoral domination.

    The birth of the United Progression Grand Alliance established to wrestle power from the ruling party at the centre was viciously attacked; the opposition leaders were intimidated, witch-hunted, arrested and detained on trumped up charges. The 1964 general elections were fraught with irregularities and the election was manipulated in favour of the Nigeria National Alliance, which is a merger of the NPC and Nigeria Democratic Party (NDP) led by the treacherous late Samuel Akintola. The unfavourably rigged 1964 general elections in favour of the ruling party at the centre and its allies in NNA was rejected and resisted by opposition party supporters; this sparked off a chain of violence reactions particularly the ‘wetie’ led by peasant farmers -the ‘Agbekoyas’, and ultimately the 1966 military coup. The 1979 and 1983 general elections did not fare better; both were rigged in favour of the ruling party at the centre.

    The Obasanjo military regime handed over power to their crony Alhaji Shehu Shagari in a disputed 12 2/3 calculation, which offends mathematics logic till date. The Shagari administration manipulated the 1983 elections in its own favour despite the people’s disenchantment with the regime and the clear clamour for change in leadership of the country. The Shagari government profligacy, wastage and maladministration led to political economic retrogression before the Gen. Buhari/Idiagbon corrective regime took over power to arrest the drift to a failed state. The regime of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida wasted over #40 billion on an electoral process spanning almost eight years, eventually the election was conducted on June 12, 1993, the elections was clearly won by the late Business Mogul and Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party Chief MKO Abiola but was criminally annulled by the military junta headed by General Ibrahim Babangida. The annulment led to a crisis that Nigeria is yet to recover from till date. To assuage the pains and the bruised ego of Abiola’s kinsmen the Yoruba, the stopgap military dictatorship of Abdulsalam handed over power to General Olusegun Obasanjo in May 1999. Following the insidious path of the past, Obasanjo rigged the 2007 elections to install late Umar Yar’Adua. The 2007 general elections were adjudged by both local and international observers as the worst of its kind in any part of the world. Late Umar Yar’Adua himself affirmed this assertion when he acknowledges the fact that the presidential election that brought him to power was flawed.

    Today, patriotic and well meaning Nigerians who believed the Nigerian state is the hope of the black race despite her pseudo federal structure will be pained that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration has worsened the ethno-religious differences of the Nigerian People. Unconsciously, many appeal to ethnic and religious sentiments to drum support for Jonathan to become president when late Yar’Adua became incapacitated to further govern the country due to his ill health, and eventual death. Rather than work towards the unity of Nigeria since he became president through a flawed election in 2011, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has continued to ride on ethnic and religious cleavages to rule the country. On daily basis, Nigerians experience has been one type of lamentation or the other since President Jonathan comes on board.

    Insecurity of lives and property is the order of the day, with the north east nearly severed from the rest of the country by Boko-Haram insurgents, albeit for the heroic efforts of the Nigeria Armed Forces in collaboration with the coalition force of Chad, Niger and Cameroun. Hopelessness, unemployment, joblessness, poverty, hunger and starvation pervades the land. Inarguably, unpaid salaries of workers all over the country and across party lines, unpaid pensions, wastage and mismanagement, stealing which is an integral part of corruption with impunity, youth restiveness and violence, kidnapping and other aggravated social vices must have informed why the Nigerian people clamour for change now.

    While OPC as an organization has the right to support any candidate of its choice in the coming March 28th & April 11th general elections, it is however criminally wrong for the organisation to impose its own will on Lagos state electorate to follow its opportunistic and misguided support for a failed and inept administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Te right to peaceful protest is an inalienable right in a democratic society, so far such did not infringe on the right of others. OPC resort to intimidation, harassment and destruction of APC billboards and defacing of candidates posters is childish, unnecessary, criminally divisive and myopic.

    The OPC support for a Goodluck Jonathan continuation in office premised on the president’s promise to implement the CONFAB resolutions is grossly misleading, a tactical error and strategic opportunism given Mr. President’s plethora of unkept promises. It has been observed all along that the leadership of OPC will compromise the struggle of the Yoruba for egalitarianism, true federalism, regional autonomy and freedom for all sooner than later, hence the most conscious and revolutionary wing of the group, that is YOREM (Yoruba Revolutionary Movement), pulled out of the sinking ship of the OPC to form YOREM in November, 1999.

    Gani Adams represent political opportunism and blind gusto for material accumulation which is not an accident of history. The Yoruba people are not gullible and are therefore not taken-in with the so-called CONFAB report because we know the talk-chop is an avenue to recruit would be Jonathan for president campaigners. Most Yoruba delegates to the CONFAB who lacks the mandate of the Yoruba people are now Jonathan campaigners who are ready to plunge Yoruba land into crisis; why will the implementation of a CONFAB report be a second term issue? Thus, the Fasehun/Gani Adams marriage that Obasanjo had put asunder, the Goodluck Jonathan millions of dollars has joined together.

    All sons and daughters of Yoruba land should not to become a willing tool in the hands of the enemies of the Yoruba. Also, Yoruba should not allow their land to be turned into theatre of war by Jonathan’s cronies. That the action of the OPC is capable of turning Yoruba people against one another and plunge the land into an avoidable crisis and bloodletting. We appeal to all eligible voters to use their PVC to either elect or un-elect any government or Political party in the coming elections, our powers lies in our PVC. We disagree vehemently with those calling for the removal of the Chairman of INEC when elections are around the corner; we view the call for Professor Jega’s removal at this time as most unpatriotic, Criminal and unnecessary.

    The self-determination and social emancipation of the Yoruba is not for sale to the highest bidder. The genuine quest of the Yoruba for regional autonomy within a reconstituted genuine federal union or outside it cannot be compromised for the personal interest of a corrupt ridden government that has compounded the harrowing experience of the Nigerian people in the last four years.

     

    • Adewale Bally Balogun wrote in from Lagos

  • ‘Flag bearer’? Wrong!

    Nigeria’s most authoritative newspaper in (on) politics and business”

    “Satellite enabled (Satellite-enabled) wireless GPS tracker debuts (sic)”

    “History was made in Abia State recently, (otiose comma) as a youth emerged the United Democratic Party’s governorship flag bearer (standard bearer) in its just concluded (just-concluded) primaries ahead of the February general election (elections).” 2015 in focus: this is just the first paragraph of a two-column story!

    The next two goofs are from a full-page congratulatory advertorial signed by Alhaji Sahabi Isah Gada, MFR, mni, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Sokoto State: “Sokoto State Government: A well deserved (well-deserved) honour”

    “This award is a testament of (to) your good deeds and sterling quality as a leader in the nation (nation’s) politics.”

    “Your Excellency, this award has again unveils (unveiled) your handiwork….”

    “Our supports and prayers shall encompass (really?) you, not only in time like this (at a time like this)….” (Full-page advertorial signed by Alhaji Isah Bajini Galadanci, Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Budget & Economic Planning, Sokoto State) ‘Support’ is uncountable.

    The PUNCH of December 29 circulated a few blunders: “It was gathered that after he did not pick (take) his calls….”

    “Another police source…told our correspondent that he saw him few (a few) days to his death and he was looking healthy.” Looks can be deceptive and looking good outwardly does not necessarily connote sound health.

    “The National Pension Commission is set to prosecute 101 companies for failing to remit the deductions of their workers (workers’) pension contributions to….”

    “Thanking our esteemed clients for more feathers to (in) our cap” (Full-page advertorial by Halogen Security Limited)

    THISDAY PERSPECTIVE of December 22 takes over with two flaws: “Candidates have emerged under (on) the platform of the PDP to fly the party’s flag in the main election.”

    “Reason for this is due to the undisputed fact that….” A rewrite: Reason for this is the undisputed fact that…. ‘Reason’ and ‘due to’ cannot co-function!

    “Moreso (More so), your great business innovative ideas and Solutions (unnecessary capitalization) has (have) singled you out among your equals.”

    “PDP Presidential Campaign Team makes a stop over (stopover) in Owerri…Imo State tommorrow (sic)….” (Full-page advertorial signed by the Directorate of Media and Publicity, Presidential Campaign Organisation)

    “…if the right calibre of running mates were (was) chosen from the very beginning (sic).”

    “We at Bolton White Hotels and Apartments celebrates (sic) and rejoices (sic)….We are proud of you & your contribution (contributions?) to the growth and development of the Nigerians (sic) economy. Keep (Keep up) the good work.”

    “The award is a testament of (to) your commitment to excellent service delivery in the hospitality industry.” (Full-page congratulatory advertorial by Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited)

    Have you noticed that most advertorials contain blunders? The next set of gaffes by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State as published in THE GUARDIAN of January 4, 2015, is testamentary to this allusion: “…is not a novice in politics as he has experience (experiences) spanning over 20 years and he knows what the law says about payment of taxes.”

    “As a good citizen of this country (a comma) he has (had) never at any point in his career engaged in tax evasion as his detractors are suggesting.”

    “…the prophets of doom want the world to believe that Dr. Ikpeazu’s tenure i ASEPA was dogged in (by) controversy.”

    “While in ASEPA, Dr. Ikpeazu, a thorough bred (thoroughbred) scientist….”

    “We have emphasized that and want to repeat it over and over again that….” This is a verbal overkill, an asunder: delete ‘again’

    “We have explicit confidence in the credibility and quality of Dr. Ikpeazu as our flag bearer (standard bearer)….”

    “Dr. Ikpeazu is already enjoying wide (a wide) acceptance among the Abia electorate.”

    “…his impeccable character endeared him to the party (party’s) stakeholders who saw him as a good product that would be acceptable to majority (a majority) of of (sic) Abians.”

    Finally from the ludicrous PDP advertorial: “The young man is exuding with energy and enthusiasm to take….” Yank off ‘with’.

    “Court remands Lamido’s son in prison” The court can either ‘remand in custody’ (which means to send someone to prison until trial) or ‘remand on bail’ (which implies allowing a suspect to go free until the trial after leaving a sum of money with the court). Thanks to A. S. Hornby for this insight.

    FEEDBACK

    PLEASE note that we have these egregious errors in our newspapers and magazines because most of our journalists do not have good grounding in the grammaticality of the English language. Besides, we do not have reading journalists-journalists who read on a daily basis. So, you surrender! The rule of the thumb is, do not mix your drink. If you start with British English continue to the end. And if you begin with American English continue to the end. Happily, there are usages that are acceptable on both sides of the Atlantic. (BAYO OGUNTUNASE, 08056180046)

    EBERE, if you think your column is not making any impact, ask the Independent National Electoral Commission, our colleagues and friends of the media about “voter card” now adopted by several local media and available online. For the doubting Thomas, “voter card” is simply the Voter Identity (ID) Card. (US and India) It is similar to the “User Card”. Both ID cards contain your own non-transferable personal details or information. (SUNNY AGBONTAEN, BENIN, 08056162531)

    FROM THE COLUMNIST: Thanks Sunny.

  • What is wrong with Nigeria?

    On Wednesday, October 1, Nigeria was 54.  And many of us were asking “What’s wrong with Nigeria?”

    Many years ago I came to the rude awakening that I was what was really wrong with Nigeria! For many years I complained, griped, grumbled and blamed our leaders, government and every other person but myself for the state of affairs of our nation. I was tired of the way things were and were going in Nigeria but did nothing to change things. I did nothing to sow the seeds for change! I did nothing to take ownership of the runaway train called Nigeria! I did nothing to stop our nation from derailing! I did nothing to step up to the plate of responsibility and take charge of the situation! And I was calling myself a woman of goodwill! Really!!!

    I was angry about the chaos, crisis and confusion going on in my nation but I wasn’t angry enough to change it!

    I was hungry for positive change in Nigeria but I wasn’t hungry enough to pay the price and feed that passion until it created a critical mass of change!

    I constantly and continuously spoke about my nation Nigeria with no sense of ownership saying things like “Nigeria is this…”, “Nigeria is that….” and so on and so forth!

    I spoke about fellow Nigerians as if I wasn’t a Nigerian too! I would make sweeping blanket statements like “Nigerians are always…”, “Nigerians are never…” “Nigerians don’t…” etc.

    I am sure you get the message!

    I was totally and completely disconnected to my nation Nigeria and my people Nigerians. I kept asking to myself “Why is that”? And I kept wondering “Why is that”? I kept looking for a time a messiah would come and fix up Nigeria for good. After looking, searching and waiting “forever” I came to the stark realization that I was what was wrong with Nigeria! That realization was my wake-up call!

    My turning point was when I met with a friend and mentor whose name is Dr. Hayshgee. He said to me “The good are not good enough! The hungry are not hungry enough for change! The angry are not angry enough to create and force a critical mass of positive change to occur! And the good are so focused on the problems they can’t see the solutions! Only a paradigm shift in thinking can create the change the men and women of goodwill desire! “ He added saying to me almost sarcastically, “And by the way, lest you forget you are a member of Team Goodwill!” And that’s when it hit me that I am what is wrong with Nigeria!

    My mentor also said “They are not enough dedicated and committed players in ‘Team Goodwill’. And they have been playing to play but they must learn to play to win. That is the way positive change occurs and remains in any society! Unlike ‘Team Evil, Corrupt and Bad will’ they understand the game! And they play really hard to win! And when they win, I must be honest and say it is a well-deserved victory on their part because they PLAYED TO WIN! They just have a STRONGER DESIRE to WIN!!!”

    Dr. Hayshgee shared some quotations with me which I will share with you to help put things in proper perspective.

    “In doing good, we are generally cold, and languid, and sluggish; and of all things afraid of being too much in the right. But the works of malice and injustice are quite in another style. They finish with a bold mastery hand”– Edmund Burke. “Evil unchecked grows; evil tolerated poisons the whole system.”– Jawaharlal Nehru

    “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”  – Haile Selassie.

    “Tolerating evil leads only to more evil. And when good people stand by and do nothing while wickedness reigns, their communities will be consumed.” – Bob Riley

    My discussion with Dr. Hayshgee and these quotations he shared with me got me thinking real hard! And I had a paradigm shift. This is the paradigm shift I had – to stop being what is wrong with Nigeria and become everything that is RIGHT with Nigeria!

    These are the decisions I made as a result of my encounter with Dr. Hayshgee.

    First, I made up my mind to work harder on myself than I do on Nigeria! I made up my mind to become everything that is RIGHT about Nigeria by working on myself and becoming a better citizen of Nigeria. If I become better, then I can make things better! If I add value to myself by working on myself through personal development, I will invariably end up adding more value to the society and Nigeria at large. Second, I made up my mind to purposefully, deliberately and consciously sow seeds of goodness daily into the Nigerian society. Third, I made up my mind to set myself up as an EXAMPLE of what a NEW NIGERIAN should act like, talk like and be like in every area of life and nation building Fourth, I made a decision to be hungry and angry enough to get out of my COMFORT ZONE to create change every day and in whichever way I can.

    Fifth, I decided to produce a vision that will be used as a blueprint for creating a generational change. I have done this and put the ideas and concepts in two books which are titled “THE 8TH WONDER of the world – Made in NIGERIA” and “THE 8TH WONDER of the world – Made in Naiga”. Sixth, I made a resolution to take up ownership of Nigeria by becoming SOLUTION-OREINTED in my thinking thereby enabling me to steer our nation aright and in the direction of the promised land of GREATNESS! Seventh, I made up my mind to grow our “Team Goodwill” by recruiting and empowering fellow Nigerians (especially the youth) to become good and great citizens of Nigeria!     Eighth, “Team Goodwill” needs to stop the winning spree that “Team Evil, Corrupt and Bad will” have had for too many years in Nigeria! So, I purposed in my heart to design some information that will help, encourage and empower other team members of “Team Goodwill” to have a better understanding of the game so that we can start playing the game to WIN!

    I now am recruiting you into active service of TEAM GOODWILL of Nigeria!

    Let’s have FUN building a GREAT NEW NIGERIA by equipping ourselves, then getting into the game and playing to WIN!

    God bless NIGERIA!

     

    • Ms Simoyan writes from Lagos

  • What Maigari did wrong

    What Maigari did wrong

    Much ado has been made about the controversial dissolution of the Aminu Maigari led-board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), firstly by a court injunction before it was sacked by an extraordinary congress of the NFF.

    Interestingly, the board seemed to have recorded more achievements than any other board of the NFF before it, so, what was the reason behind the will to get its members out at all cost?

    What sin did Maigari commit that made the same congress which voted him into power to want him out after all he had supposedly achieved?

    SL10 investigations will try to provide an insight into part of the alleged wrongs of the Bauchi State-born administrator of the Glass House and his team.

    Firstly, he was allegedly found guilty by the congress of financially abusing his powers as NFF chairman by going against the board’s rule on procedure of money withdrawal.

    In the board’s financial provision for withdrawal it is stated that the Secretary-General is not allowed to withdraw any sum above 500,000 Naira without the consent of the other board members, while the Board Chairman cannot go beyond One Million Naira. Maigari was accused of flaunting this rule by withdrawing above the required limit without consulting his board members.

    Secondly, the monthly grant of 500,000 Naira due to the State FA for grassroots football development in the four years tenure of Aminu Maigari was said to be paid only twice and that was two months to the start of the World Cup in Brazil.

    Also he was accused of preparing Nigeria’s World Cup budget in the company of Chris Green and Musa Ahmadu only, thus side-lining every other board member including the financial committee members.

    Some members of the former board felt it was a break from the norm where World Cup budgets were drawn after board meetings. The budget drew criticism before it was accepted by the National Sports Commission (NSC) and was kept away from other board members even when the funds were released.

    Furthemore, information about a sum of 850 Million Naira was kept from the rest of the board members as funds released for the World Cup campaign until a bonus row broke out between the players and the NFF, forcing the Minister of Sports Tamuno Danagogo to intervene and ask questions about how the 850 million Naira was spent.

    It was also during the row that other board members found out that FIFA released $1.5m as preparatory grant to  each team going to the World Cup and that the NFF received Nigeria’s share but this was allegedly only known to Maigari and his two trusted allies, Musa Ahmadu and Chris Green.

    Aside the accusation of financial recklessness, Aminu Maigari was also accused of jumping protocols in the banning of Taiwo Ogunjobi and Victor Rumson Baribote.

    Maigari allegedly felt that Taiwo Ogunjobi would be a threat to his ambition of winning the NFF elections come August 26, hence it was claimed that he used a transfer saga involving the Ex-NFF scribe and a former Under-20 and 17 attacker Kayode Olarenwaju (against his rival.)

    Ogunjobi was subsequently banned for ten years by an adhoc committee set up by Maigari and not the NFF Disciplinary Committee which is empowered by the NFF statutes to handle such issues. The Disciplinary Committee later sat and reduced the ban on Ogunjobi to three years after he filed an appeal to the body.

    The same abuse of protocol was employed in banning Victor Rumson Baribote.

    Finally, there is also the allegation of Maigari boasting to Minister Danagogo during the bonus row that he had survived two ministers before him.

  • Sadi: FIFA Got It Wrong

    Sadi: FIFA Got It Wrong

    President of Association of professional footballers of Nigeria (APFON), Dahiru Sadi, has criticised FIFA’s decision to suspend Nigeria from all football related matters on account of Government interference.

    Speaking to SL10, the former Super Eagles forward said FIFA actions can be interpreted as a vote in support of corruption.

    “I can’t imagine FIFA saying a congress can’t sack a body they find guilty of financial misappropriation, the court case aside they were duly dissolved by a congress, same people who voted them in, decided to vote them out, how is it a crime?”

    Sadi is of the opinion that FIFA statues and stand on Government interference promotes corruption by most football bodies especially in Africa.

    “If you say the NFF board, an affiliate body can’t be suspended by the Government of a country which they are citizens off and binded by the country’s constitution on the ground of corruption then that’s a vote in support of corruption especially in Africa”

    “This same Government bailed the national team during the bonus row, where was FIFA? He queried.

    Sadi also adviced FIFA to seek proper consultations and do extensive investigations before suspending member bodies.

    “The speed with which they ban national teams especially in Africa and later reverse it is shameful,they have banned Tunisia and Cameroun in the past only to reverse it after consultations, in a nutshell what I’m saying is they should do thorough investigations before slamming a ban”

    “If FIFA had done their work properly, they would have known that the court case apart, Maigari’s board was dissolved by an extra ordinary congress of the NFF not base on the court rule”

    Dahiru Sadi is presently the Technical director of Glo NPFL side Kaduna United.

  • Something is wrong somewhere!

    SIR: There is definitely something wrong with the government’s handling of the anti-terrorism efforts. I have wondered severally why our security agencies who have signed in to lay down their lives for our security are not provided with the required weaponry to engage the terrorists. This is despite the huge billions of naira voted to provide security and combat terrorism and other criminalities. Indeed, corruption in Nigeria is systemic and it permeates our public and private sectors. Unfortunately, our security agencies are not spared. I repeat, it is absolute irresponsibility to expose our security officers to dangers due to corruption or whatever negligence. It is a national and collective shame that our soldiers mutinied due to our inability to provide and protect them with the weaponry needed to engage the terrorists.

    We equally need to provide continuous orientations to our security agents to recognize and protect the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. We must not be permissive of extrajudicial decisions. It breeds mistrust between the populace and the security agents who must be partners in progress. The intelligence network then becomes denied of direct flow of information from the citizenry. It also helps the terrorists to attract sympathy from aggrieved individuals. We must take actions according to the law against erring officers. This will go a long way to prevent future occurrence and to assure Nigerians that the government stands for all against injustice.

    We must continue to remain united as we engage the terrorists who remain committed to the destruction of our nation. We must preach unity across ethnic and religious divides, and refuse to be distracted by religious and political leaders with ulterior motives. Such characters are never found wanting in situations like this. They seek relevance only by commitment to ethnic and religious bigotry. That is the way their pockets become oiled. We must make them irrelevant in the pursuit of our national goals.

    Terrorists are of their master: the devil. As devils, terrorists hide under whatever they can to justify evils. Terrorists neither speak for nor represent any faith. We must remain focused on our efforts to bring peace, unity and freedom to our nation.

    Corruption at the political and military leadership has been identified by the US military (who have come to help bring our girls to safety) as a major set-back. With several unclear issues surrounding our anti-terrorism efforts, we have made it clear to the world that something is definitely wrong somewhere.  Our security agencies are well known for their gallantry and excellence in international efforts dating back to the global recognition of our former Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi (and our officers) in bringing peace to crisis-torn Congo in 1960 and 1964 (commanding an entire United Nations Contingent).

    Why then have we failed so far to rein in terrorism and win the war against the terrorists? It is due principally to corruption at the leadership level. It is due to the absence of political will on the part of our President to name the terrorists and their sponsors and accordingly bring them to justice. The terrorists cannot exist without financial, material and political support. Once the sponsors of terrorism are dealt with without any regard whatsoever to whose ox is gored, , victory over terrorism is assured.

     

    •Akinlolu, Abdulazeez  Adelaja

    University of Ilorin