Viewpoint
The All Progressives Congress (APC) is set for another stage of crisis, as pro-Oyegun forces are set to move against chieftains of the party plotting to challenge the one year tenure extension granted the national chairman of the party, Chief Odigie Oyegun, and his National Working Committee (NWC) by the National Executive Committee (NEC).
According to Sunday Tribune findings, the anti-Oyegun group is insisting that the proclamation of tenure extension without recourse to the highest organ of the party, the national convention, was improper.
By virtue of Article 30 of the APC 2014 Constitution, (as amended) only the national convention is vested with the powers to alter the party Constitution.
The section reads: ‘‘This constitution and the schedules hereto, canbe amended only by the National Convention of the party.”
“Notice of any proposed amendment by any member or organ of the party shall be given to the National Secretary at least 14 days before the date of the National Convention. The Notice shall be in writing, shall contain a clear statement of the proposed amendment and reasons thereof it.”
‘’Notice of proposed amendment(s) shall be served on the members of the National Convention at least fourteen(14) days before the date of the meeting at which the proposed amendment is to be considered.
“Publication of the notice of the proposed amendments in a national newspaper shall de deemed to be sufficient notice; “The Constitution or any part thereof shall stand amended if a proposed amendment is supported by at least two thirds of the delegates present and voting.’’
Joined in the suit marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/219/2018, are the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Uzochukwu through his lawyer, Nnamdi Okere, his asking the court to compel Chief Oyegun and his team to vacate their respective offices with effect from June 1, 2018, when they would have completed their four years tenure.
He also seeking for an order compelling INEC “to reject, cease to recognise and stop dealing with or having official communications with the Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee” and others effective from effective from June 1, 2018, “for having spent the constitutionally allowed tenure of office.”
Uzochukwu’s lawyer also contended that by virtue of Article 13.3 (iii) of the party constitution, ‘’Decision of the NEC shall be binding on all organs and all members of the party, except the national convention.’’
A party source told Sunday Tribune that similar suit to challenge the NEC decision will be filed by another chieftain of the party from Adamawa states this week.
But Chief Oyegun’s sympathizers among the governor’s, emboldened by the Presidency, are not worried and have resolved to reprimand any member of the party who initiated court action against the decision of NEC.
A Presidency source told Sunday Tribune in confidence that “whoever institutes legal proceedings against the party will be reprimanded.” He cited Article 21 A, ( x) of the party constitution to back up his claim.
The section reads: “filing an action in a court of law against the party or any of its officers on any matter relating to the discharge of the duties of the party without first exhausting all avenues for redress provided for in this Constitution.”
Speaking on the Court action initiated by Mr Uzochukwu, national publicity secretary of the party, Bolaji Abdulai told Sunday Tribune that the party was already aware of the development.
While he refrained from commenting on the case, since it was already in court, he declared that the party was determined to rein in recalcitrant members.
He said: “If you take the party to court, we can’t comment on it since it is in court.
“But any member who takes the party to court over its decision will be dealt with accordingly.That is anti -party activity,” he contended
National vice chairman of the party, South South, Hillard Eta, however, differed as he noted that such a member would be exercising his fundamental rights under the law.
Eta further claimed that the party was yet to grant the National Working Committee any extension
“NEC didn’t extend the life span, what it said was that it adopted a motion for the amendment of the constitution. The extension can’t be done without the amendment of the constitution, “ he noted.
Meanwhile, the NWC of the party has overruled the purported expulsion of the Kogi State chairman of the party, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, by a factional chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahovi.
Alhaji Ahovi, chairman of the faction, which penultimate weekend opened a parallel secretariat in Lokoja with the state governor, Yahaya Bello and the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, in attendance, had on Friday announced the expulsion of Alhaji Ametuo.
In a statement issued last night and signed by its national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdulai, the party faulted the action of the factional chairman.
The statement read in part: “The All Progressives Congress (APC) wishes to clarify that neither state nor zonal executives, constituted in whatever name or form can expel anyone from the party.
Only convention can do so. We restate that the State Working Committee of APC in Kogi State led by the Chairman, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo remains the only recognised executive committee of the party in the State.
Tribune
Enyi o, Enyi o…
Enyi o, Enyi o o…
Enyi Biafra Alaa la –
Enyi Biafra Alaa la –
Chetakwanu Odogwu Achuzia –
Odogwu Achuzia bu Enyi Biafra –
Chetakwanu Mike Okwechime –
Okwechime bu Enyi Biafra –
Chetakwanu Ukwu I. Ukwu –
Ukwu I. Ukwu bu Enyi Biafra
Enyi Biafra alaa la –
Enyi Biafra alaa la…
Three great elephants of the Igbo world who fought fiercely in defence of their homeland, and the dignity of their humanity died, each within days of the other, just like a great relay. And what a great race they ran.
In a Nigeria increasingly without authentic heroes, the lives of these three men reflect the meaning of true heroism, and point for this generation, the remarkable quotient of action, and conduct that marked the lives of the best of passing generation, which can be an example for the rest of us.
Each of these men deserves a full, sustained, and longer tribute, but the convergence of their death makes for a unique reflection. It is equally symbolic in a powerful way, for these warriors, held together, and determined in very unique ways, the fate of a people, at a crucial time.
Thus their passing feels symbolic and weighty; like a march-out parade; a lowering of the flag. This hiss in the mouth of time that signals the end of an era.
HANIBAL:
I salute the man they called “Hannibal.” Joe Achuzia earned his pips in battle, and like a true war General – the Igbo call them “Ochi Agha” – he stood tall to the end of his days, unbent by defeat. Like the legendary Carthaginian General from whom he took his inspiration, Joe Achuzia fought wide and deep; he got stymied in the mud; but he led his men fearlessly; wherever the battle was hottest, Achuzia was to be found.
Born in 1928, of the Ahaba (Asaba) by the Cablepoint, the great Niger was the source of his being. As boys they swam in it; crossed the river frequently to the great market town at Onitsha; went to the legendary St Joseph’s Catholic school, and from there to Kings College, Lagos in 1942.
Among the boys he met at the prestigious Kings was a redoubtable boy, Emeka Ojukwu, who came to Kings in 1943 at age 10; the youngest boy for years to be admitted to Kings, but who had a fierce mind of his own, just like “Hannibal” Achuzia.
They were among the boys who in the anti-colonial ferment instigated by the great Nationalist leader Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, staged the first schoolboys resistance to colonialism in 1944, resulting in what basically became the first move towards creating an anti-colonial, pan-Nigerian nationalist front. They were youngster inspired by the great political idealism of that era.
Ojukwu stood trial as a minor; his millionaire father after that ordeal sent away to boarding school in Epsom.
Achuzia finished from Kings, and went on to the UK to study Engineering, and the rest of the years were a mystery, as he clearly received special Forces combat training and was recruited into the Operational Field Services of what might have been the early stages of a shadowy Nigeria’s postcolonial National Intelligence apparatus to conduct international espionage.
That early part of Achuzia’s life remains a mystery. But he did establish himself in Port-Harcourt, and by the 1960s was running his own nascent Engineering Company. The war began, and like most Igbo, Achuzia sided with Biafra.
The massacre of civilians in his hometown, Asaba, by the Federal Army led by Murtala Muhammad must have fueled his sense of outrage and conviction.
He fought like a lion, and his fearlessness earned him the nickname, “Air-Raid Achuzia,” and his military exploits, the name “Hannibal.” Achuzia’s name struck fear in the hearts of fighting men, as well as inspired many a heroic action.
There is the legend that he would, in the midst of a fierce battle, wave away bullets saying, “not for me, not for my boys” – and he would sooner shoot a slack soldier on the legs, just to make an example of such a slacker. War was serious business, and it was also death.
Achuzia was perhaps after General Ojukwu, the most famous Biafran war commander. He stood to the end in defence of the Igbo even after the war, acting at various times as Secretary-General of Ohaneze, and was a consistent campaigner for justice for the entire Igbo.
A true son of the Igbo, Joe “Hannibal” Achuzia deserves his rest among the immortals of the land. When the fullest account of the Biafra war is finally written, it would show that Achuzia ended that war under conditions for which the likes of Tim Onwuatuegwu had to be sacrificed. War was death, and Achuzia understood it fully.
MIKE NDUKA OKWECHIME:
Colonel Mike Okwechime was Obasanjo’s commanding officer in the Army Engineers. He was the first Nigerian to command that group, long before it became the full Corp of Engineers, and established some of its foundational principles. Every professional military Engineer knows that had the crisis of 1966 not happened, and Okwechime still at command, the Nigerian Army Engineers would have been a world class arm of the service.
He was a professional to the core, and a formidable soldier. Educated at the Government College, Ughelli of the class of 1948, he and Arthur Unegbe, Yakubu Gowon, Alex Madiebo, and Patrick Anwunah were in the same class at Sandhurst in 1954.
Among them should have been John Pepper Clark, in his class at Ughelli, who came to the selection board at Enugu in that cadre, but could not make selection, possibly because of his height.
But they were all to make their marks. Okwechime was leading a Nigerian delegation to the Commonwealth games when the July 29 coup that killed Ironsi happened, and he did not return to Lagos.
He was among the Midwest officers who returned to Benin to form the Midwest Army – the Fourth Area Command of the Nigerian Army under Colonel Conrad Nwawo with its Headquarters in Benin.
As it happened, the Midwest Command was the buffer between the Federal Army and the Biafran forces. In the events leading to war, the Midwest under Colonel Ejoor took a position of neutrality. But it was clearly an untenable situation, with the federal troops already established at Idah, and primed to through the Midwest from Agenebode through Agbor towards the East.
To deflate the pressure on its northern borders, and re-take initiative, the Biafrans planned and executed a lightening move through the Midwest, in what is now known as the Midwest campaign, led by General Banjo, clearly with the support of the mainly Igbo officers of the Midwest Area command. That campaign with a planned beachhead got stymied in Ore for all kinds of reasons not within the current purview of this tribute.
The Biafrans were dislodged from the Midwest, an in the melee of the entry of the Federal Army, Igbo officers, among the most senior like Okwechime fell back to Biafra, where they fought to the very end of the war, Okwechime becoming the Adjutant-General of the Biafran Army. Years later of course, after the silence of the guns, he became more known as the Chairman of the Nigerian Football Association, and the National Sports Commission, and remained active in the affairs of the Anioma-Igbo.
UKWU I. UKWU
Poet, Economist, and social theorist, Professor Ukwu was a scholar, and perhaps the finest theorist of the ancient Igbo market systems.
He spent much of his academic life at the University of Nigeria, at the Enugu Campus, where for many years he was Director of its famous Center for Development Studies, and where he made significant contributions in the formulation of development ideas that remain relevant to this day.
But long before that, Ukwu, who was educated at the Aggrey Memorial Grammar School in Arochukwu and the University College Ibadan, where he studied Geography, and where he was first published as a poet in the poetry magazine, Horn, later earned his PhD at Cambridge, and taught in the department of Geography, University of Ibadan until 1966, when the crisis began.
He was active in Biafra, and late in 1968, was appointed by General Ojukwu as Director of the Biafran Organization of Freedom Fighters, BOFF, the Guerilla arm of the Biafran resistance, charged with training and commencing the guerrilla phase of the war, should the formal military options fail.
The war was however resolved on a “No victor, No Vanquished” principle, and one of the most strategic actions by Ukpabi Asika in 1970 was to bring into his government, the active forces involved in the Biafran resistance, like Dr. Ukwu I.Ukwu, who became the Commissioner for Education in East Central state, until the end of that regime in 1975.
He returned to academic life thereafter. Married to Comfort, one of the first graduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s History department, and former Director of the National Museum in Enugu, the Ukwus were a redoubtable cultural presence in the old Eastern capital.
It is a remarkable lack of foresight that the organizers of the Ahiajioku Lectures did not invite Professor Ukwu I.Ukwu to give that lecture, or that the Nigerian National Order of Merit put its own claim of merit to question by not honoring a man like Ukwu I. Ukwu, who was formidable, and one of the most distinguished contributors to Nigerian and African social thought in the late modern era. I salute his spirit.
Most Nigerians were incredulous on February 19, 2018, when it was confirmed that Boko Haram terrorists had herded a group of students of the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State, into a waiting truck and driven off.
There were two reasons many Nigerians, at first, found it hard to believe that the Dapchi girls have been kidnapped. First was the time-honoured belief that lightning does not strike twice on the same spot. Secondly, after the nightmare of the 2014 Chibok abductions, the continuing trauma of more than 100 parents whose daughters are still in captivity after nearly four years, it was inconceivable that the country could leave the stable door ajar for a “technically defeated” Boko Haram to take the country for a ride again.
President Muhammadu Buhari has described the kidnappings as a national disaster. We think it is worse. Indeed, even otherwise sympathetic non-Nigerians think it is a national disgrace. The frenetic actions of the government in the last one week included two official visits to Yobe State by ministers.
The Interior Minister, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau ordered the relocation to Yobe State of the Inspector-General of Police, Idris Abubakar, and the Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Abdullahi Mohammed Gana. They are to help secure the state and help locate the whereabouts of the kidnapped young ladies. The Nigeria Air Force is on a 24-hour air surveillance of the North East and by the middle of the week, has been credited with 100 sorties and 200 hours of activity. A 12-man panel headed by Rear Admiral Victor Adedipe is to investigate the circumstances and identify those who might be culpable. We hope these activities will help the return of the girls. Otherwise, the country is most unhappy and disappointed.
The similarities of the Dapchi kidnappings with that of Chibok are so uncanny – the timing, the political calendar, the doubts, initial confusion, and the irresolute responses. In the circumstance in which the Governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Gaidam, found himself, for instance, he could only depend on the military for accurate information in such a war situation. The Army let him down by first informing him that the girls had been recovered and, later, that they had not. Distraught parents reacted naturally to such confusion with anguish when the governor threw up his hands. But even more critical was the Nigerian Army’s withdrawal from Dapchi town, a week earlier, an action which undeniably offered Boko Haram the opening to attack the town and abduct the girls. The Army has explained its actions saying the town appeared safe and secure. Yet the decision to withdraw the entire battalion was clearly a miscalculation. Why was a platoon not left behind, ‘just in case?’ Indeed, as few as a dozen soldiers, properly, defensively emplaced round the school, would have decidedly prevented the disaster.
The recovery of the Dapchi girls is the minimum Nigerians expect from the Federal Government, and the earlier the better. We cannot afford the same kind of anguish, the open wound, which we have endured as a country over the Chibok abductions. All the declarations about how successful we have been with Boko Haram stands or falls with the Dapchi incident which has demonstrated for the world to see the failure of our security, and the failure of our intelligence. The speculation that our forces are probably infiltrated by fifth columnists cannot be an excuse because it is to be expected and no military command should ignore such possibility and its risks and must provide counter-measures. After all, former President Goodluck Jonathan was ridiculed when he confessed that he had Boko Haram sympathizers in his government, in the National Assembly and elsewhere.
We urge the Federal Government to view the Dapchi incident as an opportunity to review its strategy and tactics in the war against Boko Haram. We think it is time for a major change of guards, and a change of strategy, and the replacement of the entire intelligence apparatus. After nine years, it is laughable to tell Nigerians every week as the government has done for three years that Boko Haram has now been “completely defeated.”
Sun
The Independent National Electoral Commission has sounded a strident alarm that the rising number of political parties, with most of them bent on fielding candidates for the highest political offices, could present daunting logistical and legal challenges and threaten the 2019 elections. With just one year to go, the commission should deploy advanced technology and work closely with lawmakers to find a way round this problem.
The threat is real: in 2007, a legal challenge by the then vice-president and presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, almost led to the poll’s postponement. Since then, similar challenges by candidates of fringe parties have secured court judgements compelling the electoral umpire to include their names and party logos on the ballot paper. This had once led to reprinting and inevitable late arrival of ballot papers on Election Day.
How did we get to this pass? Blame the 1999 Constitution that, in line with global practices, makes provisions on fundamental rights, including that of freedom of association. This was cemented in a landmark Supreme Court judgement in 2002 that invalidated INEC’s stringent qualifying rules and opened the floodgates to new associations, from the serious to the quirky, and affirmed their right to field candidates.
While the right to vote and be voted for on one’s preferred legal platform cannot be faulted, desperation by aspirants and lack of internal party democracy usually see candidate nominations ending up in protracted legal battles that are sometimes resolved only a few days or hours before polling opens and after ballot papers had been printed and distributed and other logistics concluded. With court orders that the victorious nominees be included on the ballot, elections stand the risk of being postponed or overturned by the courts on the grounds of their having held in defiance of court orders or for excluding validly nominated party candidates. Said Eyinla, “…if any registered political party is mistakenly omitted from the ballot paper, it could lead to the total cancellation of the exercise.”
With the Supreme Court verdict, there are no easy solutions short of a constitution amendment. Every polity adapts based on its experiences. INEC should work with the National Assembly to consider relevant changes in the ongoing amendment process without eroding fundamental rights to associate, vote and be voted for.
Even the most mature democracies moderate the field. Having a party registered does not always automatically guarantee being on the ballot. In France, to make the presidential ballot, each candidate must obtain at least 500 sponsoring signatures of elected officials in at least 30 departments (regions) or overseas territories. According to the United States Federal Election Commission, American states have different qualifying thresholds for candidates running for president. Registered parties, theirs and independents, are not automatically on the Electoral College ballot in all 50 states.
Ricky De la Fuente of the Reform Party and Daniel Castle of the Constitution Party were on the ballot in only 20 and 24 states respectively, back in 2016. While only two parties − Republican and Democratic − automatically field presidential candidates in all, there are 40 other parties in the US and a slew of regional parties that rarely field candidates nationally.
To assist uneducated voters, Brazil assigns numbers to every political party. In its 2014 presidential election, only 11 parties fielded candidates though 17 parties held seats in the federal senate and 29 in the lower chamber. Countries like the Philippines have also had to contend with chaotic electoral fields, but have devised ways to cope. Of the 130 persons that initially filed papers to contest the 2016 presidential election, the umpire pruned the list to five, labelling some as “nuisance candidates.” To help smaller or new parties, however, the Asian country passed the Party List System Act in 1995 that allows fringe parties that secure two per cent of the popular vote to have seats in the parliament and build up from there.
We need, by consensus, to amend the constitution. Only parties that have been represented in parliament of a state by at least five delegates, can field candidates for federal positions in Germany while, in Nigeria, a one-man party will insist on being on the presidential ballot without any elective presence at federal, state or local level.
To help parties grow and give voters a wider choice, incremental increase in electoral seats should be encouraged. Mexico prescribes that registered parties must obtain two per cent of the vote in federal elections or lose their licences, but allows small parties to form coalitions and share seats in a proportional representation system.
In the meantime, INEC should go the extra mile to prepare for a possible multitude of candidates. It should file its budget quickly, intensify training and invest heavily in technology to cope with all foreseeable challenges.
Punch
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) yesterday said that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s quest for power, dream and greed to lead the world’s biggest black nation and to rub shoulders with the western leaders put Ndigbo in the mess they found themselves today.
The group noted that the Hausa/Fulani caliphate of the North were happy to be ruled by the British and were not ready for independence, saying it was Dr. Azikiwe and his cohorts that persuaded the North to embrace independence struggle even when it was obvious they never wanted to form a country with the South.
The Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful, in a statement, said it was that unrealisable aspiration and unproductive ambition that ensured the South ended up being led by people whose value system is irreconcilable with theirs.
He said that while Hausa were going on stabilizing their region , Zik was busy dreaming of leading an empire the British built, saying that every current Igbo leader, are also driven by inordinate ambition to rule Nigeria and self preservation.
According to the group “That is why today, we are discussing cows instead of industries, science and technology. We are begging Fulanis to stop killing their fellow Nigerians. We are begging them to allow the existence of Nigeria to be renegotiated into acceptable standard of governance to usher in political stability, economic growth and modern development just to say the least.’’
They added: “Zik, despite his undoubted brilliance, was not a very good politician. He remains till date the only person that led an independence struggle and never got the chance to lead the country after independence. Unfortunately, present day Igbo leaders have continued in that failed politics of Zik. The only way out is to dissolve Nigeria, anything short is cosmetic and will be resisted by IPOB.
“Hausa Fulani caliphates of the North were happy being ruled by the British people and were not ready for independence. It was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and co that persuaded the North to embrace independence struggle even when it was obvious they never wanted to form a country with the south. This led to the atrocious demand from them which Zik acquiesced to, that the North should be given political power”.
“Zik was naive in thinking Britain was going to hand over power to him. Zik’s dream and greed to lead the world’s biggest black nation just to rub shoulders with the western leaders put us in this mess. It was that unrealizable aspiration and unproductive ambition that ensured we ended up being led by people whose value system is irreconcilable with ours.
“The issue is not about Igbo leaders not doing enough to promote Igbo interest, the problem is that Igbo leaders are actively engaged in the undermining of collective Igbo interest. With the notable exception of Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, the rest are mere errand boys for Abuja and the caliphate. They are visibly terrified of their Fulani masters and would not want to do anything to jeopardize their cherished lucrative relationship with their masters in the North.
“The supposedly apex socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, is considerably worse. We thought Ohanaeze Ndigbo couldn’t sink any lower after the shambolic Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwe administration but what is confronting us today in Nnia Nwodo is a man who was made by the North and prepared to supervise the genocidal massacre of his own people in order to ensure the interest of the North is always protected or better put, to ensure that Igbos remain subservient to the North in perpetuity.
“The Fulani caliphate decides who becomes governor, senator, Ohanaeze Ndigbo president general and so on. What you have in Igboland are hungry informants masquerading as leaders. These supposedly Igbo leaders are on record as being the first set of people to condemn IPOB and invite Hausa Fulani soldiers to come and kill Biafrans. Willie Obiano, Okezie Ikpeazu, Dave Umahi, Rochas Okorocha, Nnia Nwodo and a few senators allegedly, directly instigated Operation Python Dance II.
“Yoruba elders never publicly condemned OPC, Arewa Consultative Forum till date have not offered any categorical condemnation of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen but Igbo leaders themselves canvassed for this Fulani government to deploy soldiers to the South-east to kill innocent agitators. These same leaders never ran to Buhari to send soldiers to stop Fulani herdsmen from slaughtering our people all over Enugu State.
But when it came to IPOB agitating to free everybody from the Nigerian bondage we all are in, they found the courage to invite the army to invade Igboland.”
Sun
Government must go beyond the usual blame game to halt the widespread chaos and killings in the land
When gunmen invade areas, kill people on an industrial scale, torch whole villages and disappear without trace or enter a school premises and cart away more than a hundred female children, the federal government needs to do more than setting up committees or drafting in contingents of soldiers after the damage had been done.
The authorities must recognise that the kidnap of innocent school children in Dapchi, Yobe State as well as frequent massacres like the recent one in Adamawa State and the orgy of bloodletting in Zamfara State belong in a category that may not fit into the conventional law and order mould. That also means that responses to such tragedies must be different.
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From Benue to Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara States, it would seem that we may be witnessing the deliberate exploitation and resurgence of buried ancient animosities and ethno-religious rivalries for unstated causes. But the challenge of insecurity becomes more perplexing when parents can no longer send their children or wards to school without the fear that they could be abducted by some perverts masquerading as Jihadists.
The pertinent question to ask therefore is: What have the security agencies done to understand the nature of the sundry forms of criminality that now engulf a section of the country and what are the strategies for countering them?
With a growing pattern of roving genocidal gangs and some perverts in the name of Boko Haram on the loose, we must challenge the federal government and the authorities in many of the states concerned to do a little more than the usual display of incompetence and blame game that have deepened our insecurity. But it is also important that we isolate the Dapchi mass kidnap as a separate outrage which has its own complexity and multiple implications.
It contains elements of terrorism, mass slavery, abuse of the rights of the girl child to education and decency. Add to that the multitude of security related lapses, oversights and embarrassments: inter agency squabbles and blame tossing, failure of basic reconnaissance and surveillance, force immobility, failure of theatre communication, etc.
To worsen matters, the response of the federal government has been a mixture of panic and confusion sprinkled with bureaucratic correctness. While the president’s assurances are in line with standard political behaviour: reassure the people in times of tragedy and give hope even when the situation may seem hopeless, the dispatch of multiple presidential delegations of ministers and other bland emissaries with no specific mission is somewhat curious.
It is also too early to activate an inquiry as has been done, especially when such committees established in the past were merely to buy time.
While the propaganda arm of the Buhari administration continues with its usual hollow excuses, silly comparison with the past and tales of recovery efforts by a hundred aircraft that have turned out to be a lie, what the parents of the girls, the nation and the international community are waiting for is the quick recovery of the Dapchi students, not a gamut of bureaucratic indulgences. That then explains why this challenge belongs squarely in the realm of the security forces and they must be held accountable.
But there is a more urgent issue: To the extent that Nigeria is a vast canvas of misdeeds, sometimes painted with impunity, some of the security challenges that now define several areas of our country are a reflection of our inability to accept that we are not yet a “normal” nation. Sadly, the greater problem of our nation remains that of credible leadership, at all levels!
ThisDay
In those days when I believed I was ready to marry and needed to, at least, start a relationship, I met a lady I very much liked. But I wanted something more than chemistry. I was thinking of how we would complement each over a lifetime. Confused, I asked a friend, Kunle Kasumu, for insight. Though he himself was single, his counsel changed me forever. He spoke about “purpose”, taking inspiration from Myles Monroe. “A man is not born until he discovers purpose,” Kunle said. “When you discover your purpose in life, everything else you do must align with it, including choosing a life partner.” I wanted counsel on life partner but I got a big lesson on life itself.
Shannon Kaiser, an American bestselling author, puts it another way: “The two greatest days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out what your purpose is.” A dictionary defines purpose as “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.” Truly, the chat with Kunle opened my eyes to the reasons behind some things I was doing, even though I was not really aware there was a theory, or principle behind them. Purpose. It has helped me stay within my lane in life. Purpose keeps you going in the face of distractions, storms, trials and temptations. You focus on where you are going. You do things to help you get there.
Interestingly, I actually went into journalism with a purpose — even if I wasn’t officially conscious of it when I was filling my JAMB form. Somehow, I had always believed journalism could be used to promote peace and development, help solve problems and celebrate what is working. That is what keeps me going, no matter the insults, threats, intimidation, blackmail and name-calling. I did not set out to please hate mongers and bigots. When all this is over and I go to meet my Maker, I want to be able to tell Him confidently: “Father, I did my best to use my journalism to heal wounds, build peace and solve problems. I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith.” That’s all I care about.
All said and done, I am yet to discover any country that was developed by leadership without purpose. The day I find an example, I will apologise to my readers and change my stand. For now, I will go with my position that development is a product of purpose-driven leadership. I have not excluded the role of followers, of course. Everybody has a role to play. But people are called leaders for a reason. People are elected or appointed to do a job. There is a reason the dog wags the tail and not the other way round. There is a reason a bus has a driver. There is a reason that leaders, not followers, make policies and laws —and implement them.
As the 2019 elections draw near, I have been imagining things. Posters. Jingles. Slogans. Rallies. Permutations. Promises. Intrigues. Politics is here with us again! It is as if we were created for elections. We live for times like these. The ecstasy is out of this world. We do this every four years. But a few months after inauguration, we return to square one: weeping and wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth. Then we look forward to the next election so that we can “vote out” bad leaders and “vote in” new ones. It goes on and on and on. And Nigeria remains essentially the same. That means there is something we are not getting right. Some dots are simply not connecting.
In my series on “mindsets”, here is another take: we play politics without purpose in Nigeria. Without purpose, we cannot even begin to have a vision. Purpose precedes visioning. Purpose shapes visioning. If you discover purpose, you can develop vision. I think every Nigerian politician needs to answer this question honestly: what is my purpose in politics? You can say the sweet things on TV, radio, newspapers, posters and social media. You can muster the sound bites and conjure all the rhymes and alliterations. But unto thyself, be honest: why are you in politics? To solve problems? To help make Nigeria great? Lie to everyone else but be honest to yourself.
In truth, how many Nigerian politicians actually know the real purpose of politics? How many even understand public purpose at all? I have this funny suspicion that the typical Nigerian politician thinks the purpose of politics is to become a demigod and begin to enjoy the sirens, the Land Cruiser Prados, the power games, the adulation, the girls, the Banana Islands, the Cayman Islands, the private jets, the yachts and such like. When they read stuffs like “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government” in the constitution, they just can’t understand. It is all Greek to them. Occupying government position, they think, is licence for lucre.
Unfortunately, when purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable — in the words of Monroe, who died in 2015. We should not be surprised at the pervasive abuse of office and the resultant gross underdevelopment of Nigeria. As long as the politicians do not have a proper perspective of politics, the instruments they ought to use for the advancement of society will be tools of self-aggrandizement and oppression in their hands. It’s like handing a gun to a rogue police officer — he will turn it into an implement of extortion, tyranny and murder. Give the same gun to a responsible officer and he will die defending the people. Politics without purpose breeds abuse of office.
Here is my point today. If the Nigerian politician had the right motive and motivation in politics, when a banker comes and says, “Your Excellency, add N2 billion to that contract and I will help you keep it”, he would reply: “So kind of you, but that can build a few roads.” When the lawyer comes along and whispers, “I can help you buy property abroad in my name,” he would reply: “Good stuff, but there is serious housing shortage in my state.” When the corporate guru proposes, “You can buy a private jet and register it in my name,” he would reply: “Lovely, but that money can improve mass transit in the city, don’t you think so?” That is purpose-driven leadership at work.
If public purpose is at work, all the budgeting, oversight and lawmaking by the legislature since 1999 would have propelled Nigeria to a higher level on the development plane. But you and I know that when the lawmakers say they want to hold “public hearing” or pay “oversight” visit, the motive of the huffing and puffing is hardly pure. It is more of intimidation, blackmail and extortion than anything for the greater good of the society. Mind you, it can be well packaged, and they can speak the perfect words in the chamber, but those who know the inside story will just be laughing off their heads at a corner. If our lawmakers love accountability so much, Nigeria would be paradise today!
Those just joining politics (or public service) need to ask themselves sincerely: what is my purpose? Am I entering politics for the right purpose? Those already inside should ask themselves honestly: what have I been doing here? Am I fulfilling purpose or just having an all-expense paid fun? The good news is that it is never too late to discover your purpose. That you have wasted years in office without purpose is not the end. You can rethink and reboot. When you discover purpose, you begin to live life meaningfully. You will realise that public office is not about accumulating wealth and getting worshipped. Politics is not for oppression, repression and exploitation.
My friends have been asking me lately: Simon, where do you belong? And that is exactly the problem: we think the solution to our problem is where we belong, who we support or who we are going to vote or campaign for. But our problems are deeper than that, deeper than the excitement of permutations and elections. How can our politics become politics of purpose? That is the real challenge facing us and that is what I think we should be really concerned about. Until we develop new mindsets about how the society should be run, we will continue to go round and round in a vicious circle. The end product is always predictable: despair and disappointment.
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AND FOUR OTHER THINGS
ARMY VS POLICE
We spend over N1 trillion on the security agencies every year, in case you don’t know, and yet Nigerians are among the least secure in the world. Meanwhile, the police and the army are trading blame on the kidnap of 110 Dapchi girls. Those Boko Haram guys must be laughing at us. The open confrontation between security agencies under President Muhammadu Buhari is the worst I have seen in my life. Reports are suggesting that the kidnapped schoolgirls have been taken across the border — in spite of the presence of police, customs, immigration, civil defence, DSS and military guys all over the place. Can you beat that? We need our heads examined in this country. Incredible.
HALF FULL
While some people are still waiting for “fiscal federalism”, “true federalism”, “state police” and “we the people” perfect constitution, it is gladdening to note that some states are already showing what can be done under the current “military” constitution. Lagos and Kano states, two of the country’s biggest economies, have just signed an MoU for economic partnership and to jointly explore investment opportunities aimed at creating jobs and facilitating growth and development. Lagos and Kebbi are already co-operating on Lake Rice. Some people can only see problems, while others are seeing opportunities. He that observes the wind will not sow. Or reap. Word.
CORRUPTION INDEX
The best official response to Nigeria’s declining fortune in the corruption perception index was delivered by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at an event organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) and the ministry of justice on Tuesday. He analysed the report and pointed out that it was just on one of the indices that Nigeria dropped and it affected the overall ranking. It is a wake-up call, he said. Compare this to the spurious allegation that the ranking was influenced by former President Obasanjo and Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili — who are board members of Transparency International. Laughable.
YUSUF IS BACK
President Muhammadu Buhari’s son, Yusuf, is back on his feet after his horrendous motorbike accident in December 2017. I am happy for him and his family for the great escape. A lot has been said about the state of our medical facilities, but he received the first, critical treatment here in Nigeria before he was flown to Germany for “finishing touches”. And this is then my argument: government must at least make sure our hospitals are good enough to be the first port of call, good enough to preserve life. Those who can afford foreign treatment are lucky, but most Nigerians cannot afford it and they too deserve the right to live. Basic.
The reported story of Chief Olusegun Okikiola Obasanjo’s ‘coup’ against the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the public presentation of Senator Ahmadu Ali’s Biography, on Thursday, 1st March, 2018 at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, undoubtedly presents Chief Obasanjo as an incurable patriot, who is simply wrapped up in the need for a glorified, powerful, independent, and non-subservient Nigeria, completely free from political chicanery. The story not only shows the goodness in patriotism and nationalism, but also the limitations, impact and implications for foreign policy in international politics and relations.
At the book launch of Senator Ali were many distinguished guests, including General Yakubu Gowon and Obasanjo. Senator Ali and General Obasanjo served illustriously under General Yakubu Gowon as Head of State. In fact, Obasanjo took over from the then Colonel Benjamin Adekunle as Commander of the Third Marine Commando during Nigeria’s war of national unity.
It is useful to note at this juncture the place of conspiracy as jointly planned by Obasanjo and Ali. First, as we shall show below, General Gowon never knew that Ali was part of the conspiracy until the day of the book presentation. It was only Obasanjo that was scolded but not seriously sanctioned because he was then considered a good boy, a good patriot. Secondly, the reason for the conspiracy was not, on the facial level, the need for an office for the new Director of the NYSC, Senator Ali, but the fact of nearness of the office of the USAID to the Cabinet Office which the duo did not want but which they wrongly believed could be relocated with a military fiat under a military regime, and without due regard to international law and diplomacy.
As further reported by Magnus Eze, Obasanjo declared as follows: “I belonged to the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers and had military men under my command, Ahmadu had no military men. I had to be used or should I say I had to concur by performing the task and I made it a military operation. By 4.00 am, soldiers had surrounded the office and by the time the Americans were arriving for work, they were not allowed to go inside.”
What again should be noted from this quotation is that it is not clear why Obasanjo acted without authorisation from his immediate boss and why, if he had the support of his boss, he was the only one to be scolded. As reported, Obasanjo took advantage of his position as commander to act unilaterally and this factor of unilateralism cannot but be a resultant of patriotism. Perhaps, what is most interesting about the so-called coup is that Obasanjo later realised that he had acted much in ignorance of the diplomatic consequences.
As he reportedly put it: “I didn’t realise the diplomatic implications. Then the Americans violently protested and it was reported to the Commander-in-Chief, General Gowon, and I was carpeted, tongue-lashed and thoroughly washed down.” General Gowon admitted that he and the Chief of Staff, General David Ejoor, “really dressed him (Obasanjo) down, because he exactly started a very serious diplomatic incident.”
Without any scintilla of doubt, General Obasanjo was not only wrong to have breached diplomatic protocol, but his wrongness cannot be as praiseworthy as his patriotic disposition in the matter. In fact, if it was true that the Americans ‘violently’ protested, that again, cannot be compatible with the status of the USAID as a representative diplomatic institution in Nigeria. The protocolar procedure was first to lodge official complain and not to protest violently. General Gowon was right in carpeting General Obasanjo in order to avoid a diplomatic row with the United States, one of the two super powers in the world by that time.
In essence, the import of the foregoing for political and good governance in general is that the expression of patriotism is good, particularly in international relations, but it has to be done within its limitations. It is because nationalists often carried the protection of their national interests to the detriment of those of other states that global insecurity persists. They not only adopt the strategy of aggressive deterrence, but also manipulatively use the United Nations to adopt sanctions against perceived enemy countries. The resultant effect is that countries that are also asserting sovereign equality become hardened and more hardened to the extent of non-preparedness to dance to the tunes of the UNSC anymore. This is why a Third World War is looming.
Patriotism in International Politics
Patriotism is a major dynamic of both international development and global insecurity. At the level of international development, for instance, US President Donald Trump came up last week with a proposed higher tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and a theory of goodness in ‘Trade Wars’ in order to stop US economic deficits and insolvencies. In the words of Donald Trump, on Friday, 2nd March, “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore – we win big. It’s easy.”
More significant, one research report from the Gowling in the United States has shown that the US now is the biggest protectionist country in the world. As noted by Gowling, the US has adopted 1,085 more protectionist measures more than liberalising ones since 2009. As a result of this statement, many countries have been reacting and raising different questions on how to respond. Mike Jakeman has argued that ‘the number of people, who work in steel consumption (who will suffer because of higher prices) is much greater the number that works in steel production (who will benefit) from Donald Trump’s trade war.
Thus, this is apparently one of the ways Donald Trump wants to make America great again, but this does not, and should not prevent any other sovereign state from also engaging in adoption of protectionist policies. And this is why, for instance, the European Commission has to respond by way of regret: “We regret President Trump’s decision to impose a tariff on all aluminium imports independent of their country of origin. European aluminium exports to the US, in view of both their quantity and characteristics, do not pose any threat to US national security. Most importantly, this blanket tariff does not address the root cause of the main challenges faced by the aluminium industry today: the unsustainable and steady increase of aluminium overcapacities in China.”
Additionally, the Director General of European Aluminium, Gerd Göotz, says “This global challenge can only be managed effectively through a global and long-term solution based on multilateral rules and common enforcement such as creation of a Global Aluminium Forum within G-20.”
What is clear from both the trade war policy of Donald Trump and the international reactions to it is the quest to advance and protect the national interest, which is largely driven by patriotism at the individual level and by nationalism at the collective level. Indeed, many advanced countries of the world owed their advancement status to patriotism at the level of their citizens. However, when patriotism is carried excessively to the detriment of the protection of the interests of other countries, international security is necessarily threatened. When attention is not promptly taken on the threats, a crisis is created and when again this is not well attended to, the crisis degenerates to a conflict and ultimately to war, cold or hot. The cases of the controversies over North Korean nuclear tests and the devastations that have come to characterise the war in Syria are noteworthy. The case of North Korea is particularly noteworthy because it appears to be currently the most critical dynamic of whether or not there will be another World War.
North Korea is currently the main foreign policy preoccupation of the nuclear powers and the developed world as at today. At the level of Sino-North Korean relations, China wants to maintain North Korea as a security buffer zone against any US security threats. This explains in part China’s anger and hostility to the United States new sanctions against North Korea. Donald Trump said the sanctions are the ‘largest ever.’ The sanctions do target one person, 27 companies and 28 ships registered in China and seven other countries.
Apart from China being the closest traditional ally of North Korea, Chinese interests are thus at stake. It is normal to therefore expect Chinese Foreign Ministry to resolutely oppose and to demand that the US immediately lift the sanctions in order to avoid harming bilateral relations in the relevant area. Already, China’s trade with North Korea reportedly fell to its lowest ebb in January 2018, thus suggesting that China has been maintaining pressure on North Korea, but that this has not deterred North Korea’s increasing quest for a nuclear power status.
Russia is also another ally of North Korea. Like China, Russia has territorial disputes with Japan, which enjoys special relationship with the US. Japan, up till this day, has not signed the treaty ending World War II and is aspiring, with the support of the United States, to become one of the new permanent members of the UNSC.
Essentially because of national security interests, Japan and the United States have a tripartite agreement with South Korea, aimed at monitoring and containing North Korea. In opposition to this, Russia has been sustaining its own relations with North Korea, particularly from the perspective of its implications for Syria. Naturally, France and the United Kingdom are in the alliance orbit of the United States. So, their opposition to North Korea is understandable.
The point being made so far is that patriotism generates an attitudinal disposition that antagonises, not only the national interests of others, but also international norms and tradition. It necessarily breaches the basic principles of international diplomatic practice, as revealed by the case of Chief Obasanjo above. It also threatens global security.
North Korea and Global Peace
The main critical threat to global peace, as noted above, is North Korea. The threat is not about its nuclear threats per se. It is not even about its proliferation policy which is against some international conventions. The threat is more about the internally perceived threats to the security survival of North Korea. In the eyes of North Korea, the United States is the major threat. It is the enemy. For as long as this perception persists, there cannot be any good way of influencing North Korea to denuclearise, especially in light of the truth that, grosso modo, powerful countries respect international law when it is convenient.
Currently, the whole world is made to condemn North Korea’s export of nuclear materials (acid-resistant tiles, valves, and thermometers which are needed for making chemical weapons) to Syria. North Korea argues that it does not want to be taken unawares the way the American-led Western world dealt with Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and others, and therefore, considering the need to be armed fully to the teeth.
North Korea may not be faulted if we consider the reality of international politics. For instance, on the specific crisis in Syria, the UNSC, on Saturday, 24th February, called for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria but no one showed readiness to respect the call. Iran says the resolution does not apply to parts of Damascus and its suburbs currently held by terrorists. In the same vein, Turkey says it also does not affect its offensive against the Kurdist fighters in Syria’s north-western AFRIN. The Assad government says the offensive of its government is against the terrorists.
Even though the opposition elements in Syria posit that the arguments of both the government of Syria and others were nothing more than a pretext, because only a few hundreds of fighters are in the enclave, the critical point is that all those engaged in fighting are acting on the basis of patriotism and nationalism.
In fact, North Korea also argues that all countries of the world do have the right to decide the precise level of defensive capacity they want without any iota of interference and aggressive deterrence. The main rationale for this reasoning is that some powerful countries have already acquired the nuclear power status and these countries do not want other countries to acquire the same, in the belief that other countries cannot be reliable in terms of ensuring nuclear non-proliferation.
Additionally, a new Cold War is emerging. China is gradually preparing to take over the mantle of global leadership from the United States. Russia is also seriously making efforts to revisit the aftermath of glasnost and perestroika, and by extension and so doing, also re-affirming the super power status of Russia. Thus, China, Russia, and the US are currently in a stiff competition for world leadership.
It should not be quickly forgotten, at this juncture, that Russia was on the side of the United States when initial attacks were to be launched against President Assad. By then, US-Russia emphasis was first to defeat the terrorists. When Syria opted to settle more than 3 billion US dollars owed to Russia, it did not take time before Russia re-strategised and made it clear to the United States not to do anything without first securing its own consent. That was how Russia hurriedly became an opposition to the US in the Syrian crisis.
In the same vein, North Korea became frontally another opposition to the US in joint opposition with Russia to the US. This is simply because North Korea believes it has the right to survival and security like the powerful countries and should not be dictated to on what to do on security measures.
The implication for peace is that, if for whatever reasons North Korea is provoked, and true enough North Korea wants to be provoked because it considers it has now been pushed to the wall, and considering that whoever is already on the floor does not have any other place to fall down to, North Korea is always ready to damn the consequences of its nuclear policy.
In the event of unacceptable provocation, North Korea can respond with nuclear arms without regret. If the US does not want North Korea to acquire nuclear capability that can threaten US territory, but wants to maintain its own nuclear superiority and capacity to project its own nuclear missiles up to the territory of North Korea, there will be urgent need to address the root causes of North Korea’s intransigence.
In this regard, the international community must first address the quest for re-unification of the two Koreas in the same way that of the West and East Germany was facilitated. Second, it has also become a desideratum to allow North Korea to join officiously the nuclear club, since it has successfully launched nuclear missiles and tested nuclear bombs. North Korea is acting on the basis of patriotic nationalism. It also wants to make itself great in the comity of nations in the manner of Donald Trump making America great again. In fact, there is nothing wrong if Nigeria aspires to become the first nuclear power in Africa, for Africa, and in protection of Africa’s interests.
Nuclear non-proliferation is politics. North Korea has come of nuclear age. The international community, rather than seeking to provoke a new global war, that will be nuclear technology-driven, and which no country of the world can control in an exclusive capacity, it is better to quickly nip it in the bud within the framework of the apparent new Cold War between Russia and China, on the one hand, and the US and its allies, on the other. A stitch in time, it is said, saves nine. This is necessary because where the nationalism and patriotism of one country stops, that of other countries begin. Consequently, there are always limitations to patriotism and nationalism in international relations.
In conclusion, therefore, national patriotism must never be allowed to the detriment of the interests of other countries. Doing so enables order and counter-order to reign and the outcome cannot but be a situation of counter-order and disorder.
On a note justifying the haplessness of the Nigerian military in the face of intractable insurgency, President Buhari, on a note of surrender, quipped at the APC NEC that "no country, however well secured, can prevent isolated acts of terror as we have seen in America, Europe, Asia and here in Africa". The truth however, from our experiences with Boko Haram and its equally deadly herdsmen cousins, is that their acts of terror on Nigerians are neither isolated in terms of frequency, or territorial domination.
If anything, this declaration of force majeure by the president is the final sealing of the hopes of Nigerians, of possible salvation from terrorism, especially the excruciating experiences of bombing and abduction of children. Most insensitively, neither Mr President nor the ensuing communique thereafter, spared a word of consolation or hope for the abducted 110 girls of Dapchi and their agonising parents, at this meeting of the High Command of the APC and its legitimacy-kwashokored government .
In a most insensitive manner, every major massacre, seems to provide a platform for APC and its goons to celebrate and demonstrate their love for the President in his bloody journey to 2019.
Within 48 hours of the Benue massacre and mass internment, some APC governors, in competition with one another, converged on Kaduna, and not minding the fresh tears from the killings in the southern part of Kaduna itself, to show solidarity and declare support for Buhari's second term.
Not long thereafter, as the nation mourned the Zamfara massacre, where scores of innocent people fell to the herdsmen's firing squads, Buhari, less than 48 hours, played host, in Daura, to his govenors in demonstration of their support for his second term. Now less than 48 hours after the Dapchi abduction, Buhari and the APC took to politics, at its long awaited National Executive Committee meeting, merely to clear the remaining possible hurdles against Buhari's ticket and those of the governors. How insensitive can a party be.
For those who may be deceived by his acclaimed political naivety, President Buhari is coming up as the shrewdest president to have ever ruled Nigeria. A man of scanty words, he combines deceptive muteness with stoic endurance in the machiavellian pursuit of his ambition.
In the face of seemingly fatal illness, President Buhari transmitted power, on paper, to his deputy, a denial of constitutional imperative for which, his kinsman, Umar Yar'Adua, got criticized. In practical terms, Buhari actually implemented the constitution in breach and got applause for it. He took the presidency with him to London, awarding mind boggling oil contracts and exercised real presidential acts on his sick bed, leaving his pastor Professor Deputy with preaching peace to Biafra and signing harmless Executive Orders on how to do business.
PMB has now truly reached to his private mail bag with his exclusive last card, resolving contradictions in his party by playing mutually antagonistic caucuses against one another to emerge the only idol worthy of worship and sacrifice. He has always known that the smooth talking party chairman is no threat and, in fact most comfortable with his position that, even on Buhari's sickbed then, John Oyegun was already baptizing Nigerians with the proclamation of expected Buhari second term.
Buhari made his cabal strip Tinubu of real strength and power by poaching his boys in all states, except Lagos and to some extent, Osun where his loyal lieutenant is actually his own master. He allowed Asiwaju to amuse himself with the title of the National Leader of the party, though only in some of Tinubu friendly media. He craftily patronised Tinubu in his speech at NEC, referring to him as our respected Asiwaju and his phony reconciliation committee, as the Asiwaju Committee.
It was surprising that Tinubu failed to know that Buhari was showing who the real leader was, by the greek gift of a reconciliation assignment, which may actually sing the nunc dimitis of the real Tinubu followers in the party. In truth, if there is any group to be reconciled with the mainstream APC and its government anywhere, it is the Tinubu group considered loathsome by all.
Yet, Asiwaju, the inarguably most accomplished politician in Nigeria since the return of democracy, openly walked into the trap of wanting to be a judge in his own cause, ignoring the admonition of his well meaning lovers, including his wife. Surprisingly and most tactlessly perhaps, Tinubu showed his hand too early in his acrid letter to Oyegun, the beloved son. The NEC meeting was actually called to finally cage the Lion of Bourdillon.
Before his very eyes, Oyegun and the errant structure of the party was asked to midwife the process of the 2019 elections, effectively putting an end to Tinubu's trouble shooting. The unanimous adoption of this proposal, should be for Asiwaju, more than an ominous sign of a perfected coup. My militant governor in Ondo state delivered the message in the most enchanting wizardry of sophistry, when he denied saying that he ever told Tinubu to stay off the state with his assignment, but that Asiwaju's coming may be unnecessary because he would actually have no reconciliation work to do. Yet so reconciled is the Ondo State APC that Arakunrin Aketi has declared one of their only ranking senator a persona non grata.
With the states' party Executives in the firm grips of the governors, perfectly alligned with the compliant Oyegun smooth talker, Tinubu now knows his assignment is over and merely marking his days at the mercy of his traducers in the party knuckled together by his tireless foot walking across the nation. Now merely holding the strands ends of the broom, one or two strands may come his way, by compensatory appointments to his supporters at this twilight, his hands are far from the handle of the broom.
This is no doubt a most trying time for the most enigmatic Nigerian politian of this generation. In 2003, contrary to popular beliefs, Tinubu was the first among the AD governors to express support for Obasanjo's second term, when he declared at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, on his way to Mecca, that he would deliver 5 million Lagos votes to Obasanjo. At the critical time, Tinubu beat a tactical retreat and warned his colleagues and the national leadership of the Afenifere against any deal with OBJ. Tinubu was proved right and remained the last man standing, strategically wining his Lagos baby from the Obasanjo's onslaught.
When he felt his presidential runs with Atiku or Ribadu were going to produce no goals,Tinubu did a solo and maradonically meandered his ways to the posts. He did not win the national match but certainly not disgraced, as he added to the Lagos lone goal, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Edo states. He's yet to decipher the Ondo formula.
From self retirement, Asiwaju took Buhari from the cold, brushed off the images of irredentist religious bigotry and ethnic jingoism and tagged him with the messianic message of change and the rest now is history. Let those beating their chests that Asiwaju is spent, particularly those who rode on his back to reckoning and feel they could suck and throw him off like a piece of orange, be told that this sunmeri needs only the next rain.
Sunmeri is the proverbial plant in the riverine climes (I don't know the English name) which, when you think is dead and dry, only surprisingly sprouts in the next rainy season.The firmament is gathering clouds for the next season of political rains. Let those dozing avoid snoring.
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Those alleging Al-Mustapha gave me money are liars, I challenge them to provide proof
Founder, Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr Fredrick Fasehun has challenged Nigerians accusing him of being ‘settled’ by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha to come out with proof or stop disparaging his name.
Throwing the challenge in this interview conducted by TUNDE THOMAS, Fasehun lamented that some Nigerians who were shocked by his decision to forgive Al-Mustapha who was part of Abacha’s regime that tortured and detained him have been spreading falsehood over his decision to forgive the former CSO.
“It is my own decision and I have no regret over it. Those saying I collected money from Al-Mustapha are spreading falsehood. I challenge them to come out with proof, otherwise they should keep quiet for ever,” he said. The OPC leader also spoke on other national issues.
What is your reaction to recent comments by the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, and Kogi State governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello that there is no alternative to President Buhari in 2019?
I’m surprised by the comments credited to both of them. They are speaking like Nigerian politicians. They are saying what should be expected from them. These are politicians that people refer to as Agip politicians. That is politicians supporting any government in power. And in Oyegun and Bello’s case, they must speak in support of their principal and ally, President Buhari.
Now coming to their comments, both of them have goofed. Oyegun and Bello have goofed. How can Buhari be Nigeria’s messiah? Nigeria’s messiah in what way? Does Oyegun know the true meaning of a messiah? A messiah means somebody that has come to save and protect. But can Buhari be described as a savior or a protector when Nigeria has been turned into a killing field under his watch?
The news coming out of Nigeria daily since Buhari took over in 2015 is very scaring. It is news of innocent Nigerians being killed all over the place by bandits, kidnappers, and Fulani herdsmen. Nigeria has gradually been turned into a killing field. From Benue to Taraba, Taraba to Adamawa, Adamawa to Kaduna to Zamfara, it is tales of gory killings and bloodshed. It is as if Nigeria is without a leader, and yet Buhari is there as President, and it is under his watch that all these killings and loss of lives are taking place, and yet some callous and heartless Nigerians like Oyegun could have the boldness to describe him as Nigeria’s messiah – this is very sad and unfortunate. I wonder if Oyegun is a genuine Christian, I wonder if Oyegun is a man with conscience. It is only a heartless man that will describe Buhari as Nigeria’s messiah.
Again, what are the criteria Oyegun is using to describe his principal and ally, as a messiah. Does Buhari deserve the accolade of a messiah when millions of Nigerians are dying of hunger daily? Hunger, poverty, unemployment, suffering and hardship are what millions of Nigerians have come to know since 2015 when Buhari became President.
For Yahaya Bello to say that there is no alternative to Buhari in 2019 is a big insult to Nigerians. Governor Yahaya Bello and others in his shoes saying that there is no alternative to Buhari are saying rubbish. They should apologise to Nigerians. How can Yahaya Bello say that there is no alternative to Buhari in a country of over 170 million people? There are hundreds of alternatives if not thousands of alternatives to Buhari in Nigeria.
However, I’m not shocked by Bello’s comments, he is only trying to sing praise of Buhari who is his benefactor and God-sent helper. The bitter truth today is that millions of Nigerians are not satisfied with Buhari, and his party APC. Both have disappointed the nation – they have performed poorly – they have failed Nigerians. In fact, I wept for Nigeria the day Buhari was elected President.
But what those supporting President Buhari’s reelection are saying is that he should be voted for a second term to enable him consolidate on his current achievements …
Cuts in … Which achievements? As far as I’m concerned, Buhari has not done anything to merit a second term in office. Buhari has failed, and APC has also failed. To ask Buhari to continue in office for a second term will only mean one thing, and that is prolongation of sufferings for Nigerians. Millions of Nigerians that voted for APC and Buhari in 2015 are now regretting their action. They are now angry and they are now waiting for 2019 to punish APC and Buhari with their votes. Honestly, Buhari and APC have shortchanged Nigerians, and that’s why the song on the lips of many disappointed Nigerians now is change the changers. That’s to tell you the extent to which APC has become a big bundle of disappointment. My sincere advice to Buhari is that he should forget 2019. He should just do his first term and retire to his village in Daura.
With your disappointment with APC, are you in support of the return of PDP to power as some Nigerians and PDP supporters have been canvassing?
No. None of the two parties should be in power again. Both PDP and APC have disappointed Nigerians. PDP was even better. But I believe that it is time for Nigeria to have new a party in power. We have over 69 political parties. From these, we can have alliances that will bring up a new political party that will provide dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
With the way APC has disappointed there is no way I will canvass for APC to win 2019 general elections. PDP and APC are birds of the same feather. Both parties should quit the stage for a new political party to take over.
Honestly, Buhari and APC have nothing to offer again. We need a new political order to take Nigeria to the next level.
What’s your view on the Coalition for Nigeria Movement that former President Olusegun Obasanjo floated as a way of providing an alternative to PDP and APC?
Obasanjo should stop interfering in Nigeria’s affairs. Nigerians should be allowed to decide their own fate. Obasanjo can’t divorce himself from some of the problems confronting us in Nigeria today. He was part of the problem. Obasanjo should leave Nigeria alone, enough is enough. Although as a former leader, he has a right to talk and offer advice but I believe he should leave Nigerians alone – Obasanjo has paid his dues, it is time for him to quit politics. He should retire from politics.
What is your take on the letters written to President Buhari by Obasanjo, and former President Ibrahim Babangida?
Both of them are in order by writing Buhari. As elder statesmen and leaders of this nation, they are eminently qualified to write Buhari. I disagree with those who have been criticizing the two former leaders for writing Buhari – Obasanjo and Buhari should be allowed to express their minds, especially if doing so will make Buhari to do the right thing in the best interests of Nigeria. As far as I’m concerned, Obasanjo’s regime or administration was far better than Buhari’s government. There is nothing wrong in both former leaders writing to Buhari to advise, and also to criticize him. I believe what Obasanjo and Babangida have done, they did in the best interest of Nigeria.
What’s your take on the present state of insecurity across the land especially with the recent killings in Benue, Zamfara, Taraba and other parts of the country?
It is sad and very worrisome that Nigeria is gradually being turned into a state of blood. Almost everyday now you have blood of innocent Nigerians being spilled either by bandits or Fulani herdsmen. The menace of herdsmen has now reached such an alarming proportion that the whole country is now endangered by the activities of these herdsmen.
But what is baffling is this, are we not supposed to have a leader who also doubles as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces? We have, and that person is President Muhammadu Buhari, but from what we have seen so far, it appears as if Buhari is on vacation or seems not to be troubled or bothered by the nefarious activities of the herdsmen. But for how long will the blood spilling and murder of innocent Nigerians continue before a drastic solution is found?
If Buhari refuses to take urgent action on this insecurity crisis, it will be one of the issues that will be used against him by his opponents during the 2019 general elections campaign. Security is a serious business. It is not a team affair, federal government should wake up to its responsibilities. Enough of bloodshed. Enough of blood spilling. Even the blood of those being killed unjustly is crying out for justice. Buhari has to find a way out to stop this blood flow.
Buhari and APC leaders who are in government should remember the goodwill they enjoyed in 2015 during the build up to that general elections. While some of us that are not Buhari’s admirers were warning Nigerians not to vote for Buhari and APC, instead of listening to our warnings and advice, they called us names, and rejected our advice. They were cheering Buhari and APC.
But today the story has changed. Those Nigerians that were cheering Buhari and APC leaders are now jeering at them – that’s even enough to tell APC leaders that the tide has changed, and that’s why it has become imperative for Buhari and APC to undertake positive changes. But first and foremost, something urgent has to be done about insecurity, killings, hunger and poverty that have become daily companions of Nigerians since 2015. Nigerians don’t deserve what they are presently getting from the APC led government today.
Is restructuring the way out of all these crises facing Nigeria as some people have been saying?
I support those saying so. Restructuring, genuine one will help to diffuse a lot of tension. In the First Republic, when Nigeria was practicing true federalism, there was development, steady growth, and healthy rivalry for development among the regions and the component units that make up the federation. Then fiscal federalism was in practice unlike now when everybody depends on revenues from crude oil to survive. There was no tension and friction.
But with the military incursion into power, everything changed, federalism became bastardised, and since then genuine peace has eluded Nigeria. To get it right, we have to restructure. To get it right we have to return to a true practice of federalism. It is the only way to have enduring peace in the country.
For the South West governors, what will be your advice, or how do you think they can handle the issue of herdsmen?
As the chief security officer of their states, they are vested with power to take actions to secure the lives and properties of all citizens in their domain not only Yoruba – they should make laws that will protect farmers and people from violent attacks by herdsmen.
Like Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose has done something in that regard. While I enjoin all Nigerians irrespective of ethnic diversity to live in peace and harmony, no individual or group should however be seen to be taking actions that will hurt the interests of others. Human life is very precious. It is not something to be toyed with. Human life is sacrosanct, and this is why I expect governors to take actions that will secure the lives and properties of their people.
I also believe that ranching option can help to stop these senseless killings. Fulani herdsmen should be encouraged to imbibe the ranching option, while modalities should be worked out on how to make the option easier for them to embrace.
Not much is being heard about the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN which you floated some years back, some people even claimed that you have been sacked with a new exco now in place, what is the true position of things?
The true situation of things is that today as we are speaking, I remain the bona fide chairman and founder of UPN. All those claiming to be this and that concerning UPN including one Professor are all fakes. They are all impostors. UPN Certificate of Registration is in my custody. But for those doubting Thomases, and others that may be confused about the current status of UPN, they can direct their enquiries to INEC. INEC would then enlighten them, and open their eyes to the truth. There is no controversy or crisis in UPN at all. I’m still in charge, and my party members are still very loyal to me. My leadership enjoys the confidence of all UPN members.
Some Nigerians have expressed concern over your friendship with and deep affections for Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to the late General Sani Abacha whose regime tortured and incarcerated you for a long time when he was in power. Some people are alleging that Al-Mustapha has settled you, and that’s why you have become his new godfather, what’s your response to that?
I laugh when people make allegations that can’t be substantiated. What do I need Al-Mustapha’s money for? Why should I collect money from Al-Mustapha? I’m a Christian, and what the Bible teaches us is forgiveness. I simply forgave Al-Mustapha over what Abacha’s regime did to me and some other Nigerians, and I don’t have any apology for that.
Jesus Christ taught about forgiveness, and I believe in Christ and his teachings, and that’s why I forgave Al-Mustapha, and I have no apology to offer anybody over that. For those who are making allegations that I collected money from Al-Mustapha, I challenge them to come out with any proof. They are all big liars – they are those Nigerians who profess to be genuine Christians and Muslims but still have unforgiving spirits.
Sun
Nigeria recently lost one of the most important writers in its indigenous languages. Professor Akinwunmi Isola, an eminent scholar, celebrated playwright, ace dramatist and accomplished actor, died on February 17, sadly depleting the ranks of African writers in the Yoruba Language. His passage is a great loss to African Literary Studies, particularly relating to Yoruba language, literature and culture.
Without doubt, the deceased will be greatly missed by all scholars of Yoruba Language and Literature, especially his students and colleagues. Prof. Isola, who passed on in Ibadan, Oyo State, at the age of 79, was a great writer and author of the iconic Yoruba play, Efunsetan Aniwura, which he wrote when he was a student at the University of Ibadan in 1961.
His other popular works include Tinubu, Ko See Gbe, O Le Ku and Ogun Omode. It is to his eternal credit that his works, Ko See Gbe, Saworoide, Agogo Eewo, O Le Ku and Campus Queen were adapted into films by one of the nation’s most versatile film producers, Tunde Kelani.
Born on December 24, 1939 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Isola attended Labode Methodist School and Wesley College in Ibadan. He got his B.A. degree in French at the University of Ibadan. Much later, he got his M.A. degree in Yoruba Literature from the University of Lagos. He later obtained his doctorate degree in Yoruba Literature at the University of Ibadan. He taught for several years at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and rose to the position of a professor in 1991. He was, unarguably, the first scholar to deliver a university Convocation Lecture in Yoruba at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State.
Isola dedicated his entire academic life to the study and propagation of Yoruba language, literature and culture. His contributions to Yoruba drama and films are unquantifiable. He was a visiting professor at the University of Georgia, USA. Professor Isola was a versatile thespian, a literary prodigy and intellectual cognoscente. He was known for promoting the Yoruba language and culture through his writing, public speeches and even his dressing.
He translated into Yoruba language Professor Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Ake: The Years of Childhood. He later went into broadcasting with a creative production company that turned a number of plays into television dramas and films.
He composed the anthem of his alma mater, Wesley College, Ibadan and it is still in use today. In 2000, he was awarded the National Merit Award and made a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters in recognition of his immense contributions to Yoruba Language and Literature.
We join other Nigerians and his numerous admirers to mourn the passage of this great Nigerian author, actor, cultural activist and erudite scholar. We urge other Nigerian academics to emulate his good example and dedication to scholarship, especially his promotion of one of our indigenous languages, literature and culture.
Let the government immortalise this literary giant and great scholar of Yoruba language. We commiserate with his family, the academic community, the film industry and the nation on the irreparable loss.
Sun
“So in the Libyan fable it is told That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, With our own feathers, not by others’ hands. Are we now smitten. -Aeschylus
Fellow Nigerians, I’ve been on tour of Africa, as I mentioned recently on this page, and I’ve covered parts of East and West Africa in the past two weeks. My conclusion and verdict is that things are happening out there while we are free to delude ourselves that we are the giant of Africa. The things that make us the giant, exceptionally brilliant citizens, humongous population, energetic manpower, fertile land, beautiful weather, we’ve refused to turn into useful assets but rather into liabilities.
I won’t bore you with too much details of the countries visited but will summarise the things we lack and why we are lagging behind and what we need to do speedily to catch up and ultimately overtake the comity of other nations in their march towards genuine progress, development and advancement.
Nigeria parades some of the worst airports in Africa today. Let no one preach to me that it is because the PDP government stole the money meant for the airports. As a matter of fact the Goodluck Jonathan administration made some remarkable effort compared to our own government of change which in nearly three years has revamped only the runway in Abuja. The most disgraceful airport for a seat of government is the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. I plead with President Muhammadu Buhari or Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to pay unscheduled visits to that disgraceful airport, I’m sure they will shed tears. Next they should please come to Lagos and ignore the Presidential wing and head to the odoriferous sections ordinary mortals like us use regularly and I’m certain they would be warmly received by some putrid spirits.
It is unexplainable how we can continue to disgrace our dear beloved country without a care in the world. There is no other country you have to give your passport first to secret service agents before you queue up again in front of Immigration officials. There is no airport you get accosted by countless uniformed officers at the entrance of departure and at the exit of arrival. There is no airport where on arrival, all passengers must exit the airport in one direction only and no taxis within range. This is the situation in Lagos. Let me not talk about the rickety elevators and escalators. We are indeed a most difficult race. The only reasonable and professional airport is the MM2 in Lagos which is privately owned.
I saw better airports in much smaller countries. By the time Ghana opens its Terminal 3 very soon to the public, it would be about the best in West Africa. This was a project that was substantially worked on under the Government of President John Dramani Mahama. The cargo section which is already in operation is wearing the powerful signature of Swissport as its operators. The Immigration section at the Kotoka International Airport is one of the most advanced in Africa complete with cameras for iris and fingerprinting machines for data capturing. We have neither despite our being prone to terrorism. I could not believe my eyes when I landed in Dakar, Senegal, last week at its brand new airport opened by the obviously visionary President Macky Sall, only last December. It is such a beauty to behold. Even the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, which was destroyed by a towering inferno years back, has since been restored to its old glory and expanded to cater for millions of passengers.
The international Airport in Kigali is very small but running efficiently. My favourite part is the Immigration area where you pay $30 for visa on arrival without stress and thereafter pass your bags through x-ray machines instead of a multitude of officers rummaging through your luggage. I hope Rwanda would drastically reduce the time passengers have to spend clearing security on departure and also improve on the quality of food and services in the Business Class lounge. Rwanda has become a country of choice for me as an example of a serious country that wants to engage the world in serious business.
No nation can be considered civilised without putting certain things in place. One of such is infrastructure. Electricity is on top of the priority. Many African countries have improved their power generation, transmission and distribution processes. Too much politicisation and bureaucracy has turned Nigeria into a jinxed nation despite the billions of dollars spent and obviously wasted by successive governments. As a matter of fact, one of the most ambitious power projects in our country has already gone to international arbitration because of the excessive power show in Abuja.
Every effort to upgrade our power sector has met with foolish resistance. Whereas, Ghana again, under the former President John Dramani Mahama, was able to fix the erratic power outages, nicknamed Dumso Dumso, within two years. And the Ghana Electricity Company was very creative by rationing and rotating power supplies to different zones interchangeably.
I can list a myriad of problems facing us but the biggest is the failure of leadership. Our leaders have blatantly refused to do the needful. The biggest of all the afflictions is ethnicity which turns otherwise intelligent human beings into morons. Most of our problems would evaporate and disappear the day we are ready to exorcise the demon of ethnicity. I saw the evidence of this thesis in Rwanda where everyone must regard each other as Rwandese rather as Tutsis or Hutus. It has become a crime to so describe any citizen of Rwanda.
On the contrary, Nigerian leaders prefer to be identified as local champions instead of being global personalities. Our clannishness has stultified us beyond reason. I used to be an incurable optimist but recent events have turned me into a paranoid pessimist and unless we urgently rescue our country back from those who are too short-sighted to see the power and strength in the indivisibility of Nigeria, this union may collapse like a pack of cards. No Nigerian should be treated like a second class citizen in his own country. No ethnic group should feel superior to another.
Every Nigerian should treat the other as equal partners. The next set of Nigerian leaders must be scrutinised and confirmed to be those who are detribalised and religious-tolerant. Nigeria has suffered too much as a result of unbridled parochialism.
As we approach our next general elections, we must prepare to find, select and elect leaders who would detach us from the superstitions that have held us down for far too long than normal at this time and age. We must seek leaders with an acceptable modicum of education. This is not an attempt to deride those who have no formal education. My mum who brought me up had none but she knew the value of education and invested her modest resources in us. Nigeria is too blessed with geniuses to keep settling for leaders without substantial education. Education and exposure to modernity should help reduce our proclivity for backward behaviours.
We must make up our minds about what we want as a people. Do we want to remain forever backward in the name of ethnicity, religion and incredible propensity for material acquisition? Everyone in the world is trying to break free from a useless past, why can’t we emulate them? Our universe today is knowledge driven, why do we continue to wallow in ignorance? Until we fix our education which has collapsed, almost irreparably, our country is doomed. I was regaled with stories of how the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, is turning his country into a technology hub in Africa.
I have no doubt that even our ruling government in Nigeria has some of the brightest guys who would readily match their counterparts anywhere in the world, but we won’t give them the chance to function optimally. We all remember how Professor Yemi Osinbajo was able to unite Nigerians last year in the middle of the threat of secession from Nnamdi Kanu and his Biafran agitators. If APC had continued along the new path created by the Vice President, things would have been much better for the government and our country by now. We saw an Acting President who was visiting everywhere and interacting with politicians across divides without discriminating against anyone. The erudite scholar gave us all a sense of pride and place. But soon after the President returned from his medical sojourn in the United Kingdom, things fell apart. We returned conveniently to our perfidious ways. Some people even accused the Vice President of working to outshine his boss despite is avowed loyalty to his principal.
Why would anyone change a winning strategy that everyone was already applauding? If the President had maintained that tempo and pace of activities, perhaps the APC would have saved itself from the present calamity. If the APC fails in next year’s general election, it would only have been a severe punishment for its recalcitrance and myopic nature. Things should always be done according to merits.
The youths who wish to take over power from the elders should also be fully prepared to work very hard and not sit down, arms akimbo, expecting a miracle from heaven. Their only qualification should never be that they are young and youthful. They must be accomplished in their own rights and market their credentials energetically. There is no point taking over power only to continue the monumental mess of the past.
It shall be well with Nigeria…