Fate can be cruel at times. Events virtually beyond your control conspire together to reduce you to an emotional wreck, an object of mockery for neighbours, friends and colleagues. You watch helplessly, realizing that you are only a victim of the failure of leadership, suffering from the painful effects of the actions and inactions of those entrusted with the sacred duty of taking decisions that affect the emotions and wellbeing of millions of people. Most worrisome is the nagging feeling that the gloomy situation would likely get worse.
 
Being an indigene of Imo State, a Nigerian and a passionate fan of Arsenal FC at this point is a sure recipe for continuous annoyance, anger, disappointment and misery. These three entities are now regarded as embodiments of failure, inept leadership, crass incompetence and to some extent shamelessness. Their current leaders came to power with a promise of hope, renewal and progress but today they have left their followers in despair, agony and retrogression. People have been reduced to a laughing stock by origin and association. They watch helplessly as their leaders desecrate all known precepts of leadership.
 
However, it was not meant to be this way.
 
Imo State, the Eastern Heartland, was supposed to be the pride of the Igbos who occupy the whole of South East Nigeria. The state is the highest oil-producing state in the South East, has the highest number of local governments and was the state least affected by the devastating civil war of 1967 – 1970. Imo was the top state in Nigeria in the latest Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exams and has produced such notable people as Sam Mbakwe, Leo Stan Ekeh, Kanu Nwakwo, Genevieve Nnaji, Walter Ofonagoro and Adiele Afigbo.
 
Today, Imo State is a butt of jokes due to the actions and idiosyncrasies of state governor, Rochas Okorocha. No thanks to the internet and social media, the name Rochas, of which meaning is mired in mystery and linked to misery, is now known all over the world as an epitome of tomfoolery, ineptitude and shameless nepotism.
 
This is a man who got to Douglas House Owerri nearly seven years ago as a courier of hope, a renowned philanthropist elected to deliver Imo State from the clutches of Ikedi Ohakim. Mr. Ohakim was alleged to have stolen the state dry and was alleged to have sent thugs to beat up a clergyman. Thousands of Imolites danced in the streets of Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe when Okorocha’s victory over the then incumbent governor seeking for a second term in office was officially announced, believing that the saviour had arrived.
 
These days, the citizens of Imo State gnash their teeth in regret as the one who was supposed to save the state has proven to be a tyrant. In addition to outperforming his predecessor in high handedness, Okorocha has spiced his misrule with virulent clowning and brazen nepotism.
 
If the governor’s recent declaration that the state would be more comfortable with armed robbers than marijuana smokers is forgiven as a spur of the moment misspeak, the decision to erect some huge statues in the state including that of Jacob Zuma, the disgraced former South African President, was an infuriating celebration of misplaced priorities and a barefaced waste of huge public funds on white elephant projects. He chose to deify Zuma in spite of the fact that the then unpopular president of South Africa was facing a massive 786-count charge for corruption and his government had virtually done nothing over the xenophobic killing of Nigerians in South Africa. The silliness of erecting Zuma’s statue, giving him the highest honour in the state and naming a major road in Owerri after him was laid bare when he was forced to resign as president of South Africa some few months later over allegations of corruption.
 
The state government has been owing workers and pensioners in the state for several months, several abandoned projects litter the state and most roads in the state are unpassable during the rainy season. To mock the despair of Imolites, the governor created a Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment late last year. The leadership inanity espoused by this action was accentuated by the appointment of the governor’s blood sister, Ogechi Ololo, as the commissioner in charge of the ministry.
 
Mrs. Ololo’s appointment was only another show of brash, noxious nepotism by the governor. It is well known in Imo State that the governor’s other sister named Geraldine supplies food and drinks to government house from her fast food joint; his elder sister collects market tolls in the state; the father in-law of his son Uzo, Professor Anthony Anwuka, is the governor’s nominee to the federal cabinet and is the current Minister of State for Education and the vice-chancellor of Imo State University, Professor Adaobi Obasi, is Okorocha’s aunt. Also worthy of note is that Anwuka’s wife, Justice Christiana Anwuka, was appointed by the governor as the President of Imo State Customary Court of Appeal.
 
Governor Okorocha has become so stranded in nepotism that he recently anointed Uche Nwosu, his son in-law who is also the current chief of staff as his successor as governor of Imo State. When he was the commissioner for lands and housing in Okorocha’s government, Mr. Nwosu is alleged to have facilitated the illegal and immoral acquisition of hundreds of choice houses and landed properties in Imo State by the governor, his family members, friends and cronies. Imo State has become a huge joke with Governor Rochas Okorocha as the chief comedian, dissing the citizenry with morbid, tragic and dangerous performances.
 
The Nigerian situation is a lot direr. Nigerians are marooned in the vortex of a clueless, incompetent, insensitive and savage government. In 2015, when the then president Goodluck Jonathan was voted out of power, most Nigerians warmly welcomed Muhammed Buhari, a former military head of state who had contested for the presidency so many times in the past that as they felt his persistence meant he had something to offer.
 
Some of those who rooted for Buhari knew he was joking when he promised to make one dollar equal to one naira. They knew about his questionable school certificate, his traits of religious irredentism.
 
But they were excited by his promise of change and hope. Buhari was seen as a no-nonsense man of integrity who would rid the country of the persistent evil of corruption, arguably the country’s greatest albatross. Nigerians hoped that as a former military man, he would bring a debilitating Boko Haram insurgency in the north east of the country to an end.
 
Nearly three years later, the country’s economy is in shambles. Nigerians who have never seen a classroom in their lives are now familiar with the word recession. Millions of Nigerians have lost their jobs, many people are suffering and all the masses get from the government are cheering but misleading economic statistics they are unable to feel in real life. Nigerians are no longer asking the president to fulfil his promise of making the dollar equal to the naira but to take back the exchange rate to N170 to $1 where his government met the national currency.
 
It disheartens many Nigerians that the promised fight against corruption has become a mirage, fought mainly in the pages of newspapers. Money has been found abandoned in flats, airports and safe rural houses. Properties and bank deposits worth hundreds of billons of naira, believed to be proceeds of illicit activities have been forfeited to the government. But then, Nigerians are asking why no highly placed person has been convicted of corruption.
 
The fight against Boko Haram insurgency is the most painful. The president told Nigerians that Boko Haram has been defeated. Then the suicide bombings continued, the killings persisted and the president shamelessly asked the national assembly for one billion dollars to continue the fight against a defeated enemy. The government paid millions of dollars as ransom to secure the release of 100 kidnapped girls and the terrorists apparently used a fraction of the ransom payment to mobilize and kidnap another 110 schoolgirls. Nigerians have been searching for the meaning of technically defeated.
 
The herdsmen atrocities, whereby the president’s kin kill and maim helpless Nigerians with impunity, would remain the lowest point of the Buhari administration. Many bereaved families in Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Enugu and other states of the country are cursing the day Buhari Part II happened.
 
These days, Nigerians have become so used to government ineptitude that many of them have taken the three-month long fuel scarcity as normal. In a country where the national oil company NNPC recently announced that the country has achieved another heinous feat as the largest petroleum importer in the world, most of the traumatized populace now relish dubious stories of snakes and monkeys swallowing huge sums of money, many of them using the allegories as a welcome escapism, a means of keeping their sanity intact.
 
Arsene Wenger at Arsenal Football Club is similar to Okorocha and Buhari. Just like the present Imo State and Nigeria, Arsenal have become an epitome of failure and frustration, a source of constant heartbreak. This is a club that has competed in Champions League finals with FC Barcelona but was recently beaten at home by Swedish minnows Ostersund in the Europa League, a second-tier competition meant to compensate teams who were not good enough for the elite European competition. As the defending champions, Arsenal were dumped out of the English FA Cup by Nottingham Forest, a manager-less team from England’s second tier.
 
It was not a shame to lose to Manchester City, runaway leaders of the English premier league, but to lose to them twice in four days, at a neutral ground and at home and with an aggregate score of 6–0, was very distressing. How do you explain the fact that just 63 days into the new year, Arsenal have already lost eight games and their conquerors include Bournemouth, Swansea and Brighton – three teams fighting for survival at the bottom of the English Premiership table?
 
It is so sad to realise that Arsenal are no longer a big team, anyone can beat them, no one is afraid of the team anymore. The Gunners have long stopped playing beautiful football. Their pattern of play these days is simply put out eleven, spineless, over-paid prima donnas into the field of play and watch them go through the motions that would ultimately lead to anguish for the long suffering fans.
 
Wenger is wholly responsible for Arsenal’s woes. He joined Arsenal 21 years ago and gave the club some unforgettable memories like a record seven FA Cup triumphs and a spectacular 2003/2004 season when the club achieved the unmatched feat of winning the premier league without losing a single match. Notably, most of these were achieved while Arsenal played football so pleasing to the eye.
 
However, these days Wenger has become an epitome of incompetence and imprudent longevity. The 68-year old is regularly outwitted on the field of play by younger coaches and has refused to quit in spite of several fans’ protest and calls by former players and pundits for him to call it a day.
 
He is now like an annoying relic, a callous man who chose the love of lucre over the happiness of millions of fans and who is ludicrously deluded that he is capable of getting the sinking club out of the mire. #WengerOut is regularly a trending hashtag on Twitter. The pain and distress of Arsenal’s recent results have been so daunting that #WengerOut has now transcended sports to become a serious human rights issue.
 
Arsenal fans cannot wait to see the back of Wenger this summer. Most Imolites look forward to the exit of Okorocha next summer. Millions of Nigerians would not want Buhari as president a day beyond May 29, 2019. But from all indications, until then, things can only get worse.
 
Mayor Ikoroha is an author and public affairs analyst. He is on Twitter as @tellthemayor
 

"No-one is more hated than he who speaks truth"- Plato.

These deeply profound and insightful words of Plato, Ancient Greece's greatest and most reverred philospher, who was a student of the great Socrates and a teacher of the great Aristotle, are as true today as they were in 400 BC when he wrote them.

You will not read the following account about President Muhammadu Buhari's so-called "war against terror" in Nigeria's mainstream media because they have mostly been compromised and intimidated by the Federal Government. You can however read it in this two-part essay if you are interested in knowing the truth.

I urge as many of those that care and that can get through it to spread the word and let the international community know the truth about what the Nigerian people are passing through.

Despite the hatred and aggression it always attracts towards its purveyor, truth remains truth and, for the sake of posterity, it is worth defending and, if necessary, dying for. And the truth about our war against terror is as follows.

Today Nigeria is in the terrifying grip of a bloodthirsty two-headed dragon which is empowered, fuelled and energised by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The first head of that dragon is that of Boko Haram and the second is that of the Fulani herdsmen and terrorists.

This two-headed dragon feeds on the flesh and blood of the Nigerian people and until it consummes or captures every living soul in our nation it shall not relent, refrain or desist.

I say this because, like the leader of the horrendous Nightwalkers in HBO's famous classic series, "Game of Thrones", the rider of Nigeria's Nightwalker dragon is our very own President Muhammadu Buhari and he brings nothing but death and destruction.

Those that expect him to master it, tame it or cut its two heads off are expecting him to drop his most awsome weapon and to fall out of the sky in mid-flight.

He will never do it and it will never happen because that is his strength, pride and source of power.  He needs the two-headed dragon from hell to take him to his next destination and to his next level.

Simply put, without the blood-sucking, flesh-eating, bone-crushing and life-taking dragon-beast that he controls and rides, Muhammadu Buhari is nothing.

Blood is the currency in the realm of the spirit and the spilling of it gives him power. The more blood is spilt the more power he gets.

This explains why such little emotion is displayed by our President and next to no concern is shown by him when the people of Nigeria are abducted, enslaved, hacked to pieces and slaughtered by either of the two heads of his beast.

When one scrutinises Buhari's so-called war against terror over the last three years the first question we must answer is whether we can really expect one terrorist to fight another terrorist successfully?

Simply put, the question is whether darkness can defeat darkness or whether evil can overwhelm evil?

Consider the following.
In 2000 Buhari asked the late Governor Lam Adesina of Oyo state "why are your Yoruba people killing my Fulani people" when Fulani herdsmen and terrorists suffered a series of heavy reprisal attacks and killings after they had attacked and killed many Yoruba farmers in Oyo state.

In 2001 he told the Nigerian people that "Muslims should only vote for Muslims".

In 2001 he told the Nigerian people that it was his intention to "spread sharia law ALL over the country".

In 2002 he told the Nigerian people that "Christians have no business with the matter and should not complain when limbs are being cut off in the name of sharia because those limbs are Muslim limbs and not theirs".

In 2003 he proclaimed that the Muslims of Nigeria should "all work together and win power at the centre because when the Muslims of the north join hands with our  Muslim brothers in the south-west we are more in number than the Christians".

In 2013 he told the Nigerian people that "an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North".

In 2014 his trusted political associate and a man by the name of Alhaji Lai Mohammmed from Kwara state who played a key role in his 2015 presidential campaign and who was later appointed as his Minister of Information announced to the world that it was "wrong, unjust and unconstitutional to proscribe Boko Haram and to describe them as a terrorist organisation".

In 2016 his official spokesman at the Presidency, Mr. Femi Adesina, told the Nigerian people that Buhari would not comment on the cold-blooded butchering and murder of no less than 808 Christians in Southern Kaduna on Christmas day and Christmas eve by Fulani terrorists because the Presidency "regarded the matter as a state-affair".

In January 2018 Buhari told Governor Samuel Ortom and the elders and traditional rulers of Benue state that "the Fulani herdsmen and cattle-rearers are your brothers and you must find a way to accomodate them" after those same terrorist herdsmen had butchered over 1000 innocent people in Agatu occupied their land two years ago and hundreds more all over the state since that time.

And it is the same story all over the Middle Belt and the south where Fulani terrorists and herdsmen slaughter innocent Nigerians in the most gruesome and horrific manner and circumstances and destroy and steal their homes, farms and land without any fear of being brought to justice or being resisted or confronted by any of Buhari's northern-Muslim-led security agencies and Armed Forces.

So now I ask, which "war against terror" or "war against Boko Haram" or "war against the Fulani terrorists and herdsmen" are we referring to or is Buhari fighting? Can he really be expected to fight himself?

To people like Buhari unarmed men and women who do not threaten others with violence and who have never killed anyone, like members of Nnamdi Kanu's IPOB, are the terrorists whilst murderous and zombie-like beasts that take pleasure in slitting open the throats of babies and infants and in slaughtering thousands of innocent and defenceless men, women and children are not.

I am sorry to tell the world and the Nigerian people that the Federal Government has been lying to them. They have not been waging any serious war against terror, no Fulani terrorists or herdsmen have been arrested or brought to justice and Boko Haram is as deadly and strong today as it has been in many years.  

If anyone doubts that they should find out how many local government areas Boko Haram control and how often they attack and carry out successful operations in major cities in Borno and Yobe states.

They are killing as many people today as they did five years ago but the difference is that the govermment has suppressed the information and ordered a media blackout of these terrible events.

On the abduction of the girls from their school in Dapchi, Yobe state the situation is even more pathetic because it could have been avoided.

When you pay millions of dollars in ransom to Boko Haram over 3 years, when you lie to the world that you have defeated them, when you release thousands of their footsoldiers and commanders from prison and claim that they have "repented" and when you compel the media to supress the truth about the gains they have made in parts of the country why should you or anyone else be surprised about what happened in Dapchi?

It was bound to happen because you have empowered and emboldened them!

Worse still is the fact that the Govermor of Yobe has said that the soldiers that were guarding Dapchi were removed 24 hours before the attack and abduction took place.

The question is who gave the order to remove them and why?

Again the fact that military intelligence (DMI) had formally informed the Nigerian Army and the Federal Government that an attack on Dapchi was imminent and that the warning was brushed under the carpet and ignored raises even more questions.

Finally some time back the Daily Trust Newspaper and BBC Hausa Service reported that on two separate occasions the military came very close to capturing Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, but that they were ordered by someone in Abuja to step down the operation, back off and let him go at the last minute. This again begs the question: who gave the order and why?

We need to know what is really going on because it looks as if some of these people were complicit in these terrible and shocking events!

All this is bad enough yet nothing exposes the level of deceit and insincerity of the Buhari administration more than their reaction to the abduction. First they said "no girls were kidnapped!" Then they said "sorry we lied!"

Then they said "ALL the girls have been rescued!" Then they said "sorry we lied!"

Then they said "SOME of the girls have been rescued!" Then they said "sorry we lied!"

Then they finally admitted that 110 girls had been taken and that none of them had been rescued, seen or heard from since. WHAT A GOVERNMENT!

Worse of all some of the parents of the abducted girls were detained, threatened and harrsassed by security agents and the military simply because they told the world the truth about what has happened to their girls and because they were exposing the lies that the government kept churning out.

If anyone doubts this they should please ask Stephanie Hegarty of the BBC who has done an excellent job in this respect and who has kept the international community aware of all the events with her twitter handle and her excellent reportage with the BBC.

That is how bad the situation is and our government has clearly lost control. They are more interested in covering up their own deceit, incompetence and complicty than fighting or stopping the activities of Boko Haram.

This is the same Boko Haram that they told us had been "technically defeated" two years ago and whose leader, Abubakar Shekau, they claimed to have killed a number of times over the last three years but who keeps popping up all over the place like a bad coin.

This is the same Boko Haram that they took 1 billion USD from government coffers a few weeks ago and claimed that they wanted to use it to fight.

The truth is that they have told us yet another lie and anyone that believes the fanciful tale that the money was used to fight Boko Haram or any other terrorist organisation will believe anything.

Now that the Dapchi girls have been kidnapped, the Government will allocate to itself yet another 1 billion USD and tell the Nigerian people the same old story.

Buhari has failed in his so-called war against terror and against Boko Haram and he appears to have lost control of his own security forces.

The whole thing is a mess and a sham and, to some, it is also a money-making venture.

The final clanger and piece of compelling evidence of the sheer insincerity of purpose, irresponsible disposition and utter depravity of the Buhari administration was made manifest when the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, proudly announced to the world that no less than 100 fighter jets had been deployed to look for the 110 Dapchi girls!

Such was the absurdity and magnitude of this particularly shameful mendacity and so embarrasing was it for the Buhari regime that the very next day the Nigerian Airforce was ordered to set the record straight, compelled to admit that the Minister of Information was lying and constrained to clear the air by telling the world that 100 jets had  NOT been deployed to look for the abducted girls.

Meanwhile at the last Council of States meeting, which took place in mid-February, President Buhari walked past the embattled Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state, refused to shake his hand, looked him in the eye and asked "how are your cattle rearers?" with a big smirk on his face.

This is all he had to say to a man whose people, for the last three years, have been subjected to mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide by (according to the International Terror Index) the world's "fourth most deady terrorist organisation", Nigeria's second most deadly terrorist organisation and those same Fulani herdsmen and cattle-rearers whose welfare he was asking after.

Buhari did not offer his condolences for the latest round of killings in Benue state which had taken place a few days earlier, he did not ask about the families of those that had been slaughtered and he did not ask about the morale of the people in the state.

Instead he asked about those who have been slaughtering, butchering, tormenting and torturing them for the last three years and those that have been raping their women.

This was callous, cold-blooded and sadistic. I watched  the whole thing on video and, as I did, chills went down my spine.

I was utterly perplexed and disgusted by his nonchalance and dismissive attitude and by his manner and disposition.

If anyone doubts what I have said I challenge them to search for the video on Youtube and see it for themselves.

Sadly no less than three days after this strange encounter and the President's chilling question and inappropiate behaviour, Ortom revealed the fact that in his state 60 more innocent souls had been butchered by those same cattle-rearers since the mass burial of the 73 that had been slaughtered in January.

He also revealed the fact that the Fulani terorists and herdsmen had flooded his state with over one million cows!

Sadly the governor was to receive even more shockers after that. On the night of sunday March 4th the Fulani terrorists atttacked and slaughtered scores of people in Guma, Benue state, burnt down at least 20 houses and displaced no less than 200 people.

Again there was no intervention made by the Armed Forces to protect or defend members of the indigenous population and neither were any of the marauding and killer herdsmen and terrorists apprehended, arrested, brought to justice or shot by our security agencies.

The truth is that whether it is Boko Haram or the Fulani terrorists Buhari is not in the least bit interested in fighting or stopping them.

As a matter of fact he thrives on their blood-lust and he appears to enjoy the horror and terror that their bloodfest inflicts and unleashes.

Consequently both heads of the two-headed dragon that he bestrides and rides have been busy feeding on the flesh and drinking the blood of the Nigerian people.

Then came a shocker.

On the evening of tuesday 27th February, as I was about to board a plane at Abuja airport for my flight to Lagos, I received a phone call from a beautiful and courageous daughter of Numan in Adamawa state.

She told me that Fulani terrorists and herdsmen had just killed our very own friend and brother, Prince Sam Zadok. I could not believe my ears and I fell into a state of utter shock and disbelief.

Sam was a pride to the PDP, a rising star in Nigerian politics and an honest, noble man with impeccable credentials and unimpeachable integrity.

He had such a bright future ahead of him and so much to offer Nigeria. He was a Prince of the Royal House of Numan, a former Commissioner of Youth and Sports, a former Special Advisor to a Governor and the spokesman of the PDP in Adamawa state.

They not only killed him but they also killed 19 others that were with him whilst they were on their way to commiserate with the families of other Bachama sons and daughters that had been slaughtered by the same Fulani terrorists in Gwampa village just two nights earlier.

About 50 Fulani herdsmen ambushed Sam and his co-travellers and they did not just kill them but they also desecrated and maimed their bodies, removed their eyes, cut off their vital organs, cut out their tongues  and literally cut them to pieces.

It was so bad that their remains had to be buried immediately and in the dark of the night without the youths of Numan seeing them otherwise there would have been an immediate response, a vicious, bloody and unprecedented backlash and a series of devastating reprisal killings.

Those that murdered Sam Zadok and the Numan 19 are not human beings: they are animals. And as far as I am concerned Zadok and those that fell with him are martyrs because they were killed whilst they were attempting to defend and protect their Bachama kinsmen.  

I was restless throughout the flight to Lagos and utterly heartbroken that such a brilliant and courageous young man could be cut short in this way whilst in the prime of his life.

I was so devastated by what happened to him that I proceeded to Prophet TB Joshua's SCOAN Church in Ikotun for an unscheduled visit immediately after landing in Lagos in order to consult with the man of God and to secure prayers for Sam's precious soul.

TB Joshua has himself been a victim of terror and he knows how it feels. On 12th September 2014 his Church was blown up by rogue Islamist and jihadist elements in Nigeria's intelligence and security agencies with the loss of over 200 lives and the whole thing was covered up by the government and made to look as if the building had collapsed because it had a faulty foundation.

Despite that terrible experience, and as a consequence of his faith in God, hard work, commitment, dedication and prayer, Joshua was able to rise up to the occassion, get up on his feet and soldier on.

This, coupled with his raffish charm, disarming simplicity and remarkable humility, has impressed and inspired me immensly and made me proud to call him my brother and friend.  

Since that horrific 2014 incident he has not only pulled up his socks and gone from strength to strength but he has also offered tremendous solace and comfort to the poor, the deprived, the wounded and the broken-hearted and to the relatives, loved ones and friends of victims of similar incidents and other tragic events.

I can testify to the fact that he is a kind and gentle man that is filled with nothing but love and compassion.

Given all this it was only natural for me to go and see him from the airport in an attempt to seek his counsel and wisdom and tap from his strength.

Sadly I did not meet him in the Church that night because he had apparantly travelled out of the country and therefore I proceeded to Ikoyi to spend what can only be described as a sad, painful and sorrowful night.

Whilst the entire nation mourned Sam and the other heroes of Bachama that were killed that night, the people of Numan themselves were filled with anger and rage.

As far as they were concerned this was yet another unwarranted and unprovoked attack on their people by the Fulani terrorists who appeared hell-bent on igniting a full scale tribal war!

Reflective of their rising anger were the words of the Acting Chief of Lawaru Numan, who, in response to another brutal attack that took place towards the end of last year, said,

"Buhari sent the Fulani to kill us. After that the Nigerian Air Force deployed their jets to drop rockets on our houses. We wanted to defend ourselves, the Fulanis attacked us. They killed my father, he was cut into pieces."

This sort of thing is not only a regular occurence in Nigeria today but it is also an unfolding nightmare and a tragedy of monumental proportions. Yet it does not stop there.

Just as my trauma resulting from the cold-blooded murder of my friend Sam was subsiding, no less than 48 hours later the news broke about a yet another devastating attack by Boko Haram on a predominantly Christian IDP camp in Ranna, Borno state.

The reports confirmed that hundreds of poor refugees and other innocent men, women and children were slaughtered, including some United Nations workers, Medecine San Frontiers staff and other foreign and domestic doctors, aid workers and personnel.

Worst still the military base in Ranna where many of them ran to for protection was also attacked, overun and overwhelmed.

The soldiers were overpowered and swept aside, scores of people were killed and guns, weapons and all manner of munitions were stolen from the armoury and carried away by the Boko Haram insurgents.  

It is important to point out that this was the same IDP camp in Ranna that the Nigerian Airforce dropped bombs on in January 2017 which resulted in the cold-blooded murder of no less than 200 poor and innocent refugees, most of whom were women and children.

The only explanation that the airforce and government gave at the time was that the bombing and consequent loss of life was "a mistake" and none of the pilots involved were brought to justice or faced any sanctions.

That is the type of insensitive, callous, barbaric, unacceptable, inept and unaccountable leadership that Muhammadu Buhari has provided for our people and for the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Meanwhile the two-headed dragon of Boko Haram and the Fulani terrorists that he rides and derives his strength and power from has continued to relentlessly feast on the flesh and blood of the innocents in our land.

Permit me to conclude with the following: two days after Boko Haram attacked Ranna in Borno state, Fulani terrorists and herdsmen once again unleashed massive slaughter, carnage and terror on the indigenous Christian population in Mambilla, Taraba state.

Many of the  local indigenous farmers and their families were butchered and chopped up into small pieces after they were dispossesed of their farms, homes and land.

Two days after that, on Sunday 4th March, the Fulani terrorists attacked a number of farms in Abraka, Delta state and not only massacred scores of innocent people, including women and children, in cold blood but also raped the women and cut off the fingers and toes of those those that they did not kill for "daring to resist" them.  

Rarely have such horrific events been witnessed in our shores.

Under Buhari's watch our nation has become a theater of war and a veritable human abbatoir where mass murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, terror, fear, ritual killings, barbarity and all manner of evil reign.

He needs to be stripped of his power and removed from office whilst the two-headed Whitewalker dragon that he rides and with which he torments and bestrides our nation like a collosus must be mastered, tamed, brought to heel, slaughtered, beheaded, carved into pieces, burnt to ashes and buried in the deepest recesses and bottomless pit of the filthiest pubic latrine.

May God deliver Nigeria!

Fateema Mohammed is obviously convinced that the next president of the country should be former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. In this interview, the Director General (DG) of Atikunation group gave reasons for her conviction. She also spoke on her political ambition after the bitter experience she had with her party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the last general election.

Why are you so passionate about Atiku becoming the next President of Nigeria?

The choice of Atiku for me is a personal conviction. You set your cards on the table and then you ask yourself, among all of the players on stage who is capable? In a time like this, we have different politicians; we have the pretenders who just want to come out and seek another thing.  We have the contenders. To me, Atiku is the only contender to that seat. I am speaking personally; I think he is the only credible candidate in every aspect and he will be the next president.  

How do you intend to convince people to support Atiku, considering his fracas with Obasanjo?

When you have a good product you don’t need to go through the stress of hyping the product. Atiku is the most sell-able candidate. The politics of the south-west is very dynamic; we have a lot of people who are exposed and knowledgeable. When you talk about APC it was Atiku’s money that helped the party to stand today and from the day he left APC, you will have seen that the party has taken a dive for the worse. It is simply because one of its pillars just left. Selling him is not a problem at all. He is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria. He is the benefactor of over 50,000 employees. He is a lover of youth and a detribalised Nigerian. He has wives from south-west and south-east. He believes in the girl child. He lives and says that he will give hope to the women and all that. Above all, he believes in restructuring.  Is Obasanjo God or is he God’s Personal Assistant.  Obasanjo has just one vote. He cannot determine who will be president. Obasanjo will be alive when Atiku will become president.  He cannot stop Atiku.

Do you think the PDP will give him the ticket?

I don’t want to think whether Atiku will get the ticket. He will get the ticket. He will run as the president of this country.

 If Atiku is good as you portray him, why didn’t he win in APC?

He was rigged out. A night before the primaries, he was rigged out and yet he attended the election to deepen democracy in the country. If Atiku was not there, the international community would grade it null and void. His presence gave the election credibility.

 What about you, do you intend running again after the last experience?

What happened at that time was that I was taken unawares. I went to rest because I had won already at the poll and my party went to take out my name in parley with the INEC. This time I have re-strategised and I know the game better. 

It was not the system that removed my name, it was some bad egg in the party that did so just because they do not believe in winning, only to embezzle funds in the party.

I want to say it now and on record, yes, I helped them to win in the last election on condition and that condition has not been met. That particular meeting was recorded. I have it and if they deny it I will publish it. I was aggrieved with my party at that time because I thought everybody was involved. I asked him to make sure government is truly doable to the electorate. Ifako-ijaye is the second largest local government in Lagos and stinks of poverty and underdevelopment. But rather than work, they have been busy paying money to the godfathers who put them there. 

What is your thought on the ‘not too young to run’ law?

I am an advocate for ‘not too young to run’, ‘not too old to rule.’ The political institution is a school on its own; you don’t start from the scratch today and be at the top the next day. These old people are the founding fathers of our politics. Moreover, it involves money that most of these young ones don’t have. Travelling and meetings, all these involve money.

Sun

In apparent response to traders’ persistent lamentation over the scarcity of lower denominations of the national currency and its adverse effects on trade, the CBN has commenced the process of flooding the market with these denominations of the currency. It is a most welcome development which should have come earlier.

We are glad, however, that the apex bank has finally responded to this call for a redress in the market with regards to the difficulties traders and other users of the currency face with the shortage of the lower denominations of the currency.

As part of its sensitisation programme on the exercise, the CBN Director of Currency Operations, Mrs. Priscilla Eleje, was at the Wuse Market in Abuja recently to kick-start the national rollout of the lower denominations of N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 notes. The plan is to make the notes easily accessible to the end users, especially traders through their market associations and banks. It is instructive that the CBN recognises the communication gap that existed in the past and is ready to bridge this now by engaging the traders and getting direct feedback.

The absence of this, in the past, was one reason the scarcity of the lower denominations persisted to the detriment of the economy. Privileged persons and their collaborators ran hoarding rings with the lower denominations which they resold for huge profits. Those involved in these rackets can be seen at public places like motor parks, social events venues, and sometimes, in the bank premises.

Time was in the past, when these lower denominations were hugely available and distributed. Apart from the Naira notes, the national currency was also denominated in coins. The last exercise was in February 2007 when the N50, N20, N10 and N5 notes as well as the N1 and 50K coins were reissued and a new N2 coin was introduced. It is very important for the health of any economy that these lower denominations are widely circulated. The absence of these lower denominations has tended to fuel inflationary spirals as goods and services can only be priced in currencies that are in circulation.

The disappearance of the coins in our currency units for example, also marked the seeming disappearance of goods and services that were priced at such lower values. Goods such as sugar biscuits were no longer bought with kobo coins.

The pressure is more today on the N5 note which is hardly available in the market. If something wasn’t done to stymie this ugly trend, the consequence would be that, before long, no goods and services would be priced for anything less than N10. Such a situation will be unacceptable.

Business transactions, at times, take long hours because of lack of lower denominations of the currency. We believe that the massive circulation of the lower denominations will drastically address this challenge.

Sun

When,back in January, at the conclusion of its 59th annual meeting, the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Board (CDFIPB) approved the promotion of more than 8,000 officers, no eyebrows were raised. Promotions are a matter of administrative routine within the federal civil service, and there seemed to be nothing about the latest round to raise anyone’s hackles. Yet, judging by last week’s petition to the National Assembly by a group of aggrieved officers, the latest exercise would appear to have been anything but routine.

According to the officers, “A close study of the promotion list showed that Muslim officers from the North, especially the North-West, were favoured above others from other regions. How does one explain that the first two pages of the list of officers promoted from the rank of Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI) to Assistant Comptroller of Immigration (ACI) contained the names of Muslim officers of Northern extraction?” The officers also pointed out that “Katsina State alone produced five to six comptrollers, while some southern states had none.” Furthermore, “Some officers have been on the rank of CSI, ACI and DCI for six to eight years and these Northern officers who were recently elevated in 2014 were again elevated at (sic) the detriment of their Southern counterparts.”

The NIS has moved to debunk these allegations. In a statement, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Service, Mr. James Sunday, insisted that January’s exercise, like previous ones undertaken by the NIS, was based on merit. He also took issue with the aggrieved officers for taking their case to the National Assembly rather than petition the Board directly. But the worry for any close observer of the Buhari administration is the uncanny familiarity of the officers’ complaint.  For instance, it recalls a similar petition filed by aggrieved officers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June 2016 when the Federal Government released a list of 47 career ambassadorial nominees. The petitioners’ main animus at the time was that “the general outlook of the list is not clear and no apparent order or criteria were used, thereby making room for insinuations and speculations.”

While  the Buhari administration has consistently rejected allegations of ethnic bias leveled against it, it is imperative that it put its money where its mouth is in this matter by ordering an investigation into the officers’ allegations. It is not enough, as the NIS PRO has done, to dismiss the officers’ complaint and pick holes in the method they have used to air their grievances. Nepotism and ethno-religious discrimination are serious infractions. The Federal Government cannot afford to treat them with levity.

Tribune

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has smashed a syndicate that specialises in diverting funds from the account of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

The EFCC also grilled a JAMB official based in Makurdi, Philomina Chieshe, who claimed that a snake swallowed N36m which was part of the proceeds of the sale of scratch cards.

In one of the statements she volunteered to the EFCC, Chieshe who is a clerk in the Makurdi office of JAMB, was said to have revealed that the coordinator usually asked her to withdraw proceeds of the sale of the cards from her account in two banks.

It was learnt that before the advent of the Treasury Single Accounts, the practice at the time was for JAMB officials to keep the proceeds of the sale of cards in unauthorised bank accounts which led to the loss of billions of naira.

In the statement she made to the EFCC under oath, Chieshe said, “This money that I withdraw, the coordinator used  it for the office and some time for himself.”

She claimed that she had been warning Umaru that it was improper to use the money for miscellaneous expenses in the office or for private purposes but he would not listen.

The suspect also claimed that Umoru was in the habit of drawing IOUs from the proceeds of the sale of the cards without reimbursing her.

Some of the withdrawals which she claimed were at the behest of the coordinator included the N340,000 withdrawn on May 5 and 26, 2014 with an ATM card.

She also disclosed that she used her ATM card to withdraw N120,000 for the coordinator between June 17 and 18, 2014.

Sources close to the EFCC disclosed that the investigating team had verified the withdrawals after a careful analysis of the statements of account of the suspect.

 It was learnt that Umaru had also been arrested and questioned about claims by Chieshe.

He was, however, released on administrative bail.

An EFCC source said, “The interesting aspect of the disclosure is that Chieshe’s statement was obtained long before the snake and naira swallowing testimony became public knowledge.

“She was first quizzed on February 16, 2017 and made additional statements on April 7, 2017 , May 30, 2017 and June 28, 2017.

“In all her statements before the EFCC, there was no mention of any episode of any snake and the disappearance of monies in her care.”

The EFCC also quizzed another JAMB official, Tanko Labaran, the clerk in Nasarawa State office of the board who could not account for scratch cards worth N23m.

He allegedly claimed the cards given to him were lost in a car accident. According to Labaran, he had an accident on his way from the head office with cards and the vehicle caught fire.

The suspect also had a police report to back the claim.

But a source at the EFCC said investigation so far indicated that the cards which were supposedly destroyed in the accident were used judging by evidence secured from the JAMB information database.

“The serial numbers of the cards and the telephone numbers of the users were captured by the JAMB information system,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the EFCC has also quizzed another officer from the Gombe State office of JAMB for failure to account for N20m worth of cards.

During interrogation, he claimed not to have received any cards, that his signature on the letter transferring the cards to him was forged.

Punch

Even when it is not publicly disclosed, the issue that bothers even the most loyalist of President Muhammadu Buhari is his capacity to show insensitivity, especially when human life is involved. Unfortunately, no matter the length and breadth and depth of the complaints, he just carries on as he has decided.

This past weekend, President Buhari displayed such insensitivity again with his visit to Kano for the wedding of the son of the Governor of Ogun State and the daughter of the Governor of Kano State. Twenty two governors were present at the wedding.

In different states, there have been killings perpetrated by groups like Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, and others, as well as other natural disasters like flooding. Two weeks ago, some 110 girls were kidnapped in their school in Dapchi, Yobe State. Buhari has not visited Yobe State or any of the states where people were killed. He has ignored all of them and carried on as if it is normal for these deaths or disasters to occur. It is either that he is busy receiving his classmates in his hometown or he is receiving governors who have come to tell him that he is the only person that can govern Nigeria from 2019.

Interestingly, while he ignores all the states where these tragedies have occurred, he has found time to attend to political or social functions in different states, including neighbouring states where these disasters have occurred. His weekend visit to Kano for a wedding ceremony at a time he had not visited Benue or Taraba or Kaduna or Zamfara or Yobe or Borno, after the recent series of tragedies and deaths that had hit these states, was in tune with that strange attitude he displays.

Surprisingly, these states all voted for him in the 2015 presidential election. Therefore, one cannot say that he is angry at them for not voting for him.

On issues like rebuilding the economy, creating employment, defeating insurgency, revamping dilapidated infrastructure, and the like, a President will need time and money to achieve results. These are external factors that a leader does not have absolute control over.

 However, when it comes to visiting a people who have witnessed a disaster, or consoling such people, or taking actions that will assuage their sorrow and pain, it does not require time and money. The factors are internal and personal. One can wake up and take such an action. And such an action helps to calm frayed nerves and communicate to the people that their President is humane. The Presidency does not need to spend money on producing and airing a commercial entitled, “The Human Side of Buhari,” a title which ironically implies that the President is not human.

Pastor Tunde Bakare, Senior Pastor of Latter Rain Assembly and former running mate to Buhari, expressed his misgivings about the wedding visit thus:

 “If any of them had lost a daughter in that captivity, would they celebrate that way? I know the Bible says rejoice with them that rejoice, but I do not know what the President of Nigeria was doing there.

 “And somebody came to say, let me explain to you, it is Islamic tradition, before this time, about January, they had agreed, that he (Buhari) would be the one to give the bride away and (Bola) Tinubu would be the one to pay the bride price, and present the son, and they agreed long before now.

“I looked at him and said the President of Nigeria wanted to come to my daughter’s wedding, and I said to him, Sir, don’t come. That is beneath your office. Face the work of the state and keep serving.

 “And 22 governors showed up to mark register, when 110 daughters of citizens of your nation were captured by Boko Haram that you said you have already technically defeated?

“It just shows how insensitive our leaders are. We have got to a stage that our President has become a king and a monarch. That his son who rode his pleasurable bike that almost claimed his life will be returning from an overseas trip, where he had received special healthcare that Nigerians cannot afford, that it took a whole minister of state to go and welcome him, because he has no job.”

Sadly, before Buhari became the President in 2015, he consistently condemned acts like this. He condemned the way the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls was handled by his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan. He condemned Jonathan and the PDP for holding a party event shortly after the kidnap of the girls. He condemned the inability of that administration to stop the killings by Boko Haram and promised to eliminate Boko Haram and their killings.

One could understand if Boko Haram is proving difficult to eradicate, but how does one explain that the President does not show that he truly cares about those who are killed on a weekly basis or their relatives as well as those who have been kidnapped and their relatives who are in distress over the fate of their daughters or siblings? What does it cost to show concern? What does it cost to visit the scene of a tragedy? What does it cost to cancel a social or political event that had been scheduled many months before but coincides with a major tragic event? Why is it easier for President Buhari to attend social or political events but ignores areas where his compatriots are in mourning?

It is only President Buhari who can answer these questions. But it beats reason that such a man who gave everybody the impression that he was deeply concerned about the plight of Nigerians, a man who shed tears while talking about his desire to lead the nation, a man who packaged himself as a friend of the commoners, a man who promised to lead from the front, a man who condemned the insensitivity, frivolity and waste of his predecessors, would find it difficult to visit his compatriots at the hour of their sorrow but find time to go partying while those compatriots mourn.

The metamorphosis — or unravelling – of Buhari is inexplicable. Even his worst critics could not have predicted that he would be this insensitive about the plight of the same people he so passionately sought to lead for over 10 years.

Prof. Amos Sawyer, Head of ECOWAS’ 55-member Observation Mission to Sierra Leone, on Monday in Freetown tasked the regional observers to discharge their duty with the highest sense of responsibility and impartiality given the critical importance of the March 7 polls to peace and democratic consolidation in the country and the region.

“I wish to therefore admonish each and every one of us to conduct ourselves in a manner that is beyond reproach and ensure that our feedback is factual and truly reflects an impartial assessment of the 2018 General elections,” Prof. Sawyer, Liberia’s former Interim President said at the briefing of 40 Short-Term observers, who have joined 15 Long-Term Observers already on ground in Sierra Leone.

He noted that “all stakeholders, both domestic and international, are looking up to ECOWAS to lead the way, and the way we conduct ourselves, whilst on the field, will add value to the entire process.

The Head of Mission outlined ECOWAS’ engagement with stakeholders and support to Sierra Leone to ensure a successful electoral process, including the Needs Assessment Mission in July 2017 by the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), the first of its kind, followed by a joint ECOWAS-AU-UN High level Mission in November 2017.

This was followed by an ECOWAS Pre-electoral Fact-finding Mission in February 2018, complemented by series of training workshops on election-related mediation and dispute resolution, targeting faith-based organisations and community peace actors in the country.

In his introductory remarks, Prof. Sawyer congratulated the new ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Gen. Francis Behazin, on his appointment and formally welcomed him to his first observation assignment.

On behalf of the new President of the ECOWAS Commission Jean-Claude Kassi Brou,Commissioner Behazin, who is leading the Commission’s Technical Support Team for the Mission, welcomed the observers and urged them to carry out their assignment with effectiveness and precision.

He said the general elections would mark a major step toward consolidation of peace and democracy in Sierra Leone, and the larger ECOWAS Community, adding that the Commission had provided financial and other forms of support to ensure the success of the electoral process.

The ECOWAS Director of Political Affairs, Dr. Remi Ajibela, and the Head of Electoral Assistance Division Mr Francis Oke, set the tone for the observers’ briefing, by providing them with the historical and political contexts of the Sierra Leone polls, the logistics, security and local contacts.

Members of the Long-Term Observation Core Team also provided the observers with relevant information on the situation report, and also went through the observation Code of Conduct with them.

 

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A group of thieves stole $5 million in cash, which had been due to travel from Brazil to Switzerland aboard a Lufthansa jet, at a large freight airport near Sao Paulo, police said Monday.

The spectacular heist, which took place late Sunday, was completed in a matter of minutes, and authorities have yet to arrest a suspect.

The crooks entered Viracopos International Airport's freight terminal using a pickup on which they had "placed stickers mimicking the runway security company's logo," federal police said in a statement.

Germany-based Lufthansa's plane had been traveling from Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo and was making a stop at Viracopos - Brazil's biggest freight terminal - with Zurich as its final destination.

The stolen money had been held under the auspices of secure transport provider Brinks, according to the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

The daily said five men had threatened security agents on the runway before taking off with the cargo, in barely six minutes.

There was no immediate sign of injuries, the airport said.

Cargo theft is on the rise in Brazil, where most targets are semi-trucks, especially those serving Rio de Janeiro.

Gulf News