Essays

Blog, Essays

Dapchi kidnap: Another national embarrassment by Tribune

/

Tribune newspaper captured my thoughts in this editorial on the Dapchi girls abduction. Read on… The nation was once again in the throes of anger and desperation following the abduction of students of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, by Boko Haram. The incident came four years after the same terror group invaded a female school in Chibok, Borno State, taking into captivity, more than 200 girls. Up till now, more than 100 of those hapless girls remain in captivity, despite the repeated promises by the government that it would secure their release after a tripartite negotiated freedom for a number of their colleagues last year. Although the terrorists have sustained their sporadic attacks on mostly soft targets over time, the Monday onslaught on Dapchi College is most frightening, and virtually all the concerned authorities are enmeshed in panicky measures and cacophonies.  None has been able to provide concrete clues on the circumstances surrounding the abduction, particularly the actual number of the “unaccounted for girls.” At the initial stage, the authorities declared that none of the girls was missing, only for the military and the state government to later claim that the Army had rescued 50 students. The state governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, promptly recanted and issued an apology, claiming that he was misled by a false intelligence report from a security agency involved in the war against insurgency. Sadly, almost a week after the tragedy, the actual number of students abducted or rescued remains speculative. Governments at state and federal levels and the military authorities are mired in claims and counter-claims. While President Muhammadu Buhari’s apology following the national embarrassment is a welcome development, the way the whole crisis has been handled is most nauseating, inconsiderate and discourteous. The government’s conduct following the calamity is shameful and degrading. It raises disturbing questions about its capacity and readiness to guarantee the safety of life and property across the country. In particular, the government’s conduct has fuelled public anger and made the parents and guardians of the abducted girls to question its capacity to manage crisis. It is totally unreasonable and callous for the government to preoccupy itself with fairy tales, claiming that some of the girls yet to be accounted for might be hibernating in the villages to which they fled after the onslaught on their college, instead of making serious efforts to track their whereabouts. We believe that the Dapchi abduction is not just another national calamity and embarrassment but an avoidable tragedy. If the various authorities had done the needful more diligently and faithfully, the back and forth between the state government and the military over security lapses before the incident and the rescue operation would have been entirely unnecessary. At this stage, it is important to caution that the Dapchi abduction should not be allowed to degenerate in the manner that the Chibok Girls saga did. Enough of buck-passing among the concerned authorities; the girls must be rescued without further delay. The somberness on the part of the Presidency must translate into quick re-uniting of the students with their families. Lastly, the whole episode should be investigated   and  whoever is found culpable should be sanctioned appropriately to show the place of discipline, professionalism and decorum in public service. Those who shirked their responsibility to protect life and property must not be allowed to go scot-free.

Blog, Essays, Monishots

Will the APC crumble like A Pack of Cards?

/

We may like to think that politics is a battle of ideas and that the best idea wins out. But that is not true in most elections, most elections are about the worst ideas losing, not the best ideas winning.~ Chuck Todd We are in the penultimate year of the elections and expectedly politicking is once again in high gear. Even as the economy groans in a crippling fuel scarcity, the citizens are slaughtered and abducted in mind-numbing numbers, our politicians have descended into a frenzy of comical photo-ops, bacchanal solidarity visits, and insipid political rallies. It may not be wrong to suggest that Obasanjo’s letter triggered the orgy of activities, for much as the euphoria over his missive fizzled out when the opposition PDP dismissed his coalition, the former president has continued holding meetings and consultations. Buhari has since then saddled former Lagos state governor and party leader Bola Tinubu with the unenviable task of mending fences within the ruling party. A task which has predictably hit a rocky path in just a few days with allegations and denials between Asiwaju and the party chairman John Oyegun. Where will Tinubu start? Is it with Shehu Sani and El-Rufai? or Rochas and Ararume? Amaechi versus Abe and Melaye against Bello? Of course political differences are rarely personal and some of these characters have been friends for ages. Corruption often unites them more than personal ambition separates them. So we expect to see some hugs and back patting but which ever way you look at it, Tinubu’s mission is a terribly difficult one. Be that as it may the battle for power and political office in 2019 will only get fiercer as the year progresses. Indeed we have been treated to a preamble as Senator Abdullahi Adamu led a walk out on his colleagues as amendments to the Electoral Act which effected a change in the election schedule were passed. As if the amendment wasn’t an adequate warning to the presidency the lawmakers have reportedly threatened to override a contrary presidential veto, a move which has been interpreted in political circles as unpalatable to the presidency. It is not as if Saraki, a seasoned lawmaker is unaware that even as INEC has filed a suit in the apex court any rookie lawyer can hold up the amendments in a court till after the elections, rather he appreciates the value of every punch in political battles even if its just a jab for testing the waters. Sadly governance is often neglected in the midst of all these and the masses suffer. That the APC led administration hasn’t performed any better is a truism. The government has so far not lived up to its promise to improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians. This is an undeniable fact no matter your ethno-religious or partisan sentiment. Let me not bother you with the all too familiar tableau of our tragedies which was recently capped by the abduction of over 100 school girls in Dapchi community, Yobe state. A shameful recurrence of the infamous Chibok kidnap that the president himself rightly described as “a national disaster”. So if we consider the opening quote by Chuck Todd a plausible explanation to why Nigerians chose Buhari over Jonathan in the last presidential election then a pertinent question arises; Are there available candidates to make re-electing Buhari the worst idea? Of course, there are plenty. I for one believe that Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai, and Babatunde Fashola have what it takes to perform better as the president of this country. I don’t really give a hoot about what you think of them, this is my opinion which I’m entitled to. These men are young workaholics, they are achievers and their records speak for themselves. Assuming these men declare their intention to contest the election, a second question however follows; What is the probability that any will clinch his party’s ticket let alone going ahead to defeat Buhari in the polls? The chances are remote and therein lies the stark reality. Of course, there are some who will argue that it is because Buhari’s supporters are largely illiterate or ignorant. Please perish that elitist narrative because they constitute a majority of the electorate, the same electorate that sent Trump to the White House in one of the most advanced countries and what some consider the greatest democracy in the world. Others will query the benefit of having that section of the populace as a dominant determinant in the power equation if in retrospect another candidate ‘could’ have done better? Well, the truth is that whether or not the capture of political power by the proletariat appears superfluous after the fact, what really makes democracy imperative is the possibility of such conquest which can bring the political elite back to reality albeit temporarily. So are we back to square one? Have we found ourselves in a worse situation than in 2015 when many felt the leading choices were poor? Well whatever anyone may think, the likelihood of APC losing the next election is practically very small. For one they are in power. If they could take power from the outside how much more now they are inside? Then secondly the power is concentrated around the Hausa-Fulani whom the rest of the country have unwittingly ascribed some mythical extra-terrestrial political powers too. So the only way APC will lose power in 2019 is if the party defeats itself with complete disintegration. I can predict that such is unlikely to happen if we are to judge by the characteristic selfishness of our politicians. If Buhari eventually decides to run again the only serious contender left in the ruling party that could decamp is Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso. Anyone who believes that the former governor can win Kano which Buhari has never lost in previous elections must be a greenhorn in Nigerian politics. And if you think that Obasanjo and IBB wrote letters because they truly care about you then I’m sorry for you. The real

Blog, Essays

The importance of indigenous languages by Thisday

/

An incisive editorial from Thisday newspaper on the importance of indigenous languages as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launched its Igbo and Yoruba language services…Read on ————————————————————————————————————————— Government must take concrete steps to protect indigenous languages by enforcing the national policy on education As the world marks the 2018 International Mother Tongue Day, it is important for all stakeholders to pay attention to the growing extinction of many of our indigenous languages and the implication to the future of our country. It is all the more remarkable that this year, the day is being marked in the same week that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launches Igbo and Yoruba language services in Nigeria as part of an expansion in local languages aimed at more in-depth reporting of countries around the world. “It’s time for people to try to tell their own stories,” said Peter Okwoche of the BBC. To the extent that languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing both tangible and intangible heritage, according to the United Nations, “all moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue”. Incidentally, long before the intervention by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on the promotion of indigenous languages, the federal government had shown concerns for the plight of Nigerian languages when it sought to encourage their teaching and learning in our schools under the national policy on education. Section 1 (8) of the policy emphasises that “the Federal Government shall take official interest in, and make policy pronouncements on the teaching of the indigenous languages, instead of concerning itself solely with English Language’’. Accordingly, the policy stipulates that every pupil must in the course of primary school education study two languages, namely, his/her mother tongue, if available for study, or any other indigenous language of wider communication in his/her area of domicile alongside English Language. The policy also requires that students in Junior Secondary School (JSS), (which is of three-year duration) must study three languages, namely, mother tongue, if available for study, or an indigenous language of wider communication in his/her area of domicile, alongside one of the three major indigenous languages in the country, namely, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, provided the language chosen is distinct from the child’s mother tongue. In Senior Secondary School (SSS), which also lasts three years, a Nigerian child, according to the policy, must study two languages: an indigenous language and English Language. As we have consistently reiterated, several studies have shown a relationship between level of development and language with the attendant result that those countries that use their indigenous languages, called mother tongue, as their lingual franca have a faster rate of development than those that use a second (foreign) language. However, many schools are unable to offer these indigenous languages because of lack of teachers, a cumulative effect of several years of indifference. Obviously, the policymakers were aware of this acute shortfall when they used the phrase “if available for study” in the policy. This optional nature of the policy undermines its implementation. Since embedded in our indigenous languages is our rich culture, history, traditions, and values, government must take deliberate and concrete steps to protect them by enforcing the national policy on education with regard to learning and teaching of mother tongue. That must be the starting point because education is the base of the future of every society. One of the ominous signs of danger today is the incremental loss of our rich arts forms, particular in music, dance and fashion as our youths have taken to the Western genre, threatening our cultural identity as African people. What critical stakeholders must therefore never forget is that as our indigenous languages face extinction, so are other aspects of our culture, including history, traditions and values.

Blog, Essays, Monishots

Give Me Good Governance Over Restructuring.

/

  They don’t know what they are talking about, I don’t believe in true federalism. What is true federalism? Why are they (the states) not accountable? What powers do they not have? They have power. In fact, state governors are more powerful than the president. That’s the truth. So if anybody tells you they want devolution or true federalism, he doesn’t know what he is talking.~ Olusegun Obasanjo With the above words, the Ebora Owu dismissed the calls for restructuring and true federalism in a chat with African Arguments published on 28th September 2017. The issue which has dominated the news agenda in the past few months is also being championed by none other than his arch-rival and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who has made it the focal point of his renewed quest for the top job. In fairness to him, Obasanjo has never been a proponent of devolution. Understandably, this can be attributed to his background as a soldier. His time in Aso Rock was dotted by the tendency to centralise rather than decentralise power. He rode roughshod over perceived obstacles, deposing governors, senate presidents and a police chief as he strode boisterously around the country like a colossus. As usual many including yours truly will be quick to dismiss whatever is attributed to Obasanjo, but let us put the old soldier aside and critically interrogate his missive. Federalism comes in varying forms, that much I am sure most of us will agree with. The common denominator, however, is that all forms have a relationship of shared authority between the component levels of government as agreed by the federating units. No system of government is perfect, therefore nation-states keep evolving to adjust whatever system is practised to present day realities. Our federalism has been plagued by inter-ethnic rivalry, power-sharing and revenue allocation to mention just a few. The calls for restructuring are therefore not entirely misplaced, but some like Balarabe Musa has said that many chanting the song are doing so for selfish reasons. And truth be told, we have been restructuring since Independence, perhaps not in the manner many of the recent disciples envisage. But then again different regions have different interpretations and reasons for restructuring. Let us take a stroll down history lane to examine the pattern of the calls for restructuring. After Aguiyi Ironsi’s declaration of a unitary system on the 24th of May 1966, it is on record that the old Northern and Western regions were critical of the decree while the Eastern region remained silent. The North particularly was vociferous in their attacks and accused Ironsi of planning to foist Igbo domination on the entire nation. While Aguiyi dithered the North took their umbrage to the peak and assassinated him in Ibadan on the 29th of July 1966. It is pertinent to note that Aguiyi’s decree 34 did not strip the regions of resource control yet the North kicked because he was not their own. What followed was an extensive era of successive Military governments mostly headed by northerners that established revenue review committees. These committees more or less acted as morticians for the final cremation of the derivation principle of revenue sharing that formed the nucleus of our federal system of government. Indeed the lopsided centralisation of resources actually started when Awolowo, acting as Gowon’s Federal Commissioner of Finance reduced derivation on the recommendation of the 1968 Dina Commission. Despite the rejection of this by the Council of Commissioners of Finance from all the regions, the Gowon administration enacted decrees 13, 9 of 1970 and 1971 respectively which appropriated a large portion of exploration and consolidated revenue to the centre. The old Eastern region was disgruntled but coming from the defeat of a protracted civil war the region was too ravaged to utter a whimper. The Murtala and Obasanjo regimes even went further to allocate more to the centre. Murtala’s decree 6 allotted only 20% of oil royalties to the producing states the Federal Government got 80%. Obasanjo’s Aboyade Technical Commission vanquished the allocation to the Niger Delta as the centre retained 100% of mining rents and royalties This was the end of the road for derivation and what many perceive as the end of our fiscal federalism. Crude oil which then contributed over 70% to the national purse was taken from the states and federalized to be shared according to the whims of the man in Abuja. In all these years there was muted disapproval from especially the South East and South South but the notorious high-handedness of military rulers was enough deterrence to make potential agitators have a rethink. Our second stint at democracy did not solve the problem as Shagari retained the 100% derivation at the centre bequeathed by Obasanjo. It wasn’t until the 1995 Constitutional Conference during the Abacha regime approved a 13% derivation for littoral states that we began to see some semblance of a return to fiscal federalism. However, it is also noteworthy that cries of marginalisation by MOSOP rented the air from 1992 till the state execution of Ken Saro Wiwa in late 1995. Obasanjo’s second coming as a civilian president saw him abolishing the offshore/onshore dichotomy ruling of the Supreme Court in 2004 via an act of parliament. This ‘magnanimity’ elicited applause from the political elite of the Niger Delta and Akwa Ibom whose oil resources are virtually 100% offshore found itself in stupendous wealth. Once again the South relaxed on calls for restructuring. The Yar’adua era saw the South screaming again for federalism and when Jonathan took over the shouts automatically stopped in the South-South and South East. The South West continued screaming as the region was excluded from the top 6 elected positions in Jonathan’s administration. With Buhari’s victory coming from the alliance of the South West and the North, the pendulum has swung to the South East and South South to lead the screams for restructuring and even secession. I have taken time to elucidate this timeline so that it shouldn’t require sorcery to decipher that the volume of

Blog, Essays

Presidential absence, ministerial insolence and sundry insensitivity by The Guardian

/

When I read that the Zamfara state governor Abdul-aziz Yari Abubakar was still in Abuja unaware of the massacre in his state days after a few media outlets reported it I was livid and decided to pen a piece on such insensitivity and aloofness among our leaders especially President Muhammadu Buhari who has disappointed a majority of Nigerians with his actions or should I say inactions in Benue but in this editorial which was published by The Guardian thoroughly dissected the issue.. Read on ————————————————————————————————————————————   It is still unacceptable that what people feared most about the presidency and its attitude to the herdsmen’s killings in Benue State was actually what happened in the end with President Muhammadu Buhari visiting a neighbouring state, Nasarawa to commission insignificant projects, but failing to visit Benue State. This is a tragic flaw, a character trait, which ultimately leads to a tragic action that produces the tragic hero. It is getting curiouser and curiouser why a president who was elected on an unparallel wave of goodwill would court this fate. It was remarkable that President Muhammadu Buhari had vowed that his administration would not tolerate the attacks by herdsmen and other bandits, developments that have overshadowed other governance issues in the country in recent months. He assured the people of the north-central zone and indeed all Nigerians that the Federal Government was working day and night to ensure peace and stability returned to the flashpoints in the country. Even when he disclosed in Lafia that the government had deployed additional resources to all affected areas to maintain law and order, most people watching on television believed that the Nigerian leader should have flown to Makurdi first to commiserate with the grieving people of Benue who had earlier lost more than 73 of their kinsmen to herdsmen’s murderous acts. But sadly, he did not show up there. This is grossly insensitive. And so, all the grandiloquent speeches in Lafia without visiting Benue’s bloodspots amount to a tale told by an uncaring president. The nation is though not unaware of the fact that the commander-in-chief had directed the security agencies to arrest and prosecute any and all persons found with illegal arms. But again, this is belated. It is only coming on the heels of a groundswell of opinion that the president’s silence has been disturbing to the nation. What is more, a lot of damage had been done before the president’s directive. Besides, impunity had been perceived and insinuations of official complicity had been allowed to go on. All these came just as people were still smarting from the embarrassing visit of Benue leaders to the State House, Abuja where the President urged the Benue people to accept the spirit of the Fulani herdsmen’s atrocities in good faith and accommodate them as fellow Nigerians, a President who should have been the visitor to the grieving people in Benue. Empathy or compassion is what leaders show all over the world. They visit accident scenes and flashpoints to sympathise with the people in shows of compassion and real leadership. This government should know that this is a digital media age when information and responses to issues occur at a speed faster than that of light. So, no leader goes to bed without resolving issues that have hit the roof. Governments all over the world respond to governance and security issues instantaneously. There is no more room for executive or legislative or judicial procrastination. Things go viral immediately. So, apologies, explanations, rationalisation, visits and all critical actions of authorities should be done when they will make desired impact. Definitely, the belated actions from the office of the president on the massacre in Benue State have remarkably reduced the rating of the president and have not ministered grace to the citizens in any way. It is not for any trite reason that the constitution underscores a classical reason governments all over the world exist: “welfare and security of citizens,” which it says “shall be the primary purpose of government.” It will continue to boggle the mind, therefore, that President Buhari at such a perilous time as this could not find a purpose to visit Benue and other areas including Taraba and Adamawa where herdsmen have been wreaking havoc on farms and killing people. Sadly, this appearance of insensitivity has been complicated by ministerial insolence and even wickedness. A curious remark of the Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Mansur Dan-Alli (rtd), stoked the embers of fire the other day when he claimed that the enactment of the anti-grazing laws by some states was the immediate cause of violence by herders is quite unfortunate. This insensitive statement is one that should have been withdrawn immediately in the interest of peace and stability in the land. This is one more careless statement from the president’s key men on the bloody clashes between herdsmen and farmers in many parts of the country. The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris Kpotum on his own always sets the tone for poor judgment and carelessness when it comes to managing crisis communication. This is also unfortunate. But the point must be quickly made that the buck of all the carelessness stops at the president’s table. He should be ready to bear the brunt of all kinds of incompetence and mediocrity in crisis management. The Defence Minister, who curiously blamed the law instead of the law breakers who are still at large over the killings should be publicly rebuked for his indiscretion that is capable of inflaming passions across flashpoints in the country. The president will continue to receive blames over choices of the men and women who have been working with him to shape politics and policies. Clearly, there have been daily indications that there are far too many of them who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. With due respect to him, the appointor, the Defence Minister lacks the depth, tact and grit expected of a Brigadier-General from the Nigerian Army that has produced numerous fine officers.

Blog, Essays, Monishots

For Jacob Zuma, it is a long overdue farewell.

/

Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war ~ Donald Trump Any informed political observer should know that it was never going to end well for the most colourful and controversial South African President since the end of apartheid in 1994.  Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma can rightly be described as the proverbial cat with nine lives. Born into poverty in the KwaZulu-Natal region of the country, his father was a policeman while his mother was a domestic worker, the boy who had little formal education was to rise to the glorious pinnacle of South Africa’s intricate politics after several struggles. But of course like they say, every story that has a beginning will surely have an end. Trouble had been brewing for quite a long time with the once exiled leader waltzing through most of the obstacles like he would do in his favourite pastime of dancing. Having been dogged by several controversies including trials for rape and bribery all through his political life, Jacob Zuma must have thought all the strife had ended when he was sworn in as South Africa’s President in May 2009. Indeed so it seemed, he was allowed to settle in and had little problems in the early years of his administration. However, an indication of where his presidency was headed turned up in March 2012 when the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the Democratic Alliance (an opposition party) could challenge a previous court ruling that let him off some corruption charges. Another corruption scandal erupted in March 2014 when the Ombudsman stated that part of the $15 million refurbishments at Zuma’s luxurious residence was unlawful and ordered him to repay same. Buoyed by the likelihood of an electoral victory in the upcoming presidential polls, a stubborn Zuma was to ignore this order which ultimately proved to be his Achilles heel. If anyone thought that Zuma’s travails would cease when the ANC won a majority of votes in the May 2014 polls to ensure he will have another five-year tenure as South Africa’s Numero Uno the person had another think coming. That notion once again proved to be illusory two years later as the country’s highest court ruled that Zuma had trampled on the constitution by refusing to reimburse part of the tax-payers funds used to renovate his private home. He was subsequently ordered him to refund some of the money. The recalcitrant leader apologised in a national broadcast over the issue which he admitted had “caused a lot of frustration and confusion” and promised to abide by the ruling but still denied any wrongdoing. That public address appeared to trigger a roller coaster of woes for Zuma because less than a month on, another court ruled that prosecutors acted “irrationally” by dropping 18 charges of over 700 fraudulent payments brought against him in 2009. The decision was to be reviewed thus opening an avenue for the charges to be reinstated. That chapter was supposed to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. But Zuma clung on. As his party lost further ground when the opposition took key cities in the municipal elections of 2016, some cabinet ministers called for his resignation in a rowdy meeting that was reportedly close to fisticuffs. Zuma then pulled the same old wool over their eyes by blaming the west for his travails. How often have we seen African leaders pull off that obsolete stunt? In the end attempts to remove him as president failed. The onslaught continued as the opposition parties mainly the Democratic Alliance and the fierce Julius Malema who leads the Economic Freedom Fighters continued to call on Zuma to step down. Indeed Zuma faced about three no-confidence votes in 2016 but still came through all. And in a calmer 2017 he narrowly escaped once more when another no-confidence vote was defeated by 198 to 177 votes in a secret vote that held in parliament. However, calls for his resignation from his party continued unabated and by October 2017 the country’s apex court upheld an April 2016 High Court ruling to reinstate corruption charges against Zuma. It was coming thick and fast, and in the run-up to December 2017 date to elect a new party president Ivor Chipkin, an Associate Professor at the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) and a leading public affairs analyst penned an op-ed for the New York Times in which he detailed the president’s corrupt romance with the notorious Gupta family and described his 9 year era as “a decade of leadership that has seen Africa’s oldest liberation movement become a caricature of corruption and factionalism”. It now appears that the election was the beginning of the end for Zuma as an equally radiant Cyril Ramaphosa defeated Dlamini-Zuma, the president’s ex-wife and preferred candidate, to become the ANC leader. Constitutionally, Zuma’s tenure should run till 2019, but given the crisis within the ruling party and of course Ramaphosa’s overt political ambition there was little hope of dousing the increasing tension. An unsavoury twilight loomed for the man who had become known as the “Teflon President”. Now the die is cast after the parliament postponed the state of the nation address, the ANC held a marathon meeting for about 13 hours and unanimously agreed that President Jacob Zuma should throw in the towel. A letter to this effect was personally delivered to him on February 13, 2017, by the party’s secretary general Ace Magashule who also held a press conference to announce same. Going by the tradition of African leaders as recently exemplified by the ‘Mugabe palace coup’ many expect that Zuma will cling on to his office given that his fifth wife had previously said that “it’s about to get ugly”, an indication that her husband is going nowhere. However, the shining examples of Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan and Ghana’s John Mahama must be nurtured to endure. A leader should accept defeat in good faith, be it external or internal. It, therefore, behooves prominent

Blog, Essays

Many choices, great world by The Guardian

/

Democracy is for the masses and ensures total freedom of association. In this editorial, The Guardian frowns at the recent lamentation of INEC on the challenges of having too many political parties. Read on… ———————————————————————————————————————————- A recent lamentation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that there are too many political parties ready to participate in the next elections was certainly misplaced. It was, indeed, an unnecessary alarm that does not edify democracy. The more political parties there are, the better for the deepening of what is universally known as the government of the people by the people for the people and the institutionalisation of its ideals. At a recent Retreat by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State, the Chief Technical Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, who stood in for INEC said the growing number of political parties might pose challenges for the commission in the 2019 general elections. According to the INEC’s senior official, while delivering a keynote address titled, “The Dynamics of Managing Political Parties Professionally” at the colloquium in Kuru, thus far, 68 political parties had been registered. Eyinla said with over 100 political associations seeking registration, the number might increase before the elections, which could cause logistical problems, including the production of ballot papers for the 2019 elections. The INEC official said, for example, if 68 parties would participate in the elections, it could also mean that a total of 68 party agents would be at each polling unit, which could trigger some chaos. On the surface, these worries would seem founded and an unwieldy situation seems at hand. One good illustration is the observation that the umpire may not be able to monitor the congresses, conventions and primaries of all parties in their bid to fill more than 1,000 elective positions each across the nation. And INEC’s words are germaine here: “Already we have envisaged some of these challenges and we are coming up with strategies to deal with them in our election project plan. “Ancillary to this is the fact that political party agents will also increase. I can imagine 68 political party agents in a polling unit. I think these are issues that we have to manage; but most importantly, how do we manage the ballot for 68 political parties?” Eyinla also appropriately noted that if any registered political party is mistakenly omitted from the ballot paper, it could lead to the total cancellation of the exercise. He put it graphically when he said that “I think perhaps one of the largest ballots that I have seen is that of Afghanistan where the ballot paper is nearly the size of a prayer mat. “Given our level of literacy, I think that is going to be a major challenge and as we know, the question of exclusion is a major issue in the electoral process.” But as real as these challenges are, they are, paradoxically, the true ingredients of genuine democracy. The multiplicity of choices is the ultimate. And there is no better enrichment of the ideal than the endlessness of options. So, while the election management agency may be lamenting its rising frustrations on account of its work load, the citizens should be celebrating emerging electoral purity with multiple choices. Certainly, INEC, being the constitutional body set up to deal with all matters pertaining to elections, deserves all understanding. But democracy is an ideal and its tenets must never be compromised on the altar of logistics. The leadership of INEC was at the National Assembly the other day to defend the Commission’s budget proposals. That is the veritable avenue to deal decisively with logistics and finances for the elections. So, if INEC detects some challenges for the next elections, it should table such before the Nigerian people through their representatives who have the powers to deal with them. The more the political parties, the better for democracy. What is more, the idea of multi-party system is not just conventional, it is a creation of the law and INEC has no power to limit the application of that law because of logistic limitations, especially such as technology can seamlessly deal with at this time. Not all the political parties may field candidates for presidential, national assembly or governorship elections. But all Nigerians are entitled to the right to vote for anyone and any party of their choice at any level of governance. So, there is no need for INEC to raise unnecessary alarm on the number of political parties. It is no longer democracy when choices are restricted. The majesty of democracy will even be enhanced when certain political parties begin to grow in some political zones to the extent of targeting contests for particular mandates at local levels only. So, INEC should be more concerned about budget proposals that can take care of even 100 political parties if that is what Nigerians want. Meanwhile, political party leaders and politicians should place a high premium on political education for members so that chaos and violence during elections may be prevented. And the Nigerian government should consider the need for electoral offences special courts an urgent one. Democracy is an ideal. And the future, the peace and stability of Nigeria would not be well served with any circumscription of that ideal for logistical, financial or any other reason. For democracy to flourish, all parties must be allowed to flourish or die on their own strength. Source: The Guardian

Blog, Essays

Containing Lassa Fever: Thisday

/

Nigeria recorded 16 deaths from 61 confirmed cases of Lassa fever across the country in January 2018 alone. The Federal Ministry of Health through its Centre for Disease Control activated its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to coordinate the response to the outbreak and deployed Rapid Response Teams to the most affected States- Ebonyi, Ondo and Edo States. In this editorial, Thisday Newspaper assessed the update and critically explored available options to tackle the deadly disease. Read on… ———————————————————————————————————————————— The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC in a press statement released on Wednesday said a total number of 107 suspected cases has been recorded in ten states across the country. The gravity of the current health emergency in the country was driven home on Monday when the Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, confirmed that the current outbreak of Lassa fever has led to 31fatalities, including four health workers. Also alarming, the viral disease has spread to 15 states with no fewer than 105 infected patients. What is particularly disturbing is that the relevant authorities are not consistent on adopting simple measures to control the disease after containing the initial outbreak. According to a statement by the University Graduates of Nursing Science Association (UGONSA), nothing was ever done by the authorities, such that hand sanitisers, electricity and even running water “disappear and become essential commodities in our hospitals, leaving our nurses and physicians with the pathetic option of treating patients largely unprotected”. No fewer than 40 health workers have died of the disease in Ebonyi State alone in the past 13 years. Indeed, in describing January as one of the saddest months in the history of the country, following the death of medical doctors in the bid to save Lassa fever patients, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) President, Dr Mike Ogirima, decried the poor condition under which medical practitioners, especially those in public hospitals, work. “When patients are taken to emergency room, there are no examination gloves and hand sterilisers among other protective gadgets,” said Ogrima. While the nurses also raised several other pertinent issues pertaining to welfare and neglect of the health sector by both the state and federal governments that should be looked into, it is noteworthy that Lassa fever has been a serious challenge for Nigeria’s health authorities since it was first diagnosed in Lassa (the village for which it was named) in Borno State in 1969. Despite the fact that there have been efforts in the past to contain the scourge, it is unfortunate that we have been witnessing frequent outbreaks in recent years. It is unfortunate that despite the fact that it is now a national epidemic, there is little public awareness of how the disease could be prevented. The symptoms, which include fever, sore throat, vomiting, back pain, cough, abdominal pain, restlessness, and general body weakness, usually appear six to 21 days after contact with the virus. But there are recommended preventive measure such as avoiding contact with rats (dead or alive), keeping the house and surroundings clean, clearing all bushes around the house to avoid breeding sites for rats as well as putting refuse into covered dustbins and disposing appropriately. However, because the symptoms of Lassa fever are so varied and non-specific, clinical diagnosis could be difficult, especially early in the course of the disease. For this reason, steps should be taken by the federal government to direct all health facilities in the country to emphasise routine infection prevention and control measures. Healthcare workers should also be advised to always be careful to avoid contact with blood and body fluids in the process of caring for sick persons. While we believe that with effective coordination, the disease could be contained quickly before it becomes another epidemic with dire implications for the lives of our people, the real challenge is to work towards its total eradication from our country. That is a task for the health authorities at all levels of government. Source: Thisday

Blog, Essays, Monishots

What will it take to awaken a lazy opposition?

/

There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time. ~ Malcolm X In the ‘coup’ that led to the emergence of Bukola Saraki as the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu as his deputy, a cerebral friend had asked a pertinent question. How will the opposition fare in a democracy where one of the most senior senators selfishly joined an APC led Senate leadership as the Deputy Senate President? Well, it could be fair to suggest that Ike who is a seasoned lawyer and lawmaker stooped to conquer in a future battle but if he ever did stumble upon the above wisdom nugget by the legendary Malcolm X how has he fared as an opposition senator? The answer is that he has performed abysmally if at all what we have seen can be described as a performance. You are free to luxuriate in your cloddishness but smart and politically savvy Nigerians are not obliged to flounder about with you. Any discerning political observer would have known that the applause which heralded Obasanjo’s explosive letter will no sooner evaporate as it effervesced. Even though the former president is notorious for his strategy, Nigerians are often so much in a hurry to move on to the next that the euphoria over that missive was never going to last beyond a week. Obasanjo superintended no democracy and should never be our SI unit for measuring good governance. It was he who boisterously strode across the nation like a colossus for 8 years, taking down all that dared cross his path. He willfully rigged in and impeached governors at his whim and but for Asiwaju’s resilience, Nigeria would have been a one-party state when the ruling PDP swept through the polls by ‘winning’ 28 states in 2003. But this essay is not about the selfish and corrupt nationalist, nor will I waste space on the doublespeak by IBB lest we digress and wander too far. Now let us critically dissect some of the issues. Can you imagine the ruling party in opposition while the government of the day reneges on many of its numerous promises to Nigerians? You see, let us not deceive ourselves opposition politics is no cheesecake. No other person than the Asiwaju himself can attest to this. For 16ys he was in the dugout slugging it out with almighty Villa occupants as the leader of the opposition. Half of that time was spent battling Obasanjo who had little political value in his base, but however, had the required international clout and the equally invaluable backing of political power blocs controlled by moneybag generals who have continued appropriating our collective patrimony since the end of the civil war. I was therefore not surprised when Tinubu described Baba’s tantrums as mere politics, the Ebora Owu could have used other means as he has unfettered access to the presidency. Some will ask if he was playing politics when he wrote Jonathan? Of course, else let the old fox show us Jonathan’s so-called snipers. Or have we in our characteristic amnesia forgotten that weighty allegation which the then opposition milked to the extreme with El Rufai’s scurvy list? Who is spearheading the onslaught? Wike may have installed Secondus as the PDP chairman but the Ikwerre politician is smart enough to know that holding on to his base is imperative for his political survival, at least for now. Is it Femi Fani Kayode whom the majority of Nigerians regard as a junkie that will sing for any government that drops a teaspoonful of porridge on his dinner table? Or Fayose who barks like a rabid dog in the day but sneaks in at night to prostrate and apologise to those he abused? Then we have Reno Omokri, a perky impostor whose primary platform is Linda Ikeji’s blog where he spars with Kim Kardashian and Cossy Orjiakor for social media likes. Just tell me, who is leading the opposition? These vocal few who are supposed to be championing the opposition’s quest to ‘win 30 states in 2019’ are such a laughable bunch that they will be instant hits in the comedy business. They are neither capable of articulating the vision and mission of any serious political party nor are they suited to the onerous task of getting the electorate’s attention let alone convincing them. Sadly, there are few alternatives left in the PDP, for all have stolen and will remain tainted with corruption for life. Whatsmore whatever ace they may have up their sleeves will not be alien to APC which is comprised of strange bedfellows that will do anything to retain the seat of power. That much they achieved out of power, how much more now they have the power and resources. So what will it take to mobilise a robust opposition that can rattle the ruling APC? Who can put together a movement that will convince Nigerians that it cares about our socio-economic well-being? A tall order if you ask me, for in our nascent democracy there is a lot of motion with little movement. We have seen political parties which are supposedly the fundamental crucible of any democracy become opportunistic associations devoid of ideology but dotted with individuals whose major interests are at best self-serving. They have similar manifestos that are often filled with the vacuous rhetoric used to conceal parochial sentiments and avarice. Little wonder then that many have given up resulting in another round of brain drain and a vast number of our people caught in the tragic migrant routes of war-torn Libya. However, we must trudge on because just like they say, Rome was not built in a day. The quest to achieve a just and equitable society must begin with admitting our collective complicity in the bad state of affairs that has plagued our fatherland for ages. Even as we blame politicians for nepotism and corruption, how many of us can honestly say we

Blog, Essays

Why President Buhari’s case is different by Joe Igbokwe

/

First was former President Obasanjo’s letter asking PMB not to contest in 2019 citing many reasons why he has to leave the exalted office. It was quickly followed by another letter from former dictator Ibrahim Babangida asking PMB to step aside In 2019 for a younger president. This was followed by the hate and weeping from the losers of 2015 elections who are yet to come to terms with the situations they found themselves since the feeding bottles were forcefully taken away from their rapacious greedy mouths. It was quickly followed by the cries from those who for years had been stealing our crude oil, selling it and pocketing the dollars, those who stole billions of Pension Funds and Salaries of workers, those who stole trillions of Naira in the name of subsidy, those who stole the federal Government to bones with thousands of fictitious accounts, the banks who raked billions every month as charges, those who stole billions of dollars meant for the purchase of arms to fight insurgents. What of those in JAMB office, FIRS, NIMASA, CUSTOMS who stole billions meant for government coffers? They are not left out in the era of pains and tears. What about the experts in Budget padding found in the National Assembly? They are still weeping and gnashing their teeth. Then followed another gnashing of teeth and weeping from the importers of rice from Thailand that cost the country more than 3 billion dollars every year? What about the tragic stories and tales of woes from those whose ill-gotten houses, hard currencies, and cars were confiscated by EFCC? They wished and still wish that PMB must die. Even those found to have stolen billions from the coffers of the Police, Army, Navy, Air Force had to cough out and vomit the money and they are not left out in the weeping contest. Even those found in the media (both electronic and print) who got billions of stolen money to help sell rotten eggs in 2015 are still crying without consolation for years now.They sobbed and sobbed and are still sobbing today with no end in sight. What about the billions confiscated from the coffers of the former first lady? The woman and her followers have been weeping and cursing the day PMB was born. What about the religious leaders who got billions from GEJ in the days of the locust? Oh, they are weeping without control and wish that PMB will die immediately. How come all those who are being accused of stealing money are now feigning sickness? What went wrong? I can go on and on but there is no need to continue to do so. You cannot continue to box a man lying prostrate on the ground who has no strength to fight back. Now, their biggest pain is that PMB is doing what they failed to do in 16 years. PMB is building massive infrastructure across Nigeria. PMB has been growing our internal revenue which is now overtaking crude oil revenue, the first in 45 years. PMB has brought about the unprecedented revolution in Agriculture in Nigeria and has particularly reduced Rice importation by 60% and employing millions. PMB has added serious values to Power generation (7000+ MW), the highest so far. PMB has given corruption a bloody nose and no Nigerian head of state living or dead has matched his record. PMB has grown the Nigerian Stock Exchange volume of business to 15.75 trillion naira, the highest so far. In their own very eyes, PMB is now the Anti-Corruption Champion in Africa. This is the principal reason the idiots want him out. They cannot withstand another four years. They may all die. Cheap money is no longer flowing. Looted money is no longer available. They talk about National security, the herdsmen and the killings in Benue, Tarawa, Adamawa. I have been seeing cattle rearers since I was young. Because PMB is a Fulani, the bigots think he is arming them to kill other Nigerians and Islamize them. Yeye people all! PMB’s case is very different. He had a mission and vision of what he wants to do and he is doing it. The gang up cannot fly and it will not work.A friend once educated me on the meaning of stupid. He says it is knowing the truth, seeing the truth but still believing lies. Being honest may not fetch you many friends but it will fetch you the right ones. PMB friends and committed followers are the ordinary Nigerians who fight for him even with empty stomachs because they believe he is fighting for them. They can feel it, they see it and they know the man is not corrupt. I am told that the loudest person in the room is not always the strongest. OBJ and IBB’s letter may not fly this time because PMB’s case is different. PMB is doing what OBJ and IBB did not do. IBB corrupted our democracy and democratized corruption. Former President Obasanjo wasted eight years of South West presidency and even wanted a third term. He could not find the killers of Bola Ige, Harry Marshall, Ogbonnaya Uche, Dikibo, Funsho Williams, Daramola etc. Those who destroyed our yesterday cannot be the ones that will control tomorrow’s potentials. This is why PMB’s case is different. Joe Igbokwe wrote on his facebook page

Blog, Essays

I am satisfied with Buhari: Duro Onabule

/

Veteran journalist Duro Onabule dissects Obasanjo’s missive to President Buhari in this piece originally published by NAN..read on.. —————————————————————————————————————————————- It was always predictable that, given his notoriety on that score, it was a matter of time for former President Olusegun Obasanjo to resume his pastime of undermining his military and civilian successors, by making President Muhammadu Buhari his latest victim. Amusingly, the rabble Obasanjo rouses on such occasions has dignified his deplorable tactics as a sort of distinction. If only they could critically dissect the man. There is this latent personality complex of striving never to be outshone or exceeded by any Nigerian living or dead. Hence, at the slightest prospect of being threatened, Obasanjo comes charging. Obasanjo’s dismissal of Buhari’s performance is a vivid example. On the alert that African Union was to honour the Nigerian President as the Champion of Anti-Corruption in Africa the following day, Obasanjo came out with his diatribe in the mistaken belief that the great honour for Buhari and, indeed, Nigeria would be diminished if not rubbished by his comments. Unfortunately for him, African Union sustained its honour on Nigeria, much to the credit of  Muhammadu Buhari as the President under whose tenure Nigeria became rebranded, to the envy of Obasanjo. Every timing and content of Obasanjo’s verbal assault on his military and civilian successors is noteworthy for exposing Obasanjo’s self-exaggeration and case study in hypocrisy. He is on record in some of his books as rating himself above every Nigerian (civilian or military), who ever served at high level  – Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Aminu Kano, Waziri Ibrahim, General Yakubu Gowon, Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle, General Alani Akinrinade, General Alabi Isama, General Buhari, General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), General Sani Abacha (as military rulers), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, President Umaru Yar’Adua, President Goodluck Jonathan and, now, President Buhari. General Abdulsalami Abubakar escaped Obasanjo’s bad tongue only because he released him (Obasanjo) from jail and heeded northern Generals who imposed Obasanjo on Nigeria as an elected President. Obasanjo kept off IBB since the day the former military President, in a rejoinder to Obasanjo, openly served him notice that “Henceforth, it will be fire for fire.” Obasanjo got the coded message. Very disturbingly and unknown to Nigerians is the fact that, contrary to the impression that Obasanjo, in his criticisms, is motivated by public service or altruism, he goes to town specifically when he fails to run the show from outside for an incumbent head of government or get appointments for his cronies. Former President Jonathan conceded, almost virtual running of his government to Obasanjo up to the time a memo written by Obasanjo recommending removal of six appointees from federal boards, to be replaced by six of his cronies, got leaked to Nigerian Tribune newspaper. Obasanjo initially denied authorship of the memo. Somehow, Nigeria Police foolishly arraigned Nigeria Tribune and its reporter for alleged sedition. Nigerian Tribune then had to republish the memo with Obasanjo’s full signature. That was the end of the matter, as the police had to withdraw the charges till today. In the current anti-Buhari misadventure by Obasanjo, how many Nigerians took notice that, amid the euphoria on Buhari’s victory, Obasanjo, in his arrogance of Mr. Know All, dispatched two volumes of policies President Buhari must implement during his current tenure? Who was elected President of Nigeria in 2015? Buhari or Obasanjo? Obasanjo’s major weakness of feeling superior to everybody is the cause of his running down contemporaries. Apparently, Buhari kept Obasanjo’s policies in the shelf, a derision, which embittered Obasanjo. Hence his frustration. “I said it from the beginning that Buhari is not strong on economy.” Who then displays his Ph.D in Economics? Obasanjo. Here was a man, so arrogant and power-drunk that he openly dismissed the advisers he had just sworn in that as much as they might advise, he, President Obasanjo, was not bound to take their advice. The same man imposing total policy directive on a President yet to be sworn in. The same deplorable tactics by Obasanjo did not work on late President Yar’Adua, not the least because he rejected Obasanjo’s attempt to run the government for him, but he also cancelled Obasanjo’s hurried investment of a whopping half a billion dollars in African Finance Corporation a fortnight before handing over to Yar’Adua. That investment was without the approval of the National Assembly. The late President Yar’Adua also queried an expenditure of $16 billion by Obasanjo’s administration purportedly on power supply with, according to Yar’Adua, “…nothing to show for it.” It is a question of character and hypocrisy. Who ever ran Obasanjo’s administrations for him? Who ever nominated public office holders for Obasanjo throughout his tenure? Who imposed policies on Obasanjo? Indeed, on his first day in office in 1999, Obasanjo expressed thanks to all those who helped him but instantly requested all of them to keep away. If so, why must he aim to run government for others? Former President Obasanjo is the cheapest critic in Nigeria as he merely echoes claims of the innocent public. Obasanjo was not bold enough to specify Lawal Musa Daura (DG, Department of State Services) and Mamman Daura, a veteran journalist, as the major focus of the charge of nepotism against Buhari. Admittedly, Mamman Daura is a nephew, but Lawal Daura (DG, DSS), might just be Buhari’s townsman. Is that, therefore, peculiar to President Buhari or Nigeria or even Africa? What, anyway, was the record under Obasanjo or former President Goodluck Jonathan? During Obasanjo’s tenure, his daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo Bello, was Ogun State commissioner for health. Iyabo was also elected senator from Ogun Central, her father’s constituency. Above all, only the collapse of Obasanjo’s third term agenda cost his daughter the governorship of Ogun State for which she specially formed the Iyaniwura Foundation. Most remarkably, Obasanjo removed the serving Director-General of DSS to make way for Ogun State and fellow Egba, Colonel Kayode Are (retd). Obasanjo, therefore, owes Nigerians the difference between him and President Buhari, a task which should have

Blog, Essays

Alex Ekwueme: The Man In The Arena With A Purpose by Charles Chukwuma Soludo CFR

/

In October 2012, I chaired the Committee that organized Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s 80th birthday ceremonies. On the 16th of October, we organized an international colloquium on “Nigerian Federalism: Building on the Ekwueme Legacy” at the ThisDay Dome Abuja—and this was the highpoint of the 80th birthday anniversary. After some five years and three months, I am here today, at the Federal Polytechnic Oko that has Alex Ekwueme’s imprimatur, to speak as we bid him farewell. For me, the loss is huge and the grief very deep. May his giant soul rest in peace! Yes, Dr. (Chief) Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, GCON (Ide Aguata na Orumba) is dead. As it is usual with a moment like this, tributes from foes and friends will suffocate space. It is a fleeting moment of hyperboles that usually end on the Sunday of the outing service. Thereafter, the deceased joins the list of the forgotten dead or occasionally but perfunctorily remembered in sombre memorial events, while the living move on with their lives. It is the fate of all mortals but I pray that Ide’s shall be substantively different. Ide was not God! He was human, with his own dose of human frailties and imperfections. But he was an exceptional human being. Tributes will pour in to celebrate Alex Ekwueme the architect, town planner and surveyor, lawyer, sociologist, historian, politician, philanthropist, Christian, husband, father and grandfather, technocrat, nation-builder, statesman, tennis lover and player, etc. Many will celebrate his uncommon intellect, his legendary character epitomized by integrity, his credentials as a thorough bred democrat and nationalistic federalist, or his humane, passionate commitment to people and his giant philanthropic strides. Like the proverbial elephant and the blind men, many will describe and miss him for different reasons.  Few humans have successfully juggled the demands of family, community, profession, and national service like Alex Ekwueme. I have come today to join in celebrating Ide Aguata na Orumba. But beyond the usual platitudes for an exceptionally eventful life, I want to devote this tribute as a message from Alex Ekwueme to all of us, the living. I was converted into a self-appointed apostle of Alex Ekwueme because of the message of his life. Growing up in this clime, the philanthropic exploits of the man better known around OAU as “Ekwueme Oko” was news and ennobling. As a pioneer student at Uga Boys Secondary School, one of Ekwueme’s beneficiaries, Cyprian Ifekanandu Okafor, was my classmate and he told many enchanting stories about this exceptional man. In August 1980 and as we were waiting for our JAMB results to go into the university, I was excited to join a crop of activist OAU students which included Romanus Achusi (Isuofia), Chidi Ezeaguba (Nanka), etc as foundation members of the EKWUEME MOVEMENT, and with Dr. Anene Uzuakpunwa as Coordinator. In 1981, I became the Secretary of NPN students’ wing at UNN, and later in 1982, the Chairman. Simultaneously, I was the chairman of OAU students’ wing of NPN from 1982 and coordinator students’ wing of NPN (old Anambra and Imo— current South East zone) in the 1983 presidential election. On the 19th December, 1982, I was miraculously saved from a ghastly motor accident along Oko-Ufuma road as we were traversing the communities of OAU campaigning for our own IDE. From 1980 until his death (37 years) I was a devoted student and apostle. We were there for him when he made his bids for Nigeria’s presidency, and remained sufficiently close to him until death. Why was I such an unapologetic devotee? The answer is simple: I saw in Alex Ekwueme a man who came before his time; a man who realized and lived out the full essence of life which is to leave society better than we met it; a man who refused to join them even when he could not beat them but instead insisted on fundamental principles as beacons for social progress; a man worthy of emulation in many respects. I am a devotee because Alex Ekwueme exemplified an impactful life. He impacted his environment— and it is evident that Oko, OAU, Anambra state and Nigeria became better because he lived. I must admit that Alex Ekwueme was one of the early influences on my life. I believe that our lives only make meaning when we live for others, and that at a macro level, public service is the best form of philanthropy. Alex Ekwueme exemplified these, and that’s part of why I was a devotee. It seems to me that American President Theodore Roosevelt foresaw the life and times of Alex Ekwueme when he spoke about “The Man in the Arena” at a speech he delivered on the 23rd April, 1910 in Sorbonne, Paris, France. According to Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”. For much of his entire life, Alex Ekwueme was “the man in the arena”! But he was not just in the arena: he was in the arena with a purpose. Perhaps, Rick Warren knew of the life and times of Alex Ekwueme when he authored the bestselling book: “A Purpose Driven Life”. In his classic also, “The Wretched of the Earth”, Frantz Fanon observed that “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity,

Blog, Essays

You Are Presumed Guilty Until You Prove Your Innocence

/

“For instance, if you are a civil servant on level 10 and you are driving a Mercedes Jeep (SUV) and you are living in a palace in Maitama (Abuja) and your lifestyle is such that cannot be justified or defended  by your legitimate earnings, then you are deemed guilty until you prove otherwise” ~ Dr Alex Ekwueme   Above is an excerpt from an interview Dr Ekwueme granted in 2013. We shall return to this later. On Sunday, November 19, 2017, news started filtering in that one of the last surviving fathers of the nation, Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, GCON, had passed on, barely one month after his 85th birthday. It was not until the next day that his younger brother, the erudite Professor of Music and the traditional ruler of Oko kingdom, His Royal Highness, Igwe (Prof.) Laz Ekwueme, formally announced that Dr. Alex Ekwueme had joined his ancestors. Dr. Ekwueme represented different things to different people, but to me, he was not only a father but a role model and a mentor, from whom I received sound advice from time to time. ‘Sake’, as we used to call each other, was always there to share superior ideas with me in virtually every matter that I needed counsel. He was easily one of the most educated Nigerians, having earned a first degree in Architecture as a Fulbright scholar from the University of Washington and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde. To broaden his horizon, which was later to account for why he was at home with virtually every subject, Sake went back to school, this time the University of London where he obtained degrees in Philosophy, Sociology, History and Law. Thereafter, he was called to the Nigerian bar as a qualified lawyer. As President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, his tenure brought a lot of reforms and placed the institute at a very high pedestal. His private firm, Ekwueme and Associates, Estate and Town Planning, which was the first indigenous architectural firm in Nigeria, was so successful that he opened several offices in different parts of the country. A lot of landmark and signature buildings in major cities in Nigeria were designed by this distinguished statesman. As a stickler for best practices, he shut down this sprawling business prior to assuming office as the Vice President of Nigeria in 1979 to avoid conflict of interest. This is a rare act that is hardly seen in the Nigeria of today. Leaders today would have used such an office to amass wealth by channelling jobs to it. That was not the Alex Ekwueme that I knew. Dr. Ekwueme was the brain behind the idea of power sharing in Nigeria based on the six geo political zones of the country. As things were drifting in the country in the mid-90s under the autocratic leadership of the late dictator, General Sani Abacha, Dr. Ekwueme assembled 33 other eminent Nigerians under the G34 to confront the late maximum ruler. This was at great personal sacrifice and risk. This group was the brain behind the People’s Democratic Party of today, even if it had not kept to the ideals of the founding fathers.  In politics, Dr. Ekwueme was urbane and civilized, consistent with his pedigree and his exposure. He didn’t believe in violence. He was principled and upright. It was natural that he was going to be one of the first people I would consult as I was considering running for an elective office in 2015. So, in the middle of 2014, I called him and wanted to visit him at home to have the discussion. Being the very humble man he was, he insisted that since he came to Lagos from time to time, he would let me know when he was going to be in Lagos so we could see, of course, he added, except if it was ultra-urgent. We eventually met up a few weeks later and I broached the topic to him. The ever dutiful and warm aunty Helen was on hand to attend to me asking what she needed to offer me. Even though Dr. Ekwueme liked the idea of my joining to contribute towards liberating my state from poor leadership as according to him, he wanted more exposed people from the private sector to show interest in governance, he struggled with the idea of my leaving my job at that time. He worried over if it was not too early to leave the good job that he knew I was doing in the banking industry at that time, given the uncertainty in the political terrain, some of which, he had been a victim of, himself. Most importantly, according to him, he had a dream of whom he wanted me to be like in the future and politics was not in the equation. He was very proud of his friend, Otunba Subomi Balogun, the grandmaster of banking, who set up the First City Banking Group. Sake thought I was going to follow his footsteps and set up a formidable banking group in the future. After so much persuasion, I was able to convince him and he gave his approval without which, I was not going to attempt joining the race. He supported me all the way and regretted that my mandate was stolen at the 2015 polls which I overwhelmingly won. He kept encouraging me to hold on to my vision as according to him, ‘if it did not happen today, it will happen tomorrow’. Prior to the general election in 1979 where he paired with Alhaji Shehu Shagari to win the Presidential polls, he had come home after earning his PhD degree to contest for the Governorship of the old Anambra State. He lost at the primaries to Late Christian (CC) Onoh, who was later to be governor in 1983, succeeding Jim Nwobodo. Little did he know that God had a better plan for him. He was soon to be nominated as the running mate to Shehu Shagari and

Blog, Essays, Monishots

Chimamanda’s French question as a metaphor for educational revolution.

/

@ikhide: Interesting how Western liberals react with outrage and condescension whenever an African thinker departs from liberal orthodoxy and tries to think for him or herself; witness the troubles Adichie and Ngugi have been in for daring to have independent views on contemporary issues. The above tweet which I came across this morning got me thinking. Is it that Western liberals who by the way often lay claim to championing globalisation and equality believe it must be achieved on their own terms? or that Africans are unwilling to take a stand and grab the bull by its horns to emancipate ourselves from the shackles of the slave mentality? At the Night of ideas event which held at the prestigious Quai d’Orsay Paris, home of the Foreign Ministry, a French journalist had asked our globally acclaimed Chimamanda if Nigeria has bookstores. A question which did not go down well with the award-winning author and outspoken feminist.  In a typical manner, her response was predictable “I think it reflects very poorly on French people that you have to ask me that question,” she quipped. Whether Caroline Broué was ignorant or just being mischievous is anyone’s guess, but that has taken the backstage. The discourse elicited by the uncanny exchange is now centred on racism and colonial prejudices. Expectedly many Nigerians took to the social media to hurl expletives at the lady, she was labelled arrogant, insolent, ignorant and of course racist. For me, however, the issue presents an opportunity for us to critically interrogate the dwindling reading culture which by extrapolation is responsible for the falling standard of education we have in our society currently. Not long ago I discussed a tweet about Nigeria’s unemployment problems on my facebook wall. Agreed we have unemployment problem which appears to be well known, but we have even a bigger problem of unemployability because of the low educational standards. Can we honestly put side by side many of today’s graduates with those of the 70s and 80s? of course not. Growing up as secondary school students in the coal city, we were always excited to visit Prince  Bookshops opposite UNEC gate or the National Library both of which were walking distances from CIC. Memories of Marvel, Tiger and Speed, Western Comics remain evergreen just like the hardcover series of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and many others endure. A common phrase from one of my extramural class teachers back then was that “exceptional intellectuals are usually products of libraries”. That line ultimately resulted in the acquisition of novels as bragging rights and has never departed my consciousness in the quest for more knowledge till date. Today our national libraries spread across the country are in such deplorable state that many are hardly recognisable. Whatsmore, besides the silly excuse of convoluted bureaucracy, a larger portion of the meagre funds for these libraries when eventually released often end up in the pockets of those in charge. I can vividly recollect watching the protest staged by the Workers of the National Library of Nigeria last October. They ‘ve obviously had enough of the stalling and poor financial allocation to a project which commenced close to 20 years ago. Who would have believed that our National Library in Abuja is still on a rented property? What a shame! How did we get here one is often forced to ask. It is partly because successive governments have failed to meet the UN recommended budgetary allocation for bridging the educational funding gap in developing countries. With a Minister of Education who publicly claimed to have inquired about the ‘much-touted’ 26% budgetary benchmark on education from UNESCO and discovered it was false, one can rightly say that the danger signal is definitely lost on this government. Mr Adamu did not deem it wise to state the figure he got from his ignominious inquiry but rather chose to defend the 7% allocation which was far below the actual UN figure of 15-20%. The problem is also worsened by a populace that continues to relegate the importance of a reading culture that once motivated top-notch authors like Achebe and publishers like Macmillan. These two gave us Things Fall Apart and the unforgettable collection of pacesetter novels respectively. The focus nowadays is on getting a certificate by any possible means. Most students are willing to do just about anything to pass their exams. Unfortunately, many parents across the nation largely support this oddity. At the University of Cardiff, the library was where you spent the most time after classes. It is an integral part of your life as a student. I recollect that back in the 80s freshmen in Nigerian universities normally go through an induction process where they are acquainted with the library and the discipline that comes with it. I doubt the number of our universities that still practice it now. That perhaps explains my surprise when I met an undergraduate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University buying a lot of old African novels in a bookstore at the temporary site. From our little chit-chat, I gathered that she was studying English which typically required a lot of reading. However, it was gladdening to learn that having come from a background where reading is a habit, some of the books were not recommended coursework but just for her reading pleasure. Of course, there is a global decline in the reading culture. All thanks to the digital technology age we find ourselves in, but what are we doing as a nation to curb the trend? The only public Library in Awka South Local Government located in Amawbia is derelict whereas there are libraries spread across the counties (the equivalent of LGAs) in Ireland. For instance, Cork City with a population of just over a hundred thousand people has at least 7 public libraries and many other private ones. The bookstores? Oh, there are hundreds of them at the city centre excluding the online ones. It is also sad that our environment is generally

Blog, Essays

Hoisting APGA’s Flag At The Senate by Ifeanyi Afuba

/

Nelson Mandela, the African hero of the twentieth century, taught us that strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation. And we begin to get a sense of how the All Progressives Grand Alliance and one of its star brands, Victor Umeh, finally achieved a breakthrough in the knotty senatorial turf. In the most clinical fashion of a long distance champion, Senator Victor Chukwunonyelum Umeh breasted the Senate tape on Saturday, January 13, 2008, bringing to an end a cocktail of contrived confusion that stood in the way of implementing the Court of Appeal judgment of December 7, 2015. Thus, the successful conduct of the re-run election and the subsequent swearing-in of Ohamadike have immense significance for Nigeria’s democracy. However, a critical study of the APGA story will reveal that it is the most brutalized but not the most humiliated political party of the fourth republic. Its very registration as a political party was a tug of war. It had taken a Supreme Court judgment in 2002 to force the withheld official recognition. Posterity will credit the collective of APGA faithful for steadfastness in the face of many aggressions. But if individuals are to be recognized for standing up to the assaults, the honour goes first to Senator Victor Umeh. From 2004 to 2014, no single individual impacted on the fortunes of the All Progressives Grand Alliance as Senator Victor Umeh. The story of Anambra’s journey of transformation is in part, the story of APGA’s travails and triumphs.  APGA launched the movement that ushered in Anambra’s process of recovery from neglect and misrule in 2006.  Events took a critical turn in 2004, when the party was subverted from within, from the highest rung of its leadership. This came in the sudden declaration that APGA was no longer interested in the prosecution of its 2003 Anambra governorship petition, then going on at the tribunal. The severity of the internal conspiracy compelled a more deliberate search for a new leadership that could be ‘predicted’ and trusted. And it was in this delicate circumstance that Senator Umeh, hitherto national treasurer of the party, came to the fore as acting national chairman in 2004. Ignoring the issues of his indictment, the suspended national chairman, Chekwas Okorie, pronounced that he could not be removed because his name was written in the party’s constitution. The disengagement generated eleven suits, nearly all instituted by the sanctioned politician. With reality dawning, Okorie returned the APGA certificate in his possession but sought revenge with his bid to register a new party, United Peoples Grand Alliance (UPGA). The spoiler game was clear enough. The phonetic and syntactic similarities between APGA and UPGA were sure to have devastating consequences for APGA in a society still contending with low literacy levels. An alert APGA leadership swung into action, detailing grounds which ought to render Okorie’s application defective. INEC under Attahiru Jega, a man widely respected for his pedigree, sustained the objections for their merit. Okorie settled for the name, United Progressive Party in the end. There were more rivers and deserts to cross. About a year to the end of his tenure in 2014, a former governor was seized by his own pet idea of playing adventures with APGA. Members of APGA were at a loss as the ex governor tried to install a new national chairman in place of the man reckoned as an achiever, whose tenure had not ended. Umeh stood his ground and snatched victory from the lion’s jaw. Consequently, he was able to influence the nomination of Willie Obiano as the APGA governorship candidate in the 2013 election and also driving the re – election of Governor Obiano for second term. We now see why the outcome of the January 13, 2018 senatorial poll is so significant for APGA. If Umeh, the veteran of APGA battles, cannot make it to the Senate, what hope lies for others? With the prospect of free and fair elections brightening under Buhari’s presidency, the quest to launch APGA to the centre stage of Nigeria’s government and politics has become feasible with the congruent leadership of Umeh and Governor Willie Obiano.  With APGA’s flag flying at the Senate, notice is served to those ever in a hurry to define our political colouration as a two party system not to beat the gun. In 2019, the PDP will, for the first time, contest national elections without being in control in Abuja. That level playing ground guarantees that other political parties can no longer appropriate APGA’s victories as happened in the governorship cases of Ugochukwu Agballa, Enugu State, in 2003; Martin Agbaso, Imo State, 2007; and Alex Otti, Abia State 2015.  APGA now has its first senator from Anambra State; A senator who will not defect to another party! Source: AbsRadioTv

Solverwp- WordPress Theme and Plugin

Scroll to Top