Peter Obi And Wise Men From The East

By Ozah Matthew

The biblical tales of the wise men project moral lessons to believers especially the three who visited Jesus Christ at birth. Nowadays, it is difficult to find wise men from the four corners of the globe with good intentions. Therefore, in many ways, the Eastern leaders’ comment the other day on Peter Obi’s choice as Vice President to Abubakar Atiku in the next year’s elections is to say the least, shocking and undeserving of real and genuine leaders. 

*Peter Obi at the 2016 Democratic National
Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia

Their improper act has once again, exposed some ugly nature of politics from that region. Indeed, politics of self interest seems to be very important to Igbo leaders whose ‘sophisticated’ thought now brings conflicting views into the Atiku’s running mate choice.

For Onukaba (Adinoyi-Ojo)

By Taiwo Obe

The book, Atiku – The Story of Atiku Abubakar, has the author’s name as Ojo Adinoyi. Unless, of course, you were familiar with the author or, and, knew that he was a special aide to the former Nigerian vice-president, you would have thought that it is not the same person as Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo. But then, when he joined The Guardian as a reporter in June 1983 immediately after his National Youth Service Corps primary assignment at Radio Nigeria, Ikoyi, his name was simply Shaibu Ojo. Till date, one of our colleagues at The Guardian still calls him, perhaps jokingly, Shaibu. He had written an article celebrating Nigeria’s rich culture including taking pride in our traditional lines, signing it with “Shaibu Adinoyi-Ojo.” A reader responded wondering why he was bearing an Arabic name, Shuaib (that’s the correct spelling and it means “stream”), advising him to live by example. Trust Shaibu, a principled person, he quickly dropped that name. His father’s name was Shaibu Onukaba. His own middle name was Adinoyi.

*Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo

So, he became Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo. He likes now to be identified as Adinoyi Onukaba Ojo. As that is mouthful, we shall agree here to call him simply Onukaba, which is what I call him. He calls me Taye, which most people who knew me from childhood still call me. Taye, of course, is the abridgement of To aye wo – (I came to) “taste” the world for my twin, Kehinde, who the Yoruba lore says, sent me – which, for convenience, has also been clipped to Taiwo. By the way, Onukaba means hard work and Adinoyi is “father of the multitude.”

Seest thou a man who is diligent in his work, that’s Onukaba. Anyone who is familiar with this wonderful guy – and this is not patronising him – knows that he gives his all to any project he commits to, and, yes, he’s truly someone who bears the burden of many, particularly his kin, some of whom won’t think twice before abusing the privilege.

Onukaba and I bonded almost immediately when we met. He had studied theatre arts at the University of Ibadan and had been taught playwriting by Prof. Femi Osofisan, who was the one who influenced his admission to The Guardian. He was a quintessential reporter. He shunned unethical practices like a plague.

A little digression, please: the other day a visitor in my office overheard a telephone conversation where I was vouching for Onukaba’s incorruptibility. The visitor wondered if he was a Nigerian. Yes, he is and a proud one at that. 

Where Are The Various Power Probe Report?

By Phillip Agbese

We are a nation of people that easily forget. We may, however, not be a nation that easily forgive. If it seems we forgive grievous sins of past, serving and future public office holders it is down to the collective amnesia that allows those who serially raped the country to get away with their crimes. Oftentimes we end up rewarding such persons with greater responsibilities because we simply cannot recall the enormity of their transgressions against the rest of us. 

We forget so we endure darkness when the power sectors has gulped billions of dollars without results.

We bemoan the high cost of lighting our homes as well as keep gadgets and equipment running irrespective of whether we are on post paid metering, pre-paid extortion or estimated robbery. But we forget that we are now being billed for the overpriced investment in electricity infrastructure, including the inflated value for components that were never bought. 

Only recently the Pharaoh of Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Mrs Olufunke Osibodu told Nigerians with glee that we have no right to expect stable electricity for another five years. We have forgotten why but we easily ignored and even immediately forgave the spewing of such poison. Afterall, this was a self styled undertaker of a commercial bank talking so we may not immediately become alarmed that Osibodu has a mandate to finally kill off a sector that years of theft has not seen off. 

The venue of Osibodu's dark prophecy is what should trigger the alarm bells for us. She spoke at the 11th Annual Founder’s Day event of the American University of Nigeria in Yola, which happens to be one of the many investments of a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abukakar. He happens to have been the one that oversaw the privatization exercise, which had rehabilitation of electricity infrastructure before their sale as a mantra that played so continuously that it sounded worse than a broken record. 

What happened under Atiku Abubakar's watch set the tone for whatever brigandage was to follow under subsequent administrations. This of course is not counting any other shady dealings that were explained away as former President Olusegun Obasanjo being heavy handed on his over ambitious deputy.