Nigeria: Sweet Codeine, Bitter Consequences

By Wale Sokunbi 

Nigeria is on the global hotspot on account of a crisis brought into bold relief by an investigative documentary trending in the media. The documentary entitled Sweet Sweet Codeine, made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Africa Eye undercover reporters, featured some workers of three Nigerian pharmaceutical companies – Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Lagos; Bioraj Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Peace Standard Pharmaceutical Ltd., in Ilorin, Kwara State.

One of the workers featured in the documentary openly admitted his company’s massive sales of codeine cough syrup in the country, and boasted that he could sell a million cartons of the syrup in a week. The sales representative has since been fired by the company concerned.

President Buhari And Obasanjo’s Red Card

By Wale Sokunbi

If the widespread support of the people is the sole determinant of the outcome of electoral contests in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari may well be on his way to kissing the presidency goodbye in 2019. Irrespective of his desire or otherwise to seek another term in office, it is actually becoming very difficult to imagine how he could ride over the growing gale of disenchantment with his person and government, especially in the Southern part of the country, to win a second term in office.

*Buhari 

What initially began like the mumblings of disgruntled elements of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that had just been routed from power in the early days of the Buhari administration soon turned into a howl over the new government’s tardiness in forming its cabinet, which took all of five months. The government’s roaring nepotism and disregard of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious nature of the country in its appointments also helped in no way to decrease its approval ratings.

Pitting Buhari Against Osinbajo

By Wale Sokunbi

The Presidency on Monday raised an alarm on what it believes to be a plot to cause a division between President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. The Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Mr. Babafemi Ojudu, described the trending comparisons of Buhari and Osinbajo as the handiwork of those who do not wish the country well.  He also said it was a ploy by the opposition to cause unnecessary division between the two men who share a joint ticket.

*Osinbajo and Buhari 

He was quick to say that Osinbajo was only carrying out the economic policies of the government which the public was only now beginning to feel their impact. As he put it, “it is not a question of one person being better than the other.” Even Osinbajo’s visit to the Niger Delta, he said, is an initiative of the president, and the attempts to divide the two men can only rob Nigerians of the dividends of democracy.

The concerns of the Presidency over what appears a direct effort to pitch Buhari against Osinbajo are well placed. The gambit has apparently been seized by well known Buhari naysayers who have started praising Osinbajo to the high heavens for his modest and sincere efforts at governance, while painting Buhari as lacking in ability to solve the nation’s problems.

For those who have immersed themselves in this worrisome narrative, Buhari is a non-performer while Osinbajo is the magic wand that is gradually making a difference in governance and solving some of the nation’s problems, especially the nation’s forex woes, which has seen the naira appreciate from N520 to N420 to the dollar, while electricity supply is improving with the reducing militancy and bombing of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta area of the country.
Vice President Osinbajo has, undoubtedly, been playing his role well but that is no reason for tattling tattlers to seek to draw a wedge between him and his principal, Buhari. Those who cannot appreciate the wisdom of allowing Osinbajo to do his work as Acting President in peace, while Buhari attends to his health in London, will do well to reread the story of David and Goliath in I Samuel, chapters 17 and 18 , of the Holy Bible.

The young boy, David, killed the giant, Goliath, and King Saul was, indeed, happy to have such a young man who could help the nation get rid of the vaulting Goliath (economic recession and forex woes?) from his nation. The king, initially, harboured no evil at all against David.

President Buhari: Dead Or Alive?

By Wale Sokunbi

Two major issues dominated public discourse in the past week. First, is the raging rumour on the “death”,  or otherwise, of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is officially said to be on a 10-day vacation in the United Kingdom. I first chanced on the news of the president’s supposed death on the social media about two weekends ago, and immediately waved it off as one of the fake news for which that medium of communication is becoming quite notorious.

*Buhari 

But, I had apparently underestimated the great interest and excitement that any negative news about Buhari and his government generates among certain segments of the Nigerian population.  What I had thought of as a mere tale spawned by some idle social media tattlers soon took on a life of its own, complete with intriguing plots and murderous suppositions that could dwarf any tale told by  James Hardly Chase and the other old grand masters of fiction writing.

Strangely, many of the carriers of these tales have worked themselves into a frenzy over a “development” that they believe is likely to lead to “Nigeria’s second civil war, if not an actual dissolution of the country”. Many of the purveyors of this most unlikely story can hardly keep their excitement under check, as they surreptitiously regale those with whom they choose to discuss the matter, with “details” of how the president was flown, “totally unconscious”, out of the country, and died shortly after arriving  in London.

Yet, others hold firmly to online accounts of how the president was caught “trying to commit suicide”, and rushed to the hospital, where he is now in a vegetative state, while his handlers, are trying to hoodwink Nigerians and rule the nation by proxy, as happened in the last few weeks of the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua.

Others say Buhari has even been buried, while one person said he had called the president’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, and asked him why he had joined others by telling lies on the matter of the president’s death.  The person, strangely, insisted that he did not believe that Buhari was dead, but he was convinced that his media handlers were lying that he was alive. What a contradiction!

The Buhari/Aisha Squabble

By Wale Sokunbi

Three important events caught the imagination of many Nigerians in the past fortnight. But, I will dwell on one of them. Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, and her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, were in the global spotlight for reasons that were less than salutary. Aisha threw potshots at the president at an interview with the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), saying his government had been hijacked by “strangers” who were not involved in his campaign for the office of president. The president replied with an unfortunate gaffe in the worst place he could have made such a mistake – in front of one of the most powerful women in the world, German leader, Angela Merkel.

President Buhari and wife, Aisha

Buhari, to the shock of the lady and the enlightened world, said his wife’s place was in the kitchen, the sitting room and the now infamous “the other room.”

Aisha’s statement castigating her husband had, last week, won the hearts of many who felt that the president needed to be told the home truth that she told him. The statement was particularly pleasing to those who are happy to hold on to any straw to condemn the president and project his many perceived “failings”. Indeed, one writer, on account of what he regarded as Aisha’s identification with ordinary Nigerians on their disenchantment with the Buhari administration, actually saw in her someone who should run for the office of vice president in 2019.

What is the import of the Buhari/Aisha spat? For me, Aisha’s outburst mirrors her frustration with the president for not making the appointment of persons into his administration a “family and friends affair”, but one of strange bedfellows who were coming in to reap where they did not sow. In that sense, all the anger is not so much about the baking of the nation’s legendary “national cake”, but the sharing of it in a manner that did not reflect the efforts of those who contributed in making the cake available for sharing by Buhari in the first place.

Dangerous Expansion Of Militancy

By Wale Sokunbi

The expanding theatres of militancy in the country are fast becoming a threat to the unity and continuing peaceful existence of Nigeria. Reports emanating from different parts of the country in recent weeks indicate the need for prompt action to stem a slide into anarchy.

Beyond the snake of the insurgency in the North-East, which the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has only scorched, and not killed, the trickles of militancy undermining the national economy with the blowing up oil pipelines in the Niger Delta states are fast becoming a deluge.

From the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which is fast taking on the toga of a reverend gentleman when compared with the ongoing bombing campaigns of the more virulent group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the militancy in that part of the country is growing in geometrical proportions. Nigeria now has to contend with more and more new militant groups such as the Niger Delta Red Squad, which appears to be operating from the Ohaji Egbema axis of Imo State and is threatening to blow up the Imo State Government House and the State secretariat; ground oil companies and destroy all government assets in the state. The group has already claimed responsibility for the blowing up of two Shell oil pipelines in the state.

Even beyond the Niger Delta, some communities around Ikorodu,   Lagos State, identified as Igbolomu, Elepete and Ishawo, were invaded by unidentified militants who killed no fewer than 30 persons at the weekend. The invaders are suspected to be pipeline vandals who are moving westwards and were protesting the killing of two of their members by security agents. Some reports said the communities were attacked because some local residents were suspected to have disclosed the location of the militants to the police.

The Hijab Controversy In Osun

By Wale Sokunbi

Osun State is once again in the vortex of a storm over a ruling by a state High Court which granted students in the state the right to wear the Muslim female covering, the hijab, to school as part of their fundamental human rights. Since that controversial ruling by Justice Jide Falola on June 3, Nigerians have been inundated with pictures of students of other faiths, especially Christians, going to school in religious vestments such as cassocks, choir robes and the like.

The implication of this ugly situation is not lost on Nigerians. It is a recipe for anarchy, as students of all faiths may decide to start coming to school in their different religious apparels, and it would not be out of place to see student adherents of our traditional religions coming to school with their red and white apparels, divination beads, palm fronds and calabashes filled with kolanuts, red oil and other items that they could insist their faiths mandate them to take to their places of instruction. On a lighter note, our courts would, indeed, be hard pressed trying to determine the veracity of such claims, which would be a monumental waste of their precious time.

On a more serious note, it is unfortunate that the matter of school uniform has become a big distraction in the state. It is worrisome that at a time when all attention should be focused on the problems bedeviling the nation’s education sector, especially the sorry state of public schools and the declining performance of students in public examinations such as the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), some Nigerians appear more worried about the scarf, hijab or beret that students in government schools are wearing to school.

Although the use of accessories associated with a particular religion could amount to a subtle promotion or propagation of that particular religion in the public school system, and the state judiciary should not be seen to be promoting the use of the paraphernalia of any religion in schools, the leaders of other faiths in Osun State need a more measured response to Justice Falola’s controversial “hijab judgement.”

For Peace In South-East, South-South

By Wale Sokunbi

Nigeria has, for some weeks now, been reeling under protests by Niger Delta militants and pro-Biafra groups demanding self-determination and a number of other things from the Federal Government. Hardly any day has passed in recent weeks without gory reports on the bombings of oil pipelines, destruction of other critical oil facilities and killings of protesters, that are capable of distracting the government from the very serious challenges confronting the nation.

(*pix: vanguard)

With the incessant protests and destruction of oil facilities, the impression that is being created is that some of our compatriots are tired of the continuing existence of Nigeria as one country and would prefer to opt out of the Nigerian arrangement. The response of the security agencies to this unfortunate scenario is only succeeding in further hardening the agitators. Scores of protesters were reportedly killed by soldiers in Onitsha, Anambra State, during the celebration of the 49th anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Biafra by the late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, on May 30, while the military also laid siege to the Gbaramatu hometown of one of the leading Niger Delta militants. The government’s response to this situation has not stopped the Niger Delta militants from continuing with their bombing campaigns and threatening the Federal Government and the entire country.

Whatever the problem is, one thing that is clear is that the best way for the militants to achieve their objectives is not by destroying whatever is left of the country. They will do much better to channel their grievances against the state through their recognised leaders and National Assembly members to the appropriate quarters so that they can be addressed and resolved.  The problems that are currently blowing against the soul of Nigeria are such that can topple the nation’s ship of state, if not immediately and properly addressed.  As things stand, the nation’s economy is walking a tightrope on account of the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market.

The delay in the passage of the 2016 Budget has thrown the economy into a bind. Power supply is getting more epileptic, while inflation has gone through the roof. The pump price of petrol has almost doubled.

Buhari And The Biafra Question

By Wale Sokunbi
President Muhammadu Buhari has of late been speaking up on the renewed agitation for the realization of Biafra by our brothers and sisters in the eastern part of the country. The president, who had for some time been reticent on the troubling topic and had earlier said that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, would not be released because he could jump bail, has become more eloquent on this topic of late.

*Buhari

During a visit to the palace of the Emir of Katsina, in his home state of Katsina on Monday, Buhari used the agitation for the independent state of Biafra as a peg to make pronouncements on the indivisibility of Nigeria. 

Toeing the path of all other past presidents of the country, he was unequivocal on the need to retain the country as one indivisible entity. As many notable Nigerians have said before him, he also affirmed that the continuing existence of Nigeria as one country is not negotiable. He explained that Nigeria is a strong and united country because some people laid down their lives for it, but some people who were not born during the civil war are agitating for the division of the country.

He, however, took his convictions on the subject a bit further with his strong affirmation that “there will be no Biafra” under his government.

He was also reported in many organs of the mass media to have vowed to use all the resources at his disposal to crush any agitation for the division of Nigeria. According to the president, the country fought a civil war which claimed the lives of over two million people in order to be united and it would be better for the entire country to commit mass suicide than to allow the campaign for Biafra to succeed.  As he put it: “For Nigeria to divide now, it is better for all of us to jump into the sea and get drowned.”

The frustration of President Buhari with the many winds blowing against Nigeria’s continued existence as one country is understandable. Even the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), through Mr. Osondu Okwaraeke who was identified as the Central Director of the Biafran Red Cross, also on Monday in Onitsha, listed the attacks of herdsmen on parts of Southern Nigeria, the Boko Haram attacks in the North East, the Niger Delta militants’ attacks on oil installations and the agitation for Biafra, as signs that Nigeria is on the verge of a break up.