Akpabio Must Get Serious

  By Charles Okoh

Perhaps, the greatest reason good leadership has continued to elude us is because the executive has consistently cowed the other arms of government into total submission and capitulation. Such that the executive can effectively do without the necessary input of the other more critical arms of government; the legislature and judiciary.

*Akpabio 

Under President Muhammadu Buhari, the legislature and judiciary were reduced to mere appendages and branches of the executive. In fact, Ahmad Lawan’s 9th leadership of the Senate hit an all-time low in that regard. For Lawan, he was even proud to announce to a bewildered nation that under his watch, the senate would never have any reason to disagree with the executive. And that promise was kept until the end of Buhari’s second term. And for that he was rewarded with another tenure at the Senate in a move that would pass as the 8th wonder of the world.

Nasir El-Rufai’s Dangerous Foolery

 By Charles Okoh

It is not a mere happenstance that the nation has remained bitterly divided along ethnic and religious lines in the past eight years. Perhaps, the event of the past eight years has brought to the fore the urgent need for the nation to begin to think of how best we can begin to address the many schisms that have held us down for so long. 

*El-Rufai 

How do we build that nation of our dreams where justice and fairness will prevail? How do we build that egalitarian society of our dreams where all will be treated as equals irrespective of their ethnic or religious leanings when issues of national concern are on the table?

Buhari’s Frivolous Medical Trips Abroad

 By Charles Okoh

When the presidency announced that the out-going (thank God) President Muhammadu Buhari would be visiting the United Kingdom for the coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen Consort of the United Kingdom penultimate Saturday, something told me that the presidency was telling its usual lies and that the president ultimately was going for a medical trip. And I said that openly to those around me.

*Buhari 

Now, the president is human and like every other human being, is liable to fall ill and deserves all the best the country can give as a nation to its president. But I dare ask, must the best healthcare be delivered outside this country? What image is the president portraying of Nigeria to the larger world? That we can’t even treat his dental challenge locally?

Buhari’s Apology Not Accepted

  By Charles Okoh

It is human to err. No mortal man, born of a woman can claim to be without blemish. Anybody who lays claim to being righteous is the biggest jester you can find anywhere on this planet earth. Therefore, when people err and beg for forgiveness; it’s to be expected that they be given a second chance. But when a man makes the same mistakes over and over again and begs to be forgiven then the joke is no longer on the man but he that forgives and forgets, especially when the atrocities of that fellow are outrageous.

*Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, ranks as one of the two most fortunate Nigerians from whom this nation has invested so much on and from whom much more is expected. The nation has taken care of virtually all his needs in all his working lives. He was a minister of this nation, at a time when many of those who are reading this had not been born. Served as military governor and headed various military formations. And as he lives after the end of his second term on May 29, 2023, he remains a minister after over 40 years.

When Will The Benue, Southern Kaduna Killings End?

 By Charles Okoh

It appears that there will be no end in sight to the killings in Kaduna as well as Benue states. The lackadaisical approach of the Federal Government to halting the carnage in both states remains worrisome. If it is argued that the sheer spread of violence and wanton killings across the country have become too much of a burden for the government to handle, will it be out of place to demand from the Federal Government what its plan is towards ending the senseless killings especially in these states?

No fewer than 29 people have been killed in a fresh attack by bandits on Runji Village in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The attack which occurred at about 10 p.m. penultimate Saturday night came barely three days after bandits killed eight people at the Atak’Njei community also in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area.

No Adesina, Bishop Kukah Is Not Your Mate

 By Charles Okoh

Femi Adesina is shameless. To think that he is even a supposed cleric makes him even more shameless. Only a shameless man would make bogus claims and with a straight face still insists that the gibberish he spews forth is the truth.

*Bishop Kukah and Femi Adesina

Personally, I had resolved not to react to whatever Adesina or those who are media minders of President Buhari say, because it’s obvious that they have completely made a mess of whatever their assignment is and inadvertently done a great deal of disservice to their floundering principal.

Lai Mohammed’s Hysteria Over IPOB Misplaced

 By Charles Okoh

Last week, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, criticised several Western nations for endorsing the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which he said has been categorised as a terrorist group. He issued the warning in Washington, D.C. during official meetings with a number of foreign media outlets and policy organisations.

According to NAN, the minister said IPOB remains a terrorist group as declared by the Nigerian government and should be treated as such by Western countries.

He claimed that the group had been using funds raised in foreign countries to “destabilise” Nigeria.

Mohammed argued that it is hypocritical for the West to assert that it is battling terrorism while secretly aiding a terrorist group.

Why Crucify Chief Iwuanyanwu?

 By Charles Okoh

Penultimate weekend, the Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo, celebrated his first 365 days in office. To mark the anniversary, he pulled some very important dignitaries to Awka, the state capital. Topmost of the distinguished personalities that graced the occasion, was former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

*Iwuanyanwu 

Also present on the occasion were notable Igbo personalities like former governors of the state, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, and Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last presidential election; Chairman, Council of Elders of Ohanaeze, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, amongst others.

Cash Squeeze: As Buhari Plays Pontius Pilate

 By Charles Okoh

Last week, Nigerians got some sort of relief as the Central Bank and Federal Government finally complied with the Supreme Court ruling on the lingering cash squeeze which practically squeezed life out of many Nigerians.

*Emefiele and Buhari 

I am not particularly interested in the debate as it concerns the independence of the CBN or otherwise or the right of the Supreme court to intervene in monetary policy administration. 

The arguments for or against, are neither here nor there, my pain is the unwarranted hardship which the federal government under president Muhammadu Buhari unconscionably subjected the people to. This level of hardship is unprecedented. 

Yakubu Mahmood’s INEC Fooled Nigerians

 By Charles Okoh

For a lot of Nigerians who had looked forward to using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) technology in the presidential and National Assembly elections of Saturday, February 25, it was a huge disappointment to see that that was not to be. Well, maybe, except for those who conspired to see that the device, which the INEC chairman Yakubu Mahmood and his team had touted as the game changer, did not work.

*Yakubu

The BVAS, it was expected, will help deepen our democracy by removing as much as possible human intervention in the process. Opportunities were provided by INEC for manipulation, thereby exposing to the world their insincerity. In the end it was a total waste of the time of the voter and the resources of a nation whose revenues have continued to dwindle.

Oyoze Baje @70: Tribute To A Defender Of Nigerian Project

 By Charles Okoh

To attain the age of 70 in Nigeria at a time when the life expectancy of Ni­gerians is about 55 years is worth celebrating. To attain the Biblical three score and ten, in a country where the stress lev­els seem permanently on the in­crease and other attendant stress­ors seemed arrayed to snuff out life from the people is more than enough reason to celebrate and give thanks to God Almighty.

It is not often that people get celebrated while alive. It was the famous Nigerian musical icon Pa­toranking who insists that he is celebrated in his hit song in local lingo; “Celebrate me, now when I dey alive…”

For veteran journalist and cel­ebrated newspaper columnist, Ayo Oyoze Baje, who turned 70 years on Wednesday, February 8, it was an opportunity to celebrate a journalist who has remained undeterred and undaunted in his resolve to constantly lend his voice to the voiceless.

Naira Redesign: In Whose Interests Are These Politicians Fighting?

 By Charles Okoh

There can be no telling the measure of pressure faced by Nigerians at a time as this. What is not in doubt is whatever the intent of the presidency in pursuing the redesign of some currencies, the discomfort Nigerians suffer now, if nothing is done about it might as well get to a level where the people can no longer bear the pains and inconveniences any more. At that stage, nothing is predictable.

In spite of repeated denials by Godwin Emefiele, that the naira redesign is not political and not targeted at any politician, the reaction of the members of the National Assembly and governors, especially of the APC, suggest that, indeed, there may be more to it than meets the eye.

El-Rufai Did Not Say Anything New

By Charles Okoh

It is completely heart-rending and morally incomprehensible the level some Nigerians can go to excuse President Muhammadu Buhari for the wreck that his administration has made of Nigeria and Nigerians. His spin doctors would blame anything and everything under the sun for his sloppy performance in office, except the culprits himself. Buhari’s failure is self-inflicted and he should completely take responsibility for the failure of his government.

*Buhari and el-Rufai 

Today, everybody is in one queue or the other. The perennial fuel scarcity has remained with the country for virtually all of the President’s seven-and-half years’ tenure, so far, and everybody and association or union, is blamed for the failure of the petroleum sector, except the substantive minister of petroleum, who happens to be President Buhari.

Buhari’s Best Not Good Enough

 By Charles Okoh

The most pathetic people to listen to on the situation in Nigeria are the ardent supporters and sympathisers of President Muhammadu Buhari. They unabashedly regularly stand truth on its head, all in the name of trying to rewrite history just to suit their principal.

*Buhari

Truth is that Buhari remains the worst President ever to occupy that office. They speak of construction of roads, railways and building other infrastructure, as though there has ever been a president who did not do all of that. Is there any president or military head of state that did not build roads and bridges or other infrastructure? Buhari’s eight years, by the time he leaves, thank God, on May 29, would be the greatest disservice any leader has visited on this nation.

Poverty: Buhari Should Quit The Blame Game

 By Charles Okoh

These are not the best of times for Nigerians. There are several existential threats confronting the average Nigerian. A man, whose house is on a raging inferno, certainly cannot have any time to spare to chase rats.

*Buhari 

For about two weeks now, Nigerians have been trekking, sweating, thirsty and starving. No thanks to petrol scarcity and the high cost of living. The persistent fuel shortage has continued and people are left running from pillar to post seeking for what God in His infinite mercies deposited in large quantities in our land, yet we have been living in want and scarcity. The paradox is such that a people and nation that have no reason to be poor are wallowing in abject poverty.

Why Adamu’s APC Is Afraid Of BVAS, E-Transmission Of Results

 By Charles Okoh

“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.” – Georg C. Lichtenburg

It is no longer debatable that the only problem keeping this nation down is the problem of fixing the governance jigsaw. We have been held down by the fact that rather than a democracy where the wishes of the people reign supreme; we have practiced neo-feudalism where a few people lord it over the rest of us and dictate who gets what or into any office in the land.

Adamu

This has never been as bad and brazen since independence as they have been since the turn of the fourth republic in 1999.The result being that there has been a steady and ever-increasing level of apathy towards elections in the country.

For instance, in the 2019 presidential elections that secured President Muhammadu Buhari, his second term, only 34.75 percent of registered voters actually voted in elections, according data released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Soludo’s Bile Against Obi Unwarranted

 By Charles Okoh

Whoever advised Governor Chukwuma Soludo on the path he has taken in his unwarranted attack on the former governor of the state and presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has obviously and totally misled him. If anything, his reaction was so infantile and lacking tact.

*Obi and Soludo 

What would Soludo say was the reason he went overboard and spewed all those bile when he is not contesting the position of the president? Between Obi and APGA’s Prof. Peter Umeadi, who realistically has a better chance?

After all said and done, Soludo ended up projecting the candidacy of both Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), than he has done for his party’s candidate (Umeadi).

Abdullahi Adamu Living In A Fool’s Paradise

 By Charles Okoh

The greatest disservice any man can do to himself is to deliberately deceive himself; thinking he is fooling others. Many years ago, the then chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the late Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, woke up one morning, perhaps filled with an overdose of self-worth and having overrated his party, concluded that the PDP would rule for the next 60 years.

*Adamu and Buhari

Nothing else could have prompted this outburst, other than the fact that he would probably have been too convinced that his behemoth party, the self-styled biggest party on the continent, was doing very well, so much so that it would remain in office for as long as it wished. Well, he and his party members were well alive to realize the tomfoolery in trying to play god or not taking appropriate assessment of the party’s significance, relevance and true worth.

That U.S. Terror Alert And A Headstrong FG

 By Charles Okoh

On October 23,  the U.S. Mission in Nigeria issued what it tagged elevated risk of terror attacks in Abuja, the federal capital territory. In the advisory, the US government said there is an elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically in Abuja.

It said targets may include, but are not limited to, government buildings, places of worship, schools, markets, shopping malls, hotels, bars, restaurants, athletic gatherings, transport terminals, law enforcement facilities, and international organizations.

Some Western nations including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland and others swiftly issued similar advisories to their citizens.

ASUU, Buhari And The Bull In A China Shop

 By Charles Okoh

From February 14, 2022 till September, our university students have been at home; meaning that for close to eight months that critical population of the nation’s demography has been kept idle and indolent. Indolent not because they are lazy as President Muhammadu Buhari once described them, but because they have been rendered so by a government that does not care a hoot how the people feel about the effect of their misgovernance and utter indifference to the plight of the people.

*Buhari and university dons

Last Monday, passengers travelling from Lagos to other states and other countries from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) were stranded and some missed their flights as the National Association of Nigerian Students blocked all roads leading to the airport. The students who came out in their numbers protested over the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

One of the protesting students puts it more succinctly when he said they want to prevent the elite from flying just so that their attention can be drawn to their plights.  He believed it was a welcome development to curb the excesses of the government’s nonchalant attitude towards university education in the country.