Before Buhari Tampers With Press Freedom Again

By Martins Oloja

Even if we encourage ourselves by wishing for peaceful coverage of the 2019 election processes, as journalists, there are warning signals for us to prepare for war with this administration. Reason: most of us are beginning to discern that despite their assurances since May 2015, they are set to tinker ruthlessly with press freedom for their ‘Project 2019’. 

*President Buhari and his adviser on media,
Femi Adesina

On March 16, 2015, the then candidate Muhammadu Buhari told the newspapers’ proprietors and editors: “I won’t tamper with press freedom…”  

Buhari, who then said a change revolution was imminent in the country without firing a shot also assured the influential members of the Newspapers’ Proprietors Association of Nigeria( NPAN) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors ( NGE) at an interaction in Abuja:

Buhari 2019: The Audacity Of Buharideens

By Martins-Hassan Eze

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance  and an conscientious stupidity” — Dr. Martin-Lurther King Jnr.

Walahi! This thing called shame some Dudu’s just don’t have it. How can a man with conscience and human heart refuse to acknowledge the regrettable fact the GMB is a disaster; a ticking time bomb. Is it not now clear that GMB is the worst thing to happen to Nigeria since the return of civilian rule in 1999? Yet, some mugus are not just shameful enough to stop selling the candidature of this Mobutu in the social media. And, I ask. Is the protection of lives and properties no longer the primary responsibility of government? Have PBM and APC not failed woefully in this regard? Perhaps, for Elrufai; the petit Kaduna tyrant and Dean, college of Buharideens, good governance is all about ethnic cleaning and political jihad. 

President Buhari 

Who should we blame? Did KONGI the noble laureate not bemoan the fact that social media is a vomitorium some years back?  Some folks think that the social media is their village stream. They just jump into the square with rotten and stinking narratives: fighting corruption is the reason why we should become slaves in our country. Fighting corruption is also the reason why all ancestral lands of non-Muslims in the north should become a mass grave and grazing land for Fulani herdsmen.

President Buhari’s Unguarded Tongue

By Ray Ekpu

It is obvious that President Muhammadu Buhari does not always filter his words before they come out. If he filters them at all he does not fully appreciate the connotative and denotative meanings of the words he uses. All words have meanings, and can be subjected to literal or metaphorical interpretations. We have had several occasions when the President’s handlers have accused the public of misinterpreting or misunderstanding, or misconstruing what the President had said. Sometimes they claim that the president’s words were taken out of context or have been stretched to achieve a political purpose. I sympathise with the President’s minders who have to lick the vomit from time to time to make the President look as presidential as presidents are expected to look.

*President Buhari 

The recent Westwinster episode is the latest in the series of presidential gaffes. The President was at the Commonwealth Business Forum in the UK recently. The forum is described as “a truly unique and historic opportunity to promote and celebrate the very best of the Commonwealth to a global audience.” In an answer to a question he reportedly said that “more than 60% of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare, education free.”

Buhari’s Presidency: Facts And Fiction

By Abraham Ogbodo

I am worried about the ongoing narrative that Nigerians desired a change from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) misrule and agreed in 2015 to kick out Goodluck Jonathan and vote in Muhammadu Buhari as President.

Nothing sounds more fraudulent. Was there a consensus at anytime on that? The answer is no. Rather, the Buhari presidency was a risk specifically undertaken by a tiny but powerful clique solely for its benefit and not the benefit of Nigerians.

*Jonathan and Buhari

Now that the risk has failed and woefully too, the same clique is trying to change the narrative and make the mistake look like everybody’s mistake. It will not happen. I know the truth is always a casualty when history is being hurriedly written from many perspectives. But not this time please because I am going to tell the truth to shame the devil and stop it from escaping with vain glory. 

‘The Human Side Of President Buhari’

By Fredrick Nwabufo

The header of this article is the title of a 55-minute documentary on President Muhammadu Buhari.
 
The documentary has been scheduled to air on NTA this evening.

The presidency says “the documentary portrays the president in a light that majority of Nigerians have not seen him”.
 
I find this – ‘human side of Buhari’ – farcical and puerile. Does it mean the president has an animal side? What other human side could he have than his much vaunted “sense of humor”?
 
Buhari’s “sense of humor” has been elevated by his media handlers to a national diadem.
 
His media handlers are always quick to play on this harp – “Buhari’s sense of humor” – whenever there is citizen angst.

At Last, Buhari Sacks Babachir, Oke, Names New SGF

*Babachir Lawal 

In a move that may have caught many Nigerians by surprise, President Muhammadu Buhari has relieved the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal, of his post.

Also sacked is the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mr. Ayo Oke, who has equally been on suspension following his role in the Ikoyi fund scandal that  rocked the nation some months ago.

This was made known by the president’s special adviser on media, Mr. Femi Adesina.

Mr. Adesina announced Mr. Boss Mustapha as the new SGF.

Memo To My Friends In Aso Rock Villa

By Abraham Ogbodo

Before I get started, I have a confession to make. In my little way, I try to avoid the friendship of big men. I will explain. Big men and (women too) can hardly appreciate the worth of a small man. They cannot initiate a short telephone conversation with the small person to say ‘I am just checking on you my friend.’ If they manage to do, it is not to say hi but to complain, most times bitterly, about some matter that a small man didn’t handle to their ultimate satisfaction; or reel out more directives after which they recline to their exclusive economic zone and wait for when the unfortunate small man will become useful again.

*Garba Shehu, Femi Adesina and Laolu Akande

The big man thinks his bigness, and the fact that he allows some social access more than compensate for every effort the small man puts in to sustain the relationship. As a Christian, I asked God to give me the wisdom to manage big men and women. He told me to stop pretending to be a big man’s friend. The application of that wisdom has never failed me. I have just offered free of charge what took me days of fasting and prayers to secure from God.

I have had to give this background so that my friends in Aso Rock Villa, who however became big men on May 29, 2015 or thereabout, will understand why I have somehow maintained a safe distance. They are Femi Adesina, Garba Shehu and Laolu Akande. All three are evidently big men by any interpretation. The first two are my senior colleagues; they became editors of national titles long before I did. Laolu Akande is my junior in every sense. 

The President’s Handlers And His Health

By Ikeogu Oke

This piece was triggered by a tweet I stumbled on recently. Emanating from the tweeter handle of one George Okusanya, it read, ‘Femi Adesina: “The president is not sick”.

Lai Mohammed: “The president is hale and hearty”.

GMB: “I couldn’t recall ever being so sick”.’

 

*Buhari 

Clearly, the tweet juxtaposes the words of Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, and Lai Mohammed, the President’s Minister of Information and Culture, on the one hand, and those of the President on the other hand. By this contrasting placement, the tweet seems to provide proof of the allegation that the President’s handlers had misinformed Nigerians about the state of his health while he was in the UK on medical leave, in consequence of which they have drawn flak from a legion of critics.

I, for one, had been taken aback by the morbid interest shown by some Nigerians in knowing the exact state of the President’s health while he was receiving medical treatment abroad. And this is why: I had thought such people would be more concerned about the resultant indignity for our country that, 56 years after Independence, our President, the President of the country that prides itself as the “Giant of Africa” and “the most populous black nation in the world”, still travels to a foreign country, the country of our colonial masters, to receive medical treatment for a protracted period, during which he might be splayed repeatedly on an operating table, anesthetized, and carved open by foreign scalpels.

Mismanaging Mr. President’s Wellbeing

By Oseloka H. Obaze  

Analyzing Nigeria is arduous if you seek to speak truth to power. Many Nigerians, mostly the leaders and elite make speeches unceasingly. Such conventional speeches tend to be largely rhetorical. And together, the analysts, the religious, the political leaders and the disenfranchised populace have all become “miserable comforters” of a nation in distress. As asked in the Holy Book:  “Will your long winded speeches never end?”

*Buhari 

Nigeria remains the classical outlier nation state. Thus in resignation many Nigerians have thrown in the towel. Some have fled, finding refuge and succour in foreign lands. Yet, many remain, having no option; and some remain to capitalise on the leadership and general disorder in the commonwealth. The latter seek to foster legality from illegalities with the intent to benefit from it.

But there remains one constant. Like Fela Anikulakpo Kuti averred presciently, the state of the nation is nothing but “Confusion” as “Everything Scatter.” As another contemporary musician, Eedris Abdulkareem put it: everything in Nigeria is “Jaga Jaga.” And this brings me to how those charged with minding President Muhammadu Buhari are managing his wellbeing or as some say, his health issues. 

 First, President Buhari is not a private citizen. While he is entitled to some privacy, Nigerians who elected him have the right to know of his wellbeing and the state of his health. He is the CEO of corporate Nigeria, and his wellbeing affects our stocks and holdings. Nigerians are not interested in his minders including the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and media advisers telling us that the president is “fit”, “alright” and “that there is no cause for alarm.” The president did the right thing in devolving power to his deputy. That is constitutional. But Nigerians behold a Deja vu moment. If they are doubtful they have good reasons. Nigeria needs to hear directly from her leader, President Buhari, in accordance with the oath of office he took.

 My friend, Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media has characterised the present reality as “imperfect” but conditioned on “exigencies of the moment.”

He is doing his best in an awkward circumstance. Well, we recall the uncertainties and unpleasantness that led to the “doctrine of necessity” and do not want to revisit that episode under any pretext. Perhaps, Mr. Adesina should have a chat with his professional colleague, Segun Adeniyi on this and related matters.  Nigerians don’t want to be fooled. If President Buhari could speak to President Donald Trump, he can speak to Nigerians. The facilities exist.

The Hypocrisy Of President Buhari And El-Rufai, His Mini Me

By Reno Omokri

 With President Muhammadu Buhari's lawyer's ₦500,000 'gift' to Justice Adeniyi Ademola while the certificate case was being tried before that judge and with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation's Grasscuttergate scandal, can we all stop pretending and accept that the anti corruption war is dead?

*President Buhari and Gov El-Rufai

I believe I now know the reason why God allowed President Buhari to come back to power. It was to expose him for who he really is. Not a saint, but a hypocrite!

A hypocrite of the highest order. A so called anti corruption crusader who writes letters to cover his corrupt Secretary to the Government of the Federation and whose lawyer gives gifts to a justice that is being tried for collecting gifts from others. Do as I say, not as I do!

Things were already bad enough until the President's spokesman released his statement trying to justify the 'gift'! 

When Femi Adesina, President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman, says PMB's lawyers ₦500,000 payment to Justice Ademola was a 'gift' not a bribe he must think that Nigerians are on the bottom of the ladder in the rational thinking food chain!

So if I take a bribe and call it a 'gift', according to Femi Adesina, it automatically transforms from corruption to 'gift'? So President Buhari believes in the Transformation Agenda after all! Who would have thought so! 

So why can President Buhari's lawyer give gifts but Andrew Yakubu cannot accept 'gift'? The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should just release everybody they are trying because they took 'gifts' not bribe. After all, President Buhari and his lawyer have shown us the way!

The Justice Ademola that is currently being tried is accused of taking bribes because people gave him gifts. So why were their gifts proceeds of corruption and Lawyer Awodein's (Buhari's lawyer) a proceed of friendship?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a bribe is defined thus:

Buhari Explains Why He Requires Longer Time For Rest

PRESS RELEASE 

“President Muhammadu Buhari thanks millions of Nigerians who have been sending good wishes and praying for his health and well-being in mosques and churches throughout the country.

The President is immensely grateful for the prayers, show of love and concern.

President Buhari wishes to reassure Nigerians that there is no cause for worry.

During his normal annual checkup, tests showed he needed a longer period of rest, necessitating the President staying longer than originally planned.”

Signed:
Femi Adesina 
SA Media and Publicity 

Buhari: A Diary Of Confusion

By Amanze Obi

Nigerians, no doubt, are confused at the moment. The people have too many issues to grapple with at the same time. One is as urgent as the other. The scenarios are so confusing that the people do not seem to know which one to approach first. This being the case, it will be a Herculean task to seek to pigeonhole the whole of the confusing set-up here. But we can try our hands on just one of them today, namely, the health of the country’s President, Muhammadu Buhari. This is one issue that clearly spells confusion. But let us begin from the beginning.

*Buhari 

Some time this January, it was announced that the President was going on a 10-day vacation in London. The people were told that the President would, during the period of vacation, undergo routine medical check-up. But no sooner did he arrive London than the rumour mill began to spin with confusing stories about his health. The rumours were various and varied. Some had it that he was critically ill. Others suggested that he was more than ill. There were some other suggestions and permutations about his health condition, many of which bordered on the absurd and the ridiculous.

In the midst of the confusion, it was thought that the President’s lieutenants would clear the air. But Nigerians were to discover to their chagrin that those who they thought knew something about the health of the President were as confused as the rest of the people. Where the people expected clarification, the President’s agents presented them with something more confusing. If you thought that the agents would build their story around the initial anchor, which suggested that the President was on medical vacation, you were dead wrong. The agents had abandoned that storyline and opted for another. The story was amended to read that the President was not ill and, therefore, not admitted in any hospital, be it in London or Germany. With this twist in the tale, Nigerians ate their words and waited patiently for February 6, the date his agents said he would return to work in Nigeria. The appointed date came but the President did not return.

Then the agents stepped out to inform us that the President could not return on the date earlier announced because his doctors in the United Kingdom advised against it. They said he was running a series of tests and could only return to work in Nigeria after all the tests would have been carried out and the results ready. But the agents were wiser this time. They did not give the people a new date on which the President would return. The extension of time was indefinite, meaning that the President could remain where he is now until May 29, 2019, the day his tenure would expire.

Buhari’s Illness And The Resurgence Of Official Lies

By Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo

The recent uproar and fear concerning President Muhammadu Buhari’s state of health has not come to many discerning Nigerians as a surprise. What is rather curious and embarrassing has been the ostrich and evasive denial of presidential aides and others of their kind on the true state of the Buhari’s health. For one thing, no person should be rejoicing that the Buhari is critically ill; for illness of whatever nature is not a good wish for anyone.

*Buhari 

It is rather disturbing that it took a near fatal medical check-up in London for the President’s men to admit that the President is in critical state of health. His fragile health status has never been in question because Nigerians know that during the 2015 electioneering period, Buhari slumped on two occasions. Ominous and disturbing as the situation remains, one cannot but advise that Muhammadu Buhari should resign from office on health grounds and save the country from certain crisis of succession and constitutional dilemma.

There is no doubt that the present state of President Buhari’s health has imposed a fresh reign of speculation among Nigerians; with government officials demonstrating speaking from both sides of the mouth. Earlier, Nigerians have been told that Buhari was hale and hearty but just yesterday (February 5th, 2017), Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) told us that the President will stay longer in London to enable him complete his other medical tests. The President will return to Nigeria, he said but gave no hint when the President will come back.

Presently, the issue of succession and alleged pressure on Vice President Yemi Osibanjo to resign has become subjects of intense discussion by Nigerians, at home and abroad, raising anxiety despite official assurances that the President is responding to treatment at the London Specialist Hospital in Britain. It is no longer secret that President Buhari was admitted in the hospital for treatment of undisclosed illness. Even in this critical situation, some individuals have narrowly dismissed the patriotic calls by Nigerians for the president to resign. The result in the last couple of days has been a Nigerian government run on uncertainty, gossip, blackmail and useless battles for supremacy. To further put the state ship into more troubled waters, Vice President Osibanjo, in particular, has ring-fenced himself with an air of precaution in his activities in the Presidency to avoid sending wrong signals regarding the present health challenges of the President.

It is assumed that the vice president is expected to perform the functions of the president in the absence of the latter, but the 1999 Constitution states expressly in Sections 145 and 146 how such a role can be performed in the absence of the number one citizen. Section 145 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states that whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President. According to Section 146 (1), the Vice-President shall hold the office of President if the office of President becomes vacant by reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or the removal of the President from office for any other reason in accordance with section 143 of this Constitution.

Lai Mohammed: A Haunting Past

By Amanze Obi

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is having a field day. It is savouring the absence of an opposition party in the country. As an opposition political party that wrested power from a ruling party, even if by default, the APC deserves a full dose of the arsenal, which it used to destabilise and decapitate the then ruling party. But it is not getting any of that. The opposition died because the forces that forced the former ruling party out of office also ensured that it does not rise again to constitute itself into a formidable opposition. What was supposed to be the opposition after the emergence of the APC, therefore, went comatose. It is in disarray today.

*Lai Mohammed 

The result is that the ruling party has no rival political party to keep it on its toes. That is why the APC is having a ball. The situation in the land is serving its purpose. But we cannot say the same thing of its effect on our polity. Whereas the APC is on a roller coaster, the country’s democracy is on a free fall. There is no institution to call the ruling party to order. The opposition, which ought to do the job, is non-existent. In the absence of a virile opposition, what we have are shrill voices of dissent, struggling to fill the gaping hole, which the absence of an opposition has created in our polity. The APC is certainly the better for it.

That is why an Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who, as an opposition spokesman, did his job with gusto, is not being called to account by anybody. As an opposition spokesman, Mohammed regaled the polity with propaganda. He was always in the news. He always joined issues with the party in power. He was always the first to take a position on any national issue.

Given this pedigree, the APC, which he helped to wrest power from the ruling party, did not have any problem appointing him as the chief spokesman of its government. The expectation was that with Mohammed in place, the government would not have any problem telling its story. Mohammed, they thought, could make the public to believe anything. That was the ideal. But the reality of the situation has given a lie to that fanciful expectation.

Nothing exposes the impracticability of that ideal more than the crisis the government is currently facing over the health of President Muhammadu Buhari. Since the health of the president became an issue for public scrutiny, the media machinery of the government has been in disarray. The interventions and interjections of the government’s media managers have been anything but coordinated. Each has tried to do better than the other. This has resulted in puerile contradictions. The public is clearly confused as to what is what. The situation we gave on our hands is that of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

In the face of the uncoordinated vibes wafting out of government’s media machines, some discerning members of the public have had cause to remind Alhaji Lai Mohammed of his past.  Some seven to eight years ago, the health of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s then president, was an issue. He was in Saudi Arabia where his health was being managed. The scenario was shrouded in secrecy. Nigerians hardly knew what the situation truly was. Tongues wagged. In the midst of the confusion, Lai Mohammed made a pointed demand of government. He demanded that the then Minister of Information should be briefing Nigerians on a daily basis on the health of the president based on authentic details provided by the president’s doctors. That was Lai Mohammed in 2009. His demand sounded so simple to him. He delivered it with familiar and accustomed self-righteousness.

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!

Fulani Herdsmen And Endless Killings

By  Benedict Ahanonu

FOR most part of 2016, Nigeria was plagued by incessant letting of blood by a group alleged to be Fulani herdsmen. While some may claim that the real Fulani herdsmen are peaceful and essentially mindful of their flock, the fact remains that this marauding group is composed of herdsmen who appear in the garb of Fulani pastoralists.

That aside, their modus operandi is unwavering and follows a common pattern. From Benue to Enugu, Delta, Ekiti and now Niger, Kaduna it has been a gory tale of woe.

Thousands of innocent Nigerians have been killed, cash and food crops destroyed, villages and communities sacked.
Because there seems to be no indication of readiness by the government through the security agencies to deal with these murderous offenders, they have got more emboldened even as they visit mayhem on Nigerians with flagrant impunity.
One had expected President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate strong leadership in dealing with these marauders whom it appears may not be Nigerians.

While there is “Operation Lafiya Dole” for the Northeast insurgency, “Operation Python Dance” for the Southeast Biafran agitators, “Operation Crocodile Smile” for the Niger Delta, there is none for this bunch of killers who have succeeded in inflicting pain on almost every part of the country.

It is even quite disturbing  and strange that the same President Buhari who is always quick to condemn such dastardly acts when they happen elsewhere has so far been unable to rebuke what seems like genocide taking place in Southern Kaduna.

Reacting, perhaps, at the behest of Buhari, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who spoke on a Channels Television programme, “Sunrise Daily,” said that it was needless for the president to speak on the destruction of southern Kaduna State since the governor assured that he was in full control of the violent crisis and had been briefing his boss regularly.

Buhari, Halt The Genocide In Southern Kaduna Now!

By Ayodele Adio
Shortly after reading through Audu Maikori’s narration of the tragedy befalling the beautiful people of southern Kaduna, I was left in a state of limbo as to why the Nigerian state has consistently failed to protect its most vulnerable, why the life of the average Nigerian isn’t worth as much as that of a cow and why the agency of government saddled with the prime responsibility for maintaining internal security has become the lead cast in this ridiculous show of shenanigans? 

 

*Buhari 

One would have thought that the imposition of a 24 hour curfew might give way for the dust to settle, and even if the people of southern Kaduna were not planning a merry Christmas, a peaceful one would surely have sufficed. Sadly, that wasn’t to be as a group of militia herdsmen brazenly decimated a village named Goska, leaving about a dozen people dead and hundreds homeless. Typical of such attacks was the fact that the militia herdsmen met no resistance from any of our security operatives and as I write this piece not a single arrest has been made.

What is more worrisome is that the culprits have been identified as foreigners who have a score to settle with the people of southern Kaduna. How low can we go as a nation? That bandits from neighbouring countries can stroll into our country, spit on our territorial integrity, massacre our people and then demand monetary compensation, only to be insulted by Femi Adesina that the President doesn’t need to speak on the killings as the governor of Kaduna state is already on top of things, as if when his boss sends condolence messages to France and the United states when attacked by terrorists, their own governments aren’t on top of the matter.

The Global terrorism index has the Fulani herdsmen ranked as the 4th most deadliest terror group on earth today having killed thousands of innocent Nigerians. How this constantly fails to attract the urgent attention of Mr. President is completely beyond me, not even a sigh of empathy or a show of solidarity with the people. This is awfully shameful, insensitive and irresponsible from a country that prides itself in being the big brother of black Africa. We seem to be more worried about a group of people going home to their families to spend the Christmas holidays than we are about an armed militia, sacking communities, and wrecking havoc in Kaduna, Nassarawa, Adamawa, Benue, Zamfara, and Enugu.

Who Killed Bridget Agbahime?

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

When Bridget Agbahime was murdered on June 2, 2016, in the presence of her husband, Pastor Mike Agbahime, by Muslim fundamentalists in the name of “Allah”, Nigerian leaders made the usual noises.

Agbahime, who hailed from Imo State, and was a member of the Deeper Life Bible Church, was said to have prevented Muslims from performing ablution in front of her shop at Kofar Wambai Market in Kano, where she sold plastic wares.

Late Mrs. Bridget Agbahime 

The punishment for such a “crime” was death, in the opinion of her traducers, who promptly accused her of blasphemy and lynched her.

She was murdered at 74 by those young enough to be her grandchildren. Even her age could not act as a leash on their murderous impulse.

The market was preparing to close for the day’s business when the soulless characters carried out the gruesome murder. So, it was in broad daylight. Those around saw and knew the murderers.

The hideous characters didn’t wear masks. In their usual impunity, like the axiomatic son whose father sends him to steal, and who, therefore, kicks the door open with his foot, the religious bigots, didn’t care a hoot.

They knew that nothing had happened to their fellow blood-thirsty zealots who beheaded Gideon Akaluka in the same Kano and paraded the streets with his head hoisted on a spike with blood dripping on their hands.

Because the murderers were known, it was not a surprise when police headquarters in Abuja announced almost immediately that two suspects had been arrested, even as then Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, called for calm while assuring that justice would be done.

A statement issued by then Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olabisi Kolawole said: “In order to ensure a diligent and professional investigation, [Arase] has directed the deputy inspector general of police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) to deploy the Homicide Section of the Department to immediately take over the investigation of the case and ensure a meticulous investigation and speedy prosecution of the arrested suspects.”

Will New IGP, Idris, Be Up To Scratch?

By Oguwike Nwachuku

At a brief ceremony at Louis Edet House (otherwise called Force Headquarters) in Abuja on Wednesday, June 22, out-gone Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, handed over to his successor, Ibrahim Kpotum Idris. President Muhammadu Buhari, in exercising his right under Section 215 of the Constitution, named Idris IGP in acting capacity a day earlier, June 21. He becomes the 19th IGP.

*President Buhari and New IGP Idris 

A statement issued by Buhari’s media aide, Femi Adesina, said Idris was born on January 15, 1959; hails from Kutigi, Lavum in Niger State; and enlisted in the police in 1984, after graduating from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria with a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture.

He also holds a degree in law from the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID).

“Idris, who was in charge of Operations at the Force Headquarters before his appointment as acting Inspector General of Police, will act in that capacity pending his confirmation,” Adesina said.

Handing over to him, Arase said Idris “is going to serve in an acting capacity until the Police Council confirms him. I want to seize this opportunity to thank Nigerians for the cooperation given me while I served as Inspector General of Police. By extension, I want to also appeal to you to give the same support that you gave to me to my successor. He is a younger man, so I am sure he will be abreast with contemporary policing issues.”

According to Paragraph (a) of Section 215, “An inspector general of police who, subject to Section 216 (2) of this Constitution shall be appointed by the president on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police Force.”

Section 171 of the Constitution empowers the president to appoint the secretary to the government of the federation; head of the civil service of the federation; ambassador, high commissioner or other principal representative of Nigeria abroad (subject to confirmation by the Senate); permanent secretary in any ministry or head of any extra–ministerial department of the government, and any office on the personal staff of the president.

But Section 216 (2) says, “Before making any appointment to the office of the inspector general of police or removing him from office the president shall consult the Nigeria Police Council.”
By the appointment of Idris, Buhari has proved his critics right once more that he is determined to appoint into certain offices those who catch his fancy so long as they are from the Northern part of the country.

Buhari’s Medical Trip, A Blot On Nigeria’s Image

By Osahon Enabulele

I heard with shock and disappointment the statement issued on Sunday, June 5, 2016, by the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to Mr. President, informing the general public that President Muhammadu Buhari will proceed on a 10-day medical vacation to London from Monday, June 6, 2016, during which period he is billed to see an E.N.T. specialist for a persistent ear infection, based on a recommendation for further evaluation said to have been advanced by Mr. President’s Personal Physician and an E.N.T. specialist in Abuja.

Even though the nature of the persistent ear infection/specific diagnosis was not stated in the Special Adviser’s press release, I wish to commend Mr. President for the medical disclosure (a departure from the past) and sincerely sympathise with him, especially at this critical stage of our country’s history and development, and wish him quick recovery.

However, I am very constrained to state that this foreign medical trip flies in the face of the Federal Government’s earlier declaration of her resolve to halt the embarrassing phenomenon of outward medical tourism, which as at the end of the year 2013 had led to a humongous capital flight of about $1billion dollars, particularly from expenses incurred by political and public office holders (and their accompanying aides), whose foreign medical trips (most of which are unnecessary) were financed with tax payers’ resources.

 At various times, one had advised Mr. President to make a clear public pronouncement on his resolve to show leadership by example with respect to the utilisation of the medical expertise and facilities that abound in Nigeria by him and other members of the Federal Executive Council, particularly in concrete expression of Section 46 of the National Health Act which seeks to address the abuse of tax payers’ resources through frivolous foreign medical travels embarked upon by political and public office holders.

Undoubtedly, this latest move by Mr. President at a time the Federal Government is said to be on a change mission and rebirth of national consciousness and commitment through a backward integration agenda, Mr. President has lost a golden opportunity to assert his change mantra through a clear demonstration of leadership by example, by staying back to receive medical treatment in Nigeria and thereby inspiring confidence in Nigeria’s health sector which currently boasts of medical experts that favourably compare with medical experts anywhere in the world, if not even better.