Bola Tinubu’s Ministry Of Cow And Chicken Affairs

 By Ugoji Egbujo

It’s haphazard. One moment, the Federal Government is pursuing the Orasanye reforms; the next, it’s churning out fresh ministries to serve political expediency. We took away the petrol subsidy to save the economy, only to become obsessed with distributing money and food to the public as if we can’t sit to think.

Now, we have a ministry for cow and chicken affairs. A full-blooded ministry for only livestock. Who knows why the title ‘Development’ is attached to it? Some say the entire thing is a peace offering to the Miyetti Allah and company. Others say the suspicious timing makes it a lollipop in the mouth of a group wailing against the Samoa Agreement.

Crisis Of Insecurity As Challenge Of Development

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

Security of lives and property has been accorded priority attention by governments of different countries of the world, be it democratic or military administration. This is so because an atmosphere devoid of fear, anxiety, threat, harm, etc to citizens’ lives and property will only bring about socio-economic development.

In other words, development cannot thrive in the atmosphere of conflicts, violence, anxiety, fear and wanton destruction of lives and property, as it is currently the case in many parts of Nigeria. Therefore, it follows that there is a strong link between security and development in any social setting.

Rising Crime Rate In Nigeria 2023

 By Obiotika Toochukwu

During the campaigns for the 2023 General Elections, the known militia and pariah state of Nigeria experienced calm, peace, and safety. It was nuanced that the sponsors of terrorism, banditry and other crimes were too occupied with the electioneering campaigns. Few weeks after the elections and announcement of results, the spate of insecurity took over the Nigerian space again.

It is quite disheartening to see young men of school age involved in various crimes. Education in Nigeria has been so much degraded that most youths view it as a waste of money, time and resources. Due to incessant strikes and other bottlenecks in the high institutions, majority of the students have embraced cybercrimes, internet fraud (Yahoo plus) and kidnapping. The university professors on the other hand are used by the incumbent government to perpetuate electoral fraud and announcement of election results marred by irregularities.

The Mass Killings In Benue State

 By Etim Etim

It is so difficult to understand why Nigerian authorities are unconcerned about the mass killings of the people of Benue State by terrorists and militia groups in almost a weekly basis.

Children, women and even pregnant moms are slaughtered every now and then in many parts of the state by terrorists and ethnic militias in the plains and troughs of Benue.

As Furious Floods Buffet The Food Basket

 By Tunde Olusunle

Your eyes are instantly arrested by the unusual volume of the Benue River as you drive into Makurdi from the Daudu/Agan abutments of the capital of Benue State, this quiet afternoon.

You glide past the approach bridge, and glimpse to your left, the “Makurdi Golf Course,” hitherto seated by the scenic lips of the river. It is soaked, sadly now, swamped and submerged by the overabundance of liquid blessings. Ahead of you is the attention-commanding artwork of a huge basket bearing a variety of farm produce, an attestation to the pride of the place of Benue State as the epicentre of food production in the country.

The image sits strategically at the intersection which leads to the nation’s South East and South-South stretches. The scourge of the floods, you come to understand, is the reason that your host, Samuel Ioraer Ortom, Governor of the state, could barely savour the nation’s 62nd Independence Anniversary, two days later. 

He began his day that Saturday, Oct 1, 2022, by attending the interdenominational church service commemorating the national landmark. The event was held at the All Nations Evangelism Ministries in Makurdi, the state capital and Ortom had taken the first Bible reading.

Insecurity In Nigeria: What Exactly Is Govt Getting Right?

 By Ladesope Ladelokun

The President handed Nigerians the marking scheme with which to assess him some five years ago when he told Nigerians at virtually every campaign stop that he would fight insecurity, work hard to revive an economy in a tailspin and declare a total war on the vermin called corruption.

*President Buhari

But it must be said that it is not the best of times for Nigeria at the moment. The most populous black nation is mourning. It is mourning the demise of peace in a country where human life is not worth more than a kobo a dozen and left helplessly bleeding by elephantine corruption.

While it is expected that every rational leader would be worried about Nigeria’s many problems, it cannot be out of place to state that worrying alone cannot liberate the wretched from the chasm of destitution, or lift an economy gasping for breath. But hope gives the strength to trudge on when everything fails. After all, only death terminates hope and only the living can hope. But hope can be shattered.

Buhari: One Hell Of An Interview!

 By Ozodinukwe Okenwa

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally broken his long silence. He broke his silence last Thursday through an exclusive interview on the Abuja-based Arise TV network. He spoke on a number of important national issues. He talked about IPOB, agitation for Oduduwa and Biafra Republics, Fulani herdsmen and their clashes with native farmers and land-owners, #EndSARS protest, insecurity, poverty, unemployment and lopsided national appointments among others. The interview lasted less than an hour and the hard questions and follow-ups appeared to be a taboo.

*Buhari 

However, that the interview happened at all was a pleasant surprise package ostensibly packaged smartly by the President's media and publicity handlers. Since coming to power democratically six odd years ago President Buhari had remained aloof, mute, stone-faced and stone-silent in the face of the myriad of challenges confronting the nation.

Ban On Open Grazing: Victory For The South

 By Tony Ademiluyi

The 1804 Jihad spearheaded by Usman Dan Fodio made the Fulani tribe the overlords of the Hausas. Dan Fodio departed from the norm in imposing Fulfulde as the new language of the court. Instead he did the unthinkable by ensuring an adoption of the Hausa language as the lingua franca of the conquered territory. This linguistic affinity spread throughout the north which ensured that they spoke with one voice and were united despite their tribal differences.

The British found this useful in their policy of indirect rule which made the northerners have a general apathy towards nationalistic activities that was largely a southern affair. As a reward, the departing colonialists ensured that they had the majority seats in the House of Representatives which was the more powerful of the bicameral legislature at the time as the senate was ceremonial. This action by the British has haunted us more than sixty years after the Union Jack was lowered. At the moment, the north has 19 governors while the south has 17 and far more seats in the National Assembly than the south which has ensured that they are always in charge no matter who sits in Aso Rock.

Garba Shehu Is A Major Supporter Of The Pervasive Anarchy In Nigeria — Southern Govs

 Following the press statement by presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, dismissing the decision of the 17 Southern Governors to ban open grazing in their states as having “questionable legality,” the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has issued a response to Shehu on behalf of the   Southern Governors.

Excerpts:    

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*Akeredoulu

“Mr Garba Shehu: On the Trail of An Agent Provocateur”

‘Mr Garba Shehu just released a press statement purporting to represent the position of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the farmer-herder “clashes” and what he termed as “Deep Rooted Solutions to the Herdsmen Attacks”.

‘He also attributed a unilateral decision to the President who “clears the way for ranching and revival of forest reserves” as part of the “permanent solution to the frequent clashes between them, as well as the associated problem of the gun-wielding “killer-herdsmen”.

‘Anyone who has been following the utterances of this man, as well as his fellow travelers on the self-deluding, mendacious but potentially dangerous itinerary to anarchy cannot but conclude that he works, assiduously, for extraneous interests whose game plan stands at variance with the expectations of genuine lovers of peaceful coexistence among all the peoples whose ethnic extractions are indigenous to Nigeria.

Will Nigeria Survive As A Nation?

 By MC Asuzu

As any normal person will be able to reason out, politics is the science and the art of personal and especially group interaction that helps the persons concerned to be able to influence power or other decision making; or indeed, to capture that power (or decision-making) in order to use it for the pursuit of the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the polity, evenly and equitably.

*Buhari 

It is for this reason that the classical Greek philosophers of old reckoned that politics is the highest human calling in the human life. They considered that after nursery, primary, secondary, tertiary or professional education for all the possible professions and jobs in life, then those who are able, will then be trained in philosophy as the highest level of training. Then, they will become the philosopher-kings ready and capable of justly, equitably and progressively ruling the nations of the world.

Nigeria: Attorney-General Is Wrong On Open Grazing

 

By Aloy Ejimakor

Days ago, Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) granted an interview to Channels Television in which he faulted Southern Governors’ ban on open grazing. The AGF is wrong; Southern Governors are right, and here’s why:

Before one can graze, he must be a cattle rearer or a herdsman. The herdsman would have to enter another person’s land. If the herdsman is grazing on his own land, it does not implicate any legal, safety or economic issues because the land belongs to him. But when he goes upon another man’s land to graze without permission or some leave and license, he commits trespass, civil and criminal trespass to boot.

Open Grazing Protagonists As Enemies Of Nigeria

 By Charles Okoh

Easily the greatest casualty, in the history of this otherwise great nation, is the murder of truth, justice, fair play and equality on the altar of hypocrisy sycophancy, tribalism, nepotism, religious bigotry, etc. Now, to speak the truth is to risk being seen as an enemy of the state and a saboteur. But the truth has a way of always coming back to haunt those who seek to bury it.

Nigeria is a lie that has been told for several years. It is a country that is built on falsehood, injustice and inequality. But truth is, until we are able to come to terms with this reality, we will continue to wander aimlessly and other tiny nations will continue to take advantage of our misfortune. Truth remains constant. 

Clearly, one truth we seem unprepared to face is the reality that Nigeria has been held back because we have not learnt to be dispassionate with national issues and forge a common front in addressing issues of national significance and importance. 

So Many Nigerians Are Being Killed!

 By DAN AMOR 

Irrational impulses are not surprising in the stress and tension that characterize a demented society. In an atmosphere of violence, reason is sometimes abandoned and humanitarian principles forgotten. The inflamed passions of the time lead men to commit atrocities. But the concern here is not with the psychological pathology of those who commit atrocities but rather with what has turned our nation into a slaughterhouse where human beings are daily killed with intimidating alacrity. Throughout modern history, atrocity propaganda has often mesmerized readers thousands of kilometres away from the scene of the crime. Often, the improbability of the actions described suggests that the stories were little more than fantasies concocted for diverse reasons from even more diverse sources. 

But the reading public in Nigeria has invariably evinced a morbid absorption with the most nightmarish aspects of this national tragedy. It is indeed fashionable to observe that material which should create a moral aversion to the cruelty of our present times often produces a perverse fascination instead. There is, candidly speaking, an alarming rate of mockery killings in Nigeria, especially under this Buhari administration.

Buhari, Herders And Insecurity

       

By Eniola Bello (Eni-B)

In January, two world leaders bowed out of office and received from their people, the goodbyes their leadership, or lack of it, deserved. While US President Donald Trump stole away like a thief in the night, without a decent farewell from his associates, the object of ridicule and scorn from many Americans, nay many more people around the world for his ignorance and meanness and insincerity and divisiveness and incompetence; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as she handed over the party leadership after 18 years in office, received from her countrymen and women standing on their balconies, six minutes of applause for her simplicity and diligence and competence, and for making Germany the largest economy in Europe. Coming home, were President Muhammadu Buhari to bow out of office today, reactions across the country most probably would move from sighs of relief, to shouts of triumph, and to jumps of victory, and then to dances of happiness, indeed, to several joyful noises.

Who Wrote ‘Things Fall Apart’?

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

It all started at the local secondary school in Ndiorumbe when the literature teacher, Holy Nwankpi, asked his students: “Who wrote Things Fall Apart?”

The first student pleaded his innocence thusly: “I didn’t write it-o!”

                                                  *Uzoatu

Another student pointed an accusing finger at the denying student and screamed: “He is a liar. I know he wrote it!”

The class prefect joined the fray with these words: “I saw him when he was writing Things Fall Apart with a red biro!”

El-Rufai: Disinvited

By Sam Omatseye

This is not the time to hold grudges against Malam Nasir El-Rufai. It is not the time to say he, like Napoleon, suffers a small man’s syndrome, or that he pulled down the homes of rivals. It is not the time to say his mind has not grown above his height, and that he does not deserve to speak about who is a Nigerian.

*Gov El Rufai and President Buhari 

So, some avatars of liberty will say the Nigerian Bar Association railed against the three Johns of thinkers: Locke, Mill, Rousseau. They invited him to their conference only to disinvite him. The man salivated over an empty table. They probably did that because the man has a sour tongue, a fratricidal impulse, pitches tribe against tribe and, in the vexed issue of southern Kaduna, El-Rufai has taken sides, and has anointed violence against peace.

Enugu Massacre: Forget IPOB, They Are Ndigbo

By Aloy Ejimakor

A famous Nigerian politician once said (in spirited defense of the Yoruba) that “before I became a Nigerian, I was Yoruba”. And another one said: “We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes.”

The Yoruba has, in moderation, said his own. The Fulani has, in extremism, said his own. Let me now, as an Igbo, say my own, and here it is: Whoever takes the life of an IPOB member is taking the life of an Igbo and therefore will ultimately account to Ndigbo. It’s not a threat; it’s a fact.

Insecurity In Nigeria: Declare A State Of Emergency

By Dan Amor

Nigeria has become a perdition in which everybody is losing and nobody is gaining. Everywhere you ever go, your nostrils are daily confronted with the stench of death. The possibility of scores of our compatriots being killed on a daily basis is almost predictable. From the rampaging Fulani herdsmen killing, maiming and kidnapping hundreds of innocent and defenseless Nigerians on a daily basis to cascading incidents of inter-communal or tribal wars across the country, the growing menace of violent armed robbery and police brutality, and ritual killings, Nigerians are having more than they bargained for. 

All this is happening under the watch of a sitting government whose officials are openly asking native peoples to surrender their lands for cattle ranching to avoid being killed. Several analysts, newspaper editorials and informed commentators have had to proffer solutions to the numerous crises bedeviling the country including the imperative for State Police and the urgent need to tame the so-called ‘indigenes/settlers’ dichotomy, but the government at the centre behaves as though it has the solutions to all the problems of the country whereas its efforts are not adding up. 

Funke Olakunrin: Season Of Tears, Lies And Denials

By Ladesope Ladelokun 

Ever since a daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, was murdered in cold blood by suspected herdsmen on the Ondo-Ore road, the Akure home of the nonagenarian has been a Mecca of sort for genuine mourners and pretenders who only want to get photo ops to advertise their feigned compassion.

*Funke Olakunrin

Understandably, it is not unexpected that lawmakers, governors and the presidency have taken turns to touch Akure soil in order to visit the bereaved because of the political connection of the victim – Mrs Funke Olakunrin. On July 12, 2019, Olakunrin joined the burgeoning figure of Nigerians dispatched to early graves by the bloodthirsty  fiends on rampage across Nigeria who now seem unstoppable as they have turned vast swathes of the Nigerian space to killing fields, leaving citizens in perpetual fear.

Nigeria Is On The Precipice, Dangerously Reaching A Tipping Point – Obasanjo

*Gen Obasanjo and President Buhari 

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Dear President and General Buhari,

Open Letter To President, General Muhammadu Buhari

I am constrained to write to you this open letter. I decided to make it an open letter because the issue is very weighty and must be greatly worrisome to all concerned Nigerians and that means all right-thinking Nigerians and those resident in Nigeria.

Since the issue is of momentous concern to all well-meaning and all right-thinking Nigerians, it must be of great concern to you, and collective thinking and dialoguing is the best way of finding an appropriate and adequate solution to the problem.