As Buhari Comes To Judgement…

By Sonnie Ekwowusi

President Muhammadu Buhari has come to judgment. After exercising presidential power, judgment follows. Pricked by pangs of conscience on the last Sallah Day, Buhari realised that he committed many injustices against numerous Nigerians during his eight-year reign. 

*Buhari 

Consequently, he apologised to Nigerians and begged for their pardon. “God gave me an incredible opportunity to serve the country. We are all human, and if I have hurt some people along the line of my service to the country, I ask that they pardon me… All those whom I have hurt, I ask that they pardon me,” said a seemingly remorseful Buhari.

Toward A New Better Nigeria (4):

 OBI’s TRACK RECORD

By Pieray Awele Odor

Mr. Perter Obi has been described earlier by the author of this piece and many other authors as a phenomenon in Nigerian politics. This description is rooted in rational examination or critical analysis of his track record and the very audacious and unique choice of words that he employs for challenging his co-contestants for the presidency and for inviting people to vote for him. The words are “No shishi”, “Character”, “Track record”, “Trust”, “Compassion”, “competence”, and “commitment”. These unique campaign words establish Mr. Peter Obi as a nationalist and put him on the acme of political morality in Nigeria. I shall explain how by presenting his track record.

*Obi

In my previous contributions to public assessment of the three acknowledged real or most significant contenders for the position of president in the election that will be conducted on 25 February 2023 throughout the country, I discussed moral character, what basis should found your voting for one of them, “No Shishi” as a political contractual offer to Nigerians, and character; in this order. In this fourth and final contribution, I have discussed Mr. Obi’s track record. This covers SOME of his actions as the governor of Anambra State for eight years and just three testimonies. I believe the information will be sufficient for you to convince yourself to trust that when you vote for him he will be the best president Nigeria has ever had, by his deeds, not words.

Will Buhari Go Without Rescuing Leah Sharibu?

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

As President Muhammadu Buhari prepares himself for a happy return to his comfortable country home in Daura, Katsina State, after nearly eight years in office where he posted what is widely adjudged as far below average performance, a 19-year old, tender, innocent girl named Leah Sharibu remains a hapless, pathetic, unspeakably traumatized captive of Boko Haram terrorists, obviously, under the most dehumanizing conditions. 

*Leah Sharibu 

Given what has, reportedly, been the horrible experiences of young, beautiful girls like Leah who have been captured by these terrorists, one is really scared to imagine the extent of savage violations she might have been subjected to for over five years now! It is heartbreaking that she hardly gets mentioned again these days, especially, by those whose job it is to rescue and bring her home to her grieving parents and siblings!  

Has Nigeria woefully failed Leah Sharibu then? Has President Buhari who may have her age mates as grandchildren forgotten her? Has he given up hope of ever bringing her home again to her heartbroken parents? Will he leave her in the horrible den of terrorists as he happily retires to the comfort his home and family in Daura in the next few months? 

Nigeria: There Is Fire On The Mountain!

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

There is fire on the mountain

And nobody seems to be on the run

Oh, there is fire on the mountaintop

And no one is a-runnin’

I wake up in the mornin’

Tell you what I see on my TV screen

I see the blood of an innocent child

And everybody’s watchin’

… One day the river will overflow

And there’ll be nowhere for us to go

And we will run, run

Wishing we had put out the fire, oh.

*Buhari

These are the immortal lyrics of Bukola Elemide’s song, Fire on the Mountain, the fifth track on her inimitable album Asa. Bukola, the 39-year-old musician, professionally known as Asa, sang this song at the launch of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, on Tuesday, July 19, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Several high-ranking government officials, including President Muhammadu Buhari, were in attendance.

Buhari, APC And Freedom For The Abductees

 By Sonnie Ekwowusi

It is obvious that securing the freedom of the abductees of the Abuja-Kaduna bombed-train is not the priority of the APC ruling party. Neither is it a priority of President Buhari nor former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi nor the APC Presidential aspirants. The only priority of President Buhari, the APC ruling party and APC Presidential aspirants at the moment is to re-capture political power in 2023. They have no human feeling for these abductees. I hate to address them as abductees.

*Buhari

They are not unknown abductees: they are our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and, above all, our brothers and sisters who were victims of the Abuja-Kaduna-train bombing and abduction on March 28 2022 and who have been abandoned to be sorrowing and agonizing in the dungeon of their abductors. Had the Abuja-Kaduna train bombing and abduction occurred, say, anywhere in the western world or even Asia or other parts of the world, the CNN, BBC and the world media including the Nigerian media by now would have been bombarding us with the minute-by-minute analyses about the fate that had befallen the abductees and the efforts being made to secure their freedom. But this is Buhari’s Nigeria where life has become so cheap. This is Buhari’s government where the death and suffering of our fellow Nigerians do not matter to the government.

Leah Sharibu, Chibok Girls, And The International Women's Day

 By Charles Dickson 

All idiots are morons, but not all morons are idiots. 

It was the International Women's Day 2021 recently and the theme was 'Choose to Challenge'. So today I choose to challenge us, the people of Nigeria, hoping that someone is reading and listening, a quick caveat, I will be sometimes uncomplimentary in my choice of words, phrases and conclusions but that’s the essence; a challenge and yes a choice. 

*Leah Sharibu

Over the last decade, I have done a sizable amount of work on not just Boko Haram but also the Chibok girls, killings, abductions and Nigeria’s conflict torn Northwest region. 

So listening to Leah Sharibu’s father, Mr. Nathan speak touched all the wrong cords, hear him, “He has promised several times to the family, he promised the nation, he promised the whole world that his administration will do his possible best to see that my daughter returned home safely. So, I’m pleading to him to be a father, a grandfather, to do his possible best to see my daughter return home safely. Please, I'm begging him”. 

When A President’s Silence Isn’t Golden

By Banji Ojewale

 Silence isn’t golden when your house is in flames and you’re alone at home. You need to shout for help from the army of neighbours within reach. You need to raise your lone voice above the crackles of the inferno gaining new grounds.

 Silence isn’t golden when your spotless reputation is vociferously impugned or threatened and you have an opportunity to stop the campaign. Silence isn’t golden when there is a cacophony of opinions and reports, false or accurate, reaching the public about your candour. Your silence here isn’t golden; it is grotesque, grisly and grimy.

President Buhari, Bring Leah Sharibu Home!

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

As President Muhammadu Buhari, the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, spends his two weeks “private visit” in the United Kingdom surrounded by all the luxury, comfort and care our oil money can afford, with his own family members safe and well-provided for anywhere they chose to be in the world despite the unspeakable hardship tormenting the Nigerian masses at home due to his failed leadership, a 16-year old, tender, innocent girl called Leah Sharibu is at the moment a hapless, pathetic and traumatised captive of Boko Haram terrorists, obviously, under the most dehumanising conditions.

*Leah Sharibu 

Given what has, reportedly, been the horrible experiences of young, beautiful girls like Leah who have been very unfortunate to be captured by these terrorists, one is really scared to imagine what she might have been subjected to for over a year now. Most painful is that she hardly gets mentioned again these days by those whose job it is to rescue and bring her home!

Nigeria: Buhari And A University Of His Own

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

With the current preoccupation of President Muhammadu Buhari with the setting up of his own university, his flatulent claim of being actuated by public interest has suffered further repudiation. His pet project has unravelled him not as a touchstone of integrity, moderation and patriotism but as another victim of the acquisitiveness of the nation’s leadership that has ceaselessly undermined good governance.

President Buhari and wife, Aisha 

 To be sure, it was not Buhari himself who publicly vouchsafed his plan to set up a private university. It was his wife who disclosed that she would set up a university with the name Muhammadu Buhari University. But even if Buhari were not the originator of the idea, the fact that his name is associated with the project shows that he is fully behind it. After all, he has not disavowed his wife’s claim since the news broke.

Nigeria’s Heroine In Captivity: Let Leah Go! – Cardinal Okogie

By Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie

Leah Sharibu has become a symbol of Nigeria in captivity. Yet, this powerful symbol is ignored. How does one explain the fact that in the latest scramble for Nigeria’s wealth that the 2019 elections were, not even once was her name mentioned in any speech? No one even said a word about the Chibok girls! What mattered most to our political gladiators was how to win votes, or, to put it more accurately, how to be declared winner. Are these daughters of ours disposable? 

*Cardinal Okogie 

The insecurity that led to the abduction of Leah and the Chibok girls was given no attention.  Yet, it was caused by a combination of recklessness and negligence of our political leaders in matters of security. They had an opportunity during the campaigns to tell Nigerians how they would take responsibility for security and for the economy, for education and for infrastructure. But they settled for sophisticated forms of vote buying, dashing pittance to Nigerians whom they have impoverished by their politics. They resorted to the use of violence as potent instruments at the service of their inordinate ambition, using as militia young Nigerians deprived of access to good quality education by successive governments.

Has President Buhari Forgotten Leah Sharibu?

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

As President Muhammadu Buhari, the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, moved from one state to another, campaigning for a second term despite nearly four years in office which has been widely adjudged a horrendous failure, a 15-year old, tender, innocent girl named Leah Sharibu remained a hapless, pathetic, traumatized captive of Boko Haram terrorists, obviously,  under the most dehumanising conditions.

*Leah Sharibu 

Given what has, reportedly, been the horrible experiences of young, beautiful girls like her who have been captured by these terrorists, one is really scared to imagine what Leah might have been subjected to for nearly one year now. Most painful is that she hardly gets mentioned again these days by those whose job it is to rescue and bring her home!

The Flowing Tears Of Leah Sharibu

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

As President Muhammadu Buhari, the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, moves from one state to another, campaigning for a second term despite nearly four years in office which has been widely adjudged a horrendous failure, a 15-year old, tender, innocent girl named Leah Sharibu remains a hapless, pathetic, traumatized captive of Boko Haram terrorists, obviously,   under the most dehumanising conditions.

*Leah Sharibu

Given what has, reportedly, been the horrible experiences of young, beautiful girls like her who have been captured by these terrorists, one is really scared to imagine what Leah might have been subjected to for nearly one year now. Most painful is that she hardly gets mentioned again these days by those whose job it is to rescue and bring her home!

Badeh, Buhari And Legacy Of Insecurity

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

What serves as a stark reminder of the seemingly irredeemable character of the President Muhammadu Buhari government is its blithe appropriation of its failings as the hallmarks of its triumph. Lost in this self-assigned halo of infallibility, it denies itself the capacity for introspection and thus holds no promise of self-correction.

*Air Marshal Alex Badeh 

Hence, while it is clear to the majority of Nigerians that the government has failed in the three major areas – economy, corruption and security – in which it wants the citizens to measure its performance, it is still afflicted by the delusion of having recorded indelible strides in those spheres. The alarming rise of the unemployment rate from 17.6 million to 20.9 million as has just been released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is obviously disdained by the government.

Nigeria: Don’t Forget Leah Sharibu

By Tony Ogunlowo

On the 19th of February this year more than a hundred girls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Science and Technology College, Dapchi in Yobe state by a faction of the dreaded Boko Haram.

*Leah Sharibu

Five weeks later 105 girls were released, 5 had died in captivity and one girl was held back. The name of the girl held back is Leah Sharibu, only 14 years old at the time, and her captors refused to release her because she refused to convert to Islam.

Nigeria: A Requiem For The Lifeless One

By Femi Fani-Kayode

”A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more”- Jeremiah 31:15.

O lifeless one, you have lost all sense of decency and you are drunk with power.

As the children are murdered in cold blood and cut short in the streets of Abuja by your soldiers you watch silently from a distance: smug, smiling, detached, indifferent and secretly egging the killers on.

For Hauwa Liman, Martyred!

By Obi Nwakanma

Since the movers of Boko Haram think of books as “haram,” it is most unlikely that they, being illiterate, can comprehend, and therefore are likely to read this tribute to the young woman whom they have killed, Hauwa Liman. And so, this is not directed at them. 

*Hauwa Liman

They cannot read. In any case, one must address a community of humans, those who share human traits; who have the natural human, and healthy instinct for empathy. It takes a subhuman freak, and a deadly form of misanthropy, to take another life. Members of the Boko Haram movement are not human. 

President Buhari, Leah, Hauwa And Other Hostages

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

With the murder of Hauwa Liman, we have once again been starkly reminded of our lack of governmental bulwark against the savagery of those who are unmoored from all legal and moral boundaries in our midst.

*Leah Sharibu

Yes, it is only a reminder. Successive governments have abandoned the citizens in a gruelling struggle with their challenges. But the battle for daily survival only becomes more tormenting with the lurking reminder that these challenges are not just existential; they are unconscionably inflicted by a pestilential leadership deficit. Now, consider this: Despite the billions of dollars that are yearly voted by the government for electricity, security and other forms of infrastructural development, the citizens are saddled with the responsibility of providing these for themselves. 

Nigeria: Leah Sharibu On My Mind

By Mazi Ohuabunwa

I was feeling low last week and began wandering what was weighing me down. Yes my mother, Madam Mathilda Nwannediya Ohuabunwa, who recently finished her race on the Earth will be laid to rest this week’s Friday, 6th of April 2018 in my home town- Arochukwu in Abia State. So it was natural to feel that was my problem. But I shook that thinking away because since our mother got called back to The Lord, my siblings and I had maintained an attitude of gratitude. After what our mother went through to raise 12 children (seven boys from her womb and five other children from the womb of her mate) and lived to the ripe age of 90, we felt God had done so well for her and for us. And having come to that conclusion, we have remained upbeat as we prepared for her interment.

*Leah Sharibu

Later, it dawned on me that my mood was caused by the pain that I have had in my heart even before we heard of the dramatic release of the girls abducted by Boko Haram from the Science & Technical Secondary School in Dapchi, Yobe State. Actually the pain started on February 19, when the men of Boko Haram marched unchallenged to abduct our school girls the same way, they abducted the Chibok girls in 2014. One would have expected that my pain would ease with the news of the release of 104 or 105 or 106 of the girls (as the total number has kept changing from 110 to 112 to 113).

Nigeria: So Much Anger In The Land!

By Robert Obioha

There is anger in the land. Nigerians are not happy. They are fuming with anger and despair over failed electoral promises of the ruling party.  They are angry over their miserable living conditions. They are angry over the continuous rape of the country by her unfaithful political leaders. There is no mistake about it. Every Tom, Dick and Harry are bitter about the excruciating Nigerian condition. Even children are not excluded.

*President Buhari

The Nigerian condition is fast becoming beyond prayers and redemption. It has defied all logic and solutions including dry fasting and intercessory incantations. It can be easily felt from the north to the south and from the east to the west. Everybody in Nigeria is angry over the general insecurity in the country dubbed the giant of Africa. Apart from the menace of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east and other isolated places, the murderous campaign of Fulani herdsmen across the country has caused much pain and anguish in the land to the extent that a former Defence Chief, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd), has urged victims of such mindless attacks to defend themselves.