Nigeria: Birthday Drivels And National Celebration Of Inanities

 By Alade Rotimi-John

The provocative and obscene celebration of birthdays by public personages is fast becoming a rude national pastime. The general Nigerian audience has bemusedly endured a siege of insults for quite some time now respecting the intolerable mischief of a lewd and soulless parade of stunts. There is a total extinction of all taste even as the celebrants are vulgar, gross and illiberal.

*Mrs. Tinubu, Akpabio and his wife at Akpabio's 61st Birthday Bash

Aside from the moral contamination incident on the celebrations, their lessons are morbidly and intellectually degrading as they generally present a distorted or superficial view of the sordid Nigerian condition. Many of the ceremonies have laid bare the social insensitivity of the celebrants who are reputedly of high estate. Even as their object is to covet general praise and admiration, they have ironically received in large measure a backlash in contempt and in a free-flowing gnashing imprecations from their fellow men and women.

Blessed Are The Human Rights Defenders

 By Owei Lakemfa

My mind raced back 34 years as I stood on Saturday in the assembly of human rights defenders who had gathered in Ilorin. Back in 1989, some of us had the choice either to surrender or confront the rampaging Generals who had seized both power and the national treasury and were ruling Nigerians as they would: a conquered people. The 1775 words of Patrick Henry, an American planter, rang in our heads: “Give me liberty or give me death!” 

We were guided by the examples of our ancestors like Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, Raji Abdallah, Bello Ujumu and our mothers in Eastern Nigeria in 1929 who fought what seemed to be unwinnable battles for freedom.

South-East Beyond 2023: Time For A Reset

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

The title of this article, I must confess, is not original to me. It is the theme of the South-East Summit on Economy and Security which is scheduled to hold in Owerri, Imo State, next week. There couldn’t have been a better time or even a better theme for the Summit. Ndigbo are at a socio-economic and political crossroads in Nigeria and crucial decisions with far-reaching consequences have become inevitable. 

*Iwuanyanwu 

The idea of the Summit, therefore, is to galvanise Ndigbo, a people hitherto proud of their heritage, but who seem to have lost their sagacity in the face of debilitating national conspiracy, to look inwards to harness their inner strengths and abundant resources in order to reshape their collective destiny. A new trajectory has become imperative. 

The Bulkachuwalisation Of The Judiciary

 By Ugoji Egbujo

It wasn’t a Freudian slip. The man couldn’t be stopped. An 83-year-old senator, seized by valedictory emotions, stood in the hallowed senate chambers and broke omerta. Defying the bulging eyes of bewildered senators, he told a dirty truth to the nation. All attempts by his distinguished colleagues to extinguish the flame of forthrightness were rebuffed by the courageous man.

The man thanked his wife, a former President of the Court of Appeal for allowing him to use her to pervert justice in favour of his colleagues. Gratitude is a virtue. As the cringing distinguished beneficiaries of the rotten judicial porridge pinched their noses like Pharisees and gasped in shock, the man gushed over his caring and generous wife who had helped him cook judicial outcomes.  

Nigeria: The Righetousness Of Dissent

 By Obi Nwakanma

“No one tells the deaf that there is a stampede in the market” – Igbo proverb
On May 29, a handover ceremony should take place, with a parade at the Eagles Square, to inaugurate a new, elected President of Nigeria. That date would end the eight disastrous years of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I do emphasize the word “disastrous.” Buhari is a very tragic figure of Nigerian history.

History beckoned twice to him to govern. First as a military Head of State. Second as a Civilian President of Nigeria. In both instances, he was a failure. In the unfolding annals of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari will be recorded as the worst leader ever to rise to leadership, at least so far. Whatever else happens, he would be recorded among the worst plagues to befall Nigeria. Should Nigeria manage to survive and hang together as a nation, the story would be told of a Muhammadu Buhari who was offered the opportunity for greatness but squandered it over pettiness, ignorance, provincialism, and the corruption of the institution of state.

Resist Buhari’s Most Brazen Assault On The Constitution! – Agbakoba

PRESS RELEASE

Nigerians Must Resist President Buhari’s Attack On The Constitution

*Dr. Olisa Agbakoba 

President Muhammadu Buhari`s suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen is the most brazen assault on Nigeria`s constitutional history. The President has obviously not listened to the advice of the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation or the Attorney General of the Federation has misadvised him or both.

June 12: Celebration Of Yoruba Triumphalism Or Righting Historical Wrong

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

My “June 12: I Still Remember” article last week elicited, expectedly, diverse responses. The annulment of the election and the consequent turmoil remain very emotive issues. What the responses prove most conclusively is that President Muhammadu Buhari remains a very polarising leader. And he profiteers from that. Sadly. I will come to that shortly.

*MKO Abiola

A quarter of a century after the annulment of that historic poll and 20 years after the death of the winner, Bashorun MKO Abiola, President Buhari sprang a political surprise on many penultimate week by declaring subsequent June 12 anniversaries Democracy Day and honouring Abiola with the highest national award – Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).

My article, though an endorsement of the president’s action, was issue-specific as captured in the last paragraph which read:

Will President Buhari’s 2019 Ambition Ruin His Anti-Graft Agenda?

By Martins Oloja

Verily, verily, we should say it to President Muhammadu Buhari and the men and women who are assisting in running his government that this is not the best of time to say ‘silence is golden’. Surely, silence can’t be a strategy in Nigeria at this time when there are serious concerns and questions about the future of the most populous black nation on earth.

*President Muhammadu Buhari 

Before the president’s reputation managers start screaming blue murder and resume their blame game on the previous administration, the concerns raised today are not about them. They (concerns) are about the office of the president from the office of the citizen. The president and his men should note that before they begin to raise huge funds for the 2019, there are weightier matters of governance, especially about corruption that they should settle quickly, lest they will be the last in 2019.

Indications are daily emerging that politicking around 2019 is beginning to becloud sound judgment in the presidency. As I noted here last week, there is no need reading the president’s lips anymore: I advised us to read his leaps in Kano the other day. 

Nigeria: Unity Schools And Unjust Cut-Off Marks

By Luke Onyekakeyah  

At a time when agitations and mass discontent are raging across the country as a result of perceived injustice, cheating, marginalisation and inequity in the system, the Federal Ministry of Education is going ahead with the entrenched and lopsided admission policy into the 104 Unity Schools, whereby, states in the north are favoured in the admission through very low cut-off marks while the southern states are denied admission through very high cut-off marks.

The admission is conducted as if the schools belong to the states and not the Federal Government; hence, the northern states have to be given special favour. This, unfortunately, is still going on despite a court verdict that abolished disparity in cut-off marks in the schools since 2014. The Federal Ministry of Education has chosen to disobey the court order and nothing is being said about it. Hapless pupils from the southern states are being denied admission simply on grounds of states origin and gender.

An order given by a court of competent jurisdiction ought to be obeyed by both the Federal Government and the minister of Education in the interest of the rule of law. Why should the minister not comply with the court order? 

The culture of obeying court orders only when it favoured one doesn’t augur well for the system. The Federal Minister of Education has chosen to disobey the court order since 2014 without sanction, whatsoever. How can democracy and good governance flourish amid lawlessness? It is incumbent on the minister to comply with the court order in the interest of justice, fairness and progress.

Olisa Agbakoba Files A Fundamental Rights Class Action Against The Federal Republic of Nigeria

*Olisa Agbakoba (pix: vanguard) Mr. Olisa Agbakoba has filed a Fundamental Rights Class Action against the Federal Republic of Nigeria for himself and on behalf of the South East Zone on grounds of discrimination pursuant to Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution. This action was by Originating Summons supported by an affidavit of 99 paragraphs and a statement. The grounds of Mr. Agbakoba’s application are summarized as follows;  (a) Total neglect of the Applicant’s Geopolitical Zone by the 1st Respondent in terms of infrastructure and general federal presence making the Applicant feel not part of the 1st Respondent.  (b) Abandonment of the Niger Bridge to collapse and failure to build the ‘Second Niger Bridge’ making the Applicant feel isolated from other parts of 1stRespondent and causing him apprehension about disaster on crossing the existing bridge.  (c) Abandonment of Federal Roads, which are death traps and robbery baits and occasioning and constraining on the Applicant grueling road journeys within the Geopolitical Zone. Failure to develop strategic new roads especially the Anam-Nzam Federal Road linking the South-East with the North-Central at Idah in Kogi State to give the Applicant easy access to the northern part of Nigeria. (d) Failure to exploit the Oil/Gas Reserves in the Anambra Basin and stalling the Applicant’s legitimate expectation from employment and derivation funds for development of the Applicant’s South-East Zone.  (e) Abandonment of the Enugu Colliery and depriving the Applicant of his legitimate expectation from employment and derivation funds for the development of the Applicant’s South-East Zone.  (f) Failure to develop trade-friendly ports and customs policies and establish ‘ease-of-business’ platforms to assist the Applicant’s trading brothers and sisters to do better and operate on a higher and modern scale in trading, which makes the Applicant to spend money to support relatives.  (g) Failure to have an operational international cargo airport at Owerri to aid trading, which causes the Applicant to spend huge sums of money to support trading relatives to haul airborne goods by road from Lagos, , with the attendant risks.  (h) Failure to dredge the Lower Niger and establish a Port at Onitsha to aid trading which causes the Applicant to spend huge sums of money to support trading relatives to haul seaborne goods by road from Port Harcourt or Lagos, with the attendant risks.  (i) Disparity in States structure which puts the Applicant’s South-East Zone behind every other Geopolitical Zone in political and judicial appointments and representation at the National Assembly, as well as in revenue allocation.

Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye In Conversation With Placid Aguwa

 PLACID AGUWA, a New York-based attorney, is the Managing Partner of the law firm, Placid and Emmanuel, P.C., and former president of the Nigerian Lawyers Association (NLA).  Since 1991, he has practiced law in state and federal courts in New York and Nigeria. In this interview with UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE (March 2007), he speaks on the activities of the NLA, and some of the challenges faced by Nigeria in its tortuous journey to democratic and economic stability. 

Excerpts: 

*Placid Aguwa 

UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE: When was the Nigerian Lawyers Association (NLA) formed, and what are its objectives? 

PLACID AGUWA: Thank you for your interest in learning more about the Nigerian Lawyers Association (NLA).  NLA was incorporated in 1999 as a not-for-profit, non-partisan association of attorneys. NLA represents the interests of attorneys mainly of Nigerian descent both in the United States and all over the world. It advances the professional needs of its growing members and provides leadership and advocacy for the legal needs of and interests of the minority community in the United States and around the world.

NLA's principal objectives are to cultivate the science of jurisprudence, facilitate and advance the fair and equitable administration of justice, serve the needs of the members of the Nigerian legal community, as well as the minority communities as a whole, in their understanding and access to the law and to educate and assist such persons in their day to day dealings with the law.