Buhari And His Dream Of A One Party State

 By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, where and how does one begin? Whenever you think you have seen it all in our dear beloved country Nigeria, something bigger, bizarre and sometimes even more dastardly occurs. Let me be honest, I have no problem with those decamping in droves from the opposition party PDP to the ruling party APC.

*Buhari 

As far as I’m concerned, they are merely exercising their inalienable rights of freedom of association, speech and movement. However, I have serious issues with only one man, President Muhammadu Buhari who seems to be the Talisman that they all credit with their defection. It is because of him they all turn into turncoat, notwithstanding their previously avowed aversion and derision of this same personage that has been the butt of their ridicule or denigration.

Mister President, There Is Hunger In The Land!

 By Ayo Baje

“As of April 2021, the inflation rate was the highest in four years. Food prices accounted for over 60 per cent of the total increase in inflation. Nigeria’s economic growth is being hindered by food inflation, heightened insecurity, unemployment and stalled reforms”. – World Bank Report. 

*Buhari 

Talk is cheap. But walking that talk is what truly matters for effective leadership. For instance, Nigerians have over the recent years discovered that some of our top political leaders are far removed from the harsh economic realities on the ground. They make fanciful promises during electioneering campaigns only to disregard or jettison them soon after mounting the pedestal of political power. 

June 12 Without Democratic Reforms

 By Dan Amor

Whatever one’s reservation about it, the recognition of June 12 as the authentic Democracy Day in Nigeria, and honour for Chief MKO Abiola with the title of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), specifically reserved for presidents and heads of State, is a most salutary development since 2018. For that singular act of magnanimity and statesmanship, President Muhammadu Buhari merits my commendation.

*Abiola 

 On June 12, 1993, Nigeria held a presidential election, which was annulled by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. It was presumed to have been won by the late Chief MKO Abiola, who was the flag bearer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), one of the two political parties decreed into existence by the military. Goaded by pro-democracy organizations and activists such as the National Democratic Coalition, Abiola went out of his way to challenge the annulment of the election considered to be the freest and fairest in the history of the country. 

Whither Nigeria?

 By Odia Ofeimun

Each time it was discovered that the ship of state was foundering, without compass, and no one seemed to have a handle on how to navigate with a proper goal-orientation, the question, Whither Nigeria?, has been asked as a way of giving expression to where we are as a country, where we are going or where we should be going. Mostly, the issues have emerged from trying to think beyond the scramble by the various nationalities in the country. In a multi-ethnic society, reality tends to be resolved around levels of perception in the practice of governance.  

                *Odia Ofeimun 

I am interested in how we’ve been fixed by history, and how we’ve always managed to have so many unresolved issues, so embarrassingly many, even now, when the most intense marker of dissension in the Nigerian firmament is the Boko Haram Insurgency in the North-East which has sought many times, unsuccessfully, to declare a Caliphate over parts of the country. Take the other issue around MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra) and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). They have raised the Biafran secessionist flag contentiously and ambitiously over what used to be the Eastern Region. Successive Federal Governments have pursued them with punitive measures as if the civil war of 1967-70 did not quite come to an end. Now, look, the clouds are gathering, as fractions of the Yoruba, at home and in the Diaspora, are angling for a secessionist binge of their own, unless, as it is stressed, ethnic nationalities are allowed to become self-governing within the Nigerian Federation.

Assessment Of Nigeria’s 59th Independence Anniversary

By Guy Ike Ikokwu

The situation in Nigeria today, is egregious and monumental that it gives a great majority of our peoples a feeling of total hopelessness in such a way that the general belief is that there must be a catalyst within the system.

It is now clear to the Nigerian masses that they have been deprived of their sovereignty for more than 50 years by the high ranking military personnel since January 1966 which torpedoed the civilian democratic norms inherited in various discussions with our British colonialists who had acted equivocally in their own self and economic interest. 

We have had 9 constitutions in 25 years to usher in real democracy which our young heroic musician and artist Fela Anikulapo Kuti called “Demon – Crazy” that was a philosophical thoughtful expose but the perspectives of our past decades show that our system of governance has really been demonic till this day! The last 1999 constitution which Nigeria had was initiated by Gen. Abudulsalami Abubarkar. Today we know that the 1999 constitution was a fraud as it was not delivered by the people of Nigeria. 

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.

‘Technically Defeated’ Boko Haram: The Sad Case Of Metele

By Reno Omokri

A most disturbing thing happened in Nigeria. Over a period of 3 days last week, the allegedly ‘technically defeated’ Boko Haram managed to overrun multiple military bases and reportedly killed close to a hundred Nigerian troops and carried away heavy military hardware.

*President Buhari with COAS Gen Burutai 

But that is not the disturbing thing that occurred. The killings were shocking, but something much more disturbing happened. The Nigerian President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the military and who is supposed to be the most pained over these avoidable deaths had time to:

*attack former President Jonathan for agreeing with Transparency International that corruption had increased in Nigeria

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: A Fake Nation Or A Nation Of Fakes?

By Sam Ohuabunwa

Nigeria is an intriguing nation. 

A 58- year adult nation that is still crawling like a toddler, while most of its mates are running on sure feet. Many people including political, traditional and religious leaders have expressed their bewilderment with Nigeria’s chronic inability to truly rise.   Never mind that a tiny minority including some who earn 12 billion Naira as annual dividend will argue differently that Nigeria is rising. 

*Nigerian President Buhari 

Many ordinary folks in Nigeria have raised their hands in desperation as they find themselves daily pushed into poverty despite their best efforts. This is evidenced by the fact that Nigeria the seventh most populous nation with a ‘tiny’ population of about 198 million People has become the global poverty headquarters, beating India (with a population of over 1.2 billion) according to the Brookings Institution. 

Presidents’ Health: Missed Opportunities For Nigeria’s Health

By Sam Ohuabunwa

I believe that I am not alone in feeling distressed about the situation of healthcare in Nigeria. Everywhere you look, the problems stare you on the face.

In the public health care space, you face poor infrastructure, old or inoperative equipment and generally, poor attitude. 

*Buhari 

Even skill and competency levels are often suspect. If you have taken a seriously ill patient to our public health facilities – primary, secondary or tertiary institutions, you will know that many more people are healed by faith in Nigeria than by medical care. If you go to the private healthcare institutions, may be infrastructure and equipment may be better, attitude and skills are subject to national averages.

The Ship Of Nigeria's Ruling Party Is Sinking!

By Reuben Abati

When we wrote much earlier that the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party was a coalition of strange bedfellows and a one-chance special purpose vehicle to get rid of President Goodluck Jonathan by all and any means possible, we were accused of sour grapes.

*President Buhari

 When we argued even much earlier that Nigeria’s Presidential seat of power was jinxed and that there was and there is a spiritual side to power and politics in Nigeria, we were asked to shut up. The new power brokers were so much at home with their taken authority they boasted that no demons could touch them and that they were so self-secure, they were even snoring inside the Villa. Al- hamdulillahi, they have been snoring since then.

Nigeria: The Road To Babylon

By Reuben Abati

Nigeria is on the road to Babylon: a place of confusion. Three years ago, the people were convinced that they had found a messiah who will lead them to the Promised Land, and meet all their expectations. 

*Buhari 

Today, everyone is speaking in different tongues; “turning and turning in the widening gyre…the falcon cannot hear the falconer… things fall apart; the centre cannot hold/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world/The blood-doomed tide is loosed, and everywhere/the ceremony of innocence is drowned…surely, some revelation is at hand…”

But just may be, there is still, no cause for despair. The good thing about democracy is that it teaches people lessons – ask them in Malaysia and the United States – and even when the people refuse stubbornly to learn – ask them in Syria, Venezuela, and Libya –  the lessons exist nonetheless.

Nigeria: Combating Poverty With Proceeds Of Corruption

By Ayo Oyoze Baje

As the ping-pong blame game over corruption charges unfolds between two former military generals – incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and erstwhile counterpart, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo – what matters at the end of the day is that the cause of justice should be served; that such public funds brazenly stolen be recovered back into the national till and the culprits be made to pay for their crimes against the Nigerian state. And more importantly, that such funds be judiciously utilized to lift the quality of life of the average citizen. 

The significance of this clarion call is hinged on the fact that successive administrations have made promises in this regard but much more has been said than done. Indeed, discerning Nigerians are tired of being regaled daily by accounts of humungous sums of money so far recovered from thieves of state. The issue took a new dimension when the All Progressives Congress (APC), administration went to town to list the names of the public treasury looters( without any of their members) and the huge amounts of money recovered.

Good Leadership, Effective Economic Management As Elements Of Good Governance

By Ben Nwabueze

*Prof Ben Nwabueze 

Good leadership

The qualities and credentials needed for good leadership can readily be identified. The primal credential is good education, such as would enable the leadership to combine “ideas and power, intellectualism and politics.” Leadership is a critical part of Nigeria’s problem of governance because the educational qualification prescribed for our political leaders by section 131(d), as amended by the National Assembly in 2010, and section 318(1) of the Constitution does not equip them to be able to combine “ideas and power, intellectualism and politics.”

In these days of widespread “expo”, certificate faking and general degeneration in the standards of education in our schools and colleges, primary six school leaving certificate prescribed by the Constitution for those seeking elective political office is really next door to illiteracy. A semi literate President or Governor is what the prescription tantamount to.

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. 

Nigerian Army Must Re-Brand Itself

By Ochereome Nnanna

If the current Nigerian leadership still has any conscience, it must be shocked and sobered by the reaction of the people of the South East over the unfounded “Army vaccine” rumour that took place last week.

It was a conclusive proof that due to the prevailing unsavoury atmosphere foisted by the regime on major national institutions, a section of the Nigerian populace no longer sees the Nigerian Army as their own. They are now feared and despised, rightly or wrongly, such that even when they are involved in noble activities in the interest of the common man, they are suspected.

Following the outbreak of the monkey pox virus epidemic, the story, manufactured from devil knows where, made the rounds in the theatre of Operation Python Dance, that some individuals dressed in army uniform had invaded schools in Imo and Abia States forcibly administering vaccines to spread the monkey pox diseases within the Igbo population. Unfortunately, people believed this story, even though no one had any evidence to that effect.

President Buhari Still Doesn't Get It

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

After listening to President Muhammadu Buhari's three minutes, fifty-six seconds national broadcast on Monday, August 21, his first since coming back to the country from a 103-day medical tourism in the United Kingdom, I concluded that he still does not get it.

I doubt if he ever will.

*President Buhari

Prior to his speech, I was not overtly hopeful I would hear anything grand, ennobling and soul-lifting.

Yet, after a three-month absence from duty post, during which time he presumably had time for sober reflection on what ails the country of 180 million people over whose affairs he superintends, I had hoped he would have realised the need to calm frayed nerves and bring people together through moral suasion.

How wrong I was.

Nigeria: A Hell-Hole For Christians!

By Femi Fani-Kayode

“We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism and we will not allow it to take root in our country…we will wipe it off the face of the earth.”            

– President Donald J. Trump.

Now that is a real President talking! Sadly our ailing Head of State does not possess such a mindset and neither does he share such a disposition. Unlike Trump he does not have an aversion to such evil.

Consequently he has refused to apprehend, caution, arrest or prosecute even one member of the radical Islamist Fulani supremacists and terrorists since he came to power just less than two years ago even though they have butchered thousands of innocent Christians, burnt their homes and occupied their land.

A few days ago, in a letter inviting President Goodluck Jonathan to make a presentation about the plight of Christians in Nigeria, the Chairman of the United States Congress’s Sub-Committee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights and International Organisations, Congressman Christopher Smith, wrote the following: “my subcommittee has broadly investigated the crises facing Christians in Nigeria today. My staff director, Greg Simpkins and I have made several visits to Nigeria, speaking with Christians and Muslim religious leaders across the country and visiting fire-bombed churches, such as in Jos. Unfortunately, Nigeria has been cited as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world and impunity for those responsible for the killing of Christians seem to be widespread.”

When one considers the sheer horror that the Christians of northern Nigeria have been subjected to over the last 56 years can anyone dispute Smith’s assertion? Yet it did not stop there. Mr. Douglas Murray, an influential and respected columnist in the United Kingdom’s Spectator Newspaper painted a graphic picture of what has become the norm in northern Nigeria rather well. Last week, in a widely read essay titled ‘Who Will Protect Nigeria’s Northern Christians’ he wrote as follows: “A few days before any attack, a military helicopter is spotted dropping arms and other supplies into the areas inhabited by the Fulani tribes. Then the attack comes. For reasons of Islamic doctrine, the militia often deliver a letter of warning. Then they come, at any time of night or day, not down the dirt tracks, but silently through the foliage. The Christian villagers, who are forbidden to carry arms (everyone is, in theory), have no way to defend themselves. With some exceptions, they also tend to believe what they were taught about turning the other cheek”.

With contributions and interventions like this from our friends in the international community it appears that the world is finally waking up and recognising the fact that northern Nigeria is in the grip of a great, blood-craving and blood-lusting evil. The frightful events that took place in Southern Kaduna over the Christmas holidays are still fresh in our minds and neither will we EVER forget them.

Yet sadly the carnage did not stop there. It continues on a regular and systematic basis. For example 40 more Christians were killed and many of their houses were burnt to the ground by Islamist Fulani militias on February 1st in a town called Mummuye in the Lau Local Government Area of Taraba state. Little girls were raped and chopped up like barbecue spare ribs. Young boys were sodomised and beheaded. Grown men were castrated and hacked to pieces. Old men were gutted and sliced up like spring onions. And women, both young and old, were slowly tortured and violently violated in the presence of their husbands, children and grandchildren after which their throats were slit open and their blood drained into fly-infested gutters and the dark night soil.

This is the work of heartless vampires and demons in human flesh. This is carnage and butchery in its rawest and most primitive form. This is a festival of horror and a frightful testimony of man’s inhumanity to man. This is evil. This is unacceptable. This is barbaric. This is condemnable. And whether anyone likes to admit it or not, this is Nigeria today. The only thing left to say is to pray that the souls of those that were slaughtered in cold blood rest in peace. The Holy Bible says “fear not those that can kill the body but fear the one that can throw the soul into hell”.

Judgment Day For Kidnappers In Lagos!

By Jeddy Omisore

Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has signed the Anti-Kidnapping Law, which stipulates death penalty for kidnappers. The law recommends death for kidnappers in whose custody victims died and life jail for those who kidnapped for ransom. Espousing the importance of security to his administration, the governor has said: Security is of utmost importance to our administration and we are confident that this law will serve as a deterrent to anybody who may desire to engage in this wicked act within the boundaries of Lagos.

The Anti-Kidnapping Law is comprehensive as it prescribes punishment for the actors, the collaborators, and those who saw the kidnapping being perpetrated and did nothing about it. Certainly, the wave of kidnapping has gotten to a stage where the government can no longer fold its arms and watch as kidnapper terrorise the populace. Thus, the law is meant to send signals to kidnappers that an end has come to their filthy and criminal game.

It is not surprising that the Lagos State government is paying deserved attention to security issues. Lagos, being the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, and indeed West Africa, has enormous security challenges bearing in mind its burgeoning population, its ports and waterways, its border with Benin Republic as well as its numerous banks, industries and other commercial enterprises.

With this peculiar status, the rate of crime in Lagos, over the years, has been relatively higher as it is in other parts of the country. Though, a national problem, topping the log of debated crimes among Lagosians these days is kidnapping.  Kidnapping was re-invented’ in the creeks of the Niger Delta by militants as a way of coercing government to meet their developmental demand. Later on it was ‘perfected’ in the South East for commercial purposes. Today, the crime has become converted into a top money-spinning industry by unscrupulous criminals who kidnap for ransom across the nation.

According to a Freedom House report, Nigeria recorded one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world in 2013. Similarly, the U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 indicates that kidnapping and related violence were “serious” problems in Nigeria.

Today, in Nigeria, kidnappers spare neither the old nor the young. Their victims cut across age grades while hitherto considered sacred men have been touched. Father of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Pa Ebele Jonathan was kidnapped while his son was the Vice President. Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, Chief Olu Falae, and a traditional ruler in Lagos, Oniba of Iba, Yishau Goriola Oseni among other high profile personalities which included parents of footballers like Joseph Yobo and Mikel Obi had all been kidnapped in the recent past. Last year, three school girls were seized from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu, but were later freed by the police. And recently, students and staff of Nigeria-Turkish International School, Isheri, Ogun State, were kidnapped and later released after ransom was paid.

Nigeria: DSS And The Politics Of Arrest

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

After President Muhammadu Buhari came into office in 2015, one of the measures he took seemingly to restore the professional integrity of the Department of State Services (DSS) was to overhaul it. The worry then was that the operatives of the security agency were politically exposed; a euphemism for the neglect of their professional duties while being steeped in corruption in the process of doing the bidding of politicians.

It was alleged then that at the height of their derailment, they were used to prosecute the re-election agenda of the former President Goodluck Jonathan in brazen violation of the rights of the citizens. Standing out of the alleged excesses of the DSS then was its raid on the office of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos. In the reorganisation, the leaders of the operatives were relieved of their jobs.

Thus, the citizens expected that a new DSS would emerge in the Buhari era. They expected a DSS that does its job professionally; operating with respect for the rights of the citizens. But in less than two years, the citizens have come to the grim realisation that this expectation is misplaced. This is because despite its so-called transformation, the DSS has not changed its crude method of operation.

One major area in which the DSS has failed to show that it is now a different organisation is in the arrest of suspects. It is puzzling why the DSS has demonstrated a proclivity for nocturnal arrest. We would have thought the DSS would simply invite a citizen to its office if he or she has questions to answer. It is only when the person fails that the agency may raid his or her residence any time. But what we see today is that the DSS arrests in the dead of the night people who would not have resisted its summonses. In this regard, the DSS shot into infamy through the nocturnal raid of judges. This method is fraught with many dangers. In the case of the arrest of the judges in Rivers State, the state governor had to intervene. If there were no sufficient caution by both parties, there would have been tragic consequences. The common reason given for such nocturnal arrest is that it enables the DSS to secure incriminating evidence before it is destroyed by suspects.

It is the same nocturnal method of arrest that the DSS also tried to use against Apostle Johnson Suleman. It was said that around 2:00 a.m. the DSS operatives raided the hotel room of the preacher who was in Ekiti for a crusade. But the timely intervention of Governor Ayodele Fayose saved him from being arrested. Still, this arrest could have been tragic. The governor’s armed guards could have confronted the DSS operatives. But thankfully, the DSS operatives fled when they saw Fayose and his team.