Death Of the Liberian Warlord General Prince Yomi Johnson

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The news of the death of the controversial Liberian warlord General Prince Yomi Johnson has just reached me. The man became friends with me whilst he was in exile in Lagos, Nigeria. 

*Prince Johnson 

Let’s just do a quick recall of the gory video scene of the killing of then President Samuel Doe of Liberia. There was the beer-guzzling Prince Yomi Johnson sitting in judgment over the captured and tied-up Doe who was begging for his life thusly: “Yomi, two people fight, one win. Spare me, please.” 

Of course poor Samuel Doe had his miserable life snuffed out. 

Now the news has hit town that General Prince Yomi Johnson too is dead.

A tear for him! 

Prince Yomi Johnson used to live in exile in Ikoyi, Lagos, and I once had a memorable encounter with him. No appointment was fixed with the former warlord. I simply appeared unannounced at the frontage of the man’s Ikoyi home one hot Tuesday afternoon, and settled on a white plastic chair by the door of the bistro that led into the compound.

Bola Tinubu And Sani Abacha’s Ghost

 By Ugoji Egbujo

Recently, many have seen the ghost of Sani Abacha. And they have cried aloud.

After the annulment of the June 12 elections, chaos ensued. Gen Babangida stepped aside. As Shonekan’s Interim Government (ING) wobbled under the June 12 pressure, Abacha dispatched emissaries to Abiola who had dashed into exile.  Abacha promised to restore hope. Nobody should have believed him, but being credulous from hopelessness, they said he was a man of his word. They hoped Abacha would renew Hope.  Hope 93 was Abiola’s slogan.

The Coup In Niger

 By Nick Dazang

The Czar of military coup d’etats in Nigeria once offered us a useful glimpse into the prime motivation and raison d’etre for the overthrow of governments by force. Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, a putschist par excellence, and a veteran of all successful coups, except that in which the late General Sani Abacha ousted the illicit Interim National Government, ING, of Chief Ernest Shonekan, once stated that all coups were inspired by the subsisting frustration in a given society.

In the aftermath of the 1983 coup, which ushered in the draconian administration of Major General Muhammadu Buhari, as he then was, a well respected Nigerian Editor, fed up by the chicanery and ineptitude of the President Shehu Shagari administration, proclaimed that God was a Nigerian. In retrospect, this well regarded Editor must  rue his effusive endorsement of military rule. The flip side to this unrestrained display of emotion must be the sedate but poignant observation by Mr. Peter Enahoro, one Africa’s best Journalists.

‘Democracy Day’: The Deception And Betrayal Of ‘June 12 Activists’

 By Olu Fasan

General Ibrahim Babangida erred tragically and did a great disservice to Nigeria by annulling the presidential election of June 12, 1993. But nothing has deepened the wounds more than the deception and betrayal of the so-called “June 12 activists”, who turned the annulment into a self-serving political lodestar and built their political careers around it, yet bastardised the spirit of the June 12 election by acquiring power through a deeply flawed presidential poll that violated universal rules of credible elections.

*MKO Abiola 

Earlier this week, General Babangida said the “gains” of the June 12, 1993 presidential election were squandered in succeeding elections. He told journalists: “It was adjudged the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, yet politicians have blatantly ignored that beauty: the beauty of credible elections.” How ironic that the man who flagrantly annulled an election now talks, 30 years later, about the “gains” and “beauty” of the same election!

Why ASUU Cannot Be Banned

 By Femi Falana

Under the British colonial regime, trade unions were prohibited while strikes were criminalised. But Nigerian workers defied the ban and formed trade unions to challenge the crude exploration of the nation’s resources by the foreign colonisers. When the British saw the futility of the proscription the Trade Union Ordinance of 1939 was promulgated. The law allowed the formation of trade unions but outlawed strikes. Notwithstanding the anti strike provision of the law the general strike of 1945 led by the Nigerian Railway Union under the leadership of Comrade Michael Imoudu paralysed the colonial economy for days.

*Falana 

From that moment, workers resolved to be in the front line in the decolonisation struggle. Hence, the British resorted to brutal attacks of workers. For example, the Enugu coal miners were brutally attacked by the colonial police for embarking on strike for improved conditions of service in November 1949. The murderous attack led to the death of 21 colliery workers while several others were injured. The strike provoked a nationwide condemnation, which exposed the atrocious activities of the British colonial regime.

Interrogating Buhari Through The Prism Of Gen Bamaiyi

 By Tunde Olusunle

Except for the release and launch of his controversial book, Vindication of a General in 2017, which accorded him some media visibility, Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi, has maintained a very low profile over the years. For those who do not know, or who have forgotten him, Bamaiyi, a lieutenant general, was the last Chief of Army Staff, (COAS), under the rulership of Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s one time Head of State.

*Bamaiyi

Abacha was in office between November 1993 and June 1998. Bamaiyi spent eight years, in the aftermath of the enthronement of civil rule in 1999, in prison. He was supposedly implicated in the attempted murder of Alex Ibru, founder and publisher of The Guardian newspapers who also served as Minister of Internal Affairs, under Abacha.

Ibru who allowed professional independence for his newspaper stable under Abacha’s unpopular fistic rule, was shot on Falomo Bridge in Lagos early February 1996, by suspected agents of state. Principal suspect in the attempted Ibru murder case, Barnabas Jabila, known by the alias “Sergeant Rogers” a notorious hitman for the Abacha killer squad, had framed Bamaiyi for ordering the annihilation of the newspaper magnate.

Soyinka: Celebrating Our Own Kongi At 87

 By Dan Amor

It was once the fashion to single out four men of letters as the supreme titans of world literature – Homer, Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe – each the embodiment of a great epoch of Western culture – ancient, medieval, Renaissance and modern. These four literary icons of all time remain secure; but idolatry of Professor Wole Soyinka as the prototype of the inquiring spirit and courageous intellect of modern man has been sharply appreciated in our time, especially as we pass beyond the more leisurely issues of the post-modernist era.

*Soyinka

The intensely contemporary character of his works has made him the tallest iroko tree in the post-modernist forest of global dramatic literature. Yet, the commencement, two weeks ago, of the Wole Soyinka 87th  Birthday Festival, which ultimately climaxes today, July 13, 2021, his date of birth, unfortunately doesn't seem to wear the official insignia of the Nigerian government especially because he has started telling them the truth about the Nigerian condition. But, it is expected, as Christ Himself says in Matthew 13:57, "A prophet is not without honour, save his own country and his own house."  

The Quintessential Soyinka At 85

By DAN AMOR

It was once the fashion to single out four men of letters as the supreme titans of world literature – Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe –  each the embodiment of a great epoch of Western culture – ancient, medieval, Renaissance and modern. These four literary icons of all times remain secure, but idolatry of Professor Wole Soyinka as the prototype of the inquiring spirit and courageous intellect of modern man has been sharply appreciated in our time, especially as we pass beyond the more leisurely issues of the post modernist era.

*Wole Soyinka

The intensely contemporary character of his works has made him the tallest iroko tree in the post-modernist forest of global dramatic literature. Yet, the commencement, two weeks ago, of the Wole Soyinka 85th Birthday Festival, which ultimately climaxed on July 13, his date of birth, unfortunately doesn't seem to wear the official insignia of the Nigerian government especially because he has started telling them the truth about the Nigerian condition. But, it is expected, as Christ Himself says in Matthew 13:57, "A prophet is not without honour, save his own country and his own house."

Nigeria: June 12: Every Life Matters

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

After the elaborate ceremony of apology and award of honours, it is now time to come to terms with the fact that the greatest tribute has not been paid to the victims of the truncation of the nation’s democratic watershed on June 12, 1993.

*Abiola 

Clearly, there has been in the past 25 years a persistent clamour for restitution for the victims. Every June 12 has witnessed calls for the closure of the sad political trajectory in the nation’s life. President Muhammadu Buhari has apparently heeded these calls. But sadly, Buhari’s action has rather shown the poor premium we place on life in the country. 

Dr. Alex Ekwueme: A Tribute

By Uzodinma Nwala

The day was Thursday, August 13, 1998. The setting was a meeting of the nascent People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which just metamorphosed from the activist group, G-34, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. The agenda was to decide on the policy of the emergent party, especially power-sharing and rotation of the presidency.

*Dr. Alex Ekwueme

The buildup started much earlier with Dr. Nelson Mandela of South Africa’s second visit to Nigeria to meet with Gen. Abacha, after his 1995 release from prison. He was here to advise Gen Abacha to loosen his tight grip on Nigeria and allow the air of democratic freedom to flow in. His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, had earlier undertaken a similar mission, albeit with no success. Mandela had specifically called for the release of the likes of Chief M. K. O. Abiola, General Olusegun Obasanjo, General Shehu Yar’Adua, Ken Saro Wiwa and his Ogoni colleagues. But, Abacha was adamant on Nelson Mandela’s entreaties. Even though his trip to Nigeria produced negative results, Dr. Nelson Mandela, the world-acclaimed doyen of revolutionary struggles in Africa, was prepared. He did not relent, he had a Plan B. Mandela turned his attention to Nigeria’s pro-democracy groups, asking them to come to the rescue. He invited them to South Africa, hoping to inspire them to take to militant opposition. 

Buhari And Conspiracy Theories: Mahmud Jega Is Right

By Moses Ochonu

I study Northern Nigeria for a living. I am a Lugardian Northerner. I grew up in and schooled in Northern Nigeria. I know that conspiracy theories have a high resonance in the region. I know that implausible and sometimes ridiculous alternative explanations and alternative facts circulate in the region to devastating effect.

*Buhari 

Conspiracy theories led to non-Muslim fellow Nigerians being killed in Kano shortly after the beginning of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The ignorant interpretation of cosmic and climatic events as recompense for sin by some Muslim clerics led to Christians being attacked in Maiduguri when there was a solar eclipse--years before Boko Haram emerged.

Conspiracy theories and outright fabrication about insults and plots against Islam got Gideon Akuluka and Grace Usha beheaded in Kano and Gombe respectively. I know several northerners who are Truthers, believers in the theory that the 9/11 attacks were the work of the US government and/or Jews. I have seen posts written by Northern Nigerians on my Facebook timeline alleging that jews and/or Americans created ISIS to destroy Islam. Such posts garner many likes from Northern Nigerians.

Until Buhari's election, there was a cottage industry of conspiracy theories about Boko Haram being the work of the CIA or of being a plot by then President Jonathan to destabilize the North. Former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State even went to Washington DC to spout this nonsensical theory, lending executive credence to a previously fringy contemplation. Some Northern Nigerians alleged that the US and French governments were supplying weapons to Boko Haram to destroy Islamic solidarity and pit Muslims against one another.

One interlocutor even told me that his village people had seen some Baturai (white people) among the terrorists, insinuating that that was proof of Western backing for Boko Haram. The abiding power of this particular conspiracy theory is the reason that when stories circulated in the wake of the capture of Camp Zairo in Sambisa about a "white man" being among the captured insurgents" the stories was a particularly enduring sensation in Northern Nigeria. In fact, Northern Nigerians dug up and widely circulated photos of the moment Cameroonian soldiers rescued a German hostage released by Boko Haram several years ago. The fake photo gave the story even more resonance in Northern Nigerian social media circles. The story found a primed audience in Northern Nigerians because it confirmed what many already believed. Its spread was aided by the existence of confirmatory bias in the region.

Africa Truly Rising

By Tony Ademiluyi

After the return of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu from England in 1957 after a 13-year sojourn for his educational pursuits, his wealthy and influential father wanted him to put his education to good use by joining the family business. He had other ideas as he had a brief stint in the colonial service and then headed to the army then known as the Queen’s Regiment.

A livid Sir Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu tried to ‘talk some sense’ into the young man and enlisted the support of the then Governor-General, James Robertson to ‘bail him out.’ The British colonial administrator told Emeka point-blank that if he thought what happened in Egypt in 1952 when Colonel Abdel Nasser came to power through a coup could ever happen in Nigeria, he was mistaken. That statement turned out to be prophetic as it marked the pattern of Africa’s governance for the next three decades.

Military rule became the preferred mode of administration for many African nations. Pan Africanism which was largely spearheaded by Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah hurriedly gave way to the spread of cult-like cold-blooded dictators.

The continent bred the likes of Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Sani Abacha, Gnassingbe Eyadema and so on whose brutality and visionless leadership saw to the perpetual under-development of the world’s second largest continent.

No form of dissent especially from the impoverished intelligentsia and media was tolerated and the large wave of emigration especially for economic reasons started as a result of the incursion by the men in uniform.

Corruption was another sinister legacy that military rule in Africa bequeathed which is still haunting the continent till date. The practice of salting away billions of dollars from here to the developed economies especially in Europe had its roots during the military rule. Mobuto Sese Seko was allegedly far richer than his Country, Zaire which he ruled with an iron fist for over three decades. Dictators like Ibrahim Babaginda, Idi Amin, Omar Bongo, Teodoro Mbasogo, Jean Bedel Bokassa amassed obscene wealth appropriated from the commonwealth of their countries and so drove their people to destitution that they longed for a return of their erstwhile colonial masters.

Our Quintessential Soyinka At 82

By Dan Amor

It was once the fashion to single out four men of letters as the supreme titans of world literature - Homer, Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe - each the embodiment of a great epoch of Western culture - ancient, medieval, Renaissance and modern. These four literary icons of all times remain secure, but acclamation of Professor Wole Soyinka as the prototype of the inquiring spirit and courageous intellect of modern man has been sharply appreciated in our time, especially as we pass beyond the more leisurely issues of the post modernist era.

*Soyinka 

The intensely contemporary character of his works has made him the tallest iroko tree in the post-modernist forest of global dramatic literature. Yet, the commencement, two weeks ago, of the Wole Soyinka 82nd Birthday Festival, which ultimately climaxes today, July 13, his date of birth, unfortunately doesn't seem to wear the official insignia of the Nigerian government especially because he has started telling them the truth about the Nigerian condition. But, it is expected, as Christ Himself says in Matthew 13:57, "A prophet is not without honour, save his own country and his own house." 

In retrospect, in March 1996 when the Nigerian artistic and literary community was agog with the explosion of a series of events to mark the tri-centenary and two score anniversary of the birth of Von Goethe (1749-1832), the German creative genius and great thinker of all times, the Sani Abacha-led military junta, despite its sadistic, base and tyrannical complexion, surpassingly accorded the celebration an official recognition while declaring Soyinka, the custodian of our artistic signature wanted, dead or alive. Given the authoritarian intolerance of the Buhari government and the President's implacable disdain for anything cerebral, no one actually expected less from them especially at a time when Soyinka is telling him to listen to the cries of the Igbo and the minorities in the country, and to heed to the call for the restructuring of this lopsided federation. Oscar Wilde, the great Victorian English epigrammatist, in a state of protracted gloom once observed that: "Formerly we used to canonize our heroes. The modern method is to vulgarize them. Cheap editions of great books may be delightful, but cheap editions of great men are absolutely detestable." Indeed, the brilliant Wilde cannot be faulted. But there is no more breeding ground for such critical vituperation than our current socio-political climate.

Restructure Nigeria Or Fracture Her

By Tola Adeniyi  

 I start this column today with a heavy heart and great pity for both Nigeria and those armed to the teeth to bring her down. In the past couple of weeks I wrote about the thirteen threats to Ni­geria’s survival and the need for the Federal Government to bend a little to stop Nigeria from break­ing up.

But the threat last Monday by the latest Militants in the Ni­ger Delta to collapse Nigeria with their missiles [apparently purchased with the humongous amount dashed to them under the Amnesty Project] has warranted a second look at the whole develop­ing scenario.

I am compelled to issue a warn­ing here. Even if the Militants believe they have the strongest army in the world, they should do a rethink. One can only boast about the outbreak of a war; no one can categorically predict its end. The Militants should sheath their swords and call for dialogue instead of threatening to destroy Nigeria without giving a thought to the credible possibility of also getting themselves and the region they claim to be fighting for burnt in the inferno.

Nowhere in the world has any militant group waging a war of self determination or seces­sion succeeded in destroying the whole country. PKK in Turkey and Tamil Tigers in Sri-Lanka are ready examples. Tamil Tigers campaign lasted for over 40 years and in the end they had to settle for dialogue. PKK is still at it and Turkey is still waxing stronger by the day.

Nigeria survived without oil in the 50s and 60s and prosecuted a gruesome, albeit needless war without oil and without bor­rowing a Kobo from the outside world. Nigeria can call the bluff of the oil producing region and operate on Zero oil revenue. She will fall on her knees but sooner or later will gather her senses and bounce back!

Having said this, I think it is high time the Federal Government began the process of quick and in­evitable restructuring of the polity. Whoever or whatever group that is standing against restructur­ing does not wish this bleeding country well. It is gratifying that the likes of Atiku Abubakar have joined the chorus of what people have been clamouring for in the last 60 years. The ferocious cam­paigns of JS Tarka, JS Olawoyin and Adaka Boro were all inspired by the burning desire to have Ni­geria restructured.

Grazing Reserve Is Ethnic Imperialism

By Ochereome Nnanna

 The All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari appears hell-bent on imposing the establishment of grazing reserves across Nigeria in spite of the many unpalatable implications it will unleash on unsuspecting Nigerians. On Thursday, 31 March 2016, I wrote an article on this column entitled: “Ranching, Yes; Grazing Reserves, No!” The article called attention to what was then speculated as intentions of the Federal Government to launch this obnoxious policy aimed at handing over lands belonging to indigenous communities to Fulani cattle owners in the guise of establishing “grazing reserves”.

Now, the masquerade has been unmasked: the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that President Buhari has directed him to implement the programme. According to him, he will start it from the North, where he will establish 50,000 hectares of grazing reserves. Then, he will import his beloved Brazil grass to feed the cattle. When he is done with that, he will, in his own words: “move South”. With the Fulani herdsmen now settled in their newly-acquired grazing lands, perhaps without paying a kobo or even negotiating with landowners and obtaining their express permission to use their land, the herdsmen will stop invading communities, destroying the farms of poor villagers, killing, maiming, kidnapping, raping and dehumanising innocent Nigerians.

Nigeria will become self-sufficient in animal and dairy products, and everybody will live happily ever after. That is the picture Ogbeh and his paymasters are painting for us. However, we have very strong reasons to suspect that the establishment of grazing reserves is an ancient agenda of ethnic imperialism which dates back to the Fulani Jihads that Islamised the North about two hundred years ago.

I read an interesting article by one Dr. Gundu of the Department of Archaeology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He gave a useful insight into the grazing reserves phenomenon, which should jolt our complacently ignorant countrymen, especially those from the Southern parts of the country. Gundu’s article is entitled: History Class On Grazing Reserves: Why Fulani Herdsmen Want Your Land.

Dasukigate: The Vindication of Okonjo-Iweala

By Ikeogu Oke

A French proverb – wise as all proverbs are – says, “For desperate ills desperate remedies.” Those who have found fault with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala “for the transfer of US$300 million and British Pounds £5.5 million of the recovered Abacha funds to an ONSA operation account” (in what amounts to a move in support of the war against the Boko Haram terrorist group) may not be familiar with this proverb and its implication that there are certain problems that arise in the affairs of humans and nations which reasonable people unanimously agree on the rightness of ignoring convention in solving them.

*Okonjo-Iweala

Take, for instance, the tactics adopted by the United States in fighting terror post 9/11. It involved the torture of suspects at the facility in Guantanamo Bay by the procedure known as waterboarding, etc., but ultimately yielded information leading to the discovery of Osama bin Laden in his secret hideout in Pakistan.

We know that torture breaches the convention of respect for the dignity of suspects. We know what happened to Osama bin Laden in his encounter with the US Navy Seals, though the convention is not to punish – let alone liquidate – an accused person without trial. We also know that that final encounter with bin Laden involved an “unconventional” violation of the territorial integrity and airspace of his host nation. But more importantly, there was a general consensus that America faced such a desperate threat from terror that it was understandable that it took such desperate measures in dealing with it, hence such breaches of convention were generally regarded as insignificant – and justified – in light of the overriding need to find a remedy for the desperate ill of a terrorist threat which compares to Boko Haram in today’s Nigeria.

And the grouse of the critics of Okonjo-Iweala, for which they have asked President Buhari to order her arrest and prosecution, is that she – they allege – disbursed the said funds in a manner that violated convention, given that the funds should have been appropriated through Senate approval before their disbursement.

Buhari, Obasanjo And Emeka Offor

By Mohammed Al-Bishak

No sooner had Premium Times published on Monday, August 3, 2015, the first part of its interview with erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo than it went viral. Though the immediate context of the interview was the publication of Obasanjo’s controversial trilogy entitled My Watch, the questions from the interviewers were forthright and wide ranging, and the responses quite interesting. Early in the interview, Obasanjo devoted considerable time and sentiments to an evaluation of a controversial government contractor, Emeka Offor, and his activities.

*Emeka Offor

“Take for example the decision on privatizing all refineries”, remarked the former president in respect of certain decisions he took in the days of his administration which were reversed by the succeeding Umaru Yar’Adua governemnt which he had handpicked. “I explained (in my memoirs) that what I met were refineries that were not working, refineries that were given to an amateur for repairs, for maintenance, what they call turn-around maintenance, to the company of the Emeka Offor group. Where has Emeka Offor maintained refineries before? Where has he? That’s what we met. So, refineries were not working.”

The diligent team of reporters tried to find out from him why he did not bother to recover the huge amounts paid to Offor’s companies, and the retired army general, noted for ebullience, surprisingly sounded helpless before a mere civilian, a mere government contractor, almost half his age. Here are his words: “ (Recover money from)a man who was paid upfront? He had people. He got some police….People were there. And Emeka Offor, after I left (office), became friends with every government that has come”. Offor was, no doubt, friends with the Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan governments. With this interview, Obasanjo is strongly warning the new Muhammadu Buhari administration to avoid controversial contractors like a plague. Otherwise, they would ruin the new government they way they destroyed governments before it. I should think there is merit in the wise counsel because Buhari is globally recognized for high personal integrity, and his government is the last hope of the Nigerian people to get out of the corruption cancer which has metastised all over the country.

 

*Buhari and Obasanjo

It is necessary to explain the relationship between Offor and the refineries. Offor founded a firm known as Anchoff Strongholds which was a clearing agent for the Warri Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (WPRC) and later became its supplier. Between 1993 and 1994 it stunned the petroleum industry worldwide by becoming the first African company to carry out a turn-round maintenance (TAM) on the 125,000 barrels per day WRPC. It was assisted by Gidado Idris, then permanent secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, who was to become chairman of all of Offor’s companies. But practically no work was done. A probe led by Aret Adams, the best group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) ever, was instituted. The report recommended the dismissal of the WRPC managing director, Dr Owokalu, for his role in the scandal. The government acted promptly. The report also recommended the blacklisting of Anchoff Strongholds and its promoters and their ban from ever doing business with the NNPC. It was accepted.

But in the typical Nigerian fashion, the latter recommendations were circumvented. Anchoff promoters formed a new company and named it Chrome. Meanwhile, Gidado Idris had taken over from Aminu Saleh as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation under General Sani Abacha’s military dictatorship. Chrome was awarded the contract to do the TAM on the 210,000barrel per day Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company, which is much bigger than the Warri refinery whose TAM had become an international scandal. Ever since then, all the country’s refineries have become comatose. This is the background to Obasanjo’s anger over the sweetheart deals between various Nigerian governments and Offor.

Yet, I have tremendous difficulties with the impression which ex President Obasanjo has sought to give about his relationship with Offor. There is overwhelming evidence that Obasanjo not only empowered Offor but went out of his way to do so; in the process he violated all known rules and ethical standards. I would like to cite just an example which I know pretty well: the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) between Nigeria and the twin island of Sao Tome and Principe.