Presidential Jets: Buhari On Jonathan's Part Of Wastage

By Ikhide Erasmus

By November 29, precisely six months after assuming office, President Muhammadu Buhari and his handlers would have be hard put to explain why images of corruption, inherited from former President Goodluck Jonathan's administration still cloud the nation's and airspace.

It comes to the news once again that the Federal Government would have been spending about N5.8bn on the 10-aircraft Presidential Air Fleet it inherited from the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. The PAF is the third largest fleet in the country, coming after Arik Air and Aerocontractors Airlines which have 23 and 12 aircraft in their fleets respectively.Other domestic airlines including FirstNation, MedView Airlines, Dana Air, Air Peace and Overland Airways have less than 10 aircraft each in their fleets.

According to calculations done from estimated data obtained from aviation parastatals and domestic airline operators in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration will have spent about $58.58m (N11.598bn) on running and maintaining the 10-aicraft presidential fleet by May 29 next year when it turns one year in office. This means that the half of this amount, $29.29m (N5.799bn), is expected to have been spent in principle on the large fleet when administration turns six months in office by November 29.

A few weeks after his inauguration, President Buhari had reportedly ordered the immediate disposal of some of the planes in the PAF. However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, later denied knowledge of such directive: “The story of the order for the sale of aircraft in the Presidential Fleet, about which so much interest is being expressed, is not known to us,” Shehu quipped. 

Analysing the scenario then I wrote in the first paragraph in a piece entitled: "President Buhari, PAF and Images of Corruption" thus: "As the dawn broke over the nation in 2013, the plush lifestyle of former President Goodluck Jonathan and his propensity for frivolities and mellifluous came to the open. Bounded to the fantasy of presidential prestige and power, his obsession clings to its vanity. He swiftly abandoned his earlier pledge to “demonstrate leadership, statesmanship, vision, capacity and sacrifice, to transform our nation” in his May 29, 2011 inaugural address. But he never did."

Anambra: The Strange Case Of 75 Billion Naira

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

 In March 2014, while handing over to his successor in Awka, former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, announced that apart from ensuring that all salaries and allowances of public service workers and pensioners were paid up to date, he was also leaving behind N75 billion in “cash and investments” for the in-coming administration.  In a normal country, where accountability and responsible governance are normal expectations, where public service has not been crudely reduced to mere organised banditry as is largely the case across Nigeria, this should not attract any applause.

*Obi 

But we live in an abnormal country where criminal accumulation and wasteful spending have long been accepted as normal features of public service, where public officers ensure that they empty government treasuries and erect pyramids of debts before they leave office.  And so Mr. Obi’s rare example was widely applauded, and has been extensively held up by several commentators to underline what decent and conscientious public service ought to look like. 

But last week, nearly two years after he was sworn in as the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Willie Obiano, sought to insert a sharp pin in the balloon of public excitement about what many have come to accept as Obi’s exemplary tenure.  At a press conference in Awka, the Secretary to the Anambra State Government (SSG), Prof Solomon Chukwulobelu, declared that “The N75 billion [which Obi claimed he left behind] was not there; it was not handed over to anybody. At best it can be half-truth…In the real sense, what the Obiano administration inherited from Obi was N9 billion cash and N26 billion near cash.”

He explained further: “…to provide a true and fair picture of the state’s net position on March 17, 2014, the investments handover notes ought to have captured current liabilities and contingent liabilities also borne by the previous administration as at the time of handover. To put this in context, the total portfolio of inherited projects valued at approximately N185 billion was however not captured in the breakdown of the handover notes.”

According to Prof Chukwulobelu, out of the N185.1bn owed contractors, Mr. Obi only paid the sum of N78.9bn as at March 2014 when he handed over to Obiano, leaving a debt of N106.2bn.

These are indeed very weighty disclosures, and if they turn out to be true, they can only destroy whatever value Obi’s N75 billion was expected to add to the Anambra purse.

But Obi’s media aide, Mr. Valentine Obinenyem, has called for a public, televised debate on this contentious issue. I think this call is important and very necessary so that Nigerians can know exactly who is saying the truth about this matter. The accusing party should, therefore, put together a forum where both sides can come together with their facts and figures before television cameras to prove the truth or otherwise of their different positions. If they demonstrate any reluctance to organise this, a national television or civil society organisation should (as part of its patriotic duty to Nigeria and Nigerians) take the initiative to organise this debate right away and invite them. Although Channels Television has done well to feature spokespersons of the two regimes separately in its breakfast show recently, there is need for a moderated forum where they will meet together to iron out the differences in their individual accounts. And should any of them develop cold feet and shun the debate, the organisers should announce the party that absconded to Nigerians and we will then know who among the two leaders has been doing willful damage to truth and a badge of shame would promptly be put on him. This is how matters of this nature are usually resolved in civilised societies.

The Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu I Knew

By Nnanna Ijomah
On this day the 26th of November three years ago Chief Emeka Ojukwu passed away, and on this third anniversary of his death, I want to join millions of Nigerians to honor and celebrate his life. In 1988, I was an unemployed young Political Science graduate, resident in Lagos, when I first met Chief Emeka Ojukwu, by way of recommendation and introduction by some mutual friends, one of whom was my cousin, who had informed me that he, the Ikemba was looking to employ a Personal Assistant.

The odds of my getting the job was further enhanced and I would say virtually assured when during the interview at his Villaska lodge residence, the late Dr Chuba Okadigbo walked in and practically vouched for my intellectual ability and competence to do the job for which I was about to be hired. For those who might be wondering how Dr Okadigbo came into the picture. It so happened that a few years earlier during the commencement ceremony of the University of Benin, the late Dr Okadigbo had taken note of me when I was presented with an award, as the best Political Science student in the degree exams.

On that fateful sunny afternoon, 22 years ago, I found myself standing before the Ikemba, a larger than life figure, whom I'd heard so much about all through my teenage years during the civil war. But now in my early twenties, standing before him, I was not only scared and nervous, but also full of admiration and respect, while at the same time experiencing an overwhelming feeling of excitement, just for being in his presence. As I gazed at those bulging eyes, each time he made a point of emphasis, I could not but feel a sense of accomplishment, just for achieving this great feat of being there. At that moment in time as I remember it today, whether I ended up getting the job or not, I was going to savor this once in a life-time opportunity for all it was worth. After a few pointed questions and a detailed explanation of what the job entailed, he proceeded to ask me if I was ready to start work right away. Thus began my association with the Ikemba. A job which I can truthfully say afforded me the most learning experience of my life.

During the period I worked for him, Ikemba was more than just my boss. He was a father figure in the sense that he treated me like a son. He was my mentor and was very protective of me. When I decided to leave for the United States, he did not try to dissuade me from doing so. Rather he encouraged me to leave, since at that point in time some government officials were snooping around, making inquiries regarding the contents of the book we were working on. The general impression at the time was that he the Ikemba was writing a book about the Civil war. 

The book generated so much concern in certain quarters that he, Ikemba got worried about my safety, and in his own words, said to me " they can never do anything to me, but they can come after you in their attempt to know what the book is all about and I would not want you to get into any kind of trouble on my account'. Months later in 1989, he sent me an autographed copy in New York. 

Boy Killed As Ebola Returns To Liberia

 Monrovia (AFP) - A teenager has died in Liberia in the first such death since the country was officially declared free of the virus in September, an official said Tuesday.

"The 15-year-old has finally died. He died yesterday," Dr Francis Karteh, head of Liberia's national Ebola crisis unit, told AFP.

He added that the teenager's parents had also tested positive for the virus and were under observation in the capital Monrovia.

It was confirmed last week that the boy and two of his relatives had contracted Ebola, which has left more than 11,300 people dead since December 2013 in its worst ever outbreak, mainly in the west African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Liberia was first declared Ebola free in May, only to see the fever resurface six weeks later. The country was declared to have officially beaten the epidemic for a second time in September.

The World Health Organization previously reported that the boy was 10 years old, but Karteh said he was in fact 15.

He fell sick on November 14 and was hospitalised three days later in Monrovia, the WHO said, adding that 150 people who had been in contact with the family were being monitored.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, Liberia has registered more than 10,600 cases and more than 4,800 deaths, according to a WHO situation report published last week.

The teenager's death comes days after Guinea's last known Ebola case, a three-week old girl, was declared cured on November 16.

That announcement triggered a 42-day countdown -- twice the incubation period of the virus -- before Guinea can be declared Ebola-free.

Sierra Leone was declared to have beaten the virus earlier this month.

-YAHOONEWS

President Buhari's Biafran Contradiction

By Chuks Iloegbunam  

 
Nearly six weeks after it started, President Muhammadu Buhari finally reacted to the agitation for Biafra, which has been sweeping through some cities of the South East and South South geopolitical zones. The President chose two events inside last week to make his position known. The first was the investiture of His Royal Majesty, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, as the 7th Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The second was the graduation ceremony of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State.

These following sum up the President's position on the Biafran agitation:

* "Government would not fold its arms and watch, while some individuals and groups create unnecessary tension in the country in the guise of seeking to break away from Nigeria."

* "Let me again call on per­sons or groups in the country who have some grievances to submit to peaceful and dem­ocratic means of expressing themselves."

* "I therefore sound a note of serious warning that the corporate existence of Nigeria as a single entity is not a sub­ject of debate and will not be compromised."

Now, the fact that it took the President nearly two months to comment on a matter that had elicited three specific threats of military re­sponse by his field command­ers probably makes the point that, in his graph of national importance, the Biafran agita­tion is no more than a vexa­tious distraction.

But, it is still welcome that he spoke late than not at all. What if he de­cided against uttering a word on the subject? After all, he has so far treated all the substanti­ated reports of the rampage and wanton killings of Fulani herdsmen across the length and breadth of Nigeria with a deafening silence. He has also treated in the same manner all the calls for his government to address the report of the properly constituted National Conference of 2014.

Now, it is assumed in quar­ters that claim comprehensive understanding of President Buhari's brand of politics that the man is not given to talk­ing glibly. He is said to expend enormously in the critical sec­tor of consideration before he ever deems it necessary to make a public statement. This means that it is in the best interest of those who have heard to accept that what the President has said on the Bia­fra agitation is his irreducible stance.

How To Resolve The Kogi State Constitutional Conundrum

By Inibehe Effiong

The sudden death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, on Sunday, 22nd November, 2015 has undoubtedly ignited a constitutional crisis. The tragic news which was first published by SaharaReporters has instigated controversy on what will be the possible legal implications or consequences of his death. 

*Audu

Among the issues arising from the death of Prince Audu are the following:

1. Whether the running mate to Prince Audu and the APC deputy governorship candidate can assume the position and status of the deceased as the candidate of the APC;

2. If the question in 1 above is answered in the negative, can the APC substitute the deceased as its governorship candidate; and

3. Whether it is legally permissible in the circumstance for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the inconclusive election of Saturday November  21st 2015 and conduct a fresh throughout Kogi State.

This is unarguably a novel case. This is the first time in the course of a democratic transition that a validly nominated candidate of a political party in Nigeria will die after an inconclusive election but before and without paricipating in the supplementary election. It is unprecedented. The result is that there is no precedent that can be referred to which could aid in the resolution of the present case.

Who Really Wants Biafra?

By Ikechukwu Amaechi
In one of his recent articles, my brother and colleague, Oguwike Nwachuku, posited that based on the rabid anti-Igbo sentiment that seems to have become the all-consuming pastime of some Nigerians, there may well be a school where they are thought how to hate the Igbo.

Oguwike wrote in the wake of the Eze Ndigbo controversy in Akure, Ondo State and the resort to ethnic profiling by some Afenifere chieftains who derogatorily labelled Ndigbo “migrants” in their own country, even as they insist that the idea of one, indivisible, indissoluble Nigeria is non-negotiable.

In the last four weeks since some members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) mobilised supporters to take to the streets, I have come to feel the intensity of the hatred against Ndigbo.

Given the opportunity, some people would not bat an eyelid in chasing the Igbo into the Atlantic Ocean as they wished before the April elections.

But just as I noted in my reaction to the Eze Ndigbo saga, those who call Ndigbo names and stoke the embers of morbid hatred against them across the land have not bothered to ask how many Igbo support the agitation for secession.

How many Igbo actually want another civil war? How many Igbo want to abandon their property again for those who were busy sleeping while they were sweating under the bridges, in the scorching sun to inherit?

The military, perhaps reading the now famous body language of the President and Commander-in-Chief, Muhammadu Buhari, has warned pro-Biafra protesters to stop or face the consequences.

Nigeria: Death, An Inconclusive Election And The Law

 By Kennedy Emetulu

If, as is likely, Prince Abubakar Audu, the gubernatorial candidate of the APC in the ongoing Kogi election has passed on, then a legal question to be decided by INEC and the courts is unquestionably before us, because the Constitution and the Electoral Act seemingly make no provisions for death of a candidate at this point of an inconclusive election. It’s the sort of challenge that the new INEC leadership under  Professor Mahmood Yakubu would not have prayed for.

*Late Abubakar Audu 

Let’s consider where we are. We have had an election held on Saturday, November 21, 2015. INEC has come out to announce that the election is “inconclusive”, because, according to the Returning Officer, Professor Emmanuel Kucha, the collation of results from the 21 local government areas of the state showed that the cancelled votes were higher in number than the margin between the leading candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu of the APC and the PDP candidate, Captain Idris Wada who was the runner-up. The Commission therefore decided on a supplementary election to determine the winner, but with no date fixed yet. So, in a de facto and de jure sense, the election is still ongoing. But then, something happened after this decision was taken. One of the candidates, Prince Abubakar Audu reportedly died before the conclusion of this election or before the proposed supplementary election that should have concluded the whole process.

So, what does our law say? Here is what the Constitution says:

Section 181(1): “If a person duly elected as Governor dies before taking and subscribing the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office, or is unable for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, the person elected with him as Deputy-Governor shall be sworn in as Governor and he shall nominate a new Deputy-Governor who shall be appointed by the Governor with the approval of a simple majority of the House of Assembly of the State”.

Clearly, this provision does not apply to the situation on the ground, because Prince Abubakar Audu was not the Governor-Elect before he died. So, Abiodun Faleke, his running-mate was not elected the Deputy-Governor and therefore cannot be sworn into office in line with Section 181(1).

 How about the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended)? Here is what it says:

Section 36 (I): “If after the time for the delivery of nomination paper and before the commencement of the poll, a nominated candidate dies, the Chief National Electoral Commissioner or the Resident Electoral Commissioner shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, countermand the poll in which the deceased candidate was to participate and the Commission shall appoint some other convenient date for the election within 14 days”.

Again, technically speaking, this section does not seemingly apply to the situation we are in. This is because the poll has already commenced, but is yet to be concluded before the candidate died.

Further, with regard to the change or substitution of a candidate by a political party, the Electoral Act in section 33 says: “A political party shall not be allowed to change or substitute its candidate whose name has been submitted pursuant to section 32 of this Act, except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate”. Section 32 (1) of the Electoral Act referred to above says: “A candidate for an election shall be nominated in writing by such number of persons whose names appear on the register of voters in the constituency as the Commission may prescribe”. So, what section 33 is saying is that a political party cannot substitute the name of anyone duly nominated under section 32(1) with another name or candidate except in the case of (1) death and (2) withdrawal.

Audu’s Death Created Strange And Novel Constitutional Scenario

By Festus Keyamo

The reported death on Sunday, November 22nd, 2015, of the APC candidate in the Kogi State Governorship elections, Prince Abubakar Audu, is extremely shocking and sad. I would like to express my condolences to the entire family of Audu and to the people of Kogi State. However, the real question agitating the minds of everybody is the legal implication regarding the inconclusive Governorship elections at the time of his demise.

 Late Prince Abubakar Audu
To state it correctly he was said to have died AFTER the announcement of the results by INEC and after INEC had declared the elections inconclusive. Admittedly, this is a strange and novel constitutional scenario. It has never happened in our constitutional history to the extent that when an election has been partially conducted (and not before or after the elections) a candidate dies. What then happens? This is a hybrid situation between what happened in the case of Atiku Abubakar/Boni Haruna in 1999 and the provision of section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2010.

In the case of Atiku Abubakar/Boni Haruna [which is now a clear constitutional provision of section 181(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)] the Supreme Court held, in effect, that “if a person duly elected as Governor dies before taking and subscribing the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office, or is unable for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, the person elected with him as Deputy governor shall be sworn in as Governor and he shall nominate a new Deputy-Governor who shall be appointed by the Governor with the approval of a simple majority of the house of Assembly of the State”.

Change, Nigeria’s Political Challenges, And The Canadian Example

By Nduka Otiono

The generally peaceful conduct of the March 28, 2015 Nigerian presidential election and the gracious acceptance of defeat by the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) strongly signaled that Nigeria may have turned a new page, politically.

Other indicators of a new turn for Africa’s largest democratic country and economy are the following firsts in the country’s annals: the widespread innovative use of technology for the process—the use of card readers; the overthrow of the ruling PDP by the General Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) through the ballot box after 16 years of dominance; the election of four none indigenes of a state (Lagos State) as members of the Federal House of Representatives; and the above-average performance of the National Electoral Commission in ways that suggest considerable independence of the electoral umpire.  

Although news reports suggested a poor turnout for the second-tier of the 2015 elections into governorship and state parliamentary positions, the relative voter apathy did not becloud the overall plaudits that the current political process has earned locally and internationally. So, too, did the reports of violence leading to death in sections of the country and the localized electoral malpractices not detract from the respectable scorecard of the electoral commission.  

Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa

By Banji Ojewale

We are prepared to fight to the last cup of blood…

The Ogoni people are determined: everyman, woman and child will die before Nigerians will steal their oil anymore

–  Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1945)

20 years ago on November10,1995, more than two years after he made this grim prediction, Ken Saro-Wiwa, renowned writer, TV producer, newspaper columnist and irrepressible minority and environment rights campaigner did indeed die. But not a natural death. He was executed along with eight others by a Nigerian state in the grip of military dictator Sani Abacha who felt he had run out of patience with the man that pummeled Nigeria for her tragic ecological record in the Niger Delta notably, Ogoni land.

Ken battled the reckless degradation of Ogoni as no one else did. For years before he was arrested and subjected to a kangaroo trial that ended with his execution, Saro-Wiwa stood on the tripod of intellectual discourse, writing and peaceful protests to lash out at the conspiracy of government and the oil companies that despoiled his people. He argued that this infernal bond between an “irresponsible” government and “indifferent” oil companies resulting in death-dealing blows on his kinsmen was unacceptable. Big money came from the frenetic oil exploration (exploitation). But Ogoni had nothing to show for being the bird that produced the golden eggs. Instead Ogoni had pain. Saro-Wiwa lamented that these arose from the fact that in a so-called federal set up the rights of the minority were appropriated by the state and added to the rights of the majority ethnic groups.

So quite early in his life, Saro-Wiwa decided to fight the system that encouraged this arrangement. He studied the writings of the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for whom he had a god-like reverence. Awo’s philosophy on how to handle the minority question-detailed in three of the major books he wrote between the 50s and 60s-warned against a contraption justifying or allowing for the economic and political suppression of the small groups by the ethnic ones. The system must accommodate the minorities as equal partners enjoying the same rights as the majors; they must have autonomy and be allowed control of their resources and their environment in the same way the majority was allowed. He predicted calamitous outcome if the minorities were not so permitted to be. The collapse of Yugoslavia and USSR proved Awolowo right.

Alleged Missing 105 Soldiers: Report Grossly Exaggerated – Nigerian Army

Press Release 

The attention of the Theatre Command Headquarters Maiduguri has been drawn to various releases on social media on the operation at Gudumbali , northern Borno State. Most of the publications are not only fictions but imagination of the writers that have no iota of knowledge on military operation. Unfortunately, this is coming at a time when the military has created several avenues for them to get first hand information on our activities.

In the quest to be on the same footing with each Nigerian, Media centre was established in the North East. Additional to this is the open door policy of the leadership style of our chief of Army Staff Lt Gen TY Buratai where he carries throughout his operational engagements media personalities. For the records Gulumba was captured by own troops on 10 November 2015 and our troops deployed to secure and weed off Boko Haram terrorists.

President Buhari Dupes The United States!

By Bruce Fein 

With the glitter of fool’s gold, Nigeria’s recently elected  President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in the United States in July uttering time-worn democracy vows to President Barack Obama and his administration. Among other things, he pledged at the United States Institute for Peace to combat graft with procedures that would be “fair, just, and scrupulously follow due process and the rule of law, as enshrined in our constitution.”

Skepticism is in order— a conclusion reinforced by the ongoing persecution of  former National Security Advisor Sambo Dasuki for alleged money laundering and illegal possession of firearms.

But first some background.

Mr. Buhari initially tasted power as a military dictator following a coup de tat in 1983. His dictatorship was earmarked by chilling human rights abuses. Take the word of Nigerian Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka.

Among other things … Mr. Buhari’s draconian edicts, exemplified by Decree 20 under which the judicial murders of Nigerian citizens Lawal Ojuolape, Bernard Ogedengbe, and Bartholomew Owoh were authorized. Mr. Obedengbe was executed for a crime that did not carry the death penalty at the time it was committed in violation of the universal revulsion of ex post facto laws…

Mr. Buhari turned the nation into a slave plantation, and forbade the slaves from any discussion of their enslavement—especially a return to democracy. He favored the north over the south, dividing rather than unifying Nigeria after the convulsions of the 1967-70 Biafran War. He lent support to the introduction of Sharia law in the North—a major source of strife and disharmony.

Mr. Buhari’s brutal military dictatorship was overthrown in 1985. Mr. Dasuki played a key role. Dictators do not forget. Fast forward to today.

After celebrating fairness, due process, and the rule of law last July to win the good will of the United States, Mr. Buhari returned to Nigeria to mock all three in a vendetta against the Dasuki, the immediate past National Security Adviser.

He placed Mr. Dasuki under house arrest. He confiscated his passport. He charged him with firearms and money laundering violations. He sought a secret trial to prevent independent scrutiny.

He opposed Mr. Dasuki’s pretrial application to the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja for permission to receive urgent medical treatment for cancer in London, but it was nonetheless granted.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola explained that an accused is presumed innocent before trial, and that a citizen’s health is paramount before the law. Mr. Buhari was ordered to release Mr. Dasuki’s international passport.

Mr. Buhari defied the order. He put Mr. Dasuki’s house under siege, a microcosm of the Bosnian Serb siege of Sarajevo. Mr. Dasuki returned to court. Justice Ademola reaffirmed his order, asserting “My own orders will not be flouted.”

 Click Here To Read The Whole Article 

Solving The Biafra Agitation Problem

By Hannatu Musawa

Bckground: For 16 years now, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has made its voice heard. Emeka Ojukwu was alive when MASSOB was formed but he never gave it support, nor have important political and traditional leaders of south-eastern Nigeria. MASSOB leader Ralph Uwazuruike has, several times, clarified that MASSOB is not a violent group and will not engage in armed struggle. The group has relied on some provisions in the United Nations Charter, especially those relating to people’s right to self-determination.  What has made MASSOB and its younger sibling IPOB (Indigenous Peoples of Biafra) popular both at home and abroad is the occasional crackdown on their members during peaceful protests.

*Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu being sworn 

in as the head of state of the Republic of 

Biafra in May 1967

Referendum?
If a referendum were held today, there is no doubt that over 70% of people in the five south-east states would vote YES for separation. A little over 50% in Rivers State would also vote YES. Between 40% and 50% might vote YES in other south-south states: Bayelsa, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Edo.

A similar result might be reproduced if the people of the south-west were to be subjected to a referendum to determine whether Oduduwa republic should come into being.

Therefore, the Federal Government should not agree to a referendum. Every section in Nigeria feels marginalised in Nigeria, apparently because the country is not practising true federalism. The state of the nation’s economy is also a contributor: Many have fallen on hard times and become frustrated.

Political Reform
Political reform is the way to go. The current 36-state structure is not working; it should be replaced by a six-region federal structure. The 2014 National Conference, therefore, needs to be re-examined. The government can go back to that conference and other previous conferences and provide a white paper. Barring any obstacle that may be constituted by the National Assembly, a new political structure should take effect from 2019, along with a new revenue allocation formula. There would not be loud cries over Biafra or Oduduwa or Boko Haram after a restructuring that would shift the country away from Unitarianism. Nigeria needs a weaker centre and stronger regions.

Tackling IPOB and MASSOB
Agitation for Biafra is heightened by the overzealousness of security agents. The agencies should be restrained from arresting people involved in the peaceful demonstration. On occasion, criminals attempt to hijack peaceful protests; anyone caught in acts of lawlessness could be arrested briefly and then prosecuted in court immediately. Similarly, operators of illegal radio stations like Nnamdi Kanu should be charged to court immediately. There have been at least three court decisions directing that Kanu should be released, but he is still held even after he has met his bail conditions. The government itself should abide by the rule of law.

Fighting Corruption With Double-Standards And Human Rights Abuses

By Femi Aribisala
In just six months, the government’s anti-corruption policy has gone off the rail.  During the election, candidate Buhari made this pledge: “Whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in, would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music.”

At the time, cynical observers insisted this was designed to reassure corrupt members of his APC party who were campaigning for him that he would not come after them after the election but would let sleeping dogs lie.

But once in office, the president dropped this pledge the same way he and his party have conveniently jettisoned a number of their campaign promises.  Speaking on his official trip to the United States, the president declared he would arrest and prosecute past ministers and other officials who stole Nigeria’s oil and diverted government money into personal accounts.

CNN iReport maintains Buhari’s new position to probe and prosecute his predecessors prompted tete-a-tete among former military rulers.   The outcome of this was the warning that it would not be in the president’s interest to pursue that line of action.  Prince Kassim Afegbua, Babangida’s media adviser, released a statement on behalf of his boss that reads:

“On General Buhari, it is not in IBB’s tradition to take up issues with his colleague former President. But for the purpose of record, we are conversant with General Buhari’s so-called holier-than-thou attitude. He is a one-time Minister of Petroleum and we have good records of his tenure as minister. Secondly, he also presided over the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, which records we also have.

“We challenge him to come out with clean hands in those two portfolios he headed. Or, we will help him to expose his records of performance during those periods. Those who live in glass houses do not throw stones. General Buhari should be properly guided.”

Immediately thereafter Femi Adesina, President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, hastened to declare that the government’s probes would be limited to the Jonathan administration.  He claimed it would be “a waste of time” to go beyond that.

This was the first curious exclusion in the government’s anti-corruption policy: former generals who became heads of state are untouchables.  As a result, the CNN maintained the American government concluded the Nigerian government is not serious about anti-corruption.  American businessmen who bribed Nigerian officials in the Halliburton scandal have been sent to jail in the United States.  However, the more culpable Nigerian politicians who demanded and received the bribes are allowed to go scot-free in Nigeria.