As part of the campaign of falsehood against former Minister of
Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by Edo Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and other
powerful and corrupt interests, another baseless story has been published by
some online media.
*Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
To achieve their
evil propaganda objective of tarnishing her name, these evil elements have
distorted the contents of a memo dated January 20, 2015 in which the former
Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala responded to a request by the
former National Security Adviser, Col Ibrahim Dasuki (retired), for funds to
prosecute the terror war against Boko Haram.
Here are the facts:
·The central responsibility of
the Minister of Finance IS to find sources of funding for the financing of
approved national priorities such as security, job creation and
infrastructure.
·It will be recalled that
throughout 2014, there were public complaints by the military hierarchy to
President Goodluck Jonathan about the inadequacy of funds to fight the
anti-terror war in the North East, resulting in Boko Haram making gains and
even taking territories. A lot of the criticism was directed at the
Federal Ministry of Finance under Dr Okonjo-Iweala which was accused of not
doing enough to find funds for the operations.
The Supreme Court
sitting in Abuja
on Thursday fixed February 26, 2016 for judgment in the appeal filed by the
General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Rev. Chukwuemeka Ezeugo,
a.k.a Reverend King challenging the judgment of a Lagos High Court sentencing
him to death by hanging. The apex court presided over by Justice Walter Onoghen
adjourned for judgment after entertaining arguments from counsel to prosecution
and defense in the matter.
Lagos State Attorney general and Commissioner for Justice,
Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, who appeared before the Supreme Court alongside Mrs. Idowu
Alakija, the Director of Public Prosecution and other Senior Counsel in
the State, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the judgment of the
lower courts.
Ezeugo was arraigned on September 26, 2006 on a six-count
charge of attempted murder and murder.
He pleaded not guilty to the allegation but was sentenced to
death by the then Justice Joseph Oyewole of Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, on
January 11, 2007 for the murder of one of his church members, Ann Uzoh.
Justice Oyewole is now a judge of Appeal Court sitting in the Calabar
division. The Lagos State
Government had said that the convict poured petrol on the deceased and five
other persons and that Uzoh died on August 2, 2006; 11 days after the act was
perpetrated on her.
I have
read, first with discomfort, and then with something akin to horror, the words
that have been attributed to my dear governor, Adams Oshiomhole. I call him “my
dear governor” for two reasons; first, I am indigene of the nation’s big heart;
and second, one of the ballot papers of the Edo
state 2012 gubernatorial election bears my thumbprint. However, I am beginning
to think that this may very well be the last time he will be labelled with such
an endearment, at least by me.
*Gov Oshiomole
As Labour leader, he was everyman’s hero; the voice of the
people, the light in darkness. His booming voice and pointed remarks directed
at those who were deemed oppressors were lauded because we believed that at the
heart of all the drama was a man who believed in one thing-the people. As
governor, we expected the transference of that passion into the governance of
the state; we expected that he would demonstrate leadership, honesty, and
respect for the people of his state; and with respectability too. We expected
also that as our number one man, he would do so with some finesse and at the
very least, a modicum of regard for the office and a huge dose of common sense.
Sadly, we expected too much as Oshiomhole is now carried away with being more
of a needless voice than functioning in the service of the people.
One of the stories out of last week’s massacre in Onitsha had to do with a
uniformed man who suddenly paced a few steps ahead of his cohorts, raised his
assault rifle, trained it on Nkiruka Anthonia Ikeanyionwu, a 21-year old
undergraduate, and pulled the trigger at pointblank range. Red-hot lead homed
into her chest. The impact flattened her.
*Nkiruka Anthonia Ikeanyionwu: Shot dead by
security agents during the pro-Biafra peaceful
protests in Onitsha
Blood spouted immediately, turning her light-blue dress
crimson. She died instantly. She was armed – with her cellphone! Her
scandalized comrades raised a concerted voice of protest but colleagues of the
cowardly shooter covered him with their outstretched arms and led him to their
backward formations. Some others reportedly shot dead in similar circumstances
were named as Chima Onoh (Enugu State), Kenneth Ogadinma (Abia State), Angus
Chikwado and Felicia Egwuatu (Anambra State).
There was one weapon wielded by almost every participant
or watcher of the demonstration that blockaded the NigerBridge.
That weapon was the mobile phone. This has heightened incredulity regarding
some other stories in circulation. Since every mobile phone has a camera and a
cine-camera, was it possible that major aspects of the Onitsha demonstration could have passed
unrecorded? How come that, of the thousands of photographs taken on the bloody
day, there was no single frame and no single clip that captured a single
demonstrator who was armed with a bludgeon, a machete, a gun, or an explosive
device? Some were armed with the Bible, singing Christian hymns. Some were
armed with the Biafran flag. Most were armed with mobile phones. Yet, their
members were rewarded with hails of gunfire!
A fabulous story claimed that the pro-Biafra agitators had
burnt down the Onitsha Central Mosque. How come that, to this day, not a single
photograph of the incinerated mosque is available for public viewing? Another
fantastic story claimed that the demonstrators torched branded Dangote
vehicles. Why, then, is it that not a single picture of a single one of the
burnt vehicles is on exhibition anywhere in the world? On the night of the
demonstrations, the Sabon Gari Market in Kano
went up in flames. Pictures abound of the burnt market; films exist of the
market burning. How come that, as concerns Onitsha, there is no pictorial evidence
of violent demonstrations, no pictorial evidence of the “burnt” mosque, and no
pictures of the “torched” Dangote vehicles?
I have been distressed beyond words by what has crystallized
as an agitation for Biafra’s divorce from Nigeria. I am disturbed that this
agitation has become another occasion for the Nigerian state to demonstrate its
disdain for the rule of law and the rights of citizens. I’m appalled by the
violence spawned by the actions of the agitators and the state’s reaction. The
immediate impetus for the violent turn is the continued detention of Nnamdi
Kanu, leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), indeed the rabble
rouser-in-chief of the neo-Biafran cause.
The
government ought to release Mr. Kanu immediately, both because that’s the
wisdom of the court and it’s the quickest way to defuse tension.
But Mr.
Kanu’s release will not, by itself, erase the frenzied propagation of Biafra, an idea that represents a nightmare to some, and
a fantasy to others. Sooner or later—sooner, one hopes, than later—Nigeria has to
confront the inescapable question of what it means to be called a Nigerian.
That
question (or the reluctance to engage it in any serious and sustained way) is
one reason Nigeria
has remained an alien and alienating idea, and susceptible to frequent acts of
rejection by its ostensible citizens. Periodically, those expressions of
everyday individual resentment and disaffection build into mass resistance.
It’s
important to put the agitation for Biafra in
the broader context of Nigerians’ longstanding disillusionment with their
country. For the avoidance of doubt, this is no new phenomenon. Nigeria’s two literary giants, Wole Soyinka and
the late Chinua Achebe, have wrestled with the confounding matter of Nigeria. A few
years ago, Nobel laureate Soyinka asserted at a series of talks he gave at HarvardUniversity
that there was no nation yet in the space called Nigeria. Years earlier, Achebe had
said to me in an interview that Nigeria
had not yet been founded.
Nothing
in the two writers’ claims amounted to a repudiation of Nigeria as
such. No, they were making what I’d call statements of fact. The fact that Nigeria had yet
to achieve a sense of national identity did not imply that such a prospect was
doomed. I’d say that the two writers were warning the rest of us about what
needed to be done in order to translate the abstract, ill-formed idea called Nigeria into a
concrete, organic, salutary and regenerative reality.
The
leadership and followership of Americans stood up when some Black Americans
were killed and asserted that Black Lives matter. It came from the pulpits of
both Catholic and Protestant churches, from mosques, from temples and from
political parties. GOP’s response was tame but it is on record. Not everybody
believed that the killers’ stand were wrong but all agreed that killing was not
the solution. As President Assad is killing his people, the world arose in
anger as they did when Saddam and Gadhafi did the same things. Initial
condemnation came from Syrians, Libyans, Iraqis.
How different is Nigeria’s.
Nobody in Nigeria is
speaking out as President Buhari is killing peaceful demonstrators at first in Port Harcourt and now in Onitsha. At PH two citizens were killed and
in Onitsha nine
others were killed by. In both cases PMB’s troops shot and killed unarmed
demonstrators bringing the total Buhari killings to eleven in five months of
his administration. Since the demonstrations have not stopped the civilian
killings by the “man of God” is bound to rise.
If a president killing his
people is bad what about the reactions of politicians, business leaders,
religious leaders, civil rights advocates, internet warriors, etc.? The
reaction is a deafening silence. Not a word from Iman’s, bishops, “men of God”;
nothing from the Senate or the House; nothing from Human Rights groups, Nothing
from governors, etc. Nothing but silence.
Less than a year ago, the militant group Boko Haram controlled an
area of northeastern Nigeria
the size of Belgium.
It was “a mortuary for the uncooperative and prison for the conquered,” as one
unlucky resident described it to me at the time, and it threatened to engulf
ever more of the country. The brutal Islamist insurgency had sapped the morale
and discipline of the Nigerian army and seemed poised to carve out a caliphate
that rivaled the one it had pledged loyalty to in Iraq
and Syria.
Fast-forward just 10 months and the idea of an Islamic caliphate
in northern Nigeria
seems a distant memory. Delusions of statehood caused Boko Haram’s leaders to
overreach, inviting a powerful regional military response and bolstering the
candidacy of former Nigerian military leader Muhammadu Buhari, who set about
crushing the Islamist insurgency after winning the presidency in March. A
regional military coalition led by Nigeria
has recaptured much of the territory Boko Haram once controlled and driven its
fighters into remote regions in Nigeria’s
northeastern corner.
But if Boko Haram has seen its territorial ambitions dashed in
recent months, it is hardly on the verge of defeat. In a way, Boko Haram has
come full circle, reverting back to the kind of asymmetrical warfare that was
once its grisly hallmark. As a result, the group poses as much of a danger to
civilians now as it did when it fought to control cities and towns. In the last
six months alone, Boko Haram has killed nearly 1,500 people.
What explains the rollercoaster ride of the last 10 months? Part
of the answer is hubris. Last month, a senior Nigerian military officer told me
that the publicity Boko Haram garnered from its 2014 kidnapping of more than
200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok emboldened the group’s leaders to be
more ambitious, resulting in costly mistakes. Instead of sticking to the
hit-and-run tactics that it had used to successfully torment the Nigerian
military for years, Boko Haram began to seize and hold territory, boldly declaring
an Islamic “caliphate” in the areas
it had conquered. This stretched the group’s resources too thin and forced it
into a conventional war with the Nigerian military that it could not win. Boko
Haram also shed its domestic focus, launching cross-border raids into
neighboring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, all of which eventually joined a
five-nation military coalition against it (along with Benin and Nigeria).
"It Makes More Sense ToRemove Subsidies And Redirect
Cash Into Investments That Go Directly To Those Who Need It Most"
By Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Globally, government support for
fossil-fuel subsidies will amount to almost$650bnthis year. The cost of these
subsidies far outweighs the benefits and burdens the middle classes. Reforming
the system can make energy infrastructure more efficient, shore up public
finances and allow more targeted spending on public services.
The idea is not a new one. In 2009, the G20 countries and the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum committed themselves to cutting
inefficient subsidies but progress has been limited. But in the context of the
decline in oil prices, which benefits consumers, we have a golden opportunity
to deliver reform.
About 30 countries, including my own, Nigeria, have already made efforts
to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies. In spite of the difficulties, it is well
worth the effort.
In 2012in Nigeriawe reformed petrol subsidies.
Conscious that the public might be concerned, we ran an information campaign to
explain how the savings would be used to help everyone. Political pressure,
however, led to the policy being introduced earlier than planned and,as a result, the changescame as a shock to many. This led to
protests and the reform had to be partially rolled back.
Despite this, we were right to act. Even phasing out half of
the subsidies was a substantial achievement. Some $13bn worth of petrol
subsidies,including many
fraudulent claims, had burdened the national budget, and we were
able to redirect some of those funds. Within a year, our programme to reinvest
the savings meant we could finish the renovation of a north-south national
railway, as well as introduce improved maternal and childcare services in 500
primary healthcare centres.
Using lessons learnt from Nigeria and other countries we can
put together a set of best practices to follow. These include co-coordinated
communication, implementation and redistribution efforts. Reform should also
create a broad sense of political ownership, especially in fiscally
decentralised countries.
One of the most common concerns about removing subsidies is that
it will hurt the poor. But in reality the subsidies benefit high-income
populations and industry much more than low-income households.
TheInternational
Monetary Fund has estimatedthat
more than 40 per cent of fuel price subsidies in developing countries accrue to
the richest 20 per cent of households, while 7 per cent of the benefits go to
the poorest 20 per cent.
It makes more sense to remove subsidies and redirect cash into
investments that go directly to those who need it most. That was the aim of Nigeria’s
programme and it is being tried elsewhere. In Germany
and Poland,
for example, coal subsidy reforms were supported by cash assistance for workers
affected by mine closures.
Ekiti State Governor, Mr.
Ayodele Fayose, has raised the alarm that Nigeria
under President Buhari was fast becoming a shame, describing the failed attempt
by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to manipulate the BayelsaState
governorship election as clear invitation to anarchy. The governor, who said it
was shameful that the two elections conducted by INEC under Buhari’s kinsman,
Prof Mahmood Yakubu were inconclusive, called on all well-meaning Nigerians and
the international community to rise up in condemnation of the APC government’s
plot to destroy democracy in the country.
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose who said everything under Buhari was becoming inconclusive, added that; “If in three days, INEC could not conduct credible election in BayelsaState of just eight local governments, one wonders what will happen during the general elections in 2019.
NO doubt, the dawn
of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency has changed the corruption surge in Nigeria, even
as anti-corruption laws and institutions are still very weak and lacking in both
capacity and will to curb the spate.
Corruption is
unarguably Nigeria’s
worst problem, every other problems including unemployment, sit on the trivet
of corruption and all we urgently need is a serious government that is
committed, beyond words, to the battle against the plague.
*Amaechi, Buhari and Fashola
President Muhammadu
Buhari’s promise to fight corruption during his campaigns and his
anti-corruption pedigree certainly gave him majority of the votes that shot him
to power as most Nigerians are eager to clear the global dent on our collective
image and he needs to ensure he goes beyond mere declarations by strengthening
all structures and institutions that can effectively wipe off corruption or at
least reduce it.
Since his emergence
as President, the only weapon that has been fighting corruption is simply his
name. His name has become anti-corruption law, agency and court. Individuals,
organisations and government agencies have adopted a culture of self-control;
some people who had diverted public funds to their private vaults have been
reported to have quietly returned the funds to government. Indeed, the Governor
of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai publicly said a former public officer, whom he
didn’t name, had contacted him to facilitate the return of money he stole while
in government during Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency.
The Peoples
Democratic Party, a party that ruled this country to economic ruins for sixteen
years but now in the opposition is swamped with hallucinating fright as most of
those being questioned for corruption are members of the party. The party
believed the anti-corruption battle is directed at its members. It would be
strange if majority of those being investigated or facing prosecution are
members of any other political party, anyway.
For the past four
weeks or thereabout, the nation had witnessed an unprecedented upsurge in the
massive non-violent demonstrations which has now reached a crescendo in the
agitation for the actualization of the sovereign state of Biafra
jointly led by MASSOB and the so-called Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The widespread
agitation throughout the South East region as well as some parts of the Igbo
speaking areas of the South-South region suddenly erupted in the wake of the
reported detention of the Director of the clandestine “Radio Biafra” based in
the United Kingdom, Nnamdi Kenu, who was reported to have been picked up by
security operatives on his arrival from London recently.
The MASSOB led by the
irrepressible Chief Ralph Uwazuruike had for many years been in the vanguard
for the actualization of the defunct Republic
of Biafra through non-violent
means. The Biafran Army was defeated by the Nigerian Armed Forces after thirty
months of devastating civil war with the famous slogan of “No victor and no
vanquished” as was declared by the erstwhile Nigerian Head of State, General
Yakubu Gowon (rtd) in January 1970.
Regrettably however,
almost forty six years after the disastrous conflict, all the contentious
issues that originally led to the unfortunate war had remained unresolved,
hence the current wave of agitations spearheaded mainly by the restive youths
who invariably had inherited the seeming lopsidedness of the nation’s political
structure as well as gross marginalization being suffered by the people within
the geographical entity known as the defunct Republic of Biafra or South-East
region of Nigeria to be precise.
The Nigerian nation
seemed to have lost the golden opportunity to put the dark period of the civil
war and its horrifying memories permanently behind her hence the nation had
failed to take advantage of the famous declaration of “No victor and no
vanquished” slogan to build a new nation through the adoption of a deliberate
policy of genuine reconciliation and re-integration of the Igbo nation into the
mainstream of the nation’s political system of governance.
Every December 1 is a day set aside to mark the World AIDS Day. It
is a day which avails people an opportunity worldwide to unite in the fight
against HIV/AIDS, show their support for people living with HIV and to
commemorate people who have died as a result of AIDS. It is a day dedicated to
raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.
Government and health officials, non-governmental organisations and individuals
around the world observe the day, often with education on AIDS prevention and
control.
(Pix:wishestrumptet)
Globally there are an estimated 34 million people who have the virus.
Despite the fact that the virus was only being identified in 1984, more than 35
million people have died of it, making it one of the most destructive pandemics
in history. However, today, breakthrough scientific advances have been made in
HIV treatment. Also, now, there are laws that protect people living with HIV
and we have come to understand so much more about the condition.
Nigeria has the second-largest
number of people living with HIV worldwide. The HIV epidemic in Nigeria is
complex and varies widely by region. In some states, the epidemic is more
concentrated and driven by high-risk behaviours, while other states have more
generalised epidemics that are sustained primarily by multiple unconventional
interactions in the general population. Youth and young adults in Nigeria are
particularly vulnerable to HIV, with young women at higher risk than young men.
There are many risk factors that contribute to the spread of HIV in our
society, including high-risk practices among itinerant workers, high prevalence
of STD’s, clandestine practices, international trafficking of women, and
irregular blood screening.
By Joe
Onwukeme
I was moved to tears as I watched raped victims and their families stood in the
House of Representatives on Thursday, 23rd October 2014 to narrate their
agonizing experience in the hands of rapists.
The victims, mostly young girls, pleaded for
justice to be done on their plight and also called on government through the
female lawmakers and their counterparts to expedite action and pass Sexual
Offences Bill that is currently pending in both the lower and upper chambers
with a view of sparing them the trauma they are going through.
Last week, some of the principal suspects implicated in the probe of the $2.1 billion and N643 billion arms gate were nabbed by the Economic and Financial Commission. Pursuant to the ex parte orders validly issued by the courts the suspects have since been detained for the purpose of investigation. But in a desperate move designed to divert the attention of the Nigerian people and the international community from the grave allegations of reckless and criminal diversion of the public funds earmarked for arms procurement to prosecute the war on terror, some reactionary politicians have accused the Buhari administration of engaging in impunity for detaining the suspects beyond 48 hours without trial. In challenging the detention of the suspects by the EFCC a senior lawyer was alleged to have said that "a magistrate court has no power to issue a holding charge warrant".
With respect, the detention of the suspects is in strict compliance with the rule of law. The attention of the "critics" ought to be drawn to sections 293-299 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA) which stipulate that a suspect arrested for an offense which a magistrate has no jurisdiction to try, shall within a reasonable time, be brought before a magistrate court for remand. The order which shall be for a period not exceeding 14 days may be further extended provided that if the investigation is not concluded within 28 days the court may summon the appropriate authority to show cause why the suspect should not be unconditionally released. Suspects who are remanded in custody are at liberty to ask for bail or apply to the appropriate high court to secure the enforcement of their fundamental right to personal liberty. In view of the clear and unambiguous provisions of the law it is misleading to insist that a magistrate court lacks the power to grant the application filed by the EFCC for the detention of the criminal suspects.
” What had started as a belief was transmuted to total conviction;
that they could never again live with Nigerians. From this stems the primordial
political reality of the present situation. Biafra
cannot be killed by anything short of total eradication of the people that make
her. For even under total occupation Biafra
would sooner or without colonel Ojukwu rise up again”
– Frederick Forsyth
Let me start by disagreeing with Forsyth that apart from total
eradication of Biafran people that Biafran spirit cannot be killed. The problem
here is with the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and what
Achebe described as the ‘Igbo problem.’
The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria did not only incorporates the colonial mistakes of 1900s which made the
Northern Nigeria a force to be reckoned with in the country’s politics
but it created also a leviathan out of the federal government to such a
nauseating level that the component units are seen as dependents and not
co-ordinates.
Many people have asked: what do Igbo people want? The answer is
very simple! We want political inclusion, we want a society where fair play,
justice and equity, rule of law and meritocracy reign – that’s just what Ndi
Igbo want!
The resurgence in the agitation for Biafra
lies on fact that the Igbo – 48 years after civil war – are yet to find their
bearings in the Nigerian federalism. We are yet to distinguish between the
dictionary and the political conception of the maxim: No Victor No Vanquished.
Let us not forget Ojukwu’s question: What
did he [Gowon] do to make the victor not being the victor and the vanquished
not being the vanquished?
‘Steer Clear Of Bayelsa
Governorship Election’, PDP Tells Buhari
The
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) forewarns President Muhammadu Buhari to steer
clear of Bayelsa governorship election and allow the will of the people toprevail, if he really desires to
sustain the nation’s democracy.
PDP
National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Sunday said
intelligence information reaching the party shows that President Buhari is
neck-deep in APC’s desperation to forcefully take over Bayelsa state, for which
he has directed a covert military and other security operations to assist the
APC to rig the election, which has already been won by the PDP.
“At
the head of this illegal military operation is one Capt. Louis, who led the
hijacking of elections in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, the largest in
the state. Military personnel have seized ballot materials including result
sheets in Igbematiru, Peremabiri, ward 3, ward 6, ward 8, ward 12, ward 13 and
ward 15, which they took to Ologbobiri in military gunboats, where massive
thumb-printing is going on in favour of the APC. In Ward 7 Ekowe, the military
hijacked and destroyed voting materials.
Investigating Nigeria's notorious baby farms and the criminals who abuse and exploit women for profit [Watch a heart-rending documentary].
"It is understandable why a desperate childless couple might do anything to have a baby, but those who exploit their unhappiness for profit are not so easy to forgive.
In this deeply disturbing episode of Africa Investigates, Ghana's undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and investigative reporter Rosemary Nwaebuni team up to identify and expose some of those those behind Nigeria's heart-breaking baby trade.
It is a scam that exploits couples desperate for a baby and young pregnant single mothers - often stigmatised in a country where abortion is illegal except in the most dire medical emergency. It is also a trade that international NGOs have identified as sinister and out of control."
“…Today we have again come face to face with
a destructive and barbarous ideology, and we must not allow
these modern-day dark forces to attain their goals.
“We must stop our debates and forget our differences
to build a common anti-terrorist front that will act in line
with international law and under the UN aegis.
“Every civilised country must contribute
to the fight against terrorism, reaffirming their solidarity, not
in word but in deed.
“This means that the terrorists must not be given
refuge anywhere. There must be no double standards. No contacts with terrorist
organisations. No attempts to use them for self-seeking goals. No
criminal business with terrorists.
“We know who are stuffing pockets in Turkey and letting terrorists prosper from
the sale of oil they stole in Syria. The terrorists are
using these receipts to recruit mercenaries, buy weapons and plan
inhuman terrorist attacks against Russian citizens and against people
in France, Lebanon, Mali and other states. We
remember that the militants who operated in the North Caucasus
in the 1990s and 2000s found refuge and received moral
and material assistance in Turkey. We still find them there.
“Meanwhile, the Turkish people are kind, hardworking
and talented. We have many good and reliable friends in Turkey. Allow
me to emphasise that they should know that we do not equate them with
the certain part of the current ruling establishment that is directly
responsible for the deaths of our servicemen in Syria.
“We will never forget their collusion with terrorists. We
have always deemed betrayal the worst and most shameful thing
to do, and that will never change. I would like them
to remember this – those in Turkey who shot our pilots
in the back, those hypocrites who tried to justify their actions
and cover up for terrorists.
“I don’t even understand why they did it. Any issues
they might have had, any problems, any disagreements even those we knew nothing
about could have been settled in a different way. Plus, we were ready
to cooperate with Turkey
on all the most sensitive issues it had; we were willing to go
further, where its allies refused to go. Allah only knows, I suppose,
why they did it. And probably, Allah has decided to punish
the ruling clique in Turkey
by taking their mind and reason.
“But, if they expected a nervous or hysterical
reaction from us, if they wanted to see us become a danger
to ourselves as much as to the world, they won’t get
it. They won’t get any response meant for show or even
for immediate political gain. They won’t get it.
“Our actions will always be guided primarily
by responsibility – to ourselves, to our country,
to our people. We are not going to rattle the sabre. But,
if someone thinks they can commit a heinous war crime, kill our people
and get away with it, suffering nothing but a ban on tomato
imports, or a few restrictions in construction or other
industries, they’re delusional. We’ll remind them of what they did, more
than once. They’ll regret it. We know what to do.
“We have mobilised our Armed Forces, security services
and law enforcement agencies to repel the terrorist threat.
Everyone must be aware of their responsibility, including
the authorities, political parties, civil society organisations
and the media...”
–Russian
President VladimirPutin in his State of the
Union address on Thursday, December 3, 2015
A few
days after the 1999 Presidential Election, then Comrade Adams Oshiomhole led a
delegation of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to Ota, OgunState
to congratulate the winner of that election. While hosting the NLC team then
President-Elect, General Olusegun Obasanjo, still smarting from his wholesale
rejection in the South West, swore to destroy the Alliance for Democracy (AD) “in the national
interest”.
*Buhari and Obasanjo
He argued that with the kind of hold that the AD had on the South West it could only remain a regional party and that as long as the South West remained loyal to it the Yoruba would not be able to play at the national stage. Then National Secretary General of AD was procured by Obasanjo to foment a crisis, which he executed, but unfortunately he trusted Obasanjo to reward him handsomely and neglected to negotiate properly. What he got was a directorship in an obscure federal agency.
Shortly
after Obasanjo leaked his infamous December 2013 letter to President Goodluck
Jonathan to the press the leadership of the then newly registered All
Progressive Congress went to Abeokuta
to pay homage to the ex-president and invited him to help guide their new party
to success. Obviously basking in the recognition that had been accorded him
Obasanjo promised to help. He subsequently kept haranguing President Jonathan
until the immediate past president was defeated at the polls.
2015 General Elections
Apart
from President Jonathan’s principal shortcoming, which was neglecting the
communities that supported him to victory in 2011 and instead heavily
patronizing the ones that did not support him in the hope that he could turn
them, the 2015 Presidential Election was won by rumours. What? While preparing
to make a bid for the presidency a record fourth time General Muhammadu Buhari
tasked an associate of his, Prof. Femi Olufunmilade, Head of Department of
International Relations and Strategic Studies and Sub Dean of the School of
Post Graduate Studies and Research at the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo
State, to avail him of a strategy with which to defeat the incumbent president.
Olufunmilade accomplished the task and submitted a report which indicated that
the only way incumbents have been unseated in Africa
was through widespread disaffection with the government of the day.
