President Zuma And Nigeria’s Endgame

Presidents Zuma and Buhari (pix:ThisDay)

By Paul Onomuakpokpo  

 What clearly is more tragic than the excesses of the leaders our nation is saddled with is the ease with which the citizens rationalise them. We do not take umbrage at the fact that our leaders who are supposed to deploy our resources to improve our lot have unconscionably appropriated them for themselves and their families. But occasionally, we are rebuked by fellow African countries. We are reminded that we do not need to go outside the black continent to get models of good leadership and citizenry. We do not need to go outside Africa to understand that it is possible for a nation to have stable electricity.

In most cases, these are nations that are not as big as Nigeria. For instance, Ghana has stable electricity, resulting in some industries relocating there from Nigeria. Yet, it is Nigeria that supplies Ghana gas for its electricity. We do not need to go outside Africa to understand that university students can have uninterrupted academic calendars. This is why Nigerians prefer to send their children to Benin Republic for their education.

Perhaps, we have become used to these aberrations. And that is why there should be fresh cases to remind us of our crisis of leadership. It is in this regard that we consider as cheery recent developments in South Africa. Nigeria was at the vanguard of the campaign to break the stranglehold of the apartheid regime that dehumanised black South Africans. Yet, in less than two and half decades after the blacks assumed the leadership of their country, they are now in a position to show Nigerian citizens and their leaders how to behave. This is why while Nigeria continues to provoke the contempt of the rest of the world due to the failure of its leadership, South Africans are telling Nigerians how to hold their leaders to account. South Africans are bristling with rage at President Jacob Zuma’s spending of some of the nation’s funds on the upgrade of his private Nkandla home. A court ruling has indicted Zuma and ordered him to make the refund and he has apologised to the nation.

Of course, Zuma behaved like a typical African politician. Instead of being bothered about how to improve the lot of South Africans, especially the blacks who are still wallowing in poverty after apartheid, his worry was how to upgrade his home. He is like Nigerian political leaders who neglect the citizens and rather deploy their state resources for their selfish ends. But it is a good development that Zuma has apologised. More importantly, it was the citizens who brought the conviction and made him to apologise. The challenge here for Nigerians is that if their leaders spend their time and the state resources on what negates the common good, it is the citizens who allow this as they often demonstrate a lack of capacity to check the excesses of their leaders.

The Miracle Kachikwu Promised

Dr. Kachikwu should stop speaking for the Petroleum Minister. He is after all only the Minister of State, and that is because of somebody’s cocksureness that he can do the job better than the professionals. Now, everyone would be saying that the miracle Dr. Kachikwu promised has turned out a mirage – the fuel queues simply refused to disappear in Abuja and Lagos on Thursday as he declared! At least, I am very sure that it didn’t disappear in Lagos! He would be receiving all the blows while the man who appointed himself Petroleum Minister is sitting still in his house, unperturbed, and probably, sipping well-chilled kunu, thinking of his next trip to one other better-managed country, far removed from the problems he troubled us for sixteen years to allow him to solve for us.

*Buhari: President and Petroleum Minister 

The fuel queues I saw today in Lagos were terrible. At Oregun Road in Ikeja, the long queue created traffic problems. Consequently, there were hold-ups where none should have existed. Perhaps, to underline the fact there was no miracle, the NNPC filling station at Oregun Road had no fuel to sell. The one at Omole, as you approach Ojodu, further compounded the traffic situation in the area with the very long queue it also created. I was unable to confirm if it even had any fuel to sell, or that the motorists were waiting with the hope that it might start selling, as was the case at several other filling stations. Because these fuel-thirsty cars occupied great parts of the roads, it was difficult sometimes for big vehicles to pass, thereby holding every other motorist to ransom.

At Ikorodu Road, the story was the same or even worse. People even queued at fillings stations that were not selling anything, even water, probably in the hope that the promised miracle might happen. As you move further down to Western Avenue, the filling station at Alaka made its own very generous contribution to the people’s woes. The queue stretched as far as Shita Busstop on the way to Masha in Surulere. 

*Dr. Kachikwu 

One can go on and on, but, it was heart-shattering watching fellow Nigerians under the very angry and oppressive sun waiting for fuel they may never get. Some of the vehicles had no drivers in them. Did they abandon their cars there because they had no fuel to drive them away after waiting for hours and even days for fuel that had refused to come? Maybe, it is rather too early by nearly 5pm to make conclusions? God help Nigeria…  

Pres. Buhari Should Resign Honourably As Petroleum Minister And Apologise To Nigerians

By Marxist Kola Edokpayi

Harold Laski in his Grammar of Politics stated “Every state is known by the rights it maintains. We judge the state according to the happiness of men". What is happening presently in my motherland (Nigeria), where Nigerians are living on the bank of the Rivers, use(ing) their urine to wash their hands is very melancholic, lugubrious and lacrimo.

*Buhari 

Nigeria is one of the biggest oil producing country in the world but has no fuel, it beats rational imagination that a litre of fuel is sold between 250 naira and 300 naira even at that, citizens who blindly voted for "chain the so-called change" cannot get the products to buy to power their cars or generating sets, Nigeria is in the heartbeat of darkness in the world. What a glory that has departed from Buhari led administration.

It is now very obvious that Buhari and All Progressives Congress (APC) were not fully prepared ab initio for the task associated with governance. Their major interests was only to obliterate and eliminate Jonathan and PDP from power without any clear cut agenda, ideology or blueprint to place the country back to the right track, economically and otherwise where the hoi polloi Nigerians can live a decent life and no longer sleep under the bridge. A government that cannot address the welfare of the people has no locus standi to continue its stay in office, as the welfare of the people is the supreme law of the land ( salus populi est suprema lex).

It is on record that President Muhamadu Buhari took oath of office on May 29th, 2015 with the hope and aspirations that the economic woes and incubus of the country would be addressed pragmatically, au grand serieux putting into perspective the change mantra they sold to the people during their electioneering campaign. What we are seeing today is antithetical unprecedented hardship on the masses.

The poverty of the rag tag and bobtails has increased shortly in a geometric progression, as the already exacerbated problems of the poor have further been exacerbated by the government who promised to make Nigeria heaven on earth for them. it is sardonic and painful to note with pessimism and cynicism that some youths who are very hungry break into peoples' houses during the day to steal pot of soup and garri to resolve their rebellion of the stomach or if you like the middle belt crisis. A country where the plebeians have no access to food is a debacle and fiasco. Even poor countries like Togo and others; people buy food stuff at a very cheaper rate compared to what is obtainable in the so called Giant of Africa where live.

There is presently mass exodus of our amiable youths, moving from Nigeria to neighboring African countries en route Italy by land. They prefer to die during the cause of their peregrination in Libya than to live in squalor and penury in this hell on earth called Nigeria, where things are falling apart and the center could no longer hold.

Fulani Herdsmen: Terrorists For Or Land-Grabbers

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The FULANI ethnic nationality is a unique brand of people in the sense that they are perpetually nomadic.

The nomadic nature of these people has made it impossible to precisely pin them down to any specific geo-political locale but for purposes of intellectual debate, the Fulani are Northerners of Northern Nigeria.

Fulani also share similarities with other nomadic populations in some neighboring sub-regional political entities in West Africa.

Lately, the Fulani have attracted a rash of commentaries around the issues of banditry, terrorism and the violence some of them have continuously unleashed on host communities whilst they are engaged in their cattle rearing activities.

There have been reported incidences of vandalism of farms and the killings of farmers caused by these Fulani herdsmen just as their dastardly criminal acts of blood cuddling attacks of farming communities have assumed frightening dimensions since one year ago when MAJOR GENERAL (RTD) MUHAMMADU BUHARI of the ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS was inaugurated as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Sadly, the current government has through its ineptitude and conspirational silence attracted suspicions from across Nigeria who have drawn a conclusion that the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration tacitly endorsed these murderous campaigns of the Fulani herdsmen who are kinsmen of Mr President.

In the last count, the Fulani herdsmen have been pointed at as those who have engaged in the high profile kidnap of notable politicians, military officers and clerics just as the two prominent incidents involved the kidnap of an Enugu State based catholic priest, REV. FR. ANIAKOCELESTINE and the erstwhile secretary to the government of the Federation, CHIEF OLU FALAE.

Between Abia/Enugu axis, Fulani herdsmen have also unleashed considerable violence and some biased military commanders recently deployed armed operatives to invade AWGU community in Enugu State whereby 76 Igbo youth were arrested arbitrarily and dumped in UMUAHIA prison only because they resisted attempt to take over their ancestral farm lands by the Fulani herdsmen. The military operatives were deployed from the Enugu based Division of the Nigerian Army.

The extensive reach of the destructions unleashed by the Fulani herdsmen is unbelievably apocalyptic spanning all the six geopolitical entity of Nigeria.
In this piece therefore, we are inspired to ask the pertinent question of what the Fulani people have become between being described as terrorists as most other Nigerians have done or land grabbers.

Why Governor Ayo Fayose Must Hang

By Chuks Iloegbunam

Peter Ayodele Fayose. Two-time Governor of Ekiti State. There’s cer­tainly something to say for this man. Without question he is, for good or for ill, the most talked about State Governor in Nigeria today. He is one of the most controversial, if not the most controversial. Those who believe in him, who swear by his name, would readily die for him, would give whatever it would take for their man to retain his gubernatorial seat, will strike in­numerable blows to thwart his traducers. Others who hold Fay­ose to be beneath contempt, who proclaim that disdain expended on his account amounts to vital energy exercised in obedience to barrenness, people who abhor all that the man stands for, and who sand eternally against his regular ventilation of contrary opinion, would yearn for a cudgel – and a chance to bring the deadly weapon hard down on his head, to shatter his cranium, to finish off everything for the first-and-final time. 

*Gov Fayose 

Yet, there is something to say for Ayodele Fayose. If the coun­try ever had an autonomous Governor, the accolade belongs to this occupant of the Ekiti Governor’s Lodge. Leftwing ideologue Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, tried his hands at autonomy as Governor of the old Kaduna State during the Sec­ond Republic. He waged a deter­mined war against the behemoth known otherwise as feudalism. He got impeached in less than two years. Even though the exer­cise that moved him from office was unwarranted, unjustified and shameful, the Federal Gov­ernment then run by the Nation­al Party of Nigeria (NPN) sanc­tioned it. He went. Balarabe may have had a chance to bounce back to the governorship seat but a second, protracted military in­terregnum killed and buried the possibility. He still lives though – with his integrity intact – while very little is today heard of those who abused democracy to get a blameless leader off the princi­pled path.

Fayose is empathetic to Bal­arabe’s experience. On October 16, 2006, he suffered a similar fate when into the third of his four-year tenure as Governor of Ekiti State. He was impeached, not necessarily because he was a wolf among the sheep, but large­ly because the top leadership of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), found him expendable. But age was on his side. Only a month shy of his 46 birthday when he was im­peached, he bided his time. He switched parties. He contested other elections. He ultimately returned to the PDP. Then he strode back to Government House, Ado-Ekiti! 

Hailers And Wailers: When Gullibility And Impunity Set To Derail Nigeria

By Israel A. Ebije
The present socio-political climate in Nigeria is replete with intense polarity, bordering on religion and ethnic underpinnings. No one is querying political affiliations or preference. Problem however is the extent of impunity and gullibility among Nigerians in passing judgment and or taking position of an advocate on issues or policies of national import.

President Buhari and Femi Adesina 

The 2015 election failed to do Nigeria under as expected but it has sorely affected our ethno-religious tolerance. It has further the exit of brotherhood, damaged the concept of collective aspiration, and emulsified the idea of peace and love among Nigerians. The political balkanization, constant victimizations and unyielding forces of hate have continued to erode the feeling of one Nigeria.

I cannot exhaust on the need for Nigerians to eschew bitterness and hate campaign along ethno-religious divides. The malignant ailment along cleavages ravages the nation like cancerous cell. Therefore, taking up camp for or against a person or an institution only distracts the present administration. It is indeed instructive to intimate that once we stop all the noise, embark on constructive critical opinion, Buhari led administration will gain speed.

Therefore, those who have pitched tents for President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) have only showed how myopic they are in the affairs of growing a nation. These people create their own illusionary world where only their infantile underpinnings are of material worth for baseless arguments.

How can we grow a viable Nigeria when we have a fertile political ground to exhibit our hatred against each other? It has become crystal clear we cannot see anything good at the other side of the fence. We must avoid segregating Nigeria along “Buhari and Jonathan race”. The implication will definitely be grave. It will diminish the humanity in us, escalate hate and destroy our nationhood.

The divide is always between those for Jonathan and those for Buhari. Suddenly, nobody is on the side of Nigeria. The two struggling divides quickly forget that no region can politically govern the others without collaboration. Buhari became president functions effort of Christians and Muslims. Buhari's success or failure will therefore affect everybody regardless of cleavage.

Addressing issues of bad policy within the present “change helpers” has nothing to do with Buhari. Our problem as a country is sycophancy, gullibility and sentiments geared towards hate. Almost a year after the Buhari led administration took off, power generation hugged the floor at 0.00 megawatts, fuel scarcity at its abysmal peak. With the inherited dwindling fortunes of the crude, horrible exchange rate of between the Dollar and the Naira, Nigerians are faced with the worst economic situation in recent time.

Our Fulani And Herdsmen Of Mayhem

By Ifeanyi Izeze

How can we live peaceably together as a people by continuously telling ourselves lies? Abi, it has now become our lifestyle in this country to always rationalize obvious aberrations. For how long can we as a people afford to continue like this?

The increasing sophistication and clinical coordination of the group of mindless attackers we call "Fulani herdsmen" or "cattle rearers" that have meted chained terror to our people in different parts of the country is mind-boggling and embarrassing. To think that what is happening in the North-Central and now in virtually every other part of the country is a mere conflict for grazing rights would only amount to naivety at best, because it is now without a doubt that an evil wind is blowing and no section of the country is spared.

The question to ask is: why is it that these so-called “Fulani herdsmen” always take our security operatives off-guard? They always finish their dastardly acts before the arrival of our counter-terrorism security forces. Haba! And instead of sitting together to marshal out a coordinated approach to address this challenge, managers of our security apparatuses give us the impression that some of them may be privy to these conspiracies against our people.

How do you explain the recent incident in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, where Fulani herdsmen, backed by mercenary fighters (as already confirmed), invaded several communities, killing more than 500 natives because they were cautioned to stop taking their cows into people’s farms?

Surprisingly, since the revelation that what we have been calling our cattle rearers were actually well-trained mercenaries in the act of causing mayhem, the government has not instituted any serious mechanism to unravel the real identity of these contract fighters.

Femi Adesina’s Insufferable Vulgarity

*Femi Adesina

 Open Letter To Femi Adesina: Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity 

By Ogundana Michael Rotimi

Dear Mr. Femi Adesina,

I bring to you this passage from the Holy Bible: “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls- 1 Corinthians 10:12”. That is my message for you today. Meanwhile, I will try as much as I can, to keep it brief but concise, lest you call me a wailing wailer.

Sir, may I remind you that your appointment into your present position came on the 31^st May 2015, and you assumed office on the 9^th June, 2105. On the 1^st July, 2015, barely a month after your assumption of office in the President Buhari’s led administration as the special adviser on media & publicity to the president, you coined the phrase— “wailing wailers”.

Sir, if you remember vividly, that tweet and the phrase— wailing wailers, was not without condemnations from all well meaning Nigerians including myself who feel every Nigerian include those that wanted the last administration to retain power for another four years deserves the right to challenge, criticize and condemn any action or inaction of the present administration.

Government owes it to the people to explain politely to them whatsoever calls for an explanation. It is called transparency and accountability; I know that isn’t difficult for anybody grown enough to be a special assistant to the president to comprehend.

We may actually live in a society where politicians are only seen to be humble and assessable during the electioneering period and immediately after the elections are over, they return to their real self and become invisible. Eating up every word they’ve said and denying every promise they have made. But even at that, it doesn’t still justify why their spokesperson like you, should go the line of insulting those that voted their boss in power.

Few weeks ago on a live television show— Sunday Politics with Mr. Seun Okinbaloye, you called out Nigerians to go and hold vandals responsible for the blackout that has befallen the country for a while now. In your words: “If some Nigerians are crying over power outage, they should hold those people who vandalized the installations responsible”. Sir, that statement was ridiculous and insensitive, least expected from a spokesperson to the “President of Change”.

Nigeria On The Famished Road

By Paul Odili

Apologies to Dr. Ben Okri for stealing the title of his 1991 explosive book, The Famished Road, his Booker prize winning literary work. Dr. Okri’s lush style and distinctive narration of spirit world and realism is imitable. A major sub-theme of The Famished Road is the struggle in politics between the “party of the rich and the party of the poor” in post-colonial Nigeria with its corruption, poverty and squalor.

 In mirroring Nigeria’s reality, the part(ies) of the rich prospers at the expense of the party of the poor. This article is not about expounding on The Famished Road. Rather this article is derived from a one page excerpt; sadly, of what must have been a much longer article written by Dr. Chinweizu. Which I think has a curious connection to Okri’s sub-theme of elitism, corruption and poverty. I stumbled upon Dr. Chinweizu’s article purely by chance. I regret I am unable to find the full copy of the work and having no contact with Dr. Chinweizu, I just could not wave it aside, finding the thoughts he has penned down here so engaging I felt compelled to reproduce his points copiously.

Chinweizu author and public intellectual was theorising on Nigeria elite in a deep and insightful way, and because of its aptness deserves a generous treatment (incomplete as it is). He says: “Development and prosperity are by-products of the project to build national power prestige, either out of fear of bigger powers or out of competition with rival powers. The quest for national power and prestige is the ultimate source of political will to do whatever economic development call for. It is the project of national power, not abstract moral precepts, not consumerist appetite, that best imposes on a people the discipline, accountability, probity, and appropriate systems of sanctions and rewards that form the core values of a viable society.”

Dr. Chinweizu further states, “ If Nigeria were frightened or humiliated, or otherwise stimulated, into a quest for national power and prestige, then Nigeria would find the political will to implement those excellent policies which the experts have devised, not only for health, but also for education, economic development, etc. If you doubt this statement, just reflect on what has happened to Nigerian football since we began to consciously seek prestige on the football field.”

Nigeria: They Who Must Rule

By Dan Amor

Nigeria has been reduced to a killing field no thanks to Fulani ag­gressors who think that the entire geographical entity called Nigeria is an extension of the Caliphate built by their great warrior, Uthman Dan Fodio dur­ing the Jihad war ostensibly to Is­lamise Nigeria. It is this madness borne out of sheer ignorance and vainglorious arrogance that Nige­ria is their land that makes them invade farmlands belonging to other Nigerians to kill and maim people with impunity just for their cattle to graze on other peo­ple’s crops. 

The horrendous kill­ing of innocent Nigerians across the country by recalcitrant Fulani herdsmen who now bear lethal arms such as AK 47, Pump Action and other dangerous weapons, is outrageous and condemnable, to say the least. Indeed, the manner in which the herdsmen are kill­ing people and raping women and girls on their farms these days is benumbing and wholly unwhole­some. What started like a straw of fire in Ohoror in Afeitere Com­munity in Ugheli North Council of Delta State in 2006 has spread all over the country with the Fed­eral Government keeping mum as though nothing is happening. In 2014, the convoy of the then sit­ting governor of Benue State, Hon. Gabriel Suswam was waylaid by rampaging Fulani herdsmen with the diabolic intention of killing the governor.

The wanton and reckless killing of Tiv farmers by Fulani herdsmen is ongoing. In Jos North local government area of Plateau State, the Fulani whose plot is to exterminate the entire Berom tribe who are the true owners of the land are no longer preten­tious over their wicked intention. Ripples of the Agatu massacre in which a peaceful community in Benue State was recently invaded by Fulani irredentists with untold magnitude of deaths involving both adults and children are yet to settle down. In the midst of all this, the same Fulani herdsmen are still battling with Awgu farmers in Enugu State over which 76 farmers are detained in Umuahia. What re­ally do the Fulani want in Nigeria? Do they want another civil war?

And Nigerians are yet to hear this government of change con­demn with vehemence this degree of anomie which has entombed the Nigerian landscape like a vol­canic eruption. The Fulani mas­sacre is not just another disturbing specter of violence orchestrated to dent the contours of the nation, but part of the general air of inse­curity and vendetta ravaging this misbegotten country. Since for­mer President Goodluck Jonathan was declared winner of the April 2011 Presidential election, those who think they possess the divine right to rule Nigeria in perpetu­ity started a campaign of violence and vowed to make the country ungovernable for Jonathan. This is the genesis of the nebulous and senseless Boko Haram insurgency in the country. As we write, there are pockets of killings going on in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Kwara anchored by these same Fulani elements. As though Nige­ria is prosecuting a conventional war, Boko Haram whose cardinal mission is to halt the advancement of Western education in Nigeria and Islamise the entire country has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced over two million Nigerians in the North east.

Unholy Siege In Rivers State

By Dickson Okonta  

The story of the March 19 re-run elections in Rivers State is that of perilous siege. It is the story of a state being held hostage by forces of darkness whose main intent is to unleash a reign of terror on the environment. A major accomplice in this unholy siege is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Under the headship of Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, it has become an object of unedifying banters; hardly living up to its billing. It has never conducted any election that can, strictly, speaking, pass the test of substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

President Buhari and Rotimi Amaechi 

In Kogi and Bayelsa states, for instance, the commission gave us a travesty of an election. Both could not be concluded in one ballot. They were, as has become customary, declared inconclusive. The Kogi scenario will, for a long time to come, pass for one of the sore points of our national struggle to join the league of democratic nations. In Bayelsa State, the elections were almost marred by violent conducts. INEC displayed lack of capacity. But the Kogi and Bayelsa scenarios pale into insignificance when the case of Rivers state is introduced into the mix. In Rivers, the commission presented the image of a lame duck. It just could not handle the re-run elections satisfactorily. Even when the commission declared to the world that it was ready for the exercise, everything ended up shoddily.

The commission allowed security agents whose role was the protection of life and property to intrude into and hijack the electoral process. The security agents abandoned the job they were sent to do and, instead, made themselves a part of INEC’s complements of staff. In the face of this dereliction on the part of INEC and the security personnel, the exercise ended in a fiasco in a number of places. That was why INEC cancelled the exercise in about 10 constituencies. The commission was responding to its own mess. But weeks after the conduct of the elections, the commission is still holding on to the results of some of the constituencies. It has been releasing the results piecemeal, thus creating the impression that election is a mystical exercise. You have to employ the expertise of diviners to decode the meaning of what you are into.

In the case of Rivers State, the commission has given an impression that it is taking instructions from a vested interest. Otherwise, why is INEC so incapacitated in its own election? The delay in releasing results is causing anxiety and heightening tension in the state. People now believe that the results of the elections are being manipulated to serve the interest of INEC’s masters.

Nigeria: Change In Chains

By Joe Iniodu

The change mantra that the All Progressive Congress (APC) used so profusely to blackmail Nigerians into its deceitful contraption seems to be manacled in chains. Ten months on, there is no evidence of governance except reports of arrest coarsely alluding them to corruption that are neither substantiated nor culprits convicted. Real governance is in flight and hardship is upon the land. The question on the lips of many is: where is the change that was used to lure the people? The change has remained a ruse.

(pix:voa)

Ten months of the government of APC, the Boko Haram insurgency that was to be considered an anathema upon its ascension into power is still festering and perhaps more emboldened; the jejune pledge by PMB to stabilize oil price in favour of the country which was a strong pointer to his lack of grasp of the current dynamics in the oil industry remains unfulfilled; equally a woeful failure is the non realization of his campaign promise to force dollar and naira into convenient parity but which today finds the two currencies at yawning gaps; its failure to arrest the prices of goods and services which are currently at astronomical levels; its tardy treatment of students abroad and Nigerians on medical tourism who are today said to be in a lurch. These and a myriad of other acts of ineptitude have combined to make life brutish in this once great Nation that was wealthy in hope. I make bold to say that until the end of former President Jonathan’s administration, the Nation did not slide to such precipice of despair.

Yes, admitted, impunity reigned supreme. Corruption sadly was rife with leadership unfortunately looking the other way. But the wheel of governance continued to grind even when some aspects were mired in corruption. Leadership, despite its moral deficiency continued to give hope, it continued to demonstrate capacity and vision. It was the combination of these attributes that made the people to reckon that if the monster of corruption could be termed, the Nation can rise again to its old glory. And in the last days before its exit, PDP showed itself as a visionary party that could pull itself from the brink. It identified grey areas where corruptions were starkly perpetrated and set about introducing mechanisms of checks. Perhaps the approach was muffled and not very radical. With little or no publicity of its renewed efforts in tackling the monster, some Nigerians considered the party and its leadership at the centre as complicit in the denudation of the Nation. The APC latched on this misconception using its brazen tool of propaganda and blackmail. The rest is history.

Buhari, Nigerians Are Suffering, Stop Needless Foreign Trips - Fayose

...US Trip “Joke Of The Year”

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has called on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on President Mohammadu Buhari to stop his needless foreign trips, describing the president’s trip to the United States of America on Wednesday for the 4th Nuclear Security Summit while Nigerians are suffering at home as “joke of the year.”

*Gov Fayose 

The governor said “it remains a mystery what President Buhari that met power generation at 6,000MW and could not manage it such that power generation crumbled to 0MW yesterday, will contribute to the Nuclear Energy Summit in America.”

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said “it is shameful that while President Buhari was far away in the United States of America, attending a summit that does not have any bearing on Nigeria and its people, an unprecedented happened - power generation stopped completely for over three hours!”

He said the sufferings of Nigerians deserved the attention of the president instead of junketing around the world, wasting the country’s scarce foreign exchange.

The governor alleged that over $50 million must have been spent on the president’s frequent foreign trips, adding that Nigerians should ask President Buhari whether his trip to the United States of America to attend Nuclear Energy Summit will bring the lingering fuel scarcity being experienced in the country to an end.

APC: Breakaway Faction Of The PDP

*Ikhide

Exactly one year ago, Mr Ikhide Ikheloa (Pa Ikhide) wrote this on his facebook page. Read again and see if it is possible to disagree with him, if you have any grain of honesty in you...

-------------------------

O Beautiful People

Many people have asked me my opinion on the change of baton between the PDP and the APC, that breakaway faction of the PDP. It should be obvious that I am not crying in my beer that Mr. Goodluck Jonathan is out of Aso Rock, he was not fit to be president of Nigeria, I am contemptuous of his reign and that of the PDP. And I have a hard time being grateful to Mr. Jonathan for being gracious in defeat; it is high time we stopped thanking the servants of the people for merely doing their job sometimes.

On the other hand I am not dancing in the streets because our thieving public intellectuals, the Napoleons of Animal Farm are heralding the coming of the tired face of yesterday on the backs of criminals and thugs and liars as "change." I do not share in the euphoria; I repeat, we have merely changed the letters of the alphabet from odious PDP to odious APC, same difference.

No one fools me, I will continue to push the conversation about what is appropriate in terms of governance. Democracy without accountability is killing Nigeria and Nigerians. We have spent dozens of billions of Naira to race past broken schools, broken hospitals and broken roads to execute a shoddy election and install the illusion of change. We have just traded ravenous locusts for starving termites. We will be miserable for the next four years as we continue to endure an unsustainable democracy. This democracy is an unsustainable farce and we all know it. If we are not careful it will be the end of our nation as we know it.The PDP needs to go, the APC needs to go, they are collectively responsible for our mess and I am not excusing one bunch of thieves and incompetents from blame.

President Buhari 

My people. I would like to be wrong, I pray to be wrong for one reason. My generation and older, of leaders and intellectuals owe this generation a huge debt of relief. We owe them what we have afforded our own families and children from the safety of the West and the faux suburbs of Lekki and Abuja. They deserve good schools, homes, hospitals and robust safety and security that our children and family enjoy. We have ripped them off, looted their present and future and fed them lies from birth. We owe them relief.

My people, since independence what has happened to Nigeria and Nigerians, I call black-on-black crime. Nigeria was quite honestly better off under white rule; that is exactly what our black rulers have proven to their eternal shame.

In the name of this generation of hopeful youths, I plead with the incoming farce, this change borne on the backs of criminals and thugs and liars, to prove me wrong and show some compassion and competence. Please do something in the name of millions of young people who truly believe in you and expect structural changes in the next four years. Prove many of us wrong and do something productive for once. We have the solutions but sixteen years of corruption and buffoonery by various versions of the APC and the PDP have taunted the question: Who will bell the cat?

I salute and congratulate every young Nigerian that has begun the journey of fighting back. It is your country, they owe you, you do not owe them. They work for you; hold them accountable, make them leaders, not rulers. Make them treat you the way they treat their own children. This is a promise: In your name, I will continue to be a one-man army railing against the APC and the PDP until they morph from being enemies of the people to champions of the people. I do not need money from any of them, I just want them to do what they have promised. It may not happen in my lifetime but it won't be for lack of trying. A pox on both their houses.

Finally, I must thank those who engaged me on my wall; as much as I joked about ‪#‎BLOCKING folks, I found that I did not really need to use that powerful tool. The vast majority of folks proved that they were raised right and engaged me with passion and uncommon respect, even when I was being bad and I am not the easiest person to have as an adversary. I salute you and I look forward to more skirmishes as I join like-minded folks to continue to name and shame our ruler-criminals. Nigeria is ours, not theirs.

Good morning!

Kaduna Anti-Christian Bill: First Step To Islamisation

By Clement Udegbe

Nasir El Rufai appears to be one of the arrows aimed at making Christians very uncomfortable in Nigeria by anti-Christian forces of this country. In January 2013, the former FCT Minister wishing to please his godfathers in politics, as a governorship aspirant in Kaduna State, tweeted an insult on the person of Jesus Christ. 

*Gov Nasir el-Rufai

Christians reacted  to his insensitive, irresponsible and offensive saying about Christ, and his attack on the sensibilities of Christians globally, which betrayed his lack of respect for our Lord Jesus Christ and obvious hatred for Christians. His reply which added insults to the injury includes “I must say I am taken aback by the extent of desperate misrepresentation of what was an innocuous attempt to show the godlessness of the Jonathanians to denigrate anyone that dares to ask them to be accountable...To those who were genuinely offended by the retweet, I apologise. I did not mean to offend anyone. Jesus or Isa Alaihis Salaam is a respected prophet of Islam. Every Muslim accepts this in addition to his miraculous virgin birth. It is therefore absurd for any Muslim believer to disrespect Jesus Christ,” he added. 

The Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) scribe said there was a portion of the response that insulted the Christian faith, pointing out that the association is convinced Mr. El-Rufai "is set on a war path with Christians in Nigeria.”  The association warned him to stop taking Christians for granted with such foolish comments. 

Unfolding events have confirmed that CAN was right, El- Rufai hates Christians! Malam El-Rufai was a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, not a Minister of any person or party. The problem is godfatherism, and that is why such an uncouth comment could come from a Minister of this nation, and he went ahead to become a Governor! In Igboland, a proverb says that when a child is dancing on the main road, someone must be beating the drums for him in the bush. Someone must be beating the drum from a hidden position, to which Malam El-Rufai is dancing in the public.

 In 2013, the APC wanted to field a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the posts of President and Vice President. In 2014, they quickly abandoned a muslim-muslim ticket, and exploited an in road via the Redeemed Christian Church of God, where Vice President Osibanjo SAN, was a Senior Pastor, and that did the job for All Progressives Congress (APC). While the north voted massively for APC on both ethnic and religious grounds, votes were divided elsewhere in the country. The church had a distracted or shifted focus, and in what appears now like a compromise by the church, Kaduna state Governor became emboldened to unleash more insults on the Church of God. The fears expressed by Christians over APC and Buhari’s leadership persists, in spite of the campaign promises of a changed Buhari. 

Uganda Launches Africa's First Solar-Powered Bus

A solar-powered bus described by its Ugandan makers as the first in Africa has been driven in public.

Kiira Motors' Kayoola prototype electric bus was shown off at a stadium in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

One of its two batteries can be charged by solar panels on the roof which increases the vehicle's 80km (50 mile) range.

The makers now hope to attract partners to help manufacture the bus for the mass market.

Kiira Motors' chief executive Paul Isaac Musasizi told BBC News that he had been "humbled" by the large and positive reaction to the test drive. People have been excited by the idea that Uganda is able to produce the concept vehicle, or prototype, and Mr Musasizi said he wanted it to help the country "champion the automotive, engineering and manufacturing industries" in the region.

Watch Video 

He also hopes that it will generate employment, predicting that by 2018, more than 7,000 people could be directly and indirectly employed in the making of the Kayoola.

But backing from international companies, which make vehicle parts, is essential for the project to take off.

The vision is that by 2039 the company will be able to manufacture all the parts and assemble the vehicle in Uganda.

The 35-seat bus is intended for urban areas rather than inter-city use because of the restrictions on how far it can travel.

If it is mass produced, each bus would cost up to $58,000 (£40,000), which Mr Musasizi says is a competitive price.

Kiira Motors grew out of a project at Uganda's Makerere University, which is now a shareholder in the company, and it has also benefitted from government funding.

-BBC

Matters Arising On Osun LCDAs

By Abiodun Komolafe

It’s no longer news that some 31 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), 3 Area  Councils and two Administrative Offices were recently created in Osun State  by the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration. As Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the Bola Tinubu-led administration when Lagos State had its LCDA experience, one can safely state that Aregbesola has garnered experience sufficient enough to help him drive the newly-created lower-tier administrative units in Osun State.

 

*Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State 

At a period of global financial failure like this, fears on the part of the people cannot be said to be misplaced. It is therefore comforting to know that the governor has assured Osunians that the new councils were created primarily to bring "development to the people", manage "the markets", and generate "more revenues, amongst others." Good also that he has allayed the fears of human and material resources with which to power the third tier of the administrative structure, taking into consideration the socio-economic and geo-political realities on ground in the country. With these additional administrative council areas in place, one expects that local government administration will be brought nearer to the people.

Again, while not conceding its comparative edge in administrative purposes over the building of a pattern of dominance, it will also go a long way in removing some of the inconsistencies and confusions associated with local government administration. And, since the system is participatory in nature, opportunities for broadening the potential for societal capacity building, accountability, transparency and openness cannot be overlooked. Above all, the glorious roles of our traditional rulers as the embodiment and custodians of their community's customs and traditions, which successive constitutions have tragically failed to appropriately clarify, will by this laudable step become enhanced. 

It’s Time To Put Nigeria First

By Reuben Abati 

This commentary is inspired by Olusegun Adeniyi’s “Of Wailers, Counterwailers And Buharideens” (ThisDay, March 31). In that piece, the ace journalist and public affairs commentator successfully defines the tri-polarities governing public responses to the Muhammadu Buhari administration.  The take-away is that the biggest challenge that Nigeria faces at the moment is political partisanship, which has divided the country into the camps of rights and wrongs and a fierce and bitter contestation over who is right or wrong.

One year after the last Presidential election that led to the exit of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after 16 years in office and power (sorry, the 60 years project failed) and the exit also, of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, there is now a bitter fight out there on the streets over whether or not Nigerians took the right decision by voting for change, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari. President Goodluck Jonathan’s over 12.8 million supporters have proven to be loyal and indeed that they exist as a serious, organised political force.

They have wasted no muscle, saliva or emotion in slyly reminding Nigerians generally that the electorate didn’t think properly about the choices they made in the 2015 general elections. President Buhari gained 15.4 million plus supporters in that election and they too are not ready to abandon their choice. And as Adeniyi brilliantly points out, you have the Buharideens, whose devotion to the incumbent is at the level of passion, religion and ethnicity. Adeniyi forgot to mention the Jonathanians (I wonder why) who, afraid of persecution, have since laid low strategically, but are now beginning to show their hands, as a new contest for the public mind begins, close to the first anniversary of the Buhari administration in power.

My tentative take is that there is too much ego, passion and self-righteousness out there on the streets. Add the reverse triumphalism of the defeated PDP. Well, scratch that. Add opportunism. You may scratch that too. Add didn’t-we-tell-you-the-change-you-sought-was-nothing-but-one-chance? Now, scratch that and replace with the other group saying you-thieves-should-go-hide-your-heads-in-shame. Hmmm, scratch that quickly and replace with all-of-us-na-barawo-una-go-see-wetin-we-go-do-to-you-when-we-come-back. Now don’t scratch this completely, leave some of the ink, and replace with there-is-no-vacancy-here-na-joke-una-dey-joke-because-we-know-corruption-is-trying-to-fight-back. Now, come on, scratch everything and replace with the realization that Nigeria today is entrapped in a vicious power game, a muddled integrity game and a desperate one-upmanship, my-car-is-better-than-yours game. It is as if the election has not ended, it is as if we are still in the season of political campaigns.