Infrastructure Collapse In The South-East Of Nigeria

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

During the last Yuletide, when people from diverse sectors of life trooped down to their indigenous hometowns in the South-East of Nigeria from across the globe to celebrate with their loved ones, this writer also spent quality periods in the South-East.

But, unlike several millions of our people whose major point of attraction in going home for Christmas is to be with loved ones, as a professional journalist and human rights campaigner, I also moved round the South-East states to catch impressions of the state of infrastructure in the zone, largely due to the existential fact that the South-East of Nigeria suffers severe infrastructure deficits. 

With the possible exceptions of Enugu and Anambra states, all other states in the South-East like Imo, Ebonyi and Abia states have serious infrastructure shortages. Some elected politicians in some of these states operate like merchants who are in Abuja to enrich their families. 

But, throughout the movement I had around the South- Eastern States, a common noticeable trend emerged, depicting the reality that, indeed, the South-East of Nigeria is witnessing first class infrastructural emergency.

Home truth dawned on me that steps and mechanisms must be put in place and meticulously implemented to restore the pride that the South-East of Nigeria used to enjoy in times past.

But, in all of these bad states of social amenities, the almost complete absence of effective social services and professional policing of most states of the South- East goes to show another hidden fact- that the South- East is currently witnessing human rights emergency.

Federal security agencies operating in the South-East States, most especially in the capital cities, usually operate with a hostile mindset, as if to say the South-East of Nigeria is a conquered territory. 

Fulani Herdsmen And Endless Killings

By  Benedict Ahanonu

FOR most part of 2016, Nigeria was plagued by incessant letting of blood by a group alleged to be Fulani herdsmen. While some may claim that the real Fulani herdsmen are peaceful and essentially mindful of their flock, the fact remains that this marauding group is composed of herdsmen who appear in the garb of Fulani pastoralists.

That aside, their modus operandi is unwavering and follows a common pattern. From Benue to Enugu, Delta, Ekiti and now Niger, Kaduna it has been a gory tale of woe.

Thousands of innocent Nigerians have been killed, cash and food crops destroyed, villages and communities sacked.
Because there seems to be no indication of readiness by the government through the security agencies to deal with these murderous offenders, they have got more emboldened even as they visit mayhem on Nigerians with flagrant impunity.
One had expected President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate strong leadership in dealing with these marauders whom it appears may not be Nigerians.

While there is “Operation Lafiya Dole” for the Northeast insurgency, “Operation Python Dance” for the Southeast Biafran agitators, “Operation Crocodile Smile” for the Niger Delta, there is none for this bunch of killers who have succeeded in inflicting pain on almost every part of the country.

It is even quite disturbing  and strange that the same President Buhari who is always quick to condemn such dastardly acts when they happen elsewhere has so far been unable to rebuke what seems like genocide taking place in Southern Kaduna.

Reacting, perhaps, at the behest of Buhari, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who spoke on a Channels Television programme, “Sunrise Daily,” said that it was needless for the president to speak on the destruction of southern Kaduna State since the governor assured that he was in full control of the violent crisis and had been briefing his boss regularly.

Nigeria: Drifting To A One-Party State

By Victor Effik

Nigerians may have to expect a full blown one-party rule unless the opposition parties gear up and put their houses in order. 2019 may just end up as a one horse race. The evidence is simply overwhelming. As I write, the ruling party is using all the political tricks in its bag  to lure many members of the opposition PDP in the National Assembly into its fold. Their soft targets are the serving members who may, in the estimation of the party apparatchik, not get a return ticket for another term; they are also targeting those who are not in the good books of their state governors.

*Buhari

And that reminds us that the greatest problem in the opposition camp are the governors. Apart from bringing a frankenstein monster called Sheriff, they seem not intelligent enough to know where their power stops. Some of them are even antagonizing serving members of the National Assembly who should add political value to the party and by extension, their second term ambitions. And apart from Rivers State’s Wike, not many of the serving PDP Governors can withstand the heat of  federal might during elections.

Really, the opposition PDP is in tatters. That has been the plan of the ruling APC. The plan is working well now. No thanks to overzealous state governors, lack of party cohesion and discipline that characterize Nigerian party politics.

The feeling from within the ruling party is that except a death blow is dealt on PDP given its 16 years dominance, there is a threat that it might bounce back. So, the strategy of the ruling party to dismember it was carefully hatched. Let us now look at the following scenarios:First, the Sheriff strategy fitted the bill. Given his case with EFCC and the likelihood of him being roped into the Boko Haram conundrum, he was seen as an easy prey who will play ball. And he has done that so perfectly. The APC strategists did their homework well.

Second, a section of the judiciary perceived to be hostile must be brought to its knees if the Sheriff strategy must work. Those judges perceived to be a stumbling block needed to be singled out and dealt with. True, the state may have a genuine case against some of them, but like the anti corruption campaign has shown, the campaign is heavily skewed in favour those ready to acquiesce.

Thirdly, the electoral umpire, INEC and the security might of the state needed to be mobilized to ensure that the ruling party makes an inroad into South-south and captures the Edo and Ondo top prizes ahead of 2019. That too seemed to have worked well in Edo and Ondo and partially in Rivers.

Oil And Local Prosperity: A Study Of ‘Two Kingdoms’

By Patrick Dele Cole

The King of Abonnema has just finished a magnificent building he called his palace. The king of Okpo has done the same – built a palace. But there the similarity ends. Abonnema is one of the major towns among the Kalabari Ijaw; its history is long and illustrious. It has prominent indigenes whose names are well-known to all Nigerians, Wenike Briggs, Ajumogobia, Graham-Douglas, Ferdin and Alabraba, W.W. Whyte, Mr. Justice Adolphus Karibi Whyte (SCJ), Odoliyi Lolomari (Ex-MD, NNPC), Olu Fubara, Ambassador D.D. Obunge, Admiral Bob Manuel, Chief Lulu Briggs, Dr. Dodiyi Manuel, Capt. Briggs (Ex-Minister of Transport), Capt. Ajumogobia, Chief S.K Dagogo Jack (Ex-INEC chairman), Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Bibi Akpana, Tom Fabyan (former chief executive of African Petroleum), L.M. Jacks (Permanent Secretary, Internal Affairs), Miss World (Agbani Darego); Miss Nigeria (Syster Jack), and many others.

Okpo, on the other hand, is a small village which many years ago you would have passed even before you blink once. It is part of Obuama or Harry’s town which is regarded as a small village in the pantheon of Kalabari Ijaw towns. So Okpo is a small village of a small village.

A few years ago, some oil companies did some seismic work in Okpo village. In doing so, they brought in a lot of equipment, reclaimed large tracks of land, and employed hundreds of people – thus awakening a small dot of a village into a potential metropolis. The seismic activity ended and the oil company packed up and left. Chief Diamond Bob Manuel Tobin–West saw his opportunity in this substantial real estate, substantial compensation for the seismic activities from a company with a lively corporate social responsible mentality. The people of Okpo were compensated. Instead of Chief Diamond taking his own share of the money to Port Harcourt to build a beautiful house and or a hotel, he decided to return to the spot and there restart and rebuild his community. The Chief is a man who lives by example. He is a graduate from UK and Canada: has a family well settled in these countries.

Chief Diamond built himself a palace in the old seismic site. He encouraged his people to return and follow his example. He built a complex of six houses; his brothers and sisters are in the process of completing modern structures, with roads and amenities – water, electricity, schools, etc. This year’s Christmas and New Year celebration in his palace had all trappings of modernity, complete with carols, fireworks, plenty of food and drinks. There is a clinic nearby. He has galvanised all the villages around him and a modern metropolis is taking shape in a formerly one – blink village. His neighbours in the bigger town of Obuama are beginning to recognise his worth and influence and constantly visit him to talk about the progress of Okpo and the surrounding area. Incidentally, the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Mrs. Harry Banigo is from Obuama. So is Chief Ombo Harry, once Executive Director, Finance of NNPC. The former Chairman of PDP Rivers State, Marshall Harry, the former Deputy Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, another Harry and so on are from Obuama- None of the above has what the vision of Chief Diamond who hopes to build a true metropolis in this forsaken enclave.

Northern Governors, Monarchs Meet On Lingering Crisis In The Zone

Governors of the 19 Northern states of the Nigerian federation are currently meeting at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna to discuss the various crises plaguing the zone.

Uppermost in their minds, according reports, is the worsening security problem in the zone which has wasted thousands of lives, including women and children, displaced lots of people and consumed properties worth billions of naira.

The crisis has further polarised the zone along religious and ethnic lines and deepened suspicion and mistrust among the various co-existing people.

Nigeria: A Nation Of Cowards And Docile Citizens

By Nnanna Ijomah

It is said that “a nation of sheep is governed by wolves”. Nigerians have not only become sheepish and docile but also whiners and cowards. Docility has become our middle name and we have come to display it on our chests as badges of honor. I don’t know when we became this way but I’m sure it’s been long in the making. Over the years it has become more evident that we have become a very timid and spineless people, with a high degree of acceptance and tolerance of whatever mistreatment our leaders, both at the local, State, and Federal levels mete out to us. There is a popular saying, “the future belongs to those who change it”.

In Nigeria today, we have as its citizens, though ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse, a people who are scared or reluctant to effectively bring about real change and not the fake change promised by the APC. A people who continuously elect and re-elect people whose past track records does not show any evidence of any real effort in terms of policies or actions to improve their lives or their standard of living. This is what Aribisala said not long ago about the President on this issue.

“He, Buhari commanded the support of a significant number of the Northern poor, in spite of the fact that there is absolutely nothing in his curriculum Vitae about advancing the interest of the poor.”

Here he, the President is not alone. The same can be said of most of our Governors and national Assembly members. The reality of our situation in Nigeria today is that we wallow in the status quo and seem to be content with it. We whine and complain daily about our leaders and the deplorable state of our existence but fail to acknowledge our role in electing them or the courage to hold them accountable.

The more I read about events in Nigeria or the state of the nation, the alarming scope of corruption despite the war against it, the ineffective or none -existent economic policies and its aftermath, the increasing poverty rate in the country especially in the North, the complicity of INEC and our security officials in rigging elections, the non-payment of worker’s salaries both at the state and federal levels, the religious massacres by herdsmen and the lack of a tough response or arrests by federal government officials and the financial appeasement by a state governor, the instability in the Niger Delta, the agitation for Biafra by the Igbo’s, the unending blame campaign of the President of his predecessor, etc. etc., the more I feel morbidly entranced like a homicide detective gazing into a pool of freshly spilled blood. I use the phrase freshly spilled blood literally because that’s what each new unfortunate event looks like. If I may borrow the words of Pat Utomi in a recent comment he made, “Nigeria is a paradox of progressive degradation, where every Government is worse than the one that preceded it”. As the new year begins this month I have become more apocalyptic about the future of the country and its political stability.

Why President Buhari Ran(n) to Gambia and Away From Rann

By Reno Omokri

Till date, the only person who has died in The Gambia is President elect Barrow's son, Habibu Barrow, who was bitten by a dog. But in Southern Kaduna, hundreds of people have bitten the dust. 

If in truth President Buhari really wants to prevent a humanitarian crisis, the place he should be visiting and intervening in is Southern Kaduna before The Gambia.

*Buhari

And the penchant of the President to delegate pressing domestic problems to his subordinates while personally addressing foreign challenges of lower priority is on the increase.

I have chosen to empathize with the Buhari administration over the deaths of Internally Displaced Persons and international aid workers at the Rann IDP camp in Borno state by a bomb mistakenly dropped on the camp by a Nigerian Air Force Jet, but for the life of me I cannot understand why the President, who heavily criticized former President Jonathan's handling of the Boko Haram crisis, elected to delegate his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, and some ministers to visit the victims and survivors of the Rann disaster to offer condolences and supposed support.

And to the Borno state governor who cheekily said there was progress because in his words there was no "blame game" as would have happened in the previous administration of Jonathan, I would just say, wake up and smell the coffee. I can see no excuse for this faux pas except the Borno state Governor is sarcastically trying to call out the Buhari government for its over indulgence in blaming previous administrations.

If it was possible, the Buhari administration would have taken out a registered trade mark on the phrase 'blame game'. Never in the history of Nigeria, and perhaps contemporary Africa, has an administration invested so much of its focus and time on blame gaming as the Buhari government. So Governor Shettima would have to pull more fallacious words out of his mischievous magical hat of illusions to be able to pin such a false accusation on the Jonathan Government.

It may be necessary to remind Governor Shettima that the Jonathan he so likes to blame visited Borno more than once as President during the height of the Boko Haram insurgency. Has President Buhari even bothered to drop by? That is how much the President thinks of him!

But in all this, we still must give God the glory that the mistake by the air force did not occur while Oby Ezekwesili and Lai Mohammed were combing Sambisa forest in search of the missing Chibok girls. 

And let me speak directly to the President. President Muhammadu Buhari, as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, don't you think you owe it as a duty to be in Rann at this very moment to personally comfort victims and survivors of the unfortunate mistaken bombing by our Armed Forces? 

Mugabe Must Go! – War Veterans

Agitated war veterans have reiterated their call for President Robert Mugabe to leave office now, adding derisively yesterday that they would not "waste" their time quarrelling with Zanu-PF youths who have said that they are prepared to take up arms to defend the nonagenarian.

Speaking to the Daily News, the spokesperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Douglas Mahiya, was emphatic that Mugabe - who turns a mature 93 next month - could not continue to lead the country.

*President Mugabe

He also took a swipe at Zanu-PF youth leader Kudzanai Chipanga who said earlier this week that party youths were ready to go to war against former freedom fighters and other supporters of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, in defence of Mugabe - saying Chipanga had "no idea" about wars and their deadly consequences.

This comes as Zanu-PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo was also insisting yesterday at a press conference held at the party's headquarters in Harare that Mugabe would be the party's presidential candidate in next year's eagerly-anticipated national elections, as decided at the party's disputed 2014 congress.

"The youths do not know what taking up arms is all about. They only hear about it. Nobody in their right mind wants a war, especially those who were once involved in one. What the youths are saying is childish.

"What we are simply saying is that a 93-year-old may, naturally, not be fully capable of discharging their duties in the office of the president," the forthright Mahiya said.

However, Chombo was adamant that Mugabe could only be challenged internally at the party's 2019 elective congress.

"Some of you, including the press elect not to read," Chombo said, adding that the Zanu-PF congress was the only party event that was held to elect the person who would represent the former liberation movement in future elections.

"We are saying this so that newspapers do not create confusion where there is none. In 2014, we elected our president.

"We said then that all those who want to be president should raise their hands. Everyone rushed to lift the president's, saying ‘we want Mugabe, he is the one we want to be president of the party'.

"This was a mandate for five years. So, anyone who wants to come in now can only do so at the 2019 congress. Logically and mathematically, it's all very clear and straightforward . . . there is no shortcut. So what is bothering our reporters?" he said - bizarrely appearing to blame Zanu-PF's worsening tribal, factional and succession wars on the media.

Mugabe Son Lives In 10-Bed $42,000/Month Mansion In Dubai

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s son Robert Junior is living in a 10-bedrom villa located in an exclusive and pricey Dubai neighbourhood at a cost of $42,000 per month in rentals, it has emerged.

The revelation was made by Lebanese businessman, Jamal Ahmed, who is at war with Mugabe’s wife, Grace, over a botched deal to buy a million-dollar diamond ring supposedly intended as the President’s wedding anniversary present to the First Lady.

Grace, the Lebanese claims, has ordered the seizure of his properties in Harare, apparently to force the return of about $1.4m she paid for the ring through her account with CBZ bank in Harare.

Ahmed claims Grace surprisingly rejected the ring when it was delivered Dubai and demanded the return of her money. She reportedly insisted that the money be paid into a Dubai bank account.

The Lebanese argued that full refund was not possible since costs had been incurred in procuring and polishing the precious stone. He also objected to paying the money in Dubai saying this would be illegal under Zimbabwe’s laws.

In the ongoing court battle over the saga, the First Lady denied demanding payment in Dubai, saying she did not have a bank account there.

However, in response Ahmed said the Mugabes rent an expensive villa in Dubai which is used by son Robert Junior who is based there.

“Whether or not the second respondent has accounts outside Zimbabwe does not mean she did not ask for a refund in Dubai,” Ahmed argued.

UN Investigative Panel On The Genocide In Southern Kaduna: A Call For Objectivity

By Paul Danbaki

In Southern Kaduna today,  many are desperately searching for answers right now. Southern Kaduna indegenes have seen their loved ones slaughtered, raped and brutalized. Some have watched their homes, businesses, villages, and religious places set ablaze and destroyed.

Husbands have helplessly watched their wives raped and humiliated.

Ordinary people have been killed and burned publicly. For years, Southern Kaduna has been experiencing economic, political and structural siege. Thousands of people are traumatized, resulting in a range of different cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioural effects which impact communities negatively. Hearts are hurting and the suffering is deep!

From the aforementioned, I join myriads of good people of Southern Kaduna to welcome the decision to launch an independent investigation with a mandate to cover allegations of human rights violations since the unabated genocide in Southern Kaduna; I have confidence that the UN panel would indeed be independent, transparent, thorough and effective, with a view to establishing the veracity of the facts before it with a view to bringing to justice the perpetrators of the genocide in Southern Kaduna.

I am confident that the indegenes of Southern Kaduna are ready to assist in ensuring that the investigation is undertaken in line with international human rights standards. I also reiterate our request for access to the affected areas, as the situation on the ground makes it very challenging to access because of the ‘lies’ put forward by kingpins of the heinous attacks in the region.

More so, given the tense situation in southern Kaduna where a large security presence has reportedly been deployed only on the main streets and NOT in the bushes and hills/mountains where the brutal killers commit their crimes and withdraw to; in the midst of all these, there are still reports of ongoing arbitrary arrests, intimidation and harassment of people, a majority of whom are the victims, this call becomes vital for the survival of the Southern Kaduna nation.

58 US Lawmakers Boycott Donald Trump's Inauguration

Donald J. Trump

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

Former President Jonathan Writes New US President, Donald Trump

Dear Donald J. Trump,  

By the grace of God, President of the United States of America. 

As the United States of America opens a new chapter today, many around the world, myself inclusive, are optimistic that the success you have achieved in your career as one of the world's foremost entrepreneurs will be translated to your life as a public servant and custodian of the trust of the American people.

For over four decades, you have consistently created wealth and opportunities for yourself, your family, your country and its citizens.

The city of New York, host to the United Nations Headquarters, thus the world's most prominent city, bears the hallmark of your signature through your real estate developments.

You have also left your footprints in politics, media, education, sports, entertainment and the arts.

From this backdrop, I am very hopeful that the United States of America and indeed the rest of the world will be witnessing great, worthy and positive frontiers under the Trump Presidency.

I congratulate you, the 45th President of the United States, as you begin your tenure today. I pray that God will bless your tenure and enable you actualize your vision and commitment to building a better and more secured America and the world.

 

*Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

Let me seize this opportunity to express my hope and desire that your administration will work with Africa to help her people realize their achievable great future and harness the God given potential domiciled in the land and people of Africa from Cairo to Cape Town.

May God bless the United States of America.

May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and may God bless the world.

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR

Chairman of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation.

Jammeh’s Defiance, ECOWAS Mistake And Buhari’s Bad Example

By Jude Ndukwe

As it is now, The Gambia is under emergency rule as declared by its president of 22 years, Yahya Jammeh. The emergency rule has become necessary in the estimation of Jammeh, following his decision to challenge the outcome of the country’s December 1, 2016 election in which Adama Barrow was declared winner.

 

*Gambian President Yahya Jammeh receives
President Muhammadu Buhari in Banjul on
 December 13, 2016

The impasse has been largely fuelled by the haste with which the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has not only intervened but also interfered in what should, at this stage, be a purely internal matter of a sovereign nation. Jammeh’s decision to challenge the outcome of the election result is very well within his constitutional rights.

By this, the man who is said to have ruled his country with an iron fist, is still within his constitutional rights to test the validity of the election result in the law court. Obviously, it is this right that the ECOWAS nations and indeed a good part of the world has misinterpreted to mean that Jammeh has refused to step down, and this is part of what has heightened the impasse. Just like in Nigeria, the declaration of results by the electoral body does not mark the end of an electoral process in The Gambia. The political actors are still constitutionally permitted to challenge such results in the law court.

Such electoral matters can only be said to have been fully dispensed with after the highest court constitutionally empowered to deal with such matters have done so. ECOWAS will be making a grave mistake if they send in troops to The Gambia at this stage. What the regional body should be concerned with now is to send in fearless and impartial judges to that country from Nigeria as requested to dispense with the matter speedily and judiciously.

It is only after the country’s highest courts have affirmed Barrow as winner and Jammeh refuse to step down and handover to Barrow that a military action would be justified.

Another mistake ECOWAS made was their choice of delegation as led by President Muhammadu Buhari to The Gambia as emissaries of peace and democracy to persuade Jammeh to hand over power peacefully and as scheduled. Although Jammeh had earlier accepted defeat and promised to leave the stage on the set date of January 19, 2017, he immediately did an about-turn the moment Barrow made the hasty and politically disingenuous statement of probing Jammeh’s administration.

Jammeh, who from his earlier posture, wanted to play the Goodluck Jonathan card of handing over power to the opposition after an election must have quickly remembered the Nigerian situation where persecution, injustice, oppression, deprivation and gross abuse of the rights of officials of the immediate past administration in particular and the citizens in general have been the order of the day, and recanted his earlier stance immediately.

The appointment of Buhari as leader of ECOWAS delegation to The Gambia is a monumental error. How can a man with no democratic credentials lead a mission of democracy? How can a man who hardly obeys court orders as in the case of Sheikh El Zakzaky, Nnamdi Kanu et al be the one appointed to mediate in a constitutional process? Not even the orders of the same ECOWAS court on Sambo Dasuki has been obeyed by Buhari months after they were given, yet, it is the same man ECOWAS gave the enviable responsibility to convince Jammeh about the need to leave the stage a democrat!

Buhari should not have been on that delegation not to talk of leading it. With the continued denial of campaign promises and policy somersaults, no leader would take Buhari’s word for whatever it is worth. With the rascally behaviour of some of our security agencies under Buhari’s watch leading to many innocent citizens being killed just for exercising their rights to assemble and protest, among others, in Jammeh’s mind, Buhari’s discussion with him might just seem like a dictator talking to a dictator about the need for a peaceful transition.

In fact, during those dialogues with Buhari, Jammeh might just be saying in his mind, “with your antecedents and current style of leadership, how am I sure that you would hand over power to your opponent if you were defeated in 2019?”

No doubt, Buhari is not the ideal example of a democratic leader. Such a leader like him needs the intervention of proven democrats to guide him on the inalienable ingredients of democracy. So for The Gambia to pass through this phase peacefully and speedily, ECOWAS should facilitate the immediate transfer of judges from Nigeria to that country as requested and allow all parties exhaust all their constitutional rights and provisions made available to them.

While that is going on, democrats with proven track record of not being power-drunk and who also have themselves handed power over to members of the opposition including well respected figures like Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, Ghana’s John Mahama, Kofi Annan, Emeka Anyaoku etc should have been in the delegation to the exclusion of the likes of our own Buhari.

 It is only after the courts might have ruled against him and such entreaties have failed that a military action becomes desirable. For now, let the delegation be reshuffled and let The Gambia run the full course of its own constitutional provisions. That way we do not attempt to right a wrong with another wrong.

*Jude Ndukwe is a commentator on public issues 

President Buhari, Dialogue Matters

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

With an air of imperial finality, President Muhammadu Buhari has ruled out the possibility of holding a dialogue on how to resolve the crises in the Niger Delta. From initially pretending to support a dialogue with the leaders of the region, Buhari has moved to declaring that there are no credible leaders to talk with in the region and now finally that a dialogue is not even necessary. He says the problems of the region are already known.

The position of the president which was articulated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during his visit to the Niger Delta seems to be only about the oil-rich region. But it actually reflects the stance of Buhari concerning the whole country. Buhari does not want any dialogue; all he wants is for the citizens to be quiet, wait patiently as he hands them a roadmap for the development of the country. But this approach of Buhari is not acceptable to the citizens simply because he cannot be trusted to take the right decisions on their behalf. Any roadmap for development that Buhari contemplates can only be tilted to suit his askew sense of development and equity.

As regards the Niger Delta, Buhari can only end up like his predecessors whose sense of development without the input of the people from the Niger Delta has paved the way for the gleeful allocation of oil blocks to people from other parts of the country while the indigenes of the region are neglected. Past governments were aware of the despoliation that has resulted from oil exploration in the region, yet they failed to take any significant step to address the situation. From Isaac Boro to Ken Saro Wiwa, the agitations by the people of the Niger Delta for development of their oil-ravaged region have often been met with brutal responses.

Or can the people really trust the president when he has failed to begin the process of the development of the Niger Delta almost two years after he came into office? And now it was not even the president, but his deputy, who went to the region after so much prodding. If the president were really sincere, he should have gone to the Niger Delta himself to understand the urgency of looking for solutions to the problems of the region. And he should have done this earlier. Rather, he has been preoccupied with how to crush agitators in the region. There is a good reason to suspect that what Buhari is doing is just verbal pacification to secure a peaceful environment for him to get more oil to run his government. With the history of Buhari’s lackluster responses to injustices in different parts of the country, the people of the Niger Delta have good reasons to be skeptical about his avowed developmental roadmap for the region. These responses have perpetually diminished our humanity, collective and individual, and thus we are obliged to be eternally vigilant in accepting his promises.

The Case For Pro-Biafra Agitators

By Onyiorah P. Chiduluemije

Since President Muhammdu Buhari assumed the mantle of leadership of Nigeria on May 29, 2015, the country has witnessed incessant killing of the members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for obviously no cause by security agents. More often, if the killing was not based on the falsehood that the IPOB members were the first to attack members of the Nigerian armed forces and as such had to be killed in return, it would be predicated on the spurious grounds that the hapless victims were obstructing the free flow of traffic and thus needed to be dealt with (which for the military entailed killing them) in order to clear the way for motorists and other road users.

Meanwhile, in all of these series of killings of peaceful protesters, the Buhari-led government is yet to come out with a single video record showing members of the Nigerian armed forces being killed by the pro-Biafra agitators.

But thus far, the reverse has always been the case in the aftermath of every peaceful protest duly organized by pro-Biafra agitators in Nigeria, all in pursuit of their legitimate demand for a sovereign state of Biafra. And besides the fact that thousands of members of this separatist group have been mowed down in their prime for merely thronging the streets of Nigeria in demand for self-determination as adequately guaranteed by international laws and practices, the Amnesty International recently had to lend its strong voice in total condemnation of the Nigerian government’s persistent and cruel clampdown and massacre of these unarmed and peaceful protesters.

According to this highly esteemed international body, no less than a hundred and fifty unarmed civilians belonging to the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, were brutally murdered in cold blood using torture, live bullets and other weaponry by members of the Nigerian armed forces – during the Biafra Remembrance Day of May 30, 2016.  And further to its graphic report titled Bullets Were Raining Everywhere, the Amnesty International’s findings clearly showed that the assertion that the peaceful protesters were the first to court the trouble and/or attack members of the Nigerian armed forces was neither here nor there. Strangely, as if the killing was not provoking enough, the same  security forces had to even go extra miles invading churches at Onitsha and its environs in Anambra State of Nigeria in furtherance of their killing spree and the hacking of peaceful protesters who happened to be in or had sought refuge in these hallowed places of worship.

Fighting Or Celebrating Corruption?

By Egwuchukwu Hilary Ejikeme  

This country as it is presently organised does not hold any future, whatsoever, for our children. Never in the history of mankind has so much been owed so many by so few. Even though we were ignorant of it, the battle-line was drawn, ab initio, between the only two quasi-political parties I could distinguish in Nigeria: The very rich versus the poor masses, the leadership as against the people, the Bourgeoisie lined up against the Proletariat.

*President Buhari 

Whether as members of the Armed Forces or the business moguls or the politicians, leadership at once becomes a melting pot of sorts. At the very top, there is no tribe, no religion, no profession, and no division. The rest of us: Police, Army, Air Force, Navy, all other Nigerian workers – public/civil servants, artisans, drivers, petty traders and what not, must rise from our slumber and seek to change and redirect the course of governance for the benefit of our children.

What successive governments have done in Nigeria, including the present Muhammadu Buhari leadership, is to celebrate, rather than fight corruption. The issue of corruption in Nigeria is more fundamental than just inundating the pages of our national dailies and plaguing the air waves with individual cases of brazen misappropriation or looting of public funds. The leadership is only playing to the gallery.

Corruption has become like an alternative source of energy in Nigeria. My friend used to complain a lot about the noise pollution and the attendant fumes of his neighbour’s generating set, but that was until he was able to buy his own generator. Today, my friend’s generator is on, almost right round the clock, regardless of what his neighbours are passing through. That is the case of leadership and corruption in Nigeria. Now former President Olusegun Obasanjo doubled as the President and the Minister of Petroleum: There was then no Nigerian, good or trustworthy enough, to fit into that position. Probably because this continued throughout his eight years in office, our own Buhari, the darling and toast of The Fourth Estate of The Realm, has unwittingly stepped into the same unwieldy shoes. But can two wrongs ever make a right?

Corruption is corruption: Any time or anywhere. When we sacrifice competence and meritocracy at the altar of mediocrity and/or federal character/quota system, it is corruption: Pure and simple. Nigeria is basically designed to fail, from the beginning. No team can ever win a match if it refuses to field its best players.

Aig-Imoukhuede: Ten Years After

By Banji Ojewale

Ten years after we lost Ikpehare Izedomi Aig-Imoukhuede, the prismatic columnist of Vanguard newspaper, we are still grieving and regretting we’ve not gotten a heir, a successor, nay a pupil to step into the great shoes of the master. It is the sign of a sinking age. A hero departs and seems to take with him the stuff of greatness that built him.

(pix:MS)

Although Aig-Imoukhuede borrowed heavily from the biting style of two other legends, Sad Sam (Sam Amuka) and Peter Pan (Peter Enahoro), he added his own: the caustic episodic approach. Every Wednesday in his Sketches column he stood on a tripod- Sad Sam, Peter Pan, and Aig-Imoukhuede –to feast his readers. The outcome was a unique brand. For, whereas Sad Sam and Peter Pan’s columns were not always a story telling affair Imoukhuede’s would every time broach trendy events to pillory society. His writing was airy, reminding you of the ambience that envelopes you when you read the short stories of Guy de Maupassant and Ernest Hemingway.

That was my submission when I paid a tribute to this remarkable columnist on his death a decade ago.  

I wrote then that before he died in Lagos on January 23, 2007, Aig-Imoukhuede had this memorable encounter with the living. Writing in his long running Sketches column in Vanguard of January 24, 2007 he gave no hint of a terminal ailment nor of stalking death right on his doorstep.

Under the title “Money In The Bank”, Imoukhuede identified two counter cultures that he observed were emerging as a result of the Central Bank’s report on alleged injury to the naira. CBN, he claimed, was frowning at those abusing the national currency. It advised them to take to keeping the money in the banks rather than under  their pillows. In other words, they should imbibe the banking culture of transacting business with plastic money.