President Buhari’s Year Of Sleaze

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

It would have been an intriguing surprise if this year were to end without the government of President Muhammadu Buhari being further begrimed with its scandalous quest for $1 billion to fight insecurity. It is not unexpected that since the Buhari government has been bogged down by cases of corruption from the beginning of the year, it is ending it with the controversial $1 billion quest that betrays the vacuity of its claims to zero tolerance for corruption.

*President Buhari 

We should remember that the Buhari government has gleefully touted its successful trouncing of Boko Haram as a validation of its electoral mandate and a loud rebuke of the government of Goodluck Jonathan who floundered in the face of the insurgents. Now, the same Buhari government wants to deplete the Excess Crude Account by $1 billion to fight the already defeated insurgents. And this is after reportedly paying three million pounds for the release of some Chibok girls.

Gov Okorocha Restores Assumpta Avenue, Owerri

The Imo State Government has corrected what it called the “error” or oversight of “wrongly installing a street sign suggesting (the) renaming” of Assumpta Avenue. It has equally apoligised for the very unpopular action.

Assumpta Avenue which was named after Maria Assumpta Cathedral of the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese was reportedly changed to Muhammadu Buhari Road by Governor Rochas Okorocha.  

*Gov Rochas Okorocha

In a statement issued in Owerri by the state commissioner for information, Professor Obiaraeri N.O, the government informed the general public that the street’s name, Assumpta Avenue, remains unchanged.

It would be recalled that the decision of Governor Okorocha to rename the street drew the ire of the Roman Catholic community in Owerri and across the nation.

‘The Human Side Of President Buhari’

By Fredrick Nwabufo

The header of this article is the title of a 55-minute documentary on President Muhammadu Buhari.
 
The documentary has been scheduled to air on NTA this evening.

The presidency says “the documentary portrays the president in a light that majority of Nigerians have not seen him”.
 
I find this – ‘human side of Buhari’ – farcical and puerile. Does it mean the president has an animal side? What other human side could he have than his much vaunted “sense of humor”?
 
Buhari’s “sense of humor” has been elevated by his media handlers to a national diadem.
 
His media handlers are always quick to play on this harp – “Buhari’s sense of humor” – whenever there is citizen angst.

Elegy For Bola Ige: A Soul Uncle

By Lekan Alabi

On Saturday, 23rd December this year, it will be 16 years that the late Chief ’Bola Ige, SAN, a former Governor of Old Oyo State and sitting Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was assassinated in his Bodija Estate, Ibadan home.

*Late Bola Ige

I was a press secretary to the late Chief Ige, when he was governor of Oyo State and also the chairman of the Protocol and Publicity Sub-Committee of his Burial Planning Committee.

As Wicked As The Nigerian State

By Dan Amor

Anyone living in Nigeria especially since the 2015 general elections and the subsequent emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as President would have known that politically the nation is sitting on the keg of gun powder. There is a regime of palpable fear in the land as the political thermometer cannot easily be interpreted by analysts no matter how discerning they might be. The situation is compounded by an unnerving weight of mayhem that appears to have engulfed the entire geo-political space like a cankerworm. Rampaging Fulani herdsmen on killing spree have turned many states in the North West and North Central, and many parts of Southern Nigeria to killing fields thereby sentencing thousands of armless Nigerians to their early graves without a blink of an eyelid from the government.

*President Buhari 

In fact, the quality of democratic practice in the past two and a half years has been abysmal, with public functionaries at all levels of government consciously exploiting the weaknesses of the system to advance interests that run counter to the common good. Within the same administration, the Directorate of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are at daggers drawn just as the Ministry of Justice and the same EFCC do not see eye to eye. There is a huge disconnect in the security architecture of the country. Aside from Boko Haram and herdsmen insurgency, there are still pockets of mockery killings and kidnappings across the country. In spite of all this, the government does not care any hoot about the survival of the average Nigerian amidst the total collapse of social infrastructure across the country.

Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’: 60th Anniversary: A Global Celebration

2018 will mark the 60th anniversary of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

To mark this milestone, the publishing giant, Penguin, has released a new edition of the classic novel with cover artwork by the distinguished Nigerian artist, Victor Ekpuk. 

Conferences, seminars, art exhibitions, and music festivals are being organized across the globe to celebrate the archetypal modern African novel in English; which now exists in 57 translations across the world, with 20 million copies sold.

Please watch out for further announcements and posters.

Niger Delta: Letter To The President

By Jide Oyewusi

Your Excellency, ever since the discovery of crude oil in the Niger Delta region in 1956, the fortune of Nigeria as a nation has never remained the same, especially from 1958 when Nigeria’s first oil field came on stream.

The discovery of the black gold by Shell BP, the sole concessionaire at the time has led to some level of development in the country even though a far cry from what ought to be considering the huge resources that have accrued to the nation from the oil trade.

So while many view the discovery of oil as a blessing in view of those developments achieved especially during the oil boom era of the 70s, some would rather see the discovery of crude oil as bringing nothing but doom to the nation.

Rebirth Of PDP And The Challenge To Buhari

By Yakubu Mohammed

By which ever means the panjandrums of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, were able to patch it up, their national convention, the first since its ouster from power in 2015, has come and gone leaving in its trail the usual post- convention trauma that features some teeth gnashing, some wailings, some threats, real and imaginary and lots of conjectures about what would be and what would not be thereafter. 

But nobody, not even the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, can dismiss what the opposition party, the PDP, successfully put up as a non-event. What is left now is to see how the PDP executives under the chairmanship of Uche Secondus, manage themselves from now through to the 2019 presidential election.

Selling National Assets To Fund 2018 Budget: Signs Of The End For Nigeria

By Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo
Nigeria is in serious difficulty now as never before. This assertion may not be politically correct but certainly it is empirically correct. Irrespective of your political leaning, truth is that Nigeria is in dire straits. Since Nigeria’s political independence, many people have doubted the capacity of the leadership to take Nigeria to safe shores.

This pessimism is anchored on the fact that some of our leaders, even from pre-independent times, demonstrated obvious incapacity to offer genuine leadership. This leadership deficit was worsened by the forceful intrusion of the military into political leadership of the country; the worst period being from 1983 when Muhammadu Buhari and his fellow coupists overthrew Shagari’s administration to 1999 when the northern-dominated military cabal ran the country aground in a relay-like manner. Nigeria’s economy was irreparably destroyed, and corruption was entrenched as an article of faith in the governance process.

Hijab: We Exist And Die As Either Christians Or Muslims

By Nnedinso Ogaziechi

The past two weeks came with a cocktail of events that made me both proud on one hand and very sad on the other. As a proud alumnus of the University of Ilorin, I was shocked that the University that had been flying the country’s flag as one of the best in global rankings from Africa had slipped down to number five in the National Universities Commission’s recently released rankings.

On the other hand, I was over the moon that all the alumni scattered across the globe are doing extremely well and are very concerned about the progress in all spheres of life in Nigeria. The 2017 reunion parties in Chicago and London brought together the stars that the University had produced over the years.

Then last week, two alumni of the University, a royal father, Oba (Dr.) Michael Odunayo Ajayi, the Elerinmo of Erinmo, Ijesha in Osun State and Nonye Adeniji organized a well-attended Empowerment Programme Training Event for the Erinmo people. Individuals left the training empowered with self-sustaining skills and start off equipment. The sponsors and organizers are neither politicians nor prepared to seek political offices. In a country, where politicians and political aspirants invite and hug media klieg lights to publicize regular activities that they not only owe the people but are paid to do so, these Unilorin alumni and others not under reference here are doing their best to live out the true promise of their humanity and learning.

Will President Buhari’s 2019 Ambition Ruin His Anti-Graft Agenda?

By Martins Oloja

Verily, verily, we should say it to President Muhammadu Buhari and the men and women who are assisting in running his government that this is not the best of time to say ‘silence is golden’. Surely, silence can’t be a strategy in Nigeria at this time when there are serious concerns and questions about the future of the most populous black nation on earth.

*President Muhammadu Buhari 

Before the president’s reputation managers start screaming blue murder and resume their blame game on the previous administration, the concerns raised today are not about them. They (concerns) are about the office of the president from the office of the citizen. The president and his men should note that before they begin to raise huge funds for the 2019, there are weightier matters of governance, especially about corruption that they should settle quickly, lest they will be the last in 2019.

Indications are daily emerging that politicking around 2019 is beginning to becloud sound judgment in the presidency. As I noted here last week, there is no need reading the president’s lips anymore: I advised us to read his leaps in Kano the other day. 

Vote For Me In 2019

By Promise Adiele

This is not a treatise on campaign or a call for votes towards 2019. I am sure those who identify me as an unrelenting critic of misrule and socio-economic polarity at any level will immediately think I have inevitably joined the desperate among us who are already clamouring for votes towards 2019. No, I have no such ambition and even if I do, I lack the financial muscle to actively participate in the thorn-strewn landscape of Nigerian politics. I am not schooled in the inordinate ideologue of the current political class whose activities in recent times continue to advertise Nigeria as an exemplar of political mediocrity. For our politicians, 2019 is here upon us, no stone should be left unturned, all hands must be on deck, the electorate must be conquered and the price, the luscious nucleus of the exchequer, must be won.

Vote for me in 2019 has become a subliminal, recurring ingredient in the speech menu of expired and aspiring politicians who have started campaigning towards the 2019 general elections although INEC has not lifted the ban on political activities. The amusement in our political widening gyre has prematurely commenced, the scheming for the bounty from our land is on, the aggregation of interests, subterfuge and manipulation is in full gear.

Libya: Tragedy Of A Promising Nation

By Akinkuolie Rasheed

The NATO-led military campaign which eventually destroyed Libya started in early 2011 and Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader was killed in October the same year by dissident groups. Since then, the country has not known peace and the crisis is still raging. 

Libya under Gaddafi was an epitome of development and good governance. It had the highest Human Development Index (HDI) in Africa, which is an aggregate of living standards, such as, access to education, medical services, potable water and such amenities which make life comfortable and worthwhile for ordinary people. Libyans were not paying water rates, electricity bills and income taxes.  

A newly married couple would be entitled to a free furnished apartment by the state and, in addition, substantial sums of money to settle into their new life. 

Ahiara Diocese And The Tyranny Of Nigerian Bishops

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Let me say from the onset that I am very distraught over the treatment meted out to the Catholic faithful in Ahiara Diocese by Nigerian bishops. I am troubled because I am involved. The situation in the diocese is the classical tinderbox in wait for a match. Why would Nigerian bishops be the ones willing to spark the light?

*Francis Cardinal Arinze 

I have resisted joining the fray, at least not publicly, all these years because of two main reasons. First, I am aware that in most faith-based issues, reason is a casualty and the Ahiara Bishopric saga is no exception. Second, when it comes to Catholicism, I am old-fashioned, having been brought up to believe that the clergy are God’s direct representatives on earth who are beyond reproach. All things considered, that is illogical but as Karl Marx would say, religion is an opium.

Rotimi Amaechi Is An Ignoramus: Here Are Facts To Prove It

By Reno Omokri

It is quite possible that Mr. Rotimi Amaechi is losing his marbles otherwise why else would he be asking former President Goodluck Jonathan to account for the $65 billion that former President Olusegun Obasanjo left in the Excess Crude Account when there was never any such amount? Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria who served under his tenure, Professor Charles Soludo are both alive and journalists can take advantage of the Freedom of Information Act signed into Law by former President Jonathan to verify from them if there was ever any $65 billion in the Excess Crude Account.

*Rotimi Amaechi

 Rotimi Amaechi is a notorious ignoramus who speaks without thinking and it is suspected that he is going senile. The reason I say so is because Rotimi Amaechi as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum is precisely the reason why the Excess Crude Account had to be phased out and below are the facts:

Rochas Okorocha’s Ministry For Happiness And The Animal Farm Called Nigeria

By Reno Omokri
Rochas Okorocha, a man who has spent more money on statues than he has on living human beings has now appointed his biological sister as “Commissioner for Happiness and Couples’ Fulfillment”. What sin did Imo people commit to deserve this embarrassment as their Governor? And this Rochas, a man that so wants his people to be happy that he creates a ministry for happiness for them nevertheless delays their salaries and pensions. And when his unpaid workers and pensioners take to keke riding to augment their income, he bans that too.

*Governor's Rochas Okorocha

Apparently, Rochas has provided enough statues to make them happy! And the so called commissioner for happiness is anything but a happy camper. One could even ask whether she is commissioner for happiness or commissioner for ANGER? Her public comments since her appointment projects RAGE rather than joy. Perhaps she should have been made Imo state’s commissioner for DEFENSE?

The Deepening Crisis In Libya

By Lansana Gberie

As Libya crisis escalates, the UN and the AU search for solutions.

Perhaps no major political or humanitarian disaster is as overlooked as the ongoing crisis in Libya. For example, although the New York Times in September 2017 published a total of seven articles mentioning Libya, only one of them touched on the violence ripping it apart. Even the Times’ gesture merely highlighted the latest permutation of the US government’s foreign military decisions.

The article, by Eric Schmitt, cited the Pentagon’s Africa Command and stated that the United States military had carried out a half-dozen “precision strikes” on an Islamic State training camp in Libya, killing 17 militants in the first American air strike in “the strife-torn North African nation” since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president.

Dr. Alex Ekwueme: A Tribute

By Uzodinma Nwala

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

*Dr. Alex Ekwueme

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

Buhari’s Mission To Kano: Loud Dress Rehearsal For 2019

By Martins Oloja

There is no need discerning the president’s body language about 2019 presidential election declaration anymore. Did you read his leaps, or hip lips? The taciturn Muhammadu the soldier and Buhari the politician will surely run – as long as his health remains stable as it is at the moment. The Mission to Kano, his stronghold, last week was a loud dress rehearsal. And the people of the ancient town have signalled to the only politician they can trust to take the plunge again. He has been told (in Kano) that even ten Wazirin Adamawas can’t remove any steam from the political support that the epitome of loyalty called Governor Umar Abdullahi Ganduje can guarantee for him in 2019.

*President Buhari in Kano. Right is Gov Ganduje

Ganduje is indeed a politician in whom there is no guile. Buhari can always trust him to deliver more than two million votes in 2019. What is more, we may have been carried away by some infantile sentimentality in the southern zone that some extreme hunger and pervasive poverty in the land now can erode the Buhari’s once solid base in the core north. Some boisterous social media analysts may have told us that no one wants to hear about Sai Baba slogan again because of anger nurtured by hunger in the north. This may not be true, after all.

Between Gov Ayo Fayose And Gov Nasir El-Rufai

By Abraham Ogbodo

I have an award for good governance to give and the choice of a winner is between Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State. One is APC and the other PDP. On this alone, I am seeking to be properly guided in this difficult choice to escape the charge of partisanship. It will also be unwieldy if too many factors are loaded into the assessment. I have therefore limited the scope to recent happenings, like the way the two governors have engaged workers in their respective states. 

*Govs Fayose and El-Rufai

First, Kaduna State. Governor el-Rufai woke up one morning and sacked 22,000 primary school teachers in the state. Less than a week after and when the furor of the first massive sack had not settled, there was a follow up with the sack of more than 4,000 workers across the 23 local government councils in the state.

Altogether, some 26,000 persons were made jobless (and perhaps, homeless too) in less than two weeks. According to the governor, the sacked workers had been profiled and found to be grossly unfit for public sector operations in Kaduna State. Naturally, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) failed to appreciate the argument of Governor el-Rufai that the 22,000 teachers failed basic test for competence and had become more of an affliction on than a solution to the pupils. The council workers were mainly sacked for redundancy.