Nigeria: Musings On Our Sham Democracy

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

After surviving the dark days of an autocratic military rule with its grisly infringement on the liberal ethos that conduces to good governance and development, we do not need a reminder of the need to be protective of the nation’s democracy. But the tragedy is in the amnesia that goads on to make our environment perpetually in hospitable to democracy.

In no other time in our national history is this mental affliction more horrid than the President Muhammadu Buhari’s era. Since he became the president, the democracy that paved the way for his emergence as president has been so travestised that it poses a huge danger to the continued existence of the nation. Since Buhari’s demystification after he became president, we thought that we could no longer be shocked by the depth of perfidy into which he and his All Progressives Congress (APC) would sink. But we were mistaken. For the recent political absurdities in Osun State have shown that we are vulnerable to further rude shock at the hands of Buhari and his APC.

Beheadings: Mozambique Puts 189 On Trial

Mozambique put on Wednesday trial 189 people, including foreigners, accused of being involved in deadly Islamist attacks in a northern province. 
Since October last year, more than 100 people have been killed, often by decapitation, in 40 separate attacks, in villages in Cabo Delgado - a province on the border with Tanzania where companies are developing one of the biggest gas finds in a decade.

*President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique 

The trial was held in the open penitentiary in Pemba, the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado, where hundreds of suspected militants including 50 from Tanzania are being detained. The area is near one of the world's biggest untapped offshore gas fields, and Anadarko Petroleum is seeking to raise $14 billion to $15 billion for a liquefied natural gas project in the region.

2019: Is Buhari Deliberately Running To Lose?

By Richard Maduku

There is hardly any good thing that we Africans don’t corrupt. Sometimes, we practise only the negative aspect of almost every good thing. Clocks or watches for instance, are meant to ensure punctuality but in Africa they are used mostly for the opposite. It is called African Time. The Internet is meant for fast communication but in Nigeria many youths have turned it into a farm where they reap what they did not sow. It is called yahoo yahoo. Churches have been so corrupted in Africa especially in Nigeria that our traditional shamans blush with envy at the tricks church leaders of today play in order to exhort money from their gullible members.

*President Muhammadu Buhari 

 Democracy in most African countries has also been badly mangled due to the way most sitting Presidents or Heads of Government in Africa operate. They don’t only harass prominent members of the opposition in their respective countries they also brazenly rig supposedly democratic elections in order to remain in office. This has in turn made winning a re-election by a sitting President to be viewed with utmost suspicion. As a result, whether an election was free and fair, a sitting President conceding defeat was now more acceptable to the world especially to the West. 

Why Nigeria’s Growth Is Stunted @ 58

By Guy Ikokwu

A reflection of Nigeria’s palpable dismal situation 58 years after independence shows that our growth has been stunted for over 40 years since independence. The Nigerian nation is today at the cross roads of choosing its path to National growth in line with other developing nations or on the other hand continuing its present retardation along the ignoble road to self destruction and conflicts among its numerous ethnic nationalities as had been witnessed within the last few years. 

*President Muhammadu Buhari 

It is such that most observers, domestic and international, have observed that our country has not been as divided as it is today, the division stands from religious bigotry, economic degradation, high index of poverty, joblessness, insecurity, massive corruption as a way of life, high rate of mediocrity in the leadership circles, lack of good governance, very low capital appropriation coupled with massive external loans and indebtedness which are being used mainly for recurrent expenditures, personal allowances, and non-diversification of critical areas of the economy, which makes Nigeria a dumping ground for other countries and a classic case of consumption rather than production.

Nigeria Without Nation Builders At 58

By Martins Oloja

But for the way we are – as a country without leaders who are afraid of the people, I would have borrowed the title of an artful writer, Brett Baker who had on August 18, 2017 said of his country, ‘Don’t look now, but we are a country with no leader’. I mean, I would have liked the title of the anniversary essay on my country at 58 to be: ‘Nigeria @ 58: A Country Without A Leader’.

*pix: ThisDay

Despite the prevailing situation, I am still persuaded as we celebrate Nigeria at 58 that we are a nation with an absentee leader. There is a sense in which we can also look at the 36 states of the federation, 774 local governments and the three arms of government in this convoluted federation and claim too that we are indeed a country without nation builders (leaders) at all levels. 

Liberating Nigeria Through Advocacy And Sensitization

By Chukwuka Igwegbe

As the 2019 general elections draws near, there has been a huge clamour for the populace to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and vote for credible leaders. The clamour, though having good intentions is not rightly placed. Information available reveals that majority of the voters from the 2015 general elections were the uneducated masses. The educated class were reluctant to come out to vote, and in actual sense, most do not even have their permanent voters card. This nonchalant attitude by the educated class during election period has been the reason for the continuous bad leadership being experienced in Nigeria.

Despite having a skewed process in political parties in Nigeria that favours the emergence of elected leaders backed by money bags, the educated class have a lot of roles to play to change the narrative.

Rotimi Amaechi Vs. Magnus Abe

By Comfort Obi

If anybody was in doubt of why the civilized world laughs at us, the open letter, written to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, by Senator Magnus Abe, published in the ThisDay newspaper of Wednesday, September 26, puts a seal on the doubt.

**Magnus Abe and Rotimi Amaechi

I read it three times. And each time, my worries increased, with an exclamation to nobody: ‘Look at what politicians have reduced our country to.’

Both the Minister and the Senator are from Rivers state. The former, an Ikwerre man, and the latter, an Ogoni man. Until politics tore them apart, both were close friends. And belonged to the Dr. Peter Odili Political family – a family so strong, so influential, that every who-is-who in Rivers politics, from when Odili was sworn-in as Governor, owe their current and past “bigmanism” in government to it.

NGOs Are Causing Africa’s Agriculture To Stagnate

By Peter Wamboga-Mugirya 

A joke that is going around refers to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as “nothing going on.”

My experience over a 15-year period of studying, interacting with and experiencing NGO activities in my country, Uganda, has proven the joke to be spot-on, apart from those genuinely fighting or advocating for the protection of human and child rights. The NGOs that have emerged to fight against the transformation of agriculture are really up to the nasty mission of stagnating agricultural development in Africa, and developing countries in general.

Why? Because a focus on these NGOs and their anti-GMO activities has proven that they are hell-bent on selfishly opposing application of advanced scientific techniques or better methods of breeding crops/plants — particularly modern biotechnology or genetic engineering (GE) aimed at introducing drought-tolerant, disease- and pest-resistant and biofortified crops to our countries. They base their opposition to GM/GE-crop technology/foods on unfounded allegations that they’re unnatural, ungodly and inorganic. Yet it is our experienced and highly-trained breeders who call for and apply this technology as a tool where conventional breeding has failed over decades of trials to solve the problems. 

2019 Elections And Battle For The Soul Of Nigeria

By Simbo Olorunfemi

 The characteristic vice of the utopian is naivety; of the realist, sterility – E.H. Carr

 The reality of the 2019 elections battle is finally dawning upon us.

The contestation for power is becoming heightened. Alignments and re-alignments are taking place. Some of the early birds who took the assurance of a ticket on some platforms for granted are beginning to realise their mistakes.

The party that was in power yesterday has now become a receiver of presidential aspirants of all shapes and sizes, who have come to the realisation of the folly in nursing such ambition within the fold of the governing party, with the incumbent favoured to pick the ticket. 

Gov Ambode, Stop Begging Tinubu!

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

If Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode feels being held hostage by his political godfather, he should blame no one but himself for how long his ordeal lasts. No, we are not lost in schadenfreude – gloatingly cavorting about over the political misfortune of Ambode as he is being hoisted by his own petard.

Rather, we are interested in the political fortune of Lagos, its development and the fact that Ambode is not confronted with a terminal crisis. It is within his power to end his predicament. 

*Tinubu and Ambode

Ambode has been chafing under this political affliction that he is not sure of how and when it would end because he has refused to look for a cure outside Bourdillon.

Craving For My Own Taste Of Dubai

By Steve Onyeiwu

To say that Nigerian governors are obsessed with Dubai is an understatement; they are chronically infatuated by it. As we enter election season, with its entertaining and melodramatic defections saga, you’ll hear the governors and governorship aspirants promise they would turn their mostly impoverished states into a Dubai. Even governors who have not paid workers’ salaries and pensions for several months would be telling their hapless electorates they’ll not have to travel to Dubai anymore, for their own Dubai will be right at their doorsteps after the elections. The governors’ obsession with Dubai might make sense on its face value.

Afterall, who wouldn’t want to relish in the posh malls of Dubai, with their indoor ski slopes? Who wouldn’t want to bask in the pristine and romantic beaches of Dubai, while feeling the succulent freeze from the Persian Gulf? Who wouldn’t want to have dinner on one of the several cruise ships on the shores of Dubai Skylines? Who wouldn’t want to go gold-shopping at the famous Dubai gold souk?

Nigeria: A Fake Nation Or A Nation Of Fakes?

By Sam Ohuabunwa

Nigeria is an intriguing nation. 

A 58- year adult nation that is still crawling like a toddler, while most of its mates are running on sure feet. Many people including political, traditional and religious leaders have expressed their bewilderment with Nigeria’s chronic inability to truly rise.   Never mind that a tiny minority including some who earn 12 billion Naira as annual dividend will argue differently that Nigeria is rising. 

*Nigerian President Buhari 

Many ordinary folks in Nigeria have raised their hands in desperation as they find themselves daily pushed into poverty despite their best efforts. This is evidenced by the fact that Nigeria the seventh most populous nation with a ‘tiny’ population of about 198 million People has become the global poverty headquarters, beating India (with a population of over 1.2 billion) according to the Brookings Institution. 

Endless Deaths From Generator Fumes

By Egwu Ben Obasi

Aside from  terrorism, threats to our lives are ceaselessly coming left, right and centre, and we still seem uncertain as to when the next will hit us. If it is not HIV/AIDS pandemic, it is the dreaded Lassa fever spread or bird flu. If it is not Lassa fever or Bird flu, it is the ravaging viral haemorrhagic fever, otherwise known as Ebola virus disease; and for some time now electricity generator fumes occasioning deaths. 

Electricity, as a form of energy supplied through cables and wires for lighting, heating, and driving machines, helps to power our technology and drive national development. Electricity generation over the years has been from public sources. With perennial inefficiency in power management over these years, and epileptic power supply that has bedeviled our public power systems, Nigerians could not stand still but settle for alternative sources. Electricity power generating sets become that ready option open to most people for home comfort and business productivity. Abused usages of these generators have had life-threatening consequences and deserve attention to avert occurrences.

I’m Embarrassed For The Ojukwus

By Comfort Obi
Any true Igbo son who held, and still holds Ikemba Nnewi, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, of the blessed memory, in reverence, should be embarrassed by the turn of events in his nuclear family. They must be embarrassed by the gutter behaviour of a couple of the children he sired! And for women, especially Igbo women, they should rise in anger against these Ojukwu children, specifically, Dr. Ike Ojukwu and Emeka Ojukwu Jnr. Both men deserve no respect from any woman who has any self-esteem.

*Late Odumegwu-Ojukwu and wife, Bianca 

Ever since their father passed on, they have been dancing naked in the market square in a futile bid to humiliate his widow, and, indeed, their step mother, Iyom Bianca Ojukwu. The irony: They are fighting over an inheritance they contributed nothing to.

Why Akume And Ortom Should Shut-Up!

By Comfort Obi

Former Governor of Benue state and now, the Senator representing Benue North-West Senatorial District, George Akume and, the incumbent Benue state Governor, Samuel Ortom are disgracefully tearing at each other. 

*Comfort Obi

In the face of the sufferings of Benue people – economic, physical, emotional – Akume and Ortom are dancing naked in the market square. They are telling the people why both of them should be spat on the face. The irony: Both see themselves as leaders of their people.

My sincere advice to them: Shut-up and hide your faces in shame! While Benue is burning, you are playing Rome’s Nero.

Nigeria: Kemi Adeosun’s Mendacity And Buhari’s Integrity

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

After pussyfooting for 69 days, the former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, finally did the needful by resigning her commission on Friday, September 14. She was accused of parading fake National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate with which she secured employments contrary to the country’s extant laws.

*Buhari and Adeosun 

NYSC which was set up by the General Yakubu Gowon administration on May 22, 1973 as a tool for re-building the nation and reconciliation after the civil war and backed up by decree No. 24 makes it an offence for any Nigerian who graduated before the age of 30 not to serve.

President Buhari’s Appointments, Seiyefa And DSS

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

When posterity reflects on this dark political epoch whose principal actor is President Muhammadu Buhari, it would be racked by the disappointment that some people were so swayed by self-interest or naivety that they made him their number one citizen.

Perhaps, it would be dissuaded from unleashing a harsh judgement on its forbears after the realisation that the emergence of Buhari as the president has eternally served to demystify him. Stripped bare of his much-trumpeted integrity as cases of official sleaze cascade around him, he has irrevocably rendered himself unfit for the pantheon of statesmen.

How To Clap For Buhari, Kemi Adeosun, Amaechi And Ngige

By Reno Omokri

 At last, Kemi Adeosun, Muhammadu Buhari’s cockney accented Minister of Finance has finally resigned. Kemi claims she did not know her National Youth Service Corps exemption certificate was forged and I believe her.

*President Buhari and Dr. Ngige

  I read her letter and it made sense. I believe she is an unfortunate victim of circumstances. Ordinarily, I would have called for her prosecution, but this was an honest mistake and she should not be punished beyond her resignation.

Having said that, it is surprising that President Buhari accepted her resignation on the ground that she has a forged certificate. The question is what should a man whose certificate is suspected not to have ever even existed do in such a circumstance? Muhammadu Buhari claims to be a man of integrity, but when challenged to provide his West African School Certificate results for perusal, the famously boastful Buhari responded by hiring thirteen Senior Advocates of Nigeria to hide behind a wall of legalese.

APC Has Scaled Up Its Proclivities For Violence Against The Opposition – PDP

Press Statement

2019: Hold APC Responsible Should Harm Befall Atiku, Others, PDP Insists

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the All Progressives Congress (APC) should be held responsible should any harm befall former Vice President Abubakar Atiku or any of the PDP Presidential aspirants ahead of the 2019 general elections.

PDP's position is predicated on its comprehensive consideration of all issues relating to the threats to the life of the former Vice President, as well as similar threats and harassments of other presidential aspirants in our fold, just as our party places all these threats at the doorstep of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC.

Forgery: Kemi Adeosun Resigns As Nigeria’s Finance Minister

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has resigned her position in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, reports say. No reason has been given for her decision to step down from office.

*Kemi Adeosun 

 It is, however, believed that the resignation may not be unconnected with the controversy that has engulfed her National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate which an online medium, Premium Times, had alleged was forged.