When Africa Began To Slumber

By Joseph Atchulo

When Africa began to slumber her gold was stolen from Ghana, when Africa began to slumber her oil was stolen from Nigeria, when Africa began to slumber her gas was stolen from Angola, when Africa began to slumber her Diamond was stolen from Serra Leone and Liberia, when Africa began to slumber her diamond was stolen from the DR Congo, Tanzania, Botswana and Namibia, when Africa began to slumber her Iron Ore was stolen from Sudan and all her natural resources where stolen by the West. Awaken oh mother Africa because in your state of slumber your youth, the young and vibrant, the energetic young people of this Continent no longer see any pride in you.

Africa today has become in the words of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair ‘a scar on the conscience of humanity’. Africa today has become a tragedy of gigantic proportion, how did it happen that even today the youth in Africa have no pride in Africa, in Africa's state of slumber her youth are stolen.

Demonising Northern Christians Before 2019 Elections

By Sunday Adole Jonah

These days, political pundits are all in agreement about the fact of the matter that the swing regions for next year’s presidential polls are the Middle Belt and the Southwest. As it stands today, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has not done any meaningful engagement with these regions other than its overarching desire to establish “cattle colonies” in both places to the detriment of the peace that exist there.

*El-Rufai and Buhari 

The people of the Southwest region simply want a country that is fair to them in terms of the component contributions that they make into the unitary polity, and the people of the Middle Belt region simply want peace so they can continue to till the lands they have inherited from their ancestors. Simple demands and expectations. Regrettably, instead of seeking avenues to ensure lasting peace in the Middle Belt region, the “intellectual think-thank” of this Buhari administration headed by a serving governor of a Northwest state is coming up with lots of balderdash to ensure that elections would not hold in some key anti-Buhari locales because of “security reasons.”

What Does Atiku Abubakar Want?

By Hope Eghagha   

Early in 2018 when Mallam Atiku Abubakar began to reference restructuring the nation’s polity as one of his cardinal goals, I thought I should take him seriously. As a man from the Niger Delta whose region has been fundamentally shortchanged by the current quasi-federal arrangement I naturally took interest in this core northern leader who had decided to make restructuring a campaign issue. 

*Atiku Abubakar 

Middle of last year I tried through some of his aides to reach him. No luck. He was either too busy or the aides I reached did not have the clout to arrange a meeting. So I let it rest. Once Atiku Abubakar secured the PDP’s nomination as presidential candidate I thought I should use this medium to broach some of the issues I would have presented to him.

Nigeria: Will There Be Revolt Vote In 2019?

By Banji Ojewale

Of two evils, choose neither
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(English Baptist preacher) 1834-1892

Now, it is certain that of the nearly 100 political parties asking Nigerians to vote for them in 2019, two are in the forefront: the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) governing at the centre and in some states, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in opposition at the national level but in administration in a couple of states.

*Atiku and Buhari 

We are glued to these two, courtesy of what our media gives us and the tin gods we have made of the candidates thrown up by the two political groups. So regardless of who they are, what they stand for, what they have said, their background and the implications of the sum and weight of all these on them when they become elected public office holders, we deem them worthy of our vote solely on account of their party and endorsement by a godfather or a cabal. 

Breaking The Electricity Supply Jinx

By Sunny Ikhioya

What is it about electricity supply in Nigeria? Why is it so difficult to simplify and bring under manageable indices, when other climes have taken it for granted and moved on to greater things?

We have had our hopes raised to the zenith and brought down to mother earth during the Obasanjo era, with Bola Ige’s promise of six months delivery. We have also seen our common patrimony shared and handed over to an oligarchic few in the name of privatisation, hoping that the situation will improve. Yet, no luck. 

Revisiting Jonathan’s Single Term Proposal

By Anthony Akinola

The destination of the presidency will continue to be an issue in Nigerian politics, prompting here another look at the single-term proposal.

Erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposal of a single, six-year tenure for president and governor is not seminal but significant nevertheless.

*Fmr President Jonathan

The idea of a single-term enjoys informed opinion and was in fact forcefully presented to the Political Bureau established by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1986.  General Olusegun Obasanjo, one honest critic of the politics of the Second Republic (1979-1983) specifically suggested a single-term of six years to the bureau.

Buhari Owes Shiites Justice, Not Massacre

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Even in its twilight, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration remains impenetrable to the simple logic that democracy is leavened by the disparateness of opinions. It is in epochs of heightened divergence of opinions that sometimes spawn crises and tend to unspool the state that the genius of a great leader is given stellar expression.

*President Buhari 

The man or woman who comes into leadership fully prepared for such near-fatal periods know how to parlay them into opportunities for national development.  Thus, the best leaders are not brewed in epochs when the people luxuriate in ease but when they are confronted with life-threatening crises.

Was the genius of Winston Churchill not unfurled, and thus he became a touchstone of good leadership, because he had Adolf Hitler to prevent from adding Britain to his definitive list of conquered territories? Did Franklin D. Roosevelt not etch his name in the memory of Americans because he had the Great Depression to contend with on behalf of his people?

2019: The Risk Nigerians Must Take!

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

Risk viewed conventionally is an observable reality that people sprint away from as it is both covertly and overtly considered an unpleasant situation. But contrary to this belief, Peter Drucker, a United States of America born management consultant in his book; Managing For Result, underscored the inescapable posture of risk-taking in human existence and essentially classified it into four categories; the risk one must accept, the risk one can afford to take, the risk one cannot afford to take, and the risk one cannot afford not to take.

Indeed a virulent reality, however, from the recent/unpleasant political and socioeconomic occurrences in the country, it has become a barefaced truth that for Nigeria to accelerate economic growth and make social progress, the people must use the 2019 general elections as a vehicle to  confront/correct the ‘inbuilt’ anomalies  debilitating our nationhood.

Nigeria: A Requiem For The Lifeless One

By Femi Fani-Kayode

”A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more”- Jeremiah 31:15.

O lifeless one, you have lost all sense of decency and you are drunk with power.

As the children are murdered in cold blood and cut short in the streets of Abuja by your soldiers you watch silently from a distance: smug, smiling, detached, indifferent and secretly egging the killers on.

For Hauwa Liman, Martyred!

By Obi Nwakanma

Since the movers of Boko Haram think of books as “haram,” it is most unlikely that they, being illiterate, can comprehend, and therefore are likely to read this tribute to the young woman whom they have killed, Hauwa Liman. And so, this is not directed at them. 

*Hauwa Liman

They cannot read. In any case, one must address a community of humans, those who share human traits; who have the natural human, and healthy instinct for empathy. It takes a subhuman freak, and a deadly form of misanthropy, to take another life. Members of the Boko Haram movement are not human. 

Nigeria: The Problem With Gov El-Rufai’s Gonin Gora Demolition Threat

By Moses Ochonu

The problem with El-Rufai is not that he is a bad Governor. The problem, rather, is that he tries so hard to be seen as a good governor, so hard that he ends up undermining his own good works, causing unnecessary controversy, and exposing his bigotry and lack of executive governing temperament. He is a much better technocrat than he is a wielder of executive authority.

*President Buhari and Gov El-Rufai 

He threatened to demolish an entire community, Gonin Gora, in the middle of an ethno-religious crisis. It is a terrible idea to threaten or to actually demolish an entire community whatever crimes some members of that community may have committed. For one, it amounts to collective punishment, a primitive punitive action incompatible with modern, enlightened notions of justice, correction, and recompense. Second, it is a rather lazy, knee-jerk, thoughtless, and ultimately counterproductive response.

Nigeria: The Usman Yusuf Saga

By Ray Ekpu

The Professor Usman Yusuf saga is obviously sapping the energy and the health of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) of which he is the Executive Secretary. It all started last year when a group called United Youth Alliance Against Corruption (UYAAC) sent a petition dated April 21, 2017 to the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole. In that petition garnished with supporting documents, the group accused Yusuf of fraud, abuse of office and nepotism. The supervising Minister thought, as is the practice in government, that the accused person should be suspended to create room for a fair investigation by the EFCC.

*Professor Usman Yusuf

The recommendation for his suspension received the nod of Professor Yemi Osinbajo who was then acting as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari was at that time receiving medical attention in the United Kingdom. When Buhari returned he overruled the Minister and the Acting President and recalled Professor Yusuf from suspension apparently without the EFCC completing its investigation. The presidency said at the time through the tongue of Mr. Garba Shehu, one of Buhari’s spokesmen, that Yusuf was a victim of ethnic and political conspiracies which was an unmistaken indictment of the Minister of Health, Professor Adewole and the Acting President, Professor Osinbajo. 

The Alarming Rate Of Poverty In Nigeria

By Victor Ikem

As the world marked the 2018 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on the 17th of October, it has become imperative to remind governments and policy actors in Nigeria of the growing rates of poverty and the urgent need to reverse this ugly trend through a well thought out and compressive strategy, policy and programmes towards eliminating the causes of poverty in Nigeria. 

While the debate generated by the Brookings Institution’s World Poverty Clock report which rated Nigeria as a country with the highest number of extremely poor people in the world, is yet to wane, it is disturbing to see how the British Prime Minister, Theresa May at her recent visit to Africa, described Nigeria saying much of Nigeria is thriving, with many individuals enjoying the fruits of a resurgent economy, yet 87 million Nigerians live on less than $1 and 90 cents a day, making it home to more very poor people than any other nation in the world.

Nigeria: Senseless Killings As National Pastime

By Dan Amor

Irrational impulses are not surprising in the stress and tension that characterize a demented society. In an atmosphere of violence, reason is sometimes abandoned and humanitarian principles forgotten. The inflamed passions of the time lead men and women to commit atrocities. 

*President Buhari and Army Chief, Gen Burutai 

But the concern here is not with the psychological pathology of those who commit atrocities but rather with what has turned our nation into a slaughterhouse where human beings are daily killed with intimidating alacrity. Throughout modern history, atrocity propaganda has often mesmerized readers thousands of kilometres away from the scene of the crime. Often, the improbability of the actions described suggests that the stories were little more than fantasies concocted for diverse reasons from even more diverse sources.

President Buhari, Show Us Your Certificate!

By Reno Omokri
Nothing could prepare me for the shock that greeted me when I opened the dailies on Friday, October 26, 2018. Right there on the front-page headlines was the news that President Buhari, again, could not present his West African School Certificate Examination certificate because the original is with the army. 

*President Buhari and his wife, Aisha

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! That lame excuse could hardly suffice in 2015 when President Jonathan was the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, but it is certainly an untenable excuse today!

NYSC: National Service Or National Scam?

By Olatunde Akinyemi

It is the pride of most parents to see their wards all dressed up in khaki and boots. A symbol that the child has scaled through tertiary education, and successfully served the country,  a matured individual. For some,  it signifies a bonafide citizen of the nation, ‘omo ijoba’, as my Yoruba friends will say, a bragging right. 

Many years ago, as a Primary 5 student, my uncle came home on one particular  day in that popular uniform. I didn’t know what course he did in school, I didn’t know what school he attended,  no idea he had graduated, all I knew was that he had gone to serve.

When Will Northern Youths Truly Be Free?

By Simon Abah

The deaths of and whispered deaths of people in far-away places in Kaduna can lead to the deaths of hundreds of people in the state capital. These have gone on for too long with no end in sight other than preachment for tolerance and for people to learn to live in peace when the dust settles. Leaders go about begging people to live in peace. Beg? No-one is ever punished; the benefactors are always in the wind.

Pastors, Bishops, Sheiks or Chief Imams, have failed the north by the way they have handled these repeated crises in northern Nigeria because they are habituated to being politically correct every time instead of calling a spade by its name, shrinking violets. Who doesn’t know that politicians in the north play on prejudices to divide and tear the people apart? What is amazing is how fast youths go about killing people. These killings would go on unabated until these youths have jobs to do but who will provide them with jobs.

The Auctioning Of APGA

By Chibuzo N. Ziggy Azike

For those who might not know, APGA is the All Progressives Grand Alliance, a political party founded by Chief Chekwas Okorie and Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu in collaboration with other prominent Igbo sons, some of who never carried the card of any political party including APGA, but generously provided resources and logistics to ensure that “The Igbos also have our own party”; just like the Yoruba’s had AD and the Hausa’s APP”; that was the sentimental basis for the founding and establishment of APGA; and its success was instantaneous as Peter Obi won the election to be Governor of Anambra State in 2003, though he had to go through the courts to retrieve his mandate in a very tortuous journey which took the better part of three years to accomplish.

*Chief Ziggy Azike

I could have titled this piece “The betrayal Of APGA” or “The betrayal Of Chekwas” or “The Betrayal Of Ojukwu” or even “The Betrayal Of Bianca” or, and why not; “The Betrayal Of Ziggy”; because this article is to tell a tale of betrayals by a trio whom history thrust the fate of APGA into their care at a time like this and who have proceeded so wantonly, so prodigally and so treacherously to dissipate, abuse, waste, decimate and completely decapitate the legacy of Chekwas Okorie, Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Professor Ben Obumselu, Engr. Arthur Eze and the legion of great Igbo patriots who invested in sundry ways into building the now wasted monument and institution called APGA.

The trio of Victor Umeh, Willie Obiano and Victor Oye are today holding exalted positions in our land courtesy of the valiant sacrificial labours of our “hero’s past” because the banner of APGA was used to foist them to prominence having been raised by APGA without any investments on their part; they like all prodigals care less about the heirlooms and the historical significance of sustaining a legacy; to them, APGA is a loot to be apportioned, shared balkanised and gobbled up in a rambunctious sleazy feast; to them; APGA has become a cash cow to be milked, to them APGA the hen that laid the golden eggs must also be menu on the dinner table tonight all because their tomorrow must be now. 

*Chief Victor Oye and Gov Obiano 

How did APGA get to this sorry pass? How do I start the story? Let’s try to put things in context; have you listened to the audio recording of the meeting Governor Obiano had with Ifeanyi Ubah moderated by Dr. Cletus Ibeto? That tape went viral; and you would have heard Obiano pleading with Ifeanyi Ubah to deploy his machinery and support his second term election. Obiano unequivocally and in very clear succinct terms assured Ubah that he, Obiano, will support Ubah as candidate of APGA for the Anambra South Senate seat. Now, how did Obiano honour that solemn pledge after Ifeanyi kept his side of the bargain and Obiano achieved his now “famous” 21/21? I will tell you. Obiano knowing full well that he had made a commitment to Ubah, now went and encouraged the widow of our founder, HE Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu to contest for the same Anambra South Senate seat under APGA. Then this serial betrayer and amoral traitor proceeded to receive all manner of inducement. The long and short of it is that today, neither Bianca nor Ifeanyi is the candidate of APGA for that seat.

The story of the auctioning of APGA cannot be fully told in any single newspaper article. But in trying to put things in context, it is important to say that at the time Governor Obiano decided to install Chief Victor Oye as National Chairman of APGA, Oye had never been a member of our party, prior to that time. Oye had been my friend and I knew he was not one of us; but as we have only one Governor who triples as party National Leader and Chairman of our Board of Trustees, we deferred to him to produce anybody he desired as party National Chairman because his re-election was the most important item in our party’s calendar and we knew that he needed to feel secure and assured of the National Chairman to warrantee his nomination and re-election bid. Some of us who had noticed Oye’s predisposition and predilection to corrupt practices had told Obiano that he should consider letting Oye go once his own re-election was accomplished, but little did we know that Obiano perished the thought as he needed someone of Oyes rare amorality for the bazaar he was planning for the 2019 election season. We will come back to Oye presently.

I mentioned a trio at the beginning of this essay, yet so far I have not narrated the role of Victor Umeh who today is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and who is the immediate past National Chairman of APGA, the Master Puppeteer who manipulates Obiano and Oye to do his bidding, particularly as he has convinced Obiano that  he (Obiano) is a prime beneficiary of his artifice as he made Obiano Governor when he, Victor Umeh was National Chairman of APGA. Victor Umeh considers himself the kingmaker of APGA and the “agbawo dike izu” of APGA.

He is also the messenger of doom for APGA; it was Victor Umeh who brought the information to some spiritual and temporal leaders of Imo State that he had chosen for Imo people the person who will become Governor under APGA. Yes, it was Victor Umeh that became the Chief Auctioneer.

It is trite news that in the run up to the forthcoming 2019, elections in Imo State more than 25 persons showed interest to contest the Governorship election under the APGA; very early in the day we had told the leadership of the party that with so many aspirants, the only way to avoid rancour and ensure victory was to work out a process of consensus where the aspirants would by themselves produce a candidate.

The leadership, starting from our National Leader, Governor Obiano, past National Chairman and Master Puppeteer/Chief Auctioneer Senator Victor Umeh and National Chairman Chief Victor Oye did not want this; they jointly and severally mouthed “free and fair primaries”; alas what they actually wanted was chaos, and a bazaar where they would eventually auction the tickets to the highest bidders; so they started what Fela would have called “Government Magic”.

They started selling delegates forms, at N10,000 (ten thousand Naira) per delegate for respective elections; thus if you wanted to be a delegate for the House of Assembly; House of Representatives; Senatorial and Governorship primaries you must cough out a total of N40,000 yes; (forty thousand Naira); we had made APGA a solid grassroots brand, and there was a deluge and the party raked in billions of Naira from the thousands of prospective delegates; then the “national leadership” sent out feelers to aspirants, if you want your delegates list to be used (you know that in Imo State where Rochas had not paid workers and pensioners, the poor masses whose shops and markets had also been demolished could not possibly purchase the forms; so aspirants paid for them); you were approached to come and pay humongous bribes; the auction was on.

After collecting so much money in all manner of currencies from diverse aspirants, the Leadership of the party who had promised “free and fair primaries” started orchestrating confusion and tension and deliberately aborted the “primaries”. Nothing held because having collected money from so many bidders there was confusion as to who was to be delivered.

So there was no primary election for Governorship and other positions in Imo State under APGA. It was mayhem galore.
In Anambra State the story was a bit different because “primaries of a sort” was held in many constituencies and when many incumbents of the State House of Assembly lost out, and Certificates of Return were issued to the winners; they promptly started collecting signatures for the impeachment of Governor Obiano who all along was holidaying in his favourite fleshpots somewhere, he quickly issued instructions to Oye to give Certificates of Return to all the incumbent Members of the Anambra House of Assembly because they threatened to impeach him.

Today there are multiples of persons holding Certificates of Return for the same constituency in Imo and Anambra States.
The reality is that the trio of Obiano, Umeh and Oye have totally, completely destroyed the APGA brand in Imo State; APGA’S promise has been shattered and demolished; the APGA which Imo people prayed will come and restore their land just as NCNC and NPP did is no more; the N-APGA which was a response by the Union of APGA Governorship aspirants in Imo State is struggling to revive a highly demoralised populace; in Anambra, APGA will surely lose constituencies; if anybody under APGA wins, it will be because of the individual's rating and efforts, the brand APGA has been damaged and no longer represents “Nkea bu nkanyi”; “this is our own”; Obiano, Umeh and Oye have managed to destroy in one fell swoop, a legacy built by Chekwas Okorie, Peter Obi, Ikemba Nnewi, and all other Igbo patriots who invested integrity, goodwill, sacrificial leadership, good governance, patriotism and dedication to high ideals in directing the people.

Just as APGA was going national, having won a House of Representative Seat in Taraba, elections in Kaduna, FCT, and Bayelsa States, the demon spirit of Judas Iscariot captivated and enraptured the leadership of APGA. Today neither Obiano, Umeh or Oye can safely step into Imo State without the highest level of security as Imo people hold them responsible for undermining and truncating their dreams and hope in a better and greater Imo State from May 29, 2019.
I weep for APGA.

*Chief Chibuzo N. Ziggy Azike is a member of  the Member of the Board of Trustees APGA and Governorship Aspirant

Forced Prostitution: Link To Nigerian Juju Is Useful Nonsense

By Leo Igwe

On October 23, 2018, I addressed a stakeholders meeting, the Academy of Nations, in Munich in Germany. This meeting brought together representatives of the police and the regional government, social workers, religious organisations, and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies. They discussed the issue of human trafficking and forced prostitution in the region. Some of the victims were Nigerian women. I made a ten-minute speech that included a short video. 

And here is what I said:

Thank you Georg Falterbaum and Mattarei Norma for the invitation to address this important meeting on human trafficking. And thank you, the Bavarian government for the commitment to tackling the problem of human trafficking and forced prostitution. Trafficking in human beings has been described as a form of modern-day slavery in our contemporary world. So, it is important to use occasions such as this to have an open and frank discussion on this issue and to explore ways of eradicating it. 

Maternal And Infant Mortality In West Africa…Beyond The Numbers

By Clem Ugorji
THE pain of childbirth has been described as equivalent to 20 bones getting fractured at a time, a level slightly greater than the 45 del (a subjective measure of pain) limit of pain a human can endure. With this unique experience comes inexplicable joy and the pain is momentarily forgotten. But not in all cases. The curtains may fall on the mother or baby or both, and the long 9-month wait ends in anguish with a psychological pain that can never be quantified, not in words or numbers.

Maternal and newborn mortality ratios, that is, the rates at which women or babies die from birth related complications, in West Africa are among the highest in the world. UNICEF reports that the maternal and newborn mortality rates in the West and Central Africa region are 679 women per 100,000 live births and 31 babies per 1000 births, respectively.