Nigeria: National Assembly In Chains

 By DAN AMOR

In all democratic nations of the world, there are three major arms of government: the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. As an assembly of elected and authentic representatives of the people, the legislature makes the laws that govern the day-to-day operations of government. The executive formulates and implements policies based on the framework of the laws promulgated by the lawmakers; whereas the judiciary, as the safety valve or sole arbiter of the common man, interprets the laws of the land and adjudicates on matters arising from any breach of the law between parties to the common wheel. 

                       *Lawan, Buhari and Gbajabiamila

What makes the legislature the bastion of democracy in any society, except in a few totalitarian states, is that its functions encapsulate representation of the people, lawmaking and over-sighting the executive. This is the crux of the matter. In a presidential democracy, like the type we practise here in Nigeria, the legislature exists not only to make laws but also to serve as the voice of the people in government and to make government accountable to the people. This makes the legislature the pillar of democracy. 

Why Is Nigeria So Cursed?

 By DAN AMOR 

When the Union Jack (the British flag) was, at the glittering mews of the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos on October 1, 1960, lowered for a free Nigeria’s green-white-green flag, gloriously fluttered in the sky by the breezy flurry of pride and ecstasy, it was a great moment pregnant with hope and expectation. The whole world had seen a newly independent Nigeria, a potential world power, only buried in the sands of time. Endowed with immense wealth, a dynamic population and an enviable talent for political compromise, Nigeria stood out in the 1960s as the potential leader in Africa, a continent in dire need of guidance. 

                        *President Buhari 

For, it was widely thought that the country was immune from the wasting diseases of tribalism, disunity and instability which remorselessly attacked so many other new African states. But when bursts of machine gun fire shattered the predawn calm of Lagos its erstwhile capital city in January 1966, it was now clear that Nigeria was no exception to Africa’s common post-independence experience.

During the following four years (1966-1970), the giant and ‘hope’ of Africa measured its full length in the dust. Two bloody military coups, a series of appalling massacres and a protracted and savage civil war which claimed over two million lives threatened to plunge the entire country into oblivion. 

Nigeria: Living In A Failed State

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

Last week, the Senate asked the President to declare a state of emergency on security in Nigeria. From one Senator to the other, the men and women of the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly were unanimous that something has to be done urgently, to stem the slide into anarchy, unbridled violence and bloodshed across the land.

*Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

What is the security situation presently? We have a police force lacking in legitimate leadership, the armed forces is so politicized that the leadership is loyal only to the party in power and a commander-in-chief that seems to have been totally overwhelmed with the crisis. It is by now clear to all and sundry, at least from the comments and contributions of lawmakers across party lines, that Nigeria is approaching a failed state.

This was indeed the conclusion reached at a stakeholders’ summit held last week, where Professor Pat Utomi and others x-rayed the dangerous dimension that security has taken in Nigeria. The Sultan of Sokoto said somewhere else that Boko Haram has now transformed into bandits and kidnappers. It is the latest business in town.

Let Us End The Nigerian Civil War!

 By DAN AMOR

For those who were born during or after the Nigerian Civil War, recent publications, provide an illuminating pathway to the events that led to the war. No nation among the third world countries makes a stronger claim on the interest and sympathy of Africans than Nigeria. What Nigeria has meant to the black continent and to blacks across the world, makes her future a matter of deep concern. Nigeria might be doddering or tottering behind less endowed African countries as a giant with feet of clay, no thanks to the tragedy of irresponsible leadership. 

  *Displaced South Easterners during the Biafra-Nigeria War

But whatever happens to her usually serves as a huge lesson for other African countries. To view therefore with judgment and comprehension the course of present and future events in Nigerian life and politics, we must possess knowledge and understanding of her past, and to provide such understanding within concise compass, we must consult history. Yet it is an unbiased, disinterested and unprejudiced inquiry into the history of our country that will ensure that we leave a legacy of truth for generations yet unborn.

In fact, the true story of Nigeria must begin with the foundations of the nation-its geographical and economic character; its socio-political and religious influences and the psychology of its peoples. 

Besides the existence of multi-ethnic nationalities before the fusion of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914 by Lord Fredrick Lugard, a British imperialist military commander, and the almost 100 years of British colonial rule, the great period of post-independence crisis – 1960 – 1970 – must be vividly delineated for posterity.

The death in November 2011 of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu who has come to symbolise that great epoch of epic struggle brought to the front burner of national discourse, the issues and convergent forces at play in the Nigerian Civil War. But recent developments point to the fact that our leaders who prefer to learn their geology the day after the earthquake would want history to repeat itself. 

Unfortunately, rather than telling in bold dramatic relief, the tragic and magnificent story of what brought about the war and its aftermath, some commentators have elected to mislead the reading public on who actually caused the war. Some have even pointedly accused Chief Ojukwu of having masterminded the war in order to divide Nigeria. 

What can be more mischievously misleading than the deliberate refusal to allow the historical sense transcend the ephemeral currents of the present and reveal the spirit of a people springing from the deepest traditions of their tragic experience? How could one begin to appreciate a legend who continued to be astonishingly misunderstood even when the realities of the factors that pushed him to rise in defense of his people are damning on the rest of us more than 50 years after his action? Why is it so difficult for us to appreciate the fact that Ojukwu had come to represent, in large and essential measure, not only a signification of heroism but also a courageous attempt to say no to an emerging oligarchy which was bent on annihilating his people from the face of the earth? 

No Nigerian in his right senses should support any nebulous attempt to re-awaken the Biafran experience. But if we believe the time-tested aphorism that few men are austere or dull-witted enough to scorn the pageantry and romance of history, then we must ask ourselves why, for God’s sake, would people become so barren in thought as to hold the view that Ojukwu caused the Nigerian Civil or what some mischievously call the Biafran War? 

Even for those of us who were born during the holocaust that was the war itself, a deep reflection on what brought it about cannot in all sincerity be divorced from the greed and unbridled ambition of Nigerian politicians – the quest to dominate others and the winner-takes-all mentality of the lackeys to whom the colonialists handed over power on a platter of gold. 

Why must we forget so soon the blatant rigging of the 1964 Western Region election by the Federal government – controlled Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) in favour of S.A. Akintola at the expense of Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Action Group who was believed to have won that election in the first place? How can we forget so soon that it was the upheaval that followed that manipulation in the Western Region and the inability of the government at the centre to contain it that orchestrated the January 15, 1996 military coup and its aftermath? 

In fact, in all the accounts of the developments that led to the war, both local and international, none particularly mentioned Ojukwu as a key player in either the coup of January 1966 or the July 29, 1966 counter revolutionary coup led by young Hausa/Fulani soldiers. Ojukwu’s response to the wanton killings of Igbo and other nationals of Eastern Nigerian origin was a latter day development which in all practical purposes followed the natural course of history. He was just an uncommon patriot who responded decisively to the issues of the day. 

We bow courteously before the mighty personages of other traditions. The appeal of Nigeria’s annals is not that of a success story. The record of our soulless country is strangely somber. Like in France, our earliest heroes might be heroes of defeat. But the story is shot through with episodes of unequaled magnificence. That history is repeating itself just as we recall our ugly past shows that it is the destiny of Nigeria to live dangerously. 

Last month, January 15, 2021, Nigerian leaders pretended to have marked the 51st anniversary of the end of the Nigerian Civil War. All of them, including the victims of the war itself who pretend not to know, went to the graves of the "unknown soldiers" to lay wreaths in remembrance of the supreme price they paid for Nigeria to be one. Yet, in the minds of most notoriously undemocratic Nigerians, the war has not yet ended and the country is not yet one. The last administration made an Igboman Chief of Army Staff and brought the Civil War to its knees. He prosecuted the Boko Haram war almost to its logical conclusion. 

          *Ojukwu, Ankrah and Gowon at Aburi, Ghana, 1966
But another man came and reversed what the last administration did by insisting that an Igbo cannot be Chief of Army Staff; cannot be Chief of Air Staff; cannot be Chief of Naval Staff; cannot be Chief of Defense Staff and cannot even be Inspector General of Police. The current one is saying that the civil war has not ended; that the vice presidency which the South East attained seven years after the war was an error. No. It is not true. The Civil War which ended on January 15, 1970 must be laid to rest. No victor, no vanquished. 

Between 1800 and 1945, there have been pockets of civil wars across the world before the Nigerian Civil War which was fought between 1967 and 1970. There was the Castle Hill convict rebellion, 1804; the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition (Texas) 1812-1813; Argentine Civil Wars, 1814-1880; Zulu Civil War, 1817-1819. There was also the Long Expedition (Texas), 1818, 1821; the Greek Civil War, 1824-1825; the Freedom Rebellion (Texas), 1826-1827; Liberal Wars (Portugal), 1828-1834. The American Civil War was fought between April 12, 1861 and May 9, 1865 and the Spanish Civil War was prosecuted between July 17, 1936 and April 1, 1939. All these civil wars ended and the respective countries became more united than before. 

If the Nigerian Civil War has been fought and won or declared "no victor, no vanquished" by Gen. Yakubu Gowon, then it must have meaning and the end taken to its logical conclusion. The South East must produce the next Inspector General of Police and the Service Chiefs, for Nigeria to move forward. God has endowed this country with all that is needed for it to blossom into one of the best countries in the world. We must end sectional greed and domineering postures for Nigeria to get there. The Nigerian Civil War must end without much ado. Let this country be great again.

*Amor, a public affairs analyst resides in Abuja

So Many Nigerians Are Being Killed!

 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 to commit atrocities. 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. 

But the reading public in Nigeria has invariably evinced a morbid absorption with the most nightmarish aspects of this national tragedy. It is indeed fashionable to observe that material which should create a moral aversion to the cruelty of our present times often produces a perverse fascination instead. There is, candidly speaking, an alarming rate of mockery killings in Nigeria, especially under this Buhari administration.

Buhari, Herders And Insecurity

       

By Eniola Bello (Eni-B)

In January, two world leaders bowed out of office and received from their people, the goodbyes their leadership, or lack of it, deserved. While US President Donald Trump stole away like a thief in the night, without a decent farewell from his associates, the object of ridicule and scorn from many Americans, nay many more people around the world for his ignorance and meanness and insincerity and divisiveness and incompetence; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as she handed over the party leadership after 18 years in office, received from her countrymen and women standing on their balconies, six minutes of applause for her simplicity and diligence and competence, and for making Germany the largest economy in Europe. Coming home, were President Muhammadu Buhari to bow out of office today, reactions across the country most probably would move from sighs of relief, to shouts of triumph, and to jumps of victory, and then to dances of happiness, indeed, to several joyful noises.

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke’s Exemplary Ministry

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith…” (2 Timothy 4:7) 

When on December 7, 2019, news broke that Reinhard Bonnke, the German-born, world renowned evangelist, whose gospel crusades in many African cities drew multitudes and led many people to make definite decisions to give their lives to Jesus Christ, had died in Florida, the world saw another example of what could rightly be described, by Biblical standards, as a successful ministry. He was 79. 

                                *Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke

The most important item in Bonnke’s life’s history (despite his great and marvelous achievements in the Lord’s Vineyard as a soul-winner) is that, although, he was the son of a gospel minister, he had a definite testimony of conversion or regeneration, that is, being born again – something every genuine child of God should and must have, but which, sadly, many church people do not have today, including even several preachers! 

Indeed, no matter what anyone contributes to advance God’s work in this world, at the end of the day, the only thing that will guarantee the person’s entry into God’s kingdom is his possession of a genuine experience of salvation (which God who sees everyone’s heart can attest to), which the person had taken care to preserve till the end. Any professing Christian that has the salvation experience has got the best thing; but he that does not have it has nothing, no matter what else he claims to have.  

2023: The PDP's Obvious Challenge

 By DAN AMOR

With the emergence of Prince Uche Secondus, a former Deputy National Chairman and Acting  National Chairman as the elected National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, concerned Nigerians had thought that all was now set for an interesting opposition politics in the country. He defeated all the aspirants who contested for the coveted diadem in a make-or-mar election held at the Eagles Square, Abuja on Saturday December 9, 2017. 

*PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus (left), Gov Wike of 

Rivers State (Right)

But three years down the road, Prince Secondus has failed to ensure a peaceful harmonization of all rough edges in the party. In spite of the horse-trading and other subterfuges which are the hallmarks of all political competitions, PDP leaders must note that the survival and goal of the party should be paramount. So far, like a COVID 19 patient, the party is gasping for relief. 

'Things Fall Apart', Achebe’s Magnum Opus, To Be Adapted For Television

In 1958, Chinua Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart, established African literature on the world stage. More than 60 years later, it remains the most widely read African novel. 

It has sold more than 20 million copies in English alone and has been translated into more than 60 languages. Time Magazine named it “One of the 100 greatest novels of all time,” and Encyclopedia Britannica, one of the “12 novels considered the greatest books ever written.” 

In 2020, as the world confronts systemic racism and battles the COVID-19 pandemic, Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and his two other novels—Arrow of God, and No Longer At Ease—that make up The African Trilogy, remain relevant, profound and crucial. 

I Found Love In A Death Camp!

 By Herman Rosenblat                                      (Nazi Concentration Camp Survivor)

The sky was gloomy that morning as we waited anxiously. All the men, women and children of Piotrkow's Jewish ghetto had been herded into a square. Word had gotten around that we were being moved. My father had only recently died from typhus, which had run rampant through the crowded ghetto. My greatest fear was that our family would be separated.  

          *Herman Rosenblat in 2008 with his wife, Roma

'Whatever you do,' Isidore, my eldest brother, whispered to me, 'don't tell them your age. Say you're sixteen.  

'I was tall for a boy of 11, so I could pull it off. That way I might be deemed valuable as a worker.  

An SS man approached me, boots clicking against the cobblestones…He looked me up and down, and then asked my age.  

'Sixteen,' I said. He directed me to the left, where my three brothers and other healthy young men already stood.  

Buhari’s New Year Address, Empty, Directionless – PDP

 …Shows Nigerians Have To Come Together, Salvage Our Nation

January 1, 2021

Press Statement

Buhari’s New Year Address, Empty, Directionless – PDP…Shows Nigerians Have To Come Together, Salvage Our Nation

                                     *President Buhari 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) describes the 2021 New Year address by President Muhammadu Buhari as empty, directionless and confirms that our nation indeed has become leaderless.

The President’s speech underscores the urgent need for compatriots to come together and salvage our nation that is fast heading to a failed state.

The PDP laments as appalling that on New Year Day, all that President Buhari could offer a troubled and frustrated nation was a regurgitated script full of lame excuses and empty promises that address nothing.

As a President, President Buhari has not demonstrated the capacity to play his own part, as he claimed, having failed to find solution for the security and economic challenges that pervade our nation under his incompetent and lethargic watch.

Chief Bola Ige: 19 Years Without Justice

 By Dan Amor

A calculated insult and the guilt preceded his death, stealing from the actual murder all its potential impact and drama. There never was a crime more dramatically rehearsed, and the tale only provides it could not have been otherwise. Yet there are no clues to be uncovered, no enigmas to be revealed; for this was a murder almost predicted like its predecessors. 

                                                               *Bola Ige 

As a principled and astute politician, even though he agreed to serve in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s cabinet, Chief Bola Ige did not preach to Nigerians. But he provoked questions and left us in no doubt as to where he stood. He shared none of the current tastes for blurred conflicts, ambiguous characters and equivocal opinions. Nor was he disdainful of strong dramatic situations building up for firm climaxes. From the critic’s point of view, the plot of Ige’s senseless murder in December 2001, in its high velocity treachery, summarizes modern Nigeria in one word: “shame”. 

An Open Letter To President Buhari On Police “Checkpoints”

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

Dear Mr. President,

Travelling from Lagos to Anambra State on November 9, 2019, I counted 67 “checkpoints” mostly manned by armed men of the Police Mobile Force along the 371 kilometre stretch from Sagamu to Asaba. Travelling the same route again on Thursday November 28, 2019, I counted 64 “checkpoints”. I was on each occasion behind the wheel, meaning that my calculations may have missed or added a number of “checkpoints”. 

On November 30, 2019, however, Chief Tony Onyima, a respected journalist travelling as a passenger, counted 60 checkpoints on the same tortuous stretch, noting the precise location of each and every roadblock. This means that, on average, there is a “checkpoint” every 6.28 kilometres of the way. It suggests that the notorious stretch boasts more “checkpoints” than Hanoi and Saigon combined ever did all through the 20 years of the Vietnam War. 

Ending Gender-Based Violence Is A Human Rights Imperative

 By Shobha Shukla

"There is a global epidemic of violence against women – both within conflict zones and within societies at peace –  and it is still treated as a lesser crime and lower priority," said Angelina Jolie, US actress and then-UN Ambassador for refugees more than five years ago.

With the onslaught of the pandemic and global public health emergency and cascading humanitarian crises, these words have only become even more relevant today.

The Asia Pacific region presents some very challenging development indicators for women and girls and socially excluded and marginalized populations. There are deep rooted gender inequalities and discriminatory socio-cultural norms and practices arising out of patriarchal systems and structures, and sexual and other forms of gender-based violence continues to remain pervasive in the region.

According to latest statistics, the proportion of women in Asia Pacific who have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime ranges from 15% in Bhutan, Japan, Lao PDR and Philippines to 64% in Fiji and Solomon Islands. Also 4% (in Japan) to 48% (in Papua New Guinea) of women have experienced intimate partner violence in the last 12 months.

The Ooni Of Ife At Five: A Felicitation

 By DAN AMOR

It is unbelievable that five years have passed since His Imperial Majesty, Alaiyeluwa Oba Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi, Ojaja ll, the Ooni of Ife, ascended the throne of his ancestors. But it is five years of remarkable achievements, clear-headed and astute leadership, robust and ground-breaking royal interventions on the unity and peace of the Yoruba race and physical transformation of the Yoruba ancient kingdom. Kabiyesi, as you celebrate your fifth coronation anniversary, this writer rejoices with you on this joyous and auspicious occasion. 

                                          *Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi

In just five years on the throne of your fore-fathers, you have shown that you possess the missing link in the ability of the traditional institution to effect a change and leave an enduring legacy worthy of emulation for our people. Given your age, education and enlightenment, this is a generational proof of your exemplary leadership and indubitable characteristics. May you live long, Kabiyesi! 

Inside Nigeria’s Killing Fields

 By Reuben Abati

On Saturday, November 28, about 43 farmers who had gone to their farms during the current harvest season were attacked by Boko Haram terrorists. They were tied up; their hands behind their backs, one after the other their throats were slit. The United Nations puts the number of casualties at 110, not 43. Amnesty International says over 10 women and others are missing. The people of Zabarmari were so outraged they refused to bury the dead. They asked that the Governor of Borno State, Professor Baba Gana Zulum, must show up to witness the tragedy that has befallen their community. Zabarmari, in Jere Local Government Area, is about 20 kilometres out of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

             *President Muhammadu Buhari and Chief of Army 

Staff, Tukur Buratai

Two weeks earlier, terrorists had also attacked and killed members of the community. Maiduguri and the entire Lake Chad region have remained the hotbed of terrorism in Nigeria. In September, the state Governor’s convoy was attacked by insurgents during a visit to Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad. A death toll of 30 was reported. Several policemen and soldiers posted to that axis to help combat the menace of terrorism have also fallen victim, and died in the hands of terrorists. Many have had to lay down their arms and remove their uniforms. The security situation in the North Eastern part of Nigeria is proving intractable despite the Nigerian government’s repeated assurances that the Boko Haram has been technically defeated and degraded.

Buhari’s Unholy Romance With Niger Republic

 By Ochereome Nnanna

President Muhammadu Buhari’s romance with Niger Republic has become an affront to the national interest of Nigeria. When he was sworn-in as an elected president in 2015, he went to Mamadou Issoufou’s presidential palace in Niamey, Niger Republic, to celebrate. They gave him the reception of a conquering Fulani warlord: a white horse and sword. 

         *President Buhari with Mahamadou Issoufou 

of Niger Republic 

I found that curious. How can a Nigerian leader celebrate his electoral victory in a foreign country and not Daura, his supposed hometown in Nigeria? The answer has since been provided through Buhari’s policy actions in the past five plus years. We have since learnt that Buhari is a first-generation Nigerian whose father, Ardo Adamu Buhari, a duck seller, had migrated from Niger, settled in Nigeria and married a Nigerian woman, Zulaihat. 

Making Nigeria Work Again

 By DAN AMOR

There is a lamentable and disturbing magnitude of violence in Nigeria. So is crime. The country is constantly on the boil. The atmosphere in the country has been nothing but a tawny volcano. The situation conveys at once the chief features of the Nigerian spirit: it is vertical, spontaneous, immaterial, upward. It is ardent. And even as tongues of fire do, it turns into fire everything it touches. What we are experiencing today is induced by poverty, hunger, frustration, apathy and desperation. 

                                                                  *Buhari 

There is no more thermometer to measure the degree of frustration and desperation in the land than the long closure of our tertiary institutions, especially our universities due to strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) since the past eight months. 

Is President Buhari From Niger Republic?

 By Reno Omokri

Any follower of Nigeria’s federal budget since May 29, 2015, may be forgiven if they thought that Nigeria, under President Buhari, had performed a Hitler-style Anschluss, and had annexed Niger Republic as part of Nigeria, because of Buhari’s huge spending (of Nigeria’s money), to improve infrastructure in Niger Republic.

                                                           *Buhari

While Seme Border-Badagry express road, the only road currently linking Nigeria to other West African coastal nations, remains in ruins and looks as if it has been bombed, Buhari had spent huge resources developing road networks between Nigeria and Niger Republic.

On February 26, 2020, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, announced that the government had awarded a contract for the construction of two roads from Sokoto and Jigawa States up to Niger Republic, at the cost of $81 million dollars.

Scorpions And Frogs Of Nigeria

 

By Yinka Odumakin

 I was talking of how comprehensive incompetence of some of our compatriots who lack ability to lead is doing much damage to this country and may sentence it to death if we don’t reset quickly. 

The wonder in the piece was the likely dangers we face with those who went to hold a sectional meeting in Kaduna and still had the shameless gut to be mouthing “indivisibility” and other words they don’t know the meaning. The apartheid gathering had in attendance all Arewa big men holding federal appointments. I mentioned that those who attended that meeting and sanctioned it would do other million things wrong and would not see anything wrong with them because they can’t just see it because they are narrow and have no regard for others. 

We had yet to put that behind us when news filtered in that the Federal Government which had shut the Western borders with other Western countries had opened them for northern businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. The action sparked rage in the country. I particularly noticed the forthrightness of Mr Atedo Peterside in condemning the largely inconsiderate action that shows disregard for other businesses that have been dealt a deadly blow for several months. Ghanaians who have been taking it up against Nigerians in that country can now see what the government is doing to Nigerians.