Constitution Amendment: Can Lawan, Gbajabiamila Be Trusted?

 By Charles Okoh

The senate president, Ahmad Lawan and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, are two of a kind. Apart from the fact that they both belong to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), they also seem resolved to maintaining the status quo to hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil about the party and the federal government. If that is what being loyal to one’s party means, I leave that to all to conjecture, but how do we tell when the opportunity to transcend party politics to projecting national interest beckons? 

*Lawan, Buhari, Gbajabiamila 

To be sure, both gentlemen have told us severally that they do not intend to ruffle the feathers of the executive, at least not openly, and they have kept faith to that for about two years since their inauguration. However, the very essence of separation of powers in a democracy would be completely defeated if the other arms of government would acquiesce with all that the executive throws at them. 

Chuks Iloegbunam: Restless But Peaceful Soul

 By Tony Eluemunor

When I think about my big brother, Mazi Chuks Iloegbunam, what readily comes to mind is the timeless Abba song, “Move On”. Its opening lyrics truly capture the essential Chuks Iloegbunam.

*Iloegbunam 

Here we go: “They say a restless body can hide a peaceful soul. A voyager and a settler, they both have a distant goal. If I explore the heavens, or if I search inside. Well, it really doesn’t matter as long as I can tell myself I’ve always tried”. 

The Iloegbunam many know could be that one that never, never, repeat never, suffers fools gladly. As we all know, if you do not suffer fools gladly, you are not patient with people who you think are stupid. 

Encounter With Chuks Iloegbunam

By Dan Amor

In 2013, when yours sincerely was about leaving the Editorial Board of Daily Independent Newspapers, having served on the board for more than ten (10) years, Chief Nnanna Ochereome, Chairman of the Editorial Board of Vanguard Newspapers, recommended me to his friend and colleague, Chief Chuks Iloegbunam, then Media Adviser to Prof. Sylvester Monye. The latter was then Special Adviser to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on Performance Monitoring & Evaluation at the Presidency in Abuja. The purpose of the recommendation was for yours sincerely to assist them in the writing and documentation of some procedures at that level of government as a consultant.

*Iloegbunam 

Before then, I had been reading and following Chuks Iloegbunam without having to meet with him face-to-face. He was already an established writer and one of the inimitable and quintessential pen rollers in Nigeria and Africa. Chuks Iloegbunam, for me, is simply a man who has been working hard to find words and images that capture the experience of Nigeria, from her first decade of independence or thereabouts to her first experience in violence as national pastime. 

Will Nigeria Survive As A Nation?

 By MC Asuzu

As any normal person will be able to reason out, politics is the science and the art of personal and especially group interaction that helps the persons concerned to be able to influence power or other decision making; or indeed, to capture that power (or decision-making) in order to use it for the pursuit of the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the polity, evenly and equitably.

*Buhari 

It is for this reason that the classical Greek philosophers of old reckoned that politics is the highest human calling in the human life. They considered that after nursery, primary, secondary, tertiary or professional education for all the possible professions and jobs in life, then those who are able, will then be trained in philosophy as the highest level of training. Then, they will become the philosopher-kings ready and capable of justly, equitably and progressively ruling the nations of the world.

Nigeria: Attorney-General Is Wrong On Open Grazing

 

By Aloy Ejimakor

Days ago, Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) granted an interview to Channels Television in which he faulted Southern Governors’ ban on open grazing. The AGF is wrong; Southern Governors are right, and here’s why:

Before one can graze, he must be a cattle rearer or a herdsman. The herdsman would have to enter another person’s land. If the herdsman is grazing on his own land, it does not implicate any legal, safety or economic issues because the land belongs to him. But when he goes upon another man’s land to graze without permission or some leave and license, he commits trespass, civil and criminal trespass to boot.

Malami’s Outburst Merits No Response From Reasonable People – Akeredolu

Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State

Press Release

I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami (SAN) on the resolution of the Southern Governors Forum to ban open grazing in their respective states. 

The AGF is quoted to have said that this reasoned decision, among others, is akin to banning all spare parts dealers in the Northern parts of the country and is unconstitutional. 

It is most unfortunate that the AGF is unable to distill issues as expected of a Senior Advocate. Nothing can be more disconcerting.

Chuks Iloegbunam At 70

 By Chido Nwkanma 

18 May 2021 is an important day in the household of the Iloegbunams as the one and only Baba Ndidi, the brand and the person, clocks 70 years. Chuks Iloegbunam is a general of the writing fraternity. He has served this nation well as a journalist, book editor, publisher and technocrat in government. 

*Chuks Iloegunam 

He stands out for his craft as a writer with a fearless voice that wields a powerful pen. Chuks Iloegbunam is a writer in the best traditions of that craft. His pen roars in honesty and fluidity. 

Mr Iloegbunam wrote memorable essays in The Guardian, where he turned to after service at The Punch. He was passionate both in his writing and in his defense of rights, the worker, and humanity.

He was at Longmans Nigeria Limited as Humanities Editor. He edited Sonala Olumhense, No Second Chance, and Femi Osofisan, Morountodun and Other Stories. 

Open Grazing Protagonists As Enemies Of Nigeria

 By Charles Okoh

Easily the greatest casualty, in the history of this otherwise great nation, is the murder of truth, justice, fair play and equality on the altar of hypocrisy sycophancy, tribalism, nepotism, religious bigotry, etc. Now, to speak the truth is to risk being seen as an enemy of the state and a saboteur. But the truth has a way of always coming back to haunt those who seek to bury it.

Nigeria is a lie that has been told for several years. It is a country that is built on falsehood, injustice and inequality. But truth is, until we are able to come to terms with this reality, we will continue to wander aimlessly and other tiny nations will continue to take advantage of our misfortune. Truth remains constant. 

Clearly, one truth we seem unprepared to face is the reality that Nigeria has been held back because we have not learnt to be dispassionate with national issues and forge a common front in addressing issues of national significance and importance. 

Police Report On IPOB Alleged Plan To Attack Lagos

Press Statement

 1) The attention of Pan Yoruba groups has been drawn to reports by the Nigerian Police Force, NPF that Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, (IPOB-IGBO) are planning to attack Lagos. The Lagos State Commissioner Odumosu made the allegation in Lagos today. He speaks for the police high command in Abuja. 

2) While we cherish the responsibility of the police to do their work, we are concerned about the public declaration of the alleged IPOB plans to attack Lagos by the Nigerian Police. 

3) We are worried that since the police already claim to be in possession of what appears to be a confidential information, the proper thing would have been to discreetly go after the IPOB members to arrest them unless the police is not sure of its information. 

Nigeria: This Country Belongs To Us All

 By Dan Amor

Even as the River Niger surges still along its wonted paths to its dalliance with the River Benue and the consequent emptying of the passionate union into the mazes of the Delta, and, thereafter, into the vast, swelling plenitude of the all-welcoming seas, it is Nigeria, our Nigeria. True, Lagos is still Lagos; Abuja is still Abuja. It is, indeed, injury time in a new country under a new democracy, our democracy! Yet, everywhere you look, things look pretty much as they always have been. Still, the sway of buffoonery and unintelligent greed; still the billowing gown arrogance of the supposedly powerful, the surface laughter of the crashing rivers celebrating the disquieting crisis of democracy, the riveting appearances of things. 

Splendid is the current! Yet, into the heart of the average Nigerian pop uninvited intimations that we live today in the cusp of a new age, a new country and a new democracy. Alas, it is a new era. But in the lull between the passions and exertions and excitations of our workaday world today, at these times when the body yields to repose and the mind nestles in shades of quietude, it hits you: it is the dawn of change! But, what manner of change is this? From better to worse?

Leah Sharibu, Chibok Girls, And The International Women's Day

 By Charles Dickson 

All idiots are morons, but not all morons are idiots. 

It was the International Women's Day 2021 recently and the theme was 'Choose to Challenge'. So today I choose to challenge us, the people of Nigeria, hoping that someone is reading and listening, a quick caveat, I will be sometimes uncomplimentary in my choice of words, phrases and conclusions but that’s the essence; a challenge and yes a choice. 

*Leah Sharibu

Over the last decade, I have done a sizable amount of work on not just Boko Haram but also the Chibok girls, killings, abductions and Nigeria’s conflict torn Northwest region. 

So listening to Leah Sharibu’s father, Mr. Nathan speak touched all the wrong cords, hear him, “He has promised several times to the family, he promised the nation, he promised the whole world that his administration will do his possible best to see that my daughter returned home safely. So, I’m pleading to him to be a father, a grandfather, to do his possible best to see my daughter return home safely. Please, I'm begging him”. 

Nigeria’s Invincible Gunmen

 

By Jerry Uwah

Nigeria’s security crisis has taken a precarious nose-dive. Inveterate gangsters derisively tagged gunmen by the Nigerian media have practically turned the country into one huge killing field. 

Last Tuesday the gunmen killed 21 innocent people in different parts of the country. The previous day they killed 18 in one community in Anambra state. The situation in Rivers state is so deplorable that the governor had to declare a curfew. 

The strange development in the escapades of the gunmen is that they are now bold enough to take on those paid and armed to protect the society. In the last two weeks, dozens of policemen have been mowed down by the gunmen who take on police stations as cheap targets. 

Nigeria: Isa Pantami Should Be in Jail

 By Yemi Adebowale

In Law, Ignorance is not an excuse. Confessing to a crime is not immunity against trial. Again, the fact that an offence was committed years back does not mean the offender will escape justice. The person can be put on trial anytime the facts of the crime emerge. That was why the American government put former film producer, Harvey Weinstein on trial for sex offences dating back to the late 1970s. 

*Pantami

Weinstein was arrested, charged with rape in New York in May 2018, convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. Nigeria’s Communication and Digital Economy Minister, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, for his past extremist and flammable preaching, is liable for trial for incitement; inciting Muslims against Christians, inciting Muslims against the federal government and the military. In criminal law, incitement is encouraging another person to commit a crime. It is committed when one person counsels, procures or commands another to commit a crime, whether or not that person commits the crime.

Risks And Rewards For South African President As He Takes The Stand At Corruption Inquiry

 By Richard Calland

President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to appear before the Zondo Commission of inquiry into corruption in South Africa comes at a delicate time. A great deal hinges on it. When a sitting President appears before a Judicial Commission of Inquiry it is always a significant moment.

*Ramaphosa and Zuma 

Sometimes a Commission will be concerned with a failure or with misconduct that has taken place under the particular head of government's own watch. But other times, it may be that it is the mistakes of a previous administration or President that are under scrutiny.

Ramaphosa's case is unusual as it is neither one nor the other. The Commission's terms of reference are focused clearly on events that took place while Ramaphosa's immediate predecessor ,Jacob Zuma, was President , between 2009 and 2018. Ramaphosa was elected president in February 2018.

Is Nigeria Still the Giant of Africa?

 By Reno Omokri

The 2019 xenophobia attacks in South Africa, for which President Muhammadu Buhari visited South Africa on Thursday, October 3, 2019, was the defining proof that the rest of Africa needed to see, to convince them that Nigeria, under Muhammad Buhari, has become a paper tiger, whose bark is worse than its bite.

Come to think of it. How can Nigerians be attacked in unprovoked xenophobic outrage in South Africa, and it is the Nigerian President who goes to grovel to the South African leader, a neophyte, like Cyril Ramaphosa, nonetheless?
It beggars belief. Obasanjo would never have done that, and former President Jonathan did not do it.

Nigerians may recall that on March 4, 2012, South Africa deported 125 Nigerians over Yellow Fever Certificates. The very next day, then-President Jonathan ordered the retaliatory deportation of 84 South Africans.

Nigeria: Buhari, Pantami And The Burden Of A Nation

 By Charles Okoh

The recent unearthing of the not-so-wholesome past of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, has brought doubts on the sincerity and desire of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to end insurgency and all sundry security issues that currently engulf the nation.

 *Buhari and Pantami

Pantami has shown little or no regards for the tenets of democracy and democratic principles in his capacity as a minister in a democratic government. He has carried on as a despotic leader who would brook no contrary view no matter how genuine and objective. His disposition to governance would only come as a surprise to those who knew little about him before the tremor caused by the expose on his sordid past came to the fore recently. 

Nigeria: The Bad Example of Zenith Bank

 By Dulue Mbachu

When the news broke some weeks ago that Zenith Bank had declared an annual profit of 230.5 billion naira for 2020, it crossed my mind that my 148,354 naira withheld by the bank for the past year may have been counted as gain. 

On February 10, 2020, I used my Zenith Bank app to settle a bill to Quickteller (owned by Interswitch) for an Arik Air ticket priced 47,111.00 naira. Though my Zenith Bank account was charged, Arik didn’t issue the ticket because, it said, the money didn’t get to it. 

Interswitch confirmed it received the payment and due to some glitch it didn’t go through to Arik. So I paid for a fresh ticket while Interswitch promised to reverse the transaction, with the funds due in my account by February 20. Interswitch then sent me evidence it had initiated the payment reversal, and copied me in an email sent to no less than 14 people and units in Zenith Bank, including their key reconciliation officials, providing them the reversal instructions.

Buhari Is Encouraging Secession – Ayo Adebanjo

 

*Adebanjo 

The National leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s unyielding opposition to the widespread yearning of Nigerians for the restructuring of the country is swelling the ranks self-determination agitators and fueling the demands for secession.

Speaking at the Service of Songs in honour of the late Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, at the Police College Ikeja on Thursday, April 22, Adebanjo stated that if Buhari claims to be a democrat, he would not have refused to gratify the yearning of the people to have the country restructured:

“It’s Buhari that encourages secession. Those of us calling for restructuring are the people who want Nigeria to stay. They mention Igboho, they mention Nnamdi Kanu. These people represent the youths here, because the suffering is much; the suffering is bad. And if they don’t restructure Nigeria, we’ll have more Igbohos, we’ll have more Nnamdi Kanus. I don’t support secession and don’t oppose it,” he said. 

Was Deby, Chadian President, Assassinated?

 President Idriss Deby of Chad is dead.

Army spokesman, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, in statement broadcast on state television, said Mr Deby died of injuries he sustained on the frontline while visiting Chadian soldiers waging a bitter war against rebel fighters in the north.   

President Deby “has just breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield,” General Agouna said in the statement.

Anambra International Airport Is On Course

 

By C. Don Adinuba

1. As the first commercial plane is scheduled to land at Anambra International Cargo/Passenger Airport on April 30, 2021, to test-run the facilities at the airport, a faceless group of hired propaganda guns has crafted and posted on the Internet a so-called news report alleging that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Aviation, has refused to give the Anambra State Government a licence to operate an international airport but has rather offered the State Government a licence to run a domestic airport. The scammers attributed the purported decision to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Sirika Hadi, a well-respected captain and administrator.