Soludo, Central Politics and the Rest of Us

 By Chuks Iloegbunam  

I write this letter with a very heavy heart. For some time now I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency.

*Soludo 

The above is from a letter Chinua Achebe wrote to President Obasanjo on October 15, 2004, rejecting his nomination for national honours on the grounds that under the President’s watch Anambra State had become a political gangland. Anambra State is once more sitting precariously on the horn of a dilemma. The gubernatorial election is slated for November 6, 2021. There are over a dozen candidates, which, comparatively speaking is merciful. Ordinarily there should be more than 200 candidates, something close to the scenario of a church with more pastors than the congregation.

There is a matter of primary concern. Where are the election materials to be stored? The Awka branch of the Central Bank has vaults spacious enough to store all the materials necessary for the election. The place was previously used to store such election materials. Why might it not be used this time around? INEC says the election materials would, instead, be stored in Owerri, Imo State. Why?

Dele Giwa’s Assassination: 35 Years After

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

“Death is…the absence of presence…the endless time of never coming back…a gap you can’t see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound” – Tom Stopard    

In the morning of Monday, October 20, 1986, I was preparing to go to work when a major item on the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) 6.30 news bulletin hit me like a hard object. Mr. Dele Giwa, the founding editor-in-chief of ‘Newswatch’ magazine, had the previous day been killed and shattered by a letter bomb in his Lagos home. My scream was so loud that my colleague barged into my room to inquire what it was that could have made me to let out such an ear-splitting bellow. 

*Giwa

We were three young men who had a couple of months earlier been posted from Enugu to Abakaliki to work in the old Anambra State public service, and we had hired a flat in a newly erected two-storey building at the end of Water Works Road, which we shared. My flat-mate, clearly, was not familiar with Giwa’s name and work, and so had wondered why his death could elicit such a reaction from me. 

But later that day, as he interacted with people, he realised that Giwa’s death was such big news, and by the next couple of days, he had become an expert on Giwa and his truncated life and career. Across the country, Giwa’s brutal death dominated the news not just because of the pride of place he occupied in Nigerian journalism practice, but more because of the totally novel way his killers had chosen to end his life.   

Remembering Dele Giwa

 By Yakubu Mohammed

Remembering Dele Giwa? No, we have not forgotten him. How do you forget a colleague and a friend who was more like a brother? How do you forget a co-conspirator with whom, in 1984, we decided to quit our comfort zone in Concord where he edited the Sunday Concord and I, the National Concord, to venture into an uncharted waters that in no time birthed the trailblazing Newswatch?

*Dele Giwa 

How can you forget the iconoclastic reporter and editor who took exceptional delight in speaking truth to power? How do you forget? Like we do for the dead, we remember him every day and, as enjoined by our religion, we pray for the dead every day. 

But Dele Giwa lives in every journalist who pursues professionalism and extols the virtues of excellence, not the one who enthrones cant and hypocrisy and worships them like an ancient deity. We remember Dele everyday. As we did yesterday, October 19.  

When they snuffed life out of him on October 19, 1986, the novelty, even the senselessness, of his assassination through a parcel bomb was a mortal mistake. By that method and its cowardly means of delivery, they had made an immortal hero out of Dele. And forever he has to be mourned. As we do even now.

Compaore: Paying For Sankara’s Murder At Last?

 By Afolabi Gambari 

The man on the left of the photo below (Blaise Compaore) was 36 years old in 1987. Today, he is 70 years old. He was boyhood friend to the man on the right (Thomas Sankara). They lived together in the home of Thomas whose parents (Papa Joseph and Madame Marguerite) adopted Blaise as their own son and showered on him all the love and care that dutiful parents shower on their offspring. 

*Blaise Compaore and Thomas Sankara in 1984

Indeed, Papa Sankara took both Thomas and Blaise to the Army where he got them enlisted and wished for the brotherly friends a bright future together.

As fate would have it, Thomas' star shot higher in the Army and he became head of state of their country, Burkina Faso. The fate also made Blaise fall behind his friend in hierarchy, although they ran the government together – to the pride and joy of Papa Joseph and Madame Marguerite who saw the friends grow from boys to men.

Nigeria: Official Refusal To Declare Bandits As Terrorists

 By Femi Falana

It is public knowledge that the dangerous criminal elements who kidnapped the Chibok and Dapchi secondary school girls in the North-East Zone in 2014 and 2017 respectively were not referred to as bandits. They were called terrorists by the Federal Government and the media. The description was correct as the abductions carried out by the criminal elements were acts of terrorism.  

*Femi Falana 

But for reasons best known to the Federal Government the criminal elements who are currently involved in the brutal killing of innocent people and abduction of thousands of people including primary school pupils in the North-West Zone are called bandits and not terrorists. 

A few weeks ago, the so called bandits downed a fighter jet belonging to the Nigerian Air Force. Curiously, it was reported by the Federal Government and the media that the dastardly act was perpetrated by a gang of bandits.

Nigerian Legislators As Enablers Of Election Rigging!

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

There is no doubt that members of Nigeria’s National Assembly have grown too big for their boots and it is time the Nigerian people are massively fed with the liberating enlightenment that they possess the powers to cut them to size. Yes, the lawmakers need to be served an urgent reminder that they are in that Legislative House because the people have so far chosen to tolerate their deficient representation and can wake up one morning, decide that they have had enough of their abject lack of patriotism, suffocating arrogance and insensitivity and ask them to pack their loads and return home.   

  Senate President Lawan, Pres Buhari and Speaker Gbajabiamila

Their recent decision to brazenly sabotage the yearning of Nigerians for a more transparent and credible electoral process by voting against electronic transmission of results only served to open the eyes of many Nigerians to the extent these lawmakers have convinced themselves that they have become untouchable emperors who can ride roughshod on the citizenry and abort their most cherished aspirations without the minutest fear of any consequence.

Buharism: As The Naira Collapses, So Does Nigeria

 By Tony Eluemnor

I may not be an Economist but I don’t need an Economist to tell me that as the Naira tumbles in the foreign exchange (of currencies) market, thus Nigeria collapses. Or to put it in a proper perspective, thus the quality of the livelihood of Nigerians collapses, degrades, vanishes, disappears, is tarnished, is destroyed. I added that really needless second sentence because there could be some people out there that could claim that the country Nigeria is totally different from the citizens.

*Buhari 
As strange as that may sound, some people actually think that the country Nigeria is different from her citizens, or that the health of her economy does not really impact on the lives of the citizenry. If not, the cost of necessities such as petrol, cement, electricity tariff, food, transportation, books, newsprint, even sachet water and bread, should not be rising every day and our leaders would be congratulating themselves for a job well done. Also, no government official has seen it fit to resign. Yes, they also tag themselves as “progressives”! 

Nigerian Lawmakers As Champions Of Electoral Malpractices!

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

There is no doubt that members of Nigeria’s National Assembly have grown too big for their boots and it is time the Nigerian people are massively fed with the liberating enlightenment that they possess the powers to cut them to size. Yes, the lawmakers need to be served an urgent reminder that they are in that Legislative House because the people have so far chosen to tolerate their deficient representation and can wake up one morning, decide that they have had enough of their abject lack of patriotism, suffocating arrogance and insensitivity and ask them to pack their loads and return home.  

 *Senate President Lawan, President Buhari and Speaker               Gbajabiamila   

Their recent decision to brazenly sabotage the yearning of Nigerians for a more transparent and credible electoral process by voting against electronic transmission of results only served to open the eyes of many Nigerians to the extent these lawmakers have convinced themselves that they have become untouchable emperors who can ride roughshod on the citizenry and abort their most cherished aspirations without the minutest fear of any consequence.

2023: For Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Son Of Mauritanian Cow Seller Who Speaks For The North

 By Lasisi Olagunju

Alhaji Baba Ahmed, a Mauritanian cow seller, plied his trade from his country to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and to Dahomey (now Benin Republic). Business was very good but at a point, his customers in Dahomey, with impunity, refused to pay for his cows. Is it not the law that every seller must collect the proceeds of his sale? This was not the case with the cow seller who was not a son-of-the-soil in Dahomey. 

*Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and President Buhari 

The options before him were very limited. My people say if the landlord offends the tenant, it is the tenant who must go; again, if it is the tenant who has wronged the landlord, it is still the tenant who must go. This trader from Mauritania had to move out of Dahomey, leaving his money behind. And he moved, crossing over to Nigeria; first to Sokoto and later to Zaria. He entered Nigeria all alone but soon found Zaria a very conducive environment for his business, for his Islamic scholarship and for raising a family (See Daily Trust of Saturday, January 13, 2018). The Mauritanian finally settled in Zaria around 1920 - that was about 100 years ago - and died on November 5, 1987 in Zaria, reportedly at the age of 104 (see Facebook post of Abdulrahman M. Baba-Ahmed of 9 July, 2021). 

Does Nigeria Still Matter To Nigerians?

 By Dan Amor

It is the biggest question of the day! Does Nigeria really matter? Like an inscrutable nightmare, the ponderous mystery of the Nigerian national question, which is ultimately the nation’s enduring essence, is still at issue. Jolted by the scandalous and shocking display of the obvious limitations of the human evolution, the unacceptable index of human misery in their country, and willed by a recent memory of oppression inflicted upon them by discredited soldiers and their quislings, Nigerians have been singing discordant tunes about the state of their forced Union.   

This has further been exacerbated by disarming pockets of inter and intra-communal clashes, wanton killings by herdsmen, senseless Boko Haram bombings, frequent kidnappings by armed bandits, violent robbery and mindless ritual killings across the country. Therefore, the matter for regret and agitation is that a supposedly giant of Africa has suddenly become the world’s most viable junkyard due to the evil  machinations of a fraudulent ruling class and the feudal forces still determined to keep the country in a permanent state of medieval servitude. 

Obadiah Mailafia: Truth Never Dies!

 By Ayo Baje

“Please, pray for me. I have reasons to believe that my life is in danger and that some powerful political forces want to silence me forever for speaking the truth.  For speaking on behalf of the holy martyrs of thousands of innocent children, women, elderly and youths that have been killed in our beloved country. It is only in our benighted country that a man who speaks from his conscience can be hounded like a common criminal.”

–Dr. Obadiah Mailafia (now of blessed memory) on September 11, 2020

*Obadiah Mailafia 

In life he was definitely one of the few bearers of the unquenchable torch of timeless Truth. And he must have seen death coming, for having the audacity to speak that same bitter Truth to power. More so, in this long, dark tunnel of quasi-democracy garbed in the bloody garment of daring despotism. So, it was only a matter of time for the haters of Truth to undo him, characteristically in nebulous circumstances. Talk about the ominous hoot of the owl at midnight and the sudden death of the naked baby the next dawn! 

But as yours truly has insisted, “Truth is eternal while lies are short-distance runners”. Or, to put it in the warm words of the legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson, “Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons ‘. 

Heavens Will Fall If A Northerner Succeeds Buhari

 By Charles Okoh

You probably would have read or listened to a rabble-rouser who goes by the name Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, spokesman of the Northern Elders’ Forum, when he spoke recently, as he always does, as though he has authority to speak on behalf of a superficial monolithic north, that heavens would not fall if the presidency remains in the north after President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

*Sultan of Sokoto, Buhari and others

To be sure, I am not particularly interested in where the president comes from, what religion he practises or the language he speaks. This divisive and base level politicking is engineered by those who have continued to impede the growth and development of the nation for their selfish interests alone.

However, you cannot be in the Nigeria of today and pretend not to know that with the precarious situation the nation is now, what has now come to be known as rotational presidency remains the only way this nation can survive. It is the only way to give all the sense of belonging, fairness, equity and justice. Tempers have risen; the mutual suspicion in the air is so thick you can literally slice it with a knife. It is that bad. In a normal clime; merit should be the watchword; but ours is anything but normal.

How Southern Nigeria Can Win 2023 Presidential Election

 By Dele Momodu

Buhari and Gov Akeredolu of Ondo

Fellow Nigerians, please, allow me to remind you of an article I wrote in 2014 titled IN SEARCH OF MATHEMATICIANS. It was a simple calculation and permutation I made about how Major General Muhammadu Buhari was going to defeat the incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the 2015 Presidential election. As at that time, the confidence level of the Buhari camp was still quite shaky, indeed it was quite low. 

Buhari And His Dream Of A One Party State

 By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, where and how does one begin? Whenever you think you have seen it all in our dear beloved country Nigeria, something bigger, bizarre and sometimes even more dastardly occurs. Let me be honest, I have no problem with those decamping in droves from the opposition party PDP to the ruling party APC.

*Buhari 

As far as I’m concerned, they are merely exercising their inalienable rights of freedom of association, speech and movement. However, I have serious issues with only one man, President Muhammadu Buhari who seems to be the Talisman that they all credit with their defection. It is because of him they all turn into turncoat, notwithstanding their previously avowed aversion and derision of this same personage that has been the butt of their ridicule or denigration.

Nigeria’s Value Added Transgressions (VAT)

 By Charles Okoh

The recent upheavals generated by the bold move by Governor Nyesom Wike of the Rivers State to contest the right of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to continue collection of Value Added Tax, has brought to the fore several issues that are germane to the success or otherwise of the nation. The current skewed federal structure is largely responsible for the stunted growth of the nation. For those who mean well, the parasitic structure we operate as a federation cannot be in the ultimate interest of the nation.

The Rivers State Government had obtained the judgment of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt Division (coram Hon. Justice Stephen D. Pam, J.,) delivered in Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/149/2020 (Attorney General Rivers State v. Federal Inland Revenue Service & Anor) on 9th August, 2021 upholding the constitutional authority and competence of the Rivers State Government to impose, charge, demand, and collect VAT on taxable goods and services within Rivers State and declaring that the Federal Government through the FIRS has no power to impose and collect VAT within the state.

Good Afternoon!

 Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

Nigerian Writer and Journalist; author of the book, Nigeria: Why Looting May Not Stop (scruples2006@yahoo.com)

How EFCC Operatives Broke Into My Home Like Armed Robbers By 2AM — Journalist

 By Norah Okafor

At exactly 1:36am, I was alerted by my brother that there were armed robbers at my gate trying to make their way into the compound. Because it was an electric fence, I didn't bother enough because I felt they won’t be able to make their way in. Alas, I was wrong. 2am on the dot they made their way into the compound.

 

*Norah Okafor 

They came prepared. Over 25 of them with two Hilux buses, masked and dressed in black upon black. A huge one climbed the fence, with a plier and immediately cut off a few of the wires, jumped into the compound and with an axe, broke the gate key open and, zoom, they made their first entry into my apartment. 

As a nude sleeper, while they tried to make their way into the compound, I found something to wear while my brothers and I were thinking of a way of escape. The worst case scenario for me was that they might rape or take the only valuable available (a car key), so I prepared my mind. 

Buhari, Forget Maradi, Focus On Nigeria

 By Ochereome Nnnanna

I only listen to what President Muhammadu Buhari has to say because as a journalist, I have no choice. The difference between him and General Ibrahim Babangida is that when Babangida talks, his words mean several things at the same time. He can escape through one of the routes and still claim he did not deceive you. If you know how to read Babangida’s lips, he won’t be able to deceive you.

*Mohamed Bazoum

But Buhari’s is a case of sometimes saying one thing and doing another, and sometimes doing what he says. This second attribute gave the “Buharideen” the opportunity to brand him as Mai Gaskiya or man of his word. This branding was used to deceive millions of gullible Nigerians in 2015. We warned Nigerians to beware, but the Buharideen called us “wailers”. Now, look who is wailing!

Nigeria: Tracing Grazing Routes Through The Presidential Villa

 By Owei Lakemfa

Alhaji Tanimu Yakubu was Special Adviser on Economic Matters to President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Before becoming one of Nigeria’s best Presidents in our leadership-challenged country, Yar’Adua was Governor of Katsina State and TY, as Yakubu is fondly called, was one of his cabinet members  for three years from 1999.

When TY was preparing that administration’s first budget in Katsina State, he studied the past trends in the government support for agriculture. He discovered that annually, 80 per-cent of the agriculture budget was allocated for  fertilizer procurement.

Given the fact that there are a number of clearly identified necessities of agriculture, he decided to research why fertilizer alone was consuming four fifths of the agriculture budget.

He appointed consultants to carry out a survey amongst farmers in the state to generate a list of their actual needs; they were 20 items. Then, a second stage of the survey was carried out for the farmers to rank those needs from the most to the least important. The result was shocking. The farmers listed fertilizer as the 13th in their list of their needs! Desertification was ranked number one, extension service, two and  market/profitability, three. The farmers did not even identify subsidy as a requisite. 

Kumuyi: Why I'm Called Defender Of The Faith

 

By WF Kumuyi

I never knew that the words The Defender of the Faith were part of my name and calling. We were in Singapore for a conference with attendees from different parts of the world, and my humble self was required to give series of messages. 

After I finished the series, one of the ministers came and asked me if I knew the meaning of my name, William. I responded that I never thought about it.  

Actually, when I was a young Anglican and I was to be christened, my father asked me what Christian name I would love to bear. I said I would love to bear the name Johnson. There was a Johnson in our community who was very vocal, fervent, bold and courageous and I had learnt to appreciate him. 

It was agreed that I would be Johnson. But then when we got to the Church something else happened. As the ceremony was being performed the minister said "This boy shall be called William". I wondered why I had to bear that name.