Why APGA Should Remain Eternally Grateful To Peter Obi

 By Ifeanyi Maduako

Recently, the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Oye, was reportedly quoted in the media as saying that former Governor Peter Obi would never make progress again in politics unless he returned to APGA. 

*Obi

If the reports were anything to go by, he was apparently mocking Mr. Peter Obi following the outcome of the recently concluded Anambra governorship election in which his party’s candidate, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, was declared as the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Chief Oye has the liberty to celebrate the victory of his party at the polls, but does Peter Obi deserve mockery and invective from APGA members?

There Were Unknown Soldiers Before There Are Unknown Gunmen

 By Owei Lakemfa

I passed in front of the University of Abuja, UNIABUJA Staff Quarters on Sunday, October 31, 2021 on my way from the Nigeria Media Merit Award programme in Lokoja. As I did, my mind raced back to the issue of insecurity I had raised three days earlier during my keynote address to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Bauchi Zone Summit on the state of the nation.

I had paused to ask the audience at the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University, Bauchi venue what the university population was. “Thirty thousand” was the reply.

I had then said it was preposterous to me if a dozen or two dozen bandits were to arrive on the campus, and all we do is run away, allowing the gunmen to round up as many persons as possible and herd them like cows into the forest or the hills and then place hefty ransom demands on the captives.

Re: There Were Unknown Soldiers Before Unknown Gunmen

 By Femi Falana

In concluding his brilliant article on “Unknown Soldiers Before Unknown Gunmen”, Owei Lakemfa referred to the verdict of a tribunal which claimed that the Ransome-Kuti’s residence was set ablaze by an “unknown soldier”.

*Falana 

The Supreme Court of Nigeria questioned the verdict for blaming the “unknown soldier” in place of the State whose soldiers had perpetrated the crime. Thus, in the leading judgement of the apex court in the celebrated case of Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti & Ors v Attorney-General of the Federation (1985) 1 NWLR (Pt 6) 124, Kayode Eso JSC said: “This immunity attaching to the State in this country is sad.” The learned trial judge who took evidence described the scene that day as “hell let loose” and this he had set out in his analysis of the evidence.

Chinua Achebe: The Eagle On Iroko At 91

 By DAN AMOR   

Prof. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, easily one of the world's most popular and celebrated novelists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries would have turned 91 years today having been born on November 16, 1930. Yet, amidst the torrent of tributes and acclamations that heralded the transition of Professor Achebe to higher glory on March 21, 2013 (more than 8 years ago), at Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, some hacks or literary kill-joys still found space to circulate that Achebe’s style of writing and literary philosophy were not original or sophisticated enough to attract the sympathy of the Nobel Committee.  

Achebe 

That is to say that the whole gamut of Achebe’s literary corpus was not deserving of the Nobel Prize for literature. Whereas the import of this anniversary piece is not about the politics of Achebe’s world view as a global citizen, no amount of false-hood and propaganda can diminish the fact that he was one of the most cited twentieth-century thinkers and quintessential intellectuals. While this may not be surprising for a man who had authored one of the most influential novels in world literature – and had changed the way the world at large appreciates the African cosmology and ontology – Chinua Achebe remains a conundrum to most people.  

Unknown Disease Putting Women At Risk Of Cancer

 By Tijani Salami

I was talking to a fellow physician a few days ago that had recently treated a 70-year-old woman with cervical cancer.

Upon examination it turned out she was infected with schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm, commonly known as bilharzia. It is quite likely that her long-term infection with the schistosomiasis parasite had caused her cervical cancer.  She died a few months later.

Currently a group of doctors from tertiary hospitals across Nigeria are leading an awareness campaign on Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS). They started the campaign because they realized that many women are not being diagnosed at primary or secondary health care facilities. It is only when they present at tertiary hospitals, often with cancer symptoms, that FGS are being diagnosed. Women have reported that FGS is rarely mentioned when they are treated for infections at primary healthcare centers and many healthcare workers are simply not aware of the disease – which can be easily prevented.

In fact, millions of Nigerian women are at risk of serious reproductive health complications as a result of exposure to schistosomiasis. In English it is commonly known as bilharzia but is also known as Àtọ̀s í Ajá in Yoruba, Tsargiya in Hausa and Avàrà or Etu in Igbo. It is a chronic water borne disease caused by parasitic worms and Nigeria has the highest burden of the disease in Africa, with reports across the 36 states and the Federal capital. Infection can occur through the skin by coming into contact with water contaminated with the parasites, and children are often infected while swimming or collecting water. Women are also at risk as they are more likely to take washing to infected creeks or rivers, and to fetch and carry water for the household. Urban women and girls are also susceptible when washing or bathing in contaminated water.

Because the symptoms of the disease mimic those of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or urinary tract infections (UTIs) such as vaginal discharge, blood in the urine and abdominal and pelvic pain, most cases are misdiagnosed in our clinics. If untreated, FGS causes infertility, spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, genital ulcers and increases risk of HIV transmission and cancer of the cervix. There is no national data on the prevalence of the disease but it is reportedly affecting about 56 million African women and girls globally. If Nigeria is the most affected country in Africa, our numbers are bound to be very high.

Currently there are no public health interventions in Nigeria targeting FGS and ultimately a comprehensive approach will be needed to eliminate this disease by ensuring all Nigerians have access to clean safe water and sanitation. But we do not have to wait to stop this disease from damaging one more woman. Preventive doses of Praziquantel, administered every 6-12 months from childhood through adult life would dramatically reduce infections and the terrible burden it is placing on Nigerian women. The cost of such treatment is less than 300 naira ($1) and is readily available with no adverse effects.

In my health outreach work in rural communities, I have already adopted a preventive strategy, encouraging all girls and women to take Praziquantel as part of our deworming project. We have already seen a reduction in STIs and pelvic infections, and fewer hospital visits.

A few weeks ago the Federal Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ohanire said that 122 million Nigerians are at the risk from 15 Neglected Tropical Diseases of which schistosomiasis is one. The minister said that the diseases are devastating, but are barely mentioned in the media. I was pleased to hear the minister call on the media to ensure there is greater awareness of NTDs, but even he failed to mention Female Genital Schistosomiasis. The current strategic programme on NTDs , which includes schistosomiases, doesn’t specifically address FGS, perpetuating the myth that schistosomiasis is a disease that mainly affects children and men.

We must make FGS a public health priority with a combination of mass drug administration and education. It is time for Nigeria’s Ministry of Health to develop a comprehensive strategy for the elimination of FGS including raising awareness of the disease and its treatment, distributing Prazinquantel routinely to all children and adults, and commencing FSG screening for all women alongside cervical cancer screening.

Additionally, the government should invest directly in NTD prevention and treatment rather than rely on foreign partners to do this work, collaborate with educational leaders to teach FSG prevention in school health programmes and ultimately make the provision of clean water and sanitation a health priority for all Nigerians.

Female Genital Schistosomiasis is a serious public health problem in Nigeria that can be easily prevented. We owe it to the women and girls of this country to raise awareness of the disease and take immediate steps to address it. This is an achievable goal if our leaders are willing to take action.

*Dr Salami is a physician, sexual and reproductive health expert and founder of Sisters Caregivers Project Initiative, which provides medical and social support for women and advocates for an end to child marriage and maternal malnutrition. @DrSalamiTijani1

Disruptions At The Federal Ministry Of Industry, Trade & Investment

 By Ikechukwu Alozie 

There is no end in sight to the extent to which politicians can go to disrupt any system or process that does not favour their perfidious and nefarious plans. Our investigation has revealed that the plot to remove the Permanent Secretary of the ministry is purely political, no more no less. In abroad, the ministry  of industry, trade and investment, like the ministry of foreign affairs, is like the gateway to any country.  

Consequently, the ministry of industry, trade and investment, in other shores, is like countries' major international airports, with arrival and departure halls, very clean and massively beautified. In other countries, the ministry of industry, trade and investment is a place where records are kept in its most cautionary validity and visibility devoid, of corruption. In that ministry, workers wear their best character because they reflect the conduct of the country's workforce to the international community. 

Nigeria: Oil Rich, Energy Poor

 By Jerry Uwah

A CNN report last week derisively tagged Nigeria as a country that is oil rich but energy poor. The global television news network was referring to Nigeria’s abysmal electric power supply situation. It lamented that even the oil wealth might be hampered by a recent decision of the leading world powers which rose from a gathering on climate change in Glasgow, Scotland in the United Kingdom of Great Britain with a firm resolve to drastically curtail investment in fossil fuel exploration and exploitation in a desperate bid to halt the millions of tons of carbon dioxide spewed into the air from the burning of fossil fuel.

Nigeria has a notoriety for abysmal electricity supply in the whole world. The World Bank recently celebrated Nigeria’s deplorable electricity supply situation by declaring it the country with the highest number of people without access to electricity.

When God Visits A Beleaguered World

 By William F. Kumuyi

I did say in my last State of the Nation intervention essay published in October in most of Nigeria’s leading newspapers and worldwide in the social media that while God expects the state and its institutions of administration to attend to secular matters, He is nonetheless interested in fairness, equity and justice as man discharges those obligations. Man’s challenges in various shapes of crime, insurrection, corruption, climate change, youth restiveness, collapse of moral norms, pandemics, sectarian intolerance, wars etc., are all a consequence of our failure to meet our Creator’s demands.

*Kumuyi

Where justice or fairness is denied its centrality in our relationships, whether in the Church or outside it, the victims would always fall into the ensnaring and extirpating embrace of the devil. He is perpetually on standby to feed on man’s quest to right perceived wrongs through ways not prescribed by Heaven. It is safe, then, to conclude that although Satan is the infamous author of all evil assaulting mankind, man is his inseparable accomplice on account of his wilful alienation from the Lord manifesting in his rejection of His laws.

Who Is Governor Lalong Trying To Please?

 By Charles Okoh

It is difficult to fathom whose interest Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, is out to serve. Governor Lalong for some inexplicable reasons has chosen to look away while the once peaceful state has been turned into a huge killing field. Lalong’s personal ambition, it seems, has left him satisfied with the albatross he carries around in the name of being the chairman of the Northern States’ Governors Forum and his desire not to upset the presidency, even in the face of a clear threat to exterminate the people of the state.

*Lalong 

June 2018, over 100 people were killed in Gindi Akwati, Ruku, Kura, Rapps, Kinshan, Gengere, Heipang, and Gana Ropp areas of the state. The gory incident forced Governor Lalong, who was in Abuja to attend the All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention, to abandon the convention and return home to attend to the situation.

Ken Saro-Wiwa And The Ogoni Conundrum

 By Dan Amor

This week (Wednesday November 10, 2021, to be specific) indubitably marks the 26th anniversary of the tragic death of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni kinsmen, in the evil hands of professional hangmen who sneaked into Port Harcourt from Sokoto in the cover of darkness. We were at the national convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in the auditorium of the University of Lagos when the news came to us with a rude shock that our immediate past President then had been killed by the State under the watchful eyes of Gen. Sani Abacha who was head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

*Ken Saro-Wiwa 

By his death, the Abacha-led military junta had demonstrated, in shocking finality, to the larger world, that it was guided by the most base, most callous of instincts. As a student of Nigerian history, and of the literature of the Nigerian Civil War, I am adequately aware that Ken Saro-Wiwa, against the backdrop of our multicultural complexities allegedly worked against his own region during the War, the consequences of which he would have regretted even in his grave. 

Nigeria: Political Class Is Eating Our Tomorrow

 
*Senate President Lawan, President Buhari, Speaker Gbajabiamila

By Paul Odili

Society grows when leaders plant trees whose shade they may never sit under — Greek Proverb 

This tirade speaks for itself. The  political class in Nigeria has not demonstrated competence; it has no sense of national mission, ideology and, or commitment. It takes the people of Nigeria for granted. It assumes that the people can be bought and manipulated and that it has the tools of how to do this.

It has gotten away with great misplacement of goals because, so far, it has not been taught a lesson by the people, and has, therefore, become hubristic. In this regard,Nigerians are advised to regard with strong skepticism signs of intelligence, humility or piety by the political class. They are not to be trusted. 

How Anambra Diaspora Can Support The Political Process At Home

 By Uche Nworah

A diaspora is a large group of people with similar heritage or homeland, who have since moved out to places all over the world. Diasporas live and work in states, regions or countries different from their country of birth, or homeland. The term has been used also to describe Itinerant Nigerians who are scattered all over the world, either as political or economic migrants.

Wherever they find themselves, Nigerian diaspora have always distinguished themselves in the professions, be it medical, academia, sports, technology, finance, business and other fields. 

In an October 2020 publication by the London-based Financial Times newspaper, quoting from 2017 data from the Migration Policy Institute, it said that, “In the United States of America, Nigerians are the most highly educated of all groups, with 61 per cent holding at least a bachelors degree compared with 31 per cent of the total foreign-born population and 32 per cent of the US-born population”. The report went on to say that, “more than half of Nigerian immigrants (54 per cent) were most likely to occupy management positions, compared with 32 per cent of the total foreign-born population and 39 per cent of the United States-born population”.

As Anambra State Confronts An organized Crime Family

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

On 6 November, 2021, Anambra State, at 4,844 km² the second smallest state by landmass in Nigeria – Lagos State with 3,577 km² is the smallest – is scheduled to go to the polls to elect a new governor. Preceded by no campaigns or debate and defined by an orgy of mass murder, this Anambra election will go down as one of the most disembodied in Nigeria’s recent history. It is a battle between those who see elections as a game of numbers (no matter how procured) and those who seek to ensure that elections are based on credible counting and accounting.

This election is a defining battle for the future of (south-east) Nigeria. If Anambra produces a governor who, like the one in neighbouring Imo State, is manifestly without legitimacy, there will be no end to the crisis in that part of Nigeria. To understand why this is so, it is essential to recap the story of how Anambra’s governorship elections went off-cycle because it presents a resilient cast of characters that represent a dominant strain of criminal impunity in electoral politics in Nigeria.

Ken Nnamani And Odinkalu’s Misplaced Aggression

 By Reginald Okafor

Chidi Odinkalu has cut a niche for himself as a critic of the intellectual hue in the last few years in Nigeria so much that his views are well regarded. His place in advocacy and as a former Chairman of Nigeria Human Rights Commission (NHRC) place him in a privileged position. They confer some credibility on whatever he says. But, in a recent piece he wrote titled ‘Ken Nnamani:The Man Who Sold His Conscience’, Odinkalu missed his shot by a mile!

*Chidi Odinkalu

Odinkalu, in what is understandably his frustration with the state of anomie in the southeast, where killings and unexplained kidnappings have been the lot of the people, took umbrage with the current administration and dragged some persons in the ruling All Progressives Congress into the sordid affairs in Anambra State, one of them former Senate President Ken Nnamani, a man who has earned his badge of integrity even in the murky waters of Nigerian politics.

Nigeria: From Freedom To Anarchy

By Dan Amor

Once upon a time, there was a young country struggling in the comity of nations to find her place in the sun. For, in this young country of brave people, it was discovered that free­dom was a God-given right. So impressed were the citizens with this belief that they lit a candle to symbolise their freedom. But, in their wisdom, they knew that the flame could not burn alone. So, they lit a second candle to symbolize man’s right to govern himself. The third candle was lighted to sig­nify that the rights of the individual were more important than the rights of the State. And finally, they lit a fourth candle to show that government should not do for the peo­ple those things which the people should do and have been doing for themselves.

*Buhari 

As the four candles of freedom burned brightly, the young country prospered. And as they prospered, they grew fat. And as they grew fat, they got lazy. When they got lazy, they asked the government to do things for them which they had been doing for them­selves, and one of the candles went out.

Why Is Buhari Not Exposing Boko Haram’s Sponsors?

 By Reno Omokri

On September 21, 2021, Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the Buhari junta ‘is not interested in naming and shaming Boko Haram’s sponsors”. A month later, on October 21, 2021, Abubakar Malami, Buhari’s Attorney General of the Federation, said the Buhari regime had identified Sunday Igboho’s ‘sponsors’. We are watching!

Buhari and Malami

It is apparent to any unbiased observer that Buhari lacks the impartiality to be Nigeria’s leader. He is obviously a tribal irredentist. And his irredentism is seen in the way he treats terrorists and bandits who are almost 100% from his ethnic Fulani nationality, which is in stark contrast to how he treats people of other ethnicities.

We do not even need to look too far to see Buhari’s parochialism. The Nigerian Federal Government has three arms, the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. And Buhari had abused his Presidential powers to ensure that all three of these arms are headed by Northern Muslim Males.

The Church And The Challenges Of A Nation

 By William F. Kumuyi

At a public forum in Lagos in September this year, a visibly disturbed former Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University, Professor Dapo Asaju, challenged me and my brother minister, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, to speak up in the face of the pall of insecurity overlooking our dear country, Nigeria, and threatening us all with a pin-down. He says it’s not enough to ‘’keep quiet’’ and pastor only our congregants. He wants us, among other charges, to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and tell him, ‘’Enough is enough.’’

*Pastor Kumuyi's recently published biography 

The don said: ‘’All ministers of God must speak out…I (am) looking forward to Baba (Kumuyi) addressing a World Conference, with Baba Adeboye seated beside him. Let them call people and say ‘Enough is Enough.’ They need to lead other people to convene a high-powered meeting with the President.’’ He tied his call to the Scriptures, where troublous times in ancient Israel always witnessed the emergence of faithful messengers offering Divine succor and intervention. Nigeria of this age is also under the weather, Asaju laments; she needs the clerics’ cuddling and comforting care.

We cannot dismiss the concerns of Bishop Professor Asaju. The patriot that he is, he like all of us, wouldn’t want the escalation of our problems to get to the boiling point of no return. If all else has failed, he seems to say, God’s true representatives in the confines of His Holy Church here in Nigeria cannot fail to lead us away from the cusp pointing down to a dark abyss.  He is also right to insist that pastors must not be satisfied with the ‘narrow’ mission of entering the annals as the clergymen with the largest congregation in Africa or the world. They must worry more about the environment these worshippers go into when they are discharged from the precincts of the Church. Do they march into the deadly embrace of harlots, armed robbers, kidnappers, drug addicts, the sick, unemployed youth given to crime and hopelessness, corrupt political office holders, broken homes, occult campuses, idolatry, immorality, urban violence etc.?

At Deeper Christian Life Ministry, we are far more aware of this existential crossroads than many perceive. We present the Word of God as delivered in the Holy Bible, alright. But we warn that in the long run, the Lord is interested in a fusion of obedience to His Word and relating amicably with fellow human beings, regardless of class, colour, caste (religion) or culture. We teach that if you’re a genuine believer in Christ, you wouldn’t hate your neighbor. Nor would you disdain those in power because they appear not to be delivering on electoral pledges such that you would go on the rampage, destroying government property or pillaging the public till. We teach a linear life of Christian walk: you can’t be a saint on Sunday and a monster on Monday.

Needless to say, God recognizes the dual nature He has clothed us with, physical body and soul. Both need to be fed proportionally. The inner soul requires the Word, while the external body needs material fulfillments through food, shelter, healing, job, joy, justice etc. The Creator hasn’t annulled that order. He expects the state to cater for the body while He saddles the Church with providing for the inner being. None is mutually independent of the other. Societies run into straits, setbacks and storms when they neglect this arrangement.

But diligently keying into this plan as individuals, nation and Church, gives us the far-reaching blessedness of obedience to His Word. We can testify to this as we have adopted the strategy, given by Heaven, to constantly embark on Global Crusades, with the community, and not the Church, as the epicenter. The gatherings are all inclusive, nondenominational. The limitless reach of today’s smart media and Internet has enabled us to touch almost every inch of the globe. In real time audiovisual streaming, many across Nigeria, the African continent, Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia and New Zealand are able to get connected to our crusades. Those who can’t make it to the viewing centres connect to me in their homes, hospitals, workplaces etc. Everywhere the Lord has been faithful to His promise to answer our prayers.

As the Lord graciously uses me to deliver His Word at these events, He never ceases to accompany the ministration with astonishing miracles of salvation, healing, restoration of hope to the despondent and deliverance of the nations from instability, insecurity and the invidious grip of the devil.

We have verifiable testimonies all over the planet underscoring the incredible power of the God of the Bible times being here with man again. He is leaping from the past to the present to prove that in any generation He doesn’t forsake those who repose full faith in the finished work of Christ, in His promises and in His prophets.

In Zambia, after one of the crusades, I met a caterer, Sylvia Banda, who asked me to pray for a successful surgery on her right foot following a tendon rupture. A sharp-edged bone was growing on top of the main bone. The pain she was having was unbearable and only an operation could save her. But I told her there would be no operation, since God would heal her. I went ahead to offer a short prayer. Back in the hospital for check-up, the growth had disappeared.

Still in Zambia, a lady in Lusaka, the capital, Arien Gama, received the rare miracle of the restoration of her dismembered finger. In simple faith, she pointed the challenged limb at the screen showing me at a crusade in Nigeria. The power of Heaven which recognizes no physical barriers of distances hit the finger and made it grow out again. There was no human surgery.

A young man who was in the village preparing for one of my crusades learned of the death of his father. He was under pressure to stay behind for the funeral plans. But he said: “I have made a pact with God to honour His invitation to the program. I can’t renege.’’ So he came to the crusade. God also honoured the consecration of the man by bringing his father back to life during prayers while he was serving Him at the program.

These are just a few of the instances when God has deployed His Church to intervene in the affairs of the nation and its citizens and institutions.

And as we now head for Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State in Nigeria’s south-south for another 5-day Global Crusade from Wednesday October 27, 2021, I foresee more of the Lord’s focus on attending to the challenges of our nation and the countries of the world. I see Him containing the conflicts confronting His people as we pray in the Name of Jesus.

*Pastor Kumuyi is the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry

The Church And The Challenges Of A Nation

 By William F. Kumuyi

At a public forum in Lagos in September this year, a visibly disturbed former Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University, Professor Dapo Asaju, challenged me and my brother minister, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, to speak up in the face of the pall of insecurity overlooking our dear country, Nigeria, and threatening us all with a pin-down. He says it’s not enough to ‘’keep quiet’’ and pastor only our congregants. He wants us, among other charges, to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and tell him, "Enough is enough."

*Pastor W.F. Kumuyi

The don said: ‘’All ministers of God must speak out…I (am) looking forward to Baba (Kumuyi) addressing a World Conference, with Baba Adeboye seated beside him. Let them call people and say ‘Enough is Enough.’ They need to lead other people to convene a high-powered meeting with the President.’’ He tied his call to the Scriptures, where troublous times in ancient Israel always witnessed the emergence of faithful messengers offering Divine succor and intervention. Nigeria of this age is also under the weather, Asaju laments; she needs the clerics’ cuddling and comforting care.

Remembering Thomas Sankara

 By Ben Nkem Oramalugo

October 15, 2021 marked 34 years since Thomas Sankara was assassinated in Ouagadougo via the inhuman conspiracies of the Western imperialists, Ivory Coast and his good friend Blaise Compaore on October 15, 1987. Nevertheless, even in death Sankara has joined the pantheon of immortals whole ideals and praxis dominated and influenced Africa and will therefore live forever in the hearts of the people. His life was story of revolutionary regeneration of Burkina Faso (with a population of 8.5 million in 1985 and now 19.7 million).

Before his emergence as the leader of Burkina Faso, his country was one of the poorest countries in Africa ravaged by the exploitation of the Western Powers in collaboration with corrupt internal collaborators. At the age of 33 in 1983 when he became President, he immediately unleashed profound changes in the social, economic and political trajectory of his country. In tacit alliance, with socialist inclined states like Cuba, North Korea, China, Russia and China etc, he awakened the ideological consciousness of Burkina Faso people.

Buhari Presidency: Insecurity ‘Dividend’ For Everybody?

 By Bisi Olawunmi

Flash back to May 29, 2015 when General Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A nation, anticipating a redemptive government, waited with baited breath for the inaugural speech of the former military dictator, now a rebranded, born-again democrat. And President Buhari spoke.

It was neither a flowery nor a fire-spitting speech but what rang out and got stamped in the consciousness of the people was his declaration that he belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody, implying that he is for everybody and will not be held hostage by anybody. The general interpretation then was that he was declaring his independence of the political sorcerer at Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi, Lagos who willed the genie of his presidency to life. He was going to be his own man. Malevolent haters had gleefully greeted Buhari’s declaration of his independence as putting the sorcerer ‘in his place, clipping his wings’.