Somalia's Unfolding Famine Catastrophe

 By Mukesh Kapila 

Somalia is on the brink of catastrophe. A recent assessment suggests that 7.7 million Somalis need emergency aid right now, a similar number to those affected by the Ethiopian famine in 1984, one of the worst humanitarian disasters in history. About one million people died then.

The warnings have been coming for some time.

The immediate trigger for the likely famine is three successive years of failed rains leading to the worst drought in the Horn of Africa for four decades. Underlying that are rising temperatures from climate change. Compounding factors include longstanding political and social fractures, with decades of conflict and poor governance.

Somalia is also strongly affected by the Ukraine-Russia war . It gets 90% of its wheat from that region which makes up two-thirds of the Somalian diet. The prices of cooking oil, beans, rice and sugar have also doubled from the conflict's secondary consequences: higher costs for fuel, transport and agricultural inputs like fertiliser.

At 81, Pastor Kumuyi Remains Different

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Pastor William F. Kumuyi, the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, easily stands out as a man of God with an unshaken resolve to please God always and undertake the divine assignment given to him with zeal, dedication, meticulousness and sense of urgency.

*Pastor Kumuyi

He continues to demonstrate a clear understanding of his mission which is to win souls for Christ and teach them to embrace standard Christian living to remain at peace with God and rapturable.

Pastor Kumuyi turned 81 on Monday, June 6.

Although not a member of his church, I have derived illumination and edification from his recorded messages, books and attitude to God’s work. The internet has now made many of his messages accessible – both the old, timeless ones and the more recent ones.

Bianca Ojukwu On Peter Obi’s Supposed ‘Stinginess’...

 
*Mrs. Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu and Peter Obi

Sometime in 2009, ‘Mr’(as he preferred to be addressed) Peter Obi, Governor Of Anambra State at the time, visited Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and myself at Dallas, Texas. 

He came to deliver a get well message from Dr Goodluck Jonathan and was billed to attend a black tie event at the Dallas Marriot. Curiously, he flew into Dallas airport with one small carry on luggage which he insisted on wheeling around himself, and on getting to our residence requested to freshen up. 

He opened his carry on, filled with files and paperwork and a few toiletries and an extra shirt, when the Ikemba and I asked if he was expecting another item of luggage, and he said no. 

‘Then, what will you be wearing to the event tonight?’, we inquired. It was at that point that it struck him that he couldn’t show up in his casuals at such a ceremony. 

I insisted on taking him to the luxury men’s emporium at Nieman Marcus to buy a smart black suit. When we got there, he was busy doing the currency conversions. The suit that was a perfect match for him was a dapper Tom Ford suit with a price tag of 3,985 dollars plus tax. He did the calculations and told me ‘do you know how many students this amount of money can train in Nigeria?’ 

Ndigbo: Caught Betwixt And Between In Nigeria (3)

 …Wrong Decisions & Missed Opportunities 

By Ichie Tiko Okoye
According to the source document – recently declassified secret American diplomatic dispatches – “The North was minded to use the civil war as a tool to reassert its dominance of national affairs…The northern section of the Nigerian military was the best equipped in the country. To ensure the region’s continued dominance, the British assigned most of the army and air force resources to the North. It was only the Navy’s they could not transfer. 

“All the elite military schools were there. The headquarters of the infantry and artillery corps were there. Kaduna alone was home to the headquarters of the Nigerian Army’s 1st Division, Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (Army Depot), Air Force Training School and Nigerian Defence Academy. (On the other hand), the Eastern Region had seized a DC-3 and a Fokker F-27 from the Nigerian Air Force in April (1967, and) NNS Ibadan, a Nigerian Navy Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) that docked in Calabar Port, was quickly made Biafran.”

Tinubu’s Muslim/Muslim Ticket Obsession

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The chances are that, by the time you read this article, the major presidential candidates – Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC; and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, would have announced their running mates.

*Bola Tinubu

Of the lot, Tinubu’s matter matters the most. From the distant past when he started developing interest in becoming the president of Nigeria, he has always postulated that a Muslim/Muslim ticket “can work; competence is all that matters”.

If “competence” is all that matters, why not just pick a fellow Yoruba; they also have their share of competent people. Why look for something in Sokoto when you can simply pick it from your Sokoto pocket? But hey, I perfectly understand his situation.

Nigeria: A Nation In Darkness

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa 

For the umpteenth time, the epileptic national grid collapsed over the weekend again, resulting in blackout in most parts of the country. A terse statement from the Ministry of Power attributed the collapse to “the partial shutdown of the Oben gas plant to address the repair of critical gas processing equipment. The incident unfortunately occurred at a time when other power plants on other gas sources are undergoing planned maintenance and capacity testing.” 

You cannot fault this empty logic, can you? This has been the story of power supply in Nigeria and it is unlikely that things will change. In times past, we used to look forward to the rainy season because it births a temporary moment of stability in electricity generation. It is possible that this year, some supernatural forces have blocked the flow of water in all the dams, especially now that diesel sells for about N800 per litre.

Power generation is the main issue with regard to the socio-economic development of any nation. In Nigeria however, successive governments have deployed it for political gains, knowing the importance that Nigerians attach to it. Thus in 2015 when it was canvassing for votes from the electorate, the All Progressives Congress stated as follows:

Buhari, APC And Freedom For The Abductees

 By Sonnie Ekwowusi

It is obvious that securing the freedom of the abductees of the Abuja-Kaduna bombed-train is not the priority of the APC ruling party. Neither is it a priority of President Buhari nor former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi nor the APC Presidential aspirants. The only priority of President Buhari, the APC ruling party and APC Presidential aspirants at the moment is to re-capture political power in 2023. They have no human feeling for these abductees. I hate to address them as abductees.

*Buhari

They are not unknown abductees: they are our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and, above all, our brothers and sisters who were victims of the Abuja-Kaduna-train bombing and abduction on March 28 2022 and who have been abandoned to be sorrowing and agonizing in the dungeon of their abductors. Had the Abuja-Kaduna train bombing and abduction occurred, say, anywhere in the western world or even Asia or other parts of the world, the CNN, BBC and the world media including the Nigerian media by now would have been bombarding us with the minute-by-minute analyses about the fate that had befallen the abductees and the efforts being made to secure their freedom. But this is Buhari’s Nigeria where life has become so cheap. This is Buhari’s government where the death and suffering of our fellow Nigerians do not matter to the government.

PDP, Peter Obi And The Corrupt System

 By Luke Onyekakeyah

The exit of Mr. Peter Obi from the main opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) is a bold, patriotic and commendable move to save the country from imminent collapse. Peter Obi took a very wise decision to leave PDP, which has proved to be discredited and corrupt. He refused to join the Ghana-Must-Go money sharing bazaar that overwhelmed delegates at the PDP’s presidential primary election. By his decision, Peter Obi has become the first Nigerian to reject/shun the evil money for vote politics. He is also the first Nigerian politician to demonstrate true anti-corruption crusade by action.

*Peter Obi

Everybody knows that Peter Obi has his zero corruption integrity to protect. He would have been swept away by the corruption tsunami if he had remained in the PDP and that would have damaged his not-easy to earn enviable reputation. He wouldn’t have been happy to be the presidential candidate of a corrupt party that Nigerians are fed up with. What else have the two major parties got to offer Nigerians after spending sixteen and nearly twenty-four solid years in power and squandered the golden opportunity? There is no doubt that Peter Obi’s move to the Labour Party (LP) is fast gathering huge momentum for an unprecedented historic victory and turnaround in this unfortunate country.

Feasting And Laughing As Nigerians Mourn Victims Of Owo Massacre!

 

While many Nigerians mourned the heartless massacre of innocent men, women and children at a Church in Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria, on Sunday June 5, 2022, the President, Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), gathered the leaders of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to a session of joyful feasting, laughing and back-slapping at the State House in Abuja. 

In other countries where leaders are a little more compassionate, caring and sensitive to the feeling of the citizenry, the dinner would have been put off.    

But, unknown to these APC leaders, the sumptuous banquet they devoured with immense relish that Sunday evening during the bacchanalian reveling hosted by the president a few hours after the Owo bloodbath  was seasoned with the blood of the victims of the Owo mass murder!

 

How did we end up with these kind of leaders? 

After the usual ritual of condolence messages, will the remorseless killers be apprehended? Will anything be done to ensure a safer country? 

Another election is around the corner and Nigerians will still be stampeded by primordial instinct to vote uncaring leaders like these ones into office...  

Open Memo To President Muhammadu Buhari On The Impending 2023 APC Presidential Primary

Your Excellency, 

It isn't my intention to bother you with details of the drama of the absurd that attended the emergence of another Fulani - not even the majority Hausa ethnic nationality in the North - as the candidate of the major opposition party, the PDP. It happened because of two factors:  

First was the betrayal by prodigal Southern governors. They were the same ones disturbing our peace with threats of an Armageddon that would engulf the nation if the presidency doesn't rotate to the South in 2023. But each of them bought the pie in the sky of being made the running-mate. After all, in their world view, it is better to be servants in Paradise than rulers in Hell. 

Second, it was a bitter lesson for under-age school-boy politicians in the South to be tutored in the art of deception and betrayal by Fulani masters of the game. 

Ndigbo: Caught Between And Betwixt In Nigeria (2)

By Ichie Tiko Okoye 

The congeniality of the still morning air along the Nsukka-Gakem-Ogoja and Nsukka-Oturkpo bifurcation was shattered by the thudding sound of mortar fire and the cacophony of exiting bullets sounding as if the demons of hell were on a rampage. 

A lingering bank of smoke, thick and vile-smelling, rolled across the highway. Sleeping birds protested the intrusion by flapping angrily up from the trees and wheeling overhead. The long-anticipated war had commenced in full earnest. Time was exactly 5a.m. on Friday, July 6, 1967. 

According to a declassified American diplomatic dispatch, three days after Nigeria’s ‘First Girlfriend,’ Edith Ike had been securely ensconced in West Germany, Gowon addressed the attendees of the 3 July 1967 Supreme Military Council meeting as follows: “Gentlemen, we are going to crush the rebellion.” It was hardly a reconciliatory message, and although he added that “But note that we are going after the rebels, not the Ibos,” those the message was intended for knew fully well that the speech had two parts. 

Pastor Kumuyi At 81: Peeping Into The Years Ahead

 
By Banji Ojewale

The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. –The Holy Bible

If you have forensically studied Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, through his one thousand and one books and sermons and you have also read everything about him in the newspapers, or if you have spent days and nights trafficking the internet to track him, there are two old ‘discoveries’ you’ll make again and again: the venerable cleric’s intrepidity to defy the odds for the sake of the Gospel of his Lord, Jesus Christ, and his endless search to uncover untrodden  grounds in evangelism. This man of God will dare death, devils, demons, destiny, disabilities and distractions to "seek…first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.’’

These twin preoccupations have profiled the DCLM founder since he became born again on April 5 1964. At 81 on June 6, 2022, he has behind him narratives of a man of flint who would dwarf obstructing giants of any hideous shape to proclaim his faith in every word of the Bible, even if it would take his life.

Once, in the United Kingdom for a course in October 1974, a maturing Kumuyi trashed the postgraduate programme he went for in London and dashed off to Birmingham to seek the power of the Holy Ghost he believed he needed for a result-yielding evangelical work. 

Peter Obi: I know Nigeria’s Problems, I Can Fix Them Easily!

 
*Obi

I can’t sleep because I know what to do! I have gone round the 36 states of the country like I have gone round 31 countries of the world, I know the problems of Nigeria and I know I can fix them easily! Because I can see them, I can fix them! 

Hunger takes people to the streets! Job and food will obviously take them out of the streets and crimes! That’s my specialty, creating jobs and wealth! I have not come out for myself! 

I have come out for the millions of youths that are losing hope in our beloved country! I have come out for the millions of women who are afraid of tomorrow and what it holds for them and their children! I have come out for the poor who are asking whether it’s a sin to be a Nigerian! For them, I have come! 

Ndigbo And Outcome Of PDP Presidential Primaries

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

It is no longer news that when Nigerians return to the polls in February 2023 to elect a president for their beleaguered country, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, will fly the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. At the PDP presidential primaries held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, May 28, Atiku clinched the party ticket with 371 votes.

Nyesom Wike, Rivers State governor, polled 237 votes; Bukola Saraki, former Senate President, got 70 votes; Bala Mohammed, Bauchi State governor, garnered 20 votes; Udom Emmanuel, Akwa Ibom State governor secured 38 votes; Pius Anyim, former Senate president and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, secured 14 votes, and Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, renowned pharmacist and boardroom impresario, secured one vote.

Seven Years On: Buhari Has Mis-defined The Purpose Of Govt

 By Olu Fasan

Last week, on May 29, President Muhammadu Buhari marked his seventh and penultimate year in office. With just one year left in power, he’s in the twilight of his presidency. But, judged by what government is really about, Buhari’s achievements over the past seven years are shrouded in dubiety. Yet, he’s deemed such a transformational leader, such a great achiever, to deserve an ism, ‘Buharism’, which the Buharists say is the exemplar, the epitome of good government in Nigeria.

*Buhari 

Recently, during a valedictory session that President Buhari held for his outgoing ministers, Godswill Akpabio, former Niger Delta Minister, spoke for his colleagues: “As we step aside from the Federal Executive Council, I want you to know that you have disciples in us, I want you to know that it is time for us to propagate Buharism.” Buharism? What is Buharism?

Zik’s Anguish, Nigeria’s Failure

 By Obi Nwakanma 

Ogbuefi Nnayelugo, Owelle Osowa Anya n’Onitsha, Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe was the leader of the African nationalist resistance to colonialism from 1937 to 1957. He spearheaded it. He theorized it. He catalyzed it. 

*Dr. Azikiwe

In spite of the puny attempts by characters whom Azikiwe himself would have dubbed “Lilliputians” to revise the history of African nationalism in the 20th century, and diminish Azikiwe’s work, the great Zik continues to glow because he is preserved in the documents of the 20th century. 

What he said; where he said it; who he fought, who fought him, why they fought him; what those who fought him said and wrote about him, and why they said and wrote what they did about him are all parts of Imperial and Post Imperial history and the struggles for Black freedom preserved in the great libraries and archives of the world. In 1943, Azikiwe issued a timeline within which he said the British must decolonize and leave Africa. He gave them fifteen years. 

Nigeria Cannot Defeat The Igbo And Yoruba At The Same Time!

 By Akinyemi Onigbinde 

The greatest thing Nigerians accomplished in the last thirty years was electing Muhammadu Buhari as president. If he had lived and died without being president, no one would push back when politicians fall over themselves to deliver tributes and call him the greatest president that Nigeria never had.

  *Pa Adebanjo 

After six years of Buhari’s administration and with only two more years to go, all is settled about the rhymes and stanzas of Buhari’s elegy. Some thirty years from now, people will stone anyone who attaches “greatest ” to any tribute at Buhari’s funeral.  

You may ask if anything is worth the cost of having Buhari as president?  

Before you do, there is another reason why his election was the greatest accomplishment of the Nigerian electorate in the last 30 years. If Buhari had not been president, if his incompetence had not been exposed to the uninitiated, Nigeria would have continued its zigzag path. The one-step-forward, two-steps-backwards trajectory would have continued unabated.  

Who Says Peter Obi Is Not Adequately Prepared?

 By Tai Emeka Obasi 

One of the deep-rooted concerns of many people from the Southeast is that the zone has not really prepared adequately to wrestle power from the rest of Nigeria. Such protagonists of the debate point to MKO Abiola's style that eventually saw him changing the political history of Nigeria, which President Olusegun Obasanjo eventually benefitted from. 

*Peter Obi

Such opinions point convincingly to the fact that it took Abiola over 20 years of philanthropy and effectively proving he was a detribalised Nigerian by investing, employing and assisting Nigerians across zones, tribes and religion.  

The debate concluded that Abiola was so remarkably effective that when he contested for the presidency, he comfortably defeated a Northerner in the general election of June 12, 1993 - something thought impossible before his coming. And even that was achieved via a Muslim-Muslim ticket.  

Good arguments any reasonable mind should concede to. 

However, philanthropy is not the only way of getting prepared for the presidency of Nigeria. And any good strategist rarely repeats a trick. 

Ndigbo: Caught Betwixt And Between In Nigeria (1)

 

By Tiko Okoye 

In a few weeks – July 6, to be more precise – it would be exactly 55 years since then-Nigerian military Head of State and Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and Chairman of the Supreme Military Council (SMC), then-Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, declared war on the short-lived Republic of Biafra. 

The United States State Department recently declassified top-secret diplomatic dispatches. They are spread over 21,000 pages and provide previously unknown information about the Nigeria/Biafra civil war. This columnist would be making use of copious excerpts from the declassified dossier to more objectively link the dots embedded in the potpourri of information in a four-part series. 

Obi's Resignation: A Fight Against Delegated Corruption On Behalf Of Nigerians

 By Bolaji O. Akinyemi

Just about two weeks ago I wrote an article titled, " Nigeria: A Nation At The Mercy Of Political Party Delegates". Where I established that the two leading political parties in Nigeria; APC and PDP as institutions cannot deliver the hope and yearnings of Nigerian electorates for a new Nigeria. That the system are constricted against the evolution of productive leadership. 

*Peter Obi 

PDP, we were informed by APC in the build up to 2015 elections, that they spread corruption. Unfortunately, we have witnessed first hand the ground gaining of corruption and the consolidation of non state actors' hold on the jugular of our nation like never before! 

I made definite assertions and offered some pieces of advice, some of which are; "If I were a delegate of APC, I won't shift support away from Osinbajo for a 100 million delegates' package from any Aspirant. His only challenge, will be how to triumph through the lies and propaganda that his party has become in public perspective, going forward to general elections...