If I Were Buhari…

By Okey Ndibe

…I would not have traveled to China. Not at this time, no. In fact, I would tell my Chinese hosts today that I must abbreviate my weeklong visit and return immediately to my office in Abuja.

I know that some defense could be made for the current trip to China. Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina seemed to anticipate the objections to the president’s current excursion, and preemptively cast the trip in entirely positive light. “President Muhammadu Buhari,” he wrote in a press statement, “will leave Abuja…for a working visit to China aimed at securing greater support from Beijing for the development of Nigeria's infrastructure, especially in the power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply and housing sectors.”
 
He continued: “President Buhari's talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples’ Congress, Zhang Dejiang will also focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation in line with the Federal Government's agenda for the rapid diversification of the Nigerian economy, with emphasis on agriculture and solid minerals development.”
 
All that sentiment sounds high-minded and noble. Nigeria desperately needs to diversify its economy. Heck, a major tragic strain in the country’s mostly woeful narrative is the decades-long neglect of this imperative. Nigerians are paying the price for lazily laying all their eggs in the crude oil basket. We wagered on the globe staying eternally addicted to fossil fuel. We never reckoned that a time would come when there would be a glut of crude, or when the US, the world’s greatest consumer, would make a strategic turn toward domestic production.

Nigeria’s singular reliance on crude oil earnings meant a high degree of susceptibility to the capriciousness of the market. As oil prices plummeted into the valley, Nigerians suddenly realized that they were in a deep mess. Diversification of the economy, hitherto a fanciful phrase that cropped up in politicians’ speeches, became a rallying cry, one that President Buhari is rather fond of.
 
Yet, if I were Buhari, I would not only rush back to Abuja, I would also put a moratorium on all presidential foreign trips—until a semblance of normalcy returns to Nigeria.
 
As a military dictator, Mr. Buhari hardly traveled out of the country. In his civilian incarnation, he seems infected by Sokugo, the wandering spirit. In fact, his wanderlust rivals that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term in office. Like his predecessor, the incumbent president invokes the attraction of foreign investment to justify his junkets.

Buhari And 'The 24 Disciples'

By Iyoha John Darlington
We are doubtless caught in an agonising web of untold hardship, ruthlessness, frustration, totalitarianism, violence, and bloodshed - a period that could be characterised as anything but horrors orchestrated by a fascist Nazi front.

On May 29, 2015, a government was sworn in in Africa's most populous nation headed by a dictator cum born-again 'democrat' at the Eagle Square, Abuja, Nigeria. The cloud reeking of blood and violence that ominously hung over Nigeria dispersed; with the apostles of violence and not propagators of ideas but crusaders of lies and deceit now in charge.

President Buhari and two ministers: Amaechi and Fashola

Nigerians with a slim margin of two million votes or thereabouts we were told opted and voted for a change which spoke volumes for the historic gathering at Eagle Square where power eventually changed hands. And how well has this change actually impacted on their lives? The firebrand Septuagenarian amid a sense of impatience and repulsion in some quarters like a cow with a mouthful of cud held a nation patiently and anxiously for over half a year before his cabinet of ''efficient ministers' was unveiled as the ministries were pruned down to 25 headed by recycled politicians.

Curiosity, upon my soul , hung in the air, in fact , it got the better of everyone! In the event of power outage prior to his inauguration, we had enough fuel to run our engines, electricity generators inclusive, that, of course, kept Nigerians in business. With the stride recorded in the agricultural sector , Nigeria was something near a food exporting nation. This , in no small measure , encouraged Nigerians in the Diaspora to start girding up their loins probably for a hejira to their homeland.

Today Nigerians are neck deep in a ding-dong battle for survival under a power acquired through violence and intimidation as it is being misused to thwart the rule of law and this today has triggered off a very sad situation via a resurgence in crime particularly violent ones, economic collapse, brutality by security agents, lawlessness , terrorism and anarchy have taken deep roots as Nigerians now live at the mercy of nomadic herdsmen across the country.

Only yesterday reports emerged that nomadic herdsmen numbering 10 led an armed invasion of Dr Olu Falae's farm had the guard abducted who days later was found lifeless in a pool of water while Ugwuleshi and Agatu communities in Benue and Enugu States have also been attacked by these same band of invading marauders!

Nigeria like other nations under the sun was supposedly created for an economic welfare of its people and improvement in human resource development and not for the welfare of an elite cadre or group that it has degenerated to. There is no gainsaying the fact that moral bankruptcy has plagued our paid civil cum uniformed bureaucracy, judiciary, law enforcement and elected executive under the self-styled Mr. Integrity in fallacious pursuit of a credible system of accountability, prosecution, and punishment.

2016 Budget Crisis: My Position That Buhari Is Clueless, Incompetent Confirmed- Fayose

*Buhari 

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayo Fayose has described the raging controversies between the Presidency and the National Assembly over the 2016 Budget as a confirmation of his position that President Buhari was clueless and incompetent, saying: “Nigerians should expect more blunders like this until they send Buhari back to Daura in 2019.” 

The governor, who said it was now obvious that the President and his All Progressives Congress (APC) only wanted power desperately without the wherewithal to govern, added: “I warned Nigerians of the consequences of electing an octogenarian as president and with the international embarrassment that this budget crisis has become, I have been vindicated.”

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by his Special Assistant on Pubic Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said: “It is obvious that there is total disconnection between the President and his cabinet members as many of the ministers don’t even have access to him probably because the President spend most of his time resting as a result of his old age.”

He said further: “The reality is that the President is challenged by age, exposure and ability. He did not read the budget proposal that he presented to the National Assembly and this should be a lesson for those who clamoured for a Buhari presidency that no man can give what he does not have.

“The question is: can a minister present supplementary budget to the National Assembly and can the National Assembly act on budget proposal submitted by a minister? It is shameful that after blaming former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for close to one year, the presidency is now blaming the National Assembly for its inability to prepare a common budget.”

Grazing Reserve Is Ethnic Imperialism

By Ochereome Nnanna

 The All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari appears hell-bent on imposing the establishment of grazing reserves across Nigeria in spite of the many unpalatable implications it will unleash on unsuspecting Nigerians. On Thursday, 31 March 2016, I wrote an article on this column entitled: “Ranching, Yes; Grazing Reserves, No!” The article called attention to what was then speculated as intentions of the Federal Government to launch this obnoxious policy aimed at handing over lands belonging to indigenous communities to Fulani cattle owners in the guise of establishing “grazing reserves”.

Now, the masquerade has been unmasked: the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that President Buhari has directed him to implement the programme. According to him, he will start it from the North, where he will establish 50,000 hectares of grazing reserves. Then, he will import his beloved Brazil grass to feed the cattle. When he is done with that, he will, in his own words: “move South”. With the Fulani herdsmen now settled in their newly-acquired grazing lands, perhaps without paying a kobo or even negotiating with landowners and obtaining their express permission to use their land, the herdsmen will stop invading communities, destroying the farms of poor villagers, killing, maiming, kidnapping, raping and dehumanising innocent Nigerians.

Nigeria will become self-sufficient in animal and dairy products, and everybody will live happily ever after. That is the picture Ogbeh and his paymasters are painting for us. However, we have very strong reasons to suspect that the establishment of grazing reserves is an ancient agenda of ethnic imperialism which dates back to the Fulani Jihads that Islamised the North about two hundred years ago.

I read an interesting article by one Dr. Gundu of the Department of Archaeology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He gave a useful insight into the grazing reserves phenomenon, which should jolt our complacently ignorant countrymen, especially those from the Southern parts of the country. Gundu’s article is entitled: History Class On Grazing Reserves: Why Fulani Herdsmen Want Your Land.

There Is No War Against Corruption In Nigeria (1)

By Femi Aribisala

I was invited to a Roundtable on Corruption by the Law Faculty of the University of Lagos, only to discover that some “Buharideens” had highjacked the occasion and were inclined to use it as a platform to promote the onslaught of “democratic dictatorship” in Nigeria.

*President Buhari 

The topic was on corruption in Nigeria, but the mast-head in the hall was more specific. It read: “Winning the War against Corruption”. This was easily seized on by government agents to imply that President Muhammadu Buhari was well on the way to dealing a mortal blow to corruption in Nigeria.

The composition of the invited discussants was biased. Most of those on the panel with me were dyed-in-the-wool government apologists. The Chairman was Professor Itse Sagay, currently the Chairman of Buhari’s Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption. As it turned out, he was not prepared to entertain any meaningful discussion about corruption in Nigeria. His agenda was to showcase ostensible government achievements in the anti-corruption campaign and to proclaim new promissory notes grandiloquently for public consumption.

Also there was Oby Ezekwesili of #BringBackOurGirls fame. She used to pitch her tent with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But now that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in power, she has been romancing the new government. It was even speculated at one time that Buhari would reward her with a ministerial portfolio. Not surprising, she is no longer as strident in demanding government rescue of the kidnapped Chibok girls as she had been under Jonathan.

The kingpin of the government apologists on the panel was Femi Falani, a lawyer and human rights activist. He was chosen to give the keynote address. Falana had been heavily touted as Buhari’s attorney general. In fact, on the eve of the ministerial appointments, a list was widely publicised in the press that had his name penciled in for the post. But someone apparently put an eraser to it. Nevertheless, in order to remain in the good books of the government, Falana seems to have jettisoned his earlier dedication to the defence of human rights.

President Buhari's Cockroach Ride

       By Remi Oyeyemi

President Muhammadu Buhari, has shown that he enjoys sycophancy. He appears to revel in it. He swims in it. He eats and drinks it. He definitely loves it a lot. The echoes of praise – singers are sonorous in his ears. The cacophony of sycophants translates to rhythm of rhymes in his ears. He adores the way boot-lickers make his shoes shine. The cringing around him seems to make him feel whole. It is a revelry not grounded in reality. And if he continues with this attitude to governance, it is easier to see how he would end up. Any president who is already accepting any form of nomination for a second term towards the end of his first uneventful year in office has to be less serious minded than expected.

*Buhari 

The party leaders who are behind this are not friends of President Buhari. To begin to offer him the ticket of the Party three years out at this point in time is premature, sycophantic and inimical to the country’s progress. It is aimed at bringing the President down and ensuring his failure. But Buhari himself, cocooned in self aggrandizement, inebriated in self importance and intoxicated by egoism could not see the danger of the Greek Gift. His crapulent myopia could not avail him the opportunity to see how such a decision was not in his own best interest.

The implication of this is very huge. It suggests that President Buhari wants to be president just for the sake of it and not for the interest of Nigeria and its yoked people. Since he assumed office about a year ago, everything has been going from bad to worse. He has no single achievement he could point to that he has accomplished. He has filtered away all the goodwill he enjoyed when he assumed office and majority of his reasonable supporters are already scratching their heads if they had not made monumental mistake by electing him to the country’s presidency.

Rather than focus on the challenges of putting Nigeria in order and getting things to work, President Buhari has turned himself to Mr. Gulliver. He has been traveling all over the place. This is not new. What is new is that the public uproar about this has not made any dent. He does not seem to care. Nigerians could make as much noise about what he is doing wrong, he won’t be bothered. He has continued to travel and cost Nigeria hard earned naira. Some estimates have put each travel by the president at around NGN 350 million. It could be more in some cases. For a President who complains about lack of money in the national purse, this does not make any sense.

According to a recent report in the media, the combined worth of Presidential Fleet is $390.5 million (NGN 60.53 billion). This fleet includes two Falcon 7X Jets, two Falcon 900 Jets, a Gulfstream 550, one Boeing 737 BBJ, one Gulfstream IVSP, one Gulfstream V, Cessna Citation 2 Aircraft, and Hawker Siddley 125-800 Jet. The President’s party APC criticized the previous president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for profligacy. Refusing to dispose some of these Jets to recuperate some money and put an austere style in place makes the President to look like a hypocrite.

Wailing For Buhari's Waning Popularity

By Suraj Oyewale

Abdulhakeem is the name of my two-year-old son, but we fondly call him Baba from birth due to his resemblance of his grandparents.  At the height of President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity before and shortly after the March 2015 presidential elections, my neighbors added ‘Sai’ to this alias, to form ‘Sai Baba’, the phrase used to hail President Buhari, which means ‘only Baba’.

*Buhari 

A few days ago, while having a walk on my street with the boy, I came across two of such neighbors, and while one, as usual, was hailing my boy as ‘Sai Baba’, the other interjected, with fury: “Please don’t call the boy Sai Baba again, Sai Baba is in Abuja doing nonsense.” That was how my neighbors stripped my boy of the alias they gave him.

I walked away thinking: So this is how life is? The same Buhari that these gentlemen were proud of just last year to voluntarily want to share name with, is now the man they despise so much that they don’t want their neighbor’s beloved son to take after again? The reason is simple: they had just come back home after hours of queuing and fighting at the fuel station to buy petrol to fill their generator, which is what they had to resort to due to the power outage they had been experiencing for weeks. They had thought that, with Sai Baba in power, the era of spending hours at the filling station was over, or that there would not even be the need to resort to their generator every day.

The above experience is one of the many I come across everyday in the last three months. From the market woman in Obalende to the tricycle operator in Ajah, the story has been the same: things are hard, this is not the change we voted for, we expected a better deal from Sai Baba.  

Expressing my worry to a Buharist friend, he tried to downplay this pulse of the street, I dared him to go the nearest newspaper stand or board a BRT from any point in Lagos and try to say Buhari is doing well, and see whether he would not be literally skinned alive! That’s how angry people are.

As someone that believed in the Buhari project and expended a great deal of intellectual resources to actualize a Buhari presidency, I owe it a duty to express my worry through the same open medium I used to sell him.

The common men on the street are the easiest to lose support of, because they’re usually unidirectional, and they care probably only for things that affect them directly. The trader in Isale Eko or the barber’s shop operator in Apapa does not care whether one looting general is going to prison, he only cares about fuel availability, transport fare, power supply and water – at least, before anything else. Herein lays the problem with the current trend of things.

Of Government, Doctors And The Sick

By Dan Amor

Fillers emanating from the health sector point to the fact that the sector which manages the lives of the downtrodden and sick Nigerians may soon witness another major industrial action. The National As­sociation of Resident Doctors of Ni­geria (NARD) had on Monday giv­en government a 21 day ultimatum to address their nagging demands “failure which industrial harmony in our hospitals may not be guar­anteed”. Unfortunately, anticipating the outcome of its lethargic dispo­sition towards the urgent needs of the sector, the Federal Government had last week directed the immedi­ate implementation of the no-work, no-pay policy, just to intimidate the doctors into submission.

It is benumbing that health personnel entrusted with the lives of Nigeri­ans are owed salaries ranging from three to eight months by the cur­rent administration in several states of the federation. This has resulted in the collapse of the healthcare de­livery system and loss of lives in the affected states. The doctors are also peeved by the undue sack of their members from some training insti­tutions, none funding of residency training and delay in effecting pen­sion deductions of members. Ac­cording to them, hospitals at all lev­els are not adequately funded and existing facilities are not upgraded in line with international best prac­tices. In fact, our healthcare system is, lamentably, a sorry spectacle of the untold blight and decadence that have overtaken the Nigerian landscape. But another strike by doctors would spell doom for the ailing economy and its attendant hardship would be disastrous. A brief analysis of what patients suf­fered as a result of strikes in the re­cent past would here suffice.

Sometime in 2002, Mrs. Do­rathy Williams (not her real name), a pregnant teacher in Egbeda area of Lagos, fell into labour. Promptly, she gathered her ante-natal materi­als and headed for Ayinke House, the ante-natal ward of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital built and donated by the late philan­thropist, Sir Mobolaji Bank-Antho­ny, where she had registered for the ante-natal care. But she was greeted by a rude shock: the doors were slammed on her face, as doctors and nurses had embarked on one of their countless strikes. The woman was quickly rushed to a nearby pri­vate hospital, where she laboured for another three days, without any inch near delivery. This prompted a Caesarian section which was suc­cessful. But her husband’s eyeballs nearly popped out of their sock­ets when he was slammed a bill of N45,000! The teacher-husband was able to raise N30,000, with a prom­ise to offset the balance later.

The hospital refused to budge. He had to threaten to abandon the moth­er and the child before they were discharged. Even then, vital drugs were denied them until the money was fully paid. Another woman, Mrs. Yetunde Olumide, a fashion designer, also fell into labour dur­ing the same period. Although she had a normal delivery at a private hospital near her house at Itire, she soon developed post-natal compli­cations, as she began to bleed. Plans were mooted to refer her to the La­gos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, a stone throw to their residence, when the bleed­ing was getting out of hand. But that was not possible because of the strike. She gave up the ghost the fol­lowing day. And because there were no facilities at the maternity to pre­serve the child without the mother’s milk, it died two weeks later too.

Also, in 2002, one Charlie, a lo­cal contractor living in Iba area of Lagos, had rushed his pregnant wife to a private hospital in Ojo for delivery. It was an emergency case as it was not possible for the lady to deliver through the normal chan­nel. To be treated to a Caesarian section, the hospital management needed a cash deposit of N25,000, which Charlie could not afford. All entreaties including the pledge of Charlie’s elder sister, Lizzy’s car as collateral, were refused until the la­dy’s condition became increasingly complicated. There was no option of taking her to any General Hospi­tal due to the health workers’ strike. As she was reluctantly taken into the theatre to be operated upon, the lady died in the process.

Even then, the hospital management re­fused to release the lifeless body of the woman with that of the unborn baby insisting on having their mon­ey before the release of the corpse. It was the quick intervention of neighbours which prevented a dou­ble tragedy, as the man went wild, and like a possessed beast, started smashing everything and snarl­ing at everybody in sight. The man even threatened to sue the hospital management for negligence. He told this writer that it was his threat to abandon the lifeless body of the wife at the hospital that prompted them to release it to him even as he actually rallied round his family members in Lagos to offset the bill.

Between Bola Tinubu And Ibe Kachikwu

By Sunday Attah

The psyche of Nigerians has once again been need­lessly assailed by the altercation between one of the leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu. The crux of the matter is Kachikwu’s reported comments about the lingering fuel scarcity in the country, to the ef­fect that he was not a “magician” to bring the scar­city to a quick end. He has since apologised.

*Bola Tinubu 

But, by Tinubu’s reckoning, Kachikwu insulted Nigerians by purging himself of any official burden, responsibility or sympathy over the persisting fuel scarcity. Tinubu was livid with anger that Kachikwu basically abused the intrinsic values of the “progres­sive agenda” of the incumbent government.

It all started from a statement credited to Ka­chikwu. After a meeting with President Muham­madu Buhari and the leadership of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, the two major labour unions in the oil industry, Kachikwu’s riposte to reporters that Nigerians would still experience two more months of fuel scarcity in spite of the nation’s function­ing refineries. This caused a stir, and was variously interpreted.

Kachikwu, who doubles as the MD/CEO of NNPC, submitted that oil refined by Nigeria’s re­fineries would rather be stockpiled in a strategic re­serve, obviously for some national exigencies. This drew the flaks. It attracted a rebuke from Tinubu. Indeed, Tinubu was more irked by Kachikwu’s comments to the effect that his numerous trainings excluded conjuring magical powers to solve prob­lems.

Obviously, Tinubu perceived the statement to mean an indifference to the plight of Nigerians and a relapse to the PDP old ways of running the coun­try. Tinubu was the first eminent Nigerian to react to these comments in a public statement he personally signed.

The spate of reactions to Tinubu’s outbursts on the matter is interesting. While some applaud Tinu­bu for the umbrage against Kachikwu, many see his comments as political.

The Murder Of The Fulani: Yugoslavia Unfolding

By Femi Fani-Kayode

The Department of State Services (DSS) have claimed that five Fulani herdsmen were abducted, killed and buried in a mass grave by members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in Abia state a few days ago. They have also claimed that there were up to fifty more bodies in that mass grave, and that they are all Fulani.

*Femi Fani-Kayode 

 The implications of this announcement is obvious. It will create more tension and fear in the land and lead to reprisal killings in the North. Violence is never the way out and I have always believed that it has no place in any civilised society. Yet, what I find curious about this announcement is the fact that it is unique and historic.

I say this because thousands of Igbos, Yorubas, Niger-Deltans and Middle Belters have been killed by Fulani militants and herdsmen over the last ten months since President Buhari came to power, yet the DSS has never announced it and told the country about the details and ethnic identities of the victims.

When one thousand Shiite Muslims were slaughtered in Zaria and buried in mass graves, the DSS did not speak. When five hundred Idomas were massacred in Agatu by Fulani militants, the DSS did not speak.

When hundreds of Southern and Middle Belt farms were raided by AK-47-wielding Fulani herdsmen who murdered, raped, burnt down and took over the land of their victims, the DSS never gave us details of the victims or made any announcement.

When our leaders in the South were kidnapped and when men witnessed their wives and children being raped and butchered by the Fulani militias before their very eyes, the DSS made no announcements.

When the International Terror Index told the world that the Fulani militias in Nigeria are the “fourth most deadly terror organisation in the world”, the DSS said nothing and neither did they give us details about their activities nor their victims.

Is it so difficult to accept the fact that no government and no force from hell or on earth can compel or intimidate a man into lying down passively and silently watching his family, loved ones and kinsmen being butchered and slaughtered morning, day and night without trying to protect them and without indulging in some form of retaliation?

Fayose: Threat To Dictatorship Not National Security

By Jude Nudukwe ​

A statement issued recently by one Taiwo Olatunbosun, the Ekiti State Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), labeling the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, a threat to national security because of the governor’s statements and posture to the leadership style of the Buhari-led federal government is not only ridiculous and hypocritical, it is risible and shocking. It goes a long way to further prove the well known fact that this government is not only intolerant of dissenting views, it would do all and anything to quell them even if it means applying “extreme measures” against vocal individuals and institutions of the opposition.

*Fayose

In a democracy where the Akwa Ibom State government house was invaded by security agents with much bravado and recalcitrance, claiming to have found a cache of arms and stockpiles of dollars there without any evidence to show for it till tomorrow, is the real threat to democracy and our nation.

A situation where Mr Kayode Are, former Director-General of the DSS, and his family, were forcefully and violently evicted by men of the DSS under the leadership of Lawal Daura despite a subsisting court order to the contrary, is the real threat to our democracy and national interest.

A country where court orders are flagrantly disobeyed and bails granted by competent courts of our land are denied the beneficiaries contrary to the rule of law and the norm in a democracy just because the president and his security agents wish so, is the real threat to our society. Fayose is not.

A situation where judges and justices of even the Supreme Court are freely and blatantly insulted, intimidated, harassed, embarrassed, wrongly accused just because they decide to uphold the tenets of truth and justice irrespective of even if the ruling party’s ox is gored, is what is the threat to our nation. Fayose is not.

A situation where the much mouthed anti-corruption war is waged only against members of the opposition party, perceived political enemies and vocal activists, while those who belong in the ruling party are rewarded with exalted appointments, is what is threatening our democracy and nation.

Since May 29, 2015, elections conducted have had their results continuously and deliberately declared inconclusive as a strategy of attempting to manipulate the process to favour the APC and their candidates. This is what is threatening our national security. The excessive militarization of the processes and its attendant violence orchestrated by self-empowered state actors from Aso Rock as were the cases in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers States, are the real threats to our nationhood.

 When harmless men stage peaceful protests in other democratic climes, the worst that could be used against them for the purpose of dispersing them is water cannon, or rubber bullets in extreme situations, but in Nigeria and under President Buhari, the military embark on the sickening rambunctious but unenviable revelry of murdering defenceless protesters as were the cases with IPOB members in Aba and Onitsha recently!

Between Panama Rats & The Ekiti Fool

By Louis Odion

Besides its entertainment value, another use the unfolding Panama Papers scandal evidently serves providing us a barometer to gauge the shame index across the universe. Shame is no sign of weakness, mind you. When evinced timeously, it brings out honour. Shame speaks to an inner strength to recoil in the admission that violence had been done to the normative value that defines society; hence the penitent cessation of that course of action. 

*Fayose and Aluko

What is despicable, let it be noted, is shamelessness. To become dishonorable is to lose the sense of shame. The freer a society is, the more leaders would then appear predisposed to show shame when caught pants down.

But in a closed society, they live in denial, thus forfeiting the chance of self-redemption.

The nobility in shame would be demonstrated Tuesday when Iceland's Prime Minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, resigned once leaks linked him to the infamy of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm specializing in helping world celebrities and politically-exposed persons to either launder fortunes or shield investments from tax. The PM and his wife owned an offshore company registered by the Panamanian firm to conceal million dollars worth of family assets. Their shell company, Wintris, had significant investments in the bonds of three major Icelandic banks that collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.

Long before an angry mob of Icelanders began to occupy the parliament's gate, Gunnlaugsson did the honorable thing in the circumstance by throwing in the towel.

Elsewhere in London, Prime Minister David Cameron practically turned himself in for thorough body search at the British parliament Tuesday. He had to reveal personal secrets to prove he had nothing to do with his dad's shell company exposed by the Panama Papers. 

Addressing a charged chamber, he listed all his earthly possessions to include "My salary, of course, the house we lived in before moving to 10 Downing Street (which now yields additional income as rent) and savings I've from which I earn interests."

Though the details of their own dealing are no more graphic than those of the Icelandic and British leaders, Russian and Chinese authorities have expectedly been in denial. The Panama Papers listed Russian President Vladimir Putin's friends as operating dozens of companies through which billions of dollars had been laundered. Moscow's response? It conveniently dismissed the reports as another show of "Putin-phobia"! No further comment. 

Fulani Herdsmen: A Strain On One Nigeria

 By Lewis Obi 

IN the last five years, Fulani herdsmen have murdered at least 8,000 Nigerians in various parts of the country often in the pretext of protecting their cows or resisting unarmed lo­cal farmers protesting the destruction of their crops. The cases involving murders, the de­struction and burning of villages and towns are the ones that occasionally make news. Numerous incidents of trampling on crops, rape of innocent women in their farms, assault and battery of men caught in their farms who express disapproval of the destruction of their crops – those provocations make no news and are never recorded.

In many parts of Nigeria today, it is taken for granted that Fulani herdsmen would tram­ple on crops and the farmer has to bear the sight without as much as demur.

If he raises an alarm, that means the end of his life. If he runs to alert the village, the village is burned to the ground. If the whole town is aroused, that is the end of the town. It would be destroyed and the townsfolk turned into refugees somewhere. Reports are made to the police, numerous reports, yet not one prosecution has been reported, to say nothing about a conviction and sentence. It is for this reason that the Fulani herdsmen have assumed the status of the imperial agent, he can do no wrong. Everyone’s life is expendable, the property of farmers is worth less or nothing and of no consideration.

That has been the situation in much of Southern Nigeria and some parts of the Middle Belt. The Ugwuneshi incident in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State made news last week because of a little twist which came in the form of the mili­tary’s direct intervention. The herdsmen, as usual, trampled on the crops and occupied the farms of the Ugwuneshi villagers on the 17th March. The farmers gathered to talk about what to do next and some of them had a shouting match with the herdsmen. Before the farmers could decide on the next step, if there would be any next step, a convoy of military vehicles had surrounded the villag­ers who were then bundled into army trucks like sacks of potatoes. To the acclaim of the herdsmen, the military rounded up all the men and drove them to the Umuahia Po­lice Division with the instruction that they should be locked up in the prison cells. In Nigeria, the military’s word is still practi­cally the law, and, so, the 76 men of Ugwun­eshi were incarcerated. The farmers had not attacked the herdsmen. They had been in a peaceful assembly, trying to figure out what to do about the literal seizure of their land and the destruction of their property.

President Zuma And Nigeria’s Endgame

Presidents Zuma and Buhari (pix:ThisDay)

By Paul Onomuakpokpo  

 What clearly is more tragic than the excesses of the leaders our nation is saddled with is the ease with which the citizens rationalise them. We do not take umbrage at the fact that our leaders who are supposed to deploy our resources to improve our lot have unconscionably appropriated them for themselves and their families. But occasionally, we are rebuked by fellow African countries. We are reminded that we do not need to go outside the black continent to get models of good leadership and citizenry. We do not need to go outside Africa to understand that it is possible for a nation to have stable electricity.

In most cases, these are nations that are not as big as Nigeria. For instance, Ghana has stable electricity, resulting in some industries relocating there from Nigeria. Yet, it is Nigeria that supplies Ghana gas for its electricity. We do not need to go outside Africa to understand that university students can have uninterrupted academic calendars. This is why Nigerians prefer to send their children to Benin Republic for their education.

Perhaps, we have become used to these aberrations. And that is why there should be fresh cases to remind us of our crisis of leadership. It is in this regard that we consider as cheery recent developments in South Africa. Nigeria was at the vanguard of the campaign to break the stranglehold of the apartheid regime that dehumanised black South Africans. Yet, in less than two and half decades after the blacks assumed the leadership of their country, they are now in a position to show Nigerian citizens and their leaders how to behave. This is why while Nigeria continues to provoke the contempt of the rest of the world due to the failure of its leadership, South Africans are telling Nigerians how to hold their leaders to account. South Africans are bristling with rage at President Jacob Zuma’s spending of some of the nation’s funds on the upgrade of his private Nkandla home. A court ruling has indicted Zuma and ordered him to make the refund and he has apologised to the nation.

Of course, Zuma behaved like a typical African politician. Instead of being bothered about how to improve the lot of South Africans, especially the blacks who are still wallowing in poverty after apartheid, his worry was how to upgrade his home. He is like Nigerian political leaders who neglect the citizens and rather deploy their state resources for their selfish ends. But it is a good development that Zuma has apologised. More importantly, it was the citizens who brought the conviction and made him to apologise. The challenge here for Nigerians is that if their leaders spend their time and the state resources on what negates the common good, it is the citizens who allow this as they often demonstrate a lack of capacity to check the excesses of their leaders.

The Miracle Kachikwu Promised

Dr. Kachikwu should stop speaking for the Petroleum Minister. He is after all only the Minister of State, and that is because of somebody’s cocksureness that he can do the job better than the professionals. Now, everyone would be saying that the miracle Dr. Kachikwu promised has turned out a mirage – the fuel queues simply refused to disappear in Abuja and Lagos on Thursday as he declared! At least, I am very sure that it didn’t disappear in Lagos! He would be receiving all the blows while the man who appointed himself Petroleum Minister is sitting still in his house, unperturbed, and probably, sipping well-chilled kunu, thinking of his next trip to one other better-managed country, far removed from the problems he troubled us for sixteen years to allow him to solve for us.

*Buhari: President and Petroleum Minister 

The fuel queues I saw today in Lagos were terrible. At Oregun Road in Ikeja, the long queue created traffic problems. Consequently, there were hold-ups where none should have existed. Perhaps, to underline the fact there was no miracle, the NNPC filling station at Oregun Road had no fuel to sell. The one at Omole, as you approach Ojodu, further compounded the traffic situation in the area with the very long queue it also created. I was unable to confirm if it even had any fuel to sell, or that the motorists were waiting with the hope that it might start selling, as was the case at several other filling stations. Because these fuel-thirsty cars occupied great parts of the roads, it was difficult sometimes for big vehicles to pass, thereby holding every other motorist to ransom.

At Ikorodu Road, the story was the same or even worse. People even queued at fillings stations that were not selling anything, even water, probably in the hope that the promised miracle might happen. As you move further down to Western Avenue, the filling station at Alaka made its own very generous contribution to the people’s woes. The queue stretched as far as Shita Busstop on the way to Masha in Surulere. 

*Dr. Kachikwu 

One can go on and on, but, it was heart-shattering watching fellow Nigerians under the very angry and oppressive sun waiting for fuel they may never get. Some of the vehicles had no drivers in them. Did they abandon their cars there because they had no fuel to drive them away after waiting for hours and even days for fuel that had refused to come? Maybe, it is rather too early by nearly 5pm to make conclusions? God help Nigeria…  

Pres. Buhari Should Resign Honourably As Petroleum Minister And Apologise To Nigerians

By Marxist Kola Edokpayi

Harold Laski in his Grammar of Politics stated “Every state is known by the rights it maintains. We judge the state according to the happiness of men". What is happening presently in my motherland (Nigeria), where Nigerians are living on the bank of the Rivers, use(ing) their urine to wash their hands is very melancholic, lugubrious and lacrimo.

*Buhari 

Nigeria is one of the biggest oil producing country in the world but has no fuel, it beats rational imagination that a litre of fuel is sold between 250 naira and 300 naira even at that, citizens who blindly voted for "chain the so-called change" cannot get the products to buy to power their cars or generating sets, Nigeria is in the heartbeat of darkness in the world. What a glory that has departed from Buhari led administration.

It is now very obvious that Buhari and All Progressives Congress (APC) were not fully prepared ab initio for the task associated with governance. Their major interests was only to obliterate and eliminate Jonathan and PDP from power without any clear cut agenda, ideology or blueprint to place the country back to the right track, economically and otherwise where the hoi polloi Nigerians can live a decent life and no longer sleep under the bridge. A government that cannot address the welfare of the people has no locus standi to continue its stay in office, as the welfare of the people is the supreme law of the land ( salus populi est suprema lex).

It is on record that President Muhamadu Buhari took oath of office on May 29th, 2015 with the hope and aspirations that the economic woes and incubus of the country would be addressed pragmatically, au grand serieux putting into perspective the change mantra they sold to the people during their electioneering campaign. What we are seeing today is antithetical unprecedented hardship on the masses.

The poverty of the rag tag and bobtails has increased shortly in a geometric progression, as the already exacerbated problems of the poor have further been exacerbated by the government who promised to make Nigeria heaven on earth for them. it is sardonic and painful to note with pessimism and cynicism that some youths who are very hungry break into peoples' houses during the day to steal pot of soup and garri to resolve their rebellion of the stomach or if you like the middle belt crisis. A country where the plebeians have no access to food is a debacle and fiasco. Even poor countries like Togo and others; people buy food stuff at a very cheaper rate compared to what is obtainable in the so called Giant of Africa where live.

There is presently mass exodus of our amiable youths, moving from Nigeria to neighboring African countries en route Italy by land. They prefer to die during the cause of their peregrination in Libya than to live in squalor and penury in this hell on earth called Nigeria, where things are falling apart and the center could no longer hold.