Buhari: The Obstacle To War On Corruption

By Remi Oyeyemi

“…. whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in, would be pardoned”
– President Mohammadu Buhari on March 11, 2015 at a Campaign rally in Kaduna
 
“The right thing to do is to probe at least the administrations from 1966 when this level of corruption and criminal wastefulness of resources started…”
– Balarabe Musa, Former Governor of Kaduna State
 in The Sun  of July 25, 2015.
 

Buhari 

It is becoming increasingly clear that President Mohammadu Buhari really has no interest in fighting corruption. It is embarrassing and disappointing that President Buhari conveys confusion and contused confidence about the war on corruption. The defeat of corruption is the greatest desire of Nigerians. It is why Nigerians felt that he should be given a chance after rejecting him at the polls three previous times. So far, President Buhari has not been able to come up with any clear cut policy, rules and guidelines as to how he plans to fight corruption.
 
In fact, evidentially, the most challenging obstacle to fighting corruption in this present dispensation is President Buhari himself. President Buhari has raised obstacles to the war on corruption so that it would be impossible to prosecute. This would help him and his friends could keep their loots. Any hope that corruption would be decimated if not brought to its knees by President Buhari is not just dissipating, it is fast disappearing. One more time, Nigerians have been taken for a ride.
 
In a document titled “I Pledge to Nigeria” released during the campaign, President Buhari made the following promise to Nigerians:
 
“I pledge to publicly declare my assets and liabilities, encourage all my appointees to publicly declare their assets and liabilities as a precondition for appointment. …. I pledge, as Commander-in Chief, to lead from the front and not behind in the comfort and security  of Aso Rock, to boost the morale of fighting forces and the generality of all Nigerians.”
 
 So far, President Buhari has failed to fulfill this promise to publicly declare his assets. What this refusal to declare assets publicly means is that he has skeletons in his own closet. He is hiding something from Nigerians. He is not as poor as Nigerians have been made to believe and he is probably embarrassed to openly let Nigerian know what he has illicitly accumulated.
 
It would be remembered that on Wednesday March 11, 2015, in Kaduna, President Buhari had promised that he would not probe anyone who was engaged in corruption up till May 29 when he would be sworn in. As far as he was concerned, according to that speech, you can steal all you want up till his swearing-in as president, you would be left untouched. This gave an impetus to more stealing toward the dying days of President Goodluck Jonathan administration. He has by his utterances and actions so far created confusion about what he planned to do about corruption. It is difficult given some of his actions so far if this was not a deliberate act of obfuscation to undermine the war on corruption on the part of President Buhari himself. Now, he has turned around to insist that he would only probe Jonathan’s administration as if corruption just started six years ago; as if Nigeria just came into existence six years ago. What a balderdash!

Buhari Is Nigeria’s Problem, Not Its Solution

U.S newspaper, Wall Street Journal, published an article on Friday, June 17, 2016, by former US Congressman, Pete Hoekstra, titled “Buhari Is Nigeria’s Problem, Not Its Solution”. In the article, he said President Muhammadu Buhari selective war against corruption, inflexibility, poor lack of focus and vision is at the root of worsening condition in Nigeria:

*Buhari

The article is reproduced below: 

“Nigerian President Muhummadu Buhari writes of building an economic bridge to Nigeria’s future (“The Three Changes Nigeria Needs,” op-ed, June 14). It’s hard to see how his administration’s inflexibility, lack of vision and reactive approach will achieve this. Mr. Buhari notes that building trust is a priority for Nigeria.

“But an anti-corruption drive that is selective and focused on senior members of the opposition party creates deep political divisions. Meanwhile, members of Mr. Buhari’s own cabinet, accused of large-scale corruption, walk free. Seventy percent of the national treasury is spent on the salaries and benefits of government officials, who make upwards of $2 million a year. As for Mr. Buhari’s ideas to rebalance the economy and regenerate growth, his damaging and outdated monetary policy has been crippling...”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE

Buhari And The Challenges of Sainthood – A Rejoinder

By Remi Oyeyemi

I have just finished reading the powerful article by Sonala Olumhense with the heading “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Sainthood.”  Being one of those that I read their articles almost religiously (and I have been following him since his days in The Guardian), I am not unaware that he is a very fervent supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari. He really believes in him. The only thing is that he is not fundamentalist in his belief in the President.

*Buhari 

That he is not fundamentalist does not surprise me. This is because he embodies a mind that is thoroughly developed. A mind translucent in its broadness that it can conveniently encapsulate fervent belief about an idea or a person while simultaneously endowed with the clarity to be critical in a subtle manner; driving home his point forcefully with unequalled succulence.  He has a mind cocoon in intellect. With that kind of mind, dogmatism has nowhere to dodge.

Mr. Olumhense probably drank some Champagne when President Buhari won the last elections to celebrate. If he did, it was not undeserved. President Goodluck Jonathan drove Nigerians nuts for the better part of his tenure. So, to Mr. Olumhense, like millions of other Nigerians, the new President Buhari represents the beacon of new hope and advent of a new era. He was, it seems, a new opportunity to save Nigeria from herself and her peoples. 

Mr. Olumhense’s article in question put on the table series of unfulfilled promises on the part of President Buhari regarding certain actions he was going to take relating to the war on corruption.  He believes it was a “serious embarrassment” that President Buhari failed to release to the public the list of those who have looted our commonwealth, especially, the one given to him by the US government. The list was said to have included information about “names of many corrupt Nigerians, and the location of their stolen funds.” Mr. Olumhense had believed President Buhari’s “punchline” announcing “his deadline for the publication of that list of infamy: May 29.”

 Mr. Olumhense’s frustration flipped open as follows:

“The only problem is that the day arrived, and he made the anniversary speech without including that much-anticipated report.
 
“But such was the tension and the anticipation surrounding the expected announcement that everything in his speech had actually become secondary to it. The ensuing national outrage compelled the government to declare that the Ministry of Information would make the announcement four days later.
 
“Again, however, that date yielded no such report. As the world now knows, the ‘announcement’ finally arrived at the end of that week through the office of the Minister of Information. But while it was informative as to what has been recovered, the report identified none of the corrupt former officials involved.”
 
Evidently, Mr. Olumhense was in despair about the inability of President Buhari to keep his promises made on the war against corruption in several fora.  Assessing the aftermath of that debacle, Mr. Olumhense ruefully commented as follows:
 
“In effect, it means the corrupt elements have won another round, leaving corruption in control, while the government lost a wonderful opportunity it may never regain.”
 
Then he opined correctly as follows:
 
“Perhaps most of all, the events of that week left President Buhari‘s credibility in a fog, and his road to political  sainthood  as broken as a federal Nigerian highway.”

The reason for this level of disappointment on the part of Mr. Olumhense is that he had put more stock in the hyping of Mohammadu Buhari in the days leading to the last presidential elections. His omission in properly interrogating the know-how and qualifications of Buhari in those heady electioneering days made him unwittingly gullible to the propaganda of a possible “Saint Buhari.”
 
Without any doubt, Mr. Olumhense is still holding on to some straws of hope that somehow, someday, someway, President Buhari would change from who he really is and fight this corruption war the way he (Olumhense) has been made to buy hook, line and sinker – without favour or fear. This is an impossibility because President Buhari is innately nepotic. He flits, fibs and feints. He cannot change. Even, if he tries, he won’t be able to change. He is like a leopard that nature has rendered congenitally unable to change his spots.

Modu Sheriff: The 'Chairman' At Bay

By Dan Amor

You must be aware of the current travails of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the former governor of Borno State and immediate past Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose lot we no longer envy. At first, this politician was seen by a section of the PDP Governors Forum as a messiah who would help recoup the glory of the party having lost out in the intricate power calculus that was the 2015 general election. Indeed, he had a cult following in these matters.

*Sheriff 

The followership comprised awed admirers of this controversial politician as well as those decidedly unfamiliar with the man but adored him for his proven intrepidity, his loquaciousness and his heroic willingness to speak truth to power no matter whose ox was gored. Everybody knows how Sheriff, a master in the art of political defection or what one humourist called “jum- pology” (the art of jumping from one political party to another) emerged as chairman of the party. Despite the disdain with which many party faithful held him, some thought that, given his enormous financial energy and his ethnic affiliation, he would help stabilize the party within an interim period of three months during which his committee would superintend a national convention.

That was not to be! Due to his legendary loudness and implacable capacity to advertise his ego coupled with his incredible personal ambition and intellectual as- sumptions, party stakeholders especially the Board of Trustees members, former governors, National Assembly caucuses, state chapters and youth councils started suspecting his subterranean moves as he was incapable of uniting the diverse forces to- wards one direction. The fear was that Sheriff had planned to maintain a vice grip of the party till 2018 and then turn himself to a phony presidential candidate. This resulted in the stern opposition Sheriff encountered by party members who did all they could to redeem their party’s image by invoking its constitution to organ- ize a fresh national convention in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital last May at the expiration of Sheriff ’s interim tenure.

The convention attracted all the notable members of the party including Sheriff who agreed to the convocation of the convention in tandem with the party’s constitution. He was to bolt out of the convention venue when he sensed that all his permutations would not hold water. As a party determined to redeem its battered image and forge a united front towards providing alternative platform for Nigerians to effect lasting changes in all ramifications, there was an amazing bout of consensus.

The outcome was the emergence of Senators Ahmed Makarfi and Ben Obi as Chairman and secretary, respectively, of a new Caretaker Committee that would pilot the affairs of the party and conduct another convention after ninety day. Having lost his interim National Working Committee chairman- ship, Sheriff returned to the drawing board to plot some divisive means of throwing spanners into the works of the party. Whereas the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee’s effort at reaching out to stakeholders is gathering momentum, Sheriff emerged from his co- coon, broke into the party’s national headquarters and declared himself the national chairman. Even erstwhile protégés and fanatical admirers of this Borno-born politician began to shudder. Outraged, the massed punditry of the vibrant and ever-crusading Nigerian press came out in full cry. A spectacle, this: the “Chairman” at bay! And since the new caretaker committee chairman, Makarfi and his secretary, Ben Obi have the sympathy of the Press, having been accorded full mandate by all stakeholders in the party according to its constitution, the world now knows that Sheriff is a spoiler. On Wednesday June 15, all the papers in the country circulated Makarfi’s revelation that Sheriff is a pimp who has made himself a willing tool in the hands of the ruling All Progressives Congress to destabilize the PDP.

Kano Mob, Boko Haram And Herdsmen: Why There Are No Prospects For Peace

By Lawrence Nwobu

There is an increasing number of Nigerians who believe there will never be peace; as far as the nation remains as presently constituted. Those Nigerians are being vindicated by trends and events that continue to unfold in this wretched land. At the same time, there is an­other group of Nigerians—the status quo leadership elites from sections of the coun­try who continue to thrive in the pretence that all is well. Even when the reverse is self evident, the myth of harmo­ny and progress is propagat­ed in the midst of blood, toil and tears occasioned by the nation’s ethno-religious con­tradictions. When groups like IPOB/MASSOB, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and other legitimate self determi­nation groups burst into the scene; having been birthed by decades of injustice, inequal­ity, marginalisation, internal colonialism, ethno-religious violence and general misrule with the banner of justice, equality and self determina­tion, the chief pretenders of Nigeria castigate and shout them down.

When those who mean well advocate a Sovereign Nation­al Conference (SNC) or Con­ference of Ethnic Nationalities (CEN) to afford us the oppor­tunity to dialogue and create a nation in our own image; properly structured to               ac­commodate ethno-religious inclinations with enough au­tonomy (federalism) to pro­pel regional development and prosperity within the over­all confines of Nigeria — the chief pretenders of Nigeria label them enemies of the re­public who want to tear down the nation. Yet curiously in striking down every progres­sive idea to build a cohesive, just and properly structured nation, they never offer any alternative to the existential crisis that is ever growing be­fore their eyes. Preferring in­stead to like an Ostrich bury their heads in the sand and pretend that all is well. So the problem remains and the na­tion continues to burn with a steep price in human lives.

The worst lie is the one a people continually feed themselves thereby shackling themselves to the eternal va­garies of slavery from which they cannot exit until as was biblically proclaimed in John 8: 32; they allow “the truth set them free.” Nigeria has an ex­istential problem; pretending about it or denying it will not solve the problem, but rather it will fester and grow worse until it consumes all of us in ways never imagined. On the 2nd of June, the hard truth of Nigeria’s existential problems confronted us again with the brutal murder of Mrs Bridg­et Agbahime, a 74 year old woman from Imo state who was killed by a mob in Kano for alleged blasphemy. We later learnt that her only sin was stopping some people from doing pre-prayer wash in front of her stall in the market. These people now mobilised the usual mob of blood thirsty barbarians that murdered her.

As has been reported, this woman has not visited her home state in the last 30 years. For all intents and purposes, she is more a citizen of Kano than anywhere else. Yet she was hacked to death just be­cause of her religion and pos­sibly her ethnicity and yet we still pretend Nigeria is one. What kind of a people will be so blinded by religious and ethnic hate that they would so unconscionably kill a 74 year old woman? As difficult as this question is to answer, it has been the predicament in Nigeria since 1945—some 7 decades ago when the first ethnic riots happened in Jos, followed in succession by the 1953 anti-independence ri­ots in Kano by which time an incipient culture of vio­lence had been created. In 1966, the existing culture of violence made it easy to acti­vate pogroms in the North at a scale unprecedented in the continent, leading to the civil war. Maitsatsine riots broke the brief lull that occurred after the war. But since then it has been one riot after an­other in a ritual of ethno re­ligious violence that not only became routine but eventual­ly evolved into terrorism.

Nigeria: A Country Of Unequal Stakes

By Amanze Obi  

It is sometimes said in certain circles that the Yoruba is the only ethnic bloc, among the ma­jor ones in Nigeria, that has not called for the dismemberment of the country. Individual Yoruba may have, at various times, wished and called for a divided Nigeria. But the people as a group have never done so publicly. Rather, the Yoruba have been advocating for a regional ar­rangement that will whittle down the powers of the centre. This is a middle ground position.

However, you can hardly say the same thing of the other ethno-political blocs. Those who have a sense of history will readily recall that the North was the first to call for the dismem­berment of Nigeria. The bloody coups of Janu­ary and July 1966 ignited feelings of secession in most northerners. Even though the coun­ter coup of July 1966 and the pogroms that followed were supposed to calm the frayed nerves of the North, they did not. Rather, the region bayed for more blood. It was in that fit of bitterness that the idea of secession crept into their imagination. Consequently, the less restrained among them began to advocate for a divided Nigeria. It was in response to the pre­vailing mood in the North at the time that the Yakubu Gowon government, in August 1966, declared that the basis for one Nigeria no lon­ger existed. Even though the North later went to war to enforce the idea of one Nigeria, it is a historical fact that the region was the first to nurse and propagate secessionist sentiments in the country.

If the North was the author of a divided Nigeria, the East was its finisher. The coun­ter coup of 1966 and the pogroms had taken a heavy toll on the people of East. The situation was made worse by the fact that the people of the region had nobody to appeal to. The Feder­al Government led by Yakubu Gowon, a north­ern army officer, was complicit in the blood­letting. The situation, regrettably, drove the Eastern region into a precipice. That was how it came to declare its own republic. Strangely, however, the Gowon that had, a few months earlier, held that the basis for a united Nige­ria no longer existed was the one that took up arms against the secessionists. That was hy­pocrisy in action.

The war has since been lost and won but the Igbo, who were at the receiving end dur­ing the war years are still perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a group that is ever ready to quit the Nigerian setting once an opportunity pres­ents itself.

Given the fact that it is always the preroga­tive of the victor to rewrite history, events took an unexpected turn in post-Civil War Nigeria. The ruling military junta, which was dominated by the North gradually but steadily bastardised the country’s federal set-up. The principles of federalism were not only eroded, the country’s republican status was yoked to­gether with strange systems, which ended up corrupting the original idea. The result is that Nigeria, as we have it today, is neither a federa­tion nor a republic.

This incongruous set-up has been fueling agitations for either a divided or restructured Nigeria. While the North is holding tenacious­ly to the present order, apparently because it is benefitting unduly from the incongruity, the other blocs of Nigeria are differently per­suaded.

Dangerous Signals From Osun State

By Onuoha Ukeh

On Monday, when secondary school students of Osun State attended school in church apparels, with some donning white garments and others wearing hijabs as well as cassocks, I remembered Williams B. Yeats’ poem: The Second Coming. In a verse in the epic poem, the poet wrote: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”

Gov Aregbesola of Osun State 

Yeats may not have been talking about Osun State in the poem, but his literary work holds true for the state, where a near sectarian strife is looming over school uniform, amid leadership failure. Indeed, in Osun, it seems the falcon is not hearing the falconer. Things are falling apart in the state and the centre appears not holding. And since a stage has been set for students to wear what they like to school, “mere anarchy” is loosed upon Osun State.

The signals from Osun State are not pleasant, indeed. To say the least, they are not only frightening but also dangerous. A situation where Christians and Muslims are pitted against one another, in a country that is supposed to be secular, there is certainly something to worry about. Surprisingly, the state government seems to be playing to the gallery.

Yes, an Osogbo High Court in Osun State  last week ruled that female Muslim students were entitled to wear hijabs to school if they so wished. Delivering judgment in a suit brought by the Muslim community in Osun, since February 2013, Justice Jide Falola held that any act of harassment, molestation, humiliation and torture against female Muslim students using hijabs constitutes a clear infringement on their fundamental rights. The judge had cited Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) as basis of the judgment. Section 38 (1) states “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”
Section 38 (2) also states: “No person attending any place of education shall be required to receive instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if such instruction, ceremony or observance relates to a religion other than his own, or a religion not approved by his parents or guardian.”

For the avoidance of doubt, the Muslim community in Osun had approached the court, seeking an order to allow female Muslim students use veils (hijabs) in public schools. The suit instituted against the state government, also had the state Commissioner for Education, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice as defendants. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), its chairman and others had joined the case as respondents.

Lightening Africa

By Said Adejumobi  

The metaphor for describing Africa as a “dark continent” has varied in time and space. In the 1970s to 1990s, Africa’s relative underdevelopment with high levels of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, disease, etc was used by the Afro-pessimists like Joseph Konrad to qualify Africa as the “heart of darkness.” However, with the Africa ‘rising’ story, the energy crisis, precisely the provision of electricity, is now used to qualify the continent as a “dark continent.”  When an aerial picture of Africa is taken at night via the satellite, the image that suffices is undoubtedly one of a continent in utter darkness, with little twinkles of light, far in between.

The facts are daunting and the storyline is very bad. Over 60 per cent of the population of the continent estimated at about 612 million people,  do not have access to  basic energy. Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa generates less electricity than Spain. The energy used in the city of New York is up to, if not more than, what the entire Sub-Saharan Africa consumes. Yet, electricity is the lifewire of a modern economy and society, without which human potentials, and economic development will be severely impaired. Firms cannot operate optimally,  jobs cannot be created, the informal sector cannot grow, the learning environment for our children will be harsh and inhospitable, and households will grumble all the time. That is the fate of Africa today. The promise of industrialisation and economic transformation will be far fetched for the continent if the energy infrastructure is not provided in Africa.

The energy challenge is now a major policy priority for the continent and the World Goal number seven (7) of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to achieve affordable and clean energy. The Progress Panel headed by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan made energy the focus of its 2016 report entitled: Power, People and Planet, while the African Development Bank (AfDB) made it the subject of its annual board meetings which took place recently in Lusaka, Zambia from from May 23-27, 2016 on the theme: Energy and Climate Change.

Akinwumi Adesina, the new president of the AfDB, decked in a slim-fit suit and his trade mark bow-tie, spoke brilliantly on why the continent must be lighted up, and quickly too, and why the fate of our young men and women fleeing the continent, should not be in the Mediterranean Sea, but in economic prosperity at home. Energy is key to creating jobs and opportunities for them, at home. As Adesina delivered his message to the audience with passion, commitment, and conviction, the urgency of the matter no doubt dawned on everyone present. The AfDB used the platform to launch its new initiative on the ‘New Deal on Energy in Africa’ through which it hopes to support African countries to overcome the energy challenge with billions of dollars in investments.

There are areas of good consensus amongst key stakeholders on what needs to be done to get Africa lighted up. African governments can no longer do it alone; public-private sector partnership is central in changing the ball game on energy in Africa. Massive investments and strategic planing are required in the sector which hitherto was not the case except for political rhetorics and high level of corruption. And finally, is that the reform of the energy sector is imperative if the goal of lighting up Africa is ever to be achieved.

Management Of The Nigerian Economy

By Dave Nwogbo  
The mismanagement of the Nigerian economy is an ominous exercise that will continue to provoke debates, controversies and analyses. The mismanagement has unleashed horrendous consequences on the life of Nigerians. The economy occupies a central and overarching position in the lives of the populace. It was in recognition of the primacy of material conditions that Karl Marx postulated the theory of dialectical materialism in which he asserted that economic relations are the major determining factor that shape social and political relations.

For over five decades, the Nigerian economy has suffered a chequered history. The ineptitude of the leadership elite in being unable to transform the economy is exemplified by its lack of vision, creativity and pragmatism. Neoliberalism was designed as a mechanism to engender the growth of economies through market determinism that is predicated on competition and efficiency in the allocation of resources. Regrettably, neoliberalism has compounded the economic woes of the populace, and the government has not introduced remedial measures to cushion the effect of the hardship it imposed on the people.

Sadly, whereas the people are consistently and unconscionably being called upon to make the necessary sacrifices by bearing the brunt of this management, they have nothing to show for the interminable streams of sacrifices which they have made over the years. This anomaly points to one thing: the populace pay the costly price for leadership and policy failures, and the governing elite does not give a damn. As it were, the populace have no stake in the Nigerian economy.

The recent increase in the price of petrol to N145 per litre demonstrates the inconsistency in government policies. Successive administrations increased the price of petrol sustained by the same mantra of freeing up more money to the government for development. But, in actual fact, has the populace benefitted from any increase in the pump price of petrol? What the populace have consistently witnessed over the years are increasing poverty rate, irregular power supply, unprecedented corruption, etc. What is new about the 2016 budget that will check the pitfalls of previous budgets since 1999, and will guarantee the efficiency of government spending?

In other words, is there any guarantee that under President Buhari, the efficiency of government expenditure has improved considerably and that for every one naira that is spent, at least 60k value will be realised? Changing the decadent system which President Buhari inherited and to which he has committed to revamping, is a herculean task which is not going to come easy. In spite of the campaign against corruption, corruption in Nigeria is still endemic and pervasive. Who are the perpetrators and perpetuators of corruption? As long as there is no elite consensus on the need to fight corruption, curbing corruption will be difficult. From every indication, it appears that only President Buhari is committed to fighting corruption. How many ministers have publicly declared their assets? How many governors have publicly declared their assets, etc? Fighting corruption will entail a systemic reinvigoration of the existing institutions and government agencies.

Given the foregoing background, is there any guarantee that the present attempt to partially deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry will achieve the desired result? Yes, with deregulation, the prices of petrol may fall in future, but is there any guarantee that money saved from the subsidy removal will address the challenges of development facing the people?

The Buhari administration has taken a revolutionary step in addressing the challenges of the downstream sector of the Nigerian economy. Will the adminstration go the whole hog in addressing the challenges of the Nigerian economy by shifting its emphasis away from the prevalent culture of consumption to an investment-based and productive economy, where the few who parasite on the economy are restrained from their excesses? Will President Buhari be concerned about reducing inequality and enunciating an economic framework that will make the populace the stakeholders of the economy? What will President Buhari do to check the increasing cost of governance in which 80% of government revenues are spent on recurrent expenditure, especially on government officials? Addressing the challenges of the Nigerian economy requires revolutionary measures.

Buhari: President Of Northern Nigeria?

By Temitope Oriola

 The Vanguard newspaper reported the visit of a delegation of Northern leaders to the then president-elect Muhammadu Buhari on May 11th 2015. The delegation was led by Alhaji Maitama Sule. Sule told Buhari: “You are the president of Nigeria; you are not the president of Northern Nigeria by the grace of God”. Maitama Sule was someone you had to take seriously.

*Muhammadu Buhari 

I ruminated over the story for several minutes and wondered why the acclaimed orator felt the need to publicly ask Buhari to be a president for the whole of Nigeria.

We now know why and the underpinnings are quite ugly. The president needs to demonstrate that he is willing to trust Nigerians who neither speak Fulfulde nor Hausa. My assessment is that his skewed appointments speak to a lack of trust, rather than outright clannishness. The president needs to realise that he is president of the whole of Nigeria and millions of Nigerians from the streets of Kano to the parks of Lagos genuinely wish him well in office. His success is our success. No one should make light of the efforts that go into each political appointment. I do not think the president sets out to spite anybody but the idea that he is appointing people on merit despite the lopsidedness is no longer funny. If President Buhari sincerely believes that his appointments so far have been based on merit, then with all due respect, his future is in standup comedy.

The president’s inner circle seems to lack not just adequate representation but also depth and rigour. Buhari did not think he would win the elections as he did not expect President Jonathan to concede defeat. Therefore, President Buhari assumed office grossly unprepared and lacking the scintilla of a plan for governance. He had become habituated to losing elections and did not do his rudimentary homework on Nigeria’s many problems. This is quite problematic given that he contested for over 12 years. Why exactly was he running for office? Did he think he was simply going to manage oil wealth?

There are no new problems in Nigeria. Many of the problems have increased in intensity and metastasised but none of the problems is entirely new. Consequently, a diligent presidential candidate would have prepared. The president simply assumed he could show up and his “body language” — whatever that means — would keep people in check and all would be well. His command and obey personality type has not helped matters. I have a lot of respect for the military but Nigeria is not an overgrown military barracks. By personality type, temperament and proclivity, Buhari is unsuited to the rather frustrating guiles of democracy and demands of civil society.

The Bitter Truth On Power Supply

By Adisa Gbadamosi  

It  has  been said  from times immemorial that the truth is bitter. In terms of  the cause of poor electricity supply ravaging  the nation nowadays, that fact was brought home vividly  by a statement issued by the office of the Minister  of Power, Works  and Housing, Mr.  Raji Babatunde Fashola, SAN.  In a statement issued by one of his aides,  the Minister said it was immoral to expect the Federal  Government to  blame electricity distribution  companies  called Discos  for the poor  electricity  supply  in the nation.

Ostensibly,  the honourable power  minister  was responding  proactively  to the news  that  the House  of  Representatives had  invited  him and stakeholders in the electricity  industry to  a meeting to  explain the  cause  of  power  failure  in  Nigeria. The  press  statement  was,  therefore,  meant  to  apprise  the legislators before-hand  till  he eventually  showed  up physically  in  the  House  for  grilling on  the subject. In  effect  the minister  killed  the proverbial  two  birds  with  one stone. He answered the  question of the legislators from  afar as it were.  He  also  allayed  their  fears also  at  a safe  distance  on the  mistaken  notion  that  the Discos  were the culprits of  the poor power supply  problem  in the country. Let  me state clearly  as a keen  observer  of the  power  sector  and its development in the right  direction in  Nigeria that I  find  the pronouncements  and statements  of  the  minister candid, informed  and  most  patriotic.  In    particular ,  I urge  our lawmakers  to  emulate these  virtues  even  as they grandstand to nail  perceived  culprits  for  the poor  supply  even  though  the cause  is well  known  to  all  Nigerians except  perhaps  our  legislators  and  trade union  leaders.

The  minister’s  statement  pointed out some facts. The  first was that pipeline vandalisation had  disrupted  and decreased  electricity  supply  massively  nationwide  and power  generation, and transmission had suffered massively  and such distribution  had  been scanty all over the nation. The  second  is that  many  government  parastatals  and institutions owe the  distribution  companies  a lot  of  money  predating  his  recent  appointment as Minister  of  Power thus  tying  his  hands  to stop  the  Discos  from  demanding immediate payment  from  such  government  agencies  or  have  them face massive  disconnection.  Which  ipso  facto  is the legal  resort  for  such  breach  of  payment  in the face of  continuous enjoyment  without  payment  of electricity  supply by  these  government facilities and corporations .

How To End Governors’ Profligacy

By Bayo Oluwasanmi

Arguably, many Nigerians see state govern­ments as bankrupt. Given their financial conditions, many state governments are currently facing dire financial straits that have resulted in non-payment of workers’ salaries.

The bad news is that there is a zero chance that solutions are near. The problems are one hundred per cent caused by the governors, not by the reces­sion, not by dwindling oil revenues, and not by dwindling allocations, from Abuja.. There is pov­erty, hunger, anger, disease, killings, kidnappings, abductions and insecurity all across the states.

President Buhari and Nigerian some governors 

Former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu recently spoke the minds of a majority of Ni­gerians about the prodigality and profligacy of state governors. He attributed the inability of state gov­ernors to pay workers’ salaries to what he described as propensity to squander public funds on personal luxury.

Speaking to State House correspondents in May while leading a delegation of investors in the power sector to a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osin­bajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, he said some governors claim as much as N35 million as trav­eling allowance on one trip. According to Kalu: 

“These governors don’t have enough funds to work for their people because if you check, the money drawn as security votes, they should stop that...Un­less they stop drawing security votes, they will not have enough funds to work with and most of them are living in absolute luxury. So, it is impossible to continue living in this manner.

“Most of the governors are even living in Abuja now. They don’t live in their states. Honestly, if you look at the books very well, for a trip they make, they will take a traveling allowance of N35 million. What are you going to do with that? So, how are we going to progress? Let them sit down and do the job they are elected for.”

The governors of these insolvent states would want Nigerians to believe that their states are broke. In a state broadcast, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State said: “I want to thank you for your pa­tience, endurance so far in the face of this strike and our financial challenges … What I don’t have I can’t give. Ekiti State is broke.” His Ondo State counter­part, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko addressing protesting workers over the non-payment of salaries for months, said: “So, we can no longer pay salaries, even when they are due…. buckle up for a financial crash, as the state is broke”.

Buhari Working To Be Nigeria's Last President

By Brady Chijioke Nwosu

A king that transformed a jungle to a city will forev­er be remembered, at the same time, a king that turned a city into jungle forever would not be forgotten.

The way things are going, it is obvious that many nations are likely to emerge from Nigeria. When the histories of such na­tions that were hitherto Nigeria would be written, one name that would be scrolled in bold prints is President Muhammadu Buhari for presiding and writing the epi­taph of ones a country.

In this vein, There Was A Coun­try, the last book of late literary icon, Prof Chinua Achebe be­comes prophetic.

When in the early 2000, it was alleged that the American Cen­tral Intelligence Agency (CIA) had predicted that Nigeria would fragment in 2015, there was pal­pable tension in the country es­pecially in the face of the gen­eral election that generated so much acrimony and hatred and the country was polarized along ethnic and religious divides. The election came and gone, many heaved sighs of relief, believing the worst was over.

True to their thoughts, the worst could have been over if the winner of the election, Presi­dent Buhari was interested in the unity of the country. He could have embarked on reconcilia­tion and unification across the country so that the grievances and disappointment that attend­ed the election would be forgot­ten. Instead, he started to posi­tion people from one section of the country and equally started promoting his religion, while he saw the rest as conquered people, who should not impugn his au­thority even in a democracy.

How can somebody be pissing on your head and be telling you that it is raining?

Events the last one year gave rise to the frenzy of self determi­nation by various ethnic groups. Before it was only MASSOB in the Southeast and right now more groups have sprang in the region all working in synergy to­wards self determination.

Then, like a joke, another up­rising is going on in the Niger Delta region. It started with Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), and now many other groups have come out working in the same direc­tion for self- determination. They are holding the nation to its jugu­lar and their persisted attacks on oil facilities in the region has re­duced the nation’s crude oil ex­port from 2.2 million barrels to about 1.2 million.

The reason is that Buhari saw the Southeast and the South-south as conquered people. He has been accused to have an agenda to Islamise the country and his actions and body lan­guages lay credence to such ac­cusation.

Talking With The Avengers

By Paul Onomuakpokpo  

Although the struggle to halt the ecological degradation and wanton appropriation of the oil resources of the Niger Delta has resulted in the gristly end of agitators like Isaac Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa at the hands of the state, there has been no dearth of such  benign moments when the  Federal Government spared a thought for the people of the region.

Indeed, through the setting up of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB), Oil Mineral Producing Areas Commission (OMPADEC), Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC), Ministry of Niger Delta, the amnesty programme and the payment of derivation funds, successive governments have attempted to ameliorate the imperiled existence of the people of the Niger Delta.

But government’s interventions are largely self-serving and this is why the results they generate do not last. Whenever there is a resurgence of militancy in the region, the government moves to restore peace not for the sake of the people of the region but because of the need to protect its interest in the oil resources of the region. Oil remains the economic strength of the nation as long as it has not developed other sources of revenue.

 The government’s move for negotiation with a new set of militants who call themselves the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) derives its validation from the fact that the country cannot exist without the oil from the Niger Delta that sustains the economy. If there must be peace in the Niger Delta for the nation to access its prime source of revenue, the government should not listen to those who are opposed to negotiation with the militants. While one does not support a resort to armed struggle, those who are affected by the ecological ravages in the Niger Delta region have a genuine reason to call the attention of the world to their plight if their own government and the oil companies making billions of dollars from the region are not willing to develop the region. Besides, it is clear by now that the military option is not workable not only because it has not stopped the militants from destroying oil facilities but also because it is innocent  people who are often brutalised by the troops.