Yes, Jonathan has delivered for his friends – El-Rufai

BY Henry Umoru
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has since his informal exit from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP transformed into one of the leading voices of the opposition. A chieftain of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Mallam El-Rufai in an interview reviews the performances of the Goodluck Jonathan administration and profers his suggestions. Excerpts:
DO you agree with the PDP that the federal administration has delivered on its promises?
Yes, they have delivered on insecurity, they have delivered on insolvency of the federal government, they have delivered on the division in the country, they have delivered on depletion of social capital; I don’t know what they are celebrating. I think they can celebrate because they stole 2 trillion of subsidy money and they are stealing some billions in pension.
I think they have delivered, but for themselves not for the Nigerian people. The PDP and Jonathan have every reason to celebrate because they have wiped out our foreign reserves, wiped out excess crude account and they all own houses in Abuja and Lagos. So, they have every reason to celebrate but go to the local market and ask many Nigerians whether the plight of this year is better than the plight of last year and the answer will be very clear. Nigeria has become much worse under Jonathan’s watch. So, I don’t know what they are celebrating.
Do you imply that Nigerians are regretting voting in Jonathan?
I don’t know. Every Nigerian must have a view on this. I don’t think his no shoe story and all that got him elected. I don’t think he was elected, I think they rigged their way into power and if they were using the power for good, it will not be too bad.
Waiting for God’s judgment
But the power is being used to perpetrate fraud against 168 million people and those that voted for him should ask themselves whether they have done the right thing and those of us that did not vote for him but our votes were stolen and added to him. We are waiting for God’s judgment.
Do you believe the opposition is strong enough to take power from the PDP?
When the time comes, the opposition will be strong enough. People think the opposition is just political parties, those who think so are in the dream land; opposition is Nigerian people, Nigerians whose lives have been much traumatized, that is the opposition and at the level of political institutions, we are here to organize our ourselves into a united and formidable opposition, I hope we get there.

Mallam El- Rufai

How organized are you the opposition parties?
We are organizing, I don’t want to say more than that.
Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark had said while marking his birthday that Jonathan will contest in 2015. As a northerner, what is your take on this?
I am not a Northerner, I am a Nigerian. I don’t see myself as a Northerner, I don’t like those affiliations; I don’t believe in that, I believe I am a Nigerian and I see every Nigerian from whatever part, language and religion as a brother. Again, that is what is wrong about our country. I don’t think the constitution disqualifies Jonathan from contesting, I don’t see any problem in that.
Only the constitution and the electoral acts defines who can run and who cannot run and I don’t see anything in the constitution that disqualified Jonathan from running, but what he is not entitled to do is to rig the election and impose himself on Nigerians because if that happens we will respond.
It is as simple as that. You can deceive me once, but I will not allow you to deceive me twice. If you deceive me once, then the next time you do it, I will react. That is it. Edwin K. Clark is entitled to his views and I agree with them because any Nigerian who is above the age of 30 with a secondary school certificate is qualified to run for president and unless he runs more than twice. So, he is entitled to run.
How far has the CPC gone in reforming itself?
The CPC is young, we were registered in 2009 and before we could settle down, we had to contest election and yet, our presidential candidate got over 12 million real votes, not the Jonathan fake votes.  We have organizational issues in the party as a young party, we are not 13 years like the PDP, we are just 3 years, so, these kinds of issues can happen and we are addressing them and part of what I am doing is to get some of these issues sorted out and we are working on them. The party is working on its internal problems and we will overcome all these issues to ensure that PDP stops destroying Nigeria.
Back to the government, as a former Minister you worked with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, where do you think in the next one or two years the government should concentrate on and Nigerians will be happy for it before the next election?
There are three or four fundamental issues where this government has failed woefully in the last 2, 3 years because Jonathan has been around not for one year, but for about three years. They have failed in providing security for the people which is the primary reason for having a government. They should look at what they have been doing in the last one year and correct it. That is one. Second, they have not managed the economy well.
This country is broke, the federal government is unable to pay federation allocation on time, they are unable to pay salaries on time, we are in May, April salaries have not been paid.  There should be reduction in level of corruption and fraud in the amount of fund leakages so that the liquidity in the economy will be restored. Stealing should not be the full time job of people in government. They should work and manage the economy.
The third is that these endless promises to improve the electricity must stop and deliver some results. Electricity generation has not improved from the level we left it which is about 3,200 megawatts in April 2007. It has not changed; in fact it has gone down once in a while.  Finally, they should think of the 6 million babies we make every year and begin to think of their future. People without hope are capable of anything; the government should level the playing field. These are the four areas I will advice them to look at. I am not their Adviser.
Will the North allow President Jonathan to run in 2015?
It is not up to the North or anyone to allow anyone to decide, Nigerians decide who they want as President and there was great consensus at a time that the presidency should be ceded to the South and no credible Northerner contested the office. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.
These are some of the decisions people make for the unity, peace and good governance of the country. I don’t believe we should be selecting our presidents on the basis of where they come from. I have said this overtime, I think we should look for the best qualified person for the job and where you have a decent person doing the right thing, everybody benefits – North, South, East and West, Muslims and Christian, Hausa, Igbo Yoruba, Ijaw, everyone, we can all benefit from good governance.
Your former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo recently decried the level of corruption where he was quoted to have alleged that members of the National Assembly are rogues and armed robbers, do you agree with him?
President Obasanjo is a very thoughtful and experienced person, I am sure before he made the statement, he had the facts and I think Nigerians know what he meant and they all know the National Assembly members, the allowances they take that they are illegal. Obasanjo knows what he is talking about. I don’t believe that everyone in the National Assembly is bad, there are many decent people there but there is something wrong with the National Assembly. I don’t know what Obasanjo said but whatever he said, he must have his reasons and his facts.
How would you access the 7th National Assembly?
Disappointing, for me this National Assembly has not done much. There are many legislations that have been lying there forever like the Petroleum Industry Bill which has been in the National Assembly since 2008. The most important legislation that will reshape our oil industry has been lying there. It was the Senate that first had the resolution on investigation of fuel subsidy fund, but at the end, it was the House of Representatives that took the lead and did good work in that regard.
I think the overall performance is disappointing though I will say Farouk Lawan has helped elevate the quality of the House of Representatives. I think under Tambuwal, the House of Representatives has become more reflective of the wishes of Nigerians than the Senate.
What do you think should be the outcome of the report from the House of Representatives?
I think a few things are clear, the report identified the companies that collected public funds without supplying anything. I think they should be asked to refund that money back before you go any further. You don’t need any investigation. But no action is being taken along that line. I heard that the anti-corruption agency has got the report and I do hope that all those involved in doing the wrong things will be brought to justice as quickly as possible.
On Boko Haram, what is the way forward?
I don’t know it is a complicated issue with many dimensions. Unless you have all the information, it is very difficult to make any permutations and conclusions, but what I do know for sure is that the current practices of the government have failed. There are strong suspicions among us that the government is behind some of these violence including Boko Haram and the government has not done anything to apprehend some of those behind the violence.
They are losing the battle in the heart and minds of the community where the so called Boko Haram is supposedly operating and I think they need to rethink their strategies. The government should stop it, they should stop complaining and they should stop behaving as if they are victims and just solve the problem.

Heartless Lamido Sanusi By Yinka Odumakin

By Yinka Odumakin

I was one of those who opposed the appointment of Sanusi  Lamiido Sanusi as the Central Bank Governor when the late Umaru Ya'aradua nominated him for the exalted office in 2009.
My reason for considering him unfit for the office was not because he lacked the knowledge and intellect for the office but rather because I found him impetuous and his thoughts on national issues showed a narrow man whose lenses do not see beyond the prism of his  own agenda.
His thoughts on other nationalities in Nigeria were either rude,condescending and when at his best patronising.
Anyone who doubts the above should read most of his sabre-rattling views and commentaries before he became the CBN Governor.The Number 1 banker for the country should not be a man with such strong political views which negate the liberal mindset that is required to handle the apex bank.
He eventually assumed the office of the CBN Governor and has since carried himself about with all the swagger of an aristocrat and in the process did a lot of incalculable damage to the economy  through his whimsical actions  whose results are already staring us in the face.
Dele  Sobowale  in his piece titled "Another Banking Crisis Coming Up" in VANGUARD of May7,2012 rightly opined that If anyone had asked Sanusi Lamido Sanusi three years ago his choice between becoming the Emir of Kano and the Governor of Central Bank; he would have chosen the former." But like Prince Charles of Britain, whose mother, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 1952, and is still going strong, Lamido too must wait indefinitely to pursue his ultimate ambition – which does not include being remembered as a great banker. Banking was just something to do while waiting.
That was why, unlike his predecessor, he did not lobby much for the job; instead the job came looking for him. That might have explained his distractions and his aloofness bordering on arrogance."
In what appears a glimpse into Sanusi's mishandling of the banking sector I quote Mr Sobowale copiously:
"When Sanusi took over,he proceeded to dismantle the Soludo legacy. And although, there is no indication he intends to erect a monument, he will all the  same. The crisis might occur before he goes to Kano for the coronation. It is brewing with a fury known only to beer  Brewmasters.
Most banking crises start from one incident, a breach of the rules and regulations, in one bank which benefits a few people; gets copied by other banks or is repeated by the same bank until it becomes routine. The current case involving the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, Plc and the former governor of Kwara State is one of the two examples which will be examined today to round up this warning.
As stated last week, if the allegations are proved beyond reasonable doubt, the the Governor of the Central Bank must bear a significant portion of the blame for appointing someone whose track record had been revealed as questionable in the past.
At the moment the focus is on one allegation pertaining to granting waivers to Senator Saraki’s firms under questionable circumstances and releasing the securities for the loan prematurely; thereby leaving the bank holding to thin air for its exposure – N9 to 11 billion worth of it. One can only pray it is not true; for the sake of Mr Alabi; more for the sake of Senator Saraki and for the sake of the Nigerian banking sector.
That incident raises several questions to which this writer already has some answers. The first is, was that the only loan handled in this manner? If not, how many more loans are involved? For those who might not grasp the implications of those questions, let me quickly explain
The next question is for the Central Bank to answer. Are there no guidelines which must be followed before a bank can grant this magnitude of a waiver? If, yes, were they followed and did CBN examiners to the bank check these? If not, how could the examiners have missed this huge write off?
The more you look, the more it can be seen that the CBN was somehow derelict in its duties and its responsibilities to the shareholders of the bank who had no say in the appointment of the Managing Directors. And, if it was careless in one case how can the stakeholders in the banking sector have confidence that this is an isolated case. Information reaching me suggests  it is not.
When we turn to the pension scandal, one is appalled and the heart melts. Here the rules and regulations guiding deposits by individuals, as well as opening of accounts are so clear that no banker can claim ignorance of them. There is the “Know Your Customer” principle and the mandatory requirement to report deposits of one million or more into an individual account.
Yet virtually all the banks conspired with old and new customers to launder stolen pension funds belonging to millions of individuals. Even with the rather lenient penalties attached to these offences, the banks face billions of naira in penalties directly; and billions more in claims from affected groups indirectly.
In these cases we are not talking about a few individuals but a systemic and pervasive violation of the laws. The bankers who have appeared at public hearings have sounded like people interested in passing the buck and running for the border than people certain of their innocence. Heads, again will roll."
Sanusi, this time, should not be allowed to single-handedly appoint new Chief Executive Officers to replace those who might be implicated.
The obvious question; to which there is also an obvious answer is: why did so many bankers risk their careers and the fortunes of their banks by engaging in widespread money laundering? The answer is “they were desperate”. Both individually and as banks people had become desperate.
Retrenchment occurs every day sending hundreds of bankers into the job market and an uncertain future. Most, on account of loans taken, would depart with very little. Under the circumstances, it was easy to bend the rules, collaborate with pension fund thieves and hope to put away something for the future.
Diminished job security is one reason for the collective violation of banking rules and regulations. The negative variances between projected revenue and profits also act as catalysts to law breaking. When deposit targets are not being met, bank managers become vulnerable to dubious deals.
Most succumb hoping that the violations can be concealed through a combination of other deals with CBN staff, creative accounting and complaisant auditors. Some of the tell-tale signs are there when depositors spend long hours at branches trying to withdraw money.
Also, when your bank “fails” to clear local cheques deposited within three working days, or out of state cheques for almost a week, into your account – especially on week-ends — you should suspect deliberate delay by the bank. Or when salaries paid into your account “have not been processed”. Invariably, it is not just a few customers; it is every customer who is subjected to “go slow” treatment.
Like all the previous bank crisis, this too started slowly, by a few bank managers in a few branches and regional offices. Suddenly, the exception became routine once again in Nigerian banks. But, as appetite grew with eating, it became an all-comers affair. Now virtually all the banks were consumed by it.
The CBN had been issuing threats to deal with all the banks involved. That is akin to wanting to close the gate after the cows have fled. To start with the bankers opening dubious accounts did it deliberately and were paid for their “services”.
Furthermore, a lot of the funds deposited and which, if reported as required by law, would have been recovered intact have been spent. A great deal of the stolen funds and the bribes to the bankers have vanished; but the banks are liable.
Once again, the question is: where were CBN bank examiners while all these were going on? Increasingly, what these cases reveal is a governor and group of Executive Directors who have been derelict in their duties; who have not been supervising the banks and who have allowed another crisis to develop so soon after the last one. Like drunken sailors on shore leave our bankers have stumbled from one crisis to another – thanks to poor supervision this time."
Our dear aristocrat has in words and actions confirmed the position of the columnist that he is just marking time at the CBN while waiting for the current Emir of Kano to transit so he can fulfil his long held ambition of becoming the next emir  of Kano.
At the peak of the fuel subsidy crisis early this year ,another columnist, Tunde Fagbenle ; in an exchange with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had nicely cautioned him against his undisguised ambition of getting turbaned as Emir while there is a reigning one.The following exchange took place between Fagbenle and SLS as published  in Fagbenle's column of SUNDAY PUNCH of March 25,2012:

“I know you’ve set yourself the ‘supreme ambition’ of becoming the Emir of Kano (the stool of your grandfather), though I think it is impolitic to have declared such ambition so soon while the incumbent is still alive (well, by my Yoruba custom, that is!); but I would want to see a movement that can help in bringing someone like you, Oshiomhole, Fashola, and, even, Okonjo-Iweala to run Nigeria. What a great country that would be!”
Regards,
TF
From SLS
“
Thank you very much, Tunde.
“Starting from the lighter note, it was not so much a declaration of ambition. In our own part of the world, the emir takes it for granted that every prince wants to be an emir and in fact, it would be a sad day if a prince, when asked his ambition in life, ranked another office higher than the throne of his ancestors."
It was in showing that his ambition of becoming an emir  ranks higher than being CBN governor that he dipped his hands into CBN purse to donate N100m to the victims of Boko Haram in Kano when the apex bank had not made any such donation to the many victims of terror strikes by Kano.
It is from the same mindset that a CBN governor who ordinarily should not be heard except on monetary issues granted an interview where he said that the reason why Boko Haram is on rampage is the skewed "derivation" formula in the country!
The final moment for the total unravelling of SLS came with his arrogant display of insensitivity and soullessness by going ahead with his being turbaned as Dan-Majen Kano at a period the burnt bones of 160 Nigerians who perished in the Dana crash are still being sorted in Lagos mortuary.Given the mood of the nation a man who understands the responsibility of his office would have lost nothing by postponing the event for at least two weeks.
Aside from the general grief the nation is enmeshed in,  9 people who worked under SLS at the CBN were among the 153 passengers who died in the ghastly crash.The deceased persons are Amiaka Rapheal and Antonia Attu, both Senior Managers; Bamaiyi Adamu, a Senior Supervisor and Talmata Muhammed, an Assistant Director.
Others are Ibrahim Yusuf, Principal Manager; Kim Norris, Special Adviser to the CBN Governor on Banking Supervision; Mutihir. I., Deputy Manager and Samuel Mbong.
Sanusi was not reported to have visited the crash scene where eight of his staff lost their lives.All that mattered to him was the chieftaincy he was about to take.I argued with a friend who was invited to Kano  but made up his mind not to go given the tragedy that occurred,on Thursday night that the SLS I have studied would still go ahead with the ceremony.My friend was still optimistic that a last minute cancellation would take place.Sadly I was proved right.
Shame on heartless  Sanusi and his soulless guests who have shown us that tragedy means nothing to them.Does the blue blood in SLS's veins so royal it cannot be touched by the sorrows of others?could that tragedy not have happened to any of us? Would the emir change his mind altogether if he had asked for a shift of date?How cold would these fellows be if they had to take actions that involve the lives of people behind closed doors if they can merry while the nation mourns?
To SLS I commend the words of John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi:
"Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness"
May the souls of the CBN8 (who most likely would have been in Kano to celebrate their 'Oga' had they not perished) forgive SLS for this display of utter insensitivity.
 

The Horizon by Kayode Komolafe.

Kayode.Komolafe@thisdaylive.com

For Paschal Bafyau

Although the body of labour leader Paschal Myeleri Bafyau will be buried this weekend  in his hometown, Lamorde,  Adamawa State, his legacy in the movement that produced him  will be a matter for deeper reflection for a long time. Even before the funeral rites begin there have been well-deserved tributes to the essential character of the fallen comrade since he died on May 15 at 65. The thread that runs through  most of the  testimonies to his career is that he was committed to the labour movement  till he had  his last breath.

Bafyau’s   tenure as the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was truncated in 1994 when the military government of General Sani Abacha dissolved the congress along with  the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) which spearheaded  the struggle for the validation of  the results of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections won by Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola. However, Comrade Bafyau was never distant from the labour movement. It was a fitting testament to his life-long commitment to labour that 14 days before his demise, Bafyau was at the May Day rally in Abuja. He reportedly raised  issues about the shape and  direction of the movement with other labour veterans including his predecessors  Comrades Hassan Sunmonu and Ali Chiroma on that occasion.   

For now, it is safe to predict that history will even be kinder to his memory than the contemporary verdict would  concede. This projection is premised on taking a long view of history. In may respects, Bafyau was a veritable study in what the Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky, categorised as the “role of the individual in history”. When Bafyau’s critics (especially from the left of the movement) stress the point that as NLC’s president he compromised labour interests in dealing  with the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, they often ignore a dialectical issue. As a matter of fact, Bafyau emerged in November  1988 as congress’s president as a compromise candidate because the two factions that went to conference to elect him saw in  him virtues of compromise.

That was why he was able to forge a solidly united congress from the wrangling of the “Democrats” and “Marxists” who went their different ways from the ill-fated  Benin delegates’ conference held earlier that year.  The root of the contradictions between the expectations of his comrades on the left and his leadership style  could be traced to events which constituted a prelude to his emergence. For clarity, Bafyau was certainly not your archetypal labour militant; but  the man was undeniably a rugged and calm trade unionist. He worked closely  with  Comrade  Sylvester Ejiofoh of  the then civil service technical workers’ union  on the left and got on well with Godwin Uluocha of the telecommunication workers’ union  on the right.

   From his days as the general-secretary of the Nigeria Union of Railwaymen till he led the labour centre, NLC, Bafyau defended the fundamental interests of the working class. So, any judicious assessment of his remarkable career must acknowledge that his leadership engendered unity of the NLC in the congress which in turn nourished the organisational integrity of the congress. It is, therefore, an ironical  twist  that at the time of Bafyau’s death cracks are noticeable in the  organisational wall of the congress. That goes to show that unity should  not be taken for granted. Leaders should work for it.

Bafyau led the NLC in a deliberate style. He worked assiduously to widen the material base of the organisation. The organising principle was that for NLC to carry out its activities the organisation should be on a financial terra firma. It should be in position to pay the highly qualified cadres  employed as career trade unionists in the service of workers. The labour centre  should be able to generate the means to fund its programmes independently. 

The resources to execute this policy were bye-products of the problematic relationship of NLC with the Babangida regime. Unfortunately, the policy met a public relations debacle. Although, the policy was hardly contested within the formal structure of NLC, there were fierce criticisms from the larger labour and progressive movement. For instance, one famous criticism of the funds from the military government into the coffers of NLC was made by  the  nationalist, Chief Anthony Enahoro, who described  the arrangement as “subversive generosity”.

However, the results of the Bafyau doctrine  as attested to by the  NLC in its  tribute are the 12-Storey Labour House in Abuja and   Labour City Transport. A fund was  instituted  for regular labour education for cadres and  the defunct Labour Bank (LACON) was also founded. Most of these remain monumental assets of NLC and not Bafyau’s private estate. Indeed, as the NLC pointed out in its statement, at his death Bafyau lived in a rented bungalow in Abuja.

Now, it is expected that  left-wing cadres in trade  unions  should  be conscious of the limitation of economistic struggles without political action.  But Bafyau  was  more  interested  liberal democratic politics. Perhaps more than any other cadre of his generation Bafyau  was enamoured to heeding the admonition of Comrade Eskor Toyo that “ you  should get involved in the politics of your country”. Bafyau was never content with being on the margin of politics. He embraced the Babangida tortuous transition programme with  a lot of enthusiasm. He and Alhaji Ibrahim Halilu of the  bank workers’ union were labour nominees   into the 17-man Political Bureau that conducted the  political debate preceding the programme. 

  Bafyau and Chief Frank Kokori of NUPENG fame also represented labour in the Constituent Assembly that debated the 1989 Constitution. Under his watch, the NLC came with a Labour Party rated as Number 6 out of the dozens of organisations struggling for registration in 1989. There  was a vigorous debate within  NLC on how labour should get involved in politics with many of Bafyau’s comrades insisting that  NLC should be  organisationally  intact as a labour centre and that it  could not be converted into a party

. Among those on that side of the debate was one of Bafyau’s deputies, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, now Edo State governor. When the military government decreed  into existence the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC), it was natural for Bafyau to be part of SDP which was said to be a  “ little to the left”. Bafyau was actually the favourite  as the running mate to Abiola in the 19933 until the SDP governors insisted that their former party National Chairman, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe,  would be the party’s  vice-presidential candidate. It was consistent with this political orientation of always playing in a larger field  that at his death Bafyau was a strong member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was always politically active.

Beyond trade unionism and politics, Bafyau was a good man. He had no bile. A man of modest taste, he was demonstrably selfless. He was a Nigerian patriot.
Our condolences go his very accommodating wife, Jessica, and their three daughters – Tariko, Taniel and Dadieno.

Are We Really Ready for Democracy?

The Wig & Skirt  By Funke Aboyade. Email: olufunke.aboyade@thisdaylive.com

The unfolding scandal of the past week and a half is yet another in a long series of corruption scandals involving key government actors, particularly at the legislative tier. For those who preferred to give Representative Farouk Lawan the benefit of the doubt given the initial claims, counter-claims and denials between him and Businessman, Femi Otedola, a report which subsequently emerged (as reported exclusively by THISDAY June 15) about Hon. Lawan stuffing Dollar bills, at 5.00am at Otedola’s residence, into his flowing babbanriga and even under his cap surely gave them a quick reality check. It would have been hilarious (and truth be told I did permit myself several good hearty laughs) had it not been tragic.  The demystification of Farouk Lawan was complete.

The National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives, has since the advent of the 4th Republic been prone to the sort of corruption and sleaze story now playing out. Add this to the fact that they have hardly been outstanding in terms of the number of bills passed or time taken to pass them. Add also the fact that, as CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi disclosed to a shocked nation in 2010, they constitute an unjustifiable drain (25% of recurrent federal expenditure) on the nation’s lean resources, one is compelled to now give serious consideration to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s dismissal of them (May 22, 2012) as veritable rogues and armed robbers.

The public hearing of the House Ad-Hoc Committee Monitoring the Fuel Subsidy revealed the systemic rot and corruption in the fuel subsidy scheme. Previous public hearings on other sectors of the economy by various House Committees have also revealed similar corruption in government, made worse by the fact that those Committees themselves have almost always ended up being consumed by the very corrupt practices they set out to unearth. The Lawan/Otedola bribery scandal is therefore really just another day in the life of a Nigerian legislator. In the 14th year of our current democracy there has been no single successful prosecution of a crime committed (yet there have been many) by a legislator whilst in office. Once more, the lower house has fiercely upheld its reputation for sleaze and blackmail. The real surprise though is the outpouring of shock and outrage from ordinary Nigerians. Hon. Farouk Lawan's emergence as a champion of integrity during the Patricia Etteh saga should not have fooled anyone who understands the true nature of the farce that often passes for governance in these parts – pardon my cynical view, but essentially a contest among groups vying to capture the commonwealth for their personal benefit.

The sums involved in all these scandals have been outrageous. $3m in the current one, out of which $620,000 cash had been paid. Bribery figures now run into the millions, not of Naira but of Dollars. In Naira terms we now hear of trillions being looted, scammed or skimmed off the Nigerian people – the fuel subsidy scam for instance.

Given that this democracy is extraordinarily expensive (a few thousand federal public servants in 263 MDAs consume 72% of our national commonwealth annually; 469 legislators and their aides consume 25% of the federal government’s recurrent expenditure annually, in a burgeoning population of 160 million) and compounded with the fact that wholesale looting, arbitrary wasteful spending, bribery and corruption is going on mostly unchecked in government, one is then forced to ask: are we really ready for democracy?

Before self-appointed democrats, do-gooders and others go up in arms in self righteous indignation, before the security agencies begin to swoop in, let me explain. The question is asked with every sense of responsibility and seriousness. Are we ready for democracy? Certainly, the pointers and indices indicate that not only are we not, but that the ingredients of a revolution (of whatever form) are already in place.

Frankly, we are only proving true the axiom that Nigerians have short memories. How else can one explain our reckless and irresponsible actions as a nation since 1999, not caring about the hard fought battle to send the military packing and return to democratic rule after 16 long years?

Every revolution is borne out of a desire for fundamental change. The short-lived OccupyNigeria (which at least shocked government out of its complacency and subsequently became the impetus for the House probe on fuel subsidy payments) is an example.

The danger now is the current House scandal may likely obscure the bigger issue - the fuel subsidy scam itself, as well as issues thrown up by the OccupyNigeria protests. Consider just three. The revelation about stolen trillions of Naira (N2.6trn by some accounts) in a country whose citizens are mostly poor, per the Human Poverty Index. The money has so far not been recovered. Whilst the nation awaits the prosecution of those indicted by the House probe all there is so far are the various committees thrown at the problem in the aftermath of the fuel subsidy protests. Secondly, the disturbing allegations that a healthy chunk of the subsidy scam proceeds were channelled into funding last year’s election campaigns (extra-budgetary approval and payment by a whopping 900% of the sum budgeted for subsidy payments in 2011, an election year), an allegation that itself warrants a full-scale probe into electoral financing - if we are serious about preserving our hard-won democracy. Thirdly, we must not forget that this probe only relates to PMS and that this may be basis for the suspicion by many that a scam of a somewhat similar magnitude exists in the importation of household and aviation kerosene.

I end with a word for those who say, glibly, that these are normal teething problems in a fledgling democracy. They are not. The indices or markers are not promising. Civil institutions are remarkably weak, the electorate is too easily compromised due to poverty and illiteracy, and for many public office holders service is usually the last thing on their minds. Thirteen years is half a generation and we haven't moved forward an inch as a nation - if anything we have regressed and are arguably worse off than we were in 1999.

So where lies the hope if we are really serious about being a democratic country? For starters, ordinary Nigerians must participate more actively in building a cost effective, credible and stable democracy. Beyond voting, each of us must now begin to think how we can participate more actively in the process. We clearly cannot leave it to the likes of Farouk Lawan. We must also begin to hold, indeed insist on holding, our leaders and civil institutions to account - every day, all the time.

Until we do this, the answer to the question, are we ready for democracy? will have to be in the negative…

The President Lied! By Yinka Odumakin.

I have not set my eyes on Prof.Funso Aiyejina for about 23 years now but every now and then the sheer musicality of his voice resonates in my ears anytime I flash back to his poetry class.Aiyejina was one of the crop of bright intellectuals at the Literature Depatment of the  Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU),Ile-Ife under whose feet I learned  several years back.The great teachers included :Profs .Biodun Jeyifo,  Ropo Sekoni,Oyin  Ogunba,G.G Darah,Adebayo Williams and a host of others.
Aiyejina's poetry class was an exciting one for me as I looked forward each moment to listen to him sing poetry into our ears.Two poems he sang that would never leave my consciousness are "Letter To Lynda" written by him and Odia Ofeimum's " The Poet Lied".
It was the latter that rushed to my memory as I listened to President Goodluck Jonathan address a media chat on national  television on Sunday night.Under normal circumstance, the word of a president should flow with so much integrity that people would not ordinarily be tempted to cross-check as any holder of such office would not be expected to speak untruth to his countrymen and women.
However, I've learnt to double check whatever the President says ever since he said he was not aware of Article 7(C) in his party constitution until his opponents brought out his signature at the meeting where the provision was approved .I must say though that I was still ready to grant him the indulgence that he could have suffered some amnesia given that the meeting took place about 6 years earlier.
But my bag of indulgence for him became empty when I heard Dr Jonathan say "Nigerians should not forget that long  before the House of Representatives set up its probe I have set up the Ribadu Committee to look into the problems in the oil sector.If I have anything to hide would I  go for Ribadu who is accepted as an anti-corruption giant by Nigerians?"
I could not believe my ears that the President of Nigeria would  manipulate events that occurred early this year to torture our memory and still keep a straight face.Even a toddler would recall that the House of Representatives convened a special session on Sunday,6th January 2012;to deliberate on the fuel subsidy crisis during which it set up the Lawan Farouk Committee to probe the subsidy regime.It took exactly a moment after,with all the mind - boggling revelations from the House probe  for the Petroleum Minister to announce the Nuhu Ribadu Task Force on the petroleum industry .
And shortly after this blatant untruth,one of the panelists asked the president if Nigerians should still trust him in spite of all that have happened in the last one year and he still answered in the affirmative!

Now the big question is how anybody would believe the President when he denied being the director of the Otedola-Farouk opera after telling us that February comes before January and the gap between is "long"?.
I almost passed out when the President admitted that Otedola ,Dangote and co have always been around every PDP president from Obasanjo through Yaradua and to him " but they are not patrons of the ruling party since they are not on our Board of Trustees"
And the big one played out in the course of the interview when two  numbers were displayed for people to call in and ask the president questions.I felt a practical joke was on for a president who struggles with written speeches to now face live questions.Even the questions from the panel which must have been given to him ahead presented their challenges .Where the president was expected to enunciate concrete policy directives,he kept on saying "did you not listen to the minister when he talked on that", "I don't want to contradict the minister","I don't want to have the figures of our debts" and "I'm not the one managing the economy but Ngozi Iweala who has reputation".As if he was saying he lacks what NOI has!
My apprehension that the call-in gesture was a gimmick  was confirmed as I called the two numbers and none was active..I have since called a lot of respected Nigerians who told  me they had a similar experience.Among those who also tried but in vain like me are Prof.Niyi Osundare and Pastor Tunde Bakare.One of the other people I called cracked my ribs when he said " the few calls that made it in could be from Reuben Abati's office".
By and large,it was a punishing task listening to Mr President for two hours Sunday night as he stumbled from one comedy of error to another.Like him saying that he has not declared his asset as a matter of  "principle" and that when he did so as Vice-President it was at the insistence of Yaradua whom he told  they were creating an  "anomalous " situation.He went on the arrogant lane by saying that he would not give a damn if the media talked about his non-declaration of assets till kingdom come. And his parting  shot was "is it my declaration of assets that would stop Boko Haram?".But I didn't hear in two hours talking about  what he is doing to stop Boko Haram even as his June deadline to exterminate the group remains a few days to end!
If anything all I heard him do was setting agenda for Boko Haram when he said "...the same Boko Haram will start attacking mosques to instigate Muslim youths to attack Christians ".
The  most pathetic non-coordination of thought of the night came with the president defending his Brazil trip when Kaduna and Yobe were burning thus :"The day the international community gets to know that the President of Nigeria  could not travel because of Boko Haram,we are finished".
But the  President within the same interview explained that the reason he had yet to visit Damaturu  and Maiduguri ,two hottest flash-points of Boko Haram was because the airport is ill-equipped for his plane to land;and that he could not travel  by helicopter for security reasons.
Now that the international community know that our president who junkets around the world but cannot maintain airports at home  is scared of flying    helicopter in his country for the fear of Boko Haram,what is left of us?
Truth is that our rulers, which include President Jonathan- finished us before Boko Haram !

Strauss-Khan, Wigwe et al: The problem with the Penis.

Friday, June 3, 2011.

When it comes to how the BBC covers Nigeria, you are allowed to call the news organization a dick. That is the word the Americans prefer to use for the penis. In this case of the BBC, it refers to someone who is inconsiderate. The British has since lost an empire but the BBC still carries on as the mouthpiece of an empire.

But you also have to give it to the BBC. More than any other news organization in the world, the BBC goes into every corner of the globe to bring you the news.

One of such uniquely BBC stories is a recent tale from Bangladesh.

A 40-year-old Bangladeshi woman named Monju Begum recently severed the penis of her neighbor who allegedly attempted to rape her.

The BBC reported that the married mother of three resorted to that extreme measure while she fought off Mozammel Haq Mazi, a neighbor who had been harassing her for months. Mrs. Begum claimed that Mr. Mazi snuck up to her while she was sleeping. The incident took place in the village of Mirzapur, in Jhalakathi, about 124 miles away from the capital, Dhaka.

The women took the time to wrap the penis up in a piece of polythene and took it to Jhalakathi police station as evidence of rape.

(Pause for a second and appreciate the significance of this. If it were in Nigeria, that woman would have been arrested for tampering with the evidence.)

Meanwhile, doctors at the hospital in Barisal, where Mazi was being treated, said that they would not be able to re-attach the penis of the 40-year-old father of five. “We are treating him so that he can urinate normally without a penis,” a hospital spokesman told the BBC.

Mr. Mazi is not going to be as lucky as John Wayne Bobbitt who got his penis re-attached in America.

(Pause again but do not try to visualize any thing. For one, he will not try it again. In fact, he will not bring it out again. But if you must visualize anything, begin by thinking what the penis did when it saw the knife? And going forward, what penises will now do when a woman picks up a knife beside them.)

As it is with stories like this, the woman is not going to have the last word. From his hospital bed, Mr. Mazi told the BBC that Mrs. Begum was making up stories. He alleged that he had a 15-year-old affair with Mrs. Begum. He claimed that he was a victim because he lost a penis, a lover and now risks arrest.

In his version of what happened, he said that Begum became mad when he refused to elope with her to Dhaka. “I refused,” Mr. Mazi told the BBC. “I told her I cannot leave my wife and children, so she took revenge on me.”

Surely, Begum and Mazi will need Judge Judy to settle this one. Whatever be the outcome of the case, Monju Begum has answered an important poser that threatened women have faced for ages. “Disarm all rapists,” has been the cry. Begum’s answer to that was: “It’s not their arm that I’m worried about.”

The story of Mr. Mazi and Monju Begum reminds me of the story of Ambassador Wigwe and his wife. The same kind of tale will play out when the former chief of the IMF, Mr. Dominique Strauss-Khan’s case begins in New York.

As the news of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child with his housekeeper broke out, a woman said to me that the solution to men’s infidelity was to cut off their penises.

I bet you that when we finish perambulating, we will come to that conclusion we all dread: there is a serious problem with the penis -that thing, without a bone, that rises by itself -sometimes, without prompt.

Since the beginning of time, women have been working on the domestication of men. By that, I simply mean civilizing the penis. Or should I say, teaching it proper etiquettes. But it is difficult. One of the reasons why it is tough is that the penis has only one eye. It cannot look up unless someone holds it. Most of the role plays being taught at Penis Domestication workshops escape it.

In the last century, a full scale feminization of men has been going on. But I’m sorry to report that it has not worked. The feminization of men led to the mass production of gay men. Women love gay men, but gay men have not been able to fulfill the role of men in women’s life.

So the experimentation continues.

As women often say, men are still thinking with their penis. And if you are familiar with the penis, you will notice that it has no brain. When you pour cold water on it, it shrinks. What kind of serious equipment reacts that way? When you pour hot water on it, Dick Cheney said, it makes the man reveal a secret. If you punish the penis too much, it throws up. And the moment it throws up, it recoils. A recoiled penis learns nothing.

So what do you expect from the penis?

Maybe we should abandon the fantasy of educating the penis altogether. Let it live in its natural bushy state. The idea that a man can control himself when the penis is in the driving seat has consumed the world for the last 100 years. During this period we have left undone important things we ought to have done.

I’m for cutting off men’s penises.

I believe most men will gladly accept that. If, an only if, such a drastic move will stop the vagina monologue.

Please correct me if I’m right.

• 

Sex and Nigerian Politics.

Friday, June 3, 2011.

Okey Ndibe.   The reason Dominique Strauss-Kahn isn’t the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund today, and is highly unlikely to feature in France’s forthcoming presidential elections, is that he’s accused of sexually assaulting a Guinea-born maid at Sofitel, an expensive hotel in New York City. Apprised of the attack, US law enforcement officers entered a Paris-bound flight, arrested and then booked Mr. Strauss-Kahn. The French presidential prospect has proclaimed his innocence since his arrest, and his lawyers have stated that whatever transpired between him and the Guinean woman was consensual. Despite these protestations and assertions, the Frenchman handed in his resignation from his IMF post on May 18, a few days after his arrest. He spent a few days in New York’s toughest prison before a judge set very stiff bail conditions. His riches and fame notwithstanding, he has been cast by many legal experts as the underdog in the soon-to-commence trial. Whether Mr. Strauss-Kahn committed the sex crimes alleged against him, or is the victim of some sinister conspiracy that’s part of the intrigue of French presidential politics – which is what much of the French public believes – isn’t my concern here. On that score, I’m willing to say, let’s wait and see how the trial turns out. My immediate interest, and the focus of this piece, is the likely outcome of a similar case if a poor hotel maid had accused a famous, wealthy or powerful Nigerian man of groping or raping her. Imagine, for a second, a hotel cleaner going to a Nigerian police station to report that some male member of the federal cabinet had forced her into sex.  In that event, it’s safe to bet that the man would never have been arrested by the Nigerian police. No Nigerian police officer would have the temerity to step into the first class section of a flight and escort the accused minister out of the plane. First of all, who born dat woman? Second, de policeman dey craze? Here are the likely scenarios. The assaulted woman’s friends would tell her that the minister’s sexual predation means that God has buttered her bread. A whole minister come like you? Ah, you can get many blessings from him oh! They would tell her to milk the man for as much cash as he’s willing to drop for her. The friends would advise the woman to ask the man if he would help get her – or some other relative – a job in his ministry. Or some contract. If the woman confided in her relatives, and expressed her intention to report the assault to the police, they would want to know who cursed her with madness. Don’t you know that no man would ever marry you if your shame is revealed? Some relatives would ask her to leave everything to God. The more opportunistic would suggest that she go back to the man, willingly offer him more of what he took by force, and then beg the man to bless her with a contract or two. Let’s say the woman is crazy enough to take her woe to the police. That would be, quite simply, the gravest mistake of her life. She would be taunted and teased, and then locked up for daring to accuse “a whole minister” of forcing himself on “a nonentity like you.” Her allegation would be deemed proof of sexual fantasy on her part. The police would surmise that she wants something, and she is desperate for it! Chances are that, in detention, she would be turned into a sex slave by an endless relay of male officers.    If the woman, crazier yet, caused the story of her rape to be published in a newspaper (even though few, if any, Nigerian news editor would pay mind to her grief), the accused minister would wax with righteous indignation, proclaim himself blissfully married and faithful to his wife, accuse some nameless political foes of sponsoring the report “calculated to impugn my good name and reputation.” He’d then marshal the machinery of state power to arrest his female accuser. Once in detention, the woman would be forced to recant and – to compound her self-debasement – confess that, indeed, she had been put up to it by some of the minister’s enemies. In the meantime, her relatives would buy space in newspapers to apologize to the affronted minister on her behalf. The traditional rulers from the woman’s local government area would drop everything and troop to pay courtesy visits to the minister. These “royal fathers” would plead with the accused to remember that the accuser is like his own daughter, that she’s too young to realize the implications of her fabrications. At any rate, the last thing that would happen would be that the woman’s narrative of sexual assault is taken seriously, or that the accused minister is ever questioned in any meaningful way. As for prosecuting the alleged perpetrator of a sexual crime – forget about it! For me, Strauss-Kahn’s experience illuminates the way in which women remain both oppressed and silenced in Nigeria and many other African countries. Yes, the degradation of women still occurs in many countries in the world, including European, Asian and North American ones. This is the kind of shibboleth some Nigerian apologists love. Talk about corruption in Nigeria, and they quickly remind you that there’s also corruption in the US and elsewhere. They never pause to reflect on an important difference, namely, that corrupt elements are caught, tried and jailed in many parts of the world. In Nigeria, by contrast, the most corrupt citizens receive de facto immunity from prosecution. Better than that, they enjoy first dipping rights to national honors and other forms of social recognition. The same is true when it comes to crimes of sexual predation. That Mr. Strauss-Kahn is a millionaire, popular presidential candidate, author, and IMF boss did not impress the police officers who extricated him from a flight. Would Nigerian law enforcement have led the man out of a plane to answer to charges of raping a Nigerian maid at a Nigerian hotel? Perish the thought! -Okey Ndibe (okeyndibe@gmail.com)