Security fears: Clinton cancels scheduled Abuja meetings

 by Niyi Odebode, Adelani Adepegba and Olalekan Adetayo.

THE heightening of security in Abuja on Thursday notwithstanding, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, shelved many of the activities scheduled for her and left Nigeria for Ghana.

She later held a meeting with the Ghanaian President, Mr. John Mahama, at his residence in Accra. She is billed to participate in the state funeral for the late President John Attah Mill.

Clinton, on the last lap of her nine-nation African tour, departed the country shortly after a closed-door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Security Council, but she shelved scheduled meeting, with civil society groups and anti-corruption campaigners billed for the US Ambassador’s residence in Abuja.

The US Secretary of State also shelved the traditional ‘Meet and Greet’ with US Embassy staff.

At the closed-door session with members of the National Security Council were the Minister of State, Defence, Chief Olusola Obada; National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.); Chief of Defence Staff, Air-Mashal Oluseyi Petinrin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika; and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar.

The Federal Government had deployed security agents in many parts of the Federal Capital City, including the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Umaru Yar’Adua Way, which were manned by soldiers and policemen as part of the security measures for Clinton’s visit.

Security agents were also at the Federal Secretariat and the Central Business District.

Also, roads leading to the Presidential Villa and the Federal Secretariat and the Central Business District were manned by armed security agents.

Foreign media reports on Thursday however indicated that Clinton would not pass the night in Nigeria because of security fears.

“The security situation in Nigeria has deteriorated to the point where the movement of US Embassy workers is often restricted. Clinton will spend only five hours on the ground and will not spend the night in Abuja, where the hotel traditionally used by visiting dignitaries has been the target of terrorist threats,” the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

Before she left the country, however, the US Secretary of State had encouraged Jonathan to take tough decisions necessary to change the fortunes of the country and that the US would support him.

She told the President, “We were also very supportive of anti-corruption reform efforts, more transparency in the work that you and your team are also championing because we really believe that the future for Nigeria is limitless but the most important task that you face, as you have said, is making sure that there are better opportunities for all Nigerians, South, East, West, every young boy and girl to have chance to fulfil his God-given potential.

“We want to work with you and we will be by your side as you make the reforms and take the tough decisions that are necessary.”

Jonathan had earlier paid tribute to the US President Barak Obama and Clinton for their support for Nigeria. He recalled that she had used her position as US Secretary of State to deepen the relationship between the two countries.

He said, “Within this period of being Secretary of State, she has raised the relationship between Nigeria and America to a very high level that we have never reached for quite some time by personally chairing the Bi-national and we have discussed various things – security, economy and so on and so forth. She has been very very supportive.

“And of course, the President of America, President Obama administration is also quite passionate about Africa and Nigeria. He has always been very supportive of us for the past five years. From the days I came in as Vice-President, especially that period as a nation when we faced a lot of challenges when the late President was very ill and we passed through turbulence period.

“The support they gave us was one of the support that stabilised this country. And when we insisted we must conduct election that is free and fair and that is the only way we can stabilise democracy, they were very supportive.

“They gave us moral support, technical support to INEC and assisted us to make sure that we conducted elections that national and international observers declared as free and fair.

“So let me on behalf of government and good people of Nigeria really thank you and President Obama and the good people of America for this your support for Nigeria and Africa and all what you are doing to make sure that this part of the globe develop.”

Clinton who was decked in a pair of black trousers and red jacket arrived at the Presidential Villa at 3.50pm in company with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru; Nigerian Ambassador to US, Ambassador Ade Adefuye, and a battery of security details and foreign journalists.

She left the Presidential Villa at 6.15 pm and headed for the airport and on her way to Accra, Ghana.

President Barack Obama had been under pressure by some American legislators to classify the Islamic violent sect, Boko Haram, as a terrorist group, a campaign that had been resisted by diplomats arguing that the sect mainly focused on domestic violence.

In June this year, however, the US government labelled suspected Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, and two other Nigerian militants “global terrorists,” thus allowing the seizure of their assets in the United States.

The labelling was dismissed by Shekau who appeared in a posting on YouTube last weekend.

Boko Haram is believed to maintain links with Al-Queda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Qaeda’s North African branch, among other terrorist groups.

Are our security forces overwhelmed?

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By Bisi Olawunmi
These are trying times, security wise, for Nigerians. House Nigeria is tilting at a crazy angle and prayer warriors are in fervent supplication to the Almighty that this house must not fall. However, the people are getting wearied given the seemingly unanswered prayers for peace in the land as the nation wakes up to a daily nightmare of bombings, killings,
kidnappings, robberies and widespread mayhem, with rampaging Boko Haram being the poster boy of the nation’s insecurity. And to counter putative islamist terror, hitherto peace and forgiveness preaching pastors are turning into fire-spitting evangelical militants. In spite of the palpable insecurity, the Nigerian spirit of resilience endures – for now. But the portents are that things have to start turning the corner for the better before the situation unravels.
And recent pronouncements by three top security chiefs are enough to give anyone not just the jitters, but a sense of foreboding. The security chiefs’ statements were reported in the media within a period of three days – between July 29 and July 31, 2012 – signaling a potentially scary security situation for the second half of the year 2012. Starting from the most recent, the Yobe state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Patrick Egbuniwe, in a July 31, 2012 media report had lamented the non cooperation of members of the public in volunteering information to the police.
He impliedly accused the public of aiding and abetting the Boko Haram insurgents. “The problem we have here is that the residents shield the Boko Haram men by hiding their identities. If they had cooperated, we would have finished our job here since”, Egbuniwe remarked. He was reacting to suspected Boko Haram gun attack on a bus carrying the police command staff to office the previous day in which a woman was killed. Pointing out that the people know the homes of the Boko Haram men but would not disclose to the security agency, the police commissioner, in plaintive frustration, declared : “The boys attack the police and disturb everybody’s peace.
Then they go back to their homes. The people in this area have refused to help the police”. The poser for the police is : What level of confidence has it built with the people? And how can the people put the safety of their lives on the line when the police cannot save its own officers ? On July 29, 2012, a newspaper story captioned ‘Northern communities shielding Boko Haram – SSS’ had the director of the State Security Service in charge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mr. Little Okojie alleging community cover up for Boko Haram militants. H
e had regretted non cooperation from the public in the fight against violent crime when Abuja chapter executives of the Nigeria Union of Journalists visited him. Apparently admitting lack of synergy among the security agencies, Mr. Okojie pledged that the agencies would work towards effective coordination of the campaign against crimes in the country. What Mr. Okojie would perhaps not admit is the seeming unhealthy rivalry among the security agencies to score points, sort of upstaging each other. For instance, the SSS used to enjoy a dreaded reputation as an invisible, ruthlessly efficient security machine that operates in the shadows.
This shadowy nature of its operations had created a fearsome myth about the organization. Today, the SSS has come into the open and seem to be in competition with the police in terms of public visibility with its frequent media briefings. The SSS needs to return to the shadows as an undercover intelligence agency. If the nature of a particular job requires anonymity to enhance its efficiency, its staff must be willing to remain anonymous.
It is one of the steps needed to enhance cooperation and effectiveness of the security agencies. However, considered most worrisome of the statements from the three security chiefs was that published on Sunday, July 29, 2012, in which a national newspaper carried a front page teaser headline : Boko Haram, others over-stretching military – Army Chief. The story, which ran on page four of the newspaper, credited Major-General Usman Abdulkaldir, Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation, as stating that the deployment of the military to various flashpoints in the country was over-stretching the resources of the army.
Gen. Abdulkadir, who was delivering the Ramadan lecture of the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria in Abuja on July 28, 2012, had listed inadequate logistics and lack of expedient procedures and laws to bring criminals to justice as some of the factors impeding restoration of law and order. But what is most telling in his lecture is the critique of lack of coordination among the security agencies and the implication of widespread, intractable violence for the survival of democracy in the country. On coordination among the security agencies, the General had observed : “Most agencies pay more allegiance to their respective services to the detriment of the operation they are supporting.
Therefore , most internal security operations in Nigeria become problematic to manage and coordinate while synergy is lost”. What, perhaps, is the most weighty aspect of the lecture is his foray into the political. General Abdulkadir had noted the high-level insecurity in the country and admonished : “The present situation has bred an atmosphere of political insecurity, instability, including declining confidence in the political leadership and apprehension about the system. Invariably, continuing escalation of violence and crises across the country interrupts the survival of democracy”. The import of this is that an army compelled to perform police duties over an extended period could become fatigued and frustrated, consequently even posing a threat to the polity.
It is a reality that must be faced. The General’s critique of the nation’s insecurity has drawn its own critics. One is The Nation newspaper August 1, 2012 editorial titled : ‘Over-stretched military ?’ with the rider : Gen. Abdulkadir’s complaint is unwelcome surrender. No doubt, the pronouncements of the three security chiefs, particularly the General’s, could, as pointed out in the editorial, be interpreted as a surrender and at the worst a “testing the waters” in opposition to which the paper declared : “Nigerians say no to any rude prospective military intervention in power”.
A perceived surrender of the security forces could further embolden criminal elements. However, the General’s statement could also be a timely wake up call to the political leadership to sort itself out. When some other people have to clean up after a mess created mainly by politicians, it can be resentful. So, the political class, like the security agencies, must embrace synergy to effectively tackle the nation’s pervasive violence-induced insecurity that has created fear in all.

Olympics and the Mirror of Nigeria By Okey Ndibe.

Okey Ndibe

As I sat down to write this piece, the Nigerian contingent had won not a single medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In fact, the country of 166 million people – aka giant of Africa; the proud host of Africa’s largest political party; and whose public office holders are some of the world’s most highly paid officials – had not seriously threatened to pick up any of the hardware (gold, silver, bronze) that’s the reward for the world’s best athletes. And as the seconds ticked away, Nigeria’s hopes, by every realistic measure, seemed to evaporate faster than the dewfall in the country’s tropical sun.
You’d think that a country like Nigeria would parlay its huge, varied and enterprising population into a medal or two. Perish the thought!
One can predict a rather predictable retort: that there’s no correlation between population and performance at the Olympics. A critic might point to India’s notorious under-performance (a mere three medals so far, despite a population that tops 1.2 billion). Or Indonesia’s far from inspiring performance (two medals, for a country with a population of 237 million). There’s also the forgettable showing by Pakistan (180 million people) and Bangladesh (152 million); as at this writing, both countries had combined for zero medals.
Yet, it may be said for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh that these are countries that are culturally indifferent to most of the events at the Olympics. If the game of cricket were an Olympic event, then they’d wake up for it.
Perhaps, a different species of cultural indifference accounts for Nigeria’s wretched outing in London. We’ve become a people allergic to planning, averse to preparation, and deeply hostile to excellence. Serious contenders at international meets have figured out that it takes serious and consistent planning, the hiring of top coaches as well as long-term investment in equipment and athletes to produce world-class talent.
By contrast, between Olympics, Nigerian sports officials seem to slip into slumber mode. Their calendars are scrubbed free of any preparations for the next Olympics. Then, sometimes with only months to go, they startle awake, scramble for funds, and assemble another ill-equipped, poorly trained contingent.
Nobody should wonder that, every four years, Nigerian athletes march at the Olympics but woefully fail to measure up against the world’s best athletes. Nigeria’s ungolden showing is a mirror of a broader malaise, a parable of a nation that’s wedded to failure.
Victims of official nonchalance, pathetic funding and overall scrappy preparation, Nigerian athletes arrived in London with – literally – only prayers going for them. Yes, Nigeria’s flag bearers are sorry specimens of third-rate equipment and training. Whether it’s the Olympics or the World Cup, we stubbornly neglect to prepare for the games. Then, come time for the contest, our pastors and imams shriek prayers to heaven. Vociferously, our prelates behave as if God owed it to us to be a permanent member of the Nigerian team, if not our standby factotum. They importune God to score goals for us that our hastily assembled soccer teams can’t manage. They ask God to make our athletes faster and stronger than their training warrants. They ask heaven, in short, to nullify other teams’ or athletes’ hard work, their superior training and fastidious preparation, and – deserving or not – to hand us the gold!
Last week, Nigeria’s men’s basketball team at the Olympics seemed to take only prayers to the court in a match against the star-studded US team. At the end of regulation, the outcome was the equivalent of a bloodless massacre. The US team scored 156 points to Nigeria’s 73. The margin of victory – 83 points – was the largest in Olympic basketball history. It was a manhandling; it was as devastating, as thoroughly humiliating an outing as any country has ever had at the Olympics.
Nobody who knows anything about basketball expected the game to be close, much less that Nigeria would eke out a win. But it was altogether within the realm of possibility for the Nigerian team to lose by no more than forty points. To concede a whopping 83 points bespoke an attitude of surrender. As a friend of mine quipped, the Nigerian players should simply have refused to play, instead indicating that they showed up merely to collect autographs from such US star players as Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony.
The US basketball players got the credit for making heroic history; their Nigerian opponents picked up the discredit for dubious history. One Nigerian player – acknowledging the historic scale of their loss – spoke as if it was an achievement to witness that history.
Yet, it’s unjust to put all blame on the players. Their coach said they were ravaged by injuries and had had little training. That’s not the players’ fault; that’s the fault of a country that permits its public officials to steal every naira, dollar and pound sterling in sight and out of sight.
Two days after raining on Nigeria, the US team came within six minutes of losing to Lithuania. The Lithuanian side demonstrated what’s possible when overmatched (but well-trained) players decide to play with grit, with tenacity, determination and pride.
My hunch is that the main difference between Lithuania’s basketball players and Nigeria’s can be found in the quality of leaders in their respective countries. Nigerian leaders – as President Goodluck Jonathan made bold to tell us recently – don’t give a damn. What Mr. Jonathan knows, but didn’t say in so many words, is that Nigerian leaders give a damn for one sport and one sport only: the corner-cutting rat race to accumulate riches. If greed, indolence and false piety were Olympic events, Nigerians would contend for many, many gold medals.
As at this writing, Kazakhstan, a nation of only 15 million people, had won five medals – all gold, four in weightlifting alone. Anybody who looks at Kazakhstan’s medal haul can deduce that here’s a country that takes weightlifting seriously.
By contrast, Nigeria takes no department of sports seriously. Forget sports, Nigeria takes no sector of development seriously. The luckless populace of Nigerians is not even treated as if they were human.
Nigeria’s president, governors, legislators and local government councilors are some of the most obscenely paid in the world. And this doesn’t count the illicit haul they embezzle day after day. Each month, each of Nigeria’s thirty six governors collects enough cash (in salaries, allowances and the scam called security vote) to pay President Barack Obama’s annual salary seven or more times over. Each month! And yet, the Nigerian president, most of the country’s governors, and virtually all its legislators are certified mediocrities. If they entered a contest for stellar leadership, they’d all be laughed out of the competition, treated as the contemptible jokers they are.
Nigerian officials don’t understand the first thing about leadership. They speak about delivering the dividends of democracy, but the only dividends ever delivered are to their fraudulent bank accounts. They wax about moving their states (or local government area or nation) forward, but fail to specify they mean forward into the deep, jagged precipice. They have no clue how to solve the most basic of problems – and so, with predictable folly, they invoke God.
Let’s take Plateau State. Thousands of residents there have either perished or being displaced by incessant acts of sectarian violence. Yet, the state governor, Jonah Jang, has no ideas how to stem the bloodbath. So what does he do? Last week, he told besieged residents that God had revealed to him that the state’s deadly crisis was ‘‘because of their sins.’’ One newspaper reported that Governor Jang disclosed that he had received “a revelation from God that what has befallen the state was ‘the wrath of God over their sins.’”
And the governor, a former military officer, had a “God-given” solution handy. “I want to call on the youths to stop engaging in drinking alcohol. You should form vigilante groups to climb the rocks and hills to protect women and children in the area from being attacked.” Mr. Jang forgot to add that God summoned him, as He did Moses, atop Mount Horeb to hand him a tablet with the divine decree.
Going by Governor Jang’s bizarre theology, God never gets angry with those who mindlessly loot public funds. But let some young men drink a beer or two, and God flies into a deadly rage. In any annals of true leaders, Mr. Jang’s stipulations would invite nothing but derision. The scandal is that Governor Jang’s nonsensical treatise is the rule, not the exception. Is it any wonder that we fail at tasks that demand mental or physical rigor and preparation?

Boko Haram threatens Muslims too, archbishop says.

CWN 

From Our Store: Essays in Apologetics, Volume III (eBook)

A terrorist attack on a mosque in central Nigeria shows that “Boko Haram is a threat to everyone, not just Christians,” observed Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja.
Four people were killed when gunmen assaulted the mosque in Okene on August 8. A day earlier, at least 20 people had been killed in a similar attack on the Deeper Life Church in the same town. (Early reports had set the death toll at 19, but at least one more victim has succumbed to wounds.)
Archbishop Onaiyekan said that the attack on the mosque was not unprecedented, “but previous attacks against mosques have not had the same prominence of attacks against Christian churches, perhaps because when Islamic groups attack a mosque it is not news.” In fact, he said, Boko Haram has probably claimed more Muslim than Christian victims in its terrorist activities.
?"It is true that Boko Haram terrorists attack churches and say they want to drive Christians out,” the archbishop said. But he said it is too simplistic to characterize the group’s campaign as a persecution of Christians. Boko Haram “sows violence,” Archbishop Onaiyekan said, and Christians are among the conspicuous victims of that violence.
In the town of Okene particularly, the archbishop said, a large Christian minority lives in harmony with the Islamic majority. Now both religious groups must determine the best way to respond to the terrorists. “I know for a fact that Muslim and Christian leaders discuss how to address the common threat,” he said.

NEMA Appeals For More Actions Against Flooding In Oyo State.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has enjoined the Oyo State Government to be decisive in tackling age-long perennial flooding in the ancient city of Ibadan by removing all risk factors that aid the disasters yearly.
The Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi, made the call in a speech at the Flood Prevention and Mitigation Workshop organized by the Agency in Ibadan on Tuesday.  He pointed out that erection of structures in flood plains and obstruction of natural paths of rain water are the lead factors of flooding in Ibadan.
The Director General, who was represented by the South West Assistant Coordinator of the Agency, Babatunde Adebiyi, acknowledged the efforts of the State Government at reconstruction and rehabilitations of canals, extension of drainages and bridges.  While acknowledging the capital-intensive measures taken so far, he said that building people’s resilience against identifiable disaster risks is the best legacy that a leader can bequeath to his people.
According to Sani-Sidi, “That disaster resilient people can conveniently tackle poverty that forces them to resort in looking for cheaper land at flood plains and the risks of losses during disasters which can never be recovered can be eliminated with flourishing economic and social development as immediate outcome of government investment while government would have more focus toward stability and virile environment to developmental programmes without the fear of disaster sweeping off the gains of government efforts.”
The NEMA boss therefore called on the government to take decisive steps to remove the over 26,000 structures that are a major strain in flood-free environment in the state.
Praising the public sensitization and awareness campaigns of the state government, he appealed that such measure should be extended to Local Government and ward levels, as disasters occur at the community levels and reaching the people at the grassroots are would go a long way in building people’s resilience. He enjoined the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to replicate the workshop at the state level.
Speaking in the same vein, the Guest Speaker, Dr. Bolanle Wahab, warned that the perennial flooding in the state capital, Ibadan, will not stop until the government and residents do their part in controlling it.
Wahab, a lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Ibadan, linked some of the causes of the floods in the country to lack of political will.
He explained that the residents of the state had a major role to play in ensuring that human activities, which are responsible for the flooding, are stopped.
He said, “Ibadan is not a planned city. It does not have a blueprint directing its growth. The city is just spreading in all directions without any control.”
Pointing out some of the regulations, Dr. Wahab said, “Residents are not supposed to develop more than 50 per cent of their plots. The undeveloped part should be planted with shrub and grass to allow percolation of water. This is one of the major ways floods can be prevented.”
Ibrahim Farinloye
NEMA South West Zone, Lagos

President Jonathan Is A Product Of A Very Corrupt Process – Dr. Adunbi.

Dr. Lade Adunbi

By Chido Onumah

Dr. Omolade Adunbi is a political anthropologist and an Assistant Professor at the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. In this interview with Chido Onumah, he examines corruption, the national question, and political violence in Nigeria amongst other national issues.
•    What is your assessment of the current situation in Nigeria?
Nigeria is in a state of rot. A rot caused by being held hostage by a cabal that is bent on destroying the country. A lens through which to see Nigeria is that of a sick person who suddenly found himself in a hospital. At the hospital, he was given wrong diagnoses and of course wrong prescription. Each time the patient takes his medication, his condition keeps getting worse and the physician keeps conducting tests upon tests without the patient realizing that the physician is actually not a trained physician but a fraudster parading himself as one. This is the situation in which Nigeria, a country rich in human and natural resources has found herself today. In spite of the abundance of those with the right expertise to tackle Nigeria’s problems, the cabal that has held the country hostage will not allow Nigeria, the sick patient, to be treated by a trained physician. Until the patient frees himself from this fraudster, he will continue to fall sick while his peers are making their lives better. This is my assessment of Nigeria of today.
•    To what extent are you worried that the unsettled question of nationhood continues to dominate public discourse in Nigeria?
Am I worried that the national discourse today is about the unsettled question of nationhood? Any patriotic Nigerian should be worried about this. I am worried because after more than 50 years of nationhood and almost a century of having an entity called Nigeria, we ought to have moved beyond questioning our ability to stay together. Some will say, if you have been married for over fifty years and the marriage is still enmeshed in discord, then you are not compatible. But the issue is not that of incompatibility here but that of social inequality. When there is an increase in social inequality, people tend to look for ways of fending for themselves and the process of doing this often lead to discord with a capacity to degenerate into what some might call ethnic divide. When this happens, many will begin to call into question the idea of Nigerian nationhood itself. The other way to reflect on the question itself is to argue that Nigeria has never been a nation, so there is no point talking about whether the discourse of nationhood is dominating the political landscape or not. The question then will be why is Nigeria not a nation? Nigeria is not a nation because it is an imposed entity. This may not suggest that it does not have the capacity to become a nation, but after over 50 years of independence, it is yet to clearly demonstrate that it has that capability of becoming a nation. What we see today is a situation whereby people continue to see themselves not as Nigerians but more importantly as Birom, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Ijaw, Ibibio, Yoruba etc.  People continue to cling on to their ethnic cleavages rather than clinging on to the idea of Nigeria as a nation. If you look critically at the history of formation of many of these ethnic groups, it is not as if they all started through a process of homogenization. Many can be considered as a hybrid of many traditions, cultures and practices, but living together over the years and with the right leadership, many began to see themselves as one. For example, if we look at the Yorubas of Southwest Nigeria, the development of Yoruba orthography helped in shaping a Yoruba identity. Prior to the development of Yoruba orthography, many would either see themselves as the Oyos, Ifes, Owos etc with a common ancestry which can also be interrogated or questioned but developing a Yoruba orthography helped in making people believe that they are at once a Yoruba person before being an Oyo person. Same thing can be said for the Igbos, the Hausa/Fulanis and others. So, nations are formed through commonalities and unfortunately, the only thing we have in common in Nigeria today can be categorized into two. Those who are extremely rich because of their access to our commonwealth. This group constitutes less than 1% of the population. The second category is the more than 99% of the population who are extremely poor and continually pushed to the margins by the less than 1% of the population. The tragedy of the whole situation is that this group, who for many years have been told that they are different and compartmentalized into being Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ijaw, Birom, Zango etc do not see their destiny as being tied together. Rather they see their destiny as being tied to a representative of the less than 1% within their community. That is why when that person who has been co-opted into the less than 1% group comes home to talk about marginalization, those who should chastise him will be the same people who will be ready to die for him not knowing that he is in fact one of their oppressors. Therefore, the less than 1% of the population who constitute the oppressing cabal have succeeded in manipulating and transforming what ordinarily should be a national psyche into a local, ethnic or communal psyche. Such is the tragedy of the Nigerian situation and this is why the question of nationhood keeps coming up because there is no nation.
•    Recently the National Assembly called for memos for the review of the constitution. Do you think this is the right way to go? If not, how should Nigerians go about fashioning a workable constitution for themselves?
I have thought about this severally and I am beginning to think that the constitution might after all not be the problem. We have been fashioning constitutions since the 1900s and here we are in the 2000s and we still have not been able to fashion a workable constitution for ourselves. We have had what I will call a pseudo democracy for over 13 years now and every four years the national assembly sets up a committee to review the constitution but what have we got from this? We are fast becoming a nation of committees. Committees that help in the process of siphoning our commonwealth instead of designing appropriate policies and programs that will help uplift our people. If we must have a workable constitution then my suggestion will be that it should be done through a democratic process. Let all Nigerians elect their representatives to a constitution drafting assembly and let the outcome be a subject of a referendum to either approve or reject the new constitution. The election of representatives must be conducted by a genuine and transparent electoral commission put in place not be the present government but by an independent body.
•    How would you rate President Jonathan’s fight against corruption?
Is President Jonathan fighting corruption? I am not sure he is. Jonathan is a product of a very corrupt process and such a person lacks the capacity to fight corruption. In Nigeria, corruption has become an institution and it is highly destructive. Corruption as an institution will make sure that other institutions that could help strengthen the nation are weakened. This is the only way it can continue to thrive. Of course you also have the beneficiaries like Jonathan and others who might feel threatened if there is a serious war on corruption. The bottom-line is that if we succeed in fighting or destroying institutional corruption, then we could say we are on our way to strengthening institutions of the state. As things stand today, we do not have a state but what we have is Nigeria in name and not a Nigerian state. Strong institutions are what make a state and not name recognition. So, Nigeria is just a hanging on to name recognition and crying for serious help and Jonathan does not have the capacity to render the kind of help that Nigeria needs.
•    What’s your view of his decision not to publicly declare his assets in the face of continued public anger against corruption in the top echelon of his administration?
Jonathan’s view that he does not give a ‘damn about asset declaration’ stems from the fact that he is not representing the Nigerian people. The institution he represents is comfortable with his not declaring his assets, so he feels he does not owe the rest of the country anything. Jonathan can only be worried if the cabal who put him in office becomes uncomfortable with him. After all, votes do not count in Nigeria, so he really does not need our votes to remain in office. Until votes begin to count and Nigerians are able to freely elect their representatives, we will continue to have leaders such as Jonathan. So, we need to move beyond procedural democracy that we currently have to a more inclusive and transparent democratic practices.
•    Can this administration be trusted when the president says those found guilty in the oil subsidy report will be prosecuted? What do you make of the faceoff between Messers Femi Otedola and Farouk Lawan over bribery allegation?
We have had several probes in the past and nothing happened. The administration of Jonathan has set up several committees since its inception and nothing has come out of those committees. I remember when Obasanjo left office, there was a power probe committee set up by the National Assembly and nothing came out of the committee’s report. So, you can expect that the same thing will happen to the oil subsidy committee too. I think the National Assembly and its leaders have become what I will call a ‘craftimanipulative’ institution if I am permitted to use a word like that. What I mean by this is that they are schooled in the art of distracting the general population from the main issues of social inequality. So, when you hear that there is an oil subsidy or power project probe, the expectations of citizens are immediately raised, thinking that finally, something is going to be done about their plight. The period of the probe will become theatrical where the so called leaders who may think the idea of shame is foreign will expose their ‘secret dealings’ for a few weeks for Nigerians to see. Ordinarily, such public expositions should be a mobilizing tool for Nigerians but it is not. If you remember where I started from, the less than 1% have succeeded in manipulating the population to believing that the reason why there is social inequality is because of the other person who is not from their ethnic group. Again, what such probes do is to turn the light towards ethnic witch-hunting as the reason why things are the way they are. Thus, Femi Otedola and Farouk Lawan are products of the same corrupt institutions and I will not be surprised if tomorrow people start to think that Farouk Lawan is being witch-hunted because he is Hausa/Fulani. The fact is no one is asking questions about Otedola’s sudden wealth. How did he suddenly become a multi-millionaire? What is his background? Where did he get his initial capital to start a business? The truth is both Otedola and Lawal are beneficiaries of a corrupt institution called Nigeria.
•    How would you assess the problem of insecurity and what it portends for the future of the country?
The truth is that Nigeria is currently at war. It is only those who are delusional that will say Nigeria is at peace and that what is going on are pockets of violence here and there. The tragedy of the Nigerian situation is that a time bomb placed at the centre of the country several years ago is beginning to detonate. Unfortunately, those who can help stop the degeneration are not in a position to do so. The problem of insecurity is neatly tied into the problem of social inequality and the continued marginalization of the majority of the population. When you have a population that is highly pauperized by the few elites, the dignity of the person becomes bare through a process of Darwinism. Survival becomes an uphill task and the resultant effect is the recourse to ethnic or religious chauvinism. Religion then turns to opium of the people and those who cannot stand the double marginalization hide under the cloak of fighting for a God’s kingdom to further traumatize the aggrieved population.  It is in this context that I see the level of insecurity in the country. Just pumping money into national security cannot solve the problem. The only solution is to address the marginalization of the majority of the population by addressing issues of access to education, health, roads, and rural infrastructure. When the so-called Boko Haram says it is opposed to Western education, it is because it equates Western education with the institutionalization of corruption in Nigeria. I see their cry as the cry for equity, justice, access to education, health care, good roads and over all development of the country. I see them as wanting to be part of an inclusive process that will address social inequity in the Nigerian state. Their grievance is not in anyway different from the unannounced grievance of Nigerians out there who are disgusted about the decay in their country.
•    What do you make of the clamour for 2015 in light of the crisis of the Nigerian state?
Politicians will always jostle for office whenever the opportunity presents itself. Those who believe Jonathan will not run in 2015 need to re-examine their minds. Jonathan will run in 2015 and the question is whether the opposition will be able to put their acts together and give him a run for the Nigerian money that he is spending. More importantly, it is hard to see if the salvation of Nigeria lies in the current political system. If the Nigerian people can rise up and fight, they may be able to change the system and install a more durable democratic system in Nigeria. We need to rekindle the fighting spirit of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s when Nigeria was the leading light in democratic struggles. What Nigerians need to do is to create an enduring process that will shield the popular struggle from the rampaging elite who might want to take advantage of it and reinstall themselves in office. This is exactly what happened in the 1990s when the elite hijacked a genuine movement for democratic change and installed what is presently in place. To guide against that, Nigerians need to rally round an organization that will be all inclusive and ready to take the fight to the elite and rescue the Nigerian nation. It is when this happens that Nigeria can move away from being a nation recognized in name only to that of a Nigerian state that will be democratic, where justice and equity will reign supreme.

•    What role can Nigerians in the Diaspora play in effort to reclaim Nigeria?
The role I see for Nigerians in Diaspora is to be more involved in the process of reclaiming Nigeria from the marauding elite that has taken Nigeria hostage. Nigerians in Diaspora can liaise with those in Nigeria to help shape the form and character of whatever organization will be put in place to rescue Nigeria. This category of Nigerians may need to take a cue from other Diasporas who have helped to shape the future of their countries in the past. There are several examples to draw from. Within the African continent, history of democratic struggle in South Africa where those in the Diaspora supported those at home still lingers in our memory. We can also draw from various countries in Latin America, and the Middle East.

Bayelsa Plans "Autonomy" With Flag, Coat Of Arms And Anthem.

Bayelsa State Government House in Yenegoa

By Premium Times

Citing amongst others, Osun state, which recently provoked a row with the federal government over a similar move, Bayelsa state, President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state, announced on Wednesday it was rolling out its flag, coat of arms and an anthem.
The customized insignia are to be released once the law establishing them is signed by the governor, Seriake Dickson.
Mr. Dickson said the decision was taken to forge a common identity for the Ijaws with the state reputed as their homeland, and assured it was nothing different from what was obtained in the other nine states that have towed a similar path.
“In line with the vision of the founding fathers of our dearly beloved state and given this administration’s stand on Ijaw mobilization, Ijaw integration and the need to promote Ijaw fundamental interest, which clearly is not subordinate to any other interests, the government of Bayelsa State has given its approval to have a state-owned emblem to mark and strengthen our sense of identity as a state,” Mr. Dickson said in a statement signed by his Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson.
The decision was taken at Monday’s State Executive Council meeting, the statement adds.
The move brings to 10, the number of states with known state paraphernalia with the rest being Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, Kwara, Cross River and Rivers States.
But more than any other state, it was a similar declaration by the Osun state government, led by the Action Congress of Nigeria’s Rauf Aregbesola that triggered a collision between the state and the federal government in April.
Mr. Aregbesola introduced a new anthem, coat of arm, new school uniform and other emblems which the governor maintained were to promote the state culture.
Federal officials viewed the move as “secessionist” and reportedly had Mr. Aregbesola closely monitored by the Department of State Security and other security agencies. He was also accused of having links with Islamic militants outside the country.
The allegations were fiercely rejected by the ACN and Mr. Aregbesola, who accused the federal security units of “overzealousness”.
Justifying its decision to behave like Osun and the other states, the Bayelsa state governor said the emblems are to brand the state, and are cardinal to the development effort of the oil-rich state.
“This decision also underscores government’s belief that this state, like any other state, is where the Ijaws, the fourth largest ethnic nationality, has as its home. Bayelsa is home to all Ijaws both at home and abroad,” the statement said.
“The emblem therefore will help serve as a unifying force and rallying point for all our people.  It says a lot about the preservation of our culture, our essential values as a people and as a race.”