Right-Of-Reply: Whose Bully is Dele Momodu?

By Godwin Okpene           

Usually for me, the surest way to avoid reading a sad piece of writing or watch a poor quality film is to not start because then, I carry on reading or watching, hoping to find something at some point to justify the initial investment in time and mental resources. Most times, I am unlucky, but a few times, I chance upon pay dirt, and these rarities produce the incentives to try my luck the next time. It turns out that my latest experience belonged to the first category of totally worthless efforts, and my tormentor this time was Dele Momodu’s very depressing piece of fiction on Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on the back page of the September 22nd edition of ThisDay newspapers. But, in this case, the sense of worthlessness went even more depressingly beyond the value of my time and efforts in reading a piece, to the pain that I felt from the gratuitous insults Momodu heaped on hapless Nigerians like me, whose only sin at the time of Sanusi’s reforms was that we were honestly praising God for intervening in the banking sector to secure the assets of those who toil day and night to have enough to put something away for when we would really need the inevitable shield against the rain.

For feeling the way I did, Mr Momodu practically diagnosed people like me of suffering from a disease called dementia.  But he also had more degrading characterisation: He called us “frogs”, that we are “confused” about our choices, and that Nigerians are all products of “acute psychological impairment”. Except Dele Momodu. I will surely come back to this, but I must first finish what I was saying about the quality of Momodu’s article.

It wasn’t just that it was so glaringly beneath the quality he is known for, so transparently shambolic – almost like a piece rushed to press for no other reason than to achieve a deadline imposed by the usual pressure for dialogical currency. It was more than the glaring and totally avoidable literary errors. It was entirely lacking in essence and meaningful content. The article was one half a history of presidential succession in Nigeria, and another half from Wikipedia. By the end of the article, it was a surprise that there was a nonfictional reference to current issues and the Central Bank governor. Even where he managed to extricate the topic from its multiple tangents, his account of the most recent history was way, way off the mark: That Sanusi took advantage of a purported “weakness of the Jonathan administration”? I was confused because he had also mentioned in the article that he “warned many Nigerians jumping up like frogs” about Sanusi in August 2009. Is he talking about the same president before August 2009? And, was the insult to Nigerians necessary?

Now, I do not have to speak for Sanusi, as I believe that the CBN governor can find enough reason, if he has the time, to respond to the writer. But the logical inconsistencies, such as the one I pointed out above, ran all through so much of the ‘analysis’ that it would be totally uncharitable to not let him see how much work he still needs to do. Besides, if you need to hang a man, should you rather not hang him fairly?

As it is, Dele Momodu did not seem to be able to make up his mind about the character of the man he claimed that he knew so well to have warned all of us about back in 2009. Was (is) Mr Sanusi a man who “lacked the tolerance to persuade others” and “bullied everybody into submission” or is he a “charming man” who “attracts attention effortlessly”? Which one is it, Mr Momodu? According to the columnist, Sanusi “could almost raise the dead” but then, according to Momodu again, that “was his major weakness”. He left me even more confused about the character of Mr Sanusi’s ‘enemies’. To be sure, are they the same people he referred to as “rogue bankers” and “a few rats” or are they his beloved “brilliant bankers” and “innocent people”? I am also wondering how Dele Momodu determined the ideal character profile of a profession he probably never tried to sign up to; where he borrowed the line that the banking profession “was traditionally reserved for taciturn and conservative characters”. The result of whose research? Wikipedia’s, again? So what character trait might Dele Momodu prescribe for bankers in Nigeria and everywhere else? That of reckless individuals who think nothing of the potential disaster their risky behaviour was preparing for all of us? Those who gave practical expression to Schuermann’s point about the privatisation of bankers’ profits but the socialisation of their losses? That we should all be sitting ducks, watching these people engage in practices that would inevitably bring the roof down on all of us?

I know I started out complaining about the quality of Mr Momodu’s article, but then I must stick to the issues and their underlying logic, even if the columnist would not do the same. He would have done more to explain Sanusi’s “vengeful mission” against his “enemies”. Yes, because the implication here is that these are people who had caused him grave personal injury before he became governor. If not this, then what was Mr Sanusi’s “real intentions”?

He also made reference to Sanusi’s “unbridled radicalism” side by side with “his academic brilliance”. While, again, I believe that Sanusi’s has the intellectual capacity (as admitted by Momodu himself) to constructively address such charge, and while I believe that the man has his faults (who doesn’t?) I think I would pitch for a radical with a mind to challenge the old order than a wimp who people like Momodu would not hesitate to turn into an object of eternal ridicule.

I am temped however, to excuse Dele Momodu’s ‘treatise’ as little more than a hasty piece of literature which, inevitably, cannot stand the test of literary scrutiny. For instance (and this is purely a matter between Momodu and Wikipedia), he observed that “bullies always have their terminal dates because, according to Wikipedia, a bully is” a bully. (i.e., “constant harasser of the weak”). Since I failed to see the logic in the inference, I decided to consult the source, from where the columnist lifted his assertions. I traced the definition (in parenthesis) to the only paragraph of the article, which simply established the etymology of the term. There was no such inference, “according to Wikipedia”, in the online article. So, it turns out, Mr Momodu’s inference is neither consistent with the structure of commonsensical validity nor of attributional regularity. It is obvious therefore that this was just a model in the literature desperately seeking personification in Momodu’s real world.

And, alas, such desperation shone even brighter, when Momodu attempted fruitlessly to make capital out of what I considered at the time, no more than a light-hearted reference by Sanusi to former President Obansanjo’s position on the CBN’s currency restructuring proposal. Pray, when did Dele Momodu develop any kind of respect for Baba? And when he unnecessarily brought up a certain presidential ambition of Sanusi (I hear this for the first time, but believe nevertheless that a banker has as much right to such aspirations as a columnist), I was left to wonder what was the point of this in the bully story? To entertain? To further “mesmerise” the same Nigerians he described as “hypnotised”?

Frankly, for all my frustration with having to endure the article, it would have been reasonably rewarding for me to isolate a single topical issue to reflect on, and maybe use as an object of my humble contribution – like the subject of central bank autonomy. Yes, it was mentioned, but again, the author chose to personalise the issues rather than elevate the discourse. It would have been interesting, for instance to hear what the writer thinks about the fact that, over the last two decades, more and more countries in the developed and developing world have created more autonomous central bank; I would have loved to read his perspective on research results which have shown that foreign investment has tended towards jurisdictions with institutionally guaranteed price stability; that autonomous central banks serve as a veritable insurance against the negative incentives of ‘the political business cycle’. But, no, the former presidential aspirant would rather reproduce what Wikipedia says about bullies than address economic policy.

If he reflects more seriously on it, even Mr Momodu himself would agree that he would have made his point more constructively by sticking to the issues and avoiding the insults. Describing us as “a neurotic society and vindictive population”? For me, it was demeaning, and a brazen show of ingratitude to the same Nigerians who religiously ‘file into the gallery’ every week to ‘listen’ to him abuse, harass and terrorise people who cannot afford the time, forum or are too scared to abuse him back.

If the columnist has any regard for the millions of Nigerians in his article, if he is not the bully he so self-righteously see in others, he would use his next column to apologise to everybody, including the 26,000 or so that lined up in the sun (rain) to vote for him last year.

This Day

Nigeria@ 52: The elite must not set Nigeria on fire – Audu Ogbeh

*’How they killed the PDP vision’
Chief Audu Ogbeh was the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the Obasanjo regime. He left the office following some disagreement with the then President Olusegun Obasanjo and defected to the opposition Action  Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview with BEN AGANDE, he speaks on some of the issues that touch on his turbulent days as the PDP chairman and the state of the nation. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the political terrain especially in the last five years?
I think it is an environment of great opportunities but of also opportunities lost and the usual high degree of waste which this country has become notorious for.  We have a situation which one finds extremely disturbing because at the time  former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office, he left behind $25 billion in the excess crude account.
I remember one night shortly after the late President Yar’Adua came into office, the late Abubakar Rimi; myself;  former Minister of the FCT, Arc. Ibrahim Bunu and Wazirin Bauchi; went to see the late president. He received us and we told him we came to suggest a few things that we felt needed to be done so that we could begin to address primarily the economic problems,  because at the heart of all the chaos in this country, of all the agitations and the discontent is the economy. Nigeria has three problems: the economy, the economy and the economy.
We can’t have a population growing this fast where there is so much want and so much lack. Too many homes are in pains. Rents are impossible, school fees are on the increase. You see tension on the face of Nigerians wherever you meet them. We are a good and kind hearted people. But now we are being driven in many areas to a state of barbarism. Some of the horrible things people now do: kidnap children, cut their heads off because everybody is looking for money including people who call themselves men of God; at the centre of all the chaos and political disequilibrium is the economy.
I am not an economist but economics is 90% common sense. I feel that the polity is not comfortable and there is need for more practical down to earth economic re-engineering. What are the issues? There is still not enough production at home; too much importation of thoroughly unnecessary items which we just ship in from all over the world. Nobody makes pencils here for the over eighteen million children in primary schools. We produce nothing. Bananas are coming in from Cameroun; even garri from Benin  Republic. At the centre of all the discontent in the country is the economy and unless and until the people, state governments, local governments got down to dealing with it, all the tinkering, all the constitutional amendments would be all diversions.
In the face of all these, would you say that those at the helm  of affairs are adequately prepared or even competent to handle these challenges?
I think they are doing their best but going back to what we  said to Yar’Adua that night, we suggested that there are some key areas that will generate jobs. A society without work to do is in trouble. We said to President Yar’Adua then that we should go into housing. At that time they said seventeen million housing units were needed  across the country including universities. I went to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where I had a room to myself. Not now. Why should our own children degenerate under social and economic pressures to levels which are not more than intellectual slums? Is it that we can’t do anything about it?
We suggested then that a million houses a year across the country will create 30million jobs. We thought that the government would take a loan from the excess crude account and start the houses and as it begins to sell the houses through mortgages, it would start repaying the loan. But the money was shared out to governors. How many of them applied the money to the development of their states? Majority did not.
The government is addressing some issues but the speed needs to be looked into and the question of examining the structural defects in the economy should be looked into. We should also review the advice of the IMF and the World Bank because I have never believed that the advice they give is in the overall good interest of the country. I have not seen any serious efforts by government at different levels to revive the economy. Why can’t the governors sit down with those who have industries in their states and ask them what they need to revive  the industriesit? If the treasury needs to help it should. America did. What are we doing here? Some states are applying this philosophy by inviting investors and providing the necessary infrastructure for them to operate. The government at the centre and the state governments need to sit down and keep doing this thing because we can’t have this pile of pain sitting on the heads of our people. If it continues this way,  no matter what constitutional conference we hold, we will get no where.

Chief Audu Ogbeh

Some people have blamed the party you co-founded, the PDP, for  majorly responsible for the sorry state of affairs in the country. Though you have left the party, looking back, do you think that the party is responsible for the sorry state of things in the country?
I must say that the vision we had in forming the PDP is lost. It is lost because certain individuals who came into the party and held certain offices simply saw the party and treated it as a private estate. They believed they owned the PDP. That was exactly what I could not stand. With the connivance of many members, such pathetic sycophants  could not afford to say no to arrogant authority. A party is not owned by one individual. When a party surrenders all its thinking and all the powers to one person, the party is dead. We are a very peculiar people. We are such sycophants; such cronies that nobody dare say anything.
If you are the only strong person around, you are just one more poor person waiting to happen. There was no forum for the party to make inputs into the polity, there was little reference to the manifesto and no body was allowed to say anything even when things were going wrong. Some of those killings that were happening in the PDP then: Bola Ige went, Harry Marshal, Dikibo, Funsho Williams, later,  my chairman in Kwara who was butchered when he was coming to Abuja and so many strange things. Nobody was allowed to raise the alarm. I was told that as party chairman, I had no right to raise objections to certain developments which I thought were simply outrageous. Some party members said I was a poor man from Benue, so who was I to argue with the president? And I told them if you wanted a billionaire to run the party, you should have gone to Aliko  Dangote or Mike Adenuga. If not being a rich man is an offence then I am guilty as accused but I did not think that was the function of the party chairman.
I don’t know today if that party has a forum where they can sit and agonize over certain issues except maybe when the president calls the governors together. The vision is lost and many left.
So, in order words, the feeling of many Nigerians that the problems in the country are caused by the PDP is correct.
Well it is the biggest party. It controls  more states. It should be the flagship. We built it to be strong but if it degenerates to just people looking for offices for themselves and there is no collective anxiety about the overall well-being of the people, then the party has failed! There is no debate on issues. Has there been a debate on education? Has there been a debate on agriculture? What is the debate on our foreign policy? What is the policy on housing? There is no sound mortgage in this country. In a nutshell, yes the blame is there. PDP is the biggest party and therefore it cannot run away from those accusations.
There is the news going round that you are being wooed back to the PDP. Is this true?
Nobody has contacted me and I don’t think the problem in PDP is lack of manpower. They are big, they have many people and I am sure if they want to apply themselves to certain issues, they can do so. Calling people back is not an issue. I don’t think anybody would listen to me any way if I was to go back. I have been saying the same thing for the last ten years. It is not important asking me to return or not to return.
Do you have a nostalgic feeling about your PDP days?
No I don’t have. Let me tell you this. I have always told people that every politician should have a first address: the business you do. I don’t like a man who says his profession is politician. Such a person in a developing country is a liability. I have something I do. I am still struggling to get it to where I want it to be because bank credit is difficult to access. When I applied for a loan for commercial agriculture scheme, I was turned down by my bank because they said I am a politically exposed person. My priority now is to get my project to where I want it to be not to be going here and there.
Corruption in the country is rather on the increase rather than decreasing. Do you see a silver lining on the horizon in our fight against corruption?
Honestly I share the anxiety of many Nigerians. We have ruined everything. There is nothing you can do now in this country without bribing. The judiciary has also experienced terrible turmoil. For many of them judgments are purchased. The midnight currency is the dollars. But when government tried to move against any one, the same society begins to bring in sentiments. People either read religion, region or tribe to every action of government in an attempt to curb corruption. The situation is helpless and hopeless.
What do you think is the way forward?
First,  there is the general need to get the economy going. I am not sure that every Nigerian was born a thief. There are many Nigerians who will not touch what does not belong to them if they have an option. Secondly, it appears that we as a people are not determined to get rid of corruption because we worship it too. We shout that corruption is bad but we worship the corrupt. Thirdly people put a lot of pressure on their leaders too. If you don’t give money, you are labeled a bad man who does not want to help. It is a very complex moral enigma.
The duty of government is to look around the economy, decide what you can produce and produce it. Others are doing it. Bank credit is still impossible here. With all the reforms, this is the only country where the interest rate is about 21%. How do you want any producer or investor to survive this interest and still buy diesel? One prays that the power sector keeps improving. That will eliminate one obstacle on the path of production. A country that does not produce will die. We don’t produce,  so we all pounce on the treasury and rob the treasury. The only industry left in the country now is politics and governance.
The issue of insecurity in the country has been exacerbated by the Boko Haram attacks in the North. Do you have cause for concern that with all these challenges, Nigeria may be at the threshold of disintegration?
I am worried about the security situation and very concerned too. I remember the talk I gave in Kaduna ten years ago that the Niger Delta crisis will ease off but the chaos in Nigeria was going to come from the North. I had foreseen this  ten years ago and I had said it was going to be driven by alienation, hunger and deprivation but was going to wear the face of religion. I said emirs will not sleep peacefully in their palaces and I said that some children will even be willing to kill their parents to inherit any property they thought was available.
The other day I was talking with the governor of Borno State with whom I do some work on agriculture for the state. The issue is simple. What is it that drives people to such madness? Hunger! Of course religious fanaticism is in many parts of the world. There are fanatics who say their philosophy must be enforced by violence. But the recruitment base of all of this extreme behavior is deprivation. There are people who have no hope and if the extremist organization is going to offer them a fee to do anything, they are willing to do.
They are easily brainwashed because they are so poorly fed that they have little capacity to reason. We are so poorly fed in this country now that we can’t do well in sports. The sportsmen and women come by and large from very humble homes where the daily diet is  eba, garri, eba. They don’t have access to proteinous foods. So height for height, an eighteen-year-old in Nigeria is slightly shorter than his counterpart in Cameroun or Ivory Coast. But we don’t even realize that in an age that demands the sharpest brains, because of the dietary problems we have and the poor state of our agriculture, we are unable to produce some of the finest minds we dream of.
Back to the state of insecurity, it is a frightening thing and the answer is not in breaking up Nigeria. It is a bit tragic when at the slightest provocation some Nigerians begin to talk about breaking up. It is a sad thing that the elite are so fond of this thing. That is not the concern of the man on the street. The man on the street is not interested in this politics of balkanization. The elites who are the most comfortable are the ones who raise it as an option. If you begin the break up,  how do you do it? I hear people talking of regions but is there permanent peace in any region if there is no economic growth? Go down to the local government or your village, there are issues over which there are strong dissents. Go down to you village, people have conflict if contentment is absent. We are too quick to rush to that idea as a solution to our problems.
Having said that, of course violent conduct in one part of the country leading to bombings and killings will disturb especially when it looks selective. But even now you can see that Muslims and Christians are getting killed and people wonder this is almost near madness. The only real guarantee to near perfect security in any environment is the contentment of the largest segment of the population.
Would you say that northern leaders including you have done enough to re-orientate or  refocus the energy of the youths from the region?
We have not! The North must now look at itself in the mirror and ask vital questions. Is  it because for too long, we in the North have seen politics as the only industry worth investing in especially since the end of the first republic. There is too much interest in politics to the exclusion of economic activities. Since the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme, four hundred industries in Kano have collapsed.
The textile industry perished dragging down with it some five million families who were growing cotton. Agriculture is on the decline. The average age of the farmer today is sixty to sixty five. There is not enough intellectual input into agriculture and agro-processing. How many new industries have been commissioned in any part of the North in the last ten years? Is there any five-star hotel north of Abuja? There is none. What do we invest in? We were in power. The South was not in power at the political centre but they are miles ahead of us. When we have somebody in power, there is this opium addiction that we have somebody in power. What difference does it make if the man in the Villa is from Katsina or Benue? Does that decide the feeding of the majority of his villagers? I have been saying to the northern governors, you have been meeting in Kaduna, how about zonal economic summits in the three zones of the North? The president has made offers.
He wants to ban rice importation in 2015. If the South is the industrial hub, why can’t the North be the agricultural machine? Why producing less than seven million metric tons of maize? Why are we no longer producing groundnuts? We now buy groundnuts from Niger Republic. I am not objecting to a northerner being in the Villa, but for God’s sake, politics alone can only further destroy the north and worsen Nigeria’s social economic problem.
There have been sustained agitations by some section of the country for the setting up of state police. Will this solve the problems of insecurity in the country?
In a true federation, it is a fair thing to ask for. It makes sense in true federalism for states to have control of their police machinery. That is what is obtainable in the United  States where we model our democracy after. But in the USA, each state has a House of Representatives, a Senate and a Supreme Court. That is how elaborate their system is. Our state did not develop the way the states of the United States of America developed. Ours were created through executive fiat. It is logical for people to think of state police but,  in practice, I do not support it. Do you know why?  I saw local government and regional police forces in the first republic and I saw the abuse to which they were put. I even see the abuse to which the federal police in Nigeria is put from time to time, during elections especially. When I was chairman of the PDP, there were times mobile police were deployed to organize a fake sitting of the state House of Assembly at night to impeach a governor. That was abuse of process and I said so then. The Federal Government did not elect the governor. It is up to the people through the assemblies to sanction the governor if he has done anything wrong.
Assuming now that the federal police is seen as a tyranny or near tyranny or a possible tyranny, we are going to create 36 tyrannies across the country because they will be abused, terribly abused. And if we do so now, it will not be three years before Nigerians begin to cry out against the state police forces.
Finally, can we pay? I do not see any state that will have less than three thousand police men. I don’t see any state needing less than N500million extra per month to pay that police force. They need uniforms, barracks, offices and other things. If the states are now grumbling that they don’t have enough money to take care of  education and health, where will they get the money to pay the police? Why are we so quick to recommend the creation of institutions without thinking of the cost?
As I said before, the ultimate security any country can think of is the contentment of the largest segment of the population. It is that contentment that we should invest in now and not state police. Even now, abuses are going on. In Jigawa State, A.C.N members are being detained in Alkali courts without trial. Which governor will not do the same?
The governor names the Attorney General, he names the Chief Judge, appoints the chief of police.
Do you really think that if you are not on his side that police force will listen to you in a country such as ours  where sycophants and poverty hold sway? When that police man knows that by doing the will of the governor he will get extra cash? The demand for state police is a very dangerous diversion and if they decide to go ahead with it, it will not be two years before Nigerians will begin to cry out against the horror that would be placed on their lives. And let me tell those governors clamouring for it that it is not a priority.
Let me also tell the federal police that it also need to reform. The Inspector General of Police should be strong enough to tell the president that the police force is not an instrument in the hand of the Federal Government or any body but an instrument for the enforcement of justice and fair play. Unfortunately, most IGPs see them selves as appointees of the president so they get involved in rigging elections.
Do you share the sentiment being expressed that the North should produce the president in 2015?
Sentiment is there and every society has its own sentiment. In fairness, there is reason for some balancing. There is logic in it. You can’t keep on having one segment of the country dominating the others. People object to that. It is a fair thing. Over the years, this anxiety almost reached a fever point when Abiola won the election which was annulled. We have to commend the Yorubas for not pushing it to the extreme because they had every reason to do so. Thank God we got over it.
In 1994, I was a member of the Constitutional Conference and we began this debate among the northern group about keeping away from contesting the election. It took  years and some of these meetings were very heated which was why in 1999 there was no northern candidate for president in any of the political parties. People forget so easily that it was not imposed on us. It was resolved here in Abuja. It was a mature move by the North and people must recognize that.
Towards the middle of Obasanjo’s tenure, I chaired a meeting where we  said eight years North, eight years South and I put it to vote and it was carried 57 to 2 in favour of eight years between the North and the South. I left the PDP after that and the thinking changed. Even if things changed, they should have sat down to resolve the matter by bringing reasons. It did not need to degenerate to the extent it went. It could have been done through concession with the agreement to look at it all over again.
Having said all that, yes there is agitation that it should go to the North, the South-east is also clamouring. Again it can be debated and discussed but whatever we do should be through dialogue and understanding and not for one group to say we have seized it, what can you do about it? The essence of democracy is dialogue, dispute resolution and sensitivity to each other’s feeling. Nobody should feel superior to the other. There is some logic to it. The northerners should not be made to feel that because the seat has gone  South no northerner will ever sit there again. I heard that was the declaration of a certain political leader in his venom against the North. Such a language is irresponsible. Let the parties sit down and debate it. Whatever we do,  the elite must not set Nigeria on fire.
Vanguard

Nigerians Must Rethink Electoral Choices – Kumuyi

GABRIEL EWEPU

Ahead of the 52nd independence anniversary of the nation, the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor Williams Kumuyi, spoke to newsmen in Abuja and shared some insights on the way forward. Gabriel Ewepu was there for leadership sunday.
What are your perceptions on the state of Nigeria vis-a-vis the programme to be held by Deeper Life Bible Church this weekend?
As you all know that the country is about to celebrate its independence anniversary and you know that the country has gone through quite a lot since independence and at this juncture we know the challenges facing our country and everybody is thinking of what do we do. I think that the government is doing its best to get the problem solved, but it appears that as we are making some efforts, other problems are cropping up.
By the grace of God, the security situation in the country is improving but then suddenly we woke up to see the natural disaster of flood affecting some states and quite a number of people have been displaced. As it is happening for the nation, so it is happening for individuals; as we are coming out of one situation, we are entering another one and people feel they are in a state of insecurity, panic and hopelessness. People are not sure of the future, what are we going to do, how are we going to secure the future of our children, family and individuals?
This time we are focusing on divine connection to full freedom, fruitfulness and security so that we can connect with our God. We remember that God created this world and we want to rediscover that purpose and have intimate connection with Him in such a way that our present problem should be taken care of. And we can look at the future with real courage and we know that our God will not leave us alone. He is going to do something. This time I have been preparing and waiting on the Lord, there is going to be a great breakthrough for everyone.
The N5000 note proposed by the CBN has been temporarily suspended by the presidency and Nigerians are saying that they don’t want the proposed denomination at this particular time, what is your advice to the government on this issue?
What I will say is that in a democratic setting, the government should listen to the voices of the people and whatever the government is doing or any agency of the government supposes to solve the problems of the people and to relieve the people.
If the people say that a particular policy is not in their favour, if there is no any personal agenda, we will want to suspend such policy and discard it, so that the people that elected us there will know that we really care for them, it is not that we just want to push this through whether the people are comfortable with the decision or not, so I will say that the leadership should listen to the people being led.
There is a bill on capital punishment for terrorists, as a man of God, do you believe that capital punishment should be meted out to terrorists or life imprisonment?
What I will say is that we should dialogue more to see how we can resolve our problems, I believe when the lawmakers put in efforts to see how to resolve this problem of insecurity, it will take us a real understanding before we can find the lasting solution. What we need to do is to reason together and see whether the proposals are going to solve the problem or not.
The country will shortly be marking its 52nd independence anniversary and has gotten so much wrong. What do you think is the problem and how can the nation achieve its founding dream?
Our problem can be generally zeroed down to people’s problem. What I mean by this is that the leaders we elect; the people we put in places of power and positions matters a lot. So I will say first of all the electorate should now begin to see how we elect the right people into places of authority and decision-making. If we can resolve that, I think a lot of our problems will be solved.
Many times the people with money have also the gap of communication, they can talk if they have money and also they can talk, they get into this places of authority but if we begin to say what kind of country are we looking forward to that we want and then who are the people that can lead us to this place where we want to be. I think if we elect people based on what they can deliver rather than what they just say they can deliver looking at their track record and what they have been before being elected. I think it will be part of the solution to the problem.
What is your message to our leaders?
My message for our leaders is number one to take heart and to look at the future with a mindset of believing. Sometimes when problem overwhelm us and we are not able to settle down and look with focus and determination, we might be so shaken that we are wondering whether if there is a future for our country.
To start with, we know that there is a God in heaven, we know that God has appointed for us whoever He deemed fit in this particular place at this point in time, so that we look onto God and take heart and make use of all the resources that God has given us: the manpower, the wisdom, the fortitude and everything to make sure that we proffer solution to our problems through wisdom of God.
So my message to our leaders will be to remain focused, knowing that this time that God has put them there we are going to find solution to the problem we have and make sure that the lives of the people are well secured and catered for.
Leadership

OBJ lied, Jonathan sinned and Sanusi’s just a talkative boy–Junaid Mohammed

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Power Game SERIES
From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Junaidu Mohammed, former parliamentarian, Russian-trained medical practitioner, leading critic on national politics and National Chairman of the Peoples Salvation Party (PSP), is a man that loves confronting issues passionately, frankly and decisively.
In this interview held in Kano, he speaks on President Jonathan’s outburst on being the most criticized president in the world, Dr. Barth Nnaji’s resignation, Chief Doyin Okupe’s failed contract in Benue State, and the CBN’s N5,000 note. He also speaks on big men’s sons fingered in the fuel subsidy racket, and Prof. Akinyemi’s call for quota representation for non-indigenes outside their states.  Excerpts:
Recently, President Goodluck Jonathan said he’s the most criticized president in the world and hopes he will end up the most loved president. Do you make of that?
Frankly, if I had a say in drafting your questions, I wouldn’t have asked you to put this question to me. If you look at the issues we are confronted with in this country: issues of national security, economic near meltdown, bungling of economic policies, constitutional amendment, the very nature of the Nigerian State, the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, the dichotomy being introduced into indigeneship and citizenship, and the rights attached to it, I would have thought there are more important issues to worry about than the perception of the president being criticized and being loved somewhere along the road.
As far as I am concerned, if you are in politics, you are there to be criticized because we are practicing democracy, or at least, we imagine that we are practicing democracy. And if you don’t want to be criticized, then don’t come into public life. If you are in politics, you are there to be criticized, unless of course, you want to be a dictator which is a different thing entirely.
To me, it is utterly irrelevant what Jonathan thinks about himself and how he rates himself vis-a-vis other presidents. I dare say that if he is talking about other presidents, he must be talking about democratically elected presidents, people who came to power by way of free, fair and credible elections. I certainly do not believe he came to power that way. I do not believe his party is a democratic party.
For him, looking at a crystal ball and saying he is going to be the most loved president in Nigeria, well, we will wait and see. For all I care, whether he is loved or hated, Nigerians are going to assess him on the basis of policies he put in place. And secondly, on the kind of personnel he brings to government and how they performed. So, the thrash of being loved or hated is immaterial, it is his policies that will carry him through history.
But, do you think some of the criticisms are valid or are mere hangovers of a hate mindset?
Well, you have to tell me the criticisms and state the specific policies for me to be able to respond.
For instance, he has been criticized over the economy and the security challenges, but he is saying some of these problems did not start with his presidency?
How long have you been living in Kano? I hope long enough to know the difference between the Kano of when you were growing up and the Kano of today. You cannot tell me that the Kano of those days and today are the same experience.
Number two, the sense of belonging of the average Nigerian cannot be said to be the same, particularly from the time he became president of Nigeria. In my entire life, for instance, I have never seen or heard a man come out openly to abuse other Nigerians on the pages of newspapers the way Edward Clark does with ease, the way so many other people from the so-called South-South do? If that is not different to you, then it is different to me. I know that Nigerians do have their own stereotypes; they describe other Nigerians in pejorative terms. But I have never seen it done openly, systematically like it is being done now by individuals close to the president. And if that is not an unhealthy development, then I don’t know what is. And it started squarely, squarely I repeat, with President Jonathan.
Secondly, Nigeria, like any other country, has gone through economic hard times. But whenever the country was in trouble, the government takes the trouble to explain to the people, rightly or wrongly, but they did at least make efforts to explain to the people. They will not put forward a very flippant Governor of the Central Bank, who has assumed the role of economic spokesman of the government, to start insulting people. When the people say there is something they don’t like about an economic policy, this boy says it is irreversible. There is nothing in a democracy that allows for this kind of foul response from an appointed person, who has never won an election and will never win an election. This is the kind of boys put forward as spin doctors and spokespersons for economic policy, which clearly is not working.
Now, if this is the kind of thing you think is good and for which we must praise Goodluck Jonathan, then tough luck. You can assume, for example, and you can say rightly that he did not appoint Lamido Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank. I will agree with you. But today, he is the President of Nigeria and the Governor holds his position at the pleasure of the President of Nigeria – he can sack the Governor of the Central Bank tomorrow and can dissolve the Board of the Central Bank and get rid of the Governor and the Deputy Governors.
I believe what the Senate intended to do to tame this arrogant man by amending the Central Bank’s decree was childish and it is a way of personalizing lawmaking. You do not make laws for an individual; you make laws for the entire country. If they really wanted, they should first pass a vote of no confidence on the Governor and then insists within their own party or within the National Assembly that he must be sacked. They did not do that. They kept quiet for whatever reasons and now we are stuck with it.
The President’s wife is sick, but there is total silence about it. History is replaying itself somehow. Jonathan’s group, which sought openness in the handling of the late President Yar‘Adua’s health, is not providing information on Dame Patience’s health.
A system is a system. And if you want to make amendment or anything, please go to the system. When Turai was playing Russian Roulette with the destiny of 150 million Nigerians, many of us said the woman was not elected. People who have not gone through the crucible of election and winning have no business determining the fate of a country, or our destiny.
The idea of a so-called First Lady is not even in our constitution. It is easy for any charge and bail lawyer to take this matter to court and establish that the idea of First Lady is not in our constitution and is therefore, unconstitutional. How do you allow women who have not won election – many of them do not even have the characters you can look up to as role models – how can these women who accidentally married their husbands, not knowing what destiny had in stock, simply emerge and assume certain powers, and these powers are to the detriment of the entire country? The idea of the so-called First Lady should be quashed and no budgetary allocation should be allowed, because when you appoint somebody to spend money, which has been appropriated by the National Assembly, by definition, you are holding him accountable because the National Assembly can always call and question him.
The way we have it the money we have for the First Lady is appropriated under the budget of the Presidency and the President now decides to allocate billions of naira to the First Lady and she has the freedom to spend it the way she likes. That, to me, is not a democracy.
Are you saying she is not a national asset and we should not bother ourselves with her health conditions?
No, no! That is wrong. She is a Nigerian and a citizen. In a country that is running a proper democracy, what affects the mood, the lifestyle, and comportment and composure of the president should be of consequence to all of us. But to now spend valuable time, valuable treasure and even valuable pages of newspapers and radio time discussing the health of one woman out of a country of about 75 million women is to me, perverse, irresponsible to the extreme and shows that Nigeria doesn’t have priorities as a nation.
I certainly want to see the First Lady in good health. And I think, basically, she is not as offensive in nature as Turai, for example. I find her rather easy-going, pleasurable and full of humour. But please, we must learn to differentiate what I called the affairs of state and affairs of whoever is president. This woman is the responsibility of the president as a family man. If today he decides to sack her as his wife or not, that is purely his business.
Former Minister of Power, Dr. Barth Nnaji, has resigned, but the suggestion is that he was doing something good in the ministry. But if he was doing something good, why quickly accept his resignation?
Well, I am glad you have touched on an interesting aspect of mis-governance in Nigeria. For example, as a matter of courtesy, it is not a legal matter; it is a matter of courtesy. Once you appoint a person, as the president you do not accept his resignation or dictate his resignation readily. You must go through the facts and must be convinced that there is something that warrants the person resigning, and warrants you to accept his resignation; because it is one thing for you to resign and another for your resignation to be accepted. You have power to refuse to accept the resignation.
Number two, in making certain critical appointments, you first put merit on top and then anything is secondary, whether you call it Federal Character or loyalty or a sense of appreciation towards a governor or somebody else.
Now, I don’t know this Barth Nnaji. All I can say is that given what I know about my own power situation here in Kano, I am not appreciative of his performance as Minister. Whether he speaks grammar, whether he is a better engineer in terms of power generation and distribution than any individual, I don’t care.
What I know is that I have not seen the improvement I had expected; given the amount of money spent in the sector from the time General Obasanjo started lying that he would give us reliable power in six months to the present day. Of course, during the rainy season, there was some kind of improvement largely because the Niger Dam had enough water to move the turbines and therefore, generate certain optimal level of power. But beyond that, there is nothing to explain what this man has done. I heard he likes publicity and likes coming on television to talk. But I have seen no improvement.
That is beside the point anyway. Having determined that he was good enough to be appointed minister, when it comes to sacking him, we have to be sensitive to certain basic requirements. Has he done anything to warrant being sacked? Was he actually pushed or did he jump? The sources I have at my disposal actually told me he did not jump, he was actually pushed. He was asked to submit his resignation letter. And the question is, what did he do to warrant that kind of shabby treatment? Nigerians don’t have a reputation of resigning from their jobs. It must be a sack.
Now, if it was a sack, what did he do? If it was a sack, he must have done something criminal, because we know how the power sector is being parceled out to Generals. Companies in which Obasanjo has interest, Abdulsalami Abubakar has interest, other Generals have made biddings for some of the portions of power, which is being unbundled and taking off. If this man has been fingered, then you take him to court rather than ask him to resign.
The CBN had proposed a N5,000 note. What is your reaction to this proposal?
I have not seen any reason why the Governor of the Central Bank wants to introduce this denomination of the Naira. Let me tell you, my understanding is that economics is a highly speculative science and people who think if they are dealing with economics they are dealing with a reality, which is immutable and cannot be changed, are talking nonsense. We are not talking about religion. We are talking about a science that is on the border line between science and arts.
Those who believe we need a N5000 denomination should tell us why we need it. They should tell us examples and areas where this had been done and what the benefits were. If, for whatever reason, the millionaires in government and those on appointment like the Central Bank Governor, find themselves in a situation whereby they think it is too clumsy to hold a 50, 100, 500, 1000 Naira notes for easy transactions, they should please leave the country or stop dealing in Naira, and use the dollars they have been using anyway! I have been to parties in Lagos where people holding government positions spread dollar bills on the faces of people dancing.
And I know for a fact that this boy in the CBN boasts to his friends that when he likes, he does his transactions in dollars! And there are many other Nigerians so privileged to do so. But if the average Nigerian feels the N5000 note is a bad idea, in a democracy, he should listen and their wishes should be respected. And if their leaders – and I have seen quite a lot of people I cannot write off easily, people like Tinubu and others, who are leaders of thought in their own respective areas, political leaders, and those who have been in government on both sides – legislative and executive – saying this is a bad idea, that it is insensitive, then I think it will be reckless to allow a person (CBN Governor), who was never elected and has never won an election even when he was in school, to say there is no going back.
And for the president to copycat that kind of statement is utter recklessness. You cannot run a democracy and pretend to be undemocratic. You either are a democrat or you are not. The way this government is trying to ram the N5000 note idea through our throats, and yet they are not giving the people any coherent example, rather they are only saying there is no going back, is in my view, insulting, and speaks volume of the kind of characters we are either appointing or electing into positions of trust in Nigeria. And this is a tragedy.
But this same Governor of the Central Bank had in the past enjoyed your positive commentary. Where did things start getting bad?
Never! I have never said anything positive about him. Go and bring your notebooks and your tapes. The last time you spoke about his appointment, I said Yar’Adua was misadvised and mis-guided. And I am sure Yar’Adua, not being an economist, and certainly not knowing anything about the responsibilities of a Central Bank Governor, and also being a very bad judge of character was misadvised and should never have appointed this boy. However, having done so, all of us will live to regret the consequences.
I said that first he does not understand the limit of his responsibility as a Central Bank Governor and I also told you that – if I remember correctly – you will require certain character profile to be a Central Bank Governor. This boy talks too much, he is in love with his voice and he hungers for publicity. That has been his life. For all I care, this boy was not fit, does not have the basic requirements to be governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. And by talking too much, he is rubbishing the institution of the Central Bank and I said no Governor of the Central Bank talks as much as he does.
And I gave example of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in the United States, Professor Ben Benanki, and King, who was the Governor of the Bank of England, which is an institution, and I said if we are building an institution, we should never have appointed people with this character. I have said this boy is not good and I challenge you to bring a single sentence where I said this boy was good.
Okay, let us leave Sanusi out of this and go to other questions…
(Cuts in) It is not a question of Sanusi. It is a question of his policy. Why must you impose a certain denomination of your currency when a vast majority of the people is opposed to it? It is not an issue of Sanusi. I don’t bloody care about Sanusi Lamido.
The subsidy probe has led to the prosecution of children and relatives of those in power. How do we look at the fact that some of them may have used their positions to get their children to steal us dry?
My dear Desmond let us stop deceiving ourselves. It is not their children; it is they, themselves, using their own children in very reckless manner as decoys, as fronts or as cut-out in these deals to steal us dry. Who is Bamanga Tukur’s son to go and dictate to either the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) or to the Minister of Petroleum, or to some of these people in the Presidency, because some of the decisions on the petroleum subsidy issue could not have been taken by the Minister? They had to be approved by the very top.
So, you might ask: who are these small, small boys? What have they done in their lives to get these privileges? You are about their age, why aren’t you getting the same kind of privileges? If those in government are liars, must we follow their lies? You know very well that it is Ahmadu Ali himself, Bamanga Tukur himself who are involved in all these dirty deals.
But here, let us get at the real issue. When some of us raised the alarm that the whole idea of subsidy is nothing but a bunch of lies and that there was nothing like subsidy, the Governor of Central Bank and other people not only said there was subsidy, but gave us the amount of subsidy they were spending. Now, they are quiet! Where are they now? Let them come and tell us who was getting the subsidy fund.
You create a system that allows people to become filthy rich for themselves, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. And now you say this system is only good because it is giving us an opportunity to be a welfare state or to expand the benefits of the oil revenue across the board, blabla bla! Now, the whole thing has proved to be a huge lie.
Minister of petroleum lied, Governor of Central Bank lied, resign? If you now go into the issue of printing the Naira, let me tell you, you will find there is a vested interest at work, either that of the Governor of the Central Bank, or somebody in the Presidency or somebody close to the Presidency or a big wig in the PDP. That is how the PDP runs itself.
Back to the question, don’t deceive yourself that these small boys, who came out of nowhere are going nowhere, as far as their individual achievements are concerned. When you want to address the whole issue, you should go and confront Ahmadu Ali, former chairman of the PDP now aspiring to be chairman of BOT go and attack the current Chairman of the PDP, Bamanga Tukur, and others like him. I know of a state nearby where one of Bamanga Tukur’s children went and got a contract, and when they were threatening to determine the contract, he started boasting that he was going to raise hell.
It is a PDP state and they went ahead to determine the contract and there was nothing the boy could do. But we are aware of efforts by Bamanga Tukur to undermine the governor, even though he could not succeed because the governor is independently powerful in his own right and has a base unlike Bamanga Tukur. Let us stop deceiving ourselves. These boys are running errands for their fathers and they are making money for their fathers. For all I care, if you are prosecuting a small boy, who cannot differentiate between his left and right, you are wasting your time.
If you want to prosecute, you go for the big guns and those of them involved in it should not only be prosecuted, they should leave the public positions they are holding. Ahmadu Ali’s son is one of the chairmen of a federal board or so. He should be asked to resign. If Ahmadu Ali is holding any position, he should be asked to resign. Bamanga Tukur too should go, I know their moves to get rid of him anyway, but that is not my point here. What I am saying is that he should be made to answer for his own indiscretion.
What is your response to the allegations against Chief Doyin Okupe, and the argument that he lacked the moral basis to hold public office because he failed to execute a particular contract in Benue State years ago?
It is very interesting. I knew of a time when Obasanjo wanted to physically assault him in the Presidency and there was a time in my presence, when Chief Okupe was being warned by the National Security Adviser, General Abdullahi Mohammed, that if he was not careful, he was not only going to get him sacked, but was going to jail him. He had described him in very tough words.
And if you know General Abdullahi Mohammed, he is very soft-spoken, a gentleman of very few words. For Okupe to really get him so enraged to respond in such a manner, it must have been a very serious offence. I was not surprised when some months after, Okupe was publicly sacked.
Addressing the question, this again is the issue of Nigeria and the PDP. There is no morality in their understanding of statecraft. Their philosophy is “never get caught”. Once you don’t get caught, there is no problem. That is the end of the story. If Okupe had kept his bloody mouth shut, perhaps, he would have gotten away with what he did. And many people perhaps, would have forgotten about it. This is one of those things you forget, like bad debts in the bank, under the PDP.
But Okupe found new confidence in his new role as a hired ‘attack dog” of the Presidency and the man who facilitated his getting that job was Reuben Abati. Reuben was never in the public life, he has never won an election and so he misadvised the president on that. But if the president was serious, it would have been difficult for like Reuben to mislead him.
And having misled him, and they were found out, Reuben should have thrown him out of the window with Doyin. But typical of the PDP, nothing is going to happen. Okupe will not be punished and that money will never be recovered and the people of Benue will suffer the loss.
Another interesting development is that the governor, who gave Okupe the contract, was then in the PDP and was a sitting governor of the party. Now, that governor is with the ACN and he now knows both sides of the equation. And that is why, for the first time in Okupe’s life, he is learning to keep quiet because everybody knows his background on this issue. But you did not need the latest scandal in Benue. There are, of course, other scandals around that fellow. That such a fellow has now gotten access to the president and is still working in the Presidency is, to me, the biggest disgrace in the way we run government in this country.
Different nationalities in Nigeria are on the march again for some form of self-determination. The South-West wants regionalism, and parliamentary system, some Northern states like Kano have coats of arm, in fact, are tracing and warming up their family roots with Niger Republic; the Ogonis are seeking self-determination just as Bakassi people wants independence. MOSSOP is making some noise, though they are not yet ready for a bloody noise. Where will all these take us?
These calls are not original. They are not inherent in these people. They are merely manifestations of a failed state and Nigeria is definitely a failed state under President Jonathan. What these people are saying is that they have had a raw deal. I am not sure about the Yoruba demand for an Oduduwa Republic, I don’t know. But others, yes, I have a feeling they have not been treated fairly by the Nigerian state. In a democracy, they have a right to agitate.
For all I care, when the states were created in 1967, most of the states had their own coats of arm. I remember General T. Y. Danjuma, then Chief of Army Staff, speaking on behalf of the Supreme Military Council, who said all these things should be swept aside and the idea of any state having its own coat of arms was not ideal for federalism. Now, the issues are coming back to light because politicians are looking for issues to raise and then blackmail the Federal Government. If you want to resolve the issue of people feeling alienated, do them justice. As long as there are injustices, there will be this kind of demands. The Ogoni secession thing is like a suicide. I think if they are determined to commit suicide, good luck to them.
The MASSOB people are a little more sensible, even though I don’t think they have been fairly treated, particularly by the police and the security services. But for whatever reason, I certainly will never support the idea of somebody creating trouble for other innocent people to die. The Nigeria Civil War cost the Igbo at least one million lives. I would hate to see a single soul killed in the name of agitation for either Oduduwa Republic or another Ogoni Declaration. If they play it on the pages of newspapers, fine. It may be fun, it may be a joke. But if they start taking arms and the Nigeria state comes with the Federal might to crush them, then they will have themselves to blame.
And I have no doubt in my mind that the one in the South West will remain on the pages of newspapers. I don’t believe the South-West people are serious, because if they start trouble and they have a head-on collision with the Nigeria State, they have a lot at stake because they are the most developed part of Nigeria. Lagos itself is 40 per cent of the Nigerian economy, and our GDP. And if you want to really mess up Lagos, just bomb one interception of the Third Mainland Bridge and the whole economy of Lagos will come crashing. Secondly, the South West, especially the Lagos economy, is not a productive economy. It is an economy mostly based on currency speculation.
Compare Lagos with what is happening in the so-called Niger Delta, especially Rivers, which is the most developed, you can see clearly that these are the people bearing the brunt of the ecological problems and this are the people enjoying the money and making noise about it.
The Sun

Sons and Daughters of Independence Heroes

Zik, Sardauna and Awolowo 

Apparently, the lives of children whose parents shaped Nigeria’s politics before and after the independence typify the abruptness that characterised the termination of the First Republic. For the families of such politicians it was mostly not a case of chips off the old block. This is understandable. The First Republic evokes much unpleasant memories, especially for families that experienced its tragic unravelling first hand.  The surprise that the children of the First Republic politicians do not occupy offices that inevitably thrusts them onto national consciousness is in part shaped by today’s decadent tendency where holders of public office have no qualms appropriating the country’s common wealth to benefit their families at the expense of the masses. On this note, Nigeria’s early politicians boast an inimitable record. Indeed, their selflessness is underscored by the fact they had not given an undue social advantage to their children.  The simplicity of their lives and the tolerant values apparent in their politics reflect also in the lives of their children who do not seem obsessed with the influence that power confers. These families do not pine for the lost privileges; they are simply contented with their simple – but no less edifying – pursuits. But there is one unmistakable point: the common shock they feel about the huge contrast between the people’s living standard when their parents held sway and the present situation. As the nation marks its 52nd independence anniversary on Monday, THISDAY went in search of the children of these nationalists. Where are they now? What are they into? For those who took after their fathers in politics, how successful have they been? YEMI ADEBOWALE, EMMANUEL UGWU, OMON-JULIUS ONABU, SHOLA OYEYIPO and ADIBE EMENYONU dig in

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was the only Prime Minister of an independent Nigeria. Together with Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who held the hereditary title of Sardauna of Sokoto, he founded the Northern People’s Congress. In 1957, he was elected Chief Minister, forming a coalition government between the NPC and the NCNC led by Nnamdi Azikiwe. He retained the post as Prime Minister when Nigeria gained independence in 1960, and was re-elected in 1964. He was overthrown and murdered in a failed military coup on January 15, 1966. None of his children is into politics. However, his first child, Mukhtar, was visible during the Obasanjo administration. Between 1999 and 2003, Mukhtar served as special adviser to Obasanjo. He is at present, the director-general of the National Poverty Eradication Programme. He says he and his siblings are not into politics because “one has to be a very rich man to play politics in Nigeria”.

Nnamdi Azikiwe
Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (November 16, 1904 – May 11, 1996) popularly known as “Zik”, was one of the leading figures of modern Nigeria nationalism. He became the first President of Nigeria after independence in 1960; holding the presidency throughout the Nigerian First Republic. In 1954, he became the Premier of the Eastern Region. On November 16, 1960, he became the Governor General. With the proclamation of a republic in 1963, he became the first President of Nigeria. His first son is Chief Chukwuma Bamidele Azikiwe, the present Owelle of Onitsha. At a point, Bamidele was appointed an ambassador. But none of his children is into politics.

Obafemi Awolowo
Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (March 6, 1909 – May 9, 1987) was one of Nigeria’s founding fathers and founder of the Action Group. He represented the Western Region in all the constitutional conferences intended to advance Nigeria on the path to independence. He was the first Leader of Government Business and Minister of Local Government and Finance and first Premier of the Western Region. Awolowo was the official leader of the opposition in the federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1959 to 1963. None of his children is into politics. His second son, Oluwole runs the Tribune Newspapers. His daughter, Tokunboh Awolowo-Dosunmu was once an ambassador.

Shehu Shagari
Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, Turakin Sakkwato (born February 25, 1925) was an active member of the NPC in the first Republic. He was a minister in the Balewa government. He also served as the President of Nigeria in the second republic (1979–1983). One of his children, Aminu Shehu Shagari is active in politics. Aminu is a member of the current House of Representatives on the platform of the PDP. His most visible son is Captain Bala Shagari who was retired from the military after the Buhari coup in 1983. Bala is not into politics.

Kingsley Mbadiwe
Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe (1915-1990) was a nationalist, politician, statesman and former minister. In 1951, he was elected into the Eastern Region House of Assembly; he was re-elected in 1954, and made minister for Lands and National Resources. In 1957, he was made the Minister for Commerce. However, his political success was to undergo a great challenge when in mid-1958 he and Kola Balogun attempted to remove Zik as the leader of NCNC. Both of them failed and were removed from the party. He later re-joined the party and was appointed Minister for Trade and Communications. He also served as a special adviser to Balewa, advising on African affairs, though his role in foreign policy formation was limited. He had six children namely Betty, Greg, Paul, Chris, George, and Francis. Greg, the most visible of the children was at some point, the Chairman of the Federal Road safety Commission. He is a member of the PDP.

Dr Michael Okpara
Michael Okpara (December 1920-December 17, 1984) was Premier of Eastern Nigeria during the First Republic. Okpara was, at 39, the nation’s youngest Premier. After the granting of internal self-rule in 1952, he was elected into the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly on the NCNC platform. Between 1952 and 1959 he held various cabinet positions in Eastern Nigeria, ranging from Minister of Health to Minister of Agriculture and Production. In 1953, when NCNC legislators revolted against the party leadership, he remained loyal and joined forces with Dr. Azikiwe. In November 1960, when Dr. Azikiwe left active politics to become Nigeria’s first African Governor-General, Dr. Okpara was elected leader of the NCNC. His most visible son in politics is Uzodinma Okpara. Uzodinma adopted the name Ome ka nna ya (one who acts like his own father) when he was gunning to be the governor of Abia State in 2007. But that was as far as he could go in his foray into politics. He could not match the political prowess of his father, who was among the pillars of the NCNC. Uzodinma, who is the second child of the late politician came into political limelight in Abia State when he was made the state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2002 during the crisis that hit the party in the run up to the second tenure ambition of Dr Orji Uzor Kalu. After the 2003 general elections he lost the chairmanship of the party in the unending internal crisis and it was a matter of time before he left the PDP. Before the 2007 general elections Okpara had pitched his tent with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He eventually became the gubernatorial candidate of APGA but came a distant fourth in the poll and challenged the outcome in the election petition tribunal and lost. Okpara has since returned to PDP, combining politics with his private business, perhaps waiting for a time he would finally live up to the political name of his late father, who was fondly called “Mike Power” because of his political sagacity.

Remi Fani-Kayode
Remi- Fani-Kayode was deputy premier of the defunct Western Region. He combined the position with that of a regional minister. The successful moving of the motion for Nigeria’s independence did not take place until August 1958 and this was done by Fani- Power as he was well known then. His motion was not only passed by Parliament but it was also acquiesced to by the British. His motion had called for independence to be granted to Nigeria on April 2, 1960. Though, it was passed by Parliament and acquiesced to by the British a slight amendment proposing that the month of independence should be moved from April 2 to October 1 was proposed by a fourth motion to Parliament by Balewa in 1959 and it was passed. The most visible of his children is Femi, who was very active during the Obasanjo regime – 1999 to 2007. He was minister. At a point, Femi was in the race for the governorship of Osun State. The eldest Child of Remi Power was Rotimi (an artist) who died in 1989. The second child, Akinola is a lawyer. Two others (females) Toyin and Tolu live abroad.

Musa Yar’Adua
Late Musa Yar’Adua was a former Minister for Lagos during the First Republic and an active member of the NPC. He held the royal title of Mutawalli (custodian of the treasury) of the Katsina Emirate. Two of his children – late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and late Umaru Yar’Adua took after their father in politics. When Obasanjo was military head of state from 1976 until 1979, Shehu was his Vice President. He was sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal in 1995, after calling on late General Sani Abacha and his Provisional Ruling Council to re-establish civilian rule. He died in captivity on December 8, 1997. Shehu was the leading figure behind the political movement called the Peoples Democratic Movement.
His younger brother, Umaru was the President of Nigeria and the 13th Head of State. He served as governor of Katsina State from 29 May 1999 to 28 May 2007. He emerged president in 2007. In 2009, Yar’Adua left for Saudi Arabia to receive treatment for pericarditis. He returned to Nigeria in 2010, where he died on 5 May.

Anthony Enahoro
Chief Anthony Enahoro (22 July 1923 – 15 December 2010) was Nigeria’s foremost anti-colonial and pro-democracy activists. Enahoro had a long and distinguished career in the press, politics, the civil service and the pro-democracy movement. Enahoro became the editor of Ziks’s newspaper, the Southern Nigerian Defender in 1944 at the age of 21, thus becoming Nigeria’s youngest editor ever. As a student then at the famous Kings College, Enahoro plunged into the Nigerian turbulent liberation struggle against colonial rule in the early 1940s, leading to student revolts at the college, in Lagos In 1953, Enahoro became the first to move the motion for Nigeria’s independence. As a result, he is widely regarded by academics and many Nigerians as the father of “Nigeria State.” Though, his motion was rejected by Parliament and the northern MP’s staged a walkout, the motion had a big impact on the colonial government. Despite his huge impact in Nigerian politics, none of his children has shown interest in politics. Ken, the eldest child says he and his siblings are not into politics because “it is a dirty game in Nigeria.” Enahoro’s children are all into one form of business or the other.

Richard Akinjide
Richard Akinjide was minister of education in the government of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa during the second republic. Jumoke Akinjide is the most visible of his children. She was appointed FCT minister by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

Joseph Osuntokun
Joseph Osuntokun was an active member of the Action Group in the defunct western region and at a point, the regional minister for education. His most visible son in politics is Akin Osuntokun. Akin was at a point, the political adviser to Obasanjo. He was also the managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria. He also briefly showed interest in becoming Ondo State governor in 2007.

Kola Balogun
Late Chief Kola Balogun who died in 2002 was one of Nigeria’s most charismatic politicians of the fifties and sixties. Although an NCNC (National Council of Nigerian Citizens) loyalist and a political son of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kola Balogun was nevertheless seen and regarded as a progressive politician throughout his career. At a point, he was a regional minister in the defunct Western Region. None of his children is into active politics. However, the most visible of his children is Stephen, who was invited home from the United Kingdom last year by the Rauf Aregbesola administration in Osun State. Stephen was appointed commissioner for Youths and Sports.

Ibrahim Imam
Ibrahim Imam (1916 – April 1980), a Kanuri politician from Borno, was the secretary of the Northern People’s Congress and later became a patron of the Borno Youth Movement. He was elected into the Northern House of Assembly in 1961. At the inception of the NPC, which later became the dominant party in the North, he was the party’s secretary-general; he joined a large number of his colleagues from the regional house who enlisted on the political platform of the new NPC. His son, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam is active in today’s politics. He was twice the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate for governor of Borno State in 2003 and 2007, losing both times. During the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic Kashim was Borno State chairman of the National Republican Convention. Kashim was appointed Presidential Liaison Officer to the Senate at the start of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 1999.

Solomon Lar
Chief Solomon Lar was a member of the first national parliament when Nigeria gained independence in 1960. He was elected to the Federal Parliament on the platform of United Middle Belt Congress. He was re-elected in 1964, and from then until 15 January 1966, when General Yakubu Gowon took power in a coup, Lar was parliamentary secretary to Balewa. He was also a Junior Minister in the Federal Ministry of establishments. His daughter, Beni is the only child that has taken after him in politics. She has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, under the platform of the Political Party: Peoples Democratic Party. Beni, a law graduate represents Langtang North/Langtang South. She is the Chairman of the House Committee on Human Rights. During the Obasanjo regime, Beni was Special Assistant to the President on Women Affairs.

Samuel Imoke
Dr. Samuel Imoke was a medical doctor who became a cabinet minister and leader of parliament in the former Eastern Region. In the period leading to Nigeria’s independence, he was an ally of Zik and a key member of the NCNC. The most visible of his children is Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State. Liyel was elected governor in 2007. He is a member of the PDP. In 1992, Liyel was elected a Senator at the age of 30 during the Ibrahim Babangida transition government. His term ended with the dissolution of the government in November 1993 by the military regime headed by late Abacha. In 1999, he was appointed a Special Adviser on Public Utilities by Obasanjo.

Festus Okotie-Eboh
Festus Okotie-Eboh (1919-1966) was former minister for finance during the Balewa administration. In 1951, after some influence from Azikiwe, he contested for a seat and was elected into the western region House of Assembly. In 1954, he was elected treasurer of the NCNC. In 1957, was made Minister of Finance. Okotie-Eboh was assassinated along with Balewa in the January 15, 1966 military coup. One of his children – Adolo is active in politics. Adolo is the incumbent chairman of the Delta State chapter Action Congress of Nigeria. His brother, Ben is not into politics. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Crown FM Radio, Warri, Delta State.

Raymond Njoku
Late Raymond Amanze Njoku was minister for Transport in the Balewa administration. He was Vice President NCNC. Njoku contested for a regional seat in 1951, but was unsuccessful. However, in 1954, he was elected to the Federal House of Representative. He was appointed cabinet minister: Commerce & Industry, Transport & Aviation 1954- 1966. The final and definitive motion for Nigeria’s independence on 1 October 1960 was moved by Balewa and endorsed by Njoku, his cabinet colleague. None of his children is into politics. His only visible son is Tony Njoku, who is a Lagos-based businessman

Akanu Ibiam
Late Dr. Akanu Ibiam worked with Zik in the NCNC in the quest for Nigeria’s independence. After Nigeria gained independence in 1960, he was appointed governor of Eastern Region, holding office until the military coup of 15 January 1966. He was also the traditional ruler of his native Unwana-Afikpo.  Ibiam died in December 1995.  He had three children. They include: Alu Ibiam (MON), traditional ruler of Unwana-Afikpo, Ebonyi State; Tolulope Tasie, 69, (Nee Ibiam), a Port Harcourt-based medical doctor and Akaa Ibiam, 65, the only son, a retired mechanical engineer from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. None of the children is into in politics.

John Ugwuamakofia Nwodo
Nwodo was a member of the defunct Eastern Regional House of Assembly who later became regional minister of Commerce and Industry under Okpara and later a Minister of Local Government. He was the patriarch of the Nwodo family of Ukehe, near Nsukka, Enugu State. Three of his children are into politics and have held key positions in government. This was started by the appointment of his third son, John Nnia Nwodo (Jnr) as a minister in the Second Republic under Shehu Shagari and again a minister (information) during the military government of General Abdulsalam Abubakar. The second son, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, became the governor of Enugu State during Ibrahim Babangida’s botched transition and later became the first national secretary of the ruling PDP. Okwesilieze also contested the Nsukka senatorial seat in 2003 on the platform of ANPP, but lost to Senator Fidelis Okoro of the PDP. The first son, Dr. Joe, was in the race for the governorship of Enugu before he was stopped by Babangida, the family’s benefactor, as a result of the fierce contest between him and his rival, Hyde Onuaguluchi. He was immediately replaced by his younger brother, Okwesilieze. Joe went further to contest the presidential primaries of the then National Republican Convention but came second after Bashir Tofa, who picked the ticket. The Nwodo sisters are not left out in the dynasty. One of them was elected senator in Delta State, her marital home, during the Babangida’s botched transition. Their eldest sister, Mrs. Grace Obayi, has held positions as a commissioner in various administrations of Enugu and old Anambra State. And the trend has continued thereafter such that no matter the dispensation, there must be at least one Nwodo in that set up either at the state level or at the federal level.

Okupe M.A
Late M.A Okupe was the main financial backer of Awolowo and his Action Group. He was also the first Nigerian to own a bank – Agbomagbe Bank. Okupe later fell out with Awolowo and teamed up with Akintola. His most visible son in politics is Doyin Okupe who is at present the Special Assistant, Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan. Doyin also worked with Obasanjo as special adviser, media.

Musa Daggash
Musa Daggash was an active member of the NPC and very close to late Sir Ahmadu Bello. Musa later became a minister in the Balewa government. His son, Mohammed Sanusi Daggash was elected a member of the National House of Representatives in 1999, and became Senator for Borno North in 2003. Late President Yar’Adua appointed him Minister for the National Planning in 2007, and relieved him of his post in October 2008. He was again re-appointed as Minister for Works in April 2010 by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan.

Matthew Mbu
Late Matthew Mbu was an active NCNC politician, diplomat, and a regular face in Nigerian political affairs for more than fifty years. His son, Matthew Mbu Junior was elected Senator for the Cross River Central constituency in 1999 on the platform of the PDP.

Samuel Ladoke Akintola
He was premier of the defunct Western Region and one of the founding fathers of modern Nigeria. After he was trained as a lawyer in the United Kingdom, Akintola returned to Nigeria in 1949 and teamed up with other educated Nigerians from the western region to form AG under the leadership of Awolowo. He later fell out with Awolowo. This led to the 1962 crisis in western region. He was one of the leading figures killed during the January 1966 coup. Akintola had five children, two of whom were later to become finance ministers in the third Republic - Chief Yomi Akintola and Dr Bimbo Akintola. Yomi served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Hungary and Samuel Akinola’s daughter-in-law, Mrs. Dupe Akintola was Nigeria’s High Commissioner in Jamaica. His fourth child, Chief Victor Ladipo Akintola, dedicated much of his life to ensuring the continued accurate accounting of Samuel Akinola’s contributions to Nigeria’s position on the world stage. He published many works including a biography that highlighted his fathers love of his country and lifelong commitment to its progression (Akintola: The Man and the Legend). Akintola’s youngest son, the late Tokunbo Akintola, was the first black schoolboy at Eton College, United Kingdom, enrolling two terms prior to the arrival of Dilibe Onyeama (author of Nigger at Eton).

Sunday Awoniyi
  Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi was a Private Secretary to late Sardauna of Sokoto. After independence in 1960, he held several posts in the Northern Regional Government, including that of Secretary to the Executive Council, where he worked with the Sardauna. Awoniyi held Sardauna as a symbol of good governance, and was known as “Sardauna Keremi”, or “little Sardauna”. His third child Abayomi Awoniyi is currently Kogi State deputy governor. In a chat with THISDAY, Yomi said: “My foray into politics is as a result of my father’s passion for Nigeria. He loved the country so much. He was passionate about the well-being of everyone.”

Daniel Okumagba
Late Chief Daniel Okumagba was an active member of the Action Group in the first republic. Albert Egbaroghene Okumagba is one of those who have successfully toed the line of their fathers in active politics. Albert, who is also the chairman of the BGL group was governorship aspirant in Delta State in 2007 under the platform of the PDP. His brother, Benard is also a member of the PDP. He is a member of the Delta State executive council and current Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning.
This Day

British man arrested for duping Nigerian stock fish importers of $800,000

The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, and the Nigeria Police Force have arrested a British national for allegedly duping some Nigerian stock fish importers of over $800,000 on the pretext of supplying them stock fish from Iceland.
The Briton (name withheld), said to be in his sixties, is now with the police at Alagbon close where investigations on his case had been concluded and may soon be charged accordingly.
The British national was arrested in Cotonou by the Interpol when he was about to defraud Obina Echianu of $5,500 on the pretext of supplying him stockfish from Iceland.
According to sources at the NSC, trouble started for the fraudster when Echianu notified one of his colleagues in the stock fish business of his intention to remit N$5,500 to his new agent for the supply of the commodity from the European country.
Echianu was discouraged to continue with the transaction when he gave the name of his new agent to his colleague who had once been duped by the Briton.
Instead of remitting the money as demanded by the Briton, Echianu requested that they should meet in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, for the money.
At that stage, a group of seven stockfish importers including Echianu, who were the earlier victims of the Briton’s fraudulent activities petitioned the NSC, which later invited the Police INTERPOL to look into the matter.
The letter from the council to the police was signed by MS A.N.Ogo who asked for assistance in the arrest of the fraudster in Republic of Benin.
“We wish to forward to you the complaint from a group of Aba-based importers of stock fish against a Briton. Please assist urgently because this man has continued to contact other Nigerians to use them as agents and to further obtain monies through fraudulent means by pretending to invest in stock fish business or to sell stock fish to them from Iceland, where the council for trade and tourism has warned dealers of stock fish not to transact business with him any longer. We have recently received information that this man is making moves to obtain the sum of N$5,500 from Obinna Echianu under false pretence.
“They have arranged to meet in Cotonou on Saturday,15 September, 2012. We plead with you to do everything you can to stop this man from defrauding Nigerian businessmen. The man appears to be a Briton,” Ogo alerted the police in the petition sent to the Inspector General of Police on 13 September.
The suspect was eventually arrested when a team from the council and the Nigeria Police Force, accompanied Echianu to Cotonou.
They arrested him when he was about to receive money from Echianu in a hotel as planned and was transferred to Lagos for interrogation.
Police sources said that the police had since contacted the British Authorities which later dispatch some officials to Nigeria to confirm the arrest of their national and to offer him legal advice as he will soon be arraigned in court.
 DailyPost

Red Alert: Robbers target ATMs, hotels, drinking spots in Lagos

One of the major advantages of a cash-less economy often touted by analysts is that the use of Automated Teller Machines reduces crime.
However, CRIME DIGEST investigations show that criminals now prefer to loiter around ATMs installed outside bank premises at odd hours of the day and pretend to be engrossed in one activity or another, while waiting to pounce on potential victims.
The criminals have devised a new means of making a living: robbing ATMs and those that use them.
The same process applies to ATMs which are sited within banks premises that are not walled. Once a customer finishes withdrawing cash from the machines, he is immediately attacked by robbers. Many people have been kidnapped and their vehicles stolen because they stopped by to make a cash withdrawal from an ATM.
Recently Crime Digest reported the arrest of three kidnappers by a team of policemen attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Lagos. The criminals had held a cousin of wealthy businessman, Aliko Dangote hostage. Although they hardly knew their victim’s identity, they simply zeroed in on him from their vantage position near the Polo Club in Ikoyi, when they saw him withdrawing some cash from an ATM at about 11 pm. With only a few people on the road at that time of the day and no witnesses, the kidnappers had within a few minutes violently taken their victim away at gunpoint.
In another report, a gang of carjackers arrested by the SARS in Lagos confessed to robbing a victim through the same means. Members of the gang worked as private drivers by day and at night, they turned car jackers. They told CRIME DIGEST that they had stolen a Ford Escape jeep at Osapa London in the Ajah area. They got the opportunity when the owner of vehicle stopped by to make a withdrawal from an ATM, which was close by late that night. Not only did the robbers make away with the jeep, the sum of N10,000, which their victim had just withdrawn was also seized.
When armed criminals are not loitering around ATMs installed outside commercial banks at night, they are busy breaking into the ones located within the premises, sometimes with the active connivance of insiders and at other times, with brute force. This development has made it difficult for the security personnel of many banks to open up their gates at night when customers stop by to use ATMs.
Last June, five gunmen reportedly broke into the premises of a branch of a new generation bank in FESTAC Town, tied up the security guards and with the aid of chisels and two gas cylinders, proceeded to steal the sum of N3.5m from the ATM.
However, 18 hours after the incident, the police were able to recover the stolen money and arrest four of the suspected robbers.
A security guard working with one of the commercial banks on Ogunnusi Road in Ojodu said that most banks in the area would not open their gates late at night to ATM users.
He said, “There is no way I am going to open the gate and admit a customer into the bank premises who wants to withdraw money at midnight. It is not possible because I cannot tell if the person is armed and intends to commit crime. All the banks on this road have had their ATMs vandalised and broken into recently. Even this bank whose ATM is located within the bank premises has been robbed before.
“I don’t admit any customer after 9 pm. If it is later than that, the person would have to look for another ATM that is not sited within a bank premises. It is even in the interest of any bank customer not to go about using ATMs late at night. The person may be risking his life because you can never tell if a criminal is lurking in the shadows.”
But on the busy Oba Akran Road, a different situation prevailed. A security personnel attached to one of the commercial banks said that the ATM was available to customers for 24 hours, though he declined to mention the security arrangement that made it possible. “We do not close our gates to any customer who wants to use the ATM, no matter how late. This is a 24hr service,” he said.
In another development, two prominent hotels in the Akowonjo and Ikeja areas were attacked by suspected robbers. The attacks came barely three weeks after a similar incident occurred in a hotel in Shasha and the guests were robbed and taken hostage.
In all the three incidents, the robbers had pretended to be customers and operated unchallenged.
CRIME DIGEST had on September 22 reported a robbery attack in a popular hotel on Shasha, which claimed the life of one person. While some residents claimed the deceased was a guest of the hotel, others said he was a security guard in the Shasha neighbourhood.
A resident informed CRIME DIGEST that the robbers seemed to have acted on inside information. She said, “They trailed a guest to the hotel. They must have known that he was in possession of a large amount of money at the time. After they had verified that the man had checked in as a guest, they started to rob everyone in the hotel. They went from room to room. They eventually got to their target and robbed him of a huge sum of money and even raped some women in the hotel.”
While the robbers were operating in the hotel, nobody in the neighbourhood knew what was going on. A neighbourhood security guard, who was in the hotel at the time, was said to have been identified by one of the robbers and shot dead.
The guests were so frightened that even after the criminals had left, they continued to lie down with their faces on the floor until a man who was in the hotel before the robbery returned to retrieve an item that he had forgotten there.

 DailyPost