Nigeria's Reluctant Presidents And Effect On Development By Law Mefor

Nigeria’s leadership has never thrived on individuals’ aspiration, as the recruitment process veers off weirdly from normal. It has always been some mutative force casting aside whoever nursed the ambition to whoever they please. It is a nation that has survived on the blood of sacrificial lambs, to leave the country in the hands of who never wanted to rule, a classical case of conspiracy of an evil hue.

President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan has been a child of circumstance from the start, rising, politically speaking, from obscurity to become whatever any man alive or dead would wish. He confessed that he never dreamt of becoming the president of Nigeria. Awo, on the other hand, would have given a limb to be in Jonathan’s shoes. Or at the very least, wished for the same destiny for himself but it never came his way. Awo wanted to be Nigeria’s president. Some historians believe his betrayal of Biafra was part of his calculations to get there. Yet, everything ended as a daydream for the late sage.

Obasanjo derided the late Awo as an example of this sad Nigerian reality when he said many years ago: “A man whose life ambition eluded him deserves my sympathy”, further noting rather uncharitably that he achieved when he was barely forty what Awo laboured for life and failed to accomplish – to rule Nigeria.
Power is not like wealth, which they say chooses its own path and its entry a mystery as its exit in a man’s life. Some have mastered power in Nigeria and its art, thus appear to have conquered it of their own accord. That may explain why Margret Thatcher had to say, “Being in power is like being a lady; if you have to say you are you aren’t”. Great men and women court power. In Nigeria particularly, it has remained most elusive to those who needed it the most, forcing many to insist that the Nigerian nation has never had its own leader.


Indeed the bewildering inability of the late sage (Awo) to rule Nigeria even for 24 hours as he was known to have once begged may remain legendary. It denotes  the unwavering ‘providence’ standing accused for taking it upon itself to select the nation’s leaders and what is more, making a mess of it. It has always saddled the country with the wrong kind of leaders and underdevelopment is the result.

It is indeed the Nigerian story: those who wanted to rule the nation never came close to power: Zik, Awo, Ahmadu Bello, and many more tired out trying and woefully failing, and may have all died feeling politically unfulfilled. Only reluctant leaders, both military and civilians, suddenly found themselves there without any vision and sense of mission for the nation.
Obasanjo remains the most incredible case study in any attempt to put this phenomenon in perspective. He holds a Guinness Book record as a 2 -era President of a country purely by accident, contributing nothing to each occasion to ascend the apex power except perhaps saying yes to this providential beckon. He was said to be crying when he was prevailed upon to succeed Ramat Murtala Muhammad when the latter fell under the hail of Dimka’s bullets. That was how the nation came about the double-barrel history of Murtala-Obasanjo regime in 1976.


Again, in 1999, the nation was saddled with another reluctant Obasanjo. He was asked by journalists when he was brought out of Yola prison if he would aspire to lead Nigeria again. Shocked, Obasanjo retorted: “How many Presidents do you want to make out of me?” But few months later, Nigeria was busy making another President out of a reluctant Obasanjo.

Today, the history is not different. President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan left it to be decided as usual. After all, like past Nigerian leaders, he never harbored any personal ambition all along, so it will be mean-spirited to suggest he should not have allowed himself to be goaded into it or allowing the force to sustain his presidency beyond 2015. The President is true to form for remaining at the mercy of the providence that has been producing reluctant Presidents for Nigeria.


The President became Vice President because an Obasanjo said so, and President because the constitution imposed it and likely to return in 2015 because the Ijaw nation insists. These are all forces beyond and outside the incumbent.


Historically, we can also say such unseen hands produced an Alhaji Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister of Nigeria (1959 -1966) even when he was not the leader of his party (Northern People’s Congress). In parliamentary practice and tradition, for not being the leader of the NPC, it was unusual for Tafawa Balewa to become prime minister. The same force produced Generals JTU Aguiyi- Ironsi and Yakubu Gowon as heads of state, even when they hatched no coups. It nearly made a mistake with Murtala who really came with the ambition and desire to rule Nigeria and make a difference. But the force quickly corrected the ‘Murtala error’ by violently replacing him with a reluctant General Olusegun Obasanjo.

Then also, a certain Shehu Shagari printed his beautiful posters to go to the Nigerian Senate. But the same ‘providence’ said: “No, thou art Mr. President Sir!” One Muhammad Buhari came knocking with an ambition to rule and got knocked off quickly by one experimentalist I.B. Babangida who appeared surprised that power had been that close without knowing it even after risking his life to ease out Dimka and his weird dream. (IBB was said to be on a mission to rescue his own military career following a looming probe. His coming to power therefore could be the same way Eyadema of Togo and Samuel Doe of Liberia shot their ways to power to save their skins and career!)
Then came in one far more reluctant Ernest Shonekan in the interim who told ‘them’ to come for the mantle anytime they wanted it back since he was only a defacto head ab-initio. So, when Shonekan saw dark-goggled Sani Abacha escorted to his Aguda House by some young officers, he handed him his pre-signed resignation and prerecorded video tape from the window. Abacha, another providential head of state of Nigeria had emerged, anointed and planted as head of state-in-waiting, by an IBB that was stepping aside, and, courtesy of the same providence, as others, he went into power to represent the interest rather than nation. When he started getting ideas of his own with his transmutation plan with ‘the five fingers of a leprous hand’ (as Ige described our political parties then), same strange force took him out of the scene too.
Of course Abdusalami Abubakar wept profusely for the death of Abacha and ran scared for the 11 months he precariously hung on the throne before the second return of a recurring, reluctant Obasanjo. Obasanjo however wanted power by himself with his Third-Term gambit but the project, despite gulping billions, still collapsed like a castle of sand by the grace of the same forces.


Then, the same Obasanjo, acting God and electorates combined, singlehandedly produced a President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a sick man with well-known history of kidney dialysis, who had secured an appointment to teach Chemistry after his tenure as governor of Katsina, and an amazed Goodluck Jonathan became his deputy. But death came and good luck or providence or both smiled on Jonathan to become the President of the most populous black nation on earth!

The real problem is not whether or not the president continues beyond 2015 but what happens to a nation where its leaders have no vision and sense of mission. The Holy Scripture says that without vision a nation/people perish. So, even religion recognizes that a strong correlation exists between vision and progress of a people or nation.
Part of the fundamental problems of Nigeria is the fact that those to make the difference are never allowed to positions. Imagine where Nigeria would have been if Zik, Awo, or Ahmadu Bello had ruled. Instead, they were all brushed aside by the strange force forging past, present and future of the Nigerian nation and its destiny.


This force has colonial origin and was inherited and sustained by the military. It is a counteracting force the nation must shake off, through genuine democratic practice, if she will thrive and end her endless tales of woes.

Saharareporters.com

160 Million Dumb Nigerians By Bayo Oluwasanmi

Despite its very evident prosperity, many people in Nigeria are in excruciating pain. That distress is most visible to the poor majority while the ruling elites do not see it or pretend not to see it.

The broken covenant – the social contract – between the government and the governed illuminates the ineptitude and callousness of those elected by the people to fight on their behalf.
Romantic yearning for Utopia and revolt against a polluted society are the two poles which provide the tension of all militant uprising or civil agitation.
We see things differently. While the psychiatrist sees the craving for Utopia and rebellion against the status quo as symptoms of social maladjustment, the social reformer sees both as symptoms of a healthy rational attitude.
Max was right when he said that a moribund society creates its own morbid gravediggers. Revolt against injustice is not only honorable but it is imperative.
Since independence, Nigeria has been blessed with nonentities as leaders. Leaders who perceive no need-spots for specific problems. Leaders who possess no gift and no competence to address the needs of the people.
Leaders who cannot persuade people. Leaders who are not able to attract others to join a cause. Leaders who pursue no purpose and employ no measures to accomplish the desired goals.
We lack a strong leader who could cast a national vision. In these days, there is no one in charge in Nigeria: everyone and everything seem to thrive in chaos.
The federal economic and finance minister/coordinator, manipulators, and other self-styled economic gurus, continue to deceive Nigerians with voodoo economic analyses that things are not as bad as they seem. But behind closed doors, they sing different tunes.
One thing however they cannot refute is the reality of the perpetual chasm separating the poor and the ruling class. The ruling class inflamed the anger and the pain of the working class by refusing to talk about it and being disinclined to listen.
The impoverishment of our people keeps me awake at night. I hear them in the darkness around me. It is the cries of these countless victims which rouse me in the long watches of the night.
It is the willing silence and sheepish submission to subjugation, poverty, and oppression that infuriate me to write today and always. It is thinking of the martyrs who fought and died for the starved and strapped Nigerians that egg me on.
The members of the ruling class have destroyed the vision of the future. They have turned their backs on the future and embraced the past. The addiction of these vultures to corruption and wickedness frankly and nakedly set them against all human values and democratic norms.
The slightest opposition and the merest criticism expose the few Nigerians who dare the authorities to the severest penalties. People in our reform social ladder are instantly suppressed and those who stand out independently are mown down.
Nigeria is in a mess. Able-bodied Nigerians turned beggars wandered through the streets. Petty street hawkers of underwear, socks, rubber heels, corsets, silverware, and other ancient objects appeared like a rash over the face of Nigeria towns and cities.
Graduates at all levels across disciplines drive danfos, molues, and bolekajas for a niggardly amount. Others settle for the “Area Boys” specialties and dark alley businesses of assorted brands.
Our unemployed youths in the millions have become a wild and homeless lot, socially disinherited, candidates for Aro, morgues, prisons, and the electric chair.
Our elderly are hungry. They depend on public charity and their Good Samaritan neighbors for food and for a place to sleep.
Days of somber discouragement follow our pensioners. Some died in penury, of hunger and disease. The rest of them live a vagabond, lonely, and perilous lives. Their depression soon reached that extreme stage when the will is paralyzed and physical resistance suddenly gives way.
Like inflated currency, Nigerian workers have lost the real meaning of living. They look like a huddle of stragglers from a beaten army. Irony and shame kept intruding in their chosen vocations and careers. Their former passion for dignity of labor has turned into perversion.
The once virile and vibrant Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) of Michael Imodu and Wahab Goodluck has become a castrated giant whose brag and bluster only served to cover its lost virility.
Oil – our commonwealth – has been cut into cubes and blocks shared among the military hyenas and civilian vultures.
Nigerian governments – federal, state, and local – always stand for swindling, intrigue, and privilege. They could not stand for anything else. Neither law nor force can change it. If retribution occasionally catches up with them, this can only be by the dispensation of God.
The hopelessness of Nigerians’ limited lives – lives truncated and impoverished by the oppressors – keeps the rest of us wondering what next?
Majority of Nigerians live on less than $2 a day. And it is their starvation wages which permit the swollen pay packets of the ruling class and other privileged economic saboteurs.
Once Nigerians started on the slippery slope, nothing could hold them back. At every turn, they are forced to advance, sliding further into the abyss of shame.
Each federal legislator takes home N29 million every month. The governors, state legislators, and local government chairmen and council members receive criminally huge compensations. The same governors said they couldn’t afford the minimum wage of N18, 000.
The ruling native tyrants have seized as it were, all available prime land and jerked up prices everywhere in the country. Few days ago, I read that a plot of land in Banana Republic in Ikoyi sells for N1 billion while the landless poor have nowhere to lay their heads.
Also last week, I read that a village head in Akwa Ibom State had begun a three-month hunger strike in protest of a dilapidated high school building erected 31 years ago. He said the governor had repeatedly ignored his pleas to visit the school. Here is a story on Governor Godswill  Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State reported by SaharaReporters June, 30:
“Three stewards working in the Akwa Ibom state governor's lodge in Asokoro, Abuja was on Friday summarily dismissed by the governor, Godswill Akpabio, over missing bundles of mint fresh dollars valued at over  $250,000 (N40 million) kept in the governor's bedroom.
The governor who reportedly issued the instruction to dispense with the services of the political appointees personally found out on Wednesday during his visit to Abuja that four bundles of the foreign currency he left in his bedroom had been stolen while he was gone to a dinner with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Rock Villa.
Saharareporters gathered that the bundles of dollars kept in the drawers in the governor's bedroom were leftovers from stacks of hard currency stashed away in a private security safe.”
Instead of building new roads, the rulers have resorted into buying jets with stolen money from our treasury. As at the time of writing, 400 privately owned jets were reportedly parked at hangar of Abuja International Airport.
The death trap roads are now exclusively reserved for the poor. Meanwhile, Nigerians are dying in abnormal numbers every day on these roads.
Our local schools, colleges, and universities are but wastelands of academic refuse. The institutions have been abandoned long ago by the children of legislators and other robber barons.  Our hospitals have become death houses for the poor – the only patients that still patronize such institutions.
As humiliated and downtrodden people, Nigerians endure the worst abuses without complaint. One would have expected Nigerians to develop a strong hatred and dislike of the obviously rich- the thieves, crooks, scammers, embezzlers, looters, and leeches - of the economy, not because they could afford to buy things at any price, but because they were able to do so without a guilty conscience.
Few among the suffering Nigerians deny their anger even as they show it. A large number has been beaten into almost numb submission into accepting poverty as an act of God and that they’ll never reach the goals they once thought possible.
But the few, very few, refused to accept being treated as lesser human beings and they respond to the insult with furious indignation by brief sporadic, uncoordinated, protests and resistance.
For a moment or so, the cultural atmosphere would be saturated with experimental resistance, protests, and movements. With the exception of one cleric who always pitches his tent with the poor masses, the rest of legion of jet pastors would admonish the poor to embark on marathon night vigils and fast for their deliverance from the oppressors.

For once – Occupy Nigeria – looked indeed as if Nigeria convulsed after the subsidy removal, underpinned by scourged inflation, depression, unemployment, and the absence of a faith to live for.
Composed mainly of handful of Nigerians, Occupy Nigeria attests to the all time truth that at all times and in all creeds only a minority has been capable of courting trouble and committing emotional hara-kiri on behalf of the proletariat.
The bedroom confidence of the protesters soon evaporates like a puddle under a scotching desert sun. The protest was high jacked by lukewarm labor leader corrupters.
The uncompromising fire of radical, and purist zealotry lit by the organizers was instantly put out by the union bosses who clung to the empty shell of greed driven by polluted civilization.
After Occupy Nigeria protest (and like many previous protests) had been effectively neutralized and vanished like a tantalizing mirage, social life went back to normal.
Nobody asked: Why can’t the oppressed prolonged and sustained the protest longer? Why can it not become a permanent basis for the reorganization of our public life?
It is not a false interpretation to conclude that the major obstacle to Nigeria’s version of Arab Spring is fear. Nigerians are cowards, spineless, and weak.
Have you ever tried to hammer a nail with your shoes? Or tighten a screw with a fingernail file? Or shield yourself from a rainstorm with just a newspaper? When do you need a hammer or screw driver or umbrella?
The ruling class has provided the ingredients necessary for their successful overthrow. So far, Nigerians are substituting lethal weapons generously supplied by their oppressors with shoes as hammers, fingernail files to tighten screws, and newspapers as umbrellas for rainstorms.
The rigor of the economic clime, the poverty colony, and the harsh living conditions should have made Nigerians one of the toughest, hardest, and enduring protesters and resisters in the world.
The cautious, calculating, submissive, nervous time-server Nigerians watched their steps, looked over their shoulders, loudly professed loyalty, and monotonously repeated the official propaganda in exchange for crumbs from the master’s table.
Everything about Nigeria is different. Everything is in the reverse. Things that worked in other countries won’t work in Nigeria. Which is why the country is not moving forward and it would take eternity for it to advance with the rest of the developed world.
Nigerians are afraid of police arrest, police clubbing, police shooting, afraid to be handcuffed afraid to endure the sun or the rain for a little longer than necessary, and afraid to confront their oppressors.
They are easily cowered and easily bought. They forget that freedom is not free. And that the only language that oppressors understand is force or fire.
A poor, powerless Black woman by the name Rosa Parks ignited the American Civil Rights movement. She risked her life when she dared the white oppressors by refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger. Men, women, and children were killed, maimed, beaten, and jailed in the fight for racial equality.
Steve Biko and other countless patriots sacrificed their lives to end Apartheid. Of course our legendary President Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for the cause of freedom.
Not long ago, a young unemployed Tunisian graduate preferred to be immolated than surrender to the oppressive Tunisian regime. His personal sacrifice gave birth to the Tunisian Revolution.
Egyptians have taken to the streets again calling for the ouster of their newly elected President Muhammed Morsi. Brazilians came out in thousands to protest against increased fare in public transportation. President Dilma Rousseff had since bowed to the people’s will.
Remember President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines whose wife owned 2,000 pair of shoes? Well, the dictator was brought to his knees by the People Power Revolution in 1986 comprised over two million Filipino civilians as well as several political, military, and including religious groups led by Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila.
Lech Walesa the unemployed Polish electrician organized the illegal 1970 strikes at Gdansk Shipyard in protest of government’s decree raising food prices. Because of his singular act of bravery, the Solidarity Trade Union grew into a 10 million-member movement. The government was forced to accede to the workers’ demands.
The list goes on and on, and on.
The world watched with disdain and mockery at the stupidity of oppressed Nigerians:
If these native oppressors are worst than colonial masters, why didn’t they rebel?
How could small band of thieves in government enslave so many people and exert complete control over the rest 99.9 per cent of the 160 million people?
How could they have successfully immobilized and sterilized so many Nigerians mentally, spiritually, and physically?
How could they have successfully perpetuated a blend of covert and overt tyranny, public policy, and secret alliances with the very oppressed?
Why didn’t the tyranny, humiliation, and primitive stagnation of life of the poor caused by these vultures in government provoke a rebellion on the part of the oppressed?

The answer to these and other nagging questions could be summed up in one sentence: 160 million dumb Nigerians!

Saharareporters.com

Democracy And Leadership In Nigeria By Salihu Moh. Lukman

In his book, The Age of Turbulence, economists and former Chairman of US Federal Reserve (1987 – 2006), Alan Greenspan asked the question, “How do we reform government and return money and power back to the American people”. This question is perhaps more valid today in Nigeria than could have been the case in the United States in 2006. Probably in response, President Obama while visiting South Africa remarked that “terrorism is more likely to succeed in countries that are not delivering for their people and where there are areas of conflict and underlying frustrations that have not been adequately dealt with”.

The question of delivery is certainly about the existence of opportunities, how citizens are able to access them and convert into income or welfare benefits. Unfortunately, in our case, there has been systematic contraction of available opportunities, access has been privatised and virtually restricted to functionaries of government and therefore capacity to earn income or enjoy any form of welfare benefit is correlated with access to government.

This has consistently been the situation perhaps since the days of military rule, from the mid-1980s. The coming of democracy in 1999 could have altered this but sadly has been very slow if not strongly enforcing situations of denial for most citizens. It could be argued that this is very subjective. With prohibitive levels of poverty, which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) estimate at an average of 69% and unemployment of about 24%, the question will be what is being done to ameliorate the situation.

It could be justified that it should not be the sole responsibility of government to ameliorate this unfavourably bad situation. However, to the extent that government responsibilities include public services and guaranteeing economic stability, government’s capacity to come with initiatives that create opportunities and widen access for citizens become important.

Two fundamental preconditions for this to successfully take place are leadership astuteness on the one hand and right sets of actions or programmes, on the other. In summary the competence of our leaders to be able to drive governance process to produce desired results – improved welfare and higher living conditions for citizens. Issues of knowledge and experience supposedly play central roles and in a democracy whereby citizens elect their leaders, these should have been the guide.

With largely money and other sentiments, cheaply ethnicity and religion, becoming primary, the possibility of leaders emerging without any understanding of the problems facing society and therefore incapable of initiating any action or programme is very common. In fact, the dominant perception among contemporary Nigerian leaders is that the country is endowed with all the needed resources. The major problem therefore is the share of it that gets to them, whether at the federal, state, local government or even nongovernmental organisations. This then means that preoccupation of government excludes issues of wealth creation.

On account of this, citizens are regarded as liabilities and parasites and exclusive in discussing resources of the country. This is informed by an ideological mindset that is revisionist and departs from the classical economic dictum that identified land, labour, capital and entrepreneurs as the four factors of production. In the Nigerian case, the only factor of production is land largely limited to the oil producing communities which is the one that generate virtually all the resources of government.

With the high foreign content of the oil sector, capital and entrepreneur are hardly Nigerian. This reduced Nigerian citizens and nearly all other parts outside oil producing areas as imaginary in the psyche of our leaders. To realise the much talked about government revenue, our leaders really don’t need much in Nigeria beyond the oil producing land.

In the circumstance, all the priorities of our leaders are reduced to simplified projects that hardly go beyond buildings and physical installations without necessarily paying attention to issues of human development focusing on education and healthcare services. Classrooms and schools get constructed that way without worrying about or recruiting teachers that can use the classrooms and schools to teach pupils and students. Hospitals, clinics and primary healthcare centres are built without concern for doctors, nurses and other medical staff to use the structures to attend to patients.

With this strongly perverted capitalist ideological bent influenced by wrong application of IMF/World Bank prescriptions, which emphasises deregulation of public services and increased role of private sector, the dominant approach is to surrender key functions of government to private operators. Through that, public resources get diverted to so-called private operators with zero value input. In terms of qualification, the most important factor is relationship with functionaries of government. Knowledge is immaterial. Thus, the resort to coercion is easy and almost given. Citizens’ willingness to respect the conduct of these so-called private operators is not stimulated by the services they provide but out of compulsion.

Yet, as citizens, we continue to hear statements about dividend of democracy and performance of governments. How can anyone be talking about dividend of democracy or performance when poverty has increased from an average of 54% in 1999 to 69% today? Where is the dividend or performance when the reward to citizens for living in a country that its government recorded increased revenue from N8 trn between 2002 and 2006 to N8 trn annually today is increased poverty and unemployment?

However considered the situation simply alienates citizens and translate to outright denial. Almost all the resources of society become controlled by the few functionaries of government and their hangers on. Citizens have very little influence, if any at all. It has been our national reality since the period of military rule and our democracy is yet to produce any alternative.

The hope of many Nigerians is that the birth of APC should translate into an alternative – the emergence of competent leaders with clear knowledge and good initiative. Should APC reduce the challenge of leadership to simple issues of ethno-religious factors, its capacity to respond effectively to the task of returning money (resources) and power to Nigerian people would have been weakened. The reality is that once ethno-religious factors are the most important qualifications, the loudest of those demanding for leadership will be empty and all they will be aspiring for is simply access these resources that are in the custody of government and covert them to privatised use.

Nigerians are hungry for knowledgeable leaders coming with good initiatives to produce a new beginning for the country. A new beginning that translates into government at all levels emerging as strong facilitators for economic activities with democratised access to opportunities for all citizens irrespective of religion, ethnicity or any other form of differences. The primacy of knowledge and experience should therefore replace ethno-religious consideration.

Our democracy should begin to produce a shift in the way leaders emerge in Nigeria from cheap ethno-religious to the primacy of knowledge.

Saharareporters.com

The Country of Laughter and Forgetting By Okey Ndibe

Okey Ndibe

Many lovers of contemporary fiction would quickly recognize that my title is a nod to Milan Kundera’s intriguing novel, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. In Kundera’s title I have found something of a perfect handle for what I suggest is a particular Nigerian fact: the tendency to laugh harder as life proves direr, and the haste to forget what most deserves to be remembered. We laugh so easily – and so spiritedly – because we have found the strange magic of forgetting how twisted out of shape our country is. For Nigerians, amnesia (or even willed forgetfulness) is a hope, a shield, a panacea and a disease all rolled into one.
Some years ago, Abdulkareem Adisa, a retired Nigerian general, provided an anecdote that was as fitting an illustration of the matter as any. By way of background: in the days of the Ibrahim Babangida dictatorship, Mr. Adisa presided as a military governor of Oyo State. Then, under the regime of the bespectacled General Sani Abacha, Mr. Adisa’s profile rose, not so much in affect as in notoriety. He became Nigeria’s Minister of Works and a self-aggrandizing member of the powerful inner circle of the Abacha despotism. His ministerial tenure was marked by what some critics regarded as an era of inflated contracts, mediocre work, and abandoned projects. Nobody could fairly accuse him, for example, of rising to the challenge of maintaining the country’s highways much less overseeing the building of new, durable ones.
If Mr. Adisa exhibited mastery in any sector at all, it was in the sheer accumulation of wealth. By the time he left office, swept away by the gale of a disesteeming melodrama, he’d become a preening, self-satisfied man of means. Yet, all that wealth did not spare him the humiliation of a ridiculous fall from grace, if men like him could ever be said to be possessed of grace. He was named in an apparently phantom plot to overthrow Mr. Abacha, his erstwhile pal and benefactor. The regime, which seemingly orchestrated the plot in order to test the loyalty of some insiders, let it be known that Mr. Adisa – once summoned by Mr. Abacha and confronted with evidence of his disloyalty – had buckled, hastened to his knees, and let out a torrent of tears and wails in a ludicrous gesture of contrition.
Had Mr. Abacha not died quite suddenly, as the absurd drama of the so-called coup had yet to reach its finale, many believed that Mr. Adisa and his cast of “disloyal” cohorts, would have been killed. Thanks to the dictator’s death, Mr. Adisa emerged from detention and soon after slipped into the role of kingmaker. In the prelude to the 2003 presidential election, he became one of the most visible ex-generals and government functionaries championing Mr. Babangida’s presidential ambitions. Parlaying his financial fortune into political “muscle,” he was not shy to let it be known that he was a veritable, Nigerian-made stakeholder. He was cross with reporters and Nigerians who brought up the questions of Mr. Babangida’s overwhelming unpopularity. At every turn, he underscored that it was the place of his ilk – and not really up to voters – to decide who was to rule us. In the rare moments when he remembered that there were millions of other Nigerians, it was to remind us that these millions were his – and other stakeholders’ – “people.”
Then, in an interview he gave to a Nigerian publication, Mr. Adisa offered a telling anecdote. Asked if it was true that he, a general, had reduced himself to tears before Mr. Abacha, Mr. Adisa offered no apologies. Who would feed and take care of “my people,” he asked the reporter, if he had allowed himself to get executed. When the interviewer stated that posterity would record that he became a wheedling, spineless caricature at a critical moment, Mr. Adisa reached for an easily translatable metaphor. He reminded the interview that the oyibo – white people – invented both the pencil and the eraser. The implication was clear: that the inscriptions of history were easily erasable.
Mr. Adisa was in an automobile accident in 2005, on a stretch of road he might have maintained in his ministerial days. Gravely injured, he was flown to the UK, one of the locations where Nigerian “stakeholders” go for medical care. His eraser was unable to hold off death.
In the particular context of Nigeria, that Adisaian argument about the eraser often appears irrefutable. It often seems that memory – an abiding awareness of events and experiences – is untenable in Nigeria. A friend of mine even once suggested that Nigerians are, on the whole, allergic to memory, hostile to the human enterprise of remembering. The price of this allergy is, of course, that (Chinua Achebe memorably reminded us), we no longer know when the rain began to beat us. That gap, I suggest, accounts for a great deal of national inertia, our incapacity to do anything to shield ourselves from the buffeting storms.
Still, I have the sneaking feeling that Nigerians are not altogether as bereft of memory as it is fashionable to suggest. Instead, it is more the case that our lives have become such a relentless cascade of absurd events that the psyche would simply come apart if it did not find a mechanism for deflecting the incessant, stormy shock. Think about the parade of horrors that’s become part and parcel of Nigerians’ everyday experience: gruesome road accidents; police shootings of innocent people, sometimes on account of disputes over N20 bribes; death by Boko Haram explosives; lecturers who demand sex or cash in exchange for good grades; students who offer sex or cash in lieu of hard work; civil servants who pocket billions in public funds entrusted in their care; National Assembly members who won’t give a straight answer about their entitlements (for the reason that these payments are both excessive and bear no relationship to output); local government officials, governors and the president who stow away hundreds of millions each month in “security votes” – and then pocket huge contract sums as well; highways daubed with a thin film of tar and declared “constructed”; neighborhoods swallowed by flood water; civil servants and private sector employees who go for months without pay; civil servants and private sector employers who go for months without putting in a decent day’s job; daily traffic jams that seem choreographed from hell; hospitals stripped of equipment; hospitals where high bills and death are the only guarantees; school buildings in such dismal shape that class conscious rodents abandon them for classless cockroaches; urban shanties surrounded by clogged, brackish gutters; visitations by armed robbers and kidnappers – and so on.
The mind is capacious, sure. Yet, the sheer challenge of processing and holding in the traumas of daily life in Nigeria is a recipe for disaster. It may well be the case, then, that Nigerians remember and remember sharply those who misshape their lives. Even so, they must feign forgetfulness and laughter in order to go from one day to the next. The question that should trouble the Adisas of Nigeria – with their pencil and eraser metaphor – is this: what happens when the people realize that laughter and (seeming) forgetting have not served them? What happens when, inevitably, there’s fire on the mountain?
Saharareporters.com

SR Speaks: Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s Economy of Lies

Federal minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

By SaharaReporters, New York

SaharaReporters received a statement signed by Paul C. Nwabuikwu, a senior aide to Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in response to our recent report on the dire financial crisis in Nigeria.

Instead of addressing our factual reporting of the declining fortune of the Nigerian economy, the minister resorted to her accustomed pettiness and name-calling.
She recently exhibited the same trait when she got Yushau Shuiab, a spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), fired from his job after he wrote an article questioning her lopsided appointments and accusing her of abuse of office.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala comes across as intolerant of facts, blinded by an ambition to be hailed in foreign circles as the answer to Nigeria’s economic woes, and driven by an excessive opportunism that disdains stark reality. 

We affirm that our recent report, like others in the past focusing on the Nigerian economy, was the product of painstaking investigation, undertaken to expose corruption, lies and deceit perpetrated by Nigerian officials to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians that a transformation was taking place in their lives. This website speaks to numerous knowledgeable and reliable sources, in government and out, within Nigeria and abroad.
Their conclusion is that the so-called transformation trumpeted by Ms. Okonjo-Iweala and other functionaries of the Goodluck Jonathan administration is phony. Using their insight into the policies and actions of the government, they insist that Nigerians are materially worse off today than at any time in the recent past as a result of economic mismanagement and large scale graft, the hallmarks of the Jonathan regime.

During Ms. Okonjo-Iweala first tour of duty as finance minister under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, she pursued an aggressive debt repayment agenda, handing over more than $12 billion of Nigeria’s scarce funds to repay debts of doubtful origin. To justify that scam against the Nigerian people, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala boasted that, with the debt payment accomplished, Nigeria was in a position to save $1 billion per year, pledging that the monies would be invested in developing infrastructure.
Nigerians now wonder: Where are the $1 billion annual savings Ms. Okonjo-Iweala promised Nigerians in 2006? Where are the roads? Where are the new hospitals? Where are the significant improvements in the state of maternity care she promised Nigerians in 2006?
In 2007, when Ms. Okonjo-Iweala was giving esoteric speeches about the economic magic she and her colleagues were achieving for Nigerians, the exchange rate of the naira to the US dollar was 120 to one; today it is 160 naira to a dollar.
At a 2007 TED conference, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that Nigeria had 40 billion in foreign reserves. Today, with rising oil prices in the international market, she admits that Nigeria only has $48 billion in the reserve.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala has stepped into the role of chief obfuscator on the economy, encouraged no doubt by her ability to get away for so long with deception on and misrepresentation of the true condition of the Nigerian economy. We, however, refuse to be impressed by her steady string of fictional claims about a supposedly vibrant Nigerian economy.

It ought to be recorded that Ms. Okonjo-Iweala oversaw an era of some of the most reckless acts of corruption and heists of the Nigerian commonwealth in her first four years as finance minister under Mr. Obasanjo’s hypocritical administration. Under her watch, Nigeria attained bogus economic progress where numbers, charts and fake stats were frequently displayed and deployed to fool the unwary and the gullible. 
 
Meanwhile, under Mr. Obasanjo’s and her noses, billions of dollars of public funds were stolen in the name of “investments” to upgrade Nigeria’s electric grid. She helped to dispense import waivers to dubious businessmen and churches, an exercise that cost Nigeria a fortune.
 
Since Ms. Okonjo-Iweala’s second coming as minister, complete with the bizarre title of “coordinating” minister she crafted for herself, Nigeria’s economic condition has worsened.

Tell, where is the evidence of economic growth and buoyancy when almost six states of the Nigerian federation have been paralyzed by Islamist insurgency? Where is the sign of economic vitality when half of Nigeria’s oil production is stolen by crude robbers, most of them elements close to President Jonathan? Which foreign investors are pouring money into a country where the electrical grid has  nearly collapsed and at a time when the few local industries are moving to countries like Ghana and Benin?

Does Ms. Okonjo-Iweala calculate that most of the “vulture capital” operations run by some of her former colleagues that are selling bonds to Nigeria at cut throat prices can be considered investors even when they are already pulling out their funds and ripping Nigeria apart?

Where else in the world would an economy grow at 6.5% and yet fail to provide jobs for more than half of its youths? How is the economy working when Nigerian soldiers participating in peacekeeping operations in neighboring countries have to beg locals for food? If the Nigerian economy is “sound,” how come workers are being owed salaries? Why have many pensioners not been paid their entitlements after retirement? What explains the fact that ministries and parastatals have lately not received their allocations? 

If the economy is sparkling, why are Nigerian roads so bad? Why were they not fixed in the years Ms. Okonjo-Iweala has been practicing her economic wizardry? Which economy can survive the greed of a President Jonathan and his inner circle?
Today, Mr. Jonathan has pardoned corrupt former governors and other officials that Ms. Okonjo-Iweala condemned in 2007; the pardoned men now sit across the table from the president and his cabinet to further destroy Nigeria.

Which economy can survive such full-throttle promotion of corruption?

The questions for Ms. Okonjo-Iweala are many, but we are content to ask her to provide to the public a profile of the last four years of Nigeria’s so-called foreign reserves? If Nigeria has $48 billion in such reserves and it is a sign that our economy is buoyant, why does Nigeria have to borrow, even if interest-free loans?

Why does the minister designate the foreign reserve in US dollars but the so-called “Excess Crude” account in naira? And if the excess crude account was N5 billion, what was it when Ms. Okonjo-Iweala became finance minister?
 
We are surprised that it took Ms. Okonjo-Iweala several years to understand that Saharareporters is “activist media,” a tag we wear as a badge of honor.
Our mode of reporting scrutinizes official versions of events; we question the actions and policies of government officials; we have developed an ever-growing network of sources who avail us of the innermost secrets and deals of those in power because they trust us to report fearlessly and to protect their identity; we believe in speaking truth to power; and we always crosscheck statements made by sources before publishing accounts. We continue to demand openness and transparency in the conduct of governmental affairs; and we demand that Nigerians be allowed to feel the impact of any so-called economic growth, not in carefully manipulated press statements, bar charts and economic ratings and projections, but in the manner it impacts positively on their daily lives.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala may lash out all she wants and choose to operate as an economic hit-woman, but we are not fazed. We will continue to beam a searchlight on her handling of the economy, including calling attention to her hypocritical role in empowering a cartel in the fuel import business, a cartel whose depredations she criticizes in the media when it suits her agenda.


Full Text Of Mrs. Okonjo Iweala's Response to SaharaReporters Report on the Nigerian economy: ECONOMY: THE LIES OF SAHARAREPORTERS


We have received several enquiries about a story titled “Nigerian Government broke; targets pension savings” posted on the website of Saharareporters.

The story, like many other recent articles by Saharareporters purporting to be exclusive stories on various aspects of the Nigerian economy, is a complete fabrication.


As Nigerians know, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan recently presented its mid-term report which is a forthright account of the achievements as well as challenges facing the economy.

The country has $48 billion in reserves, including N5 billion in the Excess Crude Account to help shore up the economy. So the idea that the country is broke is alarmist.

It is true that the country is experiencing some revenue shortfalls that everyone knows about due to oil theft for which the President is taking some serious measures.


Also, contrary to the claim in the story that the country has borrowed from local and international banks to finance recurrent spending, the Jonathan administration has in fact reversed the tendency of borrowing to finance recurrent as was the practice in the past.

Also untrue is the claim that the country has been downgraded by international ratings agencies. In fact the truth is the exact opposite; ratings agencies and international investors have consistently stated, through various platforms, that the Nigerian economy is a well-managed one with good prospects in the medium and long term.


Regarding the country’s debt situation, the overall picture is positive as the Coordinating Minister showed clearly in her recent well publicized statement. The multi-dimensional strategy adopted by the Jonathan administration is leading to positive outcomes.

The level of borrowing has been brought down, bonds are being paid off through a sinking fund and the country is not taking the kind of high interest loans that led to the debt burden which existed before the historic Paris Club debt deal. The Borrowing Plan which was approved by State Governors and the National Assembly is focused on financing power transmission projects, inter and intra city rail projects, dams and other key infrastructure.


The notion that the Jonathan government is “eyeing” the N3.4 trillion pension funds to finance deficits underscores the desperation of this “activist” medium and its sponsors. It is a total invention. In fact, the government is currently engaged in strengthening institutions and critical processes in the sector to enhance security and stability of the funds.


With this latest outing, Saharareporters has reinforced its well-earned reputation as a discredited purveyor of falsehood.


Paul C. Nwabuikwu
Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister

Prophets and Men of God

By Okey Ikechukwu, Email: okey.ikechukwu@thisdaylive.com

Several reactions have trailed the article “The Catholic I Was”, which appeared in this column last week. There was also a strong online debate on the matter, an aspect of which needs to be clarified here. Because one of the chief protagonists in the online debate has the same first name, ‘Okey,’ as the author, some of the commentators assumed that they were still having the exchanges with the author of the article. This is incorrect. Besides the published article, which conveys my personal views about the issues under reference, I have not made any other contribution on the matter. It is in the public domain and we are all at liberty to take various positions on it.

But the circumstance made me feel the need to share the following thoughts, given that the issues in contention in the aforementioned article are largely of a spiritual nature; with snatches of non-spiritual considerations filtering in here and there. Today’s further discussion has nothing whatsoever to do with the Ahiara matter, but takes up the more serious question of how teeming humanity must begin to itself think in earnest about the growing epidemic of “Men of God”. In the following dialogue, a perplexed young man, John, takes up issues with his uncle on the role of prophets and their purpose in the life of man.
John: From what you said during our last discussion, I want to know what makes a prophet different from other human beings. Is it education, or what?

Uncle: No one becomes a prophet simply because of learning, or any honours conferred by men. All true prophets are messengers of the Almighty and they come to this earth as teachers, moderators of values and agents of spiritual enlightenment.
John: Does it then mean that everyone with any type of spiritual insight is thereby a prophet?
Uncle: Of course not! No one can become a prophet simply by calling himself one.
John: But someone can become a prophet by attending a school of theology, for instance, or by undergoing religious and priesthood training.

Uncle: There is no true prophet anywhere in the world who became a prophet simply because he was trained by men. There is always something extra. Even where a prophet is known to have passed through some of the teachings of his society before awakening to his calling, this is only in order for him to know the limit of their knowledge and their way of life; so that he can give them comprehensive spiritual help, for a new level of consciousness.
John: If a prophet does not get his knowledge from the schools and people of his time, can we then say that he is the source of that knowledge himself?

Uncle: No, he is only a messenger and not necessarily the source of the knowledge he brings. He merely serves as a transmitter of what sometimes lies far above him. But because he has the calling and blessing of the Lord, he can teach and reveal much to his people. Meanwhile, what he is revealing is new knowledge mediated to him to transmit for their benefit. It has to be first mediated to him, before he can pass it on; unless he is a false prophet.

John: So a prophet is only a transmitter and not an originator, so to say?
Uncle: As it concerns what is mediated to mankind, yes. A prophet’s ‘knowledge’ and wisdom do not come from learning, or research. But they still come from a Source other than the prophet himself. It is given to him; and sometimes after supplication.
John: I see. Can you now explain in some detail why we need prophets on earth?
Uncle: Since prophets are teachers of new spiritual knowledge, it follows that the reason we need them is for us to be on the right path spiritually.

John: So what does that add to our life on earth?
Uncle: The answer must be linked with why we are here on earth in the first place.

John: Yes, why are we in this world?
Uncle: Let us first say that we are more than flesh and blood. . .

John: But what have prophets got to do with it all?
Uncle: As messengers of the Creator, prophets are sent from time to time to teach and guide the different races and human societies, depending on their level of development at the particular time. It is the spirit inside the physical body, and which lives after physical death, that is the target of spiritual enlightenment.

John: So the body is like a garment the soul wears when it is here in the world of matter?
Uncle: Yes, and the putting aside of the body when it is old or damaged is what we call death. … Just as earthly food and drink nourish and strengthen the physical body, so does spiritual knowledge serve as food for the spirit of man.

John: You are saying that it is prophets who bring this spiritual nourishment for man?
Uncle: Yes…but not always. It may come in the form of prophets or wise leaders who incarnate to guide a group of human beings to new levels of spiritual understanding … to bridge the knowledge-gap of the people.

John: Is that why there is always some story about special wise men or women in almost all known cultures, at one time or another?
Uncle: Yes! They bring new knowledge, or rise to warn at great turning points in a people’s existence. They are not appointed, or proclaimed, by men. They also do not need anyone’s approval to be what the Lord has appointed them to be.

John: But why is it that we human beings cannot decide on our own whether someone is a prophet or not?
Uncle: Because it is not the place of kindergarten students to draw up a curriculum to assess (and approve) the credentials of their teachers! It is also not the place of a creature to be the approving authority for what comes from its Creator. The messengers and wise ones we mentioned earlier would still be what they are whether men said so or not. That is why men’s opinion and consistent rejection of true prophets over the years does not affect the status of such prophets. Their acceptance of false prophets also ends with the collapse of the false teachings.

John: But there are historical records of prophets who held earthly positions and even served as leaders of their nations!
Uncle: Yes, but their style of leadership was always different. They tried in everything to guide men onto paths that would make them live according to the laws of the Almighty, in the course of their daily lives.

John: So what is the essential difference between a real prophet and a false one?
Uncle: A prophet is a messenger of God and a false prophet is someone who says he is the Lord’s messenger when he is not. It is as simple as that! Even if all men believe such a false prophet and proclaim him from their rooftops, he is no prophet.
John: How about some of the prophets of old who deviated from their task and were condemned for it? We can infer from this that a genuine prophet can become a false one over time.

Uncle: Yes, that can happen. The life of a prophet on earth is often a trying one and he may even be endowed with special grace for the purpose if his task. But he must remain spiritually alert, open to guidance and unconditionally loyal to the Divine Will if he is to remain on course. Once he fails in these regards, he puts everything in jeopardy.

John: So a man who is born a prophet is actually given a special talent from birth.
Uncle: Yes or, more appropriately, he is equipped for the mission and endowed before his birth on earth. But he must fulfil the purpose of the gift, or the calling...

John: Really?
Uncle: Yes … a person endowed with grace who does not fulfil his mission ceases to get any help from the Almighty; because he has closed himself to it. With that he gets no guidance and goes about pretending to know everything by himself. He is finished.
John: Ah, that explains the cases of prophets who were even later cursed because they had forsaken their mission. But what do we make of people who call themselves prophets all over the world today? Most of them have undergone some training in the scriptures and can speak well in public. Should some kind of skill not be used by the public to determine who is a prophet?

Uncle: What proof did John the Baptist give to those who did not believe him? What proof did Prophet Mohammed tender to the doubters at the beginning of his mission? The Lord has no earthly schools created to award prophetic certification, or degrees, to His messengers. They come prepared! The ability to speak well in public, or to quote the scriptures, does not make anyone a prophet, because we are told that even the devil can quote scripture.

John: How about the ability to perform miracles?
Uncle: That is no evidence that the people who perform such miracles are servants of the Almighty. They may not even believe in God. Should we call every magician a prophet simply because he can manipulate certain laws of nature in a way most people do not know? Did Simon the magician not perform almost the same miracles as the Disciples of Christ, before he was cursed, in the Bible?

John: So where does a prophetic call come from?
Uncle: It comes from the Almighty. Whoever is not sent by Him, but who nevertheless calls himself a prophet, takes the Lord’s name in vain. He will mislead the people, just like those who preach whatever they like, and call themselves ‘free thinkers’.

The foregoing are excerpts from the book “Come Let Us Reason Together”, which just came out of the press. It is the first in an on-going series known as THE DIALOGUES series. Like Dialogue series 1, from which this excerpt was taken, each edition of THE DIALOGUES consists of several chapters and each chapter, or stanza deals with some peculiar question of life. The book is out and will be available in bookshops all over the country by Tuesday next week.

 ThisDay

Why Obasanjo is Unhappy with Jonathan

By Olawale Olaleye

More facts have emerged on why former President Olusegun Obasanjo may
have assumed an anti-President Goodluck Jonathan stance, even as the
2015 intrigues continue to gather steam.

A source privy to a recent meeting where Obasanjo had expressed his
displeasure to some close allies on how President Jonathan has been
relating with him, said it all started when Obasanjo indicated his
intention to resign as the chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in April last year, a situation
President Jonathan  allegedly handled poorly.

According to the source, the former president had expected the
president to engage him in order to seek clarification on why he was
leaving the office beyond the excuses he had advanced.

Commenting on the Obasanjo/Jonathan grudge, the source said the former
president was shocked when about a week after serving the notice of
his intention to resign, he received a letter from Jonathan, accepting
his resignation without either an attempt to persuade him against it
or give personal attention to the plan. Obasanjo was said to have
described President Jonathan's action as both insensitive and a
display of poor understanding of the nuances of power.

"Baba had expected that given his place in the party and especially
the role he played in his emergence, the President would have
prevailed on him not to go but stay back and help moderate things at
the highest level in the party," the source said.

Another source, however, said such a stance by Jonathan should not
have been taken seriously because he probably didn't understand that
an Obasanjo quitting as BoT chair would come with any implication and
so, "he just acted naively."

But the THISDAY source, who gave a rundown of Jonathan's alleged many
infractions against Obasanjo confirmed that a presidential emissary
had been constantly dispatched to him (Jonathan) and added that the
former president was also not happy with the way the Jonathan groups
were going about his re-election bid.

According to him, he (Obasanjo) had put a lot at stake by brokering a
one-term deal that is now being vehemently denied, adding that even if
there was plan to seek re-election, the brazen approach is certainly
counter-productive in the light of the prevailing political
developments in the country.

Obasanjo was also said to have frowned at the electioneering deal
Jonathan allegedly struck  with the opposition party in the 2011
election in the South-west,  a move he believes  could undermine the
chances of the remaining PDP governors in the South-west states.

Also, by moving against him at the party level, both at the state and
national levels, was considered a clear move by President Jonathan to
tell Obasanjo that he was no longer needed at whatever capacity,
either in the government or party.

The source recalled that apart from easing out former governor
Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State as national secretary, Bode
Mustapha, as auditor-general and former Ekiti State governor, Segun
Oni, as vice-chairman of the party in the South-west zone, the PDP in
his Ogun State had also been taken away from him and handed over to
someone regarded as "unrepentantly anti-Obasanjo", Mr. Buruji Kashamu.

Worthy of note, the source mentioned, was that Obasanjo didn't take
kindly, the way Jonathan took his position on the issue of insecurity,
especially when the President was reported as saying he would not
handle the issue of terrorism the military way, alluding to Obasanjo's
invasion of Odi and Zaki Biam.

Another instance deemed condescending, according to the source, was
that Obasanjo sometime ago visited one of his farms in Cross River
State and observed that the road to the farm was in deplorable state
and immediately moved to address it.

"So, Baba expressed his disappointment to the Cross River State
governor on the state of the road but the man replied and said it was
the President that had not approved of it being a federal road.

"Right there, Baba called the president and narrated his encounter
with the governor and told the president that he had appealed to the
governor to go ahead with the road and that he'll be reimbursed by the
president, to which Jonathan was said to have replied in the
affirmative.

"But Baba was later shocked to hear that the president had sent for
the governor and dressed him down for what he considered 'reporting
him to Baba'. So, these are some of the things that people do not know
that are annoying Baba.

"It is important to note that Baba had thought that as a former
president, he would have been given the honour of nominating a
successor as BoT chairman even if he was not going to reverse his
position. But he was technically edged out.  But for  these
infractions, the source said, “Baba was not and never would have been
against the president because of the role he played in his emergence.

"It is therefore depressing for Baba that those who opposed his choice
as vice-president to the late President Yar'Adua but craved for Dr.
Peter Odili and even frustrated his coming onboard as acting president
are now the ones he relies on.

“At what point can you say Baba has gone wrong?",  he asked, adding:
"The degree of Baba's bitterness is so high now and he has decided to
keep quiet and watch."
ThisDay