How Nigeria can win anti-corruption war –Aifuwa

 

Right now, the nation is getting soaked, especially the government, in the steps towards the centenary celebration. Most of the things they do either get coloured in centenary or take directly from the plans of how best they intend to hold the anniversary.
Apart from the plans of the government, some informed private citizens have also started making inputs into how best to make the event to come most fruitful and memorable.
One of such personalities and experts is Dr. Paul Amen-Aifuwa, President of Time Communications Limited, who has proffered solutions to the problems of the nation towards the 100-year celebration.
In a memo he wrote as part of his contribution, he lamented that the nation had tottered on the path of retrogression and should get its acts right and find ways of making amends from now.
He is sure that everything today branded as corruption in the management of the nation and major threat to her existence, is the cumulative effect of what earlier manifested in the civil war and various odd military interventions. He describes corruption as the “social baggage whose contraband contents are ethnic differences, disunity, nepotism and parochial flirtations.”
Amen-Aifuwa itemised the crises Nigeria had been through from the struggles against colonialism to the civil war and military incursions that interrupted the political development.
Deriving from his insight, there are about five flanks through which the nation should fight its present problems and get it right to grow as it is supposed to.
The five major areas the government should channel its efforts to win the battle and find a new and refreshing bearing for the nation beyond the celebrations it plans,    according to him, include moral re-invention, decisive war against insecurity, insurgency and other divisive trends that threaten the nation.
On the security threats he aptly titled it “exorcising the insurgency and insecurity challenging our nationhood and unity.”
Notwithstanding the many problems the nation faces and has faced in the past 99 years, he is still hopeful that if the leadership of the nation would make deliberate effort towards a turn around, it is still very early and timely to set the nation on the track of better evolvement and greatness.
In the 39-page document titled Nigeria Leadership Can Make it, he advised the leadership of the nation tenaciously tackle the task of ‘exorcising insurgency from the land; develop a national welfare plan to give the poorer citizens a better sense of belonging; strengthen legislation, the legislature and other ailing organs and institutions of democracy and decide to deliberately change the course of leadership.’
He noted that where Nigeria missed it is at the level of allowing violence against each other to take root as a way of life. “The deplorable scenario is one that violence jolted the policy unabated with dire threats to life expectancy which is now at its lowest ebb.”
It is his argument that since the nation has spent about 99 years not finding its bearing to a better society, there should be proper re-think on how best its future should be managed away from the format that encourages and breeds corruption, divisions, disunity and general insecurity.
Amen-Aifuwa in addressing the security insurgency in the north faulted attacks on the federal government and President Goodluck Jonathan and said such is in bad taste. He said: “Stakeholders aggression against the president on the measure adopted to tackle Boko Haram is misplaced. They are as unfortunate as they are ironically uncalled for. There is no more to it than meets the eye, and if political differences must be sunk in the face of the looming offensive, it must be found in the realm of more result oriented and tactfully logical attention.”
He challenged even political opponents of the government to overlook their differences and stand on the platform of recreating and retrieving Nigeria from her enemies for the benefit of all.
He described the outbreak of “insurgence as an abomination to our founding fathers. All we need for the nation is the exercise of redeeming her from insurgents and it must be firm and fair, that would include using force where necessary and to temper such move with robust reconciliation and rapport with the sect members.”
He also called for an “armament against human ethical violation that has led to so many problems in the society by deliberately making laws targeted at the celebration that would have national and global appeal as a means of reviving our ethics.”
Further in his espousal, he said “the seeming combative engagements of the pro-northern personalities against the Herculean efforts of the federal government in the face of the insurgents aggression against their own fatherland are as unfortunate as they are uncalled for.” He rather advocates a bias for the nation’s unity by all stakeholders instead of ethnic and regional inclinations that threaten the continued existence of the state.
Aifuwa challenged the nation to find means of creating platforms that would make the centenary not just a momentary celebration but one that would leave powerful marks on the psyche of the people to engender lasting revival of ethics and values that would lead to greater growth and stabilize the security system and foster national unity and identity. He said this would be given a sound bite if there would be legislation against wrong values that are not in tandem with the nature of the nation and Africa. He called it moral legislation against wrong values. But notwithstanding the daring threats, he is certain the leadership of the nation can make it and steer the nation out of chaos and unto the track of growth, unity and peace.

TheSun

Waiting For Tambuwal's Revolution

 

caption: Chido Onumah

Columnist: 

Chido Onumah

This piece has nothing to do with what is happening in Egypt. Ultimately, Nigerians, based on their experience and the existing reality, will determine the trajectory of the current impasse. It was spurred by the recent call for revolution by Aminu Tambuwal, a 2015 presidential wannabe.
Last week, the speaker of the House of Representatives joined the growing list of public officials calling for revolution in Nigeria, a call that is not only cynical but downright hypocritical.
Tambuwal was guest speaker at the 2013 Distinguished Management Lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) and he spoke on the theme, ‘The role of the legislature on the economic, infrastructural and ethical revolution in Nigeria”. “Nigeria is due for revolution – Tambuwal”, was how the Punch headlined its report of the speech.
According to Tambuwal, “The most compelling reasons for revolution throughout the ages were injustice, crushing poverty, marginalisation, rampant corruption, lawlessness, joblessness, and general disaffection with the ruling elite. You will agree with me that these describe conditions in our nation now, to a very large degree”.
It was the same chorus that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, sang last November in a speech at a West African regional conference on youth employment in Senegal. “Unless the government of Nigeria takes urgent steps to arrest the menace of youth unemployment and poverty, it is a certainty that Nigeria will see a revolution soon”, Obasanjo said. For a man who had eleven years – three years (1976-79) as a military dictator and eight years (1999-07) as an “elected” president – to change the fortune of Nigeria but wasted it, it is understandable that Obasanjo is seeking to make restitution and redeem himself.
For Tambuwal who was represented by the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budget and Research, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, “That these conditions exist is well known to all persons in authority but the results of these successive efforts have failed to yield the desired results. This therefore is the justification for the radical change from the present approach to a revolutionary one”.
We can see a common thread that is worrying in the extreme in this cacophony of revolutionary battle cry. These voices belong to those who have brought us to this sad end. Both Tambuwal and Obasanjo, examples of the opportunistic and vain-glorious elite that has held this country hostage since independence, are leading figures in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP-led national government has in the last 14 years either created or exacerbated “injustice, crushing poverty, marginalisation, rampant corruption, lawlessness, joblessness, and general disaffection with the ruling elite”.
Considering Tambuwal’s pedigree, it is unlikely that he authored or had any input in drafting that speech that was clearly a publicity stunt. I am inclined to believe that Mr. Bamidele, former radical student activist and ex-president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) who represented the speaker was merely expressing himself while invoking the name of the speaker.
Of course, Nigeria is due for revolution. Nobody who has witnessed the way the country has been run, particularly in the last 14 years will deny that revolution is imminent. A country where the ruling class connives with multinationals to dupe citizens in every sector deserves nothing but a revolution. A country where homelessness is the rule rather than the exception; a country where poverty, unemployment and hopelessness persist in the midst of abundance, is ripe for a revolution. Not just any revolution, but one that will usher a new era of wealth redistribution and reward for genuine hard work as opposed to rewarding the indolence of our ruling elite. 
Tambuwal and his cohorts can’t “dash” us this revolution. Tambuwal’s grandstanding should, therefore, be noted for what it is. As one commentator put it, “When the root of a problem starts recommending the solution to the problem, something is amiss”. I will give it to Tambuwal. He has become a star overnight; an adept at using politically correct lingo for whatever it is worth.
Is Tambuwal really interested in revolution, ethical or otherwise? I doubt it. In his opinion, “The most critical role that the legislature plays is through the annual appropriation bill. As representatives of the people, the legislature ensured that the more critical needs of the people got priority attention, as efforts were made to ensure equitable distribution of projects”. Which critical needs is Tambuwal talking about? The collapse of education, health and social infrastructure across the country?

Let’s even leave the issue of the scandalous salaries and allowances Tambuwal and his colleagues receive as “representatives of the people” – salaries and allowances that are the highest in the world – and focus on the “more critical needs of the people” that Tambuwal talks about so glibly.
In a country where universities have become glorified secondary schools, where workers are expected to survive on N18,000 ($110) a month; a country with one the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, where over 10 million school children are out of school, Tambuwal’s House of Representatives approved over a N1 billion ($6million) for food in 2012 for the presidency, N1.7 billion ($11.3million) for the vice president on trips and N1.3 billion ($8.6million) on office stationeries in 2012. This amount included N12 million ($80,000) on books, N45 million ($300,000) on newspapers, and N9 million ($60,000) on magazines and periodicals. A breakdown showed that the VP would spend N723 million ($4.8 million) on local travels and N951 million ($6.3 million) on his international travels. That is the kind of profligate house that Mr. Tambuwal superintends.
We have heard from those who say Nigerians are too timid to carry out a revolution. Now, it is the turn of those who want to wage the revolution on behalf of Nigerians on the pages of newspapers. Of course, if we wait for Tambuwal’s revolution, we’ll wait in vain.
When the mass of our people know that when they confront this oppressive system, they have nothing to lose but their oppression, poverty and indignity they will embark on the necessary journey of genuine revolutionary transformation of Nigeria.
An essential part of this revolution is to tinker with the structure of the country which feeds the corruption and impunity of which Tambuwal is a major beneficiary. Tambuwal, by his own words, has invited the rebellion on himself and others in his class. They should be concerned, really concerned!
Saharareporters

Yet Another Brigandage in Rivers

The Horizon By KAYODE KOMOLAFE.  Email: kayode.komolafe@thisdaylive.com.

It is exactly 10 years today that some policemen abducted Dr. Chris Ngige from the Government House in Awka, Anambra State. The policemen led by the late Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Raphael Ige, simply ignored the immunity of Ngige as the state governor to carry out this infamy. This act was, perhaps, the climax of the brigandage that reigned supreme in the state, which is home to many eminent and decent Nigerians.

On that occasion, the police was used by some actors who were close enough to Aso Rock to peddle influence and be lawless in Anambra. The activities of the brigands in Anambra put liberal democracy to a severe test in the era of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Celebrated storyteller, Chinua Achebe, spoke out loudly against this lawlessness foisted on his home state. To demonstrate his rejection of brigandage as politics, the icon categorically rejected the honour bestowed on him by the Obasanjo administration. The resonance of the protest was felt nationally. The moral weight of Achebe’s voice was widely acknowledged in the torrents of tributes paid to his memory during his funeral recently. You would ordinarily expect that the lessons of official tacit support for anarchy have been learnt from those days of infamy in Anambra.

However, there was a dramatic irony in Port Harcourt yesterday, the eve of the 10th Anniversary of the Anambra brigandage. The drama has shown that no lesson has been learnt in the politics without principle that is prevalent in this republic. Five of the 32 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly attempted to impeach the speaker, Hon. Otelemaba Amachree. In the violence that resulted from this mockery of democracy, the deputy governor, Mr. Tele Ikuru, was allegedly attacked and some members of the House and other persons were reportedly injured. A reign of confusion is being imposed on the state, which like any other state needs stability for good governance to flourish. This portends an extreme threat to peace in the state.

As it was in Anambra in 10 years ago, so it is in Rivers today. The attempt to impeach the speaker is believed to be a prelude to the moves to impeach the state governor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi. Governor Amaechi is not in the good books of Aso Rock just like Ngige fell out of favour with the powers that be in Abuja in 2003.

The politicians who are demonstrating their power and influence in Rivers State today enjoy the favour of President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan. Yet the constitution is clear on how a state governor could be removed from office. It remains to be seen how those who don’t want Amaechi anymore in the State House in Port Harcourt would achieve their aim with five members in the House of Assembly! It is all a continuation of the ridicule of the democratic process.  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the leadership of Jonathan has suspended Amaechi from the party following his election as the Chairman of the Governors Forum. Before then, the state executive council of the party was dissolved and another one constituted. The matter is still in court. Meanwhile, the President received this state executive committee of PDP the other day in Aso Rock with harsh words for Amaechi.

While anarchy was being inaugurated in the legislative chamber, the police reportedly looked the other way. The state commissioner of police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, was reported yesterday as saying that he elected to ignore the request from the House of Assembly for special “police security” because such a request was “unusual”. This same police officer has verbally attacked the governor. His hostility towards Amaechi is an open secrete. He has arrogated to himself the power to “ban public protest”, a power that he does not have constitutionally. His activities in the state are all too reminiscent of the ignoble role of the police in Anambra 10 years ago. Since the governor cannot be moved for Mbu, it would be proper in the circumstance for Inspector-General Mohammed Abubakar to transfer this commissioner of police from Rivers State to another place.

By his conduct, Mbu has certainly lost the confidence of the state government with which he is supposed to work professionally. It is unacceptable that a police officer should treat a governor the way Mbu has treated Amaechi. You don’t have to like Amaechi’s face to admit that this is absurdity in a federation. This abuse is possible because policing is on the exclusive list. By the way, one of the arguments against the creation of state police is that governors would use the force against their opponents. A counter-argument is that the federal government could also use the police against its opponents. The conduct of Mbu so far seems to have vindicated those who make this counter-argument. The other 35 state governors should also be interested in the unfolding events in Rivers State regardless to which side they belong in the politics of 2015. It is Amaechi’s lot today; it could be that of any other governor tomorrow.

Beyond this, it is important for all those who support the building of democratic institutions in Nigeria to speak out against the recklessness that is becoming normative in Rivers State. Politicians should be told to play their game according to the rules. President Jonathan should remember that peace and stability in Rivers State are in the long run more important to Nigeria than the narrow calculation of any politician.  

NGF, NBA and Impunity
Femi Falana
The National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association held its last bi-monthly meeting from July 5 to July 7, 2013 at Yenogoa, Bayelsa State. At the end of the meeting the NBA President, Mr. Okey Wali, SAN, was reported to have called for the proscription of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) in view of the controversy, which had trailed the outcome of the re-election of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as its Chairman. Mr. Wali, SAN, must have forgotten that his own election was seriously contested by his major opponent, Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN. In spite of the fact that the allegations of malpractice (including the fact that some lawyers who died several years ago voted from the grave!) were proved beyond reasonable doubt no one ever suggested that the NBA be proscribed.  However, while I reject the insinuation in certain legal circles that the call for the proscription of the NGF was influenced by the fund collected from the government to host the last NBA NEC meeting I am of the strong view that the liquidationist call should not go unchallenged.

In his characteristically forthright manner, the Edo state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, exposed the NBA leadership to ridicule when he said that: “the environment and the overall circumstance known and unknown that led the NBA president to call for the freezing of the right of Governors to associate borders on corrupt practice.” Although another governor has joined issues with Mr. Wali, SAN, I deem it pertinent to challenge his reactionary call before it is adopted by the forces of annulment in the country.

More so that the call is a sad reminder of the fate that befell some progressive professional bodies and trade unions which were either corruptly taken over or decimated by the Ibrahim Babangida junta. It would be recalled that the NBA was once a target.  Under the leadership of the late Mr. Alao Aka-Bashorun (1987-1989) the NBA was in the forefront of the struggle for the observance of the rule of law and the restoration of democratic governance in the country. The junta did not disguise its plot to hijack the leadership of the Bar at the 1992 Annual Bar Conference, which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

But some of us successfully frustrated the imposition of the official candidate as the leader of the NBA. A few months later, the Legal Practitioners  (Amendment) of 1993 was enacted and backdated to 1992. In the main, the decree sacked the National Executive Committee members of the NBA led by Chief Priscilla Kuye and replaced them with a caretaker committee headed by the late Chief FRA Williams, SAN, to manage the affairs of Nigerian lawyers. Although the decree ousted the jurisdiction of the courts and criminalised the institution of any suit which might question “anything done or purported to be done” under it I was prepared to challenge it. But the Ikeja branch of the NBA instructed me to file the suit on behalf of all its members. Of course, I did.

In the suit we challenged the legal validity of the proscription decree.  The Lagos High Court presided over by Obadina J (as he then was) granted an injunction against the caretaker committee. Dissatisfied with the injunction the defendants rushed to the Court of Appeal. Owing to the constitutional significance of the case the request of the appellants’ counsel, Chief Williams, SAN, for a special panel of five Justices of the Court of Appeal to hear the appeal was granted. However, the appeal was dismissed. In upholding our submissions their lordships unanimously declared the amendment decree illegal and struck down it down for violating the fundamental right of Nigerian lawyers to associate freely and assemble without interference. See FRA Williams & Ors V Akintunde & Ors (1995) 3 NWLR (PT 381) 101.

In the same vein, the complaint filed by Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, at the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights at Banjul, The Gambia, on the proscription was equally determined in favour of Nigerian lawyers. Thus, in Civil Liberties Organisation (in respect of the Nigerian Bar Association) v Nigeria (2000) AHRLR 186, the African Commission found that the official interference “with the free association of the Nigerian Bar Association is inconsistent with the preamble of the African Charter in conjunction with UN Basic Principles on the independence of the Judiciary and thereby constitutes a violation of article 10 of the African Charter”. Both decisions have confirmed that some Nigerian lawyers went all out to defend the autonomy of the NBA and resisted the official imposition of leaders on it, even under a fascistic military dictatorship. It is therefore ironical that the current leadership of the NBA has, for some inexplicable reasons, colluded with the forces of retrogression to constrict the democratic space in Nigeria. 

It is particularly sad to note that the NBA, which used to be the defender of the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people, has thrown up leaders who are campaigning for the proscription of friendly societies and clubs. Even if Mr. Wali does not like the NGF he is duty bound, as a lawyer, to respect the right of the members to associate without external interference.

In the light of the foregoing it is hoped that concerned lawyers will urgently adopt decisive measures to free the NBA from the grip of anti-democratic forces and reposition it to resume its traditional role of defending the rule of law and the expansion of the democratic space in the country. Otherwise the NBA will soon lose its relevance in the struggle of the Nigerian people for the transformation of the country from civil rule to democracy under the rule of law. I am, however, convinced that that will not happen as majority of lawyers do not share the perspective of bar leaders who have contempt for the democratic rights of Nigerians.
•Mr. Falana, SAN, is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board.

ThisDay

Our Leaders Have Gone Mad Again

Pendulum By Dele Momodu; dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, please allow me to quickly confess that the title of this column is not my full creation. It is only an adaptation of the original title of the extremely hilarious play, Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again, by Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi, who was famously known as Ola Rotimi. Rotimi was one of Africa’s greatest playwrights and Directors. Believed to have been born in Sapele, on April 13, 1938, to a Yoruba father, Engineer Samuel Gladstone Enitan Rotimi, and an Ijaw mother, Mrs Adolae Oruene Addo, Ola spent his early years at St. Cyprian’s School, Port Harcourt from 1945-49.

Interestingly, he would later return to Port Harcourt many years after sojourning at home and abroad to take up appointment at the University of Port Harcourt. His name came readily to mind as I sat down to put this piece together. You will soon know why. The reason must have been that the main protagonist in the eye of the storm and the middle of the Red Sea, the Governor of Rivers State, has Rotimi before his surname of Amaechi. I’m very sure the paths of Ola Rotimi and Rotimi Amaechi must have crossed at some point at the University of Port Harcourt where Professor Ola Rotimi was Head, Department of Creative Arts and Rotimi Amaechi was a student in the English Department from 1983-87. In any event, there is no way Rotimi Amaechi would not have read Ola Rotimi’s popular play, ‘Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again’.

That is not all. I believe Rotimi Amaechi would have been radicalised by the great literary works of those days. Whatever traces of radicalism I still possess today I’m sure I got from hanging around the Ori Olokun Theatre in Arubidi, Ile-Ife and the Pit Theatre of the then Institute of African Studies, University of Ife Campus, where Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi and others held sway. My theory, therefore, is that Rotimi Amaechi is not your archetypal Nigerian politician. I have made him a case study since I first met him as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly about ten years ago. If my memory serves me right, I met the great poet, Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara in his office that day.
That encounter stuck with me for a long time and my interest in Rotimi Amaechi developed from that moment. Even as Governor, Amaechi portrayed a different gait. He dressed simple and maintained a casual mien. His motorcade was always brief and brisk while he sat most times I saw him by the driver. His accessibility is also baffling to me. He replies most of his text messages and checks on his friends out of the blues. On one occasion, I sent a message about a young man who had started a mobile library project in Port Harcourt and needed support from the Ministry of Education. I was surprised when Governor Amaechi said I should invite the gentleman for lunch with us and Mrs Oby Ezekwesili who was visiting from her duty post in Washington DC. The librarian later drove out with us to a public event where the Governor sought out the Commissioner for Education and promptly handed over the project to her.

How can I forget how Governor Amaechi walked like a ghost into my London home on my 50th birthday in 2010? I was shocked to my bones because I had not told him about it. He came alone in a cab and left alone after spending several hours with my family and friends. You could not see any of the presumed airs of a Nigerian Governor around him. He repeated the same feat when he drove, almost incognito, in to the Ovation Carol and Awards ceremony at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos last December.

Please, let me give one more example of this amazing and down-to-earth politician. My great friend and brother, Babatunde Okungbowa, has been having a running battle with a chronic kidney problem for years. He’s one of Africa’s greatest music producers. OJB, as he’s fondly known by fans, had produced the monumental hit song, African Queen, by the prodigiously talented 2face Idibia. But we live on a continent, and in a country, where spectacular talent does not necessarily or adequately translate to riches. We tried within our limited resources and contacts to gather our bits and pieces together to sort out OJB’s predicament. I personally worked the phones talking to those I thought might be of help including some top politicians. The feedback from all quarters was deafening silence.

I learnt some useful lessons about our attitude to charity. The response on social media was like: “why are you guys disturbing us when one of you can simply write off the cheque?” It then occurred to me that the decline in our educational system has affected our souls almost beyond redemption. The assumption is that once you’re famous you must be stupendously wealthy without commensurate responsibilities. But eight out of ten calls I get are usually bad news requiring desperate assistance. I can imagine what ordeal the Mike Adenugas face daily. 

In all honesty, I did not reach out to Rotimi Amaechi because I felt he had more than enough problems on his plate. I also felt since OJB was not from his state there was no reason to bother the embattled Governor. But as fate would have it, some younger colleagues approached Amaechi and instantly he offered to contribute to the Save OJB campaign. There was no long story and no unnecessary protocol. To those who asked what was so special about OJB, I say confidently that he’s our icon.  And icons are treated with special care and privilege everywhere in the world. Poor Americans contributed to making Barack Obama the first Black American President. Nigeria will never move forward if we wait only for the rich class to do everything for us.

I have deliberately gone through this long preamble to establish a few facts. One, that I’m a fan of Rotimi Amaechi. The support he’s enjoying today was not by accident. He worked laboriously for it. I have been in activism since 1978 and in politics very actively since 1982. I have interacted with all shades of politicians and I’m proud to say Rotimi Amaechi is a rare breed. There is always a reason to be biased and I have more than enough for him. This does not make him a perfect human being. No nation or state is governed by Saints but good ones are run by performers. Amaechi is one.

I have been in a room where Amaechi was grilled like a Christmas turkey by very senior publishers and was very pleased with the manner he responded to all questions. Many have called him a tyrant but not all tyrants are negative. It is in the nature of traditional politicians to wait for hand-outs from public officers; money that should have been used for general development. They often get angry if a leader comes with better ideas of how to do things. Amaechi’s master-plan of building a modern state out of the present squalid one is part of his major problem.

The second point I want to make is that Amaechi has done nothing to warrant the all-out attack unleashed on him by those pretending to be working for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan. Their strategy should be clear to Mr President; they needed to paint Amaechi bad in order to gain relevance. These guys have succeeded in poisoning the mind of the President almost beyond repair. On a personal note, I would be wary of a Minister who desperately wants to be a Governor and fights the incumbent the way he does because the motive is crystal clear. Someone also needs to tell such a Minister of a Yoruba folktale that goes thus:

Once upon a time, an elephant went berserk in a particular village. The elephant caused so much havoc that the king ran away with his queens. But there was this brave hunter called Afifilaperin who came from a neighbouring village and boasted he could easily kill the elephant and the village would instantly return to normal. At the appointed time, the hunter came out just as the elephant was busy destroying everything in sight. Everyone ran helter-skelter but the hunter stood ramrod in the market place waiting anxiously for an encounter with this crazy elephant. The elephant must have sighted the lone figure and wondered who the man was who did not recognise its supremacy. The elephant approached the hunter and surprisingly the man stood calm. A few villagers peeped from wherever they were hiding. As soon as the elephant jumped to crush the hunter, the man quickly removed his cap, dodged to the side and hit the elephant with the cap. Behold, the elephant collapsed. “Impossible,” many screamed in bewilderment. But true it was.

The hunter soon climbed on the evil elephant and beckoned to the timid villagers to come closer. He was joyous in victory. The people spilled in like locusts from every direction, including the king and his family. Words travel at the speed of light. At that moment the hunter felt he was king. Some hefty men lifted him up in the sky and carried him round and round the village till it was dusk. The king even invited him to a dinner of original pounded yam and fresh bush-meat washed down with concentrated palmwine, and gave him a nice room in the palace. The excited hunter was pleased with himself. He woke up the following morning expecting to see a crowd as usual to hail him like they did last night. He couldn’t believe how desolate the village had become. When he asked around if another elephant had come out of the wilderness to destroy the village, the palace people whispered that he indeed was the elephant. The logic was if he could kill such a ferocious elephant with an ordinary cap, it won’t take him much to mangle any human. That was how Afifilaperin learnt that his day of glory was only for one day.

Seriously, there is a lot to learn from this tale. If I were President Jonathan, as I love to say, it is not too late to quell this towering inferno. I will not allow opportunists to pile up enemies on my behalf when I need all the friends I can get. The tension in Nigeria right now has reached the atrocious level of the last days of military rule in 1998 under General Sani Abacha. It has even surpassed that of the Yar’Adua cabal that some of us came out fearlessly to fight on the streets of Abuja.

What would it profit the President by destroying Amaechi on the mere rumour that he’s nursing an ambition to be Vice President to a nebulous President-in-waiting? Does the President expect to remove Amaechi with only five legislators at this time and age and hope to get a part in the back? Does he expect the Governor not to defend himself in the face of threats to even his life at this stage?  I understand that even his security has been drastically reduced in a classic display of recklessness! Is power worth all this trouble? I will repeat here that Amaechi has told everyone who cares to listen that he’s not fighting the President but that he’s ready to duel with those bandying the name of the President to cause mayhem and commit atrocities in Rivers State. The fears expressed by Professor Wole Soyinka about the personal safety of Amaechi are real. What is going on in Port Harcourt is tantamount to full-scale lunacy. Nigeria can’t afford another round of political murders like it happened during the June 12 crisis. We thought such days will never return. This was how we started our journey to perdition in the First Republic. We must also avoid the type of commotion going on in Egypt out of the stupid obduracy of some leaders.

The President has obviously missed many chances for reconciliation. He should have invited Amaechi into a room to iron out reality from neurosis. I’m sure the crisis would not have festered to the magnitude it has reached now.  My simple advice to President Jonathan is that he should stop listening to warmongers and spend more quality time with peacemakers. If he reads his Bible well, he would see how peacemakers were described as the “sons of God.” I really don’t know how to describe his new best friends. This was not the same Meek and Pious Goodluck Jonathan many Nigerians thought they knew. I beg him in the name of God to return to his old self. Even if his right eye causes him to sin, he should pluck it pronto.

Nigerians want peace and not war. They will never succumb to agents Lucifer. 

Vanguard

Kudirat Abiola’s murder: Appeal Court frees Mustapha, Shofolahan

By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE
The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal yesterday overruled the death sentence handed to Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan on January 30, 2012, by Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court in Igbosere.

According to the presiding judge, Justice Rita Pemu “the lower court stroked to secure a conviction by all means.” The appellate court therefore discharged and acquitted the duo of conspiracy and murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, 45, who was shot in Lagos on June 4, 1996.

Al-Mustapha

The three female appellate court justices that discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan are Justice Rita Pemu (presiding), Justice Amina Adamu Augie and Justice F. O. Akinbami. Justice Augie was drafted into the panel following the decision of Justice Ibrahim Saulawa who disqualified himself from hearing the appeal.
Al-Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and Shofolahan, a former Personal Assistant to late Kudirat, were both convicted by the lower court for the conspiracy and murder preferred against them by Lagos State.
The duo separately filed their appeals 24-hours after they were convicted, contending that the death sentence handed them was unwarranted, unreasonable and a manifest miscarriage of justice.
Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan also contended that the trial judge erred in law by arriving at the conclusion that they conspired to kill Alhaja Kudirat on June 4, 1996, and faulted the court’s reliance on the testimony of Dr. Ore Falomo on the bullet extracted from the late Kudirat.
Counsel to Al-Mustapha, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), adopting his address, urged the court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the lower court. He argued that the trial court erred in law to have based its judgment on the testimonies of PW1 (Sgt Rogers) and PW2 (Katako), which were contradictory.
”The testimonies of PW1 and 2 were inconclusive and contradictory. The court drew inferences from these contradictory statements, to establish the guilty of the appellants. It is my submission that those inferences, upon which the court based its judgment, were merely political evidence formulated by the respondent, and which the trial court ought not to have considered. I therefore urge the court to allow this appeal, and quash the judgment of the lower court,” Daudu argued.
Counsel to Shofolahan, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, also aligned himself with the submission of Daudu, saying that the prosecution called four witnesses and two of the witnesses were presumed to be star witnesses.
The appellants counsel submitted that the lower court relied on conjectures and inferences to support the conviction of the Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan, which did not form part of the evidence presented before the court, saying “the constitution did not support the conviction. The testimonies of PW1 (Sgt Rogers) and PW2 (Katako) are not strong enough to warrant the conviction of the appellant.”
In his response, counsel to the respondent, Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit and uphold the judgment of the lower court. He argued that apart from the evidence of PW1 and 2, there were other evidence from the defendants, which supports the counts of conspiracy and murder.
How Justice Mojisala Dada sentenced Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan to death by hanging
After many years of waiting to know who the court deemed to have masterminded the assassination of late Kudirat, wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief MKO Abiola, Justice Mojisala Dada of Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere delivered the judgment on a Monday afternoon of January 30, 2012.
Clad in a white robe and a prayer cap, Al-Mustapha watched as Justice Dada reads her judgment which lasted several hours. Not left in wonder, Shofolahan, however broke down in tears when it became clear that they have been convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.

Al-Mustapha at the Lagos High court Igbosere Lagos

Justice Dada ruled: “Evidence proves  Al-Mustapha, Shofolahan   killed Kudiratu Abiola. Evidence was manifestedly heavy that they killed Kudiratu Abiola. In view of this, they are guilty of conspiracy and murder.” Dada said in her ruling which lasted several hours.The prosecution has proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt. In view of this, they should be hanged.”
The judge described Shofolahan as a viper, saying “he acted like Judas Iscariot. He was friend to the Abiola family in the open and enemy in secret. He sacrificed his master (Abiola) because of his personal greed. He was a viper.”
The Appeal Court’s judgement yesterday read:
“In a criminal trial, the burden is to prove beyond reasonable doubt and this is a chain that cannot be broken. The prosecution listed four witnesses- PW 9, 10, 11 and 12 with which it intended to call in the trial, but never called any of them. PW 1 (Dr Ore Falomo) testified before the lower court that the bullet extracted from the forehead of the deceased, was white and of a special kind, but the prosecution failed to tender the bullet as exhibit and this is fatal to their case. The prosecution also called PW 4 (Investigating Police Officer) who investigated the death of the deceased, but this witness was never produced for cross examination by the defence, as he never showed up in court.
“This renders the evidence of the police officer inconclusive as it denied the defendants their right to fair hearing, and no reasonable court can safely make a conviction on such an inconclusive testimony. PW 2 (Sgt.Barnabas Jabila Mshelia, a.k.a. Sgt. Rogers) and PW 3( Mohammedd Abdul) in their confessional statements to the Police, said they were enjoined by the first appellant, (Al-Mustapha) to murder Kudirat, but this statement was later retracted by them in court. PW 2 and 3 in retracting their earlier statements to the Police told the court that they were cajoled by the prosecution to indict the appellant, with a promise to give them monetary compensation. This is a contradiction in the testimonies of the witnesses; it raises doubt in the case of the prosecution, and it is unimaginable that the lower court did not expunge this evidence.
“For an offence like murder, I wonder why the Nigerian Police did not do a proper investigation. Jabila who was initially arrested as co-defendant, was later called prosecution witness; witnesses who ought
to be called were never called, the bullet extracted was never tendered before the court. Once there is doubt in the case of the prosecution, as in the instant case, it must be resolved in favour of the accused, and this doubt is accordingly resolved in favour of the appellants.
“One thing is clear, Kudirat was shot, but the big question is: who pulled the trigger? I find nothing in this case which sufficiently links the appellants with the commission of the offence. It is preposterous that in a 326-page judgment, the lower court was only concerned with securing a conviction at all costs. Just as God is no respecter of persons, so also is this court. I hereby order that the appellants be discharged and acquitted while the conviction and sentence of the lower court, is hereby discharged.”
Vanguard

Malala vows not to be silenced by terrorists

 

NEW YORK CITY (AFP) – Pakistan teenager Malala Yousafzai vowed Friday not to be silenced by terrorists in a powerful speech to the United Nations on her first public appearance since being shot by the Taliban.
“They thought that the bullet would silence us, but they failed,” Malala said on her 16th birthday in a presentation in which she called for books and pens to be used as weapons.
“The terrorists thought that they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life, except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born,” she said.

Toorpekai Yousafzai, mother of Malala Yousafzai , the 16-year-old Pakistani advocate

Her 20 minute speech was given several standing ovations and was quickly hailed for her message of peace.
Malala, who wore a pink headscarf and a shawl that belonged to assassinated Pakistan leader Benazir Bhutto, insisted she did not want “personal revenge” against the Taliban gunman who shot her on a bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley on October 12 last year.
“I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all the terrorists and extremists. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me I would not shoot him.”
But Malala said “the extremists were and they are afraid of books and pens, the power of education. The power of education silenced them. They are afraid of women.”
“Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution,” she said.
The passionate advocate for girls education was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she road on a school bus near her home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in October.
She was given life-saving treatment in Britain where she now lives, but the attack has given new life to her campaign for greater educational opportunities for girls.
Malala is now considered a leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Taliban have made it clear however that she remains a target.
Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister and UN special envoy for education, hailed Malala as “the bravest girl in the world” as he presented her at the UN Youth Assembly.
Brown said it was “a miracle” that Malala had recovered to be present at the meeting.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon and other top officials also hailed her achievements.
The speech in which Malala invoked the legacy of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and other legendary peace advocates brought quick praise.
Malala also thanked British doctors and nurses for the care they had given and the United Arab Emirates government for paying for her treatment.
“I cannot believe how much love people have shown me. I have received thousands of good wish cards and gifts from all over the world. Thank you to all of them. Thank you to the children whose innocent words encouraged me,” she said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said on his twitter account that Malala had delivered a “powerful message”.
The United Nations estimates that 57 million children of primary school age do not get an education — half of them in countries at conflict like Syria.
“Students and teachers across our globe are intimidated and harassed, injured, raped, and even killed. Schools are burned, bombed, and destroyed,” said Diya Nijhowne, director of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
Nijhowne highlighted a horrific attack in northern Nigeria last week.

Malala Yousafzai

Gunmen from the Boko Haram Islamist group — whose name literally means “Western education is a sin” — broke into a secondary boarding school and killed 41 students and one teacher before setting fire to the building.
According to Ban’s annual report on children and conflict, 115 schools were attacked last year in Mali, 321 in the occupied Palestinian territory, 167 in Afghanistan and 165 in Yemen.
Pakistan has an estimated five million children out of school and Nigeria 10 million, according to UN estimates.

Vanguard

'Eebu tins' (insult extravaganza) by Pius Adesanmi

 

 Pius Adesanmi

It’s been ‘eebu tins’ (insult extravaganza) in the arena of political discourse and public commentary since this column decided to award itself an extended vacation five weeks ago. So massive has been the scramble for pottymouthing by critical segments of our commentariat that one was compelled to punctuate one’s vacation in favour of the occasional Facebook commentary on the matter. And the Nigerian penchant for flourish and exhaustiveness in negative matters means that we invaded the house of ‘eebu’ (insult) and appropriated all resources therein.
Name calling, bullying, catfighting, mudfighting, and roforofo became the building blocks of a colourful national orgy of insults and pottymouthing: Presidency versus Opposition; Presidency versus NGF; Presidency versus Media; Presidency versus former Facebook friends suffering from buyer’s remorse; NGF versus PDP Governors Forum; PDP versus PDP; PDP versus APC; APC versus APC; APC versus PDP; Jang versus Amaechi; Amaechi versus Jangjaweed Governors. In the middle of it all, the triumvirate of sophistry and chicanery, Doyin Okupe, Reuben Abati, and Reno Omokri, migrated their mouths from the gutter to a more scatological habitat in the pit latrine, trafficking in words unbecoming of any presidency as they engaged the Opposition while servicing the lies of a glaringly inept President Jonathan. With these three clowns throwing insults all over the place, D.O. Fagunwa would refer to Jonathan’s Aso Rock as ‘Eebudimeta’.
Sadly, the season of ‘eebu tins’ was contagious. It would have been an occasion for rejoicing had the season of national pottymouthing been restricted to the pestilential ranks of corrupt government officials and political actors for one’s heart is always gladdened when the rapists of Nigeria tear at each other while dancing naked in the public sphere.
President Jonathan fighting the NGF, Tambuwal and Wamakko clawing at Bamanga Tukur, Rotimi Amaechi and the Jangjaweed Governors pottymouthing one another are all occasions for rejoicing by the people. These are all instances of the Yoruba philosophy of ‘fun ra won ni won o ma fun ra won l’ogun je’. In other words, o ye people of Nigeria, rejoice and be merry whenever the corrupt rapists of our commonwealth feed each other poison. You do not need to inherit their cant and chicanery; their bickering; their pottymouthing; their pettiness; their irrationalities. For in the dead of night, when all doors are closed and you guys are still outside abusing each other along religious, tribal, and geopolitical fault-lines and lining up behind one political gladiator against the other, these guys close ranks, embrace, and declare aloota continua behind your backs.
There is one group of fellow citizens who, apparently, does not subscribe to the notion that we, the grass beneath the feet of the gorging elephants in the political class, do not need to tear at each other and spread the contagion of ‘eebu tins’ just because we support a particular political actor and believe that he is Junior Jesus and Deputy Mohammed combined. I am talking about the formidable armies of social media marketers of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and General Mohammadu Buhari who have taken on the task of marketing these two prominent figures of a very amorphous opposition to the broader Nigerian electorate. The methodology and strategies of these marketers have very serious implications for the democracy we all envisage and the Nigeria we all envision.
Asiwaju Tinubu’s claim to an oppositional/progressive patina stems from his investment in NADECO and the anti-Abacha struggle of the era, his relatively successful tenure as Lagos State Governor during which, we must admit, the foundation was laid for much of what Raji Fashola is doing today. It was also during his tenure in Lagos that the state became a model of resistance to Federal brigandage as he was largely able to resist what I call our “almajiri federalism”, which has state governors singing “asiri a bo bam bi Allah” all the way to Abuja, becoming cowering and conquered houseboys of an omnipotent President in the process. Rotimi Amaechi’s laudable resistance to Goodluck Jonathan’s arrogance of power today is nothing new. By successfully resisting Obasanjo’s crudeness, Tinubu paved the way for any Governor willing to remember that Federalism does not mean that states should become vassals of an arrogant centre with irrational powers. Is the pathetic Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa really a state governor today or Goodluck Jonathan’s palace eunuch?
Nigerians know the answer. Lagos is also where Asiwaju marshaled strategies and resources to eventually rid the southwest of the ruinous stranglehold of the PDP. He resisted Obasanjo in Abuja and also brought in new brooms to sweep away all the corrupt PDP governors that Ebora Owu had rigged into office in the southwest.
This is a broad summary of the achievements that have earned Asiwaju the right to become he who must be obeyed and never questioned in the world of his supporters. If these supporters were content with just sacrificing their own right to civic questioning, becoming marionettes, and letting Asiwaju take over the responsibility of thinking and deciding everything for them in the political and democratic sphere, that, I guess, would be their own kettle of fish. We must concede to every Nigerian his democratic right to be the political toilet paper of his own chosen hero among the gladiators in our public sphere. But Asiwaju’s fans are not content with worshipping their ordained orisha. They fan across social media as onward Christian soldiers, sorry, onward Asiwaju soldiers, trying to force-feed their idol intravenously into the Nigerian electorate in a manner that brooks no argument, opposition, or genuine debate.
Asiwaju, the argument goes, liberated the southwest from the PDP and his reward must be the everlasting silence of all Nigerians, even beyond the southwest. We should just all submit ourselves uncritically to his every whim, his every caprice, his every political calculus. We should just all become eternally grateful citizens of the nebulous empire that Asiwaju is building, no questions asked. To ask any question is to attract the ire of his supporters who mass in and rain insults on the critical questioner, blind as they are to the essence and meaning of democratic citizenship.
Democratic citizenship starts with my fundamental right to ask questions and probe the practices and politics of any participant in the political destiny of my country. If you are selling a political hero, democratic citizenship starts with my right to haggle, to critically examine the product you are attempting to sell to me, to ask questions about the provenance, usefulness, and durability of your product. Questions of worth and value are pertinent.
To put it in a popular Nigerian parlance, if you are selling Asiwaju to me, it is my right to price your market. Pricing your market in this respect means that I can raise very serious critical and ethical questions about the ruinous financial slavery of Lagos state – and increasingly the southwest – to one man today. I have the right to ask questions about tax collection processes in Lagos state. I have the right to raise an alarm over tolling at Lekki and where the money goes.
If you are selling Asiwaju to me, I have the right to wonder if you are not asking me to replace the corrupt dictatorship of the PDP at the centre with the no less corrupt one-man show of an aspiring emperor. I have the right to ask if you are asking me to replace Nigeria’s failed Federalism with Tinubu’s political empire, which is emerging somewhat parallel to and somewhat in opposition to that failed federalism at the centre. When I peep into this emergent political empire and I see things injurious to the spirit of democracy, I have the right to ask you questions if you persist in selling that product to me.
I could tell you that looking at the untidy way in which Asiwaju’s wife was imposed as a Senatorial candidate, the untidy way in which his choices are imposed as Local Government Chairmen everywhere he holds sway, the untidy way in which his choices are imposed as Governors everywhere he holds sway (until the Ondo rout), the untidy business of attempting to impose his daughter as the new Iyaloja of Lagos, the untidy way in which he and Chief Bisi Akande have privileged a rigid babacracy over internal party democracy in the political party over which they preside and, now, the absolutely horrible, undemocratic, and arrogant way in which he is trying to abort democracy in Ekiti by asking Opeyemi Bamidele to wait for his turn – I could look at all these things, all these dictatorial tendencies, the recurrence of the word ‘imposition’, and decide that the corrupt democracy of Aso Rock is better than the corrupt babacracy of Bourdillon Road. At least the pretense of democracy exists in Aso Rock whereas there is no room for even democratic pretense in Bourdillon road. Indeed, the unfolding outrage in Ekiti has confirmed my long-held suspicion that Bourdillon road is the most formidable antithesis to democracy in Nigeria now. I certainly hope that Opeyemi Bamidele will be buoyed by the precedence of Ondo and defy imposition and empire building.
When bold and patriotic compatriots raise these legitimate issues, Tinubu’s social media supporters, who have no liver for debate, resort to knee-jerk ‘eebu tins’. They rain insults and curse and curse again. They bully and intimidate the same people they are trying to persuade to adopt their orisha of Bourdillon. Yet, the very next minute, these devotees of the orisha of Bourdillon begin to hold out the southwest as an example of democracy to the rest of the country. They purport that the southwest has lessons to teach the rest of the country in democracy and its practices. I always wonder who dashed them the mouth to make such spurious submissions. Until the southwest deals with the untidy legacy of Tinubu’s impositions and his long-winding trail of subversion of democratic principles, they must understand that they have lost the mouth with which to contribute to broader national arguments about democratic ethos. The rest of the country would be justified if they told the southwest: abeg, make we hear word.
What goes for Tinubu’s supporters also goes for a vast majority of General Buhari’s supporters. Indeed, General Buhari’s avowed online loyalists make Tinubu’s supporters look like kindergarten pupils in the department of ‘eebu tins’. Unlike Tinubu’s supporters who are trying to sell a political orisha because their principal is trying to consolidate an empire rather than openly jostling for an elective office, General Buhari’s supporters are trying to sell a political candidate jostling for the office of President. They insist on the General’s personal capital: simplicity, integrity, leadership, zero-tolerance of corruption, sound moral and ethical stock. According to this narrative, corrupt politicians would scamper out of Nigeria were General Buhari ever to be elected President for he would not spare them.
So far so good. Things get a bit more complicated for General Buhari and his loyalists the moment you move beyond the General’s impeccable personal capital to other things you need to be acceptable to all Nigerians irrespective of tribe and creed. General Buhari’s loyalists are quick to insist that he is a pan-Nigerian statesman. His statements and actions suggest otherwise and when concerned Nigerians insist on raising that significant issue, the General’s loyalists, like Tinubu’s supporters, recourse to ‘eebu tins’ to sell their product. They curse and curse and curse. They rain insult upon insult on Nigerians for being simpletons who just can’t understand the General. One wrote an article in Sahara Reporters advising the General to withdraw from politics because he is too good for Nigeria or Nigerians aren’t good enough for him. The stupidity of claiming that 160 million of us are not good enough for or are undeserving of one of us was not apparent to this Buhari loyalist. I’ve encountered more bellicose variants of that insult coming from General Buhari’s army of online loyalists. Nigeria, they insist, is not ready for him because Nigeria is not good enough for him.
But the Nigerians who are being insulted by Buhari’s loyalists are not the people responsible for the persistent question mark on the General’s pan-Nigerian credentials. The General is and the blame must be placed firmly and unequivocally at his doorstep. General Buhari has done more in the last two decades or so to forge an image of himself as a closet geopolitical irredentist and very little to encourage perceptions of himself as a pan-Nigerian statesman. This is not limited to his healthy syllabus of northern and Islamic irredentist statements – his supporters are ever ready to insult us that we are just not intelligent enough to understand those statements – but also to his inaction. I will explain the bit about inaction presently.
Suffice it to say for now that the insults and curses rained on Nigerians daily by Buhari’s supporters are far worse than the treatment we get from Tinubu’s supporters. My stomach churns whenever I encounter pro-Buhari statements starting with such illogicalities as “Buhari is the only living Nigerian capable of this and that”. Really? Please! There are 160 million of us. There must be limits to hyperbole. And there is no greater insult than saying that 160 million of us are either too mischievous or too unintelligent to understand the repeated careless statements of your hero. Personally, I’m loath to have a President of Nigeria who constantly needs the service of the extra-talented geniuses in his core support base to explain his constant stream of misstatements and misspeaks to 160 million unintelligent simpletons. We must ask the question again: why is it that only fundamentalist loyalists have found the key to understanding General Buhari’s statements?
Now to Buhari’s inaction. We must ask his supporters: exactly where is Buhari’s national presence, say, since 2011? His statements, careless or reasonable, mostly get to the south of the river Niger whenever local journalists are lucky enough to monitor an interview he granted the Hausa service of BBC or VOA from his Kaduna base. I know that he was at my friend, Nasir El Rufai’s book launch in Lagos and was, also, recently at the funeral of Asiwaju’s mother in Lagos. There may be other unreported low-profile ventures outside of the north by the General. However, if I were in Buhari’s shoes, I would have been all over the Nigerian map physically since 2011. My social and political calendar across Nigeria would have been very busy and active. I would have been attending well-publicized events all over the country, delivering speeches on critical national issues in Universities all over Igboland, all over the south-south. I would even have ‘invaded’ Professor Bolaji Aluko’s fief in the Federal University, Otuoke, by delivering a significant lecture on critical national issues from that pregnant location. I would have been all over the southwest, the MiddleBelt – everywhere - engaging people and issues, strategizing about the way forward with critical stakeholders. Newspapers would be reporting that some of my national statements and interviews were monitored in Isanlu, Kabba, Amawbia, Nnobi, Calabar, Nsukka, Enugu, Okene, Owerri, Osogbo, Ore, Ibadan, Abakaliki, Ogwashi-Uku, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Ijebu Ode, Akure, Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Warri, etc.
If , rather than cultivate this broad national praxis in the service of my presidential ambition, I cocoon myself mostly in Kaduna, releasing northern and Islamic irredentist statements to the rest of the country in interviews granted the Hausa service of BBC and VOA, going as far as to carelessly equate a legitimate clamp down on Boko Haram with a war against the North, I should be prepared to accept responsibility for a certain perception of myself and work very hard to address the issue. Genuine supporters of General Buhari have serious work to do. I know many of them, patriotic compatriots working tirelessly for Nigeria, convinced that General Buhari is a far better option than the disgrace currently residing in Aso Rock. They are not into the business of insulting Nigerians to sell their product.
They are my friends: Adebayo Adeneye-Adejuwon, Marian Iyabode Awolowo, Kizito Agba-Injo. One of them, Tunde Asaju, is my cousin. What these believers in the Buhari project must understand is that their genuine efforts to sell Buhari online is largely crowded out by the ill-reflected strategies of the more fundamentalist Buhari supporters who believe that the best way to sell their product is to constantly insult and bully Nigerians. Adebayo Adejuwon and co must understand that they have their work cut out for them. Not only must they continue to try to sell their product using the time-tested strategies of democratic debate and superior argument, they must also work harder to convince those who are trying to sell the General via insults that they are damaging Buhari’s brand – to borrow a way of speaking made popular by my sister Bamidele Ademola-Olateju. And unless they believe that General Buhari is infallible, they must be prepared to reach out to their hero, engage him, and see how he could work on the statesman and de-emphasize the northern irredentist. Accusing those asking questions of ill-will or inability to understand the General will not cut it.
Personally, I’m not on the Buhari train because I am not convinced me that we cannot find a Nigerian in the age bracket of 40-55 among 160 million people who fits the bill for 2015. As a friend of mine, Kemi Sisi Eko, once observed, there is something fundamentally wrong with you if you are a Nigerian in your  20s, 30s, or  40s and you insist that a septuagenarian is the singular and the only answer to your problem in the age of Obama, Cameron, Merkel, Harper, and Hollande. If I raise this issue, it is your responsibility as a Buhari loyalist to engage or confront me with superior logic and try to persuade me. Don’t come hurling insults at me, avoiding serious issues by claiming that I harbor some undefined animus against the General. That is the lazy strategy that General Buhari’s loyalists often deploy to kill genuine debate.
Building democracy is not just about the struggle to rid our country of a corrupt, comatose, and visionless leadership such as we currently have in Goodluck Jonathan; it is not just about the struggle to build credible and genuine institutions; it is also mostly about the need to forge, inform, and instruct a critical and civic-minded followership. A democracy without a followership that questions is doomed. And questioning does not mean criticizing Jonathan endlessly while being intolerant of any criticism of your own political orisha. By resorting ever so often to ‘eebu tins’ in the marketing of their heroes, too many supporters of Asiwaju Tinubu and General Buhari are endangering democracy. They are part of the problem. They are tolerating democracy only to the extent that their respective heroes shall neither be critiqued, questioned, nor engaged. Those of us whose singular premise is Nigeria – and not sacrosanct heroes – shall not allow this to happen. We shall continue to question, to critique, to engage.
Perish the thought that we shall ever allow the emergence of a Nigeria in which it would be possible for some citizens to crown political orishas that are deemed too good for some undeserving 160 million people. If you belong in the group of workers for Nigeria who are not beholden to any political orisha, then by all means  continue to raise very pertinent and critical issues whenever and wherever the loyalists of Tinubu and Buhari sell their heroes on social media. That is the stuff, the essence of democracy. Followers must be able to ask legitimate questions of other followers without being intimidated or insulted. That is the Nigeria we envisage and envision.
If Buhari’s or Tinubu’s loyalists insult you for asking questions, shrug your shoulders and tell them that insults do not grow on the forehead of the insulted or, as the Yoruba would put it, “eebu o so”.
Saharareporters