MQBA - Part 2

 

QUESTION 6:  You enacted Decree Four of 1984, which prescribed punishment for journalists if theypublished whatever amounted to an embarrassment to the government even if the report was true.  Why were you so disdainful of the media?

A. I recall the late Dele Giwa asked me this question, why I felt disenchantment with Nigerian journalism.  I told him that first, we were in a different kind of environment at the time.  Secondly, many journalists were not bothered about checking what they published.

At that time and I am afraid that even up till now, many journalists just make wild allegations without any consideration for the accused person.  Journalism is a mighty weapon and you don’t just wield it indiscriminately.

There is investigative journalism.  If you make an accusation that is capable of breaking down an institution, that is something serious.  For instance, you point fingers at a person and allege that N2.8 billion is missing under his portfolio.  That is very serious.

A billion Naira then was very big money.  The matter had to go to a commission of inquiry.  The Irikefe Commission was set up after we left office and there was nothing uncovered.  But people continue to peddle the accusation till today.

Under Decree Four, two journalists were jailed.  Compare that with what happened before or after us and you must concede that we did rather well.

We never closed down a whole institution.  We would rather punish the editor and the reporter who published without ascertaining the facts.  Would you rather that two persons who committed an offence are punished than have every one in the organization punished because when you close a media house, it affects thousands of people.

Q 7.  If you become president, how will you respond to journalists and their practices?

A. As I have said on many occasions, we are now operating in a constitutional environment.  Relationship between government and institutions is governed by the constitution.

For instance, I can’t pick up anyone and lock him up in a guardroom because the constitution does not allow it.  Laws and the constitution now regulate matters.  Libel is one of them.  There are no short cuts.  If someone libels you, you go to court.

Q 8.  As head of state then, you enacted a decree on drug trafficking and backdated it.  Three young Nigerians were condemned and executed under its provision.  Why did you make a law that was so callous and why backdate it?

A. I have to take responsibility for what was done under my administration.  After the tribunal found the suspects guilty, their case came to the Supreme Military Council, which was a kind of Supreme Court.

The Supreme Military Council is the final appeal court and once it ratified the judgment, I gave my assent.  The victims were condemned under the law operating at the time and that was it.

Q 9.  Were matters so bad that such a piece of law had to be made?  Why back date because at the time the men were caught, there was no such law.

A. It was the law.  The regime made laws and I sanctioned them.  Every decree that was made was backdated.  That was the practice.  Check it out.

Q 10.  When you came to power, you arrested all the political leaders.  You placed the President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, under house arrest, but Vice President Alex Ekwueme was imprisoned at Kirikiri.  Why were you so unfair to Dr. Ekwueme?  Why the discrimination?

A. Every politician caught was put in detention.  The people in Kirikiri were in for fraud or misappropriation of fund or outright theft.  The protocol due to the President is not the same as is due to the vice.

Dr. Ekwueme, Alhaji Ciroma and many others were all in Kirikiri.  As investigations into their cases were concluded, they were either released or jailed according to law.

Q 11.  But Dr. Ekwueme was kept in custody long after he was tried and found innocent.

A. I am sorry I can’t recall now if Dr. Ekwueme was detained longer than was necessary.  The decision was that once anyone was cleared, he was released.

Q 12.  So, there was no decision to keep anybody in prison deliberately?

A. No! Anyone whose case was cleared was released.  I believe if investigation on the case is conducted, the facts would come out.

Q 13.  You are a Muslim and a Northerner.  Your deputy then was also a Muslim.  The feeling was that your regime was pro-Islam and anti-Christian.  It was also perceived as anti-South and anti-Western.  Can you defend these charges considering that most of those freed from detention after your overthrow were Christians, Southerners and Westerners?

A. All governors and their deputies were arrested and detained.  All ministers and other senior party or government officials were equally arrested.  There was no discrimination in picking up people who were deemed to have questions to answer.

Q 14.  For the 20 months you were on the saddle, the economy virtually went to bed.  What magic wand do you have now to revamp our prostrate economy?

A. The economy at the time we came in was in a very bad state.  Nigeria had no line of credits, workers were owed huge salary arrears.  We started to clear the backlog of salary arrears.

We halted further borrowing and negotiated and started servicing the debts…

Q 15.  What magic wand do you have to revive a comatose economy?

A. First of all, we must know how much we owe the creditors.  That’s the reference point.  You know how much you owe and how much you are getting and you start planning.

We have to ask ourselves serious economic questions.  Why are our industries dying and no new ones are emerging? What is the problem with agriculture and food production when we have abundant fertile lands?

We can answer that industries are not springing up because basic infrastructures  that would sustain them, like power, water, roads and communications, are not available or are grossly inadequate.

If we don’t know our creditors, it may happen that a Nigerian vessel sails out and it is impounded on account of some debts.  So we need to know what we owe, and negotiate new terms of settlement.

We must find ways to reconcile the books, otherwise you can’t move forward.  Let’s consider trade liberalization.  We see these things abroad.

One single policy relieves the government of much burden.  Without employment, you have poverty and there is insecurity.  So you see the wisdom in trying to protect the firms, support them so they can survive and grow.

The government loses in the short run but in the long run, it reaps bountifully.

Q 16.  The Buhari Organization has conceived a program to modernize some of the key sectors like education, agriculture, security et cetera.  The problem usually is not with drawing up programs but the implementation.  How do you intend to execute your Project Nigeria?

A. You know Project Nigeria is founded on realities, on urgent needs of the economy and security.  Each of the projects has its framework for implementation and these are detailed.  No one can know in advance the exact indices but we worked on ensuring that each target is attained.

Why are Nigerians poor?  Because we have not been empowered.  That is why.  We have not been protected.  Our people have not been encouraged to stay in the villages and in our rural communities to make good living.

Our economy has not been protected.  Rather, we expose it to unhealthy attacks.  Both European and American farmers enjoy subsidies.  Without subsidies their farmers will not survive talk less of experiencing prosperity.

This is the reality; not politics or sentiments.  But international institutions pressurize us to remove subsidies from agriculture.  It will amaze us how much difference a small amount of subsidy will do to our farmers.

Next, consider the unhealthy business environment.  At the ports, your import is delayed unduly or you succumb and pay excessive charges.  You pay triple taxation – to Federal, state and local government agencies.

The amount of bureaucracy in Nigeria is killing businesses.  In other countries, industrialists are encouraged.  Also, better infrastructures are available.  You have tax holidays.

The governments do it because they know you are helping them to carry their social responsibilities.  Employed citizens are not easily drawn to crime, so the state spends less on security and law enforcement.

We have to negotiate with the World Trade Organization (WTO) about liberalization of trade.  We must work to improve the private sector.  Now, it is difficult, sometimes almost impossible to start a business in Nigeria.

There is a syndicate of Nigerians who are against Nigeria.  Under my presidency, these things will change.  Our attitude to attract investments will change.

Nigeria is reported to be the largest importer of rice.  This is a disgrace.  Can we have the money to continue to import rice and money to send our children to school?

We have a lot of work to do in the country.  I think we must tell ourselves frankly that we have not started yet.

Q 17.  Why did you refuse to appear before the Oputa panel?

A. I also took Oputa Panel to court.  Law binds everyone.  I studied the charges against me and I knew they wanted either to ridicule or witch-hunt because if you look at the charges, they were acts of state.  If I did anything on a personal ground, then you can hold me personally responsible.  If I misappropriated or stole public money, you can hold me personally accountable.  But look at the charges against me.  They were acts of the state not acts of Buhari as a person.  You hold the state responsible.  That is what obtains everywhere.

Q 18.  Questions about your integrity were raised over an alleged missing N2.8 billion when you were head of the Petroleum Ministry.  Can you answer that?

Who really is General Buhari?

I would like to thank my colleague, Professor Tam David-West for considering me worthy of writing a book on.  Let me tell this audience quite honestly that the publication of this book has come to me as a bolt from the blue.

Somehow I missed the potted version serialized in The Sun newspapers  in April 2007 until last week.  I have not had any input and I have not seen an advanced copy.  This must be unusual in biography writing, but then Professor David-West is an unusual person-in the best sense of the term.

I first came to know Professor David-West when I discussed with a former Military Governor of Rivers State General Zamani Lekwot looking for a suitable person for a cabinet appointment.  I was impressed when told about his performance as Commissioner of Education in Rivers State. We made him Minister of Petroleum Resources, a job he retained even after I myself was removed from office.  My impression of him at the Federal Executive  Council meetings was a man who was outspoken and fearless.  He spoke his mind and contributed to the best of his ability.

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Since then I have never lost touch with Professor David-West and over the years I have come to regard him as a close friend and a public officer with whom I share broadly an outlook of public service and social responsibility.  Thank you Tam!

Chairman of the occasion, Your Highness, the Alaafin of Oyo  since I cannot speak about myself or about the book, I would like, with your permission; to  speak briefly, about two very current topics of discussion among all responsible Nigerians,   namely free and fair elections and about opposition in a democracy.


In 2007, the government set up an Electoral Reforms Committee.  Many people doubted the sincerity of government and saw the exercise as a ploy to deflect criticism of the deeply flawed exercise – an election that brought it to office.  The cynics may be proved right.  The committee has submitted its report to the government.  The government set a White Paper drafting Committee headed by a Cabinet Minister.  According to reports, the draft white paper, endorsed the Panel’s proposal.  Curiously, another Committee under another Cabinet Minister, significantly the Justice Minister was set up to yet undertake another review of the draft white paper.  This review asked for the return of the status quo.  In plain language, the government is set to reject the recommendations of the Electoral Reform Committee!!
Last week, the Federal Executive Council was split and no decision could be made.  The White Paper is about to be rigged!!!  This puts to rest the sincerity of the government.

In the course of the tortuous court process spanning 20 months overwhelming evidence was presented before the courts – evidence that had convinced three Supreme Court justices to rule the election as invalid – that the Constitution and the Electoral Laws were violated with reckless impunity.  The Electoral Act 2006 was honoured more in the breach than in the observance.  The infamous INEC simply ignored the Constitution, the Electoral Act and all propriety and decency.

Your Excellencies, Your Highnesses how can you reform what you have not tested and tried?

Does anyone think with the kind of INEC we have reform of any law is the solution to the problem?  It is the reform of the people in Government and in INEC which the country requires not any new law, act or regulation.
At the same time and by the same token there have lately been rumblings from prominent PDP members making grave threats against the opposition.  Chairman of the PDP was reported to have said repeatedly that his Party would rule Nigeria for 60 years!  The Governor of Jigawa State was quoted by newspapers as saying they will crush the opposition!  A Minister of State chipped in with a threat to deal with the opposition!  Such raucous language is entirely un-called for and shows that spokesmen for the PDP are ignorant of the system of government the country is running.

The right to opposition is as central to a democracy as the right to free expression, free association, free and fair elections and separation of powers.  It is not a crime to be in opposition but it is a crime to threaten to “crush” dissent.

Mr. Chairman, phrases like “No vacancy in Aso Rock”, “We will rule Nigeria for 60 years”, “we will crush the opposition”, “We will deal with the opposition” are building blocks of a house which will surely collapse.
Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, Your Highnesses, all of us in public life whether office holders or not have a duty to preserve peace and the legacy left by our great leaders.  These outstanding men and women worked day and night to build this country.

If we cannot build on what they have achieved, we have a duty, at least,  to try to preserve what they have left behind.  Our country’s progress, evolution and integration is more important than a single person’s ambition or a group’s desire to hold on to power.

Mr. Chairman, I appeal to Nigerian politicians to change our ways: let us resolve to work the democratic system.  INEC should be efficient and impartial; the Armed Forces and Police should be neutral in discharging their duties; political parties should ensure internal democracy within the parties with primary elections free, fair and transparent; the judiciary should avoid corruption and unprofessional conduct.  That way our democracy will thrive and Nigeria will return to the path of greatness.

I raise these issues, not because I am involved. Or that simply I am partisan.  I raise them because I fought for the unity and progress of this our great but unfortunate country.  At the root of democracy is liberty.  The denial of liberty is the most fundamental denial of justice.  Let me quote the opt repeated but an apt saying of the social reformer Shehu Usman Dan Fodio: “a kingdom can endure with unbelief but it cannot endure with injustice”.  The battle for social justice is not just for me, or the opposition, but a challenge to all Nigerians.  Each and everyone of us has a duty to stand up and speak for justice.  The first principle of justice in a democracy is the right of the citizens to freely choose their leaders.  This can only happen if elections are free and fair, not according to INEC or a bare majority of the Supreme Court.  They must be free and fair by all counts and in all senses.
Thank you.


SPEECH BY GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI ON THE OCCASION OF LAUNCHING OF THE BOOK “WHO REALLY IS GENERAL BUHARI?” BY PROFESSOR T. DAVID-WEST, INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS ON 9TH MARCH 2009

MQBA - Part 1

INTRODUCTION

General Muhammadu Buhari is one of the most un-understood or misunderstood leaders Nigeria has ever produced.  But his honesty, consistency and strength of character have also marked him out as one of Nigeria’s most dependable leaders.

The statement he made when he was military head of the country rings in the ears of those who love Nigeria and wish it could be better governed.  Gen. Buhari said  Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians, that they have nowhere else to go, and they must therefore remain in the country  and salvage it together.

What has been happening since the return to due process in 1999 is not salvage work.  Instead of building the institutions, they have further been weakened.  Security, Stability and Prosperity, which are the expectations of governance, had eluded the people and decline has been the most visible movement in their lives.

These movements from one tragic state to another in all facets of the life of the Nigerian can only make those who wish the country well sick.  At the presentation of a book, The Sixteen ‘Sins’ of Muhammadu Buhari by Prof Tam David-West in Kaduna in July, the chairman of the occasion spoke of why Buhari joined politics.  He said he pointed to some children roaming the streets and said, “Look at them. Your children and my children are in school.  These are not and no one encourages them to be.  They are entitled to care, definitely more care than we have been wiling to give.  It is only in politics you can contribute to making them the worthy citizens of Nigeria they can be.  I am going into politics to see what I can do for them…”

He did just that  He signed on with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), in April 2002, and was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2003 and 2007 elections.    But once he stepped out and expressed his wish to contest the office of President, the past opened up.

Hark writers were at work.  They  said when he was head of State many people were jailed.  No one asked why many people were jailed.  They said he was a Muslim fanatic and he would turn Nigeria into an Islamic State.

Why?  They said he  said that no Muslim should vote for any Christian!  But not many seem to be willing to accept that no such statement was made.  So many were the questions to which ignorant people proffered answers that it became necessary to raise them for the General to answer them himself.

The questions, 49 of them,  were asked and answered in 2003, yes in 2003!   We are in 2010, less than  seven months before the 2011 elections. While the past of all political actors is opening up for the whole world to behold, the  same questions  are still being recycled as reflected in recent interviews the General has granted.

We publish here those questions which two journalists, Mr. George Izobo, past president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists who for many years worked in the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), and Richard Anyamele who has had varied experiences in all aspect of print journalism confronted Buhari with and the answered he gave.

After a total of seven hours of grueling questioning which the General described as an Inquisition, broken into two sessions, we came away with the conviction that those who are really seeking to know the truth about Buhari can find it from the answers he gave in response to the 49 questions we asked him.

But since 2003 a lot of water has passed under the bridge and no concessions seem to be forthcoming from those who have their yardsticks for measuring the development and growing of a democratic culture by questioning indiscretions through due process.

Between 2003 and 2007 elections which were nationally and internationally flawed,  Gen Buhari was in court for a total of 50 months, questioning the conduct of the presidential elections even when his party the ANPP deserted him in 2007 and joined a government of national unity.  As Buhari had predicted, joining the government would weaken the party, and it did.

On February 1, 2010 due to irreconcilable differences between him and the leadership of the ANPP, Gen. Buhari quit the party.  And on March 17, 2010,  he issued the following statement:

“It will be recalled that on Monday, the first day of February 2010, I announced the withdrawal of my membership of my erstwhile political party, the ANPP, on account of verifiable irreconcilable differences with the party’s leadership.

“I stated then that I would announce to the nation the name of my new political party for the information of my supporters, admirers and those interested in my political career and future.

“I wish to announce with a deep sense of history and duty that my new political party is Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

“The CPC was founded on my authority by my political associates as a solution to the debilitating, ethical and ideological conflicts in my former party the ANPP.

“Our application for the CPC was filed at Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on 26^th of March, 2009; and we got a letter of approval and registration on the 28^th December, 2009.

“I delayed my announcement in order to give time for further consultations, establishment and consolidation of party structures and also dialogue with other political parties and groups in the search for a broadly based political platform.

“Happily, the CPC has now established Protem Executive Committees in at least 31 states of the federation with the rest of the states now under consideration.

“The CPC is committed to change and positive development (and) will continue to interact with all parties and dialogue constructively with those parties that have compatible political ideologies with it.

“We hope this will lead to the founding of a broad-based platform on mutually agreed terms for the purpose of re-defining and balancing political competition in Nigeria on ideological bases.

“CPC will, therefore, work for electoral reform that will lead to transparently free and fair elections, internal democracy, efficient management of resources, reform of the judiciary, development planning, empowerment of women and youth and the promotion of private initiative and job creation”.

As we prepared to run the questions and answers first published in March, 2003, the Vanguard reported in its issue of Saturday, August 28, that an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the All Nigeria Peoples Party has suspended the executive of party leader Chief  Edwin Ume-Ezeoke.

The meeting was said to have been attended by 21 chairmen of the party from  Anambra, Niger, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna, Rivers, Sokoto, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Lagos and Ebonyi, Kebbi, Jigawa, Edo, Benue, Beyelsa, Plateau, Kano, Kogi, Kwara and Imo States and the FCT.

Former Governor of Kogi State and founding member of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, and the former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun  were also said to be in attendance.

In the Sunday Vanguard of August 29,  Chief Odigie-Oyegun confirmed in Benin that the Ume-Ezeoke NEC had been removed.  The  sacked executive had outlived its usefulness some two years ago and would have been removed then.

Chief Ume-Ezeoke has however dismissed the decision of the new body.

The current developments in the ANPP seem to confirm the fears of Gen, Buhari that the leadership had deliberately ruined the party to assist the ruling PDP to cripple the opposition.

Prince Tony Momoh

Member, The Buhari Organisation (TBO)

August 31, 2010

THE INTERVIEW:

49 Questions were asked in 2003 and the answers were published in a booklet entitled Many Questions and Buhari’s Answers. It was edited by Tony Momoh who was at the time the Chairman of the National Media and Publicity Committee of the ANPP Presidential Campaign Council.  The questions were blunt, and so also were the answers.

QUESTION 1: You sacked an elected government in 1983 and thereby showed your disdain for the rule of law.  Why are you now seeking popular mandate?

ANSWER:  I think the statement is not well premised.  Let me start by saying that what happened was a state of development in our political history.  If you recall, it came immediately after that government was re-elected for a second term.  There were widespread complaints about the process of the election.  People were really angry.  That is one.

Secondly, the economy was in shambles.  You recall the conditions at the time the military took over in terms of the infrastructures, balance of payment situation and the conditions of living nationwide.  There were clear indications of insensitivity to the plight of the citizens, clear instances of bad governance.

Earnings from petroleum products had gone up but hardship was rising and expanding by the day.  I was the immediate past petroleum minister or commissioner of petroleum.  The price of crude oil at our time was $18 per barrel, but it was $42 per barrel during the second republic.

We had two million barrels per day allocation from OPEC.  By the time we took over, no one knew how much Nigeria owed.  All the foreign reserves by previous administrations were gone.  Despite increased foreign earnings, the nation was indebted to such high figures no one knew the exact amount.

The nation had no line of credit.  These were the conditions and the reason the Army took over the government.

Q 2: Why are you now asking for popular mandate? Don’t you see some contradictions?

A: I don’t see any contradiction.  Let us revisit the situation before we took over.  Workers were owed huge arrears of salaries.  We had to find over N63 million to pay the backlog.

The debt profile was too high although no one knew exactly how much.  We decided Nigeria would not borrow more.  We embarked on servicing both medium and long-term debts.  And we serviced the debts consistently for the 20 months we were on the saddle.

Every month, we would look at what we had and decide what would go to debt servicing.  We came on a rescue mission and we believed that if we didn’t do it, the crisis, social, political and economic, would have been far more damaging to our corporate existence.

Q 3. Why do you now want popular vote?

A. Nigeria is back to square one.  The economy is terribly bad.  The level of insecurity now is as high as in wartime.  Ethnic tensions and conflicts mount month after month and this is not limited to one part of the country but covers the whole landscape.

All over the country, young men are roaming about without jobs.  There are too many dropouts but those that managed to go through school have nothing to show for going to school.  The situation is not just bad but hopeless.

These are the reasons I am into this project.  I do not want or wish that the military veer from their constitutional duties because the political class is proving once again its inability to provide good governance.

Q 4.  So, you decided to come through due process.  But the experience of Nigerians is this: once a soldier, always a soldier, President Obasanjo is displaying the dictatorial traits of soldiers and you are considered a tougher soldier than he was while you were in office.  Will you not then be worse than Obasanjo if you are elected president?

A. I made a statement to the effect in 1989 when communism collapsed in the Soviet Union that democracy is the best form of government.  But I did put a caveat to the statement that elections must be free and fair, and that the process must be efficient.  Otherwise, the system will collapse.

But I believe democracy is the best, I believe in democracy but we must have the discipline to sustain it, discipline to respect public will.  We must make that sacrifice and this is a duty for the elite.  The Nigerian elite must have the discipline to respect the constitution.

Q 5.  The issue is that the present President does not follow due process; he does not have high regard for the other arms of government that include the judiciary and the legislature.  Will you follow due process and respect the constitution if you are elected president?

A. I have made the commitment very many times.  I believe firmly in the constitution and if I become the President of Nigeria, I will convince both the legislature and the judiciary that we work together.

There are possibilities for anyone who wants to make changes in the constitution.  The method is provided.  There is an in-house mechanism.  I don’t think any chief executive should act in disregard of the provisions of the constitution.

I will not do it because as an elected president you swear to defend and uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic.

Next week

Q 6.  You enacted Decree Four of 1983, which prescribed punishment for journalists if they published whatever amounted to an embarrassment to the government even if the report was true.  Why were you so disdainful of the media?

Abati: The new security chiefs and other matters

Friday, 17 September 2010 00:00 By Reuben Abati

 

  Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed new service chiefs, a new Director General of the State Security Service and a new Inspector General of Police,  perhaps his boldest act of self-assertion since he assumed office as President; this was a day after the announcement of the 2011 election time-table, and barely a week to his declaration of interest in the 2011 Presidential election. This move, it would appear was designed to consolidate his hold on the military and security apparatus of the country, one that appeared on the cards since he was elevated from the vice-presidency to the top job in May 2010 upon the death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua. Given the nature of the intense power struggle that took place with allies of the late President Yar’Adua that nearly brought Nigeria once again to the precipice; it was not unexpected that at some point he would need to affirm his control over the security system. 
     The deft move on a day before the Eid-il-Fitr holiday has been described by many a commentator as a strategic attempt to ensure that the country’s security services are manned by his own men, ahead of the election season. The reshuffling of the top security brass in a nation with a long history of military intervention in politics occurred as renewed clashes with armed insurgents in the volatile North East highlighted the continuing risks of instability  ahead of the polls. The President’s men have explained the development however, as a ‘routine change of guards.’ Two of the former service chiefs- Marshall Dike and Abdulrahman Dambazzau -were in any case due for retirement after more than 35 years in service.  Still, to remove all the heads of the security services at once can only suggest two things: it is either the President is completely dissatisfied with their performance, in which case he considers them incompatible to his vision for the offices they hold or he doubts their loyalty. Either way, the security services are so strategic to national stability, they are so much a part of the integrity of the state and the people’s security that they ought to be insulated from politics or the whims of the highest political office holder, even personnel movements have to be carefully managed in order not to shock the public and the  troops.   
    It is instructive to note that every new Nigerian President however feels obliged to change the security chiefs, particularly the Inspector General of Police. Former Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo probably anticipated his own removal: during the crisis of the abduction of journalists in Abia state  he had appealed to his kinsmen to help him save his job by ensuring the release of the journalists. He has been quoted also as saying that the recent Boko Haram incident in Bauchi state nailed the coffin of his career. But if performance is the issue, is it not curious that the same AIG who held sway in the Eastern zone where kidnappings became the order of the day is now the new Inspector-General of Police? Besides, the service chiefs were removed a day to the Eid el fitri holiday, so there was no proper transition until this week. Was it wise to leave the country without effective service chiefs for a few days, the declaration that the appointments took immediate effect notwithstanding?  Questions of this nature are bound to arise when appointments throw up issues of politics and loyalties, even when these may be unintended. 
    From a national brand perspective, what is the wisdom in removing the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau from office while he was on official duty in the United States, representing the country? One would have expected such military-type behaviour to have been consigned to our past.  News of Dambazzau’s removal got to him  while he was attending a meeting with the UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations. The former Chief of Army Staff, according to newspaper reports could not attend any other function after he got the news of his removal, including a cocktail party organized by the Nigerian Mission. Only recently, President Barack Obama had to remove the head of US Forces in Afghanistan but he waited for him to return  to Washington, arranged for a replacement and managed the event carefully to avoid ridiculing not only the man but the institution and the country.  It is not enough to say that it is the Nigerian tradition to treat public officials shabbily. In the past, public officials were removed, “with immediate effect,” from their positions through radio announcements. Professor Bolaji Akinyemi was removed as Minister of Foreign Affairs on Christmas eve! Former Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was in  London attending an official meeting as Minister of Finance when she was moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.   
   Dambazzau probably needed to be removed, even if he was not due for retirement.  It was under his watch that troops smuggled a dying President Umaru Yar’Adua into the country under the cover of darkness, without any regard for the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.  His command also proved incapable of managing the crisis in Jos and elsewhere when the army’s intervention was required, thus exposing the administration to a lot of embarrassment. In a democracy however, appointments need not be made an act of vendetta or punishment. Dambazzau could have been recalled from the US trip ahead of the  announcement. Outsiders are likely to look at our methods and wonder. 
    There has been so much emphasis on the ethnic identities of the new service chiefs. The Ekiti state government has found it necessary to thank President Jonathan for making a son of the soil, Oluseyi Petinrin, the new Chief of Defence Staff. The Imo state House of Assembly has passed a special resolution thanking the President for appointing an Igbo, Onyeabo Ihejirika, the Chief of Army Staff, the first time in about 40 years that an Igbo will occupy that position. People should stop insulting Onyeabo Ihejirika by suggesting that he has been made Chief of Army Staff for the political reasons of  quota or as compensation for Igbos.  He is eminently qualified for the job and he will be leading the Nigerian Army. That is what should matter. The son of the soil syndrome which has defined public appointments since independence has created the more serious problems of clientelism, nepotism and needless tension.   
    With the handing over ceremonies done this week and the new security chiefs now in the saddle, the more important task for the Federal Government, in the absence of a policy framework for the recent changes, is to embark on a review of the country’s defence and security needs, thus turning personnel changes into an opportunity for more fundamental interventions. Such a review is long overdue; it is something Nigeria must do sooner or later. Recent security challenges in the country suggest the urgency of this task; few Nigerians have any faith in the capabilities of the security services. The Police are famous for their inefficiency.  IGP  Hafiz Ringim says he intends to check electoral fraud and abduction. How? Does he have the men and equipment? The State Security Service has routinely disappointed the country in terms of its intelligence gathering function. Nothing could be more scandalous than the recent Boko Haram attack on the Bauchi prison. 
The insurgents not only served notice of the attack, they actually carried out their threat and undermined state security, and disappeared into thin air. The three services: army, navy and air force are strategic: but do they have the infrastructure that may be required for managing future conflicts, including participation in regional or continental conflicts where Nigeria may be required to play a military role? And what could be the nature of future conflicts? Is there any attempt to anticipate the nature of global security and Nigeria’s place in it? The overall objective of the review of the security services which we propose should not be another committee work for.  consultants as is the usual practice, but a well-reasoned effort to ensure the security of the state, and the well-being of citizens. To do this, the structure of the security services which has been altered by the new appointments must be re-examined, the various services also need to be well-equipped and this will require increased funding and spending, to enable them handle not only routine tasks but also unforeseen shocks, and the challenge will be to separate this audit process from partisan politics.     
    There may be no immediate external threat to Nigeria’s territorial integrity, but there are serious security challenges which could affect the country’s vital interests. Our borders have become so porous that anyone could bring into the country, caches of arms and ammunition without check. The country’s coastline is so open, it has been taken over for the most part by oil bunkerers and pirates; in other parts of the country, there have been reports of criminals from neighbouring countries (Niger, Chad, Republic of Benin) crossing the border into the country to commit atrocities. 
    There may be many combat officers in the armed forces who have risen to the position of General in the course of the last 30 years who have never seen combat action, still that should be no reason not to embark on a review of the country’s defence and security machinery. How many boats, vessels, and frigates can the Nigerian Navy boast of? How many of them are functional? How many tankers and aircraft can the Air Force mobilise at short notice? How many battle tanks and artillery pieces do we have in the Nigerian Army? How rigorous is Nigeria’s defence policy? How modern is the Nigerian national security system? No serious nation trifles with national security because of the implications for stability and the need to reduce  vulnerability. Fifty years after independence, there is need for clarity and rigour in Nigeria’s security arrangements. What is the quality of President Jonathan’s commitment in this regard? These are more serious questions rather than the excitement and the power politics over the displacement and promotion of security chiefs.  

 

Bakare versus thugs that have captured Nigeria

By Daniel Elombah

 London: The inauguration of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), UK Chapter. In attendance was Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly; Yinka Odumakin; Nasir El Rufai; pastors from the Gain Group and other activists that formed the SNG, UK chapter. I was representing the Transform Nigeria Movement. I listened carefully as these gentlemen enunciated their vision and mission to cleanse the atmosphere of Nigeria politics so that - quoting Mr Odumakin - “a Mr Elombah can come back to Nigeria one day and contest for the House of Representatives and be assured that the votes of the people in his constituency will count.”

It was a moving occasion, as Mr Bakare - who has this extraordinary ability to speak with such force and emotion that turn your eyes misty - narrated how Nigeria has been held in the jugular by thugs that have captured our nation, allowed by a seemingly docile populace whose “social mobility” has quenched. What I heard that day seems to hold out hope that, at last, some people are determined to bring forth the change we all desire. At the end of the launch, I attended another meeting with a journalist from Nigeria, where I confirmed what Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, said at another gathering of the SNG - that Nigerian politicians look at activists as “wooly-eyed dreamers”. This journalist (I will call him Mr J) said if we are hoping for a Nigeria where the people will freely elect their leaders in a free and peaceful election, we still have a very long way to go. Some of the things Mr J narrated cannot simply be published. Suffice it to say he pointed out that “Nigeria is not a country, but an organized criminal outpost for crooks whose interest is personal aggrandisement and not the business of taking care of its citizens”.

Mr J further told me that whatever I read is merely a tip of the iceberg and that if I get to know the actual amount of looting that goes for governance, or the debauched life lived by some of the people I admire in government, I won’t sleep at night.

Recently, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, publicly engaged in fisticuffs over a dispute of who should cut the ribbon announcing the opening of a simple bridge in Sango-Ota, in Ogun State. How did thugs get to capture governance in Nigeria? Mr Bakare said at the inauguration that he will never encourage any sane human to go into Nigerian politics in this polluted environment. But he added that members of the SNG might go into politics, “after the atmosphere has been cleansed”.

The RSVP process

I think what we are seeing is a civilian version of the military in power. Or the militarised version of the civilians in power. Who killed Bayo Ohu and Godwin Agbroko? IBB felt challenged by Mamman Vatsa and charged him with coup plotting and killed him...now tell me who felt uncomfortable with former Attorney General, Bola Ige and had him murdered? Who killed Harry Marshall, Dikibo, Odunayo Olagbaju? Who killed Ahmed Pategi and his police orderly? Who killed Victor Nwankwo, the younger brother of Arthur Nwankwo? Who killed Kudirat Abiola, John Nunu, Funsho Williams, Chimere Ikoku, Ayodeji Daramola, Dele Arojo and Isyaku Muhammad? With the passing of each year, the list grows longer and longer.

Mr Bakare believes no good Nigerian can succeed as a peoples’ politician and serve the people within the polluted waters of Nigerian politics because the others will change him into one of their kind. Mr Bakare also believes that only when the people exercise their rights and take powers back into their hands, by selecting their candidates and ensuring free, credible and peaceful elections, will such a cleansing begin. He called this cleansing process RSVP: R-Register to vote, S- Select your candidates, V-Vote, P-Protect your votes.

A TRIP UP NORTH - BY PRINCE TONY MOMOH

I was invited to a book presentation at the Kaduna Trade Fair on July 30.  The book was written by Prof Tam David West who has never hidden his love for Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari, whose new party, the Congress for Progressive Change, is making waves in the North, in spite of whatever anyone may tell you.  When you see the hoi polloi yelling and shouting Sai Buhari (Only Buhari) and Mai Gaskiya (The Truthful, Honest),  then you begin to appreciate that if these sentiments are translated into votes, then we may have some shocking news for Nigerians in 2011.  Buhari has no radio station, no newspaper, no television station, not even a strong enough publicity outfit to tell the world what he is doing.  But the people, young men and women, old men and old women  I saw at the Kaduna Trade Fair to attend the unpublicised book presentation,  The Sixteen ‘Sins’ of General Muhammadu Buhari did not seem to me to be  there because of what Buhari could give them.  They were there because they see him as the promise, the one who can do for them what out politicians have failed or refused to do in response to the call on them to seek the welfare and security of the citizens.

Believe me when I say that the North and the South are two different worlds and that my reading of the call for zoning is the manifestation of extreme greed.  It may well be part of what gentlemen agreed should regulate their relationships in 1998, but from the loud ovation that greeted Buhari’s deprecation of zoning as a subversion of the opportunity to get the best for the polity in service delivery,  I have no doubt in my mind that if votes are counted in the 2011 elections and those votes are allowed to count, many of the people parading themselves as leaders today will fall like dead leaves.

Where the chairman of the occasion, Alhaji MT Waziri, the first Fulani to be an architect in Nigeria (he qualified in 1964) had to break down weeping like a child at the harm being done by our leaders who are more interested in what they can get from Nigeria than what they can give, and the whole hall joining as if in a national mourning. then you can imagine the anger building up.  Yes anger is building up and only free and fair elections may stem the explosion that awaits us.  I was happy to hear at the forum that Jonathan should be given a chance to deliver on his promise to conduct free and fair elections.  It seems also that people believe in Attahiru Jega’s ability to moderate the elections.  Whoever emerges from such an exercise would be congratulated by all concerned.

I was surprised that only AIT was at that venue, aside of some other reporters.  I asked myself who the loser is. There may have been no arrangement to pay for coverage, being a book presentation, but what of the news value of an outing where explosive political statements are likely to be made, and were indeed made.

In the first outing in Popular News, we have a report of what happened at the book presentation, the speech Gen Buhari gave and the book review by Prof Ayo Dunmoye of the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria’

I have already given you a summary of what happened at the presentation. Hereunder is the speech of Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari and the Review of Prof Dunmoye which encapsulates the views of Tam David West.

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Leadership without Conscience

SIMON KOLAWOLE

Incredible. I recently discovered that I spend most of my time thinking and talking about Nigeria. If I devote half of the time to making money, I would be richer than Bill Gates and Mike Adenuga combined! I don’t know why but I’ve noticed that, indeed, wherever two or three are gathered, Nigeria is usually the topic of discussion. Last Monday in London, what was supposed to be a quiet dinner with my friend and IT consultant, Aminu Hammanyero, at a Malaysian restaurant turned out to be another round of discussion on Nigeria. As we reflected, lamented and regretted, I pushed my pet thesis forward once again – that Nigeria is like this because we have always had the wrong people in power. The day the right people lead us, you would not believe it is the same Nigeria that has been universally derided and declared as hopeless. 

Almost every ingredient needed to make Nigeria a truly great nation is available – a co-operative populace which we often label as “docile”; fantastic geographical balance which makes the North and the South so complementary in agricultural and industrial production; abundant human resource (go to advanced countries and see the way Nigerian professors, engineers, doctors and other professionals working over there are rated); abundant mineral resources; and a potential melting pot of multi-ethnic, multi-religious groups that, barring elite manipulation, are very capable of living together in peace and unity. The missing ingredient is, and has always been, leadership. We’re like sheep without a shepherd. We’ve always been saddled with unprepared and buccaneering leaders who spend most of their time pilfering and politicking without a care in the world for the progress of Nigeria.
As we finished attacking the Malaysian noodle dish with forks and knives, Aminu told me he had an appointment with former head of state, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and asked if I could accompany him. Why not? The last time I saw Buhari was in March 2001 when I interviewed him for TheWeek magazine, of which I was Editor then. I have nothing but respect for Buhari who, along with Major Gen. Tunde Idiagbon, provided a semblance of leadership for this country to the disgust of the predatory elite. To be sure, I was unhappy with the termination of our democracy in 1983 as well as their “dictatorship”. In fact, I was all too happy with the “democratic” posture of the man who overthrew them in 1985, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), who swiftly abrogated the anti-press Decree 4 and threw open the detention cells of the Buhari government for all the whole world to see.
I will not tell lies or pretend here – I was relieved on hearing martial music on August 27, 1985 and the coup speech: “I, Brigadier Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro, of the Nigerian Army, hereby make the following declarations of behalf of the Nigerian Armed Forces…” However, looking back today, I have nothing but anger and regrets. The first real chance to transform this country was truncated by IBB. He ended up committing every crime he accused Buhari of, and did even more. No government has undermined human rights more than IBB’s. All the politicians who were jailed with their loot confiscated by Buhari were released, given a pat on the back and re-integrated into the ruling class by IBB who paraded himself as a democrat. Most painfully, nobody has been able to successfully accuse Buhari and Idiagbon of corruption up till today. When Colonels Abubakar Umar, Lawan Gwadabe and Abdulmumini Aminu went to arrest Buhari in Daura, his hometown, on the eve of the IBB coup, they were shocked to discover the modesty of Buhari’s country home.
Even though I only began to fully appreciate Buhari when IBB started to show us his true colour, it was a Buhari interview I read in TheNews magazine in 1994 that finally melted my heart. Asked about the perceived highhandedness of his government, Buhari replied: “I agree we made a lot of mistakes, but they were genuine mistakes… we were in a hurry to change Nigeria.” I shook my head in pity. The motive was the progress of Nigeria, not personal benefits. Nobody is going to bring about fundamental change in Nigeria without taking tough actions which we would consider as “highhandedness”. Jerry Rawlings was notoriously highhanded in Ghana, but his country is today a reference point in transformation. The political elite which held Ghana captive had to make way for the country to make progress. Ghana is telling a different story today. Nigerian elites are now rushing to Ghana for “sanity”.
Motive matters. Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was also highhanded, only that it was not for the sake of Nigeria. His shenanigans in Anambra, Oyo, Rivers and the National Assembly were not for the progress of Nigeria but for self-aggrandisement. No matter what we count as Obasanjo’s achievements, he lacked the moral launch pad to transform Nigeria. That is why corruption boomed astronomically under him. His government should rank as the most corrupt in our history (IBB is a saint, compared to Obasanjo). Our refineries never worked because of the fuel-importing ring Obasanjo created to lubricate his political machinery. Even the power projects were riddled with scandal and so we still don’t have electricity. For eight years, Obasanjo failed to tackle our basic needs. Without a moral foundation, no attempts at economic or political reform will turn Nigeria into a great nation. Free and fair elections cannot be guaranteed.
As I was saying, we caught up with Buhari and chatted with him for nearly an hour. We discussed Nigeria and nothing else. The General is obviously very bitter with events in the country, particularly “Ido-Osi” (the new name for vote inflation) and the attitude of the ruling government to the development of the country. He said he was not surprised US President Barack Obama was going to Ghana and not Nigeria. “When President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was busy reversing policies and cancelling international agreements, he failed to realise the outside world was watching him. I was also not surprised Nigeria was left out of the G-20 summit. When I became head of state in 1983, I announced that we would honour every international obligation, even though some were entered into wrongfully by the previous government. But an agreement is an agreement,” he said.
He spoke on the Obasanjo years with disappointment and disbelief. “I worked with Obasanjo from 1975 to 1979 as petroleum minister. I had never worked with such a hardworking and honest person. He had the interest of Nigeria at heart. You just couldn’t cope with his pace. He could be on his feet for 24 hours. But the Obasanjo that ruled Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 was completely different from the one I knew. He spent the first term travelling all over the world. He spent the second term thinking of how to rule Nigeria forever,” Buhari said. He narrated his first argument with the former president at a Council of State meeting in 2001. The issue was the refineries. Hear him: “I said when I was the petroleum minister under him, we used to hold tenders for turn around maintenance (TAM) of refineries. There was no favouritism. There were no fuel queues because we made adequate preparations for the maintenance works by getting bids for fuel import contracts to cover the gap.”
He continued: “I also said, Mr. President, when you came into power in 1999, you said our refineries were not working because somebody was awarding fuel import contracts to his family members. Two years on, Mr. President, who is getting the fuel import contracts? Are the refineries working now? He interjected and tried to stop me. The then Vice-President Atiku Abubakar came to my rescue. He told the president that as the chairman of the economic team, he had not heard such a submission from anybody before then. He asked the president to allow me conclude my contribution. But my advice wasn’t accepted in any case.”
Buhari, now a democracy convert (he contested for presidency on the ticket of ANPP in 2003 and 2007), lamented the state of the nation. “I recently got hold of the figures of our income from 1999 till now, it’s incredible. How come we don’t have basic infrastructure? Why are our roads still like this? How come our education system has collapsed so dramatically that only those with money can send their children to good schools? Why are our hospitals in such a terrible state that only those who have money can get good treatment, usually abroad? Why should Nigeria be like this with all the money that we have? After asking myself all these questions, I came to the conclusion that our leaders do not have conscience. That is the crux of the matter. If our leaders had conscience, Nigeria would not be in the state it is now.”
To buttress his leadership argument, he said: “I was in Calcutta, India, in 1972 for my staff training. I remember that the same way refuse collectors come around in the morning was the way undertakers were going round every morning collecting dead bodies for burial. India was facing harsh economic and food crises then. Yet, with purposeful leadership, India had become a different country in a matter of 10 years. When I became head of state in 1983, I was amazed to discover that Nigeria was importing rice from India. That is what purposeful leadership can do. India is bigger and more complex than Nigeria by far. They have more ethnic groups, more religions, more political parties, by far a bigger population, but all these have not impeded their progress. They, along with China, are the emerging global economic powerhouses.”
Dear readers, I hereby stand my by argument – that the day the right leaders emerge, there would be no stopping Nigeria from attaining greatness. But how would they emerge with the way things are going, with the way the country is structured, with fake intellectuals and heartless looters calling the shots in almost every sphere of our lives? I don’t have an answer to that, honestly. But if there is bad, there is good too. If there is darkness, then there is light. If there are bad leaders, there will be good leaders one day. I don’t for one second think that predators will rule Nigeria forever…