3 Years After, US Faults 2011 Elections, blasts Nigeria for Human Rights Abuses

The United States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 has slammed the government of Goodluck Jonathan for its human rights record saying the Authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over the security forces and therefore the Security forces committed  human rights abuses. The report from Bureau of Democracy,Human Rights and Labor just received by elombah.com however said that the most serious human rights abuses during the year were those committed by Boko Haram, which conducted killings, bombings, abduction and rape of women, and other attacks throughout the country, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries, and widespread destruction of property; those committed by security services, which perpetrated extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, beatings, arbitrary detention, mistreatment of detainees, and destruction of property; and widespread societal violence, including ethnic, regional, and religious violence.

According to the report, the 2011 presidential, gubernatorial, and legislative elections which saw President Jonathan elected as president to a four-year term, along with Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, also of the PDP was considered to be generally credible and orderly by International and domestic election observers although marred by violence, fraud, and irregularities.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria ultimately upheld the results of the presidential election, while the Court of Appeals upheld the results of most other contests.

The report stated that the insurgency in the Northeast of militant terrorist sect Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, better known as Boko Haram (which translates to “Western education is forbidden”), continued. Casualties and human rights abuses associated with Boko Haram attacks and the government’s response escalated.

On April 24, President Jonathan inaugurated a Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North. Self-appointed Boko Haram spokespersons rejected dialogue or amnesty.

On May 14, President Jonathan declared a six-month state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states, which was extended for another six months on November 20.

Further highlights of the report includes other serious human rights problems like vigilante killings; prolonged pretrial detention; denial of fair public trial; executive influence on the judiciary; infringements on citizens’ privacy rights; restrictions on the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement; official corruption; violence against women; child abuse; female genital mutilation/cutting (FMG/C); infanticide; sexual exploitation of children; trafficking in persons; discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, regional origin, religion, and disability; forced and bonded labor; and child labor.

Impunity remained widespread at all levels of government. The government brought few persons to justice for abuses and corruption, and the president pardoned a former governor convicted on six counts of corruption. Police and security forces generally operated with impunity. Authorities did not investigate the majority of cases of police abuse or punish perpetrators.

Throughout much of the country, Boko Haram perpetrated numerous killings and attacks, often directly targeting civilians. During the year the sect, which recruited child soldiers, claimed responsibility for coordinated assaults on social and transportation hubs in Kano; an attack on the town of Baga; multiple attacks on schools and mosques; an attack on the town of Benesheik; and the killing of government, religious, and traditional figures. On February 17, the terrorist group Ansaru, believed to be a Boko Haram faction, kidnapped seven foreigners in Bauchi State.

During the year, with government and military support, a youth vigilante group known as the Civilian Joint Task Force (C-JTF) emerged in the Northeast, centered around Maiduguri. According to nongovernmental organization (NGO) and press reports, C-JTF members included children and committed extrajudicial killings.

Other organized criminal forces in the southern and middle parts of the country also committed abuses, such as kidnappings. The overall level of violence in the Niger Delta, which had declined briefly after a 2009 general amnesty, continued to rise again during the year.

Elombah.com

US Report Classifies 'Nigeria as Corrupt’

John Kerry

•   Due process saves FG N95.7bn in fourth quarter

Nduka Nwosu in Washington and James Emejo 

Nigeria has been classified as a corrupt country with a poor governance record, while discrimination against women, the less privileged, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is common place.

This is coming on the heels of the disclosure by the Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr. Emeka Ezeh that N95.79 billion was saved through the implementation of due diligence in public contracting and procurement in the fourth quarter of last year.

United States Secretary of State, John Kerry made the corruption allegations on Thursday in his well- advertised “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” which he presented at the Press Briefing Room of the State Department in Washington.
Kerry warned that the US was not acting out of arrogance but to plug the pitfalls arising from its experiment at home and help the human race against making avoidable mistakes.

“Even as we come together today to issue a report on other nations, we hold ourselves to a high standard and we expect accountability here at home too.  And we know that we’re not perfect. We don’t speak with any arrogance whatsoever, but with a concern for the human condition,” the Secretary of State said.

This year’s report, he stressed, “is especially timely coming on the heels of one of the most momentous years in the struggle for greater rights and freedoms in modern history.”

Confirming an earlier report by THISDAY that the US would give Nigeria a minus in its country report on gay rights and extra-judicial killings, Kerry said: “From Nigeria to Russia to Iran, indeed in some 80 countries the world over, LGBT communities face discriminatory laws and practices that attack their basic human dignity and undermine their safety.

“We are seeing new laws like the Anti-Homosexuality Bill enacted by Uganda and signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni earlier this week, which not only makes criminals of people for who they are, but punishes those who defend the human rights that are our universal birthright,” Kerry said

The more than 20,000 words document  touched on virtually every aspect of Nigeria’s constitution while most of the time scoring the country poorly for its performance, taking a huge swipe on the anti-corruption agencies-the EFCC, ICPC and the Police.
The report which ranked the EFCC’s commitment to the anti-corruption war higher than that of the ICPC said Ibrahim Lamorde’s efforts at prosecuting offenders were frustrated along the way.

“The anticorruption efforts of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and EFCC remained largely ineffectual. The ICPC holds broad authorities to prosecute all forms of corruption, whereas the EFCC is tasked with handling only financial crimes. Despite this wider mandate, the ICPC had achieved only 68 convictions since its inauguration in 2000.”

Repeating its earlier disapproval of President Goodluck Jonathan’s pardon of former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, it noted that Police corruption remained rampant. “In January, the police released a new code of conduct, which includes provisions on officer integrity. The police did not report any enforcement actions related to the code of conduct.”

It condemned the impunity with which officials of the Nigerian government allegedly frequently engaged in corrupt practices at all levels with the police and security forces factored in, wondering why the constitution provides immunity from civil and criminal prosecution for the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.

On the issue of declaration of assets, the country report did not spare President Goodluck Jonathan for not disclosing his assets.

Financial disclosure law, it said, requires public officials, including the president, vice president, governors, deputy governors, cabinet ministers, and legislators (at both federal and state levels), to declare their assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau before assuming and after leaving office with violators risking prosecution. However, it lamented, cases rarely came to conclusion.

“The president had not published information on his assets as of year’s end,” insisting the law required declaration of assets but not publication of the report.

The report listed an array of cases left hanging including that of former Bayelsa State governor Timipre Sylva for allegedly laundering over N5 billion; the yet to be tried John Yakubu Yusuf who is alleged to have embezzled N2 billion from the Police Pension Fund; Farouk Lawan who was also alleged to have solicited bribe from Zenon boss Femi Otedola.

Lamorde, according to the report, seemed to have been constrained “by the fact he is being tele-guided by those that put him in office, on who to arrest and prosecute while his efforts at trying 12 prominent public officials met a brick wall with several frustrating setbacks during the year.”

The report continued: “Despite the arrest of several high-ranking officials by the EFCC, including Dimeji Bankole and Hassan Lawal, who have been left off the hook, allegations continued that agency investigations targeted individuals who had fallen out of favour with the government, while those who were in favour continued their activities with impunity.”

In conclusion, Kerry summarised once more the reason for his country report exercise: “This is about accountability.  It’s about ending impunity.  And it’s about a fight that has gone on for centuries, as long as human beings have been able to think and write and speak and act on their own.

“And so, the United States of America will continue to speak out, without a hint of arrogance or apology, on behalf of people who stand up for their universal rights.  And we will stand up in many cases for those who are deprived of the opportunity to be able to stand up for themselves.”

The Director-General of BPP was speaking in Abuja yesterday while receiving a delegation from the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), said the amount saved could boost the provision of critical infrastructure in sectors including education, energy and health amid high expectations for quality service delivery in the country.

Eze further explained that the money was generated through the discharge of the agency's responsibility of regulating the process of public procurement to ensure contract awards were transparent and competitive.

In a statement signed by its spokesman, Mr. Tommy Odemwing, President of NIESV, Mr. Emeka Eleh, however, commended Eze for transforming the public procurement process in the country.

He also urged the BPP to ensure that non-registered estate surveyors and valuers were excluded from functioning as facility managers and estate agents.

He further urged the procurement agency to demand personal income tax certificates from surveyors and valuers in place of company tax clearance certificates for procurement of contracts.

Meanwhile, Ezeh had in May last  revealed that a total of N572 billion was saved through due diligence in public contracting system since it was established in 2007.
He had told journalists that about N122 billion was realised in 2012 while about N450 billion was saved between 2007 and 2011.

He said: “We are gratified as a nation that we have embraced the path of procurement for our socio-economic and political development. More than 10 years after the commencement of the reform, and barely five years after the public procurement Act, 2007, we have continued to consolidate on our gains, while charting new paths to the institutionalisation of methods in the public contracting process.

According to him: "As stakeholders in the implementation of the Act, we have to establish a synergy so that we can properly ensure that all hands are on deck in our bid to stamp out corruption through best procurement practices."

“This responsibility enshrined in section 5(h) of the Public Procurement Act 2007, expects the bureau to maintain a national database of the particulars of federal contractors and service providers for ease of information sourcing and analysis and in conformity with the needs of the new Information Age," he added.

ThisDay

Isaiah Balat: One Death Too Many for Southern Kaduna

Isaiah Balat

Just when Kaduna State, especially the Southern Kaduna people, were getting over the death of Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, the sudden death of Senator Isaiah Balat, a former works minister, dealt another big blow to the people. Reuben Buhari looks at the vacuum created by the deaths of many prominent people from the zone

Going by the notion that the hour of death cannot be forecasted, Senator Isaiah Balat, who was special adviser in the office of Vice President Namadi Sambo, never knew that death was closer than he thought, when on February 17 he was taken to the National Hospital for treatment. He died a day later.
Balat’s death has increased the list of prominent political leaders from the southern part of Kaduna State, with so much potential, who have died. And with their deaths come the dearth of credible leaders that could speak and stand for the zone, especially with the issue of marginalisation always compounding the woes of the southern people.
For more than 50 years, the predominantly Christian people of southern Kaduna, comprising about 53 ethnic groups, had been struggling to have one of their own as governor of the state. Many had contested the governorship elections without winning, until it became possible for the people to produce a governor of the state when Sambo, who was then the governor, was elevated to the post of Vice President with the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. With the elevation, his deputy, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, became the governor on May 20, 2010. Yakowa went ahead to win the 2011 governorship election and consequently became the ideal poster boy of his people. Unfortunately, he was just settling down to the task of governing the state when he suddenly died on December 15, 2012.
Balat was instantly seen as the last remaining leader of the zone, with the right connection, political experience and financial clout to fill in the vacuum created with the demise of Yakowa. His new stature was enhanced by the fact that he was a dogged and resolute politician who had gradually made his way up since the Second Republic when he was the chairman of the Nigerian Peoples Party in Kaduna State.  Years later, he became the Kaduna State campaign coordinator for the Obasanjo campaign organisation and was able to help the PDP poll 1.2 million votes in the 1999 presidential election - the second highest in the federation.
Balat was such a consummate politician that against all odds, with all the state machinery supporting Sambo at the 2007 governorship elections, he was able to ensure a re-run when no clear winner emerged between him and Sambo during the primary election. In fact, it is strongly believed that Balat would have out rightly won at the first round of the primaries, if not for the watchful eyes of Makarfi, whose anointed candidate for the governorship race was Sambo.
He was later made an adviser in the office of the vice president and was already being mentioned as one of those strong enough to challenge Governor Ramallan Yero in the 2015 general election, a view he had neither denied nor confirmed.  Balat’s death, just like that of Yakowa, has robbed the zone of a rallying point and a political leader.
Another person who was also in position to give direction to the people of southern Kaduna State was Col. Elias Baba Nyan (rtd). He had a distinguished military career. He was outspoken, fearless and never hesitated to call a spade a spade. Many people in the zone began to look up to him.
Nyan contested the governorship election in Kaduna State under the United Nigerian Congress Party in 1998.  Even though the PDP won that election, he fought a good fight that further endeared him to the people of southern Kaduna. Unfortunately, just when he was bidding his time to take another shot at the governorship post, he died following a road accident along Jankasa-Manchok-Vom road on February 1, 2009.
Colonel Yohanna Madaki was yet another prominent leader of the southern Kaduna. A former military governor of old Gongola State, he was the first National Legal Adviser of the PDP. He was a strong opinion leader who commanded so much respect within the zone. And just when his influence in the polity was beginning to bear fruits for the benefit of all, death came calling; he died in 2006.
The list of prominent people lost by the people of southern Kaduna is long.
General Joshua Mamman Madaki was born on July 6, 1947 in Manchok, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State. After his secondary school, he joined the Army and later became the military governor of Bauchi and Plateau state. When he retired, he joined politics. He was preparing to contest the 2003 governorship election under the Alliance for Democracy. Unfortunately, he died with all the dreams of the southern Kaduna people in May 2003 in a road accident after Ninth Mile on his way from Anambra State on an official assignment.
Garba Charles Madaki Ali was an accountant who came into politics during the Second Republic and was the state secretary of the NPP alongside Balat in 1979. He wanted to contest the governorship in 1998 but later stepped down for Makarfi. Ali later became a commissioner in Kaduna State and later a Minister of Works and Housing. He went on to contest the governorship primaries of Kaduna State in 2007 but lost. He was a grassroots politician that had etched his name in the minds of the people of the zone and would have contested again in 2011. But he died in 2009 after a brief illness.
Engr. Stephen Rijo Shekari was the deputy governor to Makarfi. He had been in politics for a long time. His position as deputy governor automatically conferred on him the political stature of leader of the southern zone. He was in the position to succeed Makarfi in 2007 after the expiration of his two terms, but Shekari took ill and was flown to Israel where he eventually died on July 10, 2005.
The vacuum created by Shekari’s death was filled by Yakowa, who was then Secretary to the State Government.  Yakowa eventually became the governor with Sambo’s elevation to the post of Vice President.  The 2011 polls came as a test as to whether the state’s electorate were really behind Yakowa. The days leading to the election and the announcement of the results were tension-soaked.
Yakowa made history as the first person from the southern part of the state and the first Christian to become a democratically elected governor of Kaduna State.
However, just when it looked like the smooth sail will continue to open up new vistas and more record breaking feats, in one of the unexplainable twists of fate, the cold hands of death clutched him. He died in an air crash in Bayelsa State on December15, 2012 where they had gone to grace the burial ceremony of the father of Presidential Adviser, Oronto Douglas.
General Luka Yusuf, former Chief of Army Staff, was also a prominent leader in the zone who hailed from Jama’a Local Government Area, the same local government as Yakowa. He became a respected opinion leader when he retired and many people were looking up to him for leadership and direction. Many were waiting for him to go fully into partisan politics for the sake of his people, but he became ill and died in 2009.
Like Robert Harrishese noted, you can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the Grim Reaper.
However, Mrs. Lawrencia  Laraba Mallam, who has t been nominated as a minister from the zone, former aviation minister, Hon. Hassan Felix Hyat, and a host of others are trying to fill the vacuum created by the death of people like Balat.

ThisDay

My 20 Billion Dollar Advice to C-in-C

The Pendulum By Dele Momodu, Email: Dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

“Life is a unique combination of ‘want to’ and ‘how to’, and we need to give equal attention to both.” – Jim Rohn

Our dear Commander-in-Chief, I write to you today with a bleeding and sorrowful heart. These past weeks have been extremely bloody in some parts of Nigeria. Every time I think of it, I get the feeling that those parts are not part of us. They belong elsewhere, probably in some remotest corner of the world. Those helpless and hapless citizens cannot be our own the way that we have allowed them to be treated. They are total strangers in a foreign land. As such, we’ve not been able to offer them the protection they deserve and succour they desire. They have been manacled, mangled and massacred so mercilessly and ruthlessly. They’ve been butchered like rams in abattoirs. I’ve seen lurid pictures of fresh corpses and bodies of innocent victims sent to early graves without reason.  It is as if we have returned to the Dark Ages.

I don’t know of anywhere else where terrorists are having such a field day unhindered, unhampered and with such effortless ease at this moment. They are raiding our villages and towns with uncommon gusto, wanton abandon and without discrimination. They kill and maim the young and old, men and women, able and disabled. No one is spared in this gory brutality. Their job is made simple by protectors who have learnt the art of vanishing into thin air (when badly needed) and a Leadership whose template is already pre-determined and predictable.

The reason for my smug assumption is simple. I do not feel a sense of palpable revulsion in us. There is no sign of desperation to suggest we are determined to do something drastic about this unacceptable situation. There seems to be no impetus for speed and urgency in bringing this atrocious bloodbath under control. What we are hearing repeatedly are mere platitudes, words of ineffective promises broken and hope long lost. This is most unfortunate.

Sir, please don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming you for this unprecedented crisis. It did not begin under your watch, although some may claim, uncharitably perhaps, that it has escalated under it. I cannot reasonably suggest that you are uncaring and nonchalant about this monumental tragedy. I think the problem is that of miscommunication, as is so often the case with your administration and this has been amplified by your body language. The problem of this magnitude requires a more resolute and concerted response. You cannot treat terminal cancer with Paracetamol. Wars are not just about weapons, whether the weapons of mass destruction. Words can indeed be more lethal sometimes. The Americans have mastered the art of matching words with action. They are not the only ones. Most leaders nowadays know that mastery of the spoken word is half way to being a successful leader because that way you inspire and motivate.  The people wreaking this havoc on Nigeria are not spirits from outer space. They can be talked to.  Even if they were spirits we have it in folklore that our great leaders of yore communicated directly with those spirits by speaking to them.

Going back to the problem, I believe that you have two or three options to deal with grave issue. The first is the instinctive recourse of a village bully and that is to fight back with superior firepower. However, no one is able to place a bet that we possess such military advantage, given the way in which these terrorists have been able to infiltrate even our military establishments and terrorise the occupants. You have tried this option and it seems that you have failed somewhat. The second option is to negotiate with someone you realise you cannot conquer in a free and fair fight, because it is obvious that they are fighting dirty and employing every available means at their disposal, whether sanctioned by the Geneva Convention or not. You appear to have attempted to utilise this option by setting up a Boko Haram peace committee to open up some dialogue with this dreaded group but it seems that committee has gone into coma, if not stillbirth or dead on arrival. The third option is what is known as the carrot and stick approach, or fight and play. That is also neither here nor there; even though it appears that you have not given this approach enough consideration.  In fact it seems you have gone back to the tried and failed approach of deploying a suspect military might with what is glaringly becoming dire consequences.

I sincerely sympathise with the condition under which you’ve had to govern, ever since you became an accidental President. These indeed are not the best of times for Nigeria or Nigerians. Since you attained power, Nigeria has continued to meander from one crisis to the other. While it is possible that some politicians never wished you well some of the problems appear to be self-inflicted. I think in a genuine but flawed effort to enhance your image as a leader you recruited the wrong people and wasted too many resources on them. All you needed was to spend most of that money on building monuments that would outlive your government. Even your most vociferous critics would eventually have applauded you. The best punishment to inflict on your enemies is to continue to succeed and excel. I believe the biggest mistake you have made to date is playing into the hands of politicians by showing early interest in going for a second term. If you try your best and deliver on some of your electoral promises, no Jupiter can stop your forward march.

In seeking to secure another term in office, you have allowed some people to amass enemies on your behalf. They did not know or understand how to persuade people with reason and dialogue as demanded by democracy. The same lack of knowledge and understanding has led to the approach adopted in dealing with the Boko Haram threat. Every little disagreement is amplified and elevated to the level of fisticuffs. Every critic must be stricken down and criminalised by the attack-dogs. They dissipate energy on irrelevant things while the roof is on fire. The weight of your performance would have counter-balanced the burden of terrorism. But it seems your guys have pre-occupied themselves with fighting every imaginary enemy. This is what has led to the implosion and conflagration in you party PDP. As if that was not bad enough, Boko Haram has defied all your war strategy. As a matter of fact, the menace has quadrupled while we are being told we are winning the war.  How, I often wonder.

I decided to write you after watching your last national broadcast because it dawned on me that we are sending the wrong signals not only to our citizens but also to the rest of the world. I’m addicted to watching international news channels, as I am sure are a lot of Nigerians, and I have since discovered that five animals dying would attract bigger treatment than 50 Nigerians being killed. Whilst we cannot blame the foreign journalists, we must of course blame our own attitude to crisis management. The reason for the cold shoulder of international journalists to our national tragedy and grief is because of our own seeming indifference to monumental disasters. Perhaps, it is due to natural and spiritual defects in how we respond to issues and communicate when under pressure.

I had tuned in to your broadcast last Wednesday with the anxious hope that finally you were going to speak extensively and comprehensively about reinvigorating your war against terrorism, in the wake of the killing of about 50 innocent students and the massacre of several more in Yobe. I was mortified when your opening lines started about what has become the new obsession for your Administration – the Centenary Celebration. I really don’t know who your speech writers are but they did their worst that night. You missed an opportunity to reassure the nation about any serious intent to take the war to the doorstep of those who won’t allow others to rest. I could imagine how a President Obama would have started that speech in respect of the same breach of American security:

“On Sunday, we lost 50 students to terrorists who invaded our Unity school to spread their campaign of hate and division. They burnt down the school and levelled it to the ground. On Monday, the same gang of killers invaded a village in Yobe and shot at everyone and everything in sight. Many of our citizens lost their lives. I have summoned a meeting of my service chiefs and I have instructed that the Army and Airforce immediately go after these guys and pursue them to their holes. They shall have no hiding place.  We shall unearth them from every hiding hole. It is unfortunate that this is coming at a time we are celebration our hundred years of nationhood, when our very union is at stake and we are doing everything to cement that unity.  It is ironic that these people chose to attack one of the very symbols of our togetherness, a Unity School.

“I have decided to scale down the centenary celebration. We shall now use the occasion to celebrate our brothers and sisters who lost their lives to these senseless and unwarranted killings. Never again would agents of darkness be allowed to roam our streets with the freedom they refuse to grant others. America will not go to sleep and allow this nonsense to have any impact on any of our citizens. My National Security Adviser has been mandated to report the latest developments to me on hourly basis. My heart reaches out to these victims and their families. Michelle and I offer our condolences to a grieving nation. We promise to do everything possible to protect innocent kids who are the future of this country. We must all resolve to say Never Again. God bless America!”

The centenary speech that you prepared had been overtaken by events and you should have realised this and immediately changed tack. I’m sure your fellow leaders were aghast to see that everything went on as normal without any sign of national mourning. Are we for real? I wish to appeal to you, Sir that something must change urgently. Please, don’t dismiss this as an unsolicited intervention from political opponents. Let me emphasise that this is not coming from APC. I am not a member of that Party.  I’m only a concerned Nigerian who does not want you to fail no matter what your advisers tell you otherwise. This is the role I’ve played most of my adult life. I know if you succeed there will be a brighter future for me and my children. No country can succeed in an atmosphere of perpetual strife.

If you fail all of us from similar background would have been put to shame. When tomorrow comes and we say illiterate rulers ruled and ruined Nigeria, we’ll be reminded that a PhD holder also misruled and destroyed Nigeria. If we blame Northerners for the underdevelopment and terrible woes in Nigeria we are going to be asked if the Niger Delta became a Dubai under your tenure. Don’t be deceived by those telling you sweet things today. They are not your true friends. Your well-wishers are your constructive critics who can tell you as it is and not those deceiving you that they will commit suicide if you don’t declare your interest in running for the second term now. We know them very well as soldiers of fortune that are always available to serve potential customers like you.
May God help you at this very difficult task. 

 

ThisDay

Everything Can’t be Politics

Simon Kolawole Live!: By Simon Kolawole, Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur recently canvassed something that has always been uppermost on my mind “constructive criticism”. The former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was, of course, seeking support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s government and we would, in any case, expect that from him. After all, they both belong to the same camp, politically. But strip the statement of his political affiliation, and you would get the gist: criticism should seek to build and not destroy, especially when national interest is at stake. Unfortunately, we have this incurable tendency to politicise everything in Nigeria ─ from Boko Haram to corruption ─ even when the fortune of millions of Nigerians is at stake. Alas, politics has become everything.

But for his foray into the PDP, Tukur’s voice should generally be treated as that of an elder statesman. For a man who will be 80 next year, he has earned that right. He is clearly one of the most accomplished Nigerians ever. Educated at Ahmadu Bello University, University of Pittsburgh and London School of Economics and Political Science, he has served as state governor and federal minister. Before the PDP fiasco, the image of Tukur that readily came to mind was that of a successful businessman, celebrated globally for his leadership of the African Business Roundtable and his chairmanship of NEPAD Business Group. He also endowed the Bamanga Tukur Institute for International Trade and Development at the University of Port Harcourt.

Ordinarily, therefore, if Tukur speaks, we should listen. Every society should have elders: those who have earned their stripes by reason of their age, service and experience. It is all the more desirable that they do not promote sectional and partisan interests. We need elders we can always look up to, elders who can call us to order when we are going out of our minds. What you find in Nigeria today, however, is that we are too political. We are all speaking in tongues and there is nobody to shout hallelujah. Those who should play the role of elders are patently political too. They are unable to speak with sincerity. Even if what they are saying is what most people would love to hear, their motives give them away.

Back to the “constructive criticism” advocacy by Tukur, recent events have saddened me. I am talking about the renewed Boko Haram onslaught. By any definition, this is a national tragedy that requires all hands on deck, irrespective of political or religious affiliation. Anybody who has human blood in his veins should never turn this tragedy into an opportunistic campaign for 2015. It is nothing but a massive insult on our crippling injury. The Boko Haram militants have consistently attacked Muslims and Christians, men and women, boys and girls and politicians from all divides. Everybody who does not share their beliefs is an enemy ─ simple. And we who do not share their beliefs must never miss this point.

I was reviewing the activities of Boko Haram a few weeks ago and I was telling myself “we’re winning the war”. I looked at the fact that the Sunday-Sunday bombings have died down. Suicide bombings have virtually disappeared. Abuja came under attack on many occasions ─ the attacks on police headquarters, the UN House and the THISDAY office were quite deadly ─ but there has been no fresh case in Abuja in a long time. The regular attacks on Kano have reduced. My conclusion then was that because of renewed security strategy and the co-operation of local people, most Boko Haram insurgents have been pushed out of the heart of Northern Nigeria into the margins – especially on the border with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The next frontier, therefore, is the border ─ which is very vulnerable. African borders are very, very porous. The most vicious Boko Haram attacks in recent times have been launched in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States. Nigerians living in the border towns are defenceless, and it is most tragic that secondary school students are now being mercilessly massacred by the militants. Does it not make sense, then, that the anti-insurgency strategy should shift to the border? When the militants were operating in the heart of the North, containing them was complicated because they could easily pass for your next-door neighbours. However, they now operate on foot ─ like combat soldiers ─ and this is the area that the Nigerian military is trained to fight. The battleground is now well defined.

I would rather think, then, that we should be constructive in confronting this insurgency. In this moment of national grief and a clear threat to the territorial integrity of Nigeria, this should not be seen as an opportunity to play 2015 politics. This is not the time to demoralise our soldiers, who are consistently on the firing line. Some things should be too sacred for politicking. I have no objections to Jonathan and the opposition playing politics with each other over the performance of the economy, the foreign reserves, the excess crude account, the “missing $20 billion” and what-not. They are politicians. They are jostling for the same position. That is the nature of politics. But Boko Haram? No. Never. We are talking about life and death here. It is beyond politicking.

What we need at this critical moment is a compassionate, patriotic and constructive conversation on the way forward. Terrorism is no child’s play. A cursory study of terrorism in countries such as Lebanon, Pakistan and Iraq will reveal that it is not something to be toyed with. They’ve been battling it for decades. It is not a war you start tonight and finish tomorrow. Countries that are far more advanced than Nigeria in military, intelligence and technological capabilities ─ countries such as the US and the UK ─ have suffered heavy casualty and burnt billions of dollars fighting terror in unfamiliar terrains. Pakistan has superior military capability compared to Nigeria, but it has not comfortably tackled terrorism. Quenching terrorism is not the same thing as quelling a riot.

The reality is that we are in a long-drawn war and if we have no input into how we can win it, we don’t need to complicate things. The military chiefs should talk less and do more. The more they triumphantly announce that the days of Boko Haram are numbered, the more those guys keep coming at them. The war cannot be won on the pages of newspapers. The opposition must accept the fact that we need a Nigeria before they can even think of taking it over in 2015, so they must not see this as yet another opportunity for politicking. President Jonathan should know that the responsibility to secure the lives and property of Nigerians is his primary duty ─ more important than getting a second term in office.

For us ─ the onlookers ─ we should realise that all these political actors are temporary. The health of our country is in clear and present danger. We need to heal, not kill. We need to build, not destroy. That is why I find Tukur’s words instructive. I am more worried about my country than Jonathan and his opponents. As we say, “soja go, soja come but barrack remain.”
• Follow me on twitter @simonkolawole

And Four Other Things...

CENTENARY CRAZE
An angry Nigerian sent me an email last week over the centenary celebration. He was so angry that the celebration still went ahead despite the Yobe killings that he suggested an article with the title: “Our President Has Gone Mad!” I already expressed my opposition to the event on twitter. While we may not want to give Boko Haram the impression that they are succeeding in disrupting national life, the fact remains that the Yobe killings and the kidnapping of 20 young girls were a national tragedy. Postponing the celebration would have been an appropriate national mourning.

CENTENARY CHEER
Despite my opposition to the centenary dinner, I was pleased to see in attendance two staunch opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan. I’m sure the supporters of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo would not like it. However, my point is that we must separate national issues from partisan matters. Attending the event does not mean the two former heads of state will drop their opposition to Jonathan’s re-election bid. Anytime the two men boycott Council of State meetings, I usually don’t like it. It is not about Jonathan; it is about the progress of Nigeria. That’s my point.

CONFERENCE CALL
The National Conference, which first seemed doomed to be “brought in dead”, is generating interest more than we expected. Initially derided as a tactic by President Jonathan to distract our attention from more important issues, the conference is now attracting credible participation from across the country. Some of the agenda that different groups are taking to the conference are looking very familiar. Nonetheless, I think the political actors are now realising that the politics of boycott is not always effective. You can only shape the discussion effectively if you participate. I still wonder, however, how binding the outcome will be.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Kudos to Uncle Taiwo Obe for the very successful summit on Functional Social Networking for Nigerian Journalists. It was supported by UBA Plc which also played host to the large gathering of journalists. There is no doubt that the media landscape has changed dramatically. Getting social media-savvy is no longer a choice but a necessity for journalists, except we want to be left behind. The era when we journalists had monopoly over reporting is over. There are still issues about ethics and professionalism as anarchy threatens the online landscape, but that is where the professionals will eventually make a difference.

 

ThisDay

From Britain’s Cash Cow to Africa’s Big Brother

Obafemi Awolowo

Demola Ojo

Despite clocking 100 years as a geographical entity, Nigeria’s foreign policy can be said to have kicked off in earnest after independence in 1960. Prior to then, the interests of the British colonialists held sway and Nigeria’s foreign policy was in effect an extension of British foreign policy.
One of many examples where the interests of Britain superseded that of Nigeria was in agriculture where the establishment of British colonial administration brought the introduction of a cash crops economy to Nigeria. Through a deliberate policy of discouraging food crop cultivation, many communities were gradually rid of food supplies in favour of the cultivation of cash crops needed by British industries.

The raw materials Britain needed were cotton for British textile factories, rubber for tyres and other products, palm oil and kernel for soap and margarine, groundnut for manufacturing oil, hides and skins for leather products, timber for furniture as well as tin and coal.
Britain maintained a firm control over the Nigerian market due to favorable policies of the colonial government in Nigeria. In 1917, for instance, the colonial government imposed a total ban on the export of palm oil from Nigeria, except to the U.K. Between 1919 and 1922, she also imposed highly discriminative duties on palm kernel from Nigeria, with the intention of emphasizing the 1917 ban. In essence then, Britain was at the centre of pre-independence Nigerian economic and by extension, foreign policy.

Fast forward to 1960 and the dawn of independence. Nigeria’s foreign policy switched focus to Africa and the promotion of African unity and independence. The country set about promoting peaceful settlement of disputes and regional economic cooperation and development.
In carrying out these principles, Nigeria was a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now known as the African Union and has been at the forefront of regional cooperative efforts in West Africa, functioning as standard-bearer for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and ECOMOG, economic and military organisations respectively .
Nigeria has played a central role in the ECOWAS efforts to end the civil war in Liberia and contributed the bulk of the ECOWAS peacekeeping forces sent there in 1990. Nigeria also provided the bulk of troops for ECOMOG forces in Sierra Leone.

The idea of Africa as the centre piece of Nigerian foreign policy is premised on the understanding that Nigeria’s engagement in the international system will be looked at through the binoculars of Africa. Nigeria’s first external affairs minister, Aja Wachukwu, harped on the imperative of an Afrocentric policy. “Charity begins at home and therefore any Nigerian foreign policy that does not take into consideration the peculiar position of Africa is unrealistic.”
Thus, the liberation of other African countries has been of the highest importance to Nigeria. Nigeria committed itself to opposition of white minority governments in other parts of Africa. The country frequently backed the African National Congress (ANC) by taking a committed tough line with regard to the South African government and their military actions in southern Africa.

More examples abound. When civil war broke out in Angola in 1975 after the country had gained independence from Portugal, Nigeria, a member of the English Commonwealth of Nations, mobilised its diplomatic influence in Africa in support of the MPLA. That support helped tipped the balance in their favour, which led to OAU recognition of the MPLA over UNITA.
Nigeria extended diplomatic support to another socialist cause, this time in Namibia, to stall the apartheid South African installed government. In 1977, the General Olusegun Obasanjo military regime made a donation of $20 million to the Zimbabwean movement against the government of Rhodesia. Nigeria also sent military equipment to Mozambique to help the new independent country suppress the South African backed RENAMO guerrillas.

Although officially denied by the Nigerian government, Nigeria is believed to have also provided secret military training and provided other material support to Robert Mugabe’s guerrilla forces during the Rhodesian Bush War(Renamed Zimbabwe in 1979) against white minority rule of Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith which was backed by the government in South Africa.
To demonstrate its seriousness against multi-national companies in Nigeria that violated the economic/trade embargo on the South African regime, the local operations of Barclays Bank was nationalised after that bank ignored the strong protests by Nigeria urging it not to buy the South African government bond. Nigeria also nationalised the British Petroleum (BP) for supplying oil to South Africa.

In the process of all these, Nigeria earned for itself the appellation a ‘frontline nation’, even though she was geographically far removed from the struggles in the Southern African region.
Nigeria is a member of the following international organisations: United Nations and several of its special and related agencies, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Organisation of African Unity (OAU) - now African Union AU, Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), Commonwealth, Non-Aligned Movement and several other West African bodies.
It is renowned for its world acknowledged peacekeeping expertise, and in terms of proactive engagement with major socio-political and economic issues of continental importance since its own independence, Nigeria towers above any other African country.
For these reasons, Nigeria has been described as the ‘Big Brother’ of Africa. The country has over the years tended towards aiding other African nations in need and in most, if not all cases, it did that without any economic benefit to itself.

ThisDay

Football Racism: End Not In Sight

Recently Real Betis midfielder Nosa Igiebor recounted his encounter in the hands of racists in Spain.
The 23-year-old expressed disbelief and shock at the high level of racism in the European country after spells in Norway with Lillestrom and Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Igiebor, who joined Betis in 2012 told the BBC, "For me I never thought about it (racism), as I never experienced it in Norway. I went to Israel and never experienced it. So I thought okay, it is the same everywhere.
"But I came here (Spain) and I saw these fans. If you play badly they scream and shout, but with the blacks it is different. They tend to call you names. I have seen my teammates who killed us in a game and nobody is saying anything about it because they are white.
"When I came here, that is when I knew there was racism in football. I never knew it before. I think FIFA or anybody should do something about it, because we all are human beings. Your colour does not really matter. Let us just play football and enjoy it."
Last year, Igiebor was racially abused by his own fans as he warmed-up for the derby clash with Seville.
The Nigerian replied the fans by coming off the bench to score Betis's third goal as they drew 3-3 after going down 3-0.
And then he celebrated his goal by raising the middle finger on both hands towards the fans.
"It is an experience which really I do not want to remember," the 23-year-old continued. "I do not want to talk about it, but I am going to share it now as it might help some other players. The coach asked me to warm up, and I went there with three other white guys.
"We were down 3-1 at that time, and there were these two guys who started shouting 'Nosa black monkey, Negro', those kind of words. They started screaming at me. I was wondering 'what have I done?'
"I had not even been on the field. You start to think, because you are black, why are they not telling these three guys the same thing they are telling me.
"I felt really bad. Emotionally I was down, if I could say to my coach do not put me (in) I would say (it), but I cannot. They were screaming and calling me all sorts of names.
"The coach then called me to go in and play. And when I scored that goal I ran to that same spot where those two guys were standing and I saw them and I did what I did."
Igiebor regretted his action afterwards but he admitted that he felt frustrated after the fans abused him.
"I did it out of annoyance and bitterness and anger in me," he added.
"I thought of it later and I should not have done it. But I did it at that point in time as I was frustrated.
"Why are they calling me Negro, black, monkey? This is what we are talking about, this racism in football. You do not do it. (Mario) Balotelli said it, other black guys have said it. We experience these things, you understand, and at the point in time you cannot control yourself. I am sorry for it."
Racist abuse of black players remains a major issue across Europe and Nigerian players have not been spared over the years.
In 2006, Adebowale Ogungbure was spat upon, jeered with racial remarks and mocked with monkey noises by fans as he left the pitch in a game between his club FC Sachsen Leipzig and Hallescher FC.
In rebuke, he placed two fingers under his nose to imitate a Hitler mustache and thrust his arm in a Nazi salute.
Ogungbure was accused and reported by German police but criminal proceedings against him were dropped 24 hours later.
Stoke City forward Osaze Odemwingie was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to a Nigerian father and a Russian mother.
Four years ago, Odemwingie joined EPL side West Bromwich Albion from Russia's Lokomotiv Moscow. But Lokomotiv fans unfurled racist banners targeted at the player. One banner included the image of a banana and read, "Thanks West Brom."
But Odemwingie was welcomed by West Brom supporters with their own banner spelling out their support for the striker.
Players of Nigerian descent, who pledged loyalties to other countries have not been left out of the racist abuse as well.
One of the most hit is the American defender Oguchi Onyewu. He was punched in the face and shouted at by racist fans while playing for Standard Liege in Belgium.
But the most publicised incident involving the big defender occurred in the 2008/09 season, when Anderlecht defender Jelle Van Damme, allegedly repeatedly called him a "dirty ape."
Van Damme denied the accusation, saying Onyewu taunted him in a racist way by calling him "dirty Flemish."
In an effort to end on-field racism in Europe, Onyewu sued Van Damme but the case was withdrawn in 2011 after a meeting between the two players that had Van Damme apologising.
Former Super Eagles defender, Taribo West, also recalled his plight in the hands of racists across Europe. The Olympic gold medalist had a glorious European career that spanned 13 years playing in the big leagues of Italy, Germany, France, England and Yugoslavia.
He however insists that racism cannot be totally eliminated.
"When I was playing in Europe, I was very popular. In Italy, the fans would sing with my father or mother's name; they would insult my parents. While on the pitch, if you came close to them, maybe on the sideline, they would throw bananas at you; they would throw water at you. We endured all that. I don't think it will change; racism will continue to be there," West said.
"I remember one game in Italy against Fiorentina and the whole fans were waiting for me. It was Taribo West against Fiorentina that day. If you touch the ball they will stone you, abuse you and boo you. If you don't have a big heart, you will run away. I said, 'today na today.' If you criticise and challenge me, it brings out the best in me.
"I ended my contract with Kaiserslautern in Germany because of racism. I couldn't stop it, I couldn't adjust to it. You will go to shops to buy something and you can see what you want to buy but they will tell you it's not there. The seller will tell you they don't have it and they don't sell it just because he is a racist and doesn't want to sell for blacks.
"It's all over Europe. It's very strong in Italy, very strong in Germany. It's mild in England and France. Holland is also mild because of the large number of blacks there. It's in Yugoslavia but I didn't face much there."
And the former AC Milan and Inter Milan centre-back now turned pastor, had to fight to earn some respect until he became born again.
He added, "I used to fight everyday in training. When I wasn't born again, I didn't know how to manage it. So, what I did was to fight.
"When I became born again, I began to forgive but it was still not easy. I was still hitting them. If you touch me, I will hit you twice. The whole team knew it; if you do anything funny, I will avenge. So, that kept me going and I built a reputation that you couldn't mess up. That made them to be afraid of me. That was how I dealt with the issue, until I left the scene."
West disclosed that African players even had to form a 'strong union' to tackle the malaise in his early days at French side Auxerre.
"Racism was very common in my time but now FIFA and UEFA are taking measures against it because of complaints from the coloured players. In some teams, if you like play more than (Diego) Maradona, you will not be picked. They don't care what you play; nobody will even look at you.
"So, we had a union of African footballers then; it was very strong. George Weah was president and we held meetings regularly and we discussed issues. We donated money to help Africans.
"In France, we used to see regularly: we had members that included me, Weah, Roger Milla, Rigobert Song and other key African players. But when we moved from France, we couldn't follow it up the way we used to. So, I don't know how it eventually went."
Ex-Eagles defender, Abdul Sule, says racism has killed the careers of several black players, who couldn't manage the abuses they received.
"I didn't witness it but while in Greece, I had to leave the scene of a racist incident because I didn't want to be embarrassed. A white guy was using racist words against a black guy and I had to leave.
"It kills the players' morale. When people who should support you are calling you names, it's hard to play. When you come to the pitch, you will begin to think negatively and this has affected the careers of several players," the former Stationery Stores player said.
Head, Technical Department of the Nigeria Football Federation, Chris Green, said the football body would back any of the country's players racially abused.
"When such things as racism are target towards them, they (players) should report to us (NFF). If they report the matter, we will take it up with the FA of the player's club and FIFA. We will not fold our hands and watch our players abused racially," Green stated.
"The boy is in Betis to render services. They employed him not because of his colour but because he could get the job done. We tell our players that they once played here before they left for Europe. So, if anything happens to them, a single mail will do the trick and we will investigate the matter and take it up."
Narrow is the way to success, so says a parable. West believes racism is one of the challenges a black player will face on his way to stardom and like he did during his time, he advises them to fight their way through, still insisting thjat racism will never end.
"They have to be very strong; they can't change it. It's something they have to pass through before they hit the limelight. They should be focused. Sometimes it could be painful but they have to live with it like I did."
Europe is a huge attraction for up-and-coming Nigerian footballers but they must realise that racism is probably one of the tough battles they have to battle to carve a niche for themselves.

Naij.com