2015: Sambo Heads Jonathan’s Declaration Committee

Osa Okhomina

Ahead of President Goodluck Jonathan’s bid to declare his second term ambition in May this year, he has appointed Vice President Namadi Sambo as head of the committee to work out the modalities for the exercise.
A presidency source confirmed to LEADERSHIP Weekend in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital yesterday that President Jonathan has appointed Sambo as head of the committee to work out the modalities for his declaration for re-election in 2015.
It was also gathered that the development led to the summoning of all stakeholders of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from the North-West to a meeting aimed at stemming moves against Sambo.
The presidential aide disclosed that after the meeting with stakeholders, President Jonathan directed Vice President Sambo to put together a “compact team to work out measures that will herald a hitch-free declaration tentatively fixed for May this year.”
“President Goodluck Jonathan cannot wait for too long in the face of all that is happening in the polity because doing so will be inimical to several interests, particularly the interest of the PDP. Against this backdrop, we insisted that he gives a semblance of readiness which he did last week asking the Vice President Namadi Sambo to set up a closely-guarded team to work between now and May tentatively fixed for the declaration of Mr President for a second term in office,” he said.
The source further hinted that Sambo had co-opted former Works Minister and chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, former chairman of the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Bode George, and six governors, one each from the geo-political zones to work out modalities for the May declaration.
Leadership

N13bn Budget Cut: We Will Not Be Able To Pay Salaries – IGP

Adesuwa Tsan And Edegbe Odemwingie

As the nation grapples with insecurity, the inspector general of Police, Mohammed Abubakar has lamented the cut of  N13 billion personnel cost in the 2014 budget of the Nigeria Police Force, saying if passed that way, salaries and allowances of men of the Force will not get paid.
Abubakar, made this disclosure when he appeared before the House Committee on Police Affairs to defend the budget of the police yesterday.
The IG urged the lawmakers to ensure that the issue is addressed before the budget is passed by the National Assembly to avert a likely crisis that could ensue as a fallout of the action.
“Mr. Chairman, this is a serious shortfall. Very soon, it means that we will not be able to pay salaries.
“I urge the committee to address this in order to avoid a likely crisis; this has to do with the welfare of our personnel”, he stated.
Going further, the IG lamented that the overhead cost for police operations has been on the decline since 2009 and all at a time when the police is over-stretched by insecurity across the country.
Explaining the decline in funding of police operations, he said in 2009,  the overhead cost was N10.8bn; in 2010, it was N15.6bn; in 2011, it was N5.5bn; N8.1bn in 2012; N7.6bn in 2013 and N6bn in 2014.
For example, he said the N6bn voted for personnel cost could not cover the cost of fueling the 10,232 police vehicles scattered all over the country.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee, Hon. Usman Kurmo, aligned himself with the submission of the Police boss, saying the committee had noticed the reduction and have started taking action on it by asking the budget office to sort it out.
Kurmo said, “As a committee, we have done a calculation on what the IG is saying; the money is about N13bn.  “That is the much that was reduced in the personnel cost of the police force in the budget”, he stated while noting that in 2013, the personnel cost of the police was N293.5bn and reduced to N279bn in the 2014 budget.
The lawmaker said the cut comes as a surprise considering that there was no retrenchment nor heavy retirement carried out by the police in the last one year that could lead to a reduction of N13bn from their salary budget.
Kurmo also explained that the director general of Budget Office, Dr Bright Okogu gave assurances that the office started an integrated salary payment system across all agencies since 2013, resulting in cuts for many of them and that “what is provided for the police will be enough for the personnel cost” even as a provision for a  shortfall has been made with money drawn from Service Wide vote.
The lawmakers however urged the committee to prioritise it’s expenditure so that important areas will be given more funds while lamenting that, “if we want to transform the country, then we must first transform the security agencies”.
 Leadership

UN To Jonathan: End Continuous Killings In Nigeria

Abiodun Oluwarotimi

The United Nations on Wednesday urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian security agencies to find all the means to end the killings and violence in the country.
Speaking in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP’s correspondent in New York, the head of the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA), Mr. Said Djinnit, stated that the world body was seriously concerned about the escalation of acts of terrorism in north-eastern Nigeria, including along the border with Cameroon.
The United Nations official also condemned the latest wave of “unspeakable” violence in the region and demanded an end to attacks targeting innocent civilians.
Djinnit pressed further that the unprecedented cycle of violence in Nigeria must stop, stressing that the people of Nigeria deserved to live in peace and security. He also deplored the recent killings of some 80 people by unidentified armed groups in Maiduguri, Mainok and Mafa villages in Borno State.
In his statement on the more renewed violence, Mr. Djinnit, who is also Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa, said the recent attacks, a series of deadly car bombings, according to media reports, which resulted in the death of more than 80 people, were further unspeakable violence against innocent civilians who he claimed had been regularly targeted by indiscriminate terrorist attacks.
Expressing condolences to the bereaved families and to the people and the government of Nigeria, he reiterated the need to protect civilians and expressed the hope that the perpetrators of the attacks would be brought to justice.
It would be recalled that Borno, along with Nigeria’s northern states of Adamawa and Yobe, have been under states of emergency since May 2013 as the army fights  Boko Haram insurgents.

Leadership

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. 

 

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