UK Envoy: Enforcing Executive Order On Travel Ban Very Important In Fighting Corruption

             By: Faderera Falade 

Paul Arkwright, UK high commissioner to Nigeria, says the implementation of the executive order six is very important if the federal government is to win the battle of corruption.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on July 5 signed the executive order restraining owners of assets under probe from carrying out further transactions on such assets.

He explained that the measure was necessitated by the need prevent suspected corrupt person from perverting justice.

Following a recent court judgement affirming the legality of the order, the president directed that some 50 Nigerians should be placed on watch list.

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, had said those affected will be restricted from leaving the country until the corruption cases against them are concluded.

In an interview with Channels TV, Arkwright said implementation of the order will help root out corruption in Nigeria.

“I’ve heard that this is an anti-corruption measure, it’s not for me to say who should or should not be on the list,” he was quoted as saying.

“But what I would say is that it’s very important in continuing this fight against corruption and rooting out corruption where it is happening.”

Two lawyers have appealed against the judgement upholding the order.

Copyright Naija News 

PRESIDENT OBASANJO & ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR: A RECONCILIATION NOT AN ENDORSEMENT.

Bishop Matthew Hassan KUKAH

I have deliberately made this explanatory note long because I think it is necessary that people make up their minds based on the facts, given my central role in the event. I note that Sheikh Gumi has already told his own side of the story. I feel obliged to state my own side so that Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement. Sadly, I personally did not read President Obasanjo’s statement until two days later on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall.

Although trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up. My focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation. 

Understandably, the pictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar, Shaikh Gumi and I) literally lit up the social media and elicited divergent reactions from the general public. Although over 99% of the reactions that have come to me have been largely those of commendation, with people focusing, rightly, on the reconciliation, there have been others whose focus has been on an isolated development that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all these years, namely, the endorsement. 

I must say that I am eternally grateful to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focus of attention has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by President Obasanjo, a development that I can call the third leg of the process which I initiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjo’s other interlocutors after we agreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and so, I will only clear the air on what I can take full responsibility for.

Let me state first that I am a priest of the Catholic Church and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I have more than a passing knowledge of our discipline and doctrine in matters relating to the role of a Catholic priest in political engagement. My doctoral thesis was on Religion and Politics in 

Nigeria. So, this is an area that I have written and spoken extensively about for over thirty years. 

I am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. So let me explain what really happened. 

On Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 I had the honor of being the Guest Speaker for the annual Conference of the Four Square Gospel Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential 

Spokesman, Femi Adesina, a member of this Church had first invited me some years back but I could not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the Chairman of the occasion. At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to leave because he had a scheduled meeting. 

I told him I needed to see him briefly and he obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he thought of his reconciliation with Alhaji Atiku. 

My last discussion with him this year was either January or February. His response was still negative and he told me what he later told the media. I reminded him that I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle. After all, I said to him, ‘as a Christian, this is an important thing for you to do’. He was quiet and then said he would speak with me later that evening on his final decision. We parted, he to his car and I returned to the Church to end the event.

At about 9pm the same Tuesday, he called to say that he had thought over the issues I had raised and finally decided to accept my suggestion and that yes, he would be happy to reconcile with Alhaji Abubakar. When did he think we could meet then, I asked him? He said he would look at his diary and get back to me later. Then, just before 11pm the same Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diary was full, that the earliest date for him was October 21st. I accepted happily and told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Abubakar either directly, or through his aides to convey the news. 

My initial intention had been to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at the Four Square Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next morning, Wednesday October 10th, after I had finished celebrating the Holy Mass, I received a call from President Obasanjo: ‘Bishop, listen, I have changed my mind’. My heart nearly sank, but before I could ask why, he said: ‘Let us do it tomorrow if you can reach Atiku. I am going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be back home before 1pm. So, tell him to come at 1pm’. I started frantic efforts to reach Alhaji Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, and asked him to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about 1pm, I received a call from him. I told him what had happened with President Obasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on Thursday.

I got back to my hosts, the Four Square Gospel Church to tell them about the change in my travelling plans especially as I had no car to take me to Abeokuta. I didn’t want to ask President Obasanjo’s people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed a leeway of independence and trust. My hosts were exceedingly gracious in making a vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me to Abeokuta. Earlier that morning, President Obasanjo had called me a second time and told me that he wanted Alhaji Abubakar to come with the Chairman of the PDP, and two or three others. He also told me he had also invited both Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo. This was welcome news- Rev. Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence of Shaikh Gumi made sense. 

I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting larger for something I thought was between three of us.I arrived Abeokuta about 12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji Abubakar and his team. Alhaji Abubakar and his team arrived, and then I saw more and more people coming in. 

I saw familiar faces of different people who turned out to be the leaders of Afenifere. All these years, whenever I brought up this matter of reconciliation, my idea has always been for the three of us to sit down together. I still believed that the meeting would be between the two of them and the three religious leaders. 

When President Obasanjo appeared, I walked up to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for the meeting. He suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a few words about how we got here. I declined because it seemed again that at this point, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be caught in it. I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been achieved, namely, getting these two men to put the past behind them. My personal preoccupation was a pastoral one, and not a political one. I was uncomfortable with this and I decided to make my position clear. I offered a different proposal to help us sift the moral grain from the chaff of politics via a three-step process so as to insulate the three of us from the political fallout. 

I proposed that the first step would be for he and Alhaji Abubakar to sit down behind closed doors, sort out their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh Gumi and I to go in and listen to the two of them as Rev. Oyedepo had not arrived. After that, I said, they could continue with the third phase which from what I could see was high wire politics and I had no wish to be caught in the web. After they both finished their brief meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat down with the two of them. We had some small briefing and then both of us spoke briefly on what they had done, encouraging them to ensure that this reconciliation holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and our marriage vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what has now become the famous photograph behind closed doors. 

At this point, I felt that my spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to maintain my independence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I was hungry and food was being laid out, I skipped lunch. I quietly let myself out by the side door, got into the Four Square Gospel car and we drove off to Lagos. Despite the dread of Lagos traffic and the disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, I had declined the offer of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them to Abeokuta. Although flying with them was the best (and most convenient) assurance I had of getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at an event with the Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it was necessary to ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties. 

I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party. I perfectly understand the feelings of many of my friends and members of the opposition who believe that I travelled with Alhaji Abubakar and his team to attend his endorsement by President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was not the case. All the bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospel hosts for the earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, booked accommodation for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight to Abuja and Sokoto.

I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served my entire adult life as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliation and peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa Panel. When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of Oputa Panel, I personally undertook to visit both General Babangida and Buhari (he was not at home) at a time that today’s latter day Buharists were asking the Panel to compel them to come or risk being blacked out of national life. 

Objective-minded people will remember that back in 2001, when the Christian community and many of President Buhari’s opponents claimed that General Buhari had said that Muslims should vote only for Muslims, many people in the Christian community were disappointed that I wrote a long article to explain the context of what he had said after speaking with the General. His party, the ANPP later used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith and experience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard both sides of a story, no matter what. 

I hope that this clarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all of these in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter the reasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one can not please everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please only one’s own conscience, and here, mine is very clear. 

I have been involved in a few behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years, largely on my own initiative, taking advantage of my knowledge of those engaged in the conflict or at the invitation of third parties. Some have succeeded and some have not. As priest, it is not in my place to publicise what we have achieved. 

I am the Convener of the National Peace Committee. This alone is enough to place a moral boundary which I am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of trust and that is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear that both President Obasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making peace, I alerted the Chairman of the NPC, General Abdusalam. Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to the Ikoyi home of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan, the Archbishop of Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyone believed this was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imagined the third phase of this meeting. 

Both theoretically and practically, I have come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about his on two different occasions. Anyone involved in peace making from domestic quarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good, the bad and the ugly. In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long distance runner, believing and trusting that the truth never ever sinks to the bottom of the sea. The truth will always have a stubborn way of defying the hostile elements and popping up at the right time, no matter how long it takes.

I perfectly understand that with Alhaji Abubakar having just picked up the Presidential ticket of his Party, without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why many people will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to question my neutrality. However, I have far too many friends across party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or party against the other. 

It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political space. The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference has signed a statement to the effect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever be open to any politician, something we have all taken seriously. I therefore hope that this clarification helps those whose minds are open. 

I am thankful to God and quite pleased that this reconciliation took place and that I was a small instrument in making it happen. However, I am sorry that it has been given a different colouration and doubts to many people. Its timing was purely fortuitous and purely circumstantial not a contrivance. Personally, I will never relent in the very urgent task of making peace and reconciliation across the spectrum of our country.

WHY IS SHEIK AHMED GUMI SO CAUSTICALLY CRITICAL OF BUHARI? DONT TAKE HIS CRITICISM AT FACE VALUE. HIS REAL REASON IS BEYOND NOW

Decades ago there was a very popular Muslim scholar  Sheik Mahmoud Abubarka Gumi. He died in 1992 at about 70. In later years I started hearing of yet another Sheik Ahmed Abubakar Gumi. They both look alike - the white beards stuff. The recent Gumi is very critical of Buhari. I know the reason why the older Gumi could have disliked or even hated Buhari but I could not place the reason for this one. This made me ask, if Ahmad and Mahmoud are related. I just got a response this morning. The younger Gumi is the son of the older one. Now I can safely tell the story behind his antagonism. 

From around 1960, the military had started finding their way into the governance of their respective Third World countries and by 1966, they did in Nigeria. By late 1960s to mid-70s, virtually all black African countries were ruled by the military.  By late 1970s most countries and the international communities had become fed up with the military in government as they had bastardized the economies of the countries they ruled. In Nigeria, they handed over in 1979. Unfortunately the NPN government they handed over to became the worst Nigeria ever had and unequaled in looting public fund until recently that Jonatharian PDP government, made a child's play of that. Bad as that government was, in 1983, the massively rigged the general election that returned them to power in what became known as Sun, Moon and Land Slide. As of fact, many secretly wanted a military coup to reset Nigeria once again but none was expected because a few new such coups were turned back by the people aided by the Rank and File of the military that had gotten to realize that coups were self-serving to the plotters and not redemptive as they claim. So no military men were going to take a risk. 

But there was a bold, cunning, highly ambitious Armored General who could dare just anything. He is Ibrahim Babangida. He had his loyalist in the army - mainly Captains and Majors. He wanted power by all means and will go for it. His role model was President Nasser of Egypt who took over the government of Egypt in 1952 but for a while, stayed in the background allowing a higher officer Nequib rule and take the initial bashing of coup plotting. Nasser later overthrew Nequib and cunningly transformed himself into a Civilian President for life. That is the way IBB planned to go. He had it all to overthrow the civilian government of Shagari but who would be the buffer he would need to stair off reprisal attack from the rank and file of the military, the masses and the international community. He and his boys - David Mark, Abdul Minimum, Gwadabe, Dasuki, Marwa, Abubakar Umar, John Madaki, Ogbeha, Atom Kpera etc reasoned that the buffer they would need must be a man of high integrity that no soldier can fault his reason for the coup and must be a man ready to show the world that he is out to flush out corruption which had made Nigeria a pariah nation and thereby make Nigeria an economically viable nation again before they step in to rule. They did not forget that overthrowing whoever they place would not be easy except such a person was a man with no personal ambition and will not resist them. Domkat Bali saw Buhari as the only senior military officer that cap fitted and mentioned it. Buhari got 100% vote from tge coupists.  With that settled, they organized a successful coup on 31st December 1983 while Buhari was not even in the country. They went ahead and named him the Head of State before he was even approached. This is how Buhari became the Head of State of Nigeria via a coup he did not participate in. 

The brainstorming by IBB boys with David Mark as the head of the think tank did a good job. An initial attempt by the rank and file to fight back the coupist after the announcement of the coup just died down once they heard that Buhari was at the Head. The Bold incorruptible man they chose did exactly as they expected. He went immediately to fighting corruption. He assumed every politician and contractor was guilty until he proved otherwise. He just hauled them to prison and set up Committees to investigated them. Those who had stolen were told to return their loots and go home. Nigeria was getting clean. America and Europe were no longer going to fight on against the military coup. The developed world was full of praises for the effort of ridding Nigeria of corruption. Nigeria had become respectable once again. Economy improved. Business with the outside world improved. 

It was now time for IBB and his boys to take back a healthy nation but the old fear returned of whether another coup against a now popular Buhari will be acceptable. How would they remove this man without rancor? In Nigeria, at that time serious protests only arose from tge Yoruba or the Hausa/Fulani. The Coupist reckoned that if there would be protests against their new coup, it would come from these two ethnic groups - Yoruba or/and the Hausa/Fulani. It was, therefore, necessary to start a scheme that would make those two tribes dislike Buhari. With Buhari disconnected from these two tribes, it would become easy to knock him off with no one to weep for him. How were they to achieve this? They reasoned that if they hurt the most respected person with a cult-like following in both tribes, that required hatred would be achieved. 

** IBB who was then the Chief of Army Staff, without the knowledge of his Boss, Buhari sent a detachment of the army to the home of Obafemi Awolowo who was like a demi-god to the Yoruba. The manhandled him, invaded his renowned Library threw all the books out and turned the house upside down. Some say that was the only time tears ever rolled down Awos eyes since he was 10! It was humiliation at the highest. A man of 76 years who was not head of any government, he was not a public officer. He was just head of a political party which had been banned. It was like sacrilege. From that point on, the Yoruba hated Buhari. 

As this was happening, another detachment was sent to the home of Shike Abubarka Mamumood Gumi who was an outspoken Islamic scholar and Grand Khadi of the Northern Region of Nigeria a position which made him a central authority in the interpretation of the Sharia legal system in the region. He was a close associate of Ahmadu Bello, the premiere of the region in the 1950s and 1960s. He received the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic in 1987, King Faisal International Prize from Saudi Arabia for his translation of the Quran into the Hausa language. Abubakar gumi who was referred to as the father of Izala.

With the invasion of Gumi by the military government of Buhari, the did was done. From then even till date, the core Hausa/Fulani establishment also got to dislike Buhari. 

With the stage set, IBB and his boys moved in to strike. Buhari was informed. When he met IBB he told him point blank that he knew that IBB was planning a coup and that he was not bothered. He reminded him that the power he was enjoying was not fought for by him but rather, was loaned him by IBB so if he wanted it back, he was welcome to have it back. He, however, pleaded with him not to make the coup bloody. Buhari made no attempt to stop the coup. He could very easily have clamped down on IBB and his boys but he simply would not but rather wait peacefully till they struck. 

A few days later, Abdulmiminu led John Madaki and Gwadabe to Buhari's home to take back their power. No resistance of any sort. No Federal Guards reaction or questioning the visit. They met Buhari downstairs in mufti in the evening when the flag was already down and no officer was obligated to greet a Senior Officer. The trio refused to Salute Buhari even when he demanded it. He then asked to be allowed to dress up in his official uniform. Abdulmiminu led him upstairs where he dressed up. That ended Buhari's regime. 

When the change of power was announced, jubilation erupted in the North and West where resistance would ordinarily have been expected. IBB the Fox had planned right and it worked. 

When IBB ascended the throne, Awolowo who was the most critical of military rule visited him along with his wife in Dodan Barracks. The story of this fifth columnist call Babangida had not come to light at that time. Buhari was in detention in Benin City at that time. Till date, the families of Awo and Gumi never really liked Buhari. Gumi's son the new sheik is in his own revenge trip as he may not have even gotten to know that it was IBB that masterminded the attack on his father and Buhari is not such that would bother to keep explaining these. As of fact, it took about 15 years before Buhari ever told this story to Newbreed magazine. 

Now that the public knows the truth, they should now totally discountenance the rantings of Gumi. If is self-serving.

*Akin Omoz-Oarhe*

Fed Govt to deregister NGOs over terrorism, money laundering

 By: Eric Ikhilae, Abuja On: April 5 ,2018

THE Federal Government has begun the profiling of Non-Governmental organisations (NGOs) with the intention of deregistering those involved in questionable activities.

It was learnt that the measure was aimed at curbing money laundering and terrorist financing,

The profiling activities presently being carried out by the Special Control Unit on Money Laundering (SCUML), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) is in compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendation.

The FATF recommendation requires countries to adopt necessary measures to prevent the use of NGOs for nefarious activities.

NFIU’s Director Francis Usani, who broke the news in Abuja yesterday, said the need to profile and review activities of NGOs were informed by the realisation that the groups have become “veritable tools to launder money and finance terrorism”.

Usani said the government was also exploring other options, including sensitising NGOs on their obligations to ensure they do not unwittingly yield themselves to terrorists and other criminals.

The NFIU Director spoke at a “regional workshop on the development of effective frameworks and structure to fight terrorist financing/money laundering through non-profit organisations (NPOs)”.

It was organised by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

“It is obvious that Designated Non-Financial Business or Profession (DNFBP) and particularly NPOs pose a major challenge in our respective Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) culture, and this challenge has been identified in our various national risk assessments.

“There are case studies in Nigeria and in the West African sub-region and globally too, where NPOs have been used as veritable tools to launder money and finance terrorism,” Usani said.

He added that the realisation of this fact informed why FATF, under its Recommendation 8, directed that countries should review the adequacy of laws and regulations that relate to NPOs/NGOs that could be abused for the financing of terrorism.

GIABA’s Director General Kimelabalou Aba said the workshop was to educate players in the NPOs and a measure to protect NPOs against abuses because their extended logistical networks, large transitory workforces, cash-intensive nature of operations now make them highly vulnerable to terrorist financing.

Mrs. Stella Maduka of the Federal Ministry of Finance blamed the growing unemployment rate globally for the increasing in terrorist activities.

They hated her because she fought them to the bitter end. A tribute to Winnie Mandela.

The growing distasteful commentary by white South Africans and some Negropeans on the death of Winnie Mandela not only displays their sadistic nature towards black lives, but that they have always wanted Winnie Mandela's blood.

When the brutality of their earnest system of murder, hatred and ceaseless violence couldn't break her convictions and loyalty to freedom nor kill her unyielding resilience during apartheid peak hour, they sought to speak ill about her to finish what apartheid couldn't do, which is to assassinate and terminate her character.

What they forget is that Winfred Nomzamo Madikizela Mandela was never for them; they who stripped her of her personal dignity, imprisoned her against her universal human rights, ridiculed her private life and injured her womanhood.

Winfred was for us the African children, whose parents were criminalized by whiteness and all its elements, for demanding their freedom, African voices and their land from a bitterly hateful settler minority. Winfred was for the migrant blacks who were forced by the white establishment to go waste their lives away at the peripheral wasteland of racial hatred, engineered poverty, tribal drunkenness and generational seed of ignorance and death.

Today, they cry over Stompie Seipie as if they ever cared about him when they actually killed millions of Stompie Seipie's because they wanted to get to Winfred and those she protected with her life. At some point, South Africa was a huge industrial imprisonment complex to hold back black lives. Its poorly established hospitals and schools for blacks were concentration camps for blacks to die. The South African police and the army, not only beat, hanged and hated black lives but fed chemical and biological agents to both the young and old simply because they were black militants who agitated for freedom and for the collapse and removal of white minority rule.

The white men in South Africa today has no moral codes to pass judgement on whether Winfred was right or wrong. They have no such capacity. They shouldn't even be allowed to possess such audacity to be parasitic to her death because they have always wanted to see her black body wheeled to the graveyard in Soweto, accompanied by cries of shack dwellers and poor migrant workers. They wanted her dead many years ago. They wanted her prosecuted and persecuted where the system failed. Simply because she was Winfred Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela.

Winfred was strong, beautiful and angry. And they hated that. They despised Winfred for her strength because she was us. And because she was us, she was in a perpetual state of rebellion and Revolution.

They wanted to railroad her, to distract and destroy her.

But they failed.

At some point when the struggle to free the African Child and the family from the yoke of white rule, and the struggle was zigzagging to the horizon, it was Winfred who breathed a new lease of life into it. She singlehandedly resuscitated a people's revolution when all men were either in bandages, imprisoned or forced to run to foreign bushes and hostile environments to regroup.

She held many forts for many people.

Even when there will be a time in the future when it will no longer be profitable and fashionable to quote struggle heroes and freedom fighters to justify blackness, Winfred will always remain what Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkhruma calls "A Black Star."

She was way ahead of the politics of politics. She was about the politics of black African people.

And Winfred was beyond the rhetoric of freedom songs and the politics of oppression because some of those who persecuted her in freedom, were her own comrades and black people whom she sacrificed so much for by giving them her all. Many still tell hurtful lies about her sincerities in a bid to silence her character in democracy, but they failed because they couldn't touch her inner soulful mystery. When they wanted to write her off pages of history, black lives from squatter camps, mining and cotton fields of South Africa, walked her back into history books to represent them in the house of the master and Uncle Toms.

And anyone who sought to tame her was always compensated with her full flight into immeasurable rage. No one could railroad her. She refused to listen and to behave. Winfred was defiant to the last drop of blood against any human system that sought to silence her in marriage, in war and peacetime. She was too rebellious to cry for herself and her black children. Instead, she healed the wounded, nursed the broken pieces of black lives back to life, comforted the widows whilst leading the militant and radicals to the battlefields across the country. For many years, she became the struggle anchor of our lives so much so that it didn't matter to us when she lost her titles as the First Lady. Infact, she carried our brokenness and hers and soldiered on. With the weight of our suffocation and burden of desperate agitations, she walked taller in pointed ways to the promised land, which like Martin Luther King, she will never fully enjoy because she was betrayed by many because none was braver and clearer than Winfred Madikizela Mandela.

Still her life sadness and brokenness is nothing compared to her nurturing rebellious nature that earned her the undisputed title of "Mother of the Nation". She fought for the African Child way better than biological mothers did for their own.

Even in death, Winfred is still rebellious. She just decided to go unexpectedly when everybody is resting during Easter holidays to test their faith in humanity and universality of beliefs. She was an unusual being. A very rare animal that fought some of her biggest battles alone without retreat. She used her awake mind and depth of her consciousness to fight army generals and their troops. She prevailed over the world of injustices, war and hate, without firing a single bullet.

She fought a great fight; a long, bitter fight that can never be measured by the length of time nor the amount of blood lost in rage and endurance.

Go well Nubian Beauty. Go well the black rose of the black revolution across the world. You will forever remain our black goddess; the deity of a black revolution both in life and death. Soon, we the black ones, will worship the grounds you walked in your times of great pains and the greatest moments of joy of all your 81 years. Go well fighter.

Rest in Power

Mama Nobadle Nomzamo the princess of Madikizela family.

After the general elections of 2015 were won & lost, emerged a resistance movement..

*Ibie Galileo*

Firstly, & as a carry over from the campaigns leading up to the elections, they spun an "islamization agenda where PMB was falsely accused of wanting to Islamize the nation.. Somehow that lost its potency.. Then they sponsored & promoted the IPOB crisis.. After that failed, they jumped on restructuring & regionalism.. That too lost steam.. Then came the unusually "stealthy" & commando-like Fulani herdsmen (who somehow attacked communities with precision techniques, escaping quickly  in formations, one wonders how easy that can be with the usually slow cattle herds in tow). That too is fast losing its potency.. Also there emerged many other resistance schemes like the cry of marginalization, & the likes.. Somehow, they all faded out in phases... Now there's the remake of the 2014 Chibok card, the Dapchi abductions (which is quite frankly sad & shocking, & one can only empathize with the girls & their families at this time).. Somehow, & to the consternation of many hoping to benefit from the tragedy, the govt is reacting honestly, accepting responsibility & taking different courses of actions.. Hopefully, the girls are found quickly &, that too looses its potency..

But in all of these, one can certainly recognize entrenched interests behind the scenes.. And such desperation to undermine the govt & return to those "years of the locusts" must be resisted.. PMB might not the most ideal, or most intelligent president.., but he's no crook. He means well, & he's looking to end those years of impunity & stone-aged looting of our commonwealth.., & if for nothing else, that alone is enough to support him.. Because of for decades we've all agreed that taming the menace of corruption was a foremost national survival priority., then we must as well support this Spartan president of ours..

Only wish the state govts & LGAs can key into the anti corruption fight to make it total., cos as it is, mindless & unaccountable mismanagement of public funds still take place in many states & LGAs., unfortunately the constitutional separation of powers makes it difficult for PMB to do something about those.. But hopefully they (the states & LGAs) see the benefits of schemes like the TSA & the plugging loopholes & leakage to govt funds like PMB is achieving at the national level.. Maybe then, they might be able to pay salaries in many of the states, unlike the case is currently..

Resistance to the national govt must be identified for what it is.., & using national tragedies & sometimes outright falsehoods to achieve those aims must also be isolated.. It really troubles one, the extent of the desperation some elements are willing to go to return to power., including the very foul & most obnoxious of means.. That, Nigerians must come to terms with., hopefully.. Ideally, periods of national disasters should have ordinarily been occasions for the nation to bond together in unity & solidarity to face those challenges.. Unfortunately in our climes, they're opportunities to achieve political, sectional or religious advantages.., not minding the costs to the nation, those directly affected or the generality of Nigerians..

Our unique variant of political resistance is unfit for purpose, destructive to national interests, & not innocent or credible enough to produce a desired alternative to the national govt in place.. The resistance is perhaps in greater need of self correction & upgrade than those they hope to overhaul..

ALL HAIL ODIGIE-OYEGUN, THE BARBWIRE OF PROGESSIVE LEADERSHIP!

 By Godwin Erhahon,  Benin City.

Yesterday's  resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) extending the tenure of the Chief  John Odigie-Oyegun-led Executive by one year must have surprised many.

This is so because of the tensions generated by the letter written to him and made public last week by the National Leader of the party,  Asiwaju Bola  Tinibu accusing him of sabotaging the national reconciliation assignment which President Muhammadu Buhari entrusted him (the great Asiwaju) with .

It was widely expected that at least Chief  Odigie-Oyegun,  if not his entire EXCO,  would be sacked at the meeting.

But the meeting ended on a win win note with the national chairman being rewarded for his good leadership with a one year tenure extension bonus and Asiwaju  receiving commendations for his reconciliation efforts.

What better result could the governing party have wished for?

Those of us who have known Chief Odigie-Oyegun closely since he ventured from post-retirement business life into politics in 1990 leading to his heroeic victory in the December 14, 1991 governorship election in Edo State on the platform of the then Social Democratic Party (SDP)only laughed at those who predicted that he would fall at the meeting.

Having worked also with President Buhari consistently since 2003, I know the President is one who cannot be swayed by cheap propaganda nor goaded into rash decisions to please a maddening crowd.

Chief Odigie-Oyegun is not a greedy leader who can easily be challenged on ground of corruption or infidelity.

As he meticulously chooses his words  so does he cautiously takes his actions.

This meticulousity of his is what some often misread as weakness.

Having led APC to defeat a wild  ruling PDP in the 2015 presidential election and claimed some states from the defeated ruling party subsequently ,  only the crass igrates within the APC would wish him disgraced out of office.

Like the barbwire,  Chief Odigie-Oyegun may look flexible and fragile but his heart is stronger than steel and larger than the Zuma Rock just as his vision is  holy and divine because as a devout catholic, he communes with his Maker  on the next line of action to take.

Back home in Edo State,  he has continued to tolerate those who often muck his old age and try to provoke him into duel while he prayerfully leaves all to God.

But by his mature approach,  he has continued to disgrace his detractors.

 A national Chairman who is spitefully denied any input to the selection of candidates or political appointees in his home state governed by his party and yet would not protest even when his teaming followers urge him to, is surely endowed with patience and tolerance as potent winning strategy !


As the Binis would say :"it is God who chases those chasing the innocent dealf and dump! "

 As the great author and inspirational speaker,  Robbert  Schullar said : "Tough times never last but tough people do ".

Tough times for Chief Odigie-Oyegun is over but the titanic Chief tugs on.              

He will lead APC through the next primaries , general elections and  inauguration of the next government which his destiny guarantees for the governing party.