Opposing Jonathan’s probe is desecrating Igbo traditions – S’East APC

By: Nikita Bikita 

Former President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari

The South-East zonal chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, on Sunday accused Igbo leaders who are opposing the probe of former President Goodluck Jonathan of desecrating the traditions of the Igbos. The party said the Igbo leaders who are supporting the former president, have flouted the traditional admonition, which forbade Igbos from identifying with thieves or alleged thieves.
Several Igbo leaders, including Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Chairman of the Igbo Leaders of Thought, and the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Joe Nwaorgu, had in recent times faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned probe of the Jonathan administration.
They stressed that limiting the probe to Jonathan’s government was an indication that Buhari was being influenced in his anti-graft campaign.
Reacting to the development, however, the South-East APC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, told the concerned Igbo leaders to stop desecrating Igbo tradition by supporting Jonathan.
In the statement titled ‘Stop desecration of Igbo tradition’, the South-East APC spokesman wondered why Jonathan’s defence is being championed by Igbo leaders, rather than the ex-president’s Ijaw kinsmen.
The statement read in part, “The South-East Zonal Chapter of the All Progressives Congress calls on Igbo leaders, in the name of defending our dear ex-president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, to stop desecration of the long standing Igbo tradition and by extension, our revered ancestors.
“Our worry is that the timeless Igbo tradition, which admonishes us not to steal, and not to defend nor associate with rogues or even alleged rogues is being flagrantly breached by prominent Igbo sons, crying more than Ijaw sons and daughters.
“We are yet to locate any sentence where any of them, even our revered icon, erudite and constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze, in any form denied the mindless, pervasive and unbridled corruption which governed ex-president Jonathan’s regime. We stand to be corrected. Then why splash us with the mud?”
Okechukwu also condemned the Ohanaeze Ndigbo scribe’s argument that Buhari should extend the probe to the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He accused Nwaorgu of deliberately blocking a planned meeting between Buhari and Ohanaeze Ndigbo before the elections.
According to Okechukwu, Buhari conveyed his request for the meeting, where he intended to “chart the way forward with Ndigbo”, in a letter forwarded to the Ohanaeze Ndigbo secretariat in November 2014.
“May we appeal to Chief Joe Nwaorgu and his cohorts, if actually the interest of Ndigbo is what they are fighting for, to climb down from their high horses, drop their ancient stereotypes and stop the hate narratives and embrace the true position that Ndigbo stands to gain more from
President Buhari’s regime, if ever we gained from our massive support to former president Jonathan.
“Failing which, Chief Joe Nwaorgu and his cohorts, may wittingly or unwittingly confirm the allegation that they – Ndigbo ultra-defenders of Jonathan – were beneficiaries of presidential campaign slush funds”, Okechukwu added.
The South-East APC argued that “Ndigbo like all hard working groups in the country”, stand to gain more from Buhari’s administration than Jonathan’s, which it accused of dispensing patronage to cronies.
The party added that the Igbos are more likely to realise their wish to have one of their own as president of the country through Buhari.
According to Okechukwu “The Igbo ethnic merchants and gossip-terrorists who bandy all manner of conspiracy hate theories against President Buhari must come to terms that an eight-year tenure of the man of uncommon integrity is the surest route to actualisation of president of Igbo extraction, given the zoning convention”.

Jasmine Twitty Appointed The Youngest Judge In Easley, South Carolina History At 25 Years Old!

History has been made in Easley, South Carolina!
by: shaniquaIFWT

Congratulations to this young beauty, Jasmine Twitty. She has been officially appointed as the youngest judge in the history of Easley. She’s only 25 years old! She graduated from the College of Charleston.  She is also a member of the Upstate Network Young Professionals Board. The Board is recognized for promoting the development of young professionals. That is such a huge achievement! You can be anything you want to be in this world, you just have to grind.

It’s sad, said Sa’ad - Sam Omatseye

It’s a pity that Bishop Matthew Kukah was the only cleric who stuck out his neck for Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. It’s also a pity that the only one who does not want to be a hypocrite is on the burner of fiery criticism.

It’s also a pity that corruption, the bane of our history and cultural fabric, was played down by Nigeria’s most intellectual man of God.

But these were not the most telling of my experiences last week. I debated GEJ with a prominent writer, and he defended the scum of his era. His case: Nigeria created Jonathan and Nigeria had to live with him. Was Jonathan a corrupt man, I asked? He wallowed into meaningless obfuscation. He would not accept that his administration was bad. Neither would he agree that his government misruled this country. He said he was good for Nigeria.

After that conversation and the gaffe from Kukah, I told myself that no ruler in Nigerian history has corrupted fine minds like Jonathan since the IBB era.

The philosopher David Hume once asserted: “The corruption of the best produces the worst.” He reeled out this line in respect of religion.

In the same week when all sorts of foul charges were pelted at the door of Jonathan’s regime, the ex-president was photographed bouncing off a private jet. He wanted to see animals at a Games Reserve in East Africa with his wife and others who followed him on another private jet. The same week when the Immigration boss was suspended for corrupting the process of employment, the NPA was reported to have spent N160 billion of N162 billion it made last year. The NPA story also tells us that most of their dealings were undervalued, a code word for corruption.

Kukah, a constant motif in Nigerian debates, is a master of the rigmarole. You hardly know where he stands on an issue. He navigates a warren of narratives, entices you with his folky ability to spin a yarn, props up the pros and cons with almost equal poise, and berths in a never-land. A few times he is caught in a position, he is exposed. He did that when he profiled the ethnic groups in the country. And now this.

He probably needs to read Jesus’ admonition that “let your yea be yea and your nay nay.”

Why Kukah’s case is sad is that I expected all those Christian clerics who did not have enough of Jonathan as a son of God to say something. Did Jonathan not visit all of them? Did they not endorse him? Was it not because of them that his numbers went up in the Southwest? Was he not doling out prophet’s offerings in dollars?

Are they not aware of all the revelations now? Is curse not in the house of the thief, according to scriptures?

Why did they leave Kukah alone to say what all of them probably thought? Did they not robe Buhari in Boko Haram clothing? Was Buhari not the devil? Or have they changed their minds, or are they rethinking them? Many of them who claimed to hear from God, did they hear wrong?

“He that hath my word, let him speak it faithfully,” wrote Prophet Jeremiah. “What is the chaff from the wheat?” Did Jesus not say, “I have not sent them, depart from me, ye that work iniquity?”

Was it a mistake? Why not repent openly? Prophets can err, but they owe it to their flocks to own up. None of them has gone back to their flock to discuss what happened in the Jonathan era? Was it the veil of Satan, or they said what they did not hear?

Why has any of them not asked the CAN leader Ayo Oritsejafor to speak in the spirit of contrition about the waywardness of their prophesies and injunctions.

Kukah’s peace committee, as Tatalo Alamu noted, was not intended to shoo Jonathan out of power. It boomeranged with Buhari victory. They erred by asking Buhari to follow the rule of law. He had not flouted it or shown any sign he was going to. When outrage was bursting out ears about the sums of money allegedly stolen, it was out of sync with the Gospels and human dignity to use rule of law as veneer. Then Kukah showed their true colour when he said Jonathan did a spectacular thing, so we should move on.

The good voice of the week came from the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, when he asked that all thieves should go to jail. That is the sort of thing Jesus would have said.

History is replete with men of God who associated with rulers of decay. Recently, the era of George W. Bush was marked by clerics who paraded the White House. Eventually his ranking among people fell. The man who had mentioned Jesus as his role model left office as a liar and “murderer.” The same clerics fell into moral filth and disgrace.

Kukah did not lose his way, I think. The fog just cleared and our eyes just opened to his vision of Nigeria. Clerics are good on the pulpit, but we should not be pupils of their conduct. The Bible is replete with men of great revelations who erred in conduct from Abraham to Peter the rock.

“If I had served my God as I have done my king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.” Those were the words of Cardinal Wolsey who mortgaged his sacerdotal conscience to King Henry VIII of England. Henry VIII was a monarch for life. GEJ reigned only for about eight years. So the clerics returned to their duties. Shakespeare’s rendition of the quote hits the bull’s eye. Since most of the clerics have not ruined their callings. Here is Shakespeare’s rendering in his play Henry VIII: “Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age have left me naked to my enemies.”

The bard of Avon anticipated Kukah who is now being roasted by his enemies. Wolsey did not follow the law. Henry the VIII who wanted to break with the Catholic Church to have a divorce and marry a Boleyn sister, met resistance in Thomas More as Robert Bolt’s dramatised in his play, A Man for All Seasons. Thomas Cromwell was More’s counterpoise as shown in Hilary Mantel’s novel, Bring Up the Bodies. Both books shed light on the critical time in English and world history. It pitted men of God against worldly opportunists and their kings. Robert More alone survives today as a man of conscience.

I enlist this column with the Sultan. Probe and jail. The Jonathan era was a corpulent corpse. It stinks and infects. Ebenezer Babatope, no role model, says Jonathan was pure. Technically maybe. But not morally. If you preside over rottenness, you cannot be free of its stench. But if there was a law against foolishness in leadership, GEJ will go to jail. But he will have to explain to us as a people how all of these happened on his watch. Just as the CAN and its members should explain how their ‘eyes of understanding’ did not see what the lay voter saw of the corpulent corpse of the GEJ era. Lying is corruption. It’s time for all to be true to themselves. As Shakespeare wrote in Henry VIII: “Corruption wins not more than honesty.”

BACK TO OUR ROOTS.

 

 

PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, I had cause to visit Yakooyo, a very small town in the State of Osun days ago. I had not been here I’m sure in over two decades. As tiny as Yakooyo is, this rural settlement boasts of one of the most famous military icons in Nigeria, Lt. General Alani Ipoola Akinrinade. For those who may be too young to remember this great veteran of many exploits, let me make a brief introduction. Born on October 3, 1939, General, as we all fondly call him, started his early life in his home town but travelled out for his secondary education at Offa Grammar School before joining the Army as a cadet in 1960. He later attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in the United Kingdom from August 1960 and was duly commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Infantry Corps on December 20, 1962. He attended the Infantry Officer Career /Airborne Course in the USA, the Staff College, Camberley and Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom…

The General rose rapidly: Lieutenant in 1963, Captain in 1965, Major in 1967, Lt. Colonel in 1968, Colonel in 1972, Brigadier-General in 1974, Major General in 1976 and Lt. General in 1979. The attractive, affable, amiable but stern General occupied many positions in the Army notable of which are: GOC of 1 Infantry Division 1975-1979, Member Supreme Military Council during Murtala/Obasanjo regimes 1975-1979, Chief of Army Staff and eventually, Chief of Defence Staff, before his voluntary retirement in 1981. Space and time would not allow me to shower enough encomiums on this gentleman officer and Statesman but I had the pleasure of meeting him at home this week in the company of my very good friends, Prince Adedamola Aderemi and Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, as well as some members of the Aderemi royal family. This visit was more in the form of a reunion and an opportunity to relive old memories, as the trio of Prince Aderemi, Senator Afikuyomi and myself had worked assiduously and tirelessly in England in various ways and forms during the NADECO days, with several other NADECO strongmen like late Papa Anthony Enahoro, Prof Wole Soyinka, General Akinrinade, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Odigie Oyegun, Rev. Peter Obadan, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Dr Wale Oshun and their ilk, in the fight for the actualisation of democratic freedom and ideals in Nigeria. We spent more than a couple of hours tapping into his cerebral brain and drinking from his fountain of wisdom and knowledge, whilst enjoying his wisecracks. Trust me, you can never get tired of chatting with this General of Generals.

General Akinrinade earned my utmost respect during the NADECO days when some of us took to the forests to escape from the maximum military rulers of the time and we served our exile years together. His commitment to the reinstatement and enthronement of Democracy was total. He risked everything including his safety and personal comfort and that of his family. In those ugly years, he and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu committed stupendous resources to the battle for the soul of Nigeria and the General lost his prime possessions in the course of the struggle. He has remained steadfast ever since and he is currently championing the cause of Yoruba unification and continues to be a most vociferous voice for the advancement of his people. Today, I remember the endless meetings at his famous apartment at The Quadrangle near Edgware Road and it was in that spirit we drove with my colleagues to Yakoyo to pay homage to this proud son of Africa and to pick his ideas on the on-going developments in the Yoruba polity especially.

The General did not disappoint. He was his usual ebullient self. He looked as fresh and calm as a cucumber. Although just only recently arrived at home from farming that afternoon because we had called at short notice to alert him that we were on our way, his skin appeared flawless and he was as usual mentally alert. It is a measure of the simplicity and humility of this great man that he was willing to receive us in his home despite the short notice that we had given him and his pre-occupation with the work he was doing on the farm.

Once we settled in with him, he took us on a tour de force of the Nigerian trajectory from the past to the present. He was perfectly in sync with us despite our wide age differences. I met a man at peace with himself and his God.

That journey ignited something in me. It was a spark that catapulted me back to my roots. If I refer to Yakoyo today as a township, it is as a result of the wonderful contributions of its most celebrated son, Alani Akinrinade. Alani, with due respects, is every parent’s dream. He has given a lot back to his community as evidenced by the fact that the roads of this provincial small town are well tarred and maintained in contrast with some of its neighbours.

Entering General Akinrinade’s private abode is something else from the moment you enter through his gates as your senses are titillated to expect the experience of a lifetime. The driveway into Alani’s paradise instantly reveals a great mind at work. The trees are well manicured and the flowers and plants properly maintained. As if to demonstrate the splendour of the place a proud peacock struts its stuff beside the dazzling blue swimming pool.

The General’s home is not your simple country home though. He and his brothers have a massive farm homestead which boasts of a major poultry farm and a gari factory that is almost second to none in quality. From the gari factory, the brothers maintain a steady and significant source of income through exportation to Europe, the United States and indeed Asia.

Truth is, the serenity and tranquillity of the place got me very jealous. The rustic setting of the surroundings was surreal for someone who has lived in Lagos and other cities of the world. Approaching the homely plantation I had seen the good fold of Yakoyo going about their daily business in a simple but clearly contented and peaceful manner. The hustle and bustle of a city was totally lacking and you could palpably sense the kinship, friendliness and support structure engendered by the communal spirit in which the people live.

I realised that Lagos in particular has kidnapped most of us and kept us in a gilded cage. We live in expensive ghettos and think we are enjoying. Believe me, real enjoyment belongs elsewhere in rural areas like Yakoyo.

From its name, Yakoyo (pronounced ‘ya ko yo”) means, “visit us and eat to your heart’s content”. You can imagine the confidence that gave birth to the generosity of the populace of the town which is clearly inherent in the name given to the town. Farming must have been a major preoccupation of the people. They must have imbibed the adage “bi ebi ba ti kuro ninu ise, ise buse” (once food is available, poverty is reduced). That was what came to our minds as we walked into the welcoming arms of our great mentor. Despite our protestations that we were coming from a family gathering where we had been adequately nourished with food and drinks our genial host would hear nothing of it. We were therefore dutifully plied with champagne of various hues, red wine and soft drinks by loyal staff who demonstrated their adoration and respect for their boss in the way in which they efficiently dealt with our requests, such that we did not want our stay to end.

We spent good time learning from this amazing teacher about the military, politics, social interaction and business. I was most touched when the kind General bemoaned the plight of university lecturers and the hard times upon which they had fallen. He noted that in the late 70’s and until the early 90’s, he hosted lots of University lecturers and had cause to showcase their diverse talents to visiting dignitaries and businessmen. At that time the lecturers were smart, confident and content because they were reasonably well paid and could afford the good things of life like decent homes, nice serviceable cars and above all proper education for their children. Now the reverse is the case as most university lecturers live a pitiale existence and have lost confidence in themselves.

When our short but highly informative lecture session was over, we were simply not ready to leave our host and his delightful home, but nightfall was beckoning. We had a long-winding road, at various stages of construction and re-construction, to traverse all the way to Lagos. We left with good memories of a Paradise lost and wished we could set the hands of the clock backwards and relive our lives all over again. We drove out and joined the famous Ife-Ibadan dual carriage Expressway. It was anything but express or indeed dual carriage as we dodged not only potholes and near gullies but also oncoming vehicles that had to leave their own side of the road because what we were experiencing on our side of the road was child’s play compared to seeming road failure on the other side. Still we didn’t mind the inconvenience. Something must take you back home and indeed something took us back to that cradle of civilisation. In the fullness of time, you will appreciate what we all collectively vowed to do henceforth.

Oh, how can we ever forget the trip to Osogbo on Tuesday night as we contemplated relaxing after a hard day of meetings and consultations. As we raced towards the Osun State capital, our tongues salivated to the prospect of Mama Ope’s food canteen where we were determined to deal ruthlessly with those stubborn goats and the orisirisi. We didn’t bother going to our hotel first to refresh. It was that serious. I had not been to that joint in years. Wow, the gbegiri was heavenly. I felt a taste totally different from the fake ones mostly served in our big cities. The palm-oil was refreshingly tasty. The ewedu was organic and straight from the farm. The amala was light and healthy. This is the life, I thought. I should have brought my son Eniafelamo along to do justice to these tasty dishes.

Now you can feel why I feel like the Odyssey band singing: Going Back to our Roots…

Kukah: The devil at work on a priest?

 Tunde Fagbenle  

 

Tunde Fagbenle

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah is not new to controversy. Back in his younger days in the 90s as a Reverend Father in Lagos, controversy appeared to be his second name. He courted it. But most often, he was known to speak for and on the side of the oppressed, the masses. He was thus loved. He was the young, audacious Father who dared speak truth to power. And in those days, military power!

Then one day, Father Kukah woke up and spoke without much of discretion in an interview he granted the press, such that this column, in its April 14 edition, concluded that the Father forgot to say his prayers before he began the interview.

Father Kukah had, in the eyes of most Yoruba, denigrated the entire ethnic group in his specious characterisation of the major ethnic groups in the country. Whilst describing the Igboman as “hard-working,” and the “Northerner” (the whole agglomeration of them) as imbued with special dignity, all Kukah saw the Yoruba people bringing to the national table was their “sense of extravagant celebration.” All hell was let loose on poor Kukah, a friend I’d known from way back in London when he was still accumulating priesthood learning.

Father Kukah got transferred to Sokoto not long after that gaffe and he also rose in rank to become a Bishop of the Catholic Church. A measure of Kukah’s national prominence and respectability was how often his name came up in intellectual circles, pre-2015 elections, as one such leader Nigerians should have as president.

Our Bishop resurfaced during the heat of the 2015 elections when Nigeria looked down the precipice of war and disintegration, and almost no one saw how such calamity could be averted. A number of distinguished Nigerians from different tongues and walks of life got themselves together, probably with the prodding and backing of powerful countries such as the USA and Britain, self-appointed themselves “National Peace Committee” (NPC) with the mission to broker peace between the two major contestants for president and secure assurances of both parties to “protection” of the victor and the loser — whichever way the pendulum swung.

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Our Bishop Kukah is a member of that group of eminent Nigerians that include former military head of state, retired General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, Ayo Oritsejafor (president, Christian Association of Nigeria), clergymen John Onaiyekan and Nicholas Okoh.

Speculation is rife that at that point members of the committee, as well as important international community, knew one or two things. One, that in all probability, Buhari, with the new political arrangement masterminded by Tinubu, would emerge victorious.

Two, that with the way things were in the country and the depth of rottenness, it was not desirable for Jonathan to continue in power lest there soon would be no more country to “milk.”

It is further speculated that part of the “bargaining chip” with which the NPC was armed in wresting that “noble” act of conceding defeat from Jonathan was a full dossier of the extent of loot he and his cronies have stacked in foreign banks or invested in foreign lands and the NPC’s ability to wrest assurance of “immunity from prosecution” from a victorious Buhari.

Speculation goes further that whilst Jonathan gave his commitment to the deal, Buhari probably cleverly spoke in “generalisations” of readiness not to go after Jonathan but to observe “the rule of law.”

Further speculation is that whereas retired General Buhari had mere general notions of the level of rot in the system under Jonathan, the wanton extent of it now seeing since assuming the reins of power is maddening enough to force repudiation and make one jail anyone, even one’s mother!

This is the crux.

Infuriated that anyone, any Nigerian, could so much “hate” the country to commit the sort of atrocities tumbling out of the cupboard, and also backed by the mood of the people baying for blood regardless of whose ox is gored, President Buhari does not see himself bound by any “senseless” undertaking to “let sleeping dogs lie” – dogs that have swallowed the seeds to national prosperity.

In Buhari’s view, it is heart-wrenching enough to let the top dog lie, certainly not all the other dogs. But waking up all the other dogs would necessarily wake up the top dog. Wahala!

Former President Jonathan, it is speculated, is concerned that one side is about breaching the terms of the deal that saw him accepting electoral defeat and, unprecedentedly, congratulating the victor. The task of the NPC is an unpleasant one. They know the truth, or enough of it, yet have decided that a bargain is a bargain and whatever is now seen or not seen, the deal must be honoured, at all costs.

At all costs?

Yes, says Bishop Kukah, the spokesperson and reportedly the motivator of the eminent NPC group. And this is where Kukah has once again incurred the wrath of Nigerian masses. And he has done so in a manner that, perhaps, may do his reputation deep damage.

Hear him: “The singular decision that Jonathan took (of conceding defeat) is what has kept us as a nation. So, I think that even for that singular act alone, Nigerians must be appreciative of what President Jonathan did… even if he stole all the money in the world.”

Yes, you heard him right, “even if Jonathan (had stolen) all the money in the world.” What could inform this of our dear priest? The religious injunction that, “man must not live by bread alone?” Or that parable in which Jesus Christ ‘embraced’ the sinful prostitute and challenged anyone who had not sinned to cast the first stone? What, for Christ’s sake? Or is it the sheer knowledge that few Nigerians, even amongst his hallowed group, were cleaner than Jonathan who ever had such opportunity?

Right now, Nigerians are up in arms against Kukah and his now-turned-unwelcome group. In a rather unsparing Editorial, The PUNCH newspaper insists that Kukah’s position “also raises larger question about our values.”

To be sure, President Jonathan is not and could not have been “where the rain began to beat us,” as our late Chinua Achebe would put it. Jonathan is not the first or only living president or head of Nigerian state to have done great damage to our national coffers and psyche. Some would even argue that he may not be the worst. We would not know. But the country is at a juncture of change, of restitution, of rebirth. And as The PUNCH editorial avers: “Under Buhari, Nigeria has a rare opportunity to make a break with the oppressive yoke of corruption. And in waging the war, there should not be any sacred cow. There must be no room to tolerate crooked public officials and those who hope for windfalls from powerful friends in high places.

Matthew Hassan Kukah and his eminent NPC group have done well by bringing us peace, perhaps time to stay in their cassocks and give Nigeria the chance to reorder its existence, away from the impunity of the past into a brave new world of zero tolerance for corruption. This war cannot be waged, talk less won, without making examples by jailing those high and mighty, who by their inordinate greed and wanton recklessness, have brought the country to its knees.

And that’s saying it the way it is!

Ex-Heads of State will protect Jonathan from persecution —Kukah

 Tobi Aworinde

Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah

How would you rate former President Goodluck Jonathan’s performance in office?

This should be the subject of many books. I think too many of us have gotten carried away by the political propaganda and wars by both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, in which both Jonathan and (President Muhammadu) Buhari were subjected to different characterisations. But we must get past all that. Jonathan’s presidency was not perfect and there will never be one. We all believe that he could have done a lot of things differently, but I believe he did his best. It was, in our eyes, far from what we expected. But we must move away from the narratives of propaganda to the realities now. History will judge Jonathan and I worry that we are allowing talks about probes and so on to becloud our judgment of what he did right. If we cannot identity the good things, how can we identify the bad things?

Former President Jonathan did not have the rough muscles you need to govern a country like Nigeria. His work to give us a credible electoral machine, his ability to tame his ambition; all these are things we cannot ignore. The mismanagement of our resources is a real challenge, which we must face and the government must take up very seriously. People have the mistaken notion that some of us are against the probe or that we are shielding Jonathan. What have I got to gain by shielding Jonathan, now that he is not in power? President Buhari’s concern should be with the choir of hypocrites and cheer leaders who are clamouring around him now. If Jonathan is guilty of theft of state funds, that should be dealt with but it should not distract us from whatever else he may have done well. He was a good man and, sadly, if bad (or good) things happened under his watch, we must let everyone take his or her own share of the blame or praise.

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In specific terms, what do you think Jonathan’s administration will be remembered for?

God alone knows, but he will be remembered as a great Nigerian statesman who put God and nation first. And that is indelible mark of honour which money cannot buy. It is a mark of character and honour.

If you think those around President Buhari are hypocrites, are you saying they are also corrupt and should be probed too?

I did not imply that those around him are hypocrites, but I imply that there are hypocrites all over and they would have been with Jonathan if he had remained (in office). They would have been castigating him as a religious bigot and so on. The hypocrite knows what is right but just pretends. All the talk about transparency and fighting corruption, President Buhari knows that he has not raised an army of the righteous yet and this is why he must be careful. Age, experience, certificates, old networks, etc. have nothing to do with it. Honour is a scarce commodity in Nigeria.

My main worry is that this probe thing is a distraction because it has not been spelt out yet. In any case, the nation cannot stop till probes have been concluded. In my view, the President showed his hand too early. Everyone knows what the General (Buhari) stands for and that is precisely why he was elected. It is much like the Pope saying now that I have been elected, I will preach the gospel. That is precisely why he is there. So, my worry is that the probe talk will soon become the theme song of those like the Roman lynch mobs on the streets who just want blood. And (it is) the blood of other people, not those of their fathers, uncles, aunties or townsmen and women. I think the President could have developed a template for doing this and simply roll it out when he is ready. Now, my worry is that it will become a distraction and sooner than later, ethnic, religious and regional chauvinists will get in the way. After all, he tried and jailed many people for 50, 80, 90 and 100 years. Some of them have finished their jail terms and they are with him in the APC or in the PDP now. So, this is the conundrum we are in.

What then is your candid advice for President Buhari on probing corrupt activities by the last administration?

He already has the experience but as he has admitted, he is wearing a new garb of a democrat. He knows that these probes will not be easy, especially given that from our experience, the more you steal the more you can find enough national and international lawyers to frustrate things. Have we not been waiting for almost 20 years now for the late (Gen. Sani) Abacha’s loot? It is a long road to travel and I believe that the President must never allow the bad to become the enemy of the good. We all must defeat the ogre of corruption which has consumed our past, destroyed our present and threatens our future. But this dragon will not be slain with just one arrow. President Buhari can lay the foundation, but winning the war requires more than him. Fighting corruption requires scientific skills; an understanding of the causative factors, that is all I am saying. We all will be the beneficiaries but it will take time to wean those who have been brought up in the milk of corruption such as we all are now. I do not like the words ‘fighting corruption’ myself. I think the corruption is a symptom of our semi-primitive state of existence. Only development can defeat corruption, not threats, moral exhortations or lachrymal denunciations.

Should President Buhari just forget about the stolen monies kept in places and move on?

How can he or anyone forget? But first, where are the places where the monies are? Identifying the location is the first step. The problem is, these monies are stolen and they are not necessarily lost. The challenge is to find those who will help us find them. But finding them is just the beginning of the problem. The real problem is getting the loot back because it — the loot — is sustaining banks, corporations, businesses, industries and careers abroad or in the safe havens and these people (countries) will fight back with everything. You think these banks will just wire this loots to you just like that? They have more lawyers, better lawyers than our entire country. It is almost 20 years now and we still have not seen the Abacha loot. All we hear are stories, since (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo’s time. I am just pointing out difficulties and not discouraging anyone; but there are choices to make. The President has only four years; he has to decide on how he will conserve his energies and which battles to fight, when and how. Our people love drama, but theatre has only a passing use for us now. He does not have a Supreme Military Council of Generals to throw people into jail. He has a National Assembly to deal with and there are still lingering problems with that august body. The President needs help in clearing the debris and banana peels ahead.

Should monies only be recovered and the looters be left unpunished?

I was with the Oputa Panel and I have also studied some part of the justice system as it concerns issues of human rights, reconciliation and justice. We can put all the people we want in jails but what will that do? We can even kill them, but then, what next? The African mind is not so much tuned to punitive justice but we tend to focus more on integrative and restorative justice. The theft has denied us development. So, Buhari can and should learn from ex-President Obasanjo who got back so much of the loots after he came in without any noise. I recall him saying that even pastors helped to bring back loots from repentant parishioners. I believe the President, using the intelligence resources available, should consider surprise as the most vital tool in this fight. My worry has not been about not probing as some of my critics falsely think. I have been saying ‘think, plan and execute.’ If you make so much noise, vital evidence, data and files will be destroyed by collaborators in the civil service or the relevant offices. The President has not named his team in this battle yet and he needs to court whistleblowers and wean them from the looters who may still have control over them. We must all know that loyalties have not changed yet.

Many Nigerians have expressed their displeasure with your statement on a live breakfast television programme recently, where you said, if the incumbent president probes the former president, it could be the incumbent’s turn tomorrow.

I consider myself a public intellectual. My job is to stir the hornet’s nest, generating new ideas and pointing the way forward. I am quite lucky that I have the chance to air my views. You sound as if I was against the former President being probed. My point is that no one knows what will happen tomorrow and a routine procedure like a probe should not be made to sound like a mission of vengeance. What is more, can you honestly tell me what will happen tomorrow? Did Obasanjo know he would end up in prison? Was Gen. Buhari not detained himself? Some of us are concerned with the future and we do some reflections. I do not just talk, I try to think and I make mistakes; my views are not gospel and people are free and welcome to nourish me with new ideas. But it is sad when people turn ignorance and prejudice into marketable commodities.

I believe the Office of the President is a ‘semi-sacred’ office and we must respect it, even if we mistakenly put a scoundrel there. We can respect the office and still punish the occupant if he misbehaves. And Americans did some of this with, say, President (Richard) Nixon and even the way they handled (Bill) Clinton. There is the tendency to divide us into those who support presidents and those who do not. I was labelled a PDP and APC supporter; some of those looking for food said I was against Jonathan and so on. I actually feel vindicated when I hear people accuse me of one thing today and another tomorrow.

Nigerians must have heroes and heroines; people whose names will inspire some awe, not because they are saints but because of what they have done. Even if Jonathan goes to prison, the world will not forget that he saved our country from doom. I am saddened that some food-is-ready, fly-by-night supporters of Buhari, who are not interested in Nigeria but angling for positions, want to place the exigencies of the moment ahead of the nation. Their fanaticism endangers and blurs the path for both the President and country.

Nigeria has received overwhelming international acceptance under President Buhari. Why do you think this is so?

God knows. But again, this is the reason why I sound so impatient. I am not stampeding the President as some people think. What I am saying is that this goodwill is like snow; like ice, it could melt. The international community has a short attention span and we Nigerians have far more enemies than we understand. It is a pity if we think that everyone is happy with how the elections went. If the enemies sense that Nigerians are unsure, are still quibbling, are still incoherent, before you know what is happening, the drumbeat will change. Buhari will be accused of running an Islamic and northern agenda; he will be accused of persecuting Christians, ignoring this or that zone, and so on. This is what happens when you allow a vacuum, which nature abhors. I am genuinely concerned that we do not fritter this goodwill because all it takes is a small problem; earthquake or a major disaster somewhere, and attention will turn away from us.

Do you then think Nigeria’s recent closeness to the United States should be reconsidered, as some analysts have said?

I do not think that the closeness to the United States, if you call it so, is newly found. Remember that we were the first to receive the American Peace Corps in the 1960s. We should worry that Nigeria did not build on the tremendous goodwill of that great country. Go back to the visit of Sir Tafawa Balewa; Google it and see the reception. TIME Magazine made him ‘Man of the Year,’ the first African to achieve that feat. America had very high hopes for Nigeria but we blew it. Nigerian presidents have been welcomed in the White House far more than any other country in Africa or the developing world. Remember they had offices in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, and so on. We could obtain our visas in Kaduna. What happened? Only a foolish country will refuse the hand of friendship of the most powerful and most friendly nation in the world.

How would you rate Buhari’s first three months in office?

I do not know what to say because there isn’t much on the table. It is gratifying that the President has moved decisively to take on the challenges of Boko Haram, for example. But I wished that by now, we (would have) had some skeletal portfolios such as the Chief of Staff, Secretary to Government of the Federation and so on. But, he knows best and we await the childbirth.

Don’t you think he needs to take his time to appoint the right people to work with in order to have round pegs in round holes?

The President can take all the time in the world; it will never be a guarantee of the quality of his choice. Jesus prayed before choosing his disciples; he knew every man’s character, but Judas was in the crowd. I hear Nigerians harping on choosing the right people. How do you measure the right people? Is my ability to write a good article, the fact that I went to Oxford, Cambridge, and Yale, all evidence that I am a good material? I think all the President should do is appoint people, read the riot act, lay down the minimum of what is tolerable and sack people when they fall short. But there will always be traitors. After all, from what one hears, the transactional costs of access are already beginning to manifest. The opportunity that access offers will be abused by aides and so on. President Buhari, for all these years, has not mixed with people. So, he has to rely on pieces of paper and whispers, most of which will be based on personal interests.

The President will not change the entire bureaucracy, the security and other agencies. It is action that will recruit us into this battle, not some mere look in the face or pieces of paper or pedigree. Today’s saint can become the worst crook. It is what happens when we sit on that seat and the pressures to do good, to help in the name of in-laws, schoolmates, traditional or religious rulers, and so on take their toll; when they offer you their daughters because you are now a minister, these are the pressures. The President should be concerned with raising a hard-core, concrete architecture that will guide public office holders and set the bar high, rather than all the talk about quality of persons. Labels do not tell us how a drink tastes. I heard him say that when he was Minister for Petroleum, the Federal Executive Council had to approve his estacode. All those policies are what matter most. People will fall in line when they see laws and punishment.

You have expressed your concerns about Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign. In specific terms, what are your grievances?

President Buhari has not told anyone how his anti-corruption war will be fought. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are Obasanjo’s vehicles. The last vehicle Gen. Buhari used was the Military Tribunals, whose consequences we know. For now, the President has said he will fight corruption but the strategies are not clear yet. So, I do not know how and why people have already started speaking of (an) anti-corruption campaign.

Personally, I have not expressed concerns beyond the fact that due process is important and must define how we go. I am still convinced that we do not need to hear so much lamentation because the case has already been made. It is quite sad that the media has deliberately continued to distort this issue of probe. I do not know where the media got and started spreading this baseless rumour about our committee, for example, pleading on behalf of former President Jonathan not to be probed. Since he left government, I have neither spoken with nor seen ex-President Jonathan until we met him on Tuesday (penultimate week). In our discussion with him, he stated clearly that he was not against any probe but he was pained by what seemed to be like acts of victimisation and persecution. Jonathan is a former President and if he needs shelter, his brother former presidents are there and alive. And they are in a better position to protect the office of a former president with the architecture of respect and integrity. We must be careful not to play into the hands of those dictators who, for fear of persecution and humiliation, have decided to cling on to power at all cost and at the risk of destroying their people.

Who are these dictators you are referring to?

African dictators, of course! They are all over the place, bringing shame to Africa and diminishing their people, breeding hatred and war by their greed. If you do not treat an ex-president well, those ones who want to go to their grave from the throne will say, ‘You see, we told you, if you leave here, you will go to jail.’ I am against any perceived injustice to anyone at any level and we will speak out when it occurs.

Do you think the league of ex-presidents is there to shield any one of them found by the government to have committed a crime against the state?

No, you can see from what President Bush Jr. did when the disaster of Katrina took place. He pulled out his father and President Clinton to go out and work for America. I have said it over and over; we are blessed to have six living and strong former Heads of State in Nigeria. No country has anything like this. We must learn to treasure what we have, but the sad thing is that for us in Nigeria, no one deserves respect except those who have money and influence or are in office.

What then is your take on the belief by some Nigerians that most of these former military Heads of State were coup plotters and ineligible to be regarded as true leaders?

Did President Buhari not come to power through a coup? In 2007, when I wrote an article to clarify what Gen. Buhari was alleged to have said about Muslims voting for Muslims, I had reactions. Some Muslims abused me and accused me of having deceived and misled Gen. Buhari; some Christians accused me of breaking ranks and making a case for a man who ought to have been tried and jailed. Those who have changed their jerseys and are not Buhari apparatchiks, were they not the same people who abused Gen. Buhari and harassed us at the Oputa Panel for not ordering them to be imprisoned? I laugh when I think of these things. But, as I said, I try to think carefully before I talk. It often takes many years but my critics often find a way of coming around to my arguments. I do not speak out of malice and, sometimes, we may not make our point clearly or even correctly. I am happy that even people like (Prof.) Wole Soyinka have come round now to join the Jonathan train. It is progress.

Copyright PUNCH.

Presidential Directive On Light Weapons: Defence Industries In A Shambles

 

By Midat Joseph 

Investigations by LEADERSHIP Sunday have revealed that the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) is currently in a shambles and in no state to produce weapons, as recently directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari had during the graduation ceremony of the National Defence College in Abuja, earlier this month, directed the Ministry of Defence to produce a plan for the establishment of a military industrial complex for the local production of weapons for use by the nation’s armed forces, to end the current overdependence on other countries for military equipment and logistics.
“The Ministry of Defence is being tasked to draw up clear and measurable outlines for development of a modest military industrial complex for Nigeria.
“In this regard, it is to liaise with strategic ministries, departments and agencies to re-engineer the defence industries Corporation of Nigeria to meet national military hardware and logistics requirements,” the president said at the event.
On the heels of the directive, the president also directed the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to partner with DICON and commence the manufacturing of light weapons it has designed.
Laudable as this may seem, sources at DICON informed LEADERSHIP Sunday during a visit to the complex at the heart of Kurmin Gwari community in Kaduna South local government council that unless government does a complete overhaul of the industry, it does not have the wherewithal to carry out the directive.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that the defence industries currently, only produces civilian items such as coat of arms emblem for cars and offices, staff of office for chiefs, ceremonial swords, ballot boxes, head frame type A & B complete with accessories, windmill, hand pump, spare parts and maces for State and National Assemblies.
The gigantic structure housing DICON is well fenced and manned by armed soldiers, with the inscription, “Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria” at the top of the main entrance.
The structure is the ordnance factory of the defence industry with its administrative headquarters along Ahmadu Bello Way in the heart of Kaduna city.
LEADERSHIP findings revealed that DICON was established by an Act of Parliament in 1964, for the purpose of manufacturing arms and ammunition for the nation’s military and security agencies. Consequently, a West German manufacturing firm, Fritz Werner, was assigned the task of providing technical expertise and setting up the ordnance factory in Kaduna.
The first technical partner of DICON was Fritz Werner of Western Germany, who designed and built the Kaduna Ordnance Factories in 1964 with production capacities including, 5,000 units of BM 59 Rifles per annum, 18,000 units of SMG 12 per annum, 12,000,000 rounds of 7.62mm x 51 per annum and 4,000,000 rounds of 9mm x 19 per annum.
On 22nd January, 1979, the Federal Government signed an agreement with Steyr Daimler Puch AG (Defence Division) of Austria. The agreement provided for the construction of a factory building in Bauchi State, complete with all utilities, roads, rails and furniture for the production of Armoured Personnel carriers (APC).
The factory was designed to assemble in eight hours/day shift, the following, 300 units/yr 2 axles (4×4) Pinzgauer, 1 ton payload, 200 units/yrs 3 axles (6x) Pinzgauer; 1.5 ton payload, 140 units/yr Armoured Personnel Carriers; 45 unit/yr Command vehicles (APC); 10 units/yr Motor Carriers (ACP) and 5 units/yr Ambulances (APC). Factory buildings, utilities, roads and workshop equipment were all completed and commissioned since 1982.
The factory building was to be utilised by the Nigerian Army for the maintenance and rehabilitation of armoured fighting vehicles and APCs under a contractual arrangement.
In order to remain in business, DICON decided to use its equipment to produce civilian items such as rural water supply equipment, industrial spare parts and furniture for sale to the general public.
Studies show that the Nigerian Civil War which occurred between 1967 and 1970 necessitated the tripling of the above production rates and the Kaduna factory was thus able to make a significant contribution to the war effort.
But since after the war, the lucrative arms market for DICON ended, making its peers like the Brazilian Defence Industries Corporation that was established the same year leaving it far behind. The Brazil Defence Industries Corporation now manufactures military helicopters among other high calibre armaments.
DICON at present
Insiders in DICON told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the defence industry is “as good as dead,” owing to decades of neglect and abandonment.
A staff of DICON who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as he was not mandated to speak on the matter said, “DICON is zero in terms of weapon and ammunition production. We have two lines but the old line is completely down. The new line is actually okay but the immediate past Director General refused to allow production of ammunition.”
Why Chinese experts abandoned new production line
The staff informed our correspondent that some Chinese experts were engaged to work on a new production line for DICON but abandoned it along the line.
Explaining why the line was abandoned, he said, “the old line was used to produce weapons that are not up to AK 47 and then a new line was installed by Chinese experts. The former DG did not allow the Chinese experts who actually undertook the contract of installing the new line to further train us on how to use the equipment/machines to continue production. They (Chinese contractors) waited and left without putting the new line into use because of lack of raw materials. We can only produce ammunition on the new line; the old line is completely gone.”
He added that for the first time in 13 years, the industry had a single production because “we tried to test run the machines on the new line that was installed by the Chinese but the Chinese experts left for lack of raw materials.”
Further checks by LEADERSHIP Sunday revealed that except for the test run of the new line and subsequent production of the OBJ Rifle in 2007, no production had been carried out.
“Since 2007 when we produced OBJ rifle, and the production of bullet proof jackets commissioned by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012, we have not produced any military hardware in DICON. After that production, nothing has happened again for the past three years.
“In fact, DICON as it is now cannot produce weapon any longer except there is a serious turn around,” he added.
How prepared is DICON to carry out the presidential directive?
Though, efforts to get DICON’s management, headed by Brigadier General DIO Ehiorobo, to speak on the level of readiness of DICON to match action with the presidential directive could not yield positive result, sources at the industry said it could come to life with political will.
According to DICON’s Public Relations officer, Mr. Abdullahi Kurfi, General Ehiorobo who recently took over from the former Director General, Major General ER Chioba, would require ample time to study the industry to know the state of things before he could talk to the press. He therefore pleaded for more time to allow the new DG settle down to work.
Meanwhile, our source at the industry said, “the truth is that the military has succeeded in killing DICON, the industry is completely dead as we speak. The only way the government can bring DICON alive is for the Federal Government to think of starting it all over again. There is nothing in DICON apart from the new line that was installed by the Chinese people.”
“Staff welfare is poor; we have not been getting our allowances for a long period of time,” he added.