Presidency is terrorising APC, Nigeria – Galadima

BY IHEANACHO NWOSU AND FRED ITUA,·

■ Tells how FG planned to kill Nyako

Chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Engr Buba Galadima has dismissed claims that the party has any link with terrorists, insisting that the Federal Government is the terrorist.Engr Galadima, a delegate to the National Conference, in an interview with IHEANACHO NWOSU, also spoke on other issues including decisions taken at the national conference and impeachment of former Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako.It is argued that the National Conference, to which you were a delegate, failed given the way it ended, what is your position on this?

In the first place, let me say that we have not gone on a long recess; we have only gone on two weeks recess. The recess is to enable the secretariat to compile our thinking as reflected in our recommendations or resolutions at the plenary sessions. Once these things are compiled and properly documented, we will resume on August 4 to look at them and decide whether they were true reflection of our decisions. As soon as that is accepted, the recommendations will be passed to the convening authority, that is, the government that set up the conference. They will now know what to do with the resolutions so far adopted by the conference.

But the inability of the delegates to agree on key issues like the derivation formula has led to the argument that the conference was a failure?

A lot of people are not conversant with parliamentary procedures and they are not in a position to understand what it was that we agreed upon.  Everything accepted by a group of people in a parliamentary debate becomes the position of the parliament. As far as we were concerned, we adopted a position. This means that we agreed on that position, whether it is for or against is immaterial. We had a recommendation by the committee on Devolution of Power and Resource Control. We agreed that the status quo should be maintained. And that position of the committee was adopted at the plenary.

By arriving at that decision, we advised government to set up a technical committee of experts to advise it on the nitty-gritty of revenue sharing. It means that the status quo will continue to operate until that committee brings up a contrary position. The National Assembly will adopt this before it becomes law.

If you say that there was no disagreement on the derivation, how about the five per cent recommendation for rehabilitation and reconstruction of North East?

The five per cent was not part of our committee’s recommendation. An ad hoc committee set up by the conference recommended it. It came up when some people wanted to change the status quo which was adopted at the committee level. They failed to achieve that.

At the beginning of the conference, you accused the President of habouring a hidden agenda. Now that the conference is about to end, do you still hold such opinion?

Of course, yes. Whoever sets up such advisory body like the National Conference must have an agenda, which may be open or hidden. As far as the open agenda is concerned, everything was treated. As for insinuations of hidden agenda, yes I held strongly that there were. Some of the hidden agenda, which were under the table, were at a point brought up but were defeated at the plenary.

They include new constitution, tenure extension, referendum, etc. They were hidden agenda intended to promote certain things for certain people but they were roundly defeated by majority of the delegates.

At what point did the tenure elongation come up?

Of course, there was issue like that. Some people projected and tabled a motion that they wanted the tenure of Mr. President and the governors to be extended from four years to six. Even some people suggested that the President should be given a two-year extension over and above what he is enjoying now. All these things were openly debated and roundly defeated at the plenary. This could be some of the things that I referred to as hidden agenda.

Of course, parts of the hidden agenda were moved by some people to secure a large chunk of our revenues. This was also defeated. We agreed that the status quo should be maintained.

Outside these issues you mentioned, are you satisfied with other decisions reached by the conference?

I am satisfied with some of them. We are in a democracy, I may have my different opinion on certain issues but the majority will definitely have their way. I objected to the issue of the dissolution of local governments. I don’t believe that it is in the interest of Nigeria that we dissolve the local governments. We should rather maintain the local governments as a third tier of government. I will continue to say and defend at any level that we need the local governments as presently constituted. If there are inequities in the distribution of local governments, we must find a way of addressing these inequities and inequality in the number and size of councils.

Some people out of hate and spite tried to compare Lagos and Kano without looking at the parameters that were used in creating local government areas in these two states. Kano has 44 councils while Lagos with nearly an equal population to Kano has 20 LGs. Because some people are promoting hate,z they only questioned why the two states with almost equal population have disparity in the number councils. They argued that Kano has 44 because those who created the councils were from the North; they were from Kano. They have never extended the argument to say that in creating local governments, a number of factors and parameters were taken into consideration. One of the factors is population. Other factors are landmass, contingent parts like the environment.

All these issues were considered. When you look at these factors, Kano is 10 times the size of Lagos. Lagos is a city state. If people who say some of these things were not mischievous, they should have compared Lagos to Osun.  The former with a population of 10 million, according to the census, has 20 LGs and the latter with a population of less than three million people has 30 LGs. If it is also not out of mischief the same people talking about Kano should also talk about Rivers that has less than four million population, yet it has less local governments than Osun. Whether we accept it or not, we are using the census figure for all the things we do.

Akwa Ibom, which has less than 10 per cent of the size of Kano with a population of less than three million people, has 32 LGs. Nobody is talking about that. Rivers, which has more population than Akwa Ibom, bigger landmass, has less LGS than Akwa Ibom.

If the comparison of Kano with Lagos was not out of mischief or hate, the same people making the criticism should have compared Rivers with Akwa Ibom or Lagos with Osun. It does not matter what parameters you use, there is no way anybody can defend that the criticism of Kano, which was not done out of hate and mischief. No matter the parameters used as criteria for creation of LGs, Kano would always have more councils. The state has bigger landmass, large population, etc.

I suggested at the national conference what we should do but people because of primordial sentiment refused to listen. What I said is that we should allow local governments to be a third tier of government but make a recommendation to authorities like the Presidency to set up a national commission as was done by Gen. Murtala Mohammed under Justice Irikife to draw criteria for creating local governments and address all inequities and inequalities. The commission should arrive at the number of local governments that would be acceptable based on laid down criteria, not sentiments.

You cannot dissolve local governments because the reason for creating them was on account of the fact that there are certain communities in certain states that would never have the opportunity to have a say on who becomes governor of a state or what happens at the state level.  But if you give these people their small autonomy, authority and enclave, they will manage themselves as they wished.

They can use the local government, when we go into strict constitutional requirement for councils, to manage their primary school education, bursary, scholarship, agriculture, health, environmental challenges . Allow them to do that at the level of their communities. It is wrong to say you are throwing away these councils because you believe certain states or certain parts of the country have more councils, therefore they have more access to national revenues. That is why they want LGs taken out of the federation units.

The other issue, which I also do not agree with, is that of state police. You saw Abia State recently registering northerners in the state because it has the support of Federal Government. Kano immediately resolved to do that also. Imo also moved in that line. That is not healthy for the country. We have the constitution, which provides that every Nigerian is free to live in any part of the country and carries out his or her legitimate business and cannot be discriminated against.

But suddenly Kano people woke up and said every non-indigene in the state should be registered. Is that healthy for us? Is that healthy for the polity? Is that healthy for the unity of this country? It is not. And if Kano has its own police, it may not use the federal police to effect the registration exercise. Abia was using federal police to do that because they belong to the same basket. Is that good for the Igbos, Yorubas, Nupes,Tivs, etc in Kano to be registered because they are not indigenes? When we know that Kano people have got the largest heart among Nigerians. They made a Nupe man become governor of Kano, Borno man was made governor of Kano, Edo man was crowned governor of Kano, an Igbo man was made governor of Kano. Which other tribe or states in Nigeria have shown such large heart to not only accommodate other people but made them governors of their states.

Those, who do not know the implication of what they are clamouring for, promoted the issue of state police. This issue was fought and won by Mallam Aminu Kano because he and those that worked with him knew what the native authorities were doing to the opposition. Adoption of the local authorities police or state police means that you are killing democracy. If Kwankwaso had a state police during the appointment of Emir of Kano, Mallam Sanusi, there would have been war in this country by now. We should promote those things that would unite us and do away with those that would divide us.

There were media reports that some vocal northern delegates, including you, are lobbying northern legislators at the National Assembly to kill some of these issues you outlined ahead of the formal presentation of the conference’s report. What informed your move?

I hope those who are accusing the vocal delegates from the North who have gone to the National Assembly do believe that the National Assembly is a structure of government in Nigeria. We have the judiciary, the executive and the legislature. The National Assembly has a role to play in any constitutional amendment. In a democracy, whether vocal or passive, if a person feels shortchanged, he can run to every section of Nigeria. So, why is anybody afraid of people going to the National Assembly?

Having said so, however, I don’t know those vocal delegates who have gone to the National Assembly. I may be termed one of the vocal delegates but have never gone to the National Assembly to speak to anybody. But people should also agree that I have some rights in a democracy. They tell us that is the best practice in America, Europe, etc. If it were so, then why would anybody raise eyebrow if anybody decides to approach the National Assembly to promote a cause that he believes in. It means that these people shouting democracy are not sincere. Are there hidden motives that they are trying to keep away from the public? Let the same people making the allegation also go to the National Assembly to promote their views and ideas. It is the superiority of ideas and arguments that would always prevail.

You accused Federal Government of trying to destabilise the polity, why such allegation?

Are you not a Nigerian? Are you comfortable with what the Federal Government is doing? Removing governors because they disagree with the Presidency. We have intelligence report showing that the presidency wants to remove six governors who belong to the opposition. The presidency is afraid that if APC continues to control the number of states they are controlling, Jonathan will lose the 2015 election.

Even in the PDP states, I want to assure you that Jonathan will not win those states in the general election if we play our cards well. They intend to remove the Governor of Edo who they consider too stubborn for them. We don’t know the type of troops they will deploy there -whether Army, Air force or Navy to get him off. They had wanted to remove Nyako by force. They did not want him out because he embezzled the money they are accusing him of. If the issue is about embezzlement of money, then those who sent troops to remove him would be the first people to be hanged, not even impeached.

They removed Nyako because they are claiming and suspecting that he has a compendium of what have been happening and want to send it to the International Court of Justice at the Hague. They resolved to remove him and poison or kill him so as to destroy every evidence. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t know that God is greater than man. They intended to catch Nyako as a common criminal; he left his house 15 minutes before soldiers arrived at his home in Abuja and Yola. They combed his house thoroughly, including climbing the ceiling, trying to find those evidences. They didn’t know how Nyako escaped.

Nyako, as Vice Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, couldn’t have left such evidences in his house.

But there were claims that he ran away to avoid being probed?

Who deserves probe more? I am telling you the reason they are after Nyako. If that is the propaganda they are doing, they are merely feeding you with falsehood. For instance, Gov Al-Makura of Nasarawa State is the most thrift governor, yet they want him impeached.  They do not like his face and they want him out. They know that they cannot take the state through the ballot box, they want to impeach him and take over the state.

Nyako has been removed, Al-Makura is on the cue, and also Borno governor. They are among the six governors that they want to remove before the 2015 elections.

However, even if they remove all the governors of the APC, they will still not succeed in coming back.

There is the general feeling that APC is in disarray and that the party has a close link with Boko Haram. Are you not disturbed over that?

Of course, they are saying that. Why won’t the party be in disarray when they are using military police, EFCC and ICPC to hunt APC. We have only one life. If you are not worried over what is happening, let me confess to you that I am worried. So, only APC people are thieves? Our $20bn that was stolen is not money? All the things that were done in the Ministry of Aviation and yet the person who did that has never been chased by EFCC. That does not make any meaning to Nigerians. God is the best planner. They are giving APC different names including having a link with terrorists when they are the real terrorists, terrorizing Nigeria on all fronts. Anybody can do whatever he likes but only God knows His plans for everybody. We are not worried about their lies and propaganda; Nigerians and God know the truth. They are discrediting us because they know that we have both the number and capacity to oust them in 2015, but their campaign cannot work. They are the real terrorists; they have stolen resources that belong to the people of this country, causing death here and there. They are using state apparatus to hunt opposition.

Some APC leaders are leaving the party on the ground that the party has lost focus that Buhari and Tinubu are overbearing. Do you trace that also to the ruling party?

Why can’t they promote themselves to become a Buhari or Tinubu ? They are afraid of competition, they just want to be given leadership on a platter. Where they are going now, will they be alpha and omega there? They think people are fools. Do we look like fools? We cannot take their cheap propaganda and misinformation. Anybody that looks and speaks to us would know that we are intelligent and forward looking like several other Nigerians. We know how to differentiate the chaff from the grain. They are leaving because they have been planted right from the beginning to destroy the party.

Are you talking about ex-governor Sheriff or who?

All of them, they were planted. They have seen that there is no way for them to do that job they have been asked to do. So, they have to go back to where they belong. We have bid them goodbye and wish them best of luck where they are going now. We are good hearted people and that is why we are wishing them well.

What are you foreseeing for the country between now and 2015?

A very bad omen for all of us. The rate these people are going, nobody is sure who they will come after. Maybe, when they finish with those holding office, they are likely to descend on some of us who disagree with them on a number of issues. They can arrest us and lock us up or kill us outright.

Is that part of the intelligence available to you and APC leaders or you are merely predicting ?

Am I the first person to say that? Have you forgotten about Gen Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan? Why are some Nigerians forgetful?

Time will tell. Time is already telling going by what is happening.

What is APC’s plan B?

You mean I should reveal our war strategy for our enemies to know. They will lose the 2015 no matter what they do. That, I can assure you. Even if they kill all the people they think are their problem, they will still lose the election.

Are you saying that Jonathan has no chance in 2015 poll?

Nothing will make him to return. Honestly, I can’t see that happening.

Dear God, Buhari Must Not Die

By Simon Kolawole

We have many reasons to be thankful that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari survived the bomb attack in Kaduna on Wednesday. I’m not trying to suggest that the lives of those who died are worthless - or that we should be less thankful for several other lives that were saved. Personally, Kaduna means a lot to me. That is where I have the largest concentration of my relatives. My elder sister, my nieces and nephews, my uncles and aunties - plenty of them - live in Kaduna. Many of them were born there. Kaduna is where they see as home. To cap it all, my dear grandma, on whose palms I grew up, currently lives in Kaduna. I, therefore, have a lot of stake in Kaduna.

The peace of Kaduna means much to me. Anytime there is violence in the state, I am always in panic. It’s been like that since the Kafanchan riots of March 1987. My mum used to live in Zaria, with two of my siblings. It was no fun trying to find out if they were safe in those days when there was no SMS or Whatsapp. Last Wednesday, I went into the panic mode again immediately I heard of the blasts. I started working my phone like a mad man to be sure my people were safe. So, there is every reason for me to be thankful for those who escaped the attack  - and to be sorry for the unfortunate victims.

But Buhari stands out for a reason. If he had died in that attack - which he described as a “clear assassination attempt” - I shiver to think of the consequences. I don’t know of any Nigerian politician today who has a genuine following like Buhari, even if this emotion is not shared nationally. Buhari’s following, in my opinion, ranks next to that enjoyed by politicians such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo. These guys were demi-gods. They enjoyed natural following - devoid of bags of rice and gallons of kerosene.

I grew up thinking Awo was next to God. I remember the 1983 elections. According to the fable that we were being fed with, Awo had promised to relocate to the moon if he lost the presidential election. And so, as innocent children, we usually gathered in the evening to look at Awo in the moon. We convinced ourselves that we actually saw him. That is the stuff fanatical following is made of. It has nothing to do with naira and kobo. I don’t know of any Nigerian politician today who enjoys anything close to this devotion and affection  - apart from Buhari.

Who wants Buhari dead? Five possibilities are being bandied around. One, perhaps he just accidentally ran into a situation. Two, perhaps Boko Haram has decided to take him out. Three, maybe people within his party are trying to uproot him - because of 2015. Four, maybe it is people outside party - also because of 2015. Five, maybe it is some agent provocateur out to plunge Nigeria into Rwanda-like ethnic crisis. In a country where no single assassination case has been resolved, we would have been left to work with permutations and theories for the rest of our lives if Buhari had been killed.

The first possibility is ruled out because this is clearly not an accident. The bombers chased him, tried to block him and eventually denoted a bomb around his convoy. I saw what would pass for bullet marks on his car. If this was accidental, then we can only say maybe it’s a case of mistaken identity. Perhaps, it was someone else they thought was in the car. But from all descriptions, the assailants knew what they were doing. They came for Buhari. For someone who was a soldier all his life and had been a military head of state, I would rather believe his words that it was a clear assassination attempt. He knew what he saw.

The second possibility - that it could be Boko Haram  - also baffles me a bit. I have never seen Buhari as someone to be targeted by Boko Haram. And my reasoning is not complicated. The people Boko Haram has gone after are those they perceive to be exploiters and enemies of the people. I said “perceive”. Buhari, in the North today, does not represent an oppressor or a sell-out. Maybe the insurgents were offended by his criticism of them in recent times. It could be that since terrorism’s biggest fuel is embarrassing the government and enjoying publicity from it, taking out a big fish Buhari would add a huge feather to their cap.

There is a third possibility - that it is politicians within his party who want to take him out before the presidential primaries. According to the theorists, Buhari has become a problem for the APC big boys  - they cannot live with him, yet they cannot live without him. Clearly, it would be very difficult for APC to justify not giving its presidential ticket to this immensely popular politician who got 12 million votes in 2011 without inducing any voter. Killing Buhari, according to these theorists, would solve the dilemma and whip up sympathy for APC ahead of the 2015 elections. But Buhari is a massive asset - whether or not he gets the party’s ticket - so why would they kill him?

The fourth possibility: could it be the PDP that is trying to snuff life out of Buhari? A theory says this could be PDP’s way of making re-election a smooth ride for President Goodluck Jonathan.  Buhari has not only been a formidable opposition candidate since 2003, he has also been a vocal figure in criticising the PDP-led governments. So, maybe they want to silence him for good. However, PDP stalwarts would tell you Buhari is a very beatable opponent for Jonathan because they have perfected a way of de-marketing the retired general. They think Buhari is Jonathan’s favourite opponent that they know how to handle.

Finally, could an agent provocateur be on the prowl - neither APC nor PDP? Someone trying every means possible to set Nigeria on fire? Maybe they are trying to go for targets that can inflame passions and make the people pour into the streets and start killing one another and destroying property. Imagine if Buhari had been killed and it was interpreted as a North/South, Muslim/Christian issue. With the kind of fanatical support Buhari enjoys in the North, we would still be dealing with reprisals and counter-reprisals across the country today. Ethno-religious passions are so inflamed in Nigeria right now that a little spark can lead to months of untold crisis.

So many theories. So many possibilities. To be honest, I don’t even know what to believe. But I know one thing: God has done innocent Nigerians a big favour by sparing Buhari’s life.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And Four 
Other Things...

EBOLA ALERT
Ladies and gentlemen, an Ebola case has finally been confirmed in Nigeria. We can choose to live in denial and say it is a lie  or we can choose to admit the reality and begin to take measures to avoid being afflicted. It is one disease that kills without mercy. Nine out of 10 victims don’t survive it. There is yet no cure for it. There is no vaccine for it. Ebola kills as quickly as possible. Fatality takes days, not weeks or months or years. Let us take all care to avoid this plague. Caution. 

THE RIGHT THING
Of the many factors that I listed as contributing to building collapse in my article last week, was I surprised that cement generated the most interest? As I said, countries such as China and India have upgraded to 42.5mpa - unquestionably the world’s most potent cement because of its setting strength, yield and adherence capability. I’m yet to hear any sane person argue that 32.5mpa is equal to or better than 42.5mpa. But human beings, by nature, must resist any attempt to raise the bar. Luckily, industry players are only asking for more time to upgrade. However, I insist this is just a start. Government must henceforth ENFORCE construction standards. Indisputable.

SACKING ZAKZAKY
Friday’s tragic incident involving members of the Shi’a sect in Zaria, Kaduna State, is one we can do without. The sect, led by Sheikh Ibraheem El Zakzaky, was on its annual Quds rally - to protest the Israeli bombardment of Gaza which has claimed close to 1,000 lives so far. The face-off with Nigerian security forces consumed at least 10 sect members, reportedly including three sons of El Zakzaky. How can this bloodshed be avoided in the future? People have a right to protest, so we need to know what actually went wrong. And we can’t afford to open another battle front now, with Boko Haram still on the rampage. Baffling.

KESHI QUANDARY
Now that we have beaten FIFA to its game by following legitimate procedures in removing the NFF chairman, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, I hope the authorities will not deceive themselves into believing they can ever pacify former Super Eagles’ coach, Stephen Keshi, by re-engaging his services. Keshi, both as player and coach, has never been the darling of authorities, not in Africa at least. He wins Nations Cup, resigns and then reconsiders. He reaches second round of World Cup, resigns and then reconsiders. As the authorities move to renew his contract, they should fully brace up for the turbulence ahead. Cracking.

2015: Contact Office Opened for Buhari’s Presidential Bid

Retired General Muhammadu Buhari

Onyebuchi Ezigbo  

Former Head of State, retired General Muhammadu Buhari and his loyalists seemed set to kick-start the campaign for his presidential aspiration on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), with the opening of a contact office in Abuja.
The office,  a rented apartment located at No. 34 Lobito Crescent, off Adetokunbo Ademola Way in Wuse II, was opened without fanfare a few weeks ago.

THISDAY gathered that Buhari was persuaded to also hire a residential accommodation in an undisclosed area in Asokoro so that he could have more time to stay and interact with political stakeholders in Abuja.
One of his associates who spoke to THISDAY yesterday said the former Head of State was being pressured to declare his bid early enough before the congress that will produce delegates at the Presidential convention scheduled  for later this year.

Buhari does not reside in Abuja as he often shuttles between his base in Kaduna and Abuja to attend political meetings, a situation his political associates viewed as not being convenient and healthy under the circumstance.
“Buhari is going to run and there is no doubt about it. We, his supporters will insist that he runs even if he saying otherwise. Majority of the party supporters believe that he is the right person to run for the presidency if APC is desirous of changing the administration in Aso Rock,” said the source.

On the plan to launch the presidential bid, the source said before the bomb incident, Buhari had concluded plans to formally declare his interest after Ramadan festivities. He said the former Head of State also planned to relocate to Abuja so that he can properly coordinate his campaign strategy.

Speaking on the recent bomb attack on Buhari, the party chieftain said the party was  aware of the competing interests, especially those currently in government who may not be disposed to having the former Head State run for presidency in 2015.
He said the party was not suspecting that any internal rivalry may be responsible for the attack but that it feels worried that the bomb blast came a few days after Buhari took a swipe at the Federal Government over Boko Haram.

“They all related to it. But first of all we are interested in his safety. No, everybody in the party looks forward to him as one person who is capable of lifting the opposition party to victory in the 2015 presidential election and as such they are all happy and will give him support to make it happen.Although there may beneficiaries if he is out of the way, but I do not think anybody will expect to win an election if Buhari had  died. His exit will create serious crisis for the choice of candidacy for the party. People with the profile of a person like Buhari are very few in the country”.

Bishop Kukah’s Private Outrage

by ·sonala.olumhense: 

Bishop Kukah

This is a review of the recent public lecture: “Wole Soyinka: 80 Years Of Genius & Prophetic Outrage,” by the respected Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto.

I am at some liberty to claim the bishop as a personal friend; he is an intellectual and cleric I have admired for many years.
In “Genius and Prophetic Outrage,” he assiduously explored Soyinka’s journey in a manner that was at once profound, insightful, and funny.
But it is impossible to talk Soyinka on the back foot, because while he may be better known to the world for his Nobel Prize in Literature, his “outrage” has always been forward about society and politics.
Perhaps this is why the Bishop missed a couple of traffic warnings in his presentation, and like the magician Professor Peller, appeared to produce a cudgel out of thin air as he artificially split Nigerians in two:
“…I am even more amused by the criticisms of some of our brethren in the Diaspora especially those who think that simply being abroad has set them apart from their fellow countrymen and women, those who believe that those of us who are here are so because we are not good enough to be abroad,” he declared.
I was not at the lecture, and so I cannot confirm if this mind-reading diagnosis was received with a knowing snigger or a standing applause.
“I often resent the condescending attitude and outright smugness of some Diaspora Nigerians who believe in their superiority simply because they have a second passport,” he went on, “…rather than trying to stand together to rise beyond [Boko Haram] in hope together, I find some of my fellow citizens creating more confusion and using the insurgency as weapons of politics. The President and the security agencies have become the objects of attacks…”
Again returning to the ambush of Nigerians who ought to surrender their rights once out of the country, he said, “The least we can do is to stand in the comforts of highways and homes that someone else constructed and throw stones at ourselves and our people simply because we are living off someone else’s sweat.”
And then, apparently determined to make an example of someone, he put the Diaspora Nigeria cudgel down and seized Ndibe by the neck: “If Ndibe were a Ugandan, Rwandan, Zimbabwean or indeed, from most African countries, would he write this and still come back to his country…?”
Professor Ndibe’s “treason” is that he supposedly referred to Nigerians first as chickens, and then as ants.
In a response to the lecture <http://saharareporters.com/2014/07/21/bishop-kukah%E2%80%99s-grave-misreading-okey-ndibe>, a stunned Ndibe has responded suitably to the charges, which evidently stem from the bishop having misread the article <http://saharareporters.com/2014/07/07/something-really-really-dangerous-okey-ndibe>.  I support Ndibe completely; he is owed a public apology and the restoration of his threatened rights and privileges as a Nigerian.
Bishop Kukah seems to be possessed of great anger and contempt, and this is difficult to grasp because I know him.  A Soyinka lecture also seems an odd fork on the road of history to have taken on that un-Soyinka task.
“What we require now are new visionaries to set higher standards,” the bishop told his audience.  “What we need now are new dreamers with the necessary imagination to summon our people to a greater tomorrow.”
I disagree.  Our dreams and visions at independence-of a just society led by just men who would use public resources for public service-have not been invalidated: for 50 years, the problem has been our treacherous governments and their contractor prebendalists.  We need men who love Nigeria enough not to betray her and then blame the chaos on the betrayed, as well as men honourable enough to insist we must change.
That, I believe, is what Soyinka has been saying. When I read Ndibe, Tunji Dare, Biodun Jeyifo, Levi Obijiofor, Femi Ajayi, Niyi Osundare and many others abroad-along with others in the motherland such as Eddy Madunagu and Dele Momodu-I recognize the same thing.  I cannot accept Soyinka’s outrage but reject theirs.
I think the Bishop’s error is that he mistakes the frames for the lenses, which is why he identifies this division among Nigerians.  In Soyinka’s famous 1982 music album, Unlimited Liability, he appropriately identified the nexus between Country Hide & Country Seek.
Sings the brilliant Tunji Oyelana of Country Hide:
“Dem wan rob church, so dey call prayer meeting
When all eyes close, dem do their thing…
Dem say no licence, but who dey smuggle…
Na who loot the nation, na who dey shed crocodile tears…[abeg drop dead]…
Country Seek my broda, leave corner side,
Nor let dem take you for another ride
To be fair, Kukah’s divide is not really new.  Cowardly, colluding and complicit government officials who want to be left alone to the dastardly unhinging of Nigeria whisper it among themselves.  They say-these drunks who mistake bathtubs of free government wine for philosophical clarity-that Nigerians abroad should concern themselves with treatises about snow and ice and winter, and not expose their kleptocracy.
There are many ways you can look at Nigeria’s story as an under-developing country, and one of them is by the numbers.  At Unlimited Liability, for instance, Country Hide was responsible for a missing $2.8 billion, among others, leading to a politician nearly being air-freighted from London; today, Country Hide is responsible for a missing $20b, among others, one of the Ministers in the middle enjoying frivolously chartered jets and presidential “drop dead” protection.
Another perspective is the harvest: is it coincidence today to find artisans who reason and speak more intelligently than “Ph.D” holders?  Look at our governing philosophies, where leading by example is anathematic, and where the rulership cites private jets as evidence that Nigeria is “not poor.”
And we have bolstered this malfeasance of farce as achievement in the past 15 years by image-laundering: Olusegun Obasanjo set up the Nigeria Image Project, Umaru Yar’Adua, Rebrand Nigeria, and Goodluck Jonathan has Levick.
It is regrettable that while Nigerians criticize all of this around the clock and around the globe, anyone can see it as being unpatriotic.  Patriotism is about loving your country; loving an irresponsible government is a sickness.
The truth is that the only reasonable separation among Nigerians is between those who suffer from the country’s poor image and those responsible for creating it; or between those who labour under our collapse and those who benefit from it.  Our people say you do not spank a child and forbid him to cry.
Nigerians abroad, who now remit through formal institutions alone over $20billion per annum, are not responsible for eating Nigeria alive; they are an important contribution to keeping her alive.  And this is despite Nigeria’s being the only key democracy that still shamelessly keeps her citizens abroad disenfranchised.
Finally, Bishop Kukah raises several interesting questions, among which are: “Who exactly are we writing for and for what purpose? Why has writing not effected any change in our societies? What is the scope of our narratives?”
I answer that some of these questions should be asked of the powerful but semi-literate who mistake the likes of ‘Ikebe Super’ and ‘Hints’ for newspapers.
But a writer writes for the love of writing.  His work may or may not influence change, but he is happy to be up in the middle of the night writing.
Speaking for myself, in the Nigerian context, I have since been cured of any illusion that what a writer writes has any correlation with changing Nigeria, just as the citizen’s vote has no correlation with public policy. We must be content merely to contribute to record-keeping, in case the future has use of information for which the present lacks place.

So Who Wants Buhari Dead?

Sam Nda-Isaiah

It is now incontrovertible that someone somewhere really wants General Muhammadu Buhari dead. The event of July 23, 2014, must not be taken or treated lightly. If we had a serious government in place, then, setting out to uncover the mystery would have become a major national assignment at this point. General Buhari is not just another Nigerian. He is a former head of state and he is also the leader of the Nigerian opposition, whichever way you choose to see it.

Buhari himself has rightly called it an assassination attempt. But the government and their friends said if it were an assassination attempt at all, then, the searchlight should start from his own party, All Progressives Congress (APC). Some have even gone further, if preposterously, to directly point fingers at presidential contenders within the party. But it gets curioser and curioser; our own Mujahid Dokubo-Asari has said Buhari actually stage-managed the attack on himself so as to give his (Asari-Dokubo’s) paymaster, Goodluck Jonathan, a bad name. I didn’t know this man is so brilliant. How ingenious!

But Buhari’s well-wishers think those who want him dead are closer to Jonathan than to him. Just within hours after Buhari had said that Jonathan had declared war against Nigerians, that direct attack on his person, as if to confirm Buhari’s statement, occurred. Nobody has directly accused Jonathan himself of trying to kill Buhari – at least I have not heard that publicly – but there are some facts that are very difficult to ignore.

You may not like former president Obasanjo and I am not exactly his fan – but you cannot take things he says about this government lightly. After all, are both the Jonathan and Yar’Adua governments not an offshoot of his own? Obasanjo said in that defining letter he wrote to Jonathan recently that he was aware that hitmen and killer squads were being trained for President Jonathan in preparation for the 2015 elections. And nobody should tell me not to take Obasanjo seriously on this one please. If there are 1,000 people on the so-called hit list, as Obasanjo said, it will make sense to assume that Buhari’s name would be among the first. So this is one possibility. The snipers were probably very upset about Buhari’s assertion and they just decided to start their assignment from him.

Another possibility could be that, yes, Boko Haram wanted Buhari dead. The mass murder of that day in Kaduna bears the signature of Boko Haram all over it. It would be plausible to link the suicide bomb attack on Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, the Darika sect leader, to the one on Buhari only minutes apart on that same day. Dahiru Bauchi’s message to those who wanted him dead is that they should be a little more patient. At his age, 89, they wouldn’t have to wait much longer. Why did they spill the blood of scores of innocent people just to reach him? he asked. It’s just simply outrageous.

Could it be that Boko Haram wanted to kill Buhari because he has been critical of their activities? If this one is the case, then, it should be clear to those jesters who have been desperately trying to force the label of “sponsor of Boko Haram” on Buhari to go and find something else to do. If Boko Haram wanted to kill Buhari, then he could not be their friend. It is not that anyone needed this proof in order to make this point in any case.

Now, let’s go back to the theory being bandied by the PDP and their friends. My friend, Akin Osuntokun, hinted in a write-up that the fact that the bullet-proof vehicle that Buhari was travelling in on that fateful day was given to him by Jonathan was enough proof that Jonathan could not be behind the failed assassination attempt. He said that it was Col. Dangiwa Umar who told him so. I think Akin did not understand what Col. Dangiwa told him because I placed a call to Col. Dangiwa myself after reading Akin’s piece. I do not think that Akin was lying. I just think he simply misunderstood Col. Dangiwa because I know the president did not give Buhari that jeep. It was in fact given to him by an APC chieftain. I know that as a certainty. So that’s settled.

PDP’s publicity secretary, a certain Olisa Metuh, insinuated that those who attempted to kill Buhari could be his fellow APC presidential aspirants. I don’t know whether that makes sense at all, but listening to those PDP people, I know that there is nothing the human mind cannot contrive. If anyone in APC wanted to kill Buhari, would he use a bomb or a suicide bomber?

Anyway, whether it is Boko Haram or PDP people or even Buhari’s APC competitors that desperately wanted him dead, is it not still within the métier of the Jonathan government to protect the people and unravel the mystery and save us all? Or has Jonathan and his people forgotten that elementary responsibility of government? Even if it is APC members that wanted Buhari dead, is it still not the duty of the government that Jonathan heads to protect him? Why are they talking as if the president is totally excused, if it is Boko Haram or APC members that wanted to kill Buhari? The way some of these PDP chieftains are talking about this their brilliant idea of an intra-APC murder conspiracy against one of their own, you would be forgiven to think that they were part of the assassination plot. These people do not even understand the first thing about the workings of government. Is it not the duty of their government to keep everybody safe? People who accuse those in government of such criminalities do so because of the Jonathan government’s body language. Why, for instance, does the government conduct all Boko Haram suspects’ trials in secret? Who does the government want to protect or what are they hiding? Why is it that nothing has come out of all the several discoveries of bomb-making factories we constantly hear of? Or several shiploads or truckloads of arms that have been impounded by the customs and other security agencies? Why is it that, in all these years, no serious Boko Haram suspect has been arrested and tried by government? Is it possible that the government would not know the financiers of these hoodlums? Government? Is it indeed possible that any government at all would not know the financiers of criminals within their land for this long? Does this make sense to anyone? If it is indeed true that Jonathan’s government still does not know those arming these terrorists, why are they still in power? Is it by force? There are several unanswered questions and many things are not adding up.

The matter is even getting more complicated. Some followers of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi are beginning to say that the attack must have been masterminded by some members of the Izala sect with which they are in perpetual enmity, even though no one has any proof of that. I hope some of these members of the Darika sect do not go on a groundless revenge mission thereby spilling more blood unnecessarily.

This is just the time that Nigeria needs very strong and competent leadership. We certainly do not have one at the moment. The situation is getting scarier and scarier by the day.

EARSHOT

…And More And More Bloodletting

Who’s feeding on all this blood that’s being shed in Nigeria every day? Last Friday, soldiers needlessly killed 35 unarmed Shiite sect members including three sons of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, during a peaceful demonstration in Zaria. Was there no way that bloodletting could have been prevented? What danger did these Shiite sect members, who were unarmed and are ideologically opposed to Boko Haram, pose to the peace of Zaria and the country? Yes, I am aware of their occasional excesses and peskiness, but is that worth 35 lives especially since many of them were arrested alive? Maybe I don’t know enough, but when did peaceful protests for whatever reason become so much a crime that 35 people have to be killed? Is Nigeria losing its soul?

The leader, El-Zakzaky, has so far called on his members all over to show restraint. This should be commended but there must be consequences for the murder of 35 innocent souls even if the murderers were those in authority. The government must not mismanage this one again and create another Boko Haram on our hands.

Asari Dokubo's Statement on the Attack on Buhari Is Callous

By Okoi Obono-Obla

Asari Dokubo's statement on the attack on General Buhari by terrorists is mindless and diversionary. I totally and unreservedly condemn the statement by Asari Dokubo that General Muhammadu Buhari masterminded the attack on his envoy by terrorists last week to portray President Jonathan in bad light and win the sympathy of Nigerians.

 The statement is mindless, thoughtless, diversionary, utterly callous and calculated to undermine the ongoing investigation ordered by the Inspector General of Police on the dastardly attack on General Buhari that left in its wake scores of innocent Nigerians that were unfortunately around the area that the attack was carried out. 

It amounts to a desecration of the memory of all those who died in the attack on the vicious suicidal attack on General Buhari , for Asari Dokubo to make such an unguarded and reckless utterance in his frenzy and overzealousness to ingratiate and curry the favour of President Jonathan, whom he had previously dismissed as a bumbling incompetent. 

It is regrettable that Asari would want to trivialise such a serious matter as the attack on General Buhari and Sheik Dahiru Bauchi respectively that led to the untimely dead of almost 90 Nigerians. 

I call on President Jonathan to call and distance himself and his government from the antics of the likes of Asari Dokubo who wants to ethnicise and sectionalise the Nigerian Presidency for parochial and selfish reasons. 

I make bold to say that President Jonathan, as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria belong to all Nigerians and indeed was voted into office by Nigerians from the South-South; South East; South West ; North East; North West and North Central so nobody should give the impression that he is President alone for the South-South Nigeria. 

It is unfortunate that the likes of Asari Dokubo always construe important national issues from the ethnic and sectional prism. 

Madeleine Albright: ‘To put it mildly, the world is a mess’

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 21, 2013.

 

Jim Watson

By Anna Brand

As conflicts around the world from Gaza to Ukraine continue to intensify, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Sunday, “the world is a mess.” 

“Can you recall a time when there was so much trouble in so many different places around the world?” asked CBS’s “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer.  

“We all grew up in a very different era where we were focused on the threat from the Soviet Union and that was the major activity and it clearly was dangerous, but what has happened now is that we are seeing problems in a variety of places,” Albright said, pointing to globalization and technology as crucial factors.

“There is so much connectivity, but also not an understanding of all the various pieces of the news that come into us,” she said.

“What has changed: We don’t want to be the world’s policemen. The American people don’t.”

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

Albright named Putin’s leadership first in Crimea and now toward Ukraine and the escalating tensions in the Middle East as two huge “game-changers.”

“I think Putin is living in his own world,” Alrbight said, saying that he’s used propaganda through his own country and central and eastern Europe.

WEEKENDS WITH ALEX WITT, 7/27/14, 12:34 PM ET

How much should US be involved in Ukraine?

President Obama has drawn mixed reviews for how his administration has handled the ongoing conflicts thus far. The president recently issued stronger sanctions on Russia and has been present in the Middle East – along with Sec. of State John Kerry – to help negotiate peace and a ceasefire. In a call with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, Obama “made clear the strategic imperative of instituting an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now and leads to a permanent cessation of hostilities based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said that “the president’s leadership has been very strong.” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, also on the program separately, stood by his opposing view that “America is the glue that holds the free world together. And when you see us missing, or AWOL, as President Obama has been, you see fracturing on multiple fronts.”

Asked to weigh in on the disapproval the president’s faced for attending multiple fundraisers recently, Albright told Schieffer “I don’t think the criticism is fair,” adding that the president “does not travel alone; he has advisers around.”

“What has changed: We don’t want to be the world’s policemen. The American people don’t,” Albright said.

Despite Americans’ opposition to taking direct action overseas to combat violence – according to a recent POLITICO poll,  just 17% of voters said the U.S. should be more involved in the Russia-Ukraine battle – Alrbright said firmly that “the U.S. has to be at the table.”