LIKE GLEN COE: A Tale of Transmitted Hate and Misery

LIKE GLEN COE: A Tale of Transmitted Hate and Misery

William the Prince of Orange was regarded as a champion of the protestant faith and was involved in numerous wars with the powerful Catholic King of France Louis XIV. He invaded England with his Dutch troops in 1688 after allegedly engineering support from protestant politicians and soldiers within the ranks of the Catholic King of England James II. William III became the protestant king of England, Ireland and Scotland after his “Glorious Revolution” deposed James II who was subsequently allowed to flee to France from where he launched a failed offensive to regain his throne at the “Battle of Boyne”. A minority which included clergy and laymen sided with James II and opposed William III. Scottish Highland forces led by Viscount Dundee were involved in his failed resistance from 1689-1690; the king therefore offered pardon and demanded for an oath of allegiance from the defeated resistance particularly the Highland clans before the first of January 1692 in the stead of reprisal attacks.

The Scots hesitated because they awaited word and instruction from James II from his base in exile. The highland chiefs eventually got directives just before the deadline in mid- December 1691 to take the oath. Alastair Maclain the 12^th chief of Glencoe set out on the 31^st of December 1691 to take the oath. It took him about 6 days to eventually get this done due to a combination of bureaucracy, detention and bad weather. He came into contact with certain high ranking Campbells and Lowlanders who had reasons to detest the Highlanders.

Insignia of Clan Donald. Google images

The Maclains of Clan Donald together with some of their Glengarry cousins had looted the lands of Robert Campbell of Glenlyon on their way back from one of the battles during the resistance. They stole his livestock and aggravated his financial problems which forced him to take up an army commission. The delay in taking the oath by Alastair Maclain was capitalized upon by high ranking Campbells who found willing accomplices and convinved the king to order an extermination of the MacDonalds  as an action directed against a den of thieves.

A regiment of soldiers numbering about 120 and under the command of Captain Robert Campbell arrived Glencoe and they were received warmly. These soldiers were mostly Lowlanders with a few related to the Campbells. A property tax was supposed to be collected and they remained there for about two weeks catered for by the Maclains. Captain Campbell got new orders and despite the fact that his niece was married to Alastair Maclin’s youngest son; most of the soldiers under his command fell upon the inhabitants of Glencoe as they slept in the early hours of February 13^th 1692 killing 38 men in the process. About 40 women and children were documented to have died subsequently as a result of exposure.

Insignia of the Campbell Clan. Google images

Some of the soldiers failed to comply with their instructions with some warning certain MacDonalds and a few others even broke their swords. There was an inquiry afterwards which declared the actions were indeed murder. The king was exonerated and actions to punish the perpetrators were recommended. It is not clear if anything significant was done in favor of the victims save compensations. The memory and scars from this gory event still persists till today and a wreath laying ceremony in memorial of the slain since 1930 still takes place every year on the 13^th of February.

Nigeria is one nation that has been vandalized by repeated cases of murders and injustice. The scars from hundreds and thousands getting wiped out as a result of ethnic or religious prejudices are what unfortunately bridge the various ethnic groups of this great nation together. The relationship among ethnicities and religious groups cannot be termed healthy; our past and present national history is dominated by a vicious cycle of mass murders and reprisals fueled by a dearth of good governance of failure of the justice system.

One mistake many Nigerians make is to stereotype people from other groups and assume some sort of supremacist stance; it is usually the other people who are intolerant and violent. One kite which unfortunately has been flown over this electoral period is for certain “Southerners” to label all Northerners as extremely violent and intolerant bigots who are out to prevent a second term for their God’s chosen brother by any means necessary. Some have concluded that a Jonathan win would surely be confronted by widespread bloodshed and violence even in states where Northerners are in the minority. They go further to suggest that a Buhari win will definitely not provoke any such chaos but I ask them who is responsible for awarding a 4billion Naira contract to confirmed ethnic militia to guard pipelines. They obviously have never seen vehicles donated to the Ijaw Youth council by the Minister of Petroleum or the many unemployed youths undergoing intensive combat-like drills at roadside SURE-P camps in Ketu and on the road to Badagry.

This is not an attempt to focus my attention on just one group. The truth remains that there is hardly any group of people in this country called Nigeria that is innocent of directly or indirectly spilling the blood of fellow nationals. The have been many Tiv-Jukun conflicts; Umuleri and Aguleri; Ife and Modakeke; Ijaw and Itsekiri; just to name a few. The many lives consumed by conflicts in Jos, Barkin-Ladi, Kafanchan, Ajegunle, Kano, Southern Kaduna, Ipetumodu, Warri , Aluu community as well as the many cases of Fulani herdsmen and unknown gun men have not gone unnoticed.

There may be an army pact that has limited greatly the discussions about the coup culture intiated in January 66, the subsequent civil war and other coups thereafter. I am tempted to believe that many of those soldiers who witnessed and/ or participated in the hypersensitivity reaction of the July 66 mutiny as well as the civil war are constantly tormented by the memories of what they did deliberately or otherwise to their colleagues who were on the receiving end. Incidentally, many have reaped dynasties from their military adventures with a few still key in determining the pattern of events in the country even at this time. A few appear to me as truly concerned about how totally derailed the nation is and one of them I make bold to state is Major General Muhammadu Buhari.

Military coups appeared to become fashionable in the early 1960s with Nigeria, Ghana and Congo Kinshasa ranking high on the list. These coups largely toppled violently neonate democracies and the role played by external forces cannot be overemphasized. General Buhari assumed power as Head of state on January 1 1984 after a coup led by Major General Ibrahim Babaginda overthrew the democracy led by Shehu Shagari. This fact is what some people refuse to understand but heap so much insult on Buhari for solely truncating “our” corrupt democracy like Babaginda, Brigadier David Mark (current senate president) or Lt. General Aliyu Gusau (current minister of defence) were no perhaps more active participants. This coup was very similar to what happened in Ghana exactly 2 years prior. Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings supported by other military men and some civilians took advantage of the New Year festivities organized by the Head of state Dr. Limann to overthrow the elected government citing economic mismanagement. The irony here is that Dr. Limann was handed over power by the same Rawlings 2 years earlier. Rawlings first stint as Head of state in Ghana was in 1979 when he led a revolutionary group of soldiers to overthrow the presiding military government; he organized a rapid election which Limann won and thereafter returned to his commission in the Airforce. When he took over again on December 31^st 1981, it took just over 11 years for Ghana to return to democratic rule.

Jerry Rawlings was not smiling; he was ruthless in achieving his goals beginning with the execution of 3 past military Heads of state and Generals. He had taken out 4 high ranking officers when he realized they were all of Akan descent and in order to balance the equation and prevent a potential mutiny; he ordered the execution of 4 others who were not Akan. 3 Supreme Court justices, military officers and over 300 Ghanaians were reported killed or disappeared in Ghana while Rawlings ruled. It seems the coups of the early 80s were very similar producing leaders with similar goals of ending corruption in the countries and breaking the grip of colonial masters and global financial institutions. One personality visited at a time was Captain Thomas Sankara who became the president of Upper Volta on August 4 1983 about 5 months before Buhari came on the scene in Nigeria.

Sankara was propelled to the highest seat in his country following a coup led by his deputy Blaise Compaoré. He wanted to eliminate corruption and French domination; he pushed for debt reduction and resisted the World Bank and International Monetary fund just like Buhari did in Nigeria. He was so authoritarian that he changed his country’s name to Burkina Faso; he banned press freedom and paralysed Unionism dismissing 2,500 teachers following a strike. Sankara tried corrupt officials and sold off the country’s fleet of Mercedes Benz cars making the cheapest brand sold in his country at the time the official vehicle for ministers. He slashed the salaries of public servants and forbade luxury. Blaise eventually organized the assassination and dismembering of Sankara in 1987 citing deteriorated relationships with neighboring nations. Almost all of Sankara’s policies were reverse and the nation rejoined the IMF and World Bank just the same way Babaginda ploughed Nigeria back into the funding organizations when he took over in August 1985. We all know how Campaoré fled his nation with his tail between his legs last year despite transforming himself into a “democratically” elected president and ruling for 27 years.

Amnesty International as well as other International Humanitarian Organizations accused Sankara of extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions and torture of opponents. Despite all these allegations, Thomas Sankara like Che Guevara remains a symbol of genuine revolution and people centered good governance. He is forever idolized in Burkina Faso just as Jerry Rawlings is in Ghana. Rawlings is internationally recognized delivering lectures at reputable universities and earning a “Global Champion for People’s freedom” award in October 2013 from the Mkiva Humanitarian Foundation. I do not quite know if the descendants of those categorized as corrupt and executed by Rawlings hold any grudge against him or even against the nation of Ghana like it happens here in Nigeria. Perhaps General Buhari would have become our Che Guevara if Babaginda had opted to oust the duo of Buhari and Idiagbon in a bloody coup; perhaps the blame of misfortune and lies would never have occurred and we all would have seen Buhari clearly for what he stood and suffered for with over 3 years of his life in incarceration on the orders of Babaginda who had midwifed the 1983 coup.

Perhaps Buhari would have been our Rawlings but without putting lead into the craniums of the past heads of state but he did not have the time and we would never know. Sankara ruled for about 4 years without handing over to a democracy and Rawlings stayed on for 11. When people accuse Buhari of lacking an election plan, it only indicates that such people only want to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. Obasanjo had handed over to Shagari in a hotly disputed election in 1979. That experiment clearly failed with corruption escalating. The final straw must have been the economic downturn or the clearly rigged election to earn a second term. I do not think it would have been wisdom to rush into another democratic adventure considering the circumstances.

The issues which retard our development as a nation have persisted since before independence; unfortunately the animosity and suspicion have now become genetic dominant enough to render even the ivy college educated completely unreasonable and primitive. Many of those who resist the candidacy of General Buhari really cannot coherently express why they do so. Some somehow blame him for all the atrocities committed by some Northern officers during the civil war while others somehow assume the pain of those whose breadwinners got jailed rightly or wrongly, those forced into lines by soldiers or those executed for drug trafficking. Although a few like the son of a certain governor and a musician still cling on to their grievances (of which they are entitled); there is however a significant group who have chosen apology or not to reach beyond their scars to join hands in support of the General.

Nigeria is a curious case where serious issues are constantly swept under a magic carpet and expected to vanish. We have done much evil to one to another but it may not be possible to achieve complete truth and reconciliation; we may never have full disclosure and even closure for all who have been severely scarred and routed. It will be foolhardy to remain resolute awaiting apologies from all who have offended us instead of striving hard to move on (which I know is easier to say). One can only imagine how long it would rake for every single case of injustice and savage killings from the slave trade period was revisited. Apartheid greatly undermined South Africa but the wisdom of a former militant who spent 27 years in jail somehow kept that nation on course. It took a former Australian Prime minister Kevin Rudd about 4mins and 3 seconds to apologize for the many years of injustice meted out to Aborigines who are the original owners of the Land.

The former emir of Gwandu and former ADC to General Buhari; Major Al-Mustapha Jokolo in an interview to the Sun Newspapers made several valid points with respect to the state of the union. He said:

“If Nigeria should disintegrate as a result of one office like that of the President, is it fair for anybody? Look at the implication for all of us; whether Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, majority, minority, we are all going to pay for it. If this position forces us to disintegrate, nobody in the North will find it easy going without seaport or oil. We cannot find it easy. Let’s not pretend because even if we have farms, even agriculture, generally, we have passed the stage of using hoes to farm.

We need tractors and how do we oil those tractors? We don’t have oil here in the North and we have no spare parts. Who are the traders in spare parts? Who are the electricians? The Igbo. So if there are none within our midst, on and on, we don’t have that knowledge. Even where few of us do, how are we going to survive without these things? On the other hand, look at the Igbo themselves. Can they survive without the North? They need space. They are a highly intelligent race. That was what happened in Germany. They discovered they were in an enclosure. That was why they started waging wars.

The Igbo with their active nature cannot be contained in the South-eastern states. So they need to expand to get space. And they have no space there. So how are they going to survive without space? Never mind food. You can import food from anywhere. Saudi Arabia has no food. So they can buy from anywhere. That’s no problem. But they cannot get space. So what are they going to do? If they have no space, they are going to move over like they did before and try to capture South-south. They are not going to allow the South-south to remain on their own. They had one region before.

They had ACB. They used the money from that bank and acquired choice areas in Rivers State and then there was war. The Rivers people fought against the Igbo and after the war, they said the property the Igbo acquired were abandoned property even though the Igbo owned the land. They bought the land with loans they got from their bank. Interestingly, David Mark as a Major was the one who was the Chairman of the abandoned property thing. So you find that we all need each other.”

We ought to concentrate more on the positives and less on our differences; some of the people we despise are able to do things that some of us will refuse a fortune for because we are just not capable.

It was a Scottish friend and instructor of mine who first mentioned Glencoe to me late last year when we were having a discussion. He told me of a relative of his who is a descendant of the Macdonalds. She instructed her son not to open a can of “Campbell soup” inside her house more than 300 years after the unfortunate massacre. I did a quick check on the internet to see if Campbell food products were packaged in Scotland but the only reference I found to Campbell soup and other products was a New Jersey based company that has done business for more than a few decades now. This is what many Nigerians want their children and descendants to do; to hold on to pain instead of being a balm and save ourselves from transmitted misery.

One of the fallouts from the Glencoe massacre was an amendment to challenge the Scots law of “murder under trust”. The result of the inquiry declared that:

 “Though the command of superior officers be very absolute, yet no command against the laws of nature is binding; so that a soldier, retaining his commission, ought to refuse to execute any barbarity, as if a soldier should be commanded to shoot a man passing by inoffensively, upon the street, no such command would exempt him from the punishment of murder.”

A public commentator said recently that he thought Captain Koli of the “Ekitigate” scandal was disloyal to his superior officer Brigadier Momoh by taping the conversation he had with ruling party members who have since affirmed their participation. I totally disagree with this viewpoint because the recording exposed serious issues of National importance. Should the loyalty of the Captain to his superior officer greater than to Nigeria? A military friend of mine suggested to me that his loyalty depended on whoever was in power hence he is currently fully loyal to Jonathan irrespective of any breach of the constitution and would therefore salute Buhari if he ends up winning the election. I do not know if there is any part of our military code that talks about refusing any command against the law of nature but I want to take the risk and assume that there could be something of the sort since our military evolved from the British system. Even if there isn’t any; our Military officers should know and be convinced in their hearts that their loyalty is primarily to Nigeria and they should not be tools in the hands of any group of desperate politicians to subdue the majority of Nigerians.

LONG LIVE THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA!!!!

AND THE AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO…..

AND THE AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY GOES TO…..

I paid attention to the review of today’s newspapers this morning on the radio and could not help but be captivated by the reports of two separate but related events about a town close to the Cameroon border called Gwoza. The first was about a woman who was allegedly released by Boko Haram. She was reported to have mentioned that Chibok girls were alive and well in Gwoza. From what I could infer, she suggested that the captives were in good spirit but mainly traumatized by the reality of captivity as just about every other aspect of their upkeep was well taken care of by the terrorists who provided them with water, firewood and even deodorant. She said she did not see them physically because they were in a separate and fenced building which was heavily guarded.

The “gentlemen” in Gwoza must really be a rare breed in contrast to the blood-thirsty and beheading ones who regularly upload heavy data videos of their stunts on Youtube and other internet sites. This has caused me to wonder why (from the second story) the president of the Federal Republic has commanded an onslaught and capture of Gwoza on or before Friday the 27th of March 2015. Does it not sound sensible if negotiation with deodorant supplying terrorists was considered before any recapturing move by the Nigerian Army? Is the president basing this directive solely on the intel supplied by this former prisoner considering the fact that only last week, he confessed to a BBC reporter in Abuja that he could not tell where the girls were and speculated that the majority of them could be held up somewhere in the Sambisa forest which is further inland from the Cameroon border? The president made this specific reference to Gwoza while addressing election monitors but did not appear to relate it to the information about the Chibok girls being there.

These two reports prompted me to take another listen to that interview granted to the BBC journalist Will Ross. Some people have found absolutely nothing wrong with the answers given by the president of Nigeria to the reporter’s questions but I am certain this particular interview and many others including media interactions have clearly exposed to Nigerians and the entire world that the Nation of Nigeria is governed by the worst case of incompetence and ineptitude.

The video of that interview commenced with Mr. Jonathan responding to a question confidently by expressing hope that the clampdown on insurgency would be concluded within 4 weeks. Mr. Ross appeared to me like a classic counter-punching boxer launching question after question before his opponent could embark on his usual merry-go-round attempts to digress from the subject of discussion. “Where are the Jihadist….where did they go?” was the next question and Jonathan still basking in the euphoria of his expressed 4 weeks hope, began to talk assertively about the free access of the insurgents through “West Africa into Central Africa and going to North Africa” utilizing his idiosyncratic upper limb gesticulations in the process. He also spoke about the escape and reintegration (he seems to like this word) of those terrorists who did not get killed on the battle fields back into the civilian population because they are Nigerians. I wonder how he knows all these information.

I find his response to the question about the statement made by the Chief of Army staff; Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah regarding the absence of any trace of the 219 Chibok girls in any of the recovered territories very shocking. The president said “if that is what the military tells you then you have to take it”. Mr. Ross fired on asking him if he knew where the abducted girls were to which the president answered; “No,….I can’t tell you where they are……..We are suspecting that they may be in Sambisa forest. One cannot say categorically but we are suspecting that the bulk of them may be in Sambisa forest”. It sickens me when I hear him express his hope on the recovery of the Chibok girls by emphasizing on the absence of any photographs of dead girls. When a representative of the National civil defence corp and the president of the federation are using the same “categorically” terminology then we should indeed be worried.

When asked why the current onslaught could not have happened months or years ago, he began by expressing how he never expected the terrorists to build capacity and how he underrated the external influence. What external influence was he talking about? I thought his spokespersons have constantly gone to town to sound out how Boko Haram was the armed wing of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) and how certain nationals were hell bent on making the country ungovernable for Mr. President.

That “making the country ungovernable” phrase has been severally and maliciously ascribed to the person of General Buhari and many bigoted Nigerians have run with this sentiment to doggedly resist his candidacy even if confronted with concrete evidence of the true source. A certain PDP chieftain Lawal Keita is generally agreed to have been the source of that statement during the height of resistance to Goodluck Jonathan’s candidacy in 2011 within the ranks of the PDP. Many were perhaps aggrieved that the Northern slot of 8 years earned by the late president Yar’adua was going to be usurped and really I think they were right to have been concerned considering the fact that a 2nd term for Jonathan would mean that the entire North of Nigeria would have only produced the president for just about 2 years out of 20 years of this current Republic. This rotational policy is only applicable to the ruling party. With the benefit of hindsight, I think we should have just allowed Turai Yar’adua to complete her husband’s tenure of two terms (I know that is very absurd) as it would have prevented the current fiasco that we have to endure for the past five years. Reuben Abati’s audition for his current role in the presidency was writing a script just after the April 2011 elections to label General Buhari as the instigator of the post-election violence. He managed to include a statement about the perpetrators of the violence making a segment of the country ungovernable. He got sued and after much persuasion by the incumbent to persuade Buhari to settle out of court; the new recruit at the time got off the hook and everything died down but the Jonathan brainwashing manual had already been published and much damage done.

Mr. President went on addressing the reasons for the delay by saying that “since after the civil war, we haven’t fought any war...” and “we don’t manufacture weapons”. I do not quite know if the ECOMOG engagements in Liberia and Sierra Leone of the 1990s were boys scout exhibitions. He makes it sound like Nigeria and Biafra finished the civil war on January 15th 1970 and dumped all their weapons into the Atlantic Ocean or buried them in the desert. Is he insinuating that our troops which formed the majority of ECOMOG fought with weapons paid for exclusively by external sources or simply used catapults and fireworks to intimidate and subdue the many rebel forces that maimed their kin for diamond fields? Why does he think that “we don’t manufacture weapons” is a “get out of jail free card”? It is completely devoid of logic for the president of the largest black nation on the earth to attempt to explain away why the nation with the largest economy in the land does not produce firing pins not to talk of fireworks. Many have laughed to scorn a proposal by the opposition candidate to restore the strength of the Naira. I got involved with some higher centres on Facebook debating the issue and one of the antagonists got asked a question by my younger brother who is an Economist and we never read anything from him again afterwards. My brother asked; “if South Africa with only 27% of our population can generate 67% of Nigeria’s output and an exchange rate of $1: 11ZAR, why is it inconceivable that $1 can equal 1Naira?” I guess he bailed on us.

Mr. Ross was not backing down and reeled out the close to 5billion USD yearly security budgets of the past governments; he asked how the nation’s weaponry got degraded and if looting of the security monies was the reason why the weaponry of the supposed “Giant of Africa” got so bad and non-existent. Jonathan was not comfortable at all at this point as he looked into the eyes of the unmoved Briton. “Information is that these things were not there...” said Jonathan. Using his left hand to touch his chest, he said “I was not in charge, I cannot speak for them”. Really…? So we should go and awaken Sani Abacha from his sleep to explain what happened or should I organize a world press conference to tell the world why the past governments since the civil war squandered humongous security budgets yearly allowing the defence system of Nigeria to undergo necrosis? 

Attempting to answer or digress from the question of looted security funds he said “I can’t say so.. I can’t say so, but what I can say is that it’s not as if government has done nothing..”; “Weapons are not packets of cigarettes”.  The reference to cigarettes in my opinion is tragic. Jonathan has a habit of belittling his audience with what I think is a perceived sense of superior wisdom. He feels compelled to educate anyone he is engaging because he has a title called “president” of somewhere. Telling Mr. Ross about how weapons cannot be purchased like an over-the-counter cough syrup is as irritating as that can get. Was he expecting a seasoned journalist to be blown away by the revelation that it takes time to order for and get delivered assault helicopters, armoured personnel carriers, long range artillery gear or missiles? It is just the same way he went on talking about West, Central and North Africa like he had exclusive rights to the map of Africa.

I want to assume that Mr. Ross must have felt some heat under his skin from the gaze he got from Mr. Jonathan during the exchange about weaponry. Jonathan had reclined in his chair and rubbed his chin repeatedly and any hint of a smile was long gone from his face. Ross went on to soft pedal and asked what he would say to the families of those who had lost loved ones as a result of the insurgency. Goodluck began by trying to sound sensitive saying “whatever goes wrong, I accept it. Whatever goes right I take the glory, I’m not shifting blames”. Is there really any glory left in all of this? Jonathan shifted in his seat and went on the offensive, stammering and accusing Mr. Ross of being hooked on to a particular opinion and not appreciating efforts at curbing the terrorists but Ross was having none of it and sparred with the president by mentioning again the number of the dead to his hearing. This prompted Jonathan to grimace and declare his deep seated pain whenever he hears of the death of any Nigerian terrorist, civilian or security personnel.

Mr. Ross finally asked Good luck Jonathan about his chances at the coming elections; “Can you win it?” to which GEJ responded rather arrogantly “I will surely win it”. When asked why he thought so, he went on and on about how his party had a strong and wide support base around the country. Regarding the reliability of the elections holding and the possible reaction of the key players he said “this government must end on the 29th of May” and “I have said it severally, anybody that loses election will go.” I hope he keeps his word.

How supposedly cerebral folks can remain unconcerned by the president signing a meagre 4billion Naira deal with ethnic militias and fundamentalists to guard oil installations is beyond me. How president Jonathan can get away with handing over 2 lucrative spots in the southwest to separatist leaders who are constantly canvassing for a Yoruba agenda and the emergence of an Oduduwa Republic is baffling beyond words can describe. This armed and now unshackled mob with an unpleasant history of sectarian and deadly violence went about in broad daylight supervised by Soldiers and Law enforcement agents brandishing shotguns and intimidating motorists on Lagos roads. This group and the other well-known warlords from the Niger Delta have suddenly become billionaires and have rendered the Navy and civil defence corp redundant. The money has not caused an earthquake in their bank accounts yet but they will surely be gearing up to fight for their entitlements, the manifestation of which is hinged on Jonathan returning for a second term. 

If we assume that Jonathan returns and these ragtag groups get their deals; who will guarantee oversight functions and ensure they indeed abide by the details of their contracts? Would the Odua People’s Congress not siphon the oil flowing through Mosimi to finance their secession from Nigeria and actualize their much publicized Yoruba agenda? As much as I advocate for Local and State Policing which should involve the incorporation of locals to do these specialized jobs; I will never subscribe to handing over important structures of national importance into the hands of individuals devoid of any allegiance to the federation and who feel they are entitled to their share of the national cake instead of having a sense of responsibility to the union and providing service for the greater good. 

I await the drama of tomorrow’s showdown at Gwoza. I pray the girls are recovered alive and well but I hope Mr. Jonathan has not earmarked this moment as a premier for any feature film aimed at improving his chances at the polls. Everything about Gwoza sounds to me like a script and if it is; the award for the best screenplay would surely have to go to Goodluck Jonathan. He has indeed meddled into too many aspects of this nation but this final plot I believe would shock even him and his “Kukere” dancing wife who seems to be obsessed with prisons lately.

GUITAR BOY

Guitar boy

So I have just finished watching Bastard Okupe make a fool of himself as always on Channels television's program "Politics Today" and cannot help but comment. He tried as always to digress from most questions asked of him and tried in vain to downplay the significance of the stoning policy recommended by Patience Jonathan. 

Well the show ended abruptly following an unexpected communication failure with the Channels Tv studio where the media director of General Buhari's campaign was responding to questions on the proposed deployment of soldiers for the coming elections.  The host apologised for the break and informed the viewers that they were connecting to a live broadcast of an interactive session between the president and sycophantic showbiz individuals in Lagos. 

The broadcast commenced with Ras Kimono, Oritz Wiliki and another huge "Rasta" man singing for Jonathan.  They concluded by moving closer to Jonathan who joined them by attempting the "one leg up" reggae dance move. I understand that Sunny Ade had been on stage earlier and it was time for Richard Mofe-Damijo to invite Clint-da-drunk who came on stage with his right foot bare.  He told the audience that the shoe on his left leg was provided for by Jonathan's first tenure and he wanted the people to vote for Jonathan again so he could get the other shoe. To this Jimi Agbaje was captured laughing his head off; this is the fellow who was at the scene of the robbery attack on Thursday in a haste.

RMD went on to reel out the names of expired and current entertainers who were present there.  The next masquerade to occupy the stage was an afro spotting man in dark glasses with an electric guitar hanging from his shoulders.  It was Sir Victor  Uwaifo and he quickly rolled back the years with about 3 of his classic hits playing his guitar with majestic dexterity like he's always done even going down to one knee at a time.  The guitar boy ended by requesting that Jonathan should consider creating a ministry of entertainment so that one of them could become a minister. 

Victor Uwaifo didn't look like he had a strand of grey hair in his well groomed afro neither did he look anything like his age which is 73 just short of Fayose's mother's age (he's even older than Buhari). Is it not rather amazing that Okupe and his cohort continue to discredit Buhari because he's 72 yet there saw nothing out of place in having a 73 year old showcase the vitality which could still exist within the body of a septuagenarian. 

The comedian funny bone came next and announced that he was from Anambra  amongst other attempts at making good jokes.  The part which riled me the most came next and it was Gordons saying the most ridiculous things ever.  He started by saying that one of the candidates gunning for presidency was older than Nigeria.  I think he must have stopped in his tracks when he realised the folly of that remark.  He then went on to talk about Michael Jackson and Robert Kelly not having childhoods which accounted for their rather unpleasant histories. He linked this to Obasanjo and inferred that he didn't have paper to tear as a child hence the need to tear his PDP card in public view. The jokes didn't stop there as he made reference to Obasanjo picking a "fit" running mate for a sick man and linked it to the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket suggesting that it was perhaps from Obasanjo's playbook. Those in the auditorium including Agbaje and Mu’azu found these jokes very hilarious with some tearing up. 

Duncan mighty sang that Jonathan was the only president in the world who defeated Ebola and Waje clad in red came to justify her pay as well. KayCee had sung earlier failing to convince the president to dance to limpopo and then there was Timi Dakolo belting a duet rendition with the American idol Reuben Studdard. A campaign jingle featuring the regular Jonathan praise singers and folks like Akpororo and Niki Laoye then aired to which my wife commented "for food only ni àwon people yìí".

I don't know how and why I stumbled on PDP gatherings today broadcast on TV.  There was one earlier where professor Nebo said Jonathan had over performed and the FCT minister claimed he was cautioned by the president at a time to desist from demolishing a market along the airport road when he had not provided an alternative location for them.  Hmnn... During the program,  the compere asked the gathering to pick pieces of paper pasted under their seats.  It had the 2011 image of Jonathan in a T-shirt on it and they were all asked to rise, hold up the sheets of paper and recite together that Jonathan would win. The uncoordinated mummuring didn't seem to convince the compere so he asked for a repeat.  It still didn't sound right as the people didn't seem convinced at all by what they were asked to say;  my personal impression at least. 

If a 73 year old maestro and guitar boy can still exhibit undiminished skills dating over 50 years;  why should anyone doubt the capabilities of Buhari as an anti-corruption crusader?  Uwaifo was already a household name in the late 60s, I recall my father telling me of when he visited and thrilled students at his school in the 60s. I can still remember the dance moves showcased by my dad that day;  it was a really funny site. Victor Uwaifo entertained soldiers of the 3rd marine commando during the civil war when they made significant inroads into Biafran territory.  Should a certain voting bloc not retain bitter memories and anger at anyone who participated in or sympathised with the decimation and desecration of their homeland?  I don't think they know or remember this bit of the narrative. 

Age should not be a factor in this election.  Buhari is older than Nigeria so is Jonathan and the latter has proven beyond measure that this job is beyond him.  We should assist his redeployment back to Otueke or to wherever the rehabilitation centre for those who have brought Nigeria to her knees for the past few years will be sited. No "mammy water" can resist the inevitable change coming.

A BLOODY GAME OF NUMBERS.

A BLOODY GAME OF NUMBERS

It is still baffling to me that 15 “human beings” perished on the 15th of March 2014 at a few stadia in Nigeria while searching for jobs and there has been no report of any inquiry about the events which led to the unfortunate deaths. The botched Immigration recruitment exercise has since been cancelled without any rescheduled dates and refunds for the thousands who made online applications. The Comptroller-General of Immigration and Minister of Interior retained their jobs and the bereaved families took home caskets. Well their sorrow did not last too long as 15 families were invited to Abuja for a speech and prize giving day on Friday to mark the anniversary of the Immigration tragedy.

The life of one young locally based Nigerian is now equal to 5 million naira plus 3 Immigration jobs for family members depending on the quality of certificate; Cambridge WASC or PhD. That is sadly what the families of the departed got from the benevolent president as the complicit CG and Minister watched on. I wonder if one family would have been entitled to 6 Immigration jobs and 10 million jobs if they had the misfortune of losing 2 members on that fateful day last year. What if 100 or 419 people who perished that day? It is astonishing that these jobs promised by the president last year happened to be strictly Immigration jobs. I suppose the surest route to get into the Immigration service in Nigeria or any Government job at that is to pray one’s sibling dies in a stampede during any recruitment exercise. They even mentioned that 10 family members presented for the jobs required replacement for failing several criteria such as age, build and academic qualification; but what happens if those who died do not have any individuals whose dream jobs is to become Immigration officers?

It is an absolute disgrace that human beings not goats perish and the occupant of the highest office in the land window dresses it and throws money at the bereaved while those who ought to be taken to the gallows continue to dine with “King Arthur” at the table. The worst sports tragedy in English History which claimed 96 Liverpool fans in 1989 still has inquests ongoing. David Duckenfield who was the police chief of Hillsborough at the time got to apologize profusely 3 days ago for claiming that he gave orders for the stadium gates to be opened which could have prevented the stampede when in fact he did not. The nations that seem to be prosperous are so not because they know or call on God; they are prosperous because of the simple good things they do to one another valuing lives.

Some of the Numbers that Matter

My friend and colleague appeared to me as pessimistic of the chances of General Buhari being declared the winner of the coming presidential elections. Many do not doubt that he would win clearly with all things being equal but the threat of the incumbent’s power and desperation causes them to shudder. I moved to defuse the tension and started to reel out some figures and projections which have helped to strengthen my resolve that the dark cloud over Nigeria represented by the incumbent incompetent leadership would clear after the March 28 polls. It was while I was going through by book of analysis that I realized that I had made a slight error with one value so I decided to review my calculations and compare them with a recent document from the Independent National Electoral Commission containing information about Permanent voters’ card collection across the nation.

The error I made was to have inferred that Goodluck Jonathan gained about 4.9 million votes from the South-South region in 2011 when he in fact had 6,118,608 votes recorded in his favor. I reflected on the shocking remarks made by the president’s wife in Kogi while on a campaign rescue mission where she arrogantly made derogatory remarks about the Northern states plagued by the menace of “Almajiri” children like her husband could do without their votes. I have been to some core Northern states: Kano, Kaduna, Gombe, Jigawa, Bauchi and Adamawa most of which have this caliber of young individuals in significant amounts. These states constitute a significant voting bloc and I sought to know exactly their contribution to getting Jonathan elected in 2011 whether calculated or manipulated. 

Jonathan earned 4,985,246 votes from the 5 Southeast states (98.28% of total votes cast) and 6,118,608 votes (96.51%) from his South-South stronghold. He was awarded 2,786,417 from the Southwest; 253,444 from Abuja and 3,574,480 from the Northcentral states. The Northeast and Northwest contributed 4,776,992 votes of a 22,495,187 total to grant Patience Jonathan access to the Villa. Jonathan least vote percentage in 2011 was 16.05% (Bauchi) and his highest was 99.63% (Bayelsa). He got over 90% of total votes cast in 10 other states all Southeast and South-South.

General Buhari on the other hand gathered most of his 12,214,853 votes from the Northeast and Northwest (10,049,583) despite having a very short time to form his party and campaign. He also did not have the present day arguably overwhelming Southwest support he now has which Jonathan is trying desperately to adulterate and skew towards his side. In 2011, Buhari was rewarded with 20,335 Southeast votes and 49,978 South-South votes. These figures were justified by many as just wages for not campaigning extensively or not at all in those regions. He gained 691 votes from Bayelsa (0.14%) and 6,997 votes from Osun state. Buhari scored 92,396 votes from the Southwest in 2011 and not he stands to benefit the most from over 8 million potential PVC holders in the region. The 1.870,985 votes from the North-Central is a little more than 50% of what Jonathan obtained from the same region which has at least 2 states with governors who have since decamped to the All Progressives congress. It would be unwise to assume that Goodluck Jonathan will sweep this region because of religious sentiment or because most of the governors are of the People’s Democratic Party. The harsh realities of a failing economy equally bites at the people in the middle belt and they have served as a buffer for absolving the millions displaced from the raging insurgency in the Northeast; I do not expect them to vote overwhelmingly for a government which they have witnessed watch on for years and failing to protect fellow Nigerians.  Buhari’s least percentage was 0.14% (Bayelsa) and his highest was 81.69% (Borno); he obtained a 25% or more representation in 17 states and the FCT unlike the 19 he had in 2003.

The document from INEC had 55,904,272 collected PVCs out of 68,833,476 registered voters: FCT (569,109), SE (6,615,934), SS (8,366,065), SW (8,964,946), NC (8,920,394) and NW & NE (22,467,824). I have deliberately put the NE and NW together because it is expected that Buhari would sweep the 2 regions as one bloc like he did in 2011. 

It should be expected that the figures for PVC collection will increase over the next few days but not to astronomical proportions that would greatly alter the present spread. There was a 53.7% overall voters turnout in 2011, a fall from the 58% of 2007 and 69.1% in 2003. If we estimate that we get 55% this year or slightly over considering the ongoing conflict and the fear resident in many hearts to make the move to vote; we would be pleasantly surprised if we got 35 million voters. 30,280,052 people voted in 1999, 42,018,735 in 2003, 35,397,517 in 2007 and 39,469,484 in 2011. I am afraid that the ruling party may be unable to inflate this year’s figure to make room for any manipulation especially if they fail in their bid to avert the use of the card readers.

If we leverage on the really high cumulative percentage voters turnout in the SE and SS regions from 2011 (65.8% and 67.9% respectively); then the two regions which contributed 97.3% (11,103,854 votes) of total votes cast in 2011 will only have a projected pool of just over 4.3million and 5.6million PVC holders.

It seems Nigeria is just a place where pre-election polls and projections hardly matter because of the fears of power of incumbency and the untold influence of monetary inducement. I am however very optimistic because any attempts to manipulate these elections by the PDP would be easy to detect and difficult to justify. I do not expect Jonathan to record over 95% of the SE and SS votes like he did in 2011 without raising any suspicion neither do I expect Buhari to get 691 votes from Bayelsa even though it is Jonathan’s backyard. Jonathan got awarded 26.13% of Katsina votes last time when Buhari got 0.14% of Bayelsa votes.

Egypt

So here I was watching CNN halfheartedly and the anchor starts to read a news report about Egypt; the Egypt in crisis and ruled by Military officers. The story was that Egypt is planning to establish a new capital city on some expanse of land between Suez and Cairo. It is expected to have brand new business districts, embassies and shelter for 5,000,000 people amongst other major developments. And then the man said it is expected to cost 45billion dollars.

How much did they say is missing or gets missing daily from our treasury again?

Joa

140315

The pathetic cases that Nigerian youths have become

The pathetic cases that Nigerian youths have become. 

Some people visited threads with an arsenal of abusive words for the governor of Lagos state because they may have observed from the Facebook page of the PDP candidate that he,  Jimi Agbaje "conveniently" visited the scene of the crime last night and posted things they wanted to hear a governor say in the aftermath of the unfortunate incident.  

To these folks,  Fashola has politicised the situation with his remark blaming the security lapse on the frequent and largely unscheduled visits of the president to Lagos and other Southwest states in recent weeks. What Agbaje has done they however do not think has anything to do with politics but is rather statesmanlike. They have asked if all the armed robbery incidents in Lagos can be linked to GEJ and I ask if Agbaje has visited every crime scene and armed robbery sites since he became the PDP's flag bearer? Let's not kid ourselves that JK did what he did because he's like the Pope. This is electioneering period and just about everything we observe politicians and aspirants do and say would have politics written all over it irrespective of party divide. 

I have no grouse with JK visiting the robbed bank yesterday;  at least it was just round the corner from his campaign office in Lekki. My grouse is with the teeming population of predominantly young people who visit social media forums to completely embarrass themselves.  Many have taken their desire to see the end of Jagaban's influence in Lagos too far by condemning the remarks made by the governor without properly examining his words and making sense of it.  Worse still are those who only read captions and headlines and never read anything extra before anchoring their jaundiced views on such headlines. 

Many have called the governor insane,  confused and other far worse derogatory names.  One fellow even dared to call him a baby politician while many contested his "SAN" status.  Anyone unable to comprehend that we operate a central policing system where recruitments,  appointments and deployments are made from the police headquarters in Abuja outside of the control of state governors would be difficult to help. 

The governors of states have no say in who gets sent to them as commissioner of police in the state neither do they have control of how squads of policemen may be deployed and redeployed within and outside of the state since the police structure is also composed of zones made up of states.  Lagos is in zone 2 with Ogun state and under the command of AIG Mbu the former commissioner in Rivers who opposed Amaechi and who vowed to take the lives of 20 for every cop cut down as a result of election violence.

Fashola is constitutionally the chief security officer of Lagos state however;  he wields limited authority over the state's commissioner of police especially when face to face with the heavyweight and overwhelming federal might which in bodily form is represented by the president and his inspector general. Fashola does not recruit policemen neither does he pay their salaries or kit them.  There sure is a limit to what he can say to prevent the commissioner from redeploying squads to bolster the security detail around the president who has been making numerous desperate visits to Lagos and other Southwest states in recent weeks. 

Is it that difficult to follow the train of thought of the governor about the failure of the force to mount any resistance to a robbery incident that witnessed the cutting down of 3 isolated cops and also the escape of the gun men in a speed boat?  Is it really that difficult to understand the potential effect of any sudden deployment of men to guard the path of the visiting president and his usually carnival like entourage? He was at the stock exchange and the Awujale's palace yesterday or are people oblivious of these facts too? 

Most have chosen to ignore these variables and put the blame squarely on the governor since they see absolutely no reason why the president should be implicated in this incident when he is not the chief security officer of Lagos but the commander in chief of the armed forces and the chief security officer of Nigeria.  Last time I checked, Lagos had not seceded from Nigeria. If the Commissioner of police in Lagos got  2 contrasting directives from the governor and the president,  I suppose he'd obey the governor since that is what many suppose is the ideal. 

The president "surely" has no blame in the security failure in Lagos yesterday that saw many sprinting for safety in preparedness for the Rio games next year and an entire road locked down.  A functional police force would have had it's men scrambling from both ends of the admiralty way and at least one chopper to lead the speed boat chase.  These regretfully didn't happen and 60 robbers were not cut down for the 3 unfortunate officers killed.  That is enough to grieve the governor of any state;  that the audacity exhibited by the gun men would most likely go unchecked without anyone brought to justice. 

The president should not be blamed for the robbery but he cheerfully claims the victory over the Ebola virus outbreak recorded in Lagos when we cannot actually trace any tangible thing he did to ensure the virus was contained.  He claimed victory earned by the staff of the first consultants hospital and the Lagos state health management board. He took the glory from the brave men and women who did the contacting,  tracing and management of the infected individuals.  The governor who ought to have earned that praise chose rather not to share in the glory but reeled out the names of every individual both dead and alive who worked tirelessly to curb and tame the virus. 

If the folks insulting Fashola deem it right for Jonathan to claim the glory and victory over ebola which was largely spearheaded by Lagos state then should Jonathan not be equally blamed for the security failure which could be linked to his visit to Lagos? 

Let us try to utilise common sense always in analysing issues that have to do with our nation; being quicker to study and assess and slower to speak or comment.  

Calling out the presidency and the police now for this oversight may just be what will save somebody tomorrow if the police do the needful to ensure that the presence of a president or his wife in Lagos does not disrupt police organization and perhaps airport traffic control. 

Reason Nigerians,  reason.

TRAGIC THURSDAY

TRAGIC THURSDAY.

I understand that really armed and kitted robbers stormed a bank in Lekki today, shot sporadically causing motorist to flee, duck and abandon their vehicles.  They are reported on social media to have murdered policemen and possibly a passer by before vanishing from the scene Bond-style in a speed boat. 

I want to believe that this occurrence today must have lasted for more than one hour which ought to be sufficient time for emergency numbers to be dialled and security operatives scrambled to the scene. I'm not certain there was any report of other policemen arriving the scene to engage the robbers. A proper response should have included multiple police vehicles, special weapons teams and at least one helicopter.  

I know I've been watching too much television and I'm surely out of my mind but these things are not rocket science.  A well grounded local force would be able to dispatch crafts to pursue the fleeing robbers from the sky and on the water.  Proper intelligence would have entailed a thorough knowledge of every potential landing port or jetty in other to apprehend the criminals covertly but I doubt if these shooting stars would ever be found and brought to justice. 

The people should not be left to fend for themselves and provide their own security. I thought for a second what I would have done if my vehicle was caught up in the chaotic scene in Lekki. Would I have summoned enough courage to turn my vehicle into an assault weapon to cripple the unsuspecting robbers even if I had to face a hailstorm of bullets? That's the stuff of heroes and Hollywood blockbusters. 

The phrase "shooting stars" entered my lexicon sometime during the 2000/2001session of the University of Ibadan. A gang of gun wielding young men probably cultists from other schools shot sporadically in the air and laid siege for several days on the Nnamdi Azikwe and Independence halls of the institution.  I was holed up in my Independence hall room B39 whenever those boys appeared to infuse fear into the students. The school had had it's own unfair share of cult clashes and assassinations in the past which had led to the suspension of academic activity and effectively shut down the campus most times.  

The constant conflicts and rifts within the student union also didn't help with many bloody clashes both real and imagined rocking the very fragile peace that session. Allegations and speculations dominated the news and gossip materials diffusing amongst students.  Many were convinced that the school would be shut down yet again and riot policemen called in to effect that. Some even theorised that the shooting stars were doing the bidding of the then vice chancellor Professor Ayodele Falase; a leading cardiologist in the country with many years of experience. They thought it was a means to intimidate the students and defuse any restlessness. Many cult related incidents at and around that time were attributed to overbearing vice chancellors and professorial cult patrons.  I suppose most of these were never proven. 

The shooting stars squad continued their assault unchecked until a fateful day in the afternoon.  There was a prayer area at the end of B block and on the right side where Muslim students regularly gathered to pray. It seemed that these young men had been severely angered and agitated by the hostage situation which had crippled normal campus activities.  They didn't seem to be in the prayer mood that day and appeared to be in a coded discussion.  The prayer zone was visible from my room and many "Katangites" (independence hall members) sensed that entropy was building.  

The muslim students were led by a certain light skinned brother who didn't appear to be very religious.  He charged his brethren and a few of them had donned the Arabic keffiyeh including himself. Then the action started.

They marched out in ranks towards the gate to confront the shooters who had camped on the road which traversed in front of "Zik" hall and led straight down and directly into "Katanga Republic". Their chants of "Allahu Akbar" was building up to a crescendo and this must have really caused the hair on the bodies of the hitherto untouchable gun men to stand erect. We the spectators looked on from our vantage positions,  many poured out onto the corridors like it was one of those evenings that "NEPA" took light with pots of beans undone upon hot plates.

The gun men were seemingly unmoved and shot into the air in a bid to frighten the approaching young men but the chants only grew louder.  I am certain those lads would have kept in rank even if bullets were fired straight at them.  They got closer and the stars got very edgy and initiated their evacuation protocol.  As they made their way to escape,  the marching students increased their pace and progressed to running straight at the escaping gun men. I understand that some of them were caught even though they ran far away and beaten to a pulp.  The muslim students were relentless and brave that day and we never heard or saw the shooting stars not the ones from Oluyole again. The school was not shut down even when there was severe crisis and the vice chancellor put trouble makers in an effective sleeper hold ushering a period of significant peace,  progress and development for the university of Ibadan.

I still wonder if a well trained local security team supported by police could have saved the situation that day in Ibadan. The police system we run has it's quarter back dictating from Abuja with too much protocol to navigate.  It's on record that the president Goodluck "Tatansibe" Jonathan has been "over-fraternitizing" in the Southwest lately.  He was somewhere in Ogun state today in perhaps unofficial capacity to meet with a traditional ruler possibly to review strategies (or to summon reinforcements we don't know).

AIG Mbu superintends over Lagos and Ogun states and there is a huge chance that the security detail for the president's visit would have been expanded perhaps at the expense of Lagos. Could there have been a void which these sophisticated robbers of this afternoon sought to exploit?  It's Nigeria and really such things aren't beyond us. 

We cannot continue to police our states like this. Every state must be able to run their own points with respect to preventing crime, managing standoffs and apprehending criminals. The stakeholders should be allowed to partake in influencing how their policing should be done and not be at the mercy of what any "oga at the top" decrees. I watched a video a few hours ago of a young man who was limp and crudely carried into a salon car that probably belong belongs to a commercial bank.  The man was said to have been beaten to an unconscious state by mobile policemen outside a zenith bank branch in Lekki and left in the middle of the road to drift away.  I do not really care what his offence or lack of it was; but is a human being deserving of such inhumane treatment? Have those human beings with one head each who have stolen the resources of this nation and continue to still same been asked in strong terms to stop not to talk of getting slapped?  The man was only hurled into the back seat of the car by a clumsy mobile policeman possibly one of those who battered him for subsequent haulage to a hospital because eyewitnesses insisted. 

Ours is a system that rewards impunity; all anyone needs to get a ministerial appointment is to aid in manipulating elections.  An ex - militant who once destroyed oil installations, kidnapped and killed only needs to float a security company that will bid for and win a lucrative contact to guard the same pipelines and other installations he probably still vandalises.

Nigerians must realise that we are in dangerous territory;  the house is smoking and we have slept off within. When young people say Buhari was a coup plotter and does not deserve to be a democrat;  it is a cause for concern.  Further probe of such individuals will reveal a shallow knowledge of Nigeria's true history.  Many do not even know that the present senate president David Mark was a soldier  not to talk of knowing that he alongside Aliyu Gusau the current defence minister and Sambo Dasuki the current national security adviser were active participants in the coup which ousted former president Shehu Shagari. This is the same offence they vilify Buhari for. 

The main justice the dead from today's event need and should get is an end to foolish and selfish leadership in the land.  Now a Morocco call is a phantom phone call that has brought Nigeria regrettable international embarrassment.  The police should still do their job and apprehend these killers. 

May the soul of the departed rest in peace.

ÒFÓFÓ.com

ÒFÓFÓ.com

I decided to watch the Channels Tv news at 10 last night and couldn't help but wonder at some of the stories. 

First the government launched one of their rather skewed projects with a WIN suffix.  It was tagged GWIN or something like that.  You-win, G win or whatever acronym they come up with must ready cause their hearts to do back flips.  It's supposed to be for girls and women and the launch had quite a number of Jonathan's cabinet in attendance.  The minister that always talks about ICT, the finance minister and the presiding minister of the economy were all there.  One Queens college girl was talking about having a career in the ICT industry and the minister of state for health was bamboozling people with talk about VVF and other associated health issues suffered by women.  

I do not know if GWIN would ensure protection for women against violent acts or if it would end underage marriages in some quarters which has been linked to VVF. I don't know if it would shield females from domestic violence,  rape and untold atrocities such as the stolen pepper tragedy a while back.  I do not know if it would protect women who want to prosecute their abusers and guarantee justice for them. I just think there are more important issues than bringing young school girls together to recite what they have perhaps been programed to say all in a bid to appear busy and innovative before foreign guests and international bodies;  I may be absolutely wrong...These are only my perception based on the news report. 

Then I saw this Nigerian diplomat;  I didn't quite get if he was the ambassador to Indonesia.  He was speaking rather nonchalantly with the Indonesian ambassador to Nigeria requesting for clemency for Nigerian prisoners on death row in that country.  He also touched on the possibility of prisoner exchange between the two nations and I wondered for a second if there were Indonesian prisoners in Nigeria worthy of exchange. Mr diplomat asked for clemency for one Mr Salami who he was certain was billed for execution on a deserted island at a time he wasn't abreast of;  that the death sentence be commuted to a prison term. Even if Nigeria wanted to fight for her citizen,  was yesterday not rather too late to prevail on Indonesia? The Indonesian ambassador from the little remark he made which was broadcast during the news reiterated the grounds that warranted execution especially narcotic peddling.  He also mentioned that pregnant women and the mentally unstable would never be executed for the same offences which had death sentences as reward.  

That ambassador didn't sound like someone who was interested in what the Nigerian was saying;  do we expect Indonesia to bend over because we asked and allow Nigerian drug peddlers to return home in a pseudo-prisoner exchange to serve their terms in Nigeria?  Who is Mr Salami? Was he in Indonesia on his own accord or was he a mule for a well connected syndicate?  The foreign ministry should become more active in salvaging Nigerian citizens by getting involved in their defence and perhaps training them in insanity tactics to deflect the death penalty. 

And there was the Ijaw leader Mr Clark who visited a location in the Southwest. The old man jettisoned his regular traditional outfit for a lace-like lemon green agbádá and fìlà to match.  The dude was surprisingly preaching true federalism which was shocking.  I think it's getting clearer to the PDP with each passing day that their campaign may already be doomed hence the Clark parley. 

There were about 2 reports on Chibok one of which I found very sad.  A Chibok representative released a statement rejecting the rebuilding of the Chibok school when girls remained missing.  The fellow lamented the failure of the government to empathise with the sorrowful community by signifying them with a visit, the statement mentioned that the concerned individuals were instead ferried to Abuja to meet with Jonathan aboard a military cargo plane.  Cargo plane?  If that report is true then our lives are indeed worthless in this nation.  Utter disgrace! !!

Other stories involved the shenanigans of those canvassing against the use of card readers and some comedians demanding for the sack of Atahiru Jega after passing a vote of no confidence.  One guy in particular who would have been cast perfectly as Michael Angelo without the need for makeup in the recently released TMNT movie and his fellow PDP pressure group relics were simply making fools out of their generations addressing a press conference. 

There was a report on the commissioned independent power project in Lagos to serve Victoria island as well as other less prominent stories.  That was it for me before going to bed.  I am looking forward to the next gaffe coming from Patience Jonathan or just about anyone affiliated to the PDP campaign.  In the interim,  they need to review how the upcoming presidential election will be rigged considering that just over 55 million PVCs have been collected with a northern majority keeping in view that the last election recorded just a 53.7% voters turn out. We only had just over 50% in 1999 even when we were very desperate to unseat the military. Let us assume 30 million PVC holders turn out to vote and 6% fail the card reader verification exercise;  would Jonathan be rewarded with the same 22 million votes he got in 2011 while Buhari manages 8 million?  Even Ganiu Adams is vocal in support of Jonathan and calling for Jega's head;  that is how low we have fallen in this nation.

FOR A TIME AS THIS.

FOR A TIME AS THIS. 

I had the privilege of attending a forum last night with the vice presidential candidate of the APC and for about 45 minutes he answered questions from 2 moderators which had to do with security,  corruption, electricity,  the role of a vice president and the petroleum industrial bill. 

The man demonstrated great preparedness and intellect and wasn't saying stuff like 80 or 90 something and gesticulating needlessly like a certain president does repeatedly.  I sat beside a lawyer and a friend who validated the marked improvements professor Osinbajo made in the Lagos justice system when he was attorney general.  It's baffling to imagine that Lagos state judges earned just 67,000 naira prior to 1999 and a corruption perception index of the Lagos judiciary which was over 70% in 1999 crashed to an unrecordable value after 8 years. My friend then told me that that template used to revamp the Lagos judiciary has been largely adopted by all states in the federation. 

Prof Osinbajo was precise,  never evading or deflecting questions.  He knew about the economics and bottle necks impeding power generation and distribution.  He had answers to short term and long term approaches to easing the power crisis in the country.  He also knew about the independent power projects and what needs to be done to get them up and running but for corruption and secrecy. 

He talked about his experience with the United nations and Somalia.  He was abreast of just about any index that places Nigeria in hopelessness.  I particularly liked his response to a woman who asked about the APC's plan for women and the affirmative action.  He referred her to the near dominance of women in the Lagos judicial set up and the many women already doing great things particularly in Lagos. It was simply stimulating and i hurriedly had my question penned down waiting for an opportunity. 

It was already late but time for random questions from the audience.  My right hand immediately shot up when my friend Bankole asked and it was very surprising to me that an usher practically forced a cordless microphone into my hand.  I am not the question asking type really;  I'd rather sit quietly and observe.  I had a long Oscar/Grammy-esque script written but I had to do the sensible thing and go straight to the question since I was going first to also make room for others to ask their questions.

I quickly greeted the professor but I'm not sure I pronounced his name accurately but I definitely pronounced my surname like I was in a Yoruba language class.  "What will an APC administration do to halt the braindrain in the health sector and what will an APC administration do to end the (seemingly) eternal strife between doctors and other health workers which is the source of constant strikes?". I wanted to assure him that I was too convinced that the APC would win the election hands down but that was all I had time for. 

He answered my question by identifying that the health sector needed funding from a separate purse and that this gross underfunding is what always gives the indication to health workers that money is never enough hence the need to jostle for more.  He mentioned the restructuring and establishment of an effective health insurance scheme the initial premium of which would be paid by an APC government that could amount to about a billion dollars after which the people would be made to systematically contribute an affordable sum yearly to the pot.  He said that there would be need for government to practically hands off health care administration and that there was no sense in imposing any tariffs whatsoever on hospital equipment.  What was more remarkable to me was that he kept eye contact with me when answering even though I was a good 10-15 meters away from him and down in the audience. 

I wish there was more time to interact with such an outstanding man.  He didn't make unnecessary promises.  He pointed out the issues of constitutional review when asked about the federal character act and other tricky issues. The man knows what he would be in that office to do.  Working alongside a General who is known to have involved his deputies in the past should give skeptics hope that we have a perfect duo to set the example from the top but one can trust some of our seemingly educated youth to continue to wallow in the mud of religious and cultural backwardness while thinking they are smart.  Some admit Jonathan is bad but wish that Buhari enters even though they don't plan to vote for him. Eternal skeptics they are,  they have reserved their joker card so that they can claim innocence if Buhari fails since the guilt of queuing behind Jonathan 4 years ago continues to ravage their soul.  They don't realise that their path to redemption lies in voting for change again and again till they get it right. 

I saw Rotimi Amaechi for the first time yesterday;  the governor sat about 3 meters northeast of me.  I left the venue just before the event ended and compelled to donate again to the Buhari-Osinbajo campaign. Our venue wasn't full perhaps because dollars were not going to be shared like the incumbent has been doing and getting "blessings" from Saruman and Gandalf in return.  It's not about monetary gain for me, it's about the soul of Nigeria which we must fight for with this chance that we have. There were no brown envelopes or rafia bags yesterday neither were there credit alerts today;  Nigeria will survive. 

Professor Osinbajo is a year older today;  may the good Lord bless him and use him to help salvage this nation.  Amen.

CULTIVATE THE GOOD LAND.

CULTIVATE THE GOOD LAND 

My mind just went back in time to 17 years ago when my class English teacher;  one of the best there was at that time made a remark about me during a review session of our English language mock examination in preparedness for the main examination billed for a few weeks. She took her time to go through the steps that would ensure that we were well positioned for distinctions.  We had separate teachers for each class during our senior years and for the final exams;  it seemed each teacher sought to outshine the others by ensuring that more of their students passed the examination and better still with distinctions. This relatively healthy competition obviously pushed the teachers who were the best of the best to spur their wards to aim higher which was the reason why my class teacher decided to go all motivational in the aftermath of her very fruitful teaching session. 

Miss Otr praised those who had topped the class based on the mock exam results.  A few of them had parents who were her colleagues. She charged them to do her proud and then told the class that she was sure they would deliver. She then went on to mention the fellow who had surprised her the most;  enough to have come in 6th and up two places from the previous term.  That fellow beamed with pleasure and the joy on his face could not be masked;  it was a moment of glory.  She went on and on till she appeared to more or less dismiss the chances of those who were the relegation battlers.

The class ended and we started to drift into our usual noisy state when Mayowa who was seated behind me plunged a huge blade into my swollen head.  He asked me if I thought Miss Otr's remark was actually a compliment and it got me really thinking.  Surprising the class teacher actually meant that she was never really expecting much from me in the first place and even a 6th position in class must have been a tremendous fluke.  My mind raced to an encounter with her a few weeks prior. She called my name out of the blue and asked me to see her after the class.  She seemed worried and asked if I had done anything really bad in the hostel and I responded in the negative.  She simply bobbed her head like she usually did and that was it.  

I was a dormitory prefect and the 20naira dues paid by every boy upon resumption into the hostel was stolen from my wardrobe where I thought it was safe.  I promptly informed the house master Mr Uk who I thought would be reasonable but he ensured that every kobo was paid from whatever money I had. Our relationship degenerated over time and I think he must have been the one initiating hostel happenings in the staff room which my unfortunate English teacher never bothered to investigate.  There was a major falling out shortly after one morning in the SS3 boys hostel when I stood up to Mr Uk for treating me unfairly.  The event of that morning endeared me to many of my mates but also got me explaining myself before the vice principal Mr  Odun. 

I was really upset at the reality of being described as a surprise act.  I really did think that Miss Otr was an outstanding teacher who helped me a great deal in improving in the subject.  My first year as a senior was for the most part a struggle in coping with the technicalities of learning English without the literature we were used to in junior years. One of the best women to have ever taught me took over the subject during the next year.  I always felt as if Mrs Ediale was teaching only one individual during her lessons.  The things I had struggled with were now past tense and Miss Otr only came to consolidate on that and make the language easier to grasp. 

Generally,  it was hardly about academic domination for my classmates.  We wanted to do well but we had come to the point where we knew that respect for one another superceded any reward or plaque.  We understood that positions and prizes were not a measure of intellect,  talent or any acquired skill. Some of the teachers always wanted to select favourites based on one criterion or the other.  They made it apparent that they disliked certain individuals irrespective of whatsoever effort they put in their studies.  Sadly this caste system still prevails and distorts our education, religion,  culture and politics. 

I attended a federal government college where despite all odds and imperfections;  Aliyu and Chuka have been able to see the good in each other despite their many differences.  Moji and Nneka are still able to talk freely with themselves even after 17 years and when we storm weddings together many ask under their breath what the ties that bind us are.  

Some of our teachers tried to promote their idiosyncracies but we resisted. I remember the prefects collectively standing with Okechukwu when a house master played a tribal card with him. We overcame tribalism and our religious differences were never a problem.  I remember the day a labour prefect thought to spite us by allocating a seemingly very difficult area of really ugly grass to clear.  The mistake he made was to have brought machetes for us to use; he did not realised we had very skilled lads in Julius and Amobi.  He must have thought we would spend the entire day groaning in that field under the sun;  I am not sure if we spent more than 30 mins all because we were united. We went about our hostel duties singing and drumming especially to songs composed by Michael and a few others;  we prayed,  we played and we also fought.

I learnt respect from my peers; I learnt how to do what was right even if it meant getting "waylayed" or just threatened.  Niyi had been winning all his combats and he threatened to bash little me if I did not assist him during the physics practical exam.  I stood my ground and chose not to compromise;  I waited in vain for Niyi to carry out his threat thereafter. 

Nigeria is heading for a cliff and some people are urging us to keep the driver in place while they also threaten us with war if we fail to comply.  It may not be obvious what Nigeria has offered us as our country but at least we have the ground on which we stand.  We owe this nation the duty to treat ourselves as equals irrespective of tribe,  tongue and God. We must reach across boundaries,  beyond the half truths our Fathers are prophesying to recognize that we have a chance to halt the rot and change the driver. It is high time we focused on the good in each other so that our children will not continue this unending fight. This is a good land,  a very good one which only needs cultivating instead of the blood stains. 

Four of us in the entire set had the highest grade in English language that year and the surprise act was the only one from Miss Otr's class.  I saw her shortly after results were out and made my way to greet and acknowledge her.  She however just simply walked past me with her nose reaching for the moon and half heartedly muttering a "good afternoon". She sowed and watered a seed in me and many others;  she did very well for me and I do not condemn her.  Those who ensured we had such quality teachers 17 years ago may not have known what they did.  We are unfortunately reaping emptiness from unploughed fields at the moment and worse still our first lady now declares on national television that stoning is now a sport and it is great fun to call a decent man brain dead during an unrated broadcast. 

If you think these are not enough grounds to effect change then you must need an emergency borehole.