THEY DON'T FEAR US.

I find it amazing that Justice Nwali Sylvester Ngwuta began his long letter to the Chief Justice of the Federation by describing how he felt symptoms of a malaria attack, how he delayed seeing a physician and how he subsequently got medication to treat the protozoa.

He did not forget to mention how all malaria medications make him drowsy so after he took his first dose of the prescribed drug on the evening of Friday 7th October 2016, he retired to his bedroom leaving his housemaid who was the only person with him inside his house to handle other domestic duties.

The drama began shortly after that and Justice Ngwuta described being terrified by armed men in ski masks and not even an identification card or search warrant presented to him did much to crash his trepidation. The lordship despite being dizzy and lying down a few times described in some detail how the 'terrorists' from the State Security Service ravaged his home from room to room. In one room were found several bags,  briefcases and travel bags most of which contained magazines, papers and old clothes.  A certain small bag locked with a padlock and with its key in a side pocket however contained some money.

Justice Ngwuta then described becoming even more dizzy such that he had to lay down drifting in and out of his terrified state.  At a point,  he claimed he couldn't observe the movements and activities of the operatives and when he or his maid had to move about,  they were shadowed by gun wielding potential assassins.

I  find it very bizarre that the justice mentioned being so afraid of being shot by men who had a search warrant.  I do not know if describing what many 'people of color' are afraid of experiencing at the hands of misguided police officers in the United States was just for effect or if indeed he felt cold steel apposed to his temple. A supreme court justice was then ordered to sign and write his name on a  piece of paper which had a list of items to be taken from his house as evidence.  He signed the paper seemingly under duress even though listed was a huge sum of money he claims he knows nothing about and which was allegedly placed in his house by the SSS.  I still do not understand how a senior member of the bench could be so fearful to sign an incriminating document. Could he not take a hit for the love of country and stand on what is right and true?

The next part of his long essay is quite bewildering.  He highlighted the actual amount of money found in his home to dispute whatever the SSS claimed they had recovered.  $25,000  which when converted is about 11,375,000 naira was found cooling off in a small bag which had the key in a side pocket on a Friday night and not safely locked away in a hidden fireproof safe. He acknowledged that 710,000 naira (which is just over $1,500) was his September allowance from the supreme court  was sunbathing in a brown envelope while another 300,000 naira  ($666) was tucked away in the briefcase which he takes to work daily.

It is indeed fascinating how these huge sums of money and what the learned wig termed "loose change" littered the home of a member of the highest court in the largest black nation on earth. It is even more amazing that some Nigerians justify these occurrences maybe because they believe someone in the office of a judge justifiably earns so much and gets to collect 710,000 naira as a cheque or in cash from the supreme court as monthly allowance. How many Nigerians will be able to sleep without palpitations in their homes if they had $25,000 in an unchained bag and with a housemaid patrolling?  I'm almost certain that many will do worse than the character 'Pa James' in the popular comedy show 'Papa Ajasco' who tied a rope to his leg through a window to a vehicle parked outside his house to alert him of any theft.

Justice Ngwuta thereafter narrated how he became convinced he was in the custody of the SSS when he was driven to their office. He described the situation as an act of impunity and a violation of the rights of a justice of the supreme court. He went further to described his suffering in SSS custody,  the time wasting torture of the men and even the "stained old mattress " he shared with another script writer Justice Okoro. He claimed he questioned his interrogators about the strange money allegedly recovered from his house to which he got no response. Supreme court justice did not forget to remind Chief Justice Mahmud Mohammed  of his incorruptible credentials despite past accusations of corruption in 2000 (Ebonyi) and in 2009 (Calabar.)

EKITI and his present plight.

Justice Ngwuta moved into the next chapter of his thesis and traced his current ordeal to a chance encounter with Governor Rotimi Amaechi sometime in 2013/ 2014. According to him,  they exchanged contacts which Amaechi put to good use a few weeks later when the case contesting the election of Ayodele Fayose as the governor of Ekiti state was determined at the Court of Appeal. Amaechi was stated to have met up with the judge two days after calling and "begged him to ensure Fayose's election was set aside and another election ordered for his friend Fayemi to contest. " The response was apparently an emphatic 'NO!!'    

Judge Ngwuta claims he met with Amaechi sometime in 2013/14 (it is unclear the exact date or period) after the court of appeal decision was made.  Fayose was elected and returned as governor on the 16th of October 2014. Fayemi thereafter took his case to the Ekiti governorship election tribunal     contesting the eligibility of Fayose to have contested the election ab initio. Fayose's election was upheld by the tribunal on the 19th of December 2014 and the case moved up to the court of appeal. This appeal was heard and decided on the 16th of February 2015 in favor of the tribunal's ruling.  I do not know if this was actually a glitch in the lordship's memory and if this was actually the period Amaechi called and met with him. The supreme court upheld Fayose's election and return on the 14th of April 2015.  I am not certain if 2013/14 is close enough to February 2015 to be explained as an error.  Should I trust the memory of a judge who swore to an affidavit that his facts were near flawless?

RIVERS COURT OF APPEAL RULING.

The lordship claimed he encountered Amaechi again after the court of appeal ruling in the Rivers state governorship election was decided at the court of appeal. Amaechi reportedly confronted him a few days after the judgement and barked "You have seen Wike"....."Oga is not happy." The oga in question here was reported to have been Mr President but I must confess that this is the most incoherent portion of the entire essay.  Ngwuta told Amaechi "go and talk to his wife" and I wonder whose wife he made reference to and I also wonder as well what "we  shall se" allegedly uttered by Amaechi meant.

The Rivers state governorship election tribunal had  annulled Nyesom Wike's election on the 24th of October 2015 and the court of appeal ruling of 16th of December 2015 affirmed the tribunal's judgement.  I do not understand how such a decision in favour of Dakuku Peterside and the All Progressives Congress  from the appeal court could have caused Amaechi enough distress to storm into a meeting with Ngwuta breathing fire and saying "Oga is not happy? " The day after the appeal court ruling was president Buhari's 73rd birthday and some celebration took place at the presidential villa which Amaechi was part of.  I am not sure if he left that event for a Judge's house who was not even involved in the decision of the appeal court.

Wike took his appeal to the supreme court after losing at both the tribunal and appeal court. The case was heard and decided on the 27th of January 2016 and seven justices of the court were on the bench;  the Chief justice Mahmud Mohammed, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, Kumai Bayang Aka'ahs, Kudirat Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, John Inyang Okoro, Aminu Sanusi and Sylvester Ngwuta. According to Justice Ngwuta, he spoke with the CJF about not including him in the panel for the Rivers appeal which sat on the 27th of January 2016 to which the CJF replied him that he was already included. 

They allegedly talked about Amaechi's attempt to woo other judges of the highest court to rule in his and APC's favor. He thereafter made reference to a lunch break given to them at 4:20pm on the day of the Rivers appeal hearing and how he went to his chambers where he received a call from Rotimi Amaechi which was perhaps meant to intimidate him.  He switched off his phone immediately after that call.

These events about knowing his inclusion on the panel before the day of the hearing and having a lunch break in his chambers away from the other justices goes against the content of a 3 page document written by a certain Ahuraka Isah who is the media aide to the chief justice of the federation titled "SUPREME COURT: WERE THE JUDGEMENTS REALLY INFLUENCED? " obtained from the bulletin section on the website of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. It was a piece to debunk claims and accusations in certain quarters that the supreme court was rigged to pass judgements contrary to stipulated guidelines and the constitution. He had scathing remarks for those who contested the supreme court rulings with respect to the election appeals of Abia, Rivers and AkwaIbom.

Mr Isah detailed how the CJF went to great lengths to outmanoeuvre any politician who wanted to skew the SC in his/her favor. He wrote about how the CJF selected 16 supreme court justices randomly for the cases on February 3rd 2016 before handing 10 or all of them one or two of the case files for hearing. They were not supposed to know which group of 7 panelist they would belong to,  the Co-panelists or the exact appeal(s) to be heard. Why did Justice Ngwuta beg to be left out of the River's panel?  Was he threatened?  Why would Amaechi approach a judge in 2015 who had rebuffed him sometime  in 2013/14? The Supreme court set aside the judgements of the tribunal and appeal court thereby upholding the return of Nyesom Wike as the elected governor of Rivers.

It is certain that one of Justice Mohammed and Ngwuta is lying and there is a conspiracy to cover up endemic corruption in the Supreme court.  Only 8 justices ended up hearing both governorship election appeals heard on the 27th of January 2016 with Ngwuta replaced by Chima Centus Nweze for the Ebonyi hearing.

THE EBONYI ANGLE.

I am curious to know who the witches and wizards who have been hunting Justice Ngwuta from Ebonyi since 2000 are. It will also be interesting to know how certain people from Andy Ubah's camp are supplying Amaechi with enough ammunition to tarnish the image of the revered judge in 2016. Mr Igwenyi who is a senior staff at the federal judicial service commission must really be a top class negotiator capable of setting up meetings with any individual in the world.  It was no big deal when he managed to take Justice Ngwuta in his car to a highly confidential meeting with a former governor which both Igwenyi and Ngwuta had no clue about what was to be discussed.

Justice Ngwuta and Dr Ogbonnaya Onu are both from Ebonyi state and for men who are above 60 years old,  it is difficult to accept a theory that both men did not know one another or had never interacted in the past and so required a middleman to set up a meeting between them.  Onu was stated to have declared his interest in the court of appeal ruling on the Ebonyi election because the Labour party candidate Edward Nkwegu was poised to declare for the APC if he became the governor of Ebonyi. Nkwegu had asked for an annulment of Dave Umahi's  election and asked for fresh elections but the Tribunal ruled in favour of the People's Democratic Party candidate on October 16, 2015. Dr Onu then asked about his relationship with the president of the court of appeal  which he said was cordial.  Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa was the presiding of the court of appeal Benin division sometime in 2005/2006 when Justice Ngwuta was on the same bench.  Dr Onu allegedly wanted Ngwuta to use his influence as a justice of a higher court to pressure the Court of appeal president to get three already compromised judges on the  5 member panel to hear the Ebonyi case. Ngwuta wrote that he refused and Dr Onu asked him if he knew who the husband of Justice Bulkachuwa was.

Why would Dr Onu ask about knowledge of Adamu Bulkachuwa? The former legislator is said to have been one of the foundation members of the Congress for progressive change which was the former party of Mr President. Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa has been accused in some quarters of favouring the APC at the level of the appeal court because of some seemingly favourable decisions. Why did Dr Onu have to go through a supreme court justice when he could have gone through the husband of the Court of appeal president?  It doesn't make sense to me that Dr Onu could have assumed that Ngwuta who didn't get appointed as a court of appeal judge until 2005 (seven years after Bulkachuwa got her own appointment) could have had any influence over the slightly older Bulkachuwa.

The court of appeal threw out Nkwegu's case on the 11th of December  while the supreme court did same on the 27th of January 2016. The claim that Onu was interested in the Labour party candidate appears very similar to Justice Okoro's accusation of Amaechi's interest in the APGA candidate in Abia. I'm afraid that these two scenarios don't make much sense especially the one in Ebonyi which the courts regarded as a completely baseless appeal.

I am not sure if narrating how he was starved for a whole day despite suffering a malaria attack and delayed for long periods has earned him some public sympathy. If it has,  it does not explain how a judge gets to have over 12 million naira and other loose change in bags and suitcases in his bedroom.

Only seven judges heard and decided the two appeals (AkwaIbom and Abia) on the 3rd of February 2016 contrary to the methodology highlighted in the publication by the press secretary to the chief justice. Justices Ngwuta and Okoro  were however both left out of those cases.  I think these justices do not take Nigerians serious and have resorted to what I can only term blackmail and distraction tactics. Their dates don't tally and their claim to influencing or attempting to influence their inclusion in election panels negates what should be a foolproof process of ensuring the judiciary doesn't get compromised.

Justice Ngwuta admits to meeting up with politicians who either offered him bribes or threatened him but he did not take such threats serious enough to inform law enforcement yet he could sleep peacefully with loose change all over his bedroom and feared being shot by SSS operatives enough to sign a piece of paper as ordered by a young man perhaps old enough to be his son. Justice Okoro was captured offering a present to the former AkwaIbom governor at a church service in 2013 to celebrate his appointment as a  supreme court judge. This gesture does not in any way appear appropriate.

I wonder if it is a common practice for justices to have money in both foreign and local currencies adorning their homes;  this development alone convinces me that the nation's judiciary is completely riddled with corruption such that what is right is just is now completely distorted but I may be wrong.  All I can infer from the Okoro and Ngwuta letters  is that both men will do very well as script writers for Nollywood or Africa Magic. They know most Nigerians won't read or search things out for themselves that is why I believe Rotimi Amaechi was selected as the notorious villain in both stories.  If we follow both tales, it is safe to conclude that Amaechi will also appear as the 'Big Boss' if the chief justice of the federation writes his own letter.

If the judiciary had any fear of Nigerians, the members would declare a state of emergency and dismantle all their structures and the entire arm of government sanctified.  The judiciary can be said to be a major reason why we have foreign exchange shortages in the country.

EYE ON THE BALL.

June 10. MrFixNigeria's website published this from an unnamed source. Mamman Daura and Abba Kyari named. The thing is 'MrFixNothing' despises PMB. 

June 28: Saraki talked about his persecution from "the cabal."  

 14th October: Aisha on BBC, claims she doesn't know those who are getting appointment and an unnamed cabal runs rings round the president.

  She actually said we should watch the news to know the cabal.

15th October: Saraki's aide announces vindication

14th October Toyin posts photo with Aisha on instagram

 17th October: some house of representatives members urges PMB to listen to the heart cry of his wife; they declare full support for Aisha and rally all Nigerian women to back Aisha.

One Jafaar Jafaar claims he listened to an unaired tape of Aisha's BBC interview. Accuses the president of all sorts including nepotism and expresses concern for the likes of Mamora and Alake amongst others. He wonders why they as well as all who broke their backs to ensure victory for Buhari were left out of the settling equation. He's angry that PDP stalwarts and individuals like Onyeama the foreign affairs minister got seats at the dining table. He is disappointed that the president didn't sack or change all PDP appointees in charge of certain parastatals carried over from the last administration.

   Even Saraki asked the president to include anyone with strengths to turn the nation around.

   

A bipartisan approach Saraki put forward.

A lot of what is going on prompts me to suspect a conspiracy. At a time when people ought to be overwhelmed with joy at the return of 21 Chibok girls, at a time when the president ought to receive some praise at least, we are distracted by all sorts of sounds from different corners. A man with one wife and 7 living daughters is now confirmed in some quarters as chauvinistic and misogynistic. One fellow even called him deplorable but the funniest I heard today was on the radio when a seemingly educated fellow said categorically that every derogatory or absurd word ever spoken by Donald Trump is not as bad as what the president of the federal Republic of Nigeria said in Germany in response to his wife's weak attempt to help blackmail him.. 

Keep your retinas fixated on the ball people.

17-10-16 

John Inyang Okoro

Justice Inyang Okoro is currently trending in Nigeria's 'twittersphere' due to an explicit letter written by him to the Chief Justice of the federation explaining the source of the money found in his house by the operatives of the secret police and he also exposed an epic plot by Rotimi Amaechi, President Buhari and the All progressives congress to bribe him.  

You can be rest assured that twitter is buzzing and the honorable justice can now boast of many fans and Voltrons. My only wonder is why he has just come out now to defend himself. 

THE MONEY

Justice Okoro listed an Ipad, 3 phones,  $38,000 and N3. 5 million among the items taken away by the DSS from his home.  Some enraged individuals have questioned why the revered judge was whisked away because of just a paltry sum and Mr Okoro explained the dollars as the residue of estacodes accrued to him over the last three years on the bench. He had travel and medical allowances and was certain he didn't exhaust more than $5000 over three travels abroad.  Money from an international conference attended was not even part of the money found in his house.  I'm not sure he quite explained the source of the naira. 

From the tone of the judge's letter, it appears just about normal and right for a judge to have millions of naira and a few thousands of dollars in his bedroom for perhaps emergency purposes like purchasing diesel and ordering for pizza. It sounds like wisdom for people to stockpile dollars saved over three years or more from travels under their mattresses or in their fireproof safes instead of in our weak and distressed banks. 

His explanation has appealed to many individuals but I can only imagine if those who understand have relative amounts of cash in their homes on Friday nights and are able to sleep.  

THE ACCUSATION

Mr Okoro explained to the CJF that he was certain that his encounter with the DSS was related to his refusal to be bribed by Rotimi Amaechi. He reminded the CJF of a 'verbal' report he made to him after the minister of transport visited him in his home on Monday,  the 1st of February 2016.

According to Okoro, Amaechi was there on behalf of the president and APC to get him involved in a plot to sway the supreme court electoral appeals of Rivers, AkwaIbom  and Abia states in favor of the APC. He was promised an unspecified sum monthly to the tune of millions.  He claimed Amaechi was desperate not to lose out on the huge investments he had made in the APC candidate in AkwaIbom Mr Umana and so he needed the Justice to be on the panel an arrangement which Amaechi said the CJF was already aware of.  Umana was supposed to be the middle man for settling the transactions.

Mr Okoro thereafter reminded the CJF of another undocumented report he made to him about a prior visit by Mr Umana and a certain 'pastor' to him before Amaechi's visit.  He claimed Umana wanted to meet and settle the judges who would sit on the case a proposal that was "intercepted" [sic] by the pastor because that move wasn't in their original game plan.  Okoro was left out by the CJF based on these 'verbal' reports and the APC subsequently lost the appeals. 

RIVERS APPEAL

The tussle in Rivers was between PDP's Nyesom Wike and APC's Dakuku Peterside as it was disputed if an election actually took place in Rivers state in April 2015. The supreme court upheld Wike's election victory on January 27, 2016 so I wonder why Amaechi was at a Judge's house on February 1st 2016 which was a Monday to sway the decision in his party's favor.

AKWAIBOM APPEAL

This case was between PDP's Udom Emmanuel  and APC's Umana Umana. Mr Umana wanted an annulment even though the election results available showed the PDP man in the lead.  The appeal court granted Umana's wish on December 31st 2015 but by Wednesday the 3rd of February  2016, Udom was declared winner. If Umana was never going to be declared governor in the stead of Udom, why on earth was he prepared to spend and be spent for what would at best be a rerun verdict assuming Udom lost his case? What would have been President Buhari's gain if he had succeeded in overturning elections in regions where he's chronically despised? 

ABIA APPEAL

The contenders here were Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP and Alex Otti.  In this case,  the court of appeal removed Ikpeazu and declared Otti the winner on the 31st of December 2015 but the supreme court reversed this on the 3rd of February 2016. What exactly was president Buhari's interest in Abia that he had to send Amaechi to alert the judge to take a bribe and turn the case?  Alex Otti did not even run on the platform of the APC but as a candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA. Was Okoro confused by the 'AP' common to both APC and APGA? Should we assume that Mr Alex Otti was expected to decamp to the most unpopular party in the Southeast if his victory had stood? 

I am afraid that this Lambtale from the judge  doesn't quite add up on many levels.  The money and the February first visit defies logic and how a supreme court judge has managed to hing his defence on verbal communication with the CJF and with only two of the accused as witnesses is unbelievable. I truly don't know how or when judges to seat at panels are chosen but is it possible that the CJF is indicted in this matter based on the two verbal reports he allegedly got fed by Okoro and his move to exclude Okoro from the panel which decided the elections without disclosing anything to anybody?

The entire judiciary system seems to me like 'Fuji house of commotion.' It's high time our lawyers and judges got their acts together and for the people to stay focused. Distractions and blackmail abounds everywhere; some equations aren't getting balanced.

BELONGING

For those of you who want to opsonize  Mr President so you can engulf him,  I laugh at you uncontrollably. 

You have even attempted to equate him with The Donald Trump who only recently tried to deflect a released video recording of obscene conversation he had with a certain Bill Bush about women. 

There's a pattern and a history about Trump, he talks silly things and acts similarly most times even now at 70. That he loves women and hangs out at places where women are utilized as mere 'tools of business' is no revelation.  There's perhaps enough information to nail him on several counts; however more heavyweight accusations cannot be proven yet.   

PMB while responding to a recently published interview granted by his wife to the BBC Hausa service laughed and said "I don't know what party my wife belongs to.... But what I know is that she belongs to my kitchen,  my living room and my other room."

Some intellectuals have interpreted this to mean the man does not value women and is convinced that all women 'belong in' the kitchen. The insult the president has received is akin to what Trump has gotten for every primitive word he's spoken. It appears some feminists have tagged along with this statement to amplify their voices while some ethnoreligious supremacists have used the opportunity to have a go at the president's tribe and religion. 

If you are a married man,  does your wife belong to another man's bedroom?  If you said you are sure your wife belongs to your bedroom even if you are not certain about her affiliation to another fellow's party, does that translate to your wife being in solitary confinement in your house?

PMB does not have a history of grabbing anybody's pubic bone so it really doesn't make sense when you try to label him as oppressive of women.  He may have divorced his first wife just like Nelson did Winnie but his current wife and younger daughters don't appear like they have been tortured all their lives. 

The same people who questioned the presence of two of his young graduate daughters at the United Nations General Assembly where he spoke last month are now the most vocal champions tackling the president's comment and exposing how chauvinistic,  misogynistic and denigrating of women he is.  The same people who mock him for appointing a relatively young female minister of finance are the ones now hailing Aisha Buhari as their amazon despite holding on to their belief that she is the one involved in the Halliburton bribery scandal. 

How many men will truthfully applaud their wives for seemingly negative remarks about them and/or their offices spoken openly or secretly to the media? She did speak to the media and whether she was right or wrong in doing so remains up for debate in some quarters. 

I find the interview rather irrelevant and an unnecessary distraction. I am certain that Aisha's name was not on the ballot last year so I find it strange that she was complaining about not knowing who and who made the list of government appointees. Should we reinstate the nonexistent and unconstitutional office of the first lady and make it her duty to conduct familiarity tests on any potential nominee?  

Let's get this clear,  there are many interested parties in Nigeria's commonwealth especially those who feel very much entitled due to one input or the other.  There's so much balancing of equations the president can do to satisfy all and sundry.  I'm sure the constituency of the wife of the president isn't enjoying the privileges which previous wives became accustomed to so there must of a certainty be grumblings.  The president has a very beautiful wife and dashing daughters who are capable of ending tribalism in Nigeria due to their beauty alone; if that expressway was opened up, what Herod Antipas had to endure in the Bible with respect to John the Baptist will be child's play. Many Nigerians also have the right to claim entitlements for spending and being spent to oust the Jonathans but how many people Buhari go settle? 

The wife of the former president was in the news recently claiming ownership of huge resources stashed in various bank accounts which are not in her name.  Her husband has been reported severally claiming ignorance of any heist carried out under his reign;  did this happen because several parallel governments were operating while he slept? We cannot afford to allow unelected family members of government and their associates become very powerful because that will be the inevitable end of that pathway.  Patience Jonathan used to go around in one of the presidential jets and she was regularly welcomed at various airports like royalty.  We once had to wait on the tarmac at the Kaduna airport in late 2010 due to the landing of one of the presidential planes and it was clear that none  of the top brass of government at the time was on board.  We already have enough on our plate dealing with relatively powerful national assembly leaders who shut down the airports in their home states wherever they pass through,  let's not add powerful spouses to the menu. 

When anyone says the presidency has been hijacked, there are two main individuals they refer to.  These are the president's chief of staff Abba Kyari who was once the chairman of the united bank for Africa and the president's older nephew Mamman Daura.  I'm not quite sure these two men hold all the aces in determining appointments or contracts but they must be oracles if they do.  Dwight Eisenhower as America's president had just two men advising him on critical appointments so it isn't necessarily out of place if a leader has a select few as his closest allies.  

Many want appointments to see the president and they feel Kyari is 'blocking' them; some just want oil wells but Ibe Kachikwu deflects them to oga at the top. The recent events in the land indicate that the ground is shifting and some people may have become desperate. The noose is tightening so blackmail is the last resort.  Chief of staff took money from MTN they said,  secretary cut grass with plenty millions and some won't campaign come 2018/2019 so that we can all test Buhari's popularity without their influence.  They forget that many won elections at state and federal level simply because they went with the flow initiated by a Buhari candidacy last year. 

Let's support this man biko, I belong to his camp because I understand the enormity of the challenges before Nigeria.  He's far from perfect or ideal but he's a much needed wrecking ball before a new Nigeria can be born.

14/10/2016.

BEND DOWN SELECT

What really is the way out of our economic quagmire?

We have heard before that government has no business running business; we've also heard that the private sector should be involved in how the economy is run. The recent kites flown about selling certain government assets have come from representatives of both the private sector and government. Aliko Dangote suggested only a few days ago to the Federal government to sell off NNPC's 49.0% stake in the Nigerian liquefied national gas.

Those opposed to selling government assets to generate funds have hammered on the issue of failed sales, concessions or partnerships in the past. The more recent sale of power installations haven't yielded the expected improvements in electricity generation and distribution; the sale of NITEL and other government run ventures remain shrouded in controversy and remain unproductive. Most people don't forget to mention mummified projects such as the refineries and steel companies. We cannot also forget the transient revival and subsequent cremation of Virgin's relationship with Nigeria. It appears we have killed and will kill anything we get our hands on.

Should the NLNG be 'tossed?' Margaret Thatcher sold off the British government's less than 40.0% stake in British Petroleum following a worldwide stock market collapse in October 1987. She also initiated the sale of many of corporations or companies run by the government or with significant shares. Mine pits have been sold off since then despite prolonged strike actions by labour unions and formerly government owned Airports are now operated by private companies.

The ever vibrant Heathrow airport is owned by Heathrow airport holdings which currently has majority shares in the custody of a Spanish company. Another airport, the Gatwick international was bought over in 2009 by a company with a Yoruba man Adebayo Ogunlesi as chairman. The Heathrow airport holdings did the selling of Gatwick and other UK airports under its administration but won a bid to acquire an airport in Hungary not too long ago; this I believe highlights the dynamics of private sector participation in business. John F. Kennedy is owned and leased out by the City of New York. Perhaps the Lagos state government can acquire the Murtala Muhammed international airport in Ikeja following the recent announcement of plans by the FG to concession practically all airports in the land.

There are other assets many Nigerians think should be sold. Many sports arenas across the nation are only useful for the periodic religious programs and entertainment shows. With our abysmal showing at international sports competitions, the uninformed would think our sports people came from a nation with only secondary school sports pavilions as training facilities. It's common knowledge that we have next to zero maintenance culture; one wonders how much these facilities would command after valuation. Some people have opined that the National assembly should be sold off which is actually a very good joke however other assets or whatever is left of them exist such as the National Arts theatre and other moribund structures left standing in Lagos after Ibrahim Babaginda took the nation's capital to Abuja. A good number of those structures remain fallow and disintegrating while Nigerians sleep and work under inhumane conditions. Unfortunately there are those who constantly receive wages for working at these collapsed places. I'm not sure there's another country which can be used to adequately define waste.

I'm certain there are many doctors who will support calls to sell off government hospitals for better efficiency but I'm not certain there'd be as much support with respect to educational institutions. The fear of tomorrow and the quest for self preservation will prompt resistance like PENGASSAN is currently threatening. Like someone pointed out on radio, many of these individuals who direct the affairs of this unions belong to unproductive institutions yet get paid on a regular basis. Rupert Murdoch was met by stiff resistance in 1986 and a 54 weeks strike of newspaper workers ensued due to his introduction of technology into the newspaper production business. The job once done by over 6000 people now took just over a tenth of that number to do even more efficiently. Despite offered compensations, the unions embarked on the unsuccessful strike and that union like the others that revolted during Thatcher's 11 years reign got decimated.

Why Thatcher? Nigeria was structured like the British colonial system with the nation mirroring structures inherent in the United kingdom. With the benefit of hindsight, Margaret Thatcher's hard stance and resoluteness in pursuing her economic reform despite episodes of inflation, high and prolonged job losses, low manufacturing output, violent protests, 1979 to 1981 recession and calls for her resignation yielded some positive results. I'm not sure the UK has suffered a great deal from that privatization era but I may be wrong.

It is true that our recent ventures at privatization have failed woefully and it's completely valid for Nigerians to be skeptical about conceding the nation's assets to potentially those who have directly or indirectly plundered the nation. The evidence of the past failure should indict the past administrations but somehow they get a free pass because we shouldn't talk ill of the dead.

Some have suggested that we continue to increase our debt profile while some are convinced diversification in only a few months is the silver bullet. A few defiant ones are only opposed to this suggestion of asset sale because it involves the current administration. I do not think a 'All or none' rule will apply here. There are many points for and against this move which ought to generate continuous elaborate discussion instead of the reflex arc utterances in the public space. We should be focused on ensuring proper valuation of any and every asset we decide to sell; we should consider how Nigeria and Nigerians will benefit maximally from any venture. We should not get to 2029 and lament why we did not sell any asset which could have saved us.

We are in a desperate state at the moment; one which a former first lady is justified for having 20 million US dollars rightly earned from a petty trader mother with domiciliary accounts, as a leading pioneer in the Non governmental organization business and pocket money from her public servant husband who was governor and president.

Gridlocks, Ìbàdàn, Iléyá and other matters.

Let me tell you about my 'waka' yesterday.  We set out in the morning and observed that there were many stranded individuals looking to hitch rides out of Lagos at the Berger axis. I understand that severe traffic jams along the Lagos-Ibadan  expressway in the preceding days had prevented the return of the regular transport vehicles back to the state early enough.  The police were seen at Berger trying their best to ensure that there was no indiscriminate gathering of these  potential hitchhikers sufficient to slowdown traffic. 

It took a bit to get from Berger to the Mowe-MFM/ Redemption camp axis due to reconstruction work and the sheer volume of vehicular movement assured us of an eventful trip.  Reconstruction work remained nonexistent from Sagamu to Ajebo despite the claims of the past administration that the highway was part of their accomplishments. It took over one hour to break through Ajebo into Ibadan and most of that time was spent on one spot. A major diversion meant that one carriageway had to handle movement in two directions and it took a while for commonsense to prevail.  The Federal road safety corp and police were however on ground to save the day. While we waited, I observed that a few vehicles around had rams in their trunks. I wondered why people bought rams in Lagos only to ferry them out.  Are rams cheapest in Lagos or did their owners personally breed them? The long wait meant that some trunks were kept open to prevent suffocation of these animals and one man even cut some grass to feed his. 

It wasn't surprising to see Nigerians discard empty bottles, emptied food packs and other waste out of the vehicles they were in. It's typical of  many Nigerians to do so I must state.  Ibadan was just about the same it has been for many years now.  The major road leading from the end of the expressway was adorned with heaps of waste along the entire stretch. There was even some trading just proximal to a stockpile of waste and people passed by like it was nothing. It's  either of two things; folks in Ibadan cannot help it but generate and dispose refuse along their roads because it makes Ibadan beautiful or these people are indeed aware of this shortcoming but don't realise that they have a governor or local government officials in Oyo state to pressurise.  Is Governor Ajimobi not ashamed of the eyesore in his very backyard?  Did he fly in his Japanese investors a few weeks ago to mask the filth that has become characteristic of Ibadan? I'm sure the Japs must have still seen the mess on the ground;  there's no way that amount of litter will not be visible to anyone in the sky and in space. Some of the refuse heaps were set alight and some portions of the road divide had large ponds for breeding Aedes aegypti; Oyo state is playing with disease outbreaks and the government and people are doing nothing about it. 

My attention soon shifted to a container two vehicles in front of mine.  The large doors were flung open and a woman,  her luggage and three children were let down of the container even though the articulated vehicle upon which the container was set was still moving however slowly.  I was shocked that someone could arrange to ferry people across states packed like sardines in a shut container; it looked like the scene of a movie or documentary about human trafficking. The girl let down from the container even had her clothes pulled down to her waist suggesting that she must have endured a severely uncomfortable journey from Lagos inside the boiling container.  What happened next after a few seconds was stuff of movie proportions.  A young lad probably in his late teens clad in brownish native attire and carrying a black backpack fell off the moving container landing on his back and rolling over about two times before leaping back to his feet.  It was a miracle that the Peugeot  206 just ahead of us was not moving at a higher speed to knock out the fallen lad.  I'm not sure if it's just the fault of governments that lives aren't valued or if it's equally the fault of the people who take enormous risks just to save money or because of lack of funds in the first place;  I don't know.  

The rest of my journey to Ilorin was less eventful,  there seems to have been some patch work done on the road from Ibadan to Oyo and the obstacle course that is the road from Oyo to Ogbomoso remained the same.  I couldn't help but wonder at the greenery and landscape of Oyo and what the state could do with their potential. Fulani herdsmen were seen on the road and in the bushes but I saw no rifles on them;  young boys who looked seven years old or less were also part of one particular herding party. I just wonder what Oyo ought to be raking in from agriculture alone; those in power there seem to be more optimistic about a huge  electronic advertisement structure at Iwo road which presently doesn't work and the rams being sold at the periphery of that space. 

There is recession no doubt but there was  plenty food on display for sale at Ogbomoso and the food no doubt appeared fresh.  Yam tubers,  fruits,  palm oil and coconuts were plenty;  it's high time our population got redistributed to provide enough mouths to consume such fresh food and fruits in places such as Ogbomoso. I'm sure that way,  the  adverse effect of the recession will be less palpable.  I'm surely helping myself with some farm produce on my return journey. I must commend whoever is responsible for an attempt to finally fix the portion of the road which cuts through Ogbomoso around the Baptist seminary axis leading up to the Federal government college Ogbomoso. The road was done before a few years ago but soon fell apart becoming a yam farm in the process.  The people there like in every part of Nigeria should arise and hold their elected officials responsible and ensure they do their jobs.  Political office is not meant to breed fattened calves who will do nothing but buy iPhone 7s  for their numerous girlfriends or for turning young men into mules for money laundering.  Even an unelected former first lady is laying claims to millions of dollars frozen by the Economic and financial crimes commission EFCC like it was money earned from being a football super agent involved in brokering a move for Messi from Barcelona to Real Madrid. 

The regular anti terrorism policemen who greet as we enter Ilorin were not in sight probably due to the high temperature at the time or due to the direct effects of the recession;  I do not know but the inspector general of police must hear that his men were not at their duty posts.  A huge banner welcoming senator Saraki was present on the road into Ilorin town;  I wonder what preparations at the airport was like. Saraki must fly and some people are asking for a reduction in the presidential fleet just like that o. It's alright. Happy festivities to Muslims in the land;  the sheer volume of travellers on the road and the trailer loads of livestock I saw entering Lagos tells me that recession is not only just a word but a myth. There should be no excuses for correct grub when I return o; you have been alerted and I wish you all well.

AREN'T WE ALL FOR CHANGE?

I wrote this http://jideakej.blogspot.com.ng/2014/11/top-bottom.html almost two years ago and my opinion has not changed about a Top-Bottom approach for changing the country.

The president during the week launched a campaign about change starting with Nigerians and he's been heavily criticized or mocked depending on the 'politico-sentimental' inclinations of the individuals concerned. I understand the reason(s) for the backlash especially with the risen cost of goods and services. Any sensible Nigerian will be outraged to find out like I did a few weeks ago at 'Census' Market in Surulere Lagos (where I do most of my shopping) that locally milled rice and the imported variant both cost ₦17,000 per bag.

I know a mere slogan like "Yes we can" or "Black lives matter" is not necessarily guaranteed to achieve the intended impact but that really is how movements start whether positive or negative. Even Trump's "Make America great again" is quite effective as we all can see.

Has President Buhari transferred the full responsibility to change Nigeria to regular Nigerians like some people have suggested? I do not think so. Many may not like his methods but the truth is that things are not like they used to be and that is indeed change already. It is such that even elitist Nigerians are not happy and this includes those who are supposed to be loyal to the president.

Is it not amazing when we hear individuals from both major parties say stuff like "the presidency has been hijacked" or "the president has surrounded himself with his older nephew and an overly devoted chief of staff?" Who did they expect him to have as his closest advisers? Dino Melaye or Doyin Okupe? They are those who have been with PMB for decades now especially when he lost back to back to back elections. They could have easily moved to the PDP to earn massively but did not, even PMB like certain members of the then APP/ANPP could have moved on to the PDP and become their flag bearer.

Nigerians should realize that we have serious issues and enemies within who have been nurtured by corruption for decades now and these ones will do whatever it takes be it blackmail, violence or threats of violence, sabotage etc to ensure a return to status quo. They have attempted to or successfully blackmailed every president since 1999 and PMB will not be spared.

How do we justify the actions of a few who regularly got paid huge sums as amnesty for over 6years but who now sabotage oil installations and claim neglect? How do we justify Nigerians who continue to sow seeds of discord by generating false news which exploit our religious and ethnic fault lines? Nigerians see and read these things and do not raise objections or question saboteurs or warmongers. How do we think we will make progress like this?

Do we really think Nigeria will change just by President Buhari coming on air to make declarations? The same people condemning him now will still do so and call him a tyrant. The President is not all powerful, his major source of power is from the people who put him there. He cannot just wake up and meddle into the affairs of the legislative and judiciary arms of government (these arms have been more of a problem to Nigeria); that would be dictatorial. The President is made to appear weak when actions to stem insecurity and corruption in the land are resisted by the same Nigerians who have been repeatedly exploited by the minority elite in the land. "Leave our brother alone," "is he/she the only one who stole," "the fight is one sided," etc etc. Many times, the elites in search of status quo, control or attempt to control the media so that the people would turn against the government. This perhaps is one of the points which certain individuals appointed by the government to disseminate information attempt to convey albeit in very unfortunate, inappropriate and insensitive ways.

There should be a message in the newly adopted slogan especially for those of us who insist on a 'Top to Bottom' approach. The slogan may sound as a reversal of this circuit but the truth is that in every sector of Nigeria, there are those at the top and those at the bottom as rightly described by a former NSCDC spokesman who was interviewed a few years ago on Channels TV. There is always an 'Oga at the top' who should lead in the banking sector, civil service, sports, business, health sector, education etc. I'm certain that the president believes he has showed the way to go and read the riot act to his lieutenants. It is our collective duty to ensure this is relayed and supervised at every level.

What we have had in Nigeria is an oga at the top saying one thing and those who should ensure instructions got followed at the lower levels doing another thing. President Buhari needs help and support from the people, the serious governors need help also. Those in charge of our security need the people to assist them in identifying and preventing potential threats. We do not have the sufficient military man power to handle threats on many fronts simultaneously. I am not certain we have over 150,000 combatant soldiers to fight terror or internal conflicts across the nation at the same time so we should be careful with how we deliberately stoke fires or let ourselves be easy prey for opportunists who exploit our religious frailties or other like sentiments. We should not shout suspected herdsmen attacks where there is none or support separatist groups who only preach enmity or bomb oil and gas installations. If katakata burst, we no get enough fire fighters o and I'm sure most of us will run to China or Greenland for amnesty. Why should the Christian Association of Nigeria be raising unnecessary dust about the role of the Sultan of Sokoto in the 'declaration' of notable Islamic celebrations?

Our actions and inaction as a people can either develop or retard us; I don't believe it is too much to ask Nigerians to identity with this campaign to curb indiscipline and other vices we know render us chronically stunted.

This is how I ended my post two years ago and I believe it is still relevant;

"A top to bottom approach followed by a reciprocal bottom up change of behavior I believe is the way to curb corruption and limit its effect."

God bless all Nigerians.