When 15 million plus Nigerians voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 General elections, their expectation was that he would be available to serve them 24/7/365, and that those who fielded him as their candidate had done their homework to avoid what is curiously becoming the Katsina problem in Nigerian politics. Katsina! But we have now found ourselves in a situation whereby our President is now in London, for more than one month sir, ma, and we are here, and we have an acting President, who according to everybody, including the extremists and the mischievous, and the politically partisan, is beginning to try his best, with his admirers, now praying for the worst.
For that reason alone, we have an emotionally, politically and spiritually divided country on our hands. Don’t mind what they tell you, and don’t deceive yourself, the Nigerian Presidency is in turmoil. It is not our wish. It is not what the voters asked for. But that is how democracy works. You cannot predict the results that democracy produces. Not even in America. Or Russia.
Now that we have found ourselves in this situation, anyway – an absentee President trying to remain relevant and an acting President struggling to put up appearances, and struggling harder not to be seen to be ambitious (sorry, Prof. I was your student but I have something to say sir, I don’t mean any harm – truth be told), where should the Nigerian people stand? For the past one month, we have all been trapped in a post-truth situation, pretending as if all is normal. We should stop pretending.
Those who supported and are supporting the APC that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power and office cannot talk. They cannot talk due to embarrassment and shame. They are busy putting up a face. But for how long can they do this? The Nigerian media is also on its knees, looking so pitiable, with the exception of a few blogs, newspapers that we can’t even trust, professional media consultants who are in disarray, a few bloggers and then some gentlemen: Pa Ikhide, Farooq Kperogi, Sonala Olumhense, Omoyele Sowore, Pius Adesanmi and Okey Ndibe who have since been specially illuminated as they journeyed to Damascus.
I will return to this subject some other day. But I think right now, we should begin to take the subject of the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari more seriously. Bukola Saraki, our Senate President has visited him in London, twice, within two weeks. I don’t think we should leave this business of visiting the President to party chieftains, the executive and the Federal Legislature. If care is not taken, Senator Saraki may be tempted to visit the President again next week. And the week after and he may even be tempted to travel with all the members of the National Assembly. There must be equity in this matter.
Figure it out as follows: we all know that President Buhari is now in London and he is the man Nigerians chose as their President in 2015. We cannot forsake him. He is in London on working leave, for more than one month now, and we don’t know when that leave will end. We have been told it will end soon. Later. One day. Whenever. We are not God. Let the leave end when it will. But we, the people, have a duty to stand by our President. This is the point of this article. We are Africans. We have traditions. We respect elders. We don’t joke with old age. The time has come, right now, for Nigerians to behave like Africans.
We should therefore, not leave this business of visiting to Senator Busola Saraki alone. Party chieftains have visited Mr. President. The leadership of the National Assembly has also gone to London to be part of President Buhari’s working leave. I think Vice-President-Acting-President Yemi Osinbajo should also visit his boss, this week, next week, or ASAP. Henceforth, he should be in London at least once a week. Let us stop pretending that the President is not in charge. He is. If Aso Villa is now in London, let us make it work. The Acting President and the real President need quality face time. If the acting President must go to London everyday, let him do so, but don’t let us run Nigeria by telephone or DHL Am I making sense? I am not talking about common sense. I mean real sense. So, do I make any sense at all?
After the Acting President’s visit, all former Presidents should also start going to London to see the President. Those former Presidents are not as harmless as they pretend to be. They are projected to the public as advisers but they are more than that: they all left something in Aso Villa that makes them eternally powerful. It is like leaving your DNA in a woman’s body. They should be allowed or perhaps encouraged to visit President Buhari while he is on working leave. I think our Baba in Abeokuta, Ota and Ibogun should be the first to visit. That may negate the order of seniority, but trust the Ebora Owu to return from London with front-page news! After him, the others can start visiting and probably advise on the possibility of holding a Council of State meeting in London. As it were, the Nigerian Constitution does not insist that the Council of State Meeting must be held inside Nigeria. The main subject of that first historic, diaspora, Council of State Meeting should be phrased by OBJ in his own unique way: “Momodu: are you well or sick?”
There is something called the separation of powers. I don’t want to disrespect mi’lords but I think they too should go to London. The National Judicial Council (NJC) should put together a high-powered delegation of judges from every part of the country, from all divisions, and level, to proceed post-haste to London to visit, no, to confer with President Buhari on matters of judicial interest to the nation. But Sirs, don’t go there and talk about the welfare of judges, or the non-payment of your entitlements – if you try that, well, I won’t be in a position to tell you what awaits you on your return. You know mi’lords, as well as I do, that the law in Nigeria is now being made to look truly like an ass!
After the judges, okay may be the Nigerian Bar Association should also send a delegation, but I don’t trust many of our lawyers. They think they know the law, and they could go to London and say things that will disrupt the President’s working leave. To make that impossible, members of the NBA should be booked on an Arik flight to London, please. But if they get there, fine. The next delegation should be that of Permanent Secretaries. These ones should spend more than a week in London with the President. In fact, they can stay with him till he returns. If they also have medical issues, they should use the opportunity to ask for tests, with the condition that they must return immediately the President leaves London, notwithstanding the status of their own medical tests!
Once the Permanent Secretaries have been fully accommodated in London, the Ministers, those who were once dismissed by their own employer as “noise-makers”, and who have proven to be no better, should also visit London. They can go ahead and make as much noise as they wish in London and even enjoy the benefit of a full Federal Executive Council Meeting. I suspect that this will be a particularly productive FEC meeting. If the people in the Foreign Affairs Ministry know what they are doing, however, they would arrange ahead of that meeting in London, a special meeting with Theresa May, Prime Minister of Great Britain, followed by a dinner with Her Majesty the Queen of England, with a proviso, please, please, please, that nobody should bring up the issue of Biafra or Southern Kaduna after shaking the Queen’s hand, and there should be a strict guarantee that President Buhari will be accompanied by his extremely beautiful wife, Aisha, and he will not, meeting the Queen, no matter how excited, make the mistake of referring to “za oza room”.
Stop laughing, my friend; this is how you people cause problems for innocent writers. What I am now trying to add having made all these points above, is that the Governors’ Forum should also visit President Buhari in London. The Governors have already signified their intention to do so and that seems to be fine with the Nigerian public. The Governors should therefore appoint representatives who should proceed to London. When they meet with the President, they should hold a special prayer session with three prayer points: one, that President Buhari will not work for another person to come and eat; two: that the demons of Aso Rock will spare and forgive him and his family; three: that President Buhari will return to Nigeria with his two feet. The Governor to lead the prayer should be Peter Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State.
If he starts sounding as he has been sounding in recent times, Nasir el-Rufai should be asked to take the microphone from him. And if Nasir sounds like he is playing politics, as he has been doing, Adams Oshiomhole who will like to be there anyway, as a Governor ex-officio, should be given the microphone and asked to pray for the President as best as he can or as best as Trotsky could.
I have left out some people. In the past month, some Imams and ulamas and concerned relatives have been reported in the media, holding prayer sessions for a hale and hearty President who is just in London to enjoy the weather and do some quality check-ups, private and public. These prayer warriors have prayed and prayed in Abuja, Daura, Borno and everywhere else. The matter is so serious that nobody should be surprised if Rochas Okorocha or James Ibori organizes a prayer session for Muhammadu Buhari. This is the biggest business in Nigeria at this moment.
I think, therefore, that we should also encourage the ulamas and the imams to visit. Let them go to London and pray for their President. We have been told they have been sending prayers through skype, whatsapp and the air, the same channels that GSM service providers in Nigeria now want to block. Let the imams go to London then and let the verses of the Holy Quoran rain down. It will be unfair not to allow Christian leaders to go to London too. They are also anxious to go to London. Pastor Tunde Bakare, my beloved, secondary school senior should lead that team. His job should be to screen out any Pastor with Biafra, or Southern Kaduna or pro-PDP blood in him or her. I mean Pastors like Reno Omokri, Ebun Adegboruwa…. you get what I am saying? The prayer should be commissioned!
Traditional rulers, bloggers, public intellectuals, trolls, and journalists! Oh, I almost forgot. I think we should also be invited to London to have tea with the President. I volunteer to lead that team but if I am considered unpopular, since they say I am not one of them, let @ikhide, @akaebube, or @dejiadeyanju, @realFFK, or @YeleSowore, be the team leader. But please, make sure we have on that list, @lindaikeji, @SDimokoKORKUS, @emepretty1, @bellanaija, @omojuwa, @ChiomaChuka, @AbangMercy, @toyeenb, @MrStanleyNwabia and… and… My friend, STFU! I am not planning a special episode of #bbnaija. I just want to go to London and see …my President.
2Baba And His Ajebota Generation |By: Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, let me confess straightaway that I have a special space for 2BABA formally known as TUFACE IDIBIA. It is impossible to meet this perfect gentleman and not fall for him. I’ve come to know him reasonably well since his days with the Plantashion Boyz when I invited and took some of the hottest artistes to the Obafemi Awolowo University for the biggest show ever, the Ovation Concert. It was a night to remember for many students who were fortunate to attend the event that evening. One thing that always stands 2BABA out is his humility. He is humble to a fault. He has of course been very nice to me generally. Our paths have crossed in far-flung places like Canada and Australia and the love and respect between us is always palpable.
Therefore, when news broke about two weeks ago that he was planning to lead a nationwide protest against the Buhari government, I was genuinely and seriously stunned. Never did 2BABA cut the image of a radical in my view. At best, I knew him to sing love songs and offer subtle criticism of government policies or human suffering. He is one of the most comfortable singers in Africa and my opinion was that he could not be expected to risk anything that would jeopardise his comfort zone. But after watching his recorded videos concerning the planned protest which had gone viral on social media, my incredulity started turning to credulity and credibility. So 2BABA was going to do what some of us had attempted in the past, activity that had landed me in detention at CID Alagbon detention centre Ikoyi, and later forced me to exile in London for three solid years under the dreaded regime of General Sani Abacha, I soliloquised.
Holy Jesus, I screamed. This was it and let’s see how it would play out, I thought aloud as I journeyed around Africa in connection with my job. As days climbed days, we his admirers waited with bated breath. Will government listen to the cries of the people or will government get angry and summarily massacre the citizens in a shooting spree? I doubted such possibility at this time and age and knew 2BABA to be too gentle to cause unnecessary mayhem in the land of his birth, or indeed anywhere else. I decided to encourage and support him him with my modest social media presence. Something needed to be established once and for all; that no Nigerian should be deprived of his right to participate in a peaceful demonstration in our dear country. Freedom of expression and association continue to be fundamental and inalienable rights of every citizen in our democracy and, more importantly, under our Constitution.
Anyway, the dream of witnessing a revolution led by 2BABA, the most unlikely candidate for such venture, opened my eyes to fresh realities. I was cocksure that 2BABA and company would never be deterred or scared by the fear of some armed security guys. It was not I thought going to be a protest that would die with only a whimper, ending up as all noise and sound but no fury. I also trusted that those organising the peaceful demonstration would have to do something about the real risk of breakdown of law and order by hoodlums and political flunkies who would be manipulated to disrupt and distort the noble aims of the organisers.
Barely hours to the start of the protests, news filtered in again that 2BABA and his friends had called off the demonstrations. Who was pulling my legs, I imagined/ The news soon spread like wildfire. There were speculations that 2BABA had been threatened by some government agents. No one could verify the authenticity of all the conspiracy theories. The video lackadaisical video that 2BABA put out did nothing to dispel the views and theories, one way or the other. What was important was that another opportunity to galvanise Nigerian youths into taking their destinies in their own hands had just evaporated into thin air. 2BABA came out in yet another broadcast to warn his friends not to come out on the streets. Many of those who expected some action were obviously disappointed. Some even attacked him as a lily-livered man who promised what he could not deliver. As for me and my house, I knew all the things that could have transpired and how tough it would have been for many of the silver-spoon kids who were largely his followers to follow through on their threats.
That is why I have started out in my headline by describing this generation of youths as an ajebota one, youths who grew up on bread and butter and not village-trained ones who fed on dusty rough meals like us. We should not have expected them to have the kind of tenacity we enjoyed in our time from secondary school, through to University and teaching, when we confronted tear gas and bullets on the streets. This particular generation is blessed with computers, smartphones and social media. They can hide behind some tiny screens to throw darts and arrows at their perceived enemies. We were being stupidly optimistic to have expected so much more from them. However, I was not too surprised or utterly disappointed. I was happy 2BABA had stirred the hornets’ nests and for whatever it is worth, my belief is that it is going to wake up the Buhari government from its deep slumber and seeming reticence or complacency, whatever word you can find in the lexicon. The time has come to, at least, tickle this government and hope that something good can still come out of them.
That symbolic act for me was still an achievement. The future of Nigeria lies in the hands of the youths. I’m not so interested in their street protests but in the efficacy of their votes. For far too long, the Nigerian youths have failed to make use of the power and strength of their majority population to affect their nation positively. I am in a way part of a guilty generation of youths that failed our nation in that way. Another generation is now behind ours. All we continue to hear is that the ancient generation has refused to hand over power, firstly to us, and now, to them. But they studiously forget that they have to go all out to wrestle for power. The youths of Nigeria have always suffered from self-doubt by singing the same endless chorus of “It is not possible, it is not possible for us to take power…” However, we must be reminded that this ancient generation that we speak about did wrestle power from the colonialists in their youth.
The youths don’t seem to realise that when one of their own comes out to contest, they are the first to shoot him down and say he lacks experience. However, what they call “experience” is mainly the ability to have looted enough funds while serving in one government position or the other and coming back years later to buy everyone with this loot. If elections were held tomorrow, I won’t be surprised if our youths vote again for men in their seventies under one excuse or the other. I can speak authoritatively on this as someone who came out genuinely to champion the cause of the younger generation a few years ago. Everyone else was qualified to run for presidential election but not a publisher. A Soldier, Police officer, Customs officer, Teacher, and others were eligible because they had somehow served in one government or the other but not an international Publisher who on account of his job had been able to be close to governance in many countries. Many, in fact, took delight in poking fun rather than look objectively at the credentials and programmes of each candidate objectively, thoroughly and dispassionately. They did not consider any guiding principle or ideology. They were hoodwinked and mesmerised by the old foxes who had amassed wealth legally or illegally. At the end of the day, they were sorely disappointed.
The story of Nigeria is not about age or generation alone. President Goodluck Jonathan, if we are to believe his official records, was not that old when he became President. He is easily the most experienced leader Nigeria could ever have in terms of service at the highest level of each tier of government. He rose through the ranks going through the gamut of governance as Lecturer, Agency Director, Deputy Governor, Acting Governor, Governor, Vice President, Acting President and substantive President. What more could we have asked from a candidate? But he still could not take us to the promised land. After him, we have now tried a man with the age and wisdom of Methuselah in President Muhammadu Buhari but it is still no longer at ease. What then is the solution and what is the future of Nigeria?
As always, I will propose a few things. My humble thesis that while it might not really matter in all instances, a country like Nigeria once again deserves some injection of youthfulness in governance. It seems that we have once again returned to the nascent days of our struggle for independence from our colonial masters, except that the independence that we now seek is from a corrupt, incompetent and twisted gerontocratic oligarchy. Anyone above 60 to 65 may soon become a liability to the nation. Those who made retirement age to stand at 60 and, with certain exceptions 65, were not stupid. The law of diminishing return begins to set in once you cross that age barrier.
I wish and hope that Nigerians would support some bright and smart Nigerians in the next dispensation.
Buhari for a variety of reasons does not deserve to run again but it is his prerogative to run if he so chooses. If he does not, then within his party, the coast should be clear for younger folks to run. The baton could go to the likes of Yemi Osinbajo, the current Vice President, Bukola Saraki, the current Senate President, Nasr El Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Akinwunmi Ambode. From PDP
I can think of Godswill Akpabio and Ben Bruce and from the currently non-aligned, Oby Ezekwesili, Donald Duke and Fola Adeola stand out. There are so many others from APC, PDP and the other fringe parties.
Running a nation is not rocket science. What matters most is performance over and above our obsession with fighting corruption. Corruption would reduce when we bring on board competent and hardworking men and women who love their country and are willing to perform and not just attain power for self-aggrandizement and the fun of it.
Please, note that I can’t be bothered about party affiliation for now. I’m more interested in performance only. I’m also disinterested in zoning formula. I don’t really care where our next President comes from.
We have wasted enough time and resources on primordial sentiments and we should move forward or perish in the process of sticking to our old ways of doing things. If we truly wish to get Nigeria out of this quagmire, we should be prepared to do the unusual and go for radical reforms. We all seem to know what is wrong with Nigeria but refuse to do the needful. This is one of the reasons I am happy with the Ajebota generation as they seem to care less about those primordial ethnic and religious feelings that have for so long been a huge divisive setback to our progress as a nation.
We must seek very modern, well-educated, urbane, civilised, exposed, energetic, accomplished, detribalised, visionaries as leaders. Please, note that I did not say a saint because we are not likely to find one anywhere. Murtala Mohammed was no saint but in the few months that he governed he brought discipline, respect and performance to Nigeria. Enough of experimenting dangerously as time has already left us behind. We need to search critically and frantically from every part of Nigeria and beyond since God has blessed us with incredible talents.
Next we must reduce the cost of governance drastically because our country is haemorrhaging heavily and it is being killed quickly. The atrocious resources we waste on public office holders can never augur well for our nation. Under President Buhari, a man who is well known for frugality, the cost of running the presidential villa has been most disappointing and embarrassing. Nigeria needs to declare a state of emergency on the current spending spree or collapse under the weight of our reckless profligacy.
The next leader must demonstrate practical ways of bringing our infrastructural deficit to a reasonable level. It has become obvious that a typical politician would only come to waste four to eight years and this is not the type of leaders we need. If we fail to act and only succeed in bringing another ceremonial leader to Aso Rock, then it means Nigeria is jinxed, doomed and sentenced to eternal damnation and perdition. We should then blame no one for our woes but ourselves…
Two Faces Of The Nigerian Army | By: Mariam C. Mohammed
What kind of face exactly does the Nigerian army really want to present to us? Good or bad? Beautiful or ugly? Friend or enemy? Protective or abusive?
Forgive my rant. But these days, every time I read the newspapers, watch the local news or check my social media timelines, it seems there’s always some news about the Nigerian army or its personnel: some of them disturbing; others cheering.
It’s a motley of reports: complaints and commendations; ridicule and praise; contempt and admiration; and it goes on. Sometimes it gets inundating. It’s like the army has become two faced; something like a shape shifter.
And it gets me worried; and I think the top hierarchy of the force should too.
In recent times, we’ve read so much about the heroics of the Nigerian army in beating back the threat of Boko Haram and decimating their ranks and capacities to launch any serious attacks.
But why are a few members of the army bent on rubbishing these proud records and tainting the good works under the commendable leadership of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai? And what is the army doing about it to ensure Nigerians don’t have a permanent negative view of the men in green?
Allow me to bore you a little with the details.
In a new video that went viral on the vibrant Nigerian social media web space, Nigerians recoiled in shock and disbelief as they watched footages of Nigerian soldiers mercilessly beating a crippled man in Onitsha for daring to wear a military fatigue.
The video showed onlookers watching helplessly as the man on wheelchairs received rains of blows and lashes of the whip from the uniformed men. The disabled man rolled in the mud and writhed in pains.
Nigerians are familiar with military brutality, but flogging a defenseless man on a wheelchair for the ‘crime’ of wearing a military camouflage? Now that’s a new level of impunity.
Earlier in January, one Jewel Infinity, a Nollywood actress narrated how she was assaulted by soldiers manning a checkpoint in Port Harcourt while driving to Onitsha for allegedly “gossiping” about one of the men with another lady beside her in the vehicle.
Still in Port Harcourt, another soldier reportedly smashed the windscreen of a man for “disturbing him with the loud noise” from his car radio!
There were a few other random cases where soldiers took the law into their own hands and unilaterally served punishment to members of the public, took pictures or allowed others to take them and post on the Internet.
Talk about gross impunity, crass indiscipline and utter disdain for the public they are meant to protect!
Don’t these band of misfits in the force take a moment to ponder why the American public so much revere its military? Why they fondly call them the US marines? Or feel mightily protected and proud when they talk about its special force, the Navy Seals?
Well, it’s because unlike its average Nigerian counterpart, a US marine inspires patriotism, devotion, admiration, respect and a sense of safety — not fear and contempt.
I’m not exactly holding brief for these allegedly wronged citizens; as we know some Nigerians simply love trouble and deliberately break the law, so they could run off to a judgmental mob on Twitter and Instagram and bay for blood of the supposed aggressor. But that’s a matter for another day.
Gen. Buratai’s quiet military revolution
Let me at this juncture acknowledge the responsiveness and sensitivity of the top hierarchy of the force in dealing with the public outcries that trailed these cases and similar ones.
In the case of the crippled man in a wheelchair in Onitsha, the erring soldiers have reportedly been demoted and jailed; while the assaulted man, Chijioke Raphael Uraku was compensated with cash gift and clothes by the army.
In the same vein, the army summoned Suleiman Olamilekan, the soldier that reportedly assaulted the Nollywood actress, Infinity Jewel in Port Harcourt, along with a guard commander and punished them accordingly.
That demonstration of empathy, warmth and public rapport typifies the new face the top hierarchy of the army is now trying to present to us all. And perhaps no one represents that evolving image more than the head of the force himself, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai.
The Biu, Borno-born military officer has come to cut the image of a fine gentlemen and a soldier’s soldier with a fierce reputation for taking out the enemy with brutal fatality and effective clear-outs.
Yet, and strikingly so, Gen. Buratai’s unassuming personality and soft-spoken mien bellies that fire and steely determination of this crack general to make a mark and lay a solid foundation for the Nigerian army.
Many a time I have imagined being at Lt. Gen. Buratai’s favourite mammy market joint, having a drink with the quintessential general. *winks*
“…My vision on assumption of office (is) to have a professionally responsive Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles,” Lt. Gen Buratai had said during 2016 Regimental Sergeant Majors (RSMs) Convention at the Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
And how he’s matching words with action!
Such is his non-nonsense attitude and the magnitude of impact he’s made on the force since he came into office in July 2015 that Boko Haram terrorists probably never knew what hit them and never recovered as Gen. Buratai and his motivated men in just under two years dealt them blow after blow and reduced them to a demoralised and fast thinning band of ragtag bandits.
As soon as he was appointed COAS, Buratai went down to the business of dismantling Boko Haram; and, unlike his predecessors, spent more time on the dangerous frontlines in Bornu and Yobe than in Abuja.
Giving a hint of what to expect, in September 2015, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai made a morale-boosting trip to the field troops and toured the battle grounds traveling up to Gamboru-Ngala in the border area of Borno.
There, he supervised the dismantling of Boko Haram flags and insignia and hoisted the Nigerian flag in its place.
He passed the night in the cold open weather; disregarding the possibility Boko Haram could be lurking around and lying in wait for him with land mines. He simply was giving the men on the field good lessons and the courage of a true soldier.
He spoke with each soldier and listened to them on their demands, challenges and even advice on how to win the asymmetric war. He ordered that a bon fire be made and troops were jubilant and screamed with excitement all night.
It was military leadership at its finest.
However, more needs to be done, as some soldiers especially at the lower ranks appear bent on prolonging a long tradition of invoking fear and hate among the populace and treating them as “bloody civilians.”
But what the army needs now isn’t to force fear and hate in the citizenry. It is to inspire respect, love and admiration in them.
This is where Gen. Buratai needs to invest a lot more effort and strategy so his quiet, commendable revolutionary isn’t rubbished or stained by the indiscretions and old habits of a few members of the force.
This article was written by Mariam C. Mohammed, publisher of Maktoub Magazine.
This Is The “Change” We Voted For|By: Godwin Amadi
Some people glamourize regret as if regret is a virtue or an endowment. All some posers need to do to remain relevant on social media is to say they regret voting Buhari. Others less imaginative ask, “Is this the change we voted for?” Whenever I hear these, I am reminded that loyalty is a high-price commodity.
What are you regretting? IF you really voted “Change”, what did you have in mind? Instead of reveling in your ignorance, should you not be ashamed that you lacked the basic understanding of what you espoused? At your age and with your level of education you still dance to every beat? Shame!
This is the “Change” I campaigned and voted for. From inception, I know real, lasting change comes at a high cost and discomfort. Have you ever attempted to change your life, weight, values or complexion? Did it come cheap or easy? Why do many people fail to live up to their New Year resolutions? Genuine change at any level is tough and cruel at first. Nigeria will not be an exception.
What happens when corporate organizations decide to change processes and procedures in the workplace? It is usually resisted because most people prefer the status quo. Corporate changes like mergers, acquisitions and reconstructions create imbalance and uncertainties in the concerned entities. I know a man whose workforce reduced by 75% when he restructured (or effected change in) his company. Today, the same man is shouting his voice hoarse that Buhari’s change is draconian and insensitive. Hypocrite!
How do we become self-sufficient in food production? The answer is simple: make heavy investments in agriculture and ban importation of foods that deplete our foreign reserve. Take rice for instance. As long as there are no restrictions on the importation of rice, local farmers will not grow rice and our exotic taste buds will not be retrained. If I were Buhari, I would put a total ban on the importation of rice.
Take cars, fabrics and wines (and spirits) for another instance. Something drastic needed to be done about our appetite for cars, clothes and wines. The cumulative costs of importing this trio into Nigeria consumed a substantial share of our foreign reserve. Buhari says NO. He argues that if you must use these imports, then be ready to pay a premium price for them. This is simple logic and economics. This is especially so since global oil price has dwindled and tempers are high in the Niger Delta.
Goods are more expensive in Nigeria today because Buhari insists that most of the products we import can and should be produced locally. By so doing, he has flung open unending investment and job opportunities for Nigerians especially. While reserving limited foreign exchange for some critical sectors of the economy, Buhari is urging them to make hay while the sun shines. Buhari is CHANGING the way we live, and the pains we now experience are his instruments of CHANGE. You can only take it, but you can’t reject it.
Why is Buhari putting these strategic restrictions on our consumption patterns? If you are PDP or a hater, these restrictions are to punish Nigerians. But to the dispassionate observer, Buhari’s stance is the most effective route to Nigeria’s escape from economic doldrums festered by inordinate importation of all and every product. Some countries in Asia, Africa and North America have provided infallible precedents to what Buhari has set out to do.
What has happened so far? Buhari is in a mad hurry to fix the refineries. About 6 states are now producing rice in commercial quantities. Cross River state has almost completed what is arguably the largest textile mill in Africa. Buhari is challenging Nigerians to introspect and unleash their creative geniuses. Unfortunately, politics is providing a distracting counter-intuition to these breath-taking developments.
Where will Nigeria be in 10 years if we continue (or forced to continue) to look inwards? Imagine what will happen if we continue to produce a larger chunk of what we eat, wear and drink. Imagine when Aba, Sokoto, Nnewi, Kano, Ondo, Osun, Benue and Nasarawa turn natural endowments into skills. Imagine when our universities and polytechnics wake up. Imagine when our industries and blue-chip companies begin to produce. Only a bold step like Buhari’s CHANGE will give form to these imaginations.
If you did not understand Buhari’s change, it is not Buhari’s fault. Regretting voting Buhari says so much about your character. Asking “Is this the change we voted for?” is the clearest indication that you must never be taken seriously again. You are a plastic supporter, and we will not need you in 2019.
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Is Cross-Dressing the New fashion Craze? | By: Tony Ogunlowo
Our youths are always importing fashions and habits from abroad, copying trends and adopting them as their own. The end result is that sometimes they often look ridiculous and out of place.
The latest fashion craze some men have copied from abroad is cross-dressing. Call me old-fashion or old but where I come from men wear trousers and shirts and women wear dresses and make-up; not the other way round (-unless for religious reasons!)
Cross dressing was alien to most Nigerians until the OAP and entertainer Denrele burst on to the scene with his wild Afro hair, platform shoes and flamboyant feminine outfits. And with his androgynous features he could be either sex. Now while one might consider Denrele’s cross-dressing as a prop or a costume – an extension of his entertainment personality – in the same way comedians Eddie Izzard or Dame Edna would dress would dress up and once the show is over it’ll all come off. That is the belief. But recently some men who are not in the entertainment industry have taken to cross-dressing as a normality.
If you’re a man and wear a dress when I was growing up your father would grab his koboko and beat that nonsense out of you.
Nowadays parents don’t seem to care.
If you’re a man who wears make-up and a dress, like Bobrisky or Seun the Diva, because you want to either tune into your feminine side or think it’s fashionable, you’re gay! Either that or you’ve got some serious mental issues that need addressing!
There are those who suggest men should tune into their feminine side, once in a while(?).Perhaps. But not to the extent that you start piling make-up on to your face. No real man wears make-up – let alone wear a dress! What would your mother say (- and the rest of the family?) And how are you going to find a girlfriend (- you probably don’t need one unless she – or he – wouldn’t mind sharing their make-up and clothes with you!)
Now if you’re a cross-dresser who isn’t gay then they’re on their first steps to becoming trans genders. Bruce Jenner might have had his male bits removed to become Caitlyn Marie but he’s still a man. It doesn’t matter that he’s grown boobs and had a vagina surgically put in, wears expensive designer dresses – and makeup. He’s still a man because he can’t do the one thing women do every month – menstruate!(- or experience menopause at his age!)
Again call me old-fashion but a cross-dresser is a fantasist. You’re either a man or woman – you can’t be both. And it’s not fashionable or desirable to the eye – a cross dresser to me looks like a character out of a horror movie!
Perhaps its insecurity that makes some men cross-dress. For some reason or another they are not happy being the ugly person they are and believe they have to create a make believe personality. If you’re unhappy with yourself go and see a psychiatrist or better still pop into one of the many mushroom churches and let them pray for you and sprinkle Holy water on to your stupid head! If you still want to cross dress after all this please keep it to your bedroom! I have no intention of sitting next to a man dressed as a woman in the bus!
Since in my opinion cross-dressers are gay and in an attempt to circumvent the draconian Nigerian ant-gays laws they pretend to look like women. I don’t think a police officer is that blind not to notice what a man looks like in a dress when he catches him with his boyfriend! I’m not homophobic and I don’t think a lot of people are so instead of cross-dressing why don’t you simply come out? (- hopefully you won’t get arrested or stoned!).
Cross-dressers on the other hand will probably argue that women have been cross-dressing for centuries wearing trousers, suits – even agbadas recently – and nobody said a word. And that you even have tomboys that like to replicate a man’s look right down to haircuts and walk. Perhaps. But it’s not the same. A woman may look great in trousers or a suit but the appeal is the opposite when a man wears a dress or makeup. Our highly conservative society can accept a woman dressing like a man but not the other way round.
Even in Western countries, where people are more liberal, men who cross-dress are still looked down upon on as being weird and out of place. And unless it’s for entertainment purposes then the general assumption is that they are gay.
Perhaps cross-dressing is colourful: a new trend by some brave men trying to prove they can wear it better than women. Perhaps they are showing their hidden homosexuality hoping they’ll be accepted as transgenders rather than straight-forward gay.
Already society has begun to frown at cross-dressing, especially in the sharia strict North who recently jailed a cross-dresser for indecency under their strict moral laws. Again what message does it send out to the young impressionable children growing up in their wake? That it’s O.K for a man to dress up as a woman?
Most of our cultures see the man as a leader of his family and the community, wearing a dress will relegate him down to the ranks of the women who can only cook, clean and make babies.
So for all cross-dressers out there it’s time to stop shaving your hairy legs and eyebrows and stop the wearing of make-up. Time to start wearing trousers and shirts again instead of dresses with butt-pads. And enough of the fake funny feminine accents and skin bleaching! You’re a Man and not a Woman, deal with it!
Tony blogs at http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk
Opinion: Of Trump, Hitler and World History|By:Ogbonna Nwuke
It wasn’t really supposed to be easy either for America or for a world order that has evolved over time.
The signs had been there right from the time the new sheriff in town bared his fangs on the campaign trail.Now America and a bewildered world are stuck with a situation that is unclear, an international system likely to be under siege soon, and a future that appears uncertain. Isolationism and protectionism had long taken a strong bashing as the world, secure in its dream for the emergence of a global village, marched in the direction of globalization.
Of course, there has always been the threat posed to world peace by the cold war between the east and west, between the United States and Russia if you like. But skillful diplomacy as well as the cautious optimism of world leaders have helped to reduce the risk of a global war. Side by side, the world has witnessed the spirited expansion of frontiers of trade through carefully documented treaties and agreements. On the home front, America has been a country of immigrants built on a liberal philosophy which allows anyone who meets the rigorous requirements for citizenship to pursue what has come to be seen as the American dream.
The flexibility of such a system anchored on basic freedoms which say all men are born equal basically created the opportunity for the forebears of Donald Trump whose home country, Germany, went to war with the rest of the world, including the United States, to migrate into America. America in turn has benefited from immigration, transforming into one of the greatest countries in the world, and holding such a promise for all who seek to escape persecution; who wishes to make a new home from home; and who desire to exploit the bountiful and latent energy life offers without any limitations.
In so many ways, the tale of America and a changing world have become intertwined, with America providing the moral fibre and leadership for most of the change that has characterized the notion of a free world. So the promise of a United States has impacted positively on the concept of an European Union which now enjoys a common currency and engages in joint collaborative action in most areas, including free movement and immigration.The birth of the African Union was ideally tailored along these lines as well. The fact that in order to bond closely, create huge markets, develop science, technology and infrastructure. And enhance cooperation essentially among African countries; Africa had to take advantage of some of the finest principles that are driving human progress.
Somehow, under the Trump administration, the world stares in unbelief as what some people are beginning to tag a new world order makes its forced entry. The fight to evolve a new psyche, a new world view, a new pecking order and new national perspectives for the world or for the people of the United States by the Trump government isn’t coming without a strong challenge.Outside of America world leaders are raising indignant voices as they try to make sense of the orders that are rolling out of Washington like German panzers.
It is as if nazism which strives on a culture of superiority, race, hate and extreme rightist ideals has been reborn. It is rather strange that it has chosen America described as the land of freedom to reincarnate under the watch of a German American. When Hitler realized his aspiration to be German Chancellor, he unleashed a wave of German nationalism just as Trump seeks to do now by pretending to reawaken American consciousness.
Hitler, the records show, followed up the demonstration of a nationalistic leadership with the repudiation of international agreements, including that which had committed Germany to paying reparations for its role in World War I.
In no time Germany was overrun by the nazi culture. Not even the German army known for its prowess and discipline was spared the control of the nazi movement. The rest is history and not many nations, especially Israel and the Jews can forget what happened during World War II. Although it is early in the life of the Trump administration, I can see some parallels between Trump and Hitler whose coming Nastrodamus foretold.
Nastrodamus had predicted a third global war. Is it possible that the actions and reactions of President Trump have the capacity to create room for the advent of the Prince of the house of Mohammed?
In his predictions that have never failed to come true, America’s defence systems which Nastrodamus saw, failed to intercept what may be today’s nuclear warheads fired by the Arabian Prince described as the third anti-Christ.
Trump denies targeting Islam, but the arguments flowing back and forth doesn’t suggest that the world is struck by the truth of what he says.
Trump has spoken favourably about torture, a veritable tool that Hitler and his henchmen promoted to an art. He has spoken in derogatory terms with leaders of countries with which America has friendly ties like Mexico and Australia. He has ordered soldiers into action and began to cultivate the worst kind of propaganda that the American people have never seen like the Germans did under Goebels and Hitler.
I wish my heart could trust Trump, wish that Trump would have the wish to make the world a more peaceful and habitable place. But the signs aren’t in any way near here.Dreams of an indomitable Germany under Hitler spiralled out of control and led to the death of millions of men, women and children. Will the dream to make America great again turn out to be another smokescreen for dealing a deadly blow on humanity?
Trump didn’t catch my fancy from the outset. Even now, his remarks as the strongest president on earth make me ill at ease. I followed his campaign speeches, his remarks about President Barack Obama the first black to occupy the White House, his proven track record for discriminating against blacks, and the snobbishness conveyed by the way he spoke while soliciting for votes. And I came off with a great feeling of trepidation that unrest in America and war abroad might be the ultimate outcome of a Trump presidency.
How I wish I would be wrong. How I wish that this President would help lay the foundation for a thousand years of peace as predicted by Nastrodamus. How I really wish.
There is no doubt that America has what it needs, going by Trump’s victory via the Electoral College. But the vast majority who cast more popular votes for the protection of rights that are coming under threat early in the Trump era cannot stand it.
Right from inauguration day, they have been on the streets protesting the new face of America and the entry of a rawhide cowboy with a smoking gun who appears determined to reinvent Red Indian territory that ought to be conquered.
More Americans, worried by the turn of events,are joining the ongoing debate. Not many agree that in targeting Muslims, Trump would succeed in keeping America safe.The American court system hasn’t demonstrated any understanding for the presidential order which securely shut the door in the face of citizens of some Muslim nations or those from such countries who are already carrying valid US visas.
It is doubtful US courts ever will, given the uproar in America and the fear that the presidential orders may indeed be at variance with the tenets of their Constitution.
In the court of public opinion, among experienced diplomats and world leaders, Trump doesn’t seem to have secured mainstream support for cancelling trade agreements entered into by the United States and other countries.
Many Americans are beginning to think about the consequential effects of the decisions of a president who appears to be unduly ego driven. I am not a psychologist but I have a strong feeling that this president might be held hostage by a kind of dogma inherited from the formative stages of his life. Office, the decorum and protocols that go with it are supposed to shape the attitude of leaders or the position of leadership on a wide range of issues and interests. Somehow, these do not appear to have any moderating influence on a President who continues to taunt perceived enemies and opponents even in a manner that no president before him has done.
The trouble is, Trump carries a huge responsibility. He needs to find a way out of the deepening cleavage that threatens America and the established world order in which Washington is a prominent player.
He needs to wake up to the reality that America cannot afford to act irresponsibly in a changing world that is faced with so many challenges.Above all, he needs to come to terms with the fact that running a country cannot be the same as operating a business where one can easily say to an employee, “you are fired!”
Can Trump settle down to the reality of these facts in time to lead the free world?
Only time will tell.
Ogbonna Nwuke sent in this piece from Port Harcourt, Rivers State
The Two Faces of Tuface | By: Reuben Abati
Tuface’s decision to lead a protest to register the dissatisfaction of Nigerians with the performance of the incumbent administration and to reiterate the value of government’s responsibility to the people was his finest moment as a citizen and artiste. But it is also now, with his Jammeh-like volte-face, his worst moment. His transformation into a champion of democratic values and voice of the masses brought him added stardom and value. His retreat has turned him into a revolutionary manqué. He deserves our understanding and sympathy.
When on 24th January Tuface (Innocent Dibia) announced that he was going to lead, under the umbrella of the Tuface Foundation, a mass protest against the economic policies of the Buhari government, he immediately attracted public interest. A multiple award-winning musician, a naturally talented stage performer and author of at least two evergreen songs: “My African Queen” and “If Love is a Crime”, TuBaba, as he is also known, sounded like he was moving from art to politics, and seemed ready to answer to the true calling of the artist as the conscience of the people.
Artists and creative persons have always led protests and lent their voices to progressive causes. That much is the case in the United States at the moment, where artistes have raised their voices and joined protests to remind the “insurgent in the White House” that America is a land of freedom, democracy and justice and not bigotry and tyranny. Here at home, Fela, and his cousin, the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and others as well, have shown the power of creativity and stardom as a veritable vehicle for social change and justice. Artists and their art, and their movement from stage, or the printed page, to the public arena of action have always saved humanity, by humanizing man. This has been the case from Sophocles, all through time and history to Olanrewaju Adepoju, Beyonce and Kanye West.
But activism comes with a price. Tuface obviously didn’t bargain for that. He received enormous support. His announcement of the February 5, later February 6 protest energized the angry, frustrated Nigerian base, and drew our unrelenting “children of anger” back into an overdrive on social media. The international community also became interested, waiting to see the effect of a protest driven by star-power in Nigeria. It was coincidentally a season of protests across the world: in the Gambia, there had been protests against Yahyah Jammeh with a positive outcome, in the US, the UK and elsewhere, Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries and his misogyny led to protests on both counts, and in the case of the former, a Federal judge has given a ruling that has resulted in the suspension of the ban. In Cameroon, concerned citizens are protesting over discrimination against English-speaking Cameroonians. In Romania, a sea of protesting citizens has just had its way. There is all around the world, right now, a resurgence and affirmation of people power, be it Brexit or left-wing activism in Europe. Individuals and groups lead such moments in history- what makes them different is the fire in their bellies and their readiness to command the revolution, at great personal risk.
It looked initially as if Tuface had that burning fire in his belly, but he couldn’t make that leap between self-preservation and the risks of rebellion. He had appeared on television. He spoke confidently about the need for real change in Nigeria. He encouraged Nigerians to come out en masse to support the movement. He even announced the colour and dress code of the protest. His wife stood by him and she, too, talked about her husband’s convictions about national progress and good governance. Each time Tuface appeared in the media, during those five minutes in the sun, he looked bright and determined. But everything changed late Saturday evening. The recorded video of Tuface’s volte-face, announcing the cancellation of the Feb. 6 protest showed him looking dispirited, broken, ashen, as if he had been shaken up and chastised. He looked unsettled with his scraggy, uncombed beard. It is not difficult to know when a man’s balls have been squeezed.
Tuface actually deserves our sympathy. He must have gone through a lot of pressures that broke his spirit. His capitulation makes us appreciate even better the heroism of those who always stood up to dictatorships. His example is indeed a great lesson…And I mean that positively for the fact that…Despite the massive support that he received, he also received a lot of discouragement. An old ally of his, some guy appropriately called Blackface was one of the first persons to blacken the idea of the protest. Some Nollywood, belle-forever-face-front-chop-money-money-finish-carry-go characters also opposed Tuface. Some musicians too, although in the long run, Tuface was able to mobilise the support of every section of the Nigerian community at home and in diaspora. By Saturday when he poured cold ice on the whole thing, the protest had even grown beyond him, much larger, with others seizing the initiative and turning what he had thought would be a small show into a nationwide and diaspora event. At that point, Tuface was no longer the singer of sultry songs, but the symbol of a rebellion. The enormity of that potential must have frightened him. He didn’t have the courage to see it through. Leadership is about courage. A coward can never lead a rebellion.
But we should struggle to understand his situation. He was accused of having seven children from three women, which is an absolutely stupid point. An artist does not have to be a saint. We relate to their art and their engagements with society on the basis of the positive value that they bring forth. It is also possible that Tuface received pressures from his multiple in-laws, and even the Baby Mamas defending their stakes in his life. The official wife must have been accused of trying to encourage him to get into trouble so he could get killed and she alone can sit on his estate. The Baby Mamas and all the in-laws must have called to remind him that his children are still very young and he needs to be alive to be their father and so he should think twice before going to use his chest to stop Nigeria Police bullets. Family members, to whom he is obviously a breadwinner, must have advised him to stay with his singing and dancing and not get involved in politics. They would remind him how Fela’s mum got killed and how Fela’s house was razed down, and how every artist who dared the Nigerian government ended up in exile or in prison or with a strange motor accident.
The Nigerian government was of course unhappy with the planned protest, and the idea of it created enormous confusion in Abuja and Aso Rock. While the office of the Acting President spoke about the right to protest and the government not having anything against the expression of fundamental human rights, the Office of the President on vacation made it very clear that the would-be protesters are enemies of the government of the day and sore losers. Those two seemingly contradictory impressions from Aso Rock can only point to one thing: high-level intrigue within. That is probably why the Nigeria Police kept shuffling: we don’t approve of the protest, we do, we don’t, we beg. The timing says it all also. With the President out of the country, and the plan of the protesters to welcome him with a Trump-like protest from Abuja, to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Uyo and Akure, and in parts of the Western world, the damage would have been incalculable. And Tuface would have been held responsible for leading the sabotage. No Nigerian government since 1999 has benefitted from any mass protest. The anti-third term protest hobbled the Obasanjo government. The Jonathan government never recovered from the pro-fuel subsidy protests of January 2012. Tuface and his planned protest had set the stage for a similar prospect for the Buhari government.
What Tuface imagined was a clean-hearted civil action would have resulted in absolute panic, with some informal voices in and around government doing dangerous analysis on ethnic and religious grounds. Reckless hypotheses such as the following: (a) “so, as Baba hand over this thing to Osinbajo so, the only thing his Christian brothers think they should do is to organize a protest in Baba’s absence?” (b) “You don hear say Osinbajo’s office say people have right to protest? So, Baba cannot even travel on vacation again. Walahi, these Yoruba people cannot be trusted.” (c) What are these security people doing? If they are loyal to Baba, by now they should have invited that Tuface, and ask him about the two SUVs that Akpabio gave him and his wife when they got married. They should show him strong evidence that the SUVs were bought with Akwa Ibom state government money and he should pay back the money or get ready to be sued for being an accomplice in a case of diversion of public funds. (d) Or you could have some people affirming the narrative that was put out by the APC and friends of the government of the day viz: “this is the PDP at work. Tuface must be an agent of PDP. Why are our own APC people sleeping? Baba no dey around, they want to pull down the country. So, Tuface is now working with Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, to embarrass Baba? This Osinbajo, can we trust him?”
By pulling the trigger at this time, Tuface simply put a lot of people under pressure and placed their jobs and loyalty at risk -no doubt about it, they must have come after him with a sledgehammer to stop and discourage him. Clear evidence: a counter-revolutionary #IstandwithBuhari protest has already been announced to last for two days. The Tuface revolution that has been abandoned by its main motivator teaches us more lessons about the dynamics of power in Nigeria and the temperament of the resident power elite. Will the protest now take place on February 6, without Tuface? Or will everyone hold fire and down their tools of anger? What is certain, however, is that Tuface is likely to sit at home tomorrow with Anne, his temptingly pretty wife by his side, watching the latest episode of Big Brother Naija on TV, with chicken and salad before him, and a bottle of wine, and one of his hands, innocently setting the stage for the amorous prelude for child number eight. With his wife telling him: “don’t worry yourself dear, Nigeria is not worth dying for. Who wan die make e go die. You have tried your best, my darling husband!”.
That is how many would-be heroes become anti-heroes, and their dreams die a-borning. If the protests go ahead on February 6 as many are threatening, nonetheless, Tuface would lose a lot. If it doesn’t go ahead, he would still lose.
The torch of protest that he has lit may not burn on the streets of Nigeria; it is burning already in the minds of the people. He may have chickened out, but he has already achieved the goal of his initial plan. He has by lending his star power to an anti-Buhari protest, expanded the population of angry Nigerians. He has given voice to their anger and fears. His withdrawal from action will not excuse him. Whatever anyone tells him, in the long run, he would still be punished for his bravery and cowardice on both counts. He should not be surprised if for the next few months, he doesn’t get invited to any concert, or performance contract, or if he gets to perform anywhere, he could be booed off the stage. He should not be surprised if his phones stop ringing, or if it rings at all, he could be told: “call me on what’s app I beg, I don’t know if they are monitoring your calls.”
Let no one blame Tuface. His stage name Tuface is the name of Janus: the two-face Greek god, who looks in two directions. When it mattered most in his career, Tuface Idibia answered the call of his name!
https://twitter.com/Marapolsa/status/828003736979111936
If I Were God ~ By: Tony Ogunlowo
If I were God and people asked me why I created Nigeria I’ll say I created it for a reason. I promised to lead the Israelites to a land of Milk and Honey and I did . Nigeria is a land of Milk and Honey but you’re too blind to see it and trample it under foot.
If I were God and people asked me why I allowed the amalgamation of the Igbos, Yorubas and Hausa under one roof I’ll say I did it for a reason. People regardless of their tribes and religious affiliations should learn to live together. You are humans not aliens and your country is big enough for everyone.
If I were God and you asked me why I let the killings of the innocents go on I’ll tell you it’s for a reason. You do not value the life of your fellow human beings. To you taking a life is like killing a fowl for dinner. Perhaps you should learn to respect the preciousness of a human life.
If I were God and people asked me why I allowed evil to engulf your lives I will say its for a reason. I created you in my image but you chose for the darkness of evil to enter your lives, mostly, to proclaim your vanity. Be careful what you wish for; you asked for it and you got it!
If I were God and you asked me why people are the way they are in Nigeria, I’ll say I created Man to love one another and not hate one another. I created the Sun to shine on the righteous and on the bad. I also created Rain to fall on your friend’s house and also on your foes house. Perhaps you should learn to love each other a bit more.
If I were God and you asked why my ‘Men of God’ can’t help you or the country I’ll say I have no ‘Men of God’ amongst you. Many, since Time began, claim they come in my name. are they my chosen ones? That is for you to decide!
If I were God and you asked me why I let the poor and needy to continually suffer – on a daily basis – I’ll say it’s for a reason. Why should some amongst you have more than enough and others are left with nothing? Unfortunately you haven’t evolved to the point to learn how to distribute your vast resources evenly – that’s for you to do!
If I were God and you asked me why I let corrupt leaders rule Nigeria I would say that is your fault. If you elect corrupt leaders to high office you get what you voted for – blame yourselves!
If I were God and you asked me why I stood by and let the Devil and his legion enter your lives I will say that is your fault. You opened your front door and willingly invited him in.
If I were God and you asked me why nothing ever works out in Nigeria for the better, I’ll say blame yourselves! I gave you a brain and the ability to discern between right and wrong. But since you chose to go the way of Adam, in the Garden of Eden, that is your prerogative!
If I were God and you asked me why I’m not fixing the problems in Nigeria I’ll say stop moaning and fix them yourselves! Nigeria is not the only nation in this world; there are many others and they fix their own problems. Perhaps it’s time the nation called Nigeria grew up and stopped blaming everybody else for its woes!
Photo Credit: http://firstfreelincoln.org/
Tony Ogunlowo is a writer. He blogs at http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk
Opinion: Buhari’s UK trip, a total blunder| By: Niran Adedokun
It now seems obvious that those who sold the idea of change to President Muhammadu Buhari did not reach what lawyers call ad idem with him from the outset.
Ad idem refers to a meeting of minds of parties involved in a contract on the very essence of that agreement. It is a critical ingredient whose absence is able to vitiate any contract subjected to the test of law.
Over the past 20 months, it has become increasingly discernable that those who hawked Buhari to Nigerians as the agent of transformation only successfully communicated half of the elements of Buhari’s agency to him.
This half, from what one perceives, ends with the urgent need for a change in leadership. That critical part wherein the desire to reform a country is followed through by a series of policies and actions was either not conveyed at all or got lost at some point during the conversation.
This is why it is impossible to reconcile the President’s avowed commitment to revolutionize the way Nigerians think and conduct themselves with some of his actions. All of this makes you wonder whether Nigerians and members of the All Progressives Congress had the same understanding of change as they worked towards the definitive 2015 elections.
And please, no one should raise that already overstretched argument about change being a tedious, long process which an impatient nature makes Nigerians misunderstands.
That suggestion by itself, is a reprehensible slight on the resilient determination of millions of Nigerians who defied all odds to vote in Buhari about 21 months ago. What those who market this idea should realize is that even the long process of instilling effective transformation should be signposted by incontrovertible evidences of a deep, research-based understanding of the problem, a theoretical and practicable framework for the reversal of the problem, a palpable determination of the leader to solve the problem without fear and favour as well as an undisguised ability of custodians of the people’s mandate to lead by example!
Subjected to any objective evaluation, it is doubtful that the Buhari administration will exceed the very base of assessments on most of these fronts. The administration has, to say the least, wallowed in uninspiring ineptitude that should currently worry every Nigerian conversant with the urgency with which this country should get of the gallows of underdevelopment.
For example, Buhari and his party men have regaled us with tales of how we found ourselves in the current economic deep pit because past leaders of Nigeria allowed the importation of everything and anything to the detriment of production at home. They have gone further to promise to redress the situation and set Nigeria on the path of irreversible development.
Part of their design to achieve this is weaning the nation off its dependence on oil through relentless diversification and the encouragement of local manufacturing. A clear way to go, everyone would agree.
Towards the achievement of the latter in particular, this government has almost since inception imposed capital controls which have seen to the restriction of the importation of a number of items and the ability of many hardworking Nigerians to transact legitimate business, attend to their health care needs or send their children to school regardless of the import of the latter to the country’s future.
The President coverts the collaboration and sacrifice of all Nigerians on these but he and some of his close aides are not exactly inclined to subjecting themselves to the very demands they make of their compatriots.
He would show total disregard for the sensibilities of Nigerians when he made that comment about being able to send his daughter to school abroad because he could afford it while insisting that those who could no longer afford it, even if through no fault of theirs, would get no help from government. A veiled suggestion that they should withdraw their children from schools abroad. Yet, he indulges in this venture that costs Nigerians a whopping N1.5tn annually. What about bringing your children back home as a sign of your commitment to improving standards at home?
It is this same rationale that would make the President jump on a plane to seek medical attention in the United Kingdom, a second time in his less than two years in office.
And here one must acknowledge the clarification by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, to the effect that his principal’s primary mission to the UK is a vacation and that the medical checkup is a mere adjunct. He went on in his usual manner to denigrate Nigerians for trying to reverse the President’s scale of priority.
But the joke here is on Adesina and the government he serves. The bitter truth is that there could never be any acceptable reason for Buhari to embark on any of these missions out of the country at this time. I will explain.
Why should a President who desires to bestow a variegated economy on his country think of a holiday abroad? In his administration research into ways in which Nigerians “waste” billions of dollars on unproductive ventures annually, did it not encounter foreign travels for holidays? Doesn’t this administration understand how much could accrue as well as how much it could save from a thriving tourism industry? What better way exists for a President to encourage his people to holiday in-country than for him to lead by that example? After all, the late Umaru Yar’Adua once did that in 2009!
And for the subsidiary purpose admitted by Adesina, this administration is gradually becoming a most pathetic failure at living to the reality of the expectations that it raised.
In two years and in spite of humongous budgetary allocations to the Aso Rock Clinic, Buhari’s government has been unable to build a world-class hospital that could treat the President and his staff and save us occasions of rushed transfers in air ambulances as was recently reported concerning his Chief of Staff, Mr. Abba Kyari!
A country in dire economic straits and bogged down by an epochal scarcity of foreign exchange should think of nothing but a conservation of its resources. It should work assiduously towards being able to treat its people and developing the capacity for medical tourism.
Rather than go out of the country to consult with medical doctors who emigrated out of the frustrations of a comatose system, the President should lead the mobilisation for the return of close to 10, 000 Nigerian medical experts in western and Middle East countries. Even if we do not have the vision to become a medical tourism hub, we could at least conserve monies in the excess of $1bn spent on this cause by our compatriots in 2013.
It is not clear whether the President’s decision to seek medical attention abroad came out of distrust of the Nigerian medical system, or the age-long honest error of seeing everything foreign as better, but it is certainly not a project that the leader of a country of Nigeria’s current travails, size and resources should invest resources, even if they were personal, in.
I do not think Buhari has left anyone in doubt about his desire to lead a turnaround in the fortunes of the country, but then this is not one of those things that you wish into reality.
The President must realise that transformational leadership isn’t just about the title; it is more about the judicious use of the opportunity and scarce resources to show positive action and examples.
Before Buhari can hope to fix Nigeria, he must first fix himself and then show the way to go. He must continually improve himself in areas that he plans to improve the country before hoping to achieve success.
Anything less will place him on the same row with every other past leader that he always gleefully disparages. It is a prospect that the President should avoid like a plague
Ad idem refers to a meeting of minds of parties involved in a contract on the very essence of that agreement. It is a critical ingredient whose absence is able to vitiate any contract subjected to the test of law.
Over the past 20 months, it has become increasingly discernable that those who hawked Buhari to Nigerians as the agent of transformation only successfully communicated half of the elements of Buhari’s agency to him.
This half, from what one perceives, ends with the urgent need for a change in leadership. That critical part wherein the desire to reform a country is followed through by a series of policies and actions was either not conveyed at all or got lost at some point during the conversation.
This is why it is impossible to reconcile the President’s avowed commitment to revolutionize the way Nigerians think and conduct themselves with some of his actions. All of this makes you wonder whether Nigerians and members of the All Progressives Congress had the same understanding of change as they worked towards the definitive 2015 elections.
And please, no one should raise that already overstretched argument about change being a tedious, long process which an impatient nature makes Nigerians misunderstands.
That suggestion by itself, is a reprehensible slight on the resilient determination of millions of Nigerians who defied all odds to vote in Buhari about 21 months ago. What those who market this idea should realize is that even the long process of instilling effective transformation should be signposted by incontrovertible evidences of a deep, research-based understanding of the problem, a theoretical and practicable framework for the reversal of the problem, a palpable determination of the leader to solve the problem without fear and favour as well as an undisguised ability of custodians of the people’s mandate to lead by example!
Subjected to any objective evaluation, it is doubtful that the Buhari administration will exceed the very base of assessments on most of these fronts. The administration has, to say the least, wallowed in uninspiring ineptitude that should currently worry every Nigerian conversant with the urgency with which this country should get of the gallows of underdevelopment.
For example, Buhari and his party men have regaled us with tales of how we found ourselves in the current economic deep pit because past leaders of Nigeria allowed the importation of everything and anything to the detriment of production at home. They have gone further to promise to redress the situation and set Nigeria on the path of irreversible development.
Part of their design to achieve this is weaning the nation off its dependence on oil through relentless diversification and the encouragement of local manufacturing. A clear way to go, everyone would agree.
Towards the achievement of the latter in particular, this government has almost since inception imposed capital controls which have seen to the restriction of the importation of a number of items and the ability of many hardworking Nigerians to transact legitimate business, attend to their health care needs or send their children to school regardless of the import of the latter to the country’s future.
The President coverts the collaboration and sacrifice of all Nigerians on these but he and some of his close aides are not exactly inclined to subjecting themselves to the very demands they make of their compatriots.
He would show total disregard for the sensibilities of Nigerians when he made that comment about being able to send his daughter to school abroad because he could afford it while insisting that those who could no longer afford it, even if through no fault of theirs, would get no help from government. A veiled suggestion that they should withdraw their children from schools abroad. Yet, he indulges in this venture that costs Nigerians a whopping N1.5tn annually. What about bringing your children back home as a sign of your commitment to improving standards at home?
It is this same rationale that would make the President jump on a plane to seek medical attention in the United Kingdom, a second time in his less than two years in office.
And here one must acknowledge the clarification by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, to the effect that his principal’s primary mission to the UK is a vacation and that the medical checkup is a mere adjunct. He went on in his usual manner to denigrate Nigerians for trying to reverse the President’s scale of priority.
But the joke here is on Adesina and the government he serves. The bitter truth is that there could never be any acceptable reason for Buhari to embark on any of these missions out of the country at this time. I will explain.
Why should a President who desires to bestow a variegated economy on his country think of a holiday abroad? In his administration research into ways in which Nigerians “waste” billions of dollars on unproductive ventures annually, did it not encounter foreign travels for holidays? Doesn’t this administration understand how much could accrue as well as how much it could save from a thriving tourism industry? What better way exists for a President to encourage his people to holiday in-country than for him to lead by that example? After all, the late Umaru Yar’Adua once did that in 2009!
And for the subsidiary purpose admitted by Adesina, this administration is gradually becoming a most pathetic failure at living to the reality of the expectations that it raised.
In two years and in spite of humongous budgetary allocations to the Aso Rock Clinic, Buhari’s government has been unable to build a world-class hospital that could treat the President and his staff and save us occasions of rushed transfers in air ambulances as was recently reported concerning his Chief of Staff, Mr. Abba Kyari!
A country in dire economic straits and bogged down by an epochal scarcity of foreign exchange should think of nothing but a conservation of its resources. It should work assiduously towards being able to treat its people and developing the capacity for medical tourism.
Rather than go out of the country to consult with medical doctors who emigrated out of the frustrations of a comatose system, the President should lead the mobilisation for the return of close to 10, 000 Nigerian medical experts in western and Middle East countries. Even if we do not have the vision to become a medical tourism hub, we could at least conserve monies in the excess of $1bn spent on this cause by our compatriots in 2013.
It is not clear whether the President’s decision to seek medical attention abroad came out of distrust of the Nigerian medical system, or the age-long honest error of seeing everything foreign as better, but it is certainly not a project that the leader of a country of Nigeria’s current travails, size and resources should invest resources, even if they were personal, in.
I do not think Buhari has left anyone in doubt about his desire to lead a turnaround in the fortunes of the country, but then this is not one of those things that you wish into reality.
The President must realise that transformational leadership isn’t just about the title; it is more about the judicious use of the opportunity and scarce resources to show positive action and examples.
Before Buhari can hope to fix Nigeria, he must first fix himself and then show the way to go. He must continually improve himself in areas that he plans to improve the country before hoping to achieve success.
Anything less will place him on the same row with every other past leader that he always gleefully disparages. It is a prospect that the President should avoid like a plague
Adeniran Tweets at @niranadedokun
Source: PUNCH Newspapers
The Shock Rise in Paedophilia in Nigeria | By: Tony Ogunlowo
Hardly a day goes by when there isn’t a news report about a minor being sexually abused by a much older person. And the shocking thing is that for every case reported dozens are not because the young victims are either too scared of their attackers or embarrassed to talk to anyone. And it’s so bad now that it’s rising to epidemic levels and soon Nigeria will be overtaking Cambodia and the Far East as the paedophile hotspot of the world!
Currently the law stipulates life imprisonment for rape of a minor under the new Sexual Offences Bill but the law doesn’t deal with those who marry under-age girls to circumvent the law. Whilst it is a horrendous crime to rape anyone it’s even worse when the victim is a child and the perpetrator can get away with it by either marrying their victim or shutting them up. Most paedophiles get away with their crimes because they are much older and can intimidate or brainwash their victims. And most of the time the perpetrators of these crimes are people known to the victims as fathers, brothers, neighbours, uncles, in-laws etc.
Disturbingly, families are prepared to put up a wall of silence and pretend as if nothing is going wrong if there is a case of incest or paedophilia going on in their household. They all keep quiet, hoping it blow over, in an attempt to preserve their dignity often threatening the victim to remain quiet and not dealing with the perpertrator.
Some tribes even encourage paedophilia by marrying off their under-age daughters to men old enough to be their grandfathers. And over the years no government policy or law has been put in place to outlaw this practice until recently and it’s still not enforced. Our society needs to shape up; it’s not okay for a 50-year old to be seen walking down the road with his new under-age wife. It doesn’t matter if he’s the richest man in Nigeria, an Oba or Emir. It’s morally wrong and the person belongs in jail! And for those who disagree or hide behind the flimsy excuse of ‘it’s our tradition’, how would you feel if your under-age son or daughter was being sexually abused by a 50-year old? Some men even think it’s ‘cool’ to sleep with an under-age child. It’s not and anybody who sleeps with an under-aged child, whether it’s consensual or not, is a paedophile. On a sadder note thirty-five Nigerian Senators actually voted, recently, for the legalization of child marriage! And the Senators in question all happen to be from the North and Muslims! Somebody ought to tell them we live in the 21st century now and such barbaric acts are not tolerable despite what the Koran says about marriage.
There are those who would like to argue that paedophilia is a disease. It’s not! It’s just a lame excuse given by depraved men to explain away their sick sexual cravings. How else would a certain Northern Senator explain spending $10,000 to ‘buy’ a 13-year old ‘bride’ from Egypt?
Our first duty should be to the children at risk. Everybody knows who these children at risk are and who they’re at risk from. Instead of minding our own business and turning a blind eye, ignoring the plight of the victim we should stand up to these people and report them to the authorities.
There should be more awareness so people can know what signs to look for if they believe a child is being groomed or abused, for example that ‘nice’ uncle who is always ‘touching’ his young niece and buying her presents is a potential suspect. Parents should learn how to be closer to their children; if you’re too distant to your child there will be things they won’t tell you, like most kids hold things back, and it’s your duty as a parent to sense when things are amiss. Children, just like anybody else, need a shoulder to cry upon and somebody they can talk about anything with. Be that parent they can come to.
Any rape victim, child or adult, doesn’t just carry the physical scars of their attack, which can include contacting a venereal disease or HIV, but emotional scars which are even harder to heal. They can suffer from post-traumatic stress for the rest of their lives. Overwhelmed by it can lead to depression and many have been driven to take their own lives.
We all know the Nigerian Police Force is not equipped to deal with child-rape cases (- or any case really!) and will probably tell the victim’s parents to sort it out themselves, calling it a family or personal matter. This is not good enough but the good news is that we live in the internet age and there are lots of avenues – social media – to shame them into taking action.
There are some organisations out there such as The Eight Foundation, Mirabel Centre and Women against Child Defilement who are not just helping victims of paedophiles but also offer advice and support. Unfortunately they are under-funded (- or not funded at all!) and there’s not enough of them.
Everybody needs to be vigilant. Child rape or paedophilia is not acceptable not just in this country but anywhere in the world.
Tony blogs at http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk