Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie and the spikes of facile criticisms

By Nwabuisi Johnpaul

As it stands, our last hope is the Judiciary and we charge them to be upright saying yes to truth, justice, equality and fairness. The Judiciary must not jeopardize the future of over 200 million people; neither should they sacrifice their dreams, hopes and aspirations on the altar of personal gains, bribery and corruption.

In these days of social unrest and political tension, when the problems of Nigeria has become gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, Chimamanda NgoziAdichie’s open letter to United States President, Joe Biden, engenders a timeless truth and an undeniable testimony about the political legitimacy and morality of the 2023 Presidential election in which the compromised chair of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) announced and endorsed the ruling party’s candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner.

In the wake of Chimamanda’s open letter has been a mass of juvenile and childish criticisms which undoubtedly showboats a predilection for corruption, crass subterfuge, deflection from the real and burning issues, and a spot-on hostility to the truth. Quite sadly and distressingly annoying is the fact that many learned people have joined these facile criticisms forming a terrible tidal wave of hateful oligarchs who scorn truth, ridicule objectivity and rational reasoning, ordain corrupt sovereigns and validate an odious aristocracy suffused with a penchant for greed, bribery, corruption, injustice and barefaced illegality.

Nigerians, therefore, must refuse to play to the gallery and address the real issues of Chimamanda’s open letter. The real issues self-evident in the letter and in the 2023 presidential polls include: INEC’s double tongue and ongoing shenanigans; INEC’s deliberate attempt to manipulate the results; law enforcement officers and their collusion to voters intimidation; disenfranchisement of Nigerians; election rigging; and the Nigerian state’s pervasive problem of low-trust. These are the burning issues; and most of the criticisms you must have heard or read are intellectually facile and shallow aiming to swerve you from ideal reality and affect your judgment of the real issues! Thus, it is pertinent to emphatically and unapologetically state that the 2023 presidential electoral process was fraudulent, manipulated and crippled by the manacles of desperation and the chains of unfettered thinking that money can buy everything and anything; indeed, it was a downright mockery of democracy.

Nigerians must continually read the signs of the times to understand that the institutions of neckdeep poverty, inept infrastructures, poor-healthcare systems, dysfunctional education, endless hunger, untold strife, unwarranted pestilence, incessant insecurity issues and many more help our politicians to thrive and perpetuate their evil, vile antics and abominable theatrics. Hence, we must all be committed to tearing down these institutions by objectively analyzing issues, standing for virtues, becoming congenital truth tellers, dissociating ourselves from the ropes and tyranny of bribery, greed and corruption; and allowing a proper entrenchment of justice and peace to take their pride of place.

As it stands, our last hope is the Judiciary and we charge them to be upright saying yes to truth, justice, equality and fairness. The Judiciary must not jeopardize the future of over 200 million people; neither should they sacrifice their dreams, hopes and aspirations on the altar of personal gains, bribery and corruption. We unequivocally want a Nigeria functional with systems that favor the well-being of all Nigerians. We want to have a government that will be accountable and transparent in their dealings. We want to be ruled by people who have unquestionable pedigree and character. We want to be governed by qualified and innovative minds. Nevertheless, if we are to recalibrate Nigeria and set it on the path that leads to peace, prosperity and progress, then, we must learn to tell ourselves the truth. This task Chimamanda unambiguously did with an untrammelled courage that exemplifies that she is not just a literary savvy, but an undaunted philosopher whose unbridled search for truth has torn the veil of ignorance and taken her out of the cave of disillusionment and falsity.

Nwabuisi Johnpaul, melchi5801@gmail.com

Association tasks President-elect on development of mining sector

The Gold Miners Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (GMPMA) has urged the President-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu to place priority on the development of the mining sector of the economy.

Mr Auwal Bununu, the GMPMA president, said this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

Bununu said the sector was faced with lack of government attention, adding that such had hindered effective implementation of projects and policies in the sector.

“The sector is expected to be a major contractor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“In the 1960s and 70s, the sector contributed about 15 per cent of GDP because there was attention and strong support by relevant authorities.

“But today, the GDP contribution is low as the sector is no longer receiving such support and attention.

“The financial institutes and fiscal policies are not capturing the sector very well in the policy formulation, thereby making the sector not functioning effectively as its being expected,” he said.

Bununu, also the Technical Adviser to Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Miners and Agriculture (NACCIMA), a mining group, said the association’s target was to promote the economic development of the country.

He said that the NACCIMA was an umbrella body of the GMPMA, adding that the association was working with stakeholders to achieve its objectives.

Bununu said that the association welcomed the president-elect pronouncement of plans forming a government of competence, which would ensure development in all the sectors in the economy.

” I am happy to hear the President-elect saying that he is going to form a government of competence.

“What that means is that from my own understanding, the administration will bake the national cake and ensure that it gets to everyone in all sectors in the country. What we have been experiencing is sharing formulas, but not baking the cake.

“So, in as much as the president elect has promised