February 15, 2015 by The Nation

Newspaper of the Year

Presidency,PDPprobe fourgovsoverromance withAPC –Page 63

Jonathan wants US troops to fight Boko Haram –Page 6

Party worries over Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Niger, Benue, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Gombe, Adamawa, Oyo, Kebbi

Army repels sect attacks in Gombe Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.09, No. 3127

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

Mass shooting threat: Mbu is lawless, barbaric, says APC –Page 63

Police should protect lives, not kill citizens -IGP

FEBRUARY 15, 2015

N200.00

20 WOMEN BURNT TO DEATH AFTER VISITING FIRST LADY

Page 67

Jonathan afraid Buhari will jail him, says Obasanjo Pages 4 & 6

CAPTAIN SAGIR KOLI Ekiti: Why I recorded parley with Fayose, Obanikoro, Adesiyan, Gen. Momoh

Pages 36 & 37

Compares president to ousted Ivorien leader, Laurent Gbagbo Jonathan: Ex-President scheming to head Interim Government

EX-NPC CHAIRMAN NORTHERN ELDERS BLAST AND JONATHAN CLARK, OTHERS ALLY, ODIMEGWU, Vow to resist attempts ENDORSES BUHARI to scuttle democracy –Page 6

–Pages 12, 62 & 66

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

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CAPTURED

Osun shuts two schools over public disturbance

HE Osun State government has ordered the closure of Government Technical College, Osogbo, and Osogbo High School, indefinitely over disturbances by students of the two institutions. The closure is to check further disturbances, according to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran. The Permanent Secretary was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as advising parents and guardians to warn their children and wards to stay away from acts capable of causing public disturbance. He said: “Consequently, security agencies have been directed to take charge of the two schools and maintain peace.” Property estimated at millions of naira were destroyed during the violence at Osogbo High School.

S politicians crisscross the country campaigning for support and valuable endorsements, they are certain to meet with qualified or even controversial successes in many delicate places. But of all the surprises in the current campaign, few have been as entertaining and remarkable as the endorsements given by former president Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-head of state Ibrahim Babangida. On January 19, Gen Babangida (retd), nicknamed Maradona for his unpredictable policy shifts and administrative twists and feints, received the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his campaign team at his Hilltop residence in Minna, Niger State. Praising the APC candidate's resilience, he assured him his efforts would not be in vain. ''All of us will support you in this course to salvage this country,'' said Gen Babangida with his customary gravitas, assuming of course that the country was broken and needed fixing. “I wish to congratulate members of the party (APC) for the honour of nominating my colleague, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as your presidential candidate in 2015 elections.'' Stunned by newspaper reports of what seemed to be an enthusiastic and unexpected endorsement of his opponent in the race, President Goodluck Jonathan planned a remedial, or if necessary, fence-mending, visit to the general's Minna lair. He was bent on finding out what transpired. In his first visit to the general, candidate Jonathan had on December 27

Love is political

Yesterday was St. Valentine’s Day. But the lovers’ day also fell smack in the middle of the political season. To mark the day this group embarked on a ‘Love Walk and Concert’ event tagged ‘March 4 Buhari in Lagos. PHOTOS: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

BAROMETER sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Obasanjo, IBB and amorphous endorsements received the following magical words from Gen Babangida that transported him to rarified air: “What I will say is simple: The President means well for this country and he is working well for this country. Anybody who means well for this country should support the President to make sure that Nigeria survives as a united country.” The following day, the media cooed that the wily general had endorsed President Jonathan, and the president himself, basking in that endorsement, walked on air, and would have walked on water had the situation demanded it. But fearing that Gen Babangida had changed his mind, and was now in the Buhari column, President Jonathan repeated his visit to Minna on February 3, where, once again and incredulously, Gen Babangida blurted out another endorsement to mollify the agitated president. "I share a common passion with him," roared the retired general. "That passion is making sure that Nigeria stays peaceful, stable, developed and transformed. It is a passion in Mr President that anytime I see you, talk to you, I come out with the impression of a very young man who has passion for this country. I wish you well on this and I want to assure all of you that Nigeria under Jonathan, we are in safe hands." Flush with boundless excitement, President Jonathan, this time, walked on water.

But if you thought Gen Babangida was alone in endorsing from both sides of his mouth, you are quite mistaken. Another retired general, this time, Obasanjo, a two-term president, proved even more adept at giving indecipherable endorsements. Whether this genre of

endorsement is a military thing or simply a Machiavellian tool is hard to say. When candidate Buhari first visited Chief Obasanjo in Abeokuta during a campaign stop in the ancient city, the former president simply limited himself to his usual bombast against President Jonathan. But on February 10, in far away Kenya where he had gone to present his ponderous and unsparing book, My Watch, he had given candidate Buhari what seemed to everyone who could read and speak English fairly well a direct and unequivocal endorsement. “The circumstances he (Buhari) will be working under if he wins the elections," began the straighttalking former president philosophically, "are different from the one he worked under before, where he was both the executive and the leg-

islature he knows that. He is smart enough. He is educated enough. He's experienced enough. Why shouldn't I support him?” There is apparently no other way to interpret this except to describe it as a powerful and direct endorsement. But we underestimate Chief Obasanjo. Two days later in London, while presenting the same book, the ex-president began to qualify his endorsement of candidate Buhari. He had apparently had time to reflect, and shaken by his own enthusiasm, uttered this famous prevarication when asked if he really endorsed candidate Buhari: "I will not go into argument about that. I did not unendorse him or endorse him as such. A question was asked and I said consistently that I will determine, based on the track record of those candi-

dates who are contesting and who ask me for support, and when I do that, based on my own assessment, I will support the candidate that I believe has the best track record. And I am still in the process of that.” Now, if we heard him right, he seemed to be saying support does not mean endorsement, though he managed in the same breath to describe Dr Jonathan's performance as mediocre. No one knows what provocation will push either of the two generals to damn equivocation, damn the devil, and damn every piece of caution, to come out clearly in the open to enjoin Nigerians to vote for either Gen Buhari or President Jonathan. But if history is of any help, it seems 'Maradona' will hem and haw till the last ballot is counted, while the brusque and gregarious Chief Obasanjo will doubtless make his definitive stand known as soon as President Jonathan makes one of his more telling and irredeemable 'motor park tout' gaffes.

ING: What are Adoke's assurances worth?

IVEN the pressures on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Attahiru Jega, to resign or reverse many of his policies and programmes for the March 28 elections, anxious observers, including the opposition APC, have wondered whether there is no hidden agenda for the emplacement of a pliant interim government to midwife the polls and inaugurate a new government. Those who think so, said the Attorney General of the Fed-

eration and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, are undiscerning. The minister is right that the 1999 constitution does not envisage the mediocrity on display today. But if Mr Adoke will admit, the mediocrity being exhibited is almost entirely by the government he serves. It is not the observers that are undiscerning; it is more appropriately the ruling party, which is putting inordinate pressures on Professor Jega, and the Jonathan presidency, which has entangled

the government and the affairs of this country in a skein of intrigues. Mr Adoke speaks derogatively of the undiscerning, but when the late President Umaru Yar'Adua was dying, did the constitution envisage or make provisions for the Doctrine of Necessity? Those who asked for the Jonathan government to come clean on ING are not undiscerning; they are merely being forearmed after being forewarned by a plotting and scheming Aso Villa.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

NEWS

HE verdict came long and hard yesterday from former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the postponement of the elections, why they were shifted, and the two principal actors in the polity: President Goodluck Jonathan and his main challenger, General Muhammadu Buhari. Gen. Obasanjo, just back home from a five nation trip, faulted the postponement of the elections on the ground that the military would be engaging the Boko Haram terror group in battle. He declared point-blank that the service chiefs ought to have “gone home to rest” for promoting that course of action. He faulted this and said it was actually to buy time for President Jonathan. According to him, President Jonathan habours a “sinister grand plan to win the March 28 Presidential election by hook and by crook,” and fears that Gen Buhari will jail him in the event that the APC candidate triumphs at the poll. He spoke to reporters at his Hilltop Estate, Abeokuta, residence. He advised President Jonathan against going the way of former President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote’d Voire who kept tinkering with elections dates in his country until he was humiliated out of office, and to be wary of those prodding him on because when the heat turns full blast, he would be left “naked and isolated.” Obasanjo said the election postponement was a sad commentary on the nation’s democracy as was the role played by the security chiefs in the matter. He wondered why Nigeria could not go ahead with the February elections when countries like Iraq and Colombia conducted successful polls in the midst of wars and turmoil. The former Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP was confident that Buhari would be able to “preside over an efficient and effective economic team” and “stabilise” the country once he wins the election. But he asked him to first “allay the fears of some people who feel threatened” his by tough anti - corruption stance. Such fear, he said, was partly responsible for the shift in poll instigated by those allegedly telling the President that “Buhari is a hard man who would fight corruption and he (Jonathan) will end in jail.” His words: “While I was away, I refused to make any categorical statement on this issue because I wanted to come back home and learn at firsthand what actually transpired and what was going on, and it turned out to be a forced decision on the INEC because it was alleged that the Security Chiefsý were unable to provide security, and as a result the Chairman of INEC had to postpone, in accordance with the dictates of the so called Security Chiefs. “I thought, for me, that was bad precedent for democracy in Nigeria. It meant it doesn’t matter what preparation or lack of preparation any electoral body could make in Nigeria. The final decision whether election will take place on the day scheduled for it lies in the domain of security. It is a sad day for democracy in Nigeria.

•Minister of state for education, Dr Khaliru Alhassan (r), presenting scholarship awards to one of the beneficiaries of the 300 level medical student of Usmanu-Danfodiyo University in Sokoto yesterday Photo: NAN

Jonathan afraid Buhari will jail him - Obasanjo •He plans to win by hook and by crook •Vouches for APC candidate’s ability to deliver •Counsels him to allay fears of those scared about his anti-corruption stance •Service Chiefs should have resigned From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

“I will say this: we must all feel concerned before democracy is killed. The observable and what would appear to be happening is that the president has a grand plan, a grand plan to ensure that by hook or by crook, he wins the election or if it all fails, he scuttles it and creates chaos, confusion and unpleasantness in the whole country. “It is the duty and function and responsibility of the security officers to provide security. The President is the Chief Security Officer of the country and he is the Commander- in -Chief and if security is required anywhere, anytime, it is his duty to provide it. Failure to provide it is dereliction of duty. Pure and simple. “Whether the President is following his own grand plan or his aides and associates are working a script, ýthey are playing a script which must have got his endorsement, if not initiated by him. “What again, it looks to me that the President is trying to play Gbagbo (Laurent). Gbagbo is the former President of Cote d’Ivoire and Gbagbo made sure he postponed the election in his country until he was sure he would win and then allowed the election to take place. He got an inconclusive election in the first ballot. “And I believe this is the sort of thing Nigeria may fall into. If I am right in what I observed as the grand plan and then in the run-off, Gbagbo lost with 8% behind Quattara and then refused to hand over. All reasonable persuasion and pleading was rebuffed by him and he unleashed horror in that country until nemesis caught up with him. “I believe that we may be seeing a repeat of Gbagbo or what I called the Gbagbo saga here in Nigeria, I hope not.” On the role of the security chiefs, Obasanjo said it was out

of place for them to say ‘we are not in a position to provide security for you’ because it is their job. “When they have failed, they can as well go home. Their job is to maintain law and order and provide security at any time and at any place. They said they cannot do it, they have failed,” he said. “I want to believe that this was forced on them, I want to believe that but whether it was forced on them or it was their initiative, it was bad, very bad. I hope we will neverý have a repeat performance of this in this country again. “The unfortunate thing is this: they are over exposing themselves or they are being over exposed by whoever brought about that way of doing things, and for me, a momentous decision like that cannot be taken and implemented by the security chiefs. “It was even made worse when the President in the media chat on the 11th of this month claimed not to have knowledge or not to have authorized it. I get worried, very worried, that if the President of Nigeria is not incharge of security, maintenance of law and order and such a decision can be taken behind him, assuming that is true, then the President must be reigning but not ruling. “And who then are the shadow figures that are ruling us? It means that one day we will find out that this country would be plunged into chaos, into commotion and into confusion and the President would say, ‘I do not know about it’, of course President(Jonathan) can run but he cannot run past God. “He has constitutional responsibility and to claim he doesn’t know is not an excuse. So, I do hope that those Service Chiefs who we are proud of the services people like me and others like me have rendered and proud of what they are doing, will not shame

themselves and shame us. “This is because what this amounts to is what, in the military circle, is called very an unmilitary conduct and conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. “For me, you can give any excuse or you can give any rationalization or you can rationalize anything. Look Boko Haram problem has been with us since 2009 and now if we say what we have not been able to achieve since 2009 would be achieved in six weeks, all I would say is that God is a God of miracle. “God can do anything but knowing what we know, look countries like Syria had election, they have full scale war all over the country. A country like Iraq had election, they had full scale war and they are still having war. “Countries like Afghanistan had election, they even had election where the incumbent served his term and moved out. Even Colombia where the rebel group (FARC) has been active for more than 50 years has been having elections regularly and FARC is still very active. “So, to say that what we have not been able to achieve in five years, we will achieve in six weeks, let us wait and see. When people want to make excuses, they should look for excuses that are tenable. “I believe the President’s fear is not leaving office per se, because he and I have had occasions to talk about this both seriously and jovially. ýI believe President would want an opportunity to disengage peacefully and have a nice, decent and a glorious exit, I believe the President’s fear is, particularly, motivated by those who he see as Gen Buhari as his likely successor. “I believe those people would have been telling him that Buhari is a hard man, he would fight corruption and you may end up in jail if not in grave. I believe people must have told him all sorts of things and he is

not the only one, there are other people who may be afraid of Buhari. But why? “I woud say that Buhari has learnt his lessons. If he hasn’t learnt lessons, then he would be probably the most unlearning human being. If he has learnt lessons, he would know that you do not fight corruption by putting people in jail for 200 years. “And this has been done by my own predecessor in office, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. He recovered over $750 million from Abacha’s estate without putting anybody in jail, without hurting or harming anybody. When I took over, we recovered over $1.25 billion from the same Abacha estate without hurting anybody, without harming anybody. “In fact, what would be rather unfortunate is the fact that our lawyer who is still alive and able, who was chasing this money all over the world, said to us that there’s still about $1 billion to be recovered from Abacha estate but the unfortunate thing is that my successor did not do anything about it even though it was in my handing over note. “I don’t think the President is afraid of being out. There’s life after Aso Villa. It depends, of course to a large extent, on how he descendsý; how his descent takes place; and how his exit takes place. Because out there in the international world, there’s so much need for the wisdom and experience of people who have done it before. They also want people who are creditable and credible.” Obasanjo insisted that corruption, impunity and recklessness must not remain a part of our national life as any leader should be seen fighting those evils. He said that given Buhari’s track record, he would be able to tackle corruption headlong at this critical period of the nation, if elected into office. Obasanjo said: “whoever comes in at anytime in future

will fight corruption, and we must even encourage successful fight of corruption. We must. Recklessness and impunity must not continue to be our part of life. “Whether recklessness and impunity in the management of our economic affairs, in the running of our finances and even in political affairs, they must not be allowed to remain part of us. “Buhari has tried to do it before. I believe he will give firm leadership which is what is good for a country like this. When he was there, it was the military and military is both the executive and the legislature. “In a democracy, that is not possible. I believe he knows the military, the damage that has been done to the military. It has been rendered almost impotent by a number of things that have happened and I believe he will do something about it. “And if he doesn’t do it, I would say shame on him if he gets there because that is some of the things he knows. I believe he can preside over an efficient and effective economy. He has the knowledge, he has the experience, he may not be a bowl of fire as an economist but he presided over it.” On INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega, the former president said: “I believe that after Jega had been boxed to a corner, he had no choice but to accept the fait ýaccompli and postponed the election, and I believe, as I have said before, it is unfortunate because in the pastý, this same Jega had cancelled the date of election when he found it that it was not suitable. “So, it is the duty, responsibility and function and within the jurisdiction of INEC to determine whether the situation allows it or does not allow them to go on with the election. Nobody should twist their arms, blackmail them or force them. “And if they do that, that is their legal job, if anything is done to remove Jega, it will actually heighten the disbelief of the people about wanting to have a fair, free, transparent and credible election and even if the President wins genuinely, many people may not believe it. He would have undermined the credibility of the result of the election. “But he has said he will not remove him, he said it is a rumour and let it remain the realm of rumour and let’s hope for the best. He appealed to President Jonathan not to “listen to those who are creating phobia, phobia of Buhari, phobia of enquiry and all that. President Jonathan has done well to the best of his ability and he has made history as the first elected Nigerian from a minority tribe and nobody can take that away from him. “He can even make a second history, if it turns out that way. If he contests a fair, free and transparent election and loses, take a dignified exit. He will be on the mountain top and he would be acclaimed as a true patriot and a true democrat. What stops him from doing this?” And to Buhari, he said: “if he happens to win, one of his first responsibilities is to allay the fears of those who see Buhari as a bully, as a threat, particularly in the area of human rights, in the area of rule of law, and in the area of obedience of our constitution.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

COLUMN

Waiting for Godot (A treatise on political absurdism)

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

â&#x20AC;˘Voters queue to vote

N Samuel Beckett's modernist classic, Waiting for Godot, waiting for the mysterious magician of salvation is a timeless and fruitless venture. Everybody knows in their heart of heart that Godot will not come. Yet they are all compelled to wait. The alternative is too bleak to contemplate, for it simply means that in a thoroughly blighted world, there is even no hope for hoping. Things had fallen completely apart. The centre was no longer holding. Waiting for Godot is a deeply unoptimistic play about the human condition. It is a vision of human society rent asunder; of the universe as a moral void brimming with cosmic futility. There are no heroes, only antiheroes who have forsworn any heroic gesture. Unlike the more expansive canvas of earlier theatre, the modernist canvas of the Absurd is stripped bare. There are no rhetorical flourishes. The cast is pared down to a minimal and minimalist three who babble unintelligible nonsense. In order to relieve the boredom and sheer ennui of waiting for Godot, the audience is compelled, like the captive victims of an ancient mariner, to make sense of utter nonsense; of relentless and unremitting fatuity. Samuel Beckett, together with Eugene Ionesco and Franz Kafka, could be described as the classic literary figures of the Age of Anxiety in which the values that undergirded human societies appear to have collapsed and the old God seemed to have disappeared completely. In his post-prison incarnation, Soyinka, philosophically speaking, came very close to this frame of mind, particularly in Madmen and Specialists. These writers do not even pretend to offer hope to stricken humanity. According to Ionesco, everybody must lift themselves up by the bootstraps or fall into the yawning pit. Several times, it has been hinted that Godot himself is a trope for a God that had disappeared forever. There is no paddy for jungle, as they say. As this column never tires of explaining, there are times when literature imitates life in its haunting and unforgettable realism. But there are also times when life imitates literature in its grand fictional sweep. There is a lot about contemporary Nigerian political life to remind one of the Theatre of the Absurd. Just as the Theatre of the Absurd mirrors a world that has gone out of joints, a world in which God has disappeared and societal values have collapsed, The Theatre of Political Absurdism is a reflection of a society in which all the institutions girding political norms have collapsed and peo-

ple are subject to the whims and caprices of individuals without the moral and intellectual capacity for leadership. It is a minimal and minimalist society. Just as everything is pared down to the minimum in the Theatre of the Absurd, in the State of Political Absurdism everything is also pared down and the state is stripped of all resources including human assets. It is the age of minimal generals, minimal statesmen, minimal politicians, minimal philosophers, minimal economists and minimal clerisy. Mediocrity is magnified while real virtue comes miniaturized. In order not to further inflame political passions, it is important to reach beyond surface manifestations to get at the root and latent contents of contemporary political developments in Nigeria. By so doing, we may strip ourselves and a sadistic post-colonial state of any illusions about its ameliorative possibilities under current circumstances and conditions. Subsequently, we may be persuaded to come to terms with the harsh verdict that what the situation demands is radical surgery rather than cosmetic scaling. If we are looking for evidence of state infirmity and its attendant political pathologies, we may have to look no further than the dramatic postponement of elections by a whole and walloping six weeks. Now let us be fair to all parties concerned. Election dates are not cast in stone and marble, but only up to a point. Shifting election dates particularly when the security situation is dire and darkly portentous is the right and rational thing to do. But the shift ought to have been arrived at through elite consensus and an agreement by all parties involved. What makes the current postponement most galling and odious is that it was surreptitiously effected by a faction of the contending political elite and slammed down on the nation by despotic fiat. It is akin to the referee in a boxing match physically restraining one of the combatants while sanctimoniously asking them to get on with the fight. We all know where this kind of officiating has taken the country before. In a truly functioning democratic set-up, it is inconceivable that a coterie of military officers and security kingpins, acting in concert with the presidency and a failed hegemonic party, could ignore the Council of State, the highest advisory organ in the nation, only to proceed to arm-twist the nation's electoral Czar into supporting a predetermined agenda. It was a sad day for political sanity in Nigeria and a triumph for political absurd-

ity. On this Council of State are at least four former military heads of state. If serving military hierarchs could hold their former commanders in such spiteful contempt, one must wonder what the immediate future portends. Readers of this column would have noticed its deep reverence and admiration for the Nigerian military, no matter its human errors of judgement and lapses of the past. Although a creation of colonial subjugation, the army is the first and last national institution standing. No efforts must be spared to save it from itself and from the current beneficiaries of institutional disorder. The reasons given for the postponement would have made Samuel Beckett, the master of Absurdist formulations, wince and grimace in ironic admiration. It is a litany of shameless bĂŞtise which has brought the nation further international ridicule and global obloquy. It is not the first time the military have given a timeline for crushing the Boko Haram menace. If the military kingpins are now buoyed up by the arrival of international troops on Nigeria's sacred and sacrosanct territory, it is an admission that the once almighty Nigerian army could no longer pass muster. On the objective plane, the real effect of the postponement will be to give the ruling party a momentous boost in the war of attrition with its main rival. It is the politics of exhaustion. Given its limited resources, it is difficult to see how the opposition can keep up the campaign for another four weeks with the same verve and vigour. Somebody may yet make a fatal campaign slip. The punitive physical regimen may occasion a catastrophic clanger. The dangerous interval may become a ruinous interlude as extra-constitutional forces sniff a stalemate. It is akin to shifting polling posts at the eleventh hour which could induce messianic hallucinations in a few. As if by some poetic justice, the stated reasons for the postponement are beginning to explode in the face of those who gave them. A week after the postponement, and going by their own logic, the security situation has worsened considerably. Only this can explain the brazen intimidation, the psychological destabilization and the military siege on the residence of main opposition leaders. Bourdillon is now synonymous with Boko Haram. It reminds one of an American general in Catch 22 who stated bluntly to his military subordinates that his major objective was not how to finish off the Japanese but how to neutralize his main mili-

tary rival. No matter the angelic mien, the sweet boyish smiles, the dissimulating panache, the serpentine charms and base low-minded cunning, Goodluck Jonathan should know by now that except with his hard core supporters, he has exhausted his credit and stock of goodwill with most Nigerians. For a man who started out with such a huge swell of pan-Nigerian good will and affection, this is the real tragedy of his tenure. No matter what he says or does not say, he will come across as a master-dissembler, a Machiavellian zero-summer who does not give a damn about the fate of the country he owes so much. For veterans of what has now become a permanent struggle against evil governance in post-independence Nigeria, you can always tell when a ruler has offended the deep sensibility of Nigerians, when he has injured their sense of fairness and what is right. You always know when majority of Nigerians have crossed The Rubicon. That hour is now at hand. How many more times can the day of judgement be postponed? The answer no longer resides with the Nigerian political elite. It is now in the seething streets. As for Attahiru Jega, it is now most unlikely that he will finish his tenure without some tarnishing of reputation and besmirching of hard earned integrity. He will be in distinguished company. The Nigerian electoral throne is the graveyard of reputations. The stakes are so high, and when mud is thrown so hard some of it is bound to stick. A man of Jega's stoic and saturnine temperament would have been quietly affronted by the ferocity and velocity of the allegations hurled at him, particularly by wild old men who have no further reputation to protect. To be sure, there is a school of thought which holds that Jega's languid and lackadaisical hauteur is particularly ill-suited for a job which requires constant staginess and some showmanship. This is neither here nor there. There can be no doubt that in moments of grave crisis, Jega's unruffled selfassurance can be quite becalming for a nation constantly on edge.

But to appropriate Durkheim, whenever a sociological phenomenon is explained away by a psychological parameter, we can be sure that the explanation is false. The problem about our electoral system is not about the personality type of the chairman of the commission but of a background institutional crisis which will not ignore us however much we choose to ignore it. There is a touch of poetic irony to Jega's current difficulties which ought to teach our political elite some hard lessons about the dangers of political opportunism. It will be recalled that Jega himself had been part of the Uwais Panel on electoral reform. It was a public inquest into the worst electoral calamity visited on the country. One of the cardinal recommendations of that panel was that the presidency should be stripped of its power to nominate and appoint the chairman of the electoral commission. The responsibility should go to a Judicial Council. The recommendation had hardly been submitted when Jega was appointed the chairman of the commission and he gladly accepted. It was a strategic gambit on the part of the ruling class which immediately squashed and squelched any possibility of a comprehensive electoral reform. Jega did not deem it fit to explain why he took the job against the recommendation of his own committee. But there will always be a return of the repressed. It is this lingering institutional hiatus that has caught up with Jega with presidential interlopers swarming and calling for his head in very humiliating circumstances even as some of his shameless professional colleagues intrigue for the same thankless job.. We can continue to wait for Godot, but Godot will not come. This is why civilized societies give primacy to building strong and durable institutions rather than building the cult of strong, authoritarian personalities. The absence of the institutions we don't build will eventually destroy the egoistic personalities we build. The theatre of political absurdity is not a funny place at all. Unhappy is the nation without visionary institution builders.

Where are they now?

BI, dem transformer don kaput like dem trasformat ambassadors, as Okon once asked? Snooper is worried by the continuous absence on the internet version of this column of some of the cybercoolies who raised the tempo of fiery exchanges in the early days. They can be an absolute pain in the neck but as the Yoruba will say, bad boys have their own good day. Many of these roughed up Snooper before descending on each other in the combustion of meta-commentary. One of the boys went as far as Snooper's hometown trying to rake some muck about one's paternity until he was bitten by a man-eating crab which fastened on his wretched trousers. Another who went by the history-suffused name of Afonja never saw anything good in Snooper until somebody drew his attention to the perfidious pedigree of his patronymic and he promptly declaimed true ownership. Another metamorphosed from Tata to Iska Countryman and

then to something inelegantly unmentionable before folding up altogether. Snooper is worried that having joined Jonathan's transformation gravy train, some of these boys might have perished in intellectual battles with state adversaries, or they might have been slain in feckless offensives against the ferocious Boko Haram. Even more worrisome is the possibility that they fell to friendly fire from other Transformation Troops on mutiny due to lack of pay. Or may be they simply went AWOL after fierce intellectual bombardment which exposed the shallowness and the superficial canard of their posturing. Let them get in touch if they have survived the war they foolishly started. In any case, Snooper knows of someone in Ibadan running a charity organisation for political destitutes. It is located in Adeoyo in an old warehouse belonging to an ancient newspaper. Let them ask for Baba Agbadagbudu, a.k.a Asenibanidaro.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

NEWS

xxx was all HE Presidency anger last night as it digested the latest umbrage on President Goodluck Jonathan by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo had, at an interactive session with reporters in Abeokuta earlier in the day, accused the President of seeking reelection by hook and by crook. The seat of power did not take kindly to the allegation which it branded as odious, repugnant and self-serving. It said Obasanjo was motivated solely by self interest: that of heading an interim national government which it claimed the former President has been canvassing at home and abroad. The President's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said it was "most regrettable indeed that a man like Chief Obasanjo, who should know better, chooses to repeatedly, wantonly, and maliciously

Obasanjo's claim odious, repugnant, says Presidency •Ex-president wants to head Interim Government -Jonathan impugn the integrity of a sitting President of his country for the primary purpose of self-promotion." He accused Obasanjo of willfully closing his eyes to "the present administration's good works and intentions," and setting " his mind on regime change by fair or foul means." Otherwise, Abati argued, "it would be completely senseless, irrational and out of place for Chief Obasanjo, who still claims to belong to the same party as the President, to accuse President Jonathan of plotting to win the rescheduled presidential

elections by "hook or crook" and planning to plunge the nation into crisis if he loses the election. "For the record, President Jonathan has no such intention and will continue to give the greatest possible support to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant federal agencies to ensure that the rescheduled elections are successfully conducted. "Indeed, it is not President Jonathan who remains faithful to his oath of office who is trying to plunge Nigeria into crisis, but Chief

Obasanjo who is scheming to plunge the country into chaos in pursuit of a selfish and highly egocentric agenda. "Chief Obasanjo's plot with others within and outside the country to thwart the general elections and foist an unconstitutional Interim National Government, which he hopes to head on the nation is well known to us, but by the Grace of God Almighty, his odious plan to return to power through the back door will fail woefully. "We know very well that it is in pursuit of this nefarious plot that the former President continues to sow the seeds of

discord and crises in the polity by purporting to remain in the ruling party while openly consorting with the opposition, endorsing its candidates and predicting victory for opposition candidates in a manner most unbecoming of a supposed elder statesman. "Thankfully, the vast majority of Nigerians who are patriotic and rightthinking cannot be fooled by Chief Obasanjo's antics. "We urge them to be assured that President Jonathan's commitment to democracy in all its ramifications remains

Ekiti guber polls: How army probed whistle blower

Soldiers repel Boko Haram in Gombe •Jonathan asks US for troops to join in fight against terror sect

By Our Correspondent HE Nigerian Army actually set up a Board of Inquiry (BOI) to

investigate its officer, Captain Sagir Koli, who blew the whistle on the high wire rigging of the June 21,2014 Ekiti State governorship election by leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a serving general. Some of the politicians caught on tape by Koli saying they were doing the bidding of the Presidency have denied the allegation. The PDP candidate, Mr. Ayo Fayose was declared winner of the election. However, a fresh insight into the matter suggests that the Commander of the 32 Artillery Brigade, Akure, Brigadier General A. A. Momoh convened a Board of Inquiry (BOI) to investigate Captain Koli who had surreptitiously recorded speakers at the meeting. The BOI had six members and was headed by one Col. D. Akama, according to an update by the online publication, Sahara Reporters. The panel was empowered to "investigate the circumstance that led Capt. SI Koli (N/12074) to abscond from his place of duty on Aug 1, 2014 and still remain absent while deployed for security duty during the 2014 Osun State Gubernatorial Election; "determine why the officer absconded from duty; whether the officer was under pressure which led him to abscond; and ascertain whether the officer committed any offence that led to his absconding." It was also to verify the relationship of the officer with his colleagues before he absconded. Listed as witnesses against Koli were eight officers and "any other persons the panel deems necessary to invite." Koli is currently on the run. Following his disappearance, soldiers allegedly abducted Koli's 15 year old brother who was living with him in the barracks and subjected him to torture and starvation. He was chained to a bed at a military hospital as part of the effort to lure Koli out of hiding. •Koli reveals more in an interview on pages 36-37.

constant and that he will never be party to the use of any unlawful means to remain in office or gain political advantage over his opponents. "The President stands by his commitment, which he reaffirmed on national television last Wednesday that on his watch, all elections in Nigeria, will be free, fair and credible, and that all certified election results will be respected. "As President Jonathan has also assured the nation, the rescheduling of the general elections was in the best interest of the nation and was never driven by any ulterior motive on the part of government as Chief Obasanjo and others have alleged. "President Jonathan will continue to put his best efforts into giving Nigeria quality leadership and will not be distracted from his purpose by unwarranted and needless criticism by persons who ought to know better."

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation with agency report

OKO Haram got a fresh bashing yesterday in Gombe. An attempt by its fighters to invade the city was repelled by soldiers, with about 50 of the terrorists killed. Scores of others fled, many of them injured. The Boko Haram fighters left in a convoy of vehicles carrying dozens of corpses, according to residents. The aborted invasion came amidst call by President Goodluck Jonathan on the United States to assist Nigeria with troops to confront the terrorists. "Are they not fighting ISIS? Why can't they come to Nigeria?" Jonathan told the Wall Street Journal, referring to the Islamic State group. The air force joined in repelling the insurgents, with its combat aircraft pounding them out of positions. Military sources said in Abuja that the insurgents, who were in hundreds, came from the Yobe State axis to attack Gombe. Some other sources said they arrived by way of Kodon. Their primary targets included the Military Quarter Guard in the city. One account said they struck at about 6am. "The insurgents came in hundreds this morning (yesterday) to attack Gombe. Typical of them, they targeted military installations and they were repelled by troops both on ground and in the air," the source said. "The timely intervention of fighter jets and helicopters assisted in quelling the invasion because the air strikes forced the insurgents to run helter-skelter. "At least, 50 of the insurgents were killed although the military is conducting a mop operation." The source added: "Overwhelmed by the superior power of the military, the insurgents started fleeing. But troops pursued them." The terrorist came with hundreds of leaflets which they had intended to distribute to residents.

• : The former Governor of Anambra State and the Deputy Director General of the PDP National Campaign Council, Mr. Peter Obi (right) and the Minister of State for Finance, Amb Bashir Yuguda( left), during an interactive session with Nigerians living in Dubai yesterday

Soyinka says no to political violence

OBEL Laureate Wole Soyinka yesterday decried the spate of violence in the build up to the elections and urged caution by all sides. He particularly deplored the stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan's convoy in parts of the country, warning that should the situation persist and those charged with protecting the president "overreact and respond with bullets, no one should scream violation of their fundamental human rights." Stoning a president, he stressed, "is violation of his human rights and, in a time of national tension such as the present, extremely dangerous." He asked intending suicides to "find other and legitimate means of assuaging their frustrations. The same goes for every level of campaign convoy, visitation, or gathering - be they at governorship, local

•Warns against further attack on Jonathan's convoy •Calls for an end to military siege on opposition government, senatorial or whatever level." But he also told government to 'lift the siege' on the opposition in reference to the menace by armed soldiers, of "the residences of prominent political figures who happen to be in opposition to the government." Prof Soyinka reminded those inclined to cause violence of the presence of the likes of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2, Mr. Joseph Mbu, who recently boasted that the police would kill 20 to avenge the life of any policeman/woman lost during the coming elections. He said of Mbu: "A political jobber by instinct though a clamberer through the police profession, he has wasted no time instructing his men to return violence for

violence, fire for fire. He has been displaying his new attire and pips all over the place, demanding to be noticed - as if his facial snarl is not already plastered over the pages of media annals of police infamy, reminiscent of the good old days of one Inspector-General Adewusi, who would appear on television dripping with gascanisters and grenades, with a detachment of Kill-and-Go: "You see those men. They're not called Kill-andGo for nothing. They are trained to kill. They only hear the command 'Go', but never the order - Stop. "It is clear that AIG Mbu has emerged from the same mould. Is History about to repeat itself in microcosm? Adewusi was sacked by the Buhari coup and vanished from the police political rostrum. One thing about

coups however - the supporting cast of antidemocratic villainy always go scot-free. Remind me, oh historians - is my memory faulty, or was it not publicly announced that he was retired with his full entitlements? And a few days later that he had indeed collected all retirement emoluments at unprecedented speed. By contrast, his victims went on to spend years in prison." He added, "We preach non-violence, but preach this across the board. The electorate must refrain from violence, so must the state and its agencies. Electoral rights have to do with freedom to associate, freedom to express, and freedom to move. This it is that makes it morally wrong to stone a presidential convoy."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

NEWS

Row over moves to sell Delta State stake in Transcorp, Midwestern Oil • Stop transaction, says APC’s Emerhor • Govt: Nothing sinister about sale

•Some members of the All Progressives Congress(APC) youths during the March for Buhari road walk in Abuja… yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Jonathan may lose Bayelsa as PDP crisis deepens • Suspended chairman blames Dickson P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan risks losing his home state to the opposition in the forthcoming elections except the feud in Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is resolved, indications emerged yesterday. The crisis rocking the party assumed dangerous dimension at the weekend following suspension of the party chairman, Col. Sam Inokoba (retd), over allegations that he diverted N70million donated to the PDP by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke. But the chairman denied wrong doing in distributing the largesse. He rather blamed his travails on the second term ambition of Governor Seriake Dickson. Inokoba was said to have claimed that his refusal to sack some loyal members of the party as directed by the governor was responsible for his travails. He specifically claimed the governor ordered him to suspend party members accused of belonging to the camp of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. The deepening crisis in the party originated from the reported ambition of the First Lady to oust Dickson and replace him with her preferred choice. The First Lady was said to have hijacked the state chapter of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN)

From: Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

as a platform to carry out activities aimed at actualising her ambition. To fight back, the governor has been weeding off persons believed to be loyal to the First Lady in his cabinet. Though Jonathan had declared those against the governor his enemies, it was gathered that the inability of the president to call his wife to order had fuelled the party’s impasse. A source from the party said the president risks protest votes in the forthcoming elections unless he takes practical steps to end the imbroglio. The source, who spoke in confidence, said the supporters of Dickson were not happy with the excesses of Jonathan's wife and her plots against the governor. "We have never seen this kind of scenario before. The governor is working to give Mrs. Jonathan and her husband a second term while the First Lady is working to deny Dickson a second term or even sack him before the end of his tenure. "The governor is working to maintain peace in the state and to ensure that the President is not disgraced at home while Mrs. Jonathan is turning the entire state against the governor. There must be protest votes if these things

continue," he said. Also, Ijaw youths from the state argued that the suspension of the chairman was ill-timed and capable of affecting the chances of the President at the poll. The Youths, drawn from the eight local government areas in the state, said the allegations of financial impropriety against the chairman were diversionary. The youths under the aegis of Niger Delta United for Jonathan (NDUJ) said it was unfortunate that the president and Allison-Madueke were being dragged into the financial scandal. NDUJ, in a statement in Yenagoa signed by its Secretary, Azibaayam Iborisi, and Public Relations Officer, Ebimiewei Timi, insisted that the decision of the State Executive Committee (SEC) was questionable. The statement said: "It is particularly worrisome that those orchestrating the crisis behind the scene have decided to drag the good name of the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke, into the crisis of confidence between the state governor and the presidency. "Considering that the said rally was meant to galvanise the home base of President Goodluck Jonathan, the idea of igniting a controversy over

a donation less than a week after the rally is clearly a deliberate act of sabotage and a disservice to the people of the state. "It is, however, instructive that while those claiming to have suspended the chairman are alleging sharp practices with the said donation, the embattled chairman claims his woes are as a result of his refusal to do Governor Seriake Dickson's bidding to suspend certain highly placed party men, perceived to be loyal to Mrs. Patience Jonathan from the PDP at the state level for alleged anti-party. "The question is why the hurry to suspend the chairman, knowing fully well that it is less than five weeks to the presidential election and the party needs to keep a united front, a call Mr. President himself made in his speech at the rally." The group added: "We are convinced that it is a deliberate ploy to drag innocent and respectable Bayelsans into the fray, considering that the many attempts at maligning the first Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has not yielded the desired results. "We therefore advise the Bayelsa PDP SEC members and their sponsor, Governor Seriake Dickson, to desist from further calling the innocent woman's name in his bid to bring on board a pliable man as party chairman and also tender a public apology to the Honourable Minister for their indiscretion."

Rescheduled elections will hold, IBB assures

ORMER Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, yesterday expressed optimism that the rescheduled general elections will take place despite doubts expressed by Nigerians. He also called for collective solution to the insurgency saying "it should not be seen as northeast problem but a problem of all Nigerians." IBB spoke to reporters at his Uphill residence in

From: Jide Orintunsin Minna

Minna after playing host to Arewa Citizen Action for Change (ACAC) - a non political organisation embarking on train- thetrainer programme on enhanced peaceful coexistence in the northern region. Asked whether he has doubt on the possibility of the elections still holding following the last -minute postponement by the Independent National

Electoral Commission (INEC), Babangida said: "I have every confidence that there will be election". IBB, who was reluctant to answer questions, was initially not forthcoming when asked if rescheduling of the election will not affect its outcome. He later simply said: "It will go on in a peaceful environment and it will have good outcome." On the insurgency challenge, he cautioned against reducing it to a north

east affair. According to him: "I think People should not see insurgency restricted to north east alone. It is the problem with the entire country; Nigeria is under insurgency not only north east. "Nigerians should see it from that perspective and they support the military to end the insurgency." The former military leader told his guests to help in educating people on collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

GROUP under the aegis of the Delta Coalition for Good Government (DCGG) has described the proposed sale of Delta State assets as well as divestment of key investments by the state government as "controversial and scandalous". In a statement by its chairman, Dr. Oritsejafor Omawumi, vice-chairman; Comrade Okonkwo Okonta, secretary; Chief Godwin Umukoro and Mr. Timi Brisbe, the group which fell short of accusing the Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, of criminal intent, said the planned sale of Delta State shares in Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited, Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited and investment in Guaranteed Consolidated Notes, was illmotivated and untimely. Coming 50 days to the general elections, the proposed sales, according to the group, amounts to mortgaging "the future of Deltans at the eleventh hour and insensitive to the aspirations and yearnings of Deltans for a better tomorrow." The group said it decided to blow the whistle on the deal in view of the desperation of the parties involved in the controversial sale of the state assets. While accusing the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Ken Okpara, of complicity in the matter, the group alleged that the former had in connivance with the governor, "hurriedly prepared a memo and approved between January 26th and 28th to sell off 100 per cent of Delta State investment in Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited for N2 billion without disclosure of how that N2billion was arrived at, the appropriateness of that price and the identity of the buyers." Besides, the group said, it was: "Most scandalous and alarming that government should sell shares belonging to Deltans for a price of N1.8billion yet there is no disclosure of the shares, their numbers and identity of the prospective buyers. "This is unacceptable to Deltans in general. We want EFCC to probe these deals." The group further accused the governor of breaching the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which states that there must be an open and transparent public hearing by key stakeholders and due approval by the Delta State House of Assembly before such critical assets are sold off. It called on the relevant anti-graft agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Interpol to investigate the alleged arbitrary sales of the assets. In a document titled: 'Proposed Sale of Delta State Government's Investment in Guaranteed Consolidated Notes, Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited, Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited' exclusively obtained by The Nation and addressed to the governor dated January 26th, 2015, Okpara justified the need for the divestments of the state

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

government's assets which was said to have been valued at over N7billion as a result of the oil price volatility and the credit crunch assailing the state government. In the memo Okpara impressed on the governor, the need to "realise part of her investments through the liquidation of the Guaranteed Consolidated Notes held by Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) and divestment of MOFI's holdings in two unquoted companies as follows: Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited (MOGCL)50% of Government holdings; Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited (TUPL) -100 % of Government holdings. "May I inform Your xxx Excellency that the Guaranteed Consolidated Notes which were purchased through our Investment Advisers (Messrs BGL Limited) in 2013 are valued at N1,811, 678, 696, 73. For Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited (MOFI), where the government owns 10 million shares, representing 20% of the company's share holdings, preliminary evaluation shows that the company's value is $218million. "The proposed sale of the five million shares, therefore, should yield a total of $21.8 million or approximately N3, 924, 000, 000.00 at an exchange rate of N180 to the dollar. "With respect to Transcorp Ughelli Power Limited, the sum of N1, 384, 425, 000.00 was invested in the company while preliminary evaluation puts the current value of the investment at not less than N2billion." Responding, the Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah, in a phone interview, said the sale of the assets was a non-issue. "They are trying to make it look like something sinister. Basically, Delta State government believes that the government has no business in business and that is why it has always given the needed support for the private sector to thrive," he said. Citing the case of the shares of Midwestern Oil, he said: "The government bought those shares at a time it had excess money. The idea is to buy when it is low and sell when you can get the highest dividend in return. "As you know, the price of oil has gone downhill, so selling those shares now is just timely. So those are the reasons why I think the state Exco took the decision to divest those shares," Ogeah stressed. However, the APC governorship candidate in Delta State, Olorogun O'tega Emerhor, in a chat with The Nation described the development as unfortunate. Sale of government assets, he said: "Should always follow due process that affords transparency and accountability. "For a government that has less than four months to go, my take would be for such sales to be put on hold to let the incoming government review the necessity and propriety of such action."

xxxx

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APC candidate raises alarm over attacks in Ondo From Damisi Ojo, Akure

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Ondo South district, Morayo Lebi, at the weekend raised alarm over alleged attacks on members of his party in Irele local government area by hoodlums suspected to be loyalists of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He described the attacks as unfortunate and barbaric, calling on security operatives to look into the matter swiftly and bring the perpetrators to book. The politician alleged that a notable PDP candidate in the area personally supervised the destruction of billboards, posters and vandalisation of several buildings belonging to the APC supporters in the local Government. Lebi said, "the incidents happened because the PDP became jittery following the well attended APC rally that was held last weekend in OdeIrele. The massive crowd at the rally threatened them and they became worried. We condemn in totality the unprovoked and coordinated attacks on our party members by PDP thugs.” When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer in Irele Local Government, Mr Agboola Adeniyi, said he had been briefed from the State Police Command on the incident. He, however, said they were still investigating the cause of the incident,warning politicians and their supporters in the area to be law abiding.

Endorsements: cleric warns church leaders From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

NEWS

HEAD of next month general elections, the Vicar of Chapel of the Annunciation, Archbishop Vining College of Theology, Akure, Ondo State, Venerable Ayodeji Fagbemi, has cautioned church leaders against endorsing candidates of political parties. Rather, he charged them to be sincere and show maximum commitment in meeting the spiritual needs of their congregation. The revered cleric also advised that Christians should not see politics as a dirty game?. He urged Christians who are in politics to see themselves as agents of change who should remove the dirt from the politics. According to him, "politics is not a dirty game and Christians have roles to play in politics. If you call it dirty game, it is because we allowed dirty people to be there to administer those of us who are suppose to be decent and clean. Right from the time of the bible, people of God have always been involved in politics. Therefore, Christians are encouraged to go into politics but they should be there as light in the midst of darkness,". Fagbemi said the postponement of the earlier scheduled February polls to March and April was a sign that the security operatives have not done enough work to prepare the country for the general elections. The Vicar assured that the church would continue to pray for peace to reign in the country.

Polls: Politicians celebrate Buhari/Osinbajo at Valentine T

O mark this year's Saint Valentine's day, present and former elected public officials, as well as candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, yesterday, celebrated the candidatures of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osibajo as presidential and vice presidential flagbearers of the party in the rescheduled March general elections. The event tagged "FeBuhari at Valentine and always" witnessed a public discourse on the state of the nation, a press conference and the cutting of a Valentine cake dedi-

By Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor

cated to the victory of the Buhari/Osibajo ticket at the presidential election slated for March 28, 2015. Participants used the occasion to condemn what they described as the unwarranted postponement of the elections and warned against further shifting of the election dates. Politicians and other guests present urged Nigerians to vote for change during the election. In his welcome address, the convener of the programme, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, chairman of the Lagos state House of Assembly

Committee on Judiciary and Public Petitions,urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure a free and fair election that will reflect the sovereign will of the people. "Though as a people, our psychic is harassed by the postponed elections, yet our love for the man we are anxiously waiting to vote for as the president of Nigeria remains intact as we remain undaunted. For these reasons, we have decided to commemorate today as a special day to publicly demonstrate our love for a man of high integrity and rare passion: General

Muhammad Buhari. Today we shall publicly pronounce him as our Val and celebrate Buhari as a man that deserve our love and vote, today we resolve to give practical meaning to the slogan: FeBUHARI," he said. Other dignitaries at the event held at Agunbiade's costituency office in Ikorodu, included Princess Adenrele Adeniran Ogunsanya, former Secretary to the State Government, Senator Bareehu Ashafa, Barrister Jimi Benson, APC House of Representatives candidate, Executive Secretaries of Local Council Development Authorities, amongst others.

Poll shift in order, says Oyo PDP chieftian From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

CHIEFTAIN of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Alhaji Adebisi Olopoenia, has described the postponement of the general election in the country by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as a welcome development. According to the politician, it is important for Nigerians to come to terms with the fact that without security, there cannot be credible election. Olopoenia who spoke in Ibadan on Saturday, said elections will become inconclusive and controversial if there is no peace and tranquility before, during and after voting. He also agreed with the postponement on the basis that if it had held, voters in some states would not have been able to exercise their civic right. “Prof Jega should be commended rather than condemned for taking that bold step. If people in 14 local governments out of 774 cannot cast their votes, then we have faulted the electoral law and the constitution of the country," he said. He called on the commission to ensure that identified lapses were addressed before the new dates, urging security operatives to swing into action and curb insurgency in the northern states.

Ilesa residents lament activities of party thugs •Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (middle); his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello (right) and the Special Assistant on Youth and Student Affairs, Mr. Akeem Animashaun (left) during a breakfast meeting with Student leaders from the South-West at the Lagos House, Marina… yesterday

HE Oyo State Government has announced plans to immortalise the late Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abudul-Azeez Arisekola Alao, by naming the newlyrehabilitated TollgateChallenge Expressway after him. Governor Abiola Ajimobi disclosed this at the Basorun, Ibadan residence of the deceased business mogul during a civic reception marking his 70th post-humous

Oyo to immortalise Arisekola From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

birthday. Ajimobi further disclosed that the state government, in collaboration with Arisekola Foundation, would sponsor unspecified number of muslim faithful on Lesser Hajj otherwise known as Umrah. Apart from this, Ajimobi said some other projects would be named after

Aare Arisekola Alao in due course. The Ajimobi remarked that Alhaji Arisekola-Alao was a special breed who, throughout his life, used his God-given endowments to impact positively on the society, adding that it will take another 50 years to find another Aare Arisekola in this part of the world. Earlier in a special sermon at the ceremony, an Islamic

cleric, Shikh Suleiman Onikijipa, acknowledged the virtues of late Alhaji ArisekolaAlao whom he described as a good example of a godly person who not only used his wealth in the service of mankind, but also left behind a household comprising well-trained children with the fear of Allah. Dignitaries from the cross section of the society across the country graced the occasion.

I'm committed to workers' prosperity - Ambode

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in Lagos state, Mr. Aknwunmi Ambode, has stated that he is totally committed to the prosperity of all workers in Lagos. He said this while speaking at an interactive session with members of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and civil societies. "The primary responsibility of any government is the welfare of its people. The workers in this state make up over 60% of the people. One thing I assure you all is this, I am one of you and I remain committed to the prosperity of every worker in Lagos', Ambode said. The event was organised with the sole aim of getting every Lagos worker well-posted with the specific plans of the APC governorship candidate for the workforce in the next four years. Ambode presented himself to the comrades as a candidate who suffi-

ciently understands the workings of government, stating his readiness to employ that experience for the good of the state. The interactive session kicked off with questions basically centred on worker-welfare, even as they expressed other concerns regarding pensioners' dues, taxing, job security, unemployment, the fear of job losses and the likelihood of unfavourable privatisation of some government parastatals. In his response, Ambode restated that the aim of his government is to use a "combination of his experience and commitment to people-oriented leadership" to achieve further excellence in the state, thus, assuring that all the concerns raised were resolvable. "When I say I am committed to your welfare, I mean your prosperity, I mean your comfort, I mean fruitful negotiations, I mean better communication between the government and you the workforce,

and I mean the prompt payment of your dues, workers and pensioners alike. I am one of you, and I know you are the ones who truly toil for the prosperity of our state, you deserve a rightful dose of such prosperity", he said. Ambode added, "We will prioritise human capital development, such that the level of productivity within our labour force will rise considerably". The APC governorship candidate allayed fears of highhandedness, stiff financial policies and high taxes, that was raised by a section of the audience. "It is on record that I was the only Accountant-General who made tax refunds to the people after investigations provide they were overcharged. So, I promise ease, integrity and uniformity in the collection and appropriation of taxes. This project before us is about people-oriented service and leadership; I will not increase

south west

taxes, that I assure you". The state NLC Chairman, Comrade Idowu Adelakun, had earlier lauded Ambode's antecedence and humility, stating that "this will be the first time a gubernatorial candidate will honour our invitation. Thank you Sir and I assure that we are with you in this quest for continuity and progress". Ambode was at the labour chat together with his running mate, Dr. Oluranti Adebule. The labour and civil society groups represented at the event include Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Nigerian Union of Journalists, Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwives, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (SSANU), the Comrades Society Music, the Green White Green group, among others.

EMBERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ijesa-South Fed Constituency South Federal Constituency have called on the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and the National Director of the Department of State Security to rescue them from political thugs allegedly hired by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The residents said they were being incessantly attacked by the PDP hoodlums who used the residence of the Osun East senatorial candidate of the party, Mr Francis Fadahunsi, as abode and torture centre. Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Osogbo, Acting Chairman of APC Campaign Committee in the federal constituency, Mr Idowu Korede, stated that about seven members of the party have sustained grievous injuries from PDP attacks. Among the seven victims, according to Korede, is Honourable Folarin Fafowora, a member representing Ilesa West State Constituency, who was violently attacked on January 30, 2015 at Isokun roundabout, Ilesa. According to Korede, the PDP thugs abduct loyalists of the APC in the federal constituency and take them to Fadahunsi's house in Ilase, Obokun Local Government of the state, where they unleash terror on them before handing them over to the police. Meanwhile, the acting secretary of the PDP in the area, Bola Ajao, in a swift reaction, said his party is not responsible for the attacks. He advised the police to investigate all allegations levelled against the PDP and its senatorial candidate.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

•Armoured tank with soldiers •Babangida

Polls: Military in the spotlight

•Badeh

Recently, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, postponed the general elections to March 28 and April 11, citing unfavourable security reports and the military’s decision not to be involved in the exercise following a six weeks onslaught it plans to carry out against Boko Haram. In this report, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, Sunday Oguntola, Edozie Udeze and Duku Joel in Damaturu, Yobe State, report on the role of the military in Nigerian elections •Dasuki

INCE Saturday, February 7, 2015 when the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, suddenly postponed this year’s general elections, citing unavailability of the military to provide security, Nigerians have expressed divergent opinions on the veracity of the excuse and the role assigned to the military in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. Since 1999 election, which was supervised by the out-going military regime, the presence of the military during Nigerian elections has not abated. But it became a major issue of debate after the June 21 and August 9, 2014 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states respectively. During those elections, heavy military presence was criticized by many, especially All Progressives Congress (APC), which lost the Ekiti governorship seat but retained Osun. Since then, there has been sustained quest to reduce military presence and use during elections. Even INEC, has at some occasions openly supported the move to reduce the powers given to the military in Nigerian elections. For example, at a one-day public hearing on a bill to amend the Electoral Act 2010, organised by the Jerry Manwe –led House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Jega, threw the commission’s

weight behind an amendment to the relevant sessions of the Electoral Act 2010 as proposed by the House of Representatives, seeking to limit the participation of the military in future elections in the country. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, who also attended the public hearing, said the bill was to ensure a level playing ground for all participants in future elections in the country. It would be recalled that the National Assembly had, in its proposed amendment, sought the insertion of a new paragraph (b) in the Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act to limit the roles of the military to “securing the distribution and delivery of electoral materials”. Supporting the proposed insertion of the new paragraph and other proposed amendments, INEC boss, Jega, said giving the commission the statutory power to manage security forces during elections would help to sanitise the nation’s electoral processes. As he puts it, “On the insertion of a new section 29 (1) (b) to empower INEC to control security agencies at election time, there are a few countries that are doing this because they feel it is good practice. “In fact, in some of the countries the management of the security forces in the period of the election is given to the electoral man-

agement body. “We did not recommend this because people are already accusing us of taking too much power. But if other stakeholders agree with this recommendation, it would help sanitise the electoral process.” Since the recent postponement of this year’s elections, the debate has gone beyond the extent of power the military wield during Nigerian elections to the seeming dependence of the military in the entire exercise. While critics have alleged use of armed soldiers to manipulate electoral processes to the advantage of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defenders of use of the military said Nigeria’s peculiar nature demand use of the military to ensure violence free elections. The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) is one of the groups that backs deployment of soldiers for elections in the country saying, from past experiences, it is clear that politicians take elections as an act of war. Chairman of TMG, Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, said the soldiers’ deployment was not new and that the success recorded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ekiti last year may not have been possible if they were not on ground to ensure security. He added, “In the US and other places, elections might not result

to insecurity, but in Nigeria elections has become war, even the campaigns look warlike,” Zikirullahi stressed. Also, Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, believes it is in the interest of the country for soldiers to be deployed for election duties because, according to him, the decision of the federal government to deploy soldiers in Ekiti State during the last governorship election was responsible for huge turnout of voters during the election. The minister said the federal government should ignore any protest against deployment of soldiers to ensure peace during elections. “Contrary to claims by the opposition, the decision of the government to deploy soldiers ensured a huge turnout of voters in Ekiti election because people were assured of their safety. The soldiers did not interfere with the election process in any way,” he said. Also a political analyst and senior lecturer, Department of Local Government Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Francis Fagbohun, said it was good that deployment of soldiers ensured that the election was peaceful, but noted that militarisation of election was not good for democracy. He said, “No right-thinking person, who loves democracy, would want an election marred by the activities of thugs. The truth we have to accept is that the presence

•Jega

of security forces would actually curb potential malpractices and violence by would-be thugs during elections. But it’s also true that when you overdo it, it has another implication for the election. For instance, the sight of mobile policemen or soldiers alone infuses fear in the hearts of the ordinary Nigerians. When you now pump them (security agents) in a civil society in their numbers, it’s another thing entirely. “If they want to guard against malpractices, they don’t need the number of soldiers that were deployed in Ekiti. My friends in Ekiti said they had to pack some of their belongings and flee to Akure with their families for the weekend when some leading members of the APC were being picked up. I’m not saying that is an excuse for the failure of a particular party. Whatever the motive, what happened in Ekiti was militarisation of election and it is not good for our democracy.” Fagbohun added that he would have preferred a situation where the soldiers only cordoned off the roads and stayed on standby in case thugs showed up to disrupt the election. But former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), said the military have no business in supervising

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•Continued from page 9 elections, stressing that policing of election processes should be left to the police. He made the declaration after the federal government announced plans to deploy soldiers for this year’s elections. The retired army general said with a well trained and well-equipped police force, elections could be held in the country without any rancour. “I don’t believe that the military should supervise elections because I don’t believe it should participate. A peep into the Nigeria Police Force, which is the closest to the people, is capable of doing so if the government is able to train them. They will be able to handle any situation”. The former military leader added: “I was already an officer in the Nigerian Army in the 60s and there were no military presence (during elections) in those days except the Nigeria Police and I think it is high time we restored the past glory of the force. But I think it is again, what the developing countries face.” Babangida argued that the military could only be used in electoral processes in circumstances where they would give logistical support, citing the case of Niger Delta, which has a difficult terrain. “You can ask those people (military) operating the boats to use their boats in ferrying ballot boxes to such places that cannot be easily accessed through the road and that is perfectly okay. But pertinently, I don’t believe the military guys should be seen on the streets,” Babangida stated. Reacting also, Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who had earlier decried the mass deployment of security personnel for the Ekiti governorship election on 21 June, 2014, said it was illegal for President Goodluck Jonathan to deploy the armed forces to maintain law and order during elections. According to Falana, sections 215 and 217 of the constitution clearly outline when the President could deploy armed forces and such duties, when it border on internal security, are limited to the suppression of insurrection, including insurgency and aiding the police to restore order when it has broken down. Falana also said that rather than use soldiers during elections, the police should be properly equipped to perform the duty of ensuring internal security while the armed forces are restricted to the defence of the nation’s territorial integrity. He said under the current constitutional arrangement, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces lacked the power to involve soldiers in maintaining law and order during elections. “Even in the Northeast region, a state of emergency had to be declared by the President to justify the deployment of members of the armed forces as part of the extraordinary measures he was required to take to restore law and order pursuant to section 305 of the Constitution. “Even then, the President had to seek and obtain the approval of the National Assembly for the said deployment for a specific period of time,” Falana concluded. As a result of the disagreement among various stakeholders over the use of armed military men during elections, even before INEC released the timetable for the 2015 general elections, informed observers expressed misgivings over the possibility or otherwise of holding elections in the three troubled north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe due to the escalating security situation in the states. Though the initial concern of INEC was restricted to the three states, only few, if any, imagined that the security situation in these three states would lead to postponement of all the national elections. This explains suspicion currently expressed by critics that other reasons, not yet disclosed, may have been responsible for the postponement. To support this view, critics have raised many questions. One of such questions is how and why two elections were held in Yobe state in 2013 and 2014 when the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents were still very high in the state? They also wonder why other countries of the world with similar security challenges, including those currently prosecuting full scale civil wars, have conducted elections. It would be recalled that on Saturday, December 28, 2013, the Yobe State Independ-

Role of military in Nigerian elections ent Electoral Commission (YSIEC) successfully conducted the local government elections in the state without any serious hitch. The success of that election made politicians and commentators to criticize an earlier claim by Prof. Jega that elections cannot be held in any of those three states. Also, when INEC began preparations for this year’s elections last year, with some pessimists expressing fears that elections may not be held in the troubled North-East states, the success of that local government election in Yobe became a reference point, as political leaders and other politicians strongly argued that the electoral body cannot disenfranchise eligible voters of the region over excuse of insecurity. Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media, Abdullahi Bego, Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam had then expressed disappointment with INEC over its pessimistic positions. Bego in a statement had said: “His Excellency, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, has received with so much incredulity and consternation information about statements credited to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, that INEC might not conduct election in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states because of the emergency rule currently in force in these states. Borne apparently of a pessimistic view of the situation in the three states, the INEC Chairman’s position is mind-boggling in several respects.” He stated further: “First, the State of Emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States, renewed for additional six months last November, is due to expire in April, 2014. By INEC’s own estimation, the 2015 general elections will hold in January-February 2015. That’s at least eight months after the current state of emergency would have lapsed. Is the INEC National Chairman therefore predicting that the emergency situation will extend indefinitely? “Second, the federal government has told Nigerians that the Emergency Rule was extended by six months to enable security agents on the ground finish the work of routing out Boko Haram insurgents.

With a lot of caveats about the efficacy of the extension, the Yobe State Government had called for massive deployment of advanced military and communications hardware to ensure the total and irreversible defeat of criminals and insurgents within the Emergency Rule time-frame. Are they thinking now that two months into the extension, the entire effort will not be a success? Significantly, we are concerned about how widely held this pessimistic view is at the federal level. “Third, does the INEC Chairman not think that criminals and insurgents, who are bent on disrupting life as we know it, would entertain a feeling of triumphalism for all the despicable and barbarous acts they have been committing against innocent people and the Nigerian nation? “While the answers to these posers are obvious, the Yobe State Government believes strongly that there is no reason not to conduct election in the state or in Adamawa and Borno states. “The Yobe State Government also believes that there is no reason why Boko Haram terrorists would not be routed, their activities stopped and peace and stability restored within the remaining months of the current Emergency Rule.” In the same statement, he said: “Professor Jega has also spoken about the local government election due to take place in Yobe on December 28th 2013; with the news media quoting him as ‘insisting’ that the election should not go ahead. For the avoidance of doubt, the Yobe Local Government Election will go ahead as scheduled. The people at the grassroots level have yearned for this for long and the state government is determined to give the people the opportunity to exercise their right to vote and to elect their leaders.” He added that: “The State Independent Electoral Commission has made and completed all the necessary arrangements for the election. With the support of the people and the help of the Almighty God, the election will be a success. “Finally, the Yobe State Government is of the opinion that given the necessary federal support, logistics and equipment capa-

ble of making our armed forces more stealth, agile and lethal in their capacity to fight the insurgency, the Boko Haram problem can and should be fully addressed within the remaining months of the current Emergency Rule. The Yobe State Government therefore joins its partners in Borno and Adamawa states to take the strongest possible exception to the statements credited to the INEC Chairman and to ask INEC to prepare fully for elections in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states along with the rest of the country come January-February 2015.” As noted earlier, that election was successfully held notwithstanding the fear of insecurity INEC and Jega then argued would mar it. Also on May 31, 2014, INEC conducted a bye election into the State Assembly Constituency of Nangare and the election was adjudged as one of the best by both local and national observers. Prof Jega himself boasted over the success of the election. Since the same state of insecurity in the North-East zone is the cause of the current six weeks’ postponement, Nigerians, afraid of a possible constitutional crisis in the case of another postponement, are calling on INEC and the federal government to reduce its dependence and use of the military in elections, pointing out that it is both the police and civil defence that should traditionally preside over the security of elections and not the military. It is argued that if properly trained and equipped, the police, civil defense corps and other security agencies like the Department of State Security Service (DSS) have what it takes to take care of security during Nigerian elections. For example, between 1999 and today, according to Police sources, the Police strength has grown from 112,000 to 450,000 men. Also, according to the spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel Okeh, the Civil Defence Corps has about 45,000 regular staff strength and about 160,000 volunteers, across the country. When you add the security service men, many wonder why the country must have to deploy her military men also before conducting elections. But the debate is ongoing and until it is resolved, ominous refrain will continue to punctuate the country’s political rhythm.

‘I conducted Yobe LG elections in sp In this exclusive interview with the Chairman of Yobe State Independent Electoral Commission (YSIEC), Engr. Mohammed Jauro Abdu, the YSIEC boss explained to Duku Joel in Damaturu how he was able to surmount the challenges and went ahead to conduct the local government elections

ONSIDERING that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has recently shifted a national election because of the current security situation in the North-East zone of the country, may you explain how you managed to conduct the recent elections you conducted in Yobe State despite the same security concerns in the state? As you are aware, the name is called the State Independent Electoral Commission; to be fair to the state, the commission does everything as the name implies independently. Since we have been conducting elections, we never had a situation where somebody will call and say we are not ready for the election. We sit down and plan and determine when our elections will take place after having series of meetings with the stakeholders, including the security agencies. The last election we held was really hectic but we took the bull by the horn as it was the time for us to have an election as the constitution stipulates. As for the issue of Jega, I don’t know how independent he is. If the name of the commission stands, I cannot see why Jega should postpone an election because of the NorthEast, which comprises of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa. These are only three states out of the 36 states of the federation. Besides, I don’t see how Boko Haram would be everywhere when the election is taking place. So, the real reason for the postponement of the election is best known to him and the people behind it.

•Abdu Can you give us a more detailed account of the Yobe Local Government Election so that Jega and the service chiefs will learn from your experience? It is ridiculous for the service chiefs to

come out and say they cannot defend the people during election. Like I said earlier, Boko Haram cannot be everywhere during election. It is not possible for Boko Haram to be at all the polling units in the country or in the North-East so as to warrant postponement of a national election. We have hundreds of thousands of polling units in the country and Boko Haram cannot be everywhere in these places. I was expecting the service chiefs to say that we could have an election and exclude the volatile places and after a week or two, deploy security and resources to the troubled states. I think that could have been a fair deal instead of scuttling the whole national election. As far as I am concerned, something went wrong somewhere. In the case of the Yobe local government election, I was able to conduct it in spite of the insurgency. Even though I had some problems with few security agents, I told them, look, I am not going to go back. If you look at how much money we expended; these are tax payers’ money and we are supposed to account of such monies. There is no way I will come out and tell the general public that the election is postponed until further notice. I can’t do that. I didn’t do it and I will not do it. We went ahead and the election took place. There

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

T is on record that even as wars, violence and insurgencies ravage some countries of the world, like Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, their leaders still deemed it fit to organise national elections. The idea is to show the world that even if some parts of the countries are engulfed in crises, it will not, in any way hinder or discourage the people from exercising their fundamental responsibility of electing leaders who will continue to chart a new way for the society. Even as the wars go on and a greater proportion of the populations are affected, the leaders ensure that governance and the welfare of the people remain top priorities. SYRIA Since 2011, a civil war characterized along ethnic and religious lines, has been ongoing in Syria. Nonetheless, President Bashar al-Assad last year insisted that there should be an election in the war-torn country. This presidential election was held on June 3, 2014. Indeed, it was the first multicandidates election in decades since the ruling Ba’ath Party came to power through a coup d’état. Attempts by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, to carpet the elections were rebuffed by Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader. He was able to provide security even as the country recorded the largest refugee situation in the world. What the government and other appropriate agencies did was to provide adhoc venues for these refugees to vote wherever they were domiciled. The National Electoral Commission of Syria directed that their embassies all over the world should encourage their refugees to vote anywhere they were found. This happened a day before the voting took place in Syria. Even though some boycotted and voting did not take place in large areas held by the rebels and the Kurdish militia groups, the election went on nonetheless. On Election Day proper, there were numerous cases of suicide bombing resulting in over 50 deaths, but the people wanted the country to move forward. To date, the war has claimed over 150,000 lives. In fact, 7million out of 23 million population have been displaced, with about 2.5million as refugees in different foreign lands. Notably, this was the first election that truly challenged the incumbent based solely on the new constitution after the 2012 Syrian referendum. In the end, the turnout was 73.42 percent, including those in both government

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Elections in other troubled lands

•Poroshenko

and rebel held strongholds and territories. The success of the Syrian elections shocked some world leaders who had thought the country’s turmoil would have been a hindrance against its progress. IRAQ The most instructive of these scenarios is that of Iraq. With the death of Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown in 2003, the interim government set up by the UN has been saddled with the onerous task of ensuring a steady and progressive society. Up to date and in spite of the series of crises, internecine wars and suicide bombings in most parts of the country, seven national and local elections have been conducted so far. On January 30, 2005, the interim government held its first election to begin the process of writing a new constitution. This election was even declared the first free and fair elections both by local and international observers. It was noted to have a fair representation of all the groups in the Iraqi State and even when some insurgent groups complained about the flaws in the election, the UN adviser to Iraq’s Electoral Commission, Craiq Jennes, said the complaints were unfounded, baseless and of no effect. Over all, there were over 7,000 candidates who contested in the elections for only 275 seats. In December of 2005, a parliamentary election was also held as a sequel to the success of the earlier one. In January 2010, Iraq again had another parliamentary election even as serious ethnic cleansing was going on in the militia held territories.

in spite of insurgency’ was no gunshot from anywhere not to talk of any shouting from any angle. We recall that the PDP in the state also raised concerns over the elections and did not participate in them The PDP then were not even stakeholders in the Yobe elections. They refused to join the election. When you are not part of something, you don’t have any cause for alarm. It is when you join that you become a stakeholder and play an important role but you refuse to join and you claimed that election should not hold. I sat down with all political parties and took a decision and we agreed that we will hold an election this day and we had it. If PDP is not ready to conduct an election, that is entirely their own business. Between the PVC distribution and security, which point do you think is stronger for the election to be postponed? There is no strong point for Jega to take that decision. All over the world, if you have a population of 200m people, do you expect everybody to cast his votes? Again, are the 200 million people all eligible voters? The answer is no! In the case of Nigeria, Jega says we have about 75 million people that registered. Out of those 75 million people, some are even double registration and others have died. So, a situation where you have 35 to 40 million people who have collected their PVCs will be fantastic. In 2011, Jonathan won the election with around 22 million votes. Where are the rest of the millions? Buhari had about 11million votes or so. All in all, we had less than 40 million people that cast their votes in the last election. In any given situation where you have 40 to 45 million and somebody wins with 18 or 19 million and the rest of the votes go to other political parties that is fair to me. You don’t have to have the 75 million that is claimed by

INEC to win an election. But Jega, it seems is under pressure I will maintain my stand and go ahead with the election or else resign my appointment. But as far as he is concerned, to resign his appointment is not going to help the situation. We have to be fair to Jega no matter what offences he may have committed. Somebody is saying he will not defend the voters. I went through that kind of threat when I was told that I will be held responsible if anything happens to anybody in the state during the last election I conducted. I knew that but I maintained my ground. While I was receiving threats that elections shouldn’t hold, there was a political party that came and did a rally in the state and so I also went ahead to do my election and thank God it was successful. Initially, we postponed the elections because of logistics. My ballot papers were not ready but when they arrived, I went ahead with my elections despite the threats. Jega was strangled because he was afraid when the service chiefs and the National Security Adviser came out and said they cannot guarantee the lives of the people, so he felt the loss of lives may cause a problem for him perhaps. Are you optimistic about the new date? I will not answer that question directly because I am not the one conducting the election but I hope and only hope that the new date will be upheld. If I am the one conducting it, I will tell you it’s going to take place. If it will not take place then I will vacate the seat honorably and that will tell the whole world that Nigeria is not practicing democracy. Is that your advice to Jega? I will not advice Jega because he is a man of himself and he can decide for himself. He knows what is best for him.

• Karzai

Thereafter in 2013, provincial councils (local government) elections were successfully held amid deep sectarian crisis in the Sunis held-enclaves of the country. The overall turnout was 51% and unfortunately elections were never conducted in 12 out of the 18 provinces of the country where wars had raged on consistently. In short, four provinces were in the stronghold of the semi-autonomous region of the Kurdistan. Much later after tension had simmered down, elections were held there. But the most interesting thing was the special request by the two provinces of Anbar and Nineveh where elections were postponed but were held later. Here 100 percent of the staff involved in this exercise were Iraqis with about 187 international Journalists who were provided with maximum security by the authorities. To date, about 6.4million voters have been able to cast their votes and the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has continued to ensure that no vacuum is allowed to permeate in the system. Also in April 2014 another parliamentary election took place. It was when 328 members of the Council of Representatives elected both the Iraqi President and Prime Minster. While this exercise went on, a number of polling stations were burnt down by suicide bombers, leading to at least 27 deaths. Even some insurgent groups had threatened fire and brimstone in order to disrupt the elections but the leaders insisted that the election would go on. The Iraqi situation is the most remarkable because even without a central leading figure, they’ve been able to forge ahead with their numerous elections. The citizens themselves have been demanding for a people’s representative government to chart a new way for the society. AFGHANISTAN Since the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2002, there has never been peace in Afghanistan. However, this has not in any way stopped elections from holding as and when due. On 20th August 2009, a presidential election was held in which the incumbent president, Hamid Karzai, was declared the winner for another five years. The election was held amidst security threats and wars in different parts of the country. The climax came when the Taliban, who still holds some sensitive parts of the country, called for a boycott. In the end, elections were conducted in 34 provincial councils with series of violence and bombs exploding in many locations on the voting day. Even as this was the situation, the people rose enmasse to say yes to Karzai’s insistence that they must come out to cast their votes. In spite of the fact that Karzai’s position as the President was also threatened, he did not cancel or postpone the elections. He did not want the five years duration to elapse into a constitutional crisis. Prior to the elections, hundreds of polling stations were shut down, but this was not to deter the people. Even when the president was accused of trying to postpone the election to suit his whims and caprices, he quickly called on the Independent Electoral Committee of Afghanistan to put the machineries in place for the elections. When voting finally took place, with both international and local forces to keep peace and ward-off insurgents, 12, out of 34 of Afghans provinces remained classified high risks by the Ministry of Interior. This meant that not up to one-third of the country participated in the elections. In order to beef up security in troubled areas, a week to the election, the government hired and engaged about 10,000 tribesmen and local warriors to provide additional security for the voting in almost two-third of the Afghanistan’s prov-

• Al-Assad

inces. These tribesmen were paid on daily basis. They were able to secure 21 out of 34 provinces. In addition, the government halted all offences and other engagements by the military so as to provide adequate security to make for a successful election. There is no doubt that the will to move the nation ahead was paramount in the minds of the leaders. A day to the election, the insurgents attacked and threw rockets near the presidential palace in Kabul, the capital. Also a suicide bomber detonated a bomb on a NATO convoy killing nine people. All these were meant to derail voting, yet both the Electoral Committee, the citizens and the president, Karzai, stood their grounds. What the government did was to instruct the media to mellow down their reports on violence so as not to discourage the electorate. In its place, more security was provided in certain provinces which in effect, encouraged more voters to turn out. But in areas declared high security risks, armoured military tanks were used to distribute ballot boxes, thus creating more confidence in the polity. UKRAINE In Ukraine, parliamentary election was held on 2 September 2014, in spite of the ongoing wars in the 32 Donbass provinces. Earlier on, President Petro Poroshenko had decided that no amount of fears or intimidation, inspired by the insurgents, would stop him from conducting the election. And so, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine made maximum efforts for the voting to take place in 12 Rada constituencies and in the Crimea and Sevastopol where there is serious and persistent stand-off with the Russian government. There was however, no voting in Donestsk which up to date remains the main trouble spot of the crisis which has engulfed Ukraine in the past one year or so. Donestsk controls nine constituencies while Lubansk, another troubled area, harbours six constituencies. In all, 27 out of the 450 seats in the parliament are still vacant because election could not hold in those places. And to cap it all, 4.6million Ukrainians within the Crimea, Sevastopol, Donestsk and Lubansk were unable to vote. Yet, this did not nullify or confer illegitimacy on the results. LIBYA Since the demise of Col. Moumar Gaddafi of Libya, the country has been involved in series of wars. Yet on June 25, 2014, elections were held for the Council of Deputies as all the candidates ran on independent basis. The results were well-accepted by the people who indeed heaved a huge sigh of relief. In some places like Derna, where violence was intense, voting did not take place. In fact, as it were, some polling stations were burnt down few hours before voting. In places like Kufra and Serbha, just for security reasons, the Libyan High National Election Commission (HNEC) deliberately avoided voting in order to safeguard lives. But even then, on the day of election, there were several attacks geared towards the disruption of the exercise. Part of the plan was the bomb blasts by insurgents who planned to stop voting in most parts of Benghazi, the largest commercial city in the country. Cases of serious attacks happened, yet the election was held. Although, the results were later annulled due to an earlier court case, the Council of Deputies still holds sway in Libya today. As at now, there are plans to hold a referendum in March 2015 to usher in a presidential election before the year runs out. In the meantime, the Council of Deputies has been recognised as the legitimate government of Libya by the international community backed by the United Nations and others.

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NEWS REVIEW

Odimegwu: Buhari is best for the job EzeFestusOdimegwu,formerchairmanoftheNigeriaPopulationCommission (NPC)andanallyofPresidentGoodluckJonathan,endorsesGenMuhammadu Buhari, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

HE topic of this intervention recommended itself as it is very evident that Nigerians want change. It is also very clear to the discerning that majority will vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to save Nigeria from bad leadership and an under-performing administration. The contrived postponement of the election also attests to this. And the international community supports this. This is good for our democracy in many ways and good for Nigerians. President Goodluck Jonathan is therefore better advised to conduct a free and fair election. Any other planned election manipulation projects should be shelved, as the dark forces lurking even within the administration can hijack and truncate the nascent democracy and tip the current groundswell in the country into avoidable crisis. The inclination, alluded to in some quarters, to take the country down, than lose honourably, is not necessary. And any rigging that denies Nigerians their need for change, will have the same effect. The only sensible option is to allow the will of the people to prevail; support free and fair elections without further manipulations and let every vote count. The second introductory issue worth raising in this intervention is the erroneous assumption that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable even when all evidence show that Nigeria is never united. Has never had unity. How can one sustain what does not exist? A lot of people make a lot of noise about unity even while doing things that keep the country severely divided. Unity can never be achieved by rhetorics, or as a wishful thinking or by force but can only be a reality if we all work on it, with our political actors leading by example. It can be an outcome and not a given as some uninformed delusionists assume, claim and posture with. My full name, for instance, is Eze‘kulie Festus Anthony Boniface Oha Odimegwu Okonkwo Nwa-Uboh Ikpendu Ndieze Umuozo Okanadiji UbiriElem…NnemiriukwuChukwuabiama. This bloodline extends almost 1000 years ago, into perpetuity. Within its Obidigboness, the central issue here is that Odimegwu, who was born in 1868 and died in 1969 at the ripe age of 101 years, was born a proud Igbo man and not a Nigerian, as Nigeria did not exist then. My Ancestors into perpetuity from Odimegwu were Igbos. Never Nigerians. Nigerians is what the British want us to be from 1914, a mere 100 years ago. I can be a Nigerian from proud Igbo extraction, but only under an agreed basis that is irreversibly committed to and maintained in reality. This Unity in Diversity with other nationalities is only possible under certain conditions. It is not as automatic or to be assumed as me being Igbo. And the basis of this, as enshrined in our Constitution, is that our Union must be built on Truth, Justice, Equity and Fairness to lead to unity, peace, and sustainable progress. This progress within Nigeria must be better than progress within the ethnic nationalities to make it attractive to all participating nations. It is only under such conditions precedent that it makes sense to become fully and happily a Nigerian. Otherwise it will be to your tents for every one irrespective of what anyone or any nationality thinks. And understanding this simple idea by all participating nationalities and persons, no matter who, is essential for progress. The third introductory issue, another fallacy and delusion, shared by most of the predatory ruling cabals in Nigeria, is the wrong notion that they understand Nigerians as gullible and naive people who can always be divided along ethnic and religious lines and therefore incapable of rising up in revolt over predatory leaders. The insult of postponing the elections, with belief of no consequences, is the most recent example. The examples of impunity and massive looting of public treasury, without fear of consequences, is also ongoing. The emerging conspiracy to scuttle the election altogether is another: one reads of coups, interim governments, at least six weeks open ended postponement, and from the same characters of the June 12 annulment, the same dynamics

•Jonathan

•Buhari

•Odimegwu that led to the death of MKO Abiola and even Sani Abacha, the possibilities of an unsigned press release that annulled June 12 etc. The dark forces that have held Nigeria down over 100 years now are rearing their ugly heads again, double-speaking, contriving, unable to give clear answers to simple direct questions and all for personal and self-serving reasons, for continued exploitation of Nigeria and Nigerians that are already laying prostrate. The Arab Spring examples recommend themselves for all. Muammar Ghadafi of Libya was extracted from a waste pipe. Mubarak of Egypt, the lost Pharaoh, was put in a cage in Egyptian courts. The wise can learn from examples like these. The corrupt leaders of Nigeria should let Nigerians be! And the Federal Government, as distinct from the ruling party, must take steps to secure the life of General Buhari as these intrigues thicken. Nothing should happen to him. He may not be a saint. Even the late Nelson Mandela rightly said he was not. No one is. But he now personifies the new hope for Nigeria. Nigerians need him. Nigerians need change. What happened to Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, MKO Abiola and even Sani Abacha must not happen to him. Nigeria may not survive if it does. And the Federal Government should keep on a straight and narrow path to avoid boxing itself into a corner that can be hijacked out of its control. Deductive reasoning and good sense of applied history recommend this caution, given in the overall interest of our country. With these introductory advise, let us put the challenges before President Buhari in historical context. The important question here is: what is the unedited story of Nigeria to date? In summary the narrative is as follows: History and papers in the colonial archives have it that, Britain colonised

Nigeria and ran it for their interest from 19th century to 1914 when they amalgamated the poor North with the rich South with an obnoxious concept of Northern husband and Southern wife of means in a new creation called Nigeria and held the colonised captives without their consultation or agreement. 1914 to 1960 represented 46 years of exploiting the amalgamated protectorates according to the wishes of the British Crown. And this, unfortunately, should be expected. On their exit at independence they found it wise to impose a fraudulent census data on Nigeria that enabled them to rig the elections and hand over power to the northern part of the union in preference to the troublesome (enlightened) southern part: in their continued self-interest. The first republic was soon showing signs of un-informed leadership, with no clear national vision for the young nation and it is not surprising that the centre could not hold sooner than later. The regions were antagonising themselves in absence of a capable and independent leader at the Federal Government level; the prime minister reporting to the Northern Premier as it were, violating basic principles of organisation. And entrenching the interest of the Caliphate against pursuing a national vision of greatness. Young crazy army officers struck in 1966 but killed political leaders of Northern origin more than from other regions but the coup was significantly quelled under an Igbo head of the army, who himself was also not particularly well educated. Northern officers labelled the coup an Igbo coup for convenience and butchered Igbos in their thousands including the Head of the army that had also become the Head of state for about six months. The savagery of this pogrom is not yet

matched, even in modern terrorist enclaves. In self defence and to avoid genocide against them, the Igbos retreated to Eastern Nigeria and hastily declared the Republic of Biafra, where all Igbos could have a safe haven: A Home land since Northerners do not want them in the North and the seat of Federal Government, now managed by also uneducated northern army officers, was in Lagos, western Nigeria. An accord was reached in Aburi between the antagonists, where the new nation of Biafra was led by its Oxford University trained Head of State with an upper-class mien and confidence that seem to have raised envy, hatred and the general Nigerian “let us deal with him” antagonism. On return, the Nigerian side was now educated by their supporters that what they agreed with the state of Biafra is not good for implementation as it will prevent continued exploitation of the rest of the country by the new northern overlords. Biafra stood on Aburi: Nigeria stood on keeping Nigeria one: two positions that can be resolved at the level of creative synthesis, but the young hot heads on both sides, driven by idealism from the Biafra side and by regional domination from the Northern side and an avoidable war was started, first as a police action and later a full scale war against the Eastern part, now called Biafra and the rest of Nigeria. The North procured Western support by releasing their leader from prison and later procured Eastern minority support, to sabotage the Biafra position with all sorts of promises that included taking over the real estate assets of their fellow easterners, Biafrans, at the end of the war. Almost two million lives were lost on both sides, but more on Igbo side; including the use of hunger and starvation as instruments of war, even if against women and children! After the war, no victor and no vanquished was declared and reconciliation, rehabilitation, and restoration announced. All have been observed in breach, with all rich Igbos reduced to twenty pounds, as the Igbo political marginalisation also continues till today, to the detriment of Nigeria. The emerged, mostly Northern, army of occupation now operating as a full army of fortune, re-colonised Nigeria and established a corrupt political leadership class that rotates between the Northern military and civilian political wings. No thought was spared for Nigeria. The other Nigerians became onlookers as the Northern impunity held sway replacing one clueless government with another without even sharing with their collaborating western and conspiratorial eastern minority partners in the war against the Igbos, beyond the indigenisation timing and so called abandoned property execution. Then a prominent and loved cosmopolitan Yoruba won the presidency, beating the north to their own game of deception. The election was mindlessly and thoughtlessly annulled and the Yorubas cried foul. The caliphate North said they were born to rule. The Yorubas refused. Brutality was deployed against the Yorubas by the North. Another Yoruba, a former military Head of State, was jailed. The military maximum leader from the North was himself cornered by colleagues he sidelined, inside his military Presidential fortress, and offered an unholy apple. And MKO then had to be honoured with an executive supervised tea service to return to ground zero. Olusegun Obasanjo was preserved at this point as the North needed a trusted ally to calm things down before taking power over again, as their birth right. He was released from prison and taken to the presidency. The military continued in power by other means! The army of fortune that claimed to have fought to keep Nigeria one continued to exploit the country without let, united in sharing the oil money and the loot of war as they would have seen it. Learning nothing from recent happenings. But Obasanjo was not quite like The Obasanjo before prison experience; he became his own man and grew into power as in office: The north refused and invented sharia to destabilise him. But he is a General and also experienced and well known internationally, having being a military Head of state that handed

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Ropo Sekoni

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Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

Six weeks

Whatever happens, our eyes should be on May 29

AKE no mistake about it; strange things, some perhaps stranger than fiction, would be happening in the country in the next six weeks. Ordinarily, there is nothing unusual in an electoral body postponing elections, at least in our kind of environment; so, there should not have been any issue in the announcement on February 7 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it had postponed the general elections initially billed for February 14 and 28. But it became an issue when the postponement was not directly from INEC that is statutorily charged with the conduct of elections in the country, but was engineered outside of it in a blackmail that was far from subtle. The debate over what is the actual cause of the postponement is not likely to abate anytime soon, even though it is absolutely unnecessary. On the part of the electoral commission, it had only succeeded in distributing 66 percent of PVCs as at Monday February 2, some 12 days to the day of election. Distribution was supposed to end officially on February 8. But shortly before then, the commission had taken some steps to facilitate the collection of the cards, including decentralisation of collection points. In fairness to INEC, more people had been trooping out to collect the cards under that arrangement and there was nothing to suggest that the situation would not have improved if the process had not been truncated because many Nigerians like to wait till the last minute to do such civic duty, especially if they had encountered some challenges initially as they did with the collection of the PVCs. At any rate, the electoral commission could still have allowed an extension of collection period to make sure more people collect the cards. Some state governments even declared public holidays to enable their workers who had not collected their cards do so. In all, INEC could have achieved some measure of success in this regard, or it could have not. But then, the Federal Government itself apparently over-panicked over the growing influence of General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate and took over the commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duty. The military authorities wrote INEC that they would not be able to guarantee security if it went ahead to conduct the elections as scheduled. That was after the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, had gone abroad to say the elections would be postponed for security reasons, and not because PVCs had not been substantially distributed. Again, part of the reason the Council of State meeting was convened on February 5 was to see if it could be used to postpone the election as a result of the security reason adduced by government. If not, the question as to how many local governments are involved in the Boko Haram insurgency to warrant poll shift would not have arisen at the meeting. Obviously, it was when all else failed (as even the council members disappointed Nigerians who had expected they would be used by the government to rubber stamp its intention of shifting the poll, ostensibly on security grounds, failed to make themselves available for the purpose) that government now made its hidden intention open by saying the polls had to be shifted because INEC was not ready. May be they (council members) also saw some things that some of those who may be harbouring any satanic inten-

â&#x20AC;˘ Prof. Jega tions by the decision to postpone the election did not see, because their stance on the matter really shocked the average Nigerian just as it must have jolted the presidency; even if for different reasons. Quite naturally, many people saw the postponement as part of the options in the long list of diabolical options by the presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), perhaps in cahoots with the military, to buy time for the government as well as halt the tempo of the growing popularity of the opposition candidate, nationwide. This is one reason why many Nigerians cried foul and even the international community appears worried. But whether the postponement would be of any advantage to the ruling party or even worsen its plight is in the womb of time because, again, many people see the government's hands in the matter as an abuse of the power of incumbency. If they react eventually in that light, then the government must have succeeded in further damaging its image. As many people have observed, we have always known of the insurgency in the north east of Nigeria, at least in the last five years, why then would that be an issue barely two weeks to general elections that we had known would hold for more than a year? Some say the presidency hopes to get the Chibok girls within the six-week postponement, with the Chadian, Cameroonian and other troops and mercenaries now helping us in the insurgency war. We would definitely rejoice if the girls are brought back home alive; but is that possible in the natural state that they were abducted, save for the demand of change that might have been occasioned by their age and sudden severance from their parents? Anyway, even if the girls are all brought back home as they were abducted, it remains to be seen whether that can atone for the mismanagement of the economy, large-scale corruption and the lack of direction that the country had suffered over the years. Without doubt, this year's presidential election is the first true presidential election we are having since the country's return to democracy in 1999. Even the PDP knows that for a fact; it is not one of those tea parties that they had been having and calling elections for want of what to call them. When a democratically elected government makes the military its crutches, you know that government has lost credibility because the military played absolutely no role in its election in the first place.

My point, which is the consolation for Nigerians, is that nothing would happen in the next six weeks that has not happened before in the country ... Our rulers have successively taught us how to handle such situations. We handled them in the military era, whatever is coming now cannot be worse than what we experienced then; whether by way of over-militarisation of the polity, intimidation of political opponents, or what have you!

Apparently too, those who had been expecting to use the presidency as crutches to 'capture' some states, particularly in the south west, must have supported postponement of election, seeing that the presidency itself was in dire need of crutches to survive the polls. In other words, it is not necessarily the fear of losing power that is the issue for incumbents, not even the fear of consequences of the illegalities and impunities they committed in power, but more of pressure by their hangers-on. You know that a ruling party is losing its courage when it begins to mumble some mumbo-jumbo like the PDP is now doing by calling for the use of Temporary Voter Cards for the elections. Isn't that late in the day? Even that did not make sense before postponement. With the postponement, there is more time to collect the cards. So, what is PDP afraid of? Why the phobia for PVCs? If all manner of speculations and rumours have been making the rounds over the postponement, including the possibility of the government or PDP orchestrating the removal of the INEC chair, Prof Attahiru Jega, via terminal leave so that he won't be in charge of the elections ultimately, it is as a result of Nigerians' experience with their governments, including the present one. Indeed, when our politicians say good morning, first check through your window to be sure it is not good night. It is that bad. However, it is good that President Goodluck Jonathan has denied any ambition of elongating his tenure. I doubt if really he has any choice though; but then, the mere fact that he said so is not enough reason for us to believe. But it is important to take him down the memory lane for a clearer picture of why tenure elongation can never be an option, no matter the support he gets from the military or the circumstances. Tenure elongation was the nemesis of General Yakubu Gowon; his serial postponement of handover dates was a major reason for his ouster in 1976. Anyone thinking of tenure elongation should ask General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Babangida had boasted severally that he would not be stampeded out of office, following the heat his government was subjected to after its unconscionable annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election; but it was obvious he was stampeded out, barely two months after. Which is to say that it is not only children that fret when they get to a place of fright; even adults do, too. That was why the same Babangida who was bouncing like a football a few days later, when justifying the annulment of the election result, became gentle when he was stepping aside on August 27, 1993. General Sani Abacha whom we had thought only came in to facilitate the process of handing over to a democratically elected president died suddenly under mysterious circumstances in the process of transmuting from military leader to his dream 'democratically elected' president. What all these tell us is that Nigeria is too sophisticated for any self-perpetuation agenda by any leader, no matter the extent of sophistry or shenanigans employed by him or his hangers-on. My point, which is the consolation for Nigerians, is that nothing would happen in the next six weeks that has not happened before in the country. In other words, Nigerians would be travelling on a familiar terrain. Our rulers have successively taught us how to handle such situations. We handled them in the military era, whatever is coming now cannot be worse than what we experienced then; whether by way of overmilitarisation of the polity (especially with our present military), intimidation of political opponents, or what have you! But whatever happens, on May 29 we stand.

Waiting for March 28

UT for the postponement of the general election by six weeks, Nigerians would have trooped out yesterday to elect who will govern the country for the next four years. By now, there would have been indications of who is winning and losing in the battle for the presidency between incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari. As it is, we have to wait till March 28 to get over the tension that has gripped the country over the decisive election. I really wish the election was not postponed. I can't wait to know if Nigerians will get the opportunity of change of government after 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) rule or have to endure another four years. For the first time, the opposition group in the country seems to have got their act together and more than ever before has the opportunity to defeat the ruling PDP. If the campaign across the country is anything to go by, Jonathan's chance of winning the election is not as bright as in 2011. As much as Jonathan and the PDP members are calling for continuity, the echo of change is too loud to be ignored. So much is at stake in the election concerning the future of the country that everything necessary must be done to ensure that it is as free and fair as possible. The sudden excuse of insecurity by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) based on the request of the military authorities is worrisome, but if that is what is required to have an election in which all Nigerians, including those in areas occupied Boko Haram insurgents, would participate, so be it. Since the six weeks' extension can still be accommodated within the time allowed by the Constitution to hold election before the inauguration of a new government, the military should be given the benefit of doubt that it will substantially recover the captured territories. The collaboration with the regional forces from Chad, Niger and Cameroun should hopefully boost the onslaught against the insurgents and pave way for a general election that will not exclude any part of the country. While, despite protests from some quarters, Nigerians are ready to wait till March 28 to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice, what will not be acceptable is another extension for any reason. Though the six weeks' extension is supposed to be in the first instance, no excuse will be good enough for another extension. The military must do everything possible not to confirm fears that it has any secret agenda to truncate democracy in the country. I salute the efforts of the Nigerian military in combating the insurgents over the years and my heart goes out to families whose loved ones have died or got wounded in the battle. The military must, however, continue to perform its constitutional role of protecting the security of the country at all times and get all the needed support it needs. The INEC must also utilise the period of the postponement to perfect its arrangements for the election. If the election had been held as originally scheduled, many Nigerians would have been denied the opportunity of voting due to their inability to get their Permanent Voters Card. INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, must prove his critics wrong by conducting an election that will be devoid of unnecessary controversy.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

COMMENT

Towards our date with destiny 2 Those who lead and those who aspire to lead us need to know that the magnitude of lawlessness in our governance system and political culture embarrasses and demeans most citizens

AST week, I was so optimistic that I started a series under the title overleaf. I seek the indulgence of my readers to continue today under last week's title, despite the fact that the hope raised last week had been diminished by the sudden decision of the military under the inspiration of the president and the ruling party to postpone the election by six weeks. Within Nigeria and the international community, the postponement has done a lot of damage to the cause of democracy but it has not succeeded in destroying the possibility of a date (other than February 14) with our destiny as a nation-state. This is despite the fact that the postponement and other uses of federal power by the ruling party in the last four weeks and the disjunction between official rhetoric and actual deployment of power smacks of besieging democracy in the fashion of the violation of citizens' right to choose their leader 22 years ago. How many of the individuals who sacrificed themselves or loved ones or had to go into exile in order to fight General Ibrahim Babangida's annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election ever thought that after the exit of the military in1999 they would experience another military-style abrogation (more accurately, suspension) of citizens' right to choose their leaders at the appointed time at the hands of an elected government? So much water had passed under the bridge of Nigeria's democracy in the last four weeks and to the extent of reminding citizens that the annulment of 1993 was not an aberration that many patriots thought it was and thus chose to fight to the hilt. Just before our eyes again, a civilian government had raised and dashed the hopes of Nigerians by approving an electoral calendar and altering that calendar just one week before an election scheduled to give citizens a oncein-four-years opportunity to choose their leaders. Several years after the military had publicly pledged to work under military supervision, as is the case in all democracies, the military (now answering the name of

security forces) ordered an independent electoral agency to postpone a properly scheduled election on account of the decision of the military to engage Boko Haram insurgents. Instead of the civilian government reading the riot act to such military officers, it has preferred at the instance of the president to urge citizens to take the postponement of election in good faith. While the president chooses to plead with citizens to accept what looks like a military fiat with equanimity and without questioning the reasons given by his security chiefs, the ruling party, PDP, on the other hand, chooses to further hoodwink citizens by changing the narrative of the postponement. While the INEC Chair was clear in his message to the nation about how INEC was given a strong advice about the need to postpone the election because the military would not be available to provide security for the elections, the Presidential Campaign Organisation chose to tell citizens that the election was postponed because of problems of logistics. As if it was not bad enough to treat Nigerian voters as subjects instead of as citizens, soldiers were deployed to harass and intimidate citizens shortly after the announcement of the postponement, in a way to suggest that the military was available to silence citizens the way General Abacha did in 1993. Even leaders of the other party contesting for the presidency also had their houses surrounded on and off by military men in Imo, Lagos, and Abuja since the change of the electoral calendar. Using soldiers to surround the houses of leaders like Tinubu, Okorocha, Shehu Garba, the spokesman for Buhari Campaign Organisation (and who is next?) is tantamount to warning ordinary citizens that their rights to free movement can be curtailed at the whims of those in charge of the levers of federal power. Those who are blaming the National Security Adviser for inducing the postponement with his speech in London about INEC's failure to supply permanent voter cards to all registered voters appear to be deliberately playing the ostrich. There is no doubt that the military had done a lot of damage to the

country's politics, economy, and culture in the past and up to the last elections in Ekiti and Osun, but no Security Adviser can act in any way that the person who appointed him does not favour. In all political systems, an adviser does not have the power to order any action, only to advise his boss. It is the civilian regime in place that has brought the nation to the embarrassment of postponing an already scheduled election on account of the need for the military to fight Boko Haram insurgency. Moving from the issue of inadequate supply of PVCs to the imperative of fighting Boko Haram full-time after several years of the existence of the terrorist sec shows a puerile or pedestrian thinking that cannot but make intelligent persons chuckle or hiss. All over the world, elections had been held in many countries that were at war. Abraham Lincoln won his re-election during the American Civil War. Franklin D. Roosevelt got re-elected for the fourth time during the Second World War. George W. Bush also got re-elected during the Iraqi war, just as Barack Obama got re-elected during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is puerile about the argument for postponing the election in Nigeria is the thinking that the country is planning to go to war with Boko Haram insurgents, not that the country is already at war, and thus needs the stability to finish the war in order to bring peace and stability to the country. Now that President Jonathan has assured the nation during his recent radio chat that most of the things being done and said by his advisers and even his campaign organisations are done without his knowledge, Nigerians need to rest assured that the latest call by the ruling party that INEC should revert to temporary voter cards and forget about PVCs, the basis for asking for postponement in London in the first place, is null and void, just the ranting of political aides more interested in embarrassing the president. With respect to psychological assault of citizens, the postponement has already done the damage it is capable of producing. Citizens who are genuinely interested in democratic governance just need to take note of the fact

that sixteen years after the end of military dictatorship, Nigeria is still being run by politicians with a primitive military mindset. Federal roads are being used as roads belonging to the ruling party. There is no better way to demonstrate intolerance of the other than the monopoly of the third mainland bridge by posters of the incumbent as if he is the only candidate for that office. Whatever belongs to the federal government, such as federal roads, does not automatically belong to the individuals in government and not by any stretch of imagination to members of the ruling party at every level of government. Those who lead and those who aspire to lead us need to know that the magnitude of lawlessness in our governance system and political culture embarrasses and demeans most citizens. Responding vicariously to the Suggestion Box erected in Ajegunle by the APC vicepresidential candidate, the Change manifesto has to include a commitment by General Buhari's government to consolidation of democracy in the country. Any ruling party that is besotted to the impunity that power bestows in a nascent democracy cannot but lack the culture of tolerance, debate, and compromise that sustains democracy. Even below average individuals should have no problem identifying the magnitude of democratic deficit in our polity. Reducing the power at the centre is one area that can reduce the culture of impunity, such as we have witnessed at the hands of a party cobbled together by departing military dictators and given to hirelings that are ready to turn the political landscape into a stage for the play of brigands. Another thing that needs to be added to the platform of change is the commitment to plant and cultivate democratic culture at every level of governance with effect from May 29. A situation in which advisors and political aides do things that affect the president and citizens without the president's knowledge is not democratic and not sustainable. The postponement of the election originally scheduled for yesterday is not capable of dashing voter's hopes; it has only delayed the country's date with destiny. To be continued.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

COMMENT

Adeboye's admonition The church will benefit immensely if the pastors heed this warning

ASTOR Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is not given to frivolity. So when the renowned cleric on his Facebook page admonished that pastors collecting bribes from politicians should prepare for God's wrath, we cannot but give the insidious cankerworm the deserved notice. Pastor Adeboye was obviously reacting to the allegation by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Director-General, Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation who alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gave a bribe of N6billion to some pastors to work against Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate in next month's presidential election. Adeboye declared: "I read in the newspaper this morning that one of the serving governors in Nigeria said that some pastors in Nigeria collected N6bn from politicians for the purpose of influencing their members to vote a certain candidate in the coming elections. May I humbly request that if there be any pastor or pastors who collected such money, they should please return such as quickly as possible before the fire of the Almighty consumes them." Amaechi had, during an APC governorship campaign rally in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State reportedly accused some pastors of having collected N6 billion from the ruling government so as to discredit his party's (APC's) presidential candidate, a Muslim. While this allegation is difficult to accept for want of concrete evidence, it was given impetus by the conduct of

EADING the article captioned NECO Registrar Flouts Shekarau's Directive on Disengagement from Service, I became more worried than ever before about the fate of the Nigerian child and education in the hand of leaders who willfully disrespect and disobey constituted authority. My findings revealed that the type of arrogance and disobedience being demonstrated by Prof. Promise Okpala is only possible if he has secured his appointment or re-appointment through the back door instead of following due process. And this was exactly what happened. The former NECO Registrar, Prof. Promise Okpala, hinged his refusal to comply with the Minister's directive to hand over on the fact that his current (second) term expires on 08 April, 2015. He considered the Minister's directive "surprising and misleading" in view of the fact that he was a political appointee and not a career civil servant. He was supported and emboldened by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, who in a letter to the Minister, maintained that Prof. Promise Okpala is not subject to removal from office on any account prior to 08 April, 2015 except by Mr President at whose discretion the Registrar holds office. This statement by the SGF is quite unfortunate. According to Part III 9- (3) (a) and (b) of the National Examinations Council (NECO) Establishment) Act, 2002, recommen-

President Goodluck Jonathan who is taking advantage of religion to bolster his political standing. He is fond of moving from one church to the other, forgetting that religion should be separated from the state and that what Nigerians want is performance. Perhaps, it would not be hyperbolic to state that the president had surpassed all his predecessors in exploiting religion to achieve undue political end. The problem of pastoral corruption affects all denominations and the ecclesiastical order must restrain itself because it opens the churches up for this. Yet, most pastors are ill-prepared to deal with such problems, compelling the public to robe the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) with the derisive epithet of 'can of worms'. Some pastors are too cosy with the president and other top politicians, losing in the process the instinctive capacity to protect the institution. No wonder, most churches now wish such cases away or stifle their spread to the public domain. What is happening among many pastors and in religious houses is a reflection of the abysmal nature of all institutions and values in the society at large. Unfortunately, it would not be far from TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye

the truth to say that the country is under the hegemony of spiritually bad people. Such leadership, political and spiritual, have forgotten that God's standards are clear and unambiguous. That He hates bribe and expects us to shun it; that God wants pastors to stand out. Unfortunately, most pastors have been overwhelmed by the prevalent evil culture of bribery and corruption induced by politicians. Sadly, these corrupt men of God want their congregation to overcome the vice. How? It is sad to note that the pulpit has been turned into platform for making illicit money from politicians that probably stole from the public till, seeking undeserved positions. Pastoral duty is a call to serve God. The wearing of that pristine robe makes God to overlook the times of ignorance but some pastors, through their corrupt inclinations, have made it difficult for the public to differentiate between their period of ignorance and that of divine call. Surprisingly, pastors of nowadays hold strongly to the wrong belief that money is the wheel on which the gospel rides, which we doubt has any foundation in the Bible. We note in recent times that the biggest givers in churches are close politician friends of pastors. They shower pastors with gifts that perpetually silence them from discharging their pastoral obligations in a candid way to their congregation. We consider this as sacrificing scriptural values on the altar of personal greed. Pastors are by calling expected to live ascetic lifestyles and not one in pursuit of pleasure and the good things of life which money offers from invidiously corrupt politicians. The soiling of Christianity under the guise of evangelism must be curbed now; not later.

LETTER

Re: NECO Registrar flouts Shekarau's directive

dation for appointment and, by implication, re-appointment as Registrar is the prerogative of the Minister. Conditions of service are also as may from time to time be approved by the Minister and definitely NOT according to the discretion of Mr. President or any other person. So it is obvious that Chief Anyim Pius Anyim's stance from which Prof. Okpala derived confidence is a negation or contradiction of the relevant provision in the Act. But then it was the same SGF that communicated news of Prof. Okpala' re-appointment to him. In a letter referenced SGF.6/S.14/210 dated 03 February, 2012, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim wrote: " I am pleased to inform you that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

am a fan of your newspaper particularly because of your style of writing and the in depth analysis of issues. However, I observed a conflict on page 58 of your publication of Sunday Feb. 8, 2015 with the above subject. Whereas the content of the report suggested a falling "cost of doing business in Nigeria", the title of the report says "Ris-

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, has approved your reappointment as the Registrar of the National Examinations Council for a second and final term of three years in accordance with the provision of section 9 (3) (a) of the National Examinations Council (NECO) , Establishment Act. CAP. N37, LFN 2002". The (b) of the same provision clarifies that the re-appointment shall be " on such terms as to emoluments and conditions of service (italics mine) as may be specified in his letter of appointment, and as may, from time to time, be approved by the Minister". From the foregoing, it is clear that the Registrar's conditions of service are as approved by the Minister. This certainly gives the Minister authority and control over the

Chief Executive of any parastatal under his ministry and any directive given by the Minister must be complied with by the Chief Executive. Again Mr. President's approval of appointment or reappointment as Registrar should be on the recommendation of the Minister. Now that the then Minister, Prof. Ruqayyat Rufa'i, declined to endorse Prof. Promise Okpala, on whose recommendation was approval of his re-appointment based? Obviously none. He simply by-passed the Minister and sought Chief Anyim's help and support which he got and is still enjoying. Certainly NECO is not among the parastatals directly under the presidency or Office of the SGF, so why

this SGF's interference in its affairs? This was not so in preOkpala era. And did we witness this type of interference in the affairs of other parastatals like NECO either by Chief Anyim or any of his predecessors? If not, why is the interference peculiar to NECO? The truth is that Prof. Promise Okpala's re-appointment as NECO Registrar in April, 2012 did not follow due process and therefore was a fraud and illegality. Although the then Minister kept mum over this usurpation of her power, the fraud did not go unnoticed by some NECO staff. It was in the corporate interest of the Council that the sleeping dogs were allowed to lie. Prof. Okpala exercised absolute power and authority

That negative business report on Nigeria ing...". I love Nigeria and I get worried when many of the times the media tend to present the country in a bad

light. Agreed, "bad news is the news" but if we have to report a good development, the least I think we could do is to say it as it is.

My grouse is not whether the cost of doing business in Nigeria is actually rising or falling, (because I didn't know and wanted to get that infor-

since he had the impression that he was accountable to only Chief Anyim. In outright violation of provision section 11 of the Act, he administered the Council like his personal property. Appointment, promotion and posting for assignment were on political consideration favouring in most cases staff from his geopolitical area. Many qualified, experienced and hardworking staff were removed from their posts and replaced with less experienced and in some cases newly-employed ones. Transfer became a weapon of victimisation, persecution and intimidation. While no attempt is made to settle outstanding 28 night allowance of many transferred officers, the activity is on-going. All these were done with impunity. Prof. Okpala's ability to perform in two months what he was unable to deliver in ninety-four months is in great doubt. He should hand over as directed so that staff will concentrate more on the gigantic task of re-defining the future of the Nigerian child. •Okey Nwachukwu, NECO Office, Enugu mation from your report), but the wrong representation as if everything had to be negative. Perhaps it was an error or maybe I'm the one who is wrong, else I think the fourth estate of the realm should be concerned about the image of a country because together we share in the gains and losses. Thank you. •Chris Ogbimi

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

COMMENT

Truth shreds a lie of twenty years in one day (a Yoruba proverb) For me, Dr Ayo Fayose can now be Ekiti governor for the next century; it will mean nothing to me because I have been vindicated beyond my wildest dreams on photocromism

OR seven straight months - 22 June, 2014 until news of Ekitigate broke, I almost shouted myself hoarse saying, repeating and reemphasising, the fact that there was no way Ayo Fayose could ever have defeated Governor Kayode Fayemi in a free and fair election, talk less of defeating him in all the 16 Local Government Areas of Ekiti. But if falsehood takes off a thousand years, truth will overcome it in a single day. So has it been with what the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, described as the mystery of the Ekiti governorship election. Departing the Ekiti state house and heading back to Lagos the day after, having listened to the experiences of several party members during the election , I knew I have heard enough of similarities with how Nikuv International Projects Ltd, allegedly rigged the 2013 Zimbabwean presidential election for President Mugabe. Nikuv prides itself as experts which "time and time again, gets chosen for strategic national projects due to its expertise, professionalism …" Nikuv's rigging allegations were worsened by reports by a private South African-based intelligence outfit, Nasini Projects, to the effect that the Israeli firm supplied a special water marked ballot paper used to give Mugabe a resounding victory. "From our findings so far, we are 99.9% convinced the election was rigged via a ballot paper; a special watermarked ballot paper was used to give President Mugabe a resounding victory," Nasini CEO Lucia Mordi said. "The ballot paper had a water x against Mugabe's name such that if any ink is placed on the paper the substance on the paper

will react and remove the ink and activate the water marked x into print." I must hasten to say, however, that there has been no evidence linking Nikuv to Ekitigate. What tallied the most with the Zimbabwean electoral heist was the unimpeachable testimony of the highly regarded wife of a former Central Bank Director who, after thumb printing thrice, still did not leave any mark on the ballot paper upon which she sought help from the electoral assistants who then poured water on the ink pad. This happened because it was a photocromic ballot paper and the ink supplied by INEC was disappearing ink rather than the indelible ink prescribed by the Electoral Law thus proving INEC collusion. The ballot papers, according to the Ekitigate tape, were ferried into Ekiti by Chris Uba who then had the audacity to come to Yoruba land to arrest APC leaders, giving orders to soldiers who had been turned by army higher authorities, to playthings of this bloody civilian. It cannot get more insulting to the Yoruba nation but mute has been the word from those "defenders of Yoruba interest" who have, instead, become endorsers, aggressively spreading the cocktail of lies concocted by that 'son of his father;' demanding that Professor Jega be sacked and arrested. As I wrote on these pages on Sunday, 9 June, 2014, I believe, without the slightest doubt, that the Zimbabwean model is what played out in the Ekiti election. The PDP must have been specially watermarked to give a man, who was recently trounced in a senatorial election, a totally undeserved victory. This, for me, is the only rational

way to explain the abracadabra of the Ekiti governorship election. Therefore, every lover of this country must insist on this electoral coup being exhaustively investigated and whoever funded this manipulation of our electoral system must be run out of town. Whoever has a hand in this electoral heist certainly does not deserve to live among decent human beings. Interestingly, Ekitigate has now led to totally unexpected collateral damage to sundry individuals and institutions of state. The allegations in the tape have tarnished, not only the presidency which was copiously mentioned as the very fountain of this grievous moral depravity, the Nigerian Army, the National Assembly, and some Yoruba ministers who obviously know next to nothing about the Yoruba concept of Omoluabi, must be made to say all they know about this national shame. In the tape which is still trending on the World Wide Web, both Fayose and Obanikoro severally referred to the president as the one whose assignment they were executing and therefore cannot afford to fail. Fayose actually threatened to call the president during his condescending put down of the Brigadier-General -' I was governor here 12 years ago when you were probably only a captain', he thundered at a point and the general indicated his willingness to weep if that would assuage his traducers and convince them about his fidelity to an assignment personally entrusted to him by the Chief of Army staff. This government must convince Nigerians that a worse PDP/Army arrangement -Fela lives on - is not already in the works again to rig the coming elections. I could remember the president once promising some ambassadors that the 2015 elections

would be the easiest, ever, of Nigerian elections and, by the way, I have heard about synthetic digital ballot papers just as the First Lady's manipulations in Rivers and Bayelsa speak to what they could do to have their way in opposition states. Nigerians beware; eternal vigilance is the price of freedom! Just as Obanikoro was threatening non promotion for the beleaguered officer, a whole Brigadier -General, if he flunks the presidential assignment, so was Fayose sabre rattling, repeatedly saying he would report the officer to both the president and the Army Chief of Staff. If only the Army would realise that Captain Koli went to all this length just to save the Army from its compromised top echelon. According to the national hero, operation CAPTURE EKITI had a total of 1006 soldiers who could have been better deployed to Sambisa forest. They also had about 500 operational vehicles. It certainly would not be good for the image of the Nigerian Army to wait until it is summoned before the National Assembly. The Army just must speak up now. As for President Jonathan, he has no option than to respect Nigerians and say all he knows if we are not to take his current promises of a free and fair 2015 elections as mere hollow rituals. References to him are too many to be happenstance. He it is who must personally speak up, not his voluble and loquacious spokespersons for whom he remains the object of their obsequious adulation. President Clinton made a personal deposition in the Monica Lewinsky case so Jonathan is not being asked to re-invent the wheel. And talk he must because most Nigerians see the election postponement as only a ruse to enable their rogue scientists devise another

rigging method. Nor can Chris Uba, the Uga Secondary School alumnus, who is fingered as the man who supplied the smoking gun, aka, pre- programmed ballot papers, remain incommunicado. If he has any integrity left after the Ngige affair, and does not want to tarnish the prodigious Uba dynasty, he must, tell Nigerians all he knows. The National Assembly has already been besmirched by a certain Abdul Kareem who was uproariously flaunting his membership of the House of Representatives. If, after these disclosures Obanikoro still successfully gets cleared by the senate to be re-appointed minister, it will mean we have nothing but a senate of anything goes. He is reported to have rushed to court hoping that would prevent any reference to this matter of urgent national interest. Nigerians are waiting to see the senate in its true colours. To continue to retain Jelili Adesiyan as minister can only be an additional blight on the federal executive council. Happily, however, the tape has, for all time, successfully bailed out Ekiti people from being described as the stomach worshippers of the universe. For these many months, we have been the butt of cruel jokes. Nobody can any longer correctly brandish stomach infrastructure as his victory's 'deu ex machina' when we know he stole our mandate. And for us Ekiti, Fayose's sated conscience is enough punishment; one he is bound to carry to his last days. And that is, if APC refuses to head to court. For me, Dr Ayo Fayose can now be Ekiti governor for the next century; it will mean nothing to me because I have been vindicated beyond my wildest dreams on photocromism.

'The triumph of hope over experience' This administration can avoid being the object of nature's derision, and let its word be its bond

HE triumph of hope over experience', was the comment of our erudite Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) about a man who was said to have remarried immediately after the death of a wife with whom he had been very unhappy. Obviously, some people learn from experience; and some, from experience, never learn. But, whether we learn or not, nature continues to teach us. Take the simple matter of time: it ticks on, no matter how you literally hold back the hands of the clock. Take also the seasons: they change no matter how much you want to hold them back. Seasons come, seasons go; governments come, governments go; only the universe remains. Enough of our philosophising, dear reader; we are talking today about the sudden, some would say even unnecessary, postponement of Nigeria's general elections. I am having trouble understanding it; but then I generally have trouble understanding anything because the people around me have all agreed that I am somewhat slow to comprehend things. I think they had to hold a meeting on the subject or something. I am still scratching my head on why it took them so long to come to that realisation. Anyway, I am so slow it took me a long time to know my left from my right, my friend in my enemy, and that what I took to be a creeping plant

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giving off hisses into the air in my garden was really a green snake looking for sunshine. I must confess though that the postponement took many of us by surprise. There I had been, believing that the word of the government was its bond. There is an unwritten code that says that your word is your bond. That code has guided many for centuries. I remember growing up in a community where this word-bond agreement ruled the farms. If a farmer needed extra hands on his field, he did not go to hire. No sir, he simply asked his fellow-farmers to leave off farming their own field and attend to his own needs for the two or three days he might need them. And they often did, barring sickness. The unwritten law was that should any of his friends ever require his services, he would willingly abandon his own needs and meet that one at his point of need. Thus when the government gave the word that the elections would hold as scheduled, we took it to be its bond also. Alas, not so! We had no way of knowing that the word belonged to the government while the bond might belong to us. Imagine a farmer being left holding a bond in that fashion, after having given his own time and energy to develop his fellow-farmer's farm, only to be told that the time chosen was no longer convenient, particularly in view of the fact that the weather

is not under any man's control. Like that farmer, I am still holding the election bond in my hand, much to my chagrin and definitely not to my pleasing, or even Jega's. Indeed, the postponement has made nonsense of all our personal programmes which we all, to a man across the nation, strenuously strained to postpone just to make sure that, should movements be restricted, no important thing would suffer during the elections. I do not want to go into the reasons for the postponement, contrived or not. I'm only interested in what effects it has on me. The first thing that struck me was the question: don't the rest of us count? Is it possible for all of us who constitute the electorate to be as negligible as all that and maybe more? The story is told that someone remarked to his father, at his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, that the said parents never seemed to fight. His father replied that they sure had their many battles, like any other couple; it was just that sooner or later in the fight, one of them would realise that he, the man, was wrong. That is one version. Another version has it that the man replied that early in the marriage, they had decided that in order to avoid all conflicts, he, the man of the house, would take all the big decisions while the wife, the woman of the house, would take all the small ones. In the fifty years of being together though, the man found out that there had not been one big decision to take. That was why the union had lasted for so long. The reason that we the electorate

don't count much in electoral matters should be the subject of a treatise for a political scientist, but not for us here. You and I must nevertheless be struck by the deep, deep irony and amusement in the situation. If you possess this knowledge, my friend, you possess a great thing indeed - that the land belongs to the people; the instruments of governance belong to the people; the power deriving thereof belongs to the people; therefore the state belongs to the people. My friend, I congratulate you for knowing this; not all of us do. You see, at critical and crucial moments, most government functionaries think it nothing to yield to the temptation to use the same state against the people, or to forget them altogether. Now, say news reports, there are soldiers circling people's houses. When will we learn?! Naturally, it never works, mostly because the protection of the people against such misuse is writ large in nature. Take the example at hand. Postponing these elections is not really to the people's liking: the people did not ask for it; the people did not want it; the people still do not understand it. The thing just went right over the people's heads. That just gives one the feeling of déjà vu, does it not, and makes one rather tired. Let's take one or two government functionaries who have gone over the people's heads like this and have rued the action. At the height of his power in France, Louis XIV was said to have claimed, 'L'Etat c'est moi (I am the state)', and as he was dying in 1715, he was claimed to have said, "Je m'en vais, mais l'Etat demeurera toujours

(I depart, but the state shall always remain)", while Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, also absolute monarchs, departed via the guillotine. The June 12 saga in Nigeria is still fresh in the collective mind. The then president singlehandedly cancelled an election that was said to have been the freest and fairest to date in this country. I believe that president is still smarting from some of the consequences of not respecting the owners of that election, the people. The State remains, always. Experience, they say, is the best teacher. Of course, no one can singly go through every experience that he needs to learn from. That is why we have history and literature books. That is why we have others. That is why we have visions. That is why we have our religions. History, literature, visions and religions tell us what nature has always made clear: the land belongs to its maker. This in effect translates to the fact that nature has ways of correcting the errors of mankind when he attempts to play God. Nature does so because it knows that sometimes in the heart of some unknowing ones among us, hope triumphs over experience. We tend to think that the people before us were unlucky or they got it wrong somewhere. It must be different with us, just like motorists who come on the scene of an accident and then speed off. Tch, tch, feed in the same data, use same method and expect different results? This administration can avoid being the object of nature's derision, and let its word be its bond.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

COMMENT

(103) "We know those who will NOT succeed us": An open letter to INEC Chairman, Professor Atahiru Jega Insha Allah, we will hand over but while we don't know those who will succeed us, we know those who will NOT succeed us". Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, April 1993 EAR Atahiru, This comes with greetings and solidarity to you at this very grave moment in both our country's future and your own work as the Chairman of INEC. It is a very long time since I last saw you and talked with you and other colleagues about the state of affairs in our country within the context of our collective leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). I testify that then close to thirty years ago, as a lecturer who was perhaps the youngest of the members of the National Executive Council of ASUU, you exhibited the brilliance, the dedication and the courage that you have also shown in your work as INEC Chairman. You know me well, Atahiru: I do not give praise where praise is not due and I do not close my eyes to the faults of those I otherwise admire. So, this is not a song of praise; rather it is a frank expression of solidarity, concern and advice from someone who, I hope, you know to be forthright in all his dealings with his friends and comrades. The country and indeed the whole world is rife with rumours, Atahiru, about what really led to your postponement of the 2015 elections by six weeks. Even from faraway in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. from which I am writing this piece, "Jega" is on everybody's mind! Yesterday, Thursday, February 12, 2015, I participated in a long and passionate discussion with a group of other Nigerians, Africans and non-Africans concerning what to expect at the end of March: will the elections take place or will they not? To the last man/woman in the group, everyone settled on YOU, Atahiru, as the man of the moment, the man who will answer to the country and the world if the elections do not take place. This is a grave, portentous burden for one person to carry; but it is also, fundamentally, a simple and uncomplicated obligation in which, as a matter of fact, you are in a much more impregnable position than the forces that do not want you to succeed,

the forces that are perhaps using the postponement of the elections as one step towards the objective of so muddying the waters, so throwing everything into confusion that it will be impossible to hold the elections. I really mean that, Atahiru, you are in a much more invulnerable position than such forces and my main aim in this open letter to you is to demonstrate why this is so and to give you some advice on how you might make your position even more unassailable. Of course, I do not ignore the stories, the rumours concerning the considerable arm-twisting, the behind-the-scene machinations that went on before you gave in to the Service Chiefs' letter that more or less compelled you to postpone the elections. In the ripeness of time, you will be able to tell the country and the world your own side of the story and for the most part, I am content to leave it at that. There is only one aspect of the accounts given so far that I wish to highlight and this is the link, the equivalence that your detractors are making between the significant shortfall in the distribution of the Permanent Voter's Cards (PVC) and the letter from the service chiefs that placed the burden of whether or not elections can be held in our country on their ability to provide security during the elections. While leaving it to time for you to be in a position to give a full account of how things unraveled last week forcing you to postpone the elections, you cannot, you must not Atahiru, delay for one week on the necessity to break the link,

the equivalence between these two factors: the shortfall in the distribution of the PVC's; the letter from the Service Chiefs. That is the central point that I wish to make in this letter, Atahiru. In case the logical reason why these two factors must be quickly and effectively delinked is not clear, let me spell it out: one factor is completely under your schedule of duties and obligations and is putatively under your control; the other factor is not only completely beyond your control, it is in fact quite deliberately and cynically calculated to be so. Indeed, so incommensurable is the gap between these two factors that we might compare it to the gap between a man who is sick because he is severely dehydrated and must therefore be rehydrated as soon as possible and a man who is so massively stricken with throat cancer that he cannot drink water and must perforce be hydrated intravenously. To make the import of this analogy concrete, let me simply say that effective and complete distribution of the PVC's throughout the country is not unlike bringing water to parched, thirsty throats and souls and God knows that across the length and breadth of the land, our peoples in their hundreds of thousands, in their millions, have been clamoring for these PVC's as if their very lives depend on it. By contrast, just as the person who is not stricken with cancer would resist any attempt to treat him or her with the extremely dangerous drugs that are used to treat cancer, so do Nigerians every-

where in the country not see soldiers as the guarantors of their right and ability to vote and be voted for. Indeed, the very thought - which more or less amounts to the militarization of electoral practice in our country - is cancerous! Unfortunately, logic will not be the deciding factor in what looms ahead of us come March 28, 2015, Atahiru. By this, I am not saying forget logic and do only what is right and just. Logically, you are on extremely weak grounds on the matter of the PVC's. You and INEC had years to prepare for this election and you had the funding too but came far short of where things should be as close as two weeks to the elections. As a matter of fact, I must confess that I am in some anxiety here for if you and INEC could only score 65% of distribution of the PVC's with years of preparation, what guarantee do we have that in just slightly over one month you will make up the shortfall of 35%? But you have promised the nation: this shortfall will be redeemed well before March 28. This is why not logic, not common sense per se will determine the course of events, but resolute, patriotic, courageous and, above all else, clear-headed action on your part. What exactly does this entail? With complete clarity of thought, you must realize, Atahiru, that having once accorded the Service Chiefs an advisory role in our country's electoral process that they do not have in the Constitution you have gone as far as you can without yourself becoming complicit in a bloodless coup against the Constitution and the Nation. The Service Chiefs asked for six weeks; you were under no obligation to give them six weeks; in fact, you needed no more than a couple of weeks to straighten out the shortfall in the distribution of the PVC's; you cannot do it again without becoming complicit in a coup against the Constitution and the Nation. In case what I am saying here is not clear enough, let me spell it out very carefully, Atahiru: you cannot, on your own alone, prevent a coup by the Service Chiefs, acting on behalf of Jonathan and the PDP. What you can do, what indeed you MUST do, is prevent yourself from being made a tool of such a coup come March 28, 2015. If they ask for another postponement, let them, not you, make the announcement and the country and the whole

world will know that you are not complicit in a coup against the Constitution and the Nation. But this is conditional upon doing your own duty by making up the PVC shortfall in the next couple of weeks at the most. In bringing this open letter to a close, let me make some useful allusions to past and recent history in our country's political affairs. Perhaps the most traumatic instance when our country's electoral process has been autocratically removed from the will of the people and placed under military control is the instance signified by the epigraph to this piece in which, in April 1993, Babangida uttered those words that later proved to be a foreshadowing of the annulment of the June 1993 elections: "Insha Allah, we will hand over, but while we don't know those that will succeed us, we know those that will not succeed us". Even for a military dictatorship, this was extraordinary, this arrogant and hubristic assertion that not the Nigerian people but a cabal of ambitious and corrupt military officers will decide who will take over from them once they leave office. This is more or less what Doyin Okupe in particular and many other proto-fascists in the Presidency have been saying for more than three months now in calling for both the postponement of the elections and the institution of a socalled Interim Government to take over from Jonathan. G.E. Jonathan, E.K. Clark, Chris Uba, Doyin Okupe, Femi FaniKayode and Ayo Fayose, none of these belongs to the military; they can act only with and through military proxies, meaning the Service Chiefs. If they want to postpone or cancel the elections come March 28, 2015, let them, acting through the Service Chiefs, announce the postponement or cancellation. I repeat: you cannot alone on your own prevent a coup, Atahiru. Only the Nigerian people can and will. Let them, not you, announce the further postponement or outright cancellation of the elections. Do not let them make you an instrument of a coup which, by the way, may be bloodless in the first instance but may in the end drown our country in rivers of blood and set us back into another cycle of deep and prolonged retrogression. Comradely yours, BJ Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

COMMENT

sms only: 08116759748

F you are looking for evidence of disarray within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ranks, look no further than the mixed signals it is sending over how it views its newest bĂŞte noire chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega. Party chairman, Adamu Muazu, now says the ruling party has absolute confidence in Jega's ability to organise free and fair elections. Coming against the backdrop of the demonisation of the man by leading members of PDP - like head of the Presidential Campaign Council, Ahmadu Ali, spokesman, Femi Fani-Kayode and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, this conciliatory statement was a tad suspicious. It was reminiscent of the public show of support that some owners of struggling English Premier League clubs often extend to their embattled managers. Perhaps it was to lull the unsuspecting fellows into a false sense of security. More often than not, days after receiving the dreaded vote of confidence they get the sack. Predictably, Muazu was calling Jega a liar twenty four hours later when he received a delegation of Africa Union (AU) election observers in Abuja. One of the buzzwords of the Goodluck Jonathan administration is 'transformation.' After the theatrics of the last fortnight, I now concede that PDP is truly the party of 'uncommon transformation'. In a matter of weeks they have managed to convince themselves only - that the mild-mannered Jega is a devil with two horns. How this dramatic transformation has come about remains a mystery. But the relationship has so deteriorated that Clark and his group not only demanded the INEC chief's resignation but also his arrest. Some so-called 'Goodluck Jonathan Lagos Grassroots' group has been placing full-page advertisements in newspapers listing what it considers evidence of the electoral umpire's bias. The adverts usually end with an earnest prayer or wish for his resignation. This is the same man that supervised the enthronement of Jonathan as president in 2011 even when his chief rival, Muhammadu Buhari, was crying that the polls were rigged. He is the same fellow who oversaw the Ekiti State 2014 governorship polls. When Fayose 'defeated' Fayemi the commission was lauded even when only 476,870 prospective voters, representing 64.98 percent were eligible to vote in the exercise. INEC in the state received 732,166 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for distribution but only 476,870 were collected. Out of this, approximately 65% that were eligible voters even less - 360, 455 not up to 50% of those on the roll, took up the option of exercising their rights. PDP didn't quibble about statistics back then; they joyfully claimed 'victory'. Now the party's Presidential Campaign Organisation is demanding 100% PVC distribution as the basis for assessing INEC's success or failure. In 2014 in Ekiti, 65% was wonderful, in 2015 that level of card release has become not only unacceptable; it is evidence of

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How Jega became the devil

â&#x20AC;˘Jega

Jega's partiality. Although he has firmly stated that the polls earlier slated for February were shifted on the strength of a letter written to him by Service Chiefs demanding a sixweek postponement, the ruling party insists on pushing its version of events that it was also down to the commission not being prepared. Well, PDP got its postponement, but it harvested widespread condemnation for forcing it through at gunpoint. Hell hath no fury like a drowning incumbent or party - especially when handed a pyrrhic victory. The speed with which the military high command rushed out its pledge of 'neutrality' after the contentious shift, underscores how damaging the military's meddling has been for the powers-that-be. Jega would have been crowned with a halo by now if only he had sung from the ruling party's smeared hymn sheet and accepted his commission was unprepared. Unfortunately, the professor doesn't do political karaoke! In the hands of the PDP, the INEC boss has now been conferred with a special talent for ubiquity

that only a Nigerian equivalent of the Scarlet Pimpernel can manage. He's been seen by ruling party agents - here, there and everywhere. Today, when he isn't holding meetings with the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), he is closeted with All Progressives Congress (APC) top shots in the agreeable environs of Dubai to plot the best way to ease Buhari into Aso Rock. That is according to the spooks at Legacy House. He has, according to PDP, come up with a scheme that has ensured that PVCs were distributed in such a way that they all landed in APC strongholds. Only a 'naughty' professor could have pulled that off. As though his litany of sins were not enough to send him on pre-retirement leave immediately, Jega has suddenly developed a suspicious fondness for technology. It is enough to infuriate any patriot who's not a supporter of the opposition. Why can't we return to the perfect 2011 TVCs since many haven't received Temporary Voters Cards (TVCs), the PDP has asked? Never mind that only PVCs were used in the Osun and Ekiti elections and no one asked for Jega and his

Mbu the Brave HE newly posted Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zone 2, Joseph Mbu, fancies himself a special kind of cop. He came to national attention for his confrontations with Governor Rotimi Amaechi whilst he was Commissioner of Police in Rivers State. While the clashes between the two were often under the cloud of partisan politics, Mbu obviously rates his time in Port Harcourt as the high point of his law enforcement career. Ever since, he hasn't stopped regaling us with tales of how he "tamed Amaechi." He is clearly proud of this "accomplishment" - if that is what it is. But I wonder when the humiliation of a state governor or disrespecting his office became the hallmark of policing. Mbu is clearly fascinated with governors - that's why he's been going around making snide comments and threatening them. His

â&#x20AC;˘Joseph Mbu

outbursts are supposed to show us how brave he is: the only police commissioner in Nigeria who can confront a governor. Congratulations Mr. Commissioner! Now we know you have hair on your chest! While the police officer's former utterances have been entertaining, he entered dangerous territory at a meeting last Thursday at the Ogun State Command, Eleweran, Abeokuta. In briefing his men on how to handle the coming elections he said: "If one of

team to be strung up on trees. And what is this strange device called the card reader which would require a team of nuclear scientists from NASA to test properly before they can be used by dim witted Nigerian voters? The fact that we all use ATM machines, debit and credit cards, is no reason to burden us with such sophisticated things as PVCs. Truly, Jega must be a devilish alien sent to cause confusion in Nigeria. But hang on for a minute. Didn't Jonathan promise at his Lagos rally that he was now going to fight corruption with technology? His team was probably tuned to a different frequency. If our great leader is now a convert to technology, why are his people still unbelievers - rooted in the dark ages? Indeed, Jonathan has even boasted that it was under his watch that Nigerians first started bothering about voters' card. Before him, I suspect, voters were probably content with identifying themselves using palm fronds. Truly, a president with many firsts! In the past, opposition parties were usually the ones to moan about the partiality and incompetence of INEC and its predecessors. For the first time ever a government in power is rolling out its entire machinery to demonise and destroy the electoral arbiter. For me, it is a sign that the commission's leadership is inching in the direction of impartiality. When the elections finally hold on March 28 and April 11, they will not be perfect. There would be much for all sides to criticise. The losers in this bitter contest are bound to end up in court. However, I find it interesting that PDP is setting such standards for INEC before it would accept the results of the coming polls. Among other things, it is demanding that every registered voter must have a PVC - even those who refuse to make the effort to go and pick up theirs; every card reader must be proven to be functioning; better still, let's go back to TVCs; it even wants to get into the commission's internal

my men is killed, I shall kill twenty of them but don't shoot first. If they shoot you, shoot back in self-defence. Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence." Let's be clear: anyone who shoots at a policeman must face the law and pay the price for his crime. It is totally different matter, however, for a senior police officer to be encouraging his men to engage in murderous reprisals. In which of our statutes is it written that 20 citizens must be killed for the death of one policeman? This is an outrageous statement that makes you wonder about the sorts of excesses which Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have blamed our police for. There's a limit to self-lionisation and overzealousness. It is always wise for public officers to choose their words carefully. Mbu has spoken. But when he orders such a shooting he will suddenly discover the limits of the powers of an AIG!

administrative arrangements to ensure that APC sympathisers are not in the majority! What is sauce for Jega should be sauce for Jonathan. Perhaps we should apply the same high standards set for INEC to assess the PDP's presidential candidate. Before he can be reelected Nigerians want 24 hour electricity, perfectly tarred federal roads in cities and nicely-finished inter-state highways. We also demand the return of all Nigerian territories seized by insurgents - in other words, the country as Jonathan received it in 2011; the return of the abducted Chibok girls unharmed; pipe borne water; health care in every hamlet, a 10% drop in crime rate; singledigit inflation rate; single-digit unemployment rate etc - just to mention a few things on our shopping list. Good luck Jonathan!

Presidential sackings and their consequences

ONATHAN hinted in his recent TV media chat that he had the power to sack Jega. That is in dispute. But it was also in dispute whether he had the power to remove former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi - until he pulled the suspension trick. He did it and nothing happened. Sanusi went to court, but to all intents he had disappeared into the sunset. Some are already suggesting that were the president to pull the same stunt with Jega, the heavens won't fall. But that depends on what we are thinking would happen. Many would expect to see protesters taking to the streets and hurling stones in frustration. Those sorts of emotional outpourings don't last and can easily be contained using brute police or military action. However, there are consequences that are not as dramatic as bonfires but are potentially more devastating and enduring. For one thing it would damage the credibility of the current electoral process irretrievably. The tension that has followed poll shift would be child's play compared to that which would greet a Jega sack. Election postponement has thrown the financial markets into a panic because of the uncertainty it has created. The naira is taking an unprecedented battering. Nigerian businesses and wealthy individuals are losing billions because of the collapse of the currency. Investors are putting any moves into the Nigerian market in abeyance until a clear picture emerges of where the country is headed. All of these things could result in massive job losses. The fall in the value of the naira against the dollar and other major currencies is bound to set off inflationary pressures - especially where producers have imported components in their production chain. Let no one delude themselves that trying to mess the electoral process further by threatening, undermining, or even removing Jega would have no consequences. There would be a price to be paid and it would be steep.

LIFE

SUNDAY

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

20 SUNDAY LIFE By Yetunde Oladeinde

•Osakwe

• Health workers at an Ebola quarantine centre

Adiat Disu: Dad wanted me to be soccer star

•Disu

By Taiwo Alimi

•Continued from Page 21

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

SUNDAY LIFE 21

Yasmin Belo-Osagie: Giving female entrepreneur’s direction

•Jadesimi

•Osagie

•Continued on Page 23

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

22 SUNDAY LIFE

Pains and gains of polls’ day shift

Gboyega Alaka reviews the impact of the Election Day shift as it affects private individuals' schedules; as well as some businesses and individuals that reaped from it.

•Wunmi

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

SUNDAY LIFE

Ten ex-street kids in search of a lifeline

These certainly are not best of times for the Lady of Africa Foundation, as it fights the battles of its life to keep 10 children it had rescued from the streets in school. Founder of the organisation, Princess Bukola Fasuyi tells Taiwo Abiodun of the financial challenges currently threatening its charitable mission, even as she calls for assistance from corporate Nigeria.

•Endangered: Some of the children whose education is under threat

•Continued from Page 23

Catalyst for change: Toyosi Akerele Ogunsiji By Yetunde Oladeinde

•Ogunsiji

24 SUNDAY LIFE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

GLAMOUR

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

ETCETERA

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

A modern dictionary •Romance edition The writer has gone soft. After reacting to heat in the polity, he hops on the bandwagon of love.

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

Attraction n.: A magnetic feeling shared by two to the exclusion of others at any time. Butterflies adj.: On the approach of a love interest, the sensation in the stomach akin to the flutter of insects. Crush n.: A temporary tenderness reserved for the opposite sex with even more temporary conviction. Dating v.: Deploying energy, time and effort to get to know someone you like today, loved yesterday and may not really like tomorrow. Easy adj.: A term men used to describe a woman who thinks of love in a man’s terms. Friend n.: An opposite-sex acquaintance with some flaw which hampers romantic development. Gift n.: Something that often counts more than the thought or giver. Heartthrob n.: Something between a heart throbbing with love and a heart robbed of love. Irritating habit n.: What little qualities that initially attract become. The guy with ‘dreamy eyes’ soon looks like a ‘sleeping fool’ to a displeased girlfriend. Joke v.: A man’s indirect method of getting the attention of an indifferent woman. Kindle v.: The process by which sly looks and enticing body language explode into full-blown and often uncontrollable passion. Law of relativity n.: The attractiveness of one partner is directly proportionate to the unattractiveness of the other as proven by attention garnered by either the man or woman on an outing. Money n.: The source, substance and sustenance of many an affair. Nonsense n.: Also ‘sweet nothings’, it describes meaningless conversation between passionate lovers. One-night stand n.: Invariable conclusion of a hurried romance. Pair n.: The typical appearance of humans on Valentine’s Day. Note: there appear to be more four-armed and four-legged creatures about than usual. Queer adj.: Description of the reserved Romeo’s loosened tongue or quiet Juliet’s fidgeting upon finding love. Rendezvous n.: The meeting point where romantic progression often concludes. Sober adj.: A state of calmness and reason impossible for lovers. TLC n.: Whether in form of romantic dinner or treatment, ‘Tender Loving Care’ is both reward for the committed lover and cure for the love-sick. Utopia n.: A form of higher wellbeing encouraged by reciprocated love and discouraged by developing-country conditions. Valentine’s Day n.: ‘Buy-day’, Father’s Day and Fool’s Day all rolled into one, with visible consequence nine months after. Whim n.: Or ‘love at first sight’. What occurs when two not-so-choosy people looking for love meet. XXXXX n.: Kisses, as they appear in standard stationery of the season of love – letters and greeting cards. Yarn colloq.: What the hopeful lover does to the object of his infatuation with chocolate, cake, greeting card, or spoken words. Zodiac sign n.: The twelve parts of the imaginary area in the sky in which the sun, moon and planets are positioned make up the zodiac in the psychic realm. Matching the signs helps lovers decipher long-term relationship prospects. Example: ‘Today, you’ll meet a tall, dark stranger’.

CHEEK BY JOWL

Readers’ Response A twenty-first century guide Happy Sunday. I just read your SUNNY SIDE: ‘A Twenty-first century guide’ in The Nation of 21 December, 2014. Thank you very much. Regards. +2348026251***

Resolutions for all Resolutions for all: I read it. You are a man and actor, try more. The Nation: January 18, Page 76. +2348064239 *** I just read Resolutions for all. I like it. Keep the good work going. Evans, Edo. +2348074075*** •’Significant terms’ to be continued

QUOTE Love, and a cough, cannot be hid.

Jokes Humour Forever Yours A GIRL asked a guy if he thought she was pretty. He said ‘no’. She asked him if he would want to be with her forever, and he said ‘no’. She then asked him if she were to leave would he cry, and once again he replied with a no. She had heard enough. As she walked away, tears streaming down her face, the boy grabbed her arm and said, “You’re not pretty; you’re beautiful. “I don’t want to be with you forever, I NEED to be with you forever. And I wouldn’t cry if you walked away. I’d die!” Forever Not Yours A MAN walks into a jewelry store to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring. Looking behind the glass case, he sees an exquisite band with a handsome-sized rock in its center. “Excuse me, sir,” the gentleman says to the salesman. “How much is this ring?” “Ah, that’s a beautiful piece,” the salesman says. “It goes for N100, 000.”

“My God!” the man says in alarm. “That’s a lot of money!” “Yes, but a diamond is forever.” “Perhaps,” the gentleman says, “but my marriage won’t last that long!” Marry Me ROBERT, a cynical man of early middle age, had evaded many a marital trap, but was now hopelessly in love with pretty young Susan. Finally he said, “Will you marry me, Susan?” She smiled and said, “Oh yes, Robert.” There followed a long silence, till Susan said, “Well, say something more, Robert.” And Robert, in a moment of deep reflection, said, “I think I’ve said too much as it is.”

Curse of beauty BEFORE Linda became engaged, she was quite the beauty, and didn’t mind letting her boyfriend know it too. “A lot of men are going be totally miserable when I marry,” she said to him. “Really?” asked the boyfriend, “And just how many men are you intending to marry?” •Adapted from the Internet

—George Herbert

Writer ’s Fountain OW to write and Contest judges are not greatly moved by win: Would you really like to win a lyrical language, snappy dialogue or deep short story contest? What do judges look for insights into the human condition. They look when awarding prizes? You would expect for evidence of structure. Provided a story is every judge to bring his or her prejudices to competent in other respects, its structure, or the table – and they do – but professional lack of it, is the deciding factor. judges usually agree on which stories merit How can you strengthen story structure? an award. By asking several key questions of your story: And how do panels of judges, usually Have you focused on just one protagonist? acclaimed authors, reach their verdicts? How A short story should have just one protagonist do they select the winners, among so many whose viewpoint the reader will occupy. A excellent stories? story may be told by several narrators, or Between men and women: through more than one point-of-view, but one •Men are a lot more streamlined than protagonist must clearly predominate to women for swimming, because the female’s sustain the reader’s engagement in the story. For instance, a famous collection of short mamaries create a lot of drag – enough to ensure that racing suits have been developed stories was told through 24 different points with tiny pegs above the breasts to cause of view, but the presence of a single protagonist was always implicit. disturbance, which decreases the drag. Do you bring on the protagonist early •Men are more likely to be left-handed enough? The main character should appear (10%) than females (8%). •Men, on the average, can read smaller print in the first 400 words of a short story or no later than page one. than women. Readers bond with the first strong character •Men commit suicide three times more frequently than women, but women attempt they meet. It’s important that the first person suicide two to three times more often than they meet is not a bit-player who subsequently disappears. men.

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POLITICS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

IN VOGUE By Kehinde Oluleye

Tel: 08023689894 (sms) E-mail: kehinde.oluleye@thenationonlineng.net

Raising a voice for the Nigerian girl With Temilolu Okeowo temilolu@girlsclub.org.ng 07086620576 (sms only) Please visit my blog www.temiloluokeowo.wordpress.com for more inspiring articles. Twitter@temiloluokeowo

Missy Elliott reunites with Timbaland

d i d I d o G I thank not succeed with my abortion at 21 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;JOJU MOSE

Continued on Page 57

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

ENTERTAINMENT

Continued from Page 56

‘My job is too

demanding for any man to stay with me’

banned from Kenya's cinemas

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

'This is the way to Idoani' W

HY the name Sango? It used to be Sangopemibut when I was young, a few things happened in the family and they said one of the reasons why the things were happening was because I used additional names. It is my actual name, not a nick name. My parents were a little bit uncomfortable having their child being called Sango. There is a surname but I just like to keep it as Sango. I have always been just Sango for the last 20 years. What informed your decision to return to Nigeria? I came back home to farm. I have been making films for about 25 years now though I am not tired of that,I wanted to come back home and do something a little bit close to nature. I lived in the US. I made films in the US. I used to run a film school up in the UK. We had the biggest independent studio in Central London but I packed that up and came back home. I just finished shooting my movie titled Idoani. What is the concept behind the movie, Idoani? The film is really about two children who are grounded in African spirituality. They lost both parents in the village so they get on a bus to Lagos to search for their grandfather. The bus breaks down a few times before getting to their destination. It is just the journey of these children who were later befriended by a mad woman and a dog. Idoani is generally inspired by a growing discomfort of people accepting who they are especially as it pertains to their language and spirituality. Traditionalists have almost become a taboo topic in Nigeria. I tell people my name is Sango and that Ifa is my religion and some will stigmatise me.Whereas in other parts of the world, it is the fastest growing religion. We hear the same thing; that the world is civilised now. I don't know what that means. Is this your first indigenous movie? It is my first indigenous movie, though before now, I had done other films in America. Some of the films include Quiet Storm, Miles, Cross Wires and 187. I have done others but I usually mention the ones I have produced and directed independently. I am passionate about short films. I have done about 35. I still make short films. I also used to own and run a film school in the UK which I decided to fold up when I took the decision to return to Nigeria. In total, how much did it cost? You lose count. You lose count because it is a road film. And that was another suicidal thing that we did. Nobody warned me about that. We wanted to do a good film. We figured short of coming to create scenes where we spend about $40,000 just to get the lighting right for a scene, let's do a lot of it during the day when we have natural light. But when we got on the streets it was something else. The touts and the omoItas did not let us film. So we brought a DOP that worked with me on other projects. He came down and stayed. For the first three and half weeks, we didn't shoot anything. From being physically taken and put in a car and told we cannot leave until we pay, to the people threatening to smash our cameras. And I'm not talking once. It was on a consistent basis. So we shot some footages and when the DOP left and we couldn't match the footages, I had to dump about 80% of what we shot and go back to the drawing board. Having said that, we wound up shooting at the bus garage in Obalende. We met wonderful people there. As much as when I was shooting in Mushin, I hated everything about anybody that was in town, when we got to Obalende, the concept of what I heard about touts changed. I think these young boys totally changed it for me. From pitching in to carrying our cameras. It started with a fight,

Sango is a US-trained Nigerian filmmaker with over 25 years of experience. Having sojourned in the US and UK with his first love, which is moviemaking, he decided to pack it all up and return home to chase another endeavour, farming. He speaks with Ovwe Medeme on his first indigenous production, Idoani, African spirituality, among other topics.

•Sango on set for Idoani

but when they knew that we were not going to cave in, they calmed down. We shot even as late as 2am with a crew of just myself and a camera man because a lot of people were too afraidto go in the night. When we got to Obalande,we met lovely people. I can categorically say that among these people, there are some magnificent human beings which promptedme to want to do a workshop. I have to say this. I submitted a project to the Nigerian Film Corporation but when they heard that it was going to be a workshop rendering film service to ex-convicts and omoItas and agberos,that just totally threw them off. They said their director will not go for it. I shed why? Being among them you see the interest in the arts in them. Till today we have not heard back from them. You also farm alongside making movies… I love farming. I have always loved farming. I wanted to come back to farm. I also wanted to make films that could be doable in the environment where I was farming. There was doing a little theatre workshop in the village where I was farming, I didn't think that would be very farfetched. We had bought projectors to facilitate cinemas in those villages where we were going to be farming. We brought a few of them along but it did not work out as well but the next film we are doing is going to be totally, absolutely based in the village.

The films that we do from here on will be based in the village. This was supposed to be a very quick film to get us on the way there, something to try the ground with. There are other films that we have that are a little bit more complex. Every producer, every director wants three things from a film. They want it fast, they want it cheap and they want it good. You can onlyever have two of them. So we figured if we are making films on the farm, we can make it very good and very cheap. But it won'tbe fast because we are in an environment where people probably spend six or seven months in making a movie. What crops do you farm? I farm tuber, I farm cassava;I farm everything that people farm including fish. I like farming with my hands. I did bring a few machines but it was from a perspective of making money but I think the moment you start to work the soil, there is a relationship that you create. It is not something I can describe to you. If you don't feel it, it is not in you. I think the land just has a way of calling you. Does farming fall in line with your course of study? When I decided I was going to farm, I took a few workshops on how to plant things. I took the workshops in the states and obviously, it was different because they don't farm yams over there. And the kind of

“That was my memory of home. I brought my son back with me and he left because he could not stay in Lagos. He was happy in the village but he couldn't cope in Lagos. I did a stint at Methodist Boys High School and I was also doing music. So I brought all these musical equipment down with me. And one day the principal called and said I would donate the equipment to the school. I refused. He asked me to sign a letter and that was how we wound up in Maloney Police Station”

vegetables we plant over here. I studied filming, I majored in anthropology in NYU What was growing up like? I had a wonderful father and a wonderful mother. I lived in a village with my grandmother in Nigeria though I spent the bulk of my life in the US. When we came back, I went to school in Lagos but I was a very problematic person. My father sent me to the village to live with my grandmother and I loved it. It was supposed to be a punishment but I loved it. I could walk six miles without anybody bothering me. I could roam day and night. I think it was a calling when I decided to come back home. That was my memory of home. I brought my son back with me and he left because he could not stay in Lagos. He was happy in the village but he couldn't cope in Lagos. I did a stint at Methodist Boys High School and I was also doing music. So I brought all these musical equipment down with me. And one day the principal called and said I would donate the equipment to the school. I refused. He asked me to sign a letter and that was how we wound up in Maloney Police Station. Everything is still like a joke. It was a very bad experience. Eventually some family members. Then we still had the army. That was when I developed respect for the army. They beat the hell out of me. I think for me, the affection has always been for the village. Where exactly are you from? I am from Ondo State. I hail from Idoani in Owo. I have two children Is there a signature to carrying your beards this way? I didn't shave my beards for a little while and my sister and a few other people kept nagging me. There is no signature to it. I just decided I am not going to shave because everybody was so particular because I had little rough beard. The razor might probably come anytime I choose to pick it up. When I am on the farm, I am never worried whether I have a razor or not.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

ARTS

21 Top Secrets of Outstanding Indigenous Government Contractors Author: Tomi Vincent Pulishers: Oasis Media Network, Lagos Year of Publication: 2014 Reviewer: Edozie Udeze Title:

O begin with, what does it entail to become a government certified contractor? Does one need to have people in government in order to have access to government contracts? There are one or two issues that need to be sorted out if one intends to belong to this group of people who are saddled with the onerous responsibility to do government contracts. In this booklet, Tomi Vincent, a legal practitioner who has been in close league with many government agencies and paratatals, gives an insight into the core essence of doing business with government, whether federal, state or local. To him, There are 21 top secrets embedded in this matter. These top secrets are so outstanding that every indigenous government contractor who wishes to perform to his optimum level should possess them. He, however, states without mincing words that doing business in this regard with government has indeed remained one of the most veritable means of the mega profits for a lot of businessmen and managers. "Therefore it cannot be overemphasised to say that many entrepreneurs who are conscious of the benefits of doing business with government agencies have been able to grab these opportunities with both hands." These have invariably helped to improve their fortunes in business and other areas

FEBRUARY 15, 2015

Staying close to business

of life. But then, the pertinent question is: who are these contractors? What indeed qualifies one to be a contractor and then

Making the fall more meaningful Title of Book: Author: Number of Pages: Reviewer: Publisher:

The Fall of the Mighty. Pastor J.O Afolayan J.P. 64 pages. Julius Adegunna Gospel Arts Promotion, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos State.

FEEL highly honoured to have been called upon to do and present a review of the book The Fall of the Mighty. I have been privileged to have an advanced copy and that has given me the opportunity to know and understand the content ahead of many of us present here today. The book - wouldn't have come at a better time than this looking into the church of God and their contemporary leaders. When the fear of God is almost nothing, when many choose to exalt themselves before God, and when many choose to do their biddings rather than doing the bidding of God. They thus see themselves as the Mighty of God. Many see them as strong men of God, and to a keen observer, many are gradually falling off the track. The book has come as a wake-up call to our ministers of God across age, groups, and denominations. For apt understanding of all and sundry the book has been presented in a simple descriptive and analytical way. Right from the foreward readers are presented with what to expect from this prophetic message from the Most High God. The author delved authoritatively unto the issue of definition, sharing the differences between the fallen, and the falling men and women of God. He proceeded further to show us who can be regarded as the mighty one with distinguishing characteristics of an assumed great and Mighty one. The author moves further to share what it means to be a fallen Mighty one, a message which in all intents is very prophetic and directed. He did not leave us there but move forward to let us know what happens when we say a mighty person has fallen within God and contemporary examples in the bible and our modern days. It has been shown that no one is exempted from this but by the grace of God. But as a man of God, Pastor Afolayan was practical enough to let us know that know there is a way out of theof the pit from the

fallen one. His way out, he devoted a whole chapter to repentance and how to keep the Mighty of the Lord from falling. In a special way, Pastor Afolayan reminds all that choose not to repent of the place of the unrepentant one- as the place of the fallen Mighty. He concluded by offering his advice to all Christians and how to avoid their fall in their Christian race and journey. As people of God, this is the book one can recommend for all for a successful completion of Christian race. You can read and understand, you can read and learn and you can acquire and recommend for others. However despite encomiums, we should understand the zeal and the choice of Pastor Afolayan to write and publish this unique book. We should also understand that Pastor Afolayan is still bubbling to write other books. That is why he needs to be encouraged for all those who are genuinely keen on populating the Kingdom of God. I humbly recommend that you should not get a copy for yourself but extend it to others, especially to church leaders, pastors and workers across denominations by doing this I want to say within a very short time again we will gather again to pick a book from the stable of Pastor John Omodele Afolayan J.P.

be in a better position to do business with government? These and more are the topical issues the author addresses in this booklet. The concept of it all is to redirect people's attention to this area of business which the author admits is juicy and profitable. Done in three parts for easy assimilation, the first part dwells on what he describes as planning and familiarisation. In this case, this early stage should help intended contractors to stop doubting and be ready to take the risk. "Yes, successful government contractors possess die-hard confidence in themselves no matter the circumstance," is how the author opens the presentation. But more than that, however, "believe you can become a great and a successful government contractor. It is sad and surprising that many people cannot imagine of themselves as one". As a matter of fact, you do not have to know everything to become a contractor. All you need is an idea of what to do, where to go, who to collaborate with and how to mobilise the appropriate people and the machinery for the contract. However, this does not mean one can become a charlatan. Concentrate on the area where you can proficiently, profitably and effectively make a mark as a

contractor. Carve a niche for yourself and set a reputation overtime as somebody who is trustworthy to execute any given contract effectively and efficiently in the area of your strength". In this regard, proper information to guide one is necessary. Government agencies thrive on information dissemination and so for you to flow very well with them, you need to be abreast of the events in the area. In addition to that, you have to obtain all the necessary registration documents expected of a certified contractor working with government. The author insists that all these variables are a prerequisite and therefore essentially in order so that government would not feel that you are either fake or unserious. After this, the next stage is to reach out to the people that matter in such a business circle. "You have to stay ahead of competition and let your antennae be very sharp and receptive. Be resilient and resolute and determined to hit the road. You need to resolve to do this business in order to render service to the people. In other words, you should be ready to diversify or exhibit some dynamism and creativity so that you can be seen to be the best and more. In part two, the book takes a look at the nature and formalities of government business while part three treats the issue of execution, payment and dispute resolution. All these are essential ingredients if one hopes to be the best in this field of human endeavour. In 80 pages the author sums up these issues. However, the book is too slim to be able to offer deeper insight into this important topic. A bigger approach would have done a better magic to the issue at hand.

Poetry

Arise Naija Faceless Cloaked Shrouded in obscurity With deeds so evil That evil seems too good a description With qualities so un-ghost like Yet they disappear into thin air Sneaking about with their quilt of death The dark quilt wound tight around their neck Consuming them with so much hate On their fatherland they have become a terror Conveying news of tears, sadness, and sorrow Snatching babies from their mother's breasts Beheading the head as he seeks his daily bread Crossing the innocent on their paths to seek knowledge Making a burnt carcass of schools Once filled with life, hope, and tomorrows Bringing a nation to her knees Making questionable leaders seem even more clueless It's such a shame I cry for my motherland! My people have no water, live in darkness, yet they thread along My people have no food, no motorable paths, yet they thread along Push my people to the wall And they hide in it Murmuring sounds ego better, it is well, God dey Arise o people Of a land filled with plenty Arise o people And take your right Your right to peace Your right to growth Your right to a tomorrow Arise, o people of Naija

Each one of us Oh what agony! Piercing through my very being Seems like I never belonged anywhere Seems like I dropped, like a parcel from the skies Unbelievable memories too tender to think about A sharp cry from sharp realities, unthinkable So is this where it all ends? We now live life in sheer non-existence Outcasts of our motherland Paying with innocent and empty hands Even though life for her is in full swing I believe in her I trust in her I will be patient I will wait for my motherland It is now over a hundred and fifty days Each of those days seem like a hundred and fifty years My weak heart beats in a body that once lived My throbbing eyes stare blankly at the others Each one of us a shadow of what once was Each one of us a zombie at their peril Each one of us a sacrifice for our nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sins Each one of us a Chibok girl ... But behind it all There is no other god But Allah And the sun shimmers through Splashing light of beauty Covering the dark soil Making it golden yellow Bringing hopes Of happy tomorrows Here or the hereafter

By: Adejoke Ajibade Bakare

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

Polls postponement: Businesses count losses •Dangote

Page 58, 59

•NLC delegates

-- Page 53

How NLC failed Nigerian workers Page 59

‘We practise what we preach’

Page 60

Why poverty persists, by Actionaid P A OVERTY is rampant in Nigeria because of pervasive corruption, a new study by ActionAid Nigeria has revealed. Presenting excerpts of the report to the media recently, Hussaini Abdu, ActionAid Nigeria country director, decried the fact that despite the country having several antipoverty agencies charged with poverty reduction, the number of people living in poverty continues to multiply. He said a study recently commissioned by ActionAid shows that the level of poverty in the country was not abating despite the multiple agencies charged with its reduction. According to him, the study which was carried out by a panel of strong advocates was charged with finding out the relationship between corruption and poverty. He revealed that the study linked growing poverty to the

By Olayinka Oyegbile growing spate of corruption which has led to failure of public schools, utilities and infrastructures. The study revealed that corruption which has led to failure of public schools has encouraged citizens to find ways to survive, thus leading to more corruption and poverty. According to the study, the failure of the security agencies has led to the proliferation of private security agencies which corporate organisations and individuals have subscribed to. The study averred that because of the failure of these agencies, corporate bodies and individuals have to budget for their securities thus leading to cutting of corners

and corruption to meet up the costs. It found out that the failure of such agencies as the public power and water sectors has spurred individuals to make provisions to cater for themselves, thus stretching their budgets and making them to cut corners. Abdu regretted that corruption in government circles and ministries has reached the level of crass impunity where no one cares or is afraid of being found out. Although, the report stressed that it was not any specific administration, it found out that since 1999 when the country returned to civil rule "corruption has been democratised" as politics has become the most lucrative business in the land "it is an investment and when you win

you reap the dividend." The report regrets that despite the proliferation of anti-corruption agencies since 1999, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent and Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau and others, corruption continues to grow. It averred that with corruption, there can't be good elections and results; infrastructure can't grow because it is either expensive or not done. For instance, it found out that the cost of production of electricity in Nigeria is the most expensive in the world; this is if all that had been invested in the sector since 1999 is taken into consideration. The report regretted that various agencies raised to monitor public and private companies that provide services to the public have been "captured".

Stockbrokers, others task citizens on investment

KWA Ibom people in particular and Nigerians in general have been advised to take advantage of the bearish trend currently prevalent in the Nigerian Stock Market and make some good returns when prices of the stocks rise again. The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of KOFANA Security and Investments Limited, a member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Prince Okafor, gave the advice in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. KOFANA Securities Investments Limited is one of the few surviving stock brokering firms still operating from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Uyo trading

• Blames poor stock trading on poverty, ignorance From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo floor, Akwa Ibom State. On the poor investment attitude of the people, the stock trader identified poverty and ignorance of how to invest profitably in the stock market; government elitists projects and lack of industrial establishments that would have generated employment for the people, as some of the factors hindering the vast majority of the people of the oil rich Akwa Ibom state from taking advantage of the Stock Exchange located in the Uyo, the state capital. The Managing Director of KOFANA Stock brokers said:

"The problem with Akwa Ibom is that people down here have no jobs. To invest in stocks is therefore difficult because you have to work, earn a salary and from there take out something to invest. Where there are no jobs, from where will they get the money to invest?" Okafor asked. On the world stock market crash of 2008 and the fears still being nursed by victims, he said the stock market had since recovered, adding that those who got their fingers burnt are those who did not involve professional stock brokers when they wanted to invest in stocks. The former Military Governor of Rivers and Ogun states,

Group Captain, Sam Ewang (retd), noted while speaking at a rally organised by 'Friends of Buhari' in Uyo that the over N80 billion reported some years ago to have been spent by Governor Godswill Akpabio on the yet -to-be completed Tropicana Entertainment Centre, if it was spent on industrialisation, it would have provided at least 50 small scale industries across the state. Another stock broker in the state, Mbom James, blames the elites in the state who refuse to patronise the NSE trading floor and stock brokers in the state but rather prefer to use stock brokers in other states to transact their businesses.

•From left: Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Ebonyi State, Prof. Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe; Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu; his wife, Olufunke and Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahamon Bello, at a Distinguished Alumnus Reception for Mr. Sunmonu organised by UNILAG in Lagos...recently

Board to estate surveyors: register with FRCN

LL Estate Surveyors and Valuers practicing in Nigeria have been directed to register with the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN). The directive was handed down by the Chairman of the Board of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), Elder William Odudu, in Abuja. Odudu who spoke at the 21st John Wood Ekpenyong Memorial Lecture and Fellows Induction noted that there now exists a law in Nigeria requiring all professionals offering services to members of the public to register with the FRCN. Failure to do so, he said, has serious consequences and to avoid such consequences, Odudu stated that "the standards of valuation practice in this country has to be upgraded to internationally accepted standards, hence the need to clearly understand the International Valuation Standards (IVS) by all Estate Surveyors and Valuers practicing in Nigeria." Odudu reminded the fellow Estate Surveyors and Valuers that the Board of ESVARBON has power to regulate the practice of the profession of estate surveying and valuation in all its aspects and ramifications as well as upgrade valuation standards.

GSK kicks off Lucozade, Ribena 'Big cash giveaway' promo

SK Consumer Nigeria Plc has kicked off consumer promotion for Lucozade Boost and Ribena, its top brands tagged: 'Big Cash Giveaway' specifically designed to reward new and existing consumers in Nigeria who purchase the credible health drinks within the duration of the promotion. The promo which kicked off on February 9th 2015 offers everyone who purchases the opportunity to win awesome cash prizes this season. Justifying the need for the promo, the Marketing Director, Kerry Alexander, said: "the Big Cash Giveaway" promo is our way of rewarding our consumers for their patronage over the past years and also to restate our commitment of helping people do more, feel better and live longer." The promo, he stressed, "aims to excite and reward our consumers as well as continue to deliver value to our consumers." Echoing similar sentiments, the Group Product Manager, Aigbeme Momoh, said during the period of the promotion starting on February 9th, consumers who purchase either one case of Lucozade/Ribena 150 ml, or 7 packs of 288ml or 3 packs of 500ml PET in selected stores in Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Uyo, Calabar and Enugu, will get a raffle ticket and stand the chance to win N1million every week. While 75 people will also win N10, 000 weekly.

Winners emerge at StarTimes promo

UBSCRIBERS, who emerged winners in the second draw of the StarTimes Christmas promo, have been presented with prizes by StarTimes. Some of the winners, who received their prizes, could not hide their excitement as they received StarTimes LED TV sets and luxury sofas courtesy of Bedmate furniture. Speaking at the event, StarTimes Public Relations Manager, Israel Bolaji, said: "StarTimes is spreading the reach of digital television through this promo by ensuring every Nigerian has access to rich digital TV entertainment that is affordable and available to every Nigerian." He added that the promo is in line with StarTimes commitment at ensuring Nigerians enjoy the best of digital television entertainment. According to him, "as we look forward to the June 2015 deadline for digital migration; our vision is to help Nigeria migrate successfully from analogue to digital television." He said StarTimes is all about bringing family entertainment to everyone in the family, parents' young adults, and children. That is why we have collaborated with Bedmate on the promo to make sure families have a comfortable TV experience. Mrs. Omoyemi Akinwunmi, one of the Star prize winners of a set of Bedmate sofa, while receiving her prize in excitement, expressed her appreciation to StarTimes for keeping to their promise. She said she never believed it when she was told she had won. "I wasn't expecting to win since I didn't buy the decoder because of the promo. It's my first time using StarTimes and I don't regret it. I bought the decoder in December and have been enjoying it since then. It has so many rich channels that I love; it shows lots of Nigerian movies that I enjoy on Orisun. I encourage others who are yet to get StarTimes decoders to use this opportunity to get one for free," Akinwunmi added.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

BUSINESS

Polls postponement: Businesses co W

HEN Prof. Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), last weekend announced the rescheduling of the polls from February 14 to March 28 and April 11, his pronouncement did sent jitters to a lot of people, especially members and supporters in the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). But more than that, the shift in dates has caused a lot of havoc to many businesses and the economy generally these past days. The nation's presidential and parliamentary election, originally scheduled for 14 February, was postponed until 28 March while gubernatorial elections will be delayed to 11 April. This comes after Nigerian security agencies informed INEC that they would be unable to provide adequate security for elections on 14 February. The army said instead, it will carry out renewed counter-offensive against Boko Haram insurgents, together with troops from Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Experts on economic cost of polls' shift A conservative estimate put losses at hundreds of billions of naira thus far, a development, analysts have described as "unintended consequences" of the polls' shift. To finance and economic experts, the implications of Nigeria's rescheduled elections has worsened existing tension in the business environment and will keep economy in comatose for much of the first quarter of 2015. In the view of an economist and Managing Director, Head Africa Macro Global Research at Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan, many foreign investors, still attracted by Nigerian bond yields, had been waiting for the uncertainty of the election period to pass before recommitting themselves to Nigerian markets. But, "with prolonged electionrelated uncertainties, the risk is that these foreign exchange (FX) inflows are delayed," she lamented. With oil prices still languishing at low levels, resulting in little addition to the FX reserves, "we expect the reserves to come under further pressure," Khan said. She is further concerned that the postponement of Nigeria's elections would also potentially delay the formulation of policies aimed at helping Nigeria to cope with lower oil prices, and that state government finances are especially pressured, pointing to more frequent supplier arrears. Khan, in an email conversation, stressed further that extension of the election period creates additional uncertainty that may affect economic outcomes in Nigeria. Echoing similar sentiments, the Deputy President of the Nigeria British Chamber of Commerce and council member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Prince Dapo Adelegan, a lot of businesses and investors had taken position before the announcement and now, had to readjust not only their budgets but also their strategic business decisions. "There is a lot of uncertainty because business decisions and activities would be delayed fur-

The shift in the dates of the general elections has seen a lot of businesses across different sectors losing major investments just as economic uncertainties persist, report Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf and Bukola Aroloye

•Jega

•Emefiele

•Dangote

•Elumelu

•Ovia

•Fisas

ther. Already, 2015 financial year has been affected," he stated. The first half of this year, he observed, would be docile in terms of business growth because after the elections, things may drag on till third quarter of the year. "To me, quarter three of 2015 may actually be the beginning of real business in the country. That is in terms of projections, budgets, sales and other businesses that may have been affected in the first two quarters of the year. In terms of growth, we are going to have a stagnant growth in the first half of the year," Adelegan stated. Nigerian capital market analysts have said that the market would experience weak bargain because of the delayed elections. According to them, the postponement of the election is going to see the market react in a negative way as the economic uncertainty of the country increased. Head of Research at Sterling Capital, Sewa Wusu, noted that there will be a prolonged low level of confidence in the Nigerian economy and increased apprehension on the part of investors. He noted that the delayed elections means that investors will continue to hold back on investing in the country. A United Arab Emirates-based business expert and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Robinni, Mr Elija Ezendu, said the rescheduled election showed there were a lot

of political instability and unnecessary uncertainties in Nigeria such that, it is only businesses that were not affected by changes in the fiscal policies that would continue, while others would remain stagnant. According to him, a lot of foreign direct investments are stagnant. He said the world was watching what was going on and investors who usually put their money in highly regulated sectors like the banking sector and the oil and gas would hold on to avoid being hurt by political changes. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry also expressed concern about the negative impact of the elections postponement on businesses and investors' confidence. The LCCI, in a statement obtained by The Nation at the weekend said investors needed to have an idea of the direction of the country's political and economic governance in order to manage policy and political risks of investments. The President, LCCI, Mr. Remi Bello, said, "Political transition periods were typically characterised by profound anxiety and uncertainty. Prolonging these conditions has adverse impact on the confidence of investors." He said major investment decisions were difficult to take at times like these, adding that the tempo of economic activities had

expectedly decelerated as a result of the impending elections. "Therefore, the quicker these conditions are dispensed with, the better for investors. This is a major impact point of the election postponement - a prolongation of the suspense," he said. According to the LCCI, the circumstances and sequence of events leading up to postponement are prone to suspicion and could undermine the credibility of the electoral process. While highlighting the microlevel impacts of the postponement on businesses, the group said, "The postponement has disrupted many plans, programmes, meetings, academic calendar, conferences, and important business decisions; locally and internationally. Rescheduling of these activities and the attendant dislocations will come at a cost to investors and citizens alike." The LCCI noted that the postponement would put additional pressure on the campaign budgets of the political parties and the candidates for the various elective positions, adding that there would be additional funding requirements to sustain the tempo of mobilisation and service the campaign apparatus of the parties and the candidates. "This will take its toll on the finances of the candidates and the political parties. This however may be good news for the benefi-

ciaries of such campaign spending - media houses, logistics providers, printers of posters and banners, billboard providers, PR and Advert Agencies etc. The momentum of spending will have to be sustained for another six weeks," it said. Enter the big losers One of those worst hit is Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest businessman. The fall in the naira, coupled with falling stock prices, has erased more than $7.8 billion of his fortune since February, when FORBES locked in the values for its annual ranking of the world's billionaires. Dangote was worth $25 billion at the time; as of market close last Tuesday, he was worth $17.2 billion. More than half of the drop in his fortune has happened since early November. As of Nov. 7, Dangote was worth $21.6 billion, $4.4 billion more than now. The last few weeks have been a bit of a disaster for many companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Several blue-chip stocks such as Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Transcorp and United Bank of Africa among several others have hit one-year-lows as a result of the fall in oil prices, a general uncertainty regarding the 2015 general elections, Central Bank regulatory headwinds, and weak earnings from large cap companies. These

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

es count losses have all contributed toward putting naira-denominated assets including equities at risk. At the beginning of November, Dangote's stake in the cement manufacturer was valued at more than $18 billion. It is now valued at $13.2 billion. Dangote has also lost more than $230 million in paper value within the same period on his stakes in publicly-traded Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour, and National Salt Company of Nigeria. "This is whipping up negative market sentiments as foreign and institutional investors such as pension funds who hold equity stakes in companies (due to their large cap and liquidity status) have mostly fled their positions," says Ugodre Obi-Chukwu, a leading financial analyst and publisher of Nairametrics, a website that provides analysis and opinion about Nigerian stocks, investing, personal finance and the economy. After Dangote, the second biggest loser among Nigeria's ultrarich is Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, an investment company. Heirs Holdings, which is wholly-owned by Elumelu, is the controlling shareholder in Transcorp, a publicly-listed conglomerate with interests in power production, hotels and agriculture. Transcorp's current market capitalization is now $700 million, down from $1.4 billion at the beginning of November. Heirs Holdings has lost an estimated $345 million in paper value on Transcorp, and its stake in the company as at Monday is now worth roughly $400 million, down from $700 million. Elumelu's investments in other listed companies like UBA, Africa Prudential PLC and UBA Capital have shed a little over $27 million in value. Other big losers include Nigerian multi-millionaire banker Jim Ovia, a co-founder of Zenith Bank. The value of his stake in the financial services provider is $240 million as of late Monday, down from more than $350 million last month. He owns a 9% stake in the bank. "The situation is likely to get worse till it gets better as we expect a frequent boom and bust cycles over the next three months. We noticed this between late October and Early November when stocks plummeted only to recover slightly towards the end of November. Another massive selloffs then commenced in December that sent stocks to hit multiple year lows. The bulls are back again this week and I expect that to last until January at the latest when another bearish market may take hold. The next bearish session may intensify as we approach the elections and rhetoric's from politicians ratchet up," Obi-Chukwu said in an email conversation. A few weeks ago, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, announced a nearly 10% devaluation of the Naira, Nigeria's currency, after admitting that a plunge in world oil prices and dwindling dollar reserves were making it difficult to defend the value of the currency. The value of the Naira started out low last week at the interbank market selling at N196 to the dollar is now N208/N215 per dol-

lar in the bureau de change and parallel market, even as overnight lending rates rose to 37.5433 per cent. A report by Cowry Asset Management Limited, which also confirmed this, stated that equities experienced shocks amid sustained sell pressure, resulting in the declines in the overall market performance. Most sector gauges closed in the red, chief of which were the NSE banking index, the NSE consumer goods index and the NSE industrial index which declined by 1.65%, 3.65% and 2.36%. But more than four stocks declined for every one that advanced. Leading food and beverage manufacturer, Nestle Nigeria, weakened by N40.25 to close at N764.75 as portfolio investors jettisoned their holdings. Nigerian capital market analysts have said that the market would experience weak bargain because of the delayed elections. According to them, the postponement of the election is going to see the market react in a negative way as the economic uncertainty of the country increased. Head of Research at Sterling Capital, Sewa Wusu, noted that there will be a prolonged low level of confidence in the Nigerian economy and increased apprehension on the part of investors. He noted that the delayed elections means that investors will continue to hold back on investing in the country. "We are going to see the market react in a negative way," Bismarck Rewane, chief executive officer of Financial Derivatives Company told Bloomberg. "The economic uncertainty of the country has increased. By extending the uncertainty, investors who were waiting for the outcome of the election will not come back." "We had expected that after companies release their full-year results in March and the election is over, some stocks will begin to recover," Ayodeji Ebo, head of research at Afrinvest West Africa Ltd. in Lagos, said by phone. "The postponement has extended the market uncertainties." "The market is likely to remain in a risk-aversion mode this week," Samir Gadio, the Londonbased head of Africa strategy at Standard Chartered Plc, said. "At the macroeconomic level, things will remain at a standstill as lawmakers engaged in politics may not be able to pass the 2015 budget," Ebo said. "Even the president will have little time to run the economy." Besides businesses, the EU Election Observation Mission to Nigeria has said it will require an extra 1.8 million Euros budget to remain in the country to carry out its assignment following the rescheduling of the polls, an official said. The Chief Observer of the mission, Santiago Fisas, made the development known in a media interaction in Abuja on Thursday. Fisas said that the extra funds would raise the mission's budget for monitoring the polls to 6.2 million Euros. As businesses lament their sheer losses, analysts are concerned that the adverse effect of the polls' shift does not just bodes well for the economy but will linger still.

BUSINESS

OR three days, the conference hall of the International Conference Centre in Abuja was a beehive of activities as Nigerian workers attempt to teach the rest of the country how to practice real democracy. It was the delegate conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress which Edo State governor and a former National President of the Congress, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, described as the bastion of democracy. Horse trading and back stabbing were some of the intrigues that characterised the three days of the conference as the different unions fielding candidates in the election lobbied others for support for their candidates. Signs that there might be trouble at the conference started showing immediately the list of contestants was published by the Nasir Fagge-led credentials committee. Some private sector unions took a paid advertorial, alleging that an agreement entered into to cede the presidency to them was being jettisoned. Igwe Achese, President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, brought the issue to the floor of the conference, stressing that it was agreed that since Abdulwahid Omar, the outgoing president was from the public sector, there was the need to cede the position to the private sector. Three candidates filed papers to contest the position with backing from different unions. Achese dropped the bombshell, announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race and asking his supporters to cast their votes for Joseph Ajaero, the outgoing Deputy President and General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees. His announcement drew a loud applause and jubilation from supporters of Ajaero and the private sector unions present at the conference. But from there on, it was clear that Ayuba Wabba, the outgoing Treasurer and President of the Medical and Health Workers Union, was having the upper hand and may eventually carry the day. His supporters kept their cool and it was clear where the pendulum may swing. Abdulwahid Omar, outgoing president of the congress, agreed with Achese that there was an agreement to cede the presidency to the private sector unions. He explained that it was not a congress decision, but a kind of a gentleman's agreement among the unions. But the private sector unions felt betrayed by the decision to allow Ayuba Wabba contest the election. Wabba's immediate union had the highest number of delegates to the conference with 527 out of the 3119 delegates to the conference. He also had the support of other public sector unions with equally large number of delegates. The Nigerian Civil Service Union, Non Academic Staff Union, and all unions in the health sector were solidly behind him. Incidentally, Wabba is the National Chairman of the Joint Health Sector Unions that led the recently suspended strike in the health sector. The first major attempt to scuttle the conference took place earlier in the day when attempts to adopt the financial report presented by Wabba was scoffed at.

â&#x20AC;˘Anxious delegates at the event

How NLC failed Nigerian workers Tony Akowe, who monitored the three-day delegate conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, to elect new set of labour leaders, writes on the intrigues that characterised the process Discussing the report, one of the delegates requested for a report on the NLC KRISTON-Larry Housing Project 5 which has been riddled with fraud and for which subscribers are demanding a refund of their deposit. From there on, bottle water, sachet water and chairs were used freely until some of the presidential aspirants intervened and calmed fray nerves for the conference to continue. Elections did not, however, start until about 8.44pm with delegates allowing adjustment in the list of candidates for the election. Igwe Achese who had stepped down from the presidential slot was moved to the position of deputy president, making them five contestants for the three available positions. Before the conference, three candidates were cleared by the credentials committee to contest the election. It was an attempt to reopen nomination to allow Najeem Yasin, President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, that led to Comrade Issa Aremu, General Secretary of the Textiles Workers Union, to stage a walk out from the conference, a situation that did not go down well with elders of the congress, led by former President, Hassan Somonnu. Apparently, Yasin was disqualified by the committee for not properly filing his form. John Odah, former general secretary of the congress who was not happy with the decision by Aremu to walk out of the conference, said the congress has been very kind to the textiles workers. The intrigues continued to play out until it was time for election. The delegates had agreed during the business session to allow pensioners under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners to cast their votes first. When it took the 44 delegates from the union over 30 minutes to cast their votes, it was clear that the election was going to last all night. But when the 527 delegates from Medical and Health Workers Union took almost five hours to cast their vote, some of the delegates began to raise questions. Interestingly, before the election started, the leadership of the congress which was supposed to have been dissolved was not even though the outgoing president called for a motion to that effect. The chairman of the credential committee, Comrade Nasir Fagge, raised an objection, describing the move as unconstitutional as the constitution of the congress said that can only be done when a new executive has been elected. The Nation gathered that it was only a matter of time before trouble

started. At about 8.45 am, exactly 23 hours after the commencement of the elections, a delegate from Electricity Workers Union allegedly raised an alarm, alleging fraud in the ballot papers. Incidentally, NUEE is the union of one of the presidential aspirant, Joseph Ajaero. The union, with its over 400 delegates, had started their round of voting at about 7.20am. Observers told The Nation that a NUEE delegate raised an alarm that he has noticed that some aspirants names appeared more than once on the voting slip, thereby giving them an edge over his candidate. The alarm he raised caused commotion inside the hall as the other aggrieved delegates headed straight for the ballot box containing used ballot parts and smashed the boxes, scattering the ballot papers all over the hall, while carting away all unused ballot papers. They also claimed that the name of the second presidential candidate and outgoing deputy president, Joseph Ajaero, was also missing in some of the ballot papers being used for the election. The used and unused ballot papers were scattered inside the main hall of the International Conference Centre as delegates scampered for safety for fear of a stampede and eventual riot. Ajaero, however, told journalists that the election was stopped due to some irregularities discovered on the ballot papers. He said: "The dilemma we found ourselves in this morning is that a new president should have been sworn in, now that the new president is not sworn in, we wish to appeal to the elders of the movement to do the needful; to make sure that there is no vacuum in the NLC. This is our call and message and we apologise to Nigerians who may feel insulted by this show of shame by showing understanding until the exercise is organised." Wabba, however, dismissed the claim, pointing out that what happened was a deliberate attempt by enemies of congress to disrupt the conference because they discovered that they were on the losing side. On his part, Achese said it was regrettable that the much anticipated election had to be jettisoned due to the crisis. Though Omar came into office on March 3, 2011, the Achese camp said that his tenure ceased after the delegates' conference, whether it was conclusive or not. At the time of this report, it was learnt that labour leaders were making frantic efforts to resolve the dispute and were holding series of meeting with the aggrieved persons.

Update on Mainstreet acquisition

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

BUSINESS

E just carried out the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank Limited. By that acquisition, Skye Bank is now positioned to become one of the top mega six banks in the country. In our new status, we will be placing great emphasis on retail and commercial banking ultimately to ensure the growth of healthy deposit mix. Our new business strategy will also allow the bank to reduce the volume of public sector deposit and term deposit at its disposal for enhanced profitability and business sustainability. The acquisition of Mainstreet Bank has helped create synergies between the two banks. Considering Skye Bank's competitive edge in the industry, we hope to leverage on this to deliver quality customer service and high returns to our shareholders. Besides, I can assure that the acquisition would help Skye Bank optimise cost, invest heavily on information technology, as well as pursue aggressive expense control. The mergers of both banks would be as seamless as possible. Within the next few months, we hope to put measures in place to further grow our balance sheet as well as create value for our shareholders. Building relationship with investor stakeholders We hope to place emphasis on building more synergies of cooperation, which is why I think our interface and discussion session with stockbrokers group and other stakeholders in the capital market is very timely. It is a very good forum and opportunity for us to share information on what we're doing at Skye Bank. The questions raised are very relevant. I think it has also shown to us that the market is yearning for information and it is ready to invest in our business so long as they get the right information. The great lesson here is that if we reach out to the market, they are willing to accept us and that gives them the opportunity to have access to the genuine information about Skye Bank. What we have seen in the past is that people speculate about what's happening at Skye Bank and I won't blame them because we had not reached out to the market as much as we should. Going forward, we will do more of these. One of the things we have observed is that the market is very receptive to the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank by Skye Bank. We see a lot of values and that also reinforces our conviction in going to that acquisition. Challenges in the banking sub-sector The banking sub-sector experienced some turbulent times last year, considering the deluge of regulations from the regulatory authority. The CRR was increased, among others. Some of the policy initiatives in place are skewed in favour of foreign banks, such that the foreign banks will be coming to take business from Nigeria banks. The only way we can move around it is to form alliancesâ&#x20AC;ŚSo banks that have the ability to spot deals and package then can succeed. Managing credit crunch in the system One of the things you notice in an uncertain environment like ours is to be cautious. We are going to be cautious of those accessing loans until we see a clear direction beginning from after the election and then see how the oil prices volatility will get to, it will be difficult to take some credit decision. But we will not fold our arms, we will continue to support our customers, especially those already in our books. We may not take on new gigantic projects for now. But we are working and making sure we meet all our regulatory requirements issued by

'We practise what we preach' One year after Timothy Oguntayo became the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Skye Bank, he has recorded some giant strides, chief among which is the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank Limited, a move, analysts believe, will better position Skye Bank among the top six mega banks in the country. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he speaks on the new status of the bank, challenges and prospects in the banking subsector in general, his management style, to mention just a few. Excerpts:

â&#x20AC;˘Oguntayo

the CBN from time to time. As a responsible corporate citizen, we will always comply with regulations from the apex bank. Innovation by Skye Bank thus far At Skye Bank, we are strong on innovation. We are probably the first bank in the country to come up with the customer service charter, which we have since documented at the Consumer Protection Council. Even an independent body, KPMG, also certified it to be unique in the industry. We have been commended from various quarters for this particular innovation. In preparation for our mega size, we have invested heavily in ICT. To grow our deposit base, we also introduced direct sales agents, who are not full staff but are

placed on commission depending on what they bring into the table. Through that, we were able generate over N2.5billion between September last year and December. We hope to leverage on this going forward. We plan to go to the market to improve on our capital adequacy ratio. Management style as GMD/CEO one year after At the risk of sounding immodest, I can say we have not done badly thus far. Well, for me, I believe leadership is by example. That's the best way to go. What you say, you do it. What you want people to do, you do it. You're transparent, open. We have an open-door policy at Skye Bank. You can join the bank yesterday, if you need to see the MD, you can see him. If

you need to write an email to the MD, you don't need protocol; you can write. Even if you're a contract staff, you have access to the MD. And it has helped because some suggestions come from very low level staff and if you shut yourself up as the boss that only staff of certain grades can interface with you, then you will be losing quality advice and suggestions which could help grow the fortunes of the business ultimately. As I said, I like to lead by example. I mean it's not through what I say and not what I do, because what you preach you must do. Okay, if you want people to be up and doing, then you also must be up and doing; you want people to be professional in what they do, you also need to be professional yourself. I maintain an open access, staff from all cadres of life from the most junior have access to me, phone, email whatever and whenever, and I encourage free flow of communication. You know like parents telling their child don't lie, but you are lying in front of your child, he is going to believe what you do more than what you say, you know; so that's my philosophy in life. You must be a practitioner of what you say, and I think with that there should be no problem. Staff motivation Well you know motivation is a twoway thing, how do you motivate your staff to do better, how do the staff motivate the bank to do better? I think one of the things we will do or we have started to do is ensure we reward performance. All of these things boil down to performance, if staff perform at the optimal level, the bank will make profit, then the ability to pay better salary, the ability to pay bonus and the ability to take care of the welfare needs of the staff is a lot better. Recently, we have reviewed our salary package and we have announced that to the system. A number of people that were due for promotions have been announced; we have also introduced some extra welfare packages to our staff. But that's the first step. The second step is also to ensure that the reward system is transparent, effective, therefore if there are three or four of us, it should be clear to see who is performing and who is not performing. So that the day you want to reward either by monetary compensation or by promotion, it should be obvious to all of us. I mean nobody would want to admit that he is not a performer, but within his heart he should know that 'oh this guy is a better performer than me.' So that's what we will do; we will make sure that our reward and appraisal system is open and transparent, and then the reward is also given on timely basis. Performance-oriented What we do regularly is that at the beginning of every term, we set the benchmark for performance. We let you know what you're supposed to do and then we measure you in a very open and transparent manner. So, you know yourself whether you're performing or you're not performing. And since this is a business, if you have a staff that is not performing in spite of all the support, then, of course, you part way in a friendly manner. But what we also do is to train people. We train them, we expose them. We coach them. We get senior people to go out with them from time to time so that they can learn how to do these things. And if they come across a business that may be because of their level, they need to go with senior people, the senior people will go with them. So, we give them all the support that would let them perform. But you know sometimes you do all of these things, it doesn't work in few cases. Of course, we're in business to make money. So, we need to bring in fresh blood into the system.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

NEWS • Continued from Page 12

over to a northern civilian with an unbalanced mathematics. He even negotiated in desert tents and being who he is, that also made him survive in prison, he also survived these intrigues. He attended to the army wing of politics and executed a strategic handover that eventually enthroned a Minority in the Presidency. Jonathan emerged with a lot of goodwill and as a breath of fresh air: not from the Caliphate North, not an exmilitary man, and not from any of the majority tribes. A younger man than the immediate past Presidents. And above all a University graduate. A PhD! Nigerians were very hopeful that a new era that would be better than the British colonial era of exploitation from 1914 – 1960 and better than the caliphate North mis-rule from 1960 – 2010 effectively (Obj being a creation of the North) has started. A new era where an ordinary (qualified) Nigerian will truly enable Nigeria to practice democracy: a government of the people for the people by the people! The President Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, is ultimately an Obj creation, even if not originally planned so. It is therefore very significant if this Presidency is rated low by its main promoter and its low performance rating then becomes comprehensive with the latest endorsement of Buhari by Obasanjo despite all the hedging. Other prominent Nigerians, with objective minds have also made direct calls that Buhari be supported and be voted for. From my detailed analysis and observations, I am aligned to that thinking. However, I have not seen any one that truly captured why the Jonathan Presidency failed the hope of ordinary Nigerians. It is my conviction that all the failings of his Presidency emanated from one mortal leadership sin: the deliberate and sustained replacement of a presidential vision that should be good for Nigeria and Nigerians with a personal vision uncompromisingly focused on re-election! He sacrificed and was ready to sacrifice anything and everything, anyone and every one for re-election! He continuously saw himself as a politician instead of the President of Nigeria! This is really frightening and dangerous when the full ramification is internalised. Anything and everything that can lead to re-election is allowed no matter how wrong or unwholesome, and anything and everything that is good for Nigeria and Nigerians, but that has no immediate direct link to re-election can be traded for reelection! This is not leadership. This led to leadership failure including the Kano Governor taking over our Presidential villa to abort Nigeria having a credible and accurate census! Analysing it further is not necessary for the initiated. Where there is no vision, the people suffer like we have also seen with the North currently at the receiving end of insurgency and displaced persons, including trafficking of children and heart-aching forceful slavery of about 300 Chibok young school girls. It is providential that APC provided an alternative platform. If not, a real crisis is possible, if the Jonathan Presidency, with PDP as a party, continued the current governance deception or charade. And for APC to make

Odimegwu: Buhari is best for the job “It is my conviction that all the failings of his Presidency emanated from one mortal leadership sin: the deliberate and sustained replacement of a presidential vision that should be good for Nigeria and Nigerians with a personal vision uncompromisingly focused on re-election! He sacrificed and was ready to sacrifice anything and everything, anyone and every one for re-election! He continuously saw himself as a politician instead of the President of Nigeria! This is really frightening and dangerous when the full ramification is internalised.” change possible, like a done deal, Nigerians must thank the Jagaban of Nigeria, the last standing Governor of the 1999 class, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for unmatched vision and patriotic role in forming the APC. Nigerians must also thank General Buhari of CPC, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu of ANPP, Owelle Rochas Okorocha of an APGA faction and HE Atiku Abubakar, Turaki Adamawa for leading the New PDP team to reinforce APC. Special thanks to the Lion of the South South, HE Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi for being a man and a leader of character: committed to his people till death if necessary. These are the great Nigerians, with their teams, that gave a platform to save Nigeria. The Good Lord has forgiven all their shortcomings and prepared a special abode for them in paradise. As already well said elsewhere, General Buhari is educated enough. Experienced enough and meaning well enough to be our President. No more unnecessary distractions. And the only advice one can give APC at this point is to make Tinubu the Party Chairman (forget zoning) so that he can build APC into an ANC type party, with internal democracy and where the elected President cannot dictate to the Party, and the Party can discipline an erring President. Where the Leader of the Party is the Chairman of the Party and not the President to allow for separation of powers, for checks and balances. PDP was ruined doing the opposite as an evidence of this need. This short historical excursion shows that all Regions of Nigeria have tasted what it feels like to be under a country where things are not done properly. Overall, Buhari has remained above the rot and now positioned to save Nigeria. And Buhari himself said: “My dear friends, this is very important to note: it doesn’t matter if you are Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw,Hausa, Idoma, Efik, Ikwere, Urhobo, Igala and, no, it doesn’t matter if you are a Christian, Muslim, Animist or Atheist: we need a new direction under a new leadership. The task ahead will be very challenging and daunting, but it is surmountable. This is what leadership is about; my only desire is to prove to you that Nigeria can truly work. Allow me to prove to you that in your lifetime, you can be proud of this country. Let me make you this promise today: we will protect your children; we will protect your wealth. We will make this country work again. This is why i am running for the office of the President of Nigeria. This is my promise.”The pertinent question is: Why General Buhari? I believe him because he is believable. I believe him because he has a track record of being a serious leader. I believe that General Buhari will do well as President of Nigeria and that he needs the support of all for seven reasons: He has the personal example of honesty and integrity. He will

•Jonathan

not steal with compulsion. As Fulani he can relate better with the Caliphate to help redeem its image of misrule and establish once and for all that where a leader comes from is not important. What is important is that he performs well for Nigeria and all Nigerians. As a General he will relate best to the Nigerian military to help redeem their image of misrule too and show that our military is a worthy national institution and not army of occupation with soldiers of fortune. He is committed to fight corruption and compulsive stealing. This is key now, with 5 and 6 as well. He is committed to fight insurgency and can handle it better. He cares about ordinary Nigerians and will serve them wholeheartedly. He is supported by many prominent objective Nigerians, international objective media and the civilized world. He is dreaded by many that have looted Nigeria dry. And I am happy in this worthy company of free citizens of the world and institutions that endorses General Buhari and recommends him to all Nigerians. What General Buhari and APC owe Nigeria and Nigerians, during this extra and unnecessary six weeks delay to election day and even long after is to SECURE THE LIFE of General Buhari. It is imaginable, given the annulment of June 12 under unclear circumstances, that this six weeks delay can have more supporters than are known. President Jonathan himself can lose control as during the trying time of the 1993 election crisis. It is imaginable that some vested interests may not want both President Jonathan and General Buhari and may work alone or in cooperation with others to impose a contrived and orchestrated interim government that is now gaining traction. Or coups or coups baits that are being mentioned, worsened also by giving security agencies more roles over election matters than necessary. The forces that aborted June 12 could still be alive. General Buhari in many ways reminds one of MKO. Nigerians must shine their eyes beyond the ordinary and the conventional. Things seem to me now like the

more one looks, the less one sees. There is a logical need therefore, based on the history of MKO’s political struggle to have cause for concern. Similarities, comments, personalities, etc. are emerging and trending. APC as a priority should secure the life of General Buhari. It is important for Nigeria and Nigerians. And as said earlier, this is also the task for the Federal Government, specifically the President. This bulk must stop on this table: no relegation, no excuses. Now, what are the key challenges before President Buhari when elected? Nigerians are hopeful that General Buhari will live for them and win the coming election. And I want him to be the best President Nigeria ever had after his two terms in 2023. But this will be based on his performance in office, for Nigeria and all Nigerians, and not on sentiments. For that to happen, he needs to meet the following seven challenges as an absolute minimum: One Nigeria for All Nigerians: He must come with a Vision of One Nigeria for All Nigerians. Based onTruth, Justice, Equity and Fairness as the only basis for sustainable Unity, Peace and Progress. This progress must be bigger and greater than progress under ethnic, regional, religious or other identity platform. Every thing he does must be driven by this Greater Nigeria, Greater Nigerian Vision. He must rally the Nation, the Nigerian Nation and all Nigerians with this inspiring leadership vision based on his continued honesty, integrity and personal example. Nigerians will believe and follow him. And that is what leadership is all about. This will ensure that the two million or so Nigerians who died during the Nigerian civil war will not die in vain and for their souls to finally rest in peace. Keeping Nigeria One is good but certainly not the current Nigeria. To keep Nigeria One for ALL NIGERIANS is a task that must be done!! On that vision we must all stand. First Class Cabinet: He must establish a credible and competent cabinet and Presidency with only credible, honest and competent professionals with integrity and personal examples too: extending himself and his goodness into the total executive arm at the Federal level that will

impact on executive arms at the Regional levels and the Legislative and Judiciary arms at all levels. This is the magic of honest leadership!! This Presidency can lift the entire nation, all sectors. Assemble the best Team of Nigerians from anywhere in the world to give the best cabinet and Presidency ever designed and in placed in Nigeria. Really qualified persons may be begged to join the cabinet/ Presidency. This Presidency under the President, should then develop the strategic Architecture to develop Nigeria in 8 years, even without a drop of oil and oil revenue!!! This Presidency will, by example, provide leadership for the Legislature, Judiciary and all public servants/civil service at both the Federal and Regional Government levels, even with separation of powers. This presidency, by absolute dedication to the well-being of Nigerians, and well-being of all Nigerians ALONE will have the moral suasion and audacious impact to mobilize all civil society organizations, media, academia, labour, youths, women and the international community to enforce what is right on all Nigerians and all institutions of state. Strong and patriotic leadership precedes all strong institutional formulation, building and establishment. Strong institutions and maintenance culture are outcomes of strong leadership that also establishes good laws and enforce them no matter who is involved. Nigeria cannot be an exception. And the President and his Vice are not the first and second citizens by order of protocol for nothing. The President, can and should take the lead. And if doing the right things, all will follow. And all will be made to follow one way or the other. Leadership determines followership in our type of society. Leaders with integrity and personal example like Buhari are needed for progress. And their goodness cascade down and permeate the Nation. Countries without the likes of Buhari in power ultimately perishes. There are really no other options to greatness than through great leaders. Buhari has the qualities. And he has a date with destiny in the Nigerian presidency from 2015 – 2023. May God give him the right vision and guide him. Security for all Nigerians: Security has socio-economic and political inclusive, visiondriven and effective governance aspects that needs to be handle in conjunction. But directly he needs: To degrade, destroy and eliminate Boko Haram insurgency in the North, including immediate arrest and prosecution of sponsors, financiers and hate religious preachers and severe punishment of those implicated in the abuse of IDPs. To degrade, destroy and eliminate kidnapping and

armed robbery kingpins and drug barons in the South East including removal of all criminals in traditional institutions and in political offices and parties through special courts for accelerated no nonsense hearing. To continue to contain militancy in the South South including arresting and prosecuting all sponsors and leaders of massive oil thefts and collaborating security organizations – private and state. To carry out a massive youth empowerment job creation and invest in education and vocational training targeting elimination of prostitution, human trafficking, modern day slavery and idleness of youths. Restore sanctity in the military and security agencies including severe disciplinary actions, jail terms and court marshalls for those who perpetrate corruption in security matters and intelligence officers that collaborate with criminals, by sitting on their files, allowing them into political offices. Eliminate Corruption (reduction will not do!): Corruption has killed Nigeria. People steal without consequences. The rule of law is in breach. Some Nigerians are more equal than others. Write your name in gold to stop this. First work with the National Assembly and all Nigerians to close all office duplications that will reduce the 2000 + MDAs to just the Constitutional Bodies and maximum of 24 Ministries with eye to reduce recurrent expenditure to 30 % max and capital expenditure to 70% minimum by design / planning. And enforce the monetisation policy. This will be a good signal of serious leadership and no business as usual. Take all Audit Reports on corruption cases since independence till date and set up a small body of 10 incorruptible Nigerians to vet it and sieve out all refunds needed. Work to set up special courts, with high integrity known judges with modern ICT-based court process and with international support and ask them to recover all stolen Nigerian funds in one year maximum. This will generate more funds than your Administration will ever be able to invest in Nigeria in eight years even without selling a drop of oil. This is the best thing you can do for Nigeria with your integrity and honour. If it is not done, people will continue to steal turn by turn and kill themselves for political office. Public service must not be a route to material wealth. Public service should not be the best economy. It should only be an avenue for sacred service to fellow Nigerians. Once there is the political will to do this, you will be surprised how easy it is to execute. It is the criminals that should be afraid and not honourable Nigerians working on behalf of the Nation and on behalf of Nigerians. Stand firm on this. The well-being of all Nigerians Imperative: The economy should be managed for 12% growth that creates Jobs, Jobs and Jobs. Having a credible census for Accurate Demographic Data is key to professional management of the economy. The envelope system without data, without strategy and plan supports corruption. Physical and Social Infrastructure (Education, Health, Transport, ICT etc) and Development strategy and plans coordinated by the CEO of • Continued on Page 66

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

Northern elders berate Clark, SNPA over alleged collusion with INEC •Vow to resist attempt to scuttle democracy •’Why Jonathan is angry with us’ From Sanni Onogu, Abuja HE Northern Elders Forum (NEF) yesterday lashed out at the Edwin Clark-led Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA) for claiming that the NEF connived with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the 2015 presidential elections in favour of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari. The Deputy leader of the NEF, Dr. Paul Unongo, told reporters in Abuja that the SNPA’s allegations were a camouflage to scuttle the elections and promote tenure elongation for an “extremely unpopular administration.” President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, according to him, is angry with the NEF because of the group’s fierce resistance to being used as “cheer leaders by a comatose and clueless administration.” The SNPA had, in an advertorial signed by Chief Clark, ex-Vice President Alex Ekwueme and Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu, accused the NEF of holding clandestine meetings with INEC with a view to rigging the coming election in favour of Buhari. Unongo said there were no such meetings and dismissed the allegation as wild, completely false, irrational and irresponsible. He said that the NEF worked hard and initially cultivated a practical relationship with the “reluctant, insensitive Jonathan Presidency” which helped to promote national unity and harmony only for the government to turn “deaf and incredibly insensitive on a range of issues, including how to tackle the intractable insurgency.” He added: “We were rebuffed but persisted in our efforts, with copious memos and consultations, right up to the D-day of the emergence of the SNPA sponsored write-up, we are now responding to. “NEF believes that what annoyed and irritated this administration with our organisation and with members of NEF is our fierce resistance to being absorbed as ‘cheer leaders’ of an administration which appears objectively comatose and clueless in problem solving using massive graft, ethnicity, nepotism and impunity to induce, ‘elders’ critical institutions of state power, restive youth and super impoverished citizenry to join in self-deception-mass delusion of a better tomorrow, just around the corner.”

HE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has taken into custody four suspects in connection with an alleged N924.98million fraud in the Federal Ministry of Environment.

NEWS

Mass shooting threat: Mbu is lawless, barbaric, says APC •Police should protect lives not kill citizens - IGP ‘’But that action, as bad as it

HE Police authorities yesterday sought to douse the tension sparked by Assistant Inspector General Joseph Mbu that the police would kill 20 people for every one of their own lost during the forthcoming elections. Mbu, who oversees Zone 2 comprising the Lagos and Ogun Commands, had declared in Abeokuta on Thursday that : “If one of my men is killed, I shall kill 20 of them but don’t shoot first. If they shoot you, shoot back in self-defence. Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence.” The All Progressives Congress (APC) called Mbu’s statement barbaric and said his actions since he was posted to Lagos “have neither dignified the police as an institution nor portrayed him as a well-trained law enforcement agent.” However, Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba yesterday pledged the commitment of the police to the rule of law and the respect of the fundamental rights of citizens and residents alike by all Police officers. Although he admitted that there are circumstances under which an officer may be provoked in the course of duty, he reminded the rank and file that the Police Regulations require of every one of them to exercise “tact, patience and tolerance and the control of his temper in trying situations.” The IGP reassured the public that the Police have a mandate to save and protect lives, and not to kill, contrary to recent statements in the media, a veiled reference to Mbu’s statement. Abba cautioned officers to

avoid excesses, pointing out the dire consequences attendant on abuse of human rights, all of which are contained in the recently released Human Rights Practice Manual. The Force Public Relations Officer at the Police Headquarters, Acting Police Commissioner Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the IGP, addressing senior officers and stakeholders in his office, advised all policemen of the imperative necessity to apply caution in the use of firearms, warning that except in extreme circumstances, arms shall not be used during the forthcoming elections. He observed that the rule of law is the underpinning tenet of democracy, which will guide Police officers in the discharge of their roles in the forthcoming national elections. The Police, according to him, are prepared to provide the requisite security before, during and after the elections. Mbu had also at the Abeokuta meeting with his men declared that they had the authority to arrest, before, during and after elections. He said it was not compulsory for them to even greet a governor who comes to vote. He went further: “You have the power to stop the governor. We are in a critical period. We are not para-military. We must be bold and brave. Keep an eagle eye on everybody. We are authorised by the constitution to arrest before, during and after election. Our role is to ensure free, fair and violence free elections.” The APC, reacting to Mbu’s statement said it smacked of lawlessness and barbarism. The party asked the police authorities to call him to order “before he starts another around of his trade-mark nihilism in his

new posting.” “The temperament, comportment, utterances and actions of Mbu, a very senior police officer, are capable of inciting mass killings, violence and anarchy,” the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said in a statement. ‘’Since his posting to the Zone 2 Command, this contumacious policeman has exhibited an egregious act of lawlessness by barging through the Lekki Toll Plaza without paying toll and then ordering the arrest of policemen and workers at the Plaza. Is it not an irony that a man who is trained to enforce the law is the same who is breaking the law?

was, pales into insignificance when compared to his most recent statement in which he was basically inciting the police against the citizenry and encouraging the killing of civilians. It is sheer irresponsibility for a senior policeman to say that for every policeman who is killed during the election, he will kill 20 civilians. ‘’Lest we are misunderstood, our party will never condone the killing of police personnel or of any law enforcement agent for whatever reason, just as we will not condone the killing of any innocent Nigerian. If a senior police officer does not know how to convey to his officers and men

that they should protect themselves while also avoiding extra-judicial killing of any citizen, then the funds spent in training him have been wasted.” The APC said such language as ‘fire-for-fire’, “If one of my men is killed, I shall kill twenty of them” or “you have the power to stop the Governor” is inappropriate, inciting and barbaric, especially under a democratic dispensation, and is most unbecoming of a senior law enforcement agent. It therefore said Mbu should be held solely responsible for any violence or killing of innocent citizens before, during and after the elections in the area under his command. APC warned Mbu to mind his utterances and actions, shake off all the vestiges of lawlessness and barbarism for which he has become infamous and comport himself like a senior police officer that he is if he wants to succeed in his new assignment, saying ‘’if he continues in his old, unedifying ways, he will face a public opprobrium as he has never done before’’.

•L-R: Human right activist, Malachy Ugwummadu; National Chairman, Nigeria United for Democracy, Mr. Femi Falana and Ogbeni Lanre Banjoko during Pro Democracy Valentine "Sit Out' Citizens Expression of Love for Democracy at Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park , Ojota, Lagos yesterday. PHOTO: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Presidency, PDP probe four governors’ romance with APC

HE Presidency and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have launched a probe into alleged romance by four governors of its governors with the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the March/April elections. The governors are suspected of rooting for the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. The party is also unrelenting in pressurizing ministers to deliver their states to PDP even as reports from many states suggest that it faces an uphill task in winning the majority of votes in those states. These are: Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Niger, Benue, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Gombe, Adamawa, Oyo and Kebbi. The presidency and the PDP, it was gathered yesterday, were forced to commence investigation of the four governors after initially ignoring reports that they were not keen on the re-election of President Jonathan. The four governors under surveillance are from the North-West and the North-East.

•Party worries over Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, others FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation It was learnt that the PDP might use the six-week poll shift timeline to do more work on how to checkmate APC’s influence. A source said: “The presidency and the PDP are looking into the political activities of about four governors from the North-West and the North-East who seem to be less committed to the Jonathan Project. “There is suspicion that the affected governors might swing votes for APC during the presidential poll. If the allegation is true, the PDP has a six-week window to come up with Plan B to win the affected states. “Certainly we have to brace up in some strategic states.” Sources also said the PDP was uncomfortable with reports about its electoral chances in Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Niger, Benue, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Gombe, Adamawa, Oyo and Kebbi states.

A top member of the National Working Committee of PDP said: “Despite the fact that our party is popular and acceptable to the people of these states, the feelers we are getting are that we need to do more homework to win in those places. “The challenges in these states border on defection of some of our leaders and members and deliberate plans to sabotage PDP’s chances because of some issues. “We want to spend the next few weeks to close ranks and educate our leaders and members on the need to work for the victory of the party. “In fact, President Goodluck Jonathan has already waded in on Adamawa and the situation is improving. Jonathan met with some stakeholders from the state about a week ago and the party is on the way to redemption in the state. “Jonathan has also engaged some of the governors to improve intra-party relationship in their states.” Responding to a question,

the source said: “The PDP is trying to woo the elite in the North. We know Buhari is popular with the masses but the elite have the means too.” Another source said: “Take the case of Oyo State. PDP might have to go into a working alliance with some parties in the state. This was why the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, had audience sometime ago with the leader of the Accord Party leader, ex-Governor Rashidi Ladoja. “The PDP governorship candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin is from Ibadan but we have discovered too that the candidates of APC, Accord, and SDP are also from Ibadan. This means the candidates from Ibadan will split the votes from the area. Certainly, we have to reach out to other parts of Oyo State or else Jonathan may not get the required 25 per cent in the state. “In Niger State, it is mainly politics of retired army leaders whose children are seeking the governorship ticket. The outgoing governor is managing

Four in ICPC custody over N924m scam The suspects include one Mr. Adeolu Adeyanju, Chief Executive Officer of Detwinx Global Services Ltd, whose company allegedly received N465,193,460.05 of the amount

in its account. He was said to have withdrawn the entire amount on the same day the money was transferred into his account. The other suspects are

named as Usman Omoh Sani who is the brother to a key suspect named Murphy Sani who is at large; Raphael Orim, Managing Director of DeOrmat Furniture and

Abubakar Mamman Mutari of Afazuwa Ventures (Bureau De Change). Adeyanju had initially fled to a neighbouring country when the fraud was uncovered

to cope with the wave of the APC is making in the state. Some members of the National Assembly, including an in-law to the wife of the governor, have also defected to APC “In Kebbi State, PDP leaders like Adamu Aliero, Gen. Mohammed Magoro and some members of the State House of Assembly are now in APC. “The situation in Akwa Ibom State is most surprising to PDP leaders because the gang-up against the party in the state by some of its leaders is a threat to the success of PDP. “The non-payment of workers’ salaries is making the party to lose its goodwill too. We thought it was a smooth sail in Akwa Ibom but the family is really divided as a result of the fallout of the governorship primaries.” Sources also said ministers were coming under more pressure to deliver their states. It was learnt that some ministers, who were hitherto lukewarm, have joined the fray to campaign for President Jonathan. but was later arrested by ICPC after a manhunt. The rest were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and handed over to the ICPC, according to spokesman for ICPC, Mr. Folu Olamiti.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

INTERVIEW

RE you bothered by the tension in the run-off to the general elections? It is normal in the Nigerian setting. But this year's elections are particularly interesting. Never have I seen Nigerians as enthusiastic and concerned as now. Everyone wants to vote now. In the other years, we always complained about Nigerians being apathetic but this year people are interested in who governs them. There are apprehensions to the extent that SMSs are flying around telling Nigerians to stock-pile food. Is that necessary? No, that is not necessary. Yes, there would be challenges here and there but not to the extent that Nigeria will go to war. Definitely, there would be skirmishes and crises in some hot points but from what I can see and sense, life in Nigeria will continue after the elections. What is the basis of your optimism? We have prayed and I am sure God has answered us. Two, there is a peace pact signed by the partiesâ&#x20AC;Ś â&#x20AC;ŚThe one that did not last more than 24 hours? Well, it hasn't completely broken down and we believe it won't. An average Nigeria doesn't want trouble, except for one or two miscreants. But I am optimistic that our lives will continue after the polls. How can we reduce the tension and violence to the barest minimum? The greatest factor is for political actors to caution their supporters and followers. The political godfathers also have a part to play. There is a combination of illiteracy and poverty that make people do things they should do. Those who want to cause trouble want to do it for some people. If you want to fight on my behalf and I say no, will you still go ahead? Some of these political thugs fight because they know there are people to defend them. If they have nobody, they will keep away. Once the political gladiators are not ready to fight and instruct their followers not to fight, there won't be violence. Should religion play a part in who will elect to govern us? In Nigeria, religion and traditions are part of our political culture here. You can't play politics here without considering those factors. We are Nigerians, not Americans and you can't take away that from us. However, I believe the church is a sleeping giant. I believe the solutions to our national problems can emanate from the church if our leaders understand the dynamics of politics. I believe religious leaders have minimal roles to play but nothing more than that though. Should they endorse can-

'The church lacks electoral value' As a one-time deputy speaker of Oyo State, Pastor Femi Emmanuel, the senior pastor of Living Spring Chapel International Lagos, has seen both worlds. He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on how the church can influence good governance and political emancipation. Excerpts: didates? In my understanding, they shouldn't be partisan but they shouldn't be apolitical. It is wrong for the church to say it is apolitical. If there is any interest I have, it is to correct that mistake. He who pays the piper dictates the tune. If you say you are apolitical, it means you are not involved. If you are not involved, where is your place then? I believe that if church leaders produce good people for the industries and marriage as well as other sectors of life, we should produce good people for politics. So, we shouldn't be apolitical and partisan. I don't subscribe to open endorsement of any candidate. As a pastor, you should be a father to all. Endorsement should not arise at all. Should the polls be postponed as advocated in some quarters? The February 14 and 18 dates for me are sacrosanct. They should not be postponed. Rather, we should advise INEC to do everything possible to make the PVCs available. To shift the dates at this time will create more problems and suspicion. To shift the polls might be the beginning of the crisis we want to avoid. I think we have gone too far in the day to shift the polls. INEC, unfortunately, has not done enough in the distribution of PVCs. I, for example, don't have one yet. Maybe that is because you have not made enough efforts I have the TVCs. I was there this Monday but told it hasn't come. INEC hasn't done well in that aspect as far as I am concerned. There are still many Nigerians that have been disenfranchised. But be that as it may, it is too late in the day to call for postponement. Shouldn't INEC allow for use of TVCs? I believe that too except that they said their card readers can only work with PVCs. If you knew that from the beginning, you should have factored that in. It is amazing that we do things haphazardly here. INEC gave us just three days to pick up PVCs. That is never enough in Nigeria. You know we are late starters. You will only get them to act when the ultimatum is close. I know there are considering financial factors but that is the price to pay for credible elections. The number of

â&#x20AC;˘ Femi-Emmanuel

people that you will disenfranchise might just make a shame of the whole process. Are you bothered by the sharp division in the church on the forthcoming polls? I am not bothered because like I told you, the church is a sleeping giant. I believe nothing any church leader says will affect the elections significantly. So, their endorsements do not count? It doesn't matter because they are not there. The church does not produce who you vote for. If you don't do that, you are not there. When I won my election, I knew the platform that took me there. My respect and loyalty were to the platform. As long as the church does not have a platform that produces candidates, it remains a toothless bulldog. Their opinions, endorsements and supports do not matter at all. So, the candidates running after them for endorsements are wasting their time? Yes, they are making mistakes because they don't have electoral value. The church in its current state doesn't have electoral value. There is no single pastor that sent anyone there. Until the church has political structure and infrastructure, it won't make much impact politically. Those who come to churches looking for endorsement are just like 'for whatever it is worth, let me just go there'. When you are seeking

elections, you look for a little here and there. They will leave the church, move to the mosque and end up in the shrines. Whatever could bring one vote here and there, they will do. You mentioned the issue of ghost voters. What does that mean? I will tell you we have millions of abandoned, uncollected PVCs. Have you found out why that is so? You know in politics, it is parties and kingmakers that mobilise people to register. Most Nigerians are induced to register. Where I registered, in a GRA setting, we saw miscreants and everyone coming around. They never live among us but they were

induced to register. In the previous political settings, those cards are collected by those who register them. They will hand them over to another set of induced people to vote. That was always the beginning of rigging; elections are rigged from the point of registration. Now that biometrics are involved, those cards are useless. No one else can use them. Those cards are what politicians invest heavily on. Once they cannot hijack boxes or announce results, they rely on the cards to rig. But INEC has taken care of that now. That is why the cards are abandoned. We have too many ghost voters. That is the intrigues of politicians and INEC has perked that. There is no way INEC can find out the perpetrators. The names and addresses they used are fictitious so INEC has wasted billions on those voters. In your first electoral outing, you relied on your church connection. How did it go? I failed woefully my brother. That is why I tell you the church does not influence anything. We have no structure to produce anything or influence anybody. Do you subscribe to soldiers manning the streets during election days? It should be strange to democracy but it is needful in our peculiar situation. The Nigerian factor is a real factor that we must pray to overcome with time, prosperity and education. There are those paid to foment troubles. The soldiers and security agents involved should be

well informed and trained to take care of things. Not to have them there now will be detrimental to our interest. Are you impressed by the quality of campaigns these times around? I am not at all. We have a lot of character assassination, name-calling and issues not be addressed. It is unfortunate that we have not seen issue-based campaigns. If you ask me, I will say that Gen. Buhari is not a Boko Haram sponsor. If he were, they wouldn't want to kill him. Shekau has even said that Buhari is an infidel. I pity Buhari because he has been successfully campaigned. That you are supporting Sharia does not make you a Boko Haram. Boko Haram does not believe that Islam as practised in Saudi Arabia is the original. Buhari is a Sharia zealot just as an average Muslim. Sharia is a way of life for them. He did that with all his zeal while in power. But that is different from being a Boko Haram. You can't be one and have a running mate that is a Christian. Boko Haram does not accommodate any other different faith or belief. So, when they say he is a Boko Haram sponsor, confusing that with Sharia advocacy, it is unfortunate for him. So, I haven't even see campaign of issues. Someone said he cannot remember his phone number. But is that what you need to govern well? The corruption, economic downturn and insecurity problems facing us, no one is addressing them. There is too much triviality involved.

NEWS

Don't vote based on religious sentiment, Alao warns

HE Supreme Head of the Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, Prophet Dr. Solomon Alao (JP), has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to pardon soldiers sentenced to death on charges of mutiny. He said though they have stepped on military rules, the solders should be forgiven in the spirit of national peace.

Alao, who spoke with reporters, also stated that the church is in the process of starting the proposed Moses Orimolade University (MOU). He said: "MOU is the project of all Cherubim and Seraphim churches in Nigeria and the Diaspora. "There are indications right now that the first set of students will matriculate this year." The church's ecumeni-

cal centre located at Km 40, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Maba, Ogun State, according to him, is about to be repossessed from land grabbers peacefully. On the forthcoming elections, Alao advised Nigerians to avoid religious sentiments while voting. "Don't vote based on tribal and religious sentiments but ask God to help you choose the right leaders," he charged.

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MADUAKOR I formerly known and addressed as MISS MADUAKOR CHISOM BETHEL. Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ONYIDO CHISOM BETHEL. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. UKU I formerly known and addressed as MISS UKU UZOMA ECHEME. Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS YORKUE UZOMA BENEDICT. All former documents remain valid.The general public should please take note. JAJA I formerly known and addressed as MISS JAJA REBECCA DIEPREYE. Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS VICTORUDOH REBECCA DIEPREYE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. OLOWOFELA I formerly known and addressed as MISS OLAYINKA OLORUNFUNMI OLOWOFELA. Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OLAYINKA OLORUNFUNMI OLOWOFELAODUWOLE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. IGENE I formerly known and addressed as IGENE OSEGHALE VINCE. Now wish to be known and addressed as ORIABURE OSEGHALE VINCE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. OSHONUGA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oshonuga Oluwaseun Titilayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. ALLI OLUWASEUN TITILAYO. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. OGUNPEHIN I formerly known and addressed as Miss OGUNPEHIN, RISQUAH ADENIKE, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. IBRAHIM, RISQUAH ADENIKE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. OLUBANYO I formerly known and addressed as Miss OLUBANYO, FUNMILAYO BOSEDE, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. KOMOLAFE FUNMILAYO BOSEDE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. OKEOWO I formerly known and addressed as Mr. OKEWOLE ADEKUNLE OLALEKAN, now wish to be known and addressed as Mr. OLAKUNLE ADEKUNLE OLALEKAN. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. EMEHUO I formerly known and addressed as MISS EMEHUO LOVELYN GBEMISOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as MISS EDIALE LOVELYN GBEMISOLA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note. KOLAWOLE I formerly known and addressed as MISS KOLAWOLE, WEMIMO JUSTINA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ROWLAND WEMIMO JUSTINA. All documents bearing my former name remain valid. Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja and the general public should please take note. OLAJIDE I formerly known and addressed as Olajide Oluwabukola Enitan, now wish to be known and addressed as Olajide-Balogun, Oluwabukola Enitan. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. UGO I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ugo, Chinonyerem Ogenna, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogbuja, Chinonyerem Ogenna. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. OLADUNJOYE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladunjoye, Olaide Idayat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Otudeko Olaide. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLUSOGA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olusoga, Esther Oluwaseun, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adedeji, Esther Oluwaseun. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. IBRAHIM I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibrahim, Munirat Mohammed, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Munirat Amusan. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. OMOSEHIN I formerly known and addressed as Omosehin Bolanle Olufunke, now wish to be known and addressed as Aroloye Bolanle Olufunke. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CIVETTA I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Evelyn Agbolahor Civetta, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Evelyn Civetta. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. THOMAS I formerly known and addressed as Miss Thomas, Anike Olayinka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogunnaike, Anike Olayinka. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. TAJUDEEN I formerly known and addressed as Tajudeen Jamiu Abdulahi, now wish to be known and addressed as Kayode Obajuwon. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. OLOKO I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oloko, Yewande Mercy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Shotonwa, Yewande Mercy. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. OSAJIOKWU I formerly known and addressed as Miss Joy Osajiokwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joy Famuwagun. All documents remain valid. Ministry of Local govt. And Chieftaincy Affairs and general public should please take note. UZOIGWE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adanna Uzoigwe, now wish to be known and addressed as Dr. (Mrs.) Adanna Lennard. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. OLAOYE I formerly known and addressed as Bola Olaitan Olaoye, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Bola Olaitan Akinsiku. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. TOMBRA I formerly known and addressed as Tombra Oyinkedi Beke, now wish to be known and addressed as Oyinkedi Fuofegha. All documents remain valid. The Nigeria Army and general public should please take note. ADELEK E I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeleke, Kehinde Ruth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Akinbulu, Kehinde Ruth. All documents remain valid. Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission (TESCON) authority concerns and general public should please take note. PRINCEWILL I formerly known and addressed as Oluwaseun Obafemi Princewill, now wish to be known and addressed as Adebayo - Ojo, Princewill Obafemi. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. ATASIE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Atasie, Angel Oluomachi, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Atasie Angel Oluoachukwu. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. Uche Osiesi ORIAHI I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oriahi, Didi Mercy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs.Ejiogu, Didi Mercy. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Corridors of power

A T I O N A L MIRROR of January 25 goofed: "FG seeks N921.4bn to complete 925 roads projects" All the Facts, All the Sides: 925 road projects. The next two infractions are from NATIONAL MIRROR of January 19: "Even Dubai ran into trouble (troubled) waters in 20082009 when huge debt (a huge debt) forcibly…." "The enforcement of that sentence against a teenage mother who had just delivered is certainly regretable." On the move: regrettable. "…the average journalist usually burns this professional flag, forgets his own humble past once he or she crosses over to the corridor of power." Saturday People: corridors of power and this: their humble past once they…. "The government wants to dump all the dead stadia or sell them off to those who can breathe the breath of life on (into) them." "However, it could be useful to indicate that our research shows that the fortunes of NEXIM moved comfortably between (from) 1990 to 1992 and…" "These terminations were made after NEXIM had undertaken screening exercise (must you add 'exercise'?) both at home and abroad conducted series (a series) of travels, trainings …" "Trainings were held yesterday at the sports academy." Viewpoint: 'training' is uncountable. "Commissioner wants more vigilante groups" Rutam, hello: vigilance groups. "The article was an insult on the Federal Government, the National Assembly and an affront on the ICPC and its competent and hardworking staff." Justice in service of community: an affront to (not on) the ICPC. And, of course, an insult to (not on) the FG. "For quite sometime (some time) now, the poor and deteriorating condition of public infrastructure…." "…especially with respect to public infrastructure, utilities and security of lives and property." Conscience, Nurtured by Truth: life and property or lives and properties "A few weeks ago,

there was some news report (a news report) about the involvement of…." "…all the major roads in the Eastern part of the country have become pure death traps and for challenging his (President's) non-challant attitude and doing anything positive in Igbo land." Get it right: nonchalant. "Clinton, North Korea Minister hold talks" Foreign Affairs: North Korean Minster. "…there have been series of polemical attacks of (on) the commission and its activities by an obscure and often fictitious section of the public." This way: a (take note) series of polemical attacks. "The president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces also addressed the nation same evening." Get it right: the same evening. "Jega apologises over aborted APC convention" To live in truth is to serve: apologise for something or to somebody. "The almost impassible (impassable) roads accentuate the usual hectic traffic of motorists, making business transactions in Lagos a herculean task." "…robbers who held residents and commuters to ransome for hours…." Spell-check: ransom. "I doff my hat for…" The right mix: I take off or doff my hat to (not for). "Out of a lawyers' population estimated at about 20,000, only five females have been opportuned (opportune) to adorn the silk." "This is another scintillating edition for the matured (mature) mind." "Preponderant of the views aired by the people centre around issues like c o r r u p t i o n , unemployment…." Running a true f e d e r a t i o n : Preponderance…centres…. "Benue assures on abandoned project" Just tell readers who the state assured. "A recent report on food related (a hyphen) ailments show (shows) that in many parts of the world…." "Unfortunately, however, I, and many other Nigerians have been infuriated by our servants…." In pursuit of linguistic orderliness: many other Nigerians and I. The concept of the cart and the horse applies to

language usage, too. "But all our future blessing would be achieved through waiting in the Lord." If you are after God's heart, you wait on, not in, the Lord. "Before embarking on the strike action…." You can as well embark on the 'strike inaction'! "It was as though both informants were mischievous people who had an affinity in (for) discrediting the preacher." "The vigilante group visited instant judgment on the thief and sent him to the great beyond." In the name of excellence: vigilance group. "Sixteen people were killed and two others seriously injured in a ghastly (fatal) accident which occurred along (on) the Bauch-Auchi road on Saturday." If there were causalities, it follows that it was a fatal, not a ghastly, accident. The mishap did not drag along the road, but occurred at a spot on the road. "Some of the despotic regimes thrown up in (on) the continent did worse things than was experienced under colonialism." "A weekly magazine took a professional risk and charged the speaker for (with) forgery." "...the same-day election being proposed by the senate as part of the antidote for…." This way: antidote to…. FEEDBACK EVERY electorate or elector? What really heightened the anxiety of every "electorate" (elector/ voter/balloter/ constituent) was one item on the agenda-whether or not the election should be postponed. (The NEWS, 16 February, 2015). I know you are scandalized. Not to worry. (BAYO O G U N T U A S E , 08056180046) A "fact" is something known to be true. If not, it is a falsity or untruth. 'Undisputed' in "undisputed fact" in Wordsworth of February 1is unnecessary. Also, The Nation, February1, P. 5, reported that a jet owned by a Nigerian clergy (cleric or clergyman; clergy is plural) was seized in South Africa. (KOLA DANISA, 07068074257) MORE reactions next week: Please, I will prefer correspondence via my email. I hardly have time for SMS transcriptions or Bluetooth translations! How was yesterday?

Odimegwu: Buhari is best for the job •Continued from page 62 Nigeria Plc / The President are all key. You cannot delegate this. Technocrats with performance track records abound to handle this area but under your supervision to benefit all Nigerians. Regulators and the regulated must never sleep in same beds, to avoid massive scams and absolute conflicts of interests as presently the case. Sustained Re-orientation Policy, Projects and Programmes to convert ethnic nationalities with different religious orientations and economic backgrounds into PROUD NIGERIANS: This is key. A national education and reeducation programme aimed at all levels for Nigerians. The elite must be educated that their lives can only be better in a united and peaceful Nigeria. And that they will NOT be allowed to ruin Nigeria and run away. Justice, Truth, Equity and Fairness must be entrenched in every public affairs for continued work towards Unity, Peace and Progress that will be sustained. Forced unity is not possible. And good peace for real progress will not be possible without sustainable unity. Experts abound to do this work for Nigeria and Nigerians but only the President will guarantee the foundation: that Truth, Justice, Equity, Fairness and Rule of ‘good’ law for sustainable Unity, Peace and Progress must never be violated with impunity as we march towards a Greater Nigeria and Proud to be Nigerians Vision. Credible People-based Constitution: Above all, all these ingredients of greatness for our country and improved wellbeing of all Nigerians should be coded and encapsulated in a People-based Constitution, and the constitution that Nigeria needs and that should be put in place must enshrine the values of truth, justice, fairness and equity as organising principles to guide all our national actions. The route to it can be through the National Assembly that is willing or through other many possible routes. But it is a must have. It must abolish all obnoxious frauds in our constitution that keep us divided, removing ethnic, tribal, religious and unmerited advantages out of national limelight and the constitution into personal lives where they belong by establishing the following minimums: True fiscal and cultural Federalism, with well demarcated 6 Regions. Each Region has potential for viability if well led. And, competition will be good for the regions and their people. Easy money, ultimately kills a soul that is housed by a lazy body. And the North has lagged behind the Southern Regions for this reason as evidence. Hardwork is part of a good life. Specified directives for an accurate and credible census, with ethnic, religious and place of origin as part of data collected and collated, and executed as per international best practices as per the plans that we already developed and left behind in National Population Commission. This will have a comprehensive Vital Registration infrastructure to deliver, not just the Accurate and Credible demographic data for planning but for its updating on a continuous basis. 80% of our current problems in Nigeria will be cured by having ACCURATE DATA alone. It is the DATA stupid as the Americans say.

•Buhari

Management starts with it. Leadership without competent management will lead to no where and burns out. We cannot plan or coordinate the economy or anything else without credible data. Celebrating the documentation of 4 million farmers is fool-hardiness given what is possible from a comprehensive National soft data infrastructure. Specifics should be put in the constitution that should enable National population commission to carry out its constitutional mandate without political interference. The political requirement that census result is subject to council of state acceptance is nonsensical and should be deleted. All other bodies in the constitution, including security agencies, should be sharpened and protected from political interference. A functioning Council of State for instance cannot be there and certain things are happening. The constitution should specify directions and implementation imperatives and matrices. Anti-corruption policies, practices and sanctions must be better specified and the body made independent of all arms of Government and immunity clause expunged. Plea bargain provision must not be extended to issues of corruption and stiffer jail terms and recoveries must be enunciated to serve as deterrents. Corruption should be made unprofitable from all dimensions. The 2000 or so MDAs under the Federal Structure should be reduced to a level where recurrent expenditure is maximum of 30% with capital expenditure minimum of 70%. All extra constitutional bodies like EFCC, ICPC etc etc should be abolished and absorbed in their constitution most relevant bodies or MDAs. The assignment of responsibilities to Federal and Regional governments should be aligned, including security agencies. A two-party system should be enshrined into the constitution with ideological orientation and broad socio-economic development directives specified. Job creation growth routes should be favoured given our huge population. Party primaries to sieve out criminals and any one with criminal records should be specified. The minimum qualification for political office should be aligned to weight of office (Buhari is qualified under current specification that ask for up to secondary school which is really JSS 1, even for one day. But Buhari with his military training and on the job experience up to former Head of State, GCFR, is more than qualified. A provision should be added that the NSA should be prosecuted and sent to jail if his agency withholds the criminal records of criminals and refuse to give them to political parties and INEC to sieve out useless people from aspiring to political office. And if the occupant of that office becomes a threat to national security with

inappropriate conducts that are corruption or politically motivated, like scuttling planned elections, he should be prosecuted and sent to jail. It is more dangerous when those that should protect us become the threats to national security. INEC should have powers to disqualify at the last minute without replacement option by political parties. This will make the parties to be more careful and for Nigeria to start the process of evolving credible and competent political leadership. Given the numerous problems in the land, our brightest and the best should be attracted to public service in place of corrupt scums and economic predators, criminals, professional thugs and uneducated jesters. In matters that determine national security and well-being of the nation, only the very best will do. Conclusion: Size matters. So, I believe that progress within Nigeria will be better than progress as ethnic champions. Nigeria has had a chequered history from colonial times through the years of the locusts, years of occupation army of fortune to the recent years of the Jonathan failed Presidency. Upcoming democratic election gives Nigeria another chance and all signs point to Change, as a popular choice of most Nigerians and nothing should be allowed to derail that. General Buhari needs to be secured. Nigeria needs him. Nigerians want him. When his party wins the Presidency, Buhari should continue to provide integrity-based leadership. He should then lead the Presidency, as the first citizen, doing the right things for all Nigerians at all times. Leadership by example is the best way to lead. The best way to think. The best way to speak without words. And the best way to act. It will be there for all to see, feel and honour. Leadership to secure Nigeria and improve the well-being of all Nigerians. Leadership by example, will be a product that does not need propaganda or display of obscene advertisement to sell. It will sell itself. It has sold itself without making effort as it can be perceived and felt. Truth is selfevident. Facts do not need debates. All the propaganda in the world cannot make a lie true. What is Right, like Goodness, uplifts. Evil depresses, even to one who pretends they are hardened. With a continued personal example, a Greater Vision for Nigeria and all Nigerians and with an honest hard work towards the seven key challenges identified here as the basic minimum, the Golden Era of Nigeria will start and the life of Nigerians will be properly rebased in reality. For now, all should do whatever is in their power to support the election of Buhari and ignore all campaign propaganda and misinformation and even assassination threats from panicstricken political thugs. It is too late in the day for PDP. The party needs to take stock after losing and reform to become an effective opposition party. It will be good for its soul. And good for Nigeria. Above all, it will be good for Democracy: to keep the ruling party then, APC, in check. No condition is permanent, says the visionary Zik of Africa. And may God continue to bless Nigeria, our HomeLand, and all Nigerians!!! •Eze Odimegwu, CON, is former MD/CEO NB Plc and immediate past Chairman of the National Population Commission

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

NEWS

'Poll shift has dented Nigeria's image'

CHANGE OF NAME

By Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

EGAL luminary, Yusuf Ali (SAN), has expressed disappointment over postponement of the general elections. The poll has been shifted to March 28 and April 11 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In a chat with The Nation in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Ali regretted that the sudden postponement has dented Nigeria's image in the international community. Ali said one of the implications of the postponement is that Nigeria will no longer be taken seriously in the comity of nations. He regretted that while smaller African countries like Ghana are regarded as first-class democracies, Nigeria is still regarded as a third-class democracy because of shoddy handling of a sensitive assignment like election. He said: "The postponement of this general election shows that our democracy is still in its infancy and our democracy is tottering. "Ghana and Nigeria set out for this journey, while Ghana now runs a first class democracy, ours is still in third class. Ali added: "The latest shift shows that Nigeria will not be taken seriously in the comity of nations. We knew that this election is coming four years ago, we knew we had security challenges. "The shoddy way we handle things does not speak well of us and it affects us even in international sporting competitions. When people set out to achieve their personal ambition, they hardly think of the law. "If those paid from the public purse to provide security say they are incapable, why are they still in office? It shows Nigeria has a long way to go."

Eyanro dies at 61

chief lecturer of Guidance and C o u n s e l l i n g Psychology at the Federal College of Education, Okene, Kogi State, Dr Peter Eyanro, is dead. The former Provost of Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa was 61. He died on Friday, 6th February after a brief illness. An active member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria and once Grand Knight of the Knights of St Mulumba Sub -Council, Eyanro also served at different times as Sole Administrator of Kogi State Teaching Service Board and member of the Technical Advisory Group to the Kogi State delegation to the 2014 National Conference. He was a PDP ward leader in Kabba. He will be buried on Friday, 20th February after a Christian wake at 6 pm the preceding day.

â&#x20AC;˘ Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists Lagos State, Deji Elumoye, flanked by other members during the monthly congress of the association... yesterday in Ikeja Lagos PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

CSOs seek immediate sack of NSA, security chiefs C

IVIL Society Organisations (CSOs) under the aegis of Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD) yesterday called for the immediate sack of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Col. Sambo Dasuki. The coalition also demanded that the Chief of Defence Staff (CODS), Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff should be relieved of their positions for stating they could not provide security for the general elections, which should have held yesterday. Representative of the CSOs, Barrister Solomon Dalong, made the demands during a

From: Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

rally in Abuja by the prodemocratic movement. Members of the movement protested from the unity fountain to the federal secretariat with inscriptions such as: "No more postponement, one man one vote"; "No to interim government"; "INEC must be independent"; "Power belongs to the people through democracy" and "No repeat of June 12," among others. Police and Department for State Security (DSS) operatives provided security for the protesters. They alleged that the NSA had connived with the service chiefs by usurping the powers

of the National Security Council and President Goodluck Jonathan whose responsibility was to protect lives and property. Dalong said: "We condemn in strong terms the action of the NSA and the service chiefs. We find their threat not to provide security to INEC for the conduct of the elections as a blackmail and indeed a coup against an institution of Nigeria and the Nigerian people. "The NSA does not have the constitutional mandate to advise INEC on security matters and it is not in his purview to guarantee the security of the nation." They protested that the elections should have been rescheduled only in the 14 local

councils affected by terrorism, adding that the military may not guarantee security in the March and April polls. The CSOs cautioned against further postponement of the elections. They said Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Atahiru Jega, should be retained while Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and Card Readers should be made available to eligible voters. The Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Ms Hassan Idayat, said government should ensure the elections, saying the shift has affected the economy and Nigerians.

20 Bayelsa women burnt to death after visiting First Lady

BOUT 20 women from Bayelsa State were yesterday burnt to death in a multiple accident after visiting the first lady Dame Patience Jonathan. It was gathered last night that the accident occurred at Ahoada, in Rivers State. It was said to have involved a Toyota Sienna car, jeep and a bus with an inscription, Peoples Democratic Party Women

By Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa Initiative. A security source put the number of burnt victims at 20 adding that all the occupants of the bus perished. The source who spoke in confidence said: "The affected women were travelling in the bus which went up in flames. They were burnt to ashes. Only one of the women was

rescued." It was learnt that the women paid a solidarity visit to the first lady in Okirika where they spent two days. The Bayelsa State Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Vincent Jack confirmed the accident. He, however, said only nine persons burnt to death, two died without been burnt

while many others were rushed to Madonna clinic in the area. He explained that the accident occurred when the tyre of the Toyota Sienna burst and rammed into the bus carrying the women. He said the jeep also rammed into the bus in confusion, a situation that made the bus to go up in flames.

Fashola to service chiefs: resign

AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday urged service chiefs to throw in the towel for over their inability to guarantee the security of Nigerians, which forced the postponement of the general elections. Fashola, who said this at an interactive forum with members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), noted that the primary responsibility of the military is to protect lives and property. The governor added that in a country that works, the

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro path of honour was for the service chiefs to resign their appointments. According to him: "No perfection in election planning but it is not an excuse to do things sloppily. The truth is that there is no perfection. "But when people whose only job is to secure the nation now say they cannot secure the nation, there has been an institutional failure, no doubt in my mind. "In a nation where things work, they should have taken the part of honour, that we have done our best, we

surrender on condition that it is the part of honour." The governor explained that to withdraw security from INEC is no longer about service but quest to remain in power. He lamented that it is shameful for the Nigerian Army which usually protects the whole sub-region to now require help from Cameroon, Niger and others to battle insurgents. Fashola, who thanked the students for undertaking to take the campaign for the Muhammadu Buhari/ Professor Yemi Osinbajo to

the hinterlands, said the elections are not about tribe and religion.

PUBLIC NOTICE AUCTION On instruction of OTO AWORI LOCAL COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT AREA there will be abandoned scrap motor vehicle auction at OTO AWORI secretariat with the removal of purchase goods within 48 hours. Auction date: Wednesday 18th February 2015 Time: 10am prompt AUCTIONEER J.B OBITUNDE 08033466559

CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH I, Nwabiabu Vincent Kalesi, is my name in West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) erroneously write 18 October 1972 on my certificate which is not my date of birth. But my real date of birth is March 16, 1966. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. IGBONGIDI I formerly known and addressed as Miss Igbongidi Deborah Debe, now wish to be Known and addressed as Mrs Fakrogha-Festus Deborah Debe. All former documents remain valid. The General Public please take note UMAR I formerly Known and addressed as Jibril Ibrahim Umar, now wish to be Known and addressed as Jibril Ibrahim Suleiman Adaviruku. All former documents remain valid . Heliserve Company Limited and the general public please take note KAREEM I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojuolape Adekunbi Kareem, now wish to be known and addressed Mrs Ojuolape Adekunbi Medua. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note AGBEJULE I formerly known and addressed as Miss agbejule Yetunde Ruth, now wish to be known and addressed as Olasupo â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Agbejule Yetunde Ruth. All former documents remain valid .The general public please take note ADEKOYA I former Mrs Adekoya Nimota Anike , now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adebiyi Adenike anike Nimota .All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note UKWUANI I former Miss Esther Chioma Ukwuani, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Esther chioma Nebo. IMT Enugu, FCMB and the general public please take note.

MICHAEL

I formerly known and addressed as Miss RUTH MICHAEL now wish to be known as Mrs. RUTH NWACHUKU. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

MOGAJI

I formerly known and addressed as MOGAJI ADENIKE KABIRAT now wish to be known as TELUWO ADENIKE KABIRAT. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

ADESOKAN

I formerly known and addressed as ADESOKAN ABIOLA ENITAN now wish to be known as BALOGUN ABIOLA THERESA. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

AMUSA

I formerly known and addressed as AMUSA TAIBAT now wish to be known as MRS. OLABODE TOYYIBAH HAMZAH. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

UGEMA

I formerly known and addressed as UGEMA HEMBADOON VERA now wish to be known as MRS. HEMBADOON ZAAKI - AZZAY. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

CHUKWUBABA

I, formerly known as MISS. CHUKWUBABA NGOZI RITA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. GRACE ONWUGHARA NGOZI RITA CHUKWUBABA. All former documents still remain valid.Isiala Ngwa North Education Authority, Abia State Universal Basic Education Board and the general public please take note.

NWALIEJI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ijeoma Valerie Nwalieji now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ijeoma Valerie Odega. All former documents remain valid. General public and whom it may concern should please take note.

JOHN

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS JOHN EMEM PAXLINE SUNDAY now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. MACAULAY EMEM MCKLINTZ. All former documents remain valid. First Bank Plc, Lagos State Polytechnic and general public and whom it may concern should please take note. ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through - FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number - 2017220392 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to - gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or thenation_advert @yahoo.com. For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, Emailgbengaodejide@ yahoo.com or our offices nationwide. Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015

WORLD NEWS

A Greek tragedy revisited: The slaying of sovereignty and democracy Truth is as a rare wine. More talk about than taste it on their lips. W ESTERN democracy was born in ancient Greece. There is where it also first died. It seems many among the rich and powerful of that time did not cotton to the democratic notion although that form of society had enabled them to become wealthy. They concluded that their accumulation of money gave them a greater stake in society than that of the common man. They came to use their money and influence to subvert democracy, steadily turning it into a plutocracy, a dictatorship of money where possession of currency would matter more than possession of merit. This was a tragedy indeed. But it was more than a Greek one. It is universal and not banished to olden times. This tendency respects no time barriers. It lives with us today. It is interwoven in human history because it represents the darker strand in the fabric of human nature. Within the seeds of freedom democracy plants lay the spores of weeds that seek to choke that very freedom. Those who prosper greatly come to see democracy as a shackle chaining them to lesser humans through false equality. They think their greater riches bequeath to them greater wisdom in all things. They use the money gained through democracy to buy democracy then eagerly bury what they bought. This is how democracy lost its first life in Greece. Due to similar forces, modern Grecian democracy is in danger of being brought underfoot once again. This time the ravaging comes not from within but from external forces. Greece now suffers a brutal yet subtle invasion. It is an invasion of money into a nation made supine by economic depression and looming bankruptcy. The invaders are European Union bankers and technocrats directed by the government in Berlin. German Chancellor Merkel is set to do what Hitler dared but did not accomplish. She may well succeed in bring an entire nation to heel. By imposing her will on this smaller, weaker nation she will also intimidate other weaker, smaller Eurozone nations to hew her path. What Hitler could not do with rifle, jackboot and swastika, Merkel may do with pants suit, loafers and an accountant’s ledger. Money is the ultimate weapon for it can purchase almost any mortal or material thing, even the soul of man or of a nation. But what can purchase money except more of it? This past week, the newly elected Syriza government has engaged in futile negotiations with the EU to restructure the “debt bailout” program for Greece. The talks have been deadlocked. The Greeks want some form of debt reduction added to the program. The program as now structured is not a bailout for Greece. It is a bailout for select German and French banks holding Greek public and private-sector debt. It

•Alexis Tsipras, Greek Prime Minisgter

•Angela Merkel, German Chancellor

alleviates the risk to these favored banks of getting wet due to their improvident lending by literally having them stand atop Greece. While the banks remain dry, Greece is swallowed and drowned by the tide of unbearable debt. For the privilege of keeping the foreign banks sound and dry, the Grecian economy will be condemned to economic recession if not depression for as far as the eye can see. Despite the dire economy conditions of the Grecian populace, the EU presently will not budge. The stern austerity deal agreed to by the former conservative government in Athens must be honored, says Brussels. Brussels holds to the merciless stance because Berlin instructs it to do so. The bottom line is brutal. All the talk of pan-European integration and harmony that transcends national boundaries has been claptrap. When asked to select between maximizing the profits of a few large German banks or diminishing the misery of an entire nation and millions of innocent, hard-working Greeks who had no hand in the errant financial dealings, Chancellor Merkel swiftly made her choice: She told mercy and pan-European brotherhood to take a long hike into Hell’s shadows. She picked her banks over the Greek people. The deadline for decision is February 28. While Merkel may soften a bit around the edges, she clearly plans to impose the brunt of the extant plan on the new government in Athens. It is Merkel versus the Greek people. Because she controls the money, she will likely win this confrontation. During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Greece waded into double-barreled trouble. Because yields on Greek

government bonds were higher than in most of the Eurozone daring investors and abject speculators invested in these bonds. The Greek government at the time borrowed too much. It was the time of cheap and abundant money globally. A similar excessive leveraging occurred in the private sector. When the global financial collapse came, the Greek economy was overly indebted and in no shape to withstand what would come next. Banks and investors called their loans. Greece had not the money to pay. If the nation had maintained its own currency, it could have printed more money to repay. This would have had its costs. It would have caused inflation and made imports dearer. However, it would have also made Greek industry more price competitive while insulating domestic employment levels from the freefall they would experience. This monetary sovereignty would also have allowed Greece better leverage in negotiating with its creditors. It would have negotiated directly with the private banks themselves and not having to go through the EU or other, more powerful governments with interests adverse to Greece’s. The Greeks made a fateful mistake by joining the Eurozone. It relinquished its monetary sovereignty to Brussels which takes its marching orders from Berlin. The membership also opened its borders without being able to impose capital or import controls to the flood of German manufactured goods and financial instruments. Now Greeks were being asked to pay for the debt accrued if not in blood then by mortgaging the soul and future of the nation. With Greece prostrated by heavy debt, the EU and IMF invaded to perform their neoclassical economic handiwork. The tragedy begins in earnest, developing a cascading momentum the discerning observer soon recognizes will lead to one place: utter calamity. The EU forces the debt-ridden Greek government to assume Greek private-sector debt. This was done to obligate the government to make German and French banks whole for the risky loan the banks had made to individuals. When it comes to their financial institutions, the German and French

governments decided the vagaries of the free market were inapplicable. They imposed a transfer of limited Greek public funds to satisfy these purely private-sector obligations. This foreign imposition of corporate socialism and favoritism for nonGreek creditors would add another layer of debt to a government suffocating under the weight of the public debt it had contracted. The EU and IMF then devised a plan to loan Greek money to pay these banks. The loan would be conditioned on Greece implementing a severe austerity program. These conservative economists claimed that cutting the government budget would generate more economic activity and growth. They never explained the mechanics of how this would work. They merrily said the market would take care of everything as if by magic. They called their happy elixir “fiscal consolidation.” They imposed austerity and then waited for the Greek economy to expand as their textbooks said it would whenever government deficit spending is reduced. The opposite happened. Austerity turned a serious financial problem into wholesale economic disaster. The past six years plunged Greece into a downturn comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s in terms of severity and duration. Making a mockery of conservative economics, GDP has been clipped by 25 percent. Unemployment multiplied to roughly 30 percent. By cutting government revenues, austerity was intended to lower the debt/GDP ratio that hovered over 120 percent at austerity’s inception. Today, that ratio is over 173 percent. Austerity has aggravated not fixed the debt crisis. By lessening government expenditure, austerity contracted the overall economy because it removed the buttress government spending provided the private sector. A shrinking private sector pays less tax; diminished revenues inhibit government’s ability to service the debt. This is worse than a vicious economic cycle. It is terrible enchainment, a prison from which the only release is to pardon a significant portion of the debt owed. In other words, Greece needs debt relief or it will suffer depression the rest of the decade and perhaps longer. (Its GDP growth rate the last quarter of 2014 was -0.2 percent.) Joining the Eurozone was a terrible bungle for Greece. The nation forfeited its monetary sovereignty to a regional institution and the powerful nations controlling that institution. Because of this forfeiture, Greece must beg the EU for money to pay its debts. He who holds the money is known as the master. He who needs money held by other is known as the slave. The Eurozone was intended to spread freedom and economic prosperity among its members. Sadly, it was not constructed in a way so that it would realize this benign intent. It has gone the opposite way. The Eurozone has opened the door to a financial imperialism in Europe that historically has been reserved for Western manhandling of former colonies. What Greece has suffered is a compound lesson to all developing nations. First, never, ever relinquish your currency sovereignty, especially to a financial arrangement vulnerable to manipulation by a stronger economy. The short-term gains will be quickly erased when crisis comes; in the long term, crisis always comes. When it does, the stronger economy will squeeze the weaker. Resolution of the crisis will be conducted in a way that increases the influence and power of the rich over the poor. Second, if anyone tries to sell you a bottle of austerity elixir, return it to the mountebank vendor and demand your refund. By all accounts, austerity is as sure a path to poverty as poverty itself. Those who mistake these lessons as false alarms will discover that this economic genre of the Greek tragedy is not limited to Greece alone. 08060340825 (sms only)

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15 , 2015

HE fifth reform reference in the western region was the establishment of regular consultative forums that were meant to facilitate the smooth running of the organisation. Apart from the town-gown meetings, there were two other legs in consultation. The second was regular, once a month, meetings with permanent secretaries and professional heads of what used to be called departments but now understood as parastatals or agencies (which is the catch as much of public sector performance depends on effective oversight of agencies), to calibrate organisational objectives and find solutions to thorny administrative concerns. The third leg was the institution of a regular Public Service Forum as a critical discussion opportunity, especially for lower level officers, where issues and questions of significance to the civil service were discussed. The sixth innovation that Adebo took serious in facilitating a strong productivity profile among civil servants was a prestigious framework of staff development—especially a housing policy (at the Old Bodija in Ibadan) and a tenured privilege which ensures that the service took care of a performing servant and ensures such a person is guaranteed an opportunity for a reasonably decent living and a reassuring pension. There was, as the seventh reform framework, a vibrant social-work balance that saw to it that the civil service did not swallow up the entirety of a person’s life. Adebo saw that it would be counterproductive to keep people at work throughout the week without any semblance of sociality. All works and no play makes a civil servant unproductive! All the social compensations put in place always ensure that you return to your work almost always refreshed and with new insights. The eighth and final reform best practice that oiled the productivity profile of the old western region civil service was a democratic industrial relations framework within which labour is taken along in every decision making process. Adebo’s experience as a former secretary of the Nigerian Union of Railwaymen came in handy to prevent the kind of adversarial relationship of today wherein each party considered its own interests and locked out those of others. ‘In the end,’ says Donald Trump, ‘you’re measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish.’ And in his administrative accomplishment, Adebo proved that leadership and innovation are indeed necessary conditions for high-end performance and productivity that could transform the development quotient of any government. In history, it is rare for any government to commend its civil service. There’s always some underlying antagonism that is short of sabotage between those who wield real power and those who supposedly play second fiddle to power. Yet, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo gave his valedictory speech at the Western Region, he was magnanimous in his commendation of a civil service that was ‘exceedingly efficient, absolutely incorruptible in its upper stratum, and utterly devoted and unstinting in the discharge of its many onerous duties.’ However, translating these innovations unto the institutional framework of a larger-than-regional civil service requires more. And this is all the more so when such a national civil service is right in the throes of bureau-pathological maldevelopment. In the last part of this series, we will sort through the administrative predicament of the Nigerian civil service and examine how reform could transform its

Old Western Regional Civil Service as best practice for nationwide reform ( II )

•Simeon Adebo By Tunji Olaopa performance profile. Bureau-pathologies and the Way Forward In the first part, we outlined how the organisational development profile of the federal civil service became short-circuited. The first reason was through the trumping of meritocracy by the principle of representativeness that was meant to pacify Nigeria’s ethnic diversity. The second malforming factor was the decision by the three heads of the major political parties to return to their various regions with the best of their administrative officers. These two critical events led to a serious undermining of the capability readiness of the federal civil service, as the business organ of the Nigerian national government, to fulfil the promises of independence for Nigerians. The reform of the Nigerian civil service, which had been ongoing since its inauguration in 1954, had only been yielding minimal dividends. Rather, from independence till date, the trajectory of organisational development of the institution was characterised by series of disruptions, false starts, hiccups, misinterpretations, administrative misses and fortuitous breakthrough that make it very difficult for the system to achieve a critical rethinking and reconsideration of our administrative framework. The simple reason for this is that before it reached maturation and commenced an institutional reformation, the Nigerian civil service became too bureaucratic to allow for its own reform. Like the British civil service in the late 50s and the 60s, the Nigerian counterpart equally became ‘a great rock in the tideline’—it developed an administrative class that, at the height of service’s professional success, did not discern the extent of rot that would engulf the status quo it defended before decay set in since 1975. What were the symptoms of this bureau-pathology? The first, one of the most immediate consequences of the Nigerianisation Policy and the principle of representativeness, was an obscene bloatedness not only in size but in workforce composition that led to a crippling redundancy. On the one hand, there was an administrative incidence, which persists till today, in which too

many people are doing too little; too many doing nothing and too few doing too much. On the other hand, the boated workforce creates a situation of trained incapacity or blind conformance in which contributions of managers, for instance, are valued not according to their merit but according to one’s rank in the hierarchy. This inherent dysfunction of the administrative framework predisposes officers only to be methodical and discipline as they respond to bureaucratic pressure which compels them to adhere only to rules and regulations as an end rather than a means. The second symptom of bureaupathology is that unlike the Awolowo-Adebo model, the administrative leadership in the Nigerian Civil Service today enjoy insufficient authority, recognition and respect of the political class to be in a position to engineer fundamental change and thereupon, build maintain and reinvent the celebrated professionalism that the service enjoyed in the 60s up to the mid-70s. The third symptom is generated by a worrisome ageing factor that ensured that those who are retiring are taking with them the much needed managerial and institutional competences and successors are not forthcoming. The succession gap is further complicated by the low quality of the graduates from tertiary and government training institutions. Lastly, the managerial revolution that has since the 80s transformed the nature of work around the globe seems to have largely bypassed most of our civil services. The unfortunate implication of all these institutional deficits translate into a very deep damage to the implementation capability readiness of MDAs which are supposed to serve as the powerhouse of the civil service for policy management and implementation. The MDAs, as it were, are operating within the context of two conflicting administrative business models for reform—Weberianism and managerialism. In a summary, the Nigerian civil service, through its MDAs, is locked into an execution trap. This trap speaks to the MDAs’ lack of capability readiness to convert policies to an efficient and effective service delivery framework. To use a vehicle metaphor, the jet engine that ought to drive the civil service

has been replaced by that of a Beatle engine. The execution incapacity of the MDAs is traceable to two major deficiencies, namely, (a) a fundamental conception-reality gap that ensures that the local condition and environment of administration in Nigeria almost always work contrary to the intent and trajectory of reforms; and (b) the institutional framework for thinking about reform in the civil service is equally deficient because the passion for reform is not accompanied by the knowledge of what it takes to successfully manage a reform process. Specifically, the MDAs are bedevilled by four chronic gaps— policy, process, capacity, resource and performance. So the challenge is to reengineer or, to further our earlier vehicular metaphor—‘ring the engine’, to alter the elements of the MDAs’ management system as a business model and capacitate them to achieve effective execution of national development agenda. Capacitating them also raises the question of how they could at once be enabled to adapt to changes based on national imperative to improve productivity. This demonstrates the inevitability of implementing a civil service reform package that would be fundamentally different from existing reform frameworks, and essentially pay homage to the desire for transformation itself. One straight and unorthodox commencement point which serves as a nod to the strength of leadership in administrative reform is to recommend for the top echelon of the civil service executive a compulsory reading of Adebo’s memoir, Our Unforgettable Years. It can serve as a first lesson on how to become the public servant, or even constitute the civil service, that Nigeria requires today. As Benjamin Disraeli would say, in the extreme: ‘Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.’ In this context, for civil servants, the autobiography would serve as a useful complement to administrative history in Nigeria—an insightful reminder that as civil servants we can leave our names and reputations etched in national stone. Leadership is the first of the nuts and bolts of administrative reform. Other reform efforts complement leadership at both the general and specific levels. Generally, governance reform requires, at most: (a) deploying a new governance model which controls the national development constraining factors and long-standing structural weaknesses impeding the nation’s performance determinants that we all understood as the ‘Nigerian Factor’; (b) installing a new productivity paradigm that harnesses scarce resources optimally and deploys our best talents within and in Diaspora as multidisciplinary Think Tank and managers to the pressure points of the national economy that enables creativity and innovation as a national culture; and (c) in the face of dwindling national revenue due to the recent slump in global oil price, the nation needs to launch a new and integrated Waste Reduction Management System hinged to a new Maintenance Culture Model for restoring our ageing capital stock and restoring national infrastructure within the framework of the National Integrated Infrastructure Development Strategy. A core component of this strategy would

entail faithful implementation of local content policy with the restoration of technicians and artisans cadre to institute new national labour standards and work culture. There is a need for a bi-partisan core Stakeholders movement around a national campaign to change current adevelopmental national mental model and value system especially as they manifest in money-induced political behaviour and a culture of ‘something for nothing’ in wealth creation. At the strict administrative level, we need to spend the next 3-5 years to put in place a paradigm for rethinking the way we conduct the business of government. There is however a compelling need for fundamental shift in the intellectual base of the civil service moderated by new mentors and coaches as managers and supervisors, who will be able to lead employees, develop programmes and projects and apply e-government and PPP models to deliver better services and better integrate resources and programmes. A critical mass of such managers and administrators will, Adebo-style, oversee the recalibration of skills and competences that will lead to the appointment and retention of those Prof. Gratten has called ‘serial masters’—a new managerial corps with in-depth knowledge and competencies in a number of critical but mutually reinforcing domains. This leadership and managerial framework would be enough to rescue the MDAs from the dilemma of conflicting business models, and direct its impact points towards national imperatives. Furthermore, technological penetration and changing service’s business model also challenge our capacity to redefine the role of the public service and change structures and processes based on our ‘core competences’ and those services that will be contracted out to leverage capacities of the private sector and other non-state organizations. The speed at which civil servants are adjusting to the demands of technological literacy required for the system’s transition into the information age need acceleration. A productivityindexed compensation structure rooted in job evaluation and manning level analysis and a sustainable model of wage adjustment is desirable. This will take us away from current politically reactive decision making model that supports adversarial industrial relations. It seems incontrovertible to me that the civil service remains one of the solutions to Nigeria’s predicament—an agent of socioeconomic transformation. Yet the Nigerian civil service has remained less than optimal in its historical mandate. The AwolowoAdebo leadership model in the old Western Region was singular enough to engineer the infrastructural transformation of that region in history. Can that success story be recreated at the national level? Yes. Are we ready to proceed? The jury is still out on that score. (Being excerpt of lecture delivered as Guest Speaker at the 7th Summit of the Heads of Service in the South-West Geopolitical Zone hosted by the Lagos State Government at Alausa, Ikeja on Wednesday, 28th of January, 2015.)

•CONCLUDED

SPORTS THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Omeruo returns against Arsenal

EXTRA

ENNETH Omeruo will most likely be on the pitch for Middlesbrough when they take on Arsenal in the FA Cup tomorrow at the Emirates Stadium. The Super Eagles defender has been in and out of the Boro first team this season, having to play second fiddle to Ben Gibson and Dani Ayala, who are coach Aitor Karanka's preferred central defensivepair. However, with Ayala out injured for the next month Omeruo appears to be the favourite to fill his void. The on loan Chelsea defender filled in admirably for Ayala in the three games he was suspended but lost his spot when the Argentine returned from his ban in last weekend game. T h e N i g e r i a International paired with Gibson at the heart of Boro defence and helped the team keep three clean sheets in the game he played in Ayala's forced absence. Although Ayala went off injured on his return, Ben Gibson was preferred to the Nigerian as replacement but Jonathan Woodgate needing a rest, Omeruo is back in contention. If he gets picked by Karanka against Arsenal, he will be making his second appearance in the FA Cup, as he was omitted in their shock victory over Manchester City in the previous round.

FEBRUARY 15, 2015

ENGLAND - FA CUP CU

West Brom wich Blackburn Rovers Derby Cou nty Crystal Pal ace

4-0 4-1 1-2 1-2

P RESULTS

West Ham Stoke City Reading Liverpool

FA: Ideye nets brace, as West Brom destroy West Ham â&#x20AC;˘Wes Ham fans boo Sam Allardyce

ECORD signing Brown Ideye scored twice as resurgent West Brom thumped West Ham to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2008. The striker side-footed the Baggies ahead after 20

minutes before a 25-yard shot from James Morrison made it 2-0. Ideye headed the third goal from eight yards early in the second half. West Ham substitute Morgan Amalfitano was sent

off for pushing Chris Brunt in the face before Saido Berahino drove in the final goal at the near post. West Brom are still fighting against relegation in the Premier League but manager Tony Pulis - who has lost just one in his first eight games in

charge - had made it clear he also wants a sustained cup run. And the performance of his side reflected that as they moved to within two wins of giving Pulis the chance to make amends for the defeat he suffered as Stoke manager against Manchester City in the 2011 FA Cup final. The Baggies dominated throughout against a West Ham side who, according to manager Sam Allardyce, were also intent on trying to win the trophy with no fears of their own about league safety. Before this season, Allardyce had not enjoyed an FA Cup win in his three seasons in charge of the Hammers but after a run of just one defeat in nine games they were unable to replicate their recent form. Meanwhile, West Ham United fans threw their fury at Sam Allardyce. The soldout away section at The Hawthorns illustrated their relationship with their manager remains febrile, despite an impressive season so far, by chanting 'F*** off Sam Allardyce' as the goals flew in. West Brom inflicted a 4-0 defeat to dump the Hammers out of the Cup in emphatic fashion, and some 5,500 supporters who travelled from east London were infuriated. Outraged West Ham fans made their feelings known to Sam Allardyce during the 4-0 defeat to West Brom West Brom striker Brown Ideye scored a brace at The Hawthorns to help dump West Ham out of the Cup.

FA Cup: Yakubu puts Reading into quarter-final

AKUBU Aiyegbeni came off the bench to score his first goal for Reading and secure an FA Cup fifth round victory at Derby. Hal Robson-Kanu gave the visitors a 53rd-minute lead after Stephen Warnock had been sent off on his Derby debut. Darren Bent's fifth goal in as many games levelled the scores in the allChampionship tie eight minutes later. With a replay beckoning, January signing Yakubu showed good strength to hold off the chasing defenders and fire in a low left-footed shot. Reduced to 10 men for over half the game by the sending off of debutant Stepehen Warnock, McClaren's much-changed Rams fought back strongly to level after going a goal down to Hal Robson-Kanu's composed finish, the on-loan Darren Bent scoring his fifth goal in six games, only to bow out to a decisive finish by another former Premier League striker in Yakubu Aiyegbeni. With the Rams facing six league games in the next three weeks, albeit all against sides outside the top 10, McLaren made seven changes to the side which drew at promotion rivals Bournemouth in midweek, only one of which Bent for the injured Chris Martin up front could strictly be called enforced.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2015

Yobo set to stage comeback

ORMER Nigeria skipper Joseph Yobo h a s t o l d AfricanFootball.com he is set to stage a comeback to the game as he is studying offers from China and Qatar among others. The 34-year-old Yobo has not played again since his contract with Turkish champions Fenerbache was cancelled by mutual consent in the summer. “I will soon return to the game after I have sorted out some of the things I am now doing,” said Yobo in reference to his foray into party politics recently. “I have several top clubs in Europe who just want to have a look at me before they sign me but I have been engaged outside the pitch for some time now so I have not been able to go over to them. “I also have offers from China and Qatar. I hope to soon take a decision on my career when I have sorted out some of the things I am doing at the moment.” He added: "I am a free agent but some of the transfer windows in some of the countries have closed, but we will see what happens soon." He said his family will play a big role in his final decision. “My wife will soon put to bed in the United States of America and so I have to consider such when taking my decision,” he revealed. Yobo, who has won a record 101 caps for Nigeria, has featured for Everton and Norwich City in the English Premier League as well as Olympique Marseille and Standard Liege.

SPORT AFRICAN UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP

Eaglets vow to wreck Niger today

E R C U R I A L captain, Kelechi Nwakali, has stated here that the Golden Eaglets are not under any pressure ahead of their top of the drawer encounter against host Niger at the 30,000 capacity Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) as the 2015 U-17 Championship gets underway. The coach Emmanuel Amuneke -tutored side would open their Niger 2015 account on Sunday with the crucial opening fixture against host, Niger and Osimhen who was Golden Eaglets' joint top scorer in the qualifiers said he was battle ready. As expected, the Golden Eaglets would be hard pressed by the home team for obvious reasons as their fore bearers defeated their host 4-1 at the same venue in one of the qualifiers towards Morocco 2013. So it would be a case of Déjà vu on Sunday and Nwakali

said he and his teammates are at the ready for the encounter: "We are not under pressure of playing against the host Niger," said the attacking midfielder who is the junior brother of Chidiebere Nwakali who was a member of the 2013 World Cup-winning team. "Rather, it is a great honour for us to start the competition against the host and we are ready to face the challenges." He revealed that the coaching crew has updated them on what to expect playing in front of a partisan home fans, adding the onus is

now on them to deliver the goods. Said Nwakali: "They (coaching crew), have told us this is the most important match because if we win, it would boost our confidence for the other matches in order to qualify for the World Cup in Chile. Once we win our first game, we would be relaxed to play the other two group matches." Eaglets' gangling striker, Victor Osimhen said he is ready to shoulder the team's goal scoring responsibility as the 11th African Under-17 Championship gets

underway in Niger. "First and foremost, we want to thank God for bringing us here safely," said Osimhen, who was recruited from Lagos-based Ultimate Strikers. "Against Niger on Sunday, we are expecting nothing but victory because we have worked so hard to reach this stage." Osimhen is one of the team's standard bearers having scored a cumulative 18 goals in 38 matches (official and friendly) on the road to Niger 2015 and he remains upbeat about getting on the score sheet yet again.

Keshi still keen on Super Eagles

UT-of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, is still disposed to continuing as the Super Eagles boss, SL10.ng can reveal. The 'Big Boss' has been out of contract since the last World Cup in Brazil but steered the Super Eagles on an interim capacity after, which culminated in Nigeria's

failure to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea. But despite the seeming reluctance of the Nigeria Football Federation to offer him a new contract, sl10.ng can authoritatively report that the 52-year is still very interested to lead the Super Eagles. Recent reports have linked

the former Togo coach with the Burkina Faso coaching job, but sl10.ng has been reliably informed that Keshi is still very much interested in the Super Eagles. “The truth is the Big Boss is still very interested in handling the Super Eagles, and he has no doubts in his mind about it,” a source close to Keshi told SL10.ng.

Liverpool confident Sterling will sign new contract

•Amuneke

IVERPOOL Chairman Tom Werner is confident Raheem Sterling will end his contract impasse and commit to a long-term deal. Brendan Rodgers warned Sterling's advisors earlier this week that Liverpool would not be held to ransom over

their demands. And Werner said in an interview with the Liverpool Echo: 'All I can say is that I'm hopeful that we'll conclude a deal. Obviously it's important for us. He's an exceptional player. 'Brendan and Ian Ayre are quite involved and Brendan is

talking to Raheem about this and I hope and expect a very positive outcome that is good for Raheem - and good for the club. 'I would say that I'm confident that we will reach an agreement that works for all parties.’

Blackburn send Stoke out of FA Cup

OSH King's hat-trick helped Blackburn shock 10-man Premier League side Stoke and reach the FA Cup quarter-finals. Peter Crouch reacted quickest to poke Stoke ahead from close range. But Championship side Rovers were level when forward King, who had earlier hit the crossbar, made amends by flicking in the equaliser from a corner. Geoff Cameron was sent off for bringing down King, with Rudy Gestede converting the penalty, before King raced clear to score twice with similar strikes. It was an embarrassing return to Ewood Park for Stoke boss Mark Hughes who managed Rovers for four years, guiding the side to an FA Cup semi-final in 2007. Current manager Gary Bowyer - youth team coach under Hughes - stated before the match that Hughes had "taken the club to another level". He led the Lancashire side into Europe twice, leading them to seventh in the 200708 Premier League season before joining Manchester City. Such has been Blackburn's plight since relegation from the top division in 2012, they now lie ninth in the second tier, reporting debts of £79.8m last month.

QUOTABLE

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 9, NO. 3127

“When I joined the Army in the 1950s, I needed to have a Cambridge certificate or West African School Certificate or GCE with a minimum of six subjects to be able to join the military at the time. Buhari joined the Army about four years after me and if I needed such a certificate to be admitted into the Army, I don’t know how he could have avoided it.” —Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo commenting on Buhari’s qualification.

OR those still enamoured of the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan, whose support for him rests principally on their hatred for leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), I offer them the president’s shocking and revelatory performance in last Wednesday’s live television media chat. If after watching the programme anyone still thinks Dr Jonathan merits any patriot’s vote, or that Nigeria is in safe hands with him, as former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida says, then it is useless teaching such a supporter to reason. You do not have to support the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, or like the APC or its leaders, to realise that with Dr Jonathan Nigeria is not only in unsafe hands, but that democracy itself will most certainly be lost should he be reelected. Let us take a few samples from the controversial chat. Asked if the six-week military push against Boko Haram would lead to the rescue of the 219 Chibok schoolgirls abducted last April, the president gave this answer: “Well, I cannot give you a specific time range, so that you will not say the president said so. I cannot say in two weeks time; but give us some time. We are working with our neighbours and we are combing the whole area, just give us some time. The case with the Chibok girls is very unfortunate. That is the difference between the current challenges and crisis we face in Nigeria and that of other countries when they had issues of terror. Many nations have experienced terror, even the US has. We know that France experienced terror not too long ago. Other countries, when they have this issue of terror, political boundaries collapse and people work together. But in this case, it is different, we politicise everything. Is that the way we will bring back these girls?” It is impossible not to be incensed at Dr Jonathan’s answer. He is acutely aware his word has become meaningless, and is reluctant to give it. So, why draw attention to the impotence of his word? He also sets great store by neighbouring countries’ involvement in Nigeria’s counterinsurgency efforts, but a few days ago even Niger Republic ridiculed Nigerian troops by describing them as cowards who flee in the face of the enemy, while Nigeria in turn described the troops from Niger Republic as looters and poor. The president bewilderingly suggests that while other nations experience terror, the abduction of schoolgirls make the Nigerian experience much worse and more difficult. He is apparently unable to appreciate that his government’s incompetence made the Chibok embarrassment the mess it is. Then he speaks of ‘even the US’ suffering terror attacks, as if to underscore the fact that great and powerful nations, let alone a developing one like Nigeria, are also victims of terrorism. Very poor consolation. But perhaps the worst aspect of his response must be his exasperation with what he insufferably describes as the ‘politicisation’ of the Chibok abductions, asking rhetorically and pathetically whether that was the way to bring back the girls. It is shocking that Dr Jonathan still thinks the Chibok crime was politicised. But in fact it is a grave political issue when a president proves so inept at securing life and property, not to talk of rescuing 219 abducted schoolgirls, a fact he, his wife and government at first denied for more than one week. It is a political issue; it should be politicised; and putting pressure on a weak and indifferent government is a legitimate way to get the president to perform his constitutional duties. If he can’t live up to his oaths,

Another revelatory media chat he does not deserve any vote. Dr Jonathan was also asked how he perceived his main opponent in next month’s presidential election, Gen Buhari. It was an opportunity to act the statesman, and with a little sophomoric philosophy, he could have pulled it through. Instead, he offered his longsuffering subjects a truly baffling and abysmal description of his opponent, and a sad window into his own harried mind. He said: “Buhari contested in 2003 against Obasanjo, he did so in 2007 against late President YarÁdua, and contested against me in 2011. Even in 2011 which was the closest, the tension was not there because the characters that were around him then are different from now... APC started its campaign before me and I watched some of the rallies before I started my campaign in Lagos. If you listened to the way I spoke in Lagos at my flag off, you will realise that I was aggressive.” This is probably the most spectacular indication of who the president is. He is bogged down by trivia and cannot see the big picture, takes things personal in spite of knowing that he occupies an office that impacts greatly on the people, and is bitter and unforgiving over small and big slights. It is clear from his response to the question on Gen Buhari, which by the way he failed to answer like a leader and statesman, that Nigeria is saddled with a president who was not prepared for office, has learnt little or nothing from his five years stay in office, and worse, is unlikely to be improved by that office. He thinks he has

been more insulted than Gen Buhari during this campaign, a fact he argues has prompted his bellicosity. And he formed the incredible belief that the APC candidate would have been milder had he not been surrounded by diehards. Dr Jonathan does not credit Gen Buhari with the initiative and boldness to repackage his campaign, having failed three times before. The president’s appalling reading of his opponent, not to say the environment, is leading him to horrendous anti-democratic excesses. Having concluded that the men around Gen Buhari — in short APC national leaders — are responsible for the pungency, drive and perhaps effectiveness of the opposition campaign, it is not surprising that he has inspired a security cordon around and crackdown on opposition leaders. He seizes every available moment to pontificate on violence-free campaigns and peaceful governance, but he secretly winks at the brutal exercise of presidential power, which he has outsourced in plausible deniability to fawning and paranoid minds in the security agencies. As far as he is concerned, the crackdown on the opposition, the invasion of their offices, the harassment of opposition governors and lawmakers, including the invasion of the House of Representatives, not to talk of the insubordination of policemen and secret service personnel, are nothing but the routine exercise of their duties. This column concluded

last week that voting Jonathan would doom democracy. Last week’s media chat, with all the president’s boyish hurting and effusions, shows clearly we would have no democracy to nurture should the increasingly fascist Dr Jonathan be reelected. One more example from the chat and I am done. Dr Jonathan was asked what he thought of and intended to do about the fanatical war cries coming from his Niger Delta supporters, most of them so-called reformed militants. He gave a few homilies about unity and peace, talked about the treason he deduced from the northern youths who pelted him with stones, and then simply glided over the question. He said nothing about questioning or arresting the militants who threatened war if Dr Jonathan was not reelected, nor did the duties of a president strike him as so weighty and sacred as to prompt him to denounce the treasonable statements by the militants, and cause the already diseased and compromised security services to perform their solemn duties to the constitution. Dr Jonathan probably sees the creek war whoops as a necessary counterpoise to the northern stoning, and an insurance against his humiliation at the polls. There was nothing in Dr Jonathan’s CV to indicate he possessed leadership qualities before Chief Obasanjo inflicted him on Nigeria. Nearly six years after he assumed office, as the last media chat showed, there is still nothing in him or about him to indicate he has the qualities of a leader. He is in effect leading the country to ruin. He cannot be trusted to protect anyone, let alone the constitution. If it suits him, he will ignore the constitutional tomfooleries of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, chuckle at the gross insubordination of megalomaniacal police officers like Mbu Joseph Mbu, an Assistant Inspector-General (AIG), nod at the military’s dangerous partisanship and incursion into politics, ignore the secret service’s many direct assaults on the liberties of the people, and envelope the country in so much gloom that the rest of Africa can do nothing but wait in apprehension at the disaster unfolding upon Nigeria. A sneering world already knows Dr Jonathan is unfit to rule; his last media chat proved that point eminently.

Dasuki, poll date stability and overbearing military

ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo warned in far away Kenya that the military should not contemplate a coup d’etat on account of the crises hamstringing Nigeria. He is not the only one to warn against military adventurism. All the watchmen are right to warn against the truncation of democracy; but they assume that democracy is really in place in the first instance. Everything at the moment, indeed, indicates that democracy is already in abeyance, and military rule has been enthroned, if not in law, at least in fact. It was the National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, a retired colonel, that first talked of a six-week extension to the original February 14 poll date. After a lot of meandering instigated and supervised by the military, which said they could not provide security for polling officials and voters, the Jonathan government got the six weeks it schemed for. The president, who has apparently ceded presidential powers to the military, was ecstatic. In an unprecedented constitutional affront last year, the military also targeted critical newspapers for a week or so, detained their distribution vans on the pretext of national security interest, barred

•Dasuki

•Fayose

them from selling their papers, and refused to compensate them for huge losses. The same military that found the Boko Haram insurgency a tough nut to crack, and hates been criticised for their ineffectiveness, however, poured tens of thousands of troops into Ekiti and Osun States last year to ‘police’ elections. Meanwhile, they needed only about eight thousand troops to man the Multinational Joint Task Force to fight Boko Haram, with all the derogatory connotations of cowardice levelled against Nigerian

troops by Niger Republic officers. Apart from needing help from lowly Chad and Cameroon, the Nigerian military has unadvisedly depended on civilians (Civilian JTF) to procure intelligence for them on Boko Haram, though they have in their ranks troops and officers native to the Northeast. Importantly too, without recourse to state authorities or the beneficiaries of their benevolence, soldiers have laid siege to the homes of opposition politicians on the pretext of giving them unsolicited security. While the federal government and all manner of small and ad hoc agencies such as the Sure-P are assaulting and upturning the little federalism left in the country, the president carries on indifferently, and indeed, no one seems to care how to halt the madness overtaking the nation. It is in the midst of these that Col Dasuki (retd) has promised there would be no more poll date shift. How can he tell? Is it not obvious that the Jonathan government, contrary to what their supporters say, simply wanted a break to restrategise against what they perceived as humiliating defeat?

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