January 1, 2012

2012

Nigerians to watch –PAGES 23-24 & 65

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.06, No. 1991

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

JANUARY 1, 2012

N200.00

Jonathan declares state of emergency in Borno, Niger, Yobe, Plateau –Pages 4 & 6

Action affects only 15 LGAs Democratic Institutions remain in place –Azazi Closes border to Chad,Cameroun Sets up special counter-terrorism force THE AFFECTED AREAS i) BORNO STATE a) Maidugiri Metropolitan LGA b) Gamboru Ngala LGA c) Banki Bama LGA d) Biu LGA e) Jere LGA

(ii) YOBE STATE a) Damaturu LGA b) Geidam LGA c) Potiskum LGA d) Buniyadi-Gujba LGA e) Gasua-Bade LGA

(iii) PLATEAU STATE a) Jos North LGA b) Jos South LGA d) Barkin-Ladi LGA d) Riyom LGA (iv) NIGER STATE a) Suleja LGA

PRESIDENTATMADALLA “Boko Haram started as a harmless group in Borno State. At a time they were used by politicians to fester their political interest, now they have grown cancerous and Nigeria being the body, they want to kill the body.

Nobody will allow it.

We will crush them.”

–Page 6

EBONYI MASSACRE

52 killed on New Year Eve Mrs Williams Dike who lost her husband and four children to the blast inconsolable on New year’s Eve during President Goodluck Jonathan’s Photos: AKIN OLADOKUN visit to St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, hear Abuja, Right, the President is briefed by a priest during the visit.

–Page 68

SNOOPING AROUND PAGE 5

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

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NEWS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Jonathan declares Emergency in Borno, Yobe, Plateau , Niger • Operation root out Boko Haram begins P • Niger Governor, Aliyu, backs president

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday took decisive action to respond the unrelenting wave of attacks by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

He imposed emergency rule in 15 local government areas of Borno,Yobe,Plateau and Niger State as part of the strategy to check the bloody activities of Boko Haram,the Islamic sect that has held the nation to ransom for the second year running.

It was his response to popular clamour that the group be put in its place following deadly attacks on the UN office Abuja, the Police Headquarters, Abuja, the Eid-el-Kabir eve mayhem in Damaturu, Potiskum and Maiduguri and the Christmas Day bombing of St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madallah near Abuja.

The President visited the church yesterday to see things for himself and it was there that he dropped hint that he was going to take drastic action against Boko Haram. He likened the group to cancer which was bent on killing Nigeria. He vowed that he would not allow that.

He made good his vow a few hours later in an address to the nation last night.

Affected by the emergency rule are: Borno State (a) Maiduguri Metropolitan LGA, (b) Gamboru Ngala LGA(c) Banki Bama LGA; (d) Biu LGA and (e) Jere LGA Yobe State : (a) Damaturu LGA, (b) Geidam LGA, (c) Potiskum LGA. (d) BuniyadiGujba LGA and (e) NashuaBade LGA Plateau State: (a) Jos North LGA, (b) Jos South LGA, (c) Barkin-Ladi LGA, and (d) Riyom LGA Niger State : (a) Suleja LGA All land borders close to the 15 LGAs will be shut until further notice.

President Jonathan in the address said: it has become necessary to address you on recent events in some parts of the country that have threatened our collective security and shaken the foundations of our corporate existence as a nation.

“You are all aware of the security challenges which the activities of the Boko Haram sect have foisted on the country. What began as sectarian crises in the North-Eastern parts of the country has gradually evolved into terrorist activities in different parts of the country with attendant negative consequences on our national security.

“Government in an effort to find a lasting solution to the security threats occasioned by the activities of the Boko Haram sect, constituted a Presidential Committee under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the crises.

“While efforts are being made to implement the recommendations of the Committee, the crises have assumed a terrorist dimen-

•President Goodluck Jonathan flanked by Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu inspecting damage at the seen of the Madalla bombing yesterday.

Photo: AKIN OLADOKUN From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation and Jide Orintunsin, Minna

sion with vital institutions of government including the United Nations Building and places of worship becoming targets of terrorist attacks.

“While the search for lasting solutions is ongoing, it has become imperative to take some decisive measures necessary to restore normalcy in the country especially within the affected communities. Consequently, I have in the exercise of the powers conferred on me by the provisions of section 305(1) of the Constitution,

declared a state of emergency in the following parts of the federation, namely: (i) Borno State a) Maiduguri Metropolitan LGA b) Gamboru Ngala LGA c) Banki Bama LGA d) Biu LGA e) Jere LGA (ii) Yobe State a) Damaturu LGA b) Geidam LGA c) Potiskum LGA d) Buniyadi-Gujba LGA e) Gasua-Bade LGA (iii) Plateau State a) Jos North LGA

b) Jos South LGA c) Barkin-Ladi LGA d) Riyom LGA (iv) Niger State a) Suleja LGA “The details of this proclamation will be transmitted to the National Assembly as soon as they reconvene from their current recess, for their necessary action.

“The Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector-General of Police have been directed to put appropriate measures in place to ensure the protection of lives and properties of residents in the affected parts of the country.

“I therefore urge the political leadership in the affected states

and Local Government Areas to give maximum cooperation to the law enforcement agencies deployed to their respective communities to ensure that the situation is brought under control within the shortest possible time.

“The Chief of Defence Staff, in collaboration with other Service Chiefs, has also been directed to set up a special force unit within the Armed Forces, with dedicated counter terrorism responsibilities.

“As part of the overall strategy to overcome the current security challenges, I have directed the closure of the land borders contiguous to the affected Local Government Areas so as to control incidences of cross boarder terrorist activities as terrorists have taken advantage of the present situation to strike at targets in Nigeria and retreat beyond the reach of our law enforcement personnel.

8. Let me assure our neighbours, especially within the ECOWAS sub-region, of Nigeria ’s commitment to its international obligations as provided by the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons. The temporary closure of our borders in the affected areas is only an interim measure designed to address the current security challenges and will be reviewed as soon as normalcy is restored.

“I commend the efforts of our political leaders at various levels as well as our traditional and religious leaders for their support for the various conflict resolution mechanisms and peace building measures that have been initiated by this administration. We call on the citizenry to continue to provide useful information to our law enforcement agencies to enable us arrest the situation.

“Terrorism is a war against all of us. I call on all Nigerians to join hands with government to fight these terrorists.

“I wish all Nigerians a very happy New Year. Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria .”

Unlike the whole sale State of Emergency imposed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Jonathan opted for •Continued on Page 6

Sagay backs Jonathan over emergency rule

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ROF. Itse Sagay yesterday backed the partial declaration of state of emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan. He said the president is empowered by section 11 of the 1999 constitution to act in the interest of public safety and security.

The president had last night imposed partial emergency rule in Borno, Yobe, Plateau and Niger states.

Justifying the president’s action, Sagay, a professor of constitutional Law said: “A state of emergency gives the President and the National Assembly more powers to make laws for the good governance of the states affected. Without the declaration of a state of emergency, the Federal Government cannot mobilize security and supply services for the use of those areas. These are the same materials probably meant to be used during wars.

“As long as he does not run contrary to the letters and spirit of

• Aturu says better late than never

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

the constitution, the president has certain powers to impose a curfew in those areas which otherwise would have been at the behest of the state governors. He can send military troops to the affected places if doing so will help achieve the overall security objective of the state.”

Prof. Sagay who recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo set a bad precedence by forcibly removing Governors Joshua Dariye of Plateau and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti states, stressed that Obasanjo acted in clear violation of the constitution.

“It is expressly stated in section 11 of the constitution that the declaration of state of emergency does not include powers to remove the governors and the deputy governors of the states.”

Sub-section 4 of section 11, he stressed, “Gives the state houses of assemblies the powers to continue to converge and hold meetings and it also states that the National Assembly can also perform the role of the state houses of assemblies where the latter are unable to perform their constitutional duties. But the constitution warns us that these powers cannot be exercised as long as the state houses of assemblies can hold meetings.”

He added: “The implication of the state of emergency is that there will be increased security presence, restriction of movements. But the National Assembly will still have to pass a law restricting people to houses. The constitution allows for a maximum of six months for the declaration of a state of emergency.

However, should there be need for the extension of the exercise; the president has to go back to the

National Assembly to obtain approval.”

Also, Mr. Bamidele Aturu while lauding the president’s action said it was a coming a wee late. He said “While Nigerians must cautiously welcome the proclamation as a marked departure from the seeming inaction of the government, the point must be made that the proclamation is not sufficient to guarantee peace or put an end to the calamitous carnage taking place in those states in the name of religion. We need to know the details and to be assured that the security agencies and their heads are now able to bridge the yawning intelligence gap.”

He added that unless there is an increasing use of intelligence even if the action is endorsed by the National Assembly, it will end up as a mere motion and may as well degenerate to needless trampling on the rights of the citizens of those states.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Column

Turtle or tarantula?

S

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Turtle

H

APPY New Year to all who made it to this glorious morning. We wish to thank ardent readers of this column who made frantic enquires as to why the column went missing last week. It was due to a technical hitch.

Contrary to widespread rumours, snooper has not been unwell. This last Tuesday, snooper was at bay at the bullring in Birmingham quaffing and reminiscing about Nigeria’s lost opportunities with a Nigerian professor of Automative Engineering at the University of Birmingham.

The old boy was rueing what might have been had the old Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Lagos been allowed to fulfill its destiny. With Ayodele Awojobi as the presiding deity, it was a star-studded constellation. Our man was one of the youthful luminaries. With brains coming out of every imaginable centre of Engineering excellence, from Moscow, through DREFT in Holland, to Waterloo in Canada, it was a collision of scientific altars. These were the immense resources available to create a post-colonial society anew.

A week before, snooper was addressing a gathering of Nigerian professionals in Toronto, Canada, about the state of the amalgamation.

There again, a historic figure torn out of the pages of Nigeria’s tragic history suddenly muscled its way to the front stage. Our man announced that he was an active participant in the Orka mutiny and would almost certainly have been executed if he had been captured.

There will be more on this in this column in the coming weeks. We believe that as it is, Nigeria can only survive if it is nudged in the direction of

•Tarantula

alternative societies and alternative nations. For example, in twenty years, the bullring in Birmingham has witnessed a dramatic transformation that beggars belief. Canada is also slowly emerging from the shadows of its giant North American neighbour as a prosperous, truly multi-cultural and truly democratic nation.

Let us not mince words about this. As it is today, Nigeria has become an active volcano; a truly malfunctioning and dysfunctional society with collapsed values ruled by a corrupt and venal cartel lording it over restive subjects. The molten lava from the volcanic eruptions is about to overwhelm all of us. It seems as if the Equatorial spring, with its violent and monsoon floods, is upon us.

Yet a new year is like a new season; a time of renewal and rejuvenation. Unlike the human organism which dies once and for all, the good thing about failed states is that they can be resurrected. A columnist must not be a killjoy even when he is unfortunate to live among the happiest people on earth. I hate people being happy when they should be unhappy, Bernard Shaw famously sulked.

But there is no point starting the New Year on a sour and surly note like the famous Anglo-Irish sourpuss. There is plenty of time for fireworks and sabre-rattling. Let us reserve this morning for the great Nigerian dream and all the great Nigerians who have perished in the quest to bring it to reality. It is a huge funeral procession, an endless cortege of shame and misery.

Still folks, it is great to be alive on this brilliant Sunday morning. So many good people passed on the previous year.

You begin to wonder why your

number has not come up. Or is there some lottery rigging up there too? Winston Churchill often puckishly wondered aloud why he seemed to enjoy a better health than his Spartan and austere political foes, despite a frenetic lifestyle which included a daily menu of copious whiskey and fat cigars.

The old English wizard died in his nineties, having been an adventurer, a prisoner of war, a colonel, an exceptional politician, a statesman, a great writer and a Nobel laureate in literature to boot. He had been adjudged as arguably the greatest Englishman of all time and when he joined his illustrious ancestors, a famous obituary noted that what was mortal of the great man had died.

Snooper is not complaining, lest an angel of retribution should be passing by.

Ultimately, death is as mysterious as life itself. There are people who, judging by their hectic and tumultuous lifestyle, ought to have died a long time ago. But they are still there, stoutly and bearishly soldiering on. In a splendid twist of irony, it is these fellows who beam a superior smile at you obviously wondering why you are still around. There are men among cats and there are cats among men.

The story was told of a veteran labour leader and aspiring political juggernaut who had shown up at a political rally in faraway Yola.

A medical practitioner among the lot decided to take a random test of the blood pressure of all present. When it came to the turn of the veteran labour leader, the doctor’s jaw dropped in astonishment. After repeated tests to confirm that he was not dreaming, the medico was asked what the matter was.

“This man should not be

“This is the last chance for Nigeria to rally its reserve of strength and national will. Let Jonathan climb down from this cockroach horse and begin a process of negotiation with all the critical stakeholders of the Nigerian project with a view to renegotiating the basis of the Nigerian project”

alive!” the doctor screamed. He had advised immediate hospitalisation and urgent medication because the pulse was enough to fell even an elephant. But the labour titan remained unfazed and undaunted.

“And when is the rally going to start o jare?,” he scowled as he swept past the mortified doctor.

Snooper can today report that almost twenty years after, the man is still alive and kicking. If this story speaks to the indomitable nature of the Nigerian political elite, it also beams an unflattering searchlight on their fecklessness and great immoral courage.

They do not recognise danger to themselves or the nation for that matter. This is why they are a danger to themselves and to everyone else.

But by every hour, the initiative is passing away from them. There is a limit to which a country can push its legendary luck. This year, 2012, is the Chinese Year of Fate for Nigeria.

The global vultures are already circling. There is so much about Goodluck Jonathan which reminds one of the last boyemperor of feudal China. We will not be drawn into details.

We have been told not to expect a revolution because of Nigeria’s multi-cultural and multi-ethnic contradictions. In other words, the Nigerian mass in itself can never become a mass for itself, despite unification and homogenisation by hunger and biblical misery.

But as it has been famously noted, almost always before it happens, a revolution appears like an impossibility. But after its advent, it appears like an inevitability.

Without the enabling historical conditions, who could have foretold the Russian Revolution or the Arab Spring for that matter? History moves in stealth, in secrecy and in total surprise. The great owl of Minerva, as Karl Marx sagely noted, always begins its flight after the event.

In any case, it is not a revolution we must fear but allconsuming anarchy. With genuine democracy, a revolution is an impossibility.

But with a genuine revolution, democracy is an inevitability.

Let us now end with some historical wagers, however unpalatable to the gluttonous palate of Nigeria’s undeserving political elite.

It is now clear that there is an international dimension to the Boko Haram scourge and the plot to bring a proud nation to heel. As a Nigerian patriot and an international expert in these matters, snooper solemnly avers that the international community will readily sacrifice civil rule and the democratic process in Nigeria if Nigeria

imperils the global order. There are no two ways about this matter. And it is not a matter of on the one hand equivocation and amphibology.

Anybody conversant with the feelers emanating from the security citadels of the West must come to the same conclusion. The Boko Haram menace has now been upgraded by the West to the status of a full ideological and political Hurricane on the same par with the al-Qaeda sect.

What this means is that the global order can intervene directly or by proxy in Nigerian affairs to protect its short and long-term interest. For anybody still in doubt, please read David Blair in the conservative Telegraph newspaper of London last week.

With a weak, bumbling and ineffectual central leadership, the Nigerian authorities cannot complain about the loss of sovereignty or the erosion of the nation’s territorial integrity.

They have already lost those to the Boko Haram insurgency.

Before our very eyes, Nigeria has become the Sick Man of Africa. But at least in Turkey, they had a Mustapha Kemal Ataturk to rally the rump of the Ottoman Empire before the Western interlocutors came with the surgical instruments of imperial cartography.

This is a dark and dire moment for the nation, even worse than the civil war era.

Unfortunately by his desultory and dilatory leadership, Jonathan seems to have played into the hands of those who believe that Nigerian is their grandfathers’ estate and theirs to rule in abject perpetuity. But they are profoundly mistaken if they think they will have the last word. We are either going to have a turtle or a giant tarantula will consume everybody for supper.

This is the last chance for Nigeria to rally its reserve of strength and national will. Let Jonathan climb down from this cockroach horse and begin a process of negotiation with all the critical stakeholders of the Nigerian project with a view to renegotiating the basis of the Nigerian project. The matter at hand is beyond a partisan party affair. The PDP’s social and political base and its felonious recruitment policies are just too weak and narrow to contain this crisis or to summon a panNigerian resolve. As this is being written, a security alert is making the round warning of an imminent Boko Haram apocalypse in Lagos.

As a first step, Jonathan should immediately disband the so-called Federal Executive Council which has outlived its usefulness. Nothing short of a National Emergency Government will do for now.

Otherwise, it will be goodbye to Nigeria as we know it.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

News STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARATION

Boko Haram: Jonathan weeps at Madalla bomb site

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OVED by the level of destruction and gory details of how innocent lives were lost at the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church during the Christmas Day bomb blast, President Jonathan openly wept yesterday when he visited Madalla, a suburb that shares common borders with the Federal Capital Territory.

Jonathan, who had gone to commiserate with the victims and relatives of the blast, was touched by the wailing of families of the bereaved.

He was conducted round the premises by Rev. Father, Isaac Achi, the priest in charge of the church.

Relatives of those affected by the blast had to be held back as they rolled on the bare floor, lamenting their loss.

On sighting the wailing crowd, President Jonathan betrayed his emotions and he was promptly dragged away by his aides.

Speaking later, the President promised to carry out some drastic measures to turn Suleja town, known for its notoriety, upside down beginning from last night.

He said: “When the terrorists struck in Niger State, it was in Suleja. Luckily the local government chairman is here, we are going to turn this place upside down, if there are institutions here that are harbouring criminality, we are going to deal with it decisively, because Niger State is a very big state and every terrorist attack is in Suleja.

“My belief is that there are institutions or individuals in Suleja that are harbouring terrorists and we would deal with it decisively. In any part of this country where an individual or a group of people, either traditional or religious institutions are associated with terrorists will be dealt with decisively.

There will be no sacred cows.”

Jonathan, while expressing condolences to all Nigerians and the Catholic family stated that: “This did not affect just the Catholic Church, but it affected all Nigerians irrespective of religious divide because terrorism attack anywhere is terrorism attack on the whole nation.

These are evil men being propelled by evil thoughts and evil desires to create confusion in decent societies.

“I sympathise with the Church, the government and people of Niger State for this act, but I assure Nigerians that I would do everything to protect lives and properties. Since this incident happened we have been meeting. In fact, one of the reasons why I did not come early was because I did not want to disrupt things at the site, I wanted things to be done properly,

• Says Suleja to be turned ‘upside down’ • Compensation starts Tuesday —Gov. Aliyu will begin from to- is not anything to sympa• Says church can forgive terrorists but govt won’t night“We to take different measFrom Vincent Ikuomola

that is investigation, because I knew by the time I will come in there will be crowd and a number of things will be tempered with. Even yesterday and the day before yesterday we met and we would continue to meet.

“This night I am going to speak to Nigerians about some few steps we are going to take which I believe the public should know, so

that they will not be embarrassed when they get to some of the situations so that I will address them tonight on television. There are a number of things that we are doing and will continue to do.

“Boko Haram started as a harmless group in Borno State at a time they were used by politicians to fester their political interest, now they have grown cancerous and Nigeria being the body, they want kill the

body and nobody will allow it. Some people re exploiting it to their own advantage, but terrorist attack on any part of the nation is an attack on all of us and all Nigerians will collectively fight this terror. We will crush them. We’ve seen what happened in other countries. Terrorist attacks is not what you will use magic wand to wave it off, but collectively we will bring under control and finally we will crush it.

•L-R: Ogun State Speaker, Hon. Suraj Adekunbi; Governor Ibikunle Amosun and his deputy, Prince Segun Adesegun at the signing of the approved 2012 Ogun State budget by Amosun last week.

ures, different approach in fighting Boko Haram and we must weed them out from society.

“I sympathize with those who have lost lives, properties and especially those who have lost people dear to them. When you lose life you cannot get it back, how I wish it is something that we can reconstruct but God has not made it so.

“As the President and Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria I will take actions that this will come to an end very soon”.

Also speaking at the venue, the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, told reporters that compensation for the victims will commence on Tuesday after the holidays.

The governor said the committee set up has concluded its work of assessment and so compensation both for those who lost loved ones and properties should commence on Tuesday.

Aliyu, who said that he had no problem with the church leadership saying it has forgiven the attackers, said the government would go after members of the Boko Haram sect and bring them to justice.

“I am happy Mr. President is here and terrorism

thise with. The Church can forgive terrorists, but we in government cannot forgive them until we get them and they are punished properly and that is what the President has promised us today”.

On the notoriety of Suleja, Aliyu said, “you have forgotten that Suleja started FCT, the whole headquarters was in Suleja. So the cosmopolitan nature of the place now has become so special that we have been asking the Federal Government to consider all the contiguous states of the FCT including the towns from Suleja, Mararaba, because the security of the FCT is contingent of what happens in the neighbourhood.

“So am happy that what we have been asking for has now been recognised. Because there is a special need of this place both in terms of security and the welfare of the people. I believe we should pay attention”.

Speaking on compensation of victims, the Governor said, “What we are doing is to access what has happened, we will make donations both for those who have suffered losses and properties. The committee has concluded its work and by Tuesday we will come and start compensating”.

Jonathan declares Emergency in Borno, Yobe, Plateau, Niger •Continued from Page 4 limited exercise of his constitutional powers.

A top presidency source said: “The President exercised his powers in accordance with Section 305(1) (c) of the 1999 Constitution.

“By implications, the Police and the Military will now take over the affected local government areas.

They can search any suspected hideout of Boko Haram members and their sponsors.

“It is like imposing a military rule on the affected LGAs. The rule of law and all forms of democratic tenets have been suspended in the affected areas.

“This is a formal declaration of military action against Boko Haram. But the government will protect lives and properties.”

At a stage during his visit to St Theresa’s Church yesterday the president broke down in tears.

He described Boko Haram as a “cancerous” body that was bent on destroying the country.

But he vowed the group would be foiled.

Observers described his comments as the toughest in recent times against the sect — whose name

means “Western education is sin” in local dialect — and its operations since 2009.

During his address in the church, many worshippers cried uncontrollably, including two women who lost their husbands and four children in the Christmas Day bombing.

Christian leaders have expressed mounting frustration over the authorities’ inability to stop the attacks, most of which have occurred in the northeast but also included the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 25 people.

While Boko Haram initially sought the creation of an Islamic state in the northern part of the country some people claiming to speak on its behalf have since issued a range of demands.

There has been intense speculation over whether it has formed links with outside extremist groups, such as Al-Qaeda’s north African branch and Somalia’s Shebab rebels, although no operational connections have been proven.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has welcome the declaration of state of emergency. He said

the state was ready to support any move that is aimed at restoring lasting peace to the affected areas.

Aliyu, who is the governor of Niger State said that it was time for government at all levels to arrest the terrorist activities that have made vital institutions of government and places of worship targets of attacks.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Malam Danladi Ndayebo, Aliyu pledged to work with the special task force

that will be set up by the Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector General of Police to oversee the affairs of Suleja local Government of Niger State.

Explaining on the form of the state of emergency, the National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi, later told State House correspondents that the implication of the declaration is that security forces would have extra powers to arrest and conduct stop-andsearch in the affected councils.

Azazi said that the democratic institutions in the affected areas would still function.

He ruled out the possibilities of criminals relocating from the affected areas, saying it would be difficult for them to start their activities elsewhere.

Apart from the affected areas, the NSA said security agents would also work hard to monitor places where reports of possible threat have recorded, including Lagos State.

History of emergency rule in Nigeria

T

HE first emergency rule in Nigeria was in 1962, when Dr. Moses Majekodunmi was appointed the Sole Administrator of the defunct Western Region as a way of resolving the crisis that threatened the Action Group government in the region.

The crisis began when the then Premier, Chief S.L.A. Akintola, was removed by the Government of Western Nigeria and Chief Dauda Adegbenro was installed as Premier instead.

The Western House of Assembly had convened to pass a vote of confidence

From Vincent Nzemeke

on Chief Adegbenro’s government, when Chief Akintola’s supporters in the House allegedly created an uproar forcing the Police to disperse members with tear gas.

Because of the confusion arising from the fact that the two made claims to the Premiership of the region, the federal parliament, in exercise of its powers under the Constitution of 1960, declared a state of emergency in Western Nigeria and approved appointment of Majekodunmi as administer of the region.

Since its return to civil rule in 1999, Nigeria’s political history has been topsy-turvy. The country has experienced some security challenges that threatened its peace and unity. Consequently, some of its past leaders have been forced to invoke section 305 of the 1999 Constitution which empowers a sitting president to declare emergency rule whenever the peace of the country is threatened.

Before President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of partial emergency •Continued on Page 68

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

News HAPPY NEW YEAR

work for unity, 2011 marred by terrorism—Jonathan Let’s Tambuwal charges ...vows to weed out Boko Haram P S

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday took stock of 2011.

The successes recorded, the President admitted, were marred by violent attacks by the Boko Haram sect.

Jonathan, in his New Year message, said his administration would not be deterred in its determination to transform the country.

He praised the restoration of peace in the Niger Delta with huge boost in production and export of crude oil.

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

He also said the Transformation Agenda was on track with massive investment in infrastructures and human capital.

These gains, he lamented, were however overshadowed by terrorism.

According to him, “Sadly and very regrettably, however, 2011 also witnessed continuing national security challenges,

the most worrisome of which was the spate of mindless terrorist attacks which have claimed the lives of many of our people.

“As we enter a New Year, I wish to reassure Nigerians that my administration will neither be distracted nor deterred from the effective implementation of its agenda for national growth and development by present challenges.’’

He vowed to ‘’vigorously confront and defeat the

menace of terrorism’’, urging Nigerians not to despair.

The President said, “I urge our people to reject despair and embrace hope and optimism. We are a strong and resilient people. ‘’We have overcome all previous challenges to our nationhood and national well-being. With unity of purpose and national solidarity, we will certainly overcome terrorism and other current challenges.”

Poverty, not religion, is our common enemy-Tinubu

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HE National leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has urged Nigerians to work against outbreak of religious war.

Tinubu, in his New Year message, said everyone must rally to end the Boko Haram menace.

According to him, “Our common enemy is poverty, coupled with lack of economic opportunities, not religion. We must never, I repeat never, allow the few evil ones among us set us against one another in mindless violence.”

He said Nigeria should have gone beyond allowing their different religious beliefs to trigger violence.

Citing a personal example, he said, “I am Muslim, and proudly so. My wife is Christian, and proudly so too. ‘’But that has not prevented each of us from living together in love and raising our family in harmony. ”Apart from my experience, there are many couples married across religious lines. Yet, they have made blissful homes and brought up their children in peace’’.

The former Governor of Lagos State called on Nigerians to rally round Presi-

By Sunday Oguntola

dent Goodluck Jonathan in rooting out the Boko Haram crisis, saying that the insurrection is a lose-lose situation that Nigerians must unite to soundly defeat.

He blamed the Boko Haram insurgency on poverty.

Tinubu explained, “Pov-

erty and want sit at the core of the Boko Haram crisis. We must therefore create a system that will give people hope, not the one that breeds pervading hopelessness that has proven a fertile ground for religious extremists, who have turned our once peaceful and harmonious country into a huge slaughter slab.

We must do everything in the

New Year to remedy this tragedy”.

He tasked Nigerians to make a New Year resolution ‘’that never must we allow our land to be turned into a vast slaughter ground by extremists of any hue. ‘’This is a battle we must fight and win this new year, or else Nigeria will all be undone – God forbid!”

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has identified restraint, peaceful religious and ethnic co-existence as core virtues needed for national stability and development.

Fashola, in his New Year message, called on Nigerians to consider themselves as stakeholders in the nation’s prosperity and greatness.

He noted that Nigerians across all ethnic and religious beliefs have always intermarried and co- existed in harmony.

He pointed out that there is no complete Nigerian family that does not have a fusion of either religious or ethnic groups.

The Governor said it is within the making of all Nigerians for people of diverse ethnic groups to feel confident to reside in any part of the country without any fear of falling victim of violent attacks or undue persecution.

Governor Fashola wished all residents of Lagos State a brighter and rewarding in 2012, assuring that he will not relent in efforts to better the lot of the people across all divides.

E •Olugbo of Ugbo, Oba Obateru Akinruntan (right) with Aro of Ugboland, High Chief Bolaji Gbayisemore, the Maran of Ugboland, High Chief Rapheal Ikuesanu and others at the end of year party organised by the monarch at Ode Ugbo in Ondo State over the weekend

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

that the security challenge is a major setback.

He said: “From North to South or East to West, I can say without any fear of contradiction that there is no alternative to the oneness and unity of Nigeria.

“Therefore, nobody or groups should give any cre-

dence to insinuation in some quarters that the current security challenge could do otherwise to our corporate existence. We have more to live for and gain as one people, one nation.”

Mark advised perpetrators of violence to retrace their steps and remember that “we are Africans who live a communal life and

Amaechi preaches religious tolerance, unity IGERIANS have been urged to show love and live peacefully with one another despite their religious, cultural and geographical differences.

The Rivers State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Mr Chibuike Amaechi made the call in his New Year message.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary,

Fashola urges restraint

We must not surrender to fear, says Oshiomhole

Our unity cannot be compromised- Mark ENATE President David Mark yesterday said the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria cannot be compromised for anything despite the security threat and other challenges facing the nation.

Mark, in a New Year message statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, in Abuja also noted

PEAKER of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, has enjoined Nigerians to reflect on norms and traditions which emphasise respect for elders and care for the young in 2012.

In his New Year message by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Imam Imam, the Speaker pledged that 2012 will signal the rebirth of new hopes and aspirations.

He urged Nigerians to revive the age-long tradition of communal harmony built on deference for elders and unquantifiable love and concern for the young.

According to Tambuwal, ‘’As we enter the New Year, we should all reflect on these virtues to fast track the return of peace and stability to our dear nation. We must emphasise the aspects of our culture which promote unity, harmony and peaceful coexistence’’.

He said that the House of Representatives will take the lead in efforts to find last solutions to the socio-economic challenges confronting the country.

While noting that the last months of 2011 have seen arise in cases of insecurity, the speaker assured that the challenges are temporary.

According to him, ‘’While the cases of insecurity have been source of concern for the country, I believe it is a period we would soon leave behind,” the Speaker added.

David Iyofor, Amaechi called for a unified Nigeria.

He said, “Our tribes and tongues may differ but we are one and the same people, north, south, east, or west, we are one Nigeria and must live in peace and unity to make meaningful progress.

“We must understand that there could be no meaningful development in an atmosphere of intolerance and rancour. We must show love to one another, preach peace

and learn to be our brothers’ keeper”.

He urged Nigerians to put aside unpleasant experiences of 2011 and aim for a better year.

“Though a lot of things may have gone wrong in 2011 but as a nation, we need to not only reflect on our past but work towards a better future.”

Amaechi also promised to keep on with development in all parts of Rivers State.

uphold the sanctity of our brotherhood.

“These bombings, murder and destruction of property are alien to us and we must do everything humanly possible to arrest the situation.”

Have Your Say What is your view on the partial state of emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan in four Northern states?

— Send SMS with full name and location before Wednesday to 08074473182 Responses to previous week’s question are on pages 52

DO State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has declared that the nation must never surrender to fear, terror or hatred in 2012.

Oshiomhole, in his New Year message, said Nigerians must unite in facing the legion of problems facing the nation.

According to him, ‘’We must respond as Nigerians and rise as a people to face the challenge, united by a common resolve to defend our collective security and the integrity of the polity. ‘’ Many nations have passed through the dangers and travails unleashed by secular and sectarian violence. Certainly, several are going through such difficulties even now. ‘’Solutions come by dint of faith in God; conscious efforts to nurture unity and consensus, as well as a firm resolve to defend the integrity of the polity. ‘’Therefore, we must not surrender to fear, mutual hatred or a desperation.’’

Fayemi calls for security consciousness in 2012

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KITI State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has urged Nigerians to be vigilant and security conscious in the New Year.

Fayemi said that through vigilance and cooperation among citizens, the various threats to peace and security in the country would be uprooted.

In his New Year message the Governor urged all Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of brotherliness and live peacefully with one another as one big family.

He said his administration has built bridges across the divide using the 8- Point Agenda of the administration as a platform to pursue the Ekiti Recovery project. He assured the people that his government is well focused to make 2012 a year of further delivery.

Fayemi said: “The emerging national security challenges have thrown up the need for all of us to be security conscious in all dealings. ‘’I wish to use the opportunity of this season therefore to appeal to you all to continue to co-exist peacefully as members of the same family in the State – indigenes and residents. ‘’ We must join hands together to ward off infiltrations of any kind that may jeopardise our cherished community life and threaten the foundations of our society built on trust, respect for life and human dignity.’’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

News

Lagos to produce more rice locally —Fashola

Embrace peace, CAN tells Nigerians

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L-R: Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba; Chairman Olorunda Local development Area, Hon. Amida Abudu; Fashola, Director NUFAM Agro Services Limited, Mr. Kamal Ram; Consultant Rice Production, Lagos State, Dr. Rotimi Fashola and Co-ordinator, PFS Jain Irrigation System Limited, Mr. Umakant Thorat (right). INSET: The rice fields

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has declared that the state is scaling up capacity to produce more rice locally and reduce dependence on import.

He spoke last week during the inspection of the Itoga rice field in Badagry.

Fashola expressed hope that the country will one day export rice from the field and many others under cultivation in the state.

The Governor said the field, which is one of the state‘s projects under the Rice for Job Scheme for young school leavers, has been creating opportunities for beneficiaries.

According to him, ‘’We have realised that we can improve on the yield being delivered per hectare of rice and one of the components

of improving the yield is adequacy of water supply. ‘’So we have commissioned this irrigation system on the advice of our agricultural consultants on rice.’’

He reiterated his commitment to delivery of dividends of democracy.

“I think this is what democracy is all about in my view. Making promises, keeping to them, staying on top of them and making sure that the government remains connected to the people because those in government exist for the people.’’

Embrace peace, Oritsejafor tells Nigerians Nigerians have been challenged to shun every act of vandalism and sectarian killing of innocent citizens capable of truncating the current democratic

practice in the New Year.

National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, gave the advice in his New Year message.

Nigerians, he said, should be security-conscious and report strange movements in their communities to security agencies.

The cleric said, ‘’I urge all Nigerians irrespective of religion or creed to imbibe the fear of God in everything they do and. ‘’It is really sad to note that certain elements in our country had, over the years, done all manner of evil to the nation with so much impunity.’’

He tasked government to fight terrorism to save the nation.

According to him, ‘’ We

can no longer continue to see the acts of terrorism as a way of life. ‘’Everything that needs to be done should be done to arrest it; and all those who have been identified as sponsors must be brought to book in accordance with the nation’s statutes.’’

He went on: ‘’ We want the Federal Government to take steps to halt the growing trend of terrorism in the country. ‘’We believe in the existence of this country, because there is strength in diversity which is why we strongly urge the government to deal decisively with all the sponsors and the merchants of death and sorrow who are determined to make this country ungovernable’’.

‘Why schools need trained class assistants, nannies’

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HE Chief Executive of Super Nannies Nigeria, Mrs. Chika Nwuche, has blamed lack of formal training for the dismal performances of class assistants and nannies.

Many nannies and class assistants, she said, lack knowledge of how to make learning interesting and fun-filled, a development she said is affecting the total educational upbringing of pupils.

She spoke in a chat with reporters last week.

According to her, ‘’Class assistants and nannies are as important as school teachers and administrators but most of them are causing serious havocs to schools and pupils.

By Sunday Oguntola ‘’They are not contributing much to the learning process and have serious inferior complex that affect their duties and relationship with the pupils.’’

She said schools and educational institutions must invest in their training to get the best out of them. ‘’Schools blame and complain about their dismal performances but you really cannot blame them if you have not trained them,’’ she noted.

Nwuche added that class assistants and nannies need comprehensive and customised trainings that will build their competence, confidence and per-

formance.

Super Nannies Nigeria, a subsidiary of Super Nannies South Africa, she said, exist to offer such trainings that will professionalise the operations of class as-

sistants and nannies.

She assured that the organisation has world-class expertise, resources and competence to offer such trainings in a conducive atmosphere.

IGERIANS have been challenged to shun every act of vandalism and sectarian killing of innocent citizens capable of truncating the current democratic practice in the New Year.

National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, gave the advice in his New Year message.

Nigerians, he said, should be security-conscious and report strange movements in their communities to security agencies.

The cleric said, ‘’I urge all Nigerians irrespective of religion or creed to imbibe the fear of God in everything they do and. ‘’It is really sad to note that certain elements in our country had, over the years, done all manner of evil to the nation with so much impunity.’’

He tasked government to fight terrorism to save the nation.

According to him, ‘’ We can no longer continue to see the acts of terrorism as a way of life. ‘’Everything that needs to be done should be done to arrest it; and all those who have been identified as sponsors must be brought to book in accordance with the nation’s statutes.’’

He went on: ‘’ We want the Federal Government to take steps to halt the growing trend of terrorism in the country. ‘’We believe in the existence of this country, because there is strength in diversity which is why we strongly urge the government to deal decisively with all the sponsors and the merchants of death and sorrow who are determined to make this country ungovernable’’.

Rep condemns persecution of Nigerians abroad

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OUSE of Representatives Committee Member on Foreign Affairs, Dr Kingsley Ebenyi, has kicked against the persistent victimisation of Nigerians abroad.

He said such practices must stop. Ebenyi was reacting to the recent molestation of Nigerians by the Malaysian police, which he described as unacceptable.

In a statement issued by his Legislative Aide, Titus Agbo, the House of Representatives member said no nation will watch and allow continuous dehumanisation of its citizenry.

According to him, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must liaise effectively with Nigeria missions overseas to be proactive and respond spontaneously to distress calls. ‘’We must make a statement that gone are the days Nigerians would be brutalized for no just cause. We must be seen as providing protection for our citizens wherever they are as our primordial concern.”

Ebenyi urged the Foreign Affairs Ministry to intervene immediately in support the brutalised Nigerians.

He said it was disheartening that Malaysian Police allegedly shot Nigerian students.

He sympathised with families of those allegedly killed in Malaysia and urged the students who were dehumanised and detained unjustly to shake off the stigma so that it does not affect their education or their relationship with their hosts.

Ebenyi advised all Nigerians living abroad not to stay in isolation. He said they should register with Nigeria missions overseas so that the embassies would be able to reach them in good time in times of distress.

Nigeria will shine again —Adeboye

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ENERAL Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye has expressed his condolence and sympathy with families of those who died at Christmas Day bombing in Niger State.

Adeboye spoke at a press briefing yesterday ahead of the church Special Prayer Programme with

By Adeola Ogunlade

theme ‘’New Beginning to greatness’’. The service holds on 8th January, 2012 at the church headquarters at 1-9, Redemption way, Ebutte-Metta, Lagos.

According to him, God is not unaware of the problems facing Nigeria.

He said God has assured of a new beginning

A

this year.

Adeboye, who was represented by the Assistant Pastor of the RCCG, Throne of Grace, Pastor Goke Aniyeloye, said “Nigeria’s future is very bright but the devil is only trying to hinder and prevent our progress, the brighter the future is, the angrier the devil becomes. ‘’ Adeboye noted that no

matter the varying challenges faced in the outgoing year, nothing can stop the work of God in Nigeria.

God, he said, is committed to bring peace, stability and economic progress to the country.

The cleric cited the scriptures that though weeping may endure for a night Joy will come in the morning.

COMMENT and ANALYSIS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

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NE of America’s most cherished exports has been its version of democracy. While its economic exports have dwindled, the sending forth of this political ideal has been unabated.

America has advised, often lectured, other nations about democracy and civil liberty.

In Iraq, it tried to impose democracy. This costly experiment has yet to run its course.

Iraq stands equidistant between civility and civil war, between success and epic monstrosity. We hope for success yet fear the fruit of a perverse, fraudulent war will be a perverse, fraudulent democracy. Yet, this piece is not about Iraq but about America itself. America has become so fixated on exporting democracy that it has depleted its own reserves of the valuable commodity.

Sitting on President Obama’s desk is legislation entitled the National Defense Authorization Act. It is a cynical text that upends constitutional practice while laying the gravestone and arranging the burial pit for American democracy. The Act is a more pernicious than the McCarthy inquisitions that ruined the lives of thousands when the conservative segment of the body politic bared its fascist talons to save the nation from a domestic communist fifth column that never existed. This new Act is even more a structural menace than the 1798 Sedition Acts passed by the prickly John Adams, America’s second president, who believed the leader of America should have been garlanded royalty not an inaugurated public servant. Afraid the Jacobin rumblings of the French revolution would radicalize the new American republic, the aristocratic second president would use the law to criminalize political dissent. Within five years, Congress exorcized this blot. To their shame, these men passed a law derogating the freedoms for which they had so valiantly fought in the war of independence. To their credit, better sense eventually prevailed and the republic was returned to the path of civil liberty. Sadly, the nation’s collective political memory works no better than that of the average person. The farther in time from an event, the murkier its remembrance. This is true of the relationship between the present batch of American politicians and the constitution. They claim to honor it but seem not to understand it and one cannot rightly venerate that which he does not comprehend? In their gaudy parade of patriotism, they hold the constitution high only to drop and trample it underfoot because the cardinal precept of the modern office holder is that the parade must go on.

This troubling Act designates the United States, the American homeland, as a perpetual battlefield in the war against terrorism. The law calls forth the military as the primary defense/law enforcement entity in this permanent war against the feared and unseen enemy within. Upon Presidential approval, the military can detain indefinitely, hold incommunicado and try in military tribunal American citizens suspected of supporting terrorist organizations, specifically Al Qaeda. The detained person has no right to trial, private counsel or appeal to civilian authorities. In effect, the law erases the vaulted constitutional protection of due process which, along with freedom of speech, has been the most cherished and valued of all civil liberties. The right of due process has protected Americans from arbitrary arrest, imprisonment and death at the hands of government. Upon this pillar much democratic progress and protection of individual dignity has been built. Now it is

The steady evaporation of American democracy

Lekan Otufodunrin lotufodunrin@yahoo.com 08050498530 (SMS only)

Self-righteous leaders are to democracy what the axe is to the tree A happy New Year?

•Obama

being condemned like a shabby old tenement.

By dint of legislation, the feckless cohort known as Congress undermines the constitution it swore to uphold. In like manner, the Roman republic began its descent. At first glance, the remedy to this overreach seems easy. Once the law is passed, it should be challenged in court.

However, the courts have been effectively sidelined because the only persons with the legal standing to challenge the Act’s constitutionality are those being detained beyond the reach of the normal judicial system. Because they are outside of that system, they will be unable to resort to the civilian judiciary to challenge their detention much less the law by which they were detained. There are no checks and no balances. Whatever the executive branch does under this law will go unchecked and everything else will go out of balance.

Within days, the President will lift his pen to sign this measure into existence.

While he might not appreciate the gravity of the harm that awaits, he should appreciate the irony in the moment. Roughly six months ago, he stood before the world asserting that American involvement in Libya was not a “war’ although the nation’s planes were dropping bombs and clandestine Special Forces were participating in battles. Now he is ready to sign a measure that proclaims the malls where Americans are doing their holiday shopping, the offices in which they work, the playgrounds on which their children romp, and the homes in which they live, eat and sleep as geographic features of a permanent battlefield. The illogic of the different designation given Libya and the American homeland is so vast as to obtund the brain in cold disbelief. The American military, with President in tow, has become so powerful unto itself that it now seeks to redefine reality while prohibiting

“Hopefully, President Obama will find a slice of courage to veto the Act. Chances are slim. He has already signaled his approval of it. This calculating politician will do little to leave himself vulnerable as the 2012 election approaches”

dissenting voices from uttering a peep. This is not the course of democracy; it is a rising tide of authoritarianism.

After the execution of Osama Bin Laden, President Obama said the world was a better, safer place. Thereafter, the President ordered the execution in Yemen of suspected Al Qaeda leader and confirmed American citizen Anwar AlAwlaki and his teenage son. Again, the world was safer and a better place. President Obama has claimed his dogged efforts to assassinate these and other figures have significantly degraded Al Qaeda. If true, the rationale for this extraordinary law giving the military such a broad, abusive mandate is obviated. There is little sense in this partial yet still extraordinary imposition of martial law against a deeply weakened threat. The truth is more ominous.

In reality, this law has little to do with President Obama and the current national security situation. The act was authored years ago in the inner bowels of the Pentagon for no other reason than to expand the reach of the military into the very core of American life like a strong weed in neglected garden. The military was to protect the republic and its citizenry. However, it has gotten so big that now it must feed off the people, as well as concoct foreign wars, in order to continue expanding and growing. Because Congress as a body is long on empty patriotism but short on democratic principle, the vast majority of its members caved to this military encroachment against the constitution. These elected officials were frightened at being painted as “soft” on terrorism and national security. They would rather sacrifice freedom for profit than protect it at a cost.

Those few who voted against the Act are champions of democracy. History will vindicate them.

Because America has engaged in such aggressive international propaganda showcasing itself as the acme of democracy, most non-Americans think all Americans are full-fledged believers. Not so.

From the nation’s inception, the powerful combination of conservative business and reactionary military leaders has connived to abridge the democratic form. There is something about the rich and powerful in business and the military. They are accustomed to barking orders then watching servitors and subordinates follow the dictates as if papal bulls. Considering themselves princes of money and kings of military might, they see no reason to engage in political discourse with lesser mortals.

They see democracy as a disorderly, inefficient arrangement that gives the undistinguished masses more than their fair due in directing the great affairs of the nation that the rich and powerful believe they built by themselves. America has always had closet fascists in high places. Periodically, the fascists come out of the closet.

In 1934, Marine Major General Smedley Butler exposed a plot to overturn the government. Wall Street was angered with the progressive New Deal proposed by President Roosevelt. Big Money was more attuned to the path the German and Italian dictators were hewing. They wanted the same in America. The much decorated Butler (recipient of two Congressional medals of Honor, the highest honor given for valor in combat) had been a soldier’s Continued on page 67

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RDINARILY the title of this piece should not have a question mark. I am aware that since 12 O'clock last night and this morning, the celebration of the New Year- 2012- has been on and will continue for the better part of the month of January.

The ecstatic feeling that comes with being alive to see a New Year is understandable, especially in this age when death has become very cheap. I was alarmed to read that over 70 persons died nationwide during the last Christmas celebration. Thankfully, according to the Federal Road Safety Commission, the figure is slightly less than that of last year.

Death, according to Shakespeare, is a necessary end; it will come when it will, but one is tempted to think that many of the deaths in our country are avoidable.

Most of the major roads are in bad conditions which explain why returning safely after any trip, however short, is considered a miracle.

For members of the St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, who are alive, they should count themselves lucky to have survived the Christmas Day bomb attack but the memories of the incident will haunt them for long, especially those who lost their family members.

Beyond Madalla, the new year celebration in many parts of the north, Borno , Yobe, Plateau and Kaduna states particularly, will definitely not be what it used to be. 2012 is a new year for all, but for those resident in those states, the fear of Boko Haram terrorists and other fanatics is a kill joy at a season like this.

Even for those of us (supposedly) living far from the danger zone, we are beginning to get worried about the possibility of the terrorists striking in other parts of the country to let us know how serious they are about whatever cause they claim to be fighting for. Someone asked me to imagine if the terrorists decide to target one or two of the camps Christians gather in Ogun State. God forbid I responded.

The security alert nationwide is high and that is one of the reality we all have to live with in this New Year. If this year is to be happy for us, the government must urgently find a way to stop the senseless killings going on in the country. How do we explain that suddenly, we are being categorized along with countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan etc where bomb explosions are almost an everyday experience? The federal government must not be on top of the situation in words, but in action.

The issue of the removal of subsidy will also determine how happy this New Year will be for many Nigerians. The federal government is obviously determined to remove the subsidy with some justification for the decision but life will definitely be tougher for many if the government does not yield to the pressure to change its mind. Even before the subsidy is removed many are finding it difficult to survive, 2012 therefore promises not to be as happy as it should be.

Notwithstanding the gloomy situation, we cannot afford to despair. We must keep hope alive, trusting that all will be well with our country. As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

Happy New Year, my countrymen and women.

Don't worry, be happy.

12

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Comment & Analysis

Ogochukwu Ikeje

Why haven’t the heavens fallen?

ohgeeoh@gmail.com

The transformation broom should start sweeping in the oil sector

08084235961 (SMS only)

I

T would have been difficult under normal circumstances to understand why no one has been punished, nor any apologised, since the publication of the names of oil subsidy beneficiaries. It was a very long list of petroleum products marketers, virtually every firm in the lucrative business across the country. Some of them were described as major dealers, some not quite prominent, while some, as we have all seen, had absolutely nothing to do with petrol, kerosene or diesel.

The last group has simply been looking for (and getting) big money wherever it could be found.

Yet, all were reported to be enjoying subsidy quoted in trillions of naira. Under normal circumstances, this would have raised not a few eyebrows.

There was a buildup of exchange between government forces and the governed prior to the release of the subsidy beneficiaries’ names.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his team had maintained that oil subsidy should go because only few people enjoyed it. Majority of the governed including civil society and Labour felt it should stay for a number of reasons. One of them was that its removal would further impoverish the poor. Another was that the entire oil business in the country is too dark for anyone to get a clear picture of what is going on, and so government cannot be trusted.

Then, on December 2, the Senate released the names of the subsidy beneficiaries.

Since the publication of that interest-

ing list, nothing has happened.

No one has said sorry. No one has been whipped. No heads have rolled, as it were.

The sun has continued to rise and set, and government officials have carried on as before, jetting around as though nothing seriously wrong had happened. As they say, it has been business as usual. The only thing happening is that government is asking everyone including men of God to support subsidy removal.

Who really should have apologised, and who penalised? Certainly not beneficiaries of the subsidy largess who merely cashed in on our legendary national weaknesses to make their money. If we, for instance, had mastered the science of extracting the oil buried in our soil and in our waters, would we have been talking about subsidy? If our refineries were up to anything, would we have been exporting our top-grade crude only to import inferior finished products? Let’s not blame the oil merchants.

The finger of accusation should be pointed at government and its agencies

which over the years have supervised the mindless bleeding of the country by opening the cash tap to all manner of dealers in every sector, every department, every corner.

Who or what determines which firm gets subsidised, and for how much?

Why was the list of subsidy beneficiaries growing almost by the day?

Why did we end up with oil subsidy beneficiaries who had practically nothing to do with oil? In other words, we could jolly well have had carpentry firms and bricklaying concerns fattening up with oil subsidy cash.

Why hasn’t anyone been questioned about these infractions and abnormalities?

The President’s transformation broom should start sweeping vigorously in the oil sector. Under normal circumstances, people should have started paying for their sins.

Ideally, the heavens should have fallen. The reformation bulldozers should have started roaring and pulling down strongholds.

But these are not normal circumstances.

In fact, abnormalities have since become

“Let’s not blame the oil merchants. The finger of accusation should be pointed at government and its agencies which over the years have supervised a mindless bleeding of the country by opening the cash tap to all manner of dealers in every sector, every department, every corner”

normal, and the exception the rule. Too many crimes are overlooked, too many criminals let off.

That is why the heavens have not fallen since it became clear that some unqualified firms have been reaping bountifully from the oil sector through oil subsidy. The push for the subsidy removal has never made any sense to me, and I have made that very clear in this space. I have also argued repeatedly that the only way for the country to move ahead is to tackle the things that have held it down. Punishing corrupt officials is a great way to leap forward. Deal with corrupt oil sector officials and carpenters will be encouraged to do carpentry work and not oil business. The only way to stamp out corruption is to penalise the corrupt.

It bears excerpting a few paragraphs from a piece I wrote here last year entitled ‘Nothing wrong with us’.

“Punish lawless road users,” I said, “and soon recklessness will be the exception, rather than the rule. The agitation for state creation will wane if the diverse peoples of Nigeria find they are fairly represented and catered for. Even religious conflicts will subside if potential troublemakers discover that the laws of the land will chase them to the smallest of holes. Electoral fraud will thin down when electoral fraudsters are jailed. But when the riggers are treated like royalty, we mock ourselves each time we complain.

Decency and sanity will return when laws are fiercely enforced. The society will be more ordered. We won’t even need any angels to run things because, truth be said, where can you find them? The only tools that can make a decent being out of a monster, as it were, are laws and their enforcement.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Comment & Analysis

13

2012: our make or mar year It’s the dawn of a new year. While we fear the worst, we pray for the best

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ELCOME. Today, another journey begins in the landmarks of time. Just as no mortal can foretell what tomorrow will bring; it is more so that none can tell what this 12th year of the second millennium has in its pregnant belly for us as individuals, as Nigerians and as members of the global community.

Of course we can talk about the out gone year, 2011. Hindsight is easy; it is the hand maiden of every man. But because there are few prophets (if any at all) left among us, we can only hazard a guess about our tomorrow by rummaging through the refuse bins of yesterday.

Looking through the Nigerian landscape therefore, the general elections of 2011 managed by a certain Professor Attahiru Jega left a major imprint on the polity and our national psyche. During the election, Nigeria sat on the cusp of doom and glory. She triumphed; but just barely.

In the aftermath we have a President Goodluck Jonathan, the shoeless boy from the minority tribe changing the game and the political equation; but we also had a surfeit of fury and bloodletting and deaths. The angst ensuing from the election has since been redefined by an urban guerrilla sect by the name, Boko Haram.

Their name suggests that education is an abomination, but even if it were so, what is that got to do with a slew of innocent Nigerians they have blown to yonder with their relentless bombings throughout the year?

2011 was also the year of the judiciary, or put more succinctly, the year of infamy of Nigeria’s judiciary. Never in the history of Nigeria was this third tier of government made to roll in dust and drape itself in the sackcloth of shame. Never

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh

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

•Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi

going off as if they were seasonal fireworks.

Majority of Nigerians say no to the removal of the so-called subsidy, but the President says no way. Most well-meaning Nigerians have suggested all sorts of alternatives but the President insists there is no alternative. No subsidy cut, no Nigeria. That is President Jonathan’s last stand.

Beyond Nigeria’s borders, the most thrilling phenomenon was the now famous Arab Spring which took kings, emperors and tin gods by storm and had them all tumbling down. The fellow in Tunisia fell first, followed by Egypt and Libya. Syria and Yemen are still buying time. To think that Colonel Muammar Ghadaffi is no more! It would have been morbidly suicidal in January 2011 for any Libyan to have as much as conceived of Ghadaffi lying in state. Such is the depth of a 12 calendar year.

Going further up the map, half of Europe was on the spin with the other half struggling to catch the other from having a great fall: Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and more, faced crisis. While natural disaster continued to tog at the Asia, in North America, capitalism had a bit of cold with ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters giving big businesses a shake out.

What then does this year hold in store, especially for Nigeria? No particular prescience is required to know that our security challenges will continue as there seems to be no answer to Boko Haram yet. Will this group nick Nigeria?

President Jonathan’s fuel subsidy matter may well turn out to be the bomb the Boko Haram could not lob. Would he be his own albatross?

This is Nigeria’s make or mar year.

LETTERS

S

INCE the sudden emergence of this so-called dreaded Islamic sect called ‘Boko Haram’ in the Northern part of the country, over 2,000 people have been killed in their prim. Apart from previous serial violence being carried out in the region especially in Jos, Kaduna, Maiduguri and other parts, many non northerners have been rendered homeless while property worth millions of naira have been destroyed.

It is sad that innocent Nigerians are deliberately murdered in cold blood in spite of the yuletide season which President Goodluck Jonathan clearly assured Nigerians of full security of lives and property but the reverse is now the case. The fear of living in the North is the beginning of many relocating from their respective abodes there. In the Holy Bible, killing of fellow human being is one of the wicked sins God hates most that equally led to the punishment of Cain. Taking of human life is not relevant to Boko Haram members.

The country has since graduated from armed robbery to kidnapping and to suicide bombing which invariably speaks negatively of the country as the giant of Africa and sixth largest producer of crude oil and gas. Few years ago, the north used to be a place where people visit for

before had the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal locked themselves in such destructive mud fight in the full glare of the public. It was the year that the irrepressible Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu transited, partially drawing the curtain on Nigeria’s Biafra story. 2011 was the year football failed Nigerians. Previously, when all else failed, Nigerians had their round leather game to live on. But this time, everything that could go wrong actually decayed; all trophies and championships that ought to have been won were lost most astoundingly.

Lastly, it was the year of the homosexuals and the subsidy debate. Again, for the first time in the annals of Nigeria, homosexuals crept out of their closets and marched to the Senate in Abuja, demanding their right, perhaps to live and to take ‘wives’ and ‘husbands’ like every other person.

There was a panic in the land and seemingly among the Senators, and who hurriedly passed a bill slamming a 14-year time for anyone of their clan who as much as crawls out of his closet again, not to talk of demand for rights. The debate over the removal of fuel subsidy brought the year to a crescendo just as the Boko Haram bombs kept

Security challenge: The President must act now! tourism; this is no longer the case. Boko Haram members have negatively tagged the north as a violent region.

Though the group recently issued a warning notice before Christmas that it would carry out heinous activities on designated places, President Jonathan and the security agencies failed to read between the lines.They were

B

IRDS of a feather have to flock together, so goes the saying. We can’t just all unite by fiat and wishful thinking just because we share similar skin colour. The Yoruba in their infinite wisdom would say: Oko ki n je ti baba t’omo ko ma ni ala; meaning an edge between keeps friendship green. It is trite and ethnological to say that from the Mongoloids, to the Indians, to the white Caucasians, to the Semitic Arabs, Jews and Persians, to the Negroid blacks etc, every peculiar order of human species is subdivided into distinct subspecies or groups of humans with divergent innate, cultural, linguistic, religious,

busy pursuing the removal of fuel subsidy and how to increase Aso Rock budget.

During the militant unrest in the Niger- Delta region, many felt it was politically motivated. The militants fought massively for the emancipation of the region from environmental degradation and total marginalization because her crude oil and gas

were used to grow the nation’s economy.

May I ask? What are Boko Haram members fighting for?

Christians are mostly victims of Boko Haram attacks.

Even the recent arrest of Senator Ali Ndume for allegedly sponsoring the Boko Haram members has not really brought any significant change. Indeed, security of

lives and property must be taken seriously. Even many security operatives have been victims. Suicide bombers are gradually taken over the North while only few privileged Nigerians are entitled to security including President Jonathan with bullet proof vehicles and security personnel. No country bodes well if security is not ad-

Black unity illusion temperamental and ideological persuasions.

An ethnic football professional from the autonomous regions of Catalonia, Andalucía or Galicia cannot qualify to play for the Autonomous Basque country’s athletic Bilbao FC in the same football league of the same Spanish Confederacy not to talk of a foreign football professional due to this fact and reality that diversity in all its varied forms be it ideological, cultural and ethno-linguistic can never ever be swept under the carpet anywhere in the world.

Mongoloids of South Korea and North Korea went

their separate ways on ideological differences, Hindis of Pakistan and India also became separate countries due to ideological/religious differences. It’s almost common knowledge as to what happened to the Slavic Caucasians of former Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and USSR. Be it as political parties with different ethos and ideological persuasions, professional groups: as it is a fact that lawyers have mainly legal professional friends, surgeons have mainly surgeon and medic friends, mechanics have mainly auto repair dealers and workers as friends etc, or cultural ethno-

linguistic and religious groups mainly having compatible friends from within themselves.

There would be adequate trailblazers in every human order to serve as great sources of adequate references and options in enriching the dispositions of others and creating measures of varied mutually beneficial modes of assistance or bail outs in emancipating distressed groups in their peculiar human order or specie, its sub-divisions and humanity at large.

We can’t just all unite simply by the virtue of the fact that we’re blacks etc. Ideologi-

equately fixed by the government.

Since the government cannot fix our roads, electricity, education, housing and others, then security should top the agenda now. Lastly political leaders, clergies, Islamic leaders, elder statesmen, civil society groups, security experts and others must come together to tackle the security problem facing the country.

It is no longer a Northern affair.

By Godday Odidi, Ajegunle, Lagos. cal and cultural birds of a feather have to flourish together in generating mitigated diverse atmospheres of sparkly brilliant living to continually bring about constant reengineering and the balance of adequate skills and knowledge in navigating the stormy; troubled waters of terrestrial existence.

In view of these, Nigeria needs a Sovereign National Conference to engender the natural (even UN recognised) self-deterministic rights of all the various macro and micro ethnic and ideological blocs in the spirit of true-federalism or confederacy.

Kanmi T. Falase, Ilesha, Osun State

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Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

I

T should not surprise anyone that the National Security Adviser said a few days ago that the federal government cannot police all trouble spots in the country. This discovery by the NSA has been a part of folk knowledge in the country for several decades.

The failure of the current police system that is centrally controlled by the Federal Government is not new. It does not have its origin in Boko Haram’s violence. Failure to protect life and property has been a hallmark of the Nigeria Police Force for a long time. And the solution to the poor state of law and order under the current police system is not to demonize states, as the President did a few weeks ago, when he said states are not ready for state police. What is required is for the trustees of federal power to think outside the box and not feel ashamed to borrow good practices from other federations.

We observed in the first part of this essay two weeks ago that the centrally-controlled police force has its history in the emergence of the military in governance of the federal and state governments after 1966. By the time the Nigeria Police Force was accorded by the military governments the monopoly of law enforcement in the country, Nigeria was the only fed-

Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Comment & Analysis

ITH Boko Haram bombers now materialising anywhere, and at will, and for the sake of Nigeria, it is time to call a spade by no other name in our political discuss. We have deceived ourselves for far too long. Enough, as they say, is enough. Decades of treating the North as a sacred cow has brought Nigeria to its present sorry pass. A thousand and more horrendous murders, some, even of poor Youth Corps members, with hardly any one of the serial murderers, who remain shielded by government and the Northern high and mighty being brought to book, has ensured that a President Jonathan harvests all these daily deaths, among them hundreds of Christian worshippers, victims of wellknown Islamic scoundrels. President Obasanjo’s deliberate imposition of a sick and, ipso facto, weak President Yar ‘Adua ensured that the matter of Boko Haram was mishandled in the first place by the murder, in police custody, of its leader and tens of supporters. But worse, indeed, has been President Jonathan’s vacillations between appeasement and a firm handling which has landed us where we are.

Today the terrorists have become more emboldened that it may not be too long before we see them attempt to extend their operational territory beyond the confines of the North. A faceless group which started out merely terrorising a state governor who used and dumped it has become a source of worry even to the American Congress. A people who started out fighting neglect

State police is the answer (3) Nigeria has several good law enforcement practices to borrow from other federations across the globe eral system in the world that had (and still has) one-level police service. The closest centralized police system to the one foisted on Nigeria by military governments is the South African Police (SAP) under the apartheid regime. Even though SAP was inherited from the racist government under apartheid and renamed South African Police Service (SAPS) in 1997, it still tolerates a two-level police system, unlike Nigeria Police Force. South Africa has one central police force that covers the nation’s nine provinces, but in addition the country’s constitution makes provision for municipal police in major cities.

Apart from South Africa, Nigeria has several good law enforcement practices to borrow from other federations across the globe. There are plenty examples of good practices from several federations that Nigeria in its post-military era can borrow from: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Switzerland, and the United States, as well as semi-federal United Kingdom. All these countries have multilevel police systems.

For example, the United States of America has a government structure that is similar to Nigeria’s three-tier system. At each level, there is a police system that maintains order, enforce the law, prevent and detect crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation functions as national or federal agency that investigates, detects, and ensures maintenance of

federal laws. This agency operates in the fifty states and can call for support from the police of states or counties (local governments). The FBI can also provide support to other levels of law enforcement agencies, if necessary and requested. Another example worth considering is the German law enforcement system. In Germany, law enforcement is vested in states; there is no federal police, but state police enforce federal laws as well.

The police system in semi-federal United Kingdom, the creator of Nigeria and of the central police force adopted by Nigeria’s military government as the sole police authority, is also worth considering.

In Britain, law enforcement is organized in response to each of the country’s diverse legal systems and constituent regions: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom also has several levels of law enforcement from which Nigeria can borrow a model that is different from the current system of federal government’s monopoly of law enforcement.

The absence of a people’s constitution in the country explains the existence of a central police system that now exists, despite the fact that it has proven to be unable to secure life and property. It is time to move away from the model whose raison d’etre is showcasing an appearance of unity over and above the need for effective and efficient maintenance

of law and order in the country.

Pending the time that the country emancipates itself from the current military-imposed constitution, those that are attempting to amend the constitution need to stop playing the Ostrich, being in denial, or looking for scapegoats to blame for the absence of state and municipal police systems in a multiethnic federation. The notion, recently propagated by the President, that states are not ready for police reminds one of demonization of states and civilians by military governments. Military dictators from 1966 to 1999 pretended that the only agency that can unite Nigeria is the military and the only constitution that can sustain unity is one imposed by the military.

It has now become clear that the law enforcement system preferred by the military is not necessarily the right one for the country. It has not worked in any country that is a federation. It is time for civilian leaders to desist from amplifying myopic views of governing a multiethnic state that the military has propounded and propagated for decades. Citizens in the states are not in any way inferior to those that serve the central government. Therefore, there is no logic in the view that powers given to states will be abused more than those given to the federal government. In all civilian regimes since independence, governors in the regions and states have been more educated and more exposed than leaders of the federal government. There

is therefore no basis to avoid using an appropriate model of law enforcement on the excuse that Nigerians in the states are not mature to handle state police.

It has been proven in all multicultural federations (except Nigeria) that using people with little or no knowledge of the language and culture of communities to police them is ineffective and more capable of abuse than using community members. The current police system that deploys, in the name of national unity, Hausa or Igbo to police Yoruba towns and Yoruba and Edo to police Igbo towns is capable of encouraging corruption. Since each nationality’s shame culture differs, the anonymity made possible by deploying non-residents to police communities makes it easy for federal police men and women to extort money from residents without feeling ashamed and without feeling the need to show restraint. In addition, residents find it hard to read the culture’s riot act to police officers that act as members of a foreign army of occupation on police beats across the country, for fear of being accused of tribalism.

As various stakeholders call for and attend summits on how to secure the nation in the wake of Boko Haram, it is important for them to include the issue of how best to enforce law and order in a multiethnic federation on their agenda. It is now time to think outside the constitutional box imposed on the nation by military rulers.

Co-operative federalism as way out of Boko Haram menace A con-federal arrangement will put an end to the Boko Haram terrorism in the hands of their political leaders who treated them with benign neglect whilst they wallow in unspeakable opulence, have transformed to an unredeemable terror gang with alleged links to the dreaded Al-Qaida. This is what a succession of conscienceless political and traditional leaders have brought home to an otherwise relatively peaceful nation where the youths were only too eager to be posted far away from home to serve what has now become a highly traumatized National Youth Corps programme.

PDP, the ruling party for the past 12 years, being no more than a rentseeking amalgam of fortune seekers, has worsened the situation, interested as it is, only in sharing booty. With a decline in that booty, and under the relentless pressure of the London-Washington lobby, which has a taskmaster in- house, it is now poised to snuff life out of the ordinary Nigerian by removing a non-existent oil subsidy while completely remiss in protecting the life and property of the citizenry. Banks in large swaths of the country now routinely close shop for fear of marauding armed robbers, evenin day time.

In his recent book, ‘NIGERIA: DANCING ON THE BRINK’, John Campbell, former US Ambassador to Nigeria, and Senior Fellow with the US Council on Foreign Relations observed as follows: “Governance, let alone democracy, faces grievous, structural challenges in Nigeria.

Popular alienation and a fragmented establishment have contributed to Nigeria becoming one of the most religious and, at the same time, one of the most violent countries in the world.” “Ubiquitous patronage and corrupt behavior fueled by oil money is a root cause of Nigeria's

political and economic sclerosis, adding that “the federal government has failed to provide basic security for its citizens and has lost its monopoly on violence, two basic attributes of a sovereign state.” In his view the international community would pay a steep price for Nigerian state failure, especially with its would-be humanitarian calamity.

I doubt if Nigerian leaders are cognizant of this fact. But even then, Ambassador Campbell is not alone.

In the wake of the Christmas day bombings, which readily reminds one of the Detroit Christmas-day underwear bomber - another recruit from the Northern hotbed who nearly replicated the unspeakable 911 - both Pope Benedict XVI and Ban Ki-moon, the UN SecretaryGeneral, have condemned these horrible crimes against humanity.

Unfortunately, the Nigerian state, forever incompetent, has not demonstrated any of the anxieties exhibited by these world leaders. Instead, Mr. President told a conference organized by the Nigerian Economic Forum that terrorism was not a Nigerian monopoly, thus inputting that Nigeria cannot be exempt from terrorism. But worse, he seems to believe that Boko Haram has a shelflife, and would therefore exist only for a while whether or not his government takes any meaningful steps to put the terrorists where they rightly belong as that is the only reasonable meaning to give his postChritmas tripple bombings' statemet that Boko Haram will not last for ever.

Increasingly, Nigerians are coming to see what inequity, whether social or political, can bring to a sinful nation. In a recent article on this page titled: Boko Haram: Where Efette Political Leadership Has Left Us, I wrote: ‘How did we

get here in the first instance? It is no longer news that successive Northern political leadership feathered only their own nests, leaving the region worse than Bangladesh in all indices of human development. For them, whether the military or political wing, it was enough to treat the people as mere flotsam and jetsam, preferring to hand to them, post Jumat service peanuts, every Friday. It was enough for these big men to come home from the big cities of Lagos, Abuja and Kano to offer pittance to the poor on bended knees, over the weekends and disappear into their obscene opulence in the cities thereafter.

“It has been suggested in circles that should know that Boko Haram, in fact, started out as an activist group canvassing against injustice and inequality which they, unfortunately, wrongly interpreted as a consequence of western education because in their view, education was essentially what gave their oppressors an edge over them. As a way out of their misery, they canvassed the introduction of sharia in the 12 Northern states believing that with sharia, they would be governed with justice, equity and empathy. But that was a forlorn hope as both their political and traditional elites saw sharia as a mere political sop and so came up with violent counter forces; the type that incinerated the leadership of a less truculent Boko Haram together with several of its members, some say, extra judicially. It is pertinent to observe that Mallam Sanusi Lamido, the straight- shooting Central Bank Governor, has severally decried the politicisation of the sharia by Northern politicians.

For instance he once said: 'While the insistence of Muslim North on Sharia is thus understandable, it however, seems that all too often,

the northern bourgeoisie ignores a number of key points. … It is primarily about providing the people with the best material and spiritual conditions the resources of state can provide. It is about honestly managing their resources, about giving them services in education, health, agriculture, etc. It is all well to ban the sale of alcohol, but this does not take the place of, or have priority over, meeting the material needs of the people. Our elite use the Sharia debate to divert attention from their own corruption, nepotism, abuse of office and un-Islamic conduct”.

Now, since Boko Haram’s driving motivation is a return to this pristine form of Sharia in their part of the country, I sincerely believe that the way out of all these senseless urban terrorism, for which they are willing, and ready to make the highest sacrifice by taking part in suicide bombings, is to seriously consider a return to a con-federal arrangement in the country. If for close on 100 years of Nigerian amalgamation we still have people who feel so strong, and are that singleminded enough about worshipping their God in a way that cannot be universally enforced throughout the country, I think the time has come for our government, especially, the legislature to give effect , through legislation, to what we can call a ‘CO-OPERATIVE FEDERALISM, whereby every geo-political zone, as the federating unit, can develop at its own pace and worship God the way it knows best to do.

The upcoming constitutional amendment by the National Assembly should be an appropriate time to make all necessary constitutional changes to reflect this restructuring.

After all, the venerable Sir Ahmadu Bello it was who said we must not attempt to paper over our differences.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Tunji

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

T

HIS year is a particularly testy one for Nigeria. I am not an apostle of doom; but I do not know how else to describe the year 2012, may be because it is too early to call a spade by its name.

The year 2011 was unique in that it was a year that this country witnessed many bomb blasts in which many lives were lost and properties destroyed. Perhaps at no time had the country been so besieged since the Civil War. Year 2011 was one in which the country joined the list of countries at the mercy of terrorists. Unfortunately, it was a year too when presidential response had not been particularly encouraging; even as it was neither reassuring nor sufficiently consoling.

Until the last bomb blasts that rocked Madalla, a town near Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory; Jos, Plateau State and Damaturu, Yobe State, on December 25, presidential and security agencies’ response had always been that they were ‘on top of the situation’, something which reminds me of a character in Meja Mwangi’s ‘Going Down River Road’ who was fond of smoking but was so stingy that he had a ready answer for whoever asked him for a stick of cigarette: ‘the last one’. He was always having the last stick of cigarette. Yet, he always had a stick to smoke at any point in time!

My point is that when government says it is ‘on top of a situation’, the impression one gets is that never again would such a thing re-

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

Oyinkan Medubi 08187172799 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

I

N all probability, you were ushered in with thunderous shouts of ‘Happy New Year’.

Don’t be fooled. Every new year gets the same treatment from very many throats reeling in drunken optimism that new things will come with the new year. You may have noticed that no one ever greets others ‘Happy Old Year’, so, don’t let their shouts of welcome get too much into your head. The same treatment awaits you.

I do not know why this is so, perhaps because the calendar runs out at twelve and so, everyone is primed to be ready for the new year at the end of it. It may also have something to do with the fact that everyone agrees that every old year eventually ends badly because every bad thing that happens must be the fault of the year. It’s the year of the horse, or of the thunder, or of the sphinx, or of the monkey, they say.

I honestly don’t know what they mean by that, but at the end of twelve months, most people have had it with the old year and all its uncertainties, earthquakes, floods, killings, bad news, high divorce rates, stupidities, insomnia, amnesia, and all other things that sound

Comment & Analysis

Nigeria’s 2012 Who owns the land, the people or the government? Time will tell cur. But the Nigerian government has stayed on top of our problems (situation) for too long; with nothing changing. For instance, as soon as they told us that they are’ on top of the (terrorism) situation’, the terrorists strike shortly after, as if to prove who is really on top of what situation. Perhaps our leaders should allow the situation to be on top of them, at least for once; maybe that would make the difference? Or, has it not been said that one would keep getting the same result for as long as one keeps doing the same thing the same way?

But after last Sunday’s bomb blasts, the president never said the government was ‘on top of the situation’ again; I guess he too must have been embarrassed that the sentence was fast becoming a cliché.

So, this time around, he changed gear to say that the terrorism menace is a “burden” we have to carry until those responsible had a change of heart. I have however since rejected this kind of ‘burden’.

It is not my portion. Nigerians have more than enough burden to carry; so, adding that of terrorists is just

one too many. If ever there is a burden I would gladly embrace, it is that of life abundant. Some burden can be a blessing, whether in disguise or in actual fact, but not one from the deadly Boko Haram members who see education as sinful but display the height of contradiction by using bombs (the same product of the education they despise) to send innocent people to untimely graves.

But year 2011 would not go down in the country’s history as one of turbulence, bomb and blood alone, it would also go down in the history as one in which the government, a supposedly elected government, fought a bitter war with the people by insisting on removing fuel subsidy, whatever that means in a country that produces crude oil. It says subsidy must go because it is the rich that are benefiting from the present arrangement. Since when has government become a friend of the poor to the extent that it would now feel so concerned about them that it would take up arms on their behalf against its own, the rich? Is it not the same rich peo-

“Nigerians are working like elephants and eating like ants just because the leadership to harness what God has deposited in our land for the good of all is either mismanaging the resources or stealing them outright.

Will the Jonathan administration have its way on the subsidy question this year? Will the Nigerian people show the government that ultimately, power belongs to them? The answer is in the womb of time”

ple who wine and dine with government?

Although the president claims to be ‘consulting’ on the fuel subsidy matter, the consultations are more like dialogue of the deaf in that the president has got the response of Nigerians, and this is a resounding ‘NO’. Yet, he claims he would continue with the ‘consultations’.

The fact is that even if the National Assembly members reverse themselves today, that cannot translate into acceptance of the idea; it would only show the lawmakers as representing their personal interests rather than the interest of their respective constituencies. In the same vein, no religious leader, Christian, Muslim or even pagan, can endorse the withdrawal and claim to be representing his church, mosque or shrine. He must be representing himself. Nigerians are naturally right to have seen through the deceit that government cannot be fighting its friends on their behalf.

From the look of things, we may have to continue last year’s struggle on the fuel subsidy matter even this year. This is because the Jonathan administration is hell bent on making fuel cost more by way of subsidy removal. The government might not have said it; but it is acting it that fuel subsidy is the oxygen that it requires to live and without which it would die.

Nigerians have generally told him to look elsewhere for whatever he hopes to save from the so-called subsidy. This is a government that cannot manage less than two tril-

Letter from the Old Year to the New Year: Be not proud like bad news. Everything that happens or fails to happen is put down to the ‘unlucky year’. You’ll get used to it.

The other reason no one feels compelled to greet any one ‘Happy Old Year’ may be because people believe that no matter how good the old year has been, the new one is bound to be better, just like wives or husbands. You just ask any man or woman, they would swear to you that the biggest fish is the one that got away, and I’m not talking about fish. This is why human beings continue to search long after they have caught their own fish.

You know, like dogs are always sniffing the ground; for what, I don’t know.

Anyway, as the old year here, I assure you that I am ready to embrace my mistakes, when I know them. I only wish everyone else would do the same. If you look at the reviews of the year, you’ll see what I mean. You will see all the evil things that happened – good people dying (a natural fact of life), human-induced explosions (an unnatural fact of life), bad people refusing to die (a natural fact of life), the government refusing to meet people’s expectations (an unnatural fact of life). I ask you, am I necessarily to blame for all of them? Most people forget that I am as much a creation of existence as they are.

You see, most people forget that, sometimes, bad things happen to good people, and good things can happen to bad people, and this has nothing to do with

the year. It is just luck, pure luck.

Even then, many people are still ready to believe that the year brought them this good luck or that bad luck. Many swear that they’ve had a good year when their harvests are plenty. Just ask the farmers or President Goodluck Jonathan. Did he not get elected as president and all in my ol’ time?

Well, did he not? Even more, did he not get to sit on that exalted chair, look at the map of Nigeria, feel his chest expand and think, ‘finally, I can now get the biggest Argungu fish for breakfast’? Well, did he not? True, he did not really anticipate the rather purposeless and senseless antics of ‘boko haram’. He also did not anticipate that removal of oil subsidy would lead to cuts in housekeeping allowance which would lead to a women’s revolt which would lead to a little boy’s tortoise running away from its fold which would lead to…

Take the many others who claim they have had a bad year when their harvests are lean. Again, just ask the farmers or wives of soldiers.

They talk of a terrible year when they have lost a very dear one and I sincerely feel for them. I can only hope that other years coming down the road will bring solace and comfort to them. However, in many other instances, the things that happen are the results of people’s bad choices. So, rather than look at me with such ugly eyes, I wish people would own up to their own mistakes. Just look at the government of this nation for instance. I feel certain it is to blame for many of the

problems I’ve mentioned, and more.

Let us look at a few of them.

You’ll soon find out that, these days, people celebrate Christmas, as someone would say, ‘somehow, somehow’, that is, when it is not being cancelled, postponed or delayed because of economic problems. This means lack of money to buy the increasingly expensive items of need in the market. And, as the economic climate gets hotter by the minute, people are hopping around like Can-can dancers dancing for their lives on hot coals. That dance can be compared to the one Tortoise did when he was about to be rescued from the pit latrine that he had got caught in for thirteen years, while screaming ‘hurry, hurry with the rescue; I can’t stand this stench for a minute more’. Anyway, nothing tangible has been done about the economic situation in spite of the fact that majority of the citizens are in such unbelievably dire straits.

Then, there is the ever present security problem. Listen. In the course of this one year, i.e. my tenure, the country has moved from the heightened problems of kidnapping in the Niger Delta region, to brazen highway and domiciliary armed robbery, to the most senseless of them all, the ‘boko haram’ bombings. Just as the phrase goes, ‘shoot first and ask questions later’, so also the ‘boko haram’ throws its bombs first and looks for a reason later. Only on Christmas day, they were said to have thrown some at some families leaving a church. I ask you, how dastardly can that be?

15

lion budget for recurrent expenditure wanting an additional N1.3 trillion that it says it wants to save from fuel subsidy. Even in the scripture, we know that people who want more talents first have to justify the few they have; not until then will more be added unto them.

In effect, this year, there are at least two major tests for Nigerians; these are the ones that have so far manifested. The first is the terrorism war, and the second, the needless debate on fuel subsidy removal.

But Jonathan’s insistence on having his way shows the kind of contempt leaders show when they get what they should naturally sweat for on a platter of gold. There can be no worse way to foul the air in this season of love and joy than the way the Jonathan administration has done.

That is why I agree with people who say that Nigeria needs prayers. We need prayers because it is not that Nigerians are not hard working. When I see women with their babies strapped to their backs in many of our popular markets, running up and down trying to make ends meet in the scorching sun or under heavy rainfall, I know that Nigerians are hard-working people. When I see the quality of time and energy many people devote to their official duties, and in the end they get peanuts, something always reminds me that this is not the way it should be. Nigerians are working like elephants and eating like ants just because the leadership to harness what God has deposited in our land for the good of all is either mismanaging the resources or stealing them outright.

Will the Jonathan administration have its way on the subsidy question this year? Will the Nigerian people show the government that ultimately, power belongs to them?

The answer is in the womb of time.

Meanwhile, Happy New Year!

Now, that’s a problem that needs an urgent solution but what do you know? There’s a lot of fiddling while the country is burning.

Again, there are the reports concerning a proposed jack up of fuel price and electricity tariff (even though there’s hardly any electricity), all added to a compelling governmental decree that vehicular plate numbers should be changed yet again, meaning people will have to spend more money. Now, tell me, New Year, do these not constitute inflammatory gestures against a people already beleaguered? Don’t they translate to you like the government insisting on forcing its greedy little hands into the people’s already empty pockets? Come on, New Year, let’s be realistic here.

There is a lot more to say but space would not permit me. Space would not permit me to talk about the many stupid acts of men. Ah! That is topic for another letter. How on earth someone can embezzle money in their billions belonging to their underdeveloped African public, take it to some developed Western country, so that they and their offspring can enjoy all the drugs produced by the hard working people of the Latinate countries, beats me.

Come, New Year, I must go, but before I take my leave, let me do the proper thing and say, Welcome to this land of grave contradictions; they are your problems now. You’ll need plenty of luck, because, before you end your tenure, you’ll be blamed for every failure in the land and be called all kinds of names, as I have been. But don’t worry; it’s only the old order not changing.

In any case, ‘Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.’ Sincerely, Old Year.

Happy New Year to all anyway.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

16

•Jonathan • Ihejirika

Why Boko Haram is big business As President Jonathan’s government tries to modernise the economy, it is throwing money at a campaign to defeat the Boko Haram militia

T

HE government’s confused strategy has made little headway against the Boko Haram militia’s shootings and bombings across northern Nigeria. The security services have turned the capital, Abuja, into an armed camp replete with spy cameras at major road junctions. On 13 December, President Goodluck Jonathan announced that the government would spend a staggering 921 billion naira (US$5.5 bn.) of the N4,749 billion budget for 2012 on the armed forces and security services. This is a Boko Haram campaign bonanza for the generals and private security companies but the huge diversion of resources will not achieve its aims without a clear strategy to address the grievances that the militants exploit.

Throwing money and soldiers at Boko Haram may in the short term deter it from more spectacular attacks on landmark buildings in the capital but will do little to hold back operations from its base in north-eastern Nigeria. Well targeted attacks by the Islamist militants exacerbate the growing political and economic divide between the oil-rich south and the barren north. The national impact of this seems to have eluded policy-makers, who have failed to launch any political response to the militia’s campaign, let alone provide education and other social services to ameliorate the often dire conditions in Boko Haram’s home base.

The security services dominate the response and want to keep other arms of government out. Poor relations between federal, state and local governments reflect partisan rivalries. Some in the governing People’s Democratic Party accuse their political foes in the Congress for Progressive Change of former military leader General Muhammadu Buhari of conniving with elements in Boko Haram to make northern Nigeria ungovernable.

When supporters of Buhari and the CPC protested against losing the presidential election to Jonathan in April, the demonstrations descended into clashes with the security forces at the cost of several hundred lives. That spree of death and destruction – particularly the attacks on the homes and business of northern leaders who allied themselves with

Jonathan – haunts the region’s politics.

Hardline allies of Jonathan’s have gone further, suggesting that northern rivals within the PDP – such as Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau – may have covert ties to Boko Haram.

Privately though, some of Jonathan’s securocrats have been asking Babangida and Gusau for advice. Northern potentates meeting at a peace conference organised by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Kaduna on 5 December could not agree on strategy. Vice-President Namadi Sambo, a mild-mannered architect and the most senior northerner in government, admitted limits to government power: ‘There are no simple solutions to the complex problems’ in the north.

He might have added that northerners show little faith in the government’s ability to address those problems. In the April election, Jonathan received fewer votes in the north than anywhere else. The paucity of credible northerners in his government and a disorganised opposition in the north (whose most distinguished figure is Buhari), has made space for Boko Haram.

Their plan is to deny territory to the security forces, hoping to provoke massive, indiscriminate retaliation that further alienates local people. This is working with deadly predictability. The movement is backed by the regional clout of Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has helped the home-grown militia with weapons and bomb-making skills, and overseen the indoctrination of young Muslims, many taken across the border to Chad, Niger and, we hear, Somalia, for training.

The relative sophistication of its attacks this year on the national police headquarters and the United Nations’ office in Abuja marked the first successes

of the Boko Haram-AQIM collaboration and ensured the internationalisation of the civil conflict. A portentous document from a subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives, led by Patrick Meehan and Jackie Speier, claimed last month that Boko Haram represented a threat to the US mainland as well as to Western targets in Nigeria and the wider region and that it has ties to the militants of Somalia’s Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen. Back in 2002, the then President, George Bush, suggested the USA might intervene if oil supplies were threatened by insurgents in northern Nigeria; he said oil imports from the country were ‘a strategic national interest’ which the US military would be obliged to protect.

Such threats are music to the ears of Boko Haram, which claims to be a grassroots movement against poverty, railing against Nigeria’s winner-takes-all capitalism, in which the winners are always the same. It operates from the northeastern Borno State to Bauchi State and into Middle Belt states such as Plateau and Niger. It targets churches and Christians, provoking violent responses. By exacerbating tension between faiths, Boko Haram promotes social chaos, polarises society and wins recruits or tacit acceptance for its hardline Islamist creed.

A security analyst with a big oil company, Idowu Ogunlade, said the insurgency was driven partly by the loss of political power, which the north held for 40 years. A northern businessman in Abuja spoke of regional resentment against President Jonathan: ‘His people have the oil, the money, the media companies and now, the political power.’

Northerners have been pushed out of their traditional military bastion; there are

“Back in 2002, the then President, George Bush, suggested the USA might intervene if oil supplies were threatened by insurgents in northern Nigeria; he said oil imports from the country were ‘a strategic national interest’ which the US military would be obliged to protect.”

more Middle Belt and Southern officers in the army than at any time in the last 40 years. Amongst them is the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika, an Igbo from the southeast. In the Biafra civil war of 1976-70, Igbos fought to secede from the rest of Nigeria, memories of which were stirred on 26 November with the death of the rebel leader, Colonel Emeka Ojukwu, to whom Jonathan offered a fulsome tribute. Now Ihejirika leads the defence against the north’s Islamist militias; some say history is repeating itself in reverse.

The army’s Joint Task Force has been sent to the heartland of the insurgency. In the Delta, the JTF is already seen as an instrument of federal oppression.

Northern leaders demand the JTF’s withdrawal. Major Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, a former military Governor of Kaduna who remains popular, says military approaches will not solve the Boko Haram problem. Some northerners want Boko Haram to be offered an amnesty like that granted to the Delta militants. Yet they were protesting against environmental despoliation and federal control of their region’s oil reserves, as well as demanding money. Boko Haram wants a theocratic state and secession, not piecemeal reform.

The Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, a close ally of Jonathan’s, is under scrutiny for his failure to tackle gross corruption and inefficiency in the force.

Boko Haram exploits that. Few accept government claims that ‘the attacks could have been more sustained if the national security agencies had not been very proactive’. We hear that Israeli intelligence experts (mostly ex-Mossad officials) may be retained as security consultants. A delegation of Israeli business people visited Nigeria on 11-18 August and Israeli Ambassador Moshe Ram oversees security cooperation. Nigerian (and Kenyan) officials have also been on counter-terrorism trips to Israel.

For years, Muslim military leaders such as Babangida used former Mossad agents for advice and close protection. Buhari •Continued on page 67

17

POLITICS THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

2012: Hot political contests to watch

• Jega

T

HERE may be no presidential election but 2012 promises to be not less interesting politically. At least five states are going to the polls to pick new governors. As usual, these governorship elections are bound to heat up the political scene. Massive resources, strategies and manpower will be deployed by gladiators to ensure victory. The outcomes of these polls may change the political landscape of the nation.

Adamawa The curtain raiser will be Adamawa where the incumbent, Governor Murtala Nyako, will be locking horns with an old war horse, Brigadier General Buba Marwa(Rtd). The election slated for January 14, is already generating anxiety. Political foot soldiers and strategists are already on the field, trying to outdo one another. Nyako expectedly emerged the flag bearer of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). But his victory created bad blood within the party. Many alleged there were no primaries while some boycotted the exercise.

Marwa, on his part, rode smoothly to victory under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He has everyone that matters in the CPC on his side. But this is not a CPC contest. Marwa, a former Military Administrator of Lagos State, has a formidable opponent in Nyako. Nyako is not only the incumbent, he has also moved to reconcile with aggrieved PDP members. His efforts have returned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to his camp. Atiku, who was at his campaign rally, instructed his followers to return Nyako.

He said, “I have been communicating and appealing to all aggrieved PDP members who left the party for obvious reasons to forget the past and return to the party in order to give full support to Governor Murtala Nyako’s return bid. What we are seeing today is a good development.

“Those that left the PDP and formed the Labour Party were founding fathers of the Adamawa PDP. They have decided to return to the PDP fold in order to rebuild the once vibrant house they left in protest’’.

• Oshiomhole

• Sylva

Sunday Oguntola previews major political battles in 2012 He is sure the contest is for Nyako to win. ‘’Since almost all the aggrieved members and the entire Labour Party have made a U-turn to declare support for Governor Murtala Nyako and our great party, the PDP, there is no more opposition in Adamawa state. Opposition is dead because the people that matter in Adamawa politics have reunited for the sake of our party’s growth”.

But Marwa is not push-over too. He has been at the trenches, mobilising support. At a recent rally, 3,000 members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) reportedly declared for him. This year, political watchers will be treated to a draining but exhilarating duel in Adamawa among these top contenders.

Bayelsa Come February 2011, the train will move to Bayelsa State, which has already been engulfed in serious political unrest. The last quarter of 2011 was really sapping in the state. Presidential forces moved against the re-election bid of Governor Timipre Sylva, denying him of the PDP’s ticket. Many kicked but the PDP remained unyielding. Sylva’s fate had already been determined by higher powers. The Governor had gone to court to challenge his disqualification from the exercise. He is allegedly in talks with other political parties to stop the emergence of Hon. Seriake Dickson. Dickson won the PDP primaries amid protests and boycott. Only the heavy presence of security forces prevented hell from visiting the state.

Will Sylva muster enough sympathy and support to stop Dickson? Will Dickson win with presidential backing? Are we about to witness a titanic contest that will shake the political landscape? Time, nothing, but only time will tell.

Sokoto Fears that Governor Aliyu Wamakko may be given the Sylva-treatment were allayed when the incumbent won the PDP’s primaries easily last month. Wamakko scored 956 votes of the 961 votes cast at the

primary election while Senator Abubakar Gada and former Minister of Sports, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman scored zero. But things have fallen apart since Wamakko won the ticket.

His opponents alleged the exercise was rigged in his favour. They are said to be colluding with opposition figures to crush Wamakko.

On March 10, they will have an opportunity to prove whether or not the Governor’s victory at the primary was a fluke.

Wamakko, on his part, is not home and dry yet. He has a formidable opponent in Yusha’u Muhammed Ahmed of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Ahmed, a former banker, is backed by Attahiru Bafarawa, immediate governor of the state.

Bafarawa is a powerful force in the state.

Ahmed is also a popular philanthropist with vast political experiences.

Will Bafarawa succeed in ousting his former deputy and incumbent Wamakko?

Will Wamakko, who was denied the ANPP’s ticket, pull off another political stroke? Will he be twice luckier and smarter? Events will certainly answer all these posers shortly.

Cross River This urbane state is politically serene.

But this may change in 2012. For many, the re-election of Senator Liyel Imoke is a fait accompli. But the coming of Nigeria’s Ambassador to Mali and immediate past state chairman PDP,Chief Sonni Abang, into the race has been generating ripples. Aside from knowing the party’s structures very well, Abang is allegedly being bankrolled by associates of former Governor Donald Duke, who has been in political sabbatical of a sort.

Abang is considered the only heavyweight that can match Imoke and give him a good run for his money.

But there seems to be not much on ground to show Abang’s commitment to the project. Despite this, rumours are rife that he may contest against Imoke. Ever since this became public knowledge, Imoke has been enjoying massive endorsements by dif-

• Nyako

ferent blocs and groups in the state. Imoke, they said, deserves another shot at the government house given his sterling performances.

The internal challenges may be all that Imoke have to contend with. Opposition parties are clearly docile. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is about the only one with visible structure in the state. The only sign of activity in the opposition is around Elder David Okon, running mate to Senator Matthew Mbu in the botched gubernatorial poll. The Labour Party (LP) parades the only female contestant, Mrs. Imah Nsa-Adegoke who took the slot from Dr. Theo Onyuku, a radical medical doctor.

So, will Imoke get the nod for a second term? Or are we about to witness the termination of the alleged pact among Duke, Imoke and a third member of the troika, Chief Gershom Bassey to rule the state one after another?

Edo Come July 14, Governor Adams Oshiomhole will face a testy political battle.

Arrayed against him are PDP’s hawks bent on devouring his strides in the state. Already the Governor had alleged the PDP is planning to rig the election. At a recent reception held in his honour, Oshiomhole said, ‘’ The favour I need from the civil society is not to trust that these people believe in the principle of ‘One Man, One Vote’, because, as we speak, they are printing fake result sheets to announce fake results even while people are still voting in the fields.

“The civil society organisations must be vigilant to ensure that the rigging machine of godfatherism, which we have dismantled, but which they are struggling to rebuild, does not rear its ugly head”.

The PDP camp has not picked a candidate against Oshiomhole yet. On the other hand, a coalition of four political parties in Edo State has adopted the national chairman of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Chief Solomon Iyobnosa Edebiri, as its candidate. For now, the contest is Oshiomhole’s to lose. His performances in office may just win him another term.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Politics

Sir Celestine Omehia is former governor of Rivers State and gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the April 2011 elections. A lawyer and former commissioner for education in the state, Omehia, in this interview with Augustine Avwode, speaks on the Supreme Court judgement that removed him as governor, the demise of Chief Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu, the fortunes of the party, fuel subsidy, same sex marriage, and other issues. Excerpts:

A

S a member of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), do you fear that the death of Ojukwu will affect its survival?

Ojukwu’s death, may his soul rest in peace, is a great loss to the nation. He was a very courageous and brilliant man. He will be remembered in several ways depending on where you stand. He protested the perceived injustice against his people and went to war. As the war ended, he went on exile and later came back to join the process of nation building through participation in partisan politics.

His last effort is that he led others to form the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). That shows how much he wanted to move the politics of Nigeria forward. At a time, APGA was the party to watch in the South East.

Essentially, the history of Nigeria will not be complete without the robust mention of Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu.

And to APGA, as the founding father of the party, he had his direction, objectives and goals; he knew what he wanted to achieve. It will not be the same again with his death. Like Prof. Wole Soyinka would say, the view of the road is different when you move from the passenger’s seat to the driver’s seat.

Is it not ironic that the papers have been awash with people singing the praise of Ojukwu yet did not join or share his political vision by joining APGA? In Nigeria, it is politics of the stomach and people are in politics for what they will get. Politics based on principles is alien to us.

They liked Ojukwu as a person.

They liked his policies and principles but because of what they will gain, they wouldn’t like to be in the same boat with him. I can tell you that were Ojukwu to be president of this country before he died, many people who are in other parties today would have joined APGA by all means. Their actions are dictated by their pecuniary interests and not belief.

Therefore, you see a lot of pretences in Nigerian politics. That is exactly the problem of Nigerian politics. People who are in certain

My removal as governor was political —Omehia parties now are not there because they like the policies and principles of the leaders but because all things considered; that is where their bread can be easily buttered.

It has to be emphasized that, this state of mind cannot move Nigeria forward. We should be principled, we should be disciplined enough to act according to our belief based on what is right.

That way, there would be aggregation of opinions that will push us forward otherwise we will continue to dance in a circle.

Where do you stand on the raging controversy over fuel subsidy?

It is an albatross that the present leadership has to bear for the avoidable mistakes of the past.

In the first place, we must be able to weigh carefully the implication of fuel subsidy removal on the people and the government. We must identify who stands to gain and who stands to lose. The reality is that if fuel subsidy is removed, Nigerians will really be at the receiving end in the short run. It is going to inflict real pains on them. The alternative to it is the building of more refineries in Nigeria but this cannot come in months. It is very sad that at 51, we

are still talking about subsidising imported petroleum products in Nigeria. The argument is why removing fuel subsidy? Why not rehabilitate the existing four refineries so that they can function at full capacity? Painfully, we hear there are individual Nigerians building refineries in other countries of the world. It therefore means that there is something to gain by refining your crude.

I don’t have all the details that Mr. President is privileged to have but I will advise we take this as a two year project to revitalize existing refineries and build new ones.

It can be achieved. It is a thing that can be done within 12-30 months and we would have as many sizes of refineries as possible in this country. We must tell ourselves some home truth. Some individuals were given licenses to build refineries in this country by the previous administrations, but up till now, none has been able. Yet, Nigerians are allegedly building refineries in other countries. Don’t you see that something is wrong?

If there are obstacles, the federal government should remove them forthwith.

Are you comfortable with the state of our infrastructure?

When you look at the state of our infrastructure, it becomes clear that the government has a lot to do.

Our roads are perhaps the worst in sub-Saharan Africa. And you probably know the number of lives that are lost daily in accidents or crashes on these roads.

Look at our hospitals, if you want to know if our hospitals are adequate, and capable of handling our medical needs just take a look at the number of prominent Nigerians travelling abroad to seek medical attention. Take the education subsection; it is totally down and needs urgent attention.

What is your position on the issue of same-sex marriage?

My position is exactly the position adopted by the National Assembly, particularly the position of the Senate as espoused clearly by the Senate President, Senator David Mark. Same-sex of anything is abnormal, unreligious; it is foreign to our culture and tradition.

Same-sex marriage therefore between man and man, or woman and woman will automatically terminate God’s plan and that is

not the way God wants it.

Those who are threatening Nigeria to withhold their aid should better think twice because they need us just as we need them and if they think that without them we cannot survive, they are mistaken.

You just launched two books.

Give us insights into them.

Well, the first book, Dismissal in Nigeria Labour Law, was written first when I was Commissioner for Education in Rivers State. I left it at a point and then concluded it after I left office in 1994 or 1995.

And after I left office again as Governor of Rivers State, I had to revise and update it because a lot of things have changed and it is now more voluminous and far reaching than the first one. I have to do so much research both in the United Kingdom, Australia and in Nigeria, using some cases that have been decided and all that. The forward is written by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammed Uwais.

The other one, which I think everybody wants to know, is The Right To Be wrong. It is a chronicle of a sort of my nomination and election as Governor of Rivers State and eventual removal from office by the Supreme Court. It is a book that talks about politics as we play it in this country.

Why the title, A Right To Be Wrong?

Well, as far as I am concerned, I have my strong objection to the whole judgment of October 25, 2007 with all due respect to the Supreme Court. And I have decided to put it all in a book, because history not recorded is easily distorted or forgotten. Somebody will tell you a different version of the history you know. But if it is recorded, it becomes a point of reference for all generations so that it cannot be easily distorted by anyone.

The decision, like Prof. Ben Nwabueze has noted, is an obnoxious decision in Nigerian history.

If you don’t put this down in writing, this decision will be easily forgotten. For instance, one of the respected justices said I was not qualified to be governor and that was why I did not pick a form. I have to correct that impression because the constitution spells out the qualification one must have to be governor.

There are many issues for public interest. Prof. Nwabueze is saying again that the Supreme Court must immediately make it clear that this case is not meant to be cited from time to time and that it was dictated by special circumstances like the Shehu Shagari case of 12 2/3. Many people have come to agree that it was more of political considerations that resulted in that decision. And so the whole idea is to correct the wrong impression the decision has created.

And it is coming four years after?

The decision was in 2007 and in 2009, I went back to the Supreme Court to review their decision and that was when one of the Justices said they can’t review the case again and even if they were wrong in their decision, “they have a right to be wrong”. And another said if I don’t like the decision I should go and “appeal to God”.

It was not that materials were not being gathered for the book from day one, but as things unfold, we ensure that we give room to accommodate everything. As I started writing, in 2011, I had to abandon it for politics again. But here it is, you know if it were to be in many developed countries like the USA, many books would have been written on it but here we hardly invest much in reading and writing.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

19

•Patience Jonathan

•President Jonathan

•David Mark

5

•Baba Suwe

•Gen Buhari

Nig o h e w r i s a n m

n i ade a difference

•Gov Amaechi

2011 was a y e a r o f g e n e r a l elections in Nigeria. It was also a year of tears a n d uncertainties a s t h e country’s internal security suffered its

•Tinubu

•D'banj

•Prof Chinua Achebe

•Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Continued on page 20

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Cover

They made a difference in 2011 Continued from page 19

•Professor Jega

Continued on page 21

•Don Jazzy

•Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

•Chinedu Ikedieze (Aki)

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Cover

21

Continued from page 20

•Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie

•Mercy Johnson

•Kunle Afolayan

50 Nigerians who made a difference...

•Tonto Dikeh

Continued on page 22

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Cover

Continued from page 21

50 Nigerians...

•Chuka Umunna

•Late Dim Odumegu Ojukwu

•Nnaemeka Ikegwuruonu

•Wizkid

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Cover

•Oritsejafor

•Abubakar •Jonathan

25 Nigerians to watch in 2012 •Lamido •Madueke

Security

•Dangote

•Continued on page 24

•Tanbuwal

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Cover

•Continued from page 23

•Fashola

•Onolememen

•Omar

Nigerians to watch ...

•Continued on page 65

24

SUNDAY INTERVIEW

25

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

•Oritsejafor

‘Let’s have sovereign national conference’ W

HAT was your initial reaction when you heard of the attack on some churches on Christmas day?

Anger. I was extremely angry. This is unacceptable in a civilised world. Even animals have respect for each other. It is inhuman, barbaric and satanic. And to think that there are people who sponsor this sort of evil is really heartbreaking. After committing such evil these people go home, bath, eat and sit with their children. Let us not deceive ourselves as good as religion is, it can be a terrible thing because it is only religion that can give a man the conviction to do this kind of thing. It is really terrible. Christmas is a day that probably 80 million people in this country and billions across the world are celebrating, couldn’t they have respected that? Somebody who will not respect that does he have respect for human life? I don’t think so. He

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), in this interview with a group of journalists in Warri, Delta State calls for a sovereign national conference and claims there is an underground plan to Islamise the country Vincent Nzemeke was there. Excerpts: doesn’t even have respect for his own life. It is totally unacceptable and barbaric.

Do you see any ethnic colouration behind the attack?

Well you may want to throw more light on that question because for me I think this whole thing is religious.

There are suggestions that this is happening because we have a President from the South -South region and that is why the northern elders have kept quiet all along.

Like I always say, I am never politically correct but I will tell you what I think. When you talk of northern elders who are they? Are you talking about Muslim northern elders be-

cause that is another thing to be considered?

Because when you say northern elders are not happy with Goodluck Jonathan being a president from the South-south what about northern elders who are not Muslims are they also sad? Are they sad that Jonathan is President? I don’t think so. There is a section in the north that is not happy and that is where we are not bold enough to face the truth. The truth of the matter is that it is not the north that is not happy; it is a section of the north. It is not all the northern elders that are not happy, it is a section of the northern elders that are not happy. Someone will say I am inciting people, but these things are true. All we do is dig out truth that most people already know and we all pretend about it. We pat each other and tell each other lies. So that is why I take you

•Continued on Page 26

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Sunday Interview

‘It’s not easy being a Christian in this country’ •Continued from Page 25 back to religion because religion plays a major role in what we are talking about. If there are people who are not happy that Jonathan is President because he is from the South-south region that is not important in this matter. Such people are patriotic to their religion not Nigeria. What we are talking about is a very serious matter. We have religious leaders who in their worship places incite the people, it happens constantly and security agents know it. They come to the public and lie and deceive us, they know the truth. Have you ever heard a Christian pastor preach a sermon that made his members carry gun to shoot anybody? It doesn’t happen.

I leave the rest to you to discern.

These are the problems we have. If we can face them and honestly decide that we want to solve them they will be solved.

Some people are of the opinion that unemployment is the major cause of these violent acts?

(Laughs) Please tell such people to go and sit down; there is unemployment everywhere in the world. Is there no unemployment in your own part of the country?

How many people have you killed?

How many mosques have you burnt down because you are unemployed? On Sallah day how many youths in your community went on rampage to burn down mosques and kill people? Yet they are still unemployed. When there was problem here in the Niger-Delta everyone knew it was a matter of resource control, pollution, suffering, and marginalisation. The problems were obvious and everyone could see it, how many mosques were burnt down? So unemployment will make you go and burn down a church and kill innocent people? I don’t know who will employ you now. Is it God that did not give you a job? I see those things as political excuses and social theories. We are talking of practical reality here. Bin Laden was a terrorist not because he was unemployed. He came from a very wealthy family, yet he became a terrorist because of religious ideologies. Ideologies that were developed from a religious book that somebody gave to him, indoctrinated him and he believed it. He also turned around and indoctrinated others. I don’t want to say certain things here, but I will say them now. Go through the Arab countries and see what is happening. If you are following the elections you will see the people emerging are Islamic Brotherhoods, Islamic this and that.

Watch out and see what will happen. Look at Egypt now, Christians are packing out of the country.

Christianity came to Egypt before Islam for God sake, churches were built all over Egypt before a single mosques was built. Why do we pretend not to know the truth? We know the truth. It is easy to talk about Palestine and Israel, but this is Egypt we are talking about. Was Christianity not already thriving there for almost a thousand years before Islam got there? But right now Christians are only ten percent there and they are being persecuted. Mubarak as bad as he was, he was better than what they have now. Christians are regretting participating in the Arab Spring some of them are packing and running away because they are slaughtering them like animals. It breaks my heart. It is happening all over the world. How do you treat human beings this way? Are Christians not human beings? So I cannot be free to be a Christian? This is

not right. This is just not about unemployment, it is a religious ideology.

Are you also of the opinion that there is a grand design to Islamise Nigeria?

I am of a very strong opinion that there is a grand design to Islamise Nigeria. If there was any time that design was true it is now. Look at it, open your eyes and see for yourself.

It is happening right in front of us.

What is CAN doing about that?

We are going to have some meetings soon and decide the way forward. We will decide what next for Christianity in Nigeria because if we don’t talk to ourselves and decide on what to do they will wipe us out.

It is a gradual process. When it happens today we console ourselves, it will happen tomorrow again. It is not going to stop. Who is benefitting from these things? Go to Maiduguri and Yobe, Christians are being slaughtered like animals and they are running away. Who is benefiting? Who is taking over everything?

Answer it for yourself.

What question does this pose on our unity?

There is no unity in Nigeria, we are pretenders. We are hypocrites, there is no unity here.

In that wise, do you support the idea of a sovereign national conference?

I support it totally. Call it any name you want, I support it because I think it is important for all the nationalities in this country to sit down and discuss Project Nigeria. Let’s talk honestly and decide if we want to be together. Let’s agree or disagree. Let’s agree to stay together or disagree and go our separate ways peacefully. We don’t have to kill ourselves. Must we be together? I love us to be together. Honestly, I love Nigeria because the part of the greatness of a nation is its diversity. I believe we can negotiate ourselves into a very good union but we are not there yet. We must do that because we see this thing coming. A group of people cannot gradually take over the whole place. Go to North Africa again; Tunisia at some points was a Christian nation. Turkey was at one point a completely Christian nation too. Most of their cities there are in the New Testament. Even Libya that you are looking at today was completely Christian. This was how it started. Gradually they swept Christianity out. The ones they couldn’t conquer by force they conquered by economics. I think it is time for us to start speaking out because what happened on Christmas day is totally unacceptable.

I hope the proposed CAN meeting will not end like the other ones that have not yielded much result?

I hope more than you. I want to believe that it will not be the same. I don’t want to make comments more than that because it will not be right for me. If not I would have told you some things here.

Do you think religious leaders are doing enough to help the economic and social situation of the country?

Let me be honest with you, it is never enough and can never be enough. I don’t want to speak against any religious organisation because it is not proper. There might be people doing theirs silently. I

“Bin Laden was a terrorist not because he was unemployed.

He came from a very wealthy family, yet he became a terrorist because of religious ideologies. Ideologies that were developed from a religious book that somebody gave to him, indoctrinated him and he believed it.

He also turned around and indoctrinated others.” can’t even speak against Islam when it comes to good things because there is no religion that doesn’t really teach good neighbourliness. If you are reading your scriptures well there is no religion that doesn’t teach you to touch (affect) your neighbour.

If you have a heart for God, you will understand that greatness is not about what you have, it is about what you do with what you have.

That is what makes you great. Even Jesus said it that it is not what a man has that makes him great but what he can do with what he has. It is about how many people you have made great! How many lives you have touched and how many people have you changed. I can only speak for myself. My prayer everyday is that God should help me to do more.

What is CAN’s position on the proposed fuel subsidy removal by the federal government?

Let me begin by informing you that CAN has no official position. The reason is because those in the leadership of the association are not politicians. There are so many things involved in this fuel subsidy thing that has brought about so many questions. And a lot of those questions have not been properly answered because we don’t understand them clearly. We need more information to understand the government’s argument. When you look at the government’s explanation on the subsidy, it sounds good but you need to look very well. This is because there are so many booby traps the way I see it. In my opinion for instance, the government has explained what they intend to do with the money they will save and that again brings the issue of trust. Jonathan has a lot of work to do to gain the trust of the people. Nigerians don’t trust government and you cannot blame them because gov-

“There is no unity in Nigeria, we are pretenders. We are hypocrites, there is no unity here.”

•Oritsejafor ernments have a track record of not keeping promises. So you have a big issue of trust right there. I have an issue in the area of transportation for example. If you remove fuel subsidy, in my opinion you kill the average Nigerian. I am talking of the common man, how is he going to survive?

How does he move from one point to the other especially when he has to go by public transport? What plans does government have to rescue the common man? It is hard to take a position on this matter because when you listen to government the arguments sounds so good, but when you come to realities, it becomes another issue entirely. It is a battle for me.

Is it a battle for you because President Jonathan is your kinsman?

No, it is not because of that. I am a very objective person and I take time to study things and try to see how it can make sense. Like I said, when you listen to the argument of government it makes sense. But when you come home and you see the people you are living with, you wonder how they are going to survive. As at today, my mind has softened a bit, but I cannot categorically say remove fuel subsidy because it is too dangerous now.

Some people say government should give Nigerians time to understand the issues do you support that?

I agree with you entirely. But then they keep telling us that if we don’t remove it now the whole economy will crash in another one year or so and I don’t want it to crash. I think what must be done is what President Jonathan is beginning to do, and that is going out there and meeting people and explaining to them. I think that if people are well informed, they can make adjustments. I think with dialogue Nigeria is going to be better.

What is your view on Constitution review?

I look at that issue from two angles. I think without looking at the cost it would have been fantastic to have a totally brand new Constitution. There are lots of things to be considered before taking such steps.

How was this Constitution developed? Was it a people oriented Con-

stitution? The answer is no because it was a military Constitution. If we really want to be honest with ourselves and we want a people’s Constitution then we have to do it. But my fear again is the cost because Nigeria is a fantastic country where a good thing can become a bad thing.

To put up a new Constitution, you will be shocked they will be talking about trillions of Naira. That is my fear about the brand new Constitution. Having said that the reviews they are doing at the National Assembly should involve Nigerians.

Why can’t they ask Nigerians what they want and what they don’t want in the Constitution? Is that too much to ask? Why do you decide what you think should be changed and what shouldn’t be changed in it? They should throw it out to Nigerians and let people speak their mind.

How does it feel being a Christian leader at this point in time?

It is not easy at all. Let me be honest with you, it is not easy being a Christian now in Nigeria, then it is harder to be a leader. You have to bear the pain of watching things go wrong before your own eyes and there is nothing you can do. You see things that should not be happening to your own people and you cannot protect them. It is not good. I warn again that this was how it began in North Africa and Sudan.

What is your greatest fear as a Christian leader?

It is the thought that Christianity could actually be wiped out of this nation. It frightens me because when you see the way it is going, the determination is baffling. I asked you a question about who is benefitting from wiping Christians out of Nigeria? It is a question we must answer because our loss as Christians is the gains of other people. As we are losing, someone is gaining. As we are moving out, someone is moving in. This is really frightening. I am a man of faith, but I say these things because we have to confront truth and speak truth to power all the time.

I pray that a day will not come when you will hear something like the Islamic Republic of Nigeria. I say God forbid.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

DANIELLE ALLEN

Style is about setting new trends

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Glamour

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Glamour

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Glamour

Beautiful, plus-size Nollywood actress, Adaora Ukoh, talks about her top ten things in this interview with Kehinde Falode.

Favourite drink Cocktail called “Screaming Orgasm”

Favourite sunglasses Chopard & Charles Keith bigsized frame because of their trendy simplicity frames.

Favourite bag designers

Favourite car SUV trucks.

I love big cars

Adaora’s

top

10

36

Entertainment

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

The year 2011 turned out to be an eventful year on the music scene but the year 2012 promises so much with more album releases, events and happenstances in the offing.

In no particular order AHMED BOULOR reels out a collection of artistes that are likely to grab the headlines in the New Year.

Must-watch movies 2012

1 20 2

by Ovwe Medeme

Entertainment industry in perspective

•Waje •Jmartins

•9ice

•SSP

•D’banj

•Tiwa Savage

•Banky W

•Tuface

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•Femi Kuti

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Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Mc Bash lights up Coca-Cola media parley

Music is easy because it is in the studio, but with movie-making you take your time doing the post production. This movie took three years out of my music

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

39

HOMEVIDA tasks Nollywood on credible themes •As Genevieve Nnaji is named ambassador

•Country Rep., UNODC, Ms. Mariam Sissoko with Mrs Lancelot Imaseun

The second edition of the award which held at the Silverbird Cinemas in Abuja, on Friday December 9, 2011 also marked the United Nations anticorruption day

•Miss Miracle, Lead Character in Enitan with Ms Arunma Oteh, DG/CEO, Securities & Exchange Commission

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Entertainment

The New Year on Dstv

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

BIG

CINEMA GUIDE

PICTURE Supported by: SILVERBIRD CINEMAS

New Year's Eve: The time ticks

Age old Musketeers return with more treachery

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Glamour

41

Rave reviews for Angelina Jolie's

directorial

debut

The actress's directorial debut, an unflinching portrayal of the genocide in Bosnia, has sent shockwaves through the Balkans and may mark the start of a career behind the camera

•Angelina with husband, Brad Pitt

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Glamour

‘It sounds cocky, but I know I’m stylish’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Glamour

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Social KAYODE ALFRED

(E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com, Tel: 08035733605, 08099400057)

Frank Edoho displays affection for new flame

•Sandra and Edoho

Segun Akintemi bows out of Skye Bank

Bayo Kuku and Oba Kayode Adetona at war?

Katherine Edoho

Mimiko’s man, Soji Bello cleaning out

Angela Egbagua delivers twins

Ebagua

Adetona

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Glamour

&

Princess Cythia Andrew

Oge Okoye

Bola Awosika

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

Dele Momodu

Warebi Marther

Ovation Red Carol stages big comeback

Halima Abubakar

Ayo Makun and wife

Kemi Otegbeye

Captain Chris Najomo and wife Martha

Stella Damasus

Mrs Kemi Adewunmi

FROM THE CAMPUS PAGE 46

THE NATION SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

A

S we celebrate a new year, I would like to share some memorable moments of 2011 with you. First things first, what is actually a memorable moment?

The answer to this is simply a moment that you will remember for a long time. It could be because of a truly great performance, a truly horrific performance, a controversial moment, or a weird play, something not seen often.

Talking about a truly great performance. Does the name Dirk Nowitzki ring a bell? Well it rang a very loud one in 2011 as he was instrumental in his team winning their first NBA championship.

The story here wasn’t so much that Dallas won the NBA title, it was because they beat the “almighty” Miami Heat. Nobody expected anything less than the championship from the Heat especially after a good series win over the Chicago bulls.

The “big three” comprising of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, created a lot of hype that the Heat were easily the spotlight team last season.

With those three together, a championship was all but certain.

It wasn’t to happen as Dirk Nowitzki’s resilience made him play like a possessed man, denying LeBron James of NBA glory yet again. Kudos to Dirk and Jason Kidd.

Next stop Mr. Novak

My memories of 2011 (1) Djokovic!

What an amazing 2011 he had. He won three Grand Slam titles, had a record of 70 wins to 6 losses and became the world’s number 1. I find myself asking this question: Is it possible for him to repeat that feat?.

He began the year with a comprehensive win at the Australian Open, beating Andy Murray in straight sets in a very one-sided final. I wonder if this will be the Scots year.. Anyway, after a 40-game win streak, Novak lost to the great Roger Federer in the semifinals at Roland Garros, before progressing to beat Rafael Nadal in the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open.

He’s been a player with great promise for a while but 2011 will be remembered as the year when Djokovic was finally able to take the tennis world by storm. Now let’s

see what awaits him in 2012.

Sebastian Vettel was in the news for all the good reasons. At the age of 24, he became the youngest driver to win back to back formula one driving championships.

2011 saw Vettel win 11 of 19 grand prix races and claim 392 championship points, 122 points more than his nearest competitor, also a record.

The Grand Prixs where he failed to claim first place, he was able to claim five second positions, a third, a fourth position, and had to retire just once.

I’ll admit to not being an avid formula one follower, but Vettel’s dominance in 2011 could not keep him off my list.

The next on my list is a memory I will love to erase quickly. The Super Eagles of Nigeria needed a win at the stadium in Abuja in

October to qualify for the 2012 AFCON. Guess what Samson Siasia’s boys did to us fans? They blew it!

For the first time since I started watching the Super Eagles, they failed to qualify for the continental tournament leaving Nigerians shattered and still very angry.

Can anybody forget Wayne Rooney’s bicycle kick goal? That was definitely my best goal of 2011. It was perfect! Perfect timing and even perfect stage as it was against their bitter, local rivals Manchester City. The score line was 1-1 before Rooney scored that contorted angled bicycle kick, off a cross winner. So good that, because no other highlight came close, ESPN’s “Best of the Best” series had no choice but to retire it.

My “best” sports moment of 2011, Manchester united winning a record 19th EPL title knocking their fiercest rival Liverpool “off the perch”.

It is a great success story for Sir Alex Ferguson who also celebrated 25 years as manager of Manchester United. He is undoubtedly the most successful manager ever in the English game and I will like to say a big happy birthday to him as he turned 70 yesterday.

I still have a few good and bad moments to share……..look out for part 2 next week. On this note, I will like to wish you readers a very happy and prosperous New Year.

Have a blessed 2012.

•Novak Djokovi

•Rooney

With Prof. Emmanuel Ojeme

•Comrade Adams Oshomhole

Redeveloping the Afuze College of Physical Education (3)

I

N this edition, we are doing the 3rd and final installment in the series on this topic. So far, we have spoken about its history and exploits in Nigerian Sports. We have also analysed its importance and provided a framework for its redevelopment. We are capping it up with a view of what the College of Physical Education should be at its zenith of development. This College can provide the intellectual bastion of sports in Edo State and Nigeria. Sports development requires high intellectual input for it to prosper. This is usually nurtured by proven knowledge and research about sports. It is not the same as pontifications from sports enthusiasts and sports lovers constituencies. It is knowledge brewed by the cultivated experts in different fields of sports epistemology. Organised knowledge about sports can only be acquired through learning.

In its present status, a rejuvenated Afuze College of Physical Education can produce intermediate manpower and a disciplined as well as cultivated environment for sports training and practice. The zenith of this progression is to endeavour to grow this school to a sports university. I can guess that if its founder, Dr Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbenudia has his way, he would be most inclined to push the status of this famous sports school to become the first Sports University in Nigeria and perhaps in Africa. He had and actualized the original dream and vision that gave birth to the College. He loved sports so much as the Governor of the defunct Mid-West and with a well articulated political philosophy/ideology of sports, he established this College that is now deoxygenated.

Luckily for Edo State, it is now blessed with another pragmatic political philosopher in Adams Oshomhole as Governor. I believe he can do it. He can improve on what his predecessor has done at the College of Physical Education, as he has done in the infrastructural turnaround in the state. History, thus, is beckoning on the Governor to rise to the challenge of redoing and retoning this College. This is one of the burdens, the Governor definitely carries in raising the fortunes of sports development in the state.

What will the Afuze College of Physical Education be doing as the intellectual bastion, as a centre of excellence in research and practice of sports? It will crack the nuts, find the keys and solutions to giving Edo State and indeed Nigeria the ways to measure up with the best in the world, in sports performance. Remarkable nations in the world of sports viz Russia, China, Japan and Germany among others do have designated and syndicated sports universities. Any nation without such an institution can be classified as not serious about sports development.

For universities are designed for knowledge development, research and cultivation of men and women imbued with the required capacity for leadership in different spheres of human endeavour. A Sports University becomes a specialized establishment with a concentrated mandate of driving excellence and development in this sector.

The foregoing should be the achievable ultimate for the College of Physical Education, Afuze or indeed any specialized sports College. It is our hope that political leaders in Edo State currently led by Adams Oshomhole at the helm of Government, will seize this opportunity to write his name in gold by lifting up the Afuze College of Physical Education to the great height as advocated in this three-part series, now concluded. May God bless Afuze College of Physical Education, the defunct MidWest Miracle Sports Centre.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

47

VOL 1 NO. 037

Brands & Visual Artists S

O much happens with change. Though it is constant, sometimes change come with some damaging effect such that leaves more for negativity than add value. Part of the negative impact of change we talked about in our appreciation of technological development with special focus on social media vehicle. In that circumstance, we pointed out the fact that the appreciation and application of social media as a brand management tool does more harm than good in the face of IT development in our local market.

Yes, we did establish the truth in the need to be rational in our application of technology because the efficiency of our thinking cannot be divorced from the readiness of the local environment for such applications. Take for instance the new cashless transaction planned to take place from January 1st, 2012; how else can one describe mistake: in a society where trust is the most priced currency for payment, how can you force the use of card money?

How do you want to facilitate big volume cashbased trade transaction on PROMISORY cards when we know that the average trader in Nigeria do not trust even the bank draft? Such is the negative impact of change, yet we must observe change. However, growth dynamics requires some measure of careful consideration in the acceptance and application of change in the face of established norms. As it most often turn out, careless acceptance of change can be dangerous.

So we ask: of what use is change when it does not add up to growth, development or progress? How can we justify change when it ebbs away on quantifiable gains and established core values, no matter how minute? We question hypothesis on the basis of rationalization in the face of change. So, we question CHANGE some times. One of such questions we have had to raise concerning change is the impact it has had on brands management from the angle of creative arts!

I have just come to the conclusion that in most cases, the OLD SCHOOL is better than the product of change around the world today even in religion. But here we are looking at the incidence of CHANGE in special relation with the efficiency of creative arts in the process of brands management.

The structure of today's advertising agency is so suspect; traditionalists like me are at a loss as to how to refer to them. But they have also turned out smart in the image perception they have made of themselves.

It's been so apt one from the old school some times doubt some of these old thinking's. Today we hear of brand architects, brands managers, brands management consultants, and so much more. In form and substance these are all different new reference to what we originally know as ADVERTISING AGENCY. Also annoying is the knowing that these so-called professionals do not really practice the profession in its true form.

Consequently, we now see consumers exposed to campaigns or tactical advert materials lacking in message content or functional creativity. Some time last week I was privileged to see Coca-cola's seasonal TV Commercial conceptualized as a Christmas salutary ad on CNN. It was awesome; a masterpiece of a creative work. It refreshed my appreciation of creative ingenuity. The TVC came across as a piece from the masters, with excellent use of lighting, appropriate music and sound effect and deep-thinking casting (use of models was exact); reminds me of the work I and the team I worked with did for Procter & Gamble's euro Pampers when they were preparing to enter Nigerian market. It all came properly put together by a team committed to agreed creative work plan.

I believe and practice by the Old School tradition

because I know it is more effective. It may not be very competitive in terms of very fast response-timing, convenience and style, but it has proven to be more beneficial. As my contemporaries and I know it, the creative artist or visualize(r) is first and primarily someone naturally gifted and trained in the expression of creative art. They are trained and prepared for creative thinking and expression in their natural medium sending messages and expressing emotion. For advertising, as we knew it then, we primarily dealt with the visual artist we called VISUALIZER. The visualize, by reason of his/her natural creative abilities is charged with the responsibility of expressing the agency's strategic thinking in pictures.

The criterion for engaging visual artist was largely based on the extent of creativity and ability to apply same for advertising. So we had men and women proven to be naturally expressive in visual arts. Another beautiful thing about them is the tools of trade way back; the creative process was thoroughly investigative. Starting from understanding the overall creative direction agreed for a given brief, the Visualizer primarily puts his/her thought down in form of 'pencil scamps' a format that allows for consideration and scrutiny. At that stage, the entire creative team inclusive of the strategic planning unit, the client service person and even the creative services person, come up to critically evaluate the pencil scamps which are essentially visual expression of the artist's under-

standing and interpretation of the assignment on hand. At this preliminary stage, nothing is agreed until it is agreed. It is only when the scamps are passed for appropriateness of thought and expression the creative team go on to finishing, in preparation for creative review, preparatory to agency presentation to the client.

The process of progressing from scamps to finishing involves the use of the computer with all the software in aiding beauty and exactitude. Then we had the airbrush machine, the pantone color markers, pencils, cardboard papers, water color sets and erasers as basic work tools for the visual artist (in addition to other quite strange materials they some time require then, depending on the assignment and objective). Those were days that really tasked creative thinking and visual arts. I remember how my colleagues in the creative department manually produced storyboard for television commercial by use of hand. Then we had wild strokes strong and expressive of great thinking. There was no short cut in the creative process.

We dare say brands gained more from that OLD SCHOOL than what obtains today.

In the first place, change crept in but unfortunately met with laziness and desire for short cut, undermining natural talent. All kinds of things happen today in the average advertising agency that amounts to die-service to brands and the creative process as we started out with. In fact, it is so bad today, that some people who are not artists by nature and by training, bow function as creative artist because all sorts of software is now available for work. Consequently hustlers quickly get computer use skills with a bent for application of tools for visual arts and there we go, as creative artists.

It is exactly same reason all sorts of thing now pass for music: laziness and fast means to success. The entire system and process gets corrupted because nobody wants to go through the hard road. Most of the creative materials in advert materials today are lacking in deep thinking, awkward in expression and constitutes noise in the use of words and picture in the communication for brands. Just as anything sells for music in this market today, anything sells for advertising, leaving the brands compromised, the target audience confused and throwing negativity in the brand building process.

In 2012, we shall step up this critical analysis to include analyzing campaign materials with special attention on concept and finishing. We know there are a few advertising Agencies out there who appreciates the true process and can rekindle the 'old school' pattern if the rules are strengthened for guidance. Unfortunately the clients are also not too strong in appreciation of creative products. But as mentioned above, next year, we shall concern ourselves with playing up the rules with a view to cleaning up the stains.

Change is good and constant, but its implication is only as good as it is expressed.

48

With Patience Saduwa

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Ms. Arit Oku, Executive/Creative Director of TruContact Ltd, a Public Relations and Marketing Communications firm, has carved a niche for herself in the communications and social development sector by setting up a successful indigenous company. She has also premiered the first ever Social Enterprise Responsibility Awards (SERA) which recognizes the efforts of multinationals and local companies in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. In this interview with Rita Ohai, she speaks on her journey through life as well as the PR industry

Business women are trapeze artists

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

New WOMAN

Five Resolutions to bring bliss to your marriage

49

•Chill out time: Spending quality time together is one of the ways of rekindling the romance in your marriage

Continued next week

11 gifts you can give your child at no cost to you Parenting

•Gift of life: The best gift for your child is your presence rather than expensive presents

50

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Arts & Life

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

olubanwo.fagbemi@thenationonlineng.net 08060343214 (SMS only)

Signs of the season •Continued from last week

F

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

OR retailers of children playthings, fast-food vendors, traders and artisans, the festive period is the season that matters most as the boom causes bank accounts to fatten. Rather prudent for much of the year, customers transform spending into a rampant exercise at year’s end, which translates into more cash for the seller.

But caveat emptor, or buyer beware, for fuel scarcity – the Federal Government’s favourite yuletide resort – looms. Generally viewed as a precursor to pump price increase, fuel scarcity attends December more often than not. Officials may tout the economic benefits of subsidy removal but hapless citizens know better: the inconvenience of long fuel queues and expensive travel is compounded by subsequent increase in prices of goods and services as well as consequent inflation.

Now, since nearly everyone fancies a makeover of homes and outfits at this period, the services of tailors, designers, carpenters and technicians markedly rise. A frenzy of orders overwhelms the workers who struggle to meet delivery targets after collecting upfront payments. Some orders are invariably not met well into the following year leading to customer dissatisfaction and settlement by mostly unorthodox means.

In addition, widespread recourse by traders to maximise opportunities fuelled by consumers’ desire to buy, buy and buy during the period leads to open exploitation. The prices of goods, from toothpicks to houses, and services, from manicure to consultation, are often marked up to yield greater profit.

In the end, what goes round comes round. Exploitation, availability of disposable income and inflow of foreign currency into the economy through visitors encourage rising prices, or inflation. Prices of some goods eventually recede in January, while others slowly climb through the following months until the astronomical jump the following December.

Now to more palatable matters, the Christmas Goat specifically – symbol of widespread prosperity, once upon a favourable economic climate. Decades past, the sight of the stubborn, goatee-bearing creature tethered in front of houses implied imminent celebration and merriment, particularly for children. The gradual emergence of austere times has, however, seen the symbol morph into a metaphor. Today it could be Turkey – for the more comfortable –, beef, chicken, frozen fish or even cow hide (ponmo).

One place where the goat is sure to be found at anytime though is a joint by which the writer refers to relaxation areas dotting neighbourhoods that are otherwise called beer parlours. Think pepper soup of the isi-ewu and Nkwobi variety as well as drinks.

Let merry-makers beware of the agents of the dastardly acts called money-making rituals, meanwhile. On the prowl at this period more than any other, the agents are believed to be spurred by the clandestine process of sacrificing human beings or body parts for ‘making’ money.

Hard to dismiss in the face of incontrovertible reports, the acts ensure sorrow and terror which are amplified by recurrence. While commercial vehicles and deserted roads remain objects of suspicion throughout the period, society’s fixation with wealth regardless of source may, in part, be blamed.

Few will be discouraged from social visits during the period nonetheless. Friends and family willingly interchange host and visitor roles throughout as food and drinks enliven these meetings such that a courtesy call would still be regarded as pleasant in the absence of the chief host.

So, come right in and feel at home. Glad you could come. While you watch T.V. (what, you prefer Nollywood? well, you will be indulged), here’s a plate of fried rice for you, and you and you – to go with fruit wine and soft drinks. Thank you, Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

•Concluded

QUOTE In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want.

- Irish toast for the New Year

Jokes Army Life AN Army Major needed to use the pay phone to call his family at Christmas but he did not have the coins required. He saw a private cleaning the floor and said to him, “Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?”

The private replied, “Of course.”

The Major gave him a cold stare and said, “That’s no way to speak to a superior officer. We’ll do that again. Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?”

With a mischievous look, the soldier replied, “NO SIR.” Funny Yuletide Takes FROM a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it.

—Katharine Whitehorn You know you’re getting old, when Santa starts looking younger.

—Robert Paul I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included.

—Bernard Manning

SUDOKU ST

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph.

– Famous actress and former child star, Shirley Temple Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.

—Johnny Carson Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.

—Larry Wilde Don’t expect too much of Christmas Day. You can’t crowd into it any arrears of unselfishness and kindliness that may have accrued during the past twelve months.

—Oren Arnold Christmas is a time when you get homesick – even when you’re home.

—Carol Nelson A dog’s New Year’s Resolution: I will not chase that stick unless I actually see it leave his hand.

—Unknown It wouldn’t be New Year if I didn’t have regrets.

—William Thomas •Culled from the Internet

1 STEP IN SOLVING PUZZLE: (365) Look at the 3 left vertical (abc) 3x3 boxes.

How look at column a. The numbers missing in that column are 1,7,8, and 9. The top box already contains 7 (in cell Ac), therefore no other 7 can be accommodated in that box.

There are no spaces- cells Ga and Ia in the

PUZZLE 365

A B C D E F G H I

9 8

7 4

5

7

6 8 4 2 8 7 1 5 1 4 9

6 2 3 5 b

c

2 3 7

1 a

9

d

e

f

g

h

i

01/01/2012

bottom box. But, since row I already contains a 7- in cell Ii, the only spcae available to accommodate 7 in column a is cell Ga. Reasoning along these lines, try and fill in all the other vacant cells.

Solution on SATURDAY. Happy Puzzling!

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE 364

4 9 6 8 3 2 5 1 7

2 8 7 5 1 9 3 4 6

1 5 3 6 7 4 9 8 2

3 1 9 7 5 6 4 2 8

5 6 4 2 9 8 7 3 1

8 7 2 3 4 1 6 5 9

9 2 5 1 6 3 8 7 4

6 3 1 4 8 7 2 9 5

7 4 8 9 2 5 1 6 3

THE ARTS

51

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

R

EASON for the delay in the writing and the publication of the book Katrina was a huge catastrophe. And it left us all with a big trauma. For three whole months after Katrina I couldn’t sleep well. I was having nightmares. Up till now I’m still having those nightmares, particularly whenever I remember the scenes or whenever I dream about the manuscripts and the books I lost and of course the danger that my wife and I faced when we thought all was lost. So, it took so long to get these poems out because each time I sat to write them the pain came back. The original pain we felt on the 29th and 30th of August, 2005, and our journey through evacuation centre. We had to stay for many days without brushing our teeth without having a bath and without any shoes. We left our home with nothing, absolutely. So, it was the nature of the experience and the nature of the trauma that made this work so difficult to compose because there is no way you can write about an experience without remembering the details. And each time I remembered the details I had a terrible bout of depression and all the angst and all the terror of Katrina would come back to me.

All the poems in the book of course are new and they were written between the time I started recovering from the Katrina trauma and the time they were finally gone. That was 2010. So, they took so long in coming because of the kind of experience that gave rise to them.

Actually, it’s ironic that while the Katrina poems were on my mind but I couldn’t write them, I stepped aside and produced another book. That was Tender Moment – love poems.

I think that was some kind of psychological compensation, or psychological avoidance.

It’s amazing the way the mind works. It was the Katrina poems that were on my mind but I couldn’t write them. So, I took out time composing love poems, remembering some of the poems I lost to Katrina. Well, I couldn’t remember any of them really. I had to compose new poems and they were love poems. It was after Tender Moment that I decided to face the Katrina monster head-on! I kept telling myself that I would not be defeated by Katrina.

That was when I started writing the poem.

And once I wrote the first three the other ones started coming a little at a time. But this has been the most difficult of all my works because of the experience that produced the poems.

Wouldn’t other mode have been suitable for recording the Katrina narrative?

Not for somebody like me! I’m sure you know I’m basically a poet. Ideas come to me in poetic term. Images that express those ideas come to me in poetic term. And the whole articulation of the experience came to me in poetic term. That’s at the personal level. I’m sure you also know that of all the literary genres poetry is the most condensed. Poetry is the one that is closer to the human heart and the interface between the human heart and the human mind. When you want to reach your depth as a writer, when you want to express something that is beyond yourself, when you want to express an experience and make that expression greater than the experience itself, when you want to give music to the mystery and the misery of life, you reach for poetry. I think this was really what happened to me. I also toyed with the Katrina experience in prose form, but I think I did the first 42 pages. And they are still there. I haven’t revisited them for a very long, long time.

Maybe I will some day. But it was the poetry of the experience that first captured my fancy.

That is why the book has come in poetic form.

You know poetry also offers a certain liberty, certain latitude when it comes to the expression of experiences. It makes it possible for us to play around with imageries. It makes it possible for us to harness the depth and density of feeling in the music of expression. This is really the advantage that poetry offered me.

And I took it with both hands.

I allowed the nature of the subject of the poem to influence, and in fact, dictate the kind of register that I used, that is the kind of language. The language of the work is such that readers will find accessible because I saw myself as a spokesperson for an entire city.

The complex transparency of the language is

Touring Katrina with Osundare After surviving the monstrous gale of Hurricane Katrina which decapitated many residents of New Orleans in August 2005, Nigeria’s poet laureate and social critic, Niyi Osundare, decided that in spite of his huge loss the disaster would not have the last word.

The outcome of that rugged determination is his newly published book of poems entitled City Without People: The Katrina Poems. Ademola Adesola had a chat with him

•Niyi Osundare

there. The communicative imperative to reach as many readers as possible decided in me on the kind of register employed in the poems. Also, at the psychological or psycholinguistic level, or if you like, psycho-stylistic level, there are certain levels of pain that dictate the kind of language in which they should be expressed. This is what I called density of feeling and density of expression. The density of feeling has a way of influencing the density of expression, or as it happens most of the time, density of feeling may result in a clarity of expression. I’m happy that reactions to the poems have been very, very encouraging, in fact flattering at times. And I’m happy that at the reading we had about two weeks ago in

Lagos the audience more or less showed the same level of empathy with the experience and the language in which it is communicated to them. I never wanted to keep any reader out of the experience.

Experience with the publisher of the book The name of the publisher is Blackwidow Press. They are based in Boston, United States, but they have big connections in New Orleans. I met the publisher earlier on, about a year or so ago, and he expressed interest in publishing my poetry. He specializes in poetry and he does a wonderful job. One of his preoccupations is bringing poetry from other land to the attention of readers in the United States.

He has so many books of poems translated

from different languages in the world. So, he is a truly international poetry publisher. That is Blackwidow.

When I finished the Katrina manuscript, I considered him. I made up my mind to get this book published in the US because that is where the experience took place. I have always published my books in Nigeria. But I say this one is for the US and I’m happy I took that decision. Blackwidow took the book and within a week or two he got back to me to say that the poems are very touchy and that he was delighted in publishing them. Then I advised him to let us make the publication of this book coincide with the sixth anniversary of Katrina, which was August 29, 2011. It was a tall order but he managed to beat the deadline. So, I enjoyed working with him. He has a designer who is very proficient. He designed the book, especially the cover.

For the first time in many years I had a publisher who would notice an error or a set of errors in the book and contact the author. In Nigeria here it’s different. In fact, even when you write the correct thing many of our publishers would publish the wrong thing. I didn’t have any problems at all working with Blackwidow because they have proficient editors. These are proficient and highly educated editors. In Nigeria, because of our terrible educational system, our editors don’t have the necessary kind of education that they need for the publishing job – the thoroughness, the literacy that you must have before you can call yourself a publisher. We had this in the 1960s, 70s and up to the 80s in Nigeria. But things started going down, down. I don’t know whether there is any book that I have produced in this country in the past 10, 15 years that has not had one kind of error or another. My experience this time around is really different. That is like my experience with some other books that I published abroad. This shows that in Nigeria we still have a very long way to go.

52

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Arts/Reviews

The Engagement at the Theatre Therapy for unemployment With Femi Osofisan’s The Engagement and other shows, the National Troupe of Nigeria was able to hold theatre lovers spellbound during the yuletide at the National Theatre, Lagos, reports Edozie Udeze

T

By Tayo Alufon

put forward a balanced knowledge for prospective job seekers on how to get a good job and for the future entrepreneurs on how to start and grow their personal businesses.

The author tries to make her readers understand the fact that they need money to carry out most of the things that will make life habitable for them, hence the need to shun formality and look for the money through every possible legal means even if it is dirty. According to her “every great enterprise is a product of someone’s sweat… what many are looking for is a job in a bank, an oil company, or a telecommunications com-

pany with air conditioned office, an official car and official apartment. These jobs are dignifying but dangerous because they offer temporary pleasure but create more problems on the long run… if you are working for someone, you are a cost and an expense, every business is constantly looking for how to cut cost, so, you may be cut down at any time when it is time to down-size, then you will have to go back to no car, no air conditioner, no driver and no house.” She therefore recommended a shift to some old land marks such as agriculture and advise people to kick against laziness and avoid giving excuses. She emphasized the need for personal development in the need for skill acquisitionboth transferable and personal management skill.

However, it is envisaged that in subsequent editions of this work, Kosoko would have improved on many things, among which will be the division of the book into clear sections to aid quick assimilation rather than general advice and use of more local personalities and instances to drive home her point and to prove the possibilities of her claims. In all, the book is a must, not just for the unemployed but also for the employed.

Making pictures speak

• National Troupe on stage

HE huge CBAAC hall of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, was filled to the brim as more people surged in from all the entrances to the hall. They were eager to watch the variety of shows put together by the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) to thrill and entertain theatre enthusiasts and thespians for the yuletide. What was uppermost in the minds of many was to watch the play, The Engagement, written by Professor Femi Osofisan and see how it relates to the Nigerian situation.

Although The Engagement is an adaptation of Anfon Checklov’s short play, The Marriage Proposal, the lessons inherent in it were able to hold the audience spellbound for the yuletide. In it, a young farmer, dressed in a gorgeous and deceptive way, comes around to seek the hand of his neighbour’s daughter in marriage. It was a strange form of engagement, for Elemude, the farmer’ was not only shy and incoherent, but a total hypochondriac, whose appearance and readiness to be a strong and serious husband were in doubt.

The maiden herself, called Ronke, was a recalcitrant young lady, ever ready to cause trouble and disorder. Her father Baba Ronke tried to play the role of a wise old man in order to encourage the two to rediscover each other and become man and woman.

However the issue of the ownership of a nearby piece of land became a stumbling block. While

I

GNORANCE is the root cause of unemployment.

No man irrespective of the national economic situation has any excuse to be unemployed if he is well informed and willing to act on the information at his disposal. It was the need for such practical information that gave birth to Ronke Kosoko’s GET OUT OF UNEMPLOYMENT- a book which can be described as the much awaited therapy for the unemployment disease that is ravaging the Nigerian population with poverty as a major symptom and youth as the arch victim.

As an educator, an employment solution strategist, a motivational speaker and a consultant of high pedigree with a growing list of clientele, Kosoko tries to use this book to explain the economic and employment reality in Nigeria through detailed analysis of the available statistics in a lay man language and concluded with practical solutions on how to come out of unemployment.

With sparing and well explained use of statistics, the book opened with the painting of the employment reality of the Nigerian state, while Kosoko agreed that all cannot be entrepreneurs, she

Theatre Ronke claimed it belonged to her family, Elemude could not hear of it.

Thus the argument temporarily shifted attention from the issue of engagement to that of family squabble which later snowballed into a complete rancour and disorder. Meanwhile, Elemude could not still bring himself to propose to his girl because he was too jittery to do so.

Played by Toyin Oshinnaike, Taiwo Adeyemo and Smart Adejemo and directed by Olusegun Ojewuyi, The Engagement portrays a society in the throes of confusion, decay and disorder. It shows the confusion faced by the young and the inability of the older ones to be in total control and create an enabling environment for all. This was why the audience cheered on and on, because, not just that the play was so hilarious and informative, it offered the people the opportunity to reflect on the myriad of problems confronting the nation.

By even opening the shows with comic jokes, and some songs rendered by three kids, the audience were able to adjust to the rhythm of the evening. To cap it all, Martin Adaji, the Artistic, Director of the Troupe, told the audience that the essence of the shows was to re-enact some of the past works of the Troupe. “It is just to show how vast and creative we have been all year

long. Therefore, sit tight, laugh, watch and be merry.” And with that the series of shows truly brought laughter and joy to the faces of the audience.

Kola nut dance which was created a few months ago by Arnold Udoka, the director of dance of the Troupe, equally proved to be suitable for the occasion.

Kola nut forms an integral part of social and religious celebrations in Nigeria.

And to show how important it is to the people, the dancers demonstrated to the full the various attributes of the kola nut. The numerous dance steps were not only suggestive and evocative, they effectively pointed out why kola nut has come to be relevant in the entire Nigerian society.

As the dance went on, two of the dancers dashed into the audience with baskets of kola nuts. Those who got some to eat were really thrilled to experience the practical aspect of the kola nut dance. With other dances like River of Jubilation and Drums Invocation, National Troupe of Nigeria was able to prove that it is in their character to create variety of shows capable of holding theater buffs glued to their seats for hours.

The shows were on for three days for Christmas and will also be on stage for the first two days this New Year. Adaji summed it up like this, “we will not relent in our efforts to continue to make Nigerians have the best of dances, dramas and songs. This is why we are here to be able to create interesting shows for the people.”

T

HEODORE A. Orji – Portrait of a leader, is more of the record of the events and official happenings in the administration of the Abia State governor, Theodore Orji. The documentation, which is basically pictorial captures the whole essence of the dayto-day responsibilities of the state Chief Executive and also gives insight into some of the public functions of the governor where he is seen performing some duties.

The first picture gives a clearer glimpse into the nature and caliber of people involved in the administration of the state. There are many hands locked together to give the impression that the people of the state or Abians as they are called, love one another. Bellow it, is the inscription “This book is dedicated to men and women who served and sacrificed every day to liberate Abia State from the hands of the cabal that held her captive.” This of course is a direct reference to the days of armed robbery and kidnapping that made the state the most insecured in Nigeria.

By Edozie Udeze

Yet the more elaborate picture is that of the State Government House, Umuahia in its sprawling glory. To date, it is still regarded as one of the most elaborate and beautiful government houses in the country. The picture makes it look as if the governor is working tirelessly to make all corners of Abia State appear beautiful. But it is not the present governor who constructed the edifice.

In the foreword to the book, Ogbonnaya Obike, a Special Assistant to the governor, made it clear that the kidnapping episodes and incidents were the most trying moments for the governor; that even the presidency called him severally to find out how he intended to fight that menace in the state.

The governor later appealed to Abuja to send solders to help him curb the mess. Consequently, this was done and today Abia State has become an Eldorado of some sort. People feel safe and go about their lawful businesses without let or hindrance.

The photos show a governor who is in touch with his people, working round the clock to effect some meaningful development. Even though some of the pictures are propaganda issues to curry for an undue attention, governor Orji can be said to a bit too open to hide his humble achievements in the state.

In as much as the book appears commendable, it is unfortunate that the editor could not get the correct spelling of colonel which he spelt colnel. A blunder like this and more leaves the efforts of the compilers of the book in a bad taste. Besides Orji is not a Saint. A bit of his blunder would have been included to let readers and Abians see a governor that is not perfect, that is also a human being.

Seven ways to kill a cat

S

ET in a shanty-town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, this fine first novel focuses on Gringo and Chueco, both 20, who live in an eternal present of hustling for food, sex, alcohol and drugs.

Neither future nor past bears thinking about, an attitude borne out in the novel’s style and structure

by Nespolo’s rapid, short sentences, use of the his-

By Michael Eaude

toric present and the constant movement of his characters.

In the 1950s, Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Ten years ago, its economy collapsed. The currency was worthless, jobs vanished and the poor starved, as Seven Ways to Kill a Cat, set in 2001, shows. In the back-

ground, demonstrators fight running battles with the police. In the foreground, drug-selling gangs clash to control the neighbourhood.

Youngsters like Gringo and Chueco are drawn into petty crime and are into the gangs – and more serious crime. The police are absent, except for a corrupt commissioners. The state had disappeared.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Bolaji Akinyemi at 70: A tribute —PAGES 56

‘Why I went into exile during Abacha’s regime’ The former Director General, State Security Service (SSS) and chairman of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (now NDDC), Chief Albert Horsfall, in this interview with Remi Adelowo reminiscence on his life and regrets at 70

A

T 70, would you say you are fulfilled?

I think I am; quite frankly I am. Sometimes people have the tendency to regret those things they didn’t have, but I don’t feel that way at all. I had a very early engagement with life; I started to do those things which every young man should do. I was an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in the Police Force. And in those days, it was a big thing to be an ASP. I was an ASP at the age of 23 in 1965. And then in those days when you become an officer, or even before we knew about it, which was done by the Civil Service Commission, car dealers were already all over us, asking what car we wanted to buy and you don’t have to pay a kobo to buy it because you had a vehicle advance, which was to buy the car. I was young, I had a car and was enjoying my job, which is the most important thing. And then, I was given a house, an extended flat on 400 Glover Road, Ikoyi.

I was a bachelor, and I did all those things young men of my age love to do. I was a good and regular visitor to the girls’ hostel; they enjoyed me and I enjoyed their company as well. I tell you, it was fun. Lagos was Nigeria. Every Nigerian ethnic nationality was welcome in Lagos, which was at that time the capital. And we all frolicked together; went to nite-club and danced together. Bobby Benson was very popular then. So, like I said, I started life very early, rose through the various challenges of the time mostly on merit. I came out of the Cadet School in 1963 and as soon as I came out, the then commissioner in charge of Special Branch where I was posted after a very short stint at Abakaliki, was a revered Irish man, J.J. Sullivan, a retired British major; very proud. He was a spy master and highly respected. So, I got deployed t o the Special Branch. The tradition in those days was that the beast three from the Cadet School were posted to the Special Branch, FCID, A’ Department in the Force Headquarters. It was not choice, but I had to come to the Special Branch. Later I was deployed to Border Con-

trol still under the Special Branch. There was mismanaging the counhue and cry about that, but this was quite try. Army or the Navy or surprising, because in those expatriate of- the Airforce, I would ficers. The Nigerian were old inspectors, so have been involved in the apparently Sullivan saw that I had pros- first military take-over of pects and deployed me to Enugu. Then government, because all Sullivan had to go on his retirement leave our thoughts was how to and the late T.H. Fagbola over from him and make Nigeria great in the cancelled my posting to Enugu on the argu- comity of nations. That ment that Sullivan was trying to deployed was the motivating factor all the best brains away from the headquar- more than anything else. ters in order to make his (Fagbola) job difficult. Later, I went on to become this and that Continued on page 55 within the security service, the Special Branch of the force then. Much later when the civil war unfortunately broke out, I was in the United State doing an intelligence course, I came back and got posted to Headquarters again. However, most of my colleagues from the Eastern region had returned home to answer the call of Biafra.

So, that was another fulfillment, because I was now saddled to do a job normally done by three officers. I did my job so well, I guess. Decision making and taking action was pretty easy for me, because I had no biases. Then, I was at the war front on the side of Nigeria. Oh boy, it was extremely exciting. I was doing what I enjoyed. In spite of the risks involved in the job.

What particular incident had had the greatest impact on your job?

I happened to be of that generation where for us, the national interest was paramount. My cadet colleagues in the Army, Air force and Navy, we were always thinking of how to move Nigeria forward, because we thought the politicians of that time had become corrupt and

“I did all those things young men of my age love to do. I was a good and regular visitor to the girls’ hostel; they enjoyed me and I enjoyed their company as well.”

•Horsfall

53

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Life

Amidst thrills and frills, Udonquak Emem emerges Calabar Carnival queen This year’s Calabar Carvival came with all its thrills and frills, and has been generally adjudged the best since its inception five years ago. Forming part of the event was the carnival beauty pageant to enthrone the 2011/2012 carnival queen at the prestigious Tinapa Business Resort, Calabar, Cross River State. SEYI ODEWALE reports

T

•First lady, Cross River State, Mrs. Obioma Imoke with the new queen, Emem.

HE Tinapa Business Resort Hall, Calabar, Cross River State, penultimate Tuesday, was filled to capacity with dignitaries from all walks of life who witnessed this year’s Carnival pageant. The event, which started at 11pm, ran into the wee hours of the second day.

The enthralling hall, embellished with the blue and white colours of FirstBank Plc, the event sponsor since inception, also had the bank’s logo conspicuously displayed as back drop banner, began to witness inflow of guests as early as 9pm for the event that took off at 11pm.

Leading the pack was the state governor and host of the carnival, Governor Liyel Imoke who was accompanied by his delectable wife, Obioma.

There were other dignitaries like Senator Florence Ita Giwa; the Publisher of Genevive magazine, Mrs. Betty Irabor; Managing Partner, Banwo & Ighodalo and Co, Asue Ighodalo and Uti Nwachukwu of the Big Brother Africa fame among others.

With ‘Last Prophet’, a stand up comedian, anchoring the show, the event began with a dance performance and was followed by the contestants, 30 in all, filing out to showcase to the audience in their first appearance what made them eligible for the coveted crown. The Master of Ceremonies (MC) also seized the opportunity to introduce former Queens the pageant has produced since its inception five years ago.

Profiling of the contestants and a musical interlude followed in quick successions.

The search for the contestants who were eventually pruned to 30 according to the organizers was not an easy task. According to them, the governor’s wife’s pet project: Mothers Against Child Abandonment (MACA), a non governmental organization (NGO), facilitated the event by spearheading the search.

With the NGO raising a team versed in beauty pageant matters and a special commission from Mrs Imoke, it was clear that the organizers were determined to spread their dragnets beyond the state. The team which included the media consultant to Cross River State government, Enuma Chigbo; the official

presenter to the carnival, Maurice Inok and the Special Adviser to Governor’s wife on Events, Valerie Cruzat diligently searched the state capital, Lagos and Abuja to get the 30 that made the list at the pageant.

They included: Omego Nnenna O; Udonquak Emem Mbuofidem; Jessica Bekele; Ekon Georgeleen George; Ibaghi Happiness Onu; Nwosu Chiwendu Gracious; Uwanakwe Odera Lucky; Efiom Agatha-Christy; Queen O’nara Bassey and Onwalu Uchenna Sherry.

There were others like Alero Christabel Odeta; Ekaji Felicia Michael; Precious Nnanke Obeten; Goddy Amaka Crystabel; Nwanakwere Nneoma J; Okafor Oluchi Chiamaka; Nwaneri Adaeze; Hope Okodugha; Amaka Akanniku and Egirim Tessy.

There were also the likes of Enyamremu Oghenrukerwe; Onyekachi Agaecheta; Buka Muna Mercedes; Nwachinemere Loveth C; Celina Onwubiko; Unoma Nnabelle; Effa Gift Aboli; Anyanwu Tochukwu Agnes; Tonia Oria-Arebun and Victoria Ana Lawrence, to complete the 30 short listed. Their dresses were designed by Vlisco-makers of high and real Dutch wears. There were also dresses made from African prints that brought out the beauty in African culture.

The five-man panel judges, which included the first winner of the crown in 2007 when the pageant made its debut and a law student at the University of Essex, Chineye Uwanaka; the Editor-inChief, Genevieve Magazine, Mrs Betty Irabor; music icon and reality television presenter, Darey ArtAlade; lawyer turned artist, Kelechi Amadi-Obi and the Corporate Security Service Manager, LNG, Charles Okon did a yeoman’s job selecting the best at the event.

In her remarks, Mrs Imoke, thanked God, corporate bodies and individuals, especially MACA ambassadors-the carnival Queens since 2007 to date, for contributing to the success of the event.

“I most certainly give glory to the Almighty God for seeing us through these years and opening the doors to boundless grace. A very special thank you to the many sponsors and supporters who have joined us in saving lives,” she said.

At the end of the event that ran throughout the night, Miss Udonquak Emem Mbuofidem emerged winner and was crowned the 2011 Calabar Carnival Queen.

There were other side attractions like presentation of prizes to winners of Golf tournament that held during the festival, talent top 10 and comedy.

Life

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

‘None of my children must join the Force’ •Continued from page 53

If you ask me what was the saddest thing, a lot of my friends in the military died in the war.

You must have paid a heavy price to get this: Can you share it with us?

That’s a good question. You know Mohammed Ali entertained the world and he was paid for it all a cost. If you ask me what price I’ve paid, I would tell you that in my will for instance, I said none of my children should join the security service…

Why? I thought this country, Nigeria is wicked to people in the security service for no reason. They distrusted you; they doubted you. Today at 70, even if I’d left the security service since October 10, 1992, many people still think I know what government is doing and if the government does anything wrong, I contributed to it. And no matter how I tried to explain, they don’t believe me, so I got tired of making explanations. If you follow the record of my performance at OMPADEC (now NDDC), without praising myself, I would say it’s the m most brilliant performance anyone can record. I set up the entire system from the scratch.

I interviewed all the top staff and I chose the best. And with less than 4 billion naira, I made impact in the whole of Niger Delta.

Many of the things NDDC is doing now were contained in my blueprint. But what did I get? The Kaduna Mafia as they call them, ganged up… in fact Abacha, with which you want to develop the Niger Delta, when you succeed, do you think the Niger Delta would still want to be part of Nigeria?’

And I said ‘Sir, our people have offered a lot and they deserve the best!

So, I believe that all of that odium, the hatred, the dislike came from nothing but because of my background.

You recruited President Goodluck Jonathan into OMPADEC, what was your impression of him then?

I didn’t know him like I didn’t know all those I recruited. I interviewed over 400 plus people to fill management positions. And I ended up recruiting 30 or 32 people. So, anybody who passed that interview must be intelligent, but I didn’t know him. He (Jonathan) was not a director, so I could not have been interacting with him directly. He was an Assistant Director, so the chances of him interacting with me were very slim.

The perception out there is that a spy is a mean and callous person. Is that the true reality of who a spy really is?

Not at all! But if you tell me that a spy must be a brave and coura-

•Horsfall

geous person, fine. As a spy, you must be able to anyone, be it the president, king or queen or whoever that this is what I see about A,B,C and you won’t be scared.

Some people are scared and they tell leaders what they want to hear, but I would never do that. And amongst us the leadership who had retired or serving, only few, would rarely qualify to occupy that position of leadership of the intelligence and security agancies.

Why did you go on exile during the Abacha regime?

I left the country after Abacha himself … before I left, I phoned Gidado Idris, the then SGF and I said to him that one of my sons (you saw him on crutches) had

this attack of polio. He was about 13 then and because I was in service, I’d had no time to look after him. He was in England and I said since I had no job again, I wanted to go and stay with him for a while. And Gidado said he would call me back after clearing with the Head of State. He did, and called me to say that the Head of State said no problem. Nobody exiled me. Maybe you are right. When it was thought I had to return, I failed to return, because what I saw about Nigeria at that time was worrisome. And for someone like me who likes to speak his mind, and with the couple of encounters I’ve had with Abacha face-to-face, I thought it would not be safe for me to return, unless I decided to

55

shut my mouth, and I didn’t know how to do that: So, I wasn’t on exile as such; I was more into an extended sabbatical.

Is there anything you desire, something you’ll like to achieve if you have to live your life all over again?

It’s a bit difficult; it has to be between soccer and music. Were I of this generation, I would have ended up as a great footballer, or as a musician. I know how to play a few musical instruments. So, these are the greatest passions I have. But when I came into this business of security and intelligence, I fell in absolute love with it.

But the risks involved in the job are terrible, very terrible. Some of them are not perceptible, but boy we took risks. And you can see today, it’s difficult to produce real leadership in the security and intelligence services, because people are afraid. The leadership is afraid, because you say something today, the next day you are sacked. But even under the military, I would be briefing General Babangida telling him all the things that he had done that he thought were secrets, he would argue sometimes and be banging on his table, but for me, I always told my staff that the day I take up a job, I expect to be sacked that same day and I would not bother, because I would speak my mind.

Any regrets both on personal and professional level?

On a personal level, I am fulfilled. I have seven children, all of them graduates, with six having post-graduate degrees. When I left the service, I thought I was quite indigent, but 19 years in retirement, I’ve garnered quite a few material things as well, so, on a personal level, no regrets at all. On the official level the zig-zag nature of Nigeria has been a disappointment to me and to my generation.

That Nigeria had not done better than she has done over the years has been a disappointment.

Opral Benson Beauty Institute marks silver jubilee in style

I

N a country where most business enterprises have a short lifespan due to the many challenges they face, for any to make it up to two decades is no small feat. It was in this light that the foremost beauty school in the country, the Opral Benson Beauty Training Institute (OBBTI), rolled out the drums to celebrate in a big way when it turned 25 recently.

The two-pronged event comprising a graduation cum award ceremony as well as a luncheon gala attracted dignitaries such as the Lagos State First Lady, Dame Abimbola Fashola, former Head of the Interim National government, Chief Ernest Shonekan among other personalities.

The school's proprietress and the Iya-Oge of Lagos Chief (Mrs) Opral Mason Benson, who was understandably in a joyous mood, traced the history of the school and her motivation for its establishment. Founded in 1985, the OBBTI was set up, according to her to empower youths for professionalism, self-employment, job opportunities, career prospects to enable them contribute to the societal needs of Lagos State and the country in general.

As she noted: "The popular belief, prior to its establishment, was that a vocation in beauty and hairdressing was a waste of time, stressing that there were much better vocations. I did not share this belief for I know that this noble profession though, highly rated and celebrated internationally was hitherto being looked down upon in Ni-

By Patience Saduwa

geria in the early years of independence, thereby stigmatising the practitioners."

She added that today, the school has produced distinguished professionals in cosmetology, beauty therapy, body care as well as hairdressing, thus bringing pride to the hitherto derided sector. "We are proud to say that nowadays, individuals from all walks of life including those in other professions that were then top-rated and respected have also joined the hair and beauty profession. We have gained national and international recognition and received awards and commendations," she noted.

Speaking on the early days of the school, she said: "Our school was started in a small bungalow. We have now moved from that bungalow into a three-story building due to the increase in admission. From our humble beginning, we admitted about a score of students at inception, but today, we are glad to say that we have produced thousands of graduates from within and outside Nigeria."

To Benson, the graduands were not increasing the rate of unemployment in the country but were trained to be employers of labour. "This is the beauty of vocational training," she opined.

Chief Shonekan, noted the recognition and honour Benson had brought to the profession and enjoined the graduands comprising the 2010 and 2011 sets, to be good ambassadors of the school. "As you go

•L-R: Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande, Lagos State First Lady, Dame Abimbola Fashola, Chief (Mrs) Opral Benson and Chief Ernest Shonekan cutting the birthday cake at the graduation ceremony of the Opral Benson Beauty Training Institute

into the market, you need to be cool, calm and conscious and have a good personality to win the confidence of your clients. You should also be innovative and hardworking to achieve success, be honest and of high integrity. We can all become world class professionals if we put our hearts to it," he said.

A classy The classy event featured an award ceremony where some individuals received awards and commendations. Among these were Alhaji Busari Muri

Gbadeyanka, businessman and Executive Chairman of Murhi International, Alhaja, Islamiyat Animashaun, beauty consultant and cosmetologist and Melinda Modupe Oyadiran, MD, Melmoya House of Beauty and Healthcare. The silver jubilee anniversary magazine was also unveiled.

The celebration culminated in a gala luncheon which featured a hair and fashion show and a beauty contest that saw the crowning of Miss OBBTI 2011. Other dignitaries present include Chief (Mrs) Nike

Akande, Dr Victoria Ezeokoli, Mrs Stella Okoli, Chief Abbah Folawiyo, Mrs Adedoyin Olusoga (representative of the Lagos State governor), Chief (Mrs) Eniola Fadayomi, Teni Aifeyebi, Mrs Elisabeth Osisanya (of Elegant Twins), delegation of white cap chiefs (representing the Oba of Lagos), the Oba's wives (Oloris), Prof. Melvin Mason( the proprietress' elder brother), Chief Segun Olusola, Chief Folarin Coker (Baba Eto of Lagos), Mrs Shade Okoya, Mrs Marie Fatai-Williams among others.

56

Life

M

Y close relationship with Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi and the unrestricted access I have to his house and library which started some years back during my doctoral research provided the observatory for this tribute.

Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi's massive involvement in the country's statecraft spans 36 years taking off from when he became the Director General of the prestigious Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) in 1975. Before this appointment he was a staid lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan where he began his teaching career.

Between the NIIA appointment and when he was appointed Minister of External Affairs by the Babangida administration in 1985, Akinyemi's public profile as a prodigious scholar and charismatic diplomat had risen to a phenomenal level. He had become an enigmatic personality quietly but intelligently provoking and courting controversies by promoting aberrant and weird doctrines that most times ended up creating conflictual crossroads and conceptual contemplation.

Prof. Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi was born in Ilesha, Osun State, Nigeria on 4 January 1942.

His father is from Ifewara in Osun State while his mother is from Ekiti State.

He moved to Lagos to stay with his grandmother on Queen Street, Alagomeji, in 1955 at the age of thirteen when he was admitted into the popular Igbobi College. He began his academic strides in Political Science at Temple University Philadelphia, receiving B.A (1964) and also obtaining two M.A degrees in International Affairs and Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts in 1965 and 1966 respectively. He received his Ph.D at the Trinity College, Oxford, in 1969 at the age of 27.

His doctoral dissertation 'Foreign Policy and Federalism' later published into a book by Macmillan in 1974, explores the drift of structural imperfections of the state in the conduct of a nation's foreign policy suggesting that disharmonious activities of the sub-units in a federation are noxious to a cohesive and vibrant foreign policy.

A critical study of Akinyemi's work as a scholar, his demeanour and mien as a diplomat, his articulation and posturing as a public affairs commentator and his reverential arrogance as a public officer, has failed to produce a scientific outcome about his ideological leaning and intellectual prism. Akinyemi possesses the rare capacity of being considered a realist, a liberal theorist and/or a radical/critical theorist. It may sound hyperbolic to draw parallels between Akinyemi and Henry Kissinger (Realist) Stanley Hoffman (Liberal theorist) and Andrew Linklater (A critical/radical theorist).

The truth, however, is that these four men have substantially influenced intellectual enterprise internationally.

As United States Secretary (1973 to 1977) Kissinger attempted to implement a new 'realist' approach to the conduct of foreign affairs and some of the alleged shortcomings of realism are often illustrated by some of his policies. Similarly, Akinyemi's 'realist' approach to the conduct of Nigeria's foreign policy in a way that suggested a tilt towards the West, attracted wrathful criticisms and protestation from radical scholars and leftist apologists.

They were wearied of and worried by obvious infiltration of western values and influence on the direction and management of the country's foreign policy. Akinyemi's response was cynical: " One of the first actions I took on assuming office was to invite the Soviet Foreign Minister to visit Nigeria.

I suppose the invitation is still being considered…

Our own objective as a country should be to put our relationships on a reciprocal

•Akinyemi

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Bolaji Akinyemi at 70: A tribute

By Dapo Thomas

basis of mutual respect…. The purpose for my regular visits to London and Washington was to reciprocate visits and undertake some economic diplomacy towards reviving Nigeria's ailing economy."

While Stanley Hoffman scoffs at the realists because of their projection of power politics and their failure to appreciate the need for liberalism in an anarchical world order, Akinyemi also finds convenience in what I call "bridging arrangement" meaning the alignment of power and receptivity. The whole idea of the concert of Medium Powers was about liberalizing the international system with the "influential moderates" in the system slackening the major power(s) through cooperative and collaborative agenda(s) as against coercive and manipulative mechanisms that will further aggravate international tension.

In his own case, Andrew Linklater examines ways in which two influential paradigms, realism and Marxism, impede the systematic study of ascending 'scales of types' of societies and relations among them. Besides, Linklater is very supportive of those historical sociologists who have mapped the rise of the state in the transnational social and economic forces. Akinyemi on the other hand might not have gone into Linklater's abstraction to give details of his ideological position on realism and Marxism, his penchant for historical details and facts in most of his work shows some of the sentiments he shares with Linklater.

As stated earlier, comparing Akinyemi with these distinguished scholars may be unacceptable to some of his critics and some of them may even see it as an apt illustration of Akinyemi's intellectual jumble. To them, the patronage or leverage of this linkage is definitely incongruous with Akinyemi's intellectual status.

This to me is unfair.

Whatever repugnance or contrariety these critics have for Akinyemi does not obviate the fact that Akinyemi has established himself as a celebrated scholar of international recognition with more than seventy two publications to his credit. These include articles in reputable interna-

tional journals whose subjects have stimulated global intellectual logomachy. Most of Akinyemi's work have the depth and profundity associated with the work of great thinkers like the three mentioned above.

For instance as Minister of External Affairs, Akinyemi provoked engaging and lively discourses through his various seminal lectures, speeches, policy actions and statements.

Scholars and journalists had a good feast on some of his 'wild' doctrines.

One of these was the 'Kuru Doctrine'. The debates generated by this doctrine added candor, colour and flamboyance to Nigeria's foreign policy which at that time reached its apogee. It never regained it till today. Those who condemned Akinyemi's Kuru Doctrine and accused him of being insensitive and indecorous to the plight of fellow African countries on the altar of reciprocity should also not ignore his interventionist role in ChadLibyan and Mali-Burkina Faso wars as well as the introduction of Technical Aid Corps Schemes. These two initiatives and efforts meant to engender and sustain regional peace and cooperation and radically re-focus Nigeria's instrumentality of assisting its brothers are pointers to Akinyemi's supportive stance for African countries who showed courtesy to Nigeria without a tincture of vassalage.

The other was the "Concert of Medium Powers". I am more persuaded to believe that Akinyemi's 'Concert of Medium Powers' was inspired by his unshakeable faith in Nigeria's prospect and potential for greatness.

As the Minister of External Affairs, Akinyemi took his nationalistic sentiment too far when he ignored all indices of measuring capability and rating nations power by classifying Nigeria as one of the 'Medium Powers' in the Concert. In her b o o k "Middle Powers a n d Com-

mercial Diplomacy', Donna Lee, extrapolating from the work of influential writers like Wight and Riddel, defines 'Middle (Medium) powers as "those which by reason of their size, their material resources, their willingness and ability to accept responsibility, their influence and stability are close to being great powers" and "a power with such military strength, resources and strategic position that in peacetime the great powers bid for its support, and in wartime, while it has no hope of winning a war against a great power, it can hope to inflict costs on a great power out of proportion to what the great power can hope to gain by attacking it."

There was never a time that Nigeria fitted into these two definitions. If by international ranking and standard, Britain is regarded as a 'Middle Power', pray, what then qualifies Nigeria for this group despite not being a nuclear power. However, what has created this impression is its pretentious strategic relevance as a regional power in Africa. But when did regional swaggering become a sufficient criterion for Middle power qualification?

Thank God, the whole idea went mute with Akinyemi's departure from office.

The accusation of conceptual indistinction against Akinyemi is also misplaced. I do not see Akinyemi's paradigmatic vacillation as a manifestation of cerebral confusion but rather as the only tactical and strategic option to avoid theoretical fixation in a dynamic and riskful system that naturally begs for flexibility and pragmatism.

Since leaving office in 1986, Akinyemi has continued to write articles, deliver lectures, attend conferences and seminars and has remained active as a public affairs analyst and commentator and political consultant. Recently, he was the leader of the Commonwealth delegation to the just concluded election in The Gambia along with Ambassador Ayo Obe, Director, African Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, London and Mrs Yvonne Appia, a political officer in the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. During the Yar'Adua presidency, he was appointed chairman, Presidential Think-Tank and a member of the presidential Electoral Committee. He was one of the eminent citizens that were recently awarded National Honours by President Goodluck Jonathan. He was awarded Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) for his excellent service and outstanding contributions to his fatherland It was indeed a dramatic irony when Akinyemi became an active chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) along with people like Bola Tinubu, Ayo Opadokun and Pa Anthony Enahoro during the inglorious era of Gen. Sani Abacha. His activism and participation in the struggle for democracy and opposition against military rule was considered curious by many in the society. Perceived as a dignified conservative and married to a British wife of noble parentage, Akinyemi was not expected in the trenches with promoters of civil liberty and anti-establishment irritants and militants.

Prof. Akinyemi has remained a colossus in the country's statecraft because of his splendid profile as a scholar of international stature, an incorruptible administrator with no credibility deficit, a diplomat of imperial and frightening credentials, a policy maker of transcendental perception, a bureaucrat with refulgent vision and a high-flyer academic of global accomplishment. He is indeed a man of percipient spirituality and incredible humility.

•Dapo Thomas is a Lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies, Lagos State University, (LASU).

57

BUSINESS

‘Local architects are incapacitated’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

-- Page 59

Will Nigerians be poorer in 2012?

In the view of many analysts, there is a lot at stake this year as far as the economy is concerned. Given the sweeping effects of the policy direction of the Federal Government, this is a make or mar year for Nigeria as expectations are high as to whether this year’s fiscal policy regime will transform the lives of the average Nigerian, report Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf and Rita Ohai

Ministry of Power

Ministry of Transportation...

...1,986,133,906 ...1,130,402,411 ... 3,116,536,317... 70,300,000,000 ...73,416,536,317... 473,655,073 ... 2.71%... 1.54%... 95.75%...

1.55%

6,731,200,940 ...1,094,293,292...

7,825,494,233... 47,000,000,000 ...54,825,494,232... 353,712,866 . ..12.28%... 2.00% ...85.73% ...1.15%

Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs) ...Personnel ...Overhead ...Total Recurrent...

Capital ...Total Allocation ...Total Allocation (US$)... Personnel% Ministry of ...Overhead%... Capital %...% Nat. Salaries, Petroleum Resources of total budget Income & Wages Commission...

49,059,723,336... 2,264,504,504...

521,927,045... 187,545,615...

51,324,227,840... 8,340,684,300...

709,472,660... 300,000,000...

59,664,912,140... 384,934,917...

1,009,472,660... 6,512,727... 51.70%...

82.23%... 3.80%...

Ministry of Works 18.58% ...29.72%... 0.02% 13.98%... 1.26% ...7,013,698,071... 24,586,117,172...

31,599,815,244...

149,200,000,001...

Ministry of country an 180,799,815,245...

Police Affairs... e c o n o m i c 3,126,762,973... 482,520,704... 3,609,283,677 1,166,450,421... 3.88% ...13.60% transformation ...82.52%...

3.81% ...2,500,000,000 ...6,109,283,677...39,414,733 agenda.” ...51.18% ...7.90%... 40.92% ...0.13% Expatiating, he

Ministry of Aviation...

National Planning Commission

...4,677,778,801.... 1,314,563,302....

5,992,342,103... 1,500,000,000...

7,492,342,103... 48,337,691... 62.43%... 17.55%...

20.02%... 0.16%

National Sports

OW will Nigerians fair in 2012?

This appears to be the genuine concerns of the average Nigerian out there.

Considering the fiscal policy regime in which the government has announced some far-reaching changes, the fears expressed by many Nigerians are not unfounded.

Budget analysis While presenting the draft of the budget made up of N4.2 trillion, the President assured that “this budget is a stepping stone to the transformation of our economy and country in our walk to economic freedom.”

Besides, he told the National Assembly that the proposal seeks to sustain sound micro-economic growth that will translate to achieving socioeconomic transformation, and gainful employment for our people.

But economic watchers, who have appraised the budget, say it is long in talk and short in action. These analysts argued that for an economy that is in dire need of infrastructure investment, committing 72 per cent to recurrent expenses is not likely to promote the cause of economic transformation.

They rest the plank of their argument on the fact that going by record of budget implementation, the portion of

H

said: “The 2012 budget is

4,648,753,738... 1,677,669,037... 6,326,422,775... also the first prepared with 42,900,707,612 ...49,227,130,387 ...317,594,390 the assistance of the new ...9.44% ...3.41%... 87.15%... 1.04% Finance Minister and

Commission... 1,582,977,853...

6,886,961,115... 8,469,938,969...

1,400,000,000... 9,869,938,969...

63,677,026... 16.04%... 69.78%...

14.18%... 0.21% •Graphic representation of Budget 2012

the budget that would go to capital spending may even be less than the proposed 28 per cent.

Besides, the allocation of N161.4 billion to power sector, which is a paltry 3.4 per cent of the total expenditure, contrasts with that of security, which is N921.9 billion of the total expenditure. A development, which analysts contend, has already given the impression that the government is not serious about its much touted promise of developing the power sector.

It is also instructive to note that the Federal Government will fund N794 billion of its

2012 budget through domestic debt, even as Nigeria’s total debt stands at about US $40 billion. Already, the government has equally earmarked N560 billion for debt service. The opportunity cost of committing such huge sums to service debt is substantial, pundits have argued.

While commenting on the fiscal policy, Dr. Jonathan Aremu, who is currently the National Coordinator/ Country Team Leader of UNIDO Investment Survey in Nigeria as well as a member of the think tank that is reviewing the Nigeria Trade and Investment Policy said: “Most Nigerians has a lot of expectations for Budget 2012.”

The reason for this is not far to seek, he said.

According to him, “It is the first budget since the 2011 general elections that fully brought in President Jonathan, and he has promised the

“Economic watchers, who have appraised the budget, say it is long in talk and short in action. These analysts argued that for an economy that is in dire need of infrastructure investment, committing 72 per cent to recurrent expenses is not likely to promote the cause of economic transformation”

former Managing Director of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Nigerians are of the opinion that the environment in which the budget is prepared raises good expectations to: among others: meet the goal of transforming the economy in line with the Vision 20:2020 which the president has committed himself as well as set the tone for improvement in the quality of government expenditure in the coming years particularly with respect to addressing the declining ratio of capital to recurrent expenditures.

“Besides, it has the potential to improve the quality of government expenditure with respect to how government and the Nigerian people get the best value for every Naira spent (i.e to reduce waste, leakages and corruption), and being more transparent than all the budgets before it.”

While attempting a comparative analysis of past budgets in the last few years, Aremu recalled that in the 2007 budget, capital expenditure increased from N567 billion in 2006 (under President Obasanjo) to N830billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 46%; whilst total recurrent expenditure accounted for 64% of the total budget, adding: “In the 2012 •Continued on page 58

Briefs Shell CEO retires January 31st

S

HELL Nigeria is set to host a grand event to mark the retirement of its Chief Executive Officer, Mr China Ibeneche. The renowned administrator, technocrat and scholar will hand over the reins of leadership to Mr. Bans Omotowa on the 31st of January, 2012.

A four-stop gathering has been planned to afford workers, colleagues, friends and stakeholders in different business sectors a chance to celebrate Ibeneche’s accomplishments as a respected and courageous statesman who kept Nigeria’s leading multinational profitable during a debilitating global recession whilst developing the domestic Liquefied Petroleum Gas market.

The high-profile celebration will kick-off at 6pm on the 16th of January, 2012 at the Buka Patio of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. Guests based in Lagos and Port Harcourt will be feted at the Grand Ball Room of Eko Hotel and Presidential Hotel on the 20th and 28th of January respectively.

The event which will be attended strictly by invitation will be capped with an elaborate ceremony at the R.A. Banquet Hall in Bonny, Rivers State on the 31st of the same month.

Omotowa was until his new appointment the Vice President, Health, Safety, Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics, Shell.

STOCK MARKET REVIEW

M

IXED sentiments in the banking sector last week led to fairly matched gains and losses. Robust demand for Ecobank led to a 14.5% cumulative appreciation, while apathy for Diamond Bank shaved off 10.3% from its share price. This trend was also replicated with top–tier banks as GTBank and Zenith Bank recorded cumulative gains of 1.8% and 1.5% respectively, while First Bank and UBA lost 1.1% and 5.1% respectively. On the flip side, Fidelity Bank lost 1.3% respectively, however, closing demand at the lower end of the market might not support a recovery in the near future.

In the building materials sector, a dearth of offers and healthy demand for Dangote Cement firmed up its share price, with a 5.0% cumulative gain, while CCNN also booked a 3.6% gain. On the other hand, Ashaka Cement and Lafarge Wapco both lost 2.8% and 3.7% respectively.

Bearish sentiments in the petroleum marketing sector trimmed off 9.9%, 4.5% and 2.8% from Forte Oil, Eterna Oil and MRS Oil respectively. Oando however rallied on, correcting previous losses and closing with a 1.1% gain.

Flour Mills consolidated on previous gains, appreciating further by 5.0% while Nascon and Cadbury gained 5.0% and 3.6% respectively. On the flip side, Dangote Sugar lost 2.1% as demand started to wane towards the close of the session In the breweries sector, buying sentiments for NB were rekindled at the N94.42 range. Closing offers had thinned out considerably from the previous two sessions and could lead to a reversal of the current bearish trend early this week.

58

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Business Intelligence

•Continued from page 57

estimates recurrent accounted for 72% of the annual budget in spite of what the President himself said about the need to “intensify our efforts to curtail recurrent expenditure, which we have already embarked upon under the policy of fiscal consolidation as evident from the Medium Term Fiscal Framework.”

He was however quick to add that: “A look at the breakdown of the budget does not appear to answer the expectations of Nigerian populace. This is why many are questioning the various allocations in the draft by saying it is not likely to lead the economy to the desired transformation, and therefore predicting doom.”

On the issue of committing 72% of the budget to recurrent, he said it is not good enough.

“The high percentages of recurrent expenditure of N2.472 trillion, and capital expenditure allocation of N1.32 trillion, are a cause for concern.

These sets of figures contradict the government’s proeconomic growth stance.

Will citizens be poorer this year?

The huge recurrent expenditure gives the impression that despite public outcry, much of the country’s income is spent on payment of salaries and emoluments, travels and tours and allowances of government employees, National Assembly members and the Presidency”, he stressed.

As for the capital expenditure allocation of N1.32 trillion, the former acting Vice Chancellor of Covenant University said: “It clearly means more priority is placed on recurrent expenditure than the much-needed infrastructural development. Nigeria’s infrastructural deficits critically require capital to construct and maintain roads, improve education and also create the enabling environment for investment opportunities that will generate employment. A country that wants to truly develop cannot afford to spend a large part of its budget on recurrent expenditure and overheads, leaving capital expenditure lagging behind. It is like when

•Sanusi

parents in a household are spending all their income merely on food and rent.

Such family will not be able to send their children to school pay medical bill and even think of building their own house. Since 2010, such spending as if there is no tomorrow is not in the interest of

PHOTO SHOP

•L-R: Mr. Sunday Fadare, Manager, Student Affairs, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Mr. Tony Ogette, Manager, Corporate Affairs and Prof. Francis Ojaide, President/Chairman of the Institute during the staff end of year party held in Lagos recently.

•Aremu

sustainable development of our economy. I am sure the National Assembly will have a closer look at this kind of prodigality.”

With respect to 161.4 billion naira on power sector, Aremu affirmed that the amount is lower in 2012 draft budget possibly because the sector is going to be privatized. “We equally expected that the Independent Power Project, where substantial amount has been committed in the past since President Obasanjo regime would be yielding positive results.” Whether this would be achieved in the New Year remains to be seen, he said.

Another area that has drawn the ire of the public is the expenditure for security.

Corroborating this view, Comrade Baba Omojola, renowned economist and World Bank consultant maintained that the government has credibility problem in this area as previous budgetary allocation had never resolved the security problems; instead it had aggravated the problem, thus making

•Omojola

people to suspect that there is a serious credibility/ corruption in the sector.

Echoing similar views, Aremu, noted that: “Experiences have shown that throwing huge amounts of money at the problem of security hardly solves it.

Government should enunciate good and sound policies towards finding enduring solutions to the cause of Nigeria’s security problems.

I will only call on all the stakeholders in this sector to be more transparent. In addition, I strongly believe the security budget should drastically be reduced and the amount from such reduction transferred to agriculture and transport sectors.”

Debt burden

On the magnitude of Nigerian debt, analysts say this is worrisome a worrisome development.

Raising a poser, Aremu queried: “What led to this debt profile when we just exited from London and Paris Clubs in 2006? I think we need to ask questions about the debt profile, particularly, the domestic debts. What was the money used for? Who are we paying?”

He however reckons that

by the time a good search light is pointed at the basis for the debts; some of them may not match the criterion for payment. Assembling of documents of debt instruments and obligations to commit the government should be discouraged, he stressed.

The CBN governor has assured that the banking system is stable and wellpositioned to stimulate the growth and development of the economy. He said this at the end of the Third Bankers’ Committee yearly Retreat in Calabar, Cross Rivers State recently. But to many financial pundits, these are mere rhetorics.

Aremu, himself a former staff of CBN, does not agree, as such he stoutly rose in defence of Sanusi. “As a former staff of the Research Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Governor is well positioned to stabilize the banking system through the monetary policy tools/ instruments available at his disposal. It is not within the prerogative of anyone to doubt the Governor as recent evidences had proved the Central Bank of Nigeria as an effective institution of Nigerian governance.”

Table 1. Budget Proposal Capital Expenditure Recurrent Expenditure Statutory Transfers (NAS, NDDC, etc.)

Debt Servicing Total

2010N bn 1,370 2,011

2011N bn 1,006 2,482

2012N bn 1,320 2,470

180 517 4,078

196 542 4,226

398 561 4,749

2010N billion 448 249 162 148 64 2,309

2011N billion 2012N billion 1,042 922 489 400 339 283 139 79 57 60 1,422 2,046

180 517 4,078

196 542 4,226

2012 %) 28 52 8 12 100

Table 2. Allocation to Main Sectors

•L-R: Representative of Director-General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Mrs. Mayen Mbut; Coordinator, Mrs. Gertrude Ozonyia and Chief Chris Avielele during the investors forum on the development and production of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) in Nigeria held in Lagos recently PHOTOS: BADE DARAMOLA

Security Education Health Agriculture Niger Delta Other Sectors Statutory Transfers (NAS, NDDC, etc.)

Debt Servicing Total

398 561 4,749 •Breakdown of Budget 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Business

59

‘Local architects are incapacitated’ Chief Tokunbo Omisore, a renowned architect was recently elected President of African Union of Architects (AUA). In an interview with Tonia ‘Diyan, he speaks on his role as president, the state of the architectural industry and plans for the future.

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HAT is the history of African Union of Architects?

The African Union of Architect was inaugurated in Nigeria by only twenty to twenty three member countries .We had the first president of the union from Uganda and the first secretary general from Nigeria.

The aim and objective of the union is to uplift architecture in Africa. Ensuring we promote our heritage and improve the study of architecture through exchange programs with architects from other parts of the world.

What plans do you have as the new president?

Well, the focus is to re-brand the African Architects and architecture.

We are set to improve and provide mass housing which we call “shelter for most in Africa” to alleviate poverty.

We need to be able to do this at the best available cost and ensure its sustainability. Coming up in 2014, we are hosting the World Congress of all Architects.’ So we are doing a joint congress in Durban in 2014 and we intend to have a celebrated week of African architecture. Between now and then we would have redefined what I will call “our own vernacular architecture” that will be specific to the regions of Africa. This is my main theme for the (AUA).

How do you intend to effect changes where necessary?

Firstly, we need to get most of our members into the politics of our different societies because when we are there, we can then implement the vision we have as a body or as architects but if we shut ourselves away from politics and say we are professionals and shouldn’t get involved, then, we would never achieve some of these policy decisions. We wish to encourage more of our members and for those that are there already, like in the case of the Nigerian Vice President, Architect Namadi Sambo, GCFR. He is an architect; a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architect, and his achievements both in architecture and politics are celebrated by most of us and would encourage those that are yet to get into politics to be there to see how we can change the society positively together.

If you would change one thing about the union, what would that be?

Before I became President, I was Secretary General for six years. One thing I would say I have tried to do or I have done in the last six years, prior to becoming the President of the union, is to ensure we achieve the implementation of ideas. As it is quite the case of many bodies where you discuss a lot of things, you have a compendium on it and you put it in the archives. As an individual who actualizes whatever vision he has, we must take up the challenges and ensure we implement those visions, no matter what the challenges are.

That I would possibly like to do with the union, ensuring that what we positively feel what can be achieved, we go for them and ensure we achieve

INTERVIEW them positively.

What is the state of the architectural industry in Nigeria?

It could be a lot better and the industry is not properly defined in the sense that there are quite a lot of things happening.

We still have the influx of foreign architects, maybe not as bad as it occurs in other member countries of the union but then it is quite a difficult task to stop the influx of foreign architects when they are coming in as a package which involves design works and services from the source of the funding. But talking of best way forward, we hope there would be more dialogue at the government level to come up with a paper that all governments in Africa will accept in allowing the participation of all architects in our different countries on projects. We do need to create opportunities for our architects because, we have quite a lot of architects coming out of school becoming members with lesser employment opportunities in the field of architecture.

So, we need to create job opportunities and unless we have these opportunities created and the jobs protected, then the future of architecture is not as clear as someone like myself would have wanted.

There is need to create the opportunities and protect those jobs because, if we don’t protect them, the foreign bodies would come in and deny the local ones the opportunity to be in employment. We also need to create the opportunities because there are few firms that have a track records and it makes it difficult for those up- coming firms that have no track records, and are not likely to be given those sort of jobs because no one knows them and the ones that are already in practice with the track records are being given the little jobs that are available.

The whole is to make sure we improve the African Architect. To also use the fact that Nigeria has her number two citizen as an architect. We need to lobby such celebrated members of the Union along with others to make the society work.

It’s a different thing when we don’t have people like him. At least twenty years ago, we talked about housing policy, twenty years today, we are playing small roles. We would have gotten it positively right or better. The policy is still a policy, the issues are still there and nobody is spending for the young man that unless he steals, or has

•Omisore

inheritance in places he can never afford to buy the houses as they are being priced. So, these are things we need to make sure we get right and we need to lobby it. Let people listen to us, we have to give something back to the society.

That is what it means by re branding the Architect. The attribute of good architect is to look beyond having it and getting it built, but also be a part of managing it.

Let’s help with the facility managements and improving the maintenance of our development, and not walk away. Let’s understand the problem of the client, because the new client is the financial world. If it’s not viable, if it’s not visible it’s a failure, and if it’s a failure, the client has lost so much money because he has used the services of an architect.

These are further lessons or what I would call a functional development by putting all these into the new African architect. You don’t just design from your brain; your brain has to be all encompassing. “How much money will you use? What rate are you getting, what time do you want to spend. And are there other agenda? What lessons would you give?

These are issues the new architect has to address and put in place. Get a decent building, let it work for you. It doesn’t have to be gold plated. Let it be upgraded tomorrow when the economy is right.

As a corollary, what sets you apart from other architects?

I have an approach. I retain old

“We still have the influx of foreign architects, maybe not as bad as it occurs in other member countries of the union but then it is quite a difficult task to stop the influx of foreign architects when they are coming in as a package which involves design works and services from the source of the funding”

structures as much as possible. I believe in restructuring, rather than pulling down an old structure and rebuilding irrespective of the fact that when you pull down and rebuild, you get more fees. I still keep the lower fees going the more different ways and I find it challenging.

That’s why Kingsway stores today still stands in marina- UAC property.

Because I refused and I said lets make it into smaller shops, put the banks and it still stands. It’s our heritage.

There are certain things that if they all are pulled down and look new, and then we lose our history. We lose ‘when and where we started from. I tend to see things differently. Most of my mates will pull it down and build new buildings for a bigger pay and i will say why you want to pull the building down if it is structurally sound. If its sound please keep it, but if its not, then it’s a different thing. If it’s a church or a cathedral and its not structurally sound, then I think we should ensure we make it structurally sound and still keep it.

Because as a place of worship, the older it is the closer to God. I rather pray in a church that is hundred years old, than pray in one that was consecrated only two years ago.

I feel the saints have not come to identify themselves with this new church, but that which is hundred years, they have dinned and made visits many times and have come to identify it as being old.

How have you handled situations where you had to take decisions against your business ethics?

Because I work in the private sector, I did find that as a challenge which may have kept me more in the private sector than the public sector. I am not saying it is universal, but in the private sector I just think the situation is well defined.

There is a target, there is a goal and its has to be achieved at the best cost and best practice in terms of ensuring it is completed and done well. I have kept away from public sector and I rely more on private sector which I seem to have the same set of values.

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Business

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2011

Company News

CBN bans telecoms firms from mobile money ads

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has placed a ban on telecommunication companies from advertising on behalf of any mobile money scheme operators.

The ban was communicated in a circular to all mobile scheme operators, signed by Mr. Gaus Emokpae, Ag. Director, Banking & Payments System Department, CBN. The circular said, “It has come to the attention of the Management of Central Bank of Nigeria that Mobile Network Operators (Telecommunication Companies) have been carrying out public media advertisement on behalf of Mobile Payments Scheme Operators thereby sending wrong signals to the public as well as causing disaffection among the Scheme Operators.

“This is totally unacceptable. For the avoidance of doubt, no Telecommunications Company (Telcos) had been licensed by the Central Bank to operate any mobile money scheme in Nigeria.”

The CBN, Emokpae said, is not unmindful of the

•Olasupo Sashore (SAN), Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State and Mr. Teslim Olatunde Busari, President/Chairman Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administration of Nigeria (ICSAN) during the 35th Annual Conference and Award Night in Lagos recently PHOTO: BADE DARAMOLA

By Rita Ohai

critical roles of the operators, especially the responsibilities assigned to them in the Regulatory Framework for Mobile Payments Services as infrastructure providers, adding: “Such responsibilities should be based on criteria which are transparent and generally

applicable to all Scheme Operators without discriminatory practices against any scheme operator.

“In order to build and sustain public confidence in the mobile payments scheme, it is hereby directed that henceforth, on no account should any Mobile Network Operator be allowed to advertise on behalf of any Scheme Operators or tie the

operation of their system to any network.

“Customers should be able to operate the mobile payment system from any telecommunication network of their choice. Failure to adhere to this directive will attract appropriate sanctions and could lead to withdrawal of already granted license.”

Business Week

Standard & Poor’s upgrades Nigeria’s rating to positive

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TANDARD & Poor’s Ratings Services on Thursday revised its outlook on the Federal Republic of Nigeria to positive from stable. It also affirmed the ‘B+/B’ longand short-term issuer credit ratings and the ‘ngA+/ngA12 long- and short-term Nigeria national scale ratings. While the transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment remained unchanged at ‘B+’ The outlook revision indicates that there is at least a one-in-three likelihood of an upgrade if Nigeria’s reform initiatives support economic growth, build stronger buffers against Nigeria’s dependence on petroleum revenue and reduce pressure on the exchange rate. After national elections in May 2011 and

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

strong GDP growth rates over the past few years, Nigeria has tightened its fiscal and monetary stance by reducing projected fiscal deficits and by raising its monetary policy rate. The government plans to cut a fuel subsidy, which was hitherto paid for from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) in the past. This is one of several important reform initiatives President Goodluck Jonathan has promoted since he succeeded late President Yar’Adua.

Over the past two years, the authorities have also strengthened the banking sector. The government furthermore aims to improve predictability and

transparency in the oil sector by drafting and passing the Petroleum Industry Bill, and plans an overhaul of the country’s electricity sector that should reduce power supply constraints.

The ratings on Nigeria are constrained by what the agency described as the country’s internal political tensions, weak political institutions, and faltering efforts to institute buffers that will allow countercyclical policy options.

Nigeria also has a low level of development and significant infrastructure shortfalls, it said.

Inconsistencies in reported external data also constrain the ratings. The ratings are supported, however, by low fiscal and external debt burdens, owing to debt writeoffs in 2005 and 2006 and high petroleum prices supporting

•L-R: Permanent Secretary Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr. Olajide Basorun; Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal and the Director of Agriculture Services, Dr. Olayiwola Onasanya, during the Year 2011 Staff Get Together held at the premises of Agric Development Authority, Oko-Oba Agege, in Lagos recently.

exports and government revenues in recent years.

Gross general government debt has slightly increased in recent years to an expected still-low 16% of GDP at year-end 2011. Net debt has remained below 6% of GDP. With the government’s fiscal consolidation plans and high nominal GDP growth rates, the agency reckons that fiscal debt ratios will somewhat decrease again over the next few years.

Nigeria’s current account balance has consistently been reported to be in surplus, although in the past two years errors and omissions have exceeded the surplus, which according to the rating agency is probably overstated by unreported imports. Crude oil exports accounted for 72% of current account receipts in 2010. A potential upgrade would also be predicated upon no worsening of the political tensions between the Islamic north and Christian south and no significant deterioration in the country’s fairly weak performance on international corruption and ease-of-doing-business measures.

Subsequently, the agency said if the trend alters, it would not foreclose the chances of revising the current outlook to stable if fiscal and external balances fail to improve. This could be, for instance, as a consequence of a sharp drop in oil production or prices, or if political tensions or violence increase substantially, affecting overall political stability in the country.

Two million jobs projection in 2012 From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

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EAR 2012 will usher in the opportunity for two jobs the Federal Government has said.

Making this disclosure was the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Ewa. These jobs will be delivered to Nigerians through the ministry’s Cluster Concept.

This is aimed at fast-tracking development of rural communities in Nigeria.

Ewa who disclosed this in Abuja at the 2011 ministerial press briefing said the Ministry has informed President Goodluck Jonathan on the use of cluster concept in developing our rural communities.

His words: “The Ministry is to forward a Council Memo to the Federal Executive Council for approval. This project will eventually generate at least 2,000,000 jobs in many sectors of the economy, in 2011 and 2012 using the Ministry’s Incubation Programme, Industrial Cluster Programme, Technology Licensing and Technology Franchising.

“Beyond this, potential jobs to be created by the concept on incremental basis will net up to 6 million jobs through mainstream industrial activities and 2 million jobs through backward stream made up of primary producers of, and traders in, raw materials, farm gate processors, small scale miners, transporters of raw materials, providers of primary production inputs.

“Also 18 million jobs are expected downstream made up of distributors, retail traders, exporters of finished products, producers of processing equipment/machines, components and spare parts, maintenance technicians, producers of packaging materials, technical and R&D consultants and business development support services (BDS) providers. To achieve this, the ministry will adopt a phased approach. The jobs will be created along commercialization lines. The Ministry will launch deliberate strategy to commercialize all the concluded R&D projects in the Ministry and altogether, over 26 million jobs will be created through these and other R&D projects.”

The minister therefore called on investors, private sector operators, conglomerates, commercial and financial institutions to take up these novel outputs from the research institutes so that Nigeria can attain the vision 20:2020, MDGs as well as the Transformation Agenda of this administration.

Nigeria sells 64.6 billion naira in treasure bills

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IGERIA sold 64.56 billion naira ($396 million) worth of 91-day and 182-day short-dated instruments on Wednesday in its last Treasury bill auction for the year, at higher yields compared with the previous auction, the central bank said on Friday.

The regulator sold 21.83 billion naira of 91-day treasury bills at a 14.96 percent marginal rate, up from 14.09 percent at the Dec. 21 auction, and 42.73 billion naira in 182-day paper at 16.98 percent against 16.20 percent previously.

The total subscription stood at 71.31 billion naira.

Nigeria, Africa’s second biggest economy after South Africa, issues treasury bills regularly as part of monetary control measures to help lenders manage their liquidity.

SON to tackle fake goods importation

By Rita Ohai

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TANDARD Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has set machinery in motion to nip in the bud the problem of adulterated products.

At the one day sensitization seminar on the review of SONCAP by SON held in Lagos recently, the removal of SON officials at the Ports was identified as a big challenge in the fight against importation of substandard products.

This and the poor level of compliance of importers with the government imports regulations has led to Nigeria losing over N50 billion annually to substandard, counterfeit and fake products.

In a 20 point communiqué, the stakeholders said, “SON should ensure Program Management Companies (PMC) verify quality of imports before shipment and be should then be held responsible for any substandard products certified by them.

They should also visit some companies abroad to ascertain their quality compliance and infrastructure and importers and assist by embarking on neighbourhood watch and offer intelligence reports.”

With Government being concerned that the objective of SONCAP is not being fully achieved, the Ministry of Trade & Investment has resolved to give full support to SON to achieve the objectives of the scheme by ensuring a level playing fielding in terms of quality for both imported and locally manufactured products so as to prevent unfair market competition and the dumping of substandard goods into the Nigerian market.

It was agreed that stiffer punishments should be meted to offenders and that SONCAP should be integrated into the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Automated System of Customs Data (ASYCUDA) while the building of testing capacities in Nigeria should be encouraged.

Some of the challenges faced by SONCAP include the lack of accreditation/audit laboratories and their testing protocols, lack of traceability and authentication of test data/reports, lack of document security, lack of documents control as well as the laborious and limited web interface capabilities.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

World News

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•Putin

culus. “There is need for dialogue because if there is no dialogue, I’m afraid what happened in the Arabian countries will happen there. And if he calls for a new voting, clearly he is going to lose.”

Russian novelist Boris Akunin, another member of the Organizing Committee.

“But you can’t destroy a wave that rises from the bottom. It can only rise and crest. You can’t stop it.”

This optimism is currently being shared across board.

•Demonstrators rally against the continued detention of left-wing activist Sergei Udaltsov in central Saint-Petersburg, on Friday.

AFP PHOTO / OLGA MALTSEV

Putin against Russians B

LUE-EYED, trim, and enigmatic, Vladimir Putin’s carriage barely conceals the steel underneath his essence.

The former KGB strongman now Russian president loved by many Russians when he became president of Russia in 2000 is facing huge protests in a political arrangement likely to see him become President in March 2012 elections.

Why the protests As at Friday, Putin had not formally responded to the angry protesters which number in the tens of thousands. According to him, he doesn’t know what the protesters want or who he would talk to.

But, many Russians have for a long time been aggrieved with the stifled leadership which Putin has sat atop for the past 12 years. For one, the mode which only Kremlin approved parties were allowed to contest in the December 4 elections plus the widespread rigging has angered many Russians and they now see protests – which toppled or made influence in many Arab countries as the way to go.

To this end, Russians are now emboldened and have called for Putin to step down. With mounting pressure, whether Putin would still contest for presidency in March 2012 is yet to be settled.

Among demands of the opposition are a rerun of the parliamentary election, the resignation of the Central Election Commission chief and the removal of barriers

By Joe Agbro Jr. with agency reports

that have prevented opposition parties from taking part in elections. Putin has also been accused of channelling funds to Muslim Chechnya, a federal republic of Russia that has been the scene of bloody fighting for much of the country’s post-Communist existence.

For instance, in 2001, Putin signed a federal law which protected former Russian president from prosecution. Hence, money-laundering charges brought against Yeltsin and his family by Russian and Swiss authorities in 1999 were doused.

Though Putin promised to make the election process more transparent, he has rejected a re-run of the just concluded parliamentary election which many Russians think were rigged.

According to Dr. Jonathan Aremu, a Phd. holder in International Relations, “what is going on in Russia is the same thing happening in the whole world. you see there is a form of global metamorphosis.

You can no longer say you want to do it on your own, the whole world is loose in terms of globalization and quite a lot of rulers are not aware of that reality of no longer doing things your own way. So Russia is currently playing with gross inefficiency, corruption and Putin is currently on fire. He is afraid of what is going to come up because he wants to contest in the presidential.

So he engages in mass rig-

“Russia is currently playing with gross inefficiency, corruption and Putin is currently on fire.

He is afraid of what is going to come up because he wants to contest in the presidential. So he engages in mass rigging in the parliamentary election. It is quite clear that he rigged the election and he wanted to ensure that the united Russia party still retains the majority” ging in the parliamentary election. It is quite clear that he rigged the election and he wanted to ensure that the united Russia party still retains the majority.”

A Russian cloud Since taking office in 2000, Putin has weakened democratic structures and strengthened the presidency. After eight years, he became Prime Minister and his latest move to swap places with President Dmitry Medvedev has not gone down too well with Russians.

In spite of protests, it seems Putin intends to bludgeon his way to the presidency if his utterances are anything to go by. Addressing a group of Russian reporters, Putin had countered when asked to seek the people’s view, “Is there a common platform? No.”His aloof stance is part of what is irking ordinary Russians.

The protests, which are unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia, have put a question on the likelihood of a Putin victory in March 2012 election.

Perhaps, largely fuelled

by the success of the Arab spring in which has seen many Arab leaders being ousted, Russians are now on the offensive, rejecting The people versus Putin.

One of the voices to join in rubbishing the parliamentary elections as fraudulent was Patriarch Krill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. Though, the Church had been a supporter of Putin and his United Russia Party, it was a surprise that Krill I said the protests was a “lawful negative reaction” to corruption.

This stance from the Krill I is shared by other Christians in Russia.

On Friday, protesters again took to St. Petersburg protesting the continued detention of Sergei Udalstov, a left-wing activist has suffered three short successive prison terms in spite of his poor health.

Also, only last Wednesday, Alexei Navalny, the blogger spearheading Russia’s opposition was released from jail. Navalny, 35, a lawyer, was arrested during the demonstrations

in Moscow on December 5, when a crowd of about 7,000 people protested the parliamentary elections.

The ruling United Russia party had won a majority in parliament during the election. He was sentenced to 15 days for disobeying orders to desist.

The next day, Navalny took over the chairmanship of the Organising Committee and has vowed to attack and discredit Putin. “We have to push them until they give us what they stole, meaning politics, meaning the economy, meaning everything,” Navalny said. He seemed to concede that with no viable competitors, Putin would likely win a third term as president during the March elections.

“But this will not be a legal presidency,” he said.

On December 27, he announced plans to create his own political party, saying he was “ready to fight for leadership positions,” including the post of president.

Perhaps, Putin’s clout is over-rated. According to Aremu, Putin is no longer relevant in the political cal-

Struggling in isolation The opposition groups share a desire to fight corruption and bolster their voice in government, but they have long focused on their differences, not their common goals. Leaders on both sides have expressed surprise that they are working together.

And at home, Putin seems determined to hold on to power. To this end, ploys to disorganise the protest movement have been put like the appointment of Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of a nationalist party, as deputy prime minister for military affairs.

Also, the Kremlin recently criticised the United States for human rights abuse, saying President Barack Obama failed to shut the military prison in Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps, this response is a fall-out of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s suggestion that Russia’s parliamentary elections were neither free nor fair.

Aremu posits: “The protest is mounting and many people are becoming disenchanted. Don’t let us forget – the whole economy is not the same. There is unemployment and the large number of people joining the army of protests is increasing. He (Putin) better listen because it’s no longer a game of force. Gaddafi has used it. It did not work.

Others used it, it never worked. So, whoever use the formula of putting people in detention he will lose.

So, I think the best thing is to dialogue. If he allows a fresh election with what all these people are asking, he would lose. Well, there can be a way of sharing of power which to me is not democratic anyway because the will of the people should prevail.”

One thing is clear. With Putin’s posture, he is determined not to step down from power without a fight.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

World News

2012 CALENDAR JANUARY Denmark assumes the presidency of the European Union and America that of the G8.

The Chinese begin the year of the dragon supposedly bringing health and wealth to those born under its sign.

Bull camels confront each other in Turkey’s annual camel-wrestling championship in Selcuk.

The great and the good of politics, business and the media set the world to rights at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

FEBRUARY To the delight of the advertisers, around 100m American TV viewers watch their football heroes clash in Indianapolis at the 46th Super Bowl.

Book fans celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens.

The final of the African Cup of Nations showcases the best of the continent’s soccer talent, with many of the players returning from Europe.

Queen Elizabeth celebrates her diamond jubilee – 60 years on the British throne.

JUNE Rio de Janeiro hosts a UN conference on sustainable development to mark the 20 th anniversary of the Rio “Earth Summit.”

Poland and Ukraine host Euro 2012, the championship – held every four years – to decide Europe’s best soccer nation.

Apple’s iPhone celebrates its fifth birthday London stages the Cultural Olympiad, with stars of the arts performing ahead of the Olympics’ star of athletics.

France holds parliamentary elections and Icelanders choose a new president.

OCTOBER The Chinese Communist Party meets in Beijing at its five-yearly congress to select the country’s new leaders.

There will be no surprises.

Lithuania holds parliamentary elections.

Dark suits will be the norm as the World Bank and IMF hold their annual meetings in Tokyo, rather than, as originally envisaged, in Egypt.

Admirers of John F. Kennedy celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the ending of the Cuban missile crisis.

NOVEMBER Hands that could kill: the world Karate championships are held in Paris.

Americans vote for a second term for President Obama – or a first term for his Republican opponent.

Petrolheads welcome the return of Formula 1 motor racing to America for the first time since 2007, with a grand prix in Austin, Texas.

The world’s most intrepid sailors race across the oceans in the Vendee Globe, a non-stop, single-handed circumnavigation of the world held every four years.

The ceiling frescoes of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, are 500 years old.

MARCH Russians elect their president; Iranians vote for the 290-member Majlis, and choose 86 ayatollahs to sit in the Assembly of Experts.

Versifiers celebrate World Poetry Day and tree-huggers World Forestry Day. Daredevils celebrate the centenary of the world’s first parachute jump (in St. Louis, Missouri) from a powered aircraft.

Leaders of the Arab world would convene for an Arab League summit, postponed from 2011 because of the unrest of the Arab spring.

JULY APRIL To mark the centenary of the sinking of t h e “unsinkable” Titanic, a 12night cruise sails from Southampton to the site of the fatal collision with an Atlantic iceberg.

The world’s best golfers assemble on the greens of Augusta, Georgia, for the Masters, the first “major” of the golfing year.

Dracula fans mark the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker; North Koreans celebrate the 100th birthday of the immortal Kim II Sung (sceptics say he died in 1994) Colombia hosts the summit of the Americas, the sixth of its kind, in Cartagena.

South Koreans elect a new parliament; Thais elect a new Senate.

French voters cast their ballots in the first round of the presidential election.

MAY French voters, if need be, cast their ballots in the presidential-election run-off.

Liberal voices welcome World Press Freedom Day, coming one day after the 40th anniversary of the death of J. Edgar Hoover, the anti-liberal first director of the FBI Londoners elect their mayor, with Boris Johnson hoping to remain in office for the approaching London Olympics.

Hollywood stars hope the sun will shine in the south of France as they tread the red carpet at the 64th Cannes film festival.

France hosts the 19th European Congress on Obesity, shortly before Britain’s Hunger project organises World Hunger Day. America plays host to a G8 summit in Chicago.

Londoners welcome (or dread) the opening of the 30th summer Olympic games.

Cyprus begins a six-month term as president of the European Union.

Mexico holds elections to the presidency, Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

The world’s aircraft-makers shatter eardrums at Britain’s Farnborough air show.

Central and state legislators choose a new president for India, the world’s largest democracy.

The best in tennis vie to be champions at Wimbledon, the only one of the grand slams played on grass.

AUGUST Film fans mourn the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death and salute the 70th birthday of Bambi.

Republican activists, slavering for the presidential election, gather in Tampa, Florida, for the national convention of the Grand Old Party.

Disabled athletes, with the Olympics as their model, compete in London in the Paralympic games.

Sailing types (and their social hangers-on) flock to England’s Isle of Wright for Cowes Week, the world’s largest and longest-running regatta.

Many in Europe take a month’s holiday to the amazement of their American competitors.

DECEMBER Presidential elections are due in Kenya and parliamentary ones in Russia.

India hosts a summit of the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and (for the second time) South Africa.

The soccer champions of six continents meet in Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup. The African National Congress, South Africa’s ruling party, convenes its five-yearly national conference to select a candidate for the 2014 presidential election.

The SMS (short message service) celebrates its birthday, 20 years after an engineer texted “Merry Christmas” on the Vodafone network.

SEPTEMBER Farming enthusiasts compete in the world ploughing championships in Biograd na Moru, Croatia.

Democratic Party activists flock to Charlotte, North Carolina, to select their presidential candidate – with Barack Obama their obvious choice.

Golf’s transatlantic challenge takes place in Medinah, Illinois, when Europe’s best golfers take on America’s for the biennial Ryder Cup. The world’s diplomats, speeches at the ready, gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

• Culled from The Economist

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

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With Joe Agbro Jr. 08056745268

Hello children, Wishing you a fantastic 2012 and remember to give your best to all you do this New Year in order to become a success

WORD WHEEL

• The proprietress and some of the pupils of Top Talent Nur/Pry Sch, Iju, Lagos during their picnic at LTV, Ikeja, Lagos recently

This is an open ended puzzle. How many words of three or more letters, each including the letter at centre of the wheel, can you make from this diagram? We’ve found 34, including one nine-letter word. Can you do better?

Riddles with Bisoye Ajayi 1. I am something, when rain falls, I am happy but when there is no rain, I am sad. What am I? 2. I am a three letter word object. I have three layers with three different colours when boiled.

What am I? Miss Ajayi is a JSS 1 student of Queens College, Yaba, Lagos.

• Pupils of Foursquare Nur/Pry School during a rendition. The school bagged the Sparklight Award for best Nur/ Pry school in Ogun State

School organises musical concert

By Jennifer Mordi

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• Pupils of Apata Memorial Nursery and Primary School, Okota, Lagos playing the violin

HE Apata Memorial School recently organised a musical concert with the theme “sing a new song” for its nursery and primary pupils.

The children played musical instruments like the violin, trumpets, band and piano to the delight of guest present in their orchestra presentation.

In an interview with Mrs. Margaret Fola Apata, one of the school directors said the concept of the musical concert was to showcase the musical talents of the children.

An attending parent, Mrs. Itua Nwokolo said “the musical concert is to commemorate the Christmas and New Year celebration.”

• Oluwasemipe and Otitooluwa Akinnagbe, during the Christmas celebration at their school, Cosmos Nursery and Primary, Ipaja, School, Lagos

Word wheel NINE LETTER WORDS: crouching Chi, chic, chin, chino, choir, chronic, chug, churn, cog, coin, con, concur, conic, corgi, corn, couch, couching, cough, crouch, crunch, cuing, cur, curing, curio, grouch, icon, inch, incur, occur, ouch, rich, runic, urchin, uric

Send in your stories, poems, articles, games, puzzles, riddles and jokes to sundaynation@yahoo.com

Answer to Riddles:

1. Plants

2. Egg

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

Cover

25 people to watch in 2012

•Continued from page 23

•Nnaji

•Yusuf

•Lamorde

•Oshiomhole

65

66

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

67

Senior citizens laud Senate

T

HE Senior Citizens Association has praised the Senate for rejecting threats by American and European countries over its decision to ban same sex marriage.

The group in a statement

by Primate Ayoola Omonigbehin said the decision of the Senate is Godly, adding “this is true Christianity” It asked the law makers not to pass laws that are against God’s choice.

The senior citizens asked the lawmakers to go

By Jennifer Mordi

further by banning young men from wearing earrings; and the girls from immoral dressing and prostitution.

According to Omonigbehin, the Senate should ignore the protests

by Ameericans and Europeans who are threatening to withdraw aid to African nations that frown at same sex marriages.

He said Nigeria does not need any aid tied to ungodly demands.

CHANGE OF NAME OGUNTUASE

AKANNI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oguntuase Oluwatoyin, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Olawuyi Oluwatoyin Lucy.

All former documents remains valid. Ekiti State Local Govt.

Service Commission and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akanni Moradeyo Abigail, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Afolayan Moradeyo Abigail. All former documents remains valid. Aye Oja Ekiti, Moba Local Govt. and general public should take note.

AKINWUMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Orisatayi Kiitan Janet, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Fasiku Kiitan Janet. All former documents remains valid.

Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti and general public should take note.

SALAMI

I,Ajibola Ojo Ademola is the same and one person as Omotuyi Ojo. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinwumi Blessing Bola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Idowu Blessing Bola. All former documents remains valid.

Ekiti State Judiciary, High Court of Justice, Ado-Ekiti and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Salami Bukola Helen, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Oyetunji Bukola Helen. All former documents remains valid.

Ondo State SUBEB and general public should take note.

ADEWOLE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adewole Fadeke Adedayo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeniyi Fadeke Adedayo. All former documents remains valid. Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti and general public should take note.

ARIBABA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Aribaba Oluwayemisi Felicia, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeoye Felicia Oluwayemisi. All former documents remains valid. Moba Local Govt., Otun Ekiti and general public should take note.

ADEYEYE I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyeye Kemi Victoria, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeoti Adekemi Victoria.

All former documents remains valid. Ekiti State Local govt. Service Commission, Ado-Ekiti and general public should take note.

ORISATAYI

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

IDOWU

I,formerly known and addressed as Idowu Funmilola Sefinat, now wish to be known and be addressed as Shelu Funmilola Sefinat. All former documents remains valid.

TASUED Ijebu-Ode, NYSC and general public should take note.

AYEWA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ayewa Maria Obehi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Edgal Maria Obehi. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

ENIFENI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Enifeni Eniola Kehinde, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Renner Eniola Kehinde. All former documents remains valid.

LUTH and general public should take note.

NWAIMO

ADEUSI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwaimo Patricia Chioma, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Chioma Patricia Nwanosike. All former documents remains valid. NYSC and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeusi Adefunke Victoria, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adedayo Adefunke Victoria. All former documents remains valid. Oceanic Bank Plc. and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinmoladun Foyinsola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Akinkunmi Foyinsola. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

AKINMOLADUN

Making money of mayhem •Continued from page 16

hired some to kidnap an exiled politician, Umaru Dikko, from London in 1984 and bring him back to Lagos for trial – a plan whose absurd outcome caused a diplomatic falling out with Britain.

After August’s suicide bombing of the UN in Abuja, Jonathan’s government consulted US officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency. Some security people suggest that surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) may be used against the militants, as they were in the Delta. Police chief Ringim has recently been shuttling to Washington to talk to his counterparts.

Security analysts claim that some senior northern officers, sacked after the return to civilian rule under President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, sell their knowledge of training and logistics to the Islamists.

Some military-controlled printing presses have been producing religious tracts, we hear.

Making money out of mayhem The fight back against Boko Haram has been hugely lucrative for some.

Contracts for training and security equipment are heavily inflated. So-called security officers and associated political appointees sell questionable services to state security agencies.

•Jonathan

Private security companies, such as the USA’s once again rebranded Blackwater, operating in Iraq, Pakistan and the Middle East, are doing business in Nigeria, along with those who were fighting insurgencies in the Delta.

Down south, the Odua People’s Congress, a Yoruba outfit that was powerful during the struggle against the late dictator General Sani Abacha, asked Yoruba leaders for finance during a street protest last week in Lagos.

They

brandished weapons and called for Boko Haram to restrict its bombing to the north. Security officers stood by, powerless.

In the Delta, the current amnesty programme is said to be another driver of militancy, with exmilitants represented in government by the former rebel Tompolo, who now prefers to be called High Chief Government Ekpemupolo. The JTF, led

by Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed, has done more harm than good in the region.

Very few northern

politicians have the moral authority to negotiate on behalf of the government and there is mutual distrust among leading northern politicians in the PDP. Although Boko Haram’s attacks are growing more sophisticated, it has no central command or formal structure with which the government can negotiate. This is the view of retired Air ViceMarshal Lucky Ochuko Ararile, formerly coordinator of the amnesty programme for Delta ex-militants. In September, the federal government set up a committee to open talks with Boko Haram, one of whose members was Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume. He was recently arrested for being a sponsor of Boko Haram; his fellow senators call his trial a witch hunt.

The political confusion over his case mirrors the wider chaos in policy towards the militants. A veteran Nigerian intelligence officer told us the country had been turned upside down: ‘You used to have southern militants fighting a northern regime, now we have northern militants fighting a southern one – the difference is the southern militants could use their control over oil as a weapon, the northern militants have nothing to use but mayhem and bloodshed.’

Source: Africa Confidential

The steady evaporation of American democracy Continued from page 11 soldier guilty of the harshest repression of non-white people from the Chinese Box rebellion to unrest in Haiti. However, he had experienced a pacifist’s conversion. In a speech, the mainstream media of his day refused to carry, Butler declared: “I would not go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investments of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket… There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has is finger man to point out the enemies, its muscle men to destroy the enemies, its brain men to plan war preparations and a Big Boss, Super-Nationalistic Capitalism.”

The reformed Butler was approached by emissaries of Wall Street to lead a coup overturning Roosevelt’s programs. The putsch was backed by the most famous names in business, Rockefeller and DuPont among them. The ardent Nazi sympathizer, Prescott Bush, father and grandfather of presidents, was a leader in the pack.

When Butler revealed the plot, Congress and the

mainstream media ridiculed him, declaring the story too crackpot to believe. However, a closed door congressional committee investigated the plot, questioning Butler and numerous other witnesses. The committee’s final report concluded that Butler’s revelation was true. The New York Times eventually admitted its error, begrudgingly stating Butler’s account was valid. Yet, nothing was done to the powerful conspirators. They were too important and too moneyed to jail. An informal deal was reached where they would not be pestered if they agreed to act like, if not believe like, real democrats. The quasi-fascists were allowed to retain their money, power and status.

They were allowed to plot for another day.

The law on President Osama’s desk follows in the spirit of the 1930’s putsch. Terrorism is the perfect scapegoat to perfect this latest transgression against democracy. The image of 9/11 is an indelible mark in the American psyche. By its nature, terrorism is shadowy and mysterious. Unlike a conventional military foe, it holds no banner nor claims any territory. One can persuade a frightened, gullible people that terror-

ism is there even when it is not. The less they see, the more they fear. The ghost rarely kills the frightened man; more lethal is the man’s fear of the ghost.

Hopefully, President Obama will find a slice of courage to veto the Act. Chances are slim. He has already signaled his approval of it. This calculating politician will do little to leave himself vulnerable as the 2012 election approaches. Moreover, the Act is backed by the two forces to which Obama has given himself as a loyal factotum: Big Money and the Military. There is nothing the military has asked that he has not done: Expansion of drone bombing, additional troops in Afghanistan, and now this.

Obama’s relationship with the military has been decidedly one-sided. They tell him something must be done or the nation’s security is in jeopardy. Fearing to appear weak, he approves everything in large measure. He questions none of the basic assumptions; he merely tinkers around the edges of their proposals to give the appearance that he is in charge. It is a sad farce. If his military advisors recommended that he needed to wade neck deep in a vat of boiling oil he would “decide’’ to only jump in to

waist level. Then he would smilingly wink to his civilian advisors saying, “I showed those uniforms who is the boss!” Like Big Money, Big Muscle has used his lack of substantive expertise and his political insecurities to finagle the President. It is happening again.

As a constitutional lawyer and a black man, he knows the abuses this law will produce. Already, both the Army and FBI training manuals define peaceful civil protests and disobedience as “low level terrorism.” One does not need much imagination to see the emergent trend once the law is signed. Assertive Black Muslims will become an endangered species even more than the Black Panthers of the 1960s. Soon thereafter, groups to the political left will feel the weight of this anvil upon their freedoms. Yet the President will affix his name to this terrible affliction. But he will not be able to wash his hands of it. This will be a historic act in the worst sense. It will be the day that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment walked the scaffolding. President Obama’s name will be forever associated with this infamy.

The true price of this misdeed is not worth the false power it brings.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

News

T

HE Ezillo community in Ishielu Local Government area of Ebonyi State was a sea of tears and blood yesterday and residents’ preparations for the New Year in tatters after unknown gunmen invaded the area at dawn, killing no fewer than 52 people.

Most of the victims were children aged between three and five. A police officer, described as the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) ,was also killed in the mayhem.

Governor Martin Elechi visited the community hours after the incident. He cancelled all visits in connection with the new year celebration.

The motive of the gunmen could not be immediately ascertained but eye witnesses said they arrived the community in a vehicle at about 5am.Thereafter,they divided themselves into groups.

One group operated at the Afor Ezillo market opening fire on people while another group attacked the police station.

The DCO who was on his way to work was caught in the bullet rain.

An eyewitness, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, said most residents were woken by the gunshots as they ran out of their houses to seek refugee in parked buses, the gunmen opened fire on them.

“Just take a look at that car parked there, the owner and his family in a bid to escape from the gunmen were caught by the gunmen

New Year Eve tragedy: Invaders kill 52 in Ebonyi dawn raid release issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Dr. Onyekachi Eni said that accordingly, all groups and organisations which planned to pay the Governor a celebratory visit to mark the New Year are advised to shelve such visit for now.

From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakaliki

and they were set ablaze by the invaders. Is it not unfortunate, all these little children that they killed numbering over 20? What offence did they commit?

What offence did they commit to deserve this treatment,” Eze wondered.

Another eyewitness who lost his family, Mr. Jacob Okoro, said that when they heard the sporadic gunshots, they all ran out of their compounds.

The gunmen, he said, shot at them killing all members of his family.

He said “We were still sleeping when we heard gunshots and people running and yelling. My family and I ran out from the house to escape into the bush but to our shock bullets were flying from all directions.

“It is by the grace of God that I am alive because I can not really say how I escaped death. As I’m talking now I have lost everything. Our compound that has about 32 persons, only 3 persons escaped the bullets of the gunmen.

When we ran out of the house, we saw some young men and we were thinking that they were also running for safety not

Emergency rule in Nigeria •Continued from Page 6

•A Tanker burnt during the attack on Ezillo community, yesterday. knowing that they were part of the invasion.”

A man and his entire family were burnt inside their car. Hundreds of empty shells of AK47 littered the Ezillo axis of the EnuguAbakaliki Express road yesterday while youths were busy searching for and retrieving corpses from nearby bushes.

Our correspondent observed that the gunmen also killed donkeys, burnt

down the Afor Ezillo Market, filling stations and houses. Residents who lost their loved ones wept uncontrollably.

The State Commissioner of Police, Mr.Adeola Adeniyi, described the incident as regrettable and unfortunate adding that the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim has approved the deployment of mobile policemen from Cross River, Rivers and

Akwa Ibiom State to assist in Ebonyi.

He said that no arrest had been made.He advised motorists and commuters to use alternative routes when coming or leaving Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State Capital.

Meanwhile, Governor Martin Elechi has cancelled all scheduled activities associated with the New Year celebration.

Chief Elechi in a Press

What we expect from govt in New Year, by Nigerians ECURITY of life and property is topping the list of Nigerians’ expectations from President Goodluck Jonathan in the new year.

They also want a sound economy devoid of the planned removal of fuel subsidy.

A cross section of promi-

S

Kolade Adeyemi and Bisi Olaniyi

nent citizens told The Nation that the level of insecurity in the country is making life unbearable for the average Nigerian.

Senator Chris Ngige said: “I expect the President to cut off the cancer called

fuel importation which the Government/NNPC euphemistically baptised fuel subsidy. The President must privatise the four Local Refineries giving out majority shares,to have local fuel production in order to compete fairly with the so called ‘fuel importers’.

State and Local Govern-

ment Police with emphasis on intelligence gathering is the major answer to our insecurity situation.”

Elder statesman, and Second Republic presidential adviser on National Assembly matters, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai expressed optimism that President Jonathan would success-

Boko Haram: Immigration deports 122

T

HE Immigration Service has launched a massive hunt for illegal immigrants in the country in the aftermath of the deadly activities of the Boko Haram sect.

The security agencies believe many members of the sect are foreigners.Only on Friday,President Goodluck Jonathan sought the cooperation of Nigeria’s neighbours in checking the influx of illegal immigrants into the country.

The Kano State Command of the service acting on the directive of the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mrs Rose Uzoma effected the arrest of 183 such immigrants in Kano and deported 122 of them.The remaining 61 are still being screened to ascertain their countries.

A similar directive has gone to other state commands of the organisation.

The immigrants were apprehended during raids by men of the Kano State

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

command of the service at the Trade Fair C o m p l e x , F a r m Centre,Yankura Roundabout, Bachirawa and Panshekara all in Kano over the last 48 hours.

A source, pleading anonimity told The Nation: “It is in view of the current fragile security situation in the country, which is occasioned by the criminal activities of Boko Haram, that all criminal and terrorist-infested areas and hideouts such as uncompleted buildings and abandoned projects are raided to fish out all illegal aliens, who have no visible means of livelihood or do not possess valid travel documents and could easily become willing tools of destabilization of peace and security in the country.

“This exercise, which is continuous is one of the ways the Service is contributing its quota to the en-

•The illegal aliens awaiting deportation

hancement of our national security, as all those found wanting would be repatriated immediately.”

It was gathered that the aliens who usually have no valid travel documents, engage in menial jobs in the state, and as such could be ready tools in the hands of mischief makers.

Apart from Nigeriens the most common illegal aliens

in Kano are Senegalese, Malians, Sudanese, Chadians, Burkinabes and Somalis.

The source expressed optimism that the exercise would go a long way in checking the current spate of violence in the country.

The Comptroller in charge of Kano Command, Dr. Emmanuel Ifeadi could not be reached for comment.

fully tackle the present security challenges in 2012.

Yakasai, also said that if the President effectively implements the removal of oil subsidy, the economy of the country will be better off.

“If President Jonathan tackles the problem of security head on and if he religiously implements the removal of oil subsidy, the economy of the country will be better off, while money realized on the subsidy will better the lot of Nigerians.

“I believe that there will be a tremendous turn around in the economy in 2012 if the transformation agenda of Mr. President is adequately implemented.”

The Chairman of the Peoples Salvation Party, (PSP) Dr. Junaid Mohammed on his part, said the country is heading towards economic and political disaster, as the security challenges posed by the spate of bombings in the country is getting worse.

“I strongly believe that the federal government will further plunge the economy into chaos if the fuel subsidy is removed because the prices of goods and services will sky rocket, leaving the masses in penury.

“I want to let you know that the 2011 presidential election was rigged and for as long as we are being ruled by an illegitimate government there can never be security.

rule in some troubled states yesterday, Plateau and Ekiti States were the only states that have experienced emergency rule since this democratic dispensation began in 1999.

On Tuesday, May 18, 2004 , former president Olusegun Obasanjo declared an emergency rule in Plateau State , following a sectarian crisis that claimed hundreds of lives and left many homeless.

In an address to the nation, the former president said the decision to impose a state of emergency in Plateau State was based on the collective desire to strengthen the country’s democratic practice, institutions and values. “This decision would without doubt enhance security as well as protect the stability and corporate existence of our nation for which many have died. It is my hope and prayer that this six-month period will be used by the administrator and all peace-loving people in and outside the state to bring peace and join hands to promote democratic values and enshrine the values of transparency, accountability, social justice, love, good neighborliness and good governance.”

Major General Chris Alli, was directed to take over the affairs of the state for a period of six months with a mandate to end the strife and restore order.

Ekiti was the next state to experience emergency rule. On Thursday, October 19, 2006 , President Olusegun Obasanjo, in an address to the nation, said he was declaring a state of emergency in Ekiti State in order to “ensure that peace and orderliness return to the state.”

He said the Emergency Rule will last for six months in the first instance. He also said the state House of Assembly had been suspended and retired Major General Tunji Olurin was appointed the Administrator of Ekiti State.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2012

T

.HREE notorious robbers terrorising residents of Oyo town and its environs were yesterday apprehended by men of the Oyo/Ogbomoso Annexes of the Special Anti-robbery Squad.

The gangs whose age range between 21 and 33 years specialised in motorcycle snatching, thefts and house burglary.

They were arrested after robbing an unsuspecting middle-aged trader at a weekly village market near Oyo town of N60, 000

News

Jubilation in Oyo town over arrest of robbers From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

and snatching two motorcycles.

Leader of the gang, 23-year-old Nuru Tesimiyu, said nemesis caught up with him when he ordered his men to go away with the stolen items while he stayed back to snatch more motorcycles.

He stated, “My plan to snatch another motor-

cycle was unsuccessful as the traders were suspicious of my movement. So, I decided to escape through the bush path. ‘’On getting out on the other side of the road, I saw a pick- up van and begged the driver to take me to the town. ‘’He agreed but while passing through the market he saw people lamenting on the stolen motor-

One dead, three injured as building collapses in Lagos

O

NE person was feared dead yesterday and three others severely injured when a building under construction collapsed at Popoola Olafuyi St by Babayanju B/Stop in Mafoluku, Lagos.

The unfortunate incident occured around 2.30pm as the victims said to be artisans were bringing in blocks for the construction of the second slab of the collapsed building.

A Deputy Director from the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Adekunle Rufia, led officials on rescue mission.

He confirmed the death of a victim and said three affected victims sustained various degrees of injuries.

Rufia said,” We discovered that the building was raised to the first storey since the last

By Miriam Ndikanwu and Oluwakemi Dauda

three years. Work just commenced on the second slab and it was this development that forced the structure to collapse.”

He informed that one of the victims that sustained broken arm had been treated and discharged while the other victims were rushed to a near by hospital “When we got to the scene we were informed by eye witnessed that the artisans were not working, but where bringing in blocks which they intend to use on the second slab during the holiday before the structure gave in.

He said the collapse was caused by the weakness of the structure which he said was not capable of carrying the weight of the additional structure being added.

•The collapsed building

Our correspondent observed some of the artisans trapped.

Their legs were hooked, forcing residents to call and yell for assistance.

Lagos State Ambulance Service and police officers, who rushed to the scene, took time on how to rescue those under the debris while awaiting the arrival of Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority( LASEMA).

As at 4 00p.m only three of the victims had been rescued and taken to hospital.

Residents said the building had showed signs that it might.

They alleged that the structure had been abandoned for over 10 years before construction commenced after the land and building were sold to the new owner.

PHOTO: OLUWAKEMI DAUDA

Ohanaeze youths allege plans to cause unrest

O

HANAEZE Youths Brigade, an affiliate of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, has decried alleged plans by All Progressives Grand Alliance government of Imo State to use some youths in the state to cause social unrest on January 5 and 6, 2012.

According to a statement from the brigade, signed by the President, Comrade Tony Nwadike and the SecretaryGeneral, Emmaneul Egwumba, the group advised all Imo youths not to be part of “the

69

planed demonstrations on the aforesaid dates or at any other dates, whatsoever, in the future.”

Part of the statement read: “The Ohanaeze Youth Brigade has been alerted of plans by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) led government in Imo State to incite youths of the state (Imo) to embark on mass protests and demonstrations on Thursday January 5 2012 and Friday January 6, 2012 in anticipation of the ruling of the Appeal Court, Owerri Division on the petition of the Peoples

Democratic Party against the November 12 ruling of the governorship election tribunal.”

The group also said in the release that the organisation has no sympathy for any of the parties involved in the case, but stated that “it is roundly opposed to any moves to prompt Imo youths into any precipitate actions,” adding, “We wonder why APGA in Imo state is still bent on exposing hapless youths in the state to sordid engagements that continue to cast Imo youths in bad light.”

cycles. ‘’The driver came down, sympathised and discussed with the people, not knowing that they suspected my movement and alerted the police. That was how I was arrested.”

The Police also arrested a four-man robbery gang that specialised in house burglary at IsaleOyo, Sakutu-Ogbegbe, Saabo and Akesan areas of Oyo town.

They killed scores of residents and made away with property worth millions of naira until they were apprehended.

According to the 30year- old gang leader,

Segun, a.k.a “dey go”, they were caught during an operation at Isale-Oyo. Their arrest elicited wild jubilation in the community. Residents thanked God and SARS men for halting the operation.

A resident, Semiu Alani, said, “some of us have decided to relocate to Ibadan because of the terror unleashed on us by the criminal gang, who are always blood thirsty”.

Another three-man gang mastered stealing large quantities of cement from dealers at midnights and transporting them to designated uncompleted buildings for sales to un-

suspecting customers.

Nemesis caught up with them when they robbed a dealer of some tonnes of cement in the ancient town.

Our correspondent authoritatively learnt that the buyer alerted men of SARS following his dissatisfaction with the consignment.

The report led to the prompt apprehension of the criminals.

The Officer-in-charge of SARS, Deputy Superintendent of Police Olusola Aremu, said the suspected criminals will be charged to court after conclusion of investigations.

Nollywood artistes back deregulation

S

UPPORT for the federal government’s insistence to withdraw subsidy on oil came from an unusual quarters at the weekend.

A section of Nollywood actors declared their support for the proposal.

At a roundtable discourse at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, the artistes gave a nod of approval to the planned removal of the subsidy.

They however warned that a lot more needed to be done by the federal government to restore people’s confidence in governance.

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe

By Edozie Udeze

explained that it was the responsibility of government to take care of the people and so it has to initiate programmes to make them happy.

According to her, “The common people think that once the subsidy on oil is removed those in government will use it to enrich themselves. ‘’Therefore, government has to be accountable and make the dividends of the oil subsidy available to the masses of the country.”

Zack Orji, Zeb Ejiro, Zik Zulu Okafor, Segun Arinze

and others agreed that the time had indeed come for Nigerians to stomach the truth about deregulation.

They contended that if the subsidy is not removed now and government does not gird up its loins to improve the lot of the citizens, the future may indeed be gloomy and bleak.

Special Assistant to the President on Documentation and Research, Oronto Douglas, pleaded with the Nollywood artistes to continue to use their profession to preach the need for deregulation of the downstream sector.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

70

Inside Jerusalem I

N the first part of my account of the 2011 Pilgrimage, I stopped at the gates of Jerusalem. Well, we entered the Holy City on Friday, November 25 and went straight to the Mount of Olives around 4:00pm.

(It gets dark around 5:00pm local time in Israel). I thought to myself, so, this is the great Jerusalem, the city David ululated about in Psalm 137:5 saying, “If I forget you Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its strength. Let my tongue cling to my palate if I fail to recall you, if I fail to elevate Jerusalem above my highest joy.” However, this is no ordinary city, as unattractive as its terrain suggests. Only God can explain why He chose to make the city the renown it is; a place where He marched, walked and quaked through history, and barely waited long enough at any point for men to touch the hem of His unqualifiedly holy garment. Merely surveying the city from Mt Scopus, where many conquerors had made their battle plans against the city, I would rather be given any Nigerian city than take the indescribable pains of building, let alone rebuilding, Jerusalem.

It is a historical fact that “Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.” There must, therefore, be something in and about this city of no strategic or economic use that has made many invaders to risk their lives and reputations to master it. Even if you were an atheist, you would come to the reluctant conclusion that Jerusalem is special, special to humanity, special to Jews, special to Christians, and special to Muslims. It is believed, according to a theory in geopolitics, that he who controls Jerusalem controls Palestine, and he who controls Palestine controls the world. But whether this theory refers to economics of trade, politics of territorial control, or esoteric spiritual facts, I cannot tell. All I know is that I got to the city and knew immediately that there was something special about it.

More, if I were a worldconquering general, I would also try to take the city, if not for the heck of it, at least for whatever other reasons other generals had attempted it, whether I understood the reason or not.

Israel is not a large country.

It had to be so for Jesus Christ and his disciples and apostles to traverse the country on foot.

Why the Messiah did not use horses or carriages or even camels, when he could afford it, is something I hope one day we would achieve the exegetical perfection to understand. I recall he was on the Mount of Temptation in Jericho where he had been taken to see the kingdoms of the world as a bait to serve Satan. He defeated the plan in a way many Christians have seemed to ignore. But more of this some other day.

We began our Jerusalem pilgrimage on Mt Scopus (826m above sea level), a location on the Mt Scopus campus of the Hebrew University, East Jerusalem. It used to be under the control of Jordan until Israel united east and west of the city

By Palladium by force during the Six-Day War of 1967. According to tradition, it is said to be where Pilgrims hundreds of years ago first sighted Jerusalem and had the assurance that they had reached the Holy Land. We worshipped there and in addition took Holy Communion. Pressed for time, we moved on to the Mount of Olives, still in East Jerusalem and first visited the spot where Jesus ascended to heaven. There is a Chapel of Ascension built on that site. During the many wars over Jerusalem, there was a time when Muslims controlled the chapel and renamed it the Mosque of the Ascension. The place is still controlled by Muslims, but an agreement has preserved the chapel obviously for tourism purposes.

Jerusalem itself is a historical tapestry of wars and battles depicting the unending struggle between Christians and Muslims for both the control of the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem, and perhaps presumptuously the mind of God Himself. You could not but see the latent hostility between Jews and Palestinians. East Jerusalem is not as developed as the other parts of the city because Palestinians still generally resist the influence and control of Jews. You did not have to get to Ramallah, Jenin, Jericho, Bethlehem, Nablus, and other West Bank (Judea & Samaria) towns to get an impression of the hostility between Jews and Palestinians.

At the Western Wall (previously called the Wailing Wall), you would see how Jews longingly view the Dome of the Rock shrine as if by an act of God, it should disintegrate. The Dome of the Rock shrine, built by the Umayyad Caliph, Abd al-Malik, in 691CE is standing where the Temple of Solomon used to stand, on the Temple Mount. It was originally intended as a shrine, not as a Mosque, and was modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. Jews still consider the place to be where the Holy of Holies used to stand, a tradition that makes them go to the Western Wall to offer prayers because it is the nearest accessible place to their hallowed ground.

Between the Mount of Olives and the Eastern Gate of the city wall are more than 150,000 Jewish graves dating back to more than 3,000 years. As we descended from the mount, we passed by the Tombs of Prophets Haggai and Malachi.

Other places we visited on the mount were the Tomb of Zechariah, the Church of all Nations, where we took group photographs, the Church of Mary Magdalene, which is one of the most beautiful edifices in Jerusalem, Gethsemane, not a garden as is presumed but a place where olive oil was made, and Church of the Pater Noster, where the cock crowed twice as Peter denied Jesus. We also saw the grave site where the ossuary (a box containing the bones of a dead person) of James, the brother of Jesus, was said to have been found.

The authenticity of the inscription

• Mount of Olives showing the Dome of the Rock. Bottom, the Chapel of the Ascension

on the box is still being disputed.

The significance for pilgrims of the visit to Mount Olives is that Jesus’ second coming will take place there. It is believed He will pass to the rebuilt Temple through the Eastern (or Golden) Gate. In this age of automobile, prophecy did not indicate whether he would walk or take a ride. But to prevent Him from passing through this gate, and not knowing when it would take place, Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire caused the gate to be sealed with stones and cement. It is now permanently shut; and between the gate and Mount Olives are thousands of graves joining the two landmarks through the Kidron Valley. At the Western Wall, where many of us prayed, we saw the devotion of Jews and the passion with which they want a restoration of the Temple.

If Jerusalem’s history of up and down and back and forth is anything to go by, I think it will be rebuilt. But it will not be rebuilt through negotiations or in time of peace.

Jerusalem may be the city of God, but it is a city made for war.

Even if negotiations resolve the problematic case of the West Bank, I doubt that Jews would let go of East Jerusalem. They

consider Jerusalem as an indivisible eternal capital of Israel. It can of course be recaptured from them, just like the entire country itself can be seized, but they won’t willingly let go. They have in fact, as a Jew privately told me, prepared all the materials necessary for rebuilding the Temple, including all the materials for the Holy Place. Where would they find the Ark of the Covenant containing the Two Tablets of stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments? It will be recalled that after the Temple was rebuilt at the end of the Babylonian captivity, the Ark was no longer available, though the Holy of Holies was still preserved in the construction.

During the rule of the Roman Empire, Pompey was recorded as having profaned the Temple by entering the Holy of Holies.

The Book of Revelation predicts that something similar to Pompey’s profanity would take place sometime in the future.

Finally, we entered the old city through the Lion’s Gate and went straight to the Pool of Bethesda, which used to be located near the Sheep’s Gate. It wasn’t until the 19 th Century that the pool was found by archaeologists in the Muslim

Quarter of the city. The Johannine account of what transpired when Jesus visited the pool and met a man bedridden for many years and healed him was corroborated by archaeological finds. Probably the most important part of our •Continued on page 71

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012

Sport Extra

Yakubu’s brace sinks Man Utd

Inside Jerusalem •Continued from page 70

visit to the walled city was retracing the paths taken by Jesus after he was brought to trial before Pilate on the way to crucifixion – the famous Via Dolorosa (or Way of Grief) – which saw us start from the Fort of Anthonia, where Pilate washed his hands off the case, through nine Stations of the Cross to Golgotha and Sepulchre and then exit through the Jaffa Gate. We visited another site where Golgotha and Sepulchre are said to be located, for there is no agreement concerning which site is authentic. We also went to the place of the Upper Room, where Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples. It is situated above the new tomb (not the original) where the bones of King David were reburied. We also visited the tomb.

As we departed Jerusalem, passing by Emmaus (remember the road to Eammaus?), I found myself in some sort of agony over the city. I know that before the end of history, the city will again be destroyed, and Jews probably dispersed once more time. It’s the dynamics of their history, the allure of their land,

and the spirit of the age.

Christians may dismiss them as the murderers of Jesus, and Muslims appropriate their legacy through Abraham, but one thing no one can take away from them is the fact that God came down on that land and talked with men, and left impressions centuries of wars, destructions, famine, appalling barbarism and debauchery could not erase. Alas, it is precisely those things that make the land desirable that will continually attract ambitious generals to take and retake the land. Each conqueror will leave his mark on the city for future generations to read or decipher.

I also left with an even greater second impression. I found out throughout our journeys as Christian pilgrims that Christians have managed to reconcile the world system with their faith, and now dwell at peace with mammon as they feign to be at peace with God; and that in particular, no people can be as adept as Nigerians at offering perfect worship from imperfect hearts. This may be an exaggeration; but it is not too far from the truth.

71

I

T was a fulfilled dream at the theatre of dreams yesterday for Yakubu Aiyegbeni and his Blackburn mates as the Nigerian scored twice against hosts, Manchester United to earn a shocking 3-2 away win in the New Year’s Eve English Premier League fixture.

Coming on a day Man United’s Manager Alex Ferguson clocked 70, the Nigerian struck from the penalty spot in the 16th minute to put the travelers in the driver’s seat.

With United still looking for a leveler against a side 19 places below them on the log, Aiyegbeni with a solo effort sunk the homers further in the 51st minute to put the relegation battling side on the road to an historic away win.

He got the ball outside the area, dribbled past three Manchester United defenders as he paced into the box before slotting in under De Gea for 2-0.

And while two strikes later on from Berbatov brought United back into the game at 2-2, the day would end Blackburn’s, when Morten Gamst Pedersen swung the ball into the area setting up impressive youngster Grant Hanley, who beat Man United’s goalkeeper De Gea to the punch with

•As Blackburn wins 3-2 at Old Trafford •Moses also scores for Wigan

By Olusoji Olukayode his first header before nodding in the follow-up in the 80th minute.

Speaking at the end of the encounter, Aiyegbeni said: “I think today when you look at the way we played, we deserved to win. You have to give credit to Man United as well. To come here to get the three points, it’s not easy, the manager under pressure and we players too. It’s a long way but if we keep fighting like this week in week out, I think we’ll be fine.”

With this win, Blackburn have now moved two

• Yakubu Aiyegbeni celebrates after scoring a goal yesterday

places up away from the bottom of the ladder.

Meanwhile, another Nigeria-born star, Super Eagles’ invitee, Victor

Moses scored for Wigan Athletic in their game against Stoke City. He tapped home from a cross in the 45th minute.

Fashola reconstitutes Sports Association boards •Members to commence work in January

I

N line with the resolve to kick start preparations for the hosting of the 18th National Sports Festival (NSF) in earnest, the long awaited reconstitution of the 36 sports association boards of the State’s Sports Council, have finally been approved by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN).

This was made known on Friday night by the H o n o u r a b l e Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Wahid Enitan Oshodi.

The Sports Associations are expected to organise regular competitions for the discovery and nurturing of budding talents that will represent the state well at the sports fiesta.

By Innocent Amomoh Further commenting of the development, Oshodi said: “Work for the various board starts in January 2012 and the Association will be made known before the end of the year. The new boards so constituted will not be a jamboree as they are expected to get straight to work.

He warned that members of the each board will be held accountable for their performances, as accountability is the watchword of his administration.

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QUOTABLE "The Boko Haram insurgence was not a religious war. No religion asks its followers to throw bombs to kill people they don’t even know.”

SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 6, NO. 1991

— President Goodluck Jonathan speaking last week while receiving the Deputy Prime Minister of Niger Republic, Mr Mohame Bazoum.

A

FTER the bombing of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, near Abuja, Nigerians and the rest of the world have suddenly seemed to recognise the dangers posed by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram. The dangers are essentially twofold: one is that the unremitting attacks on Churches might trigger a sectarian war; and the second is that the country’s survival and unity might be endangered. The dangers are intertwined. The Madalla bombing, which led to the loss of more than 40 lives, is of course not the most vicious in the past few months. By many accounts, however, it is interpreted as the most provocative, particularly because of the number of children and young ones killed, and the fact that the casualty figure appears skewed against the Southeast.

By common agreement too, we seem to think that the President Goodluck Jonathan government is not doing enough to tackle the terrorist menace constituted

by Boko Haram. The government has dithered badly in solving the problem. It has halted between the two apparently irreconcilable extremes of negotiating with the sect and fighting it. When it chose to fight, it did so with poorly trained security agents who have sustained despairing losses; and when it thought of negotiating, it was afraid to be labelled as weak, even as the sect itself has repeatedly shifted the goalpost. The two appalling measures have reinforced each other, making the government even seem weaker than it really is.

The Jonathan government has unfortunately not been inspiring in any way.

One of his predecessors, the hyperactive Olusegun Obasanjo, managed to give the impression that he knew what to do at all times and had answers to all the country’s problems. Until his presidency comes to an end, nobly or ignobly, Jonathan will suffer the disadvantage of being compared with Obasanjo. Yet, when Obasanjo faced the serious problem of states officially embracing Sharia, supposedly under the rubric of a federal constitution, the former president labelled the exercise as political Sharia and ignored it. Under the all-knowing Obasanjo, the country began to creep inexorably towards more and violent sectarianism, until it created a situation where one demand fed on another and acquired a destructive, self-perpetuating life of its own.

Comparing the Jonathan presidency with Obasanjo’s in their approach to sectarian problems may be unfair. Both are in equal measure unimaginative, cowardly and sentimental. Jonathan’s effort, or the lack of it, should be assessed on its own merit. It is also whispered in many corridors that if Gen Muhammadu Buhari had won the presidency, he would have boldly tackled the menace had it grown as big as this. In fact, and tellingly too, it is suggested that Boko Haram itself would

Boko Haram: How much more can we take?

•Andrew Azazi

•Hafiz Ringim

have been less bold in pursuing its religious agenda had a northerner assumed the top post. These scenarios are purely conjectural, and may even proceed from a deeper lack of understanding of the forces propelling and feeding terrorism in the North. After all, Boko Haram, which began as the Taliban, was already festering under the late Umaru Yar’Adua presidency.

We must not forget that the peace in the Niger Delta had little to do with the person of Jonathan than it had to do with the content of the peace deal. Huge payouts were involved, and in fact the militants had more confidence in Yar’Adua than they had in their own son. If the payouts were compromised along the line, the deal would not have been consummated. We must also remember that the biggest opposition to the Obasanjo presidency came from the Southwest, a region which by Nigeria’s primordial politics and leanings ought to show more understanding to the presidency of someone regarded as their son. I really do not think Jonathan’s ability to fight Boko Haram is compromised by his place of origin or his religion. It has everything to do with him as a person and his leadership qualities.

A few months before the last polls, I

advised Jonathan in this place that he should respect his party’s zoning formula and forego fighting for the presidency in 2011. The same advice had been given by the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) headed by T.Y Danjuma. I didn’t give the advice because I thought he was inferior to anyone; I gave it solely because of the nature of our politics and the circumstances surrounding the death of Yar’Adua. Jonathan had a constitutional right to contest, but I felt any person or group must be bound by whatever agreements they had entered into. If, therefore, we see a northern elite reluctant to take risk in confronting Boko Haram, that is, assuming they are not in support of the sect, we must situate it partly within the context of the 2011 elections.

The problem with government’s weakness in the face of an increasingly bold Boko Haram is essentially idiosyncratic.

There are people chronically afflicted by self-doubts in the face of trouble, just like there are governments which cannot take bold and intelligent decisions when their countries pass through trying times.

Sadly, and I am not happy to say this, Jonathan is one such person. Not only does he lack the confidence to take bold decisions, he also lacks the depth of un-

Options before the Southwest on Boko Haram

T

HE religious extremism undermining peace and stability in the northern parts of Nigeria is felt further afield to the utmost parts of the country.

The consequences of evil are never always limited to the location where it is perpetrated. If the Boko Haram extremists lack the understanding to appreciate that by killing their fellow countrymen and women, many of whom are even native to the places where the attacks take place, they are destroying a large part of what makes them a people, then that is their problem. And if their leaders and elite, for whatever reasons, do not summon the courage to face up to the evil, again that is their problem. The whole country is suffering no doubt, but the substantial part of the damage is limited to the North

where the sense of community is now virtually obliterated, where suspicion, anger and hatred have replaced the noble values that define us as human beings.

The Southwest must learn from the mistakes of the North. Its leaders and people must never take for granted that because they have a history of tolerance and a civil and political culture that is strong enough to define and self-regulate the boundaries of religion, then it is naturally and eternally immune to sectarian madness. The Southwest is fortunate that in its pre-colonial political evolution, it managed to substantially circumscribe the position of religion in ‘national’ life. The region’s legislative houses must now begin to meet minds over how to sustain that development.

One way to do this is to, like the European Union (EU), think of having a legislative forum in which selected lawmakers from the constituent states will meet regularly to recommend legislations on culture, economics, and politics for the region. Everything must be done through these recommendations to project and emphasise the factors that bind the region together as a people, and most importantly underscore the civilisation the region was acclaimed to have sustained far and above many European countries in the 17th and 18th centuries. It must not be assumed that good left alone will nurture itself. It must be aided by deliberate policies and by good people who recognise that if religion fails to make a person a good citizen and a peaceful neighbour, then it has failed miserably.

derstanding and wisdom to take the right decisions. Where Buhari and Obasanjo had courage in their years in power but often lacked wisdom, Jonathan lacks both.

Like an individual, a government must have the ability to determine the best course of action in time of trouble, for the survival and progress of a nation may depend on one course of action. I have written on this many times. Even after the experts have studied Boko Haram and recommended many options, the president still must rely on himself to decide the best approach. That reliance will depend on the extent to which he has built himself intellectually, honed his intuition, and created a preternatural sobriety around himself to receive messages the ordinary mortal cannot receive. After all, the president of a country should not be an ordinary mortal. If he remains one, then he has failed.

I have grave doubts that Jonathan can deliberately or systematically find a solution to the Boko Haram menace even after he has made up his mind what he wants to do, and after he has decided to get himself a spine and a more proactive team of achievers. If he finds a solution, it will be because he stumbled into it. Apart from being catapulted into power by the scheming and self-centred Obasanjo, Jonathan has done little in his years in power to study the dynamics of leadership and its physical and spiritual components. To what extent he can give what he doesn’t have is what we have to patiently wait for.

I personally wish him well, and I would like to see him find a solution to the menace. But I also hope that those who are in a position, in spite of the president’s shortcomings, to deal with Boko Haram realise that the sect is virtually dividing the country. The time may come soon when no one among us would be in a position to arrest the course of history once we have reached the point of no return. In my opinion, we are dangerously close to that point.

I have long canvassed that we should not negotiate with Boko Haram or any other terrorist organisation. This position is still a sound one. If a people are poor and neglected, they should face the government and fight it and its agencies, even if there is collateral damage. No disgruntled people have the right to face their fellow men directly and murder them. As bad as the Niger Delta militants were, their primary focus of attacks were pipelines and oil industry workers and companies.

They did not face Christians or Muslims, and they did not face any ethnic group. It is sheer dishonesty to compare Boko Haram with Niger Delta militants. Negotiating with terrorists, as a newspaper reported Gen Andrew Azazi, the National Security Adviser (NSA), as recommending is short-sighted and counterproductive. Other groups already constituted as ethnic militias would simply take a cue if negotiations with Boko Haram secure the kind of advantages Niger Delta militants got recently.

We can no longer postpone taking a decision on what to do with Boko Haram.

It is either we fight the sect comprehensively or we negotiate comprehensively. If we choose to fight, we must do it intelligently and with the right technology. If we want to negotiate, let us do it wholeheartedly. If we choose the former, we would show strength of character and lay solid principles for future generations of Nigerians, both instructing and showing them that when we faced an obnoxious evil that threatened our unity and survival as a nation, we opted to fight at a great cost in men, time and money. If we choose the latter, we would show, without waiting for posterity, that we had written our history as a generation that found neither the will nor the intelligence to fight evil, nor yet the character and principles that spared a thought for future generations in our present course of action.

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