#Occupy Nigeria

The danger of false hope

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:07:20 PST

By Ogunjimi James Taiwo

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds." - Aristotle Onassis

I was in a cab this morning and heard a song being played on radio. The song's main message was that Nigerians should not blame or question their leaders, and that things will eventually get better. I laughed! Get better? Who are we fooling? False hope will get us nowhere; it's time to face the facts.

My thoughts are that the kind of music that people listen to today has played a major role in effectively subjugating them and crippling their sense of duty.

Religious houses announce year in year out: "20xx, My year of abundance", yet there's want in the land. "20xx, My year of freedom", yet the people remain enslaved.

That's why I like the way the late Tai Solarin dished out salient truths. It's not a curse, with the way Nigeria is going, things won't get better. Looting is on the increase, authority stealing has become “normal” news, and the ruling class is determined to run this nation down. Tell me then, how is everything supposed to get better eventually?

N2billion naira was initially budgeted for the Vice President's residence, but they later added an extra N9billion naira. How can things get better that way?

N4billion naira to the First lady's Mission house even though the law doesn't recognise her! And we still think things will get better? $67 billion foreign reserve was squandered and the government can't account for it! Yet we still hope things will get better?

What has given some Nigerians hope is the formation of All Progressives Congress (APC), the party Nigerians ignorantly believe will wrest power from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and liberate them.

I laugh! To try to differentiate between APC and PDP, ACN, CPC, etc, is like trying to show the difference between goat stealers and cow stealers.

The same people that have plundered the wealth of this nation, practised godfatherism and finally lost relevance in their old parties are trying to cling to relevance by switching boats, and naïve Nigerians believe they are there to liberate them.

The earlier we shook off these illusions, the better for us. Things won't get better until we are determined to make them better.

My only hope is that Nigerians of this generation will wake up in time to avoid making the same mistakes that our fathers and mothers made; the mistake of harbouring false hope.

My only hope is that we'll wake up in time to avoid the pitfalls they fell into; the pitfall of “suffering and smiling”. If we continue to harbour hopes that things will get better without us doing anything, we'll hope for long and things will continue as they are.

Finally, I echo the prayer of Mark Twain, "Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms."

A new Nigeria is possible; we must never give up on that dream!

God bless Nigerians!

Twittter: @hullerj

“I died for seven days; friends sold my properties hoping I won’t return” – Nigeria’s First Lady

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:20:08 PST

By Ini Ekott/Premium Times

Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience Jonathan (seated right) during a thanksgiving service for her

Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience Jonathan, on Sunday opened up on her controversial medical trip last year, admitting for the first time she ailed terribly and was close to dying.

Mrs. Jonathan, who spoke at a special thanksgiving service at the Aso Rock Chapel where the first family worships, said she underwent multiple surgical operations and at some point her doctors lost hope after she “passed out for more than a week.”

“It was not an easy experience for me,” Mrs. Jonathan told the congregation which included senior government officials. “I actually died. I passed out for more than a week. My intestine and tummy were opened.”

“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his. My doctors said all hope was lost. It was God himself in His infinite mercy that said I will return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days,” she narrated.

Mrs. Jonathan’s remarks at the church service, was the first time the presidency would admit the First Lady was seriously sick as widely speculated in 2012.

Mrs. Jonathan was on admission at the Horst Schmidt Klinik in Germany for an undisclosed ailment although multiple reports suggested she was treated for lungs and abdominal problems.

While the news circulated, the presidency ensured an anxious public remained in the dark about her condition, repeatedly insisting Mrs. Jonathan traveled for a “deserved rest”.

The thanksgiving service was delayed for two months, after the initial schedule was moved due to the helicopter crash deaths of former governor of Kaduna state, Patrick Yakowa, and the former National Security Adviser, Owoeye Azazi.

President Goodluck Jonathan, ministers and top government functionaries attended the event on Sunday.

During a stirring session, the First Lady narrated how she went through “hell” while in hospital and said she has dedicated her life to serving the needy.

“It is the Lord’s doing that I returned alive,” she said. “When God says yes, nobody can say no. People are always afraid of operation (surgery). But in my own case, while my travail lasted, I was begging for it after the third operation because I was going to the theatre every day. It was God who saw me through. I did eight or nine operations within one month.”

While she lay dying in Germany, friends and associates who hoped she will not be making it back to Nigeria with life, scrambled for her properties, selling those they could,” Mrs. Jonathan said.

She accused some of those she trusted of leaking information to the public that she had passed on.

“I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was dead. They are people that I trust and rely on. To them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive,” she said. “Some of them even sold my things off. “I won’t say everything here.”

She said she believed she had not completed her assignment on earth, which was why God spared her.

“It was not an easy one. The day I came back, I said God I have nothing to say, I offer myself to you. I will be doing things that will touch the lives of the less privileged. God gave me a second chance because I reached there. He knew I had not completed the assignments He gave me that was why I was sent back,” the First Lady said.

Are we readying our contraption for the present? Are we thinking of tomorrow?

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 14:58:07 PST

By Eze Eluchie

Nigeria's Education Minister, Ruqayyatu Rufai

1,300 Kaduna teachers fail primary school test: “Head teachers, education secretaries unqualified”.

Do these characters ruling over our contraption really appreciate what harm they are inflicting?

On the same day that US President Obama is visiting kindergarten schools to promote government investment in early childhood education and makes a generational statement to the effect that "the size of your paycheck shouldn't determine your child's future. So let's fix this. Let's make sure none of our kids start out the race of life a step behind", it gets announced that over 81% of primary school teachers in one of the component States of our contraption actually failed “mathematics and basic literacy tests” meant for pupils in 4th grade classes!

Are we readying our contraption for the present? Are we thinking of tomorrow? Are we believing tomorrow will think for itself? Perhaps some miracles will happen and it will all be well?

Let us all realize one fact: unless an apocalyptic event happens, such as the earth opening and swallowing all up, these kids being tutored by illiterate teachers will grow up. These kids will want to eat! These kids will want self fulfillment and self actualization!

When they realize what our contraption has groomed them to be, sleep will be difficult for all.

Our kleptocrats, who would have looted monies which would have accorded these youths a life, will feel that the loot they have stashed away in some offshore havens will cushion themselves and their scions from the rot.

It doesn’t really work that way. There soon will be no refuge anywhere, save for lonely prison cells, for such vile characters, and those offsprings they ruined so many for, will soon realize that sleep is difficult when your neighbors’ kids are whining all night.

We are presently overwhelmed with youth militancy, kidnap-for-peanuts and amateurs masquerading as religious terrorists, when these kids grow up, we will realize that we are actually experiencing our honeymoon.

Let’s restructure and renegotiate the contraption whilst these kids are still in school.

Nigeria: Still on two-party structure

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 05:59:09 PST

By Austine Uche-Ejeke

Attahiru Jega, Chairman, Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission

The political system was once again super charged with the purported merger of a plethora of political parties to form what is called All Progressives Congress.

Before this breakthrough, there had been a series of attempts to fuse some political parties into one formidable bloc that can challenge the extant ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

Unfortunately most of this ‘gang-up’ usually end up in fiasco due to what pundits may describe as enlightened selfish interest of the political gladiators who often position themselves for political prominence rather than the actual task of providing a good platform that can act as an alternative to the party in power.

What we had were situations where obviously strange bedfellows hurried up to the blanket at the behest of an impending election. Just like failure is predicated on lack of adequate preparation, so at the end of the day, nothing useful will come out of it.

As if to herald or act as a harbinger of this merger, some weeks ago, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deregistered some political parties that did not meet certain fundamental requirements of a political party.

To add glamour to the merger, INEC has applauded the supposed merger of political parties, thereby giving it a provisional approval pending when other formalities will be perfected for its registration.

What is this two-party structure that many are advocating for Nigeria? Simply put, it is a system of having two strong political parties that offer the electorate a well streamlined alternative to choose and belong mostly for electioneering purposes. In this situation also, only two major political parties dominate and compete with each other in election for different spheres of government.

The pertinent question that detractors of this sort of structure will ask — is it proper for a pluralistic country like Nigeria to be confined to just two political parties? The answer may be yes or no, depending on your political proclivity. The other big poser is what have we achieved with multiplicity of political parties in the country. By the last count, before the INEC hammer on parties, about 50 political parties existed. Are these mushroom groups political parties in the actual sense of the word or just portfolio associations with no known addresses and offices?

Some of them were just there for nomenclature sake and pocketing of grants. In fact, it is widely believed that some of them act as spoilers for the other serious political party as they hardly perform the altruistic function of opposition political parties. Some of them hail and congratulate the ruling party even before the election is concluded, thereby crying even more than the bereaved. But in the actual sense of it, they are supposed to offer constructive criticisms that will galvanize the country into greater heights.

What will Nigerians gain by limiting themselves to just two political parties? That is the very crucial question that may be agitating the minds of many people. One of the benefits is that it will provide two distinct options for the electorate to select. The process and choice of candidates will be less intricate as Nigerians will just pick a candidate of their choice. In case of making a mistake in selecting a candidate in an election, the electorate will now have an alternative of electing the other political party or candidate in the next election if they feel the other political party will provide a better alternative and good governance.

This two-party system will also relegate to the background the regional politics and parties that are becoming the order of the day.

At the risk of sounding imitative, some of the stable democratic governments of the world operate a two-party structure. Prominent among them are the United Kingdom where we have Labour Party and the Conservative Party. Also the largest democracy in the world, United States, has Democratic Party and Republican Party.

To a large extent, this kind of arrangement has assisted the Americans to develop and deepen its political party politics and processes. In the United Kingdom, the contest and winning of election have always been between the Labour Party and the Conservatives. These are the major political parties, although there are other pockets of small political parties. In a situation where the Labour party performs below expectations; the electorate will simply switch over to the conservative party.

For some years the Labour Party had been winning elections but the British decided otherwise and elected the other alternative. Also in US, the Republicans were dethroned after eight years of George Bush as the Democratic Party took over. Thus the American two- party system has helped the country’s electorate to hire and fire candidates at their whims based mostly on performance.

We need a change in this country and if two- party system will take us to the Promised Land, so be it as that will be a most welcome development.

• Uche-Ejeke, toff_ng@yahoo.com

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Welcoming the All Progressives Congress

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 14:59:01 PST

By Sonala Olumhense

I warmly welcome Nigeria’s newest political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

As constituted on February 6, 2013, the APC comprises the former All Progressive Grand Alliance, the Action Congress of Nigeria, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, and the Congress for Progressive Change.

As I understand it, the merger is to advance the best interests of Nigeria through correcting the lapses in our polity identified since 1999.

It is widely-known that those lapses are symbolized by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has wielded power at the centre since that time.

Now, the sins of the PDP are many. So are its sinners.

But Nigeria’s sinners are not only in the PDP. The PDP has become the symbol of Nigeria’s decay only because of its carnage in the center, but none of the parties that have held power in the States in the past 14 years are innocent.

In other words, the real issue is not the PDP; it is the Nigerian politician. The question is whether the Nigerian politician of the APC is different, or will be.

It is known that the immediate objective of the APC is to unseat the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

Mr. Jonathan has not confirmed he will run. If he does, that would indicate an unrepentant PDP.

It will also be good news for the APC because Jonathan ought to be pretty easy to defeat. In my view, Jonathan’s biggest opponent in 2015 will be Jonathan, not a party or a presidential candidate.

In 2011, he never debated anyone but himself; in 2015, he will. Since 2011, he has put in the most atrocious shift a Nigerian ruler ever has, and failed to honour his promises and pledges. In Jonathan’s care, Nigeria is worse than an open sewage.

Jonathan is Jonathan’s biggest weakness because his presidency has been but a broadcast of his limitations. The Jonathan that has emerged since 2010 is, even by PDP standards, not a marketable one. Unless Nigerians are such fools that that they will again mistake “clueless” for “shoeless,” it is unlikely he will make it past his own party’s primaries.

In other words, in the 2015 elections, the APC will have more than a fair chance to wipe the slate clean.

But the task is not just removing the PDP; it is putting in, and putting first, Nigeria. To do that, the APC must demonstrate the capacity, not just the rhetoric, for democracy. It is an age-old challenge: many proclaim it, but few are strong enough to understand its implications.

The question is whether, in practice, the replacement party is cut from the same cloth as the PDP. Since you cannot get yam from cocoyam, will the men and women offered by the APC be achiever and people of character?

The new party has outlined its priorities to include agricultural development, jobs, free education, affordable healthcare, infrastructural development, adequate power supply, eradication of poverty and corruption, and rapid technological advancement and industrialisation.

That is all very good, but it is also just an overloaded shopping basket. Any political party, especially a new one, can tender such a shopping cart at the checkout counter. Does the APC have the political and patriotic capital to pay for it?

I certainly hope so, but the new party may be looking at the microscope from the wrong end. Regrettably, that is the same exhaust pipe from which the PDP has always looked at the country, and it is the end from which Nigeria has been sold the most rotten goods.

The correct and sensible place to start is for the ACP to assume the character of a party that seeks power not for the sake of power, but for service.

How is the APC to be seen to be programmed to serve, and not simply to serve its members?

My answer is that the new party must set clear standards, and demonstrate that those standards are higher than partisan politics and the APC itself. Before contesting for power, it should show that it is serious about things being done, and done right.

In this regard, I challenge the APC to set such standards into a code of conduct and of obligations, and publish it. This will demonstrate that the party understands the quality of the challenge that is before our nation, and that it intends to subordinate itself to it.

The APC must understand that it will be held to a higher standard than the PDP because, by its nature, it has proclaimed itself to be the superior of the two. Is it?

Beyond any doubt, Nigeria’s failures stem from a dearth of men and of institutions, and it will require the most courageous and patriotic of Nigerians to commence the rectification of this problem.

Is the APC the right batch of men, or are they simply taking advantage of the moment? Let the new party to define its character by publicly setting the lowest limits of its aspirations at the level of the most essential reforms that Nigeria needs.

In this respect, the first, most desirable, and lowest-hanging fruit is our electoral system. A system where the party in power, through the president, defines elections through the pivotal ability to appoint the electoral boss is a joke and cannot guarantee decent elections or attract decent candidates. The ACP should therefore pick the Uwais Report, which contains all the answers, off the floor, and labour to make it the basis of true electoral reform. There is no reason to start over.

Think about it: so we have an “Independent” National Electoral Commission (INEC)? If so, exactly what is INEC independent of? It is certainly not independent of the ruling party or the president.

Here is proof: In 2010, Attahiru Jega, the current INEC chairman, loudly announced that the new electoral register had captured many well-known multiple-registering politicians. Jega was effusive that he would make an example of the offenders by prosecuting them. Two and a half years later, he has done no such thing. The reason is simple: most of them belong to his employers: the PDP. If we implement the recommendations of the Justice Uwais panel, we will be spare these hypocrisies.

Second, the APC should put into play, without delay, a nationwide voter-education plan that will not only consolidate it as a political party, but will demonstrate a grassroots machinery of education and voter-registration. That is how you broaden party membership and develop national presence.

Three: a true anti-corruption response. If the APC considers itself to be ready for prime-time, it must tell Nigerians how it intends to combat corruption. Without a dogged and determined anti-corruption plan, the APC will simply become the PDP in another name.

Nigerians know that the current “anti-corruption” scheme is a ruse. A true war will have many of the current anti-corruption leaders in jail within one month, and stripped of their loot.

The same regime will also put proponents of the ACP on trial and separate them from both their loot and their hypocrisies. The APC must demonstrate that it is willing, ready and capable of assuming this challenge. Nigeria does not lack resources for development; what we lack are men who will retrieve the resources from our many thieves and plough them into development.

The PDP must go. But the APC must prove that it is the answer.

• sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

A Papal Resignation Unlike any Other

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 02:12:00 PST

By Cletus Nwabuzo

Pope Benedict XVI

The news of the Holy Father’s announcement that he will resign from the Petrine ministry he assumed in April 2005 is a historic surprise. A little over a decade ago while I was doing my doctoral studies in Medieval History at St. Louis University, in St. Louis, Missouri, the question in class was could any of the foibles of the medieval papacy be repeated in our own day? The answer was as diverse as we were in a relatively large graduate class.

We were about fifteen graduate students from the departments of History, Theology, Law, and Management Science (Economics). Our collective view however, was that in this era of micro-management of crisis and twenty-four hour television news a papal resignation was not going to be on the card. The Professor differed. He reasoned that history was both unique and dynamic, but human history was particularly difficult to predict with the certainty we were ascribing to it. Recent events of the announcement of the Pope’s resignation could not have supported the reasoning of my professor any clearer.

This announcement of a papal resignation is unique like every papal reign, but has so many historical coincidences in the history of the papacy itself, the political climate in Rome itself, and another German connection. As the news of the papal announcement broke and we were listening to the many television news reports and analysis, I noticed in one of the Nigerian newspapers adverts from the Italian Embassy in Nigeria calling Italians resident in Nigeria to take appropriate steps to vote in the Italian parliamentary elections on February 21 or thereabout.

On the Italian television, RAI, the leaders of the various political parties took time off their electoral campaign to comment on the papal announcement in Rome. This is one incident too vivid for any historian of the papacy to ignore or miss. In one breath one hears or reads about political development in Rome, not to talk of turmoil, and the resignation of a pope. This turmoil in the political life of the Italian Republic domiciled in Rome and the announcement of the impending resignation of a German pope has echoes in medieval papal history.

In the dying days of the tenth century and in the opening decades of the eleventh century the Ottonian dynasty, a German ruling house, of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ led a reform movement to restore the papacy from its captivity from the Roman aristocracy. It was an effort that resulted according to the English historian Eamon Duffy in the dismissal (resignation) of no fewer than five popes from the 25 popes that reigned between 955 and 1057. The Ottonian emperors appointed 12 of the popes of this period. Their intervention in the life of the city of Rome to reform the papacy had far reaching consequences for the oligarchy in Rome too. The resignation of a pope at a time the political allegiances of the Italian Republic is up in the air is quite potent.

Another coincidence between the eleventh century papacy and Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement is the very name Benedict. Benedict VIII and Benedict IX who were popes from 1012-1024 and from 1032 to 1048 respectively, were both central characters of the post-ottonian reform papal rot. Pope Benedict VIII was the head of one of the Roman aristocratic families, the Tusculan family. He had succeeded his father Count Gregory as Count of Tusculum, and got himself elected pope.

He was a layman and duly ordained a priest, bishop, consecrated pope and enthroned. He is not generally regarded as a bad pope, but the papacy had become his family’s property. He was succeeded after a 12-year reign by his brother, who took the name John XIX (1024-1032). At the end of John’s reign, a nephew succeeded him and took the name Benedict IX. This second Tusculan Benedict was also a layman at the time of his election.

He was the son of Count Alberic III and became pope because his father bought the office. He was in his 20s at the time of his election, and was both violent and lecherous even for the eleventh century Romans. His was another 12 year marked by violence and amorous scandals until he was deposed in 1045. But was not going to go without a fight.

He was first driven out of Rome and replaced by pope Sylvester III (1045), but was restored to the papal throne with the help of his family’s private army in the same year, 1045. Then followed almost three years of a bitter and unrelenting struggle in which he apparently lost interest in the papacy and accepted bribe to abdicate in favour of an ally, the archpriest John Gratian who became pope Gregory VI (1045-1046).

And here lies the conundrum of an ex-pope or a retired pope. Here, there are three popes in contention. Benedict IX had retired, Sylvester III was defeated by the Tusculans but still alive and pope, and Gregory VI. All of them had been validly enthroned and entrusted with the key of the Fisherman. What was the Church going to do? Into that mixt came another German problem solver. Henry III, had succeeded his father, Comrade II (1024-1039) as king in 1039 and had made his way to Rome to be crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

He arrived the Holy city in 1046 to meet a very troubled city and Church. He decided he was not going to be crowned by a pope, Gregory VI, who was widely accused of buying the papal throne, a simoniac. A synod to address such a weighty matter was immediately convoked at Sutri in December 1046. At this synod the three popes Gregory VI, Sylvester III, and the retired Benedict IX were all formally deposed, and another papal reform agenda foisted on the Church. Four German bishops would be elected popes in quick succession between 1046 and 1055.

Here, however, we are in the beginning decades of the 21st century and another papal resignation announcement. This announcement may have these echoes of the past and coincidence of names and places. But it is unique. The Holy Father, Benedict XIV’s announcement is a resignation announcement that defies parallels in the past. It certainly does not parallel the forced resignation of Gregory XII in 1415. He was forced to resign by the Council of Constance as part of the solution to the fifteenth century schism.

Pope Benedict XVI’s is a reasoned resignation that manages to deal with the two elements of management of public office holders that my classmates and I had thought would make it impossible for a pope to resign or abdicate. We were sure a pope who would want to resign would be hampered by curial official who would rather manage the papal crisis than allow the pope to retire. And we thought managing the information itself in this information age and leaks of all sorts of confidential matters would be impossible if it ever came to pass.

We have all been proven wrong by this pope. Not only did he announce why he was going to be resigning on February 28, he seemed to have allowed no one an opportunity to micro-manage the process and peddle rumour or “Vatican” leak a question that had to deal with something more than public trust, examination of conscience before God. He has defied the very fickle and flimsy odds that mark resignation of public office holders to teach us this enduring value of faith in God. There is no crisis in the Church of God; the boat of Peter is not sinking. Viva il Papa.

As for the other coincidence with political development in Italy, I wish the Italians the very best of God’s blessing. It will be a very hard time if there is no government of the Italian Republic at the very time they See of Rome is also vacant.

*Fr. Nwabuzo, O.P., Dominican Institute, Ibadan, Oyo State.

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The Self-Serving Cry of Marginalisation by the Elites

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 06:30:17 PST

By Jaye Gaskia

My take on this cry of marginalisation, is that for all intents and purposes, it is a cry that is even among the Yorubas, quite a sectional, and perhaps self-serving one!

A section of the Yoruba elite who have lost out at home are now trying to whip up sentiments in order to win concessions at the centre. I do not think that those who have gained ascendancy at home consider the Yoruba to be marginalised! What real significant difference would occupying any of those position by the political elite making the claim, make in or to the lives of ordinary Yorubas? When under the OBJ presidency a section of the Yoruba elites occupied those positions, what significant difference did it make to the ordinary Yorubas and other citizens who lived in the south west?

In reality, has this so-called marginalisation led to the undermining in any way, much less fundamentally, the business interests of the Yoruba elites for example?

Is the southwest being at this moment governed by non Yorubas? Has it at any time in its history been governed by non Yorubas? I can even make bold to stir the hornet's nest and make what may be considered, a controversial assertion: The Yorubas, within the context of the politics of Nigeria, have made progress whenever they have been autonomous of the centre because of being governed by parties who are in the opposition at the federal level than when they have been governed by same party as that at the centre or by parties in alliance with the governing party at the centre!

This claim of marginalisation as in most of the cases of marginalisation pushed and politicised by the political elites, is at its heart very self-serving. And in this particular instance of the Yoruba, at this moment in time, even more self serving than most!

We heard a lot from the political elite of the Niger Delta before GEJ's ascendancy about the marginalization of the Niger Delta (which is true in reality; but by which the elite meant their exclusion from access to the spoils of the federal center). So is it that the fundamentals of the Niger Delta have been radically altered since GEJ? Is that why the Niger Delta is “No longer marginalized”? Will the marginalization return the moment the Niger Delta elite lose their current first class access to the spoils of office at the federal centre?

In reality, the real marginalisation is of the under-privileged non elites, whose slum dwellings are routinely demolished; who are routinely evicted from urban centres; whose livelihood sources are routinely criminalised; and whose living conditions have been permanently made hellish and unbearable. Or take the youth, among whom unemployment and unemployability has reached pandemic proportions!

These are the real marginalised; and it is these truly marginalised citizens across the country who need to come together and organise themselves politically and autonomously of this light fingered thieving ruling class in order to take the necessary political Action to Take Back Nigeria; and achieve our National Liberation and Social Emancipation.

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Hubris: The Selling of the Iraq War

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 11:13:57 PST

This year marks the tenth anniversary of President George W. Bush's State of the Union address containing the now infamous 16 words that turned out to be a very consequential lie:

“The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

Included in a collection of web materials associated with Rachel Maddow's upcoming documentary "Hubris: The Selling of the Iraq War," is a longer cut of that 2003 State of the Union address. It's a powerful reminder of how thick the Bush administration laid it on to rally America to war in Iraq.

NBCNews.com

Cardinal Arinze reacts to Pope's resignation

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:53:07 PST

The Joy of Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:32:57 PST

Address delivered to the students, staff and guests at the Edgewise Reading Network’s Readership Promotion event held at Comprehensive High School, Isawo, Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria, on Wednesday, February 13, 2013, by Mr. Richard Mammah, MD, Sunbird African Media Ltd.

Good Afternoon, Mr. Chairman, the Principal, guests, staff, students, ladies and gentlemen.

Permit me to start this address by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to PreyeTambou and his team at Edgewise Reading Network for fighting so ebulliently to get this programme going. As a long-time devotee of the cause of reading promotions in Nigeria, I very well know what a yeoman’s task this has, and continues to be. I salute you.

Now, is there really joy in reading? And what kind of joy exactly would that be?

I will call to the witness box the child, aged four who has just been told his favourite bed-time story and is vigorously pleading for one more take. Is there joy in reading? Ask him!

My second witness would be that candidate in the university semester examinations who finds out in the course of answering a question that not only is he able to largely recall a lot of what he had read up from his course notes and texts, but that several other bits of information from other books and materials he had encountered at different times and seasons are easily returning to his mind at this moment to guarantee that he would no doubt get a very good grade in the course under reference. Is there joy in reading? Again, we request that you direct the question to him!

My final witness for now would be that Professor who has just finished delivering his inaugural lecture to find himself looking down - from his perch up there on the podium - at a packed hall full of applauding listeners much impressed with the depth of scholarship that he had so effortlessly handed down.

Interestingly, as I speak, my friend and fellow champion in the course of the book in Nigeria, Professor Remi Raji is at the moment putting finishing touches to a paper in that mould that he would be delivering at the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan. Is there joy in reading? You can ask the good Professor, who is also the current President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), after he has finished his lecture tomorrow.

I have called up these witnesses to make the first basic point that contrary to what many of us have been made to believe reading indeed is and should be fun.

So from where do we get the idea that reading equates drudgery and what should be done to help that student who finds reading as a boring chore to get over his erroneous feeling and begin to better appreciate the great bliss that is inherently contained in the reading enterprise?

Let us begin from trying to understand what reading is in the first place?

The Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines reading to involve a process of understanding ‘the meaning of written or printed words or symbols.’ Whether it is in decoding bus-stop directions, instructions on a drugs’ pack or sifting through several volumes of texts to prepare a research paper that would help you get that certificate or degree, the reading enterprise always involves making meaning out of the processing of characters and alphabets that the reader can recognise.

Broken down therefore, reading would simply be an interface of words, recognition and meaning. You confront a text; you recognize the words, read them together and make meaning out of them. From sentence to paragraph, chapter to section the process does not change. It is: Words-Recognition-Meaning.

Would you sometimes meet strange words? Yes. Would some passages sometimes not read like ‘Greek?’ Yes. Would some authors not sometimes be talking above your head? Again, my answer is yes. But the solution dear student is not to run away. And to help explain this point, I will take a slight detour into the world of driving.

If you ask the average driver on our roads, he would tell you that there was a time when he really did not think he would today be driving through the streets and highways of Lagos. But having come to grips with the fact that this was one vocation that he was almost compelled to master, he had no choice but to pick up the proverbial gauntlet and get on with it. Today, the rest is history.

Happily, the reading enterprise is not that ‘oppressive.’ Looking around you, you will find that there are indeed things that you naturally like reading. You may not be the greatest fan of bed time stories but your favourite could be poetry. You may just tolerate biographies but comics would make your day anytime! And this indeed would be our first point in joy-reading: read a lot of what naturally excites and interests you! Indeed, in some situations, it would be from reading and continuing to read more and more of the stuff that interests you that you would find readily recognizable cross-reference material with which you would better explain yourself when you get up higher on the educational and career planes where the focus is on depth and breadth.

Let me illustrate this point some more with three references. One, as a journalist, who had to write an opinion essay on the level of corruption in the ruling People’s Democratic Party a few years ago when Ahmadu Ali was Chairman of the arty and Baba Olusegun Obasanjo was President, I drew upon my fictional knowledge of the story of ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ to caption my essay; ‘Ali, Baba and the Forty Thieves.’

Second, as a copy-writer for an advertising agency several years back, I chanced upon a spectacular piece of word-play in an advert about the satellite product, Capsat that took its bearing from the historical saga of the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. It read: ‘If Napoleon had a Capsat, he would not have lost the Battle of Waterloo!’ I was impressed.

Days later, I was commissioned to write a copy for the public relations firm, Imprint Communications, and with the Capsat copy still reeling around my head for inspiration, I penned these lines: ‘Many years ago, dinosaurs roamed the face of the earth. We know about this today because they left their Imprint! Needless to say, my own word-play involved matching the name of the company with the saga of dinosaurs that had since gone extinct but whose tales I had read in some of my voracious life-long searches for story after story to devour! So do not let anyone discourage you that you are reading too much of the stuff you like to read! Rather, politely tell them that ‘it would come handy someday!’

That settled, our final point would have to do with what you have to read but do not like. Being in school as we currently are, I am sure that you will find situations like that. To address this, you could adopt one of two possible responses.

The first would be to appreciate the truth that there is indeed no hurdle under the sun that cannot be confronted and scaled. For example, people say that it is almost impossible learning new languages after childhood. Well, this speaker did learn to speak and write Deutsch at age 36! And he does not have the gift for languages per se as is apparent with his continuing battles with French and Yoruba. Beni!

The answer really to coping with tough and difficult reading encounters would be in finding an appropriate method with which to prevail.

In this, one first point that must be made is for the reader to recognize that escape would not be the answer. While the temptation would be strong to damn the subject because you do not enjoy it presently, the truth really is that it could be all-too-critical for your future that you must secure a credit pass in or you could find out in the course of time that ‘the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’

This in a sense is the story of my relationship with Geography. After having dropped the subject because I had considered it ‘uninteresting,’ events and circumstances made me to do a u-turn in my final year in secondary school and I signed-in Geography as one of my Certificate Examinations subjects. I then proceeded to break it down to subjects and sections as contained in the syllabus, gave the subject more time in my private study time-table and thankfully also, the subject teacher, Mr. Kwame Ayekpa, kindly availed me all of his time and resources (including meals at his home in the staff quarters!). The result was stunning!

So it comes down finally to the environment within which you read. Again, I repeat? Would there be difficult moments? You bet. Would reading be boring sometimes? Correct. Is it okay to shut the book and take a walk? Absolutely!

But even as you have your way and take that break when you must, you must also equally pay attention to that soft, nudging call from your books as they gently implore you long after you have rested: ‘can we please return to our world of study ...and fun! Respond to the prompting and you will ultimately find out like many others before you that truly, ‘reading maketh a man.’

I thank you for your patience and attention.

Source: http://richardmammah.blogspot.com/

What is One Billion Rising? Founder Eve Ensler explains

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:58:15 PST

Eve Ensler

Playwright and activist Eve Ensler explains One Billion Rising, a global day of action – and dancing – in protest against violence against women.

This February 14 2013, V-Day will be 15 years old. It was never our intention to be around that long. Our mission was to end violence against women and girls, and so we planned to be out of business years ago.

We have had enormous victories in these years. We have broken taboos, spoken the word "vagina" in 50 languages in 140 countries, called up stories and truths about violence against women, breaking the silence, supported amazing activists across the planet who have created and changed laws. But we have not fulfilled our mission to end violence against women and girls. In fact the UN says that one out of three women on the planet will be beaten or raped in her lifetime. That is one billion women plus. That is simply insane and unacceptable.

So this V-Day we knew we had to go further; we knew we had to escalate our efforts to break through the patriarchal wall of oppression and denial, to transform the mindset that has normalised this violence, to bring women survivors into their bodies, their strength, their determination, their energy and power and to dance up the will of the world to finally make violence against women unacceptable.

So less than a year ago, we announced One Billion Rising, a call for the one billion women and all the men who love them to walk out of their jobs, schools, offices, homes on Feb 14, 2013 and strike, rise and dance!

Nothing we have ever done has spread so fast and happened so easily. Our motto was "not branding but expanding": a global action to be determined and carried out locally. Every city, town, village, person would determine what they were rising for - to end FGM, to remember their daughter's rape, to stop sex slavery, to educate young boys and girls about non-violence sexual relations.

During this year horrific stories of sexual violence broke through the news clutter with headlines reporting Malala Yousafzai shot for demanding girls to be educated in Afghanistan, the death and gang rape of Jyoti Singh in Delhi, the gang rape in Steubenville, Ohio.

All these stories have built the outrage and ignited a fire burning through the world.

One Billion Rising is happening big time, full scale, one Billion size. It is happening in 205 countries. It is happening where women will risk their lives to dance and where women have never danced before. It is happening in all 7,000 islands of the Philippines and in over 50 cities in Turkey. There are 100 risings in Italy, 135 risings in UK and thousands in North America. We are expecting 25 million to rise in Bangladesh, and it's hard to imagine the numbers in India but they will be massive.

The diversity of the risings is beyond anything we could have imagined: the carnival queen in Rio de Janeiro, the queen mother of Bhutan, prime ministers of Australia and Croatia, members of the European parliament, lamas, nuns, unions leaders, avatars in Second Life, zumba dancers, classical dancers in Karachi, cast members of Wicked and The Lion King on Broadway, women in the Andes, 200 women in a parking lots in Kamloops, British Columbia, Iranian teenagers in their bedrooms, thousands of Afghani women dressed in OBR scarves, Filipino domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, people on bridges, in buses, prisons, squares, in stadiums, in churches, theatres.

But what is most remarkable is what One Billion Rising has already accomplished before we even begin to dance today.

It has brought together coalitions of groups and individuals that have never worked together before, galvanised new people and groups and associations and masses of men who were not engaged before but now see violence as their issue – and all of this putting violence against women to the centre of the global discussion.

It has broken taboos and silences everywhere, inspired a radical outpouring of individuals and groups to reveal the world wide system of patriarchy which sustains the violence. One Billion Rising has also shown that violence against women is not a national, tribal, ethnic, religious issue but a global phenomenon, and the rising will give survivors the confidence of knowing that violence is not their fault or their country's fault or their families fault.

Today the dancing begins and with this dancing we express our outrage and joy and our firm global call for a world where women are free and safe and cherished and equal. Dance with your body, for your body, for the bodies of women and the earth.

Source: The Guardian, UK.

One Billion Rising: An End to Violence Against Women

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:42:42 PST

By Sorcha Pollak

Women in Ahmadabad, India, dance in support of the One Billion Rising global campaign calling for an end to violence against women and girls. (Ajit Solanki/Associated Press)

One out of three women on the planet will be beaten or raped in their lifetime—that’s over a billion women who will experience some type of gender-based violence, according to the United Nations. On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, people in 205 countries across the globe took to the streets dancing in an attempt to increase awareness of the realities faced by women and girls as part of the One Billion Rising project.

One Billion Rising stems from the work of an organization called V-day that was founded in 1998 by Eve Ensler, author of the award-winning play The Vagina Monologues. Every Valentine’s Day since, Ensler’s group has allowed theater groups around the world to hold a production of the Monologues, while encouraging people to hold events promoting equal rights for women.

This year is the 15^th anniversary of the V-day group, and the celebration has developed a far greater following than any other event. “Nothing we have ever done has spread so fast and happened so easily,” Ensler told the Guardian.

2012 was a particularly dark year for violence against women, with the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan, the gang rape and death of Jyoti Singh in India, and the gang rape of a high schooler in Steubenville, Ohio. “All these stories have built the outrage and ignited a fire burning through the world,” said Ensler.

She believes that this year’s project could be the beginning of a real, lasting change for women. “In the last year, we’ve finally seen stories about violence against women breaking through in big ways, such as in India,” Ensler explained to the Huffington Post. “One Billion Rising in fanning the fire and allowing that energy to continue so that real legislation and real laws, real action is beginning to happen.”

Violence against women is a universal problem and can take many forms – physical, sexual, psychological and economic. According to World Bank data, women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and Malaria.

These statistics apply to western countries as well as nations in the developing world. In the U.S., one-third of women murdered each year are killed by intimate partners, while in Canada a study of teenagers aged 15 to 19 found that 54% of girls had experienced “sexual coercion” in a dating relationship. In the Democratic Republic of Congo an average of 36 women and girls are raped every day; in Guatemala, two women are murdered each day.

Source: Time.

World's "ugliest woman" buried in Mexico 150 years after her death

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:34:20 PST

By Yue Wang

She was called “bear woman,” “the bearded and hairy lady” and once described as the hybrid of a human and an orangutan. Throughout her life, her husband exhibited her as a freak of nature on a worldwide tour.

She passed away in 1860 but was never given a proper burial — instead, she was mummified so she could continue being displayed as a circus object. But on Tuesday, more than 150 years after her death, she was finally buried. Now she rests with the dignity that life had rarely afforded her.

This is the story of Julia Pastrana, known as the world’s ugliest woman. Born in Mexico in 1834, Pastrana suffered from two rare diseases that were undiagnosed in her time: generalized hypertrichosis lanuginose, which gave her copious facial hair and gingival hyperplasia, which thickened her jaw, Reuters reported.

In the mid-1850s, she was sold to Theodore Lent, a U.S. impresario who later married her to keep control of her and the money she was bringing in, according to the New York Times. She reportedly fell madly in love with Lent, who taught her to sing and dance in order to parade her in freak shows across the United States and Europe.

Pastrana died in 1860 after giving birth to Lent’s son, who inherited his mother’s condition. The boy died five days later, but Lent was relentless in his pursuit of circus fame. He mummified the bodies of both mother and son, and the show carried on.

In the ensuing decades, the bodies changed many hands. The son’s remains were damaged beyond repair, but the mother’s body ended up in a storage room at the University of Oslo in Norway, according to the New York Times.

Today, more than 150 years after her death, her remains were finally brought back to her hometown after the New York-based visual artist Laura Anderson Barbata spent almost a decade lobbying for her return. The New York Times reported that Mario Lopez, the current governor of Sinaloa state, the birthplace of Pastrana, later joiner her cause and made a crucial contribution to Pastrana’s repatriation.

After a Roman Catholic mass at a local church, Pastrana was buried in the town cemetery in a white coffin garlanded with white rose while traditional music played. “Imagine the aggression and cruelty of humankind she had to face, and how she overcame it,” Lopez told Reuters. “It’s a very dignified story.”

Source: Time.

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A Valentine's Day Message against Connubial Corruption

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:16:08 PST

By Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka

A St. Valentine’s Day Card on the $27ml 1^st Lady Mission House by the Jonathan administration.

A Valentine Day Message should be brief, so I must plead for understanding for this departure from the norm. In any case, I deplore the slavish adoption of foreign saints of whatever shade, color, or religious persuasion.

However, the coincidence of dates for women’s intervention in yet another egregious conspiracy to drain the Nigerian treasury, mounted in the name of a high-flying member of your gender, strikes me as a call to break the mould and submit myself to the call of Saint Valentine.

A Yoruba proverb goes thus: Ti a ba ma a j’opolo, ka je eyi to l’eyin. (If one must eat a toad, then go for an egg-bloated one). If I must send a Valentine card for the first time in my life, then let me do so on a grand scale. I have therefore elected not to lend my affection to any one individual, but the entire bevy of First Ladies of the African continent – and that includes First Male Spouses. What, after all, is to stop these male consorts from developing ‘pet projects’ and setting up Missions? Even if they number no more than one or two, there is a saying that goes: What is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander.

A mind-boggling fiscal misappropriation – Four Billion Naira, no less! - is being attempted in your names – openly, in an attempt to institutionalize an illegality through a debasement of the democratic process. It is no longer secretive but in-your-face, and damn public opinion!

Your names have been invoked as the ultimate beneficiaries, and thus, you are vicariously implicated. In the name of St.

Valentine and the love I bear for you all, please dissociate yourself from this display of shameless avarice. I shall not go so far as to ask you to denounce what you probably know nothing about, but if you ever get to hear of it, distance yourselves from the gross impropriety.

I implore you in the name of all local equivalents of St. Valentine: continue to serve humanity within and outside your borders, but without self-interest. Assist this nation in crushing the increasing acquisitive impudence of individuals and institutions that do not exist in our constitution, yet insist on fattening on national resources.

The enthronement of vulgar preening and opportunistic consumption is complicating the battle of a principled minority on critical social issues. It gets in the way of sanitizing society, and has become an expensive distraction.

When you visit in your personal and/or professional capacities, or as consorts to your spouses, we would love to love you, respect and honor you. It will be painful to watch you dodging a rain of rotten eggs and tomatoes in place of flower petals and bouquets.

There is no such thing as an African First Ladies Mission in the Nigerian appropriation list. Any claim remotely like it is the conspiracy of sycophants, jobbers, masters of impunity, a desperate clique that unfurls a continental umbrella as cover for private aggrandizement. Please, do not be a part of it. The people of this nation are fast losing patience.

Yours in unstinting love, this St. Valentine’s Day of Two Thousand and Thirteen, Wole SOYINKA (A Public Service Retiree)

No country for petty thieves

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:34:51 PST

By Chido Onumah

John Yusuf Yakubu being scorted by security operatives at the Federal High Court in Abuja

Nigerians are outraged, justifiably so, at the shenanigans of the country’s judiciary which led to the ridiculously light sentence and eventual freedom last month of a man who pled guilty of robbing the country’s police pension scheme of billions of naira.

The facts of the case speak for themselves. John Yakubu Yusuf, a former assistant director in the federal civil service, and six others are implicated in the theft of N32.8bn ($218ml) of police pension fund. They go on trial on a 20-count charge. Under a plea bargain agreement with prosecutors, Mr. Yusuf pleads guilty to three charges, including the 19th and 20th offences relating specifically to him (betraying trust and fraudulently converting N2bn ($13ml) of police pension funds to private use).

The maximum penalty for each offence is two years. Justice Abubakar Talba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, finds Yusuf guilty on three counts and orders that the sentences should run concurrently. He gives Yusuf an option of N250,000 ($1,700) fine on each of the three counts. In addition to the fine, Mr. Yusuf is ordered to forfeit to the State, 32 property, in Abuja and Gombe, and the sum of N325 ($2.1ml) in restitution.

In his plea for leniency, Yusuf’s lawyer, Theodore Bala Maiyakim, claimed his client had a serious heart condition. “He has saved the time of my Lord and being a first offender, with no previous record of conviction, I urge the court to temper justice with mercy and sentence him with least possible terms,” Maiyakim said. Another version of this tale noted that Maiyakim had “urged the court to be lenient on his client as he has ailing aged parents and responsibility to pay the school fees of his children”.

There are conflicting reports about what transpired and the exact amount involved in this criminal enterprise. According to the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, “The prosecution and defence lawyers actually had an agreement on specific outcomes of the case which included a custodial sentence which was breached by the judge. Although no formal agreement was written or signed by any of the parties, the two sides agreed with the judge that first, the accused person would declare and forfeit all assets he acquired with proceeds of the funds he stole. Secondly, the parties agreed that he would be given custodial sentence with no option of fine”.

It is really difficult to know how much Yusuf and his daredevil gang stole. We may never know how high up this fraud goes; the very senior government officials, ministers, maybe, senators and reps, bank managers and sundry other perfidious criminals involved in what clearly is a well-coordinated plot. What is not hard to see is the effect of their bare-faced thievery. We can see it in the “untimely death” of many police pensioners; the families that have been ruined and impoverished; the thousand, perhaps millions of children who couldn’t go to school because the person responsible for paying their school fees is dead or has been denied his paltry income.

But all this is now academic. In a way, the Yusuf saga has become a byword for all that is wrong with our laws, criminal justice system, notion of crime and punishment and national psyche. Our mind-set is that when you steal public fund, you are stealing from nobody in particular; you are merely getting your share of the proverbial national cake. After all, those before you did the same and nothing happened. We have a warped sense of nationhood and hardly realize, or couldn’t care less, if our actions bring the country to her knees. The refrain is that everyone has a price. So, when you steal, you have to steal enough to bribe or pacify everyone, including judges, prosecutors and journalists.

Since the Yusuf judgement, the media (mainstream and social) have been awash with examples of how the country’s broken legal system has succeeded in shortchanging the masses. We have been reminded of the six-month imprisonment of Tafa Balogun, a former Inspector General of Police, for corruption and money laundering; the two-year imprisonment of ex-governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State for corruption and money laundering; James Ibori, former governor of Delta State, who appeared before Justice Marcel Awokulehin on 147 charges, was set free, only for the governor to be found guilty and sentenced to 13 years in prison in Britain; the six-month imprisonment (or golden handshake) given to rogue banker, Cecelia Ibru, for defrauding her bank to the tune of $1bn; the six-month imprisonment with an option of N3.5ml ($23,000) fine for ex-governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, for corruption; and the 30-month imprisonment of Bode George, former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, and national vice-chairman, southwest zone, of the People’s Democratic Party for contract fraud. The examples are endless.

The Tafa Balogun case is, indeed, instructive considering it involves the head of a law enforcement agency. How is it possible for the chief law enforcement officer of the country to steal so much money? I shall return to this. I raised this question in my book, Time to Reclaim Nigeria, where I documented Tafa Balogun’s exploit as a criminal mastermind.

Mr. Balogun became IGP in March 2002, and oversaw security during the April 2003 national elections. By the time Tafa Balogun was convicted in late 2005, he had over N5 billion ($33 million) of money meant for the police in his private accounts. With more than ten property around the world worth over N3 billion ($20 million) — property he acquired as a police officer — you won’t be wrong to think that Mr. Balogun was an estate agent.

The former IGP was forced to resign in January 2005 after allegations of bribery, corruption and dalliance with corrupt politicians and criminal elements became public. In April 2005, Mr. Balogun was put on trial on 70 charges and found guilty of embezzling about N20 billion ($133 million) of police fund. After a plea deal, he was sentenced to six months in prison, part of which he spent at the Abuja National Hospital.

We can juxtapose these sweet deal convictions with the (in)justice for ordinary citizens. About the same time that Yusuf was walking home a freeman with proceeds of his crime, someone was being sentenced to three years in prison, without an option of fine, for stealing a cell phone. In Abeokuta, Ogun State, a magistrate court headed by Idowu Olayinka sentenced 49-year-old Mustapha Adesina to two years in prison for stealing vegetables valued at N5,000 ($33) with an option of N10,000 fine ($66).

In Asaba, Delta State, a young man, Emmanuel Michael, was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour by a Chief Magistrate Court for stealing gold earrings worth N25,000 ($166). In sentencing Michael, Presiding Chief Magistrate, Sylvester Ehikwe, stated: “He does not deserve mercy as burglary is next to armed robbery.” It was reported that Michael who had earlier pled guilty to the two-count charge preferred against him wept in the dock, saying, “I was hungry”. There is the gut-wrenching story of a woman in Suleja prison in Niger State who has been awaiting trial for over two years, and is forced to live in prison with her six children, for stealing a goat.

It seems our prisons are meant for and are full of petty thieves while high profile criminals strut around and wine and dine in the presidency. What happens if our goat-stealing mother is later found not guilty? How much did it cost the government to prosecute John Yakubu Yusuf? I am not a learned fellow so I have left the legalese of these matters, particularly the cases involving Justices Abubakar Talba and Sylvester Ehikwe, to legal minds.

For me, the fundamental issue is the question I raised earlier: What kind of system makes it possible for public officers to steal so much of our collective wealth with impunity? The only answer I can come up with is that it is a system that lacks leadership; one in which the leadership would commit hara-kiri rather than let the public know what it is worth.

When you have a functional government and the man in charge not only gives a damn about fighting corruption but leads by example, then the tribe of John Yakubu Yusuf would be the exception rather than the rule.

conumah@hotmail.com

Nigerian Women Protest $27ml 1st Lady Mission House, Call for Scrapping of “First Lady” Office

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:28:59 PST

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Nigerian women under the aegis of Women Arise for Change Initiative are scandalized by the culture of waste that has become the hallmark of governance in Nigeria, especially in recent times.

The latest of such fiscal brigandage is the N4bn ($27ml) allocated for the building of an office for Nigeria's First Lady, Patience Jonathan’s African First Ladies Mission Initiative. The allocation, which is provided for in the Federal Capital Territory’s 2013 Budget, is an affront to Nigerians and should be vehemently resisted by all right-thinking members of the society. Even in an era where fiscal irresponsibility is the norm, and not the exception, the allocation is an extraordinarily egregious insult on Nigerians.

To budget such a humongous amount of public funds for a ceremonial office that is not recognized by the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a resounding slap on the collective visage of the majority of Nigerians at a time when tens of millions live on less than a dollar per day.

To do so when the majority of Nigerians are the unwilling patients of a poverty pandemic deriving from criminally poor leadership is tantamount to spreading salt on an open wound. The office of the First Lady is not a creation of the constitution. Rather, it is the despicable child of the whim and caprices of our nation’s cruel elite.

It is instructive that it acquired its notoriety in the prodigal Ibrahim Babangida years, where the military dictator’s wife, Maryam wasted billions on the titular "Better Life for Rural Women" programme.

This culture of rampant wastage has since been embraced by the spouses of successive heads of government, particularly under the current democratic dispensation.

We fervently maintain that a government with an appropriate sense of responsibility and an eye on posterity would utilize the resources to be wasted on Mrs. Jonathan's flight of fancy on critical infrastructure. To do otherwise, is to be insensitive and irresponsible.

Four billion naira could help millions of school age children to get better education, equip rural clinics with drugs and do society a lot of other good.

Therefore, as responsible citizens and mothers of the nation, we demand the following:

1. The President must direct the FCT Minister to withdraw this budget allocation and sack him for this attack on public morality.

2. The unconstitutional office of the First Lady should be scrapped, and spouses of elected officials to do no more than ceremonial roles.

We ask all honest women and men in our country to support these demands with concrete actions.

Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin
President
Women Arise for Change Initiative

A Y Abdallah: Intimidation, harrassment and death threats in Somalia

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:13:30 PST

A.Y. Abdallah

A.Y.Abdallah has been threatened on numerous occasions since he became a journalist in 2007. He spoke to DCMF's Shakur Ali about his experience working as a journalist in Somalia, his escape to South Africa and his quest to produce quality and responsible journalism.

The year 2012 was the deadliest year for journalists and media personnel in Somalia. It was in that year that I witnessed the lives of many of my good friends and co-workers fade to black. For some reason I am still here today and my life clock is still ticking. It seems to me that there are people who want to stop my clock from ticking - the reason for this, you may not understand, and apparently I do not either.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was in school, and each morning some of my classmates and I would rush to catch a part of the daily morning news programme. I believe it was at this time that I started developing a love for the art of news reporting and journalism. As I listened attentively, I thought to myself what if what was being said in that programme wasn’t totally true? What if the reporter or the writer had their own agenda? It was these questions I explored, and during this chapter of my life is when I began being committed to telling the truth, and it would soon become my responsibility to tell the truth to unaware and misguided individuals.

Politics in Somalia has been ‘funky’ for the past two decades, and this was the hot topic when I formally began doing informative and investigative work in the beginning of 2007. I was about 19-years-old at the time and felt more energetic than ever. I was always on the hunt for things to share, and for issues to investigate. That may have brought me some attention and over the next year I start to ‘officially’ receive direct threats.

Blanket operation against all media

It was precisely a week after the death of my good friend, colleague, and mentor Mahad Ahmed Elmi that I started receiving threats. (Mahad who was 30 years of age when he passed was most known for his popular morning show in which residents of Mogadishu would call in and report issues such as crime and government security in their neigbourhoods).

After having to go through this, I realised that the ‘heads’ behind these killings, whoever it may be, are targeting not only the ‘corrupt’ media personnel but also righteous ones like Mahad. It seemed to me clearer than ever, that they have waged a specific and deliberate war on all journalists in Somalia. It didn’t matter who it was or what they did, “come one, come all” was how they operated against us.

In October of 2008, there was a press conference held by the militant group Al-Shabaab. As a part of the Radio IQK (Idaacada Quraanka Kariimka) team, several colleagues and I were sent to cover the meeting. As we were on our way, our envoy was stopped and a member from the Al Shabaab group exclaimed. “Get out of the car and go work for the government and government media outlets!”

I was being intimidated and not only was I shocked, but also confused. I had attended governmental conferences and events, but I thought producing unbiased material was the aim and epitome of good journalism. It was after this experience that I internalised that there was a different game being played in this industry in Somalia, and I would not be a part of it.

Series of threats

Also in 2008, I received another direct and even more puzzling threat. One day, I interviewed a high ranking member of the Al-Shabaab group over the phone. The group at this time was disallowing the landings of regular passenger airplanes, military planes and planes that carried food aid into Mogadishu. So I asked the gentlemen: “Why do they allow the planes to land in other cities in Somalia but not Mogadishu?” The interviewee didn’t respond and I sensed his frustration. A few days later I received a warning over the phone ordering me to stop doing what I was doing. The gentleman’s rationale behind the warning was that “I had asked a difficult question and it was bothering.”

In early to mid-2009 I had to put a hold on my work and limit my movements. One early morning, as I was sitting in front of an internet café with my brother we were approached by two armed men. These men were on the phone for most of the encounter, and they were moving as if they were being given instructions. They searched us and took my phone away. As we were walking they said: “Hey journalist, you come back.”

Then they proceeded and took my brother along with them. I tried to follow covertly but lost them. They held him for three days asking him questions about the work I was doing and brought him back battered, bruised and traumatised. Following the return of my brother, I decided to move from the area in which my family lived. It wasn’t safe for me, but it was even more dangerous for them.

One Monday in early January 2010, I received another phone call. This time, I was being told without hesitation that those behind the call were fixed on killing me, and that they knew who I was, where I lived, what I did, and who I worked for. I didn’t want to take my chances living in Mogadishu amongst people like this, so I decided to migrate to a ‘safer’ area. A few days later I booked my ticket to travel to Uganda. I stayed there for two weeks and headed back East to Kenya.

In Kenya, things were much better for me, both professionally and personally. I was given an office by the website Bartamaha and I lived almost worry-free for a year. On January 11, 2011, I interviewed a young man who had his tongue cut in half by Al Shabaab militants. At the end of the interview, I wanted to share with the larger Somali Diaspora that if they wanted to help this man, they could help him in certain ways. At the beginning of February I received a call from an Al Shabaab journalist who warned me that my time was up and that I needed to abandon all of my journalistic activities if I wanted to stay alive. This is when I decided to embark on another journey.

Travelling to safety

I left early February from Nairobi to head to South Africa. It was challenging to enter South Africa but after a month of traveling between Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, I was finally granted entrance. It was tough in South Africa, but I carried on my freelance work with the little resources that I had.

In 2012 I published two interviews, one of a young man who was shot in the head by an unknown armed man and the other one in which I was the subject. During my interview, one of the key points stressed was the concept of impunity in Somalia. Who was behind these operations against media personnel and why are they doing these atrocious things? Consequently, this truthful and emotional video received 30,000 views, bringing me 30,000 more worries.

One person shared this video on Facebook, and a Shabaab supporter commented on the video on October 6 stating: “This man he already pass away, don’t show the people this video, because he abuse for what we call “Mujahidiin.” The same person who commented came and found me on October 9 in a public cafeteria. He rushed me and stole my phone than ran away. The man returned and assaulted me, so I locked myself in a room and called the police. When the police arrived, the man was nowhere to be found. I opened a case against him and was told to notify the police as soon as I saw him. The day after, I saw the man and I called the police immediately. The police returned, but the suspect was nowhere to be found again. As soon as the police left my sight, I was attacked and he began attempting to stab me but ended up slashing my back. He picked up a metal rod and swung it at my arm, causing it to break. Thankfully he was pulled off me by onlookers and I was hurried to the hospital.

Now I am forced to sleep in many different areas and shops of friends every night in order to keep a distance from these crazed men.

Besides the phone calls and the attacks, I have regularly received threats via email, and Facebook since August of 2007. I have been told that my time is up hundreds of times, but I am still here. I have been called a disbeliever, but still Islam is my religion.

Hopes for the future of Somalia

Hopefully this year will mark the end of impunity and end of injustices against media freedom in Somalia. Somali journalists and Somali people in general have great hope in this new administration. The administration obviously has a vision and a structure that can build a great nation. Even though it may not be a great start for Somali media personnel in 2013 with the unlawful arrest and detainment of my colleague Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim but we still have hope. The Somali government should realise that the whole world is watching on, and sadly the outcome of this case may have set a precedent for similar cases in the future, and surely will deter people from reporting sexual misconduct.

I just want the judicial system of Somalia to understand that you can’t ‘correct wrong with wrong,’ and to hold a human being in prison without proper due process or disallowing him representation by an adequate defense is just wrong.

Source: Doha Centre for Media Freedom.

Valentine’s Day Tragedy: 'Blade Runner' Pistorius charged with murder in girlfriend's killing

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:46:51 PST

By Jon Gambrell and Gerald Imray

Oscar Pistorius (R) and his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp pose for a picture in Johannesburg, February 7, 2013. (Thembani Makhubele /Reuters)

Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged Thursday with the murder of his girlfriend who was shot inside his home in South Africa, a stunning development in the life of a national hero known as the Blade Runner for his high-tech artificial legs.

Reeva Steenkamp, a model who spoke out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women, was shot four times in the head and the hand in the predawn hours in the home, in a gated community in the capital, Pretoria, police said. The bullets were fired from a gun owned by the sprint star, police said Thursday.

Hours later after undergoing police questioning, Pistorius left a police station accompanied by officers. He looked down as photographers snapped pictures, the hood on his grey workout jacket pulled up, covering most of his face.

Police said a 26-year-old male would appear in court later on Thursday on the charge of murder and that there had “previously been incidents at the home of Mr. Oscar Pistorius.” However, AFP and Reuters reported that according to a prosecutor Pistorius' court appearance has been postponed until Friday.

Police in South Africa do not name suspects in crimes until they have appeared in court but police spokesperson Brigadier Denise Beukes said that Pistorius was at his home at the time of the death of Steenkamp and “there is no other suspect involved.”

“Yes there are witnesses and there have also been interviews this morning,” Beukes told reporters outside the gated complex where Pistorius lived. “We are talking about neighbours and people that heard things that happened earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place.”

Police said that earlier reports that Steenkamp may have been mistaken for a burglar by Pistorius did not come from the police. Several local media outlets had initially reported that the shooting may have been accidental.

“It would be very premature and very irresponsible of me to say what actually has happened,” Beukes said. “There have been allegations. We are not sure.”

Beukes also said there had been previous incidents and “allegations of a domestic nature” at the home of the Olympic star and double-amputee runner, who is one of South Africa’s and the world’s most famous sportsmen and made history at the London Games last year by being the first double-amputee runner to compete at the Olympics.

“I’m not going to elaborate on it, but there have been incidents (at Pistorius’ home),” Beukes said.

Capacity Relations, a talent management firm, earlier named model Steenkamp as the victim of the shooting. Police spokeswoman Lt. Col. Katlego Mogale told The Associated Press that officers received a call around 3 a.m. after the shooting.

A 9 mm pistol was recovered and a murder case opened against Pistorius. In anticipation, journalists crowded onto wooden benches in the rear of the wood-paneled courtroom which is inside a prison in Pretoria. By midday the room was hot in the South African summer. Authorities then said the proceedings would be moved to a different courtroom.

Mogale said when police arrived; they found paramedics trying to revive a 30-year-old woman, who had been shot four times. Mogale, who was speaking to the AP from the scene, said the woman died at the house.

Police have still not released the name of the woman, but the publicist for Steenkamp confirmed in a statement that the model was dead.

“We can confirm that Reeva Steenkamp has passed away,” Steenkamp’s publicist Sarit Tomlinson said. “We are in communication with people on the scene. Please wait for official statements, as there is too much speculation at this moment in time. We will provide further information as soon as we are able to provide accurate information as to what transpired.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to the Steenkamp family, who has asked to have their privacy respected during this difficult time. Everyone is simply devastated. She was the kindest, sweetest human being; an angel on earth and will be sorely missed.

Tomlinson said Steenkamp, known simply as Reeva, was one of FHM’s (formerly For Him Magazine) 100 Sexiest Women in the World for two years running, appeared in countless international and national advertisements and was one of the celebrity contestants on Tropika Island of Treasure, filmed in Jamaica.

On Twitter, she tweeted messages urging women to stand up against rape alongside her excitement about Valentine’s Day. “What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?” she tweeted.

Mogale and Beukes said the victim’s family had not yet identified the body.

Pistorius made history in London last year when he became the first double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympic Games, propelling him to the status of an athletics superstar.

Having had both his legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday because of a congenital condition, he campaigned for years to be allowed to compete against able-bodied athletes. Having initially been banned because of his carbon fiber blades — which critics said gave him an unfair advantage — he was cleared by sports’ highest court in 2008 and allowed to run at the top events.

He competed in the 400 metres and on South Africa’s 4x400 relay team at the London Games, making history after having his selection confirmed on South Africa’s team at the very last minute. He also retained his Paralympic title in the 400 metres in London.

South Africa’s Sports Confederation and Olympic committee released a statement on Thursday saying they had been “inundated” with requests for comment but were not in a position to give out any details of the shooting.

“SASCOC, like the rest of the public, knows no more than what is in the public domain, which is there has been an alleged fatal shooting on the basis of a mistaken identity and an apparent assumption of a burglary,” the South African Olympic committee said. “The organization is in no position to comment on the incident other than to say our deepest sympathy and condolences have been expressed to the families of all concerned.”

The International Paralympic Committee also said it wouldn’t comment in detail apart from offering its condolences to the victim’s family.

“This is a police matter, with a formal investigation currently underway,” the IPC said. “Therefore it would be inappropriate for the IPC to comment on this incident until the official police process has concluded. The IPC would like to offer its deepest sympathy and condolences to all families involved in this case.”

South Africa has some of the world’s highest murder rates, with nearly 50 people killed each day in the nation of 50 million. It also has high rates of rape, other assaults, robbery and carjackings.

UN statistics show South Africa has the second highest rate of shooting deaths in the world, second only to Colombia.

Source: The Associated Press.

Nigeria’s APC governors meet again

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:34:09 PST

By P.M. News

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors in Abuja

As a follow up to their first meeting in Lagos, two weeks ago, Nigerian governors building a united platform with the new All Progressive Congress, have met again in Abuja and urged Nigerians to see their initiative as a means of deepening Nigerian democracy.

The second meeting of the Alliance of Progressive Governors in Abuja was held at the Lagos House. Ten governors attended, including Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who was absent at the last meeting.

In a communiqué read after the meeting by the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, the Governors expressed support for the name All Progressives’ Congress adopted by the merger committee because it captures the spirit of cooperation and compromise that the Governors espoused and it underscores the imperative of rescuing Nigeria from decay.

The Communique further adds that following the overwhelming public support that has greeted the announcement of the merger, the Progressive Governors’ Alliance (PGA) also announced the Establishment of the Zonal Contact & Mobilisation Committees headed across the six geopolitical zones by Governor Ibrahim Geidam Of Yobe State (North East), Governor Tanko Almakura – Nasarawa (North Central), Governor Abdulaziz Yari – Zamfara State (North West), Governor Rochas Okorocha – Imo State – South East, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State – South- South and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State (South West).

The Committee it said would mobilize support for the Party across political, social, religious, ethnic and professional interest groups in the country.

“Given the desire of Nigerians for change, our party will undertake to facilitate radical social economic and political reformation of the country. Our programme priorities shall be agricultural development, jobs creation, free education, affordable healthcare, infrastructural development, adequate power supply, eradication of poverty and corruption and rapid technological advancement and industrialization”, the Communique adds.

The Governors stressed in the communiqué that they shall pride themselves as social democrats that are committed to organizing the society based on the values of justice for all and individual freedom where everyone’s basic needs are fulfilled.

Responding to enquiries from newsmen on what informed his presence at the second meeting in Abuja after being absent from the first one in Lagos, the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said the explanations adduced in Lagos by the Captain of the class of A.C.N Governors, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) succinctly explains what was responsible for his absence and that he is fully in support of all the resolutions arrived at by the Governors during both meetings.

Those who attended include Borno- Alhaji Kashim Shettima, Imo- Chief Rochas Okorocha, Lagos-Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Ekiti- Dr Kayode Fayemi, Nassarawa, Alhaji Tanko Almakura, Ogun- Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Oyo- Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Osun- Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Edo, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Zamfara State -Alhaji Abdulazziz Abubakar Yari.

Struggling for seats in a sinking boat (3)

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:09:04 PST

By Edwin Madunagu

As if in direct response to Maiyaki Idris (see last Thursday’s column), Alhaji Usman Farouk who is a retired Commissioner of Police and former governor of pre-1975 Northwestern state, urged his Northern compatriots to engage the pacification of the North, including ending of the Boko Haram insurgency, before turning to the struggle for the country’s presidency.

He was reported by The Guardian of January 8, 2013, to have said this in a press conference in Kaduna. His exact words: “I don’t share the view of these people (Northern politicians) converging to discuss the 2015 election and politics. Where is the country they want to govern? Is it the one bedeviled with insecurity? Where is the country that you are going to lead as president? We have to save the country first before you talk of running for the presidency.” (emphasis mine).

It was this statement, in particular the rhetorical questions, that inspired my present piece and the title it carries. Usman Farouk announced, in the press conference, that his organisation, the Northern Development Focus Initiative (NDFI), planned to call a meeting of elders and statesmen (and women) of Northern extraction – including former heads of state, Generals Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida – “to draw up recommendations for the Federal Government on how to end the current security menace in the North”. For, in Farouk’s view, if the Boko Haram insurgency continues there will be no country by 2015.

Farouk alleged that government activities had ceased in some Northern states for fear of Boko Haram; that some northern governors were holding their executive council meetings outside their states; that, “they don’t meet in Maduiguri or Yobe”. What type of government do they think they are running? He asked: “How do you call yourself a governor if the executive council meetings are no longer held within your state, when governors even no longer slept in their states? The governor will show up in the morning and stay at work till 12:00 noon. But in the night he will relocate to 10 different places before the day breaks”.

The day after the Maiyaki story appeared, The Nation newspaper carried the story, 2015: Babangida, Buhari, others begin consultations (Sunday, January 6, 2013). The story had the same thrust although the language of the January 6 story was not as sharp as the one preceding it. That essence was that political and community leaders of the North had started “coming together” to fight for Nigeria’s presidency in the next presidential election. The story mentions Generals Babangida and Buhari and a “respected former Minister of Defence” as among the “arrow-heads” of this new effort.

Five reasons were uncovered by the reporter for the renewed “push” for the presidency by Northern politicians: “alleged alienation of the North by the presidency in appointment and policy matters”; “unprecedented polarization (and division) of the region along religious and ethnic lines”; “the worsening security situation in the region”; “alleged under-development of the North and the yawning gap between the North and the South”, and “the manner in which the Southsouth has allegedly divided the nation and what is seen in the North as its desperate plot to retain the presidency in 2015”.

On the same page 2 the newspaper carried another report, which, when combined with the first, could have raised the political temperature of the Jonathan camp. Titled OBJ’s Kaduna visit stirs Jonathan, Sambo tension, the story speculated: “In what could become a replay of what transpired between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his then deputy, Atiku Abubakar, between 2003 and 2007, culminating in a sharp division within the presidency, there are growing indications that the cordial relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo may have turned frosty”. The speculation arose from the visit of former President, General Olusegun Obasanjo, to Kaduna – a visit officially explained as a condolence visit to “commiserate with the people and government of the state on the death of former governor Patrick Yakowa.”

The newspaper, however, discovered, through the state security services, that “Obasanjo’s sympathy visit was a decoy to achieve another objective”, and that was “to mobilise influential traditional rulers in the state against the alleged second term ambition of the president and canvass support for the return of power to the North”. The paper quoted “sources” as saying that what particularly “peeved” President Jonathan was the role his deputy was alleged to have played in facilitating the meeting between the former president and some (Northern) emirs.

The Vice-President, as expected, immediately issued a statement strongly denying the report (The Nation, Monday, January 7, 2013). His words: “The visit of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was merely to commiserate and console with the Vice-President and the good people of Kaduna State. The visit with his entourage was witnessed by journalists”. Since Northern traditional rulers were also meeting at the same venue, the Vice-President further explained, Obasanjo decided to go over and greet them – as a gesture of respect.

This explanation sounds plausible and should, in normal circumstances, be the end of the misinterpretation. But, then, this is Nigeria and we are dealing with a personage whose antecedents we all know: General Olusegun Obasanjo. I am inclined to believe the Vice-President, but I also believe that Obasanjo went to Kaduna to “drum up” support for his choice for 2015 – whatever belief the Vice-President held. However, my reading of Obasanjo’s body-language at the moment is that he is committed to the agreement on North-South presidential rotation in the original PDP power-sharing formula (or zoning formula) and that simultaneously he believes President Jonathan is currently in his second, and therefore, final term in office; Or that the former president is as vindictive and unforgiving as he is reputed to be – this time against Jonathan; Or that he is more opportunistic than he is widely believed to be; Or that he believes he is the ultimate god-father and king-maker in the party.

An explanatory note: It will be recalled that General Obasanjo (from the South, specifically Southwest) was president for two terms (from 1999 to 2007) and handed over power to Umaru Yar’Adua (from the North, specifically Northwest) who unfortunately died in May 2010, about two-thirds into the first term of his presidency. Dr. Goodluck became president and completed Yar’Adua’s first term in May 2011. He thereafter began a fresh term having won the 2011 presidential election. It is known that General Obasanjo has “fallen out” with President Goodluck whom he assisted to win the presidency.

The struggle by the Igbo segment of Nigeria’s ruling classes for “Igbo presidency” – which, if not exclusive to, is at least strongest in, the ruling PDP – makes sense to me only in the context of the tripod: Hausa – Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. But, then, that tripod perished in the civil war (July 1967 - January 1970). In its place we now have what I have called (for about 20 years now) Nigeria’s power blocs. There are only two of them, as I have also insisted: Northern power bloc and Western power bloc. Beyond these two power blocs we have the geopolitical zones, the states, the local government areas and the more than 250 ethnic groups (or nationalities) that constitute this country.

My proposition on Igbo presidency is a re-statement of the central position of this column, and that is the adoption of Collective presidency with rotational Chair and Deputy Chair. This is a segment of the five-tier popular-democratic restructuring of the country. The specific political call here is that all those groups and individuals – be they social classes, social groups, ethnic nationalities or de-classed masses – who are, or feel oppressed, marginalised or dispossessed in this nation should adopt this structure in which is embedded a genuine social transformation, and struggle for it.

I would now like to bring these series of series of articles to an end. I have deliberately built the discussion around the question of geopolitical restructuring. The core of my proposal is collective presidency and grassroots development with popular participation. In the course of the series I have received a number of private responses, some written and others verbal. They have been helpful to me in several ways, but I have so far refrained from responding to them because I do not want to be defensive on this matter for one central reason: the entire exercise is exploratory, by which I mean that some of the suggestions would require further clarifications and amendments. This is obvious even to me. However, in considering my propositions, it is only fair to keep in mind the specific national problems (immediate and medium-term) that we wish to solve, and the fact that, as far as I know, my propositions are unique. I shall, in future, when reviewing these series, bring out the responses and comments I have received.

• Concluded.

Read 1 & 2 below

• Struggling for seats in a sinking boat
• Struggling for seats in a sinking boat (2)

Opposition Merger Should Throw Up New Ideas, Personalities

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 01:30:28 PST

Ezenwa Nwagwu

Ezenwa Nwagwu, is the Chairman of Partners for Electoral Reform (PER). In this interview, with Chibuzo Ukaibe, he speaks on the planned merger of the opposition parties and highlights the need for fresh values and personalities as panacea to its success. He also called for the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make it more efficient.

What is Partners for Electoral Reform all about?

Partners for Electoral Reform are interested in sensitising Nigerians to be partisan in the way we engage politics. We are thinking of shifting from simply critiquing to begin to create that space where we can galvanize our people to take deeper interest in the issues of democracy, good governance and transparency and also identify people that can bring about this change that we anticipate.

The position has been that political parties lack ideology. Do you agree with this position?

You will appreciate that most of what we have as political parties presently are fixtures of the departing military and basically they founded these parties around the thinking that you have to own properties, with headquarters in strategic places. So most of those issues gave rise to people being the ones who rented office space and individuals have to pay for those office spaces.

So money bags and economic gangsters came together having had something to do with the military came together to form most of what we call political parties. So we jumped a step and that step was where people were not part of the founding of the political parties. So the price we are paying is that once you jump the first stage, which is to have democracy without democrats, then you will have a challenge of lack of ideology that is prevalent now.

Then if you wanted to join the National Council Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) or the Action Group (AG) like we read, you have to go through a school to be taught its ideology. So you don’t just walk up to join them. There has to be some indoctrination that takes place to put you up to speed on the values, norms and ideology of the party. But we know today that this process does not happen.

Even at the core issues of the merger, the people themselves are not part of it. So we need to take the battle that if we need to dislodge the current governing elite today. You have to bring the people in. That is what Partners for Electoral Reform is about. We are out to sensitise Nigerians to dislodge the people who are holding on today.

The opposition is working out a merger arrangement to battle the ruling PDP. Do you think they can take care of the issues that have plagued such attempts in the past?

Yes if nothing fundamental is done about it. The law of madness is to continue to do what you have done and expect new results. What is that thing that we are looking forward to in the merger, the merger must contain new values. The core components of the merger would be at the fore. Would it just be about power? Or about positioning people to take power? Or about core issues that have bedeviled leadership in Nigeria; issues of corruption, transparency, accountability should be part of the conversation. It shouldn’t just be a mechanism to take power.

Then there is also the issue of personalities. It is important that this merger is not just about individuals and personalities. It should throw up a process that throws up younger elements who can take the country to where it ought to be and there are such people available. People who have tested their abilities in other areas like business and other professions. All over the world that is the trend, people in their 50’s and below with fresh ideas and energy are entrusted with leadership positions. Most countries are running away from gerontocracy, government by the elderly. It is something that is taking a back sit and I don’t see why Nigeria should be an exception.

So the conversation around the merger must take that tone otherwise, the same baggage and issues that led to the process being dead on arrival before will repeat itself again. Remember the people the opposition wants to merge for are not folding their hands they are also working around seeing how they will weaken the platform of their engagement. And so if you don’t raise the bar a little higher with these new values and new personalities, you might be missing the mark.

A key issue has been the call for persons in the fore-front of the opposition merger to resist the temptation to run for elective office. Do you share this view?

I belong to the school of thought that persons in the fore-front of the merger should not contest elections in 2015. I think that they have made enormous sacrifice. They possess tremendous goodwill but their role in politics has also been a little divisive. In the sense that their continued involvement invokes passion in such a manner that it perils the whole idea of consensus building and compromise. And so people need come to a point of self-understanding. General Mohammad Buhari, should come to some point of understanding. Be honest about your abilities and weakness. You must come to that point where you begin to see society making progress and not the individual making progress.

That is what being a statesman is about. They think more about how the society can make progress and not how they as individuals make progress. When you get to that point then you begin to see whether you possess the genius of politics which politicians should have. There is a point you play in politics that the system checks. It is historical; if you look back there are persons who kept playing a particular role and then the system rejected them and made it impossible for them to continue.

So what you do at that point is to go back and think. You say to yourself does my progress make for progress of society? Or do I work for the progress of society? What that means is that at certain points in your life you must have reproduced people. Every leader who has not reproduced his kind or does not have the capacity to produce somebody better than him will not be fulfilled. Considering the pedestal that some of these people we are talking about are today, they need to have reproduced people of strong element and character to take over and Nigeria is getting to that point where people want to see freshness.

What gave it to Jonathan in 2011 was the promise of freshness even though that is dashed now. But Nigerians still look forward to something fresh. But in doing that credit must be given to those presently in the forefront of the merger talks that they possess what it takes to defeat and dislodge the governing party. But like I said except it is well managed with new values and personalities are brought in it might be returning to where we are coming from.

What do you make of the looming image of the PDP in the polity?

PDP is not popular. They have the capacity for rigging but they are not popular. That is why Operation Nigeria is interested in the people. The people themselves must understand that it is not about party or individual. It is about our lack of interest and analysis of politics without voter’s card. For instance the Occupy Nigeria was successful because of the anger of the rich. The rich were sufficiently angry. Across the states look at the people who led the movement. They were people you just can dismiss. The issue is that the elites are critical in bringing about change. That is what must happen.

The elites understand all the issues but majority do not vote. They do the analysis but when you say go and do registration they don’t want to stand through the pains of staying on a queue to register and get their cards. And so you find out that on Election Day they sit down and discuss issues around election but themselves are not voting. So we need to also inspire our people; elites, poor and what is left of the middle class, to begin to get interested in the issue of governance beyond analysing it. And the first step is to begin to have the consciousness that the voter’s card has the power to bring about the change.

For instance, a polling unit that registered 1000 voters, and they all come out to vote would suspend rigging. Rigging takes place where you have 1000 registered voters and only about 40 come out to vote. Then you have community conspiracy which means the sharing of the votes by dominant parties. But if citizens who have voted in a particular unit appear to vote, then you can’t rig. We need to mobilise people to understand that pervading issue of corruption and failure of leadership we have seen will not be wished away by the analysis that we do.

People should come out and vote. That is why it is important that persons like Sam Nda Isaiah, publisher of Leadership Newspaper, and others should leave the column space and throw their hats into the ring. That is part of our interest to draw out such people to come into the political space.

A former governor, Balarabe Musa, said it is very difficult to win election today without being corrupt? How do you marry your call for new persons with fresh ideas to join the political space against the background of the money bag politics practiced in the country today?

Such uninterrogated statements by elites insult the sensibilities of the people to the extent that questions have to be asked at what point that started to happen. Prof Chika Obi, whose political views were built around the Turkish system, he defeated the NCNC in the Onitsha province, simply taking a ride on bicycles with banners and promoting the ideas that he has. What has happened is that majority of our politicians are lazy. They talk about the people without wanting to get to the people. And so there are no alternatives. It is not true that you do not have to be corrupt but it is true that you just have to work hard and connect with the people. And that disconnect is why there is that problem.

We want to build a modern society and that modern society is not available now. And that is what has defeated the elite; the need to build a modern society has defeated the elites. And so all kinds of excuse are put up, like if I don’t have money I can’t win election. Let’s see the possibilities. Obama had all the excuses in the world. No black man has been president in the United States; he had no experience, a fresh senator. But he had his dream, worked towards it and today he is the president. There is nothing impossible.

If we give the people the needed push and encouragement to draw out and dislodge the status quo. We also need to build that consciousness that this is a democracy and like I said you can’t have democracy without democrats. The people must be carried along. People must understand their rights so we are build that consciousness in which the central focus of any policy will be the people and that people should understand that they can make that change.

Looking at 2015, what’s your rating of INEC so far?

When Prof. Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, was appointed my take was that he was deodorant. Now, if you don’t take your bath and you apply deodorant, you will smell good for a while but later the stench for which you used the deodorant will manifest. What are the issues; we have voter registers that have not been reviewed. We have papered them but we need to fundamentally engage in a voter audit that responds to the need of Nigeria for a clean, transparent and authentic voter register. That has not happened. Secondly, INEC is saddled with so many responsibilities.

INEC conducts elections, follows election offenders, and that is why Justice Uwais Reform committee recommended issues around electoral tribunals to take care of election offenders. Some of us have also called for the unbundling of INEC so that it will concentrate on issues of election management and leave the issues of constituency delineation, election offenders, monitoring of political parties to other institutions. That would be helpful. So you will find out that even in isolated elections where you concentrate attention on one state we still have logistic problems around election materials coming in on time, officials being reshuffled sometimes 24 hours before elections making them get to the places and not knowing what the issues are.

Again this issue of adhoc staff needs to be engaged. Everywhere in the world adhoc staffs are used, but it does not remove from the fact that INEC has the responsibility to conduct free fair and credible elections. If there are practices for which the election body was demonised, we are expected in the past one or two years that Prof. Jega has been on the saddle that those practices would have become clear. But subsequent elections have not shown that that value has been percolated down, so it is important that we don’t allow the rule of a good man but be interested in the rule of an institution.

The debate over the number of parties has been raging for a while now. What is your view on this against the background of INEC’s delisting of some political parties?

We have a lot of politicians including Ph.D. holders who don’t know what democracy is all about. So sometimes I marvel at the texture of their analysis. I did say that the parties we have today are fixtures of the departing military meaning that for most of us coming from that background the thinking is that if you have two parties things work better. But when Chuba Okadigbo formed the Communist Party in Nigeria, he did not have headquarters anywhere.

The reason why we have the bigger challenges is that when you say people must have parties in all the states and there are no dues from members, you have simply told an individual who has money to provide those things and once he does that he owns the party automatically. The option available to election management body is not to allow them fight for election. But their right to association cannot be denied. They can continue to grow from there or defunct as they case maybe. But to legislate them out of existence has no place in democracy.

The excuse of the parties making the ballot boxes too long can be dealt with by not including them in the ballot papers after all if they are not fighting for election they have no reason to be in the ballot papers. So the condition should be those who want to fight for election should satisfy certain conditions. But to say these parties are many and so we should be legislated out for me does not capture the basic tenets of democracy.

Source: Leadership newspaper.

Nations Cup: Keshi, players get national honours, cash, plots of land

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:00:40 PST

By Olalekan Adetayo and Simon Ejembi

President Jonathan (with cup) and the victorious Super Eagles

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday announced a cash gift of N5m to each member of the victorious Super Eagles and the team’s three assistant coaches that clinched the gold medal in the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

While the Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, was given N10m, members of the technical crew were also given N2m each.

The cash gifts also came with a plot of land and national honours for each member the team.

Keshi bagged the national honour of the Commander of the Order of Niger while his three assistants and the team captain, Joseph Yobo, were conferred with Officer of the Order of Niger.

The remaining players were conferred with Member of the Order of Niger.

Jonathan made the announcement amidst loud ovation from the lucky players during a state dinner he organised in their honour at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, few hours after their arrival in the country.

The President said two sets of Nigerians youths, musicians and footballers, had been placing the nation on the world map.

He described the players as super heroes, saying their victory was an inspiration to millions of Nigerians.

He said the trophy was the most precious centenary gift presented to the nation by the team.

The President recalled that there was skepticism on the part of Nigerians on the ability of the team to deliver when they left for the tournament.

He commended them for ignoring criticisms and refusing to surrender by their superlative performance.

“The lesson in your victory for all of us is that we should never give up in the midst of criticism. Believe in yourself. With time, you will see the fruits of your labour,” he said.

He said the victory was an indication that there would be victory for his administration as he works hard to transform the country.

He said his administration would continue to give sports it’s pride of place in the country.

He assured the Chief Coach of his full support, urging him to ensure that the nation qualifies for the next World Cup.

The President urged Nigerians not to allow their differences to divide them, observing that the noise of joy during sporting victories were the same across the country.

Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, described the victory as another moment of national rebirth and fresh air.

He said as the nation savours the sweetness of the victory, sports administrators in the country were not unaware of the responsibility placed on their shoulders to sustain the victory at all levels and in all sports.

“Winning this trophy is only a milestone for us, not the destination. Until we fulfill your (the President’s) vision for us which is to be the best, we will not rest on our oars,” he said.

The minister asked stakeholders to put the years of rancour and acrimony behind them because a lot could be achieved when united.

He said the Nigerian character of resilience fetched the team, which he described as work-in-progress, the trophy.

In formally presenting the trophy to the President, the Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, said it was a national pride for the players to win the trophy after 19 years.

Jonathan had while engaging the players and their handlers in a teleconference ahead of the tournament’s semi final match against Mali promised to make them “very happy young men” if they could return to the country with the trophy.

The colourful event was attended by the wife of the President, Patience; Vice President Namadi Sambo; President of the Senate, David Mark; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwwal; Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihediora, and state governors among others.

Source: http://www.punchng.com/

Kenya Presidential Debate 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:53:28 PST

Legacy, political calendar frame Obama's State of the Union

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:25:40 PST

By Jeff Mason

Obama

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama will give his State of the Union address on Tuesday with one eye on the political calendar as time ticks down on his bid to advance an agenda that will help shape his White House legacy.

Just three months after winning re-election on November 6, the Democratic president has a narrow window to push through policy priorities on the economy, immigration reform, and gun control.

Analysts say he has roughly a year before Washington turns its attention to the 2014 mid-term elections, which could sweep more Republicans into Congress and accelerate the subsequent "lame duck" status that defines presidents who are not running for office again.

"He basically has a year for major legislative accomplishments because after the first year you get into the mid-term elections, which will partially be a referendum on his presidency," said Michele Swers, an associate professor of American government at Georgetown University.

Obama's speech at 9 p.m. EST on Tuesday will be a chance for the president to build momentum within that tight time frame.

"I don't want to say it's the last important speech he's going to give, but the window for a second-term president is fairly narrow," said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman under former Republican President George W. Bush.

With unemployment still high and massive "sequester" spending cuts looming, administration officials say Obama will use the address before a television audience of millions to press Congress to support his proposals to boost the economy.

The White House is eager to show Obama's commitment to the economy is as great as it is to immigration and gun reforms, and he is expected to spend most of his speech reviving a theme that dominated his 2012 campaign: helping the middle class.

"You will hear ... an outline from him for his plan to create jobs and grow the middle class," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.

"His principal preoccupation as president has been the need to first reverse the devastating decline in our economy and then set it on a trajectory where it's growing in a way that helps the middle class, makes it more secure, and makes it expand."

Obama will also outline steps to unwind U.S. involvement in the unpopular Afghanistan war and plans to announce that 34,000 U.S. troops will return by early 2014, a source familiar with the speech told Reuters.

The State of the Union also comes less than 24 hours after North Korea conducted a nuclear test which Obama in a statement called a "provocative act."

ECONOMY, LEGACY

The likelihood of passing new short-term economic initiatives that require government spending in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is low, said Jeffrey Bergstrand, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame and a former Federal Reserve economist.

"What will probably surface is something similar to what he proposed in 2011 and never got through," he said, referring to proposals that would give grants to state and local governments as well as boost spending on infrastructure and research.

Obama is also expected to call for comprehensive trade talks with the 27-nation European Union.

The White House has signaled Obama will urge U.S. investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy and education, despite Republican opposition to increased government spending and a political divide over how to tame the budget deficit.

Obama's advisers argue that his push for immigration reform is also an economic issue, and momentum for change is stronger there than it is for the president's other policy priorities.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican Cuban-American who is championing immigration reform - albeit with a more restrictive process of legalization than Obama supports - was to give his party's response to Obama's speech.

The debate over immigration will also play out in the balconies of the House of Representatives, where some members of the public will sit to listen to the speech. Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois plans to bring a man who is fighting deportation as his guest to the speech.

Prospects for success on gun control are in doubt, but the president is likely to use his speech to seek more support for proposals he laid out last month after the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting massacre in which 20 schoolchildren died.

After giving prominent mention to the fight against climate change and equality for gays in his inaugural address, supporters will be disappointed if he fails to lay out details in those areas. Obama could advance both issues through executive orders, circumventing Congress and doing more to bolster his legacy.

"A second-term State of the Union is usually written with an eye on history books and I'm sure the president is thinking about what his legacy is going to be," said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Hillary Clinton.

Iran's nuclear ambitions and the festering civil war in Syria may present Obama with the toughest foreign policy tests of his second term, but they are likely to receive little attention in his speech.

He might raise concerns about cyber attacks, which have hit a succession of major U.S. companies and government agencies in recent months.

Obama will travel to three states in the days after his speech to sell his proposals to the public.

(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal and Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Alistair Bell and Doina Chiacu).

I owe nobody any apology – Absentee Governor, Sullivan Chime

noreply@blogger.com (Chido Onumah) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:15:03 PST

By Channels TV

Sullivan Chime

Sullivan Chime, governor of Enugu State, south-east Nigeria, on Tuesday said that he never regretted the fact that Nigerians particularly the people he governs were kept in the dark during his five-month absence, insisting that he owed nobody any apology for keeping them guessing throughout the period.

Mr. Chime, who spoke to a select group of journalists at the Governor’s Lodge, Enugu said that he was hit by deadly cancer of the nose which he had to treat in a London hospital during his long period of absence from office.

He described cancer as a deadly disease and added that its cure was deadly too.

“Cancer is a deadly disease and the cure is also deadly. The cure for cancer is not Panadol. The cure for cancer is not these drugs you buy off the counter. By the time you go through Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, you will be a changed person.

“So I started treatment and the treatment altogether lasted for twelve weeks. Throughout the period of my treatment, I was an outpatient. I was never admitted in any hospital. All my treatments, I took as an outpatient,” he said.