ANTE-MORTEM POLITICAL SCHEMINGS OF SOME ELITE POLITICIANS by SHABA MAFU

I start this piece with undisguised melancholy the issue that is as unnatural as it is un-African; the absurdity and nude recklessness displayed by some political vampires who have wittingly been singing a dirge for the living President of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari. Ordinarily, it is an act of mental corrosion for an individual to begin to contemplate the estate of a testator when the owner is still alive.  If such political greediness of this unfathomable magnitude is allowed to fester in Nigeria, the ‘inherited estate’, being Nigeria in this circumstance, will end up in obvious profligacy in the hands of these estranged entities.

Recently, a political elite representing an organization of the Northern extraction, in his ululation warned the Acting President, Professor Yemi Obasanjo to make sure that he hands over power to whoever the North chooses to run in 2019 general elections. He stated categorically that the North will not condone the Doctrine of Necessity coined by the National Assembly upon the death of Late Umaru Yar’Adua, which made the then Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the substantive and Executive President of the country thereby paving way for him to run the presidential race in 2011, even when the tenure of the late President was truncated by death. He was of the opinion that since to him President  Buhari is as good as dead, Osibanjo has to finish up the remaining two years and step down for the North, come 2019.  This quickly reminded me of what Adams Oshiomole said not too long ago, that some people wished Nnmadi Azikiwe dead when he was sick at a time. Ironically, some of those who wished the man dead were eventually outlived by the same Azikiwe. Dr Azikiwe even attended the burial ceremonies of some his evil wishers. This is a good food for thought even for the imbeciles in the society! Only God has the power and determines life or  death at any point in time.

I am yet to decipher the source of the effrontery of these gamuts of political ignoramuses who have christened themselves a ratified and working Nigerian constitution. The doctrine of necessity was introduced into the constitution by the National Assembly to deal with the political exigency of that time of the death of President Yar’Adua. No individual or group has power above the constitution of Nigeria and cannot truncate the collective will of the people nor obstruct the running of the constitution. At best, the agitations of these evil wishers can only exist in the world of esotericism, and not in Nigeria where the President obviously is alive and fast recuperating. I can’t contemplate the otherwise for the President, therefore my view in entirety is diagonally opposite the vain imaginations of these putrescent brains. I wish the President of Nigeria quick recovery! Of course, reports reaching me are indicative that the President has recovered enough and in high spirits only awaiting the Doctor’s instruction before he flies back to Nigeria to continue to rule the country in peace.

These set of politicians seem not satisfied by their verbal attacks on Nigeria as a cooperate entity, reports so far had it that these people have gone to the groves of the Indians and hired the available physical demons to pray for the death of President Muhammadu Buhari. I am of the strong belief that life belongs to God. The president is a person with a family. Whoever does no longer want him as the president should vote him out come 2019 general elections, as was the case of the former President Goodluck Jonathan who was voted out of power in 2015 general elections. It is evil to wish any human being dead, not to talk of the President of the nation. Anyone can be sick especially as we thrive in mortal entity. To be sick is neither an offence nor a crime, nor a constitutional breach.

To crown the absurdity of this crop of demented humans suffering from monumental dehydration of reasoning, some elements of the Nigeria military had been caressed to carry out a nefarious coup plot against a democratically-elected government (credit to rumours and Newspaper reports). This informed the stern warning from the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Tukur Yusuf Buratai warning soldiers from romancing with some disgruntled politicians who may like to cease power unconstitutionally. To these elements, President Buhari must die and his government toppled by hook or by crook. I guess too that they may even like to shoot dead an imaginary Buhari by going to Daura, his home-town. If not for that, why should the patriotic Army set up a Command post there when the President does not even live in Daura, if he was even in Nigeria. Buhari or his ‘ghost’ thereof has become their tormentors. This is level of absurdity and degradation of the mortal soul of these evil doers.

Am I a die-hard supporter of President Buhari? Some persons may ask. I am entitled to my political leanings, opinions and views. I have also the constitutional right to belong to any lawful association or political party that appeals my interest. I may not support the ruling party if I choose to, but I support human life and human rights. The President has the right to live like any Nigerian. He can be denied the right to rule Nigeria, yes, but it must be through constitutional means in its entirety. In the build-up to the 2015 general elections, some political miscreants in high places did not even want the then presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari to live to contest the elections. They claimed that the President’s brain was dead, that he could not spell his name, and he had no academic certificate. In all objectivity, even if the President does not have a certificate, he has done better than the one who was brandishing a Doctorate Degree in one hand and institutionalizing corruption on the other thereby depleting the economy and now plunging the entire nation into this present mess.

Nigeria is greater than any individual, group or a section of this country. The civil rights and democracy is superior to military laws and rule. Whoever is power-hungry can satisfy the urge, but definitely not through any anomalous route. I stand with democracy, and I wish the President of Nigeria speedy recovery and his quick return to this blessed country of Nigeria.

NIGERIAN YOUTHS, A DEFLATED SPECIE IN THE NATION’S SOCIO-POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SPACE (Part 2) by SHABA MAFU.

The government appears smarter than the contemporary Nigerian youths (students inclusive) who are obviously overwhelmed by different intractable challenges of life.. Strictly speaking, when the government discovered that the youths, particularly the students, have become a ‘clog’ in the seeming seamless administration of the country, it began intimidating the students by proscribing Students Unions at the slightest provocation and opportunity through its channels. It planted its surrogates as Student leaders who are of unalloyed loyalty both to the government-selected Vice-Chancellors of the Federal and State-owned Universities, and the government itself. This was the beginning of the strangulation of virile students Unionism in Nigeria. Student Unions all over the campuses in Nigeria have been significantly weakened by this deadly ploy. They have become mere surrogates of the school authorities whose rights are censored and mortgaged with the conspiracy of the government. The Unions therefore can now be best described as mere extensions of the school authorities.

As incapacitated as the students unions had become, the students themselves have devised an alternative route to project themselves in their dimming light of relevance. Consequently, they find expressions in cults and cultism. Cultism today has taken the place of intellectualism for which students were known. Students have now engaged in several bloody escapades to either express their grievances or show of superiority over rival cults. The intellectual acumen and constructive arguments for which they were feared have been thrown to the dogs. No more intellectualism, but cultism. Students hack themselves to death in the name of cultism and as a show of superiority of one cult over the other. Before this societal and academic decadence on campuses, students embarked on researches on topical issues and presented academic papers within and outside the campuses, under the enviable supervision of proficient and disciplined lecturers. But all these seem to have withered away today. The government has technically strangulated the once virile unionism on campuses so as to get away with their obnoxious policies and programmes which may not impact positively on the public.

In the process of time, the students eventually graduate from the institutions of learning to join the larger society and face the reality of life the government has prepared ahead of them. Meanwhile, they had already been weakened to their foundations in their school days and are left with no definite direction of life so far. The graduate is now a hollow piece, empty, dearth of the enthusiasm of a youth and a graduate. He is already frustrated and sapped upon his completion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) now mockingly translated as Now Your Suffering Continues (NYSC). He is psychologically drained, and left to wander the streets with tired brain and a gloomy future. He is left therefore with no option than to look up to the same oppressive government who is also the major determinant of his dimmed future. He is unavoidably conditioned to accept WHATEVER is thrown at him by the government in particular and the society in general. This is the picture of a Nigerian youth – a graduate.

To further deflate the virility of the youths, the economy of the country is structured to favour only the strong and mighty in the society – the bourgeoisie. Adopting the Machiavellian style of leadership where the ruled have to be strangulated and brought to their knees so that the ruler appear strong, and benevolent to his people, the economy is designed for the welfare of the bourgeoisie and their cronies in the society. The economic policies have been stiffened, in collaboration with some international organizations, to place the youths, being the agile population, into a tight corner in terms of their ability to secure gainful employment. The essence of this is to ensure mass unemployment with its attendant frustration and unavoidable strangulation of hope. The unemployment saga is a deliberate design to ensure that the rich get richer and the poor get rapidly poorer. In this seeming debacle, whoever among the youths is fortunate to be offered a job either by the government or the private sector counts him extremely fortunate. There is a strong link between the actors in the public and the private sectors of the economy. They are one and the same in their mode and factors of production - agents of oppression and suppression of the employees, the proletariats. What only differentiates this duo is their domain.

The deployment of the Machiavellian tactics of rulership is essentially to bring the youths completely to their knees, as earlier submitted, so that the government can command their unalloyed support of its policies and programmes with little or no resistance from them. Therefore, for an employed youth to secure and sustain his job, he must be extremely loyal to his employment policies irrespective of the designed, of course to enslave him.

 I have always argued that the monies looted and embezzled by government officials (past and present) from public coffers, when aggregated and properly utilized, can provide gainful employment even to the last Youth Corper discharged from the NYSC scheme just now. This is to say the least. Therefore, to accentuate this degradation, and maintain the dichotomy between the rich and the poor, corruption has to be institutionalized in the country.  Attempts to fight corruption in Nigeria have been seriously resisted even by some in the ruling class itself. I did not personally expect less, anyway, not with the hypocrisy stand displayed by Nigeria’s National parliament in the fight against corruption. All these tactics are targeted to frustrate the youths whose present and future lives are regimented by these mischievous elites. The youths are a threat to the elites, and therefore they must be ‘strangled’.

Most times where the youths are eventually fortunate to be offered a job in private or public organizations, such employees are placed as Contract Staff of the organization. A contract staff is a member of an organization who merely brandishes his identity card of that organization but he is actually subjected to slavish conditions of employment in that organiation. He is only entitled to his defined salary. He is not entitled to pensions, promotions, housing allowance and other benefits the full staff members stand to enjoy in the same organization. His entitlements are entirely subjected to the benevolence or malevolence of the employer. He has no right to join the Labour Union if the organization has one. He has no severance package at the end of his service to that organization no matter how long he may have meritoriously served. He can be sacked at anytime with ignominy. While this is obviously against the labour laws of Nigeria, the umbrella trade Unions of the country, that is, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) which ought to fight for the rights and welfare of the employees suffering anti-labour laws and policies of the government are, unfortunately, part of the conspiracy to oppress the employees.  They keep mute in such cases, except on issues which bother in their favour.

The pittance that is paid as salaries with its accompanying enslaving conditions of work has further depleted the self-worth of an average Nigerian youth who is grossly under-employed.  While the bourgeoisie fattens up on daily basis using the lives and blood of the youths, the youths on the contrary are gradually yet steadily deflating in size and hope. He has been deflated, silenced and defeated! This is where the youths have been placed: psychologically paralyzed and economically impoverished! The future of the youths in this circumstance is bleak because they have been rendered powerless and stripped of the versatility of life.

There can be a way out of this orchestrated and well articulated system of oppression. The solution rests on the youths to aggregate themselves and have a potent, united voice against all these societal ills. They can express themselves legitimately through revitalized students’ unionism. This is key factor. The youths should collaborate with the civil and human rights organizations as channels of expressions to make their inputs in the governance of this country we call our own. This is one of the ways the youths can get liberty from the chains and shackles of these bourgeoisies. The youths across the country can mobilize themselves through various social media platform and ‘confront’ the government through peaceful and persistent mass protests across the country. This method was effectively deployed in Egypt in the recent past and it worked.

Except the youths rise up and place their destinies on the line, the oppression will continue. But we can change the status-quo from NOW.

NIGERIAN YOUTHS, A DEFLATED SPECIE IN THE NATION’S SOCIO-POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SPACE (Part 1) by SHABA MAFU.

The youths anywhere in the world, particularly in the African continent have been major victims of all political disasters and miscalculations from time immemorial, starting from the days of the obnoxious slave trade up to this moment of contemporary slavery brought about by capitalism and its operators: the bourgeoisie. In the era of slavery, the lives of many young men and women were ostensibly wasted when the blacks were ferried as slaves to the Whiteman’s sugar-cane plantations in the European farms. In every dispensation of political turbulence, economic upheavals, social catastrophe, and religious imbroglio, the youths are often the most hit. They have been denied their rights to live fulfilled lives at different times and in several fronts in history.

During the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970, several millions of people died but the greater population that was worse hit with the astringent pains and direct devastation of war were obviously and undeniably the youths. They constituted the army of warriors that fought on both sides of the feuding parties: the federal troops and the Biafrans, therefore being the segment that suffered the direct carnage the most. They have also suffered and sometimes met untimely deaths in periods of protests in the exercise of their constitutional rights, and those of other passive population. The youths of developing countries have certainly and surely become an endangered species, only allowed to exist and embrace whatever is thrown at them by the government and the society in general. The youthful virility in them has been emasculated. Their potency has been castrated; the fire extinguished by the policies and programmes of governments of corruption and maladministration which have characterized the Nigeria’s political ambience since the country’s hard-earned independence from the British slave masters. They are left to wander in the society with whatever chaff life has left of them. Based on the aforementioned and peculiar challenges of the youths in a clime like Nigeria, the rate of actual suicide and suicidal attempts is also very prevalent among this decapitated class of the society.

The youths have suffered gruesomely in the hands of Nigerian leaders since the country got its independence from the British overlords due to poorly-managed economy, political brouhaha and religious acrimonies. From the time of independence, their versatility and virility have been punctured with the sword of corruption of the leaders. They have been deliberately sidelined and reduced to live as second fiddle in the socio-political and economic space of Nigeria to the extent that a slogan has been sarcastically carved out for them that “the youths are the future of the country”. This is just to excuse the conscience of the oppressors. With the current docility of the youths in the society and the deliberate structure of the country, there is no future for the youths. The elites circulate themselves in power and in governance and bestride the society like a colossus in every dispensation. As this is so, the question remains: “where is the hope of the Nigerian youths?” The lives of the youths have been programmed to be wasted, stacked in irredeemable penury and servitude, regardless of the level of education they struggle to attain. The oppression and depression of the youths is an automated programme orchestrated by the bourgeoisie in the society. It is only the youths that are close to these bourgeoisies that may breathe reprieve from the clutches of strangulations and share from the national cake. The survival of today’s youths is squarely rooted at the benevolence or the malevolence of the bourgeoisie, it depends on the side of the divide that fate may throw them to.

I wish to make mention of one of the youths that could serve as an inspiration to the youths of today. I don’t intend to go into a detailed discussion about him but just to glean some lessons that may be relevant to our discussion. He is late Isaac Adaka  Jasper Boro. He was from the now known South-South (Niger-Delta) region of Nigeria. He was one of the vibrant youths in the genuine struggle for the redemption of his people, from the colossal damage wreaked on them by the powers of the federal government in his time. He fought against the marginalization and oppression of his people, the people of the Niger-delta. Boro was educated. He embraced the teachings and philosophy of Karl Marx, the progenitor of the Marxist and socialist ideologies. Due to his philosophical leaning, he hated the capitalist ideology that represented oppression. He actually saw his people marginalized and oppressed in the spirit of capitalism he loathed so much. He resolved to stand for the defence of his people, and protesting against their ill-treatment by the federal government.  He anchored his dissatisfaction on intellectualism and engaged the federal government on that front. Not satisfied with the position of the government on his agitations, he consequently declared the Republic of the Niger Delta, a secessionist move from the Nigerian State on the 23^rd February, 1966. The republic only lasted for just twelve days before it succumbed to the crushing might of the federal government. My emphasis here is not that of his armed struggle against the Nigerian State, but his agility, fearlessness, intellectual capacity, his versatility to engage the federal government for expression of his pains and frustration. He did not remain docile. He set his intellectual and philosophical convictions as his basis for his agitation and action. He was not mute, not strangulated by the mighty chains of oppression of the capitalist assailants at that time. Though he was not allowed to accomplish his mission of creating a Niger-Delta Republic from the Nigerian State, yet his name cannot be wished away in the history of Nigeria. The youths must emulate him by also deploying intellectual engagement in order to put the government under pressure to do the needful and fulfill its constitutional obligations to its people. I do not support or suggest an armed struggle against the government but the youths must engage the government intellectually, following the adage that “The Pen is mightier than the Sword.”

In the past, Student Unions of Nigerian tertiary institutions were a fearless and feared breed. They engaged the government boldly and constructively on national issues. They articulated their grievances and channeled them fearlessly to the appropriate quarters. The intellectual platform was deployed extensively and effectively by the students on all issues concerning them. Ironically, these happened in the ‘ageless past’ when students were students indeed. At that time, the government dared not ignore the students in its policy formulation and implementation because it knew that it would meet stiff resistance and protests if the policy was anti-people. The students engaged the government in robust debates and high-profile intellectual discourse on issues, proposing solutions to some knotty national challenges. They were stakeholders in the governance of the country. The government respected and also feared the University students for this. Student Leaders were elected based on their versatility, intellectual wealth, fearlessness and outspokenness.

At the period under discussion, the students were very vocal on even issues that bother on real or perceived corruption and maladministration by the government. For instance, the popular ‘Ali Must Go’ protests staged in 1978 was on based on the allegation of that the then military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo through the then Federal Commissioner of Education, Col. Ahmadu Ali (Rtd) to increase the cost of daily meals of students from N1. 50. The Commissioner increased the daily meal ticket of students with 50 kobo. The students reacted violently to the extent that the country was held in the jugular for a period of time. It was a massive protest to register a ‘vote of no confidence’ on the Commissioner for, at least, failing to represent their welfare. The decision of the government, on the other hand, was also viewed by the students as oppressive. The protest was led by the fearless Comrade Kolade Shegun Okeowo of blessed memory. But today, even while the Nigerian House of Representatives is proposing a ridiculous and an evil bill to give amnesty to looters of public funds, the Students Unions in Nigerian tertiary institutions under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), have remained complacent, mute, incapacitated and decapitated, thereby allowing the destiny of the country to be toiled with in the hands of these selfish politicians who brand themselves as the peoples’ representatives. The vibrant spirits of the students have been chained to the ground.

In 1989, there was the anti-SAP students protest when General Ibrahim Babangida’s government introduced the unpopular economic policy called Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The programme which was intended to make the proletariats tighten their belts while the bourgeoisies adjust theirs, for their fattened waistlines was vehemently opposed and resisted by University students at that time. The protests which started from the University of Benin spread across other campuses in Nigeria like the harmattan fire. But the opposite has become the case in the contemporary times of Student Unionism in Nigeria. Where is the potency of the once versatile students’ unionism which had served as vanguard to the other youths in the society? Have they gone into extinction? Is this generation of the youths reeling into precipice? Where is the input of the students in is today’s governance where there is massive loot of the national treasury, incomprehensible rising rate of unemployment, kidnappings (even of students) and other legion of crimes freely perpetrated in the society?

POLITICAL PARTY FORMULATION AND COSMETIC DECAMPING: A TRUE REFLECTION OF THE CHARACTERS OF THE POLITICAL CLASS OF NIGERIA by SHABA MAFU.

We were taught that for a political party to be so-called, it must have a defined ideological leaning upon which it is built, possibly as a capitalist, Marxist, socialist or welfarist in orientation. The Nigeria political parties do not define this crux, and unfortunately, both the political class and its ardent followers do not care about whether the political parties they belong to are guided by any principles or any ideological beliefs. To the followers, what matters to them is the mechanical support given to the “knowledgeable and deified” godfathers who belong to same political parties with them. This stance makes almost every political party supporter in Nigeria an elitist urchin. For instance this bandwagon politics played out so conspicuously for several years in Kwara State politics whence wherever the late Dr. Olusola Saraki, the then godfather and ‘director-general’ of Kwara politics swung his hands to, the followers would swerve rabidly to that direction like chickens tumbling after some corns thrown around randomly. No one asked questions, no one cared about the party’s ideology and operations. Whichever party he chose to follow at any point commanded the gullible followership pronto.

The politicians have cashed on this prevailing primitive political background and orientation of the country to cross-carpet or decamp to other political parties at will, basically not because they were not comfortable with the non-existent political ideologies of their former political party nor because of the absence of internal democracy within their political parties as they always claimed, but because of their greed, selfishness and for the ultimate realization of their political ambition; and to create a favourable ambience for looting while savouring the followers with the crumbs of the loot that fell from the political table. The ‘ideology’ guiding most of these politicians is the political desperation to win at all costs, with looting of the public treasury as their intrinsic driving force.

The former Vice-President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is one of the many politicians that deploy this arsenal of decamping at his slightest inconvenience in the party he belongs to. Due to his expertise in this sort of migration and political prostitution, he has been able to reproduce the likes of himself, though may not be deliberately. He was one of the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He ported thereafter to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) when he discovered that what was pursuing him in PDP was mightier than him. From ACN, he went back to the PDP when he felt that the masquerades after his political ambition may have finally taken their roost at the grove. Later, he found his way from PDP again back to All Progressives Congress believing he was going to defeat the then co-presidential aspirant, General Muhammadu Buhari in the primary elections that brought President Muhammadu Buhari ultimately to Aso Rock, after winning the 2015 general elections. Unconfirmed rumours are currently  flying that the former Vice-president may again  return to the PDP following the resolution of the lingering crisis by the Supreme Court a few days ago. But Atiku himself, through his media aide, has since denied the alleged clandestine move.

The Peoples Democratic Party has been engulfed with internal crisis for some time now. Instead of adopting a political solution to resolve the crisis, both contending parties have resorted to legal option. The legal option had telling effect on the political party which had once controlled thirty of the thirty-six states of the federation and had boasted it would rule Nigeria for sixty years, only to be defeated in the 2105 general elections.  The two feuding champions of the party, Alhaji Ali Modu Sherrif and Alhaji Makarfi, had climbed the podium of international embarrassment to pull their muscles. This stance sank the party terribly.  Makarfi had insisted that instead of him to succumb to the judgment of the Appeal Court affirming Modu Sherrif as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, he would rather go ahead and form another political party to be known and called Advanced Peoples Democratic Party (APDP). Obviously, all these moves have been put to an end due to the celebrated Supreme Court judgment affirming Alhaji Markafi as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the hitherto boisterous party, thereby sacking the Alhaji Sheriff’s leadership of the party. Markarfi was obviously on his way to form a new political party. Can you now see my ‘angst’ against these political hoppers? This was the same route the ruling APC also took just few years back. They had adopted different names, and metamorphosed into several nomenclatures just to accommodate some political opportunists, so as to wrest power from the then ruling PDP. Some politicians were like the cattle egrets which lurched along with the political party, primarily to realize their ambitions under the platform of a popular party. These politicians obviously have no sense of direction. The interest of the people they claim to represent is secondary in their thought. The ideology of a political party ought to be the guiding principle to determine the card-carrying membership or otherwise of any member of the political party.

Just recently, the former Senior Special Assistant on Media to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, a known staunch member of the PDP, decamped to the ACCORD Party. His reason might be because his former party, the PDP was in serious disarray. But the truth of the matter is that he might be nursing great political ambition and the only avenue to actualize this dream is to defect to a smaller party where his influence could be overwhelming. To him, the former party may consist of people too powerful to contend with, so the issue of realizing his political ambition in the PDP may be a mirage. He did not decamp because of any ideological conviction or to serve his people better. No! The ACCORD Party, like any other party in Nigeria has no ideological leaning as well. No party in Nigeria is guided by any ideology.

Nigeria is not practicing participatory democracy. What Nigeria practices is political-partyism and electoral politics. This is to mean that the politicians use the political parties as platforms to realize their political ambitions while the electorates cast their votes during elections and thereafter remain permanently mute. In a participatory democracy, the electorates are actively involved in the governance of the country even after the elections. They hold their representatives accountable throughout the political dispensation. They monitor closely the developmental strands of their constituencies in line with the campaign promises of the elected leaders. They place high premium on the social contract they have entered into with their elected representatives to the extent that the politicians cannot decamp without wide consultations and inputs from his constituencies.  If the electorates are actually active in the governance of this country, political grasshoppers and their activities would be tamed.

 The desperation of these politicians is exhibited when they lose elections. They protest violently at the expense of national peace and tranquilty. They do not realize that sovereign power belongs to the electorates who have the right to be guided by their political convictions. But because these politicians are themselves not guided by any document of ideological directions, they felt that it is their exclusive right to be voted into power as long as they had done the needful of ‘palliating’ the electorates during campaigns. To these losers, it does not matter to them if the whole nation is set ablaze, so long they satisfied their political revenge of loss. When there is a political ideology, the electorates can make informed decisions on which party they are to vote into power.
Whenever an estranged politician decamps to another party, he is usually accepted hastily and heartily by the new party without scrutinizing the profile of the decampee. They believe that such a decampee has fortified the numerical strength of the party. This is the rottenness of the system.  In Nigeria, the population strength of a political party is the measuring tool to determine how successful a political party is. This is against what is obtainable in saner climes where the success of a political party is determined and known by the delivery of the dividends of democracy to its people. The success of a party, therefore, is not determined by the swollen population of political fraudsters and decampees. Though it is known that politics is a game of number, but that should not be when the number is swelled by people with questionable past and fraudulent present. Nigeria’s political parties, without mincing words, are not guided by ideological principles.

All political parties in Nigeria are one and the same, no matter the differences in their names and membership profile. No one of them has any ideology, none has any conditions to accept decampees, none talks about political morality, and none genuinely fights corruption. They all fight corruption back as intense and as subtle as they can. All members are not genuinely interested in the delivery of the dividends of democracy. Their primary interest is anchored on exploitation, and looting of the public treasury.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must, as a matter of urgency, compel the political parties in Nigeria, to not only submit their names and manifestos; they must also PRESENT AND SUBMIT documents of their ideological persuasions along, before being allowed to contest for political power. This is the main crux of the matter, else we will continue to rigmarole. Until we mature to this practice of participatory democracy in Nigeria, we will continue to suffer what Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti called ‘akunakuna’ - the senior brother of perambulation.

THE NEED FOR PSYCHIATRIC TEST FOR NIGERIAN POLITICAL ASPIRANTS AND POLITICIANS by SHABA MAFU.

The former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri had sometimes ago urged that anyone vying for any political positions in Nigeria must subject himself or herself to psychiatric test to ascertain their mental balance before taking up public responsibilities. She predicated this workable recommendation on the belief that what prevails in the political clime in Nigeria has transcended the ills of mere corruption to mental imbalance among many Nigerian politicians. She wondered about the excesses of politicians in their blatant misbehavior in the diversion of the public wealth into their private pockets/accounts by stealing beyond human comprehension. She lamented how a typical Nigerian politician occupying a public position would loot the commonwealth to build or buy mansions in choice places in each continent of the world…houses, which eventually neither he nor his generation would ever use till they die. Ironically, when he even travels to these same places where he bought these mansions, he won’t sleep in there; he would rather lodge in hotels with blazing costs from same public coffers where he stole from.

I buy perfectly to the opinion of Mrs. Farida Waziri because sometimes I personally become perturbed over the maniacal behavior of these politicians who steal from their fatherland and waste the looted resources in building other continents, only to come back again, using parts of the loot to campaign and solicit for votes during elections, from impoverished, frustrated and famished electorates. This is a vicious cycle deliberately and careful drawn to perpetuate retrogression in their very fatherland, Nigeria. This is prodigality, byzantine madness in its clearest terms. These megalomaniacs emerge from an electoral constituency they had once promised to develop with their constituency project votes when elected into their various political positions. Truly, I am yet to clearly see or even understand what that constituency project votes stand to actualize, as touted in their political chambers of complexity.

 My Local Government is currently only the Local Government maintaining its oldest name in Nigeria since creation (guess the local government). All other Local Governments have been split into different local governments with various names for developmental purposes, but the Methuselah-status of mine has not only been maintained but also reputed to be one of the most backward Local Governments as well. Undoubtedly, this Local Government has received several federal allocations for the purpose of development, at the least, through the elected political representatives it has produced. Yet it is obviously one of the most backward and wretched LGAs in the annals of Nigerian history. Where are inputs of the politicians this Local Government has produced all these years? What have they done with the budget for constituency from the federal allocations? These politicians gallivant without a prick in their conscience, just exactly as a madman would wander about enjoying the public gaze of his nakedness by the inquisitive crowd, without a blink of shame from him.

The constituencies where these politicians belong are as underdeveloped as they have ever been since the enthronement of the hard-earned democracy in Nigeria.  The attitude of these fraudsters in political garb is an inherent ailment, a gene of corruption cutting through and across socio-biological and chronological history. Politicking and corruption is now a cult and cultism maintained and sustained from one democratic dispensation to the other. Can you imagine that some roads in the Local governments and States are impassable in the midst of these sticking-rich politicians? In some States of the country, erosions have munched some chunks of land causing threats to human lives and properties. In another instance, the issue of power-generation has become pathological. For instance, the electricity poles that may have fallen down in the past two years would simply be abandoned to the poor villagers to reconstruct and maintain at their own expense. The elected representatives who ought to assist them, swagger around in their palatial buildings located strategically in the villages whenever they came visiting home. They are generally not concerned about the power-generation issue because they have a standby generator for themselves and their families to lighten up their homes to the entire exclusion of the impoverished villagers who ‘voted’ them into power; so no solace anywhere for the villagers.

These politicians visit their villages with a retinue of political thugs they brand as personal security. They relate last with his constituency publicly at the campaign podium where they were dancing with their rotund stomach, fattened waistline and watery eyes conspicuously filled with the rheum of lies and deception. Immediately, they are elected into public offices, they create a gulf between themselves and their constituencies - a political design of deliberate ostracism of the electorates. Even when they come to town, their personal security escorts prevent the villagers from accessing because they are not just regarded as nuisance but also claim to pose as security threats to them. They do not ever consider holding town-hall meetings to address the pressing needs of the constituencies where they are elected. This is absurdity in the highest order!

The public life of a typical Nigerian politician is quite disgusting. He is unfaithful as he is deceptive. This is why whoever plays a ‘fast one’ is always branded as a politician. He diverts the constituency votes he had debated at the floor of the House with all nerves standing all over his head and neck, pretending to give vent to his sincerity, to buy some estates in plum areas in the capital cities after collection, and the balance credited into the account of a whore who never knew how he came to power. He creates fictitious companies so as to stash away billions of stolen money as evidenced in the recent arrests and prosecutions of alleged looters by the country’s anti-graft Body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). If not for the madness of these politicians, why can’t these fictitious companies be practically situated in their own communities, at the worst, to generate employment and consequent development of such places? This is the mindset and lifestyle of a typical or an average Nigerian politician, who needs to actually visit a psychiatric home.

To further emphasize the position of Mrs. Farida Waziri, the House of Representatives, the lower Chamber of the nation’s parliament is presently considering a bill for the granting of amnesty to looters of public treasury. Part of the conditions for the amnesty is that the self-confessed looter presents willingly himself to the Amnesty Office and confesses the amount stolen, without any verification from the government, or questioning about the source and even the amount of his loot. He declares 70% of the loot and presents same, which will be accepted by the office and the money invested to boost the economy of the country, and then he is left to go and enjoy the remaining undeclared loot. In the first instance, how will the Amnesty office truly determine 70% of the loot of these ‘repentant’ thieves? Is it not then right to test the mental stability of the proponents of this bill itself? Is the bill not contrary to political ethics and morality, not to talk more of its inconsistency with the stand of the federal Government on the war against corruption? Is Mrs. Waziri, therefore, not justified if she suggested that these politicians need go for mental assessment?

The Holy scriptures declare that “a good name is better than silver and gold”. The name of the wicked, greedy politicians will rot ultimately. Some years ago in a particular place, there was a man who indulged in this kind of social-political insanity to the extent that the empty water tanks in his house were fully and practically stocked with raw cash running into millions of Nigerian Naira. Nemesis, however, caught on him in the process of time and all his ill-gotten wealth vanished the same way he got it. Before the man died he became a pauper. The villagers then hired him for palm-wine tapping contract. He became subservient to the same villagers he hitherto had short-changed and abandoned in the days of his glory. This is a true story. Ill-gotten wealth will be relished, but definitely in ignoble living, confusion and in terminal diseases. This is why before some of these wicked politicians die, they will be sandwiched in the androgyny of the two eternities for a long time while silently groaning in this side of the divide. All ‘mad’ politicians will suffer similar fate. There is a way nature pays cheats, deceivers, mad men in the garb of politicians and in the name of politics.

In the foregoing circumstances, I subscribe to the opinion of Mrs. Waziri, that most, if not all aspirants into political offices in Nigeria should be subjected to psychiatric evaluation before being allowed to contest for public offices. The Independent National Electoral Commission has to review its Act to include this salient provision. If any suspect of mental imbalance is discovered, and perhaps the popular Psychiatric Hospital located in Yaba, Lagos, cannot handle his case because of the degree and duration of his  mental insanity, I propose a potent Psychiatric Peoples Home in Uselu, Benin-city in Edo State where chronic madness are treated with accustomed ease.

Some Nigerian political aspirants and the politicians need this cure!

THE MACABRE DANCE IN THE NIGERIAN LEGISLATIVE HOUSES by SHABA MAFU.

In all democracies in the world, the legislature plays sacrosanct roles in the functioning and survival of such systems. Therefore the members of the legislative Houses are usually very serious in the discharge of their legislative responsibilities. Their roles when properly played strengthen the democratic principles which eventually translate to the overall development of the entire country. This is why people who are elected into that arm of government are definitely not jokers. On the other hand, where the aforementioned description of the members of the Houses is the contrary, then the country suffers from legislative stagnation, retrogression, oppressive policies which might even breed misdirected or carefree Executives. In the Nigerian Legislative Houses, we witness constant confrontational postures between the Executives and the Legislatures, which confrontations are usually rested on perceived frivolities and supercilious attitude of one over the other, therefore leaving the electorates much more confused, frustrated and denigrated. This feature obviously characterizes the Nigerian Houses of Parliament more often than not, especially in this contemporary dispensation. This is a macabre dance taken to the national political ambience.

Trending now is the recall saga of the popular Senator Dino Melaye by the constituents of his Kogi-West Senatorial District. In the wisdom of his own people, they felt that Melaye is no longer fit to represent them because of the alleged several offences catalogued against him. Eighteen alleged offences were marked against his person, hence the legitimate demand for his recall.  They strongly felt that the best way to redeem the almost-battered image of the constituency and from continuous national embarrassment, was to recall their representative. Before now, the Senator was embroiled in a certificate saga, alleged verbal attacks on the person of the Sultan of Sokoto, the Executive President of the country, Muhammadu Buhari; and other alleged offences. Digging deeper into one of his alleged offences, an online news platform, the Sahara Reporters had indicted Senator Melaye, in one of their reports that he never graduated from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He was accused of failing a core course in Geography and could not have graduated in that circumstance. But in a sudden twist of events and to quickly redeem the image of the University, the Vice-Chancellor of the University visited the Senate Council and presented a certificate of Graduation to Melaye. Following, Melaye kitted himself in an academic regalia in the following plenary to affirm his claim of graduation from the University. He consequently released a nollywood film singing a war-song to mock his persecutors and making childish gesticulations in the video to drive home his point. His reaction was viewed by many as not only childish, but demeaning of a man of such high calibre, a national figure for that matter.

His present recall saga has generated several mixed reactions from different quarters which included that from the Red Chambers – the House of Senate. The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu described the actions of the electorates of Melaye’s senatorial constituency as jokers who have embarked on an exercise in  futility. He asserted that the protesters must convince the Senate council with proofs why Melaye could be recalled. His position was seconded by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki who affirmed that Kogi-West constituents are jokers; that is to say that all the seven local Governments which form the Kogi-West Senatorial District are full of jokers and possibly ignorant of what is obtainable in the political world. He allegedly said that the recall process was “dead on arrival”. This was what elicited the reaction of the former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili who described the statements of the leadership of the Senate as unfortunate and unbecoming of such respected representatives of the people. He berated them as people who wanted to silence the political conscience of the aggrieved senatorial District.

The Senate is obviously dabbling and assaulting the collective reasoning of a group of people by their inflammatory statements. Their bias asserts that a part is greater than a whole, because Melaye here, is projected as being greater than one-third of  Kogi State, his constituency. This is a naked attempt to obstruct the free political expression of the informed electorates. The Senate must know and be deliberately reminded that sovereignty belongs to the people in a democracy. No Senator, not even the President, is greater or superior to the electorates. This, they must know and respect. The people of Kogi-West have the right to recall their representative if they deem it legitimately and objectively fit to do so.

Meanwhile, the embattled Senator raised an alarm that 110,000 people voted for him but 118,000 electorates signed his recall.  He alleged that even dead men must have been part of those who signed the recall letter. This perceived anomaly and others may have informed the Abuja High court to rule that the parties in the dispute maintain the status quo for now. In his conventional reactions to issues, Melaye who had accused the Governor of  Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, as the mastermind and sponsor of his recall, described the Governor as a failure. This to me, is an irresponsible statement from a peoples’ representative against an equally elected Executive Governor of a State, his own State. Senator Melaye should learn how to live in peace with fellow human beings, and not utilizing every situation to be confrontational, even when he is supposed to maintain decorum and self-respect. Being quiet at times does not mean that one is a coward or unintelligent.

Unfortunately, his confrontational attitude and actions have smeared the behavioural pattern of some Senators already. This is a deviation! An aberrantion altogether!!

The Senate has in another dimension engaged in a childish display in carrying out their responsibilities. Once upon a time, the Executive arm of the present government presented the name of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, for confirmation by the Senate. He was not confirmed by the Senate, citing the security reports of the Department of State Services, (DSS) indicting him. As if the Magu’s matter had died down, recently the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo presented the name of Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila to the Senate for confirmation as the Director-General of the National Lottery Regulatory. The Senate out-rightly refused to confirm him referring to a recent statement earlier credited to the Acting President that some Executive nominees do not need the confirmation of the Senate before assuming their official responsibilities.  Instead of the Senate to seek judicial interpretation of the statement made by the Professor of Law, Yemi Osinbajo, if they were miffed by that, they pocketed the grievance like a child, waiting patiently for a ripe opportunity for vendetta. And that period actually came when the same Acting president presented a nominee to be confirmed by them! The Distinguished Senators exhumed with ease the offensive statement earlier made by Osibanjo and responded that they will no longer confirm any nominees presented to them by the Executives until Ibrahim Magu is removed from being the Acting Chairman of the anti-graft Body.

On this, the Senate Council has no right to hold the country by the jugular by refusing to confirm nominees presented to them by the Executives. The third Arm of Government which is the Judiciary, is there to interpret conflicting legal or controversial declarations made, especially as it affect the discharge of their lawful responsibilities and deliverables. Instead of them to toe the legal route, they veered like children in the bid to blackmail the Presidency/ executives. This is disgusting to the public; and a display of political immaturity. The senate must be brought to their consciousness of the need to carry out their legislative duties with all sense of maturity and decorum; and not seeking for vendetta to the collective detriment of the entire nation in general and the hard-earned democracy in particular.

Senator Danjuma Goje in his own rhythmic display of the macabre dance has accused the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fasola, of being confrontational to the legislative chambers. The offence of the Minister was that he accused the House of doctoring the 2017 budget of his ministry by slashing off it the budget allocations. Some of the altered projects include the Lagos-Ibadan expressway which connects three states in the country, the budget for the completion of the Second Niger bridge which connects the East to the West, thereby connecting eleven States, and the Kano-Maiduguri roads connecting 5 States. Fashola accused the House that instead of approving such budgets, the projects of building street lights in legislative constituencies were used for replacement. This is a wrong direction toed by the Senate Chairman of the Committee of Appropriation. His action is not only selfish, but unpatriotic and inhuman. He has not considered how many lives have been lost in accidents on the terrible Lagos-Ibadan Expressway due to corruption and embezzlement of funds previously appropriated for such laudable project by past Governments. As for the Second Niger Bridge which connects the East to the other parts of the country, the selfishness of the Senator has beclouded his sense of understanding of the economic viability and transformation the project will impact on the people primarily affected, and the Nigerian economy as a whole. The Parliamentarian should abhor selfishness in its totality and seek for ways to form a responsible synergy with the executives in moving the nation forward. Senator Danjuma Goje is obviously dancing with twisted footsteps on the floor of the Red Chambers.

It must be known to the National Parliament that their legislative success is not necessarily measured by the degree of confrontational posture with the executive. This will rather earn them disdain and criticism from the public. A responsible legislature is that which constitutionally checks and balances the other arms of government, and possibly sells innovative ideas to other arms of government which transforms the entire country in developmental strides. A true Legislature is one who takes interest in his constituency and even broker peace where the peace eludes or is threatened there. He is not, therefore the one constituting a nuisance to the electorates and the entire senatorial district. A responsible legislature is the one who would not allow its image to be dented by the activities of other deviant members of the House. They would immediately whip such deviants to course; but where the deviants prove obstinate, he is quickly sanctioned, in order to respect the sanctity and the sovereignty of the electorates.

The Nigerian Parliamentarians must prove to be responsible and act so. They owe much to this budding democracy in Nigeria. With a more responsible and responsive legislature, Nigeria and all her citizens the world over will be respected by other comity of nations.

AMNESTY FOR TREASURY LOOTERS, A POLITICAL TWIST OF A TIRED LEGISLATURE .by SHABA MAFU.

Treasury looters in Nigeria will soon heave a great sigh of relief if the proposed bill of amnesty for looters of public treasury as canvassed by the lower House of the national Parliament sees the light of the day.  The bill sponsored by Honourable Linus Okorie (PDP, Ebonyi State ) was first read on the floor of the House on June 14, 2017. Categorically, the bill seeks to give looters leeway to escape any form of probe, inquiry, or prosecution after fulfilling certain conditions. Besides, such looters shall not be compelled by any authority to disclose the source of their looted funds.  The scheme is to last three years from the time it is signed into law by the Executive President. The three-year period could be extended at the instance of the federal Government.

Specifically, the proposed law is titled: “A Bill for an Act to establish a scheme to harness untaxed money for investment purposes to assure any declarant regarding inquiries and proceedings under Nigeria laws and for other matters connected therewith”. This bill when it is passed into law excludes the ‘repentant’ looter from disclosing the source of his loot and the amount looted. Under the amnesty, he returns any amount he deems fit to surrender without any authority questioning him of the actual amount stolen or returned. He cannot be prosecuted by any court of law of the land under the cover of the Amnesty programme. So a looter can steal from the commonwealth in Billions of Naira and decides to hand over a paltry sum of some sick millions which will be invested into the Nigerian economy (for the recycled process of looting and Amnesty again and again)

This bill is drafted basically for the escape of the elites who have already stolen huge sums of our national wealth.  Scared stiff of being caught in the dangling hammer of the anti-graft Body, particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), they are granting a futuristic amnesty to themselves as an escapist route from the pending public shame and ridicule when eventually caught. This stand is antithetical to the stand of the present Buhari-led government and well-meaning Nigerians on the war against corruption. It does not depict decency, decorum and integrity in which the Honourable Members of the House of Representatives ought to be known and referred. The bill is an aberration from its conception; its tantamount to deliberate sabotage of the economy and betrayal to the collective representation of the entire citizenry of Nigeria. It is a deliberate fatal blow dealt on the psyche of the nation; a further impoverishing of the already depressed common man on the Nigerian street.

This bill is self-seeking and has no iota of patriotism. The intending beneficiaries of this proposed Act are the likes of the allegedly corrupt people such as the former Minister of Petroleum under the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke who was accused by the EFCC of stealing a whopping sum of $115 Million (N23 Billion). Under the grace of such an amnesty, she may choose to return any amount at her discretion and that ends it all. She will deploy the remainder for political expeditions on the same poor and cheated Nigerians who will continue live in perpetual servitude and bondage to these elite rogues. The bill applauds the Police pension fraud case where Mr. John Yakubu Joseph was alleged to have stolen the sum of N23 Billion from the police pensions. When charged to court, he was asked to pay a fine of N750,000 or be jailed for two years. Right there, he doled out the fine from one of his pockets and strolled home a free man to enjoy the remainder loot legitimately. Can one compare the lives wasted by the deeds of Yakubu for the alleged theft and the “lump pat on his wrist” he got from the court? This Linus-sponsored Amnesty bill got its inspiration from the judgment passed in the fraudulent case of Mr. Yakubu Joseph, I guesswith all sense of responsibility.

In this proposed law, someone like the former National Security Officer, Colonel Sambo Dasuki who was alleged to have squandered the sum of $2.1Billion dollars being money meant to purchase arms to fight the Boko haram insurgency, will enjoy the amnesty. He could just stroll to the office of the Amnesty and in a drawl declare that the whole money being lamented about was just 1Million token. The Amnesty Office will pat him at the back for patriotism and collect the remnant to ‘invest in the Nigerian economy’.

This bill is not only evil, but destructive to the entire economy of the country and by extension the country itself. The bill will not stop looters of the economy who are the worst criminals in this country. It will give them a leeway to perpetrate this evil. Most painful of this bill is that it protects the thieving elites. The bill was silenced about the mammoth corruption going on in the private sector. While the economy is being milked dry and the deliberate perpetrators of the crime excused, the rate of employment will continue to skyrocket thereby birthing poverty in ripple effect. The common man has nothing to benefit from this highly pervasive bill.

This bill reminds me to call on the EFCC to extend their search-light on the Chairmen of all the 774 Local Government Chairmen in Nigeria. Each quarter, we hear of the trillions of Naira shared among the three tiers of government by the federal Government. These monies do not translate to any developmental projects especially at the local Government level.  This bill cannot cover up people like these, who ordinarily ought to be accountable to the electorates at the grassroots.

I call on President Muhammadu Buhari or the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo not to desecrate their revered names by appending the Executive signature to this hellish bill to effect it a law. The Executive should rather strengthen the anti-graft Bodies and make them more effective. If the bill eventually receives an executive assent to become law, the human and civil rights organizations in Nigeria, such as SERAP, CACOL, CDHR, etc, should mobilize themselves and the entire Nigerian populace to protest and denounce this misnomer called the Economic Amnesty Bill or Amnesty Bill for Looters.

Before going to that extent, I all on the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Dogara to fling the bill through the window and count it as anti-people and an anti-progressive bill. It is only by so-doing, the legislature can untwist the political scenario glaring menacingly on the eyes of the already-frustrated Nigerians.

NIGERIA’S SECULARISM AND THE MOCKERY OF A SYSTEM by SHABA MAFU

Nigeria is a heterogeneous society with different religious beliefs and affiliations. It is an entity where unity in diversity ought to be its strength to the nation and threats to other nations no matter their status, but the reverse has become the case. The most volatile ailment in Nigeria is not poverty, marginalization, poor governance, political hypocrisy but religious fanaticism surreptitiously aided by the government through an ailing constitution. While a part of the constitution claimed that Nigeria is a secular nation, the same constitution in another section dabbled into religious issues setting some provisions for the running of Sharia system of adjudication. The government who are the custodians of a secular constitution sponsors pilgrimages to Mecca for the muslims, and to Jerusalem for the Christians. In Nigeria’s currency, you will notice some symbols of Arabic writings typical of a particular religious identity while English Language remains our adopted lingua franca. Who is more of religious fanaticism: the government or the citizenry?

The process of choosing representatives of the people, from the post of the President down to that of the Councillor is permeated with lots of religious jingoism, thus loathed with attendant religious breathes. For instance, in Nigeria, if the President is a Muslim, the Vice will certainly be a Christian or vice-versa; else there will be massive disdain to the system and process, and a likely resultant bloodshed. The same thing applies to the election of governors and their deputies except such states are overwhelmingly from a particular religion. Retrospectively, it was only in 1993 presidential elections that Nigerians collapsed any religious considerations and voted conscientiously, when Late Chief MKO Abiola and Ambassador Babagana Kingibe were elected as ‘President’ and ‘vice-president’, respectively, under a muslim/muslim ticket without any protestations or religious sentiments from the citizenry. This, to a large extent, is to say that Nigerians can unite without any religious tensions if government does not interfere and incite religious crises; but the government will not allow this peace to foster. They tactically fan the embers of religious extremism. What happened to the result of the “binding and unifying” 1993 general election? It was gruesomely annulled by the GOVERNMENT who ought to protect the doctrine of secularism. The annulment itself sparked tensions and resultant deaths among the citizenry in hitherto peaceful Nigeria. Ordinarily, all Nigerians irrespective of religious differences are good people, great people and accommodating set of people, I make bold to say!

I still wonder why government dabbles into religious affairs, igniting emotions which are practically destructive to the Nigerian nation. I agree that secularism means that the country does not adopt any one particular religion as a state religion. This concept is a misnomer in Nigerian context, just as the constitution is kwashiokored on this. If Nigeria has not adopted Christianity and Islam as its religion, why does the government waste its resources in building national Mosque and a national Chapel (Church) in the presidential villa? Is this still secularism? Why are Nigerians employed based on religious sympathy and not on competence and merit? It is unthinkable that in a federal employment or admission form will create a column for a prospective employee and students to fill for his/her religious identity, respectively. Is this secularism? Is this not to twist one religion against the other and see which is more superior? Last year or so, in Osun State of Nigeria, it was the government that initiated a religious debacle on whether to wear hijab to a public school or not. It was not the peaceful people of Osun state that started this abnormality.

In the military barracks, they have religious worship centres to the extent that they have Military Chaplains and Muslim Leaders among the military organization. I remember there was a time that the federal government frowned at indicating our tribes by tribal marks on our faces but hypocritically of the government, I have not so far seen that anyone who are involved in religious violence prosecuted, not to talk more of being sentenced. Our problem is not facial marks of identity. Our problem is the cancerous constitution. To me, Nigeria is not in anyway secular but a bi-religious nation. Cristianity and Islam are the two-state religions.

Do you remember a man called Akaluka in Kano State, when in some years ago was beheaded and his head pinned to a long stick and the murderers danced all around the streets of Kano with it? What of the Redeemed Pastor Eunice who was murdered in cold blood in Abuja just late last year? What has happened to all these killers? What of the massacre of Christians recently conducted by the Muslims in Southern Kaduna where over 120 people were allegedly killed? NO ONE has been arrested, prosecuted and sentenced. Rather it was Pastor Johnson Suleiman that was being hunted by the DSS as if he was the one that ‘bombed’ and killed the Southern Kaduna victims. The alleged ‘inflammatory statements’ of the Pastor were more grievous than the actual murders of the innocent Christian victims? What an irony of situation! The government is not chasing the murderers, but chasing an Edo man who went to Ekiti State just to preach the gospel. Are you seeing the role of the government in religion and the touted secularism of Nigeria? Is this therefore not a mockery of a system called secularism?

 I lay all these anomalies majorly on the shoulders of the government and the sick constitution of Nigeria. The government must radically hands off any involvements in religious affairs, and let the country remains truly secular. If Nigeria was actually a secular nation, all crimes committed in the name of religion would not be branded as mere religious riots or unrests. Such acts would be treated as crimes against the State and humanity.  All murderers must be answerable to the law. Religion should squarely be individualistic and personal. The government can only guide its operations where it contravenes the rights of others or threatens the corporate existence of the nation, and not the government igniting crises by reason of omission or commission. The constitution of Nigeria must be REVIEWED and all the provisions on religion completely expunged, restricted, guided or properly redefined to moderate government’s involvement, and to criminalize all evils committed in the name of religious upheavals.

THE BOISTEROUS QUIT-NOTICE TO THE SOUTH-EASTERNERS LIVING IN NORTHERN NIGERIA.: by SHABA MAFU.

Just recentLy, there was a boisterous call by some Northern elements of Nigeria to the people of the south-Eastern extraction to vacate the Northern zone within the period of three months, giving the ultimatum to expire exactly on the 1^st of October, 2017, the official date when Nigeria celebrates its independence from the British overlords. Though the consequence of the quit notice if flouted was not clearly spelt out, the implication was that in the event of any flouting, there might be forceful eviction of the tenants. This notice has birthed national outrage even by the Ibos who had had been agitating for secession from the country. There were chafed by the effrontery and brazen ridicule of this confrontational sacking order of the Northerners who themselves had maintained offensive relationships  throughout the nooks and crannies of the nation where they are enjoying unfettered and luscious accommodation by their hosts in spite of their recent characteristic hostility to their host-communities. The Ibos anger was further kindled by the fact that the Northerners had no moral justifications to mock at them since they too are 'secessionists' through the Boko haram devilish escapades.

Historically, the Ibos have been on the vanguard of a divided nation. Shortly after the independence of Nigeria, they possibly and quickly discovered  in their own grand and intelligent calculation, that the contraction called Nigeria was not worth federating with, agreeing with the submission of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo that Nigeria was best described as a notion because it best existed in mental conception. Irked or inspired by the submission of this sage, the Ibos first disrupted the national cohesion of the country by staging a bloody coup in January 15, 1966. They hated with passion a contraction called Nigeria before their so-called theory of marginalization which they now flaunt contemporarily as the basis of their secession. The Ibos do not believe in ONE Nigeria ab initio. This may because they felt that they may not realize their full potentials as a nation if they flocked with what constituted the Nigerian nation as badly constructed by the British enslavers and colonialists.

On the other hand, discontented with the irritating, recycling, and cataclysmic calls for secession coupled with celebrated frustrations of the economic punches from every side of existence and the ravaging customized boko haramists, some of the Northern elements under different Groups issued a frustrating statement asking all the people from the South-East of the country to vacate the Northern geographical zone within a specified period of time. This is clearly to ventilate their all-round saturated frustrations. From the political angle, the North may also have viewed that that the East which did not vote substantially for the Buhari (a Northerner) administration are also the ones calling for the dissolution of Nigeria to further display their hatred for the North.  In the days of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the cry for secession was never heard from the Ibos. This position could be viewed by the North as a clear affront to them and their collective psyche.

Psychologically, the quit notice by the North was to “assist” the Ibos in getting their independence since all the agitations were only been mouthed. So sending them off will expedite the struggle for their long-desired independence. The call could also influence the North-led administration of Buhari to grant the Ibos the rights of a referendum cheaply and easily without the undue strains the Ibos are presently going through. But this ‘assistance’ had been rebuffed by the Easterners describing it as an affront and that the North cannot constitute themselves into the federal government and that their agitation was not directed to them but to the federal government of Nigeria. They therefore unequivocally asked the North to withdraw the quit notice order. The North has not yet done that. This is what is trending in the political space for now

There are certain facts that everyone is missing out here. One, in the Nigerian constitution, Section , 41. 1. “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to

reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from

Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom”.

• Freedom of movement.  Everyone Nigerian is entitled (not privileged) to live in any part of the country, transact any legitimate businesses there and can marry and raise up a family there. By this, no individual, group or section of the country has any right whatsoever to ask another citizen of Nigeria to forcefully stay or leave any part of Nigeria at any point in time. The quit notice given, therefore, to the Easterners living in the North is a gross violation of that section of the Nigerian constitution. Those violators must be arrested and prosecuted as rightly advocated by the Kaduna  State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Though the Police said they were still looking for those who signed the quit notice order, the truth remains that this subterfuge of the Police does not and cannot justify this ill-fated call by the Northerners. I can’t comprehend how the Police are still looking for a popular group, like Arewa Consultative Forum amongst others.

It must be clearly stated here and now that in the history of revolutions of nations, no part of a sovereign nation secedes on a platter of gold or by mere noise-making and toothless agitations as being deployed by the Nnamdi Kalu-led secessionists Group. Though he has been verbalizing war, I pity his ignorance about war especially in an already volatile Nigeria of today. If there is war, there will be no Ibo nation he is canvassing for; there will be no Nigeria to vaunt his dream-victory upon. General Odumegwu Ojukwu, an intelligent Army Officer knew decades ago that the only way, and of the course the REAL way to liberate a people in secession is through war. He engaged the Nigerian state in armed struggle for thirty bloody months. He did not succeed. The Ibos could not secede. It was a war of attrition, a war not to be contemplated for a repeat, a war that had set the Ibos against the Nigerian state to now emphasize their marginalization. A history of war that is now taught in schools that had made Nigerians knew how sacrosanct and indispensable the oneness and indivisibility Nigeria is to everyone. However, the only way for the Ibos to go is through another war that will birth destruction of unimaginable proportions on Nigerians and the entire nation, worse than as ever recorded in the 1967-1970 war.

Nigeria can remain one and insurmountably prosperous entity. Nigeria will not go to war. We have super-abundant resources to cater for our various needs in all the geo-political zones of this great country. The Ibos are great people, very enterprising and industrious. The Northerners are hardworking and committed, friendly and accommodating people on a good day. The Westerners (the Yorubas) are rich in culture. They are people of natural kindness and characteristic hospitality to everyone. They are intelligent and very peaceful people. I have lived with them.

The only problem we need to handle collectively is the grand corruption of the elites of Nigeria. They are the common enemies of all Nigerians. Corruption is the enemy of Nigeria: corruption, not only in the public sector as erroneously believed, but also in the private sector. Yes, the private sector of the economy is stinking corrupt as well! If all these energies for quit notices, secession bids, militancy boko haraming etc, are legitimately deployed to curb the corruption of the political elites no matter their level in the society, whether it is the President, Governors, Judges, Managing Directors, Armed Force, Academia; if there can be coordinated revolution against all these ills as it was in the case of Ghana and Egypt in the recent past, then there will be a new Nigeria for all where everyone has right and access to the commonwealth, then we can build a stronger and more prosperous Nigeria. I call on all committed Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria to champion this ‘revolution’?

Nine killed in suspected Boko Haram attack in Niger

Nine killed in suspected Boko Haram attack in Niger

PHOTO: AFP

Nine people were killed and dozens kidnapped after an attack in southeastern Niger by suspected members of Boko Haram, local authorities said Monday. The attack happened Sunday night, between 2100-2200 GMT. “About 30 to 40 women and children were taken by the assailants,” local mayor Abari El Hadj Daouda told AFP, adding that Nigerien authorities were headed to the area to investigate.
The attack took place in Kabalewa, a village near the southeastern Niger city of Diffa, which is close to Nigeria — the second such attack in the village in a week.
On Wednesday, two women bombers blew themselves up in a refugee camp in the town, killing two other people and injuring 11, in an act also blamed on Boko Haram Islamists.
Boko Haram’s insurgency began in northeast Nigeria and has spread to Chad, Cameroon and Niger, claiming more than 20,000 lives and displacing 2.6 million people.
The group’s members have since 2015 been staging regular attacks in the Diffa region, where Niger has declared a state of emergency.
There are more than 300,000 refugees and displaced people sheltered in the area, but authorities said they are planning to transfer thousands of refugees and displaced to camps farther from Nigeria’s border.

Culled from AFP in Guardian

Kano mourns Maitama-Sule

Kano mourns Maitama-Sule

— 3rd July 2017

Some residents of Kano have expressed shock and dismay at the news of the death of elder statesman Alhaji Yusuf Maitama-Sule.
Since the news of his death broke, people have continued to troop to his two residences to confirm and share their sorrow with his family.
Some people who spoke to NAN correspondent shared their sorrows towards the loss of the man whom they said spent his entire life for the development of the country.
A resident, Alhaji Balarabe Abdullahi, said Kano has indeed entered a pathetic situation for losing an elder statesman like Maitama-Sule.
He said late Sule mentored and advised the late Emir Ado Bayero.
A relation of the deceased, Hajiya Amina Ahmad, said Kano had lost a father whose advice kept the town alive
She said the elder statesman dedicated his entire life for the service of the nation and had a dream of a better Nigeria.
Kano residents wore gloomy faces on Sunday evening when some of his relations posted the condition of his health on the social media saying he needed prayers.
A family source, Nura Sheriff, confirmed the news of his death Monday morning in a press statement.
Maitama-Sule was a Federal Commissioner for Public Complaints in 1976 and a Presidential candidate under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) but lost to Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979.
He was also appointed Nigeria’s envoy to the United Nations and became the Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid.  Culled from Sun