Saturday, 28 October 2017

THE TRAP TO STRANGULATE BUHARI’S GOVERNMENT by SHABA Mafu.


Image result for pictures of trapped rats


Photo credit: wikipedia.

President Muhammadu Buhari obviously underestimated the putrescence of Nigeria in the realms of corruption when he was getting set to take the mantle of leadership. You may recall that at the inception of this administration, it took him a long while before he finally chose his Ministers. This earned him the name Baba Go-Slow from the on-start. Even at that, because of the hellish corruption saga in the oil industry of the last administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, he chose to be the Minister of Petroleum himself, alongside being the executive president of the country. All these are to prevent the rebirth of another Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke, the prototype of alleged corruption. The ministers Buhari eventually chose were received with mixed reactions from the Nigerian populace because of their antecedence and level of expertise in handling their respective ministries. Anyway, the President was yet to see anything; he did not know that he was very far from implementing successfully the change-mantra his administration stood for. Some of the political appointees to man various Ministries, Agencies and Departments formed another twisted access for the direct sabotage of the government of the All Progressives Congress party.
One of the problems of Nigerian politics is that since there is no political ideology of the political parties, lack of political education among the electorates, mammoth corruption among electoral officers of the Electoral Management Body, thuggery, looting and cosmetic decamping among political gladiators, misconstrued concept and roles of the opposition parties, among other destructive political and social vices, Nigeria can safely be described as politically sick and grossly immature.
Lots of outrageous bickering and scandals have already characterized this administration, all as a fight back against corruption and a deliberate attempt to frustrate the Buhari administration and the President himself, and maintain the status quo of an unrepentantly corrupt nation. Without mincing words, Muhammadu Buhari means well for Nigeria. The cabals around him are the main political traducers and the sworn enemies of the country and bad influence on the character and person of the President.  Recently, an allegation of massive corruption was hammered on the Inspection-General of Police by one of the serving senators, Isah Misau, who was accused of abscondment from the Police Force. The Senator responded with damning accusations of massive corruption and gross irresponsibility in the discharge of his (IGP) duties: a damning indictment both on the Police Force and the President who appointed the IGP. The matter is in the court as well as being investigated by the Upper legislative Chamber of the country. While the case has still lingered in its tempo of national discourse, another fresh destructive saga emerged ‘from the blues’. This is the mother of all cases for now.
There was this case of one Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina who was the Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task force on Pensions Reform. He was said to have embezzled the sum of N195 Million from the national assignment given to him by the President. He was said to have been declared wanted by the Nigerian anti-graft Agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since 2013 when he absconded and flew to avoid arrest. Like the thunderbolt from the blues, Mr. Maina was mysteriously brought back to the country and reinstated to his former job in the Ministry of the Interior and then doubly promoted and earned his salaries and all other entitlements in the Federal Civil Service. This is the mother of all abracadabra in Nigeria politicking! At present, his posters are reportedly flying in Bornu State as a potential gubernatorial candidate for the forthcoming elections in that State.
When the mystery of his reinstatement and the attendant promotions were ‘suddenly discovered’ by interested persons within the government of the APC, the ‘secret’ was made known to the President who immediately fired him out of his job, ordered his arrest and probe. But before anyone could trace the whereabouts of Maina for his arrest, the man had escaped possibly from the shores of the country and presently talking from his hide-out. As at present, the INTERPOL has been placed on alert for his definite arrest. This development is not only disgusting but a potent trap to nail the Buhari administration to a steel coffin if not properly and decisively handled.
The issue is that there are many giant rats in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari that have secretly sworn to derail the anti-corruption mantra and his entire government. When the special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu raised the alarm that there presidential rats in the villa some months ago, many did not know that he was speaking metaphorically. This statement was seconded by the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari when she said that the cabal in the presidency has hijacked the government of the President. Many people thought it was a statement made by a mere woman, especially when the alarm was treated by kid gloves and the coinage of the concept of “…the woman belongs to the other room”. The unfolding events are testimonies to the declarations of these people that are close to the seat of power.
Traditionally and naturally, when a rat bites and even removes a layer of the flesh, it quickly blows air on it to cushion the effect of the pain, and to make the victim unaware of its intentions to destroy completely. By the time the victim is becoming conscious of the gimmicks of the rat, maximum damage has already been inflicted. It then sneaks out for cover through the many escape routes it had bored aforetime. There are horrible rats in the presidential villa and in the administration of President Buhari, for sure. They are more dangerous and destructive than the dreaded long-mouthed smelling type.
President Buhari needs to overhaul his entire ruling cabinet and the kitchen cabinet. He needs to identify the cabals as revealed by his wife and liquidate them by dissolving and disparaging them. He should look critically into the activities of all the political appointees heading the MDAs. The president needs potent rat poisons and other deadly substances to ‘liquidate’ the hypocrites. The government needs to fortify the judiciary and the anti-graft agencies if he would ever succeed in his administration. He should decipher wisdom from the points raised by the critics of his administration and sieve wisdom from their points, especially from the opposition parties, groups and even individuals and do not brand all of these as hate speeches altogether.

The sickness of Nigeria is too much and one cannot even exhaust writing on one of the branches of the ailments. The members of the present ruling party are the ones sabotaging the efforts of the president and not the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), being the main opposition political party in Nigeria. If President Buhari is considering re-contesting the 2019 general elections, he needs to weed off all the grasses and the hiding rodents from his own government or these rodents will strangulate his government and scuttle his political ambition.

Wednesday, 18 October 2017

NIGERIA BLEEDS THROUGH THE RETIREMENT BENEFITS OF SOME ITS SERVING SENATORS AND MINISTERS by SHABA Mafu

SafeHands for Mothers: A Decade in Africa – exhibition at King's Place
Photo credit: Nancy Durell



Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State of Nigeria said some days ago that he was ready to die for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forth-coming 2019 general elections, as reported by one of the online newspapers in the country. I personally wondered whether that costly statement was borne out of his dire patriotism to the country via the political party and the desire to give the best to his people; or was the statement as a result of his undying political desperation to clinch to the office of the governor by all means later based on selfishness and political assertion. The pretence and politicking of most of these Nigerian governors is obviously getting very appalling. Some state workers have not been paid for the past 21 (twenty-one) months, yet these defaulting governors did not even grieve about this, but have summoned enough temerity to meet with President Muhammed Buhari for another round of 50% bail-out of the repatriated Paris Funds for their 2018 budget. While in service, they short-change workers, while out of service, they short-change the system, that is, the country and its entire citizenry.
Recently, the Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) instituted a law suit against the federal government over its failure to stop the former governors and now serving Senators and Ministers from receiving double pay and life pensions and failure to seek recovery of over N40Billion of public funds received by these public officers. SERAP had urged the Nigeria Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the federation, Justice Abubakar Malami to stop the former governors who are now serving senators and ministers from enjoying emoluments of drawing normal salaries and allowances in their positions as Senators and Ministers, and pensions as former Governors. Double emoluments is contrary to Article 19 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, to which Nigeria is a state party”
The manner in which the terminal benefits and the attendant pensions system of the governors are structured is not only annoying and repugnant in nature but it has all the features of obvious stealing. These ex-governors are more relaxed in this escapade because this stealing is given vent by the respective State Houses of Assembly, thereby giving a kind of legitimacy to this anomaly which cannot be tolerated in any sane clime. To add to this ‘legitimacy’, the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau for Governors is not actually against Governors drawing double payments. But this is an abnormal situation definitely and deliberately crafted either by omission or commission to accommodate the greed of the Governors. If the private sector law would not allow one to engage in an extra work for multiple incomes to ensure total commitment to the organization, then why should public servants of such calibre as Governors draw from the public coffers brazenly as double payments for their personal satisfaction?
Sometime ago, States like Lagos and Edo among other states enacted outrageous laws giving special benefits accruable to their ex-governors and their deputies. Some of these mouth-watering entitlements include two fully equipped, first-state-of-the-art Houses located in their choice places within Lagos and Abuja metropolis. The house in Lagos will be at the cost of N500Million and the one in Abuja at the cost of N700Million. Six (6) new brand cars renewable every three (3), and furniture changed every two years, and an annual pension close to about N30 million pensions annually are also part of their entitlements.
Though each state has their own pension laws for their ex-governors and the deputies, the laws are unequivocally appalling to the ordinary man no matter who made them. The greediness of these former State executives is underscored by the double emoluments they receive from their states and the federal coffers, as either serving Ministers or serving senators in the current political dispensation headed by President Muhamadu Buhari. The former Governors serving as Senators include Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara State, now the Senate President), Rabiu Kwakanso (Kano), Kabiru Gaya (Kano), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom). The former Governors who are Ministers in the present cabinet include Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra), Babatunde Fasola (Lagos). There are 21 former governors and their deputies serving as either senators or minister in the present Government.
The attitude of these elites is not only irritating, but oppressive and humiliating to the ordinary Nigerian. I have witnessed some workers who had retired with cumulative paltry sum of N2 million after putting thirty-five rigorous years of meritorious service to the country. By PENCOM law, a retiree with such a closing balance will first be entitled to a 25% lumpsum payment, and after which the remaining balance will be spread for him as his pensions either through programmed withdrawal or the purchase of premium by an annuity provider for the rest of his life. Sometimes, these wretched-of-the-earth retirees get a monthly pittance of N2000 or at most N3000 per month. Consequently, he graduates from one level of poverty to the other until he sometimes slump and dies away in abject poverty. To further nail the Nigerian worker, some of them have not been paid their salaries for close to two years. Pensions owed them by the states are not paid in time until they retire and die in penury and the money becomes untraceable due to redtapism of the government. On the other hand, the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) has so structured the poverty template that if a retiree has a balance of N550,000, he can given the entire balance en-bloc, but once it is more than that, such balance will be further bastardized by paying a quarter of such balance, and the rest spread as pensions. Such retiree victims collect a maximum of two or three thousand naira per month as their pensions. Of what use is N2 million shared between lump sum of 25% and the rest spread for life?
Some ex-governors in Nigeria have been indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the allegations of fraud, money laundering and ear-bursting corruption. They are milking the country blind. They are the enemies of this great country and chief saboteurs of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. They struggle to have a good legacy when in and out of their service to the state.
 I support in totality the call of SERAP to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to halt the receipt of double emoluments by these public officials whose consciences have been seared with hot iron. They don’t pay salaries when in office; and steal the country blind through pension benefits template when out of office. Nigeria is bleeding; Nigerians are dying! Stop this cheating and enduring evil!





Tuesday, 3 October 2017

CHILDISHNESS AT THE NATIONAL POLITICAL THEATRE by SHABA Mafu


I waited patiently for the grand execution of the childish quit notice given to the Ibos living in the Northern part of Nigeria by the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum headed by Mallam Yerima Shettima and the characteristic childish response of the IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to perfect their own exodus from the designated "strange" land to the land of their nativity. October 1, 2017, being the deadline given has come and gone, with a 100% ignoring of the threats or the call for disunity between the two tribes in particular and the disintegration of Nigeria at the ultimate by those concerned. Following closely in this childish display of irresponsibility is the quit notice also served the Hausas and the Yorubas by some miscreants in the Niger Delta region of the country. Only the Yorubas of the South-West were actually matured enough not to fall into this kind of self-inflicting embarrassments and highest display of putrefying childishness. These youths or leaders of the kindergarten groups should learn from the accommodating nature and the matured spirit of the Yorubas, and attempt to be responsible at least for once. Even if Nigeria is to break up at all, it will not be under the leadership of these political toddlers who have no history to refer to; no ideological convictions as a link; no character to be emulated, and who merely throw punches to the air, and whose sing-song is nothing but disunity and disintegration and even WAR!. Nigerians are well educated, exposed, analytical, grand, historical, matured, too intelligent to be led by the noses by these aforementioned spineless and emotion-laden and visionless "children" who brand themselves as leaders. We cant fall into their hollow pranks. We must stand together as a country and resist the "directionless directionlessness" of the suya-eaters, the okpa-consumers and the "sapele-water" drunkards. Happy independence day anniversary to my country, Nigeria. Nigeria will be great by the grace of God God.