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  • President Buhari, terrorism and Nigeria’s real bad news – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    President Buhari, terrorism and Nigeria’s real bad news – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s first appearance on the Nigerian Political radar was in the night of Sunday, December 31, 1983 – his confirmation as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, by his colleagues that gathered at the Bonny Camp Military Base in Victoria Island, actually took place at the wee hour [about 0200 hours of that night], thereby authenticating his date of arrival to Power January 1, 1984.

    He came and appointed Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon as his Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters – that made Tunde Idiagbon second in command to him in that Military Junta. This appointment was instructive but I am afraid that too many Nigerians did not study to understand the implication of that appointment.

    One, General Tunde Idiagbon; of blessed memory, was not only from Northern Nigeria – same as General Muhammadu Buhari, but the formal was actually from Daura Town; the same town that Muhammadu Buhari comes from. Tuned Idiagbon, of course, was a practicing and devoted Muslim – same as Muhammadu Buhari.

    Unfortunately, his [Buhari] tenure, which he kept strictly to his heart because he never told Nigerians when he would go back to the Barrack or hand over democratically political power back to civilians, was dismantled by another Military officer. The Army officer that caused him that havoc was Major General Ibrahim Bademosi Babangida – a Maradona sort of an officer and a perpetual Coupist for that matter.

    Major General Muhammadu Buhari licked his wounds – that was after spending almost two years in detention; a place the Military would better call “protective custody”, he went home to Daura for a rest first, before starting the course of meditating over how his cookie crumbled.

    It must have been the time of reminiscence that the retired General and former Head of State came to the sad conclusion that his mission and purpose of making incursion into the Nigerian political space during that first journey was not accomplished. That must have decided him to return back to the Nigerian people through the only route available – a route which he unfortunately once destroyed:  Democratic Route.

    And he returned.

    First time; on his return journey, according to the Jagaban of Borgu in Niger State; Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, “oja nune” – meaning he fell down. Ditto the second and third times. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu even told them in Abeokuta that “the man cried bitterly on television” –which was true of course.

    But there is something good in tenacity and perseverance. Buhari kept “coming”, which eventually paid off for him, as the Nigeria people decided at the end to vote for him – more on the technical shrewdness of Bola Tinubu’s intricate political maneuvering than Buhari’s personal acceptability.

    Whichever way, he became a democratically elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He returned back to Nigerians in 2019, for revalidation of the mandate given to him in 2015, and this was quickly authenticated.

    This should be enough as preamble or historical perspective for this exercise – meaning we should be moving to the topic of the day, to wit: PRESIDENT BUHARI, TERRORISM AND NIGERIA’S REAL BAD NEWS.

    This topic is anchored on the three promises which President Buhari and the political platform [APC] that brought him to Power made to Nigerians before being voted for in 2015, albeit Corruption, Insecurity and Economy. Today we shall be taking the discussion on the background of Insecurity exclusively. Let us go.

    As of the time Muhammadu Buhari was sworn-in as President on May 29, 2015, the insurgency we knew in Nigerian was only the Boko Haram issue, and this was limited to the North-East exclusively. But from that year – 2015, to when President Buhari came for revalidation of mandate in 2019, insurgency had added another monster called Fulani herdsmen to its folder. This addition came under the umbrella of Miyetti Allah, and they came fully in the character of terrorists. Permit me to say something here before moving the narration further for purpose of clarity.

    Nigerians have always lived peacefully with the Fulani tribe and their cattle for centuries without much ado. But the definition given to these our brothers, after Buhari’s second coming, was terrifying, to the extent that the Global Terrorism Index classified the Fulani Militant [which the Fulani Herders transformed to] as the Fourth Deadliest Terrorist Group in the whole world

    The Fulani Herdsmen moved from the North-East to the North-West, North-Central and now totally covering the whole country. They came with full capacity of unleashing all manners of atrocities – including kidnapping, maiming and killing, without any challenge from any constituted authority in Nigeria; not even the federal government.

    Worst even, was the unwillingness of the Buhari-led federal government to categorize this people as Terrorist, but instead, remained delighted calling them bandits, unknown gunmen, kidnappers and what have you.

    It was only when Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Abuja Federal High Court gave that audacious judgement, on November 26, 2021, pronouncing them Terrorists that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice “managed” to proscribe them in a belated Gazette.

    Now, as we discuss this topic, the Terrorists; which the Nigerian Government preferred calling Bandits, have brought the whole country totally under submission. The Nigerian Federal Governments, which constitutionally has the exclusive control of security, either refused to protect Nigerians or lacked the power to do so. What Nigerians see on daily basis; which is very abysmal, is a government that is romancing with the terrorists back-to-back, and publicly too.

    In view of the government’s inability to confront the terrorists, the latter have established audacious authority of control across the land, with terrible consequences for Nigeria and Nigerians.

    For example, on March 28, 2022, the terrorist attacked a train, that left Abuja, heading to Kaduna, at Katari town in Kaduna State, killed a few of the passengers before taking greater number of the remaining passengers into captivity. Isn’t this a horror story of how a group of terrorists have subdued Nigeria?

    The federal government, again, either by default or design, could not do anything about the train situation. The only thing that is obvious on this terrifying and gruesome train’s attack remains the fact that the terrorist have so far collected, close to a Billion Naira as ransom for those passengers taken into captivity. More are still there with them in captivity.

    Let us not forget that two days before the train’s attack, the terrorist had invaded the Kaduna International Airport and attacked a plane. They were in full control in that operation as well.

    Then, the same terrorists elongated their audacious character by attacking the Kuje Prison; now called Correctional Centre, on July 12, 2022, despite the fact that intelligence report on the attack was properly documented and presented to the Authority in advance. On that operation the terrorists freed all their commanders; 64 of them, being held at the Prison.

    Having accomplished all these successes, the Terrorists sent another terrifying message to Nigerians, saying they are now ready, if Government fails to meet their demands on the remaining passengers of the Abuja/Kaduna Train, to kidnap President Muhammadu Buhari and the incumbent Governor of Kaduna State – Malam Nasir El Rufai.

    The Terrorists even told the whole world where they would be taking both President Buhari and Governor Nasir El Rufai to, after kidnapping them. We will bring them here, indicating the forest where they are operating from in Zamfara State.  What a tragedy of audacity?

    This is where the Nigerian’s Doomsday story starts from. And what is the doomsday story here?

    More than 6 days after the Nigerian Terrorists announced their plans for the kidnap of the President and the Governor, Muhammadu Buhari did not even know that they were coming to kidnap him. It is the other man scheduled for kidnapping by the Terrorist – Nasir El Rufai that told us that President Buhari did not know.

    Isn’t this – the fact that our President wouldn’t know that he is next to be kidnapped, not a greater calamity for Nigeria and Nigerians?

    N:B

    We are concluding this exercise next week, by the grace of God.

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    • Contact:
    • Website: www.godwintheguru.com
    • YouTube Channel: Godwin The  Guru
    • Twitter: @godwin_buebu
    • Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu
    • Facebook Page: Veteran Column
    • Telegram: @friendsoftheguru
    • WhatsApp: @friendsoftheguru
    • Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only. 
    • You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].
  • The eagle shall not be landing for 2023 general elections but thugs, almajiri and aliens – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    The eagle shall not be landing for 2023 general elections but thugs, almajiri and aliens – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    The eagle is landing or the eagle has landed has always been a remarkable exclamation for expectation of something good that happened or about to happen. If the Nigerian political clime had been progressively enhancing, since the beginning of this Republic – the Fourth, 2023 general election would have been radiating a tremendous hope.

    But unfortunately, and very woefully unfortunate for that matter, the past 23 years – let’s just make it up to 24 years, and that is taking it into 2023, things have fallen apart for the Nigerian political development. It is not to say that there were no events of remarkable value within the route of the past 23 years of this journey. To say and stink to that might not be interrogatorily narrative enough. And posterity will hold us accountable for tragedy of wrongful acquisition of historical documentation.

    Whatever gains that might have been noticed here and there, along the line of this journey so far – talking of the movement, starting from 1999, when Olusegun Obasanjo; a Four-Star Military General and one time Military Head of State in Nigeria, would not be uprightly documented because of defaults; standing out like thorns, along the length of this journey’s path.

    However, that is not to say that there are no good historical landmark achievable records to the credit of the journey so far. While Olusegun Obasanjo tried elongation of tenure – what most Nigerians called “Third Term Agenda”, though the Ebora Owu – Olusegun Obasanjo – would quickly deny it at any given time, the incumbent democratically elected President – Muhammadu Buhari, so far till date, has not attempted embarking on such perfidiously degenerate act. 

    He has not spoken in favour of it, even when a few demonic citizens spoke of it. Neither has the reading of his body language indicated anything of such misadventures.

    Again, unlike Olusegun Obasanjo who dictated and nominated his successor, and even followed it up by running the campaign exercise over and above his nominated and anointed candidate [successor], Muhammadu Buhari; for whatever double-talking prowess he has acquired, he kept distance from what he earlier said, or about to say, or even what he sent a proxy to say on his behalf – which he absolutely denied, he kept himself clean. 

    For example, in spite of some double talks of the President, at different times; like saying: “I have a preferred candidate”, to what he told his APC Governors that “in the principle of RECIPROCITY, allow me to pick a Successor that will take over from me”, to another statement, when he told selected members of his political party that “let delegates chose the candidate in the primary”, and to the final statement – the very one that broke the camel’s back that “I have no anointed candidate”, the man did not degenerate. 

    These are melodious lyrics that one cannot throw away when chronology of events are to be taken. This should be the controlling reason why 2023 general elections need to be appreciated with loud ovation in advance. But can we really say that the Eldorado of the Nigerian democratic development has really come full circle enough to cause some dancing steps from now. 

    I am afraid that there is no cogent hope for the celebration of 2023 general election without being surrounded with sufficient air of melancholy. And l will articulate my reason of arriving this route which is not lifting the soul or the spirit. Come with me please.

    We have not been too fortunate with good governments in this country right from the day we yanked our independence from the British. We have seen ourselves along the line of continuous decline with successive governments. And this is a statement of fact, not necessarily for everyone to agree with me, since we are not robots.

    While on the evaluation of this trajectory; and this is in my personal opinion, the present government happens to be the icing of the cake in bad governance. The All Progressive Congress-led government must have scored distinction in all papers of corrupted governance and this is well known to all Nigerians – even to those that died and are laid restless in their graves.   

    And when, during the just concluded Primaries of all the political parties, mostly as displayed by the two biggest parties – the APC and the PDP hope for better democratically developed elections for the future vanished totally. 

    For the first time in the annals of political electioneering in the history of this country, there came to be established, at the highest level, DOLLARISATION of political contestation in Nigeria, as delegates; across the Political Parties, were dancing away with enough Dollars that could have been enough to budget for the country in the past when sanity ruled the waves.

    In view of this demon of DOLLARISATION, what will the general election of 2023; shall be presenting to us can therefore not be the landing of an Eagle in any format. What shall be landing instead; in the place of a Peaceful Eagle, would be three dangerous Entities or Tribes of Thugs, Almajiri and Aliens. 

    And these three entities shall be rising and arriving from all parts of Nigeria with one purpose of mission – to wit: to wage a frightening war against success of democratic ethos’ continuity in Nigeria. 

    And this can never be good news for the feature of this country – which historian might be referring to [aftermath] as a country that was.

    Will President Muhammadu Buhari stop this anticipated catastrophe from happening? It is only him, his kinsmen and his Cabal that can supply the answer. Nigerians are waiting by the sideline hopefully or hopelessly. 

    This Court adjourns – C-O-U-R-T.

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact:

    Website: www.godwintheguru.com

    You Tube Channel: Godwin The  Guru

    Twitter: @godwin_buebu

    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu

    Facebook Page: Veteran Column

    Telegram: @friendsoftheguru

    WhatsApp: @friendsoftheguru

    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only. 

    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • Nigeria in total mess as sanity and quality leadership go missing – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Nigeria in total mess as sanity and quality leadership go missing – By Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Nigeria is lost in sea of confusion. And there seems to be no hope, either for now or within the expected future. The Nigeria that gladiate within the comity of Nations around the world today is actually a rudderless ship. It is a country separates far away from the control base, or tower. It is hopelessly navigating its sea voyage along darkness – in a circumstance that comes with evidence of a sailing vessel without navigational equipment.

    Unfortunately, the Nigerians of this generation have already boarded this rudderless vessel. And we are already at the sea of international waters. There are more predicaments, than we anticipated at the time the voyage commenced from Port of Origin, afflicting this vessel.

    For example, Nigerians just discovered that the Sea Captain in charge and command of the ship and the voyage is not a certified Master Mariner. The Captain lacked total knowledge of what a Ship is, lacking in knowledge of commanding a ship, nor does he know anything about sea routes and voyages. Worse still is the fact that this Captain does not know anything about any of the equipment that made up the totality of the Ship.

    This is the Captain in charge of command-control of the Nigerian Ship, and Nigerians; on board the Vessel, are just discovering the Captain’s deficiencies only at the High Sea – at International Waters, at a time the Vessel is on high cruise – of sailing Eleven Nautical Miles per hour.

    There is more to increase the fear of all those on board the Vessel beyond the speed of the ship. One of the voyagers has just whispered to the hearing of many co-travelers that the Ship was heading towards the Bay of Biscay – Bay of Biscay is the most turbulent waters within the international waters of the Maritime World.

    Bay of Biscay is off Portugal waters, lying along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc’h to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal. The south area of the Bay of Biscay washes over the northern coast of Spain and is known as the Cantabrian Sea.

    That was the point where the voyagers became seriously concerned. Yet, they still hold a little of calm composure until the Whistle Blower came to whisper another bad news. And what did he say this time around that really threw all the voyagers into uncontrollable panic?

    He told them that if the Vessel was able to make it past the Bay of Biscay; which he said that he doubted, the Ship would be entering directly into the dreaded Bermuda Triangle. He [the whistle blower] assured the voyagers that he wasn’t sure if God would be able to deliver the Ship not encountering an UFO – Unidentified Flying Object, within the sea region of the Bermuda Triangle.

    The Bermuda Triangle is a mythical section of the Atlantic Ocean roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico where dozens of ships and airplanes have disappeared. The area referred to as the Bermuda Triangle, or Devil’s Triangle, covers about 500,000 square miles of ocean off the southeastern tip of Florida. Unexplained circumstances surround some of these accidents, including one in which the pilots of a squadron of U.S. Navy bombers became disoriented while flying over the area; the planes were never found. Other boats and planes have seemingly vanished from the area in good weather without even radioing distress messages.

    Above narration describes Nigeria’s situation at the moment. Let us peruse some of recent events in our beloved country that would identify our predicaments appropriately with the scenario painted above.

    First, the Punch Newspaper of Tuesday, March 1, 2022, reported a story emanating from the Federal Government, saying “Medical tourism will soon be a thing of the past”. According to the report; credited to the Minister of State for the Health Ministry – Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, ”the Federal Government advised Nigerians to seek information on the treatment of some diseases locally before thinking of going abroad”, adding, “the advice became necessary because many of its hospitals across the country were now treating some of the medical issues pushing some citizens outside the shores of the country”.

    Just 24 hours after the federal government issued this statement, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces left the soil of the country, in continuation of his medical tourism to the United Kingdom.

    We should not forget that since Muhammadu Buhari won his first election and sworn in as the country democratically elected president in 2015, he has spent 200 days in London hospital. And by the time these 14 days he staying on this medical trip is added, the Nigerian President would have spent 214 days on medical tourism.

    This time around, Buhari is leaving Nigeria and Nigerians at a time the Nigerian People are suffering and being tormented as a result of adulterated and contaminated fuel Muhammadu Buhari; in his capacity as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, imported into the country. Nigerians are spending nights – sometimes two nights, on the queue, at petrol stations across the country.

    In the first place, the Minister of Petroleum Resources – Muhammadu Buhari, refused to take responsibility for the toxic fuel he brought for Nigerians, neither would he apologise to Nigerians. And in midst of these confusions, the man left Nigerians to their fate for his medical tourism, which he told Nigerians, was coming to be a thing of the past. What a quality of leadership?

    What about the show of absurdity displayed a few days ago, when wives of the Nigerian Governors, led by Bisi Fayemi; wife of the Ekiti State Governor, who is the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, travelled all the way to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirate, to present the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari – Aisha Buhari, a birthday cake and card on the latter’s birthday.

    Huh! Can you believe this melodrama show of shame in a country where the citizens are waiting to die because of harsh economic conditions, occasioned by misrule by a government being led by Madam Aisha’s husband?

    Is someone counting the cost of that journey – in terms of flight cost, accommodation and other sundry expenses, associated from the journey of show of solidarity from the wives of the governors, to the wife of the President? Has it occurred to all Nigerians that this humongous colossal waste associated with the solidarity journey is taken from the Nigerian Till?

    Or do we need to visit any oracle to understand the predicament and mess Nigerians found themselves to know that we are in total mess and that this gigantic mess is as a result of a bolt and nut that have vanished from leadership head? Who shall restore these missing essentials back to the head of Nigeria’s leadership?

    Above remains, and shall mostly remain: for a long time to come, our predicament. Isn’t this a tragedy of leadership in our country?

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact:

    Website: www.godwintheguru.com

    You Tube Channel: Godwin The Guru

    Twitter: @godwin_buebu

    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu

    Facebook Page: Veteran Column

    Telegram: @friendsoftheguru

    WhatsApp: @friendsoftheguru

    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only.

    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • Bola Tinubu and 2023: Too many bridges yet to cross

    Bola Tinubu and 2023: Too many bridges yet to cross

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    It is deliberate to start this discussion by saying “many bridges” to cross as against the more popular coinage of “many rivers” to cross. Permit me to lay down the rule of the language l chose to deploy by applying “many bridges”. The best way to start is therefore to know what bridge or a bridge is and what it is meant to achieve.

    Let us define it without losing the trajectory of the matter under discussion – albeit Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State, the Jagaban of Borgu in Niger State, the Asiwaju of Yoruba land [?] and the National leader of the current Ruling Nigerian Political Party [APC] – though not so written in the APC Constitution.

    What is a bridge?

    Bridge is defined as “a structure carrying a pathway or roadway over a depression or obstacle (such as a river) a bridge connecting the island to the mainland, or a time, place, or means of connection or transition building a bridge between the two cultures the bridge from war to peace.

    What is a bridge meant for?

    The purpose of a bridge is to allow people or cargo easy passage over an obstacle by providing a route that would otherwise be uneven or impossible.

    What are the three main parts of a bridge?

    The main components of a bridge are the foundation, substructure, and the superstructure.

    Above are definitions of bridge, the purpose a bridge is meant to serve and the three main parts of sustaining a bridge.

    However none of the three above connects us to the application of the phrase “bridges” Tinubu is likely to “cross” before getting qualified to contest in the 2023 general election – a place of determinant factor where he might be ”rejoicing in becoming President of Nigeria” or embarking on “lifetime mourning of failing to make it”.

    I shall return to the comparative analysis of the three main components or parts of bridge in this Bola Tinubu narrative, but let us see first the logicality or otherwise of how, or how not, to go under any bridge. As usual with me, there is no way l can present this fully without embarking on a historical analysis.

    In the 70’s, a Nigerian Military Head of State; the Four Star – General Olusegun Obasanjo, embarked on expansion of Nigerian ports, as the government of that time by expanded existing ports and embark on construction of new ones.

    This noble idea saw the Nigerian Premier Port of Apapa being expanded from 16 berths to 22 berths port, while a new Port of Tin Can Island Port was constructed. Other Ports, like additional new port in Warri, renovation of the Koko and Burutu ports – in what is now Delta State, were muted. Calabar Port; proposed to serve the interest of the larger Northern Nigeria, did not escape the virile mind of the General.

    But because General Obasanjo is an addict stickler to time, he could not complete the port projects he started before handing over to the elected democratic government in 1979. Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the President in that memorable year of 1979, at the birth of the Second Republic.

    The Government of Shehu Shagari, with the National Assembly of that time vowed to complete the projects started by General Obasanjo vigorously, though with a little amendment. It was this “little amendments” that brought into the narration of Ports expansion two additions – Ports of Ikorodu and that of Sapele.

    There might not be anything wrong with these little additions of Ikorodu and Sapele ports into the kitty of increase until one took a professional and economical look at Ikorodu port specially and specifically. It was then that those who are students of maritime affairs drew the conclusion that these creations; of Ikorodu and Sapele Ports, were the worst decision any government – albeit in the Maritime world, would have taken.

    Take for example Ikorodu Sea Port. There were two bridges – Carter and Eko bridges, in existence before the Port was planned and built. You will understand the foolishness of that creation as no ship; without collapsible mask can go under non-detachable bridge, like River Thames Bridge in London. It is for this reason that since the creation of Ikorodu Port, no vessel had been able to sail there for berthing and none shall be able to berth there forever.

    The wisdom here is that two things must take place before an ocean going ship can crossover to the other side of its sailing. It is either the ship has collapsible Mask or the bridge itself is detachable.

    Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu is the Ship in this illustration, while his route to the presidency in 2023, remains the Bridge being illustrated. It becomes crucially compulsory to return back to the basic by re-evaluating the three components of what a Bridge is; the purpose it is meant to serve, and the three main parts that makes a Bridge durable and reliable in attaining the purpose of its construction.

    The first point of evaluation is to ask the question if Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu has been able to build a Bridge to all the Political Ports of Destiny across the country over the years. Nigerians – albeit his [Tinubu’s] avowed political enemies, would accept that he has done so, and most very successfully too, over the years more than any of his contemporaries. This means the issue of building a Bridge is settled for the Jagaban of Borgu.

    The second critical evaluation on this Bola Tinubu’s voyage of destiny to discovery will be to ask the question if the man [Tinubu] understands the purpose which the Bridge he built is meant to serve. One would say, without any fear of contradiction, that yes, he understands it.

    This brings us to the last most critically, but dangerous evaluation. Does the Bridge Bola Tinubu built, for achieving this [his] lifetime ambition, having the three main solid parts of an enduring bridge – to wit: Solid Foundation, Professionally acceptable Substructure, and a Dynamic Superstructure?

    I am not too sure if the man, currently on the eyes of the storm, has effective control of these three facets laid down above, to answer yes – because if the truth must be told, there are too many stakeholders outside the Asiwaju’s control, to achieve this feat.

    We have to wait till next week for the conclusion of this narration because l need to look for the nearest Gas Station for refueling, because I am running out of gas.

     

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact:

    Website: www.godwintheguru.com

    You Tube Channel: Godwin The Guru

    Twitter: @godwin_buebu

    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu

    Facebook Page: Veteran Column

    Telegram: @friendsoftheguru

    WhatsApp: @friendsoftheguru

    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only.

    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • Kano depicts many faces of coronavirus in Nigeria, By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Kano depicts many faces of coronavirus in Nigeria, By Godwin Etakibuebu

    KANO STATE DEPICTS MANY FACES OF CORONAVIRUS IN NIGERIA

    In colourful Kano State, when Coronavirus came to town, it started with the deportation of Almajirais, from the State to many other Northern States, by the discretion of the almighty Executive Governor; a man who knows it all, and who can do it all. This did not work, so it seemed. The man shifted his style from instrumentality of deportation of Almajirais to another area he knows how to operate better – blackmail.

    This was when he placed a demand on the Federal Government to release the sum of 15 Billion Naira to him. Or to the State, you may want to correct me. And l will accept such correction, because it is not all about himself as the Governor, but everything is about his State – a State he so loves and which he is ready to die for. Was that the not the hypocrisy of the Dollar Merchant from Kano? He needed that whopping amount of 15 Billion Naira on the table; his table of course, from the federal government, before he can start negotiation on which way forward with Coronavirus.

     

    I don’t think you might want to blame the man too much. That is if you knew what was going on in his mind at that period. Of course, he probably have “such a loosely thinking right” to conclude that if Lagos State with much lower population; another dangerously manipulated political modus operandi of the Northern Oligarchy to drive the Nigerian State to a pre-planned cull-de-sack oblivion arena, could get the sum of 10 Billion Naira from the federal government, nothing would be wrong for him to get “just only” 15 Billion Naira from the same source. 

     

    This must have been his thought. But better people would have seen it [the thought of demanding for such money without lifting his hands in doing any visible thing] as contraption of a corrupted and un-innovated mind. To compare what was going on in Lagos then and still going on as we discuss this, to anything in Kano would be a journey into the wilderness of infamy. But that was the route the man chose to take.

     

    This demand failed, or so it looked at that time, because there remains yet an umbilical link between President Muhammadu Buhari and the great Governor from Kano that might forever; in the lifespan of this Buhari’s government, defy cogent and reasonable interpretation. Don’t just go there because you might not be able to understand the relationship. 

     

    It was for this reason of failure, that the Great Man from from Kano; His Excellency – Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, alias Serkin Gandollar Kano, came out with the theory of “strange death”, and not Coronavirus in Kano. Many people bought into this claim. However, are we not supposed to question the balanced mental health capability of the propagator of the theory of “strange death” – a fathom claim without giving name, scientifically, to the “strange death”, and all the followers of the progenitor?

    If the entire above looks like a preamble, it must have been for the reason that Kano has remained conspicuously different for the past 800 [or more] years of its historical existence. Pardon the length of introduction [of the preamble] ipso facto. Now, let us discuss Kano State and the [incumbent] personae dramatis at pinnacle of political affairs of that beautiful State. 

       

    Kano is big, Kano is mighty and Kano is historical. And it has been in the forefront of many things – good and bad, in Nigeria generally, and the North particularly. On the eve [or so it looked] of the Nigerian Independence, the British Government “travelled back to Kano”, did something abnormally; which was to remind all other geopolitical zones in the country, that Kano was specially larger than others within the territorial integrity of the nebulously packaged Enterprise called Nigerian. That was the mock battle that took place in Kano and the re-hoisting of the Jihadist’s flag, by the British Colonial Authority. 

     

    Please, allow historical documentation to fill every other vacuum that this narrative fails to accommodate in the “mock battle” and re-hoisting of the flag.  

     

    Let us go back to start from the beginning. The first index case of Coronavirus broke out in Nigeria on February 27, 2020, and expectedly, it happened in Lagos – the cosmopolitan business Centre nerve of Nigeria. It should have remained what Lagos is known for – “Eko-for-show”. Except this time, it was not going to leave Lagos alone with its usual bustling lifestyle, because the name of the ‘visitor’ is not “owa-nibe”, but something more deadly. And its name is Coronavirus or COVID-19 – a dangerous guest indeed.

     

    The deadly “visitor” took its journey, gradually but with calculative accuracy; as it has done from its starting point in that inconspicuous Wuhan Region of China across to the world, from Lagos into other parts of Nigeria. Every State in the Federation was concerned in absolute fear and reverence for the unwanted “visitor” and they got themselves [the States] prepared as much as the Nigerian Federation’s preparedness for any eventuality could afford. In another word, there is no State in Nigeria that could prepare for Coronavirus more that the Nigerian nation could deliver. 

     

    Since the Nigerian system is never prepared for anything positive, in its historical entirety, the States, mostly Lagos State which stood tall – over and above all obstacles, with innovational credibility – therefore need to be given accolades. That is not to say that all the States of the Federation rose astutely to confront the deadly rampaging unwanted “Visitor” – COVID-19. Unfortunately, the leadership’s crown of those few States “caught sleeping” when the “killer Monster” came to town was invested on Kano State – courtesy of the Governor. And the man and his State did not disappoint the expectation of the audience that gathered to witness the investiture of that “notorious crown of shame”.

     

    Can we please go back to the worthy Preamble of this essay and accept same as having spoken adequately in the narration of events that happened in Kano State as it relates to the Nigerian Coronavirus era. With that, we can capture the underlying metamorphosis of Kano State thus:

     

    The big man in Kano, with all his nervousness in a heart that is highly and corruptively twisted around “poverty of the human’s mind”, as Psychologists would say, exposed the leadership dilemma of the Nigerian continuous failure qualitative political leadership. You will not be wrong if you call it a contraction of failure in qualitative and accountable leadership. 

     

    Let us recapture the three phases the Governor of Kano took in handling the State’s battle against Coronavirus.

    1.  He adopted the mechanism of deporting the Almajarais.
    2. He embarked on subtle blackmail by demanding the sum of 15 Billion Naira from the Federal Government even before bringing any map of action.
    3. He resulted into belittling Coronavirus as reason for death in Kano State, but instead, resulted into a bogus claim that what was killing people of Kano State was a “strange death” – a claim from a waxed mind as he failed to identify the name of the “strange death”.

    On the third claim of “strange death” by Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, this is what the President of the Nigerian Medical Council; Dr Francis Adedayo Faduyile, whom I invited to my weekly review of topical issues at the Lagos Talk 91.3 FM, on Monday, April 27, had to say: 

    “I am a scientist and a medical practitioner; I therefore will not want to hear of people talking of “strange death” at this time of battling Coronavirus in the country. I would have preferred to hear those talking of “strange death” to name the sickness that brought the death about, because “strange death” is not a known sickness in the practice of medicine”. 

    Is Serkin Gandollar Kano’s ways of handling the Coronavirus battle in Kano State not the way the Nigerian political leadership’s Cookie Crumbles, over the years?

      

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact: 

    Twitter: @godwin_buebu

    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu

    Facebook Page: Veteran Column

    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only. 

    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

          

  • Who is the owner of the Nigerian presidency? Godwin Etakibuebu

    Who is the owner of the Nigerian presidency? Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Sony Okosun; the Ozziddi exponent, might have died young at the age of 61 years, nevertheless he left a formidable legacy in the African music industry. He walked very largely, with gigantic maestro steps of triumph, while he lasted, dishing out his stuff. He was a strategist in the field he chose. He exploited the African challenge of his time. He was a personae dramatis in the damning challenge of apartheid that confronted Africans in South Africa [Rhodesia], using his music talent to the full.

    One of the very onslaughts on the apartheid regime, which commanded compulsorily international attention, was the album he released in 1979, titled “Papa’s Land”. The Papa’s Land of Sony Okosun’s critical mind, was the vast Africa land forcefully taken over and being occupied with all instrument of wickedness by the minority White in South Africa. The Ozziddi Exponent King came out to challenge the OWNER of the Land and he posed the question succinctly thus: “Who owns Papa’s Land?”

    The process of answering the question, undoubtedly led to quicker resolution of the naughty issue of resolving the real ownership of the land [South African territory] – thanks to the dynamics of purposeful government as displayed by the Military administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo’s era. What followed that struggle has now become a glorified history. The lesson being pulled out of that episode is the reality that sometimes, in some particular journey of life, critical questions concerning ownership of some landmarks; it could be on Individual – which is why DNA tests is inevitable sometimes, Institution or even structure of a Nation.

    It is my candid opinion that the time has come for Nigerians to come together in redefining the ownership of the Nigerian Presidency. Is such exercise necessary? Yes, it has become a matter of urgent necessity. Why must such exercise become a confronting venture on the citizenry? Whenever there is doubt on true ownership of something; whatever that thing is, respect for the thing in question diminishes. And when such happens, obligational necessity of disrespect throws the otherwise honour of the object in question into the dustbin of history. And reality of life is that the presence of these two things; lack of respect for each other and manifestation of confusion is the greatest signal of announcing the arrival of anarchy.

    Permit me to remind all of us about the shout in agony of Mrs Aisha Buhari; the wife of President Buhari, at a time, on the true ownership of the Nigerian Presidency. Maybe, most of us might not have paid respectable attention to what she said, and if it so, such awkward lack of reading the “signs of the time” and acting on divulged facts of her pronouncement, could be injurious to us, as a people. Let me remind us what that brilliant and beautiful woman once said about the ownership of the Nigerian Presidency. Her revelation, produced below, is terrifying enough that we can only ignore it to our collective peril. Let’s go.

    “Our votes were 15.4 million in the last elections and after that only for us to be dominated by two people… this is totally unacceptable,” she said. “If 15.4 million people can bring in a government and only for the government to be dominated by two people or three people, where are the men of Nigeria? Where are the Nigerian men? What are you doing? Instead of them to come together and fight them, they keep visiting them one after the other licking their shoes (I’m sorry to use those words).”

    This would not be the first time that the president’s wife would hit some allies of her husband. In an interview with BBC Hausa services two years earlier, Aisha said Buhari’s government had been hijacked by only a “few people”. Again, let us listen to what she said.

    “The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years… some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position.”

    We can also take a cursory recognition of what she said most recently, which brought to the limelight the disloyalty of Garba Shehu; Senior Spokesperson to the President. A peep into what she said without bringing the totality of her Press release, titled ‘Garba Shehu Has Gone Beyond His Boundaries’, on the matter will suffice here.

    “As spokesperson of the president, he has the onerous responsibility of managing the image of the president and all the good works that he is executing in the country. Rather than face this responsibility squarely, he has shifted his loyalty from the president to others who have no stake in the compact that the president signed with Nigerians on May 29, 2015 and 2019. “To make matters worse, Mr. Shehu has presented himself to these people as a willing tool and executioner of their antics, from the corridors of power even to the level of interfering with the family affairs of the president. This should not be so. The blatant meddling in the affairs of a First Lady of a country is a continuation of the prodigal actions of those that he serves.

    “We all remember that the chief proponent appropriated to himself and his family a part of the Presidential Villa, where he stayed for almost four years and when the time came for him to leave, he orchestrated and invaded my family’s privacy through a video circulated by Mamman’s daughter, Fatima. The public was given the impression that on arrival into the country Mr. President locked me out of the villa. “Garba Shehu, as villa spokesperson, knew the truth and had the responsibility to set the records straight. But because his allegiance is somewhere else and his loyalty misplaced, he deliberately refused to clear the air and speak for the president who appointed him in the first place. Consequently, his action has shown a complete breakdown of trust between the First Family and him.

    Let us listen to what followed the confusion at the Villa, as narrated by Madam again, before elongating this discussion to the arena of identifying the real owner of the Nigerian Presidency. This is what she said, as published.

    “Mr. Shehu was privy and part of the plan and its execution and he was shocked when he realised that I had publicised my return to Nigeria on October 12, 2019 and cleared the air on the many rumours that took over social media, a job he was supposed to do but kept mute, to cause more confusion and instability for his principal and his family. “Garba then vented his anger on the National Television Authority (NTA) Management, insisting that the media crew to my office must be sacked. He succeeded in getting them suspended for doing their job. I had to intervene to save the innocent staff from losing their means of livelihood by involving the Department of State Services (DSS) in order to ascertain roles played by key actors in the saga.

    “It is at this late hour that I recall, sadly, that it was the same Garba Shehu who claimed that the government will not allow the office of the First Lady to run. He was later to confirm to one of my aides that he was instructed to say so by Mamman Daura and not the president. This antic attracted the anger of Nigerian women. He didn’t realise the fact that the First Lady’s office is a tradition, which has become an institution. “Based on Garba Shehu’s misguided sense of loyalty and inability to stay true and loyal to one person or group, it has become apparent that all trust has broken down between him and my family due to the many embarrassments he has caused the presidency and the First Family. We all have families to consider in our actions and therefore it is in the best interest of all concerned for Garba Shehu to take the advice of the authority, given to him sometimes in the first week of November, 2019.” [Albeit, for Garba Shehu to quit, maybe].

    It could be that “strangers, foreigners or call them invaders, have taken over occupation of the Nigerian peoples’ heritage, that there is so much confusion on the land concerning issues of governance. I will give only one more example before attempting bringing the curtain down on this discussion, but not without redirecting our collective steps to the authoritative doorsteps in identifying the real owner of the presidency.

    Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon, in his capacity as “Head of the Military Government, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Nigeria”, signed the instrument of pardoning Anthony Erelomose Enahoro on August 2, 1966, and the instrument was gazetted on August 12, 1966 – a federal government of Nigeria’s Gazette. Then, and suddenly, 54 years after; on April 9, 2020, Muhammadu Buhari, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, signed another Pardon for the same Pa Anthony Enahoro.

    Isn’t this embarrassing enough to the President and the Nigerian People? Isn’t painful to note that this most embarrassing situation was not initiated and completed by the President only as people like Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; immediate past Governor of Osun State and present Minister of Interior and the so-called “erudite” Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation; a Senior Advocate of Nigeria – Abubakar Malami, were amongst those that packaged this Pardon of Anthony Enahoro for President Buhari’s signature. And of course, the President approved and signed it!

    And why would it be so? It is so because the real owner of the Nigerian Presidency have; in what the law calls “sleeping on their rights”, thereby loosing authority of ownership to those few 3 men or the types of Mammam Daura and Garba Shehu, whom Aisha Buhari earlier told us as having acquired, by force of pretense, the Presidency from her husband – and by implication from the real owner [of the presidency].

    What can the real owner of the presidency do at this point in time?

    The Aso Rock Villa; home of Nigerian Presidents, from where the Presidency is domiciled inclusively, is built with Nigerian money. The Nigerian people voted into office their presidents, as regulated by the Nigerian Constitution, and all the expenses of sustaining the Villa, ditto the presidency, come from the annual National Budget administered by the Nigerian peoples’ representative – National Assembly. Same, the budget appropriated by the National Assembly, is signed into Law by the Nigerian President, voted into office by the Nigerian People. This is the fact of the Nigerian Peoples’ democratic life. In view of this exposition, who therefore is the rightful OWNER of the Nigerian Presidency? You and I – the Nigerian People are the OWNER of the Nigerian Presidency – Period!

    If it is our property, we should do everything legally possible, within our confines, to evict those strangers or usurpers from our Common Property so that the President we elected – Muhammadu Buhari for now, can discharge his mandate of agreement, which was the Social Contract Agreement he pronounced to Nigerians, during his campaign fraternity with us [the Nigerian People], an exercise that predated the election that brought him to power.

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact:

    Twitter: @godwin_buebu

    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu

    Facebook Page: Veteran Column

    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only.

    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

     

  • Tyranny of Power: Danladi Umar Flies the Kite, By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Tyrants are created by many forces; some by nature, some of State’s mechanisms, some by aristocracy of birth, others by despotism while some are satanically made.

    It doesn’t really matter the instrument of creation, a tyrant remains one: “a cruel and oppressive dictator, any person who exercises power in a cruel way, a ruler who seized power without legal right to it”.

    The Miriam Webster dictionary defines it more appropriately thus:

    1a: an absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution

    1b: a usurper of sovereignty

    2a: a ruler who exercises absolute power oppressively or brutally

    2b: one resembling an oppressive ruler in the harsh use of authority or power.

    It is for reasons of all these definitions that Tyrants are loathed all over, and at all times. Yet, we have them around us at most times in different shapes and sizes.

    One more thing that needs emphasising is the fact that tyranny is deceptive as close to hundred percent of tyrants wears the look of friendliness and display the meek-look posture of the wolf and the mien of a befitting philanthropist. They look seductively generous.

    With these as beneficial preambles, let us take a deeper reflection in analysing a statement recently credited to the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal; Danladi Umar, when he chose to define his “absolute power” to jail any journalist that might be unfortunate to err in his Tribunal.

    The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, has threatened to imprison journalists who misrepresent the ongoing proceedings on the trial of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.

    Reacting to what he described as some newspapers’ distortion and misrepresentation of the last Monday’s proceedings of the trial, Umar said any journalist who commits such infraction again might have to remain in prison until his retirement in 28 years’ time.

    He said: “Henceforth, any journalist carrying concocted or discredited statement which is not adduced before this tribunal, I will not hesitate to bring the full weight of the law heavily on the person. The journalist will languish there (prison) and may remain there until l retire – that is about 28 years from now”, he said, adding that “the person will be summarily sent to prison because that is contempt”. His conclusion is even more scarring and, in fact very tyrannical when he said “It does not matter whether the contempt is committed in facie curiae (before the court) or ex facie curiae (outside the court).”Now, let us look and try to understand the facts and fallacies of his threat.

    A few days ago, Umar has said that he; in his capacity as Chairman of the CCT, is not a “judicial officer”. It is for the reason of not being “a judicial officer” that he did not take “judicial oath” when he was sworn-in as Chairman of the CCT.

    He averred that it is for that reason [of not being a judicial officer] that the National Judicial Council has no authority of discipline (in whatever format) over him. He equally disclosed that only two judicial Institutions that can regulate his quasi-judicial operations, pronouncements, or judgments – and he identified them as the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

    The question therefore is very simple. In preparing to “jail erring journalists for 28 years because of the law of contempt”, is Danladi Umar going to rely on some laws from the jungle or will he apply a law that emanates from constitutionality and judicial pronouncements?

    Danladi Umar; the de-facto and de-jury Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, is looking like a tyrant in the making (in view of the statement credited to him and quoted above), which need to be checked with every immediacy.

    There is no doubt about the fact of putting everything in Nigeria under constitutional check and control, the Media and its practitioners inclusive, only to the extent as stipulated and regulated by the laws of the land. Anything outside this is metaphor of tyrannical onslaught which Nigeria can never, and will never tolerate.

    In the final analysis, Danladi and his likes must be told the basic truth that “Power is nothing without Control”.

    I rest my case as this court adjourns.

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact:

    Twitter: @godwin_buebu

    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu

    Facebook Page: Veteran Column

    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only.

    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • President Buhari and the hunting ghost of a certificate

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    The controversy surrounding President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate is gradually moving from “not-too-sweet-taste to extremely-bitter-taste”.

    That is just one aspect of the drama that can be accommodated. But there is this other side of the episode that is too crucial a pain to bear.

    And this “other side” is when opprobrium of an individual, albeit Nigerian President, has become a reproach of a nation and its entire people.

    This certificate matter is now a national disgrace and embarrassment to all Nigerians at every material particular, not necessarily for the reason of its non-existent or otherwise, but more for the poor management of the President’s affairs by those going by the name of image-makers and media assistants.

    It is this group of people that have thrown our beloved president into this seemingly ocean of embarrassment. I will explain.

    The challenge of Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate started in the year 2014 as he was coming back into the race of contesting for the Nigerian presidency; a race he tried three times without success.

    We need to pay attention to this observation, to wit: each of those previous efforts, nothing was heard of Major General Muhammadu Buhari certificate not being available, missing or not being at the disposal of the Nigerian Electoral Body [INEC].

    It is very critical that we take judicial recognition of this fact.

    It is this same man coming back into the same race in 2014, under another mega political party formed – All Progressives Congress, going through the same process he had followed for 12 years that a hurricane of Certificate scandal landed upon.

    By the way, it is important also to note that Muhammadu Buhari had always contested the presidency; each time, under a different political party, starting with All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP], Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] and now All Progressive Congress [APC].

    The point being made here is not much to his lack of stability with one political party but the fact that there was nothing said about lack of certificate in all his previous attempts.

    Looking into the disparity compelling the revelation of lack of certificate may leave us with two conclusions.

    One, it could be that the Electoral Bodies that were responsible for the elections of those previous years General Muhammadu Buhari contested were not diligent enough to have detected that the man had no elementary certificate for the contest he entered into.

    Two, it might as well be that they knew that the retired General had no certificate but allowed the perfection of the system to be corruptly compromised, as similar casesoccurred from time to time in our land.

    A third likely scenario might also be in existence on this critical evaluation. And that is the likely presence of something thick, salient, valuable or most important, which uttered the rules of engagement for the 2015 election contests so drastically, that commanded additional and a more thorough scrutiny of the contenders’ certificates.

    Whichever and whatever the events of the time, General Muhammadu Buhari could not support presentation of his documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] but instead, swore an affidavit that the original of his Secondary School Leaving Certificate was with the Military Secretary [Army].

    Swearing affidavits has always been part of the political game in Nigeria – I mean all types of affidavits; from the normal to the abnormal, mentally balanced to the insane, even from the most ridiculous to what-have-you.

    There was one of our political leaders of blessed memory from Kaduna State who swore too many affidavits during his active days until the late Senator Abraham Adesanya; another great politician and an astute lawyer, later challenged this affidavit-swearing legend in the court of law about the authenticity of his age.

    It was proved judicially that one of the numerous affidavits the man sworn put his age two years younger than his first son while another affidavit was actually sworn on a Sunday. It is just the Nigerian way of doing things.

    Maybe, it was for this reason, albeit Nigerian way of doing things that two faults were found in the affidavit General Buhari submitted to INEC in 2014.

    The affidavit claimed that the original of his certificate or his credentials was with the Military – specifically with the Military Secretary [Army].

    It would have been very normal that photocopies of those credentials; the ones with the Military, attached to his forms and submitted to the INEC, more so when the originals were not available. But this was not to be.

    That became the first challenge of that affidavit and it would remain a major narrative as long as this issue subsists. The second being the fact that Major General Muhammadu Buhari, somewhere along the line of his beautiful military career, was a Military Secretary for the Army.

    It became a little curious ipso facto, that he, expectedly, would have sufficient knowledge of how such matter [the Military retaining certificates submitted for purpose of evaluation only and within a period, also only] is handled.

    It was for this reason that the Military High Command’s denouncing the claim of its former Commander-in-Chief on the certificate signaled such a monumental embarrassment to the respected General, and the fact that the matter might not be “dying” too soon.

    The denial of General Buhari [I am referring to him as General here because he had not become democratically elected President when this argument started in 2014]’s claim by the Military High Command amounted to “total disrespect and mark of absolute disloyalty to a Commander-in-Chief”, according to retired Brigadier General Mansur Muhammad Dan Ali [later to be appointed Minister of Defence by President Muhammadu Buhari]’s harsh judgment on every member of the then Military High Command.

    Could this total disrespect and absolute disloyalty be the reason why President Buhari threw out the entire Nigeria Defense Academy [NDA] Courses 26, 27 and 28 by picking his Chief of Army Staff [the current CAS] from Course 29, thereby wasting mercilessly such huge investment by Nigeria in training those officers to the rank of Major Generals? It is only time that shall answer this question.

    Let us fast-track the discussion forward a little.

    One or two facts were established while the episode of this certificate lasted between 2014 till 2015 when Muhammadu Buhari contested and won the election before being subsequently sworn-in as President on May 29, 2015.

    One of those facts was that the examination President Buhari wrote in 1961 was never conducted by the West Africa Examination Council [WAEC] but instead conducted by the prestigiousUniversity of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate[UCLES], now Cambridge Assessment. This fact was attested to in the past. It means that President Buhari was not a candidate of WAEC.

    It is a statement of fact that on January 22, 2015, WAEC; in replying to clarification on Buhari’s certificate, placed on them by MOVEONNIGERIA [a nebulous body that operated at that time] said that “we could not produce any CTC [certified true copy] on Mohammadu Buhari who attended the Provincial Secondary School in Katsina, Nigeria”.

    At the same period, the University of Cambridge confirmed that they did not use the “alphanumeric grading system in 1961 which appears in Buhari’s certificate”.

    Another fact that is in the public domain is that Muhammadu Buhari was enlisted into the Nigerian Army and had very successful career training all through, until he attained the rank of Major General and at every point of such numerous training he was awarded certificates.

    The much l know about the Army, as it operated then, tells me that Buhari would not have “majored” if he did not pass that significant examination that separates “the majors from the minors”.

    The minor ranks ends in “Captain” while the major rank starts from “Major”. Buhari wouldn’t have made it beyond the rank of Captain if he did not pass his examination at that point.

    There is yet additional fact on this matter and that is the Constitutional qualification of the person that wants to be President of Nigeria. Section 131 [d] of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, says a person “shall be qualified for election to the office of President if he has been educated up to at least school certificate level or itsequivalent”, in addition to the person being a citizen of Nigeria by birth; attained the age of forty years and being a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party”.

    Let us look at Section 318 [1] which added value to the issue of qualification to contest for the office of President.

    “School Certificate or its equivalent” means (a) a Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or (b) education up to Secondary School Certificate level; or (c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent and- (1) service in the public or private sector in the Federation in any capacity acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for a minimum of ten years, and (11) attendance at courses and training in such institutions as may be acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for periods totaling up to a minimum of one year, and (111) the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission; and (1V) any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

    All stated above by the Nigerian Constitution, no doubt, approved Buhari as qualified to run for the office of the Nigerian President. Then, where is the challenge therefore?

    The issue here is the clumsiness surrounding that Secondary School certificate purported to have been issued to him from the Kastina Provincial School. Let us look at this very carefully as they might help us to understand the noise about the issue.

    In 2015 [January 22] WAEC wrote to say it could not authenticate Buhari’s certificate issued in 1961 because the name “Mohammadu Buhari is not on our record” and Buhari never claimed to have been a candidate of WAEC but instead, of Cambridge [or even Oxford] and if this same WAEC sent its Registrar; Mr Iyi Uwadiae, on Friday, November 2, 2018, to present “ATTESTATION” [of the missing certification] to President Buhari in Abuja, then the truth about this matter has been buried somewhere along the journey of history.

    What is expected by the good people of Nigeria and the international Community is for those handling the President’s public image to come out clean in admitting a few things which had gone wrong in the past, apologize for their misbehavior and set the record straight.

    Because if the truth is to be told, the certificate scandal, as it stands today, is bordering more on offense of perjury [for affidavit sworn on oath] or fraud for obtaining attestation from WAEC that had earlier admitted of not having his record conducting.

    This sure will be a better option of removing Nigerians from this calamity of shame and saving the president from this bitter agony.

     

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    godwin@thenewsguru.ng

    Mobile: +234-906 887-0014.

     

  • 2019: Are we dancing toward the battle of political Armageddon? – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    First, it was the dance steps of Senator Dino Melaye in his well-articulated lyrics of “ajeku iya” that turned the floor of the National Assembly to a Disco or Nightclub sort of a place. Nigerians laughed over it as they saw it as a deserving means of “escaping distress”; given the depression that governments in Nigeria, especially the current one, have submitted the citizenry to.

    Again, when the man who replaced his senior brother [late Senator Isiaka Adeleke – the progenitor of “Serubawo” politics in Osun State] in the Senate of the Federal Republic; Ademola Adeleke introduced his dancing steps on September 18, 2017, with a boast that “I taught Davido, Sina Rambo, B-Red and others how to dance”, Nigerians wondered the type of political leaders the Nigerian System was breading. Leaders that reduced the seriousness of State governance to mere comic dancing steps, akin to those of some motor park thugs, they asked? Yet, we accepted it as one of those bad jokes that could make one laughs away sorrows, albeit temporarily.

    However, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole; immediate past governor of Edo State, a former firebrand labour leader ranked highly in the manners of Nigerian Number One Labour Leader; late Pa Michael Athokhamien Imoudu [1902 – 2005] and current National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress [APC] is taking the Nigerian political leaders’ dancing steps to another levels. Or he has even taken it there already. And this is where it is not funnier.

    The dancing steps he took in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State last week while championing and heralding the defection of the former Senate Minority Leader and former governor of Akwa Ibom State; Senator Godswill Akpabio, from the People Democratic Party [PDP] to the All Progressives Congress [APC] was going to be seen as another dramatic rehearsal in the market place of insanity until worse and more absurd steps of similar show of shame were taken in Katsina; capital of Katsina State, two days after the Akwa Ibom dance of death.

    For those who watched both episodes; the one in Akwa Ibom and that of Katsina States, weeping for a country that has lost its core value in place of serious and sane leadership became a more acceptable option. The dance in Akwa Ibom by the Comrade was terrible but the one in Katsina was excruciating horrible. From what we saw on Channels Television, which captured the dancing acumen of the National Chairman of the APC appropriately, it was not difficult to draw the conclusion that the man [Oshiomhole] took his excitement and joy of that moment across the borders of reasonableness.

    It might be for this reason of crossing the border of sanity that he was specifically avoided by other leaders of the APC on the stage [of dancing] while he was doing his solo style. In Akwa Ibom, people like Akpabio and Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu; also a former governor of Lagos State and the National Leader of the APC and many others joined him in the dance but in Katsina, he was left alone to do his thing. Reasons should have taken command of the Comrade when not even the Governor of that State; Aminu Bello Masari, joined him on the dancing floor to know that he has taken the game to a most ridiculous point infamy.

    Things like these are not the process of making credible national leaders in any country of sanity within the comity of nations. But this is Nigerian where anything and everything goes. The issue we are discussing today is not the eternal dancing gifts of some individual per se but it is more about the difference of knowing what to do and when to do it for national interest in any democratic society like ours or as we pretend to be practicing.

    So, there is nothing wrong strictly with a situation when those that are adorned with dancing skills, like Senators Dino Melaye and Ademola Adeleke or even Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, are brought out to entertain the people. We need entertainers to reduce the tensions Nigerians are currently undergoing, the same way our own dear “common sense” Senator Ben Bruce needs entertainers and even goes for hunting such talents for his Silverbird Galleria shows. He now knows where to recruit the best in dancing skill from.

    Speaking seriously however is the danger Comrade Oshiomhole becomes when he combined his dancing skill with his agitator-like style of talking tough; as if he were in the village square of labour, on the Nigerian national psyche. It is not that one is as much concerned if his tough talking stand exposes President Muhammadu Buhari’s weaknesses in running a very inefficient government as he once alleged but there are enough worries when the man speaks in such a way that Institution of Government like the National Assembly is fully threatened. Oshiomhole has demonstrated, within the last few days, his capability in becoming a threat to our democracy by giving instruction to the National Assembly on what to do, to wit: compulsory impeachment of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President; Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu, by his Party members at the National Assembly, without application of constitutional rules and regulations.

    The National Chairman of the APC did not know his political limits within the exercise of the Nigerian political Administrative Powers. Seeing himself as the “enforcer of the failed part of Buhari’s administrative skill”, he is gradually creating a place of branch of government outside the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary for himself, albeit illegally. It is for this reason that his name has been allegedly mentioned on the heinous crime of treasons that the Department of State Security committed against the Federal Republic a few days ago when the DSS invaded the National Assembly and closed down the operation of that arm of government – a crime tantamount to coup-de-tat.

    It was good that the erstwhile Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, has been sacked by the acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, for that treasonable act but suffice to point out that he could not have been alone in such attack on the Nigerian State. He must have co-conspirators in this crime of treasonable felony against the Nigerian State. We want to know who they are and until they are detected, arrested and brought to book, the acting President works is not done. Failure to bring all the criminals involved in this heinous crime to judgment would not help our democracy to grow but instead would encourage people like Adams Oshiomhole to continue giving suicidal instructions to his party members in the National Assembly from his dancing floor.

    For example, while we are still bemoaning the siege over the National Assembly by the DSS and the Police [the Inspector General is denying participation of his men at the N/A’s siege in vain because cameras picked his men in action on the day in question]; an act that will still make more heads to roll beyond Lawal Daura alone, Oshiomhole is still talking with authoritative assurances that Bukola Saraki; the Senate President, would be and must be impeached once the National Assembly resumes from recess.

    The threat has even grown beyond the APC Chairman alone as another unregistered organization known as Buhari Campaign Oranisation [BCO] has joined the fray. The Buhari Campaign Organisation threatened just about three days ago to storm and occupy the National Assembly if Senator Bukola Saraki failed to resign and vacate his seat as President of the Senate.

    The plot to storm the National Assembly was revealed on Saturday 11th of August 2018, by the Coordinator of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Danladi Fasali in Abeokuta, Ogun State during the inauguration of the State’s Secretariat of the Buhari support group. The BCO national Coordinator, who did not disclose the day and time they would invade the National Assembly, spoke however in a way and manner that made Adams Oshiomhole’s ranting a child’s play. Listen to what he said:

    “We, the Buhari Campaign Organization, are saying that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki should take a bow and resign honourably. He should also be mindful of what happened and how Senator Godswill Akpabio resigned because the position he was holding in the National Assembly is zoned to the PDP, and immediately he left the party, he honourably resigned. “We expect Saraki to do that. But, we are assuring him that the BCO will take over the National Assembly if he continues to demonstrate his impunity. He lacks the sense of direction and he wanted to truncate the present democracy. We are assuring you that before their resumption date, if nothing is done, the BCO will take over the National Assembly.”

    What can be more threatening to this democracy than affirmative statements of individuals like these, all because they have backing of leaders of a political Party that is running government of the Federal Republic? Are these people not supposed to be checked and put to where they appropriately belonged? Unless a drastic action is taken against them now, they might prove to be harder version of those military plotters against the Nigerian Nation of the past.

    When unauthorized group of people without any legitimacy more than the name of “Buhari Campaign Organisation” plans invasion and occupation of the National Assembly and the State’s apparatus of Security is doing nothing, maybe because of compromise from pinnacle structures of command, we don’t need any oracle to tell us that we are moving faster and closer to the actual doom’s day conspiracy. We are approaching mother of all battles against democracy in Nigeria.

    There is good news even in this seemingly disastrous presentation. There could still be light at the end of this seemingly very dark tunnel. The good news however shall depend on the choice our politically elected leaders by the Nigerian electorate would be willing to make. The elected leaders can arrest every individuals that are hell-bent in destroying this hard earned democracy, write the wrong that has been unleashed on the country and redeemed Nigeria from the impending catastrophe. The choice is there for the leaders to make.

    And it is in the understanding of this scenario against the Holy Bible’s interpretation of such confrontation as “mother of all wars in the final battle of Armageddon” as recorded in Revelation that l called it the dancing steps towards the battle of political Armageddon.

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact: godwin@thenewsguru.ng

     

     


     

  • Political earthquake: It is all for them, nothing for us – Godwin Etakibuebu

    Political earthquake: It is all for them, nothing for us – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    We sat down apprehensively in the office of the Editor of the National Concord [Daily], Nsikak Essien, evaluating emerging events in Nigerian turbulent political terrain of the time. The atmosphere in the room was actually tense. Ditto the whole country. It was one day [I have forgotten the exact day] in the month of November, 1993. General Sanni Abacha had just overthrown the short-lived Interim Government of Chief Earnest Shonekan.

    The dark goggle-wearing, brutal dictator started off as a benevolent leader, appealing for all to be calm, saying that what they were out to do was “restoration of democracy” – whatever that meant. The issue being discussed in the Editor’s office that Sunday afternoon was the likely restoration of Abiola’s “stolen mandate” as it were. This apprehension was juxtapose against the background that it was General Abacha who arranged for MKO Abiola’s “home-coming with guaranteed security”.

    I asked a very pertinent question while we were remunerating about the possibility of Abacha being the man to actualize Abiola’s dream against the reality of what we knew – all the demonic skirmishes of General Abacha, which saw to the push both General Ibrahim Babangida and Chief Earnest Shonekan out of power. “Gentlemen are we are looking at a scenario where Abacha will prosecute the wishes of Nigerians by validating Abiola’s mandate and installing him as President?” was the question I asked.

    Nsikak Essien, the Editor replied without missing words. “What Abacha is doing now is not exactly for Abiola’s interest exclusively but for his personal interest which ties with that of Abiola at this point. He is chopping for legitimacy and the fastest way to do it is by playing up this essential card of restoring democracy seemingly and this, for now, tallied with Abiola’s interest. But when it comes to the point where one’s interest shall counter the other’s they will surely part ways. And only at that point that Abiola would know the reality of his friends and his foes”, he concluded before adding a caveat, which is more appropriate for present day Nigeria, “nothing is for Nigerians’ interests but only for the interest of the ruling clique.”

    What we have seen in the Nigerian political market place within the last few weeks, cumulating into what a friend called “Amanda of defections”, has brought to mind Nsikak Essien’s analysis of November 1993, about the Nigerian politicians. They are ready and willing to do everything for themselves and nothing for those hoping and waiting for government in order to have good lives. Head or tail, the losers remain the Nigerian populace and not the political elite.

    Those of us waiting for good governance for better life, remain the orphans of a country without conscience. And we in this group are in the majority. Yet we cannot rescue ourselves. I once referred to it as the “tragedy of the oppressed” in one of my works. It is going to remain, most likely so, for a very long time to come, until such a time that we [the oppressed] shall become “politically restless and pushed by actual forces of agitation before we can throw this yoke off our neck”. Until then, the superior power of the games of manipulation and permutation of the Nigerian politicians remain a dreaded instrument of divide and rule in their favour and against us. This is the bitter truth. Let us now evaluate this recent Amanda of defecting.

    It was expected though, because that was how it played itself out in the year of our Lord 2014; a year that President Goodluck Jonathan “helped”, through political naivety, the formation of a “n-PDP” [new People Democratic Party] which made the formation of the All Progressives Congress which later consigned the then ruling People Democratic Party to dustbin of rejection possible. Five sitting governors of the PDP, apart from other top political jobbers, moved with this group to the formed ship of change called APC.

    It was only President Goodluck Jonathan and Bamanga Tukur; then National Chairman of the PDP, that did not see the impending catastrophe the massive defection portrayed. Both instead chorused a fool’s requiem: “good radiance to bad rubbish” until they discovered that they were the reality of bad rubbish. Can we hold it for a moment to compare the past and the present at this juncture? We shall continue in a moment.

    Has the National Chairman of the APC; Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, not quoted as saying, a few days ago, that the decamping members of the his Party to the PDP “are big masquerades without fixed address” and that he would not lose his sleep about them? Is the Buhari presidency not quoted as saying that “those that are leaving the party are those who did not even belonged from beginning”? Is there a standing similarity between spoken words of the past and the present in this reoccurring decimal?

    The point being made here is that if those who made these types of statements in the past were forced to swallow their words disgracefully and shamefully, will it be wise to come to the conclusion that those presently following the same path will end up differently from those before them? It is a matter of few months from now that the idiom which says that “the taste of the pudding is in the eating” shall be proved. Enough of comparing past and present postulations, as we need to move very urgently to the exercise at hand which is “all for them and none for us”.

    In establishing the fact of all for them and none for us, l will present events of current political happening clockwise, meaning working the mathematics from answer to question, which itself is very unorthodox. As you read this today, being Tuesday August 7, 2018, a big name in the PDP shall be decamping into the APC, all things being equal, on Thursday, August 9, 2018 in Akwa Ibom and the show shall be taking place inside the Ikot Ekpene Stadium. His name is Senator Godswill Akpabio; immediate past Governor of the State. For you to appreciate how dreadful the Nigerian politician can be in the game of deceit and compromise you need to know how the movement of this big man was announced and the caliber of the man that announced it will be a source of intrigue to you.

    This irrefutable move by Akpabio was made known in a post on Facebook by the Chairman, Special Presidential Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Property, Okoi Obono-Obla. The presidential aide revealed the impending welcome rally for Akpabio. Obono-Obla said, “There shall be an APC rally at Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Abasi Ibom State on Thursday, August 9, 2018 to receive the former indefatigable governor of the state, His Excellency, Senator Godswill Akpabio to the All Progressives Congress! Acting President Osinbajo accompanied by Senator Ita Enang and leaders of the APC in Akwa Ibom will formally receive Senator Godswill Akpabio into the APC at Ikot Ekpene Stadium on Thursday August 9, 2018.”

    Why is Godswill Akpabio jumping gun or jumping boat at this hour? There must be a cogent reason why the man has to “carry all the sacrifices” – both dirty and clean [l am afraid there is nothing clean about this monkey business of politicians summersaulting at will] – to achieve result. In case, you don’t know, the man who claimed to have built a “world class hospital” in his State while he traversed the land like a colossus but lacked confidence of being admitted into this “world-class hospital” when he had his first motor accident in Abuja; a few days of leaving office as governor, but instead was rushed out of Nigeria for treatment abroad, has being paying some dirty “homages” to some individual “lords of the manor” in the APC for the past three months or so.

    Come August 9, 2018, at the Ikot Ekpene Stadium where the mother of all decamping in the South/South geopolitical zone shall be taking place, Akpabio is going to tell his people the reason why he is jumping from the boat of the PDP to that of the APC. Of all the things he would most likely say – trust politicians – shall be, most prominently, that “I am doing this for the interest of my people and good governance of Nigeria.”

    He is likely to reminiscence on how “for a long time, my people have not actually enjoy dividends of democracy” and how “soon after l left the government house here, Satan and its treasure of wickedness located this same Government House and drove away the man I helped to elect for you as a Governor because for now your governor is Satan and the only Political Party that can drive Satan away from Uyo, ditto Akwa Ibom, is the All Progressives Congress.” He will thereafter shout A . . .P . . .C eee and throw some brooms to the people to sweep away the Satan, which he would have convinced them that the PDP represents.

    His people; the great Akwa Ibomites, would respond and commence the sweeping assignments given to them by the man who would be laughing back to Abuja to ensure that the EFCC [Economic and Financial Crimes Commission] henceforth sees nothing “overloaded and over-bloated” in the balances of his account. His new masters will give him a pat on his back as the government of the day would embark on another assignment of beautification of another Nigerian produced Saint – Saint Akpabio.

    This is the way the game is being played in Nigeria. Like the example given above, his people got nothing except brooms, some bags of rice and a few featherless chickens while he got “all”. Nobody should ask me the meaning of all please. But should you want to know the meaning with all seriousness, a trip to the Central Bank of Nigeria through the EFCC might be helpful. Don’t misunderstand me – I did not tell you that such voyage could give you all the revelations but instead, l said it might help you. Aluta continua!

    Somehow and somewhere anyway, along the line of the “Amanda of defections” a few things can happen that could bring the interest of the political elite crossing the path of the lost majority that form the electorate. When such happens it might look like that this prostitute class of politicians is out to care for us. We should be astute enough not to be misled into believing that; during some rare occurrences when their interests crossed out path as bonus, the original intention of these manipulators and devilish gladiators is to benefit us. No, we should never fall for such gimmicks.

    The truth at all the times is that every gain in the Nigerian political practices is for them and nothing for us.

    We shall conclude this exercise next week with details of the manipulations and permutations against us and suggestions of how possible we can remove this yoke from our necks through the instrumentality of restlessness.

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    Contact: godwin@thenewsguru.ng