Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi State West Senatorial Area, today, Tuesday, April 24, jumped off a moving police vehicle conveying him to Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, to face possible criminal charge. He ended up being wheeled unconsciously to an Abuja hospital for emergency medical attention. [[myad]
File photo: Prof. Wole Soyinka | Credit: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has cautioned Nigerians to be careful with the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former military President, retired General Ibrahim Babangida who have been pretending to be “messiahs” over their posturing on national issues.
Soyinka, who spoke at the posthumous 80th birthday of late Gani Fawehim (SAN), insisted that Nigeria is in danger when politicians like Obasanjo, who “supervised the sacking of democratic governments” in Oyo and Anambra states pretend to be messiahs.
“All I want to say in connection with the title of today is just one word: vigilance. There is no question whatsoever that democracy is in danger.
“And so I find it ironic that those who’ve proved themselves the enemies of democracy who’ve really taken, they’ve really committed acts, not just negligence, but actually inaugurated certain policies which contributed to our being at this point again are once again coming out and positioning themselves as saviours, as messiahs, as the sole possible rescue mission that this nation can even dream of, a nation of nearly 200 million people.”
Under Obasanjo’s presidency, Dr. Chris Ngige was abducted by armed policemen and forced to sign a resignation letter at gunpoint in July 2003, and in January 2006, his administration.
“I find it very strange, and I find it even stranger because at the beginning of this movement towards ‘rescue mission’, there were one or two organisations that came out under different names and they had people in them whom I considered worth following, worth encouraging, worth encouraging others to study closely and even consider following.
“The next thing I knew, these movements were being hijacked by the very people who laid the foundation, an ironic word by the way, for the collapse of the democratic edifice.”
Soyinka said he turned one of the groups down when it approached him. He said: “The next thing we know, they are forming coalitions and I was invited by one of the rescue missions to address them and I telephoned them and I asked the question, ‘wait a minute, which one are you? Are you the original people I saw or is there a faction or is there now a fatherly umbrella under which everybody is moving?’
“And I told them; don’t even come near me, if you’ve signed up on one of those who are the enemies of democracy in this nation.
“Those who inaugurated so-called constitutional amendment programmes, total charades, to assist them to continue to run, which has been scuttled by the direction known as tenure elongation, third term, etcetera for which the entire national treasury was almost bankrupted.”
“And suddenly, here they are they are forming coalitions all over the place, once again, confusing people. Who are the genuine leaders, who are those that we can trust? The answer to that is very simple: look at their track records. That’s all”.
Soyinka advised Nigerians not to allow themselves “to plunge into a zone of amnesia, in which you conveniently forget unpleasant realities. “We’ve had presidents in this nation, some of whom inaugurated a never-ending democratic process, which landed us eventually under the most brutal dictators that this nation has ever known.”
Under Babangida, who was in office between 1985 and 1993, his transition programme was the longest ever in the country’s history. On several occasion, he promised to hand over to a democratically elected government but failed to do so.
In June 1993, he annulled the presidential election won by the late Bashorun MKO Abiola. He was forced to “step aside” in August 1993.
Babangida handed over to the Ernest Shonekan-led Interim National Government (ING), which was sacked by the late Gen. Sani Abacha, who tried to perpetuate himself in office before his sudden death.
Soyinka was not done: “We had others also who actually supervised sacking of ‘democratic government’; I’m speaking of Anambra, I’m speaking of Oyo State. A governor was kidnapped under their watch with their complicity; in another instance, thugs actually entered the House of Assembly, sacked the legislators and installed their own candidates; under the same watch.
“And they call themselves the God-designated watchmen over the fortunes of this nation? And suddenly, here they are and I see Nigerians flocking to them and asking them once again to lead.
“Mind you, they’ve said very clearly if it becomes a political party count me out o, but paths are already being beaten to their doors, control by subrogation.”
APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-OyegunThe National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun may be on his way back to the saddle as the some APC leaders from North-East, North-West and North-Central have already endorsed him.
In a statement in Dutse by the chairman of APC United Front, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa, the leaders praised Oyegun for unifying the ruling party, fostering collaboration and encouraging engagements that neither diminishes others moral worth.
According to the leaders: “the incumbent, Chief Oyegun will be reelected for the second time. Party faithful and their leaders in the north are certain of Oyegun’s victory. A change of leadership is not on the cards. There is no surprise in the air. The dynamic national chairman is sure to win.”
They called on the APC National leader and former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other APC leaders in the South-West to back Oyegun’s candidacy, saying: “we need to avoid deadlock. The result of the APC chairmanship election won’t surprise anyone.”
They said that the APC under Oyegun’s leadership has been existing as a united political group.
“APC is not a loose coalition of personal and sectional factions,” they said even as they hailed Oyegun for his flexible position on political issues, reconciliation of feuding political groups and his commitment to a greater Nigeria.
Specifically, they eulogized Oyegun for bringing unparalleled brilliance and unbridled patriotism to the chairmanship job.
“Oyegun is a stabilizing factor in Nigerian politics. His success in the convention will be based on his performance, popularity and honesty. Other aspirants do not pose serious danger to Oyegun. They have nothing to offer” the leaders said.
They commended South-East and South-South APC leaders for supporting Oyegun.
“We don’t want a southern gang up against the north. We don’t want to be plunged into darkness. Oyegun, a role model and an icon, is held in reverence and affection by the vast majority of Nigerians.
“He believes in the course that seeks to prime humanity to loftier heights” the leaders added.
A strong indication of both the quality and failure of politics in Nigeria, as the people look forward to the next general elections in 2019, is the manner in which virtually “every” Nigerian believes that he or she is good enough to be President of Nigeria. This may speak to a deepening of political consciousness, but it is also a reflection of the people’s anxiety and frustration about how the office and position of the President of Nigeria seems to have been mishandled and demystified. The process of that demystification has taken different shapes and tones since the return to civilian rule in 1999, but now everything seems to have gone so bad, far beyond expectation. My mechanic couldn’t have phrased this national dilemma better. He came to see me the other day, full of excitement.
“Oga, it’s you I have come to see oh.” Typical Nigerian manner of speaking: you are right in front of me, and yet you still consider it necessary to announce your presence. Anyhow, I nodded affirmatively, already working out a response to a likely solicitation for money. It is school resumption time, and it is usual for people to go soliciting for help to pay children’s school fees in a country where basic education is so unaffordable.
“Oga, I have come to inform you that I am thinking of running for President.” I thought the guy was talking about the Presidency of the Mechanics Village Association. So, I brightened up. No, he meant President of Nigeria. I removed my eyeglasses and dropped my pen.
“President of Nigeria? How? Look, have you been drinking?”
“Oga, you know I am a Christian. I don’t drink. I am serious oh. I have been thinking about it for a while. I can do a better job. The way these people are running Nigeria, some of us have good ideas about what can be done. If we leave this Nigeria to these politicians, they will finish all of us. Anybody that likes this country should get involved.”
I paid attention to him.
“Oga, look at me, I can do it. We can do it. I have worked it out. By the grace of God, I will be the next President of Nigeria.”
I had known this mechanic for a while, but I never suspected he had very tall ambitions. I had not yet given him my honest opinion; he had already conscripted me. “We can do it.” We? Every Nigerian politician is an optimist, and the most optimistic are often the ones who don’t even stand a chance at the polls.
I pretended to be interested all the same; so he continued with his campaign.
“Oga, you know me. Am I a lazy man? No. I am not.” When people insist on answering their own questions the best you can do in the circumstance is to listen.
“What this country needs now is a mechanic, somebody who can take a look at a vehicle that is having problems, and fix it. We mechanics do that every day. When they bring a car to you, first you diagnose. What is wrong with the car? Why is it not functioning well, and then you go straight to the problem and fix it. Why can’t people fix Nigeria? If we mechanics were to behave like politicians, this whole country will be littered with broken down vehicles. In the hands of these politicians, Nigeria is broken. E be like say Nigeria don knock engine sef. I am the man who will fix that engine.”
“But nobody will give you any chance. Everybody will laugh and think you are joking.”
“I am not joking, Oga. What does it take to be President? I have done my homework. The only thing they are asking for is a WAEC certificate. I have my certificate ready and I can produce it to prove that I completed secondary school.”
“How many credits?”, I asked, trying to humour him.
“INEC does not ask for five credits. Even F9 parallel sef can be President of Nigeria. No be Nigeria?”
“But you don’t have the resources. You’d need a lot of money.”
“Oga, it is not about money. And if it is money, God will provide. Our Pastor in our church has been praying for me and God is speaking to us. When I become President, I will declare free education, free health and there will no lazy youth in Nigeria again!”
“Why don’t you start at a lower level. may be local government chairman, gain some experience.”
“Ha. Oga, Experience has shown that in Nigerian politics you don’t need experience. Who has experience helped? All those former Governors in the National Assembly, what kind of experience do they have? In fact, let me just say a lot of them go there to sleep and collect free money, travel free. I have seen their pictures. They go there to sleep. When some thugs stormed the place to steal the Mace, not one of them could stand up and protect the Mace. Lazy Senators. Only a woman, a sergeant at arms was courageous enough to challenge the Mace thieves. When I am President, nobody will dare steal the Mace. It won’t happen.”
I felt like telling him that there has been too much drama over the significance of the Mace in our legislatures. It is at best a ceremonial symbol. For a session of the legislature to be valid under the 1999 Constitution what is required is a quorum as defined under Section 54, but of course the kind of criminal conduct that was put up at the Senate, last week, is condemnable and should be investigated and all authors of that act of impunity must be sanctioned accordingly. I didn’t say anything to him along these lines, rather I was more impressed by his passion, his determination to save Nigeria and arrest the drift. I was also struck by the fact that he is not the only Nigerian with such passion. There have been many of his kind, now active on social media, promoting a vision of Nigeria and insisting that they would be better materials for 2019.
The number of these aspiring Presidents keeps increasing everyday and while I consider some of their posters a bit curious and the candidates a bit unusual, taken together, the shared anxiety about the Presidency and who is best fit to lead Nigeria beyond 2019 says a lot about public expectations. There are online, video-tapes of a certain Aunty Monica, for example. She is based in Europe and she wants to come home to be President, to bring investment and tourism to the country, and she says she has “ideas in her head.” I have also seen such banners as “Vote Iya Bayo for president, Aunti Ramota for Vice President”, and “PFANN: A new refreshing wind blowing over the nation. Get ready. Elishama 2019.”
The names of a popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, and that of the legendary footballer, Kanu Nwankwo have also been mentioned as potential Presidents of Nigeria. Neither Pasuma nor Kanu has confirmed their interest in the job. But the social media is the forum where many ideas are hatched, and many of such ideas also die on social media, but what is said about public reality should not be ignored. Nigerians want what is now referred to as the #realchange. They are disappointed. They are angry. There is also a growing resentment to the repeated claim by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Buhari’s handlers that there is no alternative to Buhari. In a most recent article, Garba Shehu, a Presidential spokesperson asks what he considers “an important question” – “who do you have that is better?. Then he answers it himself; “…certainly there is no face (other than Buhari) that can be called the President of Nigeria.” Garba Shehu even scoffs at the Coalition Movement that started a protest against the two leading political parties in Nigeria – APC and PDP, and asked for a one-term Buhari Presidency. He says “a so-called Third Force has failed to gain political traction since its birth.”
My mechanic, Aunty Monica, Iya Bayo, Aunti Ramota, and Elishama – these are ordinary Nigerians- certainly disagree that only one man’s face is good for the Nigerian Presidency. They in fact believe that they will do a much better job. But perhaps the more significant development is the emergence of new faces on the political scene who are also keenly interested in rescuing Nigeria and whose declared starting point is the Presidency. I once described them as products of the Trudeau-Macron effect. Justin Trudeau, 46, became Prime Minister of Canada in 2015. Emmanuel Macron, 39 assumed office as President of France in 2017. There is also the current Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz – he is the youngest President in the world. He is 31. An emerging group of Nigerian political leaders falls into this category: they are challenging current political orthodoxies; they are educated, they are internationally exposed, they can think out of the box and above all, they are united in their resolve that President Muhammadu Buhari is replaceable in 2019. They equally pose a challenge to the traditional political elite, which so far is yet to make up its mind about presidential candidates or alternative platforms for the 2019 Presidential and general elections. The usual tendency is to dismiss them as “noise makers and attention seekers”, but they probably constitute the real “Third Force” that will produce the traction that the Presidency is yet to see.
One newspaper has identified up to about 24 of these emerging “game changers”. There is Bukunyi Olateru-Olagbegi, 27 who has registered a political party – the Modern Democratic Party (MDP). He is not running for President but the MDP could become a useful platform for youth mobilization and conscientization.
There is also Omoyele Sowore, 47, former students’ union leader, civil rights activist and founder of Sahara Reporters, an online newspaper. For the past month or so, Sowore has been on the campaign trail, addressing students and civil society groups. He has also appeared on radio and television. His main message is that Nigerian youth should “take back Nigeria” from those who have destroyed it. He has in particular been very critical of the Buhari government. “I can run Nigeria better than Buhari in my sleep”, he says. When a serving Minister, Adebayo Shittu told Sowore to go and start as a councilor, during a radio programme, Sowore held his ground. Kingsley Moghalu, 55, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), an author and a scholar, has also declared his interest in the Nigerian Presidency. He is offering Nigeria, “bold and decisive leadership …something different … by a capable, experienced technocrat.” Like Sowore, Moghalu means business.
You also have Fela Durotoye, 47, a Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN). Durotoye wants to rebuild Nigeria through visionary and inspirational leadership. Alistair Soyode is the founder of BEN TV in the United Kingdom. For years, he has been reporting Nigerian stories to the world and to Africans in diaspora. Like Sowore, he has also decided to become directly involved in Nigerian politics. Other emerging aspirants include Professor Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, 55 who says “power must go to women and the youth”; Sam Nwanti, an international detective, and a member of the Labour party, who wants to “fight crime and corruption”. Others include US-based Omololu Omotosho, Lewis Omike, a filmmaker and photographer, Dr. Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, 47, of the National Conscience Party, and 35-year old Adamu Garba II.
The temptation is to dismiss this category of aspirants as Minister Shittu has done, in part because they do not preach the message of religion, ethnicity and money, and they do not seem to have any Godfathers who can offer them existing structures in exchange for conditions of service.
Many of them may even throw in the towel before the actual race begins. The old brigade of Nigerian politics is not in a hurry to retire, change tactics or yield space. People don’t become Presidents in Nigeria by merely pasting posters and social media messages or through sheer idealism. IN 2011, Dele Momodu, 51 at the time, tried to run for President. He has many stories to tell. The Trudeau-Macron effect in our politics may still take a few more years. But it would be wrong to ignore what the new faces represent: a more deep-seated yearning for change among the youth and the middle class, and at least two of them: Sowore and Durotoye are already exercising much influence among the Nigerian youth, not just on social media but also across the educational institutions and the streets.
On April 16th 1911, Mr. Carl Zimmermann, a South African Dutchman mounted a horse at Wukari with four boxes. His destination was Takum – all in Taraba State. On the second day of his journey, 17th April 1911 and halfway to Takum, he came to a big village and decided to stop.
The founder of the village was Saaitu Deekpe, Chief of the Shitile clan of the Tiv tribe. He was not at hand to receive the horseman because he was busy attending to other urgent matters of his chiefdom. The horseman sent word through an interpreter for the chief to come and join those who were at hand so that he would tell them about ‘Aondo’ – the Tiv word for God which many Tiv people also answer as their name.
“What has Aondo done again?” asked the chief thinking the man wanted to complain about one of his recalcitrant subjects who answered the name Aondo. “I am too busy now to hear this complain about Aondo. Make the white man comfortable and maybe tomorrow I will hear what he has to tell me about Aondo.”
This was a pleasant surprise to the horseman.He had read the accounts of Dr Baikie who embarked on an adventure of the Benue river with Ajayi Crowther in 1854. Baikie had written that the Tiv are an unfortunate tribe that are against everybody and everybody is against them. He went further to conclude that “their rude minds are incapable of comprehending anything beyond war and raping.”
Other accounts he had read from colonial literature about the Tiv people were equally unpleasant and out of tone with the hospitality extended to him at Saaiutu. British colonial administration had up to that time declared the whole of Tivland as unsafe for Christian missionary work. Lord Lugard in his official dispatches described the Tiv people as “ignorant savages and very intractable people who enjoy lawless murders and looting.”
These negative opinions, expressed by people who were in a position to recommend bringing Christianity to the Tiv people were responsible for the delayed arrival of Christianity in Tivland.
There were however a few people who were inspired by the spirit Christ to bring Christianity to Tiv land. Notable among them were Dr Hermann Karl Wildhem Kumm, a German who studied Arabic in the University of Cairo in Egypt and Hausa in Tripoli Libya. He was instrumental to the formation of the Sudan United Mission in the United Kingdom in 1904. In 1907 he travelled to South Africa where they held meetings and in collaboration with Rev George Botha, a young theological graduate and another young man, Mr V H Hosking of the Wesley Church embarked on the arduous task which would bring Christianity to the Tiv people.
Still, given the negative publicity given about the Tiv people by early writers who came in contact with them, the man on the horseback was surprised with the hospitality granted him by Chief Saaitu Deekpe on 17th April 1911. Not only did the Chief allow him stay without molestation or an attack of the poisoned arrow for which the Tiv people were famous, he sent word round and invited his subjects to come and welcome his new guest.
If Mr Zimmermann was surprised, those who knew Chief Saaitu intimately were not. One of his most respected wives, Mrs Kwaghembe Sai (nee Burya) who witnessed the historic event on April 17th 1911 told this writer that the man Chief Saaitu was an enigma.
“He used to boast that he is a man with a coat of many colors: That from his house there will emerge poor men and rich men; good men and bad men; kind people and cruel people; honest men and thieves; small men and giants etc. His decision to welcome the queer man who looked like a sprite, the type that were being hunted and killed with poisoned arrows all over Tiv land and accommodate him in his compound did not come to us as surprise at all. It was in his character,” she told me before her death in 1975.
The surprised horseman took immediate advantage of the unexpected hospitality. He opened the first box and brought out a copy of the Holy Bible and read from John 3; 16. He preached and sang to the assembled crowd. The people were perplexed and started calling “Ortese” meaning the teacher. It was from this first box that Christianity and western educarion took root and has today become the dominant religion of the Tiv people. Chief Saaitu’s son Akighirga (Akiga) was the first Tiv man to be baptized and to profess that Christ was his savior. His other son, Ishoribo-Rev J E I Sai became the first Tivman to be ordained a Priest.This box also contained other books which brought literacy to the Tiv people. Chief Saaitu’s son Akiga was the first Tiv man to be literate and his grandson, Ezekiel Akiga became the first Tivman to get a University degree. Today the Tiv are one of the most educated ethnic groups in northern Nigeria.
Among the people who came to see the strange horseman were people suffering different kinds of ailments. Some had malaria, some had sores and ulcers all over their bodies, others were coughing endlessly. The second box was opened in which an assortment of medicines and the horseman was proceeded to administer these to all the sick people who came. Amazingly they were healed and healthcare became a powerful weapon to induce the sick who in the process of receiving treatment for their ailments also received the word of Christ.
On the second day, the horseman opened the third box. This one contained a hammer and other carpentry and building implements. With these, he erected a structure of his own and thus introduced the Tiv people for the first time to the art of modern architecture.
Soon, the horseman opened his other box, the fourth one. This one contained seeds of fruit trees and vegetables, namely mango, citrus (oranges), grape, avocado, guava, cashew etc. He planted the first mango trees in Tivland which are still standing in Saaitu’s village. The rapid spread of tree crop farming in Tivland came out of this box.
Today Benue is the leading producer of mangos and citrus in Nigeria. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that there are 22 million mango trees in Benue equivalent of 220, 000 hectares – all from one of the four boxes with the horseman.
Thus, the horseman, Carl Zimmermann, who arrived Saaitu village on 17th April 1911 with his four boxes brought with him a revolution that has changed the course of Tiv history.
Chinese investment company, Tongyi Group has donated five million naira to the government of Benue State as part of its contribution towards the alleviation of the sufferings of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.
The Project Manager of the company, Mr. Vincent Yaun and Assistant Manager of its Makurdi Branch, Mr. Badmus Saka Owolabi both of who represented the Chairman, made the donation when they visited the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA) in Makurdi.
The Chinese investment company said that it had come to identify with the predicament of the people of Benue state.
The chairman of the company expressed concern that some children have turned to orphans while women had become widows even as they are displaced from their homes, even as he commiserated with the families of those victims who lost their lives during the series of attacks in recent time.
The company promised to continue to render support to IDPs in the state noting that the challenge of taking care of the IDPs is enormous. “This donation is meant to cushion the suffering of the displaced persons in this trying period,” the chairman added.
In his response, the Executive Secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agency, Emmanuel Shior who received the cheque on behalf of Governor Samuel Ortom, commended Tongyi Group for the kind gesture which he said reflects the concern of the Chairman of Tongyi Group for the people of Benue state.
He thanked the company for being mindful of the plight of IDPs in Benue State, adding that the donation has come at a time when the needs of IDPs are on the rise.
“The donation is timely as the numbers of IDPs keep increasing by the day because of the consistent attacks.”
PDP Chairman Uche Secondus and Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai MuhammedThe Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has issued an order restraining the federal government, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and Vintage Press Limited (publishers of The Nation Newspapers) from further publishing the name of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, in the list of looters.
Secondus had instituted a N1.5 billion suit against Lai Mohammed, the federal government and Vintage Press in Suit No. Suit PHC/1013/2018 as damages for alleged defamation as his name was listed as a looter in the list published by the minister of information and culture for allegedly collecting N200 million on February 19, 2015 from the office of then National Security Adviser.
In the suit, Secondus among other reliefs asked the court to order the defendants to retract the publications in as many media houses as they published the list and pay N1.5 billion as damages.
As the matter came up Monday at the state High Court 1, the trial judge and Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Adama Iyayi-Lamikanra, granted one of the two prayers sought by the counsel to Secondus, Emeka Etiaba (SAN), and restrained the defendants from further publication of the name of the PDP National Chairman in the list of looters pending the determination of the matter before the court.
The judge also ordered that hearing notice be served on the defendants as neither the defendants nor their counsel were present in court and adjourned the case to May 28.
Secondus, had through his counsel, sought an interlocutory injunction retraining the defendants from further publication of his name as a looter and secondly restraining them from publication of any other list. While the court granted the first, it refused the second on grounds that it was “at large”.
Addressing journalists shortly after the proceedings, the plaintiff’s counsel, Etiaba, who led Emeka Okpoko (SAN) and others, said Secondus instituted the matter in court because the defendants included him in the list of looters, accusing him of collecting N200 million on February 19, 2015 when they (the defendants) knew that he never collected any such money.
He expressed satisfaction with the order issued by the court and said at the end of the matter, Nigerians would know that the federal government and its agents lied.
“The judge has granted a restraining order. We moved our motion seeking interlocutory injunction to restrain the defendants from further publishing the libellous materials. Prayer one was granted but prayer two was not granted because the honourable court felt it was at large. But we are very satisfied with prayer one which effectively put a halt to further libel,” he said.
He said the defendants were not in court perhaps because they knew that there was no truth in what they published.
He said: “There is no truth in what they published, so I can understand why they are not in court. But by the time the restraining order comes, may be they will take us more seriously. But we have told Nigerians that this is one case of executive recklessness which comes up once in a while but we hope at the end of the day to prove to Nigerians that this is nothing but a gimmick, a ploy to destroy the PDP and its leadership because of the 2019 elections coming up.”
On why the suit was filed at a state High Court, Etiaba said: “It is a matter for the state High Court. It is a matter that relates to libel and the state High Court has absolute jurisdiction to try the matter. That is actually the main claim in the suit; that he was defamed and the state High Court has jurisdiction. And the Rivers State High Court, especially Port Harcourt, where we are, is the best suited for the matter because the publication was made all around the world and Nigeria, but specifically in Port Harcourt where it was read by people who complained and confronted him (Secondus). So where the publication was made and we are relying on is in Port Harcourt and that is why we are here.”
On the progress of the matter, Etiaba said: “The matter has been adjourned to May 28. On that day, we believe we will go into the merit of the case. The court also ordered that we serve them hearing notice and that we will do just as we served them the court processes. We will serve them vide the newspapers and deposit same at the office of the attorney general of the federation.”
Alhaji Atiku AbubakarFormer Nigeria Vice President and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar is set to deliver a major economic speech at the London Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), United Kingdom on Wednesday, April 25.
According to a statement by his media office in Abuja, Atiku’s keynote speech entitled: “The Importance of Strengthening State Economic Management Systems,” will lay bare, novel and real prescriptions that when implemented, will help Nigerian states come out from its economic quagmire and ultimately gets Nigeria working again.
The statement said that the Chatham keynote speech is one in a series of engagements by the PDP presidential hopeful to showcase the possibilities that exist in Nigeria and how to unlock its huge potentials to the good of all Nigerians.
The statement said that Atiku will also deliver another major keynote speech at the Invest Africa and British Council for Africa ‘Annual Debate’.
The former Vice President will be speaking alongside Dr Liam Fox, International Trade “Secretary of the United Kingdom Government, on the subject of “Building new trade partnerships in Africa”
“These engagements are a follow-up to Atiku Abubakar’s meeting in June of 2017 with Liam Fox and Prime Minister Theresa May where they discussed the UK’s plan for increased trade with Nigeria post-Brexit.
“The PDP presidential hopeful will also be the guest of honour at a lunch on Nigerian inward investment to be hosted by Lord Anthony St John (former UK Minister for Africa) and be a guest speaker at Round Table of key UK business leaders keen in investing in Nigeria at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall.
“The visit to the UK by Atiku Abubakar, one of Nigeria’s most successful business leaders and foremost advocates for restructuring and free trade, is a continuation of his life-long commitment to find real solutions to help rescue Nigeria from its current economic crisis and set it on the path of economic growth and prosperity.”
A member of the House of Representatives, Dapo Lam-Adesina, has made it clear that he was born into progressive family and will remain wherever progressive politicians are gathered even as he denied speculations that he is planning to defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Alliance for Democracy (AD).
“I remain a card-carrying member of APC under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari and the great Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. We are core progressives in my family.
“I was born into a progressive family and we don’t leave a house that we built for anyone.”
Lam-Adesina (APC- Ibadan North-East/South-East) who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of a fund raising programme organized by the Old Students Association of Baptist Secondary School, Oke-Ado in Ibadan, stressed that the APC is fully prepared for the 2019 general election at all levels, adding that the party remains the strongest so far.
He called on those insinuating a possible division in the Oyo State Chapter of the party before 2019 to forget about it, adding the party was united as ever.
“I don’t think there is any form of marginalisation in the party and if there is any, it will soon be resolved.
“There is always a time to resolve issues in politics. We are going to the congress and the owners of the party will emerge.”
He described his relationship with the Tinubu’s political dynasty as very cordial, saying he enjoyed a father-son relationship with the Tinubu family.
The lawmaker said that he was handed over to the Tinubu on the death of his father, adding the relationship surpassed politics.
Buhari And The Lazy Political Youth Coyotes, By Peter Claver Oparah
In his speech in London last week, President Muhammadu Buhari, ever his frank and honest self, captured the challenges a state like Nigeria faces, with a huge population fixated on the entitlement syndrome which feels that the state must do everything for the citizens. Said the President at a Commonwealth Business Forum on Making Business Easier Between Commonwealth Countries in London; “We have a very young population. Our population is estimated conservatively to be 180million. More than 60 per cent of the population is below the age of 30. A lot of them have not been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil-producing country, therefore they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare and education free.”
There is nothing you can fault from Buhari’s perfect reading of the Nigerian reality, especially where a ravenous newly-minted opposition feels it is its right to hold power, raid the treasury and ride roughshod over all Nigerians, as it did in 16 woeful years. Where the displaced PDP and its cohorts think they have a thick poach of lazy, idle and uneducated ‘youths’ from its bizarre years in power who lie in wait for the proceeds of stolen resources, there is absolutely nothing new or wrong in the President’s unputdownable reading of the country’s predicaments. President Buhari merely brought to the fore the needs of a nation that had its best years eaten away by locusts, its youths badly short-changed and duped and its future made so uncertain by the prebendal profligacy of the past. So why do the Gentiles rage and the people utter folly?
But his honest and faultless statement was latched on by an opposition that wants to desperately hoodwink, cheat and con its ways back to power. Pronto, we had another version of Buhari’s sincere statement of the facts of the Nigerian problem. We heard from the distraught opposition that President Buhari said that Nigerian youths are lazy and there began a round of devious maelstrom that the same opposition hopes will drive it back to power to continue the bizarre sleaze it did in 16 years before the Buhari tsunami swept them off power. That was all the coyotes who have been bleeding badly since they lost power needed to raise a way cry. Oh, yea, he called us lazy and we will teach him a lesson in 2019! Can you believe such bacchanal deceit? Can you imagine such lascivious fraud? Can you believe such bestial intrigue? Can you believe such naked scam?
It can rightly be asked if the President’s comment above was the only match stick that kindled the mischievous anger of the dehydrated and frustrated Nigerian opposition. Is this simple statement of truth the only catalyst that set off the bottled rage of the opposition, hurting badly after being defeated and sent off power and bleeding more after the capping of the notorious free-loading enterprise with which they demolished Nigeria in 16 years? Is this statement enough to let off so huge a gall bag the distressed opposition and their cohorts have been exuding since then? Ordinarily, the President’s comment shouldn’t let off the huge fireball those that want to come back to power by fire, by force have raised. But we are at a point where the consuming desperation of the opposition to return to power is firing the pin of a dangerous social, political and economic mayhem the country has never seen before. We have in our hands today an amoral and corrupt opposition that desperately wants to lie, slander, perjure, forge, bite and claw its way back to power. We have a deadly gang up of bitter but hugely corrupt forces that won’t mind setting the country on fire to achieve their consuming desire to get back power for the purpose of self-aggrandizement and free loading. For such deadly, spitting force, forging, lying and seducing the unaware and the simple minded with such frauds as they now untruths to the President, are all game.
In its desperation to nail Buhari, even by false means the bizarre opposition the country has been saddled for the past three years ran into its ever busy laboratory of forgery and fabricated a false version of the president’s comment and came out with the mantra that President Buhari called all Nigerian youths lazy. They didn’t go further. They have gotten all they wanted and they set sail, furiously marketing this lie to their confederates in desperate bid for power. They were not interested in proof of Buhari’s culpability because, like every other dubious marauder, they don’t have proof. They now moved in to seduce the ill-informed youths, their supporters and their fellow collegiate in the queer battle to get back to power and continue their brigands to mount a war cry of how Buhari abused the youths as lazy. They fawned, foamed ceaselessly in the mouth and threatened with corrupt indignation that they will vote out Buhari n 2019 for calling Nigerian youths lazy. Believing Nigerians are unthinking and irrational mobsters they can twiddle in any manner they want so as to get back to power, they lurked at the back, smiled in a glee of mischief and uttered, like Mark Anthony in Shakespearean Julius Caesar; ‘mischief thou art afoot’. They hope to garner the rewards like any other yahoo yahoo fraudster but they will be disappointed because even as they have consistently taken Nigerians for fools, Nigerians will disappoint them at the fullness of time.
So far, no one has shown where such devilish quote of ‘All Nigerian youths are lazy’ came in President Buhari’s spotless reason for which he drew attention to a stark reality bedeviling Nigeria where its future generation latches onto a strange sense of entitlement to deny themselves the creative opportunities and urge to do well for themselves. No one has so far excerpted the forged quote from Buhari’s effort to offer a conceptual clarity to a problem which surely will hunt all of us one day. No one has offered any rebuttal to the truism of Buhari’s statement. No one has cared to offer any alternative fact to the one he offered. But to the multitude of lazy, jobbing coyotes that graduated from the PDP school of mischief, Buhari is guilty, even when he never made the quote they are running stark nude in the market square with. To them, Buhari is guilty of every sin in the world because he denied to pander to their sense of entitlement by sharing the national cake amongst a sybaritic cult of idle, lazy and pleasure-loving political hustlers. Most importantly. Buhari by defeating the PDP was directly responsible for their woes. He denied them the favourite feeding bottle through which they have lived their padded lives so he must bear the responsibility for even what he never said or inferred. Can you believe such tragedy?
What was contained In President Buhari’s speech that had not been said by various people, even in more acrid forms before? Let us revisit a few;
In July 1974, precisely at the Ondo Town Hall, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo delivered a speech at the presentation of legendary Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s book, ‘People’s Rights To Free Education At All Levels’ where he said, “The trouble with many Nigerian youths is that they sleep too much, play too much in idle chatter and gossip”. Buhari, in his London speech, didn’t come near this fatal indictment but there was no banner raised against Chief Awolowo because he was speaking the truth. Then, there was no desperate caste of looters and their politically-charged lazy youth wing trying every prank to return to power.
Reuben Abati, the Spokesman for the immediate past president Goodluck Jonathan, wrote about Nigerian youths in September 2012, ‘Nigerian youths are idle and idling twittering collective children of anger, the distracted crowd of Facebook addicts, the BBM-pinging soap gossips of Nigeria who seem to be in competition among themselves to pull down President Goodluck Jonathan”. This is the official spokesman of the erstwhile President Jonathan. So why did the political ‘youths’ mouthing asinine war rallies today on their forged quote not protest this huge assault which grandly dwarfs the presumed slight of President Buhari? Will it surprise you that the same ‘youths’ that are now devouring their tongues in anger were sing-praising and urging Abati to fire on because this was from the house? Is it because, as at the time Abati made this scathing remarks, the same ‘youths’ now beating war drums over what Buhari did not say were sitting lazily in the village square, singing, drumming and clapping for Jonathan and drawing handsomely from that but are now weeping out their eye sockets because the illicit source of vain livelihood they were surviving from had been plugged by Buhari? We must be clear on this before we are inadvertently recruited for an obnoxious political battle for the benefit of those that despoiled and laid the country bare just the other day.
Truth is that no sane, educated, informed Nigerian youth will feel perturbed with President Buhari’s frankness. No good Nigerian youth will feel indicted by the President’s assertion of the truth that many Nigerian youths are idle because they feel the state will wipe their behind for them because it is an oil-producing nation.. No sane Nigerian youth will submit to the devious project to falsify President Buhari’s true reflection of Nigeria with a view to stealing the roaches back to power. No sane Nigerian would gladly wish the President play the ostrich, pad and hide the truth from the outside world and risk a factual presentation of his country’s problem and open doors for meaningful intervention in a bid not to fluster the nest of lazy, political youths and their corrupt paymasters. The truth is that no sane Nigerian youth will consume the sick and awful forgery of the lazy, corrupt, uneducated political youths who deviously embark on deliberate smear campaigns to achieve the deadly goals of their corrupt paymasters and their consuming desire to come back to power. No informed youth will fall prey to such cheap traps as the one made from forging President Buhari’s frank and honest take on any national issue.
But then, what else did the latest hoax about President Buhari allegedly calling all Nigerian youths lazy show but that, more than even the President can capture, Nigeria is firmly trapped with lazy, uneducated and ill-informed youths who cannot read but wait on the state to feed them, often through stolen resources? It is incredible that some people will go such a long way mischievously manipulating President Buhari’s comment, get raucous applause from those that consume such forgeries and still protest being called lazy, illiterate and unproductive. It is instructive that the strategy these predictable political manipulators want to mischievously employ for selfish political gains have turned out to expose them so badly that, by their actions, they are proving President Buhari’s factual comment much more than the perversion they turn of it. Everything points still to the danger where an erstwhile corrupt political culture made a mess of our youths by destroying everything that will lead them to productive growth while feeding them with poor rations from stolen funds. From whichever angle you look at it, the problem is critical and demands such urgent attention far beyond what the country can muster, as Buhari pointed out in London.
Claver lives in Ikeja, Lagos.
E-mail: peterclaver2000@yahoo.com