The 2015 electoral contest is one that pitches President Goodluck Jonathan puffed up by his native Ijaw and some of the South-East states- seen to be the biggest beneficiaries of the prevailing order in the country-on the one hand, and a largely disoriented, disorganized but bitterly angry states of Northern Nigeria. Many are already saying that the contest between the two sides will come to be defined by cash, raw emotions and the role of the South-West.

The Governor of Niger State, styled as Chief Servant, Dr. Babangida Aliyu has done the job of organizing Northern politics, economy, peace and security matters as Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, NSGF, but seems to have gone over the top in tagging fellow Northerners supporting Dr. Jonathan’s 2015 aspiration as traitors.

In the November 24 edition of the Punch newspapers, the Chief Servant, after taking a hard view of the President’s aspiration for 2015, announced that “over 400 Northerners have betrayed the North after collecting money from mercenaries. He promised to publish the list.

He continued: “We hear rumours of some people who say they have a list of four hundred Northerners that they are going to settle and they are sure if they settle the 400, everything will be okay. We are looking for that list so that we will tell people that these are the people that want to betray you. This sense of betrayal on the Northerners has festered into a groundswell of mistrust.”

The first time I heard of the list of 400 was from an editor of a growing vernacular newspaper who said a former Minster showed it to him. It may have secretly been going round some time and there is the danger I see in what is going on. As the leader of the country, Mr. Jonathan may have made some promises that he has failed to fulfill and could possibly be unelectable on account of his performance in office. It is clearly being talked about all over the country that governance and public service have deteriorated under him in his two terms. Human development and other indices have shown signs of decline. These notwithstanding, he has a right to strategize and seek popular support even if his bid for another term of office is abhorrent to many. The constitution guarantees him the right to freely canvass for support all across the federation and nobody has a right to inhibit him in enjoying his rights under the constitution.

Equally unacceptable is also the attempt to label fellow citizens as traitors on account of the wrong political choices they make, in this case supporting an unpopular President. The coming elections must be fought on the basis of ideas supported by evidence of service delivery. It cannot be won by fighting physically on the ground. That would bring shame to all concerned.

On point of principle, I find it abhorrent that a candidate in a national election be barred from access to all or any section of the voting population. Freedom of choice is the only basis for a free and fair election. Dr. Jonathan may himself not believe in this right of access and freedom of choice as was evident from the last general election, in 2011 which he superintended. I worked for a candidate who was denied access to delegates and in some cases barred physically visiting states in the South-East, and in Bayelsa State in the South-South, the President’s home state. To be met by this aspiring PDP presidential candidate, Bayelsa delegates had to be smuggled out of Yenagoa, to a secret location in Port-Harcourt where the meeting held. I did not see anything Dr. Jonathan did to stop the unwarranted abuse and disregard of the constitution of Nigeria at that time.

To attain and maintain the moral high ground, those victims of the President’s excesses must not lower themselves into doing the same things he did to others. The Constitution must in all cases be allowed to prevail.

My other worry is about secret lists being circulated. Whoever has a hint of how Nazi Germany was run and the genocidal activity undertaken; how more than 100,000 Bosnians-mostly Muslims were killed under Serbian ethnic cleansing and in Rwanda where nearly a Million Tutsi and moderate Hutus were killed should shriek when they hear words like “collaborators” and “traitors” being used against fellow citizens. In all these instances, secret lists of men and women who had helped the Nazis, or having had secret deals with the invader or one side or the other of the conflict were cited as legitimate bases upon which arson and killing were carried out.

Although the North under men such as Babangida Aliyu have both mandate and legitimacy to give Dr. Jonathan a good fight for 2015, this battle must be fought on development issues with civility and utmost decorum. History has always had a way of dealing with people who sided with rulers to decimate (Nigerian) nationalism.

A failed politician, Vidkan Quisling cut a secret deal with the Nazi but they betrayed him after invading Norway in 1940. Another failed politician, Anton Musset, had a thirst for power that led him to make a pact with the Nazis to the point of pledging personal allegiance to Hitler. Hitler turned the table against him when it mattered to him the most.

Here at home, if you look at all those who are crying the loudest about injustice in the Jonathan regime, are they not those who made him President, against the wishes of their own people?

Of recent, it is noticed that the advanced world and its agencies have suddenly developed phobia or love for the number: 100 Million, especially within the context of analyzing situation in Nigeria.
Only last week, representative of the World Bank came up with the fact that 100 Million Nigerians live in destitution and abject poverty, which of course, the Presidency promptly discounted.
On Monday, another international agency: United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) came up with a story that 100 million Nigerians lack access to toilet facilities which is why there has been increase in the spread of diseases in the country.
Though, it is not clear whether the UNICEF was collaborating the figure quoted by the World Bank, one is getting the feeling that arm chair calculators have been at work.
In other words, it is becoming clearer that international organizations are joining their local counterparts in cutting any figure for situation reports on Nigeria without any scientific proof.
In deed, one always wonders the criteria used by such organizations or even government agencies to arrive at a definite figure which they quote copiously, realizing the fact that most Nigerians reside in remote villages and hamlets, some of which are inaccessible to auto vehicles.
One is not contesting the general matter-of-fact in the area of spread of poverty across the land, especially, in recent time, but, the figure being brandished by the world Bank may be more or less a conjecture, because there is no scientific method to confirm it.
Of course, the defence put forward by Nigeria, to the effect that if the world Bank’s definition of poverty is based on person earning less than $1 per day and in the case of Nigeria N200 per day, then virtually no Nigeria is ridden with abject poverty, is valid. The World Bank may have shot itself in the foot in the context of this definition, because, majority of Nigerians earn more than N200 per day, considering the basic cost of common staple food, even bread. The Nigeria socio-economic reality today makes the N200 per day to be a laughable proposition.
As a matter of fact, what this means is that N200 or less than $1 translates into slave earning, especially for Nigerians who are lucky to even get menial jobs like office cleaning, street sweeping, errand job and the likes. People working in this category earn about N7000 per month (about N210 per day). And what is N7000 per month in a country where a significant few spend more than that just to refuel their cars at one-stop?
While the government hide under the World Bank $1 dollar a day to beat its chest that Nigerians are not in abject poverty because they earn over $1 dollar per day, the government may be deluding itself to think that Nigerians are enjoying simply because they are able to buy recharge cards in their cellphones or eat loaf of bread every day. Fact remains that there is palpable poverty walking tall on the Nigerian soil presently.
There is, in deed, terrible financial hardships that have been defining the lives of most Nigerians now. Even, the middle class Nigerians have now been mangled into the lower class so much that the two classes now wreath in truly abject poverty.
So, it is not the figure on how many Nigerians that are being ridden with destitution and poverty; the issue is the reality on the ground.

Someone asked the academic question of whether Presidents can stop being President for reasons of politics and it didn’t take a while for the answer to come from the leaders of our country.
The Punch newspaper dated November 14, 2013 reported President Goodluck Jonathan announcing that he abandoned the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Colombo, Sri-Lanka to campaign for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, Mr. Tony Nwoye in the failed November 16 governorship election in Anambra State.
Speaking at the campaign rally in Onitsha last Wednesday, the President as quoted by the newspaper said: “I had to cancel my trip to attend the CHOGM to be at this rally to, underscore the importance he attached to election and the “need to push Anambra forward.”
There are many Nigerians, especially his own supporters in the ruling party who would praise him for this decision, moreso when it is considered that the Commonwealth has insignificantly declined in its influence in global affairs. History has written that it is the poor masses of the poorest members-states who are footing the bill for the British nostalgic nonsense called the Commonwealth. The President may even argue that what he stood to gain by his attendance may be achieved in any case bilaterally or through other channels. So, why anyone bother?
It is one thing for his admirers to empathize, but the larger national interest must at all time weigh more than political compulsions.
The President may equally have pleased the very vocal and powerful financiers of the PDP in Anambra but his non-participation at the CHOGM was not a correct political decision. But let me not make pretences about not knowing how politically important Anambra is in the country’s political equation. This tiny state has perhaps more educated Nigerians and more billionaires in cash estimates than any state or territory in Nigeria. They say politics in this state is such that a man with a business turn-over of over a billion Naira will throw himself into a serious contest for appointment as Special Assistant to Governor – just for the pleasure of combining money and power. In Anambra State, politics has never been for the chicken-hearted.
For many, this CHOGM was an excellent opportunity to reflect and discuss with other heads of state. It was an opportunity that may have been used to seek a review of the cases of thousands of Nigerians held in overseas prisons with many of them believing that they had been unjustly incarcerated, or to have sought the support of member states for international help to fight the insurgency, ravaging the North-East, piracy in the South-South and kidnapping for ransom – a massive phenomenon in the South and now creeping into Northern Nigeria. How about elections, a critical pillar of a democracy in which several Commonwealth countries have excelled? Even Ghana has achieved a form of equilibrium in that regard but Nigeria continues to wobble and fail. Anambra was an unmitigated disaster. Sadly for the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC themselves, not any other person or body promised that this would be their best foot forward in any election. They said that this would showcase what they have in stock for the country in 2015 general elections. After what we saw last weekend, everyone is now asking whether we will ever get this right. In the words of Mr. Clement Nwankwo, head, Nigeria Civil Society Election Situation Room, “the way INEC conducted the election posed serious concerns ahead of the 2015 elections.”
“INEC’s assertion that this would be a litmus test of its preparation for 2015 general elections has not been fully realized.” As it is, the absence of our government at the highest level means that the door to these opportunities has been shut.
What is even worse is the perception out everywhere that the President missing at the CHOGM may have been a signal for a paralysis of our foreign policy or of the government, and a clear indication that the weakness of the administration at home are creeping into foreign policy as well.
By succumbing to party wishes to avail himself and his precious times for the political rally, another message he stuck out is that government is only interested in clinging to power even at the cost of the country’s interest both domestically and internationally. This suggests that the President’s services are more required by his own political party to save its candidate in Anambra than our foreign relations and government as whole, both of which have entered a paralytical mode with substantial time still left for the bigger elections to come.

I remember April 22 1990 vividly. I was set for church service with members of my family on that Sunday morning when a friend called; he wanted me to tune to my radio as there was a coup in the country.
I tuned on my radio but what I heard was no coup speech. Even with my limited understanding of Nigeria, I came to the conclusion that this was nothing but a declaration of war! What to do in far away Yola with my little children? I sought divine intervention, pretended there was nothing a miss, dropped my family in the church and sped off.
At the Governor’s residence in Yola, I met the Military Governor, Group Captain Salihu Abubakar and some other top government officials discussing the strange developments. The military chaps present with our governor knew the officer making the declaration of war. They gave sketchy details of his career and expressed surprise at his rather bizarre action.
I also knew him. Gideon Orkar was the young lad we called Gwaza when we attended Apir Primary School together. His father, Mr. Orkar Chi was from Yaikyo village and our teacher at the Primary School. Gwaza went to Gindiri while I went to Bristow, schools that were run by American Missionaries. His senior brother, John Ngusha Orkar was a Phd student in America at the time and the missionaries sent him to teach our class at Bristow African history.
As I listened to Gwaza’s long, winding, senseless speech, I kept asking myself what could have turned my childhood friend into such a bad boy. Is it the injection we were told they administer on soldiers that turned his head?
His father was a God fearing and peaceful man-same with John, the historian. How could a child from such a Godly background declare war on his country, just like that?
Gideon Orkar was a Tiv man from the middle belt of Nigeria. His rambling declaration of war in Nigeria tried to advocate a case for the middle belt and the south. He was obviously trying to cash on the good will of the middle belt struggle of the late fifties and early 60’s. But he got it all wrong.
The middle belt struggle which was led by JS Tarka, a Tiv man did not call for dismemberment of Nigeria. The British charged him to court for ‘levying war against the Queen of England’ – the first and the last Nigerian to be so charged – but the charge could not hold. The call for a middle belt state was rational, patriotic and popular because the old north was too large and unwieldy as an administrative unit. In fact it dwarfed the other two regions put together thus making the federation lopsided and unsteady.
The decision by Orkar and his group to expel Sokoto, Borno, Katsina, Kano and Bauchi, states that have a predominant Muslim population from the Federal Republic of Nigeria was an indication that the coup was against Islam. On the other hand, the middle belt struggle of Tarka accommodated Muslims. In fact, when Ibrahim Imam, a Muslim and radical politician from Borno could not contest elections in his home state, Tarka brought him to Benue, gave him a Tiv name and a constituency where he contested and won. My big brother and friend in my Yola days, Ibrahim Jalingo, a Muslim, was National Secretary of the UMBC. No, the middle belt struggle of Tarka and the Tiv was not a struggle against Islam. It was a struggle for the fundamental human rights of all oppressed people of the north – Christians and Muslims.
If Orkar’s declaration of war on Nigeria was against the tenets of his family and his ethnic group, where did he get the poisonous idea? A few days after the failure of the coup, the names of the other coup makers were published. One name there – Col Nyam – caught my attention. I thought he was a Tiv man as Nyam means meat in the Tiv language. But he turned out to be a man from Cross River State. When he got wind of the imminent failure of the coup, he took to his heels and fled. I understand Gwaza had a chance to tow that line of cowardice but decided to face the music.
Col Nyam has never regretted the havoc he and his group caused the corporate existence of Nigeria by their lunacy of April 22 1990. From his exile, he kept rationalizing and even justifying the insanity of April 22.
On his return to Nigeria after state pardon, he has neither renounced the madness nor apologized to those who were unfairly murdered by his group. I understand he made peace with General Babangida whose bedroom he invaded that night and nearly killed the man and his lovable wife. If Babangida has forgiven him, that is their own problem. The man has been overwhelmed by his name that is literally translated to mean a man with a big heart.
Some of us who have no other country to run to and have no big hearts still have one or two issues with Col. Nyam and his promoters. Does he believe that this country is for all of us, Muslims, Christians, believers in various African traditional religions?
From all his pronouncements in exile and return to Nigeria, he appears not to give a damn about Nigeria as one country.
If he does not believe in Nigeria, why did President Goodluck Jonathan put him on a panel to discuss the future of Nigeria? And having watched him trying to engage Comrade Adams Oshiomole in a boxing bout in public, what stopped the President from giving him the sack?
Did the bad boy let the cat out of the bag, perhaps too soon?

Let me start by saying that the title of this contribution is not mine. It is the title of a chapter in the book “Eye Witness to Power” written by Professor David Gergen. Certainly if you watch CNN and perhaps other American networks, Professor David Gergen may not be new to you. He is one of the leading pundits on American politics. So what is interesting about this gentleman? Well he is basically what in countries like Nigeria would be called AGIP (any government in power), but perhaps, David Gergen is not the typical AGIP, as his approach to politics may be different from what we know in other countries.
I came across the book under discussion in 2008 during a conference in Boston, organized by the American Political Science Association (APSA).
After purchasing the book, I met a former Nigerian minister at the house of a friend, who by coincidence was pursuing a postgraduate degree at Harvard University, and was taught by Professor Gergen. After a brief discussion about the book, while enjoying the hospitality of our host, who provided a superb tuwon shinkafa and miyar taushe  (pounded rice and vegetable soup), which even as a Bakano (someone from Kano), I must confess that I enjoyed the delicious food provided by our host from Zaria, whose house has become an assembly point for Nigerians in Boston.
The former minister said that “Eye Witness to Power” is a must read for everyone trying to understand the challenges of leadership. I couldn’t wait longer to finish the book. I do not necessarily agree with everything that Professor Gergen said in the book, especially his comparison of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. But the meat of the book is in the last chapter which is the subject of this article.
David Gergen had the opportunity to serve four American Presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan and Bill Clinton as an adviser. After retiring from government, he took a Professorial Chair at Harvard University’s school of Government. Part of his contribution was to write this book which essentially is a summary of his experience in the White House. The last chapter of the book, “Seven lessons of leadership” is his thesis on the qualities a leader should possess, and the lessons to learn from the hassles of leadership, if the leader is to be successful, based on what he observed from the four leaders he served.
I chose this topic because of the politicking one is seeing in different African countries. Since many, if not most African leaders are products of Western educational system. It is perhaps important to remind them about their role and responsibility using the language they understand and the countries they look up to.
The first leadership lesson of leadership according to Professor Gergen is that “leadership starts from within.”
From what Professor Gergen observes, a leader should understand himself first. According to him one thing he observes is that American Presidents are well read, and “politically savy” yet those of them who failed were the architects of their downfall.
“The inner soul of a president flows into every aspect of his leadership far more than is generally recognised” said Professor Gergen.
“His passions in life usually form the basis for his central mission in office”, he added.
Here it is interesting to note that the personal characteristic of a leader stems from his character, upbringing and interest. One question I would like to ask is whether political parties, and other stakeholders consider the passion of a politician before giving him the chance to lead people?
Of course I can be academic here looking at the reality in African nations, but that does not take away the relevance of the question, because inadvertently, the interest of the leader and his passion in life would have bearing consequences in the way he leads.I found one example cited by Gergen about Bill Clinton. He stated that despite what Gergen described as “the flows in his character,” Bill Clinton is well read, and during meetings, he normally makes reference to issues he reads about countries, his travels and the rest, which sometimes can checkmate advisers who would like to mislead the leader.
So use your judgement to weigh the consequences of having a leader who is not well read, and does not understand the world we live in. The example of Bill Clinton’s successor is still fresh in the memory of the world. One interesting issue mentioned by Gergen at the end of the first quality of leadership is that “No one can succeed in today’s politics unless he or she is prepared to fall on a sword in a good cause.”
To be continued
(Views expressed in this and other opinion articles are strictly personal)

As much as one would like to detach oneself from comments on Nigeria politics, it would amount to self censor for one to see a clear danger being nurtured and promoted by the self-acclaimed largest political party in Africa and the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and remaining silence or sitting on the fence.
It is no longer news that PDP went asunder, dividing into two on the day it held its special national convention a couple of months ago.
Of course, talking about the circumstances that led to such balkernisation would amount to belabouring the issue, but the obvious resort to lampooning the nation’s judiciary in any form portends danger which the party itself cannot run away from.
Of course, for the purpose of this piece, when one talks about PDP, one is referring to Bamanga Tukur led PDP.
Tukur and members of his National Working Committee (NWC) went to town with celebration the day a court of competent jurisdiction declared that his faction was the genuine PDP.
Two scenario played out from the point the court affirmed the authenticity of Tukur PDP and yesterday, Monday’s announced suspension of Baraje and some members of the new PDP from the party.
The first scenario was when the court delivered a judgment affirming that Tukur is the authentic national chairman of the PDP. From the moment that court declaration was made, the Tukur PDP would not want to hear of any gathering of anybody, including the G7 governors anywhere on the Nigerian soil. Police men were used to even enter the confined sitting room of one of the governors were a meeting was being held, to stop the meeting. All that happened in spite of the constitutional provision that allows for freedom of association and gathering among others. And the fact that the governors were not in any way disrupting any public peace!
To Bamanga Tukur, harassing even governors in the name of court ruling, a few hours after such ruling was made was perfectly in order.
The second scenario came as an opposite of the first and it tested the maturity of the Bamanga Tukur leadership. That was another court ruling that reinstated Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was part of the break-away PDP, as national secretary of the mainstream PDP, i.e. Tukur led PDP.
Since the judgment was delivered by the appeal court, Tukur PDP has been restless and ruthless. While his leadership went swiftly to implement the first court ruling that favoured his side, he went gaga and dares even the court which asked that the sacked Oyinlola should be returned to his post as national secretary.
Besides turning the running of the party into a kind of master-servant relationship or a large private corporation (where he is the chief executive handing down disciplinary measures on the ‘bloody’ subordinates’), Bamanga Tukur has finally shown his lack of decorum and respect for the views of others, even the court.
It is even laughable that the PDP suspended Oyinlola who in civilized democracy, where the rule of law and court ruling is respected, should be back in his office, even if supreme court later rules that he should remain sacked as secretary.
It is ridiculous for a person to be suspended from the party to which a competent court of the land has, currently, legally asked to be its national secretary, and when there is not yet a move by the party leadership to respect such court ruling.
Is it a case of choosing which court ruling that should be respected and implemented with gusto and which one to reject with impunity and contempt? Where would that kind of impunity lead Nigeria as a nation to?

In the midst of the unsavoury debate over the rightfulness of a six month’s extension of emergency rule on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, I hope the government is listening to Governor Ibrahim Geidam’s mantra for curbing the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.

Nigerians of various hue, including parliamentarians who gave a go-ahead for the extension of the emergency rule have been asking the question over and over again if this rule had provided the answer for violence. We are daily witnessing acts of violence involving robbery, decoitry, kidnapping, and murder everywhere. In the North and other parts of the country, people are amassing illicit arms and ammunition. The forces of hate and violence are becoming more and more entrenched, almost becoming impenetrable to the security force. With the deadly onslaught of Boko Haram particularly in Borno and Yobe, Nigerians have every reason to be skeptical about the strategies in place for curbing insurgency and crime.

Until it chose a nationalistic approach to the problem, the administration at the centre had dismissed suggestions of security lapses out of hand, and pushed conspiracy theories against political opponents in the North. Things have now eased up a great deal. The government no longer jumped the gun with name-calling before it became clear who is to blame for incidents of terror. May be they have begun to put national interest first.

News Agency of Nigeria quoted a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Goni Haruna, (APC, Yobe) decrying the six months extension, saying “100 percent of the state, including myself and the Governor (Ibrahim Geidam), say no to the extension of emergency rule in the state”.

He said since the emergency rule was declared, the people of the state had come under severe attacks by the Boko Haram group.

He further stated that the state had been unable to provide the dividends of democracy to its people because much of the resources available to the government was being spent providing security.

The Governor in his reaction asserted that it was not the extension of emergency rule that would end insurgency but a full-throttled army push to quell the Boko Haram. To do other than this, he said, would amount to “motion without movement”.

In the opinion of the Governor, members of the insurgent group were in possession of superior weapons than the army. He then advised that “the Federal Government must provide high caliber arms and weapons to succeed in the fight against terrorism. Until the country’s security outfit is fully equipped with more superior arms, equipment and reinforced manpower, we may have slim chances of winning the fight against terrorism.”

This is a new and dramatic turn in the entire debate. It brings to the fore, the issue of the responsibility of leaders to the armed personnel they send to fight for the country. In this war against insurgency, what is often forgotten is the thousands of men (and women) who gave up, and are still giving up their lives to see Nigeria is united and safe. It is to this issue that Gov. Geidam spoke. His was a clever speech that resonated will with many in the region.

Politics in Nigeria can get tweaked and twisted and this happens all the time. But no right-thinking government can risk a situation in which its army is the under-dog in this kind of war. Army’s reputation for their ability to restore law and order whenever the police fails continues to take a big hit in, not only the North-East but in North Central States of Plateau and Benue. No national army wants to be the under-dog in this kind of situation and our leaders must act to reverse this.

Having noted this, it is important that the engagement with the insurgents is not reduced to the level of bullets and guns alone, as many have repeatedly said. Even after making much hue and cry about human rights violations, civil society groups and most of the citizens do appreciate the good work of the security agencies. There is no known method yet, by which heavily-armed insurgents can be contained without a resort to arms even in situations of self-defence. But beyond this, government policies should begin with honest intentions to aim at changing the lives of the poor inhabitants of these strife-torn areas. As everyone agrees, poverty lies at the heart of all the violence. In addition to the creation of job opportunities, education and socio-economic empowerment, government should start taking the right messages to the people.

Do poor Muslims want to fight poor Christians or fight poverty? Do poor Beroms want to fight poor Fulanis or fight poverty? With civic education using radio, classrooms, churches and mosques, political and other social gatherings, poor Nigerians will come to know that the battle we have to fight is to become richer, not to shoot at or slit one another’s throat.

At the time General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown in 1975, the most glaring evidence that he had lost control was the choking congestion at almost all Nigerian sea ports. Then, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, (the same PDP man of today) was the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

The government had ordered more cement than the facilities at the ports could cope and as ship after ship kept coming without discharging its cargo, everywhere was blocked and other essential imports suffered. Nigeria was gradually coming to a halt.

Gowon complained loudly after his overthrow that he imported the cement on expert’s advice and it was unkind of Nigerians to hold him responsible for the mess. General Gowon never named the experts who advised him to flood the ports with cement but I am sure the culprits know themselves.

The problem with the President today is that he is resistant to fresh good advice. He is stuck with old ways and as the time worn saying goes – ‘those who refuse to learn from history are bound to repeat its mistake’.

The PDP has invented a novel formula of sharing public office. From the Presidency down to the office messenger, everything is done by allocation. This narrowly defined theory gives no room for health, competence, comportment and relevant experience for the beneficiary of the job at hand.

Not too long ago, the party allocated the Presidency to the north and it ended up in the bosom of a very sick man. Tragically, he died in office before the time allocated to his region was up. The north hoped that the southerner who held brief for him would follow the allocation formula and step aside. But believing in his goodluck, the man stayed put.

But for President Goodluck Jonathan, his legendary good luck does not appear to translate into good luck with his men and even women. After he won the 2011 presidential poll, he decided to set up his party structures. Everybody knows that even though he denied during his jockeying for the office of President that the PDP had an allocation formula for public office, he stamped his foot down that the chairman of the party was for the north. Coming to the north, he specifically insisted on allocating the office to Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Some of us saw wisdom in this allocation. Bamanga came around with a rich cv. Not only did he serve at the ports with a string of achievements, he had a vibrant three month stint as a governor; he was once a viable presidential aspirant, a cabinet minister at the federal level and an international business man. We saw in him the capacity to turn the PDP around from what one of his predecessors described as “a rally” to a vehicle for mass mobilization. We even predicted that he could bridge the yawning gap between the president and the north. Whether he has been able to achieve all the lofty ideals that those of us who support him said he would is left for the public to see. Personally, going by what I see happening in the PDP today and President Jonathan’s ranking with elite politicians in the north, I feel the Bamanga whom I served in the good old days of Gongola has discredited my credentials as a columnist and political pundit.

Even then, given Bamanga’s credentials, the president was right in his hope that the chairman would stabilize the polity so that we could share some fresh air with him. Things did not work out as we thought. Still, the president clings on to Bamanga – his man.

In certain cases however, the president inflicts injury on himself by allocating jobs to the wrong persons. Some weeks ago, the chairman, national Population Commission, Chief Festus Odimegwu resigned. That to me is not the news. The news is that given Odimegwu’s background, the president went ahead to allocate the job of national head count to this man. He had a first class degree. That is true. He distinguished himself as a brewer of intoxicating alcohol. That is true.

Nothing of this man’s background prepared him for the census chairmanship which is a high tension political office in Nigeria. In fact, his only national political act in life was to plunge his alcohol company in the campaign to change Nigeria’s constitution to ensure that Obasanjo became Nigeria’s permanent President. The company realized the danger in this gamble and shoved him aside.

The danger for Jonathan is that by the time Odimegwu left office as Chairman of the census commission, he gave many politicians in the north the impression that he was employed by Jonathan to wipe out whatever advantage the north has in the polity. He was the President’s man.

And then you cast your mind back to the late Gen Azazi. This is the General who was in command in Kaduna when the armoury of the Nigerian army there was burgled and the arms taken to Niger Delta militants who were waging a ferocious war against the Nigerian army. There was a security report to President Yar adua implicating him in the treasonable act. Yar adua retired him quietly but on his death, Jonathan appointed him National Security Adviser. How could a man with such a track record be relied upon when it comes to national security issues?

But it is not just his men that are heavy baggage to carry. When it comes to women, the President likes them rough. For example, what the hell is Stella Uduah doing with two expensive bullet proof cars? Is she on her way to war torn Damascus? Even Saul had a change of mind and name on his way to Damascus. He graduated from Saul to Paul. As a good Christian, Stella should confess her sins so that she will be forgiven.

After the disastrous House first public hearing by the House Committee, it is a surprise that instead of firing the liar, the President even took her to the holy land! From what transpired on that day, it is clear that the Minister breached all the laws in her bid to have the two cars.

Stella and some of the President’s men have served their principal very poorly. They are making him very unpopular. The President himself is not helping himself by keeping them on board.

In 1975, Gowon lost power because of developments on the high seas. In 2015, another man may lose power because of the happenings in the air.
(Views expressed in this and other opinion articles are strictly personal)

The controversy surrounding the purchase of bullet-proof cars by Aviation Ministry parastatals will be useless if at the end of it lessons are not drawn for the future.
In fairness to the government minister in the middle of it, Mrs Stella Oduah is not the first, nor the only one throwing her weight around, asking heads of MDAs under her to buy this or that thing. All ministers order the chiefs under them to buy them cars, maintain their homes and offices and at other times provide air tickets and foreign exchange whenever the need for foreign travel arose. Those who don’t do this must be ministers who preside over MDAs that are non-lucrative. But cash liquidity is feature aviation and transport parastatals.
The question then to ask is, is it right that they are doing this? The answer is absolutely “No!”
Those chiefs know that they are doing wrong things; they are in fact jail-able in accountable situations, yet they can’t resist the ministers because they live in constant fear of being fired. If you as chief won’t  oblige, there are many willing subordinates to show that with you out of way, they are ready to do the minister’s bidding 100 percent.
The epidemic nature of the malfeasance however notwithstanding, you will still find a few chiefs, here and there, who are ready to say “No” to the minister and damn all consequences.
More than 20 years ago, the Sunday Triumph which I edited at that time did a story on a heroic chief who fought his minister and won. The Minister of Mines and Power whose name I will not mention summoned Engineer (Alhaji) Hamman Tukur who was under him, serving as the General Manager of the defunct National Electrip Power Authority, NEPA and asked that cars be bought for him.
Tukur responded on the spot, asking the minister to name the sub-head ( meaning  which budgetary provision) under which the money would be obtained. The minister was furious. He did not expect a parastatals head under him would show such “impudence.” He looked at Tukur and asked him to retrace but the GM was adamant.
He looked at him again and said “is this the stubbornness or arrogance for which the Fulani are known?” Tukur, unmoved by this blackmail retorted that this was nonsense, asking the minister in return whether his tribe or ethnic group had been licensed by Allah, their maker to steal what belonged to the public. End of discussion!
Back in the Ministry, the minister embarked on a course of action to discipline the “errant” GM of NEPA.
The permanent secretary fired a query, delivered through the Director of Power. Now at this point, Providence decided to make an entry into the matter. As I try to recollect the story as told by the Sunday Triumph in an article headlined “WHEN THE WHEELS OF GOD TURN AGAINST INJUSTICE..”, Armageddon was let loose on the management of the Ministry of Power and Steel.
First, it was the Permanent Secretary. He suffered a major stroke and was rushed out of office and the country for urgent treatment.
The Director of Power in reality was no more than a go-between, conveying the minister’s angry words to the GM. He nevertheless had his own share.
In an attempt to cross the street to buy either bread or oranges, his wife was hit by a vehicle and died as a consequence.
The bullying minister had a plane crash barely a few days after this confrontation. He broke an arm and a leg when the small aircraft chartered to take him to Kaduna crashed on landing at the airport.
The big masquerade hiding behind the Minister in all of these going on, the Secretary to the Government, SGF at that time soon thereafter  had a ghastly motor accident between the airport in Kaduna and the township. He was fractured in five different parts of his body.
By this time, fear had gripped the entire government. But as Tukur said in a reaction, he had no hidden or secret power to use against anyone but the he knew that God or Allah was always on the side of the oppressed.
The story as told at that time was that the President, General Babangida, whose sense of humor no one could beat at any time called for a fence-mending meeting with Engineer Tukur.
The GM was then offered a year-long break to further his education at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS.
When he finished and returned to take over at NEPA, he was promoted to the post of Permanent Secretary, PS in the ministry.
Thereafter, he became the PS in Petroleum before he voluntarily retired.
Engineer Tukur belonged to a generation that had painstakingly laid the foundation of this federation. They opposed greed and theft. They believed that it was wrong for public officers to serve narrow ends as has become the norm these days.
From the cavalier and disinterested manner in which the Minister Oduah’s case is being handled by the government, it is clear that there is a disconnect between the administration and vocal segments of the society that inform public opinion.
Similarly, all that we are seeing in the parliament by way of inquisition may not be to provide solutions or sensible lessons to meet the  challenges but to promote drama and income for a few.
As a people and a country, Nigerians have themselves not displayed the kind of resolve required to make for the change that would pass on the country’s leadership to selfless and patriotic persons.
Today, if Engineer Tukur, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, Ahmadu Bello, the Sardaunan Sokoto, Prime Minister Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Azikiwe and individuals like them would dare to contest elections, they will not win any vote. Nigerian people mostly vote for GARRI.
In an ideal situation, Ministers caught in the on-going situation concerning the bullet-proof cars should have since resigned their position to limit the damage to their career as politicians and the government in which they  serve. Minister Oduah has no legacy anymore in that ministry. The success she claims to have achieved reforming the aviation industry has since been erased from the memory of the public by the on-going crisis. All they remember and talk about her is bullet-proof cars.
Officials like Hamman Tukur entered the public service to give something to the nation. They had commitment and they had character. That was why some of them could look at the face of a wrong-doing minister and say “no!”
Politics has now made public office a gate pass to money and power. Even in the parliament, the temple of democracy, a Senator stood there to announce that there were robbers and criminals in its membership. It is however known that he was forced later to recant.
Every country needs a committed set of people, a sense of purpose and pride. That is why small countries such as Japan, Singapore, Israel and United Arab Emirates have achieved national development. Nigeria has to put its leadership  beyond the hegemony of thieves masquerading as reformers. And to do this, political parties should search for potential Ahmadu Bellos, Ziks, Awos, Balewas-leaders who think, not of themselves alone but of the larger society.
Let this be an important outcome of the BULLET-PROOF BMW cars.
(Views expressed in this and other opinion articles are strictly personal)