Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The Patent Hypocrisy of Saraki and his Like Minds Group

“Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue” -Paul Krugman

Sometimes Nigerian leaders absolutely lack any sense of self reflection. They are too consumed by their avarice, vaunted sense of self and venal ambition for power and wealth that they hardly see beyond their nose. This particularly rings true when I read about our newly minted senate president’s address to his party’s caucus on the election of the rest of senate vacant leadership position. According to Vanguard newspapers, Senator Bukola Saraki, a traitor to his own party, now have a new tune, and a song of unity. He was quoted to have said
 “It is time to bury the hatchet and renew that spirit of love, cooperation and trust in one another. The leadership of our party expect us to hit the ground running, and the Nigeria populace are waiting to see us in action to deliver on our promises and commitment. Let us start this journey of unity today and let the world see that yes, in the 8th Senate, we are one family. We should not allow ourselves to be distracted by the people around us or be carried away by the noise our there. Let us remain focused and determined.” 

The paper said he then went on to encourage his caucus senators to break into zones (can you believe it?) and elect leaders for the vacant senate positions. The newspapers quoted a source that said “Senator Saraki’s position was that the senators should follow the convention of allowing the zones to produce the leaders apportioned to them.” What a tool! Apparently the senators are being asked by Saraki to elect leaders apportioned to them by the same APC he himself refused to heed their directives and then elect leaders apportioned to them!

This of course is laughable given Saraki’s own antecedent two weeks earlier when he went above his own political party to align with the opposition and trade away the senate deputy president position just because his party zone the senate presidency to the Northeast. One thing is certain; a leopard cannot hide its true colors. Saraki’s betrayal of his own party for a selfish lucre is what is destabilizing the national assembly and his own political party. You can excoriate his respected Dad, Olusola Saraki for starting stomach infrastructure in Nigeria party politics, but one thing he is not known for is hypocrisy. The son on the other hand seems to have mastered the art of hypocrisy to a form. He is hell bent on positioning himself to run for presidency at the next presidential election, not even truth and loyalty can stand in his way. To him everything is fungible, after all, every Nigerian politician has a price they cannot refuse.

What his likes omits or choose to ignore is the will of the Nigerian masses. We may not have access to the smoke filled rooms where he wheels and deals for power, but what we have is a collective will to savage Nigeria from moral abyss brought upon it by spineless politicians like Bukola Saraki and we will not rest on oars until his perfidious ilk get thrown out of Nigeria’s power vortex. 

Monday, June 15, 2015

The Sad State of Nigeria: Mama Bisi's Children death from candle light inferno

No other story contextualized the sad state of Nigeria than this story culled from Vanguard

LAGOS—A two-year-old girl, identified as Uzoma, and her two siblings, Ufoma, 9, and Emeka, 7, have been burnt to death after fire gutted a three-room boys quarter at Egbeda in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Vanguard gathered that the inferno, which consumed the three siblings, a male and two females, started in their apartment at about 10p.m. when the children were sleeping.
Sources said the fire was discovered by passers-by, who raised the alarm to alert residents, as majority of tenants in the house were yet to return from work.
Vanguard gathered that the inferno was caused by a candle lit by their father, who locked the three children in his apartment and left for the hospital, where his wife was receiving post-natal care.
Effort to rescue the three children proved abortive.
Family escaped last year
A resident, who identified herself as Mama Bisi, lamented that a similar incident occurred last year when the entire members of the family were sleeping, adding, however, that they managed to escape.
She added that the children would have escaped the inferno if their father had yielded to the demands of his two-year-old daughter that they should go with him.
It was learned that the mother of the children was in the hospital where she delivered her baby last Friday.
The mother, it was gathered, would have been discharged from hospital but for lack of funds which delayed her discharge.
When Vanguard visited the scene, residents were wailing over the death of the children who were delivered through caesarean section.
Also, it was learned that the landlord of the building had been arrested by policemen attached to Shasha Police Station.
‘My son discovered the fire’
Mr. Christian Ononsolase, a commercial motorcycle operator, who spoke with emotion, explained how the incident happened.
He said: “I sent my son on an errand and on his way back, he discovered the fire and alerted the elders on the street.
“They raised alarm and everyone ran to the well to get water. But the fire had escalated.
“The fire was put out by officials of the Lagos State Fire Service, who were alerted a few minutes after the residents discovered that the fire had escalated than they expected.
“Many did not know that the children were in the building. It was after the fire was put out and we were assisting the occupants of the building to salvage what was left of their property that we discovered the children were locked up.”
Another resident, who identified himself as Bolu, said the fire was escalated by the gas cylinder in the building, which exploded.
Director of the State Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, confirmed the story.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/inferno-from-candle-light-consumes-3-siblings-in-lagos/#sthash.PiuMAZMX.dpuf