CONFRONTING THE PROBLEMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA FROM TOP DOWN

The gruesome and fatal death of Mrs. Elizabeth Yakubu, has again brought to the fore the endemic problems of domestic violence in Nigeria. According to the news story published online by Sunday Sun, March 29, 2009, Mrs. Yakubu was purportedly hurled down by her husband from the third floor of their house by her husband, Yusuf Yakubu, a 47-year old Senior Inspector with the Nigeria Customs Service.

It is instructive to state that Mr. Yakubu for the record, is denying the charge, he claims that his estranged wife took the fatal plunge herself following his refusal to allow her leave for her house shortly before midnight on the fateful day. Even if that were to be true, his admission still warrants at least a charge of criminal false imprisonment, a veritable tool in the hands of domestic violence perpetrators.

According to the report, Mr. Yakubu’s problem with his wife always starts when he drinks. Alcoholism and drug abuse most often are gateway to domestic violence. The report states that “Anytime he was drunk, he would turn her into a punching bag. She was always leaving him, but he would always go and beg her, saying he had changed.”

Sadly, in Nigeria we have no program geared towards addressing this type of problem. Most of our politicians are men anyway and they are active perpetrators themselves. I recall reading sometimes ago about a Nigerian first lady who boasted how her husband, the then Nigerian president, take pride in whipping her with a horse whip in front of her children if she refused to follow his instructions.

In Nigeria, a woman is expected to follow her husband instructions no matter how warped and illogic that instruction might sound. Nigerian Christians and pastors are directly culpable for this. They stressed the fact that the husband is the head of the wife. They stressed “the head” in the scriptural references they use to justify their stand even to the detriment of the biblical injunctions to husband to love their wife as Christ love the church. No Nigerian church, Pentecostal, orthodox or otherwise have any program directly addressing the prevalent problems of domestic violence in Nigeria. I have also not found any Islamiyya group combating this evil in our society.

Nigerian pastors will often preach against the many evils of “gays and lesbianism” in America and western society whilst they ignore “the specs” in their own eyes. The Imams in the North will rather preach a vitriolic sermon about the neglect of sharia laws in the north than address the injustice against women in many “purdahs” in Nigeria.

We are a nation with culture, they say, but how long will this culture that openly permits the neglect, abuse and discriminations against women last. There are many Yakubu’s in Nigeria who gets drunk at the beer parlor on his way home from work, and gets home to smack their wives around. In Nigeria, neighbors don’t call police to report a domestic violence, when you asked why; they say “we don’t wash our dirty linen in public.” Often time, my retort to them is that this is not just a dirty linen it is a crime. One of the laws my criminal procedure lecturer at the Nigerian law school stress “ad nauseam” is assault and battery. If we don’t report battery against defenseless women and children we should not expect help when those children grew up to invade our homes with armed gangs.

I asked a many Nigerian what aspect of Nigerian life needs immediate attention in what I called “priority of government” series (POGS). The unanimous agreement I got from my unscientific survey points inevitably to security. Not power generation, I guess Nigerian have resigned themselves to living in darkness for the rest of Yar’adua’s regime. No one even mentioned the global financial meltdown or the Nigerian stock exchange imbroglio. Everyone is uniformly concerned with the problem of armed robbery and violent crimes in Nigeria.

In a country where politicians hired armed gangs to run their campaigns Nigerians have cause for concern. I informed a friend recently that I am as impressed with the extreme makeover Governor Fashola is giving Lagos state as everyone else, but all these will be to no avail as long as the problem of security of life and property continues to “dog” the populace.

And it all starts with law enforcement, Nigerian don’t trust their security and para -military apparatus. The police officers carry guns at every “road blocks” and yet you can’t find them around when armed robbers strike at the same location. Sometimes the citizens of Nigeria can hardly distinguish between the armed robbers who invaded their homes at night and the one who invaded their pockets at the road blocks. The Nigerian army will forever live in infamy for the crimes committed against the Odi people on the order of then President Obasanjo.

Someone once said “in the state of lawlessness” it is illegal to be lawful. This is the state we are in Nigeria. This is why husband beat their wife with impunity and nothing happens. This is why we are raising kids who all they know is abuse, physical, mental and political. We have an attorney general that openly cuddles corrupt governors, and will do anything to ensure the long arms of the law will not reach his former clients.

Mrs. Elizabeth Yakubu’s life was wasted by her husband, just as Nigerian government in Abuja is wasting our hard earned democracy “while we stand aside and look.” Like Bob Marley sang years ago, “some says it is just part of it, we’ve got to fulfill the book” as our Imams and pastors regurgitate to our ears at every Sunday and Jumat services.

I say it is time to start a conversation with the pastors and imams and asked them why they keep as friends politicians who mortgage their congregation’s future. It is time to ask them why they refuse to engage the husband who drinks and beat his wife and kids all because he pays a fat tithe and offering.

Francis Adewale
Spokane, WA

AN INFORMED CITIZENRY AS A BULLWARK AGAINST BAD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

“The truth is, for our democracy to work it needs not just an engaged citizenry,
but an informed one. We've known this since this nation's earliest days. …
"Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of
the people," they wrote, are "necessary for the preservation of their rights and
liberties." -Lee Hamilton “The Center on Congress Indiana University”

The impetus to write this piece came from no other place but Lee Hamilton brilliant piece where I extracted the quote above. I am going to be borrowing heavily from his writing. But let me take the liberty to give a little background to this piece. We learnt recently from This Day newspapers that Lagos State government and indeed Lagos State governor maybe doing an awesome job. Thanks to a columnist from ThisDay Newspapers, Simon Kolawole who wrote “My write-up today should help us understand the Fashola Phenomenon and put things in proper perspective. We can then ask: what can the rest of Nigeria learn from this?” The article went on and on to extol the many virtues and achievement of Fashola to the exclusions of all others.

When I first read this piece my mind immediately went back to ThisDay’s earlier hit piece on the same Lagos state governor. I am sure Mr. Kolawole, as editor of Thisday newspapers know one thing or two about that piece. Here is my riposte on that saga: “In a news story that is clearly a cut between an “hit piece” and an otherwise intelligent investigative report, we learnt of the shenanigans and hypocrisy of the former governor of Lagos State and his connections with the disgraced Abacha’s family friend-the Chagoury’s; as well as the multi billion naira awarded to the latter’s company-Hi-tech Construction company by the Lagos State government.” Thisday ended that news story titled “The Abacha Henchmen’s Chagoury Take Over Lagos” with a clincher “this article is the first in Thisday series on state government.” That was over 6 months ago, nothing but laudatory praises have appeared in Thisday. We are still waiting on their expose’

To Thisday newspapers all of that is water under the bridge, they have patched up with Tinubu, Fashola and the Lagos state government and it is back to business as usual, but to those of us who fought to enthrone the same democracy they are frittering away we are not done yet.

Thisday is not alone in this “jankara” journalism. The Nation newspapers purportedly owned by Tinubu acolytes fought back with their own hit piece on Thisday and its publishers. Other newspapers around the same time “led concurrently for three weeks with damning exposure of questionable award of pension by Gombe State House of Assembly to Governor Danjuma Goje. When adverts from Gombe State and friends of Gombe State started appearing in the pages of this newspaper and other newspapers, nothing was heard of the Goje pension saga” according to a Nigerian blogger who had observed this shameful practice.

This “jankara” journalism practice is also extended to corporate Nigeria. A GSM service provider gave tariff free lines to major columnists and editors. “This Greek gift has ensured that this company does not get the truth about the company activities reported. When any columnist or editor runs out of weekend cash, or money for staff salary, a not too favorable report is done, which is automatically followed by an advert or appearance on the cover of the weekend edition/centre page special report or pull out from the affected corporation or individual. This is how Nigerian media runs.”

When I started a column about Nigerian columnist I received a deluge of emails and text messages from Nigerian, most of whom wanted us to call them out. Many Nigerian can see through these shenanigans but do we have enough informed Nigerian to do something about this charade? One elderly Nigerian called me from Washington DC, an accountant by profession, he was so bitter about the piss poor state of Nigerian journalism that his son said he almost broke his vein speaking to me on the phone. He said he wanted me to concentrate on Reuben Abati. He wondered why I feature more positive and above board columnist like Sonala Olumhense and Okey Ndibe when I could have devoted more space to graft seeking columnist like Reuben Abati, shaming them every week. I told him my attempt is to show there is a better way. He concluded by reminding me that up till now, no one, not even the management of The Guardian newspapers have been able to come up with a reasonable explanation about how and why Reuben Abati accepted land titles from former FCT minister El-Rufai even whilst he writes glowing article about the latter’s tenure in Abuja.

Getting the basic facts right is essential to governing well, especially in a democratic setting. One of the most critical job facing political leaders in a society as complex as Nigeria is to forge a consensus among many people and interests holding competing views. This is difficult enough to do when everyone agrees on the underlying facts; it is virtually impossible when there is no agreement on them. Voters' misperceptions, in other words, can become formidable obstacles to the functioning of our representative democracy. This is why an informed citizenry is imperative for a successful democratic experiment and an articulated media without ulterior agenda is synthetically unavoidable if our experiment is going to last.

Misperceptions develop for many reasons. It can be wearying to sort through all the sources of information—the media, advocacy groups, the Internet, politicians, commentators—on any given subject. And there are always political leaders, lobbyists and others who are willing to let misperceptions linger. After all, if all you need do to win an election is bribing a few journalists why bother with campaigns.

By the same token, there is no single fix. Part of the answer lies with Nigerian growing members of Congress and other public officials, who have a responsibility to correct public misperceptions. Part of it lies with the media, which in recent years has shown a worrisome tendency to downplay its role as even-handed, in-depth civic educator and to focus on entertainment or once-over reporting. Part of it lies with civic groups—some of them do their level best to counter the flood of misinformation, but they often seem outmatched. Lee Hamilton wrote this about politics in the United States of America, but you can apply this mutatis mutandis to the on going situation in present day Nigeria.

In the end, the burden lies with each of us as citizens. A lot of powerful groups and interests in Nigeria try to manipulate public opinion, and they're very good at it. Yet a democratic society depends on its citizens separating the wheat from the chaff, forming good judgments, and putting pressure on their representatives to act accordingly. If ordinary people can't do this or don't want to devote the time and energy, the country suffers. No matter how good our leadership, if we don't have discriminating citizens, this nation will not work very well.

There is an old observation that a society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves. Living in a democracy may be a basic right, but it is also a privilege, and it is one that must be earned by living up to the fondest dreams of our founders for a well-educated and knowledgeable citizenry.

One good thing about the state of media in Nigeria is that the traditional media no longer have sole control of the message. Thanks to the innumerable Nigerian online bloggers populating the internet. A stark contrast between the approach of the traditional media and online blogosphere could be seen in the coverage of a certain Professor Gabriel Oyibo, who claimed have answered questions that Einstein tried to address until he died regarding the origin of the universe. Nigeria Guardian Newspapers through its United States correspondents Laolu Akande published a glowing tribute “celebrating” the achievement of the so-called Oyibo, based entirely on claims made by him. Several months after the publication the said professor surfaced in Abuja and was hosted and feted by Nigeria University Commission, apparently acting on the news report of Guardian.

Thanks to Elendu reports, who dispatched their reporter, Omoyele Sowore to investigate Professor Oyibo’s claim, it turns out many of the professor’s claim are either downright fraudulent or laden with delusions. You can read his report here. In that report Sowore took the pains to verify every claim and contact every institution referenced by Guardian newspapers. At the end of day Guardian newspapers got eggs on their faces, but don’t think that is the end of the saga. It turns out Professor Oyibo is an Idoma who happens to come from the same region as the current attorney general of the federation, Michael Aondoakaa, a man who had sworn to do everything in its power to exterminate eviscerate the very real threat the Nigerian blogosphere posed to their murderous hold on power in Nigeria.
Here is where you as a reader come in to help defend democracy in Nigeria. We all needs to be better informed. Don’t take everything you read from the traditional media or that you watch on NTA or AIT as gospel truth. Challenged them by writing a rejoinder, if they refuse to publish your piece sends it online. Let’s tell them we would no longer sit idle whilst they destroy our hard earned democracy. A better informed citizenry is a requisite vanguard to an enduring democracy.

NIGERIA JUDICIAL ELECTORAL VICTORY MIMICK DEMOCRACY

NIGERIA JUDICIAL ELECTORAL VICTORY MIMICK DEMOCRACY: BETWEEN AGAGU, MIMIKO AND THE STOLEN MANDATES

“Well I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead.
But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountain top. And I
don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its
place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And
He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen
the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight,
that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” –Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.

At the pace we are going in Nigeria, we may end up redefining what democracy truly mean. We are getting to a point where election and electoral victory is just a process. The most important victories we have witnessed so far in Nigeria nascent democracy have all come from the court. No thanks to our “wuru wuru” and “mago mago” fraudulent electoral officers. Victory on Election Day matters little. Turning out the vote and mass appeal and followings by the electorates count little.

We learnt again through the judicial victory granted Oshiomhole and Mimiko by the Court of Appeal that democracy truly needs an independent judiciary to survive. You can spend millions on “get out the vote,” you can go out on election day to knock on doors and appeal to the voters to turn out “enmass” to vote for your candidate, nothing is assured. If you are a politician planning to contest in the next election, you are better advised to save enough money not just to pay for posters but also to pay lawyers to defend your mandate if you ever won! This is the new face of democracy, a democracy for the people, by the people through the court of appeal!

There is nothing inherently wrong in judicial victory on electoral matters, we should be happy that we have independent judiciary willing to stand up for what is right. But then you ask? Why does it have to get to this level before the right thing is done? Why can’t Mr. Iwu get it right? What does he or anyone gain from subverting democracy by stealing the people’s mandate?

And by the way, are we sure the judiciary will always get it right? You only need to look at the electoral tribunal in Osun state to see how a subverted judiciary can make a mess of the process. In Osun state the chairman of the Electoral Tribunal was caught exchanging text messages with one of the counsel to the petition before him. It turns out the text messages were not just greetings, they happened to contain briefs on how to win the case he is supposed to be an impartial arbiter on. That case is still pending in the Court of Appeal and the court’s decision is been eagerly awaited by many pro-democracy activists in Nigeria and abroad.

To echo Comrade Oshiomhole ““truly, truly, now we can discuss democracy. From the point of view of making democracy work, we can discuss democracy. From the perspectives of reforming democracy, now we can discuss democracy. From the hallowed chambers, through the courts, from gavel to gavel, now we can discuss democracy,”

Friends, it is time to tell us what you think? It is time for Nigerians to stand up for democracy.

NIGERIA’S YEAR BEST POLITICAL COLUMNS

“Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation."- Eugene V. Debs

Today, instead of commentary on commentaries, I will try and pick the best of 2008 political columns from Nigeria about Nigeria. I am sure many of the readers here do not agree with my picks so I urge you to send your own picks to me and I will try and include as many of your picks in the column next year. Send your picks to Tioluwanimi@yahoo.com

Sonala Olumhense: Number one on my list of course is perhaps the most widely read online Nigeria political column titled “Keep Sahara Reporters Alive.” In it, Sonala Olumhense, acknowledged and praised the arrival of citizen journalism in Nigeria and deflected the attack on it by agents of the status quo. Let me quote him:

“I am a student of good journalism. Good journalism empowers. Good journalism
builds. Good journalism is the only foundation on which the democratic state can
flourish. But good journalism is difficult journalism. Good journalism must hunt
down the facts, as inconvenient as they might be. The more important the facts,
the more difficult they are to hunt down. Still, the difficulty of obtaining
information or ensuring the accuracy information does not diminish the burden of
responsibility on the journalist. That, of course, is the ideal. The dwindling
quality of Nigerian journalism in recent times is stark proof of how difficult
this standard is to meet. Our journalism thrives—sadly— on commentary, not
reporting. Nigeria has 130 million columnists; our only limitation is editorial
space. In recent times, the Internet has permitted the arrival of Citizen
Journalism as an important genre in this trade.”

Mohammed Haruna: Let me confess that I was tempted to pick Mohammed titanic battle with Dr. Olatunji Dare but instead I picked this piece titled “Between God, Obasanjo, Yarádua And The Rest Of Us.” The article was published onlineI want the reader to judge if Mohammed is right or wrong:

“As with his Third Term agenda, Obasanjo’s attempt at playing God by imposing
someone of doubtful health and another with a question mark over his integrity
on Nigerians as president and vice-president may yet come back to haunt him.
Already, he is known to have complained about Yaradua’s reversal of several of
his policies. Who knows, he may eventually overcome his infirmity and live long
enough to completely dismantle his benefactor’s obnoxious legacy… In the
meantime the rest of us should learn at least one big lesson of the predicament
Obasanjo has plunged us into by imposing a dubious presidency on the country.
And this is simply that if it ain’t broke, as the American’s would say, don’t
try to fix it. This policy of power rotation that has since become a convention
of our politics was a foolish attempt at fixing a system that was not as broke
as we imagined. In any case, the policy is patently undemocratic, even
anti-democracy. God may be the final word in whatever we plan or do but He gave
us the faculty to distinguish between right and wrong. In other words we owe
ourselves to do our own bit before we leave the rest to Him.”

Okey Ndibe: I am also tempted to pick virtually all of his columns this year, principally because he writes with clarity, and panache. He is always a joy to read any day. In this piece titled “A motion against moving forward” he captured the subjugation of Nigeria by its politician in a more poignant way. Hear him:

“The statement about carrying along all stakeholders is just as hollow and
dangerous. It implies that Nigeria does not belong to all its citizens, but to a
small clique of alleged stakeholders. Pry further and it becomes clear that the
so-called stakeholders are men and women who have privatized the nation’s
treasury. They are, in other words, men and women whose stake—if Nigeria were a
polity founded on observance of the law—should be in jails. Nigerians appear in
danger of being sold another toxic deal in the alleged name of moving the nation
forward. Over the last three weeks, I’ve been told by several sources that a
quiet discussion was going on among “stakeholders” to solidify a consensus on
Nigeria’s contentious 2007 presidential election. And, according to these
sources, the emerging consensus is for the presidential electoral tribunal to
affirm the legitimacy of Umar Yar’Adua’s “election” as president.”

Kole Omotosho: My final pick is titled “The Care of Times” published by The News Magazine on December 9, 2008. Here Professor Kole Omotosho explores the relationships between African tyrants and the resigned stagnation of their subjugated citizenry. Hear him:

“What is clear from all these examples is that, yes, time takes care of these
monsters but it is usually not without the help of some human hand, some human
push. Times change. There was the end of the cold war that made the type of
yo-yoing between East and West as exemplified by Siad Barre impossible. Perhaps
the price of commodities will fall to such an extent that they become dirt cheap
and those who own them, especially oil, would no longer command instant and
uncritical respect.”

There you go folks, those are my picks, what are yours? Please note that in making your picks you are allowed to pick those political columns that are not readily available online. Email your own picks including, author, dates of publication and publishers to Tioluwanimi@yahoo.com.

Happy holidays




.

NIGERIA POLITICAL PUNDIT ROUNDUP: FROM AUNTY DORA TO SERIOUS MUSINGS

Nigerians are a very interesting lot. Political punditry in Nigeria is definitely not a dying vocation in Nigeria. Following last week commentary, a reader asked: “How do you define a good political column from a bad one?” I am sorry to report that I do not know the answers. But that's OK: Neither does anyone else. In fact, any answers you hear will almost certainly speak less to motivations than to actual bias. What we do know is that some are better than others. Some are “419” who rent their column for a fee payable immediately and/or upon patronage. Some Nigerian columnists are just outright political hacks, without any pretense to objectivity whatsoever. They are not ashamed to sing the praises of their benefactors in power and or sing the “nunc dimitis” of those that have either not pay up or are on the verge of losing power.

A good help in understanding sound political columnist in Nigeria is history and predilections. Is this writer objective enough to lay aside his/her preconceived notions before pontificating about Nigeria? Is he or she a rabble rousing political hacks installed by a political party in the media to advance their campaign platform? You will very often find a consummate journalist turned columnist who takes his job and objectivity very seriously. The difference between objective political columnists can often be found in their predilections. We all know the difference between David Broder’s column in Washington Post and Michael Gerson in the same paper. The latter is an erstwhile Bush White House speech writer turned columnist whilst the former is the doyen of political news reporting in Washington DC. In the peculiar Nigerian settings, one can also compare Ebenezer Babatope’s political commentary columns in Nigerian Tribune newspapers to the informed commentary of Ebenezer Obadare a consummate journalist and a professor who also write for the same paper. Here is this week comment on commentaries:

Mohammed Haruna: This week Mohammed responded to a rejoinder to his column by his erstwhile colleague, Jonathan Ishaku. Here is a reason why many Nigerian journalists are afraid of taking on Mohammed. “Since Mohammed Haruna likes to quote past utterances as explanations to present events…,” Ishaku said, “one also needs to remind him of some of his own past utterances and actions which disqualifies him as a fair commentator of public affairs.” Ishaku went on to list the many sins of Mohammed, some of which are ad hominem. Mohammed Haruna not only eviscerates every points leveled by Ishaku against him, he also characteristically admitted an error that led to the deaths of thousands of Nigerian during the Kafachan riots. As editor of the then New Nigerian, Mohammed allowed a paid adverts that later inflamed the tensed religious riots in the North. The mistake Ishaku made is that he never knew the price paid by Mohammed for that fatal error:

“Not only was the New Nigerian not alone in carrying such adverts and
statements, Ishaku told a blatant lie when he said I got away with it and even
got the bonus of a hefty reward. Yes, I got rewarded alright, but it was not
with a ticket to go to Hajj. Rather it was with four days in detention at the
State Security Services (SSS) cell on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. I am not aware
that any newspaper chief executive has ever been detained for carrying paid
adverts.”

Mohammed then ends this week column with a reference to our last week column, which he wrongly attributes to one of our readers who forwarded the piece to him in an email. (Please note that in a private email exchange with Mohammed he acknowledged the confusion caused by our reader). Again we quote him:
“In a nation divided by faith and ethnicity,” he said, “we expect our political columnist to at least be a journalist, sworn to an oath unperturbed by any bias.”
I have no problem with bias because only God, the Omniscient, sees things from all angles. Like it or not we are all born into a tribe, religion or region and we are bound to see things through those prisms. However while I have no problem with bias as such I do have one with the kind which is so deep that those who cling on to it never want to hear any thing negative about their side in a dispute or any thing positive about the other side. And this, I am afraid, is the problem with much of Nigerian journalism”

Dele Momodu: This week “Pendulum” add a new fillip to his praise singing column, calling a lady not related by blood or lineage an aunty. (I know many here will say it is an African thing.) The lady in vogue this week is Dora Akunyili. Characteristic of the swinging pendulum of Dele’s pen, she deserves all accolades not because of her achievements at NAFDAC but because:
“Her daughter was getting married in Cote D’ivore and we had offered to cover it free of charge. It was our modest contribution to a woman who had worked tirelessly at protecting our lives. She never forgot the simple favour. I was so moved to tears when she turned up at my mum’s funeral last year, all the way in our little town of Gbongan in Osun State. She stood by us like an Iroko tree as if the dead was (sic) her mum.”

Herein lays the incestuous relationship between the mainstream media in Nigeria and Nigerian government official. “You rubbed my back and I rubbed yours.” The only person who suffers in this relationship is the Nigerian masses who ended up reading half truths in their trusted newspapers. You can bet that more “simple favor” will continue to flow in this relationship between Dele Momodu, his Ovation magazine and Dr. Dora Akunyili. We haste to point out that out of over 3000 words used by Mr. Momodu in this week, only one terse paragraph made reference to the mismatched of the portfolio assigned to Ms. Akunyili, a qualified pharmacist, now assigned to the ministry of “misinformation.” We all recall that other write up have condemned the assignment, and some even called Ms. Akunyili to gracefully resign. None of that came up in Mr. Momodu as he is busy looking forward to the day when the ministry of information will placed $10, 000 advertorial in Ovation celebrating Nigeria independence day whilst many dies in Nigeria’s Niger Delta!

Okey Ndibe: By far some of the best columnists in Nigeria and the ones I usually look forward to reading are Okey Ndibe, Sonala Olumhense and Mohammed Haruna. I intend to excerpts Okey’s column without any comments just to amplify his well reasoned argument to those not accustomed to reading him:
“Nigerians who are plain tired of the Yar’Adua regime’s claims to living out the rule of law found reason last Thursday to be nauseated. A Federal High Court in Enugu convicted former Governor Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State on a one-count charge of corruption. His punishment? To pay a fine of N3.6 million. That’s not even a slap on the wrist; it’s a pat on the back – or even a lover’s hum in the ear!.. This isn’t rule of law; it’s ruse of law. It broadcasts that there are two Nigerias and two sets of rules, one set for commoners, the other for the lucky few who call themselves “stake holders.” The whole shocking episode, make no mistake, was orchestrated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The shenanigan began when the anti-corruption substituted its initial 191-count charge of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement against Igbinedion and his colluding companies with a 24-count charge. .. Justice Kafarati’s sentence is the kind of sanction likely to fertilize corruption, not stem it. Here’s what it proposes to the collection of crooks who misrule Nigeria: steal, as much as you want, you’ll live to enjoy the fruits of your treachery! Steal millions of dollars; pay a few thousand in fine – and absolutely no jail time.”

Sonala Olumhense: As I stated above, I love reading any piece from Sonala and his columns are always a treasure in my days at Great Ife. This week he wrote about the attack on the alternative media in Nigeria, particular the attack by Yar’adua and Aondoanka on Nigeria bloggers. I will quote him seriatim:

“I am a student of good journalism. Good journalism empowers. Good journalism
builds. Good journalism is the only foundation on which the democratic state can
flourish. But good journalism is difficult journalism. Good journalism must hunt
down the facts, as inconvenient as they might be. The more important the facts,
the more difficult they are to hunt down. Still, the difficulty of obtaining
information or ensuring the accuracy information does not diminish the burden of
responsibility on the journalist. That, of course, is the ideal. The dwindling
quality of Nigerian journalism in recent times is stark proof of how difficult
this standard is to meet. Our journalism thrives—sadly— on commentary, not
reporting. Nigeria has 130 million columnists; our only limitation is editorial
space. In recent times, the Internet has permitted the arrival of Citizen
Journalism as an important genre in this trade. One of the most important
organizations in the Nigerian environment is Sahara Reporters (SR), about which
I wrote here on 10 August 2008.

Let me give a brief background to the issue, a few weeks ago, some Nigerian politicians found to be politically aligned with the Federal Attorney General, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, took out a newspapers adverts accusing the publishers of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, of owning “landed properties” in New York. The farcical nature of the allegations is that they went on to list as properties owned by Mr. Sowore, a building that belongs to Colombia University dormitory in New York!
As SR comes under this life-or-death assault, I say to those who feel that it is making an important contribution: shout it out, don’t whisper it. Similarly, if you feel that SR is wrong, shout it out, don’t whisper it. However, you are a hypocrite if you say you support the tenacious sacrifices being made by nationals for you and me, yet stand by while they are ripped apart.As one who believes that Sahara Reporters and Mr. Sowore are fighting for me, I say: Speak up! Speak up; those who loot and abuse should not prevail over those who merely report their crimes against the people! Speak up; go to the SR site and put your support where your mouth is! Speak up for your children and your country!

Onochie Anibeze: Lastly, we consider another “column for hire” writer. Anyone familiar with the many musings of Onochie will know that he always write a flowing tribute on every newly appointed Sports minister, praising them to high heavens. Well, you will not be disappointed. This week he turned logic on its head. Many will recall that when Abdulrahman Hassan Gimba was appointed sports minister, he sang his praise to high heavens. Now that he has been removed Mr. Anibeze wants you readers to know that Gimba was a round peg in a square hole. Perhaps he forgot that he told us then that “someone without sports background could excel as sports minister if he took time to learn and adopt some managerial expertise,” which is usually his code words for consultancy fees. Well, it is either Gimba did not pay well or that his money had run out. Now, Mr. Anibeze wants you to know some of the stories of maladministration committed by Gimba which he could not report on whilst he was on assignment at the Olympics. He now tells us that Mr. Gimba simply stayed put at his hotel in China, refusing to motivate the athletes. He (Onochie) in turn was attending all the games and reporting on all of them and yet omitted then to inform us that our minister, with thousands of dollars on “estacodes” did nothing but watch games in his room.
The question is why is he doing this now? The answer is simple; there is a new sheriff in town that needed to be courted and patronized. The old is gone, the new is here. Hear him: “It is on this note that I welcome Sanni Ndanusa as the new sports minister. Ndanusa’s appointment could be likened to those of Tony Ikazoboh and Emeka Omeruah who once headed the Nigeria Football Association before becoming ministers. They were on familiar terrain and performed well.” We would be here to tell you what Anibeze had to say, once Sanni refused to play ball and he get attacked for not clapping for the national team when the team is down 4 goals to nil!
Sometimes I wonder how a journalist like Mr. Anibeze lives with themselves.

ABBREVIATED NIGERIA PUNDIT ROUNDUP: WE READ NIGERIA ONLINE COLUMNIST SO YOU WON’T HAVE TO

Today, we are starting a new online review of Nigeria political commentaries and their often “inane” and “jejune” take on black Africa’s largest democracy south of the Sahara. Every week, beginning from today, we shall endeavor to bring you the “behind the scene” intrigues that often get parlayed into Nigeria political column. Given the vast array of political column on Nigeria politics available online, we would only review a few popular columns. So here goes this week:

Mohammed Haruna: There is a reason why Mohammed became the first Nigeria syndicated columnist, he is never afraid. Today following the deluge of “text rejoinder” he got as a result of his last week column, titled “On the media and the Genocide in Jos” he decided to take all his detractors head on. Only in Nigeria will you find a “syndicated columnist” willing to reprint an ad hominem attack on his person: “For pure venom, however, the text that took the cake was the one that said I was a “BASTARD CONCEIVED from a busted CONDOM” If you think that is hilarious you have not been reading Mohammed.
By far however the most salient of his “wordsmith” this week, is his self admission that he is first of all, a muslim before he wears his journalistic hat:

“True, as a Muslim, I inevitably see things from an Islamic point of view and
tend to be more tolerant of wrongs committed by fellow Muslims. This is only
natural and human. What would not be natural or human is to turn a blind eye on
such wrongs. As a journalist and columnist I have not done so.”

The problem with this admission is that Mohammed’s syndication is mostly funded by Christian readers. I still admire his forthrightness but in a nation divided by faith and ethnicity we expect our political columnist to at least be a journalist, sworn to an oath unperturbed by any bias. I commend the rest of the article to my readers.

Dele Momodu: Any time we read any write up by Dele, we make sure we have with us a “patrono-meter.” We are sure many of our readers have never heard of that word, well you need it to make sense of the “patronage-driven” Dele’s columns. Here is one Nigerian columnist you can easily predict who is paying him presently. If you ever need to “rent a column” just contact “This Day” newspapers and specifically asked for Mr. Dele Momodu. Sadly, we all know things used to be different for Dele Momodu, especially those of us who knew him at Obafemi Awolowo University-“Great Ife.” One can only conclude that things started turning south for him after the demise of his benefactor- Late Chief Moshood Abiola. We fondly recalled his eviscerating article on the Ooni of Ife, where he criticized the latter statement urging protesters to go vote in Late General Sanni Abacha “kangaroo” elections
This week, Dele focused on Ghana, in a column titled “And Ghana Did it Again.” In it his reader will find him heaping effusive praise on his next door neighbor, and president of Ghana, for conducting a free and fair election. The big chunk of his praise however goes to former president Jerry Rawlings. Many of us who have met Dele in London’s social circles and pubs drinking with Rawlings can only laugh.
The whole article is riddled with inaccuracies, conjectures and outright falsehoods, but for lack of space we will restrict ourselves to the followings:

“Today, the Ghana Cedi is largely at par with the dollar. Ghanaians have won the
confidence of the international community. They obtain visas of usually
difficult countries with unbelievable ease. Students can obtain up to a five
year visa to the United Kingdom and the United States of America. What is more,
Ghana only recently found oil in commercial quantity.”

Really? We all know elections in Africa are usually free and fair on election days. The problem has always been the counting and rigging that follows days after the election, as can be readily attested by the events in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. In Ghana we know as of fact that the “Ghana’s presidential election on December 7th, the candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, got just over 49% of the vote, while his opponent, John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), got nearly 48%. Since neither crossed the 50% threshold to win outright, a run off will be held on December 28th” So why the premature celebration by our columnist? The answer lies in the candidate he is pushing to win the election. The other problem with Dele’s write up is emblematic of all his other writings, conjectures. To get a more accurate assessment of Ghana we need to refer to the United Nations Development Program which ranks Ghana 135 out of 177 in its Human Development Index. Behind Papua New Guinea, war ravaged Sudan, Rwanda, Congo, and Haiti. We also know that Ghana is “Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains somewhat dependent on international financial and technical assistance as well as the activities of the extensive Ghanaian Diaspora.”
How anyone will use student’s abilities to obtain visa as evidence of development beats me!

Femi Adesina:

“I do not recall when last (if ever) I spent the better part of four days in
Owerri, the famed Eastern Heartland, and capital of Imo State. But that was what
I did last week, from Wednesday to Saturday.”

Approximate number of times, Mr. Adesina wrote an article pontificating about South Eastern Nigeria since he started his column on Saturday February 28, 2004 =95!

“What was I doing in the land of the Mbadiwes, the Mbakwes, the Enwerems and the
Ohakims?”

Duh! hello! You are being paid to pontificate on Nigeria and not just events that happened in Lagos alone! The land you gave to the Mbadiwes had produced a commissioner born and raised in Ibadan.

“Consider this array of intellectuals and captains of industry who delivered
papers at the summit: Prof ABC Nwosu, Prof Pat Utomi, Prof Bart Nnaji, Chief
(Dr) Cosmas Maduka, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, Dr Ndi Onuekwusi, and many others…The
lesson? Next time an Igbo man moans or bellyaches that he’s marginalized because
of the civil war, I’ll just tell him to shut up. The Igbo nation has put that
period behind, and is marching ahead, strong.”

Really? So your conclusion is that since you attended a meeting where some Igbo sons and daughter who had been a beneficiaries of the “rent an Igbo to justify the looting” governance in Abuja, all Igbos are now precluded from raising the issue of marginalization? By the way, who pays this damned fool to write a column in a newspaper with 80 % South Eastern Nigeria patronage?
“

I came form Owerri convinced that the key to the development of this nation lies
in regional integration and cooperation. Enough of waiting for the centre to
wave the magic wand and manna will fall from the sky. Governors of the various
states should break their artificial borders, join hands, and move their regions
forward. Didn’t we see it in the days of Western, Eastern and Northern region
with their respective premiers? Lightning can strike twice, surely.” (Emphasis
mine)

You mean the days when the Tivs, Ofas and the Jukuns were constantly complaining of marginalization in the north? Or when the Ijaws, Kalabari, Urhobos, Ishans et al were at the receiving end of hegemonic rule by the majority ethnic group in the South? What did we saw in the days of the regional premiers? The beginning of corruption in Nigeria at least that is what all the Coker report et al tells us. Of course the so called regional premiers made the civil wars inevitable with their parochial allegiance to ethnic politics.

Okey Ikechukwu: writes in the Punch on the Web

“… called for political and spiritual mentoring of the leaders of tomorrow….We
saw serious political mentoring in the first and second republics. Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Mallam Aminu Kano, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and many other
national leaders were part of a conscious sifting political process that was a
veritable recruitment machine for political and other forms of leadership. At
that time, the concept of political godfather was under-stood in the best sense
of this vandalized concept. The godfather is your earthly guardian angel who
takes trouble to ensure that the best in you is actualized; for your own good
and for the good of the world around you. That was the spirit of god fatherism
in the First Republic. It is also the spirit in all mature polities. The
godfathers are custodians of values, ideologies and tendentious traditions they
wish to promote. They are not robbers.”

Sometimes, we wonder if Nigeria pundits bother reading their history books. If we have our way we will mandate a compulsory historical study of Nigerian politics as prerequisite to becoming a Nigeria political pundit. Herein lies the many lies in the excerpt above, Chief Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Dr. Azikiwe are not political and spiritual mentoring leaders Nigeria badly needed in the 21st century. Chief Awolowo’s is a good administrator who can’t stand criticism and dissenting opinions. History clearly shows that he is a tenacious ideologue only for his views. He was neither ready to build bridges and work with his opponent nor can he stand any team of rivals. Dr. Azikiwe on the other hand had little or no principles when it comes to power. He will wine and dine with anyone even as long as he is accommodated and patronized in the corridors of power. Sir Ahmadu Bello is at best a northern “hegemonistic” patriot, who is more interested in courting and raising “god sons” who will defend the parochial interest of his region to the detriment of Nigeria’s federal democracy. None of them produced an illustrious son of Nigeria. They all raised political children dedicated to dismembering Nigeria than uniting it. Here is a quote that gives us a “bird eye-view” of their leadership acumen:

“The Nigerian ministers, in or out of
office, are an interesting lot. …. They are paid exceptionally good salaries for
Africa-up to 2, 500 pound sterling per year, which is more than a British PM
gets. Some in the regional Houses have names picturesquely representative of the
eruptive flux that has created modern Nigeria. …they are also inclined to be
somewhat doctrinaire, to be painfully sensitive and unsure of themselves, and to
be carried away by splinter partisanship… At one juncture, when they were
quarrelling ferociously, Awolowo and Zik sued each other for libel for
considerable sums; the two awards more or less canceled each other out. Then,
after the crisis in 1953, the two began to work together again, each keeping his
own sphere of influence, with Awolowo stronger in the West, Zik in the East. But
in 1954 and later came other bitter quarrels, and split venomously once more.”
(excerpts from John
Gunther “INSIDE
AFRICA” published, 1955 by Harper

That to us is the leadership they bequeathed to Nigeria, riven with rivalry and contention.

THE AONDOAKAA MADNESS CONTINUES: WHO IS RUNNING THIS COUNTRY?

“No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would
certainly bias his judgment, and not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With
equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and
parties at the same time.”
-James Madison

It is about time we asked this question: who is actually running Nigeria? Who is the president of this country? Who is making decisions affecting the lives of millions of Nigeria? Yes, we do have a president in law, ensconced in Aso rock, removed from the realities of daily grind. A president Nigerians rarely see. A president who rarely perform any public functions outside the insular enclaves of Aso rock. Perhaps the only time Nigeria gets to see him live, is when he is on his way to another exotic hospital location in Saudi Arabia or Germany.

The reason we ask this question is that Nigeria is tottering on the “precipe” of outright chaos. We have a “mad dog” attorney general out on the loose, giving press conference and arresting any Nigerian at a public event because they are not properly dressed. In a country governed by constitution! I know, he now claims he never asked anyone to forcibly remove the erstwhile EFCC chairman at a public event recently. His visage however betrayed his true intents. Whilst it is comforting to learn that the so-called presidency had had to back away from the stance of its attorney general. One is still at a loss whilst the same presidency will not caution or at least rein in the renegade attorney general. The attorney general of the federation has turned the prosecution (or should we call it persecution?) of Mr. Nuhu Ribadu a directive principles of this government. It is as if there are no corrupt governors to prosecute anymore? The entire Federal Ministry of Justice is seized in frenzy, an ad hominem attack of one man. And what was his crime? He successfully prosecuted the corrupt governors who bankrolled the present regime. The Attorney General is now the prosecutor and the judge in the many trials of Nuhu Ribadu. I asked again, who is running this country?

Some of my friends have argued that Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, probably deserved what he is getting, given his predilections to selectively prosecute the enemies of his masters whilst they hold sway over Nigerian, but is this the best and only way to make him account for his acts or inactions during his turbulent reign as EFCC chairman? Is the present government not indirectly turning Ribadu into a martyr? Why not take legal action against him if he broke the law? Why take all these extra-legal means? And how on earth can a member of the Nigerian bar Association and attorney general of the federation justify the self-help means the federal government has so far used to humiliate Mr. Ribadu? Who is running this country?

We have a president who looks very sickly in every attempt he had made in the last 2 months to pretend normalcy. Every attempt by the press to get information about his health is often met with arrest or closure of the journalist and the media organization respectively. Even an online blogger was recently arrested by the amorphous secret service at Murtala Mohammed Airport, only for the government in Abuja to denied knowledge of the arrest. Again I ask who is running Nigeria?

Francis Adewale
Spokane, WA
U.S.A