In the early morning of March 7, between 200 and 500 Nigerian Christians, mostly women and children, were butchered in the villages of Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Ratsat, which lie about 10 kilometres south of Jos, the capital of Plateau State. The corpses were buried in mass graves. A shocked world has compared the deaths to the genocide in Yugoslavia. However, labelling this conflict as a religious one – Muslims versus Christians – is simplistic.
The tragedy at Jos, a city of half a million on the fault line between the Muslim North and the largely Christian South, is a sordid example of how Nigeria’s dodgy political elite manipulates ethnic and religious sentiments to selfishly usurp the soul of the nation. While superficially the Jos conundrum is painted in religious hues, the fact is that it was ethnic, economic and political tensions which set the once peaceful and beautiful city ablaze.
Politics in Nigeria, a country with 150 million people and 250 ethnic groups, is a murky affair. The Afizeres, Anagutas and Beroms – predominantly Christians – are the ‘indigenes’ of Jos. But ‘settlers’, newcomers like the Hausa-Fulani (mostly Muslims), Igbos and Yorubas, have moved into the region for over a century. Conflicts have arisen — mostly between the indigenes and the Hausa-Fulani. These two groups, among other things, both claim the chair of a local government area: Jos North, the political and commercial centre of the city. While the indigenes are bitter about the domineering ‘born to rule’ tendencies of the Hausa-Fulani, the settlers also wish to assert their rights to leadership in a municipal council where they work and pay taxes. This is a right recognised by Nigeria’s constitution.
In Nigeria, local government areas (LGA) determine who is an indigene or not. Only officially certified indigenes can vie for and vote in local elections. An American scholar who has studied the situation in Jos, Phillip Ositien, has asserted that, in the final analysis, this is what much of the fighting is about. It’s hard to disagree.
The political complications were accentuated by the 1991 split of Jos LGA into northern and southern regions by former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida (a northern Nupe Muslim). This reorganisation was perceived as illogical and viewed as a ruse by the Hausa-Fulani to gain political leverage in Jos politics. Furious protests by indigenes and settlers, egged on by sinister politicians, have created a deadly tit-rot-tat massacres in Jos.
Nigeria’s constitution does not help matters. On one hand, it guarantees rights to move freely within Nigeria and to reside and own property anywhere. However, the same statute sets down that federal appointments should reflect a ‘federal character’ . It confers indigeneship only on persons whose lineage can be traced down to their parents or great grandparents.
Now for the hard part. The Hausa-Fulani are not the only settlers in Jos. Unlike the Igbos and Yorubas who probably came before them, however, the Hausa Fulani are the only ones seeking elective posts. This curious twist is made more complex by the Hausa-Fulani propensity to violence.
Besides, notes Ostien, “widespread illiteracy, unemployment, a growing population of rootles and jobless young men, availability of arms, coupled with venal, petty-minded and short-sighted politicians” are fodder for ethno-religious trouble. Incompetent and unaccountable public officials are wont to use violence to win elections makes it difficult to unravel this conflict.
Both sides in the conflict have a fair share of blame for the bloodshed in Jos. No one has been punished since September 2001 when this violence claimed about 1,000 in Jos; three years later in Yelwa as many as 700 died. Another 700 died in Jos in November 2008. In January, perhaps a hundred died, in riots between Muslim and Christian gangs. Both the state and federal government have politicised the matter and the crisis remains unresolved. Since there has been no justice – no one has ever been tried for any of the killings — a revengeful vortex ensues.
Patently corrupt and incompetent leadership has failed to provide employment for locals. That’s the economic angle to this disaster, since government remains the highest employer of labour in Nigeria. Also the security outfits – both police and military – have dirty hands. Why was a crisis in the nearby Bauchi State when an Islamist group, Boko Haram ran amok, efficiently controlled while Jos was left to boil for many days? News reports have supported suspicions that some prominent Nigerians actually sponsored the killings.
Although the Hausa-Fulani are Muslim and indigenes are largely Christian, this is not clash of civilisation. As the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan affirms, this is not exclusively a religious war. Unfortunately pictures of mass graves easily project as a jihad or pogrom, depending on one’s ethnic or religious affiliation. However, it is squarely a leadership problem. The Nigerian political class – both Christian and Muslim – are interested only in filling their pockets. Their insatiable appetite for milking the public till continues to drive them to whip up ethnic and religious absurdities to further their diabolic desires. The division of ‘them’ against ‘us’ will continue until people who want to serve occupy public office in Nigeria.
Information available to 247ureports.com through sources close to the activities within the Government House in Awka, Anambra State indicate that the Executive Governor of Anambra State may be in preps for a cabinet reshuffle and/or dissolution of his cabinet on Wednesday May 2, 2012 . This is as credible information revealed that Governor Peter Obi had on Sunday April 29, 2012 requested from each member of his cabinet “a report card” of their term in service – and submit to the Governor’s office an up to date activities of their various portfolios.
According to information gathered from political players in Awka, the Governor is suspected to be orchestrating a silent dissolution of the cabinet in an effort to avoid raising of unnecessary feathers and/or dust. A source notes that the Governor had specifically told members of his cabinet to prepare a self evaluation of their accomplishments at their respective offices. The source added that the demand for a self evaluation report was actually a polite demand to prepare a “handover note”. The demand was sent by text messages by some of the governor’s aide to the cabinet members.
Independent inquiry by our correspondent in Awka indicated that the members of the cabinet were unwilling to speak on the demand made by the Governor. However, the activities within the various ministries showed that something was cooking behind the scene. A majority of the Commissioners visited were not present at their seats – and the Exco-Meeting which normally holds on Monday of every week, did not hold – as the Governor was away on a trip to the federal capital.
It is suspected that the pending dissolution of the cabinet may be connected to the ongoing misunderstanding brewing between the Governor and the Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA], Chief Victor Umeh. Sources indicate that the Governor is working on removing cabinet members who have shown loyalty to the APGA Chairman – against the Governor. As gathered, the APGA Chairman had been given many cabinet slots to fill. The persons brought by the APGA Chairman are said to be the ones to face a possible discharge by the Governor by Wednesday May 2, 2012. But some of the Governor’s men have denied that the governor’s demand for a hand over note concerns the ongoing squabble.
It is recalled that following the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial re-election campaign victory by Governor Peter Obi – that the governor did not dissolve his cabinet. It was rumored that the governor was going to dissolve his cabinet but he did not.
A suicide bomb attack targeted at the convoy of the Taraba State Commissioner of Police, Mamman Sule, on Monday led to the killing of 10 persons and the destruction of a portion of the Taraba State Ministry of Finance in the state capital, Jalingo, and a nearby market.
It also consumed valuable documents, vehicles and property.
The News Agency of Nigeria quotes the spokesman for the state police command, Ibiang Mbasike, as saying that explosives were hauled at the convoy by a suicide bomber riding on a motorcycle at about 8.45a.m when workers were resuming for work after the weekend break.
The suicide bomber was holding plastic military explosives before the attack.
Sule escaped unhurt but three police officers and the two suspected suicide bombers were among the 10 persons killed while a dozen others were injured.
One of the explosives hit the rider leading the police commissioner’s convoy, causing him to lose his sight.
The police headquarters in Taraba is 40 metres away from the main entrance to the finance ministry. The ministry’s premises forms part of the entrance into the building leading to the police commissioner’s office.
“The police commissioner usually has to go through the Ministry of Finance to enter his office.
“He was passing by that usual route when the explosives were thrown. So the Police Commissioner’s convoy was clearly the target,” a top police source, who preferred anonymity, told NAN.
The attack on Sule’s convoy was a reprisal for his alleged role in the killing of several Boko Haram members when he was the CP in Yobe State. Mamman had reportedly been on the hit list of the sect.
More details later.
Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has called on the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) to design a short executive programme for State Governors and top politicians that would prepare them for the task of governance.
Dr. Uduaghan, who made the call when participants of Course 34 of the Institute paid him a courtesy call in Asaba, yesterday, said the Institute was endowed with research department and could therefore design a programme that would suit the political class.
He said the Institute should incorporate the affected politicians in an interactive seminar especially as most students of the Institute were top government functionaries who are versed in different aspects of governance.
The Governor explained that since the institute has several programme there was need to accommodate the political class in some of them.
“I want to request that the Institute should organize a short programme for the political class in the country. NIPSS has something for everybody in the society and l think it should organize an interactive programme for top politicians, ”he said.
Dr. Uduaghan described this year’s interactive tour for the Course 34 students titled “Resource Diversification for Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria” as apt, explaining that it was the only way to boost the economy and be less dependent on oil and gas.
He said it was critical for the nation and federating states to move beyond oil and explore their strength in their areas because oil would not last forever.
The Governor recalled the recently concluded Second South-South Economic Summit which also centered on diversification of the economy of the region and disclosed that Delta State already has a programme on diversification titled “Delta Beyond Oil.”
Dr. Uduaghan who said the State’s programme on diversification was broad explained that the policy was on agriculture, leisure, medical as well as other mineral resources adding that his administration has already provided infrastructure such as power, good motorable roads, sea and airports to encourage and attract investors.
He disclosed that the Federal Government and Delta State Government are to partner to develop the cargo wing of the Asaba International Airport as part of efforts to ease cargo movement especially in the eastern part of the country and enhance empowerment of the people.
“Fortunately, the Federal Government is interested in the cargo section of the Asaba International Airport. So we are partnering with the Federal Government to develop the cargo wing of the airport”, he said.
Furthermore, he said “We are also empowering the youths through agriculture and micro-credit scheme because once the youths are engaged they would not be attracted to crime.”
The Director General of NIPSS, Prof. Tijani Bande in his remarks, said his team was in Delta to interact extensively with top government functionaries on the Institute’s theme for the year titled “Resource Diversification for Sustainable Economic Development.”
He explained that diversification was now central to the economic development of the nation and enjoined states to key into it.
The DG commended the South-South zone of the country on its effort towards diversification and said such drive would open the door for sustainable economic development in the region.
He commended Governor Uduaghan for the efforts being made to industrialize the State and urged the Governor not to relent in the bid to transform the lives of the people.
Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who himself risks incarceration for defending the pastor and a dissident in another case, told AFP that his client “must be released,” based on religious edicts from prominent Iranian clerics. (Reuters)
Iran on Monday slammed a U.S. pastor’s burning of a Quran, calling it provocative and demanding U.S. authorities take action to prevent any recurrence.
Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency that it “strongly condemns this ridiculous, insulting and provoking act by a so-called American priest in overt contempt of the holy Quran.”
The condemnation was in reaction to a Saturday ceremony in which Florida pastor Terry Jones set fire to the Muslim holy book and a depiction of the prophet Mohammed to protest Iran’s imprisonment of an Iranian Christian clergyman, Yousef Nadarkhani.
The act was broadcast online in a YouTube video that climaxed with Jones and a handful of followers repeating the U.S. oath of allegiance as the Quran burned.
Jones, who rebuffed a U.S. Defense Department request to desist out of fear for U.S. troops’ safety abroad, was behind a March 2011 burning of the Quran by his assistant that triggered violence in northern Afghanistan in which at least 12 people were killed.
Iran’s foreign ministry said the latest burning was the result of “Islamophobia” in the West.
It said the world was “awaiting a quick, serious and frank response by the U.S. government to this act so it is never repeated.”
The ministry said the Quran burning “undoubtedly creates religious hatred and will provoke Muslim anger worldwide.”
The act by Jones came as U.S. and Iranian officials prepared for important talks on Tehran’s nuclear program that are to be held in Baghdad on May 23.
While Iran is expressing optimism over those talks, any failure could stoke tensions between the Islamic republic and the West and strengthen the possibility of military action by the United States or Israel.
Nadarkhani, the Christian evangelical pastor in prison in Iran, was arrested in 2009 and condemned to death for converting to Christianity when he was 19.
Iran’s supreme court overturned the death sentence in July 2011 and a retrial took place in September 2011, but no verdict was made public.
Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, who himself risks incarceration for defending the pastor and a dissident in another case, told AFP that his client “must be released,” based on religious edicts from prominent Iranian clerics.
The lawyer declined to comment on the Quran burning protest for Nadarkhani in the United States.
Four foreigners investigating the debris from recent fighting between Sudan and South Sudan have…
Four foreigners investigating the debris from recent fighting between Sudan and South Sudan have been captured in the Heglig oilfield area, Khartoum’s military said on Saturday.
But a colleague of one of the men said they were deminers working on the South Sudanese side of the border. And the United Nations said one of its people was among the captives.
Sawarmi Khaled Saad, the army spokesman, identified the foreigners as a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese.
He was speaking to reporters after the four were flown to Khartoum for “more investigation.”
“We captured them inside Sudan’s borders, in the Heglig area, and they were collecting war debris for investigation,” Saad said at the airport.
He added that all four had military backgrounds, and were accompanied by military equipment and a military vehicle. He did not elaborate.
“This confirms what we said before, that South Sudan in its aggression against Heglig was supported by foreign experts,” the spokesman said.
Jan Ledang, country director for the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) mission in South Sudan, identified one of the captives as John Sorbo, also of NPA.
“It’s impossible that they were in Heglig — they were in Pariang” about a 90-minute drive from Heglig in the South’s Unity state, Ledang said.
They were doing some follow-up demining work in that area, he added.
“There were four people, and one of them was from the UN,” said Josephine Guerrero, a spokesperson for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.
Sudan severely restricts access for journalists, diplomats and foreign aid workers in South Kordofan state to which Heglig belongs.
It did not allow reporters or other observers into the area during South Sudan’s 10-day occupation of the oilfield, meaning the situation on the ground has been difficult to verify.
Norwegian ambassador Jens-Petter Kjemprud earlier told AFP he had not yet been able to identify the Norwegian or meet the person.
“We are in contact with everyone who could try to give us the name,” and what possible reason the person might have had for being in the area, he said.
A British embassy spokesperson said they had heard reports of an arrest “and we are looking into it.”
An official at South Sudan’s embassy had no information, and South Africa’s diplomatic mission could not be reached.
In the most serious unrest since the South’s independence, Juba’s troops occupied Sudan’s main oil region of Heglig for 10 days, a move which coincided with air strikes against the South.
Sudan declared on April 20 that its army had forced the Southern soldiers out of Heglig, but the South said it withdrew of its own accord.
Each side blames the other for damaging the oil facility, which provided about half of Sudan’s oil output and is now shut pending repairs.
Last week the government organised brief, controlled visits to Heglig for journalists and foreign ambassadors.
“While the full story behind the withdrawal is not yet known, there is mounting evidence that the withdrawal was due to a mixture of fierce diplomatic pressure and military losses following a heavy bombing campaign by SAF on SPLA positions in and around the town,” said the Small Arms Survey, a Swiss-based independent research project.
It was not clear when the foreigners were detained.
They arrived in Khartoum on a civilian aircraft and were escorted directly to a minibus.
An AFP reporter saw that they were not handcuffed, but their clothes were dusty.
The indictment of the ruling party in Nigeria, PDP, by the National Security Adviser (NSA), General Andrew O. Azazi, was the misfortune President Jonathan least expected when he woke up from his bed last Friday, 27 April 2012. The statement must be causing the him enormous pain. It jas placed him in a predicament, with the party on one hand requesting for the head of Azazi and his kinsmen on the other hand asking for his pardon. To understand the predicament of the president, we need to recast how the two once stood together as comrades in their lifelong ambition of emancipating the Niger Delta.
A Nigeria Army Intelligence Corps (NAIC) inquiry into the gunrunning activities of Sunny Okah at the Kaduna and Jaji military depots when Azazi was the GOC 1 DIV led to the sacking of the latter as Chief of Defence Staff and his premature retirement from the army in 2009. Azazi, as the Chief of Defence Staff, in collaboration with Lt. Col. LKK Are (then and now DG, SSS) and Maj. General Adekhegba (then DMI), did all he could to cover up the theft and protect its perpetrators, particularly Sunny Okah. The sacking of Azazi was definitely part of “punitive measures …. against prominent figures involved in the theft” which the NAIC report recommended. To be more specific, the report advised “government to sanction Gen Azazi appropriately.” (Full text of the NAIC report can be accessed at http://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/uploads/Azazi.pdf. For my full commentary on the report, read http://fridaydiscourse.blogspot.com/2010/11/discourse-310-nigeria-cannot-trust.html)
If Azazi was punitively punished for his failure to stop the theft from the depots under his control, the people who the report referred to as “senior politicians in this issue” escaped because investigation into their involvement was overtaken by events. But who were these “senior politicians”, anyway?
The committee found out that Governors James Ibori and Dipriye Alamiyeseigha were purchasing weapons stolen from I DIV and handing them over to Niger Delta militants. Jonathan, which the report shied away from mentioning because he was already the vice-president by the time it was submitted, cannot escape implication since the theft and purchases continued during his tenure as the Governor of Bayelsa state. Also, when the report was submitted, we must remember, James Ibori was the most powerful adviser to late President Yar’adua. Which politician could have been more senior?
Now, we need to know why the NAIC report found it imperative to recommend the investigation of these politicians. Come with me:
“At least the names of two senior politicians… have been mentioned in this investigation. There may be many more. These two politicians are mentioned as the financiers for the arms acquisition project. Certainly, they would not have provided large sums of money without knowing the source of the weapons. Simply put, a serious breach of security of this magnitude deliberately masterminded by the state governors. This gives a serious political dimension to the case. It is therefore important that care is taken identifying all possible political linkages to this case with a view to uncovering all the politicians behind this project. Politicians can aspire to any position in Nigeria. One wonders what would happen if Nigeria ends up with a president who does not believe in the entity of the Nigerian nation, and a record of involvement in cases like this. Identifying politicians with complicity in this or similar case will help in ensuring that they are blacklisted and prevented from vying for or taking higher offices because of the implications that could arise.”
Too late.
One of the biggest misfortunes of Nigeria today is that the above warning from the NAIC was not heeded to or “Baba go slow” could not act fast enough. One of those senior politicians, Jonathan, became the acting president barely two years after the report was submitted. What he did after assuming office speaks volumes of his complicity.
Who did Jonathan pick as National Security Adviser after General Aliyu Gusau has resigned in 2010? He returned General Andrew O. Azazi! Who did Jonathan and Azazi found most befitting to run the SSS? They retirned Col. LKK Are! Where is Sunny Okah, the chief gunrunner? He is in the villa assisting the President, especially in the prosecution of his brother who mastermined the Oct. 1 bombings in Abuja. To whom has Jonathan and Azazi contracted the security of our maritme domain? Niger Delat militant Tampolo.
From the above, it could easily be discerned that the relationship between the President and his chief security adviser is long standing and strong. How then could the adviser turn around now and blame the ruling party and the President for escalating violence in the country? Let us try and understand what Azazi said. His arrow was direct in its target:
“The issue of violence did not increase in Nigeria until when there was a declaration by the current president that he was going to contest. PDP got it wrong from the beginning. The party started by saying Mr. A can rule, and Mr. B cannot rule, according to PDP conventions, rules and regulations and not according to the constitution. Is it possible that somebody was thinking only Mr. A could win, and if he did not win, he could cause a problem in the society?”
In the above statements, which I quoted from nationalmirroronline.net, there is sufficient understanding on the motives of the security chief: Zoning is the culprit. Power was expected to reside in the North for two terms. But Jonathan, coming from the south, jettisoned that rule and declared his intention to contest. This, according to Azazi, is what increased violence to its present state in Nigeria.
Again, Azazi was not expecting the Northerners that lost to Jonathan – namely, Atiku Abubakar, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau – to let the contravention go Scot free. They must cause “problems”. Three things can be gathered from this:
One, had PDP not adopted zoning as a power-sharing principle, according to Azazi, the level of violence would not have reached this unmanageable level.
Two, had the President restrained himself from vying from contesting in 2011, the increase in violence would have been averted, still. Or had Buhari – the northern candidate – won, that too would have silenced the guns of the northerners.
Finally, “the (security) problem in the society”, according to Azazi, is caused by northerners who lost to Jonathan in the PDP, or put in another way, in reaction to Jonathan’s intransigence, Atiku, IBB and Gusau, in reaction, are using Boko Haram to get at Jonathan. Mhm. Nigerians are divided on the Azazi’s statement and person. The PDP and its supporters have made statements that portray the security chief as an ingrate, or one that bites the finger that fed him. PDP, they argue, rehabilitated him when it provided the platform on which he is currently serving as the NSA.
The opposition, this time, is raising its thumb for Azazi. He provided it with a powerful ballistic for deployment against the ruling party. And attacking they did, from all fronts. The ACN, CNPP, CPC, etc., are all over the waves enjoying their vindication.
The president must have felt embarrassed by Azazi’s statement though he tried typically to cover him initially by finding excuses in semantics. Azazi, claimed the President, might have had an idea but which he could not express clearly. He referred journalist to Azazi for clarification. That clarification, however, is not forthcoming, so far.
But honestly, could Azazi absolve himself of Jonathan’s violation of the PDP zoning principle? Not at all, in my opinion. He was in the best position, as the NSA, to advise the president on the security implication of his contest, if that is what he believed then. As far as I can recall, nobody then reported that he did so. Neither did he follow his conviction and supported any northern candidate. But granted that he advised the President accordingly, why did he continue as the NSA and even travel to Washington to lure the Americans into believing that Nigeria is under a serious terrorist siege beyond its capacity to contain? Happily, the Americans did not buy the dummy. They said, “Mumu. It is not terrorism. It is poverty. Simple.”
The fate of Azazi is on the balance. The ruling PDP is turning the heat on the president to do something with the NSA. It wants him dismissed. Of course, does the president have a third option, apart from sacking him or keeping him? The choice would not be as easy as Ringim’s. In this situation, the President will be torn among three things: fear, parochial strategy, and his not so much celebrated nerves.
If the President would listen to Niger Delta elders and militants whom he dreads so much, who have turned him into a hostage and who are milking the Nigerian cow dry with the support of Azazi, then he will move to protect the NSA and absolve him of any blame. Let PDP go to hell, he will say. This one has the strongest possibility.
Again, if the President would look at the strategic role of NSA Azazi in the Niger Delta Republic project or his importance to Jonathan 2015 presidency, he will be more inclined to pardon the NSA than to “Ring” him. This option has a good probability.
If, however, he has the mental capacity to understand that the statement is the gross contempt for the President and the ruling party ever uttered by a beneficiary of PDP, then his nerves, if he has any, are likely to persuade him to bid his old comrade farewell. In that case, the Boko Haram missile that hit Ringim would have returned to hit Azazi. The security chief would have nobody to blame but his tongue, which betrayed him under the intense heat of Boko Haram. This one has a weak likelihood.
So, the chances, in my assessment, are strong two against a weak one. Whichever choice the president takes, Nigeria will remain the same – corrupt and insecure.
—
ACN vehemently disagrees with Chief Victor Umeh, national chairman of the all progressive grand alliance on his abortive attempt to dissociate his party from the avoidable killing of half a dozen innocent youth in Nnewi on Friday last week under the platform of an unlawful band of thugs code-named Mpiawa Azu otherwise called Anambra State Task Force on Parks and Markets.
To allow Chief Umeh to get away with that rebuttal is to say that Governor Peter Obi under whose inglorious tenure these illegal and inhuman acts of citizen terrorism are talking place no longer belongs to APGA, or did not contest elections for Anambra gubernatorial race on the platform of APGA.
Governance of a state is a serious business that requires those at the helm of affairs to take responsibility for their direct and vicarious acts. It Is not something that people have to take credit for positive actions and distance themselves from negative ones.
We caution Chief Umeh that what is in issue is the untimely termination of six lives of young and promising Anambra State Citizens, one of whom could have become the governor, that will help clean up the APGA mess of taking Islamic loans without the consent of Ndi Anambra, fomented by Obi and Umeh.
By Nigerian law, no Anambra Citizen can become the governor of the state without first belonging to a political party under which he has to stand elections.
It is therefore too late in the day for Umeh to deny Obi, because there are disagreements on how to share Anambra State Local Government Funds and Anambra State Security Vote for a cumulative period of six years.
This is particularly so because as recently as February this year, in the re-run elections for Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia Federal House of Representatives elections, which took place before Peter Obi and Victor Umeh openly disagreed for the reasons stated above, they united to decimate beat, kill and main ACN agents and INEC officials who conducted the elections using the same Mpiawa Azu, leading to a compromised elections in which an unelected Uche Ekwunife is illegitimately representing the constituency, the way Peter Obi is illegitimately the governor of Anambra State from February 2010 compromised elections.
The same group burnt three of ACN vehicles in Agulu ,shot and injured the party Chairman for Anaocha,provided armed cover for illegal thumb-printing in Agulu-Uzoigbo ,Obeledu,Akweze and Umunnachi, and swapped results sheets in Neni ,under the watch of Peter Obi and Victor Umeh, marring the elections with violence in Anaocha and parts of Dunukofia.The operations was still led by the same ‘Iko Nso’ under the guidance of the same Syslvester Nwobu-Alor that Umeh wants arrested and Umeh’s APGA was the main beneficiary.
Before then towns like Nkpor, Obosi, Ekwulobia and Awka have fallen victims.
The same group under the nose and supervision of Victor Umeh and Peter Obi before the latest disagreement attacked the convoy of Senator Chris Ngige during the 2011 National Assembly Elections campaign and nearly assassinated of Sen. Annie Okonkwo of Accord Party, but stabbed and his aide another Anambra Citizen, on the same day.
We therefore agree with Chief Victor Umeh that the two characters Iko Nso (Not real name) and Sylvester Nwobu -Alor should be arrested by the Nigerians Police as an action of first instance, but along with Victor Umeh and the APGA Chairman for Anambra State, Mr Mike Kwentoh to account for the serial killings of Anambra Citizens in Nnewi, Nkpor, Obosi, Onitsha and Awka.
Once again we call on the State Government to set up a judicial panel of enquiry to determine the immediate and remote causes of the killing of six Anambra citizens in Nnewi and other incidents before it.
We also call on the Anambra State House of Assembly to conduct a public hearing on the continued use of crude violence on the civil populace of Anambra State by a body not fully backed by law and recommend that the Deputy Speaker of Anambra State Engr. Chukwudi Orizu , who represents Nnewi and Chief Victor Umeh should be held responsible if this matter is swept under the carpet.
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan wishes to reassure Nigerians and foreigners resident in the country once again that his administration is taking every necessary action to end the spate of terrorist atrocities in the country.
Against the background of the recent upsurge in terrorist attacks, the latest of which occurred in Jalingo earlier today, President Jonathan urges Nigerians and foreigners living in the country not to be discouraged or deterred from going about their regular affairs by the persistence of the mindless bombings and gun attacks.
The President wholly condemns today’s assault on innocent citizens in Jalingo and reaffirms his Administration’s unwavering commitment to curbing terrorism in Nigeria and bringing the terrorists and their sponsors to justice.
Noting, however, that success in the war against terrorism will be more speedily achieved with greater support and assistance from affected communities, President Jonathan calls on all patriotic Nigerians, once again, to promptly report all suspicious persons to national security agencies.
He extends heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of the bombings in Jalingo and wishes the injured speedy recovery.
As a public policy concept, the Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda, hopes to attain the objectives of the Vision 20:2020 of the Yar’adua/Goodluck administration. Its central aim is to transform Nigeria into a developed nation to the position of being at least the 20th Economy in the world by the year 2020. Given the fact that the current (and in the reasonably foreseeable future) global economic order is dominantly capitalist; it presupposes that the Goodluck’s Transformation Agenda for Nigeria will be realized within the ‘natural’ laws of Capitalist Economic Growth.
For any country to prosper within this system, more in terms of goods and services must leave its shores than comes in; and more in terms of money and infrastructure being put into the country than being put out. That is what all players in the global scene will be competing against each other to attain. In such a competition, success is achieved through the quality of goods produced and efficiency of service rendered. The question one may rationally ask is this – “Is Nigeria, or better still the Goodluck regime, capable of enunciating the requisite policies and creating the essential skills and conditions to transform Nigeria’s competitive drive to the level of attaining a 20th position in the operating World Economic Order within the next 8 years”?
Before we get to answer this question let us quickly define what this really entails. This means, technically, opening the doors of the Nigerian Market to the world and Nigeria gaining access to the world market. This means one thing – competitiveness! – i.e., Nigeria competing with the rest of the world in the delivery of goods and services to Mankind.
First, it means that Nigeria must be able to open its domestic market to the influx of foreign goods and services with local Nigerian companies favourably withstanding the onslaught (i.e. competing favourably against the foreign companies).
Second, it means that there will be at least 20 Nigerian companies competing favourably in the delivery of quality goods and efficient services with the FIRST 20 ECONOMIES IN THE WORLD. It means having, for example, Nigerian Metallurgical Companies, Nigerian Pharmaceutical Companies, Nigerian Construction Companies, Nigerian Oil and Gas Companies, Nigerian Banking Companies, Nigerian Insurance Companies, Nigerian Auto Mobile Companies, Nigerian Shipping Lines, Nigerian Air Lines, Nigerian Tourists Companies, Nigerian Consulting Firms, Nigerian Communication Companies, Nigerian Agricultural Companies, Nigerian Textile Industries, and such other similar corporations (20 of them) investing and competing favourably in their businesses in USA, China, Japan, Germany, California, Britain, France, Canada, India, Brazil, Sweden, Russia, Australia, New York State, Holland, Denmark, Ireland, South Korea, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Belgium, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, etc. Such Nigerian companies must be able to get onto the soils of these countries and compete favourably there (breaking even; or simply put, making profit).
Third, virtually the entire global economic process is knowledge-driven (i.e. the application of Arts, science and technology). Thus, for Nigeria to achieve first and second above, the country must have to make a major break-through in science and technology, administrative and organizational skills, and indigenizing same for the profitable use of the Nigerian entrepreneurs on the domestic and global markets.
Fourth, like a chain connecting every aspect with the other, these policies and processes must be conceived and implemented via a sincere and purposeful leadership produced by an honest and conscientious political class through a free, fair and just democratic process, and passionately supported by an enlightened and politically conscious citizenry.
These four elements must have to be attained to bring about such monumental changes for Nigeria to surpass others and emerge among the first 20 Economies of the world.
With this in mind, we can now go back and attempt to answer the question earlier posed – i.e. “Is Nigeria, or better still the Goodluck regime, capable of articulating the requisite policies and creating the essential skills and conditions to enhance Nigeria’s competitive drive to the level of attaining a 20th position in the operating World Economic Order within the next 8 years”?
Taking the two extremes first; while the pessimists would say, “impossible”, the optimists would say “yes, Nigeria and the Goodluck regime can”. To be blunt, I belong to the former group; let the latter group ( if there are, come out and argue their case convincingly); on my part, and without any apology to anyone, I will argue for where I stand.
For the pessimists, we will be looking at the necessary 4th element as the basis for answering the question in the negative; that is, the current Nigerian political class and society and the Goodluck regime do not possess the basic qualifications for attaining this feat to transform the country. In the first place, the Goodluck regime is not produced by an honest and conscientious political class through a free, fair and just democratic process, and is clearly not passionately supported by an enlightened and politically conscious citizenry. As is obvious to all, the Nigeria of Goodluck regime long lost cherished traditional values of upholding truth and honesty, of hard work, respect for elders, and of being each other’s brothers’ keepers. Ethics had similarly crashed, as the issues of rightness and wrongness of both leaders’ and people’s conducts and national ideals have become distorted.
Within this metamorphosis, politics also altered its cause, occasioned by lack of good governance, dishonesty and corruption within the leadership. New political classes and power blocs have correspondingly emerged with little or no regard for moral principles and ethical values. Some may claim, albeit rightly, that the current Nigeria’s political class that is supposed to drive the process is congenially dishonest, incurably crooked and therefore incapable of doing anything right. Consequently, leaders’ and people’s attitude and conducts are being conditioned less by ethics than by self-interest, and what is morally wrong has today paradoxically become politically right. Politicians steal elections even before the ballots are cast, and today, in spite of what the leaders say, peoples’ votes don’t count. What all these mean is that the Nigerian national psyche has been crooked. Can the product of such a system achieve such a feat? The pessimists doubt it!
Let us also see it from the viewpoint of the huge capital, technological, organizational and ethical outlays involved, and which Nigeria also currently lacks and does not seem ready and able to attain.
Besides, economic and social developments take place only in an atmosphere of peace and political stability. Both are lacking in Nigeria today, and there does not seem to be a clear foreseeable plan and will on the part of the government and the ruling Party to bringing them about. If the government is thinking that a continuous and consistent public propaganda on the Transformation Agenda of the government will bring about the needed peace and stability, then the government is putting the cart before the horse; it is only when there is peace and political stability that the Transformation Agenda, whatever it means, can be implemented, the above 4 critical elements can be attained and the objective of the regime may be realized.
Without these key elements then, the pessimist would reason, how could the country make it?
Secondly, as a pessimist, I will not fail to also look at the reality on the ground as well. If the pace of comparative economic growth and infrastructural development of Nigeria in the past is anything to go by, then I will be more entrenched in my position. In the past, it would seem that Nigerians saw all kinds of economic and ethical policies and visions aimed at putting their country on a respectful footing as a real economic and regional power in the world – the National Development Plans, the Indigenization Policies, Industrialization Plans, Transfer of Technology Policies, Operation Feed the Nation, Austerity Measures, Ethical Revolution, WAI, Commercialization and Privatization Policies, SAP, MAMSER, Vision 2010, MDG, EFCC, ICPC, NEEDS, Vision 20:2020 and now the Transformation Agenda. We also heard of huge capital outlays for the establishment and provision of national railway lines, shipping lines, power supply, Inland Waterways, Road networks, refineries, Iron and Steel Industries, educational and health schemes, etc.
But the more we talk on industrialization the less industrial we become; the more we try to indigenize our businesses, the more foreign companies take firm hold of our local markets; we started importing more food than before the days of Operation Feed the Nation; we started spending more in public service than before the days of Austerity Measures; ethics and moral decadence have taken hold of our national life more than before the institution of the policy of Ethical Revolution; we are more indiscipline now than before the days of WAI; we are a thousand times more corrupt today than before the days of EFCC and ICPC. In effect, therefore, our policy formulation and implementation have woefully failed us – the more we enunciate them the more we achieve their exact opposite. What a paradox! Today, in spite of these policies, Nigeria is still a non-industrialized nation, the country can still not feed its populace and is a huge food importer, its domestic market is still dominated by foreigners, its technology still rudimentary, the country is the second or third most corrupt nation in the world (whatever the right index is), the country is still yearning for dear foreign investment and not investing abroad, and the poverty rate of Nigeria is at 76% height.
In addition, today Nigeria has no national Air Carrier, no national Shipping line, no functional railway line, no power supply, no functional refineries, no Iron and Steel Industries, no good road network and no Inland Waterways. All of these have been attempted by past governments with colossal amounts of billions of dollars expended. Also, we were not so long ago told of the huge debt relief the government secured for the country. That if we pay the sum of N12 billion dollars to our foreign creditors we shall be relieved of the chucking debt burden and shall save the monies from debt servicing for developing our economy. We paid the colossal amount alright, which represents the largest amount of money ever paid by a developing country to the developed countries in the history of Mankind, yet we are still trapped in the vicious debt cycle – the promises of economic boom after payment turned out to be a ruse. To all intents and purposes, it would seem that virtually all of our policies are today monumental failures. Hence, over half a century since independence, Nigeria is still stagnantly underdeveloped, with all the attendant traits – illiteracy and ignorance, poverty and deprivation, famine and starvation, epidemics and health crises, child mortality and low life expectancy, corruption and dishonesty in public service, weak institutions and bad leadership, decaying infrastructure and moral decadence, crime and violence, civil unrest and genocide, electoral fraud, or simply outright threat of state failure.
As I earlier said, it would seem virtually none of those policies achieved the objectives for which they were formulated. How then could the objective of the Transformation Agenda be attained? Besides, the Goodluck regime has not even attempted to give us a clue as to how it will drive the agenda. I need to be convinced. Where are our optimists, please let them come forth with their argument and convince the pessimists. We still have 8 years to go. Does President Goodluck Jonathan still believe in the Vision 20:2020 policy and is willing to pursue it or does he have something else better and more realistic to give Nigeria in his Transformation Agenda? Mr. President, Nigerians are waiting not to hear from you, because to talk is cheap, but to see what you can achieve. We are still awaiting the fresh air you promised us; it has not yet started blowing across the country.
Yet, with our rich aptitudes and talents of large populations, huge physical energy reserve, and abundant untapped natural resources, Nigeria can seize the positives of good governance to overcome its challenges and attain rapid material development. This can be achieved by getting these talents expressed, the energy released and those resources harnessed. I believe this to be the key solution to Nigeria’s development problem in the new global reality. This calls for creative alternative public policy perspectives and strategies. Plainly, in my view, it is the lack of clear understanding of the issues confronting us as a people over the years by our policy makers (either by default or design), itself therefore leading to poor policy choices and implementations, that inevitably led to Nigeria’s developmental failures.
