Let me begin with fact that all Nigerians are aware of and that is, Sanni Abacha in his sick mind believed he did well in developing the country and its citizens. But every Nigerian in the absence of intimidation and death threat denounced every action by that rotten regime. True, the country did very well in sports then but yet we hated (and still) that dictator.

Democratic Principles

Before turning to the merits of the Sports Minister statements to Duro Ikhazuagbe of Thisday Newspaper of 3 December 2012 (Mr. Bolaji was a former editor of Thisday Newspaper) I need to deal with issue of constitutional importance, specifically, democratic principles.

The Sports Minister said and I quote, “When the Federal Government wanted to introduce the 6-3-3-4 system, were states education commissioners asked for inputs? When we were going to introduce the basic education, were the commissioners involved? If the Federal Government wants to take a decision on fertilisers, are states commissioners of agriculture called to decide what to do? Yes, we know that sports by nature gives room for everybody to act as experts but the point we are making is that the Federal Government has taken a decision that the festival be open for the good of the competition. However, were we will not be right is not to carry along the states in determining the rule of participation because the rules will affect them directly.”

Unfortunately, this Minister forgot that the country is in democracy and federal government cannot act alone without a legislation empowering it to do so. Looking at these statements, does this Minister believes he can control and have powers over any state Governor or National Assembly? If he does, he must be shown the door with immediate effect. This is dictatorship and his cited precedents were in fact military actions.

Demerits of Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi Assertions

1. “The aim of the festival since inception in 1973 is to discover talents and serve as a platform for unity of all Nigerians but right now it is serving that purpose in a limited way. This is so because most of those coming to the festival are either first timers or athletes who have not been able to break into the elite class.”

Not only is it nonsense to suggest that athletes selected by any state to represent that state are first timers but the statement though condescending and rude suggests that the Minister never competed in his life in any sport. The festival is apex of athletes competing based on prior training regimes and to represent a state meant that you were selected among many other athletes as that state flag-bearer. Many athletes in the elite category now, competed at the festival. This Minister simply believed he can act without any supervision of National Assembly. Surely, this Minister insulted most athletes.

2. “The National Sports Festival is our biggest competition in this country and so we cannot continue to keep it at the level of glorified inter-house sport competition.”

I will tell the Minister to say that to his adviser friends, discredited and banned former athletes he cited who had competed at earlier festivals that the festivals were inter-house sports. Quite frankly, I doubt if this Minister ever attended or competed in any inter-house sports before in his life. I did and I was also part of NSF 1977.

I will say this, it is more acceptable to ban the NSF altogether than inject more money for the sake of bringing foreign based professionals into it. I say that before on economic terms because a single foreign based-athlete will be funded in excess of N2.5Million which can train over 100 youths for better tomorrow. And the probability that the foreign based will not pan-out is higher than future performances of 100 youth athletes. Essentially the idea is to find a way of circumventing money laundry legislations.

3. “So I believe that if you open it to top class athletes like Ajoke Odumosu, Omolara (Omotosho), Blessing Okagbare, (Obinna) Metu and all our top athletes and others from around the world, these are the top athletes that will attract advertiser into the competition. Television will cover it and ultimately bring the competition to the living rooms of Nigerians like the Olympic. When this happens, Nigerians would want to troop to the venues to see these stars. Everyone will know that something big is going on in Nigeria. So, I think if you want to create an opportunity for us to discover good talents and also make it glamorous, we have no choice but to open it up… One of the benefits of opening up the game now is that the festival will now have more commercial value for advertisers to want to put their money on it”

Mr. Minister just doesn’t have any fact to suggest anything in this bogus belief. Firstly, we have annual National Championships that the NSC paid the Athletics Federation (AFN) in excess of N200Million over 3years where AFN also collected over N250Million from Cross Rivers State and private companies.

These monies were used to bring those cited by the Minister to compete annually and let me be clear, NO SPECTATOR OR EVEN THE SPORTS MINISTER SHOWED UP AND EVEN ATHLETES THEMSELVES NEVER SHOWED UNLESS THEY ARE COMPETING ON THAT GIVEN DAY. So to suggest that the NSF will draw crowd is nothing but a hollow ambition to waste money.

Yes, some marketers made foolish statements to support this crazy idea. Again, the Sports Minister royally ‘miss road’ (credit to Fela).

Secondly, we have Grand prix competitions where no spectator or Minister ever showed up and some of the invited athletes had to petition International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) to force AFN to pay them three years after. This Minister lacked credibility or knowledge of anything about sports.

4. “The Under-17 National competition you are planning to start to serve as a platform for talent discovering, have you consider how the states are going to react to that since most of them (states) are opposed to throwing the festival open? …The national Under-17 competition that I have proposed is to serve as a lower tier games to serve the purpose of talent discovering. It is strictly a developmental competition aimed at discovering talents. An open National Sports Festival without a junior competition like the national under-17 will be counter-productive.”

If all states are opposed and this Minister want to force the agenda on them then he is a dictator. (Full-stop)

5. “But good as your proposal is, honourable minister, do you really think this will fly at the larger National Council of Sports forum since most of the states opposed to throwing the festival open are going to be in majority? First, I want you to remember that the National Sports Commission, (NSC) is the custodian of the Federal Government’s position on sport in the country. The NSC owns the proprietary rights of the national sports festival. So, we as the custodians of the festival decided that for the festival to serve better purpose of its creation, it has to be an open festival.”

The Minister is dead wrong here and his knowledge of law is pretty much primitive. The custodian does not own rather holding on ‘behalf of’ and the federal government only act under supervision of the National Assembly. Mr. Minister, Nigerians own the NSF not you or your cronies.

6. “Who says we cannot bring on board past athletes like the Falilat Ogunkoya, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Olapade Adeniken, The Ezinwa brothers, Davidson and Osmond, Funke Oshonaike, Bose Kaffo and several of our ex athletes to come and compete in the masters category as a way of creating excitement? Younger generation athletes who have heard of them but did not have the opportunity of seeing them in action will feel motivated and inspired. These are some of the dynamics an open festival will create for the competition.”

IAAF says Mary Onyali and Chioma Ajunwa cannot compete again. Mr. Minister simply forgot that those he cited are either banned from athletics for dope violations by IAAF or are simply too obese to compete or they have called it ‘a day’ years ago. This Minister simply lacked any knowledge of the reality and practicality of his view. These same people along with the destroyer of AFN named Solomon Ogba were paraded in London and in fact made no dent rather enhanced destruction of our team chances.

This Minister is yet to speak well, as such he must be pushed out of Sports Ministry for dictatorial tendency. Opening the festival is aimed at athletics where that federation shamed the country at the London Olympics. Those in charge of that federation are advisers of Delta governor who continues to control this Minister.

I will stop here and expects the Minister and his cronies to voice their views which are fundamental right the Minister doesn’t think Nigerians has.

I rest.

Dr. Rashid A. balogun, CPA, LLB(Hons.), LLM(London)

E-mail: pilgrim.movement@yahoo.com

When considering the travails and afflictions that too many people in Akwa Ibom have endured for some years now, what is on the lips of the distraught people is the question, “When will our suffering come to an end?” This question, which is very important, cannot be answered without going back into history. But in this piece I will not take us back to the long history of the state which began with the struggle of our forebears for its creation. I will confine myself to what happened in the recent past, precisely from 1999.

‘’The pictures shown here were taken at Ibom Hall on that very memorable day that Heaven will never forget. The then paramount ruler of Eket, in concert with some other traditional rulers had taken the sand and crude oil of the state, handed them to Governor Attah and told him of their intention to ensure that the state was free from idolatry, and that God should make us live in prosperity, peace and unity”

1999 was the year Obong Victor Attah mounted the saddle of the state as governor in the month of May. And because the state is named for God, the Spirit of God led our royal fathers to do something that was unprecedented and which had and continues to have and will forever have either positive and negative effects on the people depending on which side the people stand. This was the covenant Akwa Ibom entered into with God on September 23, 1999.

The pictures shown here were taken at Ibom Hall on that very memorable day that Heaven will never forget. The then paramount ruler of Eket, in concert with some other traditional rulers had taken the sand and crude oil of the state, handed them to Governor Attah and told him of their intention to ensure that the state was free from idolatry, and that God should make us live in prosperity, peace and unity.

Upon receiving them, Governor Attah spoke moving words that clearly revealed his best wishes for the state. He in turn handed the bag of sand and the bottle of oil to Elijah Mboho and other preachers including Isaiah Issong and Cletus Bassey who in turn lifted them up and prayed that the God of Heaven should severely punish any or persons who would introduce and lead the people of Akwa Ibom into idolatry and Satanism seeing that the state was named for God and God alone. They cursed and invoked the power of God not to spare anyone who would compromise and plunge the people into anything evil in the state.

However, from 2007, the state witnessed a gradual slide or return to idolatry with the disappearance of babies and some older people who were used for ritual sacrifices in order to enhance political fortunes of some unscrupulous  and mindless politicians. Nobody raised alarm over these evils except for some individuals and Global Concord newspaper who felt it should not have happened. The churches kept mum and the very traditional institutions and the preachers that dedicated the state to God through Obong Attah and prayed against idolatry, divisive tendencies, criminalities, oppression and subjugation decided to compromise with the murderous politicians all because of money and fear. They assembled at Asan Ibibio a few years later and invoked the various gods of the land and released them to cause all kinds of abominable acts which include desecration of churches by way of kidnapping of pastors, shooting and killing of members, introduction of mbiam as a means of oath of allegiance, introduction/ revival of cultism without which no one can flow with the system.

In spite of several warnings from God through some of His genuine prophets, the people gave in to the demands of Satan and thereafter serious manipulative methods were used to buy almost all traditional rulers and men of the pulpit in the state. My quarrel is not so much with the government and the traditional leaders but with Church leaders who are expected to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, but who rather have become terrestrial in their attitude and behavior instead of looking up to Christ who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. They have made the Church to become a mere social club with only a thin veneer of religiosity. As a disciple and minister of Christ, I cannot keep quiet while false apostles and other religious charlatans destroy the flock of Christ through politics.

“Upon receiving them, Governor Attah spoke moving words that clearly revealed his best wishes for the state. He in turn handed the bag of sand and the bottle of oil to Elijah Mboho and other preachers including Isaiah Issong and Cletus Bassey who in turn lifted them up and prayed that the God of Heaven should severely punish any or persons who would introduce and lead the people of Akwa Ibom into idolatry and Satanism seeing that the state was named for God and God alone…”

Like David, I have a cause and I have to fulfill it even on pains of death. The reason we are where we are in Nigeria is that the present Church leaders have refused in their obstinate infidelity to speak up on issues that affect the Kingdom of Christ. They are instead compromising with our oppressors because of money and fear of death. They are not true shepherds of God’s flock; they are hirelings. That is why they don’t care what happens to the sheep in their care except for a few “insignificant” ones whose voices the political leaders have refused to give attention to.

Those who are happy with what is going on in the state and country generally – the divide and rule game, ethnic chauvinism and a return to Satanism – have not known the long-term implications of their actions. We claim that there is peace in the state, but I know too well, as

“However, from 2007, the state witnessed a gradual slide or return to idolatry with the disappearance of babies and some older people who were used for ritual sacrifices in order to enhance political fortunes of some unscrupulous  and mindless politicians…”

much as many other Akwa Ibomites know that there is nothing like that for now because true peace is never negative. In human experience it is restored by forgiveness, literally a going forth in love such as is enjoined upon us by Christ in the words “love thine enemy.”

When all the opposites in the state, all the opposing attitudes, which are exemplified in those of Ibibio, Annang, Oron and Obolo – the cross that Akwa Ibomites hang today – when they are reconciled, not by surrender or by indecisive compromise but by the recognition of essential brotherhood, then and only then will there be true peace. It will come about only when we cease to live merely with our brothers in more or less amicable separation, and learn instead to live for each other, caring not only for ourselves but for our brother. Whatever we may call that kind of Akwa Ibom, it will not resemble any that we have known so far, for Akwa Ibomites are still in the grip of ethnicity and materialism and, whether it is Ibibio or Annang or Oron or Obolo that governs the state, the ruling interest is self-interest.

It is rather unfortunate that from 2007 till date Akwa Ibom is 100 per cent in the hands of Satan. God is no longer in direct control as demons and their human agents have been let loose in order to steal, kill and to destroy. There is a serious allegation that takes the form of rumour that there is a massive arm built-up somewhere in Ewet Housing Estate, Osong Ama Housing Estate, Ikot Ekpene and some other places. It is also rumoured that the Ibos and some thugs cum cultists have been trained and put on alert so that at the first blow of the “whistle” they will unleash mayhem in the state and destroy those who claim to be the majority. These may be mere rumours without solid foundation. But if it is true that there is no smoke without fire, then the security outfits in the country should begin now to spread their searchlights everywhere in order to prevent a catastrophe that will make the state ungovernable.

“They cursed and invoked the power of God not to spare anyone who would compromise and plunge the people into anything evil in the state…”

The good news, however, is that we have a God who never fails. He is a God who answers prayers that are offered with a sincere heart and in accordance with His perfect will. If those who entered into the covenant with God on behalf of the state were sincere with what they did, even after they have failed us, I am more than confident that going by that covenant God has an obligation to answer their prayers and honor the covenant. He will hear and answer the prayers the afflicted people have been praying over these harrowing years. This means that sooner or latter He will punish or destroy all those who have brought all these evils and idolatry back into the state.

It is interesting to recall that sometime in 2006, a man of God from Abuja and a non-native of Akwa Ibom prophesied that a governor would soon emerge in the state that would be an instrument in the hands of God Almighty. He said the governor would hold the people captive and spellbound and do whatever he pleased to the people by His permission as a means of chastening them. This means that the governor would be a school master sent by God to teach the recalcitrant people a lesson or lessons they would never forget. That man of God also added an interesting thing examples of which can be found in many places in the Bible. He said after the school master must have completed his divine assignment, God would have to deal ruthlessly with him in a way that would stun the whole world and thereafter prosperity, peace and unity would return to the state.

Are we living in that period or are we to expect that governor in the future? If we are in that dispensation, have we learnt the lesson that God intended for us? I had since stopped praying for God’s intervention in the affairs if Akwa Ibom because I am fully persuaded that since God is the one that ordained whatever we are witnessing and may continue to witness, He alone is the one, at the fullness of His time, that will say, “Enough is enough.” That will be the time this scripture will be fulfilled which says: “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.” Psalm 126:1, Psalm 14:7.