THE CABALIYA AND HER CABAL IN JALINGO

After several false starts by Turai & co. mimics to re-enact the tragi-comedy that played out during the last days of the late president Umaru Musa ‘Yar Adu’a by Turai, his wife and her associates, Hauwa Danbaba Suntai, the mini Turai, is trying hard to re-enact the same thing done by Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare Macbeth in this long suffering north eastern state of Taraba.  The copycat has a full complement of a “cabal” to assist her in murdering sleep while she plays the role of “Cabaliya” as my friend aptly named her. The “cabal” and “cabaliya’s” interest is to run the state by proxy and not her husband’s health.  To this group, as long as they can continue to milk the state dry and keep the people of Taraba state under a tight leash, they don’t care what happens to the constitution and constitutionalism.  The acting governor is to be shunted aside and treated as an unnecessary irritant.

Danbaba Suntai, a plane crash survivor, who some claim is damaged, is who these people are trying to hoist on the people as a governor. Coming barely after two and half years since the Turai saga, this should be unacceptable to all Nigerians who mean well for democracy and the rule of law.  Sadly, this group has introduced a very dangerous element into the whole affair by giving it religious undertone.  From those who received the wobbly Danbaba at the Abuja airport to the deliberate blocking of the acting governor from seeing him at the Jalingo airport, it was all very clear to the discerning that religion has taken over politics.  I failed to fathom the presence of the likes of Pastor Jerry Gana from Niger State and John Dara from Kwara state acting as spokesmen for Danbaba.  To complete the religious toga, you have Damien Dodo, Emmanuel Bwacha, Darius Ishiaku, Obadiah Ando and Jonah Jang as the masquerades behind the charade.  If this is not an exclusive religious affair, then I am a monkey’s uncle.

Danbaba Danfulani Suntai had a near fatal accident with a plane he was piloting (nobody is allowed to ask how he got the money to buy the plane in the first place) about ten months ago and by the grace of God he survived the accident but with debilitating consequences. The injuries that Danbaba sustained could be of permanent nature.  After intensive management by specialists in both Germany and USA, his political associates and an uncaring wife bundled the poor guy back into a Nigeria that lacks the basic equipment to manage trauma victims, which was why Danbaba was taken to the USA in the first place.  What we are witnessing in Taraba state is exactly what the nation witnessed two and a half years ago when Turai ‘Yar Adu’a and a handful of trusted aides attempted to run the country by proxy, not minding the pathetic condition of her dying husband.  Hauwa appear to be walking the same road Turai took.  Turai and her “cabal” are now footnotes of history after having gotten their fifteen minutes of fame.  Danbaba’s wife surrounded herself with political vultures masquerading as sympathisers and loyalists of her husband. If they truly love her husband, they would have left him in the hospital and wouldn’t have given the whole drama a religious tone.

As an elected governor of Taraba state, Danbaba Danfulani was elected by a broad spectrum of people in the state, irrespective of creed.  Surprisingly, those at the Abuja airport to receive the governor were all Christians, giving adherents of other religions in the state the jitters.  Pointedly, the roles of Jerry Gana and John Dara leaves many bewildered as to what interest do the duo have in the politics of Taraba state seeing that they both come from out of the state.  It was also alleged that Jonah Jang of Plateau state and Gabriel Suswan of Benue are neck deep in the whole tragedy.  Much as I try to deny the religious link, I find religion rearing its ugly head.  The role-played by these gentlemen in blocking even the acting governor from receiving him or even meeting him speaks volumes.

In continuation of the charade, a letter was sent to the state legislature purportedly written by a Danbaba whose wife told the world less than 24 hours back that her husband wouldn’t be able to see anyone until after 72 years.  Wonders shall never end.  Turai tried to bullshit Nigerians but failed.  Hauwa and her ‘people’ are not even original.  All they can come up with is a script written by the ‘Katsina Mafia’. 

To compound the situation you have uncouth goons insulting anyone who dare question the mental and physical condition of Danbaba including members of the state House of Assembly, who are equally elected by the electorate, same as Danbaba.  This ultimately proved to be their undoing as the legislators threatened to impeach Danbaba in the event that the cabal and the cabaliya continue to block access to Danbaba.  Being amateurs, the cabal, cabaliya and their chorus singers panicked and arranged a meeting with a man who couldn’t recognise any of the members that visited him.  When the Senator Hope Uzodinma led PDP Committee visited him, it was the same result.  The Committee was left with no choice than to ask Alhaji Umar Garba to continue acting for the governor as chief executive of Taraba state.  This is exactly what the cabal were trying to avoid but had to happen.  Ultimately,

Two ugly things became manifest in this saga.  The pivotal role of religion in the imbroglio and the insensitivity of the human being to fellow being’s plight.  Several people may disagree with me on the issue of religion but may only resort to name-calling rather than address the fundamental questions I raised here.  Bottom line is that, all those who hustled Danbaba from Seaview Hospital in Mew York belong to the same faith with him and their attempt to whip up religious emotions on the day he was brought back to Jalingo says much about the religious undertone of the misadventure.  The return of the governor that was supposed to be celebrated by all was turned into a sort of religious revival rally.  Sad.  Very sad.

On the other hand, those lusting for power and money don’t care about what happens to the man as long as they can have him in the Taraba state government house either as a prisoner or as a governor.  Their main objective is to have access to the state’s treasury and loot to their hearts’ delight.  Why do we easily fall prey to our base instincts where lucre is concerned?  Distressing. 

Seeing a bewildered Danbaba alight from the plane that brought him from New York at the Abuja airport, made me aware of my fallibility.  It may more aware of how a human being, no matter how powerful, can become useless within a twinkle eye.  It made appreciate how the poor cripples and other people with health challenges are coping with daily challenges life throw at them.  It made me appreciate my life, my health and several things I take for granted.  Hauwa should be well advised to take her husband back to New York and help nurse him back to health.  She was reported to have told the Uzodinma Committee that Danbaba was brought to Nigeria because he complained of homesickness.  Though I find it difficult to disagree with her, I am forced to disagree with her – the Danbaba I saw is not capable of saying so.

Be that as it may, the cabaliya and her cabal shall please leave the stage before the stoning commences because their production cannot even be rated.  Curtains.

BOKO HARAM: WHO DID WHAT?

The arrest and subsequent detention of the Borno State Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), though tragic, has vindicated our position of nearly two years ago when we posited that some powerful political forces are behind the barbarous killing binge that took over the northeast.  It was our position then, and remains so now, that politicians who created and nurtured militias to assist them in scaring and intimidating their opponents to submission and also snatch boxes on election days, leave these unfortunate boys to their devices and the vagaries of live after elections.  With nothing to do and a hopeless future staring them in the face, they turn to brigandage and petty misdemeanours, which soon turn to murders.  This then, is a conducive nestling ground for the likes of the late Mohammed Yusuf, Buji Foi and their patron, then Borno State governor, Modu Ali Sherriff to create a monster, which is now threatening to consume the country.

It was our contention then that Ali Modu Sherriff, may know one or two things about the Boko Haram and should therefore be invited by the authorities to shed light on the sect.  Both Yusuf and Foi were taken by the Police to see Modu Sherriff before the police killed them.  We are yet to know why they were killed suffice it to say the nation was deprived of the opportunity of knowing “why”.  It was our position at that time that the duo was silenced in order not to “tell all”.  We still maintain this position.  The arrest and detention of Othman, the Borno ANPP Chairman and of Ali Modu Sherrif’s henchmen only goes to strengthen our position on the culpability of SAS and other politicians in the mayhem bedevilling the state in the past two years..  Whatever may come out of the party chairman’s arrest, at least we are of the opinion that the JTF (or is it the government) is now pointed in the right direction and might have gotten the courage and political will to bring to an end an insurrection many people believed was created by them in the first place. 

Every Nigerian knows the role SAS played in the creation of the ECOMOG killer squad that was used to terrorise his political opponents in Borno state since around 2003 when he first contested the gubernatorial seat.  The criminal abandonment of these misguided kids, used and dumped by the political class, has turned a whole region into the world’s laughing stock.

The security challenges facing the north-eastern part of the country has effectively crippled all economic and commercial activities in the region thereby rendering the inhabitants poor and hopeless.  All human activities have virtually grounded to a halt, no thanks to the surfeit of military roadblocks dotting the whole region.  A military personnel behaving like an army of occupation treat human beings like dirt.  While the ordinary citizens bear the brunt of the federal government’s scorched-earth policy, the perpetrators, or at least those who began this in the first place are walking free, and some even walking the corridors of power and rubbing it into the faces of the poor.  While Goodluck Jonathan and his funky fellows are wining and dining in Abuja, the northeast is on fire and those that lit it are dining on the same table with Jonathan, with the blood of the innocent dripping from their fingertips

If the federal government is serious about ending the insurgency in the north in general and the northeast in particular, the arrest of the ANPP chairman in Borno State should be the first step in unravelling the genesis and therefore the way out of this mess.  The government must muster the political will and decisiveness to extract information from Mr Othman the way it does with the Kabiru Sokotos and whoever is implicated must be brought to book and made to face the full wrath of the law.  It is not about firepower or Tanimu Committee.  This is about human lives, which has become valueless under Jonathan’s watch.  Conspiracy theorists have pontificated for long that the Jonathan administration is interested in the continued human and material destruction of the north and by implication has a hand in the on-going insurgency.  To disabuse the minds of the doubting sceptics and disprove the conspiracy theorists, the federal government should treat this particular case with all the seriousness it deserves and take it to its logical conclusion critically, government must ensure that Mr Othman doesn’t get the Mohammed Yusuf and Buji Foi treatment.

It is alleged that Mr. Othman is not talking and insists he won’t say anything unless Modu Sherriff is brought to his detention centre.  Equally disturbing is the fact that most of the about 200 kids arrested confessed to being armed by Mr. Othman.  This is a very serious allegation and must be treated with all the seriousness it deserves.  Everybody must ensure the survival of Othman whose investigation may finally help us bring an end to this dark spot in the region’s history.  Also, the connection between Mr Othman and Ali Modu Sherrif must be investigated thoroughly and if nothing incriminating is found, both should be cleared with Othman released from detention.  If anything, anything at all, no matter how tenous it may appear, that links the duo with the insurgency, the full weight of the law should be brought on them and their associates.  The government must of necessity, show Nigerians that they are serious about bringing to an end the killings and that no one is above the law.  Clichés and Church pronoucements by Jonathan is no way to end the troubles.  Our people are tired of the destructions and dislocations arising from the failure of the government to provide them security and protection which in turn is as a result of the government’s protection and pampering of criminals. 

The so-called “Civilian JTF” rampaging Borno State and who are instrumental in unmasking Othman know more about Boko Haram than the security forces.  We may not know yet whether they are part of the problem who decide to repent and be part of the posse.  We may do well for ourselves to listen when they talk.

Many have lost either their lives, property or careers therefore it will be criminal for the government to discontinuance anything that may point to a final solution to the menace.  Whoever or whatever is found culpable of involvement must be made to face the wrath of the land.  We must begin to show that we are a country with a set of laws meant to be applied and obeyed.  The much sought after foreign investment won’t come to the shores of a troubled nation.  Dealing with the big fishes will send the right signal to the smaller.  That is unless someone, somewhere is more interested in a north bended on its knees politically, economically and commercially with a bewildered population suspicious of each other.

BOKO HARAM: WHO DID WHAT?

The arrest and subsequent detention of the Borno State Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), though tragic, has vindicated our position of nearly two years ago when we posited that some powerful political forces are behind the barbarous killing binge that took over the northeast.  It was our position then, and remains so now, that politicians who created and nurtured militias to assist them in scaring and intimidating their opponents to submission and also snatch boxes on election days, leave these unfortunate boys to their devices and the vagaries of live after elections.  With nothing to do and a hopeless future staring them in the face, they turn to brigandage and petty misdemeanours, which soon turn to murders. This then, is a conducive nestling ground for the likes of the late Mohammed Yusuf, Buji Foi and their patron, then Borno State governor, Modu Ali Sherriff to create a monster, which is now threatening to consume the country.

It was our contention then that Ali Modu Sherriff, may know one or two things about the Boko Haram and should therefore be invited by the authorities to shed light on the sect.  Both Yusuf and Foi were taken by the Police to see Modu Sherriff before the police killed them.  We are yet to know why they were killed suffice it to say the nation was deprived of the opportunity of knowing “why”.  It was our position at that time that theduo was silenced in order not to “tell all”.  We still maintain this position.  The arrest and detention of Othman, the Borno ANPP Chairman and of Ali ModuSherrif’s henchmen only goes to strengthen our position on the culpability of SAS and other politicians in the mayhem bedevilling the state in the past two years.. Whatever may come out of the party chairman’s arrest, at least we are of the opinion that the JTF (or is it the government) is now pointed in the right direction and might have gotten the courage and political will to bring to an end an insurrection many people believed was created by them in the first place.  

Every Nigerian knows the role SAS played in the creation of the ECOMOG killer squad that was used to terrorise his political opponents in Borno state since around 2003 when he first contested the gubernatorial seat.  The criminal abandonment of these misguided kids, used and dumped by the political class, has turned a whole region into the world’s laughing stock.

The security challenges facing the north-eastern part of the country has effectively crippled all economic and commercial activities in the region thereby rendering the inhabitants poor and hopeless.  All human activities have virtually grounded to a halt, no thanks to the surfeit of military roadblocks dotting the whole region.  A military personnel behaving like an army of occupation treat human beings like dirt.  While the ordinary citizens bear the brunt of the federal government’s scorched-earth policy, the perpetrators, or at least those who began this in the first place are walking free, and some even walking the corridors of power and rubbing it into the faces of the poor.  While Goodluck Jonathan and his funky fellows are wining and dining in Abuja, the northeast is on fire and those that lit it are dining on the same table with Jonathan, with the blood of the innocent dripping from their fingertips

If the federal government is serious about ending the insurgency in the north in general and the northeast in particular, the arrest of the ANPP chairman in Borno State should be the first step in unravelling the genesis and therefore the way out of this mess.  The government must muster the political will and decisiveness to extract information from Mr Othman the way it does with the Kabiru Sokotos and whoever is implicated must be brought to book and made to face the full wrath of the law.  It is not about firepower or Tanimu Committee.  This is about human lives, which has become valueless under Jonathan’s watch.  Conspiracy theorists have pontificated for long that the Jonathan administration is interested in the continued human and material destruction of the north and by implication has a hand in the on-going insurgency.  To disabuse the minds of the doubting sceptics and disprove the conspiracy theorists, the federal government should treat this particular case with all the seriousness it deserves and take it to its logical conclusion critically, government must ensure that Mr Othman doesn’t get the Mohammed Yusuf and Buji Foi treatment.

It is alleged that Mr. Othman is not talking and insists he won’t say anything unless Modu Sherriff is brought to his detention centre.  Equally disturbing is the fact that most of the about 200 kids arrested confessed to being armed by Mr. Othman.  This is a very serious allegation and must be treated with all the seriousness it deserves.  Everybody must ensure the survival of Othman whose investigation may finally help us bring an end to this dark spot in the between Mr Othman and Ali Modu Sherrif must be investigated thoroughly and if nothing incriminating is found, both should be cleared with Othman released from detention.  If anything, anything at all, no matter how tenous it may appear, that links the duo with the insurgency, the full weight of the law should be brought on them and their associates.  The government must of necessity, show Nigerians that they are serious about bringing to an end the killings and that no one is above the law.  Clichés and Church pronoucements by Jonathan is no way to end the troubles.  Our people are tired of thedestructions and dislocations arising from the failure of the government to provide them security and protection which in turn is as a result of the government’s protection and pampering of criminals.  

The so-called “Civilian JTF” rampaging Borno State and who are instrumental in unmasking Othman know more about Boko Haram than the security forces.  We may not know yet whether they are part of the problem whodecide to repent and be part of the posse.  We may do well for ourselves to listen when they talk.

Many have lost either their lives, property or careers therefore it will be criminal for the government to discontinuance anything that may point to a final solution to the menace.  Whoever or whatever is found culpable of involvement must be made to face the wrath of the land.  We must begin to show that we are a country with a set of laws meant to be applied and obeyed.  The much sought after foreign investment won’t come to the shores of a troubled nation.  Dealing with the big fishes will send the right signal to the smaller.  That is unless someone, somewhere is more interested in a north bended on its knees politically, economically and commercially with a bewildered population suspicious of each other.

THE WAR AGAINST THE NORTH

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There is a war going on against the north.  This war has been going on for a long time and believe it or not, it is war of attrition.  Pretending otherwise, will be stupid.  This war is waged right from 29^th May 1999, the day Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in as a civilian president.  The region has continuously being under siege since then and this resulted in the total collapse of all economic activities.  This in turn led to the current insecurity experienced all across the region.  The north, as one leg of the fabled troika that made up the country, has effectively being pushed out of Nigeria, believe it or not.  Disbelieving this by any northerner, no matter his station in the current scheme of things, may be at his peril.  The mistake we all do is to assume that everything is all right so long as we are not affected.

In the beginning, the north as a region was noted for its political sagacity and military prowess, therefore the region exercised some sort of dominance in these areas in contradistinction to the other regions – the southwest had control of the civil service and the financial and economic sectors while the southeast was in charge of commerce.  But this informal tripodal arrangement was destroyed with the advent of the current civilian rule.  The north has been sidelined in those spheres its people excelled in the past – military and politics thereby rendering the region an appendage of the south (an unwanted dependant territory) in every sense of the word.  The north is under siege from particularly those who the northerners fought a war to protect from their very powerful neighbours.  The presence of gun-totting military men in almost every northern city attests to this, the highways are worse. 

For those northerners who believe they are safe from the on-going war against the region, I advise them to have a rethink.  The killings, the economic and political warfare affects all and everybody in the north.  It is not targeted at a particular group or that only certain sections or groups are feeling the heat.  The worst of this warfare is the targeting of economic activities in the north for annihilation with military precision and our so-called northern elites are watching with folded arms like people on hypnotic drugs.  The only way money change hands is either when salaries are paid or through blue-collar businesses like achaba operators, roadside food vendors, cobblers, itinerant manicurists, etc.  The macro aspect of our economic activities has for long being grounded.  Travelling by road anywhere in the north is now an ordeal worse than the numerous curfews periodically imposed on us.  A curfew in the cities is another weapon used as a tool for stifling northern economic and commercial activity, which has been on life support for long. 

For those of us who travel across the north by road, we are gradually getting used to the humiliations meted out by ordinary mortals like us who derive their power from the guns they hold to their waist.  You are forced to display your most personal belongings to total strangers in the name of “security checks” while the bombs keep going off in our metropolitan areas where economic and commercial activates are concentrated.  A trip that may, at most be completed in eight hours is now done in a minimum of eleven because of the numerous checkpoints.    Meanwhile the hosts states of these JTFs/ STFs spends hundreds of millions of naira just to make life comfortable for those strangulating their economy and humiliating their citizens. 

But if truth be told, have we really tried to identify, isolate, arrest and prosecute those behind the unprecedented insecurity bedevilling the north?  The pattern of the attacks and the arrests made so far should give us pointers as to who are responsible.  I still maintain my stand that some people out there are trying by whatever means possible to bring down the north, or what is left of it to its wobbly knees.  The region is now a place where bombs go off anytime the president made a mess of governance, the most recent being the bomb blast at a bus park in Kano coming shortly after the president granted unpardonable state pardon to a thief and a homosexual child serial rapist.  The value of both human life and dignity in the north is not worth the price of Goodluck’s fedora hat.

 While the bulk of the military is deployed in the north as an army of occupation and/ or mischief, oil thieves are having a field day in the creeks to the extent that about three oil producing companies have to shut down production.  Being the economic lifeline of the nation, I believe the suspension of production by oil companies is a more serious security threat to the nation than the contrived bombings in the north could ever do.  But what has the federal government done about it?  Outsource the protection of the pipelines and facilities to the big time oil thieves.  To Goodluck Jonathan, a hungry, skinny, unkempt and hopeless kid on the streets of the north constitutes more danger than fat cats who holds the nation’s economy by the jugular ever could.

While all these are happening, northern governors are busy wining and dining with the enemies of their people in Abuja.  They are more interested in who becomes the national chairman of their party than the collective grieve of their citizens.  The blood of the poor souls that perish in Baga is only meant to water their plans to fruition.  Incidentally, Baga is also another commercial town that bestrides three nations.  This is just an aside.

THE NIGERIAN ARMY: STEPPING BACK INTO JANUARY 1966

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The current promotions and retirements in the Nigerian army portend danger to the continued unity of this country; it reminds one of the complete annihilation of the crop of officer corps of northern extraction in January of 1966.  Now, as then, Igbo officers led the putsch – the difference being while the officers of 1966 used guns, the officers of 2012 used their pens.  With the attempt to rewrite the history of the civil war by the likes of Chinua Achebe and other intellectuals of Igbo descent, the direction of the intellectual warfare is beginning to be clear to those whose vision was befuddled by the pseudo-intellectualism of the writers.  It all began with giving Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of the defeated Biafra a state burial as if he was not directly responsible for the deaths of nearly a million people during the civil war.  The brutal killing of General Mamman Shuwa, an authentic civil war hero, right in front of nearly a dozen soldiers who were supposed to be guarding him, followed this.

If the skewed nature of the promotions and retirements is indicative of where the army is headed to, then we are in serious trouble.  A recent news item in one of the dailies went further to say that the retirements are not over because others still in service, particularly those from the north and the south who are seniors to one Major General Minimah will be retired to make way for him to take over as Chief of Army staff when the current Army Chief of Staff, General Ihejirika steps down.  That the present chief is retained just so that he can truncate the careers of senior officers to make way for a Minimah.  Though covertly, the officer corps of northern ancestry has been systematically decimated in the services, the subtle implication of Major General Isa and Air Vice Marshall Kure in the bombings inside the Jaji Cantonment was the first salvo fired overtly.  The subsequent forceful retirement of General Isa, who was in line to take over from Ihejirika, confirmed what was generally suspected to be in the offing.

The politicisation of the Nigerian military has destroyed the very essence of the services – professionalism.  Promotions and retirements are now based on primordial sentiments like where you come from and which religion you professes not on merit, seniority or such other professional considerations.  Though this was shrewd in the past, particularly during the Obasanjo regime, it has become full blown now.  The audacity of its authors leaves one breathless.  With what is happening in the military, one has the feeling that Goodluck Jonathan is bent on making sure he is the last President of what we know as Nigeria.  The parallels between what is unfolding now and the wholesale massacre of northern military officers in January of 1966 are uncanny and scary.  The events of the night of January 15^th, 1966 is repeating itself right before our eyes but this time no blood is flowing, only careers destroyed, some in their prime.  Are we by any stretch of the imagination sure the country is going to survive the current assault on its values by a government that cares little about the sensitivity of certain things?  A government that its functionaries branded a whole section of the country as ‘terrorists’?

The claim by the Controller General of the Immigration Service that she refused to advertise vacancies in the service in order to avoid recruiting ‘terrorists’ into the organisation sums up the mind set of those who forced the retirement of certain people in the Nigerian army simply to make way for Minimah to become Chief of Army Staff.  Our military institution is taken back to the days of the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) by a government insensitive to the existing socio-political fault lines.  The retirements and/ or promotions of officers purely based on the perception that a section of the country can and could be made subservient to another bodes danger to the corporate existence of the country. My take on the current exercise of weeding out officers of northern and south western extraction is synonymous with the murders of Brig. S.A. Ademulegun, Major S.A. Adegoke, Lt. Col. J.Y. Pam, Brig. Zakari Maimalari and Col. Kur Mohammed and the rest.  Then as now, no single Igbo officer lost his life or commission.  While Maimalari and co. lost their lives, Isa and his mates lost their commissions while the rest are on the firing line to lose theirs. My fears are – will the country bear the consequences of this misadventure?

If any officer is due for retirement let him be retired but if they are not, the military authorities should allow them retire whenever they are due to unless they choose to voluntarily do so.  The wise thing to do for those who want Minimah to head the army is to make sure he remains in the army and bide his time.  Retire his seniors to make way for him will be a very dangerous precedent that may be imitated by others when their ‘time’ comes.  The way the military and the country are run today will surely make Godwin Orkar proud in his grave.

EXECUTIVE PLANE CRASHES & ROADBLOCKS

My heart goes out to Dame Amina Elizabeth Yakowa on her irreplaceable lost – a lost felt by all and sundry in Kaduna State in particular and the country in general.  But no one will feel this lost more than the Dame for she lost a husband, companion and possibly a father. I pray God will give you the fortitude to bear the loss and the forbearance to forge ahead.  Sir Patrick Yakowa’s death was a lost to all, but while the state lost a bridge-builder, the family lost a patriarch.  We can all take solace in knowing that he did his best and wasn’t found wanting wherever he served throughout his public service career.  Mrs Yakowa should be well assured that the encomiums pouring in after his tragic death are not the usual political crocodile tears which easily flow eyes that are touched with handkerchiefs soaked in Mentholatum.  The tears were genuine and the encomiums authentic.  May Sir Patrick Yakowa be with his Lord.

Tragic as the chopper crash that snuff the late governor’s life, we may as well interrogate ourselves on the methods taken by the various states and the federal government as a means of safeguarding the lives and properties of the high and mighty.  Today most cities in the north looks like conquered territories because of the high concentration of gun totting military personnel wherever one turns.  Our society have been militarised, and if I can borrow Jerry Rawlings cliché, “violence have been democratised”, with a human life costing less than the cost of the bullet used to kill him.  The soldiers deployed to our cities and highways have turned out to be worse than the Boko Haram fighters it is meant to protect the people from.  The number of souls lost to the bullets of the soldiers may be higher than the number of those killed by the sect members.  Much as the people have been calling on the authorities for the withdrawal of the soldiers, the authorities have turned deaf ears because they believe the people are their enemies and must therefore be shielded from by force of arms.  All this may be a direct consequence of how our leaders emerged through fraudulent means.

Apart from the daily lost of lives caused by the military, the humiliation our people suffer from the hands of these uncouth goons both in the cities and the highways are terrible, to say the least.  I had the misfortune of travelling to Yola by road from Kaduna and the way commuters in public vehicles are humiliated and intimidated made me hate being a Nigerian.  The military men manning the roadblocks behaves no different from occupation forces we see on our television sets in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.  Passengers are asked to come down from their vehicles and open their luggage for a public display of their most personal items.  At some roadblocks, passengers are ordered to face away from the vehicle while searches are conducted.  I saw a woman forced to mow grasses for daring to look at a soldier while he was searching their bus.  The ‘rule’ is that all passengers are to turn their backs to their luggage while it being searched.  Can’t be worse for Palestinians crossing into Israel.  We ended up making a trip of eight hours in ten. 

For those in the towns, the experiences are far worse for those using motorcycles.  You are forced to dismount at the pain of being flogged by the soldiers at the roadblocks. The harassments and humiliations apart, the stupendous amount of money that goes into maintaining these roadblocks are mind-boggling.  The monies should have made a lot of difference in the lives of our long-suffering compatriots.  With all the ubiquity of the roadblocks, the bombers – what they are purportedly created to stop – are continuing to have a field day.  With the twin bombings in the heart of the military’s elitist Cantonment – Jaji – the uselessness of these roadblocks have been exposed.  They are just useless money guzzlers and a tool for the humiliation of the poor who find it difficult to navigate the various fierce looking, gun-totting soldiers, to go looking what to eat.

My point in this piece is for us to use Yakowa’s death to rethink our security strategies.  Our government houses have been turned into fortresses and most government institutions and structures are looking like mini military cantonments all in an effort to protect our governors, lawmakers and other public functionaries.  But the architect of this draconian security policy – the late Owoye Azazi – died in a chopper crash.  He was “attacked” by death where you can’t erect a roadblock.  I do not claim to know much about the man Azazi but I know him from reputation as the man indicted for the crime of unprecedented movement of military hardware to Niger Delta militants when he was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Mechanised Division, Kaduna.  He went on to head the Army and retire as Chief of Defence Staff.  He reinvented himself during the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as the National Security Adviser (NSA) with enormous powers and influence.  He is no more but his legacies of roadblocks live with us.  The continued attacks by faceless terror groups who, for all we know, are hiding behind the mask of Boko Haram to perpetrate mayhem in the north, is a testament to the failure of these death traps.  They are there simply to degrade and intimidate poor daily road users who cannot afford sirens. 

Kaduna state has lost a rare gem.  A man who overcame his prejudices to lead an ethnically and religiously fragmented state.   It was universally agreed that Yakowa was a good man and tried his best for Kaduna and its people.  I hope he is in the bosom of his Lord.  As to Azazi, I am sure he was also eulogised by those he did his best to impress while alive; those he assisted in life even at the expense of others.  Though I may disagree with him and his worldview, he did his level best to make sure his people are visible in all spheres of our polity.  Despite his concerted efforts to have the northern part of Nigeria labelled a ‘terrorists territory’ and despite failing to do so, the man served the country in his own ways.

But the death of these two and the pilots and other passengers in the helicopter crash should ideally wake us up from the folly of thinking that we can mount roadblocks to ward off death. Injustice begets injustice and disenchantment that leads to frustrations, which in turn leads to the destructive spree we are witnessing.  Living behind sandbags, high fences, attack dogs and fierce looking security operatives hasn’t solved the problem but actually exacerbated it.   Governor Danbaba Danfulani of Taraba State is still in the hospital in Germany (I pray for his full recovery).  No ‘terrorists’ attacked the plane he was piloting;  Governor Idris Wada, a pilot, ironically was involved in fatal road accident, which claimed the life of his ADC. 

The best way to immortalise these gentlemen who lost their lives needlessly, is to find a lasting solution to the incessant insecurity in the country; to ensure that every Nigerian sleeps with both eyes and not this ad-hoc arrangement through which the authorities create more enemies than friends.

AS WAS WITH BALARABE MUSA, SO IT SHOULD BE WITH TANKO AL-MAKURA

The recent threat by the Nassarawa State House of Assembly to impeach the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) reminds one of the maxim that “the more things change, the more they remain the same”.  Reading the story took me back to the second republic politics of old Kaduna State when a National Party of Nigeria (NPN) dominated House of Assembly fought a war of attrition with the Peoples Redemption (PRP) governor of the state.  The then NPN swept the country like a gale picking states at will particularly the northern states but could not win the mother lode – the old Kaduna state.  It was a shocker for the NPN and its candidate, Lawal Kaita, who to all intents and purposes was just waiting to be crowned.  While the NPN swept almost all the seats in the legislature, it performed woefully losing the gubernatorial seat to a little known accountant – Balarabe Musa.  This was unacceptable to the NPN and so began the ‘war’, which led to Balarabe’s impeachment.  The people of the state were the worst for it because in the two years that Mallam Balarabe Musa lasted, he was not allowed to perform optimally with distractions coming from the House of Assembly.  Be as it may, the PRP government was able to establish some industries like the Kachia Ginger factory and the Ikara Food Processing Company.

We can only guess what the state lost by the antics of the NPN, but from the little that was delivered by Mallam Bala, we can hazard a guess as to the unquantifiable loss the state experienced with his impeachment.  Balarabe Musa operated without commissioners for the duration of his stay in office but many people still revere him for his performance and he still remains a reference point for good governance.  The shenanigans taking place in Nassarawa state since the ascension of Al-Makura to the governor’s office reminds one of how the NPN scuttled people’s dreams because of the selfishness of the party and its members in 1981.  In the run-up to the 2011 general elections, Tanko Al-Makura a founding member of the PDP decamped to the newly registered CPC to actualise his ambition of leading Nassarawa Sate as governor, which he couldn’t realise in the PDP.  In a scene reminiscent of Kaduna in 1979, the PDP won almost all the elections held in 2011 and then lost the governorship to the CPC and Al-Makura.  The PDP holds Al-Makura responsible for its loss in Nassarawa State.

From the day Al-Makura was sworn to the present moment, the governor has not known peace from his legislators who are supposed to be his partners in carrying the state forward.  He has been jumping from one booby trap to the other.  The legislators once boycotted their legislative functions for the ridiculous reason that the governor refused to furnish their chamber – a contract awarded by the erstwhile governor when most of them were in the legislature.  But the recent threat to impeach the governor within seven days beat all else.  How does a fight between two ethnic groups constitute an impeachable offence beats my imagination.  Much as I try to see reason and logic in the threat, I couldn’t find any.  Nigeria has been practically on fire since Goodluck Jonathan became president but I cannot remember anyone threatening him with impeachment.

Ethnic and religious violence has been the hallmark of elite rivalry and has been destroying the country and tearing the nation apart and any right thinking Nigerian is trying to find solutions to these senseless killings and destructions going on.  To try to trivialise such a grave issue is tantamount to irresponsibility.  The PDP like politicising issues that they believe will advance its cause even if lives may be lost.  This attitude is exactly why you have pockets of clashes all over the country.  Authorities concerned are not interested in addressing critical questions but rather try to gain political points from such.  The recent misadventure by the group called Ombatse in Nassarawa state that led to the lost of lives of innocent Nigerians, some ordinary travellers, should under normal, rational circumstances elicit condemnation by the State House of Assembly and a call on the authorities (state and federal) to arrest and prosecute the leaders of the group.  But no.  The PDP see the disturbance of a way of issuing threats and may be finally get rid of Al-Makura, whose only offence seems the bruising of PDP’s dirty nose in the dirt.

The legislators accused the governor of lacking “competence to response to emergencies, and has shown complete disdain for the courtesy of extending relief to thousands, including women and their children, as well as the elderly, often displaced by the fast spreading violence”.  I hope federal legislators from Borno and Yobe states are listening and will take a cue from the Nassarawa State legislators.  The people of the two states (Borno and Yobe) should ask their representatives on why they are yet to issue impeachment threats against the president.  Goodluck Jonathan has not for once visited these hapless people to even show empathy, much less extend “relief”.  While he is not busy to attend the 40^th pastoral anniversary of Ayo Oritsejafor, he is always busy to visit Borno and Yobe despite the unparalleled lost of lives and destruction of economic activities in the two states under his watch.

Al-Makura was also accused by the majority leader in the House, Godiya Akwasiki, of “failing to comply with previous House resolutions to act on the raging violence and has folded his hands to watch while the people were daily being killed”.  May be I don’t get the meaning of this allegation, but are they talking about the president or Nassarawa State governor?

The NPN held the people Kaduna State to ransom and denied them the chance to be led by a bonafide welfarist.  Now it appears it is the turn of Nassarawa State and its people to be treated to the fascist’s treatment by the offshoot of the NPN.  I see the fascism that drove Balarabe Musa out of office in 1981 at play in Nassarawa State in 2012.  But if the state legislators should be foolhardy to go ahead with their threat, National Assembly members should be on notice to kick out Goodluck for the fact that while Nigeria is on fire he is playing modern day Nero – drinking expensive wine in place of Nero’s fiddle.

If the PDP as an institution wants to play this type of brinkmanship, why don’t they start with the presidency?  At least they are in control of the National Assembly.  To selectively single out Al-Makura for such a threat smacks of arrogance and bad bele.  This should be unacceptable to Nigerians wherever they may be.  We should not allow dictatorship creep in on us wearing the garb of law and order.  Granted that Al-Makura must, as the chief security officer of the state, ensure the prevalence of peace, harmony and peaceful co-existence amongst and between the disparate people of the state.  But this must be applicable to the federal government that controls all security agencies.