SNPA & NDPVF: SAME DIFFERENCE

Alex Ekwueme’s major claim to national prominence was his serving the nation as a vice president in the second republic.  He went into hibernation after their government was overthrown only to resurface as a delegate to the Abacha organised National Conference in 1995, where his major contribution was the proposal for the balkanisation of the hitherto three regions into what he called “six geo-political zones”.  We all thought Ekwueme was a nationalist and a statesman who got the short end of the stick from a military lusting for power and an unappreciative political class.  When he floated the Institute of civil society in 1998, we all rushed to join believing the man was a Nigerian at heart not knowing he is a closet Biafran.

I was therefore shocked by the vituperations contained in the press statement released by the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly to find the name of Ekwueme as one of the signatories alongside Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu and Edwin Clark.  Their statement came on the heels of another one by unrepentant militants, issued from the Bayelsa State Government House.  The press statement by those who may otherwise be statesmen in more civilised climes was to all intents and purposes an intimidation and blackmail on the person of Professor Attahiru Jega the INEC Chairman and Nigerians.  While every Nigerian was well aware that the president wanted the February elections cancelled for no discernible reason other than self-preservation, the threats and intimidation were unnecessary and uncalled for.  The tone and language of the Ekwueme press statement was not substantially different from the one earlier issued by Edwin Clark, Tompolo, Dokubo and Boyloaf.

The Jonathan administration is the most divisive government ever in the history of this country and I say this with all sense of responsibility.  This government succeeded in balkanising the country along all its known fault lines and is continuing to do so just to achieve its selfish ends.  We have seen how it has courted, nurtured, pampered and protected hate merchants and hooligans and exalted them far and above their fellow law abiding citizens; we have seen how hate speech has developed into a trade for some unscrupulous people.  Nigerians were treated to the most divisive campaign ever in the political development of the country led by our neo Goebbels Fani Kayode and the chief proponent of Janjaweed politics, Olisa Metuh.  The duo and Doyin Okupe seem to derive joy and satisfaction in pushing Nigeria towards the road to Kigali while the president stand by watching with amused satisfaction. 

It is to this group that Ekwueme decided to lend his name – not as a Nigerian elder statesman but as a regional champion.  Nigeria is finished if the likes of Ekwueme will allow their names to be associated with barefaced lies, which are easily verifiable.  We thought his horizon goes further than those of Edwin Clark and Okorunmu because of the exalted office he was privileged to occupy in the past.

Those who signed the press release know very well that all the allegations contained in their release are baseless and without foundation.  And this can easily be verified, like I said earlier.  The allegations seem to have been cooked in the presidency’s dirty affairs department but in the Southern Nigeria Peoples’ Assembly’s haste to do the presidency’s bidding, they threw decorum and decency to the dogs and issued a tissue of lies knowing them to be lies to an already tensed country, no thanks to their off-springs – the militants.  Jega’s reputation and the general consequences of their action are of no significance to them.  As for their reputation, it doesn’t exist.

Basking in their earlier pyric victory of blackmailing Jega into suspending the long overdue constituency delineation exercise because it didn’t favour them, they have now embarked on the most dangerous leg of their irredentist campaign and the whole country seem to be stupefied.  The campaign against Jega and INEC now seem to be a systematic and continual chiselling of Jega’s reputation and integrity until such a time that Nigerians lose faith and confidence in his ability and that of the Commission to consduct a credible election.  Their logic appear to be, “since they failed worfully in their efforts to destroy Buhari’s reputation and people pulling power, why not destroy that of the umpire.”  And in this, there is no discernable difference between Ekwueme, Dokubo and FunnyI-Kayode.

The truth behind their press conference and other actions is gradually unfurling for all Nigerians to see.  It was clearly to find an excuse of postponing the February elections and they have succeeded – to an extent.  Sadly for them, due to the incoherence nature of their ill-plans, they couldn’t find common ground as to why the elections must be postponed – is it because PVCs have not been properly distribute or insecurity in the northeast or logistical problems as par Fani-Kayode?  They couldn’t agree on one thing even among their small circle. 

The Ekwueme group appear to be competing for recognition with the militants whose understanding of democracy begins an ends with Jonathan remaining in power until kingdom come.  Their threat of taking up arms against the rest of the country rings hollow to someone like me who is living in the north and has been living with war in one form or another since the ascension of Jonathan Goodluck to the office of the president.  Breaking up Nigeria wouldn’t be a big deal to the average northerner and may in fact welcome such a development, so I don’t think it is still an issue whether the country remain the same or not to most of us.  Insulting one’s cultural values, religious beliefs and most of the things cherished by one has already broken up the country, so no amount of threats will make most of us change our political beliefs.  Though it is immaterial to them that Jonathan is a total failure as universally agreed, it is very crucial to those who still loves the country, warts and all.

Either by acts of omission or commission, the federal government has brought the north to its sorry knees.  Its agents provocateurs persistently denigrate the north and its leaders; its economy destroyed and its territory under the boots of murderers on a rampage unchecked by a federal army more interested in mounting roadblocks in towns and cities, molesting the poor than engaging the murderers.  While the north is bleeding from all its economic and social veins, the president’s supporters are inflicting more cuts on the country and the region.

Now that Jonathan has gotten his wish by pre-annulling the elections and shifting it to march, what is in store for the north?  Can we continue along these destructive paths by wallowing in self-pity or do we have at least the mental capacity to stand-up to those bullying us? 

Unsavoury comments have been making rounds like the replacement of Professor Attahiru Jega with the younger brother to governor MImiko.  Such allegations should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand because we have seen how the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was eased out of office for blowing the whistle about the sleaze in the government.  He who is down, fears no fall.

USTAZ NAMADINA, LET’S DEBATE

Vice President Namadi Sambo (aka Namadina), the one half of the Jonathan/ Sambo ticket hails from Kaduna State.  This is no news.  It is also no news anymore that the guy have been going round the country pretending to be reciting Al-Fatiha in his effort to woo the Muslim voters in the mistaken belief or mischief that Goodluck Jonathan is not acceptable to them because he is a Christian.  I am not aware if anyone had ever doubted that.  His recitation of the Fatiha and his attempt at appealing to the religious sentiments of the northern voters, whose minds have been made to kick him out of the Villa, appears pathetic and dangerous.  In his desperation to remain the lapdog of those holding the president and the presidency hostage, he was (is) oblivious of the danger in his antics – putting a tinderbox at the brittle feet of an already polarised society.  But thank God, instead of establishing his religious bonafides, the man only succeeded in exposing his ignorance.  Allah wadan naka ya lalace.  The buffoonery must be maintained in order to divert the attention of his constituents from his disastrous failure.  It is now apparent to all, including the clown, that he is an unmitigated catastrophe to us.

The vice president might have resorted to these base levels because there is nothing he can tell or show his immediate constituency (the north) on what their government did for the region or even Kaduna State.  While he was busy escorting Patience Jonathan to parties and jamborees, the northern region was systematically decimated in all spheres due to the policies of a government he pretends to be the second in command.  The northeast is ravaged by Boko Haram, the north central is devastated by a contrived farmers/ herders' clash and the northwest is overwhelmed by banditry.  In this situation, how can the people thrive?  It is a race for survival daily for the inhabitants of Namadina’s region and the plight of the people is of no concern to him.

While Goodluck and Namadina are beating their chest on the political hustling telling those who care to listen to them how they have developed the north by establishing almajiri schools and ten Universities in the region, majority of northerners are dying from hunger, banditry and insurgency.  Incidentally they forgot to tell us how many of us are almajiris or for how long ASUU went on strike and even the amount of money pumped into these Universities for research and infrastructural development.  The fact that the Goodluck Jonathan administration decided to establish what they call almajiri school is denigrating to me as a person.  This policy appears to give credence to how the creek rats like Asari Dokubo see all northerners.  But I have a question or two to Mr. Namadina on how their government treats issues of development and progress of the north and northerners.

They claimed on several of their campaign stops to be interested in human development of this sick part of Nigeria – the leeches and the parasites.  That is okay.  I will like to take just one human development institution in Kaduna which was conceived and started by the late ‘Yar Adu’a – the National College for Petroleum Studies, Kaduna.  This is a project that was conceived to train management level and middle cadre officers for the Petroleum industry.  Billions has already being expended on the project.  Sadly, this laudable project was stalled from the day Jonathan and Namadina took over.  Kaduna is the home state of Namadina and a lot of their children would have had the opportunity of being trained in the sector since the Petroleum Training Institute, Warri is a no go area for products of “almajiri” schools.  Or at least since in their magnanimity they have established almajiri schools and almajiri Universities in the region, they would have completed this massive project and convert it to an almajiri technical institution.

The vice president is unmindful of the number of people whose livelihoods have been permanently destroyed because the government deliberately starved the project of the needed funds – the contractors, the suppliers, the petty traders and the construction workers who were all engaged in one way or the other when the project was on-going.  Some contractors have been permanently incapacitated by the government’s failure to pay them for work done.

Another project, also in Kaduna, with life changing and saving implications for the people is the abandoned 44 Army Reference Hospital.  This project was also started during the ‘Yar Adu’a period.  It is supposed to be a United Nations referral hospital for troops deployed under the UN around the flashpoints of West and Central Africa.  The hospital has also been the referral centre for the inhabitants of Kaduna since the relocation of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital from Kaduna to Shika in Zaria.  With the ascension of Goodluck Jonathan and Namadina Sambo, the hospital is now of the abandoned projects that litter our landscape.

I am not sure Namadi Sambo truly knows what development means - what can be defined as social service or provision of infrastructure.  He is either clueless or deliberately wicked.  Take the case of the Zaria Water works.  His company, Nalado Construction Company is the major contractor for the project and Zaria is his supposed hometown, yet he couldn’t give them water after collecting billions of naira from the state government for that purpose.  At one time he was the contractor and the client – owner of the construction company and governor of Kaduna state. 

What happened to the Kudenda power station that is supposed to generate 215MW for the comatose industries in the state? Yet to be completed.  Gurara?  The textile industry resuscitation fund? Need I say more?  These are issues to be discussed and explained as campaign issues not reciting the Fatiha, which in any case have been faulted by students of tajweed.  These are issues to be debated at your crooked debates organised by your agencies and hirelings.  These are the things your sidekick, Ramalan Yero should explain to the poor, long suffering people of the state and not making inflammatory statements.

These projects are all located in Kaduna the vice president’s home state.  For someone like me coming from Adamawa State, the rehabilitation of the Gombe – Numan – Yola road is of paramount importance to me.  This project was awarded by the late Umaru ‘Yar Adu’a but unfortunately the project died with him.  Those who ply the road know what I am talking about.  I do not want to take up all the issues that are supposed to be addressed by the vice president but failed.  The size of the whole region may be heavy for him  - but Kaduna?  While they are busy accusing General Buhari of running away from ‘their’ debate, we are inviting them to our debate.  Please address the issues raised above and then let’s start talking.

May be you can enlighten us on why the east – west road is a permanent fixture on your weekly Federal Executive Council meetings while the Gombe – Numan – Yola road was consigned to the dustbin; may be we can learn more on why the insurgency in the north east is still on while your government spends billions on an open-ended Amnesty programme for oil thieves; on the distinction between the almajiri school and the conventional school, who should attend which and the need for the segregation; on why over N670billion was allocated and released for projects in the Niger Delta region in the 2014 fiscal year and only N26billion for the northwest.

Mr.  Namadina, let’s meet at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna for a Town Hall style debate for us almajiris to be enlightened by your imperial self.

Afri-Projects Consortium NPOM Press Statement

 

It is political campaign season again, and it comes with the usual peddling of mischief and smear by hatchet players who do not give a care whose reputation is marred. Our attention, sadly, has once again been drawn to a statement, issued by the Director of media and publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief. Femi Fani-Kayode. The statement contains what we consider to be unfortunate, wild and irresponsible slander, this time not only against the name of our firm, Afri-Projects Consortium, but also, most disturbingly, the person of our departed friend, colleague and brother of blessed memory, the late Salihijo Ahmad. Mr. Fani-Kayode refers to the late Salihijo Ahmed as “the witness that could have nailed Buhari about the graft that took place at PTF … but died under mysterious circumstances”. Once again an old and archaic report, which has long been over taken by events and discredited, is being bandied in a desperate effort to rubbish the accomplishments of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) which operated in the years between 1995 and 1999, under which our firm, Afri-Projects Consortium, served as Management Consultants.

We have had occasion sometime in November 2002 to respond to a smear campaign related to this same report. As we have always stated, ours is a professional firm. Our name represents and associates with a large group of patriotic Nigerian consultants whose primary aspiration is the pursuit of excellence and professional integrity. We are a non-political organization and would ordinarily opt not to respond to such innuendoes that have political intent. We also believe that the members of the Board of Trustees of the defunct PTF were all persons of towering character and esteem. Their names were a roll call of honour and integrity: Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.) – Executive Chairman, Mallam Yahaya Gusau, Alhaji Ahmed Talib, Chief Rufus F. Giwa, Prof. J. P. Clark, Prof. Chimere Ikoku, Chief D. B. Zang and Chief Tayo Akpata. All of them, except Gen. Buhari and Prof. J. P Clark, have passed on to the great beyond. Their integrity and blessed memory cannot possibly be denigrated by the exuberance of a director of media and publicity of a political campaign. Nonetheless, we are compelled to respond to this hubris, not only to protect the honour of our late colleague Salihijo Ahmad, but also in defence of hard work of hundreds of professionals and conscientious staff who toiled day and night during the PTF years to give the nation their best in the delivery of meaningful projects.

The PTF was scrapped by then President Obasanjo in late June 1999 shortly after his inauguration on 29th May 1999. He set up an Interim Management Committee (IMC) headed by Dr Haroun Adamu, to wind it up. The IMC went into a frenzy of investigation of the PTF operations and submitted a report in early 2000. That Haroun Adamu report, which is now being referred to, was a report lacking in credibility and undertaken with pre-conceived notion of uncovering imaginary "sleaze" by any means. For instance, the Committee report accused our firm of over invoicing our professional fees, and recommended that we refund N2.4 billion. Up till that moment we had received fees amounting to about N2.67billion, an amount less than 1.5% of the total value of PTF projects and programmes under our management. We had provided consultancy services spanning 4 years full time, involving over 350 highly skilled professional and support staff, at offices and sites located all over the country.

President Obasanjo fired the Haroun Adamu led Committee in March 2000 for incompetence, and amidst serious charges of embezzlement. Several hundreds of millions of Naira of public funds stolen from the PTF were actually recovered from some members of that Committee.  In the subsequent year following the dissolution of that Dr. Haroun Adamu led IMC, two other Committees were assigned to continue the investigation of the defunct PTF. It was under the headship of Malam Adamu Waziri (former Hon. Minister of Police Affairs) however that a final and comprehensive report was eventually submitted to the President. Not only were all our responses affirmed, but the government team also accepted the validity of a substantial portion of our outstanding fees. Part of these fees was approved and subsequently paid.

The PTF certainly underwent some of the most rigorous investigations carried out on any agency. Having gone through three investigative committees and several audit firms over a period of about 24 months, none of the principals of Afri-Projects Consortium was ever indicted of wrongdoing. As it is, Chief Obasanjo himself has now affirmed that the PTF headed by General Buhari was indeed probed and nothing amiss was found. So, where is the so-called “graft” that the late Salihijo

Ahmad would have exposed?

We have had nothing but the highest regard for Gen. Buhari and the other members of the Board of Trustees of the defunct PTF. Their names and personalities still remain embodiments of integrity and selfless service. We expect that politicians like Femi Fani-Kayode should learn to respect the worth of our past and present heroes. The late Salihijo died in Abuja on Monday 5th July 1999, barely a week after the appointment of the IMC headed by Dr. Haroun Adamu and about seven months before they filed their discredited report. We therefore demand that they should leave the deceased’s soul rest in perfect peace, as we pray to Allah to grant Salihijo Ahmad’s soul Al-jannatul Firdaus. Ameen.

Afri-Projects Consortium as a Firm and its consultants and associates have till today continued to lead active and successful professional lives. Since 1999, we have moved on to make contributions and perform important professional duties on projects and programmes in public and private agencies and organisations. Our principals have held public offices in all the past three administrations. We have undertaken several national and international assignments and are leaders in our respective professions. We are proud that our integrity has withstood the most exerting scrutiny, during and ever since the PTF years.

We wish to state that our firm, Afri-Projects Consortium, related with the defunct PTF in a professional and principled manner. We discharged our services to PTF conscientiously giving our best; and after its scrapping stayed around and engaged to give account of our services, and we did so creditably and satisfactorily. That was what our sense of duty dictated to us; it is what the late Salihijo Ahmad would have wished us to do.

Signed:

ü Engr. Nuruddeen A. Rafindadi, FNSE. Past President, ACEN - Partner

ü Alh. Murtala Aliyu, FNIQS. President, NIQS. - Partner

ü Engr. A. Dahiru, FNSE. – Managing Partner

ü Ms. Amina J. Mohammed. UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-

2015 Development Planning.– Partner (Rtd.)

Afri-Projects Consortium.

29 January 2015

FEMI FANI-KAYODE, DAN ULASI: I WISH YOU THE SAME

The PDP has lost it – I mean any sense of decency – that is if they ever had it.  A party claiming to hold certain values and ethos cannot be behaving in the manner the party, its presidential candidate and its presidential campaign committee are behaving.  The character traits they have been exhibiting since the day Buhari won the APC presidential primary election is no better than any unlettered, uncultured, uncouth and primitive inhabitants of rodent infested creeks.  I hasten to beg the ready to excuse my language and choice of words but if the reader can tolerate the barbaric, nihilistic behaviour of the PDP, I beg him to forgive my decision to descend into the gutter and meet the likes of Femi Fani-Kayode and Dan Ulasi in their habitat.

I really pity Femi Fani-Kayode.  I pity him for a lot of reasons, but mainly for his inability to be ashamed of somersaults and I also fear for him that he may not have a relapse of his well documented “psychological breakdown”.  The man is truly an animal without shame.  But my heart goes out to those Nigerians who listen to and then go ahead to quote Fani-Kayode.  I thought it is only a Jonathan Goodluck or Namadi(na) Sambo, who for lack of a better thing to do listen to Fani-Kayode.  This is a man who was once committed to a mental institution in Ghana, now the lead spokesman of our president.  Does this not tell you about the character and comportment of our president?

With Reuben Abati pretending to be urbane and Doyin Okupe struggling between blaspheming Jesus Christ (AS) and identifying himself a bastard, a certified schizophrenic was drafted to be the president’s chief attack dog.  A man without scruples or sense of decency is our president’s trusted mouthpiece.  Knowing the well documented mental instability of Fani-Kayode, I have hesitated to join issues with him in the past, but I must do so now because I believe the man is overstepping the bounds of sanity and may ultimately drag so many of our undiscerning into his world.  I have never taken Fani-Kayode serious because I am of the opinion that taking him serious may mean joining him in his loony world.  Here is a man who vacillates between fantasy and reality so often that he lives more in the fantasy world than in the real world; a man who could easily change his mind on strategic issues and so frequently without batting an eye, yet is today at the forefront of the Jonathan campaign organisation as its spokesman.

Femi Fani-Kayode likes to believe he is the “stormy petrel” of today’s politics in Nigeria; but he is not.  He is just another political jobber, permanently looking for relevance and pocket change.  This is a man who proudly “kissed and told” on his relationship with Bianca Onoh, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain.  Flaunting his immorality is not enough for him but he has now taken the job of denigrating perceived enemies of Goodluck, insulting the president’s ‘betters’ and behaving like a “motor park tout” that he is, in the words of his principal.  Fani-Kayode did it before – he was Obasanjo’s chief attack dog during the former president’s second term.  This was after Fani-Kayode castigated the Ota farmer endlessly as if Obasanjo was his only vocation. 

Dan Ulasi, a former (?) Anambra State Chairman of the PDP is pushing to the frontline of Jonathan’s hate merchants to be recognised.  It appears he want to outdo Fani-Kayode at being the chief foul mouth of the PDP.  Having lost out in the power struggle in the vampire-invested PDP, the man is pushing hard to be counted.  To so be recognised in their world of negativism, he is ready to disturb the dead by telling lies and talking ill of the dead, something that is un African.  All in his efforts to ingratiate himself to Jonathan.

What the two had in common is their ability to look Nigerians in the eye and tell them bedtime stories, which they know, are lies.  They have thrown everything at General Buhari including the kitchen sink without him batting an eye.  Much as I was pained by the blatant lies they bandy around, I consoled myself that the General and his party had the machinery to respond to the fabrications.  What raised my dander about these two unsavoury goons is their reference to the late Salihijo Ahmad, a Director in Afri-Projects Consortium, the management Consultants to the defunct PTF.  In their desperation to discredit Buhari on behalf of their principal, they were not loath to lie about the dead.  While all the mud they threw at Buhari refused to stick, they have now exhumed a discredited phantom “report” which indicted Buhari about a missing N25billion from the PTF while he was the agency’s Chairman.

If the duo and the PDP are so sure of their facts, why don’t they invite Obasanjo, Haroun Adamu and his Interim Management Committee to come and tell Nigerians what they know about the “missing” billion.  Afri-Projects Consortium, the consultancy firm purportedly indicted by the report is still around and willing to be suborned.  It is noteworthy that the same Obasanjo made Mallam Murtala Aliyu, the current President of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveying (NIQS), a Minister after the Haroun Adamu led IMC was sacked for corruption.  I also know that Dr. Ochi Achinuvu, the Director of Programmes in the PTF during General Buhari’s watch became a Federal Permanent Secretary and is now a member of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign council.  Another Director of the Firm, Amina J. Ibrahim headed the MDG office from where she now serve on the staff of the United Nations Secretary General as Special Adviser.  So why the insinuations?

Knowing all the principal actors are alive, I wonder of what value dragging the name of the late Salihijo Ahmad will be to the electability or otherwise of their candidate.  The attempt to introduce “mysterious death” or “suicide” by the late Salihijo is the height of irresponsibility.  Desperation doesn’t mean madness, though I know Fani-Kayode has a history of madness, I can’t be certain of Ulasi.  The late Salihijo Ahmad will be turning in his grave if he is to know that such characters are taking his name in vain.  He wouldn’t have come anywhere near the Jonathan gang for all the money in the world because he was an epitome of uprightness and virtuousness.  He doesn’t suffer fools nor related with the uncivilised.  I am sure there are many people all over the country and across every known divide who will willingly come out to testify on the character of the late Salihijo.  If it is a curse or a wish, just the like the death wish on Buhari by Fayose, I wish them the same.

The late Salihijo Ahmad was a deeply religious man and therefore the thought of committing suicide will not even cross his mind.  For these misfits to impute either a “mysterious death” or “suicide” to him is unacceptable in every sense of the word.  In Ulasi’s fables, the late Salihijo Ahmad and Buhari’s wife were from the same parents.  For the benefit of the discerning, the late Salhijo Ahmad has no filial relationship in any form and neither Buhari nor Salihijo ever claimed so. 

Nigerians should be aware, that what do Jonathan’s associates and ‘spokespersons’ exhibit during this campaign is what we should expect in the unlikely event that Jonathan wins the February 14^th election.  May God forbid that.  Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Boyloaf, Namadi Sambo, Goodluck Jonathan, Olisa Metuh, Femi Fani-Kayode and Dan Ulasi.  This a preview of Jonathan’s cabinet.  Birds of the same plumage…

ADAMAWA GUBERNATORIAL CONTEST: THE CHOICES BEFORE US

Adamawa State has been serially raped, constantly brutalised and continually drawn back by its leaders in the past fifteen years.  The people of the state have become so used to bad governance that the act of lightening the streets of the state capital by erstwhile acting governor, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri was a cause for celebration by the inhabitants of Yola, a town that has been a state capital since 1976.  The state one may assume has been placed on the shelf labelled “potential” by a leadership devoid of conscience, bereft of ideas and immune to the pains of its followership.  We have been taken to the bottom of the pit by a combination of armed robbers masquerading as religious and ethnic champions.  To all intents and purposes, Adamawa State and its citizens are still living in the dark days of military rulership.  We are yet to know, what for a better word, one may be forced to call “democracy dividend”.

This is a state that is still grappling with developmental and infrastructural issues like roads, water, education and healthcare delivery in even the state capital let alone other towns and villages.  While Boni Haruna was busy being a “big man” and others were laying the foundations of ethno-religious divide, Murtala Nyako came with a posse of bandits bent on stealing the state blind and sadly, they succeeded beyond their wildest imagination.  They left the state in ruins reminiscent of the wild, Wild West in 18^th century United States.  It was a government peopled by those whose religion and ethnicity was lucre and not service, whose mantra for good governance was a personalisation and outsourcing of governance to immediate family members, to whom success is measured by the balances in their bank accounts and the number of those who genuflect before them everyday.

Now the campaigns are here.  We are presented with three leading contenders and a coterie of pretenders to the exalted yet much abused office of the governor.  You have Mohammed Bindowo Jibirilla of the APC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the PDP and Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Modibbo of the PDM as the leading contenders.  All the three may be eminently qualified to vie and even win the contest – but have we really interrogated ourselves on the type of leadership we want for our state?  Is it just enough that we allow any would-be bandit access to our treasury for another four years taking into account our past experiences?

I am a card-carrying member of the APC, lest anyone mistake my political allegiances.  Am mindful of the fact that I am first of all and indigene of Adamawa State before being a member of the APC. I am also burdened by the knowledge that my state is among the least developed in a Nigeria that is bedevilled by the scourge of underdevelopment occasioned by bad leadership.  I have had occasions in the past to take on Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Dr. Ahmed Modibbo on the political development and direction in Adamawa State.  I have had cause to interact with the two on different occasions and on different issues.  Bindowo appears to me to be someone used to hanging on the coattails of others to achieve his aim.

If one may be objective in assessing the three “frontrunners” one may be forced to be blunt – and I believe we are in a season where the hard facts must be laid bare for the people to see them as they are.  I will start with Bindowo Jibirilla being a fellow party man.  I cannot see any coherence or sense of purpose in the Senator or his principal lieutenants.  As a matter of fact, apart from my personal assessment of the Senator lacking the capacity to be a Chief Executive of a state like Adamawa, the variegated crowd around him gives me the jitters.  These are the same bunch that began the journey into perdition with Nyako in 2007 but couldn’t muster the clout to save their necks by saving his government from impeachment.  The same people who have been in Nyako’s government from genesis to exodus yet couldn’t get hold of eight legislators to save their skins.  They have been part of the Nyako administration all through in one form or the other.  Their interest was only limited by their avarice and their disdain for the people were legendary.  Anyone with a contrary opinion from theirs was labelled an enemy.  I now ask – if they couldn’t save Nyako from impeachment because they lack the human relations, basic empathy and even self-preservation, what are they bringing to the table different from what they have served in the not too distant past?  I will feel guilty for the rest of my life if I will be party of thrusting such people on the emaciated shoulders of Adamawa citizens.  The candidate, as is usual with him, is banking on the Buhari tsunami to take him to the government house.

On the other hand, Dr. Modibbo is someone with a questionable public service in both the National Teachers Institute (NTI) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) the two institutions he headed.  I have said this elsewhere and I don’t believe it bears any repetition.  His style of leadership isn’t too far or different from that of Nyako as was shown in how he ran the two institutions.  Nepotism is not a crime and arrogance is celebrated by this candidate.  The huge amounts of money he deployed during the two primaries he contested in the PDP should be cause for concern to anyone with a modicum of decency.  How did he make the money and how is he planning to recoup his “investment”?

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu made his name as the scourge of corrupt politicians while he was head of the EFCC and had to go into forced exile when the late ‘Yar Adu’a took over and the likes of Ibori took up residence in the Aso Villa.  He jumped into politics immediately he came back from his exile and went for the presidency. With his naiveté, it was not unexpected that he will fail – and he did.  He joined up with progressive elements to form the APC but later ditched the party for the PDP.  Unfortunately for him, PDP is today anathema in most parts of the country.   I had discussed his ‘jumping ship’ with him before and after the act.  I gave him my piece of mind on this particular issue both privately and in the public domain through two articles.  I likened his joining the PDP to committing political hara-kiri.  Stoically, he took my umbrage on the chin, sought me out and calmly explained his reasons for joining the PDP.  I respected him for that and still do.

What I keep asking myself is that – are we really serious about changing things in the state from how they are to how they ought to be? If that were the case, I think we have to jettison our romanticism with political platforms and go for Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.  I will rather vote for him than either a man who perpetually wants to hitch his wagon onto another’s or someone whose very mien exudes arrogance and profligacy.

RIDING THE TIGER BY THE TAIL

The macho in our security men only come to the fore when they are confronting ‘bloody civilians’ and only when they are on an errand for Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP.  Those who are unfortunate to pass through the various checkpoints and roadblocks that are ubiquitous in the north can attest to the humiliation and harassment they go through in the course of undertaking their daily chores.  While terrorists are running amok in the northeast killing and maiming without let or hindrance, our security men are content in molesting law abiding simple folks instead of confronting the killers marauding the northeast.  They are more noted for running away when faced by the terrorists than for their display of gallantry.  A government that many believed are complicit in the mayhem tearing apart the country inch by bloody inch condones the behaviour of the security men.  Our military men appear to be untouchable when “dealing” with us civilians – they behave as if they are not governed by any code of conduct or any rule of engagement.

This display of impunity has now being taken to the hallowed precinct of the National Assembly, the citadel of democracy, where the government deployed massive force in order to deny the Speaker of the House of Representatives entering his office and reconvening the House to debate the president’s request for an unending state of emergency imposed on three states of the northeast for the past eighteen months.  In an effort to stop an unyielding Speaker and his supporters (those who stood for democracy) from entering the National Assembly, the security operatives tear gassed the members of the House.  These are the representatives of the people, for God’s sake!  And this is supposed to be a democracy with all the so-called doctrine of separation of powers – where the National Assembly is not supposed to be an appendage of the executive arm of government.

With such behaviour, Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP are pushing Nigeria on to the path of anarchy just to make sure that good governance does not derail their inordinate ambition.  Or may be they are rushing to see who will fulfil the prediction by the Americans that the country will breakup into pieces by the 2015.  If that is not the case, how do you explain the continuous loss of Nigerian territory to terrorists while our security men watch from a safe distance?  The same security operatives who lack the liver to confront Boko Haram killers are the ones tear-gassing hapless legislators.  Is Goodluck Jonathan becoming so desperate that he is ready to plunge the country into chaos if he is denied the chance to continue as the president of Nigeria?  Is he ready to be the last president of Nigeria, as we know it today?  Are the advocates of a “Greater South” getting the upper hand over moderates?  And what are other Nigerians, particularly those from “Shariyaland” doing about it?  Are they going to fold their arms and wait for Armageddon to reach their doorsteps before they recognise it?

Most people, the legislators at the receiving end of the government’s high-handedness inclusive, stood aloof while these same security men were tormenting Nigerians.  Now that the imperiousness of the government has reached their doorsteps, will they act or remain indifferent like goats waiting to be slaughtered?  This time it is just bullets, we pray there won’t be ‘accidental discharge’ later.

The members of the national assembly have been cuddling Jonathan for long to the detriment of the nation and its citizens.  They weren’t overly concerned when insurgents overran their constituencies and killed, maimed and sent away others into lives of uncertainty; they were willing to accede to all of his demands as long as they are not personally affected; they were willing to forgo the safety and peace of those they claim to represent as long as that makes Jonathan happy; they were always eager to overlook all the impeachable offences committed by Jonathan as long as he keeps greasing their slimy hands; they are agreeable to play ostrich to all the misdemeanours and constitutional breaches done by the president as long as they are assured of an “automatic” ticket by the PDP.  Today, the tiger has bared its fangs on them.

Though one may find it difficult to sympathise with the members of the House of Representatives for what happened to them today, one might not be seen to be condoning brigandage and unconstitutionality.  Much as the members might have gotten their just desserts, we are aghast at how our country is being pushed over a cliff by a clique that has no interest of the country at heart.  Nigerians have to wake up to the reality that a group of militants are at the helm of our affairs – a group that has a horizon limited by their provinciality. 

Our security agencies lack the manpower and equipment to confront terrorists wrecking havoc on our brethren in the northeast, but have the manpower and bravery to tackle lawmakers in Abuja.  They also have enough manpower and firepower to spare 200 soldiers, led by a full Colonel, to provide security cover to Ali Madu Sherriff, an alleged Boko Haram Sponsor.  While all these imperiousness is going on, our lawmakers, who have been saddled with the responsibility of checking the excesses of the executive and a president that has gone out of control, were rushing to be identified with him.

The people of Nigeria are fed up with the divisive tactics of Jonathan and his group of provincial politicians whose only objective is to lord it over others while claiming to be the victims.  While majority of Nigerians are bidding their time for February 2015, our lawmakers are struggling to get in bed with our tormentor-in-chief.  It is a good sign to us that the two are now quarrelling in the open.  It may be a sign of good things to come.  Next may be the governors.

Tambuwal and all those opposed t0o Jonathan’s style of government may be well advised to seek out our local hunters for their personal safety and security.

NORTHERN LEADERS? GRRRRR

So our soldiers finally found the guts to “provide security” for Madu Ali Sherriff to enable him visit home and consult with his “people” – a commodity they couldn’t provide for millions of hapless citizens resident in the northeast?  It is the same army that has to be escorted by local hunters into trouble spots in the northern part of Adamawa.  Despite the accusation hanging on the neck of Ali Sherriff as a sponsor of Boko Haram, the army has clearly sent a signal to all who care to know that Ali Sheriff is more important than all the people of the northeast combined together.  What insult!  This insult on our collective sensibilities came right after the show of shame at the Eagle Square on November 11^th, 2014 by those pretending to be the leaders of the north.  A region that has been under siege since the day Jonathan took over power from the late Umaru Musa ‘Yar Adu’a.

I do not particularly like writing and I do not like commenting on the behaviour of my elders but writing is a catharsis to me.  The unfolding political drama in the country is increasingly frustrating where one is left with a feeling of hopelessness and abandonment.  Abandoned by those we believe should take our cause and make it their life’s vacation.  We have every cause to believe the responsibility of our welfare lies on their shoulders for the fact that they came to us cap in hand begging for our votes; begging us to be our representatives in one way or the other.  We also pay through our noses to make them comfortable - a degree of comfort we deny ourselves to pamper them.

But what have we got?  A group of over-pampered, over-paid and over-protected leaders who think nothing of sacrificing your life once they get their vote.  And on our parts, we have cuddled their sentiments and lies for long – we have to be through with that.  We have given them intelligent advice, backed with statistics; we also have to be through with that.  What we didn’t give them in the past is a kick in the butt – permit the language – but if that may bring them back to their senses, then we may have to give them a kick in the butt.  We shouldn’t care if Goodluck Jonathan is going to send a posse of the EFCC, plus all the militants in the Niger Delta after them; after all they called for it.  For when they were wining and dining with Jonathan, they forgot it was a broth stewed in the blood of the thousands killed in the northeast.

They have degraded us and our humanity in their bid to please Jonathan and curry his favour.  Their new constituencies do not go beyond Patience Jonathan, Edwin Clark, Tompolo and Asari Dokubo.  We are only but a footnote in their pursuit of the world – to be tolerated once every four years when the rituals of “renewing” their tenancy in Abuja and other state capitals comes up.  They have been derelict to our needs and basic survival or the future of our children.  By their selfish actions they have reduced everybody this side of the Niger to being afraid to live and act like human beings and like other Nigerians on the other side of the divide.  You are scared because you don’t know when and where the next bomb will explode.  You are terrified because you don’t know if your child will come back alive and in one piece from the school you sent him in the hope that his future will be better than your own.  You are petrified because the man you see in uniform may either be terrorists or a trigger happy security personnel who will kill you without blinking his eyes and claim ‘accidental discharge’ knowing his colleagues will cover him.

Own their part, they are horrified of losing their right to be invited to dinner or breakfast with Patience Jonathan; the opportunity of sending their kids abroad to be educated without the hassles associated with our educational system; the chance for their wives to travel to Dubai, Spain and other esoteric destinations for tummy tuck, face lift-up or even an analgesic. 

For a while I thought some of the young Turks among the leadership cadre in the north have the guts to yank the reins from those who sold their souls and our peace for a pot of porridge.  I thought they will stand up for equity and justice for all Nigerians as it was in the past; and be leaders who wanted the best deal possible for their people.  With what has been happening in the recent past, now I think I know better.  I was just bamboozled by isolated acts of braggadocio, which I misconstrued for bravery and gumption.  Most of them are so afraid of being in Jonathan’s bad books that they are ready to go down on all fours and crawl for his pleasure while the ground they crawl on is continually watered with the blood of innocent Nigerians of all creed and tribe.

What baffles me is what mask did Jonathan wore on the bribe he offered our leadership to make them sacrifice our lives, our children, our homes, our businesses and our peace, all on the altar of his political ambition?  How was he able to convince or coerce them into buying his agenda?  It is baffling to me that while the people they claim to represent are groaning under the kind of hardship unseen before in this country, they are competing to outdo one another in singing the praise of Jonathan.  Was the bribe disguised as an oil bloc, oil bunkering, elective or appointive office or even a private jet, which happens to be the toy of choice for our nouvea riche?  Or was it the freedom of not being prosecuted for past misdeeds and the opportunity to sin again.  While ‘confiscating’ our votes with one hand, our leaders are punching us in the nose with the other.  Yet they expect us to queue up behind them and applaud Jonathan while he is systematically exterminating us.

While we look up to our leaders as our guardians of our liberty, happiness, peace, equity and justice, they have turned out to be the squashers of all of the above and are ever willing and ready to collaborate with our traducer for him to achieve his aim.

Actually I don’t know why I am writing all this – will it make any difference?  I doubt much.  But if anybody has any objection to what is written above, I hasten to sustain the objection.  I respectfully withdraw whatever I wrote above that is uncomplimentary to our leaders.

It is telling that these leaders had to be escorted by a Battalion of the army led by a full Colonel for them to visit their “people”.   Leaders, my foot!