A Message from Egypt for Nigeria
Few weeks ago when I visited Kaduna, a friend asked me whether it is worth for the opposition in Nigeria to continue challenging the PDP status quo given the power of incumbency in blocking any attempt to dislodge it from its dominant position on the Nigerian political landscape. This is the third time my friend noticed my involvement in opposition politics whenever national elections are around. I told him that though it will continue to be difficult for the opposition to overthrow PDP through the ballot box, it is, nonetheless, important that it continue trying. And I did not hesitate to give him the theoretical foundations of my thought.
Throughout history, I explained, power has posed an enigma to the mankind. It appears overwhelming and humanity has always been driven to the point of despondency by the tyranny of political class in power. Not even the Messengers of God were exempted from this rule. But as it endures that oppression, humanity keeps a permanent memory of every event, small or big, in its mind. Such bad memories continue to accumulate until it reaches a threshold that makes it ripe for a burst. Suddenly, a population that has endured decades or even centuries of oppression bursts in unison and revolts, putting behind it all the differences that enabled its enslavement. The trigger could be an event so small that no one would be able to predict. But as soon as it occurs, chains of other events follow leading to the revolution. The afraid conquers fear and with determination confronts his oppressors that become immobilized through shock of the most unexpected. In the end, the tyrant abandons his fort and takes to his heels. His supporters vanish as if they never existed. A new nation is born.
I told my friend that it is like a forest that accumulates litter on its floor over many years without a fire visiting it. All it takes for everything in it to change is a small event, a small fire lit artificially by a single match or naturally by a lightening, and, behold, a passerby who left it quiet in the morning returns in the afternoon to find it blazing with fury, consuming everything in its former state, of flora and fauna, fresh and dry. All that is required to destroy the old order is the accumulation of sufficient litter and that small flame to touch it somewhere and a new one is eventually born.
So I told my friend that we will continue with our little effort, exploiting every opportunity out there. The opposition may seem divided and may never be close to overturn events. It may even be a fake opposition composed of people who share the same materialistic ideals of the ruling party. The Messiah may not even be among them. It does not make any difference because that is not the fundamental function of the opposition in the revolutionary process. It needs to exist before litter of the forest floor could pile up. It needs to exist before the ruling party could rig elections, before it could conquer more states, before it could be deceived by its victory and the money it looted into believing and boasting that it will rule for the next 50 years or forever. It will continue to destroy the economy, rendering more youths into unemployment, more masses into poverty. When the litter of anger and frustration is sufficiently accumulated, it will just be waiting for that small flame and the people who were divided by history, geography, politics, gender, religion or tribe would unite and confront their oppressors in a stunning way.
Just a week after our conversation, somewhere in the world – Tunisia – where the litter of public frustration has sufficiently accumulated over decades of dictatorship, the small flame was unknowingly triggered by an unemployed undergraduate, Bouazizi, who set himself ablaze in response to a humiliating maltreatment from a policewoman. Suddenly, his anger triggered the anger in other youths and the rest of the population and the wild fire started… It did not take time for the tyrant to flee, abandoning his mansions and loot.
A day after the success of the Tunisian revolution, on 25 January, the fire reached Egypt, catching everyone, including the CIA and the Egyptian dictator, unawares. Mubarak attempted many times to overcome the revolution, first with brutality then with concessions. But it was too late. The fuel that accumulated from the oppression of thirty years emergency rule is sufficient to consume him and the entire powers behind him. The flame has already started at the bottom of the forest. Destruction of the old order is both inevitable and logical. At last, the power of oppression had to give way to the power of the human will in its match to freedom. A new Egypt is born after 60 years of military dictatorship.
The events in Egypt are interesting to me in a particular way. One of the bloggers at the centre of the Tahrir Square events was Mahmoud Salem, with whom we attended the German Berlin 2010 Bloggertour in May last year. I remember one morning when I was walking with Eman, a Saudi blogger, to catch a train to an event and Mahmoud was some ten steps or so ahead of us. Eman was revealing to me her pessimism about any change in the rights of women in Saudi Arabia, the central theme of her blog. Mahmoud has been expressing similar hopelessness regarding human rights in Egypt.
I tried to encourage Eman that she should not relent as success may come even after our lives. She suddenly stopped and looked at me in the eyes, saying that she can’t wait for that day. She wants it to come now. As if I have committed blasphemy, the mother of two and a daughter of a high ranking army general, Eman, shouted at Mahmoud: “Mahmoud, stop and hear what Ali is saying… that we must not relent even if success would only come after our lives.” Mahmoud, who is in his late twenties, promptly laughed and said, “No, I want it during my lifetime. What is my benefit if it comes later.”
I am sure when Mahmoud said so he did not know that it was just by the corner… I read on his blog how he was tear-gassed, brutalized, shot at and his car destroyed by the police and pro-Mubarak demonstrators at Tahrir square eight days ago. Yesterday, I listened to him with delight on al-Jazeerah, speaking about the Egyptian revolution, how it has caught everyone by surprise and the role he will play in shaping the political future of Egypt.
To me the most important benefit of the bloggertour is how it allowed me to intimately learn the bad state of affairs in other nations. Many are by far worse than ours. Some have lived under more gloomy conditions. I remember Nigar Fatalayeva, the Azeri girl who, after a presentation of how a German NGO is carrying the ardours task of parliamentary watchdog, stood up and said, “Well, it is nice learning what you guys have been doing. It is very good. For me, it is just for the sake of knowledge. It will not be possible to do this in my country.” This girl in her twenties, I think, was the most pessimistic in the group.
However, the events in Egypt must be changing our minds in different continents. From Azerbaijan I am sure that by now Nigar has been sending text messages and emails of congratulations to her boyfriend, Mahmoud. She must be proud of him. But more importantly she must have be more optimistic now, that even Azeris would one day free themselves from the shackles of dictatorship. If Mubarak can fall without a single bullet fired by the opposition, then any tyrant can be dislodged by its determined populace.
In Nigeria our task is even easier. We do not have the chronic tyranny that is found in the many countries in the developing world. What we have is corruption that is perpetrated by very vulnerable temporary leaders who, coming from poor backgrounds, are just interested in looting the treasury to guarantee their future. We do not really have the brutal tyrannies like those of Mubarak, Gaddafi, Ben Ali, etc. Such tyranny is usually as a result of years of continuous domination by an individual under the approval of superpowers.
Egypt may be ahead of us in many ways, especially in infrastructure. Throughout the days at Tahrir Square, there was not a blackout for even a second. Ninety-five percent of the population has access to uninterrupted electricity. In addition, only 56% of the population live under two dollars per day. In Nigeria, over 70% of the population is living under one dollar per day; and electricity is an exception where less than 1% of the population has access to uninterrupted electricity. What is missing is the state police that would perpetrate the brutality of mass arrests, torture, killings, outlawing opposition, martial law, etc, unlike in Egypt which has witnessed such regime of inhuman treatment for sixty years.
As I write this article, the fire has reached Algeria and Yemen. Protests like those of Egypt have taken gained full momentum. And so would that fire that was lit by Bouazizi continue to torch on many tyrannical regimes across the world. Though many Arab regimes are bribing their citizens with monthly stipends since the revolution started, I doubt if the Middle East will ever be the same after the birth of a new Egypt.
Nigeria will not be an exception. Despite our ethnic and religious differences which our oppressors readily inflame and sustain in order to divide us, we the masses will rise sooner or later in unison to wipe them out. All the requisite elements are here. For decades now we have watched the riches of our nation plundered by the same group who were recruited to serve in the military in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They continue to toss us from one member of the group to another for over four decades now. The crunching poverty is here. The army of unemployed youths is increasing by millions yearly. And there is a PDP – the face of our own Mubarak – that is set to unleash its regime of corruption on us for the next 50 years or more.
Though I have many times lamented the gullibility of our masses and the docility of our elite, I am confident that we have among our people the necessary genetic material to overcome fear and institute revolt. Revolt and pride has been part of the history of almost every tribe in this country. If that feeling is soothed in the elite that is enjoying the regime of loot or in the old who are tired of waiting, it is fresh in the blood of the youths who remain deprived of jobs and of any dignified future. Members of this group have forty to sixty years ahead of them. It will not be surprising if a Bouazizi arises from their midst.
Or it may not even be that long. No one is sure what will happen by April 2011 when the PDP successfully returns itself to power either by rigging or by other machinations against the opposition like the ongoing inflammation of religious differences and blocking any move for a common front against it. I do not know when the match would be lit. I do not know who would light it. But I am sure that there is enough fuel here at the bottom of the Nigerian human forest to create the inferno that will consume the oppressors of the Nigerian masses. When the time comes, I am sure that Nigerian youths will throw away their differences and unite behind their shared interest in a dignified future to conquer fear and fill with protests the streets of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Enugu, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ibadan, Jos and more importantly, Abuja. The police and the army, who are themselves oppressed, unlike in Egypt, cannot and will not stop them.
Let us take the new tools of social networking more seriously. Our condition over the years has been exacerbated by a collaborative mainstream press. The newspapers in Nigeria have played the greatest role in dividing its people and collecting bribes from the government in order to publish the falsehood that undermines the evolution of any popular movement. The new tools of social networking provide progressive minds with independent means of networking and organisation. I pity how we waste the valuable walls of our Facebooks with frivolous postings that do not add any value to anyone when youths in other countries are using them to liberate themselves. Let us use them to inform one another of every single act of oppression and corruption that the government is performing. Let us boldly use them as avenues of convening and sharing ideas on the way forward, something from which we do need the approval of a commissioner of police. More importantly, let us be ready to pay the ultimate price. It is better we die as heroes and martyrs than live in humiliating poverty and debasing mutual hatred.
This is the message from Egypt. You can also do it. You must not wait for the military to do it for you as we mistakenly did in the past. Liberation is not done by coups today, but by civil uprising and mass protest. So, throw away the shackles of division, go beyond the borders of religion, ethnicity, geography and history to embrace every other Nigerian with love using the powerful tool of social networking. Together, chart a course to liberate yourselves from oppression. Conquer fear, tell the truth, act boldly and, when the time comes, march jointly and chase away the corrupt political elite that are responsible for your misery.
The old must not be less committed than the young in this task. We have great responsibility to the millions of children we have already brought to this world. Ours is done. We have little, if any, remaining. What must seize every opportunity to bequeath a better future for our children, not through the false assurance of corruptly acquired wealth, but through a freedom that we may purchase for them using the most valuable asset we have – our lives.
One day, sooner than later, the Sahara winds will not only carry dust to its southern borders but also the contagion of liberation. Without firing a single bullet at the political elite, the Eagle Square will be transformed from the venue where political charades are mounted to a ground where the Nigerian masses will be freed from corrupt regimes and unprincipled political class.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Monday, February 21, 2011
A Message from Egypt for Nigeria
Few weeks ago when I visited Kaduna, a friend asked me whether it is worth for the opposition in Nigeria to continue challenging the PDP status quo given the power of incumbency in blocking any attempt to dislodge it from its dominant position on the Nigerian political landscape. This is the third time my friend noticed my involvement in opposition politics whenever national elections are around. I told him that though it will continue to be difficult for the opposition to overthrow PDP through the ballot box, it is, nonetheless, important that it continue trying. And I did not hesitate to give him the theoretical foundations of my thought.
Throughout history, I explained, power has posed an enigma to the mankind. It appears overwhelming and humanity has always been driven to the point of despondency by the tyranny of political class in power. Not even the Messengers of God were exempted from this rule. But as it endures that oppression, humanity keeps a permanent memory of every event, small or big, in its mind. Such bad memories continue to accumulate until it reaches a threshold that makes it ripe for a burst. Suddenly, a population that has endured decades or even centuries of oppression bursts in unison and revolts, putting behind it all the differences that enabled its enslavement. The trigger could be an event so small that no one would be able to predict. But as soon as it occurs, chains of other events follow leading to the revolution. The afraid conquers fear and with determination confronts his oppressors that become immobilized through shock of the most unexpected. In the end, the tyrant abandons his fort and takes to his heels. His supporters vanish as if they never existed. A new nation is born.
I told my friend that it is like a forest that accumulates litter on its floor over many years without a fire visiting it. All it takes for everything in it to change is a small event, a small fire lit artificially by a single match or naturally by a lightening, and, behold, a passerby who left it quiet in the morning returns in the afternoon to find it blazing with fury, consuming everything in its former state, of flora and fauna, fresh and dry. All that is required to destroy the old order is the accumulation of sufficient litter and that small flame to touch it somewhere and a new one is eventually born.
So I told my friend that we will continue with our little effort, exploiting every opportunity out there. The opposition may seem divided and may never be close to overturn events. It may even be a fake opposition composed of people who share the same materialistic ideals of the ruling party. The Messiah may not even be among them. It does not make any difference because that is not the fundamental function of the opposition in the revolutionary process. It needs to exist before litter of the forest floor could pile up. It needs to exist before the ruling party could rig elections, before it could conquer more states, before it could be deceived by its victory and the money it looted into believing and boasting that it will rule for the next 50 years or forever. It will continue to destroy the economy, rendering more youths into unemployment, more masses into poverty. When the litter of anger and frustration is sufficiently accumulated, it will just be waiting for that small flame and the people who were divided by history, geography, politics, gender, religion or tribe would unite and confront their oppressors in a stunning way.
Just a week after our conversation, somewhere in the world – Tunisia – where the litter of public frustration has sufficiently accumulated over decades of dictatorship, the small flame was unknowingly triggered by an unemployed undergraduate, Bouazizi, who set himself ablaze in response to a humiliating maltreatment from a policewoman. Suddenly, his anger triggered the anger in other youths and the rest of the population and the wild fire started… It did not take time for the tyrant to flee, abandoning his mansions and loot.
A day after the success of the Tunisian revolution, on 25 January, the fire reached Egypt, catching everyone, including the CIA and the Egyptian dictator, unawares. Mubarak attempted many times to overcome the revolution, first with brutality then with concessions. But it was too late. The fuel that accumulated from the oppression of thirty years emergency rule is sufficient to consume him and the entire powers behind him. The flame has already started at the bottom of the forest. Destruction of the old order is both inevitable and logical. At last, the power of oppression had to give way to the power of the human will in its match to freedom. A new Egypt is born after 60 years of military dictatorship.
The events in Egypt are interesting to me in a particular way. One of the bloggers at the centre of the Tahrir Square events was Mahmoud Salem, with whom we attended the German Berlin 2010 Bloggertour in May last year. I remember one morning when I was walking with Eman, a Saudi blogger, to catch a train to an event and Mahmoud was some ten steps or so ahead of us. Eman was revealing to me her pessimism about any change in the rights of women in Saudi Arabia, the central theme of her blog. Mahmoud has been expressing similar hopelessness regarding human rights in Egypt.
I tried to encourage Eman that she should not relent as success may come even after our lives. She suddenly stopped and looked at me in the eyes, saying that she can’t wait for that day. She wants it to come now. As if I have committed blasphemy, the mother of two and a daughter of a high ranking army general, Eman, shouted at Mahmoud: “Mahmoud, stop and hear what Ali is saying… that we must not relent even if success would only come after our lives.” Mahmoud, who is in his late twenties, promptly laughed and said, “No, I want it during my lifetime. What is my benefit if it comes later.”
I am sure when Mahmoud said so he did not know that it was just by the corner… I read on his blog how he was tear-gassed, brutalized, shot at and his car destroyed by the police and pro-Mubarak demonstrators at Tahrir square eight days ago. Yesterday, I listened to him with delight on al-Jazeerah, speaking about the Egyptian revolution, how it has caught everyone by surprise and the role he will play in shaping the political future of Egypt.
To me the most important benefit of the bloggertour is how it allowed me to intimately learn the bad state of affairs in other nations. Many are by far worse than ours. Some have lived under more gloomy conditions. I remember Nigar Fatalayeva, the Azeri girl who, after a presentation of how a German NGO is carrying the ardours task of parliamentary watchdog, stood up and said, “Well, it is nice learning what you guys have been doing. It is very good. For me, it is just for the sake of knowledge. It will not be possible to do this in my country.” This girl in her twenties, I think, was the most pessimistic in the group.
However, the events in Egypt must be changing our minds in different continents. From Azerbaijan I am sure that by now Nigar has been sending text messages and emails of congratulations to her boyfriend, Mahmoud. She must be proud of him. But more importantly she must have be more optimistic now, that even Azeris would one day free themselves from the shackles of dictatorship. If Mubarak can fall without a single bullet fired by the opposition, then any tyrant can be dislodged by its determined populace.
In Nigeria our task is even easier. We do not have the chronic tyranny that is found in the many countries in the developing world. What we have is corruption that is perpetrated by very vulnerable temporary leaders who, coming from poor backgrounds, are just interested in looting the treasury to guarantee their future. We do not really have the brutal tyrannies like those of Mubarak, Gaddafi, Ben Ali, etc. Such tyranny is usually as a result of years of continuous domination by an individual under the approval of superpowers.
Egypt may be ahead of us in many ways, especially in infrastructure. Throughout the days at Tahrir Square, there was not a blackout for even a second. Ninety-five percent of the population has access to uninterrupted electricity. In addition, only 56% of the population live under two dollars per day. In Nigeria, over 70% of the population is living under one dollar per day; and electricity is an exception where less than 1% of the population has access to uninterrupted electricity. What is missing is the state police that would perpetrate the brutality of mass arrests, torture, killings, outlawing opposition, martial law, etc, unlike in Egypt which has witnessed such regime of inhuman treatment for sixty years.
As I write this article, the fire has reached Algeria and Yemen. Protests like those of Egypt have taken gained full momentum. And so would that fire that was lit by Bouazizi continue to torch on many tyrannical regimes across the world. Though many Arab regimes are bribing their citizens with monthly stipends since the revolution started, I doubt if the Middle East will ever be the same after the birth of a new Egypt.
Nigeria will not be an exception. Despite our ethnic and religious differences which our oppressors readily inflame and sustain in order to divide us, we the masses will rise sooner or later in unison to wipe them out. All the requisite elements are here. For decades now we have watched the riches of our nation plundered by the same group who were recruited to serve in the military in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They continue to toss us from one member of the group to another for over four decades now. The crunching poverty is here. The army of unemployed youths is increasing by millions yearly. And there is a PDP – the face of our own Mubarak – that is set to unleash its regime of corruption on us for the next 50 years or more.
Though I have many times lamented the gullibility of our masses and the docility of our elite, I am confident that we have among our people the necessary genetic material to overcome fear and institute revolt. Revolt and pride has been part of the history of almost every tribe in this country. If that feeling is soothed in the elite that is enjoying the regime of loot or in the old who are tired of waiting, it is fresh in the blood of the youths who remain deprived of jobs and of any dignified future. Members of this group have forty to sixty years ahead of them. It will not be surprising if a Bouazizi arises from their midst.
Or it may not even be that long. No one is sure what will happen by April 2011 when the PDP successfully returns itself to power either by rigging or by other machinations against the opposition like the ongoing inflammation of religious differences and blocking any move for a common front against it. I do not know when the match would be lit. I do not know who would light it. But I am sure that there is enough fuel here at the bottom of the Nigerian human forest to create the inferno that will consume the oppressors of the Nigerian masses. When the time comes, I am sure that Nigerian youths will throw away their differences and unite behind their shared interest in a dignified future to conquer fear and fill with protests the streets of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Enugu, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ibadan, Jos and more importantly, Abuja. The police and the army, who are themselves oppressed, unlike in Egypt, cannot and will not stop them.
Let us take the new tools of social networking more seriously. Our condition over the years has been exacerbated by a collaborative mainstream press. The newspapers in Nigeria have played the greatest role in dividing its people and collecting bribes from the government in order to publish the falsehood that undermines the evolution of any popular movement. The new tools of social networking provide progressive minds with independent means of networking and organisation. I pity how we waste the valuable walls of our Facebooks with frivolous postings that do not add any value to anyone when youths in other countries are using them to liberate themselves. Let us use them to inform one another of every single act of oppression and corruption that the government is performing. Let us boldly use them as avenues of convening and sharing ideas on the way forward, something from which we do need the approval of a commissioner of police. More importantly, let us be ready to pay the ultimate price. It is better we die as heroes and martyrs than live in humiliating poverty and debasing mutual hatred.
This is the message from Egypt. You can also do it. You must not wait for the military to do it for you as we mistakenly did in the past. Liberation is not done by coups today, but by civil uprising and mass protest. So, throw away the shackles of division, go beyond the borders of religion, ethnicity, geography and history to embrace every other Nigerian with love using the powerful tool of social networking. Together, chart a course to liberate yourselves from oppression. Conquer fear, tell the truth, act boldly and, when the time comes, march jointly and chase away the corrupt political elite that are responsible for your misery.
The old must not be less committed than the young in this task. We have great responsibility to the millions of children we have already brought to this world. Ours is done. We have little, if any, remaining. What must seize every opportunity to bequeath a better future for our children, not through the false assurance of corruptly acquired wealth, but through a freedom that we may purchase for them using the most valuable asset we have – our lives.
One day, sooner than later, the Sahara winds will not only carry dust to its southern borders but also the contagion of liberation. Without firing a single bullet at the political elite, the Eagle Square will be transformed from the venue where political charades are mounted to a ground where the Nigerian masses will be freed from corrupt regimes and unprincipled political class.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Throughout history, I explained, power has posed an enigma to the mankind. It appears overwhelming and humanity has always been driven to the point of despondency by the tyranny of political class in power. Not even the Messengers of God were exempted from this rule. But as it endures that oppression, humanity keeps a permanent memory of every event, small or big, in its mind. Such bad memories continue to accumulate until it reaches a threshold that makes it ripe for a burst. Suddenly, a population that has endured decades or even centuries of oppression bursts in unison and revolts, putting behind it all the differences that enabled its enslavement. The trigger could be an event so small that no one would be able to predict. But as soon as it occurs, chains of other events follow leading to the revolution. The afraid conquers fear and with determination confronts his oppressors that become immobilized through shock of the most unexpected. In the end, the tyrant abandons his fort and takes to his heels. His supporters vanish as if they never existed. A new nation is born.
I told my friend that it is like a forest that accumulates litter on its floor over many years without a fire visiting it. All it takes for everything in it to change is a small event, a small fire lit artificially by a single match or naturally by a lightening, and, behold, a passerby who left it quiet in the morning returns in the afternoon to find it blazing with fury, consuming everything in its former state, of flora and fauna, fresh and dry. All that is required to destroy the old order is the accumulation of sufficient litter and that small flame to touch it somewhere and a new one is eventually born.
So I told my friend that we will continue with our little effort, exploiting every opportunity out there. The opposition may seem divided and may never be close to overturn events. It may even be a fake opposition composed of people who share the same materialistic ideals of the ruling party. The Messiah may not even be among them. It does not make any difference because that is not the fundamental function of the opposition in the revolutionary process. It needs to exist before litter of the forest floor could pile up. It needs to exist before the ruling party could rig elections, before it could conquer more states, before it could be deceived by its victory and the money it looted into believing and boasting that it will rule for the next 50 years or forever. It will continue to destroy the economy, rendering more youths into unemployment, more masses into poverty. When the litter of anger and frustration is sufficiently accumulated, it will just be waiting for that small flame and the people who were divided by history, geography, politics, gender, religion or tribe would unite and confront their oppressors in a stunning way.
Just a week after our conversation, somewhere in the world – Tunisia – where the litter of public frustration has sufficiently accumulated over decades of dictatorship, the small flame was unknowingly triggered by an unemployed undergraduate, Bouazizi, who set himself ablaze in response to a humiliating maltreatment from a policewoman. Suddenly, his anger triggered the anger in other youths and the rest of the population and the wild fire started… It did not take time for the tyrant to flee, abandoning his mansions and loot.
A day after the success of the Tunisian revolution, on 25 January, the fire reached Egypt, catching everyone, including the CIA and the Egyptian dictator, unawares. Mubarak attempted many times to overcome the revolution, first with brutality then with concessions. But it was too late. The fuel that accumulated from the oppression of thirty years emergency rule is sufficient to consume him and the entire powers behind him. The flame has already started at the bottom of the forest. Destruction of the old order is both inevitable and logical. At last, the power of oppression had to give way to the power of the human will in its match to freedom. A new Egypt is born after 60 years of military dictatorship.
The events in Egypt are interesting to me in a particular way. One of the bloggers at the centre of the Tahrir Square events was Mahmoud Salem, with whom we attended the German Berlin 2010 Bloggertour in May last year. I remember one morning when I was walking with Eman, a Saudi blogger, to catch a train to an event and Mahmoud was some ten steps or so ahead of us. Eman was revealing to me her pessimism about any change in the rights of women in Saudi Arabia, the central theme of her blog. Mahmoud has been expressing similar hopelessness regarding human rights in Egypt.
I tried to encourage Eman that she should not relent as success may come even after our lives. She suddenly stopped and looked at me in the eyes, saying that she can’t wait for that day. She wants it to come now. As if I have committed blasphemy, the mother of two and a daughter of a high ranking army general, Eman, shouted at Mahmoud: “Mahmoud, stop and hear what Ali is saying… that we must not relent even if success would only come after our lives.” Mahmoud, who is in his late twenties, promptly laughed and said, “No, I want it during my lifetime. What is my benefit if it comes later.”
I am sure when Mahmoud said so he did not know that it was just by the corner… I read on his blog how he was tear-gassed, brutalized, shot at and his car destroyed by the police and pro-Mubarak demonstrators at Tahrir square eight days ago. Yesterday, I listened to him with delight on al-Jazeerah, speaking about the Egyptian revolution, how it has caught everyone by surprise and the role he will play in shaping the political future of Egypt.
To me the most important benefit of the bloggertour is how it allowed me to intimately learn the bad state of affairs in other nations. Many are by far worse than ours. Some have lived under more gloomy conditions. I remember Nigar Fatalayeva, the Azeri girl who, after a presentation of how a German NGO is carrying the ardours task of parliamentary watchdog, stood up and said, “Well, it is nice learning what you guys have been doing. It is very good. For me, it is just for the sake of knowledge. It will not be possible to do this in my country.” This girl in her twenties, I think, was the most pessimistic in the group.
However, the events in Egypt must be changing our minds in different continents. From Azerbaijan I am sure that by now Nigar has been sending text messages and emails of congratulations to her boyfriend, Mahmoud. She must be proud of him. But more importantly she must have be more optimistic now, that even Azeris would one day free themselves from the shackles of dictatorship. If Mubarak can fall without a single bullet fired by the opposition, then any tyrant can be dislodged by its determined populace.
In Nigeria our task is even easier. We do not have the chronic tyranny that is found in the many countries in the developing world. What we have is corruption that is perpetrated by very vulnerable temporary leaders who, coming from poor backgrounds, are just interested in looting the treasury to guarantee their future. We do not really have the brutal tyrannies like those of Mubarak, Gaddafi, Ben Ali, etc. Such tyranny is usually as a result of years of continuous domination by an individual under the approval of superpowers.
Egypt may be ahead of us in many ways, especially in infrastructure. Throughout the days at Tahrir Square, there was not a blackout for even a second. Ninety-five percent of the population has access to uninterrupted electricity. In addition, only 56% of the population live under two dollars per day. In Nigeria, over 70% of the population is living under one dollar per day; and electricity is an exception where less than 1% of the population has access to uninterrupted electricity. What is missing is the state police that would perpetrate the brutality of mass arrests, torture, killings, outlawing opposition, martial law, etc, unlike in Egypt which has witnessed such regime of inhuman treatment for sixty years.
As I write this article, the fire has reached Algeria and Yemen. Protests like those of Egypt have taken gained full momentum. And so would that fire that was lit by Bouazizi continue to torch on many tyrannical regimes across the world. Though many Arab regimes are bribing their citizens with monthly stipends since the revolution started, I doubt if the Middle East will ever be the same after the birth of a new Egypt.
Nigeria will not be an exception. Despite our ethnic and religious differences which our oppressors readily inflame and sustain in order to divide us, we the masses will rise sooner or later in unison to wipe them out. All the requisite elements are here. For decades now we have watched the riches of our nation plundered by the same group who were recruited to serve in the military in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They continue to toss us from one member of the group to another for over four decades now. The crunching poverty is here. The army of unemployed youths is increasing by millions yearly. And there is a PDP – the face of our own Mubarak – that is set to unleash its regime of corruption on us for the next 50 years or more.
Though I have many times lamented the gullibility of our masses and the docility of our elite, I am confident that we have among our people the necessary genetic material to overcome fear and institute revolt. Revolt and pride has been part of the history of almost every tribe in this country. If that feeling is soothed in the elite that is enjoying the regime of loot or in the old who are tired of waiting, it is fresh in the blood of the youths who remain deprived of jobs and of any dignified future. Members of this group have forty to sixty years ahead of them. It will not be surprising if a Bouazizi arises from their midst.
Or it may not even be that long. No one is sure what will happen by April 2011 when the PDP successfully returns itself to power either by rigging or by other machinations against the opposition like the ongoing inflammation of religious differences and blocking any move for a common front against it. I do not know when the match would be lit. I do not know who would light it. But I am sure that there is enough fuel here at the bottom of the Nigerian human forest to create the inferno that will consume the oppressors of the Nigerian masses. When the time comes, I am sure that Nigerian youths will throw away their differences and unite behind their shared interest in a dignified future to conquer fear and fill with protests the streets of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Enugu, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ibadan, Jos and more importantly, Abuja. The police and the army, who are themselves oppressed, unlike in Egypt, cannot and will not stop them.
Let us take the new tools of social networking more seriously. Our condition over the years has been exacerbated by a collaborative mainstream press. The newspapers in Nigeria have played the greatest role in dividing its people and collecting bribes from the government in order to publish the falsehood that undermines the evolution of any popular movement. The new tools of social networking provide progressive minds with independent means of networking and organisation. I pity how we waste the valuable walls of our Facebooks with frivolous postings that do not add any value to anyone when youths in other countries are using them to liberate themselves. Let us use them to inform one another of every single act of oppression and corruption that the government is performing. Let us boldly use them as avenues of convening and sharing ideas on the way forward, something from which we do need the approval of a commissioner of police. More importantly, let us be ready to pay the ultimate price. It is better we die as heroes and martyrs than live in humiliating poverty and debasing mutual hatred.
This is the message from Egypt. You can also do it. You must not wait for the military to do it for you as we mistakenly did in the past. Liberation is not done by coups today, but by civil uprising and mass protest. So, throw away the shackles of division, go beyond the borders of religion, ethnicity, geography and history to embrace every other Nigerian with love using the powerful tool of social networking. Together, chart a course to liberate yourselves from oppression. Conquer fear, tell the truth, act boldly and, when the time comes, march jointly and chase away the corrupt political elite that are responsible for your misery.
The old must not be less committed than the young in this task. We have great responsibility to the millions of children we have already brought to this world. Ours is done. We have little, if any, remaining. What must seize every opportunity to bequeath a better future for our children, not through the false assurance of corruptly acquired wealth, but through a freedom that we may purchase for them using the most valuable asset we have – our lives.
One day, sooner than later, the Sahara winds will not only carry dust to its southern borders but also the contagion of liberation. Without firing a single bullet at the political elite, the Eagle Square will be transformed from the venue where political charades are mounted to a ground where the Nigerian masses will be freed from corrupt regimes and unprincipled political class.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
65 Years Later, Scientist Recalls Top Secret Work on Manhattan Project
In late 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States government developed a top-secret plan. The goal: to develop atomic bombs -- and beat Nazi Germany in doing so. The name: The Manhattan Project.
The unprecedented scientific project would span 4 years and 14 sites nationwide, with famous names like Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, and ultimately lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. It was to include 130,000 workers, 6,000 scientists -- and one young physicist named Robert Carter.
Carter was just a graduate student at Purdue University when he received a letter in December 1943 inviting him to join his professors in Los Alamos.
They couldn't tell him what the project was. They couldn't say what he would be doing. They just asked him to show up.
“I went out not knowing where I was going or what I was going to be working on," Carter told FoxNews.com. "But I trusted these gentlemen,” he said. Now 91 years old, the Bethesda, Md, resident says he's one of the last living people to work on the Manhattan Project. But he couldn't say that at the time.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
“We were told not to even tell people we were going to Los Alamos,” he said, to prevent anyone from finding out about the project. If family or friends wanted to write to them, “all of our mail was sent to Santa Fe.”
Carter realizes now the stunning significance of the work. But there was no way he could know anything in 1943, when he was asked to leave his studies at Purdue for “classified war work.”
He knew the physics department had taken on a confidential assignment. The senior professors “all went out West. They couldn’t tell me where they were going, except for out West.”
Within 24 hours of his arrival, Carter found he would be working under J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project, helping with the research and experimentation that led to the first atomic bombs. For his service, Carter would earn a civil servants wage of around $2,500 a year.
Carter told FoxNews.com he felt privileged when he found out what he was doing. “I felt honored but surprised -- I thought I could contribute.”
The physicist worked as a technical assistant experimenting with nuclear reactors, using uranium. And despite the magnitude of the accomplishments, the day-to-day work was often quite ordinary: Carter spent his time on the project working in a lab, trying to discern how big the nuclear explosions would be.
“Some of the measurements I helped do were directly related to the size and configurations to the nuclear cores of the plutonium bombs,” he said.
Hundreds of people worked with him in the secretive Los Alamos facility, he said. Carter praised Oppenheimer’s vision. “He gave the impression of being very capable of doing whatever he chose to do.”
Carter witnessed the explosion at Trinity, a site in rural New Mexico where an experimental bomb was set off. It produced great results.
“The magnitude of the whole thing was overwhelming as it detonated, sitting there in the desert in the early morning,” he told FoxNews.com. Two other historical bombs were produced at Los Alamos: Named Fat Man and Little Boy, each weighed around 4 tons. The pair were set off over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan, ending World War II and killing more than 100,000 people.
While at Los Alamos, Carter observed the construction of the inner core of Fat Man.
“I’m so pleased it was successful, but so sorry it was used against people,” he said. Though the consequences were devastating, the work was certainly remarkable, and a stunning scientific achievement.
“To achieve this,” he said. “It’s pretty special. It’s hard to describe -- it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Ultimately, the work on the project changed his life, Carter said.
After World War II ended, in the winter of 1946, he continued his graduate studies at the University of Illinois. Carter received his master’s degree in physics and returned to Los Alamos to continue the research.
“I intended to get a Ph. D. and teach at a small college someplace, but I decided research was a lot more fun.”
He met his wife in Los Alamos and they had 11 children. Today Carter lives on his own outside of Washington, D.C.; he has 30 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
After leaving Los Alamos, Carter and his family moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where he worked for the Department of Defense, researching the biological effects of nuclear weapons at war. He also spent time working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
He’s returned to Los Alamos on many occasions, most recently last summer with his family, when he visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
At Los Alamos, the research on security and technology continues.
The unprecedented scientific project would span 4 years and 14 sites nationwide, with famous names like Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, and ultimately lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. It was to include 130,000 workers, 6,000 scientists -- and one young physicist named Robert Carter.
Carter was just a graduate student at Purdue University when he received a letter in December 1943 inviting him to join his professors in Los Alamos.
They couldn't tell him what the project was. They couldn't say what he would be doing. They just asked him to show up.
“I went out not knowing where I was going or what I was going to be working on," Carter told FoxNews.com. "But I trusted these gentlemen,” he said. Now 91 years old, the Bethesda, Md, resident says he's one of the last living people to work on the Manhattan Project. But he couldn't say that at the time.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
“We were told not to even tell people we were going to Los Alamos,” he said, to prevent anyone from finding out about the project. If family or friends wanted to write to them, “all of our mail was sent to Santa Fe.”
Carter realizes now the stunning significance of the work. But there was no way he could know anything in 1943, when he was asked to leave his studies at Purdue for “classified war work.”
He knew the physics department had taken on a confidential assignment. The senior professors “all went out West. They couldn’t tell me where they were going, except for out West.”
Within 24 hours of his arrival, Carter found he would be working under J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project, helping with the research and experimentation that led to the first atomic bombs. For his service, Carter would earn a civil servants wage of around $2,500 a year.
Carter told FoxNews.com he felt privileged when he found out what he was doing. “I felt honored but surprised -- I thought I could contribute.”
The physicist worked as a technical assistant experimenting with nuclear reactors, using uranium. And despite the magnitude of the accomplishments, the day-to-day work was often quite ordinary: Carter spent his time on the project working in a lab, trying to discern how big the nuclear explosions would be.
“Some of the measurements I helped do were directly related to the size and configurations to the nuclear cores of the plutonium bombs,” he said.
Hundreds of people worked with him in the secretive Los Alamos facility, he said. Carter praised Oppenheimer’s vision. “He gave the impression of being very capable of doing whatever he chose to do.”
Carter witnessed the explosion at Trinity, a site in rural New Mexico where an experimental bomb was set off. It produced great results.
“The magnitude of the whole thing was overwhelming as it detonated, sitting there in the desert in the early morning,” he told FoxNews.com. Two other historical bombs were produced at Los Alamos: Named Fat Man and Little Boy, each weighed around 4 tons. The pair were set off over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan, ending World War II and killing more than 100,000 people.
While at Los Alamos, Carter observed the construction of the inner core of Fat Man.
“I’m so pleased it was successful, but so sorry it was used against people,” he said. Though the consequences were devastating, the work was certainly remarkable, and a stunning scientific achievement.
“To achieve this,” he said. “It’s pretty special. It’s hard to describe -- it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Ultimately, the work on the project changed his life, Carter said.
After World War II ended, in the winter of 1946, he continued his graduate studies at the University of Illinois. Carter received his master’s degree in physics and returned to Los Alamos to continue the research.
“I intended to get a Ph. D. and teach at a small college someplace, but I decided research was a lot more fun.”
He met his wife in Los Alamos and they had 11 children. Today Carter lives on his own outside of Washington, D.C.; he has 30 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
After leaving Los Alamos, Carter and his family moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where he worked for the Department of Defense, researching the biological effects of nuclear weapons at war. He also spent time working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
He’s returned to Los Alamos on many occasions, most recently last summer with his family, when he visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
At Los Alamos, the research on security and technology continues.
65 Years Later, Scientist Recalls Top Secret Work on Manhattan Project
In late 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States government developed a top-secret plan. The goal: to develop atomic bombs -- and beat Nazi Germany in doing so. The name: The Manhattan Project.
The unprecedented scientific project would span 4 years and 14 sites nationwide, with famous names like Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, and ultimately lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. It was to include 130,000 workers, 6,000 scientists -- and one young physicist named Robert Carter.
Carter was just a graduate student at Purdue University when he received a letter in December 1943 inviting him to join his professors in Los Alamos.
They couldn't tell him what the project was. They couldn't say what he would be doing. They just asked him to show up.
“I went out not knowing where I was going or what I was going to be working on," Carter told FoxNews.com. "But I trusted these gentlemen,” he said. Now 91 years old, the Bethesda, Md, resident says he's one of the last living people to work on the Manhattan Project. But he couldn't say that at the time.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
“We were told not to even tell people we were going to Los Alamos,” he said, to prevent anyone from finding out about the project. If family or friends wanted to write to them, “all of our mail was sent to Santa Fe.”
Carter realizes now the stunning significance of the work. But there was no way he could know anything in 1943, when he was asked to leave his studies at Purdue for “classified war work.”
He knew the physics department had taken on a confidential assignment. The senior professors “all went out West. They couldn’t tell me where they were going, except for out West.”
Within 24 hours of his arrival, Carter found he would be working under J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project, helping with the research and experimentation that led to the first atomic bombs. For his service, Carter would earn a civil servants wage of around $2,500 a year.
Carter told FoxNews.com he felt privileged when he found out what he was doing. “I felt honored but surprised -- I thought I could contribute.”
The physicist worked as a technical assistant experimenting with nuclear reactors, using uranium. And despite the magnitude of the accomplishments, the day-to-day work was often quite ordinary: Carter spent his time on the project working in a lab, trying to discern how big the nuclear explosions would be.
“Some of the measurements I helped do were directly related to the size and configurations to the nuclear cores of the plutonium bombs,” he said.
Hundreds of people worked with him in the secretive Los Alamos facility, he said. Carter praised Oppenheimer’s vision. “He gave the impression of being very capable of doing whatever he chose to do.”
Carter witnessed the explosion at Trinity, a site in rural New Mexico where an experimental bomb was set off. It produced great results.
“The magnitude of the whole thing was overwhelming as it detonated, sitting there in the desert in the early morning,” he told FoxNews.com. Two other historical bombs were produced at Los Alamos: Named Fat Man and Little Boy, each weighed around 4 tons. The pair were set off over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan, ending World War II and killing more than 100,000 people.
While at Los Alamos, Carter observed the construction of the inner core of Fat Man.
“I’m so pleased it was successful, but so sorry it was used against people,” he said. Though the consequences were devastating, the work was certainly remarkable, and a stunning scientific achievement.
“To achieve this,” he said. “It’s pretty special. It’s hard to describe -- it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Ultimately, the work on the project changed his life, Carter said.
After World War II ended, in the winter of 1946, he continued his graduate studies at the University of Illinois. Carter received his master’s degree in physics and returned to Los Alamos to continue the research.
“I intended to get a Ph. D. and teach at a small college someplace, but I decided research was a lot more fun.”
He met his wife in Los Alamos and they had 11 children. Today Carter lives on his own outside of Washington, D.C.; he has 30 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
After leaving Los Alamos, Carter and his family moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where he worked for the Department of Defense, researching the biological effects of nuclear weapons at war. He also spent time working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
He’s returned to Los Alamos on many occasions, most recently last summer with his family, when he visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
At Los Alamos, the research on security and technology continues.
The unprecedented scientific project would span 4 years and 14 sites nationwide, with famous names like Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, and ultimately lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. It was to include 130,000 workers, 6,000 scientists -- and one young physicist named Robert Carter.
Carter was just a graduate student at Purdue University when he received a letter in December 1943 inviting him to join his professors in Los Alamos.
They couldn't tell him what the project was. They couldn't say what he would be doing. They just asked him to show up.
“I went out not knowing where I was going or what I was going to be working on," Carter told FoxNews.com. "But I trusted these gentlemen,” he said. Now 91 years old, the Bethesda, Md, resident says he's one of the last living people to work on the Manhattan Project. But he couldn't say that at the time.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
Operation Greenhouse, 1951 High ranking military personnel sit in rows of deck chairs, wearing goggles, while illuminated by the flare of an atomic detonation at the Atomic Energy Commission's Pacific Proving Ground during Operation Greenhouse, 1951.
“We were told not to even tell people we were going to Los Alamos,” he said, to prevent anyone from finding out about the project. If family or friends wanted to write to them, “all of our mail was sent to Santa Fe.”
Carter realizes now the stunning significance of the work. But there was no way he could know anything in 1943, when he was asked to leave his studies at Purdue for “classified war work.”
He knew the physics department had taken on a confidential assignment. The senior professors “all went out West. They couldn’t tell me where they were going, except for out West.”
Within 24 hours of his arrival, Carter found he would be working under J. Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project, helping with the research and experimentation that led to the first atomic bombs. For his service, Carter would earn a civil servants wage of around $2,500 a year.
Carter told FoxNews.com he felt privileged when he found out what he was doing. “I felt honored but surprised -- I thought I could contribute.”
The physicist worked as a technical assistant experimenting with nuclear reactors, using uranium. And despite the magnitude of the accomplishments, the day-to-day work was often quite ordinary: Carter spent his time on the project working in a lab, trying to discern how big the nuclear explosions would be.
“Some of the measurements I helped do were directly related to the size and configurations to the nuclear cores of the plutonium bombs,” he said.
Hundreds of people worked with him in the secretive Los Alamos facility, he said. Carter praised Oppenheimer’s vision. “He gave the impression of being very capable of doing whatever he chose to do.”
Carter witnessed the explosion at Trinity, a site in rural New Mexico where an experimental bomb was set off. It produced great results.
“The magnitude of the whole thing was overwhelming as it detonated, sitting there in the desert in the early morning,” he told FoxNews.com. Two other historical bombs were produced at Los Alamos: Named Fat Man and Little Boy, each weighed around 4 tons. The pair were set off over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan, ending World War II and killing more than 100,000 people.
While at Los Alamos, Carter observed the construction of the inner core of Fat Man.
“I’m so pleased it was successful, but so sorry it was used against people,” he said. Though the consequences were devastating, the work was certainly remarkable, and a stunning scientific achievement.
“To achieve this,” he said. “It’s pretty special. It’s hard to describe -- it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Ultimately, the work on the project changed his life, Carter said.
After World War II ended, in the winter of 1946, he continued his graduate studies at the University of Illinois. Carter received his master’s degree in physics and returned to Los Alamos to continue the research.
“I intended to get a Ph. D. and teach at a small college someplace, but I decided research was a lot more fun.”
He met his wife in Los Alamos and they had 11 children. Today Carter lives on his own outside of Washington, D.C.; he has 30 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
After leaving Los Alamos, Carter and his family moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where he worked for the Department of Defense, researching the biological effects of nuclear weapons at war. He also spent time working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
He’s returned to Los Alamos on many occasions, most recently last summer with his family, when he visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
At Los Alamos, the research on security and technology continues.
Ciroma again with his tribal politics
Our politics is turning to another thing. Tribal considerations is what directs the way our people vote. Nigerian voters except few are not looking at manifestos or party programs before casting their votes. They are satisfied if a thief from their zone is the man contesting.The will vote for him in preference to saint from another zone.
The way Northern elders are going about this April election is not in the best interest of our togetherness. The fact that they are even choosing Buhari over Jonathan simply on the basis of where they come from means we are divided. Majority of these elders are supposedly PDP card carriers but they would prefer that their own, Buhari clinges victory at the expense of GEJ. They are not worried that Buhari was there before and did nothing. What they are after is for a Northerner to be there whether the person is good or not.
Hope may not be lost. Some Northerners are wise enough, good and peace loving who would wish that the best happens to our country. Such people will play significant role in convincing their people about each candidate. A lot of Northern youths are not in the school, no jobs in the North except what comes out from government offices yet their elders want one of their own to occupy Aso Rock at all costs. This is the office the North held for over 37 years of our independence and did nothing with it. The children of these elders are schooling in the best schools overseas but they keep the children of the poor perpetuallly down and use them as canon folders in time of crisis.
Why I am not disturbed by the position of these elders is that they said the same thing for Atiku but wise counsel prevailed at the end. It is not going to be different this time around.
After the April elections and the plans to sideline GEJ continues then it may become a major problem for the development and unity of our country because it will mean that some people believe they are born to rule while others are here to eat from the crumb that falls from their table. I believe that time is past and anybody thinking that way is also of the past.
My advice is that we should shun politics of enthnicity because it will not help us at all.
Divided we fall but together we shall stand. The North has a lot of work to do for total integration of Nigeria. The way the Ciroma led elders are going about this thing is anarchical. If Jonathan is defeated because of the gang-up I can tell you it will create a lot of bad blood and things may not remain the same.
As for ACN, the party is one man party. ACN is owned by Tinubu. As for me I do not see how that party is an alternative to PDP. PDP is by far ahead of ACN and there is no comparison. ACN's is not a democratic party. It is one man show where what he says is law. He says to one be a Senatorial aspirant and she becomes and to the other be a running mate and she becomes. Even their Governors are not allowed to choose running mates. In a normal situation a governorship candidate should have been allowed to choose someone he thinks he can work with but not so in ACN, they foist running mates on their governorship candidates.
Okonjo-Iweala will not get a single vote if she accepts to work under Ribadu. To me it is a mismatch. There is no need for her to even come out moreso when it is clear that ACN will not go anywhere in the forthcoming presidential election. Please let the sleeping dog lie.
Alor
The way Northern elders are going about this April election is not in the best interest of our togetherness. The fact that they are even choosing Buhari over Jonathan simply on the basis of where they come from means we are divided. Majority of these elders are supposedly PDP card carriers but they would prefer that their own, Buhari clinges victory at the expense of GEJ. They are not worried that Buhari was there before and did nothing. What they are after is for a Northerner to be there whether the person is good or not.
Hope may not be lost. Some Northerners are wise enough, good and peace loving who would wish that the best happens to our country. Such people will play significant role in convincing their people about each candidate. A lot of Northern youths are not in the school, no jobs in the North except what comes out from government offices yet their elders want one of their own to occupy Aso Rock at all costs. This is the office the North held for over 37 years of our independence and did nothing with it. The children of these elders are schooling in the best schools overseas but they keep the children of the poor perpetuallly down and use them as canon folders in time of crisis.
Why I am not disturbed by the position of these elders is that they said the same thing for Atiku but wise counsel prevailed at the end. It is not going to be different this time around.
After the April elections and the plans to sideline GEJ continues then it may become a major problem for the development and unity of our country because it will mean that some people believe they are born to rule while others are here to eat from the crumb that falls from their table. I believe that time is past and anybody thinking that way is also of the past.
My advice is that we should shun politics of enthnicity because it will not help us at all.
Divided we fall but together we shall stand. The North has a lot of work to do for total integration of Nigeria. The way the Ciroma led elders are going about this thing is anarchical. If Jonathan is defeated because of the gang-up I can tell you it will create a lot of bad blood and things may not remain the same.
As for ACN, the party is one man party. ACN is owned by Tinubu. As for me I do not see how that party is an alternative to PDP. PDP is by far ahead of ACN and there is no comparison. ACN's is not a democratic party. It is one man show where what he says is law. He says to one be a Senatorial aspirant and she becomes and to the other be a running mate and she becomes. Even their Governors are not allowed to choose running mates. In a normal situation a governorship candidate should have been allowed to choose someone he thinks he can work with but not so in ACN, they foist running mates on their governorship candidates.
Okonjo-Iweala will not get a single vote if she accepts to work under Ribadu. To me it is a mismatch. There is no need for her to even come out moreso when it is clear that ACN will not go anywhere in the forthcoming presidential election. Please let the sleeping dog lie.
Alor
Abia PDP : Gov aspirant threatens to file contempt charge against party
No cause for alarm - Orji
A gubernatorial aspirant in Abia State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has threatened to file a contempt charge against the party for disobeying the order of the court restraining the party and the electoral body from submitting and recognising Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State as a candidate of the party in the April general election.
Despite this order, the governor was at the weekend handed over the flag to contest the election by the party.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, had on Thursday, stopped the party from presenting Orji for the April election but the party, during the South-East zone campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan, presented the party’s flag to the governor for his re-election bid.
In his reaction, counsel for Emenike, Fabian Okwonkwo said: “The PDP in fragrant disobedience of the order of a Federal High Court in Abuja recognised Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State as its gubernatorial standard-bearer in the upcoming 2011 general election in the state.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, had on Thursday, February 10, 2011, restrained the PDP and its national chairman, Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed or their agents and privy’s from submitting to INEC or recognising Governor Theodore Orji as its gubernatorial candidate in Abia State.
The court specifically ordered that Chief Ikechi Emenike and his running mate be recognized as its governorship candidate in Abia State.
However, Governor Orji has urged the people of the state to be calm, saying he will be vindicated at the end of the court process.
A statement signed by his Special Adviser on Electronic Media, Ugochukwu Emezue, said the governor was a strong believer in the judiciary being a product of the judiciary.
He said Chief Emenike joined PDP from the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), adding that he did not have a waiver, stressing that he was never screened at Enugu by party’s national officers.
A gubernatorial aspirant in Abia State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has threatened to file a contempt charge against the party for disobeying the order of the court restraining the party and the electoral body from submitting and recognising Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State as a candidate of the party in the April general election.
Despite this order, the governor was at the weekend handed over the flag to contest the election by the party.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, had on Thursday, stopped the party from presenting Orji for the April election but the party, during the South-East zone campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan, presented the party’s flag to the governor for his re-election bid.
In his reaction, counsel for Emenike, Fabian Okwonkwo said: “The PDP in fragrant disobedience of the order of a Federal High Court in Abuja recognised Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State as its gubernatorial standard-bearer in the upcoming 2011 general election in the state.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, had on Thursday, February 10, 2011, restrained the PDP and its national chairman, Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed or their agents and privy’s from submitting to INEC or recognising Governor Theodore Orji as its gubernatorial candidate in Abia State.
The court specifically ordered that Chief Ikechi Emenike and his running mate be recognized as its governorship candidate in Abia State.
However, Governor Orji has urged the people of the state to be calm, saying he will be vindicated at the end of the court process.
A statement signed by his Special Adviser on Electronic Media, Ugochukwu Emezue, said the governor was a strong believer in the judiciary being a product of the judiciary.
He said Chief Emenike joined PDP from the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), adding that he did not have a waiver, stressing that he was never screened at Enugu by party’s national officers.
PDP, South East and promises unfulfilled
AT the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential rally recently in Enugu State, the party looked assured of the massive support of the South East for President Goodluck Jonathan. But, it also looked uncertain on how to repay the zone for that support. And in that regard, it sounded like a broken record, in a zone that had always cried of marginalisation.
One of the party’s founding fathers and Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme narrated how the party held sway in the zone after the 1999 election. The PDP, he said scored 100 per cent in the South East as the party “controlled the councils in the zone, winning all the governorship positions in the five states.” But Ekwueme also noted that things have changed and asked, “what has happened?”
Ekwueme harped on the need to close ranks and return the party to its former glory in the South East.
Since Jonathan’s candidacy became an issue, the South East looked like it had been caught in the cross-hairs. The zone lost two national chairmen of the PDP in the cause of Jonathan’s emergence. Prince Vincent Ogbulafor was forced to resign as national chairman, allegedly because of a statement he made alluding to the fact that the party would respect the party’s zoning policy, which would have effectively kept the presidency in the North till 2015. His successor Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo followed suit over the recent presidential primary.
Now, the South East is uncertain if it wants the post. A chieftain of the PDP, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim has advised the zone to perish the idea of retaining the chairmanship position, as it was now open to all zones since the South East helped in violating the party’s constitution on zoning.
According to him, the zone violated the PDP constitution on zoning by voting massively for Jonathan at the primary.
On the possibility of the zone producing the president in 2015, he said such an arrangement could no longer work in the PDP, as the only way the South East could produce the presidency in 2015 would be to vote for Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in April.
Initially, one issue that stalked the 2011 presidential election was the 2015 presidential election. Would the PDP take it back to the North or would it stay in the South? Recognising the potency of the issue, some presidential aspirants from the North promised to be in office for only one term and hand over power to the South East. Recently, Jonathan promised to serve only one term, in a veiled attempt to assure the North that it would take over power in 2015, or a message to the South East that it has a chance of taking over also.
Former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, in reiterating support for Jonathan, maintained that the clamour for Igbo presidency is “a moral issue and therefore not negotiable.”
On the April election, Ezeife had said: “We are putting all our eggs in one basket for Jonathan because since the Civil War, all the governments ignored all the roads and other federal facilities in the zone.
“For Jonathan to have emerged as PDP candidate, we have hope that all the roads in all parts of the country will be fixed because it will benefit our people who are found in large numbers everywhere.”
In 2006, after the late President Musa Yar’Adua selected Jonathan as running mate, Jonathan wrote a letter to Igbo leaders asking for support.
In the letter, Jonathan stated that his new position, “bestows on me the responsibility of representing the people of Southern Nigeria (South-East, South-West, South-South) in defining and pursuing their interest.”
He then said: “I cannot perform this duty in an inclusive and efficient manner as it concerns the people of the South-Eastern Nigeria without deep and elaborate consultation of critical groups and individuals in Igboland.
“I am from the South-South region of Nigeria and I know that relationship between those of us who were in the former Eastern region needs to be strengthened if we are going to achieve our utmost in Nigeria. It is my desire to find a collaborative way to bring the best in Igboland into productive harmony with the best in the Niger Delta for greater interest and benefit of both regions.”
The South East now looks forward to Jonathan fulfilling his promises if he wins the presidential election in April. And it is in that regard that his promises in Enugu are being accepted.
Hitherto, he made history as the first President to appoint an Igbo, as the Chief of Army Staff, Minister of Interior, since the end of the Civil War. The status of the Enugu Airport was upgraded to international standards under his watch.
In anticipation of more, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which is a party with widespread acceptance in the South East, for the first time refused to field a presidential candidate.
The only APGA governor, Peter Obi of Anambra State, said the decision to support Jonathan was because he had the best programme that would address the marginalisation of the South East.
Even federal lawmakers in the zone stated that, “the political and even economic interests of the South East are best served by a presidency under Jonathan.”
In Enugu, Jonathan reeled out programmes for the zone, if elected president by April. Some of the programmes have been pursued by his administration and also as part of the agenda of the late President Musa Yar’Adua’s government.
Jonathan pledged to ensure that within the period of the next dispensation, poverty would be driven away from the country.
He said a stable electricity supply to boost the economy were a priority of his administration.
The president said that the government has decided to restore the old Coal Power Plant in Enugu and that “the contract for the survey has been done and we have awarded the contract and I believe that in three months or so, the result will come out. So, all those who need power to do their businesses will have enough.”
According to him, approval had been given for the transformation of the coal deposits in Enugu to enable it generate electricity, and that government had awarded N400 billion contracts for the construction of the biggest transmission station in the country.
On the biggest ecological problem facing the South East, he said that he had met with governors to find lasting solutions to the problem of gully erosion. He disclosed that about 15 contracts had been awarded at a cost of about N11.5 billion, as part of efforts to check the menace. He admitted, however, that the amount was too meager compared with the problem, but that he would do more, if elected into office.
Touching on a familiar promise, he said that arrangements had been concluded for the construction of the second Niger Bridge before the end of 2015. Jonathan said the administration had awarded several contracts for the facelift of federal roads in the zone, and that maintaining the roads when completed was a priority of his administration.
But despite his promises on the economy, Jonathan and the PDP top brass that accompanied him didn’t say any word on the 2015 presidency.
The question is whether this is another rehash of unfulfilled promises, associated with the PDP in the zone.
Like Ekwueme, Ebonyi State governor, who is also the coordinator of the presidential campaign in the zone, Martin Elechi explained that the zone remains the only one that has shown much enthusiasm in the affairs of the PDP, stressing that the people would no matter the circumstance not abandon the party.
Jonathan’s latest promises and Ekwueme’s position, has raised ante on how the zone has fared under the PDP since 1999. Has the party reciprocated the gesture of the people of the zone?
In 1999, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo campaigned in Enugu, he spoke enthusiastically of how his administration would construct the second Niger Bridge, reconstruct the federal roads in the zone which had remained death traps, upgrade the Akanu Ibiam airport, tackle the gully erosion problem in the zone as well as the rehabilitation of the Alaojii and Oji river thermal power outfits to boost the power supply of the zone.
For the eight years, none of the projects was tackled. The late President Umaru Yar’Adua made the same promises. And Jonathan has repeated them. The South East is watching.
There should be no comparing ex-President Obasanjo and the current President Jonathan
when it comes to PDP leadership. The people of South East were no fools when they gave
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo their vote of confidence. It did not come to the people as a surprise
that Obasanjo would snub a good gesture.
The people of South East acted on the principle that those who want love should first give it.
But Chief Obasanjo paid for treating the people of South East with scorn. He will never forget
his failure to win his Third Term presidential bid, which would have sailed victoriously had he
not derelicted in duty and failed to keep his promises to the people of South East.
Again, his humiliation as a president to install a governor of his choosing in Abia State, and failing,
was his political Water Loo. He was humbled thereafter to return to Bible College "to learn to know God,"
in his own words!
Nigeria must have a president. And the South East consideration for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan this
time around is based on many factors: He is well educated; he is more experienced than his fellow
presidential aspirants; he has presidential skills and sound leadership judgment.
He has less negative baggage than the other contestants whose indiscipline and military bravado have compelled them to seek running mates from the Churchyard to camouflage their past.
Except for tribal jingoism, which the yellow press is using to promote his opponents, Dr. Jonathan
virtually has no opponents.
The people of South East, having assessed Dr. Jonathan's worth, find him an invaluable president
at this auspicious time of Nigeria's taking of her honored place in the comity of democratic nations.
Indeed, for the first time, the dynamic leader Nigerians deserve has arrived.
One of the party’s founding fathers and Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme narrated how the party held sway in the zone after the 1999 election. The PDP, he said scored 100 per cent in the South East as the party “controlled the councils in the zone, winning all the governorship positions in the five states.” But Ekwueme also noted that things have changed and asked, “what has happened?”
Ekwueme harped on the need to close ranks and return the party to its former glory in the South East.
Since Jonathan’s candidacy became an issue, the South East looked like it had been caught in the cross-hairs. The zone lost two national chairmen of the PDP in the cause of Jonathan’s emergence. Prince Vincent Ogbulafor was forced to resign as national chairman, allegedly because of a statement he made alluding to the fact that the party would respect the party’s zoning policy, which would have effectively kept the presidency in the North till 2015. His successor Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo followed suit over the recent presidential primary.
Now, the South East is uncertain if it wants the post. A chieftain of the PDP, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim has advised the zone to perish the idea of retaining the chairmanship position, as it was now open to all zones since the South East helped in violating the party’s constitution on zoning.
According to him, the zone violated the PDP constitution on zoning by voting massively for Jonathan at the primary.
On the possibility of the zone producing the president in 2015, he said such an arrangement could no longer work in the PDP, as the only way the South East could produce the presidency in 2015 would be to vote for Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in April.
Initially, one issue that stalked the 2011 presidential election was the 2015 presidential election. Would the PDP take it back to the North or would it stay in the South? Recognising the potency of the issue, some presidential aspirants from the North promised to be in office for only one term and hand over power to the South East. Recently, Jonathan promised to serve only one term, in a veiled attempt to assure the North that it would take over power in 2015, or a message to the South East that it has a chance of taking over also.
Former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, in reiterating support for Jonathan, maintained that the clamour for Igbo presidency is “a moral issue and therefore not negotiable.”
On the April election, Ezeife had said: “We are putting all our eggs in one basket for Jonathan because since the Civil War, all the governments ignored all the roads and other federal facilities in the zone.
“For Jonathan to have emerged as PDP candidate, we have hope that all the roads in all parts of the country will be fixed because it will benefit our people who are found in large numbers everywhere.”
In 2006, after the late President Musa Yar’Adua selected Jonathan as running mate, Jonathan wrote a letter to Igbo leaders asking for support.
In the letter, Jonathan stated that his new position, “bestows on me the responsibility of representing the people of Southern Nigeria (South-East, South-West, South-South) in defining and pursuing their interest.”
He then said: “I cannot perform this duty in an inclusive and efficient manner as it concerns the people of the South-Eastern Nigeria without deep and elaborate consultation of critical groups and individuals in Igboland.
“I am from the South-South region of Nigeria and I know that relationship between those of us who were in the former Eastern region needs to be strengthened if we are going to achieve our utmost in Nigeria. It is my desire to find a collaborative way to bring the best in Igboland into productive harmony with the best in the Niger Delta for greater interest and benefit of both regions.”
The South East now looks forward to Jonathan fulfilling his promises if he wins the presidential election in April. And it is in that regard that his promises in Enugu are being accepted.
Hitherto, he made history as the first President to appoint an Igbo, as the Chief of Army Staff, Minister of Interior, since the end of the Civil War. The status of the Enugu Airport was upgraded to international standards under his watch.
In anticipation of more, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which is a party with widespread acceptance in the South East, for the first time refused to field a presidential candidate.
The only APGA governor, Peter Obi of Anambra State, said the decision to support Jonathan was because he had the best programme that would address the marginalisation of the South East.
Even federal lawmakers in the zone stated that, “the political and even economic interests of the South East are best served by a presidency under Jonathan.”
In Enugu, Jonathan reeled out programmes for the zone, if elected president by April. Some of the programmes have been pursued by his administration and also as part of the agenda of the late President Musa Yar’Adua’s government.
Jonathan pledged to ensure that within the period of the next dispensation, poverty would be driven away from the country.
He said a stable electricity supply to boost the economy were a priority of his administration.
The president said that the government has decided to restore the old Coal Power Plant in Enugu and that “the contract for the survey has been done and we have awarded the contract and I believe that in three months or so, the result will come out. So, all those who need power to do their businesses will have enough.”
According to him, approval had been given for the transformation of the coal deposits in Enugu to enable it generate electricity, and that government had awarded N400 billion contracts for the construction of the biggest transmission station in the country.
On the biggest ecological problem facing the South East, he said that he had met with governors to find lasting solutions to the problem of gully erosion. He disclosed that about 15 contracts had been awarded at a cost of about N11.5 billion, as part of efforts to check the menace. He admitted, however, that the amount was too meager compared with the problem, but that he would do more, if elected into office.
Touching on a familiar promise, he said that arrangements had been concluded for the construction of the second Niger Bridge before the end of 2015. Jonathan said the administration had awarded several contracts for the facelift of federal roads in the zone, and that maintaining the roads when completed was a priority of his administration.
But despite his promises on the economy, Jonathan and the PDP top brass that accompanied him didn’t say any word on the 2015 presidency.
The question is whether this is another rehash of unfulfilled promises, associated with the PDP in the zone.
Like Ekwueme, Ebonyi State governor, who is also the coordinator of the presidential campaign in the zone, Martin Elechi explained that the zone remains the only one that has shown much enthusiasm in the affairs of the PDP, stressing that the people would no matter the circumstance not abandon the party.
Jonathan’s latest promises and Ekwueme’s position, has raised ante on how the zone has fared under the PDP since 1999. Has the party reciprocated the gesture of the people of the zone?
In 1999, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo campaigned in Enugu, he spoke enthusiastically of how his administration would construct the second Niger Bridge, reconstruct the federal roads in the zone which had remained death traps, upgrade the Akanu Ibiam airport, tackle the gully erosion problem in the zone as well as the rehabilitation of the Alaojii and Oji river thermal power outfits to boost the power supply of the zone.
For the eight years, none of the projects was tackled. The late President Umaru Yar’Adua made the same promises. And Jonathan has repeated them. The South East is watching.
There should be no comparing ex-President Obasanjo and the current President Jonathan
when it comes to PDP leadership. The people of South East were no fools when they gave
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo their vote of confidence. It did not come to the people as a surprise
that Obasanjo would snub a good gesture.
The people of South East acted on the principle that those who want love should first give it.
But Chief Obasanjo paid for treating the people of South East with scorn. He will never forget
his failure to win his Third Term presidential bid, which would have sailed victoriously had he
not derelicted in duty and failed to keep his promises to the people of South East.
Again, his humiliation as a president to install a governor of his choosing in Abia State, and failing,
was his political Water Loo. He was humbled thereafter to return to Bible College "to learn to know God,"
in his own words!
Nigeria must have a president. And the South East consideration for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan this
time around is based on many factors: He is well educated; he is more experienced than his fellow
presidential aspirants; he has presidential skills and sound leadership judgment.
He has less negative baggage than the other contestants whose indiscipline and military bravado have compelled them to seek running mates from the Churchyard to camouflage their past.
Except for tribal jingoism, which the yellow press is using to promote his opponents, Dr. Jonathan
virtually has no opponents.
The people of South East, having assessed Dr. Jonathan's worth, find him an invaluable president
at this auspicious time of Nigeria's taking of her honored place in the comity of democratic nations.
Indeed, for the first time, the dynamic leader Nigerians deserve has arrived.
Edo students oppose new school fees
The executive members of the students' union government of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, have directed students of the institution not to pay more than half of their school fees for the current academic session. This is coming just as they decry the poor state of infrastructure of the state-owned school.
The union also called on the President Goodluck Jonathan, the Senate president, traditional rulers, and other well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, to reduce the fees currently charged by the school authority.
The students' body made the call over the weekend while addressing journalists at the press centre of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists over the dearth of infrastructural facilities and the high fees they are made to pay in the school.
In a press statement jointly signed by Itote Damis, Osaguona Johnbosco, the union's president and secretary general respectively, the students expressed disappointment over the recently announced 300 per cent increase in the schools fees.
The students' leaders also condemned the sudden increase of their fees from N18, 000 to N62, 000, which they alleged had forced a good number of students to abandon their studies in the university as their parents could no longer afford to pay the new rates.
They noted that the school is located in a community where majority of the people are peasant farmers, petty traders, commercial motorcyclists, and pensioners who could barely afford three square meals, hence such fees would not be affordable.
Further raising more complaints, the students union stated that "to worsen the situation, some parents and guardians of the students have had their shops and kiosks demolished by the Major Lawrence Oloye-task force set up by Governor Oshiomhole in the name of beautifying the city, thereby subjecting them and their children to abject poverty and untold hardship."
Deliberate attempt
They, therefore, accused the state governor of "a deliberate attempt to deprive Nigerians, particularly Edo State indigenes of their educational rights, an action which clearly contradicts his promise during his electioneering campaigns in 2007 to make education free at all levels.
"It is disheartening to note that since the assumption of office as the governor of Edo State, Ambrose Alli University has not received a carton of chalk from Governor Oshiomhole, let alone witnessed any infrastructural development by his administration," they said.
Quoting chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which places the responsibility of providing food, shelter, security, education, and others on of governments at all levels, the students averred that the state government is expected to "provide adequate infrastructure, teaching aids and facilities, enough manpower (academic and non academic), and adequate subvention for Ambrose Alli University and other state owned citadels of learning, as part of its social services being rendered to the people."
They, therefore, called on the governor to "reverse the tuition fees of Ambrose Alli University within the next two weeks; failure to do so, the Union will not hesitate to do everything within its power to legally drive home its demand."
It is one thing to avoid speaking ill of the dead. It is another to falsify history
1. Among others, all the UPN Governors of that era went to jail. They were convicted for corruption by special military tribunals during the Buhari-Idiagbon era. Some spent a large part of their jail time in hospital. Professor Ambrose Alli (RIP) of then Bendel state was among them.
In addition to jail time, many had to cough up funds. In Alli's case, many of his praise singers (including some from his own clan) abandoned him in his hour of need. For whatever reason, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion was among the few who went to his rescue and helped him pay back some fines. All of this is on record.
2. Many of the UPN Governors and other politicians sent their children to school abroad (even then). Including Jakande. For example, you can check the records at the elite French University (Sorbonne)
3. WHile the concept of Free Education was a crowd puller, economic and political realities dictated its success and ultimate viability. No welfare program in any country can succeed if the government has no means of supporting and sustaining it, amongst competing priorities.
All of these discussions are meaningless without contextualising national discussions about revenue allocation formulae, and the way such formulae changed over time including the huge revenue base created by the British from World War 2 Cocoa reserves - which is what powered the Western regions free education program in the fifties. If derivation were to be the sole principle behind revenue allocation that would be quite a different kettle of fish from say, if "land mass" were to be the sole decider. Then we have equality of states, population etc... all of which place smaller states at a disadvantage
Starting from the refusal of the West to share its resources with new referendum created Midwest region, draw a graph of the revenue stream to Bendel beginning in 1963 until 1981. It rose with the Oil bubble, peaked in the seventies, then crashed when others wanted to feed from the same trough. It did not help matters that UPN Bendel (under Alli) was at loggerheads in court with the NPN federal govermnent (under Shagari).
By the time the late Abel Guobadia became Bendel Commissioner for Education, in 1984 (under Jerry Useni), Bendel state had about 900 mostly non-viable secondary schools (inherited from Alli) which he had to trim down to 300 viable consolidated entities because the populist largesse of the previous era was not sustainable under the new revenue allocation scheme.
It may interest you to know too that throughout the Buhari-Idiagbon regime, there were only 18 Federal Ministers. The 19th state had no ministerial representation in the Buhari government from Jan 1984 until August 1985. That state was Bendel.
It took time for even the 1999 constitutional 13% derivation formula to kick in because of the relative powerlessness of the oil minority states and mischief in the center. And we have seen the politics of offshore resources, the dramatic change of fortunes between Cross River and Aqua Ibom on the basis of reallocation of oil wells. Ditto the "fight" (since the eighties) between oil Bendel and Ondo states over oil wells. I have not even yet factored in the theft of resources by so called South South politicians and Governors in the last 12 years.
Take UNIBEN for example. It started out as a State University in the face of hostile opposition from some big geoethnic blocks. When Bendel later realized it was draining resources needed for other purposes, they handed it over to the feds who until then were only pumping money into older so called federal institutions that were primarily looking after some geoethnic groups. But less than five years later the same Bendel set up a brand new state university with no clear idea of how it would be sustained indepedently well into the future. The same can be said about technical institutions created at Usen more recently etc...
Here we are today in military created Edo state, after the "loss" of Delta state contributions to our "allocation" (in 1991) expecting free education with no taxes and little federal allocation with a huge overhead for the civil service. This is a state that has natural gas, oil, ports, timber, tourist potential, human resources etc... in which no one has invested for economic development or whose resources are being tapped to support projects in other states.
A society that has no developed natural resources just sitting there for the picking cannot survive without taxes in one form or another. But in Nigeria we have this mentality where we like to be provided free infrastructure and amenities but detest taxes/fees. Alumni do not recycle their resources to their various alma mater. Lecturers do not compete for grants.
Meanwhile many states (like Edo) have huge overheads and we pretend as if it is no big deal. In some states nearly 90% of revenue goes into overhead. How do you then provide for other needs without taxes, just waiting for declining allocation from ABuja which for political reasons will not develop your ports, airports, gas reserves and other resources? Even the recent state bond scheme has its long term dangers.....
Simplistic analyses will not cut it. This is a labyrinth.
The late Professor Ambrose Ali was elected on the platform of Awolowo's party, the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and education was free for all. Free education at all levels was on their party's manifesto. Michael Ajasin, Bola Ige, Lateef Jakande, etc did it in their respective UPN-controlled states too. It was a miracle. Bendel, Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, etc enjoyed it. The money budgeted for the states were not sent to foreign banks. In most cases, it was for the people and used for the people. I cannot think of any of those UPN-controlled states where students protested against hike in tuition fees at their university then. Hmmm, how many politicians sent their children to foreign schools then?
The corruption rate of today was not in then. It was after their era that the military came back to power to democratize corruption in the name of checking corruption among politicians in Nigeria. Prof. Ali and associates had vision for Nigeria and many of what they imagined then are being put into practice by countries with visions around the world today, (sadly not in Nigeria) but today, Nigeria has leaders without a vision, eg Adam Oshiomole.
Most Nigerians today have traded education and vision for money.
The union also called on the President Goodluck Jonathan, the Senate president, traditional rulers, and other well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, to reduce the fees currently charged by the school authority.
The students' body made the call over the weekend while addressing journalists at the press centre of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists over the dearth of infrastructural facilities and the high fees they are made to pay in the school.
In a press statement jointly signed by Itote Damis, Osaguona Johnbosco, the union's president and secretary general respectively, the students expressed disappointment over the recently announced 300 per cent increase in the schools fees.
The students' leaders also condemned the sudden increase of their fees from N18, 000 to N62, 000, which they alleged had forced a good number of students to abandon their studies in the university as their parents could no longer afford to pay the new rates.
They noted that the school is located in a community where majority of the people are peasant farmers, petty traders, commercial motorcyclists, and pensioners who could barely afford three square meals, hence such fees would not be affordable.
Further raising more complaints, the students union stated that "to worsen the situation, some parents and guardians of the students have had their shops and kiosks demolished by the Major Lawrence Oloye-task force set up by Governor Oshiomhole in the name of beautifying the city, thereby subjecting them and their children to abject poverty and untold hardship."
Deliberate attempt
They, therefore, accused the state governor of "a deliberate attempt to deprive Nigerians, particularly Edo State indigenes of their educational rights, an action which clearly contradicts his promise during his electioneering campaigns in 2007 to make education free at all levels.
"It is disheartening to note that since the assumption of office as the governor of Edo State, Ambrose Alli University has not received a carton of chalk from Governor Oshiomhole, let alone witnessed any infrastructural development by his administration," they said.
Quoting chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which places the responsibility of providing food, shelter, security, education, and others on of governments at all levels, the students averred that the state government is expected to "provide adequate infrastructure, teaching aids and facilities, enough manpower (academic and non academic), and adequate subvention for Ambrose Alli University and other state owned citadels of learning, as part of its social services being rendered to the people."
They, therefore, called on the governor to "reverse the tuition fees of Ambrose Alli University within the next two weeks; failure to do so, the Union will not hesitate to do everything within its power to legally drive home its demand."
It is one thing to avoid speaking ill of the dead. It is another to falsify history
1. Among others, all the UPN Governors of that era went to jail. They were convicted for corruption by special military tribunals during the Buhari-Idiagbon era. Some spent a large part of their jail time in hospital. Professor Ambrose Alli (RIP) of then Bendel state was among them.
In addition to jail time, many had to cough up funds. In Alli's case, many of his praise singers (including some from his own clan) abandoned him in his hour of need. For whatever reason, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion was among the few who went to his rescue and helped him pay back some fines. All of this is on record.
2. Many of the UPN Governors and other politicians sent their children to school abroad (even then). Including Jakande. For example, you can check the records at the elite French University (Sorbonne)
3. WHile the concept of Free Education was a crowd puller, economic and political realities dictated its success and ultimate viability. No welfare program in any country can succeed if the government has no means of supporting and sustaining it, amongst competing priorities.
All of these discussions are meaningless without contextualising national discussions about revenue allocation formulae, and the way such formulae changed over time including the huge revenue base created by the British from World War 2 Cocoa reserves - which is what powered the Western regions free education program in the fifties. If derivation were to be the sole principle behind revenue allocation that would be quite a different kettle of fish from say, if "land mass" were to be the sole decider. Then we have equality of states, population etc... all of which place smaller states at a disadvantage
Starting from the refusal of the West to share its resources with new referendum created Midwest region, draw a graph of the revenue stream to Bendel beginning in 1963 until 1981. It rose with the Oil bubble, peaked in the seventies, then crashed when others wanted to feed from the same trough. It did not help matters that UPN Bendel (under Alli) was at loggerheads in court with the NPN federal govermnent (under Shagari).
By the time the late Abel Guobadia became Bendel Commissioner for Education, in 1984 (under Jerry Useni), Bendel state had about 900 mostly non-viable secondary schools (inherited from Alli) which he had to trim down to 300 viable consolidated entities because the populist largesse of the previous era was not sustainable under the new revenue allocation scheme.
It may interest you to know too that throughout the Buhari-Idiagbon regime, there were only 18 Federal Ministers. The 19th state had no ministerial representation in the Buhari government from Jan 1984 until August 1985. That state was Bendel.
It took time for even the 1999 constitutional 13% derivation formula to kick in because of the relative powerlessness of the oil minority states and mischief in the center. And we have seen the politics of offshore resources, the dramatic change of fortunes between Cross River and Aqua Ibom on the basis of reallocation of oil wells. Ditto the "fight" (since the eighties) between oil Bendel and Ondo states over oil wells. I have not even yet factored in the theft of resources by so called South South politicians and Governors in the last 12 years.
Take UNIBEN for example. It started out as a State University in the face of hostile opposition from some big geoethnic blocks. When Bendel later realized it was draining resources needed for other purposes, they handed it over to the feds who until then were only pumping money into older so called federal institutions that were primarily looking after some geoethnic groups. But less than five years later the same Bendel set up a brand new state university with no clear idea of how it would be sustained indepedently well into the future. The same can be said about technical institutions created at Usen more recently etc...
Here we are today in military created Edo state, after the "loss" of Delta state contributions to our "allocation" (in 1991) expecting free education with no taxes and little federal allocation with a huge overhead for the civil service. This is a state that has natural gas, oil, ports, timber, tourist potential, human resources etc... in which no one has invested for economic development or whose resources are being tapped to support projects in other states.
A society that has no developed natural resources just sitting there for the picking cannot survive without taxes in one form or another. But in Nigeria we have this mentality where we like to be provided free infrastructure and amenities but detest taxes/fees. Alumni do not recycle their resources to their various alma mater. Lecturers do not compete for grants.
Meanwhile many states (like Edo) have huge overheads and we pretend as if it is no big deal. In some states nearly 90% of revenue goes into overhead. How do you then provide for other needs without taxes, just waiting for declining allocation from ABuja which for political reasons will not develop your ports, airports, gas reserves and other resources? Even the recent state bond scheme has its long term dangers.....
Simplistic analyses will not cut it. This is a labyrinth.
The late Professor Ambrose Ali was elected on the platform of Awolowo's party, the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and education was free for all. Free education at all levels was on their party's manifesto. Michael Ajasin, Bola Ige, Lateef Jakande, etc did it in their respective UPN-controlled states too. It was a miracle. Bendel, Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, etc enjoyed it. The money budgeted for the states were not sent to foreign banks. In most cases, it was for the people and used for the people. I cannot think of any of those UPN-controlled states where students protested against hike in tuition fees at their university then. Hmmm, how many politicians sent their children to foreign schools then?
The corruption rate of today was not in then. It was after their era that the military came back to power to democratize corruption in the name of checking corruption among politicians in Nigeria. Prof. Ali and associates had vision for Nigeria and many of what they imagined then are being put into practice by countries with visions around the world today, (sadly not in Nigeria) but today, Nigeria has leaders without a vision, eg Adam Oshiomole.
Most Nigerians today have traded education and vision for money.
LETTER TO MY PRESIDENT
Dear Mr President
It is good to have got you as president, it's great to have democracy
and it's woderful to be a Nigerian.
A country judged as most blessed in the world, most populous African
nation and with most travelled citizens.
Though, the goas and mindset of our nationalists have not been
achieved but the hope of better days ahead has always kept us going in
this endowed land.
Mr President, being a Nigerian who believes in Nigeria, I see a bright
future. I see a time when the rule of law, good governance and due
process shall reign. I see a time when every adult will willingly
retire into a functioning Elderly Care Policy and allow space for the
ever active youths in the labour market. I see a time when the
children of this nation shall be rightly counselled to choose their
career based on what they can do for the nation. I see a time when
security and power supply will be so steady that 'wasted half' of
everyday called night will be made functional thereby creating more
jobs. I see a time when all Nigerian Professionals and Specialists
shall proudly return home to help build the next world power. I see a
time when resource control will be a blessing and not a nightmare to
the people.
Ultimately, I see a time when all Nigerians shall no longer say 'this
country' but 'my country.
Mr President, the key to this future is Naturecracy...Democracy
according to a paople's culture. A system that supports Good
Governance and Zero Tolerance for Corruption; Promotes Youths
Particition in Policy Making; Creates unlimited Employment; and
depends on Education.
Mr President that is the real Nigeria. It is achievable.
God bless my country...Nigeria!
Yours in pure service,
Ifeanyi Ifeadinmesi Aniagoh
It is good to have got you as president, it's great to have democracy
and it's woderful to be a Nigerian.
A country judged as most blessed in the world, most populous African
nation and with most travelled citizens.
Though, the goas and mindset of our nationalists have not been
achieved but the hope of better days ahead has always kept us going in
this endowed land.
Mr President, being a Nigerian who believes in Nigeria, I see a bright
future. I see a time when the rule of law, good governance and due
process shall reign. I see a time when every adult will willingly
retire into a functioning Elderly Care Policy and allow space for the
ever active youths in the labour market. I see a time when the
children of this nation shall be rightly counselled to choose their
career based on what they can do for the nation. I see a time when
security and power supply will be so steady that 'wasted half' of
everyday called night will be made functional thereby creating more
jobs. I see a time when all Nigerian Professionals and Specialists
shall proudly return home to help build the next world power. I see a
time when resource control will be a blessing and not a nightmare to
the people.
Ultimately, I see a time when all Nigerians shall no longer say 'this
country' but 'my country.
Mr President, the key to this future is Naturecracy...Democracy
according to a paople's culture. A system that supports Good
Governance and Zero Tolerance for Corruption; Promotes Youths
Particition in Policy Making; Creates unlimited Employment; and
depends on Education.
Mr President that is the real Nigeria. It is achievable.
God bless my country...Nigeria!
Yours in pure service,
Ifeanyi Ifeadinmesi Aniagoh
April polls: Igbo threaten PDP, Jonathan/ Old scammers
These scammers are back...THEY ARE BACK indeed.
These are the same Babangida men that wee locked out in Owerri that said that they will not support Jonathan and went to Niger state are now telling Jonathan that they had supported him all along.
They are back again in Owerri.sponsored by Udenwa and ACN..we de laugh.....
Look at their SAD faces....Tell tale sign of frustration.
All of them lost out in the NEW PDP.
NON of these people in the picture can boast of what they did in IGBO LAND.
These are all Atiku + banbangida + Nnamani Cabal men seeking for ways to rehabilitate themselves.
Lets grant them they they are working for IGBO...but...not through Ebere Azikiwe.
Their hope evaporated on the other side....they are now using the PDP chairmanship to make noise.
Bro Ebere should call them in for a dinner at that Concord Hotel...and assign them different local government areas that have to campaign in.... they have to deliver their areas.....that simple.
hey are seeking for a way to get into the big tent.
Look at the picture...Soludo flew to London to interview for a VP slot for Atiku that never panned out.
These are the same group that want to interview and install their candidate as the front runner for the 2015 IGBO Presidency.
THEY LOST.
They have learned that they do not have to go through those people to collect. Their FUTURE is in their hands. But the want to collect up front deposit and not worry about what happens to the rest. The old way of doing business.
Time has past these people.
They cannot even contribute in state politics not to talk of Bro Ebere getting Ciroma to drink tea and eat Isam and akoli and fresh fish from bayelsa water....who cares if the fish is intoxicated with spilled crude oil.
These people should go to Abuja to threaten Ebere.if any kaboooom there...they all will be taken in. They should leave Owerri and Concord Hotels alone
Ekwueme has a big Hotel system...MODETEL...HOTELS.....but he does not want to expose the name of his hotels...he keeps trying to make Concord look like a renegade hotel filled with protesters against Ebere .
This is a GRAND DECEIT by these old men.
That it is very unfair and uncharitable to say that the delay in nominating a substantive PDP national chairman from south east is because the south east governors are against such a nomination as our enquiries have proved otherwise.
“Ndigbo despite its unambiguous and unequivocal support for President Jonathan’s government is again losing out in the power sharing, rotation of key offices in the government of Nigeria.
Ahead of the April general elections, Igbo leaders have warned that it is dangerous for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, to go into the polls without returning the position of the party’s national chairman to the South East geo-political zone.
R-L: Prof Soludo, Sen Ken Nnamani, Chief Simeon Okeke, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Chief Achike Udenwa, Dr Sam Egwu, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji, and Senator Ben Obi outside the Hotel Concorde, Owerri venue of the Igbo Summit
The Igbo leaders said yesterday that the president may have it rough in the polls in the South-East if the issue of the PDP substantive national chairman was not immediately resolved in the zone’s favour.
The last holder of the office of the PDP chairman, zoned to the South East under the PDP internal arrangement, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, had been forced to resign amid the intrigues that trailed the January presidential primaries of the party, throwing up his deputy, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, in acting national chairman capacity.
There have been insinuations of a scheme by the North to retain Mohammed in office as acting national chairman until after the polls, implying that he may run the remaining tenure of an office earmarked by the PDP for the South East.
Rising from a meeting in Abuja yesterday, a group of eminent South East leaders asked Jonathan, who is the leader of the party, as well as members of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party to, as a matter of urgency, look at the issue and find a solution to it, against the backdrop that it becomes more dangerous when taken into cognizance the voting strength of the zone which they put at over 24 million registered voters.
Great vacuum
The group noted that the absence of a PDP national chairman has created a great vacuum, just as they said that the present political arrangement has left the South East as the only geo-political zone without a first-tier position in power-sharing, rotation of key political offices in Nigeria in line with the party’s zoning arrangement of 2007 and in pursuance of principle of justice, equity and fairness.
According to a communiqué signed by former governor of Anambra State and chairman of the group, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the South East leaders also agreed to send a special ‘Save our Soul’ message to Jonathan to intervene.
The communiqué was also signed by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Agunwa Anaekwe (Anambra), Professor Ihechukwu Maduike (Abia); Senator Sylvanus Ngele (Ebonyi); Chief M.O. Kalu (Imo); Chief Silas Ilo (Enugu); Mazi Larry Nwosu (representing Igbo in the 19 northern states), Dr. Chinweoke Mbadinuju; Dr. Douglas Acholonu and Dr. Ifedi Okwenna, who is the group’s secretary.
The communiqué read in part, “That it will be too dangerous and counterproductive for the PDP to allow this current status quo to remain longer than necessary or to snowball into the next general elections.
“That it is spurious, self-serving and infantile to argue that time is too short for the party to have another national chairman or that the acting national chairman be allowed to use the national chairmanship position to rally support from his people for President Jonathan. This to us is a celebration of failure.”
Noting that silence on the part of the president to the development was not palatable to the people of the South East and that he should intervene, the group said, “his continued silence on this may be assumed to be acquiescence. The president is advised not to reward the unassailable South East support with official denial early in the life of his administration.
“There are over seven million registered voters in the core South East states and over seventeen million other Igbo who registered across Nigeria are already mobilized to cast their votes for the candidacy of President Jonathan unless they are forced to do otherwise.
‘’With dismay the inability of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to select from South East a party faithful as substantive national chairman to replace the former national chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo more than one month after his resignation.
“That as at today, the South South occupies the office of the president of Nigeria; North West has vice president and acting national Chairman of PDP; North Central has Senate President; south west has Speaker of House of Representative; north east has secretary to the Government of the Federation and south east where the national chairmanship of PDP was originally zoned to has nothing.
“That in the National Working Committee of the ruling PDP, no single person is from the south east geopolitical zone.
Ndigbo and power sharing
“That Ndigbo were not only the first major ethnic group in Nigeria to openly and unequivocally endorse the candidacy of President Jonathan for the 2011 presidential race but also spurned others to do the same. Ndigbo later voted with nearly every single vote of theirs in the delegate primaries of PDP to ensure the emergence of President Jonathan as the candidate of PDP. This is the first time in the political history of modern Nigeria that Ndigbo have given a near total adoption to any single presidential candidate in an election year.
“That it is very unfair and uncharitable to say that the delay in nominating a substantive PDP national chairman from south east is because the south east governors are against such a nomination as our enquiries have proved otherwise.
“Ndigbo despite its unambiguous and unequivocal support for President Jonathan’s government is again losing out in the power sharing, rotation of key offices in the government of Nigeria.
“That the position of the PDP national chairman remains allocated to Ndigbo in the PDP zoning arrangement of 2007 and that for fairness, justice and equity, the PDP should appoint its substantive national chairman from south east without any further delay.
“Ndigbo insist that what is theirs should be restored to them without any further delay and that no zone, group or individual should henceforth be allowed to again appropriate whatever is due to Ndigbo under any guise or form.
“That it will be too dangerous and counterproductive for the PDP to allow this current status quo to remain longer than necessary or to snowball into the next general election.
“That it is spurious, self-serving and infantile to argue that time is too short for the party to have another national chairman or that the acting national chairman be allowed to use the national chairmanship position to rally support from his people for President Jonathan. This to us is a celebration of failure.
“That the PDP should commence without any further delay the process for the emergence from south east a substantive national chairman for the party in the interest of justice, fairness, equity and peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians”.
These are the same Babangida men that wee locked out in Owerri that said that they will not support Jonathan and went to Niger state are now telling Jonathan that they had supported him all along.
They are back again in Owerri.sponsored by Udenwa and ACN..we de laugh.....
Look at their SAD faces....Tell tale sign of frustration.
All of them lost out in the NEW PDP.
NON of these people in the picture can boast of what they did in IGBO LAND.
These are all Atiku + banbangida + Nnamani Cabal men seeking for ways to rehabilitate themselves.
Lets grant them they they are working for IGBO...but...not through Ebere Azikiwe.
Their hope evaporated on the other side....they are now using the PDP chairmanship to make noise.
Bro Ebere should call them in for a dinner at that Concord Hotel...and assign them different local government areas that have to campaign in.... they have to deliver their areas.....that simple.
hey are seeking for a way to get into the big tent.
Look at the picture...Soludo flew to London to interview for a VP slot for Atiku that never panned out.
These are the same group that want to interview and install their candidate as the front runner for the 2015 IGBO Presidency.
THEY LOST.
They have learned that they do not have to go through those people to collect. Their FUTURE is in their hands. But the want to collect up front deposit and not worry about what happens to the rest. The old way of doing business.
Time has past these people.
They cannot even contribute in state politics not to talk of Bro Ebere getting Ciroma to drink tea and eat Isam and akoli and fresh fish from bayelsa water....who cares if the fish is intoxicated with spilled crude oil.
These people should go to Abuja to threaten Ebere.if any kaboooom there...they all will be taken in. They should leave Owerri and Concord Hotels alone
Ekwueme has a big Hotel system...MODETEL...HOTELS.....but he does not want to expose the name of his hotels...he keeps trying to make Concord look like a renegade hotel filled with protesters against Ebere .
This is a GRAND DECEIT by these old men.
That it is very unfair and uncharitable to say that the delay in nominating a substantive PDP national chairman from south east is because the south east governors are against such a nomination as our enquiries have proved otherwise.
“Ndigbo despite its unambiguous and unequivocal support for President Jonathan’s government is again losing out in the power sharing, rotation of key offices in the government of Nigeria.
Ahead of the April general elections, Igbo leaders have warned that it is dangerous for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, to go into the polls without returning the position of the party’s national chairman to the South East geo-political zone.
R-L: Prof Soludo, Sen Ken Nnamani, Chief Simeon Okeke, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Chief Achike Udenwa, Dr Sam Egwu, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji, and Senator Ben Obi outside the Hotel Concorde, Owerri venue of the Igbo Summit
The Igbo leaders said yesterday that the president may have it rough in the polls in the South-East if the issue of the PDP substantive national chairman was not immediately resolved in the zone’s favour.
The last holder of the office of the PDP chairman, zoned to the South East under the PDP internal arrangement, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, had been forced to resign amid the intrigues that trailed the January presidential primaries of the party, throwing up his deputy, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, in acting national chairman capacity.
There have been insinuations of a scheme by the North to retain Mohammed in office as acting national chairman until after the polls, implying that he may run the remaining tenure of an office earmarked by the PDP for the South East.
Rising from a meeting in Abuja yesterday, a group of eminent South East leaders asked Jonathan, who is the leader of the party, as well as members of the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party to, as a matter of urgency, look at the issue and find a solution to it, against the backdrop that it becomes more dangerous when taken into cognizance the voting strength of the zone which they put at over 24 million registered voters.
Great vacuum
The group noted that the absence of a PDP national chairman has created a great vacuum, just as they said that the present political arrangement has left the South East as the only geo-political zone without a first-tier position in power-sharing, rotation of key political offices in Nigeria in line with the party’s zoning arrangement of 2007 and in pursuance of principle of justice, equity and fairness.
According to a communiqué signed by former governor of Anambra State and chairman of the group, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the South East leaders also agreed to send a special ‘Save our Soul’ message to Jonathan to intervene.
The communiqué was also signed by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Agunwa Anaekwe (Anambra), Professor Ihechukwu Maduike (Abia); Senator Sylvanus Ngele (Ebonyi); Chief M.O. Kalu (Imo); Chief Silas Ilo (Enugu); Mazi Larry Nwosu (representing Igbo in the 19 northern states), Dr. Chinweoke Mbadinuju; Dr. Douglas Acholonu and Dr. Ifedi Okwenna, who is the group’s secretary.
The communiqué read in part, “That it will be too dangerous and counterproductive for the PDP to allow this current status quo to remain longer than necessary or to snowball into the next general elections.
“That it is spurious, self-serving and infantile to argue that time is too short for the party to have another national chairman or that the acting national chairman be allowed to use the national chairmanship position to rally support from his people for President Jonathan. This to us is a celebration of failure.”
Noting that silence on the part of the president to the development was not palatable to the people of the South East and that he should intervene, the group said, “his continued silence on this may be assumed to be acquiescence. The president is advised not to reward the unassailable South East support with official denial early in the life of his administration.
“There are over seven million registered voters in the core South East states and over seventeen million other Igbo who registered across Nigeria are already mobilized to cast their votes for the candidacy of President Jonathan unless they are forced to do otherwise.
‘’With dismay the inability of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to select from South East a party faithful as substantive national chairman to replace the former national chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo more than one month after his resignation.
“That as at today, the South South occupies the office of the president of Nigeria; North West has vice president and acting national Chairman of PDP; North Central has Senate President; south west has Speaker of House of Representative; north east has secretary to the Government of the Federation and south east where the national chairmanship of PDP was originally zoned to has nothing.
“That in the National Working Committee of the ruling PDP, no single person is from the south east geopolitical zone.
Ndigbo and power sharing
“That Ndigbo were not only the first major ethnic group in Nigeria to openly and unequivocally endorse the candidacy of President Jonathan for the 2011 presidential race but also spurned others to do the same. Ndigbo later voted with nearly every single vote of theirs in the delegate primaries of PDP to ensure the emergence of President Jonathan as the candidate of PDP. This is the first time in the political history of modern Nigeria that Ndigbo have given a near total adoption to any single presidential candidate in an election year.
“That it is very unfair and uncharitable to say that the delay in nominating a substantive PDP national chairman from south east is because the south east governors are against such a nomination as our enquiries have proved otherwise.
“Ndigbo despite its unambiguous and unequivocal support for President Jonathan’s government is again losing out in the power sharing, rotation of key offices in the government of Nigeria.
“That the position of the PDP national chairman remains allocated to Ndigbo in the PDP zoning arrangement of 2007 and that for fairness, justice and equity, the PDP should appoint its substantive national chairman from south east without any further delay.
“Ndigbo insist that what is theirs should be restored to them without any further delay and that no zone, group or individual should henceforth be allowed to again appropriate whatever is due to Ndigbo under any guise or form.
“That it will be too dangerous and counterproductive for the PDP to allow this current status quo to remain longer than necessary or to snowball into the next general election.
“That it is spurious, self-serving and infantile to argue that time is too short for the party to have another national chairman or that the acting national chairman be allowed to use the national chairmanship position to rally support from his people for President Jonathan. This to us is a celebration of failure.
“That the PDP should commence without any further delay the process for the emergence from south east a substantive national chairman for the party in the interest of justice, fairness, equity and peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians”.
President Jonathan's 133 aides
There is a flurry of activity in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Piles of files and documents are being collated and officials have been detailed to analyse the huge mass of documents and data. NEXT investigations reveal that the SGF’s office is working behind the scenes for President Goodluck Jonathan who is determined to produce a comprehensive response to the report of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) which last month accused his government of wasting funds on a behemoth work force.
Among other things, Mr. Jonathan will put up a valiant defence for the over 133 personal aides which he currently hires for the Presidency and who get paid about N780 million every year. Sources who spoke with NEXT in confidence said that although there are civil servants officially stationed in the State House, the Presidency has not only hired this large array of private aides but is furious with the Theophillus Danjuma-led committee for questioning these appointments.
The advisory council was set up in March, 2010 by the president, “to evaluate policy implementation and advise on areas requiring adjustments; to advise the President on how to maximise the benefits derivable from government’s efforts; to advise on such actions and programmes that may improve credibility and performance of the government.” Almost a year later, on January 20, 2011, the group submitted a major report, which heavily criticised Mr. Jonathan’s government.
The council had among other recommendations, advised the president to prune the bloated federal bureaucracy. But few days after the report was released, Mr. Jonathan announced the appointment of new special advisers and assistants.
Yet, determined to respond to the charges by the council, the presidency has set up a team, mandated to prepare a report that will reflect the government’s gripe with the PAC report. The team is being coordinated by officials in the office of the SGF, Yayale Ahmed, and is expected to show that the PAC, made up of eminent Nigerians including Fola Adeola and Kanu Agabi, is largely ignorant of the intricacies of government affairs.
“They have concluded that the Danjuma group is made up of people who do not understand the workings of government,” a source within the SGF’s office said, asking not to be named since he was not speaking in official capacity.
“Danjuma and his people have become infamous because of the report. To them, the group does not understand issues like national character or the constitutional provision for the engagement of assistants,”
133 aides
An official document obtained by NEXT, titled ‘List of presidential Aides as at February, 2011’ shows that the country currently pays for at least 133 personal aides to the president, the vice-president, and the first lady.
These aides, who are mostly political appointees, include the Chief of Staff to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Principal Secretary to the President, Principal Secretary to the Vice President, 25 special advisers, 42 senior special assistants, 52 special assistants and 12 personal assistants.
Two of the personal assistants are Malian and Senegalese tailors who sow the president’s clothes.
Activist Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress, said most of the appointees were simply engaged by President Jonathan as campaign foot soldiers.
“The president is simply wasting our national resources and applying pressure on the economy by settling cronies, bootlickers and parasites on the corridors of power with appointments,” said Mr. Sani who wants labour, civil society and opposition parties to check the trend.
Looking through the list, some of the appointments indeed appear to be duplication of duties.
For instance, there are six physicians (two senior special assistants and four special assistants) who attend to the health needs of the president, the vice president and the first lady. They include two chief physicians to the president and vice president, two personal physicians to the President and the vice president, an assistant personal physician to the president and a personal physician to the first lady.
Yet some public hospitals across the country do not have a single physician.
Apart from the large number of domestic staff in the presidential villa, who are civil servants, there are also six special assistants in charge of domestic matters for the president and his vice. Their job descriptions are special assistants on presidential household matters, domestic affairs, domestic matters, household administration, social events and household matters, and domestic affairs.
Eleven of the presidential aides on the list work for the unconstitutional office of the First Lady. They are Ike Neliaku and Oroyemisi Oyewole, both senior special assistants on administration to Mrs. Jonathan; Mary Oba, a special assistant on administration; Grace Koroye, coordinator, Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS, and Martha Owuzurumba, coordinator, African First Ladies Peace Mission.
Other aides of Mrs Jonathan are Hannah Offor, a special assistant on protocol, Isiaku Aliagan, her media assistant, and Elizabeth Austin Amadi, her personal physician. On August 13, 2010, Mrs. Jonathan’s stylist, Agnes Aineneh, was appointed a presidential assistant. Two ladies-in-waiting were also appointed for the president’s wife. In the United Kingdom, the term Lady-in-Waiting, according to Wikipedia, is used to describe a woman attending a female member of the royal family other than the Queen or Queen Consort.
In Cambodia, the term refers to high ranking female servants who served food and drink, fanned and massaged, and sometimes provided sexual services to the King. It is however not clear what Justin Adaba and Amina Iye Ahmadu do for Mrs. Jonathan.
Yet, there are other aides of the First Lady that are not on the list. Among them are her steward, Benson Okpara; her luggage officer, Geoffrey Obuofforibo; her aide-de-cap, Jacob Tamunoibuomi; her orderly, Abigail Jonah, her chief security officer; Francis Ibiene; her director of protocol, Mfama Abam; her principal protocol officer, Nuhu Kwache; and another media assistant, Ayobami Adewuyi.
It remains unclear the exact number of official staff permanently employed by the federal government for the state house in addition to the 133 personal aides. This would include bureaucrats, directors, security personnel, administrative staff, and cleaners.
Indications are that this figure would be higher than that of the special aides since the State House has budgeted an additional N1.42 billion for the payment of salaries of these other staff this year.
The cost to the nation
The Nigeria Labour Congress is seeking a minimum wage of 18,000 naira for civil servants. The total sum used in paying the annual salary and allowances of the 133 presidential aides is N775, 207,125. This money will pay the basic salary of 3,600 civil servants.
The money is also more than the Federal Ministry of Education needs this year to construct new schools (N202 million) and provide infrastructure in existing ones, including all the 103 unity schools (N102 million).
This money, even by government estimate, can construct 100-room hostels in each of the nation’s five first generation universities which will comfortably accommodate thousands of young undergraduates who have no place to sleep in our universities. (Cost of constructing a 25-room hostel is N41million.)
Between Jonathan and Yar’Adua
Investigations by NEXT indicate that Mr. Jonathan has more appetite for personal aides than his predecessor. After he was sworn-in in May 2010, following the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Mr. Jonathan retained almost all the special aides appointed by his late boss. But he has also appointed 57 new ones.
In the nine months that he has been president, Mr. Jonathan has appointed a chief of staff, a deputy chief of staff, nine special advisers, 23 senior special assistants, 21 special assistants and two personal assistants.
Human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu describes the appointments as “extreme recklessness”. “It’s wasteful and irritating,” he said. It shows brazen disregard for the people of Nigeria most of whom live below the poverty line. We should ask the president whether he wants to create a new country for himself in the villa.”
The situation in other climes
In the United States, there are 470 employees working in the White House. But most of them are employees on permanent appointments who have worked there for years. President Barack Obama only appointed a handful of key advisers.
Similarly, in South Africa, according to the 2009 annual report of the presidency, President Jacob Zuma appointed only seven advisers while the remaining 582 members of staff were mostly career civil servants.
Government officials in relevant agencies expressed differing views on the legality and appropriateness of the Presidency’s huge number of aides.
An official of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body empowered to fix salaries and allowances of political office holders, who did not want his name mentioned for fear that he might be victimized, said most aides ought to be sourced from the government departments and should be on secondment to the State House for as long as their services are needed.
“Special assistants and personal assistants to the president should be seconded from ministries i.e. they should be civil servants,” the official said. I don’t believe that the President has the right to appoint special assistants from outside the service, unlike his special advisers.”
The spokesperson to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Salisu Na’inna, however disagrees.
“The President has all the right to choose his assistants and advisers and there is no constitutional limit to the number he decides upon,” Mr. Na’inna argued. “Anybody who has a circular to the contrary should produce it.”
What the law says
Section 151 of the 1999 Constitution provides that, “The President may appoint any person as a Special Adviser to assist him in the performance of his functions.
“The number of such Advisers and their remuneration and allowances shall be as prescribed by law or by resolution of the National Assembly.
“Any appointment made pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be at the pleasure of the President and shall cease when the President ceases to hold office.”
But the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission says the President and heads of other arms of government are appointing too many aides. In its latest executive report on reviewed remuneration package, the commission noted “there is non-compliance with the provisions of the remuneration packages such as contained in either the Report of the Commission or the Act itself.
“Such violations by the three tiers and arms of Government,” the commission further said, “include arbitrary appointment of high number of Personal Assistants which is adding more cost to the running of Government at the various levels.
“It is difficult to determine what value they add to service delivery or to governance. The Commission advise that all these illegal appointments by the 3-Tiers of Government be stopped and officers concerned be relieved of their appointments. Also the three tiers and arms of Government should eliminate or limit the number of Personal Assistants to reduce cost of governance.”
Civil Society is angry too
Members of civil society groups were also quick to condemn Mr. Jonathan for his large army of personal aides citing the lack of regulation as a cause of the trend, which persists in the National Assembly as well.
“Section 151 of the 1999 Constitution allows the president to appoint a number of advisers approved by the Senate to help him in his work,” says Eze Onyekpere of the Centre for Social Justice. “But what the president does is to appoint all manner of aides that have become a drain on our national resources.
We should blame this on the dereliction of duty by the National Assembly, which has failed to prescribe the number of aides the president could appoint as well as their emoluments. The legislature should quickly call the president to order,”
Mr Sani also described the President’s numerous appointments as an act of frivolity. “Jonathan’s many aides are simply campaign foot soldiers employed to be paid with government money. And for a government that has less than four months to leave, what assistant or advice does he need at this time? I think that Nigerians – labour, civil society and opposition parties should openly condemn and resist this wicked act,” he said in Abuja over the weekend.”
Osita Okechukwu, spokesperson of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, also believes the appointment of many aides is a reckless political strategy.
“By appointing such ridiculous number of aides, the president is building a brigade for the election. For instance, Bianca Ojukwu was appointed to capture APGA. His action shows that all he is saying about reforming the economy is an orchestra of deception.
Can you reform the economy when you are increasing the recurrent expenditure profile instead of trying to limit it to enable you to have more funds for capital projects like the Mambilla power project? It’s wastage and this does not give confidence to investors. Foreign direct investment cannot come to a country with that level of wastefulness,” he said.
Response from the presidency
The Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Ima Niboro, wouldn’t comment on his boss’ penchant for appointing special aides. He did not respond to text messages and calls to his mobile telephone on the matter.
Elor Nkereuwem
Musikilu Mojeed, Idris Akinbajo and Elizabeth Archibong contributed to reporting for this story.
Elor Nkereuwem
Among other things, Mr. Jonathan will put up a valiant defence for the over 133 personal aides which he currently hires for the Presidency and who get paid about N780 million every year. Sources who spoke with NEXT in confidence said that although there are civil servants officially stationed in the State House, the Presidency has not only hired this large array of private aides but is furious with the Theophillus Danjuma-led committee for questioning these appointments.
The advisory council was set up in March, 2010 by the president, “to evaluate policy implementation and advise on areas requiring adjustments; to advise the President on how to maximise the benefits derivable from government’s efforts; to advise on such actions and programmes that may improve credibility and performance of the government.” Almost a year later, on January 20, 2011, the group submitted a major report, which heavily criticised Mr. Jonathan’s government.
The council had among other recommendations, advised the president to prune the bloated federal bureaucracy. But few days after the report was released, Mr. Jonathan announced the appointment of new special advisers and assistants.
Yet, determined to respond to the charges by the council, the presidency has set up a team, mandated to prepare a report that will reflect the government’s gripe with the PAC report. The team is being coordinated by officials in the office of the SGF, Yayale Ahmed, and is expected to show that the PAC, made up of eminent Nigerians including Fola Adeola and Kanu Agabi, is largely ignorant of the intricacies of government affairs.
“They have concluded that the Danjuma group is made up of people who do not understand the workings of government,” a source within the SGF’s office said, asking not to be named since he was not speaking in official capacity.
“Danjuma and his people have become infamous because of the report. To them, the group does not understand issues like national character or the constitutional provision for the engagement of assistants,”
133 aides
An official document obtained by NEXT, titled ‘List of presidential Aides as at February, 2011’ shows that the country currently pays for at least 133 personal aides to the president, the vice-president, and the first lady.
These aides, who are mostly political appointees, include the Chief of Staff to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Principal Secretary to the President, Principal Secretary to the Vice President, 25 special advisers, 42 senior special assistants, 52 special assistants and 12 personal assistants.
Two of the personal assistants are Malian and Senegalese tailors who sow the president’s clothes.
Activist Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress, said most of the appointees were simply engaged by President Jonathan as campaign foot soldiers.
“The president is simply wasting our national resources and applying pressure on the economy by settling cronies, bootlickers and parasites on the corridors of power with appointments,” said Mr. Sani who wants labour, civil society and opposition parties to check the trend.
Looking through the list, some of the appointments indeed appear to be duplication of duties.
For instance, there are six physicians (two senior special assistants and four special assistants) who attend to the health needs of the president, the vice president and the first lady. They include two chief physicians to the president and vice president, two personal physicians to the President and the vice president, an assistant personal physician to the president and a personal physician to the first lady.
Yet some public hospitals across the country do not have a single physician.
Apart from the large number of domestic staff in the presidential villa, who are civil servants, there are also six special assistants in charge of domestic matters for the president and his vice. Their job descriptions are special assistants on presidential household matters, domestic affairs, domestic matters, household administration, social events and household matters, and domestic affairs.
Eleven of the presidential aides on the list work for the unconstitutional office of the First Lady. They are Ike Neliaku and Oroyemisi Oyewole, both senior special assistants on administration to Mrs. Jonathan; Mary Oba, a special assistant on administration; Grace Koroye, coordinator, Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS, and Martha Owuzurumba, coordinator, African First Ladies Peace Mission.
Other aides of Mrs Jonathan are Hannah Offor, a special assistant on protocol, Isiaku Aliagan, her media assistant, and Elizabeth Austin Amadi, her personal physician. On August 13, 2010, Mrs. Jonathan’s stylist, Agnes Aineneh, was appointed a presidential assistant. Two ladies-in-waiting were also appointed for the president’s wife. In the United Kingdom, the term Lady-in-Waiting, according to Wikipedia, is used to describe a woman attending a female member of the royal family other than the Queen or Queen Consort.
In Cambodia, the term refers to high ranking female servants who served food and drink, fanned and massaged, and sometimes provided sexual services to the King. It is however not clear what Justin Adaba and Amina Iye Ahmadu do for Mrs. Jonathan.
Yet, there are other aides of the First Lady that are not on the list. Among them are her steward, Benson Okpara; her luggage officer, Geoffrey Obuofforibo; her aide-de-cap, Jacob Tamunoibuomi; her orderly, Abigail Jonah, her chief security officer; Francis Ibiene; her director of protocol, Mfama Abam; her principal protocol officer, Nuhu Kwache; and another media assistant, Ayobami Adewuyi.
It remains unclear the exact number of official staff permanently employed by the federal government for the state house in addition to the 133 personal aides. This would include bureaucrats, directors, security personnel, administrative staff, and cleaners.
Indications are that this figure would be higher than that of the special aides since the State House has budgeted an additional N1.42 billion for the payment of salaries of these other staff this year.
The cost to the nation
The Nigeria Labour Congress is seeking a minimum wage of 18,000 naira for civil servants. The total sum used in paying the annual salary and allowances of the 133 presidential aides is N775, 207,125. This money will pay the basic salary of 3,600 civil servants.
The money is also more than the Federal Ministry of Education needs this year to construct new schools (N202 million) and provide infrastructure in existing ones, including all the 103 unity schools (N102 million).
This money, even by government estimate, can construct 100-room hostels in each of the nation’s five first generation universities which will comfortably accommodate thousands of young undergraduates who have no place to sleep in our universities. (Cost of constructing a 25-room hostel is N41million.)
Between Jonathan and Yar’Adua
Investigations by NEXT indicate that Mr. Jonathan has more appetite for personal aides than his predecessor. After he was sworn-in in May 2010, following the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Mr. Jonathan retained almost all the special aides appointed by his late boss. But he has also appointed 57 new ones.
In the nine months that he has been president, Mr. Jonathan has appointed a chief of staff, a deputy chief of staff, nine special advisers, 23 senior special assistants, 21 special assistants and two personal assistants.
Human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu describes the appointments as “extreme recklessness”. “It’s wasteful and irritating,” he said. It shows brazen disregard for the people of Nigeria most of whom live below the poverty line. We should ask the president whether he wants to create a new country for himself in the villa.”
The situation in other climes
In the United States, there are 470 employees working in the White House. But most of them are employees on permanent appointments who have worked there for years. President Barack Obama only appointed a handful of key advisers.
Similarly, in South Africa, according to the 2009 annual report of the presidency, President Jacob Zuma appointed only seven advisers while the remaining 582 members of staff were mostly career civil servants.
Government officials in relevant agencies expressed differing views on the legality and appropriateness of the Presidency’s huge number of aides.
An official of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body empowered to fix salaries and allowances of political office holders, who did not want his name mentioned for fear that he might be victimized, said most aides ought to be sourced from the government departments and should be on secondment to the State House for as long as their services are needed.
“Special assistants and personal assistants to the president should be seconded from ministries i.e. they should be civil servants,” the official said. I don’t believe that the President has the right to appoint special assistants from outside the service, unlike his special advisers.”
The spokesperson to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Salisu Na’inna, however disagrees.
“The President has all the right to choose his assistants and advisers and there is no constitutional limit to the number he decides upon,” Mr. Na’inna argued. “Anybody who has a circular to the contrary should produce it.”
What the law says
Section 151 of the 1999 Constitution provides that, “The President may appoint any person as a Special Adviser to assist him in the performance of his functions.
“The number of such Advisers and their remuneration and allowances shall be as prescribed by law or by resolution of the National Assembly.
“Any appointment made pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be at the pleasure of the President and shall cease when the President ceases to hold office.”
But the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission says the President and heads of other arms of government are appointing too many aides. In its latest executive report on reviewed remuneration package, the commission noted “there is non-compliance with the provisions of the remuneration packages such as contained in either the Report of the Commission or the Act itself.
“Such violations by the three tiers and arms of Government,” the commission further said, “include arbitrary appointment of high number of Personal Assistants which is adding more cost to the running of Government at the various levels.
“It is difficult to determine what value they add to service delivery or to governance. The Commission advise that all these illegal appointments by the 3-Tiers of Government be stopped and officers concerned be relieved of their appointments. Also the three tiers and arms of Government should eliminate or limit the number of Personal Assistants to reduce cost of governance.”
Civil Society is angry too
Members of civil society groups were also quick to condemn Mr. Jonathan for his large army of personal aides citing the lack of regulation as a cause of the trend, which persists in the National Assembly as well.
“Section 151 of the 1999 Constitution allows the president to appoint a number of advisers approved by the Senate to help him in his work,” says Eze Onyekpere of the Centre for Social Justice. “But what the president does is to appoint all manner of aides that have become a drain on our national resources.
We should blame this on the dereliction of duty by the National Assembly, which has failed to prescribe the number of aides the president could appoint as well as their emoluments. The legislature should quickly call the president to order,”
Mr Sani also described the President’s numerous appointments as an act of frivolity. “Jonathan’s many aides are simply campaign foot soldiers employed to be paid with government money. And for a government that has less than four months to leave, what assistant or advice does he need at this time? I think that Nigerians – labour, civil society and opposition parties should openly condemn and resist this wicked act,” he said in Abuja over the weekend.”
Osita Okechukwu, spokesperson of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, also believes the appointment of many aides is a reckless political strategy.
“By appointing such ridiculous number of aides, the president is building a brigade for the election. For instance, Bianca Ojukwu was appointed to capture APGA. His action shows that all he is saying about reforming the economy is an orchestra of deception.
Can you reform the economy when you are increasing the recurrent expenditure profile instead of trying to limit it to enable you to have more funds for capital projects like the Mambilla power project? It’s wastage and this does not give confidence to investors. Foreign direct investment cannot come to a country with that level of wastefulness,” he said.
Response from the presidency
The Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Ima Niboro, wouldn’t comment on his boss’ penchant for appointing special aides. He did not respond to text messages and calls to his mobile telephone on the matter.
Elor Nkereuwem
Musikilu Mojeed, Idris Akinbajo and Elizabeth Archibong contributed to reporting for this story.
Elor Nkereuwem
Bipartisan Fascism
“Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on our debt not only will drive longer-term deficits and debt, they eventually will squeeze out spending for everything else — from defense to homeland security, education to research, law enforcement to food safety.
That will leave the government without the funds to protect the nation, address critical needs and respond to national emergencies.This challenge is far more than an issue of dollars and cents. We will address it, or we will face a future of less savings and investment, lower living standards and less U.S. leadership around the world.
We cannot remain the world’s leading economic, military and political power while generating larger deficits and debt without end.” Op-Ed Pete V. Domenic and Alice M. Rivlin
The jackals are now out in force, they have renewed their calls for “entitlement reform” ostensibly as their way to reduce and control the catastrophic fiscal crisis the US is facing. This is a classic psychological warfare trick.
On the surface it sounds valid like most cons; the con artists give you a smidgen of truth to get you to go along with their scheme to fleece you of your assets and money. In this case the con comes in the form of economic philosophies.
After WWII everyone was spoon feed the propaganda of economist John Maynard Keynes who said governments could impact the overall economy and should do so by spending even if it meant spending more revenue than the government took in.
Keynesian economics became the Bible of Western economic thought for years. The problem with his approach is that it looks at effects not the real causes of economic downturns, recessions and depressions.
Most modern economists are prostitutes who pander to governments and institutions of higher learning to get their grants, their tenure, recognition and affirmation from corporatist oligopoly media thereby fattening their wallets and gaining “credibility” and notoriety.
They never mention the role of the international banking elite and multi-national corporations who control and manipulate the stock and commodities markets, who rig Wall Street with insider deals, massive pump and dump campaigns and Ponzi schemes, who white-mail governments and force them to do their bidding because they (the banksters ,not the Treasury) control the purse strings and the corporations (not Congress) determine who the US is going to invade and bomb next.
These sociopaths have plotted for years to do away with the New Deal safety net programs and the fiscal crisis gives them cover and an excuse to do it. We are living in a time when the crooks have totally rigged the game and have brought their house of cards down on the people’s heads.
They don’t teach this in high school or college economics or political science classes. But instead of prosecuting the crooks, arresting the liars and warmongers the foxes in the hen house are going to impose even more draconian measures on the people.
Notice how all the talk about budget reform centers around Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as it they were the only drains on the treasury and our wallets! They never talk about dismantling the war machine that has been running amuck since WWII!
The US empire is over extended and it is broke. Following the Keynesian model the US expended funds to build highways, fight wars (real and imagined), engage in social engineering and corporate welfare on a humongous scale.
The US was creating debt but on a fairly manageable level. The military industrial complex was happy because the US leaders had duped the people into believing that Russia a former ally was now their enemy and posed a serious existential threat.
Presidents of both parties fueled the arms race pouring ever more money into the sinkhole of weapons and war. But at least the taxes were paying for the wars except for Vietnam which ran up huge deficits, so much so the US was forced to default and go off the gold standard just to pay its bills!
Along come Ronald Reagan with his Trickle Down theory saying cut taxes for the rich and the economy will grow because businesses will have more money to invest, the economy will expand and the benefits will trickle down to the masses.
The problem was Reagan cut taxes but expanded the government and inflated government spending. He increased spending although he gave the impression (because the US media never challenged his lies) that his policies would reduce government debt.
Things got so bad under Reagan that when his Vice President became President, George H.W Bu$h was forced to raise taxes “Read my lips, no new taxes” to reduce the deficits Reagan’s policies caused.
The tax increase and the resulting recession was Bu$h’s downfall but he had a plan B in the wings, Bill Clinton. Clinton ushered in s new era of Democratic fascism and warmongering. Clinton was the surrogate for Wall Street’s criminal agenda and did everything they told him to do except invade Iraq and occupy Somalia.
Under Clinton watch Wall Street was able to gut the Glass-Steagall Act setting the stage for our current economic meltdown. But because Clinton refused to invade Iraq, the right wing warmongers set him up for impeachment with the Monica Lewinsky debacle. (His handlers knew he had sexual issues and used it against him).
Then came the village idiot George W Bu$h who gave his Kleptocratic buddies even bigger tax cuts and while expanding government spending with his imperialistic wars and domestic police state under his bogus War on Terrorism.
Cutting taxes and going on a spending binge while allowing all kinds of corporate rip offs, fraud and Wall Street criminality put us in the spot we are in, not Social Security or Medicare! Oh, I forgot to mention since the late 70's the government was stealing the money in the Social Security Trust Fund to cover shortfalls in revenue.
So here we are on the verge of fiscal default and bankruptcy and all the New World Order’s flunkies can say is bail out Wall Street but cut Social Security and Medicare. They never talk about cutting corporate welfare, stopping the wars or bringing the troops home. You won’t hear them say anything about taxing Wall Street to pay down the debt let alone prosecuting them for their criminal behavior. Naw that’s too much like right.
I hate to be the one to break this to you but their goal is to create a global Neo-Feudalist state were we are the new serfs, peons and the deprived. Read the history about the “Dark Ages” in Europe. This what’s in store for most of the world except they will allow us to buy all the new gadgets and gizmos we can afford to keep us placated.
This is why people all around the world are in an uproar.
They are feeling the squeeze and they don’t like it. Unfortunately the people in the US are so comatose, prozaced out and dumbed down most will never wake up to the fact a serious con game is being run on them. I listen to libertarian and right wing radio just to see what they are thinking and planning.
These white folks are extremely upset because they realize their white skin privileges are being whittled away on a daily basis and they see how they are being played by the ruling elites. But most hold out hope they can still vote the rascals out. It still hasn’t dawned on them the system is rigged against them and they can’t win as its currently constructed.
Black people on the other hand are so out of it we have abdicated our role as the moral compass of this degenerate society, as a result the ship is floundering. What will it take to right the ship? Revolution anyone?
That will leave the government without the funds to protect the nation, address critical needs and respond to national emergencies.This challenge is far more than an issue of dollars and cents. We will address it, or we will face a future of less savings and investment, lower living standards and less U.S. leadership around the world.
We cannot remain the world’s leading economic, military and political power while generating larger deficits and debt without end.” Op-Ed Pete V. Domenic and Alice M. Rivlin
The jackals are now out in force, they have renewed their calls for “entitlement reform” ostensibly as their way to reduce and control the catastrophic fiscal crisis the US is facing. This is a classic psychological warfare trick.
On the surface it sounds valid like most cons; the con artists give you a smidgen of truth to get you to go along with their scheme to fleece you of your assets and money. In this case the con comes in the form of economic philosophies.
After WWII everyone was spoon feed the propaganda of economist John Maynard Keynes who said governments could impact the overall economy and should do so by spending even if it meant spending more revenue than the government took in.
Keynesian economics became the Bible of Western economic thought for years. The problem with his approach is that it looks at effects not the real causes of economic downturns, recessions and depressions.
Most modern economists are prostitutes who pander to governments and institutions of higher learning to get their grants, their tenure, recognition and affirmation from corporatist oligopoly media thereby fattening their wallets and gaining “credibility” and notoriety.
They never mention the role of the international banking elite and multi-national corporations who control and manipulate the stock and commodities markets, who rig Wall Street with insider deals, massive pump and dump campaigns and Ponzi schemes, who white-mail governments and force them to do their bidding because they (the banksters ,not the Treasury) control the purse strings and the corporations (not Congress) determine who the US is going to invade and bomb next.
These sociopaths have plotted for years to do away with the New Deal safety net programs and the fiscal crisis gives them cover and an excuse to do it. We are living in a time when the crooks have totally rigged the game and have brought their house of cards down on the people’s heads.
They don’t teach this in high school or college economics or political science classes. But instead of prosecuting the crooks, arresting the liars and warmongers the foxes in the hen house are going to impose even more draconian measures on the people.
Notice how all the talk about budget reform centers around Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as it they were the only drains on the treasury and our wallets! They never talk about dismantling the war machine that has been running amuck since WWII!
The US empire is over extended and it is broke. Following the Keynesian model the US expended funds to build highways, fight wars (real and imagined), engage in social engineering and corporate welfare on a humongous scale.
The US was creating debt but on a fairly manageable level. The military industrial complex was happy because the US leaders had duped the people into believing that Russia a former ally was now their enemy and posed a serious existential threat.
Presidents of both parties fueled the arms race pouring ever more money into the sinkhole of weapons and war. But at least the taxes were paying for the wars except for Vietnam which ran up huge deficits, so much so the US was forced to default and go off the gold standard just to pay its bills!
Along come Ronald Reagan with his Trickle Down theory saying cut taxes for the rich and the economy will grow because businesses will have more money to invest, the economy will expand and the benefits will trickle down to the masses.
The problem was Reagan cut taxes but expanded the government and inflated government spending. He increased spending although he gave the impression (because the US media never challenged his lies) that his policies would reduce government debt.
Things got so bad under Reagan that when his Vice President became President, George H.W Bu$h was forced to raise taxes “Read my lips, no new taxes” to reduce the deficits Reagan’s policies caused.
The tax increase and the resulting recession was Bu$h’s downfall but he had a plan B in the wings, Bill Clinton. Clinton ushered in s new era of Democratic fascism and warmongering. Clinton was the surrogate for Wall Street’s criminal agenda and did everything they told him to do except invade Iraq and occupy Somalia.
Under Clinton watch Wall Street was able to gut the Glass-Steagall Act setting the stage for our current economic meltdown. But because Clinton refused to invade Iraq, the right wing warmongers set him up for impeachment with the Monica Lewinsky debacle. (His handlers knew he had sexual issues and used it against him).
Then came the village idiot George W Bu$h who gave his Kleptocratic buddies even bigger tax cuts and while expanding government spending with his imperialistic wars and domestic police state under his bogus War on Terrorism.
Cutting taxes and going on a spending binge while allowing all kinds of corporate rip offs, fraud and Wall Street criminality put us in the spot we are in, not Social Security or Medicare! Oh, I forgot to mention since the late 70's the government was stealing the money in the Social Security Trust Fund to cover shortfalls in revenue.
So here we are on the verge of fiscal default and bankruptcy and all the New World Order’s flunkies can say is bail out Wall Street but cut Social Security and Medicare. They never talk about cutting corporate welfare, stopping the wars or bringing the troops home. You won’t hear them say anything about taxing Wall Street to pay down the debt let alone prosecuting them for their criminal behavior. Naw that’s too much like right.
I hate to be the one to break this to you but their goal is to create a global Neo-Feudalist state were we are the new serfs, peons and the deprived. Read the history about the “Dark Ages” in Europe. This what’s in store for most of the world except they will allow us to buy all the new gadgets and gizmos we can afford to keep us placated.
This is why people all around the world are in an uproar.
They are feeling the squeeze and they don’t like it. Unfortunately the people in the US are so comatose, prozaced out and dumbed down most will never wake up to the fact a serious con game is being run on them. I listen to libertarian and right wing radio just to see what they are thinking and planning.
These white folks are extremely upset because they realize their white skin privileges are being whittled away on a daily basis and they see how they are being played by the ruling elites. But most hold out hope they can still vote the rascals out. It still hasn’t dawned on them the system is rigged against them and they can’t win as its currently constructed.
Black people on the other hand are so out of it we have abdicated our role as the moral compass of this degenerate society, as a result the ship is floundering. What will it take to right the ship? Revolution anyone?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)