MEET SOME OF THE ACN GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS FOR 2016 IN EDO STATE.

 Review By Ojealaro Friday

(1) CHIEF OBASEKI, HEAD OF THE GOVERNOR'S ECONNOMIC TEAM: HE IS BEING FLAUNTED BY HIS BOSS,ALINKO DANGOTE FOR OSHIOMHOLE'S ENDORSEMENT. HE BROUGHT OVER HALF OF THE MONEY USED TO REELECT OSHIOMHOLE FROM DANGOTE. BESIDES, DANGOTE IS PLANNING TO INVEST IN EDO STATE AND THEREFORE WANTS A MAN THAT WILL PROTECT HIS INVESTMENTS. OSHIOMHOLE IS GRADUALLY GIVING IN TO THE IDEA OF OBASEKI'S CANDIDATURE BUT NOT YET SURE WHETHER HE CAN CONTROL HIM AFTER HIMSELF LEAVES GOVERNMENT.

(2) OSARODION OGIE: HE IS THE MOST RECURRING NAME ON THE LIST OF STOOGES OSHIOMHOLE WANTS AS SUCCESSOR. EDO IN SAFE HANDS IS THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE BEING NOURISHED BY OSHIOMHOLE TO PAIR HIM WITH PHILLIP SHUAIBU AS HIS DEPUTY. HE NOT ONLY SHARES THE SAME CONDESCENDING AND WILL-LESS NATURE AS SPEAKER OF EDHA-IGBE ( A PAWN OF OSHIOMHOLE BEING OPERATED BY SHUAIBU) BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE SAYING HE CANNOT EVEN CONSTITUTE A WORKING MATRIMONIAL HOME LET ALONE GOVERNING A STATE AS VOLATILE AS EDO.

(3) PIUS ODUBU- THE CURRENT DEPUTY GOVERNOR IS A MAN WHO HAS BEEN VERY LUCKY SO FAR. HE IS A POLITICAL SCAVENGER WHO HARDLY CONTRIBUTES ANYTHING TO ELECTORAL VICTORY BUT USUALLY EMERGES AS A BIG BENEFICIARY. WE ARE TOLD HE IS A CHIEF PRIEST OF A POTENT SHRINE IN ORHIOMWON. MAYBE HE HAS BEEN ENJOYING THAT POTENCY. THE MAN IS A PERENIAL UNDER ACHIEVER THAT IT IS NOW OBVIOUS CAN NOLONGER WIN A COUNCILLORSHIP ELECTION UNLESS HE USES HIS VEHICLE TO CONVEY ELECTORAL MATERIAL. HE IS ACTUALLY ON HIS OWN IN THIS RACE. NO BACKER,NO STRUCTURE.

(4) PASTOR OSAGIE IZE IYAMU: HE IS THE FORMER SSG AND COS TO LUCKY IGBINEDION. HE IS TOUTED IN MANY QUARTERS AS A POLITICAL STRATEGIST SECOND ONLY TO CHIEF ANENIH IN EDO STATE. HE IS THE MAN FRIDAY IN LUCKY IGBINEDION'S GOVERNMENT AND IN FACT FOUNDED THE FORMIDABLE GRACE GROUP THAT USHERED IN OSHIOMHOLE'S GOVERNMENT. HE IS HIGHLY INDEPENDENTLY WILLED AND STILL CONTROLLS THE OLD BRIGADE OF THE ORIGINAL ACN. HIS POLITICAL CREDENTIALS CONTINUES TO INTIMIDATE OSHIOMHOLE AND HIS NEOPHYTE AND LARGELY INEXPERIENCED GRACE GROUP WHO SEES HIM AS THE MOST QUALIFIED TO BE GOVERNOR BUT THE MOST DANGEROUS TO MAKE SO. HE IS A MAN THEY CANNOT CONTROL IF LEFT BEHIND AS THE GOVERNOR UPON OSHIOMHOLE'S EXIT. ONE THING GOING FOR IZE IYAMU IN THIS WHOLE BUILD UP IS THAT THE OTHERS RELY HEAVILY ON BACKERS TO MAKE THEM GOVERNOR. THEIR AMBITION IS VULNERABLE TO ELEVENTH HOUR COMPROMISE IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. THE DWIDDLING POLITICAL POPULARITY OF THE GOVERNOR IN THE STATE ALSO APPEARS TO BE IZE IYAMU'S GAINS. 

June 12 @ 20 Yrs: Election that cannot be replicated in Nigeria

ANYONE who is up to 30 years and lived in Nigeria in 1993 would be familiar with the above song. It was the first stanza of the late Chief Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola’s ‘Hope 93’ campaign jingle for the June 12, 1993 presidential elections entitled: “Farewell to Poverty.”

Twenty years after that historic election, adjudged the freest and fairest polls ever held in the world’s largest Black nation, the song is still fresh in the minds of many people who witnessed the electrifying campaigns and turbo-charged electoral atmosphere that characterized the elections.

Before the June 12, 1993 election, Nigeria had conducted several elections and even after that, elections have been held but no one seems to remember the campaign jingles of the other elections. Even that of 2011 is almost forgotten, a mere two years after.

Political firmament.

This is a measure of the impact of the 1993 elections on the Nigerian political firmament and landscape. Standing on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Abiola beat his National Republican Convention (NRC) challenger, Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa with 2.25 million votes in a keenly contested race.

However, the General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida regime that conducted the exercise annulled the election. The Professor Humphrey Nwosu-led National Electoral Commission (NEC) was still announcing the results when the annulment order came. The order set the polity on fire and paved the way for a six-year pro-democracy struggle that culminated in the return of civil rule to the country in 1999.

The June 12 elections recorded a number of firsts in the annals of electioneering in the country. It was the first time only two candidates ran the presidential race. It was also the first time that presidential candidates participated in a live television debate. It was an election that broke ethnic and religious barriers. How? A Muslim-Muslim ticket depicted by Abiola and his running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe defeated a Muslim-Christian ticket of Tofa and Dr Sylvester Ugoh.

Compared with other elections, some critics argue that the epochal June 12 election had its share of flaws. For instance, Senator Francis Arthur Nzeribe, the leader of the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), who led a maverick campaign for the cancellation of the election, said most Nigerians did not want the polls to hold. Speaking before the election, he said that 25 million voters or 65 per cent of the 39 million registered voters had promised him that they would not vote.

Indeed, at the polls only 14,396,917 votes were recorded, an indication that about 25 million voters did not take part as Nzeribe claimed. Abiola, according the results announced by Nwosu in June 2008 (fifteen years after the poll) polled 8,323,305 votes while Tofa had 6,073,612 votes.

Asking voters to queue behind the candidate or party of their choice was said to have led to intimidation of voters and consequent low turnout at the polls. There were also allegations of vote buying through Naira burger, where voters who queued behind some candidates were given ‘refreshment’ in the form of N50 note sandwiched in a loaf of bread.

But for all its worth, a host of local and international observers were unanimous that in spite of the alleged flaws, June 12 remained the most credible election ever because every vote counted.

Asked if June 12 could be repeated in the country, pioneer chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos and now a chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Olorunfunmi Basorun, said it might be difficult.

Why? Only two parties and candidates contested the June 12 election, voters queued behind the party/candidate of their choice. Today, there are over 40 parties and the elite will remain opposed to the crude electoral system of queuing behind a candidate.

June 12, 1993 to June 12, 2013: A litany of events:
*June 12, 1993: Nigeria holds freest and fairest election ever.
*June 23, 1993:Babangida annuls election.
*August 26, 1993: Babangida steps aside and hands over to Chief Ernest Shonekan, Abiola’s tribesman,
*November 17,1993: Late General Sani Abacha, shoves Shonekan aside and takes over.
*May 15, 1994:Pro-democracy and human rights activists establish the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) to fight for the restoration of June 12 and Abiola’s mandate.

*June 11,1999:Abiola declares self president and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces at Epetedo, Lagos.
*June 23, 1994:Abiola arrested and detained.
*1995: Activists intensify campaign, many flee into exile.
*June 4, 1996:Kudirat Abiola, killed in Lagos by government agents over June 12 struggle.
*June 8, 1998: Abacha dies in office.
*July 7, 1998:Abiola dies in detention.
*July1998:Abdulsalami Abubakar unveils 10-month transition programme.
*December 5, 1998:Local council elections held nationwide for nine provisional political parties.
*December 1998:Three parties, Alliance for Democracy (AD), All Peoples Party (APP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) given final registration.

*February 1999: General Olusegun Obasanjo of PDP beats Chief Olu Falae of AD/APP in presidential elections.
*1999-2007: Obasanjo refuses to immortalize Abiola.
*June 13, 2008:Nwosu declares Abiola winner of the June 12 polls.
*May 29, 2012:Jonathan names UNILAG after Abiola.
*June 25, 2012: Court restrains FG from renaming UNILAG after Abiola.
*February 22, 2013:President Goodluck Jonathan retains the name of UNILAG.

Unsung heroes of June 12.

ANYTIME the June 12, 1993 presidential election is mentioned, attention is immediately shifted to late business tycoon and politician, Chief M.K.O Abiola, who won the election and was denied his mandate and he later died in detention. So also is Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, who was killed by government agents over the issue.

Following the crusade for the revalidation of June 12, which later led to the return of democracy in 1999, some eminent Nigerians and activists, who waged the crusade through the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Joint Action Council of Nigeria (JACON) among others have also been praised. When the government’s arsenals were unleashed on them, some of them were killed, some went into exile and some escaped or survived assassination attempts on their lives. A host of them were arrested and detained.

Those who were killed included Pa Alfred Rewane, Suliat Adedeji, Bisoye Tejuoso, Kudirat Abiola, Bagauda Kaltho (bombed) and Toyin Onagoruwa. The likes of late Pa Abraham Adesanya and Alex Ibru survived gun attacks.

Those who threaded the thorny narrow road to exile included late Pa Anthony Enahoro, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Dan Suleiman, Olawale Oshun, etc. Many including the incumbent chairman of NADECO, Rear Admiral Ndubisi Kanu, NADECO Secretary, Chief Ayo Opadokun were also detained and their business interests attacked.

A pillar of support also came from late Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), Ebitu Ukiwe, Wole Soyinka, Segun Osoba, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Balarabe Musa, Anya O Anya, Guy Ikokwu, Frank Kokori among numerous others. These are the sung heroes of June 12. Behind these men and women, are people, whose roles in the struggle have been glossed over ever since.

They include men, women and youths, who defied odds to vote but were denied their choice via annulment.

Several were killed by state agents either covertly or in the protests that accompanied the annulment. Many died in auto accidents while fleeing the hotbeds of the protests.

Paying tribute to heroes of the struggle recently, Tinubu said: “We can never forget Pa Alfred Rewane, a man who in his late septuagenarian years showed that it was not about age, but about honour and courage.

Deploying his personal material resources at every point that they were needed, and providing strategic and ideological barricades to the onslaught of terror and treason, Pa Rewane was in the very core of the vanguard that insisted that this land shall be free

GOVERNOR ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE BANS COMMERCIAL MOTOR CYCLES IN BENIN CITY, EDO STATE, NIGERIA

okada riders

Dear friends, everything considered, we have resolved as a government, effective from Monday the 17th of June 2013, bike riders will not be allowed to operate in any part of Oredo, Ikpoba Okha and Egor Local Government Areas of Edo State. These three local governments constitute the heart of Benin City. The law enforcement agencies have been informed accordingly and directed to strictly enforce this law.

There are confirmed cases of Okada riders who have been involved in kidnapping and other forms of violent crimes including robbery. We have tried as a government over the years to take steps to counsel Okada riders to observe certain codes, to watch out and ensure that criminals do not infiltrate their ranks and hide under commercial vehicles to perpetrate crime. It is clear to me now that we have not been particularly successful in this regard. More and more Okada riders have been found to be involved in various acts of violent crimes. Also, more than eighty percent of accident victims in the hospitals are bike riders, we cannot continue like this. I therefore reached the painful conclusion that it is time to do something and we cannot postpone it further.

Because of the influx of bike riders, arising from the decision of some of our neighbouring states where bike riders have been prohibited, Edo State has become a safe haven for all manners of bike riders and because they do not get enough commercial patronage, some bike riders have resorted to crime to sustain a living while posing to be bike riders.

I am convinced that we cannot allow this situation to continue. While I am very concerned about the fact of the level of unemployment in the country, and in Edo state we have our own fair share of unemployment, I am convinced that the long term interest of job creation requires that you attract investors and investment to the state. It is a settled issue that investors will not be in a hurry to go to any state that the level of crime has risen beyond acceptable level.

I am not in doubt that there are many Okada riders who are not criminals and they have no criminal intentions. I am also convinced that there are many Okada riders who are into legitimate business, unfortunately there isn’t any mechanism for us to distinguish criminals who are also bike operators and decent citizens who are doing their very best to cope with the rigors of life, this is just one sacrifice we all have to make to make our state safer. Thanks for your understanding and continuous support.

What is the Illuminati? Skeptics see this - Amazing 48 minutes of Information

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=n63PnML6irA

Welcome address by Tony Igiehon Chairman BOT Edo Political Forum

Your Excellency the Governor of Edo State Comrade Adams Oshiomole, Chiefs and distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, all protocol observed

On behalf of all the members of Edo Political Forum , the board of trustees and Admins, I will like to welcome our distinguished guest to Edo Political Forum's Leadership Conference and Achievement Award 2013, the theme for this years award " is REWARDING EXCELLENCE, PROMOTING FREEDOM AND LEVERAGING OPPORTUNITIES"

Edo political forum (EPF) was formed to address the prevailing lack of political civility amongst our leaders. What you will find is that there is not a single platform where leaders irrespective of their political leaning or ideology can seat together and address the common challenges of our people without bickering and pointing fingers. For this reason we decided to creat a platform where members irrespective of their political party, can participate and contribute solutions to prevailing challenges and also expect members to critically analyze the solutions and yet be able to offer alternative when necessary.

As part of our strategic vision to institutionalize the culture of leadership development at all levels in Edo State, EPF decided to organize “an achievement award ” on a yearly basis to honour outstanding leaders who have demonstrated total commitment of a life-of-full-service to the peace and progress of Edo State.

Edo is blessed with foremost thinkers, past and present and it will be a disservice to the furtherance of peace and progress, if the contributions of these great minds are not recognized

Edo political forum recognize increasingly the neglect of our heroes past, the question is, how do you encourage the next generation of leaders if you are yet to recognize those leaders who have served diligently? This question gave rise to the need for the EPF Achievement Award, this award will recognize leadership in various aspect of the social/political/economy

Edo Political Forum (EPF) is widely recognised as a benchmark of excellence in good governance and leadership development. Through the adoption of openness and “a voice for all” policy that we practice, the forum
has become the de-facto voice of the people of Edo State. Irrespective of their social status in the society , EPF provides the umbrella platform for people to have the freedom to say whatever they want to say to their representatives in government. Our hope is that this will ultimately promote the culture of good governance and accountability within the government.

Guided by its service to society and humanity, EPF promotes the highest professional conduct among its members., in EPF, people have become more aware of their rights and privileges and also of their roles and responsibilities to their society.
EPF is the perfect bridge, at the right place and the right time, to narrow that gap between a development-focused leadership and institutional priorities. It is envisaged that this will ultimately bring about more rapid economic development and transformation of the Edo state.

The task to rebuild Edo State and restore its past glory is a task EPF does not take lightly. EPF will leave no stone unturned to empower people to become more aware of the contributions they can make to enhance Edo State.

EPF’s yearly award will improve visibility to government activities and it will be an effective instrument to close the gap between the people’s expectations and actual government actions and programs.

EPF will help to strengthen democratic institutions and the entrenchment of the rule of law so that the people can become more empowered and able to demand better governance

The wind of change that is blowing round the world for a more responsive government must not exclude the good people of Edo State. The people’s power must remain supreme in a democracy. The government of Edo State, at all times, must be guided by the people’s will and must be responsive to the pulse and dynamics of its constituents.

Thank you and welcome to the 1st Edo Political Forum leadership conference and achievements awards.

Tony Igiehon, Edward Osayande,Efosa Efosa Uyigue, Darlington Eseosa Ogbeifun, Fidelis Edosomwan

THE ANINI SAGA!!! THE MAN THAT ALMOST STOP THE NIGERIA POLICE FROM WEARING UNIFORM,

Anini

This is Lawrence Nomayagbon Anini,dreadfully called "The Law or Ovbigbo".He migrated to Benin at an early age, learned to drive and became a skilled taxi driver in a few years. He became known in Benin motor parks as a man who could control the varied competing interest among motor park touts and operators. He later resorted to criminal acts in the city and soon became a driver and transporter for gangs, criminal godfathers and thieves. Later on, he decided to create his own gang and they started out as car hijackers, bus robbers and bank thieves. Gradually, he extended his criminal acts to other towns and cities far north and east of Benin.In early 1986, two members of his gang were tried and prosecuted against an earlier under-the-table ‘agreement’ with the police to destroy evidence against the gang members. The incident, and Anini’s view of police betrayal, is believed to have spurred retaliatory actions by Anini. In August, 1986, a fatal bank robbery linked to Anini was reported in which a police officer and others were killed. That same month, two officers on duty were shot at a barricade while trying to stop Anini’s car. During a span of three months, he was known to have killed nine police officers.On Oct 1st of 1986, the Independence Day ,Commissioner of Police, Akagbosu was ambushed by Anini in Benin, and was shot in the nose.Anini continued to terrorize Benin and its environs....

ARREST!

On December 3, 1986, Anini was arrested at No 26, Oyemwosa Street, opposite Iguodala Primary School, Benin City, in company with six women.Superintendent of Police,Uanreroro led a crack 10-man team to the house, knocked on the door of the room, and Anini himself, clad in underpants, opened the door. “Where is Anini,” the police officer quickly enquired. Dazed as he was caught off guard and having no escape route, Anini all the same tried to be smart. “Oh, Anini is under the bed in the inner room”. As he said it, he made some moves to walk past Uanreroro and his team. In the process, he shoved and head-butted the police officer but it was an exercise in futility.

SP Uanreroro promptly reached for his gun, stepped hard on Anini’s right toes and shot at his left ankle. Anini surged forward but the policemen took hold of him and put him in a sitting position. They then pumped more bullets into his shot leg and almost severed the ankle from his entire leg. Already, anguished by the excruciating pains, the policemen asked him, “Are you Anini?” And he replied, “My brother, I won’t deceive you; I won’t tell you lie, I’m Anini.”

POLICE INVOLVEMENT.

Shortly after the arrest of Anini and co, the dare-devil robbers began to squeal, revealing the roles played by key police officers and men, in the aiding and abetting of criminals in Bendel State and the entire country. Anini particularly revealed that DSP Iyamu, was the most senior police officer shielding the robbers, would reveal police secrets to them and then, give them logistic supports such as arms, to carry out robbery operations. He further revealed that Iyamu, after each operation, would join them in sharing the loot. It was further exposed how Iyamu planned to kill Christopher Omeben, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Intelligence and Investigation.
Iyamu, whom the robbers fondly referred to as ‘Baba’, reportedly had choice buildings in Benin City; being how he invested the loots he obtained from men of the underworld

TRIAL AND EXECUTION!

The robbery suspects, including Iyamu, were sentenced to death. But in passing his judgement, Justice Omo-Agege remarked, “Anini will forever be remembered in the history of crime in this country, but it would be of unblessed memory. Few people if ever, would give the name to their children.” Their execution took place on March 29, 1987.

Kola nut: Seed of togetherness in our Culture.

Kola Nuts

By Prince Kelly Udebhulu.

“Kola nut presentation to a visitor  shows acceptance and welcome and so does it show friendship and love, in the same way that denial of kola nut denotes displeasure and disapproval"

Nature, however, has a way of taking care of its own contradictions, and this is what happens in Nigeria. Defying such logic of impossibility, this country of about a hundred and sixty million people with over 250 ethnic groups has demonstrated to the world that there is a possibility in impossibility. This beautiful country is blessed with diverse people, whose culture is as diverse as their climatic and weather conditions. It has successfully disproved the hypothesis by being united through one generous gift of nature.

What is this gift one may ask? It is a simple seed nut, grown in the western and central parts of Africa. It is the kola nut seed. It is the kola nut seed. Yes, the same kola nut popularly known by such botanical names like kola acuminate or atrophora, kola alba and kola nitida.  It is of course, this same kola nut that has given this country, called Nigeria, a unifying image. Journeying from the eastern part of the country through the north to the southern and western parts, one unforgettable experience that the visitor takes away with him is the tradition of kola nut presentation. However, the pattern, presentation of kola nut in all of these places when a visitor comes around, approves his welcome in the same way that denial of kola nut denotes displeasure and disapproval.

Grown and harvested abundantly in the western part of the country, the seed of kola nut, which is celebrated in a mythical manner by the Igbo of the South-East, is almost eaten like food in the North. The way and manner that kola nut is seen and appreciated by Nigerians makes it something bigger than the mere red and yellow seed nuts hawked around in trays by Hausa traders in small kiosks in the village markets and major cities or that large quantity of agricultural crops grown, harvested and stored in large hand-woven baskets by Yoruba farmers.

“Kola nut is regarded as a sacred nut used to communicate with the gods, being that it is chosen by the elders as the head or king of all seeds. As a seed nut, it is used in so many ways as a mediating factor. It is necessary to present it first on every occasion,”
...to be continued
By Prince Kelly Udebhulu

Spain: Juan Carlos Aguilar, Shaolin Master, Confesses To Murder After Arrest For Assault on a Nigerian lady, Ada love Otuya. 3rd June, 2013

Ada love Otuya

A Kung fu world champion and Shaolin master was arrested Sunday after Spanish authorities found a woman brutally beaten and tied up in his martial arts gym in Bilbao  but the victim later died Tuesday, 5th June, 2013. But the vicious assault may not be 47-year-old

Juan Carlos Aguilar

Juan Carlos Aguilar's only crime.

After police searched his gym and home, they found other remains, believed to be human. According to sources close to the case, Aguilar confessed to the murder of another woman during his interrogation at a Basque police station, El Huffington Post reports.

Authorities discovered the injured victim Sunday after receiving reports that witnesses saw Aguilar drag a woman into his gym, but the victim later died Tuesday, 5th June, 2013,  according to the Associated Press.

More from the AP:

Spanish police are trying to determine whether bones found in the gym of a martial arts instructor belong to multiple crime victims.

Police in the northern city of Bilbao discovered the bones Monday after they said witnesses saw Juan Carlos Aguilar drag a woman inside the gym by the hair. Officers found her inside, brutally beaten.

Authorities say they believe the bones found in garbage bags are human. Forensic testing is under way for confirmation and to determine how many people the bones belonged to and how they died.

Searches were also happening at the home of Aguilar, 47, and in a nearby river.

The woman who was beaten and tied up in the gym was in a coma at a Bilbao hospital Monday but later died Tuesday, 5th June.

As El Pais notes, Aguilar was crowned a world champion in Kung fu three times. He was later inducted as a Shaolin master, a title rarely given to martial arts experts outside China. Aguilar, who adopted the name Huang C. Aguilar after he received the title, also founded a Buddhist monastery named Ocean of Tranquility in China.

According to the Shaolin Temple's website, the martial arts form practiced by monksat the temple "fully reflects the wisdom of Chan Buddhism."

APC May Dump Maj Gen Buhari: State of emergency: APC Leaders Angry with Buhari.

**we are surprised at the claims by the former Head of state, attacking Govt for killing boko Haram. - APC leaders.
**Nigerians are saying that Buhari should not be used in the 2015 election, as his words puts him as someone who does not believe in the unity of Nigeria and it could negatively impact on APC.
**What we in APC expect from Buhari are statements that would portray him as a statesman, not as a sectional leader.

Leaders of the yet to be registered opposition alliance party, All Progressives Congress (APC) have expressed anger at the statements credited to former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, which indicated that the declaration of a state of emergency in three states of the North was anti-North.

Buhari had been quoted as saying in a programme on a Kaduna-based FM station that the declaration of a state of emergency in the three states of the North was anti-North and that he does not support President Goodluck Jonathan’s tactics on dealing with insurgency.

He also claimed that the government was being high-handed on the insurgents operating in parts of Northern Nigeria, adding that when militancy happened in the South South, the Federal Government invited the perpetrators and granted them amnesty.

But leaders of the mega party, who have dissected Buhari’s statements were said to have expressed surprise at the claims by the former Head of state.

One of the leaders said that such a statement would only further alienate members of the emerging mega party, the APC from Buhari.

“Already, many people are saying that Buhari should not be used as the candidate of the party in the 2015 election, such a statement is capable of portraying him (Buhari) as someone who does not believe in the unity of Nigeria and it could negatively impact on the party.

“What we expect from Buhari are statements that would portray him as a statesman, not as a sectional leader. He as a former Head of State should be talking for Nigeria and not for a part thereof. Anything to the contrary will open him to undue scrutiny,” the source said.

Leaders of the APC were said to have criticized Buhari’s comments as off the mark.

A source said that the development has reinforced the resolve of the APC to field a younger presidential candidate in 2015 adding that when the time comes, Buhari would be told to hands off the presidential race. - Tribune.

Weep For Nigeria Our Country!

By Yemisi Shyllon

As a concerned Nigerian, I must  publicly lament the lacklustre management of the economy and the misplaced priorities of the government and its leaders. This mismanagement can be found in the widespread squandering of our national resources by the federal government and the majority of our state governments (except a few), in proposing to spend in 2013 over 70 per cent of their projected incomes on recurrent expenditures. Most of these recurrent expenditures are used to fund bloated and poorly performing executive arms of governments and their agencies, idle legislative arms, which are largely acclaimed to be self- serving and corrupt; equally idle and over bloated, but well entrenched systematically corrupt body of civil servants and a de-motivated and poorly equipped military and police. The small percentage left of our 2013 projected national revenue on capital expenditure is habitually expected to be spent in financing the machinery of ruling political parties in grossly inflated contracts that are usually awarded not for the purpose of performance, but for rewarding political jobbers and family members.

For decades as a nation, we have generated hundreds of billions of dollars from exporting crude oil with little to show for it in terms of investing in sustainable development programmes, increasing the living standard of Nigerians, producing well planned and coordinated infrastructural developments and putting economic structures in place to compensate for our ever growing and uncontrolled population. Statistical justification for this assertion can be found in the recently published Mo Ibrahim Governance Index of 2012, which identified the top 10 African countries that showed improvements in governance during the year reviewed. In descending order, they are Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana, Seychelles, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, Tunisia, Lesotho and Tanzania. Tanzania made it to the top 10 for the first time in 2012. Guinea Bissau, the small Portuguese-speaking West African country, and Nigeria were classified as the worst African economic performers. Nigeria was listed in that report among the three worst governed countries, where there are steep declines in safety, the rule of law and a rise in human right abuses.

In Nigeria, we don’t engage in meaningful debates, but are very good at prayers and throwing parties. We are predominantly a nation of consumers, not producers. We export crude oil, unprocessed agricultural products, import refined petroleum and all processed basic food items, including unnecessary, superfluous and luxurious goods. We love the good things of life, but generally forget to plan for the future as a nation. We take planning, setting and monitoring of developmental goals and hard work with levity. With very little godliness in our lives, we hypocritically proclaim and showcase our religiosity for all to observe and then go to sleep expecting miracles to happen. Our elites and leaders are best at simply displaying the rottenness of what has become Nigeria. This is very sad. At this rate, the ship of our economic state as is heading for disaster if we fail to act. We should be worried and sad at the way our leaders display wealth with abandon. Nigeria has exported crude oil for over 50 years and has basically imported refined petroleum virtually all of this time. We feel contented doing so without our leaders taking advantage of our crude oil endowment to develop local industries, refine it to become net exporters of refined petroleum, enhance our productive, technical and scientific development around the about 2,000 chemical derivative products obtainable from crude oil and in the process of all these, generate employment for over 65% of our 160million plus population, who are youths.

The latest published outlook of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, IEA, as per November 2012 world energy prognosis, indicates that America is expected to become self-sufficient in gas production in 2015, to surpass Saudi Arabia as the biggest oil producer in 2020 and to become self -sufficient in energy by the year 2030 as new drilling technologies emerge, alternative fuel energy savings are effected, increased reduction in carbon dioxide emission are achieved and declining consumption ultimately reduce the need for the United States to import crude oil. The referred published 2012 outlook of the IEA report should have set off an alarm bell in Nigeria, where Faith Birol, IEA chief economist, who is not given to a hype, is said to have issued this alarming report. Birol is reported to have stated that the biggest thing in the energy world since World War II is the expected surge in the United States oil and gas production. The impact is expected to be bigger than the development of nuclear energy. This statement was made at the 4th annual Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit of the IEA World Energy Outlook 2012. This prediction has implications for the whole world in general and Nigeria in particular. Since this report was issued in November 2012, Nigerian leaders have been going about the affairs of this country without a thought for the danger it constitutes to our economic well-being. The danger ahead for Nigeria is made worse in our behavior as a nation, by not projecting ahead and establishing structures to cushion us against this worrisome prediction, moreso in the light of the the impact of projections of our population growth to more than 300 million people in some 40 years from now. Worse still, we are failing to plan for the future impact of the increasing discovery of crude oil in places that were never expected to produce it in commercial quantities. These include  Ghana, Niger and, most recently, Togo.

In addition, we are failing to note the very pronounced ongoing strategic research of many nations into non-fossil fuel and other possible sources to avert the perils of global warming. If the search for non-fossil energy and other sources lead to commercial and economic possibilities and if more countries with special emphasis on China and Japan were to discover oil or other energy sources in commercial quantities in the near future,  our economic future as a nation is very bleak.

Many of our leaders and elites are  breathtakingly insensitive to the prevailing economic deprivation of over 70 per cent of the population that is living below subsistence level. A statistical example of this assertion can be found in the November 2012 issue of African Business Magazine, which published of a report on Nigerians’ splurge on private jets. The magazine reported that in the last five years, wealthy Nigerians have spent over $6.5 billion on private jets, thus making Nigeria Africa’s biggest market for private jets. It is reported in that same issue that between March 2010 and March 2011, Nigerians spent over $225 million on private jets. The number of privately-owned aircraft rose by 650% between 2007 and 2012 from 20 to 150 at an average cost of about $50 per jet. Indeed, some Nigerian newspapers put the number of private jets in Nigeria, as at 2012, at 200. The cost of acquiring the jets excludes the high annual overhead cost of running and maintaining them. We need to juxtapose this information with the situation by end 2012 in our domestic aviation industry being made up of two local carriers with only 37 airplanes, majority of which are old; no national airline and another 10 in the presidential fleet. What a country of selfish and greedy leaders!

The misplaced priorities and greed have not left out the leaders of our churches, who squander money in procuring private jets under the pretext of doing God’s work.

In the past, this fad was more common with bank executives with questionable source of wealth, followed by politicians and now by church leaders. This situation obviously calls for the enactment of an act along the line of the 1993 Charities Act of England and Wales, with provisions for churches to be jointly managed by church founders and church boards of trustees with the operations and financial affairs of churches being made subject to an annual audit of the state.  Under this statutory arrangement, any member of church management proven to be in breach of the rules of financial transparency entrenched in the act should be made to face the law.

The biggest industry in Nigeria today is the church. Our church leaders brazenly display wealth acquired at the expense of their followers, who generally live below poverty level. It also explains why our various governments would, for political expediency, rather sponsor thousands of political jobbers yearly on religious pilgrimages than productively using such funds to award scholarships to our youths, create employment for them and invest in university researches. This is an industry for rewarding political jobbers. Sending jobbers on holy pilgrimages in a country with a constitution that is clearly stated to be secular only results in building the tourist industry in Saudi Arabia and Israel at the expense of the good of our country. The situation is reported to be increasingly worse than this, given the unsubstantiated report that many of our elites are now buying up luxury mansions and apartments in Israel and Saudi Arabia from the pillages of our national wealth.

Our legislators are not left out. It appears that they have jettisoned the making of laws for the more lucrative public display of pretentious forensic audits, by inviting virtually every minister and heads of federal government agencies to self-serving investigations. In the first place, our economy cannot healthily sustain the large number of full-time legislators and their equally large retinue of associated staff we currently have. We may find, if we care to search, as a way of amending our constitution to that effect, some millions of well to do Nigerians who would be prepared to serve this nation as federal legislators, on part-time basis, at minimum expense to our national economy as against the current system that costs the nation about N300 billion, if not more, per annum to make very few laws.

A recent report in a national newspaper said a preponderant number of our legislators do not return to the legislature after serving two terms. What a loss to this nation in terms of continuity, experience and expertise. Nigeria does not need full-time legislators. Nigeria can cut down its recurrent expenditure by structuring itself for part-time legislators made up of those with the wherewithal to sustain themselves while selflessly making laws for this country.

One must not fail to also comment on the widely reported advice of our CBN governor, who recently counselled that Nigeria needs to prune the civil service by as much as 50%. What he got in return was a series of abuses. A visit to our ministries will reveal that a great number of civil servants do very little work for enormous gains–at our common expense. This observation is strengthened by the ongoing “pension funds scam” and the recent report of the lamentation of the President, who is said to have alleged that some directors in our federal civil service own more properties than Aliko Dangote. What Nigeria needs to do is to implement the advice of those clamouring for a drastic reduction in the number of civil servants in our bureaucratic life. But in doing so, we must prepare and provide against the social backlash from that reduction by offering those to be disengaged well planned skill development and entrepreneurship programmes prior to their disengagement and giving them seed money to set up cooperative ventures of small and medium scale enterprises, thereby creating employment and growing our economy from the medium to long term. We can, in this way, reduce drastically our annual recurrent expenditures by disengaging idle hands and overaged public servants declaring false ages with a view to remaining longer in the system for their selfish gains. Such a programme will result in encouraging them to take up the bait of offered seed money and offer of training for skills required to set up their own businesses. This suggestion is even more expedient, given the situation of the high rate of graduate unemployment Nigeria is reported to have. This explains why we are increasingly experiencing the large number of kidnapping, robberies, car snatching and advance fee fraud.

In conclusion, our leaders need to fashion out strategies to promote the sustainable development of our national economy for the good of this country. Our leaders must stop being insensitive to the prevailing reality of continued economic decline and the dangers ahead. We need to do something about growing this economy to stop us from being just exporters of crude oil, but rather make us net exporters of refined petroleum, create the parameters and the structures for attracting investment into our country and reduce our recurrent expenditure levels to below 50% of our annual budgets. By implementing some of the suggestions made here, we will be on our way to building a strong base for small and medium scale industries through the drastic reduction in the bloated bureaucracy in a structured and planned way, while at same time creating employment for our largely unemployed youths. By designing various programmes for the employment of our teeming millions of youths, we will also be solving our nagging social problems that are giving our nation a notoriously bad image in the eyes of tourists and international investors.  We must act to halt the economic degradation of our country. We must also develop the courage to punish the looters of our commonwealth, no matter how highly placed. We must ostracise those with ill- gotten wealth if we want to save this nation from abyss.

Finally, let us put strategies in place to grow our agricultural production, associated processing and storage industries and build derivative petroleum industries for an encouraging future as a nation.

May we not have cause as a people to weep for our nation in some decades to come. The blame would be on us for not raising and finding solutions to these pertinent issues when we should have mustered the courage to do so for the good of our country.

—This article was adapted from a speech given at the launch of a book of photographs by Kunle Ogunfuyi on the mass protests against fuel subsidy removal in January 2012. Shyllon, an engineer, is the Founder / CEO,Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF).