Corruption

Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation (Part 2 of 3)

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In the 16 years of PDP rule, all ethnic groups, including the Igbo, have defrauded Nigerians by claiming to represent their ethnic groups in office when, in fact, they represent their self-interest.

By Guest Writer Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

The new agitation for Biafra was propelled by the arrest and detention of one Nnamdi Kanu the Director of Radio Biafra and leader of “Indigenous People of Biafra.

He was arraigned before an Abuja Municipal Magistrate Court on October 19, 2015 and charged for Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Intimidation, Managing and Belonging to Unlawful Society contrary to Sections 97, 97b and 397 of the Penal Code.

Before he could fulfil his bail condition, the DSS on the 10th of November 2015 in a suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/873/2015, obtained an order from the High Court to detain Kanu for ninety days for the purpose of investigating him for terrorism and financing terrorism.

The entire Southeast exploded in demonstration for his release and later, it was reported that bus convoys transported protesters from Aba in Abia state to Port-Harcourt in Rivers State to demonstrate not only for his release but the excise of Biafra out of Nigeria.

Similar protest was staged in Asaba, the Igbo speaking capital of Delta State. But who is Nnamdi Kanu?

I first came across the name Nnamdi Kenny Okwu Kanu, in an article published in the Nigeria Village Square on the 17th of April 2014. The article was written by Uzochukwu Ugbani.

The article was captioned: Brute Noice – Radio Biafra London. Mr. Ugbani who had listened to Kanu’s broadcast wrote, “In his recklessness, we have heard Mr. Nnamdi Kanu call ninety-nine per cent of Igbo women prostitutes on his daily broadcast. He constantly laments the importance of an immediate war in Igboland and will prefer to destroy Nigeria or see her look worse than Somalia, if necessary to actualize Biafra.

According to him (Kanu), as soon as this (Biafra) war is over, he will forcefully subject all Igbo to DNA test and those discovered to possess foreign genes or with mixed parents will be eliminated or face deportation.” Ugbani warned in Igbo thus, “Oji oso agbakwuru ogu, amaghi n’ogu bu onwu,” meaning “Those who run to war with smile on their faces, will certainly be greeted with the miseries of war.”

From the above, it can easily be deduced that Kanu’s Biafra is not only a xenophobic country that hates non-Igbo ethnic goups in Nigeria but a Biafra that celebrates the Nazi-like supremacy of the Igbo tribe and scorns other tribes outside the borders of Biafra.

Concerning Kanu’s Pirate Radio Biafra broadcast over Nigeria’s air space, the Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, Emeka Mba, said at a press conference on Friday, 17 July 2015 that operators of Radio Biafra in the Southeast had been arrested and transmission equipment captured.

He said further that the seditious activities of the illegal ‘Radio Biafra’ in transmitting hate messages are unfortunately designed to create disunity among Nigerians and to mislead young people in a deliberate act of subversion.

(Source: www.saharareporters.com/2015/07/17/nigerian-broadcast-authorities-arrest-radio-biafra-operators).

Before the arrest of Kanu in October 2015, Nigerian vanguard online reported in September about the clash between pro-Biafra group and the security agents in Anambra, resulting in 3 dead and 20 wounded.

On Thursday, 5th June 2014, a police Sergeant and a civilian were killed when members of a secessionist group, Biafran Zionist Federation (BZF) stormed Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) at 5 am, to declare a State of Biafra.

The leader of the group, Benjamin Igwe Onwuka, who had earlier been declared wanted by the Police for the March 7, 2014, invasion of Enugu State Government House was, however, arrested by the Police along with 12 other suspects while many others escaped. Their trials are still ongoing. (ThisDay Newspaper)

From the accounts rendered above it is obvious that the Biafran agitations precede the coming of Buhari’s Presidency even though the intensity increased after his ascension to power.

According to the President of Eze Ndigbo in diaspora and who is also Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, Eze Nwabueze Ohazulike, the agitatation for a sovereign state of Biafra is due to marginalisation the Igbo have suffered in Nigeria since Independence. (Vanguard Newspaper)

Others have maintained that the marginalisation of the Igbo began after the civil war and added that the Southeast has been treated unjustly because it is the only geographical zone that has five States while others have six or more States.

While directing all Igbo living outside Igboland to start returning home, the National Director of Information of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, Mr. Uchenna Madu said, “Nigeria is a state where others are first class citizens but treat the Igbo as second class citizen, a state where others are born to rule but treat the Igbo as perpetual outcasts, a state where State policies deliberately deny Igboland critical developmental infrastructure.” (Vanguard Newspaper)

Whether after Independence or after the civil war, there are concrete evidence that persons of ethnic Igbo have played central roles in governing Nigeria with persons of other ethnic groups in the country.

Let me explain what is meant by ‘persons of ethnic groups.’ In Nigeria, citizens have been indoctrinated to believe that any officer of the Federal government and parastatals, whether appointed, selected, elected or employed, is representing his ethnic group whereas the duty of the officer is to produce goods and services to all Nigerians and not only to the ethnic group of the specific officer.

What Nigerians have always experienced is that, even when the supposedly representative of ethnic group in office has collected salaries and fringe benefits personally, neither his ethnic group nor the entire country received goods and services from the officer.

Any criticism of the officer for not delivering goods and services for which he/she has been paid to produce and deliver is twisted to imply an attack on the ethnic group of the officer.

In the 16 years of PDP rule, all ethnic groups, including the Igbo, have defrauded Nigerians by claiming to represent their ethnic groups in office when, in fact, they represent their self-interest.

At independence, the NCNC formed a coalition government at the centre with the NPC.

Although the Prime Minister was Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the government was dominated by the NCNC. Consequently, Chinua Achebe noted that before the coup of July 29, 1966, “the Igbo led the nation in virtually every sector – politics, education, commerce, and the arts (page 66-67, There Was a Country by ChinuaAchebe).”

(Read part 3 soon)

Ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com

 

War On Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation (Part 1 of 3)

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For historically conscious Nigerians, Biafra connotes war, mass starvation and death. However, many Nigerians are afflicted with Alzheimer, a disease that robs its victims of their memories to learn from the past and present

War On Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation

By Salimonu Kadiri (Guest Writer on Thy Glory O’ Nigeria and The Nigeria Village Square)

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

For Nigerians, every day is first of April in which they are either fooling someone or someone is fooling them. For Nigerians, December is a month of hypocrites and as usual Nigerians join the rest of the world in wishing one another happy Christmas and prosperous New Year even when in reality every celebrated Christmas and New Year is less happy and less prosperous in ascending order.

Nigerian hypocrites carry their religions on foreheads but their behaviours are inversely proportional to Godliness. They shout the name of God every now and then but act satanically.

In Nigeria, roads are simply non-existing, hospitals have become morgues, schools have crumbled, electricity is epileptic, pipe borne water is away on permanent leave, the streets are filled with filth, dead animals and sometimes human corpses because politicians and civil servants, apart from collecting their salaries and fringe benefits, have stolen monies appropriated for providing essential commodities for Nigerians.

The sixteen years rule of PDP led to so much head ache for Nigerians that they decided to take APC as a remedy at the March 28, 2015, Federal elections in Nigeria. That was the first time a government was voted out of power in Nigeria and the world exclaimed in surprise.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) and its Presidential candidate, ex-General Muhammadu Buhari, had gone into the elections with the campaign to deal with kleptomania which is on the verge to suffocate Nigeria.

As it turned out, the Presidential election was not only won by the APC, but they had majority in the National Assembly encompassing the Senate and the House of Representatives. This implies that majority of Nigerian electorates have empowered the Executive and the legislators to expunge kleptomaniacs from Nigeria.

After election victory the APC decided that the speaker of the House of Reps and his deputy should be Femi Gbajabiamila and Mohammed Monguno respectively while the President of the Senate and his Deputy should be Ahmed Lawan and George Akume respectively.

The Senate contains 109 members but it was reduced to 108 before June 9, 2015, when the 8th Assembly was to be inaugurated as a result of the death of one APC Senator after the election. Thus, APC have 59 members while PDP and allies have 49 members. Democratically and politically, the APC party had decided who among its elected Senators would be the President and Deputy President of the Senate respectively.

The decision of APC did not please Senator Bukola Saraki, therefore he openly connived with PDP, the political antagonist of APC, to become the Senate President against the wish of his party. On June 9, 2015, a compromised Clerk of the Assembly arranged the election of Senate President in the presence of 57 out of 108 Senators.

The 57 Senators consisted of 49 PDP and 8 APC. By the time the Deputy Senate President was about to be elected, the number of APC present had increased to 25, and the PDP Senator, Ike Ekweremandu, was elected with 54 votes against Ali Ndume, APC, who scored 20 votes.

Thus, a Senate President and his Deputy were elected through a process similar to those described under Article 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code – Obtainment by false pretence! In democracy and party politics, it is an abomination. In explaining their behaviours, Senator Bukola Saraki and his ilk have said that after elections the legislators are free to conduct the affairs of the National Assembly without the interferance of the political parties on whose platform they contested elections and won.

Yet, and in accordance with the constitution, no one can contest election in Nigeria without belonging to and sponsored by a political party. By taking some members of the APC, to which he belongs, and merging them with PDP to form a new majority in the Senate, Saraki subverted the will of the electorates that voted PDP out of power and he has created a real impediment against change and war on kleptomania, the campaign slogan on which the APC went into election. Outwardly Bukola Saraki is an APC but internally he is a PDP.

On September 11, 2015, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) filed a 13 count charge of financial crime, money laundering, false declaration of assets, owning and operating foreign bank accounts while being a public officer, against Senator Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Abuja. Saraki was to be arraigned before Justice Danladi Umar of CCT Abuja on Friday, 18 September 2015.

Instead of defending himself at the CCT Senator Saraki hired dozens of advocates to file ex-parte motion at an Abuja High Court, presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, on Thursday, 17 September 2015 seeking injunctions to prevent the CCT from trying him.

Justice Mohammed then summoned the Ministry of Justice to appear before him on Monday, 21 September to show cause why the trial should be allowed to proceed. The judge also summoned the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar and that of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba as well as Mr Hassan who signed the charge against Saraki to appear before him on 21 September 2015 to show cause why Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki should be prosecuted.

However, the CCT commenced the trial of Saraki on the 18th of September 2015 and his lawyer asked the Tribunal for a stay of proceeding on the ground of Justice Mohammed’s summon. Justice Umar replied that the High Court had parallel juridiction with the Tribunal and as such, had no powers to halt a trial in the Tribunal.

Therefore, he issued order of warrant of arrest by the police against Saraki, so that he could be present at the next hearing to take a plea of guilty or not guilty in the court. Although Saraki had pleaded not guilty to the charges he has gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him and pending the decision of the Supreme Court, the CCT has laid the case to rest.

Bukola Saraki’s attempt to seek judicial embargo against the investigating authority is rather a norm than exception in Nigeria. The former Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, was the first to obtain a perpetual injunction against investigation, interrogation and prosecution over treasury looting of the State he governed from 1999 to 2007.

Others who were sluggish in obtaining perpetual injunction got their cases put into permanent coma by the trial judges. In recent time, Stella Adaeze Oduah, on August 26, 2015, obtained an interim injunction, from Justice Mohammed Yunusa presiding over a Federal High Court in Lagos, barring the EFCC and its agents from inviting or arresting her for questioning over the purchase of $1.6 million armoured cars when she was Minister of Aviation under Jonathan.

In the same spirit, on Thursday, 17 September 2015, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Valentine Ashi, in a ruling barred the EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Department of State Security Services (DSS), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and National Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), from arresting, detaining and investigating Mr. Kingsley Kuku over his activities as former Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme for Niger Delta under President Goodluck Jonathan. Billions of naira were said to have disappeared over Niger Deltan ghost students purported to have been on scholarships under amnesty programme.

In the 16 years of PDP governing Nigeria (May 29, 1999 to 29 May 2015), the three arms of government – the Executive (Presidency), the Legistilative (National Assembly) and the Adjudicative (Judiciary) – were deeply corrupt. Chinua Achebe once said that Nigeria is not a country but he would have been stating the truth if he had said that Nigerians are not human beings because if one-hundredth of government’s kleptomania in Nigeria were to occur in any country of the world there would be public uproar and outrage.

Since Nigerians have been narcotized with fake religion and false ethnic love, national rogues always attribute their rogueries to the will (blessing) of God and whenever their stealings were exposed they claim that their ethnic group were under attack.

As obnoxious and odious leaders cut across all ethnic groups, the APC government under President Mohammed Buhari has decided to kill corruption before it kills Nigeria. The PDP has accused the APC regime of witch-hunting members and supporters of the immediate past government adding that any true war against corruption should start from 1985.

In a storm where multiple of trees fall on one another would it not be wise to start clearing log of woods from the top? If Jonathan’s PDP regime is at the top of the heap of accumulated corruption in Nigeria, common sense demands that enquiries should start on his regime.

Just as the debate on what happened to the wealth of Nigeria entrusted in the care of Jonathan in the past five years was on-going, a diversionary agitation for the secession of Biafra beclouded the political terrain of Nigeria.

For historically conscious Nigerians, Biafra connotes war, mass starvation and death. However, many Nigerians are afflicted with Alzheimer, a disease that robs its victims of their memories to learn from the past and present. Moreover those who are 45 years of age now may not have heard the true history of the civil war that ended on 15th January 1970.

 

Ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com

So, Where Are The Loots? Let’s TAG them.

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Since lies are too hard to maintain Mrs. Iweala has sang a new song and the whole world is laughing at Nigeria. She delivered the recovered loots to Dasuki.

By Adeola Aderounmu

The hysteria that normally trail announcement of loots stolen and recovered have been with Nigeria since after independence in 1960. They come and go…

Nigerians are still dancing to the music of late Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He sang often of bad governments and how they looted the treasuries.

Nigerians are not asking, what happened to all the loots that have been stolen, recovered and relooted.

I am going to repeat something that has happened twice in the last decade under two different dispensations.

When Mrs. Iweala stopped dragging her foot and decided to give accounts for the Abacha loot under Obasanjo’s reign, she gave an account that was very ridiculous. She pointed out to a few things that were already provided for in the budget as what Abacha’s loot were used for.

Recently l saw that she had done exactly the same thing for the reign of Jonathan. She gave a report that the funds (it appears Abacha looted the whole world or what) were used to construct roads.

Since lies are too hard to maintain Mrs. Iweala has sang a new song and the whole world is laughing at Nigeria. She delivered the money to Dasuki.

A few weeks back l wrote an article: Why Are Our Politicians Criminals? On behalf of over 100 million people suffering and living under the poverty line, I am asking again: Why Are Nigerian Politicians All Criminals?

Since Nigeria always have a budget then it means that loots and recovered loots especially should be bonus or boost for the Nigerian economy. Also since the lies of the Nigerian government has become visible, thanks to Mrs. Iweala’s inability to be consistent with her lies, then it was high time to make new demands especially from a government that promised us change.

Dasuki_Jona_Iweala loot

Nigerian government must start to tag what the recovered funds are used for…to prevent relooting

Let me be clear.

Can we have a proper account of the monies that have now been recovered from the Dasuki-Jonathan-Iweala loot? And please let no moron toll the line of Mrs. Iweala, don’t try to tell Nigerians that the money has been used for this or that. We know already that you are lying. So, don’t go there..!

From now on, Nigerians will like to see a TAG on recovered loots.

The images connected to this article are suggestions on how to be transparent on what happened to recovered loots.

Reroads

Nigerians must see how looted funds can be effective life changers for them. APC must show if the change slogan is real or a fuss. Time will tell

Let’s TAG the projects executed with looted funds that have been recovered and let’s not use what the budget has provided for as covers for relooting recovered funds aka Iweala looting method 101.

ibb

One day the Nigerian government will be bold enough to actually retrieve the funds looted by other big political criminals in Nigeria

We are watching the APC mandate 2015-? to see what they will tell us that they have done with the recovered loots. There is no where in the budget that shows that anything will be done  with recovered loots, so that should be a bonus boost to the economy that is today lying in ruins and desolation.

Watch out and read a follow up to this article. It will be titled, 2015 It  Was Not A Great Year.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Nigeria’s Independence, The Military Coups And the Origin of Corruption Nigeria

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Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

Nigeria’s Independence, The Civil War And The Origin Of Corruption In Nigeria

By Salimonu Kadiri (Guest Writer On Thy Glory O’ Nigeria..!)

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Fifty-five years ago, Nigeria obtained sovereignty from Britain. Consequently, Chinua Achebe recorded thus, literally all government ministries, public and privately held firms, corporations, organizations, and schools saw the majority of their expatriate staff (mostly British) leave.

While this quiet transition was happening a number of internal jobs, especially the senior management positions, began to open up for Nigerians, particularly for those with a university education.

It was into these positions vacated by the British that a number of people like myself were placed …. This ‘bequest’ was much greater than just stepping into jobs left behind by the British. Members of my generation also moved into homes in the former British quarters previously occupied by members of the European senior civil service.

These homes often came with servants – chauffeurs, maids, cooks, gardeners, stewards – whom the British had organized meticulously to ‘ease their colonial sojourn.’

Now following the departure of the Europeans, many domestic staff (Nigerians or black Africans) stayed in the same positions and were only too grateful to continue their designated salaried roles in post-independence Nigeria. Their masters were no longer Europeans but their own brothers and sisters.

This bequest continued in the form of new club memberships and access to previously all-white areas of town, restaurants, and theatres (see p. 48 – 49, There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe).”

It is very important to note that Nigerians who stepped in to fill the jobs left by Europeans and inherited their rates of pay and privileges also played the role of the colonialists. The offices occupied by Nigerians after Independence were designed and meant to serve the interest of Great Britain and they remain so till date.

However, within six years of independence Chinua Achebe asserted that, Nigeria was a cesspool of corruption and misrule” where public servants helped themselves freely to the nation’s wealth (p.51, There Was a Country).”

As Nigerian public servants and politicians preened themselves in the perfection of the white man’s life, they became extravagant and flamboyant while being conspicuous and spectacular in consumption of imported materials. At that stage, the inherited rates of pay and privileges were no longer enough for Nigerian public servants, employed or politically appointed. That was the origin of corruption in Nigeria.

Exactly five years, three months and fourteen days after Nigeria had obtained sovereignty from Britain and at 12:30 P.M., on January 15, 1966, Major Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu, announced in a broadcast from Radio Kaduna that the Supreme Council of the Revolution of the Nigerian Armed Forces had taken over power in the North.

Our enemies, Nzeogwu said, are the political profiteers, the swindlers, men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand ten per cent. Declaring a martial law, he listed embezzlement, bribery and corruption among offences that carried death sentences.

Unfortunately for Nigeria and Major Nzeogwu, his comrades in the South had been infiltrated by tribal chauvinists. One of the coup plotters explained that Major Don Okafor and Captain Ogbo Oji had taken a stand against any step that might embody the killing of Ironsi.

Therefore, while the would-be assassins were pointedly making for his (Ironsi) residence he was at the same time heading towards Ikeja (2nd Infantry Battalion) to enlist support to quell the rebellion of the Majors. Major John Obienu who was to come to Lagos from Abeokuta with armoured cars in support of the Majors’ rebellion renegged and linked up instead with Major General Ironsi at Ikeja (see p. 125 – 126, NIGERIA’S FIVE MAJORS; COUP D’ÉTAT OF 15TH JANUARY 1966, FIRST INSIDE ACCOUNT BY BEN GBULIE).

It is noteworthy that Captain Ben Gbulie fought on the side of Biafra during the Civil War. In Enugu Major Chude Sokei and Lieutenant Jerome Oguchi of the 1st Infantry Battallion were assigned the role of killing the Premier of the Eastern and Mid-western Regions, Dr. Michael Ihenokura Okpara and Denis Osadebey respectively, but the would-be assassins had turned pacificists that did not like to see bloodshed (see p.136 of Gbulie’s book).

Two hours after Nzeogwu broadcast in Kaduna, Major General Johnson Thompson Umunakwe Aguiyi Ironsi caused Radio Lagos to broadcast at 14:30 P.M., that in the early hours of this morning, 15th January 1966, a dissident section of the Nigerian Army kidnapped the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and took them to an unknown destination.

The General Officer Commanding (Ironsi) and the vast majority of the army remained loyal to the Federal Government and are already taking appropriate measures to bring the ill-advised mutiny to an end. On Sunday, 16th January 1966, when General Ironsi announced his taking over of power in Nigeria at 23:50 P.M., fifteen casualities of the Majors’ coup included the Prime Minister of the Federation, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Finance Minister, Chief Festus Okotie Eboh; the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello; the Premier of Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola; Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari; Brigadier Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun; Colonel Kuru Mohammed; Colonel R. A. Shodeinde; Lieutenant Colonel Abogo Largema; Lietenant-Colonel Yakubu Pam and Lietenant-Colonel Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe. Just as Ironsi did not take over power to fight corruption in Nigeria, so were those who overthrew him towards the end of July 1966.

Since 1985, and especially in the last 16 years, corruption as observed by Major Nzeogwu in January 1966 had grown from 10% to 200%. Political elites in government and civil servants, including the judiciary are accustomed to using their offices to share power and the resources of Nigeria among themselves.

Money budgeted for road constructions, hospitals, education, power supply, potable water, housing, turn around maintenance of oil refineries and even pensions have been looted by political elites, civil servants in the ministries, departments, parastatals and judiciary.

The main core of the Nigerian economy, oil which in the constitution of Nigeria is the property of all Nigerians have been appropriated by the elites to themselves through the issuance of oil blocks to one another.

Since becoming millionaires in Nigeria do not correlate to owning factories but nearness to the centre of federal, state or local government where national patrimonies are looted, it means that Nigerian millionaires are manufacturers of massive poverty and miseries for Nigerians.

The treasury looters in Nigeria give birth to unemployment, armed robbers, kidnappers, drug traffickers (even to countries where the penalty is death sentence), ethnic insurgents and Boko Haram while they force others to look for means of livelihood in exile.

(to be continued)

Oyinlola: How One Man’s Greed Destroyed The Centre For Black Culture

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“The entire continent of Africa continues to be deprived of the services of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding because of the greed of just one man”

Oyinlola: How One Man’s Greed Destroyed The Centre For Black Culture

By Adeola Aderounmu

There are so many things happening in Nigeria that have contributed to the underdevelopment and retrogression in the land.

That we sometimes talk about these things without necessarily following them to logical conclusions means that Nigeria has an overwhelming loads of atrocities to drag along with her daily.

Since the atrocities are many and varied, it is too convenient to let go or forget some of them despite their grave implications either in deeping the crises that Nigeria faces as a country or in setting more precedents that give way to even more atrocities and crimes across Nigeria.

These crimes are profound among Nigerian politicians.

The story of how a greedy and corrupt Nigerian politician, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, grounded all the activities at the Centre For Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU) in Osogbo Osun State is a very sad one.

Oyinlola, Corrupt and Greedy

Oyinlola, Corrupt and Greedy

The CBCIU was established in 2007 during the tenure of Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the governor of Osun State. The establishment of the centre was under the cooperation agreement with the UNESCO Paris and in collaboration with acclaimed cultural experts Ulli and Georgina Beier, the government of Osun State and curiously the Olusegun Obasanjo Library.

Seriously, what has Olusegun Obasanjo Library got to do with the centre? Was it a clandestime plan to falsely acquire what belongs to others and a way to divert public funds to Mr. Obasanjo? It was not a surprise that Professor Wole Soyinka was vehemently opposed to the inclusion of the Olusegun Obasanjo Library as part of the partners setting up the centre.

The Osun State government paid 700 000 USD for the acquisition of the precious archives of the Beiers which would form the nucleus of the collections at the centre. The collections include documentation of various aspects of the Yoruba culture and tradition. The entire collection that should come from the Beiers are actually unknown but it is reported as being massive.

Apart from serving as a centre where records/archives are stored, the CBCIU was also expected to serve several other functions. CBCIU should have been the nerve centre of various cultural activities locally and internationally. The CBCIU was supposed to receive cultural troops from various parts of Africa and the rest of the world.

If it had been functional the CBCIU would have had conferences, seminars, lectures and syposia for all kinds of performing artists in Nigeria and from around the world.

It was such a prospect that made the federal government of Nigeria under whose laws the centre was established to pledge 400 million naira as annual allocation to the centre.

It must be restated that Oyinlola was the governor of Osun State and chairman of CBCIU when it was established in 2007.

In 2008 Oyinlola formally signed a law establishing the CBCIU.

According to that law, Oyinlola (stupidly) made himself the lifetime chairman of the CBCIU.

Unless one is arguing with a mad man, it is easy to see that this law is self-serving and deserves to land Oyinlola in jail. Only a criminal will convert a public institution into a personal or family business venture.

During his tenure as the governor of Osun State and doubling as the chairman of CBCIU, Oyinlola collected 400 million naira annually on behalf of the centre. When he was bundled out of office by the court in 2010, he became the National Secretary of the PDP, a position that was still strong enough to ensure that the 400 million naira landed safely on his table.

With a new government in Osun State under the governorship of Rauf Aregbesola,  the opportunity arose to end the reign of Oyinlola as the lifetime chairman of CBCIU. The board constituted by Oyinlola was dissolved.

The Osun State legislators enacted an ammendment in 2012 that allows a serving governor to be chairman of the board of CBCIU. The governor may also appoint anyone for this purpose.

Governor Aregbesola appointed Professor Wole Soyinka as the chairman of the center and Dr. Wale Adeniran became the Executive Director.

Dr. Wale Adeniran knows the history of the centre because in 2007 Oyinlola had asked him to write a letter of approval for the establishment of the centre. At that time Dr. Wale Adeniran was the director of the lnstitute of Cultural Studies at Obafemi Awolowo University.

Since this means of siphoning public funds for private use had been taken away from Olagunsoye Oyinlola, he continues to fight back. He has gone as far as protesting to UNESCO in Paris on a number of occasions. Is this the meaning of a fool’s mission?

Until this day, Oyinlola has continued to parade himself around the world as the chairman of the CBCIU.

There are allegations that the materials which may have included valuable art works and artifact that should be displayed at the centre were also carted away to Oyinlola’s private residence.

When his reign as the chairman of CBCIU was cut short in 2012 by the law enacted by the Osun State legislators, Oyinlola carted away all the files from the centre including all the financial records. These are clearly some of the traits of a criminal. In essence, Oyinlola and his team of tropical gangsters made sure that it was not possible to take over from them.

Today the CBCIU lies in ruin, covered with weeds and grasses and totally non-fucntional. It is noteworthy that Oyinlola did not act alone. With 400 million naira, it was easy for him to find staff, move them around or tell them what to do at all times, all just to make sure that he remains the chairman of the board.

The nucleus of the centre was to be the archive that was purchased from Beier family. Today the digitalisation of the archive continues in Germany. If Oyinlola hadn’t run the CBCIU as a private or family enterprise, the delivery of what was purchased or ordered would have been completed and all the functions of CBCIU, some of which are stated earlier would have been up and running.

It is also of interest that the Osun state government has refused to deliver the allocation of the centre to the present board that is supposed to be running the CBCIU. There are reports that the allocation appears on the budget of the Osun State government annually. So what happens to the money? Why is it not released?

It is ridiculous that the Osun State government under Ogbeni Aregbesola expects Professor Wole Soyinka and Dr. Wale Adeniran to give financial acount of the centre when in fact funds have never been released to them. Where is the funding for the CBCIU since 2012?

On Monday the 12th of October this case (yes it is now in court) will continue at the High Court in Osun State. Oyinlola and his lawyers will argue in favour of allowing Nigerian politicians to use their positions to acquire public properties and converting tax payers monies into family hereditary funds.

They will argue that Oyinlola does not have to explain what he did with 400 million naira that was given to him between 2007 and 2011. But really what did he do with the money? Is this the same Oyinlola that some people are speculating will appear on the ministerial list? Well, that won’t be a shock. Buhari has wasted 3 months only to assemble the same old corrupt people we know.

But seriously, there should be a public outcry against Oyinlola and he should be covering his head in shame at this time. Western Nigeria, Nigeria and the entire continent of Africa continue to be deprived of the services of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding because of his greediness. It’s shocking!

aderounmu@gmail.com

References

CBCIU: For Culture or Penkelemes? By Wole Soyinka. Chairman Centre For Black Culture and International Understanding, Oshogbo, Osun State, Nigeria.

CBCIU and the Lilliputians of Culture by Wale Adeniran, Executive Director, Centre For Black Culture and International Understanding, Oshogbo, Osun State, Nigeria.

STOP PRESS

Professor Soyinka resigned from his post as the chairman on saturday 10th of october 2015.

Dr. Wale Adeniran also resigned as the Executive director of the centre.

The primary reason for their resignations is because of the way the Nigerian press/media presented the story even until this moment. The media made it sound as if the problem is between Wole Soyinka and Oyinlola whereas the problem is actually between Osun State and Oyinlola.

Nigerian media sometimes does not show common sense when reporting issues. How can they fail to crucify Oyinlola for making himself the life time chairman of a public institution?