A Savage Mark

March 15, 2015March 15, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

When a suspected criminal is made a federal minister and if the case is not an isolated incidence but a trend, then you have the Nigerian politics-which is largely a government of the criminals, by the criminals for the criminals.

A Savage Mark

By Adeola Aderounmu

When a suspected criminal is made a federal minister and if the case is not an isolated incidence but a trend, then it may not be unreasonable to state that Nigeria is ruled partly by criminals. What is more saddening than this is the obvious reality that the situation gets worse by the day.

Exactly 2 weeks ago l wrote an article titled A Savage Situation. It was to join the protest against the re-nomination of Mr. Obanikoro as a minister in the cabinet of Nigeria’s lazy and corrupt ruler Mr. Jonathan.

As it stands now it appears that Mr. Obanikoro was approved by the senate.

The fact that the name was not thrown out as soon as it appeared in the senate is also a confirmation that the Nigerian National Assembly is a den of touts and criminals.

The lawmakers who are opposed to the approval of suspected criminal Mr. Obanikoro and thereby staged a walk out during the deliberation process may feel hurt coming under a general classification-den of criminals. But it is not far from the absolute true situation.

To this day there are no clear information as to the several millions of dollars that is earmarked for the Nigerian National Assembly and the House of Representatives monthly. The general perception is that these houses are the most expensive to run in the world.

In the type of democracy that is practised in Nigeria the Nigerian National Assembly is a complete waste and so far a part of the embarrassment that befell Nigeria’s laughable and ridiculous democracy.

Which sane National Assembly will harbour a failed executive government for 6 years? Which National Assembly will look away with all the impunities, illegalities and extreme corruption in the land? It has to be the one with the same mindset.

It must take a corrupt National Assembly to tolerate a corrupt executive and to look away at the extreme rot in the land.

The man who heads the Nigerian senate has been around for a very long time and he has done a lot to contribute to the destructions of several institutions in Nigeria. Now he appears to have moulded the senate into a criminal-approving organ. This is not the first institution he is poised to destroy.

David Mark’s name will be indelible in the history of Nigeria. This generation will remember him for the expression-telephone is not for the poor. After the reckless statement one of the treasured possessions of the middle and low-income earners in Nigeria, the land telephones became historic and disappeared from millions of homes!

David Mark staged-managed the approval of Mr. Obanikoro, a suspected criminal despite the strength of the opposing voices. In Nigeria this means that Ghana-must-go bags containing raw cash (probably in dollars) has left the presidency or central bank and emerged in the houses of most of the senators or their bank accounts.

This is an aspect of the Nigerian politics-which is largely a government of the criminals, by the criminals for the criminals.

The people of Nigeria, I mean the ordinary citizens constituting about 90% of the population who are living from hand to mouth and unsure of the next meal are long forgotten in the political equation in Nigeria.

There might be elections in Nigeria at the end of this month. The coast is not clear. Both the ruling party and the main opposition party are moving around with wardrobes full of guilt and rotten skeletons.

Mr. Jonathan has literarily emptied the Nigerian treasury during his recent relocation to South West Nigeria. He’s been holed up in the region doling out monies as if it comes from his personal inheritance. Such is the height of corruption and stupidity in Nigerian politics.

Mr. Buhari is back from the UK, has not spoken much at the campaigns in Nigeria and is funded by unexplained wealth.

Now Nigeria remains at the point where appointing a criminal into a government is normal because it is assumed that there are no saints in government or that we who are politicians are all criminals. It is amazing that the citizens are quiet as the impunity continues to reach record levels.

The ordinary people are in real trouble. The future is so uncertain. Bandits have taken control of governance almost all of the years after independence. There is nothing happening today that is new.

The probability that ordinary Nigerians will get a better life out of any government under the current arrangement is very slim. The chance is narrow under a system that is designed to oppress and suppress.

Change is not only getting rid of the criminals in all political offices and public institutions, it also means that the political structures of Nigeria and the various institutions at the federal, state and local levels need to be reassessed for their functionalities.

Change is when people look in the mirror and see whether they are ready to shed evil for the common good of all.

Many concerned citizens and organisations continue to argue for regional government or true federalism.

If change does not come from the ruling party and if change does not come from the opposition, the category of Nigerians describe above will one day learn that they have to take their own destinies in their hands.

Ironically both fear and hope have hindered the Nigerian revolution.

It always appears that something will happen in the positive direction, but after a while hopes are always dashed. In recent history hope was dashed in 1993. In 2007, many people were dumbfounded because it was not EUREKA. In the last 6 years Nigerians have learnt many new lessons as hopelessness and evil overshadowed good and happiness.

The fear factors were well analysed by the late Afro-beat legend Fela Anikulapo. It is one of the biggest hindrances to freedom for ordinary Nigerians.

The downtrodden Nigerians need to get organised. They need to be formidable. They need to conquer their fears and rescue themselves from the wolves.

It does not look like the wolves are going away soon if a David-Mark senate approves a fellow criminals back into its fold at the executive level.

I don’t think the wolves and the oppressors are going away if they continue to empty the treasuries for one or two accomplices, for the selfish royal families, for the religious rulers, for themselves and for their families without any consequence.

The wolves cannot depart for as long as it is possible to gallivant with stolen and unexplained wealth.

To the 90% Nigerians suffering from the over half a century of political looting and economic suppression, your future is in your hands. A savage mark can only be erased by force and popular revolt.

AIT’s Upcoming Documentaries

March 8, 2015March 8, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

The Tiger Of Aso Rock, TheCrook On The Minna Hill, Criminal Couple From Otuoke, How Nigerian Transgender, Alamieyeseigha Fled London, Telephone Is Not For The Poor-David Mark, Boko Haram Is In My Government-The Inside Story, Drug Baron Heads Yoruba PDP, Sex, Drugs And Aviation-A FFK Story, The Jet-Age Of Looting NNPC, A Diezani history, Mrs. Jonathan, From National To International Embarrassment, Nigerian House Of Representa-thieves and Legis-looters, 30 Trillion Subsidy Scams-How PDP And Jonathan’s Economy Team Raped Nigeria.

AIT’s Upcoming Documentaries

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

African Independent Television (AIT) is running a documentary on Bola Ahmed Tinubu or a man they also claimed is Yekini Ogunleye.

It’s been over 5 years since l last watched any program on AIT. I gave up on them when Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s foremost tropical gangster, bought Raymond Dokpesi, the owner of DAAR Communications and AIT.

Bola Tinubu has taken his case to court. That is not unexpected. He is a grown man and his lawyers are at it.

I may have seen an abridged version of the documentary. I was disappointed that l did not see the names of the producers of the Lion Of Bourdillion. I did not see the name of the narrator. The year of production and all other details that usually go with such a production were missing from the version l saw online.

I simply hope that the original version contains these information.

Some footages that need acknowledgement were also used. It will amount to an extremely poor piece of journalism if the version l saw was the original version.

In any case, l imagined if Nigerian private television stations have been airing these types of documentaries since 1960, maybe Nigeria would have been a saner country, a better place.

I don’t know what proportion of the report is true or false. That is Tinubu’s headache. He and his legal team can roll with that.

The short arm of the law system in Nigeria has really made a mess of many court cases and proceedings. I am not a fan of the Nigerian judiciary that is heavily compromised and saddled with corruption. I wish Tinubu and Daar Communications/AIT a wonderful time at the endless proceedings at the ridiculous Nigerian court of law.

Irrespective of what is true or false in the Tinubu documentary which partly looks like an advertorial for the government of Lagos State, it is a welcome development. If the PDP paid for the production and airing of the documentary, it will be a pinch of salt from the 21 billion naira raised in one day by various criminals and vested interests supporting Jonathan’s re-election. I wish AIT goodluck.

Since AIT has now ventured into investigative journalism and digging up both the past and present, it would be more interesting to see the follow up episodes.

I will like to see The Crook On The Minna Hill. In this anticipated episode, AIT should tell us how Ibrahim Babangida stole the money that Nigeria made during the gulf war. They should tell us why or how the same law system that failed to catch up with Tinubu failed to catch up with Babangida. AIT can even extend the documentary on how one Mr. Raymond Dokpesi could have benefitted from the stolen 12 billion dollars several years later. It will be a blockbuster!

I will like to see the Criminal Couple From Otuoke. In this story AIT can tell us how one Patience Jonathan was investigated on several occasions by the EFCC while her husband was the deputy governor and later governor of Bayelsa State.

AIT super investigators can tell us whose money she was looting and under whose watch they were been stolen. An update of the story can include how the Jonathans have looted the Nigerian treasuries directly and indirectly since they got promoted to Aso Rock by Obasanjo.

A documentary closely related to the Criminal Couple From Otueke will be How Nigerian Transgender, Alamieyeseigha Fled London. AIT may find the connection between the father (Alams) and son (Jonathan) of Bayelsans. Sometimes it is the prodigal son that forgives the unrepentant father.

Since AIT knows about Tinubu’s drug business, they may also probably highlight Jonathan’s drinking problems as well as his domestic and official weaknesses. If some serious investigative journalism is carried out AIT may be the first company to publish Jonathan’s Phd thesis online.

Good luck AIT, hope you hit another blockbuster!

The people of Nigeria will like to see the documentary titled; Telephone Is Not For The Poor-David Mark. When AIT is done with this production they will be able to explain to millions of middle and low class households how there landlines vanished from the telephone catalogues and for real in the twinkle of an eye.

By doing some serious journalistic work like they did with Tinubu, AIT may sucessfully trace Nigeria’s budget for communication under David Mark and Babangida to some Islands or Tax Havens around the world. Let the search begins!

AIT can even continue with the story of Mark by analysing how much money has disappeared from the Senate under his watch. They may even uncover his plot to rule Nigeria under the rumoured interim government. Who knows?

In the world of documentaries and investigative journalism, there are no limits. AIT can look at the option of making a documentary titled: OBJ, Poor Farmer, Rich President. They may uncover how Obasanjo’s salaries helped him to rejuvenate his farm.

To make the documentary interesting they should look at the role of Obasanjo in the emergence of Yar Adua and Jonathan. Where did the money for the campaigns come from and which state suffered for it? AIT can even tell those who do not know where the man who sponsored the campaign is today.

There are so many attack and watch dogs in and around Aso rock today.

What about AIT trying to make a documentary about a story or two that I’d written about. Imagine Sex, Drugs and Aviation! AIT, you have my permission to use my research material to do a series on Femi Fani-Kayode. He is a drug abuser, a woman beater and a former looter of the Ministry of Aviation. Don’t you think it will be an interesting investigative documentary to see the kind of campaign coordinator superivsing the Otueke couple?

One Doyin Okupe was alleged to have stolen from the people and government of Imo and Benue States. For him, you can do the Tiger Of Aso Rock. The documentary will show where to run for cover after perpetrating crimes at the state levels, a kind of graduation that is.

My parents are from the South Western part of Nigeria which makes me a yoruba by birth. I will like to see a documentary on The Drug Baron Leading The Yoruba PDP in South Western Nigeria. As my contribution to this documentary, I will like to pay for his return trip to the United States. Please mail me when he’s ready to fly, it seems you have him in your good books.

AIT common now, there are many, many series you can run. Your followership will grow nationally and internationally you’ll never go bankrupt again even after Jonathan’s reign of tyranny.

There is a man called Ali Modu Sheriff. He is a close associate of Jonathan and an alleged sponsor of Boko Haram. Go deeper into the allegation and tell us what you find in the Revelation Of Sambissa.

An alternative to the above will be How The Opposition Sponsors Terror. I think Nigeria and Nigerians will be intellectually richer when you have produced all the above documentaries. Perhaps you’ll help clueless Jonathan unravel the missing links between the opposition parties and Boko Haram.

Oh, l almost forgot. You should make a series on Nigeria’s House Of Representa-thieves and Legis-looters. You will not lack the materials to work with on this one. You just need to prove or disprove that the Nigerian National Assembly for example is the most expensive to run in the world.

You need to help Nigerians uncover the mysterious sums that go down the drain daily. Do a statistical analysis and see if the amount of wastage is positively or negatively correlated to laziness and the sleeping hours in both houses.

What about a neutral topic like Religous Country, Wicked People? Make several visits to the churches and mosques, try to explain the poverty index, crime rate and mumuism followership both religiously and politically.

You can show or disprove that religion leads to intellectual laziness, negligence of social obligations, lack of tolerance, bad government, blind faith and organized political crime.

To ensure that your documentary series last for several seasons, here are more suggestions:

Memory Lane, the Politicians And Soldiers Who Looted and Destroyed Nigeria, 1960-2015 (Part 1-20)
The Chibok Girls, Jonathan’s Changing Tunes
A Dictator Turned Democrat-Mission Impossible 4
Boko Haram Is In My Government-The Inside Story
Fashola: Productive or Destructive Product Of the Lion Of Bourdillion
APC States Versus PDP States: The Lions And The Tigers
Multiple Cross-Carpeting And Mental Health In Nigeria-A Political Approach To Medicine
APC To PDP And Vice Versa: The Recyling of Political Morons In A People Passive Society
Clueless Personified: Stealing Is Not Corruption-Evidence of Stupidity
Mrs. Patience Jonathan, From National To International Embarrassment
30 Trillion Subsidy Scams-How PDP And Jonathan’s Economy Team Raped Nigeria
The Jet-Age Of Looting NNPC, A Diezani history
The Useless Roles Of Private and Public Media In Nigeria

Dear AIT and management, these suggestions should keep you busy for the next 10 years. When you start, you will see that there are several more areas of investigative journalism that will make your station the envy of global journalism.

Please feel free to contact me for more suggestions should you and your production crew run of of ideas or scripts.

I hope you find genuine sponsors from around the globe and that your employees will receive local and international awards for their investigations. This will move you and your employees away from the disgraceful brown enevelope, food-for-the-belly syndrome.

Nigerians will be more enlightened, the politicians may sit up. The judiciary may have finally met their own watch dogs. The disoriented police force may find their lost ryhthms and start doing their jobs rather than shooting civilians at the ratio of 20:1.

The documentary on Tinubu should not be the end. DAAR Communications, go to court and fight your case.

I wish you goodluck at AIT and at the trial.

The pen is mightier than the sword!

aderounmu@gmail.com

Disgraceful and Shallow Campaigns (Part 2)

February 22, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

This season the Nigerian media houses blew away the chances of healthy political debates. For Nigeria, the road to freedom is under construction but the good people and the institutions are asleep.

Disgraceful and Shallow Campaigns

By Adeola Aaderounmu

Prior to the cancellation of the February 14 elections l’d written a long essay, probably more than 10 pages, on what l missed watching and listening to some of the live campaigns of both the APC and the PDP.

Indeed some of these issues that l missed have been incorporated into posters or advertised campaigns. However these types of campaigns are made by professional marketing companies and they do not reflect what one can get directly from the candidates of the political parties during campaigns or debates.

As I was fine tuning the second part of the said article, Mr. Jonathan, the lazy and corrupt ruler of Nigeria fulfilled a year long expectation when he postponed the elections. In actual fact it was a cancellation made possible by a bloodless coup by some lazy, potbellied soldiers.

Here l will try to highlight the rest of the issues that ought to have shapen the 2015 presidential elections campaigns but which did not.

Nigeria has a population that is growing fast and which is estimated to be between 150 to 200 million. There has not been any debate how to confirm or check this population growth.

Nigeria needs good politics and appropriate policies in keeping the population at a level that is manageable. Nigeria has no functional social or welfare system. How will families be educated so that they procreate according to their financial capabilities and prospects of a good, qualitative life?

Another issue that I missed is immigration. Nigeria government does not take immigration issues seriously. So the people don’t get to hear what the government is doing on border control and how to prevent the growth and spread of terrorism through regulated migration.

The PDP led government of Jonathan can claim it inherited a lot of problems but what has been done in the last 4-6 years on the issue of immigration, population growth and social welfare?

What does the political program of the APC tells us on immigration? Have these questions been raised at any political rally or debate? What about the need for appropriate census and state of the art demographic of the population?

Apart from the free food that APC promised school children, there has not been any serious public discussion on how the glory of the education sector will be regained and sustained.

Public education in Nigeria today is a source of embarrassment to the people and the government. What will be done to revive the lost glory of education both in the short and long terms?

In line with improving the public education policy, there should be a perpendicular goal to bring back the glories of Nigeria in medicine and technology. In terms of research and development the political parties need to discuss plans on how they intend to reverse the brain drain syndrome.

This sad phenomenon, now several decades old, has left many Nigerians trapped abroad and many wasting away even in irrelevant branches. Also, the misplacement of priorities and the glorification of criminalities in Nigeria have left many graduates redundant and in the wrong fields.

I have missed the plan for the development of other infrastructure the way they should be. Many federal and state roads in Nigeria remain eye sores. Rail systems remain largely underdeveloped and water transport remains a mirage or a heavy risk to life and property where it is carried out.

I’ll try to summarize the other issues that l thought ought to have made the headlines.

How will corruption be tackled considering that the 2 major political parties continue to parade cross-carpeting members who are looters and lazy politicians?

It remains a useless expectation that a person as corrupt as Jonathan will do something to halt corruption. He was already a looter from Bayelsa State and he will never understand that stealing is corruption because he was not imprisoned for stealing in Bayelsa State. He was elevated by people like Obasanjo and the PDP in general!

If APC wins in the presidential election, it would be interesting to see how it intends to fight corruption considering all the corrupt people in its ranks and files too. They should stop repeating that nonsense that Buhari was never corrupt or infallible. Out of the several examples, the one where he defended and supported Abacha was the most disgusting.

Will the useless immunity clause be removed in the coming dispensation? Is there a debate about this question?

While Nigerians wait for a permanent political solution, the debate on promoting merit above the useless federal character is missing. Federal character will continue to bring nonentities to important political positions. Through federal character system, evil has subdued good and foolishness has overtaken intellectual capacity.

One of the most obvious missing parts of Nigeria’s political campaign remains the team behind the campaigns. Who is the person answering the questions for energy/power for the APC or the PDP? Who is responsible for the education portfolio of the APC campaign group? l do not think there are answers to these simple questions because there are no teams of experts pursuing research, development or political questions in the political parties.

Political appointments are never reserved for the skilled or informed in Nigeria. They remain rewards for thugs, any fool, militants, potential terrorists and persons connected to godfathers and sponsors.

Rarely when good people are appointed in Nigeria, they soon become evil after one night in office. Something fundamental is wrong with Nigeria and Nigerian politicians.

It is pertinent that the absence of follow up and the negligence of track records are some of the reasons why a lazy, incompetent, corrupt and weak ruler like Jonathan emerged as the ruler of the Africa’s most populated country.

The disgraceful outcome of this tragedy is hard to bear. But if they seek change, Nigerians must learn to do things the right way. Sadly, Jonathan is a living tragedy and a sad phenomenon that may repeat itself.

Who will stop the pension fraud madness? What does the political agenda of the APC and PDP say on retirement matters? How will pensioners get their gratuity and pensions without having to provide the proof of life after 35 years in service?

For 16 years now we know that PDP encourages pension scams just the same way they enjoyed the oil subsidy scams. PDP is built on scams. Even Jonathan and Abba Moro scammed unsuspecting unemployed people in the failed immigration employment program. There were no consequences for Jonathan and Moro despite all the dead bodies that littered the country.

What change will the APC be?

On the campaign trail so far we have no heard how APC will deal with judicial processes involving pension frauds, subsidy scams, employment scams and oil theft. It would have been nice to know the change they are talking about and how they will be achieved.

Religion has failed Nigeria. Under Jonathan, religion became a total instrument of governance whereas Nigeria is a secular country. Churches and mosques built as outlets to government houses should be pulled down. Let everyman worship in his house and keep his/her religion a private activity.

Unfortunately, in 2015 religion will play a very dangerous role in who becomes the ruler of Nigeria. This is the same country regarded as one of the most corrupt in the world.

This means with Nigeria as a classical example, the more people go to churches and mosques, the more they are likely to be criminally minded and avoid the simple social responsibilities of nation building.

The way to freedom for the regions trapped in Nigeria is long. The rapid visual assessment and evaluation of the views and opinions of Nigerians both online and in reality leaves a lot to desire.

The winner takes all mentality after the elections rather than a system that heals after bitter electoral processes has left deeper wounds in the soul of the country. They may never heal under the persisting unitary form of government.

Since 1966, Nigeria remains in an endless transition.

The political solution is urgent so that the institutions can be brought back to life.

Separation of powers and respect for the principles of real democracy must be integrated in the expected political solution.

Nigerians remain easy to rule but difficult to lead, which is why they have always ended up with the wrong people leading the affairs of the country.

Nigeria as a country or as an aggregate of regions must work hard to get to that point where criminals and looters like the ones we have seen before and since 1999 are arrested and made to face judicial proceedings according to the law.

Based on the past and even the present, both Jonathan and Buhari are not the best of materials from intellectually saturated Nigeria. But it is sad that the good people are caged as the politics of money and do or die remains prevalent.

Change may come to Nigeria but with a lot of economic uncertainties and unseen social and political consequences.

The debate on the future of Nigeria which is missing in the campaigns ought to have been brought to life and taken at several sub-levels.

What will it take for Nigeria to revert to a system of government where power is not concentrated in the hands of one dictator at the center? Such a system where money is gathered in Abuja and redistributed to beggar states will not take Nigeria to the promise land. In fact it may tear the country apart soon.

What are the plans of all the political parties to restructure Nigeria so that the regions can stand on their feet and develop competitively like it was before the useless coups of 1966?

The real change that Nigerians want is yet to come. Making sure that people answer for crimes against humanity, for negligence of duties and for corruption must be part of the real change that they seek.

Most of the Nigerian public and private media houses should also be ashamed of their leadership styles and profiles. They have taken sides and will never be trusted in promoting fairness. This season they blew the chances of healthy political debates.

The media houses including both the visual and the printing press should bury their ugly heads in shame. They never put their spotlights on real issues and on the people who can emancipate Nigeria and help build her institutions.

For Nigeria, the road to freedom is under construction but the good people and the institutions are asleep.

(Concluded).

aderounmu@gmail.com

Disgraceful And Shallow Campaigns (Part 1)

February 1, 2015February 1, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

I am missing proper discussions and debates on the economy, unemployment, insecurity, migration, social injustice, inequality, education, health, population growth, science, technology and a holistic approach to reducing intellectual and material poverty in Nigeria.

Disgraceful And Shallow Campaigns (Part 1)

By Adeola Aderounmu

The two major political parties in Nigeria ought to be ashamed of their presidential election campaigns so far.

I have seen and listened to many political campaigns in Nigeria and this year’s campaign is the worst ever.

The bigger culprit here is the lazy ruling party popularly called PDP. A ruling party is supposed to be flaunting its achievements while making concrete plans for the future. But here we have a party that is like a sinking ship ridiculously campaigning like it is looking for power for the first time.

The PDP started a mudslinging campaign and took it too far as the election date approaches. No doubt the indolent and largely purposeless government led by Mr. Goodluck Jonathan is probably the most corrupt government in the world today. The cluelessness of Jonathan has shown no limit on his campaign trail.

Sadly too the APC could not hold back and some of its agents have produced a lot of campaign videos that still does not prove how the APC intend to be the change that Nigeria and Nigerians deserve. With several dropouts and losers from the other political parties flocking to APC, it is hard to see any change in sight.

It appears the change people are clamoring for is just to get a clueless government out of the way. But the opposition can do better.

It is about 2 weeks to the presidential election and Nigerians are yet to be told how the economy will be boosted in the face of the global decline in the price of crude oil. Jonathan made more than 200 promises during the 2010/2011 campaign year. Almost all of them were thrashed as soon as he began to drink at the presidential villa.

The economy has suffered and massive funds have been looted from the treasuries under the supervision of Goodluck Jonathan, his central bank governors and his minister of finance. This stealing and looting predate Jonathan definitely.

Indeed, I stand on the side of those who reject the World Bank report or the CNN evaluation of Nigerian economy. More Nigerians have slipped into the poverty zone and more Nigerians are unemployed and several thousands of them were even duped by Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Abba Moro. A few were killed during the duping process otherwise known as the Immigration employment scam.

A way to measure a growing economy will be making good use of the employment indices, the quality of life of majority of the citizens and the overall decline in the percentage of people living from hand to mouth among other factors.

Until these begin to happen one cannot appreciate economic growth on paper or assume that the prosperity of those who buy jets from looted crude oil proceeds represents the growth of a country. It is wickedness to summarize the well-being of 1% of Nigerians who own 80% of the country’s wealth as the mark of an economy that is growing.

The PDP we now know thrives on deceit and lies. The APC ought to seize the opportunity and present a formidable option on the economic front. It is not enough to call the PDP corrupt because the APC is also loaded with corrupt politicians as well as political prostitutes.

Political campaign in Nigeria is mostly gibberish, if not outright rubbish.

In actual fact what ought to be sold during this season of campaign is what the political parties stand for and not just what Jonathan or Buhari are as individuals. On personality levels, Nigerians deserve better than a drunkard or a dictator.

Indeed the personality of the persons leading a political group is important but the fundamental issues that govern the operations, prospects and plans of the political parties for the country should be paramount.

For life can come with unexpected situations. If Jonathan or Buhari for one reason or the other become unfit or unwell to stand for elections on February 14, it is the party’s politics that should bear on the electorates and not just the personality of the number one person in line to the presidency. It’s a huge risky to put persons before institutions.

Therefore rather than selling people during elections, it would have been nice to tell how the two political parties intend to further diversify the Nigerian economy. How do they intend to stop the Chinese from looting and carting away Nigeria’s precious mineral resources?

How do they intend to stop bringing criminals as ministers who will sell the treasuries of the land for a token that they even loot? How does APC or PDP intend to break this jinx that has turned the blessings of Nigerians into curses?

Where are the blueprints on how to help the North to recover its groundnut pyramids? How will Western Nigeria become the hub for cocoa and oil palm production again so that exportation can improve and promote the economy?

What about cassava in the East? Where can l go to read about the plans that the political parties have made in this respect? Why should almost everything be based on crude oil?

Which recordings from any of the campaign trail can I watch to see and hear Buhari’s plan according to the APC manifesto? All the posters about free food, free education and sudden miracles manufactured by internet warriors on behalf of the APC don’t do it.

Where can I access the blueprint that lazy and corrupt Jonathan has been trying hard to implement for the past 6 years?

Have I missed the discussion on cutting executive recklessness and financial wastages?

Common and ordinary citizens are to survive on a meagre monthly minimum wage of N18 000 per month. That disgraceful amount is a clear contradiction to what a growing economy would pay her citizens.

Ideally such an amount of money is what a family of four can budget to spend in a day if the costs of feeding, transportation, clothing and leisure activities are taken into consideration.

More than 90% of Nigerians live below the poverty level. The people may be resilient but that does not take away the permanent life of poverty that they are confined to.

In the same country some heartless people called politicians earn the biggest political salaries in the world. A lot of unnecessary funds and bonuses are allocated to Nigerian politicians at the local, state and federal levels that amount to direct stealing and official looting of the treasury.

To make the matter worse Nigerian politicians are mostly crooks still finding other means to award contracts, steal contract funds, set up committees upon committees and all sorts of malicious mechanisms aimed solely for self-enrichment.

Both the PDP and the APC have not mentioned how to cut on the financial wastages and leakages across all tiers of governance.

How do they want to make the take home pay of the politicians comparable to the salaries of ordinary Nigerians? Or how do they want to ensure that Nigerians who are employed or unemployed do not become criminals because they want to make ends meet? In short, how do the political parties intend to bridge this extreme social and economic injustice?

One area of public service in the hands of the mafia in Nigeria is the energy sector. The federal government has failed woefully to provide constant power supply in Nigeria.

Nigeria is reputed to have the worst power supply system in the world. Goodluck Jonathan stated clearly that nobody should take him seriously for re-election in 2015 if he cannot provide electricity after 4 years.

The energy sector is just one out of the several unfulfilled promises. Yet Mr. Jonathan finds the courage to live with this shame and still go around making more promises. What has happened to men who keep their words?

Mr. Jonathan lied to the world through the CNN that electricity has improved in Lagos and other cities across Nigeria. What a guy!

The PDP as a political party in charge of governance since 1999 when pseudo-democracy was returned to Nigeria has failed in this aspect. Under Obasanjo, Yar Adua and Jonathan several billions of naira have been looted with no results to show. Nigeria remains the darkest country in the world.

No arrests have been made for the monies that disappeared under Obasanjo and Jonathan which leaves both rulers as partners in crimes against the people of Nigeria.

The Ministry of Finance cannot account for the funds pumped into this adventure that yield no light. Instead more darkness came to Nigeria and the sales of generators by the energy mafia group of companies continue to skyrocket.

The PDP does not need to present any new plan on energy and power generation because for 16 years all its plans have produced more darkness than light.

The APC has refused to provide a clear blueprint on how it intends to rectify this nonsense. No one knows how APC intend to transform the darkness in Nigeria to light. If it is on paper, l think people will like to hear it at a campaign by the person in charge of energy development in the APC camp.

What about security? The PDP government is not discussing much about security on its campaign trail because Goodluck Jonathan the lazy president has failed woefully. His army is in a tattered form. One wonders who is in control of the army. Is it Boko Haram or Olukayode or Jonathan?

But security is a big deal. Insecurity usually ends with civil war. By now 15% of Nigerian territory is in the hands of terrorists. This is shameful and scandalous!

Terrorists have bloomed under Goodluck Jonathan. In the beginning he was mouthy and promised to root them out because he said they are part of his government. Four years on Goodluck Jonathan continued to dine and wine with Boko Haram members in his government.

The PDP government has stated that the opposition, the APC, is behind the terror group based in Northern Nigeria. This statement is careless and senseless because what good governments do around the world is to arrest terrorists and their sponsors. After all these allegations against the opposition Goodluck Jonathan has not made or ordered any arrest within the opposition camp.

Ali Modu Sheriff is known all over the world to have massively sponsored Boko Haram especially during the 2003 elections. He openly made use of Boko Haram to suppress and oppress his opponents while vying for the governorship office. Ali Modu Sheriff is one of Jonathan’s best friends.

Without dwelling much on the terrorists in the Niger Delta creeks, isn’t it astonishing that they are also mostly friends of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan?

Anyway, the APC is boasting that it will stop Boko Haram. How? What will the APC do differently? By the way that brings a curious issue to the front. When the opposition says that it has the solutions to Boko Haram’s war, why have the solutions not be presented at the national assembly by APC legislators, even if the presentation is not made public for security reasons?

What I meant is that the opposition in a normal society is also part of governance and where the ruling party fails; the oppositions can apply their options through debate and national assembly decisions. The ruling government and the opposition parties are always supposed to work together. But Nigeria is no ordinary country where the winner takes it all.

Today, Nigeria is not a secured country and anybody can be killed or blown to pieces by suicide bombers or shot by Boko Haram group that continue to attack military installations, different residential communities, churches, mosques and schools.

The electorates should have asked the APC how it would tackle the menace of Boko Haram. They should ask whether these strategies have been presented to the ruling party before the situation deteriorated to what it looks like today.

Security of life and property is part of the issues for campaigns or plane level debates. Like power supply, the issue of security is also important when looking at the factors that affect the economic growth of a country.

Nigeria faces more challenges in the days ahead….(To be continued)

aderounmu@gmail.com

A Remarkable Pact

January 18, 2015January 18, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

Buhari and Jonathan signed a peace agreement. Historically this is a very remarkable pact-that a peace agreement was signed before a war or in the absence of war between 2 factions.

A Remarkable Pact

By Adeola Aderounmu

The ugly tradition of politics in Nigeria remains and is madly sustained.

Several politicians flock from the PDP fold into the APC fold as the February 2015 elections draw closer. This massive, aimless exodus of purposeless, selfish and greedy politicians is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.

Nigeria is peculiar.

I have emphasized before that there are rewards for political prostitutions in Nigeria. As it stands now, it is impossible to find the definitive line that separates the two main political parties in Nigeria.

A good friend based in Southie argued that APC is different from PDP: that when the PDP members cross carpet to the APC they will act differently because people are influenced by the type of company that they keep.

I disagree on this one because APC is increasingly becoming a party of PDP dropouts. So the party continues. Where is the change? Who is fooling who?

Every four years people fall to the same political scam. It’s like a ritual. For those who are entering into political awareness for the first or second time, they will soon learn the name of the game.

For several others suffering from political myopism because they have not been paying attention for a very long time, they have refused to learn that the system of politics in Nigeria is remarkably dysfunctional.

Since the clarion call for the abruption of the faulty political system to allow for the re-actualization of the dreams of the fighters of the Nigerian independence is not yet popular, the follow-follow majority continue to hold on to false hopes every four years.

As the national existence in denial continues, there are probably 3 scenarios that may emerge depending on if peradventure the forthcoming presidential election, against all odds, reached conclusion, or not.

The first scenario is that Goodluck Jonathan may continue in power. This is possible because global democracy has a nasty history of what is called the power of incumbency. Umaru Yar Adua missed out by his untimely death.

Despite the gross incompetence and laziness of corruption-laden Goodluck Jonathan, he may persist to extend beyond 2015 the worst post-military years of the Nigerian life which began with Obasanjo in 1999.

It is not only the power of incumbency that could tilt the votes in his favor. There is always a difference between what people might consider as social media popularity and the reality. Sweden and in fact the rest of Europe provide classical examples.

Racists and extremists’ political parties are winning more votes and finding their ways to European parliament despite the upsurge of campaign against them on the social media.

So the question is why do they keep getting so many votes? In Sweden the racist party is the third biggest political party. The party may not be popular online but it garnered massive votes on election days.

A lot of people think that Buhari will sweep the Nigerian presidential elections. How many of those who support Buhari at rallies have the cards to vote? Many Nigerians like to attend political rallies just the same way they attend religious crusades.

Nigerians are very good lookers too. If taxes are collected for looking, a lot of money will flow in to the government coffers daily in Nigeria. But the money will be looted anyway.

If we assume that Nigeria conducts a free and fair election, the social media denigration of Jonathan does not necessarily imply that the coast is clear for Buhari.

But there are crises and mayhem already in Nigeria that may escalate and hinder a free and fair election. The success of Boko Haram is an additional catalyst to any chaos that may trail the 2015 elections in Nigeria.

The second scenario is that Buhari too can win the election. If the massive support on the virtual social media and at the physical rallies translates into non-pretense active participation, then Buhari may win.

In addition if all the PDP prostitute politicians who cross-carpeted to APC can successfully convince their followers to do the same and if they all have the voters’ cards to exercise their rights, then Buhari may get a land-slide victory, l think.

The third scenario is what many people don’t want to talk about because it is highly undesirable, but not impossible.

If Nigeria reached an unresolved stalemate, say, as an outcome of the interplay of inconclusive presidential elections, violence around the country and escalation of the Boko Haram war on Northern Nigeria, then the future of Nigeria may be decided following long-drawn battles that will take place both on the political and war fields.

I maintain that it is very risky that Nigeria entered into this election season with many prevalent problems unsolved and many questions unanswered. The dirt under the carpet is massive and stinking.

Nigerians must know that there was a reason for the peace accord that was signed in Abuja in week 3 of 2015 by the principal members of both APC and PDP. If anyone thought that it was ordinary eyes, they better go wash off their eyes to see the handwriting on the wall and the reason for the peace agreement.

Again, Buhari and Jonathan signed a peace agreement. Historically this is a very remarkable pact-that a peace agreement was signed before a war or in the absence of war.

Nigerians must hope that this peace accord spreads to everyone including Boko Haram before the election. It is in fact a good deal and it is better to use it proactively than to try to use it by hindsight.

In the meantime isn’t it about time the intra-and interparty uprisings in Rivers State are stemmed before they spread to other parts of the country? We know that Amaechi has been promised a number of ministerial slots and the elimination process by murder had started in earnest! Wike and Amaechi will need their own peace accord before the River burns!

Nigeria faces her biggest challenge ever since the end of the civil war because an election is planned amidst a long list of uncertainties and in the face of Islamic fundamentalists waging a war in the northern region.

When, and if the dusts ever settle, the bigger challenges will remain because the future of any nation is more important than where she is now.

There are outstanding problems that are partially independent of whoever becomes the ruler of Nigeria as I call them.

Summarily, as a matter of urgency, Nigeria needs to:

End the war in the north and disarm the terrorists in the south and elsewhere
Find a permanent political solution
Face the current economic reality from a global perspective

The political solution ace lies with the National Assembly all the time. Instead of doing their jobs, they have over the years allowed themselves to be overshadowed by calls for Sovereign National conferences and all kinds of ruses called CONFABs.

The Nigerian National Assembly has, for so long, neglected its role of debating the political structure of Nigeria and how to systematically remove or reduce the power concentrated at the center. This negligence reflects the evil nature of the extreme selfishness of Nigerian politicians.

The system works for their pockets, makes them billionaires and promotes their ineptitudes. The system that has destroyed virtually all important organs of governance, probity and accountability makes Nigeria probably the most corrupt country in the world.

As the National Assembly continues to ignore this role, corruption persists as the most organized activity in Nigeria.

Hence successive corrupt governments continue to institute or plan own convention and conference. Mr. Jonathan wasted a fortune from tax payers’ money on this recently. The real National Assembly must start to debate even if the debate outlives a certain government.

It will not matter how long Nigerians beat about the bush. One day in the future, they will be forced to discuss reasonably through the national assembly. If it becomes too late the third scenario highlighted above may be triggered.

Then they’ll again have to bring their representatives who will discuss and negotiate the future of Nigeria by force so that they can come forward with a functional system of government.

On the economy, let me remind Nigeria that the future of crude oil does not look bright. The world is looking and it is finding alternatives to fossil fuels including crude oil. The argument is to reduce the extraction and refinery of crude oil to the production of raw materials that are related to medicine and household needs.

So it means that the diversification of the Nigerian economy cannot wait.

Solving the political problems and allowing the different regions in Nigeria to plan their survival and economic future are some of the ingredients that can move the country forward as a true federation the way it was before the ugly coups of 1966.

Nigeria must make use of her honest historians and political scientists to show the proper road maps.

All the fools, nonentities and dunces running to politics solely for money making need to be stopped!

Apart from an effective military that is well trained and combatant ready, the removal of the excess power at the center is probably the other most effective check to the nonsensical ambitions of Boko Haram.

This suggested political option is also probably the most significant check that can remove violence/chaos that characterized the election campaign seasons. For if the power at the center is removed or reduced, the hassles for it will almost vanish.

Definitely functional law and judiciary systems play their unquestionable roles.

All that is needed to put Nigeria among the best countries in the world in the next half a century, which also includes eradication of corruption at all levels, cannot be discussed in one essay.

The people must be educated, live in manageable planned family, learn the civics of trust, co-existence, tolerance, selflessness, dignity of labor, patriotism, nation building and commitment to humanity and nature.

These virtues will avail much and their acquisitions are not dependent on religion or any remarkable political agreement.

aderounmu@gmail.com