Democracy

Terrorism in Nigeria May Lead to Disintegration

/ Adeola / 10 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

On December 26 2009 I wrote on my blog page that Nigerians are not terrorists. That statement is no longer valid.

Nigeria is now among the league of growing terrorist nations.

On Christmas day in 2009 one over-pampered kid Abdul Mudallab put Nigeria’s name on the global map. He is the famous underpants bomber.

One year later at the end of 2010 there has been series of blasts in Nigeria. From Abuja to Maiduguri to Jos and back to Abuja.

Terror now has its grip on the Nigerian nation.

At about 1730 Nigerian time on the last day of the year 2010 there was a deadly bomb in a busy area in Abuja. Thirty people may have lost their lives with several others injured.

As usual the Nigerian government is quick to point accusing fingers. The blame has been shifted to Boko Haram, a group whose mission is not really clear to the rest of us.

It is cheap and easy to blame Boko Haram because of their attack on the police and civilian populations in Northern parts of Nigeria. People have been killed in Jos in violence related to both religious and political conflicts.

There are insinuations that MEND could also be responsible for the Abuja attacks.

Nigerian security forces need to step up and try to stay ahead of these terrorists whether they are MEND or Boko Haram. Otherwise there will be no solution to the oncoming onslaught of violence and devastations that will hit the rest of the country.

The current pattern indicates a clear motive to disrupt the fragile peace in Nigeria. We know we have political problems and we are aware of the massive corruption and unimaginable social injustices in Nigeria: it is therefore easy for a group or groups with selfish ambitions to penetrate jobless extremists and use them to achieve a sort of destabilization that will usher in the final demise of Nigeria.

That in my opinion is the goal of consecutive bomb blasts and terror attacks. The aim will be to fulfil the predictions that Nigeria will disintegrate before 2015. I thought there are better approaches. When this country becomes ungovernable I look forward to negotiations that will usher in the separations of its parts. The consequences of war we are all familiar with. The Biafran experience should not be an option.

Whichever way, there are going to be many questions from now on. How did we get to this point in Nigeria? Are these attacks preventable? Are these attacks related to bad government and corruption across all the tiers of government in Nigeria? Are these attacks premeditated to make Nigerian ungovernable for a man from the Niger Delta?

There are multitudes of questions. There will not be simple answers. Even in the Scandinavian countries where it seems that the government is almost perfect terrorism is beginning to take firm roots.

The government of Nigeria is now finding itself in a dilemma. So many things and issues have been neglected since 1960 that it will be impossible for us to fathom the reasons for these attacks and the nature of things to come.

Just as recent as October 2010, we wasted over N20b celebrating a useless anniversary. We made the biggest cake in the history of man. There are over 100m Nigerians who are poor and impoverished. They have no hope and no option to a life of poverty. Yet we wasted so much money for nothing! Stupid people making useless decisions!

The Nigerian politicians continue to steal and loot across all levels. The presidency, the executive arm, the National Assembly, the state government and all places where politicians reign across Nigeria it has been stealing, looting and enrichments as usual.

Our legislators earn the most money in the world. We complained that they should review their salaries to what civil servants take home, all in vain.

In Nigeria there is no electricity. Where I live in Nigeria we have 4 generators and run 24-7 on them. There is no public power supply. We don’t have water from the government. Our roads are bad and we drive at average speed of 30km/ hr or less.

Public Schools are becoming historic. We pay high fees to keep our children in schools. Education is now a luxury. Foods are expensive, quality and standard of living are terrible and unacceptable!

Pensioners are suffering and people get laid off indiscriminately. NITEL staffs were dismissed without the benefits of continuous pensions. What a wicked government! So silly!

Nigerian politicians keep their families abroad while they suffer us at home.

When you add all of these woes together you get a failed country. Nigeria is a failed country. Therefore it appears as a golden opportunity for those who believe in violence. It doesn’t even matter if the stimulating or sponsoring agents are within or outside Nigeria. The fact is that they have found cracks in the wall and it is therefore too easy to penetrate and destabilize the country and the government.

The government of Nigeria will be at a dilemma and crossroad for sometime to come. How do you begin to know the elements or characters that are so angry they only resolved to kill innocent people? The Nigerian politicians have a way to protect themselves and their families. The victims of the attacks in Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja are people or individuals like me. We have no means to protect ourselves and the security provided by the Nigerian government is almost non-existence. Usually troops lined the streets after the evil has been done. Sometimes this fans the violence and lead to more deaths.

Who will save our souls? Evil is on the rise. The government has failed the people. For fifty years, public servants and politicians stole and stole. They are still in Nigeria. Nothing has been done to them. They ruined our lives. They stole our future and they took our hopes away. Until this day the story is the same.

The new found love of terrorism in Nigeria is an additional plague that we will now have to live with. It has taken 50 years to destroy this country. It will take more than 100 years to fix it.

Nevertheless we must start to build this country now. This is a country with vast potentials. The task of reclaiming the glory of Nigeria is before all of us. It should not really matter who becomes the president if we established a sound foundation for our democracy. What matters is that the likes of Atiku, IBB and even Jonathan should be sent to face trials for the mis-governance they have participated in. I see no hope in the present crop of looters and thieves that are in Aso Rock then and now.

If Nigerians think that they have democracy now, they really need to wake up from that nightmare. Democratic structures run on institutions and not individuals. Democracy runs on the rule of law which no one is above. In Nigeria, several people are above the laws of the land. This has made it possible for impunity to reign supreme. Our political parties are so useless they have no clear cut goals and objectives. Their dream is to capture power and loot the treasuries nationwide.

We really need to sit down in this country and think. We can’t afford to get it wrong this time.

The first ingredient for our future attempt at progress and development will be to find a genuine democratic process.

When we do, we must begin to address the issues relating to the rule of law and the promotion of social justice and state welfare. There is a need to form political parties based on ideology and good governance. We need to promote literate participation with the attempt to eliminate thuggery and insanity from our politics.

The people must know that they have government and governance that works.

The Judiciary must be independent and have the possibility to work with the police to wipe corruption once and for all.

Nigerians must start to probe the sources of wealth. People are stealing in government and private businesses. The nation is sinking because of the actions of a few men and women.

We must rebuild all public institutions, not physically but mentally. Nigeria must now tap deep into the cognitivity of its intellectuals with a view to promoting merit over national character. There is an urgent need to revive nationalistic movements that will carry everyone along. A massive re-orientation along the line of nation building is urgent. The goal will be to save this sinking nation.

The other option is to allow it to continue with the status quo and pretend that all is well while the nation sinks. Such pretentions will allow terrorism to take a firm root and grip on Nigeria. One day a new group will declare once and for all “to your tent O’ Isreal!”

At that point, the prediction of the disintegration of Nigeria would come to pass. Our lives are in our hands.

My Message To Nigerians in 2011: Stop Saying It’s God…

/ Adeola / 6 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

On the 31st day of December every year Nigerians usually troop in millions to churches across the nation. As a teenager I realised that even millions of people began to troop to the mosques on the same day. Not totally surprising as vigils had earlier become a common denominator for all the forms of worship/ belief in Nigeria.

Nigeria probably has the highest number of places of worship in the world. Everyday Nigerians troop to churches and mosques to worship. You will be amazed by the level of insanity in the Nigerian society. There is a complete lack of correlation between the numbers of worshippers plus the places of worship and how people conduct themselves at work and places of businesses.

The more people go to churches and mosque, the more serious our national problems have become. Nigerians proclaim God with their mouths but their hearts are far from good.

Take this classical example of Obasanjo and Yar Adua as proclaimed by Fela few decades ago. Take any of the Yar Aduas and add it to an Obasanjo, you will get a class of people who deceived the nation the best way they can while hiding under the umbrella of religion. The recent Yar Adua did all he could to shield an Ibori and other cronies while the stupidity lasted. Obasanjo among other things wrapped 16 billion naira in a safe place. Heaven must be weeping.

Nigerians believe that politicians who have been ruining their lives are sent by God. They even provide special places for them in churches and mosques. Nigerians worshipped both God and political office holders. When elections are rigged or when violence is used to achieve a political result, Nigerians say that it is God’s doing. Nigerians still believe that it was God who put Obasanjo and Yar Adua as successive illegal presidents in Nigeria. I hate these submissions with great passion.

God has no role in our political madness. It is some useless Nigerians who rigged the elections. They have been doing that since 1959. God does not vote and if there something God knows about-it is the fact that men have the freedom to decide how they want to lead their lives.

The calamities in Nigeria are not God’s faults. Nigerians have refused to think right and do things well. Is it God’s fault that some Nigerians are sabotaging the power sector because they want to continue to import generators for the profit they make?

Wake up Nigerians! You and the rest of Africa are light years behind the rest of the world.

On the last day of every year, you run to churches and mosques. You do the same thing every Sunday and every Friday. Where are the outcomes? Pray! But act too.

What about getting out of the churches and mosques and marching to the local councils to demand for the rebuilding of the society? What about getting out of the places of worship with a resolve to demand accountability and probity from those who are stealing your money and taking them abroad to buy houses and jewelleries?

You, the common people keep praying while everyone who gets the chance to steal sends his children abroad to receive good and proper education. People are dying of preventable conditions! There are no schools to attend as public schools near extinction. The best you could do is pray? You can do better, act!

Look at the bridge that Daniel and Bankole fought over! How could you let these two guys get away without showing them that before and after the bridge are revelations of poverty, suffering and useless government altogether. Yet you still reserve the best places in the church and mosque for these rogues. Pity!

When will Nigerians start to act? 2011 comes with new challenges. These add up to the piles of old unresolved challenges. There is no electricity in Nigeria. It’s almost zero watt power supply. Jonathan and Atiku are the best candidates? Maybe it’s time to stop praying folks! These two men are wasting your time and life. Start a campaign in your churches and mosques with a view to generating new candidates that can bring freshness to the field of politics.

Our politics and ways of life need total transformation. How can we achieve these goals? It’s a dilemma because the rot is well rooted and our mentalities have been deformed as to the objectives of politics and public services.

We say politics is a dirty game. Is this what we learn from the churches and mosques? We and these people who are involved in the dirty politics belong to one church or the other OR to one mosque or the other as well. Indeed in several cases we mix these things and swear oaths at Okija-styled shrines nationwide. What a bunch of hypocrites! Little wonder we are suffering amidst plenty!

What do we preach in these holy centres? Obviously violence is one of the vices perpetrated by Christians and Muslims. Jos in Nigeria is a classical example of the fact that Religion in Nigeria is a means to suffering rather than salvation of the souls of men. We kill and maim one another in the name of religion. Jos continues to burn even to this day in the name of both religion and politics.

Now we have turned to full time terrorism with the spate of bombings across the nation. Soon Somalia will be a child’s play compared to Nigeria. We either get it right now or face the calamities ahead. The impacts of a failed nation are manifesting.

Is there anything in Nigeria that is not distorted in the name of religion and God? Nigerians leave everything in the hands of God. Millions of Nigerians have not known another life except that of penury and poverty. The situation may never change. By implications several millions of Nigerians will live the life they never chose. They will spend their entire lives having no choice and no option to poverty and hardship.

Millions of Nigerians do not know what it means to have constant power supply for even 24 hours. It’s a luxury that has not happened in several localities since the 80s. Living in Nigeria is almost a tragedy. It doesn’t even matter if you are rich. Being rich make it possible for you to have advantages but it doesn’t exclude you from the living conditions outside the walls of your home.

In 2011 Nigerians are preparing for the polls again. When the outcomes are known, they will say it is what God wants. They will forget that the elections have been rigged even before they started. Nigerians do not know that the democratic institutions they have are weak and non-viable. We want results for the things we are least prepared for.

I wish Nigerians a Happy New Year in 2011. I’m hoping that the mad accusation against God will stop. Take your destinies in your hands. Ask the government for transparency and stop worshipping those who steal both your money and your future. Stop respecting those who have planned that your children will not be educated. It is their way to subdue you and make you their slaves forever.

In 2011, look as the votes are counted. When you get out of the places of worship every day, take time to go to your local council in troops, ask them for accountability and probity. Nationally, take the time to monitor events and situations, organise protests to fight corruption and social injustice.

Ask for your rights: good roads, good water, good schools, acceptable standard of living, and employment opportunities. Nigerians, among other things, ask your government to diversify the economy.

Nigerians, you must become bolder and rise up against the upcoming evil because the sufferings may get worse. Ask your government to make things better. They should stop stealing money especially in Aso rock. It is sheer wickedness and a form of demonic insanity for some people who become mega-rich at the expense of the rest of us.

Get up and speak against all the evil men and women in government. If we unite, we will stand against them.

Power belongs to the people. We must stop this stupidity of going to churches and mosques without reflecting well in the society. Imagine the glory of this nation if we transform our religiosity into godliness and sincerity.

We cannot continue to have the largest numbers of religious places and the largest numbers of problems in the world. It doesn’t add up.

This is my message for you-Nigerians- in 2011. Stop saying it’s God. Stop the mockery! Take your destinies in your hands!

aderounmu@gmail.com

Atiku, Jonathan and a failing country

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

Recent events in Nigeria moved us to the precipice, at least in our minds, again. Treason was in the air. As usual we keep finding ways to reach the pendulic (my word) balance. We keep swinging to neither here nor there.

Nigeria is not moving forward. This failed society has been at the crossroad since 1959. It was known then that the Union Jack will be lowered in 1960.

The Atiku and the Jonathan camps have exchanged words of fire in recent weeks. My take on Nigeria shall remain constant until my last breath or until governance becomes a means to serve the people of Nigeria. This country is ever-ly devoid of men of character and vision.

For the love of money, for the greed and for their insatiable (evil) lusts, Nigerian public servants and their armies of sycophants have kept the status quo. In Nigeria millions of people don’t know the essence of life and the meaning of living.

Atiku Abubakar should have been sent to prison a long time ago. When he and Obasanjo gave us explicit details of how they both looted and destroyed the Nigerian economy, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu did not seize the day to whisk both of them to trial and possible detention. The evidence flew in our faces for nothing. They were published in major newspapers and they were made available from original sources in Aso Rock. In Nigeria corrupt people and thieves parade our landscape as saints and we worship them. It’s an extremely sad situation.

Back in 2006/2007 Atiku was so bitter he single-handedly almost destroyed the PDP. He gave public speeches and interviews about the evil nature of the PDP. He warned Nigerians NEVER in their lives to vote for the PDP. Today on what platform is this political prostitute seeking office in Nigeria? Many Nigerian politicians have no shame and no sense of direction.

With such admission that he belongs to the evil party before flirting with the ACN, one can tell that a party like the PDP and its like (rampant in Nigeria) will NEVER do Nigerians any good. The PDP party is evil just like its flagbearers.

Even Jonathan is not left behind. When he and Alamieyeseigha reigned in Bayelsa, they left the state almost in ruins. They were reported to have stolen the state to dryness and the plight of his master will be indelible in the history of this country. It’s so cheap to say that Obasanjo blackmailed him. The summary is that all these people are wicked and have no considerations for the rule of law. It is true that Alamieyeseigha stole and that he owned all the property that he could not have genuinely acquired as a public servant.

Where is Ibori today? His plights do not mean anything to those who are still in the business of looting and carting away our national treasuries. We must not forget the role of Ibori in the emergence of the present illegal regime in Nigeria. To those who are not familiar with my write-ups, I refused to accept that time can eradicate illegality. Even a useless judiciary or a corrupt Attorney General/ Chief Justice of any Federation can’t erase illegality of stolen mandates. I am not a saint but my moral standards of public service are unshakable. Do it right or leave the stage!

These men are all the same, stealing, looting and destroying the future of the unborn generations of Nigerians. The mentality and mindset of Nigerians have been massively distorted by 50 years of misrule and mis-governance. Very sad situation. The man who succeeded Jonathan in Bayelsa gave a bleak picture of the situation back then. They are all the same anyway!

Hence when I look at the on going scenario whereby Atiku and Jonathan are both calling each other names and really spreading information about the bad sides of each other, I’m not just surprised because these things reveal the truth about the types of people ruling Nigeria. The moral standard for public office in Nigeria is below the value of zero. If these men who have at one time or the other stolen monies in Nigeria are the frontrunners for the office of the presidency there is probably yet no hope for this failed society. I’m almost not able to call Nigeria a country anymore.

To even imagine that the opposition parties cannot seize this golden moment ahead to form a formidable entity to at least rid Nigeria of this evil party is also a sad situation. In all honesty that is not even the solution to Nigeria’s problems. One can argue that the parties don’t matter, that Nigerian politics and politicians are different sides of the same coin. At every opportunity I keep asking, how did we get to this point? I see wickedness in public offices and I see nonentities, idiots and senseless people running the affairs of local, state and federal structures. I kept asking: how can this be?

Where are the people who can solve the problems of this failed society called Nigeria? Why can’t we prevent the violence and intimidations that has sealed out the people with the right spirit and mindset?

Last week I took a long walk down the streets of Lagos and I saw people struggling to achieve one thing or the other under impossible circumstances. I concluded that the Nigerian people are disconnected from governance. They have no idea what their votes can achieve for them and they do not even know the power they possess as masses. They think that once the elections have been done or rigged every other thing is in the hands of God.

Nigerians have replaced their life of happiness which they struggle to get with their belief in God. They suffer and live under inhuman conditions despite the wealth of the country because they allow thieves like Atiku and Jonathan to continue in power or even have access to power. They say-it’s God who put them there. What a useless lie! The evil in Nigeria and the poverty that pervades the land are man-made. They are caused by Nigerians who have ruled and stolen instead of working to build the country.

Check out the National Assembly, the Executive arm and the legislators across the nation. The prime issue is money sharing and getting rich among the members and politicians. Nigerian politics is a disgrace to our collective intellectuality. They say we are all the same but I have rejected that claim since it started.

I will never be the same as those who stole and took my future away. I am not the same as the one who said telephone is not for the poor. I reject the claim that I am the same as the man who built an empire on the rock but cannot take a walk in a market place. I am not a thief and no matter what opportunities I get in my life time, I will not steal. I know the son of whom I am. I will never be the same as Bankole or Daniel fighting over a bridge surrounded by poverty-stricken people and very bad road connections on either side of the stupid bridge.

Nigerians must reconnect with reality and they must know that until they rise up to demand for what is theirs; it will not be given to them on a platter of gold. Nigeria is a rich and blessed country. The wealth of Nigeria is not for the politicians, or their families and praise singers. The wealth of Nigeria is for Nigerians and it must go round. This cannot be compromised.

The PDP has failed Nigeria and Nigerians. There is no one way out. There is an urgent need for the enlightened Nigerians to carry along those who are ignorant and unaware of their rights. The solution will not lie in another political party per se. Instead it will depend on our views about life and its essence, that everyone has the right to pursue happiness, that the state is obliged to provide the means to accomplish that goal.

Those obstacles on the way of the growth and development of Nigeria must be removed by radical means including if necessary a massive revolt that will move the foundations of the nation. Corrupt people must be stopped by any means possible. Corruption must be eradicated by all means. Public accountability must become a MUST. Transparency in governance and the use of merit must be above all things.

I hardly know how to finish my essays or where to draw the lines for my arguments. Whichever way, the status quo in Nigeria is a source of ridicule to the most populated black nation on earth. There are flashes of impact of active governance in Lagos and signs of possibly better projects ahead but taken from a broader perspective, what I saw when I walked and drove through Lagos these past weeks are indications of a collapsed nation. The people are still suffering and smiling. I am one of those people.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Sanusi Lamido Vs Ayogu Eze and Dimeji Bankole: Nigerians, Where is Our Money?

/ Adeola / 7 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

Sanusi Lamido said that the Nigerian lawmakers gulp 25% of the Nigerian National Budget. He said this in his capacity as the Chairman of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Ayogu Eze the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media said that was an exaggeration. In his analyses he said that it is only 3.5% of the Budget.

Dimeji spoke at Unilag and reiterated that he hoped that Sanusi was misquoted.

It may be true that on paper, our lawmakers are wasting 3.5% of the Budget. Yes, waste because for real I don’t see what those people are doing. I think they are just wasting time and money with their level of efficiency and the low level of intellectual discussions in both houses.

How did Sanusi reached his 25% conclusion? The man is not an illiterate and if there is something he knows, it is how to calculate money-in and money-out.

Who knows? Sanusi’s conclusions may have come from a more realistic approach. He is the Chairman of the Central Bank. This means that he has a very good grip of money flow in the Nigerian economy. He probably made his deductions from what he knew and what he saw-money flow to the lawmakers account. More explanations from Sanusi will avail much.

I am tempted to think along that line, I would say on paper, 3.5% but with all the allowances, exaggerated estacodes and all sorts of funds drawn for various dubious reasons then 25% may even be an understatement.

If Sanusi lied then he should be sacked with immediate effect. He must know if it is 3.5%, 25% or something in between. He said 25% and the rest of us have to take him for this words because he is the custodian of our treasury. I’m sure Mr. Sanusi knows other avenues that Nigeria’s monies have leaked away.

In plain terms if the Nigerian house of Assembly and Representatives take 3.5% of the National Budget, that in itself is even too much.

In a country of 150m people, a handful of people in Abuja earmarked to themselves a whooping 3.5% (on paper) of the country’s wealth. We also need to find out how much the executive and the judiciary arms have allocated to themselves. In rough statistical estimates it means that over 10% (on paper) of Nigeria’s wealth is legally embezzled by Politicians at the national level only!

Our optimism about a prosperous Nigeria must address these sorts of anomalies. We can’t build a virile nation when a few people are taking away more than 10% of the wealth because they are politicians. In reality and based on Sanusi’s revelations, we are probably talking about more than 50% of Nigeria’s wealth in private pockets.

It is therefore not surprising why poverty and hopelessness pervade the land north to south, east to west.

My suggestion is that all salaries and allowances of Nigerian politicians should be reviewed downward to tally with what is obtained in the Federal Ministries. Politicians are not gods and they should by no means earn more than the rest of the people in public services.

Nigerian politicians should start earning from N7 500. Why not? What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Why should politicians be earning millions of dollars when the minimum wage in Nigeria is still less than N10 000 per month? This is gross social injustice that is worse than both racism and xenophobism.

Nigerian politicians are spoilt and rotten. They get so much for doing so little. Nigerians must wake up from their slumber.

Political offices must be made to become an avenue to serve and not a means to be rich or to loot. The salaries and allowances of the politicians across Nigeria are great anomalies.

3.5% or 25% of the National Budget are both unrealistic figures for a few men and women if Nigeria really wants to set the country on the path of economic recovery, social justice, fairness and the good of all.

Nigerians must also know that one of the reasons why politics is a deadly game is because of the money people get when they are elected or selected or rigged into offices. One of the ways to bring sanity to Nigerian politics is to make the salary unattractive.

Indeed the exaggerated salaries were to discourage looting but that has been counter productive in many ways. They have looted more!

Let Nigerian politicians earn the same as the rest of us. If they steal, let us send them to jail.

If we don’t do the right things, our walk to freedom, justice, peace, true independence and economic vibrancy might take forever.

Let’s stop fooling around please!

Malcolm Fabiyi Wants a Change in Nigeria

/ Adeola / 2 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

Malcolm Fabiyi was one time president of the University of Lagos Students’ Union (That should be 1994/95). It was the same year/ time that I was the president of National Association of Zoology Students Unilag chapter.

Who knows what has become of Student Unionism in Nigeria?

In this video Malcolm encourages Nigerians to sign up for a change.

He condemns the wasteful celebration of Nigeria’s 50th anniversary.

I hope the Guiness Book of World Record has written that the celebration of Nigeria’s 50th anniversary is the worst and most wasteful celebration in the history of man. They should have it on record that for the first time in history over N17b was expended in the celebration of failures.

Malcolm went ahead to point up that in Nigeria the minimum wage in some states is N7 500.

How do Nigerian workers survive? How have they been paying their rent and bills? I think we need to send a group of researchers to Nigeria to find out how a Nigerian worker lives on N7 500 monthly. If I walk into a shop that amount of money cannot buy me a pair of shoes!!!

Here is Malcom in a video recorder at Wuse Market Abuja.

Every Nigerian must become a Malcolm if we want the change we talked about. We must act.