Democracy

A Niger Deltan President?

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

By stroke of fate Mr. Goodluck Jonathan became the (ruler) of Nigeria.

We must not forget that this man was handpicked by Obasanjo to become the Vice President in 2007. Obasanjo it was who also handpicked the late Umaru Yar Adua.

History has recorded the observations that some of us made on the useless election of 2007. We say Never Again to such shame and stupidity of the highest order.

We now look forward to the future. We are keen to see if we have learnt our lessons and if we can actually sit down, think, plan and conduct credible elections. The 2011 elections are just around the corner. It won’t be long.

If Mr. Jonathan succeeds he will become the first president of Nigeria from a minority group. History will be made. It’s not a pain to wait for 2011.

Before then however history is already recording the deeds of Mr. Jonathan. In fact history has his records already since he became a prominent Bayelsa State politician. Unfortunately the stories are bad especially regarding his wife. The EFCC under Ribadu probably has an unfinished task.

There are many tasks that Mr. RIBADU left undone. The Andy Uba dollars-in-presidential-jet saga will be a life time stigma. It is indelible. Conscience-the open wound that truth only can heal-is my best word on such matters. The rest is common sense.

But one manipulative advantage you get when you are protected by impunity and reach a position of authority is to destroy files or influence cases to your benefits. Mr. Jonathan has done well so far. Kudos!

The more pressing issue however is that for over 50 years the people of the Niger Delta have suffered. Nigeria’s oil is from the Niger Delta. 150m people depend on this oil since 85% of our national income is derived from the sale of crude oil. Who knows where the other 15% comes from?

Some of the poorest people in the world live in the Niger Delta Area of Nigeria. They have no access to basic infrastructure. Their environment has been destroyed and polluted by international oil companies. In the Niger Delta foreign nationals live like kings and queens while the indigenes are suffering.

Indeed there have been a lot of politics destroying the development agenda. State governors from the Niger Delta area must also be held accountable for many of the vices in the Niger Delta. They played politics while the ordinary people suffer.

Without delving into the history of the violence and the poverty, we must now focus our minds on Mr. Jonathan. He is from the Niger Delta. As the ruler of Nigeria, what will he do to bring social justice and freedom to his people?

When the northerners were in charge we blame them for negligence and tribalism. We accuse them of stealing and looting. How will Mr. Jonathan correct some of the anomalies of the previous governments?

How will he ensure that oil spillage ceases and that the oil cabal is checked so that progress and development can take place in his home region? What measures will Mr. Jonathan take to ensure that the Niger Delta becomes more beautiful that the administrative Abuja?

Abuja was built with oil money. How does Mr. Jonathan want to ensure that oil money is used to build the villages, cities and towns where the oil is extracted?

He might say he want to win in 2011 first before he starts to act. It might be too late. You can never be sure of tomorrow. You must seize the day-today. You must start that process of amendment now, not tomorrow, not 2011.

This opportunity to build the Niger Delta and the rest of Nigeria of course is a rare one considering the history of Nigeria dominated by hegemony.

If Jonathan fails to deliver to his people now, the chance may slip by. Nothing is guaranteed in Nigeria. Nothing is sure in this life, only death.

He might say we didn’t elect him. That is right. I have no real or legitimate president all my life and I’m almost 40.

Shagari was rigged in 79 and 83. Obasanjo was rigged in 99 and 03. Umaru was packaged in 2007 and Jonathan inherited Umaru’s burden. At other times I was ruled by maniacs, dictators and tyrants. I have endured!

This is why so much is at stake now and in 2011. I’m longing for a leader that I can call a president. Someone I can be proud of.

There is so much expectation, not the first time though, and the anticipations are huge as well.

People are longing for a change. A change they can believe in.

Unless a purposeful leader emerges the change will not come.

A purposeful leader and his household will, show good examples, be prudent, be selfless, corrupt-free and above all lead with a sense of purpose and vision.

Wasting billions of naira on a useless celebration or party while we wallow in permanent darkness due to lack of electricity is not a good sign.

My Random Reflections @ 38

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Adeola Aderounmu

Time waits for no man. This is the third in the series of my random reflections about Nigeria written on my birthday.

I must confess it was really hard to find things to discuss about.

Exactly 3 years ago I argued that there is almost nothing new to write about in Nigeria.

Many of the things we complained about 30 years ago are still unresolved. Nigeria’s problems must be one of mankind’s greatest puzzles.

I refuse to overflog the issues.

However it is just necessary that we continue to remind ourselves of our potentials and our collective failures.

Nigeria remains a potentially great nation with very bad rulers. We are missing true leaders.

This country has been captured and recaptured by people who imposed themselves on us by force. Truth does not expire and time does not transform illegality into legality. The misapplication of the law can conveniently do the latter.

Evidently the rulers of Nigeria never learn from history and in the arrogance of their minds and their avoidable misconceptions about power they continue to repeat the same old and silly mistakes. Together we remain in doldrums.

The one who rules Nigeria today by inheriting the remnants of the 2007 charade will now spend billions of naira celebrating failures. Meanwhile pensioners are dying on the verification exercise queues. Some schools remain closed while our children roam the streets missing lessons and examinations.

I promised not to overflog the issues.

But one should never look beyond Nigeria’s political arena for the definition of insanity.

Nigeria is taking a turn for the worse with each passing year because as a nation of over 140m people, we lack a good leader. We are missing true leaders. Blood suckers-those who attempt and succeed in taking as much from us as possible-continue to reign in Nigeria.

We need a change that can work for Nigeria.

Maybe in 2011, 51 years after independence we will finally be able to count our votes. We’ll see where the electoral reforms take us and if we can finally have genuine democracy and legitimate government in Nigeria.
With the different views we have on election and election matters in Nigeria and considering our volatile tribal inclinations it will take a great deal of education and public enlightenment to have a successful election in 2011.

To be honest 2011 is not the magic year. A lot of water has passed under River Niger since June 12 ‘93. I don’t know the probability of getting to that threshold level.

But our best shots, we must give!

I’m still working hard on the goals and plans that I made @ 37

I’m afraid of time. I may never be able to do all I wanted to do, for myself, for humanity. I may never be able to write all the books that I had in mind.

I have plans but the family remain a fundamental time-taker. Daily work is essential too.

I must continue to look for the right people and the right moments. A number of thing will surely fall in their rightful places in due times. I’ve got to keep on moving, keep all dreams alive.

Well it’s my birthday and as a tradition I have never failed to celebrate for the past 15 years. I’ve learnt to count my days and apply my heart to wisdom.

The celebration this year has been two-folds. The first was with my family on Saturday at the countryside and the second with my friends on Sunday at our home. But my birthday is July 12th so the celebration can continue because I’m usually on hols this time of the year since 2002.

I have challenges but there are reasons for me to celebrate and share with others. Not least was an additional professional academic degree last spring.

Greater challenges lie ahead. Not least the task of building Nigeria. Nigeria is sinking because of Nigerian-made factors that suit a few and enslave the rest.

I still believe in Nigeria as a workable project if we can break that cult-like rulership and enthrone the true pillars of democracy.

2011 will provide a testing ground for our institutions. We’ll see if we manage to build them on principles or if we still left them aimlessly on selfish people.

The modes and outcomes of the 2011 elections will provide a quick insight into what lies ahead in the new jubilee.

The outgoing one (1960-2010) is a complete disaster and any form of extraordinary celebration (or looting mechanism) attached should be considered as a crime against ordinary Nigerians.

History will not be kind to the protagonists of such wastage in the land of the resilient.

aderounmu@gmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/adeola

Mad Politics and The Nigerian House of Thieves

/ Adeola / 8 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

There was a serious fight in the Nigerian House of Representatives yesterday. The fight was about some 9 billion naira which some members like Bankole may have misappropriated. Bankole is the speaker of the house.

I am not going to discuss about the money per se since I don’t know if the allegations are true or false. I will discuss what I know.

I don’t know how easy it will be to find a Nigerian politician who is not a thief. What has actually separated Nigerian politicians ideologically is “how much they are able to steal”.

Nigerian Politicians as exemplified by this useless people in the house of representatives / assembly are mostly interested in the amount of money that they take home everyday.

These useless people fighting over money are the most paid politicians in the history of man. They sit down every other day talking rubbish and doing nothing, yet they go home with unbelievable sums of money at the end of their seat-warming sessions.

Since 1999 when Obasanjo was president, in how many ways have the actions and activities of the members of the house of assembly improved the lots of Nigerians? How have these spoilt and famous thieves contributed to the education, health and social well being of Nigerians?

Yet they still have the guts to openly display their madness and ineptitudes. They did that right in the presence of young school children who are visiting to observe proceedings in the house. Just imagine the legacy they are trying to pass on to the next generation!

I am so ashamed of these sets of Nigerians who exchange blows in the house of assembly simply because some members have stolen more money than them. Is this a case of bad riddance to good rubbish?

How are we going to solve our national problems when the people who are supposed to be lawmakers are fighting over the amount of money that they have been able or not able to steal?

Dimeji Bankole became the speaker when Bunmi Etteh was accused of stealing. But Dimeji is alleged to have stolen more money that Bunmi. Infact there are insinuations that Dimeji is likely the biggest thief in Nigerian politics today! If there is any iota of truth in these allegations, Dimeji then has turned out to be a disgrace to my generation.

The issues are not so simple. Nigerian politics is a disaster. In my book, the entrapment of a nation, I stated that Nigerian politics is a tragedy of modern era. It is so bad and so sad that it has now become a serious embarrassment to the black race. The conclusion is that Africans cannot successfully rule themselves or that the attempts by Africans to rule themselves have resulted to extreme failures-poverty, diseases, environmental disasters among many other man-made disasters.

Nigeria as represented by our politicians is a disgrace to all of us. We have failed to have decent elections and we have continued to breed thugs and nonentities as politicians. It is an hallmark of national failure. We don’t agree that Nigeria is a failed country but it is as a matter of fact.

And just wait. Mr. Jonathan is planning to spend 10 billion naira on October 1st 2010 to celebrate 50th anniversary of Nigeria. Again, wait. What is Nigeria celebrating? 50 years of failure? 50 years of internal slavery? Are we celebrating our short life expectancy, closed schools, bad roads, complete lack of electricity?

Nigerian politicians are fools! Big fools!

10 billion naira???

9 billion tore the house of thieves apart and 10 billion naira on celebration of failures!

I don’t know how the rest of you are thinking but from my point of view, that suggestion of 10 billion is insane and only an insane person can plan to celebrate his or her failures.

What about using half of that money to fix LUTH? What about using the other half to acquire cancer testing machine instead of these thoughtless politicians going abroad to do a test?

Our politicians are like aliens. They are probably not living among us.

The problems in Nigeria are going to increase if we don’t start telling these irresponsible politicians where our shoes are pinching.

Stop that celebration now!

Plan for the election next year, make it free and fair

Give us electricity; we are tired of living in the Stone Age

Give us water, we are tired of water borne diseases and lead poisoning

Give us good schools, we can’t send our children abroad (to Ghana, UK or US)

Bring cocoa and oil palm back to the West and the Groundnut pyramids to the North

Do something about the coal in the east and the steel wasting in Ajaokuta

Stop using international collaboration to destroy the Niger Delta

Give us good roads, we are tired of loosing loved ones on the road daily

Plan our environment, we are sick of wastes and pollution

Give us good health facilities, we want to live long

Stop stealing our monies, it is our commonwealth

Count our votes, we want to be part of the change to come

Do these things and much more!

If these things are in place or in progress by the time we are 51 years as a nation, I don’t think we will worry if you decide to spend 20billion on the anniversary. For now there is nothing to celebrate.

Tears and sorrows fill the land, stop wasting our money!

Stop fighting over our money.

Shame on Nigerian politicians!

To the rest of us, we must fight for our freedom. Freedom, social justice and all the good things that come with them will not be given to us on a platter of gold.

Nigeria’s Rulers Relocate to South Africa.

/ Adeola / 6 Comments

By Adeola

Nigeria never ceases to sturn the world in many ways.

Mr. Goodluck Jonathan is in South Africa. He is there with 6 governors and some aides. President Jonathan was accompanied by the Governors of Ogun, Kwara, Borno, Rivers, Edo and Delta; the Ministers of Information, Foreign Affairs, Women Affairs and Sports, as well as Presidential aides.

There are reports that more than 60 Nigerian Senators are also in South Africa.

This country is a nation of clowns.

What are all these morons doing in South Africa when Nigeria is in dire need of sound leadership and serious revamping?

South Africa is hosting the Football World Cup because they prepared their nation for it. What are we preparing our country, Nigeria, for?

From the South, to the North, from the East to the West, there are issues begging for solutions and attentions and more than half of the rulers and conquerors of Nigeria are on jamboree to something that doesn’t concern them.

These wicked people remain selfish and evil. What are they doing in South Africa? Is Jonathan going to strike in the next game? Are the state governors going to play the third match against South Korea? What the h*** are they stupidly doing in SA?

Indiscipline of the highest order! You will never find in the whole world or in the history of mankind a group of people who are so thoughtless and aimless!

Nigeria is begging for attention and a way forward in every aspect of our lives including sports and football.

I don’t think these people gallivanting around know the seriousness of the nature of our national problems. Not to think of the millions of dollars that is now wasted on these unnecessary trips. The cost of these trips will be enough to change millions of lives in Nigeria. It will be enough to construct some roads and build modern schools in some communities.

Nigerian rulers are selfish, wicked and heartless and someone somewhere should order them to return to Nigeria with immediate effect. They should not draw up the money from these trips from national treasury.

But who will ensure or enforce these disciplinary measures when Jonathan himself chose this time to travel to SA? Nigeria, oh my beloved country..! what a wasting nation!

Nigeria, where is your glory?

May 29’s Nigeria Scam Day

/ Adeola / 2 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

I actually received an invitation to an event to mark the fake Nigeria’s Democracy Day in Stockholm. I could have been a speaker at the event. What a joke?

I salute the organisers of, and speakers at, the events. I saw some notable names and I give my due respect. It takes a lot of negative courage to endorse falsehood and propaganda. If the plan works out Nigeria’s Ambassador to Sweden will grace the occasion. He’s a friend and I wish all of them well.

May 29 is not Nigeria’s Democracy Day. Nigeria became an independent country on October 1st 1960. October 1 is Nigeria’s Democracy Day.

On June 12 1993 the head of Nigeria’s junta and tropical gangster called Babangida annulled the best ever election in Nigeria. I have written about that quite a number of times in earlier blog posts / articles. Hundreds of Nigerians lost their lives in the stalemate and dilemma that followed that senseless annulment.

Pro June 12 activists celebrate June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy. This is to honour MKO Abiola who died in jail and failed to utilise the mandate that he was given on June 12 1993.

The invitation from NIDO-Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation-was a kind of insult. I’m assuming those who continue to preach May 29 as Nigeria’s day of democracy are either ignorant or foolish or both. We must not allow this lie to reach our children. We must not pass this distortion of our history to the next generation.

The military and the lame civilian government that imposed themselves on us in Nigeria have continued to deceive people at home and abroad. If you search deep to the roots of all these anomalies, you will find a group of people who have no dignity or they lost it, to money.

Yes money. The root of several ills and evils in the global society.

NIDO, what a name? What an evil agenda?

If we want to do something in the name of Nigeria, shouldn’t we move away from the scams and lies? Think out loud again, so these people in NIDO will tell their children, family and friends that May 29 is Nigeria’s Democracy Day? No Greater Shame..!

I will write it down and I will tell my children that October 1st is Nigeria’s Democracy Day. It is the day that we gained our independence from the Colonial Masters. I will tell them I’m so sorry that my generation like the one before mine failed them and destroyed the foundations of the nation.

I will tell my children how Politics of Food and lies, politics of deceit and hatred and extreme selfishness and insanity in public places deprived Nigeria of her rightful place in world history.

I will let them know that I did my best at home and that I continued to do the best I can everywhere I’ve found myself since I left home.

I’ve written a book where they’ll read about Nigeria’s kind of politics and there they will find out that if there is any reason at all to change Nigeria’s Democracy Day, that reason will be June 12.

On that day the expectations of over 100 million Nigerians were deleted eternally by a wicked and evil soul called Babangida.

It is an unforgivable act to distort history.

May 29 as Democracy Day is a scam.

The Glory of Nigeria is lost because of these types of political aberrations.

Nigerians who should know better are thinking more with their stomachs. Their brains are rambling for unsatisfying money and insatiable desires. How can they find peace?

Where is the hope for Nigeria when we gather our intellectuals to the wrong gathering and sell lies to the world?