Category Archives: Justice

Saraki: A Tragedy That Must Not Befall Nigeria

By Adeola Aderounmu

Bukola Saraki is scheming. He wants to one day become the president of Nigeria.

We have been asleep in Nigeria for too long and one day we must put a stop to this nonsense.

This essay is not about Saraki alone. I have written about several Nigerian politicians who are criminals.

I know that say: innocent until proven guilty. But since the laws of Nigerians are a means to oppress the poor and the ordinary citizen, people like Saraki always get away.

They are never ashamed of the allegations and accusations made about that. They do not resign out of annoyance. They always hang on because politics in Nigeria is thw easiest way to steal.

Nigerian politics is a more lucrative criminal activity than armed robbery.

We are in grave danger is a man who hid away Nigeria’s money according to the revelation of the panama papers is allowed to rule Nigeria.

Saraki is one of the possessed demons occuopying our political space. They have no control over their urge to steal or loot. For them it is a competition, to become the richest through looting. There are too many of them.

I have written about Tinubu and l have written about Atiku. I have written about Obasanjo. These are people who lied about how they made money. They used stolen wealth which they converted to personal wealth.

Babangida is their king.

Saraki visited Babangida. He is seeking endorsement of a junta. Babangida stole Nigeria dry and plunge the country into austerity times. We never recovered. How can one person steal more than 12 billion dollars and walk free? Nigeria is a crazy country so far.

Saraki emptied a bank and walked free. We cannot depend on our weak and powerless judiciary. We have the right as citizens to speak the truth anf shame these criminals.

Saraki has also meet Obasanjo. Obasanjo is part of the problems with Nigeria and it is time to ignore him and all he endorses. It has been from one evil to another.

Now l read Saraki is meeting one Edwin Clarke. Saraki lacks integrity. He stole in PDP, took cover in APC, got himself more wings and an air of importance.

All that will fizzle away.

My hope for Nigerians is that they should wake up and smell the coffee.

No doubt these crooks like Saraki in PDP and others in APC have stolen enough money to want to control and influence the 2019 elections.

We can prove them wrong.

Let us carry out our revolution in 2019 by dumping these criminals in APC and PDP.

We have new and younger presidential candidates who do not have experience in looting and political assasinations.

We must project a new person to power.

We must change to a new system of government that will promote regional and local development.

We must enpower the police and the judiciary and make them independent so that all criminal politocians can be served with true justice.

We must never allow criminals like Saraki to rule Nigeria.

Follow me on instagram: @thygloryonigeria

On twitter: @aderinola

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Nigerian Politics: The Meaning And Consequences Of Our Collective Foolishness

By Adeola Aderounmu

 

Which Way Nigeria?

 

There are several millions of people in Nigeria living in abject poverty and penury. I have been writing about this topic for many years. Over and over again l have defined mass poverty using Nigeria as a point of reference.

Don’t get this twisted few Nigerians are among the richest people in the world. There are legitimate ways to make money in Nigeria and abroad through hardwork, business focus and dedication.

But l will always prefer to write for the Nigerian who does not even know what he is going to do today or the one who has no hope for what he is going to eat for the next 24 hours.

There are over 100 million poor people Nigerians. Nigeria is the global capital of poverty. This is an abnormality because Nigeria is probably the richest country in the world. Nigeria is blessed with natural and human resources and she ought to be the number one nation in the world in terms of prosperity and the good life.

Now ask yourself, how can a country that is probably the richest in the world be home to some of the poorest people in the world? It is a very complicated situation and we have taken too long in this journey to stupidity in Nigeria.

I cannot tell you all about Nigeria but l can give you a quick review of the last decade or so.

Presently Nigeria is ruled (in 2018) by a man called Buhari. By all standards and measure this is a man that is not fit to be the president of Nigeria. This brings me straight to the topic Nigerian politics, the meaning of collective foolishness.

If we are not collectively foolish and stupid in Nigeria we should never have allowed unintelligent and dull people to run our political terrain. Above that, if we are not stupid and foolish we should NEVER have allowed criminals to rule us or to get away anyhow.

Our public institutions failed us and we failed ourselves by not having revolting minds. Somewhere along the way Nigerians became divided in several ways and this divide and rule became another addition to our collective stupidity.

The price we pay is huge. Globally not many people respect Nigerians despite the contributions that Nigerians in the diaspora give to the global economy, global health, global industrialization and global education. In many ways you can count the ways smart and intelligent Nigerians contribute to the world at large after been extracted from home or being born abroad.

But in that failed country called Nigeria, right there in the land, grand stupidity, madness and collective foolishness is the order of the day in politics and public service.

Of all the intelligent people in Nigeria and those we can bring back home from abroad, our president is Buhari. Buhari was a military man, a semi-illiterate who has no business with politics. He is the president. The most obvious anomaly of his emergence as a president is the fact that his deputy is a University professor. You can never find another country in the world displaying such collective stupidity.

Without any apology in sight, Nigerians display total and collective stupidity in allowing this to happen no matter what led to it. It does not matter what led to this, the fact is that it is stupid and foolish.

I mentioned earlier that criminals are ruling Nigeria and that is so correct. One way or the other these criminals are not going away soon as they continue to win cases in courts to prolong their criminal careers. I don’t care that these criminals won court cases and I don’t give a shit about whether l can prove the cases myself.

The list is long and they are all in the APC and PDP. All of them are criminals. This is the collective foolishness in Nigeria. It is the collective stupidity-that criminals are the politicians.

They are criminals because they are looting, stealing and living big. They have cars beyond their needs. They have houses beyond their needs, they live abroad and in Nigeria, their families are mostly abroad, they seek medical help abroad. Their children, relations and close acquaintances all go to school abroad or they travel abroad to lavish Nigeria’s stolen wealth.

If Nigerian politicians are not thieves or criminals, there will be not one single bad road in Nigeria. Nigerians roads are among the worst roads l have seen all my life. The roads in Nigeria clearly show the absence of sane governance. Pray you never have an emergency in Nigeria and need to seek medical help more than 5 km from your home. The result can be death! A journey of 15 minutes can take you 3 hours or more if you ever get going! In some cases, you can end up in deadlock traffic.

Public education is now history in Nigeria. Government shows little or no interest in public education and illiteracy has risen sharply in Nigeria. Private schools have been erected in every corner in Nigeria. So many of them are mushroom schools and a few of them are good standards. Huge sums of money are paid for education making it a luxury in modern day Nigeria.

Health is no longer wealth in Nigeria. There is poor health delivery to the masses and just like education, the health service you get is a measure of your pocket and getting quality health  is therefore a luxury. Maternal deaths are still common especially during child birth and death during childhood especially from preventable and curable diseases including malaria are still rampant.

You can go on like l have done over the years to list the problems with Nigeria. I know that some people always shout “but what are the solutions you are prescribing”.

There is only one solution-that which has worked for all the developed countries in the world.

The solution is good governance.

But how can Nigeria have good governance when criminals, morons, illiterates, useless people, mumus, foolish and stupid idiots are running the politics? Why can’t the rest of us agree and come together to end this rubbish.

And when we talk about good governance, we cannot have it through the useless unitary/military system we have in Nigeria.

Nigeria is what it is because of our divergent opinions which has resulted in our collected foolishness. The public institutions failed us and we failed ourselves by becoming comfortable with bad governments. We became afraid rather than securing our total freedom and ensuring that our children have a place they can call home. Many of us found our way out of Nigeria and are not planning to return.

But we must save Nigeria.

In some cases we brought good people to government but because of the way government is run these good people became bad people. They never talk or resign or point out the problems they are facing. Rather they become accomplices and only talk when they are out of office and out of favour. That is another form of stupidity even by those who we think are intelligent and professionals.

So Nigeria is in a dilemma.

Where these types of problems have occurred before like in Europe, the turn around to sanity started with violent and bloody revolutions. Nigeria may get there.

But that is avoidable if reasons prevail even now.

Nigerians need to discuss at the regional levels and each state and region in Nigeria owe it a responsibility to seek the help of her brilliant minds and best brains. Enough of all these idiots and fools in political offices/positions!

Nigeria can become the best place to live in the world in less than 10 years! It is a possibility if we round up all these criminals in power and bundle them into prisons. We take back all our monies in their local and international accounts.

We can reorganize Nigeria at the regional levels and speed up development through healthy development projects. We can rebuild Nigeria on the strength of our regional prowess and human resources. We can make the big oil companies to follow our tunes or kick them out of Nigeria for good.

We can open up more ports across Nigeria to aid even regional development and decongest Lagos.

With dedication and patriotism we can build up the education industry and make primary education compulsory again. We can reform our health institutions and make Nigeria the health base of Africa.

We can harness the youth and make them productive rather than unemployed and criminally minded.

There is a lot we can do in Nigeria and as Nigerians if we first take the power away from the center and ensure that only our best minds and our best brains are entrusted with the running of public affairs.

We must trace back our steps and existence to the time before the 1966 military coup. We must trace back to the time when we love one another and helped one another.

I know there is a lot of problems in Nigeria because of tribalism and nepotism, that it is not a secret that people are brought into different offices not because of what they know but because they are from a certain part of the country. When we turn back to regional government and a ceremonial head of state with very limited power, all that nonsense will stop and education, merit and dignity will be restored.

If we don’t resolve to stop all the atrocities and all the nonsense that is going on in our politics and if in 2019 the status quo is still the case then l still owe no one any apology because it means we are all still foolish and stupid.

The only cure to our collective foolishness and stupidity that has made Nigeria one of the worst places to be born or live is a radical decision and a collective will to see that we change things for the best in the shortest possible time.

A vote for a Buhari, Atiku or Saraki for example in 2019 is pure madness. I just thought l should add that we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a better outcome.

Away with criminals by all means and by any means!

I never know where to stop my articles and essays and that probably makes me the angriest Nigerian alive today. I am also the saddest Nigerian take it or leave it! It does not matter that l live a good life, l am sad and angry everyday because Nigeria is a total mess and a complete horror to behold. I know we can have it good and lovely and it hurts how we think, reason, act and how selfish and wicked we have become as a people.

The Angry and Sad Blogger!

aderounmu@gmail.com

@aderinola

 

 

Multiple Charades

You need to know that the enemies-the Unbroken-exist and they are universal.

You need that knowledge to understand why a robber who stole mobile phones can be sentenced to death by hanging in record time while politicians and the elites who stole billions of dollars-under the same justice system-are receiving awards internationally.

 

Multiple Charades

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

A former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Haliru Bello Mohammed, earlier this month appeared before the court in Abuja, sitting on a wheel chair.

Until that day nobody knew that he was ill or when he became paralyzed. Only his immediate family members must have known of his paralysis.

Since the sacking of the primitive and evil government of Jonathan Goodluck, a significant number of the main actors have disappeared into exile or become mysteriously invalids.

The list of the probable invalids grew longer when Haliru Bello arrived in his wheel chairs.

I think that his medical certificate should be on demand on his next day in court. Haliru Bello Mohammed may be truly paralyzed, but his doctors must be able to back his claims.

The department of health in Nigeria should find the growing number of political invalids (especially from the Jonathan era) very useful in updating the health statuses of public officials.

For real, both the federal departments of statistics and health should find the figures useful for the purpose of documentation and national planning.

In particular as parasitologists some of us should be interested in the causes of paralysis in adults.

The former chairman and his doctors should be able to provide data showing the etiology, symptoms and treatment of his illness.

Did he beome infected with some existing microbial organism of medical importance? Could it be a new type of microbe that the rest of the population or the political class should be wary of?

Is Bello Mohammed a rsik to the society? Does he need quarantine so that he does not spread a new and dangerous virus in the society?

Was his paralysis caused by stroke? Was that a result of the stress or tension that arose because of the knowledge of his imminent arrest and probable imprisonment should he be found guilty?

These information are important in preventive medicine and national planning. They must not be neglected.

Nigeria cannot add a new virus to the prevailing lassa fever currently on tour in Nigeria. Hold Bello Mohammed down now.

There are other dimensions with the fight against corruption in Nigeria. They are not funny. They have become like parts of the tradition in Nigeria. None of them is new and this will not be the last time we will be repeating them.

Reminding ourselves of what is wrong with us should one day bring out the consciousness that we need to turn on the real button of change.

Cross-carpeting at all levels is a permanent survival kit for all criminal politicians in Nigeria. Did anyone miss the news that Jim Nwobodo’s switched from PDP to APC ? This is one out of the thousands of annual cases in Nigeria.

The people do it, the politicians do it. The reasons are the same. Lack of principle and bad family names among others.

Whilst the clampdown on the Jonathan’s men and women is necessary, there is nothing in Nigeria today that prevent the total clampdown of all criminals in past and present government except the will to do so.

If anybody misses the point that the looters in PDP remain looters in APC after cross-carpeting, or that they team up with the ready-made criminals in APC, then it is a shame.

If you think that the monies that Nigeria lost to corruption under the regimes of Babangida, Shonekan, Abacha, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo and Yar Adua are not worth chasing, then you don’t love Nigeria. Every kobo counts.

The judiciary lost its good name many years ago when money became the basis for judgements and outcomes in courts. The politicians and military gangsters paralyzed the judiciary.

The weakened judiciary and the short-arm of the law in Nigeria are among several reasons the political and economic charades in Nigeria are permanent.

How many cases of corruption have been logically concluded in Nigeria? Many of the cases were sent into permanent coma either through bails or irreversible adjournments. Several more were not even visited.

Nigerian invented a charade called plea bargaining for extremely corrupt politicians and elites.

Last week l stated that the support for tyranny is dangerous.

The best way to get fairness and justice for more than 100 m Nigerians living from hand to mouth is for everybody to demand a total independence for the Nigerian judiciary.  The justice system must work otherwise justice will never be served.

But Nigerians are not united. We antagonize ourseleves in ways that help perpetrators of evils and injustice to thrive. We have come to the un-agreeable conclusion that all Nigerians must be corrupt.

Nigerians must learn that once the voting or selection season is over, they are not to stay on the same side as the politicians. The people should learn the difference between civil responsibilities/patriotism and being slaves to political manipulations.

In all of these messes the outstanding and undeniable fact is that is that majority of Nigerian politicians are psycopaths. They are totally mentally sick and incurable.

If the Nigerian judiciary had been functional and effective, if Nigeria’s health system had been remarkable, several Nigerian politicians would have gone to prisons nicely. Their terms in prisons would have been done in conjunction with treatment for various mental ailments.

The men who supervised the looting of more than 200 billion naira or the women who made 40 billion dollars disappeared from a nation’s national treasury cannot be sane people.

I don’t understand how a robber who stole mobile phones can be sentenced to death by hanging in record time while politicians who stole billions of dollars-under the same justice system- can have their trials lasting forever.

Mr. Goodluck Jonathan under whose command atrocties were committed leading to the total draining of the Nigerian treasury is receiving awards after awards in foreign countries.

Even Ngozi Iweala under whose watch monies were looted away from the Nigerian treasury has also received international awards.

You need to be suffering from mental slavery not to understand this familiar trend. It is the same way some famous world rulers who are war criminals are being eulogised and even given peace prizes.

Still, it is madness.

Anyway, the Nigerian judiciary needs to sit up. They have to help the people in their fight for freedom. The judiciary must win back its independence.

For those criminals who want to go and see their doctors abroad, the request should be turned down on the basis of the fact that there are hospitals in Nigeria.

Politicians facing trials and even the others (from the president to the last man at the local government) should be restrained from travelling abroad for medical tourism. They should be ordered by the courts to stay back home in Nigeria to enjoy the medical facilities that they have provided for the people.

One speedy way to improve public health care provision in Nigeria is to implement such a ban and entrench it in the constitution.

Recently also, l wrote about the total disappearance of the loots that are recovered or returned to Nigeria. It remains an issue that recovered loots have not been utilised for obvious projects for the people to see the actual effects of the loots and what they are worth.

In the absence of visible, completed extra-projects specifically financed with recovered loots it is safe to assume that the loots were relooted because loots are not used when budgets are made.

When you talk about budgets in Nigeria, people don’t know if the budget is in the National Assembly or if the goats have eaten it. We don’t even know which version they are now referring to. The budgets grew legs and then re-emerged in newer dimensions.

In the end, the fight against corruption in Nigeria remains an optical illusion, a part of the charade.

The more you look, the less you see.

Now the former military generals of the Jonathan era are coming to trials too. So far, it’s all trials and no judgements. Back door settlements and plea-bargaining made possible by the EFCC have taken over the role of the judiciary.

This is a shameful democracy. A laughable justice system.

The politicians are getting richer, new political recruits are made and the circus continues.

The rich get richer, the poor gets poorer and the ranks of the Broken and the Unbroken are rearranged.

The charade continues.

The daily human struggle for existence, for living in Nigeria continues too.

The economy is paralyzed, the Naira almost valueless.

Salaries are not paid. Jobs are cut off. Unemployment remains high.

The prices and availability of fuel are perfect on government papers while the reality bites the people to death daily.

Government is full of promises. Government says ”smile”. People are suffering as the disconnection between the government and the people gets thicker.

What we are saying now is what we have said before. I am not tired to repeat it again next week.

We are not talking about baby mammas here. We are talking about serious issues that concerns the largest collection of black people on earth. The future of the black race is at stake.

The people need to know that the political system is wrong and not working. Let’s take a took again at what we benefitted and how Nigeria made progress under regional government before the useless unitary system was enforced by the military.

Does anyone think that militants will still exist again under regional government? Will there be a Boko Haram if Northerners determine their own future?

The pipelines are now in flames again and Mr. Buhari is not in Nigeria. What do you think?

We need to enlighten our people, free them from mental and religious slavery.

One day they will understand. One day, now or in the future or in the next generation of thinkers, we-the people-will be on the same side and the march to freedom will begin.

aderounmu@gmail.com

You Should Never, Never Stand With Tyranny

Our hopes have been that the judiciary will be able to act faster and dish out judgements on all cases irrespective of who is involved or what the issue is all about.

You Should Never, Never Stand With Tyranny

By Adeola Aderounmu

Ade_jan 10

Sometime in 2015 under the present regime in Nigeria (what l prefer to call the APC-Buhari mandate) the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) tried to introduce a bill that will send bloggers and social media commentators to prison.

To the clear the NASS is largely a collection of economic parasitic leeches. Their functions are not clear but their contributions to the spread of poverty are profound.

This is the same NASS that set out to cut a ribbon to inaugurate a series of suggestion boxes in its building.

In other places around the world, governments officials and assembly men are cutting ribbons to open public schools, public universities, world class roads, hospitals and other infrastructure that put the ordinary citizens and government at par.

When Nigerian politicians travel abroad, they enjoy the facilities that other people have put in place from public funds. Back home, they just steal the public funds. Pure criminals.

You have to be a fool in  this century to be at any ceremony where the purpose is to celebrate and party over the introduction of suggestion boxes in your organisation. I won’t get over the trauma.

Meanwhile the APC-Buhari mandate rode nicely on the back of the social media to get to power earlier in 2015. The social media was also a perfect place to cover up all the atrocities that marred the 2015 elections and sentiments were high enough to cloud the people’s judgements. Little problem.

I must admit though that with a government as useless as the Jonathan government, change was in demand in 2015. The time for such a concept was ripe. So when the idea came, nothing was strong enough to stand in its way.

Against this background, it became a welcome development to find out why Nigeria has not made progress during the PDP years (1999-2015), so far the worst years of the Nigerian life post civil war.

Incidentally, the outcomes are the same reasons Nigeria has not become a global super power since her stillbirth in 1960. The PDP years was just an additional nightmare.

Most of our politicians are criminals. They have always been. Most of our military top brass are criminals. They have always been.

Some of the criminals that have emerged since Nigerians disposed of the Jonathan government have been on the scene as criminals even before some of us were born.

They are at different stages of investigation and confession levels.

Now, there are new propaganda in town. They always have to pass them through the social media to get them across. But this is the same social media they want to use for our persecution.

Why is it appropriate to use the social media for government propaganda but inappropriate for independent bloggers and social media commentators to fight back with the truth or criticisms?

I have seen many people now standing with tyranny on the social media. I hope they don’t do so in real life.

Of course, they won’t tell you to stand with tyranny using the word tyranny.

They have to always find a way to make sure that you don’t know the truth.

They have to always make sure that you don’t think for yourself. The pamphlets and posters are always ready-made to catch your attention and rob you of rational thinking.

By now everybody knows that Dasuki is the latest thief in town whose time is up.

Even the court of law knows that. It is common knowledge that he and his gangs (with the list growing everyday) committed crimes against humanity.

One shocking aspect of Dasuki’s revelations is how the APC-Buhari group have tried to limit the lists of criminals to the PDP circle.

The Dasuki-Jonathan-Iweala armsgate was an interparty and a national crime committed against Nigeria. It is so huge that some names will probably be chopped off at some point to save the APC-Buhari mandate from disgrace.

But during the 1999-2015 reign of the PDP, the APC people were also involved in some of the biggest heists in Nigeria’s history. Nobody is talking about them.

Even at that, in some places in the world that l know, there would have been a total revolution by now if 1% of Dasuki’s revelations is known among the people.

What that means is that even the equivalent of the Buhari-APC mandate in such places would have been history by now.

But Nigerians are used to suffering and smiling. So the roller coaster charade can rotate for life. Forever.

Leaping off the arms-gate and entering the Biafra warlord saga. Nnamdi Kanu is on both video and voice-records and nothing that he had stated recently since his incarceration can tip-ex those records.

In some of his hate speeches, he tolled the line of Hitler and called for genocide. Huge mistake!

Nowadays people press for referendum and open dabates to channel their aggressions and political demands.

Some of us have been writing about the need to see Nigeria return to regional govenrments. Regional governments will give back the eastern part of Nigeria to the easterners. There will be no blood shed.

Dear Nnamdi, if you get all/most of your people behind you, that is your option next time. Choose referendum.

One fact that cannot be denied is that Nigeria was prosperous under regional system of government.

But Nigerian politicians, just like the ancient colonialists and Middle-Age crusaders, will never give freedom to the people so cheaply. Not unless the people have the same voice and the same goal.

Nigerians are easy to rule today despite all the grave injustice because they have been divided by money, tribes and religion.

Even in Igboland there is IPOB and there is MASSOB. There is Anglican and if you are mad with the Anglican, you can get married again in the Catholic way.

Does anyone know the different classification of muslims or Islam? Seriously?

In both Dasuki and Nnamdi’s cases, president Buhari is not allowing the court orders to go ahead as the judges have proclaimed.

This is one of the reasons for the new slogan asking Nigerians to stand with tyranny.

The truth is that the Nigerian judiciary has never been allowed to evolved independently since the end of the civil war in 1970.

Everything in Nigeria collapsed with the parallel emergence of the unitary system of government. We blame the military. We blame the civilians. What about us, the people? Where do we stand?

Nigeria’s form of democracy is still a system of pseudo-tyranny and the evidence starred at us in our faces today.

That is why many things happen under Nigeria’s democracy that depends only on the president or head of state.

For example, it was possible for Jonathan to steal as much as he wanted and pass them to his cronies. No questions are asked. No queries. The CBN and finance ministry are rubber stamps only.

Similarly, during Obasanjo’s time, he was so drunk with the tyrannic power in the Nigerian presidency that he wanted a third-term and possibly a one-party state. Have we forgotten how he unleashed Ribadu’s EFCC on his enemies and opposers?

During Yar Adua’s time, one man said that Yar Adua can rule Nigeria from his toilet. That’s how tyrannic presidential powers are in Nigeria. The system is wrong and should be discarded.

There are 1 million reasons to discard Nigeria’s unitary system of government. It creates tyranny out of ordinary men because of the unlimited power conferred on it. If the man is now a former military ruler (like Obasanjo and now Buhari) the consequences are unimaginable.

Now, asking you to stand with tyranny means that the judiciary, under the APC-Buhari mandate,  will never be able to evolve the way some of us have been hoping for.

Our hopes have been that the judiciary will be able to act quicker and faster and dish out judgements on all cases irrespective of who is involved or what the issue is all about.

Rather than stand with tyranny what the people should be doing is keeping a constant tab on the judiciary and watching her every move.

If actions are promptly taken by an independent judiciary, there will be no need for a tyrannic imposition like what we have on our hands today.

I think the Judiciary should make haste on Dasuki’s case. On the revelations that kept coming, he can still come to court as a witness whether he is on bail or already serving time for his crimes.

I think a guilty, not guilty or bail decision should be passed and honoured in record time.

Once, l did not support the bail of Dasuki if it was to protect the APC people involved in the scam.

But if bail conditions are met, Mr. Buhari has not right to stop the men who have been granted bails.

What message is the APC-Buhari mandate trying to send by disobeying court orders? I know. They want Nigeria to stand with tyranny by putting fears in the general population.

The price is huge if you stand with tyranny.

We may all end up in prisons because we have a different points of view to the way APC-Buhari mandate is running Nigeria.

As it is for Dasuki, so it is for Kanu. It should be so for any Nigerian granted bail. They must be able to exercise their fundamental human rights.

Again, to be clear, rather than stand with tyranny, Nigerians should be putting pressure on agencies like the police, the EFCC and the security agencies, to provide evidence for their cases. They should be putting pressure on the judiciary- to dispense justice quicker without fear or favour.

The effects of fear induced by tyranny are profound.

If everybody leaves the PDP and decamp to the APC, it does not change anything. It will only establish a full blown tyranny under a one-party state.

Is that what you want to stand with?

I stand with fairness, justice and the rule of law.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

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

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

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

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

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com

Saraki: Between Politics, Justice And The Common Good

Last week l asked Buhari why his cronies in the Halliburton scandal are still walking free. This week, Saraki’s supporters are asking why the judiciary is digging up Saraki’s criminal cases. Justice served to one must be served to all!

Saraki: Between Politics, Justice And The Common Good

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

There are good reasons why Nigerians should let the law takes its course on Bukola Saraki. If that means that he will be sent to prison for a while or even for the rest of his life, Nigerians should let it be. But many will disagree.

Yet, in my own opinion this is another opportunity to start the long-awaited process of social revolution in Nigeria.

Some people may think l am naive because of my expectations from the country called Nigeria. No l am not. I am just waiting for that final trigger that will gradually or suddenly eradicate all the criminal-parents and criminal-children of the criminal parents in Nigerian politics and military set-ups. These criminals together stole our future on the Nigerian soil.

As you read, they continue to steal the future of the unborn generation.

Nigeria has a long way to freedom as l always write at the end of my essays. The decay in Nigeria’s political arena remains massive and unprecendented.

The systemic decay since Nigeria’s independence in 1960 led to misrule, emergence of criminals in government and application of inappropriate political and military systems in the (mis)rule of Nigeria.

So in Nigeria today we have a confused generation coming on the trails of the persistent wasted generations.

My emphasis of labelling Nigerian politicians as criminals will be relevant until the cleansing process consumes all the consumables. I thought we should have cleansed the system by 2009 but now in 2015 Nigerians are still struggling daily with criminals in political offices spread across the country.

The struggle to cleanse the system will probably continue even when my confused and divided generation is long gone because the confusion and insincerity traits in Nigeria seems to have become genetic.

Sometimes some people ask, what is wrong with black people? They mean what is wrong with Africans? But it is this same people who become part of government and continue with the sickening syndrome of looting Nigeria and enriching themselves and their families.

So, indeed, what is wrong with Nigerians?

Don’t look too far. Some student rulers (not leaders) from western Nigeria made a student union budget recently and made the headlines for the wrong reasons. They blew the expenditures out of proportion and made room for looting. They are just students but already criminals!

This is a confirmation that corruption and political madness have become genetic traits in Nigeria and thereby pass-able from the wasted generation to the confused generation.

Criminality, an offspring of the decayed and corrupt system is seen as a legitimate right in Nigeria. Despite our weekly shout-outs, criminality and corruption continue to fight back, in massive doses.

On Bukola Saraki there is no need to be divided on the issue.

Nigerians have always failed to seize opportunities that could lead them to a social revolution, one that could bring some measure of justice and sanity to the polity.

True, Bukola Saraki is not the only criminal in public office. Almost all Nigerian politicians are criminals. So he can feel violated not because he is not guilty but rather because the police have not been given the go ahead to arrest Babangida, Abdulsalami and Obasanjo. In addition to corruption, there were state sponsor murders under these men!

Why is Saraki suitable for arrest and not the rest of the corrupt politicians in Nigeria?

This is where every government in Nigerians has failed! This is where Buhari-led APC just like Obasanjo-led PDP is adding to the endless problems in Nigeria.

You cannot handpick a criminal in the midst of thousands of criminals. It is wrong to start with one criminal when you have the net that can pick 10, 20 or even 30 at the same time.

You cannot chase one criminal out of a million. If an arrest warrant was given say to 10 or 20 alleged criminals or murderers irrespective of whether they are in service or retired, Saraki and his supporters will shiver even more.

Handpicking criminals and selectively prosecuting them are the hallmarks of political witch hunt. Saraki’s current war will be seen as a political vendetta no matter if that is true or not.

He has disobeyed all the tenets in the APC book since his deceptive cross-over from PDP. His dilemma is right in the face of the law.

However to handpick Saraki alone from a massive pool of criminals in the system is not fairplay.

This is where Buhari and APC are going wrong and perpetrating a system inconsistent with the war against corruption slogan. Make it real, make it total and don’t make it personal.

Last week l reminded Buhari of his friends and cronies in the Halliburton scandal. Why not open their cases parallel so everyone can see justice is universal and respecter of no one?

Irrespective of the interpretation of the Saraki dilemma, my position is that no matter how long it takes the law must be able to catch up with a criminal. Let all criminals go to prisons for a long time or forever. Let it be so.

Rather than try to shield Bukola, his confused supporters eating from the crumbs on his table or from the looted funds via the Nigerian Senate and the organised civil society owe it as an obligation to press the same judiciary and the police to ensure that known criminals like Babangida, Obasanjo and all the other hitherto untouchables are lined up next.

NANS supporting Bukola Saraki is just rubbish. NANS standing behind a criminal is yet another indication that corruption and criminality have become genetic in Nigeria. The children running NANS are part of a confused generation. What a sad situation!

To be clear, we always know that time is not a factor in criminal cases. The Bukola Saraki case justifies what some of us have us argued for. Bring criminals to justice no matter how long ago they committed their crimes.

Buhari and APC should stop playing with fire and time bombs. Stop the selective prosecutions! Bring the Halliburton criminals to justice as well!

I know some people support Saraki because they oppose Buhari and they are still in fetish love with Jonathan. Some of these people suffering from political hangover will even accuse Tinubu as being behind the Saraki’s dilemma instead of asking the judiciary and the police to extend their operations to cover all suspected political criminals.

Some people oppose Saraki not because they want the law system to work but rather because Saraki went against the desire of the APC in the National Assembly.

In 2007 around december 12 the EFCC took hold of one criminal called James Ibori. It was in those days when Facebook has not become widely used among Nigerians and the awareness created by the social media was still in incubation.

I wrote a piece on the NVS the next day after Ibori’s arrest on how EFCC should continue to pick up the remaining criminals and hoping that if they do that over a period of 2 years, Nigeria will be cleansed up to a large extent anyway.

But Ibori was let off the hooks in Nigeria. Again, it makes me look naive. I am not. I just want the best things to happen to Nigeria.

EFCC has proven to be largely a toothless bulldog. At some point it was Obasanjo’s tail in the hands of Ribadu-the servant of Adamawa.

EFCC is submerged in its own corruption cases. The ICPC too.

What happened to Ibori after his arrest is now history. Everyone who was not born yesterday knew that it took a foreign country to put him behind bars. It is just like an irony because the country where Ibori is currently jailed is loaded with looted monies from Nigeria.

There have been several cases after Ibori. Plea bargaining set many criminals on free foot in Nigeria. They pay a certain percentage of their loot, usually an insignificant sum to the Nigerian government and they walk free.

Sometimes even in the absence of plea bargaining many criminals have walked free or served ridiculous jail terms.

How should we reason at a time like this?

It seems that our awareness have reached a common threshold compared to when some of us where shouting alone at the top of our voices in 2002 or in 2007. How some of us have written on the same topic about Nigeria for several years is even worth reviewing.

When are we going to have the reach we desire so that one day Nigerians can collectively see the difference between good and evil irrespective of tribal inclinations or political affiliations?

Yes it is going to be a long way to freedom if Nigerians allow Saraki to escape justice in the court of law. Let him go there and argue his innocence.

This is the way forward if we want Babangida, Abdusalami, Obasanjo, Fani-Kayode, Akpabio, Tinubu and even Buhari in the same court of law so that they can give accounts of their stewardships in office.

Saraki’s dilemma can open the door to a social revolution. Nigerians, let it be. Ask that the justice be served round and sustained.

Why can’t we see it this way? Why can’t we seize the moment that can orchestrate the revolution of the people by asking the judiciary and the police to never stop until justice for one becomes justice for all?

aderounmu@gmail.com

Buhari, Still A Scalar Quantity

For 60 days, a time long enough to start and finish certain university courses, the government is all about Buhari. Buhari this, Buhari that. What about the ordinary citizens?

Buhari, Still A Scalar Quantity

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

By Adeola Aderounmu

With respect to the non-appointment of federal ministers and with the promise that the exercise will now take place in September 2015, Buhari without any doubt has shown his unpreparedness for the position that he now occupies.

Buhari is still a scalar quantity on the APC mandate-having magnitude but not yet direction.

Nigeria has been through this sad avenue too often, projecting accidental rulers to the apex of affairs. This one was preventable but when the politics of religion and ethnicity got amplified under the last administration, the recycling of old hands such as Buhari was what the APC came up with.

The beauty or significance of democracy is lost on Nigerians failing to bring fresh and dynamic minds into the front.

In any case at it is now, it seems that Mr. Buhari is enjoying the limelight. For all the days of the APC mandate (now 2 months) everything has been about him. No one else matters!

What l’d seen since early June 2015 is Buhari this and Buhari that. That is pure political egocentrism.

The headlines continue to flourish and center only on what Buhari as a person will do or not.

Buhari stop rice importation

Buhari must prosecute IBB

Buhari probes Jonathan

Buhari to prosecute Iweala

Buhari reverse privatisation of NEPA

Buhari won’t interfere with Senate Forgery

Buhari This, Buhari That..!

Invariably, Buhari as an individual has constituted himself into government so far. As at the end of July 2015, Buhari is government and government is Buhari. A tragic start/occurence if you ask me.

For 60 days, a time long enough to start and finish certain university courses, the government is all about Buhari. He is so enjoying the entire attention he probably thinks by now that he is running a military government.

The leadership of APC needs to pinch their man, wake him up to smell the coffee and probably remind him that the days of tropical gangsterism are over.

I don’t think Buhari gets it yet and please we are tired of that phrase of giving time to those who we thought have the experience of what leadership is all about.

It was bad enough to seek a mandate without a team in place. It gets worse when in 2 months, governance stood still at the federal level under a democratic government allowing only one man to call all the shots.

Buhari praise singers are part of the problems. It was the same way Jonathanians ruined their man. Here we go again..!

The acceptance of mediocrity drained Nigeria of her will and strength as a country and the damage done to the cognitive mentality of the average Nigerian as a result of more than 50 years of maladministration appears to be irreversible. Little wonder people seek miracle everyday.

Generally the people are lost for the meaning and purpose of life because government broke them down and handed them over to religious rites. It is an extremely sad situation.

More than 50 years have been wasted because every time some people complain, someone is asking for more time to destroy what is left of the ruins.

Buhari is running the APC mandate, not a personal mandate. He did not win this as a lone ranger having failed several times doing so. To set September for the appointment of ministers is extreme recklessness and an irresponsible act.

In Nigeria in the absence of ministers and head for public parastatals, almost everything is paralyzed. In several federal agencies and offices across the land, things have stood still and the days ahead look bleak.

In a country where the economy is in ruins and the naira keeps tumbling, it is an act of wickedness to leave the ministries in limbo. I had discussions with some people about this matter and I could not quantify their frustrations. To live in uncertainties at a crucial time like this is totally heartbreaking. It adds to the already devastating health statuses of folks down there.

Again, APC need to pinch their man, Mr. Buhari and tell him that Nigeria is suffering from partial paralysis since the day he was sworn in.

He cannot continue to run a one man show until September. That is absolute nonsense and ingredients! It’s pure rubbish. There are 31 days in August. The economic lose will be huge. Life will remain uncertain for several millions. He will keep gallivanting from pole to pole whilst the citizens are waiting for clues on the way forward.

Buhari need some schooling in economics. As the naira tumbles, the people suffer. Nigerians get poorer. The suffering spreads like a mad fire.

Indeed, many of those that would have been nominated to form the executive cabinet are coming from the expired generation and probably a bunch from the corruption conglomerate.

Buhari needs to sit down and set 1-2 days aside as soon as possible to look into this matter. He cannot continue to rule as a dictator for 3 months! He needs to cure his own headache rather than pass it on the citizens. He must send the names of men and women who will work with him to the appropriate quarters for verification and confirmation.

If he cannot do a common selection of credible people from a pool of more than 150m people, please let him step aside immediately. No one has the luxury of time in Nigeria.

Nigeria is running a sick democracy but until that ultimate political change is instituted or when Nigeria returns to regional government, let Buhari stick to the constitution and stop running a one-man show.

It is time to remove his name tag from all the headlines and set in the appropriate ministries and agencies. What is his business with probe if he or the APC mandate sets the anti-corruption agencies free? Buhari’s name is tagged in almost all headlines because he thinks this is a military government. He needs help!

I hope this change we asked for will not be a one chance change o!

This government is turning out to be a joke so far. The hope that it will improve will be sustained and accessed week in, week out. Real change or fake change, some of us promised to remain on the same side as the ordinary citizens, we will not be tired. Some senses need to emerge from this government.

So far, it is a government that has about 2-3 or even 4 press releases about a single incident. Now, one has to wait for the 3rd version to know exactly what they are trying to say. The fourth one nails it after that.

Buhari’s government and the APC mandate are also acting as if they are still in the opposition seat. They need to move away from speculations and plans to execution of plans and doing things instead of talking like parrots. Together, they were on the side for 16 years. Did they not plan?

Before I end this essay, I need someone in the APC mandate forum to tell Adams Oshiomole to stop acting as the minister of information.

If he has any information he can pass them to the EFCC with ease and he does not have to shout about it. He should also note that we the people expect him to also face the law when his immunity days are over.

We don’t need new sensations or sensational headlines.

Looting did not start and end under Jonathan. Babangida and Obasanjo are also there to give accounts of what they stole and what was stolen under them.

Rather than selective persecution EFCC and the other appropriate agencies-the police, the judiciary should be given the freehand to perform. We have waited for several years for justice. Why make it selective? We expect a justice system that will serve without fear or favour and without limitation of time and space.

What Nigerians want to know, see or hear is the money returned to the treasury, the criminals behind bar and perfect processes where justice actually reigns and yields results.

Buhari and his sensational crew, especially Oshiomole, should spare Nigerians the trauma of revelation of sums of monies or barrels of crude oil stolen. Let the law acts instead but take the money back and show the people what you are doing with it.

Mr. Buhari, in Africa the morning shows the day (The Yorubas actually says Owuro l’ojo-morning is the day). So far, the morning of this administration, now 2 months has not been impressive. The people are not in a hurry. They have waited so long for this change and things must happen quickly.

When they were quiet, they were called resilient. Some irrelevant surveys even called them the happiest people on earth because they suffer and smile.

This resiliency and misinformation about the Nigerian state of mind were all the politicians and military men like you needed to destroy the giant of Africa. You (Mr. Buhari) and this old wasted generation made Nigeria the dwarf and laughing stock of Africa. You ruined it together!

Just like Obasanjo, you also have a rare second and last chance but it’s so far, not good.

The Glory of Nigeria must return and for sure, a lasting political solution will be an integral part of the solution that the upcoming generation will be looking into, should in case you fail again as the representative of the fading wasteful generation.

aderounmu@gmail.com