Category Archives: Law and Order

Atiku Is Not Fit To Rule Nigeria

In 2006/2007 the police (EFCC) and the judiciary had more than enough to pursue the criminal offences of both Obasanjo and Atiku. But nothing happened. These arms of government are totally useless.

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

 

If we back track to 2006/2007, that time when Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo was bidding for a third-term and spending billions of naira of taxpayers monies to bribe senators and legislators, we will also remember that the resistance to that bid was headed by his deputy, one Atiku Abubakar.

At that time Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo had turned the EFCC in the hands of Nuhu Ribadu to a tool of witch-hunting instead of the cleansing for which it was intended. So he turned the EFCC on his deputy but it was an incomplete process because no one was arrested or prosecuted. The EFCC published details of the criminal offences of Mr. Atiku and did so almost daily in various newspapers in Nigeria.

In the fight back, MR. Atiku’s media aides did a fine job. They dug deep into the criminal records of Olusegun Obasanjo and also made sure that these criminal records ended up the pages of the newspapers.

So for several months, Nigerians enjoyed a free soap opera.

The two men who were supposed to lead Nigeria were consumed by their quest for power, Obasanjo for the 4th term actually having been a dictator/tyrant in the 1970s.

Atiku won the fight because Olusegun Obasanjo did not get a civilian 3rd term in office. Majority of Nigerians were against the idea because it would disrupt the already dysfunctional constitution-one that had already ensure that majority of Nigerians are poverty stricken even to this date!

The saddest thing, from my perspective, is that when Yar Adua became the president of Nigeria in 2007, Nigerians went to sleep as if nothing had hapened.

The Nigerian Media is a piece of rubbish.

The Nigerian police is the biggest joke in the world.

The Nigerian judiciary, for me, is absolute nonsense and ingredients!

The media needed to pepper the system and the people. It failed, and even now still sleeping!

The police ought to have utilised the documents that were released by both Obasanjo and Atiku because they are hard evidence on each other’s criminalities. They both showed why the other person was a thief.

The Judiciary and the police had more than enough to pursue the criminal offences of both Obasanjo and Atiku. But nothing happened.

Nothing concrete had taken place in Nigeria’s civilian regimes to put criminals and thieves behind bars even in the faces of hard evidence.

Now we hear that Atiku is a top notch for the 2019 elections. He is aiming to become the president of Nigeria.

Nigeria is one of the few countries on earth where known criminals achieve their political ambitions. I don’t need a reply for this article. I don’t need a rejoinder. I am so sick of the Nigerian political system where people try one way or the other to justify why we must coninue to run the political system we have and why every four years we must queue behind a thief.

Once, Obasanjo had boasted that Atiku will never become the president of Nigeria. So far, this remain the case. I don’t know if there is a settlement between them now or if one had gone behind to beg the other.

In Nigeria’s politics, no enemy is permanent. It is the interest (to seek power and to steal from the commonwealth)  that is permanent. That is why today APC government is full of looters and criminals from 1999 and earlier regimes.

As soon as Atiku’s interest came up again, the Nigerian Media owed Nigeria and humanity a re-publication of all the crimes that were made public by Obasanjo’s camp. They need to open the EFCC files and tell him why he needed to first go to court than to try to seek a return to the seat of corruption in Abuja.

They must re-publish those allegations and support them with the documents so that young people can see how Nigerian politicians have stolen their future even before they were born and whilst they were growing up.

People like me cannot prove these crimes, we have our limitations. Those who have access to the criminal files and offences and do not open them to the public and media will never know peace.

It is such duties that the media owed the people: to investigate, to bring back memories that could help to save the children yet unborn from these old scavengers.

For, once a criminal is allowed back to the seat of government, this entire circus will continue and suffering will persist in the land.

Atiku in my records is a criminal, just the same way as his boss  Obasanjo was. They both made this clear in their roforofo fight. So this is not something l made up. They told us themselves!

Nigerians need to thank Obasanjo for his misadventure, his 3rd term quest which we together with Atiku made sure never came to pass. But Obasanjo will deny this 3rd term bid until the end of time. We don’t care because it does not matter anymore. The other pain left from that was the ghana must go bags that went to the sena-thieves and legis-looters.

That Atiku, like 99% of other Nigerian politicians, is a free man is a failure of the Nigerian police, the Nigerian judiciary and the Nigerian law system.

So don’t blame the people who classify the Nigerian police as the worst police in the world. There are so many reasons for that including the zero effect of ensuring that politicians are arrested and prosecuted accordingly.

If there is a report tomorrow classifying Nigeria’s judiciary as the worst in the world, l will sign under it. l will, because as long as criminals can vie for office in Nigeria, then we can as well do away with the police and the judiciary. Why do we have police and lawyers when criminals are what we get in public service?

A lot of people in Nigeria settle for criminals in political offices because of the anomaly that has become the normal thing. That is there are no saints in Nigerian politics and since the law is ineffective in dealing with looters and criminals in government, the people have accepted the situation.

The consequences are huge. Nigeria is withholding one of the most tragic mode of existence for humans. Forget about the flashy lives of the rich and the celebrities! More than 100m Nigerians are poor and live in extreme poverty.

Some Nigerians prefer to go and die as slaves in Libya. That summarises the mode of life in Nigeria!

The people think that saints will never emerge on the political platform. The people have accepted criminals to go and come as they like into government offices. The people are easily carried away by the cash that these criminals spread around mostly every four years.

Some fools will come to the social media to defend crooks and looters in goverment. They will ask you, what options do you have? They will ask you, who do you want to be the president? Stupid thinking, stupid questions, senseles mentalities!

The people of Nigerian unlike the people in Sweden or England do not know that their rights and they think that their lives depend on what the politicians do or not do (largely true) but it should be the other way round. The people, if they are upright and thinking straight, should ask accountability from politicians and fire them within 2 to 3 days if accountability is not given.

That is where the people, the media, the police and the judiciary have let the system down in this unified passiveness.

In Nigeria, people continue to choose between different grades of criminals, they call them politicians because they think they don’t have a choice. Nigerians don’t look inward to promote good people and people who can actually change the system for good.

The other sad thing about Nigeria is that since there is absence of accountability and as a result of almost 60 years of stupid leadership/rulership, the people don’t know what a real government feels like. So, even when a good person is put into government, the system corrupts the person and he or she start to steal or loot.

A friend once told me that if any person in public office does not conform to these criminalities, that the person will be killed or gotten rid off one way or the other.

That is why today, in many government offices, there is sharing of bonuses every Friday or other regular intervals. I mean there is a lot of loose cash in the Nigerian economy that it appears everybody is crazy and corrupt.

In any case, Atiku can continue to exercise his rights for as long as the useless system of government in Nigeria permits him. He is not alone, l always say 99,9% of Nigerian politicians are criminals/looters and it’s so true.

The system of government in Nigeria must change. If we restructure the political landscape and make the president a ceremonial and figure-head position, the corruption and even the urge to become a president will likely disappear. Now everybody wants to become the president or the governor because of the lawlessness in the land  and the useless constitution on which Nigeria runs.

If Nigeria returns to regional government, Atiku will be vying to become a regional leader and l am sure the sharia law will cut off his hands if he is found guilty.

A regional form of government will bring about healthy competition among the various regions in Nigeria and any region lacking behind will ask for the heads of its custodians.

The regional system of government is the most promising option for Nigeria. The other option which is also growing nowadays is the outright dissolution of Nigeria.

One day the people will be pushed to the wall, they will take the laws into their hands too and they will chase the corrupt politicians, catch up with them and send them into exile or out of this world.

Nigerians, the ordinary citizens are hungry, angry, frustrated and see no meaning with life. Again, that is why crazy and lawless Libya is an option. I am sure there are Nigerians in Yemen and Afghanistan looking for ways to survive when we have a state governor who can steal 300 billion naira or more at this very minute and walk free!

The politicians are looting, living large, sending their children around the world, buying houses around the world and doing what they like with taxpayers monies. These crazy ways will stop. These crazy things will come to an end. I don’t know when, but l don’t think Nigeria will continue for another 60 years of criminals ruling and making the people slaves in their homeland and in places like UAE and Libya.

Nigerians must see the 2019 elections as an opportunity for 2 things.

One, push for political changes before the elections so that regions re-emerged no matter the opportunity cost. There is a need to pause this nonsense APC-PDP Dilemma deluxe.

Two, for once in our life time, look for saints, good people and visioners to move the respective regions forward.

If we recycle criminals in 2019, if we recycle those who became rich stealing from us (people who became businessmen/women after looting the treasuries around the country) and if we maintain the currrent system of government, then it is just another cycle of idiocy. Nigeria will remain a country heading nowhere.

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

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Mr. Ambode, The governor Of Lagos Island And The god Of Lagos

By Adeola Aderounmu

The hottest news from Nigeria this week is the sacking of a church worker by the governor of Lagos state. In a manner akin only to wickedness and evil machinations, Mr. Ambode, whom l have long regarded as the governor of Alausa and Lagos Island, threw out Venerable Femi Taiwo with a 24 hour notice.”

Ambode, the god of Lagos?

Ambode, the god of Lagos?

Venerable Femi Taiwon was the presiding chaplain of the Chapel of Christ the Light, Ikeja. His offence was that he was delivering  a sermon and he did not acknowledge the presence of the wife of Ambode.

So Mrs. Ambode went home, probably cried and reported to his husband, the emperor of Lagos, Mr. Ambode. These people are devilish clowns.

My position here is not the same as standing with the church or any religion whatsoever. I care less because the church and mosques remain instrumental to the destruction of Nigeria.

My position here is standing against fools and arrogant people in government. Mr. Ambode has forgotten that he was a criminal who was sacked from the government. But like all criminals before him, he found his way back to power courtesy of the Tinubu’s grip on Lagos. But he will fall. He will!

The end of festac

Rather than cleaning up Lagos, Mr. Ambode is busy playing god. 

Rather than put his wife and house in order so that his wife stops going around seeking recognition and acknowledgment, Mr. Ambode decided to terminate the appointment of the chaplain.

In my opinion, Mr. Ambode is not only foolish, he is also arrogant. Who does he think he is?  The god of Lagos? Those who are close to him should tell him that he is on his way to perdition.

Even if you want to relieve the chaplain of his position because he was employed by the state government, why not give him 7 days or even 1 month so he can put his life in order while he leaves the employment of the criminal government?

I am sure several Nigerians have thrashed this issue on the social media, so l won’t flog it.

Mr. Ambode, what goes round, comes round.

 

There Are No Drivers In Lagos

…..one of the vehicles that was supposed to be behind my car did the diagonal turning and collided with an oncoming lorry. There was another accident- two commercial buses collided with each other and an okada passenger flew between the 2 vehicles just before they collided. This is Lagos..!

There Are No Drivers In Lagos

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By Adeola Aderounmu

On my recent trip to Nigeria, l could almost not believe what l saw on Lagos roads. I knew that driving in Lagos had always been a hassle and that some people have ignorantly or maybe stupidly concluded many years ago that if you can drive in Lagos, then you can drive anywhere in the world. That notion is not only misleading; it is also very dangerous.

If driving in Lagos on the other hand means that you can drive anywhere in Nigeria, then l can generalize that there are no drivers in Nigeria. I took time to observe driving in my area and on major roads in Lagos. Not one person driving on Lagos roads that l saw passed the simple driving tests that l conducted.

One of the most amazing, yet disturbing discoveries l made was this: not one driver in Lagos knew how to turn left at a junction. In normal driving, on a two-way road, you drive to the end of the road whilst keeping to your lane, then you make a curve (like going around the last quarter of a circle or ring) to turn left. I did not see one driver in Lagos do this turn correctly.

To make left turns, all the drivers in Lagos made diagonals. They don’t even make it from their half of the road. Long before the actual turning point, as they approach the junction, Lagos drivers make long diagonals that put them head to head with the oncoming vehicles.

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The first time l observed this anomaly, l actually thought it was just a silly driver who was impatient.

Later l found out that everybody drives that way. Commercial vehicle drivers and private car drivers, drove the same way. This is the standard for driving in Lagos.

One day, l had a passenger at the back seat in my car. He said he thought l was driving straight-on after he saw that l actually turned left at a junction. He was not used to drivers using the full length of the road to the turning point before making the turn. He said l would get tired of my sane driving, but l never did because l wasn’t trained to drive like an insane person.

Every time l am making my normal left turn, there are other vehicles, between 1 to 3 that make the turn before me while l am at my normal driving. They think they are good drivers or that they are smarter in getting ahead.

In this essay, l cannot include the menace of the motor-cycles as commercial transportation means in Lagos. Let us save the discussion about that pestilence that is unleashed on Lagos for another time.

As a result of foolishness, recklessness and not-knowing-how to drive of almost all Lagos drivers, I was a witness to at least 3 accidents whilst l drove in Lagos.

Another day whilst l was doing my normal omoluabi junction-turning, one of the vehicles that was supposed to be behind my car did the diagonal turning and collided with an oncoming lorry. How many accidents on Lagos road are due to wrong driving?

This dangerous diagonal turning was one of the most obvious indicators of wrong driving by Lagos drivers that l observed and it remains a major cause of head-to-head collision/accidents at road junctions.

There was another accident due mainly to bad driving that was so serious that two commercial buses collided with each other on 23 Road in Festac Town. It was like a movie when an okada passenger flew between the two vehicles before they collided and he somersaulted on the road. The motor cycle and the okada-driver slided long the road like the movie was not about to finish yet.

In fact, the other useless and reckless driving of Lagos drivers are too numerous to elaborate here. But generally, it is a crazy situation on Lagos roads with human and vehicular traffic forming a permanent compound mess.

More of my observations below.

Lagos drivers do not know how to drive on lanes (but they can claim that most roads are not marked with lines and they’ll be right at that). Still, what happens to straight line driving? What l saw was that most of the drivers in Lagos do not even know about driving on a lane.

Once the roads are not marked, they are driving from right to left to center, just anyhow they like. They fill available space on the road and collide too easily with one another.

Lagos drivers do not keep the distance. There should be at least 5 meters between 2 cars on the road. For some vehicles, the distance behind them should be 10 meters if they have risk of rolling backwards or if they vehicles used for deliveries, having haulage facility/equipment trailing behind them.

In one accident, I saw an okada driver fastened to the back of a jeep and he could not detangle his motor cycle. It was so confusing; l did not even understand it even as we drove past the conjoined vehicles.

Lagos drivers do not use or respect the indicator light that shows when you when you change lanes or make a turn. 99.9 % of Lagos drivers do not look out for indicator lights. When you indicate a turn with your light and hoping that someone is using their brain on Lagos road, you have just made yourself a target for an accident and probably an untimely death.

Rather than using your signs, you and your passengers have to bring your heads out of the car and try to have contacts with the reckless drivers on the road and beg them to let you change your lane or to turn right or left.

In general driving on Lagos road is still very much an insane experience. It may not be the biggest problem in Nigeria but it is surely a significant part of public health question and analyses. It is either the people bring madness to the roads or the roads make people mad. Whichever way you view it, it is bad and sad.

On Lagos roads, there are no rooms for respect and courtesy. Everybody looks angry! People are not driving or behaving normally behind the wheels. Everybody is in a hurry and everybody believes that they should not give room to another driver. It’s as if everybody is chasing the same thing or the same thing is chasing everybody.

In all these negative brouhahas, one begins to wonder about the roles of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC. This agency must be really rotten and inefficient. They are not working. How can they explain the acquisition of drivers’ licenses by all the bad drivers in Lagos? Have all these crazy drivers passed through any driving school? Have they been tested theoretically and practically?

In Lagos the dangers and evil on the road are so numerous that coming back home to your house in the evening is considered an everyday miracle.

So what are the ways out of this hydra-headed problem that has grown so big that it is now the norm to be drive anyhow-you-like in Lagos. Where do we start from in this country where everything has fallen apart and into pieces?

One can also question the roles of the bribe-loving police force in all these extreme dramas, thrillers and horrors on Lagos/ Nigerian roads. They are constant on the roads, pointing their guns at ordinary citizens as if there is a war in Lagos. But their primary concern is their filthy pockets.

The police, the FRSC, the people and even the state government  and its other transport agencies are all contributing their own quotas to the madness and complexity on Lagos roads. Everybody is claiming right, everybody is neglecting their duties and obligations and everybody is doing the wrong thing.

When Nigerians return home from Europe and America with their drivers’ licenses that were earned like war trophies, they are insulted and humiliated to the extent that the authorities make many of them to acquire the Nigerian license that are obtainable without undergoing driving tests.

In their ignorance, the men of the FRSC and the police turn down hard-earned foreign driver’s license. I heard they don’t even recognize international driver’s license. Really? Of course, they will accept the bribe that follows the argument on this.

During my stay in Lagos, l spent a substantial time shouting at some motorists and educating them on a few things that l saw them do wrong. Yes, l did that sometimes when l was behind the wheels and sometimes when l took my usual long walks along the streets.

Constantly proving that l was right, l just refuse to leave my lane for the stupid oncoming okada motor-cyclists and other drivers who really do not have any business on the road. I was hardly in a hurry, so that turned out well.

The first lesson in a driving school says: plan for your journey. That particular lesson will cure about 50% of the insanity on Lagos road. Where are people rushing to? They will overtake you with the narrowest of margin beside you or in front of you! What are they chasing?

There are rush hours and heavy traffic in major cities across the world. But the cars keep rolling. In Nigeria, the traffic stands still not only because of bad roads, but also because of bad driving and total absence of knowledge about safe driving.

So if the people plan their journeys, if drunkards are removed from the roads, and if the roads become motorable say 100 years from now because Nigerian roads are still among the most dangerous road in the world today, maybe more than 90% all the accidents on Nigerian roads will become preventable. Lofty goal l guess.

The traditional custodian of Lagos and the governor of Lagos, where do you go from here? Lagos drivers don’t know how to drive. They just move the vehicles. They need help and deliverance. You need help too because right under your watch, Lagos has fallen apart.

 

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

all images taken by Adeola Aderounmu

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Please Clear This Biological Weapon!

The challenge before President Buhari and Governor Ambode is to order the immediate demolition of the illegally built houses and structures that have been used to block the underground sewage channels in Festac Town. That is the only and final solution.

We are citizens of Nigeria and they owe us this responsibility-to clean our environment. The government should stop killing us with biological weapons!

Governor  Akinwunmi Ambode, Please Clear This Biological Weapon!

By Adeola Aderounmu (Sweden)

One of the most disgusting views in Lagos State is embedded in my local government area. On 4th Avenue, 402 Road in Festac Town is a deep river of sewage flowing like the River Nile.

The sewage accumulating and flowing on the streets is a source of death and therefore represents a biological warfare against the people of 402 Road in Festac Town. Is the Lagos state government or the federal government of Nigeria at war with the people?

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There are a number of theories on why faeces that are flushed from the toilets in this area of Festac now flows directly to the streets on which the people live.

No one can doubt that the plans for Festac Town were destroyed by the Federal Housing Authority when lands reserved for recreations and natural conservation were sold to some useless Nigerian millionaires by some useless government workers on behalf of the federal government of Nigeria.

The consequences and results of the deviation from the original, functional plans of Festac are what we are facing today. There are rivers of sewage scattered around in the estate. In addition, the estate is now over-congested and bastardly disorganised.

Once the pride of Africa, Festac town is now an area filled with shame and filth.

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The sad reality is that it is not only in Festac Town that the citizens of Nigeria sleep and wake up surrounded by sewage. But l’m staying with the Festac problem as that is my constituency.

 

The end of festac

[To watch the video, visit my Youtube channel-Adeola Aderounmu, or my facebook https://www.facebook.com/adeola ]

 

The most obvious danger ahead of the people of 402 Road is that an epidemic is imminent. That is if one is not already in progress because the people have been surrounded by this flowing sewage for several years.

I wish a student from a Department Medical Parasitology of the University of Lagos can understake a medical research project on 402 Road/4th Avenue area of Festac Town. The results will be useful in understanding the statuses of the health of the people in the area.

The probability that the inhabitants of this area are suffering from ill-health and infections like typhoid as a result of this crime committed by government, is high.

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One cannot rule out deaths related to this polluted and heavily stinking environment. Children and the elderly would have been particularlty susceptible.

If the useless government workers who sold land to the useless Nigerian millionaires had not sold the land area adjacent to, and surrounding the 402 Road area, the flow of sewage would not have been disrupted.

The greatest fear is that this river of sewage could be an accumulation of all the faeces flowing from the entire Festac Town estate. My hypothesis is based on my knowledge of the area.

There is a playground nearby which also houses the facility for recyling sewage waste from the estate.

It is the only place in Festac where l have seen the facility. When we played football those days, our football used to fall inside the facility. So we had some catchers whose job was to save the ball from falling into the sewage recycle facility.

I have not fully investigated if the recycling center is functional now but l saw that the area was inaccessible. Why would anyone make a fence around the center? Has someone bought and refilled the sewage recycle facility?

Faecal wastes and sewage are not flowing away from residential areas because the federal government of Nigeria sold the areas/lands where the sewage systems have been chanelled underground.

The foolish people and the useless millionaires who bought the land sealed off the sewage channels.

The challenge before President Buhari and Governor Ambode is to order the immediate demolition of the houses that have been built and used to block the underground sewage channel in Festac Town. That is the only and final solution.

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4th Avenue by 402 Road, Festac Town                  

There are a lot of messes in Festac Town that are now irreversible. But this particular one is reversible no matter how long the houses have stood. They are illegal structures. If those who sold the land on behalf of the federal government can be found alive, they should be rounded up and prosecuted.

There is a report that one colonel in the Nigerian army actually contributed to this problem. Like many people living on the sewage system and blocking the channels, he is alleged to have applied ”cement” on his side of the channels. That was his own permanent solution to the problem. The implication is that for all he cares ”all the people on 402 road can die of diseases”.

On this matter it is very important that the Lagos state government and the federal government do not apply the Nigerian solution. That would be the sucking away of the river of sewage with the full knowledge that the river will overflow again. We don’t want that!

Nigerians are in love with temporary solutions. They love cosmetic solutions. This is because they want the problem to persist so that someone or a contractor can always make money from the contracts of temporary solutions.

Have you ever wondered why Nigerian roads for example are never going to be of international standard? Go figure now.

Anyway, as for this river of sewage in Festac Town, no one should expect that this is the last time they will be reading about this especially if the state and federal government continue to pretend as if this problem does not exist.

This is now one of my struggles.

My intention is to inform the governor of Lagos State and in fact Mr. Buhari the president of Nigeria, about this danger and for them to act without any delay. There is no need for more paper work or talking on this matter. They should get up from their comfort zones and clear this nonsense.

We are citizens of Nigeria and they owe us this responsibility-to clean our environment. The government should stop killing us with biological weapons!

The people living in this area of Festac Town and people visiting them are exposed to diseases that could end their lives prematurely. They can all die of diseases because of the river of sewage. Invariably the government has been at a biological warfare with the people.

Again, if nothing is done soon, l will be reminding governor Akinwunmi Ambode of this problem. If the tenures of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode as Lagos state governor and Mr. Buhari as the president of Nigeria do not succeed in demolishing the houses that are blocking the flow of sewage out of Festac, we will carry the struggle to their respective successors.

Our people must not be left to die of diseases because of the carelessness of goverment workers-those who sold lands that are meant to be reserved and preserved.

It is obvious that the residents have done their best and got tired of writing letters of appeals to the local and state government. I can imagine hundreds of letters to the local government. I can just imagine thousands of letters to the Federal Housing Authority. I can imagine some whispers into the ears of former Governor Fashola about this problem.

My columns and my blog pages will not rest until this matter is solved.  We will remind the state and the federal  government about their wickedness and heartlessness.

How can any government allow her people to live under this condition for even 1 day out of life?

It is unacceptable and as a matter of fact, those who knew about this problem before now and refused to act have committed crimes against humanity.

By international standard, allowing people to die unjustly in the absence/presence of war is a criminal offence and that angle will also be pursued in due time.

I am sure that with time, we will find out those who knew about this problem and did nothing.

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                       402 Road, A Close, Festac Town                            

We are talking about the living conditions of humans here.

I am actually surprise that the people of 402 Road have not made a decision to close down the local govenrment through massive protests. They are faced with a biological warfare and in ignorance have chosen to die because they got tired of writing letters of appeal.

I hope they will find the courage one day to lock down the Amuwo Odofin Local Government so that the sole administrator or the chairman can report to the governor who should tackle the problem head-on or call on the Federal Minsitry of Works and Housing to remove all obstructions in the way of sewage flow in Festac.

We must combine all our efforts and unite in order to rescue ourselves from maladministration.

The people everywhere must move away from the era of writing letters of appeal to actually carrying out demonstrations that will shut down their local councils or even the state government if necessary.

The problems and challenges facing Nigeria are many but we must tarry and remain united in the fight for the good of all.

Evil will continue to rise in the land when all the good people remain silent

Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, please go and clear Festac Town of the lingering biological warfare.

Mr. Mohammadu Buhari, please go and clear the messes left by the federal workers who planted biological warfare in Festac Town.

I stand with the people of 402 Road.

#Istandwith402road

 

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

[Story and All Images by Adeola Aderounmu]

The APC-Mandate: One Year Of Extreme Pain

What Nigerians have experienced in 2016 alone is by all measure the worst year of the Nigerian life (in a time of “peace”). This unitary system of government is so, so wrong! It is a product of intellectual deficiency that arose from lazy, corrupt and unproductive minds.

The APC-Mandate: One Year Of Extreme Pain

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola_June_2016

Adeola Aderounmu

One year after the official emergence of the APC mandate, the most unexpected scenarios are here. The current situation in Nigeria today was unimaginable 12 months ago when the expectations and stakes were raised through the emergence of the APC mandate.

Everyone including PDP addicts knew that the PDP years were totally messed up. But no one expected that as the clean-up started under the APC-Buhari mandate that the situation will deteriorate to a state that has now (also) made nonsense of the APC campaigns and promises.

Even my invented slogan that the 1999-2015 PDP years were the worst years of the Nigerian life had been beaten flat. What Nigerians have experienced in 2016 alone is by all measure the worst year of the Nigerian life (in a time of peace).

What led to these unexpected new lows of general sufferings is arguable. But the degradation of human life, extremely high cost of living and endless surges of joy-killers like the fuel-related problems are both sad and regrettable.

My opinion is that if there had been adequate proactive-ness, Nigerians would not be suffering more today than they already did under the wasteful 16 years of PDP. The APC-Buhari mandate was ill-equipped for the year that went by.  Therefore the mandate becomes a questionable one, I’m afraid.

My opinion is premised upon the fact that the APC-mandate and the rest of us had a clear understanding of what the challenges ahead were. We knew that Nigeria was in bad shape. Our collective expectation was that things should not get worse because they were already bad.

The APC-mandate failed to curb a bad situation. So it grew worse and it’s still going down the road to perdition in so many uncountable ways.

What enlightened and knowledgeable Nigerians must do now is to see the current situation in Nigeria as an opportunity to access the country right from 1960 to date. Why Nigeria got into the mess it is now is no longer rocket science.

Primarily, the country was misruled by almost all the regimes that have held sway at one time or the other after independence in 1960. As if the colonial drainage was not enough albeit side-a-side remarkable infrastructure development, the indigenes of Nigeria chose to simply loot the country to dryness.

As you read, Nigeria is being looted by some elements either directly by their positions in government or indirectly by the failure of the system to curb external appendages of looting.

The crime of looting is so grave that the recovered cash that was revealed recently by the APC government is a tip of the iceberg of what actually disappeared under both the APC- and the PDP-states in the last 17 years.

Politicians on both fronts practically emptied the states treasuries daily. At the parasitic center, the Jonathan-led central PDP government wasted and looted Nigeria’s monies in no manner that were different from his predecessors both civilians and military.

Everything that has a beginning will have an end. When the APC-Buhari mandate is over (because it will be), we will surely be informed of how much went down the drain daily. That, and what went down in the APC terrains whilst PDP held swayed are top secret today. We are looking the other way because the bulk of the latter brought Mr. Buhari to power.

In Nigeria, anybody who is elected or selected as the president can play god. It’s all thanks to the system. But I love the concept of time and truth. They outlive everyone and everything.

Apart from the fact that Nigeria was misruled and looted, there is the other factor of running a political system and constitution constructed by the military juntas.

Some people may still want to argue in favour of unitary government. This is a system that continues to feed the elites, the politicians and their accomplices. On the other hand the system puts hunger, death and sorrows at the doorsteps of the common people.

The strongest argument against unitary government cannot be missed: One man cannot rule Nigeria! The last one year provided the most visible evidence and the end of the first APC-mandate will nail it.

The one man show is not going to lead Nigeria further. He has ministers, yes, but they can’t do anything if that one man does not approve.

There are state governors, yes, but they cannot do anything if their begging plates are not filled by that one man.

This system is so, so wrong! It is a product of intellectual deficiency that arose from lazy, corrupt and unproductive minds.

This system is no longer acceptable and it is very unreasonable. It has not worked and it will not work. Nigerians have a way of hoping in the midst of hopelessness. The results? More than 100 m poor people, a disgraceful world record accumulation of poor people in Africa!

Summarily, the APC-mandate is doing worse than the PDP-mandate because of a system that promotes corruption, looting and incompetency. Again the unitary system of government is ridiculous and devoid of intellectual-problem solving approaches. It is so bad even the current minister of solid mineral resources cannot guarantee wealth production from solid minerals in the next 5 years!!!

For several years now, some people have suggested a change in the system of government but those calls fell on deaf ears. The politicians are not going to willingly change a system that makes them fat and rich.

In recent days some prominent Nigerians including those who have benefited from the fraudulent unitary system of government have joined us in singing: restructure Nigeria!

It took so long for the chorus to emerge and one wonders how long it will be before the actualisation.

The APC-mandate under Mr. Buhari must not act as if it is deaf because the music is too loud: change the system!

Of course we know it will not happen in one night. We know that it is a process. What is important at this stage is to ensure that the process is initiated using the right institutions and appropriate agencies.

There are so many options for Nigeria and they are far more preferable than the agitations in the different regions that have metamorphosed into wars (in form of terrorism in the North, the so-called militancy in the South and the unending secession in the East).

Under the current unitary system, the war/agitation/militancy have no end in sight. Even the re-structuring of Nigeria will not heal all wounds automatically. But restructuring is a necessity to avoid the final collapse of Nigeria in a way that is undesirable.  The road that leads back to regional autonomy will be rough, windy and long. Still, it is the better road if well managed.

Those familiar with medical science know the difference between controlled cell-death and uncontrollable cell-death/destruction. Nigeria and Nigerians need to make the choice whilst common sense can still prevail. When all hell is let loose, there will be no room for common sense and negotiations. Necrosis in any country is not desirable.

It is easy to say that corruption is fighting back in form of NDA-militancy. What was fighting in the name of Boko Haram? What had been agitating in the name of Biafra? We must not forget the words of wisdom. If the wall does not open its mouth, the lizard will not crawl in. These walls have been open for too long and a lot of lizards have crawled in. Now several of those lizards have stomach aches.

The benefits of regional autonomy outweigh those of unitary government. The different regions in Nigeria need to start producing wealth again. Nigeria needs to return to the days when 5-10% of regional wealth is sent to the capital for administrative purposes only. Today money is sent to Abuja for siphoning!

All the parasites and leeches in Abuja under this APC-mandate need to do one of their last jobs which is to initiate the re-negotiation of Nigeria and go back home in peace. A time may come when they will return compulsorily. Since there may not be peace at that time, they need not wait that long.

I stand always with the common Nigerians.

The fight for freedom itself is not a day’s job. It may take a few years, it may several years. But like l wrote in The Kings Are Mad, when the time for freedom comes, there will be no going back.

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