Nigeria

Nigeria, A fraudulent Presidency

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By Adeola Aderounmu

In April 2007 what has been adjudged as probably the most useless and worthless charade (supposedly an election) in human history was conducted in Nigeria under the joint supervision of one incompetent electoral officer called Iwu and a dictator called Obasanjo. The election without doubt resulted to the emergence of an illegitimate president called Yar Adua.

Today 12th of Dec 2008, the Nigerian Supreme Court declared the illegal president as the winner of that sham conducted in 2007. The oppositions could not prove that the anomalies or irregularities were strong enough to influence the outcome of the election.
But that is the most stupid statement that I’ve heard in 2008. The closest to that nonsense is the claim by Mugabe that there is no cholera in Zimbabwe when children are dying on several sick beds.

There is no point to recount the sham that occurred in Nigeria in April 2007 and it still amazes me when people say that there were elections in Nigeria in 2007? Which election was that? Who voted? Which votes were counted?

The winners of the selective process were already known even before the tamed and timid masses were sent out to waste their time at the ballot stations. Only gullible people would admit that a president was elected in Nigeria in 2007. I have always emphasised that in Nigeria, the arm of the law is extremely short. It doesn’t catch up with tangible issues.

Nigeria today has no legitimate president and anyone laying claim to that position is probably the most senile person alive. Only a thief would knowingly accept stolen mandates or goods. So if there is a president in Nigeria today, that person is a complete fraud.

A country that claims to be the giant of Africa is actually a sleeping dog…! If only those sycophants in power know the implications of their attitudes and actions on the image of Nigeria. If only they know just how they are ruining the integrity and personalities of innocent Nigerians. They are so blinded by their corrupt minds and selfish interests that the only thing that matters to them is that money they continue to loot and share at the end of each month.

Every time this sick country gets the chance to make things right, some feeble minds who are entrusted with public confidence always end up blowing things up. If the Supreme Court judges had stayed on the side of the people, they would have provided the people and the system with a new attempt to do just one thing right since 1959. Nobody has said that it would be done right, but still Nigerians deserved to elect their leaders through the ballot boxes. This has not yet happened since the country became independent in 1960.

Anyone who continues to call Nigeria the giant of Africa should actually be sent to a psychiatrist for immediate evaluation. I think it is time for Nigerians to send scholars to countries like Ghana and Sierra Leone so that Nigerians can learn how these countries conduct normal elections.

One of the most senseless public statements in the world was made by a Nigerian. He is called Maurice Iwu. This man has told the United States of America to come to Nigeria and learn how to conduct proper elections. This type of expression summarises the state of minds of Nigerian public officials. It is close to insanity and deserved to be studied or investigated.

It is very easy to fault the opposition and it’s representatives. People like Buhari and Atiku also represent the side of the oppressors but who are now outsiders in the power game. However that is far from the crux of the matter which remains that 48 years after independence, Nigeria has not taken one step forward. I’d promised to write about the options for Nigeria but it was more difficult than I’d thought. This is a country entrenched in a very serious catastrophe of identity crisis. It is now a known fact that Nigeria is actually a collection of several nations that remain knitted together to perpetually serve the purpose of a few individuals.

The cabal and their progeny remained perpetually behind the scenes while their evil machinery continues to unleashed terror on the poor masses. All attempts like the anticipated verdict of today to change the status quo has been met with dictations from back stage-unseen hands and unheard voices but perceived effects.

I am finding it increasingly difficult to engage in the Nigerian debate except to occasionally bare my mind that the country is rapidly becoming an hopeless entity not faring better than Somalia that has not been govern for more than 15 years.
Everytime I am reminded about the evil nature of governance in Nigeria by these types of occurrences, I can’t help but think about those masses numbering possibly over 100 million who are living from hand to mouth, unsure of the next meal.

The day of reckoning has been pushed forward several times in Nigeria and one can only hope that the principle of natural selection and the knowledge of the advantage of numbers will someday tilt to the side of the majority. On that day, the majority will realise just how easy it is to earn one’s freedom. From now and until then let the cabal and their messengers of evil continue to spread poverty, ignorance and penury

18 months after, Osamuyia laid to rest

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Original story by Kanu Ahaoma

My friend,Kanu Ahaoma, who has been following and reporting the story gives an account of the burial. The names of the murderers are also mentioned in the piece available at the Nigerian Village Square.

READ FULL STORY , CLICK HERE

The Jos Massacre: When Religion and Politics Blend

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By Adeola Aderounmu

ONE of the most disturbing issues in the unification of Nigeria is religion. The North of Nigeria is dominated by Muslims and the south by Christians. But Muslims and Christians spread considerably well across the length and breadth of Nigeria. In my own family for instance we have both Christians and Muslims. My family is well educated and there is no doubts that we know what religion is and how to tolerate one another.

But how does one deal with thugs and illiterates who do not understand the views of other people on religious matters? It is a difficult situation indeed and in Nigeria the politicians over the years have continued to blend politics and religion. For instance, the constitution of Nigeria does not apply in every state in Nigeria. Yet some people are saying that Nigeria is one country. That is far from the truth, the only thing that is keeping Nigeria as one country is the crude oil from the Niger Delta.

In Northern Nigeria, the sharia law has been imposed on the population during the disastrous regime of Obasanjo. So depending on where you are in that geographical entities, different laws apply and your life style can change considerably. The ugly truth though is that the politicians have instituted the law for their own selfish gains.

In Jos-Nigeria, hundreds of people may have lost their lives because of an election that took the dimension of religious inclination. You can imagine that ignorance remains a weapon that has been used to send innocent people to their early graves. The perpetrators of these evil acts will never be found. They will never be brought to book. In Nigeria, this type of killing usually comes with the backings of some wicked politicians. The perpetrators enjoy privileged protection or anonymity and they will be unleashed again to do the same harm in the future. This is why religious riots or political riots associated with religion remains recurring incidents in Nigeria.

One of the reasons why this type of nonsense happens in Nigeria is because the politicians are thieves. Who would fight or kill in the name of service to the people? Politics in Nigeria is a winner takes all game. The winner steals and loots the treasury while the losers lick their wounds. If someone or a politician would pay or go to jail for stealing or for looting, I do not think there will be this mad rush to government houses across Nigeria. It is not an easy thing to serve. You need skills, you need knowledge and you need to be tolerant to a lot of things. You will persevere.

This is not the case in Plateau State where some idiots and fools have been killing other people because of election results. This is in fact not the case anywhere in Nigeria where the reason for politics is to steal and oppress the people.

In 2007, Yar Adua was forcefully imposed on Nigerians in what has been adjudged as the worst election in human history. If the president is occupying a position illegally, what do we expect from the other subordinate positions across the country? If the head is rotten, what part of the body can be whole? Nigerians are shying away from the truth and the consequences and repercussions will continue to be grave.

If the anomaly of April 2007 and the anomalies since 1914 and 1960 are not rectified, Nigeria will not make progress and these types of pockets of violence will continue to make the citizens to live in panic and fear.

More and more Nigerians are sliding below the poverty level while only a privileged few continue to enjoy abundant wealth. Corruption continues to eat deep into the fabrics of governance. The present illegal government continues to shade the likes of Ibori who used the stolen wealth of Delta State to bundle Yar Adua to Aso rock. This type of obvious evil acts will continue to deny this country of progress and the insincere search for prosperity will continue to be abstract-resulting in self-enrichment of the politicians and a few selected people. Nigeria today is definitely not for all Nigerians.

______________________________

Eye witness account: On BBC Africa

The Anatomy of Corruption

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Original title: Nigeria, Surrounded
Author: Sonala Olumhense
Source: Nigeria Village Square Sat 22 Nov 2008.

What would you do to someone you truly hated, if you had the authority to do exactly as you pleased? Caution: murder is excluded as an answer to this question, as “someone” could be more than one person, perhaps whole peoples. I will give my own answer in a few minutes.

Before I do so, I remind you, my dear reader: it is about six years since Nigeria began to “fight” corruption. In a fight, one party usually wins, or to have the stronger hand. In this combat, it is our opponent who seems to be winning, but we have played enough of the right game for the world to mistake the aroma for the food. Some of them are beginning to give us the benefit of the doubt in important reports, but how realistic is that?

A war demands troops and commanders. Equipment and supplies. Strategies and manoeuvres. And then, naturally, we expect to find casualties and prisoners; that is how you win. What you do not expect to find are defectors and fifth columnists.

The first thing one notices in our so-called war is that there are hardly any casualties. One or two unfortunate people are all we can point to after six years in cases that, in the end, may have had little to do with graft and everything to do with politics. That is the tally. The supposedly “injured,” (undergoing trial, awaiting trial) are all over the place living better than the Queen of England, partying harder than Madonna and travelling better than the Sultan of Brunei.

What about the commanders? In random order, as I cast my eyes over the horizon, the army is advised by an ethically-empty and professionally uncaring Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. Increasingly alleged to be involved in all kinds of personal malfeasance and even dismissed by the political salesman Terry Waya as “the greediest man in Abuja,” it took Mr. Michael Aondoakaa only months to build himself a mansion fit for a king. He has converted his office into the best friend of corrupt former governors in trouble abroad.

In the past fortnight, the press has reported the arrest by the State Security Service, of his younger brother, Innocent Aondoakaa. From him, they obtained extensive evidence of several filthy deals bothering on extortion that the AG, in collusion with the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) chairperson, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has been involved with.

In the anti-graft “war,” it is to be expected that Mr. Aondoakaa would work closely with the leaders of the anti-graft agencies. With Mrs. Waziri, who heads the EFCC, the AG seems to be doing well. With controversy swelling over allegedly missing or distorted EFCC files, Mr. Aondoakaa has said nothing. He is galvanized only on the side of an accused governor. Nothing speaks more eloquently about his place in history.

As another “commander” in a critical front in the “war,” I have cited Mrs. Waziri in this column as being tainted. Among others, she has openly, publicly and brazenly flouted the statutory reporting requirements of her agency. There is therefore no official or organized record of what the EFCC is doing.

Unofficially, Mrs. Waziri seems to be a competent swimmer. Her favourite pool to enjoy is the river of corruption and ineptitude that runs from the troubled former governors to her office and on to the Federal Ministry of Justice. Her relationship with the President and the AG makes it most unlikely she was really sent to fight corruption; her sad track record so far makes it most unlikely we will ever celebrate her as a champion graft-fighter.

Another command in the war is the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). The ICPC, which is now headed by a former Supreme Court judge, Mr. Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, stirs once in a while to remind Nigerians it is still alive and maintaining a website. Apparently, that is how they justify their statutory claims. The ICPC, which is actually older than the EFCC, seems to have decided that both corruption and power are to be feared; it is not really going to confront either.

What about the police? While the Nigerian policeman has acquired a bad name over the years for his corruption and brutality, he now has a leader without limits. Inspector-General Mike Okiro is linked with several cases of corruption himself, including private schools and shopping malls in Abuja worth billions of Naira that he could not possibly have paid for from his police salary.

The IG also owns other businesses that conflict and compete with his job. His Bharmoss Ventures, for instance, claims expertise in “construction, real estate acquisition and development as well as engineering.” How does a policeman “sell, improve, manage, develop, exchange, lease, mortgage, enfranchise, dispose of, turn of account, or otherwise deal with, all or any part of the property and rights of the company,” and still protect and serve anyone who is neither selling to, nor buying from him?

Meanwhile, over at the federal legislature, David Mark presides over the Senate. Mr. Mark makes no ethical claims. He is a former minister who is stupendously wealthy, with vast financial tentacles and property that span Africa, Europe and Jersey. It is unknown how he came about any of them, including 6 million British pounds his former wife convinced a court to freeze several years ago.

Mr. Mark’s counterpart at the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, a “new generation” politician who came to prominence only recently as Speaker, is currently embroiled in allegations of sleaze following the purchase by the House of hundreds of cars. In the past month, his image has taken a hammering.

Meanwhile at the top of the judiciary, some Supreme Court justices are reported to have accepted inducements from the tag team of Aondoakaa and EFCC’s Waziri, who have a budget of about $30 million for the purpose, towards purchasing justice that is favorable to President Yar’Adua in the electoral petition before the court.

And up at the presidency itself, Patience Jonathan, the Vice-President’s wife, remains a screaming siren. For two years, nobody has touched her, a woman twice held for money-laundering, once for N104 million, and then for $13 million (US). There is no war against corruption in Nigeria for as long as Mrs. Jonathan is sitting comfortably on her backside shielded by her husband, Yar’Adua, and Aondoakaa.

And then President Yar’Adua, who took office 18 months ago and promised a new day. The trouble, for me, is that I thought the President could tell night from day. He promised the rule of law, but is arresting journalists he said he would sue. He promised Nigeria a better deal but refuses to be honest with them about his health. He says Nigeria will implement the Millennium Declaration Goals but prefers to stay in bed. He speaks of Vision 2020 the same way we count our gold medals before the Olympics.

It seems to take Yar’Adua days to wake up, weeks to realize he has not got out of bed, months to decide to fire his ministers, even more months to actually fire them, and then months to announce a list that is evidently more flawed than what he did one year ago. In a country so far down the drain from its potential, a country needing a dynamic, 24-hour-per-day performance, we are hostages in more ways than one.

So, dear Nigerian, what would you do to someone you truly hated, if you had the authority to do everything? The answer is that, to make him suffer forever, you would leave behind a poison that keeps on poisoning.

Before our eyes, someone who obviously hates Nigerians handpicked Mr. Yar’Adua, knowing his deep limitations of vision, ability, motivation, and even health. It is a stroke of evil genius, the poison that keeps on poisoning.

But understanding this ought to make Nigerians rise in strength, not deflate in agony. We are a nation surrounded, but we must rise—prepared to take our destiny in our own hands—and say the word.

That word is: “Enough!”

sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

Poor man wey steal Maggi cube..!

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By Adeola Aderounmu.

 

It is becoming more obvious that the present illegal regime in Nigeria has nothing to offer the poor masses. That should not come as a surprise to anyone at all. Nigerians never voted for the man now parading the corridor of power aimlessly. When he is not parading himself in that fortress built with the blood and sweat of hardworking tax payers, he is on a flight to a secret place to rest or seeking some talismanic effects. This country don suffer..!

 

 

In this country, we will continue to speculate and anticipate. Yes o! when those who seized power using violent ballots and force have decided that secrecy and cultism is the way forward, then we have the right and freedom to use our imagination and cognitive powers. To quote an insider as your source will be tantamount to breaching security protocols and you may even be accused of sedition and then arrested on arrival. Many of us in this village square are definitely on our way to jail!

 

 

I appreciate Nigerian music a lot and Chinagoro (aka African China) has said it all in few phrases. Poor man wey steal maggi, them go show him face for crime fighter! Rich men (greedy politicians) wey steal money; we no dey see their face for crime fighters.

In Nigeria, you can go to jail for stealing a cube of maggi- a popular kitchen ingredient. That is if you are lucky that a policeman or an idle officer from the EFCC arrested you. If you are unlucky, the angry mob will dispense justice immediately-you are as good as dead. People will blame you if you go to jail or even if you die. Mumu, na maggi e steal sef…!

To avoid the short arm of the law in Nigeria, you gat to steal and steal BIG! You must be like Ibori or Obasanjo or Atiku or even Umoru himself to be above the law. You must steal a lot of money, in raw cash where possible. Load the monies (dollars, pounds, naira ati bee bee lo) inside your fridge, under your bed, inside suit case, inside brief case and inside your closet. Use any other technology available at your disposal to make sure that the money is not traceable to you. Use agents, offshore or recessive family members.

 

Start a business so that even if the money is traced to you, you can tell those fools at EFCC that it is money from your family business. You can even start an estate agency and tell them that you have sold one house and made profit and bought another one and then you now have an estate worth 20 billion dollars. Tell them and those internet junk journalists that you are an entrepreneur before you joined partisan politics. You must play politics like football; your aim is to always win. A draw must be your worst outcome.

 

Moving on-I have not written on the village square for a while now but I have continued to blog regularly. It’s more fun with the blog because you can describe some people as fools, idiots, thieves, looters, satanic, demonic, bad leaders and so on without anyone opposing your views or right to publish what you like! You can be hard on yourself as well and try to do things better. But someone will definitely not like your terms. Some people think it’s godly or angelic to steal, kill and make other people poor while you are merrying.

 

Blogging allows me to be who I am. I am not an apostle of perfection but I detest dishonesty and bad governance- the type that has continued to deprive more than 90m people of decent existence. The government of Nigeria has continued to maintain the ordinary citizens’ livelihood at the rat-race level predominated by competition for limited resources in a kill and go manner.

 

In no small measure, I practically hate all the hypocrites who parade government houses across Nigeria and I regret that I am still not able to do anything practical or physical to change the status quo. I regret that the trust and hope that we continue to build over the years have continued to crumble as well. In my mind, I have only families to return to, not country.

 

Farida and Nuhu do not make any difference in my perspectives of what crime fighting is all about. What I continue to visualize is a gang of thieves or looters changing the characteristics of the sheriff that they’ve appointed in their caucus meeting. Nigeria is not a normal country. The geographical area called Nigeria is managed by suspicious arrangements and oppression of common good. This is why there is still no real democracy in Nigeria.

 

Nuhu fought Obasanjo’s enemies with zeal whereas Obasanjo, his friends and families looted the treasury. What is worth doing at all is worth doing well. Was I the only one who learnt that in the moral instruction class in 1980? Half bread can only be better than none if the other half is saving another life.

 

You can’t fight financial corruption or embezzlement when the person initiating the fight against the corruption is corrupt. It is the same with other crimes. The situation is peculiar and made worse because the Nigerian Police is full of people of questionable characters (from the boss to the last man standing on the street) who extort money from the other people. A recent report shows that the Nigerian Police is the number one violator of human rights in Nigeria. The EFCC is part of the police and therefore remains incompetent to fight crime or corruption.

 

For example, the EFCC cannot investigate or prosecute Obasanjo, Babangida, Atiku and others. The EFCC is seriously programmed like an apoptotic cell. It has its limits and boundaries. This is why the EFCC is specialised in terrorising yahoo yahoo boys and fighting ringworm even though leprosy is deadlier. This is also the reason for the non-performance (apoptosis) of Farida when it comes to fighting the real war. Does anyone for instance expect her to investigate or prosecute the likes of Obasanjo or Babangida? No! That was not in the streotyping. If she dares, she will be sacked with immediate effect!

 

On a fair note, EFCC is not the problem with Nigeria. It is not even the police as a body. The problem is the system. It contains the wrong people (mostly rogues in plain term) in power. This is why they will instruct the police or SSS to arrest you at the airport and detain you in violation of your fundamental human rights! If they have their way, these rogues will kill you one time! The nest of killers (first used by Wole Soyinka) has always been a part of our existence but it materialises in different forms, shapes and sizes.

 

I have argued that being privileged or fortunate to escape poverty or penury in Nigeria has blinded many people to the real situations in Nigeria. A few flashes here and there have also been used to divert our attention from the real calamities: the prevalence of mass poverty in the population (which of course has been treated by several authors).

 

There are options for Nigeria and hopefully I will dwell on one or two of them in another article. We cannot continue like this. As an introduction into what I intend to discuss: there are options along the lines of changing the system totally or changing what the country is all about. The emphasis would be on the nature, composition and effects of a new system so that it becomes a complete deviation from that which sows hate, distrust and poverty. We may be deceiving ourselves especially with the emphasis on one nation. The time has come to look at the existence of this country more critically.

 

We cannot continue to ignore the options available to us. We must look at them and use our senses to come up with a viable road map that will serve the interest of everyone called a Nigerian. This country must stop serving the purpose of a few (who will charge the rest of us with sedition because the status quo was made for them and their likes).

 

The final irrevocable truth is if we don’t define how we want to live and what we want from living now (like some nations did in the last century), we cannot stop the future generation from doing that. One generation will break these curses and disappointments. It will happen!