Nigeria

Atiku, Jonathan and a failing country

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

aderounmu@gmail.com

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

/ Adeola / 7 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s stop fooling around please!

Malcolm Fabiyi Wants a Change in Nigeria

/ Adeola / 2 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

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

Who knows what has become of Student Unionism in Nigeria?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naija: Charity Begins Abroad

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By Adeola Aderounmu

If all the corrupt politicians and other corrupt people in Naija are to be arrested while abroad and put on trial, we will likely have a state of emergency.

What I mean is that there will be almost no one left in the seat of government in Naija and several businesses both private and public will need sudden adjustments to be able to continue with their functions or activities.

This is not an exaggeration. Corruption is a way of life rather than an exception in Naija and it must stop.

Naija’s seat of power will be empty if international laws make room or allowance for the sort of criminal prosecution that James Ibori is undergoing in UK.

Think about all the corruption charges and criminal activities that have been swept under the carpets in Naija since time immemorial.

It is impossible to write the list all over again; one can go mad trying to do that. Which one do you want to start from and where do you want to end?

Summarily you will hardly find any member of the ruling class both ex- and present at federal, state and local levels that are not soiled in one form of corruption/ looting charges or the other. You will hardly find officials who are not living above their income + allowances.

There are many probes that have been undertaken but we always end up at square one. That means that nothing comes out of the probes. Instead the discovered loots from Naija and abroad are redistributed and everyone goes mute. When it is not that, it is one corrupt group providing cover to another one.

Ideology departed naija long time ago.

The end result is the devastation of Naija by those who have promised to uphold the constitution, the rule of law and service to humanity. The outcome is the disgraceful ranking of Naija among the poorest countries in the world.

Time and time again I have refused to come to terms with how (probably) the most blessed country in the world became a home to some of the poorest people alive. This incomprehensible agony may follow me to my grave. It’s the greatest pain I bear.

How and what do you want to think about Naija. They tell us to stop complaining. How can we? Everyone of us must continue to use the means / medium available to him or her to continue to address the issues affecting Naija no matter how little the contributions seems. We will never have a perfect country but we must do all we can to pursue the optimal conditions-that aim at peace, happiness and the fulfilment of our dreams as individuals and as a nation.

Just the other day another Naija who has shamelessly contributed to the under-development of our football over the years was finally exposed far away in Switzerland. Amos Adamu, instead of accepting his fate, instead of repenting and turning a new leaf went bragging about his innocence. Evidence don’t lie, not when they are available in audio and video. If he pushes his luck too far the evidence may surface on YouTube sooner or later.

A person like me can only wish, but International laws are not going to change to the extent that they will allow all the corrupt people in Naija to be arrested and prosecuted while on wasteful adventures abroad.

I do not mean / and I have never stated that oyinbos are not corrupt but the differences are too clear. When oyinbos–as individuals-are exposed or caught in the acts, they tend to resign and then face court actions. Naijans don’t resign. They get promoted after each corrupt activity.

Even if a newspaper or news outfit in Naija publishes a story about one corrupt officer or public servant. The story may not appear twice.

The affected officer/ his people will kill the news information by several means. The journalist can be bribed and kept silence forever. The journalist could even be literarily killed like it has happened several times in Naija. The newspaper/ news outfit company may even see such information as a means to enrich the organisation as a whole. Blackmail may set in.

In the end the story dies. Poverty spreads and the moral decadence is aggravated.

There are thousands of cases of Naija officials who have escaped from the arm of the law even under the EFCC since its inception. EFCC as it was in the beginning is still the same today-selectively and inconclusively pursuing justice. It makes no sense. The essence of our lives remains eroded by the consequences of all the things we have done half way or totally neglected.

In 1983 Mrs Obi my class teacher at Central Primary School, Festac Town, taught me that nearly does not catch a bird. Throughout life, my father told me that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. I have learnt many things in my life. These things indicate to me that the people who have managed to hold the rest of us hostage in Naija are abnormal people.

The rest of us have loads of sacrifices to make if we want true freedom and normal independence. To this day, it’s absolute madness at the helm of affairs where corruption continues to beget corruption.

The cost of the destruction and devastation that has befallen Naija are inestimable. We could have built a bridge that goes round the world if we wanted. We didn’t. Instead we created emperors, tyrants and dictators who have total evil intents and wicked purposes.

For example, if we look at the cost of going to school alone in Nigeria, we get an overview of the doom ahead. Whilst every nation of the world strive to provide basic, compulsory and affordable or free education to their citizens, Nigeria continues to make it harder and harder for ordinary people to get education. It is as if that is the plan for the slavery of the future.

We have gone through the first slavery. We have gone through first colonisation. Both perpetrated by oyinbos. We are now enduring second (internal) colonisation. Yet the present indicates that the future might be worse. I am not a pessimist but when you take education away from the people, you make their emancipation even harder.

I could write forever about my pains and frustrations as a naija person. But my message as usual, is that we should put an end to the stupidity that reigns in our public institutions. I know that it is possible to turn things around. I’ve been searching for the turning point for naija.

Rather than trying to fix problems, wouldn’t it be better for us at every point in time to ensure that we do the right thing, seek peace, fairness and justice?

In all that we do, because no one will build this nation but ourselves, Charity must begin in Naija.

Okey Bakassi and the Nigerian Mentality of How Politics Works

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

Okey Bakassi’s real names are McAnthony Onyegbule. He was a guest on The Teju Babayface Show sometime ago. He is currently the Executive Assistant to the Imo State Governor.

The position of the Executive Assistant is one of the thousands of positions in Nigerian Politics that are unconstitutional, irrelevant and wasteful.

Think about this, there are 36 states in Nigeria. Each Governor has an almost redundant Deputy Governor. Governors have several assistants, Deputy Governors have several assistants. All the assistants have deputy assistants. The chains continue down the ranks creating one of the most wasteful forms of governance in the world.

The situation is the same in the House of Assembly and House of Representatives both at the state and national leverls. Each non-thinking dude or madam creates a similar links of deputy, assistants, executive assistants and so on.

In my world, these types of situations are classical social madness.

On that particular episode of The TejuBaby face Show, Okey Bakassi as he is fondly called said so many things about Nigerian politics which made me conclude (once again) that hope is far from Nigeria.

He mentioned that what journalists write about Nigerian politics is far from what is going on in the government houses.

He also mentioned that “when you are inside” you see things differently and that there are many things on how government functions that are not known to the rest of us.

I was furious when he spoke because his body language was obvious. It gave him away as “now one of the corrupt”.

What journalists write about Nigeria may not always be the truth for sure. The reason is because Nigerian Press has been overtaken by the Nigerian Factor. Many Journalists are corrupt, they accept bribes in different forms-cash and kind-from the politicians.

There may be a few corrupt-free journalists left in Nigeria but they are rare species. This means that sometimes we still get to read or hear the truth about how corrupt and silly our politicians are. It means that on rare occasions we still get to know the “truth” about some things in Nigeria.

Many newspapers are owned by corrupt people, godfathers and all sorts of dubious characters. I have almost stopped reading Nigerian newspapers. It is so-so hard to find honest inputs in the Nigerian press.

Opinion writers and editorial stuffs are even sometimes based on the brown envelope syndrome. No Nigerian newspaper is free of this shame.

Corruption-escalated by tribalism, nepotism and ineptitude-has eaten deep into all the possible things and places in Nigeria.

“When you are inside”. What does Okey Bakassi mean by this expression?

We have asked for a transparent and honest form of government. We got nothing close. Even the present government in Nigeria is a serious scandal to the black race.

There is no attempt to fight or stop corruption because the custodians of power are travelling in the same boat as the guilty and the criminals.

When the people we know and trust enter into/ or become part of government, the first thing they do is to disappoint us.

There are thousands of names of people whom we trust. People whom we thought, Oh this is going to be better. Alas..! As soon as they are inside everything changes.

Nigeria is likely to remain a hopeless country (forever) in terms of political greatness if this mentality is not erased once and for all.

Nigerian politics has been used by people to transform their lives. One month after entering into politics, a Nigerian politician or some funny assistant can afford to send all his families abroad-to live or study there permanently.

Why can’t they fix Nigeria and let their families stay here in Nigeria like the rest of us?

They scoop our monies and loot our treasury. The truth they spoke when on the outside suddenly departs them “when you are inside”. They are now agents of lies and deceits.

I am not talking about only Okey Bakassi now. I am talking about a typical nice and well brought up Nigerian person. He/ she enters into politics and become evil in nature.

It is evil and wicked to steal, loot or to partake in stealing and looting in whatever ways.

Every kobo stolen in Nigeria adds to the persistent and increasing level of poverty. Every ½kobo taken one way or the other in the wrong manner adds up to the devastation of lives.

Look at Nigerian roads, schools, hospitals and all that is common to the common people. What you get is disaster..! After all these years and after all we have said and done, Electricity is almost absent in Nigeria!

Yet when one of us gets into government house as assistant or even the speaker of the house of rep, what we get back are monsters who suddenly forget about the transiency of life and power.

They forget completely the purpose of life. At that moment, a form of psychopathic madness characterised by egocentrism and demonic urge for money, wealth and acquisition of inexhaustible riches take over.

I will never come to terms with Nigerian politicians and public servants buying houses and property abroad with monies that should have been used to serve the people in Nigeria. We destroy our motherland while pretending to be doing good. We lie and make it a way of life. We kill those who speak the truth.

Nigerian politics is peculiar. It beats me that murderers, looters, thieves and generally incompetent people are running for the presidency and other government houses in Nigeria. Where is law and order?

If this is the best dish we can serve Africa and the rest of the world, the rest of us “who are outside of government” really have ourselves to blame for the type of stories coming from Okey Bakassi and the extremely low of quality of life that we live.

“When you are inside” My Foot!