Multiple Charades

January 17, 2016January 17, 2016 / Adeola / Leave a comment

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

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

Multiple Charades

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still, it is madness.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The more you look, the less you see.

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

This is a shameful democracy. A laughable justice system.

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

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

The charade continues.

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

The economy is paralyzed, the Naira almost valueless.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

aderounmu@gmail.com

You Should Never, Never Stand With Tyranny

January 10, 2016January 10, 2016 / Adeola / 1 Comment

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

The Broken And The Unbroken

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 / Adeola / Leave a comment

The Unbroken have destroyed the Broken in different ways. The rules are now largely unwritten.

To Nigeria, my first love.

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola_2016

One of my friends wrote something on his social network page recently. He wrote: the more things change the more they stay the same.

Charles Adagbon my friend was reacting to some aspects of the budget proposed by the Buhari-APC mandate for 2016.

The Unbroken in history remains those who are on the sides of the oppressors. They are also the oppressors. They have used many instruments and propaganda mechanisms to create and sustain a system that puts them above the oppressed, the people.

As hard at it may seems, Nigeria is a micro-representation of the persistence of both mental and factual slavery. If taken even more broadly Nigeria is a classical society where all the instruments of mental slavery have become deep-rooted as a result of several centuries of acceptance of lies and fallacies.

The situation in Nigeria has become extremely very complicated because the majority of the emerging generations were never exposed to a life of truth or justice. They neither ask questions nor seek the truth.

At this moment you have an accumulation of different aggregates. The most aggresive and the most vocal have a collective mentality that is deformed or permanently obscured if not damaged.

No apologies writing the truth. Lies have been told for centuries and they have become the truth for the people, even globally. Nigeria is of concern because it remains my first love. My heart never departed from Nigeria.

Now, for more than half of a century the handlers of Nigeria who took over directly from the colonialists have perfected the acts and practise of mental slavery.

Rather then freeing their people by telling the truth and promoting social justice, they chose to develop more along the line of oppressing the masses. They sustained the global stratified-system created many centruries ago.

The handlers of Nigeria belong to the category of evil rulers of the world. They are the Unbroken. They have done all that is necessary on their parts to sustain the lies and instruments of governance that keeps the people as both the slaves and the needy.

While promising the promise land since 1960, Nigerian politicians have continued to steal, loot and accumulate wealth for themselves, their families and even generations unborn. These are typical traits of the Unbroken.

The takeover from the colonialists was a perfect transmission that could not have been better in the eyes of the colonialists themselves.

Along with the highly-ranked military officers, the Nigerian politicians represent the elites in Nigeria. The ring is expanded when accomplices from the population pool are co-opted and given the means to wealth-an ageless and timeless instrument of oppression.

With propaganda that are well enforced even before 1960 the ordinary Nigerians continue to wait, generation after generation, for the promise land. When lies become permanent, history has it that they become acccepted as the truth by the majority.

Uncountable writers and social commentators have lamented the roles of religion in the institutionalisation of slavery in Nigeria. But the truth is now hard to accept because majority of the people have lost their senses of freedom and reasoning.

Therefore, religion thrives side by side of poverty and vices too numerous to mention. The people who practise religion in Nigeria are the same people who practice the vices. Still, it is impossible for our people to see and understand that the truth is hidden from them.

Some are afraid of learning about history because they think that history is highly distorted.

But the distorted parts of history is what led us to where we are today especially on the African continent which used to be home also to substantial part of the the present day Middle East.

If the original Ancient Egypt is sincerely reconstructed, there will be remarkable peace and understanding on earth as early as tomorrow.

Justice and emancipation will follow because veils and robes will drop and senses will be used rather than emotions attached to faiths and fictitious heroic figures.

But the Unbroken will never allow that. The world order will not allow the Broken to be totally free.

They have killed for it- through Christianity, Islam, crusades and slavery. They will do so again. Fear is one of the secrets behind the success of slavery and all forms of invented religions.

One of the difficulties I faced putting this essay together was limiting myself to Nigeria, my first love. This is because the problems in Nigeria as local as they appear have antecedents that transcend Nigeria.

In my view these problems are not far from the reasons why the African population in America are decimated everyday or why poverty in the African population in America is on the same level of tragedy as the poverty in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

The common enemy is the Unbroken occuring in different shades and degrees in different places around the world. So, invariably it is complicated. My swing here and there is deliberate, because sometimes people think I blend issues. But my head is clear about where I am coming from on this matter.

But some people will understand these words written here beyond this point. I free myself of the obligation of being explicitly understood.

Coming back to Nigeria again, the Unbroken do not only keep its rank, it also find willing tools easily nowadays. The recruitment process has become automated. It works in many ways.

For example, through the creation of what is known as political parties, the Unbroken have automated the process of willing slaves.

There are people in Nigeria who will lay their lives for their political parties despite the fact that the politicians are the same category of people-oppressors and representatives of the slave masters. Go figure..!

Another process of automation is the escape-from-poverty syndrome. Our people have had their existences reduced to mere survival. Therefore the Unbroken have made a thin divide between themselves and the Broken.

A broken Nigerian becomes Unbroken as soon as he emerges above that thin line. He has been trained as a fighter all his lives. This is why there is no difference between a successful civil servant or corporate worker and a successful criminal in Nigeria.

Wealth and a sense of doing-well bring Nigerians into the Unbroken category. No further questions are asked about wealth. It does not even have to be created. Have you heard about get rich or die trying?

The meaning of life is lost since the mentalities of the people have been permanently destroyed by the existence given to them by the Unbroken and the institutions of the Unbroken in which religion plays a psyche role.

There are other ways the Unbroken have destroyed the Broken. The rules are now unwritten. Physical slavery has longed been transformed to mental slavery.

This is where we are and this is the mountain we try to surmount when we tell the people that the enemy is a common numerator. The rest of us have been splitted into different denominators.

It is a sad situation for Nigeria.

That is why in the words of my friend, the more things change the more they stay the same. Staying the same is the aim of the Unbroken. It is in tune with their mission. We the oppressors can change, but the people we oppress must stay the same.

Is there a way out?

One of the questions we face as commentators is what are you going to do about it?

Adeola Aderounmu will keep writing about these things. The truth is worth dying for. I don’t know about the others because l have seen many people crosssed from the Broken to the Unbroken in the years that l have been on this side of the divide.

I will stand with the Broken Nigerians all the days of my life no matter how comfortable l become and no matter where l am.

The Broken have always lost the battle since time immemorial sometimes through outright massacres. They continue to lose their voices because of the crossover of those who they think were with them.

Why do you think they say, if you cannot beat them, you join them?

There are many slogans and even games that have been used to sustain this global madness.

On historical accounts, the cost of freedom throughout civilisation remains high. The most fundamental ingredient of freedom is the people staying on the same side and fighting the common enemy and the institutions of oppression.

Sadly too, history has massive records of betrayals and deceits.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Still Not Another Great Year

December 29, 2015December 29, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

In historical context, the real (coming) liberation of Nigeria is not a biafran agenda. That sounds genocidal. It is the people’s agenda that will bring freedom.

Still Not Another Great Year

By Adeola Aderounmu

Which Way Nigeria?

One of my closing articles last year 2014 was titled lt Was Not A Great Year.

I recognized, though, that 2014 was a breakthrough for someone or some people.

It is the same for 2015. The year will end soon. Femi got engaged to Ann. Someone got married. Another got a job. Someone finally laid the foundation for a house or one family finally moved to their dream home.

Perhaps someone started school in Accra or in the US.

These feats like building a mansion or having the economic means to attend the school of one’s choice outside of Nigeria could be hard-earned personal achievements or breakthroughs.

Some feats are definitely based on ill-earned wealth like looting of state or national treasury. Some people robbed the bank and some cheated some corporate bodies here and there.

In my world, genuine achievements are the only ones worth celebrating.

In my personal opinion, for Nigeria and Nigerians especially the common people with whom l associate, 2015 will not be remembered as a great year.

I don’t even want to think about the sorrows of Mama-ibeji whose two sons were gunned down by a psycho policeman because no one in position of authority in Lagos state is taking the responsibility for the tragedy.

For those in authority and for all those who have grown insensitive to the real meaning of life, it is merry as usual no matter where the next tragedy is aiming.

In 2015 more Nigerians slided down into the unemployment curve.

Generally poverty remains rife and sadly a persistent way of life for several millions.

Social injustice took a turn for the worse. Hate crime and crimes in general increased. Apathy and inaffection took control of millions of people.

War continues to ravage some parts of Northern Nigeria. Despite the claim of technical victory of the Nigerian government, killings linked to foreign religions and faiths escalated. Even killings related to pure tribal killings escalated in different regions.

What is technical defeat? Deceits in Nigeria has helped in the inventions of varbose terminologies. In 1993 we learnt that annulment was different from cancellation. So again l ask, what is technical defeat or technical victory?

The response of the Nigerian army leading to the summary execution of some fundamentalists in Zaria will continue to attract attention and condemnation for the present government.

Religion has laid fertile grounds to future violence and catastrophes in several parts of Nigeria. I don’t see a way out soon. Telling people to do away with religion in Nigeria is a license to creating more enemies for yourself. They don’t understand history.

I will remember many things about 2015.

Some of these memories won’t be about new developments. They will just be part of the shock that l have lived with most of my life.

Millions of people are living in Nigeria without a mind of their own. They cannot think for themselves about what is good and right. They don’t see or understand how governments and religions have made them zombies.

People’s mentalities have been permanently deformed. There are no cures.

In 2015 Nigerians are still listening to the same old music-that their politicians are criminals. The latest revelations have been dubbed Dasuki-gate.

I prefer to call it the Dasuki-Jonathan-Iweala gate. It is not different from the Babangida-gate when billions of dollars disappeared into thin air. It is not different from the Obasanjo-gate. It is the name that keep changing, Nigerian politicians are hard-core criminals.

Now, it is Dasuki that is talking. His arrest and confessions are enough to trigger a revolution in Nigeria.

I cannot ”shop” or ”buy” that denial that Buhari did not benefit from the Dasuki-Jonathan-Iweala gate. No, not yet.

Why should l believe all the confessions of Dasuki and take off only one of them because it is about Mr. Buhari? I can as well just dismiss all his confessions in that case.

True, the APC-led government is now acting under immense pressure in recent days.

I don’t feel sorry for Mr. Buhari and his supporters. They can try all they can. They can explain or justify all they can. What is unchangeable is that the Dasuki-Jonathan-Iweala largesse went round and came round.

Dasuki may have just bought his freedom by implicating Buhari. If he continues to talk, it will get messier. Suddenly a bail could be granted!

Who know? Nigerians may have heard and seen the end of another make-believe trial.

APC is not the solution to Nigeria’s problem.

It is the people of Nigeria who will determine when enough is enough.

They will do this by first, occupying and sacking the senate.

They will choose good men and women of impeccable character to sit and discuss how they want to live and pursue happiness. Soon, they will find it that this is do-able without a rotten and wasteful senate.

They will talk about what kind of life they want their children and grandchildren to live.

They will sit and plan a system of government that will work 200 years from now and forever more.

They will learn from history that this is how great nations arose, that no country was served with greatness on a platter of gold. It may take time, but this is where Nigeria’s greatness will be molded-when the people make up their minds.

When a senate is cutting ribbons to launch suggestion boxes then you know that the conquerors of Nigeria are truly insane.

When the people are ready, without a single loss of life, they will negotiate their existence within or without Nigeria.

It is not a Biafran agenda which sounds genocidal already. Rather it is a liberation-of-Nigeria-agenda and the people will orchestrate and carry it out.

This madness where a few privileged people have successfully sustained a permanently corrupt and haphazard system that enslave and punish more than 100 million people must come to an end.

It is arguably the biggest tragedy in the world unfolding since 1960.

Hence it is sad that at the end of 2015 the Nigerian government in its infinite mercilessness continue to make decisions whereby the people pay for the sins of the criminals in government.

The latest is the credit card palaver. It was the end of year present for all Nigerians for their resiliency.

It was a topping on the recurrent annual ritual of petroleum products scarcity.

These came on the heels of the biometric verification process that robbed millions of Nigerians the opportunity to run their bank accounts simply because they don’t live in Nigeria.

I could give a million reasons why 2015 was not a great year. Imagine if l delve into the health, education and infrastructure areas. What about if l went ahead to discuss the power sector and the failure of the manufacturing sector.

One thing is undeniable. Nigeria is now a backward country compared to the rest of the world.

There is however no end to this argument that 2015 was not a great year for Nigeria.

For me, to even imagine what lies ahead of Nigeria in 2016 under the prevailing global crash in oil-prices and other revolutionary advances around the world is totally hearbreaking

aderounmu@gmail.com

Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation

December 28, 2015 / Adeola / Leave a comment

Looking at the composition of government between 29 May 1999 and 29 May 2015, persons from all ethnic groups have participated in running down Nigeria financially and economically.

Corruption, Biafra And The Untrue Claim Of Igbo Marginalisation

By Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

In Nigeria up to January 15, 1966, where the name of the President was Nnamdi Azikiwe and the name of the President of the Senate was Nwafor Orizu, it must be the most uninteligent propaganda to assert that the Igbo were marginalised in Nigeria since independence.

After the civil war Igbo soldiers and civil servants who were in the service of the Federal government before the war were re-absorbed and those due for pension received it. Even Ojukwu who led the rebellion applied for and received pension as a Lieutenant Colonel the rank he held in the Nigerian Army before the war.

From 1979 to 1983 when civilians ruled Nigeria, the Vice President was Alex Ekwueme and the Speaker of the House of Representatives was Edwin Ume Ezeoke. During the military rule of Ibrahim Babangida from 1985 to 1993 Ohaneze Ndigbo was so pleased with him that he was honoured with Igbo traditional title of ‘Ogugua Ndigbo’ meaning ‘the Comforter of Igbo People.’ It is noteworthy that Babangida’s Minister of Finance and National Development was Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu.

In the eight years of Obasanjo’s Presidency, Igbo played prominent roles in his government. After the exit of Theophilous Danjuma as Minister of Defence in 2004, Obasanjo appointed Thomas I. Aguiyi Ironsi the son of General Ironsi as Minister of Defence. Between 1999 and 2007, there were not less than four Igbo Senate Presidents.

When the Senate President, Evan(s) Enwerem, was impeached for fraudulent change of name and certificate forgery he was replaced with Chuba Okadigbo who in turn was impeached for breaching financial regulations by granting anticipatory approval for street light contracts. He was suceeded by Adolphus Wabara who also was impeached for collecting bribes to pass budgets and was replaced by Anyim Pius Anyim.

While Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was Obasanjo’s Minister of Finance, Charles Chukwuma Solhdo was Governor of Central Bank and Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke was Director General of Nigerian Security Exchange Commission. Special Adviser to Obasanjo on Political Matters was Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife and no one could see Obasanjo without first passing through Andy Nnamdi Uba. Up to 29 May 2015, the only position in Nigeria a person of Igbo ethnic group did not occupy since the return of civilian rule in 1999 is just the Presidency.

In the last four years of the government of Goodluck Jonathan, persons of Igbo ethnic group featured prominently in very strategic positions.

Here follows some examples:

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) was Anyim Pius Anyim
Chief Economic Adviser to President Jonathan was Professor Nwanze Okeidigbe
irector Budget Office of the Federation was Bright Okogwu
Director General, Bureau of Public Procurement was Emeka Eze
Director General Bureau of Public Enterprise was Benjamin Ezra Dikki
Director General, Security Exchange Commission was Arunma Oteh
Director General Nigerian Security Exchange was Oscar Onyema
Managing Director AMCON was Chike Obi
Governor of Central Bank after Sanusi was removed was Godwin Emefiele
Managing Director of Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund was Uche Orji
Director General, Housing Fund was Sunday Iroha
Managing Director, Bank of Industry was Evelyn Oputa
Director General of PENCOM was Chinelu Onuoha
Director General, Debt Management Office was Dr. Abraham Nwankwo
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for Economy was Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Finance was Anastasia Nwokobia
When Professor Bert Nnaji was removed as Minister of Power, he was replaced with Professor Chinedu Ostadinma Ndubuisi Nebo
Minister of Health was Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu
Minister of Labour and Productivity was Emeka Wogu.
When the late Ashiru was removed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2013, he was replaced by Viola Onwuleri
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations and up till date is Professor Mrs. Joy Ogwu
When Stella Adaeze Oduah was removed as Minister of Aviation in 2013, she was replaced with Osita Chidoka.

The list can be made longer in exposing persons of Igbo ethnic group that held strategic positions in Jonathan’s government but permit me to reflect on the removal of Stella Adaeze Oduah as Minister of Aviation.

In 2011, the budget for fuel subsidy was N245 billion but by December 2011 the sum of

N1.7 trillion had been paid out by the Ministry of Finance without supplementary budget.

After January 2012 uproar over Jonathan’s plan to remove fuel subsidy, subsequent enquiry showed that billions of naira were paid for unsupplied fuel and that the government was subsidizing thieves.

Among the subsidized thieves was the Minister of Aviation, Stella Adaeze Oduah, who parallel to her ministerial post was also Director General of a company, called Sea Petroleum and Gas (SPG). She owned 99% share of the Company while the rest 1% was shared between those identified as Elisabeth Stewart, Josephine Oduah and Erotomi Buwa.

The Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy Payments discovered in September 2012, that SPG collected one billion, nineteen million, five-hundred and seventy-one thousand six-hundred and nine naira as fuel subsidy without supplying any fuel. She was not alone in oil subsidy thievery under Jonathan that was not punished in that era of impunity (na me dey there, who fit catch me).

In what appeared to be power passed position, Stella Adaeze Oduah was found to have exceeded her internal budget approval limit of N100 million by approving N643 million for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for the purchase of 54 vehicles including two bullet-proof cars at $1.6 million in 2013. When the transaction was exposed, it turned out that the Minister of Aviation, Stella Adaeze Oduah was Igbo, the then Acting Director General of the NCAA who authorised the purchase of the armoured cars, Mr. Joyce Nkemakolam was Igbo, Director of finance at NCAA who carried out the order of the DG, Mr. S.Ozizi was Igbo, The Minister of Finance that granted a waiver (no import tax) for the purchase of the armoured vehicles, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was Igbo, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement who issued the Certificate of no Objection, Emeka Eze was Igbo; the Chairman Senate Committee on Aviation, Hope Uzodinma was Igbo; the Chairman House Committee on Aviation Nkeiruka Onyejeocha was Igbo; and the car dealer who sold the armoured cars, Cosmas Maduka was Igbo.

Yet some people have the gut to say Igbo were marginalised in the governance of Nigeria. That is completely untrue.

The second perceived injustice that necessitates demand for Biafra is the creation of only five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone as compared with other zones that have six or more states. The primary purpose of creating state is to bring governance closer to the people and the larger the landmass, the more there is need for State creation.

The five states of Southeast: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo–have a landmass of 29, 388 Square Kilometres and a population of 16, 431, 555, according to 2006 census.

Compared to the six South-south states comprising of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Edo and Rivers which have 94,924 Sq. Km., landmass and a population of 21, 044, 081, according to 2006 census, it will be unjust to have the same number of states in the Southeast as in the South-south with a landmass that is approximately five times bigger in size.

Although the Southeast is densely populated, it possesses the smallest landmass among the six geo-political zones and it should not have been more than three States in view of its landmass. In his Pirate Radio Broadcast, Nnamdi Kanu had talked about Igbo superiority, Hausa/Fulani parasitism and Yoruba cowardice.

He wants a Republic of Igbo land for Igbo alone but at the same time considers Asaba, Agbor, Ikot-Ekpene, Uyo, Eket, Ogoja, Calabar, Annang, Yenogoa, Warri, Ahoada, Ughelli, Degema and Port-Harcourt as part of Biafra’s 25 provinces. Apart from the Nka Igbo of Asaba and Agbor the South-south is composed of the Ijaw, Urhobo, Edo (Benin, Esan, Iromi, Auchi, Agenebode, Sabogida Ora) Itsekiri, Isoko, Ibibio, Annang, Oron, Efik, Ogoni and Ikwere.

Going by what happened during the civil war I don’t believe that the South-south will be willing to be integrated into Kanu’s Biafra. Victims of past tragedies should be less gung-ho about future ones. At moment we have three rival groups fighting for the secession of Biafra. These are IPOB, MASSOB and BIM.

A faction of MASSOB led by Uchenna Madu supports KANU’s led IPOB while Ralph Uwazuruike’s faction has formed Biafra Independent Movement, (BIM). Uwazuruike’s group has accused IPOB and Madu’s led MASSOB of perpetrating mayhem in the Southeast and South-south recently and blamed them for destruction of property and loss of lives during protests.

Biafra is not yet achieved and there is sharp disunity among the leaders. What then do we expect if the secession of Biafra is accomplished? South Sudan became independent from Sudan but soon after that the leaders of South Sudan, President Salva Kiir from Dinka ethnic group and Vice President Riek Machar from Nuer ethnic group, began to fight among themselves which culminated into a civil war that is still going on.

So far, the Igbo in other parts of Nigeria have not abided by the directive of Uchenna Madu’s faction of MASSOB, to return home to Igboland. Abiding by that directive, would have been the most peaceful way of achieving Biafra but many Igbo wisely consider MASOB’s directive as asking whales to leave the ocean to come and swim in a pond of water as a directive to embark on self-extinction.

Looking at the composition of government between 29 May 1999 and 29 May 2015, persons from all ethnic groups have participated in running down Nigeria financially and economically.

Therefore, there are as many, if not more, illegitimate ethnic Igbo millionaires/billionaires as there are in other ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Nigerian millionaires do not own factories and do not manufacture anything but poverty by stealing appropriated funds for national development.

President Buhari has promised not only to stop the looting of our collective patrimony by privileged few but to give investigative institutions free hands to arrest looters from the immediate past government, for the purpose of recovering looted funds.

It should be a unique opportunity for all Nigerians to support Buhari to sanitize Nigeria from thieving officials, but instead he is not only confronted with the menace of Boko Haram but Biafran secessionists.

If the resources of Nigeria are properly managed and the results are justly distributed among the citizens, the country would be a paradise for all of us. At the moment Nigerians are sleeping at the petrol stations to get fuel into their vehicles. Yet, Nigeria exports crude oil after reserving 445,000 barrels a day to be refined at the four refineries in the country for domestic consumption.

A barrel is equal to 159 litres which make 445,000 barrels to be 70,775,000 litres crude oil per day. If the over 70 million litres are refined, Nigerian oil refineries will be producing not less than 50 million litres of petrol per day apart from other derivatives such as diesel, bitumen, kerosine and some other chemicals.

Since the daily consumption of petrol is approximated to 40,000,000 litres, it means Nigeria would not need to import petrol and pump price would not be more than 30 naira.

But Nigeria’s four oil refineries have been plunged into comatose in order to pave way for massive and lucrative import of refined petroleum products while at the same time, the managers and directors of the comatose refineries are receiving full pay and allowances for producing nothing.

So in the coming year, I wish that we Nigerians may speak with one voice to the government of Nigeria. I wish God to punish those who have looted or are still looting Nigeria. I wish for God vengeance on members of the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature that have been or are still part of the looting.

I wish that the lives of those whose harmful designs of cannibalistic theft have denied majority of Nigerians quality healthcare, infrastructural development, clean and potable water, good housing and functional education, be cut off in gruesome manner as God did to Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts of Apostles Chapter Five.

CONCLUDED

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