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The Most Tragic Untold Story Of Our Time After The Civil War

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

A totally failed political system and the criminal-politicians in APC and PDP are currently responsible for the poverty and hopelessness in the country and they must be stopped in 2019 by allowing for fresh ideas and fresh minds in our political spaces. Otherwise we, or some other people, will be back in 2023 writing a similar sad story.

The Most Tragic (Untold) Story Of Our Time After The Civil War

By Adeola Aderounmu

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”Today, in my personal opinion, the dilemma that face Nigeria and the consequences of absolute misrule (before and) after the civil war are together probably the most tragic untold story of our time.

Over the years, closer to 2 decades, l have written about Nigeria and the ills in the society. More pertinently, as each year wraps up, in the last decade, l continue to emphasise how Nigerians unabatedly waste the opportunities that each year provides or presents.

The biggest opportunity in 2019 is the february presidential election. Historically, since 1966, Nigeria suffered a major setback in the world order. There were 2 senseless coups in 1966 that truncated an emerging democracy. The functional regional system of government that promoted developments across the different geo-political zones in Nigeria was discarded in favour of a useless and senseless unitary system.

The hopes that came with the re-emergence of civilian rule in 1999 has faded into thin air as criminal-politicians in the major political parties especially APC and PDP have hijacked the country and continue to loot her resources, depleting wealth rather than creating and multiplying it.

From 1999 to 2015, the period that l had earlier described as the ”worst years of our lives” as Nigerians, it was the PDP that held sway. A former military dictator, one Olusegun Obasanjo converted the 1999 to 2007 years to his personal rags to riches fable.

He left the position of the president after he was forced out by a combined efforts of politicians and concerned citizens who were against his bid for a life-presidency. He had since denied the allegations despite the several billions of naira that evidently flew around in the National Assembly, where the lawmakers continue to milk the country dry to this day.

It is an integral part of this tragedy that the people of Nigeria, both the enlightened and the unelightened, the educated and the uneducated at this moment cannot see beyond APC and PDP. It is one of the deepest cuts in the soul of humanity today.

When Obasanjo left in 2007, he forced the way of his candidate to electoral victory. In what appeared like goodwill to a friend he had in the military, Obasanjo imposed Umaru Yar’Adua, the younger brother of Musa Yar Adua-his late friend in the army, on Nigerians. Umaru Yar Adua died due to a potracted illness allowing his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan to take over the mandate of power.

Goodluck Jonathan later won the presidential election in 2011 and reigned over Nigeria until 2015. He served 6 years at the helm of affairs. Jonathan is a known drunkard and a very corrupt man from Bayelsa State. On several occasions, his wife had been found wanting on charges of corruption and money laundering. She never went to prison!

Nigerians suffered under a deplorable economic situation even with Mrs. Iweala as the minister of finance. Mrs. Iweala later wrote a book condemning the powers that be in Nigeria who strangulated her efforts and so on. As a social critic l see the presence of Mrs. Iweala in Obasanjo and Jonathan’s cabinet as an endorsement of corruption and ineptitude.

Mrs.Iweala did not blow any whistle and she did not resign to highlight the problems in the Nigerian government. During Obasanjo’s reign, she and her boss could not account for the returned Abacha’s loots. Mrs. Iweala in my humble opinion is one of the problems with Nigeria. If you cannot tell us the problems with Nigeria and the solutions while you serve and you cannot even call the police and the law on criminals serving with you, why bother when you are out of power and out of favour?

Between 2014 and 2015 there was a mass cross-carpeting amongst Nigerian politicians. The senseless phenomenon was repeated in 2018. In 2014/15, many of the criminal-politicians in PDP joined and teamed up with other criminals in other political parties and established the APC.  It was at this point that it became more obvious that Nigerian politicians have no ideologies and they are swift in repositioning themselves for the next, and every chapter of looting of the Nigerian treasury.

Buhari is probably the first person in history (or just among the very few that may exist) that spoke evil of his country and downcast her citizens while claiming to be the ruler of the country. It was highly moronic!

A notorious political godfather, one Bola Tinubu, championed the projection of a tyrant who had tried and unsuccessfully attemped the Nigerian presidency on 4 earlier occasions. Tinubu and another notorious politician called Rotimi Ameachi opened up the loots thay had accumulated from Lagos and Rivers state and ensured that the social media was well manipulated. It was the same way an ex-convict named Ibori was used by Olusegun Obasanjo to sponsor the election of Umaru Yar’Adua. The money meant for the development of the Niger Delta always wasted in many ways.

True, Jonathan is a crook. True, Nigerians were suffering and Jonathan had no clue over the affairs of Nigeria. One woman, a very silly and corrupt person called Diezani Alison-Madueke,  literarily took away Nigeria’s crude oil earnings and kept them as personal belongings. She was flying in jets with her children and family members and they were buying houses and merchandise around the world. Jonathan was either very weak or just a woman wrapper. It was a tragic regime.

Sadly, the change slogan that APC sold to Nigerians in 2014 and which brought Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015 had turn out to be the biggest fraud of the decade in Nigeria. The Buhari government is at par with the regime of Jonathan, if not worse. One of the most obvious corruption charges under the nose of Muhammadu Buhari-the grasscutter scandal-was never visited or sent for prosecution. Till today, the police have not made any arrest and the judiciary is working like zombies.

So invariably, we got ourselves (what we thought was) a new government with old attitudes. When l wrote about the status quo after the emergence of the APC in 2015, many thought l was in a hurry. But l knew that the morning shows the day. Buhari is a puppet too in so many ways, serving the interests of Nigeria’s slave masters (popularly called cabal) and self.

The old orders continue to reign. Almost all the criminals who have looted Nigeria since 1999 are free men and women. Murders and assassinations, latest of Alex Badeh, still have the approval of the presidency as they pretended nothing big happened. Mr. Buhari, contrary to the belief of gullible Nigerians, has no integrity. He should be arrested and tried for crimes dating back to the years before the Nigerian civil war.

In Nigeria, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Those who reigned with Obasanjo and Obasanjo himself are enjoying their loots. Those who reigned with Yar adua are enjoying their loots. Jonathan and those who reigned with him are mostly enjoying their loots. One criminal called Dasuki who mismanaged funds with the approval of Goodluck Jonathan is not so lucky. He has been in prison since Buhari emerged and he had not been left out on bail even with court injunctions in his favour on the matter.

In many cases and on many fronts, Buhari (whose identity is under probe by the IPOB) remains defiant and military-styled. In comparison to the other governments since 1999, this Buhari government is the most clueless. It is out of touch and the man (Buhari?) does not have the mental capacity to rule Nigeria. He is dull, lifeless (in the words of Trump) and lacks the intellectual abilities to lead a tribe, how much more a country.

He remains a stooge, a clog in the wheel of progress of Nigeria since 1977 when he started looting oil revenues. Buhari cannot be absolve of the Abacha loots either as they were the crude oil revenues whilst he was the chairman of the PTF. Buhari is probably the first person in history (or just among the very few that may exist) that spoke evil of his country and downcast her citizens while claiming to be the ruler of the country. It was highly moronic!

As the 2019 presdiential election approaches, both the APC and PDP are doing minimally in campaigns and reaching the people. They know that elections don’t matter as long as they can manipulate the electoral commission. That is where the real fight would take place as usual.

The summary of the situation in Nigeria that l presented above is in my very own personal opinion probably one of the most tragic stories of the 21st century. After almost 60 years of bad governments, spread of poverty, spread of illiteracy (with 13 million children out of school) and a political arrangement that pitch one religion against another and one ethnic tribe against the rest, Nigerians have arguably lost their senses of political identity and several millions have no idea about the state of global affairs and where Nigeria is on the scale. A country without a stable electricity for example is probably 400 years behind the others.

Nigerians are supposed to be living as royals. They deserve to be alright in all aspects of life. But sadly, and regrettably, only a handful of Nigerians are alright economically. But it is hard to even state that there is a Nigerian who is not living in poverty regardless of their wealth. Nigeria as a country is a depiction of poverty and penury. It oozes of hopelessness.

To be sure, Nigerians are amongst the poorest people in the world despite the fact that the country is spread upon the richest combinations of mineral resources in the world. This is because a few greedy people are mismanaging the wealth of the country and they have refused to allow the wealth to grow. We are practising a senseless and useless unitary system of government since the 2 useless coups of 1966. We are allowing one person to steal 12 billion dollars and still be in public light contesting for political office or sponsoring candidates.

One stupid question that l always have to try to address everytime l write an essay is: what then is the solution? I am tired of the question but still try to mention one or two hints. The shortest cut to recovery will be something very close to a (bloody) revolution where all the criminals holding the country to ransom can be arrested, surrounded and brought to very quick judicial judgements. This will change the course of history in Nigeria forever.

However in the absence of the courage to unite because Nigerians have been divided in so many ways and along so many lines, choosing another path (other than the criminally-inclined APC and PDP) is presently the best option for Nigeria and Nigerians. It is an integral part of this tragedy that the people of Nigeria, both the enlightened and the unelightened, the educated and the uneducated at this moment cannot see beyond APC and PDP. It is one of the deepest cut in the soul of humanity today.

The tragedy is far-fetched. In the face of the evidence provided, mostly by switching of political parties, that both APC and PDP politicians are part of a common criminal organisation, our people-Nigerians are still members of APC and PDP. I am in shock that people still attend APC/PDP rallies. It reminds me of why and how slavery in the hands of the Europeans and Arabs lasted more than 500 years.

How can we be free if we (all) belong to criminal organisations like APC and PDP? How can slavery ever end in Nigeria if the majority are still inclined to the old ways or the ways of the APC and PDP?

It is also a great shock to me as a writer that the memberships in APC and PDP are still massive. With the ways and manners that these parties have failed Nigeria, one would think that they should have faced dwindning membership and that the judiciary should be lining up criminal charges against all the key members and actors of these criminal organisations called APC and PDP. By now Nigerians ought to have pulled out and down the National Assembly which is also notorious for sharing the wealth of the country amongst its members.

APC came with the change slogan and amongst the changes we expected were the implementation of the restucturing agenda on her manifesto and the drastic reduction in the salaries and allowances of politicians from the local to the state and national levels. None of that was done.  We will never know what APC meant by restructuring which was the first point on its agenda. Buhari does not even want to hear the word restructure. He is that dull and insolent.

In 4 years of the APC, we did not see the re-emergence of the public schools, we did not see committments to public health as the politicians continue to travel overseas for treatment. We can go on to analyse what could have been done in 4 years but the APC keep blaming the PDP for its non-performance whilst still allowing criminals to parade the national landscape.

Nigerians should not make the mistake of committing the next 4 years (2019-2023) of the country’s fate into the hands of either the APC or the PDP. There are options. There are newer political parties that will perform better than APC and PDP. But the truth is that the problems facing Nigeria have gone beyond mere political parties. Still a new phase must emerge.

The political system is wrong and senseless. Before the 2 useless coups of 1966, there was a structure that promoted healthy competitions among the major regions in Nigeria. It is something very similar to that structure that would be fundamental to the resuscitation of the economic survival of Nigeria. The current unitary system of government is baseless, useless and should only be promoted by people of low mentalities and nonetities-and that is where the APC and PDP politicians are. They are criminals and so they adopt and promote this useless system of government.

Under the political structure similar to the what Nigeria had before the 2 useless coups of 1966, there would be no federal character and there will be no Abuja politics. We will all be busy promoting our regions educationally, healthwise, technologically and infrastruturally. This is what we must preach. We cannot go on with a failed system and expect development, unless we have no brains!

Apparently, the essay is inexhaustible because there is no way l will be able to address the solutions in a single essay. The essay grew by the day since the summer of 2018 just the same way my anger grew as you can see from the tone/language of the essay. It is very intentional and meant to provoke. This is why l run this blog and for over a decade l have been shouting and still on it.  I also run an instagram blog that updates daily. Check out @thygloryonigeria on instagram for my daily reactions to our problems.

The most significant change that must happen soon is the taking over of government from APC and PDP politicians and making sure that they are prosecuted for all their crimes since 1999. Some politicians and military men have been around since the 60s or 70s. They should be taken care of by the laws of the land. They must face the music.

Our problems are many. However, we must take the bulls by the horns. We will not develop even in the regions if we don’t elevate the rule of law above the rule of men.

Apart from the Boko Haram war in the north east of Nigeria, there is yet no official declaration of war in Nigeria. This is why l consider the life we live in Nigeria as probably the worst hidden tragedy in the world today. Against the backdrop of the potentials in the regions and to see more than 100 million people living from hand to mouth, unsure of the next meal: l see no greater tragedy today in the world outside a war zone.

A totally failed political system and the criminal-politicians in APC and PDP are currently responsible for the poverty and hopelessness in the country and they must be stopped in 2019 by allowing for fresh ideas and fresh minds in our political spaces. Otherwise we, or some other people, will be back in 2023 writing a similar sad story.

aderounmu@gmail.com

instagram: @thygloryonigeria

twitter: @aderounmu


Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Please Clear This Biological Weapon!

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

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

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

Governor  Akinwunmi Ambode, Please Clear This Biological Weapon!

By Adeola Aderounmu (Sweden)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The end of festac

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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4th Avenue by 402 Road, Festac Town                  

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is now one of my struggles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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                       402 Road, A Close, Festac Town                            

We are talking about the living conditions of humans here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I stand with the people of 402 Road.

#Istandwith402road

 

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

[Story and All Images by Adeola Aderounmu]

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

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

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

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

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

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

Mr Salimonu Kadiri

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com

Dark November Blues

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

The story of Nigeria is a sad story of cyclic idiocy.

Dark November Blues

By Adeola Aderounmu

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This weekend l looked at the headlines as l have always done. In fact l usually look at the headlines during the week as well. This way l am in touch with happenings and events not only in Nigeria but also around the world.

If you are a columnist or a blogger there is never a deficiency in what can trigger your opinion for your weekly essay or regular write-ups.

For sometime now l have also been thinking about the possibility of travelling to Nigeria for the first time since 2010. This has affected my mood, my disposition and my thoughts in no small way.

When l’d travel to Nigeria as l have done from time to time since 2002 when l first left Nigeria straight to Sweden, it had always been with mixed feelings. Partly, l am happy to see my families and friends again. On the other hand l am sad because l am reminded of the life of poverty that l always return to.

As far as Nigeria is concern, l am still a man living in poverty. I have written many times that becoming a member of the Nigerian family in diapora is not an escape from the poverty that stare at you in the face in Nigeria.

If one lives well abroad or even in Nigeria and pretends to be immune to the intensity and spread of social, infrastructure and material poverty in Nigeria, then one is heartless.

Personally I have never seen living in Sweden as an escape from the life of poverty that l know in Nigeria. It will not matter how long l live in Sweden. l have come to realise that l cannot dissociate myself easily from the several millions of Nigerians still struggling to live on less than 25 dollars a month or nothing at all.

Today l just need to purge my random thoughts, my november blues out of my mind. That way, l become free and my soul is set free.

This happens because there are so many things running through my mind at the same time to the extent that l doubt if l could say l slept well this outgoing week.

When l’d thought about my future trip to Nigeria l am so sad that the people that l know have become fewer in number. One of the laws of nature catches up with us as we grow older-the old and sick dying and newborns emerging.

My mother will not be there amongst those who l want to fondly remember. There are so many others that will be missing and l will not indulge myself in writing about those who went too soon. In almost all the situations where death has cheated me, l realized that the causes are either related to poverty or direct failure of governance.

But l refuse to elaborate further on those who have been taken away from me because of the rat race existence in Nigeria. I will let the tears l’ve shed wash my sorrows away.

There are so many reasons l write regularly, mostly about Nigeria.

One day someone who had been close to me during my adolescence commented on one of my essays: Adeola may you live to see the Nigeria of your dreams.

I think she aptly captured the essence of my essays. She is probably one of those who realised that l could have gone on to live a quiet life like millions of Nigeria living abroad. Those who write genuinely about the socio-political problems in Nigeria have no obligations to do so. It must be the love in their hearts.

My friend’s comment meant that she has been reading a substantial part of my essays where l refused to give up on living a good life in Nigeria. True, that Nigeria where things are normal and work as they should remains in my dreams.

To some people writing about Nigeria and your frustrations about the criminals ruling Nigeria means that you have an agenda, most likely that you have a political ambition that will make you become one of the criminals in government.

Must everyone steal/loot in government? Most people answered: YES.

That aspect saddens me.

In any case, for a country with more than 150 m people having unlimited natural resources and extreme diversity of languages, culture and heritage, there is a need for more voices and opinions from reasonable and selfless people.

This is urgent because a critical analysis of the Nigerian mindset based on the evolution of the social media and in fact conversations with ordinary people one meets leave a lot to be desired. Usually l am easily devastated by the urge of many more Nigerians to participate in politics because they want to become criminals like their fathers, mothers, uncles, friends and neighbours.

Who is going to bring about the Nigeria of my dreams?

Who is happy that several millions of Nigerians remain in absolute poverty living from hand to mouth? Who is happy that their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers are placed on minimum poverty wage of N18k per month? Who is happy that unemployed people may receive N5k per month as poverty unemployment allowance?

Is it not in the same country where some people stole several billions of dollars and remain free men and women? Is it not in the same country where a few men and women called politicians and their counterparts in the military have access to unlimited funds that they can loot, steal and divert for personal uses?

What is security vote? Nobody is even looking at that anymore. I heard it is several billions of naira given to a governor to provide security for the state he/she governs. I heard the governor does not have to give an account of the state’s security votes. Really?

So a governor can divert security vote to his personal account  for 8 years and get away with it just like that. Is this why insecurity is one of the biggest problems in Nigeria?

This country Nigeria is a country built on destructive tendencies in all ramifications!

So the story of a failed country goes on.

The senators are still earning as much as possible doing almost nothing. Sometimes they shout YA or NAY and millions of naira get wired to their accounts. Just like that! Then, they will decide one day to give 5 thousand naira to unemployed graduates. What a fantastic mess? Absolute rubbish and senselessness!

Ministers will finally emerge in the mid-November blues and they are mainly the same old suspects of corruption from the APC or the old PDP converts.

Then the judiciary and the presidency will play the probe game back and forth. They will decide who can be probed or not. Listen! Probe Jonathan! We can’t probe Obasanjo..! We can’t probe Babangida..! Abacha was not corrupt..!

Each government continues to blame the previous administration instead of hitting the ground appropriately to work. The story of Nigeria is a sad story of cyclic idiocy.

I am just wondering.

What can be the worst outcome if Nigerians storm the streets across the country and ask for the sack of all the federal and state senators and legislators and then place them on N5 000 a month until they find new jobs?

On the proposed N5k for unemployed people, my take is that rather embarking on such a disgraceful and dehumaninzing gesture, the government of Nigeria (at all levels) should double their efforts and committments to alleviating the suffering in the land.

There are what we call short-term plans and long-term plans.

Some short-term plans are achievable within 12 calender months when sense is applied. But when you spent more than 6 months to form a common cabinet or executive at state and federal levels, then it doesn’t make sense anymore. It means you are happy with your election or emergence and the people can go to hell!

I think 100% of the unemployed people will be happy to donate their proposed poverty stipends of N5 000 to the motherless babies home if for example electricity is constant in Nigeria say from January 2016 and for ever more.

With a common infrastrucure as electricity many of the unemployed people will become gainfully employed by either engaging in private businesses or becoming  absorbed by organisations and enterprises whose monthy profits are mainly used to provide power and other avoidable costs of running businesses.

Even the olden days agricultural development and settlement schemes of western Nigeria availed much. The blueprints must still be somewhere!

There are endless suggestions on either side of the take.

Long-term plan means tacking the fundamental issues that not only affect the political instability in Nigeria but also addressing the economic and development implications at the same time.

The Boko Haram war, the new face of Biafran uprising and the endless agitations in the South-West and in the Niger-Delta will not go away simply because President Buhari has a military background. You can’t purge away these uprisings and wars by a wave of the hand. Agidi o ran!

Boko Haram was underestimated, see where it is heading. Now people are wishing Biafra a sudden death..! what a pity!

That is why referendum exists.

Nigeria needs one now before the country explodes fully.

At this moment, the most reasonable way will be for Nigerian politicians to eschew their selfishness and adopt regional government as quickly as possible. It will not solve all the problems but it will a bold step in the right direction.

aderounmu@gmail.com

108 Modern Public Hospitals Now

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

What about the infectious diseases unit? What about children’s wards across the country? What about the maternity wards? What about us?

108 Modern Public Hospitals Now

Adeola Aderounmu

Södersjukhus in Stockholm. Nigeria must upgrade to International standard pix: Acrona

Södersjukhus in Stockholm. Nigeria must upgrade to International standard
pix: Acrona

The governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson is one of those people disgracing Nigeria and giving the country a bad name. Recently he spoke out of sense as he tried to rationalise the demise of a criminal politician who died recently in Nigeria.

Mr. Dickson blamed the death of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha on the federal government of Nigeria. He has been part of the federal government and now a state governor, so by his own submission that makes him a murderer too.

News had it that Diepreye Alamieyeseigha may have remained abroad or even flown back abroad (depending on which account of his death is true). We are told that his final journey was influenced by the issuance of the threat of repatriation by the British. Diepreye escaped from the UK without facing justice for his crimes.

Why was Diepreye receiving treatment abroad? Why was his life expectancy dependent on the hospitals that are in foreign countries? While he was the governor of Bayelsa State, what effort did he make to build or upgrade the health institutions in Bayelsa so that if he and his family members living in Nigeria got sick, they could go to the hospital for treatment?

This is what politicians and policy makers in foreign countries do. They make sure that while managing their corruption at the barest minimum, that the institutions that will serve them and their people are in place. The hospitals are one of those institutions. Functional public schools, good roads and water are fewer examples of an endless list of the basic things of life that give humans the dignity they deserved.

Nigerian politicians have no respect for the citizens of the country. They don’t think the people deserve the things that make life worth living. They are so myopic and wicked that they do not know that they need to provide amenities that will serve them and the rest of the population when the need arises.

Recently l wrote an essay titled: Let’s Go Die, Abroad..!

It was a reaction to the growing number of shameless Nigerian politicians and the so called statesmen travelling abroad to end their lives in several hospitals across the world. Some of them are lucky, they return to Nigeria alive.

A former Nigerian president Umaru Yar Adua was bundled, packaged and repackaged in several countries around the world when he was sick. For 8 years he was the governor of Katsina State before he became the president of Nigeria and no hospital was built or upgraded to care for, or manage his specific chronic ailment. The rest is history.

If not stupidity, how else can one describe such a situation when people who loot public funds cannot even think of providing something that could prolong their lives in their nearest vicinities.

We are all humans and we will always be prone to diseases, ill-health and other forms of frailties especially as we age. It will not matter how much money we have legitimately or how much some people have looted. Is there a way to let Nigerian politicians know that looting is not an antidote to diseases?

I am sure many of us have written about the shame of Nigerian politicians dying in hospitals in foreign countries and returned as packages to Nigeria for burial.

Still, it is worth writing about again especially as it appears that the shameful act remains unabated. The death of the Ooni of Ife in the UK is regrettable.

We argue and we try to prove it that civilisation started on the African continent. We argue and we try to prove it that intelligence in the group Homo Sapiens is independent of race.

But the rulers of Nigeria are weakening our lines of arguments in many ways. For example when they steal and loot money meant for public uses and when they travel abroad instead of providing for their health needs in Nigeria. Why must Nigerian rulers travel abroad for treatment and admission at hospitals and clinics?

As a way of elaboration, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha  was one of the several corrupt Nigerian politicians who looted the treasuries in one of the states in the Niger Delta area. Since the Nigerian form of fighting corruption is dependent on who is in power in Abuja, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was granted state pardon after he escaped from the UK dressed as a woman.

If not for the fact that fighting corruption in Nigeria is selective and heavily biased, the likes of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and in principle 99% of those in present day PDP and APC should have been arrested and their cases dealt with in Nigeria. Why must it take the British or the American government to arrest Nigerian political crooks? How much money is Nigerian forfeiting in the process?

Nigerians have come to terms that their politicians can or must be corrupt. The new wave is that many Nigerians are seeking indictments in order to be convinced that a politician is corrupt. When a man serves as a state governor for 8 years and still travel abroad for treatment or medical check up, what kind of indictment are you looking for?

When a national assembly loaded with corrupt people give passages to corrupt ministers-to-be, where do you go for the indictment?

When a man cannot be probed because he sponsored the presidential campaign with security votes among other looted funds, then we say he is not corrupt. Today it is the PDP that is under the spotlight, well no problem. Every dog will always have its own day.

But Nigeria is in a constant mess. The way we live separates us and we see the demarcation between them and us. Death either abroad or at home appears to be only leveler between the corrupt and the saints, the rich and the poor. Life will remain a passage, and only fools don’t see the vanity of primitive accumulation.

Let me repeat, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha  could have built a modern hospital in Nigeria where people like him and the citizens of Bayelsa can be diagnos and treated with dignity.

Nigerian doctors are ranked amongst the best in the world but they work in several countries around the world helping to maintain the health care system globally.

How many times are we going to write about the need to ensure that our doctors, scientists and other professionals are provided with conducive environment and structures to work with in Nigeria?

Death is one of the few certain things in life. So what is the use of looting, stealing and stupidly accumulating wealth and then refusing to build hospitals in Nigeria or refusing to equip the ones that have been built?

Now this is my challenge to the Buhari-APC mandate before the end of May 2019.

Look around the various states in Nigeria. Give yourselves the marching order to equip and upgrade the existing hospitals to the standards of the hospitals you usually visit abroad. If anyone suggest that this is not possible, that person is probably an enemy of progress.

In additon to the first mandate, a second one is that every state in Nigeria must have at least 3 big modern public hospitals.

Some states like Lagos may have may even need more than 5 big public hospitals because of the extreme high population of the state and also as a result of the frequency of accidents and number of sick people.

The Buhari-APC mandate may want to forbid any serving politician from seeking medical abroad say from 2017 when some serious work and upliftment should have been possible.

At the existing hospitals, an evaulation of the situation needs to be done. All the units including the Accidents and Emergency should be upgraded. If this happens before the next senator is invloved in an accident, then he/ she can be treated anywhere in Nigeria.

The recent sojourn of Akapbio in a foreign hospital is absolute stupidity coming from a man who boasted that he built a world class hospital in Akwa Ibom. I am yet to get a report on why he was not treated at the world class hospital in Akwa Ibom.

What about the surgery units? For how long will hard earned income and donations be packaged to India for correctional surgeries? How many Nigerians have died because of manageable diseases that they could have lived with until old age?

What about the infectious diseases unit? What about children’s wards across the country? What about maternity wards? What about us? Where should we go when we face life-threatening diseases? Is there anyone reading this who has not lost a mother, a father, a brother or a sister due to preventable health situations?

What about making sure that the upliftments are taken as priorities? What about developing a health care system that will not put the cost above the importance of life in Nigeria? Does living long have to depend on how much money one has and which hospitals one can attend?

When the lives of the people can be prolonged by how much money they have, then the essence of living in such a country is lost. It is a disaster by all standard!

Nigeria needs to improve the health care insurance process and health care delivery system.

This demand for 108 modern public hospitals is not an exaggeration and it may even not be enough to meet the needs of 170m people. But the 108 hospitals in questions are the publicly available hospitals to stop the sojourn of Nigerian politicians abroad. They will also meet the needs of the citizens at large. And don’t forget to bring back our doctors from abroad. Bring them home..!

In the meantime, don’t also forget that our return to regional government is a must because it is the only way to purge the major unrests across Nigeria including the Boko Haram war for which the APC-Buhari mandate has shown it may not win.

The 108 hospitals challenge is on. Now I start to count…

aderounmu@gmail.com