Nigeria

A case for the French Embassy in Nigeria

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Written by David Udo Anwana

My name is David Udo Anwana, I am writing to request for a legal assistance for a case between me and the French Embassy that has been lingering in the karu magistrate court in Nasarawa state Nigeria, since 22nd of October 2007 till date.

I am a former staff of the French Embassy; I worked with them from 3rd of November 1997 till the date of my resignation on 30th of March 2007. (From Lagos and Later transferred to Abuja in November 2000).

I decided to resign from my appointment with the French Embassy due to the ill treatment I received for being a Nigerian and a black; on many occasions I was insulted and even called a black slave and was once called a kidnapper by the former 1st Counselor of the French Embassy, Mr. Dominique Raoux-Cassin, Time won’t permit me to relate all the ordeal I went through while working with the French Embassy.

I even wrote the syndicate CFDT-MAE in France explaining my ordeal, before I decided to resign, and nothing was ever done, a copy of translated version of that letter dated 15th February 2009. When I got the job with the French embassy in Nov. 2007,this was after I was asked to submit my resignation letter to Cameroon airlines in Lagos where I worked for four years , I was given a contract when to sign I read through the contract and was never for once told that if I serve the French Embassy in Nigeria and decided to resign from my job voluntarily I won’t be paid my entitlement for the period I served.

It was a surprised to me, when I was told the French government don’t pay gratuities to its staff, it was a surprise not only to me, to the entire members of locally employed staff.

After my resignation, I wrote to the French Ambassador requesting for my entitlement and my pension which was not remitted to the P.F.A. of my choice from 2004 – 2007 and kept at the custody of the French embassy till june 2008 , when it was finally remitted ,with a miscalculation.

I needed my money in order to look after my family of 4 kids and my wife, who was pregnant as at the moment I left the French Embassy, and to also settle my rent in Abuja and also start a small business to be able to sustain my family.

Some few months later, I got a response from the French Ambassador telling me that the French Embassy don’t pay gratuities to its staff, this was rather strange to me, since it has always been paid to former staff who also resigned voluntarily or for any other reason from the French Embassy.

Sir, the hardship and difficulty this situation put me and my family specially my wife who was expecting a baby, and my landlord also served me a quit notice at that moment, since my house rent was overdue and all my children were driven away from school, I could really not bear the whole situation any longer.

I then requested for the service of a lawyer, he wrote the French Embassy and they never responded and he personally went to the French Embassy to deliver a letter to the French Ambassador, he was rejected at the gate, when this news got to me I was really disturbed and frustrated and could not control the situation any longer, I was forced out of frustration to take the law into my hands by going to the French Embassy and cause some damages on two of their vehicles and was taken to Asokoro Police Station, this incident occurred on the 16th of October, 2007, while my wife was at the Asokoro General Hospital in the labour room and she put to birth on that same day being assisted by some friends and neighbors. I was koboless, frustrated, pushed to the extreme and acted out of frustration, I spent 7 days in the cell bitten mercilessly by the cell mates and was taken to the Magistrate Court on the 22nd of October 2007 and was bail out by two of my friends.

Since then I have been going to the Magistrate Court till date as regard the same case. I was given the chance to speak only twice, the police prosecutor handling the case kept on adjourning the case, for reason best known to him till date, I couldn’t appear once because my daughter was very sick I had to take her for treatment and the date escaped my memory, few days after I receive a call from one Mr. Danladi the prosecutor aid, to meet him at Kerra hotel in Mararaba, that he has a message for me, I had to go with some friends of mine getting at the spot, some 20 minutes later, i saw the police prosecutor coming in and we greeted each other and he asked me why I failed to appear in Court, I explain to him what happened, this was around 10pm in the night, and he then brought out a warrant of arrest, and said he is here to arrest me, I should follow him to Asokoro station or else he will deal with me, I gave him the full respect due to him, and pleaded with him to kindly follow me to my house, since I didn’t tell any of my family members where I was going, so when they are informed then I will go with him, he insisted that we should go from there, I then told him, it won’t be possible for me to follow him if my family is not informed, I asked him when is the case adjourned to, he said the following day, I told him, ok, tomorrow I will appear in Court.

His aid Mr. Danladi then approached me and said, I should discuss with his boss and settled him or else he will not allow me to go home, that the matter is very serious ,that they were sent by the DPO Asokoro police station to come and arrest me. I told him I can’t do give money to his boss as far as this matter is concerned, and moreover I don’t have the money, I have been without a job from March 2007, where does he expect me to take money from.

I pleaded with him to allow me go home, this pleading took us to about 11pm in the night, which I stood on my decision to first go home and inform my family, we dragged on that until my friends later told me that we should give them transport money for the fuel they burn in coming to Mararaba, since they came with bike. A sum of N2000 was given to Mr. Danladi and they finally left and I left with my friends to my house.

The next day I appeared in court, just for this same prosecutor who came to arrest me the previous day told the magistrate that he is on special duty and that the matter should be adjourned to another time and told the magistrate that I ran away, they have been looking for me severally and they arrested me yesterday and took me to their station and that they brought me straight from the cell on that day, I was shocked to hear such statement, but was not given a single minute to say a word, and suddenly I was asked to provide two guarantors since I jumped bail which I did, since then, the prosecutor aid have been calling me and asking me to meet him at odd hours of the night and at a specific location, I have never accepted to do so, and he has been telling me to cooperate with his boss or else I will regret. I don’t understand what he meant by that.

I had to write the French Embassy, explaining all my ordeal with the police and I have also written them series of letter of apology as regard that incident, in response to one of those letter, I receive this reply from the new Ambassador, a copy of the reply is attached to this letter, the French version and the translated version in english.

Currently I am without a job and my family is undergoing serious hardship and my kids are all at home, I can’t afford to pay their school fees, and my rent is due. I can’t settle it. I can’t afford to pay the service of a lawyer for my defense as regard this case, that is why I write to you sir/madam to request for a legal service and help, to enable me get my freedom and face my small business of teaching French Language and computer to people at home, which has been the only source of income for me and my family, but the incessant adjournment of this case has not allowed me to concentrate on my life, I need your help and I need the help of all good Nigerian and the international community to help resolve this matter.

I will be ready to accept your invitation for further explanation as regard this matter, the case was adjourned till 16th of June 2009 – The French Embassy has sent Mr. Dennis Emmanuel, the MOPOL who was on duty on the 16th Oct. 2007 to come and testify on this matter at the magistrate court, this is well after they might have sent me a letter telling me the French embassy neither any of their agent have ever taken me to any court of law.

I will be most grateful if my request is approved. I need your assistance and the assistance of everybody.

The French Embassy expatriate have on many occasion told us the local staff, specially the Nigerians, that there is no law in our country Nigeria, that we can’t do them anything and that we don’t have the money to get a lawyer, I am not the only one who must have experienced such, so many others were just sack for no just reason they are ready to be invited to talk about their own experience. Once you spend 10 years and above, they will look for a way to send you packing, you will be frustrated, insulted, mistreated until you resign, they don’t care because they know you can’t do anything.

They even told us that, are we treated better by your country why do we expect good treatment from them, after all your salary at the French Embassy is better than what your ministers and governors earn. So we should not even complain and that there are many out there waiting for our job, that has resulted to so many staff resigning without being paid, and others have been sack after 28, 15, 10 years of service without any compensation paid to them, putting head of families on untold hardship, it is really sad that such thing are happening in our country and nobody is aware of it.

It is really disheartening and painful and frustrating, I shed tears whenever I remembered all I went through at the Embassy in my own country and nothing is being done in this regard. I think this is this time for the world to know what we went through and what we experienced in the hands of the French expatriate in our own country Nigeria, It is really bad , I also plead to our government to look into this matter, we are really suffering in silence in the hands of the French people at the Embassy here in Nigeria even up till this moment.

They really hate us; they are here only for their own interest not ours.

Sir, I wouldn’t want to be push to the extreme any longer, if in the course of there hardship the police prosecutor who is cooperating with the French Embassy to put me to jail, succeed in doing so, since the prosecutor and his witness , the police inspector who handled the case openly told me they will do , because he even instructed the magistrate handling the case to jail me as this will serve as a deterrent to others, he has an many occasion ask for my financial assistance, personally and via Mr. Danladi, telling me that he is traveling for either marriage, or burial that I should find him some money, I told him I don’t have, this has angered him so much so that he told me I will see.

If he succeed in doing his will and I am put to jail and my children and my wife suffer for no just reason, I don’t believe this will be just, I and my family are suffering unjustly, after I must have spent 10 years of my youthful years only to be told bye bye by the French embassy, no compensation, it is rather very sad, they openly told us that even if you spend 35 years of service or have reached the retirement age, the French government won’t pay you, all you have is your pension , we have asked them to provide document in the Nigerian labor law to back their claim , they have never done so, from 2004 – 2007 my pension contribution was never remitted to any pension fund administrator.

After I wrote them severally asking for my money, my pension money, it was in June 2008 that my IBTC Pension Account was credited with a sum of N112,000 and I wrote the French Ambassador to request for a break down of this money, nobody every care to answer me, my last salary with the French Embassy between 2004, and 2007 was between 400 euro and 430 euro , how did they calculate 7.5% contribution by the employer & 7.5 % contribution by the employee calculated from this amounts to 112,000N only, they even cheated on me on their calculation, we are really helpless in our country, one of those who were sacked unjustly by the French embassy reported his case to the foreign affairs, nothing has ever been done, he spent over 15 years of service and was sacked unjustly without any compensation paid to him.

My question is what do we do, I was frustrated and took the laws into my hands and today the police prosecutor is using this as a mean of getting money from me, he told the magistrate on one of the hearings regarding this case, that he went to the French embassy with a copy of the letter that was sent to me by the French Ambassador to confirm if it was written by the French Ambassador and that he met with the French Ambassador who told him it was fake, I was so shocked and surprise, and wrote the French Ambassador about it, and he never responded. This is a clear evidence of his co-operation with the police prosecutor to cause an untold hardship to me and my family, we are asked to respect the rule of law, does obeying the rule of law give the French Embassy the right to mistreat Nigerians in their own country. I once asked the French Ambassador in one of my letters, if that is the way the Nigerian Embassy in Paris treats the French citizens.

Please you should all help me out this , I need my gratuities be paid to me and the police to allow me have my peace, I will be most grateful to you all.

David UDO A.
08036124282
Udo.david@gmail.com

Why June 12 Is Our ONLY Hope

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by Adeola Aderounmu

June 12 1993 is a day that has refused to depart from our memories and to millions of witnesses it appears like it was just yesterday. Making it right once and for all is an enormous task and the fact that the successive undesirable governments in Nigeria continue to ignore this date is a very sad omen that will hunt this generation and the next. I do not see any ray of hope for Nigeria until the actualization of what June 12 represents. Call it superstition but Nigeria is worse now than it was in 1993. With the continuous denial of what June 12 represents and the non-actualization of the dream/ ideals, it can only get worse in Nigeria!
Though it’s been 16 years we must continue to tell and repeat the story so that the truth is not distorted and for those who didn’t know what happened then to know what transpired because until we learn from our common history and make amends for our avoidable mistakes we will most likely continue to rotate at the same point. We cannot move forward until we start doing the right thing.

June 12 was not about the contest between MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa. June 12 is not about the junta and it is not about the military tropical gangster called Babangida. June 12 is not about these people. It was about democratic principles and the simple rule of law. On June 12 1993, millions of Nigerians voted in the best election ever conducted in the history of Nigeria. It was possible for the people to vote correctly because the elections were actually properly planned and well conducted.

As a result of the precedents to June 12-long years of wasteful and corrupt military rule, vain promises, crushed dreams, battered economy and complete hopelessness in the order of things-, the hope that came with June 12 elections was greater than that which Obama brought with his campaign and victory in the US. There were pre-election debates and it was easy to discern that one of the two candidates had a plan and promises of hope for a brighter future.

The people voted and the results were rolling in to the favour of MKO Abiola. When it became evident that Abiola would win, Bashir Tofa (the opponent) was said to have sent him congratulatory messages. I was humbled by that simple gesture of sportsmanship. It was supposed to usher in an era of politics without bitterness. Records have it that as the results were been announced, the prices of goods and services were dropping. There was a tailor who refused to be paid for the services he had rendered. He was so overjoyed that “at last” hope has come to the people. Even the cost of transportation went down drastically in those few hours of glory. There were numerous fine moments that accompanied the announcement of the results. Hope and a sense of belonging were in the air.

That was the spirit and mood until Nigerians received a rude shock from the nonentity called Babangida. This useless man cancelled or annulled the best election in our history. There were many hypotheses to this annulment including that Abiola was a creditor to the government, or that a few ignoble persons would not like to see him become the president of Nigeria. Some people said it was because of what he did when he was in NPN that he betrayed Awolowo. In democracy, these or any other fabrications are useless and thoughtless arguments.

The fundamental thing about June 12 was that a presidential election took place in Nigeria and Abiola won. The crime about it was that some cabal secretly plotted against Abiola and eternally denied him of the mandate that the Nigerian people gave to him. He was asked by the people to give them hope, but a few arrogant and selfish persons, a few of whom are unfortunately still around the corridors of power decided otherwise.

The annulment was resisted by many true democrats, some were killed and many went into exile. Prominent Nigerians chickened out and were back in subsequent illegal governments because they were simply opportunists originally. Kingibe who should have been the vice-president in a rare muslim-muslim ticket (which Nigerians were satisfied with) even had the guts to serve in the present lame government. Many Nigerian politicians are shameless. As looters, they never get enough, do they? They always stage a return to our lives and the implication is that since 1960, we have had a system of recycling sycophants in our government. Those that cannot be recycled stay out as godfathers-destroying the system to meet their own needs and selfish ends.

Many people died in vain in the struggle to actualize that mandate popularly called JUNE 12. May their souls find peace. They are more honourable than Babangida and the thoughtless cabal put together. Have we heard all concerning the brutal murder of MKO? He died under questionable circumstances while a delegate from the United States was visiting him. How did a cup of tea become a poison? We knew that a delegate from the US visited him in prison but is the story of the poisonous tea cup actually valid? Was he beaten to death? Is Mr. Abubakar Abdulsalam paying yet for the crime committed under his watch?

MKO Abiola was killed on July 7 1998 when many thought he would be released to claim his mandate after the death of one of the notorious generals called Abacha. The implication is that he was up against an evil cabal who will not mind travelling to hell just to deny him the honourable mandate. Indeed the cabal succeeded in their plots and 16 years after, Nigerians are paying dearly the price for the evil of a few men.

Why is June 12 our only hope? It is because unless we conduct a normal election where our votes are counted like that fateful day in 1993; there will be no democratic government in Nigeria. I do not believe that Nigeria is yet a democratic nation. What we still have are hand-picked sycophants and looters who are not answerable to anyone and who are above the laws of the land.

June 12 election was peaceful, free, fair and devoid of violence. If the election was not stupidly annulled it would have been the benchmark for electoral processes in Nigeria and indeed Africa. We lost that chance and we have not been able to regain it since 1993. Lowly countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia that are recuperating from recent wars did better in electing their leaders and making them accountable while the sleeping giant of Africa has failed to produce a credible election since 1959. What a real shame?

June 12 is not only a symbol of democratic struggles but also a symbol of the dignity of man. The dignity of the Nigerian masses has been perpetually rubbed in the mud. Today the masses still have no rights, no dignity and are not respected by the wicked leadership. The typical Nigerian man or woman knows very well that his/ her vote is not worthy. These people suffer from extreme low esteem and self-pity. It is pathetic and sorrowful.

The only way forward for this country is to set the records straight. The corruption, injustices and social inequality being perpetrated by the leaders and looters in Nigeria are the reasons for the poverty that prevails in Nigeria. It is the reason that 3 square meals is a privilege. It is the reason why the nation is making giant strides back to the Stone Age as the rest of the world continues to enjoy the fruits of the 18th century industrialisation and 21st century globalisation.

Those who disengaged us from the dreams of June 12 are among us and the time is now to bring them and their stooge to Justice. Anything short of justice means that peace, progress and prosperity will be an everlasting mirage for the common man in Nigeria. Justice must be done. Babangida must account for his deeds as a chief truncator of the hope of June 12. All the participants in that treasonable act in June 1993 should be brought to book.

It is not right that a country so blessed can also accommodate more than 90m people living desperately on less than 2 dollars a day and having no access to clean water, no proper housing and lacking a befitting standard of life. If the estimated 90m people living on less than 2 dollars a day in Nigeria stand up to be counted in a mass action, they will salvage the remaining days of their lives and secure the future for their children. There are more than 140m Nigerians and a solid resistant is needed to pull down the cabal and their antidemocratic bidding once and for all.

One thing is sure, in as much as we have refused to take the right steps and as long as we have not resisted those who are manipulating our country to a selfish end, millions of people will continue to live in poverty. This is not a curse; it is just what I call the unarguable reality of our lives. When is the truth going to set us free in Nigeria? When?

It is one thing for us to know the truth, acknowledge it, make amends and set Nigeria on the path of glory and it is definitely another thing to continue to deny ourselves the knowledge of the truth thereby allowing a few people to continue to enjoy the fruits of the land while leaving the helpless and resilient majority wallowing in abject poverty.

The way to GLORY will be a struggle on all aspects of our lives, social, economic…and so on. The way to prosperity and the good of all will be to seek the men and women who will be ready to serve selflessly and dedicatedly. In Nigeria, we need the rule of law above the rule of men. The present incapable government in Nigeria is the biggest joke of all epoch.

Each June 12 continues to unsettle the mind of the wicked. It will eventually bring judgment who those who spilled the blood of the innocents. The goodness of June 12 will bring milk and honey back to the Nigerians who are weak and poor, living on less than 2 dollars a day.

I will like to repeat and emphasize that June 12 is not about Abiola or Tofa. It is not about the cabal or a tropical gangster called Babangida. It is not about the unsolved conspiracy that killed MKO. June 12 is about the destruction of the everlasting foundation upon which the glory of Nigeria would have been built. It is about the confinement of Nigerians to a state of extremely low esteem and self-pity. Until the actualization of the ideals of June 12 this country will neither know peace nor make progress.

This is my personal opinion and that is the way that I see it.

The Most Corrupt People I know

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By Adeola Aderounmu.

Mrs. Waziri said she is prepared to sacrifice her life in the pursuit of her job as the boss of the EFCC. I have heard or listened to many useless comments before and this is one of the most useless remarks you can hear from a Nigerian official. What about all the corrupt charges hanging on her neck plus all the sacred cows she has preserved for Umaru’s next campaign?

I have tried to raise my head high at all times-and I am still doing that. I wear clothes with N.I.G.E.R.I.A on the back and coats of arm on the front. I have a Nigerian flag standing on my parlour shelf and a big Nigerian flag is hanging conspicuously on my window in a white-dominated environment. Despite being torn apart between the choices of nationalities I continue to remind myself that I am Nigerian. I don’t know how much longer I can bear the huge cross. It comes with a lot of humiliation-accepting the responsibilities and bearing the shame for what some ignoble people have done and what others are still doing. Thank heaven for the game of football else there will be almost nothing positive about the green-white-green.

Everyday I rehearse at least 1 article in my mind yet I have written less than 7 in the last 6 months. This is because I long for real participation in the struggle that will emancipate Nigerians from the madness that has pervaded the country for 49 years. I thought about my (radical) activities and the plans I had just few weeks before I left Nigeria and I wondered if I would not have been forgotten in the prison by now. Maybe not…

Sometimes I ask myself: Is it just me? Maybe I am crazy. But the answers are quick to come. Human nature is besieged with greed, envy and insatiation. If you add this to the complete lack of cognitive ability in the crude men and women who control violent-takeover of power with ill-gotten wealth in the peculiar Nigerian political landscape, you will end up with probably the most unreliable collection of political aspirators in the universe. This is equals to extremely wicked and selfish people.

I have written on a number of occasions in this square that Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. I stand by my observation. In those articles, I have also argued and explained why. The amazing thing is that the situation remains the same. I know about the corruption in South America and South East Asia and elsewhere. The most corrupt people that I know are in Nigeria. I have compared the level of developments in Mexico and Thailand to that of Nigeria and I know that a European tourist will rather go to Mexico with Swine flu than to Nigeria. No amount of Tsunami or molestation of foreigners can derail the tourism industry in Thailand. It will bounce back-branding or no branding.

It is not that Nigeria does not plan. We do. It is not that we don’t have visions or missions. We do proclaim those. The very few sensible people among the leaders in Nigeria are very good with textbook versions of how things should be done. But the reality is that the mad act called corruption is the stumbling block to almost everything.

Nigeria as a country will not make progress. Not too soon anyway because the most corrupt people that I have ever known in my life are in charge in Nigeria. Mr Yar Adua is a symbol of corruption. He personifies corruption to the highest power. It is ridiculously shameful. It is one of the major weight hanging on my green-white-green curtain. I am not proud of the position of that office right now. It weighs me down than my personal burdens.

The guy has openly confessed that he was rigged into power. He has also insulted the intelligence of anyone who cares to know that he cannot prosecute all the corrupt people around him because literarily they are all the same. Men and women who have no honour! Altogether, these people have no integrity and their sense of judgments is clouded by greed, selfishness and the corruption that goes with power.

How can any plan, vision or mission work out in such a counterproductive country like Nigeria? The country makes monies that are shared among crooks, godfathers, opportunists, sycophants and extremely corrupt individuals. It takes madness to store money in foreign accounts when Nigerians are starving. In Yar Adua’s Katsina, thousands of women fetched dirty water to sell from deep wells. They make less than 1 dollar a day! Generally while Nigerian masses are classified among the poorest in the world, Nigerian politicians are the highest paid in the history of man. Paradox or irony?

Schools has dilapidated, hospitals are so unsecured that even Yar Adua himself depends on voodoo and foreign hospitals. Schools have been shut, opened and shut again. School fees are above the clouds, far beyond the sky and education is no longer for all. Billions of dollars are resting in private accounts and the deaths on the dilapidated roads are blamed on witches and wizards. The electricity supply is the worst in the whole world and the seventh largest producer of crude oil is now a laughing stock in the comity of nations. A nation of 150m people depend on less than 3 000 MW of electricity. Michael Faraday must be turning in his grave. The Niger Delta is now a killing field to the delights of the clique whose groundnuts have been grounded.

President Obama is visiting Ghana because Nigeria is so unbelievably corrupt that any attempt by Obama to visit Nigeria can destroy his political career. Nigerians have been deceived again that the economy will be among the greatest 20 by year 2020. Nonsense! How can that happen? What about the persistence of the crooks and political jobbers that are siphoning the money that we will use to build the economy and infrastructure. Even when I think about FIFA and the world cup saga, I just think that FIFA is simply stupid.

It is only in Nigeria that FIFA deals with government which is against the statutory procedures of FIFA. FIFA knows very well that Nigeria lacks the infrastructure and when we do have them, we don’t maintain them. Yet FIFA is still looking in the direction of Nigeria. Will it take a 10 year old boy (born in 1999 when we hosted the world) to inform FIFA that the corruption in Nigeria will not allow us to do anything right? FIFA is not even thinking about the heat in Nigeria and that matches cannot be played at night because of lack of electricity. How does FIFA think sef?

I simply do not understand why Nigerians are allowing all this rubbish. It beats me! Is this why the intelligence question is dangling over our head? How dull are we really? I was expecting a total revolt or some kind of revolution with the nonsense that took place in Ekiti. Was what an election? E gba mi o..! That was absolute rubbish and to think that it passed is unimaginable and unthinkable. What happened to the song we sang those days: how many people police go kill o, how many people police go kill…? What has happened to the resistance that pursued and hastened IBB to Abuja? Some people deserved to be chased to the bush right now.

The most corrupt people that I know are working with the Nigerian government headed by one unserious and incapable Yar Adua and the earlier Nigerians wake up, the better for the future of their children. I seriously do think we need to do something now. The time is now. We must enforced an appropriate electoral reform and pursue early elections. Let’s see if we’ve learnt any lesson. Our future is ruined. The future of our children is stolen..!

Democracy day is not May 29. It is JUNE 12

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By Adeola Aderounmu

10 years of irresponsible governance

The best election in Nigeria’s history was annulled in 1993. In 1999, a sad page was opened in the history of Nigeria. It continues till today. It is sad because Nigerians have surprisingly not been able to participate in any credible election. The votes have never been counted.

May 29 1999 saw the emergence of the evil party in Nigeria. The PDP has destroyed lives. They have destroyed dreams and they have destroyed the pillars of democracy. Obasanjo spent 8 years to run the country into pit and the present leadership of Yar Adua has not done anything tangible to lift the people out of poverty.

There are more than 140m people in Nigeria. Over 90m live from hand to mouth. Uncountable numbers of women die from preventable conditions relating to child birth and diseases. Health care is on ground zero. The Universities that used to be the best in Africa are now ranked among the worst in the world. Primary education is almost non-existent. Teachers are not well paid and their salaries are irregular. School and education have become reserved for the elites-the rich and the well-to-do in the society.

Corruption is now a way of life and ill-gotten wealth is the norm. Children and youth lack decent role models and the society is now ridden with abnormal adaptations of abominable vices. Housing has never been planned with the poor and weak in mind. There are no social security systems to cater for the multitudes of unemployed, children, orphan, the old, fragile and helpless.

After 10 years of uninterrupted (stupid version of) democracy, the gains have been with the politicians getting richer by continuous looting of the treasury. Across Nigeria, the politicians continue to get richer, acquire wealth illegally and award themselves contracts and monies in reckless manners. They’ll do anything to be rich, to loot and crazily become stinkingly rich. The people that they are supposed to serve are reduced to beggars and losers. It is sad. It has gone for 49 years in total and there is no end in sight.

So as “they” celebrate and in very expensive manner, the masses are crying with great pain and extreme difficulties. They are completely hopeless. The electricity generated in Nigeria can barely serve one local government, yet the entire federation is supposed to use this worthless quantity of electricity. What is wrong with Nigeria?

Refineries are not working because some people are getting scandalously rich daily from the misfortunes of the nation. I cannot believe that these anomalies are perpetrated by normal people. People who fail to understand the purpose of governance and the transiency of human existence. I am convinced that the leadership of Nigeria is unintelligent and lacks the cognitive abilities to comprehend the meaning of public service. This is definitely a mad act syndrome that has infected almost everyone in Nigeria public service.

This is the only way I can explain acquisition of wealth beyond the needs of a normal person. It is the only way I can comprehend billions of dollars in Swiss banks while people are dying of poverty and impoverishment in Nigeria. Sad!

So, it’s 10 years..! 10 years of waste! 10 years of near zero achievements. 10 years of waiting in vain. 10 years of continuous stealing and looting by the wicked and heartless politicians. 10 years of hopelessness! 10 years of insanity! 10 years of zero future planning..! 10 + 39 years of wastefulness and visionless leadership.

What is needed in Nigeria is a group of young men/ women who are committed to nation building. A group of people who don’t care about the madness of riches. People who are happy with one car or even a bicycle to get around. People who will not permit corruption or looting of the treasury. We need men and women with brain, mission, vision and purpose to help this great nation to take its rightful place among the comity of nations. We need people with the proper leadership qualities who can harness the wealth and potential of this country to a positive outcome.

We definitely also need to redefine our method of governance. We need to shift the power from the centre to the regions. We need to bring governance to the people and out of the people. We need a system that allows dialogue and promotes participation. This system where one robot in abuja regulates everyone else is completely senseless, negative and uncivilised to the core.

Nigerians, wake up and save this country for the future. Think about your children and begin to adopt the right approach towards governance. You know why Obama is not coming to Abuja; he cannot been seen to physically support the unelected government in Nigeria when democraticall elected government exist in Ghana, Sierra Leone and even Liberia! Obama cannot afford the risk of been seen with all the corrupt looters who are friends and actors of the regime in Nigeria. The scandal is something he cannot afford.

If we don’t put out house in order and begin to use our intelligence in a positive way, there will be more national embarrassment in the future. But eh! What does a Nigerian Politician care? Seriously, this dilemma is getting beyond human comprehension. We need help..!

June 12 is the legitimate democracy day in Nigeria

Fuel Scarcity: A recurring madness

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by Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil. There are no petrol to use in Nigeria. Nigerians are suffering due to lack of petrol and petroleum products. In my opinion, this is probably the BIGGEST SCANDAL in the History of Man.

Think about it this way. Petrol and petroleum products are never scarce in countries that don’t produce crude oil. The worse that can happen in this non-producing countries is increase in price. I have never experienced scarcity in Sweden. The prices do go up and down according to market forces.

But in Nigeria, a country where crude oil exist naturally, the products from crude oil can be scarce or completely absent.

Nigeria has no functional refinery to produce petrol, so the indigenes largely depend on marketers who import finished petroleum products. In my entire life I don’t think I will experience any lower level of intelligence from any race of humans.

That a country that extracts crude oil imports petroleum prooducts is the most stupid thing that any one can think of. This confirms that Nigerian leaders are dumbs. They are stupid, selfish and wicked!

No sensible government has made it a priority to return the refineries to optimal production level. Turn Around Maintenance have been done on papers and no plausible results have emerged.

Because the country depend on importation, billions of dollars are lost and the economy suffers. The other implictation is that the importation has made some individuals extremely rich. They are so rich they can punish the other 140m others by their acts and decisions.

Every year, the government increase the price of petroleum products. Every year, it talks about subsidy removal, subsidy this, subsidy that.

The truth is some individuals continue to steal, loot,drain and siphon the national treasury. The outcome is that ordinary Nigerians suffer during oil boom and during oil doom.

Why are the refineries now working? When will Nigeria address the issue of making the refineries work and building more refineries so that she can stop importing what she extracts from her own soil? When will the greediness, madness and stupidity in government be halted? When will the gangsters stop fooling around and enriching themselves at the detriment of the 140m others?

No one is even talking about the other natural resources in this country. Agricultural products for export have been relegated to the background. Another reason why the economy is non-vibrant and the naira continues to suffer depreciation. Serious problems if you ask me.

Above all when will Nigerians rise up and demand good governance? We are already sending our children into internal slavery like our great grandparents who were sent to international slavery.

We need help and deliverance. From where cometh our help..Thy Glory O’ Nigeria..!