Clay Richie

A home always begets its Diaspora. To account for certain pathologies and behavioural traits; to understand why a given Diaspora ticks in a certain way, you must dig and trace their routes all the way back to their roots. More than three hundred years after separation, after the middle passage, after Massa, after the plantations of the Deep South, after the Civil Rights movement, after this and after that, there are still African American ticks you encounter and you say: hello Africa, na your face be dis? Long time! No matter the encrustations of time and new acquisitions of culture and experience, a Diaspora is always a mirror of the home which begat it. The source-culture always survives.

 Over the last six years the Nigerian nation had been bedevilled with the extremist cum insurgent group known as boko haram. The boko  haram has more often than not resorted to the use of terror and has justified its identity as a a terrorist organisation. The terrorist group before now has been involved in land grabbing exercise, similar to the Daish in the middle east. It has sought to enforce the most radical form of sharia and a proselytizing of the Nigerian north east under fanatical ideals based on distorted views of an Islamic society.

Fellow Nigerians, miracles shall never end. That is the only way to describe the incredible story of Major General Muhammadu Buhari at this auspicious moment. No one could have envisaged or foretold the huge drama being enacted before our very eyes.  It was not as if his popularity and cult-followership was ever in doubt but the general belief and assumption was that it was dominantly limited and restricted to a particular section or region of Nigeria. What was never expected was a cross-over appeal to all areas and segments of our nation.

President Goodluck Jonathan has visited Mubi in Adamawa State, more than three months after Nigerian troops recaptured the town from the insurgent group, Boko Haram.

Nigerian army Chief, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, has visited Baga town in Borno State, which has just been recaptured from Boko Haram, reiterating that the militants will be wiped out of Nigeria’s northeast in the next few weeks.

It had been a long day and as the session with the youth of Twon Brass came to an end at about 6.20pm last Friday, we were looking forward to another two to three hour trip by water back to Yenagoa. Then, the alarm bell rang. One of the officers who had come with us on the journey whispered to the Niger Delta JTF Commander, Major General Emmanuel Atewe, that two blue-coloured gunboats and five speed boats were spotted passing from the Atlantic Ocean into the creeks. “At what time did they pass?” Atewe asked. 16.47 hours, came the reply. “And why did you not alert me immediately so we could pursue them?”

Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk about this important topic at this crucial time. When speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally prefer to be my country’s public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists. But as we all know, Nigeria is now battling with many challenges, and if I refer to them, I do so only to impress on our friends in the United Kingdom that we are quite aware of our shortcomings and are doing our best to address them.

I schooled in Ekiti for five years and I had, and still have, very close relatives and friends in virtually every town of the State and in diverse sectors of the State’s economy. All of these people I still communicate with almost on a daily basis.

My attention has been drawn this morning to an article entitled: “Jonathan Replies Soludo over “missing N30 trillion” claim”— extracting from Mr. President’s interview as published by Thisday newspaper. ThisDay quoted Mr. President as saying that “Soludo said that under Ngozi’s watch they stole N30 trillion” but that since the sum of the federal budget over the last four years was less than N30 trillion, such an amount could not have been “stolen”.

I took advantage of the break caused by the postponement of the elections to visit a few places in the South-East and South-South zones and directly gauge the perception of the people about the current political developments in the country. The first place was my village in Mbaise, then my mother’s village, both in Imo State. After going to my state, I joined one of my close friends to pay a courtesy visit to one of the riverine villages near Yenagoa in Bayelsa State. Interestingly, some grass-roots politicians showed up during both visits and I took the liberty of the two visits to discuss Nigerian politics with both sets of people – my kinsmen and the kinsmen of President Goodluck Jonathan. During my discussions, it was obvious that President Jonathan has more supporters in Imo and other Igbo-speaking states than even in his home state, Bayelsa. Surprised?

The Nigerian Senate stepped down the ministerial confirmation hearing for Senator Musiliu Obanikoro today. The Senate did not give any reason the hearing was suspended or whether it was connected with the several petitions against his nomination.

The APC Presidential Campaign Organization (APCPCO) has commended the heroic exploits of the officers and men and women of the Armed Forces on their fight against the Boko Haram terrorists that have for several years made life a living hell for many Nigerians while creating the greatest security nightmare ever known by the country, since the end of the Civil war.

 Nigeria is being punished with global crippling sanctions thanks to its current leadership. The far reaching military and security infrastructure sanctions which have been in effect since as early as 2012 have caused immense hardship, embarrassment and continuous death in the populous African nation of 170 million.

 The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for Adamawa South Senatorial District, Silas Zwingina, has claimed that the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari, intends to send public office holders to jail if he emerges president. Mr. Zwingina, therefore, urged his party members to work hard to ensure that Mr. Buhari fails in his bid to become president.

This is but another cry of a Nigerian. I am on this side complaining today because there is no different story to tell. I wish I have been impressed by the services provided by these communication networks so that I can send some gratitude. But today is not a day to send gratitude; this is a day of bare criticism. As much as I understand that in every business, there is a need to make profit, at the same time every marketer should understand this simple phrase:  consumer satisfaction.

 President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has condemned the reversion by the terrorist group, Boko Haram to the callous bombing of soft targets in parts of Nigeria in the wake of the ongoing rapid recovery by Nigerian troops and their multinational allies of areas formerly controlled by the sect. A statement from the presidency today said “President Jonathan commiserates with all families who have lost loved ones in the bombings which continued today with attacks on Kano and Potiskum. The President shares the grief of all the bereaved families and is deeply saddened by the continued loss of many innocent lives at the hands of misguided and desperate fanatics who are now feeling the heat of the intense counter –insurgency operation by the Nigerian Armed Forces.

We haven’t even gotten to the elections and the instances are so many: bombs blowing up at campaign grounds; people being stabbed and shot; political offices being burned and shot at; conveys being vandalized, the list goes on.

 Members of the Islamist terror group, Boko Haram that are running away from the fire-power of Nigerian troops are reportedly calling for ceasefire and immediate stop to hostilities.

Troops involved in the ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the North-East have arrested a number of terrorists who disguised as women in Baga, Borno State. Baga, the headquarters of the Multi-National Joint Task Force, was captured by the insurgents in January but was recaptured by the Special Forces on Saturday.

Over the years the federal government has wasted trillions of naira in the pretext of fighting insurgency in the north east. In spite of the huge amount of money budgeted for security, the insurgency took a worsening toll in terms of casualty this year. The trillions of naira allegedly spent on fighting insurgency do not reflect on our military that are directly involved on the war against the domestic terrorists called Boko Haram. Our military remain poorly equipped. It took the intervention of Chad republic to help save the North-Eastern states that are gradually sliding towards the apocalypse. For all this years, I have been naive and wondering what went wrong with our military that use to be the pride of Africa. Few days ago,I received an alarming message from a very respectable Nigerian in the security. The message reads like to this:

Troops engaged in cordon and search in Baga continue to discover more arms of various background and shapes abandoned in some houses and the surrounding by fleeing terrorists. Heaps of weapons most of which were strange looking or destroyed are still being gathered.

Obasanjo had last week dumped the PDP by Publicly ordering for the tearing of his party membership card. The development drew reactions from several quarters with the president’s men and the PDP condemning his action. However, it was gathered that President Jonathan had planned to use his visit to Ogun State on Friday to visit the president, but Obasanjo who got wind of such move hurriedly left Nigeria for the Gamba on Thursday.

I used to have a little respect for Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Mostly because he has for the last few years been standing up to my political rival, Goodluck Jonathan and his loving wife Dame “Mama Peace” Jonathan. It is not easy to fight the president, I know this. However Amaechi recently claimed that Christian leaders in Nigeria had been given 6 billion Naira by Jonathan to campaign against Buhari. I do not like people who do not verify their facts before they go to press. More recently, a Borno-based cleric who is in a better position to know this by virtue of his membership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, has made a contrary assertion.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said he underestimated Boko Haram Islamists who have overrun swathes of the country’s northeast. He also defended the election postponement in an interview published today by Thisday Newspaper.

Surprise! Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is back in the news yet again. Last Monday’s show in Abeokuta was more spectacular than his previous performances. The card-tearing ceremony was part of activities lined up to dramatise and formalise his exit from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The previous week, he was in Kenya adoringly endorsing Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the opposition presidential candidate. Buhari’s supporters were over the moon — as if God had spoken. President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters were jolted — but they went into denial. Two days later, Obasanjo was in London categorically denying endorsing Buhari. Obasanjo!!!

 Nigerian troops have recaptured Baga from Boko Haram militants today according to a tweet from the Nigeria defense spokesperson.

Fellow Nigerians, no matter your faith or religion you’ll agree that there’s something spiritual about the current contradictions afflicting the ruling class in Nigeria. A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable that the almighty People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would be on the defensive in a major election year. Not when its powerful operatives had projected that it would reign and control Nigeria for a minimum of 50 years. But how the times have changed, sooner than later.

They are not godfathers properly called; but their political antecedents and propensities can be explained only within the context of the godfather phenomenon. Alternatively, but with limited accuracy, they may be described as oracles in so far as they remain formidable national figures whose perceived political sagacity attracts an assemblage of political actors of motleyed plumes whose ambitions border on the threshold of political relevance.

 The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says contrary to subjective reactions that the postponement of the February election dates was injurious to the nation’s democracy, unfolding events, especially the prevalent huge deficit in the distribution of the Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) have shown that the development rather saved the nation and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) a huge embarrassment.

The news item on Page 3 of the Daily Trust Newspaper of Wednesday 18, 2015 read thus:  “Election: Card Reader Violates electoral act-Senate”. The story was based on the contribution of the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) on the floor of the Senate on a motion which came under consideration when Senate resumed plenary on Tuesday the 17 th  February 2015.

Buhari in a document highlighting this said he would publicly declare his assets and liabilities, if voted into power. He said he would encourage political appointees in his administration to also declare their assets publicly. In the document titled, “I pledge to Nigeria” Buhari also said that all his political appointees would only earn salaries and allowances as prescribed by the Revenue and Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission.

A tree does not make a forest and the forest that APC must be , must consist of all sorts of trees. However, as they say, when the head is rotten then the fish is rotten. Buhari’s performance, if elected , will depend on his personal attributes , the men around him and the institutions they are able to foster but much more on the mission he elects to undertake. He must have a clear mission.

Many terrorist have been killed in air strike targeted at Sambisa Forest and Gwoza, it was learnt yesterday. Sambisa is believed to be Boko Haram’s biggest hideout. Gwoza in Adamawa was seized by the sect, which abducted many policemen from the Police Training School in the town. The Defence Headquarters said hundreds of the terrorists were fleeing.

There is a joke I shared several years ago on this page of a lavish society wedding after which the couple retired home to commence their honeymoon. At bed time, as the man joined his wife and attempted to consummate the relationship, she withdrew from under the pillow a court injunction perpetually restraining the husband from claiming “all his entitlements”. What made the “report” believable, as I said at the time, was that the said injunction was obtained from a court in Abuja, a city notorious for breeding judges for whom “justice” is a commodity that can be traded even on the Stock Exchange.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday in Lagos assured Nigerians of the country’s capability to defeat the Boko Haram sect, as he inaugurated four Nigerian Navy Ships (NNS). “Let me use this platform to promise my Nigeria country men and women that we will rout Boko Haram,’’ Jonathan said at the Naval Dockyard Ltd Victoria Island venue of the inauguration.

The Presidency has given 12 reasons why Nigerians must re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan for another term of four years during the March 28 presidential election. This was contained in a piece, titled, “Twelve reasons to support Jonathan,” published in the current edition of the in-house magazine of the State House, Abuja, called Villascope.

Time there was when all you needed to do to win an election in Abia State was to be colorless, a stooge and a card carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Time there was when all you needed to do to win an election in Abia State was to be in the good books of the Orjis–from Orji Uzor Kalu to Theodore Orji.

Abuja His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Azikiwe Ebele Jonathn (GCFR) Commander-in-Chief, President Federal Republic of Nigeria My President, THAT YOU MAY NOT BE THE LAST PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA; AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Nigerian forces backed by air strikes have killed more than 300 Boko Haram fighters during an operation to recapture 11 towns and villages since the start of the week, the military said on Wednesday. “Several weapons and equipment were also captured and some destroyed,” defence spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade said in a statement.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Ade Adefuye, on Tuesday faulted an editorial published by the New York Times on the postponement of the general elections in Nigeria. “I was shocked and disappointed to read your editorial of Feb.16 titled ‘Nigeria Miserable Choices’ because it distorted and omitted important facts,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Remember the days when the Nigeria Military was enviably one of the most respected institutions in Nigeria? It was thought to be only for a selected few; at lease for those in the Southern part of the country. As teenagers in the 1990s, we respected and envied anyone who was able to get into the Nigeria Defense Academy (NDA). Then only those that either have the right connections or that have demonstrated some exceptional degree of extra-terrestrial intelligence (by scoring 100/100 in the “showmanship examinations”) would have the opportunity to be accepted into the Academy.

The charged atmosphere in Nigeria before the rescheduling of the 2015 presidential election was not for the love of the country as many people would make us believe. It was a desperate desire to get power by the opposition All Progressives Congress and to retain power by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

By Newswirengr The Ekiti Justice Group, EJG, Monday condemned the alleged diversion of N57.34m drugs meant for Ekiti State to the campaign of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) by the wife of former governor of the State, Mrs Bisi Fayemi.

In an editorial on Monday, the New York Times slammed the postponement of the Nigerian elections.  It pointed out that the action might have been more credible if President Goodluck Jonathan’s government had not spent much of the past year playing down the threat posed by Boko Haram and if there were a reasonable expectation that Nigeria’s weak army has the ability to improve security over the next few weeks.

Whether this story is a very popular story or not, I’m uncertain but the lesson(s) to be learnt from the story is very certain and concrete;

I have decided to stay on the matter of Nigeria’s state governments for a second week, to surmount the temptation to write, at this time, about the election postponement and the accompanying mêlée.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, on Monday said former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s exit from the party was not a loss to PDP elders. He said they would not miss the former President.

Troops in a military operation spearheaded by highly coordinated air assaults have completed the mission of clearing terrorists from Monguno and environs this morning.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday morning dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He handed over his PDP membership card to the Ward 11 leader in Abeokuta North local government, Alhaji Surajudeen Oladunjoye and instructed him to tear it.

The topic of this intervention recommended itself as it is very evident that Nigerians want change. It is also very clear to the discerning that majority will vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to save Nigeria from bad leadership and an under-performing administration. The contrived postponement of the election also attests to this. And the international community supports this. This is good for our democracy in many ways and good for Nigerians.