Clay Richie

Today’s reflection was inspired by Buhari’s recent reiteration of the determination of his government to run ‘an inclusive government ’. Speaking recently when he received a delegation from Nasarawa State, led by Governor Abdullahi Sule, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari was quoted as saying: “In the next four years, I want to assure you that we will remain committed to the change agenda. Our goal of building an inclusive, secure and prosperous Nigeria is achievable.” On June 12, 2019, the country’s new Democracy day, Buhari also declared: “Nation building takes time. But we must take solace in the knowledge that this country, our country, has everything we require to make Nigeria prosper.” In fact, in recent times, the words ‘nation-building’ and ‘inclusive government’ have been popping up more than ever before in Buhari’s speeches.

The attention of Igbo leaders has been drawn to a statement credited to Sen Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, representing Abia North in the 9th senate. Sen. Kalu was quoted as saying that the Igbo should not expect anything from the APC-led administration because they voted against the All Progressive Congress.

If you were born in the early 1980s, it is safe to conclude that since the day you started brushing your teeth by yourself, you have only known a conflict-prone Nigeria. You are almost 40 years old now and the headlines you’ve been reading all your life are killings, kidnappings and bombings. You’ve never known an era of peace and calm. When you think one cycle of conflict has ended and you are trying to breathe easy, even shouting “hallelujah” under your breath, another cycle explodes — and it is always not less devastating than the previous one. Nigeria is a land that can flow with milk and honey but is, unfortunately, flowing with sorrow, tears and blood, as Fela would put it.

Nigeria is security challenged. No national interest issue has singularly dominated Nigeria’s political and socio-economic discourse as insecurity and government’s antipathy towards related public outcry. No nation is insulated from security challenges. Some nations have well-developed response systems and mechanisms. In contrast, Nigeria’s systemic modalities for responding to insecurity focus on “safeguarding” establishment and policy options that are not working.­

The Tiv / Jukun crisis has persisted for so long. We have lost thousands of precious lives and immeasurable property and resources. Many are  maimed for life or living in displacement. Tens  of thousands of children have been orphaned by conflict and millions of our fellow citizens now face threats of starvation in the face of rising food security. Our society has been degraded far beyond anybody’s imagination. It seems there is no end to our disillusions and predicaments.

…The Cabals fight back and dirty Contrary to the widely held belief that Vice President Osinbajo, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a senior advocate of Nigeria, and a Professor of law is above board, a forensic analysis of his activities since he assumed office reveals that the VP has consistently abused his office, negating the principles of Federal Character and has systematically favored members of the Redeemed Church and his Yoruba tribe.

Muyhideen Ibn Arabi (1165 AD -1240 AD) was one of the greatest clerics, philosophers, teachers, poets, intellectuals, spiritual masters and Sufi Muslim scholars that ever lived. A native of Andalusia in modern-day southern Spain, his knowledge, wisdom, moral authority and influence shook the very foundations of the entire civilised world and helped to shape both Muslim and non-Muslim philosophy, literature and thinking through the ages.

I was glad the other day when the Federal Government announced a ban – yes an outright ban – on the very frightening and future-usurping practice called the Almajirai system. I had written on this page more than twice, about how that is the singularly most serious drawback for Nigeria, today and tomorrow. If we could get all the children on our streets back into school, we may be able to get a sane society of developing and progressive minds who are ready, able and willing to contribute to modernity and be more useful to our societies, maybe in 50 years. For every day we postpone, we are elongating that process by several decades still. As it is presently, Nigeria is one country that is producing in the millions, people who will ensure its continued backwardness and eventual destruction in years to come. Deliberately so.

The current president Muhammadu Buhari unveiled what he considers a sustainable economic blueprint which in his words if meticulously implemented and followed through in this his last tenure, is capable of unleashing tremendous national wealth which if equitably re-distributed is capable of jump-starting one hundred million Nigerians out of poverty.

Most times, Nigerians are accused of having unusual foreign taste. They are accused of preferring foreign things over local things just because they believe that foreign things give them an air of wealth, class and distinctiveness. This was eternally etched in music by Bright Chimezie in his song, which earned him the soubriquet ‘Okoro Junior’.

Reactions to Monday’s incident between Prof Wole Soyinka and an unidentified young man on an airplane are typically Nigerian-impulsive, emotional and clearly devoid of rigour. A nation cannot grow beyond the thoroughness of its people’s contemplation. For it is from deep thoughts about conditions around a people that vision is born and as the good book says, a people without a vision are going nowhere. This is why it is a happy thing that Soyinka, the good man of letters, has not joined the partisan mobs that have taken on the war that they have no business in.

Written by Philip Paul Bliss, ‘Hold the Fort’ (Ho My Comrades) is one of the most popular Christian hymns. It is also one of my favourites. Not only because of its powerful lyrics and rich melody but also the story behind it. The hymn was inspired by ‘The Battle of Allatoona Pass’ on 5th October 1864 during the American civil war. A Union garrison stationed in Atlanta, Georgia had been invaded by a large army of Confederates. Outnumbered and outgunned, the fighting troops were on the verge of surrender when they saw a signal flag raised several kilometres away on the Kenesaw Mountain which read: “Hold the fort; I am coming. W. T. Sherman.” It was from their commander, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Corruption was defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery. The process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased. The process of decay; putrefaction.

My attention has been drawn to statements by the so-called Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, the deputy to General Muhammadu Buhari, in New York where, as usual, he made false statements to the media in an effort to explain away his non performance in office.

Malcolm N. Shaw, Queens Counsel, is a senator fellow at the Lautorpacht Centre for international law, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

The logic is simple.  The 2019 presidential election in Nigeria cannot be, by all accounts, the worst election in the history of Nigeria without the corresponding INEC chairman being, at the same time, the worst INEC chairmanin the history of Nigeria.  INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, presided over an atrocious and fraudulent election that is now being fiercely contested in the courts.  He can no longer remain as INEC chairman.

With the recent inauguration of 9th national assembly and the election of Ahmad Lawan, a doctorate degree holder and Femi Gbajabiama, a lawyer, at the helm of the affairs; one can say the ruling All progressive Congress (APC) got its axle together and got what it aimed for. Be that as it may, one needs to ask if the ‘ayee’ will continue to have it.

Senator Ahmad Lawan is the incumbent Senate President of Nigeria, having won the election into that office, 79 -28, beating his rival, Senator Ali Ndume of the same ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Lawan was the anointed candidate of his party, the APC, but he worked hard to negotiate with and secure the support of other members of the Senate across party lines. He secured a bi-partisan victory in such a convincing manner that has caused turmoil in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party. The PDP has since ordered an investigation into how its National Assembly members voted contrary to the party’s directives. The PDP must pursue that course with extreme caution in order not to shoot itself in the foot. But what has Ahmed Lawan done with his victory and what has been the fall-outs?

Many politicians have engaged the services of some people as their Media Aides who lack the proficiency and profundity of journalism and public relations. Many of them are good writers and communicators but not journalists; some are bad writers and communicators who are not journalists while others are well trained journalists who have decided to go against media law to please their bosses.

Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (1932-2017), from Oko, Orumba North local Government Area of Anambra State, was the vice president of Nigeria between 1979 and 1983. Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke (1935-2011), from Amichi, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, was speaker of the House of Representatives from 1979 to 1983. Professor Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo has been vice president of Nigeria since 2015. He was born into the family of Opeoluwa Osinbajo, who was the late treasurer of Our Saviours Anglican Church, Ikenne, Ogun State. Professor Osinbajo was born in Creek Hospital, Lagos. The vice president’s mother, Madam Olubisi Osinbajo’s parents are both from Ejigbo in Osun State and Ilaro in Ogun State. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Adefemi Akeem Gbajabiamila was born in Surulere, Lagos. Dr. Ekwueme, Chief Ezeoke, Professor Osinbajo and Femi Gbajabiamila are lawyers. Incidentally, Professor Osinbajo and Gbajabiamila are old boys of Igbobi College, Lagos. A

“Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.” – Kofi Annan “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” – Aristotle Late Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi (1952-2012) was my friend and brother. We had had dinner in a Lagos restaurant with Herbert Wigwe, then Deputy CEO of Access Bank, two days before the helicopter crash that took his life and that of another friend, Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State.

An adage says ‘when big challenges are giving hard blows to a person, smaller ones will have a field day’. No matter what this present administration says, there is fire on the mountain. Like joke like play a big conflagration is already consuming our big edifice as we used to make jest. The earlier we agreed on this and map out ways of escape the better for us all.

Whether the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, failed to think through his statement last Tuesday condemning Nigerian military troops who are on the frontline of fighting the Boko Haram insurgency or he was just being magisterial like all bosses do, the import and symbolism of that waffling condemnation, it will seem, are far too fatal than he probably can guess. His allegation against the hapless soldiers, shunned of hyperboles, is treason.

By their PRO you shall know them. Sometime in February this year, I got a distress call from a friend’s wife in the UK. She said there was a spelling error in her new Nigerian passport which she needed to correct urgently because of some critical deadline she had to meet. She had gone to the Nigerian high commission in London and the official who attended to her said the change could only be effected from Abuja. I confidently told her not to worry, that it would be corrected. Fellow Nigerians, it took three months to fix a one-alphabet spelling error! We were thereafter told to rejoice and be glad, because correcting a spelling mistake took one applicant two years!

My country, Nigeria has suffered, since its amalgamation and independence, from a chronic lack of intelligent and unselfish leadership. With extreme regularity, we have consistently appointed, anointed and discovered witless, senseless and selfish folks to run our affairs. Which has meant that after 59 post-independence years, a country with some of the largest mineral deposits in the world is now a beggar nation with high unemployment, crazy insecurity problems and a below three per cent annual GDP growth. Our youth are venerating politicians and ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ boys in a collapse of morality, while our professional class is jumping ship enmass to foreign lands to wash dishes in fast food joints. Our education system has collapsed, with graduates unable to speak English properly and therefore unemployable in a professional setting. We get a new homegrown insurgency every other day, while kidnapping is now a steady job for a significant proportion of our population. As a people,

I was just informed a few minutes ago of the withdrawal of the appointment offered me as the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Nigerian Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan. I had hitherto enjoyed every of the diatribes provoked by the appointment. I was told it was the most discussed issue in Nigeria in the last few days. Of course, it was not humanly possible for me to read the over 5000 tweets and thousands of comments on other social media. As at the time of writing this, the issue was said to be the most-discussed in Nigeria on the social media. Said to be the brainchild of some hired Rottweiler dogs loyal to some lords in the APC, a campaign dubbed #sackfestusadedayo was mounted immediately and within hours, had given birth to thousands of recruits. Many of the commentators who took liberty to harangue me have no idea of who I am and went on a railroaded binge to dress me in an alien robe.

Fellow Nigerians, it is with so much pride and joy that I wish to choose my Man of the Year, midway to the end of 2019. God’s ways are indeed mysterious. I was a bit uncomfortable and perturbed when the ruling party, APC, was fighting tooth and nail to install Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan as President of the Senate and Hakeem Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The reason for my reservations and concern was not farfetched. I had imagined that the only reason was that, as has been typical of the highly touchy and sensitive APC apparatchiks, they must have identified Lawan as a robot they believe would do whatever he’s asked to do by the Executive, no matter how preposterous the assignment may be.

Nigeria is like that one big free cake that everyone is fighting over, wanting a bigger slice of it while it lasts. I’ve spent a lot of time frankly looking at the viability or sustainability of this paralyzed giant called Nigeria. Of course, my conclusion is as good as anyone else’s guess, which is that this country will never ever develop let alone having peace and security as it has been structured since 1966.

“Every day the bucket a go a well, one day the bottom a go drop out” – Bob Marley! In today’s Nigeria, the ruling class and the ordinary citizens have one conspicuous character in common. They have their slogans that stand out in their perception of actions taken and actions absorbed. The ruling class while acting, often motivates itself with the words, “Go ahead and act. Heavens will not fall”. The ordinary foot-soldier while absorbing actions of public perception, has cultivated a stale, old and delusionary subterfuge for characterizing any prominent person, who dares to criticize President Buhari, as “a looter, whose source of looting has run dry”. The facts are, all too often, highly irrelevant to both sides considering the odds they seek to surmount.

In a pre-election piece, “APC Risks A Crushing Defeat With Oshiomhole As Chairman”, I managed to put into words that the party’s “problem begins with the man’s personality. Oshiomhole, as a party chairman, comes across as a shambolic-cum-egocentric character understandably desperate for attention after leaving office as Edo State governor.

In addition to its revisionism, last week’s “revelation” by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was instrumental to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election is as deceptive as it is unhelpful.

Last week Tuesday, the Federal Government’s Twitter handle shared photos of the new Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, kneeling to greet President Muhammadu Buhari during the visit of the recently elected leaders of the ninth National Assembly to Aso Rock. Given the spate of events that led to the emergence of the ninth Assembly, Omo-Agege’s effusive display of respect affirmed genuine concerns that this batch of lawmakers are going to be mere seals of every executive whim. If he keeps up that kind of gesture, he will go through his tenure awestruck by political power and never be able to muster the necessary ethical strength to fulfil his democratic duty of enforcing tenets of checks and balances.

There must be something about political power that makes otherwise good men to act contrary to expectations once in power. And it can be very dispiriting.  Let me mention immediately that I do not know Governor Emeka Ihedioha from Adam.

I wrote a piece recently in which I referred to Mrs Aisha Buhari, the wife of the Nigerian President. I argued that she is not “joking” and that with her husband being elected for a second term in office, Nigerians should watch out for her.

He was an urbane looking man of moderate build and calm demeanor. A strong personality, no doubt, with calm eyes and a totally unassuming aspect. His somber simplicity, firm but unobtrusive presence and the slightly mischievous glint in his eyes were among the first things I noticed. I was shocked to discover not only that he was an older man, but that I put his biological age close to 20 years below what it actually was. This man was over 70 years of age and I just could not make out how. He turned out to be “a herdsman” with a story about his plight, the plight of “his” people. Well educated and well-travelled in the terrain of power through the public service in Nigeria, he explained that it was futile for him or “his” people to say he is a big man in Abuja, or even on the moon, if he did not have visible herds and heads of cattle to his name “at home.” Frankly, I had no idea what he was talking about at this point!

The CBN, under Emefiele, has managed to provide the country with a stable exchange rate, moderate inflation and reduce import-substitution, while raising the quantity and quality of home-grown products, transforming Nigeria from a mono to a multi-product economy.

The word ‘Democracy’ according to President Abraham Lincoln, the then President of the United States of America, is ‘a government of the people, by the people and for the people’.

The European Union Election Observation Mission, in its final report which was publicly released on the 15th of June, says the 2019 elections won by President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress weren’t transparent and were marred with violence, intimidation and voter harassment. The observers concluded that this damaged the integrity of the 2019 election.

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as part of its review of the 2019 General elections in the country is reportedly working on a proposal for the alteration of the 1999 Constitution as amended to enable it reduce the number of political parties in the country. A total of 91 political parties participated in the 2019 general elections, the highest number ever. There were 71 Presidential candidates. The ballot paper was quite long. Festus Okoye the INEC Commissioner in charge of information and voter education says this created a “logistics nightmare,”, and “confused many voters, particularly the less educated during the election.” INEC wants the Constitution amended to enable it register and deregister parties that are at best “mere platforms for political jobbers.”

It was the immediate-past Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, who somewhat captured the stark reality of our country’s situation in an audio recording where he said, “Nigeria is helpless and hopeless.” It is difficult not to agree with him on some aspects of his assessment and conclusion. There is an irony here though, because the man is part of the problem of Nigeria – a country frozen in a nightmare of insecurity, lawlessness, helplessness, and near hopelessness. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the land, as evil people unleash violence, arson, kidnapping, banditry and terrorism upon Nigeria, peaking in alternate fashion. The spectre of death and destruction now casts a long shadow on our lives and has become an ominous companion of daily living.

Take this home – the smartest tier of our democratic process is the Judiciary. They write The Constitution, The Electoral Act, The Tribunal Rules… And they interpret them…one comma in one tribunal could be interpreted differently in the next…yet the chorus remains, “as the court pleases.”

President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure began with a low-key inauguration at the Eagle Square in Abuja, a scenario that decidedly flowed from the President’s persona of prudence. His kitchen cabinet’s counsel must have also been contributory.

“It will take the next two months before ministers can come on board. Bringing them in now may disrupt the clean-up going on. So, Nigerians just have to be patient.”

The ruling All Progressives Congress had been back-slapping and clinking glasses over its successful installation of its preferred candidates as presiding officers in both chambers of the National Assembly. As reactions continue to trail the emergence of the new leadership, Isaiah Osifo, doctor of political science and lecturer in the department of political science, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, lambasts the leadership of the APC for deploying the weapon of fear against the lawmakers to have its way. In this interview with Adekunbi Ero, executive editor, the one-time member of Edo State House of Assembly predicts internal explosion in the party which he says “is always the consequence of extreme dictatorship.” Osifo warns the new Senate President, Ahmed Lawan of dire consequences should he try to pursue “extreme healthy relationship” between the Senate and the executive, which he foresees would “boomerang on the integrity of the Senate”. He says on the other hand, s

Where were you on June 12, 1993? I was in Kwara state, enjoying the weekend with my cousins. I could not vote because I registered in Lagos. If I had voted, I would have thumb-printed the space for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) whose presidential flag bearer was Chief MKO Abiola. I had been rooting for Alhaji Bashir Tofa, the candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC). But after watching the televised presidential debate and having an argument debate with my dear friend, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu (now APC national publicity secretary), I was finally persuaded to vote for Abiola, although I eventually disenfranchised myself.

Nigerians are not students of history. History, in Nigeria, is so contentious, it is not even taught in our schools. However, we educate our future through the study of history. A country without a history is one without a compass. It is a country without a plan. The future of a country begins in its history.

On the 22nd of May 2019, in hearkening to the cries and agony of Lagosians and exasperated with the adverse setback to the ease of doing business and the nation’s economy, the federal government issued a Presidential directive for the evacuation of trucks and trailers off Lagos roads within 2 weeks and went ahead to constitute a task team comprising officials from the Presidency, security and traffic management agencies and other relevant stakeholders within the port business environment to carry out the assignment with specific terms of reference.

Fellow Nigerians, if you are a regular follower and frequent reader of my column, you would, in the past few weeks, have encountered the serialisation of the great lessons’ life has taught me in the last 59 years of inhabiting this planet. But I have decided to take a break from my biographical narration in deference to the recent June 12 celebration as a national holiday and our new Democracy Day in Nigeria replacing May 29 which is now effectively merely Inauguration Day. It is right that June 12 should be Democracy Day given the utmost import of that day in the annals of our democratic history and especially in the realisation and actualisation of democracy that we now call the Fourth Republic. You will therefore understand, and appreciate, in a jiffy why it was expedient for me to write about June 12, although in a sense it is an integral part of my life’s experience.

Local government councils, counties, prefectures, cities, boroughs, municipalities, etc., the world over, are regarded as vehicles of grassroots development because of their closeness to the people. It is for this reason that it is often argued that they be granted enough financial strength and space to operate.

A report had it that Rotimi Amaechi has started retracting his earlier comment that Ndigbo cannot be considered for the presidency in 2023 because they did not vote APC. This was after we reminded him that politics of the fourth republic is not predicated on the Zonal votes but Zonal turns.