It is no longer news that the coronavirus (COVID-19) third wave is here in Nigeria, and unfortunately its emergence coincided with the discovery of the highly transmissible and deadly Delta Variant of the virus in some parts of the country. Confirming this development, the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC on COVID-19), Mr. Boss Mustapha, announced during a briefing of the Committee on Monday, 2 August 2021 that officially, Nigeria is now in the third wave of the ravaging virus. According to him again, “Nigeria has been recording about 500 cases daily in the last seven days”, as “Nigeria’s Test Positivity Ratio has increased to about 6 per cent”, against the background “that the Delta variant has made its way into Nigeria”. Furthermore, the PSC, he said, is “particularly concerned about the situation in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Rivers, Kano, Plateau and FCT as this variant has made its way into these states and accounts for the rising cases in these states and across the nation…. And Lagos alone accounts for over 50 per cent of the number of cases”.

Lastly, according to the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, “Nigeria has recorded 32 cases of Delta Variant of the COVID-19” (See https://allafrica.com/stories/202108030672.html based on original report by the Leadership newspaper). More worrying is the emerging fact from the NCDC that 747 new cases were recorded on Wednesday, August 4, 2021.

The arrival of the Delta Variant into Nigeria was not unexpected even though the PSC on COVID-19 had long taken pro-active measures to prevent the importation of the virus into Nigeria. It would be recalled that the PSC had banned air travels to and from India, Brazil and South Africa over two months ago because of the emergence of the deadly Delta Variant and other variants in those countries. The PSC also took other measures with respect to testing of all passengers arriving into the country. But given the behaviour of some unscrupulous Nigerians, we knew that it was only a matter of time before the deadly variant would be imported into the country. Sadly, the PSC has now revealed that as many as over 500 travellers violated the travel protocol meant to prevent the importation and spread of the deadly variant. The unscrupulous and unpatriotic behaviour of some of these Nigerians is a national embarrassment to say the least. The PSC should come harder on these flagrant violators of our well-reasoned and well-intentioned safety protocols.

Although policy measures to manage the surging cases so far by the PSC and the NCDC are commendable, there is still a lot more to be done. Nigeria and Nigerians are yet to come to terms with the serious threats posed by this ravaging Delta Variant. Business-as-usual mentality has re-emerged against the little gains we made in the past. In actual fact, the expected psychological state of consciousness of an emergency is yet to prevail in official and unofficial quarters. For example, the risk communication strategy is yet to be fully activated to gain traction. One or two messages from the NCDC have been received in recent past which is commendable but the messages have to come back fully as it was the case during the lockdown days. The Lagos State Government has reactivated its full enlightenment campaigns on COVID-19 as everyone can see these days in its Lagos Television (LTV), but as I would argue later, this laudable measure is not enough. Enforcement of the safety protocols is what is seriously required now.

Perhaps the NCDC is still in a fatigue mood or perhaps still, it is experiencing financial constraints with respect to the intensification of its risk communication measures. But the current threats posed by the Delta Variant demands adequate funding for it to fully activate its risk communication messages. The increasing danger signs from other lands are very instructive enough to force Nigeria into a full emergency situation once again. The WHO reported over a week ago that global cases have been rising for the fifth consecutive week. Some countries for example, have been setting up make-shift hospitals as existing hospitals were filled to capacity. In Senegal (an African country close to us here in Nigeria), patients were rejected in hospitals for lack of bed spaces. Officially Nigeria should by now be in a psychological mood of a lockdown, without physically imposing national or regional lockdown measures.

In the absence of imposing lockdown measures, the way to proceed is to begin a total enforcement of compliance with safety protocols. For instance, defaulters of the non-pharmaceutical protocols should be arrested and prosecuted as was done during the lockdown period. And this can begin right away in the states earlier mentioned (i.e.Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Rivers, Kano, Plateau and FCT). The enforcement of the non-pharmaceutical protocols in these states is very urgent because the prevailing official approach is more like an advice, appeal or moral preachment, all of which lack legally prescribed sanctions for non-compliance.

Since a good number of Nigerians are still sceptical about the reality of COVID-19, the time has come for the government to take the enforcement of compliance very seriously. In our campuses for example, many staff and students pay lip service to the observance of social distancing, wearing of face masks and some other safety protocols. It takes repeated announcement of the necessity to observe the safety protocols by some us in lecture rooms, before students comply fully. It is as bad as this.

•Prof. Obasi of the University of Abuja, is a Visiting (Adjunct) Research Professor at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, (ACAN), ICPC, Email: [email protected].

The quota system in Nigeria was conceived to address an inequitable system, but the prevailing “unjust system” betrayed the purpose for which the quota system was ideated and actioned. The quota system, principally, is not an unjust system. And it does not confer advantage on the north against the south. Much of what has been said about the quota system is jaundiced.

Quotaism became a principle in Nigeria in 1958, essentially, as a response to fears of marginalisation and ethnic domination in education and government. Rightly so, the system was contrived to resolve the atavistic misgivings. The federal character principle as well was devised — and it became a constitutional provision in 1979 — to manage Nigeria’s diverse character; so that no section of the country will lord it over others or become overwhelmingly dominant in the public service. It was designed to ensure inclusive and equitable demographic/ethnic representation at all levels of government. It was for socio-political balancing.

Nevertheless, I am of the view that the federal character principle and the quota system be reviewed when sufficiently practicable.

It is sheer ignorance to assume ‘’quotaism’’ is a Nigerian thing or as some have said a ‘’northern concept’’. Quotaism is country specific and it is to address peculiar disproportions and to build a more equitable system. In the US, there is the racial quota which was conceived to ensure equal opportunity for all classes of citizens. In France, there has been a series of racial quotas. And in about 21 EU countries, there is a form of gender quota.

So, quotaism is not a northern contrivance, and it is by and large a gizmo of national cohesion, if effectively and efficiently deployed. What we have experienced in Nigeria over the years since 1966 is an abuse and disregard of the quota system. If the quota system, as conceived by Nigeria’s forbears, is righteously implemented it will solve some of the country’s immortal problems.

The argument against quotaism is that it encourages ‘’mediocrity and indolence’’, and discourages industry, performance and excellence. This is not exactly accurate. An abuse of the quota system, and not the system itself, is what promotes laziness and kills merit. Quota system is designed to give opportunities to the best of under-represented segments of society while not shutting the door to others in the opportunity pool.

In the UK, there is the Equality Act 2010 which protects people with ‘’certain characteristics’’ on job opportunities. “Section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 allows an employer to treat an applicant or employee with a protected characteristic (eg race, sex or age) more favourably in connection with recruitment or promotion than someone without that characteristic who is as qualified for the role. The employer must reasonably think that people with the protected characteristic suffer a disadvantage or are under-represented in that particular activity. Taking the positive action must be a proportionate means of enabling or encouraging people to overcome the disadvantage or to take part in the activity,’’ XpertHR, UK says in its article, ‘What positive action is permitted under discrimination legislation?’

In Canada, there is the Employment Equity Act. In the US, there have been several affirmative polices to protect blacks and minority groups. In Germany’s Basic Law, where a man and a woman have same qualifications, the woman should be preferred for the job. These are chief ingredients of quotaism.

We cannot run a country without justice where only the fittest of the majority shall survive. Everyone; all classes of people; the weak and the strong must be accommodated. If we insist only the strong amongst us should stand, how have we done justice to the weak – people who are made vulnerable not by their own disability but by classist designs?

The South-east is the loudest antagonist of the quota system. Being Igbo, I understand the concerns of my people. But even in our region, there are clamours and demands for quotaism at the state level and in every socio-demographic stratum. In Anambra state where I come from, some citizens in certain senatorial zones allege they are being excluded from holding political offices by the more dominant groups. Quotaism addresses the human problem of belonging and representation.

In the state, there is a debate and agitation on why the next governor should not come from a certain zone because that area has had its turn. At the local government and communal level, there is also the importunity of quotaism. So, if quota system is desired at the sub-national level, it is unacceptable at the national level?

SOUTHERN PREJUDICE

‘’Quota system product’’ – this is a quotidian ethnic slur often hurled at northerners by southerners. But we are all ‘’quota system products’’. Our universities and high schools accord special consideration in admission to candidates from the region where they are located (catchment area). Even in some jobs in the private sector, some were employed to fill in a quota.

Some of Nigeria’s finest minds come from the north. Intelligence is a gift of the divine which every group and class of people have proportionally.

Let’s stop the prejudice.

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @FredrickNwabufo

The former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, got himself in soup last week.

His offence was saying it is futile to compare Nigeria’s two main political parties – the All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Without mincing his words, he said there’s nothing to compare and nothing to choose from and that both were the refuge of scoundrels.

That comment has earned him a beating to hell and back at the hands of members of both parties. It’s not new that political parties have rotten roots, but they evolve. America’s founding fathers despised partisan politics so deeply that George Washington was not a member of any political party throughout his eight-year tenure as president.

When they finally decided to form parties, they were polarised over race, war, reconstruction and even the nature and role of central banking, bringing to pass their own worst fears about partisanship.

But it helped a lot that the politicians of that era painstakingly wrote down what they wanted to do and passionately debated how. They had a compass as the parties evolved.

In our own case, however, politicians are desperate for power grab first before thinking about what to do with it. We appear to have settled for a pattern of one step forward, two backwards.

Anyone who has any doubt only needs to look at the record of the two main parties in office – the first 16 years of the PDP at the centre or the six years of the APC so far. It’s largely a sordid tale of failed promises that has left Nigerians poorer, more divided and less secure.

That we’re living in a broken country today is largely a legacy of the main parties. That was all Jega said that got him into trouble.

It’s the bitter truth. But the parties, far gone in their conceit and game of Ostrich, will not see the point. Instead, they have responded by abusing Jega. They have accused him of joining a “mushroom” party and declaring his remark as “unpardonable”, as if he just took the wives of their party leaders.

While the APC rejects resembling the PDP even remotely, the PDP says it would rather disband than stand being compared with the ruling APC.

A top member of the PDP and former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, took the matter further in an interview over the weekend. He said the APC was founded on lies and blackmail and won’t go beyond 2023, adding that the party had “brainwashed Nigerians to believe that everything evil is caused by PDP.”

If the APC would go into extinction in two years’ time, it would not be because Lamido said so. Or because the PDP is qualified to perform the funeral rites. It would be because for the last six years, the ruling party has carefully dug its own grave, prepared the gravestone and given the shovel to those who will seal its fate.

The APC is its own worst enemy. It won’t be long before all the pretence will disappear, leaving the party with only its jaded, opportunistic soul. The APC isn’t a party, but a makeshift vehicle fabricated to knock President Goodluck Jonathan from power in 2015.

Its inherent contradictions became manifest afterwards when a civil war broke out among its factions, comprising nPDP, ACN, CPC, APGA and ANPP. In an act of extreme desperation, Bukola Saraki had to make an adulterous deal with PDP to emerge Senate president.

With nPDP barons frustrated out (except Rotimi Amaechi who has since become a General without troops in Rivers State) the remnants of CPC and ACN are now locked in a fratricide over the control of the party.

This is in spite of a foundational pact in 2014 that whereas CPC would produce the president, ACN would control the party. But like most promises made in the heat of the moment, this one was inseminated with the seed of its own failure. The winner kept the spoils, all of it. The palace coup against former party Chairman Adams Oshiomhole last year was masterminded by CPC foxes who imposed one of their own as caretaker.
 

The party has not held a formal meeting in months, and all decisions are taken ad hoc in a coven called Aso Rock. There is no Board of Trustees, no governance structure, no substantive officers, no programme, nothing. 

It’s like a house without a roof or windows, a tent without pegs or pillars. It has drawn three governors into its fold in the last one year or so, not because it offers anything materially different from the other finger of the leprous hand, but because it is the most secure sanctuary for fugitives from public accountability. 

And of course, there’s the promise that on election night two years from now when votes would have been written, since APC gods forbid electronic transmission of results, candidates on the platform of the ruling party can depend on the security forces to help them deliver results by hand.

The APC maintains an appearance of a party. But it is a party only in name. A faction of it, in alliance with influential forces in the Presidency, who are not even party members, have crushed other legacy parties, triumphing over them and holding the country hostage.

But the long knives are out and the fight back promises to be nasty. We’re already seeing signs of that with the parallel APC congresses and the mutiny against the Governor Mai Mala Buni’s interim leadership of the party.

Yet, the PDP is not a haven, regardless of the bad things that Lamido has to say about the ruling party. In fact, the PDP is all the bad things that anyone can justifiably say about APC, except that it’s a worse version of it. 

On top of the corruption and lawlessness prevalent during the 16-year reign of the PDP at the centre, the party also holds the record of the worst random murders, including the specific, targeted killings of both opposition and its own party members, who were either slightly out of line, or who seemed to have a bright future.

The murders of Bola Ige, Marshall Harry, Aminasoari Dikibo, Barnabas Igwe and his wife, and Ahmed Pategi, on the watch of PDP government, are among the 51 high profile murders comprehensively compiled by Lauretta Onochie three years ago.

If APC was founded on lies and blackmail, which the party can hardly deny with a straight face, PDP was founded on and has thrived on something more sinister: lies, blackmail and blood. It is a legacy that continues to haunt it to this day.

When Jega said the two main parties are hopeless, he was not telling voters anything new. He was only repeating what they couldn’t forget. With less than two years to the next general elections, however, he was also reminding voters of a future they are condemned to face again. 

I say “condemned” because apart from calling out the main political parties, idealists like Jega have yet to say how voters can overthrow the existing parties. How?

The current mutiny in the APC and PDP does not mean that either one is about to become extinct. Since 1999, we have seen this blood sport every four years and somehow mainstream politicians still manage to reinvent their baggage and retain power. Any hope that the system would change in two years is a pipe dream. 

Before the conventions of the two parties are over, angry losers from both parties will align and form a third force but the crooked nature of our politics and the sheer enormity of the cost of being on the ballot on the eve of a general poll will ensure that they won’t get far.

Jega is right that the two main parties are useless. The only challenge is that it will take more than just talking about it on the eve of the next election cycle to build an alternative vehicle.

•Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

By Sonnie Ekwowusi

I don’t know about you but I must confess that I am still unable to come to terms with the name correctional centres, the new name of the Nigerian prisons. Why? Because Nigerian prisons are not correctional centres: they are punishment centres, or, poignantly, human dignity violation centres. The Nigerian prisons, for lack of better expression, are hells on earth notwithstanding the change of their names to correctional centers. And since there is no correction in hell no prisoner can regain his humanity after passing through any of the Nigerian prisons. By the way, I don’t know why we like fighting skirmishes and symptoms instead of main problems. For instance, the name of NEPA has been changed to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Has that improved electricity supply in Nigeria? No. We are still experiencing the same, if not aggravated, erratic and epileptic electricity supply. The uniform of the police has been changed. So what? Has that changed the extortionist mindset, defeatist psychology and corruptibility of the Nigeria police? No. The policeman in the new police uniform has not changed. He is the same corruptible man.

In the same vein, the Nigerian prisons have not changed notwithstanding their new baptismal name. The last time I visited the prison in the company with members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Premier Branch, I saw for myself the hellish dungeons now called correctional centres. I interviewed about 23 prisoners all of them victims of miscarriage of justice. They had been dumped and forgotten in prison without bail, without arraignment, without trial. In case you don’t know, about 70% of prisoners in Nigerian prisons are Awaiting Trial Inmates (ATM), that is, prisoners who have not been charged, tried and convicted by any court of law. There are over 28,000 ATM languishing in the various prisons across the federation. No institution can give what it does not have. The inhuman condition and maltreatment of prisoners in Nigerian prisons are not correctional measures: they are punitive measures. The truth of the matter is that the Nigerian prisons are colonial relics- they were built during the colonial times by our erstwhile colonial masters and have not been rebuilt or reconstructed since that time despite the bourgesening population of prison inmates in the prisons. The over-bloating population has resulted in the over-congestion of the prisons. For example, a prison that has the capacity for 800 inmates, is over-bloating with 1, 700 inmates. No wonder the suffocating odious smell constantly oozes out from the prisons. Little wonder the Nigerian prisons suffer frequent outbreak of infectious diseases.

The most nauseating is that most of the ATM languishing in our various prisons had spent more than the number of years they would have spent, if from the outset, they had been charged to court, tried, convicted and sentenced. About one and half months ago, my lawyer friend Ben Abraham, founder and Executive Director, Zarephath AID (a Lagos-based NGO which over the last 17 years has been intervening in the challenges confronting Nigerian prisoners in the various Nigerian prisons) delivered a paper at the Helmbridge Study Centre on the challenges in the criminal justice administration in Nigeria with special emphasis on the plight of Nigerian prisoners in the various prisons across Nigeria. In his paper, Ben mentioned the name of a former prisoner, who, prior to coming in contact with Ben and regaining his freedom, had spent a grueling 8 years in prison as an ATM without trial in a court of law. Ben also mentioned how the new entrants to the prisons are punished by their senior fellow prisoners by ordering them to sleep in a toilet room containing a bucket of stinking human faeces and urine.

The most tragic is that about 3008 condemned prisoners presently on death row in the country’s 227 prisons are yet to be executed. Why? Because the various State Governors are not signing the death warrants for their execution as required by law. Last week Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola urged the State governors to sign the death warrants of convicts on death row who have exhausted all avenues of appeal. Aregbesola’s concern is understandable. In the last 25 years or so no State Governor has signed a death warrant endorsing the execution of any condemned prisoner. Now since the State Governors are still undecided on whether or not to sign the death warrants of the condemned prisoners languishing in our prisons the condemned prisoners should be released forthwith. To continue to keep them in prison to be agonizing there indefinitely is a violation of their right to life and personal dignity as enshrined in section 33 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and as decided by the court in Peter Nemi V Attorney-General of Lagos State. It is now trite law that the right to life is available even to condemned prisoners or prisoners on death row until their execution is carried out according to the law.

Therefore, the Buhari government should muster the political will to revamp our criminal justice delivery system. There should be massive decongestion of our various prisons to alleviate the untold inhuman sufferings of prisoners therein. Government should stop procrastinating and launch itself out to implement the various recommendations tabled before successive Nigerian governments on prison reforms. We have been waiting for long to see concrete actions and concrete results and prison reforms in Nigeria to no avail. All what we are treated with are mere rhetoric. But mere rhetoric cannot solve the problem. We need concrete actions and results. Apart from government intervention, public-spirited individuals, NGOs, Corporate organizations, Churches, Mosques and others should erect frameworks of solidarity in assisting prisoners. Beyond making money and answering big names, lawyers should render pro-bono legal services to ATMs in order to secure their freedom.

Moved by the plight of the ATM in Nigerian prisons, the last Obasanjo administration ordered for the immediate commencement of case-by-case audit of ATM who have spent upwards of five years in prisons including those who were held for minor offences; those whose case files were missing; those about sixty years of age; those with life-threatening diseases and those who had stayed on death row for upwards of ten years. The then Federal Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo SAN launched a massive Prison Decongestion Project aimed at facilitating the release of many inmates perpetually languishing in our various prisons. Chief Ojo even enlisted the services of some lawyers across the 36 States of the Federation to take up the cases of detainees languishing in various Nigerian prisons. The current Federal Attorney-General and Minister for Justice should emulate the good example of Chief Ojo. Vice-President Prof Yemi Osinbajo should do something. He is an expert in the Administration of Criminal Justice system. Lawyers and the judiciary cannot claim to have a pass mark when almost 80% of the detainees in our various prisons are victims of miscarriage of justice.

In Nigeria, unseen enemies are always doing their worst. They seem to have their eyes, this time, on Nigeria’s ‘most decorated’ policeman, Abba Kyari.

But are they? Or is Kyari his own worst enemy? Time will tell.

In the last couple of weeks, global news outlets have been awash with the story of Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, hitherto famous for catching notorious criminals, a reputation that earned him an enduring nickname, “Super Cop,” now standing accused of abusing his power to support a global fraud ring.

The story of Kyari typifies the grace to grass idiom. Worshipped, literally, at home as a god in police uniform by his numerous admirers, Kyari’s woes started overseas, disputing the Biblical wisdom of prophets not without honour except in their own country. Back home in Nigeria, he had all the honour he craved for, becoming Head, Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force, and perhaps, on a good stead to becoming the country’s Inspector General of Police someday.

But all that reputation hangs on the balance because Kyari has been indicted in a 64-page document attested to by Andrew John Innocenti, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), before Hon. Patricia Donahue, U.S. Magistrate Judge, on February 12, 2021.

In turn, the Court has issued an arrest warrant on him.

Right now, he is a fugitive from the long arms of American law. And the American legal system does not forget. It is only a question of time.

On July 28, the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, released a one-page document titled, “Six indicted in international scheme to defraud Qatari school founder and then launder over $1 million in illicit proceeds.”

Kyari is one of the names in the infamous list that includes 37-year-old Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, alias “Ray Hushpuppi, an acclaimed international fraudster, who has already pleaded guilty, and his partner-in-crime, 40-year-old Kelly Chibuzo Vincent.

They were indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury for an alleged “elaborate scheme to steal more than $1.1 million” from a Qatari businessman attempting to finance the construction of a school for children in Qatar, and the subsequent laundering of illicit proceeds therefrom through bank accounts around the world.

It was a three-count indictment of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and aggravated identity theft, which was unsealed in July.

Kyari is a victim of greed, not necessarily of his making. But he is an accessory-after-the-fact.

Ordinarily, even among thieves, there is, or should be honour; a code of conduct, which presupposes that they may neither steal from one another nor testify against themselves to the police.

Anytime this code is breached, it spells doom for the syndicate as it happened in this case.

When the sharing formula went awry, Vincent, shortchanged, allegedly contacted the victim to squeak and an enraged Hushpuppi beseeched his friend, Kyari, to help him exact a cold revenge. The “super cop” obliged.

Vincent was arrested by Kyari at Hushpuppi’s behest and clamped into detention. Not only that, he sent the detainee’s pictures to Hushpuppi in Dubai.

But the conspirators did not reckon with the Americans who arrested Hushpuppi in the United Arab Emirates and extradited him to the U.S.

As usual, the FBI investigation was top notch and Hushpuppi pleaded guilty to the charges in April.

The investigation report was damning, particularly for Kyari.

After he arrested Vincent at the behest of Hushpuppi, he sent him a text message: “He is in my Cell now.”

Beside himself with joy, the fraudster riposted: “I want him to go through serious beating of his life,” and the “super cop” had a hearty laugh. “Hahahaha,” he responded.

Encouraged, Hushpuppi urged Kyari, to beat Vincent “like an armed robber.”

“Please sir, I want to spend money to send this boy to jail. Let him go for a very long time,” he further requested.

Kyari responded this time, according to the FBI by sending his “client,” Hushpuppi, a photo of Vincent in police cell.

The fraudster pledged enduring loyalty to Kyari. “Am really happy to be ur boy,” and later, “I promise to be a good boy to u sir.”

And for the “super cop’s” services, there was bountiful monetary reward.

Expectedly, the story has generated enormous interest, not only in Nigeria, but globally.

But three reactions were particularly instructive.

First was the reaction from the accused himself. Shortly after the news broke, Kyari took to the social media and flatly denied the allegation even as he admitted having a relationship with the international fraudster to the extent that he was running fashion errands for him.

When the news of his indictment broke, he tweeted: “Hahahaha, indicted where, How? On social media, abi…good luck to dem bad belle people waiting to see us arrested.”

When the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, ordered an internal review of the allegations against him, the “super cop” ridiculed his boss.

“Hahahahaha. This is the funniest one so far, we are enjoying the show,” he wrote on Facebook.

But he is no longer laughing. He has pulled down the Facebook post already shared by over 600 persons with over 4,000 comments.

On Tuesday evening, he edited his earlier post where he said Hushpuppi sent N300,000 for native clothes.

“Nobody demanded or collected any money from Abbas Hushpuppi. He can be interviewed publicly in the presence of the world media by the people holding him to confirm this,” Kyari wrote in the new post.”

The second significant intervention was by former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, who claimed that Kyari’s predicament was a deep conspiracy to destroy his career.

“I urge Abba to continue the good work he has been doing and not allow himself to be distracted by his numerous detractors. This is a deep conspiracy to destroy his career and it will not work,” he tweeted.

The third reaction was a statement by Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), signed by the president, Yerima Shettima.

The group dismissed the allegations against Kyari as “the attempted intimidation of a police officer right inside his independent fatherland,” warning the U.S. that “nothing must happen to him,” even as they insisted that the indictment was “totally unacceptable, a slap on the sensibility of our compatriots and a ridicule on one of our finest crack detectives.”

Kyari’s posts manifested the hubris that has characterised his actions as a police officer. He is a sacred cow, who saw himself as being above the law. And he was really above the law. The only reason why the Nigerian authorities suspended him and constituted a panel to probe the allegations is because the international community, especially the U.S., is involved.

He has done worse things in Nigeria without the authorities caring a hoot. Impunity is his middle name. As a policeman, Abba Kyari does as he wishes, not as the law dictates. He rides roughshod on anyone that crosses his path and innocent lives have been lost even as the Nigerian state pampers him.

If Nigerians paid enough attention before now, they would have since realised that the glittering Kyari is by no stretch of imagination gold. The tell-tale signs are there and Kyari provided most of the evidence himself, just like his high-value client, Hushpuppi, on the social media. But a people in perpetual search for a hero most often beatify villains without knowing it.

But this time, the Hushpuppi case has put not only him but also Nigeria in the global spotlight.

Abba Kyari was so assured that nothing will happen to him that he started living a very lavish lifestyle that was totally out of sync with his position and legitimate means.

Fani-Kayode is looking for evidence. The FBI document provided telephone numbers, pictures, texts and messages, account numbers, dates and names of accomplices.

Besides, the concluding part of the report was graphic.

“Approximately a month later, on February 19, 2020, Kyari sent a message to Abbas, saying, ‘Hello hush with [sic] need to talk about the subject under detention with me,’ the report narrated.

“Abbas asked, ‘Should I call u on this number sir?’ to which Kyari replied ‘Yes call me.’

“The following day, Kyari sent Abbas multiple photographs of Chibuzo, including close-up photographs showing a rash or skin disease on Chibuzo’s torso and arms.

“Abbas responded, ‘I don pity am, make them leave am from Tuesday.’ Kyari wrote, ‘Ok bro, they just brought him from hospital. The fever and the rashes is giving him serious wahala. He got the disease from other suspects in the cell.’

“Abbas responded, ‘I see am, I no too pity am. That’s what people like him deserve, but I go forgive am for God sake.’

“Abbas then said, ‘No problem sir from Tuesday he can go.”

“Kyari responded, ‘Ok bro. We will also keep his phone and other gadgets for some weeks.’ Abbas responded, “Yes those ones they should not give him again, those ones are gone . . . Make he no see those ones again for life.’

“Kyari responded, ‘Yes he will not see it again,” indicating that he would accede to Abbas’ request.”

This is Nigeria’s “super cop” taking instructions from an international felon for a fee.

This is the story of most victims of Kyari’s “anti-crime” exploits.

Arewa youths manifested the idiocy that has kept the country down by their reaction.

Is Abba Kyari guilty? No! Not yet. But he has to prove his innocence.

He has a once in a lifetime opportunity to be the idol he has always craved to be by confronting his accusers.

If he does that, he will not only be celebrated forever as a “super cop,” he will shame his enemies who his friends, like Fani-Kayode and Arewa youths, claim are working very hard to rubbish his hard-earned reputation.

The world is watching and waiting.

It amazes, even confounds, to hear some people say President Muhammadu Buhari should go after Boko Haram terrorists and bandits with the same gusto he has displayed against separatists in the country.

Amazing and confounding because what the Buhari government does daily in the North-east, North-west, and North-central parts of the country, where terrorists and bandits abound, is send them to God to answer for their crimes.

This much has been confirmed by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya.

Hear the Army Chief, on the day he was decorated with his new rank: “That’s what we have started doing already. Many of them have been sent to God to answer for their crimes, and we will continue to do that.”

President Buhari had ordered the security forces to crush all violent criminals and those sponsoring insurrection in the country, vowing that they would be treated “in the language they understand.” And it is happening without let or hindrance, without fear or favor.

Why then do some people claim that certain troublers of the country are being treated with softer hands, than some others? This could be due to deliberate ignorance, mischief, or pure hatred. Those who keenly follow the war against insurgency and banditry in the northern part of the country, and who want to be honest, would admit that no quarter is boing asked, and none is being given. Every effort is being made to extirpate the evil from our body polity.

PR Nigeria is a pioneer Press Release distribution agency in Nigeria. It keeps the country abreast with what is happening, particularly on security and defense matters. For a graphic picture of what has been happening in the anti-terrorism/banditry war, let’s look at some of the information that had been disseminated in the past eight months, or thereabouts.

On January 7, 2021, PR Nigeria reported: ‘Nigerian troops eliminate 30 terrorists in an ambush..’ This happened at the Timbuktu Triangle, along Kara and Gorigori axis of Borno State.

Ten days later, on January 17, this was the despatch: ‘Air troops hit Boko Haram convoys, kill many terrorists in Marte.’ According to the report, scores of terrorists were neutralized in their bid to attack Marte, in Borno State.

On February 23, Marte was in the news again, after the terrorists had launched an attack, seizing the town temporarily: ‘Nigerian troops recover Marte, scores of terrorists killed.’

On March 9, this was the news item: ‘Nigerian troops eliminate 33 Boko Haram fighters.’ That happened at Chikingudu, also in Borno State.

Buhari not treating Boko Haram with iron hand as he does separatists? Hear this one from PR Nigeria, on March 21: ‘NAF helicopters kill dozens ISWAP/Boko Haram fighters in Damasak, destroy 4 gun trucks.’

And on April 2: ‘Police, soldiers repel attack on Commissioners’ convoy, kill 7 Boko Haram terrorists.’

Three Commissioners in the Borno State government were reportedly traveling from Monguno to Maiduguri, when their convoy came under attack. The assailants paid a heavy price for their foolhardiness.

Check this one out, on April 16: ‘Troops eliminate ISWAP commander.’

Bukar Gana Fitchmeram (a.k.a Abu Aisha) and scores of his fighters fell to the firepower of Nigerian troops, following their attempt to avenge the earlier killing of 12 high value ISWAP commanders in Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State.

April 27: ‘Renewed military attacks kill ISWAP/Boko Haram terrorists in Wulgo/Gwoza.’

Do the naysayers want more evidence? June 2: ‘Scores of Boko Haram fighters killed, as military destroys 6 gun trucks.’ And four days later: ‘Troops eliminate 6 Boko Haram at Kumshe Town.’

July 3: ‘Troops eliminate 28 ISWAP/ Boko Haram terrorists on Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway.’

And on August 3: ‘Troops kill scores of ISWAP/ Boko Haram terrorists at Bula Yobe, Jabullam.’ No less than 37 of them bit the dust.

These are human beings, not banana suckers, who had sadly been misguided, mis-oriented, misdirected. Human beings, the crown of God’s creation. What else can society do, than to take them out, so that the decent majority can live in peace? Sad, very sad.

How about bandits, especially in the North-west and North-central? The Buhari government is cleaning the country of vermin. The baby that swears that his mother will not sleep, will himself keep forceful vigil.

Checklist in some months past.

September 17, 2020: ‘NAF aircraft kills 100 armed bandits in Zamfara.’

December 25, of same year. Christmas Day, when normal people are rejoicing : ‘NAF helicopters eliminate 38 bandits in Katsina.’

February 9, 2021: ‘After the death of 23 persons, NAF aircraft eliminates scores of bandits in Kaduna LGAs.’

March 6: ‘Troops eliminate bandits in Marina-Safana, Katsina State.’

April 8: ‘Zamfara police eliminate notorious bandit, recover weapons.’

May 5: ‘NAF aircraft eliminates congregation of bandits in Birnin Gwari.’

And on June 6, ‘Zamfara police eliminate scores of bandits on Gusau-Sokoto Highway,’ while on July19, PR Nigeria told us : ‘Police eliminate scores of bandits, lose 13 personnel in Zamfara.’

July 13: ‘NAF fighter jets eliminate 120 Zamfara bandits in Sububu Forest.’ And on, and on, and on…

All over the country, terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, all types of criminals are being spoken to in the language they understand. And victory of good over evil is sure, inexorable. Yet some people say they see nothing that government is doing. Pitiable souls. Of all men most miserable.

May God bless our troops. May He protect them, reward their labor of love. As for the cynics and septics, may God have mercy on them, open their eyes, and help them not to hate their own country any longer.

*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity