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Interviewing President Buhari

By Reuben Abati

I have been privileged to interview quite a number of world leaders in the course of my journalism career. These include President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Ketumile Masire of Botswana, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Commonwealth Secretary General Shridath Ramphal, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan etc..not to talk of holding the microphone across the world in the presence of countless Presidents in my then capacity as President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesperson. But no other encounter held as much memory and nostalgic feelings for me as my return to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Wednesday, June 9 to interview Nigerian incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was my first return, not to the Villa itself, but to the President’s Residence since President Jonathan was driven out of that environment on May 29, 2015. As I walked from the parking lot in the Residence as we call it, I took in the familiar surroundings. I recalled I used to walk along the same paths, on a daily basis, as frequently as duty demanded. One day, we all followed our principal out of the Main Gate. How transient power can be. A sense of home and exile is definitely imprinted on the pavestones in the corridors of power. Today, you can pound it as if you were the mason who arranged the interlocking stones. Tomorrow, you could be exiled by circumstances from the same space, and your brief sojourn, with the effluxion of time, becomes a distant, fading memory.

As I stepped on every stone leading to the Residence, my mind travelled to the past. I felt as if I was in a trance. I was soon woken up by the words of welcome of the security men at the entrance. I was surprised some of the boys from the past were still on duty. Past the security check-point is the Red Carpet, the outer reception of the Residence. I walked in and sank into a seat. Red Carpet! This was where President Jonathan held his early morning devotions, with members of his family and some aides who were always in the Villa for early morning worship. The Christian devotion usually started around 6 am, by which time, in those days, the President would have shown up at the Red Carpet to start the day with prayers. Christian Presidents in Nigeria usually appoint a Chaplain for the church in the Villa. His job includes overseeing this early morning devotion. The red carpet was also where we, members of the President’s Main Body – Special Adviser Media, Chief Physician, SCOP, CSO, ADC, Chief Detail, PA, often sat if the President was sitting in the main living room, attending to a guest and we needed space to chat and relax. I saw some members of President Buhari’s Main Body last week also sitting in that same Red Carpet, as we waited. It was like old times. I was in the Villa with Prince Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman of the Arise/ThisDay Media Group, owners of ThisDay newspaper and Arise TV, along with Olusegun Adeniyi, former Presidential spokesperson during the Yar’Ádua administration, now Chairman of the ThisDay Newspaper Editorial Board, and Ms Tundun Abiola, lawyer, daughter of the late Chief MKO Abiola, winner of the 1993 June 12 Presidential election and Arise TV anchor, to interview President Buhari.

The interview was aired on Thursday, June 10 during The Morning Show on Arise TV and has been repeated in other bulletins on the station since then. This is one media interview that has generated more commentary than any other in the past five years in Nigeria. Quotes have been taken from it. It has been curated to the last detail. It has been reproduced on virtually every channel, local and international. Essays have been written on it and every part of it dimensioned for analysis. This particular media interview has thus exerted an elephantine impact on the public imagination with each viewer or commentator slicing off his or her own share of the meaty conversation. Others have described it as an exclusive and a scoop.

On Friday, June 11, another interview with President Buhari was aired by the government-owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) but that has been treated as an anti-climax, an afterthought and a veritable evidence of the lack of trust in government and its institutions. Nonetheless, the excitement that has been demonstrated over the Buhari interview(s) owes in part to the status of public perception about the President’s unwillingness to communicate directly with the people who elected him into power in 2015 and 2019. For the better part of his six years in power, President Buhari has engaged more with Nigerians through third parties, spokespersons and press statements. Other Presidents before him appeared regularly on Presidential Media Chats during which they responded to the people’s concerns. Not this President. In six years, he has not granted one Presidential media chat. Other Presidents gave one on one interviews to media houses, or even stand-up interviews with reporters. This President has been unusually reticent and absent. On the few occasions that he has spoken to the press, he did so with foreign journalists, a counter-productive move that merely infuriated Nigerian stakeholders. As his spokespersons churned out press releases and statements clarifying previous releases, in the face of rising wave of insecurity, violence and confusion in the land, Nigerians demanded that they would rather have the man they voted for speak to them.

The absence of the President’s personal voice eventually resulted in conspiracy theories which flourished unabated. Opposition elements argued that Nigeria no longer had a President but a Presidency that had been taken over by a cabal. They argued that the elected President died a while ago and had been replaced by a body clone called Jibrin from Sudan. For effect, they added that even the First Lady was aware of this and hence, her trenchant criticisms of the government and her husband’s aides. Commentators like Farooq Kperogi, claiming insider knowledge of Aso Villa and its actors, in seductive prose, told Nigerians many tales about how their President had succumbed to a combination of dementia and senility and government had been taken over by unscrupulous persons who call the shots in the President’s name. The big lesson in retrospect is that when a President distances himself from the people, and refuses to engage them as we see leaders in other parts do, he unwittingly encourages conspiracy theories about a vacuum in power and the politics of absence and/or indifference at the highest levels.

Whoever advised President Buhari to grant media interviews last week and also address the nation on Saturday, June 12, did him a big favour. The intensity of media appearance was a good move, even if it came rather late. Nigerians may disagree with some of the things the President said in his media outings, but many of the myths constructed around him have been exploded, and that must be helpful to his administration. The man that our team sat with and interviewed didn’t sound like a Jibrin from Sudan. He was alert, alive, informed, confident, relaxed, witty and capable of disarming humour. He was not the invalid or the senile old man that his critics say he is. He didn’t sound weak either. As the interview progressed, he had another function that he needed to attend, and we didn’t leave the Villa until about 11 pm. Less than 12 hours later, the same man, the following day was in Lagos to commission rail, maritime, and security projects. His submission to a media conversation is also a form of protection for his spokespersons. Many have accused Garba Shehu, Femi Adesina and Alhaji Lai Mohammed of speaking for themselves, and not for the President, but we have all seen a President, speaking for himself, whose views do not contradict what his aides have been telling us. Our interview with him also proved the point that there is no doubting the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is effectively in charge. He knows what is going on. And he showed no hesitation in restating some of his reported views and taking ownership of them despite the controversial nature of those views. Every President has his or her own style but deliberately playing possum should not be part of that style. President Buhari should speak more often to Nigerians. He should sit down at Presidential media chats. Nigeria is not a feudal system where the aristocrat treats the people with disdain. In a democracy, the man of power is accountable to the people who expect their leaders to continually justify why they must be in power and office.

The reactions to our interview have been mixed, I guess, understandably. The problem with being a journalist however, is that everyone claims to know the job better than the man in the arena, more so because Nigeria is afflicted by a yet undeclared pandemic that I have since labelled opinionitis. We must get a vaccine for that. Nigeria is the only country I know where everybody is a universal expert on every subject, including the mating habits of porcupines and the nightlife of witches and wizards. People wake up in the morning with ready-made opinions even about news that they have not read or seen, and they are ready to go town with all the energy they woke up with. With due respect, I think our team asked serious and relevant questions, which brought out Buhari, the man, the person, the persona and the leader. But Nigerians still raise questions. I have been told for example that when the President said he would keep the question about what his government intends to do about Twitter to his heart, we should have followed up with an attack. Fine. The President spoke his mind. But were we supposed to rip out his heart from his chest to find out what he was keeping there? His answer was revealing enough. When he spoke about the neighbouring Republic of Niger, he focussed more on the economic advantages of engaging Niger, on government to government, business to business and people to people basis, but the only word his critics heard was that he referred to having cousins in that country. Were we expected to turn into his media advisers at that point? I do not intend to defend our work. But the conversation and debate that have been generated by the Arise TV interview is enough proof that this was a useful, impactful, and path-finding contribution to public conversation. What we did was not a celebrity showcase, but serious journalism.

The ground-breaking nature of that interview must be further situated within the context of the different reactions to it along the North-South Nigerian divide. It must be noted that the feedback from the North has been overwhelmingly positive. From the South, majorly negative. The President referred to IPOB, the Indigenous People of Biafra, as a “dot in a circle”. He proceeded to talk about how IPOB, he meant Igbos, are in every part of the country and how they will not be allowed to exit. He repeated the point that if they try to do so, government will speak to them in the language they will understand. The police and the military will be sent after them. Southerners including the Yoruba Afenifere group are angry about this. But the Hausa/Fulani are happy that the President spoke firmly. It didn’t matter to them that he also added in that interview that bandits in the North will also be spoken to in “the language that they will understand.”

When asked what he will do after retirement, whether he will set up a Presidential Library or not, the President did not refer to any library, he said he will return to his farm in Katsina and tend the cows in his farm. In that breath, the President identified with every cattle owner in the country. Southern commentators think he should set up a library, but the man made it clear he would rather attend to cows. He would later talk about grazing routes that need to be reinstated in line with a First Republic Gazette. Southern Nigerians have been up in arms because of that statement. They are quoting the ruling of Justice Adewale Thompson in Suit AB/26/66 of April 1969 in the Abeokuta Division of the High Court in which the learned Justice described the grazing of cows as “repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience”. That ruling has not yet been set aside 52 years after. They also quote Sections 1 and 2 of the Land Use Act which vests ownership of land in the states, which means that in 2021, the President is not in a position to enforce a 1960s gazette on open grazing, more so as states of the South and the Middle Belt have imposed a ban on open grazing in their jurisdictions. Many Northerners think Southerners are talking nonsense, and are just being intolerant.

When asked about zoning and succession within his party, the President made the point that determining the future of the party is the responsibility of the party not his, and that it is not something that anyone can sit in Lagos and decide. This turned out to be the most salacious part of the Arise TV interview. Southern commentators have stretched that comment to its point of elasticity and attached a name to it: that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Presidency has had to issue a statement to debunk the auto-suggestions. Southern Nigerians are not impressed. They see this, and the President’s laboured justification of his nepotism in appointments as a confirmation of the fault lines in his government. Northerners don’t see any issue here. Similarly, there have been, in the course of the weekend, equally partisan, ethnic responses to the President’s claims about creating 10.5 million jobs in 2 years and the sectional spectacle of June 12 protests and celebration. What came across to Buhari’s opponents is the persona of a President with a military mind-set, an ethnic champion who is still fighting the civil war, and who cares little about public opinion.

The Buhari interview has further revealed how divided we are as a nation, and the crisis of social cohesion that we face. Nigeria is more divided today than at any other time in our history. And certainly, the President’s responses reinforce this conclusion because his main constituencies and supporters see nothing fundamentally wrong with his media statements in the last few days. With his responses, Buhari chose his audience tactically. People should stop saying he did not understand the questions. He did, and he made his point. And I insist: that was a very good interview, and an opportunity for the entire country.

IGBOS ARE JUST A DOT IN A CYCLE: YES, PRESIDENT BUHARI IS RIGHT

Senator Samuel Anyanwu

By Senator Samuel Anyanwu

“The Igbo and their territory is just a dot in a circle of the map of Nigeria, which even if they secede could exit to nowhere since the elders and youths of the South-South had assured me of not being part of the secessionist agenda.”

The above captures President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement in a TV interview on the spate of insecurity in Nigeria.

The position of Mr. President is an exact summary of a man with little or no information about an ethnic group that is more patriotic than any other one in Nigeria, having contributed immensely in the development of the nation’s economy.

This bias notion of Mr. President has triggered my curiosity to veer off the laid down modus operandi especially, now that my birthday is fast approaching on Friday, June 18th, 2021.

In the foregoing, it has become glaring and very sure to concur that Mr. President is right in his own thinking that Igbos are just a dot in a cycle…!

Mr. President is right when no igbo person is a Service Chief in a country that preaches unity and one Nigeria, yet, they remain civil, calm and contented with what they have without resorting to crisis?

Mr President is right when no Igbo person is part of the administrative board of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) even when the region is a major oil producer?

Mr President is right when no Igbo person is in charge of any key economic sector currently under a government that claims to be fighting corruption yet, remains silent.

President Buhari is 100% (percent) right when his administration is interested in using the military and other security agencies against the Igbos that are not at war but negotiates with bandits that have declared war against Nigeria.

Mr President is right when his government pets, romances and negotiates payment of ransom with a terrorist, Abubakar Gumi and sees Igbo leaders as terrorists.

Yes, Mr. President is right when he hastily signed the North East Development Commission’s Bill into law, but has refused to assent the South East Development Commission’s Bill years after passage.

Why won’t Igbos be a dot in a cycle when Mr. President’s government does not see any good thing coming from an average Igbo person? No wonder he has refused to assign juicy positions to the Igbos!

Yes, Igbos are just a dot in a cycle because they have allowed their Northern counterparts to hijack what is meant for everyone yet, are intimidated and treated with levity in a country they are major stakeholders!

Is Mr President not right for making such statement when Fulani herdsmen are killing Igbo farmers in their lands and nothing is happening?

Is Mr President not right when herders are moving around the South Eastern environments with their cattle and brandishing AK47 assault riffles without restrictions?

Mr President is absolutely right when the Igbos are humiliated, intimidated and forcefully compelled to shut up in a country they have invested trillions to develop?

Mr President is right because the Igbos have always betrayed their people in order to be given political appointment.

Why won’t Igbos be a dot in a cycle when they have struggled to develop the country without a guaranteed hope for tomorrow?

Is Mr President not right in his thinking when he is using Igbos in his government to fight Igbos outside his government?

I think Mr President is right because Igbos are seen as second class citizens by his administration hence, do not pose any threat to the Northern agenda!

However, it is very obvious that common sense is not always common!

This is how I see Mr President’s statement concerning the Igbos; but I have a dream that one day, that “dot” in a cycle will cover the whole cycle in peace and becomes a cycle rather than a dot by God’s grace as Mr. President sees it!

Congratulations Ndigbo!

Dist. Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu

Twitter, cow routes and an outworn presidency, By Olagunju Lasisi

OUR president “seems to act speedily only when there is a political enemy to be punished.” That is the conclusion of about 40 diaspora Nigerian intellectuals in a statement they issued on the state of our nation on Friday. Our president is known for their easy life – and he enjoys ‘eating’ it. But, something strange is now happening in our presidency. Our president has been very active in the past two weeks. The last time he was that sprightly and zesty was when he wanted to renew his reign in 2019.

That time, he campaigned vigorously – leaving his enemy (and friends) panting. After that race, he went back to his rocker,  toothpick forever busies between his lips. But, in the last couple of days, the laid-back has been up. President  Muhammadu Buhari banned Twitter; threatened Twitter users; used NBC to warn radio and television stations not to dare touch Twitter; removed and replaced the head of the NBC who signed for him just days ago. He granted an interview to Arise TV on Thursday in which he described IPOB’s Biafra as a miserable dot in the Nigerian circle – a dead end. The same day, he was on his feet in Lagos cutting tapes and making speeches. The following day, he granted another interview to the NTA – in which he said nothing. On Saturday, he copied from Sani Abacha’s war jottings and made June 12 a day of tears and tear gas. As I write this, our president is busy, trekking from the north to the south, tracing cattle grazing routes, using the 1954 Fulani Amenities Proposal, the Grazing Reserves Gazette of 1964 and the  1965 Grazing Reserve Law of Northern Nigeria. The antiquated laws are his magic bullet against the killing of farmers and the spate of kidnapping by herdsmen.

The Buhari regime is never original in anything, not even in misbehaviour. Its recent ban of Twitter and threats of prosecution of Twitter users are straight from dark, centre pages of tragic autocracy. The regime forgets that Nigeria as a long history of successful resistance to evil and its darkness.

There was a time a government in Nigeria banned the Nigerian Tribune and decreed that no one born of a woman must be  seen with a copy of the paper. That government and its operators enforced the ban but failed tragically and lost everything. Mama HID Awolowo’s narration of that bit of our media history is here: “When the copies were printed,  they would bring them down to our house at Oke Bola, Ibadan covered with cloth or something like that and people ould be coming to buy from there, only one penny. You would then hide it under your armpit and take it away. There was a man the head of that government detailed at Oke Bola to keep watch to arrest anybody caught with the Tribune. So,  there was a day Mr Biodun Falade (Awo’s secretary) just carelessly held one of the copies going back to his own house which was not too far from us. So, as soon as this man, the detailed man, saw Falade, he arrested him. We had to run helter-skelter before we were able to bail him out.” That same government on December 1, 1965, invaded and ransacked the newsroom of the Tribune in search of Indian hemp. For that government, however, the drama ended in  dry tears just two weeks after that episode. That is part of our history which today’s powerful, strongmen are refusing to learn from.

A more recent model copied by Buhari and his men was Hosni Mubarak of Egypt’s misadventure of February 2011. The Egyptian leader, like our own leader, didn’t like the audacity of the Internet, particularly of Twitter and Facebook which were allowing the Arab Spring to wash him away. So, just like in our own case, the Mubarak regime ordered telecommunications companies to cut off access to the Internet. He added voice calls and SMS to the ban list. It didn’t  matter to him that what he was doing was a direct assault on his people’s “right to seek, receive, and impart  information.” He was a strong man of war, his survival must be at all costs. So, Mubarak ordered the Internet shut but he was soon shot down by the Internet.

Dictators will do anything to enjoy their lives of entitlement. They dictate but hate being dictated to. As Mubarak denied his people the right to use the media, he was forcing the telecoms companies to allow his own propaganda messages go out. They do it here in Nigeria too. They use social media to push their narratives. They embrace and use, then

whenever the media threatens their political survival. Media theorists call their ambivalence ‘Dictator’s  dilemma.’ Like all bullies, the golden rule of those warning us not to tweet is “you must not do as we do.” They banned Twitter from operating in Nigeria. They also withdrew the right of Nigerians, including of radio and television stations, to pass information or get information through Twitter.

But they are online, trading, smuggling and trolling on Twitter, downloading fake-tweet apps and faking stupid tweets for their enemies. They are too drunk with ignorance to know that the Twitter generation they are fighting have all the uncanny powers of witchery. Knowledge-savvy internet wizards will always catch their preys, skin and devour them,  liver, lungs and heart. Did you see how the Twitter people so easily caught the Buhari regime’s anti-media lawgiver on  Twitter with contrabands? The minister was caught breaking his own padlock and law, and transacting business with  Twitter, the enemy. So, they say if this thief must catch those he called thieves, let him catch himself first. The man was too ‘simple’ to know that the hunter who seeks to catch nightcrawlers must also be in that night. He has been shocked into silence, even recanting.

In all things, if you seek to lead, seek first wisdom and knowledge. Nothing destroys a nation more easily than the enthronement of arrogant ignorance and illiteracy. It is more dreadful when the stupid thinks he is wise. Someone said the illusion of knowledge is the greatest enemy of civilization. It is worse than ignorance. The Nigerian government exhibited this last week – as always. Because its Twitter-ban misadventure backfired big time, it wanted to change the focus. And it did it very badly, leaving intelligence behind. It said that Twitter was “doing business in Nigeria and making billions,” therefore it must pay tax into our coffers. If you assert, you must prove. We have an arrogant government that loves bandying big, hollow figures. It flames first, then thinks later. It randomly shames its subjects with unwisdom cutely wrapped in arrogance. The world is now an open book, there is no figure you want that is not at your fingertips.  The fact is, Twitter, according to Statista, as of the first quarter of 2021 had 199 million monetizable daily active users  (mDAU) worldwide. In the third quarter of 2020, the figure was 187 million. Out of that figure, the United States had  69.3million users; Japan had 50.9; India had 17.5; the United Kingdom had 16.45. Nigeria did not feature in the first 20 on the list. The only African country there was Egypt, and it was number 20. Twitter, in fact, recorded a net loss of  $1.14billion in 2020. Can we then do the maths and ask our revenue-seeking government where it found the billions?  Is the Twitter market missing Nigeria? Not at all, Nigerians are tweeting. Rather, it is the Nigerian government that has shut itself out of openly participating in the never-ending conversation on that platform. Our government thought that the ban, it had killed Twitter. It then decided to double-down on its dirty acts by asking all others -Facebook,  Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube etc – to come and register with our Corporate Affairs Commission or be banned too.

Bad manners are like bad sores, they fester. Very soon, our government will order the CNN and the BBC and all other foreign enemies (who covered the June 12 protests live on their online platforms) to come and be licensed by our  National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Power is a poisonous intoxicant in the hands of the ignorant. My people say if you become too obsessed with seeking out your father’s debtors, you would soon run into those your father owes. Is your NTA International registered with the US and all other countries it broadcasts to? How much tax does it pay abroad?  Richard Hass, president of the US’ Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in 2008 on what he described as the Age of  Non- Polarity. He warned that the world was moving to an age when no one would be in charge. The Internet and its awesome possibilities have birthed that age of no poles in national politics.

Governments and parties have lost their traditional leverage over conversations. What the goons in Abuja are attempting with the new media is equivalent to fools’ efforts at damming the ocean. Blogging pioneer, Jeff Jarvis, in his book, ‘What Would Google Do?’ wrote about power shifting to the edge; about power no longer centralized in the hands of the powerful – thanks to the new media. He said with the communication realities of this millennium, “political  movements need not start in Washington but can start in a thousand places linked online.” Do you remember how the  EndSARS protest started on Saturday, 10 October 2020 at the Ekiugbo section of Ughelli, Delta State? How the protest went through the Ughelli Market, Ughelli Area Command and Isoko road; how it eventually berthed at Lekki in Lagos from where the whole country got drenched in its sweat of audacious controversies. Moneybags, in government and in business, who think they own the yam and the knife of Nigeria would soon know that the immediate future is not likely theirs.

ICYMI: Buhari, Twitter, Ali And The Angel

Jarvis warns: “When millions of people give $10 dollars each to a campaign – instead of 10 people giving $1million each –  the power in a party shifts to the edge.” The Internet is doing that already; it will seal the deal shortly, even here, going  forward. The Internet is every dictator’s nightmare. That, really, is its founding political philosophy – and of all its  possibilities. Dr. Vint Cerf, revered in American tech history as the father of the Internet, in a 2012 interview with  wired.com said he knew what he was “unleashing on the world.” He explained that what he built is a system deliberately  made to “run on top of everything.” Cerf knew what he was talking about. He played a key role in creating the Internet  and its security technologies.

He invented the protocol that “made possible Wi-Fi, Ethernet, LANs, the World Wide Web, e-mail, FTP, 3G/4G ― as  well as all of the inventions built upon those inventions.” And he did all that in 1973. How many years ago is that? So, if in  2021, a thirdrate, third-world, freedom-hating, knowledge-lacking dictators dream of using cow dung to kill the fire  of the Internet or hunt down any of its social media platforms, tell them to please go back to bed. The war is theirs to  lose. And they will lose.

Tell someone about Jesus today

‘Look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.’
John 4:35 NIV

Jesus said, ‘Don’t you have a saying, “It’s still four months until harvest”?…open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.’ Someone close to you today may be in desperate need of God’s love. Wouldn’t it be worth risking rejection to find that one who’s ready and willing to respond? The fact is, you may be the only Christian they will meet – or meet today.

So if you don’t tell them, who will? Generally speaking, there are five reasons we don’t share our faith more often.

1) We think it’s the preacher’s job to do it (see Acts 1:8).

2) We aren’t certain about our own salvation (see 1 John 5:13).

3) We’re afraid of being rejected (see Luke 12:8-9).

4) We’ve never taken personal responsibility for learning how to share our faith (see 1 Peter 3:15).

5) Our love for Christ has grown cold (see Revelation 2:4-5).

Josh McDowell tells of a corporate headhunter who liked to get potential executives relaxed, then look them square in the eye and ask about their purpose in life. Most were shocked and fell apart under the question.

One day after talking for a while to a man named Bob, the headhunter leaned over, looked into his eyes and said, ‘And what’s your purpose in life?’ Without blinking, Bob replied, ‘To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.’ The headhunter said, ‘For the first time in my career I was speechless.’

Today, someone’s eternal destiny may rest on your willingness to share God’s love with them. That’s your God-given assignment – so tell them about Jesus.

Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 10-12, Acts 16:1-21

The Word for Today

Buhari: Sad And Saddening Interviews

By Tony Eluemunor

Ordinarily, any Nigerian should celebrate the very fact that President Mohammadu Buhari granted two nationally televised interviews in two days. This was a man who had been dubbed the taciturn one simply because he would clam up even when the cries of a need to address the nation was howling like the harmmattan wind. 

Yet, what did the average Nigerian get? On very vexatious issues, the average Nigerian has remained as uninformed about the real issues in BUhari’s mind as though the man never spoke. And yet, he did speak volumes. 

This time, the blame does not lie with the President at all. He never at any moment refused to answer any questions and it is to his credit that he never ruled some topics as no-go areas. So, what went wrong?

First, we have to agree that we have all the time over simplified matters by believing as a national creed that the only trouble with Nigeria is that of leadership. Ah, I know you must have, at this juncture remembered that most memorable of phrases, which was molded by the mind of the most celebrated writer Nigeria has ever been blessed with; Chinua Achebe. He said: “The trouble with Nigeria is clearly and squarely the trouble of leadership.” 

Achebe argued that nothing was wrong with the air or water in Nigeria but that “if a leader lacks discipline the effect is apt to spread”. Well, if Buhari’s interviews aired on Thursday by ARISE Television and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) showed anything, they showed us that the problem with Nigeria is also that of followership, the citizens. Part of that followership, the journalists who interviewed Buhari messed up totally and irredeemably. And I will show you why. 

When on Thursday Buhari, in reply to a question about open grazing, talked about the gazetted laws of 1963, which delineated cattle routes. Buhari’s words: “On Open Grazing: “What I did was ask governors to go and dig the gazette of the first republic. There are cattle routes and grazing areas. If you allow your cattle to stray into any farm, you are arrested. The problem is trying to understand the culture of the cattle rearers. The Nigerian cattle rearer has nothing else about from machetes and sticks to cut trees for cattle. Fulani herders from outside Nigeria (who look the same as Nigerians) move to Nigeria and they look like they are from Nigeria and some of them carry AK 47”. 

Then, how on Earth could it be explained that the Arise TV titans of Nigerian journalism; Tundun Abiola, Reuben Abati, Arise News Chairman Nduka Obaigbena, and current head of the editorial board of ThisDay, Olusegun Adeniyi, could not remember to ask Buhari whether it is the duty of the Governors or his own duty to stop “Fulani herders from outside Nigeria (who look the same as Nigerians)” from entering Nigeria? And that if they entered Nigeria illegally, is it not the duty of the Federal Government which Buhai heads as President to accost and deport them? Also, why did they not ask Buhari just one simple question: is it not the duty of the Federal Government to arrest, arraign and punish herders who, illegally “carry AK47”? 

I say this because the gazetting of any law in any year concerning Nigerian herders did not make legal the illegality of allowing illegal aliens to come into Nigeria at will. Also, nothing in that 1963 gazette would have authorized illegal aliens not only to carry guns illegally, but to use the guns to kill Nigerians at will. 

If any answer from Buhari cried out for a follow-up question it was the one under review here and now. Or are those journalists from Arise TV convinced that a total and unhindered implementation of the that 1963 law about designated cattle routes would immediately stop the harassment and killing of Nigerian farmers by foreign and illegal aliens who also illegally tot dangerous guns about? If not, why did they not raise this so that Buhari would tell his fellow countrymen and women, perhaps, if after the implementation of that 1963 law, he would also do something to fish out the Fulani illegal alien herders because their being of the Fulani ethnic stock would not have automatically made then Nigerians. 

In other words, why did the presence of gun-toting illegal alien Fulani herders within Nigeria’s borders not become an issue during that interview? Or are we saying it was not germane to the discussion? 

Now, there is a related topic that needs be addressed. Buhari’s reply to a question: On State Police 

“I’ve told governors who came to me to complain about herders and farmers crises to go back to the old system where traditional leaders, police, traders and elders meet regularly to discuss security situation in their localities and solve them. And if it is above them, they pass it on. Governors can’t go round and win elections and then sit tight and wait for somebody to do their jobs for them”. 

There are two issues here: the first concerns Buhari himself while the second touches on the Arise TV journalists who interviewed him. 

Number one: Would our President be saying in other words that, in the case of Benue for instance, that he is unaware of the much-publicised fact that Benue has enacted a law against open grazing? To put it differently, the Benue people having considered all the laws in the books, all the “traditional leaders, police, traders and elders, and how often they have been meeting and decided that such intangibles have not worked for the state as farmers have kept dying in droves in the hands of herders who engage in open grazing, and therefore decided to try a different approach; to ban open grazing. So, with that answer, was Buhari saying that he would allow the Police which at present is completely and totally under him as there is no state Police in Benue or in any other state, to obey a law genuinely and duly passed by the Benue State of Assembly? And which has been assented to by the duly elected Governor? Does that law stand? If it does stand, should that law not be enforced by the Police, which is totally and completely under Mr. President? And if not why not? 

Are we being told that the Governor of Benue state, who signed a bill into law, which bans open grazing in his state, has not done something tangible to stop the harassment and killing of those living in the state by herders who may not be Nigerians, and who may be, against the laws of the land be illegal aliens in Nigeria even as they illegally bear arms? And at the same time, when the Federal Government has not arrested and deported them or tried them for illegal possession of arms? 

What else should a Governor do? To hold meetings with traditional rulers and the Police and traders and farmers and herders? Are we asking any sane Governor, to parley with gun-toting illegal aliens who have no reason being in his state in the first place? I don’t think so. And the journalists who conducted the interviews should have pointedly asked Buhari to further explain his stance. And it is likely that Buhari would have happily done so, after all, he was truthful enough to tell us that he loves the Nigeria-Maradi rail line because of the good neighborliness that would help elicit between us and the people of that country. Buhari’s answer on the extension of rail line to Niger Republic 

“How many neighbours do we have? You have to cultivate your relationship with your neighbours, if you don’t, you are in trouble. Nigerians have first cousins and relatives in Nigeria, Benin Republic. 

Niger has discovered oil, we want them to transport their products through Nigeria instead of Benin by building rail (to Maradi) and good roads”. Unfortunately, many have taken that answer to mean that Buhari has personal relations in Niger Republic. 

Yet, that answer should have given birth to a follow-up question: Why did he not begin by extending a rail line to Benin Republic, because more volume of trade is carried on the Cotonou – Lagos route than from across Maradi? And is the Maradi-Nigeria rail line a part of the Trans-African Rail Line or just a tip of the hat to Buhari’s whim? 

On Saturday, June 12, 2021, Mr. Innocent Nwajei, the former General Manager of the Daily Independent South-South Operations, Asaba, was buried. He was aged 54. 

This man from Asaba, who loved print and publishing issues with a passion, died after just three days of illness on Holy Saturday, that is, the day before Easter. He was said to have died of, wait for it, just ordinary typhoid. Yes, ordinary typhoid, which comes from contaminated drinking water, ended his life. 

That tells us how underdeveloped Niger still is. He and had been toying with the idea of his returning to Independent. I think he spoke with the Daily Independent Managing Director on the Thursday preceding the Saturday he breathed his last. Man proposes, death….! RIP. Innocent Nwajei; I will ever remember your passion for your printing profession, sunny smile and gentle nature. 

10 questions and answers arising from the Federal High Court(FIRS) Practice Directions, 2021

By Chukwuemeka Eze

Question One
What is a Practice Direction?

Answer
According to Wikipedia, a practice direction is a supplemental protocol to rules of civil and criminal procedure in the courts – “a device to regulate minor procedural matters” – and is “an official announcement by the court laying down rules as to how it should function.”

Question Two
Who made the practice directions and under which law?

Answer
The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, made the Practice Directions under Order 57 rule 3 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019.

Question Three
What is the summary of the objectives of the Practice Directions?

Answer
Speedy resolution of tax disputes involving the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Question Four
What goal will FIRS achieve through this Practice Directions?

Answer
It will enable FIRS to obtain the order of court:
(i) Of Interim Order of forfeiture on immovable property of a taxpayer;
(ii) Freezing a taxpayer’s bank account;
(iii) For warrant of access against a taxpayer’s books, documents, services, billing systems, bank accounts, including those stored in a computer; in digital, magnetic, optical or electronic form for the purpose of tax investigation or audit;
(iv) For levying Warrant of Distraint executed by the Executive Chairman of FIRS against a taxpayer as provided in section 33 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2007;
(v) To have access and/or seal the business premises or other known place of business, where the taxpayer refuses to willingly grant access to the FIRS.

Question Five
Will the FIRS put the taxpayer ON NOTICE before bringing an application to the Federal High Court to do any or all of the things listed in Answers 4(i) – (v) to Question four above?

Answer
No. The FIRS is empowered by the Practice Directions to file the application without serving the taxpayer, meaning that it will bring the application by Motion Ex parte.

Question Six
What will the Judge do upon receipt of the FIRS application?

Answer
The Judge is expected to do the following:

(i) Give priority to the FIRS application. In other words, the court will take the application out of turn in order to avoid long adjournments. Speed is the watchword here.

(ii) Grant any or all of the orders listed in Answer
4 (i) – (v) to Question four above upon being satisfied with the FIRS application.

Question Seven
What can FIRS do after obtaining the interim forfeiture order from the court?

Answer
(i) It will serve the taxpayer the interim forfeiture order, and takeover the property or bank account or any other asset of the taxpayer;
(ii) It will file another application called a Motion on Notice, for which it will serve the taxpayer urging the court to make an Order Absolute in order to permanently takeover the property or bank account of the taxpayer;
(iii) FIRS has to bring this application within 14 days after service of the Interim Order of forfeiture. An Order Absolute connotes the taxpayer will permanently forfeit the subject of the Interim Order of forfeiture, be it property, money in the bank account or any other thing covered by the original order.

Question Eight
What can the taxpayer who has been served a Motion on Notice do?

Answer
(i) The taxpayer will decide whether to pay the assessed tax or challenge the assessment;
(ii) Where he decides to pay the amount assessed by FIRS, the court will enter final judgment accordingly for him to pay into the designated FIRS bank account;
(iii) Where the taxpayer decide to challenge the assessment, he shall pay half of the assessed amount in an interest-yielding account of the Federal High Court, and file court processes challenging the interim order already obtained by the FIRS against the taxpayer.

Question Nine
What happens when the taxpayer absents himself on the day the court will hear his counter affidavit or application?

Answer
The court may terminate his opposition or strike out his processes, and allow the status of affairs before the termination or striking out to remain.

Question Ten
When is the commencement date of the Practice Directions?

Answer
31st May, 2021.

Compiled by:

CHUKWUEMEKA EZE, fcti
[Tax Law & Policy lecturer, Faculty of Law, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, and Legal Adviser, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN)]
June 12, 2021

The dot in the circle is the life

By Ikenna Emewu

Scientifically and naturally, the DOT in the Circle is not in bondage or imprisonment of the circle. It’s rather the pillar that sustains the structure and without which the structure crashes
*The NUCLEUS of the Atom is the epicenter and heartbeat. It is the Dot of force and being
*The Nucleus of the Cell, the building block of life is the energy zone that looks small but the force that sustains the cell. There is no cell without that Dot in the circle
*The Pith is the centre of the transverse section of a tree trunk or branch. In it the rings of life of the tree is manufactured. It is the Dot in the circle. The DOT of life
*The Pupil of the eye is the Dot in the Circle. The entire eye may look larger but CAN NEVER SEE without the Dot in the large circle.
*The Core of the earth crust is the Dot in the large circle that makes up the earth crust
It provides the lubrication on which the huge earth spins on its axis. Without it, the rotation of the earth stops and life stands still without times and seasons. It is the small Dot of force in the large circle
*The Heart is the small Dot in the large circle of the body system. It pumps the blood that sustains life. Without it, life shuts down
*The Brain, Central Nervous System, is the small Dot in the large skull and cranial system. Without it, balance, mental alertness and life pack up
So, are you a NONENTITY because someone described you as a small Dot in a large circle without any way to go? The large circle rather depends on you to be. The instances prove it.
It was said out of lack of intuition and understanding
You are the TINY DOT OF LIFE. Nature made it so long ago and cannot change
It’s decreed by God that you are the DOT of LIFE. You are just small in size but wrapped tight with energy, impetus, power, drive, results, fruits quality and you drive life.
The blind can’t see it. The shallow mind can’t discern it
@Ikenna Emewu

Igangan massacre: Who is to blame?

By Bolanle Bolawole

[email protected] 0705 263 1058

The Igangan massacre of hapless and harmless Yoruba citizens by suspected Fulani herdsmen and terrorists armed to the teeth has come but the vibrations may not go away for a long time to come. Although casualty figures vary from one report to another, I have it on good authority that life was lost on both sides. As usual with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC administration; mum’s the word! Not a word of condolence to the victims! Not a syllable of condemnation for the criminals, murderers, and instigators of this unprovoked assault! But had the narrative been the opposite, the Presidency would have jumped into the fray; governors and other top government officials of Fulani extraction would have brought the roof down over our heads. Arrests would have been made. To Buhari and his government, the Fulani blood is precious. No other life is worth anything. While Wakil, the Fulani warlord who tormented Igangan for decades, is not just as free as a bird, he is also treated as a VIP invited to the Presidential Villa; whereas the OPC members who flushed him out of Igangan cool their heels in detention, That has been the narrative since the disaster called the Buhari administration befell this country in 2015. Or, better still, since we brought this disaster upon ourselves, first in 2015 and again in 2019, the Fulani get away with blue murder. They ride roughshod over the polity. They are treated as sacred cows – together with their cows! State power and all of its apparatuses are massed behind them. Their word is law. The fear of the Fulani has become the beginning of wisdom. All of this because they have the back of Buhari whose body language – as well as spoken words – leaves no one in doubt that the Fulani are his anointed people. “Touch not my anointed and do my people no harm”!

When Buhari said: I belong to nobody and I belong to everybody; Nigerians were too hasty to think they knew what he meant. But how wrong! The story is told of the Tortoise as he and other animals prepared for a journey to another world in search of food and sustenance. There had been a first-of-its-kind hunger, famine, and hardship in the land (as we witness today in Nigeria) and Tortoise suggested he knew where food could be gotten. He would lead the other animals but on one condition – they must obey the rules as specified by him (Tortoise). And what is the rule? Tortoise shall be addressed as “All of you” and whatever is presented to “All of you” by the guests would belong to Tortoise and Tortoise only. All the other animals would receive gifts specifically presented to them in their respective name. Those that could fly helped those who could not to get to the other world. The people of the other world happily received their august visitors and lavished them with gifts. But each time such gifts were presented, Tortoise would ask, for whom are these gifts, and their guests would respond, “All of you” and Tortoise would remind the other animals to take note that he was the one known and called “All of you” by the people of the other world. So did it become that Tortoise got all the gifts and the other animals got nothing. In his so-called magnanimity, Tortoise gave peanuts to the other animals while he retained the lion’s share of everything (the same way Buhari has given the lion share of everything to the Fulani and peanuts to the other ethnic groups). Time to return to the earth and the aggrieved animals decided to teach Tortoise a lesson. You should think that would teach Tortoise a lesson and that he would make up with the other animals but greed and obstinacy would not let him (Does that say something about Buhari/Fulani obduracy on restructuring?). Instead, Tortoise packed all his gifts, tied them together on his back and decided to tumble down from the other world unto the earth. The result: He lost everything! In addition, his shell scattered in a million places. It took the surgeon time and effort before Tortoise could be nursed back to good health. That is why Tortoise’s shell is disjointed to this day!

Folklores of mischief, duplicity, greed, and deceit have Tortoise as the chief culprit; the same way the Fulani herdsmen and terrorists have become the lead characters of unspeakable bestiality and horrendous criminality in today’s Nigeria. When Buhari said he belonged to “everybody”, he must have meant “everybody” to refer to the Fulani. And when he said he belonged to “nobody”, he must have meant that to refer to ethnic groups other than the Fulani and their collaborators. So, Nigerians were the ones who did not shine their eyes, as they say. We assumed we knew when we knew nothing. We did not properly read the lips of Buhari. From Day One, Buhari meant to be president for the Fulani and not for Nigeria. He came as the Moses of the Fulani and not of Nigeria. He is their Messiah, not ours! He came to carry forward and fulfil the mission and vision of the Sokoto Jihad of Uthman dan Fodio. He follows in the footsteps of Ahmadu Bello. He is not Nigerian but Fulani. He is no patriot but a Fulani bigot.

Specifically on the Igangan massacre, who is to blame? Is it the Igangan people who appeared to have gone to sleep after the victory they recorded over Wakil? RCCG’s Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye posits that the time a Christian should be more careful and be on his guard the most is after recording a victory over the enemy because the enemy will surely fight back. If corruption fights back, then, Igangan people ought to have known that terrorists also fight back. It is called a reprisal attack and we have seen that happen again and again in the Middle Belt area. Scripture says “while men slept…” Igangan and others in their shoes must not “sleep” the sleep of death.

Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho did marvellously well in liberating his Igangan people from the vice-like grip of Wakil but after achieving that, he shifted his attention and focus elsewhere, leaving his home base unprotected, as it were. History records this as a defensive error that has proven costly again and again. When you liberate a ground, you must ensure you hold it. Igboho rushed to Igangan after the deed had been done and wanted to comb the forests for the fleeing terrorists but was reportedly prevented from doing so by security operatives already drafted to the scene. When I asked why, a highly-placed personality in the state said matter-of-factly: Buhari doesn’t want the Fulanis arrested and the police look the other way whenever there is a crisis. That is what is happening and Amotekun is still young (and) lacks similar fire-power as the enemies” The narrative of security operatives treating Fulani criminal elements with kid gloves or even siding with them is widespread. Another highly-placed official added that with security agents already on ground before Igboho’s arrival, it would be fool-hardy for them to yield ground. The street sensitization that Igboho and other Yoruba self-determination advocates have embarked upon in the South-west must be commended and applauded. It is a much-needed barometer – or referendum – to gauge the pulse of the people whether they are for or against the actualization of Oodua nation. From what we have seen, the Yoruba streets are in support. And from my own little corner as an opinion moulder, the Yoruba elite and intelligentsia are also in support. The Yoruba nation, it bears repeating, is an idea whose time has come.

When the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, invited his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, to commission the 65klm Moniya-Ijaiye-Iseyin road, did he think the decision through? That event was on June 3rd and Igangan took place days after. Did Makinde think that strongly identifying with Ortom, who is seen by the Fulani as Buhari and the Fulani’s tormentor-in-chief, will not come with consequences? Hobnobbing with an Ortom that the Fulani admitted publicly they narrowly missed assassinating and whom they had pledged to still go after – did the Oyo governor think such an action will go unnoticed in critical places? As they say, a friend of my friend is my friend; a friend of my enemy is my enemy; the enemy of my friend is my enemy; and the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Not that I disapprove of Makinde’s invitation or extension of a hand of fellowship to Ortom; if anything, I approve of it. They belong to the same party. Besides, Ortom has suffered so much in the hands of the Fulani and deserves all the support he can get, especially from like-minded people. But in Nigeria of today – specifically in Buhari’s Nigeria – you don’t take the kind of decision taken by Makinde and go to bed with two eyes closed.

We must also ask the question whether Makinde got a hint about an impending Igangan massacre and did nothing. Did he get security reports to that effect but fail to act appropriately? That is the inference some are drawing after reading an interview granted to an online publication on June 3,, 2021 by Gen. Tunde Togun, former Director of the DSS, who, incidentally, is the Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network (code-named Amotekun). If Togun knew all he said in that interview, how come his Amotekun was not proactive on Igangan? Or did he not get the required support? Another view, however, is that Togun spoke generally about the country’s dire security situation, which everyone is aware of, and specifically about the Oke-Ogun area, which has had a chequered history of conflict between herders and farmers. He did not pin-point an impending invasion of Igangan by Fulani herdsmen/terrorists.

Activist and human rights lawyer, Comrade Femi Falana (SAN), however, insisted in his own interview with another online publication that security operatives were hinted of the impending massacre at Igangan but did nothing. Such damning narrative is also commonplace. Falana added that when the terrorists struck, the vigilantes and Amotekun operatives armed with inferior weapons could not match the fire-power of the invaders. Falana has advocated ad nauseam that South-west governors, rather than look up to or rush to Abuja at the slimmest of excuses, should take the bull of insecurity in the South-west by the horns – and I agree! South-west governors and other political leaders must outgrow their timidity, shrug off their fear of Buhari, and apply for licence to arm Amotekun and the Vigilante groups with effective weapons that can confront the terrorists. It is also time we began to demand to know the security votes of governors in the South-west and how the votes are spent. Some South-west governors reportedly draw between N600million and N1.4 billion monthly as security votes; yet, the zone is far from being secured. Let each South-west governor declare how much they collect monthly as security vote and on what they spend these humongous sums! As the Jamaican reggae king, Jimmy Cliff, crooned: I want to know/Everybody wants to know…!

Makinde has assured that Igangan will not happen again! Good talk! But how will he walk the talk? He must put his security vote to good use, apply modern technology (e.g drones), and refrain from behaving like Buhari who, after promising that the Zamfara abduction would be the last, went to sleep! I have lost count of how many abductions we have witnessed after Zamfara while Buhari appears lame duck!

Re: Open Letter to Ndigbo, by Hassan Gimba

 week’s write-up with the above title has generated so many responses that I feel today should be a day for the respondents. Please enjoy.

What can be more brotherly than feeling the pain of a brother and providing a way to relieve it? Malam Hassan, as we, your Potiskum people call you, you have shown them the way and the light. My hope now is that Ndigbos will find their trails and walk back again to the path of peace and harmony. After all, a word is enough for the wise.

Abdulrahman Muktar

What a life-changing piece! … Certainly, a word is enough for the wise.

Yusuf Sardauna Dagare

What a nice piece. A word, they say, is enough for a wise period!!!

Usman Dankani

Excellent piece, why are they going on a suicide mission? Why should a shop owner want the market to be burned? Something is definitely wrong.

Professor MK Othman

Very Apt. May the good Lord divinely intervene in Jesus name, Amen.

Frank Garuk

Profoundly Stated, Editor and Do Remain Blessed.

Ayanda Ngwane

Excellent advice Dr A stitch in time saves 9.

Dr Yusuf Iliyasu

Greater words were never written. May (the ink in) your pen never dry, Malam.

Abdurazaq Magaji

I couldn’t forget how my two innocent brothers died at “Guantanamo” in Damaturu. My childhood friend too died there too. This Indomie generation doesn’t know war or history.

Bukar A. Musa

 
Words of wisdom! Enough is enough.

We are proud of you.

Asma’u Abubakar Mahmud

Words of wisdom, this is really enough for the wise.

Mohammed Garundole

Jaundiced piece! Why can’t these almajris writers leave us alone? What i don’t understand is, must we be in the same country with you? Give us referendum and stop crying more that the bereaved.

Dennis K. Ezeh

@Dennis K. Ezeh I guess you can’t read, or perhaps you have difficulty in comprehending words of wisdom. The type of kindness in this piece alone can attract the wrath of Amadioha of Ozuzu on you!

Yusuf Sardauna Dagare

@Dennis K. Ezeh imagine, insulting a person who educationally has no mate in your entire family!

Barrah’u Haruna Nasir

Boy does not know the fire until the fire burns him. Those people are being brainwashed by unscrupulous elements that is why they behave in a dogmatic way.

Ali Musa

I don’t have time to read this nonsense, people who cannot pay house rent is it land they will buy.

Engr. Ozumba Jerry

@Engr Ozumba Jerry thanks for reading it.

Ma’aruf Saminu

@Engr. Ozumba Jerry it’s like you don’t know what you’re fighting for.

It is better for you to read before commenting nonsense, my friend.

Tijjani Idi Maikalanzir

Well articulated.

Zanna Ali Haruna

Dear Hassan Gimba, I appreciate your write up on the current situation in the south East. As a person, I don’t support violence in any form and am not here to justify that. I spent close to 14 years in Maiduguri from 2001 till 2014 and I was there when it all started. 

On the south East situation, let’s look at it from this direction based on your write up.

Originally IPOB agitation started with flags and other Biafran insignia and they were labelled “Terrorists”.

Presently no Igbo man is in the security apparatus/architecture of this country or does that mean NO IGBO MAN IS QUALIFIED TO BE THERE??.

In Igbo land, land business is huge business and requires capital but the question is HOW MANY NORTHERNERS ARE WILLING TO PAY?

On the issue of President from Igbo extraction, why are Northerners always afraid of that? Igbo’s are one of the major stakeholders in the Nigeria project.

On saying “IPOB terrorists” killed Ahmed Gulak, my brother time shall tell.

NIGERIA IS BLEEDING

Ozonweke IK Godwin Stage

@Ozonweke Ik Godwin Stage Objection! When was IPOB labelled terrorist? Answer: When they armed themselves and started destructive actions.

No Igbo man in the security architecture? But it’s not by tribe or region even though you carved out Gen. Lucky Irabor who hail from Delta which is included in Biafra map, no problem.

How many Northerners are willing to pay for the land in the south? Am writing you this directly from the South. Bro, Northerners in the South are completely threatened even though we are financially fit to buy land. In fact in states like Port Harcourt, Bayelsa, excluding Abia and Imo, Hausa people prefer to reside there than the southeast, all because of atrocities committed in Igbo land and the inherent problems of your land dispute over years.

On the issue of the president: we never fear for an Igbo man to be president in this country if he can be truly voted into power.

IPOB killed Ahmed Gulak. Yes! No doubt. Commissioner of police confirmed and I choose that of the commissioner because he is responsible to brief the governor over this issue. Finally, Nigeria is safe since the country has identified its problems and taken the way out of these problems.

MD Faisal

You have eloquently said it all, sir. A word is enough for the wise.

Musa Lamido

I salute you, sir, for penning down this million-dollar piece. I think I should say that I would want to volunteer to be the bearer of this super epistle, or the emissary to bear it to the land of the Ndigbo. As you emphasised, we in the northeast have experienced it. So, your epistle is right on time. Let who has ears listen. Come what may, I remain a green-white-greener. Lastly, I sympathise with you, sir over the BH incident that haunted you back then. Allah ya kiyaye mu.

Adamkolo M. Ibrahim

People with myopic mindset talking junk.

Nzubechukwu Umeojinaka Sampepe

Nice open letter. More ink to your pen, sir and may almighty Allah exalts you in knowledge.

Auwal Jovial

Oga you just they blow grammar. My issue with this northern janjaweed is why are they afraid to go their way?

Agu Ike Tony

@Agu Ike Tony and who is holding you from going?

Talatu Hyat Baji

May Allah guide and protect you, father.

Omar Ya’u Janda

Wisdom ink on paper.

Jamil Sawwa Sawwa

Fighting ourselves will do no one any good in this trying moment. Stronger we are to confront our contemporary challenges… I feel ashamed and disturbed when my brethren are strongly after the collapse of our dear nation. Remember, it takes years to build a nation, we have come a long way, went through the good, the bad and the ugly side of history. Are we going to restart afresh? Are we going to sacrifice all the labour of our heroes past of uniting this nation? Are we going to allow self-interest to overshadow public interest? Are we going to instil the fear of one another in the younger generation? 

Negotiation and roundtable discussion is the best avenue to frontally address the topical issues, not killings and threatening national peace, unity, integration and SECURITY. Whether you agree or disagree with me, WE ARE BROTHERS!

Umaru Yakubu Kirawa

Well understood, can’t we forget our differences and live as one Nigeria, as said by the great Zik of Africa, or should we sort out our differences and live as one as said by the Sardauna? Am not in support of what Nnamdi Kanu is doing in the east, but the truth of the matter is once any act of criminality takes place in the east, without investigation, the security agencies know who is responsible, but when the herdsmen perpetrate their act in the south, the security agencies will keep mum.

Paul Parker

Intimidating!

Nwabuisi Emmanuel-Onuigbo

When somebody refuses to listen to the words of wisdom he must definitely cry for the words of violence. Fighting the problem with violence is just like adding petrol to fire. I do hope that they will listen to not only you but to many concerned citizens who are calling their attention to their acts of terrorism. 

God bless you, sir.

Baba Alhaji Mele

A piece of good advice. Hope they listen.

Dr Suleiman Mohammed

A soothing balm, indeed. The record is straight

Raymond Gukas

Mr Gimba, you are such an amazing writer. To a large extent too, I think you are compassionate with your advice. I see a man who has shown concern at least to his brothers and sisters from the other side. Mr Ike Ozonweke has done well too to address part of the concerns in the east. What I see as a man from neither East nor North, is that there’s still a huge deposit of mistrust emanating from that unfortunate and unforgettable miscarriage some 51 years ago; the civil war. Until trust is bridged, no action of the president from the north will seem right or trusted by people from the other side, likewise when someone from the east steers the affairs of this great but haemorrhaging nation. The president does not seem to be doing enough in carrying everyone along; his silence on too many things going wrong, including his beloved Daura, is disheartening. If he really wants to correct the ills of the past, he should carry everyone along and people like Nnamdi Kanu cannot enjoy the sympathy of the gullible poor who are already fade up and are down already and need some form of reassurances. Let our president come out or better still go to the east as he did during campaigns and talk to the hungry and gullible citizens. The people are in fear and they choose to obey what you may wish to call distant voices because the real voice is silent or appears not to be there or concerned. I wish the people of the East can read your beautiful write-up and flee from the impending and imminent dangers. I don’t want to remember my experience at Galadima – Maiduguri. What is happening now is avoidable. Peace and justice are synonymous, and what is good for Ali, should be good for Emeka and Abiodun.

Emmanuel Clement

Thank you, Dr Hassan. A timely admonition. I sincerely appreciate the article. This is a must-read for all south-easterners. I’ve already shared it on a few platforms.

Dr M. O. Ezechukwu

Wow! To end a challenging day like Monday with an aptly written epistle is to end the day well. A word should be enough for the wise. Well done sir. God bless Nigeria.

Halima AbdulRa’uf

‘NOW THAT OUR PRESIDENT HAS SPOKEN’

Inside Stuff with MARTINS OLOJA,

We should thank the God of all comfort whose grace enabled the recent interviews our president granted two television stations shortly before the Democracy Day’s speech, yesterday. I would like to join the people who should be bold enough to say, ‘It is the Lord’s doing and so it is marvellous in our eyes’. There is indeed a time for everything. It’s another time to rejoice that the taciturn President who has shunned even presidential chats and most organic presidential debates, has spoken so clearly this time. The content of the interviews is still being reviewed across platforms and in so many people’s parliaments and joints. At press time, where two or more were gathered in the name of Nigeria the unexpected, pre-recorded interviews were still dominant.

But beyond the content analysis, the interviews have done us a lot of good. And that should be seen as an extension of the testimony to the grace that brought him to power miraculously. I mean the grace that has enabled us to assess the power of our leader’s much talked about integrity index. I noted that testimony when I wrote: ‘Thank God Buhari won 2015 election’ in 2018.
(https://guardian.ng/opinion/thank-god-buhari-won-2015-election/February 18, 2018/

This is a corollary to that as the current interviews have removed some uncertainties that have been with us for some years. First, it is now clear that our President is hale and hearty enough to handle state matters. When he returned from the United Kingdom on March 10, 2017, he said: ‘I have never been this sick’. Since that time, there have been speculations in hushed tones about the true identity and the state of health of our leader. Even during and after some United Nations assemblies in New York City, there were reported crises of coherence in some interviews granted. There were dark hints of how hard of hearing our leader could have been. Since the return from the United Kingdom, from long medical check-up in 2017, there have been secret debates about the true identity of the President. Specifically, some published certain dubious profile of an unknown Sudanese as our leader. There have been publications, though ignored about whether our leader has been operating from his office – since 2017. There have been so many rumours including why the First lady could even spend up to six months in the UAE without consequences. So many conspiracy theories have since emerged. So, thank God we heard our elected President very loud and clear a few days ago on two different channels. No more crisis of coherence. No more speculation about any cabal releasing documents he didn’t sign. No more pepper-soup joint discussions about the unlimited powers of his Chief of Staff. It is now clear to all of us doubting Thomases, the scoffers that our President is now as fit as fiddle to face the development of critical infrastructure – and to rejig the battered economy. It is now clear that all the medical trips and restful moments in the United Kingdom have been fruitful, after all. We should be grateful to our former colonial masters for their faithfulness and commitment to strong and healthy leadership in Africa’s most populous nation.

That is the first and most important deliverable from the timely interviews. And the other tangible benefit of the interviews is that the president should now be ready to face public scrutiny and hard questions about what I have called promises not yet kept since 2015. Henceforth, no one will blame any cabal for any executive decisions or actions. The president, as we are happy to note has been in charge. He should accept responsibility. There has been a strong point that the president’s comment on the reason for the table-shaking #EndSARS crisis in 2020, which he attributed to state enemies’ failed coup to remove him from office was an indicator of what some of the president’s men and women have been feeding him with. That is a valid point. But the president has spoken clearly about that. That also should be a pointer to the fact that in the presidency, there are so many versions of various events, according to the whims and caprices of various in-house reporters.

And so, there could be crisis entrepreneurs in the presidency too who have been benefiting from festering crises they create or misrepresent.

So, our President was made to believe that the #EndSARs protest wasn’t about police brutality? Behold, our leader was told to ignore the young Nigerians who specifically demanded good policing and excellent conditions of service for officers in their documents to the president? So, the President believed the young protesters wanted to overthrow his government through peaceful protests?

Let the credible elders of the land now tell our leader who has decided to engage Nigerians through regular interviews that he might have been misled by his own people about the origin, effects and significance of the #EndSARS protest last year. That is a serious misinformation I would like to asterisk here for our leader’s attention. And those crisis merchants in the presidency who might have misled our leader about what triggered #EndSARS crisis should not be ashamed to seek forgiveness from the God of man, not (from) any man of God. It is a big deal that should not be ignored.

‘President’s curious commitment to open grazing’

The other curiosity from the interviews is our leader’s strange commitment to open grazing despite realisation by even elders in the north including the Governor of Katsina state that open grazing is anachronistic in 21st century. This revelation speaks volumes not just to the age of our President but to the age of his ideas in running the country.

How would our leader be talking about a First Republic’s Gazette on Open Grazing for northern Nigeria to be applicable to the whole country in 2021 when Ranching is the new deal? What happened to the National Livestock Transformation Plan, (NLTP) which the Vice President launched in Adamawa State on September 10, 2019?
The Origin: On September 10, 2019, barely three months after inauguration for a second term, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, inaugurated the National Livestock Transformation Plan at the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa.

While inaugurating the project on that Tuesday, Osinbajo said the plan was designed to run from 2019-2028 as part of Federal Government’s initiative in collaboration with states under the auspices of the National Economic Council (NEC). He said the plan, targeted at supporting the development of Nigeria’s livestock sector, is to be implemented in seven pilot states of Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara.

According to the Vice President, the plan would be implemented as a collaboration project between the federal and state governments, farmers, pastoralists and private investors. His words: “In this plan, the state government or private investors provide the land, the federal government does not and will not take any land from a state or local government…Any participating state will provide the land and its own contribution to the project. The federal government merely supports…It is a plan that hopes to birth tailor-made ranches where cattle are bred, and meat and dairy products are produced using modern livestock breeding and dairy methods”.

Our Vice President stated the benefits this way: “This solves the problem of cattle grazing into and destroying farmlands. It ensures a practical response to the pressures on water and pasture by forces of climate change”. He noted that the plan was designed to provide modern meat and dairy industry and in some cases integrated crop farming.
According to Osinbajo, the unique feature of the plan is that any participating state will determine its own model: “I wish to emphasise that this is not RUGA. Because the idea of RUGA settlements launched by the Ministry of Agriculture created a problem when it was perceived as a plan to seize lands to create settlements for herders…RUGA was not the plan designed and approved by the governors and the President rightly suspended the implementation,” Osinbajo said.

So, why would the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami (SAN) be deceiving the President with a First Republic’s Gazette on Open Grazing for the North to destroy the National Livestock Transformation Plan reported as a federal government’s agenda? Of what use is an ancient Gazette for the North, in this connection? What could be triggering this policy somersault? Mischief of the AGF or some hidden agenda? Where is the AGF who seems to be desperate for something coming from on the livestock transformation agenda?

Has the President forgotten or dropped the NLTP the Governors established with the Vice President who chairs the National Economic Council? The next interview should clarify this policy chaos in the presidency. The last thing any next encounter with our president should also clarify is the place of federal character provision in the constitution. Most viewers wondered why the President was not confronted with this federal character provision in the constitution when he explained his appointments policy, which most people believe, has favoured his own section of the country.

The President told his interviewers that he would favour experience of people even in the armed forces and the NNPC, for instance, when considering appointments and promotions. Anyway, the interviews have been illuminating. I hope that those who would like to be part of #Project-2023 elections would deconstruct the powerful revelations of the president who also noted that he would like his governing APC to rule for as long as necessary. It is well with our country, which no force on earth can destroy as a source of pride and confidence for the black race.

‘SLEEP WELL, NOJEEM’

We lost this rare gem, our veteran photojournalist in the Lagos-Ibadan axis for three decades – NOJEEM JIMOH. He wasn’t named an editor. But all editors always respected his skill, commitment and professionalism. He was never title-crazy. He never waited for approved vouchers before travelling for major assignments outside. He would always call the editors and marketing managers about even arrival time of our newspaper to Ibadan and southwest states. He was a remarkable monitor of marketing strategies. Indeed, he might not have been prominent but he was significant to the corporate governance policies that have shaped the growth of the flagship of the Nigerian press, ‘The Guardian’, Nigeria. We will all miss you Nojeem because of the power of your attitude to work. Sleep well!

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