Buhari, Change And Democratic Tyranny

By Arthur Nwankwo |

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana

One thing you cannot take away from most Nigerians is their penchant for collective amnesia. Despite the lessons of our history, we seem to learn nothing. On several occasions, especially in times like this, most Nigerians find themselves in a state of apparent exhaustion, as though drained of all their physical and mental energies; in a kind of torpor from which we are aroused only by difficulty and hardship. I have come to appreciate the fact that of all human institutions, none is as pervasive and inescapable as the state.

As socio-political beings, God has destined man to live together; to form groups for physical and emotional sustenance. In forming such groups, the most powerful group, which man has formed is the state. In line with the principles of “social contract”, it is to the state that we grant, explicitly and implicitly, willingly and unwillingly, powers that affect every aspect of our lives. History has shown that when the state exercises its coercive powers without restraint we have little choice about this grant, and we may find ourselves with hardly anything beyond the hope for survival. In such circumstances, we can only take recourse to history to raise society’s consciousness to prevent the birth of tyranny; to avoid finding ourselves with no choices except suffering oppression and brutality.

The present government of Muhammadu Buhari is a direct threat to this country. Make no mistake about this – the lessons of history weigh heavily in this direction. I have in one of my earlier articles drawn attention to the activities that heralded the collapse of the ancient Mali Empire. In about 1203, Sumanguru (the Sorcerer King) took over what was left of old Ghana Empire. He was cruel and killed all that challenged his power. He killed many Malinka people but did not kill one of the crippled princes named Sundiata. In 1235, Sundiata crushed Sumanguru’s forces. This victory was the beginning of the new Mali Empire. Sundiata took control of the gold-producing regions and became Mali’s national hero.

Sundiata’s first major assignment was to eliminate all those who helped him to power; introduced a regime of monster and brutality comparable only to the monstrous Maghreb warrior, Samouri Ibn Lafiya Toure of the infamous ‘earth-scorch’ policy – much in the mould of modern day Boko Haram attacks. A few years in power, the people of the ancient Mali Empire would actually come to realise that he was more brutal and sadistic than Samanguru.

History is coterminous with the fact that brutal leaders all over the world have always emerged under the veneer of changing the status-quo in favour of the society. This trend sign-posted the emergence of Adolph Hitler in Germany, Benito Mussolini in Italy, Joseph Stalin in former USSR, Nimiery in Sudan, Jean-Bedel Bokassa in Central African Republic and Mobutu Sese Seko in Congo. This was also the trend that greeted Buhari’s jackboot dictatorship in 1983. Despite the euphoria that greeted the emergence of his military junta, his colleagues booted him out on August 27, 1985.

General Muhammadu Buhari, more than anything else, would be remembered as the coupist who led a severe military dictatorship that imprisoned its opponents without trial, publicly executed convicts by firing squad, arrested journalists who criticised it, ran an Orwellian intelligence apparatus that bugged the phones of government ministers; a man whose overthrow three decades ago was welcomed with relief by his countrymen, and who lost three consecutive presidential elections in 12 years. That such a character could be considered electable in any civil society would be unthinkable. But in a country like Nigeria, where majority of the people have been condemned to very short and embarrassing memories, such electoral “abracadabra” is possible. As a military ruler, Buhari’s uncompromising temperament invited opposition. Today, as a civilianised president, he has reinvented the Buhari persona with intensity and yet again inviting fierce opposition.

In the run-in to the last general election, I followed painstakingly the campaigns especially that of General Muhammadu Buhari and the APC change mantra. Like many discerning Nigerians, I had come to the inevitable conclusion that both the APC and Muhammadu Buhari displayed galling emptiness and hollowness. I also came to the conclusion that given Buhari’s poor intellectual capacity; those promoting his candidacy had other reasons for backing him, essentially because Buhari lacks the requisite credentials to launch Nigeria on the path of genuine rebirth. Events in the past 14 months have proved me right.

That, as a people, we have not learned very much from the lessons of history is, to me, the most important of all the lessons of Nigerian history. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted, if men could learn from history, it would teach men so much! But in Nigeria, ethnic, religious and prebendal passion and political party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind. Perhaps this explains Hegel’s conclusion that people and governments neither learn anything from history, nor acted on principles deduced from it.

Today, in the name of change, we have gone back 31 years in history to exhume memories of hardship, brutality and bestiality. As I have noted earlier, Buhari’s method of fighting corruption 31 years ago failed woefully and presently he is still reintroducing the same old strategy.

I have always asked this question: Can a man known for his uncompromising and rigid tendencies resolve issues that require tactical adroitness and pragmatic flexibility? I do not think so! His anti-corruption war has failed because of “sacred cow syndrome”. He is afraid of stepping on powerful toes and has made the corruption war apparently very selective. What Nigeria needs now is a reconstructive surgeon who must perform a painful operation in order to extricate a painful ailment and not a bulldozer or robot. Buhari is not a constructive surgeon and therefore lacks the requisite credentials to perform Nigeria’s surgical operation.

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I Was Let Down After My Struggle For Buhari Government – Pro-APC Blogger, Abusidiq

A pro-All Progressives Congress, APC government blogger, Mr. Abubakar Sidiq Usman, better known as Abusidiq, who was arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over an alleged story he posted on his website, says he was let down despite his struggle for President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

Abusidiq was however released on Tuesday evening by the anti-graft agency following general public criticisms.

However, after regaining his freedom, the Abuja-based political blogger took to his website to slam the Buhari administration for allegedly enabling acts that contradicted the spirit of his campaign.

He wrote: “This experience has stirred up broader conversations on the roles of our statutory established institutions, the parameters of our laws, and our civil liberties as citizens of our great Federal Republic.

“Moving forward, I will be pursuing all legal and constitutionally established avenues to ensure that this does not repeat itself.

“This is a government that I fought for. But occurrences like these are not the experiences that myself and millions of Nigerians have fought for.

“The reason(s) for my arrest will be made know to you all.

“I would like to thank my family, my friends, my legal team, the members of the All Progressives Congress Youth Forum (APYF), political parties, members of the Nigerian online community irrespective of their affiliations, and hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who in one way or another spoke out against my unconstitutional detention by the EFCC.

“Your tweets, posts, and demands for the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech led to my release and the victory that we have achieved today.

“I hope that we can use this to rectify the wrongs in our system towards the attainment of a more sustainable democracy.

“Thank you all for the love and support you showed me,” he added.

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Nigeria Needs Change Agents – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in his tribute to the deceased pioneer Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Maj.-Gen. Timothy Ogundeko, said Nigeria is in dire need of people who will render selfless service that could change the tide of the country for good.

Buhari, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, made the remark describing the deceased as a pacesetter in strategic leadership training.

According to the statement, “The President affirms that with his tireless efforts and foresight, Gen. Ogundeko transformed the Nigerian Army Education Corps for the benefit of the Service and the nation; and his legendary role in the establishment of Command Secondary Schools is well appreciated.

“President Buhari trusts that the vision of the deceased for a united and prosperous Nigeria will be honoured by all who mourn him, particularly at this critical point when the nation is in need of selfless citizens to change Nigeria for the better.

“The President extends heartfelt condolences to Gen. Ogundeko’s family, as well as the government and people of Ogun State.

“He prays that God will grant the soul of the departed eternal rest and comfort his family, friends and admirers.”

BREAKING: Buhari Relaunches War Against Indiscipline Brigade

The Federal Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari today relaunched the War Against Indiscipline, WAI Brigade, in Abuja, saying in this era of insecurity, violence, kidnapping, and other forms of social vices, the role of the Brigade in civil intelligence gathering cannot be over emphasized.

Announcing the development on the occasion of the National and State Commanders meeting of the Community Support Brigade, CSB, also known as WAI, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Dr. Garba Abari said the President Buhari administration has declared the intention to relaunch the Brigade for better performance, as well as to bring its activities to the fore.

Details later...

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BREAKING NEWS: Jonathan Meets Buhari In Aso Villa - ( PHOTOS )

President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan held a close door meeting at the State House in Abuja.

More details soon.

We Warned Nigerians Not To Vote Buhari – PDP

Hon. Damishi Sango, Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Plateau state chapter, has stated that the party warned Nigerians against electing President Muhammadu Buhari in the last presidential election.

He made this claim yesterday, when High Chief Raymond Dokpesi led his campaign organisation to the state and also accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, of prosecuting the national chairmanship hopeful of the party, Dokpesi because of his support for the opposition.

“For those of us that were old enough when the military took over power in 1983, this harassment is not new to us.

“We warned the younger ones of what is happening now. High Chief, I knew they will pick you up when you make that popular statement that a leopard will not change his skin.

“You hit them hard and they came for you. You said the truth and we are living witness to it that a leopard will not change his skin,” Sango said.

He assured the chairmanship hopeful that the Plateau State chapter of the PDP knew its friends and that at the convention they will do the right thing.

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We ‘re Working Hard To Stabilize Power Situation In Nigeria, Says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari who spoke at a joint press conference with visiting president of Togo, Faure Gnassingbe at the presidential villa, Abuja on Tuesday, has assured that the epileptic power situation in Nigeria would soon give way for stable power supply.

He said: "They say seeing is believing. You can see the efforts private investors are making. We are also building pipelines but it is not as formidable as what Dangote is doing. We are improving on it. We also have the NLNG that is helping us to liquefy the gas and then turn it into gas with modern technology and modern technology is making it flexible.

"And If you will recall, I made mention to President of Benin. We have power problem and Benin has power problem because they depend on us and we are working very hard to stabilise the situation. The resources are available, the technology is available we are trying to stabilise the situation.

"If we improve power which means our productivity can be competitive and God willing, we are going to achieve our objectives.

"We also discuss the unfortunate incidents in South Sudan, Burundi. It is an agonising situation. Several citizens are living under primitive conditions. We hope at the AU meeting, we will be able to stabilise the situation in South Sudan and Burundi with the efforts being made."

Also speaking, the visiting Togolese president said he was impressed by Dangote's string of investment in Africa.

"I'm impressed by the investment of Dangote because we have been talking of Socio-economic integration and promoting trade among African countries

"If you want to promote trade, you have investors that are very competitive and will contribute to reduce import from non-african countries.

"I was told the gas pipeline that will be built will be buried under the sea to make it. It means if you want to promote blue economy, our ocean needs to be very safe. We need security", he said.

Gnassingbe also invited president Buhari to attend the maritime summit holding in Togo in October this year.

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Lay Down Your Arms, Timi Frank Begs Avengers

Mr Timi Frank, acting National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress, APC, in a statement yesterday, in Abuja, called on the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the Niger Delta region to lay down their arms and give the Federal Government a chance to redeem its promises to the region.

The acting National Publicity Secretary also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the approval and composition of a 13-member Governing Council and 10-member Board of Trustees for the cleanup of Ogoniland in Rivers State.

He called on the various groups in the region to lay down their arms and give the president the benefit of doubt, saying that President Buhari will surely deliver on his promises to the region.

He said the president has demonstrated to the people of Niger Delta that his commitment to the cleanup of Ogoniland was not a political rhetoric.

Frank further urged leaders in the region to take advantage of “a sincere president like Buhari who has started doing for the region what their son, former president Goodluck Jonathan, could not do for six years as president.”

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Buhari Promises To Stabilize Niger Delta Region

Speaking with State House Correspondents after a bilateral talk with the new President of Benin Republic, Mr Patrice Talon, on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to stabilise the Niger Delta region in a bid to regularise the export of gas from the region.

According to the President, this will be achieved when “stability is restored in the Niger Delta region through the provision of adequate infrastructure.”

Buhari promised to regularly export gas to neighbouring West African countries and also applauded Benin Republic for contributing to the effort in checkmating insurgency.

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BREAKING: No More Space In Mortuaries, Nobody Will Vote For You In 2019 – Father Mbaka Slams Buhari

The Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, has turned on President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing him of inflicting pains, suffering, and massive deaths on Nigerians.

In one of his latest messages released to his congregation, the Catholic priest maintained that with the way things were going, Buhari would be rejected by Nigerians in 2019. Read the full message below:

“The issue is that Mbaka is speaking as the Spirit leads him; there is hunger everywhere; my job is to tell leaders the truth, the landlords are crying, the tenants are lamenting, sellers are crying, buyers are lamenting; there is hunger on the streets (onye obuna na ajazi eze) people are talking harshly, there is a channel called Aljazera, (ndi an aja-eze), many students are being rusticated out of school because they cannot pay school fees; the fees are being hiked. Proprietors are distressed, many companies are winding up; the economy is relaxed, Nigeria is being attacked ferociously and you are the citizens as well as the members of the church.

“So, when you are being attacked, the church is being attacked, that’s why I can’t keep quiet when things are going wrong. I am telling the President to look around him and know those who are advising him rightly and those who are telling him that there is no trouble; the President should know that there is trouble; if things continue like this, in the next election, nobody will vote for him.

“Whether they like it or not, I am giving the raw truth; if the President should have somebody like me and he cannot be talking with me, then there is a problem; there is a problem somewhere; somebody who can advise you without asking for anything and he is representing the poor masses in the country and he won’t tell you lies; he will praise you when you are doing well and when you are not doing well, he will look at you in the face and tell you.

“I don’t need the President; I need God, I need the Holy Spirit, I need Jesus; there is suffering everywhere, people are suffering. To feed is now a problem, and a hungry man is an angry man. Hunger and anger will lead to danger.

“So, let him know whether he can do away with some advisers around him and bring in the people who are experts in economic revamp; there are people who are experts in that; let them begin to empower people, people are not empowered, they are still walking around in vicious circles, planning and planning and planning. Go to mortuaries, go to mortuaries, there are no spaces. I repeat, myself went to Annunciation Hospital the other time to see my brother, coming in, there was no space, the whole mortuary was filled up and they told me it is the same thing in the Eastern Medical Centre and that if I go to UNTH, there is no space, the death rate is high.

“People are living in hope and in hope; the adorers are hoping that things will be well; I’m calming the situation, when you tell somebody same thing everyday, when will things be well, when the person is in the grave? Hunger everywhere, many neighbours don’t eat again, many are being attacked by hunger, hunger is becoming a normal thing and there are people responsible for this; mortuary and ambulance business is now the thriving it; many cannot afford drugs; they can’t pay and many are using it to rob the poor by opening satanic centres to dupe the poor and they will be giving people fake prophecies, many terrible things are happening in these centres in the name of churches; these are robbers; people will tell you lies to take money from you. These are robbers, these are hooligans who are at work in today’s Nigeria, many are becoming hawkers, who will buy from you, with what? Even those selling palm oil are adulterating it, even rice, wahala, even tomatoes, because of the price, people put preservatives and sell poison to people, I don’t know whether some people now embalm tomatoes, what is happening?
Things are hard, even to change clothes, everyday more pipes are being blown, the Avengers are at work and up till now, there is no solution. You know when certain things begin to happen, you begin to ask some questions, somebody like me will begin to ask – when will this end (nke a kabu ututu), this is still good morning of it.

“If it continues the next three months, there will be no money to pay salaries; the vicious effect is disastrous and when salaries cannot be paid, teachers will come home, students will stop going to school, there will be more kidnapping, more hooliganism, more armed robbery, more prostitution, immorality will be on the hike, so, the President should sit up, there is a red light blinking on the country, the issue of Saraki and Ekweremadu, nobody wants to listen to such stories any more, whether Saraki is the President of the Senate or Ekweremadu is not this or that, the countrymen are tired of such stories.

“We need economic experts, gurus, sages that are sincere, who can come in and think about our economic revamp and judicial reformation. How can a case be in court for more than 10 years? Even if you prosecute all the senators, the matter may linger till the next 20 years; so what purpose have you achieved? All these noise, EFCC arrested this and that, after one week, that one is over; people are dying of hunger; dollar is growing everyday and Naira is falling; Euro is rising everyday and Naira is collapsing everyday; pound is on the hike everyday, on a mega level and Naira is dwindling on a higher level, before you know it, people will begin to lose hope and it will affect their faith in God, because they will begin to lose faith and ask God where are you? That is where it affects me because it affects the faith of the people. The Bible says if the foundation is destroyed, what can the just do? The Bible says the just man shall live by faith, that is my simple logic, when shall this end?

“These Avengers phenomenon, I did something that if the leaders of today are wise, the problem could have been averted. By the gift of the Holy Spirit, His sagacity, I was proactive; that time they have not started bombing; I made a lot of effort; I won’t tell you what I spent so that the President will not suffer what he is about to suffer. Like I told you, this is just the good morning of it, very soon, people who are quiet will begin to talk, when somebody like me will bring my cheque and all the money I have in my account will finish in school fees, hospital bills, is it were well with these peole will they be coming to me. I am receiving the pain and shock drastically.

“The quantum of charity we are doing in the ministry is telling the level of poverty that is in the atmosphere. To eat is now a problem, people no longer say give us these days our daily bread but give us this day our daily bread, man must eat to survive, people are not even talking about jobs any more, graduates are everywhere, those who are making now are those who are selling dollars.”

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Buhari Nominates Senator Durojaiye As NCC Chairman, Sunday Dare, Others As Commisioners

President Muhammadu Buhari in a letter dated August 2, 2016, and sent to the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has nominated Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye (South West) as Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, while Mr. Sunday Dare (South West) was named as Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management.

In the letter, Buhari requested the Upper Legislative Chamber to confirm the above-mentioned Nigerians among the nominees into positions of Chairman, Executive Commissioner, and Non-Executive Commissioners of the NCC.

According to a statement issued by the President’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, “Those nominated as Non-Executive Commissioners are: Aliyu Sa’idu Abubakar (North East), Clement Omeiza Baiye (North Central), Chief Okoi Ofem Obono Obla (South South), Pastor Ezekiel Yissa (North Central) and Senator Ifeanyi Ararume (South East).

“The nominations are in accordance with Section 8(1) of the Nigerian Communications Commission Act 2003.”

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PMB and IBB

By Ray Ekpu |

The relationship between President Muhammadu Buhari and ex-military President Ibrahim Babangida seems to be defined largely by the coup of August 27, 1985. On that day, a broadcaster on morning duty at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Mani Onumonu, had informed us that someone was about to make an important announcement. At 6.15 a.m., a voice roared through the airwaves. The voice called himself Brigadier Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The voice said the Nigerian Armed Forces had decided to make a change in the administration of the country. As we knew later, the then Head of State, Buhari, was arrested at four that morning. His deputy, Tunde Idiagbon, who went to Mecca for the holy pilgrimage, seemed to be stuck in the middle of nowhere.

A coup had taken place; Buhari’s autocratic government had been overthrown in an efficient and near bloodless operation. From that first announcement, all that was heard was the sound of silence until Major General Sani Abacha appeared on NTA at 3.15 p.m. that day to break that gripping suspense by announcing Major General Ibrahim Babangida as the man of the moment, the man who would from then onwards be in the driving seat of the nation’s affairs.

Chairman Mao Tse Tung, China’s maximum leader, said that power flows from the barrel of a gun. What he didn’t say was that power can also flee with the barrel of a gun. As martial music dominated the airwaves that day heralding the funeral dirge of the Buhari government it was certain that power had flown away from the tall, ramrod straight soldier from Daura.

Now the dominant figures in that power drama, the victor and the vanquished, are giving us an account, revisionist or revealing, of that historic incident. Stay tuned.

On coup day Babangida had said, among other things that Buhari was “too rigid and uncompromising in his attitude to issues of national significance. Efforts to make him understand that a diverse polity like Nigeria required recognition and appreciation of differences in both cultural and individual perceptions only served to aggravate these attitudes.” Buhari has not really unveiled his own perception of the reasons behind the putsch until now. He told The Interview magazine: “I found out that some officers were spending money. I asked: Where did they get the money from? They said it was from the military intelligence fund. Later, I learnt that General Aliyu Gusau who was in charge of intelligence took import licence from the Ministry of Commerce which was in charge of supplies and gave it to Alhaji Mai Deribe. It was worth N100,000, a lot of money then. When I discovered this, I confronted them and took the case to the Army Council. I said if I didn’t punish Aliyu Gusau it will create problems for us. So I said General Aliyu Gusau had to go. He was the Chief of Intelligence. That was why Babangida got some officers to remove me.”
Outsiders may not be able to confirm or contradict Buhari’s account. His account may be correct but it may not be the only reason why the coupists struck. Coup plotters are like a gang of robbers. They have hidden and unhidden motives known to some but unknown to all. They also operate with the ethics of the underworld. Nothing matters to them except the success of their mission. Anyone who stands on their way is a demolishable obstacle. They may dress up their motives in the garment of national interest but hidden under that garment may be some sinister motives. History is often written in fragments and the history of coups is even more fragmented because of the complexity and secrecy of their operation. Every participant seems to know only a small fragment of the operation because by its nature coups are plotted by small groups of people, meeting clandestinely at unexpected times and unexpected places. So the full history of its operation is never in the custody of one man.

Coup plotters are documentarians. They take note of every dissenting voice in the land, every grievance, every protest, every disharmony, every dissonance and form these into a bundle of interrogation points against their target. Buhari’s government was not innocent in many matters. He and Idiagbon wanted to wipe out corruption, graft and indiscipline but the freedom loving citizens who may have subscribed to the substance did not subscribe to the style of the regime.

Buhari’s Decree 4 was war against the press. Decree 4 could punish a journalist for publishing the truth if it affected the reputation of the government or public official. By this decree two of The Guardian journalists, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor, were jailed for one year. It was clear that Buhari did not acknowledge that the press was an important component in the power equation. More sadly, he did not come to the sobering realisation that if he waged a war against the feisty Nigerian media, they would return the favour. And they did.

Kirikiri prison was full at the time with politicians, businessmen and journalists doing an unenviable tour of duty there, courtesy of Lawal Rafindadi’s Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO). Even in bars and restaurants people talked only in whispers in case a security agent was sitting nearby. It was a tyrannical government but tyranny never survives as an unorthodox religion.

Olusegun Obasanjo has constituted himself over the years into a formidable one man government. Whenever he speaks he does so with the predictive authority of an oracle. Obasanjo was unhappy with the Buhari government’s counter trade. He thought it was a way of mortgaging the country’s future and he wrote to Mahmud Tukur, the Minister of Commerce, to say so. He also wrote to his bosom friend, Dr. Onaolapo Soleye who was the Minister of Finance, asking him not to discuss any matter involving Buhari’s government with him. Clearly, there was fire on the mountain of Buhari’s iron-fisted government.

Many people felt Buhari had brought some sanity into the country’s life but they disapproved of the indiscriminate detention of people for long periods without trial and the general throttling of people’s rights. The people may not have wished for a change of government in August 1985 if the government had done things differently, fairly, and with a sense of compassion. The coupists took their cue from the frustrations expressed by the populace over their loss of freedom. Besides, for the period it existed, the Buhari government never talked about returning the government to civil rule, thus raising the fear that it came with the odious philosophy of sit-tightism.

During Buhari’s several attempts at becoming an elected president some people expressed the view that his agenda if elected would probably be to go after those who overthrew him and put him in prison for many months. Babangida would be number one. In November last year, the PDP strategists thought they had found a viable solution to their leadership conundrum: Babangida. They wanted Babangida as their party chairman and presidential candidate for 2019. They ignored his age, his state of health and the fact that in 2011 he had retired from partisan politics. They thought he would jump at the idea of having at his disposal a wobbly machine that he could beat into shape as a ferocious fighting animal in case Buhari wanted to give him a fight. Babangida gave them a polite brush-off and told them he was not interested.

Most reasonable people would have considered that Babangida has had his own share of life’s scary moments and needed some respite: the civil war, the Mamman Vatsa coup and the more dangerous one, the Gideon Orka coup. The nectar of power is seductive but at 74 a man who has survived some of the enumerated vicissitudes would prefer to ease himself into a more serene lifestyle surrounded by grand children sitting on his laps and on his head. Now that he has brought the matter to a closure, the PDP has no choice but to search further afield for someone who can lift the party from the present pit of obscurantism.

I don’t think Buhari wants to go after Babangida. He has had his comeuppance already: He is the President, an elected President, something Babangida wanted but didn’t get. Besides, at 74 he should do his heart a favour by freeing it of ancient animosities.

The details of that coup and of the ones before it, except that of January 15, 1966, need to be unfolded as part of our history. We hope the dramatis personae will give us a more comprehensive glimpse into the history that has brought Nigeria to where we are now. They should not simply tantalise us with the snippets as they have done recently. We want the main menu.

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Forgive, Stop Going Back To How You Were Overthrown, Owie Tells Buhari

Senator Rowland Owie, a former Chief Whip of the Senate and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a statement yesterday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to be grateful to God for making it possible for him to be the president of the country, rather than going back to the past on how he was toppled in 1985.

He said: “I urge President Buhari to face the job for which he was elected by Nigerians and stop chasing shadows. He should know that among those who worked for his success in the 2015 general election were many Nigerians whose parents, friends, well wishers were unjustly imprisoned by Buhari's regime of 1984.

“They all supported him in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, because the only thing that helps any human community to move forward and develop is forgiveness and letting bygone be bygone.

“For Buhari to be talking about issues of 1984 when God has given him victory in a democratic election, which by the antecedents of his first coming, did not, by hunan standard, deserve, he ought to be daily grateful to God, his party that gave him ticket and Nigerians that voted for him."

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BREAKING: Your Sectionalism Unprecedented, Nepotism Is Also Corruption – Punch Tells Buhari

National daily newspaper, PUNCH, have criticised the appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari. The paper has averred that the President “is by his appointments, presenting himself as a parochial, sectional leader”, adding that the level of sectionalism exhibited by Buhari is unprecedented.

While reminding Buhari of his inaugural speech declaration of “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”, the national daily, in an editorial published on Monday, noted that the President has breached the pledge, the newspaper advised him to act like a father to all Nigerians and rise above primordial instincts.

“Among his first appointments, even while he dithered on assembling a cabinet: he recalled a retired officer to man the Department of State Services; a former army officer to head the Nigeria Customs Service; a personal acquaintance as Chief of Staff, and loaded the other security and law enforcement agencies heavily in favour of Northerners. While the DSS head is from his hometown, Daura, the others are also almost all Northerners and overwhelmingly Muslims. In spite of public opinion, he replaced the immediate past Inspector-General of Police, a Southerner, with a Northerner, an assistant inspector-general whose ascension induced the retirement in one fell swoop of 21 DIGs and AIGs who were senior to him. This is beyond absurdity.

“We declare emphatically that this is corruption. It is wrong to view stealing of government funds as the only form of corruption. A former member of the House of Representatives, Junaid Muhammed, alleges that not only is Buhari sectional in his appointments, several appointees are actually his relatives. Nigerians did not vote against the Jonathan administration’s impunity for corruption, only to be assaulted with another pernicious impunity for cronyism,” the newspaper wrote.

The editorial read in part, “He struck again last month when he removed Ibe Kachikwu as head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to put a Northerner; named another, Hadiza Bala-Usman, as managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority along with three executive directors, two of whom are also Northerners. Before then, he had ring-fenced himself with appointees from his northern constituency at the Presidency, thereby deepening the long-held fears of many Southerners that he has not overcome his well-known insularity.

“But the 1999 Constitution explicitly stipulates in Chapter 14 subsection 3 that the “composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall…reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups…” Buhari is breaching this with impunity in his appointments. Apart from this, Nigeria’s plural setting demands that no group or ethnic nationality is seen as too domineering in critical areas of governance.

“Buhari should be told that sectionalism and nepotism are also acts of corruption. You do not wage war against financial corruption while indulging in sectional and sectarian favouritism.

It is self-defeating; a veritable weak link that the formidable ranks of those fighting back furiously to preserve the existing corrupt order are already capitalising on. The President simply does not need this. Many are willing to concede that he is only demonstrating political naiveté; now, however, is the time to radically change tactics.

“The country is in a bad shape, compelling that all efforts be made to rally all segments of the polity behind measures to reverse economic recession, defeat terrorism in the North-East, renewed militancy and sabotage in the South-South zone, Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism in the North-Central and general insecurity across the country. The government admitted that the country is technically in recession last week, while Bloomberg reported that foreign reserves fell to just over $26 billion in June; oil production also fell to about 1.6 million barrels per day, while over 4,440 megawatts of power were lost last week, both due to sabotage of crude and gas facilities by criminals in the Niger Delta region. Meanwhile, though seriously degraded, Boko Haram terrorists are recovering their ability to ambush and inflict casualties on Nigerian troops.

“More importantly, the South-East and South-South zones voted massively against Buhari, who is deepening their alienation from his government by his lopsided appointments. But in truly democratic societies, elected leaders go all out to unite their people after elections. Apart from meeting the constitutional requirement that a minister be appointed from each of the 36 states, the two zones are sparsely represented in the Federal Government. If some past presidents indulged in primitive sectionalism, Buhari should not.”

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Buhari Should Not Ask Me Source Of Jonathan’s Money For Media – Dokpesi Explodes

Chief Raymond Dokpesi, the founder of DAAR Communications Plc, who is seeking to become the next National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reacted angrily to the money laundering charges preferred against him by the federal government.

Dokpesi, who spoke at the weekend, when his campaign train stopped at Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, accused President Muhammadu Buhari of using the same tactics he used in 1983 when as military head of state, he “clamped down on the political class”.

His words: “Many of these politicians were jailed 200 to 300 years by Buhari when he came on board. The same thing is playing out today.

“What I am accused of is like someone questioning a hotelier for accepting money from a lodger. How could a hotelier determine the source of the money he is being paid with.

“How will I know source for media campaign of a party?

“I don’t want to dwell much on the subject. The matter is before a competent court of law. At the appropriate time, I will be vindicated.”

Dokpesi, however, promised to ensure that all interests within the PDP are united.

The High Chief disclosed that if elected, he would review all reports of past reconciliatory committees to stop the worrying issue of factions in the PDP.

He pledged allegiance to the Ahmed Makarfi-led national leadership of the party, assuring Osun party faithful that he would work to win the state for the PDP in the next election to hold there.

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Why We Cancelled Declaration Of Niger Delta Republic – Adaka Boro Avengers

The Adaka Boro Avengers, ABA, in a statement issued by the group’s spokesperson, ‘General’ Edmos Ayayeibo, said that it has cancelled earlier plan to declare the Niger Delta territory a Republic today (Monday), however, they threatened to continue its mission to destabilize Nigeria’s economy.

They said, “We received calls from prominent leaders like Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Mrs. Ankio Briggs, Chief. E. K. Clark and especially King Alfred Diete Spiff calling on the freedom fighters to abort their mission to declare Niger Delta Republic.”

The militant group further warned the Federal Government against having any peace talk with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, describing them as “greedy fellows” who only seek their “stipends.”

Leader of the group, ‘General’ Goddey, was quoted in the statement as saying that the anger of the group bordered on how “the Nigerian government has enslaved…the people of Niger Delta region.”

“We adhere to the voice of our people, because our struggle is for the Niger Delta people and not for selfish reason. But this is not the end. More is yet to come.

“Our mission to cripple the economy of the Nigerian nation will not stop until the Nigerian government is ready to sit on a roundtable to dialogue and to restructure the Nigeria.

“Unless that, we will not stop until Nigeria becomes a zero economy. We are also saying this for the benefit of President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerian government to stop wasting their time with those greedy fellows that call themselves MEND because nothing good will come out of them rather than sabotage.

“Those old fools cannot stop us and they know it very well. We know what they are after is all about stipends.

“Everything they are saying, not even one will be accomplished. We will never agree with anything they say and henceforth MEND should watch their back because we have tolerated them for a very long time.

“Enough is enough, since they want to set confusion in the Niger Delta we will start from them.”

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FFK Warns Buhari Over Niger Delta Militants

Chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former aviation minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has raised alarm that Nigeria will disintegrate if President Muhammadu Buhari directs military to tackle the Niger Delta militancy.

Writing through his Facebook account, the PDP politician reacting to the report on the CNN that “the Nigerian government is preparing troops for a crackdown in the Niger Delta if peace talks fail.”

FFK writes: “This is sad and ominous. As United States Senator Ted Cruz once said “the light of truth is stronger than the terror of darkness”.

“It follows that the biggest mistake that the Buhari administration can possibly make is to attempt to “crack down” on the Niger Delta and kill innocent civilians.

“If this ever happens, for whatever reason, it will set off a chain of events that will lead to the end of Nigeria as we know it.

“Nigeria will disintegrate before Buhari’s very eyes if any more innocent blood is shed and if the towns, creeks and villages of the oil-producing states are shelled and reduced to rubble.

“The cause of the people of the Niger Delta, and indeed that of the Igbo people of the eastern states, is just and their struggles and aspirations are legitimate and reasonable.

“Self-detetmination is a right. It is a concept and principle that is universally accepted and that has the backing of international law.

“You do not threaten and bomb those that seek to exercise that right: you treat them with respect, decency and decorum and attempt to persuade them to stay.

“This is a point that is lost on President Buhari and those around him. The Avengers are not Boko Haram: taking them on in the field of battle would be a monumental error.”

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VIDEO: Any Government That Rises Against Me Shall Fall – Fayose warns Buhari

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has issued a threat in a new video that any government that attempts to go against him will fall.

Fayose who also criticised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration said, “Poor man is suffering under the watch of Buhari. You are fighting corruption, people are hungry, is it only corruption you have come to fight? People will not eat again.
“In our history, how can you increase fuel from 86 to N145? That is a very wicked government.”

Declaring amid cheers from supporters, Fayose said, “No amount of intimidation and harassment will shut my mouth, I am the voice of the common man in Nigeria.

“I want to assure you, even if they are ten thousand, the Lord will raise a standard against them. Any government that rises against me, that government will fall. Mark my words, whatever I say shall come to pass. Every government, irrespective of their names, that rises against me shall fall for my sake.

“My people, they said somebody bought two houses in Dubai, because he is APC, he is a saint. Somebody gave the president 1.5bn for campaign (from our state), because he is in APC, he is a saint.

“I might look small, their camp may be populated by giants, I might appear little, their camp might be populated with giants, but the only stone of David killed Goliath.

“There are two things that make a man to be afraid; incarceration and death, I am not afraid of the two because the Lord that protects me liveth forever. Fear not, these Egyptians we see today we shall see them no more,” he added.

Watch video here

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Buhari Approves BoT For Ogoniland Cleanup

The Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, in a statement by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Bukar Hassan have announced that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a 13-member Governing Council and 10-member Board of Trustees for the cleanup of Ogoniland in Rivers.

The minister speaking in Abuja on Saturday, said the structures would ensure inclusiveness, accountability, transparency and sustainability of the exercise.

Mohammed acknowledged the concerns raised by stakeholders on the perceived slow pace of the clean up, saying “Nigerians have a right to voice their concerns”, but called for patience.

“We have responsibility to deliver. The launch was the first step in a 30-year journey. We continue to make strides toward the implementation.

“We ask for patience as we lay solid foundations for the cleanup.
The context is complex and stakeholders are diverse. All must be taken along”, Mohammed said.

President Buhari inaugurated the clean up on June 2 at Bodo in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers.

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3 Militant Groups Accept To Dialogue With Buhari

Three militant groups in the Niger Delta region, Reformed Egbesu Boys of the Niger Delta, Egbesu Red Water Lions and Egbesu Mightier Fraternity in an electronic mail by the leadership of Reformed Egbesu Boys of Niger Delta have capitulated on their earlier decision not to allow the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group, NDDCG, to represent them in the ongoing dialogue with the Federal Government.

The mail written on behalf of other affiliate groups, said: “A fortnight ago, we responded to this subject matter wherein we stated emphatically that the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group had no mandate to negotiate on our behalf in respect of the renewed hostilities against oil and gas facilities.”

“We wish to state that the leadership of the Reformed Egbesu Boys of the Niger Delta, including the Egbesu Red Water Lions and the Egbesu Mightier Fraternity have been duly consulted and our mandate secured for the negotiation by the Diette- Spiff- led committee,” it said.

On why they reconsidered its position, the militant groups said: “Our decision to accede to the pleas of well-meaning citizens and interest groups to yield to dialogue should not be misconstrued to mean we are intimidated by the military threat to launch Operation Crocodile Tears. We make bold to invite the military to launch the said operation, which they have concluded all logistic arrangements.”

“However, we have it on good authority within the military establishment that the service chiefs of the Armed Forces are averse to dialogue, so as to launch a full-scale military operation to justify the utilization of the defense budget earmarked for the Niger Delta.

ON WHY THEY REMOVED KACHIKWU
“Also, a cabal within the government went to convince President Muhammadu Buh ari while in London on medical vacation to rule out negotiation with Niger Delta militants. This was the reason they removed Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu as GMD of NNPC because he was going beyond the thinking of the military leadership,” it asserted.

The militants noted: “In the history of armed struggle, the Niger Delta had been bombed by successive governments, but this has not solved the problems of the region, as this generation of youths and those unborn would continue to demand and agitate for true federalism and restructuring of the country.”

“These are the minimum acceptable preconditions for the continued passage of our oil and gas to be exported as a national commodity for the development of the arid regions to the exclusion of our communities.

“We never consented that anybody should lump us together with the Nigerian state in the political and constitutional issues that characterized flag independence. Rather, we demanded for a separate government, but the conspiracy of the British imperialists and the Northern monarchy culminated in the establishment of development commissions for the Niger Delta. Today, all these commissions have all failed to develop the region,” they said.

“In the light of the above circumstances,” they added, “we join hands with well-meaning Nigerians and the progressive- minded ethnic nationalities’ self- determination groups to reaffirm that the present political structure of Nigeria is no longer workable and acceptable to the larger interests of Nigerians and that it should be abandoned.”

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