June 12: Bitter memoir of a journalist
Adewale Adeoye
Let’s move from mystery, then to facts. Dr Bunmi
Aborisade’s dream, in the late 1980s was to hold a
Phd. He wanted to read abroad, but he was poor,
being the product of a peasant background.
A native of Ado Ekiti, Bunmi, who now lives in the US today,
holds a Phd, courtesy of a certain miraculous incidence that took
place during the June 12 struggle, at the once cacophonic
Oshodi, where millions of haggling market women and women,
cobblers and armed gangs alike took as home. Oshodi was a
legendary red light district, an awful rendezvous for crime,
drugs and even street sex. In 1996, after the annulment of the
June 12 election, Bunmi set up a newspaper called June 12, an
underground Tabloid that had its newsroom at bus stops and
rowdy market places. Since 1993, the military regime of General
Ibrahim Babangida, had listed the "June 12" publishers as some
of the most dangerous enemies of the state. In 1993, I was at
The Guardian Newspaper as a Senior Reporter. One sunny day in
1996, Bunmi set out in search of news.
He had a small portfolio, a pen and a midget. After the day’s
work, Bunmi was returning home and had to pass through the
then hell of a crowd, called Oshodi. Amidst the crowd, an agent
of the military, who was in mufti, walked up to him and
grabbed his neck. What do you have in your bag? "Nothing", an
emanciated Bunmi said. The young officer of the Directorate of
Military Intelligence (DMI) seized his bag. Bunmi had an article
titled "How to Actualise June 12." You know what? The DMI
agent dragged Bunmi to a muddy corner in Oshodi where the
officer read the piece, from the introduction to the last full stop
on the article. The last statement read "Nigerians must harness
the resources at their disposal to actualise June 12." The officer
shouted "yes, I’ve got you. You bombed the military
cantonment last week.’’
The incidence was a week after the bomb explosion that rocked
Ikeja Cantonment. Bunmi’s denial was unto deaf ears. Like play
like play¸ Bunmi ended up at the SSS office from where he was
transferred to the DMI underground cell. The news of his arrest
did not filter out until weeks later. He spent one month in
solitary confinement, but his abductors did not raise the issue of
June 12 newspaper. Perhaps, they were so daft or too desperate
to see the link between his name and that on the mast head of
the June 12 newspaper. On the day he was released, Bunmi
came to The Guardian. Earlier, The Guardian had emerged as
one of the most detested newspapers by the military junta,
owing to the uncompromising pro-democracy credentials of
the newspaper.
I remember, as if it was yesterday, the "order" we usually get
from Ima Niboro, now the spokesperson of President Goodluck
Jonathan that all reporters must "defend democracy and use the
pen to harass the junta." He, like most journalists suspected to
be wanted, lived an evasive life. He usually anchored the pro-
people but caustic cover stories of The African Guardian.
He would sneak out on Fridays and disappeared until Tuesdays
when he would have gauged the response of the military to the
Monday outings. He was a Senior Editor with The African
Guardian. The Guardian was a victim in many ways. Apart from
the fact that the newspaper was closed down, till date, I
continue to wonder how Prince, the Private Secretary of late
Chief Andy Akporugo disappeared. Another journalist, Chinedu
Offoaro also disappeared. Not too long, The Guardian was closed
down and reopened in 1996, after more than one agonizing
year. After the reopening of The Guardian, the weekly magazine
was rested and I was seconded to The Sunday Guardian as
Correspondent. So, after his release from DMI cell, Bunmi walked
in briskly to the newsroom, a dry smile on his face. He came at a
time I was looking for Kaleidoscope, the usually aromatic
Sunday human interest story, supervised keenly by the Editor
on Sunday, Kingsley Osadolor. I got a scoop. Bunmi narrated his
ordeal in detention.
The most "interesting" of Bunmi’s stories was his revelation
that hundreds of Nigerians that had being detained secretly at
DMI, including, but not limited to foreigners and even children.
He revealed the fact that one Yoruba Colonel, an aide of General
Oladipo Diya was being held in secret. Another Major Nya was
being held for attending the birthday party of the daughter of
the US military attaché. I was excited. Every journalist is usually
excited by bad, horrifying news. My report came out on Sunday.
Innocently, I added in my story that the newly released Bunmi
was also the publisher of June 12. Hah, so a dangerous "animal’
had been caught and unconsciously let loose again? On Monday,
five armed soldiers visited The Guardian. Their mission: pick the
author of the piece and let him fish out Bunmi. On Tuesday, June
4, 1996, I was invited to the office of the most dreaded figure in
DMI, Col Frank Omenka, a tall, lanky but strongly-built fellow. The
first thing he did was to a wage psychological war on me. I was
kept in his office for eight hours; no one spoke to me, except
that huge ball of cigarette smoke was unleashed on me for the
period. I greeted them, no one answered me. Around 11 pm, I
was dragged into Omenka’s office. "Who is this rat?" He
quipped.
Before I could say anything, he shut about ten other questions
at me. "Did you go to school? Who is your father? Did you know
Freedom Radio? Did you know Tinubu? Did you know Fayemi?
Are you on the payroll of NADECO?" Later, he said he was in the
Church when Abacha’s CSO, Major Hamza Mustapha called him
concerning my write-up and asked him to get me at all cost. ‘So
that rat is the June 12 publisher? You will go and find him for us
or I will kill you." Before I could utter a word, he ordered one
Captain Idowu to go and "shoot him and throw his carcass
away unless he tells us where that June 12 publisher is." Captain
Idowu collected all information about me: home address,
schools attended including primary school, eating habit, role
models, the books I liked most, clubs I belonged to at the
University etc. I gave wrong information all through. I said in
school, I belonged to "Deeper Life" instead of Marxist Youth
Movement.
The home address, I gave the NUJ office at Adeola, Somolu,
instead of my real house. I said my best book was the Holy
Bible, even though at the time, it was not. I said my hero was
General Philip Effiong. He said why? I told him because he
helped to end the Biafra war and that I hated wars. But in my
mind, I would not mind a bitter war to end Abacha’s brutal
regime. My heart started beating when Omenka later ordered
Idowu to follow me to my house and search the place.
Ironically, my house was the meeting point of many of the
wanted activists: Chima Ubani, Innocent Chukwuma, Debo
Adeniran, Douglas Oronto (now a Special Adviser to President
Goodluck Jonathan), leaders of Ijaw Youth Movement like Dr
Felix Tuodolo, Isaac Osuaka and at a time, Dr Owens Saro Wiwa
used to visit. Earlier in November 1993, I had been arrested
alongside late Dr Beko Ransome Kuti, Tokunbo Afikuyomi,
Chima Ubani amongst many others. The late Chief Gani
Fawehinmi was our "cook".
Everyday, he would personally bring our food until we were
released. The detention was an eye opener regarding the
cruelty of the then military state. Each night, we would hear gun
shots. Shriek. Silence. Inmates would shout: "Another one has
travelled." People were being eliminated secretly.
I later joined The Punch Newspapers, one of the loudest voices
against military rule as Assistant News Editor in 1996. During
this era, I remember Oronto was particularly notorious for his
skill in decoy. He had several identity cards, bearing different
names. He had complimentary cards with the name Ayodele
Yagba. At one time, he perched with a top SSS official after the
latter’s junior brother and pro-democracy activist had
introduced Oronto as a "top Yoruba fisherman based in Ghana."
He would stay indoors all day and always, even while on bed
and in the night, he wore his face-cap. Oronto speaks Yoruba
fluently.
He has strong Abeokuta accent. One day, the SSS raided his
location at Victoria Island, but at that time, Oronto was granting
an interview to subterranean press men at a bukateria in
Central Lagos. When the news reached him, he hurriedly packed
his small bag and left Lagos around midnight for Cotonou. Back
to Bunmi, the DMI released me around 2am with the promise
that I must show my face everyday until I was able to locate
Bunmi, whom I had denied ever knowing but that I met him for
the first time during my interview with him. I got home around
3am, trekking from Oshodi to my home. Alas, when I got home,
Bunmi and about eight wanted activists were "littered" on the
floor in my house. One US embassy contact later searched for
Bunmi and assisted his relocation to Ghana. A year later, Bunmi
was responsible for hosting another most wanted anti-Abacha
rebel leader, Professor Ade Banjo, who had used his entire
savings to import over 3000 rifles with the sole aim of
launching a guerilla war to overthrow General Sanni Abacha. He
was caught in Cotonu and later served one year in jail with his
wife, Ngozi.
On the day of his release by the court, Abacha’s agents were
waiting to kidnap him. Through the help of a journalist,
Moshood Feyemiwo, publisher of the rested pro-June 12 guerilla
tabloid, Razor, Prof Banjo escaped to Ghana. But Fayemiwo was
unlucky. He was abducted and taken to DMI cell, where he was
hanged, his head upturned, for years. When I visited Ghana in
late 1996, Prof Banjo was hiding in Bunmi’s pony apartment.
He told me how Abacha had sent armed groups to abduct him
in Ghana, but that President Jerry Rawlings and Uganda’s leader,
Yoweri Museveni were his saving grace. Prof Banjo was
Museveni’s University mate. Years later, Bunmi was assisted by
the US embassy staff to escape to the US. He was able begin his
Masters and later his Phd, which he bagged last year. What a
tragic twist in the June 12 struggle.
--Adeoye is a media aide to Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti
State
Monday 13 June 2011
Monday 2 May 2011
Inside the raid that killed Bin Laden
Inside the raid that killed bin Laden
AP - Mon May 2nd, 2011 3:09 AM EDT
WASHINGTON - Helicopters descended out of darkness on the most
important counterterrorism mission in U.S. history. It was an
operation so secret, only a select few U.S. officials knew what was
about to happen.
The location was a fortified compound in the affluent Pakistani
suburbs of Islamabad. The target was Osama bin Laden.
Intelligence officials discovered the compound in August while
monitoring an al-Qaida courier. The CIA had been hunting that
courier for years, ever since detainees told interrogators that the
courier was so trusted by bin Laden that he might very well be
living with the al-Qaida leader.
Nestled in an affluent neighborhood, the compound was
surrounded by walls as high as 18 feet, topped with barbed wire.
Two security gates guarded the only way in. A third-floor terrace
was shielded by a seven-foot privacy wall. No phone lines or
Internet cables ran to the property. The residents burned their
garbage rather than put it out for collection. Intelligence officials
believed the million-dollar compound was built five years ago to
protect a major terrorist figure. The question was, who?
The CIA asked itself again and again who might be living behind
those walls. Each time, they concluded it was almost certainly bin
Laden.
President Barack Obama described the operation in broad strokes
Sunday night. Details were provided in interviews with
counterterrorism and intelligence authorities, senior
administration officials and other U.S. officials. All spoke on
condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation.
By mid-February, intelligence from multiple sources was clear
enough that Obama wanted to "pursue an aggressive course of
action," a senior administration official said. Over the next two and
a half months, Obama led five meetings of the National Security
Council focused solely on whether bin Laden was in that compound
and, if so, how to get him, the official said.
Normally, the U.S. shares its counterterrorism intelligence widely
with trusted allies in Britain, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. And
the U.S. normally does not carry out ground operations inside
Pakistan without collaboration with Pakistani intelligence. But this
mission was too important and too secretive.
On April 29, Obama approved an operation to kill bin Laden. It was
a mission that required surgical accuracy, even more precision
than could be delivered by the government's sophisticated
Predator drones. To execute it, Obama tapped a small contingent of
the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six and put them under the command
of CIA Director Leon Panetta, whose analysts monitored the
compound from afar.
Panetta was directly in charge of the team, a U.S. official said, and
his conference room was transformed into a command center.
Details of exactly how the raid unfolded remain murky. But the al-
Qaida courier, his brother and one of bin Laden's sons were killed.
No Americans were injured. Senior administration officials will only
say that bin Laden "resisted." And then the man behind the worst
terrorist attack on U.S. soil died from an American bullet to his
head.
It was mid-afternoon in Virginia when Panetta and his team
received word that bin Laden was dead. Cheers and applause broke
out across the conference room.
AP - Mon May 2nd, 2011 3:09 AM EDT
WASHINGTON - Helicopters descended out of darkness on the most
important counterterrorism mission in U.S. history. It was an
operation so secret, only a select few U.S. officials knew what was
about to happen.
The location was a fortified compound in the affluent Pakistani
suburbs of Islamabad. The target was Osama bin Laden.
Intelligence officials discovered the compound in August while
monitoring an al-Qaida courier. The CIA had been hunting that
courier for years, ever since detainees told interrogators that the
courier was so trusted by bin Laden that he might very well be
living with the al-Qaida leader.
Nestled in an affluent neighborhood, the compound was
surrounded by walls as high as 18 feet, topped with barbed wire.
Two security gates guarded the only way in. A third-floor terrace
was shielded by a seven-foot privacy wall. No phone lines or
Internet cables ran to the property. The residents burned their
garbage rather than put it out for collection. Intelligence officials
believed the million-dollar compound was built five years ago to
protect a major terrorist figure. The question was, who?
The CIA asked itself again and again who might be living behind
those walls. Each time, they concluded it was almost certainly bin
Laden.
President Barack Obama described the operation in broad strokes
Sunday night. Details were provided in interviews with
counterterrorism and intelligence authorities, senior
administration officials and other U.S. officials. All spoke on
condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation.
By mid-February, intelligence from multiple sources was clear
enough that Obama wanted to "pursue an aggressive course of
action," a senior administration official said. Over the next two and
a half months, Obama led five meetings of the National Security
Council focused solely on whether bin Laden was in that compound
and, if so, how to get him, the official said.
Normally, the U.S. shares its counterterrorism intelligence widely
with trusted allies in Britain, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. And
the U.S. normally does not carry out ground operations inside
Pakistan without collaboration with Pakistani intelligence. But this
mission was too important and too secretive.
On April 29, Obama approved an operation to kill bin Laden. It was
a mission that required surgical accuracy, even more precision
than could be delivered by the government's sophisticated
Predator drones. To execute it, Obama tapped a small contingent of
the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six and put them under the command
of CIA Director Leon Panetta, whose analysts monitored the
compound from afar.
Panetta was directly in charge of the team, a U.S. official said, and
his conference room was transformed into a command center.
Details of exactly how the raid unfolded remain murky. But the al-
Qaida courier, his brother and one of bin Laden's sons were killed.
No Americans were injured. Senior administration officials will only
say that bin Laden "resisted." And then the man behind the worst
terrorist attack on U.S. soil died from an American bullet to his
head.
It was mid-afternoon in Virginia when Panetta and his team
received word that bin Laden was dead. Cheers and applause broke
out across the conference room.
Osama Bin Laden killed by US forces.
Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US forces in Pakistan and the US forces are in the custody of the body.
What next for the North?
What next for the North?
Yusuf Alli
Finally, the curtain was drawn on 2011 general
elections last Thursday with the conclusion of the
governorship poll. Of all strands of the elections, the
presidential poll rekindled the North-South divide but
President Goodluck Jonathan survived with what has been
described as a“Pan-Nigeria” mandate. In this piece, our
Managing Editor, Northern Operation, Yusuf Alli, examines
what is next for the North which agitated for the presidency
with as much sweat and acrimony
What next for the North?
The 2011 general elections have been won and lost but the scars
of the poll will forever linger. But a major fall-out of the poll is
the loss of presidency to the South-South by the North in a
sweeping manner for the first time in 50 years. The incumbent
President Goodluck Jonathan from the Niger Delta won with 57
per cent over a Northern standard-bearer, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari, who polled 31 per cent of the total votes cast. The
elections reshaped Nigeria’s map to the era of Northern and
Southern protectorates before the amalgamation by a former
Governor-General of Nigeria, Sir. Lord Lugard.
The reality of power shift through the ballot, however,
provoked a spate of protests in the North leaving more than 600
people dead, and, by the National Emergency Management
Agency’s records, over 65,000 Nigerians have been displaced.
Today, the core North has not only lost out at the centre, it is the
butt of attacks and derision over post-election violence. How did
things go awry?
The genesis
The journey into the present political dilemma of the North
could be traced to the sudden ill-health of President Umaru
Yar’Adua on November 23, 2009 and his eventual transfer to a
Saudi hospital. Although Yar’Adua won a national mandate, his
illness ignited political ripples and left the nation divided along
North-South axis on why the then Vice-President Goodluck
Jonathan must be made the acting President. Even the Federal
Executive Council was not spared of the deep-seated crisis when
the Council was‘intimidated’ to declare on December 2, 2009
that Yar’Adua was not incapacitated. The need to invoke
Sections 144 and 145 of the 1999 Constitution polarized the
nation such that were it not for the wisdom of the President of
the Senate, Chief David Mark in invoking the‘Doctrine of
Necessity’, Jonathan would not have become acting President
on February 10, 2010. The ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ was an
emergency contraption to save the nation the trauma of some
Northern cabal in government who held the country by its
jugular.
In as much as the presidential system, which Nigeria adopted
since 1979, is explicit on succession, the fear of the presidency
slipping away from the North created a major worry for the
region. The North had fears in 2010 that Jonathan would not
only be an acting President, he might still contest the 2011
presidential poll.
The silence of key elders in the North during the debate for
acting presidency for Jonathan drew sympathy for Jonathan
from the South culminating in a‘spill over love’ to the April 16,
2011 presidential poll.
The zoning palaver
The sign that Jonathan would contest the 2011 presidential race
began to manifest in April 2010 when some Ijaw leaders held a
secret meeting with the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).
About 27 prominent Ijaw leaders, led by Dr. Atuboyedia
Obianime, had met with ACF team in Kaduna to open a new
window of rapprochement in the country. Although the leader
of the delegation told newsmen that they decided to reach out
to various power blocs to stabilize the polity, it was regarded as
a smokescreen to test the waters and pass a message to the
North.
By the time Yar’Adua died on May 6, 2010, the stage was set for
an epic battle between the North and the South-South over
zoning. The Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) led by
Mallam Adamu Ciroma (a former Minister of Finance) was in the
vanguard of opposition to the emergence of a Southerner as
President.
The group boasted of heavyweights like ex-President Ibrahim
Babangida, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Gen. Aliyu Gusau,
ex-Senate President Iyorchia Ayu, ex-Governor Lawal Kaita,
Alhaji Bello Kirfi, CON(Wazirin Bauchi), Amb. Yahaya Kwande
and Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim.
The Southern leaders under many platforms like the South
South Peoples Assembly and Ijaw Elders Council launched
counter attacks and opted for negotiation with the NPLF leaders.
But all the sessions were deadlocked.
The NPLF leaders, mostly members of the PDP, hinged their
opposition to Jonathan on preamble and Article 7.2(c) of the
party’s constitution which makes provision for rotation of the
presidency between the North and the South for eight years
each.
Although the party ignored the NPLF leaders, they went ahead
to choose a consensus presidential candidate, ex-Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar, against Jonathan at the January 13 presidential
primaries of the party. The consensus candidate was later
defeated by Jonathan.
But before the primaries, the issue of Jonathan’s candidacy
became a subject of litigations at the High Court of Justice of the
Federal Capital Territory. Some NPLF leaders were neck-deep in
the suits. It took a judicial pronouncement by the Chief Judge of
the FCT, Justice Lawal Gumi, before the matter could be laid to
rest.
Why the core North lost out
A post-mortem reveals eight reasons why the North lost out in
the 2011 general elections. Some of these factors are: over-
bearing hostility against Jonathan; apparent ethnic agenda
pursued by the North; the unwritten alliance between Northern
minorities and the South South; the unending crisis in the
region; failure of past Northern leaders who have led the
country; sell-out by Northern governors’ incumbency factor.
The persistent crisis in the North since 1990s has created a gulf
between Hausa-Fulani and minorities in the region. So, the idea
of one North envisioned by the late Sardauna of Sokoto has
been eroded over the years by religious politics. States like
Plateau, Taraba, Benue, minorities in Bauchi, Gombe, Niger and
Adamawa are being alienated from the core principles and
vision of a united North. What these minorities do is to seek
refuge under the guise of alliance in the South. As part of his
winning formulae, Jonathan capitalised on the disunity
cleavage in the region and decided to woo Northern minorities
to back his presidential bid. That was why minority leaders in
the North like Danjuma, David Mark, Solomon Lar, Prof. Jerry
Gana, Governor Jonah Jang, Chief Barnabas and Gemade, were
in the vanguard of his campaign.
The hijack of the party structure by the President through the
clinical removal of a former National Chairman of the PDP,
Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, put paid to whatever hope the North
had in pursuing its zoning agenda. Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, who
succeeded Ogbulafor, wasted no time in showing his loyalty
and preference for Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the
party. At the twilight of delivering the ticket to Jonathan, Nwodo
was consumed by his larger-than-life confidence and he had to
be eased out without getting any credit for his efforts. As the
North was agitating for power shift, it was not paying much
attention to the developments within the PDP until the last
minutes.
Blind agitation for the presidency by the North. Since the North
drew the battle line over zoning, it never looked back to
accommodate the South South which has been its traditional
ally since the 50s. Besides the presidency, the Northern leaders
did not give room for other options. Even a week to the election
when some Northern leaders facilitated a working alliance
negotiation between the presidential candidate of the Congress
for Progressive Change, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and some
leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the North could not
come to the table with concrete concessions. Buhari wanted a
bare-handed negotiation.
Several times, President Goodluck had to reach out to NPLF
leaders to sustain the bond between the two geopolitical zones
but all the talks were deadlocked. At a point, the Ijaw leader,
Chief Edwin Clark wrote an emotional letter to the Convener of
the NPLF, Mallam Adamu Ciroma. Clark pleaded:“Our special
relationship with the North dated far back as 1953 and it has
been very cordial since then. This shows the historical
relationship between the North and the people of the Niger
Delta. And this cordial relationship built on mutual
understanding should not be whisked away by mere political
disagreement over zoning or no zoning.
“Friendship must be built on equality, respect for one another
and mutual understanding and not based on segregation of first
class and second class citizen. Having waited for over 50 years
and the Almighty God has now decided. I hope my letter will
not come to you as a surprise because the Almighty God had
made it possible for you and I and the rest of Nigerians to live
together in peace in a united and indivisible country called
Nigeria .”
Sell-out by Northern governors. The desire for second term
ticket made most Northern governors to sell out. To these
governors, the legacy of one North is not as important as the
power they are seeking. And the lucre of automatic second term
ticket was a gem they could not ignore. But in a recent
interview with The Nation, Governor Murtala Nyako denied the
allegation of a sell-out. Nyako said: “It (the support for Jonathan
by Northern governors) is in the interest of the nation. I think in
the long term, we will realize that this is in order because our
relationship with the rest of the country is extremely important.
What is good for Nigeria is good for the North and the South.
“We cannot simply have a situation where we are taking
divergent views from the general opinion of the South. I think
in the last few months, everybody has realized that there is
need for us to come together as a nation and live above
sentiments.”
The Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, gave a
summary of the trouble with the North and why it lost out. He
said:“We need to take a cue from the broadminded approach to
issues, the political sagacity and ability to negotiate, the
sophisticated reasoning, the comportment and commitment of
our fallen heroes who were selfless and lived above board in all
ramifications.
“Do we still have ‘the North’ that reflects ‘a trans-ethnic
community’ and ‘the Northerner’ as a citizen that transcends
tribal, religious and class affiliations? Where do we stand today
in the political equation of this community? Are we still with the
ball; or where did we lose it; and are we still in the game? Are
we prepared and ready to compete with other regions?
What next for the North?
The first challenge for the core North is to be part of the healing
process of President Goodluck Jonathan by reuniting with the
rest part of the country to pursue common goals of a united and
one nation. The events since April 16 presidential election have
created deeper suspicion for the core North by both the South
and the minorities in the North and if care is not taken, a new
political alliance/conspiracy may emerge between Southerners
and Northern minorities to keep Hausa-Fulani out of power for a
while. Although the North is looking forward to power shift in
2015, the new power bloc (the South and Northern minorities)
may still play the number game and whip up equal opportunity
sentiments to concede the presidency to either the South-East
or a Northern minority.
Ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has already subscribed to this
post-election healing process when on Friday he said:“In view
of the unfortunate and misguided post-election violence that
greeted the election in certain parts of the country, President
Jonathan should begin an urgent healing process in the entire
country and also within his own Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
family.”
The need to replace old brigade politicians by young Northern
Turks. The remnants of the old brigade politicians in the North
appear to be the albatross of this politically sophisticated
region. While acting under the pretext of preserving the
legacies of the late Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello,
these old and tired hands still live in the past which was
dominated by ethnic and religious sentiments. Unfortunately,
they still commanded mass loyalty, during the elections, from
the army of unemployed youths and hangers-on in the North.
Despite the fact that the North voted against violence during the
governorship poll, a new generation of cosmopolitan politicians
ought to emerge not only to protect the interest of the North
but to build bridges across the Niger. In their heyday, the likes
of a former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Mallam Adamu
Ciroma, ex-President Ibrahim Babangida, ex-Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar, Gen. Theophillus Danjuma, Gen. Aliyu Gusau,
ex-IGP, Mohammed Dikko Yusuf and ex-Minister Nasir el-Rufai,
had championed this culture of bridge-building nationwide
until ethnic emotion overwhelmed them during the countdown
to the just-concluded general elections.
But a few Northern leaders can still cast the first stone and effect
generational change in the leadership of the region. These are
leaders like ex-Head of State, Gen. Abdul Salami Abubakar, Vice-
president Namadi Sambo, business mogul, Aliko Dangote; a
former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief
Audu Ogbeh; ex-presidential candidate, Ibrahim Shekarau ,ex-
EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the President of the Senate,
Chief David Mark, ex-Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum,
Gen. I.B.M. Haruna, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar(rtd), Governors
Bukola Saraki, Sule Lamido and Danjuma Goje, and ex-Governor
Ahmed Makarfi among others.
In fact, of all the leaders, Abdul Salami distinguished himself as
a courageous leader. Not minding a backlash from the North,
Gen. Abdul Salami said:“The recent post election violence that
erupted in some Northern states in the country is most idiotic
and uncalled for. I don’t know what people want to gain from
killing others when they have a better way to fight their cause
by going to court if they feel aggrieved.”
A social scientist, Dr. Abdullahi Mamman, said: “The North needs
a new face to project its image as a hospitable and
accommodating region. The old forces need to give way to a
new set of leaders that can assert the place of the North in this
millennium.”
Addressing the perpetual culture of violence in the North. Since
the advent of democracy in 1999, the North has lost much to
violence than it has reaped its dividends. According to a
Brussels-based International Crisis Group, over 14,000 people
died in ethnic and religious clashes in Nigeria between 1999
and 2009.
And the latest post-election violence has confirmed that the
North is a tinder-box because of over 10 million kids on the
streets (Almajiris). These street kids are always at the beck and
call of desperate politicians and religious bigots. This explains
why some politicians took advantage of the Almajiris to
perpetrate post-election violence. Worried by the development
and following a proposal from the Universal Basic Education
Commission, the Federal Government in 2009 sent an 11-man
team, including Christians, to Indonesia to understudy
Indonesian Madrasa (combined Islamic and Western school
method) system to give a comprehensive education to these
Almajiris. But most state governments in the North have only
paid lip service to the plight of these Almajiris who go by
different names in Kano, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa, to
perpetrate violence.
In an interview with a national daily on violence in the North,
Rev. Fr. Mathew Hassan Kukah said:“I think leaders in Northern
Nigeria must ask themselves why their area has become
combustible. A lot of these characters who are causing this
problem in the North have no basic education.
“We have a reservoir of almost 12 to 15 million young people in
northern Nigeria who are members of the Almajiri and who
have nothing to do. This is why when people talk about trying
those who are responsible for all these burnings and so on...
have you ever found somebody who is working in a bank going
to burn a church or going to burn a mosque? Have you found
anybody who has a job and is educated going to burn a church
or mosque?
“Let me tell you, these are street urchins who don’t know what
life is and who don’t have value for their lives. Those people,
unfortunately, exist only in northern Nigeria. So, the question
the North must ask itself is how is it that it has managed to end
up with this kind of nonsense. The population of the Almajiri in
northern Nigeria is more than the population of many African
countries. In an environment where there are no industries,
nothing is happening, except that this country is producing
Almajiri and an endless number of stealing elites, who don’t
even know how to steal and apply the proceeds of their theft to
some meaningful development.”
Mass enlightenment. The post-election violence underscored the
imperative for mass enlightenment in the North. Most of those
involved did not appreciate the beauty of democracy which
borders on winning, losing and going to court to seek redress
where any result is disputed. The killings of corps members,
who were impartial electoral officers, amounted to a mere
transfer of aggression.
Early jostle for 2015?
Going back to the drawing board. All hope is not lost for the
North as its leaders need to go back to the drawing board to
plan early enough for 2015 in terms of rapprochement with
other geopolitical zones, shopping for the right and qualitative
presidential candidate and the right platform, being cohesive,
and taking advantage of its numerical strength. The North is
blessed with an array of self-less and sound leaders but it needs
to work hard and rise above partisanship to give these young
elements a chance to prove their mettle.
The NPLF, which has refused to condemn the violence in the
North till date, might still serve as a tool for holding Jonathan
administration accountable on his pledges to transform the
country within four years.
With a pledge of one term in office and unwritten commitment
to some Northern leaders/Emirs by Jonathan to ensure power
shift to the North in 2015, the region can bounce back in four
years. But it has to reassure Nigerians of its commitment to the
unity and indivisibility of the nation.
The only caveat is that with a good homework, the North may
reclaim its mandate in 2015 and use advantage of its numerical
strength never to allow power shift to other parts again. The
leaders of other zones are also watching the political pendulum
swinging in the North.
Yusuf Alli
Finally, the curtain was drawn on 2011 general
elections last Thursday with the conclusion of the
governorship poll. Of all strands of the elections, the
presidential poll rekindled the North-South divide but
President Goodluck Jonathan survived with what has been
described as a“Pan-Nigeria” mandate. In this piece, our
Managing Editor, Northern Operation, Yusuf Alli, examines
what is next for the North which agitated for the presidency
with as much sweat and acrimony
What next for the North?
The 2011 general elections have been won and lost but the scars
of the poll will forever linger. But a major fall-out of the poll is
the loss of presidency to the South-South by the North in a
sweeping manner for the first time in 50 years. The incumbent
President Goodluck Jonathan from the Niger Delta won with 57
per cent over a Northern standard-bearer, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari, who polled 31 per cent of the total votes cast. The
elections reshaped Nigeria’s map to the era of Northern and
Southern protectorates before the amalgamation by a former
Governor-General of Nigeria, Sir. Lord Lugard.
The reality of power shift through the ballot, however,
provoked a spate of protests in the North leaving more than 600
people dead, and, by the National Emergency Management
Agency’s records, over 65,000 Nigerians have been displaced.
Today, the core North has not only lost out at the centre, it is the
butt of attacks and derision over post-election violence. How did
things go awry?
The genesis
The journey into the present political dilemma of the North
could be traced to the sudden ill-health of President Umaru
Yar’Adua on November 23, 2009 and his eventual transfer to a
Saudi hospital. Although Yar’Adua won a national mandate, his
illness ignited political ripples and left the nation divided along
North-South axis on why the then Vice-President Goodluck
Jonathan must be made the acting President. Even the Federal
Executive Council was not spared of the deep-seated crisis when
the Council was‘intimidated’ to declare on December 2, 2009
that Yar’Adua was not incapacitated. The need to invoke
Sections 144 and 145 of the 1999 Constitution polarized the
nation such that were it not for the wisdom of the President of
the Senate, Chief David Mark in invoking the‘Doctrine of
Necessity’, Jonathan would not have become acting President
on February 10, 2010. The ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ was an
emergency contraption to save the nation the trauma of some
Northern cabal in government who held the country by its
jugular.
In as much as the presidential system, which Nigeria adopted
since 1979, is explicit on succession, the fear of the presidency
slipping away from the North created a major worry for the
region. The North had fears in 2010 that Jonathan would not
only be an acting President, he might still contest the 2011
presidential poll.
The silence of key elders in the North during the debate for
acting presidency for Jonathan drew sympathy for Jonathan
from the South culminating in a‘spill over love’ to the April 16,
2011 presidential poll.
The zoning palaver
The sign that Jonathan would contest the 2011 presidential race
began to manifest in April 2010 when some Ijaw leaders held a
secret meeting with the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).
About 27 prominent Ijaw leaders, led by Dr. Atuboyedia
Obianime, had met with ACF team in Kaduna to open a new
window of rapprochement in the country. Although the leader
of the delegation told newsmen that they decided to reach out
to various power blocs to stabilize the polity, it was regarded as
a smokescreen to test the waters and pass a message to the
North.
By the time Yar’Adua died on May 6, 2010, the stage was set for
an epic battle between the North and the South-South over
zoning. The Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) led by
Mallam Adamu Ciroma (a former Minister of Finance) was in the
vanguard of opposition to the emergence of a Southerner as
President.
The group boasted of heavyweights like ex-President Ibrahim
Babangida, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Gen. Aliyu Gusau,
ex-Senate President Iyorchia Ayu, ex-Governor Lawal Kaita,
Alhaji Bello Kirfi, CON(Wazirin Bauchi), Amb. Yahaya Kwande
and Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim.
The Southern leaders under many platforms like the South
South Peoples Assembly and Ijaw Elders Council launched
counter attacks and opted for negotiation with the NPLF leaders.
But all the sessions were deadlocked.
The NPLF leaders, mostly members of the PDP, hinged their
opposition to Jonathan on preamble and Article 7.2(c) of the
party’s constitution which makes provision for rotation of the
presidency between the North and the South for eight years
each.
Although the party ignored the NPLF leaders, they went ahead
to choose a consensus presidential candidate, ex-Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar, against Jonathan at the January 13 presidential
primaries of the party. The consensus candidate was later
defeated by Jonathan.
But before the primaries, the issue of Jonathan’s candidacy
became a subject of litigations at the High Court of Justice of the
Federal Capital Territory. Some NPLF leaders were neck-deep in
the suits. It took a judicial pronouncement by the Chief Judge of
the FCT, Justice Lawal Gumi, before the matter could be laid to
rest.
Why the core North lost out
A post-mortem reveals eight reasons why the North lost out in
the 2011 general elections. Some of these factors are: over-
bearing hostility against Jonathan; apparent ethnic agenda
pursued by the North; the unwritten alliance between Northern
minorities and the South South; the unending crisis in the
region; failure of past Northern leaders who have led the
country; sell-out by Northern governors’ incumbency factor.
The persistent crisis in the North since 1990s has created a gulf
between Hausa-Fulani and minorities in the region. So, the idea
of one North envisioned by the late Sardauna of Sokoto has
been eroded over the years by religious politics. States like
Plateau, Taraba, Benue, minorities in Bauchi, Gombe, Niger and
Adamawa are being alienated from the core principles and
vision of a united North. What these minorities do is to seek
refuge under the guise of alliance in the South. As part of his
winning formulae, Jonathan capitalised on the disunity
cleavage in the region and decided to woo Northern minorities
to back his presidential bid. That was why minority leaders in
the North like Danjuma, David Mark, Solomon Lar, Prof. Jerry
Gana, Governor Jonah Jang, Chief Barnabas and Gemade, were
in the vanguard of his campaign.
The hijack of the party structure by the President through the
clinical removal of a former National Chairman of the PDP,
Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, put paid to whatever hope the North
had in pursuing its zoning agenda. Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, who
succeeded Ogbulafor, wasted no time in showing his loyalty
and preference for Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the
party. At the twilight of delivering the ticket to Jonathan, Nwodo
was consumed by his larger-than-life confidence and he had to
be eased out without getting any credit for his efforts. As the
North was agitating for power shift, it was not paying much
attention to the developments within the PDP until the last
minutes.
Blind agitation for the presidency by the North. Since the North
drew the battle line over zoning, it never looked back to
accommodate the South South which has been its traditional
ally since the 50s. Besides the presidency, the Northern leaders
did not give room for other options. Even a week to the election
when some Northern leaders facilitated a working alliance
negotiation between the presidential candidate of the Congress
for Progressive Change, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and some
leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the North could not
come to the table with concrete concessions. Buhari wanted a
bare-handed negotiation.
Several times, President Goodluck had to reach out to NPLF
leaders to sustain the bond between the two geopolitical zones
but all the talks were deadlocked. At a point, the Ijaw leader,
Chief Edwin Clark wrote an emotional letter to the Convener of
the NPLF, Mallam Adamu Ciroma. Clark pleaded:“Our special
relationship with the North dated far back as 1953 and it has
been very cordial since then. This shows the historical
relationship between the North and the people of the Niger
Delta. And this cordial relationship built on mutual
understanding should not be whisked away by mere political
disagreement over zoning or no zoning.
“Friendship must be built on equality, respect for one another
and mutual understanding and not based on segregation of first
class and second class citizen. Having waited for over 50 years
and the Almighty God has now decided. I hope my letter will
not come to you as a surprise because the Almighty God had
made it possible for you and I and the rest of Nigerians to live
together in peace in a united and indivisible country called
Nigeria .”
Sell-out by Northern governors. The desire for second term
ticket made most Northern governors to sell out. To these
governors, the legacy of one North is not as important as the
power they are seeking. And the lucre of automatic second term
ticket was a gem they could not ignore. But in a recent
interview with The Nation, Governor Murtala Nyako denied the
allegation of a sell-out. Nyako said: “It (the support for Jonathan
by Northern governors) is in the interest of the nation. I think in
the long term, we will realize that this is in order because our
relationship with the rest of the country is extremely important.
What is good for Nigeria is good for the North and the South.
“We cannot simply have a situation where we are taking
divergent views from the general opinion of the South. I think
in the last few months, everybody has realized that there is
need for us to come together as a nation and live above
sentiments.”
The Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, gave a
summary of the trouble with the North and why it lost out. He
said:“We need to take a cue from the broadminded approach to
issues, the political sagacity and ability to negotiate, the
sophisticated reasoning, the comportment and commitment of
our fallen heroes who were selfless and lived above board in all
ramifications.
“Do we still have ‘the North’ that reflects ‘a trans-ethnic
community’ and ‘the Northerner’ as a citizen that transcends
tribal, religious and class affiliations? Where do we stand today
in the political equation of this community? Are we still with the
ball; or where did we lose it; and are we still in the game? Are
we prepared and ready to compete with other regions?
What next for the North?
The first challenge for the core North is to be part of the healing
process of President Goodluck Jonathan by reuniting with the
rest part of the country to pursue common goals of a united and
one nation. The events since April 16 presidential election have
created deeper suspicion for the core North by both the South
and the minorities in the North and if care is not taken, a new
political alliance/conspiracy may emerge between Southerners
and Northern minorities to keep Hausa-Fulani out of power for a
while. Although the North is looking forward to power shift in
2015, the new power bloc (the South and Northern minorities)
may still play the number game and whip up equal opportunity
sentiments to concede the presidency to either the South-East
or a Northern minority.
Ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has already subscribed to this
post-election healing process when on Friday he said:“In view
of the unfortunate and misguided post-election violence that
greeted the election in certain parts of the country, President
Jonathan should begin an urgent healing process in the entire
country and also within his own Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
family.”
The need to replace old brigade politicians by young Northern
Turks. The remnants of the old brigade politicians in the North
appear to be the albatross of this politically sophisticated
region. While acting under the pretext of preserving the
legacies of the late Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello,
these old and tired hands still live in the past which was
dominated by ethnic and religious sentiments. Unfortunately,
they still commanded mass loyalty, during the elections, from
the army of unemployed youths and hangers-on in the North.
Despite the fact that the North voted against violence during the
governorship poll, a new generation of cosmopolitan politicians
ought to emerge not only to protect the interest of the North
but to build bridges across the Niger. In their heyday, the likes
of a former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Mallam Adamu
Ciroma, ex-President Ibrahim Babangida, ex-Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar, Gen. Theophillus Danjuma, Gen. Aliyu Gusau,
ex-IGP, Mohammed Dikko Yusuf and ex-Minister Nasir el-Rufai,
had championed this culture of bridge-building nationwide
until ethnic emotion overwhelmed them during the countdown
to the just-concluded general elections.
But a few Northern leaders can still cast the first stone and effect
generational change in the leadership of the region. These are
leaders like ex-Head of State, Gen. Abdul Salami Abubakar, Vice-
president Namadi Sambo, business mogul, Aliko Dangote; a
former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief
Audu Ogbeh; ex-presidential candidate, Ibrahim Shekarau ,ex-
EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the President of the Senate,
Chief David Mark, ex-Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum,
Gen. I.B.M. Haruna, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar(rtd), Governors
Bukola Saraki, Sule Lamido and Danjuma Goje, and ex-Governor
Ahmed Makarfi among others.
In fact, of all the leaders, Abdul Salami distinguished himself as
a courageous leader. Not minding a backlash from the North,
Gen. Abdul Salami said:“The recent post election violence that
erupted in some Northern states in the country is most idiotic
and uncalled for. I don’t know what people want to gain from
killing others when they have a better way to fight their cause
by going to court if they feel aggrieved.”
A social scientist, Dr. Abdullahi Mamman, said: “The North needs
a new face to project its image as a hospitable and
accommodating region. The old forces need to give way to a
new set of leaders that can assert the place of the North in this
millennium.”
Addressing the perpetual culture of violence in the North. Since
the advent of democracy in 1999, the North has lost much to
violence than it has reaped its dividends. According to a
Brussels-based International Crisis Group, over 14,000 people
died in ethnic and religious clashes in Nigeria between 1999
and 2009.
And the latest post-election violence has confirmed that the
North is a tinder-box because of over 10 million kids on the
streets (Almajiris). These street kids are always at the beck and
call of desperate politicians and religious bigots. This explains
why some politicians took advantage of the Almajiris to
perpetrate post-election violence. Worried by the development
and following a proposal from the Universal Basic Education
Commission, the Federal Government in 2009 sent an 11-man
team, including Christians, to Indonesia to understudy
Indonesian Madrasa (combined Islamic and Western school
method) system to give a comprehensive education to these
Almajiris. But most state governments in the North have only
paid lip service to the plight of these Almajiris who go by
different names in Kano, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa, to
perpetrate violence.
In an interview with a national daily on violence in the North,
Rev. Fr. Mathew Hassan Kukah said:“I think leaders in Northern
Nigeria must ask themselves why their area has become
combustible. A lot of these characters who are causing this
problem in the North have no basic education.
“We have a reservoir of almost 12 to 15 million young people in
northern Nigeria who are members of the Almajiri and who
have nothing to do. This is why when people talk about trying
those who are responsible for all these burnings and so on...
have you ever found somebody who is working in a bank going
to burn a church or going to burn a mosque? Have you found
anybody who has a job and is educated going to burn a church
or mosque?
“Let me tell you, these are street urchins who don’t know what
life is and who don’t have value for their lives. Those people,
unfortunately, exist only in northern Nigeria. So, the question
the North must ask itself is how is it that it has managed to end
up with this kind of nonsense. The population of the Almajiri in
northern Nigeria is more than the population of many African
countries. In an environment where there are no industries,
nothing is happening, except that this country is producing
Almajiri and an endless number of stealing elites, who don’t
even know how to steal and apply the proceeds of their theft to
some meaningful development.”
Mass enlightenment. The post-election violence underscored the
imperative for mass enlightenment in the North. Most of those
involved did not appreciate the beauty of democracy which
borders on winning, losing and going to court to seek redress
where any result is disputed. The killings of corps members,
who were impartial electoral officers, amounted to a mere
transfer of aggression.
Early jostle for 2015?
Going back to the drawing board. All hope is not lost for the
North as its leaders need to go back to the drawing board to
plan early enough for 2015 in terms of rapprochement with
other geopolitical zones, shopping for the right and qualitative
presidential candidate and the right platform, being cohesive,
and taking advantage of its numerical strength. The North is
blessed with an array of self-less and sound leaders but it needs
to work hard and rise above partisanship to give these young
elements a chance to prove their mettle.
The NPLF, which has refused to condemn the violence in the
North till date, might still serve as a tool for holding Jonathan
administration accountable on his pledges to transform the
country within four years.
With a pledge of one term in office and unwritten commitment
to some Northern leaders/Emirs by Jonathan to ensure power
shift to the North in 2015, the region can bounce back in four
years. But it has to reassure Nigerians of its commitment to the
unity and indivisibility of the nation.
The only caveat is that with a good homework, the North may
reclaim its mandate in 2015 and use advantage of its numerical
strength never to allow power shift to other parts again. The
leaders of other zones are also watching the political pendulum
swinging in the North.
Sunday 1 May 2011
Revisiting Orkar's map of Nigeria
Revisiting Orkar’s map of Nigeria
0
May 2, 2011
People & Politics
By Ochereome Nnanna
ON Sunday, April 22, 1990, martial music floated into the
Nigerian airwaves. A group of middle-level military officers had
commenced a military rebellion against the regime of General
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
Prominent among them were Major Saliba Mukoro, Major Tony
Nyiam and a civilian financier, Chief Great Ogboru. Yes, the same
Ogboru, who on three consecutive occasions, flew the flag of the
Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in attempts to upstage Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but
lost narrowly.
The most notable figure among the lot was Major Gideon Gwaza
Orkar, who led the operations at the Dodan Barracks in Ikoyi, the
then seat of power, and made a broadcast that, some said,
helped the rebellion to fail. He announced the excision of the
people of Nigeria’s Muslim North from the country until they
purged themselves of what he termed “their dominative
tendencies”.
The coup failed for a number of reasons. Number one was that
the people he referred to were still very much in power. This
they proved by overcoming the rebellion and successfully
annulling a presidential election three years later.
Secondly, it would have precipitated another civil war. Thirdly,
among the section of the country he wanted excised were
decent Nigerians who were committed to a true nationhood and
did not share the narrow-minded ethnic conquest mentality of
some of their people. Rather than trying to solve the problem of
domination through bloody means, the political mechanisms of
democracy were seen as a better way of addressing it. This
informed the unbending resolve of activists for the end of
military rule.
The North tried to assuage the feelings of Nigerians, especially
the South West by ceding the presidency to them in 1999, when
it became clear that the country could be lost altogether if they
insisted on producing the president. The zoning formula was
adopted by the ruling PDP as a means of addressing regional
domination. After the South West had it for eight years it was
returned to the North.
However, the beneficiary, Alhaji Umaru Yar’ Adua, died two and
half years into office. It became imperative that the constitution
of the country be followed in transferring power to then Vice
President Goodluck Jonathan, who later cashed in on his
constitutional right to contest for president.
His ambition was tackled every inch of the way by some hawkish
elements of the Northern political class, who insisted that the
President should step down for one of them to“complete” the
turn left halfway by Yar’Adua.
However, the generality of Nigerian people, including a large
portion of Northern Nigerians, believed that this was the right
time for undue regional extremism to give way to a truly
Nigerian president. Igbo political leaders made the boldest
sacrifice in this direction.
They opted out of the presidential and vice presidential race and
later on gave President Jonathan the level of electoral support
unprecedented in the history of their voting behaviour.
Also, the entire people of the South-South sank their ethnic
differences and threw their total weight behind Jonathan. To a
much lesser extent, the South West followed suit, though they
provided two presidential running mates for the Congress for
Progressive Change, CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
The North Central (with the exception of pro-Caliphate Niger
State) also threw in their weight.
The whole North West voted for Muhammadu Buhari but the
vote was split in the North East where Adamawa and Taraba
States joined the nationalist train. In Kaduna State, the Christian
South voted for the Jonathan/Sambo ticket, while the North
opted for Buhari.
Many newspapers drew maps depicting these voting patterns in
the presidential race, and what they came up with was the
Gideon Orkar map of Nigeria!
This, in itself would not have troubled many people if not for the
fact that having failed to assert what some of them have claimed
is their“majority” clout and their “right” to the presidency,
murderous gangs, which had apparently been put on the
standby, were unleashed on those who were believed to have
voted against Buhari in the Muslim North, especially Kaduna,
Kano, Bauchi, Borno and other areas.
Churches and businesses belonging to Christians and
Southerners were torched. In particular, Youth Corps members
posted to serve their nation in the North were targeted and
many were murdered. There were reprisals in Southern Kaduna
against Muslims and their interests.
In the South, Northern Muslims fled to military facilities to avoid
being attacked in reprisal. The nation was placed on the brink
once again after a presidential election praised by both local and
international observers for its free, fair and credible outcome.
Ethnic vanguards, such as the Odua People’s Congress, the ex-
militants of the Niger Delta, the Movement for the Actualisation
of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and groups from the
Middle Belt issued“enough-is-enough” warnings in the
newspapers through advertorials.
Northern leaders need to come to terms with the fact that the
country has changed. The evil contraption the British colonialists
left behind has expired.
Political realignments have taken place. Regional domination is a
thing of the past. In today’s Nigeria you have to work hard
across the divides for your votes. Gone are the days when the
North decided and the rest of the country followed. This was the
mentality that helped to see to the defeat of Atiku and Buhari by
Jonathan.
The resort to violence and killing of non-Muslim Nigerians and
destruction of the property of Northerners who align with the
nationalist aspirations of the rest of the country will only
gradually isolate the North and solidify“Orkar’s Map” in the
minds of Nigerians.
If this happens, the cry of “marginalisation” will shift base. We
don’t want that. We want to eliminate marginalisation from the
body politic and march as one body to achieve the Nigeria of our
collective dreams.
0
May 2, 2011
People & Politics
By Ochereome Nnanna
ON Sunday, April 22, 1990, martial music floated into the
Nigerian airwaves. A group of middle-level military officers had
commenced a military rebellion against the regime of General
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
Prominent among them were Major Saliba Mukoro, Major Tony
Nyiam and a civilian financier, Chief Great Ogboru. Yes, the same
Ogboru, who on three consecutive occasions, flew the flag of the
Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in attempts to upstage Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but
lost narrowly.
The most notable figure among the lot was Major Gideon Gwaza
Orkar, who led the operations at the Dodan Barracks in Ikoyi, the
then seat of power, and made a broadcast that, some said,
helped the rebellion to fail. He announced the excision of the
people of Nigeria’s Muslim North from the country until they
purged themselves of what he termed “their dominative
tendencies”.
The coup failed for a number of reasons. Number one was that
the people he referred to were still very much in power. This
they proved by overcoming the rebellion and successfully
annulling a presidential election three years later.
Secondly, it would have precipitated another civil war. Thirdly,
among the section of the country he wanted excised were
decent Nigerians who were committed to a true nationhood and
did not share the narrow-minded ethnic conquest mentality of
some of their people. Rather than trying to solve the problem of
domination through bloody means, the political mechanisms of
democracy were seen as a better way of addressing it. This
informed the unbending resolve of activists for the end of
military rule.
The North tried to assuage the feelings of Nigerians, especially
the South West by ceding the presidency to them in 1999, when
it became clear that the country could be lost altogether if they
insisted on producing the president. The zoning formula was
adopted by the ruling PDP as a means of addressing regional
domination. After the South West had it for eight years it was
returned to the North.
However, the beneficiary, Alhaji Umaru Yar’ Adua, died two and
half years into office. It became imperative that the constitution
of the country be followed in transferring power to then Vice
President Goodluck Jonathan, who later cashed in on his
constitutional right to contest for president.
His ambition was tackled every inch of the way by some hawkish
elements of the Northern political class, who insisted that the
President should step down for one of them to“complete” the
turn left halfway by Yar’Adua.
However, the generality of Nigerian people, including a large
portion of Northern Nigerians, believed that this was the right
time for undue regional extremism to give way to a truly
Nigerian president. Igbo political leaders made the boldest
sacrifice in this direction.
They opted out of the presidential and vice presidential race and
later on gave President Jonathan the level of electoral support
unprecedented in the history of their voting behaviour.
Also, the entire people of the South-South sank their ethnic
differences and threw their total weight behind Jonathan. To a
much lesser extent, the South West followed suit, though they
provided two presidential running mates for the Congress for
Progressive Change, CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
The North Central (with the exception of pro-Caliphate Niger
State) also threw in their weight.
The whole North West voted for Muhammadu Buhari but the
vote was split in the North East where Adamawa and Taraba
States joined the nationalist train. In Kaduna State, the Christian
South voted for the Jonathan/Sambo ticket, while the North
opted for Buhari.
Many newspapers drew maps depicting these voting patterns in
the presidential race, and what they came up with was the
Gideon Orkar map of Nigeria!
This, in itself would not have troubled many people if not for the
fact that having failed to assert what some of them have claimed
is their“majority” clout and their “right” to the presidency,
murderous gangs, which had apparently been put on the
standby, were unleashed on those who were believed to have
voted against Buhari in the Muslim North, especially Kaduna,
Kano, Bauchi, Borno and other areas.
Churches and businesses belonging to Christians and
Southerners were torched. In particular, Youth Corps members
posted to serve their nation in the North were targeted and
many were murdered. There were reprisals in Southern Kaduna
against Muslims and their interests.
In the South, Northern Muslims fled to military facilities to avoid
being attacked in reprisal. The nation was placed on the brink
once again after a presidential election praised by both local and
international observers for its free, fair and credible outcome.
Ethnic vanguards, such as the Odua People’s Congress, the ex-
militants of the Niger Delta, the Movement for the Actualisation
of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and groups from the
Middle Belt issued“enough-is-enough” warnings in the
newspapers through advertorials.
Northern leaders need to come to terms with the fact that the
country has changed. The evil contraption the British colonialists
left behind has expired.
Political realignments have taken place. Regional domination is a
thing of the past. In today’s Nigeria you have to work hard
across the divides for your votes. Gone are the days when the
North decided and the rest of the country followed. This was the
mentality that helped to see to the defeat of Atiku and Buhari by
Jonathan.
The resort to violence and killing of non-Muslim Nigerians and
destruction of the property of Northerners who align with the
nationalist aspirations of the rest of the country will only
gradually isolate the North and solidify“Orkar’s Map” in the
minds of Nigerians.
If this happens, the cry of “marginalisation” will shift base. We
don’t want that. We want to eliminate marginalisation from the
body politic and march as one body to achieve the Nigeria of our
collective dreams.
Friday 29 April 2011
Kaduna state; the Nation's replica.
Austine Tsenzughul, Bauchi and Tony
AKOWE, Kaduna
Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State
yesterday became the first elected southern Kaduna
governor of the state, just as his counterpart in Bauchi State,
Alhaji Isa Yuguda, was also declared the winner of the
governorship election in the state.
Yakowa defeated his closest rival and governorship candidate
of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to emerge winner
of the governorship election conducted on Thursday.
The returning officer for the governorship election in the state
and Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria,
Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, who announced the result, said that
the governor polled 1,339,487 votes to defeat his closest rival,
who polled 1,114,987 votes.
The governor’s victory threw his supporters into wild jubilation
across the state as residents hurried home from their offices for
fear that the outcome of the election might trigger another
round of crisis in the state.
While the PDP supporters could not go into the streets to
celebrate the victory, they were seen exchanging banter and
congratulating one another for a job well done, while leaders of
the party converged on the government lodge to rejoice with
the governor on his electoral victory.
The governor won the election in 12 of the 23 local government
areas in the state, obtaining the mandatory 25 per cent in 19
out of the 23 local government areas. The CPC candidate, who
came second, won the election in 11 local government areas
and scored 25 per cent of the total votes cast in 14 local
government areas of the state.
Yakowa won in Chikun, Giwa, Jaba, Jema’a, Kagarko, Kajuru,
Kaura, Kauru, Kudan, Sanga, Zangon Kataf and Kachia local
government areas, while the CPC candidate, Haruna Saeed, won
in Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Lere,
Makarfi, Sabon Gari, Soba, Ikara, Zaria and Kubau local
government areas.
The performance of the CPC in the elction fell short of pre-
election calculations. Pundits had predicted that the party would
do well, at least in the North-West and North-East, but it did not
win any governorship election except in Nassarawa where it
won only marginally.
Its candidate, Tanko Al-Makura, polled 324,823 to narrowly beat
his PDP rival and sitting governor, Aliyu Akwe-Doma, who
polled 320,938.
In Bauchi State, Yuguda on Thursday beat three major
challengers at the rescheduled governorship election in the
state to bag another four-year term. He contested for the state’s
number one job on the platform of the PDP.
His rivals included the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)’s
candidate, Sen. Bala Tela; Sen. Suleiman Nazeef Mohammed
Gamawa of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Yusuf
Maitama Tuggar of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Yuguda was elected 0n April 14, 2007 as an ANPP governor after
defecting from the PDP at the governorship screening stage
when he was declared unfit. But in July 2008, just before his
marriage to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s daughter,
Nafisat,Yuguda again returned to the PDP.
While he polled a total of 771, 503 votes, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar
of the CPC polled 238,462, while Suleiman Nazeef Mohammed
Gamawa of the All Nigeria Peoples Party and Baba Tella of the
Action Congress of Nigeria polled 102,093 and 157,237
respectively.
AKOWE, Kaduna
Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State
yesterday became the first elected southern Kaduna
governor of the state, just as his counterpart in Bauchi State,
Alhaji Isa Yuguda, was also declared the winner of the
governorship election in the state.
Yakowa defeated his closest rival and governorship candidate
of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to emerge winner
of the governorship election conducted on Thursday.
The returning officer for the governorship election in the state
and Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria,
Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, who announced the result, said that
the governor polled 1,339,487 votes to defeat his closest rival,
who polled 1,114,987 votes.
The governor’s victory threw his supporters into wild jubilation
across the state as residents hurried home from their offices for
fear that the outcome of the election might trigger another
round of crisis in the state.
While the PDP supporters could not go into the streets to
celebrate the victory, they were seen exchanging banter and
congratulating one another for a job well done, while leaders of
the party converged on the government lodge to rejoice with
the governor on his electoral victory.
The governor won the election in 12 of the 23 local government
areas in the state, obtaining the mandatory 25 per cent in 19
out of the 23 local government areas. The CPC candidate, who
came second, won the election in 11 local government areas
and scored 25 per cent of the total votes cast in 14 local
government areas of the state.
Yakowa won in Chikun, Giwa, Jaba, Jema’a, Kagarko, Kajuru,
Kaura, Kauru, Kudan, Sanga, Zangon Kataf and Kachia local
government areas, while the CPC candidate, Haruna Saeed, won
in Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Lere,
Makarfi, Sabon Gari, Soba, Ikara, Zaria and Kubau local
government areas.
The performance of the CPC in the elction fell short of pre-
election calculations. Pundits had predicted that the party would
do well, at least in the North-West and North-East, but it did not
win any governorship election except in Nassarawa where it
won only marginally.
Its candidate, Tanko Al-Makura, polled 324,823 to narrowly beat
his PDP rival and sitting governor, Aliyu Akwe-Doma, who
polled 320,938.
In Bauchi State, Yuguda on Thursday beat three major
challengers at the rescheduled governorship election in the
state to bag another four-year term. He contested for the state’s
number one job on the platform of the PDP.
His rivals included the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)’s
candidate, Sen. Bala Tela; Sen. Suleiman Nazeef Mohammed
Gamawa of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Yusuf
Maitama Tuggar of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Yuguda was elected 0n April 14, 2007 as an ANPP governor after
defecting from the PDP at the governorship screening stage
when he was declared unfit. But in July 2008, just before his
marriage to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s daughter,
Nafisat,Yuguda again returned to the PDP.
While he polled a total of 771, 503 votes, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar
of the CPC polled 238,462, while Suleiman Nazeef Mohammed
Gamawa of the All Nigeria Peoples Party and Baba Tella of the
Action Congress of Nigeria polled 102,093 and 157,237
respectively.
X-ray of nigeria's past leaders!
[Berlusconi is accused of giving Ruby cash …
for sex when she was 17 years old and thus
too young under Italian law to be paid as a
prostitute.]
As a public office holder (in particular Heads
of State) this is what is expected in a well
organised economies not the kind of thing
we witness in Nigeria! U don’t try anybody
nor do U conduct public inquiries to know the
truth about any event, crime or the
allegation of one! Every nation does this to
keep in check those to serve the public. In
Israel they sent to jail this month (in March
2011) the ex-President Moshe Katsval for 7
years! Egypt’s Mubarak is now summoned to
appear in Cairo with his sons for charges
about financial improprieties and causing the
deaths of his people! We see also Gadaffi and
his children ore on the line no doubt now
that NATO and the U.S. have joined in a pact
to remove him from office! In Nigeria it is;
Oyaoo, if you can’t steal give way and let me
get on with it since it is a commonplace thing
- after all, they will not prosecute,
‘kpatakpata’ (as long as) I can bargain plead
for them! It is reasonably fair to say that your
leaders get away with‘murder’ by the goings
on in Nigeria, folks! We are not told yet what
happened to stall the Iron and Steel Industry
in Itakpe, Kogi State contract to get it up and
running for Nigeria! Yet, it is supposed to be
part of the major Industries like power,
railways and refineries, for Nigeria!
Your problem in Nigeria regarding
corruption and abuse of office malpractice
(financial rascality or upheavals with
impunity) and all that recorded, it must be
echoed is this; Your Heads of State, on
completion of their tenures in office, return
back to the administrative setting through
the canny or unwholesome plot‘ingrained’
intentionally (intuitively) in the Nigerian
CONSTITUTION in the Council of State as
permanent members! They should be
serving to purpose of emissaries for Nigeria
where necessary as the ex-Presidents in U.S.
and U. K. Prime Ministers do after they leave
office - we have Jimmy Carter as a typical
example for this role; Tony Blair is serving in
the Afghanistan debacle and Gordon Brown
just tipped to serve in the World Bank! Now,
lest you forget the arrangement for Nigeria
portrays that typical euphemism frequently
referred to in circumstances of disbelieve,
thus - as strange bedfellows looking critically
at the points/reasons listed hereunder! They
should vacate the Council to enable the new
person clean out the‘stable’, as it were,
particularly about corruption in Nigeria!
Ø Gen. Dr. Y. Gowon we recall was the Head of
Government after he ousted Gen. Aguiyi
Ironsi, the first military Head of State after
the coup of 1966 and he carried on at the Civil
War up to 1975 when he was toppled by Gen.
M. Muhammed who was, himself
assassinated by Dimka & Co. after which
period,
Ø Gen. O. Obasanjo as Murtala’s Deputy came
to the scene in 1976 and became the Head of
State! Gen. Gowon was then outside of
Nigeria and remained so until 1983 when he
and Col. O. Ojukwu were granted reprieve
tactically on political grounds, under Alhaji
Shehu Shagari’s administration - Dr. Chuba
Okadigbo was part instrumental for the need
(it was part of the political shenanigans in
1983 by NPN to win again) to reprieve the
two of them!
Ø President Shehu Shagari was installed by
Obasanjo in 1980 and we are familiar with
the legal tussle or objections from Chief O
Awolowo then - you will recall the Electoral
College and all the political fracas
(remonstrations) by Chief Awolowo to
manoeuvre Shagari out of it!
Ø By 1983 December Gen. M. Buhari and
Tunde Idiagbon took over from Shagari
through coup-de-tat!
Ø In 1985 IBB and Gen. Sani Abacha ousted
Gen. Buhari through what was regarded as a
Palace coup - Buhari passed on the baton to
IBB, as it were! Now, in the intervening
period we witnessed how Chief E. Shonikan
came to the seat after the June 12th 1993
fiasco, as Chairman of an Interim
Administration!
Ø Gen Sani Abach came into the scene after
the 12th June Moshood Obiola’s election
debacle after sacking the Interim
Administration of Shonekan in 1993
November! Gen. Sani Abacaha remained in
charge and did assigned to Gen. M. Buhari the
Ministry of Petroleum, in effect - PTF, until his
eventual demise even so, which thereafter
brought,
Ø Gen. Abdulsalamin to power in 1998. Again
in the intervening rigmarole, the 1979/99
Constitution was evolved making it possible
that past Heads of State should be part
members of the Council of State! Ge. M.
Buhari was still holding onto his PTF
appointment and also attended the Council’s
meetings at the period!
Ø Now OBJ became President again for
Nigeria in 1999 up to 2007; the reason why
was very glaring to us - a beneficiary of the
12th June annulment! He however,
disbanded the PTF Ministry and thus
extinguished the appointment of Gen. Buhari
- observers believed the decision was born
out of an old score with Buhari; he Buhari
had served under Obasanjo in the 1976 - 80
administration! At the end of OBJ’s tenure of
2007, after the attempted third term
‘imbroglio’,
Ø Alhaji Musa Ya’Adua became President
under PDP’s ticket and we recall the legal
tussle about the scheming spearheaded by
Gen. Buhari same as was the case by Chief O.
Awolowo at the instance of Shehu Shagari’s
succeeding OBJ in 1980! It did not end here
because after the demise of Yar’Adua we saw
Ø Dr. G. Jonathan on the seat as the
substantive President of Nigeria by what was
circumstantially termed‘DOCTRINE of
NECESSITY’, folks!
Ø Lest we forget; in the Council, Sec. 153 of
the Constitution seats the Governors also - 19
from the North, Federal Court Judges and the
other government dignitaries (functionaries)
considered important in Nigeria! In all of
these, the North dominated the
memberships - a thing considered a
deliberate canny arrangement for Nigeria’s
political setting!
Now, cast your mind on the Council and see if
you can decipher or visualise what the
atmosphere (if you can picture the schisms
and suspicions) could be in the Council when
the members discuss any political, social or
culpable matters related to any of them and
in particular the past Heads of State vis-Ã -vis
what the situation is currently, in Nigeria
regarding alleged crimes and or
misdemeanours going on in the country!
Now, with the kind of scenario in the Council
depicted, think for a moment whether they
can deal with all matters arising us in Nigeria
freely, uninhibited or unabashed? In spite of
this anomaly in the Constitution, they still
have not considered a change or
modification necessary in that Sec. 308 of the
Constitution! We heard Gen. M. Buhari spoke
of doing something about the‘Immunity
clause’ in the Constitution as if he was going
to operate under Military fiat - surely it is a
question of‘easier said than done!’ What
about the ‘moat/beam’ on your own eyes as
a result of the Council of State permanent
membership even though a coup leaders? I
just wonder how many of you, including the
high sounding legal luminaries in Nigeria,
have sat down to consider the effect of this
strange (unprecedented) arrangement/
microcosm for Nigeria and how it impacts
(muddle up) adversely on all that we are
doing or can do with the arrangement if still
allowed to persist - if nothing is done about
it! I have even queried; Did our founding
fathers have this in our Independence
Constitution, folks?
Note that recently we are told that the NSS
approved pensions for the past Heads of
State to include for their spouses and
children, as if they were all legitimately
elected to the post as in other nations, in the
first place! And worse still is, the in-
extinguishable ambitions in these to become
President over and over again in Nigeria, in
spite of the misdemeanours reported about
them! For example, Gen. M. Buhari who
ousted the civilian President Alhaji Shehu
Shagari; rather than the Northern leaders
forum (NPLF) put forward (urge) Shehu
Shagari to now complete the so-wished
‘Northern term’ with Dr., Jonathan as running
mate for the 2011, from all rational
considerations so as to complete his own
term in office which was brought to an end
abruptly by Buhari in that Northern interest
desire, it turned out (culminated) that it was
Alhaji Atiku and or Gen. M. Buhari was fielded
to return to the seat instead! You can easily
see the ironies in Nigeria’s political setting at
play here! I thought this arrangement could
have satisfied Nigerians and Dr. Jonathan by
way of a compromise - such that occurred in
the U.K. between Mr. Butler and Rt. Hon.
Douglas Home after Macmillan’s exit; with of
course Dr. Jonathan to run for the 2015
elections! This could have been more
salutary for Nigeria but they did not think
that way! I am sure this arrangement could
have satisfied even the most obdurate
Northerners! This aside, I am of the opinion
going by what we have witnessed during the
Yar’Adua’s exit, that the methods/approach
to our politicking in Nigeria still needs a soul
searching considerations!
No country has this kind of arrangement in
their Constitution - at least we saw Rt. Hon.
Gordon Brown, left No. 10 Downing Street
with his family on foot in the last election in
the United Kingdom, no ‘motorcade riders’
and Rt. Hon. Tony Blair was subpoenaed two
times to testify in a parliamentary or judicial
public inquiries about Iraq and by the
‘Scotland Yard’ about financial improprieties
associated with Lord Levy, though in closed
door - not to talk about the other past Prime
Ministers regarding the Sunday Tribunal for
Northern Ireland! In the U.S. we have past
Presidents like Jimmy Cater, Bush Snr. and
the Jnr, Bill Clinton, all still living ex-
Presidents but none attends such Council
arrangement in the U.S. where we borrowed
our Constitution! Even if they do, the law is
such that provides that none of them must
be above it or be entitled to a special
privilege in total contrast to what we are
‘hoodwinked/goaded’ to be doing in Nigeria!
Hence the results or the strict observance of
the laws in Italy and Israeli Prime Ministers!
Egypt’s Mubarack has just been charged and
his children detained in the prisons for
financial improprieties, folks!
Now, this is the major bane of the system in
Nigeria - it does not allow you a free and
unadulterated (unabashed) and undue
interference in what you are doing policy-
wise, folks! They are in the Council
permanently like the‘colossus or albatrosses’
- dogs-in-manger, bestriding all that a New
Head of State wants or can do in Nigeria for
the common man! I have heard Dr. G.
Jonathan vows he would not interfere with
the law enforcement Agencies in his tenure
of office! I just wish, considering his
antecedents - Yes, he can! Your Constitutional
and legal luminaries like Barr Felana and
others should know and be weary about this
mendacity in your Constitution!
I want to end this submission with this note
for all those overzealous Nigerians, thus; I
have written in the hope that Nigerians
within and in the DIASPORA are sincerely
looking for ways to help and solve both the
social and political problems in our country
in the same ways and manner that those in
Europe, the U.S. and in the Far East have or
are doing - accordingly in their heritage
pronouncements like;“We strove (all that we
have done or achieved) in the past - the
wars, the social benefit programmes and the
rest of them, so that our new/future
generations can live!” Moreover, as President
J. F. Kennedy urged his countrymen; “Think
you about what you can do for your country
and not what your country can do for you!”
In other words, in consonance with that
motto; Nun sibi sed aliis! Perhaps when we
start thinking seriously about what will be
written on our Head Stones, we shall begin to
see this human pitfalls associated with
leaders Institution, complained about us in
Nigeria, folks!
Above all this - for that 38 years of our post
Independence is the curious discovery in the
deliberate political scheming, prevarication
and or shenanigans (high junks) in Nigeria!
That is, the knowledge that there has never
been any representation in the Council, as an
ex-Head of State from the Old Eastern Nigeria
but for the resent success recorded by Dr. G.
E. Jonathan now, should be worrying to right
thinking Nigerians particularly to those in the
East, from where the resources for the up
keep of Nigeria to date, is sourced! Talking
about a fair or rational political participation
or representation for Nigeria, my‘zoning
formula’ will no doubt stand out as the way
forward (solution) - a mitigating factor to the
anomaly inherent in the setting! The often
offer for Vice president to the Eastern region
- the‘beautiful bride’ mendacity, must be
regarded as a misnomer and all those caught
in that kind of confused web (arrangement)
need a rethinking in the context of what
Nigerians in that Council should mean/
represent! It is both our Human and
Constitutional Rights to be represented in
that Council in a proportional way! Therefore
we must sue for the‘zoning’ as I have
suggested it, folks!
for sex when she was 17 years old and thus
too young under Italian law to be paid as a
prostitute.]
As a public office holder (in particular Heads
of State) this is what is expected in a well
organised economies not the kind of thing
we witness in Nigeria! U don’t try anybody
nor do U conduct public inquiries to know the
truth about any event, crime or the
allegation of one! Every nation does this to
keep in check those to serve the public. In
Israel they sent to jail this month (in March
2011) the ex-President Moshe Katsval for 7
years! Egypt’s Mubarak is now summoned to
appear in Cairo with his sons for charges
about financial improprieties and causing the
deaths of his people! We see also Gadaffi and
his children ore on the line no doubt now
that NATO and the U.S. have joined in a pact
to remove him from office! In Nigeria it is;
Oyaoo, if you can’t steal give way and let me
get on with it since it is a commonplace thing
- after all, they will not prosecute,
‘kpatakpata’ (as long as) I can bargain plead
for them! It is reasonably fair to say that your
leaders get away with‘murder’ by the goings
on in Nigeria, folks! We are not told yet what
happened to stall the Iron and Steel Industry
in Itakpe, Kogi State contract to get it up and
running for Nigeria! Yet, it is supposed to be
part of the major Industries like power,
railways and refineries, for Nigeria!
Your problem in Nigeria regarding
corruption and abuse of office malpractice
(financial rascality or upheavals with
impunity) and all that recorded, it must be
echoed is this; Your Heads of State, on
completion of their tenures in office, return
back to the administrative setting through
the canny or unwholesome plot‘ingrained’
intentionally (intuitively) in the Nigerian
CONSTITUTION in the Council of State as
permanent members! They should be
serving to purpose of emissaries for Nigeria
where necessary as the ex-Presidents in U.S.
and U. K. Prime Ministers do after they leave
office - we have Jimmy Carter as a typical
example for this role; Tony Blair is serving in
the Afghanistan debacle and Gordon Brown
just tipped to serve in the World Bank! Now,
lest you forget the arrangement for Nigeria
portrays that typical euphemism frequently
referred to in circumstances of disbelieve,
thus - as strange bedfellows looking critically
at the points/reasons listed hereunder! They
should vacate the Council to enable the new
person clean out the‘stable’, as it were,
particularly about corruption in Nigeria!
Ø Gen. Dr. Y. Gowon we recall was the Head of
Government after he ousted Gen. Aguiyi
Ironsi, the first military Head of State after
the coup of 1966 and he carried on at the Civil
War up to 1975 when he was toppled by Gen.
M. Muhammed who was, himself
assassinated by Dimka & Co. after which
period,
Ø Gen. O. Obasanjo as Murtala’s Deputy came
to the scene in 1976 and became the Head of
State! Gen. Gowon was then outside of
Nigeria and remained so until 1983 when he
and Col. O. Ojukwu were granted reprieve
tactically on political grounds, under Alhaji
Shehu Shagari’s administration - Dr. Chuba
Okadigbo was part instrumental for the need
(it was part of the political shenanigans in
1983 by NPN to win again) to reprieve the
two of them!
Ø President Shehu Shagari was installed by
Obasanjo in 1980 and we are familiar with
the legal tussle or objections from Chief O
Awolowo then - you will recall the Electoral
College and all the political fracas
(remonstrations) by Chief Awolowo to
manoeuvre Shagari out of it!
Ø By 1983 December Gen. M. Buhari and
Tunde Idiagbon took over from Shagari
through coup-de-tat!
Ø In 1985 IBB and Gen. Sani Abacha ousted
Gen. Buhari through what was regarded as a
Palace coup - Buhari passed on the baton to
IBB, as it were! Now, in the intervening
period we witnessed how Chief E. Shonikan
came to the seat after the June 12th 1993
fiasco, as Chairman of an Interim
Administration!
Ø Gen Sani Abach came into the scene after
the 12th June Moshood Obiola’s election
debacle after sacking the Interim
Administration of Shonekan in 1993
November! Gen. Sani Abacaha remained in
charge and did assigned to Gen. M. Buhari the
Ministry of Petroleum, in effect - PTF, until his
eventual demise even so, which thereafter
brought,
Ø Gen. Abdulsalamin to power in 1998. Again
in the intervening rigmarole, the 1979/99
Constitution was evolved making it possible
that past Heads of State should be part
members of the Council of State! Ge. M.
Buhari was still holding onto his PTF
appointment and also attended the Council’s
meetings at the period!
Ø Now OBJ became President again for
Nigeria in 1999 up to 2007; the reason why
was very glaring to us - a beneficiary of the
12th June annulment! He however,
disbanded the PTF Ministry and thus
extinguished the appointment of Gen. Buhari
- observers believed the decision was born
out of an old score with Buhari; he Buhari
had served under Obasanjo in the 1976 - 80
administration! At the end of OBJ’s tenure of
2007, after the attempted third term
‘imbroglio’,
Ø Alhaji Musa Ya’Adua became President
under PDP’s ticket and we recall the legal
tussle about the scheming spearheaded by
Gen. Buhari same as was the case by Chief O.
Awolowo at the instance of Shehu Shagari’s
succeeding OBJ in 1980! It did not end here
because after the demise of Yar’Adua we saw
Ø Dr. G. Jonathan on the seat as the
substantive President of Nigeria by what was
circumstantially termed‘DOCTRINE of
NECESSITY’, folks!
Ø Lest we forget; in the Council, Sec. 153 of
the Constitution seats the Governors also - 19
from the North, Federal Court Judges and the
other government dignitaries (functionaries)
considered important in Nigeria! In all of
these, the North dominated the
memberships - a thing considered a
deliberate canny arrangement for Nigeria’s
political setting!
Now, cast your mind on the Council and see if
you can decipher or visualise what the
atmosphere (if you can picture the schisms
and suspicions) could be in the Council when
the members discuss any political, social or
culpable matters related to any of them and
in particular the past Heads of State vis-Ã -vis
what the situation is currently, in Nigeria
regarding alleged crimes and or
misdemeanours going on in the country!
Now, with the kind of scenario in the Council
depicted, think for a moment whether they
can deal with all matters arising us in Nigeria
freely, uninhibited or unabashed? In spite of
this anomaly in the Constitution, they still
have not considered a change or
modification necessary in that Sec. 308 of the
Constitution! We heard Gen. M. Buhari spoke
of doing something about the‘Immunity
clause’ in the Constitution as if he was going
to operate under Military fiat - surely it is a
question of‘easier said than done!’ What
about the ‘moat/beam’ on your own eyes as
a result of the Council of State permanent
membership even though a coup leaders? I
just wonder how many of you, including the
high sounding legal luminaries in Nigeria,
have sat down to consider the effect of this
strange (unprecedented) arrangement/
microcosm for Nigeria and how it impacts
(muddle up) adversely on all that we are
doing or can do with the arrangement if still
allowed to persist - if nothing is done about
it! I have even queried; Did our founding
fathers have this in our Independence
Constitution, folks?
Note that recently we are told that the NSS
approved pensions for the past Heads of
State to include for their spouses and
children, as if they were all legitimately
elected to the post as in other nations, in the
first place! And worse still is, the in-
extinguishable ambitions in these to become
President over and over again in Nigeria, in
spite of the misdemeanours reported about
them! For example, Gen. M. Buhari who
ousted the civilian President Alhaji Shehu
Shagari; rather than the Northern leaders
forum (NPLF) put forward (urge) Shehu
Shagari to now complete the so-wished
‘Northern term’ with Dr., Jonathan as running
mate for the 2011, from all rational
considerations so as to complete his own
term in office which was brought to an end
abruptly by Buhari in that Northern interest
desire, it turned out (culminated) that it was
Alhaji Atiku and or Gen. M. Buhari was fielded
to return to the seat instead! You can easily
see the ironies in Nigeria’s political setting at
play here! I thought this arrangement could
have satisfied Nigerians and Dr. Jonathan by
way of a compromise - such that occurred in
the U.K. between Mr. Butler and Rt. Hon.
Douglas Home after Macmillan’s exit; with of
course Dr. Jonathan to run for the 2015
elections! This could have been more
salutary for Nigeria but they did not think
that way! I am sure this arrangement could
have satisfied even the most obdurate
Northerners! This aside, I am of the opinion
going by what we have witnessed during the
Yar’Adua’s exit, that the methods/approach
to our politicking in Nigeria still needs a soul
searching considerations!
No country has this kind of arrangement in
their Constitution - at least we saw Rt. Hon.
Gordon Brown, left No. 10 Downing Street
with his family on foot in the last election in
the United Kingdom, no ‘motorcade riders’
and Rt. Hon. Tony Blair was subpoenaed two
times to testify in a parliamentary or judicial
public inquiries about Iraq and by the
‘Scotland Yard’ about financial improprieties
associated with Lord Levy, though in closed
door - not to talk about the other past Prime
Ministers regarding the Sunday Tribunal for
Northern Ireland! In the U.S. we have past
Presidents like Jimmy Cater, Bush Snr. and
the Jnr, Bill Clinton, all still living ex-
Presidents but none attends such Council
arrangement in the U.S. where we borrowed
our Constitution! Even if they do, the law is
such that provides that none of them must
be above it or be entitled to a special
privilege in total contrast to what we are
‘hoodwinked/goaded’ to be doing in Nigeria!
Hence the results or the strict observance of
the laws in Italy and Israeli Prime Ministers!
Egypt’s Mubarack has just been charged and
his children detained in the prisons for
financial improprieties, folks!
Now, this is the major bane of the system in
Nigeria - it does not allow you a free and
unadulterated (unabashed) and undue
interference in what you are doing policy-
wise, folks! They are in the Council
permanently like the‘colossus or albatrosses’
- dogs-in-manger, bestriding all that a New
Head of State wants or can do in Nigeria for
the common man! I have heard Dr. G.
Jonathan vows he would not interfere with
the law enforcement Agencies in his tenure
of office! I just wish, considering his
antecedents - Yes, he can! Your Constitutional
and legal luminaries like Barr Felana and
others should know and be weary about this
mendacity in your Constitution!
I want to end this submission with this note
for all those overzealous Nigerians, thus; I
have written in the hope that Nigerians
within and in the DIASPORA are sincerely
looking for ways to help and solve both the
social and political problems in our country
in the same ways and manner that those in
Europe, the U.S. and in the Far East have or
are doing - accordingly in their heritage
pronouncements like;“We strove (all that we
have done or achieved) in the past - the
wars, the social benefit programmes and the
rest of them, so that our new/future
generations can live!” Moreover, as President
J. F. Kennedy urged his countrymen; “Think
you about what you can do for your country
and not what your country can do for you!”
In other words, in consonance with that
motto; Nun sibi sed aliis! Perhaps when we
start thinking seriously about what will be
written on our Head Stones, we shall begin to
see this human pitfalls associated with
leaders Institution, complained about us in
Nigeria, folks!
Above all this - for that 38 years of our post
Independence is the curious discovery in the
deliberate political scheming, prevarication
and or shenanigans (high junks) in Nigeria!
That is, the knowledge that there has never
been any representation in the Council, as an
ex-Head of State from the Old Eastern Nigeria
but for the resent success recorded by Dr. G.
E. Jonathan now, should be worrying to right
thinking Nigerians particularly to those in the
East, from where the resources for the up
keep of Nigeria to date, is sourced! Talking
about a fair or rational political participation
or representation for Nigeria, my‘zoning
formula’ will no doubt stand out as the way
forward (solution) - a mitigating factor to the
anomaly inherent in the setting! The often
offer for Vice president to the Eastern region
- the‘beautiful bride’ mendacity, must be
regarded as a misnomer and all those caught
in that kind of confused web (arrangement)
need a rethinking in the context of what
Nigerians in that Council should mean/
represent! It is both our Human and
Constitutional Rights to be represented in
that Council in a proportional way! Therefore
we must sue for the‘zoning’ as I have
suggested it, folks!
Thursday 28 April 2011
Sweet & Sour, Buhari & Bakare!
Let sleeping dog lie!
2
April 29, 2011
Sweet and Sour
By Donu Kogbara
NIGERIAN politicians never cease to flabbergast me. Apparently,
General Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) intends to vigorously contest the presidential poll results in
11 states– Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Akwa Ibom,
Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Bayelsa.
Pastor Tunde Bakare, Buhari’s running mate, has been quoted as
saying, at a press conference in Lagos last weekend, that because
the declared voter turnout in these states was unnaturally high
(99% in some cases)– that is, much higher than the national
average (roughly 52%)– malpractices such as “fraudulent
thumbprinting and stuffing of ballot papers” had clearly taken
place.
Bakare rounded off his complaint by saying that “the inevitable
reasonable conclusion from the incontrovertible facts is that no
credible elections took place in the South-South and South-East
zones and that…the results were deliberately falsified in favour
of Dr Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP…[and were] unfair and unjust
[and] a subversion of the popular will of the electorate”.
To cut a long story short, Bakare has called for an independent
enquiry because he believes that if the allegedly concocted votes
are deducted from the overall figures, it will be revealed that it
was Buhari, not Jonathan, who won.
If truth be told, I have quite a lot of respect for Bakare and Buhari
because they both strike me as men who are not greedy or
undisciplined. But they are really annoying me at the moment;
and I urge them to accept defeat graciously!
I am not naive enough to imagine that there was absolutely no
rigging in the South-East or South-South. We all know that the
Nigeria of today would not be the Nigeria of today if every single
election was completely free and fair.
Most Nigerian politicos -whether they be Northern or Southern,
Christian or Muslim and in office or in opposition -cannot resist
the temptation to manipulate electoral outcomes in areas where
they wield influence.
Even if the Pope decides to stand for election in Nigeria and begs
his followers to let justice be done, they would ignore His
Holiness and do all sorts of dubious things in his name…in the
hope of gaining big benefits if their candidate wins.
And let’s face it: Most Nigerian candidates are not the Pope! Most
are deeply dodgy and desperate to cling to – or acquire – power.
Most are obsessed with the financial perks that flow from power.
And I am sure that malpractices will continue to tarnish Nigerian
elections for the foreseeable future.
But gradual improvements ARE creeping up on us. So many
people, including foreign observers, are saying that these 2011
elections have, despite flaws, been better than previous
elections. And the question I want to ask is this:
Can the CPC folks say, hands on hearts, that malpractices were
restricted to the states that they lost? A European broadcaster
friend of mine decided to base himself in Kaduna on April l6, the
day of the Presidential election. And he was appalled by the
large number of obviously underage voters he spotted at
various polling stations. When he approached these kids, they
told him that they were pro-CPC but flatly refused to tell him how
old they were.
To be fair, Bakare has suggested that the independent enquiry
be extended to the zones in which he and Buhari triumphed–
the North-West and North-East.
But I don’t know why Bakare is going down this path because if
results across the nation are forensically examined, it is not only
the PDP that will be exposed for cheating in certain places. Other
parties– ACN, ANPP, APGA and the CPC itself – will also not come
out of any such investigation smelling of roses.
And I’m not just urging Bakare to let sleeping dogs lie on the
grounds that people who live in glass houses should not throw
stones. I am also saying that Jonathan would have won in the
South-South and South-East ANYWAY, even if PDP supporters in
these zones had not engaged in any malpractices.
What’s the point of complaining for the sake of complaining? In
a profoundly imperfect society like ours, people should only
formally challenge results if they or the candidates they are
backing stood a chance of winning in the first place.
In my senatorial district, the PDP guy – who was declared the
winner of the National Assembly election that took place on April
9– is being challenged by the ACN guy who was allegedly
trounced at the polls.
A dispute like this makes sense to me because it revolves around
two candidates who both have lots of local fans and are strong in
different ways. One is a seasoned government official who has
vast resources at his disposal. The other is a distinguished and
genial doctor who represents change. And it’s not inconceivable
that the ACN guy was the real winner of that election…and only
“lost” because he didn’t belong to the party that controls our
state.
But Buhari doesn’t have a significant number of fans in the zones
he is complaining about and never stood a chance of beating
Jonathan in the Niger Delta or Igboland, partly because he didn’t
bother to do much campaigning in these areas; partly because
he (foolishly, in my opinion) didn’t choose an Igbo or South-
South running mate and partly because Jonathan has an inbuilt
natural advantage in these parts of the country, which are,
basically, his home turf.
I am from Rivers State. So is Dame Patience Jonathan. And most
Rivers indigenes genuinely like the First Lady and were eager to
support her husband.
It is the same story in our next-door state of Bayelsa. Jonathan
has not yet fulfilled his potential as a national leader, but almost
every Bayelsan I know is mega-proud of this unique son of their
soil who has reached such heady heights; and they were never
EVER going to vote for anyone else. And it doesn’t surprise me in
the slightest that the voter turnout in Bayelsa was unusually
high.
The entire Niger Delta region is awash with passionate
Jonathanists who had become accustomed to marginalisation
and never, until recently, thought that they would live to see a
man from an oil-producing area achieve such prominence.
For many of us, the new status quo is a miracle and dream come
true.
It also doesn’t surprise me that Jonathan did so well in Igbo
states because Igbos are, despite occasional tensions between
them and us, our neighbours, relatives and in-laws. Lots of Niger
Deltans have Igbo mothers and extended families.
Lots of Niger Deltans – Ikwerres and Ikas, for example, have Igbo
roots and Igbo names. In some Niger Delta communities Igbo is
a lingua franca.
Nigeria has not yet become the kind of intellectually
sophisticated place where people vote for unemotional reasons.
So, given that Buhari excelled in his own ethnic heartlands, can
he and Bakare please get real and calmly accept the fact that
Jonathan also excelled in his own ethnic heartlands…and spare
us tedious grumbles that make them sound deluded,
curmudgeonly and out of touch?
2
April 29, 2011
Sweet and Sour
By Donu Kogbara
NIGERIAN politicians never cease to flabbergast me. Apparently,
General Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) intends to vigorously contest the presidential poll results in
11 states– Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Akwa Ibom,
Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Bayelsa.
Pastor Tunde Bakare, Buhari’s running mate, has been quoted as
saying, at a press conference in Lagos last weekend, that because
the declared voter turnout in these states was unnaturally high
(99% in some cases)– that is, much higher than the national
average (roughly 52%)– malpractices such as “fraudulent
thumbprinting and stuffing of ballot papers” had clearly taken
place.
Bakare rounded off his complaint by saying that “the inevitable
reasonable conclusion from the incontrovertible facts is that no
credible elections took place in the South-South and South-East
zones and that…the results were deliberately falsified in favour
of Dr Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP…[and were] unfair and unjust
[and] a subversion of the popular will of the electorate”.
To cut a long story short, Bakare has called for an independent
enquiry because he believes that if the allegedly concocted votes
are deducted from the overall figures, it will be revealed that it
was Buhari, not Jonathan, who won.
If truth be told, I have quite a lot of respect for Bakare and Buhari
because they both strike me as men who are not greedy or
undisciplined. But they are really annoying me at the moment;
and I urge them to accept defeat graciously!
I am not naive enough to imagine that there was absolutely no
rigging in the South-East or South-South. We all know that the
Nigeria of today would not be the Nigeria of today if every single
election was completely free and fair.
Most Nigerian politicos -whether they be Northern or Southern,
Christian or Muslim and in office or in opposition -cannot resist
the temptation to manipulate electoral outcomes in areas where
they wield influence.
Even if the Pope decides to stand for election in Nigeria and begs
his followers to let justice be done, they would ignore His
Holiness and do all sorts of dubious things in his name…in the
hope of gaining big benefits if their candidate wins.
And let’s face it: Most Nigerian candidates are not the Pope! Most
are deeply dodgy and desperate to cling to – or acquire – power.
Most are obsessed with the financial perks that flow from power.
And I am sure that malpractices will continue to tarnish Nigerian
elections for the foreseeable future.
But gradual improvements ARE creeping up on us. So many
people, including foreign observers, are saying that these 2011
elections have, despite flaws, been better than previous
elections. And the question I want to ask is this:
Can the CPC folks say, hands on hearts, that malpractices were
restricted to the states that they lost? A European broadcaster
friend of mine decided to base himself in Kaduna on April l6, the
day of the Presidential election. And he was appalled by the
large number of obviously underage voters he spotted at
various polling stations. When he approached these kids, they
told him that they were pro-CPC but flatly refused to tell him how
old they were.
To be fair, Bakare has suggested that the independent enquiry
be extended to the zones in which he and Buhari triumphed–
the North-West and North-East.
But I don’t know why Bakare is going down this path because if
results across the nation are forensically examined, it is not only
the PDP that will be exposed for cheating in certain places. Other
parties– ACN, ANPP, APGA and the CPC itself – will also not come
out of any such investigation smelling of roses.
And I’m not just urging Bakare to let sleeping dogs lie on the
grounds that people who live in glass houses should not throw
stones. I am also saying that Jonathan would have won in the
South-South and South-East ANYWAY, even if PDP supporters in
these zones had not engaged in any malpractices.
What’s the point of complaining for the sake of complaining? In
a profoundly imperfect society like ours, people should only
formally challenge results if they or the candidates they are
backing stood a chance of winning in the first place.
In my senatorial district, the PDP guy – who was declared the
winner of the National Assembly election that took place on April
9– is being challenged by the ACN guy who was allegedly
trounced at the polls.
A dispute like this makes sense to me because it revolves around
two candidates who both have lots of local fans and are strong in
different ways. One is a seasoned government official who has
vast resources at his disposal. The other is a distinguished and
genial doctor who represents change. And it’s not inconceivable
that the ACN guy was the real winner of that election…and only
“lost” because he didn’t belong to the party that controls our
state.
But Buhari doesn’t have a significant number of fans in the zones
he is complaining about and never stood a chance of beating
Jonathan in the Niger Delta or Igboland, partly because he didn’t
bother to do much campaigning in these areas; partly because
he (foolishly, in my opinion) didn’t choose an Igbo or South-
South running mate and partly because Jonathan has an inbuilt
natural advantage in these parts of the country, which are,
basically, his home turf.
I am from Rivers State. So is Dame Patience Jonathan. And most
Rivers indigenes genuinely like the First Lady and were eager to
support her husband.
It is the same story in our next-door state of Bayelsa. Jonathan
has not yet fulfilled his potential as a national leader, but almost
every Bayelsan I know is mega-proud of this unique son of their
soil who has reached such heady heights; and they were never
EVER going to vote for anyone else. And it doesn’t surprise me in
the slightest that the voter turnout in Bayelsa was unusually
high.
The entire Niger Delta region is awash with passionate
Jonathanists who had become accustomed to marginalisation
and never, until recently, thought that they would live to see a
man from an oil-producing area achieve such prominence.
For many of us, the new status quo is a miracle and dream come
true.
It also doesn’t surprise me that Jonathan did so well in Igbo
states because Igbos are, despite occasional tensions between
them and us, our neighbours, relatives and in-laws. Lots of Niger
Deltans have Igbo mothers and extended families.
Lots of Niger Deltans – Ikwerres and Ikas, for example, have Igbo
roots and Igbo names. In some Niger Delta communities Igbo is
a lingua franca.
Nigeria has not yet become the kind of intellectually
sophisticated place where people vote for unemotional reasons.
So, given that Buhari excelled in his own ethnic heartlands, can
he and Bakare please get real and calmly accept the fact that
Jonathan also excelled in his own ethnic heartlands…and spare
us tedious grumbles that make them sound deluded,
curmudgeonly and out of touch?
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Tinted glass in Nigeria
The confusion about tinted glasses
2
April 27, 2011
Viewpoint
NIGERIAN motorists daily face the dilemma of which instruction
to abide by regarding the use of tinted motor glasses.
It is a case of confusion and exploitation of motorists by law
enforcement agents, who have taken advantage of the double
speak on the part of government on the issue.
While the Police authorities have warned motorists with factory
fitted tinted glasses to get permit, the Minister of Police Affairs,
Mr. Humphrey Abba had disclosed that vehicles with factory
fitted tinted glasses are exempted.
According to the Minister, violators of the order will be arrested
and prosecuted, with effect from March 21. The Minister said this
is in line with the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act
1991. The ban was extended to users of‘SPY number plates’.
The major reason adduced for such outright ban was that some
criminally-minded individuals were using tinted glass vehicles to
perpetrate crimes.
A cursory look at the security implication suggests that the idea
of restricting the use of tinted glasses to certain personalities is
not out of place.
Highly placed personalities like top government functionaries,
diplomats, politicians and security personnel, performing
essential duties could be excused as a result of the peculiarities
in their movements and activities, which ordinarily should be
regulated.
There is justification for such calibre of personalities to be
accorded such privileges. Presently, only the President, Vice
President, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker and governors are
allowed to use vehicles with tinted glasses.
But as we know, Nigeria is a country where people like to take
advantage of every opportunity for self-aggrandizement or for
pecuniary gains.
Mischevious people could hide under such privileges to commit
heinous crimes as several innocent people have allegedly been
assassinated or kidnapped using vehicles with tinted glasses.
The tendency is there for criminally-minded people to use the
cover of tinted glasses to beat security checks at road blocks, to
carry out nefarious activities.
Regrettably, government has not helped matters as it has been a
case of double speak from the same government.
The ambiguity created by the failure of government to make an
official position known to Nigerians has encouraged
unscrupulous law enforcement agents to take advantage of the
lacuna to exploit the people.
To avoid giving the impression that the government is confused
and inconsistent, a definite policy statement should be issued by
the relevant authorities without delay.
The present logjam is not new. A major problem confronting
developing countries like Nigeria is that of policy somersault,
poor planning, lack of political will, inconsistent public actions
and inactions. In other climes, where such issue exists, the
official position is as clear as the crystal ball.
For instance, in India, Rule 100 of Central Motor Vehicle Rules
1989 provides that the glass of windscreen and rear window of
motor vehicles should have a visibility of at least 70 per cent and
that of side window, a minimum visibility of 50 per cent. The
specification of glass should conform to Indian Standards
(15:2553, Part 2 of 1992).
Similarly, the Arkansas Tint Law states that a motorist shall be
exempted from the use of tinted glass if a physician has
diagnosed the motorist as having a disease or disorder,
including, but not limited to, albinism and lupus. Vehicles used
for the transportation of human dead bodies are also allowed to
use tinted glasses.
A Nigerian motorist does not know whether there is outright
ban or that tinted motor glasses could be used with the
appropriate Police permit. Also, are owners of factory fitted
tinted glass vehicles exempted from applying for such a permit?
Then, which body handles the enforcement— Police, FRSC, or
VIO?
The country will continue to crawl in its strive towards becoming
a world leader if public policies are treated like the pendulum
string.
To stop the on-going misconception, the government should
make a public statement on its position on tinted glasses while
the law enforcement agents should henceforth desist from
exploiting and harassing innocent motorists.
This is what the government should do and the time for that is
now!
Mr. ADEWALE KUPOLUYIwrote from the University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta, Ogun State.
2
April 27, 2011
Viewpoint
NIGERIAN motorists daily face the dilemma of which instruction
to abide by regarding the use of tinted motor glasses.
It is a case of confusion and exploitation of motorists by law
enforcement agents, who have taken advantage of the double
speak on the part of government on the issue.
While the Police authorities have warned motorists with factory
fitted tinted glasses to get permit, the Minister of Police Affairs,
Mr. Humphrey Abba had disclosed that vehicles with factory
fitted tinted glasses are exempted.
According to the Minister, violators of the order will be arrested
and prosecuted, with effect from March 21. The Minister said this
is in line with the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act
1991. The ban was extended to users of‘SPY number plates’.
The major reason adduced for such outright ban was that some
criminally-minded individuals were using tinted glass vehicles to
perpetrate crimes.
A cursory look at the security implication suggests that the idea
of restricting the use of tinted glasses to certain personalities is
not out of place.
Highly placed personalities like top government functionaries,
diplomats, politicians and security personnel, performing
essential duties could be excused as a result of the peculiarities
in their movements and activities, which ordinarily should be
regulated.
There is justification for such calibre of personalities to be
accorded such privileges. Presently, only the President, Vice
President, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker and governors are
allowed to use vehicles with tinted glasses.
But as we know, Nigeria is a country where people like to take
advantage of every opportunity for self-aggrandizement or for
pecuniary gains.
Mischevious people could hide under such privileges to commit
heinous crimes as several innocent people have allegedly been
assassinated or kidnapped using vehicles with tinted glasses.
The tendency is there for criminally-minded people to use the
cover of tinted glasses to beat security checks at road blocks, to
carry out nefarious activities.
Regrettably, government has not helped matters as it has been a
case of double speak from the same government.
The ambiguity created by the failure of government to make an
official position known to Nigerians has encouraged
unscrupulous law enforcement agents to take advantage of the
lacuna to exploit the people.
To avoid giving the impression that the government is confused
and inconsistent, a definite policy statement should be issued by
the relevant authorities without delay.
The present logjam is not new. A major problem confronting
developing countries like Nigeria is that of policy somersault,
poor planning, lack of political will, inconsistent public actions
and inactions. In other climes, where such issue exists, the
official position is as clear as the crystal ball.
For instance, in India, Rule 100 of Central Motor Vehicle Rules
1989 provides that the glass of windscreen and rear window of
motor vehicles should have a visibility of at least 70 per cent and
that of side window, a minimum visibility of 50 per cent. The
specification of glass should conform to Indian Standards
(15:2553, Part 2 of 1992).
Similarly, the Arkansas Tint Law states that a motorist shall be
exempted from the use of tinted glass if a physician has
diagnosed the motorist as having a disease or disorder,
including, but not limited to, albinism and lupus. Vehicles used
for the transportation of human dead bodies are also allowed to
use tinted glasses.
A Nigerian motorist does not know whether there is outright
ban or that tinted motor glasses could be used with the
appropriate Police permit. Also, are owners of factory fitted
tinted glass vehicles exempted from applying for such a permit?
Then, which body handles the enforcement— Police, FRSC, or
VIO?
The country will continue to crawl in its strive towards becoming
a world leader if public policies are treated like the pendulum
string.
To stop the on-going misconception, the government should
make a public statement on its position on tinted glasses while
the law enforcement agents should henceforth desist from
exploiting and harassing innocent motorists.
This is what the government should do and the time for that is
now!
Mr. ADEWALE KUPOLUYIwrote from the University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Monday 25 April 2011
PROPHECY! 2015 doomsday for Nigeria?
In an atmosphere of rage and controversy
Kunle Fagbemi
Sometime around 2003, the United States National
Intelligence Committee and a think tank, Fund for
Peace, projected that Nigeria could unravel before or by 2015,
citing social (ethnic and religious), economic and political crises
as predisposing factors. On the basis of the projection that
Nigeria was ranked as number 15 in the failed states index,
where Somalia is number one, the US military began simulated
war games to prepare for a war in Nigeria by 2013, but not later
than 2015. Predictably, the Nigerian government, and
particularly the National Assembly, poured scorn on the
projections and declared that in spite of the problems Nigeria
was encountering, the chances of failure were as remote as we
can wish. Since the projections were made, a few of the
countries listed in the research publication as likely to fail have
begun to unravel, many of them listed as even healthier than
Nigeria.
Whether Nigeria’s ruling elite wish it away or not, the
inexorable processes leading to state failure have continued
their relentless march since the Fund for Peace reminded
everyone two or three years ago of the apocalyptic projections.
If the elite are not too preoccupied with their own ambition for
power, the turbulent 2011 polls should serve as a poignant
reminder of the precariousness of the Fourth Republic and the
delicateness of the foundations of the country as a whole. But
whether these reminders will serve any purpose remains to be
seen, as the last of the scheduled polls for the 2011 general
elections are about to be held. Much more than the two
previous polls of the National Assembly (April 9) and
presidential (April 16), the governorship and Houses of
Assembly polls scheduled for tomorrow are projected to be the
most tempestuous. If the recently concluded presidential poll
could lead to the unimaginable conflagration of the past one
week, it is feared that the more local and intensively
competitive polls to fill Government Houses and states
legislature could unleash a fiery storm of indescribable scale.
Two main factors predispose Tuesday’s polls to this apocalyptic
prediction. One is the fact that going by the results of the
National Assembly election, the main underachiever, the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), stands little chance of
winning many states as its ambition demands. It lost heavily
because, in assessing the CPC and PDP and indeed other parties,
the voters did not have a sharp sense of the political and ethnic
dichotomies that have bifurcated national elections for decades.
The candidates were local people all voters could relate with,
especially in states that had long been in the Peoples
Democratic Party fold. If the voters needed to send
representatives to the national legislature, it didn’t matter so
much which parties they belonged. What mattered the most to
voters was their perception of the representatives’ competence
and suitability for the post. In turn, this perception was
predicated on the relationship that had existed between the
representative seeking votes and the voter. This relationship
was not circumscribed by the CPC, a party that, until the
presidential poll, did not loom very large in the consciousness
of the northern voter.
A second factor is the militarisation of the polity after the CPC
presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd), suffered
a crushing defeat in the hands of the PDP candidate, Dr Goodluck
Jonathan. Voters in the North are now likely to be torn between
the relationship they have nurtured with their local
representatives over the years and past elections and the fact
that CPC candidates may now be pushing the agenda of
equating a vote for CPC as a loyal vote for the North, and that to
do otherwise is to betray the North and its dominant ethos. An
atmosphere of intolerance and violence may have thus been
smuggled viciously into Tuesday’s contest. Naturally, the other
candidates will not give up, and a wounded CPC will latch on to
every imaginable tactics to secure as many State Houses as
possible to underscore its conclusion that it was cheated in the
April 16 poll.
The polls have been deferred in Bauchi and Kaduna States in
deep apprehension of uncontrollable violence accompanying
the April 26 elections. Though these two states seem poised to
explode into violence, needfully or needlessly, it is uncertain
what magical balm the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) hoped to apply if the other states that
exploded after the April 16 poll again go up in flames. Some ad
hoc and youth corps members serving as electoral officers have
fled their stations, and those who will remain will certainly be
disinclined to stand up to party agents mobilised for violence
and mayhem. Yet to cancel the poll in more states than has
been done already is to endanger the entire polls and render
them inconclusive. Tomorrow will determine how this impasse
would be broken.
What is clearly obvious is that the atmosphere is so heavily
polluted that it is difficult to see how the polls will be
accomplished with anything near free or fair, let alone credible,
as the country had managed to achieve so far. Considering the
rather ham-fisted response to poll violence throughout this
polling season, and the reactive rather than proactive approach
adopted by the security agencies, more states may explode in
violence thereby severely stretching poorly equipped and
outnumbered law enforcement agencies. We may not have the
sharp divisions of the April 16 poll, and the sexed-up votes of
the South-South and the underage voters of the North may
counterbalance each other, yet, it is more likely that Tuesday’s
polls will probably be even less credible than the previous two
polls, and probably more controversial.
It is in this atmosphere of rancorous balloting and collation that
some 24 states will be going to the polls to elect their chief
executives and legislators. Among them, the Southwest will be
attempting to steer the region completely into progressivism,
the Southeast will be preparing grounds for a future attempt at
the presidency, and the various zones of the North will see
whether they can arrest the drift to anomy represented by poor
and dispossessed youths called almajirai, to whom it now
seems the North’s political, traditional and even religious elites
have become hostage. If we successfully navigate the
treacherous waters of the April 26 polls, we will still come smack
intothe middle of the seething disputation over whether the
current structure of the country, with its leprous and inchoate
federalism, can sustain the country beyond the projected
doomsday of 2015.
Kunle Fagbemi
Sometime around 2003, the United States National
Intelligence Committee and a think tank, Fund for
Peace, projected that Nigeria could unravel before or by 2015,
citing social (ethnic and religious), economic and political crises
as predisposing factors. On the basis of the projection that
Nigeria was ranked as number 15 in the failed states index,
where Somalia is number one, the US military began simulated
war games to prepare for a war in Nigeria by 2013, but not later
than 2015. Predictably, the Nigerian government, and
particularly the National Assembly, poured scorn on the
projections and declared that in spite of the problems Nigeria
was encountering, the chances of failure were as remote as we
can wish. Since the projections were made, a few of the
countries listed in the research publication as likely to fail have
begun to unravel, many of them listed as even healthier than
Nigeria.
Whether Nigeria’s ruling elite wish it away or not, the
inexorable processes leading to state failure have continued
their relentless march since the Fund for Peace reminded
everyone two or three years ago of the apocalyptic projections.
If the elite are not too preoccupied with their own ambition for
power, the turbulent 2011 polls should serve as a poignant
reminder of the precariousness of the Fourth Republic and the
delicateness of the foundations of the country as a whole. But
whether these reminders will serve any purpose remains to be
seen, as the last of the scheduled polls for the 2011 general
elections are about to be held. Much more than the two
previous polls of the National Assembly (April 9) and
presidential (April 16), the governorship and Houses of
Assembly polls scheduled for tomorrow are projected to be the
most tempestuous. If the recently concluded presidential poll
could lead to the unimaginable conflagration of the past one
week, it is feared that the more local and intensively
competitive polls to fill Government Houses and states
legislature could unleash a fiery storm of indescribable scale.
Two main factors predispose Tuesday’s polls to this apocalyptic
prediction. One is the fact that going by the results of the
National Assembly election, the main underachiever, the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), stands little chance of
winning many states as its ambition demands. It lost heavily
because, in assessing the CPC and PDP and indeed other parties,
the voters did not have a sharp sense of the political and ethnic
dichotomies that have bifurcated national elections for decades.
The candidates were local people all voters could relate with,
especially in states that had long been in the Peoples
Democratic Party fold. If the voters needed to send
representatives to the national legislature, it didn’t matter so
much which parties they belonged. What mattered the most to
voters was their perception of the representatives’ competence
and suitability for the post. In turn, this perception was
predicated on the relationship that had existed between the
representative seeking votes and the voter. This relationship
was not circumscribed by the CPC, a party that, until the
presidential poll, did not loom very large in the consciousness
of the northern voter.
A second factor is the militarisation of the polity after the CPC
presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd), suffered
a crushing defeat in the hands of the PDP candidate, Dr Goodluck
Jonathan. Voters in the North are now likely to be torn between
the relationship they have nurtured with their local
representatives over the years and past elections and the fact
that CPC candidates may now be pushing the agenda of
equating a vote for CPC as a loyal vote for the North, and that to
do otherwise is to betray the North and its dominant ethos. An
atmosphere of intolerance and violence may have thus been
smuggled viciously into Tuesday’s contest. Naturally, the other
candidates will not give up, and a wounded CPC will latch on to
every imaginable tactics to secure as many State Houses as
possible to underscore its conclusion that it was cheated in the
April 16 poll.
The polls have been deferred in Bauchi and Kaduna States in
deep apprehension of uncontrollable violence accompanying
the April 26 elections. Though these two states seem poised to
explode into violence, needfully or needlessly, it is uncertain
what magical balm the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) hoped to apply if the other states that
exploded after the April 16 poll again go up in flames. Some ad
hoc and youth corps members serving as electoral officers have
fled their stations, and those who will remain will certainly be
disinclined to stand up to party agents mobilised for violence
and mayhem. Yet to cancel the poll in more states than has
been done already is to endanger the entire polls and render
them inconclusive. Tomorrow will determine how this impasse
would be broken.
What is clearly obvious is that the atmosphere is so heavily
polluted that it is difficult to see how the polls will be
accomplished with anything near free or fair, let alone credible,
as the country had managed to achieve so far. Considering the
rather ham-fisted response to poll violence throughout this
polling season, and the reactive rather than proactive approach
adopted by the security agencies, more states may explode in
violence thereby severely stretching poorly equipped and
outnumbered law enforcement agencies. We may not have the
sharp divisions of the April 16 poll, and the sexed-up votes of
the South-South and the underage voters of the North may
counterbalance each other, yet, it is more likely that Tuesday’s
polls will probably be even less credible than the previous two
polls, and probably more controversial.
It is in this atmosphere of rancorous balloting and collation that
some 24 states will be going to the polls to elect their chief
executives and legislators. Among them, the Southwest will be
attempting to steer the region completely into progressivism,
the Southeast will be preparing grounds for a future attempt at
the presidency, and the various zones of the North will see
whether they can arrest the drift to anomy represented by poor
and dispossessed youths called almajirai, to whom it now
seems the North’s political, traditional and even religious elites
have become hostage. If we successfully navigate the
treacherous waters of the April 26 polls, we will still come smack
intothe middle of the seething disputation over whether the
current structure of the country, with its leprous and inchoate
federalism, can sustain the country beyond the projected
doomsday of 2015.
Sunday 24 April 2011
Imaging Obasanjo preaching for 'change' in Ogun state.
Why Daniel cant give us ‘worthy’ successor, by
Obasanjo
Kelvin Osa- Okunbor
•Ex-president defends ACN candidate Amosun’s
integrity
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said
yesterday the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship
candidate in Ogun State Senator Ibikunle Amosun can offer
good leadership.
He said Amosun is the best candidate except that he might be
hampered by some other factors.
"Amosun is my blood brother. l know him very well. He brought
Gbenga Daniel (Ogun State Governor) to me."
Obasanjo spoke at the Journalists Estate in Arepo, Ogun State,
where he had gone to campaign for the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Gen. Adetunji Olurin, on the
invitation of the residents.
Daniel is supporting the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN)
candidate Gboyega Isiaka.
Obasanjo said Daniel had been a great disservice to the state. He
said a person who had failed to connect with the people in the
last four years could not possibly anoint a successor to take over
the reins of leadership.
He said he would not control Olurin if elected, adding that he
supported the late President Umaru Yar Adua, as president, and
he did not control him.
Obasanjo praised former Governor of Ogun State Aremo
Olusegun Osoba, whom he said accorded him all the respect
that a Yoruba will accord an elder. He said Osoba gave him land
to erect his Hill top mansion as well as the presidential library.
Obasanjo said : " I enjoyed more respect from Osoba in Ogun,
more than any other governor. Osoba gave me land to build the
presidential library, even the house where I now live, but Daniel
insulted me. I have never been so insulted. I think it is part of
his upbringing. His government has failed in the last four years,
unlike the first four years. I never knew Daniel. He was
introduced to me by Amosun. I only supported his re- election
for second term for many reasons, but after he got the ticket ,
he failed to work. Ogun people need a change. They are
disappointed in Daniel. Imagine Ota is dirty. It is an eyesore.
Such person cannot give us a worthy successor that can
transform Ogun State."
Obasanjo , who arrived the venue of the interactive session
about 6.05 pm in company of Olurin , explained that he was
excited to visit the estate, which he described as unique.
Obasanjo
Kelvin Osa- Okunbor
•Ex-president defends ACN candidate Amosun’s
integrity
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said
yesterday the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship
candidate in Ogun State Senator Ibikunle Amosun can offer
good leadership.
He said Amosun is the best candidate except that he might be
hampered by some other factors.
"Amosun is my blood brother. l know him very well. He brought
Gbenga Daniel (Ogun State Governor) to me."
Obasanjo spoke at the Journalists Estate in Arepo, Ogun State,
where he had gone to campaign for the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Gen. Adetunji Olurin, on the
invitation of the residents.
Daniel is supporting the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN)
candidate Gboyega Isiaka.
Obasanjo said Daniel had been a great disservice to the state. He
said a person who had failed to connect with the people in the
last four years could not possibly anoint a successor to take over
the reins of leadership.
He said he would not control Olurin if elected, adding that he
supported the late President Umaru Yar Adua, as president, and
he did not control him.
Obasanjo praised former Governor of Ogun State Aremo
Olusegun Osoba, whom he said accorded him all the respect
that a Yoruba will accord an elder. He said Osoba gave him land
to erect his Hill top mansion as well as the presidential library.
Obasanjo said : " I enjoyed more respect from Osoba in Ogun,
more than any other governor. Osoba gave me land to build the
presidential library, even the house where I now live, but Daniel
insulted me. I have never been so insulted. I think it is part of
his upbringing. His government has failed in the last four years,
unlike the first four years. I never knew Daniel. He was
introduced to me by Amosun. I only supported his re- election
for second term for many reasons, but after he got the ticket ,
he failed to work. Ogun people need a change. They are
disappointed in Daniel. Imagine Ota is dirty. It is an eyesore.
Such person cannot give us a worthy successor that can
transform Ogun State."
Obasanjo , who arrived the venue of the interactive session
about 6.05 pm in company of Olurin , explained that he was
excited to visit the estate, which he described as unique.
Flash points for governorship elections.
Polls: Tension in states as govt deploys troops
Yusuf Alli, John Ofikhenua and Vincent
Ikuomola, (Abuja)
SOME steps were taken yesterday to avert another
post-election violence.
The Federal Government strengthened security around the
country ahead of tomorrow’s governorship and Houses of
Assembly elections, deploying troops in flashpoints.
Politicians are quarrelling over the coming elections,
heightening tension.
Sources said the security cordon was to prevent the kind of
violence that broke out in parts of the North after the
presidential election.
Acting Minister of Interior Chief Emeka Wogu said at the
weekend that the government would not leave any stone
unturned to ensure improved internal security.
He spoke when he met with the managers of the ministry and
heads of departments.
Vice President Namadi Sambo decried the post-election
violence and vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to
justice.
Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi said security had been
strengthened in the state.
He also assured Youth Corps members, who will serve as
electoral officers, of their safety.
But Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram (Western
education is sin) threatened yesterday to continue its violence,
even as troops deployment in key Northern states started.
Also yesterday, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari asked Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) supporters not to defy security
agencies.
He asked them to revolt with their voters’ cards by removing
non-performing governors.
More troops have been deployed in Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi,
Borno, Sokoto, Niger, Bauchi,
Jigawa, Kano and Yobe states.
A top security source said troops had been deployed in Oyo,
Kwara, Ogun and Imo states where there is tension.
Troops barricaded major entry points to Ilorin, the Kwara State
capital, yesterday.
Said the source: "The government wants to ensure that voters
come out to exercise their rights unhindered. We want to
guarantee security of every Nigerian.
"Additional troops deployment to some flashpoint states has
started. There will be special attention for Kaduna, Katsina,
Kebbi, Borno, Sokoto, Niger, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kano, and Yobe.
"That is why most states are banning procession, courtesy visits
and monitoring movement of politicians.
"Even when the Bauchi State chapter of the CPC wrote the State
Commissioner of Police that Buhari will be coming to the state,
the request was politely rejected."
Amaechi, in a special broadcast said: "The Armed Forces and
other security agencies have beefed up security in all the 23
local government areas of this state to ensure that there is no
breach of the peace."
The governor also said "security agencies are under specific
instruction to ensure that every Youth Corps member is given
personal security so that they can discharge their duties
credibly".
While lamenting the unwarranted mayhem that greeted the
presidential election in some parts of the country, Amaechi
advised residents to be their brothers’ keepers by reporting all
suspicious movements to law enforcement agents.
Wogu, who is overseeing the ministry in the absence of
suspended Minister Emmanuel Ihenachor, according to a
statement by his Press Officer, Olowookere Samuel, expressed
concern over the internal security in the country, "especially in
the aftermath of the presidential election, which was
internationally adjudged and recognised as free, fair and
credible".
He said the government would continue to pursue a strict
border control policy.
"One thing I will want to achieve within the short period of time
is to continue to pursue strict border control and patrol and we
need to start doing something about it in order to come up
with strategies on how to go about border control in the
subsequent elections because of the challenges we had. I
believe that if the borders are shut, we might not have the
influx of miscreants from neighbouring countries that could
equally be capable of unleashing mayhem on Nigerians," he
said.
Sambo lamented the loss of lives in the violence. He sent his
condolences to the families of those who died. He urged all
Nigerians to eschew violence and embrace peaceful co-
existence.
The Vice President said power resides with the people who
have expressed it decisively and clearly by electing the
candidates of their choice.
Promising that justice will be done, Sambo said: "We are
confident that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that will be
constituted will live up to expectations of Nigerians.
"We call on all Nigerians to give peace a chance and support the
effort of government in this direction and to continue to live in
peace and harmony."
Yusuf Alli, John Ofikhenua and Vincent
Ikuomola, (Abuja)
SOME steps were taken yesterday to avert another
post-election violence.
The Federal Government strengthened security around the
country ahead of tomorrow’s governorship and Houses of
Assembly elections, deploying troops in flashpoints.
Politicians are quarrelling over the coming elections,
heightening tension.
Sources said the security cordon was to prevent the kind of
violence that broke out in parts of the North after the
presidential election.
Acting Minister of Interior Chief Emeka Wogu said at the
weekend that the government would not leave any stone
unturned to ensure improved internal security.
He spoke when he met with the managers of the ministry and
heads of departments.
Vice President Namadi Sambo decried the post-election
violence and vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to
justice.
Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi said security had been
strengthened in the state.
He also assured Youth Corps members, who will serve as
electoral officers, of their safety.
But Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram (Western
education is sin) threatened yesterday to continue its violence,
even as troops deployment in key Northern states started.
Also yesterday, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari asked Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) supporters not to defy security
agencies.
He asked them to revolt with their voters’ cards by removing
non-performing governors.
More troops have been deployed in Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi,
Borno, Sokoto, Niger, Bauchi,
Jigawa, Kano and Yobe states.
A top security source said troops had been deployed in Oyo,
Kwara, Ogun and Imo states where there is tension.
Troops barricaded major entry points to Ilorin, the Kwara State
capital, yesterday.
Said the source: "The government wants to ensure that voters
come out to exercise their rights unhindered. We want to
guarantee security of every Nigerian.
"Additional troops deployment to some flashpoint states has
started. There will be special attention for Kaduna, Katsina,
Kebbi, Borno, Sokoto, Niger, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kano, and Yobe.
"That is why most states are banning procession, courtesy visits
and monitoring movement of politicians.
"Even when the Bauchi State chapter of the CPC wrote the State
Commissioner of Police that Buhari will be coming to the state,
the request was politely rejected."
Amaechi, in a special broadcast said: "The Armed Forces and
other security agencies have beefed up security in all the 23
local government areas of this state to ensure that there is no
breach of the peace."
The governor also said "security agencies are under specific
instruction to ensure that every Youth Corps member is given
personal security so that they can discharge their duties
credibly".
While lamenting the unwarranted mayhem that greeted the
presidential election in some parts of the country, Amaechi
advised residents to be their brothers’ keepers by reporting all
suspicious movements to law enforcement agents.
Wogu, who is overseeing the ministry in the absence of
suspended Minister Emmanuel Ihenachor, according to a
statement by his Press Officer, Olowookere Samuel, expressed
concern over the internal security in the country, "especially in
the aftermath of the presidential election, which was
internationally adjudged and recognised as free, fair and
credible".
He said the government would continue to pursue a strict
border control policy.
"One thing I will want to achieve within the short period of time
is to continue to pursue strict border control and patrol and we
need to start doing something about it in order to come up
with strategies on how to go about border control in the
subsequent elections because of the challenges we had. I
believe that if the borders are shut, we might not have the
influx of miscreants from neighbouring countries that could
equally be capable of unleashing mayhem on Nigerians," he
said.
Sambo lamented the loss of lives in the violence. He sent his
condolences to the families of those who died. He urged all
Nigerians to eschew violence and embrace peaceful co-
existence.
The Vice President said power resides with the people who
have expressed it decisively and clearly by electing the
candidates of their choice.
Promising that justice will be done, Sambo said: "We are
confident that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that will be
constituted will live up to expectations of Nigerians.
"We call on all Nigerians to give peace a chance and support the
effort of government in this direction and to continue to live in
peace and harmony."
Sony Chairman dies leaving CDs as legacy
Sony chairman credited with developing CDs dies
AP - Sat Apr 23rd, 2011 6:53 PM EDT
TOKYO - As a young man, aspiring opera singer Norio Ohga wrote
to Sony to complain about the quality of its tape recorders. That
move changed the course of his life, as the company promptly
recruited the man whose love of music would shape the
development of the compact disc and transform the Japanese
electronics maker into a global software and entertainment
empire.
Sony's president and chairman from 1982 to 1995, Ohga died
Saturday in Tokyo of multiple organ failure, the company said. He
was 81.
Ohga's connection to music steered his work. The flamboyant
music connoisseur insisted the CD be designed at 12 centimeters
(4.8 inches) in diameter to hold 75 minutes worth of music— in
order to store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in its entirety.
From the start, Ohga recognized the potential of the CD's superior
sound quality. In the 1970s, when Ohga insisted CDs would
eventually replace record albums, skeptics scoffed. Herbert von
Karajan, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock spoke up in defense of
Sony's digital sound.
Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982 and CDs overtook LP record
sales in Japan five years later. The specifications are still used today
and fostered the devices developed since.
"It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony's evolution beyond audio
and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent
transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san's
foresight and vision," Sony Corp. Chairman and CEO Howard
Stringer said Saturday, using the Japanese honorific.
Some decisions made during Ohga's presidency, such as the $3.4
billion purchase of Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures, were
criticized as unwise and costly at the time. But Ohga's focus on
music, films and video games as a way to enrich the electronics
business helped create Sony's success in his era.
"We are always chasing after things that other companies won't
touch," Ohga said in a 1998 interview with The Associated Press.
"That is a big secret to our success."
Shattering the stereotype of the staid Japanese executive, the
debonair Ohga was never shy, his hair neatly slicked back, his
boisterous manner exuding the fiery yet naive air of an artist. His
persona added a touch of glamour to Sony's image at a time when
Japan had global ambitions.
An experienced pilot, Ohga at times flew the plane himself for
business trips. A gourmet, he boasted about his roast beef. His
hobby was cruising on his yacht.
Joey Carbone, a Los Angeles-based composer and producer of
dozens of Japanese pop songs, met Ohga in 1986 after Carbone
wrote several hits for commercials for everything from cassette
tapes to Honda scooters on Sony's music label.
He remembers Ohga as an outgoing, international-minded
executive who could talk about business and a wide variety of
music with equal aplomb. Ohga's office was covered with photos of
himself with different artists, both Japanese and international.
"He looked like an actor. He was very outgoing," Carbone said
Saturday. "He was very, how can I say it— not introverted. He was
always talking, always smiling and laughing. He seemed to have a
real love of life and music. He seemed to really love what he was
doing."
Chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999, he
continued to conduct there a few times a year. In 1993, he
conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center's
Avery Fisher Hall in a charity event funded by Sony.
Ohga often compared leading a company to conducting an
orchestra.
"Just as a conductor must work to bring out the best in the
members of his orchestra, a company president must draw on the
talents of the people in his organization," Ohga said in a 1996 Sony
publication.
Sony started amid the destruction and poverty after World War II
and built itself on the popularity of transistor radios, the Walkman,
the Trinitron TV, the CD— shaping the history of modern
electronics.
Ohga had graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts
and Music in 1953 and Berlin University of the Arts in 1957. He was
set to pursue a career as a baritone opera singer when Sony co-
founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, intrigued by his complaints
about the sound quality of Sony tape recorders, recruited him to
the company.
He was a Sony executive by his 30s, a rarity in a Japanese company.
He was appointed president of CBS Sony Records in 1970, chairman
of what later became Sony Corp. of America in 1988, and chief
executive of Sony in 1989. He left the day-to-day business in about
2000.
The company says he was key in building the Sony brand,
especially working on design, as well as quality, to make products
that looked attractive to consumers.
"Norio Ohga was a brilliant and innovative businessman whose
visionary leadership had a profound impact on the way people
experience entertainment throughout the world," Sony Pictures
Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton and Co-Chairman
Amy Pascal said in a statement.
Ohga had tried to lead a double life of artist and Sony man.
One day, he dozed off from exhaustion in the stage wings while
waiting to go on in the "The Marriage of Figaro," rushed in from the
wrong direction and watched his embarrassed co-stars stifling
giggles.
He gave up his opera career but still promoted classical music in
Japan by supporting young musicians and concerts.
Sony has encountered difficulty in recent years, falling behind in
flat-panel TVs to rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea,
as well as in digital music players to Apple Inc. It remains unique in
having a Hollywood studio, a music recording business, and the
blockbuster PlayStation video-game unit that Ohga helped create,
though critics note it has never fully realized the benefits of owning
both electronics and entertainment divisions.
Ohga is survived by his wife, Midori. Sony said a private wake will
be held later.
__
AP Technology Writer Ryan Nakashima contributed from Los
Angeles.
AP - Sat Apr 23rd, 2011 6:53 PM EDT
TOKYO - As a young man, aspiring opera singer Norio Ohga wrote
to Sony to complain about the quality of its tape recorders. That
move changed the course of his life, as the company promptly
recruited the man whose love of music would shape the
development of the compact disc and transform the Japanese
electronics maker into a global software and entertainment
empire.
Sony's president and chairman from 1982 to 1995, Ohga died
Saturday in Tokyo of multiple organ failure, the company said. He
was 81.
Ohga's connection to music steered his work. The flamboyant
music connoisseur insisted the CD be designed at 12 centimeters
(4.8 inches) in diameter to hold 75 minutes worth of music— in
order to store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in its entirety.
From the start, Ohga recognized the potential of the CD's superior
sound quality. In the 1970s, when Ohga insisted CDs would
eventually replace record albums, skeptics scoffed. Herbert von
Karajan, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock spoke up in defense of
Sony's digital sound.
Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982 and CDs overtook LP record
sales in Japan five years later. The specifications are still used today
and fostered the devices developed since.
"It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony's evolution beyond audio
and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent
transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san's
foresight and vision," Sony Corp. Chairman and CEO Howard
Stringer said Saturday, using the Japanese honorific.
Some decisions made during Ohga's presidency, such as the $3.4
billion purchase of Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures, were
criticized as unwise and costly at the time. But Ohga's focus on
music, films and video games as a way to enrich the electronics
business helped create Sony's success in his era.
"We are always chasing after things that other companies won't
touch," Ohga said in a 1998 interview with The Associated Press.
"That is a big secret to our success."
Shattering the stereotype of the staid Japanese executive, the
debonair Ohga was never shy, his hair neatly slicked back, his
boisterous manner exuding the fiery yet naive air of an artist. His
persona added a touch of glamour to Sony's image at a time when
Japan had global ambitions.
An experienced pilot, Ohga at times flew the plane himself for
business trips. A gourmet, he boasted about his roast beef. His
hobby was cruising on his yacht.
Joey Carbone, a Los Angeles-based composer and producer of
dozens of Japanese pop songs, met Ohga in 1986 after Carbone
wrote several hits for commercials for everything from cassette
tapes to Honda scooters on Sony's music label.
He remembers Ohga as an outgoing, international-minded
executive who could talk about business and a wide variety of
music with equal aplomb. Ohga's office was covered with photos of
himself with different artists, both Japanese and international.
"He looked like an actor. He was very outgoing," Carbone said
Saturday. "He was very, how can I say it— not introverted. He was
always talking, always smiling and laughing. He seemed to have a
real love of life and music. He seemed to really love what he was
doing."
Chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999, he
continued to conduct there a few times a year. In 1993, he
conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center's
Avery Fisher Hall in a charity event funded by Sony.
Ohga often compared leading a company to conducting an
orchestra.
"Just as a conductor must work to bring out the best in the
members of his orchestra, a company president must draw on the
talents of the people in his organization," Ohga said in a 1996 Sony
publication.
Sony started amid the destruction and poverty after World War II
and built itself on the popularity of transistor radios, the Walkman,
the Trinitron TV, the CD— shaping the history of modern
electronics.
Ohga had graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts
and Music in 1953 and Berlin University of the Arts in 1957. He was
set to pursue a career as a baritone opera singer when Sony co-
founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, intrigued by his complaints
about the sound quality of Sony tape recorders, recruited him to
the company.
He was a Sony executive by his 30s, a rarity in a Japanese company.
He was appointed president of CBS Sony Records in 1970, chairman
of what later became Sony Corp. of America in 1988, and chief
executive of Sony in 1989. He left the day-to-day business in about
2000.
The company says he was key in building the Sony brand,
especially working on design, as well as quality, to make products
that looked attractive to consumers.
"Norio Ohga was a brilliant and innovative businessman whose
visionary leadership had a profound impact on the way people
experience entertainment throughout the world," Sony Pictures
Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton and Co-Chairman
Amy Pascal said in a statement.
Ohga had tried to lead a double life of artist and Sony man.
One day, he dozed off from exhaustion in the stage wings while
waiting to go on in the "The Marriage of Figaro," rushed in from the
wrong direction and watched his embarrassed co-stars stifling
giggles.
He gave up his opera career but still promoted classical music in
Japan by supporting young musicians and concerts.
Sony has encountered difficulty in recent years, falling behind in
flat-panel TVs to rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea,
as well as in digital music players to Apple Inc. It remains unique in
having a Hollywood studio, a music recording business, and the
blockbuster PlayStation video-game unit that Ohga helped create,
though critics note it has never fully realized the benefits of owning
both electronics and entertainment divisions.
Ohga is survived by his wife, Midori. Sony said a private wake will
be held later.
__
AP Technology Writer Ryan Nakashima contributed from Los
Angeles.
Now pilots can sleep when flying an aircraft!
FAA falls short on plan to aid fatigued workers
AP - Sat Apr 23rd, 2011 5:40 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration told a
government watchdog nearly two years ago that it was prepared
to let air traffic controllers sleep or rest during work shifts when
they weren't directing aircraft. It still hasn't happened.
When the FAA proposed new limits on airline pilots' work
schedules to prevent fatigue last year, it rejected its own research
recommending that pilots be allowed to take naps during the
cruise phase of flight— typically most of a flight when the plane is
neither climbing nor descending — so that they are refreshed and
alert during landings.
And an FAA committee that has been working for several years on
new work rules to prevent fatigue among night-shift airline
mechanics has made little progress, said one committee member.
Allowing naps during breaks on overnight shifts was dismissed as
a nonstarter.
In a 24/7 industry like aviation, fatigue is a fact of life. Managing
work schedules to minimize fatigue can make the difference
between life and death. There have been 14 aviation accidents with
263 fatalities since 1993 in which fatigue was cited as the cause or a
contributing factor, according to the National Transportation Safety
Board.
Yet the FAA has struggled unsuccessfully for decades to revamp
workplace rules for controllers, pilots and mechanics despite a
consensus that fatigue is one of the industry's most pressing safety
issues. While recognizing the problem is easy, developing
workable solutions acceptable to airlines, labor unions and
government regulators is tough. Money is a factor. So are public
perceptions.
The issue has taken on a new urgency after at least five recent
incidents of controllers falling asleep on the job while working
overnight shifts. In two cases, controllers have been fired.
"It's tough to see controllers facing firing when the problem of
(midnight) shift sleep deprivation has been acknowledged by the
FAA," said Rick Perl, a retired controller in Oxnard, Calif. "Sacrificial
lambs is how it feels to me."
In a sixth incident, a controller working an overnight shift was
suspended for watching a movie on a portable DVD player while he
was supposed to be monitoring air traffic. Present and former
controllers have told The Associated Press that it's not unusual for
controllers on overnight shifts at radar facilities when traffic is light
to watch movies, play online poker, and read magazines to help
them stay awake.
The alternative, they said, is to spend eight hours in a dimly lit
room staring at a radar scope while trying not to fall asleep. The
controllers asked not to be identified so as not to jeopardize their
jobs or the jobs of coworkers.
Industry and labor officials give FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt
credit for doing more than past agency chiefs to address the
fatigue problem. Last year, the agency proposed the first new
limits on work schedules for pilots in decades. But industry-
supported legislation in Congress, if passed, could create major
obstacles to the rules becoming final.
Babbitt also signed a contract with the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association in 2009 that, among other things, required
the agency create a working group with the union to address
controller fatigue. FAA held off on its plan to allow sleep or rest by
controllers during their shifts when not working air traffic to allow
the working group time to address the issue, said spokeswoman
Laura Brown.
In January, after a year and a half of work, the group briefed
Babbitt on 12 recommendations. One was that controllers be
allowed sleeps breaks for as long as two hours when working
overnight shifts. Sleep experts say scheduled naps during night
shifts— especially between about 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. when even
well-rested people naturally crave sleep — help keep workers alert
when they return to their duties.
Another recommendation was that controllers be allowed to sleep
during the 20 to 30 minute breaks they typically receive every few
hours during day shifts. Currently, the FAA forbids sleeping on the
job, even during breaks.
Babbitt was "abundantly enthusiastic about us moving forward,"
said Peter Gimbrere, who is spearheading the controllers
association's fatigue effort.
But the administrator and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
flatly rejected both nighttime naps and on-break snoozes after
publicity about controllers falling asleep.
"We don't pay people to sleep at work at the FAA," Babbitt told AP
last week. "I don't know anybody that pays anybody to sleep unless
you're buying people to have sleep studies."
Patrick Forrey, a former president of the controllers' union, called
that position "unfortunate and political."
"People think, 'Why are we paying people to take a nap?' " Forrey
said in an interview. "It doesn't necessarily play well with the
public, especially in an economy like today."
Paul Rinaldi, the current controllers association president, said
Friday that he intends to press the FAA to adopt all 12
recommendations.
"The recommendations are based on advice from NASA and the
military and in line with international air traffic control best
practices," he said in a statement. Actions the FAA has taken
recently to address the fatigue problem— adding a second
controller on overnight shifts at more than two dozen airports and
giving controllers an extra hour between work shifts— have
"barely scratched the surface," he said.
FAA is reviewing the recommendations, Brown said.
Curt Graeber, a former NASA scientist who conducted FAA-funded
sleep studies of pilots, wasn't surprised that the FAA hasn't
embraced napping for controllers. Graeber was a member of an
FAA committee in the early 1990s that drafted an advisory to
airlines permitting pilot napping and setting out ground rules.
"We thought everything was fine. We submitted the draft advisory
circular (to the FAA), everyone agreed with it, and then everything
stopped," said Graeber, now chairman of the International Civil
Aviation Organization's fatigue task force. But other countries and
the European Aviation Safety Agency used the FAA draft circular
and research to write their own regulations permitting pilot
napping, he said.
Many pilots acknowledge privately that they've dozed off in the
cockpit at times, especially while cruising when the workload is
light. But critics say there's greater risk in not having two pilots
available at all times than there is that a pilot may doze off.
Graeber disagreed. "Look at it this way" he said, "would you rather
have your pilot taking a nap while you are having your steak in the
back (of the plane), or falling asleep on the approach into Hong
Kong?"
Meanwhile, the FAA's committee working on new work rules for
reducing fatigue among aircraft maintenance workers "is going
nowhere," said safety consultant John Goglia, a former NTSB board
member who began his career as an airline mechanic.
Airlines don't want new rules because they would complicate their
scheduling and they'd have to hire more people, he said. Unions
also don't want new rules because "they're working tons of
overtime to make up for the pay cuts that they took."
But that doesn't mean mechanics aren't struggling to stay awake,
especially during slow periods, Goglia said.
"Everybody who works nights in aviation knows if you're not busy
you're going to fall asleep because you're chronically fatigued," he
said.
__
Associated Press writer Ray Henry contributed to this story.
AP - Sat Apr 23rd, 2011 5:40 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration told a
government watchdog nearly two years ago that it was prepared
to let air traffic controllers sleep or rest during work shifts when
they weren't directing aircraft. It still hasn't happened.
When the FAA proposed new limits on airline pilots' work
schedules to prevent fatigue last year, it rejected its own research
recommending that pilots be allowed to take naps during the
cruise phase of flight— typically most of a flight when the plane is
neither climbing nor descending — so that they are refreshed and
alert during landings.
And an FAA committee that has been working for several years on
new work rules to prevent fatigue among night-shift airline
mechanics has made little progress, said one committee member.
Allowing naps during breaks on overnight shifts was dismissed as
a nonstarter.
In a 24/7 industry like aviation, fatigue is a fact of life. Managing
work schedules to minimize fatigue can make the difference
between life and death. There have been 14 aviation accidents with
263 fatalities since 1993 in which fatigue was cited as the cause or a
contributing factor, according to the National Transportation Safety
Board.
Yet the FAA has struggled unsuccessfully for decades to revamp
workplace rules for controllers, pilots and mechanics despite a
consensus that fatigue is one of the industry's most pressing safety
issues. While recognizing the problem is easy, developing
workable solutions acceptable to airlines, labor unions and
government regulators is tough. Money is a factor. So are public
perceptions.
The issue has taken on a new urgency after at least five recent
incidents of controllers falling asleep on the job while working
overnight shifts. In two cases, controllers have been fired.
"It's tough to see controllers facing firing when the problem of
(midnight) shift sleep deprivation has been acknowledged by the
FAA," said Rick Perl, a retired controller in Oxnard, Calif. "Sacrificial
lambs is how it feels to me."
In a sixth incident, a controller working an overnight shift was
suspended for watching a movie on a portable DVD player while he
was supposed to be monitoring air traffic. Present and former
controllers have told The Associated Press that it's not unusual for
controllers on overnight shifts at radar facilities when traffic is light
to watch movies, play online poker, and read magazines to help
them stay awake.
The alternative, they said, is to spend eight hours in a dimly lit
room staring at a radar scope while trying not to fall asleep. The
controllers asked not to be identified so as not to jeopardize their
jobs or the jobs of coworkers.
Industry and labor officials give FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt
credit for doing more than past agency chiefs to address the
fatigue problem. Last year, the agency proposed the first new
limits on work schedules for pilots in decades. But industry-
supported legislation in Congress, if passed, could create major
obstacles to the rules becoming final.
Babbitt also signed a contract with the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association in 2009 that, among other things, required
the agency create a working group with the union to address
controller fatigue. FAA held off on its plan to allow sleep or rest by
controllers during their shifts when not working air traffic to allow
the working group time to address the issue, said spokeswoman
Laura Brown.
In January, after a year and a half of work, the group briefed
Babbitt on 12 recommendations. One was that controllers be
allowed sleeps breaks for as long as two hours when working
overnight shifts. Sleep experts say scheduled naps during night
shifts— especially between about 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. when even
well-rested people naturally crave sleep — help keep workers alert
when they return to their duties.
Another recommendation was that controllers be allowed to sleep
during the 20 to 30 minute breaks they typically receive every few
hours during day shifts. Currently, the FAA forbids sleeping on the
job, even during breaks.
Babbitt was "abundantly enthusiastic about us moving forward,"
said Peter Gimbrere, who is spearheading the controllers
association's fatigue effort.
But the administrator and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
flatly rejected both nighttime naps and on-break snoozes after
publicity about controllers falling asleep.
"We don't pay people to sleep at work at the FAA," Babbitt told AP
last week. "I don't know anybody that pays anybody to sleep unless
you're buying people to have sleep studies."
Patrick Forrey, a former president of the controllers' union, called
that position "unfortunate and political."
"People think, 'Why are we paying people to take a nap?' " Forrey
said in an interview. "It doesn't necessarily play well with the
public, especially in an economy like today."
Paul Rinaldi, the current controllers association president, said
Friday that he intends to press the FAA to adopt all 12
recommendations.
"The recommendations are based on advice from NASA and the
military and in line with international air traffic control best
practices," he said in a statement. Actions the FAA has taken
recently to address the fatigue problem— adding a second
controller on overnight shifts at more than two dozen airports and
giving controllers an extra hour between work shifts— have
"barely scratched the surface," he said.
FAA is reviewing the recommendations, Brown said.
Curt Graeber, a former NASA scientist who conducted FAA-funded
sleep studies of pilots, wasn't surprised that the FAA hasn't
embraced napping for controllers. Graeber was a member of an
FAA committee in the early 1990s that drafted an advisory to
airlines permitting pilot napping and setting out ground rules.
"We thought everything was fine. We submitted the draft advisory
circular (to the FAA), everyone agreed with it, and then everything
stopped," said Graeber, now chairman of the International Civil
Aviation Organization's fatigue task force. But other countries and
the European Aviation Safety Agency used the FAA draft circular
and research to write their own regulations permitting pilot
napping, he said.
Many pilots acknowledge privately that they've dozed off in the
cockpit at times, especially while cruising when the workload is
light. But critics say there's greater risk in not having two pilots
available at all times than there is that a pilot may doze off.
Graeber disagreed. "Look at it this way" he said, "would you rather
have your pilot taking a nap while you are having your steak in the
back (of the plane), or falling asleep on the approach into Hong
Kong?"
Meanwhile, the FAA's committee working on new work rules for
reducing fatigue among aircraft maintenance workers "is going
nowhere," said safety consultant John Goglia, a former NTSB board
member who began his career as an airline mechanic.
Airlines don't want new rules because they would complicate their
scheduling and they'd have to hire more people, he said. Unions
also don't want new rules because "they're working tons of
overtime to make up for the pay cuts that they took."
But that doesn't mean mechanics aren't struggling to stay awake,
especially during slow periods, Goglia said.
"Everybody who works nights in aviation knows if you're not busy
you're going to fall asleep because you're chronically fatigued," he
said.
__
Associated Press writer Ray Henry contributed to this story.
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