AS TUFACE BACKS DOWN ON HIS PLANNED PROTEST

People who know me enough, know to bet against teams I openly support, hence when it comes to betting I hardly am your best bet in terms of predictions but I guessed something right this time around, unfortunately I didn't stake a claim publicly before it became reality, and so you could feel free to say "Yeah Right" in response to my veiled prediction. Maybe next time, I'd be more forthcoming, but the truth is that since talk about this proposed rally or peaceful protest or demonstration, which later had popular Nigerian artiste, Innocent Idibia aka Tuface aka Tubaba as its face became talk of town, with supporters and antagonists equally matched with daggers drawn, I'd personally spoken or written little about it on social media and outside of it, because somehow, having put several two and twos together, I felt it wouldn't hold. I didn't know however, that Tuface himself (who continues to endure personal attacks verbally thrown at him on all sides since pegging his name to the protests) will via YouTube cancel it, for now, for fear that it might be hijacked by vested interests, not aligned with the spirit of the protests, especially seeing that there are now genuine fears for the lives of protesters by no less, those whose constitutional responsibility it is to protect them (with precedence to boot).

TUFACE CANCELS PLANNED PROTEST.

The truth is that Nigerians are suffering, including those who are still playing ostriches, just because their man President Muhammadu Buhari is in power and they can't support any anything that may end up with power shifting from the north to the south (even with the likelihood slim to non-existent), the reason why he still has massive support in the North; or because they are too proud, like most southwesterners to admit that they fell for a well orchestrated scam in the last presidential election, even with their so called exposure and enlightenment; or because like southeastern politicians just because of a promise of power shift to the Igbo after eight years of Buhari, have now suddenly seen the "light", and in throwing their weight behind the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC by decamping in their droves from the People's Democratic Party, PDP with no thoughts for their brother, Deputy Senate President Ekwerenmadu whose position they've largely jeopardized unless he aligns with them and switch as well to the ruling party.

By dawn, when Nigerians wake to the news, those "Standing With Buhari" will see this as a victory, while those in opposition will lick their wounds, but the discerning will see this as another missed opportunity to demand that those in power be accountable to the people on whose behalf they exercise such powers. I have watched how some commentators in the past few days have missed the point in stating their positions, forgetting that protests are a cardinal part of democracy, more important even than the elections which is like the fuel for the engine that drives democracy, of which the work itself is in the driving, navigating through the bumpy parts and maintaining the vehicle. But they say, if we don't like a government we should simply wait four years to change it (rather than demand a change midstream even of the people in power who promised change, but appear only to have strengthened the old ways of doing things), as if we are all guaranteed to be alive in four years.

NIGERIA'S SHIP OF STATE.

I saw Nigerians, some of whom are leaders of thought, support the gagging of fellow Nigerians because they disagree with their stance on issues. Forgetting that the alternative to protests is something far worse, and that presently it's a slippery slope filled with smoldering embers that we are on, the flames of which this protest originally planned for Monday the 6th of February would've helped to douse. You could feel the anger in Nigerians when they speak on the streets, at newspaper stands,

on call-in programmes in the electronic media, in vox-pop sections of newspapers, to the social media, and some have gone ahead to express their displeasure in the rising rate of crime and criminality because of the hardship that the name Buhari now seems to embody and connote. Yet, when a group thought it wise that people should channel their anger in the orderly manner that a protest avails, as the constitution allows, some of their fellow country men, including the police charged with the responsibility amongst others, to maintain law and order, besides providing adequate security for protesters not only decided to frustrate the move, but at every point warned against holding the "peaceful" protest, even when the "Acting President" declared that Nigerians have every right to protest. Though in retrospect it's difficult to not read between the lines to find that he may not have matched action to his words, going by the manner the Inspector General of Police appeared to still issue a statement after that banning any protest, (in his estimation) for and against the government in power.

I understand that the ruling party will be weary of protests against its policies (that's even if they have any), as they should ordinarily, seeing that their ascendancy to power was on the back of protests such as this a few years ago, and because of extenuating circumstances, feel that this one may be politically motivated, just like they did while in opposition, unfortunately they will leave so very undone the very democracy for which they are beneficiaries today, as more Nigerians continue to bottle up their pent up anger at an aloof president, a veepee with hands tied, a selfish parliament, and weakened judiciary, with an Acting Chief Justice whose confirmation hangs in the balance and may have to quit in days, after holding the reins for just three months, because (according to widespread belief) he doesn't fit the geopolitical requirement for such a high position that he should normally live and have progressed into.

Finally, the greatest shame of all. The police that has yet to reform itself to become the police of the people, like they've become everywhere else in developed democracies, and not just phalanges of the president and people in power. I don't even know the generation of officers who will be committed to help bring Nigeria to the comity of "civilized" nations via exemplary policing amongst the present set of all cadres, starting with management of protests. Even with all of President Donald Trump's hatred for opposition, he didn't order a crackdown on protesters (who exponentially trumped the number of those at his "empty" inauguration) against his "knee-jerk reaction" executive orders. One of the reasons many people gave this

Buhari regime a chance was because of his Vice President 'Yemi Osinbajo, a law professor and former Attorney-General of Lagos State, and for him not to have gone beyond just mouthing support for this protest, definitely not against his party but for the right of Nigerians to do so, and insist on them being allowed as guaranteed by the constitution, injures the soul. In another opportunity where he's left to clear the mess after his boss, who once again is out of the country on "vacation", he forgets easily, the eternal words of the late President John F. Kennedy, that "those who make peaceful revolution (change) impossible, make violent revolution (change) inevitable". Mtcheeeeeew!


'kovich



VIDEO CREDIT:
- https://www.youtube.com


PICTURE CREDIT:
- NIGERIA FIRST STICKERS by RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS OF NIGERIA

NIGERIA, AND THE CASE FOR A SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Nigeria can never be a nation until the constituent parts resolve the conditions under which the units can coexist as an indivisible entity. Several attempts made in the past through constitutional and/or national conferences fell short of achieving the desired goals because of the exclusion of germane and very fundamental aspects considered to be "no-go areas",  as well as insincerity on the part of the conveners, amongst a myriad of other factors.


The system that currently subsists breeds and perpetuates only mutual suspicion, and is at the root of everything that is wrong with this country, including corruption. I singled out corruption because this government's attempt to nip it in the bud, though commendable despite its one-sided outlook, is just like treating the symptom rather than the disease.


Unfortunately, the much touted change by this President Buhari's government, has ended up being much of the same, as after getting into power, the government appeared to have found that the path to nationhood is Herculean (though not necessarily unattainable), thinking only to make do with the system they met on ground, rather than employ a more radical and holistic approach in tackling the challenges of nationhood and nation building.


I understand the fears expressed in certain quarters, that a Sovereign National Conference without "No-Go Areas" can birth a situation where delegates may propose a split of the country into it's constituent parts, and the possibility is high especially if one considers the "self determination" struggles in the Southeast region, which has once before gone to war to press for same, or the now resuscitated restiveness in the South-South region with militant groups on the prowl, of which one of the demands of the group championing the present attacks on Nigeria's major source of revenue been a National Conference along the lines many Nigerians have been advocating, a clear departure from the agitations of the past, which was "resource control".

WHAT A NIGERIAN CONFEDERACY MAY LOOK LIKE

But if people of a country do not want to be part of it, why shouldn't their demand be acceded to, especially if there are democratic means by which such sentiments can be gauged for level of acceptance? South Sudan did it, even in the United Kingdom, Scotland tested the popularity of their independence campaign but lost, so why should Nigeria continue to shut the door to such a proposal, while inundating the ears of the comity of nations with such sad and unfortunate news that continue to point to the fact only, that the people would rather not smell the scent of those of a different tribe or religion if they can help it, expressing that desire in the most violent of ways at every given opportunity.


It is why any so called change that doesn't factor the reorganization of the entity called Nigeria, with the implementation of recommendations from a tete-a-tete of the nations that make it up is NO CHANGE, but a perpetuation of same old ideas that has brought us to the unenviable position we are today. If only we could find that bold and charismatic leader, with a party that believes in same objectives that will find the political will (or just manage to pull the majority of the Nigerian people in that regard in making that superior argument), to take this bull by the horn, to do the necessary that's needed to turn Nigeria in the path it should take to attain a federal, or Confederacy status, or even a split into it's major parts, as it is apparent that this pseudo-federal, unitary system cannot yield any good beyond the bit that it has so far afforded, while the fragile attachments continue to loosen further by the day.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://www.chatafrik.com

ENCORE BOKO HARAM

I just saw a recent video (http://t.co/Psky5vQ0sE) posted by the Islamic Fundamentalist group operating in Nigeria's Northeastern region, Boko Haram (seeking to impose a stricter form of the Islamic Jurisprudence, The Shar'ia on the country as it has successfully done in areas under its control in recent times) on youtube, which started by showing an onslaught against Nigeria's military forces in an unnamed location (may have been named in Arabic though) somewhere in what I suspect to be the Northeast of Nigeria, that ended with the beheading of a Nigerian soldier,

THE SOLDIER IN THE AFOREMENTIONED VIDEO

and a show of arms seized by the group after the attack. Contrary to what we are made to believe about the group striking a retreat each time they encounter Nigeria's military, the video shows members of the group surging towards gunfire, all of them without Kevlar.

Though the veracity of the video, especially as regards timing isn't easy to ascertain, it is not difficult to conclude that the footage may have been recently shot. If this is so, it makes a mockery of all that we have been getting as information from the military of successes recorded in the fight against the insurgents with assurances that they will be totally quashed by December, in the light of recent cases as well as frequency of suicide bomb attacks in Maiduguri (Borno State) and other parts of the Northeast, in which many civilians have lost their lives.

The stories of arrest of masterminds, including of so called financiers (with a few millions on their persons) with picture of an emaciated fellow as the suspect for instance, or of bomb makers, or of fuel suppliers (in Jigawa) amongst others, many of which there are no pictures to verify, nor names given makes the case of the military hardly believable in the face of mounting evidence of the activities of these Islamic Fundamentalist whose bombings go almost unchallenged, many times in the same vicinity within days with nothing to show that anything was learnt from the last suicide bombing either of a female suicide bomber, or from a male dressed like a female suicide bomber, or of a male suicide bomber. Even the pro-government media which helped this administration get into power, and then went further to keep mute over the resurgence of the suicide attacks (even of recent in Nigeria's capital, Abuja) appear to have realized the foolishness of their actions and now joined the foreign media to report these attacks as well as their frequency.

I was taken aback when President Buhari in an interview he granted an Al Jazeera journalist days back, claimed he hadn't read the report by an international Human Rights organization, that accused the Nigerian army of gross human rights violation in it's battle against Boko Haram in the Northeast, when one of the reasons Nigerians voted for him was on the strength of allegations against the past government on the way it had handled the war against the insurgents albeit with laxity. This is coming just days after Nigeria (which he led to New York) missed a key event at the United Nations, where the plight of Internal Displaced People, IDPs was up for discussion, of which fringe countries and Nigeria's neighbours attended and made their positions before the international community, while his handlers played down the importance of the event, rather than admit that a huge mistake had been made.

Sadly, what the president's handlers were concerned with was how President Buhari became Nigeria's first president to speak on the opening day of the UN's General Assembly. Just like they regaled us with how he was hosted at Blair House, that only few foreign Heads of State had had the pleasure of staying at during a visit to the United States of America, over and above the fact that nothing concrete was obtained of the Americans, especially with a President Obama who was nice enough not to have abandoned the Nigerian delegation in his haste to hurry off to Kenya, all because of a LEAHY ACT which prevents the American Department of State from assisting nations, whose military have been accused of human rights abuses militarily. It therefore was no surprise that a nation like Cameroon which made little or no noise, employing quiet and strategic diplomacy had just last week welcomed the first batch of a contingent of three hundred military experts from the US to help the country combat Boko Haram terrorists within her borders, and this while the Nigerian president was simply offered a visit by the commander of America's  Africa Command, AFRICOM.

Unfortunately, this Buhari-led administration jettisoned whatever gains was achieved by the last administration to chart a new course it is looking to be doing LEARNER at, when they could just have built on it. Now, in the latest interview he granted the foreign press (as if he detests the local Nigerian press), President Buhari stated that he wouldn't resign if Boko Haram isn't wiped out by the Decenber deadline he set for the military (whose command headquarters he relocated to Maiduguri, in Borno State which is the heart of the insurgent group), an indication that it may have dawned on him that the war against these Islamist may not be a thing of the past in the nearest future. A scary thing to ponder upon for the discerning.

I hate to think that this war against Boko Haram will be long drawn. Having followed the evolution of this group, beside writing about them (the latest been: LAFIYA NOT YET DO-LE | madukovich's cogitations https://madukovich.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/lafiya-not-yet-do-le/), I think that it is high time we begin to humanize some of the things associated with this war. I know that it may be difficult to get the names of victims at the hands of Boko Haram, but when such is possible, even of the injured, their names should be documented, even if (as is expected) that the government may abandon them to their fate. That way, somehow or somewhere in the future we may just be fortunate to find non governmental organizations, NGOs or even governments at different levels that may be interested in the welfare of such people to cater for them, not only physically but psychologically as well.

The military's quiet (even of denial as in the case of a beheaded member of the airforce few months back, at the hands of members of the dreaded group) over it's captured personnel must stop. The

THE SAME SOLDIER ABOUT TO BE BEHEADED

name of the latest victim in the video I saw (and that of many others, including a female member of the intelligence services), as well as many of our gallant men and women lost to these barbarians during combat should be made public so that Nigerians can honour them in anyway they might deem fit, and have their families feel proud of what their wards, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters etc, had done in sacrificing their lives for not just the peace and security of their beloved country, but for it's unity, rather than just focussing and making news of the court-martialling of deserters, even sentencing those who refused to sacrifice themselves because they were ill-equipped to face members of Boko Haram to death.

'kovich

PICTURE CREDIT:
- http://africanspotlight.com
- http://realchannel165.com.ng

A CASE FOR BUILDING INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA

I am very glad to note this morning, that a ban has been placed on movements of articulated heavy duty vehicles on Lagos roads between the hours of 6am and 9pm at night. My joy is not without sadness though, considering that the order which isn't the first time such will be issued, is following an unfortunate incident. I wonder why we have to wait for tragedies to occur to enforce statutory laws in Nigeria, be it in transportation (as in this case), building (following recent cases of building collapses), aviation (with recent helicopter and plane crashes, with fingers now being pointed at use of Kerosene in lieu of JetA-1 for aviation fuel, which I now hear damages turbines of aircrafts), amongst others.

Because of the way this restriction has been procured, as a kneejerk reaction by a concerned governor following an unfortunate incident, it means that as like other times, with the passage of time even without a reversal things will return to status quo, and much of the same things will continue until another avoidable tragedy stares us in the face. This is why the case for the building of institutions must be made and not just of STRONG MEN, only showing up when the condition requires, sometimes with political intentions behind such actions, even when such wasn't the intention of the politician in power (for instance the governor in this case), who then stands to gain political capital following such tragedies. 

If we had institutions performing even at an average of fifty percent, the "fits and starts" situation witnessed in almost all sectors of the socio-econo-political life of Nigeria will not be there. We will not have to wait for a new government to come in to begin to fight corruption just because the former government's BODY LANGUAGE appeared to encourage corruption, when in fact it wasn't that anti-corruption bodies were

LOGO OF NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION, EFCC

proscribed while that government lasted. The right things will be done because regulating authorities, and prosecuting bodies will be alive to their responsibilities. When people talk about how flawed our constitution is, I am quick to remind them that the solution isn't in throwing away what we already have, because even the so called flawed constitution makes space for its own amendments, besides which of the laws therein have we even complied with to the latter? We should start by keeping the laws we all swore to abide by, and because no man made law can be perfect, we should feel free to insist on their amendments to bring them in line with  current realities and dictates of the times.

In forming governments, the idea is that individuals under the space to be governed give up their rights to act as they will in deference to what is desirable by the commonwealth, with some individuals (politicians in government) enabled by the people (via elections) to ensure that all walk within the tenets so laid down, and proffering punishments to such as fall short of these tenets in order to safeguard the society and ensure its survival, even beyond the framers of these laws. Hence, my second area of sadness over the restriction of movements slammed on articulated vehicles, in that nothing was mentioned in regards to punishment either of the erring driver, whose actions and/or inactions may have directly or indirectly contributed to the accident at Ojuelegba which led to the deaths of three people which I wrote about in http://madukovich.blogspot.com/2015/09/of-articulated-vehicles-and-nigerian.html?m=1, neither was anything said in the way of liability placed at the doorstep of the company or firm whose truck caused such needless deaths, and destruction of property, without forgetting the owner of the goods been conveyed in the container, if they aren't one and same.

I would love a situation where beyond all the grandstanding by the new President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to put ALL things right (which is gradually trickling downwards), efforts will be committed to a greater extent (than former President Goodluck Jonathan did with his unassuming presence) to the strengthening of institutions, so that beyond the administration of Buhari, any gains made today and celebrated tomorrow will not become eroded in the nearest future, for which the clamour for another Buhari will become once again pertinent. 

'kovich

NIGERIA, AFTER THE ELECTIONS

I never thought there could be a day when Nigerians (like Americans who are divided almost evenly into Republican and Democratic Party supporters), will be divided nearly evenly into supporters of the All Progressives Congress, APC and People’s Democratic Party, PDP supporters evenly, enough to pursue relationships along that line, either positively or negatively.

Nigerians aren't new to divisions, in fact since independence and way before that, what has kept Nigerians divided had been religion and ethnicity, and anyone with an iota of discerning spirit knows that the wheel that grinds this country into motion is oiled by those aforementioned ills, and now we have added to that partisan politics. I make bold to say that at no time in Nigeria's history, have the divisive impact of politics been this well rooted, even though on the surface one could point to times in the past when lives were lost following General Elections such as the one we had in March. It is to the credit of former President Goodluck Jonathan that this country did not descend into chaos and war with his timely acceptance of defeat and congratulating then president-elect Muhammadu Buhari with millions of votes to be counted though it had become obvious where the votes will swing.

                                                 PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI

Elections are gone now and what was  considered impossible in Nigeria's history happened, with the victory of an opposition party candidate over an incumbent, and though weeks have passed since that happened the "warring" factions have yet to climb out of their trenches. So we now have a situation where the President Buhari led government and supporters must prove that they can deliver on the promises they made during the campaigns, many of which appear to have now been abandoned (if the BODY LANGUAGE of the president and his handlers are anything to go), in form of denials and the heaping of the blame of such so called promises, on overzealous supporters, while the NEW opposition party, PDP and it's supporters and those who preferred not to vote Buhari pounce on that to play the "I Told You So" tape.

Now on the defensive, against the barrage of criticisms coming from the opposition over every action taken by the president, the presidency and his handlers and supporters have not failed to exploit every opportunity to proclaim the good done by the administration, while the opposition have managed to score some points in having the government acknowledge some of the criticisms, by promising to do better, especially as regards the lopsidedness of the appointments made by the president so far, to the eventual release of preliminary statement regarding the assets of the president and vice president publicly, while the full meat is being awaited once the Code Of Conduct Bureau concludes its investigations on the assets both have declared, for which both sides of the divide are celebrating as victories to their causes.

What the opposition is yet to wrap its head around is the talk of the president's "Body Language" been touted as responsible for any positive happening or the "changing atmosphere", even when nothing was invested in bringing about the "order", while the yet lingering "negatives" is thrown in the direction of the new opposition that had been in power for the past sixteen years. One reality that has come home to all though, is that the fight against CORRUPTION appears to have mellowed with all the hue and cry of expectations and fabrications, finger pointings and media lynching, even by people who should know better have begun to give way to pessimism on the one side, especially of the opposition and fading hope on the other as it begins to look as if change is resembling much of the same, as was with past governments where the anticorruption fight was simply mouthed, or the opposition (to the government, even within the same party) was targeted, including scapegoatism for which just about anybody could be victim.

It has become pertinent, that President Buhari though still riding high on the people's goodwill must not allow himself to be carried away by the praises of sycophants, nor allow himself to be wearied by criticisms, rather he must measure both sides in taking actions, propounding and executing policies that will deliver the dividend of democracy to the majority of the Nigerian populace, as wide as the reach of the federal government can allow.

'kovich