Abuja goes agog at the premiere of Bent Arrows

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Read Time:2 Minute, 1 Second

It was the unleashing of glamour and Glitz on Thursday September 9th as ‘Bent Arrows’ a block buster movie from the stables of Alphabridges Limited was  premiered at the Silverbird Galleria in Abuja. The star studded movie parading the likes of Olu Jacobs, Joke Silva, Patric Otoro, Omoni Oboli, Stella Damasus, Enebeli Elebuwa,Ngozi Ezeonu, Desmond Elliot, Sylvia Oluchi among others was hosted to a grand entry into Nollywood as the premiere saw virtually all the stars in attendance.

The paid-for halls were quickly filled, and Silverbird had to quickly cancel a show to give another hall for the premiere which was powered by Vitabiotics Nigeria Limited, Jaytees, Chelsea Hotel, Westinghouse, Doxa Digital Nigeria and Bodyline Gym.

The movie tells the story of Idara who was raped by her uncle (her mother’s brother) when she went to stay with him so he could help her with her education as he promised her mum.
After two abortions and finally securing admission, she became a prostitute. Introduced into the

trade by Ngozi (Stella Damasus) who because her father abandoned her mum and siblings for another woman took to prostitution. Lola (omoni oboli) after almost being smothered by her parents and being cheated by her fiancée Seyi decided to be a bad girl.

Showing their prowess in acting the actresses gave a good account of themselves with Stella Damasus delivering her lines in pidgin with so much dexterity. Her wafi girl role was delivered well. According to Stella after the premiere, “initially they wanted to give me the role of Idara but I refused. I didn’t want the weepy role. I wanted something challenging and different and the role of Ngozi gave me that”.

On her part, Sylvia who had acted in about 4 films before playing the lead role in ‘Bent Arrows’ said the role was challenging because “I had to go through different layers of transitions as the character Idara. I enjoyed being the bitchy Idara more than the weepy one who had been raped.” As for acting with well known stars she said she was “kind of overwhelmed”.

 

The movie was written and produced by Isang Ubong-Awah and directed by Lancelot Imasuen who played d role of d pastor. The sound track was good and appropriate for the specific scenes. The independent soundtrack album of the film was produced by Mr. Cobhams Asuquo.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Goodluck GoodluckJonathan Vs Ibrahim Babangida : The Gloves are Off

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Read Time:3 Minute, 19 Second
Just as we are nearing the election 2011, the two rival groups Jonathans team and IBB’s team have pulled off their boxing gloves, and the referee is about to declare ROUND 1 !!! below is an article from voaafrica
Chief Raymond Dokpesi says the president’s supporters threatened to kidnap his eldest son by mid-day Monday if he did not step down

A Nigerian media tycoon has said he stands by his allegation that supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan have threatened to kidnap his eldest son.
Raymond Dokpesi, who is Director General of the presidential campaign for former Nigerian military leader Ibrahim Babangida, told VOA he received several phone calls also threatening to attack his business if he did not step down from his post.
He said the alleged threats also involve the militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, known as MEND.

“On (last) Tuesday, a group of leaders from the South-South who are frontline campaigners from President Goodluck Jonathan met and decided to expel me from a body which I am not a member of, which calls, or styles, itself as a South-South Leaders and Elders Forum. Less than 24 hours after that, MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) decided to issue a claim declaring me persona non grata in the zone from which I come,” he said.

Dokpesi said, soon after the MEND statement, which he said included a threat, he began to receive telephone calls threatening his family.
“Now, after that (the MEND threat) came in, the members of my family, including my children, received various telephone calls threatening that my eldest son, Raymond Dokpesi, Jr. would be kidnapped on Monday if, by mid-day, I do not step down,” he said.
He said he was certain that some elements of the militant group were supporters of President Jonathan.
“I am stating unequivocally that some elements in MEND, or MEND by their release, have clearly shown that they are supporters of Jonathan,” Dokpesi said.
Dokpesi said he has alerted Nigerian police about the threat to kidnap his eldest son.
“I have reported it to the police; I’ve reported it to everybody. I’ve intensified my own personal security, and I pray that it does not happen,” he said.
Efforts to reach President Jonathan’s office on the allegations failed. But, a U.S.-based Nigerian Internet publication quotes a statement from the president’s spokesman, Ima Niboro, as denying the allegations.
He dismissed suggestions by some that he should stay out of politics as a media tycoon. On the contrary, Dokpesi said he has been a politician for most of his life.
“I have been a politician all my life. I sought to be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I also had run for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, my antecedent as a politician has never been doubt. But, I should also add that I have stepped aside as chairman of the media group,” he said.
Dokpesi said he has written a letter to the National Broadcasting Commission notifying them of his temporary withdrawal as chairman.

President Jonathan has not formally said that he would stand as a candidate in next year’s election, although he has reportedly told southern governors that he would.
Dokpesi said he had made it clear that it would be a bad idea if Mr. Jonathan were to stand as a candidate.
“Let me say that I had personally written and have met with President Jonathan on several occasions to tell him, and to state emphatically, that it may constitutionally right, but it is morally wrong, and it is against the constitution of the party, which he belongs to,” Dokpesi said.
He said, if Jonathan runs, it would violate the zoning understanding between the northern and southern members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Ambassador John Campbell Is An Undiplomatic Loud Mouth!

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Read Time:9 Minute, 4 Second

There is nothing to know or learn about and from Ambassador John Campbell, if there is at all, it must be that, he is not a friend of Nigeria! There is nothing to know or learn about and from Ambassador John Campbell, if there is at all, it must be that, he is not a friend of Nigeria! If he were, he would not so frequently and in most offensive regularity, engage in writing scripts for would be coup plotters, political opportunists, anarchist which might lurk within and outside Nigeria.

John Campbell is no expert on anything Nigerian. If he is an expert at all, it has to be on one thing and one thing alone, which is, his undiplomatic and uncharitable willingness to paint worse case scenarios regarding Nigeria, at every turn.

It will be recalled that some Americans, while debating policy on Nigeria have, during the past several years announced that Nigeria will disintegrate in about fifteen years. This latest salvo by John Campbell fits those preconceived notions and predilections often exhibited to often by some, towards everything Nigerian, nay, African, where everything is without redemption and nothing good is possible or is sustainable.

We should ask, what and who made John Campbell an expert on Nigeria anyway, his stint as a United States representative in Nigeria for a few years?.  John Campbell’s predictions about Nigeria stemmed from wrong predicates and premises and his conclusions are clearly wrong, and should be dismissed.

Nigerians will do well to compare Martin Indyk the former American ambassador to Israel for several years with John Campbell’s very damning public comments, articles and now, an unflattering book about Nigeria. Ambassador Martin Indyk does not exaggerate or engage in hyperbole against, despite all that is known by the public regarding the contentious relations between America on the one hand, and Israel and her neighbors on the other. Ambassador Martin Indyk does not engage in slash and burn against Israel as John Campbell obviously enjoys doing against Nigeria.

Nigerians should ask why John Campbell regularly announces to the world, that the sky in Nigeria is falling? His latest diatribe on Nigeria followed his pattern of demonstrated pessimism about Nigeria as illustrated by most recent article, titled, “Nigeria On The Brink, What Happens If 2011 Elections Fail”

Well meaning Nigerians should demand to know why, if John Campbell has any viable connections with either the political establishment in America and Nigeria respectively, why then, is he not using such connections for the benefit of the historically cordial relationships between the United States and Nigeria? Why does he need to frequently shout fire, fire, and conflagrations ever so often?

John Campbell has instead resorted regularly, to pedestrian rumor mongering at frequent intervals.

It is quite possibly the case, that some Nigerian pessimists, upon reading John Campbell’s latest dire predictions and extremely ominous forecasts, regarding Nigeria, these Nigerian pessimists would jump up and down with shouts of Aha! We knew it, we knew it, and the Americans have confirmed it!

It can be imagined that these Nigerian pessimists think of John Campbell as having the requisite pedigree or qualifications on matters Nigeria. All westerners to always claim possession and or to have exclusive preserve, of this “superior” knowledge about Nigeria, Africa, and in fact, about the whole world!

The only notable exceptions being, perhaps, the whereabouts on earth, of raggedly Osama Bin Ladin. Or the massive American intelligence failures in the run up to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and American Defense headquarters, Pentagon.  And the massive American intelligence failures which neglected to anticipate the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR.

The wrong-headed American invasion and occupation of Iraq and the silly expectations, by some American officials, who predicted that Iraqis will dance in the streets, while throwing flower petals at the feet of Americans troops, whom Iraqis would hail as liberators, indicates this trends in public policy failures on the part of the American political establishment.

The failure to anticipate the magic of China’s double digit economic growth and ascendancy as a dominant superpower ranks up there as well, in public policy ineptitude on the part of the Americans. And yet, John Campbell, a part role player in this American establishment is an “expert” on Nigeria?

John Campbell comes across as busily writing scripts for disasters and miseries for Nigeria, when there so much happening here on the home front in America. The Chinese economy is in audacious upsurge and unprecedented growth, the American economy is quite in the opposite trend with high rates of unemployment and in free fall. There is mounting public debt as deficits in the trillions stares America in the face. America and other western nations are in clear trepidations over China emergence, particularly, China’s ability to fund America’s public debts as well as compete with western nations for resources on the African continent. There is an economic meltdown in America, there is mass discontent and disenchantment in America.

In the face of all this, John Campbell, seeks to lecture Nigerians and Nigeria on public policy failures? The sad thing is that, some Nigerians may actually listen to John Campbell, take him seriously and even allow themselves to be guided by the nuisance value of John Campbell’s preachment to us!

All Nigerians will do well, to ensure the success of the forthcoming scheduled general elections in January 2011. Ensuring smooth elections is in Nigeria’s best national interests, and in doing so, we will be doing no favors to interlopers and inter-meddlers such as John Campbell. Nigerians and Nigeria do not need outsiders with pretensions to what is best for Nigeria. Nigerians and friends of Nigeria must ensure that the precipitous predictions by persons and entities such as we have in John Campbell does not come to pass.

Nigerians will do well, in pronouncements and actions, so that we do not fall victims sinister rumors and into John Campbell’s worst case scenarios. There is no time like now, to redouble our efforts, just so, we do not fulfill John Campbell’s false prophecies and fatalistic fantasies.

It should be clear to all Nigerians by now, that John Campbell should not be seen as just a messenger or some sorts of teller of “bitter truths”. He instead, has repeatedly portrayed Nigeria as always chaotic, and at the brink of total collapse or as if always at the precipice of catastrophes. We should not take his word for it, that we are dancing at brinks of extinction. We should do nothing to play into his abominable and obnoxious scripts.

Nigerians should see through John Campbell’s very paternalistic preachment and condescending manner towards Nigeria. John Campbell’s articles and now, his book which scandalizes Nigerians and Nigeria, his actions are indicative of the contempt he reserves for us Nigerians and Nigeria.

Nigerians ought to and should in fact, denounce John Campbell and others like him, for fanning the embers of our family squabbles. We should, for our own purposes, ensure that our diversities in regions, ethnicity, religions cultures and languages are seen always as attributes which services our national interests in mutually beneficial ways. Nigeria is a plural society and that is a wonderfully positive thing which we must emphasize often, instead of our minor and infinitesimal differences emphasized and exaggerated by John Campbell.

Nigerians and friends of Nigeria should boycott John Campbell’s forthcoming book. The book is a calculated insult to us Nigerians, for it scandalizes Nigerians and Nigeria most offensively.

John Campbell’s book is a crime against us. Our boycotting the book effectively is the best way to send a message to the writer that crime does not pay. And  send a message to him, to the effect that his scandalous book about us and out nation will not be rewarded or made profitable for him, not by us, at least.

He must not be rewarded for his repeated crimes against Nigerians and Nigeria, with his notoriously reckless, irresponsible and yet, extremely toxic predictions about our very existence. John Campbell and persons like him, constitute existential threat to Nigeria continued corporate existence as a nation.

John Campbell’s latest article published recently, identical in title and subtext with his forthcoming book. It is scandalous and offensive. It is loaded with suggestions to those who might engage in opportunism,

John Campbell should be told to cease, desist and refrain from his persistent silliness about Nigeria.  He should stop peddling anarchy, disasters and catastrophes with the hope of finding Nigerian buyers.

Nigerians are urged, in reaction to John Campbell’s latest exercise in gloom and doom predictions, which he insists must be Nigeria’s fate, the question reasonable persons should ask and answer, is; What Purpose Does John Campbell’s Public shaming of Nigerians and Nigeria serve? What is the benefit to Nigerians and Nigeria in John Campbell’s portrayal of Nigeria as helpless sheep on the way to a destined doom in a slaughter house or abattoir? Nigeria is not the only plural and multicultural multi-religious and multi-ethnic and multilingual nation on earth. And Nigeria is not the only nation which may experience election impasses and deadlocks! Nigeria’s democracy is imperfect, but show me a perfect democracy!

After all, there have been several elections this year, worldwide, with inclusive results or outcomes, notably in Britain, Iraq and most recent amongst these, is the case of Australia. These other nations managed to have survived election deadlocks, without total collapse, anarchy, civil wars and disasters or catastrophes.

Even Iraq, made fragile by America’s invasion and occupation, has not collapsed or disintegrated from her election impasse, why should John Campbell or any reasonable person suggest that Nigeria is much more fragile in comparison with the now war ravaged Iraq? Why is that Nigeria would not survive election impasse and deadlock ? Could this be because we are Africans?

Why is total collapse and military coup, wars, and disintegration the highlights and the only possible outcomes in John Campbell careless forecasts for Nigeria?

Nigerians and lovers of Nigeria will do well to discount and discountenance John Campbell’s rabble rousing gloom and doom worst case scenarios.

Nigerians are a keenly aware of our national issues and challenges. Our national challenges are made more clear to us, in the run up to the general elections in January 2011 even without outsider meddling in our internal affairs.

Nigerians and Nigeria must engage in these forthcoming necessary political process and emerge triumphantly. We do not need John Campbell or anyone for that matter, predicting our national demise. The forthcoming elections too, will come to pass without disasters and all the negative outcomes from John Campbell’s uselessly fuzzy crystal balls.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Goodluck Jonathan Cleans House

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Read Time:3 Minute, 18 Second
ABUJA (Codewit) – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan replaced the heads of the military and security services on Wednesday, consolidating his hold on power months before elections in Africa’s most populous country.

Jonathan promoted former air force chief Air Marshal Oluseyi Peterin to Chief of Defence Staff and named new heads of the air force, army and navy. He also removed the Inspector General of Police and head of the State Security Service.

“Mr president thanked them for their dedication to the service of the nation and wished them well in their future endeavours,” presidency spokesman Ima Niboro told reporters in the presidential villa in Abuja.

He said the tenures of the outgoing service chiefs had expired at the end of August and that the new appointments would take immediate effect, but gave no further details.

Jonathan has not yet said whether he will stand in the January polls but recent announcements, including a major blueprint to end chronic power shortages, have looked more like campaign promises and most Nigerians expect he will.

Nigeria emerged from decades of coups and military rule 11 years ago but the military remains a potent background force, with retired generals reinventing themselves as politicians and businessmen, and still pulling the strings of power.

The last military shake-up in Nigeria was just over two years ago, when then President Umaru Yar’Adua named new service chiefs in a bid to assert his authority and shake off the influence of his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo.

Similarly, the latest reshuffle suggests Jonathan is asserting his authority four months after Yar’Adua died in office, and ensuring he is in control of the military in the run-up to the presidential, parliamentary and state polls.

“Goodluck Jonathan is roaring like a lion,” said one security analyst in Nigeria, asking not to be named.

TURBULENT TIMES AHEAD?

Nigeria is roughly equally divided between Christians and Muslims and spread across more than 200 ethnic groups.

An election bid by Jonathan, who is from the southern Niger Delta, could be divisive due to a ruling party pact that power rotates between the Muslim north and Christian south every two terms, meaning the next president should be a northerner.

Sensitivities about the distribution of senior military and civilian positions run deep in Africa’s top energy producer.

Jonathan named Major General O.A. Ihejirika as his new chief of army staff, the first time since Nigeria’s 1967-70 civil war that anyone from the southeastern Igbo ethnic group has held the top post in the most powerful branch of the armed forces.

“The appointment of an Igbo as army chief is of symbolic value and a gesture towards those in the east who complain of marginalisation,” said Antony Goldman, London-based head of PM Consulting and a Nigeria expert.

“In the short term, attention is more likely to focus on the new police chief, who will play a significant role in shaping the security environment during the forthcoming elections.”

Jonathan named northerner Uba Ringim as acting Inspector General of Police, but has yet to name a permanent chief.

Previous elections in Nigeria have been marred by widespread voter intimidation, ballot-stuffing and outbreaks of violence in flashpoints including the oil-producing Niger Delta and the Middle Belt between the Muslim north and Christian south.

Hundreds of people died earlier this year in clashes around the central city of Jos, violence which was ostensibly religious and ethnic but had roots in economic and political rivalry.

There have been isolated acts of election-related violence in some northern states including Bauchi, where several people have been killed in disputes over the display of campaign posters, local politicians have said.

There are fears the radical Islamic Boko Haram sect, which wants sharia (Islamic law) more widely imposed across the country, is trying to stage a comeback after gunmen freed as many as 800 prisoners including some sect members from a jail in the city of Bauchi late on Tuesday.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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John Campbell Got It Wrong On Nigeria

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Read Time:10 Minute, 30 Second

Anyone who read a preview of John Campbell’s (former US Ambassador) soon-to-be published book, ‘Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink,’ would begin to entertain serious anxieties over the future of Nigeria, due to the doomsday scenario he painted of what to expect during and after the 2011 elections. His prophesy of chaos rests on three legs; one, that there is no consensus amongst Nigeria’s power elite on who to support for the position of President; two, that there is no “Obasanjo-like figure strong enough to impose one”. And three, that even though the North believes it is still it’s turn to rule, there is no clear consensus amongst them as to who would be their candidate.

I believe that Mr Campbell is wrong in his predictions of doom and that he is not basing his prognosis on any experiential knowledge of what is on the ground. Rather, he has come to his conclusion from projections and analysis based on media reports that are deliberately exaggerated by interested parties in the Nigerian project to manipulate foreign governments and by his now stale experience when he was ambassador to Nigeria between 2004 and 2007.

He says that unlike in every election since 1999, there has been no consensus amongst Nigeria’s political power elite on a candidate to support for 2011 and this portends doom. How true is this? It actually depends on who Mr Campbell refers to as Nigeria’s political power elite. In 1999, there was a consensus, but that consensus was not amongst Nigeria’s political elite. It was a consensus amongst the military administration in power and those retired military officers who had participated in bringing the current regime into power. At the Oputa Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission, Hamza Al Mustapha (late Sani Abacha’s Chief Security Officer) gave testimony on the role played by Ibrahim Babangida in ensuring that his friend and kinsman Abdulsalami Abubakar emerged as Head of State after the demise of Mr Abacha in controversial circumstances.

Having played this role as king maker, Mr Babangida who had been forced to “step aside” in 1993, began to scheme his way back to power. He knew that Nigeria could not have a return to civil rule without first compensating the people of the Southwest from where MKO Abiola, whose election he had annulled in 1993, came from. Thus, with his own ambition to return to power being the end he had in mind, Mr Babangida influenced the government of Mr Abdulsalami to come up with an exit strategy for a transition to civil rule and handover to someone from Mr Abiola’s southwest whom the North felt comfortable with.

Military consensus

Mr Babangida was able to convince the powerful group of retired military generals from the North, who had facilitated Mr Abdulsalami’s emergence, that the only person who would fit this bill was Olusegun Obasanjo, who was then in jail. He began to float this idea in the Nigerian media and the international community, especially the Western countries, were sold on this idea. I know this because in July of 1998, I met with the Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria, Bastian Korner, in Lagos and he spent time trying to convince me as to why Nigeria needed Mr Obasanjo. The suspicion amongst some in the civil rights community, which I belonged to then, was that the idea of having an Obasanjo presidency may have in fact not emanated from Babangida but from outside the shores of Nigeria; but that is a story for another day.

However, working with what we know, we can safely say that Mr Babangida was able to forge a consensus amongst Aliyu Gusau (the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan), T.Y. Danjuma (who became Mr Obasanjo’s minister of defence and who famously vowed to go on exile if Mr Obasanjo did not win the 1999 presidential elections) and Abdulsalami Abubakar, the then Head of state. Other than this military power elite, it is on record that every other political elite in Nigeria, including the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) of the late Shehu Musa Yar’adua, the Afenifere (the council of elders in the Southwest) who controlled the Southwest as at 1998-99, the Ohaneze Ndigbo (council of elders in the Southeast), the Northern Elders Forum (who were the predecessors of today’s Arewa Consultative Forum) and the G-34 who were the group of politicians who stood up to challenge Mr Abacha’s self-succession plot and who would later be the nucleus of the PDP, all resisted the emergence of Mr Obasanjo in 1998-99 and only relented when it was obvious that the deck was stacked in favour of Mr Obasanjo and there was not much else they could do to resist it without prolonging military rule.

So what Mr Campbell considers as a consensus of Nigeria’s political elite in the 1999 election was not so much a consensus as the fact that a few oligarchic clique of serving and retired military officers had made up their minds to back Mr Obasanjo. And even within that clique, there was resistance to him. Again, testimony from Mr Al Mustapha at the ‘Oputa Panel’ showed that the then Chief of Army Staff, Ishaya Bamaiyi (whom I personally met in kirikiri prison in January of 2000) resisted the imposition of Mr Obasanjo.

Now moving on to the 2003 elections. It is on record that Mr Obasanjo had alienated much of the military clique that ensured his rise to power. He had fallen out with Mr Babangida, who was indifferent to his reelection bid and had even been reported to have asked him to consider the Mandela option. Also, his relationship with Mr Danjuma was strained and the former General would later leave the government and publicly accuse Mr Obasanjo of running a government that was a “cult”. But despite the above and despite the fact that he had alienated most of the governors of his own party, who had queued up behind his Vice, Atiku Abubakar, Obasanjo was STILL able to win his party’s presidential primary as well as getting reelected in the general elections of 2003.

The Obasanjo consensus

Now coming to the 2007 elections. Even Mr Campbell himself must know that other than a consensus that the presidency should be zoned to the North, just as today, there was no elite consensus as to who the Northern candidate would be.

In fact, a strong member of Mr Obasanjo’s second term kitchen cabinet, Nasir El Rufai, had told me and also said same in public that Mr Obasanjo encouraged every Northern governor to vie for the Presidency. In addition to the Northern governors, several Southern governors who had finished their constitutionally allowed two terms threw their hats into the ring. Mr Babangida and Mr Gusau also joined the fray . And what is more, Mr Atiku Abubakar, himself a formidable politician, joined the race for President.

However, when in November 2006 Obasanjo showed his hands and openly supported a reluctant governor, Umaru Musa Yar’adua, all those who had previously indicated interest began to withdraw except those who had moved out of the PDP. The elections came, and very predictably the PDP candidate won and the opposition went to court and nothing came out of it after a 24 month long legal battle.

So what does this all prove?

It proves that rather than a consensus of the political elite being responsible for picking the country’s leader and avoiding post-election conflict since 1999, as Ambassador Campbell posits, it is the support of the incumbent and the machinery of government that determines who wins an election in Nigeria.

And why is this? It is because even though Nigeria operates in name a federal system of government, in practice she operates a massively unitary system of government with almost all executive powers concentrated in the person of the President. The person controls almost all the funds accruing to the country from oil and therefore has an enormous ability to dish out patronage – the carrot. The President also controls the law enforcement bodies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which in Nigeria is very potent in fighting governmental corruption and can unleash them on whomever he so desires – the stick.

An example may suffice on how this works. In June of 2005, the Obasanjo administration found Mustapha Jokolo, the then emir of Gwandu, to be a thorn in its flesh. A decision was made to dethrone him and this decision was supported by his home state government of Kebbi which effected his dethronement and sent him on exile. However, after his exile, no emir or traditional ruler was willing to accept him. And then the government made it known that they had budgeted a juicy sum of money to be given as upkeep allowance for whoever agreed to take Mr Jokolo into his domain. Well, the rest is now history but my point is made.

Also, one of Mr Campbell’s reasons for predicting post-election doom for Nigeria is the fact that there is no “Obasanjo-like” figure to impose a consensus candidate on Nigeria. This leads me to doubt that Mr Campbell is still up to date with Nigeria’s current affairs. There is no absence of an Obasanjo like character for the simple reason that Mr Obasanjo still exists and is in many ways as powerful (some say even more powerful) as when he was in office as president.

Even more telling is the fact that in the drama that held Nigeria captive, when Nigerians did not know the state of Mr Yar’adua or his physical location, the political elite were fiddling like Emperor Nero while Rome burnt. Yes, the G-57 (of which I was a signatory) wrote open letters giving ultimatum to the Federal Executive Council and the Save Nigeria Group took to the streets. But it was not until Obasanjo gave his now famous speech at the Daily Trust Lecture in January 2010, calling on Yar’adua to follow the ‘path of morality’ and ‘honour,’ that the political elite swung into action and voila, the Doctrine of Necessity came into being! Mr Obasanjo’s utterances were the catalyst that brought about that action.

New northern leaders

The truth is that the Obasanjo-like figure referred to by Mr Campbell still dey kampe (a slang popularly used by the former president to indicate that he was still standing) in Obasanjo, the ex-President. The final reason given by Mr Campbell to justify his doomsday scenario is that there is no clear consensus in the North as to who will be their candidate. If Mr Campbell knows Nigeria as he claims to do, he would know that rather than this being a source for worry, it is actually a good thing because if the North is to rally behind a candidate, it would lead to a bipolar race which is not good for Nigeria. It is better that the North have a multiplicity of candidates for the simple reason that competition amongst Northern power brokers would weaken the old guard and would strengthen the young Turks such as former FCT minister, Nasir El Rufai and former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu – both of whom are wildly popular in the South (almost to the point of being cult heroes) and place them in good stead to run and win in 2015 and completely consign the old Northern guard (who many blame for Nigeria’s underdevelopment) to history.

I would advise the international community to take Mr Campbell’s thesis with a pinch of salt and consult more with Robin Sanders, who is fresh from the Nigerian fields and who was very hands on as U.S Ambassador to Nigeria and who very recently gave a very optimistic report about the readiness and ability of Nigeria to conduct an even better election than any she has had since 1999.

Miss Sanders is of course in tune with the current mood in Nigeria and of Nigerians and is more competent than Mr Campbell to give an informed analysis and expectation of what 2011 holds for Nigeria and Nigerians.

 

Mr Omokri is Vice President, Africa, at Joe Trippi and Associates, the Washington DC political consultancy.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Inside Sarah Palin’s Life in Alaska

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Read Time:12 Minute, 21 Second

NEW YORK “ Could Sarah Palin’s glamorous new life in Wasilla derail a presidential run? Shushannah Walshe spoke exclusively to Palin’s parents; friends who recount her nasty streak; and explores how life has dramatically changed for her.

Talks to Sarah Palin’s parents, Chuck and Sally Heath about their daughter’s life in Alaska and her mom’s opinion that a possible run for the White House would be difficult.

Gets exclusive on-the-record interviews with family, friends, and foes with insight on how her life has changed from a mom-about-town to rarely seen Republican rock star”and friends explain why she gave up the governorship for the lure of money.

Looks inside her life in Wasilla now that she’s so famous and how she’s adjusted her lifestyle, from the Jetta she drives around town to who actually does the household shopping.

Speaks to the victim of the Troopergate investigation who recounts how Palin ruined his life–and to her former close aide, who accuses her of taking a nuclear bomb when a fly swatter would have dealt with the issue.

Hears from friends on her early ambitions for the White House and how she was looking towards Pennsylvania Avenue in her early Wasilla days”even before she McCain’s VP.

Reveals new information on her upcoming reality show on TLC, Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Family and friends tells stories of caribou hunting, gold-mining, and dog-mushing for the show.

The first thing you notice, upon pulling up to Chuck and Sally Heath’s house in Wasilla, Alaska, is the Christmas tree of moose antlers piled up next to the driveway. Step inside the ranch-style home, and you get another unmistakable sign that you ‘re not in blue-state America anymore: Chuck’s prized collection of skinned and stuffed animals, the spoils of his many hunting trips”a cougar, a mountain goat, foxes, birds, and snake skins spilling over the banister. Outside, a picnic table offers dramatic views of the Chugach Mountain range. It was in this setting that the Heaths, putting aside their natural wariness of press from the Lower 48, agreed to meet a reporter, feed her fresh snap peas from their garden”and share their thoughts about their world-famous daughter,

Should she run for president in 2012? Sarah’s mom, Sally, doesn’t hesitate. It would be a tough thing to do, she starts to say, until Chuck interrupts: Its up to her, whatever she wants to do. Sally, dressed in a green zip-up sweatshirt, continues. I love what she’s doing now: scouting around for who would be good candidates. Who honestly could stand up and speak and not be afraid to tell it like it is?

They don’t know her plans, the Heaths are quick to add, in their first national interview in over a year. But it would be fun to find out some day, Sally says, with a contagious laugh.

In other words, Sarahs parents seem to feel the way a lot of Alaskans feel about the state best-known export, next to oil and salmon: torn over the wisdom of her trying to make the White House her home.

Some friends expressed caution about Palins future. A former adviser in DC who remains friends with Palin said he doesn’t want to see her run. I think she’s got a great life. She’s got the world by the tail right now,this friend says. I mean, she’s earning a lot of money, which she never had before. She is speaking to adoring crowds wherever she goes. She’s greatly appreciated by those she supports and she doesn’t have to take all the grief that you have to take when you are either running for or holding office.

Others who are less favorably disposed point out that Palin’s aborted tenure as governor left a lot of bad blood in Alaska; they worry that her baggage would be dragged back onstage in another national campaign, and hurt the state.

But fans and foes alike warn against the dangers of selling Palin short.

Four years ago, right after she was elected, I was quoted as saying, ˜The graveyards of Alaska are covered with the bones of people crossed by Sarah Palin.’ While I said crossed, what I meant was underestimated,said Alaska Republican pollster David Dittman. And that’s still true. Consistently, whether it’s the local city council in Wasilla, no matter where she’s gone”say, on the cusp of achieving something”there’ve always been detractors that say it can’t happen, it won’t happen, this is why she won’t be successful. That’s why I will say, to this day, the political graveyards of Alaska”and other places”are filled with the bones of people who underestimated Sarah. And it’s still happening.

Adele Morgan, one of Palin’s oldest friends in Alaska, can attest to that. She recalls approaching Palin in 2005, when she first heard that her childhood pal and basketball buddy was running for governor.

I had heard that just from the grapevine so I went and asked her,Morgan recalls. I thought that was quite the feat at the time. And I said, ˜What are your plans?’ I was just kidding around and I said, ˜So do you want to be president?’ And that was way back then and she said, ˜Well maybe.’ And I was like, ˜Wow you got some goals there, girl!

If I was advising her on one thing: Never forget your roots, never forget where you come from,says Eddie Burke, a Palin family friend.

The ambition doesn’t always sit well with Alaskans, who have a saying: We don’t care how they do it on the Outside.But they clearly care when the Outside suddenly lands on their doorstep. Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright refers to the town as Hollywood Northbecause of the media focus and the parade of tourists from the Lower 48 that now visits hoping to get a glimpse of Sarah’s backyard.

She doesn’t spend nearly as much time there as she used to amid her speaking engagements, book tours, and appearances for midterm candidates across the country. (Indeed, until her endorsement of insurgent candidate Joe Miller in the state’s GOP Senate primary, who nosed out incumbent Lisa Murkowski, Palin’s influence had not been felt much at all since she resigned the governorship in 2009.)

Friends in Wasilla say she doesn’t drive the family’s Escalade SUV anymore and instead has gone back to the VW Jetta she used when governor to avoid being spotted.

Every time I drive it, people know who it is and I can just drive the Jetta and nobody pays any attention,Palin told friend and Wasilla neighbor Bev Perdew.

When she is in-state, she spends most of her time secluded in her Wasilla home on Lake Lucille. She’s alleviated the need to pop out to do TV, having recently added a studio as an extension to her house. In the past, she was often spotted shopping at Target and Walmart; these days, she sends Bristol to the store, to avoid being mobbed by friends and well-wishers.

On one hand, you can’t do anything because everybody’s watching when you go to the bathroom,says Eddie Burke, a Palin family friend who says he lost his job as a radio talk-show host after skirmishing with a Palin critic who worked at the same station. On the other, Burke says, she’s facing the allure of big-money book deals. So did she leave for money? Probably so.

Burke says he still chats with Todd about snow machining (Alaskan for snowmobiling) and was even involved in preparations with Palin for her rally with Glenn Beck. If I was advising her on one thing: Never forget your roots, never forget where you come from. I think there was a part of her that kind of got caught up. If I was to advise her, she should not forget where she came from.

He says he told this to Todd, creating some friction.

Walt Monegan knows what it’s like to have friction with the Palins on the grand scale. His firing as Palin’s public safety commissioner led to the Troopergate investigation. Monegan is still struggling with the fallout years later. The former Anchorage police chief still breaks down in tears when reminiscing about his time on the beat. If Palin does make a bid for the presidency, Monegan is sure to be held up by opponents as a case study in how she can wield power vindictively. He strongly cautioned against a future President Palin.

I think it’d be a train wreck. You need to have a thick skin in public service, especially if you’re going to be a boss of any sort. People are very opinionated; they will go up and tell you what they think about you, where you’ve gone wrong. You have to listen to them. You don’t shut them off, you don’t turn your back on them, and you certainly don’t attack,Monegan said. In her case, she is not mature enough or doesn’t understand that or she has such a large goal that she feels she knows what’s best for everybody, doesn’t really need any other input.

Palin’s foray this summer into the Alaska Senate race left similarly bruised feelings, exacerbating a long-running feud with the Murkowski family, which has divided the state’s Republican ranks. It all started when former Sen. Frank Murkowski bypassed Palin when, upon election as governor, he decided to appoint his daughter to fill out the remainder of his term in Congress. Palin returned the favor by ousting Murkowski in the GOP 2006 gubernatorial primary. The fighting continued this summer, when Palin’s decision to back Joe Miller helped propel him past Lisa Murkowski for the GOP Senate nomination.

Murkowski and her allies thought the move was personal. But SarahPAC staffer Rebecca Mansour (perhaps the aide closest to Palin) said she did not endorse Miller to get back at the family. “She did not endorse Joe Miller to get back at Lisa. Endorsing someone everyone thought would lose would not be a way to get back at Lisa. Her endorsement of Joe Miller was about principles, not personalities, Mansour said. It was about Alaska and her belief that Alaska should have the freedom to develop its natural resources under federal control so that it can become more of a giver to the nation through resource development instead of a taker of federal pork.”

Murkowski’s campaign manager was John Bitney, who, until recently, was a Palin ally. A high-school friend who ran her 2006 campaign for governor, Bitney had a falling out with Palin when she discovered Bitney was having an affair with a family friend, a woman to whom he is now married. Bitney is skewered in Palin’s book, Going Rogue, and says she sometimes uses her power to intimidate”taking a nuclear bomb when a fly swatter would have dealt with the issue, as he puts it.

If you are perceived having been someone who has criticized her or been on the other side of her or someone that she’s gone after, [there’s a feeling] that somehow she can hurt you,Bitney says. [People] are scared of her.Bitney said. That would really concern me to have that kind of power.Bitney today says I would love to have peace. I’m asking for a truce.(Says Mansour: I’ve worked for her for over a year, and I have not seen any mean side to her. She’s not mean like that. I don’t get that criticism. She’s always been very kind and considerate with me.)

In smoothing over some of these rifts, Palin’s parents are a great asset. Monegan, the ex-public safety commissioner, says he hasn’t had any contact with Palin or her inner circle. But last winter, he ran into Chuck Heath at a dinner celebrating Alaskan seafood. Heath ran over to Monegan and gave him a handshake and hug, telling him, That’s just politics. I still like you. Heath even went over to Monegan’s table to meet his family and regale them with stories of his daughter’s book tour.

Nobody knows the kind of sacrifices a new national campaign would entail quite like Palin’s parents, who hit the trail from time to time in 2008. The night before the balloting, Chuck told an audience in Nevada that he was one who taught Sarah how to field-dress a moose; on Election Day, he joked, she was going to field-dress a donkey, much to the crowd’s delight. These days, Sally often accompanies her daughter on trips outside Alaska, helping out with the grandkids, traveling to Washington for the Glenn Beck rally last month. (Chuck, for the time being, stays put: I don’t like to go during hunting season, he says).

Has their daughter’s fame affected them? I still run with the same derelicts I did 30, 40 years ago and buy whatever beer’s on sale, says Chuck with a smirk. Hasn’t changed me a bit.

They both said they don’t see their daughter much (Chuck saying he keeps track of where she travels by watching Fox News) because she is on the road so often, but when they do they don’t talk with their daughter about work.

We don’t talk politics. We talk hunting, fishing, sports, and family. Just normal family, none of the political stuff,her father said. She hears enough advice from everyone and criticism from everyone and she doesn’t need to hear my bad advice. We hunt together, fish together, travel together and we don’t socialize out in the limelight anymore because she’s mobbed. She can’t walk into a store anymore. We go to a lot of gatherings together, but she has to sneak in.

Chuck Heath says his daughter has been busy this summer working on her show for TLC, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, and gave a glimpse into what it will look like. He went caribou hunting with Palin and the TLC team and his favorite episode was their gold-mining adventure, The people in Nome treated us so well and we found not a lot of gold. But enough gold to make it interesting.

Shushannah Walshe is the co-author of Sarah From Alaska: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar. She was a reporter and producer at the Fox News Channel from August 2001 until the end of the 2008 presidential campaign.

 

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Nigeria for sale:The Insult Of Babangida/Odili And Saraki Presidential Ambitions

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Read Time:12 Minute, 30 Second

In the opening paragraph of my article, “We Really Must Be Really Scared Now!” written in June 2009  I wrote “I am scared for myself, my family, my people (all Nigerians), Nigeria itself. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not going to let Nigeria kill me. I am just sad and scared because idiots are getting away with murder, literarily. I am scared because I might die outside Nigeria, with my family scattered all over the world, not wanting to have anything to do with their fatherland. Lord, am I scared?”

It is the morning of 14 September 2010, and I am still as scared as ever about events in our country, Nigeria. I woke up to disturbing (at least for me, because in Nigeria, such sentiments depends on which side of the fence you are or which side your bread is buttered) news, namely:

1.      Former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida, is in advanced talks with Peter Odili, former Governor of Rivers State, as he closes in on a running mate for the 2011 Presidential Elections, and secondly,

2.      Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki, on Monday informed President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo of his desire to contest the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party.

These two pieces of news sent me into a depression. Of course it has been in the news a long time that Babangida wants to contest to come an pick up what he forgot in Aso Rock, the depressing news (and incidentally, became good news, after settling down a bit and letting my brains work and get the better of me) is that of Odili being considered for his running mate.

Odilii was said to have been recommended by no less a person than the irrepressible Raymond Dokpesi, chairman of DAAR Communications, and director general of Mr. Babangida’s presidential campaign. The two men (Odili and Dokpesi) had reputedly beneficial business dealings which, in our dear country, translate into stealing state funds, bribery, embezzlement and other fraudulent uses of state funds. Also, Dokpesi was the director general of Odili’s campaign when he tried to run for president in 2007. At the time, Odili was alleged to have invested N400 million of funds taken from the Rivers State treasury, into Dokpesi’s company. The EFCC, under Farida Waziri, quizzed Mr. Dokpesi over the money, but no charges were ever brought against this sacred Nigerian cow.

Odili, a medical doctor by training, was governor of Rivers State from 1999 to 2007, completing two terms. His tenure was marred by human rights violations, insecurity, violence and widespread fraud. He was the alleged “godfather” of some of the now notorious Niger Delta militants, who he used as political thugs to rig and win elections or do his other nefarious bidding and then dumped them, causing them to act on their own because their source of funding had been withdrawn by their Godfather.

During his governorship, Rivers State was, in theory, one of the wealthiest states in the country owing to its enormous oil revenue, but Mr. Odili instituted relatively few improvements. Instead, the former governor is on record for acquiring a South Africa-based hospital, and two Brazilian jets.

In November 2006, Peter Odili announced that he would run for president in the 2007 election under the ruling PDP. However, a day before the PDP’s presidential primaries, Odili stepped down from the contest, paving the way for fellow governor, Umaru Yar’Adua, to emerge as the party’s flag bearer. Reports say Mr. Odili (who was initially, President Obasanjo’s choice for President) was forced out of that contest when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led by Nuhu Ribadu,  barged into then President Obasanjo’s office  and slapped down thick files containing reports implicating Odili in fraud, mismanagement of state funds, money laundering, and abuse of office. Obasanjo had to call Odili and told him to look at the files and asked him politely to step down. It was also said that Odili was made to return over 30 billion Naira he was alleged to have stolen or he would go to prison. I heard that on the eve of the PDP primaries, Odili had booked every hotel room in Abuja. It was said that he salted away over 250 billion Naira during his tenure as Governor of Rivers State. I will believe that, if you dont.

Odili filed a suit challenging the powers of the EFCC to probe his administration. The court, in his home state of Rivers, granted him an indefinite injunction stopping any investigations into his finances, describing it as a breach of his civil rights. (Only in Nigeria)

Till today, Odili is still walking round in Abuja a free man, looking up his ill-gotten investments in South Africa, probably flying in his jets just around Nigeria on ego-trips but barely going to Port Harcourt because he has been declared persona non grata by his people. He could only sneak in under the cover of darkness without the usual fanfare and then sneak back out the following morning or lay low until darkness comes again.

So my take on this? Please forgive my bias, but as a CORE anti-Babangida’s return to Aso Rock, this is indeed positive news. At the beginning of this article, I said I was depressed by the news; but as I write this article and let my brain wake up from the lethargy generated by this news. I also recollect Abraham Lincoln’s words: “A statesman is he who thinks in the future generations, and a politician is he who thinks in the upcoming elections” Odili and IBB are both politicians, corrupt ones at that and they cannot think in the future. It is impossible. The bank balance of these two rogues is probably enough to provide uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria; two treasury looters united by ambition. As thick as thieves, they say. Of course they have every right as Nigerians to contest for any position they so desire, but the good news is that, their coming together is going to do more damage to their ambition. Babangida apologists, who have always challenged Nigerians to bring out any evidence of Babangida’s corruption and other allegations, are even now squirming in their seats at his choice of running mate, who was easily and unquestionably one of the biggest treasury-looter in Nigeria under the tenure of Obasanjo.

Again, Nigerians need not fear an IBB/Odili ticket; they have had it before they even started. Their combination has confirmed the fears of Nigerians that they are going there to loot again. Also, we should rejoice that Babangida has again played into Obasanjo’s hands, who it was who terminated his Presidential ambition in 2007 when he (Obasanjo) sent a plane all the way from Abuja to Minna and presented him some hard evidence which compelled him to withdraw from the Presidential race, saving face by saying the late President Yar ‘Adua was his “brother”.

Problem is they have money and if we let them get there, Nigeria’s treasury will be emptied in no time, there will be genocide. We will be taken back to the 70’s when there was no visible infrastructure, and by time they finish with us, or the treasury, we will be grateful for the few ones we have now. I am not crying “wolf” here. Look at my previous articles on several issues.

A digression: On an interview on the highly condescending Alistair Soyode’s show on BEN Tv, there was one of of IBB’s apologists, in his fifties. How did he defend Babangida’s qualification to come back and be President of Nigeria? This man said IBB qualifies to be Nigeria’s next President because he (IBB) married a woman from the East and speaks the 3 major languages in Nigeria…what does one say about such thinking?

Now, Dr Bukola Saraki, incidentally another trained medical doctor (like Peter Odili), who was never known to have practised his medical profession anywhere before. He simply went straight to his father’s (another medical doctor who hardly practiced medicine to fulfil the Hippocratic Oath of  doing good for mankind) then- thriving banking business immediately he came out of university entering the bank first as a director and later the vice chairman, second only to his father. That bank, Societe Generale (SGBN), collapsed some years ago, and along with it went the money of innocent depositors. But it was not an ordinary collapse, because the Directors of the bank, that is, the Sarakis’ personal fortune went up shortly after the collapse. Obviously, the depositors’ money went into the Sarakis’ pockets.

According to SaharaReporters “It was that their family owned bank – Societe General Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) – whose fortunes had been on the downturn since 1995 while the personal fortunes of the  Saraki’s, particularly, Bukola was on the rise, had gone completely under. According to a copy of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Assets Declaration forms obtained by Saharareporters – filed and signed by Bukola Saraki on every page- Bukola’s personal fortunes only sky-rocketed while depositors lost huge investments in the SGBN which eventually went out of business in 2003 shortly after the Sarakis won the controversial elections into the senate and governorship seat in April 2003 and were sworn-in as the Governor of Kwara State and Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria respectively”.

Yet despite this obvious lack of business acumen and poor financial or fiscal management, the younger Saraki went into politics and was elected, or rather, selected as the Governor of Kwara State.in 1999. Of course it was the visible hands of his powerful father, who had, and still has a very strong grip on Kwara politics. He had been dictating who will be the Governor of Kwara State for the past 20 years or so, if not more.

But the news of his interest in becoming the next president of Nigeria is my concern here. According to Olurotimi Adeola in Transparency For Nigeria (www.transparencyng.com ) “What is he (Bukola Saraki) bringing to the presidency that he couldn’t showcase in Kwara where he has spent the last seven years administering? Or maybe he believes his father who is the great political oracle of Kwara state have extended his sphere of influence to the entire country this time around. It’s an open secret, that Dr. Olusola Saraki, the father of Governor Bukola has manacled the people of Kwara state politically in the last three decades. He alone determines the ‘soul’ of the state; in spite of this, one cannot point at any tangible benefits to the malnourished masses of that state in his over thirty years of control. Governor Bukola Saraki is a beneficiary of his father’s conquered political sphere no doubt; without the elder Saraki, Governor Bukola would never have won a councillorship seat in his state. Little wonder his sister Senator Gbemisola too is gunning to replace him……What would be Bukola Saraki’s leadership credentials if he finally enter the race for presidency? Is he going to show us, how he has created employment opportunities in Kwara and prove that most Kwarans are now gainfully employed as a result of his pragmatic stewardship in the last seven years? Is he going to showcase to Nigerians, how lives and properties are now so secured and safe in Kwara State, and that all residents go to bed with their two eyes closed? Or present to Nigerians, a Kwara State where water supply and electricity run for twenty four hours without interruption;  where public hospitals are well equipped and manned by qualified and satisfied staff; where public schools meet required standards; where there are good network of roads, good public transport, standard markets etc; and finally a grateful and appreciative citizenry? If these are not the credentials Bukola Saraki is bringing to the race for president, then he has no business seeking the presidency of Nigeria”.

According to some reports, Bukola Saraki bought 15 luxurious cars including a Ferrari,  all of which were worth N240 million between 1997-2003, a period described as most critical in the life of the SGBN while he was the Executive Vice Chairman of the SBGN. (I saw that Ferrari in Ilorin – Imagine driving a Ferrari on Nigerian roads, madness)  I also heard that the Sarakis physically went into the vaults of the bank and carted away every penny they could find to finance the 2003 elections that gave them double victory in Kwara State as well as another victory of constitutional immunity from prosecution by the relevant agencies of government

My advice is that now is the time for depositors and investors who were cheated of their life savings by the Saraki dynasty to take necessary and appropriate legal actions to retrieve their investments with accrued interests. The resulting bad publicity and outcry should be enough to put a permanent stop to this inordinate ambition by a so-called aristocratic dynasty to foist themselves on Nigerians and continue the treasury (and indeed, bank vault) looting they started in their state.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Bukola Saraki is above the laws of the land. Obasanjo refused to commit himself to a probe of how SGBN failed, because Saraki Senior himself was bigger than Obasanjo, and Obasanjo dared not probe him and his family. Saraki is now one of the most powerful Governors in Nigeria. Incidentally, he’s hardly in his home state of Kwara. He’s always swaggering around in Abuja and ruling Kwara State as an absentee landlord. He has got a lot of people in government – via political appointments, civil service, Foreign Service, police, immigration, henchmen and hatchet men, etc – who are very loyal to him.

The politics of powerful connections and father/family towering influences should be exorcised forthwith in Nigeria politics.

Please let us not allow Babangida/Odili and Bukola Saraki to even get their names on the ballot paper, and if they do, LET US REJECT THEM OUTRIGHT.

This is the time to sensitise the Nigerian electorate to the risks in electing Babangida-Odili to even act as road-diggers or dog-catchers for Nigeria. Open your eyes; use your ears and use your brains!

This is the more reason why we need to embark on public enlightenment and education campaigns to ensure that the voters know competent candidates with track records this time around, not just opportunists, charlatans, pretenders, the corrupt and the corrupters and people who think ruling Nigeria is their birthright.

The TRUTH has to be said always.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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