The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that over 30 of its supporters have been killed in the political violence that has rocked the State in the past few months. The party stated this in a press statement today, Thursday 26 February 2015.
“Our investigations showed that we have lost no fewer than 30 of our members and supporters in political attacks instigated in parts of the State by agents of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As painful as this is, we are miffed that no single arrest has been made by the police in connection with these politically-motivated killings calculated to intimidate and annihilate us a political party,” Rivers APC Chairman, Chief Davis Ibiamu Ikanya, said.
Ikanya in a statement issued in Port Harcourt lamented that those behind the killings are becoming increasingly emboldened by the day as demonstrated by their brazen attack on APC’s gubernatorial campaign train in Okrika on 18th February 2015.
“With the shooting, bombing and successful disruption of our Okrika rally which was aimed principally at eliminating our gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, with the successful kidnapping of Fred Ndigbara, a civil servant working in the Media Unit of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the Governor of Rivers State, we indeed need no soothsayer to tell us that we are no longer protected but now endangered species. When a political party is denied the right to canvas for votes in an assumed democratic system, as has been done to us in Okrika, we can only conclude that Nigeria is slowly but steadily slipping into a state of anarchy. With the lives of our people threatened on daily basis, with the security agencies looking the other way, we have every reason to wonder if the PDP-controlled Federal Government is truly serious that elections will hold in Rivers State during the general elections scheduled for March and April,” Ikanya said.
The Rivers APC Chairman commended Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, “for ordering full investigation into the madness that happened at Okrika, where one of the policemen providing security at our rally was brutally killed”.
He also commended Zone 6 Assistant Inspector General of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, for ordering Rivers State Commissioner of Police, CP Dan Bature, to rescue Mr. Fred Ndigbara from the hands of those that kidnapped him while on a democratic duty during the rally of APC at Khana recently. “We however wish to emphasise that something serious must be done soon to avoid us losing hope on the ability of the police to secure our lives,” Ikanya said.
He added: “PDP and its promoters can’t be allowed to continue to act with impunity as if the police are an extension of the party as being boasted by some of its chieftains. It is very unfortunate and sad that a Police Force that is being sustained and maintained by our taxes should allow its reputation to be ruined by a group of people who do not mean well for our State.
“We hereby demand the immediate rescue of Mr. Fred Ndigbara, a harmless fellow whose only crime is belonging to APC, and that adequate protection be accorded to our gubernatorial candidate and the entire APC leadership in Rivers State. We also demand a stop to the further harassment of our members. We are full citizens of this country and we can no longer tolerate being treated like second class citizens.”
Rivers APC commiserated with the family of the slain policeman, police corporal Ifeanyi Okorie and assured that it will do everything humanly possible to ensure that his children are given the best education that they need to succeed in life. The party thanked the leadership of the Federal House of Representatives for showing solidarity with Dr. Peterside and the leadership of APC over the unwarranted Okrika attack and for demanding that the security agencies should get to the root of the matter.
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.
Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition.
Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk about this important topic at this crucial time. When speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally prefer to be my country’s public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists. But as we all know, Nigeria is now battling with many challenges, and if I refer to them, I do so only to impress on our friends in the United Kingdom that we are quite aware of our shortcomings and are doing our best to address them.
The 2015 general election in Nigeria is generating a lot of interests within and outside the country. This is understandable. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, is at a defining moment, a moment that has great implications beyond the democratic project and beyond the borders of my dear country.
So let me say upfront that the global interest in Nigeria’s landmark election is not misplaced at all and indeed should be commended; for this is an election that has serious import for the world. I urge the international community to continue to focus on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given increasing global linkages, it is in our collective interests that the postponed elections should hold on the rescheduled dates; that they should be free and fair; that their outcomes should be respected by all parties; and that any form of extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and will not be tolerated.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, democracy became the dominant and most preferred system of government across the globe. That global transition has been aptly captured as the triumph of democracy and the ‘most pre-eminent political idea of our time.’ On a personal note, the phased end of the USSR was a turning point for me. It convinced me that change can be brought about without firing a single shot.
As you all know, I had been a military head of state in Nigeria for twenty months. We intervened because we were unhappy with the state of affairs in our country. We wanted to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the prevalence and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of democracy has shown that another and a preferable path to change is possible. It is an important lesson I have carried with me since, and a lesson that is not lost on the African continent.
In the last two decades, democracy has grown strong roots in Africa. Elections, once so rare, are now so commonplace. As at the time I was a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, only four African countries held regular multi-party elections. But the number of electoral democracies in Africa, according to Freedom House, jumped to 10 in 1992/1993 then to 18 in 1994/1995 and to 24 in 2005/2006. According to the New York Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa conducted multi-party elections between 1990 and 2002.
The newspaper also reported that between 2000 and 2002, ruling parties in four African countries (Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and Mali) peacefully handed over power to victorious opposition parties. In addition, the proportion of African countries categorized as not free by Freedom House declined from 59% in 1983 to 35% in 2003. Without doubt, Africa has been part of the current global wave of democratisation.
But the growth of democracy on the continent has been uneven. According to Freedom House, the number of electoral democracies in Africa slipped from 24 in 2007/2008 to 19 in 2011/2012; while the percentage of countries categorised as ‘not free’ assuming for the sake of argument that we accept their definition of “free” increased from 35% in 2003 to 41% in 2013. Also, there have been some reversals at different times in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and Togo. We can choose to look at the glass of democracy in Africa as either half full or half empty. While you can’t have representative democracy without elections, it is equally important to look at the quality of the elections and to remember that mere elections do not democracy make. It is globally agreed that democracy is not an event, but a journey. And that the destination of that journey is democratic consolidation – that state where democracy has become so rooted and so routine and widely accepted by all actors.
With this important destination in mind, it is clear that though many African countries now hold regular elections, very few of them have consolidated the practice of democracy. It is important to also state at this point that just as with elections, a consolidated democracy cannot be an end by itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold a series of elections or even to peacefully alternate power among parties.
It is much more important that the promise of democracy goes beyond just allowing people to freely choose their leaders. It is much more important that democracy should deliver on the promise of choice, of freedoms, of security of lives and property, of transparency and accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared prosperity. It is very important that the promise embedded in the concept of democracy, the promise of a better life for the generality of the people, is not delivered in the breach.
Now, let me quickly turn to Nigeria. As you all know, Nigeria’s fourth republic is in its 16th year and this general election will be the fifth in a row. This is a major sign of progress for us, given that our first republic lasted five years and three months, the second republic ended after four years and two months and the third republic was a still-birth. However, longevity is not the only reason why everyone is so interested in this election.
The major difference this time around is that for the very first time since transition to civil rule in 1999, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so far from our party the All Progressives Congress (APC). We once had about 50 political parties, but with no real competition. Now Nigeria is transitioning from a dominant party system to a competitive electoral polity, which is a major marker on the road to democratic consolidation. As you know, peaceful alternation of power through competitive elections have happened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in recent times. The prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further brightened when that eventually happens in Nigeria.
But there are other reasons why Nigerians and the whole world are intensely focussed on this year’s elections, chief of which is that the elections are holding in the shadow of huge security, economic and social uncertainties in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. On insecurity, there is a genuine cause for worry, both within and outside Nigeria. Apart from the civil war era, at no other time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure.
Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle against insurgency. I, as a retired general and a former head of state, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the service of our country.
You all can bear witness to the gallant role of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and in many other peacekeeping operations in several parts of the world. But in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours to come to our rescue.
Let me assure you that if I am elected president, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern arms and ammunitions to work with, we will improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels, we will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester, and I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front and return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and international efforts to combat terrorism.
On the economy, the fall in prices of oil has brought our economic and social stress into full relief. After the rebasing exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP is now valued at $510 billion and our economy rated 26th in the world. Also on the bright side, inflation has been kept at single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an average of 7% for about a decade.
But it is more of paper growth, a growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy and corruption, has not translated to human development or shared prosperity. A development economist once said three questions should be asked about a country’s development: one, what is happening to poverty? Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three, what is happening to inequality?
The answers to these questions in Nigeria show that the current administration has created two economies in one country, a sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a few who have so much in their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery.
Even by official figures, 33.1% of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60 million, almost the population of the United Kingdom. There is also the unemployment crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest stress, with officially 23.9% of our adult population and almost 60% of our youth unemployed. We also have one of the highest rates of inequalities in the world.
With all these, it is not surprising that our performance on most governance and development indicators (like Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and UNDP’s Human Development Index.) are unflattering. With fall in the prices of oil, which accounts for more than 70% of government revenues, and lack of savings from more than a decade of oil boom, the poor will be disproportionately impacted.
In the face of dwindling revenues, a good place to start the repositioning of Nigeria’s economy is to swiftly tackle two ills that have ballooned under the present administration: waste and corruption. And in doing this, I will, if elected, lead the way, with the force of personal example.
On corruption, there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my administration. First and foremost, we will plug the holes in the budgetary process. Revenue producing entities such as NNPC and Customs and Excise will have one set of books only. Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption will be given independence and prosecutorial authority without political interference.
But I must emphasise that any war waged on corruption should not be misconstrued as settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I’m running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.
In reforming the economy, we will use savings that arise from blocking these leakages and the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund our party’s social investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such as free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed youth and pensions for the elderly.
As a progressive party, we must reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian people thus freeing them from the curse of poverty. We will run a private sector-led economy but maintain an active role for government through strong regulatory oversight and deliberate interventions and incentives to diversify the base of our economy, strengthen productive sectors, improve the productive capacities of our people and create jobs for our teeming youths.
In short, we will run a functional economy driven by a worldview that sees growth not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a society that works for all, rich and poor alike. On March 28, Nigeria has a decision to make. To vote for the continuity of failure or to elect progressive change. I believe the people will choose wisely.
In sum, I think that given its strategic importance, Nigeria can trigger a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a starting point we need to get this critical election right by ensuring that they go ahead, and depriving those who want to scuttle it the benefit of derailing our fledgling democracy. That way, we will all see democracy and democratic consolidation as tools for solving pressing problems in a sustainable way, not as ends in themselves.
Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition
Permit me to close this discussion on a personal note. I have heard and read references to me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers including the well regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less dictatorial than others. I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch.
I cannot change the past. But I can change the present and the future. So before you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic elections for the fourth time.
You may ask: why is he doing this? This is a question I ask myself all the time too. And here is my humble answer: because the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I still believe that change is possible, this time through the ballot, and most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of.
I thank you for listening.
– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/chatham-house-buharis-speech-on-nigerias-transition/#sthash.XZ8JWSTF.dpuf
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.
I’ve been sleeping with my boyfriend’s father for a while now and I’m pregnant and the baby could be his. The thing is, I’ve also been sleeping with my boyfriend. I’m scared as I’m only 19 and an undergraduate. I know what I did was wrong, but I don’t know what to do about it. My parents will kill me if they find out. Please help!
Lola, by e-mail.
Dear Lola, First of all, you need to see a doctor to confirm the pregnancy. You can talk to them honestly about your situation and they can go through all your options with you. Anything you say will be treated in confidence. I can’t sugar-coat this one. It’s a mess. If you decide to keep the baby, are you going to come clean or will you lie to your boyfriend and make out the child is his when there’s a chance it’s his dad’s? If you do go through with the pregnancy, the only way of knowing for sure is to do a DNA test after the baby is born.
I don’t think you should be with this boy anyway. You obviously don’t love him if you can sleep with his dad. His father is despicable for sleeping with his son’s teenage girlfriend. Please see him for what he is – a horrible pervert. Yes, you’ve been silly, but that doesn’t mean you have to deal with this on your own. If you find it a bit daunting talking to your parent, discuss with your doctor and if you decide to keep the baby, you will have to tell family and friends. It might not feel like it now, but talking about it with a professional as well as a trusted friend or relative can help you to see things more clearly. Don’t isolate yourself. Accept all the support and help that’s offered.
– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/his-dad-could-be-my-babys-father/#sthash.5PU71adH.dpuf
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.
We should not look back, unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors and for the purpose of profiting by dearly brought experience —– George Washington
IF any one prophesied to APC kingpins of ‘Change’ this time last December, that they would still be involved in planning to win the 2015 elections,by end of February this year, they would have responded with ‘get thee behind me Satan’ to such a prophecy. But as we say in typical pidgin English: ‘cunning man die, cunning man buri am‘. The Igbos say that you cannot be taller than me and the same time shorter than me.
The APC knows how to and have almost perfected the game of intimidation, shouting, and hounding their victim to accept and cave in to their plans, but the PDP, has mastered the game of fixing situations, and climbing out to prevail. The lesson here is, that rabbit, which the APC has been pursuing all over the place in the cave, the PDP has custody of its children, and better understands the rabbit’s routes in that cave. The essence of these proverbs is to bring home to the APC that it is not enough to shout, harass and issue threats to win an election, it is better to always let things flow in a peaceful and healthy atmosphere.
In elections 2015, the players may be very skilled , but the people are determined to see that INEC the referee, remains unbiased to the end. After all, this is neither a government of a retired General, who must either win or kill, nor do we have a President who believes in do or die politics. For the first time, in our experience with democracy, we have a President in GEJ, who believes in the right and power of the people to choose their leader, in a free, fair, and non-violent atmosphere. And with him on the saddle, we seem to be arriving at that point, where the vote of Nigerians will matter and determine the results in elections.
Since the 2011 election that made him our President, he has improved our election culture, reducing violence to minimal levels.
It should be a matter of serious civic and moral responsibility and duty therefore, for us all to ensure that 2015 elections remain free, fair, rigging free, and non-violent to the letter, in order for us all to take a good advantage of the civilized platform GEJ has provided for credible elections.
Before the 28th March, when the cookie will surely crumble, we must continue to look into our past in order to learn not to repeat bad mistakes and errors we made, so as create in the end, a good culture, of peaceful, and non-violent elections in our beloved country.
The test for APC’s maturity and subsequent qualification for entry into Aso Rock, lies in how they will handle failure in the 2015 elections. This is more so because APC as presently constituted appears in the main, to be a waste bag of the ruling PDP, with mostly renegades, unfaithful and therefore unreliable party carpet crossers and some never do wells from the PDP. Yes, we indeed need positive changes in the way we are governed, but we cannot afford to jump from the frying pan into fire. We dearly need to tame the monster of corruption in our nation, but we cannot afford to go back to our vomit, neither do we have to cut our nose to spite our face.
Just like a virgin has no business in a maternity ward, APC cannot fight corruption with their list of very corrupt kingpins! Who are they trying to deceive? God forbid!
Before 28th March, GEJ and his teams, need to roll up their sleeves, get to work, and do a good campaign, reaching out to all sections of Nigeria with their appeals, and proofs of what they have done and are promising to do in the next term.
Quickly and within the next three weeks, first, the task to flush Boko Haram from our soil must have to be accomplished conclusively.Our brave, highly skilled, reliable, tried , tested and trusted Military should flush the insurgents first, and leave us thereafter, to get clean wet towels to wipe the faces of weeping opposition men and haters of peace in Nigeria.
Second, all sharp and smart eyes must be on INEC , for nearly scuttling this Presidency, and plunging us into a war, should we have voted on February 14th. It will be fool hardy to leave INEC to itself now. The twin troubling issues of child voting in the north, and differential methods of distribution of PVCs between the north and the south need to be dealt with real quick. Why should traditional rulers in the south queue up to pick up their PVCs, while their colleagues in the north are responsible for distributing the PVCs, if not a well-planned rigging method ? No sacred cows, let INEC be in charge, and do the job they have been paid for by Nigeria. All holes must be plugged now before it becomes too late.
One sure way to goad Nigeria into electoral violence is to keep soldiers out of certain areas where violence will surely take place. In Lagos State for example, many will be discouraged to come out to vote, because of fear of the use of area boys to foment trouble around polling areas, especially in non-indigene dominated areas around Ojo, Ejigbo, Okota, Ajegunle, Amuwo Odofin, to name a few. Soldiers should help in these areas, and in all the states where the President’s campaign team was attacked in the north, including other violence flash points like Rivers , and Ogun States, where anything can happen in March.
Also the INEC Electronic Card Readers need to be double checked for efficiency now, before they are used to derail the elections.
Nigerians still trust and love GEJ, he has no reasons not to come out with a clear victory on the 28th March, except he undoes himself .
Mr. Clement Udegbe, a legal practitioner, wrote from Lagos.
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.
London – Barely 24 hours after he threatened to pull out of Abuja peace accord, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, General Mohammadu Buhari has had a u-turn, saying he was irrevocably committed to the pact.
While he made the threat through his support group popularly called Buhari Support Organization, BSO, the refutation came from All Progressives Congress Campaign Office (APCCO).
It will be recalled that on January 10 this year, Buhari entered into a historic peace accord between him, President Goodluck Jonathan who is flying the flag of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and 12 presidential candidates as a means to forestall violence before, during and after the forthcoming general elections.
In a statement released in London, United Kingdom on Thursday and signed by Malam Garba Shehu, Director of Media and Publicity of the campaign, Buhari was quoted to have said that Nigeria was bigger than any political party or any individual, and that the country’s greatness would outlive any election.
“Despite the series of provocations by the PDP, through hate speeches and adverts being broadcast in the media, we call on our supporters all around the country to remain calm but resolute,”he said.
The APC candidate also asked his supporters to ignore any distractions and remain focused on making the democratic process work, encouraging them to ensure that they collect their PVCs before the March 8 deadline.
The statement further emphasized that Nigeria was in a democracy, and that the greatest weapon each citizen has is his or her vote. He called on all his supporters across the country to go out en masse on 28 March and 11 April and cast their ballots.
“Your greatest weapon is your vote. That is the only way to bring about change not through violence,” Buhari said.
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.
Given the trenchant positions for and against the introduction of the card readers, Nigerians and indeed, international election observers would be in suspense on the efficacy of what the country’s Election Management Body has promised as the antidote to election rigging.
However, even the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega is not oblivious that as a mechanical or electronic device that the card reader could have its problems. So despite the fact that not more than 160,000 units would be needed, the commission according to him procured an extra 20,000 units to serve as backups on Election Day.
Two possible scenarios
If the functional card reader fails to read your PVC, you would be politely told to leave the polling station and the incidence would be noted down by the polling officer. Where you resist, law enforcement officers would be asked to handle you.
However, if the card reader authenticates the card as genuine but fails to match the finger print of the person who brought it to that on the PVC, the assistant presiding officer shall repeat the process again and if the finger print still does not authenticate the person, then the potential voter will be referred to the presiding officer or a senior officer at the polling unit. That officer would examine the PVC to establish if it really belongs to the voter and if satisfied and with the concurrence of the agents of the parties allow the potential voter to proceed to the next stage of the accreditation process and for voting.
However, the incidence of the card reader failing to cross match the PVC to the finger print shall be noted as an incidence. This is because the card reader keeps a tabulation of all those who passed through the screening exercise.
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.
ABAKALIKI- EBONYI state House of Assembly Friday morning served an impeachment notice on Governor Martin Elechi over what it described as act of gross misconduct by the Governor.
Reading the notice at the plenary, the acting leader of the House, Hon. Francis Nwifruru accused the Governor of huge financial misappropriation, undermining of the integrity of the House, among other offences.
*Gov Elechi
The motion for him to be served the notice was moved by Hon. Odefa Obasi Odefa and seconded by Hon. Valentine Okike
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.
In this DIAGNOSIS the individual is the guinea pig…
If you are within the age bracket of twenty and forty five and you are a Nigerian, then you need to perform a very urgent ritual in soul searching. The process is simple. Just get home or find a spot where distraction is minimal, where the hound of daily activities and events are cut off, where you could be really alone with your thoughts. Then think about yourself, about your wife if you have, about your kids if you have, about your friends, about your activities for the day, about your work, about your school, about the little encounters you had on the road, about the last thing you heard on tv or radio, about what you just read on the papers, about the next 5 years, about the next 20 years. At this point, I expect that your mind would have suffered a jolt of agitation at the howling passivity with which your life to this point has been led.
What have you been doing with your life? What has the society, the Nigerian society been doing with your life? What meaning can you at this point ascribe to your life, beyond the often hazy strands of plans and prospects to which you have absolutely no control? Maybe your particular circumstance is not as dire as that of the beggar that stared hollowly at you at the traffic, neither are you as desperate as the little girl tearfully gathering her panties after suffering indignities from a patronizing avuncular. The clear wretchedness of that little lad, carrying a pan of ‘pure water’ on her head could be lost upon you. Because you have a job, because you are educated, because you live beyond the biting exigencies of everyday existence, you may not fully grasp the hollowness that plagues a whopping 90% of the Nigerian population. Do you think as some people do, that you are summarily insulated from these hard realities because your particular circumstances are somewhat better? Can you not hear the yell emanating from the cauldron in which the bitter rancorous soup of social unrest is gradually being brewed to cataclysmic point? Can you not hear it: the youth yawning hungrily under the oshodi bridge, the ‘almajiri’ gazing at passing cars with eerie look of hatred, the child-whore staring at the lewd face of the next pot belly, the soldier doing his round while wondering at how much ‘call to service’ has metamorphosed, the hushed whisper greeting each report of bomb blast, the shrill wail as another isolated village falls under the blade of ethnic hatred, a headless body being lowered into the lagoon, a president seeming clueless as a great nation assimilates shock after shock of horrid tales of violence and fear.
I do not pretend to be fully sensitive to these issues in an uninterrupted sequence, but I recommend that we take time off periodically, everyday to really see that our country needs an urgent revaluation, a u-turn, a fundamental change in direction.
I was in Enugu, at a cinema, with my friends and family. The hall was dark, the environment was serene. At intervals, in reaction to the movie on the screen, the audience clapped or screamed and relaxed back again to an almost studied silence. You know a typical cinema hall. In the midst of that, a thought came into my head…bomb! I was startled. The thought was foreign to me. How did it come to this? How come the idea of a bomb blast could intrude, steal its way into my consciousness at this time and as a proximate possibility to which I was immediately compelled to spare a thought? I was not thinking about the possibility of a snake crawling into the dark hall, or of someone pilfering my phone. My thought was rather of something latently defining evil per excellence; a touch of terror amplified by the grandiosity of its potential to harm. The imagery was sinister: a silhouette of a man, stealing quietly into the dark hall, dropping a seemingly harmless baggage by the corner and stealing away, then the expected aftermath, charred bodies mixed with rubble, the belated agitation of the security apparatuses, the hushed shock of bystanders, the weak whimper of a president trying ineffectually to lift the spirit of a dejected nation. For a country, founded on a wave of great optimism, a cynosure for a while to the world, to be in this state, at this point, on its fourth try at democracy, we all, the people of my generation need to step out now else it would be too late.
This brings us back to basics. What have we, the people of this generation been doing? What are we going to do? What am I doing? What can I do? The event of this nation’s transformation has to start now, within each individual. It starts first as an isolated flame of thought welling up within each individual. If this thought is right, if this thought can be kindled in so many people, at the same time, at different places, the underlying moral uniformity would naturally agglutinate the many into one, one force, one voice, demanding for change, demanding that the status quo be abrogated. The status quo is unsustainable.
One of the sad angles to this nation’s problem is that we have not actually regarded the work of mending as our sole responsibility. We are fixated somewhat in the idea that the repair of this generational sickness lies at the hand of the Divine. This mindset represents an unfortunate resignation to fate, an acceptance of our own failure, a sign of deep seated paucity of ideas and values. If we can argue that God has a role to play in the shaping of Nigeria’s historicity at this point, it has to be remembered that at many occasions in our historical awakening, we have had opportunities to catch into the dialectics of events that have occurred without our direct effort, events that seemed an act of God. The death of Sani Abacha in 1998 was a point in the historical cunning that fundamentally dented the popularity of military rule and instigated the hunger in the people for a genuine political shift. The shift occurred, the nation was optimistic; the world looked with weighted expectation. Unfortunately, the changes that later occurred in the political sphere was akin to what happens in the game of football. The coaches merely replaced some players, but the game was the same, the style was the same, the philosophy was still bereft of all moral decency or will. The conscience of the nation was left to rust at the altar of immediate convenience. Political associations occurred only to pacify the insatiable greed of the same cabal who earlier brought the nation to its feet. What was the tragedy in all this? We failed again, on a grander scale to catch in on the soul of the historical shift dialectically manufactured for our benefit. Once again the earlier optimism turned to despair, the world looked away once more, history sped on leaving us clutching at the trail it left behind.
How long can we continue like this? We have had opportunities upon opportunities to make the fundamental shift in values and sense of direction required to change the destiny of this nation. But at each point we have failed. Why? Because we have left the project to characters who are absolutely bereft of the moral standing or will required to make the change; Because we have each regarded the issue as something outside our core purview, as something extant, a remote responsibility waiting for an imaginary solution. Nigeria has to this date been treated like a fiefdom, an enterprise, a spoil of war. Our collective heritage have continually been appropriated by a few under our very nose, yet we wag our tails as the same individuals throw out a few crumbs; crumbs intended to keep our hunger under check; to blind us to the true state of affairs: a gag to maintain the criminal silence.
It is wrong to follow the thinking that says Nigeria’s problem is ethnic or religious or cultural. One can produce whole treatises on various aspects of our religious, ethnic, or cultural experiences that could have propelled us into the right league in the comity of developed nations. Our problems rather emanate from a gross paucity of the right value system, a surprising disregard of the very values on which our entire religious, cultural and ethnic experiences are hinged.
So what is the way forward?
I cannot even begin to pretend that I know the answer to this simple query. And even if I dare prescribe some solutions, they might at best represent my own subjective opinion without any surety of eventual workability. However I prefer to submit that the way forward would entail a moral induction. This is a process that would attempt to heal the hurt that affects the whole incrementally. The inductive process entails starting from a part to the whole. Moral induction would target the individual, the unit, and attempt to situate in that little part the ideals intended for the whole. If I am good, if I can decide to shirk all excuses and attempt to adhere to fundamental ethical imperatives willy-nilly and if I can attempt to influence my most proximate environment, may be the moral bug would metastasize into a grand imperative that would guide us all, that would take on a life of its own and command a rebirth.
Our project therefore lies in the profoundness of the first truth; The First Letter, a call to arms against all inimical traits and values. The grand imperative would be a personal call, instigated by self and answered in the final analysis by self. The First Letter is a missive to self, an awakening to change. The change has to start now, in me, in you, and in the person nearest to you. We have more or less criminalized our consciences. Yes, because our silence at the carnage all around is itself criminal, and irresponsibility to self, to the country, and worse to our progeny. Forthwith we have responsibility, self imposed, to do whatever is necessary, legal, and right to contribute even a morsel of change to this country. Our project is progressive and as the days role by the scope would grow as all living things do to accommodate whatever is worth doing to bring positive change to Nigeria.
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.
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Tuesday said that the membership card torn by former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently was an expired card that no longer qualified him as a member of the party.
The party also stated it’s readiness to capture the South West geo-political zone and win the March 28 presidential election convincingly.
PDP National Secretary, Wale Oladipo, while receiving a delegation of students mobilization group for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election, stated that Obasanjo’s membership card was among the expired cards the PDP leadership had already isolated for destruction.
Oladipo said: “Baba is over 80 and my mother is around Obasanjo’s age and when you reach that age, you do things that only you can explain. Secondly, you will see that Baba did not tear our card. He asked somebody ostensibly to do the tearing and I am assuring you that the card that was torn was not the current PDP card. The current PDP card is signed by Mu’azu and Prof. Wale Oladipo. So the card he tore was the one signed by the former PDP Acting National Chairman, Kawu Baraje, which we were going to destroy anyway.”
And expressing confidence that Jonathan would record a convincing victory, PDP National Deputy Chairman, Uche Secondus, said the party would shock the opposition in the South West by achieving an unimaginable level of victory in that zone.
“If you look well, the projects commissioned by President Jonathan in the last few weeks were in the South West including two power projects.”
He mentioned the Lagos-Ibadan expressway as one of those projects in the South West that could sway votes in favour of the President.
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.
You must have seen many families torn apart over inheritance issue. The embarrassing news that emanates from such families sometimes makes you feel ashamed on their behalf. The culprit is usually polygamy or a second marriage.
Polygamy was fashionable and profitable in the days of yore when the conditions were right. Might was right then; therefore, a polygamous man had many children, especially sons, that would serve as an army in times of intimidation or aggression. Farming was the major occupation, and many children translated to a higher yield and wealth. Women were meant to be seen and not heard. So, a man could do as he wished and the wives dared not complain.
Today, all that has changed. Any man who goes into polygamy today because of religion, tradition, or wealth-creation may be creating a family he will be ashamed to behold from the land of the death, if dead men could see the happenings in the world.
Today, the only “good” thing about polygamy is that it offers men the opportunity to have a variety of sex partners. The more the wife of their youth gets older, the more such men go for younger women with fresher body and firmer breasts. Even in their 60s and 70s, many men still long for girls in their teens and 20s. Who will blame them? After all, our laws still permit that.
Sadly, while men are free to marry as many wives as they like, women are not given that liberty. Many of our societies even frown at the idea of widows remarrying, let alone marrying younger men, so as to also have access to fresh blood like their male counterparts. One thought there was some truth in the saying: What is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. But we live in a society where different laws apply to men and women. Talk of the animal farm where all animals are equal but some are more equal than the others!
But beyond the non-modern features of polygamy, it has made many of our great men to create chaos in their homes while they are alive or after their death. In spite of the traditional or religious laws that govern inheritance in polygamous families, other extraneous matters usually set those laws aside and create an unjust scenario that leads to contention and bitter rivalry among siblings and co-wives that sometimes last for decades or generations and even lead to bloodshed.
But there are men who are not polygamous but still end up creating a family that is torn apart by rivalry over inheritance or injustice. Most times, these men are divorcees or widowers. When such a man remarries, he usually goes for a young wife that bears children for him. Try as much as he can, he cannot stop the young wife from turning his heart away from the children of the divorced or deceased wife. The young wife gives the man companionship, food, care and sex. And because the wife is usually much younger than the man, he goes the extra mile to prove to her that he is a better lover and is better in bed and care than any young man she could have married. The woman takes advantage of that and continues to manipulate the man to focus all attention on her and her children. Gradually, he begins to pay little or no attention to the children of the first wife. The children of the first wife naturally feel angry, and a gulf develops between them and their father.
When it is time to write his Will, the woman close to him at that period is the new wife. Directly or indirectly, she exacts pressure on him that makes him Will most things to the young wife and her children. He either cuts the children of the first wife off or gives them only the basics to fulfil all righteousness. And immediately after the man is buried, the Will is read. Enmity starts, followed by litigation.
Even though men see this ugly scenario in other households, some still drag their families into it. The thinking of every man is that he is smarter than the man who got into trouble. Men never learn from history because they believe that they are smarter and that their case will be different.
My belief is that when a man gets divorced or loses his wife, he should not just focus on what will make him happy but also on what will make the children happy and safe. It is unjust to father children and not take care of them adequately, no matter what problems a man has or had with their mother.
I know some thoughtful men who lost their wives and decided to marry their wife’s sister, so that the new wife would not treat their children of the first wife like strangers or enemies. But they did not succeed. It is inborn in women to treat their children better than other children. It is pure natural instinct. She may be considerate and caring, but try as hard as a woman can, she will most likely not treat her children and even her sister’s equally. There must be times she will take her own children into the inner room (behind closed doors) to give them a delicacy that other children will not be given.
There are men who got widowed and decided not to remarry until their last child got admitted into a university. That is great sacrifice. Their thinking is that they don’t want to have a young wife that will distract them from paying attention to their children in their formative years. But they still run the risk of having their young wife influence their Will unfairly.
No man should bank on his wisdom. Women have enormous powers. They can make men who have led countries and conquered nations look foolish. Ask wise man Solomon. Ask Antony of Rome what Cleopatra caused him. You know other names.
The solution is to bury one’s desires and think of the good of the children. When a man loses his wife, especially after they have had their desired number of children, he should focus on raising the children first. And whenever he decides to remarry, he should not be thinking of pointed breasts and figure eight in his next wife. It is better if he gets a woman who has passed her child-bearing age, a woman who sees the man’s children as hers. Both of them can jointly raise the children as theirs. A companion is better than a sweet sixteen. Just like people adopt children whose parents they don’t know, let the new wife adopt the children as her own and treat them truly as hers. They can call her Mummy, if she treats them like her children. Peace will reign in the home while the man is alive and after he is gone.
I will consider myself a failure if I create a rancorous home in which my children become mortal enemies because of the injustice I have left behind.
Even though nobody loves to be treated unfairly, adults must also learn to create their own wealth instead of fighting over the wealth their parents created. It is good that parents bequeath children with inheritance but it is not a right. A man can decide to Will his property to charity and leave a little for his children.
But no matter a man’s attainment in world affairs, creating enmity in his family over inheritance is not a sign of wisdom. Every man must strive from the morning of his marriage to leave a peaceful home behind.
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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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