COLONEL GHADAFFI’S SUGGESTION FOR NIGERIA

Col. Ghadaffi’s suggestion that Nigeria should be divided into two countries along religion line is a very interesting idea especially coming from someone who was championing a United States of Africa couple of years ago.

The truth of the matter is that I most likely would have supported this idea if it would solve Nigeria’s political problems. Unfortunately it would not. Islam, radical or not, is a major problem facing the whole world today and Nigeria is not an exception. In fact, if I may be bold without necessarily stepping on anybody’s toes, I dare say that the only true Islamic religion is the orthodox Islam or the so called radical Islamists/Terrorists.

By its nature, Islam has no tolerance for any other religion unless it subjugates it through some sort of special tax imposed on the so called Infidels, convert the Infidels or just out right kill them like they are doing in Jos. Make no mistake, there is nothing like separation of religion and State in Islam. You are either with them or against them.

I think many Hadditt, Traditions and especially Surat 9:29 encourages good Muslims to kill the people of the book (Christians), the Jews and other Infidels. Contrary to popular belief, the Terrorists are indeed the true Muslims according to Quaran. There is nothing like a moderate Muslim!

This is one of the reasons why I would have supported Col. Ghaddafi’s Idea if I am sure it would solve our political problems. But the fact is that if we cannot live together as one nation irrespective of our religious affiliation, I don’t see how we can get along as two independent countries (Muslims and Christian) living as neighbors. We definitely will have another Israel/Palestine controversy in West Africa.

More can definitely be said on this issue but my hope is that my little comment would generate an honest discussion of this issue. And apart, I just cannot let this one go without saying anything about it.

Adesina Akanni

OPEN LETTER TO LAGOS STATE GOVERNOR

YOUR EXCELLENCY
GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE MR BABATUNDE FASHOLA
CASE FOR 2ND TERM, STOCK TAKING AND
LOCAL COUNCIL MAL-ADMINISTRATION

Sir,
After two years of absence from our beloved country, especially from Lagos State, I arrived here at the end of November, 2009. It is a joy to have witnessed some good transformations of this great city under your present administration and perhaps as a continuation of Asiwaju two terms of administration in which you were a part.
Much of what we have heard and read over the internet and from other tourists became a truth assessment of your efforts to transform the state into a true 21st century modern state.
Without any window dressing, one is able to see that major streets are clean, citizens order of life are taken shape? When Garbage collection
becomes a rare gift to this great city, hope on minor ailments disappearing among population is heartening.
From the grape vine, we learnt you have already paid off for renovation of that Eye-Sore apartment complex housing the Doctors in Lagos Island to give room for lofty project of a new building befitting Doctors residence.
With so many projects been undertaken but not completed, Lagosian are waiting patiently, for total transformations of both the Island and the Mainland however, more projects can be put in place without too much strain on the state budget.
Two years ago, I left a write-up for the control of flood within metropolitan Lagos to a friend who promised to put same to your attention. Hopefully the write-up would have been read and digested by your staff. If they failed to bring this to your notice, it would be well advised to call for a copy of the well written paper.
In a sprawling lowland city like Lagos, we don't wait to put things in order during rainy seasons; we need to prepare for flood devastation during dry season. All these were spelled out within my write-up.
On side streets, the Local Government Councils are a total failure. When these inner city streets are nothing to write about, citizens will wave aside any chorus of Government achievements. Most major streets are always congested because the side streets are in a sorry state. Any Local Council Chairman that records the highest worst interconnected streets are not fit to return to their offices in the next election. Any chairman who had completed more than two terms should be given another assignment.
On Mass Transit, if you can re-examine Jakande administration papers to move more than a million citizens back and forth daily using overhead or underground rails, please consider it a good project as it is done in all mega cities in the world.
In a city like Lagos, five years should be enough to take stock of projects such as fly-overs, New Bridges and additional access Roads. If you take a ride with your Engineers, the Surveyor General and some of your staff to survey Lagos through the Air and challenge them to produce a blue print for fly-overs and bridges you will come up with infrastructures, that will transform Lagos in tandem with other developed cities of the world. When you call a world press conference to unveil your projects, you will be attracting investments and Loans to accomplish such.
Most drainages in Lagos are constantly blocked after rainy seasons; award of contracts to clear these drainages and instant collections of the mess will create more jobs for the unskilled workers as done by Governor Maruwa during his tenure with this type of letter written by me challenging his administration.
Sir, citizens should not live like the residents of Abeokuta Street, ltire by Pako Bus Stop. The current state of that street belongs to the 18th century rural Lagos.
The talk of the town here and outside the country has given credence to a befitting 2nd term. Assessment of your achievements, the stance for a constant maintenance culture, evidence of a new look as regards cleanliness, a transformational environment warranting a smile on Lagosian
faces couple with more positive looks for tomorrow lean heavily to invite you to pick up another four years for a second term.
Run Fashola, run for four more years.
Yours sincerely,
O.R. ALMAROOF, DDS

LAGOS PDP AS I SEE IT

The PDP has never been well organized in Lagos since the tenure of its first Chairman, Chief Olorunfunmi Bashorun.
Lagos State, like all other Western states has in the past belonged to the progressive camp, the AG/NCNC axis in the first republic. The present Lagos West Senatorial District and the East Senatorial District and a large part of Lagos Central –Surulere/ Itire / Ikate / are part of Action Group dominated West before the creation of Lagos State in 1966. In fact the Awolowo Action Group had seized the control of Lagos from the NCNC with the election of Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu as Chairman of Lagos City Council in 1964 and since then Lagos has joined the Awo camp making it to be with the Lagos, Ogun,Bendel, Ondo ,Oyo-The UPN controlled LOBOO states of the second Republic.
In the SDP/ NRC era the wall of the Progressives broke to give way for the entry of the proverbial lizard. An Agbalojobi/Sarumi cleavage in the Alhaji Jakande progressive movement resulted in to a defeat by default of the progressives by which the conservative NRC was voted into the executive with Chief Otedola who himself was an Awoist now in a conservative NRC garment as Governor as a result of protest votes cast by both some Sarumi supporters who did not trust Yomi Edu SDP as a candidate and members of the Agbalajobi Group who took decision to vote for the NRC candidate as a result of the backing Yomi Edu received from majority of Sarumi group. In that period ,the progressive SDP won all the seats in Lagos State in the House of Assembly and the NRC controlled the Executive thereby creating the contradictions that placed the conservatives into political limelight in Lagos which they transformed in to the political grip as they relegate the progressives into the background of the PDP, an opportunity they did not get even during the Abacha political program when the progressives were converged in to the UNCP in Lagos .The June 12 political crisis created a situation for political jobbers and opportunists who did not even work for the election of MKO as they used the struggle to achieve their political goals and formed the AD to control elections in the Western states in 1999. As the wind of change spread in the West , the 2003 internal conspiracy of the Abubakar Atiku people in the Lagos PDP whose interest was in preserving Tinubu in power for Atiku Abubakar planned presidency in 2007 through PDP by which Tinubu would be PDP’s Vice President after Tinubu would have seized control of Lagos PDP or another party(AC) they would form if Abubakar Atiku did make PDP Presidential candidacy.
In 1999 the PDP did not win in Lagos State because of the misconception surrounding the struggle for June 12 which the AD used after the so called Yoruba leaders severed the AD From

2
the APP. The PDP would have lost even if the AD did not leave the APP before they went back into it.
By 2003 most of the members of the APP had joined the PDP in Lagos State and the party looked strong until the failure of the Lagos State Executive of the Party failed to handle the primary well treating Engineer Funsho Williams as anointed candidate even though he could have won a fair primary a fact that alienated most of the gubernatorial candidates like Chief Dapo Sarumi and Chief (Mrs.) Adiekwu-Bakare and others who decamped to boast the AD. The internal conspiracy that manifested in the failure of Chief Obasanjo to do the shuttle stop campaign in Lagos as he did at the eve of elections in the other Yoruba states as the Atiku Abubakar pointman in Lagos, Yomi Edu discouraged Obasanjo from the campaign as Obasanjo was told that Lagos was not ready for Obasanjo while a large crowd of anxious voters and the gubernatorial candidate, Engineer Funsho Williams were waiting for Obasanjo at the Yaba bus stop. In fact one of the members of the public standing there lamented that if Obasanjo comes here today, Funsho Williams will be elected governor tomorrow. The man was right, Obasanjo did not come there and so Funsho Williams was not elected thanks to internal conspiracy within the party. Why the party did not see this coming was a surprise. Minister Yomi Edu did not hide his admiration for Tinubu and never did he show any enthusiasm for Funsho Williams.
The 2007 election was a non starter for PDP. It was an election peopled by hired candidates, who are mere opportunists and the result could not have been better.
A critical analysis of Lagos politics today would see the PDP leadership as being dominated by the Otedola beneficiaries who got in to power in Lagos by default without really understanding how to win election in Lagos as compared with the dominance of the members of the Sarumi Group who are in control of Lagos politics and government now being led by a Tinubu who came lately into the arena through Alhaji Kola Oseni (one of the so called’ Satanic Five ‘ that was accused of creating the cleavage in Jakande’s political house hold ,the rest being Otunba Busura Alebiosu, Prince Kayode Olowu , Alhaji Amzat and Alhaji Rasheed Shitta-Bey all, AC chieftains)as a Yomi Edu man into Sarumi Group as he was one of those who bankrolled Yomi Edu in the last week of his contest with Otedola. I was the Director of Yomi Edu’s campaign and so in a position to know this. The Jakande/Agbalajobi group has since vanished into political oblivion with its members scattered here and there, a prize and punishment for political indiscretion.


3
The road for tomorrow or today and tomorrow
The first question I want answered is if Lagos is a microcosm of Nigeria, why is its voting pattern at variance with the rest of Nigeria where PDP controls not less than two thirds of the thirty six states of Nigeria federation?
Another poser is why Lagos is not voting along with its kith and kin in the Western zone. The only rationale for Lagos not behaving to type is either there is something special in the PDP in Lagos that is not acceptable to people in Lagos or there is something in the ruling party in Lagos, AC that is especially appealing to the people of Lagos.
There are too many blocks in the PDP in Lagos so much that individual members do not act independently and so members are divided on group loyalty with each promoting its centrifugal forces instead of the party’s centripetal forces that would unite the party. With such strong centrifugal forces it is impossible to build an organism that is necessary to build the spirit within that will successfully challenge the opponent party ‘without’. In such a situation the party without finds it easy to penetrate into another party after badly run primaries.
It is therefore necessary to rebuild from the ward. The idea of allocating positions on basis of mirage of a group will tend to perpetuate the group interest. A Mr. 'A' who got a position not by merit but by group award will hold on to this and will hold his loyalty to the group. Election of people into office is the best means by which political officer are held accountable. A level playing ground for elections is a very necessary measure for the members to interact and build strength into the party. Only democracy can nurture democracy. Who says congress elections can not be held in Lagos. This fear creating idea is the instrument by which the PDP is held into ransom in Lagos as group leaders become tin gods around which every party moves is built.
You conduct a genuine congress by which individuals run for party posts and you will see members of a group competing for one position or the order and see members of another group cooperating individually to achieve their political ambition in the wards ,local government and the state. In doing this the PDP needs to open its doors to give those who do not have good deals with their parties to join the PDP. There are a lot of such people in other parties but the party is not encouraging them from the ward level. It only allows big names to come and contest election and such big names do not carry their ‘so called imaginative crowd’ along and this strategy does not work so far.
The PDP needs a good party organization man with a lot of experience who can think beyond our opponents and counter their moves as they move .Even though the AD looks so formidable but I know it is ‘defeat-able ‘ if the PDP is rebranded and reorganized. The crisis of confidence within the AC can help to de-mystify the organization but its fall out may not necessarily be in the PDP advantage if necessary measures are not taken.

4
Another key point that the AC is using to blackmail the PDP is the problem of unconstitutional local government. I can not understand why the party allows what it denies its own governors. Why is Lagos State allowed the twenty local governments to unconstitutionally operate 57, what the governors says local government or development areas depending on whom is addressing. As long as Governor Tinubu and his chorus boys are allowed to go away with such an illegality, the more a wall of invincibility is built around him. Does governor Tinubu or Fashola have the right to split the fund sent to Somolu Local Government and give part to a Bariga Local Government that does not exist as it is stated by a Lagos High Count or a local government whose process is said to inchoate on the authority of the Supreme Court? How can a Lagos Governor justify this diversion and misuse of public fund for which he is ‘answerable’ to the National Assembly?
The point is not about justification or none of the present local government structure. That issue should be tackled jointly; no state government should be allowed to take the constitution for a ride. The PDP stand on the matter should be understandable ; that the people of the state are shortchanged when two or three local chairmen are imposed on the local government while each of the Chairmen is earning an equivalent of what their counterparts earn in the federation. The point should be made clear that the PDP as a national party is the only party that is capable of correcting the anomaly and create the local governments that will be adequately funded constitutionally.’
Dismantle the illegal local government system today and the AC will be plunged into a confusion it will not recover from. The myth that heaven would fall if the system is tapered with is false. The truth is that all those so called Chairmen are not chairmen of local government. If any of them is invited to come and face query by the police or security officers they can not successfully justify their spending of public fund after all they do not have immunity. The Governor of Lagos State can not successfully justify his allocation of money allocated to the 20 local governments in Lagos. What more! There was no legitimate election held in Lagos State local government system, yet the PDP in government is behaving as an accomplice in this blackmail that reduced Lagos State into an anarchy as the Lagos State government from Tinubu’s to the present’s has refused to abide by Section 7 (1) that ‘The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this Constitution guaranteed ; and accordingly, the Government of every State shall, subject to section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.’
Local government allocation is made under the laws made by the National Assembly. The National Assembly, therefore, has the authority under Section 88 of the Constitution to ensure through investigation ‘to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it.’
This provision gives the National Assembly the power to make an investigation as to how States allocation to local government is disbursed. The Lagos State governor knows in his conscience that he is condoning an illegal system. The judiciary has made pronouncements about it but our PDP
5
government lacks the political will to act to the detriment of the PDP. What an irony for a government which is supposed to defend the constitution. What happens if all the other state governments defy the constitution? There will be anarchy. By ignoring this illegality in Lagos, the PDP is helping to fuel the myth of invincibility around Tinubu and his chorus boys.
Recommendation to engineer the PDP in Lagos State:
The goal of an institution is to achieve its goal. A political party is established to win elections. To the extent that the PDP has failed elections, it has failed to achieve its purpose .The failure of an institution to achieve its purpose is caused by the institution’s failure to mobilize enough materials to achieve its purpose or its inability to direct its forces properly to achieve its goal and overcome obstacles. In the case of a political party, it competes with other political parties and if it can not organize its materials, its members, its logistics and its knowledge of its opposition and other resources at its disposal properly it often loses to its opponent.
Below we hereby attempt to measure the resources available to PDP and its opponents especially the AC and try to see why the PDP has been failing.
PDP AC Other Parties
Potentials High High Low
Strength Low High Low
Incumbency Low High Low
Organization Low High Low
Vulnerability High High High
Resource MNG Poor V.Good Poor
National Outlook High Low Poor
The PDP controls the federal governments and not less than two thirds of the states in the federation whereas the AD controls only two states. The PDP has failed to use tremendous resources available to it in this respect in competing with the AC in Lagos after all those people in Lagos are not from the lagoon and most of them came from states controlled by the PDP. Why is the voting pattern in Lagos at variance with the rest of Nigeria after all Lagos is a microcosm of Nigeria? The voting pattern in Lagos is against the norm of people voting along with their kith and kin which is a universal norm. The answer must be found in the weakness of the PDP in Lagos and its inability to properly direct its resources. The disorganization of the PDP in Lagos constitutes its vulnerability.
AC’s vulnerability is reflected in its one man control by Governor Ahmed Tinubu, a system which contains its own anti thesis reflecting into crisis of confidence that is apparent in AC in Lagos today.
6
But this one man control has its own advantage as it gives power to Tinubu to rub fray hands when it appears to be damaging.
Such a system only succeeds where the opponent does not appear to be capable of providing alternatives.
So the dominance of the AC in Lagos is reflected in weakness of the PDP which has failed to provide avenue for people in Lagos to protest the wrong doings in AC as the PDP has so far refused to demonstrate that it could profit a better inclusive atmosphere to operate as a result of which it has given room to the ‘colonialisation’ of Lagos politics by Tinubu,
It is my submission that the weakness of the PDP is the strength of the AC in Lagos. If the PDP provides a better organization than the AC in Lagos there will be a massive flow of people into PDP to start with. The PDP needs to open and codify the registration of its members in each ward to welcome new members and to give new members the right to aspire to positions in the ward through internal democracy that is openly transparent giving confidence to members that PDP is a democratic party.
I have heard stories from those who benefit from the status quo that congress elections are not possible in Lagos. If that is the case how do you conduct a primary where governors, Senators and other political office holders emerge if we can not conduct election in the wards?
To be candid the disunity and rancor in the wards at present must not allow to carry the PDP to 2011, the situation will be worst than we have seen. We may get to a situation where a dark horse party would win election in Lagos State if the contradictions in the AC are played to their logical conclusion.
I am not unaware of the capacity of the AC to cause confusion and mischief in the conduct of our congress, the truth is that with dedicated leadership and honesty of purpose, we shall conduct such a successful exercise that will rebrand the PDP and make it likable in the eyes of the public.
I am confident the AC is defeat-able in Lagos by the PDP. If PDP could win in Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, EKiti and Oshun and other non Yoruba states from where people com e to live in Lagos, I am confident it can win the next election in Lagos.
One of the problems of disorganization of the PDP can be seen in inorganic nature of the campaigns among levels of election .The gubernatorial candidate behaved as if their election was so different so much that they do not need to work together with candidates at other levels like candidates to the Senate and the House of Representatives whereas these elections are held before the gubernatorial elections and their results could have bandwagon effect on the gubernatorial elections.
The gubernatorial candidates who have so much money from the party patrons should take part actively in the campaigns of the early elections to ensure victory so as to ease victory for their own elections.
7
Another problem is the problem of hoarding or holding back fund for election only to be released at the eve of election resulting into large scale embezzlement .Party funds for election must be released in time to take care of logistics .
Again we must establish an Intelligence unit to anticipate the actions of our opponents and to move positively to preempt their mischief or move.
Obama’s election as US president among all seemingly un-surmountable odds has demonstrated that good organization can win any election if resources are judiciously allocated and utilized.
Bari Adedeji Salau is a political scientist and Investigator with Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Minnesota in 1974 and Master in Public Administration – Inspector General Program from John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University Of New York in 2009. A former chairman of Somolu Local Government and the candidate of the PDP for House of Representatives in Somolu Constituency in 2003.

LATE MARYAM BABANGIDA, NIGERIA & HOSPITALS

The mother of all First Ladies in Nigeria is gone at the prime age of 61. On reading the Press release by her surviving husband, my heart aches and my memory of true modern Nigerian First Lady, popularized by Maryam remained alive. Whatever anyone would say, the ever radiant late wife of the ‘first Military-President’ vividly brought to mind what a first Lady should actually look like in Nigeria.
My message to her surviving husband and children will be to take heart; she might have gone too early, her legacy lives on. With all those pet projects she started and left behind, Nigerians would forever be thankful for her fulfilled life. May her soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.
But wait a minute, why do we have to continue this way? Yesterday, Markama of Bida, Alhaji Shehu Musa, may the Lord bless his soul, died in London, President Y’aradua is on his sick bed in Saudi Arabia and Yemisi is seeking exist visa to come to Dr. Ilupeju in Maryland, USA, to resolve a complicated fibroid surgical intervention.
For God sake, there are hundreds of skilled Nigerian Doctors with competitive edge and knowledge among world re-owned Medical and Dental Surgeons!
All we are saying is for Nigeria to provide the suitable environment with the State-of-the art equipments to enable these health providers to practice their trades. What a wonderful country Nigeria would become if one or two capable rich Nigerians could help to establish a befitting hospital like John Hopkins Hospital run by private donations and capable of treating many ailments or a city run hospital like Lincoln Hospital in New York.
What do they have or do in these hospitals that Nigerians cannot do? Well, the hospitals are well staffed, they have updated State-of-the-art equipments with constant security and maintenance in extra ordinary clean environments, streams of cash flow from blessed individuals and government – Federal, States and Cities; as well as renovated wards with homely environments and good salaried artisans who sometimes earned more than Doctors in some cases depending on length of service.
A friend went to visit one of the hospitals recently and came out very aghast after seeing robots serving patients in their rooms! He was even more surprised when he learned that most of the surgeries are now performed by Robots.
For so many years now, we have had well disciplined and trained Armed Forces Personnel for peace and war. In other countries military hospitals trained and employed the very best of their citizens to work in their hospitals. Equipments, ordinarily not seen in private hospitals, probably because of their astronomical cost, are found in these hospitals. Hence, the Presidents, Vice Presidents and Government Officials are treated in these hospitals. But with good insurance one can get the best treatment if desired in any hospital.
On occasion, specialists will be flown in from any part of the nation or the world to complement the skills of Doctors already in these hospitals. When you hear that the worst injured soldier has been brought in from the theater of war, you immediately conclude the best hands and adjuncts of medicine are waiting to bring injured ones back to life. Even the enemies and innocent people with collateral injuries are flown in to reap the benefit of modern medicine.
When the current Secretary of State of America, Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton laments on the short-sightedness of our past Government Officials in not establishing several refineries in a country blessed with the sweetest crude oil; some selfish, visionless individuals murmured for her to keep to diplomatic utterances. With perennial fuel scarcity, economic destruction and life threatening situations, one has to be diplomatic in asking VP Jonathan and Rilwamu Lukeman ‘whose Government is it?’ Nigerians, Jonathan or Lukeman?
Perhaps it will not be too much to see the newly signed oil contract with China or any other country doing oil business with Nigeria to see if there is a clause demanding that China provide us with crude oil refineries. What has diplomacy got to do with that? How on earth can we justify that we got Independence since October 1960 and yet our current President and the late world-class first lady had to be flown out for medical treatment abroad!
Don’t get me wrong, the President or any average Nigerian for that matter deserves the best medical treatment that the world can offer. However, what prevents us to have established the best hospital in the world, that might run either on solar voltaic cell energy or wind harnessed electricity and taking care of our own right here in Nigeria?
In the memory of Maryam Babangida, let us rethink, if we can ever think, and act on our priorities to do the right thing. May her soul continue to rest in perfect peace and may Allah comfort her family. Amen

By Olatunji Almaroof, DDS (U.S.A)

GRADING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE

Somebody refer to America as United States of Amnesia and I, being an American, tend to agree very much with such characterization. We tend to forget the past so quickly and point the accusing finger at whoever is in charge at the present. President Obama inherited a lot of garbage from George Bush’s administration; so much that it would take, at least, more than 1 year to fix. President Obama has started well despite many oppositions from the Republicans who are determined to see the so-called “first black president” fail. My only advice to President Obama is that he needs to wake up and smell the coffee; the Republicans will never support his radical Idea of CHANGE!!! That is what is called Conservatism – the unwillingness or inability to change!!! As for the disappointed Obama’s supporters, all I can say is that you need to hang on – American Political System is not a microwavable system. I will give President Obama an “A” for the courage to make a CHANGE. YES WE CAN!!!!!

Adesina Akanni

GANI: AT HEATHROW AIRPORT

My first encounter with the firebrand, iconic human rights advocate was at the Heathrow Airport in London in the ‘80s, prior to this encounter I had a different picture of the man in my brain as someone huge, muscular, brainy and perhaps larger than life.

As he bellowed: “Ebino Topsy – he spread his arms around his friend, Chief Ebenezer Babtope. ‘How are you my friend? – In synch, they greeted each other. I, for one, stood there transfixed looking at him.

How could this relatively built individual be so daring and consistent in his effort to take any bad Government or individual down singlehandedly? Why would any one want to dare a Government that derives power from the barrel of Guns? What a dangerous life mission! What motivates him to want to set free the downtrodden, the poorest of the poor in Nigeria? The thought kept firing in my brain as Gani and Babtope geared up to comedy on Nigeria military anomalies in those days.

For a moment, I couldn’t participate fully on the political issues of the day been discussed. I kept hearing voices in my head saying, “What does this man has other than the Law Books and the rule of Law as he knew it – a pass-on knowledge by those British white-wig wearers; those lovers of human dignity to make him so determined on his human rights activities?

The word democracy kept recurring in their conversation. But what has democracy got to do with ‘Khaki and Guns?” If they want democratic Government they have to raise their own political army against those military boys. As if Gani heard my inner thought, he bellowed once again: “Ebimo, look I am not a politician, all I want is for those soldiers to get the hell out of Government and go back to their barracks – there they can have all the guns they want to protect the Nation.”

As Gani turned to leave, I woke up from my trance and suggested that he should consider bringing up a law suit against the State Governments of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo to be joined with the Federal Government of Nigeria for allowing thousands of Nigerians to die on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway for so many years.

All the three States should have known better to pool resources for the rehabilitation and expansion of that road. There is a provision in Nigeria Constitution that stipulates that Government has the responsibility to provide good accessible roads, whether intercity or interstate for Commerce or movement of people from one place to the other.

While jurisdiction of roads lies with the Federal Government, States will do well to first alleviate attendant problems and later present Costs to the Federal Government. Failure to do so becomes negligent of the first order and could be penalized by the Court of the land.

Since I had previously been introduced to Gani as a student in America, Gani intoned: “Americano, such a case was once considered among lawyers in my chamber but the problem we encountered was that the families of the victims on that road over the years were unable to come up with death certificates of their loved ones that pointed to the place and time of death.”

Such was a vibrant lawyer’s mind of the people. Gani’s death at the age of 71 was as a result of wear and tear of organs in his body; those that had been exposed to various abuses in his quest to better the lots of Nigerians.

Our consolation is Gani’s legacy; he fought for ordinary Nigerians. He fought for people’s lives constantly in danger of human right abuses, of people dying unnecessarily from hunger, from unclean environment that breeds mosquitoes resulting in death from malaria, from people dying unnecessarily from accidents on roads that lack constant maintenance. He was a radical to the core, unbending on crusade against falsification of identities by leaders that are supposed to live by good examples.

The Students of Law should be encouraged to catalogue various law suits Gani prosecuted throughout his life time.

The empathy the masses are now exuberating in eulogy to his family, especially to his children, becomes a testament to the good life he lived for all Nigerians. Without doubt, the vanguard won the minds and souls of all Nigerians.

MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE. AMEN.

By Dr. Almaroof

An Eye Openning Interview With Mr. Ebenezer Babatope

BITTER TRUTH
•Opposition parties are just paper tigers — Ebenezer Babatope By TAIWO AMODU [aniodu'itsunnewsonline.com]
Saturday, August 29, 2009

Former Aviation Minister and PDP chieftain, Chief Ebenezer Babatope has appraised the opposition parties in Nigeria, giving a damning verdict: opposition parties in Nigeria merely exist on the pages of newspapers. Speaking with Saturday Sun in Lagos in an exclusive interview, Babatope chides the opposition parties for not doing enough to sell themselves to the electorate, only to turn around at election period to blame the F'DP and INEC for their failures at polls. Party of Nigeria was particularly abrasive of the AC which it dismissed as not being on the ground in the south west, but blames the INEC and PDP each time it loses at the polls.

The former Director of Organization of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria was particularly abrasive of the AC which he dismissed as not being on the ground in the south west, but blames the INEC and PDP each time it loses at the polls

Excerpts:
We just had a re run senatorial election in Ekiti and PDP won AC; just like what we experienced during the gubernatorial re run, allegations are flying all over the place. What do you make of this?
Well, I wish the young men of the AC the best of luck. You see, it's clear to anybody who is objective that the AC could never have won the Ekiti North senatorial election. Never! I say this, not because I am PDP but because.. one, I was born in Ekiti, Ifako Ekiti precisely the home town of Governor Oni and I know the politics there .Ekiti North is a place where PDP is strongest in the whole of Ekiti State.
So, there is no way that the AC could have defeated the PDP. You see, I agree that the AC was a formidable party before the 2007 election, but the moment the AC shot itself on the foot by allowing almost twelve members of its party who were aspiring to be governor to leave the party and join the PDP, these men came to strengthen the hands of the PDP in Ekiti State.
One of them is Arise who in fact just won election in Ekiti North. So, when these boys came, of course they strengthened the PDP and PDP definitely was in a position to defeat the AC.
The propaganda of the AC is strong, of course I admit that, but the reality on the ground is that the PDP can never be defeated in that place. When you take the totality of Ekiti state, I quite agree that AC is very strong in Ikere Ekiti; very strong in Ado Ekiti even though we are now contending with them in Ikere Ekiti, but very strong in Ado Ekiti and then very strong in the local government of Niyi Adebayo and Ayo Fayose, but not to the point that the PDP would be disgraced in the place.
But if you talk of Ekiti North they know themselves and there is no way by which AC could have beaten the PDP in Omuo, in lkole in Ilejemeje in Oye Ekiti, in Ido Osi local government. It is very difficult! The only area of Ekiti North where the AC is very popular and strong is Kayode Fayemi's home town. But when you take it out, what's the population of the voters in Isan ? You actually found out that there's nothing left for the AC. They could make some impression I consider that ...in Ayede Ekiti, but not to the point that they will disgrace the PDP in Ayede Ekiti.
I give you an example. There's Itapa/Osi ward, where the AC defeated the PDP by 50 votes in Itapa township, simply because the Ayo Fayose group is formidable to do that, but in Osi the PDP won hands down, but Itapa and Osi form one ward so when you put the ward together the PDP defeated the AC. So apparently the PDP won the election fair and square.
Again, if you come to Ifaki Ekiti where Adetunbi the senatorial candidate of the AC comes from and where Segun Oni also comes from, believe me, I was born there, lived there. The father of the AC candidate was my teacher at school, very nice man .but electorally Ifaki people will never vote for any party different from the party in which you have Segun Oni.
The Ekiti governor's father was a very popular person in Ifaki, just the same way as Adetunbi but Governor Oni's father was older, he was a strong man in the Methodist church and rose to he be the head of the church in the place and the traditional Ifaki politics had always hovered round Papa Awolowo and Segun Oni's father lived and died an Action Grouper.
So there was no way by which Adetunbi could have won in Ifaki. That's the truth! And there was no way Fayemi could have defeated Segun Oni and PDP in Ifaki, or Ido Osi. No way!

The opportunity the government has to assure Nigerians that it meant well with electoral reform is slipping out of its hands; I am talking about the Uwais report and Yar'Adua has been accused of playing game with it...
You see, don't let us be too much in a hurry. I agree with everybody saying that we must have electoral reform, I have always preached that. When we went to the constitutional conference in 2005, it was the decision of that conference that we should have electoral reform and of course, president Yar'Adua has said it very clearly that he's for electoral reform and the rule of law. I agree, but you see we still have two years to election in 2011 and I know and I am convinced that the Uwais report, given the areas the government has announced that they have agreed with will be implemented. It's for the National assembly and I want to appeal to the National Assembly, they must not toy with the destiny of this country by in fact not passing into law all these reforms. They must, they should close their eyes, sacrifice their time and ensure that Nigerians have this electoral reforms.
But my fear and I hope that the opposition parties in Nigeria will not just be mere paper tigers. You see, when these reforms are passed, then you discover that they are just mere paper tigers and then they will not be able to do anything, after the reforms might have come into play. So we beg them, we appeal to them to do their job well and open their eyes and they must also stop political frivolities. They just must admit where they know that they are not strong as I just told you about Ekiti North; it's not possible for the AC to beat PDP in Ekiti North. All the violence they are talking about isn't something which in fact is common in all parts of the world, even in America, even in Britain, we have it! But the question is, we must talk in terms of relativity of parties in terms of popularity in areas of Nigeria.
So, I 'm for electoral reforms, I agree with you that we must have electoral reforms, the National Assembly must give Nigerians electoral reforms. If they fail to do so, Nigerians must hold the national assembly responsible and they must now seize the hours and ensure that we have electoral reforms so that 2011 election will be adjudge by Nigerians and those outside as being free and fair.

But people see the delay trailing the constitutional amendment as a PDP game?
I want to assure you and I want to assure Nigerians that there's no PDP game anywhere. These are matters of common sense. It's true that PDP members are in the majority in the National Assembly that is the more reason why those chaps who are there-and I appeal to them to ensure that they pass the electoral law. I want to appeal to them, because at the end of the day Nigerians will be looking at them and will be holding them responsible for whatever happens - not the party.
So, they must close their eyes for some weeks and finish up with electoral laws, pass it so that Nigerians can have electoral laws for 2011 elections. If they don't do it, they would have failed the nation and that would be very catastrophic indeed.
I'm for it and the Federal Government has announced, clearly and without mincing words that it's committed to electoral reforms. In fact, all the bills for electoral reforms have been submitted to the National Assembly and we are all waiting. The Attorney General of the Federation has gone to the national assembly to talk to them, let the national assembly members do what should be done and there should be no prevarications, no pretence. Do what should be done and save Nigerians from the chaos of electoral malpractices.
You just dismiss the opposition parties as paper tigers; but they also accuse PDP of arm twisting. Take the case of defecting governors… [cuts in] you see, when you talk about defecting governors.
What does PDP want? A one party state?
No, we can't be a one party state in this country and again, I'm making an appeal to the opposition party. But those who have defected, if you go into deep analyses of those who have defected who are governors, you find that many of them were former members of PDP. Ohakim of Imo State was a member of PDP pre -2007 election. When the PDP didn't nominate him to contest the gubernatorial election in the state, he looked for a platform and got one under the PPA. But if we even take it, Orji Kalu was PDP governor. Everybody in Abia state PPA government today was a member of the PDP. Don't rule out the possibility of Orji Uzor Kalu and the PPA in Abia coming back to the PDP.
Then, if you talk about Yuguda, he wasn't only in the PDP, he was a minister under Obasanjo. If the man now says, 'I want to go back to my party,' you can't stop him from doing so.
Those you have mentioned - what if those parties had not made their platforms available to them to contest? Do you think their action is morally defensible'?
You are talking about morals? Well, it's quite unfortunate that in politics, all over the world this moral you are talking about aren't there. Even in America till tomorrow, Democrats are crossing over to Republicans and vice versa. The only thing you can talk about UNA place is they have the means of reaching the people and the level of communication is quite easier then.
So, it's happening everywhere. Imagine now in Britain some members of the Labour Party are saying, 'we won't vote for our party in the next election.' What do you say about that ? So, I don't see anything wrong and if you are talking about morality, then you better keep your morality outside politics, because political parties are about intrigues, all over the world.
So, the case of Ohakim and Yuguda, they were former members of the PDP who had now thought it reasonable to return to their party. Look, let me tell you between now and 2007 you will be surprised that Orji Uzor Kalu and the PPA will come hack to the PDP, because that's the platform they once held. But I am one with you that we must never have a one party state and we can't have a one party state. Let the opposition parties gather their acts together. For example, in the last 2007 elections the PDP had been on the field more than two months before the opposition parties now came out to say that they were campaigning for elections.
Number two: look at what is happening now .They are talking of mega party. If they can form it, good for our democracy. But at the end of the day, you will find out that there's nothing called mega party. Already the AC has said it has nothing to do with mega party. Even if AC has announced that it's going to work with them in mega party before 2011, it will be to their tents oh Israel. That's all. They aren't serious and they must for goodness sake. Who told you that there can't be implosion in PDP? There can be implosion in PDP. If they work very well and very hard, they could benefit if that implosion occurs in PDP.
This is the game of politics. In the second republic, we were forced into opposition, the UPN by what happened in 1979, but we didn't stop there. For example, we were able to get the National Party of Nigeria Speaker of the Sokoto Assembly and about 13 members of the assembly who were NPN to join the UPN in Sokoto. In Cross River State, we got many members of the NPN; they followed the late Governor Isong to join the UPN. So, apparently the opposition parties must work very hard and if they work very hard and they are able to convince Nigerians, of course why not?
But what is happening now is that they are doing very well on the pages of newspapers. I must commend them because honestly, I'm a fan and fanatic of Lai Mohammed; he's doing what should be done. Politic al parties isn't about making of embroidery, or you rubbing my back and me rubbing yours. It's about propaganda, agitation and whatever and they are doing it well. But let them carry such agitation and propaganda to the level of political organization that will give them votes. That they aren't doing.
You have talked about likely implosion in PDP; the trouble shooting mission in south west hasn't generated the desired result and there's the growing fear that you might lose the zone to opposition?
The PDP will win south west, simply because we realized that there were problems and we have moved to solve these problems. You are talking about the efforts of Shuaib Oyedokun and Tajudeen Oladipo. The PDP national isn't resting on its oars. You have the committee of elders which is led by General Ike Nwachukwu and the task of the committee of elders is to ensure peace in all the branches of the party in the country and that's why the elders committee is meeting in some states: Oyo, Ogun and some other states. But you see, within the next two years when the PDP now aggregate all these moves we would have reconciled all our members to face the elections.

1 want to assure you that the south west, we appreciate what is going on. Look at Ondo State for example where we have lost to Mimmiko, there would be no election in 2011there; we shall be talking about 2013 but our party members in Ondo State are organizing massively now and when we now face Iroko in 2013, they will be facing a team that has made up its mind to win elections .We are trying to resolve all internal crises and that's what's happening in all south west.
In Osun we are focused and we have started the silent campaign for 2011; in Oyo, I may tell you that Bayo Akala is a political bulldozer - he understands politics very well. But you must give credit to Ladoja; they did everything that would make him get annoyed but he has refused to leave PDP. His group is very active in PDP and by the grace of God we are going to reap peace in Oyo so that it will be a solid PDP state.
In Ogun, I can assure you that PDP will be one. I can assure that nothing in this world will make my friend, Alhaji Jubril Martins Kuye to leave the PDP and join any other party. The same you can say about Alhaji Sule Olabiyi, Doyin Okupe — all of them who are in the other group now but we are going to bring them together and they can never leave PDP. At the end of the day, we shall have peace in the place. I can assure you that PDP will never lose the south west states. The AC can make all the noise it can make; I must confess they have powerful men who make the noise for them, but they won't beat the PDP .
The cause of the war of attrition in the PDP is the appropriation of party secretariat by incumbent governors. Don't you agree that it won't amount to playing the ostrich, if that is not addressed?
Let's leave all those things aside; they may be there, there may be apprehension, there may be problems here and there. Let's leave all those things aside. But I'm telling you, the PDP is already trying to solve these problems.
We now have committees all over the place meeting and everybody is conscious of the fact that we just must retain the pact that God has given to us. Then the PDP is aware that you can't toy with the election the PDP is set and I want to assure you all the peace of the south west and that is why two years now to election, committees that the PDP has established will arrive at solutions that will give PDP advantage which they have now over the AC .Whatever problems PDP has, AC has more than triple.
The PDP is aware that it has organizational problem and that's why it has established committees to ensure that these organizational problems are resolved in a way that come, 2011 we are one for the election and we will win the election.
2011 in Osun: Is it the turn of Ijesa?
Well, you see I can tell you this: I am an Ijesa man and Papa Awolowo says before you can be a good Nigerian citizen, you must first of all be a good person from your area. So, I'm a good ljesa man. If the PDP in Osun gives the ticket to ljesa, we will be very happy. But I want to assure you that if the PDP in Osun decides in a free, fair and decent election, a candidate that is different from ljesa, our people in PDP will definitely go out and vote for their party. That, I can assure you. So, it's not a do or die affair. But as you said, we in Ife/ljesa, particularly in Ijesa land, we are praying that whoever that will be selected comes from Ijesaland. But whatever happens, the PDP in Ijesa land will never betray the confidence and trust of the entire PDP in Osun state.
Your voice carries weight in Osun PDP; are you making a case for your people - ljesa? That's an internal PDP affair; I won't come out and be talking to you our strategy in the paper. It's an internal PDP affair; leave us, we know how to solve our problems. Take this from me:in our quest to pick a candidate for 2011, the PDP will not disintegrate to retain the state that God has given to us.

Bari Salau's Responses to an Article in Vanguard Newspaper Titled: "Hear Yar' Adua's Slogan; see Fashola's work"

Bari Salau says:

Because Nigerians have been denied of good governance for a long time , Nigerians are blind to what yardstick to measure good governance. Even though I have not been to Nigeria in six years, I can smell Nigeria because I make contact with Nigeria especially Lagos on daily bases. I wonder each time people say Fashola is doing well in Lagos State . When you probe them further they say , you need to go to Oshodi where the whole place is clear. They say Fashola government has beautified Lagos with flower. What is that? Na flower we go chop? That is not to say his purchase of transportation buses is not commendable provided it could be maintained in the standard of the old `Zapaz and LSDPC before they were destroyed.

When you ask those who eulogize Fashola about non availability of adequate water and electricity supply or school, housing and health facilities they commonly and usually murmur with their tongues stucked in their mouth' you know he has to do it little by little ,at least he is trying' and they do not forget to hastily add that 'you know electricity is the function of the federal government' as if the state has no constitutional responsibility to ensure adequate supply of electricity which I know it has. When I was Chairman of Somolu Local Government I was on the back of NEPA officials in my domain constituting the demised constitutionally recognized Somolu and Kosofe Local which were constituted and separated under my authority to ensure that NEPA discharged its responsibility to my constituents and it worked as NEPA supplied transformers to areas which were denied for years. With my late Supervisory Councilor, late M.A.O. Adeyemi and my intergovernmental committee headed by late Comrade Yomi Olusanya ,we repaired all the taps installed by former Chairmen Engineer Adelani and my friend ,Otunba Fatai Arobieke and paid necessary bills to the Lagos State Water Corporation to ensure water flew to the street taps and households among other functions within my 9 months tenure. So when I am talking about power available to government to render services to the public, I know what I am talking about. I know as a matter of fact that the Nigerian Governor are more statutorily more powerful than American Governors and yet some Nigerian Governors still feel inadequate by asking for what they call 'true' federalism ,an euphemism for more of the share of federal revenue while they impoverish the local governments under them with all kinds of unconstitutional maneuverings. Alhaji L.K Jakande , of the old Lagos for Action fame,may God continue to guide him, who knows a lot about governance in Lagos State has in his 80th birthday Vanguard interview stated the criteria for measuring government performance. According to him any government that does not provide education at all levels to its people or provide them with adequate housing facility with comfort can not pass that text. I for one agree with him as I do not use 'roadside mechanic' data used by Ike compromised newspapers and chorus boys to judge Fashola and Yar'adua government. In a federation there is no basis to Judge Yar'Adua and Fashola. If all the State governments are doing well Yar'Adua could be said to be doing well. But since most of them are not doing well, the bulk stops at Yar'Adua desk. Yar' Adua is said to be slow and I can not agree more, if not how can he open his eyes and send local government funds to Lagos state for Lagos State to be sharing them to institutions that have no constitutional backing? What type of rule of law is that ? How can Fahola do well when he as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria operates an anarchical local government system which he dishonestly divines variably as local governments or Local Development Councils depending on where and when is talking. Those who say that Fashola is doing well do not know the difference between democracy and `demon-crazy'. Those who are now eulogizing him are the same people who were praising Bola Tinubu when he was governor. As they now praise Fashola, they turn Tinubu to a political Lilliputian or at best a Moses before Jesus Christ. As for Yar' Adua ,I will only say a people deserves the government that it has. One more, President Yar'Adua must understand that rule of law goes beyond rhetoric, it can only be a means to the end of providing services to the people.

Bari Salau, an ex Editor of John West Publications; Former Special Assistant to the Federal Minister of Transport and Aviation in Nigeria is an Investigation / Political Oversight Consultant temporarily now based in New York, USA.

Nigeria Needs Help

There is no magical prediction on events that can bring any Nation to an economic standstill or any democratic destruction even in the face of a Global Economic meltdown. It is only a radical economic revolution and agenda that can pre-empt catastrophes capable of destroying and derailing a democratic experiment.

Nigeria is once again both crying and begging for good leadership. Friends and Foes alike can swear on oath in their continuous belief in the present Administration and leadership. However, recalcitrant dullness in the process of setting Nigeria aloof has become a concern of ordinary Nigerian. Papa Awolowo once said that the fastidiousness of Nigeria citizens demands a constant challenge by those in charge of Governance. Besides Papa iconic writings during his life time, he made sure that his activities in economics; concern for the welfare of the peoples; their democratic appetite and the people’ wish to join a growing and developed comity of Nations became paramount in day to day of his dealings with Nigerians.

The Awoists remunerate from time to time on issues confronting the country among themselves both within and outside Nigeria and surprisingly we have all agreed that it would have been much better to see Babangida type of leadership style once again in Nigeria despite the drawback of the imbroglio of June 12th.

The most urgent Infrastructure needed in Nigeria today is that of energy Infrastructures. It is unfortunate however, that none of our leaders could work out a befitting compromise among themselves and with other leaders of the advanced countries to lay down these Infrastructures that will oil the engine of economics development for a population of one hundred and fifty million Nigerians.

When Iran and North Korea regimes became a thorn in the flesh of the sane world, everyone panics and chuckles on the danger of Nuclear proliferations. Perhaps North Korea wants to join the Space race, wants to have one of Its Scientists rides to the Space Station and/or elect to sell weapons of mass destruction to Chavez of Venezuela or Iran or perhaps each of those countries genuinely meant well for their Citizens or perhaps they are all attention seekers; there is one fact unmistakably clear, without these Countries becoming defiance as regards their energy need, the developed Countries, through share ego, subjugation and nonchalant attitudes toward poor Countries, precipitated these nuisance out there.

Developed or Advanced Nations starting with U.S.A., Britain, France, Germany and China all have the monopoly of Nuclear technologies until India, Pakistan and Israel joined the club. Outside the production of Nuclear war heads, the cheapest source for supply of electricity such as Gas and Water turbines, Hydro electricity, Coal Energy, Wind Mills and Solar (with voltaic cells) Energy are not that very accessible and cheap.

It is true that majority of poor countries, due to their unfavorable topography couple with the cost of Nuclear Reactors that stands as 8 billion dollars or 6 billion Euros today, cannot afford to have the Reactors in their domain. When other factors such as terrorist threat, corruption and lack of maintenance culture are factors into place within these poor countries, one can reasonably agree on the need for diligence in handling Nuclear Proliferations.

The existence of Nuclear Regulatory Commission based in the District of Columbia in Washington must urgently be married with a new commission to help countries in dire need of Energy Infrastructures. To ignore is to run the risk of what the world is facing with Iran or North Korea today. If we believe that Libya under Ghadaffi had surrendered all that matters on nuclear technology-know-how, we would be fooling ourselves.

Outside the more than 200 Reactors in the world today with about more than 100 Reactors in USA alone, over 50 new Reactors are under construction worldwide. Obviously, that would be what we know about the open world. South Africa voluntarily surrendered on researches and enrichment of Uranium, but what happen when we wake up tomorrow to learn more of the secrecy that surround Nuclear development in other countries even under the prying eyes of CIA, MIA, M5 or the new Garb of Russia KGB!! It was former President Jimmy Carter that revealed Israel’s stockpiles of nuclear war heads into tens.

Until Iran became openly defiance on Its Nuclear research no one believe the Mullahs with their sparkling white robes could jack any nuclear needles into the world chest.

The paramount issues of safety and leakage of nuclear technology should not stop the advanced Nations from helping poor countries meet their energy needs.

One could be ashamed or embarrassed seeing people dying of hunger in the world even in the midst of plenty, but the lesson from the Global Economic meltdown that continue to plague us today sound an urgent serious note that no one would be immune when the world is faced with unpredictable and unforeseen crisis.

Nigeria is presently struggling to fully democratize Its polity and Its entire aspects of life, corruption is been tackled head-on, Activism been carried into the extreme will be tamed, the rule of law will eventually emerge and electoral evolution is moving robustly with full speed; and no one should underestimate what this sleeping-African-Giant can morphs into within the next few decades. But, Nigerians need help and all hands need to be on deck.

By Dr. Almaroof

Ekiti Re-Election

That the PDP and the AC tried to outdo themselves in Ekiti is not a surprise. The PDP needed the victory in Ekiti to beat back the erosion of its hold on the South West especially after the loss of Ondo State to the Labor Party and the challenges posed to the party in Ogun and Oshun States where new Tribunals have been ordered to look into the last gubernatorial elections.
The AC on the other hand needs to prove its opposition leadership in the West by extending its tentacles beyond Lagos State.
There is no doubt that the pendulum of propaganda in the Western States is in favor of whatever party that is opposed to PDP and in this case , the AC.
The reason is not far fetched. In 1999 elections, the PDP lost all the three axes of the South West: Lagos/Ogun; Oyo/Osun and Ondo/Ekiti to the now near-dead AD that claimed to be a Yoruba nationalist party.
In those elections , the people of the West voted for AD in the local and state elections and AD turned APP candidate , Chief Olu Falae , a Yoruba man for President and forsake another Yoruba man, Chief (Gen.) Olusegun Obasanjo who ran for election on the platform of PDP and won making Gen.Theophilous Danjuma to comment deridingly that a Yoruba man could be elected President of Nigeria without the Yoruba support.
Came 2003, the AD found itself in disarray. The opportunist, arrogant AD governors found themselves in a quagmire. Knowing their party could not challenge President Obasanjo on the second instance ( omo eni ko sedi bebere ..) and sensing that their position was in jeopardy , coupled with the fact that their rule betrayed the ideals of the late Sage Awo against what they promised the people , the AD governors rushed to Otta to strike a deal with Obasanjo by which they arrogantly assured Obasanjo that they would direct their ‘people ’to vote Obasanjo as President if he would assure them that he would not use his ‘ Presidential might ’to fight against them as they contested their gubernatorial elections under the platform of AD. One of them even suggested he was ready to contest for the Senatorial seat in his state under the platform of the PDP if Obasanjo could clear the way for him.
But the people of the South West would not be fooled , the result was the sweeping of the West by PDP in all the elections, except in Lagos where the agents of Vice President Abubakar Atiku sabotaged the PDP efforts in order to preserve Lagos State for Senator Bola Tinubu who later ditched the so called Yoruba nationalist party AD, to prepare the way for Atiku’s running on the platform of a break away faction of the PDP, the AC which was formed to fight against Yar’A dua ,the PDP presidential candidate after Atiku was humiliated out of the PDP by President Obasanjo , his boss.
The PDP took the reins of governance in the West in 2003 except in Lagos but the PDP under President Obasanjo did not satisfy the yearnings of the politically sophisticated Yoruba people, thereby making the AC to post a serious challenge to the PDP but the Yoruba people do not forget that the leaders of the AC are the same failed governors of the AD.
The people of the Yoruba are not used to voting for ‘their party’ but ‘our party’ and the PDP has not proved to be their party. The people of the West are used to “ our Awolowo’ forming a touch light party navigating Nigerian progressive political landscape like a colossus and feeling very proud for it . They tried the AD but the AD was not attractive to Awolowo allies in other parts of Nigeria and the AD failed. The Awolowo political friends in other zones are already committed to PDP or other political parties. The Yoruba look at the PDP leadership at the very top ladder and found only few names they are used to since the Awolowo days - the Babatopes in the midst of the conservatives like Akinjides of the world and wonder if this could be their party. But there are more prominent Awoist politicians ,which I have no space to mention here , from the West in the PDP than in any other party . They are more prominent in the Awolowo camp when Awo was around than this crop of untrained politicians who are parading themselves as leaders of a new era, an era of self serving politicking where looting of the treasury is the order of the day.
But the PDP managed to win a weak victory in the West with fragile control of Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and in Ogun State where PDP is now engaged in intra party fighting while Ondo State has gone to the Labor Party! Yes, Labor Party whose win-ability was so much in doubt that the former popular President of the Nigerian Labor Congress , Comrade Adams Oshiomhole , the present AC governor of Edo State had to jettison his Labor Party nomination to contest on the platform of the AC .
Therefore the struggle for Ekiti State was therefore a prelude to the imagined struggle to control Osun and Ogun State in the case of dissolution of the elections of those states as new panels have been authorized to look into their gubernatorial election petitions. The West, thus, has become a trial battle ground for 2011 elections. No wonder the degree of intensity with which the Ekiti elections were held. But no matter what the rule must be respected.
I examine the Ekiti elections from the point of view of the objections raised by the AC on the election results. The AC claimed that the PDP claimed that 18,000 registered voters were at stake in the last Local government where election was held and only 2,000 votes were cast there in Oye as a demonstration of the determination of the people in not allowing inflation of votes cast in the election. And that the voting there with the votes cast in other eight other local governments where elections were re-ran was not consistent with the trend of the votes cast in Ido-Osi where voting was high resulting into 15,939 votes cast for PDP to 3,793 votes cast for AC . The AC claims further that the 15,939 votes recorded for the PDP were impossible in Ido-Osi as it contributed over more than half of the votes cast for both parties in other five local government but it did not say anything about the 3,793 AC votes in Ido-Osi.
It is not enough for AC to claim trend as an indication of fraud, it must go to the Election Tribunal to prove that those votes were false and it was not to force this on the Electoral Resident on the day of election unless it had in its possession another result that contradicted the result presented to the Resident Electoral Commissioner by the local government electoral officer.
This brings us to the pressure brought on the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, that made her to run away from her post.
There are two stories to Adebayo’s refusal to yield to pressure. One was the pressure from the AC for Mrs. Adebayo not to accept the votes recorded for Ido-Osi local government which was compiled in the local government and recorded by the local government returning officer. The other pressure would be from the PDP for her to accept what the AC felt was unrealistic result that did not reflect the trend of the voting in other local governments.
Mrs. Adebayo was a state Resident Electoral Commissioner who was statutorily obliged to accept the result legitimately compiled by the local government electoral presiding officers from each local government and use those data to compile her own result as state election result. She had little or no discretion on that since it does not depend on the variation of her conscience.
The process of collating results does not start at the state levels, it ends there. Result of election starts from each voting unit where the votes are counted and recorded. That is the only unit where votes are counted. From there the returns from the units are compiled at the ward level to get the ward result.
From each ward, the compiled results are compiled at the local government level and it is the compiled figures from each local government that are collected and collated at the State level to make the state final gubernatorial result.
From the above , it is logical that the pressure that Mrs. Adebayo would refuse was the AC pressure that she should not accept the result given to her from Ido-Osi local government which the PDP won and which would determine the result of the election against its candidate. And this is supported by a newspaper report that Mrs. .Adebayo abandoned her post on the threat by a politician who sent her a message that her children would be killed if she accepted the result of the Ido-Osi local government.
The fact that Mrs. Adebayo came back and directed each local government electoral officer to report the result of his local government demonstrated the stand of the State Electoral Commissioner that compilation of local government result was the responsibility of the local government electoral officer. So far the result we have got for that election is the result of the Electoral Commission.
There are sixteen local governments in Ekiti State. The election in six of them were validated by the court resulting in giving the AC 12,348 votes advantage before the re-run in the ten other local government where elections of the 2007 gubernatorial election were nullified . So in those 6 local governments, the AC won 11,348 more votes than the PDP. To the AC, that is normal. How then can the PDP victory in ten local governments with 12,000 be so abnormal in the same Ekiti State?
Let us examine the result in the local re-run local governments. In Gboyin PDP had 1,925 to AC 2,871 votes ; Ekiti South West gave 423 votes as against 351 for AC .In Ise-Orun , PDP had 3,864 to AC 4,221 while the PDP had 5,121 as compared to AC’s 1,881 in Ijero local government .In Irepodun / Ife local government , the PDP had 4,087 to AC ‘s 1,149 in Ekiti West . Ekiti East produced 4,711 for PDP as against 3,639 votes for AC. In Ikole Ekiti, the PDP had 4,471 votes while the AC had 3,639. I am deliberately skipping the result in the controversial Ido-Osi election while I look into the Oye local government where the last election was held with PDP having 1,268 votes as against AC which had 802.
The AC seems to agree with the results in these nine local governments where they lost elections to PDP in 5 local governments because they ran ‘neck to neck’ while it refused to accept the result of the Ido-Osi where the PDP countered its voting advantage of 12,348 with 12,146 votes as the PDP scored 15,939 to 3,793 in the 11 wards of Ido-Osi.
The total votes cast in the ten local government re-run produced 44,306 for PDP as against 28,238 for AC whereas the pre-validated result from the six local governments favored the AC with 78,091 votes to PDP 65,743. What trend is discernable in the votes cast in 6 local governments that are more than the votes cast in the ten local government re-run.?
What pattern is Ekiti S/W casting total votes of 774 which PDP won with 423 to AC 351 and Irepodun \/Ife local government where the PDP lost with 4,087 and AC won with 5,702 votes?
The truth is that election results are not based on election trend in other local governments because each local government has its own characteristics but votes actually cast, counted and recorded in a particular local government.

By Bari Salau

A TREE SPROUTS FROM A SINGLE SEED

It is like a baby implanted in a mother's womb, incubated and nurtured a full life. A seed is dropped on the ground by a bird, through a storm or from the waste products of a feeding animal and the seed is eventually covered by dirt. With heat strong enough and a released potential energy, the seed opens up and shoots out tentacles refusing to move out of the area. For days, the energy stored previously long ago in combination with other factors are now released to nurse the infant roots that are now emerging and looking for food in the dirt. Soon, the roots become stronger and start feeding profusely to nurse another part of this early life of a growing tree. Now, the seed case had been discarded, the roots are firmly attached to the ground and the new born that sprouts out of the seed is ready for a full life. In no time, the art of breathing, manufacturing, transportation of water and nutrients as food are fully developed. Henceforth, the sun, rain, and air will play a big role for the young Iroko tree. As for the leaves, their greenish properties are what they will use to harness the sun's energy through photosynthesis. Where this young and vibrant tree was brought to life, others had already matured and are confident to stay alive for many years on the earth. If the humans don't come calling to cut or totally destroy and the other animals don't feed on it, our young tree then begins to grow at full speed, becoming strong and nurtured by underworld of percolating water nitrogenous wastes from the earthworms. Earthworms? Yes. How can those roots feed the tree successfuly with many confronting odds? The dry leaves falling off of the matured trees in the forest, the discarded branches of the other trees, the birds droppings on the floor of the forest, those shedding skins of the forest snakes, the waste products left behind by those snails mixed with last year heavy down pour of rain and the decayed falling tree brought about by the strongest storm recorded years back have all been worked on and rolled into a black manure soil, rich in nutrients through tens and hundreds of burrowing earthworms! All of these will become the source of nutrients for our young tree. On watching how vibrant the tree has become, one sees a young tree full of life. It is not going to be a stunted specie, therefore, it needs to find its way up and above all trees. The penetrating rays of the sun within the forest will not be enough for the Iroko tree. It must feed fast, grow fast and strong among the roots of minor trees. Around that would have to be compromised and die off in the process to give way for an Iroko roots. When you have one or more of the same tree, then, interlocking compromise must be the order of nature. The roots of the Iroko tree will cross paths, they will have to decide on where to point their branches, geotropism, phototropism become a path of survival - survival of the fittest. Now, you could wonder how those nutrients and water are transported from those microscopic cells of those roots to miles up there to feed the branches and nurture the leaves of the giant Iroko. The same way humans develop their venous and arterioles existence, so also the tree had refined and perfected survival thousands of years to this day. That tree will breathe, eat, drink, manufacture, store foods and produce flowers and seeds all for survival.

Photosynthesis that is now been duly copied by humans in harnessing sun's energy by using voltaic cells or solar panels had been thought off and perfected by those trees for years. When you see a tall, strong and heavy trunks of an Iroko tree, think of how it got to be so. When you enter a thick forest during a summer day and you encounter a cool, wet, serene or a noisy atmosphere by happy birds, romantic animal calls and activities within the forest, think of natures gifts and of course Iroko befitting empire. The world is now crying for green revolution, realising the need to give nature its befitting accolades. The oxygen and carbondioxide air exchange between plants and animals, a delicate balance of nature, must be respected and guarded diligently, otherwise our planet earth might be doomed. Plant a tree and save a life.

Written by Dr.O Almaroof

NIGERIA OKADA MENACE

Nigerians are killing and maiming themselves all in the name of making a living. The menace of "Okada riders on Lagos roads are enough to sicken the hearts. The State Government claims the effort to regulate the activities of 'Okada' riders on Lagos roads is working.

Is it really working? An " Okada rider was on a last leg of dropping his passenger, looked back to negotiate a corner, lost control and on a head-on-collision completely lost his right arm that was completely severed from his body. He was taken to Lagos University Hospital, not by paramedics or ambulance but by other "Okada' riders who separately transported his arm and his body to the hospital.

Another Okada rider lost control on a narrow crowded street, ran into a 47 year old lady standing in front of her house; instantaneously, the Okada man , without a head helmet died; killed an innocent bystander and injured two more pedestrians on the same side of the road.

My colleagues at home are claiming that the orthopedic beds in the hospitals are almost out of reach to other patients after being occupied by injured Okada riders, the passengers and their victims.

On a Sunday afternoon, a lady and her grown-up daughter returning from a church service, flagged down an Okada for a ten -block ride back home; two blocks to their destination, a truck, trying to avoid collision ran into them, both mother and daughter were almost thrown into the opposite traffic. They eventually ended up in a near hospital with several stitches on their heads and for closing other lacerations.

When will these stop? A very serious, unending accidents due to the menace of Okada riders or operators are now issues to be taken up by all concerned citizens. What does it really take to construct roads and add more buses for commuters? "Cry my beloved Country". It reminds me of my last trip to Nigeria, I was seeking for a lawyer's advice to take three states , Lagos, Ogun and Oyo , joined with the Federal Government of Nigerian, to court for them to explain why Lagos- Ibadan highway remained the way it was and continued to claim lives young and old, rich and the poor over many decades.

Interstate roads are the responsibility of the State. When the Federal Government shies away from taking responsibility, the State moves in to fill the void and constitutionally demand for money expended for federal responsibility.

Until we all can come to terms with civilized games of politics, activism, telling truth to power, organizing to file papers in Court and forming pressure groups, will life be better for younger generation.

Written by Dr. O. R. Almaroof.

OBAMA MIRACLE

No matter how we analyse the forces that came to play leading to the election of Senator Barack Obama as President of the United States of America , his election was a political miracle with him as the chief performer.
Starting from his victory over Senator Hillary Clinton in the most keenly contested Democratic primary in history and his victory over Senator John McCain of the Republican party , Obama was his own man. He remained focused and confident throughout and remained his own chief campaign organizer without diminishing the capability of his campaign team which was par excellent working to the letter in achieving its goal deserving credit for every of its step. It was fantastic and would remain a useful intellectual case studies for political organizers for many many years. His campaign team outfit was unbelievably perfect working to target scientifically beating all odds making a lie of traditional political analysts.
Did race play a part ? Yes. Nothing in America is racial free but Obama demonstrated ,
that he knew America, being the product of white and black America , and knew how to manipulate the negative factors to achieve positive results.
And Obama has more than a fair share of negative factors.
Besides being a black American, his father was a foreign Muslim with a living Muslim mother living in a north African country of Kenya at a time America was engaged in war against two Muslim nations fighting terrorism inspired by Islamic fundamentalism. To make the matter worse, Obama shares the same name with the much hated Saddam Hussein and his name Obama has a resemblance to the much dreaded Osama Bin Laden that it was miswritten Osama in some of the ballot papers. The election of Barack Obama as President must be a miracle in more than one aspect of defeating the Clinton machinery in the democratic party primaries.
To say that he was voted in because he was a black man with an African father can not be scientifically defended but it can not be totally without merit. It is possible that Obama born by a white American mother and an African Immigrant father, was able to demonstrate that though he is an African American , he did not share the bitterness that goes with the temptation to revenge for historical slave relation racial prejudice. Until his inauguration speech, he did not orchestrate his paternal back ground or his middle name Hussein even though he never at anytime denied them . When his opponent wanted to draw him to discuss his African background by publishing the picture of his African grand mother to demonstrate his 'foreignness', he tactictifully denied them the opportunity to make it a campaign issue by playing it down. Instead, he focused on the lessons he learned from his maternal background, his white grand parents and their contribution to his upbringing thereby assuring the white voters that he would not be a 'black' President. On the other hand he was effectively using the blackness of his parents -in- law, his wife, Michelle herself, to remind the black community that he was one of them always reminding them how he sharpened his political sword through serving them in the South side of Chicago as a community organizer.
And when his white grand mother was sick, he demonstrated how indebted he was to her by suspending his campaign to visit her on her sick bed and this must have registered positively to independents and some republican white voters that he was one of them.
Nevertheless, Obama did not act white but refused to be drawn into 'blackness' realm of black nationalists of the type of Mayor Andrew Young, Rev. Jesse Jackson and indefatigable Rev. AL Sharpton. And this is understandable, as Rev. Al Sharpton would defend him, he was running to be president of the United States.
To demonstrate his blackness at one occasion, when Obama was asked if he believed that President Bill Clinton was the first 'black' President, he tactfully responded that he would only judge him by the manner of his dancing if he was a 'brother.'
One must give credit to his wife Michelle, and all his campaign team especially his Campaign Manager, Mr. David Plouffe, for strictly following the footstep of Candidate Barack Obama throughout the campaign .
The black community demonstrated a kind of behavior that did not alienate the white voters throughout the campaign and it must be credited for this.
It was difficult for many of us to see the change coming so soon but every change is always a surprise and can only be engineered by the freshness of the youths who are usually the agent of such change which was the case with the election of Barack Obama as President of the United State of America.
Obama's victory should be seen in the context of the cummulated struggle for the emancipation of the black race in America, an epitome of which is the human rights movement championed by Martin Luther King, a hero of all times. His election should be seen as a pride to black race and a victory to America.

By Bari Salau

RACISM, ELECTION AND SURVEILLANCES

What else do you say about this Genius of a President emerging on the world stage, the man became a Candidate after becoming a millionaire by writing books; others wrote such books after they left offices. Barrack Hussein Obama made use of available technology to amass millions that he used to prosecute his campaign successfully becoming the President of the Greatest Country in the world and yet we are claiming the ‘Plutocrats’ coronate him.

Had Obama presented this type of mind-set when he came out to contest for the American Presidency, God knows we wouldn’t have so gifted a man taking over from those creeps from the last Administration.

Yes, the present AG of the Federation (USA) had lambasted the weaklings and the cowards for not facing reality of racism in America. He wants an open discussion of the canker worm that has infested this country for decades.

But for Christ sake – slavery ended in the 1800s. For an individual who is 105yrs old today, such person would have missed few years of been a slave!! While one readily accepts that racism still permeates the fabrics of an average American life and that the form or formats range in degrees within regions in USA, nevertheless, what everyone is saying is for us to look beyond human Imperfections.

When Obama came out with his audacity of messages and Inspirations, he initially did not command any respect from all quarters; even the media conglomerates were hesitant before they embraced him as an individual and a black man. Corporate Entities, Established Organizations, even the democratic independent strategists, all waited for a while before jumping into the moving train that almost left them all behind.

As a democrat, for life, I was one of those who waited on principle, hoping for a Hillary miracle. After the democratic primaries, we all shifted chorus for the election of Barrack to the White House. This man had set a precedent for life both for blacks and white folks on how to package a winning election strategy both in tone and efforts within a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment.

To think that organized media, ‘Plutocrats’ and money bags only gave Obama the chance on their own dictates is really begging the question. The Genius became a student of his environment and as studious as he is, seized the bull by the horn, a one life opportunity; package himself with a little cache of Nerds surrounding him to win an election of the century.

No one can fault him for gaurging correctly the present young generation’s minds and spirits; by directing their potential energy, he mobilized them and turned them into a foot-warrior-soldiers combing nook and corners of the country for votes. Yes, other factors that became his luck contributed immensely to his success even when such factors were overwhelmingly negative.

This reminds me of the theory of the Hedgehogs versus the Foxes (Hedgehogs/Foxes), apology to Mr. Tetlock, who said that an individual who has a focused world view, ideological leaning and strong convictions about issues belong to the hedgehogs; while the more cautious both in attitudes, language and demeanor, those, he said are more centrist politically, who are likely to adjust easily to their environments with good pragmatic approach to life but are likely to be self-doubt prone to their believes would incline to Special Exceptions complexity and nuance at a close range and will always get things right: these mind-set liberals belong to the Foxes of human race.

The young generation of Black Americans, African Immigrants – be it citizens or residents never see themselves as slaves or slave descendants and will doubt the rationale of anyone categorizing them as brain washed individuals.

The success of the civil rights movement paved the way to allow Africans to migrate to America. When the Africans arrived, they did a lot of menial jobs, paid their dues and became another melting pot among other ethnic groups that were allowed to enter United States. As many Black Americans seized opportunity to educate themselves, so also the African migrants went to colleges to matriculate. In 1867, the United States Government under the aegis of the Freedmen’s Bureau, established, my Alma Matter; Howard University in Washington D.C., where the first civilian President of Nigeria Late Dr. Azikwe graduated. The Departments of Dentistry were organized in 1881 at Howard University and in 1886; the departments of Dentistry were established at Meherry Medical College.

These two institutions educated nearly all the black dentists in the United States until the 1954 United States Supreme Court desegregation decision which changes the situation significantly. As many Black Americans failed to seize educational opportunities, several African migrants also failed and fell on the wayside.

After the election of Barrack Obama, the young blacks, their white counterparts, their liberated mothers and fathers, the African migrants, all descended on Chicago to usher in new era and President Barrack Hussein Obama. Majority of these people are leaving behind those who refused to grow or break through their racist cocoons. People look forward in transforming their new found hope into everlasting pragmatism.
Regardless of the dynamism of a new era, people will always see things with one eye, but fortunately there are, always, two sides to a coin.

Now that the world is faced with monumental economic crisis, apparent overwhelming gap between the rich and the poor, what everyone should be striving for is to find a way out of the Gridlock of unemployment, increase homelessness whether among Blacks or Whites. Symbolically, the election of Barrack has shifted focus to the iniquities of the failure of capitalism. It is true that the Free World Trade had produced millions of wealth around the Globe. Many failures of capitalism were brought about by the greedy few of course.
This election of the century has to be a watershed to focus on specific problems. We need to search for solutions and solve the myriads of problem so as to move forward. With collective participation and awareness we will focus on racism. Racism, especially in America, against minorities that don’t have any other country to claim besides America can be dealt with in various ways. Those of us whether with dual citizenship or residents in America must have come across racist onslaught in many forms and shapes. The gains from civil rights era had been turned upside down after the 60s. American blacks became the focus of jail terms.

The drug problems of the 70s were magnified ten times against the blacks versus the white folks. A pack of marijuana possession or heroin powder will throw a black man or woman in jail while those bringing drugs into the country by planes never go to jail. The Rockefeller drugs laws were recently reversed in New York State by Governor Patterson’s Administration. The three-Strikes- Law in California should at this time probably be revisited so as relieve the burden on the minorities.

As an African, one can only recount personal experiences as it relates to racism. As previously enumerated, the Africans enjoyed the fruits of civil rights as we arrived in USA. Those who came before us were even better off than some of us who arrived late in the 70s. If many of us were cognizant of the problems our black American brothers and sisters were facing during discussions in class rooms in those days; our background in Africa as one coming from a close nit families at home shielded us from the full weight of racism.

If the Americans were trying to dilute the population of the blacks in America at that time with the newly arriving Africans, they have good intentions. Here were Africans who were ready to go to college, becoming lawyers and Doctors and of course willing to better their lots in many other good ways.

It was probably the hope of the Whites that seeing the Africans struggling educationally would motivate MORE Black Americans to embrace education or that the meekness of the newly arrived Africans will temper the militancy of the “Negroes.” Good intentions sometimes could be construed as conspiracy theory. Nevertheless, we arrived, picked up menial jobs, put ourselves in schools and soldiered on for better tomorrow.

Today, one can count in tens and hundreds among Africans who are relatively doing fine and are perfectly adjusted to their environments. Some of those who decided to return home after their education for one reason or the other did so in good faith. But for the ridiculousness of our leaders at home and their corruptions, those who came back to USA could have stayed put at home. Largely though, many came back because of the education of their children.

Personally, I never encountered any apparent racism until what I called my Second Coming to America. If such were to exist, then, by virtue of been a student or share youthfulness, one ignores them all. Only once was I verbally subjected to racist utterances by one or two county policemen in Maryland; I practically diffused the situation by refusing to be drawn to their craziness.

It was when I returned to USA in 1997 after been politically active in Nigeria for about ten years and of course after my very short stay in Saudi Arabia working at King Fadh Hospital in the town of Gizan. I went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for two reasons to earn much needed dollars and perhaps to be able to cross to USA after a refusal to grant me a USA visa from Nigeria..

If I were to be American citizen today, I could have called for my FBI file under the auspices of Free Information Act to find out the reason or reasons why surveillances had been placed on me since I arrived back in USA. The intense activities of their surveillances to date are surely enough to command a whole book.

The trail of “Otele-muye” goes a long way from an effort to block my return to my profession; it was like ‘no way, no how’ you will not practice dentistry in America. The disruptive activities stretched from Albany, during my residency program, to Michigan State, where I went for a Dental License Exam. The nuance continues till today in many forms that are very vivid and without any justification.

Quoting Glen Beck of Fox News, “Let me be clear,” he said, “If someone tries to harm another person in the name of the Constitution or the ‘truth’ behind 9/11 or anything else, they are as dangerous and crazy as those we don’t seem to recognize anymore, who kill in the name of Allah.”

Long live the human race

O. Almaroof