Nigeria must be great advocate

Hussaini Mohammed Isa

Between SAHARA REPORTERS claim and Buni's feat in education.


Last week, a renowned online medium, SAHARA REPORTERS published a story titled "Yobe School where Pupils Attend classes with prayer mats". Obviously, after reading the content of the story, one will conclude that Yobe's narrative is an appalling one. But the reality on ground made the story mischievous and misleading.

A wide-range evaluation of the landmark achievements of the administration of Gov. Mai Mala Buni in the education sector presents a platform for one to appreciate the governor's overwhelming passion for quality education and his commitment to guarantee the future of the children.

Since assuming office as the fourth democratically elected governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni has defined a novel governance template to transform the critical education sector. The reason is not far-fetched as any government that fails to provide qualitative, top-draw education for its people is bound to witness low growth in diverse development areas.

The administration has left no one in doubt that it is birthing a new paradigm shift in the quest to transform the education sector. This is visible when looking at how construction of several model primary schools are reaching advance stages of completion with renovation of other post primary schools.

Oftentimes, many people regard Yobe as a State that scarcely places premium on education, unfortunately, that is a burden the State has carried admirably for a long time. Surprisingly, that narrative has gone for good. The trend has been reversed and the State is making quantum progress in education.

This is being done through erecting effective school facilities which are responsive for changing programmes of educational delivery. What is obtainable now in Yobe is a comfortable physical school environments, well-illuminated, well-ventilated and aesthetically pleasing devoid of prayer mats as alleged by SAHARA REPORTERS.

Going forward, as the adminstration continue to implement far reaching reforms in education sector as embedded in Buni's agenda, the percentage of school enrollment, students' performance and teachers quality will reach an enviable height in the country.

What is left for all and sundry especially indigenes of Yobe is to contribute individually in whatever form in pushing the education sector FORWARD!

Husaini Mohammed Isah writes from Abuja.

OBJ says "Buhari has taken Nigeria back to Abacha
era"
POINTS FOR CONCERN AND ACTION
By
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
I am concerned as a democrat who believes that
with faithful and diligent practice of democracy, we
can get over most of our political problems and
move steadfastly and surefootedly on the course of
stability, unity of purpose, socio-economic growth
and progress for all.
Democracy becomes a sham if elections are
carried out by people who should be impartial and
neutral umpires, but who show no integrity, acting
with blatant partiality, duplicity and imbecility. For all
democrats and those carrying out the process of
elections, there must be the redline that must not be
crossed in tactics and practices of democracy.
I personally have serious doubt about the present
INEC’s integrity, impartiality and competence to
conduct a fair, free and credible election. And if the
INEC is willing, will the ruling party and government
allow it? From what we saw and knew about Osun
State gubernatorial election, what was conclusive
was declared inconclusive despite all advice to the
contrary. The unnecessary rerun, if viewed as a
test-run for a larger general election, would lead
people to expect incidences of deliberately
contrived, broken or non-working voting machines
or card readers, confusion of voters as to their
voting stations, inadequate supply of voting
materials to designated places, long line to
discourage voters and turning blind eyes to favour
the blue-eye political party of INEC because the
Commission’s hands will be tied to enable hatchet
men and women to perform their unwholesome
assignment. The transmission and collation of
results are subject to interference, manipulation and
meddling. If the INEC’s favourite political party wins
with all the above infractions, the result will be
conclusively declared and if not, there will be a
‘rerun’, the result of which is known before it is
carried out. I know that I am not alone in being
sceptical about the integrity of INEC and its ability to
act creditably and above board. But we are open to
be convinced otherwise.
The joke about INEC would seem real. The INEC
was asked if the Commission was ready for the
election and if it expects the election to be free, fair
and credible. The INEC man is reported as saying in
response, “we are ready with everything including
the results!” God save Nigeria! It is up to Nigerians
to ensure that the redline is not crossed in
safeguarding our fledgling democracy. And if
crossed, appropriate action must be taken not to
allow our democracy to be derailed.
A friend of mine who is more credulous and who
claims to be close to the Chair of INEC keeps telling
me that INEC will retrieve its image and reputation
by conducting the coming elections with utmost
integrity and impartiality. I am not sure as I believe
more in action than in words and in past record
than in promise. The track record of the present
INEC is fairly sordid and all men and women of
goodwill and believers in democracy must be
prepared for the worst from INEC and their
encouragers and how to get Nigeria out of the
electoral morass that the Commission is driving us
into. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. A battle
long forewarned does not embroil the cripple nor
catch him unawares. A word is sufficient for the
wise. The labour of Nigerian democracy heroes
must not be in vain. Some men of God would hold
President Buhari to his word on free, fair, credible
and peaceful elections. I am a realist and I reiterate
that I go by track record. Therefore, I am not
persuaded by a track record of hollow words,
impunity, insensitivity and ‘I-couldn’t-care-less’
attitude, or by the sanctimonious claims of any
candidate and his campaign staff. I will only believe
what I see. This is a time for vigilance to fight to
safeguard our votes and defend our democracy.
The price of liberty and sustenance of our
democracy is eternal vigilance and appropriate
reaction to ward off iniquities. We must all be ready
to pay that price and not relying on hollow words of
callousness. The derailment of Nigerian democracy
will be a monumental disaster comparable to the
disaster of the Nigerian first military coup.
While Nigerians must not allow such a disaster to
happen nor take such an affront lying low, the
international community who played an admirable
role in warning INEC, of course, to no avail on the
Osun State gubernatorial election and who have
been warning all political parties must on this
occasion give more serious warning, send more
people to the field to observe and work out punitive
measures against INEC and security officials
especially the Police and politicians who stand to
gain from INEC’s misconduct, which is obviously
encouraged by the Executive Arm of Government
and who must be held responsible for the violence
that will follow. Such measures can vary from denial
and withdrawal of visas from the people concerned
and from their families to other more stringent
measures including their accounts being frozen and
taking them to International Criminal Court, ICC, if
violence emanates from their action or inaction.
Nigeria must not be allowed to slip off the
democratic path nor go into anarchy and ruin. No
individual nor group has monopoly of violence or
gangsterism. And we must not forget that in human
interaction, reactions are normally greater than
action, though opposite.
It is no use, at this juncture, to keep lamenting
about the failure, incompetence, divisiveness,
nepotism, encouragement and condonation of
corruption by Buhari administration as there is
neither redeeming feature nor personality to
salvage the situation within that hierarchy. You
cannot give what you don’t have. Bode George put
it bluntly in his statement of December 3, 2018
when he said:
“The other day, the Vice-President of Nigeria,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo - a learned man, an
enlightened person in all parameters – was seen at
various markets in Lagos State and Abuja
distributing N10,000 each to market women. What
an absurdity! It was indeed an obscene display of
executive recklessness and abuse of office. Pray,
where did the money come from? Was it budgeted
for in the appropriation law? In more civilised
nations, Osinbajo would have been impeached and
prosecuted for gutting our collective treasury.”
What an act by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria lawyer,
number 2 man in the Executive hierarchy; and what
is more, a pastor of one of the Christian movements
led by a revered, respected and upright church
leader, Pastor E. A. Adeboye. Osinbajo must have
gone for, “if you can’t beat them, join them”.
A great pity indeed and which makes people ask
the questions, “Any hope?” Yes, for me, there is
hope. Osinbajo has shown the human weakness
and proved the saying that the corruption of the
best is the worst form of corruption. His explanation
that it was their government programme can only be
construed to be very shallow and lopsided, if not an
outrightly idiotic programme.
Traders in rural and sub-urban areas of Nigeria are
many more than those in urban areas and they are
much poorer than traders in Lagos, Abuja and other
cities. They need more attention and greater help.
Are they to be confined to the heap of perpetual
poverty? What of those who are not traders? They
are not entitled to hand-out and they can languish
in penury? And what about millions who have lost
their jobs in the last three and a half years? The
timing is also suspect. Those who criticise the
action are called evil but they are not evil as they
know what they are doing and saying, and they love
Nigeria and Nigerians not less than the likes of
Osinbajo. They are not devils incarnate; they are
patriots.
What is the connection between taking the number
of PVC (Permanent Voters Card) of the recipient of
the N10,000 doled out to ‘traders’ and the
forthcoming election? There is something sinister
about it, and Professor Osinbajo, of all people,
should know that. With collusion of the INEC officials
and card readers not made to work, anybody
quoting the PVC number may be allowed to vote as
the revised Electoral Bill was not signed. And if that
happens all over the country, it will be massive
rigging indeed. The Chairman of INEC must stand
firm and carry out his duties with competence and
unbending neutrality. Card readers must be used
without fail and accreditation must be completed
and number ascertained and made public before
voting commences as was done in 2015.
Amina Zakari has become too controversial a figure
to be able to give assurance of free, fair and
credible election for INEC. President Buhari and her
family have declared that there is no blood
relationship but there is relationship through
marriage and that is more than enough for the good
lady to step aside. A judge does not sit in judgement
over a case once he or she becomes a cause for
controversy or one side in the case has strongly
objected to the judge. Madam Amina Zakari should,
in honour, stay out and not be seen as a source of
contamination of the election. Otherwise, it will be
difficulty to deny the rumour that she is being
assigned to Collation Centre for one duty only – to
write out figures that are not results of the voting in
the field on fake results sheets without water mark
or on genuine results sheets which she will have
access to as a Commissioner. Amina Zakari is not
the only Commissioner that can be in the Collation
Centre. Let the INEC Chairman act boldly and
impartially and prove his absolute neutrality and
responsiveness to contribute to make the election
peacefully free, fair and credible. His integrity needs
to be transparently demonstrated.
We should remember that there had been reports of
INEC sponsored rigging in the past, and also with
INEC officials through collation and with officials
being put in party coordinators’ dresses and
working for the political party favoured by INEC and
also putting the dresses of other parties on INEC-
favoured parties and police uniforms on INEC-
favoured parties to rig all the elections for the
favoured party. Like all of us, INEC knows all these
and it should devise means to make sure they do
not happen. But will they? One way will be to only
allow card readers to be means of authenticating
voters and where there is no such authentication, it
should mean no voting. The second is to use only
identity cards with watermarks issued by INEC itself
to party officials only for identification of political
party coordinators, officials and agents and not
political parties dresses or arm and wrist bands
which anybody can wear for purposes of
identification on election duty or function.
Both the Presidency and the National Assembly
must so far be commended for adequately providing
funding as confirmed by INEC, and therefore funding
cannot be an excuse for poor performance by INEC.
President Buhari and his hatchet men in the coming
election think that the judiciary must be primed in
their favour. Hence, the Chief Justice of Nigeria,
Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, has been
harassed and prosecuted for non-declaration of his
assets without following the Constitution and the
law, just to make him conform or set him aside for
a Buhari man to take over or act, as President
Buhari and his people believe no stone should be
left unturned to rig Buhari in. It seems to be a ploy
to intimidate the judiciary as a whole in preparation
for all election cases that will go before them. Where
and how will all these stop? Typically, with
overwhelming outrage and condemnation, we are
told that the Presidency denied knowledge of the
action. But the Vice-President told us that the
President knew of the action on Saturday night for
everything that has been prepared for Monday
morning. Haba VP, it doesn’t happen that way.
Nobody should take such measure against any of
the four in hierarchy below the President or any of
his ministers without his knowledge and indeed his
approval. But if that can happen to the Chief Justice
of the Federation, the fifth man in the hierarchy of
government, without the knowledge let alone the
approval of the President, then it speaks for the
type of government we have which means the
President is not in charge let alone being in control
and no Nigerian must take anything for granted. We
are all unsafe and insecure under such an
administration. And enough of it!
Buhari’s apologists will not stop at anything to try to
cover up his administration’s inadequate
performance and character. A constitutional liberal
democracy cannot thrive without an independent
and insulated judiciary from the executive and the
legislature. Nigerians must wake up and stop these
acts of wanton desperation tantamount to mental
incapacity to run the affairs of Nigeria wholesomely.
Life and living are anchored on trust. But if I trust
you and you deceive, cheat or disappoint me the
first time, it is shame on you. However, if I allow
you to do so the same thing for me the second time,
I do not only have myself to blame, I must be
regarded as a compound fool.
Buhari has succeeded in deceiving us the first time
and we will be fools to allow ourselves to be
deceived the second time. Buba Galadima, who
knows Buhari very well as a confidant and National
Secretary of Congress for Progressive Change,
CPC, the Buhari’s party before it joined in forming All
Progressives Congress, APC, has warned us this
time around that no matter what he promises, he
cannot change his character and attitude. He
describes him as inflexible, insincere, dubious,
intolerant, never accepts responsibility when things
go wrong and impervious to reason and advice for
change. If you cannot change your mind, you
cannot change anything is the assertion of George
Bernard Shaw. Even when figures, facts and
statistics are made clear to Buhari, he keeps
repeating what is untrue, either because he cannot
understand or for mischief purposes and that
places him on the level of a pathological liar. He
believes he can get away with impunity and deceit
as he seems to have done on many occasions in
the past. Buba Galadima’s position is well
complemented by Dr. Auwalu Anwar on the APC,
CPC, TBO and Buhari’s character and attitude in his
yet to be launched book, “Politics As Dashed Hopes
in Nigeria”. It is also a stunning revelation. Anwar
clearly pointed out, “the brazen display of
incompetence, insensitivity and irresponsiveness
by delusional party, CPC, leadership at all levels”.
Buhari was the leader of the party. Bola Tinubu’s
statement about Muhammadu Buhari in 2003 is
fairly prophetic, “Muhammadu Buhari is an agent of
destabilisation, ethnic bigot and religious fanatic
who, if given the chance, would ensure the
disintegration of the country. His ethnocentrism
would jeopardise Nigeria’s national unity.”
Junaid Mohammed was eloquent on the issue of
nepotism. But if as we were told that Buhari is
nepotic because he does not trust others, why
should others trust him to continue to put their fate
and life in his hand. Trust begets trust. They cannot
be trusted for ‘sensitive’ appointment but they can
be sent out to campaign for his re-election. Who is
fooling who?
What is happening under Buhari’s watch can be
likened to what we witnessed under Gen. Sani
Abacha in many ways. When Abacha decided that
he must install himself as Nigerian President by all
means and at all costs, he went for broke and
surrounded himself with hatchet men who on his
order and in his interest and at high costs to Nigeria
and Nigerians maimed, tortured and killed for
Abacha. Buhari has started on the same path in
mad desperation.
From available intelligence, we have heard of how
Buhari and his party are going about his own self-
succession project. They have started recruiting
collation officers who are already awarding results
based on their projects to actualise the perpetuation
agenda in which the people will not matter and the
votes will not count. It is the sole reason he has
blatantly refused to sign the revised Electoral
Reform Bill into law.
His henchmen are working round the clock in
cahoots with security and election officials to
perfect their plan by computing results right from
the ward to local government, state and national
levels to allot him what will look like a landslide
victory irrespective of the true situation for a
candidate who might have carried out by proxy
presidential debate and campaigns.
The current plan is to drape the pre-determined
results with a toga of credibility. It is also planned
that violence of unimaginable proportion will be
unleashed in high voting population areas across
the country to precipitate re-run elections and
where he will be returned duly elected after
concentration of security officials as it happened in
Osun State. We are monitoring them and we call on
all democrats across the world to keep an eye on
the unfolding anti-democratic agenda of President
Muhammadu Buhari. This is the time for preventive
measures to be taken otherwise Nigeria may be
presented with a fait accompli with impunity and
total disregard of all pleas.
His scheme bears eloquent testimony to this road
similar to Abacha whom he has praised to high
heavens and as an arch-supporter and beneficiary
from Abacha, he has seen nothing wrong done by
him. It is clear from all indications that Buhari is
putting into practice the lessons he learned from
Abacha. Buhari has intimidated and harassed the
private sector, attacked the National Assembly and
now unconstitutionally and recklessly attacked and
intimidated the Judiciary to cow them to
submission.
I was a victim of Abacha’s atrocities against Nigeria
and Nigerians – high and low. At the height of
Abacha’s desperation for perpetual power, he did
not brook any criticism because Nigeria was seen
as his personal property. You must go along with
him or be destroyed. All institutions for ensuring
security, welfare and well-being of Nigeria and
Nigerians particularly the Police, the Military and
the Department of State Services (DSS) were
abused and misused to deal with critics of Abacha
and non-conformists with Abacha.
Today, another Abacha Era is here. The security
institutions are being misused to fight all critics and
opponents of Buhari and to derail our fledgling
democracy. EFCC, Police and Code of Conduct
Tribunal are also being equally misused to deal with
those Buhari sees as enemies for criticising him or
as those who may not do his bidding in manipulating
election results. Criticism, choice and being
different are inherent trade mark of democracy. If
democracy is derailed or aborted, anarchy and
authoritarianism will automatically follow.
Today, as in the day of Abacha, Nigerians must rise
up and do what they did in the time of Abacha.
Churches and Mosques prayed.
International community stood by us Nigerians. I
was a beneficiary and my life was saved. Well-
meaning Nigerians took appropriate actions and
made sacrifices, some supreme, some less than
supreme but God had the final say and He took the
ultimate action.
God of Nigeria is a living God and a prayer-
answering God. Nigerians must cry out to God to
deliver Nigeria. Here again, I have been threatened
with arrest and extermination but I will not succumb
to intimidation or threats.
Maybe I should remind those who are using probe
as a threat that I have been probed four times by
EFCC, ICPC, House of Representatives and the
Senate and Buhari has access to reports of these
probes. But I have also challenged Buhari and the
criminals around him to set up a probe on the same
allegations and I will face such probe in public. But I
know that these criminals cannot withstand a Police
inquiry let alone clinical probe on the past public
offices they held. My fervent prayer is that
President Buhari may live to see the will and
purpose of God for Nigeria. My final appeal to him is
to desist from evil with manipulation and
desperation because evil has repercussion
especially as man who should watch and be mindful
of his self-acclaimed and packaged integrity. At the
end of the day, those who goad you on will leave
you in the lurch.
You will be left alone, naked and unheralded.
In defeat, which must be Buhari’s fear leading to
desperation, he and his co-travellers can still
maintain modicum of decency, and exhibit fear of
God in their actions. We have been told that
governance has been abdicated to a cabal. Now,
campaigning has been abdicated to ‘jagaban’. And it
is being authoritatively stated that he would not join
any presidential debate.
Nigerians will not allow the elections to be abdicated
to INEC and Police to give us false and manipulated
results. I personally commend the President for
yielding to popular outcry to let the former
Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris,
go when he is due as he had the track record and
history of being assigned to rig elections for the
incumbent. It was alleged that he was sent to Kano
for that purpose in 2015. He was already deploying
his Commissioners of Police on similar mission
before his exit. We must all encourage the new
Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to
tread the path of professionalism, even-handedness
, respect and new image for the Police.
While Nigeria must appreciate Buhari for the little he
has done and allow him to depart for home in peace
if he allows free, fair, peaceful and credible
elections, we must also tell ourselves that Nigeria
deserves better at this point in time than what
Buhari is capable of offering. History will note that
he has been there. Nigeria now needs a man with
better physical and mental soundness, with an
active mind and intellect.
Let me say again that Nigeria belongs to all
Nigerians and exists for the benefit of all Nigerians
and non-Nigerians who desire to live or do business
in and with Nigeria. The attitude of “it is my turn and
I can do what I like” with impunity will not last
because Nigeria is created by God and it will outlive
all evil machinations and designs against the overall
interest of Nigeria.
Before I conclude, let me assert that the security
situation has deteriorated with kidnapping
everywhere and Boko Haram more in action and
nobody should deceive Nigerians about this. With
the teaming up of Boko Haram and Islamic State's
West Africa Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram is
stronger today militarily than they have ever been.
Boko Haram has also been empowered by the
Nigerian government through payment of ransom of
millions of dollars which each administration
disingenuously always denies.
With ISIS being liquidated in Iraq and Syria, Africa is
now their port of concentration. Soon, they may take
over Libya which, with substantial resources, is
almost a totally failed state. When that happens, all
African countries North of Congo River will be
unsafe with serious security problems. The struggle
must be for all West African, Central African, North
African and most East African States. Nigeria has to
play a vanguard role in this struggle as we have
much to lose. This administration has reached the
end of its wit even in handling all security issues,
but particularly Boko Haram issue, partly due to
misuse of security apparatus and poor equipment,
deployment, coordination and cooperation.
Finally, those Nigerians that are being intimidated or
threatened by this Administration must trust in God
and stand firm. Tough times do not last forever, but
tough people invariably survive tough times. This is
a tough time for almost all Nigerians in different
respects, but the people’s will shall triumph. All
people who have registered to vote with their PVCs
must never allow anybody or anything to deny or
deprive them of the right of performing their
fundamental civic duty of voting and sustaining
democracy. Establishment of democracy and its
sustenance is second to attainment of
independence in our political life, leaving out the
victory of the civil war. We sh

PRESIDENCY TO OBASANJO: GET WELL SOON
The sixteen-page letter the former President, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote to President
Muhammadu Buhari and released this afternoon is
the last push by desperate politicians who can’t
handle the President politically and have resorted to
subterfuge.
Our first message to the former President is that he
needs a good doctor for good treatment and to say
to him, “Get well soon.”
As repeatedly said of him, since Chief Obasanjo left
office in 1979, he never let every succeeding leader
of the country function freely, and this included the
one he personally handpicked against all known
rules drawn up by the party that put him in the
office of the President. But Chief Obasanjo is
jealous because President Buhari has more esteem
than him and the sooner he learns to respect him
the better.
It is a notorious fact that in dealing with any leader
that he failed to control, he resorted to these puerile
attacks. As the grand patron, more correctly the
grandfather of corruption as described by the
National Assembly, Chief Obasanjo released today’s
letter purely for the reason of rescuing his thriving
corruption establishment.
The elections starting in February will be free and
fair as promised the nation and the international
community by President Buhari.
What Chief Obasanjo and his co-travelers in the
PDP should expect is that from the outcome, we will
teach them a political lesson that they will never
forget. This margin will be much bigger than we had
in 2015.
Claims that President Buhari and the All
Progressives Congress (APC) have embarked on
the president's “self- succession project, by
recruiting collation officers who are already
awarding results based on their projects to
actualise the perpetuation agenda, in which the
people will not matter and the votes will not count”
is not only utterly false, but a copious note from the
book on the failed third term agenda of President
Obasanjo.
The man, President Buhari who has taken Nigeria’s
reputation to a higher level internationally and is
working hard to improve on the records of elections
he found in place cannot descend to the level that
Obasanjo has himself sunk.
As for his attacks of the administration’s records in
fighting corruption, what the former President said
is no more than evidence that President Buhari’s
war against corruption is succeeding. They thought
it is all a joke.
A leader who took USD 16 billion “upfront” to supply
electric power yet failed to add a single megawatt to
the national grid and to date, there is no trace of the
money is jittery that he will be called to account. He
is a coward.
Chief Obasanjo, manifesting a confused state of
mind blames President Buhari for the fall of Libya
into a failed state and the unholy alliance between
the Boko Haram terrorists and the ISIS, while at the
same time calling it an African problem, saying “the
struggle must be for all West African, Central
African, North African and most East African
States,” which really does not amount to saying
anything new.
Nigerians looked up to him as a role model and a
ray of hope to ethical and clean leadership until
President Yar’Adua called him out to explain what
happened to the sixteen billion dollars of taxpayer’s
money. It is clear that with him sitting on top of the
heap of corruption, he is no different from the crowd
he leads.
This language of his 16-page letter, likening
President Buhari to General Sani Abacha, a man he
dreaded and the one who jailed him under military
laws is most unfitting from a former President of
Nigeria.
The claim that President Buhari has put in place
rigging machinery is both outlandish and
outrageous. We are unable to get the words to
describe a 90-year old liar, except to say that by
the publication of this tissue of lies against the
President, he Obasanjo, not the President will fall
from everyone's esteem.
Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
January 20, 2019