When a man is unable to allow his utterances be controlled by his cranial matter we assume the person is drunk because alcohol has a way of loosening the tongue. If there is no sign that the person is inebriated we begin to question the mental capacity of the person and words like stupid, dolt, idiot or cretin come to mind.

However, if such a person falls into neither category because we are aware of the person’s intellect and his bearing is such that alcohol and stupidity are excluded, you are left to wonder and ponder at what the issue might be.

Running Nigeria is neither for the inebriated nor the stupid, it is a job that calls on all faculties; the exhibited ones need to be alert, sharp and commanding of the authority and bearing expected of such who dare to lead.

Taking stock

The time has come and the time is now that we can no more acquiesce to low expectations and levels of achievement that are redolent of indolence rather than hardworking effective and efficient leadership.

In our 6^th decade of independence, we have no time for people learning on the job, lacking aims, plans, mission or a vision as to where they intend to take Nigeria in the short term and at the end of their term in office.

Our democratic experiment is now close to concluding its 13^th year and what we have seen more of is profligacy, prodigality, waste, corruption and a lack of accountability. Billions of dollars have been ploughed into infrastructure as power, roads, transport, rail, health and education but there has been very little to show for those investments.

Rather our legislators have growth fat on the largesse of the country earning humongous sums that will make the eyes of real creators of jobs and masters of industry water – to think from anecdotal evidence that our federal legislators earn more than presidents or leaders of more advanced economies and then to see a paltry work rate that is self-serving rather than in the service of the people is unconscionable, dishonest, corrupt and unsustainable.

Things are NOT changing

However, the biggest question remains what plans do they all have for the progress of Nigeria and when will they stop promising and start delivering?

After the 2 weeks of Occupy Nigeria and the strikes that ended yesterday, it appears the reluctant government in perpetual inertia was forced to be responsive albeit unilateral in all their decision-making dispensing of the rule of law for expediency and convenience that the legislature is found having to exert itself as the usually careless overseer of executive excess.

And careless they have been because they have still not addressed the criminally fraudulent matter of noticing the executive budgeted N250bn for fuel subsidies in 2011 and actually had spent N1.3trn by September and they are asking for more to cover the whole of 2011.

It still beggars belief that there are no checks and moderating influences over the executive to ensure they do not overspend without recourse to the legislature and if they do, there are no sanctions and repudiations to be made to all responsible with the possibility of criminal prosecution.

It is incredible that any organ of government can overspend by 500% and the other organs of government abdicate their responsibility with impunity; it indicates how corruption has eaten into the fabric of Nigerian governance that it is impossible for it to reform without some radical act of the people or God forbid some other intervention that forcibly resets this untenable and flagrant abuse of democratic processes.

We are caught as I once said before in the grip of an unconscionable kakistocracy – it is the government by the worse people ever selected to be in leadership.

Doing the worst of the least

Just before words could be taken out of our mouths, the president when addressing certain youths who in their excellence might abdicate their initiative and innate abilities for subservience to the government we have today, he said, “If we cannot build good roads for our children; if we cannot leave hospitals for them, then one thing we must not leave for them is debt, for them to come and pay.”[1]

I have been trying to get my head round what the president really meant by this statement because try as I might, I have found it impossible to make anything positive of it.

Then to think someone thought this statement was so positively profound that is was the quote on the FrontPage advertisement of BusinessDay just shows how low our expectations of this government have precipitously fallen that the government is not even exerting itself to anything at all.

Nigeria needs roads and she needs hospitals, those will contribute to the lifeblood of our economy and wellbeing. Even theoretical economists who always tend to leave out the serious human dimension in their modelling know that road infrastructure and healthcare are critical elements of development that if we end up in debt facilitating such the long term economic benefits will eventually pay off the debts.

A race to ruin

What I read here is a man that we have in elected office as president who has no vision for the country, he is as laidback as a rug with not particular goals apart from the default of not leaving the debts to our children whilst in the 5 years that he has been running mate either as vice-president or president he has presided over such an expansion of government to no end but for the aggrandisement of their debauched lifestyles of untold opulence leaving nothing for the people.

It is a race to ruin that does not address the real problems that affect the country be it corruption, profligacy or the security deficit that allows a high-level terrorist suspect to escape from custody at a time when the country is in a heightened state of security.

Occupy their lives

This, my friends can no more continue, we have another 40 months of this regime and something must give, it cannot be the people giving in to business as usual anymore, we need to make these people responsible, accountable and earning each kobo of their keep.

Our Occupy Nigeria movement needs to spearhead a series of tenacious occupations, we must occupy their minds, occupy their thoughts, occupy their time, occupy their space, occupy their lives, audit their time, audit their spend, audit their lives, micro-manage all their activities and call each and every one who takes money from the Nigerian coffers to account.

Politics in Nigeria must stop being a cushy job of high-living in ostentatious consumption to feed insatiable hedonistic appetites, these people should be too busy to find time for such excess and if they cannot stand the heat, they should resign.

Occupy and force change for the better

If a politician is not ready to put their best forward and make Nigeria the main priority of their lives with everything Nigeria being front and centre of their focus, it is time for them to retire with no benefits, they should take to life like all other Nigerians do. Enough of this nonsense, enough of the rottenness that is eating this country to the core and enough of the clueless leadership that needs to be given a good boot kick in the backside to start performing.

Occupy Nigeria for the change we deserve and we either force these people to do it or force them out but by God, we will not wait until 2015 for this indolence to become so ingrained that the future would have been eternally mortgaged to this looming debacle and apology of a state of affairs.

Occupy! The time is now.

Source

[1] Jonathan blames politicians for Nigeria’s woes | Premium Times Nigeria

President Goodluck Jonathan presenting an award

The Nigerian National Honour Awards 2010/2011 season over the last couple of weeks became a hot topic with international dimensions that now requires a review because it brought to the fore some serious issues about Nigeria.

The first controversy that arose came from the House of Representatives Minority Leader Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila when he rejected the offer [1] of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (OFR).

In discussions that ensued on social media forums, many were quick to question his motives being a member of the opposition ACN party, that is powerful in the South-West of Nigeria, it is however sad that the political landscape of Nigeria is so tainted that politicians with seemingly altruistic ideals get lumped together with the political benchwarmers and jobbers that constitute the rent-seeking class of leeches inimical to progress in Nigeria.

However, it is sometimes important to separate the message from the messenger and sieve the message for the gems whilst discarding the dirt; at least that seems to be the only way to gain insight into the workings of Nigeria.

Mr Gbajamiabila in his letter of rejection opined that the awards process had been abused, the bill he sponsored to review the process did not get sufficient parliamentary time and that the awards should reflect incontrovertible meritorious service rather than it being used as a vehicle of presidential patronage. “This has reduced what otherwise was a well-intended and noble idea to a national joke.” He said, and many would agree.

Things still falling apart

Soon afterwards, the highly esteemed Chinua Achebe rejected the offer [2] of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR) which he had once rejected before in 2004. Uncharitably, one can say the government was lacking in imagination in offering the same title rejected 7 years before as if the awardee had not distinguished themselves the more since the first rejection.

Paying back the government in the hand he was dealt, Professor Achebe contended the issues he raised on his first rejection were still present, unaddressed and unresolved. His rejection lit up the international newswires as he is literally the foremost African literary luminary; known for especially for his 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart.

Again, on social media forums, the discussion was quite divided as some were livid with rage at the professor whilst others could recognise the views expressed by him but the most important reaction to his rejection [3] came from the Nigerian Presidency.

Having had their gift horse rejected, they proceeded to damn the man with praise making a clear inference that Professor Achebe was oblivious of the great changes that have taken place in Nigeria; citing the elections which in general appeared free and fair but in all fairness and honesty, those elections whilst appearing to be the best ever held did not mean they were the best that could be held. The government could not point to any other amazingly inspiring changes that could have persuaded the professor to reconsider his views. Meanwhile, one must note that the professor was already an OFR.

Records of degeneration

The Presidency might have been given the benefit of the doubt with regards to a Minority Leader or a Professor in exile but back in Nigeria was Professor Grace Alele-Williams who was the first female Vice Chancellor of a major university in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In her case, her rejection or rather consternation [4] was piqued by the fact that she was being awarded a national honour she had already received 10 years before; she was awarded an OFR.

It goes without saying that there will be a general consensus to honour Professor Alele-Williams again with a higher award and she did not mince her words excoriating the system that allowed for what one should term an unforgivable error.

In what should be Nigeria’s premier award scheme, one would have thought the best brains would apply all due diligence and meticulousness in selecting the awardees, researching their history and sounding them out before making public their decisions.

Professor Alele-Williams had the following to say, “This says a lot about record keeping in this country and it is disheartening to see the country we strove to build degenerate to such level.” And she then went on to, “enjoined Nigerians to collectively stand up to the cankerworm of corruption, which has eaten deep into the fabrics (sic) of the nation.”

Comparing what Professor Achebe abroad said about there being no change in the last 7 years and what Professor Alele-Williams in Nigeria said about degeneration measured over presumably 10 years or more, you might be persuaded more of the opinions of the professors about Nigeria than what appears to be the fallacy of the Presidency – but maybe that is just an opinion too.

A really dull speech

So, Monday the 14^th of November was the day of the investiture in which 355 “esteemed” Nigerians – taking cognisance of Mr Gbajamiabila’s objections were – honoured.

President Goodluck Jonathan gave a long and almost rambling speech [5], @jongambrellAP live-tweeted the speech which included trivia like, “I am informed that since the inception of the Award Scheme in 1963, a total of 3,924 persons have received National Honours.”

I got so exasperated that I tweeted, “Who writes these President Goodluck Jonathan speeches? They are so uninspiringly pedestrian as a catalyst for terminal depression.” That got retweeted another 19 times indicating there was probably some agreement with that view.

Deviating from his prepared speech, the President from paragraph 24 of the published text took time to educate us in the nomination process noting that very young people were confused about the awards system and even dared compare the National Awards Committee with the Norwegian Nobel Committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize whilst also differentiating the Nigerian National Honours Award from the Nigerian National Merit Award. The President should have kept to the script, in my humble opinion; a lacklustre prepared speech embellished with uncharismatic ad-libbing makes for an even duller presentation.

A kakistocracy of incompetence

As if that was not bad enough, the President ran out of medals [6] to present the awardees, some tweets suggested they were more than 50% short and like the professors and the legislator had said, there has been no improvement considering the same President was embarrassed last year for the lack of medals [7] to award some of the present awardees during the even more auspicious 50^th Independence anniversary of Nigeria.

Though the Secretary to the Federal Government spared the President some embarrassment it was just as embarrassing that knowing there were so many recipients, not enough planning and preparation went into ensuring that the occasion was as auspicious for the awardees, not to talk of the international community present to witness another unpalatable narrative of Nigeria in transformation.

We cannot continue to excuse and tolerate the rank incompetence that permeates every sector of our society that the organisation of such a premier event honouring the best and most lauded of Nigerians in the eyes of the government be served with breath-taking cack-handedness that will sap even the most optimistic Nigerian of hope for progressive change, whilst adding grist to the mill of the critics, but the government and its organs are justifiably deserving of scorn and excoriation for this debacle and show of shame.

In the end, history appears to have already sided with Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, Professor Chinua Achebe and Professor Grace Alele-Williams; we Nigerians are once again caught in the merciless iron grip of a heartless and unconscionable kakistocracy – a government indeed by the worst of men.

Sources

[1] House of Reps Gbajabiamila, Minority Leader rejects national award | Transparency for Nigeria

[2] Chinua Achebe rejects an honor from Nigeria – CSMonitor.com

[3] Achebe’s rejection of national honour regrettable | Nigerian Presidency

[4] National Mirror – National award: I’ve an OFR already –Alele-Williams

[5] President Jonathan’s address at the 2010/2011 National Honours Award investiture ceremony

[6] Insufficient Medals as President Jonathan Decorates Nigerians at National Awards – Nigeria Business News

[7] The Nation – Shortage of medals mars national award ceremony

Our pride

It is always heartening to read of Nigerians winning awards or receiving international recognition for their work most especially if they are resident in Nigeria.

At the best of times, it is not the easiest country to set up business in and going from the experience of some, it is even harder to be a newspaper and a quality newspaper at that.

A few weeks ago, we were informed that the NEXT newspaper will no more appear in print, many lamented the prospect whilst opining about the course that newspaper charted that made it a pariah to advertising agencies thereby starving it of essential revenue to thrive.

NEXT was the best

This blog is not being written as an exegesis to those failings; those issues are for others to ponder. However, accolades have been raining on the newspaper like Noah’s flood; last week, Dele Olojede the founder won [1] the 4^th John P. McNulty Prize and the citation read “in recognition of his ground breaking work to deliver unbiased information to the Nigerian public, demand government transparency and advance journalistic standards in the country.”

On Tuesday, at the FAIR [2] (Forum for African Investigative Reporters) African Investigative Journalism Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa, NEXT reporters Peter Nkanga and Idris Akinbajo emerged as African Investigative Reporters of the Year for their joint work, entitled “Last Minutes Oil Deal that Cost Nigeria Dear” whilst the editor Musikilu Mojeed carted away the Courage Award.

Courage in the abyss

It is important to recount the citations that accompany these awards; in the case of the reporters, “The report is one of the six-part ground-breaking series which catalogued a courageous journey into our heart of darkness, the oil industry, as we investigate brazen attempts by our senior officials, including petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to corner the oil industry for themselves, openly demanding bribes, and using cronies and fronts to grab oil blocs in secretive deals.”

Having compiled their report, it was left to the editor to weigh the consequences of that age-old saying, “publish and be damned,” he courageously published the report and for that he “was honoured for demonstrating rare courage and providing the right kind of leadership to get the stories published in spite of high-level pressures, police harassment, attempted monetary inducement and threats to his life.”

They never cared for corruption

From the analysis that followed awarding these prizes to the now eminent personnel of NEXT, it was suggested that in any other country less corrupt and less tolerant of malfeasance, prebendalism or neopatrimonialism, the minister will not only have lost her job in disgrace, she would duly have lost her freedom too, having to go to jail.

Sadly, it is Nigeria where with all the incontrovertible facts and evidence presented to all that matter, the President with his transformational agenda re-nominated the minister for her old position after the elections and the Nigerian Senate being derelict, irresponsible and nonchalant about these rotten allegations barely questioned her but ratified her appointment thereby granting a seal of approval to a corrupt enterprise that reeked to the high heavens.

The award corroborates the reports

Now, there is no reason for FAIR to wade into the political quagmire of Nigeria and expose the sows with their snouts deep in the trough of corruption, they could easily have adopted other less politically inflammatory pieces to grant their award.

Each entry would have been judged on more than its merits for good reporting but would have been reviewed against the kinds of pressures militating against such activity being exposed to public knowledge.

It automatically lends a lie to the idea that everything that constitutes this government we now have in Nigeria with the majority PDP ruling party have a desire to tackle corruption at any level. They instigate, promote, espouse and embrace corruption as their modus operandi suborning as many as can be bought to that same cause.

They are a corrupt lot

Where the President might have had the backbone to stem the tide at the top, he acquiesced and celebrated the epitome of corruption as the lifeblood of his regime and in swearing-in the minister gave license to impunity, the minister probably continuing from where she left off knowing nothing will come of the investigations of the puny inconsequential reporters of the moribund NEXT newspaper stable.

With this award, one will hope the whole Corrupted Industrial Complex (CIC) that makes up the totality of the Federal Government of Nigeria is duly exposed to the world and our foreign partners that they have no consideration for good governance, probity or transparency and sadly, Nigerians thinking they have a democracy are in fact, caught in the merciless iron grip of a heartless and unconscionable kakistocracy – a government by the worst of men.

For the salvation of Nigeria – woe betide them all.

Sources

[1] 234Next.com | Olojede wins John P. McNulty Prize

[2] 234Next.com | NEXT editor, two reporters win African investigative journalism awards

[3] 234Next.com | Last minute oil deals that cost Nigeria dear

Fuel Pump, Courtesy of Business Day Online

This blog is cross-posted originally from AkinBlog.nl

The Fuel Subsidy Debate

The Nigerian Social Media space has been considering the possibility of Nigerians waking up from their docility and acceptance of everything thrown at them by their indifferent government to the inspiration of their own Arab Spring early next year.

This has been predicated by the decision of the government to remove subsidies from Premium Motor Spirit what we generally call fuel subsidy early next year.

The chatter has really been confounded by the situation where over decades there have been threats and salami-sliced implementations of the removal but no one is particularly sure of how much that subsidy really is, that it has become some imaginary slush fund of ready cash that the government suggests it will plough back into the economy taking cognisance of the effects such a removal might have on the working classes.

The Truth About Our Government

Sadly, the government has never really had a track record of ploughing oil profits back into the pockets of Nigerians except in the mid-70s after which plunder and squander has been the tack of those in leadership with little consideration of the bottom-line and particular welfare of the generality of the people – there are points for argument in the previous statement but little to dispute in terms of results.

Fundamentally, the fuel subsidy is literally the substrate of the totality of the Nigerian economy, it will touch on every aspect of life in relation to prices for food, goods, transport and every other service apart from the inflationary pressures it will present, but those issues are best left to central bankers and economists whilst one deals with a few other brass tacks.

Plans or Fables?

As a producer of petroleum products, it is bordering on the atrocious that Nigeria imports about 85% of its refined fuel needs because its existing four refineries are poorly managed and are lacking in serious productive capacity which means that the federal government subsidies imported fuel to the tune of $4 billion annually. [TransparencyNG]

Commonsense will suggest that the long-term goal of the government will be to facilitate, encourage or sponsor raising our refined fuel capacity to levels that will ensure that the subsidy expended in imports is radically reduced, at least that is what informed the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation in May last year to build refineries in Lagos, Kebbi and Bayelsa States at the cost of $23 billion. [TransparencyNG][China in Africa][BBC News]

Whilst it is interesting to note the activity of the Chinese in building refineries in Ghana, Niger and Nigeria, what made interesting news a few months ago was the idea that Niger might get way ahead of Nigeria in commissioning its own refineries and end up exporting refined fuel to Nigeria. [All Africa]

How Much Is The Subsidy?

Besides, it appears no one is sure of what the cost of subsidising fuel is, the Central Bank in its MPC Meeting minutes suggested that the cost was about $6 billion, the on-going debate in the Nigerian Senate suggests the Federal Government budgeted NGN 240 billion ($1.54 billion) for subsidies in 2011 but have found that cost inflated to NGN 1.5 trillion ($9 6 billion) in what is a looking like a typical Nigerian scam. [CBN (PDF) Page 3][All Africa]

This amazing discrepancy should have heads rolling faster than when the Bastille movement chopped off heads in the French revolution, but none such will happen because the matter of responsibility leading on to accountability is just absent in Nigerian governance.

As an aside, the real big cost of governance sits within the profligate nature of our Federal Government, the abuse of security votes at state government level and the exorbitance of our legislature that consumes over 25% of our Federal Government overheads without essentially being a productive sector of our economy.

Indonesia Caught in Denials

Much as the idea of building more refining capacity in Nigeria does not seem to appeal to those resolute in finding another largesse to nudge their greedy snouts into, what adds insult to injury in spite of the now seemingly white elephant plans to build refineries in Nigeria is the news that Nigeria plans to invest Rp 24 trillion (US$2.68 billion) in Indonesia to build three refineries. [Jakarta Post]

The Nigerian Government has gone to great lengths to deny this report, but one has to ask why Indonesia will dream up such a scheme if there were no iota of truth in the same. The Nigerian Government unfortunately for all its protestations has a Matilda Complex about it, its propensity for denying fact and defending lies is legendary especially with the instrument of Social Media personnel it has employed for propaganda, obfuscation, distraction and alienation. [All Africa][AkinBlog]

Our Insurrection In Planning

It has become known that any opposition to the government is quickly construed as unpatriotic whilst the government has perfected a complacency of siege mentality proffering more excuse than reason for any action or inaction they have found themselves in.

At the end of the day, the reasonable thing about fuel subsidy is for Nigeria to build and sustain its refining capacity by whatever means encourages that trajectory and it is only after that is put in place that the desire to remove the fuel subsidy can be justified.

Nigerians have two and a half long months to put everything in place to start off their justifiable insurrection against a moribund, ineffective government in détente and inertia, for once, let us – Arise, O Compatriots and heed a call for a democracy that is fair, just, honest and true.

Some background

And so the Nigerian Senators having spent 46 of the first 100 days of this legislative term in recess resumed the active duty of promulgating serious legislation which last week included the Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2011.

The bill after much lively debate passed its second reading, but it behoves one to examine the purpose and intent of such a bill in Nigeria today.

It is quite evident that in much of Africa a swathe of fundamentalist religious fervour has swept through many countries endangering the lives of homosexuals. In Uganda, for the past few years, not only has the clamour to criminalise homosexuality rang out, the punishments to be meted out included the possibility of the death penalty.

Tolerated impunity in Africa

In January, a gay activist was bludgeoned to death by someone ready to plead gay-panic defence and his death cannot have been unrelated to the harshly virulent, bigoted and intolerant rhetoric of politicians and religious leaders alike who have with Machiavellian determination mined the mob element of the people to support the atrocious.

In South Africa with both homosexuality and same sex marriage legal, lesbians have been subjected to “corrective” rape, some have died in such attacks and I was completely repulsed beyond measure when a video was circulated of the public humiliation of a lesbian in West Africa with onlookers literally cheering on.

In other words, the concept of the acceptance of homosexuality in Africa will only be under duress from free societies in negotiations for other things than it becoming an accepted thing in society.

No danger of progressive thinking

Now, that is not to say that homosexuality does not exist in Africa, it has existed amongst humanity from time immemorial and for many in Africa it has not required the so-called influence of Western societies for it to be present and possibly thrive, no matter how little the numbers are.

That said, it will take a leap of faith bordering on the impossible to countenance a time when same sex marriage will gain any form acceptance where the law already prescribes punishments not far off from what would have made the Mosaic stoning acts almost merciful.

In the reports about the debate, as we have observed in other countries where homosexuality laws have been repealed, the legislators employed interestingly colourful language, all possibly based on conjuring the most revolting images to blackmail the unpersuaded to take sides for this attack on civil liberties.

Blackmail by revulsion

Taking root from religious law, they have conflated homosexuality with paedophilia, incest and bestiality which probably happens more amongst professed heterosexuals but it never finds mention. It would be nigh on impossible for such legislators to promulgate laws against adultery or fornication, though one is not suggesting that they have the propensity for such.

In the case of rape, when mention was made of the gang-rape and criminal assault of a lady, a member of the House of Representatives had the temerity to question the need for such discussion in the midst of other pressing Nigerian problems – it would have been wonderful for such minds to prevail on the fact that same sex marriage is not on the horizon for Nigeria in the foreseeable future and hence the debate was just an abject waste of time.

The bill was sponsored by 26 senators of which 3 were women, one of whom was once a Federal Minister of Finance; it invalidates unions and does not recognise any same sex marriages contracted in foreign countries where such is legal.

Witnesses criminalised more

What is quite amusing about the penalties is where the subjects of the “solemnisation” of the marriage are liable to 3 years of imprisonment whilst witnesses to such an event face either a term of 5 years imprisonment or a fine of NGN 2,000 or both.

In terms of groups, the fine is limited to NGN 50,000. What is confusing about what is patently a bad law is that it appears the same-sex marriage participants are not as severely punished as the witnesses to such an event – there are no two ways of stating that a bad law punishes observers more than the actors – it is radically and patently flawed whilst at the same time unfortunate that supposed learned legislators are blinded by moral fury so as to be oblivious of the miscarriage of justice that looms in the wake of this outrageously condemnable stance.

You have to ask if the stenographers or publishers of such laws for debate take time to review their copy, proofread the documents and ensure that ambiguity and incorrect spelling, context or content is accounted for.

In the section about the interpretation of the law, it suggests that “Same Gender Marriage” means the coming together of persons of the same sex with the purpose of leaving (sic) [I suppose living was intended here.] together as husband and wife or for other purposes of [a] same sexual (sic) [sex] relationship.

Unintended consequence already evident

However, let us not be given to unnecessary pedantry and look at the issues here; in the prevailing circumstances our Senators have just legislated for a mirage with the hope that they have handled an issue that hardly if even remotely touches any sense of reality – this bill shows an idleness of purpose with people so highly paid but lacking in principle, priority and focus to tackle more thorny issues that affect Nigeria and Nigerians at large.

Human-beings will always be human-beings and they will satisfy whatever feeling and persuasion they have regardless of the laws that encroach into the morality of society to attack an almost invisible minority.

The greater danger will be in the many who because of societal pressures will attempt to present public heterosexual lives whilst they pursue secret homosexual liaisons in what is commonly known as being on the Down-Low.

Societies that promulgate moral laws will always suffer from the almost schizophrenic tendency for people to live double lives, men or women with their families eventually getting caught up in literally unspeakable circumstances.

The wheels of social justice in reverse

The Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill is not one Nigeria needs at any time, it is legislating for the unforeseeable in anticipation of the improbable where there are no extenuating circumstances of evidence available to show that the country is vulnerable or prone to any such development.

Even in countries where Same Sex Marriage is legal, the homosexuals are not flocking to the altar in droves, it takes a lot to develop relationships between people regardless of gender-pairing and somehow our learned legislators in attempting to appear knowledgeable have just exposed they utter ignorance of a side of human nature they are completely clueless of – if we have such lack of expertise addressing even more pertinent legislative issues in Nigeria, we are the much poorer for it and we are sadder for the brigandage that allows for so much to be paid for such inconsequential and irrelevant service to Nigerians.

In the end, where we have allowed moral laws to trample on the rights of other who have committed in the eyes of this unjust law victimless crimes, the wheel of negative social justice reforms is never stationary, it continues to roll until to encroaches on other rights abrogated by reason of some moral law or code – we already see that our leadership have to compelled to speak up for victims of sexually violence, they probably will not readily condemn violence against others as a result of this bill as we inure ourselves from the plight of others.

Acknowledgements

The basic document of the Same Gender Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2011 the news reports of the debating the bill appeared on ThisDayLive and The Nation newspapers.

Professing religious raconteurs

Nigeria as we know is a country replete with religious symbolism as leaders all tend to wear their faith on their sleeves with every opportunity to speak filled with divine incursion that almost presents them as the clergy.

With the 51^st Independence anniversary of Nigeria on Saturday the first of October 2011, one would expect that there would be religious services with leaders taking the pulpit, lectern, podium or rostrum depending on where such a service is held.

The President, Goodluck Jonathan is a Christian and he attended the Interdenominational service held in the weekend where he appeared to offer many biblical analogies using popular bible characters to set his place in what we should expect of the task that he has ahead of him.

The Nigerian social media had been agog with excerpts of his message to the congregation of the great and the good that attended the service but after seeing the newspaper reports of the quotes, one is left quite concerned, seriously perturbed and bemused by the irony of it all.

Foreheads of Goliath

One needs to assess each character introduced in his message to see if the analogies are apt or wanting in a fuller context and interpretation.

Chief amongst his statements was, “God will soon expose the foreheads of Nigeria’s Goliaths.” Now, Goliath of Gath was a terrifyingly huge man and warrior in the Philistine army who made all the Israelite armies cower in fear, none able to take on his challenge for a man-to-man combat.

As the story goes, David, a ruddy haired shepherd had been sent to the warfront with food supplies for his elder brothers when he heard the challenge that in his youth exuberance he offered to go up against the giant not with the customary armour or weapons of war but with a sling and five stones he picked up from the brook.

David and Goliath never met in hand-to-hand combat, rather he slung a stone and it hit Goliath in the forehead knocking him stone cold dead – much has been made of this story, the triumph of an underdog, the bravery of the inexperienced, the victory over an almost impossibly powerful enemy and so on.

Nigeria as the President suggested does have a number of Goliaths to deal with and she probably has not been blessed with people sufficiently David enough to be daring to take on the Goliath challenge, the probability of another David-Goliath moment occurring is better left to others to analyse.

No Davids to spare

Quoting liberally from the 234Next.com news report, “If you listen to some of the things people say or write in papers, some people would want the president to be a lion; some people would want the president to be a troop commander who would crush everybody on sight. Unfortunately, I am not a troop commander. I am not an army General. Some would want the president to be like David or other warriors in the Bible, unfortunately, I am not one of those.”

This deluge of supposed comparisons is a bit worrisome but not beyond comprehension, we can appreciate here that the President is not a lion – one would suppose there are characteristics of bravery, courage and presence a lion has that the President is suggesting he does not have – that is no sin.

The President is a civilian so the expectation that he be a marauding troop commander is a bit far-fetched, most leaders of nations of the world do not belong in the military and they are in considerable control of their briefs.

However, “Some would want the president to be like David or other warriors in the Bible, unfortunately, I am not one of those.” This does become worrisome not so much for the other warriors that cowered but for the fact that there was no point having the forehead of Goliath exposed if there is no David available to sling a stone – the President had put himself out of the running for David leaving Goliath a seriously looming threat.

Boasting like Nebuchadnezzar

Obviously, with the President giving this speech, he had rubbished the idea that he was sequestered in a bunker suffering from siege mentality as he lamented why “some Nigerians chose to vilify us.” Despite the achievements of his government in 100 or 500 days depending on your numeracy skills drawing on the evidence that his government had recently been praised by President Barack Obama and President Jacob Zuma.

The Daily Times of Nigeria published this excerpt, “You have been praying for us; some others do not want the government to move an inch, I mean those of us who are politicians. The only prayer I need from you is for God to use me to change this country. I don’t need to be like Nebuchadnezzar, David or other great men to change this country, but with your prayer, I can change this nation; we can make the difference.”

Again, we appreciate the many obstacles to progress, we also acknowledge the need for prayer but it does not preclude the need for action, it is difficult to read what is intended if the President having been in office over 500 days appears to be unsure if he is engaged in the usage necessary to change the country – for all our prayers, which are exhortations of Godspeed, it requires a man of ability and purpose to step into the fray and demonstrate the power of divine providence.

Nebuchadnezzar II was the great king of Babylon who conquered the Jews and sent them into exile, his fame got to him boasting of his achievements that he lost his sanity for a season until he acknowledged the lordship of God. The President having boasted of the achievements of administration will hate to then end up in that king’s narrative.

Fearful examples of bad luck

Other characters that appeared in his speech included the Kings of Syria (maybe Assyria), Babylon and Egypt and particular reference was made to the Pharaoh of Egypt; however, biblical records of history show that none of these rulers who had unparalleled heights of power in their time had a successful end to their careers of leadership and no Nigeria will wish this on the President.

We do have to return to the Goliath story because it set in motion a chain of events that makes President Jonathan’s analogies a bit suspect. When David killed and beheaded Goliath, he took the head to the Saul the King of Israel. The king honoured him, gave David his daughter in marriage who sadly bore him no offspring and also gave him control of a battalion of soldiers.

Jonathan’s own story

Saul’s first son was Jonathan, Jonathan struck a deep friendship with David and even though by rights Jonathan should have been heir to the throne of Israel, the acts of Saul his father and the growing popularity of David amongst the people along with other extenuating circumstances meant that Jonathan will not accede the throne.

Saul and all his heirs eventually fell in battle and thereby the lament that went up from David, “How have the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!”

It goes without saying that Goliath of Gath was the making of David and the undoing of Jonathan, the analogies and metaphors used by President Goodluck Jonathan may have hoped to give prominence to his talismanic name of Goodluck but on closer scrutiny, it exposes the unfortunate side of Jonathan which did not end with his death because on learning that Jonathan had died the maid nursingMephibosheth his 5-year old son dropped him to the ground in her bid to escape crippling the child.

If the President does not cast himself in the role of David to tackle the Goliaths he has identified on the Nigerian battlefront, we might well abandon hope for a victory in the task set before him to change Nigeria.

Zoology is a better vocation

It goes without saying that the President is best advised to desist from making use of biblical analogies because none appear to bode well for him as they expose more of his weaknesses than the essential strength expected of a leader in his position. As an erudite of zoology, he might have fared better.

If a speechwriter was employed to write the speech he delivered at the service, it would not be too harsh to wish an Absalom moment on such a person – he was the 3^rd son of David and in leading a revolt against his father; his long hair got caught on the branch of a tree, left hanging but alive, he was in vulnerable enough a state to be killed.

From what I have read of my Twitter timeline, the President’s speech was at best dreadful and appalling awful, it lacked opportunity or resolve and it leaves one with that sinking feeling that he is paralysed by the weight of his achievement of great office to extend, exert and effect himself in any appreciable way for Nigeria or Nigerians.

In another biblical story, Lazarus of Bethany was raised from the dead, you have wonder if there is a Lazarus in Jonathan for Goodluck to become a David and defeat the Goliaths that mock Nigeria with impunity.

Courtesy of the ReBranding Nigeria Campaign

Rebranding Nigeria

An unfortunate article sullying the reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians as having a propensity for Internet Fraud, 419-related crimes [1] and email scams has set in motion an inspired campaign to convert the Internet search for “fraud” to results that will now paint Nigeria and Nigerians in better light.

Peter J. Reilly, writing for Forbes.com published an article three weeks ago titled Nigerians Switching From Greed to Fear [2] which he changed to Switching From Greed to Fear after a Nigerian took exception to his views in a comment; he then went on to write an apology Fraud Has No Nationality- Apology to Nigeria [3].

Writing for change

Meanwhile, Nigerian bloggers starting with Jidenma Nmachi suggested every Nigerian on the Internet should start a blog [4] to militate against the negative stereotypes of Nigeria with the hope that the deluge of blogs will take Nigeria out of fraud context related Internet searches.

Meanwhile, I felt before we all rushed to crowd out the Internet with blogs there was a fundamental issue with English education in Nigeria in a blog titled Nigeria: The need for improved English education [5] which was original posted on my blog.

It is interesting to note that a comment left at the NigeriansTalk blog suggests my writing as an example of the reason why this is needed, because in Peter Iredale’s opinion, I “lack the ability to write in clear, coherent, [and] grammatically correct sentences.”

I will be the first to say I do not have formal English qualifications at graduate level and even though English is my mother tongue, I have never pretended to write for the illiterate or those whose comprehension of English is below a particular level of professional education. Mr. Iredale is however welcome to redline my copy, and I am willing to learn to express myself more effectively in English.

Concerted Positive Branding

Then Chika Uwazie uploaded a video response at the following site The Truth About Nigerian 419: Response to Peter J Reilly Article on Forbes [6] where she advocated “Nigerians need to do more positive branding in order to remove ourselves from this negative label of fraud” and email scams.

This lead to an innovative and inspired idea from Peter J. Reilly in 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians – Part 1 [7] where he suggested Nigerians make lists of 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians, in what I think is becoming a crusade that is beyond redeeming himself for an infraction to helping initiate a concerted effort to rid Nigeria of atrocious stereotypes.

I will suggest that all Nigerian bloggers write a blog titled 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians and basically use every opportunity to turn a negative slur into a positive and wholesome reclaiming of Nigerian pride.

The association of 419 and Nigeria should begin to yield positive commentary about Nigeria.

Sources

[1] Advance-fee fraud – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] Forbes.com | Switching From Greed to Fear

[3] Forbes.com | Fraud Has No Nationality- Apology to Nigeria

[4] Why every Nigerian on the Internet should start a blog

[5] Nigeria: The need for improved English education

[6] The Truth About Nigerian 419: Response to Peter J Reilly Article on Forbes

[7] 419 Reasons to Like Nigeria and Nigerians – Part 1

EFCC logo - Courtesy EFCC

This is cross-posted from my blog titled NaijaLeaks: A sad decade of an ineffective anti-corruption crusade

New NaijaLeaks

Just in case we had forgotten, WikiLeaks unleashed another torrent of US diplomatic cables which included some pertaining to Nigeria that we have come to term NaijaLeaks.

These cables extend back to as early as 1985 and they will require a bit of data-mining to glean the cogent bits of information and insight that will expose the arcane workings of the Nigerian government usually referred to as GON which stands for the Government of Nigeria.

One interesting cable I found during my review of the new data pertains to Nigeria’s war against corruption which was created in 2001 and one has the opportunity to compare the issues then with the uncannily released Human Right Watch report on the same war released earlier today.

NaijaLeaks on Corruption

The cable of interest is titled – NIGERIA: A Close Look at the GON’s Anti-Corruption Commission [1] which was an assessment made by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan DeWitt and summarised in a cable created in July 2001.

At that time Transparency International had identified Nigeria as the 2^nd most corrupt country in the world and steps to deal with that odious image involved creating The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC).

The ICPC had filed two cases in the Abuja High Court pertaining to the attempted bribery of the Special Assistant to the Chairman of the ICPC to persuade the person to suborn the judicial process by destroying the petitions that were to be filed in court.

The second pertained to the bribery of a member of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry for the investigation of the Management of Nigeria Airways Limited in order to curry favour for certain persons.

Clogged up courts

What was instructive was the brazen effrontery and impunity of the defendants who first challenged the enabling anti-corruption act then filed interlocutory motions both of which were denied and still the court dockets have been clogged with appeals and counter-claims to stymie the process as it climbed all the way to the Supreme Court.

The U.S. Attorney noticed that the judges were quite learned and did much to move things along even though the defence continuously filed numerous motions and requests for adjournment – it appeared justice will be so delayed it might well be denied and the defendants having frustrated the system might get away scot free.

The ICPC appeared to be unprepared for their onerous task, they had a heavy case load and not enough staff to handle the matters, for the 90 positions that needed filling there were 27,000 applicants, a logistical nightmare on its own.

Ineffective at best

When advice was sought regarding the gathering of information about corrupt individuals by a member of the ICPC, the U.S. Attorney suggested a method of “pro-active investigations” but the chairman of the ICPC preferred the pedestrian and passive stance of receiving petitions and conducting oral interviews whilst being resistant to “pro-active investigations.”

Much as a lot of help was offered to help the ICPC, there was no proper co-ordination that it might well have been an ineffective organisation considering the chairman did not delegate much responsibility possibly for the fear that the commission members might be working against the system.

For all the seemingly positive spin the U.S. Attorney appeared to give the fledgling ICPC, it does not appear she was convinced that the ICPC will be able to deliver on the anti-corruption goals of the government.

Any progress?

Ten years on, the Human Rights Watch released a report on Nigeria’s fight against corruption looking at the activities of the other anti-corruption organisation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with the title Corruption on Trial? [2]

The Summary Page makes for rather unflattering reading as the EFCC was established in 2002 and whilst the EFCC has arraigned 30 nationally prominent political figures and recovered US$11 billion, there has been little progress with only four convictions and a completely gummed up judicial process.

The report saw no appreciable difference in the successes of either Nuhu Ribadu the first chairman or the current chairman Farida Waziri. It upbraids Ribadu for allowing one big fish to slip through the net and Waziri for not ameliorating the seemingly deplorable situation.

Not much it seems

It suggests Ribadu was media savvy but with a tarnished legacy of being selective of those to prosecute almost at the political whims of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Waziri who replaced Ribadu is said to have grown both timid and lethargic with certain legal successes looking like a mockery of the whole anti-corruption campaign as insignificant jail terms citing Lucky Igbinedion, then the inability to corral Peter Odili with the release of Bode George after incarceration sending the “unmistakable message that proven criminality is no bar to the highest echelons of politics in Nigeria.”

Skilled defence lawyers have gamed the system gaining interminable delays in the courts with the Ibori case having 170 criminal counts thrown out on the technicality that the EFCC did not provide a written statement of the key witness and as such the court contemned the “worthless hearsay evidence.”

The report notes that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) have failed to complement the activities of the EFCC making for a disjointed and uncoordinated battle against endemic corruption as Nigeria’s political elite continues to enjoy ironclad impunity.

Still stuck on highly corrupt

The report suggests the anti-corruption agencies need an infusion of new and effective leadership observing much of the action against the corrupt Nigerian elite has been instigated by foreign governments as the extradition of Peter Odili from Dubai to London and the revocation of the visa of the former attorney general Michael Aondoakaa under the Yar’Adua government who consistently undermined key corruption trials.

Looking at the stretch of 10 years of Nigeria’s institutionalised crusade against corruption, the real effect can only be measured by reviewing where on the Transparency International Corruption Index, Nigeria now is – it is 12^th in a cluster of 9 countries that includes Zimbabwe, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Togo & Sierra Leone or as the table [3] (PDF) shows, it is 134/178 on the interactive map [4] where it falls in the group a notch up from highly corrupt cohabiting with 35.3% of the assessed countries.

It does not read much like an improvement over 10 years and that is rather unfortunate and quite so too.

Sources

[1] NIGERIA: A Close Look at the GON’s Anti-Corruption Commission

[2] Human Rights Watch – Corruption on Trial? The Record of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

[3] [4] Transparency International

English Language

This is cross-posted from my blog at http://www.akinblog.nl/

The need for Nigerian expression

I read Nmachi Jidenma’s blog titled Why every Nigerian on the Internet should start a blog [1] where she coordinates the editorial activities of CP-Africa.

One can easily see the premise of her argument; as usual some blogger with a big magazine profile receives a scam email purportedly from some Nigerian along the lines of what is commonly known as a 419 Letter [2] and finds the opportunity to fulminate.

When Peter Reilly who contributes to Forbes.com first wrote about the letter, he noticed a subtle change in the tone of a 419 letter from that of persuasion preying in the greed of the victim to fearful threats and is was only normal for him to default to stereotype with the headline Nigerians Switching From Greed to Fear [3].

It took one well-placed comment by a Nigerian resident in Nigeria to get Peter Reilly to change the title of his blog though the underlying URL still registers the original title; he then went one step further offering insightful research about the original of fraudulent scams and the resolution of some interesting cases.

Effective communication presages change

In the comments under his first blog he engaged the commenters and it appeared he was contrite enough to write the follow-up blog Fraud Has No Nationality- Apology to Nigeria [4] in what I felt was a display of maturity and interesting raconteuring, you had to hear him out.

However, back to the purpose of this blog, Ms. Jidenma noted that a Google search for “Fraud” almost always presented contextual results that made Nigeria prominent and this is exacerbated by the fact that there are not enough positive Nigeria narratives on the Internet to minimise the association between Nigeria and fraud.

That thinking is well placed but there are problems we do need to address, the comments posted on the Forbes.com posts ranged from a dispassionately objective criticism of stereotyping to somewhat unnecessary but naturally expected defensiveness.

An underlying problem

Now, having blogged for almost 8 years and reviewed many comments and blogs of fellow Nigerians on many Internet sites, I doubt flooding the Internet with Nigerian opinion without attention to content, quality and intellectual ability is the answer to the dissociation of fraud from Nigeria.

One statistic that buttresses this view comes with the announcement that only 30% of students passed English and Mathematics [5] in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results and whilst this is an improvement on the 25% last year it is appalling.

The problems are self-evident, maybe the strictures of mobile Short Message Service (SMS) known as texting does have an effect where the restrictions of 160 characters forces users to use abbreviations and strange spellings of words that depend on some sort of decoding to make sense; that form of communication is becoming so mainstream that it might have crept into formal communications like what students put down in examinations.

The low results in mathematics are worrisome too because it suggests that students are not leaving school with basic numeracy skills needed for further education or the workplace.

A failing curriculum

Even though English is my mother tongue by reason of it being the first language I could speak and the circumstance of birth but I do remember the attention paid to our English classes from primary school in Nigeria where reading, writing and spelling lessons and tests were part of our curriculum.

In secondary school, we were voracious readers, the girls on everything that Barbara Cartland [6] wrote and the romantic pulp fiction of the Mills & Boon series [7], we the boys started off with Nick Carter [8] crime novels then James Hadley Chase [9] and graduated to Harold Robbins [10]; we all not missing the African writers and compulsory Shakespeare texts in formal English classes and the traditional English novels by celebrated writers as Kipling, Twain, Shaw, Haggard, Dickens, Orwell and others.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the James Hadley Chase novels even had the Nigerian price on the dust jacket or back cover of the paperback novels.

The English syllabus contains essential guides for reading and comprehension, composition, context, interpretation which should result in communication that is at least structured and coherent with the possibility of it being concise, maybe precise and hopefully original belying some admirable intellect.

What is needed

I dare say, only a few expressions on the Internet have passed the muster and much as I would love to see more Nigerians on the Internet with blogs, comments and opinions that show Nigeria in more positive light, there is much more that needs to be done in terms of the quality of communication they present whilst it goes without saying that the slide of examination performance was not sudden much as it seems precipitously low.

Too much time is being spent on religious and motivational books and very little on those with useful literary value that would broaden outlook and improve expression, we have become clones of “How To” themed books.

The need to return to formal and traditional modes of English and language expression cannot be overstated and it starts with correct spelling, structured sentences, the ability to crystallise thoughts, an understanding of correct punctuation and tenses, the daring to be objective and a broadening of the reading curriculum.

Then we can ensure whoever decides to own a blog is at the least redounding to the positive narratives of Nigeria with good communication, clear thinking and commendable expression.

Sources

[1] CP-Africa.com | Why every Nigerian on the Internet should start a blog

[2] Advance-fee fraud – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] Forbes.com | Switching From Greed to Fear

[4] Forbes.com | Fraud Has No Nationality- Apology to Nigeria

[5] AllAfrica | Nigeria: WAEC Results – Only 30 Percent Pass Maths, English

[6] Barbara Cartland – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[7] Mills & Boon – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[8] Nick Carter (literary character) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[9] James Hadley Chase – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[10] Harold Robbins – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al-Mustapha

This is cross-posted from my blog at http://www.akinblog.nl/ it was written as an editorial for my blog but published here as a topic concerning Nigerians.

All sensational theatre

The past week has provided amazing sensationalist fodder in Nigerian courts with the long-awaited trail of the former Chief Security Officer of Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.

He stands charged and accused of the murder in June 1996 of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of Moshood K. O. Abiola, the generally accepted but unaccredited winner of the June 1993 Presidential Elections. He seems to have his hands deep in all sorts of criminality all of which should be proven in court and then met with adequate sanction if found wanting.

Now, Al-Mustapha’s trial is literally headline news and though I have posted a number of tweets on the matter, this blog was inspired after certain reactions to his testimony have begun to obfuscate the quest for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Much to process

Facebook being where a short status along with a quote can be pasted and elicit rather strong passions; there is a time that one needs to step back and examine the circumstances and hopefully interject with the hope of letting reason prevail in these somewhat uncertain times.

For all the claims and counterclaims in reaction to the testimony being given in court, what is in the courthouse is really what matters and that is what we must focus on, those who have been tarred by the testimony have it within their prerogative if able to submit incontrovertible defence, those who cannot defend themselves because they are dead might will become casualties of history.

However, I am of the belief that those revered dead were of the old school of journal keeping and meticulous documentation of their affairs; those journals might well need examination because the events to which they have been linked are not in any way insignificant.

The reality of advocacy

The most important thing is to understand what the defence strategy is and hopefully the prosecution does not end up being mesmerised with the entertainment that they are in dereliction of their brief – judges however should not be expected to do job of either the prosecution or the defence, they are there to ensure that the course of justice is served and to the letter, hopefully, the spirit of the law is adhered to.

For all said and done, this is where things are, Al-Mustapha was in court narrating his side of the story as any defendant would. Everyman no matter how imperfect our justice system is should be allowed the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.

In court or at court

If the prosecution has not found grounds to truncate his “diatribe” with a convincing objection by suggesting to the judge that Al-Mustapha is argumentative, speculative, suggestive, diversionary, digressing from the substance of the issues and/or failing to contribute to the essential matter of adequate defence strategy, then we will have to hear every big and little story Al-Mustapha has to tell.

If on cross-examination the prosecution cannot take each assertion and use it to destroy the basis, premise, character, dignity, standing and credibility of the witness, then his testimony becomes germane to essential investigation for the truth and veracity as pertaining all those mentioned – death or alive.

Maybe Al-Mustapha is a dying man clutching at straws; even a dying man sometimes has a few last words – note them.

However, not to afford Al-Mustapha his full, rightful and untrammelled day in court after a 12-year incarceration will amount to a travesty and miscarriage of justice.

A fat brief

We can so easily get reactionary with every sensationalist claim made, it will not change what is being said, maybe there are people who do need to answer for a lot and there are other dots that need to be joined up – in the end, with all the keen interest and theatre of the macabre that this presents, it is incumbent on the prosecution to determine without doubt who the murderer is, who the accomplices are, who the conspirators are and who benefited from that sordid and sad part of Nigerian history.

It is a fat brief and the prosecution had better be up to the task or justice will be served but there will be no justice for all concerned.