Every Nigerian blood is on the line

PRESS RELEASE Every Nigerian Blood Is On The Line By SKC Ogbonnia* Houston, Texas August 8, 2015 Every Nigerian Blood Is On The Line TRUE! A group of senators forged documents to enthrone a cabal to the leadership of the Nigerian Senate, the nation’s highest law-making body on June 9, 2015. They were caught red handed in a broad day light. After a routine investigation, the police confirmed that a felony was indeed committed. On top of that, the individual who assumed the position of the senate president, Bukola Saraki, and his wife have been embroiled in corruption charges for ages from their different activities in the private as well as the public sectors. After a long recess, occasioned by a lingering leadership crisis, the Senate reconvened on July 28, 2015. Instead of doing the needful and effecting the desired change, to the chagrin of a mopping society, a relaxed majority of eighty one senators—most of whom are facing all sorts of corrupt charges—connived to brazenly pass a vote of confidence on the very leadership of the senate. The reason for this crass impunity is not farfetched: Such senators do not want any change. What they want is the status quo whereby the leadership of the Legislature is firmly under the control of a venal clique well versed in thwarting positive change in Nigeria . Thus far, they are gaining ground day-by-day with their well patented game. Once the forgery case blew open, the cabal quickly headed to court to tangle the case with the most inane argument, suggesting that a crime committed in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is none of Nigeria ’s business. What is more, similar to the past Jonathan regime, this dateless cabal is already scheming with a contingent of judges infamous for adjourning felony cases till eternity in name of due process. This whole dilemma has sent a peppering signal around the world that the much advertised anti-corruption agenda under President Muhammadu Buhari government may end up in chalk and talk without the walk. The main culprits behind the crisis are the brain trust of the corrupt oligarchy that ruined the immediate past regime. We are talking about the same senators notorious for colluding with their cohorts in the private sector to loot funds budgeted for public projects. Yet, they are also known to crave ostentatious lifestyles abroad and live like kings at home. To that end, they do not always see any reason to care. But common sense dictates that all, whether rich or poor, should actually care for positive change this time. Not only is the global change movement that propelled Buhari back to power too costly to give in, it is a last hope, and must be defended by any means necessary. More poignantly, it has become very imperative for these leaders to recognize that the general condition in the country has not always been able to tell the rich from the poor when tragedy strikes. Every Nigerian blood is on the line. Put squarely, the common effects of bad leadership, such as poor medical facilities, bad roads, armed robbery, and kidnapping are not only claiming lives of the ordinary citizens; the situation is also claiming the lives of the leaders themselves or those of their blood relatives. The eminent political historian, Bala Yusuf Usman, might have imagined this predicament when he lamented that many highly placed Nigerians are some of the most ignorant because they have the tendency to forget that politics all over the world is all about human existence and common good. An American president, John F. Kennedy was obviously more direct: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” Eye-opening examples abound in the Nigerian history, but recent incidents involving some of the principal actors of the immediate past government offer a salutary lesson. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan needs no introduction. As a former governor of an oil-rich state and later president of the Federal Republic , no person was better placed to have built a world class hospital in his home state of Bayelsa than Jonathan. Instead, he preferred special oversea medical checkups for his entire clan, forgetting that “a stitch in time saves nine.” But he would later recognize the omission in a very painful way. The president’s younger brother, Meni Jonathan, suddenly became ill on one fateful day at their home town of Otuoke and needed immediate medical attention. Regrettably, that was not to be. What eventually became of Meni is calmly explained by the following words of the then president, Mr. Goodluck himself: Meni “drove himself down to Yenagoa to board the chopper to Abuja . He got to Abuja that Saturday and was admitted in hospital. The following Monday, his breathing changed. I said; let us make arrangement to get him out—to let him get treatment outside. So an arrangement was being made. Unfortunately the following day he had cardiac arrest and inflamed heart at the State House Clinic.” And a president’s brother gave up the ghost like ordinary Nigerians in November 2012 at the capital city of Abuja . The case of the wife of the former president, Dame Patience Jonathan, is another embarrassing detail. Penchant for dictatorship without power, Mrs. Jonathan once withheld the funds budgeted for roads in her native State of Rivers . But little did she know that the law of gravity never fails to hold: What goes up must come down. One of the roads in the same Rivers State would claim her mother’s life on a ghastly motor accident on July 22, 2013. Enter Namadi Sambo, the then Vice President. As an architect, it was believed he could lend his experiences to improve Nigeria ’s failing infrastructures. However, any sentence linking Sambo to essential amenities had been the cheerleading of the privatization of public properties defined by crude political cronyism. The fanfare changed on April 27, 2014. His immediate younger brother, Capt. Yusuf Sabo Sambo, was burnt to death on ghastly motor accident. Eye witnesses confirmed that the young man could have survived if there was an efficient fire service at the only airport in the national capital. Even worse, rather than hold the usual Federal Executive Council meeting to deliberate ways to save 300 ordinary Nigerians kidnapped by Boko Haram at the time, Sambo enjoined President Jonathan to cancel the first scheduled executive session after the Chibok tragedy. The sole motive was to allow council members to attend a three-day prayer for the late younger brother of a vice president. Are you still there? At the helm of the Legislature was David Alechenu Mark, the president of the then Senate. Known for honing undue schisms between the rich and poor, it is not unexpected that the 7th Senate under Mark has gone down in history as the most selfish, corrupt, and insensitive to the welfare of the masses. But if there was any incident that could stare Mark on the face about the realities of life, it was story of his younger sister, Mrs. Mary Onma-Adakole. Although access to foreign medical care was readily available, it was too far, too late, to save her life. Mary went on labor unexpectedly and died during child birth at nearby hospital in Abuja on January 15, 2014. Ike Ekweremadu was the Deputy President of the Senate under Goodluck Jonathan regime. Like Jonathan, whatever Mr. Ekweremadu lacked in parental pedigree, he had in abundance in strokes of luck. Yet, if the proverbial saying that a tree does not make a forest is ever to hold, nowhere has it come to pass more than in the case of the man from Mpu. At home with primitive accumulation of wealth and hopping into helicopters to avoid the chronic bad roads around Igboland, it was convenient for Ekweremadu to ignore years of pleas—including a special letter from this writer in 2011—to capitalize on huge constituency budget to repair the Enugu-PH Express road, clearly the most vital road in the senator’s immediate constituency. It also is so sad to report here that chancy bumps at the same Enugu-PH Express road would claim the life of his most beloved brother, Chukwuemeka on December 23, 2012. Next… Dieziani Alison-Madueke, the current President of OPEC and former Minister of Petroleum Resources, deserves every mention. She was widely seen as a poster lady for everything wrong with the Nigerian masses. Instead of the sweet breeze of the oil boom, what the masses felt most throughout her tenure was the scourge of constant controversies, including allegations of N10 billion private jet rides, missing of $20 billion from NNPC coffers, and fuel subsidy scams. It was not surprising then that the blood family of the OPEC president was a constant target for restless youths, as evidenced by separate abductions of her sister, Osiyo Agama, on October 21, 2014 and nephew, Mr. Joseph Agama, on March 19, 2015, among other incidents. Any serious attention to the recent misrule of Nigeria without a mention of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the then Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, is like an Ugbo ritual without the presence of a vulture. She was perennially courted at the height of the oil boom to proffer solutions for massive youth unemployment. However, Mrs. Iweala quickly became a hybrid of intuition and oligarchy, always extolling archaic policies infamous for milling out overnight billionaires while the masses gnashed in abject poverty and despair. But she was finally able to sort out the difference between rhetoric and reality when unemployed youths kidnapped her innocent mother, Prof. Kamene Okonjo, on December 9, 2012. It will be unfair to conclude without looking oneself in the mirror. March 12, 2011 remains a dark date in the history of humankind as far as I am concerned. That was the day a beloved brother, Chief Obidinma Jackson Ogbonnia, died tragically. He had attended a political rally a night before, became sick in Enugu the morning after, and required immediate medical help. Unfortunately, there was no nearby hospital capable of treating his case. Before traveling over thirty minutes to the University of Nigerian Teaching Hospital at Ituku, my younger brother died on transit. I am yet to recover from the trauma and have always wondered what could have been. Clearly, if only I had heightened my advocacy for change much earlier in my home State of Enugu, it could have been a different outcome altogether. The immediate past governor, Sullivan Chime, who thrived in overseas medical treatment, could have been held accountable early enough. Rather than loot funds earmarked for health projects, including the state diagnostic center, Mr. Chime would have also equipped the nearby Parklane Hospital for the ordinary people, and the innocent Ogbonnia blood and many others could have been saved. The forgoing should not be misconstrued as a biased satire, discerning a view that politicians or wealthy people never die or lose loved ones in civilized world. For sure, people die everywhere and under different set of circumstances. The objective fact is that a broad presence of standard facilities could have prevented some of the casualties or at least reduced the degree of recklessness associated with the Nigerian cases. Thus, the perception that providing basic amenities is to appease the poor is very misleading. It also goes to say that the clique of senators who are desperate to frustrate the change agenda of the new government must recognize that every Nigerian blood is on the line. Now is the time for President Buhari to demonstrate that no person, regardless of societal status, is above the law. Here comes the time, therefore, for the progressive civil society to embolden the president to influence the emergence of a senate leadership with the credibility to enact laws essential for the war against corruption and the much needed investment nation’s vital amenities, which will not only create jobs for the masses, but will also mitigate the current wave of kidnapping and armed robbery, commonly seen as the number one enemy of the Nigerian elite. A stitch in time saves nine.

The stoning of rotimi amaechi

The 'Stoning' Of Rotimi Amaechi By Remi Oyeyemi It is now a matter of psychoanalysis if his brashness and famed “fearlessness” is not a sign of some inner insecurity. An insecurity that stemmed from a nagging conscience because of the way and manner he has stolen the commonwealth of the Rivers State people. by Remi OyeyemiAug 06, 2015 “You have stoned nobody; that is why we are stealing.........” - Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State in PUNCH December 15, 2013 “If you don’t take your destiny in your hands, we will go and other leaders will come and continue stealing.” - Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State in PUNCH December 15, 2013 “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” - Frederick Douglas (1817 – 1895) Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi The Eagle Online Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has created a reputation for himself as being against impunity and corruption. He has at one time encouraged Nigerians to stone those of them who parade themselves as leaders as evident in the quote above. He believed that the political leaders, himself inclusive, have been taking Nigerians for a ride. He believed and still probably believes that he and his fellow politicians have been stealing our commonwealth because we let them. He felt that until we begin to stone them as thieves are supposed to be stoned, they would continue to steal, loot and cart away our commonwealth without let or hindrance. Essentially, he is echoing Frederick Douglass that their tyranny as thieves and professional kleptomaniacs would only end when Nigerians are fed up with them and begin to take reprisals against them. Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is a fighter. He is outspoken, bold, and brash. He takes on all comers without concern for consequences. His loquacity is bewildering and beyond imagination. His fearlessness has become legendary and this has recommended him to many Nigerians who love to hate him or hate to love him. He has a large following as a result of this. Listening to him, you could get the vibe that he essentially wants good for his people but does not have the discipline to conquer his environment. As a result he is due for stoning as one of those who looted our commonwealth and mismanaged the rest they decided not to loot. It is now a matter of psychoanalysis if his brashness and famed “fearlessness” is not a sign of some inner insecurity. An insecurity that stemmed from a nagging conscience because of the way and manner he has stolen the commonwealth of the Rivers State people. A sign of a mind troubled by the iniquities that he has engaged in secretly. His garrulity has been deemed to be a cry for help because he has betrayed himself and his people. He is a telltale of a mind that is not at peace and is having trouble living with itself for atrocious acts of corruption. Several times, during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Amaechi presented himself as the champion of the poor and the deprived. He created a false image of himself as the defenders of the people against the impunity of President Jonathan. The fact of the matter is that if the devil had come around to defend Nigerians from the impunity of GEJ, Nigerians would have accommodated him. That is what happened to Governor Amaechi, a vagabond at a point in time who is now a corrupted billionaire reportedly worth almost 14 billion. It should be made clear that it is a legitimate expectation for every human being to work hard and elevate him/herself from the fangs of poverty to comfort. It is what is expected of every reasonable human being to work hard and accumulate resources in the most honest way possible. What is not acceptable is to pilfer the public purse and appropriate the commonwealth to your own exclusive use while pretending that you are a messiah and “champion of the poor.” It is amazing that a person like Amaechi, whose video of packets of wads of dollars was mistakenly exposed from the suit of his pocket during an interview has gone viral on the Internet, could sit in judgment of another human being as being corrupt. In addition, another video made by a “Common Man” is already making waves on the Internet alleging an 864 billion naira fraud against our “man Friday” Amaechi. Well, this is Nigeria, where the cow thieves are always sitting in judgment over the hen thieves. It is disturbing that these are the kinds of people in whom Nigerians have put their hopes of being redeemed. Definitely, it is a hope that would never be realized. Governor Amaechi is a traitor to the people of Rivers State. He sold dummies to them, betrayed their trust and confidence. While his people are not able to receive salaries for their sweat, he was flying around in an $18 million jet and allegedly spending money on the campaign of Muhammadu Buhari so that he could be considered for the Vice Presidential slot or at worst, a ministerial appointment. Hardworking men, women, and vulnerable children were going hungry in Rivers State while Amaechi was gallivanting around Nigeria and the world in a private jet allegedly bought for the state. If one may ask, is the purchase of a jet the most important priority where all the children are not in school? Is a jet a priority in a state where many children go to bed unfed? Is a jet a priority in a state where there are no modern health facilities available? His rail project that was abandoned has been a source of ugliness and a reminder of a dream unfulfilled. Yet billions of naira had been appropriated for this project that, at present, is of no use to the people of Port Harcourt in particular and the Rivers State people in general. Amaechi was pissed off by President Jonathan and he fought him to a standstill. I have no problems with that because Goodluck Jonathan was an embarrassment as a president. Amaechi also has been pissed off by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and he is engaged in a cat and mouse battles against him. I have no problem with that either because he and Tinubu are birds of the same feather who robbed their people blind. Amaechi is very upset that for all the reasons that he has betrayed his people in Rivers’ State, Asiwaju Tinubu has not allowed the realization of his ambition to become the Vice President of Nigeria under the Buhari Presidency. Amaechi was one of those who championed the rejection of Tinubu as the Vice President to Buhari. He was hoping that if Tinubu were played out he would have a better leverage. But unfortunately for him things did not turn out as he anticipated. On one occasion at a meeting of the stakeholders of the APC, he had been very rude to Asiwaju Tinubu and insulted him virulently. His rudeness and aggression was so shocking that Buhari and other elders at the meeting were speechless. They could not control him or did not know how to control him. All politicians are ambitious. Nothing is wrong in that. But what is wrong is an ambition that lacks moderation and sense of appropriateness. Amaechis’s ambition had led him to betray the Rivers people and caused him to offend some of his benefactors, even if those benefactors were less than perfect. Some Nigerians hold the view that it was a good thing that Asiwaju Tinubu did not become the Vice President to Buhari because of varied allegations of corruption against him and the threats posed by a Muslim/Muslim ticket to the religious stability of Nigeria. But if allegations of corruption should disqualify Tinubu from being the Vice President, it should disqualify anyone in this dispensation from holding any position in Buhari’s government including Rotimi Amaechi or any other governor that has looted his state. This is why the attitude of the Presidency to the emergence of Bukola Saraki, an alleged certified bank robber, as the Senate President is still flabbergasting. All a presidency determined to fight corruption needed to do was just to make a public statement about its abhorrence of such a situation. Amaechi has sought to come to equity some of the times but with reeking hands of corruption. The question subsisting right now is whether Amaechi would become a federal minister under the Buhari Presidency without explaining how he came to be worth almost 14 billion? If Buhari rejected the purchase of Mercedes Benz cars for his use in Aso Rock, how could someone who used the funds of his state to purchase a Jet while he did not pay the salaries of his workers be qualified as a Minister in a government trying to fight corruption? Some governors are richer than their states. They have left impoverished their people through stealing. They have looted the commonwealth of their people. Children in their states are dying. The sick in their states have no succor. Able-bodied men in their states have no jobs because of mismanagement and looting. This set of governors could and should not be allowed to go scot free. It would amount to monumental injustice for Buhari not to step in and give justice to the people of Rivers State and other governors involved in these heinous crimes. Rotimi Amaechi is the postal boy of this genre of governors. He is ripe for stoning as he suggested. It is the only way to stop others from repeating the follies of his ilk in stealing our commonwealth. Is he going to find succor in a ministerial position under President Buhari? Or would he be made to account for his stewardship? The people of Rivers State are watching and waiting. Nigerians are watching and waiting. “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.” - John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961 Please follow me on twitter @OyeyemiRemi

Father to daughter

Beautiful letter written by a father to his two undergraduates children Please read till end . It is worth it. You may consider sharing with your children The writer is a renowned Hong Kong TV broadcaster & Child Psychologist. The words are relevant to all of us. Young, old, children or parents! Parents can use the letter in their teachings to their children. Dear son/daughter, I write this to you for 3 reasons: 1. Life, fortune and mishaps are unpredictable, nobody knows how long he lives. Some words are better said early. 2. I am your father, and if I don't tell you these, no one else will. 3. What is written is my own personal bitter experiences that perhaps could save you a lot of unnecessary heartaches. Remember the following as you go through life: 1. Do not bear grudge towards those who are not good to you. No one has responsibility of treating you well, except your mum & I. To those who are good to you treasure them & be thankful. ALSO you must be cautious. Everyone has a motive for every move. When a person is good to you, it does not mean he really likes you. Be careful, do not hastily regard the person as a real friend. 2. No one & nothing is indispensable. Once you understand this idea, it would be easier for you to go through life when people around you do not want you anymore, or when you lose what/who you love most. 3. Life is short. When you waste your life today, tomorrow you would find that life is leaving you. The earlier you treasure your life, the better you enjoy life. 4.Love is a transient feeling. It fades with time & with mood. If your so called loved one leaves you, be patient. Time will wash away your aches & sadness. Do not exaggerate beauty & sweetness of love, and do not exaggerate sadness of falling out of love. 5. A lot of successful people did not receive a good education, that does not mean that you can be successful by not studying hard! Whatever knowledge you gain is your weapon in life. One can go from rags to riches, but one has to start from some rags! 6. I do not expect you to financially support me when I am old. Neither would I financially support your whole life. My responsibility as a supporter ends when you are grown up. After that, you decide whether you want to travel in a public transport or in your limousine, whether rich or poor. 7. You must honour your words, but do not expect others to honour theirs. You can be good to people, but do not expect people to be good to you. If you do not understand this, you would end up with unnecessary troubles. 8. No matter how much time I have with you, let us treasure the time we have together. We do not know if we would meet again in our next life. Have a wonderful day

The impulse

      The impulse of writing is on the increase for me this days and not to even think of the various medium to which one is obliged and to some extent of security but the prompting and the thoughts of doing it all the same goes down with the title.
I am trying to wake up my writing sense of which I want to rightly improve on for the sake of posterity and for the fact of re-reading or for fact finding and if not for sharpening of the tooth ,to this I will give myself a plus and for this feat it's a plus on its own for moi.
  With all deep sense and with all protocols observed and with a deep heart warming sense, I want to notify the public of the 19th death anniversary of my dearly beloved father Mr Mathew oludele gbegbin, to you I owe my existence as did channel of my being. I say may your lovely and gentle soul continue to rest in peace and in the bosom of the almighty father till we meet to part no more, no day passes without your thought and your endearing speech. I now understood your thoughts and actions then but it was cut short, those are the best part of my life and which I always relieve in my thoughts. Thanks so much in ways you can never imagine.