The Eagle Gate

Tag: Election 2019

  • EDO STATE PEACE ACCORD AND STAKE HOLDERS MEETING

    EDO STATE PEACE ACCORD AND STAKE HOLDERS MEETING

    The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Olusegun Odumosu held a Peace Accord and Stakeholders meeting at the Police Officers Mess in Benin City on Wednesday, 30th January, 2019 concerning the general elections scheduled to start in February 2019.

    ADDRESS

    PROTOCOLS

    It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Officers and Men of the Edo State Police Command, to welcome you all to this peace building and peacemaking meeting of critical Stakeholders concerning the  2019 General Elections which is around the corner. I also wish to bring to you the warm greetings of the Inspector General of Police, Ag.IGP. Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, NPM, mni. 

    There is no better time to have this strategic meeting than now considering the fact that the election we are talking about will be conducted in few days from now. This is actually the time to come together and dialogue on how to have a free and fair election devoid of any rancor and acrimony. One thing is certain, election will come and go but Edo State will continue to remain thereafter. Consequently, the blood of every Edo State citizen is more precious than the election and we definitely do not need to lose anybody or group in order to clinch to power. This is the time to get it right so that we can prove to the world that Edo State can set the pace for a peaceful, free, fair and credible election in Nigeria.

    Election is no war and should not be seen as war. Always remember that in any contest, there must be losers and winners. Thus, we must prepare our minds and resolve that we shall go into this contest in the spirit of sportsmanship.

    The Command under my watch will do everything humanly possible to remain neutral, apolitical, firm and professional. The Police will provide a level playing ground for all the Political Parties in the State. This is my irrevocable pledge and I promise to ensure its full realization in the forthcoming Elections. 

    There is no doubt that, the 2019 Elections will be a great test that will subject our professionalism and commitment to duty, to national and International scrutiny. The world is watching us and we promise not to let them down. I hereby assure the good people of Edo state in  unequivocal terms that we are fully prepared for the election as every arrangement has been put in place to ensure that the Elections would be free, fair credible and most important of all, peaceful. We shall leave no stone unturned towards achieving this lofty objective. 

    Let me at this juncture, salute, the vision and mission of the Inspector General of Police, Ag.IGP. Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, NPM, mni who assumed duty as the 20th indigenous Inspector General of Police at this critical time of our Nation’s history. He has emplaced strategic action plans to police the forth coming elections. I am convinced and promise you that his strategic action plans, will not only get us out of the woods but will also reposition the Nigeria Police Force and make her the envy of all.

    The Police High Command, as part of the preparation for this election has initiated Training Program on capacity building, on Democratic Policing and Election Security Management for our Officers and men. This is still up and ongoing. 

    The Training program and capacity building initiated at the Police High Command has been replicated at the Command level, and I have put in place, elaborate security measures aimed at entrenching and engendering a new dawn in Election and electioneering process in this command. 

    Recall that shortly after my assumption of duty, I paid a courtesy visit to the Oba of Benin Omon’oba n’Edo Uku akpolopolo Oba Ewuare II where I pledged to do my utmost best to make the State safe and secure. The Oba Pledged his support and I wish to tell the good people of the state that I have the royal backing and support to police the forth coming election in the most peaceful and credible manner we have ever witnessed in recent times. 

    The meeting of today therefore provides another unique opportunity for us all to rob mind towards this critical engagement in our collective resolve to develop an effective framework that will engender optimal performance during the forthcoming and after this onerous national assignment. We must come together and reason together. 

    We shall seize this moment to deploy all our human and material resources in the state to provide a conducive and crime free environment which will make the election more decent and acceptable without any rancor or acrimony. Towards achieving this, I implore all present here to individually and collectively resolve:

    • As Security Agencies, we will at this meeting pledge to be neutral, a-political, decisive and professional.
    • As Party leaders- we need to talk to our supporters to vote and not fight.
    • As Youth leaders who are in majority, we need to impart it on our people to say NO to violence so that they will refuse and reject any attempt by anybody to use them as political thugs.
    • As market Women and Traders Associations, we need to talk to ourselves, to do the right thing and not to be cajoled into vote buying and selling.
    • As Royal fathers, we need to talk to our subjects to maintain a peaceful decorum throughout the period of election..
    • As Political Parties, we need to play the game according to the rules. 
    • As Religious leaders, we need to talk to our flocks that Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace and that Islam is a religion of peace. 

    Security generally is the business of everybody and election security is indeed a collective assignment. We all must be involved in the spade work of sanitizing the State to make it a safe and secure space for a seamless Electoral Process.

    In this meeting we should all agree to do the needful, not to give room for Electoral offences and where or when they occur, the security agencies shall deal decisively with offender(s) regardless of his or her status as nobody, I repeat NOBODY is above the law.

    As the Co-Chairman of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) comprising of all the Sister Security Agencies in the State, including the Coordinators of the National Youth Service Corps and National Orientation Agency, I will continue with the robust consultative productive and strategically focused cooperative meetings which my predecessor had had with the committee over time and by the Grace of Almighty God, we shall deliver on our mandate.

    Finally, I am highly optimistic that we shall have fruitful deliberations in this meeting and we shall jointly and severally achieve the desired peaceful, credible free and fair election that we all craved for.

    Conclusively, on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, I want to thank you all for attending today’s meeting and for being part of the History that we are making today As we go back, I enjoin you all to put into practical use all the suggestions and series of advice that would be offered in this meeting because in doing so, we shall eventually get to our desired destination.

    Thank you and God bless you all.

  • ONNOGHEN’S SUSPENSION; LET THE RULE OF LAW PREVAIL

    ONNOGHEN’S SUSPENSION; LET THE RULE OF LAW PREVAIL


    Is the CJN exempted from the presumption of innocence guaranteed by our laws? Is the CJN’s appointment not clothed with statutory flavor? If you cannot sack a clerk in a Government Department outside the provisions prescribed by his terms of employment/ public service rules, I wonder why the CJN should be removed from office like a feather from a chicken! If it’s that simple, there would have been no need for constitutional provisions in that regard! Why then did Baron Montesquieu and his likes labour to develop the political theory of separation of powers? Why is it now an elementary feature in the constitutional democracy of most countries of the world?

    According to Dylan Matthews in his article dated 5/10/18 and titled; IMPEACHING A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE IN THE UNITED STATES;

    “Impeachment and removal of a federal judge, including a Supreme Court justice, requires meeting a high political bar. Just as with presidents, a majority of the House must approve an indictment to impeach, and a two-thirds supermajority of the US Senate must convict for the judge or justice to lose their office.”

    I am surprised that a lot of people continue to refer to the allegations against the CJN without considering the procedure prescribed by law to deal with certain category of persons accused of any infraction of the law. I have argued on many occasions that the law itself is a prisoner of procedure. It is illogical to focus on the substantive law which creates, defines and regulates the duties, liabilities and rights of persons while disregarding the procedural law for enforcing civil and criminal law. This does not add up. For example, can you safely convict a man for an offence having not taken his plea before trial? I think not.

    I am still at a loss as to how a court of law or an inferior Tribunal like the Code of Conduct Tribunal can grant an ex-parte order on a date unknown to all parties, following a purported ex-parte application in respect of a subject matter which the same body adjourned to a future date for arguments to be taken from the respective parties as agreed in open court.

    Why would an inferior Tribunal not obey the restraining orders of separate superior court of records which restrained it from continuing with the proceedings before it? Nothing in the Constitution makes CCT a superior court of records and the Supreme Court affirmed this in Saraki vs FRN (2016) 3 NWLR( Pt. 1500) 531.

    Why will the CCT not respect the proceedings pending before the court of appeal to which appeals from CCT lie?

    In the operational system of the rule of law, the courts and judges remain the tonic from which the law itself is nourished. Let me fizzle out any doubt about the power of the courts by referring to the words of the legendary American Supreme Court judge and scholar, Oliver Wendell Holmes, jrn. The learned jurist in his work; The Common Law, (1881) had this to say;

    “The decisions of judges, viewed over time, determined the rules of conduct, the legal duties, by which all were bound.”

    He did not stop there. In his work; The path of the law (1897), he went further to say that;

    “[T]he prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law.”[20]:458.

    Against this background, can it be said that the CCT was right to have disregarded pending litigation in the courts of our country which have constitutional duties to determine disputes between persons and Government? The answer in my opinion is no.

    No sensible person can be opposed to the lawful trial of anyone, no matter how highly placed if there is an allegation of infringing the law against such a person. The very strong point being made here is very simple; where there is a constitutional method set out for sanctioning a judicial office holder which has over time being recognized by the courts of law, such judicial officer cannot be removed by any other means other than that prescribed by law.

    In the circumstances, the CCT was wrong to have made the ex-parte order under reference. If the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation facilitated this type of order, then it acted infra dig. The President was also wrong to have acted on it. The proper thing to do now is for the aggrieved party to get the court of Appeal to set that unlawful ex-parte order aside forthwith and let the status quo be returned in our national interest. That would not stop the Government from prosecuting the CJN upon the charges brought against him as long as they do so appropriately.

    God bless Nigeria!

    Dr. West-Idahosa.

  • Secondus, Saraki on why Atiku Will be the next President

    Secondus, Saraki on why Atiku Will be the next President

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus and the Senate President who is also the Director General of Atiku Presidential campaign committee Dr Bukola Saraki have said that the Presidential Candidate Atiku Abubakar and the party must regain power to save Nigeria democracy.

    The duo spoke in Abuja when they inspected the party’s Presidential campaign office in Maitama preparatory to the start of the nationwide campaign.

    Conducting the Senate President round the campaign complex, the National Chairman said that the rebranded and repositioned party is ready to go to Nigerians with issues when the campaign begins.

    According to a statement from his media office signed by Ike Abonyi, the National Chairman said that the party hopes to have a very successful electioneering just like their just completed primaries that was climaxed with the landmark National Convention.

    The Senate President said that everything is set for the party to conduct one of the best Presidential campaigns in history as Nigerians are anxiously waiting for the party.

    Dr Saraki said that every hand must be on deck to see off the All Progressives Congress, APC, to save our democracy and rescue the country.

    The Senate President was accompanied on the inspection of the campaign office by members of the National Working Committee of the party and other critical stakeholders of the party.

    Signed

    Ike Abonyi
    SA Media

  • MOUNTING PRESSURE ON BUHARI’S INTEGRITY

    MOUNTING PRESSURE ON BUHARI’S INTEGRITY

    “Buhari has tarnished whatever is left of his battered reputation and Integrity and that of his office by condescending this low to purchasing WAEC attestation certificate for an examination he obviously never sat for.”

    Prior to the 2015 presidential election, the selling point of Mr. President was Integrity. It was used to veil his tyrannical disposition which him and Idiagbon exhibited when they took over power forcefully from a duly elected government making themselves criminals and subverters of the will of the people. But the sale of integrity was widely accepted by some simpletons, which constituted a larger population of the electorates. Many didn’t have the opportunity to interrogate his personality because he was a recluse and was incommunicado. He lived behind the closed walls of his mind, coming out once in four years to contest elections and to fail.

    When he took over power in 2015, so much of his personae started coming to the fore, and somehow, people started doubting his claim to integrity. His first failure was his lopsided appointment which was supposed to be guided by the Federal Character as enshrined in our Constitution. Over 80 % of his appointment came from his tribe, state or and his family. This earned him the notorious Nepotistic Tribalist. Other regions were marginalized which resulted to the aggressive campaign by the Ingenious People of Biafra, IPOB for secession. Even the Yorubas who gave him block votes through Tinubu were disengaged through the trapdoor and thrown out from the scheme of things while strangers took over the government, that irresponsible cabal.

    His second test to integrity was his fight against corruption having said in his inauguration he was for nobody and was for everybody…Him and his handlers were married to the anti-corruption slogan. However, his one-sided fight against corruption questioned his integrity. While his corrupt associates walked freely, he is harassing members of the opposition and members of his party who are critical of his policies. His party became a refuge for fleeing corrupt elements. The grass cutter, Babachir, NHIS boss Prof Yusuf, Abba Kyari, the MTN scandal and presidential COS, Baru of NNPC, Buratai, the Army chief, Maina, the pension thief and fugitive…were among those who have been fingered in corruption but are being shielded by Mr Integrity himself.

    Who could have guessed or predicted that Mr Integrity would be involved in a certificate scandal without summoning courageous integrity to say the truth? Who had the prescient perception to predict this national embarrassment where elderly people are dancing to the store bought attestation?

    The certificate narrative has been changing like a chameleon. When the issue first came out some years ago, a lawyer went to court on it, it took Mr. President over 12 SANs and a threat to the life of the lawyer for the matter to die down then. Like a cat with nine lives, undying, the matter has risen again this time with such a great vermin that it is ready to consume anything on its ways.

    The president initially said in a published statement that his credentials were with the military. And that left us with a throwback question: who lives his original documents with a board after sighting them? At most after sighting the original, you leave photocopies and go home with the original, that’s the standard practice all over the world.

    Well, we asked that INEC should compel him to bring his original not sworn affidavit he has been using to contest elections, this cannot be business as usual. Suddenly the narrative changed, the credentials which were safely with the military had disappeared. A little time lasted for presidential retrospection and sober reflection. Precisely on the 2nd of November, 2018 a badly plotted play ensured. The president was given an attestation by WAEC in an over publicized Noble Prize-like show. Yet the probing masses have mounted unrelenting pressure on Mr integrity to do the needful: show us your original certificate, show us the WAEC master list from which the attestation was written from or decline from contesting to face perjury probe.

    If however, he scales through this trial he has set before himself, his greatest test to integrity would be his acceptance of defeat which is imminent and 60% loading. This is not about PDP or APC. If he fails to accept defeat, he will be bundled out of Aso Rock.

    Elempe Dele

  • THE NYESOM WIKE FACTOR IN PDP’S FINAL DISINTEGRATION

    THE NYESOM WIKE FACTOR IN PDP’S FINAL DISINTEGRATION

    It is necessary to write this story now if PDP as a party must get it right in the up coming presidential election.

    There is a famous saying that pride goes before a fall. Many have learnt that lesson over the years. There are those who believe that history can be changed by doing the same thing to solve like problems even when it failed in the past.

    We also have another typical Nigerian problem, those who believe that money overrides wisdom, integrity and intellect. We have also seen how power corrupts and blinds, it can take a person from “we” to “I” excluding others from decision taking.

    Governor Nyesom Wike was former Governor Rotimi Ameachi’s boy, whom after been helped saw the need to step on the toes of his predecessor. We all viewed the battle between the two. Wike had to go all the way to the supreme Court just to retain his office.

    It wasn’t long before the party was faced with another saga which concerned Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. Wike had approached him to rescue the party and brought him in as the interim chairman serving out the term of his predecessor. Having achieved their purpose they proceeded to dump Sheriff which ended up in many court battles. Succeeding in removing Sheriff from office, in came Makarfi who sat as the caretaker Chairman until a convention was conducted and Secondus was elected as the National Chairman of the PDP.

    Now, since the contest within the party started, we have read many grumblings and reckless statements from Makarfi which gives many of us the impression that perhaps he was promised the ticket for the presidency if he played ball and help get rid of Sheriff.

    The bad decisions made by Governor Nyesom Wike does not end there. He fails to see the need to work with the leaders of party and other governors to come up with the best solution going forward into the presidential election scheduled for next year. He prides himself as the richest state’s Governor. Hence, the convention must be held in Port Harcourt and he supports Governor Tambuwal. No issues there, everyone has a preference. The problem is when such a preference is forced on the party. The other problem is when the PDP NWC and it’s leaders are rubbished, removed from a position of objective umpire, by the National Chairman of PDP, Secondus by holding them hostage at the Ibadan Airport for 4 hours forcing them to wait for Governor Tambuwal to campaign to the delegates there.

    I trust that Governor Nyesom Wike is aware that if the PDP fails to secure the presidency in 2019 the he will definitely not return for a second term.

    They say what an old man sees sitting down, a child cannot see it standing on a mountain. A word is enough for the wise. We are sure he will learn from the failing of his friend in Ekiti who thought he alone could do it all.

    The wise listens to good counsel. Wike, please don’t lead the people’s hope for a new Nigeria into shambles.

    God bless Nigeria. God bless PDP.

  • 2019 Presidency: Atiku weeps, obtains PDP Nomination Forms

    2019 Presidency: Atiku weeps, obtains PDP Nomination Forms

    By Dirisu Yakubu

    ABUJA- Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar Friday wept at his Presidential Campaign Office shortly after obtaining his Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headquarters in Abuja.

    Atiku who was filled with emotions while receiving the forms from the Atiku Support Groups (ASG) which purchased same for him, reiterated his commitment to the Nigerian cause, and promised to do everything possible not to disappoint Nigerians if given the opportunity.

    Unable to overcome his emotions while a member of the ASG, Princess Adekemi Adesanya was painting in graphic details, the sorry state of affairs in the nation, the former Vice President fought back tears as he sobbed, wiping his eyes with the aid of a white handkerchief.

    He said: “The event today (purchase of nomination form) is significant and historic because this is the only time in my political career that young men and women in this country have come together without my knowledge or even consent to contribute their own hard-earned money to buy me an Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms.

    “You could have seen that one of the ladies who spoke virtually succeeded in getting me to weep. This is because she aptly described the challenges every Nigerian is facing in this country today and she believed honestly and sincerely from the bottom of her heart that I could be an instrument of addressing those challenges.

    “So, for such a woman to believe that I have got those leadership qualities and including those of you who have brought out your monies to by this form, is one of the most serious challenges I have ever faced in my political career.

    “And believe me, addressing those challenges is possible because we have brought young men and women, Nigerians who have got the talents, who have got the education, who have got the experience, who have got all what it take to honestly turn this country around.”

    Atiku also attributed the slow pace of development in the country to the failure to harness the creative energies of young people by successive administrations.

    “Putting together such talented young Nigerians requires leadership and it is that leadership we have not been fortunate enough to have on a consistent basis that this country has not been able to take her rightful position in Africa and indeed, the world,” he stressed.

    That said, the Wazirin Adamawa eulogised former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (of blessed memory) on whose feet, he learnt the rudiments of partisan politics.

    His words: “The man who actually brought me into politics, the late Shehu Yar’Adua, when he invited me as a young man told us to break the regional siege that every parts of this country had been subjected to.

    “He asked us reach out to every Nigerian across the Niger. To him and for him, that was a major objective; so when he died and I decided to build the Yar’Adua centre in his memory, we got an architect to design the uncompleted bridge.

    “The significance of that bridge was that we had started building bridges of understanding and unity across this country and unfortunately, the man who started building that bridge died. I wish I could complete building that bridge.

    He thanked his supporters, and assured them of his commitment to job creation if voted into office as President even as urged them to accompany him to Wadata Plaza for the submission of the forms.

    “On that day (submission of forms), let us overwhelm the PDP secretariat, let us bring Abuja to a standstill. I bet you by the time we overwhelm the secretariat and bring Abuja to a standstill, the PDP will have no alternative than to give us the ticket,” he added.

    Note: The Atiku Support Groups (ASG) is made up of various non-governmental agencies, who believe in the leadership skills of the principal, HE, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Wazirin Adamawa, the man who can move Nigeria forward progressively and in unity.

  • Group presents PDP presidential forms to Atiku

    Group presents PDP presidential forms to Atiku

    In readiness for the PDP party primaries, Members of All Atiku Support Groups officially presented PDP Presidential Expression of Interest and Nomination forms purchased by the group for His Excellency Atiku Abubakar (GCON) at the campaign headquarters Abuja today 31st August, 2018.

    This is not only in support of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar interest in contesting for the seat of President, but the belief by these support groups that he is the best option to put forward by the party in the next presidential elections.

    The presentation
    The presentation to HE, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

    The presentation
    Acknowledgement by HE, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

    The presentation
    Appreciation by HE, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

  • The Fulani Herdsmen Attack Again

    The Fulani Herdsmen Attack Again

    While the president is being praised by his supporters for walking 800 meters, opening his own bottle of water, and brushing his own teeth, the security of lives in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is threatened. Take over of villages at the Nigerian border persists and the armed forces is still not deployed to engage these attackers.

  • DREAMING AS A NATION

    DREAMING AS A NATION

    The 2019 elections are fast approaching. The political tempo in the land is gradually cruising into high altitude. Whether the elections would be free and fair is of concern on one hand, while the other serious worry is whether those that would be elected have any worthy dream to rescue our very emasculated nation from the abyss of poverty, ignorance, disease, insecurity, human and capital flight. It would be wishful thinking to assume that the mere successful conduct of elections would deepen our democracy without a corresponding dream as a Nation to renew our national life in the hope of joining the league of developing nations.

    Many, may, underestimate the power of dreams, but let no one make a mistake about its potency. Several of the leading Nations of the world and industry captains of today are where they are because they dreamed dreams and worked sincerely to realize those dreams. For those who are Christians, the Bible is not only a spiritual authority, it is a veritable source of the history of mankind and Nations. The Bible lends credence to the theory of the potency of dreams. Let me recount one of the most common accounts in the Holy Bible, this account can be found in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 41.

    Pharaoh, the king of Egypt had a dream. In that dream, “Seven fat, healthy looking cows suddenly came up out of the river and began grazing along its Bank. Then seven other cows came up from the river, but these were very ugly and gaunt. These seven other cows went over and stood beside the fat cows. Then the thin ugly cows ate up the fat ones”. Pharaoh became very concerned about the meaning of that dream and sought the interpretation from one Joseph, a young Hebrew who had a huge reputation for interpreting dreams.

    Joseph told Pharaoh that the seven fat cows represented seven years of prosperity while the seven thin cows stood for another seven years of famine that would follow those years of prosperity. He then advised Pharaoh to appoint a wise man to be in charge of a nation-wide programme to prepare for the famine that would follow the prosperity. He recommended that such officer should store 1/5 of the crops to be harvested during the year of prosperity into the royal store houses. In that way there would be enough to eat during the period of the expected famine. Pharaoh took no chances. He appointed Joseph to be in charge of such National programme. Joseph dealt with the situation in a prudent manner. As interpreted, the years of famine truly followed the years of prosperity but there was plenty to eat and a national calamity was averted from just a dream.

    If anyone still doubts the power of dreams, how about this popular one that most of us already know. Martin Luther King (jr) was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King. He followed his father’s foot steps and became a Baptist Minister in 1947. In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black Seamstress, took a seat in the section of a Montgomery bus reserved for whites in the USA. When the driver asked her to move to the back under the state’s segregation law, she refused and was arrested. Martin Luther King (Jr) then launched the Montgomery Bus boycott. He became the symbol of the civil u movement and America itself. On the occasion of the “March on Washington for jobs and freedom” the August in 1963, King delivered the famous “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial in Washington to 250,000 civil rights supporters. The dreams were indeed many. I would only deal with the few that are related to this piece;

    – “ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”

    – “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of slaves and the sons of former slave. owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood”

    – “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!”

    King did not just have dreams. He worked hard to realize those dreams. By 1964 the world acknowledged his hard work and rewarded him with the Nobel peace prize. Even when he was aware of threats to his life, King continued to work for his dreams to come true. With a premonition of the imminence of his death, King said, “well, I don’t know what will happen now. We have got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top … And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land”.

    Today, the American people have truly reached that Promised Land. America is living out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal. The election of Barrack Obama as the US president in November, 2008 marked the total realization of King’s dreams. Together, Obama and Biden sat at the table of brotherhood in the white House to preside over the United States. The content of Obama’s character prevailed over the colour of his skin. Such is the power of a dream.

    The Nigerian Nation must therefore not despair in this trying moments of our national life. We must dream as other great nations did. Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court at the third Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Dialogue once asked a useful question: “can we make Nigeria greater than nature made her…?” The learned Judge provided his own answer. He said as follows: “my answer is yes … if and only if our leaders have the sagacity of an Otto Von Bismark, the wisdom of a Cavour, the adroitness of a Mazini, the patriotism of a Gandhi and the selflessness of a Nyerere. ”

    Part of our National creed is to be found in the 1999 constitution of our country which states interalia; “AND TO PROVIDE for a constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of freedom, Equality and justice and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people”. Are we truly dreaming of living out the real meaning of this creed? Can we claim to have promoted the principles of equality and justice when there is no equal access to good Medicare and Education in our country? What is the state of our public schools today and how many of the children of those charged with the governance of this Nation attend such schools? What has happened to our public hospitals over the years and why have they become glorified death places for very minor ailments?

    The truth is that there is neither equality nor justice in our national life. The Buhari regime may have had the heart to begin the process, but that momentum appears stunted by policy duplicity, official lethargy of public functionaries and excessive bloodletting of uncommon proportions. The regime may have learnt its lessons and the entire country now wants a better deal.
    The good news is that we can begin to dream of it now. Let us start with the basic dreams:

    – That some day before year 2022, this nation would generate over 25,000 MW of power for the use of its millions of citizens.

    – That someday, this nation would upgrade its public schools at all levels to globally accepted standards and the products of such schools would no longer face the international discrimination that they suffer today.

    – That someday, this nation would upgrade its health institutions to health-care delivery levels away from its present day notoriety of being regarded as death centres.

    – That someday, this nation would truly be governed by the rule of law and founded on equality before the law, where high profile thieves in public life would no longer scorn the law and make only petty thieves of necessity to face the law.

    But these dreams would never come to pass until we find leaders who would “show the light and people will find their way” as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe epitomized by the slogan of his now defunct newspaper, the West African Pilot. Our Nation must learn from Queneau Raymond, a twentieth century philosopher who fizzled out all doubts about the need to dream in his famous statement that “man’s usual routine is to work and to dream”.

    *Dr. Ehiogie West- Idahosa is a former Member of the House of Representatives, lawyer and public policy expert.

  • Saraki/Ekweremadu’s Failed Removal: How APC Lost its Argument Morally & Constitutionally

    Saraki/Ekweremadu’s Failed Removal: How APC Lost its Argument Morally & Constitutionally

    By Chidiebere Nwobodo

    Having failed repeatedly to effect leadership change in the Senate via unconstitutional means, embittered ex-wife called APC has resorted to blatant blackmail and mudslinging in its renewed quest to oust Senate president Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu from their coveted seats. The more they attack the duo, the clearer it becomes to Nigerians that we have a government run by tyrants, who does not give a freaking damn about survival of our hard-earned democracy. These anti-democratic forces are hell bent on setting Nigeria ablaze, just to have their way. I think the time has come to cage this beast and small tyrant called Oshiomhole; enough of his excesses cum impunity.

    Section 52 of Nigeria’s constitution made it crystal clear that for a presiding officer of the senate like senate president or his deputy, to be removed from office, you need nothing less than two third majority of senators. In a Red Chamber of 109 senators, the 2/3 majority is 73 senators! The mind-boggling questions racing through the minds of discerning Nigerians are: can those tyrants in Presidential Villa and their foot-soldiers in the senate muster 73 senators to remove Senate President Saraki and his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu? Can they infiltrate the impregnable support base of current senate leadership? Can’t they accept the stark reality that they have been outfoxed in this political game of thrones once and for all? Is it too late in the day to give peace a chance, at least for the sake of impoverished Nigerians, that are desperately yearning for the “change” promised them over three years ago?

    President Buhari and his mindless cabal, should be told categorically that they have lost this argument both in the eyes of the law and court of public opinion. They have also lost the moral aspect of the argument. For supporting Hon. Aminu Tambuwal to retain his seat as speaker of House of Representatives, having defected from PDP to APC in 2014, APC and its herd of zombies, masquerading as supporters, have lost the moral ground on which to demand Saraki’s resignation, using the benchmark of morality.

    The APC should better wake up from its hallucination that Saraki and Ekweremadu will be removed “by all means” as leaders of senate. Saraki is not carrying any moral burden as senate president, because APC never supported him to emerge in the first place. Power-drunk APC leaders cannot take back what they did not give in the first place. Nigerian constitution never implied that senate president or his deputy MUST come from majority party (if APC is still majority). Saraki/Ekweremadu senate presidency has come to stay till June, 2019.

    Any unconstitutional attempt to effect change of senate leadership, will be tantamount to toppling Nigeria democracy. President Buhari’s name will be written boldly in the hall of SHAME if he watch his party chairman, aides and conscienceless supporters push Nigeria down the deepest valley of anarchy and political turmoil. Oshiomhole and his fellow desperados in the APC, should know that Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu have become the rallying pillars and formidable shield to roll back the forces of fascism and dictatorship, of which President Buhari’s government has metamorphosed into. Nigerians are solidly behind them as commanders leading the army of democrats, against rampaging chariots and soldiers of tyranny, as we head into 2019 general elections.