Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President-elect

Buhari Presidency: The critical first 100 days (2)

Continued from Monday

The celebrative victory party for Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress will be over by May 29, 2015 when he is sworn in as President, and the countdown to 2019 general elections when the party submits again to the electorate’s verdict would have begun. The President-elect has accurately identified the demons of corruption and insecurity as the twin evils   bedeviling Nigeria which must be wrestled down. Nigeria has gone through cycles of euphoria and disappointments as the promise of any new government soon turns a mirage. This has bred what scholars have identified as the phenomenon of unfulfilled rising expectations leading to rising frustrations in many developing countries and occasioning a state of near permanent crisis. But Nigerians are hopeful that this time round, there will be CHANGE, for the better. The first part of this write-up took up the issue of security and why the Nigeria Police and the Federal Road Safety Corps must be overhauled and made to deliver on their mandate for public order. This concluding part deals with the issue of corruption and the place of the media in the development effort as The Buhari Presidency embarks on the mission to make Nigeria stand tall, again.

A POPULIST ANTI-CORRUPTION WAR.

The Buhari Presidency will face its toughest challenge in the war against corruption. This is because over the past four decades, beginning in the 1980s, corruption has assumed the status of a cultural norm and as such will require not just a mechanistic legal approach, but a cultural re-orientation that must have a revolutionary fervour. So many people are on the corruption take, to the extent that even the economy runs on corruption. The new President may not be on the same page in the corruption war with some people, including those he may appoint to office. For “President” Buhari, therefore, tackling corruption will, as in the title of Alhaji Babatunde Jose’s media memoir, amount to walking the tight rope. He had stated he won’t delve into the past. But the past cannot be de-linked from the present and that would present a dilemma should people want to hold him by his words. However, the dilemma is not insurmountable. Buhari can stay in the background as the SYMBOL of the anti-corruption campaign while his appointees in the relevant regulatory agencies become the point-men manning the barricades against the corrupt.

Lifestyle Monitoring

Because of corruption’s deep taproot in the society, any hope of a successful war against corruption must involve the mobilisation of the people to see it as the people’s war. The primary inducement to corruption is monetary and material wealth acquisition. A helpful habit is that many who acquired resources through corruption cannot seem to resist the temptation of ostentatious living. They brazenly flaunt the “dividends” of corruption before our very eyes, without any fear of retribution,- thus making the honest worker look stupid. It is this impunity that has encouraged a bandwagon effect where virtually everybody is now scrambling to get on the corruption train on their way to El Dorado undisturbed of opulence. But since the corrupt live among the people, many of who feel offended by the put down attitude of the corrupt rich, such people would gladly expose the economic parasites. A people-oriented approach will assuage the anger of the people while also giving them the feeling of being part of their own salvation. Before now, the culture of most ethnic groups in Nigeria was to have no regard for those seen to have amassed illegitimate wealth, often barring their children from marrying into such families. Children grew up nurtured into a culture of not taking things which did not belong to them, with parents querying any lifestyle considered beyond the legitimate earnings of their children. All that have changed – parents now even show contempt for their children who are not into corruption, citing the affluence of their children’s corrupt age mates. That is how far down the sewer of corruption Nigeria has sunk. It is therefore imperative that people must be made to account for their affluent lifestyle and fat bank accounts. Also, those who enjoyed collateral benefits of corruption – wives/husbands, adult children and friends – should also be charged for aiding and abetting corruption.

The Media

The media is of critical importance to the Buhari Presidency.   The reality of the moment is that a President Buhari needs the media more than the media needs him, since the media slant in projecting the activities of his government to the public can substantially make or break his presidency. There are glaring excesses in the media, part of which manifested in the presidential election campaigns where many media outlets became platforms for hate and incitement, so much so that there was palpable fear of post-election violence that forced many to temporarily relocate to their ethnic enclaves. However, in spite of the negativism of many media establishments, print and broadcast, the Buhari Presidency will need to formally reach out to the media with a view to mobilising them as partners with his Presidency. To signpost the importance his administration intend to accord the media, a Presidency-Media Summit holding within the first few days of inauguration will go a long way to establish mutual rapport. The Presidency needs to key the Nigerian press into Prof. Dennis McQuail’s Development Media Theory where journalists are made to understand their strategic role of being agents of positive change. This media mobilisation does not detract from content analysis of media fare with a view to presenting empirical evidence of media excesses, during periodic media reviews, to rein in zealots. Of course, the Buhari Presidency would have to accommodate media criticisms, including that of specific office holders, as necessary feedback mechanism for better service delivery. Buhari cannot afford to be irritable with the media so as not to prompt the taunt: There he goes again – a throw back to his military regime days which saw journalists clamped in jail. However, in extreme cases where media recklessness and irresponsibility present a clear and present danger to the stability of the state, then the administration can invoke the declaration of Britain’s Chief Justice Blackstone in the 18th century that while there should be no prior restraint of what the media could publish, journalists must be ready to face “the consequences” of their “temerity” when they put the state in jeopardy.

Indiscipline

The Nigerian populace look forward to an eventful and momentous first 100 days of the Buhari Presidency characterised by a frenetic pace of activities, not a slow-paced learning process. One area that the government can make dramatic impact is confronting indiscipline in government and among the people, with a President Buhari leading by example by being punctual at ALL official engagements. The War Against Indiscipline is needed now more that 30 years ago when his regime introduced it. Indiscipline in time management is symptomatic of an irresponsible leadership and a sick society, a disposition that inflicts heavy toll on work hours, productivity and social relations. When governors, minister, and top government functionaries begin to attend scheduled functions ON TIME, and the people are compelled to embrace discipline on the road and other public engagements, it sends a powerful message on CHANGE. If this seemingly intangible action can be implemented WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT, it will enhance salutary positive perception of the Buhari Presidency in its first 100 days. But the reality on the ground, given the rot in the system, is that President-elect Buhari faces a tough challenge in the days ahead as he takes the hard road to Nigeria’s redemption. However, he can take solace in the lyrics of singer Jimmy Cliff’s 1967 track: Hard Road To Travel:

   “ I’ve got a hard road to travel and a rough, rough way to go

     But I can’t turn back, My heart is fixed, My mind is made up

I’ll never stop, my faith will see, see me through”.

Well, the Die is Cast, and Buhari cannot turn back on this rough road ahead, perhaps buoyed on the conviction that his faith, in the course he has chosen for himself, will see him through.

Dr. Olawunmi, a Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo, wrote in via olawunmibisi@yahoo.com0803 364 7571

CHIBOK GIRL ONE YEAR AFTER

Bayo Olupohunda

CHIBOK GIRL ONE YEAR AFTER

Today marks a year since Boko Haram insurgents stormed the premises of Government College, Chibok, Borno State, and abducted close to 300 schoolgirls taking their final year examinations. A year after the girls’ disappearance into the cold embrace of the insurgents, the abduction has gone down in history as one of the most heinous terrorist attacks in modern times. The abduction also brought Boko Haram to the attention of the world as one of the most dangerous terrorist organisations since Al Qaeda began its terror war at the turn of the millennium. A lot has happened since the abduction that cut short the dreams of the girls who had hoped to use education as a springboard for a bright future.

The tragic story of the teenage girls whose dreams disappeared like a candle in the wind should haunt our country and our collective memory for a long time to come. What happened on April 14 was a failure of leadership at all levels. The Nigerian government both at the federal and state levels in the entire North-East failed in their primary duty to secure the lives of Nigerian citizens living in that part of the country. It is even worse that the government failed the young girls who had hopes for their future. Their abduction and failure to secure their release from Boko Haram should prick the conscience of our leaders. It is sadder to know that the country has moved on without a thought for the plight of the girls.

The question we should ask ourselves as a people is how we found the conscience to forget so soon. What if the girls were our relatives? What if they were our daughters and nieces? What is even more appalling is how we as a people have failed to take our government to task in the last one year. But for the activism of the Oby Ezekwesili-led #BringBackOurGirls campaign group that has consistently put pressure on the government to live up to its duties, the issue would have been swept under the carpet as we have done with many of the ills afflicting our nation. But I am glad that Nigerians delivered a no-confidence verdict on President Jonathan’s incompetence on insecurity by voting out the administration in the last elections. Never again should we tolerate any government that takes our security for granted.

Since the global campaign to bring back the girls, the world seems to have moved on. But Nigerians must not forget that we owe it a responsibility to the girls. A lot has happened since that fateful night of April 14, 2014. In the one year since the abduction, I have had cause to doubt if the girls would ever be found. Indeed, shortly after the kidnap took place, I had written in this column that the girls might never be found. Many Nigerians were understandably angry at my pessimism. But it was a painful reality given what we know of our government’s inability to protect us. It was a bitter truth that must be told. This is one year after and we are still wondering where the girls are. How sad! The abduction will remain a dark chapter in our nation’s history.

The Chibok girls’ saga is also a blot on the legacy of the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan administration. History will record the failure a President who allowed the abduction to happen and played politics with the terror war. Perhaps, it is fitting that President Jonathan lost his bid for a second term because of his inability to protect the lives of Nigerians. Under his watch, the insecurity situation worsened. The abduction of the girls and many others took place under the administration’s nose. Nigerians must never forget that in 2014 alone, over 500 people were abducted in the North-East while more than 15,000 Nigerians have died since Boko Haram began its terror campaign. And it is on for this reason that we must hold the incoming government accountable right from the start on the issue of insecurity. No government worth its salt must take the issue of insecurity for granted.

I hope the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration knows very well that Nigerians expect the government to protect our lives and keep Nigerians safe in every part of the country. The incoming administration must strengthen the collaboration with the multinational forces to protect the North-East borders and rout out the Boko Haram insurgents.

A year after, I still have serious doubts that the girls will ever be found. It is a sad reality that we will have to live with as a people. In my response after the abduction, I had alluded to some reasons why the girls might never be found. The leader of Boko Haram insurgents, Abubakar Shekau, had at the time announced in a chilling video recording that he had sold off the girls. There had also been intelligence reports that the girls might have been separated in groups and taken across borders where they would have been sold to warlords. If those reports were true at the time, did they not explain the reason why the girls have not been located? So, rescuing the girls as a group would almost have been impossible if they had been scattered across the border. Recent reports that they were spotted in the Sambissa Forest have been speculative.

Conflicting reports coming from the government and its military have not given any hope of rescue. At a time, the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Bardeh, told Nigerians the military knew where the girls were located. At another time, they denied knowing the girls’ whereabouts, a claim the President confirmed in a media chat in 2014. The question many Nigerians had asked at the time was: If the government did not know the location of the girls either through intelligence report from its international partners and its own military, how then did it hope to conduct any rescue operation? I had also questioned the military’s lip service to finding the girls in one of the many articles on the matter in this column when it appeared that the only thing they were good at doing was the empty rhetoric of re-assuring Nigerians rather than a concrete action plan.

As the country marks the first anniversary of the abduction, the military must look back and assess where it has failed. The government must also reassess its security strategy and reorganise its intelligence and military institutions to respond to the ever growing security threat in country.

As I write this piece, I hate to think that the girls may not be found. But my prayer and hope are that they are found for their sake and that of their parents and families who have had to live through the trauma. Let us remember them in our prayers. Nigerians must also commend the Oby Ezekwesil-led campaigners who have consistently put the issue on the front burner. The resilience of the #BringBackOurGirls activists who in the last one year have put pressure on the government to live up to its responsibility is a reminder to all Nigerians that an injustice done to citizen(s) in one part of the country is an injustice to all Nigerians.

2014 was a rough year –Messi

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi says he feels back to his best after what he feels was a difficult 2014 plagued with off-field problems, Goal reports.

The Argentine was came under criticism towards the end of last season as his side lost out on the Liga title to Atletico Madrid and were eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, while the player himself was beaten to the FIFA Ballon d’Or by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Off the field, he became the subject of a tax investigation, with a threat of possible jail time looming over him.

The 27-year-old, however, says he has recovered from a rough year and is happy with his personal life and his performances.

“I am happy. The truth is that I started the season in another way after what happened to me last year,” he told Barca’s official website. “I had a difficult year for what happened off the field, for my injuries and my performance. But this year I started differently and now I feel great.

“Last year I had an uneven season. I was out with injuries and missed many games. When I returned to the pitch, it never ended well. It was a year that I’ve tried to forget quickly to get back to my best version. Luckily now I feel fine.”

The Catalan side failed to pick up a major trophy last season and Messi feels that disappointment has motivated the players to return to picking up silverware this term.

“We came from a time when each year we were winning a title, and perhaps we did not value what we were winning,” he added.

“It was a bad year in which we won nothing, and now, when they get back some success, we will see how important they are and enjoy them more because we know they are very hard to achieve.”

The four-time Ballon d’Or winner is nearing his 400th Barcelona goal and he said he wants to keep adding to his tally once he reaches the milestone.

“It’s nice to score goals. Some are special, but it’s the same. By now every goal is a goal, but it is nice to know that I can keep adding to them and remain in the history of this great club.”

The attacker also praised team-mates Luis Suarez and Neymar, stating that they add a new dimension to the team’s front line.

“Barcelona have always had great forwards, not just now with Neymar and Luis. But it’s true that we are taking advantage of them because they are both great world stars. They give us another thing than goals, so in that sense, I’m calm.”

Echiejile

Echiejile targets Juve upset

Monaco can upset favourites Juventus in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg match in Turin, according to the French club’s defender Elderson Echiejile, AfricanFootball.com reports.

Monaco may not have won in Italy all these years, but Nigeria international Elderson they could rewrite history on Tuesday night in Turin.

“In the (Champions League) group stage, we set a new record by not conceding a goal in six matches. We could as well rewrite our history by winning in Italy,” he told his official website elderson3.com.

“We only need to stay focused in both legs and we could be in the semifinals.”

He added, “Juventus are on great form in Serie A as well as in Europe, but we can get results from them to go through.”

Monaco themselves have shrugged off a wretched start to the season and have now gone eight games unbeaten in the French Ligue 1 and are now third in the standings on 58 points from 32 matches, just three points behind leaders PSG.

But Juve were the more convincing qualifiers to the last-eight after they dumped Borussia Dortmund 5-1 on aggregate, while Monaco needed the away goals’ rule to progress after they were tied at 3-3 aggregate with Arsenal.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega

INEC announces Assembly election winners without figures

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared Peoples Democratic Party candidates as the winners of 13 of the 14 results released so far in the 16 constituencies where elections held in Bayelsa State.

A list of the names of winners in the election released by the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Baritor Kpagih, did not include the votes scored by the respective candidates and their political parties.

When he was accosted by journalists for a comprehensive result, he referred journalists to the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Timidi Wariowei, who told journalists interested in the number of votes scored by each candidate and political party to write INEC.

A look at the result released by INEC showed that the PDP won 13 out of the 14 Assembly seats released so far while the APC won one.

The election was declared inconclusive in Ogbia Constituency II while elections could not hold in Brass Constituency II because the youths allegedly insisted on sighting collation results sheets before the commencement of accreditation.

The PDP winners as announced by INEC are Abraham Ingobere, Brass Constituency 111; Ololo Ben, Ingo Iwowari; and Obiene Iniyobiyo.

Others are Monday Obolo, Igali Barapadei, Benson Friday, for the Southern Ijaw Constituencies 1, III and IV respectively.

Also, returned as winners are Salo Adikumo, Sagbama III, Dr. Parkinson Markmanuel, Ebiuwou Obiyai and Emelah Epilefa for Yenagoa constituencies 1, II and III.

The only successful candidate from the opposition APC defeated the Deputy Speaker, Victor Sam-Ateki, to win the Brass I Constituency seat.

Man Fulfills His promise To Walk From Lagos To Abuja If Buhari Wins, Presently In Niger [See Photo]

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NOTE: This article is posted as written by the source , read full story below:
Suleiman Hashimu or ‘The traveller’ as I prefer to call him is an indigene of Katsina state, Funtua to be precise. He was born in Osun state but lives in Ibadan.
The traveler promised two years ago to walk from where ever he is to the capital of Nigeria, Abuja if General Muhammadu Buhari wins the election in 2015.
BBC Hausa, Voice of America and Aminiya (a Hausa mgazine) interviewed him.
He was in Lagos when Buhari was declared the President-elect of Nigeria. He left Lagos at about 5am the next day and arrived Ibadan around 6pm.

He went to get a police report to allow for the smoothness of his journey but couldn’t wait and so, the D.P.O. gave him his phone number. Despite several discouragement from friends and at the same time, inspiration from friends and loved ones; he continued from Ibadan to Oyo. Then from Oyo to Ogbomoso.; And from Ogbomoso to Ilorin with much hospitality at every stop.
At Ilorin, some people escorted him for some miles and he stopped at Oloru. Oloru, to border’n Sa’ada and then to Jebba. He received so much hospitality from Jebba and unlike other villages he met a lot of people who had heard of the traveller. About 20 people set off with him from Jebba and after some miles, about 18 went back but the remaining two where determined. They met with armed robbers close to Makwa and luckily, he already met one of them in Jebba and he even gave him 200 Naira for pure water. The robber told his colleagues that he was going to see Buhari and he gave him 2000 Naira and then slapped the two men with him.
He continued his journey from Mkwa to Kudu and then to Kutigi. He is currently in Kutigi and will continue his journey to Bida tomorrow by the grace of God.
I asked him about his encounter with the different people and he said it was remarkable. Actually he gets more determined to move on from the people. He was even treated like a King in a village in Niger.
They sang tribal songs he didn’t understand and travellers stop to provide him with food and company along the way. Most of them are familiar with him because they travel the same route daily. Sometimes up to 10 cars would stop to converse with him. News travelled with the public transports to different places on his route and people from several cities, towns and villages on his route would call to check up on him and inquire about his journey.
He doesn’t know for sure if Buhari knows of him but several of his support organizations do. He intends to reach Abuja by 27th of May and celebrate with the new president at his inauguration ceremony.