Mr. President, bring back the boys, NOW!

One of the oddities peculiar to the Nigerian State is that we give out what we lack and purchase what we have in abundance - of particular import here is our penchant to contribute to international peacekeeping and peace-enforcement missions in foreign lands whilst our homeland is afire and our seeming relentless thirst for imported refined petroleum products with our oil-rich Niger Delta region awash with cheaply available sweet Brent crude..

I was stunned when it was brought to my attention that despite the several embarrassing loss of territory routinely suffered by the Nigerian military to the rag-tag Islamist terror outfit, Nigeria still remains one of the top 5 contributors to United nations Peace Keeping (and enforcement) missions.

For several years, the top hierarchy of the Nigerian military and their collaborators in the relevant Federal Ministries and agencies, have used the platform of ‘international peacekeeping and enforcement missions’, either under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) or Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a ruse to fleece not only the hapless soldiers drafted for such missions (who are shortchanged with regards to their payments and emoluments) but also carve out a sizable slice of our enormous military budget for personal pockets via the award of spurious contracts to supply all manners of articles to ‘deployed troops’.

The involvement of Nigerian troops had been clothed and sold as a dummy to an unsuspecting Nigerian population under a bogus ‘Afrocentric foreign policy’ which sought to portray Nigeria as the ‘giant of Africa’ and thus ever ready to provide troops, personnel or whatsoever required to stabilize our neighboring ‘African brothers-States’.

Well, with the advent of sustained Islamist terror insurgency in our northeastern region, and the apparent inability of our Forces to effectively contain and rout the terrorists, whatsoever arguments that might have founded the continued deployment of Nigerian soldiers,  Policemen and other military or para-military forces outside the shores and territory of Nigeria has been clearly debunked and rendered unreasonable.

Data available at the United Nations Peacekeeping websites is to the effect that as at today, Nigeria has Military and Police personnel stationed at the following Missions: United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MUNUSCO), African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID), United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS), United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), and only Military Forces at the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

Commonsense should dictate that all Nigerian soldiers and policemen currently stationed in these various foreign peacekeeping and peace-enforcement missions should be recalled home immediately to contribute their quota towards saving the ‘motherland’. If they continue to stay outside, at going rates, they may not have any country to return to if urgent steps to reverse ongoing trends are not taken.

Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief, it’s time to face realities: bring the boys back home, NOW!

Picture: Some Nigerian troops deployed in one of several United Nations Peacekeeping Mission where they are currently serving.

Mr. President, nip this mess in its bud, NOW!

by Eze Eluchie

The unruly events which played out in the National Assembly yesterday, when some Legislators and hired thugs in a most unbecoming fashion, scaled the gates of the National Assembly compound and forcefully gained entrance into the premises of our National Assembly, if not properly addressed could signal the commencement of a quickened slide down the path of infamy which most observers have long foretold will be Nigeria’s lot since we have failed to effectively restructure and renegotiate our polity.

Under no circumstance should the ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, and whatever number of unruly elements he might be able to assemble, have been allowed to desecrate the hallowed chambers of our National Assembly.

Whilst I congratulate the security officials stationed at the gates of the National Assembly for exercising utmost restraint in the face of attempts at forced entry into the premises of the National assembly earlier this morning, it behooves on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to ensure that the laws are implemented with regards to persons disrespecting lawful orders issued by Police and Security authorities in the dispensation of their duties and people forcefully trying to gain entry into secured premises irrespective of whatsoever positions they may hold in society

I knew we had some dishonorable characters who had infiltrated the membership of our legislative houses; I however never believed in my wildest imaginations that the dishonorable characters were in such huge numbers as was displayed in the shockingly unruly behavior of so many of them as they forcefully entered the premises of the National Assembly today – no wonder we are where we are and the rest of the world are where they are forging to.

To gauge the direction the Nigerian State is drifting to, it is pertinent that the following queries be clarified by the Presidency and the Office of the Inspector General of Police respectfully:
Questions for the Jonathan administration:
1. Did the Presidency actually write a letter to the ex-Speaker to reconvene the House to discuss the extension of the State of Emergency in the northeastern region OR did Mr. Tambuwal decide to storm the National Assembly of his own volition?
2. Considering that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has deposed, in a suit pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja, to the fact that Mr. Aminu Tambuwal’s membership of the House, by virtue of his decamping from the political party via which he was elected into the House of Representatives and in keeping with the provisions of Section 68(1){g} of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic, had expired, who advised the issuance of a letter to the ex-Speaker to reconvene the House? (If indeed a letter was written to Mr. Tambuwal).
The Presidency simply has to get its act together and right. Continued prevarications, docility and unwillingness to proactively and effectively exercise the powers vested in the Presidency by the Nigerian Constitution to ensure stability will boomerang with horrible effects!

Questions for the Police/Security authorities:
3. Why was a contingent of police officers and other security personnel unable to successfully secure the perimeter of the National Assembly from forceful entry by unruly thugs?
4. Was it necessary to have indiscriminately fired Tear Gas canisters within the premises and into the main building of the National Assembly?
5. Why were the characters who scaled the gates of the National Assembly not immediately apprehended and where appropriate charged for relevant offences committed?
6. Has the failure of the Nigeria Police to adequately prosecute other acts of hooliganism by thugs masquerading as members of various Legislative houses across Nigeria contributed in any way to the delusion of immunity being displayed by our supposedly ‘honorable’ Legislators?
Whilst appreciating efforts at enforcement of our laws relating to decamping from political parties [as provided in Section 68(1){g} of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic] being exercised by the current Inspector General of Police, it must be stated that such aggressive law enforcement must be equally implemented across political divides. Having taken the rightful position that a defection during the pendency of an elected public officials tenure amounts to an abdication from Office, the IGP should have likewise visited other defectors, since the Mr. Tambuwal episode, with similar consequences.

And to those who, under the pretext of partisan activism, continue to fan the embers of illegality and desecration of the Constitution by denying the fact that Mr. Tambuwal vacated his membership of the House of Representatives when he defected from the party via which he gained membership of the HOR, bear in mind that when the polity goes up in the flames we are all stoking up, there will be no hiding place for any.

For sanity to prevail, the Police authorities MUST identify the members of the House of Representatives who scaled the gates to forcefully gain entrance, and others who acted in similar manner to gain access into the House and take necessary legal action, including prosecution where deemed appropriate.

There simply must be a limit to the depth we are willing to descend.



Our Courts have repeatedly held that defection tantamount to loss of membership of the Legislative House (http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/court-declares-house-reps-seat-vacant/ ).  Mr. Mark Reckless defection from the British Conservative Party to the UK Independence Party, triggered the recent by-election won by the UKIP (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-30140747 ). When the Mayor of Drogheda, Kevin Callan, resigned from his political party, Fine Gael, he honorably relinquished his position as Mayor ( http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/fine-gael-mayor-resigns-from-party-over-water-charges-controversy-30712030.html ). Why should Mr. Tambuwal's be different? Why can we not learn from where systems work?


Video of a past episode of a legislator (Mr. Chidi Lloyd, in white native dress in the video) almost clubing his colleague to death in the Rivers State House of Assembly ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zX388EnB5I )

Picture: Minority Leader of the House of Representatives (Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, in white shirt descending the gate, who unfortunately is enrolled as a member of the Bar inthe United States) and some of his colleagues, scaling the gate of the National Assembly in Abuja (20th November 2014)

How not to tackle terror.

by Eze Eluchie

The continued bickering by two Federal Government agencies with prosecutorial powers, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Department of State Security (DSS), over who will conduct the prosecution of the principal suspect in the April 14^th 2014 Nyanya (Abuja) bomb blast, Mr. Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, is simply a mind-boggling national embarrassment!!!

Since his July 15^th extradition to Nigeria, squabbles in open court, in one instance open verbal altercations between counsels representing federal agencies, between the NPF and the DSS over who will prosecute Mr. Ogwuche has caused multiple adjournment of the self-confessed terrorists’ trial.

When one realizes that overall prosecutorial powers of the Federal Government is vested in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the question that readily comes to mind is: Why is the occupant of the Office of Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice allowing the continuing international ridicule and mockery of Nigeria to continue over the shameful indecision as to which agency has powers and right to prosecute a terrorism suspect whom the international community, through InterPol, had compelled the Sudanese Government to repatriate to Nigeria?

Who will blame InterPol if they refuse to cooperate with our ‘intelligence’ and Police authorities over future requests for extradition of suspects? Who will point fingers at other countries if they choose not to share intelligence related towards tackling terrorism issues with us?

If the Federal Government is not ready to prosecute Mr. Ogbeche, the young man should be allowed to go home forthwith – perhaps, so he can plot and execute more dastardly terror attacks! Clearly, this is portending to be a repeat of the fiasco generated when at the heat of efforts to classify Boko Haram an Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in the United States, some elements within the Nigerian Government had vociferously opposed such efforts, advocating instead, that BH was merely a domestic civil disturbance.

Lack of central coordination and apparent internal misunderstanding and mudslinging in approaches to contain terror, within agencies of government is certainly one clear manner in which not to tackle terror - it sends all the wrong signals.

Again, where is Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice?

Picture: Terror suspect, . Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, upon arrival in Nigeria from Sudan.

A Fraud questioning the integrity of a State?

by Eze Eluchie

Why should Nigerian authorities allow a fraud-prone quasi-criminal contraption like FIFA (the Federation of International Football Associations) continually threaten Nigeria's interests?

Members of the FIFA cabal, inclusive of FIFA President, Josep Blatter, and Confederation of African Football (CAF) President and FIFA Board Member, Issa Hayatou, under normal circumstances, have severally committed acts that could qualify them for incarceration in various jurisdictions - yet these characters dare to malign and threaten Nigeria?

The effrontery of FIFA to issue contemptuous ultimatums against the Nigerian State discountenancing judicial and constitutional processes and rather seeking to ensure the continuation of criminality in our football administration is mind-blowing,  a feat only surpassed by the willingness of some in our clime to harken to the whims of the FIFA mafia. This same FIFA suddenly develops cold feet and becomes inactive when litigation over football issues are ongoing in other countries.

Call the bluff of these miscreants and let us look inwards and build our potentials.

With the advent of the new Cold War and FIFA's decision to accord Russia hosting rights for the 2018 edition of the World Cup, the United States will certainly have greater cause to move after and expose the criminality inherent in the FIFA cabal - their sun appears to be setting.

Picture: Capones of the FIFA Mafia - FIFA President, Sepp Blatter and FIFA Board Member/CAF President, Issa Hayatou.

Nigeria’s “Safe School Initiative Project”: A poorly conceived lame duck idea!

by Eze Eluchie

As part of its response to the several cases of mass killings and mass abductions of students in educational institutions across Nigeria North East zone, the Nigerian Government has in a move which defies logic and common sense, embarked on a novel plan to relocate students from such war-torn areas to other parts of Nigeria where Boko Haram is not perceived as ‘strong’ to enable the children, who are willing, to continue with their education.

Who in heavens name conceived the so-called ‘Safe Schools Initiative’ Project?  Was it ex-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown or Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala?

You want to provide a ‘safe school’ in a war-torn environment?

Whatever happened to efforts to end hostilities as soon as possible?

The perfidy has been upped by moves to send students in the war-torn areas to schools outside their native environments, where the war has, as at yet, not extended to? Really?

And what happens if Boko Haram activities overrun the various ‘unity schools’ to which these children are transferred? You relocate them to yet other schools in other locations? Certainly, this idea is worthy of not just a Global Prize but also an Inter-Galaxy or Inter-Planetary Prize@#%

Relocating these children without taking into consideration the welfare and upkeep of their parents and other family members exposes a fatal flaw in the thought process of those who conceived the ‘safe school initiative’ project. Is the main idea merely to appear to be supporting ‘formal education’? Even where such efforts are at the detriment of the youngsters’ emotional, psychological and social development?

As this piece was about being published, news of a deadly bomb blast targeted at students who were convening for daily morning assembly at the boys-only Government Comprehensive Senior Science Secondary School in Potiskum, Yobe state, North Eastern Nigeria surfaced - already, the death toll has surpassed 50 (students) with over 70 injured. Perhaps we have one more group of students to relocate under the ‘safe school initiative’ project.  But for how long will this continue?

Have these guys thought about a SAFE SOCIETY PROJECT?




Picture: Corpses of some of the 59 students killed by Boko Haram terrorists at the Government Secondary School, Bunu Yadi, Yobe State. .