Friday, December 30, 2016

Nigerian of the Year 2016 - Mrs. Rose Oruru

by Eze Eluchie,

In a year when the national economy nosedived with inflation spiraling out of control forcing many Nigerians to dispense with their cultural and traditional hospitable nature; when terror elements had a field day blowing up stuff and maiming at will despite bogus claims of the terrorists having been ‘technically defeated’; and when some erstwhile intellectual role models for the youths incredulously somersaulted from Olympian heights to unfathomable depths from which they will most probably not be able to climb out before their demise – one of them who had climbed to prominence via criticizing societal ails turned to abusing the entire population for daring to point out his glaringly silly gaffe concerning electoral outcomes in foreign lands, and the other who had through the course of his life pretended to be interested in true Federalism and supremacy of the constitution turning round, for lucre, to praising brutal attacks by security operatives on the judiciary and mocking the practice of separation of powers upon which our pretense at democracy is hinged; it would ordinarily appear that all hope is lost for the Nigerian contraption and there is none in the land worthy of being singled out as a positive role model, a person of the year.

Far from it! It is in the midst of adversity and tribulations that the goodness in our peoples shone the more. 

People who seem to have comparatively less prove more generous. Families who had a sole bag of grain willingly shared out measures from their store to those less endowed; Cooperatives emerged where none had hitherto existed to soften the economic strain on their members; neighbors anonymously paid for the school fees when they noticed youngsters who ought to be in school loitering around long after their mates had returned to school; Muslim families risked all to harbor and accommodate non-Muslim neighbors when that bout of murderous lust for blood that has become the norm in our northern fringes sets in; Our peoples, in their various localities, live and exhibit the best qualities of humanity, giving lie to the perception their ruler wants the international community to know them by – as a ‘fantastically corrupt’ specie of the human race.

In Year 2016, one woman rose head and shoulders above her country folks to best exposé the virtues of an irrepressible spirit, fearlessness and never-say-die-till-goal-is-achieved attitude imbued in the average Nigerian and qualify to be recognized as the Nigerian of the Year, a role model most worthy of emulation.

When her 14-year old daughter (Ese Oruru) was kidnapped from right under her nose in Yenegoa (Bayelsa State) in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region by a philanderous butcher (Yunusa Dahiru) who disappeared into the uncharted Nigerian wilderness, Mrs. Rose Oruru did not consign herself to wailing and gnashing of teeth. This Amazon, in the face of the usual and most unfortunate failure of the local police authorities to conduct proper investigations apprehend and prosecute culprits, plunged herself head-on into rescuing her daughter. Mrs. Oruru’s personal investigations led her, over a thousand kilometres away, to the Palace of the Islamic ruler of Kano city, the Emir, where her daughter’s kidnapper had taken refuge and where a sham marriage had been conducted to forcefully join the kidnapped under-aged girl in matrimony with her kidnapper.

At great risk to her life, Mrs. Oruru, who was making her very first visit to Kano State, pestered the entrance of the Palace of the Emir of Kano (a huge fortified premises with hundreds of rough thugs serving as a first-layer of security) imploring on anyone who cared to listen to help retrieve her daughter from the kidnapper and his very ‘politically powerful’ overlords. Mrs. Oruru’s uncommon valour and insistence caught the police and state authorities flat-footed with all manners of despicable denials and statements emanating from the various Commands of the Nigerian Police (Bayelsa and Kano State in particular) through whom the kidnap case had passed through without any real actions being taken and the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force, Mr. Solomon Arase, who elevated the shame of the Police to  arduous levels when he asserted that though the Police Force knew where the kidnapped girl was being kept, the release of the under-aged girl was dependent on approval by the Emir of Kano, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria) who was then performing the holy pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. True to the IGP’s words, the under-aged girl was only released to her mother upon the return of Mr. Sanusi to Nigeria a few days later.

As a result of the publicity generated by Mrs. Oruru’s heroism, several other instances of parents (mostly Christians) who were suffering from helplessness at the kidnap and forced ‘marriage’ of their under-aged children under the patronage of Islamic rulers across several cities in Nigeria’s northern region were brought to light. The diabolical pattern of kidnap of under-aged girls and forced ‘marriage’ of such girls to their kidnappers has continued unabated without any efforts at quelling this most inhumane of crimes by Nigerian authorities.

Ese Oruru has since given birth to the product of rape during her ‘forced marriage’ to her kidnapper; The kidnapper of Ese Oruru remains a free man.

For her tenacity of purpose, efforts at self-help which resulted in the rescue of her kidnapped daughter, bringing to limelight the dastard vice of kidnap of under-aged girls and forced marriage under Shari’a which has continued till date in Nigeria, helping others in her situation to come out with their own tales of woes and seek solution, her dexterity, her leadership and serving as a role model worthy of emulation, Mrs. Rose Oruru is the 2016 Nigerian of the Year!





Picture: Mrs Rose Oruru (in red) surrounded by Police Officers. 


Thursday, December 22, 2016

The Worst Nigerians of 2016 Awards

by Eze Eluchie,

Often times, the failure of a people is rooted in their inability to identify the causes of their continuing decadence and misfortune. When you recognize your weak points or those factors that retard your growth, there is the likelihood, presuming the society concerned is genuinely interested in moving forward, to isolate and demobilize such minuses, wheresoever they may exist, as an integral process in moving society forward.

In realization of the fact that the Nigerian contraption currently resides far behind where even the most pessimistic had envisioned it to be, the Worst of Nigerian Awards, which is now in its fourth year, is principally geared at identifying the arrowheads amongst our numerous minuses which contributed most negatively to keeping Nigeria in the back woods where we now find her.

Expectedly, in view of the backwards slide in virtually every facet of national life which Nigeria experienced in the past 12 months, numerous worthy nominations were received for the various categories of the Awards on offer. The fact that the current regime of President Buhari is already prosecuting two of the past Awardees in the ‘Worst Minister of the Year’ Awards category – Mr. Abba Moro (Interior Minister for Interior) and Mr. Mohammed Adoke (former Minister of Justice) should serve as indication that our Awards cross political divides. It is only hoped that actions are taking much earlier to right wrongs being caused by the awardees.


The Worst Corporate Entity.
Buoyed on by a palpable desperation on the part of governments to attract and encourage Foreign Direct Investments, corporate entities in Nigeria cashed in on the already weak regulatory mechanisms to exploit the population assured that they can get away with blue murder as the governments would generally look over their crimes/faults under the guise of not scaring away investors

The usual culprits were there once more: British American Tobacco (which in 2016 had the sole distinction of continuing to market its lethal product with more aggressiveness in Nigeria whilst at the same time launching a public advisory to its users in its home-country to desist from consuming cigarettes), the Oil Conglomerates which continued with their lethal production practices that would have earned their Executives long spells behind bars in their home-country’s.

This year however, a new kid gets on the block, from an industry that is fast gaining importance and usage with our youthful population. The Awardee for this year treats local regulations with disdain; when caught with its hand in the till, greases palms to minimize fines levied; is under investigation for discrepancies regarding its foreign remittances and cash outflows; charges its users arbitrarily and has one of the worst consumer helplines in the globe.

South African headquartered Mobile Telecommunication Nigeria (MTN), is the Worst Corporate Entity for Year 2016.


The Worst State Governor/Agency
In a year when several State Governors converted huge largesse’s received from the Federation Account in the forms of bailouts to personal uses whilst failing to pay State employees and pensioners or even execute any tangible infrastructural projects, nominations for this category of the Awards was naturally validly varied.

One Governor choose to sink beneath the bounds of civility in maladministration, reducing the population over which he governs in a state of drunken stupor, wondering how they could have missed all the tell tale signs prior to allowing such a sleazy character access to their States treasury and administration. From forcing civil servants and pensioners to sign unto documents forfeiting sizable portions of their salaries in order to get meagre sums; to criminally substandard public infrastructure works (severally collapsed tunnels and buildings); to destroying the traditional and cultural heritage of the people; and grabbing .lands belonging to entire communities for self use; the recipient of this year’s Awards in this category has become a serial awardee, having won the awards twice in the past three years.

The Worst State Governor is Imo State’s Mr. Rochas Okorocha.


The Worst Federal Minister/Agency
From its delay in appointing his Ministers, it was quite clear that Nigeria’s current ruling regime, though it had plans to acquire power as can be discerned from the aggressiveness with which it pursued the cause, simply had no plans for governance. This lack of preparedness has manifested in very poor performances by the Federal Ministers and Agencies. The catalogue of misfortune seems endless. From a Lawyer who was appointed Minister for Works/Power/Housing who is clearly out of his depth as he is clueless about the fundamentals of the issues of the Ministries over which he superintends, to a Finance Minister whose novice status in national economic management and fiscal issues is glaring, to a Technology Minister who has set his sights on producing pencils (Yes PENCILS for writing) for the year 2019. Never have we received such multiplicity and diversity of nominees for this category of the Awards.

One Minister however outshone his colleagues in terms of his idiocy, cluelessness and general lack of understanding of his role. A Minister who once questioned what the country’s soccer team was doing being stranded in the United States in a scheduled pre-Olympic training and wished the team remain abandoned in the US; a Minister who followed up such infamy by revealing that the Federal Government did not anticipate the female national football teams successes at the African Female Nations cup – and as such there was no provision for the teams allowances following their victory at the tournament.

A federal agency was particularly outstanding in the number of nominations it received for this Award. An agency that inherited relatively modest operational guidelines and modalities, that always tried to do things by the books had decided to throw caution to the winds and was openly partisan and incredulously partial in its activities. The Independent National Election Commission (INEC – also known commonly as the Inconclusive National Election Commissions on accounts of the high number of inconclusive elections it had recorded within the short period of its current leadership) has severally, by its opaque umpire role in elections it has thus far conducted, pushed several Nigerian States to a precipice and likelihood of violence.

For the first time ever, we have joint winners of an award under this category. The winners of the Worst Federal Minister/Agency are: Mr. Solomon Dalung (Minister for Youth & Sports) and the Independent National Elections Commission (INEC)!


The Worst Nigeria.
At his assumption of Office in May 2015, the Nigerian economy was rated the fastest growing and largest economy in Africa. By spectacular dint of policy summersaults, vindictive posturing, self-debasement before the international community, palpable ignorance of economic principles and outright cluelessness, the fortunes of the Nigerian contraption was meteorically reversed to an economy in recession, spiralling inflation, the local currency broke all records in the negative directions, unemployment rates skyrocketed and capital flight exceeded all known bounds as all and sundry sought to escape from an impending collapse.

On the social and political fronts, the tenuous fabric which created a semblance of unity of purpose was recklessly shredded as this character pronounced and displayed outright hate for sizable segments of the population, thus engendering separatist agitations across the land;  At the same time, rampaging gangs of vicious herdsmen, buoyed on by the cloak of seeming invincibility accorded by support from federal security and military operatives, exterminate and commit atrocities at will without any fear of being called to account.

As a result of this characters terrible rulership, the only light Nigerians are seeing as they are stuck in the tunnel is that of an oncoming train.  At current rates, something must give come 2017.


The recipient of the Worst Nigerian Award for Year 2017 is the current head of Nigeria's ruling junta, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari.




The ignoble Baddies trophy:

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

A Cattle Rearing Army?

by Eze Eluchie, 

At a time when brave young Nigerians soldiers fighting terrorists in our North Eastern flanks have featured in a video recording that has gone viral in Nigeria, begging their Commander-in-Chief for food and appropriate enabling environment to exist, talk less of being combat-ready and capable; and when within a space of 2 week Boko Haram terror elements killed several Nigerian soldiers including 4 Lieutenant Colonels; and when millions of dollars (some provided by foreign donor governments and agencies meant for Internally Displaced Persons have been diverted to spurious uses by high ranking government officials; Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai announces that the Army has sent some of its officers to Argentina for training, not to be better soldiers, but to learn ‘cattle rearing’@£#$ and that the Army intends to establish cattle grazing facilities in all its Divisions@#??????

When it is realized that the Federal Government, which coincidentally has a man who has a cattle ranch as President, had not too long ago floated the idea of appropriating lands across the Nigerian contraption to ease transit problems of Fulani herdsmen and the same Federal Government had through one of its Ministers, in addition embarked on the importation of some special specie of grass from Argentina for the cows consumption (Perhaps in importing this special grass, the Agriculture Minister had forgotten that it was not solely the grass that made the Argentine cows so productive. Other factors which this ‘extremely hyper intelligent’ Nigerian government should likewise have included in its import list from Argentina must include Argentine water, Argentine climate, and of course Argentine soil where the cows will trod on); one begins to appreciate the true direction of the Army Chief’s drift towards creating a specialized Cow Herding Brigade or Unit in the Army.

General Buratai, this your Army Cattle Grazing fields hogwash is merely another ruse to appropriate lands owned by others for cattle grazing! This regime has been more about Cows! Cows!! And Cows!!! Without giving a hoot about the people!

Nigerians appreciate the sacrifices of the dedicated soldiers who are doing their very best, even in the absence of necessary equipment's to save the society from terrorists and other criminal elements. But this idea of training soldiers as cattle herdsmen is far, far, far beneath the rank of soldiering or what some of those who volunteered to join the Nigerian Army thought the noble duties of a soldier entails.

What becomes of a soldier ordered/deployed by his commanding officer to the 'Cattle Rearing Brigade of the Nigerian Army who has conscientious objections to such service? Will he be disciplined, subjected to court martial proceedings and or dismissed from service?

Restructuring and Renegotiating the Nigerian contraption will allow for those who prioritize cows over human beings to be at liberty to do what they feel is best in their own context without dragging other peoples down their self-chosen paths.

What mortal sin could Nigeria and Nigerians have committed to deserve this Buhari fellow and his ineptly clueless bunch?






Picture: A ‘military cow’ – the likely outcome of Nigeria’s efforts to create cattle ranches at all its Divisions.


Sunday, December 18, 2016

Foreign Interference in Domestic Elections

by Eze Eluchie,

With the probable exception of levying war on or physical occupation of a country, interference with intent to influence whosoever gets to ascend into leadership, from foreign authorities, on the selection process(es) of any given country’s leadership stands out as the worst disrespect and abuse of sovereignty any country can suffer from another. By seeking to decide for a country who gets to rule over them, the interfering country not only seeks to place itself in the manner of a colonial authority but worse still, it seeks that notorious position whilst at the same time creating an impression on the minds of the nationals of the country whose (s)election process has been interfered with, that the externally imposed stooge is a product of local preferences and processes.

The practice of one State seeking to decide who rules over other States is certainly not a new vocation; it is a vile practice dating back centuries but which has, with increased international interaction and collaboration amongst states, become a common feature of international relations and the so-called ‘new world order’. Countries with a focused and conscious leadership will ordinarily want other countries they share borders with to be governed by entities who are, at the very least, of like minds, or where possible, of a subservient disposition. With increased globalization, the borders of any given country is now far beyond its mere physical borders, extending to countries far removed from its territory but with which it has sizable relationships. As the meaning of ‘borders’ has been stretched under the concept of globalization, so also has the extent to which countries wish to interfere in the leadership (s)election processes been stretched to, in some instances, to virtually any country in the world.

Foreign interference in leadership (s)election processes can be subtle or brazen, intellectual or military or an admixture of several styles. Often times, a majority of the citizens of the territory whose leadership (s)election process is being interfered with by foreign authorities may be unaware of such interferences. For instance, the fact that the erstwhile colonial overlords of African countries have interfered in the leadership (s)election processes of the now ‘independent’ African States has been one of the worst guarded secrets in International Affairs: whilst the British routinely interfere in their former territories (Anglophone African countries), the French play same role in the Francophone African countries.  These interferences usually comes in the form of reports of so-called ‘international election monitoring and observer missions’ which subtly issue real threats when results of polls do not toe the line of the colonial overlords and simply look the other way with such comments as ‘though there were pockets of irregularities, such irregularities do not impugn the integrity of the process’, if the ‘overlords’ preferred was able to emerge victorious despite palpable local wishes to the contrary. At other instances, military interventions and coups are instigated to scuttle a regime deemed not-compliant and ensure the emergence of stooges.

Notorious instances of foreign interference in the leadership (s)election process of countries include the United States and Belgian instigated assassination of Patrice Lumumba of Congo DRC, and the imposition of a stooge, Mobutu Sese Seko in his stead in 1966. Congo DRC is yet to recover from the ensuing disaster unleashed by the foreign interference as war and strive now bedevil what is universally recognized as a country that ought to, on account of its resources, have been a leading and industrial light in the African continent. The scuttling of the electoral victory of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) during the 1991 Algerian elections and the imposition of a more compliant military junta by foreign authorities has served, till date, to deepen distrust of the democratic process by Islamists across Arabia.     

The 2015 Presidential elections in Nigeria is yet a more recent instance of foreign intervention in the leadership (s)election process of countries. In addition to unwarrantedly sending key officials of its administration to ‘caution’ Nigerian authorities over ‘interfering in Nigerian elections’, the United States adopted policies and actions that showed it (and by extension the amorphous ‘international community’) would not accommodate the then incumbent administration if it emerged victorious in the elections. The icing on the ‘foreign interference’ cake during the Nigerian 2015 Presidential elections was the visit, a few days to the 2015 elections, by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, to disrespectfully and flagrantly threaten the incumbent authority in Nigeria with ‘investigation and prosecution’ before the ICC in the event of any post-election violence. The quantum of threats scared the living daylights out of then incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan, who did not even bother for definitive results to be released before conceding defeat to his main adversary, despite evidence of widespread debilitating electoral fraud that would have truncated the election process.

It is in the light of the foregoing that one appreciates and understands the angst and indignation expressed by United States President, Barack Obama, and a wide array of US citizens and politicians from diverse political parties and their security establishments in response to credible and highly probably evidence of foreign interference in the 2016 US Presidential elections.  The likelihood that the major global superpower would be ruled by a person who probably got into office not solely on the basis of the desires of the American people but rather with support from elsewhere is most worrisome. The inherent and underlying insult and utter lack of respect of a states sovereignty embedded in foreign interference in the US presidential elections stank to the heavens! This is, however, exactly the same sentiments felt by discerning citizens of those countries whose leadership has been determined by foreign authorities for quite awhile.

The fundamental concept of mutual respect for the sovereignty of states upon which inter-state relations is predicated upon is fatally assaulted when foreign authorities take it upon themselves to interfere in the leadership (s)election processes of other states. It is hoped that states will desist from the urge interfere in the leadership (s)election processes of other states and when such allegations of interfering with other countries electoral process is established, there ought to be an international mechanism to sanction the erring state.


Picture: Patrice Lumumba (victim of 1960 foreign interference in Congo DRC) and Donald Trump (supposed beneficiary of Russian interference in US 2016 presidential elections).



Sunday, December 11, 2016

Will A Buhari Ever Concede Defeat in an Election?

by Eze Eluchie,

Ghana’s John Mahama lost the presidential elections and immediately called the winner to concede defeat and express a willingness to work towards the progress of Ghana;

When his predecessor in office, Goodluck Jonathan, had called Buhari to congratulate him on victory at elections that were yet being collated, Buhari, though he welcomed the novel show of sportsmanship, expressed surprise and palpable shock with the former President's conduct;

Can one envisage Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, if he loses the presidential elections in Nigeria, to call the winner to concede defeat and express a willingness to work towards the progress of Nigeria? Or merely threaten that the "blood of monkeys and baboons will flow" as he did with past elections where he lost?  

When one appreciates the desperation and utter shamlessness with which thousands of armed soldiers, policemen and other security personnel were deployed by Nigeria’s ruling junta to intimidate the electorate in local elections which have thus far been organized under its watch, particularly the gubernatorial elections in Edo and serially rescheduled Legislative elections in Rivers States (held on 10th December 2016) and the deliberate mismanagement of the electoral processes by an entity that was supposed to be an impartial organizer, the INEC, to attain pre-desired objectives which were contrary to the aspirations and wishes of the electorate in those localities, it can rightly be presumed that any thoughts or hopes of having any semblance of a free and fair electioneering process come 2019, when the tenure of the current junta expires, can be dispensed with.

From all indications, Nigeria’s current ruler will not voluntarily concede when he is defeated in an election - the wishes of the people must however prevail and nothing, absolutely nothing, should be allowed to stand in the way of fulfilling the wish of the electorate.

It is increasingly becoming clear that means other than the present jaundiced pretense at democratic elections orchestrated by his crony, Mahmood Yakubu who presides over the ‘Independent’ National Elections Commission (INEC), will have to be deployed to extract the Nigerian polity from the vice grip of the head of Nigeria’s current ruling junta, a junta that has thus far in its astonishingly short period of less than 2 years in office at the helms of Nigeria’s affairs, managed to destroy and or damage virtually all facets of national life and endeavor: from the economy, to sports, to social and ethnic cohesion, to even the basic thoughts of continued sustainability and existence of Nigeria.

Let the Nigerian contraption be restructured and Renegotiated whilst there is yet time.





Picture: Nigeria’s ruler, Muhammadu Buhari and his appointee as INEC Chairperson, Mahmood Yakubu.


Sunday, December 4, 2016

State Complicity In Atrocities by Fulani Herdsmen/Terrorists.

by Eze Eluchie,

First, the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar who happens to be Fulani, announces with relish, that the Fulani herdsmen/terrorists on a killing rampage across several States in Nigeria are foreigners from other West African countries;

Now the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, who also happens to be Fulani and a very close confidant of Nigeria's ruler, announces that the murderous Fulani herdsmen/terrorists are from identifiable countries, have specific grievances against their victims and that his government has paid some monies to these terrorists to prevent further attacks#%*. Paid monies to terrorists to stop killings that continue with more viciousness by the day? - Its either Mr. el-Rufai thinks his audience are dumb or that he is invincible.

When one recollects the statement by the sly governor of Kaduna Statement on his twitter account on the 15th of November 2012 to the effect that: “we will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable no matter how long it takes”, it begins to dawn on even the most optimistic, that the killings being effected now are really part of the payback, loan repayment, Mr. El-Rufai had assured would happen.

Yet the Department of State Security remains silent in the face of all these murders? Yet, the Immigration and Customs Services, the Police or other security authorities have not informed the polity of any massive failures at the borders.

When the Fulani herdsmen/terrorists embark on their killing sprees, there is usually no interference from the law enforcement agencies for howsoever long these killing sprees last. But the moment the herdsmen/terrorists are through with their dastardly acts, security operatives from virtually all the security agencies inclusive of the military descend on the already vanquished territories and peoples under the mien of ‘safe-guarding’ the victims. Evidence abounds, particularly in the Fulani attacks against the peoples of Uzo-Uwani in Enugu State and Uzo-Item in Abia State that State security authorities were sufficiently warned by the local authorities about imminent attacks and that the State security agencies, inclusive of the military authorities, failed to provide security and only came in after much damages and killings have been effected.

The unfortunate lack of condemnation of the genocidal and terroristic activities of the herdsmen/terrorists by Nigeria’s ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, who himself also happens to be a Fulani, serves to provide state cover for the impunity with which the killings, which in some instances have been described as acts of ethnic cleansing, are carried out.

CONCLUSION: The Fulani herdsmen/terrorists are known to the State. The Fulani herdsmen/terrorists are well paid and protected by the State, under the present rulerships, to carry out their vile killing sprees.

The interest of posterity and the peoples of Nigeria will be best served if the Nigerian contraption is Restructured and Renegotiated as soon as possible, to address fundamental faults in its structure and composition.

Governor el-Rufai of Kaduna State admits to paying herdsmen/terrorists (vanguard newspapers)  http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/weve-paid-fulani-stop-killings-southern-kaduna-el-rufai/



Picture: Armed Fulani herdsmen with their livestock