Public Official Missing-in-Action

by Eze Eluchie

Has anyone seen the man whose image appears in the photograph below?

His name is Mohammed Bello Adoke and he is supposed to be the current Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In the course of the past few weeks, several acts which would have benefited from the intervention and counsel of the office the man in the picture holds have occurred, and continue to take place, without the slightest murmur from either the man or the office he holds. Some of these include:
1. The deportation of Nigerians within Nigeria by some component State Governments in the Nigerian federation;

2. State Governors inciting Military Officers against the President Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces - particularly the Niger State Governors address to the incoming Brigade Commander in Minna this week;

3. Refusal of most of the component State Governments in the Nigerian federation to conduct Local Government Elections as directed by the Nigerian Constitution;

4. Institutionalized and rampant acts of discrimination on basis of ethnicity and religion by some component States of the Nigerian federation against fellow Nigerians perceived as being ‘non-indigenes’ in clear violation of trite constitutional provisions;

5. Infringement by some component States of the Nigerian Federation on matters solely within the purview of the federal government;

6. Brazen criminal duplication of structures of lawfully recognized political parties in Nigeria – at going rates, there may be a duplication of political offices such that we may have two or more persons contending to be Legislators representing same constituency, or Governors of same State or even Presidents of Nigeria; and so many more events and occurrences capable of truncating national cohesion and stability.


The man whose photograph appears below was last seen entangled in issues pertaining to the murky deals surrounding the multi-billion dollar Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in respect of Oil Block OPL 245, and has since then apparently foregone what ought to be the main thrust of his office.

Resulting from the very loud silence emanating from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in the course of the aforelisted issues, the Nigerian state appears rudderless and is subjected to the wimps and caprices of all and sundry.

Anyone who sees the said Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, supposedly the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice of the federal Republic of Nigeria, should please implore him either sit up and assume the responsibilities expected of his office or give way for others willing to be responsible.

Or better still, inform the President of the Federal Republic.

Picture: Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke 

Syria chemical weapon attack - Whodunit?

by Eze Eluchie

Whilst congratulating the leadership of the United States and Russia for their sensible and ambitious efforts at a resolution of the Syrian chemical weapon use crisis, one cannot but reflect that when peace seemeth most likely, the prospect of violent escalation looms most. The leadership of the two countries have shown exceptional foresight and pragmatism, in the present process, more particularly so with the US leader who risked domestic popularity and respect but eventually ended up charting a path that has allowed the world a fresh vista at peace in the face of a most atrocious escalation of the Syrian crisis, at minimal cost and wastage of lives.

I have always opined that though despotic in his reign, Syrian President al-Assad may not have, in the face of increasing gains against rebel forces in the weeks preceding the chemical weapon use, ordered his forces to use chemical weapons. The agreement currently brokered by the US and Russia fails to address the likely other sources from whence the chemical weapons attack could have emanated nor does it make any efforts to address a cessation to the Syrian civil war which has killed over 100,000 people and rendered several million Syrians either internally displaced or  refugees in neighbouring countries.

The crime committed by the use of chemical weapons has unfortunately, in the heat of the passion generated by the images of hundreds writhing in pains as they died slow and painful chemical weapon induced deaths, not been adequately investigated. One basic rule in investigating crimes and ascertaining culprits thereof, is to ascertain who would have the greatest interest in the proceeds of the crime, had opportunity and resources to execute same. You then begin to look up each option and eliminate based on evidence available.

In addition to fringe and terrorist elements amongst Syrian rebel forces, other international players hell-bent on seeing the demise of the al-Assad dynasty in Syria also constitute likely suspects who were not investigated in the rush to vilify a valian. It may be in the best interest of the world to extend the search for who spearheaded the use of chemical weapons to amongst others, foreign governments with links to some rebel groups who would have given anything to see the demise of al-Asssad.  Some of these countries include: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its appendages in the Middle East, and the Republic of Egypt under the current military dictators.

I am particularly intrigued by the prospect of further investigating the Egyptian angle to the crisis. In my opinion, the present authorities in Egypt are looking increasingly suspect. The shift of international attention to Syria since the 21^st August chemical weapon attack has allowed General Sisi and his gang in Egypt to get away with all manners of atrocities in their merciless crackdown on opposition to their rule. Did the Egyptian rulers benefit from and have opportunity to execute or order the execution of the Syrian chemical weapon attack? Could they have done it or sponsored or supported it? Was it the Saudi’s? Was it any of the al-Qeada linked terrorists embedded with the rebels? Was al-Assad devilish and dumb enough to have done it? Whodunit?

The answer seems as distant now as on the day the attacks were launched. The earlier concrete responses are arrived at and appropriate international sanctions bequeathed on the perpetrators, the earlier the current peace brokered will have a chance of real success.

With the tentative agreement worked out between the US and Russia  it will not be totally out of character for the instigators of the original attack to carry out a more extensive and deadly chemical weapon attack - this would automatically rubbish the present feeling of amity and peace over the Syrian crisis and bring us all back to the precarious situation experienced in the days after August 21^st .

Let's brace for the worst and hope for the best.

Picture: Meeting between Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and Egypt’s interim President Adli Mansour, in Cairo, soon after the attacks on September 1, 2013. © REUTERS

Redreaming the Dream.

by Eze Eluchie

When Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in an op-ed in the New York Times, wrote that the United States of America and its peoples were not exceptional, he stated an untruth.

The United States of America and its peoples are quite exceptional!

From its origins founded on the desire for freedom and egalitarian precepts  through its formative years when it had to grapple and even war with itself on fundamentals of the equality of its peoples to its role in the two World Wars where its interventions served to preserve the sanctity of our humanity and the various contributions of its brains towards human development in fields of science, arts, sports and whatsoever, the US has, is and will probably continue to be exceptional.

In times of disasters and crisis in other climes, again the US has always proved exceptional in its empathy, contribution of relief materials and personnel where required and funds towards ameliorating the plight of others in territories far removed from theirs.

Itself, founded by immigrants and now comprised of peoples from virtually every ethnicity and nationality across planet earth, the US has at several times opened its doors to the persecuted and those whose home countries were engulfed in crisis: in such relocation's  often times offering start-up opportunities to peoples of diverse nationalities, creeds and color, magnanimous gestures which cost its tax payers dearly, monies that could in other countries have been used for the citizens. A land of opportunities where immigrants can aspire to all but the highest office in the land and in which a man can dream his way to becoming a national icon. 

When other countries choose to use their strength to rule and colonize others by various dubious tactics ranging from ‘divide-and-rule’ to 'assimilation', faced with similar opportunities, the US aided countries they had totally vanquished in times of war to get back on their feet and even become rivals (ask Germans and Japanese folks about this). 

In its exceptional interventions in other countries, did the US have motives that will eventually benefit it and its peoples? Sure, and there definitely is nothing wrong with that. The fact  remains that such deeds served to alleviate human sufferings when no other country bothered to render assistance.

Obviously, the US is no paradise, if it were; it would have been populated by Angels – but no, we have mortals in charge who come with their own nuances and  it has its own problems and vices, amongst which includes its treatment of its African American population and other racial minorities, the refusal of its President and political establishment to hearken to the call for a Marshall Plan for Africa in line with what was extended to Germany/Europe and Japan at the end of World War II (http://ezeluchie.blogspot.com/2013/04/marshall-plan-for-africa.html) and the moral crisis it is facing as a result of over liberalization. Part of its exceptional nature is that these vices are well recognized, openly debated and efforts continually being made to address and tackle them - very much unlike what happens in other climes. Certainly the US is exceptional.

Without doubt, the missteps (yes indeed, the US government has mishandled its reaction to some conflicts in the Middle East) the US has thus far made with regards to the crisis in Syria which prompted Mr. Putin’s misstatements also take bearing from the exceptional nature of the US – to reach out and ensure security in a region where some of the entities seem irrevocably geared towards extreme fanaticism and a perpetual desire to exterminate one of their neighbors, the Jews, a people who are equally entitled to a homeland and a right of existence.

In the absence of a US in the present world order, which country appears close to replicating its role? Britain or France? God forbid! We would all be colonized all over again. China? Russia? The suggested alternatives are nightmarish. Do I wish I could have mentioned an African alternative? Nigeria? South Africa? Certainly! But this is a serious piece, not fiction.

So President Vladimir Putin, truth be told, the United States of America and its peoples are exceptional!

Picture: The United States: