Dons EzeOVER CONCENTRATION OF POWER CAN LEAD TO DICTATORSHIP – FAROUNBI
Former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Dr Yemi Farounbi, in this interview with ROTIMI AGBOLUAJE, spoke on how the Supreme Court contradicted itself on local government autonomy, and solutions to the food crisis that led to widespread protest in Nigeria. What do you have to say on the hardship protests?Nigerians have the right to complain because this is a democracy – the government of the people, by the people and for the people. And in his June 12 speech, the President quoted Franklin Roosevelt as saying that the best form of government is democracy. But he conveniently forgot that Roosevelt also said four things that democracy must give you are: ‘freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.’ When you have terrorists, bandits and other insecurity, you have no freedom from fear. So, people have the right to say they are not happy, because Tinubu himself was the father of protests as Senator Shehu Sani said. He participated in many protests against governments in the past. He was part of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Save Nigeria; Occupy Nigeria. He was part of the protest against Jonathan’s government over the removal of subsidy. Recently, there was a demonstration in the UK, and Kenya. I was an ambassador in the Philippines. I know what they call Mass Action of the people even under a dictatorship government. You cannot prevent people from expressing their anger. When you prevent them, they get bottled up. And it gets bottled up; it is like boiled water that is bottled up. Its explosion is not always the best. Obviously, there is hardship. Let’s use the data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the bureau, inflation has grown to 33.5 per cent generally and when it comes to food products, it has gone to 44 per cent. We can see that in the market. The prices of food have gone beyond the capacity of an average man to buy. Succinctly put, there is hardship, there is hunger and there is anger. Is there a way out of the situation?There can be. In his inaugural speech, President Bola Tinubu identified agriculture as an area he would look at. He promised that there would be agricultural hubs and commodity boards. He promised that food would be affordable and accessible. None of those has surfaced. Two or three months after his inauguration, he promised that he was going to acquire 150,000 hectares of land to plant corn. We haven’t seen that in the market. So, he’s been tall in promises, but not in action. That’s why there is hunger. The truth of the matter is the government in Nigeria gets it wrong. They think the solution to hunger is for everybody to go to farms. That is not it. In Europe and America, only seven per cent of the population farms and they feed the whole population. In South Africa, only 20 per cent of the population farms and they feed the whole population. We probably have over 60 per cent of our population in farms, yet we are unable to feed ourselves. There are things you need to be able to provide adequate food for the people. What we need to do is to reduce the number of farmers and increase hectares, provide adequate fertilisation that suits each region and belt. The third is irrigation to complement the rainfalls especially during the dry season. If your farm is so small you cannot build a dam for it. In the North, they invested a lot of federal money from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in building dams. These are the things we must do. The fourth is to increase the yields per hectares. Those are the things we need to…
MIXED REACTIONS AS LOCAL GOVT AUTONOMY SET TO TAKE EFFECT
Mrs. Stella Odo is critically ill. Mrs. Odo, a widow and local government pensioner in Nsukka local government has been ill for over three months now. She retired from active service in November 2022 as a primary school teacher having reached the position of Head Teacher and retirement age of 60 years. She retired grade level 16. Since her retirement, she just started receiving pension in November 2023 because of backlog of unpaid pension arrears of her predecessors. When our reporter spoke with her on phone, she narrated that ” the state government is currently owing local government pension two years arrears of pension. We just received July 2022 pension last month and remember we are now in August 2024.” Narrating further, Mrs. Odo told WITHIN NIGERIA that ” we are expecting August 2022 pension. And even at that, they don’t pay it every month. They may not pay this August pension until sometime like October. So, that is the situation in which we have found ourselves as local government pensioners.” However, expressing her optimism, Mrs. Odo said that ” I heard that local government areas in Nigeria are now autonomous. So, by God’s grace, very soon their monthly allocation from Federation Account will be coming directly into their respectively account instead of state joint account. So, with such development, we will hope that they will clear all the backlog of pension arrears, pay us our elusive gratuity and continue to pay our pension promptly.” Asked how she has been surviving with nonpayment of pension by the state government, Odo told our reporter that, ” I usually organized private lessons when I was healthy. I also taught in private school when I was physically sound. But now that I am sick, only God knows how I manage to survive, couple with high cost of drugs which I use to take to maintain my health.” Another local government retiree, Mr. James Onochie from Udenu local government also told our reporter that “presently we are hoping that the local government autonomy will help us recover our seemingly lost arrears of pension from the Enugu state government.” Narrating further, Mr. Onochie told WITHIN NIGERIA that ” I retired in 2020 as a Director in the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board, ENSUBEB which controls all the public primary schools in the state. The state government is currently owing me two years of pension arrears. Also, the state government has not paid me my gratuity till now. So, our hope is in the local government to clear all these arrears when they become truly autonomous as recently pronounced by the Supreme Court in Nigeria.” Mr. Onochie regretted that his counterpart in Post Primary School Management Board, PPSMB, a board that oversees the activities of public secondary schools in the state are not owed even a dime as far pension is concerned. “Though my counterpart in secondary schools have not received their gratuity, they are not owed any arrears of pension. They are paid as at when due. I have vowed that none of children and grandchildren will ever be a local government staff in this country. Let me be the last to bear this man’s inhumanity to man.” By and large, some staff of local government interviewed in the state conversely expressed their pessimism over the ability of local government to pay their salaries promptly should the autonomy takes its full effect. At Ogbede, the headquarters of Igbo-Etiti local government area of Enugu state, one of the staff who spoke to our reporter under the condition of anonymity stated that one of his greatest fear is the prompt payment of monthly salary. ” I am particularly concerned that these local government chairmen may become too powerful and start meddling with the finances…
IT’S NOT THE BUSINESS OF IGBO IF TINUBU GOVERNS WELL OR NOT – UWAZURIKE
Former President of an Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, in this interview, says it has become an official policy to marginalise the Igbo in Nigeria. Tínubu simply followed suit. Excerpts: What was the reasoning behind the decision for Ndigbo not to participate in the #EndBadGovernance protest, despite the widespread discontent with the current state of governance in Nigeria? Well, let me give you a straightforward answer; Ndigbo are not really part of this government, and this neglect started from former President Muhammadu Buhari. And I remember saying that it does not matter where we are, but Ndigbo would progress more and more. And that has happened. When Tínubu came, he continued from the nepotism of Buhari. For example, in the latest appointments the President just made, seven crucial appointments, not a single person from South South/South East made the list. So Igbo are feeling disenchanted and untouched by this government and as far as they know, whether the government is doing well or not, it is not their business. To put it bluntly, it is the business of the North-West and South-West. How many Igbo are in the Federal Executive Council? We have five ministers from the South-East but only one has a real ministry. The others are what I call attachments. The same applies to the president’s advisers and so on. So, isolating the Igbo from the government is a state policy. After all, they have a special adviser in charge of disinformation of Ndigbo in this country. He is there, enjoying all the accoutrements of office. He was appointed for that purpose. Bayo Onanuga is there dishing out disinformation, dishing out misinformation unchecked and you want Igbo to come and stand and carry placards. For what? For who? For a man who will never, never look in the direction of Ndigbo? So, the Igbo have every right to be disenchanted. Nnamdi Kanu is there and we have made requests to release him but the answers have not been positive. I was part of a delegation that visited Buhari and the man was shocked at the situation in Ala Igbo. Under Tínubu, the situation has not improved. We have military or police checkpoints every one-quarter of a kilometre from Tuesday to Sunday. However, on Monday, when we have criminal parading everywhere, those security men also withdraw. We have more security agents than criminals but the security men do not do anything, so the Igbo feel abandoned but we shall survive. Again, those who argued that participating in the protests would have been an avenue to massacre innocent Igbo youths were right. You see, they tried to rope Peter Obi into what he knows nothing about. The leaders of the protests were well-known and were speaking on TV, so they were visible. No Igbo person was among them. Why then accuse Ndigbo? So we knew it was a trap to rope in Peter Obi. How do you respond to critics who argue that the decision not to participate in the protest was a missed opportunity for Ndigbo to join forces with other Nigerians in demanding better governance and holding leaders accountable? Missed opportunity for what? For a system that’s already skewed against Ndigbo? For an organised system designed to marginalize us? Those who voted for Tínubu, let them go ahead and enjoy the fruits of their victory. Remember that we had an election last year and up until now people are wondering whether those results reflected the actual voting. And when Obi and Atiku went to court, and INEC refused to release the results, what did the court do? Because Peter Obi and Atiku paid for the certified true copy but Obi never got his own up till today. When…
NO PRESIDENT MAKES LAWS THAT WILL LEAD TO HIS DOWNFALL, EXCEPT JONATHAN – SHEHU SANI
NO PRESIDENT MAKES REFORMS THAT WILL LEAD TO HIS DOWNFALL, EXCEPT JONATHAN – SHEHU SANI Former federal lawmaker and activist, Shehu Sani, has said that no politician has ever made electoral reforms that led to their downfall apart from former President Goodluck Jonathan. Sani spoke in Abuja on Thursday as one of the discussants at the first Roundtable of Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, with the theme, the Role of the Judiciary in Nigeria’s Democratic Sustainability.’ The former Senator, who represented Kaduna central senatorial district in the 8th assembly, said there is no integrity among politicians. “Well, I had the privilege of being in the civil society and I’ve been in politics. And if you mix these two experiences you’ll be able to know the two sides and also to be able to understand where the issues are,” he said. “As activists, our thinking fundamentally differs from politicians. I’m still trying to find out if there’s any electoral reform Nigerian politicians cannot reconvent. “We talk about the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, why are the political parties not the last hope of the common man, why is INEC not the last hope of the common man, why is the Presidency, the military, Senate and House of Reps not the last hope of the common man? “We want a perfect judiciary in an imperfect system. In the field of activism, we’ve two sets of ideas – this is wrong and this is right – politicians don’t have that. “We expect more from our judiciary. No president will make electoral reform that would lead to his downfall in office, only Jonathan. “Only Jonathan appointed a Chairman of INEC he never knew and never met. Only Jonathan can introduce a data capturing machine and ended up being captured,” he said.
HUNGER PROTEST: WE’RE COMING BACK – TIB VOWS
HUNGER PROTEST: WE’RE COMING BACK – TIB VOWS The Take It Back Movement (TIB), one of the organizers of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest has vowed to return to the streets for another round of protest if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fails to address their concerns. The group said this on Saturday, as the hunger protest entered its 10th day. In a video shared on X by the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, the mobiliser of Take It Back Movement, Abiodun Sanusi, said that it had become clear to them that the President was not ready to yield to the demands of the protesters. He said, “Today is August 10, 2024. Earlier on, we declared a 10 Days of Rage to end bad governance in Nigeria. However, it is now open to everyone that President Bola Tinubu is not ready to listen to the demands of Nigerians, neither does he want to accede to these demands. “Today is the final day of the 10 Days of Rage. However, while we will be leaving the streets today, we are promising the Nigerian government and President Tinubu that we are coming back until he accedes to our demands. “We will come back to the streets, and this time, we will be more than this. This time, we will be declaring a 10-million people march across the 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT.” On August 1, Nigerians, under several groups, had stormed the streets to call the attention of the government to the hunger and economic hardship in the country. The protesters said that the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration have not been beneficial to the masses.
WHY IGBO SHUNNED NATIONWIDE HUNGER PROTEST
WHY IGBO SHUNNED NATIONWIDE HUNGER PROTEST It is no longer news that Igbo, especially in the five Southeast states, did not participate in the End Bad Governance protest that started in other parts of the country on August 1. However, why the Igbo shunned the protest and the implications for the country are raising issues in the polity. Across other parts of the country, angry protesters stormed the streets and for more than five days vented their spleen against what they described as bad Governance, hunger and hardship in the country. The protest became riotous in the North as hoodlums looted shops, and business centres among others. Many states declared curfews to contain the mayhem. But there was pin-drop silence in the South-East leading many to ask if the zone and Igbo are insulated from the prevailing economic downturn in the country. Speaking on the issue, Chief Peter Ameh, former Presidential candidate and national secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, said the “absence of equity, justice and fairness is the reason for the political apathy by Igbo in the Nigerian project.” According to him, “constant and unjust scapegoating of the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria is the major reason why Igbo abstained from the nationwide protests.” He continued: “Failure to implement General Yakubu Gowon’s Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Rehabilitation programme is a catalyst for growing lack of commitment by all persons of Igbo extraction within and outside Nigeria in many programmes of the government.” Chief Ameh also attributed Igbo boycott of the protest to “marginalisation of Igbo in strategic economic and administrative positions under the APC governments, and acts of tribal exclusion mixed with political bigotry.” He continued: “The main reason why the entire Southeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria was unanimous in their decision not to participate in the ongoing #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest across the country is primarily as a result of the easy targeting of lives and property of Igbo whenever there is an uprising or protests in Nigeria. “Being the only tribe in Nigeria that could be found and visibly seen in the remotest parts of the country, Igbo are always at the receiving end of the consequences of any activity carried out either by the Nigerian government or the public.
WE’RE LEAVING STREETS TODAY BUT WILL RETURN STRONGER UNTIL TINUBU LISTEN – ABUJA PROTESTERS
WE’RE LEAVING STREETS TODAY BUT WILL RETURN STRONGER UNTIL TINUBU LISTENS – ABUJA PROTESTERS Protesters thronged the Lokogoma expressway in Abuja on Saturday morning to cap the 10-day protests organised by the Take It Back movement. They marched to Galadimawa and ended the parade at Apo, chanting, “We are hungry.” Members of the Take It Back movement, which declared 10 Days of Rage nationwide protests against economic hardship in Nigeria, criticised President Bola Tinubu’s unwillingness to accede to the demands of the masses. The protesters asked that fuel subsidy be reversed and electricity tariffs be lowered, among other demands. Abiodun Sanusi, an activist at the protest ground, said it had become glaring that Mr Tinubu was not ready to “listen to the demands” of the people despite occupying the streets over the last 10 days. He said the protesters were not deterred by the president’s inaction and that they would temporarily halt the demonstrations. Mr Sanusi said protesters will return to the streets in a 10-million-people march should the president continue to disregard the demands of the people. “Earlier on, we declared a 10-day of rage to end bad governance in Nigeria. However, it is now open to everyone that President Bola Tinubu is not ready to listen to the demands of Nigerians,” Mr Sanusi said in Apo, Abuja on Saturday. “Today is the final day of the 10 days of rage but we are promising the Nigerian government and President Tinubu that we are coming back until he accedes to our demands,” Mr Sanusi stressed. “We will come back to the streets and this time, we will be more than this. This time we will be declaring a 10 million people march across 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT,” he added. Demonstrators carried placards with differing inscriptions like “Bring back corruption-free fuel subsidy,” “Rent must be monthly,” “Nigerians are tired of bad leaders,” and so on. Security agents deployed lethal force to quell the 10-day demonstrations firing live bullets at journalists and protesters in Abuja, Kaduna and other states. The Nigerian Army, on Tuesday, admitted to killing a teenage boy, Ismail Mohammed, by mistake during the protest in Samaru town in Zaria.
HUNGER PROTEST TO RESUME OCTOBER 1 – ORGANIZERS
HUNGER PROTEST RESUMES OCTOBER 1 – ORGANIZERS Organizers of the nationwide hunger protests have announced that the demonstrations will resume on October 1. Nationwide hunger protests were held from August 1st to 10th over the increased cost of living in the country. Omoyele Sowore, the Action Alliance Congress (AAC) presidential candidate and a key organizer, made the announcement in an interview on News Central TV. He revealed that ongoing meetings between organizers have been focused on strategizing the next phase of the protests. “This protest will resume at the beginning of October and might even start earlier depending on situational variables.” he said The organizers are demanding a reversal of fuel subsidies, an increase in the minimum wage to N250,000, the release of Nnamdi Kanu, and the adoption of a new constitution. Despite President Bola Tinubu’s appeal to end the protests, the organizers have vowed to continue, dismissing his speech as unconvincing. “This protest will resume at the beginning of October and might even start earlier depending on situational variables.” he emphatically stated.
BREAKING: NIGERIANS BEGIN ONE-MILLION-MAN MARCH IN ABUJA ON DAY 10 OF #ENDBADGOVERNANCE PROTEST
BREAKING: NIGERIANS BEGIN ONE-MILLION-MAN MARCH IN ABUJA ON DAY 10 OF #ENDBADGOVERNANCE PROTEST Nigerians on Saturday hit the roads in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, for a one-million man march marking the 10th day of the nationwide protest against hunger, hardship and bad governance under President Bola Tinubu. Protesting Nigerians carried banners and placards in photographs some of which read, “End Bad Governance in Nigeria,” “Nigerians are tired of bad leaders.” Angry Nigerians have embarked on a 10-day nationwide peaceful hunger and hardship protest tagged #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria to express the pains they have been subjected to by the economic policies of President Tinubu. The peaceful protest turned violent in the Nigeria’s capital since it started as police and other security agents clamped down on the protesters and journalists and other media professionals covering the protest. Hundreds of protesters who gathered at the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja on the third day of the #Endbadgovernance protest were arrested by the Nigerian police. The protesters and journalists had assembled calmly before the police violently disrupted them with teargas canisters on Saturday morning. Human rights activist and convener of #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, had also confirmed the violent attack on the protesters by the Nigerian police, including the killing of a teenage boy at the Kubwa area of the federal capital city. The protesters had however, defied all odds marching to the Eagles Square on day 1 of the protests, after some protesters who had gone to the Eagle Square were attacked by Police who fired tear gas. The #Endbadgovernance protests seek an end to inflation, food inflation and rising cost of living and has continued up till day 3 of the protest. Although the government has said the protest is sponsored, it has been unable to substantiate its claims.
JUDICIARY DESTROYED 2023 ELECTIONS – SAM AMADI
JUDICIARY DESTROYED 2023 ELECTIONS – SAM AMADI The Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, Sam Amadi, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the judiciary of destroying the 2023 general election in Nigeria. Amadi, also a former Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, decried the political strategy in Nigeria, which he said is all about bribing INEC, judiciary, and the security. In a trending video the ex-NERC boss averred that when an agency created under the law, with enabling act, make rules, those rules become law. Amadi stressed that such an agency can only unmake it through rule making process, if not it will be bound to obey it. “Let me say this, and I’m going to be very clear. In every country, election is one of the strategies. So in US today you see the policy people thinking around, mapping constituencies. “In Nigeria as well, election is one of the strategies. And the strategy in Nigeria is very simple: bribe INEC, bribe the judiciary, and come and dear the security and you are done. “The people that destroyed 2023 election is INEC and judiciary. The rules were clear. The electoral act isn’t perfect but it is very clear. “I’m surprised that any judge who understands administrative law, which I have taught in the university for many years, which I studied under the best in world, would argue that an internal regulation built on law and an act, a regulation directing that you will do an ‘X’ you can choose to do ‘Y’, when there’s legitimate expectation and detrimental reliance. INEC was totally wrong. And the courts – Supreme Court downwards got it wrong. “When an agency created under the law with enabling act, and the constitution says you can make rules, those rules are law. They can unmake it through rule making process. If they don’t, they are bound to obey it. “Results should have been transmitted electronically. I am ashamed. I have a PhD in law. I can stand anywhere in the world to dispute with the brightest. I am ashamed that the court affirmed that INEC could just walk away from the law,” he said.