Nigerian Street Kings

I went to visit a friend the other day. My friend is a civil servant/businessman/politician and considers himself a political protege of Olusegun Obasanjo. In the course of our discussion, he told me that he fully supports OBJ's political approach of "use them and dump them". Then he dropped this bombshell: he claims Obasanjo is the unseen hand behind Nuhu Ribadu's travails.

Like John Githongo of Kenya (google him if you please), it would seem OBJ felt that Ribadu may have uncovered information on OBJ that he could only use after Obasanjo left power. When I asked how sure he or even OBJ could be that Ribadu had any such information in his possession, he stated that whether he had the info or not, OBJ could not afford to leave him in so powerful a position. Hence the need to "secure the flanks".

Ironically, it would appear that Ribadu is himself unaware of the situation as he considers OBJ his godfather. According to my friend, Ribadu was in touch with OBJ every step of the way during his demotion, prevention from graduation and eventual sack and legal travails. Apparently, while OBJ played the role of comforting patron with assurances that he would "take care of the matter", he would unleash another blow upon Ribadu's image and person.

If this tale is true, then perhaps, like Keanu Reeves' character in the movie Street Kings, Ribadu needs to wake up to his expendability and take out his mentor. ASAP. I'm not advocating that Ribadu should grab a gun and blow OBJ away while taking a hammer to the walls of Otta farm (even though that would be something!). Perhaps he can learn a bit from John Githongo, his Kenyan counterpart.

This is an excerpt from an interesting Vanguard Online article titled: Fighting Corruption in Africa - When the hunters become the hunted.
Here's the link: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/01/11/fighting-corruption-in-africa-when-hunters-become-the-hunted/

John Githongo, Anti-corruption warrior

I will begin with a flashback to my first encounter with John Githongo at the Third International Conference on Anti-corruption held in Lima, Peru in 1997. His brilliant exposé on the problem of corruption in Kenya made him the star performer at the conference.

The illustrative cases in his presentation that involved many of Kenya’s high and mighty wowed the entire audience. When the offer of political asylum was raised informally with him by some participants who feared he might risk incarceration back home, he would have none of it. He returned to Kenya and, two years later, he became the head of Kenya’s branch of Transparency International (K-TI). Under his watch, K-TI was widely acknowledged as the most active and effective TI branch in Africa.

During my stint as a World Bank field staff in Kenya (1998-2000), I learnt a lot from John about Kenyan politics and society during our numerous “tea sessions” held in selected Nairobi hotels. Predictably, the problem of corruption in Kenya featured prominently in almost all our conversations.

Significantly, the last time I discussed the subject with him was in the State House in November 2003, some months after he had assumed office as the Permanent Secretary in Charge of Governance and Ethics (a.k.a anti-corruption czar) in the newly-installed Kibaki administration. John and I enjoyed a good laugh about the “progress” from conversations in hotels to a conversation in the State House.

In It’s Our Turn to Eat, Ms Wrong tells the story of John Githongo’s experience as an anti-corruption czar between 2003 and 2005. Following his appointment, Githongo wasted no time in setting in motion the probe of the Goldenberg scam of the early 1990s – fake exports of gold and diamonds, estimated at between $600 million and $4billion under president Moi’s watch.

The probe was still on-going when Githongo obtained strong evidence about the Anglo leasing procurement scam (18 phantom military and security-related contracts) in the amount of about $750 million that involved top officials of the newly-installed Kibaki administration. (Some of the Anglo leasing contracts were inherited from the Moi administration – a case of change in dramatis personae but continuity in the “State House’s system of authorised looting”).

When Githongo conclusively traced the Anglo leasing “eating” to the President’s doorsteps, he decided to flee the country in February 2005, after barely two years on the job: “Ultimately, it became clear.
I was investigating the President” (p. 220). Woven around the informed and balanced biography of Githongo that is at the centre of the book is the sordid story of the system of corruption in post-independence Kenya that the author has baptized “Our Turn to Eat” culture: from the turn of the Kikuyus in the immediate post-independence years (the Kenyatta presidency, 1963-1978) to the turn of the Kalenjins (Moi presidency, 1978-2002) and back to the Kikuyus again (2003 to date). This poisonous conflation of ethnicity and corruption has the added ugly dimension of virtual exclusion – no thought for the other 41-odd other ethnic groups.

The portrait of Githongo as a whistle-blower is crafted in fascinating details: his taping of conversations with his colleagues, his independent network of sleuths (substitute for the corrupt official intelligence service), the diaries of his findings and reflections, and above all, the “upstander” with a single-minded commitment to exposing corruption, even at the cost of hardships to his family and real threats to his own life.

And “atypically”, he was a believer in Kenya, not in “Gikuyu Inc” (that is, dominance by his own Kikuyu ethnic group). In exile in Oxford, the whistleblower produced a comprehensive dossier on Anglo Leasing that he released to Kenya’s most widely-read daily newspaper, Nation. He also got a succinct version of the dossier posted on the website of the British Broadcasting Corporation in early 2006

Wrong affirms a linkage between Kenya’s post-election violence of December 2007/January 2008 and “Our Turn to Eat” culture. The obvious implication is that Kenya is unlikely to make real progress towards good governance as long as systemic corruption persists. It would appear that the whistleblower and his biographer share this viewpoint: Githongo returned to Kenya in February 2009 and has resolved to seek elective office – to continue the fight against corruption from another

I'd like to read your thoughts y'all.

National Awards and Political Statements

Prof Soyinka and Gani Fawehinmi are two of my favorite Nigerian Icons. 

For decades now they have stood against social injustice, criminal governance and blah blah blah (causes too numerous to mention). 

I have found that if anything happens that I don't like, instead of rioting I can rest assured that our displeasure will be more eloquently expressed by one or both of these two gentlemen. They have fought for us - the Nigerian people.

The fight has not been without personal cost however. 

Chief Fawehinmi has been passed over so many times for the coveted Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title that you would think someone somewhere had sworn a blood oath that he would never get it. And Prof Soyinka had previously made it known that the day you see him take a national award is the day a black man rules the world (or something to that effect I think). 

Wait a minute, a blackman is ruling the... oh never mind.

So I'm chilling in my house yesterday when the news filters through that Gani was awarded a national order... again. And expectedly, Gani rejected it... again. 

Similarly, it is well known that on several occasions Prof Soyinka has rejected various attempts by gvernment to bestow awards on him. Preferring instead the esteem of his peers, the public and his self. 

So it was with amazement that I watched his son receive an award on his behalf. I began to wonder if Soyinka perhaps was actually impressed with the personal integrity of Yar'Adua. I began to think maybe Yar'Adua was not such a bad fellow after all. 

Then the other shoe dropped. He accepted the award plaque but donated the award to the Supreme Court in the hope that it would restore the good sense that was missing in their recent ruling that ratified the 2007 elections. 

I doubled up over laughing. Yes O! I knew Prof no fit fall my hand.

Here we go again!

Yesterday President Yar'Adua swore in his new ministers. 

Not to sound negative or anything but does anyone seriously expect anything better from this crew than what we've had since 2007?

Here's the old:

Justice - Chief Mike Aondoakaa

Agric and Water Resources - Dr. S. Abba Ruma

Foreign Affairs - Chief Ojo Maduekwe

Interior - Gen. Godwin Abbe (rtd)

Finance - Remi Babalola

the redeployed:

Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke - Transportation to Mines and Steel Development

Dr. Shamsudeen Usman - Finance to National Planning

John Odey - Environment

Chief Adetokunbo Kayode - Labour

Dr. Hassan Lawal - Works and Housing

Mrs. Grace Ekpiwhre - Science & Tech to Works and Housing

the new:

Dr. Shettima Mustapha - Defence

Prof. Dora Akunyili - Information and Communications

Senator Adamu Aliero - Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin - Health 

the recycled and recycled and recycled and you never tire?:

Dr. Rilwanu Lukman - Petroleum

Now what do we have here? 

On the surface, I'd say we have a former governor of a dry state handling the FCT, a pharmacist handling our national PR, an agriculturalist is to handle national defence and an eminently qualified but ooollllllldd man to run petroleum. 

To clarify, I have nothing against these people. I actually have a ton of respect for some of them. I just hate this feeling of deja vu because square pegs seem to be placed in round holes.

So now I've got to hope that Prof Akunyili impresses like she did at NAFDAC. And good God Rilwan Lukman is back. The man must have great grandkids in school by now. Yeesh! 

Well, like I said yesterday, I hope he at least reduces our pump prices for fuel.

Of course Oshiomhole won!

Ask just about any Nigerian you can find on any street anywhere on this earth who is the more popular politician - Adams Oshiomhole or Prof Osunbor and the answer will be Oshiomhole. In fact, I'll bet you good Nigerian money that not a few will wonder just who exactly Prof Osunbor is.

Everybody knows Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. The man has fought for better wages for Nigerians, he has fought for civil liberties for Nigerians and now, finally, he has succesfully fought for political office.

He has been on tv more times as a regular Nigerian than Osunbor has been as a governor (not counting the pandering state-sponsored/influenced shows, documentaries and reports aired in Edo state since Osunbor came into power). Oshiomhole is better known or more notorious depending on whether he has stepped on your toes.

A few minutes ago, he was declared winner of the 2007 gubernatorial elections in his home state of Edo after an unneccessarily long and drawn out elections appeal process. In the minds of most right -thinking people, there could have only been one outcome from the Appeals Courts - an elected Governor Oshiomhole.

Why?

No long gist there... because it was simply impossible for him to have lost a clean election in Edo state to a comparative unknown like Prof. Osunbor. Argue all you want, espouse high-minded theories about the nature of elections and what-not but the fact of the matter is that elections are essentially popularity contests.

I should know, I've lost one or two.

But this is not about me, or the fact that this blog is the first to comment on Oshiomhole's victory. It is about a deserved win and the triumph of truth over lies.

My congratulations go out to Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his supporters. I only hope he can successfully govern the way he has always called on others to do.

Happy Birthday Yanki

This is a belated post.

As most of my fellow citizens of blogville know, it's the fourth of July tomorrow - America's Independence day. The most famous democracy in the world is celebrating and the whole world will participate one way or the other.

It'll be all over the internet, the international news networks and the satellite TV shows. And as a lover of democracy, I'm happy. But as a guy who now lives my own country's capital, where I can observe firsthand the mood of my countrymen, I'm sad. We are so negative and cynical. I ask myself again and again how we became so cynical a people.

I've found that some of the most cynical Nigerians seem to be in Abuja. They'll tell you who did what, stole what slept with who to get what and so on and so forth. And instead of coming together to work for change in our country, these same negative people seem satisfied to live lives resigned to the very problems they see.

People in Abuja regularly interact in churches, mosques, clubs, bars, movie theatres, hotel lobbies, and car parks and in almost all these places I've found that it seems to be a thing of pride to know the negative inside story. Everybody wants to tell you what is really going on at the senate or at the presidency or even in less hallowed government chambers.

I was commenting to my cousin about the NTA DG prior to Ben Bruce who stated to my hearing that it would be impossible for NTA to start 24hr broadcasting. His reason? Their equipment could barely keep them on air as it were and to go 24hrs would finally kill them. Yet, barely a year later NTA was giving us 24hr service. Thanks to Ben Bruce.

Another kinsman in the room immediately let me know that the only reason Bruce was able to achieve that was because his appointment was at the behest of the late Stella Obasanjo who wanted someone who would give her the sort of personal coverage she wanted. According to my cynic, NTA had never before or since received the sort of allocations it did under Obasanjo.

I tried to counter that even with money, one still needed vision and was about to point to Silverbird Cinemas as proof of the triumph of vision over impossible odds. But I was cut off as my cynic let me know that those ideas had been on the table for years but Bruce merely reaped the benefits of his contacts. He also implied that Bruce made money during his tenure and pointed to the Galleria as proof.

I was sickened. Both by his odious cynicism and by the possibility that he was right (hey, I'm not naïve). But still, must we continue to seek out the bad in every good thing? I mean c'mon… what you seek you will usually find. And I'm tired of finding a corrupt tale in every good deed.

Remember the way DSTV bestrode our DTH satellite TV scene like a colossus? Remember the way they dealt with any and all challengers till the last Minister of Information, Frank Nweke Jr, almost single-handedly ensured that DSTV could not claim sole broadcast rights to high demand foreign channels in Nigeria? Remember how that opened the door for HiTV to become the first real challenger to DSTV in almost two decades?

I was so happy when that happened and Nweke Jr was my main man. I actually look forward to meeting him to tell him so. Well, a new acquaintance I made two days after I arrived in Abuja revealed to me that Nweke Jr is a major shareholder in HiTV. The news was one more unwanted stone in my rice if you know what I mean. Now I'm wondering – was he a shareholder before or after campaigning so astutely to bring DSTV's reign to an end? I wonder if he's conscientious enough to admit to the negatives in that achievement. Either way, he and Toyin Subair are two people I'd like to take to lunch someday.

Speaking of lunch, I was at Chicken Republic with a friend after church this past Sunday and he complained about how we Nigerians just love huge profits in the short run even if it meant fewer people could buy things. His example was a guy importing cars at about 800,000 only to resell at 2million. He felt that was outrageous. I agreed. Then I asked him about a house he purchased and remodeled at a cost of 30million and had just offered to a buyer the week before at 90million.

He smiled and admitted he was just as bad. At least he was conscientious enough to admit that he was a part of the problem. I wish we would all be that way. I wish more people would seek to change themselves first. I wonder how many of my fellow bloggers would be proud of the source of the money that sent them abroad to school. I wonder how many people reading this would start standing up to parents, uncles and aunties who are obviously living on money they haven't earned. It's for all our sakes including that uncle's.

I was at a house in Asokoro belonging to a former minister of finance and I could not help feeling a rising sense of outrage at the obvious wealth. Every single furniture and fitting in the place was imported; probably with my money if you believe the rumors. I took photos to show my wife. It was a lovely home. Don't get me wrong – I don't begrudge people the right to live well. But we have heard the stories and people have eyes. You can't suddenly start spending money and not become a target. And the way people gathered across the street to watch this minister's family move in made me realize how unsafe they truly were.

May these grenade throwing kidnappers and fighters in the south-south not ever realize how easy it would be to hit the real thieves at home in Abuja. Some of us bloggers could become collateral damage. I'm tired of being negative. I want to see change. I will keep blogging for change, talking for change and living the change I advocate. I hope maybe in my own way I can encourage others to do the same.

I'm not alone in this. We all want to be truly happy for our nation on it's next birthday. We want to stop hearing the noise of generators. We want to be able to rent or buy a house at reasonable prices. We want to not overpay for a car. We want to not fear our police. We want to not suspect every campaigning minister or doubt every government initiative. And we can too!

We start by not throwing trash on the road. We continue by not going late to work and by asking what else we need to do. We keep it up by at least being nice to the next person and by never being rude to anyone. We take it to new heights by learning to apologize and by offering to help others solve problems. By seeking and finding ways to get money that we cannot tell the whole world we got. It's up to us bloggers, regular readers and casual surfers. It's up to us government workers, private businesspeople and traders. It's up to us O.

So, having typed all this to the rhythm of the generator let me conclude. To one of the countries that give its people those things that we all want I say… Happy Birthday Yanki!

A Nigerian Obama

This post is in reponse to one by Naijaleta. it started off as a comment on his blog but it got so big I decided not to just leave it as a comment. Hope Ahmed Babatunde Chibuzor won't mind.

Naijaleta's post reminded me of an article by Simon Kolawole of ThisDay newspapers. He referred to a trip where he listened to one of the top men overseeing the transformation in Doha (I think) outline their lofty plans and so on. He then observed that it wasn't the plans that impressed him but the fact that the fellow kept punctuating every line with the phrase "according to the vision of our leaders" like it was some kind of mantra.

When are we going to have an Obama whose vision dwarfs his achievements and experience? When are we going to have an Obama whose ability to eloquently motivate his followers draws the young and old to the challenge of changing a reluctant system?

We had an opportunity a while back to elect a visionary. Obasanjo robbed us of it. I personally believe Nigeria has its best opportunity in Donald Duke (p.s. he's from a minority tribe). The guy had a team, a dream and a plan. His was an in-depth analysis of our nation and its problems. He had laid out solutions waiting for implementation. Then he was usurped by an ill-prepared sub with a 7-point agenda.

My only consolation is that he's still young enough to contest even if Yar'Adua wangles another 4years out of the political powers that be. As for Clinton, I think the way she put Obama under pressure to adopt her as his running mate on a night when she should have been gracious and allowed the man his moment shows her as somewhat mean, selfish and (dare I say it?) b*$#@y.

She's constrained because the American political climate would never tolerate a party shift by someone of her stature. If she'd been Nigerian, she'd probably have switched parties yesterday.

Blog all day… Blog all night

When I decided to become a blogger, I took note of some potential challenges to my new pastime: money for café visits being the chief one.

Then I got a laptop and found out I live within range of a commercial hotspot. Nice. Then I came to work with my new toy one day and found out our neighbors have a free Wi-Fi thing going for their staff. Nicer. So browsing money is no longer a problem, most times.

Blogging now has new challenges chief of which is the perennial (a foreign paper called it "perplexing") power problem called PHCN. Once the power goes, my time becomes limited to however long it takes me to wrap up my thought flow before the laptop yawns into darkness.

I'm also beginning to realize how much the power challenges influence my blog content.

Blogging in the darkness of my home at night brings out this guerrilla mentality. I feel like the underdog in a fight and sometimes, like an underdog, I feel like I'm losing.

So out comes the rage of the repressed and it fuels my righteous rage at any and all perceived injustices and abuse. It also fuels my expressions of pain and despair.

Switch on the power and suddenly, the world is a better place. I'm more likely to be optimistic and inclined to see the good that our leaders are doing. I'll connect with friends on Facebook, chat with a buddy across the globe and say a prayer for world peace. Ok not quite world peace, but you get the picture.

Simply put, I realize that my worldview sometimes depends on whether I sit in darkness or light and on whether my air-conditioner is contributing heat or chilling the room. I only wish we Nigerians at home would realize that this is probably true of many of us Nigerians at home. If we understood this, then we Nigerians at home would also realize that it is up to all of us Nigerians at home to face our respective responsibilities and make this a better country.

Can you guess my mood right now? Here's a hint… my air-conditioner is on but it's struggling.

(Honestly, just 5 minutes later, while proof-reading this post, PHCN took the light!)