Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun

Ironically, however, the state’s chapter of the far from being Peoples Democratic Party – made up of a conglomerate of shameless vote bandits with record of non-performance for a whole seven and a half years – still lives under the delusion that Aregebesola is not performing. Of course nothing but delusion, nay, paranoia, will make any one to level allegation of non-performance against Aregebesola. In fact, any one that holds such belief deserves to be mentally examined because the unprecedented development the state is witnessing today under Aregbesola speaks volume of his performance – the performance that has also attracted accolades from local and international observers. Even politicians of PDP extraction at national level who are favourably disposed to speaking truth to power have expressed satisfaction about the impressive performance of this freak of a leader. Thus only the Osun PDP made up mostly of political liars and vagabonds who revel in seeing white as being black and vice-versa are unable to see the good things taking place in the state today. How deluded they are?
The reason why the PDP is turning a blind eye to all the good things going on in the state and why it is mischievously rubbishing the good work of Ogbeni is that the party still leaves under the illusion that it will still rule the state again. This is tantamount to living in fools’ paradise, for, the people have had a taste of good governance under Ogbeni Aregbesola. In contradistinction to Oyinlola’s years of the locusts the people now enjoy dividends of democracy more than never before. Thus a fortiori no amount of desperation on the part of the PDP can help its cause in the state. For the party had the opportunity but it bungled it. For the PDP it’s just too late. The opportunity is lost already and once opportunity is wasted never can it be regained.

Like the Yoruba would say; ‘no amount of disparaging talk can take sweetness away from honey’. Aregbesola has justified the confidence reposed in him by Osun electorate and still, he is not resting on his oars as he soldiers on relentlessly in his determination to put Osun on the world map of development. Like the Americans would ‘slanginglly’ quip; ‘they aren’t seen anything yet’. Ogbeni has just started. By the time he finishes his second term in office, which he will commence by the grace of God by next year, the Osun people will have cause to say; ‘Well done a good ambassador’. Until then, who says the PDP shouldn’t continue to live in fools’ paradise; that it could still have a taste of power in the state?

THE SAMPLE OF NEW SCHOOLS BEING BULIT ACROSS THE STATE BY OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA’S ADMINISTRATION IN THE STATE OF OSUN

Of course the list of the devastation that befell the public schools under Oyinlola is endless. Are we to talk of the physical structures of the schools which could best be described as eyesore­? We recall here that this newspaper magazine once did a story on the deplorable state of education under Oyinlola; how pupils in some f the public schools were receiving lectures on bare floor. Most schools had no roof and their buildings were half collapsed. No doubt learning under such terrible conditions called for a feeling of pity for the pupils and sending curses from the bottom of one’s heart to those managing the affairs of the state then.

What about non-availability of educational materials? It’s on record that our schools under Oyinlola were devoid of both teaching and learning materials. All these affected the performance of students negatively as we earlier mentioned. But in the state today the story is different. The Aregbesola administration is performing wonder in the education sector just as it is doing in other sectors. Through the Osun Schools Infrastructure Development Project known as O’ SCHOOLS the Aregbesola administration is turning the schools around. Not only that the schools are being given a face-lift, befitting structures are being put in place.

The O’ SCHOOLS intervention initiative is another one out of series of giant strides the Ogbeni Aregbesola administration has recorded within just two years of governance. Set up with the purpose of developing the infrastructure in the state’s public schools, it’s a proactive, pragmatic approach towards revamping the dilapidated state of Osun schools as left by Oyinlola. Since the take-off of the initiative a lot has been done in terms of developing the infrastructure in our public schools.
According to the man at the helm of affairs of O’ SCHOOLS, Otunba Lai Oyeduntan, the O’ SCHOOLS’ Committee has an immediate mandate to deliver at least 50 elementary schools, 33 middle schools and 10-20 high schools within the next fifteen months. If this could be achieved within this period of time it cannot be regarded as a mean feat. And with the doggedness with which Ogbeni Aregbesola is pursuing his pro-people programmes the target will surely be met. A model of what our elementary schools will look like is built in Alekuwodo; an attractive structure which replaced the old Salvation Army Primary School.

Incontrovertibly education still remains the pivot of societal development and it will continue to be. The future of a given society will be basically determined by the level of quality education the citizens have access to. This being so no quality education can be gotten under a non-conducive and non-motivating environment. Teaching and learning in a conducive atmosphere and access to basic teaching and learning materials therefore become a sine-qua-non for quality education. Thus any serious government must ensure the provision of the necessary conditions that will guarantee quality education for the citizenry. And this is exactly what the Ogbeni Aregbesola administration is doing in the state of Osun. Even with limited resources lots have been achieved in terms of building the dilapidated infrastructure in the schools which is one out of many bad legacies of Oyinlola.

We commend the O’ SCHOOLS initiative of Ogbeni. By the time the O’ SCHOOLS committee delivers its immediate mandate our public schools will wear a new look and for the infrastructural renewal, our public schools will be able to compete effectively with private schools where pupils/students pay much to receive little in terms of quality education.

He, of course spoke in the context of the increasing burden of treatment, prevention and loss of man hours to the disease currently estimated at N132 billion annually. This is in addition to the fact that Nigeria still accounts for a quarter of all malaria cases in the World Health Organisation (WHO) African region with malaria related maternal mortality at 11 per cent, and malaria related annual death for children under-five years of age at around 300,000.

Beyond the generalized statistics which are no doubt depressing, the determined push by some state governments obviously gives some hope that the battle is not entirely lost. The State of Osun stands out as a good example where the efforts have not only borne fruits but aspires to be a model for a comprehensive, effective and cost effective anti-malaria strategy.

After all – figures do not lie. We refer here to the report of drastic decline in malaria cases in Osun from 500,000 in recent years to 200,000 cases in 2011. Knowing what the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has done to confront the challenges of the environment as well as his personal example in driving the credo of good and healthy living in recent time, the trend does not come to us as a surprise; rather it has merely validated the state government’s position on the linkage between the scourge of malaria and other diseases, and the state of the environment.

What is important – and heart-warming is the governor’s personal example as a major force in driving the change. This is of course matched by the administration’s investment in environment that has witnessed an aggressive clearing of pathways of rivers and streams to stem the menace of flooding, the commissioning of 64 new waste disposal trucks to assist in the management of urban wastes and the creation to enduring structures to sustain current initiatives. And with the 20,000 O’YES cadet, on duty at all times to ensure regular, periodic street cleaning and on daily basis, the health profile of the state can only continue to soar.

It needs to be put on record though that these investments are not only unequalled in the annals of the state, they have clearly surpassed those made by previous administrations combined. And if we may add – one good dividend of the partnership between the administration and the people is the current situation in which the citizens are not only mobilised, but have since taken ownership of the various initiatives designed to rid their environment of filth. We consider the latter as a measure of the administration’s deliberateness and care in putting the citizen at the centre of its policies.
Much as the administration’s scorecard in containing the malaria scourge is commendable, we must however point out that the battle is only half won. The ultimate challenge is to rid the state of mosquitoes by targeting stagnant bodies of water known to be their breeding places and by keeping the environment generally clean. For this be effective, every household unit must be involved. And this is without prejudice to the state government’s plan to embark on an aerial spray of the entire state.

Many had fingered the ACN leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for that massive vote for Jonathan because of the last-minute discussions he reportedly had with the latter. But that would be saying that the South-West people are sheep that don’t have their own mind. Weeks before the 2011 presidential election, even while talks were on between the Congress for Progressive Change and the ACN, many South-West people had made it clear that they would vote for Jonathan for the Presidency, even though they would vote the ACN in all other elections. The appreciable population of other non-Yoruba residents in the South-West also helped to increase the number of votes Jonathan garnered in the zone.

President Jonathan has not stated clearly whether he will contest the 2015 election. But his unspoken words seem to point more to the fact that he will contest than the other way. Even though he completed the remaining term of his former boss, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, after he died in office on May 5, 2010, and won an election in 2011, he is constitutionally qualified to run for office in 2015.

Ethnicity and religion play a great role in Nigerian politics, and they will play a role in the 2015 election. The North, especially the North-East and the North-West zones, has never hidden its sadness and anger over the loss of presidential power as a result of the illness and death of Yar’Adua. The North feels that it was cheated out of power. Some even alleged that the cheating was pre-planned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo with his choice of Yar’Adua, who was known to have a health condition. Supporters of power rotation felt that Jonathan should have completed Yar’Adua’s term and allowed a Northerner to contest the presidency, so that the North could complete its eight years just like the South. There was some sense of justice in that viewpoint.

But Jonathan and many of his South-South people and some other Nigerians who opposed power rotation felt that given that the South-South or the entire Niger Delta region, the producer of Nigerian oil wealth, had not produced an elected president in Nigeria, even though the North had produced same many times, he should run for office for the sake of justice and fairness. There was also some sense of justice in that point of view. In addition, many wondered if Jonathan were not to contest for the presidency, would the Northerner that would take over from him do only a term and leave office, since Yar’Adua had done about three years of his four-year tenure?

There are those who believe that the rise in violence of the Boko Haram sect after the 2011 elections had direct links with that feeling of loss and cheating that the North had. Even though Boko Haram started as a religious sect, there is no denying that it has had political influence in recent times. Some people have even said that if Jonathan were to drop his political ambition for 2015, Boko Haram would fizzle out.

Before the run-up to the 2011 elections, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and his Congress for Progressive Change, the major challenger to President Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party then, handled the merger talks with the Action Congress of Nigeria with some presumptuousness. They presumed that Jonathan would not win the election on the first ballot, since the South-South, South-East and some North-Central voters would vote for him, while the North-West (with its perceived high population) and the North-East would vote for Buhari, with the South-West voting for Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN, thereby making the election go into a second ballot. Even though the South-West vote was split between Jonathan and Ribadu, but with more going to Jonathan, that made it easier for him to win on the first ballot. That seemed to have taught Buhari and the CPC a lesson that working with the Yoruba and ACN was not just necessary but critical, if the PDP would ever be beaten. But it is true that the South-West vote did not come from only the Yoruba, given the high population of other-Southerners in the South-West, especially in Lagos.

And so, rather than wait till 2015 to commence merger talks, the CPC, ACN, ANPP and a part of the All Progressive Grand Allaince began early, which is a great plus. And rather than the hard lines that characterised the 2011 merger talks, the talks for the merger are being treated with more respect for each other as well as without any pre-conditions. Anybody who says that the PDP is not rattled by the merger talks of the All Progressives Congress is economical with the truth. The reason the PDP has ruled for 14 unbroken years is because the opposition parties had displayed disunity, pride and greed. Having a united opposition against the PDP is the first step towards thwarting the fulfilment of the prediction of Chief Vincent Ogbulafor in 2008 that the ruling party would rule Nigeria for 60 years!

For the 2015 elections, however, many scenarios exist. First, Jonathan may decide not to run, which is most unlikely. He may present himself for the primaries and lose to another candidate, given that some governors and former President Olusegun Obasanjo are working against his ambition. Even though this scenario will further show our democracy as exemplary, it is also far-fetched, as no Nigerian President has lost his party’s primaries.

So, if Jonathan is running in 2015, the APC will be concerned about the team that can beat him. Buhari, Ribadu and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau – all former presidential candidates of the merging parties – are possible candidates. Even a PDP member – the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal – has been mentioned as a possible candidate of the APC. In the South, there are Governors Babatunde Raji Fashola, Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha, Tinubu and Senator Chris Ngige.

The combination that will likely attract the highest number of votes from the North and South-West may be that of Buhari-Fashola or Buhari-Tinubu. If Indeed Tambuwal is an option, combining with these two men from the South-West would also attract votes for the party. But there is a snag in that. The key figures from the North are all Muslims and the two key figures from the South-West are also Muslims. In the South-West, religion does not matter in politics. But in other parts of Nigeria, it does. Presenting a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2015 will not go down well with the North-Central, South-East, and South-South. Even though it worked in 1993 for the Abiola-Kingibe ticket, it will attract deep suspicion now. In 1993, even though there had been religious crises in Nigeria, there had not been anything on the scale of the current Boko Haram carnage. This is a serious point that the PDP will use – albeit surreptitiously — to campaign against the APC.

There is also the possibility of using an Igbo or South-Southerner as presidential or vice-presidential candidate to blunt the influence of Jonathan in those two regions. But the minus is that the North is so much focused on the Presidency now that any arrangement that does not have a Northerner as the presidential candidate in 2015 may not attract deep interest. A North-Central Christian presidential candidate with a Southern Muslim running mate is also an option. But it is no longer a secret that the one-North stance of the North died around 1975 when Gen. Yakubu Gowon was overthrown. The destiny of the North-Central or Middle Belt, as they are better known, and the rest of the North is not inextricably linked together anymore. The bloodletting in Plateau State since 2001 has worsened the situation. A Middle Belt Christian candidate will not sound to the North-East and North-West – which are most times referred to as the “core North” to further underscore that division – as a candidate that has come to assuage the feeling of cheating that the “core North” suffered by the loss of the presidency due to Yar’Adua’s death.

The voting pattern of the South-East, South-South and North-Central may not change much if Jonathan contests in 2015. He may not garner as many votes as he did in 2011, depending on his performance and perception between now and 2015. If he is perceived as “improved” in his performance between now and 2015, his chances will be brighter. But if the APC makes a strategic choice of presidential candidate and running mate, the APC will be a major threat. Whatever happens, whoever the Yoruba vote for en masse may have an advantage. And it is obvious that the PDP and APC are aware of this and are consequently courting the Yoruba.

The Yoruba have another advantage. They are the only group in Nigeria that has been happy being in the opposition. Other ethnic groups usually feel like a fish out of water whenever out of power. So they will take their time to decide on whom to support. Gradually, the Yoruba are moving to the centre of Nigerian politics on their own terms. Even if they fail to rule in 2015 because of the unwritten agreement of rotation of power between the North and the South, they will have a strong hand in determining who occupies Aso Rock come 2015.

Source: The Punch

Across the board, when compared with the eight years of stagnation, during which the PDP usurpers left nothing but ruins, the ACN appears to have done enough to merit stunning triumphs in future polls, the first of which comes in Ekiti and later Osun, both in 2014.

But with a do-nothing president desperate to run again in 2015, and even more desperate to gain a foothold in the South West, even after insulting the Yoruba through and through in his so far unfortunate tenure, it is time to be extremely vigilant – eternal vigilance, after all, is the price of liberty!

Aside from the desperate president are no less desperate Yoruba characters who, faced with sure and well-earned irrelevance, would do anything to stay relevant, even if that means conspiring with noxious external elements to kill the future of their own people.

Indeed, this has always happened, whenever our region is on the brink of a developmental breakthrough, as it is indeed now. Very early at independence, the sure-footed strides of the old Western Region was truncated by enemies without, conspiring with enemies within, as exemplified by the ‘Demo’ elements led by the Samuel Ladoke Akintola faction of the smashed Action Group (AG).

After the collapse of the Second Republic, the greatest victim was perhaps Lagos in the South West. With the strides of that state and the other states in the then LOOBO (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Bendel and Ondo) states, the clear prime loser was the Lagos futurist metro rail project called Metroline, promptly scuttled by the succeeding military.

Such anti-Yoruba conspiracy is building up again. That is why the governments of the South West states must be careful and vigilant. If they are, there is a high chance that the forces of reaction and retrogression would be soundly defeated. But if they don’t, there are chances that the dreams of our people may yet be aborted (God forbid!), with disastrous consequences for the Nigerian polity.

The tell-tale of disturbing signs are already there. Just to scuttle the APC merger or prevent it from gathering suction in a naturally progressive territory, sundry plots are afoot, plots that are so comical if not that they are also so tragic.

In one corner, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, a leader of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), is insulting the memory of Chief Obafemi Awolowo by purporting to resuscitate the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), thus trying to associate Awo’s name with cant and deceit, not to talk of greed for dirty lucre. By that, he is hoping to gather his own peculiar ‘progressives’ to further help a clueless and graceless Jonathan to deliberately under-develop our land by his eternally fumbling and shamabolic presidency.

In another corner, Chief Olu Falae, once-upon-a-time relevant politician, is so scared of irrelevance that he has turned hyper-active, essaying a strange merger of his own, to be named after another defunct party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the party on which platform Basorun Moshood Abiola won the presidency. But Chief Falae knows he has absolutely no electoral value, even in his immediate community in Ondo State! So, how could he spearhead any vibrant merger?

Then further afield on the canvass of the desperado are the Afenifere grandees showcasing their own brand new, mint-fresh progressive, Iyiola Omisore! It doesn’t get more absurd! With their new-found angel (sorry, cash machine) the men of yore have abandoned their pristine integrity for a sinister mess of pottage, happily sacrificing the future wellbeing of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, against the Afenifere ethos they claim to franchise!

All these are, of course, no accident. They could not have been otherwise, for between the PDP Southwest era and now, the difference is refreshingly clear!

That is why the South West governors and their party must continue to aggressively showcase the glorious strides they have been making to make life better for our people, work more on South West economic integration and prove that it is the era of development, not that of empty politics and deceit.

They must do more: they must expose these demagogues for what they are and continue to mobilise the people for development. Also, they should continue to work hard to justify the people’s confidence.

The coming elections are make or break – make and secure our people’s future but break the back of the traitors. But to achieve this noble goal, the APC-ACN must rip apart the antics of the PDP, the local collaborators for dirty lucre and their evil external sponsors.

Remember, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty!

Elected as President in 2011, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who claimed to have attended school without shoes while growing up, made promises on spreading dividends of democracy the people with his programme of Transformation Agenda, job creation, reduction of poverty, corruption, improved electricity and enhancing infrastructure among others.

But widespread insecurity particularly in the north, had blurred his vision and focus. Several thousands, mainly Christians have been killed, while properties worth billions destroyed.

Almost torn apart by internal crises within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors elected on the ticket of the party, under the aegis of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF led by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State were politically dicey and unpredictable. Aso Rock was jittery, worried about NGF becoming a political power bloc, likely determining the future of Mr. president in 2015. Meanwhile, the national Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had a running battle with the governors, but enjoyed absolute support of Jonathan, who feared his re-election bid in 2015 could be scuttled by the governors who had some grievances to settle with him.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi, as the NGF chairman, was seen as the arrowhead of the governors resistance to the imperial and dictatorial tendencies of the presidency more so as he was being alleged as having presidential ambition to be running mate to Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State in the 2015 race.

Even the opposition political parties were not relenting in their criticism of the Jonathan administration. They’ve alleged that he was not taking governance seriously, cannot be trusted,though promised to fight corruption, yet this cankerworm has become bydra-headed and getting more devastating as ever, no tangible promises made in 2011 realized, various committee reports put together with public funds were dumped into waste baskets. Oil theft, bunkering, subsidy fraud, inflated contracts galore. More Nigerians are without jobs in a spendthrift administration, fond of wasting scarce resources on white elephant, mundane projects not of benefit to the economic and social welfare of citizens. The Transformation Agendea has been described as amorphous and mere sloganeering with phantom, spurious statistics given by state departments to create wrong impression that things are going well.

The governors, embittered by Tukur’s leadership style and his nonchalant attitude to state chapters of the PDP, tried to box the chairman to a corner in what political analysts termed as their attempts (governors) to cage President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the 2015 presidential vote.

Undoubtedly, Governor Amaechi had not been comfortable with the pace of development in the Niger Delta region from where Mr. President hailed. Take the case of the East-West road which is supposed to run through the oil bearing areas of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta States which would also be of benefit to Abia, Cross River, Edo, and Imo in terms of trade, commerce and transportation.

Inability of the Jonathan regime to handle the East-West road with the urgency and efficiency required is causing carnage and fatal auto accidents daily in that critical area as the major stakeholders including the governors seemed worried.

It reached a point at which Governor Amaechi challenged the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, a kinsman of President Jonathan, to resign because he has failed to deliver in the region.

“I had gone through the region and no presence of his ministry was felt anywhere in the area of meaningful or people oriented projects. Under Orubebe, what development have we witnessed? None.”

Amaechi claimed that for every one project Orubebe can show him, that he had done in the Niger Delta region, he will show him 10 of sch projects in Rivers state. He advised him to face his work and make his presence felt in the region.

“After all, I don’t have any mansion anywhere, but I know Orubebe’s mansion. If he wants, we will show the world his mansions,” Amaechi was reported telling journalists in Houston, Texas, USA at a Town Hall meeting with Rivers State community.

He also clarified his rumoured presidential ambition which put him on collision course with President Jonathan. His words: “I cannot contest against Mr. President. We are from the same region. I respect him and he is a good man. I am tired of responding to this issue of presidential ambition. It is normal to have contrary views on some topics but it doesn’t transcend to hatred.”

Amaechi continued: “It is the likes of Orubebe that fans the embers of hatred. It is unfortunate that he can accuse me of corruption, nobody has accused me before. If he (Orubebe) wants us to go public any day, I am ready.”

Several things have happened between the two states – Bayelsa and Rivers which could strain relationships since the ascendancy of the Jonathan administration. The issue of disputed oil wells along the border towns in the two states still left much to be desired, with no amicable solution reached by both parties.

The Rivers government had accused various agencies of the Federal Government including the National Boundary Commission, NBC, of bias over the dispute. Although, Rivers has approached a court of law and got reasonable judgment, the government said that the decision of NBC and the Accountant General of the Federation to release the revenue proceeds from the oil wells to Bayelsa State was a clear case of injustice. As a result, Rivers had to pull out of the joint peace talks with Bayelsa interstate boundary.

According to the Rivers State government, to continue to allow Bayelsa State to take full benefit of some revenue proceeds from these disputed oil wells while NBC is in the middle of the delineation exercise, is “blatant injustice and therefore most unacceptable to Rivers State.

Tele Ikuru, Deputy Governor of Rivers had declared that under the circumstances, the commitment to speedy and transparent resolution of this “potentially volatile and protracted boundary issue cannot be guaranteed.”

Rivers State government had argued that the most effective and transparent way to make all parties genuinely focus on the settlement bid is by the immediate intervention of the Federal Government to direct the payment of all revenue proceeds from the disputed oil wells into an escrow account under the Accountant General of the Federation.

Rivers wanted all withdrawals hitherto made from and given to Bayelsa from the erstwhile escrow account maintained by the two state governments must be returned and a return to the status quo with regard to the 11th edition of the Administrative Map of Nigeria as reiterated by the National Boundary Commission.

In order to cut Governor Amaechi to size and bring him down as Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, the presidency inspired a PDP Governors Forum with Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom as Chairman to undermine the NGF, make it irrelevant together with Amaechi. The aim of the presidency is to depose him and rid NGF of its influence in national politics, paving the way for full support of PDP governors ahead of 2015; as the Jonathan presidency saw Governor Amaechi as probably a stumbling block.President Jonathan has thrown his weight behind the candidature of Katsina governor, Shehu Shema as NGF chairman to replace Amaechi.

Presently, Rivers PDP executives have been replaced with that no longer loyal to the embattled Governor Amaechi, led by Felix Obuah who has suspended the speaker, deputy speaker, leader, whip and 23 other members of the state House of Assembly and declared their positions vacant, ostensibly for failing to rescind the suspension of Obio-Akpor Local Council executive and legislators. Earlier, an Abuja High Court judgement had removed the Pro-Aaechi executive led by Godspower Ake, which triggered the PDP crisis in Rivers State at the prompting of the presidency.

Matters came to a climax in Akure last Friday when the 700 Bombadier Global Express aircraft owned by Rivers Tate government to convey Governor Amaechi was temporarily prevented from leaving Akure for failure to provide a manifest. Thereafter, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCCA) said it was grounding the Rivers aircraft for operating illegally in the country as its documents had expired since April 2. In a swift response, the state Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari said all the documents were in order and had applied to the Minister of Aviation for the import license. It had been in the Minister’s office since September, 2012, the Commissioner claimed. But the new Chairman of Rivers PDP said, with facts available to him, the aircraft does not belong to the state and so Governor Amaechi should explain its true ownership.

In a Ray Power Radio programme called Political Platform aired in Abuja, the presenters expressed the view that, “the issue of 2015 presidential election is at the bottom of the Jonathan/Amaechi face-off”. At the same time a contributor reminded the two political leaders that they were not elected to wash their dirty linens in the public, but to provide good governance for the people. A top official of the Aviation Ministry had explained in the Radio programme, that an aircraft registered in this country can move within, but if from abroad, needs clearance to move about. He aircraft came from US into Nigeria. At Akure, it was found that it had no manifest of the crew and passengers, it is not a car which can move without a manifest. There was also no clearance. It had no fly plan. Aviation regulations were violated.

The Aviation official added: “Immunity is not impunity. This is about aviation regulations, not about politics.” The need for safety in air travel cannot be overemphasized considering important personalities and governor who died in private aircraft crashes including governors fatally injured;

However, the question here is about the timing of the action targeted at Amaechji to politically deal with him for romance with a Northern presidential aspirant. Prof. Wole Soyinka said it all when he expressed concerns over pettiness in governance at any level which is not appropriate for any government in a democratic situation to pay attention to unimportant issues rather than serious matters. To him, pettiness at any level is unbecoming of any democratic situation.

Source: Vanguard

The nightmare of eternal misgovernment by a lackluster PDP was not just pure from fantasy. We have seen it done before elsewhere. For example, Mexico provides a good illustration. In Mexico, the party of the institutionalized Revolution was in charge for 71 years. For Mexico it was a missed opportunity. Much of the blame for the 71 years hiatus can be put squarely on the shoulders of the opposition. Their disunity, discord and opportunism allowed the PRI to stay in power.

It was only when the opposition got its act together and formed a united front that the PRI became vanquished. The lesson should be instructive. In Kenya as well it was only when the hitherto bickering opposition formed a united front that the 41 years of domination by the Kenya African National Union was broken.

In Nigeria there is clearly no need to wait for such a long period before the restoration of sensible governance. To even contemplate such a proposition will be tantamount to a crime against humanity. Such is the extent of the destruction wrought by the PDP. With society as a concept itself falling apart, it is now very obvious that the lackluster leadership of the PDP must not be allowed to continue.

This is why the coming into being of APC is most welcome. The expectation of the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian people who are clearly fed-up is clear. The APC must evolve into a ‘popular front’. Such a formation will be able to position itself to rally the republic behind a banner of cost effective progressive change. In this way it will unite the national, progressive and democratic tendencies in Nigeria to midwife a government of popular unity. Such a movement will no doubt incorporate sections of the progressive wing of the PDP.

It has been a long time coming. Too long for many, but now the progressives in Nigeria have had to wake up to their historic responsibility. The society has to be rebuilt and a new era created. Waiting ahead for the APC is a massive reconstruction job. Not unlike the reconstruction that took place after the second world war in Europe best referred to as ‘the Marshall Plan for, reconstruction in Europe’.

There is no alternative here since the PDP have done great damage to both the political economy and to social cohesion and solidarity. Another extension of a PDP central government operating without any discernible roadmap will do even more irreparable damage to the republic.

Having come this far the APC must up the ante. There must be mass mobilization and political education on a massive scale indeed on an unprecedented scale. Let us be clear about it, this is a journey of national redemption and it will be a long and hard road. The PDP will not willingly give up power. Only the united effort of all democratic people insisting on the right to vote and have their votes counted will achieve the change this country so desperately needs.

For as Henry V said to the troops on the eve of the game changing battle of Agincourt, ’ he, who has no stomach for this fight, let him depart’. The democratic progressive forces in Nigeria must have the stomach for the fight!

According to report in this paper, the government has earmarked a whopping sum of two billion (N2bn) for the full rehabilitation of Ede Water Works. This sum is meant for the rehabilitation and modernization of both new and old Ede Water Works and at the completion of this scheme, which will be completed just within 12 calendar months, the state will be enjoying 70% water supply as Ede Water Works alone supplies the state this particular percentage of the state’s water requirement.

It is worth mentioning also that the Aregbesola administration had earlier made available an initial intervention of the sum of N417 million in the first phase of revamping Ede Waters which helped to increase water production and supply to 30 per cent as against 23.7 per cent the government met. The Oyinlola administration in its characteristic self had made the Water Works moribund to the extent that the Water Works which was originally designed for a capacity of 226,000 litres was only producing at 23.7 per cent capacity.

Of course it would not be an over statement to assert here that water also suffered the same fate that other public utilities suffered under the inept and profligate Oyinlola administration such that potable water became scarce commodity. As we consistently assert on this page, there is a clear difference between a focused, pro-people government and the one that espouses freeloading and profligacy as its philosophy. While the can-do Aregbesola administration represents the former, the disgraced Oyinlola government of interlopers represents the latter – which is why he left legacies of devastation viz: infrastructure decay, electoral banditry and economic depression.

It is sad that out of 45 mini-Water Works in the state, Aregbesola administration met just only four functional. The rest were moribund. But at present, 24 are already functioning properly. This is highly commendable. Many are wont to wonder how and where does Ogbeni get money to do all the things he is doing in the state. Of course the answer is not far fetched; creativity and wise husbandry of resources. For any leader to distinguish himself in public office these two words are very key and these are what Oyinlola and his co-vote robbers lacked. The reason why they couldn’t deliver the goods is therefore glaring to the discerning.

By the time the rehabilitation of Ede Water Works is concluded, it will be producing 730,000 litres per day. This will mean that 70% of the state’s water requirement has been met. But the government will not stop at that. It will further ensure it fills up the remaining 30%. By that time lack of potable water will become a thing of the past. This will be quite a feat – unprecedented in the history of the state.

Also commendable is the arrangement in the offing to put water tankers in place to take water to all the nooks and crannies of the state. We commend the Aregbesola administration on the planned rehabilitation of Ede Water Works. Between a government that saw difficulty and impossibility in every situation and for that it regarded non-performance as fate accompli and the one that sees possibility and solution the latter deserves commendation.

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It’s well!

We struggle to find charitable words to describe the odyssey of a man who “won” his Senate seat from the police cell but in later years could not fetch himself enough votes for a councillorship seat as a free man in a free and fair election! Now, he seeks to return – this time to govern a state experiencing its most transformative phase since its founding. If this isn’t a classic case of delusion of grandeur, we certainly wonder what it could be!

Of late, we have since detected a more debilitating pathology as ‘our’ man hops from one newsroom to another, cooking all manners of lies against every initiative of government. For while it seems acceptable in politics as in war, that all be considered fair, it is unforgivable that an individual who claims to seek the good of the people would sell cheap lies to them in his bid to gain their attention.

The latest vice is one that the good people of Osun should neither tolerate nor overlook.

None of these comes to us as surprise though. After all, should it surprise that an individual who was in Abuja solely to partake in the PDP gravy called governance cannot appreciate the breathtaking developments in his backyard?

Does it surprise that someone who, as chairman of Senate Committee on Appropriation, superintended over the farce called budget cannot make the distinction between the bazaar of contracto-cracy of his PDP and the purposeful governance going on in his home state?

Let’s look at the lies Omisore seeks to sell. First, he claims that the Rauf Aregbesola administration employed 10,000 youths instead of 20,000 under the novel, globally acclaimed O’YES initiative. Now, Omisore is entitled to choose what to believe. The difference is what the world knows to be true. The world – except Omisore knows that 20,000 youths of Osun were recruited in March 2011 under the OYES programme. That first batch has since exited in February 2013 with no fewer than 18,000 of that number either absorbed into the state’s civil service or had set up one small-scale business or the other.

Was Omisore out of town when the World Bank not only lauded the initiative, but recommended it as a model worthy of adoption by other states?

By the way, when will Omisore supply the corresponding figures of youths employed by his PDP in the nearly eight years it illegally ruled the state?

Talk about the man’s contractocratic mind being currently on the overdrive. For him, everything is about contracts. To him, a helicopter purchased by the state government for $4.5 million (about N700 million) would become N7billion, just as costs of on-going road projects in the state continue to change depending on his mood, audience and time of the day!

In his delusions, Omisore has since claimed that some of the on-going road contracts had in the past been awarded by him in the past for lesser amounts!

We dare to ask: did he award the contracts – as member of the federal executive council or as chair of the Senate Appropriation committee?

Of course, the landmark Opon Imo being test-run by final year students in secondary schools has since become a subject of his lies. He has speculated on the cost of the device which comes preloaded with 56 textbooks on the 17 subjects being taught in Osun schools. He claims the state government has spent N11 billion on the device! Not for him the inherent merit in the state government’s quest to launch Osun students into the digital learning platform to promote quality education or the value-for-money which the government continues to espouse?

The question is – for how much longer will the good people of Osun suffer the lies of this contractor-politician?

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It’s well!

Since then, there have been debates (among progressives) about the desirability of “joining” the new party. Expectedly, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) responded to news of the merger with disdain. “No merger will succeed against us in 2015” was the party’s official position through its former national secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who spoke to journalists in Abuja. Oyinlola dismissed the merger as “gang ups”.

“We don’t think we are threatened by what we would call gang ups”, said the former governor of Osun State who was sent packing by the court in 2010 before he could complete his second term. “In those days when the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) closed ranks, it was called an accord. When the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Great Nigeria People’s Party (GNPP) did the same, they called it gang up.

“Honestly speaking, ganging up is an indication of some weaknesses. Why can’t a party stand on its own and contest elections if it is sure that it would be acceptable to the people? You don’t need to gang up. If you are ganging up then you don’t have the strength. The only true national party today that cuts across every nook and cranny of the Nigerian federation is the PDP. Gang up has never succeeded; it will not succeed.”

Oyinlola’s diatribe was upped by Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State who described the opposition parties as “inventions of the last two years”. “They are the invention of pain, agony and anger”, Lamido said, adding, “They thought PDP is like them. We have political party history from 1998 when they were not in existence. Those who were talking in ANPP, ACN and CPC were formally PDP members that were flushed out in the field by the party (PDP).”

Bamanga Tukur, the national chairman of the PDP, in his now infamous reaction to the merger described his party as the “Messi of Nigerian politics”. “If you go for a contest, you have the striker. You know Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentine football star)? PDP is Messi in that contest. They (opposition) are no threat at all. It is better, it inspires PDP to action. In that contest, tell them Chairman said PDP is the Messi.” Football lovers in the country must feel insulted and incensed by this laughable comparison.

Of course, the PDP is grandstanding and its disdain for the APC is borne out of fear more than anything else. I can understand the position of the Oyinlolas, Lamidos and Tukurs. It is one that demands no response. For them, there is no meaningful job other than being in the corridors of power. And that has to be done by any means necessary. I felt differently, however, when I read a response on the merger from a much younger former colleague, Ohimai Amaize, who “joined” the PDP by way of political appointment about three years ago.

In his piece, “The APC, is it a merger or ‘maga’?” Amaize asked, “What is the core ideology of this new contrivance? What is its blueprint for Nigeria’s regeneration? An existing manifesto or some consultants are still working on it? When will it be ready? Perhaps, a few months to the next general elections! And this is part of the problem. Contrivances don’t work”.

According to Amaize, “The assumption by some of our youth that Nigeria will be transformed simply because some ‘big guns’ within the political class have assembled under the toga of a new opposition party remains nothing but an illusion. The notion that a group of recycled politicians uniting against the ruling PDP in the name of ‘opposition’ will present an already-made change, is at best, a hasty journey to a land of frustration. It is not that simple. There is nothing like already-made change. Nirvana does not exist. We must humble ourselves, bury our pride and work under existing political platforms no matter how educated and enlightened we think we are”.

Amaize admonished Nigerian youth to be wary of the APC. “When this new opposition party was being formed, what was its agenda for the youth?” Amaize wondered. “Is there any or will it hurriedly cook up one within the next few days? Which of the pro-APC youth activists on Twitter can confidently tell us the youth agenda of their new party? How many of my fellow Twitter busybodies were consulted to share their ideas for this merger before it was hatched? None! Because as far as they are concerned, you are not important in the scheme of things and do not exist”.

These are legitimate questions from a very “concerned” young Nigerian knowing Amaize’s antecedent before he joined the “transformation” wagon. However, the analysis shows a shallow and opportunistic reading of history. It presupposes Amaize is “happy” with the way things are in the country and if ever there is any talk of change, it can only take place “under existing political platforms”. And by this I am sure he means the PDP.

Of all the arguments in support of the emergence of APC, or what the response of genuine democrats should be to the new party, two stand out. In his piece “APC and the continuing crisis of Left politics in Nigeria”, Adagbo Onoja concluded that, “As long as there is no Left party or a broad based democratic coalition in Nigeria, comrades would have no options than spread to whichever platform they find space to continue the struggle in whatever ways possible”.

In his article, “Reflections on party combinations”, The Guardian, March 7 & 14, 2013, Edwin Madunagu noted: “The announcement of a merger of the leading opposition parties in Nigeria is a development which no serious political formation or tendency in the country can ignore or dismiss with cynicism of the type: ‘they always do this whenever a major election approaches’”.

“Yes, ‘they’ always announce coalitions, alliances, mergers, working agreements, etc, and the more uncharitable commentators may also remind us that they almost invariably fail to achieve their minimum post-announcement objective, that is, to actually deliver a living (and not a still-born or mortally sick) child”, Madunagu wrote. “When we have granted the cynics and pessimists their due, we may still insist that we are confronted with a development, which rules out the option of ‘Siddon look’.”

These two arguments speak for themselves and capture, to a great extent, what the response of radical and progressive elements, particularly youth and students, should be with regard to the APC as we head toward 2015.

I have no illusions about the challenges (some of which are beginning to manifest) and limitations of the new mega party being proposed by the country’s main opposition parties. The reality is that the All Progressives Congress (APC) can only go so far in the quest to lift our people from poverty, disease, unemployment and other problems associated with a neo-colonial capitalist economy like ours. The reasons are quite clear.

However, it is important to state that in the midst of the general chaos that has enveloped the country and the rudderless leadership of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which threatens the very survival of the country, there are very few options open for us to push back the country from the brink.

In general, there are three likely scenarios that could play out in the next two years. None of the scenarios is capable of addressing the urgent crisis confronting the country. What are these scenarios? One, the opposition abdicates the political space and allows the current charade to run its full course. Two things are possible here: first, the implosion of the PDP which seems quite imminent could prove even costlier for the nation. Second, President Jonathan is “reelected” in 2015. By 2019, he, like his predecessors, hands over to a governor of his choice and the cycle continues while we groan and complain ad nauseam.

The second scenario is the military option. This option looks menacingly real and tantalizing for some. Many of the people who would lampoon the effort to confront the PDP and its despicable rule are salivating at the prospect of a military coup. They are readying themselves, like their forebears, in the spirit of “service to the nation” to be part of the process. It does not matter to them that such action will take us a one step forward and twenty years backward.

The third scenario which looms large is anarchy or civil war. The mindless bloodletting and general insecurity in the country could get out of control and precipitate anarchy or civil war; and like Somalia, the country could become the poster child of failed states. These are scenarios that should not be viewed lightly.

So what is the way forward? In this regard, two scenarios appear feasible. One, the prospect of a social revolution or what Edwin Madunagu, “The Hugo Chavez Revolution”, The Guardian (March 28, 2013) describes as “a fundamental, non-sectarian and mass-engineered rupture in the structure and content of the Nigerian state”. Even though the objective conditions are present and the fact that in most cases such “mass-engineered rupture” do not “give notice”, Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, a chieftain of the PDP, in his wisdom, has ruled out this option because according to him, “Our elasticity (for suffering) has no limit”.

The last option would be a popular and broad-based coalition to unseat the PDP in 2015. This is where the APC comes in. Of course, the APC is not necessarily the only option here. The Labour Party/ National Conscience Party coalition, as a friend suggested, is another. However, if the opposition is really serious about unseating a behemoth like the PDP, it will do well to close ranks.

These are the only viable options. Every Nigerian would have to decide where they fit in. There is no room for vacillation or “siddon look”. How then do we get out of the current cul-de-sac? Which of the preceding options is meaningful and achievable (before things get out of hand) within the context of the current bourgeoisie “democratic” order? I would say the last option.

I understand the “fierce urgency of now” in relation to ending the suffering and deprivation of citizens. At the same time, we need to save and secure the country before we can move forward. Unfortunately, the PDP which has been in power since 1999 has foreclosed any meaningful debate about the future of the country and the possibility of change. For us to start any real discussion about the future of the country, we need to get rid of the PDP which has elevated misgovernance to a religion.

The PDP is in the throes of death and it looks like it wants to drag the rest of the country with it. With the PDP, we are dealing with a collection of megalomaniacs. Currently, we can identify three centres of powers within the party: The Presidency, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and the Northern Governors’ Forum. The ambition of the men who control these centres of power, President Goodluck Jonathan, Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, and Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, as well as that of other tangential gladiators will, undoubtedly, sink the party.

The question is: do we want to sink with the PDP? Now is the time to confront the arrogance and egregious folly of the PDP. When former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, say the PDP will rule for 100 years, we should not see it as mere political-speak. The PDP cares for this country, to paraphrase American political journalist, DeWayne Wickham, in much the same way that pimps care for their whores: just what they can get out of them.

How do we defeat President Jonathan and the PDP in 2015? There is no other way than for the opposition to come together and show that it is capable of this urgent task of national reclamation. If the APC succeeds, and I hope and pray it does, it will be “a marginal improvement over where we are coming from”. If the country can once in its history have a leader elected by popular will — not installed by the incumbent or the military — it is a step forward.

I shall end this piece by going back to Edwin Madunagu who noted in his piece “Reflections on Party Combinations”, The Guardian, March 7 & 14, 2013, “Someone has referred to the newly-formed APC as the “new” SDP. Yes, there are a couple of elements in common. But there is at least one more requirement for the APC: It has to show that not only is the status-quo totally bankrupt (which is the case), but also that the APC is a historically progressive way forward at this moment, and that it is the only one”.

This is the battle progressives in the APC have to wage in the weeks and months ahead.

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