Editorial: Thirteenth of May 2011

The guilty roam free

The credit crisis which has been felt globally for the past few years still has the architects of this catastrophe rolling in the quids without a care in the world.

Many have wondered how this happened and why it was pre-empted as the professionals have continually feigned that it caught them unawares.

The investigations of a US Senate committee have yielded grounds for indictments to be brought against first Goldman Sachs for basically playing both the market and their clients in fanciful financial products whilst divest themselves of their liabilities and cajoling other institutions to buying up what they knew for sure was worthless.

Untying the Gordian knot

The Rolling Stones article lays out the case of The People versus Goldman Sachs in such fine detail with the use of useful vivid analogies that the layman would catch on to what an almighty confidence trick this was.

This was work that the regulators and the Department of Justice should have done but were both derelict in their duties and suborned into a dastardly evil capitalist enterprise that has robbed everyone blind and made the gangsters of banking otherwise known as “Banksters” the masters of the world.

Now that the case has been made and all the footwork done, one would hope the cajones exist in the boxers, briefs, jocks or I dare say panties of those who matter to visit the full force of the law on these people and they should not relent until every dime as been paid including interest.

The world would never forgive us if these banksters get away with the biggest highwayman’s looting of the bullion ever.

Roam to Rome

Schengen, a town in Luxembourg where in 1985 European countries agreed to relax border controls allowing free movement within European borders, it represented a kind of unity amongst Europeans between 22 states.

It has worked a treat for Europeans as a sign of integration and unity without the encumbrance of passport checks, inane questions at customs and every other inconvenience that pertains to traversing borders.

The Arab uprising on the Southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea has been a matter of concern already but the unrest in Libya has brought it to a head.

Apparently, Colonel Gaddafi, the besieged and buffeted leader of Libya is allowing the untrammelled flow of sub-Saharan Africans and others across the sea to Malta and Lampedusa in Italy creating panic on those islands along with the administrative and logistic nightmares of processing these asylum seekers.

Visas made wiser

With no one responding to Italy’s concerns about this influx, the Italians granted temporary visas to these aliens who under the Schengen agreement could cross borders to countries where they might feel more comfortable by reason of joining relations, being able to speak the language or recognising a country as a soft target.

That got France to sit up since a good deal of these aliens speak French and by the time you knew it, Gaddafi’s deftness had sown division amongst NATO allies on the immigration front as they try to enforce the no-fly zone in Libya.

Fresh blood for right-wing vampires

Then every little-minded country with their right-wing populist fear-mongering personality with their villager-visits-city mind-set stepped into the fray stoking angst and horror at the hordes invading their sacred lands of purity and superiority – time to race to the lowest common denominator.

Shut the gates, batten down the hatches, pull up the draw bridges, barricade the doors and let the rabid dogs roam to bite any that dare walk the streets.

Globalisation is going into decline and the nation state rises again just because the Arabs have awoken to the possibility of self-determination. What a strange world we live in.

Acknowledgements

The fantastic report about the Senate committee’s unravelling of Goldman Sachs’ con-job was published online by the Rolling Stones Magazine. Wikipedia has a webpage that explains the Schengen Area and the Schengen Agreement.

The Guardian announces the news of the furore that has erupted about the influx of aliens and the possible radical revision of Schengen.

Nigeria: Ex-Health Minister has a case to answer

That Ministry of Health scam is back in the news

Even I had forgotten that this case was in the docket somewhere about to have a pronouncement from a judge and ready to move to the next stage of deliberations or resignation.

In March 2008, the then Minster of Health, the highly respected Professor Adenike Grange resigned along with her deputy and a host of senior management staff in the Ministry of Health.

It transpired that the President had given a directive to all ministries to return to the federation account all unallocated funds to the end of the last year.

In any setup that understands the line of command, executive authority and the appreciation of responsibilities conferred when asked to serve in public office, this should not have been a tough thing to do.

Scheming for a Christmas bonus

Unfortunately, it is alleged that the management team of the Ministry of Health cooked up an elaborate scheme of fraudulent agencies to siphon away N300 million (Naira) where the management were paid millions and the rank and file staff got a pittance that was further depleted by top-brass greed and passed off as a Christmas bonus.

Then, I laughed off the idea that a ministry in Nigeria could have the structures and monitoring models typical of a merchant bank in place as to have set goals and met objectives to be deserving of a bonus.

The underhand of oversight

However, this all was unique in its consequences but benign in relation to the events that followed, this bonus scheme included dishing out N10 million to the Senate Committee on Health whose chairman apparently squandered it on some capacity building trip to Ghana.

This capacity building trip which was supposed to help in presenting a bill to deal with the serious health crisis in Nigeria hit the road blocks on its first outing, it was completely castigated by the Senate that it had to be withdrawn then.

Anyway, after the Minister resigned, the EFCC waded into the case and basically pointed fingers at all in authority who could have mishandled the cash that should have been returned to the federation account.

The drama that ensued involved weeks of speculation about the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health who vaulted her security wall to evade capture by law enforcement agents from the EFCC and went into hiding that it became a bizarre news story until she showed up and ended up setting up an opulent chamber in the offices of the chief of police when remanded in custody.

The Chairman would have us believe that there is no conflict of interest in taking moneys from an arm of the executive to do legislative business with a department over which she is supposed to have legislative oversight – it is a muddled democracy out there, the question of ethical conduct is as alien as a visitor from Mars having supper with you tonight.

A case to answer

Meanwhile, all these suspects have been challenging the case that has been made against them by the EFCC, which for all that we have heard and read about this scam looks like a really decent case that should have its run in court with all the legal scrutiny and advocacy that such issues entertain.

In a ruling yesterday at an Abuja High Court, that judge ruled that they all have a case to answer [1], at least for any layman, somebody has to answer questions satisfactorily about why a welfare committee was set up to disburse funds that should have been remitted elsewhere.

As for the case of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, the judge opined that she does have to answer questions relating to the N10 million that was paid to her committee out of the N300 million [2] – which anyone should find just plainly reasonable.

Justice will prevail

However, we can trust that these people would want to frustrate due legal process to serve their own ends such that no more light can be shone on why people who held responsibility for making decisions for Nigerians on health and healthcare felt they had a greater cause to fill their pockets and go on fanciful jaunts.

It would go to appeal according to their lawyers and hopefully, the higher up they go, the judges would be more convinced of the fair and just need to lift the lid off this rotten scam and its perpetrators; so we can get to the substance of the charges and test those charges before a fair and balanced judicial process.

The people with their agitation do not help us maintain the presumption of innocence about them, it is like they have something to hide and human nature does have a tenacity that pits against tenacity till one gives – the one being, we need to know the truth about how a presidential directive failed to exact the power and authority it should have had in any honest, reliable, ethical and responsible setting.

They should bring on their battalions of legal luminaries paid for by unaudited sources of wealth and we stand sure that justice would prevail, those who are innocent would be set at liberty and their honour restored, those who are guilty, for all that we have already been dragged through to get to the end of this matter – woe betide you.

Sources

[1] allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Iyabo, Grange, Others Have Cases to Answer – Court

[2] The Punch: N300m scam: ‘Obasanjo-Bello, Grange, others have cases to answer’

EFCC - Economic and Financial Crimes Commission - Wikipedia

Nigeria: A desire for equality before the law

The knightly crusader without a horse

Having read the transcript of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s interview conducted by the Financial Times, I could not help but think that his knightly crusade to ensure Nigerians respect the rule of law was missing a horse.

It became very clear to me this morning as I whipped through the Nigerian dailies on the web to catch up on happenings at home.

Now, who would have thought we had our own home-grown Paris Hilton trying to play escapegoat whilst lamenting she is being made a scapegoat.

Nobbling the judge

News reaches us that the invisible Senator, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello finally appeared in court and was refused bail after the lawyer failed to sway the judge by mentioning that she was a medical practitioner, a Senator and a daughter of the ex-President of Nigeria.

To anyone, it was an innocuous plea but it was laden with menace and threats to the authority of the judge – she is no medical practitioner in a general sense, she is a veterinarian and I doubt she has ever shown medical compassion to a stray dog.

Indicating she is a profession might appeal to the professional stature of the judge, but it did not work; the view that she is a Senator is just piffle, she has not been in the Senate for a month and she was not there to present the Health Bill that finally got passed last week.

Piling on the pressure by indicating she is a daughter of the ex-President was to warn the judge that he was dealing with powerful forces in Nigeria, but that did not wash with the judge.

She only gained reprieve by being sent to police custody rather than Kuje jail.

It is in police custody that we find the bolted horse that the knightly Yar’Adua is supposed to mount for his ever so important crusade.

Enter the diva

She gets to Maitama Police Station and suddenly becomes the diva, we find that she has commandeered the place and is sleeping chief officer’s office having brought in her own bed and fan, and she arranges for the air-conditioning equipment and power generator to be fixed and gets a carpenter to fix the netting on the windows to keep out mosquitoes.

One could be forgiven for thinking the accused was banged up in police custody with creature comforts that might have one renaming the location Maitama Hilton Towers.

Obviously, influence and sycophancy has prevailed on the better judgement of law enforcement as she holds court in the police station giving us the impression that she is being lawful and respectful of the rule of law.

Influence peddling again

Well, I am getting fed up of these spoilt brats that get involved in nefarious activities, influence peddling, corrupt practices and unethical conduct who when caught by the law would cry me a river and not face up to the weight of the consequences of their actions – they almost always get off lightly as people of privilege wielding their status wherever they go subverting the course of justice.

Beyond the crusade of respect for the rule of law Sir Umaru – the great knight of the rule of law crusade – has to mount the stallion that ensures equality before the law. If she should be in an executive cell, then all prisoners should have executive cells, the culture of preferential treatment at the execution of orders of the court or the law has to stop.

I do not think the judge would be too pleased to learn that his orders have been be carried out with such levity so as to undermine his authority – send her to the executive penthouse of Kuje Prison and make sure the gates are properly locked up.

Current Developments

However, despite my protestations, she has now be granted bail, but the irony of it all must not be lost on anyone, I suppose removal men had to be called in to move her creature comforts back home.

Nigeria: Splitting hairs on Senate funding

The intent is clear

This is an update to the blog I wrote yesterday about the directive of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) advising Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) about providing funds to other organs of government which should for their purposes be fully-funded for their activities.

In what is looking like splitting hairs, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Senate is now trying to interpret that message and achieve an understanding that is clearly not the intent of the SGF.

Live within your means

The fundamental principle simply is, every organ of government should be fully funded or prudently manage their budget to facilitate whatever activities they need to carry out within the law and their legal remits.

If that organ of government does not have sufficient funds, it should apply to its line of management to secure sufficient funds or can the proposed activity – it is a commonsense idea of living within your means.

Conflicts of interest

The National Assembly serves the dual purpose of enacting laws and providing oversight; to fulfil all righteousness in carrying out its duties, it should clearly be financially and structurally independent of the other arms of government.

Regardless of rules of engagement, it is only proper and ethical to avoid situations where the slightest influence can be leveraged through MDAs facilitating or offering funds to the legislative organs of government.

In fact, it is disingenuous of the Senate to expect that MDAs sponsor or facilitate so-called capacity building exercises which are to ensure the Senate delivers on its constitutionally authorised duties of oversight.

There are too many avenues for abuse if the budgets of any of the Senate committees are not completely under the purview of the Senate administration.

Maturing into an example democracy

Regardless of examples the Senate portends to happen in other legislatures in the world, the concept of facilitation should strictly be the availability of personnel, information and access to whatever is needed to ensure the legislature has all the detail necessary to reach the right conclusions for government.

Nobody would be against that, the monetary aspect should be completely off the table, if only to protect the fragile state of our democracy that is still trying to mature into one that fully recognises the rule of law and the principle of separation of powers.

Nigeria runs a presidential system of government, the government should not then allow for obfuscation that makes it appear it is running parliamentary system – the separation of powers including funding for facilitation must be sacrosanct.

Clear intent

I think the clear intent of the SGF was to prevent budgets within the Executive being imprudently disbursed to organs outside its control; this would definitely include the legislature and the judiciary.

Each organ has a job to do, if they cannot get their jobs done due to insufficient funding, the planners need to review their projections and make contingencies for unexpected circumstances – the law should clearly require that MDAs have no right to pass moneys out to the National Assembly.

There should be no debate on that matter at all.

Nigeria: Beyond Due Process

The dues of process

With a number of cases of supposed impropriety leading to the ousting of political officers, the resignation of ministers, the indictment of politicians or the accusation of public office holders, the revelation of each developing speculation might make us lose focus of the pertinent issues.

One phrase that has been bandied around the most on most of these matters is that of “due process”. It makes one ask, how much process is due process and when does due process become a bureaucratic ordeal that requires the vultures of the law to nitpick the minutiae?

Beyond due process

However, beyond the façade of due process maybe we should review the issues of perception, appearance and transparency.

Some holders of public office would like to be considered honest, trustworthy and able; in return they expect to be respected and treated with some dignity whilst their authority and office is not impugned.

In those seemingly exceptional cases, it should not just be the letter of the law or guiding principles of rules of procedure that they should adhere to, they should endeavour to go the extra mile to ensure that nothing they do by commission or omission is construed to be suspect.

Separation from the detail

In the case of the threatened impeachment of the Speaker of the House Representative which lead to her resignation; there might have been reason to renovate the premises of those officers and the acquisition of vehicles for official duties, however, the Speaker should never have gotten directly involved in any of the contractual negotiations to the extent that she got implicated.

If there were rules about tendering, allocation of funds and execution of contracts, she should have ensured that her subordinates were aware of all that would make the activities transparent and above board whilst keeping her distance from matters that could create clamour about conflicts of interest, talk less of the whiff of corruption.

Obeying simple orders

The matter of the resignation of the ministers in the Ministry of Health is simple; the President gave an executive order to return unspent moneys to the treasury; it was disobeyed and then an elaborate scheme was hatched to distribute the said funds to senior staff whilst cheating the junior staff of their share of the loot.

I have no sympathy for the senior officials of that ministry; what they did was unforgivably corrupt and it should be punished after the necessary legal issues have ascertained guilt or innocence of the parties concerned.

Part of that distribution ended up in the Senate Committee for Health which has legislative oversight of the Ministry of Health and this was used to sponsor a retreat in Ghana.

Avoiding the conflict of interest

There are commentators who suggest that the Chairman of that committee, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello is a victim of a witch-hunt by reason of the fact that she is the daughter of the erstwhile President who is having his whole tenure discredited for all sorts of matters of due process.

I do not however subscribe to this idea of a witch-hunt; whilst a Senate committee is allowed to solicit funds for activities to help them fulfil their functions; it surely cannot be right for an oversight committee to solicit and accept funds from organisations over which it exercises the obligation of oversight.

Here, the chairman should have done the prudent thing, return the money to the ministry citing the possibility of conflict of interest and the perception that their clear and objective assessment of issues concerning the Ministry of Health could be compromised.

Asking for good character

Obviously, this is asking for a higher level of probity from participants in the governance of Nigeria, this kind of thinking has to start from the top for it to permeate through the fabric of our political system.

In the end, there is the matter of the spirit and letter of the law and procedures with the additional but unwritten aspects of perception that stems from the character and virtues of the people who hold high public office.

We should have in mind that this does not pertain to any religious affiliation of the people concerned, if they are not in and of themselves honest and trustworthy, no religious adherence would make them any better than they are – do not be badgered with the false witness of swearing to some potentate when you are seeking the truth about any matter.

Nigeria: Senator frogjumps her back wall

A new interest in Nollywood

I am no particular fan of Nollywood, though in the 70s we got caught up in aspects of Bollywood and Sinowood (Bruce Lee, the noises and the kicks), neither do I watch much Hollywood, the last time I was in a cinema was just about a year ago.

I must however say that some scripts, which are inadvertently appearing as news from Nigeria, are looking like we would be getting a major blockbuster very soon starring the thespian qualities of the histrionic Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello at her most melodramatic – I am enthralled.

Senator Obasanjo-Bello happens to be the daughter of the erstwhile President of Nigeria, and it seems she is getting embroiled in every kind of shady deal, which brings the name of Nigeria and the “office” of an elected representative into disrepute.

Cleared but not really cleared

Recently, the Nigerian Senate cleared their own from culpability in the squander of funds from the Ministry of Health; she happens to be the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health.

We have been told that 10 million Naira was given to the Senate Committee for a junket retreat in Ghana. The Director of Administrator in the Ministry of Health, Dr. H. B. Oyedepo who has been talking to the EFCC says it was 20 million Naira – so there is a little business of searching out the real truth and why the doubling or the halving of the money.

The great and desperate escape

Anyway, the EFCC have been after the powerful senator and on a visit to her home to invite her to appreciate the comforts of the commission, news reaches us that she made for the back garden and scaled her wall to escape those menacing EFCC clutches.

The senator would contend that she is no fugitive and we are being regaled with a sob story that she is now afraid for her life.

I’ll tell you this much, if I ran to my backdoor and scaled the wall of my garden, not only would I be afraid for my life, I would be in danger of losing it with a 7-storey plunge.

I cannot believe that such a highly placed politician who has been besmirched with claims of corruption and is protesting her innocence would resort to such desperate measures usually reminiscent of illegal overstaying refugees trying to escape the capture of immigration agents.

Her father’s daughter

The senator has form and she goes on the defensive by claiming, “There's a very huge anti-Obasanjo sentiment in the country now and honestly the behaviour is not normal.”

I could almost sympathise but the truth about the matter is simple, I know that many of us hold our family names in such esteem that we would be all too reluctant to be involved in anything that would bring shame to the family.

That inclination comes from a life of honesty, rectitude, integrity and pride instilled in us by our parents, which would have been instilled in them by a culture that could not countenance the concept of being brought to shame. We hold those values dear, no matter where we are in this world, the few who stray sometimes completely lose their way and end up foul of the law.

Some of the children of President Obasanjo do not seem to have been privileged to acquire this kind of parental guidance, the Obasanjo presidential term seems to be a litany of entrenched corruption, smoke screens of fighting corruption and the complete abuse of process.

A coward exposed

The example of Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello shows that she has followed after the abuse of power rather than the desire to maintain a reputable family name, which others would do by keeping a low profile.

She now feels she is a victim of harassment; that is just so pathetic – she would make us believe she has done nothing wrong - whilst she has peddled influence with impunity and she is now reaping the results in being wanted by the anti-graft agency for a number of questionable activities. Unfortunately, daddy does not seem to be able to pull the strings to exculpate his daughter.

What is most revealing about this saga is this, having been involved in a number of shady deals and transactions; she is unable to face the music and consequences of her actions. This is typical of people who have gained power through nepotism and abuse of process such that they know nothing of the responsibility they are given and when the going gets tough they are crybaby cowards.

If this does not sound like the makings of a Nollywood thriller, I challenge you to come up with a better plot.

Nigeria: Senate safety from blame not guns

That Teflon girl

The Nigerian propensity for a junket and partying knows no limits as we hear the Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has been let off by the Nigerian Senate.

Her Senate Committee on Health took 10 million Naira of funds off the Ministry of Health for a retreat in Ghana when that along with another 290 million Naira should have been returned to the Treasury on the orders of the President.

This is what led to the resignation of chief officers of the Ministry of Health and the unfortunately scalping of that most respected academic and healthcare professional, Professor Adenike Grange.

Rules and dues

Apparently, Senator Obasanjo-Bello broke no Senate rules which we are told tally with rules in United States and United Kingdom constitutions and because the money has already gone towards their retreat, it cannot be returned to the Nigerian purse.

The rules might tally, but in those countries, they have democratic accountability, judicial oversight and anyone who besmirches the name of the parliament or Congress by mere association would with dignity step down from a position of authority.

As all things in Nigeria, it might just end there because the culture of impunity and collegiate of banditry that props up fellow miscreants allows for all to play the same rotten game and get away with it.

We can only hope that she not yet out of the crosshairs of the EFCC because this lady has form in very many shady matters.

Gun of a chief

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Senator David Mark who might well have to go back to the electorate soon to re-contest his seat has been celebrating his 60^th birthday, troops of titled and lettered chiefs, bloated politicians and power brokers would be in tow.

The Olubadan of Ibadan had another chieftaincy title to dole out for favours yet unknown which saw the Senate President conferred with the title of Aare Onibon of Ibadan.

Aare would be the equivalent of an English peerage some sort of arch-chief, commander-in-chief or generalissimo and the Onibon part, I would suspect means he is the custodian of the guns of the city.

Anytime I hear someone has an Aare kind of title, I am always suspicious of something about to happen.

A requisite sacrifice

A mobile policeman, Sergeant Akinola Tajudeen happened to be at the ceremony to help keep order and he blows of his head accidentally at the investiture of the custodian of the guns – in Nigeria, there is more to it than meets the eye, this one almost makes one believe that one should never consign to conspiracy what can be attributed to incompetence.

There seems to be four versions of the event in the same news story, not that it matters; an unfortunate human sacrifice is as much a successful chieftaincy initiation, no questions about why a mobile policeman in a civil setting should have a gun without the safety catch on.

Nigeria: We must make the case at the Supreme Court

A transcript is required

There would be continuous commentary and analysis of the judgement offered by the Federal Electoral Petitions Tribunal yesterday regarding the validity of the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

However, I do not think we can objectively comment on these matters till we are provided with the transcript of the judgement which was read for well over 3 hours.

Now, the needs for justice as we are sentimentally inclined to have desired might not have been served, but the one for due process and its legal requirements have been served.

A case must be made

I am concerned that the judgement came out as unanimous, but that simply implies that the case and evidence presented by the plaintiffs did not convincingly satisfy the judges beyond reasonable doubt – which meant they could not find in favour of the plaintiffs.

I also worry that the executive inadvertently tried to influence or interfere with the proceedings by plucking the chairman of the tribunal out for the post of Associate Justice in the Supreme Court of Nigeria – that really should have waited till all proceedings in which the judge might have been found to have a professional duty and honourable cause had been completed.

Law of evidence not weight of sentiment

In all, it appears the evidence gathered for presentation has to attain a higher standard of quality to admissibly influence judgement in favour of the plaintiffs, they do have their work cut out.

We also have to note that justice in and of itself cannot exist in a vacuum; it needs to operate in the context of the society in which the laws that govern that process thrives.

If the election of the president had been annulled, the order of precedence which is in complete disarray at the moment with the annulment of the election of the senator who also happened to be the Senate President would have had us going to the 38-year old Speaker of the House – the 4^th in line.

It would have meant all houses of legislature losing their leadership as the executive goes into meltdown and the Speaker tries to steady the ship of the our great nation for possibly 90 days.

Not with this INEC

Conducting another election under the auspices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which still has Professor Maurice Iwu as chairman would have been untenable.

We still have no confidence in the ability and competence of that organisation to run free and fair elections, they cannot now suddenly have gained the competence to perform, rather they might just have perfected how to cover up the loopholes the tribunal proceedings might have exposed.

The plaintiffs do have a solid case and have another opportunity make that case better at the highest court of the land and to seek justice with a judgement in its finality because inadvertently, the tribunal might have shied away from the culpability of plunging the country into chaos.

Prove the case convincingly

I would hope the President would move speedily to overhaul and revamp INEC with more trustworthy and competent leadership and when this case does get to the Supreme Court, one would expect the newly appointed Associate Justice to recuse himself from participating in a case that is reviewing his earlier opinions.

I would say, things are working, so far, so good, those whooping for joy now might soon be in a different state of mind.

If we believe that the elections in April 2007 were flawed, rigged, rotten and falsified, we need to gather unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence, then present such with excellence before the learned judges – the dry-run at the tribunal should be lesson enough for all concerned - the judges need to be convinced.

Advance! Nigeria! Advance!

Nigeria: Cut the cake society

Cutting social corners

This “cutting the cake” picture from one of ThisdayOnline's front pages which changes frequently, just about depicts the way we misplace our priorities in Nigeria, if one were to be objective or basically, it is the way things are done in Nigeria, if one were to succumb to the subjective.

The man in the middle is Senator Lee Maeba, and then from the left you have Govenor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, Goodluck Jonathan - the Vice-President of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan (The VP’s wife) and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.

Senator Lee Maeba is married with two children, is a second term senator, the Chairman of the Petroleum Upstream Committee and member of the Establishment & Public Service, Agriculture, Culture & Tourism, Ethics & Petition committees.

Sylva replaced Jonathan as governor and they are all from oil-producing states which have seen so much revenue expended but no appreciable benefit to the people. Say no more.

The question then is why a man with a wife and children is cutting his birthday cake with political affiliates?

Birthdays are for families

One would think this is should be more a family affair, but the curse of junketry (that word again) and just the need to party at any opportunity - this has become a state religion with a horde and multitude of willing worshippers - has brought the Vice-President and two governors together to drink and be merry and that probably is just the tip of the iceberg of the many other idle “dignitaries” as they are known in Nigeria, who attended this lavish ceremony.

Anywhere else public figures celebrate their birthdays, it is usually amongst family with close friends gathering round to share the day with them.

I suppose we could forgive the man for celebrating his Molybdenum Jubilee, a landmark, milestone and grand old age not higher than, nor lower than but equal to the amazingly magnificent number of 42 – The birthday boy … as the caption proudly declares.

Governor Amaechi seems to be stretching out so much the buttons are about to come off the suit – in my opinion the best photograph should have been the Senator, his wife and two children put in the family album and kept of public view.

Maybe, it would be asking a lot for important Nigerian men to spend time with their families when there deals to be made and Jones’ to keep up with on the social calendar. Next, we'll have the Vice-President kiss the bride before the bridegroom does at a church wedding.

‘Nuff Said.

NB: Molybdenum derives from the mineral at 42 in the periodic table.

Religion saves cow for consumption

Senate disorder on religious guest

Two events juxtapose religion and the state or civil society, in both cases a conflict ensued though the resolution may not be to the liking of observers.

The first comes from a post on Chxta's World, a YouTube clip shows a Hindu priest invited to the Senate - the highest legislative authority in the United States - to pray, opening a session of deliberations for the day.

Taken from Chxta's World

Just as he composes himself to utter his elegy, not necessarily sorrowful, a loud voice offers a hostile rebuke to his presence invoking the name of Jesus, this discourteous act was repeated once again in the middle of his prayer.

Now, the interrupter might well think they are speaking up for their religion and the selfsame notion of the Christian roots of America forgetting that this so-called Christianliness was what almost wiped out the indigenes of the America they now call their own.

Besides, the act was as unChristianly that anyone can get, treating a guest with such seething hatred and hostility when the message of love should be the warmth of evangelism.

Doing the devil's work

I doubt if the priest would leave the Senate thinking highly of those who so loudly profess their religion with utter disregard of others, suddenly the job of winning souls becomes one of losing souls - simply doing the work of the Devil and not knowing it at all - that is what happens when you lose objectivity for religious fanaticism - is the Christian version of a Jihadist (radicalised Islamist) now Crusader (radicalised Christian)?.

Anyway, what I found more heartening about the unfortunate event was the convenor immediately stepped to the microphone and rather than warn the culprit to behave he asked the orderlies to restore order to the chamber.

If that involved marching the person out of the chamber, so be it, it showed that the act was deemed unruly, disorderly and disrespectful of the house - hopefully a lesson was learnt; it showed that civil order matters more than zealous and religious bigotry.

Too sacred for the death

Swimming back over the pond we arrive at the Shrine of Shambo and a group of zealous Hindu worshippers. Apparently, Shambo was tested and inconclusively considered to be bovine-tuberculin indicative. If Shambo were on a cattle ranch or on the way to an abattoir, he would immediately be put to sleep and the carcase destroyed.

Not this Shambo, the bull and Holy Cow assumptive at the Skanda Vale Hindu monastery in Wales.

This became a tussle between veterinarian official and Hindu adherents who became activist and would not suffer any harm to befall Shambo.

Technically, this is illegal, unlawful and the obstruction of public officials in pursuit of their lawful duties and so the law was called in to deal with this matter which then ended up in court.

Taking risks of the law

For now the court has ruled in favour of the highly regarded Shambo and asked the authorities to reconsider other means of addressing the matter like treatment of the tuberculosis if found to be existent.

If Shambo does end up posing a serious health risk to other animals that would have been the court erring on the side of recklessness, worse still, with the lavish religious fawning of humans to their object of sacred respect the risk of the contagion jumping the species barrier is possible and how do you treat a person suffering from the bovine-induced tuberculosis?

It would be far-fetched to then consider the actions of the court bordering on the criminal, but a point of law would have been made not to allow religious activism and community clamour to override the basic element of civil law and order in our communities.

Without religion, Shambo would have already been dead and really quite dead, I say.

Preparing for a one-party state

The numbers are dangerous

We can safely say that the numbers peddled as results of the Nigerian Election in 2007 would be the basis for a lot more than we reckoned.

Already, people are looking forward to 4 years time and I really think that is being naively optimistic.

The ruling party has just swept about 70% of the vote for both the Executive and Legislature which gives them the ability to enact incumbency laws, gerrymandering commissions and change the constitution probably without the help of any member of the opposition.

You only have to look at the type of person who is going to the Nigerian Senate, the son, the assistant to the son and the son-in-law of Chief Lamidi Adedibu, the stark illiterate and celebrated hoodlum from Oyo State.

It only takes one idiot to look at the might of the PDP to start advocating a one-party state and that would go through the House and Senate in a breeze; just like the incoming President was able to spearhead the institution of Sharia Law in his state and the follow-ons in other Northern States.

Our Mark of the Beast

If we do not sort out this charade that is masquerading as democracy now, be prepared to be a card-carrying member of PDP to get anything done in Nigeria. We would have signed up for the proverbial "Mark of the Beast" and there would be no April 2011 for multi-party elections.

Four years is a long time in politics and plenty of time for a overwhelmingly powerful party to subscribe to the cult of eternal incumbency.

The examples of lame oppositions are rife in Africa and Nigeria is about to join that list. Africa used to have the most one-party states most of which went into decline in the 1990s giving birth to pluralism and multi-party politics, but if the state apparatus is so engrained in the ruling party it would be impossible to effect change except through revolutionary means.

We might all read this in denial, but just as sure as night follows day, we are already on that slippery slope to a one-party state, it would take a seriously disciplined executive and legislature to prevent that, if the Judiciary does not rise to claim our democracy from the tyranny of megalomania.

If I am just being a Prophet of Doom, please forgive me.

Who pays the price? Boxer versus Rice

Boxer and Rice again

This is not the first time that Barbara Boxer a Democratic Senator from California has had pugilistic exchanges with Condoleezza Rice the US Secretary of State, when Rice was being confirmed the fiery exchange ended on a curt note, but sometimes the gloves do have to come off to know when you have been hit hard.

As we know with any political exchange that lifts the veneer of niceness to reveal the deep truth, people would fall on either side of the battlefront in America it become the ground for conservatives and liberals to castigate, denigrate, condemn and fulminate against each other.

Let us take sides

In the blue corner is Barbara Boxer and the red corner Condoleezza Rice – no low punches, no holding each other, fight fair – may the best girl win.

The latest exchange between Boxer and Rice can be read in all sort of ways from a straight lunge for an understanding that people who have no personal family in the Iraqi debacle may not fully understand the price of the sacrifices being demanded; through the backward leap for women’s rights if a single unmarried woman has her judgement impaired which leaves her unqualified to serve her nation; to an inconsiderate and despicable personal attack highlighting another woman’s childlessness.

I remember during the Israeli-Lebanon skirmish, Rice talked about witnessing the birth-pangs of a new Middle East, this is from a woman who just like me, a male, has no inkling about what the pain of birth can be. The Boxer exchange is not out of place.

People have taken their sides already, I feel there is a bit of all in the matter, but it takes away from where in all objectivity the inquisitor intended, what the respondent understood and how people want to see it.

Ring-side I see an upper cut

This is the statement that started the furore, make in the context of the escalation and troops surge that Dr Rice redefined as an augmentation – really, an unfortunate choice of words – however, this is the upper-cut – “Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young,” Boxer said. “You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families.”

Well, it does look like a upper cut from where I was viewing the match, however, there is a possibility that some judge might see a punch below the belt, hey, judging a boxing match can be subjective and three subjective judges does not an objective result create – rather it is one of aligned perception.

Facts as they lie

Fact 1: Neither Boxer nor Rice have immediate family in the Iraqi war.

Situation 1: Only two congressmen have had their children deployed to Iraq, these kids are currently back in less volatile assignments, it is valid to ask if any politician or influential person is suffering the anxiety, fear, uncertainty and potential loss by having blood relations running the gauntlet of a merciless insurgency in a foreign land.

Fact 2: There is a price being paid for this war in Iraq and since the day war started on March the 20^th 2003, it is a daily average of the death of just over two American soldiers and $2 billion.

Situation 2: Besides the seemingly demigod-like reverence that the President of the United States sometimes commands that people can see him do no wrong, are people really aware of the cost of this war in terms of lives and resources and if that has been justifiably accounted for?

Situation 3: It is clear that no one even the most optimistic of the President’s men can certify that the new plan would be successful and what additional cost would be borne. The concern is that the sacrifice being asked for is to get the President out of a rut rather than solve the problem that grew out of American belligerence.

Fact 3: One patriotic minority of the American People who definitely need the support and back of the populace at large is paying a disproportionately high price in the Iraqi war and something it is not clear if they are sure the freedom they are fighting for is the freedom they should be fighting for.

Fact 4: Neither Boxer nor Rice can send their kids to Iraq, a fact that Boxer acknowledged – Boxer will not offer to bear that sacrifice and Rice cannot bear that sacrifice – the devil however, is the detail of whoever wants to explore the reasons why neither can send their children.

Twisting the facts

With all guns and vitriol blasting out the conservative press like some mega-volcano, the emotion of the moment that highlighted singleness and childlessness rather than the underlying hard questions that need real answers.

The care for those affected by war has to move beyond sympathy and the occasional opportunistic chat to family and relations of those fallen or wounded at war.

Both Barbara Boxer and Condoleezza Rice are seriously smart women, but when it is comes to the politics where decisions send men to war, the gloves do have to come off sometimes sailing very close to the wind and someone has to take it to the limit.

Barbara Boxer has never shied from addressing issues in matter-of-fact words that everyday man can understand, it is a duty to be expected of legislature in which they have grossly underperformed until now.

If the Republican controlled congress had asked tough questions then, it is unlikely that we would be ending up with almost indecent questions now.

Sentiments aside – who really pays the price?

Obviously, conservative commentary is apoplectic with rage about what is termed an intemperate slap on a childless woman, rivers of almost pity might want to flow from many to Dr Rice and that is the prerogative of the many that have “feelings”.

But the question at the end is the most important question at all, given all said and done, given the grand schemes and ideologies that pus h them, given the goals after extensive deliberation that discounts the advise of many for some narrow perspective that probably would take the day, for all those who are in power and have the power to call men to arms and send them to victory, détente, defeat, incapacity, pain or even the ultimate – Death.

Boxer said. “I know you feel terrible about it. That's not the point. I was making the case as to who pays the price for your decisions.”

Exactly, who really pays the price for all the mistakes in Iraq that the President has taken responsibility for in word but does not seem to sacrifice anything for apart from the musical chairs of personnel that report to him?

Who pays the price?

References

Dems burn ‘kidless’ Rice – New York Post

Sec. Rice Attacked by Sen. Boxer Over Childlessness – Mens News Daily

White House Spokesman Blasts Sen. Boxer's Exchange With Secretary Rice – Fox News

Senator’s utterance to Rice sets off uproar – The Kansas City Star

Exchange Turns Into Political Flashpoint – The New York Times

[Most of the guns have been firing on the conservative wires and hardly any on the liberal ones.]

A straight flush - Democrats win all

Seeking food for rage

Everyone once in a while, I allow the multitude of channels on my digital television subscription to excite my curiosity. The group of channels that come under the title of News and Documentaries has a lot to offer, probably 15 or so channels in all.

Then I look for one that would rile me, fill me with righteous indignation and leave me incandescent with rage and as I am astonished at what has come to my hearing.

No, channel excites that much vile and negative emotion than the Fox News Channel – anyone who gets a daily dose of that staple is bound to need augmented mental support be it medicinal or surgical – but, some are just so attuned to the stuff that they call opinion coming from pundits that would not qualify for the analysis of kindergarten skittles.

Giving a wet fish slap

The opinion is so malformed, skewed and radically “conservative” read Republican, none of which can bear educated scrutiny.

Only last week, they had people on who could not imagine the possibility of the Democrats taking the House of Representatives talk less of the Senate, as I sat and listened to the analysis, I saw myself pick up a decently sized wet fish, swinging it with the finesse of a Justine Henin-Hardenne backhand till it hit the pundit square in the face and do that three or four times till he woke up and smelt the coffee.

The President has lost this hand

Well, methinks we have moved beyond the cheap poker hand of a full house and now have a straight flush, the Democrats having taken the House of Representatives and just over an hour ago, the Senate too.

The President was left with a high card and with nothing to flop; he had to fold with the loss of a big bet (Rumsfeld). He now has to be smart with his new hand because, he probably does not have that many chips to play fast and loose anymore. The boy born with a silver foot in his mouth has done what they all do, squander favour, resources, goodwill, life and opportunity.

When we have a Royal Flush (Presidency & Congress) in November 2008 with Hillary Rodham Clinton as President-elect, the fox-hunting season might have been over with the hounds fully sated – basically, Americans cannot afford to have the ilk of the Fox News Channel continue to skew debate with impunity.

As for Dubbiyew, if I shed a tear for the loss of last Tuesday'elections, it would have been for the lives that missed the opportunity for a change to the misguided Iraq escapade.