₦airaland Forum

Lagos: Left behind by the megacity

by SOLAADE AYO-ADERELE and BUKOLA ADEBAYO


The Babatunde Fashola administration has always expressed its desire to turn Lagos State into a megacity. SOLAADE AYO-ADERELE and BUKOLA ADEBAYO report that heavily populated urban areas, characterised by substandard housing and squalor, have put a dent on the efforts, as these areas seem to have been forgotten in the scheme of things

The children of Pa Chinedu Matthew saw the other side of their residential area a fortnight ago. Their octogenarian patriarch had been sick and needed urgent medical attention.

However, while the family was determined to make whatever was left of his long life as comfortable as possible, the terrain they had to negotiate to get him to the hospital was as hostile as the conditions in the slum they live in.

The unusual rains of the past weeks did not help matters. On their return from one of his medical check-ups, the roads leading to the interior of Ayobo, where they live, had been flooded. They had to ferry the ailing old man through the water-logged terrain by strapping him to the back of one of his children.

The following day, 82-year-old Pa Matthew died of what his doctor said was stress as a result of what he experienced on the road the previous day.

About four decades ago, Pa Matthew had settled in Ayobo Town, which has now become a heavily populated suburb in Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area. He had done well for himself, as he owned a handful of landed property in the fast fading town.

However, when he settled in as a young man, Ayobo was a fast growing community, with prospects of becoming one of the small prosperous towns that Lagos, as a commercial city, could flaunt.

Gradually, his children recalled, the affordable price of land and accommodation in Ayobo led to the influx of a huge number of people. This soon started taking its toll on the environment, especially as a result of what residents describe as government neglect over the years.

As you drive to Ayobo from Church Bus Stop in Ipaja, you could see the neglect that the people complain about. Although new houses, banks and a modern market dot the route, the environment is largely dirty with bad roads, aging and crumbling structures - many of them constructed with mud, and others with corrugated iron sheets.

*Haphazard structures


Generally, it is doubtful if the Department of Physical Planning and Urban Development has a say in how houses are built here, what with the haphazard manner structures are sited, with many windows opening, literally, into other people's bedrooms.


The environmental condition is appalling. Many houses lack toilet facilities, while those that have semblance of one have their wastes poured directly into the few available drainage outlets. Where there is no drainage system, the waste water flows on until it dries up along the line.


Sometime in 2011, the Lagos State Government initiated the road rehabilitation work between Ipaja and Ayobo, but as the project drags on, the road has become remarkably impassable, with the attendant hardship it foists on road users.


Not very far from Ayobo is Meiran, in Agbado/Oke-Odo Local Council Developmental Area. Like other slums in the 'Centre of Excellence', as Lagos is otherwise called, many houses are built close to one another and in an haphazard manner.


The earning capacity of most house owners in Meiran is not too difficult to guess, as a plot of land can accommodate up to about six structures, each of them constructed in the room-and-parlour format – plus one bathroom. Each of them houses families numbering, on the average, six.


There is no pipe-borne water; as a result, those who are able to sink boreholes retail water to less fortunate residents.


*Declining neighbourhoods


Though Ayobo and Meiran are backwater settlements, the giant stretch called Agege, another Lagos suburb, seems worse, as it seems to have become what the United Nations described as "declining" neighbourhoods, in which environmental conditions and services are in a process of seemingly inevitable decay.

Though it is a walking distance to Ikeja - the state capital and an industrial area - the core Agege seems to have remained stagnant in terms of backwardness. From Alfa Nla to Papa Ashafa, Dopemu, some parts of Mangoro, Orile, Agbotikuyo and others, the story is as bad.

In Alfa Nla, for instance, although there are many beautiful buildings, they exist side-by-side with decrepit structures. The streets run into one another in untidy manner, and some of them are breeding grounds for rodents and disease vectors like mosquitoes, rats and flies.


Here, too, the road project that has been under construction for over two years does not seem to have a completion date. The open canal that runs from the boundary between Alfa Nla and Okekoto streets has remained an eyesore for a long time, as it is filled with all sorts of debris, chief among which are 'pure' water bottles and nylon bags of all sizes.

Akerele Street in Agege may have become a no-go area for the sane. Though it has gradually degenerated into a market, it still hosts mainly old residential houses.


Alhaji Sani Bello, a tailor who maintains a shop on the street, says unless you know how to navigate the terrain, you are likely to be robbed in broad daylight by the many junkies who have found a home in the scandalous street.


A walk through Akerele is like passing through the biblical valley of the shadow of death. You are assailed with whiffs of Indian hemp which is smoked openly as if there is no law barring its possession, sale or consumption.


One of our correspondents witnessed a bizarre scene as she traversed the notorious street: A young man deftly passed an object to a wasted young man, who paid hurriedly before dashing to a corner to start sniffing the content of the silver wrapper he had been handed. The sniffing lasted a few minutes, after which he slumped, took a deep breath and got lost in reverie.


Bello said it was a scene residents were familiar with, as Akerele Street is known for all sorts of criminal misdemeanour.


A landlord who gave his name as Alhaji - refusing to provide a real name for fear of backlash - said though they had tried to dislodge the drug dealers, they soon realised the futility of their efforts, as the majority of the young men involved in the illicit trade were children of other landlords and can therefore not be prevented from living in the street where their parents own landed property.


*Weighed down by floods and debris


Awori Street in Dopemu area is an area below the sea level. Residents say they experience flooding whenever it rains. Here, the streets groan under the weight of debris that is washed there from adjoining slums; and people still inhabit structures that have caved in to the floods and vacated by their owners.


Still in Dopemu, Adesokan Street is another giant stretch of slum, with stagnant waters in the mosquito-breeding drainages. Routine garbage collection is lacking; as such, rubbish accumulates in huge quantities on the streets and stretches for miles.


Since the area is prone to severe flooding, most houses appear to be sinking - or, perhaps, sand-filled by their owners to window levels to beat flooding - as the windows are barely up to three feet above the ground.


Though all the aforementioned areas are in the heart of Agege Town, they look more like informal settlements.


*Lagos Island's poor neighbourhoods


On Lagos Island, the characteristics of the landscapes in Ebute Elefun and Ilaje communities could best be summed up in one word: disturbing.


While areas such as parts of Oshodi, Surulere, Victoria Island and major roundabouts and underbridges have witnessed immense environmental turnaround, Ebute-Elefun is a thickly populated, run-down settlement lying close to the upwardly mobile Lagos Island but lacking civilisation.


Nude children run around bare-footed, as their lives seem to revolve around their ramshackle neighbourhood. They find ready 'playground' at Marwa Motor Park, and virtually every corner of the community is littered with gambling joints - veritable breeding grounds for criminals.


Though it has not rained for a week on the Lagos Island, the entire place seems to have been overlaid with thick black mud, as the ground is perpetually wet, perhaps due to the closeness to the coast.


Alhaji Hassan, a resident who took one of our correspondents round the neighbourhood on Wednesday morning, said though Ebute Elefun was one of the first communities on the Island, it was now the last to experience development.


The elderly man said living conditions in the community worsened every year, blaming the state government for excluding the area from the various urban planning projects.


Hassan said, "Every year, houses collapse or are washed away. About 20 homes collapsed overnight two weeks ago, but because we are not in Ikoyi, nobody heard about it; nobody came to visit or intervene. We pay our taxes. So, government should provide for us; but they only reconstruct highbrow areas. Many of us do not want to live here, but when you do not have enough money to rent a decent apartment in a safer area of the city, you come here."


The houses in Ebute Elefun are also rented out to traders in Idumota, Obalende and Balogun areas for those looking for cheap and short stays. Landlords provide bed and breakfast for those looking for short stays on the Lagos Island.


Here, you can get a roof over your head for as little as N200 a day, as one of the caretakers in charge of leasing some rooms disclosed. Rent is usually between N100 per day and N1,500 per month. The reason is that most of the houses do not come with any social amenity like water, toilet or electricity.


*"We have no bathroom, potable water"


"We have no toilet or bathroom. Most people just come to sleep and spend the rest of the day at the market or their places of work. We have just one bore-hole from which we get our water," Hassan further said.


The same applies to residents of Ilaje, an ethnic settlement in Ajah, some kilometres away from the lagoon.


What greets you as you enter the neigbourhood is the stench of urine and decaying materials. The rent, as with all slums, is cheap. A family living in one of the mud houses in the community pay N2,000 monthly, which seems expensive, considering the fact that there is nothing flattering about these shanties.


A resident, Nehemiah, who operates a computer centre in the community, said he had been living there for six years since he left Jos, Plateau State for Lagos due to the ethnic clashes.


According to him, when he got to Lagos, he had nowhere to stay. A friend loaned him N200 to rent a room in Ilaje.


Nehemiah, a university graduate, said he was considering relocating his business and family to Ibeju Lekki, as most of the houses in Ilaje are unfit for human habitation.


Ilaje is a community of fishermen, but apart from fishing, drinking bars and joints are the businesses that thrive in the area.


He said, "Smoking and drinking start as early as 7am. I want to move my business out of here because most of them do not believe in sending children to school."


*No health care facility


As thickly populated as Ilaje is, it has no health centre. When residents need health care services, they travel to Ajah or Ibeju Lekki.


Nehemiah said, "Our women and children are suffering; there is no clinic in this community. Even the health centre in Ajah has no doctor; it has only a nurse and another health worker. They cannot take child delivery. Rather, pregnant women are always referred to Lagos Island, which is far from here."


Nehemiah disclosed that the lack of health care facility cost him his second child.


He said, "My wife fell into labour in the night and I had to put her on a commercial motorcycle to Ajah. When we reached the clinic, there was no doctor, and the nurse on duty said she did not know what to do. She then advised us to go to Lagos Island Maternity. My wife could not walk, so we took another motorbike to Lagos Island. She started contracting on the way, and she gave birth before we reached the Island. But because there was no medical personnel around, the baby died immediately after delivery."


Another resident, Cornelius, a Ghanaian, said houses in Ilaje did not come with toilet facilities.


He said, "You must learn how to hold yourself if you want to live here. It is common to see people waking up at night to go use the lagoon front. Those who cannot venture that far relieve themselves in front of other people's houses. Children literally play in faeces, which litters everywhere."


In general, many of the slum dwellers employ themselves in the informal economy, which include street vending, drug dealing, and prostitution. Many of them pick through the garbage heaps in search of items which they hawk for a living. Items of choice include empty beer and water bottles, as well as household electronics goods.


*United Nations report


According to the United Nations Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, about one third of all city dwellers live in slums. Its Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Mrs. Raquel Rolnik, noted that slums are usually characterised by urban decay, high rates of poverty, and unemployment.


"They are commonly seen as breeding grounds for social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, high incidence of mental illness, and suicide. They also exhibit high incidence of disease due to inadequate access to safe water, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, lack of basic health care, poor structural quality of housing, overcrowding, and insecure residential status. Indeed, they are manifestation of urban poverty in developing world cities."


This description fits all the slums that our correspondents visited.


In reaction, a construction expert and participant at a Lagos Housing Fair, Mr. Timothy Odeleye, said the problem was that when people were removed from slums and the place was rebuilt, former residents were almost always edged out, as their economic capability to afford an accommodation there was always dicey, while the government almost always develop interest in turning them into urban settlements, as was the case of Maroko.


"At the end of the day, the poor people move further to the interior to create new slums, thus creating an unending cycle of slum to urban, and back to slum," Odeleye said.


*Official reactions


When contacted, the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, responding through the ministry's Public Relations Officer, Mr. Fola Adeyemi, said the issue was beyond the purview of his ministry, and referred our correspondent to the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Olutoyin Ayinde.


Ayinde neither picked his calls nor responded to the SMS sent to his GSM number.


Ditto the chairmen of the affected local council development authorities and local government areas.


These are Hon Augustine Arogun (Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA); Hon Shakiru Yusuf (Ayobo Ipaja LCDA); and Hon Ayodeji Abdulkareem (Agege LG).

SOURCE: http://odili.net/news/source/2013/jan/31/806.html

Obi’s projects in Anambra amazing –Labaran Maku

Our ReporterJanuary 27, 2013


Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Labaran Maku yesterday described as amazing the number and quality of projects that Governor Peter Obi has executed in Anambra State. He made the observation at the newly constructed 165-meter Odor Bridge, linking the Awgwu and Amaokpala communities in the state.

He described the project as the most amazing he had seen constructed by any state government since he embarked on the ongoing media tour. The Minister who spoke extensively during a Town Hall meeting at Women Development Centre, Awka, said that Obi had distinguished himself not just in the magnitude of projects he had executed, but more significantly in the even development of the projects down to the remotest part of the state.

“The governor has moved away from common practice of concentrating projects in the towns and has reached areas of the state that were neglected by past governments and has opened up the entire state with impressive network of roads and projects cutting across all sectors,” he said.. He commended what Obi iwas doing in education, partnership with the Church and other voluntary organizations as a model worthy of emulation.

Thrilled by what he saw at INNOSON Motor Manufacturing Company, Nnewi, he disclosed the Federal Government’s initiative to encourage the company and patronize it. He also assured that work would quicken at Zik’s mausoleum. The Minister who also toured various Federal Government’s projects in the state, said that the development in Anambra was essentially due to the governor’s wisdom of working harmoniously with the President of the country.

Describing Obi’s tenure as Anambra’s glorious moment, he said that he had restored civility, stability and honour to the state due to his vision punctuated by humility. The President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mallam Ahmed Garuba, represented by the President, South-East, Chris Isiguzor, RATTAWU President, Yemi Bamgbosi, the President of National Council of Women Societies, Nkechi Mbah, Alistar Soyombi of Ben Tv, Uk and other speakers agreed that Anambra was one state where democracy was working.

They said they were overwhelmed by the projects executed by the governor across all sectors, particularly roads, health, education and attraction of investors. They noted his relationship with the masses as exceptional. In Bamgbosi’s words: “Some states we visited were even afraid to show us projects, but in Anambra, they have so much that they were demanding more time to enable us see at least 50 per cent of the projects.”

But they appealed to the governor to improve on sanitation and to endeavour to conduct the local government elections. In his response, Governor Obi lamented lack of enough time to see most of the projects and thanked the Federal Government for the initiative, which he noted would offer the people of the country the opportunity to see what those they elected to lead them were doing for them.

He revealed that the state has not borrowed from any financial institution or raised a bond explaining that all the on-going projects would be completed and new ones started with money already saved for their execution. Concluding, he assured that all secondary schools in the state would get one bus each before the end of the year as well as computers for all the primary schools in the state.

“In few day’s time, we shall give vehicles for security to all the towns in the state, start the Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi Shopping Malls and Hotel projects, among others”, he added.

SOURCE: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/national/obis-projects-in-anambra-amazing-labaran-maku/

•I won’t forget what IBB did to me, although I’ve forgiven him
•I’ve not forgiven Obasanjo
•My civil war experiences
•No regret shooting cocaine pushers

From ERIC OSAGIE and PAULINUS AIDOGHIE, Abuja

Ever since the Supreme Court ruled on the 2011 presidential election, former Head of State and candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, has always refused to grant an elaborate interview on his experiences and feelings.

However, on the auspicious occasion of his 70th birthday, Buhari has finally spoken. In an exclusive interview with Saturday Sun, he talked about his growing up days, experiences in the Army, his emergence as head of state when he never participated in any coup, the 1966 coup and the counter-coup, the General Ibrahim Babangida coup that swept him out of office, the execution of cocaine traffickers, Decree 4 and the controversial ‘53 suitcases’ that allegedly came into the country during his government.

He also spoke about his relationship with General Babangida, who he said he had forgiven, although he would not forget what he did to him and his plan for the 2015 elections, among others.

Excerpts:

What kind of childhood did you have?

Well, from my father’s side, we are Fulanis. You know the Fulanis are really divided into two. There are nomads, the ones that if you drive from Maiduguri and many parts of the North you will find. They are even in parts of Delta now. And there are those who settled. They are cousins and the same people actually. From my mother’s side and on her father’s side, we are Kanuris from Kukawa.

Where’s Kukawa?

Kukawa is in Borno State. We are Kanuris. On her mother’s side, we are Hausas. So, you can see I am Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri combined (he laughs). I am the 23rd child of my father. Twenty-third and the 13th on my mother side. There are only two of us remaining now; my sister and I. I went to school, primary school, in Daura and Kaduna, also a primary school, in Kachia. I also attended Kaduna Provincial Secondary School, now Government College. I didn’t work for a day. I joined the military in 1962.

You mean as a boy soldier?

No, after school certificate. There was an officer cadet school from here in Kaduna, called Nigeria Military Training College then. In April 1962, I went to the United Kingdom (UK), Mons Officers Cadet School.

You mean the famous Mons Officers…?

Yes. And when I was commissioned, I came back and I was posted to 2nd Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta. That was my first posting. The battalion was in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I went there. When I came back from there, I was first in Lagos, as Transport Officer. That was where I was till the January coup. I was posted back to my battalion and we were posted to Kaduna here. And then, there was a counter coup, civil war, coup and counter-coup. We participated. I too was overthrown and detained for more than three years. And having had that major political setback when I was made a head of state and then, ended up in detention, I went out and eventually, I decided to join party politics, participated three times and lost as presidential candidate and I am still in and fighting.

You have never given up?

Even though I said at some stage that I wouldn’t present myself for candidature again, I said I remain in party politics as long as I have breath in me.

Your Excellency, why did you join the Army?

The interest was built while I was in secondary school. The emirs of Katsina, from Dikko, were known to be interested in the military. They always have members of the military or police in their family right from World War 11. One of the emirs of Kaduna-Dikko died in Burma. And of course, everybody in the country knows General Hassan, the son of the Emir of Katsina. He was grandson of Emir Dukko. So, when General Hassan was in Sandhurst, we were in secondary school in Kaduna. His father, the Emir of Katsina, Usman Nagogo, used to ask him to go and talk to the senior students who were in form four to six, to get them interested in the military. And we were told that he deliberately wanted a military cadet unit in Kaduna Secondary School. Then, it was limited to Federal Government Colleges or Government Colleges and we had a military cadet unit, which I joined.

That was the transition?

That was where the interest started.

Did your parents object to it?

No. Well, I didn’t know my father really.

Oh! How old were you when he died?

I think I was about three, four years? I couldn’t remember his face. The only thing I could recall about my father was the horse because it threw me down. We were on the horse with one of my half brothers going to water it and then, it tripped and I fell. It stepped on me. So, that is the only impression I have of him. That is the only thing I could recall.

What of your mother?

Oh! my mother died in 1988 when I was in detention.

Ok, I remember then the controversy of allowing you to go and see her buried. Did they eventually allow you?

No.

Then it was quite an issue …

Yeah, it became an issue; so I was immediately released after she was buried.

You didn’t see her buried?

No.

It was after you were released you then went to her grave and all that?

Exactly!

What kind of childhood did you then have?

Well, you know communities then were living communal life. Clearly, I could recall I reared cattle. We had cattle; we had sheep and then, there was good neighbourhood. Not many children had the opportunity to go to school, but I went to school. I left home at the age of 10 or 11 and went to school, like I said. And I was in the boarding school for nine years. In primary school and secondary school, I was in the boarding house and from there, I went straight into the Army.

So, you have always been on your own?

In those days, there were not many schools and the teachers then were professionals. They were working teachers and were committed. And teachers then treated the children as if they were their own students. You were made to work and if you don’t, they never spared the cane really. So, I was lucky to be in the boarding school for my impressionable years, nine years. I was very lucky.

Did you play any pranks as a young person?

Oh, certainly!

What where the things you did?

(Laughs) I wouldn’t like to mention them.

Tell us some of them…

We used to raid the emir’s orchard for mangoes mainly. Of course, unfortunately we were caught and punished.

When people talk of Buhari today, they are looking at a disciplined man. Was it the boarding house that put you through that or the military? Was the boarding house part of where you got your Spartan, disciplined life?

Both did. As I told you, the teachers then treated their students as if they were their own children. So, we got the best of attention from teachers. And as I told you, they never spared the cane. You were meant to do your homework; you were meant to do the sports and clean up the environment, the compound and the area of the school and so on. And from that type of life, I moved into the military, the military of that time.

Would you say going into the military was the best thing that ever happened to you?

I think so, because from primary to secondary school and in the military, it will continue, both the academic and the physical one. I think it was so tough, but then, once it was inbuilt, it has to be sustained because you don’t contemplate failure.

You just succeed? Does it mean failure was not an option?

No. It was not.

Was it also the Fulani training of perseverance? Because when you have reared cattle, for those who have been doing it, they said it toughens you…

It did.

The sun is there, the rain and you are there with your cattle…

The period was remarkable, in the sense that those who are brought up in the city have limited space. If you are in a confined school, you learn from the school and what you see immediately. But the nomad life exposes you to nature. You will never learn enough of plants, of trees, of insects and of animals. Everyday you are learning something.

You have seen them and everyday you are learning. You will never know all of them. So, it is so vast that it takes a lot of whatever you can think of. And then, the difference again in the environment. In the Savannah, in the Sahel, after harvest, you can always see as high as your eyes can go. And then, at night when there is moon, it is fantastic. So, I enjoyed those days and they made a lasting impression in me.



What are the remarkable things you can think of during your military trainings?

Initially, from here in Kaduna, at the end of your training, the height of the field exercise was then conducted in two places. Here in southern Kaduna and somewhere in Kachia area. There was a thick belt in that forest. You go for field firing and so on. And then you go to Jos for map reading and endurance. That was why mathematics at that level, the secondary school level, geometry and algebra, were absolutely necessary. It had always been, because to be a competent officer, you may be deployed to be in charge of artillery; physics, where you help find your position. Wherever you are from, you work it on the ground in degrees and so on. You have to do some mathematics.

We were in Jos. Again, I was made a leader of a small unit. We were given a map, a compass and you dare not cheat. If you are found out, you are taken 10 miles back. So, you have to go across the country. You find your way from the map; you go to certain points and on those points, mostly hills, you climb them and you will get a box. The weather there is cold. You put your own coat and you cover it over the hills and at the end of the exercise, part of your scorecards, are those marks you won or you lost. We arrived with one compass, which led us to a certain bushy hill.

In Jos?

Yes, in Jos. And it was night, dark and it was raining lightly and definitely, our compass led us to that hill, which means there was a point there. And there were five of us: myself, one Sierra Leonean or Ghanaian, one from Sokoto, and one other. I think the other person is Katsina Alu, the former Chief Justice.

You mean he was in the military?

He was. He did the training but he was never commissioned. He went to university and did Law. I went up to the hill. I picked the box. I copied the code, and I said if I were forced to join the Army, I would have left the following day because that place, a viper or a snake or something or hyena or lion could have finished me. But I said if I run away the following day, people would say well we knew you couldn’t make it, we knew you would be lazy. But because I voluntarily joined the Army, I said I have to be there. That is one point. The second one was when I was in training in the UK. I came there and we were drilled so much and at night again, we were on an exercise. We were putting our formation. In anyway position was created, and they fired at us. We went down automatically that day and by the time the commander asked us to move, I fell asleep. It must be few seconds, not up to a minute. That was how exhausted I was.

Was it really the cold or what?

It was cold. It was 1962. It was cold and it was rainy again just like in Plateau. Just between the time we went down and to move and climb the mountain, I fell asleep. So, those two moments, I would never forget them.

Who were your classmates in the military and in the officers’ training in the UK?

Well, the late Gen. Yar’Adua. I was together with him throughout the nine years primary, secondary school and in the military.

So, you have always been colleagues…?

We were together from childhood.

Ok, that is interesting. Who else?

Well, not the ones that are here. In the military, most of them did not reach the position I reached; myself, and Yar’Adua. They couldn’t make it.

Why did you choose the infantry and not the other arms? What was the attraction?

Maybe it was the training of the cadet unit in secondary school. I found the infantry much more challenging and when we were doing the training, the Federal Government decided that we were going to have the Air Force. So, I was invited. A team came from the Ministry of Defence to interview cadets that wanted to be fighter pilots in the Air Force. I was the first to be called in our group. I appeared before them and they told me that those who could pass the interview would be recommended to go to the Air Force training either in the UK, some went to Ethiopia or United States or Germany. So, they asked me whether I wanted to be a fighter pilot and I said no. They asked why, and I said I wasn’t interested. We were given three choices. Number one, maybe you went to infantry; number two, you went to reconnaissance then before they became armour and later, maybe artillery. So, all my three choices, I could recall vividly, I put infantry, infantry. So, they said why? I said because I liked infantry. And they asked if I wouldn’t like to be a fighter pilot. I said no, I didn’t want to join them. They said why. I said I hadn’t done physics. Normally, I did some mathematics but to be a fighter pilot, you must do some physics. They said no, that it was no problem, that I could have an additional one academic year. So, since I had some mathematics background, it was just one year purely to do physics and I would reach the grade required to be a pilot. I said no, I didn’t want it. They again asked why. I told them I chose infantry. The reason is: when I am fighting and I was shot at, if I was not hit, I can go down, turn back and take off by foot. They laughed and sent me out. So, I remained infantry officer.

Where were you during the coups and counter-coups? And what rank were you in the military then?

I was in Lagos, in the barracks, as transport officer. I was only a second lieutenant.

That was during the January 15, 1966 coup?

Yes, January 15, 1966.

The coup met you in Lagos?

Yes. I think that was my saddest day in the military because I happened to know some of the senior officers that were killed. In the transport company, after the 2nd Battalion and we came back, I was posted to Lagos to be a transport officer and in my platoon, we had staff cars and Landrovers. So, I knew the Army officers, from Ironsi, Maimalari, because I detailed vehicles for them every working day. So, I knew senior officers.

So, you were in contact with them?

I was in contact with them somehow because I was in charge of transportation.

Where were you that night of January 15 coup?

I was in Lagos.

Can you recall the circumstance, how you got to know?

The way I got to know was, my routine then was as early as about six in the morning, I used to drive to the garage to make sure that all vehicles for officers, from the General Officer Commanding (GOC), who was then General Ironsi, were roadworthy and the drivers would drive off. And then, I would go back to the Officers Mess in Yaba, where I would wash, have my breakfast and come back to the office. And around the railway crossing in Yaba, coming out from the barracks, we saw a wounded soldier. I stopped because I was in a Landrover. I picked him and asked what happened. He said he was in the late Maimalari’s house and they were having a party the previous night and the place was attacked. So, I took the soldier to the military hospital in Yaba and I asked after the commander. Maimalari, I think, was commander of 2 Brigade in Apapa. He was the 2 Brigade Commander. They said he was shot and killed.

Then, you didn’t know it was a coup?

Well, that became a coup. That was the time I really learnt it was a coup.

And then there was a counter-coup of July?

Yes, July.

Where were you at this time also?

I was in Lagos again. I was still in Lagos then at Apapa at 2 Brigade Transport Company.

And then, there was ethnic colouration and all that. And at a point, they asked some of you to go back to the North. Am I correct?

Yes, because I was posted back then to the battalion. That was in Abeokuta. It was first to Ikeja Cantonment, but after the counter-coup, we were taken to Lagos by train, the whole battalion.

Did you play any role in the counter-coup?

No! Not that I will tell you.

You know at 70, you are reminiscing. You are saying it the way it is, you don’t give a damn anymore…

Well, there was a coup. That is all I can tell you. I was a unit commander and certainly, there was a breakdown of law and order. So, I was posted to a combatant unit, although 2 Brigade Transport Company was a combatant unit. You know there were administrative and combatant units and the service unit, like health, education. Even transport, there are administrative ones, but there are combatant ones also.

The question I asked was, did you play any specific role?

No. I was too junior to play any specific role. I was just a lieutenant then. In 1966, January, I was a Second Lieutenant, but I was promoted, I think, around April, May, or June to Lieutenant.

And what were your impressions of that period?

You see, senior military officers had been killed and politicians, like Sardauna, Akintola, Okotie Eboh. They were killed. And then in the military, Maimalari, Yakubu Pam, Legima, Shodeinde, and Ademolegun; so really, it had a tribal tinge.

The first one?

Yes. And then, there was a counter.

One mistake gave birth to another one?

Certainly, certainly.

And then long years of military came?

Oh yes.

From 1967-75, it was Gowon. At that point in time, where were you?

When Gowon came into power, I wonder whether I would recall where I was. It was July 1967 that Gowon came in. That was when I was in Lagos. I was again in Lagos, then in the transport company.

Then he took over?

Yeah, Gowon took over or Gowon was installed.

Well, more like you…

(Laughs) Yes.

And then in 1967?

Civil war.

So, you have to give me that part because there are some books I have read, that featured your name. So, what were your experiences during the civil war?

Well, I told you that we were parked into the rail to Kaduna from Ikeja, 2nd Infantry Battalion and when states were created by General Gowon, police action was ordered; we were moved to the border in the East. We were not in Nsukka, but in Ogoja. We started from Ogoja.

And you took active part?

Yeah. Well, I was a junior officer.

Who was your GOC then?

My GOC was the late General Shuwa.

How did you feel during that period of the civil war? Did you think that when the first coup started, that civil war would just come?

No. I never felt so and I never hoped for it. Literally, you are trained to fight a war but you are not trained to fight a war within your own country. We would rather have enemies from outside your country to defend your country, but not to fight among yourselves.

Some of those officers you were fighting were your comrades…

They were.

You knew some of them.

Some of them were even my course mates. We were facing each other, like when we were in Awka sector. The person facing me was called Bob Akonobi. We were mates here.

Robert Akonobi?

Robert Akonobi.

Who later became a governor?

Yes. He was my course mate here in Kaduna.

And there you were…

Facing each other.

It was really crazy.

It was. It was unfortunate, but it is part of our national development.

And the way we are going, you think it is a possibility again?

I don’t think so. No, I don’t think so.

After Gowon, Murtala came.

Yes.

By the time you were no longer a small officer…

No. I was just, I think, a colonel? Was it a lieutenant colonel or major? I think I was a lieutenant colonel.

But during the Obasanjo administration, you had become a minister, as it were.

No. I first became a governor when Murtala came, in North-East.

This same North East that is giving problem now.

Yes. I was there and there were six states then: Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba.

And they were all under your control or command?

North East went up to Chad; anyway, they are on the same latitude with Lagos. The bottom before you start going on the Plateau, Mambilla Plateau, if you look here on the map, the same latitude was in Lagos and then, up to Chad. That was the extent of the whole North East.

Now, some of them can’t govern even one state…

They are now six states.

I know, but you governed six states and now, some of them have problems with one state…

Yes.

What were the challenges you faced governing the North East as a military governor?

Actually, at that time, because of competent civil service… I was a military man but once you get to the rank of a lieutenant-colonel, after major, you are being taught some management courses. It needs a few weeks for somebody who has gone through the military management training, you have junior staff college, senior staff college; by that time, you will have enough experience for most administrative jobs because you must have had enough of the combat ones. I think I didn’t have much problem. And then, the competent civil servants. Civil servants then were very professional.

And not political as we have them now?

No. They were really professionals and they can disagree with you on record, on issues.

They were not afraid to make recommendations to the military governor or administrator?

No, they were never. People like the late Liman Ciroma, Waziri Fika, who was eventually Secretary to the Government of Babangida. And the late Abubakar Umar, who was Secretary to the Government of Bauchi State; and the late Moguno. They were real professionals, committed technocrats.

So, you didn’t really have much challenges?

No, not much challenges.

There was no insecurity then, like we have in the North East today?

No, the police then, with their Criminal Investigation Department (CID), were very, very competent. They interacted closely with the people. So, criminals in the locality were easily identified and put under severe surveillance. And really, there was relative peace in the country.

What were your major achievements in the North East as governor?

I think the way the state was divided into three; if you remember, it became Borno, Bauchi and Gongola. So, the way we divided the assets, including the civil service and so on, I think it was one of our achievements because it was so peaceful then. We had a committee on civil service.

And eventually you became minister of petroleum under Obasanjo?

Yes.

That was the only ministry you held under Obasanjo?

Yes.

During your time as petroleum minister, what were you doing differently that they are not doing now that has made the sector totally rotten?

Well, I was lucky again. When I was made a minister, I met an experienced man, a person of great personal integrity, the late Sunday Awoniyi. He was the permanent secretary then before the Supreme Military Council approved the merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and made Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Sunday Awoniyi was then the permanent secretary of the ministry. That was when I was sworn in eventually, I think in 1977, it became NNPC when the ministry and the NNOC were merged. He retired from the civil service. Another competent technocrat, Morinho, he became the Director of Petroleum Resources and he had a very competent team of Nigerian engineers, petroleum engineers and chemical engineers. And as minister of petroleum, I signed the contract for Warri Refinery, for Kaduna Refinery, for more than 20 depots all over the country, for laying of pipelines, more than 3200 kilometers and I couldn’t recall Nigeria borrowing a kobo for those projects. And then, by the time I became head of state, because I went to War College in the United States before the military handed over to the Second Republic and came back in 1980 and then, there was coup at the end of 1983. And that time, you can verify from Professor Tam David-West who was Minister of Petroleum Resources. We were exporting 100,000 barrels per day of refined products.

Exporting from the country?

Yes, refined one.

Refined one, not the raw one they are taking to import to…?

No.

100, 000 barrels?

Yes. Because we had four refineries then.

They have all collapsed…

Well, that is the efficiency of the subsequent governments!

You achieved so much success and all that. But there was an issue that became quite contentious: N2.8billion. They said N2.8billion oil money was missing.

It couldn’t have been missing. The governor of the Central Bank then, the late Clement Isong, said it was ridiculous, that N2.8billion couldn’t be missing because he said even the king of Saudi Arabia, couldn’t issue a cheque of N2.8billion. When you have paid your money for petroleum, they are normally put in the country’s external account and no bank will release that amount of money at a go because it was deposited. And then, at that time, Nigeria was exporting about 1.82 million barrels a day. And the cost of barrel a day was about $18. You work out N2.8billion. How could N2.8billion be missing and we still have money to run the country? So, it was just a political…

How did that issue come about? What happened and how did you feel during that period?

No, no. Shagari did the only honourable thing. He ordered a judicial enquiry and put a serving Justice of the Supreme Court, the late Justice Irikefe, to carry out investigation. And their terms of reference were put there. They said anybody who had an idea of missing N2.8billion, let him come and tell Justice Irikefe. Nobody had any evidence. It was just rubbish. Well, later, Tai Solarin and Professor Awojobi were confronted and Fela, the late Fela, to go and prove their case. They had no evidence, most of them took the newspaper cuttings of their allegations to the tribunal.

As evidence?

As their evidence…Cuttings of newspapers publications where they said N2.8billion was missing. That was their evidence. That was what they took to the Irikefe panel.

And Fela sang about it! Fela was your friend.

He couldn’t have been, because of what Obasanjo regime did to him. Because we were part of Obasanjo regime.



There is one other incident that has also been in the public domain: that Shagari gave you an order and you disobeyed your commander-in-chief. What happened then?

Which order was that?

That he gave you an instruction not to go to war against Chad or something like that?

Well, that was when I became GOC. When I came back from War College, I was in Lagos. Then, 4 Infantry Division was in Lagos, in Ikeja. I was in War College when I was posted there before General Obasanjo’s government handed over to Shagari. So, when I came, after about four months or so, I was posted to Ibadan, to command 2 Infantry Division. And after that, I was posted to Jos to command 3rd Armoured Division. It was when I was there as the GOC that the Chadians attacked some of our troops in some of the islands and killed five of them, took some military hardware and some of our soldiers. Then, I went into Army headquarters and told them then, the Chief of Army Staff then, General Wushishi, why they shouldn’t just allow a country, our neighbour to move into our territory, where we had stationed, to kill our people. So, I moved into Maiduguri, former Tactical Headquarters, and I got them out of the country. Something dramatic happened: I didn’t know I had gone beyond Chad and somehow, Shagari, in the United States, was sent pictures that I was with my troops and had gone beyond Chad, beyond Lake Chad. So, I was given direct order by the president to pull out and I did.

Oh, you did?

I did. I couldn’t have disobeyed the president. So, I handed over the division to Colonel Ogukwe, who was my course mate but was my…

He was in National Population Commission (NPC)?

I think so. Colonel Ogukwe. Yeah, he must have been. I handed over the tactical headquarters to him.

So, you never went against presidential directive?

I couldn’t have. He was the Commander-in-Chief. But maybe it was too slow for them, for me to withdraw, but you don’t disengage so quickly.

But after that, Shagari was overthrown?

Yes.

Now, they said you were invited to head the government after the coup?

Yes.

As the most senior officer?

Yes.

What really happened because it was not a Buhari coup?

No.

Could we say you never plotted a coup throughout your military career?

No. I didn’t plot a coup.

You were not a coup plotter?

No.

You were invited?

Yes.

Where were you when you were invited?

I was in Jos. They sent a jet to me flown by one of General Gowon’s younger brothers. He was a pilot. He told me that those who conducted the coup had invited me for discussion.

You went to Lagos?

I went to Lagos. I was flown to Lagos. Yes. And they said ok, those who were in charge of the coup had said that I would be the head of state. And I was.

When you made that statement that ‘this generation of Nigerians has no country other than Nigeria,’ for me it was like a JFK statement asking Americans to think of what they could do for America. Twenty months after, your same colleagues who invited you sacked you. What happened?

They changed their minds.

They changed their minds? So, what happened in between that, because part of what they said when they took over power was that you had become “too rigid, too uncompromising and arrogated knowledge of problems and solutions to yourself and your late deputy, Idiagbon. What really happened?

Well, I think you better identify those who did that and interview them so that they can tell you what happened. From my own point of view, I was the chairman of the three councils, which, by change of the constitution, were in charge of the country. They were the Supreme Military Council, the Executive Council and the National Council of State. I was the chairman of all. Maybe when you interview those who were part of the coup, they will tell you my rigidity and whether I worked outside those organs: the Supreme Military Council, the Council of State and the Council of Ministers.

Before I come to that, there was also this issue of Decree 4, alleged drug peddlers who your regime ordered shot. Looking back now, do you think you made mistake in those areas?

You see, maybe my rigidity could be traced to our insistence on the laws we made. But we decided that the laws must be obeyed.

But they said it was retroactive.

Yes, they said so. But I think it should be in the archive; we said that whoever brought in drugs and made Nigeria a transit point committed an offence. These drugs, We We (Indian hemp), is planted here, but the hard drug, cocaine, most Nigerians don’t know what cocaine is. They just made Nigeria a transit point and these people did it just to make money. You can have a certain people who grow Ashisha or We We and so on because it is indigenous. Maybe some people are even alleging that those who want to come for operation, brought the seed and started to grow it in Nigeria. But cocaine, it is alien to our people. So, those who used Nigeria as a transit, they just did it to make money. And this drug is so potent that it destroys people, especially intelligent people. So, the Supreme Military Council did a memo. Of course, I took the memo to the Supreme Military Council and made recommendation and the Supreme Military Council agreed.

There was no dissenting voice?

There was no dissenting in the sense that majority agreed that this thing, this cocaine, this hard drug was earning Nigeria so much bad name in the international community because Nigeria was not producing it, but Nigerians that wanted to make money didn’t mind destroying Nigerians and other youths in other countries just to make money. So, we didn’t need them. We didn’t need them.

But there were pleas by eminent Nigerians not to kill the three men involved in the trafficking?

Pleas, pleas; those that they destroyed did they listen to their pleas for them not to make hard drug available to destroy their children and their communities?

So, it is not something you look back now at 70 and say it was an error?

No, it was not an error. It was deliberate. I didn’t do it as an head of state by fiat. We followed our proper system and took it. If I was sure that the Supreme Military Council then, the majority of them decided that we shouldn’t have done so, we could have reduced it to long sentencing. But people who did that, they wanted money to build fantastic houses, maybe to have houses in Europe and invest. Now, when they found out that if they do it, they will get shot, then they will not live to enjoy at the expense of a lot of people that became mental and became harmful and detrimental to the society and so on, then they will think twice.

Decree 4 was what you used to gag the press?

Decree 4. You people (press), you brought in Nigeria factor into it. When people try to get job or contract and they couldn’t get it, they make a quick research and created a problem for people who refuse to do them the favour. What we did was that you must not embarrass those civil servants. If you have got evidence that somebody was corrupt, the courts were there. Take the evidence to court; the court will not spare whoever it was. But you don’t just go and write articles that were embarrassing.

But don’t you think you went too far?

What do you mean by going too far?

But you went to the extreme that public officers could do no wrong, as if they were saints. You called the decree ‘Protection of Public Officers Against False Accusation,’ and clamped down on the media.

Those who did it, the editors, the reporters, we jailed them. But we never closed a whole institution, as others did. We investigated and prosecuted according to the laws, because shutting a newspaper, it is an institution and we lose thousands of jobs. But we found out who made that false report, who was the editor, who okayed it and then, we jailed them.

No regret?

No regret, because we did it according to the laws we made. We neither closed a whole institution and caused job losses.

Then, you left power, 20 months after…

No. I was sent packing from power.

Ok, you didn’t leave on your own volition?

No.

That is a good one. For Nigerians, they remember War Against Indiscipline you brought. What was the philosophy behind it?

Well, I think we realised that the main problem of Nigeria, then and now, was indiscipline and corruption. When I say we, I mean the Supreme Military Council. Those two, are Nigeria’s Achilles heels. And I believe the Nigeria elite knew it then and they know it now. So, we started to discipline them. People must realise their level in the society and accept it. If you go and read hard and get a PhD, certainly you will get the best of life than somebody who hasn’t been to school at all or who has been a drop-out. And then, in the public, people must behave responsibly. If you go to bus stops, it is step-by-step or turn-by-turn, and not to force your way. If you go to bank, you find out if people were there before you. Why can’t you go behind them?

Or you come early and be number one.

Exactly! I think that was accepted. And up till now, I think it is the only thing that survived out of our administration, the queue culture. People accepted it with calmness. And in Lagos, they wouldn’t like to associate themselves with the military, so they call it KAI. That is right. Kick Against Indiscipline. But it is still the same thing. It is the same. The only difference is that one was brought by the military and this one is through democratic system.

When you were eased out of power and you had time to reflect for three years, what did you then see that was wrong?

We gave them the opportunity in the three councils I told you. Those rules are supposed to be in the Nigerian archives, except somebody destroyed them, destroyed the evidence. Otherwise, what did we do wrong to warrant being sacked? For example, when we overthrew the Second Republic, we had what we called the SIP, the Special Investigation Panel that comprised the police, the National Security Organisation (NSO) then and the intelligence community of the military. We did nothing by impulse or ad hoc. We went through the system.

And then, you handed down long jail terms, some 100 years. That was something else. Why did you do that?

They would never see the daylight again to commit another crime against humanity.

Would you say your detention period made you a new person?

I think I have always been the same person. When I came out, I was amazed, amazed in the sense that people in my immediate constituency didn’t seem to bother about the major setback I had. They were still coming to me, expecting me to help them in a way. Not in terms of material help, because they knew that I didn’t operate any money house or any petroleum bloc or any filling station…

How can you say a whole oil minister like you didn’t have any oil licence?

No. Not one, and not any for any blood relation or anybody close to me. Really, somehow, people in my community felt that I can still help them. But with that setback, I was wondering how. So, the only way for me, I think, was to join partisan politics so that I can have a platform to speak about the opinion of my constituency, immediate constituency. But the thing that convinced me more than the pressure from immediate locality was the change in 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union. I have said this so often that an empire in the 20th century, collapsed and a lot of people ran back home, leaving strategic installations behind, like missile sites, nuclear formation and so on. And now, there are about 18 to 19 or 20 republics. It was then that I believed, personally, in my own assessment, that multi-party democratic system was and is still superior to despotism.

That was your turning point?

That was the turning point. But there is a big caveat: elections must be free and fair! And that is what we need. Elections must be free and fair, otherwise, the whole thing will be something else.

During your tenure, one case kept coming up: the 53 suitcases. You had ordered the border shut and your Aide de Camp (ADC), Major Jokolo, was alleged to have escorted 53 suitcases into the country. What happened? Why were you selective?

There was nothing like 53 suitcases. What happened was that there was my chief of protocol; he is now late. He had three wives, and I think about 12 children. He was in Saudi Arabia as Nigeria Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He was in Libya before, as ambassador and later, he was posted to Saudi Arabia. And then, I appointed him as my chief of protocol and he was coming back. Three wives, about 12 children. And then, by some coincidence, the late Emir of Gwandu, the father of Jokolo, who was my ADC then, was coming back with the same flight. And somehow, some mischievous fellows, everything, including the handbag of maybe, their small daughters, were counted as suitcases. Atiku then was the Commandant of Murtala Muhammed Airport as customs officer. And that day, we were playing squash. Jokolo my ADC and I. At some point, I said to him, ‘Mustapha, is your father not coming back today again?’ He said, ‘yes, sir, he is coming.’ I said, ‘what are you doing here? Why can’t you go and meet your father?’ He said yes, sir. He went to wash and meet his father. I am telling you there was no 53 bags of suitcases. It was a bloody lie. It was a bloody mischief.

So, not that he was detailed?

No, he was not detailed. He was not even about to go. I was the one who made him to go and meet his father. He was a respected emir, in fact, if not the most respected emir in the North then. He was learned, he had fantastic credibility and personal integrity. And this man was just coming on posting with his wives and children and they counted every imaginable thing, they said 53 suitcases.

Was that why Atiku was retired?

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t think I retired Atiku. I can’t recall because I had nothing against anybody.

But the argument was that the border was ordered shut. So, how did those people then come in?

They came by air. We didn’t stop aircraft coming in. They came by air, from Jedda to Lagos. They didn’t drive through Chad to Maiduguri and… People just say 53 suitcases when all borders had been ordered shut because that is how you can sell your papers.

Then you came into politics and every election you are there. Would you still do politics at 70 years, elective politics, offering yourself for election?

This is what I told the audience that came to listen to my address before we started the campaign for the 2011 elections. But my party and supporters were sending representatives. Up till today, they haven’t stopped. But what I told them was that we are in the process now of reorganising the party and perhaps, come into an alignment with other parties. Whatever the parties decide, whether my party or the new party that align and we are hoping to develop; if they give me the ticket or recommend me, I will consider it. That is the position we are now.

Until you get to that stage you can give a definite answer?

Until we get to that stage, there is no clear answer now. Let’s wait and see.

Is it that you don’t like money? Anytime somebody sees you, they say General Buhari is so austere. What gave you that kind of lifestyle? Nobody is associating you with millions. My reporter here was pointing to one mansion of a former governor who just ruled for eight years. So, how did you develop this frugal lifestyle? Is it that you don’t like good life? How do you unwind? Well, some of us have heard that you used to smoke. Do you still smoke? What are those things you have given up?

I used to smoke, but of course, I abandoned it I think in 1977.

Oh really? Before you became head of state?

Yes, I stopped smoking.

Have you ever taken alcohol?

No.

Never?

Never.

Even as a young man and all that?

No, no. Even in the military tradition, how they break you in, I said well, the military did not stop anybody practising his religion. My religion said no alcohol and no alcohol. So, that was respected. I was never forced to take alcohol and I have never voluntarily taken it because I want to remain alert all the time. There is a tendency that when you drink, you would want to have a bottle more, or a glass more and do something stupid.

As a young man, very handsome because I saw some of your old pictures, did you have women flocking around you? And women like soldiers, people who have power…

I also thought women ought to have taken more interest in me but I don’t know why they didn’t. I must have something they didn’t like. I assure you of that. I didn’t drink, I smoked, I had girlfriends; it was true.

How many did you have?

I hope you won’t publish this because my wife will read the interview. So, you will be very kind to me if you don’t publish that (general laughter).

You joined the army and there was coup and counter-coup and civil war. You still had time to unwind?

You can create it but we had too much eventful time, professional career. It was too eventful. There were too many things happening almost at the same time. If I could recall, the 30 months civil war that we had, I was just having two weeks after every six months to come back home just to see my old mother and some of my relatives because I refused to get married till after the war.

Was it deliberate?

It was deliberate.

Why? I thought that would have been the reason to get married.

No, no. Some of our colleagues, like late Vatsa, like Babangida, they were more adventurous than myself. They took a weekend and had a quick marriage and went back to the front. I thought I would be putting the poor girl or the poor woman under a lot of stress. So, I said if I survived the war, I would get married, but if I didn’t survive, no woman should cry for me other than my relatives.

Some of your General-colleagues became stupendously rich. Today, they have means. I am not a lawyer taking inventory of your assets or preparing your will, but tell me what property do you have now at 70? I am sure you have a house in Abuja, you have one in Lagos. You have one in Daura and you have one here (Kaduna). So, if I count your property, maybe five. Am I right or wrong?

You are right but am not going to read or declare with you. My assets were on record, I told some of your colleagues when they came. When Murtala/Obasanjo regime came, they made sure that certain grades of public officers must declare their assets when they assumed that office and they must declare when they were leaving. So, when I was sworn in as governor of North East, I declared my assets.

What did you declare?

I declared surprisingly, even the number of my cows then. Even if they were supposed to be producing every year, but I declared them the time I was there. And when I was leaving governorship, I became petroleum minister. When I was leaving to go to War College, I declared my assets. I could recall General Jemibewon then, was the Adjutant-General of the Army. He rang me and said he was sending me asset declaration form, that I must fill it, sign it before I left for the United States. And I did. General Jemibewon is still alive. And when I became head of state eventually, I declared my assets again. So, all of us; when I say that, I mean Obasanjo downwards, those who are alive who were governors, ministers, head of states, they had declared assets. So, if you people are serious and interested about political officers becoming multi-billionaires, you can find out from Murtala downwards. And those of us who were not very good in making money you should pity us.

Is it that you don’t like money?

Everybody likes money but I am not very good at making money. Let me put it that way. I borrowed from the banks to build the house in Daura and the one in Abuja that you mentioned and the one in Kano. The bank then was Barclays, now Union Bank. Kaduna State or North Central then housing scheme and the Federal Mortgage Bank for the house I am in and AIB, which was, I think, terminated by Central Bank. So, when you go through the records, you find out that the houses I built, I borrowed from there.

You are a respected former head of state. What is your relationship with others, Obasanjo, your former boss and at a point, your political opponent, General Babangida, the man who took over from you and then, Shagari…

You are very nice. He took over from me and I took over from Shagari. You are very nice.

I want to be polite.

You are very nice. Ok, carry on.

What is your relationship with them. I see some parts of patching up here and there, but when a man is 70, you say it the way it is. What is your relationship with all these people I have mentioned now, deep down?

I think the worst thing anybody can do to oneself is to have either hatred or grudge on daily basis. One thing will happen and you better forget.

Have you forgiven Babangida now? You once said you felt betrayed over the coup against your government?

I did. Publicly, I did.

You have?

I have and some of your papers published it. I said as a Muslim, I have forgiven him.

But during that period it happened, you must have been really angry?

Of course, I was angry because I can’t recall what I had done for him to mobilise the military to overthrow me and detain me for more than three years. Yeah, it is natural for me to be upset.

Were you going to retire him before your overthrow, as has been alleged? This is an opportunity to lay it because we have heard those speculations that you were going to retire him and he moved against you quickly.

Something like that happened but not him. I moved to retire his Director of Military Intelligence.

Akilu?

General Aliyu, not Akilu.

Aliyu?

Aliyu Gusau.

You were going to retire him?

Yes. I took a paper to Army Council. Babangida was there…

As the Chief of Army Staff.

Yes. Idiagbon was there, Bali was there as Minister of Defence, and I was there as the head of state and commander-in-chief. And reasons for him to be removed was in that memo. Go and find out from him or from Babangida. They are both alive.

Not against Babangida per se?

No.

But if you touched Gusau, his intelligence chief, invariably, you were going to inch towards the Chief of Army Staff, Babangida. Eventually, he might have been touched.

I didn’t know but at that point, it was Aliyu Gusau.

You were inching closer?

Yes, we were inching closer. You could say that.

But you have forgiven him for all that happened.

I have forgiven him. I said it and it was printed by some of your colleagues. But I didn’t say it will be forgotten. It cannot be forgotten. If I say I forget about it, I will be lying. But I have forgiven him, just as I expect Shagari to forgive me as the one who succeeded him.

But Shagari said you detained him and then…

I too, was detained (general laughter).

Ok, what of Obasanjo? What kind of relationship do you have?

Obasanjo; he mobilized Nigerian voters against me.

But you have forgiven him?

No, I haven’t forgiven him (laughter).

Finally now, finally, finally, finally…

I don’t know when your final will come to a real final.

No, this is the end now. If the end comes, how do you want Nigerians to remember you, if you have the chance to write your epitaph?

I want Nigerians to be fair to me. Like this case of 53, 55 suitcases, like the case of N2.8billion. I want Nigerians to be fair and to be fair, all these documents are in the Nigerian archives. As I said, I didn’t do anything important outside the three organs of government: the Supreme Military Council, Council of States and Council of Ministers. On serious issues, Nigerians should do some research. That is why I always make emphasis on investigative journalism. If you want to be fair and impartial, I am sure you can have the capacity, both intellectual and resource to make an in-depth investigation.

Nigerians should be fair to you?

They should be fair to me.

Your daughter just passed on?

She would have been 40 before she died.

Oh, when life was just beginning.

Yes.

What was the circumstance? Some said she was a sickler; she had sickle cell anemia.

She was a sickler and she had complication when she was delivered by Caesarian.

And that remains a very sad incident for you.

Yes.

Thank you, General.

You are always welcome.


SOURCE: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/national/the-sun-exclusive-buhari-bares-it-all/

Clemzy16: Different strokes for different folks. Going to church is not necessarily the road to salvation. Living an holy and sinless life is what matters most. Afterall, there are some people that go to church regularly but do not act according to the words of the scripture.

@ Clemzy16,

Thanks for your post but are you talking about a life of "sinless perfection"? If so, how feasible is that in real terms? Can a human being really live a sinless life? Where then does grace come into the picture?

Harvest of contracts amidst appalling state of roads

NOVEMBER 30, 2012 BY EDITORIAL 8 COMMENTS

THE weekly Federal Executive Council meetings usually convened to discuss pressing national matters have in recent years been practically reduced to a rendezvous for the dispensing of contracts, especially road contracts. There is hardly any FEC meeting where awards of new contracts for the various federal roads scattered across the country are not announced. Even old contracts are sometimes reviewed and variations carried out in line with inflationary trends.

One good example is the N176 billion set of road construction contracts approved at the FEC meeting of November 22, presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, in the absence of President Goodluck Jonathan. The contracts cover the dualisation of the Lokoja-Okene-Auchi-Benin Road; the Gasua-Bayamari Road linking Yobe and Borno states; and the Suleija-Abuja Road. The Kano-Maiduguri Road contract, awarded six years ago but not executed, was reviewed and augmented from N172 billion to N285 billion, while the Calabar-Ugep, Ogoja-Katsina Ala Road contract was also augmented and approved, among others.

Another of such contracts is the one for the dualisation of the East-West Road. Although not a recent contract, as it was first awarded in 2006 for N204 billion, it has now been reportedly augmented to N349.8 billion, with the completion date fixed for December 2014. The recent flooding of some parts of the country was said to have adversely affected the work so far done on the road. There are so many other road construction contracts that have gulped billions of naira or, when put together, could even be up to trillions. A report says between August 2011 and June 2012, the Jonathan government dished out N927 billion worth of contracts.

Yet, most roads in the country have become death traps. The roads have remained in a most deplorable state because they have either been abandoned by contractors or have been allowed to fall into an extreme state of disrepair, thus rendering them barely usable.

In many parts of the country, especially during the rainy seasons, poorly-done roads are readily washed away by torrential rain, thus forcing motorists to have recourse to detours which exact far longer periods of time on journeys that would ordinarily have taken much shorter times.

Among roads that are seriously in need of repairs are the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and Onitsha-Enugu Road that have been eaten up by erosion. Travellers on the Shagamu-Ore-Benin Road have been undergoing untold hardship for more than a decade now because of the decrepit state of the road. They are often victims of robberies and rapes that are precipitated by the need to slow down at dangerous spots on the road. There were reports a few years ago of a lorry that ran over night travellers after they were ordered by robbers out of their luxury bus and asked to lie down on the road. Some schoolchildren returning to Lagos on holidays were also allegedly raped recently when their vehicle broke down, again as a result of the poor state of the road.

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, arguably the singular most economically important stretch of road in the country, was recently re-awarded to Julius Berger Plc and RCC Nigeria Limited after Bi-Courtney Highway Services was accused of failing to keep its own part of a concession agreement. The road, for close to two decades now, has been responsible for scenes of ghastly accidents, resulting in avoidable deaths. In July, a retired Brigadier General in the Nigerian Army, Sylvester Iruh, was murdered by marauding Fulani herdsmen as he was trying to change his tyre damaged due to the poor state of the road.

There is no doubt that, given the number of road contracts awarded by the government, Nigerian commuters should be enjoying very smooth rides wherever they may be going. That this has not been so means there is a lot that is wrong with the way contract awards are monitored and executed in these parts of the world. The House of Representatives is investigating a N2.3 billion road contract awarded since 2001 but abandoned. Another set of road contracts valued at N6.8 billion was revoked by the Federal Government in November. Altogether, the Federal Government is grappling with 12, 000 abandoned projects worth N7.8 trillion.

Experience has shown that some of the contracts go to companies with no demonstrable capacity for the execution of such jobs. In the name of empowering indigenous companies, contracts have been awarded to companies that have just collected the money and walked away. Others have managed to get away with shoddy jobs because government engineers monitoring them have been compromised. It is not just enough to dole out money. Contracts awarded must be closely monitored to ensure that taxpayers’ money is judiciously invested to bring the road infrastructure to reasonable and acceptable levels.

Contractors who fail to execute their contracts satisfactorily should be persuaded to return to site and, if they fail to do so, should be arrested and prosecuted. At all times, contracts for important roads should always go to proven and competent hands; not necessarily to the lowest bidder but to those who will deliver the goods. It is high time the billions announced at the FEC meetings started transforming into concrete and verifiable projects.

SOURCE: http://www.punchng.com/editorial/harvest-of-contracts-amidst-appalling-state-of-roads/

Interesting.


Without any intention of derailing this thread, lets look at the nullification of Oyinlola's tenure from another angle.

The court kicks him out of office for a rigged election. Erelu Obada was Deputy Governor to Oyinlola during his 7 1/2 stolen mandate. In other climes, at the very least, she would have descended into political oblivion; but "hey presto"......she mysteriously reappears (apologies to Harry Houdini)as Minister of State for Defence in Boko Haram stricken Nigeria!!!!

Is this how we want to fight corruption and electoral malpractices??

Unending promises on reconstruction of Lagos -Ore-Benin highway
Tuesday, November 27, 2012



By Jude Njoku

Exactly three years ago, the Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and the then Works & Housing Minister, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal, inspected the reconstruction works on the ever-busy Lagos-Ore-Benin expressway. The traffic gridlock on that day was so frightening that Governor Mimiko and Dr Hassan Lawal became emergency traffic wardens.

Speaking to newsmen after that harrowing experience, Governor Mimiko said: "We have all been witnesses to the harrowing experiences that our people go through on this road on a daily basis. We cannot run away from the fact that this road is congested hence the road has broken down completely.

The solution I see is simple: from Lagos to Benin, this road has to be reconstructed. The palliative that is going on is okay for this season but ultimately, the Federal Government must commit itself to rebuilding this road. This is a very important atrial road in this country.

We must do something about this road, people sleep here for two, three days and you know what that means in terms of loss to the economy of this nation not to talk of the psychological torture that people go through. There is no question about the fact that this road has to be rebuilt. Yes, we welcome the rehabilitation that is going on but ultimately, this road must be rebuilt".


A year before this incident, the then Minister of Transportation, Mrs Dieziani Allison Madueke reportedly wept uncontrollably after a facility tour of the road.

Mrs Madueke who empathized with the sufferings Nigerians go through on that road, gave reasons for betraying her emotions. "I weep at the sight of everything that shows failure of government in Nigeria. Lagos-Shagamu-Ore-Benin Road is a clear picture of Nigerian state abandonment of its responsibility to its citizens".

Continuing, she promised to remedy the situation by fixing the road. "The challenge for us is to act wisely in dealing with this matter. The errors have been made but I think we can still correct the problem by looking for what will ensure a renewed government relevance not for self-serving or the good of a few but the good of all". Despite the weeping and hopes raised by the Minister, nothing was done to fix the road until she was deployed to the Petroleum Ministry.

Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal who later took over as Minister of Works & Housing made similar pledges on the road but nothing concrete was done until he bowed out of office. Successive Works ministers after him equally promised to fix the 250 kilometres road but these promises were never actualized till date.

Indeed, traveling along the Lagos-Shagamu-Ore-Benin highway is like a journey through the biblical "valley of the shadow of death". Under normal circumstances, the journey from Lagos to Benin should be covered in two and half hours but due to the dilapidated state of the expressway, commuters spend almost the entire day on the road.

It was against this backdrop that a contributor to the last presidential media chat told President Goodluck Jonathan that whosoever fixes that road and power would be regarded as the best President Nigeria has ever produced.

In a swift response, President Jonathan said he would fix the road before the end of his current four-year term. The President who also promised to review the concession agreement with Messrs Bi-Courtney on the reconstruction of the Lagos -Ibadan expressway, matched his words with action when the following day, the concession contract was revoked. The prompt action taken by the Federal Government has since raised the hope of stakeholders that the Lagos-Shagamu -Ore-Benin Road, will also receive prompt presidential attention.

Construction experts who spoke to Vanguard Homes & Property weekend, called on the president to start by embarking upon emergency repairs of the road to enable millions of Nigerians who want to travel during the Christmas and New Years festivities, do so without much distress.

SOURCE: http://odili.net/news/source/2012/nov/27/312.html

@ ALL

It is spelt.....N-Y-A-S-H [/b]and [b]NOT yash, yansh, nash etc lol

@ all

I read an internet newspaper article (I think the Punch but can't remember for sure) last week which quoted Dangote saying that the basic salary would be N300,000 (300K) per month.

@ charlsecy4,

Matthew 5 verse 32 and Mat 19:9 (King James Version) quotes Jesus as saying: And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

The vesion that you have quoted replaces "fornication" with "intimate immorality" (I'm not trying to drail the thread and talk about bible transalations).

Aren't we missing something here?

Jesus the authur and finisher of our faith talks specifically about fornication and NOT adultery as the condition that allows a person to divorce his/her spouse in Mat 19:9 (At least in the King James Version)

Are we saying that Jesus doesn't/didn't know the difference between fornication and adultery? A previous poster asked how can a married person commit fornication? (a very good question, in my humble opinion) only to be brushed aside/dismissed with the wave of the hand by another poster!


Your comments please.

@ OP and all;


Aren't we missing something here?

Jesus the authur and finisher of our faith talks specifically about fornication and NOT adultery as the condition that allows a person to divorce his/her spouse in Mat 19:9 (At least in the King James Version)

Are we saying that Jesus doesn't/didn't know the difference between fornication and adultery? A previous poster asked how can a married person commit fornication? (a very good question, in my humble opinion) only to be brushed aside/dismissed with the wave of the hand by another poster!

the bible states: Mat 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

Your comments please.

1) Dividends of democracy (If I'm not mistaken first coined by OBJ)

2) Overheat the polity

Taraba’s obsession with airplanes

| Print | E-mail
Written by Olawale Rasheed
Friday, 02 November 2012

Wreckage of Governor Suntai’s jet

Regional Editor (News), Olawale Rasheed, examines the controversy trailing Taraba State governors’ penchant for aircraft acquisition and the involvement of the incumbent governor in personally piloting one of the airplanes.

The issue of aircraft acquisition and usage has been a subject of controversy within Taraba State since the advent of democracy in 1999, The Friday Edition can reliably report. Checks showed that successive governments in the state had engaged in aircraft purchase and deployment in state governance before the incumbent, Mr Danbaba Suntai.

Reports from the state indicated that while the aircraft issue has always pitched the people and their leaders against each other, successive governments had not taken steps to either sell off the acquired planes or lease them out to commercial airlines for business. A former governor of the state, Reverend Jolly Tanko Nyame, was reported to have started the aircraft purchase right from his election as governor in 1999. The opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) was said to have mounted spirited campaign against the purchases but the advocacy fell on deaf ears.

Investigations showed that as at the time Reverend Nyame was leaving office in 2007, the state had two aircraft worth several millions of dollars. It was learnt, however, that the aircraft could not be domiciled in the state because Jalingo, the state capital, had no airport. Many natives of the state cried foul during and after Nyame‘s tenure with series of petitions that eventually saw the former governor facing ongoing trial with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Despite the corruption trial, Nyame’s successor, Governor Suntai, however inherited the aircraft and there were intense debates in the state from 2007 to 2008 as to what should be done to the inherited assets. Checks showed that many top leaders of the state, including General Theophilus Danjuma, supported outright sale of the aircraft and the investment of the fund realised in infrastructural development of the state. Other groups were said to have supported the retention of the assets by the state, a position said to have secured the favour of Governor Suntai, especially as he was still in very good partnership with his now estranged predecessor, Nyame.

Suntai’s decision to retain the aircraft was reported to have started his estrangement with many opinion moulders in Taraba, who had advocated what they called a clean break from the Nyame era. On this point, the governor also had a brush with his godfather back in Abuja who believed he was straying from the original plan behind his election. The alleged godfather is Senator Aisha Al-Hassan whose husband allegedly bankrolled the governor‘s election.

The inherited planes were, however, packed in Kaduna as the airport in Jalingo was reportedly not conducive for such planes to land. Findings revealed that, in his bid to get the planes back from Kaduna where they were packed, Governor Suntai reportedly commenced an airport project in Jalingo. His critics alleged that he had spent nine billion naira on the project so far, after which, they alleged, the airport can still not host small planes let alone big commercial planes.

The government of the state however lauded the project as being designed to open up Taraba to local and international market. The project, the government had variously argued, would soon be completed and opened to commercial airlines. This assurance did not satisfy the governor’s critics who insisted that the airport project is a white elephant in a state known for its chronic underdevelopment. Reports from the state showed that the airport project is still ongoing.

The Friday Edition’s checks showed that the state government, from 2007 to 2011, acquired a small plane which still cannot land in Jalingo. It was also gathered that, last year, a smaller plane was acquired by the government, making two that have been so purchased under the Suntai administration. While there are reports that two new planes have been purchased so far under the Suntai administration, there is conflicting information about the fate of the two aircraft inherited by the governor.

Opponents of the governor alleged that the two planes are still packed in Kaduna while the governor borrowed from banks to purchase the new, smaller planes. Others noted that the inherited planes had been sold off and that the proceeds were spent on acquiring smaller planes and keeping the Jalingo airstrip functional. Reports indicated that official position on the issue is also cloudy, as most aides and associates of the governor are not ready to comment on the issue.

In spite of the issues about the old and new planes, the state was reported to have purchased another helicopter this year, with reports indicating that two new helipads have been built within the Government House and in the governor’s town. Reports from Jalingo indicated that residents in and around the state capital attested to a helicopter flying and out of the Government House, even though none could say with certainty whether that is the new helicopter allegedly acquired by the state government.

The political opposition had capitalised on the aircraft issue as a rallying point of their opposition to the governor. While the opposition accused the governor of wasteful spending and wrong prioritising, supporters of the governor cried foul, alleging that critics were hiding under the aircraft issue to pursue a 2015 agenda. Prior to the air-crash involving the governor, the opposition in the state had alleged that the state was already bankrupt, affirming that banks now hijack federal allocation to the state in view of huge sums of money owed the banks by the state.

But while the state was grappling with issue of aircraft acquisition, the governor was reported to be secretly attending pilot training programme at the Nigerian Aviation College, Zaria. The training started soon after the governor’s re-election, with unconfirmed reports indicating that the governor also took some time off to perfect the training at an undisclosed location in the United States of America (US).


The Friday Edition was told that because the governor was feared by many within the state, none could prevail on him to change his aviation agenda for the state and pursue other paths channeled for him by General Olusegun Obasanjo. The former president had brought rice investors from US with thousands of acres of land already allocated. Even while such conduct may appear like a slight on General Danjuma, many watchers of event in the state were said to have welcomed the development, if it could divert the governor’s attention.Governor Suntai’s decision to try as a pilot, despite his background as a pharmacist, thus confirms Taraba’s obsession with planes. This is especially so as his predecesor, Nyame, only acquired the planes but did not attempt to train as a pilot. It was learnt that since mid-last year, the governor had been flying the chopper to attend state functions and visit neighbouring states.

The Friday Edition was told that General Danjuma was angry with the trend of events in the state, especially as he himself does not use private jet whenever he is coming home. The situation was said to be responsible for the General‘s declaration early this year that governors were too powerful, as there were no checks on their powers in the governance of their individual states.

Findings showed that on two previous occasions when the governor allegedly had minor plane mishaps, some leaders in the state summoned courage to counsel him, but they were rebuffed. That incident was said to have swelled the ranks of discontent within the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

From then onwards, the party was allegedly polarised, as some stalwarts alleged that the party was already in the bad book of the people of the state.


Those still loyal to the governor were reported to have taken the matter to Abuja, alerting the Presidency on the conduct of the governor which they alleged had constituted a personal risk to himself in addition to the image of the party in the state. The matter was said to have come to the attention of Vice President Namadi Sambo who is said to have personally contacted the governor on the issue.

The intervention from the State House was reportedly followed by series of security reports which were silent on sources of funding for the airplanes and the chopper but warned against the governor’s habit of flying himself. As recently reported, the vice president was also not listened to when he intervened on the strength of security reports at his disposal.

A member of the State Executive Council, Emmanuel Bello, in a recent ‘chat’ however defended the governor, though he did not deny many of the allegations consistently raised by the opposition in the state. While affirming that the governor did not buy any plane for himself, he recalled that the plan of Governor Suntai was to open up the Taraba air space for better access, assuring that the Jalingo airport was nearing completion and would soon be open for business.

“There would also be an airport at the Mambilla for tourism purposes. The one in his village is just an air strip. We have such airstrips everywhere in Taraba. And in this age and time, what is wrong with having airports everywhere? So, there is no big deal about the airstrip in Bali or Suntai. Mischief makers are only trying to be funny. That he flies a plane belonging to the state is not such a crime. I know other leaders here and around the world who know how to fly a plane,’’ the commissioner noted.

On why a rural state like Taraba should have so many planes and choppers, the government spokesman defended his boss as having constructed more rural and urban roads than any previous governors in the state. Said he: “ He is committing over N15billion of the 2012 budget on more roads. No one can even fault him on roads. And these roads are having implications for tourism and commerce.’’
SOURCE: http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/the-friday-edition/50235-tarabas-obsession-with-airplanes

From ALOYSIUS ATTAH, Onitsha (princemmy@yahoo.com)

When about 45 years ago, Chief Basil Okonkwo, a business man, left his home-state, Anambra for Azare in Bauchi State in search of greener pastures, he had lofty dreams.

Like any good father, he planned to train his children, give out his daughters in marriage and one day, retire and reap the fruits of his labour.

Providence and mother luck seemed to be on his side as God blessed the work of his hands and he prospered. As his business grew, he got married to his heartthrob, Virginia, and they were also bountifully blessed with 10 children – three boys and seven girls.

Everything seemed to be on a roller coaster for Chief Okonkwo until April, 2011, after the presidential election. His first son, Nnaemeka Christian, married with a son, was killed in Bauchi in the post- election crisis that trailed the presidential poll in the North.

The brutal killing of Nnaemeka whose wife was also pregnant at the time, shocked Chief Okonkwo and from that moment, he began to think home and made quick arrangements to send his wife and children to Anambra state.

Due to the long years he had spent in Bauchi with its accompanying connections and commitments, it wasn’t easy pulling out the entire family back home at once. Consequently, his wife and some other children first relocated while Celestine, his surviving second son, the seventh daughter, Ifeoma and Sunday his apprentice stayed behind with him because of their education and business.

In his plans for complete relocation, Chief Okonkwo came home and began the construction of a modern building in his compound that will accommodate his family and befits his status as a progressive businessman who had spent many years in the North.

Black Sunday

But all the noble plans of Chief Okonkwo were shattered on the night of 0ctober14, 2012 when gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect killed him, his daughter, Ifeoma and his apprentice, Sunday Ezechukwu. His second surviving son, Celestine, an electrical electronics engineer, would have been dead too if not by divine arrangement.

According to him, he left his father’s shop on his private motorcycle and less than fifteen minutes later, the gunmen swooped on the trio, opened fire and killed them instantly as they closed their shop and were about driving home in the family’s Peugeot 505 wagon after the day’s business.

Chief Okonkwo and his daughter were buried on Monday, October 23, amidst tears and anger. Earlier, his late apprentice, Sunday Ezechukwu from Aguleri Otu, also in Anambra state, was buried in his country-home.

Oh my daughter, my husband!

On Wednesday, when Sunday Sun reporter visited the late Okonkwo’s compound at Mkpuke village, Umunnachi, there was pin-drop silence while forlorn faces betrayed emotions of sadness, anger and confusion.

Okonkwo’s widow, Virginia and Chinyere, Nnaemeka’s widow were crestfallen even as other members of the family were brooding over the cruel fate that befell them.

Okonkwo was buried beside his uncompleted building while the late Nnaemeka’s two kids even in their childhood innocence seemed aware that things were not okay as they refused to play around with fellow children.

Madam Virginia, after much persuasion and consolation by the reporter managed to say few words.

“Oh my daughter, oh my husband! If they were sick and hospitalized, it would have been better as I would have shared in their pains and even helped out in the hospital as a mother. But look at what has happened to me. I’m still mourning my first son, now they have done their worst by killing this two in cold blood. “We are not politicians and we are not struggling for anything with anybody. But since I voted for Goodluck Jonathan in the last presidential election, my family has been shattered. This is how we have ended up. Where do I begin from here? My beloved daughter had dreams as a student, my husband also had plans to relocate finally from the North but all the plans have been shattered.”

Revenge is for God

Okonkwo’s third son, Gozie was so bitter over the situation that he queried whether Nigeria’s unity in diversity is really true.

“If this had happened to a northerner in eastern Nigeria, the whole world would shake. But look at us, nobody is asking us how we intend to start life again. I came down here after the killing of my elder brother last year, and I’m yet to adjust in the east. My father was still planning to set up something tangible for me here before they killed him too.

“We cannot kill in revenge and I don’t think whether killing ten people can pay for my father’s life. I don’t think also that it will be out of place to say that this is a premeditated action against Ndigbo but our family is now the greatest victims.”

My life has been shattered

Perhaps the most pathetic scenario during the reporter’s visit was the encounter with Chinyere Okonkwo whose husband, Nnaemeka, was killed last year. Cuddling her baby girl delivered after her husband’s tragic death, she cut the image of a woman with high potentials if fate didn’t deal her a fatal blow. Amidst sobs, she poured out her pains.

“They have finished me. When my husband was killed, I wanted to lose hope in life. It was my husband’s family that consoled me and told me they would stand by me at least for the sake of the children. My father-in-law had been shouldering the responsibility of all of us. Now, he has been murdered too in this agonizing manner. Where do we go from here?

My husband and children all died in vain

While Madam Virginia mourned the loss of her husband and two children, her greatest pain was that according to her, they all died in vain as relevant authorities have neither asked about the bereaved family’s condition nor addressed the situation that led to the deaths.

“When my first son was killed, Governor Isa Yuguda told Igbo people in Bauchi not to relocate because according to him, any state without strangers and non-natives cannot go far in development. The fury generated by their death drew the attention of the federal government. They came from Abuja and took our pictures and records but that was the last we heard anything from the state and federal governments. The most painful thing was that they asked me to takes pictures with my murdered son as he lay inside the casket. They said it was for evidence purposes that would ensure that we are compensated. But now, nothing came out of it and today, more people have been killed again in my family.

“My children ought to be natives of Bauchi State because they were all born there but look at how we ended up. Again, how can the activities of Boko Haram remain unabated while the government keeps assuring us that they are handling the situation?

A cry for help

Despite the tragic loss by the Okonkwo family, the surviving members of the family still knows that life must continue but the problem now is how to continue with no visible means of livelihood.

Urging for assistance from the federal as well as Anambra and Bauchi state governments, the first daughter of the family, Mrs Blessing Ezemanari summarized the situation thus,

“For us, it is already bye, bye to the North. My mother just came down to the village and she has not started anything meaningful. My murdered brother’s wife is also here with us with her two children. My siblings are still seeking for admission into higher schools. We appeal to Governor Peter Obi to assist us and use his position to influence other authorities to assist us.”

SOURCE: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/national/wiped-out-by-boko-haram-they-killed-my-son-daughter-husband-widow/

"Lord, what on earth happened to the black race?"

Four farmers commit suicide over flood disaster in Kogi
on OCTOBER 15, 2012 · in NEWS
7:30 am
0
BY LAIDE AKINBOADE

ABUJA- Four farmers in Kogi State have committed suicide as a result of losses they incurred due to flood just as thousands of others have been displaced. President Goodluck Jonathan who disclosed this yesterday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital while undertaking a tour of the areas affected by flood encouraged the Internally Displaced People, IDPs, in Bayelsa State not to give up hope, assuring that the Federal Government was committed to rehabilitating them.

He stated this in one of IDPs camps at Samson Siasia stadium, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Speaking in Yenagoa, President Jonathan said, “In Kogi State, four farmers committed suicide because they borrowed money from the bank to buy seeds and flood came and destroyed it. So because they were scared they committed suicide. I was also in a place in Kogi, where a storey building was under water.

“People that are not in IDP are the people always struggling for relief materials. This flood is all over the world, Asia, Europe, I know that Nigeria flooding is bad. And when we have such disaster food is not the problem, do not make food your priority.

“If you eat once, thank God, I know that none of you would die of hunger here. Before the middle of November, the water would have receded.”

SOURCE: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/10/four-farmers-commit-suicide-over-flood-disaster-in-kogi/

I'm not sure how the proposed break up will checkmate the endemic problem of corruption; which so far, has cut accross all the demographics in Nigeria......tribe, gender, age, religion etc.

Potential flash points in the OPs map include Ilorin which has large numbers of indiginuous Hausa/Fulani people in addition to Youruba's with lots of overlap inbetween. I can't see the core North (Arewa) allowing Ilorin to go to Oduduwa without a fight and vice versa.

Some people have already posted that they do not think Akwa Ibom and Cross River would not want to go with Biafra.

The people of southern Zaria, i.e Kafanchan etc are unlikely to look froward to a future as part of Arewa.

Gradually, Lagos port city regains lost glory


By TOPE ADEBOBOYE



It is one of the most strategic communities in the country. Apapa, a sprawling upscale Lagos neighbourhood, hosts two of Nigeria’s most significant and busiest sea ports – Apapa Wharf and Tin Can ports. Besides, it is home to many industries and commercial ventures. But all these did not immune Apapa from the rot afflicting many parts of Lagos. Until recently, several parts of Apapa wore a repugnant garb.

The major artery to the area, the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway was in a very bad shape. Many sections of the highway had failed, with potholes dotting several parts. On both sides, trailer and tankers parked indiscriminately, virtually taken over the entire road and leaving a narrow stretch for other vehicles. Businesses quickly sought alternative locations and moved out of the area. Crime soared in Apapa and its environs, as hoodlums mounted shanties in the area. Robbers, rapists and other criminals made the place their abode. And since oil companies and manufacturing concerns also operated in Apapa, articulated vehicles degraded the roads.

Angered by the destruction of the area’s initial master plan, Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and his team moved in last May to bring back Apapa’s old, glorious days. Supported by the federal government, bulldozers were rolled into the area, accompanied by fierce-faced, gun-toting security personnel. Trucks and tankers were cleared off the roads, shanties demolished and criminals routed from their dens. Since then, traffic in Apapa has improved considerably. But many Lagos residents were hardly impressed. They doubted that government would be able to sustain the momentum.

Like the proverbial dog that returned to its vomit, they insisted that Apapa would soon go back to its old, iniquitous ways. The state government has, however, assured Nigerians that never again would Apapa be allowed to degenerate. Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello insisted that the government would ensure the sustenance of the intervention policy in that part of Lagos. Bello recently led some top officials of the state government to inspect the Marine Beach and Ijora Causeway, which the federal government had promised to restore a few months ago.

The team discovered, quite sadly, that many promises made by the federal government were yet to be fulfilled. Indeed, many things remained wrong with the state of the roads in the area. From Sapara Street, the road leading to Apapa Central Business District (CBD) was inundated with petroleum products, causing much damage to the road. The water channels in the area were blocked with plastic materials, preventing a free flow of water. Hills of filth and human excreta stood at specific parts of the road leading to NNS Beecroft, and cows as well as white egrets fed on the wastes.

Several young men, looking rough and tough, idled around. It was learnt that they belonged to the group of hoodlums sacked from Apapa when shanties, where they dwelled, were demolished by the government. But the mobile policemen stationed in the area kept an eagle eye on the men. In spite of the federal government’s inaction, however, the state government said it would continue to address the problems of Apapa even as it unveiled the Apapa regeneration plan recently. Bello said the government would soon turn the land reclaimed from Ijora Causeway to Marine Beach into a landscaped splendour.

Hear him: “We will be landscaping the space we reclaimed in Marine Beach and create a recreation centre for residents of Ijora and Ajegunle. Some of the facilities that will be available at the recreation centre are a basket ball court and a football pitch, among others. Gardens and parks will be created around the area. We have done the design for the project.

The street light from Ijora to Apapa has been designed and the estimate has been made.” There would also be a basket ball court and boxing rings at Ijora Olopa where residents of Oyingbo, Ebute-Meta, Iganmu and Alaka can come and recreate at their leisure, according to the commissioner. At Marine Beach, Bello said the government would build a standard football pitch and create outdoor advert boards at strategic areas which would serve as a revenue source for the state. Special Adviser to the Governor on the Environment, Dr. Taofeek Folami said the state government had also restored the glory to some other neighbourhoods in the area.

He cited the beautified Costain Loop, the Abebe Village and Nigeria Breweries Plc Complex as examples. His words: “The Costain Loop is now an exhilarating sight to behold. But in the actual sense, it used to be a ram market and indeed an eyesore.

The story has changed, and the loop is gradually emerging a tourist centre.” Bello said the governor had set up an inter-ministerial committee to ensure the full implementation of the plan. Ministries and agencies to be involved in the project, according to him, were Environment, Agriculture, Works & Infrastructure and Lagos State Advertising Agency (LASAA), among others. Explaining that the cost might be huge, Bello said the road from Marine Beach to Apapa alone would cost the state government over N6 billion to reconstruct, besides other costs. “By our last calculation, the regeneration project will cost over N12 billion. This is due to a lot of damage that have been done to the environment. For instance, we have to do remediation before we commence road construction. This is as a result of the diesel, petrol and petrochemical products spilt on the roads by those who turned the roads to their workshop.

This has caused major degradation to the environment, thereby making Apapa and its environs almost inhabitable for its residents and unenabling for business.” The state government is certainly not happy with the federal government over what Bello termed its many failed promises on Apapa. Governor Fashola also wondered why the federal government has continued to keep mum over the Apapa regeneration project. Fashola said the project was discussed with the federal government from inception and expressed surprise that the central government had failed to keep its own side of the bargain. “The state government has been the only government involved in the sustainability of Apapa since we completed the removal of the shanties.

So far, the federal government has not contributed their quota. We cannot bear the burden alone because this port is the number one port. The traffic gridlock along Wharf Road was created by the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority,” the governor lamented. Bello said the state government spent a lot of money to clear the Marine Beach and Ijora Causeway, saying the project cost N100 million to clear all the shanties and remove abandoned vehicles and others from the axis. “We have completely cleared the place, and today, it is very easy for one to drive through Apapa.

Yet, the state is yet to receive the federal government’s response in different areas it pledged to make intervention.” The commissioner regretted that the federal government promised to address the ocean surge persistently ravaging the Alpha Beach, saying the incident has almost wiped out the Okun Alfa community which borders the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern part of the state.

According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan had inspected the place alongside Fashola but noted that the federal government has since kept mum on its plans for the area. The commissioner said no provision was made for the Apapa regeneration plan in the 2012 budget, but expressed hope that a structural appropriation might be made for the state government to achieve its plans for the neighbourhood. Governor Fashola isn’t too pleased with the federal government over its inability to redeem its pledges concerning Lagos. “It is always a problem to work with the federal government,” lamented the governor. “The federal government does not compensate Lagos State Government for all the damages it did to infrastructure in the state.

All the money they are making from the ports, we get nothing from it. Now, I would expect a federal government with conscience to take a decision that since we are running our tankers through your roads, this is what you get every year to repair the roads. Instead, they are carving out our land. But we have started reclamation of our territory with or without them. There ministers were here and agreed on certain things.

I hope they will come through. Regenerating the blighted areas would cost over N12 billion. “But I plan to send a representation to the federal government to come and see the damage they have done to our land, to our assets and to our people in the name of operating oil transportation. All that oil is going underground and it will pollute the underground water.

From this, ultimately, the residents will extract water for use and tomorrow we will be talking of cancer and other related diseases. The people must understand this and this must stop. We will transform this place. I am confident that we will. We have done it at Oshodi. We have also done it in Obalende and succeeded.”

SOURCE: Gradually, Lagos port city regains lost glory

Mandelaguy: Jonathan's power sector reform is working. I ran Barth Nnaji's this day interview with my facts and they jelled! www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nnaji-we-are-implementing-key-pillars-of-power-reform/117760/ . So many people just come up with ideas and issues with the power sector, without actually finding out what is happening there. [b]GEJ brought Barth from geometric because of what he had achieved, [/b]the reform will take away all those issues you are having with PHCN. Personally, I have started feeling the impact of what the minister was saying, that was what prompted me to take a closer look at GEJ's reform in the sector, and I must say I am impressed.

@ Madelaguy

Please educate me. What exactly did Barth Nnaji achieve that led to his appointment as Minister of Power? Where, What and When?

Thank you.

[quote author=Mandelaguy]Jonathan's power sector reform is working. I ran Barth Nnaji's this day interview with my facts and they jelled! www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nnaji-we-are-implementing-key-pillars-of-power-reform/117760/ . So many people just come up with ideas and issues with the power sector, without actually finding out what is happening there. GEJ brought Barth from geometric because of what he had achieved,[quote author=oyb]this govt is indeed desperate



@ Madelaguy

What exactly did Barth Nnaji achieve before he was appointed as Minister of Powwer? Where, What, When? Thanks

@ Kobo,

The constitution requires the President to declare his assets and he (GEJ) has complied with this requirement.

What Yar'adua did was to declare his assets publicly which is NOT a requirement of the constitution. In effect, Yardie went over and beyond the constitutional requirement; Jonathan later followed suit after much pressure from the press and civil society groups etc........that was way back in 2007.

Of course, now that he is running the show, GEJ has reverted back to type by completing/submitting his assets declaration form to the relevant bureau and doing no more.

I remember telling my Dad, Uncle and a few others before the election that GEJ would be a complete failure as Nigerian President. My opinion hasn't changed and although I don't support his decison NOT [/b]to declare his assets [b]publicly, he hasn't broken any law.

What a life!

@ ALL,

Governor Amaechi is not the pioneer of such an obnoxious law.

Bukola Saraki also had a similar law passed in Kwara State before he left office.

Nigeria we hail thee!!!!!! Aluta Continua!!!!!!

German police probe boxers' brawl


David Haye was caught up in extraordinary scenes after a world heavyweight title fight involving another British boxer in Munich
Police in Germany are to interview British boxers David Haye and Dereck Chisora after the pair were involved in a brawl at a press conference.

A Munich Criminal Police spokesman said the pair will be questioned at their hotel before they fly out from Munich.

The two men were caught up in the incident last night in a post-match press conference after Chisora lost to Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko on a points decision following their WBC heavyweight title fight.

The police spokesman said the investigation was "only at the very initial stages".

He added there had been no arrests following the bloody brawl.

The brawl broke out during the press conference, when Chisora mocked former WBA world champion Haye for his performance against Klitschko's brother Wladimir last year and challenged him to a fight.

In dramatic scenes captured on video, the men grappled with each other as onlookers and entourages stepped in.

Chisora claimed to have been "glassed", while Haye was seen trading punches with Chisora's trainer Don Charles before swinging a camera tripod over his head at the trainer.

Chisora was also seen brandishing a glass bottle before being wrestled under control. Haye's manager sustained a cut on his forehead during the incident and claimed to have been "glassed".

Police arrived at the scene as the incident calmed down.

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/german-police-probe-boxers-brawl

@ Richiboy and Babawo

No need to debate, they fought last night and Klitschko won.


Inside the ring, just before the fight Chisora spat/sprayed the face of the other Klitschko brother with liquid from his mouth. Chisora lost the fight proper, then got into a brawl with David Haye who was doing some work/analysis for BoxNation TV. Adam Booth (Haye's manager) ended up with a bloody, deep gash on his forehead from trying to break up the brawl.

Chisora was arrested at Munich airport where he had gone to catch his flight back to London. He is still cooling his heels at a Munich police station!!

Inside the ring, just before the fight Chisora spat/sprayed the face of the other Klitschko brother with liquid from his mouth. Chisora lost the fight proper, then got into a brawl with David Haye who was doing some work/analysis for BoxNation TV. Adam Booth (Haye's manager) ended up with a bloody, deep gash on his forehead from trying to break up the brawl.

Chisora was arrested at Munich airport where he had gone to catch his flight back to London. He is still cooling his heels at a Munich police station!!

The suspected bomber has been rearrested at the border!!!!       

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-850020.0.html

The suspected bomber has been rearrested at the border!!!!

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-850020.0.html