Exclusive: How Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari
(Rtd) Incompetence
Led To =N=25BN
Theft In PTF.


The Petroleum Trust Fund
was inaugurated by the
Abacha administration in
March 1995 and General
Muhammadu Buhari was
appointed to head the Fund
which was formed sequel to
the increase in the pump
price of petrol to N 11 from
N 3.25. The then Head of
State, Gen Abacha had said
then that the Fund was to
distribute the gain from the
increased price on social and
infrastructural projects.
The Fund started work with
an initial capital of about
N60b in 1996 with a
mandate that included the
rehabilitation of roads and
waterways, educational and
health institutions, providing
textbooks and stationery,
procuring essential drugs
and vaccines, providing
water supply systems,
reviving crumbling
agricultural sectors,
connecting outlying areas to
the national electricity grid,
extending railways and
telecommunications and
ensuring consistent food
supply.
Buhari often referred to as
Mai Gaskiya (the honest one)
was apparently considered
for the job mainly because of
the qualities he possessed,
with the Abacha led
government feeling that
would douse the tension
generated by the increase in
fuel prices. With time
however, allegations started
flying that the PTF was no
more than another avenue
for the Abacha administration
to siphon funds.
On assumption of office in
1999, Chief Obasanjo
disbanded the PTF. One of
the discoveries made by the
administration was that
between its inception and
July, 1999, the funds that
accrued to the PTF stood at
N 181 billion. It was also
found out that the
Consultants appointed by the
Executive Chairman of the
Trust Fund, Gen Buhari
constantly fleeced the
country of funds running into
billions.
In 2000, the Obasanjo
administration set up an
Interim Management
Committee to take a look
into the affairs of the
Petroleum (Special) Trust
Fund and ascertain among
other things, how much has
been spent by the PTF so far
and what is on ground to
justify the huge expenditure.
The Committee the set to
work and accomplished all
the terms of reference by
March 2000. The Interim
Management Committee
submitted that:
Term of Reference No 1:
The Interim Management
Committee has already
ascertained the total income
that has accrued to PTF from
its inception to date. The
total amount that has
accrued to PTF is N 181,
795, 000, 000 (One hundred
and eighty one billion, seven
hundred and ninety five
million Naira). The report for
the ascertainment of accrued
income has been completed.
Term of Reference No 2
Independent Consultants
were commissioned by the
Interim Management
Committee to ascertain the
state of all the bank accounts
operated by the Petroleum
Special Trust Fund from its
inception up to September,
1999.
All the assignments have
been completed and all the
reports submitted. An
Executive Summary was
prepared and a total of N 3,
642, 982, 280 (Three billion,
six hundred and forty two
million, nine hundred and
eighty two thousand, two
hundred and eighty Naira)
was found to be recoverable
from various banks, due to
excess charges, under
payment of interest on fixed
term deposits and non-
payment of interest on
current account balances, as
stipulated by Central Bank of
Nigeria guidelines.
Terms of Reference No 3
The Petroleum Special Trust
Fund intervened in, prepared
and packaged, ready for
transfer to the appropriate
line ministry
(b) Food Supply Sector All
the necessary verification
work have been concluded
for projects and programmes
and reports already supplied
by independent consultants.
The programme is already in
the process of being
transferred to the appropriate
ministry, as per the approval
given by Mr President.
(c) Education Sector i)
Educational Materials
Procurement Programme:
The verification of the entire
programme has already been
done and the process of
handing over the whole
programme to the
appropriate beneficiaries has
reached an advance stage as
directed by Mr President ii)
Rehabilitation of Educational
Institutions: The services of
various consultants have
been used to carry out the
technical audit of all the
projects throughout the
country and a
comprehensive up to date
report has already been
completed by the co-
ordinating consultants. The
preparation of an Executive
Summary has reached an
advanced stage.
(d) Health Sector: (i) Drug
Revolving Fund: The drug
revolving fund programme
has been thoroughly verified
and all available stocks have
been transferred to the
various state governments.
As per the directive of Mr
President (ii) Rehabilitation of
Health Institutions: The
programme for the
rehabilitation of Health
Institutions throughout the
country has been verified
and a comprehensive up to
date status report prepared.
And Executive Summary for
the attention of Mr President
is being prepared.
(e) Water Supply Sector: All
projects and programmes
under this sector have been
thoroughly verified in
compliance with the terms of
reference No 3. A
comprehensive and up to
date report has already been
completed.
(f) Other Project Sector: The
projects under the sector
which were commenced have
already been completed. The
rest of the projects are yet to
commence. The report
stating the above mentioned
up to date status of all
projects under this sector
has already been completed.
Terms Of Reference No 4
(i) The audited account of
the fund as at 30th June,
1999 stating the Assets and
Liabilities of the Petroleum
Special Trust Fund has
already been prepared by the
KPMG Audit, a firm of
Chartered Accountants. (ii)
The Audited Accounts of the
fund as at 31st December,
1999 stating the Assets and
Liabilities of the fund has
already been prepared by
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Audit, a firm of Chartered
Accountants. (iii) The Audited
Accounts of the Fund for the
month commencing January,
2000 to June 30th 2000 is to
commence when the IMC
was replaced. This would
have given the asset and
liabilities of the Fund at the
end of the terms of the
former IMC.
Terms Of Reference No 5
The present administrative
structure was carefully
examined and the best
option is to transfer each
departmental staff operating
a project sector to the
appropriate ministry where
the projects are transferred.
This will reduce hardship on
the staff and also will
enhance the capacity of the
ministry concerned for it to
cope with the additional
responsibility.
Terms of Reference No 6 and
7
The former IMC has
undertaken a thorough
technical audit of all projects
and programmes using well
experienced independent
consultants. In the process
of the technical audit, the
sanctity of all contracts
agreement was upheld and
all costs were evaluated to a
realistic level. The value of
work done up to date has
been ascertained and the
estimated cost of completion
has also been calculated.
The appropriate ministry that
will be responsible for the
completion of any project
may further negotiate the
time and cost of completion
of any project.
As it has been enumerated
above, all the terms of
reference given to the former
IMC has already been
virtually completed. The
handing over of projects to
respective ministries has
already commenced. The
former IMC would have
completed the winding down
of the activities of the
Petroleum Special Trust Fund
as directed by Mr President
by the end of June, 2000.
The total public funds to be
recovered from various
contractors, banks and
consultants amounted to
about Twenty five billion,
seven hundred and fifty eight
million five hundred and
thirty two thousand four
hundred and forty eight
Naira.
Below is the Executive
Summary of various reports
of the independent
consultants on verification
exercise which resulted in the
funds recoveries.
Members of The Interim
Management Committee Are
As Follows:
Dr. Haroun Adamu
(Chairman), Alhaji Abdu
Abdurrahim, Barrister Achana
Gaius Yaro, Arc Edward
Eguavoen, Mr. T. Andrew
Adegboro, Engr Baba Goni
Machina
Report On The Amount To Be
Recovered From Some PTF
Projects And Programmes
The Interim Management
Committee was appointed by
Mr President. One of the
terms of reference of their
appointment is to carry out
verification exercise on all
projects and programmes
prior to packaging the
projects and programmes for
subsequent transfer to the
appropriate line ministries.
The recoverable exercises of
the under-listed projects
were completed and the
various reports and the IMC
recommendations forwarded
to President Obasanjo for
further directives.
The Listed Projects Are –
(i) Afriproject Consortium
(APC) PTF Management
Consultants and also Project
Consultants (ii) PTF
intervention in the HIV/AIDS
Programme (iii) PTF Health
Sector Intervention inputs (iv)
PTF Prevalent cases of
expiring drugs all over the
country (v) PTF residential
estate development on Plot
780 Cadastral Zone A8,
Abuja FCT (vi) PTF Head
Office extension contract at
Airport Road, Abuja (vii) PTF-
Bank accounts operated from
inception to 31st December
1999.
AFPRI- Project Consortium
(APC) Afri-Project
Consortium were contracted
by PTF as Management
Consultants and Project
Consultants. The former
Chairman of PTF also
delegated to them the power
of Engineer in all appropriate
project requiring such power.
Afriproject Consortium then
assumed an absolute power
of initiation, approval and
execution of all projects.
Three reputable management
consulting firms were
engaged to verify all
payments made to (APC)
from the inception of PTF up
to 30th September, 1999. On
verification it was found that
they have over charged PTF
for their services to the tune
of N 2, 057, 550, 062 (Two
billion fifty seven million five
hundred and fifty thousand
and sixty two Naira only).
(ii) PTF Assisted HIV/ AIDS
Programmes : The
intervention of PTF in the
HIV/AIDS was flawed due to
professional negligence by
the management consultants.
There was an excessive
order of HIV/AIDS kits which
resulted in most of the kits
expiring before use. Also
there was gross inflation of
the purchase price. The two
factors combined resulted in
a loss of N 579,000,000 (Five
hundred and seventy nine
million Naira only).
(iii) PTF Intervention
Programmes : PTF
intervention in the health
sector input programmes
totalled to about N 9 billion
Naira. The projects were
executed by the management
consultants and PTF in-
house staff. In this sector
there are three glaring areas
of loss: (a) Purchase of
specific frames which was
done at N 1,900 each while
they can be purchased
locally at a price between N
80 and N 880. This resulted
in total loss of N 45, 270,000
(b) Purchase of ambulances
which was done at N
13,000,000 each instead of
the price of N 3,000,000
each. This resulted in total
loss of N 900,000,000 (Nine
hundred million Naira only).
(c) Purchase of drugs was
done to the tune of N 3.08
billion. Price inflation and
expiring of drugs resulted in
a loss to PTF of about N 1,
500, 000,000 ( one billion,
five hundred million Naira).
(iv) PTF Prevalence Expiring
Drugs All Over The Country:
A team of Pharmacists were
commissioned to verify the
Drugs Revolving Fund
Programmes. Their findings
were very depressing. A
huge loss has been incurred
by PTF as enumerated
below:- (a) Drugs and
consumables worth N 817,
831,723 (Eight hundred and
seventeen million, eight and
thirty one thousand seven
hundred and twenty three
Naira only) were found to
have expired by October,
1999 (b) another quantity of
drugs worth N 94, 741, 517
expired in December, 1999
(c) drugs worth N 233, 416,
829 will expire by March
2000 (d) Drugs worth N 461,
255,073 will expire by June
2000 (e) Drugs worth N 429,
117, 861 will expire by
September, 2000 (f) Drugs
worth N 1, 196, 276, 052 will
expire by October-
December, 2000.
There were many cases of
deterioration of drugs as a
result of faulty
manufacturing, inappropriate
packaging, improper storage
and excess stock.
(v) PTF Residential Estate:
The involvement of PTF in
Residential Estate
Development was out of its
intervention sphere. As at
now, the estate has been
confiscated by government.
The contract sum is N 703,
815, 416 (Seven hundred and
three million, eight hundred
and fifteen thousand four
hundred and sixteen Naira
only) while after verification,
the whole project was valued
at N 328, 901, 521 (Three
hundred and Twenty Eight
Million nine hundred and one
thousand, five hundred and
twenty one Naira only). There
was an inflation of the
contract to the tune of N 374,
913, 895 (Three hundred and
seventy four million, nine
hundred and thirteen
thousand eight hundred and
ninety five Naira only).
(vi) PTF Headquarters
Extension: The IMC
Commissioned Consultants
to determine the current
construction cost of the on-
going extension at the
headquarters office. The
current construction cost
determined by the Consultant
came to N 326, 207, 861
(Three hundred and twenty
six million, two hundred and
seven thousand, eight
hundred and sixty one Naira
only) as against a contract
sum of N 461, 216, 759
(Four hundred and sixty one
million, two hundred and
sixteen thousand, seven
hundred and fifty nine Naira
only) this resulted in contract
sum inflation of N 135, 008,
879 (One hundred and thirty
five million, eight thousand
eight hundred and seventy
nine Naira only).
(vii) Bank Accounts Operated
By PTF From Inception To
December 31, 1999: Various
Consultants were
commissioned to verify the
Bank accounts operated by
PTF from inception of the
Fund up to 31st December,
1999. The Fund operated its
bank accounts under three
different categories viz- (a)
Administration Account (b)
Project Account (c) Treasury
Account. Recoveries to be
made from the various banks
are as follow:
(a) Administration Account
Total Amount recoverable is
N 664, 415, 793 (Six hundred
and sixty four million, four
hundred and fifteen thousand
seven hundred and ninety
three Naira only). This is
mainly due to overcharge on
Cost of Turnover (COT), non-
payment of interest on
current account balances as
stipulated by Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) and other
various discrepancies.
(b) Project Account On
project Account, total amount
recoverable is N 2, 467, 817,
167 (Two billion, four
hundred and sixty seven
million, eight hundred and
seventeen thousand, one
hundred and sixty seven
Naira only). This is made up
mainly from overcharge of
Cost of Turnover (COT), non-
payment of interest on
Current Account balances as
stipulated by Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) and other
various discrepancies.
(c) Treasury Account All
the Treasury Accounts were
verified and amount to be
recovered is N 510, 749, 323
(Five hundred and ten million,
seven hundred and forty nine
thousand, three hundred and
twenty three Naira only).
This is mainly due to short-
payment of interest on
deposited funds. (See Box
A).
The total sum of N 11, 658,
532, 448 (Eleven billion, six
hundred and fifty eight
million, five hundred and
thirty two thousand four
hundred and forty eight Naira
only) is recoverable as per
various reports completed as
at now.
1.Other Potential Areas Of
Fund Recovery : Road
(Highways and Urban Roads)
The PSTF uses about 70% of
its income on highways and
Urban Road Projects. In this
project sector, there was
total variation of contract
sums of N 68,000,000,000
(Sixty eight billion Naira).
These variations were not
done with properly priced
bills of quantities and
approved civil contracts
procedure as stipulated by
government regulations.
Taking the experience of
what has been discovered
after verification of previous
contracts awarded by PSTF,
the minimum potential
recovery will be about 15%.
This estimated percentage
will be about N 10, 000, 000
(Ten billion Naira). The
verification of this project
sector was about to take off
when the IMC members were
replaced.
2. Rural Water Supply
Programme The area of
potential fund recoveries
under this programme are
basically two :- (i)
Mobilisation paid to
contractors who by now have
not even commenced work
(ii) Over pricing of contracts.
The amount to be recovered
from this project sector can
be conservatively estimated
at N 1,000,000,000 (One
billion Naira).
The detail verification report
on this programme has
already been completed. The
executive summary of this
report was in the process of
compilation when the IMC
members were replaced.
3. National Health and
Educational Institutions
Rehabilitation Programme
The detail verification
exercise on this sector has
already been completed by
various independent
Consultants. The executive
summary for total amounts
recoverable is now in the
process of being compiled.
The conservative estimate of
amount recoverable due to
non-performance of
contractors and over-pricing
of contract is about N
600,000,000 (Six hundred
million Naira).
4. National Educational
Material Procurement
Programme This programme
entails the purchase of
educational materials such
as text books, exercise
books, chalk, dusters,
pencils, biro, magazines,
maps etc. The verification
exercise of this programme
is yet to commence. The
conservative estimate of
recoveries to be made due to
non-performance by
contractors and inflation of
prices will be in the region of
N 900,000,000 (Nine hundred
million Naira).
5. Rural Telecommunication
Programme The Rural
Telecommunication
Programme was supposed to
be carried out in two phases
viz: – (i) Pilot programme
(ii) The main programme.
The main programme was to
commence after the pilot
programme has been
completed and certified as
operational, but mobilisation
of N 1, 600,000 (One billion,
six hundred million Naira)
was paid to the contractors
for the main programme
without any contract being
signed at all.
In view of the government
policy at present, the full
amount of the mobilization
paid can be recovered (i.e N
1,600,000,000), See Box B
The Committee
recommended that the total
recoverable amount can be
used to offset some of the
outstanding debts because
some of the creditors are
contractors from whom these
amounts are to be recovered.
It also recommended that the
President may wish to set up
a high powered judicial panel
to recover the huge public
fund and to take the
necessary action against any
officer, consultant or
contractor whose negligence
resulted in this colossal loss
of public funds.
The Interim Management
Committee Members who
compiled this report include
Dr. Haroun Adamu
(Chairman), Alh. Abdu
Abdurrahim, Barrister Achana
Gaius Yaro, Arc. Edward
Eguavoen, Mr. T Andrew
Adegboro and Engr. Baba
Goni Machina.

BUHARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
No need to wonder any more, these are some of
the reasons people went on the streets after his
removal. It took pains for me to research so we
can catalogue and list the real reasons he was
overthrown. Am sure this would help people my
age group who were too young or were not born
then.
Here are my findings
1.Soured Nigeria’s relations with Britain and
neighbouring countries by ordering the brutal
expulsion of 700,000 West African immigrants
2.Summarily dismissed 30,000 soldiers who
were mainly Southerners and Middle beltans but
left Lt.Col Mohammed Aliyu Gusau intact when
he knew Aliyu was operating an import license
scam.
3.Abuse of human rights:——- It was so bad that
the Nigerian Bar Association stopped their
lawyers from participating in the charade
dubbed “the Nuremberg tribunals”. Once you’re
summoned to the tribunal, consider yourself a
prisoner.
4.Buhari promulgated Decree 4 on his first day
in the job as head of state. It basically means
you criticize the government you go to prison,
end of story.
5.All the the senior positions in the SMC were
occupied by northern Muslims (SMC is like
present day senate and HOR)
6.Decree 2 of 1984 (Detention of Persons
Decree)…..It basically allows the president to
arrest anybody it wants.
7.Economy—–Insurmountable economic
problems plagued the Buhari regime as
petroleum prices collapsed in the face of
expanding foreign debt. Buhari instituted
austerity measures that caused severe hardship
to the average Nigerian. In addition, political
corruption continued unabated, with politicians
escaping to Western countries with millions of
dollars in government money. From
Encyclopaedia Britannica
8.Rigidity—– Does not listen to other opinions
hence Babangida said this when he overthrew
Buhari: Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was
too rigid and uncompromising in his attitudes to
issues of national significance.
9.Jailing of opponents or perceived enemies.
Sam Mbakwe 100-year jail, Ambrose Ali 75yrs,
Lateef Jakande 100yrs and Pa Ajasin. Pa
Adekunle Ajasin was tried, found innocent, tried
again and still found innocent, and Buhari just
decided enough was enough and jailed him
anyhow. But curiously his friend Awwal Ibrahim
– the highly corrupt governor of Niger State
who was arrested at Heathrow airport with £14
million was only placed under house arrest.,
The End
10. 20months after taking power, Nigerians and
the military had grown tired and impatient with
his dictatorship and the rest is history as they
say.
After watching the evening news with people he
thought were his friends, Majors Dangiwa Umar,
Lawan Gwadabe, Abdulmumuni Aminu and
Sambo Dasuki rose and pulled their pistols. One
of them said: Major-General Muhammadu
Buhari, on behalf of the Nigerian people, I hereby
declare you arrested for crimes against the
Nigerian people.
In conclusion, his downfall was intransigence.
Not listening to other people’s opinion in a
diverse nation like Nigeria, he was not a unifier

Buhari and Decree No.4,1984
Life and Issues with Tunde Thompson
tunsthompson@yahoo.com
08056180022
In his interview by Eric Osagie and Paulinus
Aidoghie published in the Saturday Sun as a cover
story on December 22, the former Head of State
now chairman of the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, made
some comments on Decree No. 4 of 1984 on
which one can neither be indifferent nor silent.
Although the earlier focus had been on the three
drug pedlars executed by the government, the little
that the general said about the decree conveyed a
totally different impression about the law, which
warrants a response in the interest of historical
accuracy and the truth.
After seemingly rejecting the idea that the decree
was used by his government to gag the Press,
Buhari suggested that the Press brought the
“Nigerian factor” into the decree. In his own words:
“….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. Those who did it,
the editors, the reporters, we jailed them….”
Considering the fact that the decree was tested
only once and involved only The Guardian
newspaper and two of its editorial staff (Nduka
Irabor and Tunde Thompson), what the general
said in that interview amounted to fresh
allegations, presented at the bar of public opinion
this time around, and not what was tabled before
the Decree 4 Tribunal chaired by Justice J.O.
Ayinde.
One needs more illumination from the general on
who it was that tried to get a job or contract from
civil servants and was turned down, and later
resorted to engaging in “a quick research” so as to
create problems for them. The decree was applied
only once, as earlier indicated, so how could Gen.
Buhari develop the idea that the accused
newspaper and its editorial representatives set out
to create problems for some unknown and
unspecified civil servants then? Obviously, the
General is not the same young and swashbuckling
officer he used to be and therefore may well have
forgotten details of the trial under Decree No. 4 of
1984, which led to financial sanctions against The
Guardian and incarceration after some months of
detention for its two workers.
That his memory might have failed him during the
interview, however, does not mean the readers and
future researchers should be given the impression
that The Guardian and its men who worked
independently on some diplomatic affairs reports,
ever sought any favour from any civil servant, or
tried to embarrass any of them in the way
discussed during that interview. That is pure
fiction, simple. Furthermore, there are some
procedural and professional matters to which the
General (“once a general, always a general,” not
so?) did not direct his thoughts during the
interview.
If, in the course of his or her work, a journalist
(reporter or correspondent), comes about some
information suggesting that a civil servant or any
public officer had been “corrupt”, was it being
suggested that the evidence should be taken to a
court of law by the medium of mass
communication concerned? Does the general still
think the duty of the Press is to gather evidence
for delivery to the law courts rather than publishing
in the media (print or electronic)?
And how are we so sure, even if the suggestion of
taking “the evidence to court” were to be
considered, that “the court will not spare whoever
it was” (that had been allegedly corrupt)? We live
in an environment in which some well-connected
public officers have, within the last decade,
obtained ridiculous injunctions against prosecution
for corrupt practices, even with all the weight of
evidence marshaled by law-enforcement agencies
like the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).
We have thus all been told that such persons were
and perhaps remain till today “untouchable”, as far
as prosecution in any of our “temples of justice” is
concerned. Suddenly, we have been left in a
situation where the law has become a “respecter of
persons”, to such an extent that even probes
conducted in legislative chambers have not been
followed up with any appreciable results, either
there or in the courts of law. There were even
reports that a prominent politician had the rare
distinction of having his matter bordering on
corruption ruled as being beyond the competence
of any court in the country.
It is just a pity that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s warning:
“No condition is permanent”, is too easily forgotten
by such people. It does appear that it is not
politically expedient to subject some people to
legal scrutiny, even if they went out of their ways
to compete with the Central Bank in terms of the
monies stashed away in private vaults. All one has
been saying is that, contrary to what the general
said, journalists are constitutionally empowered to
investigate matters of national or public interest,
and can go to town with their stories once the
issues of libel, truth and fairness had been taken
into account in writing and publishing them.
A precedent is the Joseph Tarka/Godwin Daboh
and Daily Times corruption allegation between
1973 and 1974;it is one example we should not
forget here. When sure of its facts, the medium
concerned should publish and the exposed officials
or individuals can then go to court, not the other
way round. In other words, those tried under
Decree 4 in 1984 neither accused any public
official of corruption nor attempted to embarrass
government and any such thoughts are simply a
latter-day rationalization of a regime’s peculiar
political power management strategy. Put briefly,
before assuming power after the December 31,
1983, coup d’etat, the media had reported that a
N2.8billion oil money was missing and as
Minister, Gen. Buhari could not have taken kindly
to those reports. Secondly, the General may not
have forgotten yet that Dele Giwa of Newswatch
newsmagazine, once asked him what he thought
about press freedom.
The answer he gave (not denied till today), was
this: “Press Freedom? What’s that? I’ll step on
it!”Decree No.4 was the first attempt to step on the
Press and public opinion by the regime, but it
back-fired. Thirdly, Decree No. 4 was not yet
promulgated by the time this writer was detained
under Decree No. 2, and it took almost two weeks
before a world press conference on its
promulgation was held. So, why lock up anybody
when there was no law yet on the matter?Fourthly,
the security organization had wanted to know who
gave the information on the diplomatic stories
published, as already detailed elsewhere.
They were not obliged with such information,
which would have been done against the ethics of
Journalism. These are some of the abiding and
unforgettable evils of Decree No. 4 of 1984, which
nobody can ignore or wish away. Repentance and
attitudinal changes are now overdue, not
justification of undemocratic actions at this time.

The name Nduka Irabor is defined by a picture. A
picture so iconic, frozen in space and time,
against the backdrop of a Black Maria. A picture
triumphal, that hangs on the walls of our
collective memory. A picture of courage, like the
picture of that brave Chinese student who
defiantly stood in front of an armoured tank
against the awesome power of the Chinese army,
ready to die for the cause of democracy on June
5, 1985. The anonymous Chinese man, who has
been variously called The Tank Man or the
Unknown Rebel, whose picture made global
headlines and became the enduring symbol of
Beijing's Tiananmen Square protest.
The picture of Nduka Irabor that I am referring to
is the picture of him and his professional twin
brother, Tunde Thompson, in a black power
salute, emerging from the belly of a Black Maria.
Two iconic journalists jailed under the draconian
era of military rule for publishing a scoop, an
exclusive story that embarrassed the government
of the day. And for that they went to jail in 1984
under the infamous Decree 4 of the Buhari-
Idiagbon regime.
Throughout the period of the trial and the
eventual imprisonment of Nduka Irabor and Tunde
Thompson for a year in the hellhole called Kirikiri
Maximum Prison, I never saw my friend, Nduka
Irabor, shed a tear. Like the Chinese student
rebel, he stood there defiant and triumphant in
the face of the awesome, brutal power of Nigerian
military rule and a teleguided judiciary.
But on the back page of The Guardian of Monday,
March 1, I saw a moving picture. I saw the
picture of the usually unbreakable Nduka Irabor
crying, his big eyes red and bulging with tears.
Tears for a father he would see no more, a father
who gave him life, a father who taught him life
and a father who ended his life happy and
triumphant that his son had made him proud. His
son had carried his name very far to the ends of
the world, as a soldier of news, a defender of
truth and an honourable parliamentarian. It is
every father's prayer that his children would be
bigger than him.
For Nduka Irabor, the celebration of his father's
death is the celebration of his own life. That is
why the preacher went on memory lane to
recapture and to redefine the Nduka Irabor we all
know—the bloody newshound who perpetually
has his nose on the ground, sniffing for news,
asking questions from his contacts. And when he
gets answers to his questions, he would not
betray those who gave him the information.
Because that is against the ethics of his
profession.
In his eulogy, Bishop Nnaemaka Justus Mogekwe
of the Asaba Diocese of the Anglican Church not
only praised the father but also the son,
reminding us all once again about how Irabor
was jailed 'for his uprightness as he refused to
divulge the sources of his information.' Pa
George Irabor indeed, died a happy man.
Every fan of this column knows my series '100
Fathers of the Famous' in which I write about
successful people, talking about how their fathers
shaped their lives. Nduka Irabor remembers his
father as a father who 'would more likely ask
what would happen to my fellow man if I do not
help him rather than take any thought of his own
well-being. It was to the extent of the depth of
his conviction of the necessity to help his fellow
man that his philosophy was 'love thy neighbour.'
That my father placed strict premium on good
upbringing for his children and his expectation
that they made a success of their life pursuit was
not up for debate.'
My path and Nduka's path crossed many years
ago in Jos, as two young reporters trying to learn
the job and hone their journalism skills. I had just
finished my national youth service in 1978 and
was working as a reporter for the News Agency
of Nigeria in Jos. On his part, Irabor was a
reporter for the Daily Times, which was the
leading newspaper in Nigeria at that time.

Nduka Irabor, Tunde Thompson and other
Journalists cried when Buhari jailed them. Tai
Solarin the Activist cried when Buhari sent
him to jail for publicly opposing him. Fela
Ransome Kuti, the Musician, cried when he
was jailed by Buhari. Parents and friends of
Barth Owoh, Ojuolape and others cried when,
they were sent to early graves. Former
Governor of Imo State, the late Sam Mbakwe
cried at Buhari’s marginalization of his people
when PTDF was unable to construct a single
road in South West, South South and South
East whereas, the same PTDF under Buhari
regime constructed more than 98 roads in
the Northern part of Nigeria. Ambrose Ali
cried when Buhari locked him up for nothing.
Michael Ajasin cried and even became blind
thanks Buhari. Civil Servants cried when he
retrenched 53,000 workers. Nigerians cried
while queuing for their portions of scarce
commodities like rice, sugar, salt, milk and
toiletries. Students cried when he re-
introduced payment of school fees. Our
Economy cried when he increased external
debts by $3bn in 1year. Lagosians are still
crying from road traffic because He cancelled
the Metro line Railway Project. Nigerians have
cried for more than 17 years of military rule
resulting from Buhari’s criminal regime. What
goes around, comes around. Tears never
begin flow from Buhari’s eyes yet. All
Nigerians need is credibility not tears The
parents of the 11 copper members slain in
Bauchi, during 2011 post-election violence,
that erupted, following Buhari's post-election
speech activities of boko haram commence
and thousands of Nigerians are dying every
day , also cried The N2.8 billion stolen by
Buhari and trillion of naira that disappeared
under him in PTF is fresh in our memories, we
shall never forget and forgive him. We have
recycled leaders enough. Nigeria is a country
with more than 160 million people why
recycle leaders? Those angling to replace the
now discredited lot are in every way, the
same fingers of a leprous hand. They had
never offered anything for us in the past
except hatred and distrust among us. We
need a new set of credible people as leaders
not the old same people. They ruled the
country in the past and brought policies that
ruined this country to this extent and wants
to come back again, never. We are many in
Nigeria, let's try another set.
Replacing another leader or voting in another party
won't change nigeria's problem. What we need is
TRUE FEDERALISM.

abacus:


That day in 2010, he decided to run for presidency I stopped to sympathise GEJ because leadership should be opportunity meets preparation. This blame game will not end the insurgency everyone will distance themselves. Someone just aired how he intended to crush BH, what was GEJ plan then? I still blame a CinC who has at his disposal every thing to crush BH but rather politicise it.

Lemme remind you, 2011 GEJ campaign surrounds attaching BH to GMB, in 2015 would people listen to that NO. Same 2011, GEJ attached extremism to GMB, same can't be used this time around ati be be lo.. because over time people now see that GEJ only mission is to enrich his few friends and that is all. So blaming this govt. Is justified and clamouring for a change is not too much. So help us God.

AM NOT A FAN OF GEJ BUT I KNOW THE DAY D NORTH UNITES TO STOP BOKOHARAM IT WILL END. THEY HAV A LOT OF SYMPATHIZERS DERE

spenca:


This is a total farce by this it is obvious you are oblivious of the Nigerian state' antecedence

EXPLAIN AND DENY WAT I WROTE

PLS ARE ALL DIS PLAYERS REALLY U20 IF NOT WE ARE JUST DECEIVING OURSELVES MOVING AROUND D SAME CIRCLE AND EXPECTING A MIRACLE FROM D SUPER EAGLES. NIGERIA HAS QUALIFIED FOR 3 FINALS IN D LAST 4 U17 WORLD CUPS.AND WON 2 u17 worldcups in d last 4. YET WE HAV FAILED TO QUALIFY 2 IN D LAST 3 NATIONS CUPS. AND ALSO BEGGING PLAYERS WIT NIGERIAN ROOTS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO COME AND PLAY FOR NIGERIA, WEN WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE D BEST FOOTBALL PLAYIN YOUTH NATION IN D WORLD(CONSIDERING OUR COUNTRIES TROPHIES IN U17). A WORD IS ENOUGH FOR D WISE. AFRICAN CIUNTRIES SHD STOP AGE CHEATING AND FOCUS ON FOITBALL DEVELOPMENT AND NOT WINNING U17 AND 20 TROPHIES

abacus:


Lemme ask you this question: who flushed out Maitasine militants? He's ready to tell us its Shagari govt. In which we all know GMB did. It's only one who is idle will engage Okupe with tell me this tell me that. Like someone said Okupe should focus on telling us why we should vote GEJ instead.

INSA IJN #GMB15

PLS CAN BUHARI STOP THE NIGERDELTA MILITANTS WEN DEY START THE DAY ENTIRE NORTH UNITE AGAINST BOKOHARAM , IT WIL DIE A NATURAL DEATH. BOKOHARAM HAV A LOT OF SYMPATHIZERS IN THE NORTH AND DAT IS WHY BOKOHARAM IS SURGING TO A HIGH. GEJ MAY NOT BE POWERFUL BUT GIVIN D ENTIRE BLAME TO GEJ IS A BIG LIE. THE NOTHERN LEADERS AND FORMER PRESIDENTS FROM D NORTH HAV ALL FAILED DIA NOTHERN PEOPLE

spenca:



Partly we seem to forget that General Muhammadu Buhari’s time as head of state was barely for two years but still I will do well to state the obvious many politician including Okupe have tried to taint. GMB's reign was a defining moment to re-invent morality and deal with the cancer of corruption, that seemed to be out of hand, hence, some draconian emergency decrees were introduced by his Supreme Military Executive Council to deal with those and other pertinent issues endemic to the society. Compared to other military regimes before and after him, General Buhari’s administration can be described as a benevolent dictatorship though ruthless at times and the regime succeeded in saving the moral fibers and souls of its citizens, or at least until Buhari’s government was untimely replaced by the “evil genius”. More importantly, by leading people with qualitative and disciplined leadership that was free of corruption, inertia, nepotism, racial and religious disharmony; Buharis reign was a government that gave Nigerians total security and peace, a period that was certainly at variance with the current failed administration under GEJ & SAMBO it also gave Nigerians hope and reason to work diligently and selflessly together for the benefit of Nigeria. Remember the numerous new culture on self-reliance, discipline, honesty, integrity, reporting to work in time, queuing up to get things, And while all that was happening Buhari was telling the world that he would not sell our oil in the cheap even if he had to go by trade barter to import commodities we needed while saving our foreign reserves. Coupled with the elimination of the insurgency during his reign are sufficient reasons alone to say he did well for Nigeria in less than two years, if Buhari hadn't stopped that insurgency a lot would have happened to this nation and okupe and saTANist come out to act like the man had half a dozen of years like GEJ with nothing to show , I will clamor to okupe to temper his sentiments with reason in order not to ridicule the more during this period, Nigerians don't forget.

u hav just said nothing. pls can u tell me any rich president before d reign of buhari as president?? BUHARI STARTED CORRUPTION COS AFTER HIM NIGERIA STARTED PRODUCING PRESIDENTS WHO WHERE BILLIONAIRES(ABACHA,BABANGIDA) etc he created d foundation for corruption which is very obvious and also toppling a democratic govt

DaPhilosopher:



studentportal.unilag.edu.ng/StudentLoginPage.aspx

i tried now and it .said username password mismatch

pls can i hav a link to dat

%

dey hav added more depts oooo. u guyz can check ur admission status

onadana:
In as much as I don't support violence...watch the replay again and again the ball was clearly outside the box.This match was highly sensitive and tension was high.The blaim should be placed squarely on Abuja FA,NNL management...for not providing security.It got so bad that even policemen were given upcut and they ran for their lives.A proper investigation should be carried our and any one found guilty or team should be made to face the music.

watch d video again. d ball hit 2players hands oooo . d first was inside while d second was outside d box

https://www.nairaland.com/2053019/referee-beaten-blue-black-today
mr charles ozigbo

on a lighter note u all shd see dis.
https://www.nairaland.com/2053019/referee-beaten-blue-black-today