by Solomon Osadolo

At the opening ceremony of a three-day Transformation Seminar organised by the Nigerian Army, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, disclosed that there were traitors in the army who leaked vital information on military operations to the Boko Haram insurgents.

He warned such officers to desist from such acts or face the wrath of the law.

The event which held in Abuja, had as its theme, “Building capacity of the Nigerian Army to meet contemporary challenges.”

Ihejirika said, “Let me use this opportunity to warn officers and soldiers who indulge in giving out information both from Army Headquarters and other formations certain vital information that had one way or the other worked negatively in our operations.

“There are also some other soldiers that have been found posting negative comments in the internet and also some had been engaged in conversing with insurgents.”

He spoke about a particular soldier who gave out information on the movement of troops to Mali. The troops were subsequently attacked near Okene, Kogi State. He said that the officer has been apprehended and would be court-martialled.

The post Traitors: Chief of Army Staff discloses that some soldiers spy for Boko Haram appeared first on The ScoopNG.

Finally, today, he transits to the far country, leaving a legacy of exceptional skill in the art of storytelling; an unbridled principle and a controversial posture in matters of his ethnic nationality.

Chinua Achebe, the literary giant who died earlier this year at 82, will be buried today in his hometown in Ogidi, Anambra State, exactly 55 years after the publication of Things Fall Apart, his worldacclaimed novel. It is said that the death of the aged in Africa is equivalent to the razing of a whole library and this is particularly true of this late professor of Literature. He leaves a big vacuum.

If four heads of state and many internationally acclaimed personalities grace his burial today, as expected, it can only confirm Achebe’s towering stature as a gift to the whole of Africa who deserves a huge celebration for his contributions to scholarship in particular; and serving as a conscience of the nation through social commentaries.

In celebrating the life of this illustrious son with something akin to a state burial, however, it should not inspire any unsolicited posthumous awards, especially from government circles. Such would be rather perfunctory as Achebe had made it clear on a number of occasions that accepting national honours from the Federal Government of Nigeria would amount to conferring dignity on leaders who have not only failed but whose actions amount to a deliberate chastisement of the society’s poor and the needy.

If any government, either at the federal or state level, deems it fit to name institutions after him, it should feel obliged. But honours that the good professor would have rejected in his lifetime should not now be hanged on his tomb as a mark of magnanimity from the state.

The truth is that like every literary colossus, Achebe does not need state endorsements to validate his greatness. The nation, and indeed the whole world, is celebrating him. More heart-warming is the frank sincerity with which his clan, the tribe of the intelligentsia, is according him worthy recognition – raising him and his art up for applause and further appraisal. It should not matter if the language of discourse is probing and interrogatory insofar the motive is not ulterior.

The rite of passage is unobtrusive to the creative muse. And nowhere has this been evident than in the elegy by Prof. Wole Soyinka as a creative salutation to a man who attained greatness through the intellect and power of his pen. In fact, Soyinka, more than any other Nigerian, has demonstrated the meaning of real tribute in memory of a man who does not deserve to be mourned but celebrated.

When editors found it hard to reach the iconoclastic Nobel Laureate on the day Achebe died, little did they know that Kongi was busy drafting a statement, together with the respected poet, Prof. J.P Clark, in which they expressed grief over the “silencing” of another member of the “pioneer quartet” of the contemporary Nigerian literature; the fourth being the late Christopher Okigbo, a poet of admirable talent and courage.

Situating Achebe in history, as a literary pioneer, and recreating a timeless elegy in his honour as Soyinka has done may sound like an ideal way of acknowledging a special colleague, but his interview in saharareporters last week is even more telling as a perfect honour from a source where it is least expected.

The media may have done their best to give that interview a news edge interpretation, revisiting the suspected age-old rivalry between the two giants. But then that’s fair. It does not reduce the import of the occasion; that for the first time in recent history, Soyinka would agree to comment on knotty issues of his relationship with Achebe without seeking to reduce the other’s place in history. For everyone who has the faintest inclination in literary matters, I recommend the Soyinka interview on Achebe not just for the measured but rich and brave outpourings therein, but also for the indescribable elegance of the language deployed.

To miss that interview would be worse than a sin; it would amount to missing the literary heaven.

In celebrating Achebe, Soyinka spoke in a manner that is as elevated as it is lordly – rich in historical recollection and intellectual purity. For example, speaking about Achebe’s controversial last book: There was a country – A personal history of Biafra, Soyinka said he would have loved to take his friend on with some friendly fire. “It’s a book I wish he had never written…that is, not in the way it was. There were statements in that work that I wish he had never made…”

Like the controversial book, the issue about Achebe not getting the Nobel Prize and who qualifies to be the father of African literature, among others, are the things Soyinka spoke about with frank but fresh insights. All was said in a way to define Achebe’s role in history even when there were reasons to hold different opinions on issues.

It is remarkable!

How then should Achebe’s place in the canon of world literature be assessed? Soyinka’s apt response should suffice as the great literary giant is laid to rest today: “wherever the art of the story-teller is celebrated, (Achebe’s place) is definitely assured!”

The post Steve Ayorinde: In memory of a man of the people appeared first on The ScoopNG.

by Dare Lawal

On Wednesday, the new Assistant Inspector- General of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 6, Jonathan Johnson, paid a courtesy visit to the governor of Rivers, Rotimi Amaechi, and acknowledged that the Rivers State Police Command might have made errors in the way they handled recent political events in the state.

He apologised and assured that the police would make amends in righting the inadvertent wrongs by its officers. 

He was accompanied on the visit by senior police officers from the zone, including the Rivers police commissioner, Joseph Mbu, who’s been widely seen as unfair in his handling of the crisis.

The AIG said he had directed the state Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, to ensure that there was no security breach in the state.

“So, we will take note of all these mistakes and we will correct them. I am assuring you, we will correct them. If there are lapses noticed, let us know so that we can make amends.

“And I also want to thank you (Amaechi) that for all you have done for us and the others that you are going to do. We shall continue to appreciate because you know requests from the police will never stop coming.

“Every human being that has served or is going to serve (the Nigeria Police Force) sometimes is susceptible to some errors here and there and when that comes to forefront, it is incumbent on that very particular person to say we shall amend.”

“I know when these issues of withdrawal of security from some staff officers of yours came, there were agitations here and there.”

Johnson also told Amaechi that he had ordered the commissioner to replace the police orderlies from the Anti-Terrorism Squad withdrawn from some top officials with policemen from the Special Protection Unit.

“We have always been at the wrong side of history because of one thing or the other but you (Amaechi) show understanding in our mistakes, you show understanding in our service and that is why you’ve provided all these things.

“We remain grateful to you on behalf of the Inspector- General of Police. We say a big thank you.

“I must show gratitude because I’ve heard so much about your activities, when your government singlehandedly sponsored the development and training of our ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) centre here in Rivers State.

“We have it on record, your numerous activities of assistance to the command and to the mobile police force.

“I can also see what I have seen on the road yesterday, the new patrol vehicles here and there, that is to show your demonstration of love for the police force”.

Gov. Amaechi thanked the AIG for the visit and advised the officers to avoid playing politics with the security of the lives and properties of Rivers people. 

“We should not play politics with security. The only responsibility enshrined in the constitution for both the President and the state governors is that we swear to an oath that we will protect lives and property and we are beginning to have that challenge in Rivers State.

“I want you to kindly convey to the Police Command that we are beginning to have security challenges in Rivers State and we should not forget that you may play politics with every other thing but one place you don’t play politics with is the security of the lives of our people who elected us to offices and it will not be to the interest of Rivers people if we go back to the era of 2005, 2006 and early 2007,” Amaechi said.

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by Dare Lawal

A person who may or may not be Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has opened an account on social networking site Facebook.

The profile of the individual and some of his recent activities look like that of the Boko Haram leader, although there are several incongruent actions as well which have been performed by the user which casts doubt on whether it is indeed Shekau who runs the page or if it has any affiliation to him.

Abubakar Ibn Muhammad Shekau is the profile name of the user, who has 128 friends as at the last count. His bio reads thus:

• • İMAM at Jamaatuahlisunna lilda’awati waljihad
  • March 2010 to present
• 

  • Lives in Yobé, Forecariah, Guinea
• 

  • From Maiduguri

So far, so good – but a careful look at the page reveals that Shekau ‘likes’ Borno, MTNLoaded and Goodluck Jonathan. Of course a Facebook like does not necessarily mean a real life likeness. It is unlikely that Shekau likes Borno (the state which his sect has pillaged in recent years), MTNLoaded (one of the telecoms firms whose masts Boko Haram has destroyed severally), or Goodluck Jonathan (the Nigerian president who they’ve frustrated and who’s now ordered a military offensive against the sect).

The pictures on the page are mainly those of Shekau and some of his fellow militants. Most updates are shared in Arabic, although a recent one denying that Boko Haram accepted any ransom for the release of Shettima Munguno who was kidnapped some weeks ago, was written in English.

Shekau’s most recent post was actually a shared status update from a friend of his Issou Dan Aba, a Nigerien, who wrote:

Yatabata Ayanzu gomnatin nageria tafara yaki da Allah kuma kowa yasani yaki da Allah ba kaw 
Ya Allah katemaki mujahideen lkalalata dik wani makami na makiyanka 
yau juma muyi adou a Allah yatemaki musulunci da musulmi

Translated, this means: ”It is now confirmed that the Nigerian government has started a war against God, and everybody knows fighting God is futile. Oh God, help those who fight in your cause, destroy all the weapons of Your enemy . Today Friday, we should pray to God to help Islam and muslims”.

Lots of the comments afterwards, although written in Arabic, were mostly supportive of the terrorist sect.

Whether the page is really owned or managed by Shekau, it definitely is the page of an extremist. We hope our security agencies and our pro-internet monitoring government have taken note of it.

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by Paul Osas

The Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly and former presidential running mate on the platform of  Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Tunde Bakare, who moved for the dissolution of the CPC to pave way for its merger into the All Progressives Congress (APC) bared his mind on the APC merger and other issues in a recent interview with The Guardian.

As usual, Bakare had a lot to say… a whole lot.

Here are 7 of the most important quotes from the pastor turned opposition politician.

1. On the APC merger:

“May be it will work or not; it is something we are all waiting to see. But at present, there is no merger, there is no APC, so we cannot start counting the eggs that are not hatched. But it is an ongoing process. They (CPC, ACN,ANPP) have dissolved into a non-existing APC. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I am aware that a merger process is on, the parties involved are still talking and they have not dissolved into anything. I did not move the motion for the dissolution of CPC, the party is alive and intact and likewise ACN and ANPP. They all moved the motion to empower the various members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of their parties to meet and ratify the process of merger.”

2. On where his political loyalty lies:

“I am not CPC, I’m not ACN or ANPP or APGA? I agreed to run with the CPC Presidential Candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in 2011 because of his track record, discipline, integrity, incorruptibility and so on. I worked with him in the party based on this and I believe I discharged my responsibility to Buhari.”

3. About Asari Dokubo’s statement and his (Bakare’s) position that there might be no 2015:

“There is no agreement between my position and what Asari Dokubo said. He must have spoken out of frustration or limited knowledge. He forgot the fact that Nigeria is higher than one person. He also did not ask himself what Jonathan is doing to develop the nation and the feeling of the people to his administration. Another fact is that Jonathan is not the first president and he would not be the last president of Nigeria. There is no need to join issues with him because he is one of those who have made cheap money out of the amnesty programme.”

4. On amnesty for Boko Haram:

“Now we are talking amnesty to Boko Haram. Unfortunately, we have come to a situation where every criminal who carries arms against the government must be granted amnesty. The cheapest means to get money from Federal Government is to take up arms against the nation. The militants in the Niger Delta were granted amnesty and now people are saying grant amnesty to Boko Haram sect members. Very soon armed robbers and kidnappers will ask for amnesty. There is the need to look into the root cause of the entire crisis in the country.”

5. On the state of the nation:

“It is inconceivable by rational mind that a government that claimed to have been elected by popular majority cannot say that what is happening in the country in terms of security is part of the transformation agenda it promised the people. How we got to where we are in the country today does not require any rigorous research work. The fact is that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop; when the rate of unemployment, poverty, youth restiveness and where there is no justice and equity in a system is as high as we have it in the country, what do you expect? All that you see are the consequences of what we did wrong in the past.”

6. On the commendation given by some governors to the president:

“What do you expect the governors to say? Do you think they will say anything contrary? If they endorse or applauded Jonathan’s style of governance, do their own people, I mean the citizens in the states of the various governors endorse or appreciate their style of governance? It is not possible for anybody to give what they don’t have and that is what I feel those governors were trying to do.”

7. Going forward as a nation:

“Nigeria needs a revolution and God can make it happen. Whatever type of revolution; let those who can pray continue to pray. There is a revolution going on already, where it will end is what we do not know, but certainly something will happen very soon. But if we continue this way, no destructive means can bring about a constructive end. During the Ojota protest against oil subsidy, I saw a placard in Lagos State and at the same time a similar placard was raised in Abuja with a message ‘A day is coming when the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich.’ There is the need to wake up or else we are playing with something we are going to regret.”

The post There is no merger, there is no APC: 7 quotes from Tunde Bakare’s recent interview appeared first on The ScoopNG.

by Stanley Azuakola

Anambra is gradually getting set for the next gubernatorial elections, and for weeks prior to this, they’ve been intrigues, back-and-forth and media bashing between political opponents in the different parties.

Gov. Peter Obi (APGA) and Sen. Chris Ngige (ACN) have been touting their records and degrading those of the other. Ngige is desperate to succeed the outgoing Obi, but Obi has other plans.

READ: Whose Rating Would You Believe? Ngige Scores Obi 7 Per Cent; Obi Scores Ngige Zero

However, as the world mourns Chinua Achebe, the two gladiators sheathed their swords and stood side by side throughout Wednesday’s event in Awka as Achebe’sbody laid in state at the Ekwueme Square. They seemed more like friends than foes, even though they did not take it as far as dressing alike.

See pictures below:

Ngige and Obi all smiles and surrounded by security chiefs

R-L BISHOP IBEZIM, CJ ANAMBRA UMEADI, SPEAKER NWEBILI, OBI AND NGIGE

Photos – The Nation

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by Solomon Osadolo

On Wednesday in Enugu, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, disclosed that seven people suspected to have taken part in the killing of former Kwara State Commissioner of police, Chinwike Asadu have been arrested.

Abubakar, who was on a one day visit to Enugu, the state where the former commissioner hailed from and where he was killed, disclosed that the suspects were arrested with the arms and ammunitions they used to carry out the murder.

He said that they confessed to the murder, in addition to the murder of other innocent souls, and have now been charged to court for murder. Abubakar however disclosed that not all those involved have been apprehended.

“I know we have a nagging issue, that is the killing of our commissioner of police,  we have arrested seven of those who took part in his killing, it is a very sad and horrific event that took place and that is why when I came for condolence, I did made a promise that we will do everything humanly possible to get those who killed Asadu and I’m glad to tell Nigerians that seven of those who took part in the killing have arrested and have been arraigned before a court of law,” he said.

The IGP also said that investigations were being carried out by the police concerning the brutal murder of some policemen recently in Nasarawa. He promised to brief the press on the outcome of their investigations at the appropriate time.

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by Dare Lawal

The battle is on…

Friday is the big day when all the nation’s 36 governors will converge in the nation’s capital Abuja, to decide who will lead them for the next two years.

For those who have been following the race closely, it’s been intrigues galore, and barely 24 hours to the D-day, that trend doesn’t seem like abating.

Both Gov. Rotimi Amaechi, the incumbent from Rivers state and Gov. Ibrahim Shema, the Katsina governor, picked up nomination forms from the secretariat on Wednesday.

Shema’s insistence on picking the form has put the anti Amaechi forces in a quandary as they have been prevailing on the Katsina governor to drop his ambition in favour of the Bauchi governor, Isa Yuguda.

Yuguda, on the other hand, has still not picked a form because he is still hoping to get backing first as a consensus candidate.

The Nation is reporting that “some members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday invited Shema to a meeting in Asokoro District to persuade him to step down for Yuguda. It was gathered that the BoT members tried to make Shema to realise that the presidency is now disposed to Yuguda as a neutral candidate.”

Although Shema did not make any commitment, he decided to be his own man by obtaining the chairmanship election form.

A highly-placed source said: “Shema has shunned pressure to step down for Yuguda contrary to the permutations of those desperate to remove Amaechi. The politics of 2015 has also set in among Northern governors

“I think those backing Shema believe that if he wins the NGF chairmanship poll, he can be in the best position to vie for the Office of Vice-President in 2015. They have therefore advised him not to step down.

“The post Vice-President Namadi Sambo’ s politics has started and it will shape the NGF election too.”

Responding to a question, another source added: “The challenge before the forces in the presidency is how to prevail on Shema to give up his ambition fr Yuguda.

“This last-minute accord is delaying Yuguda from obtaining nomination form. If Shema remains adamant, they might ask Yuguda to forego his aspiration to lead the NGF.

“So, you can see that there is a problem in the presidency’s camp. The crack could lead to protest vote with neither Shema nor Yuguda winning the poll.”

An official of the NGF secretariat simply said: “Only governors Amaechi and Shema have obtained nomination forms. But the nomination form’s collection has not closed.”

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by Olusegun Adeniyi

“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”– Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Early last month, a close friend of mine of more than two decades lost his younger sister to cancer. On Friday, April 26th, the deceased was buried at her husband’s village of Isinweke in Imo, after which we retired to my friend’s country home in Mbutu, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of the same state to spend the weekend. The next day, Saturday in the afternoon, some prominent people, including Dr. A.B.C. Orjiako and a traditional ruler from the area, visited and stayed for lunch. In the course of the meal there was a serious argument in Igbo, interspersed with English. The topic of discussion: opposition to the appointment of Father Peter Okpaeleke as the Catholic Bishop of Ahiara Diocese of Mbaise.

My friend, by the way, is an Anglican so he was not directly involved in the conversation but from the tenor of the engagement, it would seem that the issue transcended denominational differences among the Mbaise people. As far as the traditional ruler was concerned, Bishop Okpaeleke should consider himself a persona non grata in Mbaise, while the only way for peace to reign was for the Pope to rescind the decision by appointing one of the several priests from the area as the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese. On his part, Dr Orjiako was vehement in his stance that such appointments are beyond questioning even though his position was put down to the fact that he hails from Anambra State like Okpaleke. In fact, the allegation was that the appointment was part of the “Anambranisation” of the Catholic Church in the South East; of which Francis Cardinal Arinze was fingered as the man pulling the strings from the Vatican.

It is indeed instructive that the controversy which started on December 7 last year when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI appointed Okpaeleke to replace the late Bishop Victor Chikwe will just not go away. When all efforts by the Catholic Church now under Pope Francis to convince the Diocese to accept Okpaeleke failed, and apparently unwilling to bend to the demand to appoint an Mbaise man to the office, the Catholic Church on Tuesday performed the consecration of Okpaleke as the Bishop of Ahiara not in Mbaise but rather at the Seat of Wisdom Major Seminary, Owerri, the Imo State capital. The challenge now is how the new Bishop will access his Diocese without violence.

READ: Finally, Okpalaeke Is Ordained Bishop Of Ahiara; Youths Lock Cathedral In Protest

READ: 400 Catholic Priests Stage Protest Against Appointment Of Non-Indigene As Bishop Of Ahiara Diocese

READ: Vatican Insists On Okpalaeke’s Ordination Despite Protests By Priests

READ: Luke Onyekakeyah: Ahiara Diocese Is Not Against The Pope’s Authority, It’s Cardinal Francis Arinze

As I reflected on this issue yesterday, I considered it most fitting that such controversy would reach a climax on the day the remains of literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, arrived Nigeria on the last lap of his earthly journey. Because this was a central thesis in his first, and globally celebrated novel, Things Fall Apart which explored how the advent of Christianity aided the decline and eventual disintegration of the traditional Igbo society.

I need to state at this point that the essence of this piece is not about the late 19th century Igbo society as captured in Achebe’s novel. Of particular interest to me is the fact that the late literary icon could have been speaking to the condition of any of the pre-colonial communities and peoples within the continent in Things Fall Apart. With an uncommon power of imagination, especially given the age he wrote the book, Achebe was able to use his own immediate environment and culture to lay bare the contradictions foisted on us by those who brought us “civilisation”, using their religious beliefs which nonetheless did not stop them from exploiting our differences to conquer us. It is then little wonder that we are in perpetual conflict as a result of the faiths that are different from those professed by our forefathers.

It may also be necessary here to reaffirm my spiritual conviction as a Christian who believes in the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ and even when I am not a Catholic, I hope the Church will realize that force cannot resolve the crisis in the Mbaise diocese. Whatever anybody may feel, the appointment of a “non-indigene” Bishop has become a serious emotional issue for a great majority of Mbaise Catholic members that will require great wisdom to resolve and I hope the leadership of the Church will work in that direction. Fortunately, from the intervention by Mr Peter Claver Oparah, himself a Catholic member who hails from Mbaise, there are several moderating voices who still believe there can be an amicable resolution of the crisis. But the lesson from it is that no matter the pretensions about religion being all about spirituality, there is a political side to which its management (or manipulation as the case may be) could pose a serious hindrance to peace and development in any society.

However, what is clear from the crisis is that in the absence of the myths and customs that held most of our societies together in the past, we are now very vulnerable to all manner of divisive tendencies as Achebe made clear in Things Fall Apart. He was able to show clearly that in Africa we had customs and traditions which were founded on the virtues of egalitarianism, equity and justice. These mores were useful both for rewards and for sanctions and they were very effective, especially in dealing with deviant behaviours.

Incidentally, in using Things Fall Apart to dissect the ethical challenge confronting our nation today in his most recent piece titled, “Which gods must be appeased?”, Professor Okey Ndibe x-rayed Okonkwo’s Umuofia community against the background of what was before, during and after the colonial conquest. From Ndibe’s profound thesis which I recommend for any student of Nigerian politics, it is easy for us to understand the nexus between leadership failure and the structural defects that plague our nation today, based essentially on the foundation erected by our colonial masters. But that is also the enduring message in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

While using the central character Okonkwo to bring home the tragedies and the conflicts that often arise when tradition clashes with change, Achebe was able to demonstrate also that when you supplant the culture of a people in the process, what you end up with is a caricature of a system that cannot endure. The British understood (the past tense is deliberate) that religion inspires in people a unity of purpose and a common belief in what is divine and right conduct. And they used that to build the social fabrics of our society after subjugating the ancient gods and their values to our society.

Here again, a reaffirmation: I believe in the Christian faith I profess which was brought by the colonialists but I question the altruism of those messengers, in the light of our heritage and experience. Because, whether we want to admit it or not, religion also helped to serve their political and economic ends. While it is not my intention to go into any esoteric discussion on faith for which I am not even competent, it is an indisputable fact that there is hardly any major crisis in our country today whose root cannot be traced to our two major religions. Rather than serve as instruments of peace and development, religion is now deployed to rationalize, even justify, some of the perversions we see in our society– from corruption to violent blood-letting. The moral: as much as religion contributes to the good of a society, it can also be a destabilizing factor, especially when adherents take laws into their own hands in the name of God.

Given the foregoing , it is not too difficult to understand why the story in Things Fall Apart resonates. The point is that like most other of Achebe’s works, it has turned out to be prophetic in so many ways. What Achebe did in the narrative was to place it on record that before the advent of the Europeans, we had our cultures, our history, our religions. And that the manner in which we allowed those values to be displaced and replaced would have far reaching consequences. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

In flowing prose laced with wisdom of the ancients, Achebe wove together a remarkable drama of existence and accomplished for us, with a simple story, what many history books about the continent have not been able to do. He brought home in vivid images the stark reality of a people deprived, but who are made to believe that their deprivation was an enhancement of their being. He revealed the contradictions inherent in a religious and political tradition that pretends that evil is good simply because it serves the purposes of the stronger man. And it is essentially because Achebe spoke such wisdom that his name will remain immortal through the ages. While his body will be laid to rest today in his native Ogidi town in Anambra State, the essential Albert Chinualumogu Achebe lives on…in our present and even future experiences. To my friend, Dr. Ike Achebe and other members of the family, I pray God’s fortitude for a time like this.

Gamaliel Onosode @ 80

Sometime in 2002 or thereabout, the Gateway Bank (now defunct), as part of its corporate social responsibility decided to intervene in our tertiary education by promoting an inter-university essay competition. Towards this end, the bank set up a five-member governing board comprising Mr Gamaliel Onosode, Prince Julius Adeluyi-Adelusi, Senator (Mrs) Eme Ekaette, Alhaji Abadulrahman Abubakar and this reporter.

With the organization of the entire process left to the governing board by the Managing Director, Mr S. O. Olatunji, the five of us held several meetings at the headquarters of the bank in Lagos and that afforded me an opportunity to work closely with Mr. Onosode who chaired the board. He was always the first to arrive at meetings which he conducted with uncommon attention to details. He was also very meticulous in dealing with the issues and being old enough to be my father, even while we were on the same committee, he took it upon himself to teach me lessons in discipline whenever I came late to meetings. My interactions with him made me to understand that in life, some little things do make significant difference.

Mr. Onosode has shown in words and deeds over several decades not only that integrity matters but also that it pays as it has done for him in the manner in which corporate organizations compete with each other to have him on their boards. It is therefore no surprise that even at 80, he is still very much active and relevant in the public arena. Without any doubt, Mr. Onosode deserves all the accolades that have been coming his way as I join millions of Nigerians in wishing him a happy birthday and many more years of service to our country.

READ: Femi Osofisan: Gamaliel Onosode – To Wear Honour Like A Garment

- This Best Outside Opinion was written by Olusegun Adeniyi

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The world of security and strategic thinking is not for the fickle minded; neither is it for the “go along” person. In this world, knee jerk reactions are often not the right ones. While emotions should give way to careful analysis, so should logic and strength of conviction be carefully weighed and ingratiated in the decision making process.

When the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) took to the waves last week, in one last gasp effort to curtail the Boko Haram menace, not less than the majority who seem to have had it with the terrorist sect (and rightly so) took to voicing overwhelming approval. It seem like Nigerians were just asking for any action (emphasis on any mine). After months of bombings, maiming, killings and attacks- we wanted the President to lead! And he finally, did.

Not surprisingly, the rare voices of caution either from the regular opposition (Action Congress) or the marginalized but vocal northern elders (ACF) or from foreign governments (United States or Human Rights Watch) have been roundly dismissed by ordinary Nigerians as nothing but nagging nabobs of negativism when the policy of matching force for force with Boko Haram is concerned. While like the majority of Nigerians I wish nothing but success for the ongoing operations, I’m concerned that we’re ignoring the risk of failure.

First, the history of application of force to quell uprisings in Nigeria has been checkered and more recently has been an abysmal failure. Short the full scale quelling that military strongmen applied in Maitatsine and Ogoni that only allowed these crisis to boil over years later, the force applied by former President Obasanjo in Odi against Niger Delta militancy and State of Emergency in Plateau by the same have proven many years later to be utter failures. In the former, only a negotiated amnesty led to some temporary peace brokered by his successor while in the later, peace to date have escaped the people.

Secondly, the Goodluck Jonathan is notoriously inept. What will you call an administration that bungled the renaming of a University after a popularly acclaimed icon of democracy? One which can’t seem to get the simple task of getting a petroleum reform bill, already speeding to conclusion under a sick predecessor, to become law in three years? I can bet our dithering leader that occupies Aso Rock have not even given the thought of how to pacify the North-East region after the assault. His yes-men are busy buzzing around with braggadocio that they’ve forgotten that it will be easier to win the war than the peace. What are Goodluck Jonathan’s pacification plans for Borno, Adamawa and Gombe?

And just before you have enough reasons to start doubting the inevitability of this “new tactic” working, we should reexamine the reality of combating terrorism in other climes, and the nature of the enemy. The ink had not yet dried up on Jonathan’s declaration when bombs went off in Kano, and Katsina received the Boko Haram visitation – blowing up the Daura emirate’s police station after sustained battle that killed several security agents including soldiers and policemen. Right on cue, a church leader in Maiduguri was killed by Boko Haram thirty minutes after the President went on TV talking tough!

Fact is Boko Haram is more likely to disperse to surrounding states- melt away for a moment and return more virulently- than just disappear. The process of creating a terrorist is a gradual and long road, that sudden match of force is unlikely to convince the adherent to reverse course. The first rule of combating terrorism like any open wound is to stop the bleeding. In Nigeria, we’ve ignored this lesson. The North of Nigeria educates less people, breeds more poor and despondent Nigerians and has the lowest development indices comparative to their Southern Nigeria peers. This condition cannot be allowed to persist and without quick emergency action, we’re losing the plot and may live to regret it.

Nigeria, and Nigerians unfortunately, is also a fertile ground for any potential insurgent. With a mixture of ethnicities and religions, and a thoroughly corrupt elite class feasting large on the scarce resources of the land and increasing the gap between them and the very large pool of the poor- despondence persists.

This social structure is encouraged by an exploitative faith system of religions falling on themselves to replace a non-existent government, and a strong believe in miracles including “sudden riches” syndrome that keeps the poor subdued: but clearly not for too long. It is this Nigeria that Jonathan administration is trying to apply a quick fix of matching fire for fire; a problem that requires a thorough cleansing will not tolerate a quick fix. Will the entire country or half the country become the theatre of open warfare if Boko Haram disperses and refuse to surrender as most analysts expect?

While we ponder that point, imagine for one second the impact of internal militarization on the polity. What foundations are we laying by putting soldiers on civilian streets, instructing some perhaps to apply their tactics of violence on civilian population that are sometimes their kits and kins? Well, think back what happened in 1966 and remember how the foundation of those first coups like many across Africa was laid by the injection of military power to internal conflicts that soon took on a life of its own. Well, analysts call this the law of unintended consequences; I hope the President’s men are thinking.

Of course, as the government realize in about a year or two that the state of emergency that allows unbridled show of force won’t work forever, I expect their inept self to keep hitting harder and loose international support. If anything, this will amount to winning the battle and losing the war. We will rue the day we went to war with Boko Haram the day these insurgents and rag tag mercenaries of death start dictating the terms of peace like the Malian Tuareg rebels are doing under the auspices of the French today. Our government should step around this carefully, as it could be the fatal blow that grants these terrorists the legitimacy they do not deserve.

All said it might be the external factors rather than the internal that will ultimately lend itself to the failure of GEJ’s mission. Boko Haram under persecution may attract an influx of support of the strong international network of funders of terrorism, now losing ground in their familiar theater and seeking new homelands in the deserts of Africa where governments have long abandoned their responsibilities.

Indeed, the answer to terrorism may just be what Goodluck Jonathan and Nigeria’s group of elites and their yes men find most difficult to comprehend or adhere to- good governance. For why will a people turn to death as an end to itself if they have a reason to live under a government that guarantees their general welfare and eschews corruption?

- This Best Outside Opinion was written by Michael Oluwagbemi

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