whatever happened to chukwu? last I heard of him he played for perugia.
what about job and the other guy? obodo. are they any good?
what about job and the other guy? obodo. are they any good?
Buy on AliExpress.com
Chxta's Space (7 Viewers)
- Thread starter Chxta
- Start date
Buy on AliExpress.com
Sokari Ekine has written about an interview titled 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions' (Interview Transcript | Audio (MP3) | Video (128K) | Video (256K)).
In the interview, a man named John Perkins confesses that, as an "Economic Hitman", he used to go around convincing poor countries (like Nigeria) to accept large development loans which they'll never be able to repay, and make sure that the development projects were contracted to US companies. And once the debts mounted to a level where they could no longer be repayed the US would then use their influence as creditors to influence the policies of those countries to favor the US, such that the US would indirectly control their natural resources (such as Nigeria's oil).
He says he would never have confessed but for the events of September 11, which he indirectly attributed to the frustration of the masses in developing nations in the middle east who are angry about how they have become so dependent on the West.
What's your take on this issue? Why do our leaders keep falling over themselves to accept loans from organizations such as the IMF? Are the development plans proposed by organizations such as the World Bank (were our finance minister used to work) meant to help us or to enslave us to the developed nations or the US in particular?
Read the interview and make up your mind!
In the interview, a man named John Perkins confesses that, as an "Economic Hitman", he used to go around convincing poor countries (like Nigeria) to accept large development loans which they'll never be able to repay, and make sure that the development projects were contracted to US companies. And once the debts mounted to a level where they could no longer be repayed the US would then use their influence as creditors to influence the policies of those countries to favor the US, such that the US would indirectly control their natural resources (such as Nigeria's oil).
He says he would never have confessed but for the events of September 11, which he indirectly attributed to the frustration of the masses in developing nations in the middle east who are angry about how they have become so dependent on the West.
What's your take on this issue? Why do our leaders keep falling over themselves to accept loans from organizations such as the IMF? Are the development plans proposed by organizations such as the World Bank (were our finance minister used to work) meant to help us or to enslave us to the developed nations or the US in particular?
Read the interview and make up your mind!
When tragedy strikes, we are usually at a loss of what to say, how to explain the calamity to the victim or the bereaved in order that they may be consoled. We all confront this dilemma now and then, whether we are visiting a colleague who is crippled by a fatal injury or a neighbour battling a terminal illness, or a relation coping with despair. The situation at some funerals can be so pathetic that even the officiating priest struggles to come up with the words to connect with the grieving. In the last few weeks here in Nigeria, we have experienced some tragic deaths that have assaulted the sensibilities of many and shaken the spirit and faith of several others. Mr. Charles Alaba Joseph, Managing Director of Mobitel, a Lagos-based telecommunications company, met with a most gruesome death in his office, having left home that morning hale and hearty, according to family sources. Situations like these are confounding.
There are some of the considerations that make certain death so unbearably painful and somewhat unfair as to render condolence visits and funerals extremely excruciating, because at such occasions, one is unable to summon the right words to console a bewildered spouse, or child or parent. At such times, those experiencing grief will have questions. Why did this happen now? Why do bad things happen to good people? Shortly after Osat's funeral, I read When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner, a rabbi, a Jewish priest. It is all but highly provocative book I have read in a long time. First published in 1981, it went on to become an international best-seller as priests and ministers gave sermons on it and handed it out in hospitals, funerals, and the like. It is a book that deals so much about pain and suffering and why certain things happen to people inexplicably, and perhaps more importantly what we could say and shouldn't at such times.
According to the author, some people try to explain suffering by believing that it comes to liberate us from a world of pain and lead us to a better place. He recounted the story about the death of a five-year-old who had been hit by a car while playing in the neighbourhood. In the eulogy for the boy, the family's clergyman had said that this was not a time for sadness or tears, but a time for rejoicing because the boy had been taken out of this world of sin and pain. The message concluded that the boy is in a happier land now where there is no pain and no grief; "Let us thank God for that". How many times have we heard such a message at funerals? Mr. Kusner believes that such a message, coming from a representative of God is inappropriate, because it has the effect of making a hurt and angry family feel that God had been unfair to them, after all, it was their only child, and especially since there were other children also playing in the neighbourhood.
At other times, one can also hear messages such as God never sends us more of a burden than we can bear, meaning that God only let this happen to you because He knows that you are strong enough to handle it. This line of explanation, told to a family that has just lost a child during an operation to correct a heart malfunction, elicited the following reaction from the mother: "If only I was a weaker person, Robbie would still be alive". Again, the author rejects this type of consolation saying that "If God is testing us, He must know by now that many of us fail the test. If He is only giving us burdens we can bear, I have seen Him miscalculate far too often".
The author goes on to say that some people will find the hand of God behind everything that happens. To what or whom should we really attribute misfortunes? Mr. Kushner visited a woman in the hospital who had somehow survived a ghastly motor accident. She escaped with minor injuries. She looks up at him and says, "Now I know there is a God. If I could come out of that alive and in one piece, it must be because He is looking out for me up there". To which Mr. Kushner smiles, because, his mind goes back to a funeral he conducted two weeks earlier, for a young husband and father who dies in a similar ghastly accident. According to him, the lucky woman may believe that she is alive because God wanted her to survive, what would she or anyone say of the young man who was not so lucky?
Mr. Kushner says to "grab a gun and shoot innocent people is irrational, unreasonably behaviour, but I understand it. What I cannot understand is why Mrs. Smith should be walking on that street at that moment (and be hit and killed), while Mrs. Brown chooses to step into a shop on a whim and saved her life. Why should Mr. Jones happen to be crossing the street, presenting a perfect target to the mad marksman, while Mr. Green, who never has more than one cup of coffee for breakfast, choose to linger over a second cup that morning and is still indoors when the shooting starts?"
So back to the question as to what to say to those that are afflicted or bereaved or grieving. Mr. Kushner says "people going through a hard time need consolation more than they need explanation. Feeling so singled out by fate, they need the reassurance that they are in fact good people and do not deserve what has happened to them".
He says innocent people do suffer misfortunes in this life. Things happen to them far worse than they deserve - they lose their jobs, they get sick, their children suffer or make them suffer. But that when it happens, it does not represent God punishing them for something they did wrong. The misfortunes do not come from God at all.
The author says that our misfortunes are none of His doing, and so we can turn to Him for help when such bad times comes. Accepting that, according to him, allow us not to ask questions as "God, why are you doing this to me?" but rather "God, see what is happening to me. Can you help me?" That way, he says, we will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted.
There are some of the considerations that make certain death so unbearably painful and somewhat unfair as to render condolence visits and funerals extremely excruciating, because at such occasions, one is unable to summon the right words to console a bewildered spouse, or child or parent. At such times, those experiencing grief will have questions. Why did this happen now? Why do bad things happen to good people? Shortly after Osat's funeral, I read When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner, a rabbi, a Jewish priest. It is all but highly provocative book I have read in a long time. First published in 1981, it went on to become an international best-seller as priests and ministers gave sermons on it and handed it out in hospitals, funerals, and the like. It is a book that deals so much about pain and suffering and why certain things happen to people inexplicably, and perhaps more importantly what we could say and shouldn't at such times.
According to the author, some people try to explain suffering by believing that it comes to liberate us from a world of pain and lead us to a better place. He recounted the story about the death of a five-year-old who had been hit by a car while playing in the neighbourhood. In the eulogy for the boy, the family's clergyman had said that this was not a time for sadness or tears, but a time for rejoicing because the boy had been taken out of this world of sin and pain. The message concluded that the boy is in a happier land now where there is no pain and no grief; "Let us thank God for that". How many times have we heard such a message at funerals? Mr. Kusner believes that such a message, coming from a representative of God is inappropriate, because it has the effect of making a hurt and angry family feel that God had been unfair to them, after all, it was their only child, and especially since there were other children also playing in the neighbourhood.
At other times, one can also hear messages such as God never sends us more of a burden than we can bear, meaning that God only let this happen to you because He knows that you are strong enough to handle it. This line of explanation, told to a family that has just lost a child during an operation to correct a heart malfunction, elicited the following reaction from the mother: "If only I was a weaker person, Robbie would still be alive". Again, the author rejects this type of consolation saying that "If God is testing us, He must know by now that many of us fail the test. If He is only giving us burdens we can bear, I have seen Him miscalculate far too often".
The author goes on to say that some people will find the hand of God behind everything that happens. To what or whom should we really attribute misfortunes? Mr. Kushner visited a woman in the hospital who had somehow survived a ghastly motor accident. She escaped with minor injuries. She looks up at him and says, "Now I know there is a God. If I could come out of that alive and in one piece, it must be because He is looking out for me up there". To which Mr. Kushner smiles, because, his mind goes back to a funeral he conducted two weeks earlier, for a young husband and father who dies in a similar ghastly accident. According to him, the lucky woman may believe that she is alive because God wanted her to survive, what would she or anyone say of the young man who was not so lucky?
Mr. Kushner says to "grab a gun and shoot innocent people is irrational, unreasonably behaviour, but I understand it. What I cannot understand is why Mrs. Smith should be walking on that street at that moment (and be hit and killed), while Mrs. Brown chooses to step into a shop on a whim and saved her life. Why should Mr. Jones happen to be crossing the street, presenting a perfect target to the mad marksman, while Mr. Green, who never has more than one cup of coffee for breakfast, choose to linger over a second cup that morning and is still indoors when the shooting starts?"
So back to the question as to what to say to those that are afflicted or bereaved or grieving. Mr. Kushner says "people going through a hard time need consolation more than they need explanation. Feeling so singled out by fate, they need the reassurance that they are in fact good people and do not deserve what has happened to them".
He says innocent people do suffer misfortunes in this life. Things happen to them far worse than they deserve - they lose their jobs, they get sick, their children suffer or make them suffer. But that when it happens, it does not represent God punishing them for something they did wrong. The misfortunes do not come from God at all.
The author says that our misfortunes are none of His doing, and so we can turn to Him for help when such bad times comes. Accepting that, according to him, allow us not to ask questions as "God, why are you doing this to me?" but rather "God, see what is happening to me. Can you help me?" That way, he says, we will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted.
Reactions here in Nigeria to the arrest, detention and trial of the Governor of Bayelsa state, Diepreye Alamiyeseigha, in Britain over the charge of money laundering have thrown more light on the Nigerian character and society, and certainly not on the case itself. An assessment of reports in the Nigeria media prove one major point: namely, that we have serious problems in this country, that we are a people without standards, values, beyond shame, we live in a society where anything is possible, we worship persons, we place them above the rule of law, anything can be rationalised, Nigerians can hold a position today and shift to the other side tomorrow and still argue with great passion, and there is never a shortage of opportunists, in and out of the corridors of power. To start with, I am concerned that the DSP case may have become a source of business and livelihood for a category of Nigerians, a kind of ladder, and an avenue for self-promotion. This is perhaps the only explanation for the outrageous responses to the saga. In Bayelsa state for example, the political and cultural elite is playing safe; its members want to be seen to be loyal to the Governor, and they have been busy playing games with both sides of the mouth.
And so from the Ijaw National Congress to the Concerned Mothers of Bayelsa, and Bayelsa Consultative Council of Elders, there has been a curious and invidious attempt to express solidarity with Alamiyeseigha, (Alami or Alamsco) in his moment of trial. A so-called Concerned Mothers of Bayelsa carried placards the other day; they sang Alamiyeseigha's praises, and called on the British government to leave him alone. I don't think these are "concerned mothers"; they sounded like rented and sponsored mothers. Some Ijaw elders also went to Aso Villa to see the President.
The President refused to see them. Why should President Obasanjo step into this matter? Why are they going to him? Does he run an extension of the British law courts in Abuja? When the Alamiyeseigha story broke, it was alleged that it was he, Obasanjo who tipped off the British authorities and that Alamiyeseigha is in trouble only because he is not in Obasanjo's good books. So why go to a man who has been classified as the enemy? The joke is on Obasanjo and he should know. He should be careful not to confirm the impression that he is the witch behind Alamiyeseigha's travails or that he is in a position to influence the machinery of justice in Britain.
The Bayelsa House of Assembly has also since shut down, with all its members on an indefinite recess. What is at play is obvious: the lawmakers want to avoid a situation where they would have to discuss the Governor's case. As it is, the Bayelsa House of Assembly may not reconvene until the case is resolved. Even the Speaker of the House has said that much. What the Bayelsa lawmakers have exposed is the state of Nigerian democracy. What we have is not a democracy that is based on principles and ideas, but personalities. Alamiyeseigha is the most important political figure in Bayelsa state; nobody wants to offend him or his supporters, because the price for insisting on the truth may be high. But must the State House of Assembly stop functioning, must the machinery of government grind to a halt, just because the Governor is in trouble in a foreign land?
The Bayelsa Speaker is on record, as saying that the Governor is innocent until proven guilty. The Nigerian Constitution says a Governor can only be impeached on the grounds of "gross misconduct": the meaning of which shall be determined by the state legislature. But is Alamiyeseigha not already guilty of gross misconduct? He has brought Nigeria and the state of Bayelsa to ridicule, and demeaned the high office that he occupies. He has been remanded in prison custody; and has now been granted bail and moved into an open prison. He cannot go within three miles of any port in Britain, otherwise he will be arrested, even security dogs will bark on sighting him.
This is a Nigerian leader whose photograph is now in the hands of every security officer in Britain. He cannot sleep in any house that is unknown to the British authorities. Every day, he has to go a police station and report himself. His travel passports have been seized. His assets have been confiscated. At home and abroad, he has become a symbol for money laundering. This case places a moral burden on the people of Bayelsa and all Ijaws. And yet, the state House of Assembly is behaving as if it is an organ of the Governor rather than act in the interest of the people of Bayelsa.
Even the Deputy Governor has been very hostile towards any suggestion that he is an acting Governor or that a situation may arise where he would need to assume office as Governor. He desperately wants to be seen as a loyal deputy. The truth is that Goodluck is trying to be lucky. He is using his boss's trials to enhance his own political fortunes; while pretending to be an Alami man, he is in fact taking advantage of the situation. If Alamiyeseigha survives the present crisis, and even if he does not, he, Goodluck, having been so loyal to him in the face of adversity, would find it easier than any other aspirant to position himself as a gubernatorial candidate for 2007. And it is not an accident that Dr Goodluck Jonathan has been praised by Bayelsa elders for his loyalty!
Outside Bayelsa state, lawyers, only God knows who is working on what brief, have turned the Alamiyesiegha case into a public debate over the meaning of diplomatic immunity. It is an utterly useless controversy. The British justice system is not going to listen to the command of Nigerian debaters; it will be guided strictly by its own rules and traditions and if there is anything to be taken from the handling of the case by the Bow Street Magistrate Court and the Crown court, it is clear that the British system is convinced that Alamiyeseigha has a case to answer, a prima facie case having been established against him, and that he is not entitled to any form of diplomatic immunity. And this being so clear, you wonder why otherwise brilliant Nigerians are wasting so much ink discussing an issue that will not serve any purpose in the present circumstances.
It is also sad that the relevant questions are not being asked. How did Alamiyesiegha end up with so much money? What is his salary as Governor? What did he declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau in 1999 and how much has he made since then? Why did he have so much money in his London home? Now that he is stranded in Britain, for how long can a Governor be absent from his duty post and still be allowed to hold down the office? Does our Constitution make provision for an absentee Governor? To avoid these questions and begin to argue that the man has immunity is disturbing. So beyond the immunity question, where do the commentators stand? It is even more disingenuous to say that the man is being persecuted because he is Ijaw. For Heaven's sake what has ethnicity got to do with this? Interestingly, Alamiyeseigha's defenders have shied away from making categorical statements about money laundering and his role in it. They are not saying anything about him, or to him, instead they are blaming the British.
Their principal point is that it is not only Alamiyesiegha that has stolen public funds in Nigeria. Thus, the impression is being created that it is perfectly normal in this country for a public officer to steal, and that because some officers are protected by the law, they should be allowed to do so. This certainly cannot be the intention of the law-givers. Indeed, the Nigerian intelligentsia is showing up very badly in this case, they are not just arguing, they are being partisan, and I suspect when all this is over, one of the major issues to be considered would most likely be the contributions of this class to the dispossession of the Nigerian state and the devaluation of the public space.
Meanwhile, in Bayelsa, lawmakers and commissioners have reportedly gone underground; local government chairmen have fled from the state capital, their exotic cars have been withdrawn from the streets. In public, they pretend to be on the side of the Governor, but privately, they are all struggling to cover their tracks. Governors in our various states are also avoiding England. According to one report, the ones among them who have had cause to travel to Europe have done so without informing the Presidency. Every Governor is trying to be careful; the other day, it was Dariye, the Plateau state Governor, today, it is Alamiyeseigha, the Bayelsa Governor, no other Governor wants to be the next scapegoat. What can be taken from this is that many of our public officials have a lot to hide. They do not know what it means to be in public office and in a position of responsibility. Corruption is widespread; the guilty are afraid; the heat is on!
In Bayelsa, the principal losers are the people and sadly, their voice is not being heard. It is their money that is being traced; it is their future that has been placed in a state of suspended animation. For sure, it is not only Governors that are corrupt in our land; it is the entire system that needs to be cleansed and reformed. The bigger thieves in fact are in the civil service: all those officers with modest pay but who have houses in Europe and children in some of the most expensive schools on the surface of the earth. So no one should be surprised that in Bayelsa at the moment, every public official is running away from the EFCC officials who are also exploiting Alamiyeseigha's circumstances to swoop on the state.
The New Age has reported that a lobby group has been appealing to the Federal Government to arrange the release of the Bayelsa Governor to Nigerian authorities, so that he can face trial at home. We are indeed a country of deal-makers. We always think that any situation can be manipulated, including the rule of law. There is no court of law in Nigeria that can try Alamiyeseigha for money laundering in or out of office. Big men in Nigeria are as a rule, above the law. If the Obasanjo government is serious about its anti-corruption campaign, it should steer clear of the Alami case. The British should be allowed to pursue the case, a crime committed on British soil, to its logical end. If Alamiyeseigha ends up in jail so be it. Future Governors will remember his story and perhaps learn. The British would also have helped Obasanjo to achieve what he has been trying to do in the last six years of his anti-corruption campaign.
In other societies, a man in Alami's situation would have resigned and apologised for bringing his people so much embarrassment, while he continues the battle for his honour. In Syria, a former intelligence chief and Interior Minister, who was accused of corruption and murder felt so bad and has since committed suicide. His name is Ghazi Kenaan. He died this week. But here in Nigeria, such a thing would not happen, disgraced public officials do not resign; they wait until they are pushed out. Those who are protesting that Alamiyeseigha is an important man who is entitled to immunity must remember that in the eyes of the British, he is really an ordinary man in the temple of justice. He had gone to Germany we are told, to do a tummy tuck because the size of his stomach was beginning to affect his heart. In retrospect, he didn't need that surgery after all. By the time he is through with this trial, I predict that his tummy will be effectively flat. He is all things considered a damaged man, but he says he does not need our pity. But really, he deserves our pity, doesn't he?
And so from the Ijaw National Congress to the Concerned Mothers of Bayelsa, and Bayelsa Consultative Council of Elders, there has been a curious and invidious attempt to express solidarity with Alamiyeseigha, (Alami or Alamsco) in his moment of trial. A so-called Concerned Mothers of Bayelsa carried placards the other day; they sang Alamiyeseigha's praises, and called on the British government to leave him alone. I don't think these are "concerned mothers"; they sounded like rented and sponsored mothers. Some Ijaw elders also went to Aso Villa to see the President.
The President refused to see them. Why should President Obasanjo step into this matter? Why are they going to him? Does he run an extension of the British law courts in Abuja? When the Alamiyeseigha story broke, it was alleged that it was he, Obasanjo who tipped off the British authorities and that Alamiyeseigha is in trouble only because he is not in Obasanjo's good books. So why go to a man who has been classified as the enemy? The joke is on Obasanjo and he should know. He should be careful not to confirm the impression that he is the witch behind Alamiyeseigha's travails or that he is in a position to influence the machinery of justice in Britain.
The Bayelsa House of Assembly has also since shut down, with all its members on an indefinite recess. What is at play is obvious: the lawmakers want to avoid a situation where they would have to discuss the Governor's case. As it is, the Bayelsa House of Assembly may not reconvene until the case is resolved. Even the Speaker of the House has said that much. What the Bayelsa lawmakers have exposed is the state of Nigerian democracy. What we have is not a democracy that is based on principles and ideas, but personalities. Alamiyeseigha is the most important political figure in Bayelsa state; nobody wants to offend him or his supporters, because the price for insisting on the truth may be high. But must the State House of Assembly stop functioning, must the machinery of government grind to a halt, just because the Governor is in trouble in a foreign land?
The Bayelsa Speaker is on record, as saying that the Governor is innocent until proven guilty. The Nigerian Constitution says a Governor can only be impeached on the grounds of "gross misconduct": the meaning of which shall be determined by the state legislature. But is Alamiyeseigha not already guilty of gross misconduct? He has brought Nigeria and the state of Bayelsa to ridicule, and demeaned the high office that he occupies. He has been remanded in prison custody; and has now been granted bail and moved into an open prison. He cannot go within three miles of any port in Britain, otherwise he will be arrested, even security dogs will bark on sighting him.
This is a Nigerian leader whose photograph is now in the hands of every security officer in Britain. He cannot sleep in any house that is unknown to the British authorities. Every day, he has to go a police station and report himself. His travel passports have been seized. His assets have been confiscated. At home and abroad, he has become a symbol for money laundering. This case places a moral burden on the people of Bayelsa and all Ijaws. And yet, the state House of Assembly is behaving as if it is an organ of the Governor rather than act in the interest of the people of Bayelsa.
Even the Deputy Governor has been very hostile towards any suggestion that he is an acting Governor or that a situation may arise where he would need to assume office as Governor. He desperately wants to be seen as a loyal deputy. The truth is that Goodluck is trying to be lucky. He is using his boss's trials to enhance his own political fortunes; while pretending to be an Alami man, he is in fact taking advantage of the situation. If Alamiyeseigha survives the present crisis, and even if he does not, he, Goodluck, having been so loyal to him in the face of adversity, would find it easier than any other aspirant to position himself as a gubernatorial candidate for 2007. And it is not an accident that Dr Goodluck Jonathan has been praised by Bayelsa elders for his loyalty!
Outside Bayelsa state, lawyers, only God knows who is working on what brief, have turned the Alamiyesiegha case into a public debate over the meaning of diplomatic immunity. It is an utterly useless controversy. The British justice system is not going to listen to the command of Nigerian debaters; it will be guided strictly by its own rules and traditions and if there is anything to be taken from the handling of the case by the Bow Street Magistrate Court and the Crown court, it is clear that the British system is convinced that Alamiyeseigha has a case to answer, a prima facie case having been established against him, and that he is not entitled to any form of diplomatic immunity. And this being so clear, you wonder why otherwise brilliant Nigerians are wasting so much ink discussing an issue that will not serve any purpose in the present circumstances.
It is also sad that the relevant questions are not being asked. How did Alamiyesiegha end up with so much money? What is his salary as Governor? What did he declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau in 1999 and how much has he made since then? Why did he have so much money in his London home? Now that he is stranded in Britain, for how long can a Governor be absent from his duty post and still be allowed to hold down the office? Does our Constitution make provision for an absentee Governor? To avoid these questions and begin to argue that the man has immunity is disturbing. So beyond the immunity question, where do the commentators stand? It is even more disingenuous to say that the man is being persecuted because he is Ijaw. For Heaven's sake what has ethnicity got to do with this? Interestingly, Alamiyeseigha's defenders have shied away from making categorical statements about money laundering and his role in it. They are not saying anything about him, or to him, instead they are blaming the British.
Their principal point is that it is not only Alamiyesiegha that has stolen public funds in Nigeria. Thus, the impression is being created that it is perfectly normal in this country for a public officer to steal, and that because some officers are protected by the law, they should be allowed to do so. This certainly cannot be the intention of the law-givers. Indeed, the Nigerian intelligentsia is showing up very badly in this case, they are not just arguing, they are being partisan, and I suspect when all this is over, one of the major issues to be considered would most likely be the contributions of this class to the dispossession of the Nigerian state and the devaluation of the public space.
Meanwhile, in Bayelsa, lawmakers and commissioners have reportedly gone underground; local government chairmen have fled from the state capital, their exotic cars have been withdrawn from the streets. In public, they pretend to be on the side of the Governor, but privately, they are all struggling to cover their tracks. Governors in our various states are also avoiding England. According to one report, the ones among them who have had cause to travel to Europe have done so without informing the Presidency. Every Governor is trying to be careful; the other day, it was Dariye, the Plateau state Governor, today, it is Alamiyeseigha, the Bayelsa Governor, no other Governor wants to be the next scapegoat. What can be taken from this is that many of our public officials have a lot to hide. They do not know what it means to be in public office and in a position of responsibility. Corruption is widespread; the guilty are afraid; the heat is on!
In Bayelsa, the principal losers are the people and sadly, their voice is not being heard. It is their money that is being traced; it is their future that has been placed in a state of suspended animation. For sure, it is not only Governors that are corrupt in our land; it is the entire system that needs to be cleansed and reformed. The bigger thieves in fact are in the civil service: all those officers with modest pay but who have houses in Europe and children in some of the most expensive schools on the surface of the earth. So no one should be surprised that in Bayelsa at the moment, every public official is running away from the EFCC officials who are also exploiting Alamiyeseigha's circumstances to swoop on the state.
The New Age has reported that a lobby group has been appealing to the Federal Government to arrange the release of the Bayelsa Governor to Nigerian authorities, so that he can face trial at home. We are indeed a country of deal-makers. We always think that any situation can be manipulated, including the rule of law. There is no court of law in Nigeria that can try Alamiyeseigha for money laundering in or out of office. Big men in Nigeria are as a rule, above the law. If the Obasanjo government is serious about its anti-corruption campaign, it should steer clear of the Alami case. The British should be allowed to pursue the case, a crime committed on British soil, to its logical end. If Alamiyeseigha ends up in jail so be it. Future Governors will remember his story and perhaps learn. The British would also have helped Obasanjo to achieve what he has been trying to do in the last six years of his anti-corruption campaign.
In other societies, a man in Alami's situation would have resigned and apologised for bringing his people so much embarrassment, while he continues the battle for his honour. In Syria, a former intelligence chief and Interior Minister, who was accused of corruption and murder felt so bad and has since committed suicide. His name is Ghazi Kenaan. He died this week. But here in Nigeria, such a thing would not happen, disgraced public officials do not resign; they wait until they are pushed out. Those who are protesting that Alamiyeseigha is an important man who is entitled to immunity must remember that in the eyes of the British, he is really an ordinary man in the temple of justice. He had gone to Germany we are told, to do a tummy tuck because the size of his stomach was beginning to affect his heart. In retrospect, he didn't need that surgery after all. By the time he is through with this trial, I predict that his tummy will be effectively flat. He is all things considered a damaged man, but he says he does not need our pity. But really, he deserves our pity, doesn't he?
Part of the problem with my people is that we are chronically lazy. In my place of work, I am a HOD, which means that the buck stops at my table. I have to take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. As if that is not enough, a lot of the boys under me have developed this nice new way of dodging work...
Ever since October 4 (start of the Muslim holy month) I have constantly been hearing the following: "Oga I can't do that thing you asked me to do, I am
fasting." How can I argue with that? The result is that right now I am over-burdened as I have to take on added responsibilities.
Please tell me what to do!
Ever since October 4 (start of the Muslim holy month) I have constantly been hearing the following: "Oga I can't do that thing you asked me to do, I am
fasting." How can I argue with that? The result is that right now I am over-burdened as I have to take on added responsibilities.
Please tell me what to do!
what the..? Fasting is in no way an excuse to dodge work.. Heck, I'm fasting too, and I certainly haven't been dodging my duties..
Take it this way:
If someone uses the excuse of fasting to dodge work, then he is taking advantage of Allah and our religion.. therefore, he is a munafiq.( I think that's the correct term..)
Take it this way:
If someone uses the excuse of fasting to dodge work, then he is taking advantage of Allah and our religion.. therefore, he is a munafiq.( I think that's the correct term..)
Thanks for the response Menace. Meantime, cause for celebration for all Nigerians and Nigerian friends out there...
For the first time in living memory, Nigeria has actually not been listed as one of the 5 most corrupt countries on earth.
Read here
Isn't that great? I am still not exactly a fan of Uncle Sege, but let's be fair, this is acknowledgement that his policies are actually having an effect!
For the first time in living memory, Nigeria has actually not been listed as one of the 5 most corrupt countries on earth.
Read here
Isn't that great? I am still not exactly a fan of Uncle Sege, but let's be fair, this is acknowledgement that his policies are actually having an effect!