My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe

Niyi Osundare: My Lord, tell me where to keep your bribe

The Fraud, "We The People"

Compatriots, I produce below a veritable essay by my friend and comrade Tony Nnadi on the Nigerian union. Although he signs it for the Lower Niger Congress (LNC), it is in agreement with my heart, the Middle Belt Congress (MBC), and the conviction of many progressive Nigerians who cannot sacrifice posterity for present privileges.

I believe that the contradictions, confusion and conflagration that have been the signpost of our common experience as Nigerians are only symptoms of a weak national foundation that cannot allow a complete nationhood. Irrespective of who governs Nigeria, those will remain ineluctable.

Let us muster the courage and humility to talk now before it is too late. I pray that we will not become victims of our cowardice and idleness.

Leonard Shilgba

READ Tony Nnadi now:


WE THE CALIPHATE VERSUS WE THE PEOPLE: THE DEMISE OF THE NIGERIAN UNION .
1st October, 2016.

The "We the People" in the context of the consensus claimed in the Preamble to the 1999 Constitution,  simply means "We the Ijaw, we the Ogoni, we the Tiv, we the Igbo, we the Kanuri, we the Yoruba, we the Efik, we the Fulani, we the Itshekiri we the Idoma" etc until the last Nationality is listed, because the sentence in that  Preamble that begins with "We the People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria", goes to falsely assert as follows:
"...having firmly and solemnly resolved to live together in unity as one indivisible and indissoluble Country".

This assertion presupposes a MEETING and an AGREEMENT between these various Peoples, because you cannot "firmly and solemnly resolve" when you have not met at all.

It is this false claim that is at the core of the fraudulence of that Constitution 1999 and all it contains and creates including the very Nigeria itself as one political Union,  the 36 States, 774 LGs, the Federal Exclusive List, the Quota system and all the other shenanigans therein.

This falsehood, translates into a forgery in the sense that the so-called Constitution 1999, puts forward, the signature of  the entrapped Ethnic Nationalities, as the making and enacting their own damnation, because that Preamble paragraph had gone on to conclude with the phrase "...Do hereby Make, Enact and Give to ourselves the following Constitution".

Those who by Decree, imposed that Constitution, but went on to claim the  "We the People" did, are very clear-headed in their intent at deceit when the enabling Decree 24 of 1999 (printed into that dubious 'Constitution 1999), instructs the Federal Government Printer, to omit all references to that Decree (which narrates step by step how the Decree No 24 tagged 'Constitution 1999 was derived), in the subsequent editions that it would print. That is a clear pointer to the motive of deceit because such an edition (which was actually produced) leaves only the falsehood of "We the People" standing alone, unchallenged by anything showing what really transpired.

In their hurry to get home with their humongous loot, the Abdusalam Junta committed the grave irreversible error of releasing into the public domain both editions, thereby rendering the entire exercise a illicit, illegitimate and fundamentally, irreparably flawed.

The Suit instituted in 2007 to shoot down the fraudulent Constitution, placed these two edition before the Federal High Court, praying that Court to assert the truth represented by the mutual exclusivity of the two editions, being that "We the People" nether met, nor agreed upon the so-called "Constitution" since the account of the author, Abdusalam Abubakar as to how he came about his Decree 24 is the bearing all the witness needed, right inside the Gazetted Edition of the 1999 Constitution. The Plaintiffs then prayed the Court for Consequential Orders that would produce a negotiated replacement and transitioning to emplace same.

As the Lawyer (and Lead Counsel), who filed that Suit, I can report authoritatively that Nigeria has to date, (October 2016), not found any viable answers to that lethal and in fact , fatal challenge to the sole instrument convening and defining the Nigerian Union.

It follows that the Union of Nigeria has been, and remains in Technical Dissolution since that challenge in 2007, no matter what the Courts do, since it is starkly self-evident that "We the People", neither made nor approved that (or any) Constitution to bind ourselves into the so-called "Nigerian Federation".

It has been impositions, conquest, occupation and force.
There must be an end to evil.

The entrapped Nationalities are in consensus, to dismantle the failed Lugardian experiment so that new Protocols can be distilled amongst and between compatible and consenting blocs, post-Nigeria. Referendums, Plebiscites are the tools to be deployed in validating these new Protocols within the overriding Self-determination Rights of the Constituent Nationalities.

Let those who share the proceeds of the crime Nigeria currently represents, go ahead and celebrate their loot one more season. This should be the very last such celebration of heist.

Tony Nnadi
LNC.

INDEPENDENCE SEMINAR

BCM SEMINAR! BCM SEMINAR!!
The Bible Clinic Ministry (BCM) holds an Independence Seminar as follows:
Title: The Christian and Governance

Date: Saturday, October 1, 2016
Time: 4-7 pm
Venue: Bible Clinic Ministry Center, No. 18 Captain Dawnes Road, Adekaa, Gboko (Opposite Bristow Church), Benue State, Nigeria.
Key Speaker: Professor Leonard Shilgba.
NOTE: There shall be an interactive session and two workshops.
COME AND SEE.

BENUE SHALL LIVE AGAIN

                                                                   Leonard Shilgba
 
At a time of great hopelessness and dryness ( in their personal and economic endeavors) among the Jews, Prophet Ezekiel was taken by the Spirit of God to a valley full of dry bones and given a great revelation. After taking in the sight for a moment, he was asked a great question by God: "Can these bones live?" The prophet could only throw it back to God, "You know the answer." And yes, God always knows the answer. God then asked Ezekiel to "prophesy to the dry bones." How does one begin to prophesy to a hopeless people whose only expectation is tangible or material assistance? But how can a people that has little patience for rich information and knowledge value prophecy? As we examine the content of the prophecy we will have an insight into what prophecy means.
Great prophecy: "I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live." The prophecy then outlines the systematic steps: "I will lay sinews upon you, put flesh on the sinews, cover the flesh with skin, and finally put breath in you, and you shall live."
Revival of hope in Benue State must be preceded by a clear outline of tangible steps by the leader or Governor of the State. Governor Ortom must be articulate enough, positive enough, and practical enough. All three are missing right now. Faith is not enough, living faith is required. But living faith is demonstrated by both hopeful speech and workable actions.
Prophet Ezekiel prophesied as he " was commanded." Obedience by a leader to the heavenly vision precedes rejoicing by the people, and that is why "when the wicked RULE the people mourn, but when the righteous are IN authority they rejoice." And as he prophesied, three things happened: There was a noise, then a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. In other words, the prophecy instigated excitement, positive response, and order. The bones that were scattered in the valley were coupled together to form complete and orderly skeletons; one person's bone did not lock up with another's. This is order.
After another prophecy to an external agent ( the wind) was made, and it entered into the sinews-flesh-skin-covered skeletons, a great army stood up in the valley, where once only very dry bones littered.
Benue people complain, "Our bones are dry, and our hope is gone." They complain of lack of fertilizers for their crops; they lament that their oranges cannot be sold in Benue State at great prices because they must take them outside their State and hand over to strangers who sell at whatever price and hand them a pittance. They complain that the State government lacks the vision, knowledge and will to take very simple steps to make them rake in billions of naira from their oranges. While a State like Anambra exports vegetables and earns foreign currency, and does not owe workers any salaries, the Benue Orange farmer, without his government's intervention, only slaves for other Nigerians in Lagos, Abuja, Port- Harcourt, etc., who make billions off his labor. The same story can be told of the Benue yam farmer, tomato farmer, etc. If you can tell the economic contribution of Benue oranges, yams, tomatoes, etc., to the GDP of Nigeria, then you will appreciate the humongous loss of the Benue economy, because a huge chunk of that is not retained in Benue. But the lamentation in the land is that,"There is no money." No, rather, there is no visionary government. Governor Ortom's problem is not money, and definitely, not the poor actions of his predecessor. Enough of lamentation and blame game! "Much food is in the tillage of the poor, but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment." (Proverbs 13:23) This scripture aptly describes Benue State and its present government.
Benue State is not poor because it has no money; rather, it lacks money because it lacks judgment ( understanding of time, vision of time, and wisdom of God's will). If I believed that good counsel is yet cherished and acted upon by the Ortom government, I would remind of what I have written before about Benue agriculture, and would have made available to the governor a draft bill that formalizes the vision. But this is what I will say: This opportunity will pass to another if not siezed with skillful hands and upright heart.
God said to the people of Israel through Prophet Ezekiel, "I will open your graves, and bring you up and bring you from captivity into Israel ( The Promised Land), and you shall know that I am the Lord." God will rescue Benue himself. His arm shall fetch salvation for the people. But first, God will turn their heart back to him, for the set time to favor and show them mercy has come.
"God will arise and show mercy upon Benue; for the time to favor Benue has come." ( Psalm 102:13). God's mercies are fresh, full and free. He will show us mercy in giving us unprecedented repentance, unspeakable vision, and living faith.
I conclude by alerting Governor Ortom of symptoms of his inactivity and lack of productive leadership ( his fallow grounds, which he is yet to break up):

1. As the Local Government chairman of all local government areas of Benue (Ortom is yet to conduct local government elections almost one and half years since he became governor) he has failed to clean up our towns and villages, leaving them even worse than he met them. I vacationed in Lagos State last month (August, 2016), and learned about Governor Ambode's strategy to build eight roads in each local government area every year, which would translate to thirty-two roads per local government area in four years. I am disappointed that, in Gboko, for instance, the Tiv capital, the colonial beautifully designed streets are being destroyed by erosion, and I see no evidence of action by Ortom's government to have them laid with tarmac. This applies to other major towns in Benue such as Otukpo, Katsina-Ala, Adikpo, Lessel, etc. What is the plan?

2. Poor traffic control on our streets/ roads and in our markets without adequate parking spaces and recreational facilities; lack of traffic or road safety measures; absence of waste management plan, just to mention a few simple things that should make life more livable, are a proof that change is yet to come. What is the plan? The continued disorder is an indication of absence of government.

3. I have seen some State governments in Nigeria take steps to secure their homeland. Considering the urgency required, I am unaware what has become of the bill to fix the Fulani cattle herders' menace in Benue, which was widely announced by Ortom's government about two months ago ( Remember Ekiti).

4. Governor Ortom had directed Benue workers to work for only four days a week in July this year, and use the remaining day and weekend to take to farming. This action betrayed his (mis)understanding of agriculture. Let us assume Ortom told Benue workers to work for only four days a week, and invest the remaining time in refining crude oil, estate development, or manufacturing activities such as processing agricultural produce. The likely response would be the question, "Where does he expect them to get capital from?" The same question applies. Governor Ortom needs to understand that agriculture is big business and that not everyone can invest in it. He needs to understand who a farmer is, what assistance true farmers need, and that just because a man is poor doesn't mean he is a "farmer." Farmers are rich people, facilitated by a series of steps by their government. For now, Ortom has done nothing tangible for agriculture in Benue State. He needs to break up his fallow ground.
Benue shall live again.
L. K. Shilgba

I am a Nigerian, How About You? A Lesson From HRH Sanusi

The former Central Bank Governor, and Emir of kano His royal highness muhammadu Sanusi the second , surprised guests present at the Muson Centre for the launching of the book of Sir Olaniwun Ajayi.

Below is his unedited speech.

“Let me start by saying that I am Fulani (laughter). My grandfather was an Emir also fulani my uncle and guardian was also the immediate late Emir of kano Alhaji Ado Bayero and therefore I represent all that has been talked about this afternoon. Sir Ajayi has written a book. And like all Nigerians of his generation, he has written in the language of his generation.

“My grandfather was a Northerner, I am a Nigerian. The problem with this country is that in 2009, we speak in the language of 1953. Sir Olaniwun can be forgiven for the way he spoke, but I cannot forgive people of my generation speaking in that language.

“Let us go into this issue because there are so many myths that are being bandied around. Before colonialism, there was nothing like Northern Nigeria, Before the Sokoto Jihad, there was nothing like the Sokoto caliphate. The man from Kano regard himself as bakane. The man from Zaria was bazazzage. The man from Katsina was bakatsine. The kingdoms were at war with each other. They were Hausas, they were Muslims, they were killing each other.

“The Yoruba were Ijebu, Owo, Ijesha, Akoko, Egba. When did they become one? When did the North become one? You have the Sokoto Caliphate that brought every person from Adamawa to Sokoto and said it is one kingdom. They now
said it was a Muslim North.

“The Colonialists came, put that together and said it is now called the Northern Nigeria. Do you know what happened? Our grand fathers were able to transform to being Northerners. We have not been able to transform to being Nigerians. The fault is ours.

Tell me, how many governors has South West produced after Awolowo that are role models of leadership? How many governors has the East produced like Nnamdi Azikiwe that can be role models of leadership? How Many governors in the Niger Delta are role models of leadership? Tell me. There is no evidence statistically that any part of this country has produced good leaders.

You talk about Babangida and the  problems of our economy. Who were the people in charge of the economy during Babangida era? Olu Falae, Kalu Idika Kalu. What state are they from in the North?

“We started the banking reform; the first thing I heard was that in Urobo land,  there will be a curse of the ancestors. I said they (ancestors) would not answer. They said why? I said how many factories did Ibru build in Urobo land? So, why will the ancestors of the Urobo people support her?

“We talk ethnicity when it pleases us. It is hypocrisy. You said elections were rigged in 1959, Obasanjo and Maurice Iwu rigged election in 2007. Was it a Southern thing? It was not. “The problem is: everywhere in this country, there is one Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba and Itshekiri man whose concern is how to get his hands on the pile and how much he can steal.

Whether it is in the military or in the civilian government, they sit down, they eat together. In fact, the constitution says there must be a minister from every state.

“So, anybody that is still preaching that the problem of Nigeria is Yoruba or Hausa or Fulani, he does not love Nigeria . The problem with Nigeria is that a group of people from each and every ethnic tribe is very selfish. The poverty that is found in Maiduguri is even worse than any poverty that you find in any part of the South.

The British came for 60 years and Sir Ajayi talked about few numbers of graduates in the North (two as at independence) . What he did not say was that there was a documented policy of the British when they came that the Northerner should not be educated. It was documented. It was British colonial policy. I have the document. I have published articles on it. That if you educate the Northerner you will produce progressive Muslim intellectuals of the type we have in Egypt and India. So, do not educate them. It was documented. And you say they love us (North) more than the south.

“I have spent the better part of my life to fight and Dr. (Reuben) Abati knows it. Yes, my grandfather was an Emir. Why was I in the pro-democracy movement fighting for June 12? Is (Moshood) Abiola from Kano ? Why am I a founding director of the Kudirat Initiative for Nigerian Development (KIND)?

“There are good Yoruba people, good Igbo people, good Fulani people, good Nigerians and there are bad people everywhere. That is the truth. “Stop talking about dividing Nigeria because we are not the most populous country
in the world. We have all the resources that make it easy to make one united great Nigeria . It is better if we are united than to divide it.

“Every time you talk about division, when you restructure, do you know what will happen? In Delta Area, the people in Warri will say Agbor, you don’t have oil. When was the Niger Delta constructed as a political entity? Ten years ago, the Itshekiris were fighting the Urobos. Isn’t that what was happening? Now they have become Niger Delta because they have found oil. After, it will be, if you do not have oil in your village then you cannot share our resources.

“There is no country in the world where resources are found in everybody’s hamlet. But people have leaders and they said if you have this geography and if we are one state, then we have a responsibility for making sure that the people who belong to this country have a good nature.

“So, why don’t you talk about; we don’t have infrastructure, we don’t have education, we don’t have health. We are still talking about Fulani. Is it the Fulani cattle rearer or is anybody saying there is no poverty among the Fulani?" he asked.

Herdsmen's Attacks Claim At Least 1260 Lives in Benue And Provoke Tears in Enugu

Reports about raids on defenseless Nigerian communities by Fulani herdsmen have become so common, and therefore normal that they hardly attract the expected human sympathy, shock, or anger that they should. Read HERE an investigative report about the killings in Benue State by Fulani herdsmen, and see that there is no government in spite of Buhari's recent statement that he would no longer allow Fulani herdsmen to attack communities. Exactly, what steps has Buhari taken to wed his statement with action? I cannot tell. Also, few days ago, Fulani herdsmen again launched another attack in Enugu State, again causing death, injuries and destruction. The Enugu State governor again shed tears, and that's all? Would he again go to Aso Rock to bend in obeisance to stolid indifference?

Hours before I decided to post this, while passing through a community in Edo State, I saw a Vigilante member carrying a sophisticated gun as he and colleagues kept vigilance over their community. On their truck doors I read, "Okpella Community Vigilante". I wondered why my State (Benue) Governor Ortom appears too timorous to provide such community defense shield for Benue Communities. Why can't the other States under Fulani herdsmen invasion be brave, daring and proactive in providing adequate and sophisticated defense shield for the people now that the Federal Government is too preoccupied with Boko Haram and Niger Delta insurgencies to protect a soul in their States?  Maybe State Security votes should now be applied in a manner that justifies the phrase. Now is the time to dare those that expect the governors, the chief security officers of their States, to equip vigilante groups to save lives Buhari is too weak, incapacitated, or unwilling to protect.  Maybe, State Police would rightly emerge thereby. My respect for any government would vanish if it cannot protect lives, just any lives.

Why some Nigerian governors would be afraid to defend their people against the Fulani pogrom:

1. Their hands are not clean, and would therefore not force Buhari to unleash the EFCC against them who would apply to them the Fayose treatment.
My Response: They should rather resign.

2. APC governors would like to remain loyal party members, and must not be "antagonizing" President Buhari.
My Response: Are they loyal then to the blood of their patriots that now cries against their indirect complicity and duplicity?

3.. The governors don't want to lose the "goodwill" of the Federal Government.
My Response: Do they know the meaning of goodwill? Can they yearn for the goodwill of the man that repeatedly rapes their wife or daughters?

4. The governors are afraid of assassination or loss of political relevance.
My Response: Are they not dead already through their cowardice? Does not Mangakis teach us that the man dies who is afraid to speak up in the face of oppression? And why are they concerned about preserving what already they have lost through their insipid lamentations and tears of helplessness?

Nigeria's Middle Belt: A Quiet Giant?

Nigeria has always remained at a crossroads. The Middle Belt region, to which I belong by birth, is no doubt a giant, but not so obvious to those who don't think so deeply about Nigeria's socio-political dynamics. The region always votes for the government at the center; and unless President Buhari and his minders behind the scene understand this and take steps of appeasement now ( e.g. speedily stop the offensive Fulani cattle breeders from assaulting the Belt, bring about their economic  inclusion, etc.,) APC should forget winning the votes of the Belt for the presidency in 2019. There is seething anger among the people, and they still possess their PVCs.

But this article,  Middle Belt, The Glue of Nigeria chronicles probably contentious issues about Nigeria. Although published more than four years ago, those remain relevant today, especially now that Buhari's government has thrown caution to the wind in the egregious abuse of Section 14 of the Constitution, his Fulani cattle herders kill defenseless Nigerians at will, the Niger Delta  militants are blowing up oil infrastructure, the Igbos are restless about being sidelined, the news and social media have started being muzzled by Buhari,  and even Buhari's supporters have started apologizing to Nigerians for convincing them to vote for Buhari.

See you again.

On Nigerians, Religion, and Everything In-between

Leonard Shilgba

I affirm from the beginning that I believe in the existence of God, in the teachings of Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that I must do to others exactly as I expect them to do to me. And if I am not so sure how I expect to be treated in certain circumstances, then I should fall upon the principle of moral compounds, which insists on the inseparable bonds between the pairs, peace and righteousness, and mercy and truth.

The deplorable state of Nigeria in almost every facet of life, in spite of plenty of religion, has driven not a few along the road of inquisition on the existence of God or his willingness and ability to make good happen. There are some who believe that society is capable of self-regulation and creating its own set of goodness without God; and they view religion with suspicion and disdain, as a weapon of cruel control and manipulation that sentences reason to perpetual custodian restriction while generously planting the seed of faith without examination, reason or enquiry. Does truth depend on obedience? Can we judge God's existence or kindness by the quality of conduct of the people who claim to worship Him? Do children always follow the path of their virtuous parents? If not, does their contradictory conduct vitiate their parents' testimony of virtue?

I have read quite a few articles and comments by some Nigerians, who, because of the undeniable existence of many Nigerian preachers that serve their bellies only but not Christ, whom they derisively call "pastorpreneurs", have come to deny the very existence of God ( without attempting to define what they now deny exists). Some Nigerians, claiming to be "secular humanists" today, once confessed faith in Jesus Christ; but what made them to recant? One of them asserts a reason, that a once close acquaintance of his, with whom he sang in a Deeper Life Campus Fellowship, was struck with cancer. And despite their prayers, she died. He therefore does not believe prayer works, except that it makes someone to feel "good" about themselves. First of all, what answered prayer informed his confessed faith in Christ at the beginning? We have asked our parents for certain things that they withheld from us, for some undisclosed reasons, but did we come to deny our parents existed? This fellow affirms death to be a universal and inevitable experience of which he claims absence of fear. But did he consider that cancer too is one means through which death takes people away? Or does he question the fact that God (whose existence he now denies) permits death at all? I think I have some experiences of not getting many things I have asked God in prayer for: In 1997, my mother died of cancer right in my house. I had prayed to God and wept before Him that she should live. I was a pastor of a Deeper Life Campus Fellowship. Yet, she died at a young age of 49! Should I, on account of that, deny the efficacy of prayer and the existence of God? Before she died, she told me one day when I returned from my university campus ( I was a very young lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria at that time) that Jesus had appeared to her and told her not to fear, and that I, her son, was his friend. She asked God to take her away ( She also had confessed faith in Jesus Christ even as I did). In 2002, my beloved father also died while I was in faraway Japan, and this in spite of my prayers and those of my fellow brethren at the Tokyo Baptist Church, that he would overcome his ailment. Thereafter, I lost about three siblings back home in Nigeria. Did I not have good cause to renounce my faith therefore? No, I did not. If we build our faith in God's existence and goodness around events of our life and the world, it is because we don't know him; and this is the tragedy of religion, ignorance about God. If we knew God, we should know that God does everything (not some things) according to the counsel of his will. In other words, God always subordinates his power to his will. He does not just grant every wish of man just because he can. What God cannot do is to break his will. No matter how great your faith is, it can never be preferred above God's will. All our desires must be prefaced by "Let thy will be done." This is true religion. And man's noble duty is inclusive of knowing God's will. For those who despise the affirmation of God's existence, let me appeal for a simple definition, that God is the creator of all things, visible and invisible; whether they are thrones or dominions. Except you believe that you created yourself, you should be concerned about the source of creation. The very fact that someone gave birth to you means there is a creative power behind our universe. Belief in some evolution theory or the Big bang is starting the narrative in the middle. Assuming these to be true, what creative force was behind the evolution (which there is no evidence today of its continuance) or the Big bang?

Jesus Christ taught about love, forgiveness and mercy. He also taught about true righteousness, different from that of the nauseating righteousness established by the religious folks of his time on earth. He never discriminated between men and women. Men touched him, and women did too, and were part of his ministry life on earth. The first evangelist he sent out to bring forth the message of his resurrection was a woman. He offered protection to a woman who was about to be stoned because her accusers claimed she was caught in the act of adultery ( but where was the male sexual partner?). Jesus Christ therefore is against misogynism. Jesus had married folks like Peter in his team of top disciples. Therefore, he is not in support of misogamy either. He stood against child abuse and ordered that they should not be stopped from coming to him. He taught that greatness is in service, and not being served. He openly and actively was against exploitation of religion for filthy lucre. He exposed the hypocrisy and greed of the religious leaders, and once physically drove out of his "Father's house" those who had turned the "house of prayer" into a "den of robbers." Today, we have many of such robbers plying their trade on street corners and in huge camp grounds in Nigeria. Would you speak against Jesus' Way because of those who are not in His Way? That would spit logic in the face, wouldn't it? If you despise the false religious activities in Nigeria today,so does Jesus also, who  was not timid, who did not only pray but also spoke against the evil of the religious. But he was gentle on the weak and remorseful. A bruised reed Jesus would not break, and a smoldering flax he would not quench. He said to the adulterous woman, "Neither do I condemn you, but go and sin no more." So she received both forgiveness and power to go and sin no more. Jesus never encourages living in sin, but freedom from it. He came to set man free from fear of death. Jesus taught the nobility of planning without worrying about the future. He taught that man must count the cost before embarking on any venture.

Jesus Christ warned against deception by false prophets and murderers (terrorists), who would kill, thinking they are doing God service. He says we can know false prophets by the evil fruits they bear. He demands good fruits of character from those who profess to follow him, saying, "You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you." Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus did not give a label to his followers? He said to some that he called, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He taught his disciples on prayer and urged them to pray that the "Lord of the harvest (of men)" should send more laborers into the harvest field. In our day, we need skillful fishers
 of men, planters, waterers, reapers, and master builders. But only God gives the increase on our labors. Prayers of faith  made in accordance with God's will, in agreement with, not only his eternal purpose, but also timing, always are answered, because we keep his commandments and do the things that please him.

If someone wants to argue against the existence of God or the veracity of the Bible, it would be inappropriate to situate the argument in the context of the "gods of men" in Nigeria, who are erroneously called "men of God". Jesus Christ's stand against them is evident in the scriptures. I must quickly address some burning issues, which have been trending on social media lately:

First, the Bible encourages investigation of prophecies or teachings by listerners. We are taught therein to not believe every prophecy, but "test the spirits". You cannot test if you are uninformed. Is this not similar to the expectations in all sciences? For instance,  I am a professor of Mathematics, teacher and pastor; and I follow this principle of investigation, verification and conclusion based on evidence, which must agree with certain axioms (a set of inviolate fundamental principles). And all followers of Christ must study to discover or verify. We are not called to blind faith, suspended reasoning or more ignorance. Rather, the testimony of God's Word is that the deep or solid meat of God's Word  is for those who "by reason of use (of the Word) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." [Hebrews 5: 14] The scriptures deplore a state of ignorance. Disciples of Christ are in fact, commanded to study and give diligence to build up on faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love in that order. The presence of all these in a life, family or society guarantees fruitfulness. But, how much of these do we have in Nigeria, our States, Local Government  Areas or Wards?

Mahatma Gandhi once lamented to a "Christian" missionary that, "Christians are very much unlike Christ." Labels do not matter, and Jesus Christ did not care for them.

 Before Western missionaries came to Africa, slavery was a common occurence on the continent, oppresive African kings executed their subjects in the most cruel manner, and women were tradable objects and treated only  a little better than slaves. African kings wielded total control over their subjects. Therefore, to pin African woes on the entry of "Western religion", foreign religion, and the consequent step-down from "traditional African religions or gods" is to revise history.

Yes, in the Old Testament, God, working with Israel as a "son", demonstrated how jealously he guards and protects His own. He sacrificed whole nations for them, thus even children were not spared sometimes among "enemies" of Israel. All non-Jewish nations were considered as aliens, without God in the world, and separate from God. Even at that, God still selectively used non-Jews for His purposes (e.g. Balaam, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, etc.). Furthermore, at different times, and sometimes spanning decades, because of God's anger against Israel's idolatry, he either allowed foregn nations to oppress them or dispersed them away from the Land He had given them.

 Today, men and women hold various standards of right and wrong. But it seems to me that mere mortals assume certain powers to determine for God what is right or wrong. For instance, while some believe they are free to enjoy their sexuality and express it anywhere and in any way they want, they take umbrage at those that uphold beliefs contrary to theirs. Jesus Christ has not given his followers the commandment or mandate to kill, discriminate against or ridicule people for their sexual orientation. But, they are commanded to warn lesbians, gays or the bisexual about the eternal consequences of their actions, and to show them the path of freedom. Free will and modern liberties are a personal choice, but the consequences thereof cannot be chosen or determined by man. Those that will not listen to us (Jesus' followers) must not be considered personal enemies. We must dust our feet and move on to others. The "secular humanist" took a potshot at God, wondering why He would demand we "forgive our enemies 490 times", but He would not forgive His enemy Satan. Let me ask him to find out when Satan repented and asked for forgiveness from God. Except repentance happens there is no forgiveness; that is God's way, even as Jesus Christ tells His disciples, "If your brother offends you 490 times in a day, and 490 times repents and asks for forgiveness, forgive."  God sets the rules, while man chooses to comply or otherwise; and there are consequences for mockery or disobedience, and you can't beat that.

In the New Testament, individuals are brought into personal Father-child relationship with God, and He guards them jealously. God does not demand undivided obedience or worship because He feels insecure. He that made man for His pleasure and purpose, does He not deserve such? Those who allege that God, by demanding undivided loyalty and worship, has a feeling of insecurity, must demonstrate they could share their spouses with just anyone else without any harrowing emotions.

Someone asked, "When Jesus Christ was in the grave, who watched over the earth?" This question was asked with the intention of ridiculing the claim that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. My answer is simple; even in the grave Jesus is Lord.

Science is throwing up many discoveries of certain planets that we did not know about a few decades ago. Man has not been to many of them, but some equipment invented by man have provided the evidence. And although billions of people have not been to those planets, they believe the "evidence" of science, and talk freely about those planetary bodies. How then will the same man simply say, "Well, the scriptures are simple fabrications of Jewish people"?  Can't I insist that unless I first go to those planets that man has never landed upon, the scientific literature about them are mere fabrications of scientists?

Nigerians must give themselves to study or learning, and cease from vulgar language as substitute when logical reasoning is absent in the mind.  Nigerians must speak up against evil, even as Jesus Christ did, and not simply hide their cowardice in prayer without genuine faith. We must strive for a character without reproach for the good of our society instead of questioning on labels: "Are you a Christian or Muslim?" Between Nigerians and religion we have a few that groan for a nation of Truth, where we do not discriminate against ourselves because of religion or tribe, one a choice, the other by birth (without choice). In-between are Nigerians that hate the tensions being built up across Nigeria because of insidious discriminations in violation of the Constitution. And in-between is the Nigerian and African reader who agrees with me at least ninety per cent!

Unveiling Sponsors of Violence in the Niger Delta

 This report on Saharareporters:Goodluck Jonathan and Partners Behind Niger Delta Avengers  contains some personalities that the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA), a splinter group from the infamous Niger Delta Avengers ( NDA), has revealed as sponsors of the primitive destruction of oil infrastructure and environmental pollution in the Niger Delta by the Niger Delta Avengers ( NDA). If there is a just government in Nigeria, if the avowed fight against corruption by President Buhari is genuine, and if there is no anarchy in Nigeria, then Nigerians must see intelligent use of this information by Nigeria's security agencies for Nigeria's peace and development. Our economy is being shut down by such economic saboteurs, who have not either  by their past or present actions improved the livelihood of Niger Deltans. For instance, we are only being told how in eight years of its existence, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has "completed only one project."

Under President Buhari, hunger, anger and danger are on the increase (apologies to Father Mbaka). Naira has crashed and thus real incomes of Nigerians have crashed. Public electricity supply has become a joke even as Nigerians are still being forced to pay outrageous bills for more darkness, and yet Buhari's government justifies this corrupt conduct of DISCOS in spite of appeals by people like us for his intervention. Inflation has hit the roof, and Buhari's government has openly confessed that Nigeria is now stuck in a recession. Now, if Buhari and his friends blame all these on Jonathan, and the RNDA has come out to give the names of Jonathan and company as sponsors of an egregious economic sabotage, then Buhari should either go after them or quit the blame game. Nigerians want a government that will act responsibly and courageously to protect them, and not one that talks tough but acts sparingly and discriminatively  in latent fear. It is one thing, for instance, to say, "My government cannot tolerate the violence by cattle herders," and yet the herders are killing in Benue State, amassing weapons to destroy Nigerian lives, and all threats to punish never scare the blood spillers, and quite another to act quietly while the people taste the good fruits openly. I hope Buhari has not lost control of Nigeria even as some of his friends are now losing confidence in his abilities and sense of justice and feeling of empathy for poor Nigerians. Can PMB act now in our public interest or will he protect a few criminals for special group interest? The story script is gradually becoming manifest. But let me give PMB one more chance to redeem himself. Thereafter, if he fails, then…..

Nigerians Say Hunger and Poverty are Unbearable

Father Mbaka has spoken out the truth to President Buhari, that Nigerians, remaining hungry and hopelessly poor is a grave danger to his government. True friends tell truth to one another. The Word of God says, "Better are the wounds of a friend than the kisses of an enemy."

You may have read on this blog the trending and damning facts about Buhari's nepotism and stolid disregard to constructive criticism. Now, added to that list is the issue of hunger and poverty in the land that the people experience in increasing degrees. Furthermore, death is having a field day, being ferried across the land by many vehicles, chief among which are the Fulani cattle herders, who maul hapless Nigerians on their ancestral lands while Buhari stands by watching in annoying silence.
Now, even Buhari's friends can't hold their peace anymore until he starts changing course and acting as president of all Nigerians.
This is what Nigerians are saying.

Prof. Junaid Mohammed on Buhari's Nepotism

Professor Junaid Mohammed in an interview with the Punch newspaper painted a disturbing picture of President Buhari as a man that is neck deep in the corruption of nepotism. Moreover, he makes the conclusion that both Buhari's government and reputation are in danger in the hands of what he calls Daura Cabal. If Prof. Mohammed is right, then PMB has only dug himself an unnecessary hole from which he must quickly extricate himself NOW. Could this be what Senate President Saraki referred to when he implied PMB was being controlled by a cabal? If all you read below is true, this is not what Nigerians bargained for, and it is time the president changed course even at the cost of offending his family in government. He is president of Nigeria and not of the cabal:

Prof Junaid Mohammed: Buhari is corruptly nepotistic

Buhari's Parochial Appointments

Do you agree with this Punch Editorial?
Have your say.

Breaking up Nigeria

                                                   
                                              Leonard Shilgba


Calls for "restructuring" Nigeria these days are becoming so loud and frequent, some being unpretentious euphemisms for break-up of Nigeria. Being a fellow that has written copiously about  an improved coupling of Nigeria, I am disappointed at the hypocrisy that I read about concerning the subject.
Are the calls for "restructuring" not becoming a mockery? When certain people, who live off public offices  or hanker after appointment into public offices don't have their way, then they join the choir of "restructure Nigeria." Ask them to tell you what they mean and you will be nauseated by their simplistic ignorance. I think the deviously selfish and openly unlearned have seized upon a serious national cause to ingratiate their lusts. Thus a genuine subject, just like many others in our politics, has sadly become a victim of the blister of corruption.

The comedians who are perfecting their acts on the podium of "restructuring Nigeria" must be enjoying themselves lately, no doubt; except that they should be advised to seek another subject that will make them funnier.Let us ponder the break-up of Nigeria. First of all, where have the apostles of Nigeria's break-up derived their authority from?  Have they conducted a referendum among the citizens of their intended nation groups before asking President Buhari to call a referendum on Nigeria? And did President Buhari campaign on a referendum on Nigeria? Surely, the mandate Nigerians gave President Buhari is different. I should think that if any Nigerians wish to have a referendum on Nigeria, they should look out for and support a candidate for the presidential election who would run on that agenda. They should not be so impatient and seek to smuggle in such a referendum and foist it on a sitting president who never campaigned on it, for that would be corruption. David Cameron only did what he had campaigned on, so why manipulate Buhari into a Cameron?
 Besides, why the haste; why not take the decent route of patient build-up to gain legitimacy on their cause? A few people here and there forming various associations or "pressure groups" on "self-determination" cannot earn more than news media blips. None of  those groups can approximate either in authority or organization to the Ojukwu Biafra machine,  even which failed to crank up when it mattered most.  What is worth doing should be done well. Our separatist agitators must show some seriousness.

There is nothing wrong when a majority of a nation group chooses to break away from a country; but in order to avoid painful failure and anarchy, three things must happen:

1. An undisputable leader for the cause (separation) must emerge. No nation group in Nigeria can presently claim to have such a leader; Niger Delta, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv or Middlebelt, Hausa or Fulani, etc., have no such leader at the moment.

2. Connection and trust between the elite and the masses must be strong and unyielding. The corruption among the elite  has created a chasm between them and the masses, too big to be filled with the filler of trust.

3. Enlightenment of the people about today's plight and the beautiful fruits of the Promised Land must be complete. Do you tell your ethnic folks how badly they have fared in Nigeria? Let them know how better their fortunes will be in the new nation you now tell them of. Show them the fruits of evidence in this "wilderness" called Nigeria. Demonstrate to them now how just, fair and kind to them you will be then. Don't tell them you will be born again then, you will not be corrupt and oppressive then,  and that you will suddenly acquire the skills of statecraft then. If you are not better at home with them than the pharaoh you point out to them, why must they follow you to the unknown?

Solidarity Against Corruption

                                                                Leonard Shilgba

I endorse this punch editorial against corruption.

If President Buhari takes his foot off the pedal in order to indulge certain corrupt Nigerians who are now fighting back against his onslaught against corruption, we are done for. I can see clearly the various masquerades and masks behind which those despicable cowards are hiding: Niger Delta Avengers and similar militants, Biafra agitators and separatists, and propagandists against "islamization agenda" whose only likely converts are the gullible, illiterates and uneducated in the art of deceit. Why did all those pitiable souls go to sleep during the regime of plunder, corruption, impunity and barefaced rapacity only to awaken now that a squeeze is being pressed against sleaze, easy loot and careless waste of resources; when people are being called to account for spending and living above their means?

Are those corrupters instigating the bombings of Nigeria's oil infrastructure as a blackmail? Do they think they can extract a deal against the public interest? Those that are now raising their voices for "restructuring" of Nigeria as a solution, do not seem to get it. I support and have proposed some restructuring myself. I have faulted the poor and hasty organization of Jonathan's National Conference of 2014 without an operational clause of a referendum first inserted in the constitution. But I am no fool, and I hope you are not one.

I urge Buhari to step up this fight even as the "militants" step up the bombings:

1. I support the set up of Special Courts to handle corruption cases. Corruption cases should be handled as an emergency. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 should be strictly enforced; and I agree that corrupt judges should be identified and quickly taken out of the system.

2. Institutional corruption should be fought in a more vicious manner. Directors, heads of MDAs, Vice Chancellors, provosts, etc., must be held responsible and quickly punished for delay in payments, overpayment, and contract frauds. Why, for instance,  would TETFUND interventions in a university be delayed for more than three years while private companies are paying into the funds yearly? Why should NUC hold back funds meant for federal universities?  I call on President Buhari to confront all forms of corruption in the education sector as he is doing in others. Is it not disgraceful to hear that Vice Chancellors who are unwilling to part with certain percentages of allocations will find difficult accessing such?

3. I endorse setting time limits for corruption litigations just as we have for election matters. Buhari should explore some executive orders if the National Assembly is too inured to corruption to act in the public interest.

If President Buhari can succeed in whittling down corruption in Nigeria in his first term, then Nigerians can see the benefits and consider some improvement on our union
in the second term. Some are quick to argue  that corruption is fueled by the structure of the country but fail to convince how their proposed restructuring will change us. We cannot afford to excuse corruption. I also wonder why the Niger Delta militants don't see any cause to confront their governors who steal or waste their 13% derivation gain. This explains who might be their benefactors in their heinous acts.

No let off, dear president. And insist on full recovery, full prevention and full reward of the faithful.

WATCH OUT FOR MY PIECE ON BREAKING UP NIGERIA

Saraki, Ekweremadu, and Democracy

                                                        Leonard Shilgba

Democracy does not equate to lawlessness nor inequity. It is headlined by the rule of law, rule of the people, and rule of processes. By rule of law, it excludes dictatorial or fascist tendencies; by rule of the people, they choose their representatives at their pleasure, who serve according to the people's values; by rule of processes, arbitrariness is disallowed.

Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu have been taken to the temple of justice in Nigeria, not straight to the gaol,  to answer to certain charges. Does democracy, even Nigeria's democracy, frown at this? I doubt so. Why then is this cry against this? Why does Ekweremadu think that democracy is thereby being stiffled by the prosecutor (or the Executive)?

Democracy thrives only as enlightenment catches on like wild fire among the people. University degrees alone do not translate to enlightenment.  I should think you will agree with this. Evidence abound in Nigerian social media: Lack of critical or logical thinking; intemperate use of language; and petty distraction from the theme of discourse. All these give Nigerians away as generally  lacking in intellectual dexterity and objectivity required to enervate democratic culture. I have come to this conclusion, not lightly. Consistently, Nigerian readers, in their comments on just any news report or opinion article, eargerly, like a herd of untamed animals, descend the overworn path of ethnic and religious bigotries, while the real matter is left wrapped! "Cows eat grass; this animal eats grass. Therefore, it is a cow." This is a kind of unsound argument that most Nigerians make. The backlash of poor education offered in our schools is now here upon us. The solution? We must restructure our school curriculum and learning activities to include public debates and speaking classes, compulsory history classes, and Writing classes. Furthermore,  we must scrap this "Science Students" and "Art Students" dichotomy from our secondary schools, and review our General Education offerings in our universities so that each student takes a bit from every category of the knowledge fields available. We are producing uncouth and ignorant citizens who can't interprete social dynamics nor decode roots of social tensions; whose constant parroting response is, "Break up the country; we are being marginalized; that is an Islamization agenda; this is selective anti-corruption fight, and so on and so forth," who are masters in the art of superstition and conspiracy theory, but unlearned in the polish of critical thinking.

We are producing citizens who erroneously assume that only lawyers must read their country's Constitution and tell them what it contains. To the Constitution O patriots! If you speak as a contrarian, it is because there is no light in you.

Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu must leave the public space in peace and face their legal matters as decently as possible. They should learn from Senator Clinton, who has not accused President Obama yet of being controlled by a "cabal" or of "dictatorial tendencies" only because of her "running battles" with the FBI over the email scandal. We ought to know, and those two senators and the whole Nigerian Senate ought to accept that it would be contradictory of the principles of democracy to:

1. Summon the nation's chief law officer and prosecutor to a committee of the Senate over a matter that is already before a Court of law, more so when the matter involves two of their top leaders.

Another notable example: Very lately, eyebrows were raised and disaporovals expressed only because former President Clinton met with US Attorney General? Do you know why? She (the Attorney-General) is the one to prosecute Senator Clinton should an indictment be made against her by the FBI! But here in Nigeria, even after the Nigeria Police investigated the Senate forgery allegation and thereafter submitted a report of culpability to the Attorney-General of the Federation, who has already filed the matter in a Court of Law, Senate presumes to invite him over the same matter! Where is integrity? And where is the non-interference mantra that some talk about?

2. Request or expect the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to interfer with any legal proceedings, for that would be obstruction of justice.

Our lawmakers must not be found in the toga of lawbreakers. Let everyone have their day in court, and show by sound evidence why they have the law on their side. And if any prosecutions are "politically motivated", that could not be an acceptable plea or argument of innocency.

How Angry Are You at Corruption?

I am allergic to corruption...PMB

*The National Assembly now attempts to blackmail the president, and even shirks its constitutional responsibilities now only because responsible agencies and institutions of law and order have laid hands on two of its leaders to answer to allegations of crime and forgery. Some of its members announce "withdrawal of support" from the president for this reason, alleging that by this act of "aggression" against their "untouchable" leaders, who, in their vain imagination, are "above the law", "democracy is being threatened," "the independence of the legislature is being compromised," and similar balderdash. Those Nigerian lawmakers need to go back to school or attend summer courses on responsible and representative lawmaking in a democracy, for they assume extra-constitutional privileges that exist only in their warped imagination. Pitiable legislators!

* Groups in Niger Delta, as the president correctly put it, are competing on which of them could do the most damage to the nation. Those rogues don't represent the Niger Delta nor are they intellectually equipped to recognize and diagnose the ailment that they now are to their people. Poor souls!

* The other time, while the president was on a brief health vacation abroad, all South-South governors excepting the Edo State governor, demanded, as a condition for peace in the Niger Delta, that Buhari's government should discontinue all corruption litigations against Niger Delta rogues, including "ex-militants", and the Minister of State for Pertroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachukwu, according to reports,  sided with them! Pathetic give-away!

* Kachukwu declared at a town-hall meeting held recently at Uyo, Akwa Ibom, that he did not "care" about the N13  billion that an "ex-militant" from his State (Delta) was given by uncle GEJ for a piece of land in one village of the State for a Maritime University. He "does not care" that such huge  amount of public funds could be given and taken fraudulently! I am distressed about his perception of corruption, being a key player in Buhari's government. Not upto N13 billion has been invested to build the university in GEJ's village since 2011! Kachukwu even boasted that if the Minister of Transport, under whose ministry the proposed university could have been housed, was not well-disposed towards it, he (Kachukwu) would "build it as a Petroleum University." What ignorance both in law and politics by a Law scholar! First, FG cannot develop the land in dispute and yet demand refund of the N13 billion. Second, there is already a University of Petroleum in Delta State; politically, you cannot expect another in the same state! By the way, who is Nigeria's president; Kachikwu? Political miscalculation! PMB must rein in his over-reaching ministers and demand harmony within his cabinet, otherwise his government can't stand.

Do you love, excuse or defend corruption? If you do, you are one of our numerous causes of headaches.

"Is he the only corrupt person; why can't they touch others too?" "PMB is being selective in his anti-corruption fight." "Na anti-corruption we go chop?" "Is Buhari a saint?" Alright, when you succeed in under-writing the expenses of bringing an angel down from heaven to fight corruption in Nigeria, then you can enlist me in the advocacy for him to run our affairs in Nigeria. You rebuke neighbors when they provoke you or others, don't you? Are you not being "selective" then? Are they the only provocative Nigerians?

But these also will pass away. Evil cannot prevail.

Babel of Selfishness in the Niger Delta

I had posted on Nigerians and Refusal to Accept Reponsibility

Now, read the report below, which appeared in Vanguard newspaper of June 19, 2016:

Niger Delta Crisis: Militants write Kachikwu, mobilise against Avengers, MEND

Assuming you have read the Vanguard report above, will you disagree with me that the Niger Delta is  now a "Tower of Babel"?


What is the "Niger Delta Struggle"? Is it an Ijaw fight,  Itsekiri aggitation or the Urhobo or Ogoni " peaceful intellectualism"? And there are yet many more ethnic groups in the Niger Delta, As I have already stated in an earlier post, the Niger Delta militants (ex-or current) DO NOT represent the Niger Delta, but their bellies. They serve not the basic interests of the poor Niger Deltan in the creeks, who is in need of clean water, health facilities, good schools, clean air, and a healthy ecosystem. Furthermore, the Niger Delta is certainly not one homogeneous (linguistically, socially, or politically) group. There are tensions between various ethnic groups, as testified in the Vanguard report.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) became a honey pot for a few people who used Niger Delta identity to steal for themselves. The Niger Delta Ministry has not improved the economic and social wellbeing of the people either.

Today, militant groups are springing up like ants, claiming no noble values of development beyond an ability for violent destruction of their neighborhood! Such militant groups are not the ones government should "negotiate" with. By the way, what is the content of such "negotiations" beyond the cliche "resource control", which I doubt many of them understand its substance or implication.

This is my suggestion to President Buhari's government:

1. Do not negotiate with any "militant groups". They are all impostors.
2. Call for and organize a quasi-national conference of ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta, which should focus on three items:
     i. Infrastructural development of the oil-producing communities of the Niger Delta. Those communities must be provided the same amenities that Oil Companies operating within them provide for their expatriate staff.
     ii. Investment in manufacturing and processing plants related to oil and gas within oil- and gas-producing communities within the Niger Delta: That is, a set of job-creating  productive measures must be discussed and agreed upon, with an agreement that subsequently, violent attacks on such investments and oil and gas infrastructure must be paid for with allocations due to such host states from the Federation Account.
    iii. Adequate compensation of and security in the oil-producing communities: How do we compensate the Niger Delta people in the oil-producing communities directly rather than allow those corrupt middlemen called "militants" to foul the waters; and protect those communities and provide them with  the incentives to protect oil and gas infrastructure in their communities as their personal assets?

3. After the conference, reward peaceful communities that maintain peace, and punish the belligerent ones, including State governors of such troublesome States. Deduct from their allocations from the Federation Account to pay for damages inflicted on oil and gas infrastructure in those States.

Nigerians and Refusal to Take Responsibility

I am a Nigerian, and I endorse this essay. Are you a Nigerian? Then, I will talk about myself and you: "I have every right to be angry, but you don't have the right to punish evil even though, by your public standing, you are endowed with the office of a sword-bearer, avenger for God, even as you are God's minister," so many compatriots affirm. Nigerians hold forth very plausible reasons why they must destroy society, cause societal mischief, or even kill. The plausible speaker claims a holy calling, alleges oppression of their "people", or pleads some weird or even genuine injustice. The Nigerian hardly takes responsibility. If you are one of the few Nigerians that take responsibility, and refuses to blame everyone but yourself, I am not talking about you; but I must bare my mind to the hypocrites.

I imagine a large polygamous family, where there are fraudsters, hired killers, robbers, petty thieves, prostitutes, and all sorts of employees in the iniquitous trades. Each has a plausible justification for their chosen path. As a solution, they propose a kind of "restructuring", or just any type: "Let children fend for themselves"; "the father must make each mother a treasurer of his earnings"; "mothers must contribute exactly the same amount and energy that father does to sustain the family"; "daughters in the family must get more attention than sons do"; "father must allocate the most resources to the mother or mothers with the most children"; "there must be equality; mothers must each receive the same amount of allowance from the father"; "father must love the mothers according to how much their children bring into the family from their respective industry and crime," etc. And until their preferred "restructuring", however hazy in their minds it may be, is done, the children will not be restrained from setting some houses in their father's large compound ablaze, conniving with strangers and kidnapping some of their siblings for ransom from their father, whom they suspect is so rich and yet too frugal, destroying family property, or disturbing family peace and harmony. Some of the children are threatening that their mothers must divorce the father and take away with them all that they married the father with. When you ask any member of the family why they behave in such injurious manners, they answer with impudence, "I, my mother and her children are being marginalized." Others respond, "My mother's marriage to my father was a mistake." And when the interrogator suggests the children should ask how their mothers manage the huge monthly allowance from their father, they retort, "That is not the issue! Why must my mother not be allowed to control the resources? And even if my mother squanders her share from the father, do you know how much father is keeping for himself and favorite children?" Metaphorically, this is Nigeria.

Who are the Niger Delta Avengers avenging for? I think those folks should turn their anger against their governors, chiefs and political leaders in the South-South, who squander away whatever resources they receive from the national commonwealth (sorry, from their own resources). Do the militants of the Niger Delta really fight for their people? I doubt it. Let me explain why. Quite a number of "ex-militants" (I am not sure they are in retirement yet) are millionaires or billionaires now. How have they invested their "compensation" to improve the quality of life of their villagers, for instance? Buying private jets and building palatial mansions for themselves in the midst of an ever expanding ocean of poverty does not speak well of those "ex-militants". The fresh breed has set forth in the same path in the hope of some "compensation". The majority of the Niger Delta, who do not live by the sword, assume, in their innocent (?) naiveté, that the militants, both ex-and serving, are "freedom fighters" on their behalf. But can't a people use common sense, more so when the drama is being poorly acted, to arrive at the obvious conclusion-a hoax is being sold to the people, whose only benefit is the hallucination from its intoxicant, which they readily relish?  

Most of Nigeria's freedom fighters, Labor leaders and activists are like the oppressing rulers you find at the three tiers of government in Nigeria. The people must be slow to believe them, verifying their past actions or philosophical postulations, consistency and integrity, or not believe them at all. I learned that in Bayelsa State, Labor leaders who led out their colleagues on the recent strike action, later got public appointments by the State governor in the course of the action; they accepted the governor’s offer to pay workers only 50 per cent of their monthly salary (which was the offer that had partly provoked the strike in the first place). The strike has been called off, but with no gain for the workers, who are still being owed months in salaries (even at half the value offered). The people of the Niger Delta need decent jobs commensurate with their skills. They need projects such as the Brass NLNG completed; they want International Oil Companies (IOCs) to establish their company offices in places such as Yenagoa, for the purposes of tax revenue and job creation (But I must appeal to my Niger Delta brethren that the perception of insecurity will make this a long shot). I will talk about Amaechi and Kachikwu in a later post (watch out for it: Amaechi, Kachikwu and Niger Delta Development).

When the people are ready for change, it will come. It is time to refuse to rely on militants (ex-or serving), Labor leaders and activists. The people must determine what they want, and a leader would emerge to serve their purpose. There are too many hungry activists around. WATCH OUT FOR MY NEXT POST ON "A Nigerian Manual for People-led Change Action (NIMAPCA)". 

Artificial Poverty in a Rich Continent

                                                              Leonard Shilgba

Now is the time for Africa to stop the blame game and confront herself with the truth, the uncomfortable truth. The current rush for Africa by the two largest global economies, USA and China, tells us two pieces of truth: The oranges in daddy's orchard are ripe for harvest at home, but the Africans are fast running out for various reasons; and there is need for Africans to position themselves to drive the new trend and bargain for a better deal than they did or could have done during the sad era of colonialism.

As the story of the Ebola plague ravaging much of West Africa broke, I was struck yet again by disturbing evidence of inefficient public service, and how this contributes to increasing levels of poverty on any people. I saw on an international news station, an African man, suspected of having the Ebola virus, lying helplessly and unattended to for hours on a street in Liberia. In contrast, some Americans who reportedly contracted the virus in Africa, were flown back to their home country in specially prepared cubicles and offered special medical attention. I learned later that they had started  the journey of recovery to good health. Why is life not respected in Africa? Poverty cannot be reduced without proper and productive labor.

Effective public service begins with high quality of personnel in charge of public affairs. And the quality of personnel engaged for public service depends on  the recruitment procedure, the reward, training (including on the job), and work environment in public service. All of these determine the level of motivation of the public servant; and this motivation affects quality and speed of public service, which determines whether or not the welfare of the people will improve or suffer.

In my State, Benue State of Nigeria, it is reported that there are less than 40 medical doctors. This is a state with more than 4 million inhabitants. That is, the ratio of doctors to inhabitants is less than 1:100,000 or 0.001 per cent! Poverty is usually an appendage of poor health. Poor health results in poor productivity of the citizens, which exacerbates poverty. If in 40 years since its creation in 1976 the government of Benue State has been unable to improve this horrid ratio, what then is a more glaring evidence of poor governance? African leaders usually travel abroad in search of good medical care, which they have refused to provide at home, in spite of huge commonwealth.  It is true that Benue State is only a metaphor for many other African provinces or regions.

In the same State, the State governor decided to take N 11 billion bond ( i.e. about $69 million) in the twilight of his government in 2014, purportedly to "complete public infrastructure projects."  The governor had taken N 15 billion bond before. The State House of Assembly, reportedly, demanded for about N1 billion ( $ 6.8 million at the rate then) in cash before giving approval, claiming that they received no "returns" after giving approval for the first bond. This was offered and the approval was granted. Now, what would you say is the quality of public service that those legislators offered to citizens of their state? And what should be your conclusion about the governor's motive for the bond if he so  quickly granted the request of the lawmakers?

African public servants usually see their offices as the honey pot that must first satisfy themselves and offspring, with surplus put aside for a long line of personal inheritors, before mere mortals, whom they consider as subjects, are given even a second of thought. Service to the people is certainly not a motivation for public officials, but personal gain is. This explains the brazen ferocious and murderous pursuit for power and public office on the continent. The interest of the people is certainly not the goal that instigates this much hatred and blood shed in the quest for power. Public civil servants become private servants to the "kings" of Africa, and must do their bidding even if the consequence is clash with or even destruction of public expectation, public trust, and public good. Those civil servants, having faithfully and traditionally done the will of elected or selected public officers of state, using public institutions and instruments,  have turned themselves wild upon the people, offering them spite for care, harassment instead of needed help, and oppression in the place of honest and proper service. The result is the  blistering material poverty among the people.

Privatization of public assets in Africa, which is often applauded by the "civilized world," is, in fact, an official looting of the public wealth by a few privileged folks in government. Improvement of service is thrown up as a goal, but it is only a devious pretext. The recent privatization of public electricity
Infrastructure in Nigeria has rather yielded a new ownership by people in power who arranged the deal. The  common  experience of consumers is that of unreliable supply or service and increased tariff.  The promise of improving service with endless failure has been  an adopted language by the new owners. Consumers receive no information either by email or text messaging about schedule of supply of electricity to their neighborhood even as generation cannot presently meet demand.  Almost three years after privatization, there is nothing in terms of service improvement that suggests respect for the consumer. The Jos Electricity Distribution  Company ( JEDC), which serves my home district,  and which is partly owned by a former Nigerian governor, is very sloppy in service delivery. Service has worsened since the privatization, and yet consumers are in the dark about plans by the company to improve; transformers are not adequate and secondary load-shedding is a norm, but consumers remain at the mercy of the new oppressors, who are being protected by the government, even this APC government. The Nigerian people are certainly without respect in the eyes of their leaders.

I have observed among Africans a despicable obsession with personal accumulation of western toys just to provoke envy and worshipful adoration among their fellows. As long as Africans celebrate unfounded wealth, unregenerate wealth, and foreign-acquired wealth, their public officers will continue to be motivated by the prospect. Deliberate impoverishment of the people is a means, and crippling of public dissent is a goal. The people have lost any hope for a better life.

There are weapons of endless impoverishment that African public officers use:

Inadequate public infrastructure: What would motivate a leader to neglect transport infrastructure such as roads, and allow their people to drive on pothole- filled roads to their untimely death? I know some African national and regional leaders that have genuinely made commendable efforts to provide public infrastructure for their people's good health and wealth. However, the preponderance of African leaders can go for monsters who delight in the suffering of their people. And this is the bane of their regions and nations.

Unreliable legal system: The rule of law in Africa is a strange thing in the land, and is often observed only in breach. The brutality of African chiefs, kings, and political leaders, is only possible because of a weak judicial system, which usually gives justice to the rich and powerful. The pathway of justice is very long for the poor, but short for the rich and powerful in Africa. It is a puzzle in Africa when the rich and powerful suffer improbable mishap in the temple of justice. Quite often, the explanation is that they have fallen out with their more powerful colleagues.

Non- functional public education: Functional education is that which prepares the people to demand of their leaders service rich in accountability, befitting of their civilization, and influenced  by the search for public good and noble  legacy. It is the kind of education that trains the people to engage in sensible and reasonable debates and discourse without pettiness. It awakens in them self-respecting volunteerism without expectation of immediate personal gain.
It teaches the people that individual survival or prosperity is only guaranteed in the same for the collective. Such education prepares the mind to create and not just consume wealth.

Lack of productive imagination is not only delaying Africa's integration, it also opens up Africa for exploitation. When will Africans wake up from this frightening dream of artificial colonial-instigated boundaries between brothers and sisters? A continent of more than one billion people and rich natural and human endowment can transform into an enviable huge country, and reduce poverty for her peoples while promoting healthy economic and social competition among her states, and developing humongous public infrastructure across her length and breadth in order to promote entrepreneurship and innovation. For now, our poverty is only artificial, man-made.

Many Africans have been too traumatized by poverty to think rationally about governance. Such have rather turned themselves into apologists for government and thugs for public officers, harassing those who dare stand up to their masters. Democracy in much of Africa has claimed more precious lives than military rule did. Elections are usually dreadful prospects to contemplate, fetching huge military deployments like in war time.  If Africans should wait for their leaders to suddenly get some spiritual transformation and change without pressure from them, redemption will be long delayed. Their leaders hastily buy into foreign-designed initiatives such as removal of fuel subsidy, privatization of public assets, currency devaluation, etc., which have increased poverty in the land and killed public assets in order to protect the interests of a few businesses, whose proposperity thereby is often flaunted as an index for "economic growth". I have argued that the term "privatization" is foreign to an African, who is traditionally groomed in an environment of common ownership and social mutual assistance.

Ghanaians woke up to find that their government threw at them fuel subsidy removal amidst depreciating local currency value, high tuition fees in government colleges and universities, and  low public wages, but without any social shock absorbers. Nigerians have fared worse: In order to provide mobile telecommunications services, a "democratic"  government sacrificed public-owned Nigerian Telecommunications company (NITEL) and threw Nigerians out of work, stultified deployment of landlines, closed down beautiful and functional phone booths that had been built across the country, including on university campuses, by NITEL , replaced phone call plastic cards that were being purchased and used by callers with nothing but road-side human call merchants. Fuel subsidy was removed or reduced in 2012,and completely taken away this year without verifiable public pacifiers. In 2012,  the federal government announced supply of about 700 buses to serve 774 local government areas and more than 160 million people, and called that a "cushioning" approach to people's suffering! We indeed have comedians in government. OCUPPY NIGERIA protests were organized like the Ghanaians attempted, but the efforts did not change anything significant even as organized labor seemed to have compromised the struggle. Maybe they were too occupied to occupy Nigeria.


History has been a faithful witness that publicly accepted change does not come cheap. South Africans, here at home, paid a price for what they enjoy or appear to enjoy today, even though corruption and crime are now creeping in under black majority rule. The French Revolution was an open statement against the aristocracy that executed its excesses with the collaboration of the religious leaders. The North African protests in the Maghreb region and Egypt were also a bold statement that even docile people can bite when pushed to the wall. The silence by other Africans or inconsistent and unsustained protests by them has not sent a strong enough message to their oppressing  leaders that they are angry. Elections are clinically rigged now with impunity, using various surreptitious means, and the aggrieved are challenged to go to the courts that have lost credibility. As the case is in Nigeria, a 180-day time limit has been constitutionally set through the cunning brinkmanship of the former ruling party, PDP, during which the aggrieved can seek redress at the Election Tribunal. Thus all sorts of legal speed bumps are built on the road to justice, which cannot be navigated before time is up. It is all in the hands of the suffering and sometimes smiling Africans. External colonialism has transmuted, internal colonialism has got the hold, and the people have the final say.

Who Wants President Buhari Dead?

If you want President Buhari dead, read this, if not...

Nigerian Nationalists Congress

What is it that makes us Nigerians? Have you asked a similar question before? North, West, East, South, or Central, what makes us Nigerians? Nigeria is not just a geographical expression any more than you are just a human being. But being a human being defines your purpose. Every so often I hear threats of dismemberment of Nigeria only because those making such threats are dissatisfied with certain people or actions and inactions in Nigeria. One consideration they seem to ignore is this: After that then what next? After dismemberment of Nigeria, what will come after? Have we not seen how dismemberment of Nigeria as an expected solution to Nigeria's problems is so petty and simplistic?

Nigerians will not suddenly be transformed after Nigeria is split into whatever number of minuscule countries. The vulgar will remain so; only that then, they would have to fashion out new vocabulary of vulgarity to deploy in discussing their new countries' affairs. The criminally-minded will not become born again just because they have won for themselves new countries. I stumbled on a post on a blog, where the blogger confidently opined that people like Shilgba  from a "minority group" (by the way, she observed that from my name she concluded I was from a "Minority ethnic group" in Nigeria) would prefer to live in Nigeria rather than in a smaller country carved out of Nigeria. This is an unfortunate as it is an uninformed position to take. I am not sure, by population, the Niger Delta people are not part of the "minority" this lady referred to; yet, quite a number of Niger Deltans want their separate country from Nigeria for whatever reasons they believe in.

Who are Nigerians? We are the pure expression of black culture. We are not a country of immigrants like the USA; rather, we are representative of black art, black fashion, black music, black linguistic creativity and inventiveness, black diversity and plurality. That's who we are. We are the melting pot of Africanness. What defines us is not what the world says about us, but what we think of ourselves and  say about ourselves. Join the discussion on the Nigerian Nationalists Congress (NNC) on this blog to find HOW. 

WATCH OUT FOR MY UPCOMING BOOK: Nigeria and Her Seven Secrets:Building a More Perfect Union (Pre-1914 to 2016 )

BibleClinicMinistry

                                                         About the book

Nigeria and Her Seven Secrets is a manual for Nigeria’s socio-political restructuring.  The book provides an exposition on the  foundation of and solutions to Nigeria’s many social and moral ills. There are some arguments that abound for and against convocation of a sovereign national conference for Nigeria. In this book,  not only are arguments made in favour of such a conference, but also a conversation about the methodology and process is provided. Nigeria and Her Seven Secrets  contains a historical narrative of Nigeria in perspective, and is therefore a useful reference material for scholars and students who would like to understand better  this interesting country. 

Days of Vengeance Are Here

BibleClinicMinistry


Luke 21: 20-28:
“And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.
“And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”

I WRITE IN RED, AND LET NIGERIANS AND ALL THE WORLD HEAR THIS. 

The Lord has come down to punish the nations. Greener pastures shall get dry, hopes shall be dashed, and the proud shall be brought low. Men's confidence shall fail, but for those who put their trust in the Lord, here is the word of comfort, "So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!” Do not put your trust in your government(s). In patience, possess your soul (Luke 21: 19). God will not bless Nigeria until he has punished her. 

Nigerian leaders who have taken upon themselves to call for God's divine intervention without repentance are wasting their time. Let them hear this: Because they have provoked the Lord, in fasting and prayer without rending their heart in sincere repentance, and have not turned away from iniquity nor taken the yoke off the people they RULE over, their afflictions shall be multiplied.

Draw near to God and he shall draw near to you. Let the wicked man forsake his sins, and the unrighteous his iniquity. God asks of our nations repentance. The country you live in does not matter; it is in whom you live that counts. Do you know him? Do you have an obedient relationship with Christ? "Though he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to those that OBEY Him [Hebrews 5: 8-9[