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Friday, October 19, 2018
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Wednesday, January 31, 2018
AGBEKOYA REFORMED SOCIETY (ARS) PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE ON THE PREVAILING POLITICAL AND SECURITY SITUATION IN YORUBALAND AND NIGERIA
BY
AGBEKOYA REFORMED SOCIETY (ARS)
26TH JANUARY, 2018.
PREAMBLE:
“Agba ki n wa l’oja, k’ori omo tuntun wo!”
Nigeria’s socio-political and economic problems dates back to the unfortunate, badly intentioned amalgamation of 1914, which merged the prosperous South of Nigeria with the unviable North. Particularly, this was bad news for the Yoruba as our people had already commenced the charting of a progressive developmental course, covering all fields of endeavor, since the 1850s.
The poverty of the North was largely inherited, by the colonialists, from the scorched earth policy of the Fulani, the overlords of a large portion of the area, who had successfully launched a series of revolts and pseudo-military operations against all then Hausa (Habe) kingdoms, and other minority tribes above the Niger River, under the guise of an Islamic Jihad.
The Fulani came with their nomadic half, who traditionally reared cattle with sticks and staffs, and succeeded in permeating into local communities all over the federation, pre and post-independence. Initially looking harmless and unobtrusive within their host communities, they have since metamorphosed into AK 47 gun wielding terrorists conducting an offensive campaign of calumny and destruction all over the country.
“Opa kan ni Fulani fi n da igba malu. B’awo l’o se wa yi pada di AK 47?”
This is obviously traceable to an agenda! Some people among their intelligentsia must be sponsoring and supporting them. And this agenda is evil, sinister and condemnable, given the number of lives and properties that have been destroyed in the most heinous, callous and unfeeling manner since it commenced.
OBSERVATIONS:
Cattle rearing is private business. As government had never supported farmers with forcibly acquired land to farm in other peoples communes, neither had government ever seized rivers upcountry for fishermen down south to fish in northern rivers. Thus, it is patently wrong and wholly suspicious when a subsisting government chooses a particular private trade (cattle rearing), mostly conducted by a particular ethnic group (the Fulani) for favour over and above the interests, businesses and lives of other Nigerians. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth and a nasty smell to the nostrils when you witness the atrocities committed by these agents of Lucifer, for which not a single arrest, prosecution or sentencing has been done, even after thousands of lives have been lost to this lunacy!
History and anthropology teaches us that every human group is nomadic in nature, but had settled down somewhere at a particular point in time. Why have the Fulani refused to settle down at, or around, their ancestral lands in the Futa Jalon and Futa Toro highlands of Guinea and Senegal and built modern ranches, in this computer age, to rear their cows without foraging into other peoples territories to disturb their peace? Why?
The grazing bill, as crafted by its sponsors, is arrogantly malevolent in content and impetuously contemptuous, in character, of other people’s interests and concerns. In the darkest parts of hell from where it was horribly construed, it shall remain, because it is mortally flawed, morally insensitive and forever unworkable.
The Fulani have continued to resist the restructuring of the Nigeria Federation, which would have saved the country from the inevitable abyss to which it is careening at a breakneck speed. They still prefer their anachronistic lazy ways of leeching unto other people’s properties and fattening up where they did not sow. This is scandalously inequitable and unworkable.
“Kaka ki Kiniun se akapo Ekun, kaluku yio ma se ode tie lototo ni!”
THE AGBEKOYA STAND!
The Agbekoya Reformed Society (ARS) has been watching all these events keenly as they unfold. Our silence is not consent. Neither is our cadence tacit support!
The Agbekoya stand is premised on its history as a defender of Yoruba society, values and territory. It will be tantamount to self-immolation if Agbekoya rescinds this traditional role to others, thereby exposing the flanks of the Yoruba societies and communities to infringements, incursions and attacks as is presently the case!
Egbe Agbekoya championed the most well-known peasant-driven political revolt in western Nigerian history, and continues to be referenced by grassroots organizations as a successful example of collective action against unpopular government policies like the prevalent advent of nascent murderous Fulani hegemony on the whole Nigeria nation.
IT IS TIME, ONCE AGAIN, FOR AGBEKOYA TO ROAR!
Agbekoya hereby issues a clear and present warning to the Fulani backed federal government that all this nonsense must stop and end forthwith!
Agbekoya now calls out all its members; farmers, hunters, traditionalists and Yoruba ancestral security outfits to commence the total and uncompromising protection of all parts of Yorubaland, from Kwara to Kogi, Lagos to Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti. Our bushes and forests, farmlands and settlements hereby remain impervious and sealed to Fulani marauders, arsonists and murderous gangs. The government of the day has clearly and obviously failed to offer protection to our people in the urban and rural areas.
“Onbo, onbo, awon l’ande de. A o ni joko sile fi orun ro.”
A three day Oro festival will be conducted all over Yorubaland on an unannounced date to cleanse our land of terror and fish out any threats lurking within our boarders.
Those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
“Patapata laa f’oju, kunna, kunna laa dete. Oju afo ifotan, ija l’on da sile!”
All Yoruba sons and daughters, villages, communities and farmers under threat are to report to their local community heads and chiefs for links to Agbekoya traditionalists and ancestral security units in their locality. We are everywhere! Any threat or harm inflicted on any Yoruba is a challenge to Agbekoya, and it will be resolutely met with!
“Aja t’o ba l’eni lehin, yio pa obo”
This release is in conjunction with and support of the actions of YORUBA LIBERATION COMMAND (YOLICOM) and the laudable VOICE OF REASON (VOR) press release of January 22nd, 2018 in Punch Newspapers which advocates the exit of the Yoruba Nation out of Nigeria, before the 2019 elections, if there is no meaningful restructuring within the shortest possible time.
"Adie t'o ba mi abere ko ni yi o duro robin ara re!"
“Aseye l’alakan nsepo. Aseye l’a o se o”
“E dara po pelu egbe Agbekoya ni wayi. Ogun ti w’olu o!
Aare Agbekoya
BY
AGBEKOYA REFORMED SOCIETY (ARS)
26TH JANUARY, 2018.
PREAMBLE:
“Agba ki n wa l’oja, k’ori omo tuntun wo!”
Nigeria’s socio-political and economic problems dates back to the unfortunate, badly intentioned amalgamation of 1914, which merged the prosperous South of Nigeria with the unviable North. Particularly, this was bad news for the Yoruba as our people had already commenced the charting of a progressive developmental course, covering all fields of endeavor, since the 1850s.
The poverty of the North was largely inherited, by the colonialists, from the scorched earth policy of the Fulani, the overlords of a large portion of the area, who had successfully launched a series of revolts and pseudo-military operations against all then Hausa (Habe) kingdoms, and other minority tribes above the Niger River, under the guise of an Islamic Jihad.
The Fulani came with their nomadic half, who traditionally reared cattle with sticks and staffs, and succeeded in permeating into local communities all over the federation, pre and post-independence. Initially looking harmless and unobtrusive within their host communities, they have since metamorphosed into AK 47 gun wielding terrorists conducting an offensive campaign of calumny and destruction all over the country.
“Opa kan ni Fulani fi n da igba malu. B’awo l’o se wa yi pada di AK 47?”
This is obviously traceable to an agenda! Some people among their intelligentsia must be sponsoring and supporting them. And this agenda is evil, sinister and condemnable, given the number of lives and properties that have been destroyed in the most heinous, callous and unfeeling manner since it commenced.
OBSERVATIONS:
Cattle rearing is private business. As government had never supported farmers with forcibly acquired land to farm in other peoples communes, neither had government ever seized rivers upcountry for fishermen down south to fish in northern rivers. Thus, it is patently wrong and wholly suspicious when a subsisting government chooses a particular private trade (cattle rearing), mostly conducted by a particular ethnic group (the Fulani) for favour over and above the interests, businesses and lives of other Nigerians. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth and a nasty smell to the nostrils when you witness the atrocities committed by these agents of Lucifer, for which not a single arrest, prosecution or sentencing has been done, even after thousands of lives have been lost to this lunacy!
History and anthropology teaches us that every human group is nomadic in nature, but had settled down somewhere at a particular point in time. Why have the Fulani refused to settle down at, or around, their ancestral lands in the Futa Jalon and Futa Toro highlands of Guinea and Senegal and built modern ranches, in this computer age, to rear their cows without foraging into other peoples territories to disturb their peace? Why?
The grazing bill, as crafted by its sponsors, is arrogantly malevolent in content and impetuously contemptuous, in character, of other people’s interests and concerns. In the darkest parts of hell from where it was horribly construed, it shall remain, because it is mortally flawed, morally insensitive and forever unworkable.
The Fulani have continued to resist the restructuring of the Nigeria Federation, which would have saved the country from the inevitable abyss to which it is careening at a breakneck speed. They still prefer their anachronistic lazy ways of leeching unto other people’s properties and fattening up where they did not sow. This is scandalously inequitable and unworkable.
“Kaka ki Kiniun se akapo Ekun, kaluku yio ma se ode tie lototo ni!”
THE AGBEKOYA STAND!
The Agbekoya Reformed Society (ARS) has been watching all these events keenly as they unfold. Our silence is not consent. Neither is our cadence tacit support!
The Agbekoya stand is premised on its history as a defender of Yoruba society, values and territory. It will be tantamount to self-immolation if Agbekoya rescinds this traditional role to others, thereby exposing the flanks of the Yoruba societies and communities to infringements, incursions and attacks as is presently the case!
Egbe Agbekoya championed the most well-known peasant-driven political revolt in western Nigerian history, and continues to be referenced by grassroots organizations as a successful example of collective action against unpopular government policies like the prevalent advent of nascent murderous Fulani hegemony on the whole Nigeria nation.
IT IS TIME, ONCE AGAIN, FOR AGBEKOYA TO ROAR!
Agbekoya hereby issues a clear and present warning to the Fulani backed federal government that all this nonsense must stop and end forthwith!
Agbekoya now calls out all its members; farmers, hunters, traditionalists and Yoruba ancestral security outfits to commence the total and uncompromising protection of all parts of Yorubaland, from Kwara to Kogi, Lagos to Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti. Our bushes and forests, farmlands and settlements hereby remain impervious and sealed to Fulani marauders, arsonists and murderous gangs. The government of the day has clearly and obviously failed to offer protection to our people in the urban and rural areas.
“Onbo, onbo, awon l’ande de. A o ni joko sile fi orun ro.”
A three day Oro festival will be conducted all over Yorubaland on an unannounced date to cleanse our land of terror and fish out any threats lurking within our boarders.
Those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
“Patapata laa f’oju, kunna, kunna laa dete. Oju afo ifotan, ija l’on da sile!”
All Yoruba sons and daughters, villages, communities and farmers under threat are to report to their local community heads and chiefs for links to Agbekoya traditionalists and ancestral security units in their locality. We are everywhere! Any threat or harm inflicted on any Yoruba is a challenge to Agbekoya, and it will be resolutely met with!
“Aja t’o ba l’eni lehin, yio pa obo”
This release is in conjunction with and support of the actions of YORUBA LIBERATION COMMAND (YOLICOM) and the laudable VOICE OF REASON (VOR) press release of January 22nd, 2018 in Punch Newspapers which advocates the exit of the Yoruba Nation out of Nigeria, before the 2019 elections, if there is no meaningful restructuring within the shortest possible time.
"Adie t'o ba mi abere ko ni yi o duro robin ara re!"
“Aseye l’alakan nsepo. Aseye l’a o se o”
“E dara po pelu egbe Agbekoya ni wayi. Ogun ti w’olu o!
Aare Agbekoya
Friday, January 26, 2018
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Tuesday, January 23, 2018
DR. SINA FAGBENRO-BYRON
DECLARATION OF INTENT TO VIE FOR
THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
2019 ELECTIONS
Context
By the year 2019, the most significant Job on Earth would be that of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As improbable as this may sound, deeper reflection will reveal that the reason is not very difficult to see. Nigeria has the capacity to feed Africa, to create , innovate, add-value and work effectively and efficiently and truly be great nation in fact and substance if it does not collapse and cave in to global and local pressures that are a clear and present danger. The world is facing another Era of Global Fragility the likes of which world wars are made of. To mention a few, the US-Korea face-off, Russian extreme oversight of Eastern European and the tensions in the middle-East, which is multifaceted, complex and fuelled by dichotomy amongst Islamic countries and even made more tense by practical expression to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital. Added to this is the uncertainties surrounding the European Union, issues in South-East Asia, the rising economic and geopolitical influence of China all of which speak to a world that is tottering on the brinks of fragility and global conflict.
Africa, with years of nursing an epidemic of grand corruption, where government institutions are consciously structured to meet the interests of elites. This history of Public Financial and Public Service failure has sufficiently weakened the continent now that it is facing major threats including those that have arisen as a fall-out of the Post- Arab spring, consequences of the US-led Libyan mis-intervention, the emergence of ISIS and their southward displacement into Africa, Boko Haram and the question of North African countries and they and their commitment to and preference for an Arabic agenda as against an Afro-centric Agenda and a much less effective African Union, portending grave implications for West Africa and particularly Nigeria. Particularly and most urgently in need of attention is Climate change and the gradual but very dangerous desertification of Sub - Sahara Africa.
Unfortunately, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, geographically located at the centre of Africa and natural Eldorado of the so called ‘’Black-man’’ is tending towards becoming a basket case in State Fragility, with socio-economic and political challenges that its governments since the birth of its fourth Republic have lacked the political will to confront for the promotion of national development. I, Citizen Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron, will be seeking my political party’s ticket for the Presidential Elections of 2019, and if successful your individual and collective support in order to win what will be a momentous election of our time and significant in our history.
Why KOWA?
KOWA Party believes that a moral obligation is placed on all public officers to commit to a personal lifestyle marked by simplicity, modesty, integrity and humility in the service of the Great Peoples of Nigeria. I am happy to acknowledge my fellow compatriots in KOWA party across this vast and highly blessed nation, as we severally offer ourselves for public service and offer KOWA as an ideology and a political option for democratic revolution and national salvation, revival and collective success of our country’s future. Common to all KOWA party political aspirants are aspirations broadly shared and which can be described as KOWA PARTY VISION FOR NIGERIA, including but is not limited to Securing safety of life and property, Education for life and development, and Building a robust economy, a resilient and a harmonious society
Beyond this, each aspirant must have a unique offer that is tailored to meet the immediate and long term challenges and peculiarities of his or her constituency based on a balance of need and popular demand. As I seek to run for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria may I humbly tender my UNIQUE OFFER? Nigeria needs a President who understands her challenges, has plans and the capacity to garner Nigeria’s people and resources to promote national development, and possess the political will to champion the restructuring of her defective socio-economic and political structures to build a resilient nation that can withstand the coming challenges of the next two decades. I believe I have the competence and capacity to be the President Nigeria needs post 2019 elections, and my unique offer is to champion the restructuring of the socio-economic and political structures, stabilise and growing our economy, building human capacity and reinforcing our security and justice institutions.
Our Challenges
Nigeria is a country endowed with resources and potential, but its chequered history and present contradictions has caused us to fail to reach potential while complicating the attainment of a much needed and sustainable political settlement. In 1960 October 1stat the turn of independence the poverty level was 15%. 55 years after, it will be difficult to contest a claim that the poverty levels in Nigeria are in excess of 71% at a benchmark of $1.95 per day, Life expectancy is under 50 yrs, predicted will have the most poor people on earth by 2030 ; In 11 northern states(NE&NW) poverty rate is above 70%; up to 88% in Jigawa. High Gender exclusion with at least 70% female illiteracy rate and we account for 10% of global maternal mortality burden. Nigeria is leading in Out-of-School children population and contributing 47% to global out-of-school kids.
Nigeria is now known for internal militant extremism, communal conflicts over resources, ethno-religious polarization and organized crime not unconnected to Youth unemployment and neglect. Our external- Nigerian borders are extremely porous and there is no sense of national security beyond the security of the political elite, whoever is current. Nigeria is 14th of 177 countries and “in danger” category on the Failed State Index. This downward sliding trajectory suggests Nigerians are being excluded from state services and our aspirations suppressed by a presumptuous political elite. Apart from the obligation to build inclusive societies, I wish to help Nigerians attain both a fair political settlement without compromising on development outcomes.
In 5 years from now the Sahara desert encroachment into sub-Saharan Africa would increase at least 10 km southwards. The effect of this on Nigeria and Nigerians will be catastrophic if we do not do right things NOW. The crimes and criminality, insecurity poverty and internal displacement that Nigeria faces today is not unconnected with this gradual desertification. Any additional increase in desertification will have an exponential effect on violence, land disputation, conflicts between pastoralists and farmers, invasion from north Africa, and serve as a cloak or cover for a decisive incursion, penetration and seizure of Nigeria of groups like ISIS displaced from Europe and North Africa into Nigeria. In short we are under a monumental threat capable of wiping out 30% of our population, the balkanisation of our lands, displacement of our people and eventual conflagration and the loss of nationhood.
While this scenario is playing out, our governments, especially the current government of President Mohammed Buhari, under the erroneous belief that they have strengthening institutions of security and enforcement agencies, instead they have only succeeded in creating competing armed agencies that have every potential to morph into mini-armies headed by ethnic and institutional war lords holding control of pockets of Nigeria. Nigerians are all witness to the controversies between EFCC and DSS, between disparate arms of government within the same sector. We are all aware of one section of the armed forces attacking another, such as Nigerian Naval operatives mounting an assault on a Nigerian Police Station. Etc. It reached a ridiculous dimension when security details of a minister and security details of a governor clashed in day light on the streets of Port Harcourt all in the name of belonging to differing political parties.
This nation cannot survive along this trajectory and a decisive intervention is inevitable if we are to deploy pre-emptive solutions starting from the election into office of a candidate that is capable, visionary enough to be the next President of this country with the capacity to unify Nigerians and depart from the ‘divide and rule’ strategy of past leaders inherited from our colonial occupiers of power. The solution is self-evident in not only what to do, but in how to do it.
My Promise
Despite our enthusiasm and optimism as to the desire of Nigerians for emancipation, I am constrained to admit that there are some of us, citizen like you and I, who unfortunately may not care that Nigeria survives nor perishes, we must admit that there are some who will continue to promote impunity at any available public Level, some who create bottlenecks to development where none is necessary or exists. It will be naïve to assume that there is a resistance by persons who will continue to promote exclusionary and expropriator decision making, consigning other people’s children the suffering and hardship that they will invest, borrow or steal to protect their own children from suffering from. I urge such as these to consider a change of heart be prepared to face a vigorous challenge from a KOWA Presidency.
The promise I make through this declaration is to restructure the socio-economic and political structures and create an equal access and equal opportunity society for all Nigerian and all citizens of Nigerians many of whom are born with so much talent and potential, as the much taunted potential of Nigeria is actually the potential of its ordinary citizens. We shall make Nigerians proud of our citizenship and resist every attempt by anyone domestic or foreign to diminish the value of Nigerian life.
The quest for the Presidency as far as I am concerned is heeding to a call to sacrifice and duty, to demonstrate that Nigerians are a special people and that Nigeria is blessed. For those of us offering ourselves for services there will be loss of privacy, uncertainty, enmity and possibly, and possibly, though one does not pray for it, loss of life. There is also a great responsibility attached to the office, so great that it is burdensome to anyone who has ever held the office with a sincere desire to positively impact the lives of our fellow citizens especially the poor and the socially excluded.
Given the chance, I promise you that no Nigerian will be left behind and premium will be placed on the value of Nigerian life. There is enough space for a million birds in the skies, and I firmly believe that this country is big enough and endowed enough to more than adequately take care of our needs and establish for posterity a free, just and prosperous society. I am an investor in People, and believe with inspiring leadership our nation can be truly great. My personal leadership style is of DIGNIFIED INCLUSION
As you reflect on these, let me restate that I offer Nigerians, my passion, my love, a Vision of incredible greatness, the capacity to deliver, accountable, and responsive governance. My promise to you is to serve you as a brother, a friend and a Citizen’s President, so help me God
Thanks for your attention, may God bless you and God bless Nigeria
I remain yours sincerely,
Dr. Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron
BSc (Econs), LL.B, BL, M.Inf.Sc, D.Hum, FIIM,
Chief Responsibility Officer at Mothergold Consulting
DECLARATION OF INTENT TO VIE FOR
THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
2019 ELECTIONS
Context
By the year 2019, the most significant Job on Earth would be that of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As improbable as this may sound, deeper reflection will reveal that the reason is not very difficult to see. Nigeria has the capacity to feed Africa, to create , innovate, add-value and work effectively and efficiently and truly be great nation in fact and substance if it does not collapse and cave in to global and local pressures that are a clear and present danger. The world is facing another Era of Global Fragility the likes of which world wars are made of. To mention a few, the US-Korea face-off, Russian extreme oversight of Eastern European and the tensions in the middle-East, which is multifaceted, complex and fuelled by dichotomy amongst Islamic countries and even made more tense by practical expression to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital. Added to this is the uncertainties surrounding the European Union, issues in South-East Asia, the rising economic and geopolitical influence of China all of which speak to a world that is tottering on the brinks of fragility and global conflict.
Africa, with years of nursing an epidemic of grand corruption, where government institutions are consciously structured to meet the interests of elites. This history of Public Financial and Public Service failure has sufficiently weakened the continent now that it is facing major threats including those that have arisen as a fall-out of the Post- Arab spring, consequences of the US-led Libyan mis-intervention, the emergence of ISIS and their southward displacement into Africa, Boko Haram and the question of North African countries and they and their commitment to and preference for an Arabic agenda as against an Afro-centric Agenda and a much less effective African Union, portending grave implications for West Africa and particularly Nigeria. Particularly and most urgently in need of attention is Climate change and the gradual but very dangerous desertification of Sub - Sahara Africa.
Unfortunately, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, geographically located at the centre of Africa and natural Eldorado of the so called ‘’Black-man’’ is tending towards becoming a basket case in State Fragility, with socio-economic and political challenges that its governments since the birth of its fourth Republic have lacked the political will to confront for the promotion of national development. I, Citizen Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron, will be seeking my political party’s ticket for the Presidential Elections of 2019, and if successful your individual and collective support in order to win what will be a momentous election of our time and significant in our history.
Why KOWA?
KOWA Party believes that a moral obligation is placed on all public officers to commit to a personal lifestyle marked by simplicity, modesty, integrity and humility in the service of the Great Peoples of Nigeria. I am happy to acknowledge my fellow compatriots in KOWA party across this vast and highly blessed nation, as we severally offer ourselves for public service and offer KOWA as an ideology and a political option for democratic revolution and national salvation, revival and collective success of our country’s future. Common to all KOWA party political aspirants are aspirations broadly shared and which can be described as KOWA PARTY VISION FOR NIGERIA, including but is not limited to Securing safety of life and property, Education for life and development, and Building a robust economy, a resilient and a harmonious society
Beyond this, each aspirant must have a unique offer that is tailored to meet the immediate and long term challenges and peculiarities of his or her constituency based on a balance of need and popular demand. As I seek to run for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria may I humbly tender my UNIQUE OFFER? Nigeria needs a President who understands her challenges, has plans and the capacity to garner Nigeria’s people and resources to promote national development, and possess the political will to champion the restructuring of her defective socio-economic and political structures to build a resilient nation that can withstand the coming challenges of the next two decades. I believe I have the competence and capacity to be the President Nigeria needs post 2019 elections, and my unique offer is to champion the restructuring of the socio-economic and political structures, stabilise and growing our economy, building human capacity and reinforcing our security and justice institutions.
Our Challenges
Nigeria is a country endowed with resources and potential, but its chequered history and present contradictions has caused us to fail to reach potential while complicating the attainment of a much needed and sustainable political settlement. In 1960 October 1stat the turn of independence the poverty level was 15%. 55 years after, it will be difficult to contest a claim that the poverty levels in Nigeria are in excess of 71% at a benchmark of $1.95 per day, Life expectancy is under 50 yrs, predicted will have the most poor people on earth by 2030 ; In 11 northern states(NE&NW) poverty rate is above 70%; up to 88% in Jigawa. High Gender exclusion with at least 70% female illiteracy rate and we account for 10% of global maternal mortality burden. Nigeria is leading in Out-of-School children population and contributing 47% to global out-of-school kids.
Nigeria is now known for internal militant extremism, communal conflicts over resources, ethno-religious polarization and organized crime not unconnected to Youth unemployment and neglect. Our external- Nigerian borders are extremely porous and there is no sense of national security beyond the security of the political elite, whoever is current. Nigeria is 14th of 177 countries and “in danger” category on the Failed State Index. This downward sliding trajectory suggests Nigerians are being excluded from state services and our aspirations suppressed by a presumptuous political elite. Apart from the obligation to build inclusive societies, I wish to help Nigerians attain both a fair political settlement without compromising on development outcomes.
In 5 years from now the Sahara desert encroachment into sub-Saharan Africa would increase at least 10 km southwards. The effect of this on Nigeria and Nigerians will be catastrophic if we do not do right things NOW. The crimes and criminality, insecurity poverty and internal displacement that Nigeria faces today is not unconnected with this gradual desertification. Any additional increase in desertification will have an exponential effect on violence, land disputation, conflicts between pastoralists and farmers, invasion from north Africa, and serve as a cloak or cover for a decisive incursion, penetration and seizure of Nigeria of groups like ISIS displaced from Europe and North Africa into Nigeria. In short we are under a monumental threat capable of wiping out 30% of our population, the balkanisation of our lands, displacement of our people and eventual conflagration and the loss of nationhood.
While this scenario is playing out, our governments, especially the current government of President Mohammed Buhari, under the erroneous belief that they have strengthening institutions of security and enforcement agencies, instead they have only succeeded in creating competing armed agencies that have every potential to morph into mini-armies headed by ethnic and institutional war lords holding control of pockets of Nigeria. Nigerians are all witness to the controversies between EFCC and DSS, between disparate arms of government within the same sector. We are all aware of one section of the armed forces attacking another, such as Nigerian Naval operatives mounting an assault on a Nigerian Police Station. Etc. It reached a ridiculous dimension when security details of a minister and security details of a governor clashed in day light on the streets of Port Harcourt all in the name of belonging to differing political parties.
This nation cannot survive along this trajectory and a decisive intervention is inevitable if we are to deploy pre-emptive solutions starting from the election into office of a candidate that is capable, visionary enough to be the next President of this country with the capacity to unify Nigerians and depart from the ‘divide and rule’ strategy of past leaders inherited from our colonial occupiers of power. The solution is self-evident in not only what to do, but in how to do it.
My Promise
Despite our enthusiasm and optimism as to the desire of Nigerians for emancipation, I am constrained to admit that there are some of us, citizen like you and I, who unfortunately may not care that Nigeria survives nor perishes, we must admit that there are some who will continue to promote impunity at any available public Level, some who create bottlenecks to development where none is necessary or exists. It will be naïve to assume that there is a resistance by persons who will continue to promote exclusionary and expropriator decision making, consigning other people’s children the suffering and hardship that they will invest, borrow or steal to protect their own children from suffering from. I urge such as these to consider a change of heart be prepared to face a vigorous challenge from a KOWA Presidency.
The promise I make through this declaration is to restructure the socio-economic and political structures and create an equal access and equal opportunity society for all Nigerian and all citizens of Nigerians many of whom are born with so much talent and potential, as the much taunted potential of Nigeria is actually the potential of its ordinary citizens. We shall make Nigerians proud of our citizenship and resist every attempt by anyone domestic or foreign to diminish the value of Nigerian life.
The quest for the Presidency as far as I am concerned is heeding to a call to sacrifice and duty, to demonstrate that Nigerians are a special people and that Nigeria is blessed. For those of us offering ourselves for services there will be loss of privacy, uncertainty, enmity and possibly, and possibly, though one does not pray for it, loss of life. There is also a great responsibility attached to the office, so great that it is burdensome to anyone who has ever held the office with a sincere desire to positively impact the lives of our fellow citizens especially the poor and the socially excluded.
Given the chance, I promise you that no Nigerian will be left behind and premium will be placed on the value of Nigerian life. There is enough space for a million birds in the skies, and I firmly believe that this country is big enough and endowed enough to more than adequately take care of our needs and establish for posterity a free, just and prosperous society. I am an investor in People, and believe with inspiring leadership our nation can be truly great. My personal leadership style is of DIGNIFIED INCLUSION
As you reflect on these, let me restate that I offer Nigerians, my passion, my love, a Vision of incredible greatness, the capacity to deliver, accountable, and responsive governance. My promise to you is to serve you as a brother, a friend and a Citizen’s President, so help me God
Thanks for your attention, may God bless you and God bless Nigeria
I remain yours sincerely,
Dr. Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron
BSc (Econs), LL.B, BL, M.Inf.Sc, D.Hum, FIIM,
Chief Responsibility Officer at Mothergold Consulting
Go And Rest! Former President Obasanjo Issues A Statement Asking Buhari Not To Seek Second Term
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has issued a special press statement on the state of the Nigerian nation. While reiterating his desire not to return to partisan politics, the former military head of state who later became a civilian president in 1999 used his lengthy press release to ask President Muhammad Buhari not to seek a second term in 2019.
Since we are still in the month of January, it is appropriate to wish all Nigerians Happy 2018. I am constrained to issue this special statement at this time considering the situation of the country. Some of you may be asking, “What has brought about this special occasion of Obasanjo issuing a Special Statement?” You will be right to ask such a question. But there is a Yoruba saying that ‘when lice abound in your clothes, your fingernails will never be dried of blood’. When I was in the village, to make sure that lice die, you put them between two fingernails and press hard to ensure they die and they always leave blood stains on the fingernails. To ensure you do not have blood on your fingernails, you have to ensure that lice are not harboured anywhere within your vicinity.
The lice of poor performance in government - poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed - if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality - are very much with us today. With such lice of general and specific poor performance and crying poverty with us, our fingers will not be dry of ‘blood’.
Four years ago when my PDP card was torn, I made it abundantly clear that I quit partisan politics for aye but my concern and interest in Nigeria, Africa and indeed in humanity would not wane. Ever since, I have adhered strictly to that position. Since that time, I have devoted quality time to the issue of zero hunger as contained in Goal No. 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. We have set the target that Nigeria with the participating States in the Zero Hunger Forum should reach Zero Hunger goal by 2025 - five years earlier than the UN target date. I am involved in the issue of education in some States and generally in the issue of youth empowerment and employment. I am involved in all these domestically and altruistically to give hope and future to the seemingly hopeless and those in despair. I believe strongly that God has endowed Nigeria so adequately that no Nigerian should be either in want or in despair.
I believe in teamwork and collaborative efforts. At the international level, we have worked with other world leaders to domicile the apparatus for monitoring and encouraging socio-economic progress in Africa in our Presidential Library. The purpose of Africa Progress Group, which is the new name assumed by Africa Progress Panel (APP), is to point out where, when and what works need to be done for the progress of Africa separately and collectively by African leaders and their development partners. I have also gladly accepted the invitation of the UN Secretary-General to be a member of his eighteen-member High-Level Board of Advisers on Mediation. There are other assignments I take up in other fora for Africa and for the international community. For Africa to move forward, Nigeria must be one of the anchor countries, if not the leading anchor country. It means that Nigeria must be good at home to be good outside. No doubt, our situation in the last decade or so had shown that we are not good enough at home; hence we are invariably absent at the table that we should be abroad.
All these led me to take the unusual step of going against my own political Party, PDP, in the last general election to support the opposite side. I saw that action as the best option for Nigeria. As it has been revealed in the last three years or so, that decision and the subsequent collective decision of Nigerians to vote for a change was the right decision for the nation. For me, there was nothing personal, it was all in the best interest of Nigeria and, indeed, in the best interest of Africa and humanity at large. Even the horse rider then, with whom I maintain very cordial, happy and social relationship today has come to realise his mistakes and regretted it publicly and I admire his courage and forthrightness in this regard. He has a role to play on the side line for the good of Nigeria, Africa and humanity and I will see him as a partner in playing such a role nationally and internationally, but not as a horse rider in Nigeria again.
The situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get my brother Jonathan off the horse is playing itself out again. First, I thought I knew the point where President Buhari is weak and I spoke and wrote about it even before Nigerians voted for him and I also did vote for him because at that time it was a matter of “any option but Jonathan” (aobj). But my letter to President Jonathan titled: “Before It Is Too Late” was meant for him to act before it was too late. He ignored it and it was too late for him and those who goaded him into ignoring the voice of caution. I know that praise-singers and hired attackers may be raised up against me for verbal or even physical attack but if I can withstand undeserved imprisonment and was ready to shed my blood by standing for Nigeria, I will consider no sacrifice too great to make for the good of Nigeria at any time. No human leader is expected to be personally strong or self-sufficient in all aspects of governance.
I knew President Buhari before he became President and said that he is weak in the knowledge and understanding of the economy but I thought that he could make use of good Nigerians in that area that could help. Although, I know that you cannot give what you don’t have and that economy does not obey military order. You have to give it what it takes in the short-, medium- and long-term. Then, it would move. I know his weakness in understanding and playing in the foreign affairs sector and again, there are many Nigerians that could be used in that area as well. They have knowledge and experience that could be deployed for the good of Nigeria. There were serious allegations of round-tripping against some inner caucus of the Presidency which would seem to have been condoned. I wonder if such actions do not amount to corruption and financial crime, then what is it? Culture of condonation and turning blind eye will cover up rather than clean up. And going to justice must be with clean hands.
I thought President Buhari would fight corruption and insurgency and he must be given some credit for his achievement so far in these two areas although it is not yet uhuru!
The herdsmen/crop farmers issue is being wittingly or unwittingly allowed to turn sour and messy. It is no credit to the Federal Government that the herdsmen rampage continues with careless abandon and without finding an effective solution to it. And it is a sad symptom of insensitivity and callousness that some Governors, a day after 73 victims were being buried in a mass grave in Benue State without condolence, were jubilantly endorsing President Buhari for a second term! The timing was most unfortunate. The issue of herdsmen/crop farmers dichotomy should not be left on the political platform of blame game; the Federal Government must take the lead in bringing about solution that protects life and properties of herdsmen and crop farmers alike and for them to live amicably in the same community.
But there are three other areas where President Buhari has come out more glaringly than most of us thought we knew about him. One is nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court. This has grave consequences on performance of his government to the detriment of the nation. It would appear that national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest. What does one make of a case like that of Maina: collusion, condonation, ineptitude, incompetence, dereliction of responsibility or kinship and friendship on the part of those who should have taken visible and deterrent disciplinary action? How many similar cases are buried, ignored or covered up and not yet in the glare of the media and the public? The second is his poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics. This has led to wittingly or unwittingly making the nation more divided and inequality has widened and become more pronounced. It also has effect on general national security. The third is passing the buck. For instance, blaming the Governor of the Central Bank for devaluation of the naira by 70% or so and blaming past governments for it, is to say the least, not accepting one’s own responsibility. Let nobody deceive us, economy feeds on politics and because our politics is depressing, our economy is even more depressing today. If things were good, President Buhari would not need to come in. He was voted to fix things that were bad and not engage in the blame game. Our Constitution is very clear, one of the cardinal responsibilities of the President is the management of the economy of which the value of the naira forms an integral part. Kinship and friendship that place responsibility for governance in the hands of the unelected can only be deleterious to good government and to the nation.
President Buhari’s illness called for the sympathy, understanding, prayer and patience from every sane Nigerian. It is part of our culture. Most Nigerians prayed for him while he was away sick in London for over hundred days and he gave his Deputy sufficient leeway to carry on in his absence. We all thanked God for President Buhari for coming back reasonably hale and hearty and progressing well in his recovery. But whatever may be the state of President Buhari’s health today, he should neither over-push his luck nor over-tax the patience and tolerance of Nigerians for him, no matter what his self-serving, so-called advisers, who would claim that they love him more than God loves him and that without him, there would be no Nigeria say. President Buhari needs a dignified and honourable dismount from the horse. He needs to have time to reflect, refurbish physically and recoup and after appropriate rest, once again, join the stock of Nigerian leaders whose experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the sideline for the good of the country. His place in history is already assured. Without impaired health and strain of age, running the affairs of Nigeria is a 25/7 affair, not 24/7.
I only appeal to brother Buhari to consider a deserved rest at this point in time and at this age. I continue to wish him robust health to enjoy his retirement from active public service. President Buhari does not necessarily need to heed my advice. But whether or not he heeds it, Nigeria needs to move on and move forward.
I have had occasion in the past to say that the two main political parties – APC and PDP – were wobbling. I must reiterate that nothing has happened to convince me otherwise. If anything, I am reinforced in my conviction. The recent show of PDP must give grave and great concern to lovers of Nigeria. To claim, as has been credited to the chief kingmaker of PDP, that for procuring the Supreme Court judgement for his faction of the Party, he must dictate the tune all the way and this is indeed fraught with danger. If neither APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria at this crucial and critical time, what then do we do? Remember Farooq Kperogi, an Associate Professor at the Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States, calls it “a cruel Hobson’s choice; it’s like a choice between six and half a dozen, between evil and evil. Any selection or deflection would be a distinction without a difference.” We cannot just sit down lamenting and wringing our hands desperately and hopelessly.
I believe the situation we are in today is akin to what and where we were in at the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999. The nation was tottering. People became hopeless and saw no bright future in the horizon. It was all a dark cloud politically, economically and socially. The price of oil at that time was nine dollars per barrel and we had a debt overhang of about $35 billion. Most people were confused with lack of direction in the country. One of the factors that saved the situation was a near government of national unity that was put in place to navigate us through the dark cloud. We had almost all hands on deck. We used people at home and from the diaspora and we navigated through the dark cloud of those days. At that time, most people were hopelessly groping in the dark. They saw no choice, neither in the left nor in the right, and yet we were not bereft of people at home and from the diaspora that could come together to make Nigeria truly a land flowing with milk and honey. Where we are is a matter of choice but we can choose differently to make a necessary and desirable change, once again.
Wherever I go, I hear Nigerians complaining, murmuring in anguish and anger. But our anger should not be like the anger of the cripple. We can collectively save ourselves from the position we find ourselves. It will not come through self-pity, fruitless complaint or protest but through constructive and positive engagement and collective action for the good of our nation and ourselves and our children and their children. We need moral re-armament and engaging togetherness of people of like-mind and goodwill to come solidly together to lift Nigeria up. This is no time for trading blames or embarking on futile argument and neither should we accept untenable excuses for non-performance. Let us accept that the present administration has done what it can do to the limit of its ability, aptitude and understanding. Let the administration and its political party platform agree with the rest of us that what they have done and what they are capable of doing is not good enough for us. They have given as best as they have and as best as they can give. Nigeria deserves and urgently needs better than what they have given or what we know they are capable of giving. To ask them to give more will be unrealistic and will only sentence Nigeria to a prison term of four years if not destroy it beyond the possibility of an early recovery and substantial growth. Einstein made it clear to us that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the height of folly. Already, Nigerians are committing suicide for the unbearable socio-economic situation they find themselves in. And yet Nigerians love life. We must not continue to reinforce failure and hope that all will be well. It is self-deceit and self-defeat and another aspect of folly.
What has emerged from the opposition has shown no better promise from their antecedents. As the leader of that Party for eight years as President of Nigeria, I can categorically say there is nothing to write home about in their new team. We have only one choice left to take us out of Egypt to the promised land. And that is the coalition of the concerned and the willing - ready for positive and drastic change, progress and involvement. Change that will give hope and future to all our youth and dignity and full participation to all our women. Our youth should be empowered to deploy their ability to learn, innovate and work energetically at ideas and concepts in which they can make their own original inputs. Youth must be part of the action today and not relegated to leadership of tomorrow which may never come. Change that will mean enhancement of living standard and progress for all. A situation where the elected will accountably govern and every Nigerian will have equal opportunity not based on kinship and friendship but based on free citizenship.
Democracy is sustained and measured not by leaders doing extra-ordinary things, (invariably, leaders fail to do ordinary things very well), but by citizens rising up to do ordinary things extra-ordinarily well. Our democracy, development and progress at this juncture require ordinary citizens of Nigeria to do the extra-ordinary things of changing the course and direction of our lackluster performance and development. If leadership fails, citizens must not fail and there lies the beauty and importance of democracy. We are challenged by the current situation; we must neither adopt spirit of cowardice nor timidity let alone impotence but must be sustained by courage, determination and commitment to say and do and to persist until we achieve upliftment for Nigeria. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and we believe that our venturing will not be in vain. God of Nigeria has endowed this country adequately and our non-performance cannot be blamed on God but on leadership. God, who has given us what we need and which is potentially there, will give us leadership enablement to actualize our potentiality.
The development and modernization of our country and society must be anchored and sustained on dynamic Nigerian culture, enduring values and an enchanting Nigerian dream. We must have abiding faith in our country and its role and place within the comity of nations. Today, Nigeria needs all hands on deck. All hands of men and women of goodwill must be on deck. We need all hands to move our country forward.
We need a Coalition for Nigeria, CN. Such a Movement at this juncture needs not be a political party but one to which all well-meaning Nigerians can belong. That Movement must be a coalition for democracy, good governance, social and economic well-being and progress. Coalition to salvage and redeem our country. You can count me with such a Movement. Last time, we asked, prayed and worked for change and God granted our request. This time, we must ask, pray and work for change with unity, security and progress. And God will again grant us. Of course, nothing should stop such a Movement from satisfying conditions for fielding candidates for elections. But if at any stage the Movement wishes to metamorphose into candidate-sponsoring Movement for elections, I will bow out of the Movement because I will continue to maintain my non-partisan position. Coalition for Nigeria must have its headquarters in Abuja.
This Coalition for Nigeria will be a Movement that will drive Nigeria up and forward. It must have a pride of place for all Nigerians, particularly for our youth and our women. It is a coalition of hope for all Nigerians for speedy, quality and equal development, security, unity, prosperity and progress. It is a coalition to banish poverty, insecurity and despair. Our country must not be oblivious to concomitant danger around, outside and ahead. Coalition for Nigeria must be a Movement to break new ground in building a united country, a socially-cohesive and moderately prosperous society with equity, equality of opportunity, justice and a dynamic and progressive economy that is self-reliant and takes active part in global division of labour and international decision-making.
The Movement must work out the path of development and the trajectory of development in speed, quality and equality in the short- medium- and long-term for Nigeria on the basis of sustainability, stability, predictability, credibility, security, cooperation and prosperity with diminishing inequality. What is called for is love, commitment and interest in our country, not in self, friends and kinship alone but particularly love, compassion and interest in the poor, underprivileged and downtrodden. It is our human duty and responsibility so to do. Failure to do this will amount to a sin against God and a crime against humanity.
Some may ask, what does Obasanjo want again? Obasanjo has wanted nothing other than the best for Nigeria and Nigerians and he will continue to want nothing less. And if we have the best, we will be contented whether where we live is described as palaces or huts by others and we will always give thanks to God.
I, therefore, will gladly join such a Movement when one is established as Coalition for Nigeria, CN, taking Nigeria to the height God has created it to be. From now on, the Nigeria eagle must continue to soar and fly high. CN, as a Movement, will be new, green, transparent and must remain clean and always active, selflessly so. Members must be ready to make sacrifice for the nation and pay the price of being pioneers and good Nigerians for our country to play the God-assigned role for itself, for its neighbours, for its sub-region of West Africa, for its continent and for humanity in general. For me, the strength and sustainable success of CN will derive largely from the strong commitment of a population that is constantly mobilized to the rallying platform of the fact that going forward together is our best option for building a nation that will occupy its deserved place in the global community. May God continue to lead, guide and protect us. Amen.
Since we are still in the month of January, it is appropriate to wish all Nigerians Happy 2018. I am constrained to issue this special statement at this time considering the situation of the country. Some of you may be asking, “What has brought about this special occasion of Obasanjo issuing a Special Statement?” You will be right to ask such a question. But there is a Yoruba saying that ‘when lice abound in your clothes, your fingernails will never be dried of blood’. When I was in the village, to make sure that lice die, you put them between two fingernails and press hard to ensure they die and they always leave blood stains on the fingernails. To ensure you do not have blood on your fingernails, you have to ensure that lice are not harboured anywhere within your vicinity.
The lice of poor performance in government - poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed - if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality - are very much with us today. With such lice of general and specific poor performance and crying poverty with us, our fingers will not be dry of ‘blood’.
Four years ago when my PDP card was torn, I made it abundantly clear that I quit partisan politics for aye but my concern and interest in Nigeria, Africa and indeed in humanity would not wane. Ever since, I have adhered strictly to that position. Since that time, I have devoted quality time to the issue of zero hunger as contained in Goal No. 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. We have set the target that Nigeria with the participating States in the Zero Hunger Forum should reach Zero Hunger goal by 2025 - five years earlier than the UN target date. I am involved in the issue of education in some States and generally in the issue of youth empowerment and employment. I am involved in all these domestically and altruistically to give hope and future to the seemingly hopeless and those in despair. I believe strongly that God has endowed Nigeria so adequately that no Nigerian should be either in want or in despair.
I believe in teamwork and collaborative efforts. At the international level, we have worked with other world leaders to domicile the apparatus for monitoring and encouraging socio-economic progress in Africa in our Presidential Library. The purpose of Africa Progress Group, which is the new name assumed by Africa Progress Panel (APP), is to point out where, when and what works need to be done for the progress of Africa separately and collectively by African leaders and their development partners. I have also gladly accepted the invitation of the UN Secretary-General to be a member of his eighteen-member High-Level Board of Advisers on Mediation. There are other assignments I take up in other fora for Africa and for the international community. For Africa to move forward, Nigeria must be one of the anchor countries, if not the leading anchor country. It means that Nigeria must be good at home to be good outside. No doubt, our situation in the last decade or so had shown that we are not good enough at home; hence we are invariably absent at the table that we should be abroad.
All these led me to take the unusual step of going against my own political Party, PDP, in the last general election to support the opposite side. I saw that action as the best option for Nigeria. As it has been revealed in the last three years or so, that decision and the subsequent collective decision of Nigerians to vote for a change was the right decision for the nation. For me, there was nothing personal, it was all in the best interest of Nigeria and, indeed, in the best interest of Africa and humanity at large. Even the horse rider then, with whom I maintain very cordial, happy and social relationship today has come to realise his mistakes and regretted it publicly and I admire his courage and forthrightness in this regard. He has a role to play on the side line for the good of Nigeria, Africa and humanity and I will see him as a partner in playing such a role nationally and internationally, but not as a horse rider in Nigeria again.
The situation that made Nigerians to vote massively to get my brother Jonathan off the horse is playing itself out again. First, I thought I knew the point where President Buhari is weak and I spoke and wrote about it even before Nigerians voted for him and I also did vote for him because at that time it was a matter of “any option but Jonathan” (aobj). But my letter to President Jonathan titled: “Before It Is Too Late” was meant for him to act before it was too late. He ignored it and it was too late for him and those who goaded him into ignoring the voice of caution. I know that praise-singers and hired attackers may be raised up against me for verbal or even physical attack but if I can withstand undeserved imprisonment and was ready to shed my blood by standing for Nigeria, I will consider no sacrifice too great to make for the good of Nigeria at any time. No human leader is expected to be personally strong or self-sufficient in all aspects of governance.
I knew President Buhari before he became President and said that he is weak in the knowledge and understanding of the economy but I thought that he could make use of good Nigerians in that area that could help. Although, I know that you cannot give what you don’t have and that economy does not obey military order. You have to give it what it takes in the short-, medium- and long-term. Then, it would move. I know his weakness in understanding and playing in the foreign affairs sector and again, there are many Nigerians that could be used in that area as well. They have knowledge and experience that could be deployed for the good of Nigeria. There were serious allegations of round-tripping against some inner caucus of the Presidency which would seem to have been condoned. I wonder if such actions do not amount to corruption and financial crime, then what is it? Culture of condonation and turning blind eye will cover up rather than clean up. And going to justice must be with clean hands.
I thought President Buhari would fight corruption and insurgency and he must be given some credit for his achievement so far in these two areas although it is not yet uhuru!
The herdsmen/crop farmers issue is being wittingly or unwittingly allowed to turn sour and messy. It is no credit to the Federal Government that the herdsmen rampage continues with careless abandon and without finding an effective solution to it. And it is a sad symptom of insensitivity and callousness that some Governors, a day after 73 victims were being buried in a mass grave in Benue State without condolence, were jubilantly endorsing President Buhari for a second term! The timing was most unfortunate. The issue of herdsmen/crop farmers dichotomy should not be left on the political platform of blame game; the Federal Government must take the lead in bringing about solution that protects life and properties of herdsmen and crop farmers alike and for them to live amicably in the same community.
But there are three other areas where President Buhari has come out more glaringly than most of us thought we knew about him. One is nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant members of his nepotic court. This has grave consequences on performance of his government to the detriment of the nation. It would appear that national interest was being sacrificed on the altar of nepotic interest. What does one make of a case like that of Maina: collusion, condonation, ineptitude, incompetence, dereliction of responsibility or kinship and friendship on the part of those who should have taken visible and deterrent disciplinary action? How many similar cases are buried, ignored or covered up and not yet in the glare of the media and the public? The second is his poor understanding of the dynamics of internal politics. This has led to wittingly or unwittingly making the nation more divided and inequality has widened and become more pronounced. It also has effect on general national security. The third is passing the buck. For instance, blaming the Governor of the Central Bank for devaluation of the naira by 70% or so and blaming past governments for it, is to say the least, not accepting one’s own responsibility. Let nobody deceive us, economy feeds on politics and because our politics is depressing, our economy is even more depressing today. If things were good, President Buhari would not need to come in. He was voted to fix things that were bad and not engage in the blame game. Our Constitution is very clear, one of the cardinal responsibilities of the President is the management of the economy of which the value of the naira forms an integral part. Kinship and friendship that place responsibility for governance in the hands of the unelected can only be deleterious to good government and to the nation.
President Buhari’s illness called for the sympathy, understanding, prayer and patience from every sane Nigerian. It is part of our culture. Most Nigerians prayed for him while he was away sick in London for over hundred days and he gave his Deputy sufficient leeway to carry on in his absence. We all thanked God for President Buhari for coming back reasonably hale and hearty and progressing well in his recovery. But whatever may be the state of President Buhari’s health today, he should neither over-push his luck nor over-tax the patience and tolerance of Nigerians for him, no matter what his self-serving, so-called advisers, who would claim that they love him more than God loves him and that without him, there would be no Nigeria say. President Buhari needs a dignified and honourable dismount from the horse. He needs to have time to reflect, refurbish physically and recoup and after appropriate rest, once again, join the stock of Nigerian leaders whose experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the sideline for the good of the country. His place in history is already assured. Without impaired health and strain of age, running the affairs of Nigeria is a 25/7 affair, not 24/7.
I only appeal to brother Buhari to consider a deserved rest at this point in time and at this age. I continue to wish him robust health to enjoy his retirement from active public service. President Buhari does not necessarily need to heed my advice. But whether or not he heeds it, Nigeria needs to move on and move forward.
I have had occasion in the past to say that the two main political parties – APC and PDP – were wobbling. I must reiterate that nothing has happened to convince me otherwise. If anything, I am reinforced in my conviction. The recent show of PDP must give grave and great concern to lovers of Nigeria. To claim, as has been credited to the chief kingmaker of PDP, that for procuring the Supreme Court judgement for his faction of the Party, he must dictate the tune all the way and this is indeed fraught with danger. If neither APC nor PDP is a worthy horse to ride to lead Nigeria at this crucial and critical time, what then do we do? Remember Farooq Kperogi, an Associate Professor at the Kennesaw State University, Georgia, United States, calls it “a cruel Hobson’s choice; it’s like a choice between six and half a dozen, between evil and evil. Any selection or deflection would be a distinction without a difference.” We cannot just sit down lamenting and wringing our hands desperately and hopelessly.
I believe the situation we are in today is akin to what and where we were in at the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999. The nation was tottering. People became hopeless and saw no bright future in the horizon. It was all a dark cloud politically, economically and socially. The price of oil at that time was nine dollars per barrel and we had a debt overhang of about $35 billion. Most people were confused with lack of direction in the country. One of the factors that saved the situation was a near government of national unity that was put in place to navigate us through the dark cloud. We had almost all hands on deck. We used people at home and from the diaspora and we navigated through the dark cloud of those days. At that time, most people were hopelessly groping in the dark. They saw no choice, neither in the left nor in the right, and yet we were not bereft of people at home and from the diaspora that could come together to make Nigeria truly a land flowing with milk and honey. Where we are is a matter of choice but we can choose differently to make a necessary and desirable change, once again.
Wherever I go, I hear Nigerians complaining, murmuring in anguish and anger. But our anger should not be like the anger of the cripple. We can collectively save ourselves from the position we find ourselves. It will not come through self-pity, fruitless complaint or protest but through constructive and positive engagement and collective action for the good of our nation and ourselves and our children and their children. We need moral re-armament and engaging togetherness of people of like-mind and goodwill to come solidly together to lift Nigeria up. This is no time for trading blames or embarking on futile argument and neither should we accept untenable excuses for non-performance. Let us accept that the present administration has done what it can do to the limit of its ability, aptitude and understanding. Let the administration and its political party platform agree with the rest of us that what they have done and what they are capable of doing is not good enough for us. They have given as best as they have and as best as they can give. Nigeria deserves and urgently needs better than what they have given or what we know they are capable of giving. To ask them to give more will be unrealistic and will only sentence Nigeria to a prison term of four years if not destroy it beyond the possibility of an early recovery and substantial growth. Einstein made it clear to us that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the height of folly. Already, Nigerians are committing suicide for the unbearable socio-economic situation they find themselves in. And yet Nigerians love life. We must not continue to reinforce failure and hope that all will be well. It is self-deceit and self-defeat and another aspect of folly.
What has emerged from the opposition has shown no better promise from their antecedents. As the leader of that Party for eight years as President of Nigeria, I can categorically say there is nothing to write home about in their new team. We have only one choice left to take us out of Egypt to the promised land. And that is the coalition of the concerned and the willing - ready for positive and drastic change, progress and involvement. Change that will give hope and future to all our youth and dignity and full participation to all our women. Our youth should be empowered to deploy their ability to learn, innovate and work energetically at ideas and concepts in which they can make their own original inputs. Youth must be part of the action today and not relegated to leadership of tomorrow which may never come. Change that will mean enhancement of living standard and progress for all. A situation where the elected will accountably govern and every Nigerian will have equal opportunity not based on kinship and friendship but based on free citizenship.
Democracy is sustained and measured not by leaders doing extra-ordinary things, (invariably, leaders fail to do ordinary things very well), but by citizens rising up to do ordinary things extra-ordinarily well. Our democracy, development and progress at this juncture require ordinary citizens of Nigeria to do the extra-ordinary things of changing the course and direction of our lackluster performance and development. If leadership fails, citizens must not fail and there lies the beauty and importance of democracy. We are challenged by the current situation; we must neither adopt spirit of cowardice nor timidity let alone impotence but must be sustained by courage, determination and commitment to say and do and to persist until we achieve upliftment for Nigeria. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and we believe that our venturing will not be in vain. God of Nigeria has endowed this country adequately and our non-performance cannot be blamed on God but on leadership. God, who has given us what we need and which is potentially there, will give us leadership enablement to actualize our potentiality.
The development and modernization of our country and society must be anchored and sustained on dynamic Nigerian culture, enduring values and an enchanting Nigerian dream. We must have abiding faith in our country and its role and place within the comity of nations. Today, Nigeria needs all hands on deck. All hands of men and women of goodwill must be on deck. We need all hands to move our country forward.
We need a Coalition for Nigeria, CN. Such a Movement at this juncture needs not be a political party but one to which all well-meaning Nigerians can belong. That Movement must be a coalition for democracy, good governance, social and economic well-being and progress. Coalition to salvage and redeem our country. You can count me with such a Movement. Last time, we asked, prayed and worked for change and God granted our request. This time, we must ask, pray and work for change with unity, security and progress. And God will again grant us. Of course, nothing should stop such a Movement from satisfying conditions for fielding candidates for elections. But if at any stage the Movement wishes to metamorphose into candidate-sponsoring Movement for elections, I will bow out of the Movement because I will continue to maintain my non-partisan position. Coalition for Nigeria must have its headquarters in Abuja.
This Coalition for Nigeria will be a Movement that will drive Nigeria up and forward. It must have a pride of place for all Nigerians, particularly for our youth and our women. It is a coalition of hope for all Nigerians for speedy, quality and equal development, security, unity, prosperity and progress. It is a coalition to banish poverty, insecurity and despair. Our country must not be oblivious to concomitant danger around, outside and ahead. Coalition for Nigeria must be a Movement to break new ground in building a united country, a socially-cohesive and moderately prosperous society with equity, equality of opportunity, justice and a dynamic and progressive economy that is self-reliant and takes active part in global division of labour and international decision-making.
The Movement must work out the path of development and the trajectory of development in speed, quality and equality in the short- medium- and long-term for Nigeria on the basis of sustainability, stability, predictability, credibility, security, cooperation and prosperity with diminishing inequality. What is called for is love, commitment and interest in our country, not in self, friends and kinship alone but particularly love, compassion and interest in the poor, underprivileged and downtrodden. It is our human duty and responsibility so to do. Failure to do this will amount to a sin against God and a crime against humanity.
Some may ask, what does Obasanjo want again? Obasanjo has wanted nothing other than the best for Nigeria and Nigerians and he will continue to want nothing less. And if we have the best, we will be contented whether where we live is described as palaces or huts by others and we will always give thanks to God.
I, therefore, will gladly join such a Movement when one is established as Coalition for Nigeria, CN, taking Nigeria to the height God has created it to be. From now on, the Nigeria eagle must continue to soar and fly high. CN, as a Movement, will be new, green, transparent and must remain clean and always active, selflessly so. Members must be ready to make sacrifice for the nation and pay the price of being pioneers and good Nigerians for our country to play the God-assigned role for itself, for its neighbours, for its sub-region of West Africa, for its continent and for humanity in general. For me, the strength and sustainable success of CN will derive largely from the strong commitment of a population that is constantly mobilized to the rallying platform of the fact that going forward together is our best option for building a nation that will occupy its deserved place in the global community. May God continue to lead, guide and protect us. Amen.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
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Monday, January 15, 2018
DECLARATION OF INTENT TO VIE FOR THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 2019 ELECTIONS By DR. SINA FAGBENRO-BYRON
DR. SINA FAGBENRO-BYRON
DECLARATION OF INTENT TO VIE FOR
THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
2019 ELECTIONS
Context
By the year 2019, the most significant Job on Earth would be that of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As improbable as this may sound, deeper reflection will reveal that the reason is not very difficult to see. Nigeria has the capacity to feed Africa, to create , innovate, add-value and work effectively and efficiently and truly be great nation in fact and substance if it does not collapse and cave in to global and local pressures that are a clear and present danger. The world is facing another Era of Global Fragility the likes of which world wars are made of. To mention a few, the US-Korea face-off, Russian extreme oversight of Eastern European and the tensions in the middle-East, which is multifaceted, complex and fuelled by dichotomy amongst Islamic countries and even made more tense by practical expression to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital. Added to this is the uncertainties surrounding the European Union, issues in South-East Asia, the rising economic and geopolitical influence of China all of which speak to a world that is tottering on the brinks of fragility and global conflict.
Africa, with years of nursing an epidemic of grand corruption, where government institutions are consciously structured to meet the interests of elites. This history of Public Financial and Public Service failure has sufficiently weakened the continent now that it is facing major threats including those that have arisen as a fall-out of the Post- Arab spring, consequences of the US-led Libyan mis-intervention, the emergence of ISIS and their southward displacement into Africa, Boko Haram and the question of North African countries and they and their commitment to and preference for an Arabic agenda as against an Afro-centric Agenda and a much less effective African Union, portending grave implications for West Africa and particularly Nigeria. Particularly and most urgently in need of attention is Climate change and the gradual but very dangerous desertification of Sub - Sahara Africa.
Unfortunately, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, geographically located at the centre of Africa and natural Eldorado of the so called ‘’Black-man’’ is tending towards becoming a basket case in State Fragility, with socio-economic and political challenges that its governments since the birth of its fourth Republic have lacked the political will to confront for the promotion of national development. I, Citizen Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron, will be seeking my political party’s ticket for the Presidential Elections of 2019, and if successful your individual and collective support in order to win what will be a momentous election of our time and significant in our history.
Why KOWA?
KOWA Party believes that a moral obligation is placed on all public officers to commit to a personal lifestyle marked by simplicity, modesty, integrity and humility in the service of the Great Peoples of Nigeria. I am happy to acknowledge my fellow compatriots in KOWA party across this vast and highly blessed nation, as we severally offer ourselves for public service and offer KOWA as an ideology and a political option for democratic revolution and national salvation, revival and collective success of our country’s future. Common to all KOWA party political aspirants are aspirations broadly shared and which can be described as KOWA PARTY VISION FOR NIGERIA, including but is not limited to Securing safety of life and property, Education for life and development, and Building a robust economy, a resilient and a harmonious society
Beyond this, each aspirant must have a unique offer that is tailored to meet the immediate and long term challenges and peculiarities of his or her constituency based on a balance of need and popular demand. As I seek to run for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria may I humbly tender my UNIQUE OFFER? Nigeria needs a President who understands her challenges, has plans and the capacity to garner Nigeria’s people and resources to promote national development, and possess the political will to champion the restructuring of her defective socio-economic and political structures to build a resilient nation that can withstand the coming challenges of the next two decades. I believe I have the competence and capacity to be the President Nigeria needs post 2019 elections, and my unique offer is to champion the restructuring of the socio-economic and political structures, stabilise and growing our economy, building human capacity and reinforcing our security and justice institutions.
Our Challenges
Nigeria is a country endowed with resources and potential, but its chequered history and present contradictions has caused us to fail to reach potential while complicating the attainment of a much needed and sustainable political settlement. In 1960 October 1stat the turn of independence the poverty level was 15%. 55 years after, it will be difficult to contest a claim that the poverty levels in Nigeria are in excess of 71% at a benchmark of $1.95 per day, Life expectancy is under 50 yrs, predicted will have the most poor people on earth by 2030 ; In 11 northern states(NE&NW) poverty rate is above 70%; up to 88% in Jigawa. High Gender exclusion with at least 70% female illiteracy rate and we account for 10% of global maternal mortality burden. Nigeria is leading in Out-of-School children population and contributing 47% to global out-of-school kids.
Nigeria is now known for internal militant extremism, communal conflicts over resources, ethno-religious polarization and organized crime not unconnected to Youth unemployment and neglect. Our external- Nigerian borders are extremely porous and there is no sense of national security beyond the security of the political elite, whoever is current. Nigeria is 14th of 177 countries and “in danger” category on the Failed State Index. This downward sliding trajectory suggests Nigerians are being excluded from state services and our aspirations suppressed by a presumptuous political elite. Apart from the obligation to build inclusive societies, I wish to help Nigerians attain both a fair political settlement without compromising on development outcomes.
In 5 years from now the Sahara desert encroachment into sub-Saharan Africa would increase at least 10 km southwards. The effect of this on Nigeria and Nigerians will be catastrophic if we do not do right things NOW. The crimes and criminality, insecurity poverty and internal displacement that Nigeria faces today is not unconnected with this gradual desertification. Any additional increase in desertification will have an exponential effect on violence, land disputation, conflicts between pastoralists and farmers, invasion from north Africa, and serve as a cloak or cover for a decisive incursion, penetration and seizure of Nigeria of groups like ISIS displaced from Europe and North Africa into Nigeria. In short we are under a monumental threat capable of wiping out 30% of our population, the balkanisation of our lands, displacement of our people and eventual conflagration and the loss of nationhood.
While this scenario is playing out, our governments, especially the current government of President Mohammed Buhari, under the erroneous belief that they have strengthening institutions of security and enforcement agencies, instead they have only succeeded in creating competing armed agencies that have every potential to morph into mini-armies headed by ethnic and institutional war lords holding control of pockets of Nigeria. Nigerians are all witness to the controversies between EFCC and DSS, between disparate arms of government within the same sector. We are all aware of one section of the armed forces attacking another, such as Nigerian Naval operatives mounting an assault on a Nigerian Police Station. Etc. It reached a ridiculous dimension when security details of a minister and security details of a governor clashed in day light on the streets of Port Harcourt all in the name of belonging to differing political parties.
This nation cannot survive along this trajectory and a decisive intervention is inevitable if we are to deploy pre-emptive solutions starting from the election into office of a candidate that is capable, visionary enough to be the next President of this country with the capacity to unify Nigerians and depart from the ‘divide and rule’ strategy of past leaders inherited from our colonial occupiers of power. The solution is self-evident in not only what to do, but in how to do it.
My Promise
Despite our enthusiasm and optimism as to the desire of Nigerians for emancipation, I am constrained to admit that there are some of us, citizen like you and I, who unfortunately may not care that Nigeria survives nor perishes, we must admit that there are some who will continue to promote impunity at any available public Level, some who create bottlenecks to development where none is necessary or exists. It will be naïve to assume that there is a resistance by persons who will continue to promote exclusionary and expropriator decision making, consigning other people’s children the suffering and hardship that they will invest, borrow or steal to protect their own children from suffering from. I urge such as these to consider a change of heart be prepared to face a vigorous challenge from a KOWA Presidency.
The promise I make through this declaration is to restructure the socio-economic and political structures and create an equal access and equal opportunity society for all Nigerian and all citizens of Nigerians many of whom are born with so much talent and potential, as the much taunted potential of Nigeria is actually the potential of its ordinary citizens. We shall make Nigerians proud of our citizenship and resist every attempt by anyone domestic or foreign to diminish the value of Nigerian life.
The quest for the Presidency as far as I am concerned is heeding to a call to sacrifice and duty, to demonstrate that Nigerians are a special people and that Nigeria is blessed. For those of us offering ourselves for services there will be loss of privacy, uncertainty, enmity and possibly, and possibly, though one does not pray for it, loss of life. There is also a great responsibility attached to the office, so great that it is burdensome to anyone who has ever held the office with a sincere desire to positively impact the lives of our fellow citizens especially the poor and the socially excluded.
Given the chance, I promise you that no Nigerian will be left behind and premium will be placed on the value of Nigerian life. There is enough space for a million birds in the skies, and I firmly believe that this country is big enough and endowed enough to more than adequately take care of our needs and establish for posterity a free, just and prosperous society. I am an investor in People, and believe with inspiring leadership our nation can be truly great. My personal leadership style is of DIGNIFIED INCLUSION
As you reflect on these, let me restate that I offer Nigerians, my passion, my love, a Vision of incredible greatness, the capacity to deliver, accountable, and responsive governance. My promise to you is to serve you as a brother, a friend and a Citizen’s President, so help me God
Thanks for your attention, may God bless you and God bless Nigeria
I remain yours sincerely,
Dr. Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron
BSc (Econs), LL.B, BL, M.Inf.Sc, D.Hum, FIIM,
Chief Responsibility Officer at Mothergold Consulting
DECLARATION OF INTENT TO VIE FOR
THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
2019 ELECTIONS
Context
By the year 2019, the most significant Job on Earth would be that of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As improbable as this may sound, deeper reflection will reveal that the reason is not very difficult to see. Nigeria has the capacity to feed Africa, to create , innovate, add-value and work effectively and efficiently and truly be great nation in fact and substance if it does not collapse and cave in to global and local pressures that are a clear and present danger. The world is facing another Era of Global Fragility the likes of which world wars are made of. To mention a few, the US-Korea face-off, Russian extreme oversight of Eastern European and the tensions in the middle-East, which is multifaceted, complex and fuelled by dichotomy amongst Islamic countries and even made more tense by practical expression to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital. Added to this is the uncertainties surrounding the European Union, issues in South-East Asia, the rising economic and geopolitical influence of China all of which speak to a world that is tottering on the brinks of fragility and global conflict.
Africa, with years of nursing an epidemic of grand corruption, where government institutions are consciously structured to meet the interests of elites. This history of Public Financial and Public Service failure has sufficiently weakened the continent now that it is facing major threats including those that have arisen as a fall-out of the Post- Arab spring, consequences of the US-led Libyan mis-intervention, the emergence of ISIS and their southward displacement into Africa, Boko Haram and the question of North African countries and they and their commitment to and preference for an Arabic agenda as against an Afro-centric Agenda and a much less effective African Union, portending grave implications for West Africa and particularly Nigeria. Particularly and most urgently in need of attention is Climate change and the gradual but very dangerous desertification of Sub - Sahara Africa.
Unfortunately, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, geographically located at the centre of Africa and natural Eldorado of the so called ‘’Black-man’’ is tending towards becoming a basket case in State Fragility, with socio-economic and political challenges that its governments since the birth of its fourth Republic have lacked the political will to confront for the promotion of national development. I, Citizen Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron, will be seeking my political party’s ticket for the Presidential Elections of 2019, and if successful your individual and collective support in order to win what will be a momentous election of our time and significant in our history.
Why KOWA?
KOWA Party believes that a moral obligation is placed on all public officers to commit to a personal lifestyle marked by simplicity, modesty, integrity and humility in the service of the Great Peoples of Nigeria. I am happy to acknowledge my fellow compatriots in KOWA party across this vast and highly blessed nation, as we severally offer ourselves for public service and offer KOWA as an ideology and a political option for democratic revolution and national salvation, revival and collective success of our country’s future. Common to all KOWA party political aspirants are aspirations broadly shared and which can be described as KOWA PARTY VISION FOR NIGERIA, including but is not limited to Securing safety of life and property, Education for life and development, and Building a robust economy, a resilient and a harmonious society
Beyond this, each aspirant must have a unique offer that is tailored to meet the immediate and long term challenges and peculiarities of his or her constituency based on a balance of need and popular demand. As I seek to run for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria may I humbly tender my UNIQUE OFFER? Nigeria needs a President who understands her challenges, has plans and the capacity to garner Nigeria’s people and resources to promote national development, and possess the political will to champion the restructuring of her defective socio-economic and political structures to build a resilient nation that can withstand the coming challenges of the next two decades. I believe I have the competence and capacity to be the President Nigeria needs post 2019 elections, and my unique offer is to champion the restructuring of the socio-economic and political structures, stabilise and growing our economy, building human capacity and reinforcing our security and justice institutions.
Our Challenges
Nigeria is a country endowed with resources and potential, but its chequered history and present contradictions has caused us to fail to reach potential while complicating the attainment of a much needed and sustainable political settlement. In 1960 October 1stat the turn of independence the poverty level was 15%. 55 years after, it will be difficult to contest a claim that the poverty levels in Nigeria are in excess of 71% at a benchmark of $1.95 per day, Life expectancy is under 50 yrs, predicted will have the most poor people on earth by 2030 ; In 11 northern states(NE&NW) poverty rate is above 70%; up to 88% in Jigawa. High Gender exclusion with at least 70% female illiteracy rate and we account for 10% of global maternal mortality burden. Nigeria is leading in Out-of-School children population and contributing 47% to global out-of-school kids.
Nigeria is now known for internal militant extremism, communal conflicts over resources, ethno-religious polarization and organized crime not unconnected to Youth unemployment and neglect. Our external- Nigerian borders are extremely porous and there is no sense of national security beyond the security of the political elite, whoever is current. Nigeria is 14th of 177 countries and “in danger” category on the Failed State Index. This downward sliding trajectory suggests Nigerians are being excluded from state services and our aspirations suppressed by a presumptuous political elite. Apart from the obligation to build inclusive societies, I wish to help Nigerians attain both a fair political settlement without compromising on development outcomes.
In 5 years from now the Sahara desert encroachment into sub-Saharan Africa would increase at least 10 km southwards. The effect of this on Nigeria and Nigerians will be catastrophic if we do not do right things NOW. The crimes and criminality, insecurity poverty and internal displacement that Nigeria faces today is not unconnected with this gradual desertification. Any additional increase in desertification will have an exponential effect on violence, land disputation, conflicts between pastoralists and farmers, invasion from north Africa, and serve as a cloak or cover for a decisive incursion, penetration and seizure of Nigeria of groups like ISIS displaced from Europe and North Africa into Nigeria. In short we are under a monumental threat capable of wiping out 30% of our population, the balkanisation of our lands, displacement of our people and eventual conflagration and the loss of nationhood.
While this scenario is playing out, our governments, especially the current government of President Mohammed Buhari, under the erroneous belief that they have strengthening institutions of security and enforcement agencies, instead they have only succeeded in creating competing armed agencies that have every potential to morph into mini-armies headed by ethnic and institutional war lords holding control of pockets of Nigeria. Nigerians are all witness to the controversies between EFCC and DSS, between disparate arms of government within the same sector. We are all aware of one section of the armed forces attacking another, such as Nigerian Naval operatives mounting an assault on a Nigerian Police Station. Etc. It reached a ridiculous dimension when security details of a minister and security details of a governor clashed in day light on the streets of Port Harcourt all in the name of belonging to differing political parties.
This nation cannot survive along this trajectory and a decisive intervention is inevitable if we are to deploy pre-emptive solutions starting from the election into office of a candidate that is capable, visionary enough to be the next President of this country with the capacity to unify Nigerians and depart from the ‘divide and rule’ strategy of past leaders inherited from our colonial occupiers of power. The solution is self-evident in not only what to do, but in how to do it.
My Promise
Despite our enthusiasm and optimism as to the desire of Nigerians for emancipation, I am constrained to admit that there are some of us, citizen like you and I, who unfortunately may not care that Nigeria survives nor perishes, we must admit that there are some who will continue to promote impunity at any available public Level, some who create bottlenecks to development where none is necessary or exists. It will be naïve to assume that there is a resistance by persons who will continue to promote exclusionary and expropriator decision making, consigning other people’s children the suffering and hardship that they will invest, borrow or steal to protect their own children from suffering from. I urge such as these to consider a change of heart be prepared to face a vigorous challenge from a KOWA Presidency.
The promise I make through this declaration is to restructure the socio-economic and political structures and create an equal access and equal opportunity society for all Nigerian and all citizens of Nigerians many of whom are born with so much talent and potential, as the much taunted potential of Nigeria is actually the potential of its ordinary citizens. We shall make Nigerians proud of our citizenship and resist every attempt by anyone domestic or foreign to diminish the value of Nigerian life.
The quest for the Presidency as far as I am concerned is heeding to a call to sacrifice and duty, to demonstrate that Nigerians are a special people and that Nigeria is blessed. For those of us offering ourselves for services there will be loss of privacy, uncertainty, enmity and possibly, and possibly, though one does not pray for it, loss of life. There is also a great responsibility attached to the office, so great that it is burdensome to anyone who has ever held the office with a sincere desire to positively impact the lives of our fellow citizens especially the poor and the socially excluded.
Given the chance, I promise you that no Nigerian will be left behind and premium will be placed on the value of Nigerian life. There is enough space for a million birds in the skies, and I firmly believe that this country is big enough and endowed enough to more than adequately take care of our needs and establish for posterity a free, just and prosperous society. I am an investor in People, and believe with inspiring leadership our nation can be truly great. My personal leadership style is of DIGNIFIED INCLUSION
As you reflect on these, let me restate that I offer Nigerians, my passion, my love, a Vision of incredible greatness, the capacity to deliver, accountable, and responsive governance. My promise to you is to serve you as a brother, a friend and a Citizen’s President, so help me God
Thanks for your attention, may God bless you and God bless Nigeria
I remain yours sincerely,
Dr. Adesina Ayodele Fagbenro-Byron
BSc (Econs), LL.B, BL, M.Inf.Sc, D.Hum, FIIM,
Chief Responsibility Officer at Mothergold Consulting
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Illumination Fundamental Art (Ifá) Blog: The INSTALLATION of OTUNBA (DR.) GANI ADAMS As 15T...
Illumination Fundamental Art (Ifá) Blog: The INSTALLATION of OTUNBA (DR.) GANI ADAMS As 15T...: For The Records... SPEECH BY OTUNBA (DR.) GANI ADAMS AT HIS INSTALLATION AS THE 15TH AARE ONA KAKANFO OF YORUBALAND BY THE ALAAFIN OF OY...
Monday, January 8, 2018
BitcoinDiamondMines: Bitcoin as The Potential Revolutionary Game-change...
Bitcoin is money for the Internet. Bitcoin is more than a system to store and transfer value from one person to another. Bitcoin is a protocol, a computer network, and much more...As Bitcoin boomed, more people looked to take advantage of the appreciation in value which saw some luxury items, from mansions to custom cars, go on sale - not in dollars, but in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a scarce digital commodity used as money by millions around the world. People buy coffee with Bitcoin at local shops. Others get paid in Bitcoin and use it to shop online. Friends use it to settle with whoever paid for dinner. Workers send Bitcoin back home to help family, regardless of where they live. Read more...BitcoinDiamondMines: Bitcoin as The Potential Revolutionary Game-change...: Bitcoin has the potential to be a real game-changer. Right now, billions of people around the world cannot get a bank account and cannot ...
Bitcoin is a scarce digital commodity used as money by millions around the world. People buy coffee with Bitcoin at local shops. Others get paid in Bitcoin and use it to shop online. Friends use it to settle with whoever paid for dinner. Workers send Bitcoin back home to help family, regardless of where they live. Read more...BitcoinDiamondMines: Bitcoin as The Potential Revolutionary Game-change...: Bitcoin has the potential to be a real game-changer. Right now, billions of people around the world cannot get a bank account and cannot ...
BitcoinDiamondMines: Bitcoin as The Potential Revolutionary Game-change...
Bitcoin is money for the Internet. Bitcoin is more than a system to store and transfer value from one person to another. Bitcoin is a protocol, a computer network, and much more...As Bitcoin boomed, more people looked to take advantage of the appreciation in value which saw some luxury items, from mansions to custom cars, go on sale - not in dollars, but in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a scarce digital commodity used as money by millions around the world. People buy coffee with Bitcoin at local shops. Others get paid in Bitcoin and use it to shop online. Friends use it to settle with whoever paid for dinner. Workers send Bitcoin back home to help family, regardless of where they live. Read more...BitcoinDiamondMines: Bitcoin as The Potential Revolutionary Game-change...: Bitcoin has the potential to be a real game-changer. Right now, billions of people around the world cannot get a bank account and cannot ...
Bitcoin is a scarce digital commodity used as money by millions around the world. People buy coffee with Bitcoin at local shops. Others get paid in Bitcoin and use it to shop online. Friends use it to settle with whoever paid for dinner. Workers send Bitcoin back home to help family, regardless of where they live. Read more...BitcoinDiamondMines: Bitcoin as The Potential Revolutionary Game-change...: Bitcoin has the potential to be a real game-changer. Right now, billions of people around the world cannot get a bank account and cannot ...
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Dele Momodu's Open Letter To President Buharii
Dele Momodu's Open Letter To President Buhari: "Things Are Very Bad In Nigeria. Please, Don't Run For 2nd Tenure"
PLEASE, I BEG YOU...DON'T RUN FOR A SECOND TERM. GO HOME WITH YOUR HONOUR INTACT'
*'THOSE POLITICIANS ASKING YOU TO RUN AGAIN ARE DOING SO FOR SELFISH INTERESTS'
'...Kindly permit me to be as brutally frank as possible. As a stakeholder who made his modest contribution to your emergence as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I owe you nothing but the truth. I was not a member of your party when I volunteered to support your mission and ambition in 2015. I was elated when Nigerians succeeded in chasing away the profligate and reckless government of the PDP, led by President Goodluck Jonathan. I was one of those who unleashed terror on that government and I subsequently presented you with a compilation of my articles in which I criticised and advised the then President, free of charge. I never expected that our situation could ever get worse under the APC government that almost literally promised heaven and earth. But it has become evident that it is easier to govern by words of mouth than by force of action.
It is indeed shameful that those like me who supported you so vociferously have become butts of jokes everywhere we go. Sir, I plead with you to ignore your acolytes who may be telling you that all is well in Nigeria. My unequivocal verdict, without any fear of contradiction is that things are very bad. While I will not, in all honesty, totally heap the blame on you, there is no doubt that your government has been less than competent. I’m reasonably convinced that you have not availed yourself of the abundant talents it has so pleased God to endow Nigeria with. Rather, you’ve chosen to saddle yourself with hungry lions and deadwoods that you’ve resurrected from penury and oblivion. Leadership should be about managing people and resources. Most of the people you are working with are already retired or tired and with little or nothing new to contribute.
It is grossly unfair that it was very convenient for us to lampoon and scandalise Dr Goodluck Jonathan, yet most of us have remained funereally silent and unreasonably complicit in the evil that the current men of power are perpetrating and perpetuating under your watch. Unknown to you Sir, some people are merely using you to rule by proxy. There is no evidence of discipline in your team, one of the greatest things you preached so fervently about in your first coming as military Head of State. Your acolytes are virtually getting away with murder. Someone, somewhere, sat down with birds of the same feathers, to conjure and compile the most disgraceful list of political appointees ever and yet nothing has happened to those who brought such perfidious insults on our nation. Instead, we are being regaled with tales by the moonlight to gloss over serious maladies in the polity and damning treachery against our nation. No serious apologies. No penitence. Only some foolhardy cockiness from those who will repeat the same nonsense when tomorrow comes.
Your Excellency, it has become very difficult, if not impossible to defend the excessive shortcomings of your government, please, permit my oxymoron Sir. We definitely want you to succeed but it seems some demons are desperately determined to make you fail by all means. The more your administration unravels, the more ridiculously hopeless it seems. You have waltzed from crisis to crisis instead of from glory to glory, as most of us expected. We thought you truly possessed the magic wand and talismanic effect to make all our problems evaporate and vamoose in a jiffy. We did not expect to be regularly mesmerized by impotent excuses galore.
I sincerely doff my hat to your wonderful wife for her rare and uncommon courage. Regardless of what her detractors may say, she is the only insider who has been trying to say it as it is. Even if some of her critics feel she’s seeking for relevance in your kingdom, it is still within her rights. I’m sure that when the day of reckoning comes, you will remember and appreciate her timely warnings. Without mincing words, what Madam Aisha Buhari has been trying to tell you in clear terms is that this government is swimming in a big foul mess and that you should not be carried away by the fake adulation and false adoration you see all around you. There is no government in Nigeria that did not enjoy the services of praise-singers who disappeared as soon as the government itself collapsed like a pack of cards. Ask President Jonathan!
I’m aware that your foot-soldiers are already warming up for the next election. I really do not know what they hope to tell and sell to the electorate this time, particularly after the colossal failure of the last three years. I do not see how they expect to fund your campaign without resorting to the same type of extravagant jamboree we witnessed in the dying and last days of the PDP’s prodigality. As a result of your decision to contest again, you are being forced by circumstances beyond your control to compromise and capitulate on your known principles. Is it not better, and more profitable, to return home, triumphantly, with your reputation intact than to win a pyrrhic victory with everything you ever stood for wasted on the altar of vainglorious aggrandisement? What guarantees do you have that you will win the next election even if you agree to sell Nigeria to the political gladiators?
Sir, I’m pleading with you in the name of God, the Merciful and all-powerful, that you don’t need two terms, or eight years in power, to prove your greatness. Nelson Mandela spent only one term in power and retired to superlative glory as the world’s most respected and revered and idolised statesman. Robert Mugabe spent about four decades in power, yet he returned home in total infamy and unenviable disgrace. It is a lesson of life that we must all learn, sooner rather than later, that man shall not live by power alone. I know my preaching is not likely to touch you and your hardened supporters but, at the very least, I want it to be on record that I spoke publicly, out of genuine love and concern, while you were being goaded on by those who stand to gain more if you win a re-election next year. For most of those asking you to continue, by fire and by force, it is always about their personal agenda and survival. They know their political careers would come to a shuddering halt and abrupt standstill should you fail in your bid to come back. In their desperation to come back at all costs, they are going to do exactly what PDP did, or even much worse. What moral authority would you then have to justify the continued detention and harassment of some of the PDP operatives accused of wasting government resources on Jonathan’s truncated re-election bid. Who amongst us can in good conscience say in the market place that you won the last election on pure merit and that no substantial government funding went into your campaigns.
This year promises to be an interesting one. You will soon discover how treacherous human beings can be when some of those hailing you today as the authentic messiah begin to show you their true colours. Our country is bleeding dangerously while some over-pampered politicians can only think of winning elections by hook or by crook. The quality of your appointees in recent time points to how directionless your government has finally become. In a country overflowing with so many amazing brains and talents, it is incredibly shameful that those are your best representatives for our country. The easiest way for a leader to fail is to continue to attract those much worse than himself. Conversely, the best way to succeed is for a leader to recognise and attract and surround himself with those much better in all aspects of human endeavour. This does not erase or take anything away from the leader but it actually enhances his personality and how he is perceived by everyone. The late sage of blessed memory, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was a veritable example of how a leader can effectively tap into the collective brains of some geniuses and add to his own in a way that makes him appear super-human.
Nigeria has never been in short supply of whiz kids at home and abroad but Nigeria started dying when our leaders stopped respecting merit and preferred to enthrone mediocrity. The truth is mediocrity begets further mediocrity. The few good leaders in your government have not been able to display their wizardry out of fear and trepidation that some cabal would mark them out and hack them down so ruthlessly. It is a sign of the times, that the courage, astuteness and brilliance that made them stand out in the political crowd has suddenly taken flight and they are now little more than wimps in your insipid government. The bureaucracy in Abuja is enough to suffocate and disorientate any fertile mind.
If I were in your shoes, I would consider that it is not too late to groom and propel some of the best brains in APC or even those living beyond the shores of Nigeria to succeed me. You do not need to look far in this regard but I will not make any suggestions today, lest it be misinterpreted that I am touting any particular individual as a worthy successor. I’m reasonably convinced that you have worked very hard and seem to have reached your peak. To God be the glory. In a country of nearly 200 million people, God has been too kind to you. Apart from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, no other Nigerian has been given a second chance so miraculously. You will be able to justify this unmerited favour by leaving Nigeria much better than you met it. The only way you can do that in the next remaining year is to sacrifice your own personal ambition and hand over the country to proven and tested modern and cosmopolitan technocrats. The world has moved beyond the backwardness that we are being saddled with in Nigeria today. The world expect us to be the true giant and leader of Africa not by words but in deed.
My appeal to you is to urgently do a self-assessment to determine and decide on whether you are what Nigeria needs at this time and age for our country to join the comity of other nations in their march towards technological advancement, political stability, social security and economic prosperity.
With all due respect, Sir, if your answer is yes to the above, you may go ahead and contest but if in all honesty, the answer is no, my prayer is that you will find the courage and selfless spirit to quit the stage while the ovation is loudest. That in itself would be a deserving legacy. I’m watching and waiting for your patriotic decision with bated breath.
Thank you, Mr President, for your usual attention and kind consideration of my latest memo to you, albeit so early in the year.'
PLEASE, I BEG YOU...DON'T RUN FOR A SECOND TERM. GO HOME WITH YOUR HONOUR INTACT'
*'THOSE POLITICIANS ASKING YOU TO RUN AGAIN ARE DOING SO FOR SELFISH INTERESTS'
'...Kindly permit me to be as brutally frank as possible. As a stakeholder who made his modest contribution to your emergence as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I owe you nothing but the truth. I was not a member of your party when I volunteered to support your mission and ambition in 2015. I was elated when Nigerians succeeded in chasing away the profligate and reckless government of the PDP, led by President Goodluck Jonathan. I was one of those who unleashed terror on that government and I subsequently presented you with a compilation of my articles in which I criticised and advised the then President, free of charge. I never expected that our situation could ever get worse under the APC government that almost literally promised heaven and earth. But it has become evident that it is easier to govern by words of mouth than by force of action.
It is indeed shameful that those like me who supported you so vociferously have become butts of jokes everywhere we go. Sir, I plead with you to ignore your acolytes who may be telling you that all is well in Nigeria. My unequivocal verdict, without any fear of contradiction is that things are very bad. While I will not, in all honesty, totally heap the blame on you, there is no doubt that your government has been less than competent. I’m reasonably convinced that you have not availed yourself of the abundant talents it has so pleased God to endow Nigeria with. Rather, you’ve chosen to saddle yourself with hungry lions and deadwoods that you’ve resurrected from penury and oblivion. Leadership should be about managing people and resources. Most of the people you are working with are already retired or tired and with little or nothing new to contribute.
It is grossly unfair that it was very convenient for us to lampoon and scandalise Dr Goodluck Jonathan, yet most of us have remained funereally silent and unreasonably complicit in the evil that the current men of power are perpetrating and perpetuating under your watch. Unknown to you Sir, some people are merely using you to rule by proxy. There is no evidence of discipline in your team, one of the greatest things you preached so fervently about in your first coming as military Head of State. Your acolytes are virtually getting away with murder. Someone, somewhere, sat down with birds of the same feathers, to conjure and compile the most disgraceful list of political appointees ever and yet nothing has happened to those who brought such perfidious insults on our nation. Instead, we are being regaled with tales by the moonlight to gloss over serious maladies in the polity and damning treachery against our nation. No serious apologies. No penitence. Only some foolhardy cockiness from those who will repeat the same nonsense when tomorrow comes.
Your Excellency, it has become very difficult, if not impossible to defend the excessive shortcomings of your government, please, permit my oxymoron Sir. We definitely want you to succeed but it seems some demons are desperately determined to make you fail by all means. The more your administration unravels, the more ridiculously hopeless it seems. You have waltzed from crisis to crisis instead of from glory to glory, as most of us expected. We thought you truly possessed the magic wand and talismanic effect to make all our problems evaporate and vamoose in a jiffy. We did not expect to be regularly mesmerized by impotent excuses galore.
I sincerely doff my hat to your wonderful wife for her rare and uncommon courage. Regardless of what her detractors may say, she is the only insider who has been trying to say it as it is. Even if some of her critics feel she’s seeking for relevance in your kingdom, it is still within her rights. I’m sure that when the day of reckoning comes, you will remember and appreciate her timely warnings. Without mincing words, what Madam Aisha Buhari has been trying to tell you in clear terms is that this government is swimming in a big foul mess and that you should not be carried away by the fake adulation and false adoration you see all around you. There is no government in Nigeria that did not enjoy the services of praise-singers who disappeared as soon as the government itself collapsed like a pack of cards. Ask President Jonathan!
I’m aware that your foot-soldiers are already warming up for the next election. I really do not know what they hope to tell and sell to the electorate this time, particularly after the colossal failure of the last three years. I do not see how they expect to fund your campaign without resorting to the same type of extravagant jamboree we witnessed in the dying and last days of the PDP’s prodigality. As a result of your decision to contest again, you are being forced by circumstances beyond your control to compromise and capitulate on your known principles. Is it not better, and more profitable, to return home, triumphantly, with your reputation intact than to win a pyrrhic victory with everything you ever stood for wasted on the altar of vainglorious aggrandisement? What guarantees do you have that you will win the next election even if you agree to sell Nigeria to the political gladiators?
Sir, I’m pleading with you in the name of God, the Merciful and all-powerful, that you don’t need two terms, or eight years in power, to prove your greatness. Nelson Mandela spent only one term in power and retired to superlative glory as the world’s most respected and revered and idolised statesman. Robert Mugabe spent about four decades in power, yet he returned home in total infamy and unenviable disgrace. It is a lesson of life that we must all learn, sooner rather than later, that man shall not live by power alone. I know my preaching is not likely to touch you and your hardened supporters but, at the very least, I want it to be on record that I spoke publicly, out of genuine love and concern, while you were being goaded on by those who stand to gain more if you win a re-election next year. For most of those asking you to continue, by fire and by force, it is always about their personal agenda and survival. They know their political careers would come to a shuddering halt and abrupt standstill should you fail in your bid to come back. In their desperation to come back at all costs, they are going to do exactly what PDP did, or even much worse. What moral authority would you then have to justify the continued detention and harassment of some of the PDP operatives accused of wasting government resources on Jonathan’s truncated re-election bid. Who amongst us can in good conscience say in the market place that you won the last election on pure merit and that no substantial government funding went into your campaigns.
This year promises to be an interesting one. You will soon discover how treacherous human beings can be when some of those hailing you today as the authentic messiah begin to show you their true colours. Our country is bleeding dangerously while some over-pampered politicians can only think of winning elections by hook or by crook. The quality of your appointees in recent time points to how directionless your government has finally become. In a country overflowing with so many amazing brains and talents, it is incredibly shameful that those are your best representatives for our country. The easiest way for a leader to fail is to continue to attract those much worse than himself. Conversely, the best way to succeed is for a leader to recognise and attract and surround himself with those much better in all aspects of human endeavour. This does not erase or take anything away from the leader but it actually enhances his personality and how he is perceived by everyone. The late sage of blessed memory, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was a veritable example of how a leader can effectively tap into the collective brains of some geniuses and add to his own in a way that makes him appear super-human.
Nigeria has never been in short supply of whiz kids at home and abroad but Nigeria started dying when our leaders stopped respecting merit and preferred to enthrone mediocrity. The truth is mediocrity begets further mediocrity. The few good leaders in your government have not been able to display their wizardry out of fear and trepidation that some cabal would mark them out and hack them down so ruthlessly. It is a sign of the times, that the courage, astuteness and brilliance that made them stand out in the political crowd has suddenly taken flight and they are now little more than wimps in your insipid government. The bureaucracy in Abuja is enough to suffocate and disorientate any fertile mind.
If I were in your shoes, I would consider that it is not too late to groom and propel some of the best brains in APC or even those living beyond the shores of Nigeria to succeed me. You do not need to look far in this regard but I will not make any suggestions today, lest it be misinterpreted that I am touting any particular individual as a worthy successor. I’m reasonably convinced that you have worked very hard and seem to have reached your peak. To God be the glory. In a country of nearly 200 million people, God has been too kind to you. Apart from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, no other Nigerian has been given a second chance so miraculously. You will be able to justify this unmerited favour by leaving Nigeria much better than you met it. The only way you can do that in the next remaining year is to sacrifice your own personal ambition and hand over the country to proven and tested modern and cosmopolitan technocrats. The world has moved beyond the backwardness that we are being saddled with in Nigeria today. The world expect us to be the true giant and leader of Africa not by words but in deed.
My appeal to you is to urgently do a self-assessment to determine and decide on whether you are what Nigeria needs at this time and age for our country to join the comity of other nations in their march towards technological advancement, political stability, social security and economic prosperity.
With all due respect, Sir, if your answer is yes to the above, you may go ahead and contest but if in all honesty, the answer is no, my prayer is that you will find the courage and selfless spirit to quit the stage while the ovation is loudest. That in itself would be a deserving legacy. I’m watching and waiting for your patriotic decision with bated breath.
Thank you, Mr President, for your usual attention and kind consideration of my latest memo to you, albeit so early in the year.'
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