How I tackled corruption in Lagos – Fashola

Former governor of Lagos and current minister designate, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, in this interview, explains how he was able to curb corruption in the state. He also bares his mind on other national issues.

What do you regard as your major accomplishments as governor?

First, I want to say it was a team effort. We had an outstanding team of public servants and political office holders, and we worked together to strengthen law enforcement, build infrastructure and encourage inclusion. The most defining thing was to invest the people of Lagos with a sense of ownership and pride in their own state. We had challenges of urban crime, and we turned those challenges into opportunities. We also expanded opportunities for young people in education and in agriculture. We were able provide people with more opportunities to work – to make income with dignity.

How did you tackle the transformation of broken neighborhoods like Oshodi and is what you did sustainable?

I knew Oshodi as a child and it was a very

Would Ransome-Kuti have been Jailed if He was Hausa/Fulani?, By Jude Ndukwe

It is instructive to note that all those including Brig Gen Enitan Ransome-Kuti were charged under the leadership of Lt-Gen Kenneth Minimah, the immediate past Chief of Army Staff. What is curious is, why pardon some, get them reinstated while dismissing and jailing others? Does it have to do with their ethnic background, the religion they profess or gravity of offence? Whatever it is, it would only be fair to serve punishment or pardon on the basis of what is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander.

The recent dismissal and jailing of Brigadier General Enitan Ransome-Kuti by the military for various offences came to many as a shock following the fact that just in September, the military pardoned 3,032 soldiers who had been convicted also for various offences by a properly constituted General Court Martial (GCM). The worry here is that the pardoned soldiers were not said to be innocent. That they were pardoned and not that the verdict against them was said to have been passed in error is an indication that the pardoned and reinstated soldiers were actually guilty of the offences for which they were convicted. This much can be understood from the statement released by the Director of Army Public Relations at that time, while trying to clarify “that not all the dismissed soldiers were granted pardon and recalled”, adding that “those with criminal cases for instance, have their sentences upheld”.

The question here is, what constitutes a criminal case and what does not in the eyes of the military? Were those pardoned not convicted of crimes? If they were actually convicted but later pardoned, does it not say a lot about the fact that they were actually convicted of one crime or the other? So on what basis or what criteria did the military use in selecting and differentiating between those pardoned and those whose sentences were upheld? The military should know that we are not all stupid! One begins to be tempted to ask for the names and ethnic origins of those whose sentences were upheld and those who received pardon. We are tempted to think that one of the criteria used is ethnicity. If you are pardoning soldiers of crime why not pardon all of them? As long as they were all convicted by a properly constituted GCM, even though some were later pardoned, it means that they all committed one crime or the other.

It is instructive to note that all those including Brig Gen Enitan Ransome-Kuti were charged under the leadership of Lt-Gen Kenneth Minimah, the immediate past Chief of Army Staff. What is curious is, why pardon some, get them reinstated while dismissing and jailing others? Does it have to do with their ethnic background, the religion they profess or gravity of offence? Whatever it is, it would only be fair to serve punishment or pardon on the basis of what is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander.

The only non-Hausa/Fulani race that still needs to be declared subjugated officially is the Yoruba race, and the process has since started.

It is even more curious that a former Commissioner of Police, Mr. Zakari Biu, who was dismissed by the police for his role in the escape of a notorious Boko Haram suspect, Kabiru Sokoto, was pardoned by the police to the consternation of a majority of Nigerians just a day after the military pardoned the soldiers in question. Is there any correlation between these two issues? While Zakari Biu was exonerated, Enitan Ransome-Kuti was dismissed and jailed!

Is this all part of the script to deliberately and systematically humiliate and further subjugate certain parts of the country in favour of others?

With a name as famous as that of Ransome-Kuti, the thinking might just be to test the ground with such a renowned name in the history of our nation from the southern part of the country generally and the South-Western part particularly. If Ransome-Kuti is dismissed and jailed and no dust is raised, then the systematic and deliberate subjugation of the South-West can take a more daring dimension without qualms. Those who wish to perpetually subjugate other regions/persons usually test the waters in this manner. It was the same thing with King Herod in the Bible, Acts 12:1-3. King Herod had seized James, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ, and had him put to death. When he saw that this met the approval of the Jews, he went ahead to seize Peter, the Head of the Apostles.

With the growing rampage of Fulani herdsmen in the South-West that culminated in the kidnap, torture and humiliation of elder statesman, Chief Olu Falae, the dismissal and jailing of Ransome-Kuti when others were pardoned, is a pointer to the bigger plans of those who wish to keep certain parts of this country under their total control and dictate without questioning what happens in our nation.

With the deliberate denial of strategic appointments to the Yoruba race by the Buhari administration, a clear message is being sounded out by the Hausa/Fulani oligarchs, and the message is loud and clear: only a slave and those who wish to remain slaves would pretend everything is normal right now. The Igbo and, by extension, the South-South people, by virtue of the 97 percent and five percent dichotomy as elevated to an official status by the president himself, have known their place, at least, for now, and can only fight and react the way the youths are already doing. The only non-Hausa/Fulani race that still needs to be declared subjugated officially is the Yoruba race, and the process has since started.

With the growing rampage of Fulani herdsmen in the South-West that culminated in the kidnap, torture and humiliation of elder statesman, Chief Olu Falae, the dismissal and jailing of Ransome-Kuti when others were pardoned, is a pointer to the bigger plans of those who wish to keep certain parts of this country under their total control and dictate without questioning what happens in our nation. If not for the kidnap of Pa Falae, the other atrocities perpetrated by these Fulani herdsmen would have gone unannounced. And if not for the uproar generated by the kidnap of Pa Falae, it is possible those criminals would not have been apprehended and their crime would have gone unpunished just like the others that end up in “peace deals”, same peace deals that are never respected in the North-Central but that lead to more brutal attacks on the other parties to it.

…one is tempted to think that Brig. Gen. Enitan Ransome-Kuti’s dismissal from the Army and his jailing has more to it than we are being told.

Appointments by the federal government have not shown that any other region would be treated better. Despite the hue and cry that followed the earlier appointments by the president, he has gone ahead to still pick northerners in his latest appointments: Dr. DanAzumi Ibrahim as DG of National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), and Professor Mahmood Yakubu as INEC Chairman. As it is now, Class Captains and Senior Prefects of our schools will have to come from the North, and where there is no northerner in such a school, be it in Lagos, Enugu or Port Harcourt, the class/school will have to do without such “offices”. That is how bad the situation is becoming!

It is based on the foregoing, that one is tempted to think that Brig. Gen. Enitan Ransome-Kuti’s dismissal from the Army and his jailing has more to it than we are being told.

jrndukwe@yahoo.co.uk. Twitter: @stjudendukwe

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150 Days gone: The state of our nation.

It is so unfortunate that the politicians have succeeded greatly in dividing a lot of us into groups. You are either in APC supporting nonsense or PDP crying witch hunting all over even without being card carrying members. But the politicians remain the same in their class. No wonder the last ministerial list had about 60% of old PDP guys that once destroyed this nation. You may see them as two groups but we see them as one. We cannot kill them. They are our fathers, mothers, uncles, aunties etc. But we can follow them up bumper to bumper until they do the right thing.
This is why we are HERE!

TWO
150 Days gone: The state of our nation.
There is a saying in my tribe. if it takes you ten years to prepare for insanity, when will you arrive into the market?
As at this minute, Nigerian government has not formed her cabinet. We wont join anyone to support nonsense. Some are shouting patience. By the time they lose their jobs or their salaries being slashed, they will know what some are already feeling at the moment.
Street opinion
"If you are part of this government & no one close to you has told you we are not impressed, I tell you from the bottom of my heart!" – Omojuwa

THREE
150 Days gone .The state of the nation.
If after 150 Days, and all that we still hear from you is the problem you met, do not blame some of us if we conclude that "you are either overwhelmed by the problem you claimed to have met or you just do not know how to go about it" President should wake up.

Street opinion
It takes a lot of energy to be angry and a lot of data & extra energy to communicate that anger. This government needs to get a mirror!.- Omojuwa

FOUR
150 Days gone. The state of the nation
It is an of wickedness and mischief if we ask you to clear the mess of 55 years in 150 Days . But we cannot be out of order if we jointly and objectively demand for your policy direction in 150 Days if you truly have one because it is not about you but Nigeria.

Street Opinion
Nigerians are tired of waiting. No day passes without people sending me CVs and phone calls. House rents and money for food. I am tired!- OMOJUWA

FIVE
150 Days gone: The state of the nation
You may be trying your best to solve the security issue. But until those bombs stop going off, the bulk will always stop at your desk as a leader. This is why we brought you in.

Street Opinion
The APC has to hasten up. We cannot be sitting on power as though we have eternity to fix things.- Omojuwa

SIX
150 Days gone: The state of the nation
The ongoing war against corruption is a plus to the government but do not make it look as though to multi task is a problem because some of us have it boldly stated on our resumes.

Street Opinion
Please, one used 5 years to scream common sense at the last government, please save one from screaming for another 4 years.- Omojuwa

THE ECHOES OF BIAFRA AND THE NEGLECT OF THE FUNDAMENTALS BY THE NIGERIAN STATE

In 418 B.C. Herodotus, the Greek philosopher who is known as the ‘’father of history’’, said “a man who does not know anything about the events that took place before he or she was born will remain forever a child.’’

It baffles me when you hear the people born in 80s and 90s analyzing national growth and development just from the face value of it while neglecting the real sociocultural values that are more responsible in the birth of any nation. We need to go and study how Sadam Husain managed the Kurds, Shitte and Sunnis in Iraq. Yet, they had some levels of development.  There is no wound that cannot be healed by nature. Some will be healed with just a scar remaining while some will end the victims with some measures of deformities. So, the ones with deformities will always have stories to tell.

The war started with Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle popularly referred to as black Scorpion leading the Federal Government troops against a fine soldier, Colonel Chukwuemeka Ojukwu led troops for the agitation of a state of the Republic of Biafra far back in 1967. History had it that the so called Biafra troops were gaining upper hands at some points which brought the war close to Ore, Ondo state. Nigerians soldiers under the command of Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle were deliberately injuring themselves all in protest of various challenges facing the army which includes their daily allowance and so that they could be taken away from the war front. This led to the taking over of the Nigerian troops by Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo that finally brought the war to an end with various strategies including starvation. To cut the story short, It was Obong (Gen) Philip Efiong that eventually surrendered to Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo on behalf of Colonel Ojukwu when all was gone in 1970. This led to the exile of Ojukwu to Ivory Coast. 

No victor and no vanquished became the slogan that birthed a new Nigeria after the war. The question is, how has the unity of the country been since then? Are we truly united as it is hypocritically professed today? It goes beyond the words of mouth. The unity and oneness must be seen in reality. From the recently published article by Mr Joe Igokwe in Lagos. He made the assertions below.

“I want Nigerian leaders to show leadership by carrying all Nigerians along in distributing power and resources. If there is no justice, there will be no peace. If there is no peace, there will be no progress. Let justice prevail. Let us be fair to all concerned. If the truth must prevail, Nigeria has not been fair to Igbo since the end of the civil war. They tell us that there is no victor and no vanquished but in actions and deeds, the victors are still celebrating and enjoying the spoils of the war while the defeated are still languishing in abject neglect. For instance, of all the six zones in Nigeria, only the South-East zone has five states…”.

Hmmmmmm

The recent arrest of the manager of Radio Biafra, Mr Nnamdi Kanu by the DSS and hundreds of youths in Port Harcourt by the police will not solve the problem. Rather it will aggravate and expose more the hidden wound. Remember, this is how Bokoharam started with the arrest of Yussuf. Today, anything you pick on the street of Borno is a bomb. The more you arrest them, the more you give them the media hype they are looking for. If you promised them restoration in 1970, then make it available for them. If you assured them of hope in the 70s, why then do you deny them today? If you told them you would be fathers and mothers to children who lost their parents in the war in the 70s, why not fulfill those promises today? The region may have her flaws, but Nigeria must be balanced in the resources sharing including an additional state and leave them with their governors for the rest of the questions and answers.

When we clamored for appointment balance from President Buhari weeks back, many young folks called us names. Some even said we were the problems of Nigeria hiding under tribalism and religion. It is not that we do not understand development by competency as it is done in developed world, but we need a nation first. Only a fool will be deceived that Nigeria is one and I refuse to be deceived. In the Nigeria of today, a Yoruba man is first a Yoruba man before he answers Nigeria. Same goes to Igbos and Hausa. Wounds that brought about the loss of over a million souls cannot be forgotten in a jiffy. How can you make about 35 appointees without giving them at least one all in the name of competency and you expect then to clap for you for a job well done? Common! Nigerians wake up and think for once.

You may not be able to tie all their roads in four years, but give them signs that you will work on their roads. You may not be able to make them President of the nation just like that but start with them with the post of a vice. It is the President from the North that will give that sign and not really from the South. This is how a sense of belonging will be built and developed in any nation building. The early signs of the President must be corrected if we must have an entity called Nigeria. President Buhari can do it if he truly wants to do and will still achieve the best for the country. With this, sense of belonging will grow, patriotism will grow, loyalty and love for Nigeria will grow and everyone will be proud to be called a Nigerian. We need a nation that is together in reality first before our national dream to materialize. These are the fundamentals that must be addressed and making arrest.

God bless Nigeria

Tunde Adenuga

Twitter: @tunde_adenuga

Clark, The Father, Jonathan, The Son By Reuben Abati

I have tried delaying the writing of this piece in the honest expectation that someone probably misquoted Chief E.K. when he reportedly publicly disowned former President Goodluck Jonathan. I had hoped that our dear father, E.K. Clark, would issue a counter-statement and say the usual things politicians say: “they quoted me out of context!”  “Jonathan is my son”.

That has not happened; rather, some other Ijaw voices, including one Joseph Evah, have come to the defence of the old man, to join hands in rubbishing a man they once defended to the hilt and used as a bargaining chip for the Ijaw interest in the larger Nigerian geo-politics. 

If President Jonathan had returned to power on May 29, 2015, these same persons would have remained in the corridors of power, displaying all forms of ethnic triumphalism. It is the reason in case they do not realize it, why the existent

BOKOHARAM, THE CONSEQUENCE OF A DECISION MAKING OF THE NORTH

What goes round comes round as the old saying claims. It is only left for those concerned to take the bull and the course of their region by the horn if the nation Nigeria must remain one as we hypocritically profess. The foundation of the persistence menace popularly called Boko Haram was laid in Nigeria long time ago, right from the era of indirect rule by the British. When a philosophy is championed out of selfish interest and ignorance without craving for what is substantial or the consequences that we may all have to live with for the rest of our lives, everyone would be in danger just as we are experiencing today as a people.

When a man decides to hang on a high tension cable or the cable accidentally drops on him, I do not think the resultant effects of the two scenarios would be different from each other. It is a lesson for the current generation to learn from, so that we do not raise children that will pronounce curses on us in our graves. 

In one of my recent general evening discussions with some great minds, one of them raised a point, that, “Nigeria is what it is today because of the collapse of our family system and value”. To buttress his point, he said, " If every family

FASHOLA: A PUBLIC OFFICER DOES NOT HAVE TO SIGN CHEQUES TO MISAPROPRIATE PUBLIC FUNDS BY BABATUNDE ADENUGA

Gradually, the screening of the ministerial nominees is going off the media attention. As at this minute, about 18 nominees have been screened and they have all passed the Senate CT Scan without any of them being found wanting. What a perfect selection by the President. Or was it the Senate CT Scan that needed to be checked properly if it was still in order? Only time will tell by the time real work begins. But we can only pray for them and support the team in our little way for them to succeed on this journey. So, in less than one week, the remaining nominees would have been screened including that personality that I usually referred to as “That man”. 

So, back to the scrutiny of the former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola before the Senate, it was an outstanding moment. Once again, I am proud of him. He fought and defended well. I actually asked him and Mr Kachukwu to make sure that they present to each of the senators a certificate of participation. It was a true lesson and training period for the senators.

During the scrutiny and as expected, questions on the alleged misappropriation of funds against Fashola was raised by one of the senators especially on the website and Borehole scandals. Fashola summed up his defense by saying he doesn’t sign cheques and also his commissioners but the agencies assigned for such duties. But not to be carried away by his oratory skill and for the purpose of precedence and nation building, I put to Mr Raji Babatunde Fashola that a public officer doesn’t have to sign to cheques to misappropriate public funds. In a developed world where things are done rightly, such an answer cannot exempt any public officer from trial. There is always a way public officers go about it.

Going by that response, you will be surprised that some of the governors and public officers facing trials at the moment never signed cheques including the former petroleum minister, Alison Dieziani Madueke. This is why I am a consistent advocate of an independent assembly, where majority members of the house belong to an opposition party especially for the purpose of check and balances if it won’t be abused or to winchhunt the governor or President. This is another way to curb corruption.

But give it to Babatunde Fashola, his work in Lagos stood for him before the Senate. Only a person with mischief will say otherwise. He is one of the best we have among the nominees. But it is necessary we tell him as patriotic Nigerians and potential public office holders of this great nation that you do not have to sign cheques to steal. Building  strong and reliable public institutions is not about anybody but about Nigeria.

God bless Nigeria 

twitter: @tunde_adenuga 

Babatunde Adenuga