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20 CARTOON & LETTERS THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 SIR: That Femi Gbajabiamila carries himself like a true leader, is not new. That he acts and talks the part is also not new. That he is a nationalist is not new as well because his antecedent speaks volume but what is new is that he’s never been the leader of the ruling party in the House of Representatives. As the House’s ‘Minority Whip’ leader, Gbajabiamila was many things. He was the voice of the House as well as the enforcer. He pushed that democracy be practiced in Nigeria like in developed countries. For starters, lets refresh on the role of a ‘Whip’ and how Gbajabiamila played the part. “A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party’s “enforcers,” who typically offer inducements and threaten party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy. A whip’s role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken.” In the House Gbajabiamila held sway because of his stance against mismanagement, poor leadership and political immaturity. He vehemently kicked against the defection from one party to another, hammering on the need for Nigerian politicians to have and hold onto a set of political beliefs, ideology and philosophy. Gbajabiamila pretty much summed himself up in his book: “Fearless: the Emergence Of A Virile And Formidable Opposition Leader (Political Memoirs of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila) preparing himself for the big stage, only that, this time he will go from opposition EDITOR’S MAIL BAG SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 800 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS. E-mail: views@thenationonlineng.net Gbajabiamila deserves the Speaker’s job leader to the leader of the ruling party, a position he has prepared himself for and one that has waited for him. His panache and zest as Minority Whip leader was contagious and staggering. His colleagues always listened when he spoke. His oratorial prowess and his ability to convey his messages in the best possible fashion made him an item in every gathering. As Minority Whip leader, he SIR: South Africans have been up in arms against foreigners, mostly black immigrants since 2008. If care is not taken, such hostility could become the defining feature of the relationship between Africa’s most industrialised nation and the rest of the sub-Saharan Africa. The series of violent attacks have resulted in the death of about 10 people who were either stabbed, lynched, wounded or set ablaze right in their places of abode while many others, who were lucky to survive have been displaced and rendered homeless. The world also watched in horror, as gangs of weapon-wielding youth descended on hapless people by killing, maiming and destroying their property. Shops and restaurants were reportedly looted with the law enforcement agents accused of looking the pushed Nigeria and Nigerians. He pushed the ruling party, he pushed his colleagues in the opposition but above all he pushed himself even beyond his own comprehension. Why should he be the eighth Speaker of the House of Representative? As head of the ad hoc committee investigating claims by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON that N140.9 billion, which was owed by Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Forte Oil Plc, has been paid, Gbajabiamila did a thorough job ensuring that the House also passed Money Laundering and Terrorism Amendment Bills. That’s why Asiwaju BolaTinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress described Gbajabiamila as “an inspiration to many of the members of the House of Representatives today who are working tirelessly to see Nigeria chart a new course and are very so Still on the xenophobic attacks other way. We recall that such hostility played out some years back when some South Africa-bound Nigerians were turned back at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg for allegedly attempting to enter the country without the possession of valid yellow fever vaccination cards. At that time, the measure attracted a retaliatory action, as Nigeria turned back about 130 South Africans after their plane had touched down at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. Not only that, the humiliation Nigerians face when applying for South African visas is unbearable, particularly when nationals of similar countries that supported apartheid are allowed to enter into South Africa without entry visas. The South Africans are said to be Re: Our agenda for Buhari by doctors, others SIR: The pharmaceutical society of Nigeria wishes to express its gratitude to your publication for your exclusive on the above subject matter. We however wish to draw your attention to the caption – Our agenda for Buhari by doctors, others… While conceding that editors have a lib- erty to decide the captions that suits them best, it is imperative to point out that the aforementioned caption assaults sensibilities and deals fatal blows on the pride of health professionals especially pharmacists. It is painful that at a time we continue to seek mutual respect for all concerned in the health sector, this type of caption encourage the conqueror mentality doctors in collaboration with some biased stakeholders continue to impose on our perennially volatile health sector. • Gbalagade Iyiola, MAW Mushin, Lagos. irked by the business competition offered by foreigners and Africans who seem to be more successful than them. Due to South Africa’s culture of entitlement, the entrepreneurial spirit and hardwork so evident in immigrant communities has become a source of resentment for them. The culture of entitlement that tends to propel South African natives to become lazy and complacent, believing that many of their unemployed township dwellers cannot do much on their own to improve their situation without state assistance. Not only that, immigrants from Somalia and Ethiopia are also feared and hated because they do much better than their South African counterparts. These immigrants - out of sheer business ingenuity - co-operate with each other by forming business networks to buy goods together in bulk and undercut competition by excelling as entrepreneurs. King Zwelithini’s provocative utterances undoubtedly fuelled the latest impasse and as such, his reprimand and the call by many, including the Nigerian government for his prosecution at the International Criminal Court are not out of place. There can be no valid excuse for or defence of the horrors playing out. It is shameful for a big country like South Africa to behave like the former apartheid state where committed to changes, content of the character of the country, adding a great value and commitment to national development and progress of this country”. Gbajabiamila is not one who shies away from his responsibilities and actions as a leader. To preserve the democracy of Nigeria, he was once forced to scale the gate of the House of Representatives. On his Facebook page, he wrote of his action: “What happened in the National Assembly yesterday will forever live in infamy. Never thought I would see the day when I would be forced to go over the assembly gates where I work to gain access into the chambers.” • Seun Bisuga, Lagos rights violations were rampant. The patience of Nigerians who rather opted for protest - rather than resorting into violence in the face of provocation - is highly commendable. The Nigerian government should rise up to its obligation of protecting its people in South Africa and elsewhere. Necessary legal actions should therefore be initiated to ensure that South Africa pays adequate compensations for the losses incurred by the immigrants. If the South African government cannot guarantee the safety of Nigerians in their country, the Federal Government should put the necessary logistics in place to evacuate its citizens. Finally, it is time we looked inward and reflect deeply on how to discourage Nigerians from fleeing their country for greener pasture. The perennial problems of unemployment, insecurity, harsh business climate, epileptic power supply and bureaucratic corruption should be seriously addressed. The incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari should ensure that Nigeria regains its pride of place among comity of nations and to become a true home for all its citizens. • Adewale Kupoluyi Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 21 COMMENTS “Ema ba won wi o, funra won no ma funra won loogun je! [Never mind them, they are fated to self-destroy] — Yoruba cynical saying I MPUNITY makes, impunity takes, chikena! That appears a fair epigram on the eight-month tenure of Suleiman Abba, the briefest-serving Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in Nigerian history. But mocking Mr. Abba’s fall, as sweet, tempting or even well deserved as it is, completely misses the point. Well deserved? Yeah. More than any other, IGP Abba epitomised the visage of the security forces as shameless conspirators in looming fascism, with his invasion of the House of Representatives for crass partisan causes. But he, as a responsible Police officer, ought to have been sworn to neutrality and strict legality. He not only abysmally failed on that score, with hubris, he armed himself with power he never had by law. One, he summarily stripped Speaker Aminu Tambuwal of his security details. Two, he bragged before the very committee of the House of Representatives — incense upon incense! — that he (and who the hell was he — the courts?) did not recognise the Speaker because Mr. Tambuwal had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives’ Congress (APC). That was not only a rude affront to the House, by the Constitution an independent branch of government. It was also a violent rape of the doctrine of separation of powers, on which presidentialism is anchored. That, of course, was profitable careerism gone sour. That bravado, after all, seemed to have earned the ousted IGP, then acting, a confirmation. Nevertheless, Mr. Abba soon ended with pelted eggs on his face. The rotten morality of the National Assembly, shortly after, resolved itself against PDP, its chief promoter. A gale of house defections — which PDP had soullessly pushed all its power years to subvert the opposition and the Constitution — made Alhaji Tambuwal Speaker, de facto and de jure, when his APC gained the majority. Mr. Abba therefore ate bitter crow, and restored the Speaker’s full security. But make no mistake. Mr. Abba was no devil any more than any of his predecessors was — or indeed, any of his successors would be — a saint. His action — silly then, silly now and silly if repeated in future — was only driven by the bad power socialisation of Nigeria’s extant orders, to make an ass of the same law that temporarily propelled over and above fellow citizens. “Let security chiefs be appointed solely on merit; not on their perceived duplicity to subvert the law against the political opposition” ETIRED General Muhammad Buhari’s presidential electoral victory of February the 28, has attracted an admixture of favours and misfortune to both the lead- Rership and citizenry of the Nigerian state. It is truly a fortune to Nigeria for what such a victory portends for the mental re-engineering of Nigerians most of whom have unabashedly embraced corruption as a way of life. Yet it is a misfortune for it altered rather destructively, albeit partially, the political configuration of the country, which was hitherto fragmented through the agency of political parties, thereby beclouding the electorate’s senses of perception in certain parts of the country, into voting sheepishly and uncritically all in the name of pursuing the much desired change through the instrumentality of Buhari. And one wonders whether most of the candidates so voted at the governorship and senatorial polls and subsequently declared winners and returned elected or reelected have anything in common with Buhari. I thought it appropriate to contribute this piece in view of the mono-dimensional nature of most of the comments and contributions made so far to navigate before the General an express way to fighting corruption in the country. Such contributions seem to have promoted the perception that corruption cannot but be economic in nature. I venture to call attention to religious corruption or corruption in religion and more importantly academic corruption or corruption in educational settings. It may not be out of place to articulate the rationale for my decision to address such an important aspect of corruption that is hardly accorded its deserved attention in our national discourse. I am a teacher trainer with professional experience covering no fewer than four universities, three at home and one overseas. I am actively involved in teacher preparation in a number of universities in Nigeria and have seized the opportunity of my engagement with both students and lecturers to collect data across disciplines, across universities and across the years, with a view to conducting systematic studies on various dimensions of corrupt tendencies in Nigerian colleges and universities. Yet I shall, in the present article, restrict myself to the teacher factor in tertiary educational corruption. The incoming administration may need to show interest in who teaches and how teaching is done in our tertiary educational institutions. It certainly will interest the administration to learn that not all those who teach in such settings have any business with education. When a teacher teaches what he knows not, the outcome of such an exercise is better imagined than experienced. And when a teacher is deficient in knowledge and skills, it may not really matter whether students work hard to excel or not. Scientific stud- R epublican ipples lordbeek1@gmail.com, 08054504169 (Sms only, please) Olakunle Abimbola So long, Abba Not for them that flat dismissal by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (God bless his rebellious soul!), which reeks of the lean-andmean wit of John Donne, the English metaphysical poet: Uniform na khaki, na tailor dey sew am! Which brings the discourse to the fable that Nigeria’s president is the most powerful in all of the universe. That could be true by the way of hyperbole, to capture the sheer depth and breadth of the Nigerian president’s powers under the Constitution. But to every power, there is a limitation — except you want to breach the law. The Constitution says so. The presidential system, on which the Constitution is built, with its rigorous checks and balances, also says so. But all too often, most of Nigeria’s extant orders believe that costly power illusion, and expect their poor appointees, especially top dogs in the security agencies, to read their body language and merrily conspire to subvert the law. That was the Genesis to Revelation of Mr. Abba’s loud thud of a fall, in the presidential court of Goodluck Jonathan. Abba’s tragic grandstanding to please raised him. But it also smashed him. Now, to the main point that must not be missed. The cruel joke may be on IGP Abba for earning a sack from vile careerism. But the overall shame is on a manipulative President Jonathan, who shopped around for a pliant hand to skew an election he knew full well, from his rotten performance record, he deserved to lose — and with ignominy. While Jonathan eyed four more years of undeserved presidential power, Abba eyed no less than four years as IGP. If that meant helping Jonathan to achieve his goal, it was only a blissful marriage of two sweet dreams. Even if Mr. Abba’s police would lose respect as a vicious PDP rod, the end would justify the meanness (apologies to Prof. Wole Soyinka) in career sweetness! The gamey IGP proved his commitment to this dubious cause, when he half-appealed, half-threatened voters to depart the voting zone immediately after voting, despite INEC’s Re: Ekiti, sick boy of Yorubaland?: Each time I read all the negatives pertaining to Fayose’s rudderless leadership, I chuckle not because we often forget to attribute his coming The other corruption Buhari must fight By Saheed Ahmad Rufai ies have revealed that a teacher with low academic quality is not likely to have academic integrity. And where there is no integrity, it may not be out of place for a teacher to give marks for sex or for cash. Consequently, some lecturers are ready to give you any score no matter how high, as long as you are ready to pay. And now that such sub-standard teachers are fast growing in number owing to our questionable retention system, the academically sound and morally upright ones most times feel unsafe and insecure. This is because every scores inflator, marks manipulator or randy lecturer has an academic godfather to protect him or her. It is only in rare circumstances that a case concerning a lecturer’s insistence on exposing his fraudulent colleague is decided in favour of the ‘puritanist’ lecturer. Why is he trying to expose him? Why is he always complaining about corruption? Is there an incorruptible one in Nigeria? What does it profit him to expose his colleague? These are some of the comments that are normally generated by an anti-corruption stance among lecturers, which is why our faculties are now bereft of radical and outspoken academics. The corrupt teacher finds a fertile ground in the lazy and fraudulent students who are ever-willing to ‘pay’ for high grades in whatever form. Accordingly, corrupt academic practices have now become a joint venture between lecturers and students. Given that every public university in Nigeria has some percentage of sub-standard lecturers who can hardly write or speak well and as such bribe, influence or manipulate their way to even becoming professors, students with tempting material or other forms of gratifications find no strain in earning high grades and most of them even end up becoming lecturers. This is so because once they are assisted to graduate with inexplicably high grades, they are encouraged by their academic god-fathers to proceed to higher levels and within a twinkle of an eye, are declared as having successfully completed their doctorates! I dare not share with Nigerians how some lecturers navigate their ways to doctorates within their departments and how any lecturer attempting to shout ‘foul’ is horrendously From Taiwo Osunsanya to Ekiti countermand that such a directive was alien to the Electoral Law. But as Jonathan lost, the tactics exploded in Abba’s face — and strategies must logically change. But too bad, Abba trundled on a presidential snake that though scorched, was neither dead nor defanged. Hence, the fatal final bite! But in this brutal swish of instant punishment for perceived treachery, Fate played a terrible double. President Jonathan, still savouring his newfound toga of “global statesman” for conceding an election he soundly lost, by firing Abba, relegated himself to yet another grumpy, vindictive African Big Man, unwilling to expire without the last ugly roar. But the more profound anti-Abba comeuppance was the emergence of Solomon Arase as acting IGP. Reportedly Mr. Abba’s senior, by year of entry (Arase’s 1981 to Abba’s 1984), Mr. Arase’s putative reluctance to be engaged for dubious causes reportedly led to his sidelining when Mr. Abba got the job. Now, see who is going home earlier! Yet, it is unclear if Mr. Arase should laugh or cry over his temporary triumph. By virtue of his late emergence in an outgoing administration, his career too could have been adversely affected. What if the new government decides to sweep away all the service chiefs, and start on a clean slate? Perhaps the reported lobby in his favour, by past IGPs, could somewhat come to his aid? Maybe. Maybe not. He is due to retire in 2016, anyway. But the moral here is less for President Jonathan and more for President-elect Mohammadu Buhari. Impunity almost always comes back to haunt its perpetrator. Jonathan, for all his advertised meekness, was not shy of playing God. Yet, his own hand-picked IGP ditched him the moment he became lame-duck! Therefore, Gen. Buhari cannot, like most of his predecessors, afford to play the misguided but tragic Leviathan that, at whims, twists and turns the Constitution to partisan and selfserving ends. Let security chiefs be appointed solely on merit; not on their perceived duplicity to subvert the law against the political opposition. Jonathan and Abba fell flat on their faces — good! But they were not the first to attempt such. Neither will they be the last. But Gen. Buhari must strive for a radical and positive change in attitude. That is the surest way to deepen our democratic institutions. to right quarters. Ekiti deserves a better leadership. But we should blame Fayose’s “progressive” predecessors who unknowingly paved his way to power. Ilupeju, Lagos. suppressed. Yet, there are brilliant lecturers virtually every where even though the sub-standard elements are fast outnumbering them. When an empty-headed teacher operates in an educational setting and attains the peak of his career one can imagine how colossal his damage to the system is. Nigeria’s educational system is fast getting predominantly peopled by wrong sets of certificate carriers and such an unfortunate experience flourishes unchallenged. One is constrained to ask whether having a poorly trained pilot fly a plane will not culminate in an immediate crash. One is equally constrained to ask whether having a surgery performed by a quack surgeon will not culminate in a death. One is equally constrained to ask whether the legal profession is not sensitive about the quality of legal professional practice. Although not without their own degree of corruption, the aforementioned professions place premium on professionalism and are able to monitor and control their operations through non-university based professional bodies. Conversely, a lecturer can spend two hours teaching nonsense in the lecture room, unchallenged, for there is no monitoring. He can also make as much money as he wishes and sleep with as many students as he likes or even attract from his students building materials for his housing projects, without being questioned. At the end of it all, highest bidders among students attract highest scores. That explains why we are no longer able to distinguish between good scores that were earned by sharp brains and high grades that were achieved with big boobs. Okey Ndibe once wrote about sexually transmitted degrees and I venture to say that only a meticulous observer can appreciate and distinguish the academically earned degrees from the sexually and romantically achieved as well as the materially or financially attracted certificates. Little wonders that many of today’s graduates from our universities cannot write a good paragraph. Aside the ubiquitous publications that lecturers present for elevations, which have now become the easiest thing for university lecturers, can there also not be an efficacious quality-assuring mechanism to determine the worth of every teacher? Can there not also be an effective strategy to sanction the morally bankrupt teachers? Can there not be a good and meaningful way of rewarding hard-work and commendable scholarship? Can there not be a credible means of making lecturers with integrity proud of their own incorruptible nature rather than persecute and coerce them into criminal compliance or irrational conformity. • Rufai, Ph.D teaches at Sokoto State University.
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