President Jonathan finally visited Maiduguri

I THINK the lead story of DAILY TRUST of January 16th, 2015, captured the essence of the visit; it announced that: “Jonathan sneaks into Maiduguri”. Because in truth, that was what President Jonathan did! Not because he truly loved to visit that city, but because the national and international contexts had become very inconvenient for him. All through the previous week, international media outfits like the BBC and CNN were carrying reports of Jonathan’s patently absurd position.

He was quick to send a condolence message to France in the wake of the CHARLY HEBDO killings but would not even acknowledge the massacre in Baga. While international human rights organizations reported that about 2000 people had been killed along with graphic satellite imageries of the carnage in Baga, the Nigerian Army countered that “ONLY 150” had been killed! The incredulity of that position escaped them; that it won’t matter if only one Nigerian were killed. What was important was the empathy and responsiveness of leadership.

And President Jonathan has, unfortunately, failed the test of leadership in the past couple of years with the carnage in the trail of the Boko Haram insurgency.Obasanjo’s most recent book confirmed that Jonathan’s narrative had always been that it was his “enemies” that were killing themselves in Northern Nigeria. It flowed logically from that standpoint, that a lukewarm, almost disinterested attitude, suffused the leadership’s response to the insurgency, but especially the conditions of troops as well as the plight of the peoples of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and the North at large. It was clear, that presidential handlers hoped they could exploit the insurgency to isolate the Northern political elite; profit from regional and religious suspicions, especially with an eye on the 2015 elections. As conditions worsened and Nigeria continued to lose huge swathes of territory, the oath President Jonathan swore to, to defend the country’s territorial integrity, became patently hollow, just as his government became increasingly unable, to guarantee the peace and security of citizens. The irony for Jonathan was that he carried on as if 2015 was not going to come, even when it was clear, that his refusal to fully commit against the insurgency was precisely because of hope to profit in the 2015 elections!

In the long run, this was the local context which forced his hands to finally pluck the courage to abandon the redoubt of Aso Villa, and make his whistle-stop trip to Maiduguri. Restive troops have for months been running away from battle, often complaining about the insufficiency of resources to combat the insurgency; when they were not attempting to kill their leaders! The once proud Nigerian Army was rolling over under a regime of heist; and our country was becoming the laughing stock of the region. Yet, the way Nigerian refugees were streaming into ordinarily poor neighbouring countries, was further straining life in those countries. And as Boko Haram crossed Nigerian borders to attack in Cameroun, it became even clearer, that a local insurgency has taken a regional dimension! Yet, until last week, it seemed that President Jonathan was still living in denial, ensconced behind sandbags of delusion inside Aso Villa. The narrative of his “enemies” killing themselves was past its shelf life and Nigerians became much clearer in their minds, that the insurgency is a clear danger to our country. But the greater danger was the incompetent manner it has been managed and the buck of this incompetence stopped on President Jonathan’s table.

VISIT—President Goodluck Jonathan, being received by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State (3L)while others watch at the Maiduguri International Airport, yesterday, when the President visited Borno over the ongoing activities of Boko Haram. Inset: President Jonathan with some of the wounded soldiers during the visit. Photos: Ndahi Marama/State House.

Condemned abroad and found wanting at home, and the 2015 elections a few weeks away, President Jonathan was finally obliged, as DAILY TRUST reported, to sneak into Maiduguri, last Thursday. He appeared like he had been dragged kicking and screaming, against his personal preference, to see his troops and confront the internally displaced citizens he had taken an oath to defend as president of Nigeria. It was good that he finally made the trip, but it was too little too late. Unfortunately!

Table Tennis:We should celebrate Aruna Quadri

IN a season that Nigeria has been unable to qualify for the Cup of Nations football championship, thus forfeiting the right to defend the title won in South Africa, a young Nigerian table tennis player, Aruna Quadri, has given us a wonderful reason to celebrate Nigerian talent.A week ago, in Dubai, at its Star Awards, the International Table Tennis Federation, named our Aruna Quadri as its Male Table Tennis Star of the year. The award followed a poll of 60, 000 people conducted by an expert panel.

In winning the award as Male Table Tennis Star of the year, African Champion, Quadri, was judged ahead of XuXin, the world number one; Fan Zhendong, the Youth Olympics Champion and the European Championshipgold medalist, the Portugese Marcos Freitas.

It was equally noteworthy that in a year, Aruna Quadri’s ranking moved from number 237 to the world’s 30th ranked player. As he told WEEKLY TRUST in an interview: “The award means that my performances in year 2014 have been recognized by the International Table Tennis Federation. It means a lot to the whole of Africa”. And it does indeed!

I am very passionate about sports in general, but table tennis in particular. As a fourteen year old in secondary school, I wanted to become the first African world table tennis champion. And by my final year in GSS Ilorin, I was already the best player in school and on the fringes of the Kwara state team. My generation saw the remarkable rise of table tennis in Nigeria in general, within the ambience of the sports revolution in our country during the 1970s headed by the late Chief Isaac Akioye. By the mid-1970s, under the leadership of Dr. Gboyega Efunkoya, Nigerian table tennis became increasingly dominant in Africa. A programme of development was instituted which took selected young people from all over Nigeria for a six-month camp in China. The late Lai Adegboye was chosen from Kwara State. The possibility of such exposures led to a remarkable bourgeoning of table tennis in Nigeria and in Kwara State, the ex-international, WahabSani, became our coach.
Kwara state eventually became the base of some truly outstanding players: Atanda Musa, KasaliLasisi, Segun Abiodun, Bayo Kadara, Ibikun Falashe, Williams Owolabi and many more! Of course, Nigerian men and women’s teams and individuals would become the toast of the game in Africa: Babatunde Obisanya, Ethel Jacks, Olawumi Majekodumi, Kuburat Owolabi and many more. There was a national sports programme and an accompanying sports infrastructure and individuals committed to creating national sports excellence.

Unfortunately, the rot took over as the national process of development gave rise to the promotion of mediocrity; the institution of monumental corruption and the gradual destruction of platforms and processes which helped our country to produce excellent sports men and women. Practically all over the country today, the states sports councils don’t function with the effectiveness of old.

Painstaking effort

The painstaking effort to discover and nurture talent from school sports; and even the effort pioneered by YSFON, has gradually given way. It is within today’s chaos that individuals like Blessing Okagbare and Aruna Quadri, have painstakingly and often by great personal sacrifices, have been able to emerge and by dint of hard work, found success, individually and for our collective pride as a country. We should celebrate Aruna Quadri. But above all else, we should re-jig our sports infrastructure to consciously rediscover the patterns of success that can be built up bringing the mass of our young people within the loop of national sports development and success.
That is how patriotism is engendered through sports. It is an imperative for a country like Nigeria, where the overwhelming majority of the population is young. Congratulations, Aruna Quadri!

On Kwara water supply problems and the APC slogan of change

THE story goes that AbdulFatah Ahmed, Kwara State Governor,recently held a meeting with traditional rulers to be upgraded in a process targeted to harvest votes in the next elections. Each traditional ruler was told to contribute N500, 000 for the coronation ceremony that will herald upgrading. One of them plucked the courage to inform the governor that he and his community had not even been able to raise the N150, 000 to repair the community’s water tank! A friend was telling me on Tuesday evening, that as he drove out of River Basin road, he saw six well diggers prowling his neighborhood for people who might use their services, unable to pay the huge sums that borehole outfits collect. Borehole business is huge in Ilorin, because of the irresponsibility of government to complete work on the city’s water supply project. I spent N1.6million on three boreholes, right in the heart of the GRA, before finally getting water in my house!

This was apart from hundreds of thousands I initially spent futilely, trying to get water supply through the Kwara State Water Corporation. The desperate installation of boreholes in people’s homes is an indictment of Bukola Saraki’s irresponsible, self-serving and ruinous hegemony, given the billions of Naira that has disappeared into the blackhole of contracts for “water supply”.

Former Presidential Adviser, Senator Makanjuola Ajadi said billions of Naira has ‘retriculated’ into private pockets in Kwara, instead of ‘retriculating’ water through our pipes! The future danger to our underground water reservoir also hangs on the conscience of those who turned water supply contracts into a conduit for theft. Yet Bukola Saraki is Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment!

In the past few weeks,Bukola Saraki has been going around with the Buhari Campaign, mouthing the slogan of “CHANGE”. He desperately hopes to cream off the credibility associated with General Buhari. ButKwarans know better. Bukola has been ruling Kwara state since 2003. What manner of “CHANGE” can he promote?”CHANGE” from Bukola Saraki to Bukola Saraki?

Prostrate state

From six to half a dozen? From a prostrate state to a completely bankrupt state? From a state existing to cater for Bukola Saraki’s creature comfort to a state that prioritisesBukola Saraki’s pension as number one item of expenditure? “CHANGE” the Bukola Saraki way in Kwara means more of the same: Kwara’s monthly allocations or loans taken in Kwara’s name will be used to start projects and Bukola Saraki will turn around to say those projects don’t belong to our state; no, but they belong to Bukola Saraki’s “private sector”.

“CHANGE” indeed! The person that promises to give out a dress, the African people say we must first look at what he wears. APC’s “CHANGE” slogan might be sincere in other settings but not with Bukola Saraki and Kwara. Just with water supply contract heists alone, we can catch a whiff of the “CHANGE” in the offing under Bukola Saraki’s Kwara State APC from May 2015!

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