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America: Where did your dream go!

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•The people must protect democracy for democracy to protect the people.

This piece returns to the American scene because it is important for Africa to understand the dynamics of America’s political economy. It is insufficient to imbibe the myths hoisted on you. If you accept them, you would believe America invented the words “democracy, justice and right.” Further, you would believe America’s actions are always and everywhere defined by these notions. To accept this perspective is to align on the wrong side of a grave deception. America occupies the pinnacle of military and economic power; possession of such might gives the nation an ability to broadcast its favored version of history and events with a force none can match. This dominance of the portals of information reshapes the minds of others. The frequency with which the fables are told becomes seen by the innocent and unaware as indicative of the accuracy of the message. That you regularly publish something does not make it true. It just makes the average nation and person think it’s true.

America has always been an imperfect nation that engaged in many ignoble things along the road of national evolution. Slavery, the nearly total eclipse of Native American populations, and the strong-armed theft of the southwestern United States from an unfairly beaten and supine Mexican nation scar the nation’s path to greatness. American would rather you discount these things as mistakes from a dead past. But the past never fully dies; it exists in the present it helped create. These benighted events are as integral to American history as the march toward democracy, economic development and human rights. One set is the full counterpoise of the other. Those who say America is God’s country belittle God, reducing Him to a mortal who respects might and money more than compassion and goodness. America is not God’s nation; it is a man’s nation, save that man is stronger than any other at the moment. Like other nations, America is a mixture of good and bad, of noble and base, and of those who love democracy and those who so despise it that they would turn it into something different if given a chance at a chance. American democracy is not a monolith nor is it an altar at which all Americans worship. It is a composite human organism suffering a terrible affliction within. Some of its parts want no part of it. Ironically, the relatively smooth yet elitist operation of the system has provided those who would undermine democracy the money and power to do so.

As such, America is a great republic turning small. Today’s America represents a textbook on how to lose democracy not strengthen it. For African nations like Nigeria, there is no lesson more poignant. You will learn much about how to grow your democracy by understanding how America is forfeiting hers. By learning how America bankrupts its democracy, you just might discover how to keep your own.

Thus, this column frequently returns to the American scene not because America is a positive lesson. We examine America because too many of you perceive it as the pinnacle, when it is not. Once it was; now it is not. However, perception commonly trails reality. This err can be fatal to Africa. Thus we must cure it before it leads Africa backwards.

Last week, the American government criticized the pardon granted former Bayelsa Governor DSP Alamieyeseigha. Local media was alive with this story. However, something was missing in much of the analysis of this bilateral spat. Reasonable people may differ about the merits of the action so there is little profit in trampling this worn ground. Suffice it to say the act was legal. There also is little utility in arguing that America’s statement represented an unwarranted interference in Nigeria’s internal affairs as America is the supreme global interloper. The American government sees it as its divine right to tell others what to do. This is what America does. What most of the media commentary failed to address was the American government’s obvious hypocrisy in criticizing another nation of corruption when America could not handle what it had in hand.

While fustigating the pardon came, this same Administration recently found one, possibly two, banks willfully guilty of laundering drug money, with each institution washing nearly one billion dollars in dirty money. This was criminal action performed by senior bank officials. Yet, no criminal charges were had. The excuse was that invoking criminal sanctions would harm the banks. Because the banks were so large and important, such action would damage the economy. Put another way, the law cannot touch them because the officials hold important positions handling other people’s money. This begs a question: What do you call a banker who will not be charged for misappropriating other people’s funds? He is no longer a fiduciary custodian of the funds: he has become a thief in the making.

Rarely has such a feckless excuse been given by law enforcement officials unwilling to enforce the law. In effect, the Justice Department lent its good offices to injustice. Eschewing the constitution and the laws they swore to uphold, administration officials revealed that Money Power trumped justice in their universe.

No one was asking the government to set torch to the banks. Certain bank employees were guilty. Punishing them would not crash the banks or ruin the economy. We would have survived just as we make do when a bank official expires or falls ill. These people should have been sanctioned as severely as any drug pusher. Without willing bankers, the drug industry would not be as big, violent and lucrative as it is. It would not menace society as it does. Yet, the bankers were given a free pass. All the banks did was to pay a civil fine. The fine represents noting more than a “tax” on criminal behavior. Justice may be blind but she evidently has acquired a great deference to money.

Worse, the same Justice Department declared it will not investigate, let alone, prosecute any of the misconduct that precipitated the 2008 global financial meltdown and concomitant recession. This mocks justice. Again the excuse was a spineless wonder. Officials rationalized the financial wrongdoing was too complicated and too massive to prosecute. What! Every major financial crisis is built on a mountain of crimes. The 2008 decline was no exception. Systematic accounting fraud by senior officials in the largest financial institutions reduced the world economy to its knees. Over 20 trillion dollars in nominal wealth was destroyed. Millions lost jobs they shall never regain. Lives becoming synonymous with poverty and unable to bear the weight of their decline, hundreds took their own lives. Meanwhile, the incomes of bank officials responsible for the morass grew, as if they fed off the misery of the economy.

Authorities pursued wildcat criminals like Bernie Madoff whose one-man pyramid scheme inevitably collapsed. However, Madoff and those like him were fringe players in a larger drama. By foregoing any attempt to prosecute the wrongdoings leading to the financial crisis, the American justice system gave blanket pardon to the perpetrators of a trillion dollar criminal undertaking. In one swoop, the justice system immunized an entire class of professional wrongdoers. It was as if the Administration said, “You stole so much in such an arcane way, we’d rather you keep the loot!” Senior officials in the large financial houses are now above the law. As long as theft is not blatant and is aptly buried in the balance sheet, banker criminals will not be sanctioned and can remain among the most powerful and respected members of society.

Not only does this pardon shield past wrongs it gives a green light to future sinister conduct. By its permissiveness toward financial wrong, government has approbated the resumption of the hircine behavior that produced the 2008 crisis. This means another financial crisis is inevitable. Shorn of its nigh unintelligible legal jargon, the government’s position is that sophisticated financial crimes which profit large banks are no longer illegal. A nation has reached the height of financialism when criminal justice officials, in contravention of Congress’s legislative prerogative to define crime, unilaterally deem legal financial conduct every sentient person knows is illegal. Sadly, the height point of financialism is a low form of corruption, as barren as the public office corruption bedeviling Africa. However, because people have been indoctrinated to see America as the exemplar of good governance, we don’t see its corruption for what it is.

America’s big financial institutions are rife with crime but rifer with money able to fuel political campaigns. Consequently, financial firms have disproportionate sway over politicians, including the occupant of the White House. Yet, many firms are populated with senior officials who should be indicted. Instead, they deploy profits improperly acquired to buy undue influence in government. Because of this undue weight, government looks at the financial sector as sacrosanct to the extent that government has decreed that no serious crime can be committed therein. Wall Street is now America’s Vatican and Washington is but government for hire. In comparison, Nigeria’s prosecution of a handful of banking officials, while far from exemplary, still exceeds the American government’s performance in similar circumstance.

In all, the reasons given by the American government for effectively pardoning the entire class of people who crashed the global economy are not as colorable as the reasons given for the Alamieyeseigha pardon. There may be people with cause to question that pardon. The American government is not one of them. Washington should first remove the forest from its eye before shouting to everyone to come view the speck in Abuja’s. At bottom, America’s grouse is not against corruption. In its hubris, America believes it should define those forms of corruption other nations should commit and those they should not.

Meanwhile, people who celebrated Obama’s reelection, believing it would free him to become his truer self have gotten their wish. They now wish they hadn’t. The first months of Obama’s second term have been as pleasant as a rotting fish in one’s bed. This column has repeatedly declared Obama a consummate manipulator prone to do the opposite of what he says. For years, I have labeled him a Rockefeller Republican. That description has proven too ebullient. Although he continues to deceive people with his winsome personality, the man has become Nixonian in action.

During the campaign, he pledged allegiance to the middle class, vowing not to balance the budget on their backs. Yet, outside the glare of the media, his Administration recently sent tens of thousands of government workers on unpaid furlough. Many will be permanently dismissed, never again to find work. By and large, these workers voted for him, hoping against hope that he would bring the change he promised. What they got in return for their trust in this man is change that will impoverish them. They have learned the bitter lesson too late. To lean on Obama is to lean on a mirage. You will fall.

Obama also claimed he would not undermine Social Security and public health care benefits. However, he joined the Republican congressional leadership in temporizing as the deadline for comprehensive government budget cuts expired. Unable to hide delight as his boss’s political legerdemain, Obama’s chief economic advisor let the rat out of the trap. The advisor revealed the president’s public opposition to the cuts was political theatre. Obama actually wanted the reductions. The cuts would allow Obama to achieve the social service reductions he wanted yet allow him to escape blame for the austere measures. Obama could claim the Republicans forced him into cuts that, in reality, he wanted all along. In other words, He conspired with his Republican interlocutors to confound the electorate and as well as members of his own party who did not expect this level of fiscal austerity from him. That they did not know better was because they did not want to know their president. They would rather believe him than to know him. This may prove a costly preference.

From the onset of his presidency, Obama set his heart on dismantling the social safety architecture constructed by Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic Party’s greatest president. Though waving a liberal banner, Obama seeks the conservative Holy Grail: to shrink and privatize social security and public health.

That Obama does these things although contrary to the interests of the people who voted for him does not make him evil. Like most American politicians, he is more hired hand than elected official. In America, elections mean less than the money that funds them. Without funds, there is no campaign, thus no victory. It is a myth that Obama’s campaign was dependent on no one because it was fueled by millions of small donors. Without the vast sums given him by Wall Street interests, Obama would not have made it. His election was purchased by the few. To the few, he owes his loyalty. This is the way of modern American governance. Elections keep it democratic in form. However, the system has been distorted to where all major candidates are simply indebted to different members of the same class of deep-pocketed donors. Thus, Republicans are now extreme conservatives and the Democratic Party has become moderately conservative on economic matters. In substance, American government is no longer democratic in terms of abiding the will of the electorate. It is democratic only in the venal sense that it is now open for purchase to the highest bidder.

In the end, democracy is a rather odd species of governance. While other forms of governance leap at self-perpetuation, democracy recoils from longevity. Its core theme is the fundamental equality of man. Yet, not all people believe it. However, democracy does not penalize those who despise it. It allows them the freedom to amass the economic and political power to deracinate the very mode of government that provided them the space and freedom to prosper. A sad trait of human nature is the nearly universal and uncanny ability of elites to come to the wrong conclusion regarding the relationship between their personal attainment and the governing system in which they operate. The wealthier people become, the more they believe their fortune is unilaterally derived. They believe they achieved it despite the system. As such, the system becomes the enemy to their continued advance and fulfillment. They buy and bend the system to fit their purpose. The more it fits them, the less it accords with the majority of society. This is how democracy is placed on the auction block. This is the current state of American governance. It is nothing to celebrate. Emulate it at your peril for you will progress no further than you already have.

 

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: The Nation Newspaper

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This Day

Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack

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•Deploy more personnel as army chief vows to wipe out terror group
•Security beefed up at N’Assembly

Deji Elumoye and Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power, is under a massive security cordon following threats of attacks by insurgents and the increasing wave of banditry in the contiguous states of Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger States, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.

There has been a wave of kidnappings in the outskirts of the federal capital, notably Pegi, Tuganmaje and Kuje among others, which the police have battled in recent times.

The security situation in and around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was heightened by the pronouncement of the Niger State Governor, Mr. Sani Bello, that Boko Haram fighters who he said sacked 50 villages in the state and hoisted the terror group’s flag, were about two hours drive away from the FCT.

Security has also been beefed up at the National Assembly as operatives, yesterday, thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

The deteriorating security situation nationwide prompted the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, to warn that the 2023 general election may not hold, demanding the declaration of a state of emergency as well as the convocation of a national conference.
However, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, yesterday restated the Nigerian Army’s determination to annihilate Boko Haram.

But the Governor of Katsina State, Hon. Bello Masari, cautioned against declaring a state of emergency, saying doing so isn’t the solution to combat the security challenges facing the country.
The security of the nation’s airports was also in focus yesterday as the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said there was no threat to them.

THISDAY’s investigations showed increased presence of troops, police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel and intelligence operatives at the three strategic entrances to the city notably, Keffi, Zuba and Gwagwalada.

More checkpoints were also mounted around Gwagwalada and Keffi.
THISDAY also observed increased intelligence deployment at the entrance and the borders of FCT with contiguous states.

Beyond the borders, there were more deployments and police patrols inside the city and increased intelligence deployments as well.
Security sources told THISDAY: “There are deployments here and there but they are routine. Alertness is key to a secure environment.”

It was also learnt that security agencies were involved in frenzied meetings throughout yesterday.
The meetings, coordinated by the office of the Chief of Defence Staff under the new joint operational strategy of the armed forces, were aimed at coordinating a joint response to possible threats of attack to the FCT.

“I understand the security teams have been meeting for some days now and if you look around you, you will notice that there are increasing patrols and numbers of security personnel. The threats are not been taken lightly,” a source said.

National Assembly workers, lawmakers and visitors also had a harrowing experience accessing the legislative complex due to heightened security in the area.
Security operatives thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja, impeding both human and vehicular traffic.

The Sergeant-at-arm of the National Assembly and other security agencies supervised the operations, leading to huge traffic build-up inside the complex.

Legislative staff, visitors and lawmakers were seen patiently waiting for their cars to be searched so that they could go ahead with the business of the day.
Some staff and visitors at some point got tired of waiting and were seen alighting from their cars to trek from the gate to the complex.

Meanwhile, the ONSA has said there is no threat to the nation’s airports.
A statement by the Head of Strategic Communication, Mr. Zachari Usman, said the reports of threats to the airports were an internal correspondence of security threat assessment misconstrued as security threat to the airports.

PDP Demands State of Emergency

In a related development, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday demanded the declaration of a state of emergency, warning that the 2023 general election might not hold if the federal government failed to tackle insecurity.

He called on the federal government to summon a national conference to address the spike in insecurity.
Secondus added that the national caucus of the party will meet today to discuss the state of the nation.

Addressing members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja, Secondus said: “We are worried Abuja is not even safe. It is no longer politics. We got alert of plots to bomb and burn down our airports.

“We urge the federal government to declare a national state of emergency in security. There is the need to call a national conference to discuss the insecurity in the country.

“There may not be any election in 2023 in Nigeria due to insecurity. This government must listen to the people. The Buhari government should call a national confab to discuss security and state of the nation. It is no longer politics. This time we are not playing politics. Let’s keep politics aside and move the nation forward.”
He said the country had been grounded, regretting that there had been no matching response from the federal government.

Secondus said in the past, terrorism in the North was confined to the North-east, but with the report of Boko Haram occupying villages in Niger State, terrorism had spread to the North-central
“Herdsmen are also menacing in the West; gunmen causing havoc in the East; and the militants in the South; all killing, looting, raping, maiming and burning down homes. The situation is bad; Nigerians all over are living in fear,” he said.

The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the problem of Nigeria was outside of the PDP headquarters, while pledging the support of the Senate to the declaration of state of emergency in security.

Abaribe said he deliberately decided not to speak on the floor of the Senate but to allow the APC senators to speak so as to avoid being accused of giving a partisan colouration to the issue of insecurity.

He stated that only electoral reforms would give victory to the opposition party in the 2023 general election and ensure a democratic defeat of the APC-led federal government.
Also, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, commended the NEC and the PDP leadership for their collective efforts at resolving the House leadership crisis.

The NEC meeting adopted the position of Secondus, calling on the federal government to convoke a national conference to discuss the state of insecurity in the country, according to a communiqué read by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan.

Army Chief Vows to Wipe Out Boko Haram

The army yesterday reiterated its commitment to wipe out Boko Haram.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, told reporters in Maiduguri, Borno State that Boko Haram had been defeated in many encounters and would continue to be defeated until it’s annihilated from Nigeria.

“We will take on Boko Haram decisively, and we are committed to the focus of the operations, which is the total annihilation of Boko Haram from Nigeria,” he said.

The COAS, who was visiting the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri for the fifth time since his appointment four months ago, said the visit was to boost the morale of the troops, reassure them and listen to any issues affecting them.

Earlier, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Farouq Yahaya, lauded the visit, which he said had continued to boost the morale of the troops.
“We are honoured, we are grateful, we are encouraged by those visits. You provided us guidance, logistics and other things we required. We are most grateful for those visits,” Yahaya said.

State of Emergency Won’t Solve Security Challenges, Says Masari

Katsina State Governor, Hon. Aminu Masari, has, however, said declaration of a state of emergency won’t solve the security challenges facing the nation.
Masari, who spoke yesterday with journalists after meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari at the State House, Abuja stated that he was against the recent call by the House of Representatives for the declaration of a state of emergency in the security sector as it would not solve the problem.
According to him, declaring a state of emergency will not achieve the desired effect as the security structure and personnel to be used to execute the emergency are already overstretched in a bid to safeguard lives and property.

Sourced From: THISDAYLIVE

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Tribune

Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110

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Tribune Online
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 62 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 165,110. The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Friday. “55 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Lagos-21, Yobe-19, Ogun-6, Akwa Ibom-3, Kaduna-2, Plateau-2, FCT-1, Rivers-1.” YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE COVID-19: Nigeria Recorded […]

Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Tribune Online

Sourced From: Tribune Online

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Vanguard

Attacks on S’East: We must explore all options of negotiation — Stakeholders urge Igbo

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By Olasunkanmi Akoni

The people of the South East region have been urged to explore the power of negotiation and mutual settlement in the face of ongoing killings and security challenges in the zone because the east can not afford another war at present.

Stakeholders from the South-East geo-political zone made the remark on Thursday, at the unveiling of the book, “Igbo, 50 years after Biafra,” written by Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage Services, Joe Igbokwe, held at Ikeja G.R.A.

Speaking at the unveiling of the book, the chairman of the occasion, Mr. Cutis Adigba,
urged the people of the South-East to learn to build bridges across the country, so that they can realise their ambition of producing the next president of Nigeria.

Adigba urged leaders from the zone to discourage the move and agitation by some youths in the South East to go to war and secede out of Nigeria.

Also read: Banditry: Disregard viral video, Niger State gov’t urges residents

He said that Igbo have always found it difficult to rule Nigeria because they refused to build bridges across the six geo-political zones that made up Nigeria.

While describing the agitation as uncalled for, Adigba noted that after two decades that Nigeria returned to civil rule, the Igbo has predominantly identified with only one political party.

He maintained that remaining in one party can not advance the cause of the people of South East and cannot make them realise their objective of producing an Igbo man as president.

He maintained that the publisher of the book, Igbokwe played politics outside his state, so that the Igbo race can be integrated with one another race.

Adigba said the failure of the Igbo to reintegrate with other ethnic nationalities politically was responsible for the retrogression of the race in Nigerian politics.

Igbokwe, also addressing guests on the occasion, maintained that the Igbo are not advancing politically because they refused to be integrated into National politics, lamenting that, despite their success in business, they are not successful in playing politics at the national level.

Corroborating Dimgba, Igbokwe noted that there was the need for the Igbo people to stand up and build bridges so that their objective of producing the next president of Nigeria could be realised.

According to him: “I have decided to raise my voice, I hope my people will hear me while trying to quell the effect of the war, our people are spoiling for another war, mayhem is being unleashed in Igbo land, and there is palpable fear.

“Those who could speak have lost their voice, mindful of the consequences of their actions, I am calling on all Igbo leaders to speak up because all actions carry consequences, consequences of the silence will be too dastardly to sustain.

“Those silently supporting the wild wind should be careful or else they hand over to their children,” he said.

Igbokwe urged those spoiling for war to jettison their plan and embrace dialogue, urging them to learn from the South West region that despite the challenges faced after the annulment of the June 12, 1993, election, they did not go to war, and the region had the opportunity of producing two of her sons for presidential position in 1999.

“You have to build bridges to become president of Nigeria, but it is unfortunate the Igbo are burning bridges.”

Speaking at the event, Chief Uche Dimgba who is the coordinator of Igbo in All Progressives Congress, APC in Lagos, described Igbokwe as “a Frank, fearless and reliable leader, who based his views on issues and stand by his opinions, and we the Igbo have confidence in him and believe he can lead us aright.”

“He is a leader we Igbo believe in and we will follow him. If he can serve all the governors produced in Lagos State since 1999, he is a better man to follow because he possesses all the experience that can be of benefit to Igbo both at home and in the diaspora.”

Vanguard News Nigeria 

The post Attacks on S’East: We must explore all options of negotiation — Stakeholders urge Igbo appeared first on Vanguard News.

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Premium Times

Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings

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The government said that no worker should stay back beyond 6:00 p.m. within premises of buildings undergoing construction.

The post Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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