Nigerian Newspapers
Let our rich be
Whatever our rich do, the poor protest: From generators to private aircraft. Now, it is bullet-proof vehicles. What is it?
I used to think it is only our students that do not rest, be they of the UI of Ibadan, or UI of Lagos, or UI of Ife, Kano or what have you! But no! Our rich too cannot rest. No thanks to our over-pampered but unappreciative hoi polloi a.k.a. the poor masses. In fact, I am beginning to think that our common man is suffering from the Pull Him Down (PHD) or Be As I Am (BAIA) syndrome. The other day, it was about Nigeria being one of the highest importers of generators. Sometime ago, the story changed to our being the country with the highest number of private jets. Just a few weeks back, the poor (as in the poor masses) in the country were angry when it was reported that we were number two in champagne consumption, worldwide. I had to passionately appeal to our President that he should not worry about that disappointing report card; I assured him that our country, in its characteristic fashion, will soon elbow out France, the leading consumer of champagne, so we can get our rightful title in the comity of champagne drunkards. Sure, something must have gone wrong somewhere to put us in the second position. In all these, and in their characteristic soft-heartedness, our rich never lifted a finger. Mum has been the word from them.
So, what is the bile this time around? They say Nigeria is the largest importer of bullet-proof cars! How is that a problem, except to the poor? Isn’t this a sign of good living? This was a position hitherto enjoyed by Iraq, Afghanistan and Latin American countries. Isn’t it cheery that money is not the problem of our rich but how to spend it? Isn’t it good enough news that we could import this number of armoured vehicles even when we are not in a war situation? And, what, in concrete terms does this boil down to?
They say in the last few years, about 800 to 900 (only) armoured vehicles have been imported into the country at a cost of about N60billion. Isn’t this chicken change to a major oil-producing country like Nigeria? Apparently one of our great musicians who sang years back that he was only poor; he was not crazy did not know that there is hardly any difference between both. Is it not better for one bullet-proof car to absorb the bullets that some 200 poor people could have been hired to absorb in the course of protecting our rich if our rich are not the considerate and godly type? All the rich have to do is replace the hapless poor with another batch once one batch has been exterminated. You see, a ngba adiye lowo iku, o ni won o je ki oun lo si akitan lo je (whereas we are preventing the chick from death, it is angry that it is not allowed to go looking for food on the dunghill).
Honestly, I am beginning to lose my temper. And, if I can feel this bad about these unsavoury developments, I can imagine what could be going on in the minds of our big people. I wonder when the poor will ever allow our rich a breather. These are the same rich people that allow our poor, alternatives to whatever they (the rich), enjoy.
When the rich take tea, the poor take pap. Even the poor acknowledge that both of them are drinking hot water. When the rich travel abroad for medical care, the poor also travel to the village for home-grown solutions to some of their chronic medical challenges. Our poor people have access to Egbesu Boys, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) for their security when the rich go for police escorts and expensive body guards. When our rich fly in their private jets, the poor also travel in Keke Marwa, Okada, Molue, Danfo and all. In all these, how many times have we seen the rich giving themselves headache trying to find out how much per annum, the poor spend on pap, or OPC, or Keke Marwa, etc.? As far as the rich are concerned, they are satisfied classifying all these activities of the poor as informal sector of the economy which they cannot lose sleep over. The rich simply don’t care even though many of us believe that there is a lot of money in this informal sector.
The point is that our common man does not seem to know that people who are mute when pilloried as we are pillorying our rich are the most dangerous. Remember the tale of the man who took the duckling. He had to quickly return it when he told an elder that the mother duck did nothing after he had taken the duckling, and instead picked a chick. The hen reacted violently and the elder said the chicken was better material for pepper soup. I cannot understand the basis of this resentment for our rich; when in actual fact, it should have been the other way round. I mean, it is the rich who should have been wondering of what benefit are the poor beyond just clogging the space and constituting environmental nuisance. The silence of our rich is only not golden; it is also ominous. These are people who have almost all the dossier on the poor at their finger tips but do not care about such inconsequential details.
But the poor (when the rich buy generator, or exotic cars, exotic wines, or bullet-proof cars) sniff for information on the sum total on each of these items bought by the rich. They do not care if their nostrils gather dust in the process of sniffing for the information. They are so idle that they even compare and contrast and come to the conclusion that the country is first in terms of spending on these expensive items.
Honestly, these poor people have to be careful. The fact that we have the kind of God-fearing rich people that we have should not be taken for granted. Not all countries are that lucky. The poor here should not overstretch their luck because if these rich people change their mind, the result would be too unpalatable for them to bear. Anyway, in their own interest, the poor should call an emergency meeting where they would elect their executive officers so that we will all know their chairman who we can call (to order) whenever their members misbehave again. Things cannot continue like this. My fear is that if we do not have a leader that the rich can call to account for the misconduct of their members, the rich might one day be tempted to do the ultimate: ask that the poor be wiped out from all parts of the country or be dropped in the lagoon or the nearest Osu River; that mere seeing the poor makes them (the rich) want to throw up. I do not want things to degenerate to this extent.
Our poor should know that in most other places, whatever the rich do has to be applauded; no matter how silly it may seem. Even our revered Williams Shakespeare attest ed to the fact that the rich and the poor do not belong in the same category when he said: “When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes”. Have the poor ever seen comets when beggars die? Have they ever seen where the heavens blaze forth the death of their ilk? Please, please, for God’s sake, let our rich be. Rather than be sad that they are doing well, we should be glad and grateful to God for their lives.
Uneasy lies the head that wears the riches! We cannot leave our rich to the vagaries of the insecurity in the land.
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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: The Nation Newspaper
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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
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
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.”
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
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
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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