RE: GUN-WIELDING HERDSMEN NOT NIGERIANS SAYS SULTAN OF SOKOTO

We have long reconciled ourselves with the rare public comments from the only official spokesperson of the Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association that we know of. I am referring to our President, Muhammadu Buhari, who, in the high profile position as a Patron, has so far successfully shielded the Association and its vast army of employees, the herdsmen, from the public outcry and strong arm response expected from our no-nonsense security agencies.

All entreaties that Buhari should distance himself from that association had fallen on deaf ears. However, it seems as if Buhari now has some competition. The revered Sultan of Sokoto has robustly stepped into the fray, claiming centre stage. This is not his first outing.

We finally have it on good authority that the gun-wielding cattle herdsmen, the serial perpetrators of so much mayhem in our polity, have after all been SHOWN to be foreigners. That implies that a good many have been apprehended, making it possible to identify them and hence come to the above inescapable conclusion. The problem remains that the concerned public do not have any record about such arrests.

It is really tragic to recall that a lily-livered minister, Audu Ogbeh, had glibly announced to the nation that “Fulani” herdsmen (armed or not), from all over the Sahel north and west of Nigeria, have an inalienable right to roam anywhere in Nigeria with their foreign herds. He reminded us that the ECOWAS protocol on freedom of movement of goods and persons mandated that freedom.

This is really funny coming from a minister of a country (Nigeria) where the freedom of movement of its own citizens as well as freedom of residence and ownership of property is yet to be guaranteed.

It is strange that “herdsmen from Chad, Niger Republic or Burkina Faso” should have more rights than I do in my own country and lawfully possess AK-47 assault rifles with which to enforce such rights.

Re: Much Ado about Restructuring – Writers War Room

RESTRUCTURING? - THE DISINFORMATION ‎CONTINUES.

Ahmed Musa Husaini‎ wrote among other things:

"Unfortunately, the federalism of the first republic did not only fail, but ended in disaster, marred by regional political crises and a bloody military coup that culminated into a bloody civil war whose scars are still visible on our body politic."

This conclusion is patently false. Neither the first military coup, the follow up revenge coup, the unrelenting pogrom on Ndigbo and anyone who unfortunately looked like them (see Abraham Ogbodoh), nor the invasion of the East was caused by a constitutional deficiency.

The pre-1966 federal arrangement a.k.a. Constitution, was the only one ever negotiated and agreed upon by the people of Nigeria and their elected political representatives. 

It is amazing that anyone including Ahmed Musa Husaini would disparage that constitution, whatever its flaws, on the premise that a bunch of ill-educated military officers, more in the mold of Idi‎ Amin, somehow knew better. Obviously they are being very economical with the truth. ‎ Which ones are the shining stars? Is it Gowon, Muritala Mohammed, Buhari in his first incarnation or Abacha? Excuse me! Ironsi never counted in this reckoning. Babangida on his part showed some flashes of brilliance but then soon showed his hand for a personal agenda and derailed. In short we have never had it so bad as far as lacking in a uniting and guiding philosophy is concerned. Hussain has said as much. Where then resides his argument against restructuring. He has lost me.

On INSTITUTIONS AND INTERNALIZED FOUNDING PHILOSOPHIES, Husaini‎ wrote, "Sadly, that is not easily achievable in a country where there is no nationally agreed version of our history, of our past; no nationally agreed consensus on where we are, who we are and where we want to be. On the contrary, each distinct ethnic or regional group has its own philosophy, perceived or declared, has its own aspirations, and these aspirations are for the most part mutually exclusive, mutually-rejecting and irreconcilable."

‎This writer has clearly illustrated the institutionalized‎ disdain for our "correct" history by his statement quoted earlier where he discredited the pre-1966 Nigerian Constitution meticulously hammered out by Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo. It is amazing how, with self-imposed amnesia, revisionists refuse to give them any credit for their political sagacity in working out compromises that ACTUALLY kept Nigeria one. How could the latter day apostles of this suffocating national "unity" of Jonah and the whale not have learnt that without their compromise, Eastern and Western Nigeria were poised to secure independence from Britain ahead of Ghana in 1957? There would have been no Nigeria ‎over which to subsequently disagree. 

I am of the opinion that Northern Nigeria would have been far better off as an independent nation, ahead of Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso. It is a great pity that most of our northern brethren have been deliberately dumbed down to believe that they owe their survival to someone else.

Hussaini also undermined his very own argument that things are just fine as they are and that we should simply soldier on. 

The plain truth is that this arrangement which we allowed to be imposed on us over the past 50years has not worked and will not work. The very group, the northerners, who claim to like things the way they are, would unfortunately not know what to do in the unlikely event that all oil revenues are appropriated for the north. It is as bad as that. We have addressed the Resource Curse enough that it does not need repeating. The north can only settle down to plan it's own development, and actually grow if the region is thrown into the deep end of the economic pool and left to its own devices. Entrepreneurs will sprout out of all the cracks and the woodworks. The people are neither stupid nor lazy. The parasitic elite are giving the hardworking northerner a bad name. Let me see who will call the much vilified but hardworking Fulani herdsmen lazy!

IS NIGERIA COMMITTED TO THE TRANS WEST AFRICAN HIGHWAY

A couple of hours ago I read again the usual lament about the deplorable state‎ of the Enugu - Onitsha federal expressway. This one by my friend Ikem Okuhu was on Facebook. As expected, the reaction was fast and furious with accusing fingers pointed (correctly) at the Federal Government, a major South-East representative in the Federal Executive Council in the person of Dr Chris Ngige and of course the various Senators, Reps and others sleeping on duty at Abuja. I do not intend to toe that line.

When Ikem stated "the only road linking Enugu and Anambra States," he completely missed the point. The tragedy is not local. The Onitsha - Enugu - Abakaliki - Okoja - Mamfe highway, just like the Shagamu - Ofusu/Ohosu highway, are part of the Trans West Africa Highway to which our government committed over 30years ago. The agreements have been observed more in the breach. This is the only sensible way of looking at the omissions and commissions of those who pretend to govern Nigeria over the years. 

That Ndigbo occupy a paricular stretch of this long road that starts at Dakar, in Senegal, is neither here nor there. I recently followed a report on Aljazeera concerning the upgrade of the Mamfe - Douala segment of this very highway, on the Cameroonan side of the border. The main thrust of the report was the fantastic economic impact on the lives of the people.

Stupidity will not allow our rulers to realise that if all the major roads in the South-East are properly built and maintained AND TOLLED, we may be able to collect enough revenue to build roads in other parts of Nigeria where the road projects are not exactly bankable. After all why on earth is it that it is only at the 2ND NIGER BRIDGE that state government participation and eventual toll collection is being envisaged. Mind you, I do not intend to address the issue of equity in this particular commentary. I have dealt with that in previous outings.  The truth is that whichever way you look at it, the South-East rocks! . An editor in one of the national dailies writing on a different matter made reference to the Wise Men of the East. We are not exactly all wise, but our people cannot deliberately sit on the floor when they can afford chairs, or something to that effect. The same applies to roads. 

In the final analysis, the Federal Government should, in the spirit of fiscal federalism, get out of the business of road construction, toll collection and maintenance. I do not derive any pleasure blaming an "outsider" over a matter that my brothers and I can take care of ourselves, if only we can get rid of this stupid and rigid structure.

Re: Abdulsalami Abubakar Rallies Support For Anambra Industrialists • Channels Television

I cannot imagine a situation where a northerner, no matter how well intentioned and well educated, will shine the light so that Ndigbo will see the way.  Ndigbo lead (not rule), others follow. That's the way it is.

It has been over seventeen years since General Abdulsalam Abubakar, representing the rump of a long line of northern dominated military regimes, finally threw in the towel by allowing a close ally and former colleague, Olusegun Obasanjo, to take over the mantle of office as an elected civilian President. Forget Anambra State and the South-East. Since then for every complaint about the deprivation and neglect of Igboland, my response has been to point out that whatever the South or Igboland lost, has strangely not benefitted the north. Herein lies the true tragedy of our underdevelopment. 

An underdeveloped north has presented a myriad of problems to Ndigbo. ‎If only half of the northern kids currently out of school are captured into the school system, perhaps 500,000 new teachers will be required from the South. In short, jobs for southerners. A vast majority will have to come from Igboland since as at now the South-East is involved in filling the gap in Lagos and environs.

Igbo entrepreneurs, traders, craftsmen, professionals, etc, would prefer a much larger middle class in the north, which will result from increased access to education, income equality and the investment by northerners themselves in economic activities across the entire spectrum. Currently the northern elite are happy sitting on the fence. This is unacceptable. 

The above scenario represents but a part of the Eldorado that Northern Nigeria can become. It goes without saying that the Almajiri and its other offshoots like Boko-Haram can then be a thing of the past. Ndigbo have for decades looked outside their homestead for investment opportunities. For this they have been praised and also derided especially by other Nigerians who do not possess the temperanent to risk anything outside their immediate hamlets. I know a few Igbo entrepreneurs, (they are few indeed, but the number is growing), who have sworn never again to invest outside Igboland. Can anyone blame them?

I have written elsewhere, quoting Shakespeare, "Sweet are the use of adversity, . . " Is it not strange that it has taken this long for former Military Head of State, Gen Abdulsa‎lam Abubakar, to make such a high profile visit to Anambra State, specifically to Nnewi? There is confusion in the north and  in Abuja. Hunger and starvation in the North-East.  The wolf is among the chicken! Nobody seems to know what to do. 

Ndigbo will develop Nigeria without any preconditions, but first Nigeria has to let it. I wish that the general will honestly confess about "the road not taken," and with his kinsmen, vow to make amends. Otherwise they will still live in their gilded hill-top mansions, with executive jets at their beck and call, but sadly with poverty, ignorance and disease as their neighbours and constant companions. That was exactly what I tried to put across when I responded to President Buhari's query,  WHAT DO NDIGBO WANT?. Stop clipping our wings. Allow us to fly. Nigeria will be better for it. This is NOT a call for Biafra. The validity or otherwise of that agitation has nothing to do with the above analysis. It should stand on its own merit.

To conclude, I will say this  to the old general, "Physician heal thyself!" Your nice sentiments are most welcome, but it will profit this polity the more if you spend more time challenging your free loading and indolent brethren. Of course we have their equivalents down south, but thankfully, they do not predominate. I may sound harsh but I have no apologies. That is what Nigeria needs at this time. It is indeed a major achievement that everybody now  recognises that Nigeria is broke. May the price of oil remains low for another ten years. Yes, quote me. That is my prayer.

http://www.channelstv.com/2016/08/22/abdulsalami-abubakar-rallies-support-anambra-industrialists/

Cattle freight from Gusau

The Managing Director, Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending,ý Abdulhameed Aliyu, described the arrival of cattle by train to Lagos from Gusau as a feat and a pleasant surprise as well as (a) good omen for the innovative project of moving cattle from the north to the south by rail.

According to Aliyu, “We are indeed happy to hear that the wagons have arrived ahead of schedule. We are very delighted that the historic train has arrived earlier than projected.”

It is indeed sad if not depressing posturing to be smart in an environment like Nigeria, where anything goes. You end up doubting the humanity of otherwise enlightened individuals who handle the reins of office. In my days at the University of Lagos, the typical question was, “Ibu du ewu?” Meaning, “Are you a goat?”

We are so used to mediocrity that any activity or service delivery that approaches the norm is hailed as phenomenal. How on earth can the MD of NISRAL describe the mere arrival of a cattle train in Lagos after a two and half day journey as historic? When was this young man born?

In several writings proposing solutions to the unabating problem of the wandering Fulani herdsmen, I had recommended that cattle for slaughter must henceforth no longer arrive at the destination on the hoof. Cattle can cross state boundaries ONLY in a truck, trailer or train. It could not have been an original idea of mine when I recall those modes of cattle transfer in my youthful days at Enugu from 1957 to 1967 before the shooting war started. I lived barely 300m from the Railway Station and the locomotive running sheds.

The bar for performance has been set so low that it may not surprise me if Aliyu gets awarded an MON for “inventing” the cattle train. The question should have been why it took so long. Is this train ride a stunt, or a sample of things to come? Only time will tell.

Re: Use oil wealth to better lot of Nigerians - US tells FG in Yenagoa

CONSUL-GENERAL LEADS US DELEGATION TO BAYELSA STATE

It is difficult to discern the exact nature of US interests in Nigeria at all times. Those interests may have some fixed and variable components such that, to copy the Iranian example pre-1979, the US administration, in pursuit of a strategic objective, may overtly support an incompetent and repressive Nigerian administration. The recent visit to Northern Nigeria by US Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry, has drawn a lot of flak from incensed Southerners and Christians alike. The question often asked has been, "Why exactly did Kerry come to Nigeria?" Nigerians have been at a loss over this matter. Kerry landed in Abuja and held consultations with a highly unpopular former military dictator who recently wormed his way into an elected presidency. As if to confirm the rabidly Islamic slant of the Buhari administration, Kerry proceeded to hold further consultations with Islamic religious leaders from only the north, headed by the Sultan of Sokoto.

Understandably the southern press and online social media have taken up this matter. And we are still not getting any answers, convincing or not. It is under this cloud of suspicion and distrust that a large retinue of US  consular officials, probably from the Lagos outpost, was dispatched to Bayelsa State to advise the governor and perhaps the natives to ensure that oil wealth is applied judiciously for the benefit of the people! To undertake such a perilous journey, in the midst of the ongoing Niger Delta insurgency, is supposed to be read as a show of true commitment to the affairs of Southern Nigeria, after the recent inexplicable slight by Kerry.

It is instructive to note that the US never took the trouble to advice our various profligate southern and Niger Delta state governments about the benefit of accountability and good governance when they were awash with oil funds that could be applied to such ends. Why now? Which oil wealth was the delegation referring to? Everybody knows that the Federal Government and the vassal states have long run out of money. If, as I suspect, the trip of the Americans is one in a series of fence mending operations, I doubt that many Nigerians in the south can be taken in by it.Then again, it is an established fact that

NIGERIA’S 2015 ELECTION By Engr Ajulu Uzodike, OON January 22, 2015

The campaign issues for the 2015 general elections are many. They are – the Economy with sub issues like job & wealth creation (unemployment), domestic industrialization & patronage, investments (domestic & foreign), indebtedness (domestic & foreign); Security of life and property; Transparency of public actions (equated by many as corruption); Recklessness and impunity of government officials; Leader’s vision for the country’s future; and many others. Many authors have made reasonable contributions on most of the issues to enable voters make good judgement about whom to vote in the presidential election and maybe in the other elections too. However, many other articles appear to have been purposely written to mislead the voters.

I would limit my contributions on the above issues to personal experiences and reliable data, not comments, obtained from independent international sources. I would also concentrate on the two leading presidential candidates – President Jonathan of the PDP and General Buhari of the APC. Luckily for me both of them have led Nigeria once and have had to grapple with similar circumstances concerning the above issues. Their records, achievements or otherwise are verifiable.

THE ECONOMY

Under President Jonathan the confidence in the economy is growing. Nigerians abroad are

FG TO RECRUIT 1.3M TEACHERS IN 6 YEARS

It would seem obvious that some one million of the approximately two million teachers deficit currently recognised by the Education Minister will have to come from the north. That's what equity demands. It is cheap talk for the NECO boss Prof Charkes Uwakwe to state that, “The minister was very clear on what our tasks and mandates are." There is nothing clear about the minister's comment. What he handed down was a watery wish list. The APC administration has had at least three years to develop a blueprint (with action plans) to tackle an old problem. To ask the 17 new chief executives to COME UP with an action plan in one month shows lack of seriousness on the part of the administration. What did Buhari have in mind for his people all this while he was gunning for office?

I have written some time ago that at the end of the day the (aggrieved) South will have to provide teachers IF and WHEN the North, currently represented by this Buhari administration, decides to send it's sons and daughters to school. Obviously that's not happening now. That is one more reason why Buhari must get his act together, retreat from the ruinous path he is now treading, erase the existing faultlines and desist from deliberately creating new ones. Otherwise the entire education/teacher's project is dead on arrival. If anyone knows of any other way the north can overcome the current teacher deficit without help from (and peace with) the south, please share it with us. I would want to know.

HAJJ 2016 FX BAZAAR - IT IS THE GOVERNMENT THAT IS BEING MISCHIEVOUS

This government and it's many praise singers and apologists don't seem to get it. The ongoing outcry, which has been on for years but has become a lot more strident lately, is to the effect that our government has no business in matters of pilgrimages of any shade. The entire bureaucracy of the Christian Pilgrim Welfare Board has no place in our Civil Service. Hence the activities there, both capital and recurrent do not deserve a charge on our public revenue.

It has been the hope here that poverty, nay adversity, will make this administration take the right step of distancing itself from matters of religious pilgrimages. This is a step that CANNOT NOW be taken by the previous administration. It has long gone. The opposition by the enlightened members of the public, (not rabble rousers and religious jingoists), has never focused on the hajj. We have alway insisted that government should leave pilgrimages to the faithful to arrange as they deem fit. Apart from consular services at the other end, our busybody Federal Government has no further role. It's "mischievous" involvement and our unrelenting opposition to it clearly predates Buhari's swearing in as president. If a government sustains a silly policy (eg fuel subdidy) it behoves a new administration to throw it out, which Buhari did. Any recourse to pleading precedents indicates a sheer lack of understanding of the finer aspects of governance.

In case Buhari hasn't noticed, let me remind him that we are broke.

http://www.thescoopng.com/hajj-exchange-rate/

Feyi Fawehinmi and The Buyer's Regret

When we complain, the call us wailers.

We understand the load of responsibility and disappointment carried by the likes of Feyi Fawehinlmi. He is not alone. A good many of us agonized for a long time before we finally, despite our scepticism, voted for Buhari. Having repudiated then President Jonathan, it was not an easy decision to make. It was a most difficult leap of faith which has now proven to be without any basis whatsoever. We just couldn't fill the glaring policy blank spaces in Candidate Buhari’s mindset and vacuous statements made during the campaigns.

Having participated in canvassing for votes for Buhari makes the disappointment felt by us "supporters" all the more painful. As a matter of fact it is perhaps only the criticism of this erstwhile reluctant "Sai Buhari" subset that has any likelihood, no matter how remote, of bringing this regime to its senses. The APC is currently so dismissive of the critics from it's PDP "enemies" that there is a zero possibility that it can even reach out for a life vest thrown by that group. It is as bad as that.

Truth is that many commentators, without excusing any of Jonathan's shortcomings, pleaded caution. The expression Hobson's Choice came in handy. I hereby refer to the writings by Abimbola Adelakun in The Punch in the run up to the elections. She warned us. But we had to quickly make a decision one way or the other. We are now stuck with the consequences of our choice. . .Yes, change they call it.

Hhttp://www.thescoopng.com/feyi-fawehinmi/

DOES NIGERIA NEED A NEW NATIONAL AIR CARRIER?

I have been wondering where exactly the bug of national pride bit our compatriot Kiaffa Umaru Maina. I wonder again if the athletes from South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Burkina Faso, Lithuania, Nepal, Kosovo, Mongolia, Georgia and finally the United States of America arrived Rio de Janeiro on their national airlines. I would really like to know.

People who have spent enough time at the upper echelons of the Nigerian Civil Service can attest to how a board and management is preselected for non-existent organizations even before a structure is put down on paper. The political class then proceeds to pressure their brother or friend in government (say in this case President Buhari) to then establish the said organization or company to be handed over to them. We have been on this sad road many times before. The end result always turns out the same. The company is stripped bare with no negative consequences to the culprits.

Maina wrote: "In 1963, the Nigerian federal government bought out the other shareholders and Nigeria Airways became wholly-owned by Nigerian government. . .
And from there everything went downhill. Is that not so?

Talking about an airline flying the Nigerian flag, what exactly is Arik Airlines? Or the now moribund Air Nigeria? I don't get it.

I become scared when anyone with a cultural or political affinity with the mafia that killed off the hitherto vibrant textile and other industries in Kaduna and Kano starts offering us investment advice. This is truly "fantastic."

One philosopher, in the early years of the United States, stated that, "Patriotism is (often) the refuge of the scoundrel." I do not have anybody in mind. However whomsoever the cap fits, let him wear it.

http://www.thescoopng.com/atlanta-national-carrier/#comments

DANGOTE'S NIGERIA: WHAT IS HIS VISION?

I have in the past drawn attention to the "style" of the late Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. An apostle of homegrown solutions, he had almost limitless faith in the human potential of his people. He had no choice. Singapore had nothing else worth reckoning.

We may never fully understand the motivation of Alhaji Aliko Dangote in inviting the Tiger Brands of South Africa to invest in Dangote Flour. It is possible that because the group was overextended at that material time, Dangote decided go reduce the huge leveraging that attended the record shattering expansion of Dangote Cement on a global scale. It is not unlikely that Tiger Brands came on board with a largely short term view of it's investment and that led to the losses earlier recorded. It is not as if Nigerians stopped eating wheat bread and the other derivatives. To date we do not have any reason to turn our backs on the Dangote name.

From all indications, the fate and fortune of the Dangote Group appears to be irrevocably bound up with that of the Nigerian nation or state, no matter how configured. I just hope that the Group Head, Mr Thabo Mabo, a South African, remains loyal to the declared mission of the Dangote Group using local talent which we have in abundance. The day he renders himself redundant or easily replaceable marks his landmark success in that regard.

One final note. I have stated without ceasing that a Dangote presidency will be far, far more fruitful to us than the current exercise in ego massage. . Sai Aliko Dangote!

Again On Ndigbo In Diaspora and Titles

Ikechukwu Amaechi wrote recently on the Eze-Ndigbo phenomenon and the penchant by most for titles. He said:

"I remember telling someone who sat beside me at the gala night (of Ezuruezu Mbaise in Dallas) that there seemed to be more chiefs and lolos of Igbo extraction in the U.S. than we have in Nigeria. . .

In reference to the sprouting of Eze-Ndigbo in the American diaspora, Amaechi used the expression "the burgeoning chieftaincy industry among Ndigbo in the US." Whether we like it or not, this represents the new reality, the new normal. Of course we do not have to fall over and willy-nilly accept it.

Amaechi continued, "A few years ago when Eze Cletus Ilomuanya was the Chairman of the South East Council of Traditional Rulers, the council frowned at the idea of having Eze Ndigbo in the Diaspora.

"In fact, the council banned anyone from bearing the title of Eze Ndigbo outside Igboland. The case went to court because the association of Eze Ndigbos, particularly those in Lagos, kicked against the ban. . ."

Any keen observer would have noticed that Eze Cletus Ilomuanya and his colleagues were more than 40years late in confronting this monster. They were trying to secure the stable door long after the horse had bolted. Incidentally I was at a meeting of the Association of Anambra State Development Unions (AASDU), Lagos when the above letter/directive of South East Council of Traditional Rulers was read. The matter was not even discussed. It is possible that some of my fellow delegates at that meeting were aspiring Eze-Ndigbos. You can't use Belzeebub to chase out the devil.

IS NNAMDI KANU A HYPOCRITE, for "secretly" accepting to renounce Biafra?

There is this report that appeared recently in most online media, (here I am quoting The Daily Post) that the "defunct(?) militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, has alleged that the incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, secretly agreed to denounce the struggle for the actualisation of Biafra despite claiming otherwise in public." . Really? Was this agreement with MEND or with Buhari's federal government?

Pray, when does a "defunct" organization become a "Reliable Source" for an important story such as this? Is MEND defunct or not? Is MEND an agent or mouthpiece of the federal government with which Kanu and IPOB are supposedly negotiating, as in talks about talks? Or is MEND collaborating with IPOB? We may never know until the actual talks commence.

It is also possible that anyone facing the same predicament as Nnamdi Kanu will say just about anything to escape from an irrational and illegal gulag imposed on him by a despot who seems unperturbed that more than fifty percent of citizens regard him as either perpetrating or condoning genocide. Any deal that he is deemed to have struck will be as useless as a confession extracted by a brutal police force at gunpoint. To expect his many followers, or more correctly co-agitators, to respect that, is quite silly. What exactly is the ideological significance of such a development? Nothing! Zilch.

The ideological foot soldiers of IPOB and MASSOB are all over the place. Meanwhile the enemies of the struggle are strenuously hoping to add Nnamdi Kanu's scalp to their mounting head count, to what end I may never know. God forbid bad thing! I can imagine the IPOB stalwarts reasoning that Kanu will readily outlive oldman Buhari, and taking note of the cool wind of change blowing over some parts of the north already tired of its own home grown violent militants. Against the grain, many people there, including Atiku Abubakar, are talking "restructuring." They are coming to terms with the fact that they have actually no axe to grind with Kanu and his ilk. What with all the corruption and poverty that they have had to contend with.

Now, let us look at this story from another angle. When it broke over a fortnight ago, there was one common thread. Almost all the reporters couldn't help but gloat. As if to say,

Re: On the matter of the dog named ‘Buhari’ - The Punch: Thursdays with Abimbola Adela

This opinion piece by Abimbola Adelakun reminds me of an earlier one titled KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT: SURVIVING NIGERIA'S NORTH written by budding author Ms Jennifer Emelife. She chronicled her experiences growing up and schooling in Sokoto, specifically Usmanu Danfodiyo University. Just reading of her experiences was very unnerving. The things that she and her fellow Christian students had to put up with just to avoid "trouble." And her father for years kept up appearances with his Muslim friends by not engaging in certain "sensitive" topics. What a life! Ms Emelife said it as it is but didn't strain to be as judgemental as I did in my rejoinder.

This wrapup by the inimitable Abimbola Adelakun has taken the discussion to a whole new level altogether. The tragedy is that nobody seems to be paying any attention to the real issues at stake as she eloquently pointed out. On the part of the government, the same lack of moral clarity manifested serially in the Fulani herdsmen outrage, which she had earlier addressed, is also at play here. The police, after all these long years, does not seem to be in any hurry to learn what is it's constitutional role in society. It choses to pander to the whims of Any-Government-In-Power and the political and monied class who can pay for protection deserved or not. We have all decried this tendency manifested in another form during the Oga-at-the-top episode that went viral. Unfortunately it remains with us

Finally, one must mention the complicity of the not-so-elite middle class who refuse to step out of their comfort zone to challenge this march into anarchy. The nation is collapsing on their heads while they are busy clutching the fast diminishing comforts that separate them from the masses. For how long?