Stop the Loot Mr. President

If President GEJ, the legislatures, and all policy makers in Nigeria are serious about moving Nigeria forward they must show credible interest in fighting public corruption and instill rule of law in the polity. The President and the legislatures must repeal the legal immunity that is designed to protect from prosecution criminally corrupt public officials that loot public coffer. This immunity 'curse' must be repealed and replaced with statute that bars public officials from foreign travel six month before and after leaving office.

Mr. President! Would you please repeal this immunity for public officials to steal public fund!! Remember that almost all Nigeria ills and abjectness across Nigeria are the results of public officials stealing the country to death. Good inauguration speech worth less than the paper it is written on if concrete actions are not taken to right the wrongs of public officials against the citizenry and against the independent fathers.

Bawomanh

The Evil Fears and Hates the Good

The greatest fear is exhibited by evil in the presence good. If IBB's murderous eight years of treasonable corrupt criminal dictatorship represents evil how can he or his likes, Atiku and Gusau grace a presidential inuaguration of Goodluck Jonathan whose leadership philosophy is an antithesis to that of IBB and Atiku’s with medieval understandings of leadership and public service? By default good and evil cannot abode together.

Bawomanh

Now, The Time to Govern, GEJ

The President's inauguration speech would have been one of the best presidential inauguration speeches if not for the timing. This speech would appropriately befit a first presidential speech following the independence of Nigeria when hopes and aspirations of Nigerian would have been understandably high. Or perhaps the president’s speech is a futuristic presidential speech delivered too early. The President's speech is inspirational and motivational as against revolutionary, reactionary and policy blunt speech the president ought to have delivered. With its enormous natural resources and human capital Nigeria is among the 50 least developed countries in the world. Underdevelopment in Nigeria and almost all Nigerian ills are as result of public corruption and lack of rule of law. These two evils is killing and tearing Nigeria into pieces yet the president’s speech treaded lightly on corruption and said virtually nothing about inequality of the citizenry before the law. Until the criminals masked as public officials are made to understand that they are answerable to the law of the land just as ordinary citizens are these criminals will continue to act with impunity in their looting of public coffer. Unless past and present criminals veiled as public servants are brought before the law for their crimes against the state and the people future public officials will tread the route of the former, the route of the criminally corrupt.

Bawomanh

Immunity to Steal a Country and a People to Death

Immunity to steal a country and a people to death

It is a travesty, mockery of rule of law, and of accountability that corrupt public officials can only be prosecuted long after their brazen acts of looting public coffer has been known. What is this license to steal called immunity clause? Public corruption is responsible for more than 95% Nigeria ills. Just think about it, almost everything that is wrong with Nigerian is either directly or indirectly link to poverty, national and individual abjectness. Even the most ill informed knows the direct relations between public corruption, especially corruption of capital flight, to both national and individual poverties.

The crimes of public corruption should be treated as treason, crime against the state because this is what is. Public corruption is the worse type of crime and the most violent against a nation and people. Think about the nature, victims and extensiveness of crime of public corruption and compare this evil act to any other form of crime and see the cataclysmic nature of this evil. Three other high crimes in Nigerian are armed robbery, kidnapping and paid assassinations. These three crimes though horrendous, pale when intellectually and logically compare to the crime of public corruption. Assassins and armed bandits during their life span and duration of their banditry, say thirty years, may kill or maim a thousand people (number highly exaggerated). But in just less than two years a public official could steal enough public fund that directly or indirectly kills a nation, a state and hundreds of thousands of people.

Most of the people who engage in the crime of armed robbery are young people and some university graduates, these young people have lost hopes and ambitions in life due to the actions of corrupt public officials. Think of high infant mortality and high death rates, dead public schools, kidnappings, poor state and inexistent of public infrastructures, poor and inadequate medical facilities and services, ill trained, ill equiped and poorly paid police force, and general insecurity just but to name few of the ills of public corruption. There is no doubt that public corruption is the worse form of crime and should therefore be treated as such.

What the so called immunity clause does is allow criminals veiled as politicians to loot public wealth under the cover of this law that protect these criminals at the expense of the general citizenry . These criminals play hide and seek game with the law because they know that the law’s hands are made short by this immunity clause. True democracies like the united State protects public officials from the accesses of the chief executives but not from prosecution for criminal offenses. The immunity clause in itself is criminal.

The only reason that the national legislatures would not abolish this immunity to steal statute is because many members of these two bodies do not have national interest at heart but like many state governors are partners or perpetrators of the crime of public fund embezzlement. But now that "a Jonathan Goodluck is in charge there should be hope that he will pressure the congress to abolish this legally sanctioned stealing of public wealth. Not only must Jonathan work to abolish this immunity 'curse' he must bring corrupt public officials to justice. Failure to prosecute corruption will not only make the president appear weak but complacence. Or bluntly, President's failure to prosecute corruption makes him and his administration corrupt. 

Voci Bawomanh

I Mitt Romney

Fellow Americans, the leader of free nation like ours ought to have wisdom. They call it change in positions I Mint Romney call it wisdom. Wisdom detects that one must be prepared to adjust former beliefs and positions so as to advance a common overriding good. If elected President of this great nation of ours, my paramount goal is to serve the American people with the best of my ability and I believe that all my beliefs and positions, past, present and even in the future must yield to this overriding goal. Principle and wisdom should never be in conflict; rather these two must recognize and know when to succumb to one another. It will be folly to cling steadfastly to former positions or even to present  positions at the expense of my desire to serve the great people of this great nation in the capacity of a president.

Acting in the capacity of Massachusetts' Governor, individual mandate for health insurance coverage, LBGT full equality and woman’s right to choose were and are still matters of principle to me. But in a presidential campaign these social issues should be state issues. You can call it flip flop I call it political wisdom; the end must just the means. Without political wisdom it is impossible to be a good politician and it is impossible to lead in the absence of good politics. This time is ours to occupy White House and I must not loose this oppurtunity to political incorrectness.  

I Mint Romney I will approve this massage.

The Nigerian Issue

Responding to "Profiling the northern enemy” and to the responses to this article

by I’ Shaq Modibbo Kawu in Vanguard daily of May 12, 2011

The Nigerian Issue

Is’haq’s opinionated article and the equally opinionated responses, for and against "Profiling the northern enemy” is exactly the fight the corrupt criminal leaders from south, north east and west want Nigerians to busy themselves with. As Long as ordinary citizens are fighting each other over cultural, ethnic and religious differences they would be too busy to realize the crime perpetrated against them even by their sectional leaders. Nigerians especially the youths must wakeup and take back this country before it is too late. Most people do not know the great value of a possession until they loose it. Most Nigerians do not see the great gift of a nation until Nigeria is no more. To reiterate, Nigeria problem lies at the fact that Nigerians are fighting the cheap, easy, lazy and unproductive ethnic war while ignoring the difficult but true and rewarding war of national interest. I am from the south and I care less about the president's ethnicity but about his or her honesty, vision, courage, intellect but above his or her love for the people and for the country. But my good friends and fellow Nigerians remember this; because leaders generally are inherently corrupt, good governance is assured by the governed and not by the governors. I am not ignorant nor naïve of the difficulties posed by the diversity of culture, ethnicity, and religious differences in the configuration called Nigeria. I also know that these differences if appropriately conceived are not by themselves the end but rather the necessary precursors for the construction of powerful great Nation. But only if Nigerians selflessly and lovely pursue this potential of Greatness for the general good shall Nigeria become a great nation. The two pillars of a great nation are numerousness and diversity of the people that appreciate and or respect one another under the law. Since the era of nation states no nation of few people or homogenous people has become great due to the fewness, homogeneousness, or healthiness of its citizens. But today like in the past great nation is synonymous to numerousness and diverseness of the ‘peopleness’ if you will.

There are two fundamental questions every Nigerian especially the ethnic groups must truthful answer. And the questions are: Do you for better and for worse belief in the configuration called Nigerian and if you do, are you willing to build, defend and protect this configuration? What contents you, smallness or Greatness since moderateness in nation status is a misnomer? I am a ‘tangiblenist’ if you will and objectivist and for me there exist two nation types, the small nations and greatness ones. I am a big fan of greatness and have no doubt that Nigerian was fashioned for greatness only if Nigerians can build and keep the union.

In the next national sovereign conference if there happens to be one, all ethnic groups must be present and all must plainly respond to these questions without deceit, pretense or fear. Only after all ethnic groupings have truthfully answered these two questions can we as a people begin the difficult but rewarding task of nation building or the xenophobic, cheap, easy but defeatist task of destroying that that was freely given in a platter of gold by the independent fathers? Yes, the colonist dictator for its benefit amalgamated the north and south of the Niger area to form this potential great nation called Nigeria. Truly, many call and regard this amalgamation an evil act and yes it was done for the benefit of the colonist. But no one can logically explain how the coming together of the oppressed people does not benefit the oppressed but only benefits the oppressors. In my opinion, the Niger area evil the colonist masters intended is only but a blessing in disguise only if the present Nigerians can unveil themselves the veils of ignorance, pettiness, ethno-phobia and “big-phobia” if you will. Many of the independent fathers saw the goodness in the dubious colonist intent hence the fathers fought for the independence of the whole people in the Niger area as one people who were one deprived and one oppressed people. Not even the notorious ignorant idol worshipers, Boko Haram religious sect, can deny the wisdom of the independent father when the fathers fought for the independence and preservation of the Niger area people as one people.

Free societies must respect single or collective aspirations of its citizens provided such inspirations does not restrict or impede the freedom of others. What Boko Haram sect is asking for is an Islamic Nigerian with Shariah legal system. Well the first mark of ignorance is when a person or a group rabidly seeks that which is humanly impossible. I have nothing against Islam and as matter of fact while in Europe I prayed with my North African Muslim brothers in their mosque. An Islamic Nigeria with shariah law is dream in many dreams. Yes, this sect is ignorant but they are human enough to understand that to seek that which have neither existed nor will ever exist is tempting the gods and therefore a sin. Boko Haram like other groups, person or persons violently seeking to Islamize Nigeria are not just by themselves an ethnic group but rather belong to an ethnic group. At the sovereign national conference these group and all other groups will within their ethnic representation present their case. At the Conference the sovereignty and integrity of Nigeria is not negotiable. But if a collection of groups closely band together, geographical situated and oriented and collectively make up a third the population of Nigeria seeks a separate society, then within ten years a referendum for independence can be conducted within the ethnic groups that seeks independence. A threshold of seventy five percent yes referendum vote for independence can start the process of granting the group semi autonomy and a full independence twenty five years latter with a second referendum. {At the end of this article are more conditions for independence for units seeking separation from the union}.

But as Nigerians wait for the conference for a perfect union there must be order and rule of law. Every citizen has the right to disagree with laws or policies of the government but no one have the right to disobey constitutionally enacted statutes. All laws however dislike but constitutionally passed must be obeyed by all even by the corrupt leaderships that have done nothing but ruined and liquidated the country. Citizens can protest, work to change the bad law but must never break the law they dislike as longer as that law have not been constitutionally repealed. Not only is Boko Haram sect breaking the law of the land they also seek to impose their will on the majority. To achieve their unattainable goal this sect is breaking local, international and universal law on the sanctity of human life. They kill in the name of their small god that lacks the power and the energy to do the least thing that even the least being could do, the taking of person’s life. The Lord is not God of confusion hence it makes no sense that the omnipotent God will subtly and indiscreetly order the ignorant, wobbling and pitiful man to destroy another God’s creature. Many religious people across the globe claim to know the mind of God, they know how to please and how to make God happy, by so thinking they equate God to human and this is the root cause of all religious evil in the world. How can a God infinitely happy and pleased in itself be made happier by the death of one of its sorry, pitiful creatures at the hands of another of the same? This is their god and not my and I new not their god because this god is so small and powerless that even a wooden god with so much carbon energy can consume this god.

But regardless of the nature of their god they must obey the law of the land. The governors and governments of the states where these religious ignoramus zealots cause pain and destruction must ensure law and order in the state. To get these governments more involved and responsible for the protection of lives and properties especially the lives and properties of the ethnic and religious minorities, these governments must at least be held financial responsible for the dastardly acts of the hoodlums in their states. The Federal government must look into the efforts the state governments make to stop violence and murder against minority, into ethnic and religious cleansing of the minority in the states. Henceforth the federal government must use the federal allocation for the culprit states to compensate the victims of ethnic and religious pogrom for human and material lose and other loses if a violence resulting to lose of lives and properties is ethnic and or religious in nature. Holding the governments of the violent states responsible for the violent acts of their wild citizens and making them financially responsible for the financial loses due to the actions of the hoodlums in their state will not only make these Government proactive in curbing this menace but it will force them to see that these vagabonds in their state are educated and tamed.

{In addition to the conditions already stated above, any section seeking independence from Nigerian must understand that it and the national government will jointly supervise the referendums. The referendums will be financed by the seceding unit without the infusion of foreign fund. From the day the date for the first referendum is scheduled the seceding unit will no longer receive federal fund allocations to the states. The national government will continue to run, maintain and manage all national security apparatus to include but not limited to police, military, customs, national intelligence, and state secret services that encompasses the seceding unit until after the second referendum. Loses and profits from jointly owned revenue sources, and costs to joint projects will be jointly shared between the national government and the seceding unit. Apart from the conditions stated here, during the entire period of quest for independence the relationship between the national government and the seceding unit must be as usual and the same as before the quest for separation until independence is achieved or defeated.}

Bawomanh

Jonathan to set panel on the political violence in the states (Vanguard Daily)

Panel is ok if it is one of the many necessary steps and actions needed to stop this madness and barbaric act. The panel must look into the efforts the state governments take to dissuade, arrest violence, murder, ethnic and religious cleansing of the minority in their states. Henceforth the federal government must use the federal allocation of the culprit states to compensate the victims of ethnic and religious pogrom in human and material lose and loses if violence is ethnic and or religious in nature. Holding the governments of the violent states responsible for the violent acts of their wild citizens and making them financially responsible for the actions of the hoodlums in their state will not only make them proactive in curbing this menace but it will make these state governments to see that these vagabonds in their state are educated and tamed.      

Bawomanh