GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

NIGERIA DEMOCRACY: GAINS AND PAINS, TEN YEARS LATER! - an article by Chinedu Vincent Akuta

Sincerely speaking, the only gain we have had in the past 10 years of democracy in Nigeria is simply that we have "civilian" regime; admitted it has not been truly civilian in the true sense of it? 8 out of the 10 years democracy, which is Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, was a quasi military government as Obasanjo ruled Nigeria like the military head of state he was! The true civilian rule started since Yar’Adua took over as the president of Nigeria. Whatever positive changes that have taken place since 1999 like improvement in communications, banking reforms, NAFDAC war against fake drugs etc are worthy to be commended. However, I don’t like praising any administration past or present for any positive policy. This is because governance is all about improving people’s welfare. Therefore when government do their work I don’t praise them.

However the mistakes, maladministration and corruption of government officials have always overshadowed whatever good policy they introduce. This has always provoked massive public outcry. The first casualty in the last 10 years has been democracy itself. That is the will of the people has suffered most. Whenever the people speak the government do not listen, rather they impose their will on the people. From 1999 till date, the government has never respected the will of the people. Examples are many. Starting from Anambra state, where Chris Ngige was imposed on the people by his god father with active connivance of the powers that be in Abuja. We all knew what happened. Similar incidents repeated itself in Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Kogi etc.

The Obasanjo’s government conducted the worse elections in the history of Nigeria. Even the president (Yar’Adua) was a product of that election and he has come out publicly to acknowledge the anomalies associated with the elections. The voter turnout has deteriorated since 1999. In 1999 the turn out was over 70% registered voters. In 2003 it reduced to about 35% and by 2007 it went down further.

President Umaru Yar’Adua has promised electoral reforms. But events in and around him is suggesting otherwise. First is the attempt to doctor some of the recommendations of the electoral reform committee. Secondly the conduct of Ekiti re-run elections spoke volumes about the electoral reforms the president has promised Nigerians. The Ekiti crisis gave Nigerians an idea of what future elections might look like. Ex vice president Atiku Abubakar, former head of state Muhamadu Buhari and many other Nigerians have expressed their concerns about the inability of the present PDP leadership to introduce electoral reforms. The latest revelation came from former president Olusegun Obasanjo who is also the chairman of PDP board of trustees. He said that he was not aware of any electoral reforms being carried out by the Yar’Adua administration. This explains it all.

The last 10 years of democracy in Nigeria has recorded the highest number of high profile politically motivated murders. Starting with the late Bola Ige (former Attorney General and Minister of Justice), Harry Marshall (former National Vice Chairman of ANPP South South), Funsho Williams (former Lagos state gubernatorial candidate), Chief Anamosokari Albert Dikibo, Sunday Ugwu, elder brother of Nwabueze Ugwu a former legislator that represented Nkanu East LGA in Enugu state, Alhaji Ahmed Pategi, (Kwara State former PDP Chairman), Victor Nwankwo, younger brother of Arthur Nwankwo, founder Eastern Mandate Union, Odunayo Olagbaju (former member Osun State House of Assembly), Barnabas Igwe, former chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Onitsha Branch, and his wife Abigail Igwe, Chimere Ikoku (former Vice Chancellor of UNN), Chief Ogbonnaya Uche (former ANPP senatorial candidate from Imo State) etc. The list is endless and the police are yet to catch the killers.

The last 10 years of our democracy witnessed human rights abuses in large scale. The Odi and Zaki Ibiam massacre, the state using her apparatus killed more than 3000 of its citizens. Cases of this nature deserve probing. In both cases the solders reduced the town to mere rubbles. Yet the country was supposedly under democratic dispensation. At a point the federal government under Obasanjo’s administration withheld the Lagos State local government share of the federal allocation. There were several cases where the previous government never obeyed any court orders/judgements. Yar’Adua’s government has been respecting court judgements. The judiciary under Yar’Adua has performed credibly well. Without them our democracy would have been threatened. The Nigerian press has done very well, the deserve praises.

Law making in the last 10 years have not been fantastic. The National Assembly has not lived to our expectations. Passing the yearly budgets has not been easy over the years. Some bills have spent so much time at the national assembly that one starts to wonder what our law makers are doing. An example is the freedom of information bill. One would have thought that this bill will have express passage but the reverse has been the case. The Senate has requested from the presidency the original version of the electoral committee recommendations. The presidency has granted them their request. Nigerians are watching and waiting what will be the outcome.

The economy has not fared better over the last 10 years. Unemployment is still very high. Government has not done any thing meaningful to reduce unemployment. The power sector which would have helped to boost economic growth was mismanaged by our corrupt leaders. High level official corruption has risen. Crime rates have risen tremendously. Kidnappings are on the rise daily. The Niger/Delta crisis still persists with no solution in sight. There is an on going military operation in the Niger Delta by the Nigerian military as I am writing this article. There is too much tension in the Niger Delta region.
The mood of the nation is low about the Yar’Adua government. People have made several negative comments about his administration. The former chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Thompson Okpoko desribed Nigeria as a sick nation. Lamenting that the nation’s present leaders have lost focus on how to cure the myriads of diseases plaguing the country. His comment was reported by Daily Sun newspapers of Wednesday, December 3 2008, page 10. Campaign for Democracy took stock of 2008 and concluded that “No serious governance actually took place” then it warned that a situation where the country is virtually on auto pilot without serious governance is not healthy” (Daily Independent, Wednesday December 31, 2008 page 1).

Finally there is hope for Nigeria. Nigerians do not have any choice but to make Nigeria rise again. Many Nigerians are tired of the present status quo and are determined to push for political changes. Change is possible in Nigeria. But more Nigerians need to get involved with the political process in Nigeria. With active participation of all Nigerians, political changes will be possible. Changes cannot happen except we work for it. There has to be sacrifices to make for Nigeria. No sacrifice will be too small. Nigerians will have to persevere, like Cuba's Fidel Castro said, “Perseverance will give us victory”! May God bless Nigeria.


Chinedu Vincent Akuta is an activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group”, Leicester-UK!


1 comment:

  1. Good article Chinedu. You stated that you do not like to give praise to government. Well, there has been nothing to give Nigerian government praise for. They are bunch of ego maniacs who do not give a hoot about their people. As long as their family are friends are taken care of the mass can rotten in hell.

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