Maina: Malami Did Not Act In the Public Interest, By Jiti Ogunye.

The honourable AGF knew when he was writing his letters and issuing his directives that Maina was a scofflaw and fugitive from justice. But he was not restrained by that knowledge. Abubakar Malami (SAN), by his action and conduct, has done incalculable harm to the integrity of the Buhari’s administration. He has done terrible damage to the anti-corruption fight and has dishonoured the Office of the AGF.

Following the public outcry and condemnation that have trailed the revelation that the honourable attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN (the AGF) was the authority in the Federal Government of Nigeria who initiated and instigated the administrative processes that led to the reinstatement and promotion of Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, the pension scam fugitive, the AGF, in breaking his deafening silence, was reported to have said in his own defence, that he acted in the public interest. Since then a number of Nigerians have come to the defense of the AGF. In doing so, they relied on the reports that there were two subsisting, valid and yet to be appealed “judgments of the courts”, in favour of Maina, which the AGF was merely rendering legal advice on. According to the AGF’s sympathisers now dotting the social media and cyberspace, if Maina had obtained court orders which the EFCC did not appeal against, what could have been the good reason for the federal government to flout the orders, and why should the honourable AGF be crucified for advising the government to obey the orders, being the chief law officer of the federation?

In this intervention, we wish to provide clarifications on the “court judgments” that were won by Maina, and argue that the imports of the “judgments” do not support the legal advice and directive issued to the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), and the Ministry of the Interior to make them recall Maina and reinstate him into the Civil Service of the Federation. The AGF, in our humble view, acted illegally, immorally, and improperly. He misled the above-mentioned institutions and the Federal Government of Nigeria. Whether he did so, conspiratorially and deliberately, in concert with these institutions, in order to pervert the cause of justice, as a result of corrupt practices, or whether he did so inadvertently (or capriciously), owing to a lack of sound legal knowledge from his team of lawyers, may not be known at this point. But there can be no doubt that the AGF acted without legal justification. Having so acted, the least he can do is to accept responsibility instead of trying, through proxies, to wriggle out of the Maina mess by engaging in sophistry and spin. The AGF did not act in the public interest.

The truth is that there were no two judgments that were secured by Maina. He only secured a judgment of a high court and a ruling of a magistrate court in Abuja. When the Seventh Senate directed in 2013 that a warrant of arrest be issued against Maina upon his refusal to heed the summons of Senate Committees to appear for a hearing, Maina filed an action (Suit No. FHC/ABJ /CS/65/13 (Abdulrasheed Maina vs the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria & 8 Ors), for the enforcement of his fundamental rights (to liberty and fair hearing) before a Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Hon. Justice Adamu Bello of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court. The Respondents in the suit were the Senate, Senate president, clerk of the Senate, Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service, Senate Committee on State and Local Government Administration, inspector-general of Police, attorney general of the federation, Senator Aloysius Etok and Senator Kabiru Gaya. Instructively, the FCSC, Maina’s employer, was not made a party to that Suit, and no relief pertaining to his employment was claimed or granted in that suit. No such relief could have been claimed in the suit, anyway, because his institution and filing of that suit predated his dismissal from service on account of his absconding from duty or absenting himself from work, without leave. The reliefs sought by Maina in the suit were to quash the warrant of arrest issued against him by the Police and to prohibit (by an order of perpetual injunction) his arrest, by the inspector-general of Police, based on that warrant.

In its Judgment, delivered on March 27, 2013, the Court quashed the warrant of arrest that was issued against Maina. The Court held that since the summons issued by the Senate to secure the appearance and attendance of Maina before a Senate Committee’s hearing was not in accordance with Section 88 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the warrant of arrest predicated thereon, and issued against Maina for refusing to heed the summons, was illegal and thus must be set aside. Having set aside the warrant, the Court granted Maina an order of perpetual injunction restraining all the respondents, jointly and severally, from arresting him, based on that voided warrant of arrest.

It is clear that in his judgment, Hon. Justice Adamu Bello did not absolve Maina of any criminal allegations that were pending against him, and from being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The judgment, which was delivered on March 27, 2013, did not determine, and could not have decided the charges that were later filed in 2015 against Maina by the EFCC, before Hon. Justice Kolawole of the Federal High Court. It should be noted also that the warrant of arrest issued and procured by the Police, which was nullified by Hon. Justice Adamu Bello was different and separate from the warrant for the arrest of Maina, which was later procured by the EFCC from a magistrate court in 2015.

Apart from that judgment, there was a ruling that was obtained by Maina against the warrant for his arrest, which the EFCC had procured on October 27, 2015, in the Chief Magistrate Court, FCT, Abuja, presided over by Chief Magistrate Ahmed Usman Shuaibu. The ruling secured by Maina (which is now being inappropriately referred to as the second judgment) was delivered in May 2016. The ruling voided the said warrant of the arrest earlier obtained by the EFCC. The chief magistrate based his ruling voiding the warrant of arrest on the ground that his court lacked the jurisdiction to have granted the warrant in the first instance. The ruling followed the application that was brought by Maina through his counsel. It should be noted, however, that by the vacation of that warrant of arrest, the EFCC was not precluded from obtaining another warrant of arrest in order to bring Maina, a fugitive, to justice.

In a separate criminal action, Maina was on July 21, 2015, charged by the EFCC, alongside Stephen Oronsaye, Osarenkhoe Afe, and Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, before Hon. Justice Gabriel Kolowole of the Federal High Court, Abuja in a 24-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses. While Stephen Oronsaye and the two others were in Court, Maina was not, for he was at large, although he was represented by counsel, Esther Uzoma. Since he was not produced in Court, the charge could not be prosecuted against him. Since the law does not permit that he be tried in absentia, he was not prosecuted and was neither discharged nor found guilty. It is, therefore, erroneous for anyone to argue that since Maina still enjoys the presumption of innocence until he is found guilty, he is entitled to be reinstated as a public servant.

"It should be noted that all charges instituted by the EFCC are initiated and commenced in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – FRN – and are deemed to be so instituted under the power of public prosecution donated to the AGF by Section 174 of the Constitution, meaning that the AGF is deemed, in a sense, to have initiated such charges and he is presumed to know that such charges are brought. Thus, the AGF ought to have ensured, upon Maina’s re-emergence and appearance, that he was made to face his prosecution, instead of assuming the role of his advocate and solicitor, insistently demanding for his reinstatement in the public service."

By virtue of the provision of Section 2 of the Public Officer Protection Act, Cap P41, Laws of the Federation Nigeria 2004, if Maina had wanted to challenge his dismissal from the civil service, he should have done so within three months of the occurrence of his dismissal. Under the Section, the limitation of time for instituting an action against public officers (or offices) is three months.

Now, let us examine how the AGF, the chief law officer of the federation, related to and interpreted these court decisions and proceedings in his letters, advising and directing that Maina is reinstated into office, more than four years after Maina’s dismissal on March 5, 2013.

The AGF first wrote a letter to the FCSC on February 21, 2017, demanding the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina. The letter was in response to the letter of the FCSC to the AGF, dated February 1, 2017. In other words, the first letter of the AGF was in response to the letter of the FCSC to him on the subject.

In the letter, entitled “Re: Demand for Update on the Reinstatement of Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina as Director in the Federal Civil Service”, the AGF reasoned that since the query issued to Maina, reference no. MI30040//1/3, dated February 15, 2013, and his eventual dismissal vide a letter dated March 5, 2013 were “predicated” on the warrant of arrest issued against him by the Police, his dismissal should be lifted and he should be reinstated, in view of the judgment of court voiding the said warrant of arrest.

The AGF wrote another letter dated April 27, 2017, reminding the FCSC of his earlier letter and directing that Maina is reinstated. The AGF’s letter of April 27, 2017, with Ref. No. HAGF/FCSC/2017/Vol. 1/3, addressed to the chairman, FCSC and entitled “Re: Demand for an update on the reinstatement of Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdulahi Maina as Director of the Federal Civil Service”, read as follows:

“Your letter on the above captioned subject matter referenced FCSC/CHMN/OC/17/Vol. XIV/209 dated 3rd March 2017 and the letters copied to the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation by the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the same subject matter respectively referenced HCSF/LU/COR/FCSC/749/III/84 dated 27th March 2017 and 20th April 2017 refer (copies attached).

“You would recall that I wrote your office vide a letter referenced HAGF/FCSC/2017/Vol. 1/2 dated 21 February 2017 wherein I drew your attention to the legal import of the judgment delivered by his Lordship, Honourable Justice A. Bello of the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division on Wednesday the 27th day of March, 2013 in suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/65/13 (Abdulrasheed Maina vs the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria & 8 Ors), a suit in which my office represented the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“In my said letter, I directed your office to give a consequential effect to the said judgment which voided the warrant of arrest issued by the Police against Dr. Abdulrasheed A. Maina, which warrant of arrest formed the basis for the query referenced MI/30040/1/1, dated the 15th day of February 2013 and his eventual dismissal from the service of the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 5th day of March 2013. Having reviewed all the correspondence vis-a-vis the court judgment. I hereby write to reiterate my earlier directive and further direct that you give a consequential effect to the aforesaid judgment by taking necessary steps to ensure immediate reinstatement of Dr. Maina to his duty post as a Director of the Federal Civil Service to enable him to continue his service to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“Please accept, Honourable Chairman, the assurances of my best regards always."

The letter was copied to the head of the service of the federation and the permanent secretary, Ministry of Interior.

If Maina believed that the issue of the warrant for his arrest and dismissal from employment were one and the same cause of action, why did he not seek the enforcement of the judgment of Justice Adamu Bello against the FCSC (if indeed, the AGF was right in his position that the judgment had a bearing on Maina’s dismissal, to warrant his reinstatement being founded on the alleged consequential effect which should be given to the judgment)?

Based on the second letter of the AGF, the FCSC met on June 14, 2017. At the end of its meeting, it requested the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), vide a letter referenced FC.4029/82/Vol. III/160, and dated June 21, 2017, to advise the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior to consider the AGF’s letter, the officer (Maina)’s case and make appropriate recommendations to the FCSC. The OHCSF was said to have advised the Ministry of Interior, as requested by the FCSC, to deliberate on the matter of Maina’s reinstatement. That role, however, has been disavowed by Mrs. Oyo Ita, the head of the civil service of the federation, in a press statement issued by her office.

Subsequently and in line with the “directive” of the OHCSF, the Ministry of Interior, at its Senior Staff Committee’s meeting held on June 22, 2017, acted on the AGF’s letter and recommended that Maina is reinstated into the public service as deputy director on salary grade level 16. Thereafter, the FCSC, on August 16, 2017, approved the reinstatement of Maina with effect from the date he was earlier dismissed from service. The FCSC further gave approval for Maina to sit for the next promotion examination to the post of director (Administration) with salary grade level 17. By that reinstatement, Maina’s dismissal was totally obliterated from his employment record, and he was thus paid the backlog of his salaries and allowances, for the four years when he did not work for the Federal Government of Nigeria; salaries and allowances reportedly totaling over twenty million nairas!

Having critically examined the trajectory and contents of the official communications and deliberations resulting in Maina’s purported reinstatement, it is our humble view that the Hon. AGF had no valid reason to have directed the FCSC, “to give a consequential effect to the said judgment which voided the warrant of arrest issued by the Police against Dr. Abdulrasheed A. Maina, which warrant of arrest formed the basis for the query referenced MI/30040/1/1 dated the 15th day of February 2013 and his eventual dismissal from the service of the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 5th day of March 2013.”

The interpretation is given to the Judgment of Hon. Justice Adamu Bello was, to say the least, very wrong. Justice Adamu Bello’s judgment was in respect of the warrant that was issued by the Police to effect the arrest of Maina, for his failure to heed the Senate’s summons. If the Eighth Senate had resuscitated Maina’s probe and renewed the summons that was issued by the Committee of the Seventh Senate to Maina, and if the inspector-general of Police had revived the voided warrant of arrest with the intention to effect Maina’s arrest, the AGF could have issued an advice against such move, since there was no appeal against the Judgment of Adamu Bello, J. But that was not the case.

When he was dismissed from service, Maina did not challenge his dismissal by filing a court action in the Federal High Court or in the National Industrial Court, following the Third Alteration of the Constitution, which by Section 254C now vests exclusive jurisdiction in all labour and employment matters in the National Industrial Court. If there had been any such action leading to a judgment favourable to Maina, certainly that judgment nullifying the dismissal of Maina from the civil service would have been the fulcrum of the AGF’s recommendation of Maina for reinstatement. If such a judgment quashing Maina’s dismissal exists, let the AGF produce it to the Nigerian public.

By virtue of the provision of Section 2 of the Public Officer Protection Act, Cap P41, Laws of the Federation Nigeria 2004, if Maina had wanted to challenge his dismissal from the civil service, he should have done so within three months of the occurrence of his dismissal, or accrual of cause of action, that is three months from the date of his dismissal on March 5, 2013. Under the Section, the limitation of time for instituting an action against public officers (or offices) is three months. Any action commenced after the three month period is statute-barred and is liable to be dismissed. Therefore, having failed to file an action against his dismissal from the public service within the time allowed by law, Maina’s right of action against his dismissal is dead. Not today, but since 2013. It was, therefore, wrong for the Hon. AGF to seek to revive that right of action by disingenuously claiming that Maina’s query and dismissal were predicated on that warrant of arrest which was voided in Maina’s case for the enforcement of his fundamental rights.

Let us even assume, without conceding, that Maina’s dismissal from the civil service was predicated on the said warrant of arrest. The questions that will arise from such an assumption are many. Upon the voiding of that warrant of arrest by Hon. Justice Adamu Bello, in his judgment of March 27, 2013, why did Maina not thereafter challenge his dismissal in a court of law, since his dismissal from employment was a separate cause of action, distinct from the threat to arrest him and breach his right to liberty under the voided warrant? If Maina believed that the issue of the warrant for his arrest and dismissal from employment were one and the same cause of action, why did he not seek the enforcement of the judgment of Justice Adamu Bello against the FCSC (if indeed, the AGF was right in his position that the judgment had a bearing on Maina’s dismissal, to warrant his reinstatement being founded on the alleged consequential effect which should be given to the judgment)? Or why did Maina not petition Muhammed Adoke (SAN), the former AGF, who, incidentally is also now a “fugitive from justice”, to seek an administrative remedy of reinstatement? Why did Maina delay for four years “to reap the fruits of his judgment”, to which he was entitled under the Justice Adamu Bello judgment; “fruits” which the legal wizardry and interpretative ingenuity of the Hon. AGF have now pointed out to the FCSC and the Federal Government of Nigeria, who were not clear-eyed enough to have seen these “hanging fruits” all these years?

The judgment that the Hon. AGF relied upon to direct the reinstatement of Maina did not determine the issue of Maina’s employment. It was, therefore wrong for the Hon. AGF to twist the effect of that judgment to secure Maina’s reinstatement.

Maina has been issued a query on February 15, 2013, and was eventually dismissed on March 5, 2013. The judgment of Hon. Justice Adamu Bello vacating the warrant for his arrest was delivered on March 27, 2013. The Maina suit leading to that judgment was already pending in that Court and was being litigated and adjudicated when the disciplinary action of dismissal against Maina was taken by the FCSC. Thus, the issue of the disciplinary action that was taken against him by the FCSC, pursuant to Rule 04412 of the Public Service Rules, was not part of his claim in Court. Not being part of his claim, the Court could not have adjudicated on that issue. Since the Court did not determine the issue of his employment, there was no justification whatsoever for the Hon. AGF to have imported that into the judgment by relying on the voiding of the warrant of arrest therein to advise and direct that Maina is reinstated. Rule 04412 states clearly that, “any officer who absents himself from duty or from Nigeria without leave renders himself liable to be dismissed from the service and the onus shall rest on him, to show that the circumstances do not justify the imposition of the full penalty.”

In any case, it is settled law that an action seeking a declaration that an employee has been unlawfully dismissed or that an employment has been wrongfully terminated, and seeking orders of either reinstatement or damages, cannot be commenced by an originating motion or application for the enforcement of fundamental rights. Employment and the legal right thereto are not fundamental human rights which are enforceable in court vide the fundamental rights provisions or enforcement procedure rules. Obviously, therefore, the fundamental rights enforcement suit decided by Hon. Justice Adamu Bello did not determine, and could not have determined the legal dispute of unlawful dismissal of Maina by the FCSC. The Court would have had no jurisdiction to entertain Maina’s action if the action, using the fundamental rights enforcement procedure mode of commencement of an action, had been filed in respect of his dismissal.

The judgment that the Hon. AGF relied upon to direct the reinstatement of Maina did not determine the issue of Maina’s employment. It was, therefore wrong for the Hon. AGF to twist the effect of that judgment to secure Maina’s reinstatement.

The Office of the Attorney General of any country under the rule of law is a very important office. In Nigeria, the office of the AGF, unlike the offices of the other ministers in the federal government, is specially created by Section 150 of the Constitution, and the AGF specifically is given powers by Section 174 of the Constitution, unlike the other ministers in the government of the federation, who are not specifically granted any powers by the Constitution. It is an office that demands that the occupant is learned in the law, impeccable in character, high in morality and pure in professional ethics.

The honourable AGF knew when he was writing his letters and issuing his directives that Maina was a scofflaw and fugitive from justice. But he was not restrained by that knowledge. Abubakar Malami (SAN), by his action and conduct, has done incalculable harm to the integrity of the Buhari’s administration. He has done terrible damage to the anti-corruption fight and has dishonoured the Office of the AGF. He need not wait to be sacked. He should do the honourable thing. He should resign from office.

Jiti Ogunye is a lawyer, public interest attorney, legal commentator, author, and essayist. He is the legal adviser to PREMIUM TIMES.

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WHEN WILL THE PRESIDENT TAKE THE BLAME? By Samuel Ajayi.

When Buhari was trying to get our votes.

For every negativism around his beleaguered regime, President Mohammadu Buhari, in the warped thinking of his supporters, is not to be blamed. There is always an excuse. Check these out:

1. Timi Sylva was standing trial for fraud, but he allegedly paid the nomination fee for Buhari. 

Defence from Supporters:  There was no way the president could have known that the money Sylvia paid was part of the one he stole. 

2. EFCC returned 48 houses to Sylvia under a regime fighting corruption. 

Defence from Supporters: The president was not aware. Besides, it was the courts that decided. (Why didn't EFCC appeal as it always does? We may have to find out). 

3. $5000 was being given to party members each to vote for Buhari at his party's convention at Teslim Balogun Stadium when it was obvious Atiku might embarrass him. 

Defence from Supporters: The President was sitting in the state box. There was no way he could have known what they were doing on his behalf. Besides, no proof that he authorized the 'payment'. 

4. Army Chief Buratai bought houses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Dubai.

Defence from Supporters: The president trusts his appointees and he knows that apart from his military job, Buratai was into snake farming. 

5. He nominated Magu, the DSS wrote a scathing report against him to the Senate. An unprecedented embarrassment in the history of Nigeria's presidency. 

Defence from Supporters: The President was not aware of the report. In fact, he did not intervene, even if he was aware, to allow those guys do their jobs. 

6. Abba Kyari collected N500m bribe from MTN to reduce their fine. 

Defence from Supporters: No appointee of the President would do that. Besides, he was not even aware of the MTN issue. 

7. The panel on Babachir "Grasscutter" Lawal submitted its report months ago and mum is the word from Buhari since then. 

Defence from Supporters: The president is very meticulous. It is lengthy report so let's give him time to read it thoroughly. 

8. Baru bypassed Kachkwu and awarded contracts of over $26b in NNPC and Buhari is the minister of petroleum and Baru said he took directive from Buhari. 

Defence from Supporters: The president could not have been the one who gave the directive. Besides, let us give him (Buhari) time to investigate. 

9. National Security Adviser and DG of DSS are reportedly not on speaking terms. 

Defence from supporters: Buhari is not aware. Besides, it does not concern him as long as the job is done(?)

10. Malami (AGF), Dambazau and Head of Service all worked to reinstate Maina. They should be sacked. 

Defence from supporters: The President was not aware and besides, he does not have to sack anyone. He will set up a committee to investigate. 

WHEN WILL BUHARI TAKE THE BLAME?

Source: Facebook

The Reason President Muhammadu Buhari Blunders by Gimba Kakanda.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan took the bullet for even gaffes and indecisions by gate-men at poor-performing public institutions. 

These days an imaginary cast of characters is announced, day in, day out, as the reason President Muhammadu Buhari blunders: the Cabal, Mamman Daura, Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, PDP Defectors in APC, Jonathan, GEJ, Shekau, Boko Haram, Directors, CBN Governor, Emiefele, Dambazzau, Judges, Justices, Judiciary, Cabinet, Buhari's Ministers, Diezani, IBB, Hassan Kukah, Dasuki, and whatnots.

Some have gone as far as blaming democracy for Buhari's inability to lead the war against corruption. They think it's okay to have accused citizens - those the EFCC have, without gathering substantial evidence, continuously rushed to try in the media -facing the firing squad without litigation.

Buhari's government isn't hijacked. The President is just a paper tiger you are too sentimental to see, and that explains why even the few commendable triumphs over corruption we have witnessed were only after the people protested and asked for action. 

"Hijacked" is a respectable word for... (fill in the gap).

Writer, poet, columnist, and commentator on politics and life. You can reach Gimba Kakanda @ misterkakanda@yahoo.com

"AFRICA, A LAND OF CHILDHOOD" by John Chizoba Vincent.

This is a land of lands where dreams

are planted in the longing eyes of a child.

Lives are redefined for societal upliftment,

children build castles on the seashore and

watch the passage of tradition and culture

from the custodians to the younger ones.

We speak of those tales under the moonlight,

grace the festivities hopping in around villages.

Boys stay uphills to tell girls tale of prestige,

Girls gather in the stream to sing and dance.

When boys come,  they run here and there

madly to cover their innocent nakedness 

We watch the elders chew kola nuts

under the setting of the old rugged sun.

Children remember the farmland like their palm,

the dreadful thunder,  they chase with a curse.

Hopeful land AFRICA is a land of expression.

We sweep clean our hearts with love.

Our skin colours are our proud name,

no full flame,  next fall, next rise joyfully,

With love and new opinions, we strive on.

She watches signifies come and go,

names immortalized on her wall...

This is the land that harbours our childhood.

Boys chase girls along the village tracks,

not without sending our souls' errand to

  

tell them of our longing thoughts craving.

When we misbehave,  we tell the elders the lie.

Cry of fearful rodents we follow downhills to

derive joy from their fears and heartbeat.

We have no problem except those we created,

We have no sin except those we learned of.

Life, a funfair,  sure path to imperfection.

Elders meet elders,  women meet women,

boys tell boys tales and girls giggle often.

Africa  made us who we are to the world,

a spotlight of the undescribed world of sin.

Images and prime creature above all species.

Downhills are green grasses spreading potentially.

Tell men of high condition that manage the globe

that our black colour is not a crime to nature.

Africa is a land of childhood. 

You can reach John Chizoba Vincent @ chizobavincent@gmail.com

AN EMPTY SKULL WITH COBWEBS BY JOY ISI BEWAJI.

What Timi Dakolo said...

“We as Christians give our tithes to God. Whether pastor chop or not na him go answer to God.”

“A canal mind cannot understand the things of the spirit.”

“You don’t have any right to talk about marriage when you are a divorcee (or unmarried)”

“You need patience and understanding and high level of communication to stay married.”

"This generation is impatient."

And the worst of the bunch goes thus…

“All men love curves and boobs and a beautiful face, but we would forever respect a complete and intelligent woman.”

Yet all of you – obtuse and brain-dead are clamoring to place a crown on his head. What do you find in this tedious, colorless spittle that makes it any less redundant as the yarn of an average Nigerian?

This is what your great grandfathers said. It is what your grandmothers told your mother. It is what your mother is spitting all over your face for the last 30 years, so much that you can’t think of any real success that doesn't include a man. There’s no revelation in these excerpts, no thorough or profound thinking. His word is as dull as he looks. But you all need to preserve old traditions, so you line up on his IG spreading your bras and pants for him to walk on because nothing satisfies the average dull Nigerian beyond a broken record of repeated stuff that conceals his/her inability to think for self.

Timi is not a thinker. He is nothing close to Freeze on a scale of intelligence. Freeze is not perfect, but neither are you or Timi. Side chick gossip about Timi is out, and Timi is taking videos of himself smiling… as a child in need of new knowledge. Olodo rabata.

You don’t like Freeze because he dedicates his time to shame your twisted religion. If he isn’t saying something worthy of attention, why do you pay him any? On a scale of basic intelligence, Timi is a fetus where Freeze is grey and tending to his garden.

His word is as dull as he looks.

You are all afraid. Afraid that these things we talk about will force you to think, apply your brain. And since it’s just an empty skull with cobwebs that you possess, truth startles you, exposes your lack of sense; and the emptiness causes an echo that travels too far for your comfort. Nigerian celebrities are probably the most ignorant group of individuals you can find in one space. All you need to do is ask them about feminism, marriage, religion, domestic violence, even rape, and all the maggots suggestive of a brain rotten out of neglect starts to seep through their mouths, noses, and ears.

I don’t care for this topic, but be ashamed that you can’t help being so wow-ed by basic common knowledge. What really is this shit that is making you all go gaga with excitement? You think your instant love for Timi and his ho-hum comments will faze Daddy Freeze?

Joy Isi Bewaji, a prolific writer, columnist, and the managing director of Happenings Radio and Happenings Magazine

Buhari's Government Begged Maina To Join 'Change Agenda' — Family.

Abdulrasheed Maina

The family members of former Chairman of Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration begged the former pension boss to join the change agenda, with the assurance of security protection.

The family members of former Chairman of Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration begged the former pension boss to join the change agenda, with the assurance of security protection.

The family disclosed this during a press conference in Kaduna on Wednesday. 

They added that their son is not a fraudster but a messiah who brought reforms into the pension scheme.

The spokesman of the family, Aliyu Maina said based on his “sterling record” at the scheme, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari appealed to Maina to key into the “change agenda”.

Aliyu wondered why government officials were denying his brother, especially when the Department of State Services (DSS) provided security for him.

“It is on record that Abdulrasheed Maina’s reform put a stop to the fraudulent withdrawal of huge sums from both the Nigerian Pension Board, the Nigerian Police Pension Board, etc."

"Perhaps it is his noble efforts that made him enviable to the present administration when they came into power to convince him to come back and assist in its ‘CHANGE agenda',” he said.

“Abdulrasheed was in fact invited by this administration and he was promised security to come and clean up the mess and generate more revenue for the government by blocking leakages."

“He succumbed to the present administration and came back to Nigeria. He has been working with the DSS for quite some time and he was given necessary security."

“There is a letter from the attorney-general of the federation where he gave his own legal opinion regarding the court verdict which was submitted to the Civil Service Commission and the Head of Service respectively. So, one wonders why all the agencies and various individuals responsible for his return are now denying,” he added. 

Sources: Daily Trust Newspaper/ Sahara Reporters

My Governor is Really Trying about Roads By Pius Adesanmi.

Shortly after a conversation between two of my favorite proteges, Mitterand Okorie and Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu gave me the inflatus for an essay on Julius Berger, a perplexed Nigerian phoned me.

Although the terrible condition of Nigeria's infrastructure is a given, he says, his governor has really been trying with road construction. He has always given his Governor an A+ for road construction. "In fact, Prof, if you see some of the roads he completed and launched last year, na like jand".

I told him to send me pictures of some of the "ultramodern roads" that his Governor completed and launched last year. He obliged me the following day. He also sent me photos of the ribbon cutting - a whole day of suspended governance and grounding the state to launch His Excellency's new project.

I told my interlocutor to watch this space for my response at a time of my own determination for what I was moved to say to him was also good for public illumination.

"Prof, you don start be dat o. Na so person go open up to you, you go turn person to one of your teachable moments.", he joked. 

"Before nko", I replied, "but you know I will never write it in a way that would give you away. No worry. I won't open your suegbe yansh".

This morning, he phoned to remind me of my promise to address the issue of his Governor's exemplary achievements in road construction.

My interlocutor is a hardworking, intelligent, masters degree holder. I am currently mentoring him as he contemplates enrolling for a Ph.D. However, he has never left the shores of Nigeria.

The photos he sent to me are like photos of phase one of the ongoing routine road construction in my neighbourhood here in Ottawa- a sprawl of unmarked macadam spreading kilometres. There are usually two or three other phases of layering, structuring, testing, glossing, compressing, and smoothing before you arrive at the final stage of markings, signage, construction of shoulders, etc.

What occurred to me - and I am writing this with considerable sadness and in all seriousness - is that a 25-year-old Nigerian with a masters degree has simply never seen or experienced anything beyond what is considered PHASE ONE of road construction in civilization. Phase one is virtually where all road projects in Nigeria stop and are declared ultramodern and launched with fanfare.

Mind you, phase one here comes with a lot of digging and konkere (concrete foundation) before the macadam is spread on the road. You don't just go and spread bitumen on the sand, declare that you have constructed an "ultramodern road", and launch it with fanfare - to be washed away by the first rains.

If you do not know what a completed road looks like, if you have never seen the real deal, you will always celebrate the "ultramodern roads" that state Governors inspect and launch in Nigeria.

I did warn you in the Julius Berger article that the construction companies do actually design the roads to be completed in every phase of design and construction in civilization. It is your Governor, your Senator, and your senior civil servants who peel off the layers and tell them that mere macadam surfacing, mere oda gberefun on the sand, is good enough for you. They then eat up the funds for the remaining phases of the road project.

I need to add a few more things to your civic enlightenment. When my neighbourhood road project is complete, structural and civil engineers from the works department of Ottawa City Hall will inspect and certify it and that is that. It would be politically ruinous for the Mayor of Ottawa or the Premier of the Province of Ontario to waste the billable hours of the taxpayer by going to inspect or launch a routine road construction project.

I have never even seen my Ward Councillor idling around with a pot belly, claiming to be inspecting construction projects. We were treated recently to stupid photos of an idle Governor inspecting a roundabout with the water fountain at midnight. My only consolation: at least he wasn't doing it during office hours on that occasion. Allah be praised.

Every time you see photos of a pot-bellied Governor inspecting the surfacing, dualization of a road, you are paying for the time he is wasting. It is called billable hours. What is his business with routine photo-ops at construction sites? Is he a civil or structural engineer? Such needless ceremonies stem from our national culture of idleness and wasting official billable hours. What are the quality assurance inspectors in the state ministry of works supposed to be doing?

Of course, it is all part of the fragile ego of His Excellency. He must be seen beaming and claiming credit. As if he constructed the road with his father's father's money.

Nobody calculates the naira cost of the time your Governors spend inspecting and launching 17th-century construction projects.

Henceforth, any political aide who posts photos of roads which look like phase one road construction and invites you to celebrate his Oga should be tied to the stakes and shot.

When next a political aide uses the adjective, ultramodern, to describe any such construction work that is launched, take a coconut and crack it on his head.

You will hear of an ultramodern public building. How can a building that will run 24/7 on Mikano be modern by definition, let alone ultramodern, in the 21st century?

We have to take baby steps in rejecting what they serve to us. Do not accept their excuses that there is no money. A Nigerian Governor will claim to have spent on just phase one of a 12-Kilometre road what it would cost the government of Ontario to construct all the phases of the same stretch of road.

You deserve more.

Stop celebrating their oda gberefun on the sand.

Pius Adesanmi, an acclaimed literary and cultural critic, was born in Nigeria and now lives in Ottawa, Canada, where he teaches literature and African studies at Carleton University. He is one of Nigeria's major intellectuals and writes two weekly columns for the influential Sahara Reporters and NEXT newspaper. His first book, The Wayfarer and Other Poems, won the Association of Nigerian Authors' Poetry Prize in 2001.