Since the inauguration of the current 8th National Assembly, so many government officials and private organisations have been summoned by either the Senate or House of Representatives to explain reasons for certain actions they took or failed to take. Whenever there is a serious matter or allegations against a minister, Director-General or any other highly placed government functions, the Senate, for instance would summon such individuals, but over the years what has become almost a norm is that such summons have been reduced to mere open shows, to create a false impression that something seriously is being done by the federal legislators to justify the alleged huge salaries and allowances. We have watched endlessly to see if any of the people summoned would ever be sent to jail, but nothing of such. What we have seen is a situation where those so summoned would be speaking as if they were untouchable, and they step out of the National Assembly complex very bold and confident. In fact, we have also seen occasions where those summoned refused to honour the invitation and nothing happened. It is alleged that such summons are basically avenues for the national lawmakers to get some personal settlements from those being summoned.
We therefore use this medium to urge the leadership of the National Assembly to reduce this unnecessary summons and be pro-active instead.
Herdsmen! The more we cry, the more they kill and maim
Unless the Federal Government bares its fangs and shows its red eyes against the wanton blood-letting by the Fulani herdsmen, lamentation alone will not make the murderers to change their mind.
After the recent massacre in Benue of over 73 innocent Nigerians, the herdsmen again reportedly went back to the local governments and killed some other people who were grieving.
This is simply unacceptable. Governor Samuel Ortom confirmed that fresh killings took place in Gruma and another two persons killed in logo. And killings have continued in many parts of the state up till this moment and no single person has been arrested in connection with the human wastage.
The saddest part of it all is that those saddled with the responsibility of protecting the lives and property of citizens are making utterances that are capable of encouraging the killers. While Benue is grieving, Abuja is telling them to accommodate strangers and that it was because the state legislated against open grazing that they were being attacked. This is sheer callousness, to say the least.
A former chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan, lamented the destruction of his farm, resulting in huge losses. Afolayan said that he has cumulatively lost over N200million to the activities of the herdsmen, who deliberately lead their cattle into his farms.
He wondered why a government trumpeting the need for “food security” appears to have remained incapable of reining in the economic saboteurs.
“The destruction of farmland by herdsmen shows government’s lip service to its Agricultural policy. Many of the local farmers around me do not come to the farm again because the herdsmen, with impunity, will cut their cassava and other crops for their cows,” he said.
Last week, some herdsmen set on fire a farm belonging to former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Olu Falae. The latest attack was about the third or fourth time on Falae’s farm.
There’s an urgent need for government to show it is on top of the situation by wielding the big stick. Abuja must be seen to be very concerned about the rate of senseless killings and the barbaric way they are being carried out by herdsmen across the country.
Many states join the ‘no to cattle colony’ chorus
The increasing number of states that have rejected the cattle colony proposal of the Federal Government has shown the level of irritation the activities of the Fulani herdsmen is causing across the country. Benue, Taraba, Bayelsa, South West states, South East states, Southern Kaduna, among others have said “no” to the proposal. Since the debate began, many historians have traced the history of expansion of certain people through such subtle means, insisting that establishment of colonies for herders would prove dangerous for the “friendly” communities in the long run. According to those who hold this view, the rate at which the herdsmen would be murdering innocent citizens in their own land would likely increase if colonies are established, and that eventually, people would be losing their ancestral homes to total strangers and squatters. The consensus opinion is that those in the business of cattle-rearing should see to how to provide food for their animals without unnecessarily infringing on other people’s rights. Dino Melaye, a senator representing Kogi West, succinctly put it on the floor of the red chamber of the National Assembly that cattle-rearing is a personal business and to that extent those trying to cause chaos in the country hiding under agitation for special colonies in the states must be told pointblank that they cannot have it. One indeed wonders why the Muhammadu Buhari administration would insist on treading this pernicious route. I really wonder.
Bakare and the politics of hallucination
Recently, the founder of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, announced to members of his church that he had received a divine message that he would become the president of Nigeria in 2019.
Bakare, a cleric, had in 2011 entered into affinity with Muhammadu Buhari, founder of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and jointly contested the presidency. At that time, the pastor reeled out catalogues of reasons why Buhari was the best man for the job. He made headline news as a staunch campaigner of the Daura, Katsina State-born former military ruler-turned politician. Today, Bakare seems to be saying a different thing and appears to be one of the “away with Sai Baba” crooners.
Bakare’s penchant for claiming that God directed him to go into partisan politics or to be the president of Nigeria may have been taken with a pinch of salt given the failure of such claims in the past to come to reality.
Not many Nigerians are comfortable with the way the name of God is being dragged into political ambition. For instance, some pundits say they see no reason why some men of God so to speak, claim God has told them in a vision that they would be the next president, when actually such clerics are just being moved by greed and “worldliness”. Time will also tell of the latest vision of Pastor Bakare.
EFCC and the arrest of Babachir Lawal
Those who are convinced that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a failed agency may have seen another example to justify their stand. For many years, the activities and modus operandi of the graft-fighting commission have been a source of controversy. Critics mainly accuse the agency of engaging in selective trial of perceived enemies of government. They also say that the EFCC has always been an attack dog of the Executive arm of government. It is laughable that the EFCC decided to go into a long slumber only to wake up several months after the issue of grass-cutting episode involving David Babachir, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) trended, and four months after the man was sacked as a result of the sleaze. Little wonder the agency has not successfully prosecuted most of those it claimed to have stolen the country blind, particularly, politicians accused of looting the treasury. Is it not possible that the EFCC arrested Babachir just to hush the mounting criticism over its sleeplessness in that regard? Some observers have also said that the former SGF would be let off the hooks in no time at all as his so-called arrest was just to “shut the mouth” of critics.
Zebulon Agomuo
