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Amidst claims of an

unfair jury, the

Prosecutor of Abidjan -

Aly Yeo, leading the case

against Cote d’Ivoire’s former

First Lady - Simone Gbagbo,

has dismissed the claims,

stating that the jury was fair

and transparent.

Defence lawyers

condemned the composition of

the jury, saying it was stacked

against their client, with most

of the jurors from the north of

the country. 66-year old

Simone Gbagbo, who is

nicknamed ‘Iron Lady’ for her

Continued on Page 5>

Abody thought to be that of

missing Coventry

University Masters degree

student - Ozeivo (Ozi) Akerele, has

been found in undergrowth in a

disused graveyard on Old Church

Road, Foleshill, in Coventry - more

than a year later.

Two 10-year old boys who had

climbed in to the graveyard to

retrieve a football, made the

gruesome discovery last Thursday.

There has been widespread

criticism of previous West Midland

Police searches which included

searches of Coventry’s waterways -

following speculations that he might

have fell into a canal close to where

he was last sighted.

However, the Police defended

the fact that officers failed to find the

body earlier. They said: “Specialist

search officers conducted a series of

extensive examinations of key areas

of the city.

“Search areas were defined based

on information available to officers

at the time.”

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Simone Gbagbo on trial Bodyfound insearch formissingstudent

Simone Gbagboon trial

Ozeivo (Ozi) Akerele

Continued on Page 3>

Page2 TheTrumpet MAY 11 - 24 2016

Ozi arrived from Nigeria weeks

before his disappearance to study for a

MSc Management of Information

Technology after completing studies in

Nigeria. He left behind three younger

brothers and his widowed mother - Irene

Ajayi Akerele, who is Vice Principal at a

secondary school in Abuja.

24-year-old Ozi was last seen on

January 31, 2015, just yards from where

the body was discovered.

His mother, in an appeal when he was

first reported missing, said: “Ozi is on the

quiet side, he doesn’t talk much, but he is

a happy boy, he’s always excited. He

likes friends around him, he’s very

generous.

“He was happy to come to Coventry

University, he wanted it, he sought the

admission himself. At times now, I regret

sending him out to do his Masters

Degree.

“I can’t be alone without him, I can’t

leave without Ozeivo.”

At press time, police said a post-

mortem examination on the body proved

inconclusive and further tests will be

carried out to establish the cause of death.

Ozi’s family have been informed and

are being supported by officers.

Page3TheTrumpetMAY 11 - 24 2016

News

Body found in search for missing studentContinued from Page 1<

Ahead of this year’s Nigeria

Diaspora Day, the Federal

Government says they will take

a different approach in the celebration

especially in the area of mentorship and

services from the Diaspora.

Permanent Secretary, Political

Affairs, Office of the Secretary to

Government of the Federation,

Ambassador Olukunle Bamgbose made

this known when he received

Commandant General, Nigerians in

Diaspora Mentoring Corps,

NIDMECORP - Alistair Soyode who is

also the Founder and Chief Executive

Officer of BEN Television London, in

his office in Abuja.

The Permanent Secretary said it is

time for the Diasporans to contribute

their quota through community

engagements, volunteering on projects

and help in the development of the

country, adding that the Federal

Government will support any

professional person who wishes to

come back home to serve his fatherland

through volunteering service.

Bamgbose while commending

Soyode for his support and services to

the nation, pledge to work with

NIDMECORP to ensure a successful

Diaspora Day come July 25, 2016.

He also called on other Diaspora

organisations to key into the project and

start making preparation towards the

Day.

Soyode in his response, noted that

his organisation will help in mobilising

and publicising the event to make this

year‘s Diaspora Day a huge success.

It was agreed that the Diaspora Day

will be used towards a volunteering

Week scheme under the offices of

NNVS whose Director is Mr Tor

Tsavar. The scheme will provides

places where Diasporans can volunteer

to support, such as the IDP camps,

environmental projects and in

mobilising experts for human capacity

developments and training.

Diaspora Day to explore morevolunteering and mentorship

Dr Alistair Soyode and Ambassador Olukunle Bamgbose

In a bid to combat power supply, Nigeria’s

Ogun State plans to generate electricity from

sawdust.

This was revealed by the State’s

Commissioner for Forestry - Chief Kolawole

Lawal, during a visit to sawmills in Ijebu-Igbo.

He said the United Nations Industrial

Development Organisation (UNIDO) and

Energy Commission of Nigeria, in collaboration

with the State government, were working

together to convert sawdust to energy.

Lawal urged saw-millers not to waste

sawdust, adding that even

though it was seen as a waste product, it would

soon become a raw material

for energy generation.

He also said the State government had

established three new forest ranges in

addition to the existing ones as part of its efforts

to curb illegal logging

activities in its forest reserves.

Ogun State togenerate electricityfrom sawdust

Kola Lawal

Nominations for the Uncelebrated

Nigerians Awards (UNA) close

on June 30, according to

organisers.

Scheduled to take place at the Mayfair

Banqueting Suite in east London on

September 24, the Uncelebrated

Nigerians Awards UK “will be a classy

gala dinner that will attract community

leaders, guests from Nigeria and High

Commission officials. Organised to

honour ordinary Nigerians in the UK who

are excelling in numerous fields, the

awards ceremony is being put together by

UK based community champions

including some of the committeemembers that organised the Nigerian

Centenary Awards UK in 2014.“

Malcolm Benson, the Chair of the

Organising Committee’s Publicity and

Marketing sub-committee urged

everyone to visit the website

www.uncelebratednigeriansawardsuk.co

m and nominate people. He added that

the enthusiastic response the event was

attracting so far indicated that it was

going to be a huge success.

According to Mr Benson,

nominations opened on April 1 and will

close on June 30, giving the public three

whole months to nominate. He added that

the nomination process will be

transparent and all the awardees will be

people highly deserving of the honour.

56 people are expected to be

honoured at the event.

Invited guests to the event include

Nigeria’s Vice President - Professor Yemi

Osinbajo; President Buhari’s Senior

Special Assistant on Foreign and

Diaspora Affairs - Abike Dabiri-Erewa;

and the Chair of the Federal House of

Representatives Committee on Diaspora

Affairs - Hon Rita Orji.

Page4 TheTrumpet

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News

Nominations for UncelebratedNigerians Awards close June 30

Prof Yemi Osinbajo - UNA

Page5TheTrumpetMAY 11 - 24 2016

News

The five-writer shortlist for the 2016

Caine Prize for African Writing has

been announced by Chair of Judges -

writer and academic, Delia Jarrett-

Macauley. The 2016 shortlist includes a

former Caine Prize winner and a former

regional winner of the Commonwealth

Short Story Prize.

Delia Jarrett-Macauley described the

shortlist as, ‘an engrossing, well-crafted and

dauntless pack of stories.’

‘The high standard of the entries was

clear throughout and particularly

noteworthy was the increasing number of

fantasy fictions [with] the sci-fi trend

resonating in several excellent stories. My

fellow judges commented on the pleasure of

reading the stories, the gift of being exposed

to the exciting short fictions being produced

by African writers today and the general

shift away from politics towards more

intimate subjects – though recent topics

such as the Ebola crisis were being wrestled

with.’

She added, ‘It was inspiring to note the

amount of risk-taking in both subject matter

and style, wild or lyrical voices matching

the tempered measured prose writers, and

stories tackling uneasy topics, ranging from

an unsettling, unreliable narrator’s tale of

airport scrutiny, to a science-fictional

approach towards the measurement of grief,

a young child’s coming to grips with family

dysfunction, the big drama of rivalling

siblings and the silent, numbing effects of

loss.’

‘The panel is proud to have shortlisted

writers from across the continent, finding

stories that are compelling, well-crafted and

thought-provoking.’

The 2016 shortlist comprises:

- Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya) for ‘The

Lifebloom Gift’ published in TheGonjon Pin and Other Stories: TheCaine Prize for African Writing 2014

(New Internationalist, United Kingdom,

2014).

- Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria) for

‘What it Means When a Man Falls From

the Sky’ published in Catapult(Catapult, USA, 2015)

- Tope Folarin (Nigeria) for ‘Genesis’

published in Callaloo (Johns Hopkins

University Press, USA, 2014)

* Folarin won the 2013 Caine Prize for

African Writing

- Bongani Kona (Zimbabwe) for ‘At

Your Requiem’ published in IncredibleJourney: Stories That Move You (Burnet

Media, South Africa, 2015)

- Lidudumalingani (South Africa) for

‘Memories We Lost’ published in

Incredible Journey: Stories That MoveYou (Burnet Media, South Africa, 2015)

The full panel of judges, joining Delia

Jarrett-Macauley, includes acclaimed film,

television and theatre actor, Adjoa Andoh;

writer and founding member of the Nairobi-

based writers’ collective, Storymoja, and

founder of the Storymoja Festival, Muthoni

Garland; Associate Professor and Director

of African American Studies at Georgetown

University, Washington DC, Dr Robert J

Patterson; and South African writer and

2006 Caine Prize winner, Mary Watson.

The winner of the £10,000 prize will be

announced at an award ceremony and

dinner at the Weston Library, Bodleian

Libraries, Oxford, on Monday 4 July. Each

shortlisted writer will also receive £500.

Each of these stories will be published

in New Internationalist’s Caine Prize 2016

Anthology in July and through co-

publishers across Africa, who receive a

print-ready PDF free of charge from New

Internationalist.

Seventeenth Caine Prize shortlistannounced

tough outlook, is in court facing charges of

crimes against humanity, with most of the

alleged fatalities from the mainly Muslim

north of the country.

However, Yeo said the trial is being held

“with complete transparency following the

procedures specified in the law,” insisting

that jurors had been chosen for their

“integrity and honesty,” with no basis for

the claims that they were selected on the

basis of “ethnic or regional affiliation.”

In a related development, Amnesty

International insisted that the Ivorian

government should reconsider its refusal to

comply with their obligation to surrender

Simone Gbagbo to the International

Criminal Court (ICC) pursuant to an arrest

warrant against her on charges of crimes

against humanity.

“Unless Côte d’Ivoire applies to the

International Criminal Court to again

challenge the admissibility of her case they

must immediately surrender Simone

Gbagbo to the ICC,” said Gaëtan Mootoo,

West Africa researcher for Amnesty

International.

“If the domestic trial continues, Côte

d’Ivoire must ensure its proceedings

comply with international human rights law

standards, including the right to a fair trial.

Côte d’Ivoire must show the world it is

serious about delivering post-conflict

justice to victims of all crimes.”

Yeo noted that Cote d’Ivoire had chosen

to try suspected war criminals in national

courts rather than before the International

Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague - hence

the refusal to send the former First Lady to

the ICC.

Her husband and former President

Laurent Gbagbo however, is on trial at the

ICC for war crimes also related to the

unrest that followed his refusing to step

down after the vote.

Simone Gbagbo is already serving a 20-

year sentence after being convicted last

year of “attacking State authority” in

connection with the sweeping violence

after the election.

It will be recalled that Laurent Gbagbo

refused to hand over power to his election

rival and eventual successor, President

Alassane Ouattara, in a struggle that led to

the deaths of several thousand people. At

the time, Simone Gbagbo was accused of

war-mongering as the presidential couple

hid from the air attacks by French and

United Nations helicopters.

For weeks, inhabitants of the capital

city were holed up without water or

electricity while war raged in the streets

outside.

Cote ‘Ivoire, the world’s top cocoa

producer, has struggled to return to

normalcy after years of civil war, which

effectively divided the country between the

mainly Christian south and the largely

Muslim north.

Continued from Page 1<

Former President Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone rounded up after refusing to relinquish power

Simone Gbagbo - Surrounded by soldiers upon her arrest

Simone Gbagbo on trial

Page6 TheTrumpet MAY 11 - 24 2016

Page7TheTrumpetMAY 11 - 24 2016Entertainment

Ngoma Africa Band Live in Tubingen in 2015

The Ngoma Afrika Band, a

successful African live Band

based in Germany has been vastly

gaining popularity through an extra

ordinary East African rhythm which

always drives its Europeans fans crazy.

For more than two decades, Ngoma

Afrika has had a very concrete and stable

recognition going by the invitations and

engagements of the band in different

international music festivals.

Recently, the Ngoma Africa Band

performed in town and the outskirts of

Tubingen, during the fastest and largest

growing Diaspora cultural event

worldwide.

The natural dynamic music of the

singers of the Ngoma Africa Band is as a

result of largely a fusion and research

between traditional and modern

elements, creating a completely

irresistible dancing groove and hypnotic

sounds that make fans go wild.

All the compositions are written by

the Ngoma Africa band leader - Ebrahim

Makunja aka commander Ras Makunja.

The Ngoma Afrika has two albums and

several singles that topped the East

African charts. All Albums and Singles

have become perennial sellers - always

East African rhythms from Ngoma Afrika

Kamanda Ras Makunja (middle) - Leader of Ngoma Africa band flanked by band members

The Germany-based Ngoma Africa band

Ngoma Africa band performing Live in Tubingen2015

returning to the charts.

Most of the band’s musicians and

dancers were once fans or those who

adored the band before. For instance, the

youngest soloist Matondo Benda and

even the drummer Jo Sausa aka surgent

Major Jo Sousa and Bassist Aj Nbongo,

were once fans who always followed the

band wherever it performed.

Ngoma Africa Band have talented

musicians like Flora William, Jessicha

Ouyah, Sarah Fina including multi-

talented Chris-B Bakotessa and

Bandleader Ebrahim Makunja aka

Kamanda Ras Makunja

The Band looks forward to a World

Tour soon.

You can listen to the band at:

www.ngoma-africa.com or

www.reverbnation.com/ngomaafricaband

Ngoma Africa band - irresistible dancing groove

Page8 TheTrumpet MAY 11 - 24 2016

The present Senate serving the Nigerian

people runs the risk of being

remembered as the worst since 1999.

Public Relations Consultants and media

officials of this particular Senate have done

their part flooding both the print and the

online media with details of how productive

the Bukola Saraki-led Senate has been, and

they have been quite aggressive in telling us

about 30 important Bills which when passed,

will change the face of Nigeria and deliver

change.

The Senate according to one report has

considered over 125 bills, debated over 48

motions, and passed three bills. But nobody

is apparently impressed. During the Jonathan

administration, the Senate was the better

regarded of the two legislative chambers.

While members of the House of

Representatives in the Seventh Assembly

behaved as if they were a band of students’

unionists, the then Red Chamber projected an

image of maturity and temperance, even if it

was also self-serving! With the 8th Assembly,

the House of Representatives, apart from the

shameful resort to physical combat over the

distribution of “juicy” committees in

November 2015, has shown itself to be better

organized than the present Senate. The critical

difference is that of leadership. It is one of

management. It is a matter of weight and

politics.

What is clear is that the leadership

recruitment and selection process in the

legislative arm of government is as critical as

it is in any other sphere of government.

During the 7th Assembly, the politics of the

emergence of the then Speaker of the House

of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, a PDP

lawmaker who became an agent and later,

chieftain of the opposition party, ensured that

the House remained almost permanently in a

frosty relationship with the Executive.

Likewise, the manner of Bukola Saraki’s

emergence as Senate President, marked again

by alleged disloyalty to his own party and

collusion with the opposition for personal

gains, has laid the foundation for the

supremacy of intrigues, cabals, and the

politics of mischief in a Chamber that should

be devoted strictly to the making of laws for

the good governance of Nigeria.

His colleague in the House of

Representatives also emerged under

controversial circumstances, but Yakubu

Dogara’s politics seems to be better managed.

Saraki’s politics is made more complex by the

fact that he has strong roots in the two

dominant parties in the National Assembly

and has proven to be extremely influential

across party lines, making him a dominant

force in Nigeria’s current power equation, and

most certainly, a threat to other power centres.

Online, the Saraki-led Senate claims that

it has done a lot, even if it has spent more time

being on vacation in less than a year, and

obsessed daily with the politics of

contradictions. The Senate President once

reportedly boasted that the Senate under his

watch has helped to block corruption by

helping Nigeria to save money. He talked

about the Senate’s probe of the Treasury

Single Account (TSA). But now, here is the

contradiction: Many Nigerians would find it

difficult to see how a Senate whose leader is

on trial for corruption-related matters, and

that has chosen to buy for its members, luxury

SUV vehicles at inflated cost can claim to be

helping Nigerians at a time when the

economy is on a tragic downward spiral, and

yet the same Senators had allegedly collected

vehicle loans. This has brought the Senate

condemnation from both the Nigeria Labour

Congress and a coalition of about 400 Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

But we know where the problem lies:

politicians are always playing games, and the

Senate under Bukola Saraki’s watch has acted

more than once, as if it is against the people.

This Senate has had to reverse itself thrice in

the last one month following public outcry

about its lack of moral rectitude. The painful

reality is that the impression has now been

created that the Senate as presently

constituted is playing the politics of one man.

It has reduced itself to a Saraki-must-stay-

and-the-Executive-and-anti-Saraki-APC-

leaders-must-bow-Red-Chamber. Most

members of the House of Representatives

have tactfully stayed away from this abuse of

privilege and utter contempt for the original

mandate of the National Assembly, but they

need to be advised to also stay away from the

kind of infectious madness that seems to be

seizing hold of the Senate. It is a form of

madness that encourages recourse to farce,

burlesque and conspicuous acquisition.

Determined to show support for their

embattled Senate President who is on trial

before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT),

and whose name has also been mentioned in

the Panama Papers scandal, many of the

Senators abandoned the Senate Chambers and

started following their boss to the Tribunal.

On one occasion as many as close to 50

Senators abandoned their primary assignment

and chose to go and play politics at the

Tribunal. If this seeming relocation of the

Senate to the Code of Conduct Tribunal was

meant to intimidate the presiding judge, His

Lordship has refused to be intimidated, either

by the crowd or the convoy of buses or the

retinue of 90 defence lawyers. He has now

chosen to attend to the case on a daily basis.

The number of Senators doing follow-follow

has since reduced: it will of course, be absurd

to shut down the entire Senate to embark on

sycophantic frolic. Nonetheless, the Saraki

case is taking its toll on the Senate. It has

placed it on a collision course with a court of

competent jurisdiction, with the Executive

and also divided the ruling All Progressives

Congress.

It has also led to a situation whereby the

lawmakers even attempted to change the

Code of Conduct Bureau Act in an obvious

attempt to frustrate the Saraki trial. In less

than 48 hours, the amendment bill went

through first and second readings. If there had

been no public outcry, the lawmakers would

have passed the bill in less than 72 hours. It

would have been the fastest piece of

legislation ever, and yet it was meant to be

self-serving: making a law to sabotage due

process, even when they know that a law

cannot have retroactive effect. When that

failed, our Senators came up with the

ingenious idea that the Chairman of the Code

of Conduct Tribunal must appear before the

Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and

Public Petitions. An indignant crowd of civil

society agitators also shut that down. The

Chairman of the CCT has also been a target

of campaigns of calumny. Saraki’s supporters

are throwing everything possible into this

matter, where the legal process fails, the

legislative process is deployed; when that also

fails, an internet war, rallies, protests, all

designed to win the public mind is launched.

Senate President Bukola Saraki may not

have read Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws ofPower, for he seems to have broken too many

of those laws already; perhaps he has read TheArt of War by Sun Tzu. He should have been

told that to rush headlong into war without

mastering the dynamics of power is costly.

This is one bitter political lesson about the

strategy of war that Senator Saraki is

currently learning. But now that he has gone

so deep into the battlefield, he may no longer

be allowed to surrender or retreat, even as his

troops are gradually fleeing. Saraki has

stepped on the proverbial Banana peel; as he

struggles for survival, our Senate, the people’s

Senate, must not be allowed to fail as a public

institution. Senator Saraki should step aside,

for now, as Senate President. If he emerges

victorious from his travails, his colleagues

should do him the honour of reinstating him

to that office of honour, without question. But

if he loses, he should remember that war only

offers two possibilities, and even when a

warrior wins, there may still be dangers on the

way back home. In all, the politics of Saraki’s

trial should not consume the Senate, and

indeed the 8th Assembly.

“So far, so good”, Saka Olawale wrote

assessing the present Senate. I don’t think so.

If anything, this Senate needs to be rescued.

Whatever explanations our present set of

Senators offers would be difficult to believe

given the manner in which they have exposed

their own limitations. The Senate cannot even

keep documents. Copies of the 2016 Budget

vanished from its custody. The copies when

eventually found mutated into versions

unknown to the Executive arm that presented

the same Budget at an open ceremony.

For five months, the Senate is embroiled

in a needless controversy over the content of

the Budget. What is worse: In almost one

year, no Senator can be quoted as having said

anything engaging or profound. The only

Senator who makes a serious effort to display

some common sense is far more active on

Twitter than on the floor of the Senate. The

more prominent Senators are known for their

rabid politicking or their wardrobe or exotic

cars or the comedy that they provide. One of

them even came up with a bill to gag free

speech. It was in this same Senate that some

male chauvinists declared that women cannot

have any equal rights with men, and so a

Gender Equality Bill is unacceptable.

They failed to realize that in the United

States, whose Constitutional democracy we

are copying, a woman is only a short distance

away from emerging as Presidential candidate

of the Democratic Party and as 45th President

of the United States. I imagine many of them

struggling to be photographed with the same

woman if they are so privileged. Was it also

not in this same Senate that a member argued

that Nigerian lawmakers should only

patronize Made-in-Nigeria-women? This was

meant to be a “brilliant” contribution to a

debate on the need to promote Made-in-

Nigeria goods. How dumb! And this

kindergarten level statement actually

generated some debate!

Challenging as the democratic process

may have been, Nigerians can still remember

a few Senators of old who sat in that same

Assembly and made impact with their

interventions and insightful speeches. To now

have a group of Senators who crack jokes,

borrow their imageries from road side bars,

embark on a frolic, or spend time on

sycophantic exertions, and when called upon,

prove annoyingly incapable of analyzing and

interrogating policies and making solid

contributions is sad. We expect this to change.

Page9TheTrumpetMAY 11 - 24 2016Opinion

BY REUBEN ABATI

The Senate, CCT and thepolitics of Saraki’s trial

Bukola Saraki

Iam of the view that cattle herding through

our countryside, towns and cities is one of

the adorably unique characteristics of the

Nigerian landscape; one of the cute

peculiarities that defines us. I think that it is a

charming and endearing sight: the lonely

herdsman amidst his languidly wandering

cattle.

Sadly, I’ve come to realise that time has

passed by that quaint culture and practice.

Moreover, I returned to Nigeria and found

cattle herdsmen totting AK47s. Oh oh! That

certainly took away from the idyllic nostalgia

I had carried in my head.

It is clear that something went awry many

years ago. Livestock (including cattle)

farming accounts for one-third of Nigeria’s

total agricultural GDP. I suspect that the

narratives we’ve heard and read so far on the

menace of the marauding herdsmen have

been largely one-sided. I wonder whether the

nomadic herdsmen are reacting to what they

see as, or interpret to be hindrance and

persecution... and that is where education and

the use of modern technology and practices

come in.

Climate change and draught has meant

cattle herders continue to roam farther out in

search of pasture. However, their search has

brought a concomitant trail of misery and

destruction for others, their farms and their

livelihood.

In virtually the rest of the world, cattle

farmers buy expansive ranches and acquire

huge lands to afford their livestock enough

space to roam all year round. The farmers also

provide enough feeds and grass for their

cattle. The same is done for horses, etc. I

think it is called animal husbandry.

In Nigeria, it is pretty obvious that the vast

majority of cattle herders are hired hands.

Some big-time cattle farmers own those cows

and sheep. Cows and sheep must eat and

exercise, so people are hired to lead them on

grazing expeditions to where food (grass) can

be found. And that is when conflicts often

happen.

After some inelegant hide and seek over a

few months, this government has finally

stepped in. But the government chose to step

in kicking the doors off the barn! For starters,

it appears Nigerian grass is not nutritious

enough. So the government somehow found

enough dollars to import Brazilian grass for

our cattle farmers as our cattle finally joined

the long list of imported food connoisseurs.

But that is not enough. The cattle must go

to where the grass is; not the other way round,

and the government is going to make sure of

this. How? First, the government will

provide direct funds for the provision of

boreholes and water reservoirs for the

exclusive use of nomadic cattle herders. Then

it will forcefully acquire farmlands from

private citizens and landowners in all 36

States of the country for cattle herdsmen to do

their thing.

That is not all.

Once farms and lands have been

forcefully acquired for cattle grazing, all other

activities like hunting, tree felling and so forth

by natives of the local community will be

banned. To cap it all off, legal challenges to

such acquisitions will be severely restrained

– even enforcement of court judgements, if

obtained, will have to be formally approved

by the Attorney General of the Federation.

Hmmm...This is where we all take a deep

breath.

You wonder why the government is not

doing the simple and the obvious by

encouraging cattle farmers to modernise and

to enter into pastoral or grazing

lease/agreement with landowners and local

communities. Perhaps it is because in

Nigeria, the big men always seem to win. As

with petroleum, the government has chosen

to subsidise the big-time cattle farmers. We

all know who they are: President Buhari;

Abdusalami Abubakar; Obasanjo; Murtala

Nyako; Adamu; Alhaji Kure - a former

Governor of Niger State, etc, etc.

This is almost as good as it gets: It is

government funding people’s personal

religious pilgrimages all over again. In

Nigeria now, all you have to do is find a little

money, buy some cattle, and the government

will fund the rest of the business for you.

Mine and your taxes will go to support big

time cattle farmers’ private business. Then,

mine and your land will be taken off us for

their benefit and we will not even have legal

recourse. The government has already

imported grass for them free of charge. Now,

cattle farmers will be financially and legally

supported to graze and exercise their cattle

throughout the length and breadth of the

country. The government has no plans

whatsoever to tax or ask them to modernise

their trade.

This is not just conjecture. A bill to this

effect has quietly and efficiently passed its

second reading at the National Assembly. It is

called, “The Fulani National Grazing Reserve

Bill.” It is sponsored by Hajiya Kure, a

former First Lady of Niger State.

After its imminent third reading, the bill

will be passed on to Aso Rock for Buhari to

append his signature and formally make it the

law of the land.

Technology reigns supreme and life

processes evolve all the time. Human

efficiency improves as the world gets smaller

and better. It is for this reason that every

nation got on the information superhighway.

But we shall show them all; we’ll build our

very own cattle grazing superhighway.

That’s progress!

Page10 TheTrumpet MAY 11 - 24 2016 Opinion

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Cows, Herdsmen and subsidiesA Nigerian herdsman gives water to his cows

By Michael Egbejumi-Daviddemdem@hotmail.co.uk /

Twitter: demdemdem1

Cattle herdsmen asthe new Boko Haram?By Reuben Abati“No matter how far the town, there is anotherbeyond it” – Fulani Proverb

There has been so much emotionalism

developing around the subject of the

recent clashes between nomadic

pastoralists and farmers, and the seeming

emergence of the former as the new Boko

Haram, forbidding not Western education

this time, but the right of other Nigerians to

live in peace and dignity, and to have control

over their own geographical territory. From

Benue, to the Plateau, Nasarawa, to the

South West, the Delta, and the Eastern parts

of the country, there have been very

disturbing reports of nomadic pastoralists

killing at will, raping women, and sacking

communities, and escaping with their

impunity, unchecked, as the security

agencies either look the other way or prove

incapable of enforcing the law. The outrage

South of the Sahel is understandable. It is

argued, rightly or wrongly, that the nomadic

pastoralist has been overtaken by a certain

sense of unbridled arrogance arising from

that notorious na-my-brother-dey-powermentality and the assumption that “the

Fulani cattle” must drink water, by all

means, from the Atlantic ocean.

It is this emotional ethnicization of the

crisis that should serve as a wake-up call for

the authorities, and compel the relevant

agencies to treat this as a national emergency

deserving of pro-active measures and

responses. It is not enough to issue a non-

committal press statement or make righteous

noises and assume that the problem will

resolve itself. Farmer-pastoralist conflict

poses a threat to national security. It is linked

to a number of complex factors, including,

Continued on Page 12<

The monthly Federation Accounts

Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting

was held the other day in Abuja, with the

representatives of State governments again cap

in hand, asking for their share of federal

revenue - read: oil revenue, or better still,

national cake, or our money. A paragraph in the

report by the online newspaper, PremiumTimes, caught my attention and here it is: “Butat the Federation Accounts AllocationCommittee, FAAC, meeting, representatives ofthe 36 State governments went home SAD(emphasis mine), as they were handed parlousshares from a total N299.75 billion statutoryallocation for the month, the lowest allocationsin more than five years.” For the month of

March 2016, the States shared N55.34 billion,

compared to N64.52 billion in February 2016.

I have deliberately emphasized the word sad,because the day may well come when after the

sharing of national revenue, we may be told that

some Commissioners of Finance left the

meeting crying, or wailing.

To prevent that happening this time, the

Federal Government chose to suspend

deductions of salary repayment loans owed by

the States. When such deductions were made in

February 2016, at least one State, Osun, went

back home with a paltry N6 million only. The

truth is that most of the 36 States are in dire

straits, worst hit by the economic crisis that the

country faces. About 27 out of the 36 States of

the Federation are effectively insolvent, if not

bankrupt. In July 2015, the Federal

Government not only bailed out the States

financially, the Central Bank of Nigeria further

extended the repayment period for bank loans

taken by the States from a period of seven years

to 20 years. So far the affected States have

collected salary assistance loans from the CBN

to the tune of N689.5 billion, with an additional

N310 billion as loans backed by the Excess

Crude Account.

Across the country, these States are owing

staff salaries, in some cases up to seven months.

Pensioners have not been paid their arrears.

Civil servants are angry because their

allowances are being withheld. Most of the

States (24) have not been able to improve on

their Internally Generated Revenue. The people

are angry, wondering what this change has

brought to their doorsteps. In January 2015,

former CBN Governor, Charles Soludo, had

sounded a cautionary note of warning in a piece

titled “Buhari vs. Jonathan: Beyond the

Election” wherein he argued that under

President Jonathan, economic prosperity (oil

boom) rather than generate wealth and

opportunities resulted in greater pressures and

the handing over of the economy to “self-

conflicted traders and businessmen.”

He warned that the future of the Nigerian

economy appeared bleak in the event of a slide

in the spot price of crude oil. In November

2015, Soludo wrote a post-election piece titled

“Can a New Buharinomics save Nigeria?” in

which he slightly revised his trenchant attack

on the Jonathan administration and argued that

President Muhammadu Buhari had in fact

inherited strong economic indicators and that in

spite of the dwindling oil prices, he had an

opportunity to further strengthen the Nigerian

economy, given the right choices. The

economist called for a debate on the subject,

made his own recommendations and asked for

the immediate setting up of a WAR ROOM on

the economy.

Between January 2015 and March 2016,

Soludo has been proven right in many respects;

if you discount the politics of his January 2015

piece, that is, and focus on the analytical

prescience of his contributions, you would

easily agree that whatever may be happening in

the economy today is foreseeable, foretold, and

perhaps preventable. There is no challenge

more urgent in Nigeria today than the economy.

The health of the economy is linked to the well-

being of the people. A recursive economy

brings hardship and perhaps the last time

Nigeria found itself in similar circumstances

was truly between 1981 and 1985; the

mismanagement of that challenge then, rather

than improve our situation resulted in an

uncontrollable decline, the effect of which has

had Octopal implications for the well-being of

the entire society. The concern of the concerned

intelligentsia is that things should not get worse

than they are now.

Because things are not really looking good,

right now, President Goodluck Jonathan, for

example, has had the great opportunity of

engaging in an inevitable chest-beating-if-

nobody-praises-me-I-will-praise-myself

presentation in Newark, United States a few

days ago. What he didn’t spell out is in the sub-

text of his commentary. The current indication

is that Nigeria’s GDP growth has dropped to

below 3% in 2016 from about 7% in 2014.

Income levels have similarly dropped. Inflation

has jumped from single digit to a frightening

double-digit range (12.11%). The

manufacturing sector, which was on the

rebound as at 2014, is now below 3% of GDP,

which is as bad as saying there is no

manufacturing going on at all and that the real

sector is prostrate. The country’s reserves have

been drained. Government deficit is rising.

Unemployment has risen, even if one West

African country is nonetheless asking Nigeria

to come and help it solve its unemployment

problem – I hope we will not again go and give

what we do not have at home! Fuel queues are

back as a feature of national life. Many

Nigerians have not had an hour of electricity

supply in the last four months. The people are

angry and hungry.

In his November 2015 article, Soludo asked

for a War Room. In March 2016, the Federal

Government organized a Talk Shop in the form

of a 2-day retreat of the National Economic

Council (NEC) which came up with 71

proposals to revive the economy. 71 proposals!

Sadly, there is nothing new in those proposals.

Soludo called for a debate and pro-active

measures. The administration is obviously not

interested in what he has to say. Instead, there

has been a lot of blame-this-blame-that going

on. My take is that we cannot leave Economics

to the Economists. Economists are

fundamentalists; between the market

fundamentalists and the State capitalists they

only manage to produce problems, and that is

perhaps why the idea of a War Room may be

the wrong idiom. I also don’t consider the

blame game helpful. Whatever is wrong with

the Nigerian economy is an open secret that

does not require any prolonged movement of

the mandibular.

We are, to say the truth, paying the price for

the failure of the Nigerian leadership elite to

diversify the Nigerian economy and expand the

country’s revenue base. We found oil in 1958,

and since then we have been as a country, a

victim of the curse of oil. The curse of oil in our

context has meant indolence, the emergence of

a rentier class, a squandering of riches and the

alienation of the poor by the rich. Every country

afflicted by the curse of oil has found it difficult

to escape from the curse. In our case, it is worse.

Crude oil accounts for 90% of Nigeria’s

exports, 70% of Federal revenue and about

15% of GDP. The point has been made for years

that without oil, or with great falls in the spot

price of the Brent crude, Nigeria will be in

trouble. Every scholar has spoken about the

need for diversification, but oil money is so

cheap, it does not allow our ruling elite to think.

I wrote the Foreword two months ago to a book

tilted Memories of Yesteryears written by

Akpandem James, formerly of the IndependentNewspaper and in one of the chapters he

reminisces about a long list of plantations

across the South Southern part of the country,

but those plantations are no longer there, either

in the South South or the North or the East or

West, because over the years, Nigerians got

used to the easy money that comes with oil.

Oil, everyone said, is a wasting asset. But

our leaders never listened. Instead, they argue

that we have more gas than oil and that if

nobody buys our oil, shale oil or no shale oil,

Page11TheTrumpetMAY 11 - 24 2016

Opinion

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Confronting the curse of oil By Reuben Abati

Continued on Page 12<

Page12 TheTrumpet MAY 11 - 24 2016 Opinion

Nigeria will sell gas. A country built on a

philosophy of wealth without work or sense,

commits a grievous sin. We have confronted the

curse of oil on so many occasions. It caused the

civil war of 1967-70. It resulted in the

desperation of the North to seize Federal power

and get a bigger share of the national cake by all

means. It led to the agitations in the Niger

Delta, the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the

Ogoni Eight, pipeline vandalism, Niger Delta

insurgency, environmental degradation and the

potent threat of a resurgent militancy in the

Niger Delta, which is bound to cripple the

Nigerian economy finally and tragically. The

curse of oil is the source of a national cake

mentality that has turned public service into an

arena for primate accumulation. It is the root

of corruption in Nigeria.

It is not a Buhari vs. Jonathan apotheosis

therefore. To reduce it to that level is to ignobly

avoid the messages of history. If anyone must

be blamed, it must be all Nigerian leaders from

independence at all levels. They have focused

more on the fundamentals of ethnic, religious,

regional and personal benefits, more than the

fundamentals of national benefit. The leaders at

the State levels are no better than gluttonous

beggars. Elsewhere, States are centres of

productive, economic activities. In Nigeria,

every Governor is interested in what comes

from the easy monthly allocation from Abuja.

For IGR, they tax the people, multiple, punitive

taxes. They create the impression that

government exists to punish the people. Not

every problem is Abuja-sourced. We need

Governors who can think creatively

economically and turn their States into

economic units, not cowboys who spend more

time in Abuja doing eye service. Truth is: some

Governors are so cheap when they go to the

Villa, they even expect to be given transport

fare!

There are other issues: enhanced financial

transparency will help, fraud has to be checked;

there should be greater oversight scrutiny by

civil society and the legislature; too many

lawmakers are too busy trying to get their own

bite of the national cake – can they please keep

their rumbling and insatiable stomachs in

check? And finally, the cost of governance must

be reduced: Lawmakers who proudly ride

vehicles worth N36.5 million are bandits not

servants of the people. Governors who live

ostentatiously and claim that there is not enough

money to pay salaries are wrong. President

Buhari is fighting corruption: he should allow

States being run corruptly to sink if they must.

Oil has become a curse to Nigeria

Continued from Page 11<

Confronting the curse of oil

power, history, citizenship rights and access

to land. Femi Fani-Kayode in a recent piece

has warned about Nigeria being “on the road

to Kigali”, thus referring to the genocide that

hobbled Rwanda in the 90s as the Hutus and

the Tutsis drew the sword against each other.

Fani-Kayode needs not travel all the way to

Rwanda. Ethnic hate has done so much

damage in Nigeria already; all we need is to

learn from history and avoid repeating the

mistakes of the past.

Ethnic hate, serving as sub-text to the

January 1966 and July 1966 coups, for

example, set the stage for the civil war of 1967

-70. The root of Igbo-Hausa/Fulani acrimony

can be traced back to that season when Igbos

were slaughtered in the North, the

Hausa/Fulani were slaughtered in the East and

Nigeria found itself in the grip of a “To Thy

Tents, O Israel” chorus. Ethnic hate also led

to the Tiv riots, crisis in the Middle Belt since

then, and the perpetual pitching of one ethnic

group against the other in Nigeria’s

underdeveloped politics. We should be

careful.

We need to remind ourselves that the

current friction between the pastoralists and

their farming host communities is one of such

potential factors that can further tear the

nation apart. Nigeria cannot afford a second

civil war, or mass-scale genocide. Today,

every other Nigerian is afraid either of the

Boko Haram or the nomadic pastoralist. It is

not likely that the populations south of the

Sahel will continue to stand idly by and allow

herdsmen to trample upon their lands, destroy

their crops, kill, maim and rape and then get

away with it. A resort to self-help such as

occurred in 1966, could have serious national

security implications. With the economy in

crisis, with anger in the land, and the people

feeling disappointed, we cannot afford any

evil trigger to deepen the nation’s woes. So,

the State cannot afford to be aloof or

indifferent.

Nomadic pastoralism is at the heart of the

Fulani cultural lifestyle, and that is why there

has been so much labeling of the Fulani in the

emerging narrative, whereas the violent

herdsmen certainly do not represent Fulani

interest. For centuries, the Fulani, living

across West Africa, have herded cattle from

one part to the other, across borders. In

Nigeria, the migration is seasonal or cyclical:

as the dry season begins in the North, the

herdsmen travel with their livestock down

south in search of pasture and water, and to

avoid seasonal diseases. After about six

months, with the onset of the rainy season and

farming in the South, they travel back to the

North. Along the route, they sometimes settle

down, develop a relationship with the farming

communities and function as transhumance

pastoralists, in fact, many herders used to pay

homage to the local hosts, but over time, the

politics of power, identity, and access to land

as well as differences in culture, lifestyle and

religion began to cause friction. It is an old

problem that has gotten worse as the sedentary

farmers whose land is violated by the nomads

complain and the local power elite who are

soon displaced by the settling nomad fight

back in protest, thus creating a relationship

fuelled by fear and mutual suspicion.

The new phenomenon of the nomadic

pastoralist now behaving as a conquering

group of invaders, ready to inflict terror, and

not ready to ask for permission for land use, is

where the big problem lies. The bigger

problem perhaps is the refusal of the nomadic

pastoralist to give up an old tradition that has

become antiquated in modern times, or

perhaps in urgent need of modernization and

reform. And to insist on that old mode on the

grounds that the life of a cow is more

important than that of a human being is worse

than the Boko Haram phenomenon. There are

Nigerians, including the Fulani, who consider

the lives of human beings far more important.

Even if there is an ironic interdependence

between the pastoralist and the farmer: both

provide food, both trade with each other, the

farms provide grass and crop fodder, the cattle

provide manure: the disruption of this

economic interdependence and its

replacement by fierce competition for space,

power and resources is the source of the

present tragedy.

The politicization of the relationship

between the pastoralist and the farmer as an

extension of national politics, and the failure

of Nigeria’s leadership elite, is part of it. Most

of the herdsmen making the long seasonal or

cyclical journey North to South and back, now

wielding sophisticated guns, with rounds of

ammunition, are actually hired economic

agents. The real herdsmen are big men in high

places; the ones with the resources to buy

herds of cattle, and hand over guns to their

boys on the roads of Nigeria. That is the

source of the arrogance, the impunity, and the

meanness of the herdsmen. That is why you’d

find herdsmen with cattle and goats on major

expressways and no security agent will stop

them. It is also why they go to the airports and

actually herd cattle across the runway.

A few years ago, there was a head-on

collision between a cow and an aircraft at the

Port Harcourt International Airport. Rather

than get the herdsmen arrested, airport staff,

including the security agents on duty were

busy scrambling for a share of free meat. The

people to talk to are those men in high places,

and this includes an emerging crowd of non-

Fulani investors in the cattle-rearing business

(yes!), whose support and acquiescence

allows this kind of madness to happen in 21st

Century Nigeria.

There used to be in Northern Nigeria, a

Grazing Reserves Law. Grazing Reserves

were created across the North, but these were

not maintained and later, the big men

converted the reserves to plots of land and

shared them out. To avoid the clash with

farming communities in the South, those

reserves can be created afresh in the 19

Northern States. More ranches and farms for

livestock production and management should

also be established. There is no need for

National Grazing Reserves, which would

bring the nomadic pastoralist into worse

conflict with other communities insisting on

their right to land in their geographical

territory. Nomadism may have been a way of

life for centuries, but we are in the 21st

Century and there are better ways to manage

livestock. The argument that nomadic

pastoralism is cultural is on all fours with that

equally silly argument that child marriage is

cultural. Certain things just must change if

society must make progress.

One of the original reasons the pastoralist

goes to the South with his cattle is desert

encroachment and the lack of pasture during

certain periods of the year. What makes the

life of the herder worse is global warming and

climate change: the seasons have become

unpredictable and the life of the nomad has

become riskier than ever. This was a

foreseeable problem; hence, for years,

Northern governments spoke about

afforestation, irrigation projects, and the

urgent need to check the menace of

desertification. Obviously, managers of the

project seemed to have been more interested

in money and contracts. Rather than think

ahead and provide pasture for livestock, a

major element in the agricultural business of

the North, the leaders chose to provide pasture

for their own stomachs. They have in the end

turned what could have been managed with

vision into a nightmare for the rest of Nigeria.

One way forward is for Government to

take steps to sedentarize the nomads. In many

parts of Africa, climate change and the

transition to a modern way of life have turned

many nomads into agro-pastoralists, spending

more time farming than moving up and down

as the elements and the herds dictate.

Herdsmen are usually young men, and

children. They probably would be of better

value to society if they are encouraged to go to

school, and not sentenced to a life of risk and

violence. Insisting on the establishment of

ranches and farms and more sustainable and

modern methods of livestock management

will also rescue many of those children who

are recruited as nomads so early and place

them on the path of a more productive future.

The story of the gun-totting herdsmen

should also draw attention to the proliferation

of small arms and ammunition. Our borders

are porous allowing herdsmen from across

West Africa to enter Nigeria unchecked,

wielding dangerous weapons, left-overs from

wars in Mali and Libya. Border controls must

become stricter, and Nigeria should take a

more serious interest in the ECOWAS

Convention on small arms and light weapons.

The cost of negligence in this regard is to be

measured by the frightening number of

persons that have been killed by herdsmen

since January 2016 alone. The herdsmen must

be stopped; impunity must be punished not

condoned. Every step should be taken to

prevent a slide into anarchy.

Continued from Page 10<

Cattle herdsmen as the new Boko Haram?

Page13TheTrumpetMAY 11 - 24 2016Opinion

“Ol’boy, man don see something oh.” “Wetin you see?”“My eyes don see something. My ears

don hear, and my mouth sef, I for talksomething join.”

“Talk make I hear”“No be dis Tiwa Savage and him

husband matter? The husband wey say himwife offend am, he no gi am food, him wifedey form for house but him dey open leg forother men, and na another woman they giveam edible catering, and the man come vex hewan jump inside river for Lekki-Ikoyibridge”

“Who the hell are you talking about?”

“Tiwa Savage and her husband”

“And who are those?”

“Tiwa, now. Marvin First Lady. She is

one of Nigeria’s topmost female artistes. And

her husband. They are quarrelling. The

husband tried to commit suicide. She says

her husband prefers to follow other women,

take cocaine and ignore his responsibilities

as a man and a husband. Social media is agog

with the news. Mainstream media is feeding

on it too. The man even tried to jump into the

Lagoon.”

“And has he done so?”

“No. He was restrained by Banky W and

Peter Okoye.”

“And who are those? Red Cross

Officials?”

“You are in this country and you don’t

know Banky W and Peter Okoye?”

“There is no way anyone can possibly

know all the members of the Red Cross? ”

“They are musicians, not Red Cross, not

NEMA”

“Oh, I see”

“Don’t tell me you are one of those dumb

ones who do not know what is going on in

this country?”

“I don’t get it. Am I supposed to worry

about how Tiwa Savage and her husband are

savaging the public space with their dirty

linen and turning their marriage into a subject

for beer parlour gossip?”

“It is a serious matter.”

“Oh really? So, how has their matter

affected the supply of petrol, the price of

foodstuffs and the payment of salaries?”

“It is the biggest news of the week.”

“Of course, because the media does not

know what to prioritise anymore”

“There are issues involved. Tiwa

Savage’s husband wanted to commit suicide.

The same week, there was a report about a

man who killed his target of amorous desire

and stabbed her mother in Ilorin because the

lady refused to love or marry him.”

“Love is the most potent poison in the

world. The graveyard is a prison yard of

unrequited love.”

“Tiwa Savage’s husband says…”

“You keep mentioning the wife. That

husband doesn’t have a name? They should

have allowed him to jump into the Lagoon,

and have his wife do a special song at his

funeral and go home on the left arm of

another man.”

“They call him em em... actually that is

the problem if you would listen to the wife.

She is the breadwinner, she says and the man

likes to squander money and so on and so

forth.”

“Look, I am not interested in that story. I

don’t want a taste of Tiwa Savage’s

#Lemonade. I don’t want any tales about the

#Becky-with-the-Big-Hair that served her

husband “edible catering”. Or do you want

the National Assembly to have a special

session on a derailed marriage, or may be

you want President Muhammadu Buhari to

issue a statement on it? One of these days,

Nigerians will start insisting that the Nigerian

President should become a marriage

counselor and he will be blamed for marital

squabbles.”

“We are talking about celebrities. And

come to think of it, in a normal country, Tiwa

Savage’s husband will not have to depend on

his wife. He will have a proper means of

income.”

“E ma gba mi ke. Doro Tiwa andhusband fight and Nigeria no go hear word?E joor oh. As you lay your bed, you lie on it.

These things happen every day. Human

beings pay for the choices that they make.

They learn from the outcomes of their

choices. Can we have the media focus on

serious matters beyond sex, infidelity,

cocaine and the poverty of matrimonial

matters in the household of Tiwa and Tee

Blliz? Which kin name be that sef?”

“Tomorrow is May Day for example”

“Nigerian workers should actually carry

placards tomorrow, screaming May Day,

May Day, May Day!!”

“You want them to scream for help?”

“Yes, because the Nigerian worker today

is hungry, angry, sinking, helpless, jobless,

over-used, under-paid and in despair. State

governments are not paying salaries.

Companies are retrenching staff. The latest

I read is that First Bank is planning to sack 1,

000 workers, Aero Contractors, 100. I know

a couple, who have both just lost their jobs

and they have five children. Some other

companies are closing shop. Massive

divestiture in the economy.”

“Incidentally, you know the people who

caused the melt down. “

“Tell me”

“I don’t know.”

“If you don’t know, then you don’t know,

before you say something that will make me

give you a punch in the face. But I think all

that President Buhari needs to do tomorrow

is to give the people hope. In a situation like

this, you give the people hope, you reassure

them.”

“You are recommending rhetoric.

Speaking for speaking sake.”

“No. I am saying hope is a strong

weapon. When a leader gives the people

hope, he calms down their blood pressure. It

is a strong pill.”

“The Nigeria Labour Congress and the

Trade Union Congress are not asking for

hope. Nigerian workers know what they

want. They are asking for N56,000 minimum

wage.”

“Chai”

“You heard me. N56,000”

“Chai. Do they live in this country at all?

Do they have economists among them? Does

it make sense to ask for what you know you

cannot get?”

“You can ask for what you think you

deserve.”

“But in matters like this, you look at the

economy too. What they are asking for is

called wage indexation. That is not sound

economics. Wage indexation is a self-

fulfilling prophecy. If you base your

calculations on it, there will never be an end

to it, and it will undermine the economy.”

“Which economy? An economy where

some people grab N2 billion, and millions of

dollars all in the line of a day’s arrangement,

and workers cannot get the existing N18, 000

minimum wage?”

“If I were the NLC or TUC leader, I’ll be

more interested in giving the government

ideas about how to pay the current minimum

wage and ensure that the welfare of the

people is properly the concern of

government. NLC should be pragmatic. Get

all salary arrears paid to start with, and get

government to pay all emoluments as at

when due. Uncommon sense.”

“Sorry, Labour leaders don’t claim that

they are economists. They just want the best

for the Nigerian worker. That is their

mandate.”

“Don’t speak for them. When they meet

the President and the Governors tomorrow,

let them say so. I wonder if anybody even

reads those long speeches on Labour Day.

Nigerian workers are looking for unpaid

salaries, but their leaders ride exotic SUVs,

and live in mansions. I beg.”

“You are beginning to sound like a

government spokesperson. Come, are you

still one of us?”

“I beg”

“By the way, what do you think is likely

to happen in the People’s Democratic Party

(PDP), now that the party leadership says the

Chairman of the party must come from the

North East, and the South West members are

threatening to pull out?”

“Are you sure anybody in the South West

is threatening to pull out?”

“Yes. You don’t read the papers? Na oneof your brothers even talk am”

“Who?”

“The Lion himself”

“A lion in my family?”

“Have you forgotten so soon? Abi asyour phone no ring again, your brain no ringtoo? You no know the attack dog, the Lion?”

“Lion. Attack dog.”

“Hen hen now. Him say if they don’tmake somebody from South West theChairman of the PDP, the South West wingof the PDP will leave the party.”

“I’ll advise you not to lose sleep over

what politicians say. What you can be sure

of though, is that before 2019, there is likely

to be interesting re-alignments. Nigerian

politics may not be the same again before

and after 2019.”

“Na dem sabi. Make they just give us the

mekunnu, power, good roads, jobs and oursalaries at the end of the month. Me, talkingfor meself, I don see say e no matter whichparty win election, as long as the economydey kampe and man fit chop, pay school feesand get light to do welle for night. My broda,na the better thing wey matter pass be dat.”

“What is welle?”

“You no know Welle?”

“No”

“Kai. Lord of Heaven. No be the thingwey dey cause problem between Tiwa Savageand her husband be dat?”

“I still don’t get it.”

“You no watch her interview? As the girlthey talk, dey cry, without make up, lookinglike an angel, doing her eye like this, hershoulder like that, e just dey pain me say demno allow the husband jump for inside river. IfI see Banky W and Peter Okoye, hen, the kineslap wey I go give dem.”

“Are you alright? Have you been sniffing

cocaine?”

“C’ommot there. You just carry book for

head, you no know how life be?”

“I am sorry for you.”

“Sorry for yourself.”

“Na you go sorry for yourself. And whyyour head dey always shine like this? You noget hair? You never reach old age, your headdon become desert. Na people like youwomen dey look for?”

“This is a special haircut, you can see that

the shaving of the hair is completely clean.”

“This is not a haircut. This is called desert

encroachment, or the desertification of the

human skull”

“I did it this way, in the shape of a

shining mirror, in solidarity with the people

of the Edo Kingdom who have just lost their

revered monarch, the Omo N’Oba N’Edo

Uku Akpolokpolo, Erediauwa I”

“Only Benin sons are required to do

gorimapa in honour of the great king that has

ascended to the rafters.”

“There is no law that says other

Nigerians cannot honour a revered monarch

who kept the dignity of the throne and left

behind a legacy of honour, character, royal

grace, and dignity.”

“You don spake my broda. Make I addmy own; Oba gha to kpere”

“Ise-ee”“May his path to the great Beyond be

one of illumination and grace.”

“So let it be.”

“So mote it be.”

May Day, Tiwa Savage, her husband and NigeriaBy Reuben Abati

Tiwa Savage

“I hear the World Bank says Nigeria is

now the worst place to do business in the

entire world.”

“ I don’t believe it.”

“I also hear that of the 15 fastest

growing economies in Africa, Nigeria is no

longer on the list.”

“ I say I don’t believe that. And stop

hearing bad things.”

“We are not even in the top 10 of the

World Top 10 oil producers anymore. Yet,

we used to be No. 6.”

“ I still don’t believe that.”

“Inflation is now 13.2%, or well may be

12.8%.”

“Story”

“If you go to the market with N400 to

buy pepper, that amount can’t get you

enough pepper to fry two eggs.”

“Stop eating eggs. Too much

cholesterol is bad for your health.”

“Moody’s has also just downgraded

Nigeria in its ratings for end of March

2016.”

“Moody’s?”

“Yes. It is a credit and investment

ratings corporation.”

“It is called Moody? What do you

expect, then, other than a moody report?”

“Our rating by Standard and Poor’s is

also negative.”

“I see. Standard and Poor’s giving a

poor rating. So?”

“We are talking serious economics, not

word play”

“I hear you”

“Even Fitch says our economy is in the

negative.”

“Let them all keep fishing for negative

information, I say I don’t believe it”

“And as it is, it looks like Nigerians

have adjusted themselves to the reality of

paying as much as N200 per litre for fuel?”

“In your village? In our own town, fuel

is just N140 per litre.”

“And you think that is okay? At a time

the spot price of crude oil is dropping

internationally?”

“Stop reading those foreign reports.

Stop feeding into the Afro-pessimism

narrative.”

“You don’t believe this. You don’t

believe that. Everybody is saying a hell-

hole has appeared, and you are insisting

you don’t believe it.”

“Sorry.”

“The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has

also reported that foreign investments

inflow into Nigeria is down by73.79%, the

least in 9 years, and total capital

importation has fallen by 89.13%. GDP

growth is the lowest in 9 years.”

“Hold on, one second… Now listen to

me in Minister Kemi Adeosun’s voice: weare implementing a planned economy here,dum-b-hea-d”

“The kind of phone calls I receive these

days. All artisans that I know have been

calling me to ask if I have a job for them.

The electrician called yesterday to ask if my

air conditioners were not giving problems.

I said No. He said what of the television

sets? I said they were all working. He even

asked whether Madam has not complained

about any appliance in the kitchen.”

“That is a potential burglar, staking out

territory.”

“Shortly after he dropped the phone, the

mechanic also called to ask if the car was

alright. I said yes. He asked if I was not

hearing any unusual sound. I said No.”

“Your mechanic is stalking your car.

What is that? Call the police.”

“But don’t you understand? There are

no jobs in town.”

“Who is saying so?”

“I am, based on the evidence of my eyes

and what I have been hearing.”

“And you have not heard that the

Federal Government has launched a plan to

create 1,000 jobs per week by getting

people to become masquerade dressers?”

“Masquerades?”

“Yes. Those masquerades that need 100

people to dress them; and another 100 to

undress them. If every Nigerian community

organizes a masquerade festival every

week, all this nonsense about people not

having jobs will end. It is the most

profound official contribution to this

unemployment narrative so far.”

“You just like to trivialize things.”

“How, it is simple economics. Imagine

the number of tailors that will also be

engaged.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am. Your electrician and mechanic

will be better off joining the masquerade

gang of Nigeria.”

“Who is proposing this?”

“ I don’t mention names, please. It is

the idea that matters.”

“But come to think of it, I see some

sense. We are actually a nation of

masquerades. Masquerades in high and

low places; masquerades behaving like

ancestors when they are actually mere

mortals.”

“It is the day motor jam masquerade

that you will know he is a human being.

Even the whole economy has become a

masquerade.”

“But this thing about festivals.”

“It happened in ancient Rome. The

Romans had over 170 festivals in a year.

They were a source of unity for the

Empire.”

“I don’t think Nigerians are asking for

festivals, and an opportunity to dance, they

want jobs and money in their pockets.”

“But you know the truth and why I

don’t believe all these tales? Foreign

investors will never give up on Nigeria. We

have the biggest market in the whole of

Africa. It is the source of our strength. If

you like let a thousand kidnappers strike per

day, all the airplanes on the Nigerian route

will still be fully booked all year round. At

the height of the Boko Haram and the Niger

Delta crises, investors still rushed into

Nigeria to look for opportunities. What they

may be doing now is a kind of siddon look.It will pass.”

“If we sort out the economy.”

“What I know is that we are better than

Venezuela.”

“So, Venezuela is now the standard?”

“They have oil, we have oil.”

“But Venezuela is now a failed state, for

failing to manage its oil wealth very well.

You need like a bag load of money to buy

any essential commodity in that country. Is

that what you want in Nigeria?”

“God forbid bad thing!”

“God?”

“I say God forbid bad thing!”

“This is about God?”

“Everything in this country is about

God. That is why I agree with people who

are now saying that the way forward is to

approach God for help. Even the

masquerades will offer prayers and speak

to God through the ancestors.”

“Well, some people are not going to

God. One man in Lekki yesterday, decided

to climb an electric pole. He threatened to

hug the electric wires and die. He said he

would only change his mind if he was given

N5 million.”

“Only N5 million, not N45 million?”

“The people called the Fire Service.

Fire Service said they should call PHCN.

They called PHCN; those ones said call the

police. The police came, the Fire Service

too, after about six hours. They begged the

man but when he didn’t listen, they just

went away.”

“The officials left the scene?”

“Yes. Everybody tried to talk to the

man. He insisted on N5 million or nothing.”

“Don’t worry, it is the Tee Billz spirit in

every Nigerian. So what happened in the

end?”

“ I don’t know.”

“The man was not ready to die. He

should have jumped straight into the

Lagoon instead of climbing an electric pole.

And did he tweet and instagram his drama

like Tee Billz?”

“Well, I think government should just

make it clear that anybody who wants to die

should not disturb public peace, they should

just go ahead.”

“That’s cruel. I expected the Lagos

State government to be pro-active and offer

that man some money. May be N1 million,

and then rehabilitate him.”

“One ginni? If anybody gave that man

money, you’d be surprised by tomorrow

morning, you will find half of Lagos on top

of electric poles, asking for money. Evenme sef, I fit climb pole or hug transformer,but my own no be to die oh, na to collectmoney.”

“That is it… the strongest sign of the

state of the nation. People are just going

crazy. That was how one guy went to a fuel

station in Lagos, stark naked, saying he

would not dress up unless he was allowed

to buy fuel. Nobody listened to him.”

“Don’t worry, they will all get used to

it. It is a matter of time. Or it may just be

that Nigerians love drama. Everybody has

become a Nollywood artist; there is more

drama outside Nollywood today.”

“What I don’t even understand is why

people use the social media these days to

kill people. You’d just wake up one

morning and read a fabulous story about

someone dying when they are actually

alive. It must be only in Nigeria that death

is used as an instrument of blackmail.”

“They did it to Chief Tony Anenih. He

has had to announce that his traducers will

be the ones to die before him.”

“They also did it to King Sunny Ade,

IBB, Desmond Elliot”

“I blame the media. It is called

irresponsible journalism.”

“No, blame the bloggers. Using the

social media to announce a death that has

not happened should be taken as a crime: a

clear case of attempted homicide.”

“Ha, wait oh”

“What?”

“I just remembered something.”

“What?”

“I hear Baba OBJ has just donated a

chimpanzee to an animal centre. Do you

want to know what the Chimpanzee is

called, named by the Baba himself?”

“Just shut up that your mouth!”

“Hear me first now. Try and exercise

some Patience.”

“I say keep the name to yourself.”

“This is your problem. You don’t

believe things you should believe and yet

you don’t have the Patience to learn about

things you don’t know.”

“Thank you. So, what are you, yourself

donating to the animal centre? How about

you donating a cow?”

“Cow ke? I don’t want any problems,

please. I may donate one of my dogs.”

“Hen, don’t try that! I’ll send you one

article I have just read. It says dog meat is

medicinal and that it can cure malaria. It is

also fortifies the human spirit and when you

eat the testes, it is like taking Viagra.

Current research findings!”

“Nonsense, I can’t eat dog meat. A dog

is a man’s best friend.”

“The article says it contains energy, fat,

protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium,

iron, thiamine, niacin.”

“You are salivating! If any of my dogs

should disappear, I’ll bring the police to

your doorstep.”

“Which ones? The same police who

cannot rescue a man who wants to commit

suicide. They will rescue a dog?”

“Just don’t go about telling civilized

people that here, in Nigeria, we eat dog

meat to cure malaria and impotence.

Argggh!”

“You think Oyinbo people don’t know?

Sit down there.”

“I hear…”

“You and the things you hear”

“I hear the Senate is recommending

death sentence for kidnappers”

“Kidnappers. How about rapists? Look,

what we need, to save Nigeria, most

urgently, is a National Depression

Initiative. People are depressed. It is why

they say and do stupid things. ”

“I also hear….”

“Ok. Enough of these things you hear. I

have heard enough today.”

Page14 TheTrumpet MAY 11 - 24 2016 Opinion

Kemi Adeosun

The cost of national depression By Reuben Abati

since the back-pass law was changed. He’s

one of those players who excels at reading

the game and who knows what has to be

done when you play with a high back-line.

He’s the leader of a generation which has

taken goalkeeping to a new level. Buffon

has always been a calm keeper. He might

not be all that spectacular, but he’s terribly

effective and, with all the experience he has

now, he keeps things a lot simpler and he’s

more effective in everything he does. You

can’t have a great team if you don’t have a

great keeper, and he’s always known how

to handle the pressure of being in big teams

that are there to win. As far as I’m

concerned, it’s no surprise to have seen him

get where he is today. Goalkeepers have the

misfortune to be watched more closely than

the guys who score the goals but, if you ask

me, Buffon is one of the best players in the

world and has earned his place as one of the

greatest keepers in the history of the game.

Can you sometimes see yourself in him?

Perhaps in the way that he stays calm, in his

ability to put things into perspective. That’s

the only thing I can see, though. I was a lot

more agile and I used to leap around more.

What would you like to say to him

today?

Quite simply, to savour the moment,

because sometimes when you get close to

the end you’re not really aware of how

lucky you are. It [the end] is going to come

but, while waiting for it, you have to make

the absolute most of this wonderful

profession. When it’s all over, he might find

that love for passing on his knowledge to

the younger generations, which I’ve been

fortunate enough to do in becoming a

coach. I’ve no idea what he wants to do, but

you never know what you’re going to end

up doing. I have quite a few friends who

never saw themselves doing that but who

went on to become great coaches.

Page15TheTrumpetMAY 11 - 24 2016Sport

Continued from Page 15<

Nkono: I’m honoured to be Buffon’s inspiration

In 1995 George Weah became the first –

and to date only – African to win the

highest individual award there is in

world football: The Ballon d’Or. In an

exclusive interview with FIFA.com, the

Liberian icon looks back at his remarkable

career.

Whenever football fans name the best

players never to have played at the World

Cup finals, Weah is one of the first to be

mentioned. Although the big striker played

for some of the biggest clubs in Europe

(Monaco, Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and

Chelsea), he had the ‘misfortune’ of being

born in Liberia – a country without a strong

footballing pedigree. Weah sees it very

differently.

“I am very proud to be Liberian. I love

the country and I love the people,” he

insisted. “Of course I would have liked to

have played at the World Cup, but I

achieved so much in my career as a

footballer that I can’t have any complaints.

The only thing that is disappointing, is that

so many other Lone Star players never got

to play at the World Cup and did not have

the personal success I had.”

After winning the Liberian league with

Mighty Barrolle and Invincible Eleven,

Weah had a short stint in Cameroon, before

joining AS Monaco in 1988. At the time the

French club was coached by Arsene

Wenger. It was the start of a relationship

that has lasted to this day, and when Weah

won the World Player award he called

Wenger onto the stage and gave him the

award, saying he deserved it more than he

did. It was the mark of a footballer who,

despite winning just about every individual

award there is, has always put the team’s

interests before his own. That famously

even went to financially assisting his cash-

strapped country for some of their World

Cup qualifying matches.

After playing at Monaco for four

seasons, he joined PSG and stayed with

them until 1995, which was the pinnacle of

his career. Although his club did not win the

French Ligue 1 title, they won the Coupe

de France and Coupe de la Ligue, and Weah

picked up a slew of individual honours

including the African Footballer of the

Year, Champions League top scorer,

European footballer of the Year and of

course the two global awards existing at the

time: the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World

Player of the Year award.

“When I started out, my dream was to

play professional football,” Weah reflected.

“That was my dream. I did not dream of

winning the Ballon d’Or or FIFA Player of

the Year award. I wanted to play

professionally and achieve as much as I

could.

“It was really about the love for the

game. But then of course winning the

awards was very special. I think it was

recognition for all the work that I put in

during my career. And I was particularly

proud because I think it was important for

my country. They celebrated with me and it

put Liberia on the map.”

After his success in 1995, Weah moved to

AC Milan, where he won two Scudettos

and scored what is often considered one of

the great individual goals of all time in

1996 against Verona. He added the FA Cup

in England with Chelsea as he wound down

his football career at the turn of the century

and retired in 2003.

A new career

Already a leader and legend in his country,

Weah turned to politics after hanging up his

boots. In December 2014, he won election

for a place on the Liberian Senate –

becoming the first sportsman elected to the

legislature in the African country. Asked if

it was easier scoring goals than running a

country, Weah laughs. “Whatever you do in

life, you have to do it with commitment and

perseverance.

“That was my approach on the football

field and that is my approach now in

politics. I am committed to helping my

people and my country, just as much as I

was committed to helping my team when I

was a player.”

Although no longer in active football,

Weah remains connected to the sport and

the Liberian national team. Several of the

players who played with Weah in the Lone

Stars when they came within one point of

qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup are

now coaching the country’s various

national teams and Weah often meets with

them.

“I will always be involved in sport, and

I am the Chair of the Sports Commission.

Sport is so important to people. It can help

people. I am where I am today because of

football, and if I can give back something to

the people of Liberia, then I want to do

that.”

Watch a video looking at Weah’s legacyin Liberia and how the country’s footballwas impacted by the recent Ebola crisis

Weah: Ballon d’Or put me and Liberia on the map(African Football Media)

George Weah

At the age of 38, Gianluigi Buffon

has achieved yet another milestone

in his legendary career, beating the

Serie A goalkeeping record for the longest

run without conceding a goal. Needing to

go unbeaten in only the first three minutes

of the Turin derby against Torino to eclipse

the previous record of 929 minutes – set by

Sebastiano Rossi back in the 1990s – the

Juventus keeper did just that.

A 2006 world champion with Italy,

Buffon eventually extended his run to 974

minutes before being beaten from the spot

by Andrea Belotti in the second half, not

that it stopped Juve from running out

comfortable 4-1 winners.

As we reminded you recently, behind

one legendary figure there is very often

another. And the inspiration for the Italian

custodian’s stellar career has been none

other than former Cameroon keeper

Thomas Nkono, whose exploits at the 1990

FIFA World Cup Italy™ encouraged the

young Buffon to try his hand between the

posts.

In an interview with FIFA.com, the

legendary having inspired the great Buffon,

one of only three players in the history of

the game to have appeared at five World

Cups.

FIFA.com: how do you feel about being

idolised by such a goalkeeping great?

Thomas Nkono: It’s an honour for me to

have inspired a player who has given so

much joy to football lovers, and to have

influenced his career. I also feel very proud

to have opened the way for lots of keepers

in Africa, to have shown that it is possible

to succeed at the highest level.

Did you have an idol when you were

young? Who was your ‘Thomas Nkono’?

I didn’t really have an idol. I’d heard on the

radio about legendary players like Lev

Yashin and Ricardo Zamora and other

keepers from more recent times, but in

Cameroon there was no way of watching

them, so I had to use my imagination. I

learned to play in the street and I had my

first real training sessions with Vladimir

Beara, the former Yugoslavia goalkeeper,

when he came to take charge of the

Cameroonian national team. I had the

talent, but that was the first time I did any

real specific work for my position.

Can you tell us about the first time you

met Buffon?

Fortunately, our paths have crossed a few

times. The first was in Italy, when he was

just starting his career with Parma. I think

he was surprised to see me. At the time I

had no idea what I meant to him. I saw him

again at the 1998 World Cup, which I

attended as my country’s goalkeeping

coach. I took the opportunity to invite him

to my 25th anniversary celebrations in

Cameroon, which was his first time in

Africa. We’ve stayed in contact ever since

and we send each other messages when

something big happens. He named his son

Thomas in my honour. I was surprised by

that but I was also very touched.

What can you tell us about Buffon’s

style?

To my mind, he symbolises better than

anyone, the development of the position

Page16 TheTrumpet MAY 11 - 24 2016

TheTrumpet is published in London fortnightly by Trumpet

Tel: 020 8522 6600 Field: 07956 385 604 E-mail: info@the-trumpet.com (ISSN: 1477-3392)

Sport Nkono: I’m honoured to be Buffon’s inspirationBy FIFA.com

Gianluigi Buffon andThomas Nkono. Picture

Credits - FIFA.com

Continued on Page 15>