Buhari's Continued Ineptitude & The Way Forward For Nigeria -By Tayo Demola

The situation Nigerians have found themselves now is not what they expected from the Buhari government. The situation of things in Nigeria presently is still shocking to many Nigerians and a mystery to all those who unanimously gave their unalloyed support to Buhari in order to make him president with the expectation that he would turn Nigeria around for the better but what has Buhari done today? He has simply made Nigeria worse than he met it and ended up turning the country into a banana republic where laws and court orders are flagrantly disobeyed with impunity and ended up impoverishing the life of an average Nigerian. 

I know quite alright that many newspapers and media outfits would never publish this type of article because it is very clear that many media organizations have been compromised in Nigeria. The media has been gagged by the Buhari government. The media has been caged and boxed to a corner where they are now afraid of what the government will do to them and their outfits and so they refrain from anything that will antagonize the government. But for how long are we going to continue to fold our hands and watch while an incompetent government keeps toiling with the lives of the Nigerian people and generations yet unborn? Remember that this is a government that told us to choose between cattle colony or death and wants to compel us to lose our ancestral heritage to the fulani herds men cattle ranching ideology. 

But for how long are we going to continue to be intimidated and harassed into silence by an autocratic government that takes the people for granted and continues to inflict pains, sorrow and suffering on the citizens of Nigeria? For how long are we going to continue to watch while our people are slaughtered in broad daylight by some marauders and sacred cows with tacit endorsement from a government that swore to a constitutional oath to protect the citizens of Nigeria but failed to do so? 

For how long are we going to continue to fear the unknown and be intimidated by this government? It seems Nigerians have now been bullied to resign to their fate and watch helplessly while the Buhari government keeps perpetrating all sorts of injustice, constitutional breaches and impunity without being answerable to the Nigerian people. Remember that Gani Fawehinmi and Fela both of blessed memories were bullied, intimidated and harassed for standing up for the people and for saying the truth to the government, yet they never gave up and were never deterred irrespective of all attempts by the government and their obnoxious collaborators to silence them from saying the truth. 

We must never shy away from saying the truth irrespective of whose ox is gored or else Nigeria will never make any headway with all these numerous challenges confronting the nation. The Nigerian people must stand up and fight for their rights and heritage or else the Buhari government will annihilate the will of the people and keep them on perpetual subjugation. It is very clear that this is an anti people government that is hell bent on perpetrating itself in power despite its woeful performance and failure to ameliorate the acute sufferings of the Nigerian people. But Nigerians must resist any attempt by Buhari and his cohorts to perpetrate themselves in office. Nigerians must join hands to send Buhari back to Daura where he rightly belongs. 

When Buhari was presented to all of us, we though that by now Nigeria would have witnessed a drastic and positive change but the reverse is the case. We thought that we have found a messiah who would improve the living standards of the people but he ended up increasing the suffering of the masses of Nigeria. It is very clear that the Buhari government is very desperate to remain in power to continue to enslave Nigerians but all Nigerians must resist it and ensure that we all vote out Buhari in 2019 to avoid subjugating our future and the future of our children and generations yet unborn. 

But come to think of it. If the Buhari government can inflict so much pain, sorrow and suffering on the masses of Nigeria in its first term in office, imagine what Buhari will do if he eventually comes back for second term. We can all be sure that it will be hell for the Nigerian people if Buhari is ever allowed to come back in 2019. You can imagine what he will do if he eventually gets a second term ticket to rule Nigeria again. We must not allow this to happen or else Nigeria will be doomed by this incompetent, tribalistic, desperate and autocratic leader. 

The Senate President Bukola Saraki has been harassed and pushed to defect to the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) just like many other senators have defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). This is an attestation to the fact that the Buhari government has lost its bearing not only on its own party people but also on the entire country and this government must be shown the way out of office in 2019 because this is not the type of government that can take Nigeria to the promised land. The Buhari government has only ended up dragging Nigeria backwards and we don't yet know the serious damage this government has done to us until many years to come before we would realize it. 

But we must take action and obtain our voter's cards and ensure that we vote out Buhari and his cohorts on election day 2019 and we must equally stand up and protect our votes and our future by ensuring that the election is free and fair and not tactically rigged by this government in order to perpetrate itself in power. We must ensure that we are never swayed or influenced by money to vote for the wrong person who will come up to sell our future and subjugate our collective ancestral heritage and patrimony. We must never allow this to happen. We must all stand up and fight for our future and the future of our present and future generations and avoid any conspiracy against our collective will. Since we trusted Buhari so much and allowed him to rule Nigeria the second time by voting him into power in 2015 and having unrepentantly betrayed that trust we reposed in him, we must never allow him come back to rule Nigeria the third time again because he has shown clearly that he cannot be trusted with the destiny of Nigerians. 

If Nigerians make the mistake of electing Buhari to come back in 2019, Nigerians will surely regret such action just as right now we keep regretting ever voting for him in 2015. The way forward is that Nigerians must change this government through the ballot box in 2019. What we need is a leader who will turn Nigeria around for good. To do this, we must first of all subject all presidential aspirants to a compulsory live debate for every aspirant to showcase whatever they have to offer Nigerians on national television and any aspirant who fails to honour this debate should be disqualified from contesting. 

Buhari is known to shun debates of this nature or even the usual presidential media chat. Is this the type of leader we want? Former president Goodluck Jonathan usually had regular media chats where he interacted with the media and with Nigerians on various issues of national importance but since when has Buhari ever had any such chat with the people of Nigeria? Since when has he deemed it fit to honour Nigerians by letting them ask him pertinent questions about the nation on live national television? Is this the type of leader we want beyond 2019? No, this is not the type of leader we want because Nigerians deserve a better leader who will improve their lives and turn the nation around positively within a reasonable period of time. 

We don't need a president who will drag us fifty years backwards like Buhari has done to Nigeria but an action president who will solve Nigeria's mounting problems within a reasonably short period of time without having to dilly dally and continuously blame past leaders for the problems for which he was elected to fix in the first place. No, that is not the type of leader Nigeria needs. We need not just a president who says what should be done but someone who matches his words with action and also takes such action at the right time when such action should be taken for the interest of the nation. The way forward is that Nigerians should ensure that Buhari is voted out of office so that this nation can know peace and so that we would not mortgage our future and the future of generations yet unborn to the cluelessness of this inept government that cannot take Nigeria anywhere. God bless Nigeria. 

By Tayo Demola 

Human Rights Activist 

Creating Jobs In Nigeria Through Entrepreneurship Development -By Tayo Demola

The Nigerian economy is a leading economic hub not only in the West African Sub-region but also in the entire African continent as a promising destination for investment opportunities for individuals, corporate organizations, blue chip companies and other multinationals that continuously see the Nigerian economy as an investment haven. While the activities of most of these companies have aided job creation for a section of the teeming youths, it is glaring that concerted efforts are required by all stakeholders to stem the tide of unemployment in Nigeria.

Nigerians are very enterprising and hard working people who can turn any opportunity into a money making venture. Nigerian youths are equally very hard working and can easily convert any given opportunity to make money for themselves and better their lives even when it is obvious that the government has done little or nothing to harness the potentials of these teeming youths and develop them for the good of the nation. If Nigerians can be so enterprising to turn any opportunity to a money making venture, then imagine what they would do if the government provides the enabling

and conducive environment for them to thrive. Imagine what they would do if the government makes it a point of duty to provide massive job opportunities for the people of Nigeria without paying mere lip service to the issue of creating jobs. 

One of the easiest and surest ways to combat poverty in any economy is through job creation. When people have jobs, the effect is that they would be able to fend for themselves and their families and ultimately improve their standard of living as well as become    useful for the development of their immediate communities. The essence of job creation can never be over emphasized in the quest for economic development of any modern nation and for Nigeria as a nation which hopes to be among the top developed economies in the world, this dream is realizable if job creation is duly given adequate priority by all stakeholders to ensure that massive job opportunities are created to engage the vibrant youths who are willing to work and also possess ideas that can make the desired changes in many organizations if given the opportunity.

Nigeria can be described as a nation with a mass of unutilized manpower that keeps wasting away in various parts of the nation without being tapped for the benefit of the nation. Hundreds of thousands of graduates are churned out yearly from various tertiary institutions in Nigeria many of whom remain jobless for several years after graduation. But it is an undeniable fact that the future of the nation lies in the youths because they hold the potentials for a lasting change and sustainable development that can move Nigeria forward. With a massive population unrivalled in the entire African continent, Nigeria has a potential of becoming a world economic power in the nearest future if its resources are efficiently harnessed to full potentials and most importantly if its human capital base is developed to full capacity.

Entrepreneurship is a veritable source of employment and wealth creation for Nigerians who desire to create wealth for themselves by starting a business of their own and nurturing it to maturity. A business empire can be created by starting small and working hard enough to maintain the business and making it grow through various stages. Many big companies in Nigeria today started small many years ago and their founders were committed in their pursuit and persevered until the businesses grew into world class brands.

Despite the challenges, Nigeria is a beautiful place to do business that any entrepreneurial minded person can succeed in business if they are willing to start something no matter how difficult it may seem at first. The most difficult aspect is in starting the business. As soon as you start, however turbulent it may be, you will begin to learn the ropes as you continue to nurture your business and sooner or later, the business will begin to make headway a long as you persevere.

To grow the Nigerian economy to a level that it would begin to compete with world class economies such as that of the US, Britain, China, Japan and other economically developed nations, entrepreneurship and job creation must be given top priority by all stakeholders. While the government holds the ace in this regard as it is expected to continuously formulate policies that will create a favourable atmosphere for businesses to thrive, it is pertinent to state that the Nigerian youths who form the bulk of the active population should be reorientated from the mentality of job hunting to job creation. If every Nigerian graduate can create at least one job opportunity for himself and is able to make a living out of this, then the problem of unemployment will be drastically reduced to the barest minimum and this will greatly reduce dependence on government to create jobs as well as reduce insecurity, armed banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country.

For Nigerians to create jobs for themselves as well as for others, there has to be that entrepreneurial spirit in them that will propel every person to think about what he or she can do for the nation and not what the nation can do for them. It is possible for Nigeria to get to that level where every citizen will have that entrepreneurially creative spirit to create jobs and make wealth for themselves for the betterment of the nation. But to do this, there must be an enabling policy to drive that consciousness into the people from cradle. What this means is that it is not enough to have entrepreneurship introduced as a course in the tertiary institutions in Nigeria, it must also a matter of necessity be introduced to pupils right from the primary schools so that students can learn how to be enterprising right from childhood. By so doing, we would inevitably instill entrepreneurship skills into our future generation by catching them young and directing their mentality towards a worthy cause that would eventually create wealth for the nation and propel Nigeria into economic and political greatness in the comity of nations.

For many who have tried to start or run their own businesses but ended up not realizing this dream, it can be so frustrating. But as I said earlier, Nigeria is such a beautiful place to do business that you will always succeed if you don’t give up and if you are willing to keep trying. Nobody sets up a business to fail but sometimes what makes some businesses fail in Nigeria is because they cannot access the finance required to run or expand their business operations. Many enterprising Nigerians have excellent business ideas and plans but cannot actualize their dreams of setting up businesses of their choice and creating job opportunities for themselves as well as for others just because they have no access to funding to start these promising businesses that would have grown to become world class brands in the nearest future. Banks in Nigeria are reluctant or unwilling to give loans to start-ups and where they do, the resultant high interest rates and the issue of collateral are discouraging for would-be entrepreneurs. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should formulate a policy where Banks are required to give interest-free loans without cut-throat requirements to viable business ventures and ideas including start-ups to encourage the establishment of small and medium scale enterprises which constitute the engine of the economy.

Aside the challenge posed by lack of finance, Nigeria is still grappling with inadequate infrastructure which hampers business ventures and entrepreneurial development. Many towns and cities experience erratic power supply and this hampers business growth. Power must be improved to encourage people to venture into business ventures and create jobs. In the same vein, several parts of the nation have poor road network which slows business down leading to heavy loss of man hours which would have been converted to wealth.  The government has a duty to rehabilitate interconnecting road networks and also to link up more communities by constructing more roads to fast track business activities.

To stem the tide of perennial unemployment in the nation, various governments have at various times set up entrepreneurship and empowerment programs for the youths in several parts of the country and it is said that many youths have benefitted from these programs but due to the problem of corruption and impunity, many of these gestures have not really benefited the people they are meant for. Also, the Nigerian population is growing at a geometric rate and these efforts by governments appear insignificant in the quest to reduce youth unemployment and restiveness to the barest minimum. To tackle unemployment and create lasting job opportunities for the youths, there is the need for a policy shift by government towards massive employment generation as well as the reorientation of the average Nigerian on the need to imbibe entrepreneurship spirit in order to create jobs and diversify the economy. 

China is now a technological world giant and a conduit through which finished goods are manufactured and exported to various countries of the world. But China did not just achieve this feat overnight. It took several years of planning by the government, massive funding and investments and their continuous encouragement of business enterprises and entrepreneurship by their citizens. Nigeria can do same if the government can continuously create that enabling environment for businesses and entrepreneurship in the country. Nigeria has great untapped potentials and we have the potential to be like China and even better than them if only we have the right governments who would make drastic changes to the nation and make the right sacrifices that will benefit the nation. 

Entrepreneurship is undeniably a potential source of wealth for both individuals and the nation and if properly harnessed, it has the capacity to engage the youths and provide employment for a vast majority of the populace thereby reducing crime, insecurity and youth restiveness. If we can develop and nurture our entrepreneurial skills, with the the enabling environment and the right support from the government, we will sooner or later create lasting wealth not only for ourselves but also for the future generation. Nigeria will succeed.

Tayo Demola: Is Aso Rock Under A Curse?

Hello people, this is actually an article I wrote sometime in March 2017. I've brought it to you once again as I feel the issues therein are still very much relevant. Pls sit back, relax & enjoy. Let's hear what you think as well!

At this moment of our national life where Nigeria has been plunged into avoidable economic hardship and the living standard of many Nigerians instead of improving, has gradually deteriorated below poverty level, many Nigerians are shocked by what they got from the Buhari government which has failed to make any positive change in the lives of the people. And with the way we are all astonished as to how a government that promised us heaven could turn around to give us hell instead, many Nigerians have wondered if that Presidential Villa, Aso Rock is truly a blessing to Nigeria or a curse. 

Is the President even aware that many Nigerians are killing themselves due the hardship and suffering brought about by his incompetent government? Does he even know that an average Nigerian is so disenchanted with his government that Nigerians are now even ashamed to call him their President? Does he even know that due to the high expectations Nigerians had of him when he was sworn in, that Nigerians now regret voting for him in the first place? But the President knows all these, he cannot pretend not to know but the activities of praise singers and the enemies of Nigeria who would tell him that all is well would not make him realize the magnitude of the public disenchantment and disconnection of his government from the masses of Nigeria and from the reality on the ground. 

The Nigerian government has undoubtedly been hijacked by a certain selfish cabal who are no doubt enemies of Nigeria and who would do anything possible to entrench their own selfish agenda on Nigeria. People like the President’s Special adviser on Media Mr Femi Adeshina would always tell him that all is well and that Nigerians are wailing wailers. And talking about wailing wailers, Mr Femi Adeshina has introduced another vocabulary into the Nigerian political arena which we shall make reference to from time to time.

But let’s look at this critically. Does Mr Femi Adeshina have any right as a political appointee who is paid with the Nigerian taxpayer’s money to even call Nigerians who are complaining about bad government as wailing wailers? Does he not know that the Nigerian masses have the ultimate power to choose whoever should lead them and after choosing such person the people have every right to complain about the government if their expectations are not met? Does he not know he is a public servant and that his duty is to serve the interest of the people and that it is completely disrespectful to call the people of Nigeria wailing wailers? 

If as a government you have failed the people and you failed to meet up with the expectations of Nigerians, then don’t expect Nigerians to be happy with your government. It is completely unacceptable to continue to take Nigerians for a ride after we have voted you into power and instead of you to improve the lives of the people, you ended up increasing their sorrow. What sort of government is that? I noticed that every Presidential candidate or political party in Nigeria would always come with sugarcoated mouth and promise heaven and earth during campaigns and the people will be so deceived into voting for them thinking they would change their lives for the better but as soon as they get power, they would not fulfill such deceitful promises to the people. 

It looks as if there is something in that Aso Rock that twists the head of every President that gets there and makes him forget all the promises he made to the people. It looks as if that Aso Rock is jinxed against the Nigerian people. It seems to me Nigeria may never make any meaningful headway until that Aso Rock is completely disbanded to pave way for the building of another Presidential Villa by a Godly and properly elected Nigerian leader who would lay a good foundation for the building of that new Presidential Villa.

It is very clear that there are many forces militating against the performance of any Nigerian leader who enters that Aso Rock. It is very possible that our lovely Aso Rock which we built with a lot of money during the military era may actually be the problem of Nigeria. If not, why do leaders suddenly turn against the masses as soon as they’ve taken over the mantle of leadership? Why do they say one thing and do the complete opposite of what they say? Is there not something mysterious about that Aso Rock?

The one thing that also amazes me is how the President allows certain people, praise singers and cabal to hijack his government without standing up to the occasion for the sake of Nigeria. Is the interest of Nigeria not above any selfish personal interest? The level Nigeria is now economically shows clearly that this government is either unprepared for leadership from the onset or completely incompetent and therefore does not deserve to lead Nigeria any more. Nigerians were even better off during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan and things were not so bad. We are tired of promises that will never materialize, we want action. We want an action government that will ameliorate the suffering of the masses of Nigeria within a reasonable period of time and better the lives of Nigerians and any government that cannot do this should be shown the way out of Aso Rock for another government to take over. 

Nigerians have never had it so bad and even during Jonathan’s government, the economy was not so harsh on Nigerians. Despite all the efforts of Jonathan, we called him clueless because he could not meet up with a whole lot of our expectations. He didn’t fight corruption and he exhibited a lackadaisical attitude to the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents who destroyed countless lives and property in the Northern part of Nigeria. But while Jonathan could not do any of these and Nigerians hated him so much and voted him out, we now have a President who we think is fighting Boko haram and corruption but the people are dying of hunger and committing suicide on a daily basis due to the excruciating economic hardship in Nigeria. 

But under Jonathan Nigerians could still afford to eat what they wanted and the cost of things in the market was never so outrageous. We called Jonathan clueless but I bet you many Nigerians are so disappointed now that they don’t even know what name to call the Buhari government. But this government is worse than clueless because if in a clueless government the people are better off and in a supposedly ‘‘non-clueless’’ government the people are suffering, then what is means is that the Buhari government is worse than clueless. And it is very clear that things were quite better for an average Nigerian under the Jonathan government and despite his supposed ‘‘cluelessness’’, Nigerians even wish they never voted him out in the first place.

If at all you are fighting corruption and Boko Haram, this is never enough if the people are suffering. And what manner of corruption is the government fighting in the first place? Is the corruption fight all encompassing or is it only against some perceived opponents and enemies? Is it only against certain people while some sacred cows are left off the hook? What about those in the President’s cabinet and those in the current government who have been indicted and who should have been investigated and prosecuted if found wanting? Now we can see that it’s the usual ‘‘paddy-paddy’’ government which our all-time legend Fela told us from time immemorial. The fight against corruption can never be holistic if certain people who are indicted for corruption and tainted are still in this government without being shown the way out. It would be hypocritical to do so and that would mean taking Nigerians for granted. 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently told us that President Buhari is not good with the economy. Now some Nigerians might take that statement with a pinch of salt but that is the plain truth. If Buhari was good with the economy, if he were a good manager of the economy, by now the Nigerian economy would not have gone from good to bad and now to worse. This clearly tells us that we made a great mistake for voting in the Buhari government into office in the first place since he is not a good manager of the economy. It’s just like someone who doesn’t know how to cook and you ask him to go and manage the kitchen and get a good meal out of that kitchen, how possible is that? He will only go there and turn the kitchen upside down and get you a badly prepared meal that will turn your stomach upside down. That is what you get when you make the mistake of voting in someone who doesn’t know how to manage the economy. 

But mind you, former President Obasanjo cannot be wrong on this statement because we can all see how the Nigerian economy is being badly managed with all sorts of trials and errors that keep impoverishing the masses the more. And the funny thing is that the President acts as if he has all the time in the world to make the change that we Nigerians desire. 

He acts with so much slow pace and reckless abandon as if he has ten or twenty years more to lead Nigeria. He has forgotten that he has only FOUR YEARS to make any impact and nothing more because it is very clear that Nigerians will never vote for this APC government in 2019 except if Buhari is not the Presidential candidate of the APC. The people want change and we want it in record time and not endless promises. You don’t have to make things worse before you make it better. Any government that makes things worse for the people with a promise that things will get better is an incompetent government that should be removed from office. Infact Nigerians were already tired of this government as far back as 2016 when it started to inflict pains and suffering on the hapless masses.

We were promised that the fuel price which was increased will gradually come down but nothing of such has happened. We were told that kerosene will soon get cheaper but instead of getting cheaper, it now even costs more. And every commodity in the Nigerian market is beyond the reach of an average Nigerian. 

So with all these failed promises and with 2019 around the corner when the government will come up with another set of deceptive and dubious promises, we must all ensure we obtain our voter’s cards and vote out this government since it is clear it cannot take us anywhere. We must change this government before it finally destroys Nigeria. Is it when everybody dies of hunger that the change we all clamoured for will come? 

By Tayo Demola

Human Rights Activist

Commuter Loses Arm in Accident: An Appeal for Urgent Assistance from Well Meaning Nigerians (With Pictures Attached)

A young man named Sunday Anyanwu from Abia State has lost his right arm in an accident which occurred around 8.30pm on 13th April 2018 at Amje Bus stop, around Tollgate on the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway. According to the 34-year old Sunday, he boarded a BRT bus from Oshodi where he worked to Sango but when they got to Amje bus stop, the BRT driver lost control and rammed into a stationary Dangote truck that was packed beside the road and since he was sitting by the side of the bus, the impact was so great that it instantly cut the BRT bus and cut off his right arm. 

He was unconscious and later admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) where he was treated but the bills were too much for him and his family to pay as they could not afford it, so he was discharged from the hospital when he could not continue to pay the mounting bills.  His story was equally published in the Saturday Punch newspapers of July 14th 2018 at page 36. 

The hospital said he needs to undergo surgery on the severed arm to remove some broken bones in the severed arm and in order to avoid his condition from deteriorating further and the cost of the surgery was put at three hundred and fifty thousand naira (N350, 000) and this was as at April 2018. Ever since he was discharged from LASUTH since he could not afford to pay for the surgery, he has been visiting the Igando General Hospital for the dressing of the arm every two days and spending money and since last week he has not been able to go to the hospital to dress the arm because he doesn't have money again. 

Right now what Sunday Anyanwu needs is to go for the surgery at LASUTH which will take care of his situation once and for all instead of going to dress it at Igando every two days and spending money which he cannot even afford. He has been abandoned by the BRT bus owner who claims she does not have money to spend on him anymore even when she is supposed to take care of the surgery but they keep deceiving him everyday and his situation is really critical as his health is in serious danger.  We seriously feel pity for him and that is why I have decided to share his story with all well meaning Nigerians to come to his aid as we have taken keen interest in his story to ensure he gets the medical care he needs and also for him to get justice on this matter in the long run. 

We are seriously appealing to all well meaning Nigerians to please as a matter of urgency come to his aid in whatever form you can by donating towards the surgery of the victim Sunday Anyanwu so that he can proceed to LASUTH as soon as possible for the surgery. We also appeal for whatever assistance you can render in that regard because not only the surgery, he needs total rehabilitation even after the surgery because he is now handicapped. 

We also seek the assistance of the Lagos State government and all well meaning Nigerians to prosecute and bring to book the owner of the BRT bus which caused the accident leading to Sunday Anyanwu losing his right hand and thereby making him now handicapped. This is for abandoning the victim and refusing to take care of his surgery at LASUTH which has now necessitated this urgent appeal. 

Please Nigerians let's join hands and be our brother's keeper. Please let's not allow Sunday to continue to suffer and die because right now he is in pains every day as his severed hand is currently oozing out offensive odour every two days the moment he is unable to go to the hospital at Igando General Hospital to dress the hand. But he requires about N5000 every two days to dress the hand at the hospital and his family have exhausted all they have on his treatment. 

Pls kindly share this story till it gets to the right person who is willing to assist this young man out of this situation and who has the means to sponsor this urgent surgery which he needs right now. You can equally donate any amount you have towards this surgery and for the total rehabilitation of Sunday Anyanwu. 

For donations and to get our corporate account numbers, please contact us by mail only. Send a mail to tayodemola@gmail.com and we shall forward the account numbers to you. 

God bless you as you respond and save a life.

For further details, kindly contact me by sending me a mail at tayodemola@gmail.com. 

For media enquiries and further details or clarifications, kindly send a mail to the above email address.

God bless you all. 

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Examining Femi Adesina's Irresponsible Statement On Cattle Colony -By Tayo Demola

I have always said it that no responsible government will fold its hands and watch while its citizens are being slaughtered and massacred in their numbers. No responsible government will subtly encourage the killing of its own citizens just to achieve its premeditated agenda of cattle colony. No responsible government will value cows and animals above human life. But now it is very clear to all Nigerians the hidden agenda of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is very clear that Nigerians made the greatest mistake of their lives by voting Buhari to manage the affairs of Nigeria. 

The recent statement credited to the Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina with respect to cattle colony on a program on AIT is really  unfortunate. It shows that Nigerians have been taken for granted for too long and these people will continue to take us for a ride and for fools if we don't show them the way out of office by our collective will as Nigerians. When injustice thrives in the land and the just fold their arms and do nothing, the unjust will automatically believe that the injustice they perpetrated is right and would continue in their acts of injustice. That is the situation we have found ourselves in Nigeria. 

Now let us take a look at that statement by Femi Adesina: “Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter? The National Economic Council that recommended ranching didn’t just legislate it, there were recommendations. So, if your state genuinely does not have land for ranching, it is understandable. Not every state will have land for ranches. But where you have land and you can do something, please do for peace. What will the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?”.

This type of statement by Femi Adesina simply shows that he is reckless, senseless, insensitive, wicked and heartless to the sufferings of Nigerians in his quest to satisfy his pay masters and it is very clear that he is part of the callous cabal that has held Nigeria hostage all along. But as they say, like master, like servant. It is unfortunate that the government of Buhari has brought untold hardship and suffering to millions of Nigerians who thought that a messiah had come but alas we were wrong. Thousands of innocent people have been gruesomely murdered since Buhari took over office with empty promises to tackle insecurity for which he was voted into office but he has failed to tackle the menace, rather Nigerians have been massacred in their numbers in Benue and recently in Plateau state as well as in other parts of the nation. But I'm not surprised because that is their usual tactics; because election is coming, so they would allow the killings so that they can use it to campaign for another election, with another set of empty promises to Nigerians to tackle the menace which they will never fulfill. That is their game plan. It is a vicious circle. Their game plan is perfectly understood. 

By that reckless statement from Femi Adesina, the Presidency has shown Nigerians clearly that they they are indirectly in support of the mindless killings of innocent Nigerians by fulani herdsmen across Nigeria. They have shown us that these killings are premeditated in order to force Nigerians to accept their idea of cattle colony and force its bitter pill down our throats in order to satisfy their inordinate and sinister motives. But what is ancestral attachment that Femi Adesina talked about? Every Nigerian has an ancestral heritage in either tangible or intangible assets or possessions resulting from their lineage and these assets cannot be merely encroached upon or annihilated by any intruder because the people will resist such illegality. You cannot force people to accept what will in the long run be detrimental to their well-being and then turn around to hoodwink us to believe that you are doing us good, no, the people know what is good for them. 

Now when you look at that statement properly, you will see desperation written all over that statement. You will see a Presidency that is not only cunning but desperate to force Nigerians to either accept the idea of cattle colony or be prepared to die! That is the import of that reckless statement. Although we should not be surprised by Femi Adesina's statement because he is fond of taking Nigerians for a ride and making provocative statements. Remember it was the same Femi Adesina that told us that we are wailing wailers. He rubbed it in the face of all Nigerians, yet nothing happened, so it's not surprising he has now come out again with yet another utterly disgusting statement by asking Nigerians to either choose cattle colony or death. 

Sometimes I wonder if these people know the gravity of whatever they say and the damage such statements can cause in the minds of millions of Nigerians. Sometimes I wonder if they know the delicate and highly exalted position they occupy as public servants where they are supposed to refrain from making reckless statements and aggravating an already bad situation. Because thousands have been killed and Nigerians did nothing, and the families of these people have resigned to their fate since they know the government cannot protect them, and since Nigerians are so good at forgetting so easily, so that is why they could come up with another denigrating verbal rhetoric just to cow us into accepting to relinquish our ancestral heritage to some marauders who call themselves fulani herdsmen and who have now become sacred cows in Nigeria just because their man is at the helm of affairs of the nation and is covertly encouraging them to continue to kill and maim in order to annihilate territories for themselves and their sacred cows. 

So by that statement by the Presidency, it clearly shows why Buhari has done little or nothing to stop these mindless killings in Nigeria. It shows the mind of the president because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It shows that if we refuse to accept their idea of cattle colony and ranching, they are prepared to kill as many Nigerians as possible just to achieve their sinister agenda. But really is this a government? A government that does not care if its citizens are killed in their numbers? A government that is so tribalistic, myopic and inept that it sits down and fails to take action while the people are being hacked down in cold blood? Is this a responsible government? It only shows one thing. It only shows Nigerians that we don't deserve this type of government because Nigerians are much more sophisticated and politically enlightened to be boxed into a corner with this type of government that instead of ameliorating the pains of the people, it rather increases their sorrows. No this is not the type of government we want as Nigerians. This is not the type of legacy we want to leave for our children and generations yet unborn. 

Mind you that statement by Femi Adesina should not be taken lightly by Nigerians. There is more to that statement. It is not ordinary. It is a well thought out, well planned and well crafted statement by the Presidency and sooner or later, they will back that statement up with actions that will surprise many Nigerians as it is very clear that these people are desperate to entrench their evil agenda on hapless Nigerians. They are ready to destroy our ancestral heritage and take over our lands and Nigerians must resist any form of internal colonization. Nigerians must immediately resist and reject the likes of Femi Adesina and his misguided, myopic and arrogant postulations and cabalistic hegemony because if he is willing to destroy his own ancestral attachment in order to satisfy his tribalistic pay masters, which I know he would never ever contemplate, we as Nigerians would never contemplate such destructive tendencies to the collective posterity of our common heritage on a platter of political patronage, irrespective of the circumstances. 

It is now clear that the chickens have come home to roost and Nigerians now know the type of leaders they have. By their fruits you shall know them. We now know that it was a mistake after all to have allowed this type of government that takes its citizens for a ride and continuously rubs denigrating statements on our face every now and then and since they feel we can't do anything to them, they keep making more belittling and provocative statements to all Nigerians. But we can do something because the power is in our hands. We can take action and we must take action and our action is our vote which we must ensure that it counts at the next election. We must never make the mistake of ever voting in someone who would subtly conspire to kill innocent Nigerians just to achieve his ethnic jingoistic ideals. Nigerians say no to impunity. Nigerians say no to clueless leaders. Nigerians say no to obnoxious conspiracies against the collective patrimony of our common good. Nigerians say no to the annihilation of our collective ancestral heritage in the name of some sacred cows. No, no, no and no we say! 

TAYO DEMOLA 

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST 

tayodemola@gmail.com

The Nigerian Police & Pidgin English Mentality -By Tayo Demola

Have you ever wondered what language can do to a person? Do you know that the language a person speaks and the culture associated with such language can influence that person's way of life and particularly the way such person behaves?

Now there are a whole lot of questions we need to ask ourselves and try as much as possible to find answers to them if really we want to solve a lot of problems confronting Nigeria. These issues may sound funny but they are really serious. Sometimes it is those issues we ignore and feel they are not important that are often the underlying reasons why certain people behave in certain ways. For us to know why some people often exhibit certain behavioral tendencies, we need to properly examine a lot of things about them and including their language. There is no doubt that a lot of human traits are associated with language or the type of language a person speaks. 

Now let me ask Nigerians these pertinent questions. Why should the average Nigerian police man always speak pidgin English even among themselves? Why can't police men communicate in good English even when they actually understand English but they chose to communicate in pidgin English? When you go to the average police station in Nigeria for a case, what common language do you hear police men communicating among themselves? What is pidgin English and how did the language come about? If pidgin English is an adulteration of the standard English and since Nigeria has chosen the English language as an official means of communication, then why can't our police officers speak good English to us when we get to the police station? 

When an average Nigerian police man stops you on the road and asks for your vehicle particulars or asks you any other questions or when you have any other encounter with an average Nigerian police man and you try to politely explain certain things to them in English, why is it that they often make statements like: "This one na grammar im dey speak", "Your grammar too much", "So you wan show me say you go school abi, you think say me I no go school too"? Why do we have police men in Nigeria with this type of mentality? Do we really deserve these type of police men in the first place? In advanced climes, a police man will politely ask you questions and expect you to explain yourself and would readily listen to you while you try to explain. They would not query you over the type of grammar you speak but would only be interested in knowing if you have committed a crime or not or to wholeheartedly carry out any investigation they need to carry out on you. In Nigeria, a police man would find fault with you just because he is looking for a way to extort money from you or to make you bribe him for an offense you committed instead of either applying his discretion and letting you go if he needs to, or bringing you to book according to the law.

I have often said that Nigeria can never succeed without a good police force. In fact no nation can develop without a good and dependable police force and who must be incorruptible and impartial at all times. Also, Nigeria can never develop with the present crop of police force where impunity, lawlessness, corruption and brutality reign supreme. What is the educational level of the lowest rank or the lowest Cadre of the Nigerian police? What type of training does the average Nigerian police man receive at the police training colleges? Who are those that actually train these officers and can we proudly say that the average Nigerian police man is adequately trained on weapon handling and on the proper ways to relate with the civilian populace with the necessary exhibition of civility and proper conduct? If our police men are properly trained and given the right orientation, why do we have so many cases of police brutality, accidental discharge and brazen extortion as well as flagrant breach of the law by the police that are supposed to be shinning examples to the people and are supposed to enforce the law? Is it not an unfortunate irony that the police that is supposed to enforce the law and protect the citizens are now the ones breaking the law and brutalizing the very people they are paid with tax payer's money to protect?

Let us examine another issue. If for example the lowest rank in the Nigerian police force is a university graduate and you meet him on the road while asking for your vehicle particulars or he stops you at the checkpoint, will such police man be offended by your polished English and tell you angrily that you are speaking grammar? If that police man carrying that gun at the checkpoint passed through the four walls of a university and after spending a minimum of four years in the university, he proceeded to do another one year national youth service, after which he joined the police, would he not be more refined and polite in treating people than someone who never went through all that education? Will he suddenly release his gun and shoot an innocent person dead at the checkpoint just like the youth corper lady that was shot dead in Abuja yesterday just because she didn't stop at the checkpoint? If she didn't stop at the checkpoint when you asked her to stop, does that warrant you killing her? If she didn't stop or if she committed any crime, is killing her a way to apprehend her for such crime?

So I really wonder the type of training our policemen receive at the training colleges because the rate of extra judicial killings, brutality and impunity in Nigeria is so glaring that every day we hear one story of brutality or the other. But the bitter truth is that Nigeria can never develop unless the entire police force in Nigeria is sacked and disbanded for a fresh set of police men and women who would be properly trained, groomed and given proper orientation on what policing is about and how to relate with the people. Do you think this is not possible? It is very possible to systematically sack the entire police force of a nation and gradually move the personnel into another institution or government agency and then while also gradually recruiting freshly trained and properly orientated men and women with integrity to man the police force. This may take several years to achieve and would also require massive capital investment but it is possible. 

Only a Nigerian leader with vision for this country can do this and I'm afraid we may not be able to achieve this in our present generation except the government has the will to take this drastic action that will be a turning point in the history of Nigeria. When we talk about restructuring Nigeria, it cannot be done unless we have a strong and reliable police force. The government should stop the recruitment of people with school certificate into the Nigerian police force. This may sound funny and unachievable but it will go a long way to reform our police force for better crime detection and crime fighting. The minimum educational qualification the government should allow into the police force should be the Diploma or its equivalent or even a degree. Recruitment into the police should not be based on nepotism, tribalism or ethnic considerations. It should be based purely on merit. When a person is properly educated, enlightened and exposed, it is certain that his behavior, orientation and attitude will definitely change and this will affect people around him as well as affect his community.

Nigerians are good people and law abiding people. Yes we are suffering and smiling according to the legendary Fela and that is why there is so much brutality and impunity by our security agencies against the very people they are meant to protect, yet they feel they are doing us a favor by protecting us but this should not be so. This is simply because the mentality of many of the Nigerian police men is not properly channeled towards protecting the people as the primary reason why they are given that uniform. So they need to be reorientated on the core values of policing. 

Another issue worthy of consideration is that every police station in Nigeria should be headed by a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who must have a Masters degree. The police should not continue to rely on experience and other considerations alone in appointing police officers to manage police stations or divisions. While experience must count, the level of the officer's education should equally be very important. I have heard of a DPO who has personally come to the bus stop to arrest market women trying to make a living for themselves but as if that was not enough, one of the women told me the DPO even personally slapped her several times. Yes if they have breached the law, bring them to book but why assault them in the cause of doing your job? Nobody is supporting crime but even the police itself is not above the law while carrying out its duties and in fact the police should be the number one institution in Nigeria to obey the law and they are not above the law. What about the DPO in Agege, Lagos who personally shot and killed a protester some years ago in one of those extra judicial killings and brutality by the police?

But would a police officer who spent all those many years in the university before obtaining his degree or masters degree ever involve himself in such atrocity knowing fully well the implications of his actions? Will he not even be ashamed to speak pidgin English to you knowing fully well that it could be degrading for him considering his level of education and exposure? If he is properly educated and enlightened, will he get offended or jealous of you while at the checkpoint just because you spoke good English to him or because you drive a big car? 

If a young man is well polished in his manners and well dressed with a fine car and speaks good English and also knows his rights as a citizen of Nigeria, does that mean SARS or the police should tag him a yahoo boy or a fraudster? Is that part of the orientation of the Nigerian police and is that their own way of detecting crime? In saner climes, the police could be monitoring and studying or putting a suspect in surveillance for several months or even years before eventually apprehending him if they are sure he has a case to answer but in Nigeria, by mere seeing a person the police will tell him he looks suspicious and that alone to them is enough to arrest him and illegally clamp him into detention. This is wrong and we must stop this type of barbarism and wickedness if Nigeria must move forward.

Pidgin English is a language of the streets and of the market. It is a debased form of the English language. It is not our official language so I see no reason why the average Nigerian police man you meet at the police station should stick to pidgin English and if you are not willing to speak that pidgin with them, they will tag you an "over sabi" person. The Nigerian police should stop embarrassing every person who speaks good English or every person who knows his or her rights as a citizen of Nigeria. The police must realize that it's primary duty is to protect lives and property and to maintain law and order. The Nigerian police must focus on this and refrain from behaviors that could bring its name into disrepute. God bless Nigeria. ​

Tayo Demola

Human Rights Activist

Sack These Incompetent Security Chiefs Now! -By Tayo Demola

For several months now, some parts of the nation have been boiling with hostilities. We have now lost count of the number of killings that have taken place. We have now lost count of the number of innocent Nigerians that have been killed in one of the most dastard and mindless killings in the history of Nigeria. I can't believe that this is happening in our own very eyes and nothing has been done about these killings up till now! It seems as if the government has now accepted this as the norm because I'm yet to see any drastic step taken by the President to address these urgent issues and put a permanent stop to these security challenges. 

President Muhammadu Buhari should realize that the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property and to care for the welfare of the people. The government has failed to provide for the people. The government has failed to protect the people of Nigeria. It now seems as if there is no government in Nigeria. It now seems as if the people of Nigerian have been left to protect themselves and the government has abandoned its responsibility of protecting the citizens. The president by his lackadaisical attitude to this continuous blood letting and his inability to curtail these crises all these years has shown us that he does not value the life of Nigerians. He has simply failed to uphold the Nigerian constitution and his electoral promises. Nigerians are tired of these empty promises and his inability to tackle Nigeria's mounting security challenges which was one of the focal points of his campaign that made Nigerians to give him a chance to solve these problems.

One of the reasons Nigerians jettisoned former president Goodluck Jonathan's government was his inability to tackle these security challenges and we thought president Buhari would do better but what do we have now? Nigerians are now being massacred in their own country even when we have a government that should take decisive action and stop these mindless killings. Benue state has been a hotbed of hostilities for sometime now. The notorious fulani herdsmen have killed several people in Benue including men of God and shed the blood of innocent Nigerians, yet we have a government that has continuously failed to fulfill its statutory responsibility of protecting the people. So it is very clear that the security agencies in Nigeria are not really up and doing and are not equal to the task in tackling these security challenges. The whole security apparatus in Nigeria needs to be overhauled since they cannot tackle Nigeria's security challenges. 

When you continue to apply a technique that continues to fail you, then you must change that technique or else you will continue to fail. There must be an urgent change in Nigeria's security ideas or else these killings can never be tackled. The sponsors of these dastard killings must be fished out and punished. The president should personally address Nigerians and publicly condemn these evil acts and come out strongly against these people who want to make Nigeria ungovernable. These people must not be treated with kit gloves. They must be identified and brought to book or else we would only be paying lip service to these issues. The recent Plateau killings as well as the recurring killings in other parts of Nigeria is highly condemnable and the president must urgently rise to the occasion to solve this problem once and for all. We cannot continue to witness these type of premeditated attacks on our people across Nigeria even when we have a sitting president and the Service Chiefs who seem helpless in tackling the menace. The blood of the innocent people killed in different parts of Nigeria would cry out for justice and until justice is done and the perpetrators fished out and brought to justice, Nigeria may never know peace. 

Since these crises have continued unabated, it is very obvious that the security chiefs are not only incompetent, but they lack the solution to these problems. It simply shows they don't know their job and should be immediately disbanded by the president for a new and fresh set of security chiefs with fresh ideas to tackle these mounting security challenges Nigeria is facing at the moment. The president must listen to the voice of reason and urgently restructure the security architecture in Nigeria and bring in people who are capable of tackling these problems and people who have the solutions to these problems or else these killings might never stop and might even get worse because it is obvious that these killers are hell bent on destabilising Nigeria. The president has a duty to ensure there is peace in Nigeria because that is why Nigerians gave him the mandate in order to improve the lives of the people. But if on the other hand the president fails to do this, he should honorably resign and vacate office. Nigerians will no longer accept lack of performance from the government. If the president cannot remove these obviously incompetent security chiefs and overhaul the security architecture of Nigeria and replace them with more competent hands, then the president should be ready to tender his resignation letter if these mindless killings of innocent Nigerians continue. 

This anarchy must stop. This conspiracy of silence against Nigeria must stop. This wickedness must be brought to an end and it can never stop if we don't take drastic and decisive actions to stem this tide of anarchy and blood letting. It is very clear that the security chiefs have run out of ideas on how to tackle these security challenges and therefore they must immediately be sacked by the president and replaced with a new set of security chiefs who can rise to the occasion and solve these perennial security problems that have threatened the existence of Nigeria. 

This is the the immediate solution to the current quagmire we have found ourselves as a nation. But if on the other hand the president decides not to sack these security chiefs and these crises continue, he must resign and vacate office for a more competent leader who would be able to solve Nigeria's challenges. But if he fails to resign, he must be prepared to be disgraced out of office through the ballot box by the citizens of Nigeria for failing to live up to the people's expectations and for failing to fulfill his promises to the people. Nigerians say no to incompetent leaders. Nigeria must work. Nigeria must know peace. Nigeria must succeed no matter the circumstances and no matter the many obnoxious conspiracies against the corporate existence of Nigeria. 

TAYO DEMOLA 

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST