15082018 - SARS: Osinbajo orders probe of abuses; IG rejigs squad

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2018 — 31
Nigeria and the rites of
insanity
Those who are familiar with
how madness begins to manifest
in a person, will tell you that
no man becomes mad in just one
day. Madness follows a sequence.
Of course psychiatrists and those
who work in the mental health
area can easily notice when a patient
goes through the stages or sequence.
But for the ordinary folks
like us, we also some times notice
this sequence more so when the
subject is closely related to us. Signs
of mental illness may start with the
subject being unusually moody
which could represent depression
or in some cases the subject may
become unusually aggressive and
hyperactive called hyperactive disorder.
If the subject is subjected to treatment
at these early stages, psychiatrists
tell us, the mental health can
be corrected but if not, the situation
could deteriorate. Soon the
subject begins to neglect his personal
hygiene and then may begin
to speak incoherently similar to
what is called psychotic disorder. I
am told that even at this stage the
situation can still be remedied if
urgent medical attention is sought
and the patient can be persuaded
or compelled to take the prescribed
medicines. When this is not done,
the Patient may leave home and begin
to walk about aimlessly. Soon
he may begin to tear his dresses and
could even begin to inflict injuries
on himself. At this point, he may be
said to have become schizophrenic.
Again those who heal mental
people tell me that even at this
stage something can still be done
to save the situation.
But when the subject goes down
to removing his clothes completely
and arrives at the Market place(
particularly on Eke or Nkwo market
days) the situation is regarded
as very grave and at even at this
near end stage, there remains a
slim chance of reversal. However
if the subject finally dances to
the music played in the market
place by both visible and invisible
drummers and singers, the matter
is declared hopeless and the
madness fully grown . In Igbo it is
called “araocha”Only a miracle
can now reverse the madness.
Our country Nigeria has been
going through the rites of insanity
in the last couple of years and some
how we have failed to take remedial
actions to restore the Nation
to sanity. One of the earliest visible
signs came when some guys
decided that Book was evil( Boko
Haram) and then began to attack
churches and latter Mosques
bombing, killing and maiming
innocent civilians. What is the problem?
What do they want? Up till
now, nobody can tell for sure. Psychologists
and psychiatrists tell me
that when people begin to act in
bizarre manners and you can not
relate their actions to remote or
immediate causes, then insanity is
a probable diagnosis. Subsequently
herdsmen who over the years
plied their trade all over Nigeria
and moved around with bows, arrows
and sticks, then began to
move around with automatic AK
47 guns and started murdering
people, some in their sleep and others
in their farms, the madness
took a new turn. Soon some guys
called marauders began to invade
villages in the Zamfara and later
Sokoto areas of the North West,
killing and maiming. When they
were asked what the problem was,
no answer. And yet, everyday, a new
village is invaded and human beings
slaughtered. If this is not madness,
then what can it be?
Hitherto in the Niger Delta region(
South South & Parts of the
SE) we have seen signs of Bipolar
disorder- mood swings. Now there
is peace and all of a sudden war.
Pipelines are broken and oil workers
kidnapped,some killed and the
flow of crude oil and refined petroleum
disrupted. Promises are
made and broken and the cycle
repeated. Clear manifestations of
insanity!
As they say, madness comes in
different forms. While we were still
wondering how to handle the
madness happening in the North
East, North Central, parts of the
North West, manifested in the daily
wasting of human lives without
any justifiable reasons, and the
cyclical eruptions in the Niger
Delta, we ran into political madness.
Actually the earliest signs
were unrecognized until the signs
of obsessive compulsive disorder(
OCD) manifested. The APC government
moved from anxiety disorder
to full blown schizophrenia
when Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu
became Senate
President(SP) and Deputy Senate
President(DSP)respectively. They
first accused them of forgery and
took them to court, then took Saraki
to the Code of Conduct Tribunal
and when all these did not
work, they sent EFCC after them
and their families and followed
with accusing every body that opposed
the government of murder-
Dino Melaye, Shehu Sani, Bukola
Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed.
Which normal government run by
normal people will do everything
to demonize its third ranking citizen
accusing him of corruption,
Perjury , armed robbery and murder
in succession. Very abnormal!
A few weeks ago we woke up to
watch drama, the type displayed
by the madman on his way to the
market. The homes of the SP and
DSP were barricaded by Security
operatives-mainly the DSS and Nigeria
Police. For what reason? No
one could actually tell. After a
while the siege was lifted. The
scene then moved to the National
Our country Nigeria
has been going
through the rites of
insanity in the last
couple of years and
some how we have
failed to take remedial
actions to restore
the Nation to sanity
Assembly where the ensuing madness
was in full display. Senators
and Honourable members were
dancing like excited school children.
Why? Well for the ostensible
reason that some of them have
crossed carpets, a phenomenon
that is becoming normal in Nigeria.
This act then stirred the adrenaline
in the psychotic Nation and
the dance in the market place
went full blown.
As the World watched our nakedness,
Eight members of the Benue
State House of Assembly out of
thirty were given security cover to
go and take over the House. As they
sat to impose the will of the minority
over the majority( 8 vs 22),
Nigeria’s police force still under
IGP Ibrahim Kpotun Idris and the
Department of State Security services(
DSS) then under DG Lawal
Daura , prevented any body else
including the assembly staff from
having access to the premises.
When they finished the dance, they
were escorted by the security to
safety and the house of Assembly
shut down. Very Abnormal!
As the madness raged, one Senator
Akpabio, immediate past PDP
Governor of Akwa Ibom State and
until very recently the Senate Minority
leader jumped into the fray,
crossing the carpet against the run
of play and apparently against the
tide. It takes a good dose of mental
abnormality to swim against
the tide or commit what a friend
called ‘political suicide’. While he
was concluding this abnormal
mental feat, we took off our clothes
and the macabre dance ensued.
On Tuesday August 7 2018, the DSS
then under DG Lawal Daura took
over the premises of the National
Assembly and cordoned it off.
About 100 DSS operatives wearing
masks and fully armed,linked
themselves, forming a chain. They
refused the Legislators and staff of
the National Assembly from having
access to the chambers and offices.
Why? No one could tell correctly.
Many voices, similar to that
of a madman who hears many voices
and does not know which one to
follow. One female Legislator,
Boma Goodhead who arrived early
confronted the DSS guys, looked
them on the face and asked them
to shoot her. This was a full confirmation
of the madness that has befallen
our Nation.Is it normal for
a completely sane person to look
at a hooded armed man and dare
him to shoot. Madness comes in
different forms!
But how come we have allowed
this madness to continue to deteriorate
by the day? How come we
seem to have ignored all the signs?
How come we have ignored all the
good counsel, recommendations
and prescriptions of all the National
Conferences & Regional declarations-Pronaco,
2005 National
Political Conference, 2014 National
Conference, the South West
Ibadan Declaration, the South-
South Asaba declaration, the
South East Awka declaration and
the Middle belt Makurdi
declaration?Perhaps Dementia has
also set in.Or is it Alzheimer’s.Let’s
then pray fervently for a miracle.
Can Adams Oshiomole tame Bukola Saraki?
THE ongoing struggle for the control
of the National Assembly and by
extension Nigeria’s political space by the
All Progressives Congress, APC, and the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is not about
ending even when the 2019 elections are still
many months away. At present, the battle
between the two leading parties is playing
out mostly among the country’s legislators
in the national and state assemblies. Things
took a dramatic turn last week when
operatives of the Department of State
Security, DSS, took over entrance to the
National Assembly in a move the PDP and
especially, President of the Senate, Bukola
Saraki, has interpreted as an attempt to
unseat him as the leader of the Nigerian
senate. Even while the blockade by the DSS
affected both chambers of the National
Assembly and PDP legislators were the only
people around at the National Assembly
while their APC counterparts were nowhere
to be found, Saraki and his supporters were
still able to sell their side of the yet- unfolding
story to Nigerians that the President of the
Senate was the target of the botched attempt
at legislative coup.
The actual origin of the order to prevent
legislators, who had in fact been on recess,
from accessing the National Assembly, is
still a matter of speculation. The only thing
clear is that Lawal Daura, until last week
Director General of the DSS, who had
become notorious for taking series of highly
controversial actions that bordered on
misuse of power ordered the blockade. For
this he was made to bite the dust and
summarily given the booth by the Acting
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who issued a
strong statement condemning the action of
the DSS. But many Nigerians still believe
that the order to take over control of the
National Assembly must have come from
someone or a group higher up than the office
of the erstwhile DG of the DSS. This is where
fingers are being pointed at Saraki who is
supposedly very close to Daura and seems a
past master of intrigues.
Saraki in recent times indeed seems to
have become very adept at dictating the
direction of information flow, a skill that
allows him to preempt and keep a few steps
ahead of his adversaries. One could look
farther back to see how Saraki has employed
this skill to the utter embarrassment of his
adversaries. Witness the manner he
outsmarted his own father in the family
struggle to control Kwara politics that
played out as a face-off between the older
man and his son with regards to whose camp
the governor of the state emerged from.
Bukola cashiered his father from politics
and ensured his younger sister lost the battle
for the governorship as he did for the leaders
of the APC who in 2015 wanted different
people as leaders of the National Assembly.
What this all tells us is
that our politicians are
not trustworthy and
Nigerians must be
vigilant
While the APC leaders were elsewhere
holding a meeting, Bukola was being
installed as President of the Senate by his
cohorts.
More recently he succeeded in sneaking
into the Senate chamber while the whole
world was made to believe that his house
was under blockade by the police. How a
man who was supposedly under house arrest
was able to beat the security ring around
him and eventually made it to the Senate
where he read out a long list of defectors
from the APC to the PDP is a mystery only he
and his close supporters can explain. The
escapades of
Dino Melaye, a
s t a u n c h
supporter of the
President of the
Senate, would
appear to be an
amateurish copy
taken from
Saraki’s play
book. All said
there appears to
be a pattern to the way and manner Saraki
has outsmarted his adversaries and
manipulated information around his
activities of late. He must be having many
belly laughs at the expense of Nigerians.
Adams Oshiomole may have seen through
Saraki, understood his strategy and is
determined to break it. This is why the fight
between the APC and the PDP is fast turning
out like a straight fight between Oshiomole
and the Senate leader.
Oshiomole’s own strategy is to take Saraki
headlong by calling out his every move after
all attempts to make him remain in the APC
failed. He is making it clear that as the new
sheriff in town he would brook no challenge
from any quarter among party members
who fall out of line including those who
decided to leave the party while holding on
to positions they held as members of the APC.
Insisting on APC’s numerical superiority in
the National Assembly, he wants all party
positions returned to members of the party.
As a former labour union man, Oshiomole
is bringing the ruggedness that came from
many years of fighting in the pit into party
politics and is proving a formidable
opponent. More than Lai Muhammed or
anybody else, he is for now the mouthpiece
of the APC and he seeks to portray Saraki as
a politician whose every action is motivated
by self interest.
He attempted a roll-back of Saraki’s
claims during the press conference the latter
gave following the DSS action at the
National Assembly. He countered Saraki,
almost claim by claim, in his own press
Ohuabunwa -14-8-2018
conference that was a clear response to the
one addressed by the Senate leader. He is
equally promising to take the battle to
Saraki’s political base in Kwara where the
hold of the Saraki family over Kwara politics
would be broken. His claims are strong
enough to elicit responses from Saraki’s
camp where his remark that Buhari is more
popular than Bukola Saraki going by
statistics from the 2015 election has been
countered. In this era of fake news and
alternative facts it is difficult to know who
to believe. It’s not clear for example which
party has the greater number of legislators
in the National Assembly with both APC and
PDP making self-serving claims. But APC
has been increasing its tally following its
victory in last weekend’s bye-election in
Kogi, Katsina and Bauchi states. This means
additional concern for the PDP as it
compounds Saraki’s leadership claims.
Adams Oshiomole may be proving an
effective opponent against Bukola Saraki
but his position is somewhat flawed and
made difficult given the position taken by
the APC in past cases of defection from other
parties to their fold. Then the defectors held
on to their positions (Aminu Tambuwal is a
case in point), were not forced to seek fresh
mandates from their constituents nor is it
totally unheard of that a member of a party
in the minority held a position of leadership
as the Saraki camp has shown with their
example of Ume Ezeoke from the Second
Republic. What this all tells us is that our
politicians are not trustworthy and
Nigerians must be vigilant.
C
M
Y
K