04022017

Ireally don’t understand the noise
about our President taking a
medical time out. We knew, or should
know, what we signed in for when we
elected a septuagenarian as our
President. He may have looked lean
and trim during the campaign. He may
even have been fit for his age. But 70
is not 50, and it would be an unusual
70 year old who would not have health
issues. In any case, any responsible
person who is fifty plus should have a
regular medical check–up. And
anybody, 50 or less who wants to pace
himself for optimum performance
should take his leave seriously. I
therefore consider all the hullabaloo
surrounding the medical leave an
unnecessary distraction. The presidency
should be commended if anything, on
the orderly way it transferred power. It
was a gesture of seamlessness, trust and
continuity. The only reason highbrows
should be raised is if it was more than
a routine medical check-up as
announced. Or if, come Monday, he is
not at his desk. In order words, we need
to know if the President is facing a lifethreatening
illness or one that could
incapacitate him in any way.
The President being human, should
be expected to be sick at some point.
He also has every reason to take care
of his health. But then so do the rest of
us because our lives are as important
to us and our close families as his life
is to him and his close family.
Unfortunately, the President and
members of the political elite have
medical options that are denied the rest
of us. They can go to the best hospitals
anywhere in the world. We can’t. And
our hospitals at home are in such a state
that they are no longer consulting
clinics—because many of the good
consultants are no longer there—but
half way mortuaries. I wonder, I really
wonder, what it would take to have
seven new, or upgraded professionally
managed medical centres of excellence
in the country. Apart from what we
would save in FX, we would save lives,
generate employment and also bring
national pride to the country. I am sure
a lot of our medical professionals in the
Diaspora would gladly participate
if there was a seriousness of
purpose on the part of government.
I feel ashamed for the country and
the leaders themselves who are in
a position to make a difference when
they rush abroad for routine medical
check-up and treatment for illnesses
like ear infection, leg infection and
so on. Apart from the obvious
security implication of our President
being treated abroad, what respect
does that fact accord him or the
country? He is not alone. In fact,
almost all our political leaders and
top civil servants have personal
doctors abroad. It is therefore
routine—to our shame and
embarrassment—to hear foreign
medical treatments being used as
reasons for bail applications in our
courts. People who steal money that
could have been used to build good
hospitals don’t deserve to be
granted bail so they can go abroad
for treatment. I honestly look
forward to the day when we would
have a courageous, committed and
visionary leader who would ban
foreign treatment for certain classes
of ailments for all Nigerians,
especially government officials. Let
us all learn to treat ourselves or die
in the process. It is also a cause for
concern that our President chooses
to recuperate in the UK according
to the photographs that went viral.
Couldn’t he have found a place
anywhere in the country,
particularly in the south for political
reasons, where he could recuperate?
SATURDAY
titbits2012@yahoo.com
All lives matter
Couldn’t he have used that as a little
tourist message?
That said, I believe those who
concocted and pushed the false news
of his death belong to the lows of the
low. The publishers who helped to
disseminate this wicked news without
fact checking are reckless and
irresponsible. The urchins in the social
media who glee at the death of a
President and a father figure need help.
I mean that seriously. The amount of
venom and hatred that oozes out in the
social media under the guise of
anonymity is frightening. If it is a
barometer to gauge the thinking of our
The President
must address
firmly, the various
killings around the
country
youths then its readings are alarming
and worrisome. It is understandable
that the President would have many
enemies. After all, millions did not vote
for him. And many of those millions took
his victory personal. His actions, if not
his policies since he took over have not
exactly endeared him to them. Added
to that, is the fact that many Christians,
north or south of the country, who voted
Vanguard,FEBRUARY 4, 2017—21
for him before might not do so if
elections were to be held today. But to
wish him dead? He is someone’s
father and husband for goodness sake!
A Yoruba proverb translates roughly
‘that we quarrel should not be unto
death.’ Death is so disruptive; so final
that nobody should wish it on his worst
enemy. The only plausible reason I
can adduce for our cavalier attitude to
death is that death has become too
common in this part of the world. Just
look around you. There is death,
preventable death everywhere. While
we were contending with the carnage
of the Boko Haram adherents who
slaughter human beings like rams, the
Fulani herdsmen came on the scene
to unleash what can only be described
as mindless violence. These agents of
destruction have moved from village
to village, maiming and killing. Yet the
State seems powerless. These
criminals in the name of Fulani
herdsmen have become ghosts that
cannot be apprehended and brought
to justice. On top of this came the
eruption in Kaduna where wanton
destruction and hundreds of
preventable deaths took place. Again,
the perpetuators have become ghosts
that cannot be apprehended. These
deaths and the failure of government
to contain them, are threatening the
unity of the country and exacerbating
religious and ethnic fault lines in the
country. It is worth repeating that
poverty, religion, ethnicity and
injustice are fuels for chaos and
disorder.
The President must address firmly,
the various killings around the
country. Every death is a painful loss
to someone because everybody has a
root. The President must move the
earth if necessary to safeguard the
lives of its citizens. All lives matter.
These killings must stop.
I hope he has had a good rest
because he has a lot of work to do; not
only on the economy, but also on the
religious and social fabric of the
country. May God grant him the
health and the will to set the country
on the path of justice, equity and
religious harmony.
Political Editor
emmanuelaziken@vanguardngr.com
08052201189
What is the difference between PDP and APC?
The controversy surrounding the
Rivers State Government-owned
helicopters best exemplifies the saying
that in politics there are no permanent
positions, but permanent interests.
Politicians will switch sides whenever
their interests are best protected. In the
course of political adaptability,
politicians have been found to destroy
national institutions as the helicopter
incident is now seen to be doing to the
image of the Customs.
The story of the two armoured Bell
helicopters flows back to the beginning
of the decade when the relationship
between Governor Chibuike Amaechi of
Rivers State and President Goodluck
Jonathan was rock solid.
Apparently determined to check the
spate of criminality in Rivers State,
Governor Amaechi with the support of
the Jonathan administration ordered
the two Bell helicopters and as we now
know, with $15 million support from the
Federal Government.
The helicopters were to form
part of the security architecture
that Amaechi was building to
check crime. As part of that set
up, scores of policemen were
trained in Israel by the Amaechi
administration, while a number
of Israeli security advisers were
ferried into the state. Security
cameras and dogs were also
deployed around the state that
at that time had become a haven
for criminals and bandits. The
helicopters were to be at the
peak of the security architecture
that Governor Amaechi boasted
would leave criminals totally
exposed. From the air the armed
helicopters equipped with night
vision equipment would beam
their searchlight on the bandits.
However, at about the time,
the deal to import the helicopters
was agreed, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan and Governor
Amaechi had their famous falling out
at the Okirika Water Front when the
First Lady publicly scolded Amaechi.
That became the turning point in the
relationship between the Jonathans
and Amaechi, and led to the
politicisation of governance and the
relationship between the two men.
The specially trained policemen who
had received training in Israel to
operate in the state were not long
after reportedly transferred out of
Rivers State making a waste of the
millions of naira invested into their
training.
Even more, the Federal
Government subsequently dithered
on the earlier gentleman agreement
to support the importation of the
armoured helicopters.
That was how the helicopters were
stranded while crime made a
resurgence in the state.
However, with the switch in
administrations in Rivers and at Abuja
in 2015, the drama and intrigues it
seemed did not go away.
Months after the Nyesom Wike
administration came on board it
claimed to have discovered that the
state had helicopters wasting away at
the ports. The PDP administration
asked the APC Federal Government
for a waiver to the custom duties
including demurrage which
reportedly ran into billions of naira.
The state government buttressed the
need for the waiver on the fact that
the helicopters were not for
commercial use but for security
purposes.
The APC Federal Government
according to documents presented
by the Wike administration turned
down the application for the waiver.
In frustration, Governor Wike
wrote the National Security Adviser
to hand over the helicopters to the
Nigerian Air Force on the ground
that the state cannot afford the
money to clear the helicopter.
It was thus a shock when officials
of the Customs at a ceremony last
week handed over the two
helicopters to the Nigerian Air
Force, claiming that they were
confiscated from unknown
importers. That was despite the fact
that the state government had been
in correspondence with federal
authorities.
How Customs officials would allow
their institution to be used for such
murky political passions, show how
politicians damage national
institutions. It is a shame that the
two aircraft that would have
curtailed the reign of insecurity in
Rivers State became pawns for
political manipulation.
The shame goes to both the PDP
and APC which at several times had
control of the Federal Government
but allowed partisan politics to
becloud good judgment! It is a
shame!
C
M
Y
K