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PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 29, 2020 Senate screening of INEC chairmanship nominee For the first time in Nigeria’s recent political history, the Senate of the Federal Republic appears to have placed commensurate premium on the importance of screening nominees of the President for certain positions. The assignment is indeed crucial because it is a constitutional requirement which is designed to ensure that any such nominee is a fit and proper person to occupy the office for which he/she has been nominated. Last week, the Senate committee on INEC was busy screening the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who has been re-nominated for another term as INEC chair. From media coverage of the screening, it is observed that some of the issues bothering the general public about free and fair elections were interrogated. The benefits derivable from the screening are many. To start with, if the nominee scales through the exercise, the issues he had to explain would to a large extent serve as a veritable guide to his conduct in office. Secondly, the exercise would also sensitize all other nominees in future on the need to be conscious of the essence of accountability in office. One can therefore conclude that if Yakubu is given another term of office, one of the things he would guard jealousy would be postponement of elections. The high level of remorse he exhibited during the screening over the postponement of the 2019 general elections by one week depicted a man who learnt a major lesson. We hope he would extend that to all elections irrespective of their nature, scope or level. Bearing in mind that there were cases where election postponement was foisted on INEC, like the 2016 Edo governorship, Yakubu will have no option than to acquire greater strength and foresight to be up and against big men in the corridors of power who can use their connections with security agencies to contrive postponements. It is also hoped that INEC would no longer be pressurized into indulging in the game of plotting inconclusive elections. Against this backdrop, we commend the Senate for presenting an ending signal to its obnoxious ‘bow and go’ approach which it normally invokes when the person concerned is well known to many senators. As we have always argued here; that approach is more or less an abuse of office because a constitutional assignment is not expected to be subjected to a discretion that cannot stand the test of time. For example, to excuse a particular nominee from screening on the ground that he or she was once a legislator makes little sense because the new office necessitating a screening exercise, is different from lawmaking. An outstanding former legislator may not be a good minister or chairman of a sensitive agency. Therefore, every nominee ought to be thoroughly screened and found to be satisfactory before approval. It is only under such circumstance that the senate can acquit itself creditably as working in harmony with the executive for the public good. Whenever it acts otherwise, the senate is usually seen as a mere stooge to the executive. But, if the senate establishes empirical criteria for screening nominees, the idea of a group of lobbyists often in the form of ‘rent a crowd’ as we saw last week purporting to be canvassing the successful screening of Prof Mahmood Yakubu as INEC chair would become superfluous. There are many Nigerians who are opposed to the continuation of Prof Yakubu as INEC chair. Many of them may have strong reasons for their position. But it would be wrong to assume that the man does not have his own strong points. One of the things Yakubu did admirably in his first As events have shown, our desperate politicians can tempt angels and make them falsify election results tenure was his ability to resist pressures from the ruling party on the fake party primaries which she claimed to have held in Zamfara in preparations for the 2019 elections. Many politicians and their political parties must have realized from the tough stance of the INEC chair that election rules and guidelines are not meant to be experimented upon. Thus, this writer and other Nigerians who are neither for nor against Yakubu’s reappointment, should commend him on that and call on him to endeavour to remain so and in ALL cases. In other words, our position is to be positive at all times and expect Yakubu to surprise those against him by putting forward a superlative performance if reappointed. With a previous 5-year tenure, the learned professor would come into office for the second term with a quantum of experience to turn around our electoral fortune. What we have said so far suggests that he has to be quite innovative as he cannot afford to do the same things he did before and expect different results. For instance, it is not enough to recruit vice chancellors and university professors as returning officers and assume that all will be well. As events have shown, our desperate politicians can tempt angels and make them falsify election results. This is why all efforts must be made to fortify the system with modern methods of election management. Hence, the most enduring pledge Yakubu made during his screening was his determination to meticulously follow the incremental introduction of technology to the conduct of elections during his tenure. We have no doubt whatsoever that Nigeria is overdue for that. Already, we have seen how the introduction of the election viewing portal transformed INEC performance in the recent governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states. The numerous experts in election rigging sent packing by that piece of technology is a pointer to the fact that INEC needs to progressively discard the old analogue election monitoring system of gathering thousands of security operatives who often further complicate our election process. Accordingly, in the next set of elections well before 2023, INEC must embrace the use of Z-pad and never again allow anybody including legislators to distort her well-organized template Such a template must no doubt include a greater assertive attempt at dealing with the issue of election offences. While we recognize that INEC may not have gotten all the support, she requires from the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, we are not convinced that she has on her own evolved a uniform robust platform for the subject. This is the only way to interpret the trend whereby the only place where some work appears to be going on now is Akwa Ibom where the indefatigable Mike Igini is in charge. What about other areas where many election officials were found to have colluded with politicians to obstruct free and fair process? If the prosecution of election offenders going on now in Uyo is also happening elsewhere, it needs to be publicized for effect. If not, INEC officials in all the states must rise up and adopt a zero-tolerance approach to election offences to dissuade those who believe in winning elections through rigging. As more and more people continue to point accusing fingers at our politicians for leading those frustrating free and fair elections in Nigeria, we join Prof Mahmood Yakubu to appeal to our legislators to without further delay, give INEC a better Electoral Act to operate with. PhD,Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos 08116759758 opuruiche2000@gmail.com Futility of shaming the shameless That the creation of Nigeria by imperialist Britain is founded on a grossly flawed moral foundation and that perpetuation of the colonial amalgam entails prolongation of one of the grossest historical instances of British political gerrymandering in Africa is beyond dispute. One does not need to be an erudite historian like Kenneth Onwuka Dike, J.F.K. Ade-Ajayi or Tekena Tamuno to arrive at that conclusion after reading historical source materials containing details of how British colonial officials assisted by efulefus and ndi iberibe in the local populations treacherously brought together multiply plural ethnic nationalities to form the unwieldy amalgam initially called Niger area. On that basis, it is largely correct to claim that the intractable problem of transforming Nigeria into a united, strong and prosperous country is traceable to the faulty foundation on which she was constructed. Again, just as the rustic Islamic education introduced into what later became northern Nigeria by the arch jihadist, Usman Dan Fodio, and the one brought into the south by European missionaries were intended to keep the indigenous peoples mentally enslaved, Britain created Nigeria to serve the interests of the British Crown. The ugly situation has remained relatively unchanged after she attained what is essentially a flag independence more than sixty years ago. To bring this point into prominent relief, remember that the United States of America was a British colony until July 4, 1776 when the thirteen American colonies defeated Britain and regarded themselves as sovereign states no longer under colonial rule. Presently, Britain is behind the US in terms of power, influence and prestige at the international stage whereas Nigeria, still battling with the teething problems of nationbuilding, is tied to the exploitative neo-colonialist apron-strings of her former colonial master to the extent that the Nigerian ruling class dominated by Fulani caliphate colonialists and their lackeys from the south continuously take dictations from number 10 Downing street, London. Therefore, it is not surprising that the current federal government of the All Progressives Congress (APC), like a child with severe congenital abnormalities, relies a lot on the British establishment for protection and support, which partly explains why Nigeria has It is largely correct to claim that the intractable problem of transforming Nigeria into a united, strong and prosperous country is traceable to the faulty foundation on which she was constructed regressed considerably since 2015 when the ageing retired soldier, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, replaced Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as President. It must be mentioned in passing that under Buhari the APC has almost mutated completely into what the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) represented in the First Republic, that is, the undisputed champion of northern interests above all else. Unrelenting leadership blizzard in Nigeria was the focus of the little but forthright book, The Trouble with Nigeria, written by the late distinguished African novelist, Prof. Chinua Achebe. In that book, Achebe placed the problem of arrested development in the country squarely on the doorstep of successive incompetent political leadership whose principal actors were motivated primarily by the craving for selfaggrandisement and primitive accumulation. Prof. Achebe reiterated the same theme very briefly in There was a Country, but it appears that key players in Nigerian politics either have not read Achebe’s works or merely read through them for reading sake without seriously engaging and internalising the serious points he raised therein considering that the quality of leadership has grown progressively worse since Achebe’s books were published. I suspect that amongst those occupying top political positions at the moment President Buhari is not the only one that does not read, as the loquacious Rotimi Amaechi unwittingly revealed in a video footage that went viral last year or so. On the contrary one can safely bet that from the President through the top leadership of the three arms of government down to the local government level none of them have read from cover to cover any great book on political philosophy and leadership written by transformational leaders such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Julius Nyerere and Lee Kuan Yew. In other words, at the highest levels of governance Nigeria is ruled by men (and few women) whose minds are bereft of deep knowledge and wisdom derivable from great literature, of relevant pragmatic ideas, policies and efficient implementation strategies that can transform the country from the poverty capital of the world into Africa’s version of Japan or the United States. It is evident to any discerning mind not beclouded by the deadweight of ethnicity, religion and other intellectual toxins that members of the ruling elite at all levels of governance are shameless. Now, the word ‘shame’ describes the uncomfortable feeling one experiences when he (or she) knows that he has done something wrong or embarrassing, or when he knows that someone close to him has. When someone does not feel ashamed of a wrong or immoral act either committed by himself or someone close to him, the person is rightly described as ‘shameless’ which, in the relevant context, is the opposite of ‘shame.’ It is clear from the foregoing that the feeling of shame is connected to the capacity for self-censure derived from the innate human capacity for morality activated and given practical significance in the course of socialisation within the family, educational and religious institutions etc. This means that the feeling of shame, when genuine, is an inward acknowledgement that one has fallen short of expected standard of behaviour which is a prerequisite for sincere remorse. On the other hand, anyone that is incapable of feeling ashamed or habitually pretends to be is a moral degenerate who cannot be relied upon to act in accordance with the fundamental principles of right and wrong. This becomes a matter of great concern if the person in question occupies leadership position in any sphere of human endeavour, especially politics. Keep in mind that shameless politicians are enabled, aided and abetted by journalists who, probably because of bribes or are unduly afraid of the repercussions for reporting or publishing unpalatable truths about those in power, use their vantage positions to suppress such information. In the months and weeks to the presidential elections in 2015, there was a hurricane of allegations against the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was at the forefront of the anyone-but- Jonathan crusade or jihad (depending on whether you are a christian or muslim), which included prominent Nigerians like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Bola Tinubu, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and a motley crowd of senior academics, the clergy, top players in different professions, celebrities, self-styled activists, and a cross section of Nigerians particularly in the north and south-west. On top of all this, the American government under President Barak Obama actively supported Buhari to the extent that Obama himself publicly endorsed APC’s propaganda of change, refused to sell arms to the Nigerian army to fight Boko Haram, and David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign manager, served as a consultant to Buhari’s campaign organisation. Even, prominent members of Jonathan’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), decamped to Buhari’s APC all in a bid to return power to the north. And the shenanigans worked, although there were credible reports of massive underage voting and failure to use smart cards readers in most polling units in northern Nigeria. Let us be forthright about this: Muhammadu Buhari emerged President through an election that was marred by serious verifiable allegations of voter fraud and irregularities which became amplified in 2019 when he was re-elected for another four years in office. To be continued
C M Y SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 29, 2020, PAGE 15 Marriage is no shopping mall —Dayo Amusa Delectable filmmaker and singer, Dayo Amusa, has undoubtedly propped up her credential as one of the box office queens of Nollywood as she has wowed movie lovers with blockbusters after blockbusters but the downside to the glowing story of the Lagos-born talent and Moshood Abiola Polytechnic graduate is her inability to replicate same in matrimony. For those who may be in the dark concerning the marital status of the screen goddess, she told Potpourri all about it in a recent interview. “No, I’m not married. I believe marriage is blessed by God and should be honoured by man but then it is not something one should rush into. It is not a shopping mall where you can just go into and buy or do some window shopping and leave when you are tired. Marriage should be done right. Don’t worry, you will hear a wedding bell soon. Concerning sex, the actress expressed her opinion on one of her numerous Instagram posts and it does appear she’s rather worldly •Purfcie Conna TN Nigeria unveiled a new campaign for Mits youth proposition, MTN Pulse at an exclusive listening parley on Friday, November 27, 2020. The campaign tagged #DoYou features a television commercial and radio jingle which encourage Nigerian youths to embrace authenticity and push for their dreams. Singing sensation, Joeboy was also unveiled as a brand ambassador for MTN Pulse. The well-attended event was hosted by media personality and event host, Biodun Laaro with appearances by celebrities including popular musician JoeyBoy, BB Naija’s Ozoemena Chukwu and Nengi Hampton, YouTube personality, Fisayo Fosudo, personal finance expert, Tosin Olaseinde among others. •Dayo Amusa about it. “I just wrote all I understand about sex in that Instagram post. I wrote that sex is good and unique. If you are lucky to have very good sex you will come alive. It boosts confidence of a woman because she will be happy and smile from inside,” she said When asked how often she gets laid, “I wouldn’t talk about that, lips sealed” she jokingly replied. Ghanaian actress, Purfcie Conna’s booty pictures that shook internet G hanaian actress who also doubles as marketing and business executive, sent the Internet into a meltdown when she released a series of raunchy booty-flaunting pictures to mark her birthday a week ago. The pictures set adrift a wave of comments that were as wild as they were untoward. But interestingly, Purfcie is still a virgin, if a statement she made to Potpourri a couple of years back is anything to go by. “Yes, I’m a virgin. I know people don’t believe it but it’s true. I have never had sex before. I just don’t do it,” she stated emphatically. You can say I attached religion to it because Bible wise ,God said we shouldn’t have sex before marriage. And that’s my policy till I marry,” she had said and she is still very single. MTN revamps “Pulse” Proposition, unveils Joeboy as brand ambassador Leveraging the diversity of the Nigerian youth, their varying interests and strong desire for significance, the revamped Pulse proposition empowers young people with lower call and data rates with social media bundles starting from N200. While unveiling the revamped Pulse plan, Oluwole Rawa, General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to provide Nigerian youths with the required support to showcase their creativity. He added that, “At MTN Nigeria, we fully comprehend the need for youths to express their creativity and use their voices.” MTN Pulse is a prepaid tariff plan that allows customers to enjoy a flat rate of 11.26k/sec for calls across all local networks in Nigeria and nightlife bundles of up to 2GB for N200. •Joeboy Many think actresses prostitute —Joke Lawal n-the-rise actress, Joke Lawal, is Oliving up to the title bestowed on her in 2016 as Nollywood New Bride by White Cowry Awards, as the one-time City People Awards nominee is rapidly becoming a force to reckon with in the makebelieve world. The Moshood Abiola Polytechnic graduate who dumped her degree in Business Administration in pursuit of her passion for acting in a chat with Potpourri has revealed what she hates about being an actress and what she would love to see change in the movie making landscape. “I would like to c h a n g e people’s perception of actresses. A lot of people think of actresses as prostitutes, they see us as people who are not worthy of marriage and having a family. If I •Joke Lawal •Julie Akpan have the power, this is something I will like to change. I will also like to see a change in the way our stories are written and interpreted, and in the quality of our film productions. Another thing I would like to change too is, how poorly actors are paid. As a producer I will like a situation where I can pay every actor that works on my project even if the person acts in just one scene. As an upcoming actress I acted in movies and didn’t get paid but because I was still new in the industry I didn’t have a choice. God help me, these are things I will like to change in the movie industry,” she said. The actress also explained why actors in the English-speaking sector appear to be more affluent and comfortable than their Yorubaspeaking counterparts “In the Yoruba part of the industry, some people have the idea of doing what I call padi padi, where, for example, I work on your production for free and you will do the same for me. I don’t really like that idea but then I have some people that I work for without collecting money because it is my way of appreciating them for giving me opportunities in the past. Meanwhile, I have acted in some English series like Hustle, Battleground and others and I got paid for my work. Joke Lawal began acting in 2009 and has featured in films like ‘Alayaki , Aye La Bowo and many others, but, it was the movie ‘Campus Life’ that shot her into the limelight. Beauty has nothing to do with being sexy —Julie Akpan J ulie Akpan has a lot of reasons to cheer and be happy about as a Nollywood actress. In spite of having been just five years on the scene Miss Akpan has entrenched her footprints on the landscape in pomp and pride. In a matter of days, two films produced by her, titled Sister’s Plot and Intimacy, will go live on YouTube. Recently she spoke with Potpourri on some topical issues. On beauty and being sexy, she opines, “I don’t think being sexy has much to do with appearance alone or beauty because while beauty attracts, beauty in itself is not sexy. Many women tried to be sexy but failed because this isn’t something that can be practiced or faked. In my opinion, being sexy is more than just the appearance or the body of a person. Being sexy means being genuinely confident and positive, intelligent and proud of being who you are, and being able to take control of your life.” On her opinion on sex, marriage and relationships, she said, “ For me, sex is an exercise one gets to enjoy with your partner, someone you have feelings for, basically for adult, that is when it’s enjoyable. Marriage, on the other hand is a good thing but I must say is not meant for everyone because marriage is a necessity but not compulsory. On the other hand, a relationship is a normal thing,but it also depends on the kind of relationship we are talking about here, but whichever, it’s good for one to get involved.” Julie Akpan was born Juliet Akpan Daniel and has featured in films like Princess River, Against the Odds, Spiritual Wife, Material Wife, Impotent Alhaji, Sensation and many more.
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Page 11 and 12: Fellow Nigerians, jawjaw is better
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Page 23 and 24: Maradona’s “Hand Of God” shir

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