Tinubu, MURIC and 2023 presidency

By Casmir Igbokwe

Professor Ishaq Akintola, the director of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), is fond of making spurious and controversial statements. Recently, he used MURIC’s name to reiterate his support for the former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential ambition. According to him, Tinubu’s candidature is a fulfillment of the long-term aspiration to have a Yoruba Muslim as president of Nigeria. He also warned that Muslims wouldn’t vote for any party that presented a Yoruba Christian presidential candidate.

Akintola premised his stand on the alleged “prolonged religious persecution being faced by Muslims in the South-West.” According to him, past and present occupants of Aso Rock from the South-West were Christians. He cited Chiefs Olusegun Obasanjo and Ernest Shonekan (the late interim Head of State from August 1993 to November 1993) as well as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as examples. He urged Muslims all over the country to support their Yoruba brethren to ensure that Tinubu emerges the candidate of his party at the primaries and, ultimately, the president of Nigeria in 2023. Akintola, a professor of Islamic eschatology, is convinced that a Christian president from the South-West will “turn the headache of Yoruba Muslims into migraine.”

How ridiculous can one be! Our dear professor is invariably saying that if he has a choice between a corrupt Muslim and a transparent Christian, he will choose the former so far Islam is concerned. If he has a choice between competence and incompetence, he will not mind choosing incompetence as long as a person from his preferred religion is at the helm.

To him, the allegations against Tinubu are immaterial. Today, the former Lagos governor is seen as a bullion-van politician. In the run-up to the 2019 presidential election, two bullion vans were sighted in his compound in Ikoyi, Lagos. This was apparently to aid in distributing cash for votes for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Besides, as has been noted by many commentators, Tinubu has a lot of personal baggage to contend with. There are question marks hanging over his age, sources of wealth, health, name, parents, schools attended and certificates obtained.

In any case, Akintola’s current endorsement of Tinubu is typical of his numerous infantile gibberish which belittle him as a professor. In April 2020, he reportedly asked the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) if there was an agenda to reduce the population of Muslims in Kano State. Then, Kano had recorded many deaths resulting from COVID-19. But our professor thought it was a deliberate attempt to reduce the Muslim population in that North-West state. He was also reported to have said in January 2020 that the name of the South-West regional security outfit, Amotekun, was anti-Islam and should be changed. Amotekun is a Yoruba word for Leopard. But as far as Akintola was concerned, the outfit was more of a Christian initiative because the name was chosen from a Bible verse (Jeremiah 5:6) which says, “A leopard shall guard over their city.”

Among many others, Akintola had reportedly asserted that Muslims were in bondage in Nigeria because Christians enjoyed more holidays than Muslims; that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) was being used by certain forces to retard the educational progress of Muslims and that Nigerians attacked Fulani herdsmen because they were Muslims.

Akintola’s views on religion are completely at variance with the disposition of the majority of the Yoruba who are mostly tolerant of other people’s religion. In some typical Yoruba families, you can find Christians cohabiting with Muslims. The father may be a Muslim while the mother is a Christian. Their children go to either mosque or church for their worship.

This is the tradition the likes of Akintola are striving hard to destroy.  Like MURIC, the Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWICAN), sometime last year, sinned when it said it was the turn of Christians to produce Nigeria’s next president in 2023. According to the group, the emergence of a Christian as president in 2023 would be a true expression of equity and justice for Nigeria. This same Akintola replied YOWICAN then saying it was the turn of a Muslim to occupy the seat of power in Abuja going by what he called mathematical exactitude from the time Nigeria began civil rule in 1999. If adherents of other religions begin their own agitation, I wonder where that will lead us as a nation.

This is why Nigeria has failed to solve the leadership problem that has bedevilled it since independence. The qualities we consider for leadership are queer, mundane, and out of tune with modern realities. Those who eventually emerge as our leaders are not prepared in any way for the job entrusted in their hands. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was brought out of prison by some powers that be and made to rule us for eight years. It was to compensate the South-West which was restless over the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election presumably won by Chief Moshood Abiola. Obasanjo handed over to his ailing close ally, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who eventually died in office. Goodluck Jonathan was Yar’Adua’s deputy. He too was not prepared. He took over at the demise of his boss, messed up like others and handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari who has shown clearly that he was not prepared like others before him.

Nigerians must be vigilant this time. We are in a critical period and must vote for a president who has certain qualities to lead us in 2023 and beyond. Such a president must possess clear and unambiguous qualifications. University degree is not a must but it will be preferable. The person must show evidence that he has the capacity to manage human and material resources.

Our next president must be healthy and alive to his responsibilities. We can’t afford to continue wasting our scarce resources on medical tourism for a sick president. In fact, those who are from 70 years and above should not aspire to lead this country in 2023. President Buhari, early this year, lamented that old age was telling on him. We don’t need such lamentations again.

Our next president must have unblemished records. If he is associated with corruption of any type, we must reject him. A corrupt person will not only milk us dry, he will also cause serious insurrection which a mismanaged economy will induce.

Whoever is nepotistic and narrow-minded needs not aspire to lead the 21^st century Nigeria. Our next president, therefore, must ensure that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. He should be the president of Nigeria and not the president of the Fulani or Igbo or Yoruba. Religion should also be out of it.

Above all, the next Nigerian president must be knowledgeable, visionary and pragmatic. He must galvanize all sections of Nigeria into achieving a common goal – an egalitarian society where peace, unity, prosperity and security of life and property are guaranteed.

Re: Buhari’s prayers over Nigeria’s security challenges

Faith without good works is dead. Buhari’s talks are at variance with the wishes of the people. True federalism tolerates public opinions but the President shows utter disregard to the views of the people. He rejected state police and refused to sign the electoral bill, etc. So, the country is running a one-man show which is not solving but exacerbating the problems in the land.

-Dr. Oyibo Eze, +234 805 201 3811

Dear Casy, you can tell a blind man about the absence of oil in the soup but you can’t tell him about the absence of salt in the same soup. The success or otherwise of FG’s battle against insecurity can be seen, even, by a blind man. FG’s claim of success is more of propaganda which aims at self aggrandizement, image laundering and deceit of the gullible public. This is so because everyday people are mowed down or kidnapped in droves especially in the North West flank of the country. Suggestion: War is not won on television, radio or on the pages of newspapers. FG should re-strategise, do less of talking and more of action for optimal results.

-Steve Okoye, Awka, 08036630731.        

Casmir, prayers to God are good because one recognizes the miraculous power of the supremacy of the Almighty God in every situation. However, the person who offers the prayers must have faith in the supremacy of the Supreme Being. And to have faith means that the person must observe all the commandments of the Supreme Being. Unfortunately, a leader who decides to offer 95% of what belongs to a nation to his own people, allows his people to terrorize other people and yet not punished by the law can’t be expecting a positive response from such prayers. Buhari should expect God to answer his prayers when he creates functional jobs, restructures Nigeria, builds industries, allows State Police, eschews religious and ethnic bias.

-Pharm. Okwuchukwu Njike, +234 803 885 4922

Dear Casmir, the war against insecurity should not be channelled only against the shooting and bombing experienced. Social insecurity should also be fought through financial economy. We also address social protection for the girl child and woman by ending rape, wife beating, persuaded and ‘arrangee’ marriage and grant free education to all women from cradle to first degree.

– Cletus Frenchman, Enugu. +2349095385215

Casmir, on the 27th of Oct. 1999, Zamfara and 11 other states in the north pressed the self-destruct button when they introduced Sharia due to their intolerant attitude to a newly elected Christian-led government in the person of Obasanjo. I told a friend back then that by this act the north had murdered sleep of which later events have vindicated me. This University of Sharia now has faculty of Boko Haram with strong departments of bandits and herdsmen. PMB’s manifest righteousness is questionable. Until they recognise the secularity of the Nigerian nation, state police will not solve their challenges.

-Mike, Mushin Lagos, +2348161114572

Dear Casy, Buhari’s prayers over Nigeria’s security challenges is akin to a man who set his father’s house on fire to hurt his brothers and sisters and rushed to fire fighters to help him put off the inferno. Buhari assumed office and handed the country over to his Fulani kinsmen both here and other parts of Africa to take over our ancestral lands that resulted in the present security quagmire. Almighty doesn’t answer Buhari type of prayers. He has to repent before his prayer request. He is the architect of our current misfortune.

-Eze Chima C. Lagos, +2347036225495

It’s biblical that faith without one’s belief and work is dead. The solution to Nigeria’s recurring security challenges must not be left to the vagaries of fate. On state police, there may be some salient points against it, namely its possible misapplication or use by state governors against their political opponents and pursuit of other personal agenda. But the merits of a state police that is founded on a solid legislation that prevents its abuse far outweigh its demerits. State police remains an integral aspect of a true federal setting, and indeed a veritable tool that can be used to stem the tide of insecurity at the state and grassroots levels.

-Edet Essien Esq. Cal South, 08037952470

Prayer without hard work is waste of time because God answers prayers if there is something on the table.

– Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, +2348062887535

• Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, January 24, 2022.

Buhari’s prayers over Nigeria’s security challenges

By Casmir Igbokwe

It is said that faith without good works is dead. President Muhammadu Buhari has been praying and expressing optimism that Nigeria will overcome its myriads of security challenges. “We have done our best and we will continue to do more by pursuing coherent and consistent policies to deal with terrorism. I hope God will listen to our prayers,” Buhari said in his recent meeting with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and a delegation of Tijjaniyya Movement (worldwide) led by Khalifah, Tidjani Ali Bin Arabi.  Ganduje, who is the leader of the Tijjaniyya Islamic Movement in Nigeria, had invited the Tijjaniyya world leader to Nigeria to lead in prayer particularly against insecurity.

No doubt, our President is a man of faith. He has been praying against terrorism and banditry in Nigeria. Last October, he went beyond prayers by promising to review our strategies to continuously degrade the capabilities of all criminal elements in the country. He reassured then that his administration would not rest until the country’s security challenges were addressed. According to him, the government was creating strategic cooperation between the military and paramilitary formations to work together towards combating crimes in Nigeria.

The President’s faith, promises and vows to crush bandits anywhere they are in Nigeria serve as a morale booster to some Nigerians. It restores hope and gives the impression that our leader is doing something to tackle the menace of insecurity in the country. But, does Buhari’s faith have good works? Does God hear his prayers?

It depends. In recent times, it appears God listens to his prayers. The exploits of our security men against bandits and terrorists appear to indicate so. On New Year day, Nigerian armed forces conducted an air raid in the bandits’ hideout in a forest in Zamfara State. More than 100 of those bandits including two of their leaders, Alhaji Auta and Kachalla Ruga, were said to have been killed. Since May last year, the military claimed it killed 537 bandits and other criminal elements in the North-West and arrested 374 others. Security agents deserve commendation for taking the war to the criminals in the forests and dealing with them decisively. Many Nigerians have been advocating for this type of action.

Besides, Buhari said his government would not relent in its military operations to upstage the bandits. The current administration procured some Tucano jets from the United States recently. Perhaps, that is what has changed the narrative a bit in the war against banditry and insurgency. The Nigerian Air Force has done well to dislodge the bandits from their stronghold in Zamfara. This is a typical example of having faith with good works.

But we need to do more because the victory of our security men over criminals pales to insignificance when compared with the havoc the bandits have wreaked on our people. In Zamfara State, over 300 motorcycle-riding gunmen invaded some villages this January and killed over 200 people. Some 10,000 others were reportedly displaced as their homes were razed. Many others are still missing. It is in this same Zamfara that bandits shot down a Nigerian Air Force jet in July 2021.

In Kaduna and Borno States, bandits and insurgents reportedly killed over 58 persons last December. They destroyed houses, trucks and cars in the Kaduna attack. As usual, Buhari condemned the killings while Governor Nasir el-Rufai prayed for the repose of the souls of the victims. In Katsina, Sokoto, Taraba and many other northern states, the story is the same. Innocent schoolchildren and travellers are kidnapped at will and sometimes brutally killed.

It is pertinent to note that every crime is local. Hence, state police would have been effective in tackling the spate of banditry in the country. But the other day, Buhari was reported to have rejected state police. According to him, state police is not an option because governors could abuse it. He alluded to the poor relationship between the local governments and the governors and noted that the third tier of government was not getting what it was supposed to get constitutionally. Buhari had said in 2019 that states might not be able to pay the police.

But the Nigerian Governors Forum through its Chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, allayed the President’s fears saying it was a fallacy to say that state governors wouldn’t be able to fund state police. He said there must be multi-level policing. If not for anything, the existence of regional security outfits such as Amotekun and Ebubeagu as well as the Hisbah in Kano is an indication that having other layers of policing in the country is essential now more than ever before.

State governors cannot just be chief security officers of their states in name. As the Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), put it recently, “An arrangement which compels the governor to seek clarifications on security issues in his jurisdiction from totally extraneous bodies or persons is a sure recipe for anarchy.”

The President should have a rethink about this state police issue. Global best practices encourage decentralization of policing. The United States of America, for instance, does not just have state police, it also has council police. If we have state police, a frustrated Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State would not have asked Nigerians to arm and defend themselves against bandits.

All the eminent Nigerians and groups who have called for state police cannot all be wrong. Some of the groups include the Yoruba Socio-cultural group, Afenifere; Igbo socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo; the Pan-Niger Delta Forum and the Middle Belt Forum.

In addition to prayers and faith, the President should direct security agencies to mop up over six million illegal arms in the hands of non-state actors in Nigeria. Recently, an audit report of the Auditor-General of the Federation noted that about 178,459 different types of firearms and ammunition got missing from the Nigerian police armoury in 2019. The items, the audit report indicated, could not be accounted for as at January 2020. Among many other anomalies, the police high command, according to the audit report, failed to keep record of unserviceable and expired firearms and ammunition. The report attributed some of the anomalies to weaknesses in the internal control system at the Nigeria Police Force Armament. It is possible that some of the sophisticated weapons bandits use today such as grenade launchers, machine guns and anti-aircraft guns were part of the missing arms from the police armoury.

The President has tried. But he needs to do much more if we must win the war against terrorism and banditry. Rather than lament and urge Nigerians to show more understanding regarding our problems, Buhari should back up his prayers with concrete actions that will achieve better result security wise. We need to replicate the action taken against bandits in Zamfara in other parts of the country.

Re: In the name of Holy Spirit

Hello Comrade Casmir, l don’t miss reading your column at the least chance in my fairly crowded schedule. Among your recent best is the January 10, 2022 edition titled, “In The Name of Holy Spirit”. The piece is not only true and revealing, but it is also anti-Satanic, capable of redeeming thousands of fake-minded persons, particularly the female folk, who claim to know God but lack faith in Him. Hopefully, false-pretenders, their followership and victims would read the article under reference for their immediate resurrection and salvation from those Babylonian Pastors. I suggest you repeat the same piece, for public interest, should you not have time to script another one for next edition of the paper. Bon annee.

-Comrade Alloy Khenom (lronlee), Bodo City, Rivers State, +2348033139597

Bible made us to understand that judgement will start from so called men and women of God because of their evil acts. God knows His people. How can so called man of God bathe married women in church and telling his members he got the message from God. Security agents should arrest the pastor. Those kinds of pastors are full in Nigeria deceiving people with fake miracles.

-Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, +2348062887535

Casmir, is it not written for reasons as highlighted by the vices of supposedly M.O.G (Men of God) that the judgement of God shall start from the ‘house of God’? We are in the end times where the strangest of things abound. Although, the scriptures admonish us to be like the ‘Berian Christian of faith’ who were investigative in their followership of Christ, most still behave like the ‘dogmas of faith’ who don’t apply wisdom which is profitable to direct. Most don’t study scriptures relying dogmatically on MOG to do it for them. These MOG take advantage of their complacency/laxity to bad effect. The scriptures say that we should study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman that needs not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. We are not approved (commended) when we don’t study the word and the resultant effects are the shameful acts they (the ignoramus and ‘mumusious’ followers) indulge in criminally ‘roping’ the ‘innocent holy spirit’ — because of his invisibility/intangibility — as they carry out their satanic and stupid acts.

-Mike, Mushin Lagos, +2348161114572

Dear Casy, Igbo adage has it that  thread strands knew the content of what was wrapped while the content of what was wrapped knew the person who tied it up (elili m’alu ngwugwu, ngwugwu m’alu onye kelu ya). When juxtaposed with the activities of today’s men of God, most activities very bizarre, the Holy Spirit differentiates those who, actually, are acting under His influence from the voodoo ones and has adequate pay-back packages for them accordingly. I only pity the gullible ones who fall prey.

-Steve Okoye, Awka, 08036630731. 

Casmir, the ugly economic realities in the world have brought depression to many people. To fight it most people find solace in God, as the Alpha and Omega. These groups of people want a suitable environment where they can commune with God, the author and finisher of every problem. Most of such people in their desperate need for solution end up in the hand of dubious men of God who go by names such as Priests, Prophets, Evangelists, Reverends, etc. A woman who seeks medical solution and finds out that the medical personnel is playing with her private parts should know that the personnel is dubious. In the same vein, a lady who seeks spiritual solution in the supposed Holy Sanctuary of God, should know that the man of God is no longer on the right track when her privacy is abused.

Government has a very great role to play in this issue. It has the duty to strengthen the economy and make life more meaningful in order to reduce depression.

-Pharm. Okwuchukwu Njike, +234 803 885 4922

Dear Casmir, religious worship is the latest MUGU movement. The worst is that the followers have remained sheepish rather than shinning their eyes. It’s the reign of extortion, sexual molestation and promotion of valueless success. I had called for National Agency on Fake Ministration (NAFAM) but nothing has been done. Enough is enough.

– Cletus Frenchman, Enugu, +234 909 538 5215

• Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, January 17, 2022

In the name of Holy Spirit

By Casmir Igbokwe

In Ghana, a certain man of God was recently reported to have bathed female members of his church naked inside his church auditorium. It was at the 2021/2022 crossover service. The viral video of the incident shows each of the women coming before the pastor to undress. Then, they will enter a big bowl in front of the pastor for the ‘holy bath’. When the pastor is done, he covers each of the women up with a towel. They will then move to another man who will rub anointing oil on them while another person gives them back their underwear to wear. The congregation punctuates every action of the pastor with chants of joy. You don’t blame them because the pastor claimed that Holy Spirit directed him to do what he did. And that the ‘holy bath’ was to cleanse the members so they could be ‘holy and pure’.

In this same Ghana in 2019, a pastor took his bath in his church called Endtime Church of Nation and asked his members to drink the bath water. The pastor reportedly told his congregants that it was an instruction from God and that anyone who drank it would get more blessings. His followers lined up to drink the bath water.

These bizarre acts of pastors appear to be worse in South Africa. In that country, a pastor reportedly farted on the faces of his congregants in Limpopo saying his farts possessed healing powers and that they were a demonstration of God’s power. In 2014, a pastor at Garankuwa which is north of Pretoria, instructed his members to feed on grass. According to him, it is a way of bringing them closer to God. Some church members are known to have eaten snakes, swallowed petrol, bleach and Dettol all in the name of God. Funnily, a South African self-styled prophet called Paseka Motsoeneng had claimed taking a tour of heaven where he took pictures with his smart phone. To see the pictures, his church members were required to pay some huge sums of money. There are many other bizarre acts, including vomiting money and using church members as foot mat, which some self-styled pastors perform to win converts and make money for themselves.

Here in Nigeria, many ‘men of God’ do many strange things and attribute them to the Holy Spirit. They normally start with a statement like, “the Holy Spirit said I should tell you bla bla bla!” You are expected to believe because the Bible tells us that blessed are those who do not see but believe.

In March 2020, operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team in Lagos arrested a 44-year old woman used by fraudulent pastors to perform fake miracles in different churches in Nigeria. The woman, Mrs Bose Olasukanmi, used to receive some monetary reward for every successful performance. She had reportedly performed in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abakaliki before the police closed in on her.

No doubt, times are hard. COVID-19 has dealt with people. Some individuals have lost their jobs. They will look for miracles to survive. And evil pastors and false prophets are ever ready to exploit the situation.

In the name of this same Holy Spirit, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka, the Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria (AMEN), was quoted to have made some statements I find distasteful and disrespectful to his bishop and to the Catholic Church. At his crossover night message for the year 2022, Mbaka reportedly claimed there was an assassination plot against him after his row with his diocese last May. He was said to have subtly accused his bishop, Callistus Onaga, of having a hand in the plot. He warned against pushing him (Mbaka) to the level of rebellion and noted that he had thousands of followers ready to defend him.

Recall that Mbaka had exchange of words with the Presidency last May. He had attacked President Muhammadu Buhari, asking him to resign or be impeached over bad governance. His bishop, who had repeatedly cautioned him against meddling in politics, frowned upon this turn of events and sanctioned him. He directed him to move to any place outside his house or ministry. Even if the bishop was wrong in his decision, Mbaka was bound to obey him. Most of us thought he did. But he reportedly informed his followers in his crossover message that the Holy Spirit told him not to do what he was asked to do.

In the Catholic Church, there is hierarchy and order. It is the bishop who ordains a priest. And during that ordination, a priest vows to obey the constituted authorities of the Church as well as the commandments of God. I wouldn’t know why Mbaka talked to his superiors in the manner he reportedly did. It is left for his bishop to take appropriate actions.

Nevertheless, men of God have their peculiar ways. Some of them who are prophets have given us a potpourri of their annual prophesies for this year. Every New Year, they reel out what God reveals to them concerning some individuals, Nigeria and the rest of the world. This year is no exception.

My only worry is that some of them have ended up sowing seeds of discord in many families. They enter a family in the name of family liberation and begin to conjure imaginary enemies for the family. They order cutting down of some economic trees claiming that witches are harboured there. They pit brothers against one another. Some gullible people believe them because Holy Spirit purportedly said so.

A relative of mine went into an emergency marriage recently because a pastor told him Holy Spirit directed that he should marry a particular woman. Despite protests from his parents and siblings, he still went ahead with the wedding at a secret location without any support from any member of his family. His family members strongly believe he was bewitched by the pastor.

I do not begrudge these self-styled pastors. Man must survive. We all have our different callings. It’s all geared towards making ends meet and putting food on our table. If these ‘pastors’ did not do certain things like performing some miracles or making predictions, they might not attract many members to their church. And the church will not grow.

Once the church gathers enough population, the next most important thing to preach about is paying of tithe or sowing of seed. It is the most important thing that will liberate you and open the doors of heaven for you. Salvation is relegated to the background.

As the Bible put it, my people perish for lack of knowledge. We must emancipate ourselves from mental slavery. As the legendary Bob Marley sang, none but ourselves can free our minds. No doubt, there are genuine pastors and men of God. You know them when you see them. They radiate humility, honesty, contentment, genuine love for mankind, and lack of interest in personal material acquisition. All they are after is how to make heaven. After all, the holy books tell us that this world is not our home; that we must store our wealth in heaven where mites and rodents will not eat it and where thieves will not steal it.

I pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit that this year will be a year of liberation for all gullible minds in Nigeria. Amen!

Re: Igbo annual ritual amid Asaba traffic jam

Casmir, the progress associated with Ndigbo globally is rooted in their communal life. It’s in their nature and cannot be extinguished by any means. Every community has realized the effectiveness of communal life. The development that is witnessed today in Igboland to the amazement of strangers has its secret in it. Each community uses this period to examine the progress of their members and their community in relation to other neighborhood. It affords them the opportunity to address the issues in their community through donations, levies etc to ensure that the community moves in line with other communities in their neighborhood. It’s also this period that the ‘igba boi’ phenomenon is promoted as some masters settle their boys and new ones are taken. The ‘aku luo uno’ phenomenon is also made real this period as it affords each community the opportunity to assess individual and community development. The survival of Ndi Igbo after the civil war destruction of their wealth, 20 pounds and abandoned property saga is from this communal life. To every real Igbo, the benefits of the communal life outweigh any artificial frustration militating against this annual ritual.

-Pharm Okwuchukwu Njike, +234 803 885 4922

Dear Casmir, urban rural drift during festive period is an economic opportunity to encourage rural development. So, state and local government should emphasize on the construction of amusement parks, zoological gardens and other tourist attractions in rural areas. With this, there’ll be less congestion in our cities.

– Cletus Frenchman, Enugu. +234 909 538 5215

Casmir, of the lot that you wrote on, I find the aspect where the people in your communities embark on various projects fascinating. This calls for emulation by different communities in Nigeria. Government cannot do it alone. Kudos to the different age grades that you mentioned and more power to their elbows. The traffic jam is understandable since more motorists hit the road during this period. Government should speed up the completion of the 2nd Niger Bridge to ameliorate this challenge. Casy, this is only for your ears, is PMB trying to get a ‘huge severance package’ from the masses via oil subsidy removal? Is APC broke? Do they need money to finance the electioneering of its presidential candidate since ‘Tinubu funds’ won’t be available this time round? Wonder why PMB wants to add more headaches to the ‘serious migraine of problems’ that he has now. Welcome back to your desk.

-Mike, Mushin Lagos, +2348161114572

• Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, January 10, 2022

Igbo annual ritual amid Asaba traffic jam

By Casmir Igbokwe

Every New Year presents us with new opportunities. Some make new resolutions. Some self-styled prophets make new predictions. You start smelling the New Year as from late December when people, especially Ndigbo, migrate in droves to the East from different parts of the globe. It has become an annual ritual. At this period, there is no demarcation between day and night. As early as 2am or even 1am, many of them have hit the road to the East.

When I left my house at 3am on December 28, 2021, I thought that was too early and risky considering that I was travelling with my entire family. But I was mistaken. Too many vehicles were already on the road as at that time. Even the police were not left out. They were at every pole on the expressway to give protection and ask for Christmas kola. They also helped to build traffic along the road.

Apart from the delays from the police, ours was a smooth journey. Or so we thought. We got to Asaba, the capital of Delta State about 11am. That was when our trouble started. The traffic we encountered, as some Nigerians would say, has no part two. Sometimes, tired motorists engaged in a road rage over minor issues. One man, who noticed a little hit on his back bumper, came down from his car and started raining blows on the culprit. Serious fighting ensued. It took the intervention of other motorists to stop the fighting.

Suddenly, I noticed a vehicle breakdown in front of me. I tried to switch to the left lane. But the man coming behind me from that side tried to block me. I had almost entered fully when I heard ‘gboa!’ A ‘tokunbo’ Mercedes Benz 4Matic had hit my back bumper. There were little scratches on the front bumper of the Mercedes jeep. The driver came down and fumed: “I was on my lane. You left yours to scratch my car. You must repair this car. Else, I will smash your car.” Both of us tried to claim right. But somehow, we resolved the issue and moved on.

By the time I looked at my time, it was 5.45pm. And we were still at Asaba. At this point, the car AC was no longer cooling well. About 6pm, we entered the Head Bridge at Onitsha. I looked for what caused the traffic, I couldn’t see. I was even lucky. I learnt that some travellers who left Lagos about 6am only got to Onitsha at 3am the following day. I suspect that it is the high number of vehicles passing through the narrow end of the Niger Bridge at Asaba that causes the gridlock. But why this perennial traffic situation has defied solution is what I cannot fathom. Perhaps, when the second Niger Bridge is completed this year, it will go a long way in restoring some sanity on that road.

Nevertheless, this is what many Igbo suffer every year just to go home and intermingle with their people at home. The only cooling effects are the masquerade displays, the traditional cum white wedding ceremonies, medical outreaches, house warming, outing of age grades, chieftaincy title taking, and so on.

In my home town, Isuofia, in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, many activities make the season worthwhile. As I stated on this page in December 2019, “if people are not watching one entertaining event or the other, they are on social visits to friends and relatives. Yes, everybody has food in his house, but it is that one that is eaten communally that nourishes both body and soul. Even bachelors find this season a veritable time to hook up with some spinsters. This could lead to consummation of marriages.”

Besides, there are serious developmental projects that different villages and groups undertake within this period. For instance, Chidozie Age Grade of Umueze-Isuofia built a multi-million naira sports complex which it has since handed over to the town. Chidera Age Grade of Ozalla-Isuofia built a standard one-storey hall which was inaugurated on January 1, 2020. On its part, Chidera age grade of Umueze-Isuofia installed solar energy streetlights in Umueze. Oganiru age grade also of Umueze built a two-storey health centre which was unveiled and handed over to the town on January 2, 2020. This age grade also offered free medical treatment/eye glasses that same day.

Rehabilitation of roads is also given priority attention. The major road linking Akulu Isuofia to Nanka which the member representing Orumba-North/South in the House of Representatives, Hon. Okwudili Ezenwankwo, promised to rehabilitate last year with great fanfare had become worse and a total mess. Ezenwankwo’s contractor came and destroyed the drainage system already built on the road. He started a new one, but midway into the work, he abandoned the road and disappeared. Many people were cut off from entering their compounds.

Citizens of Akulu-Isuofia mobilized their illustrious sons through the social media and raised some money with which they made some palliative repairs on the road to make it a bit passable again.

In the same Akulu, a family called Umuezeogu gathered to share a cow one of their illustrious sons donated to them. There and then, four people pledged to bring four cows that will be shared at the same time next year. This is outside the monetary contributions of some other individuals towards the next annual ritual. Some family kindred have scholarship schemes through which they sponsor indigent family members to the university. Some are able to start a business venture because of some help from family and friends. Indigent members of the society receive Christmas gifts from both individuals and the community.

Within this period, meetings are held at family, village and town levels. Women groups like ‘Umuada’ (daughters of the soil) and ‘ndi inyom’ (women married to sons of the soil) hold their own meetings. In these meetings, ways to engender individual and community successes top the agenda. Errant members of the community are also punished.

This is the beauty of Igbo communal life. Whoever says that Igbo don’t love one another may not be totally correct. They have this concept of ‘onye aghala nwanne ya’ which literally means no one should abandon his brother. Or put in another way, be your brother’s keeper. It is when it comes to the pursuit of wealth and power that they appear to be selfish and individualistic. This is because everybody struggles to make it and no one wants to bow to his fellow man. We may see snippets of this character as 2023 elections approach. Call it pride if you like. To me, it is having a sense of self-worth. I am already looking forward to this year’s end-of-year festivities, Asaba gridlock or no gridlock. What about you?

Re: Shambolic Nigerian health care system

Dear Casmir, the health sector has over the years bred capital flight against Nigerian economy through the patronage of hospitals in the advanced world. We should improve on high technology and high touch – that’s training of high quality personnel. So I suggest the construction of University of Health and Emergency Fund for Health (EFH) from which citizens can get loan for treatment without interest.

– Cletus Frenchman, Enugu, +234 909 538 5215

Casmir, compliments of the season. The Shambolic Nigerian health care system just like any other sector is due to several factors which include Government policy formulation, implementation which are often truncated by corrupt officials, appointment of incompetent officials due to quota system or Federal character instead of merit, inter and intra personality feuds among the healthcare team, over-politicization of the supremacy of medical doctors over the rest of other members of the team such as Pharmacists, Nurses, Medical Laboratory Scientists, Radiologists etc. A good government policy on health care system is highly required for an effective health care system in any society. In Nigeria, government pays a lot of attention to medical doctors at the detriment of other healthcare team. It’s very clear that a medical doctor cannot function well without a medical laboratory scientist who furnishes him the causes the infections he is about to treat.

In this same vein without the provision of the right drugs to take care of the infections from the Pharmacist, he will be powerless. It’s very important that the government policies must accord each team the desired support including remuneration to ensure smooth operation. Another example of poor government policy is on sale of drugs. Government policy has made it difficult for Pharmacists to do their work as drugs experts. How can drugs be sold in the open market and buses by people who have not studied different intricacies about drugs and government will protect them in the name of interlocutory injunctions in the law court. Shambolic health care system will vanish in Nigeria when we entrust the leadership of this country to officials with truly zero tolerance for corruption. A country where their leaders always go on medical tourism for stress orchestrated headache can never be out of Shambolic health care system.

-Pharm. Okwuchukwu Njike, +234 803 885 4922

Casmir, it is the  ‘wickedness of the wicked’ past and present leaders in Nigeria that makes them see the excellency of the state of health (quality and affordable medicare) roads, power etc abroad, shamelessly lap it up in a way of enjoyment and not want to import same into Nigeria. They would rather embark on medical tourism and vacation, maltreat/illtreat our health care providers and academicians, underfund the institutions at the detriment of the teeming population. They waste scarce forex on senseless ventures going to Sokoto state to look for what ideally should be in Sokoto (Yoruba word for trouser). Recently, a member of this clique who is aiming to SWAGA his way into Aso Rock (despite the fact that conventional principles are against his selfish ambition) returned after enjoying medical expertise/facilities abroad. He is very rich and rich enough to establish here what he went abroad for. Oh son of man why art thou like this? Like Oliver Twist, we demand for more government private sector partnership to up our standards. Happy New Year!

-Mike, Mushin Lagos, +2348161114572

Dear Casy, when Idris dished out the music titled; ‘Nigeria jagajaga, everything scatter, scatter’, do you think Nigeria’s sickly health care system was spared? If not for the ordeal you had in the effort to save your son, one would have asked why you wasted your pen, paper and time writing on  warped health care in Nigeria? To me, you have just jolted the consciousness of the Powers-that-be to increase the budget for health care which lion share would mysteriously detour into the mouths of ‘snakes’ while the remnant would be ‘religiously’ utilised. Why compare our healthcare system with a sane health care system in a sane clime blessed with sane leadership? It just doesn’t jelly! Such comparison can only stand when the acquisitive tendencies of our leaders are amputated and the hypocritical anti-corruption fight suffers obituaries.  Have a prosperous new year.

-Steve Okoye, Awka, 08036630731.

• Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, January 3, 2022