Black Christmas in Chibok, IBB and Jonathan… and other highlights from last week

Last week was bitter-sweet, one when good and bad were served on the same table of circumstance. It was a week when black and white mixed in a beautiful array of grey – a week to remember, to forget. It was one to celebrate the birth of Christ and mourn the realities of the outgoing year, one to bask in the euphoria of another gone year while preparing for the tension and uncertainties of a politically action-packed 2015. Here are 10 things that painted that grey portrait:

BAD CHRISTMAS IN CHIBOK

It was 255 days on December 25, Christmas Day, that more than 200 girls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state. As many persons from numerous continents celebrate the birth of Christ, and count blessings, many families in Chibok, Nigeria, had just losses to count as they faced the first Christmas without their dear daughters. A particular parent shared their lamentations, declaring December 25, 2014 a bad Christmas, due to the absence of their brilliant child. Though Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has promised a better Christmas come 2015 (if elected), these parents are likely to run into the new year without their girls. Spare a thought.

OSINBAJO’S BRT RIDE

Just when we thought politics in Nigeria was stereotyped, a certain professor of Law seemed to be adding spice to the political competition. Yemi Osinbajo, the presidential running mate of the APC, took political campaign to another terrain when he boarded a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) to Barracks, in Lagos. In the course of this ride, Osinbajo, who was standing, interacted with commuters on what the APC could do better for the people. He also visited few neighbouring markets in Obalende to interact with peasants.

This action taken by the professor has been seen as commendable in some quarters, while some others consider it to be after the order of the governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose’s cheap publicity stunts. What’s your take?

‘FATHER’ IBB MEETS ‘SON’ JONATHAN

Ibrahim Babangida, a former head of state, called for support for President Goodluck Jonathan after a “father-and-son” meeting at the retired general’s house in Minna, Niger state.

Speaking after the meeting, Babandida said Nigerians who mean well for the country would support Jonathan.

“What I will say is simple: the president means well for this country and he is working well for this country. Anybody who means well for this country should support the president to make sure that Nigeria survives as a united country,” he said.

What kind of support was Banagida requesting? Support to tackle Boko Haram? Support for the president’s re-election ambition? Next time, ex-general, please spell it out!

ISIS GHOST LOOMING OVER NIGERIA

Terrorist group Islamic state of Syria and the Levant (ISIS/IS/ISIL), were reportedly in Nigeria during the week to recruit estranged minds to foster terrorism around the world. It tells a lot about what is happening to the conscience of a nation called Nigeria. Many years ago, this kind of revelation would have made endless ripples in the peaceful waters of the Nigerian spirit, but sadly it was taken with a wave of hand.

We see ISIS as a distant problem that the United States, United Kingdom and perhaps France have to battle. But think of a future where Boko Haram enjoys ISIS funding, when they could access even more sophisticated weapons than the military’s. What would that future be like? We need to act!

FOUR JOIN 54 TO DIE FOR MUTINY

Just two weeks ago, 54 soldiers were sentenced to death by firing squad. Last week, another four joined the team of 54 to make 58 Nigerian soldiers who would die by firing squad. Though Nigerians all over social media are crying for an easier way out for the mutineers, the military sees this as the best way to curb the emergence of more mutineers.

Earlier in September, 12 soldiers were sentenced to death for mutiny after they were found guilty of shooting at Ahmed Mohammed, their commanding officer. Appeals for leniency are growing but it does seem the military will not renege. Case closed?

APC’s 12 MILLION JOBS

It was Mario Cuomo, the 52nd governor of New York, who said: “You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.”

In a “brilliant” wave of campaign showdown by the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party has promised Nigerians 3 million jobs every year in its first term in office (If elected). This promise has raised eyebrows, but the party says it will keep its promise. Is this just another bout of poetry that their prose land reality in governance won’t live up to?

But first, would APC even get the chance to fulfill its promise? No opposition party candidate has won the presidential election since PDP got grip of it in 1999. WOuld the jonx be broken in 2015? The answer is so close now.

AMAECHI AND HIS MUTINEER-FRIENDS

Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state and director-general of Buhari campaign organisation, showed support for the soldiers who sentenced to death for mutiny

“The soldiers have the right to protest for the federal government’s failure to fully equip them. You want to kill 50 military officers who are saying, ‘please equip us properly, I can’t go to the battlefront without the right weapon,” Amaechi said at his maiden press conference as DG of APC presidential campaign organisation.

“Now you are sending him to fight a man with RPG and you gave him an old AK47. He says you are risking his life. They have a right to protest that. You don’t kill them for that.”

Unfortunately, Amaechi has no power over the fate of the soldiers. Too bad for him.

OBASANJO, SOYINKA: THE GRAND FEUD

Reacting to disparaging comments about him in Olusegun Obasanjo’s memoir, My Watch, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka lampooned the former head of state calling him a liar and an overgrown child of circumstance.

“Unfortunately, not all acts of defamation or willful misrepresentation are actionable, otherwise, my personal list against this newly revealed fellow-sufferer would have counted for an independent volume of the Nigerian Law Report since our paths first crossed during the Civil War,” Soyinka said.

“My commitment to the belief in the fundamental right of all human beings NOT TO BE LIED AGAINST remains a life obsession, and thus demands, at the very least, an obligation of non-commission among fellow victims.

“Since we are both acquainted with the Yoruba proverb that goes: ‘the child that swears his mother will not sleep must also prepare for a prolonged, sleepless infancy’. So let it be with Okikiola, the overgrown child of circumstance.”

Eagerly anticipating Obasanjo’s response; and if it comes, we have a grand feud in our hands.

$1bn, $27bn, $30bn AND OTHER VERSIONS FROM ECA

Adams Oshiomole, the governor of Edo state, queried the federal government’s savings into the Excess Crude Account (ECA), Nigeria’s most coveted account, in a manner that suggested that $27bn was unaccounted for.

“What we have in our excess crude oil account should be over $30 billion but as we speak, we have barely $3 billion in our excess crude account,” he had said.

However, Okonjo Iweala, the coordinating minister for the economy, debunked the governor’s comments.

“The widely published comment of Adams Oshiomhole alleging that $30 billion is missing from the excess crude account is shocking and totally untrue,” she said.

“The comments reflect, once again, the unfortunate tendency of some political players to politicize the management of the economy on the basis of half-truths and sundry distortions. This is not good for the country. There should be a limit to negative politics even during an election season such as this.”

Earlier in December, $1bn was reported to have been missing, which Okonjo Iweala said was used to settle debt. That was $1b from the expected $4.1bn in the account.

This latest ECA controversy, we are waiting to see where it would end up.