Braithwaite says there will be no elections in 2011

Dr. Tunji Braithwaite was the national chairman and presidential candidate of National Advanced Party, NAP, in 1983. He retired from active politics in May , 2009 and has since taken the back seat as the patron of the party.


This lawyer of international repute who represented the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti during his trial over Kalakuta Republic opens up to Saturday Vanguard and speculates there will be no election in 2011 as PDP is planning a three- year term elongation for President Yar’ Adua and the Governors which he insists is the essence of the much hyped Constitution review. He also speaks about Nigeria being over-ripe for a revolution even as he talks about his relationship with the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti .
Excerpts.

It’s been 49 years of our independence. Why are we not where we ought to be?




I do not belong to Mega Party. Mega Party does not have the calling. Everybody knows I belong to the school of thought that says that only a revolution in action can save the people of this country.








Part of Nigeria’s problems has to do with the nature of neo-colonialist tendencies. Let me explain that. The people in this country especially the elites see themselves as lords and superiors to the masses. They see themselves as masters or colonialists and I’m afraid that kind of mentality is being passed down to many generations.

That is why you see people wanting to be Senior Advocates, Otunbas, even in the professions. People carve out something that will make them dominate the others. At least, in my own profession, they call themselves SANs.

All these, believe it or not, affect the psyche of the average Nigerian. Indirectly or directly, these are the things that drive the young ones and the ones who are not able to achieve it want to get it at all costs. That is what make people to cheat in the universities and even in the secondary schools.

So, you find that it has permeated every level of the society and I blame the unimaginative elites for this sort of thing and it is still this sort of thing that spreads to the larger society and that is why today, Nigeria has become a country that is not respected abroad.

And yet, Nigerians are resourceful and aggressive but unfortunately, some of that aggressiveness are used for negative things. There are so many things about this country and that is why for sometime now, I have come to the conclusion that a revolution is what we need if we want to do away with all these issues weighing down our country and if we want to put things aright in this country.

I don’t think Nigerians are ready for a revolution. They have so much bothering them and I feel they would prefer a peaceful approach to resolving issues .






Dr.Tunji Braithwaite, national chairman and Presidential candidate of National Advanced Party, NAP, in 1983










You are talking nonsense by saying Nigerians are not ready to free themselves from slavery. No nation has made it without some sort of revolution. Last week, that was the same week that Nigeria was celebrating 49th anniversary, China was also celebrating 50th anniversary but China was not only 50 years. What China celebrated the same week with us was the 50th anniversary of their revolution.

So, to say that Nigerians are peaceful and would not want a revolution is nonsense. No nation has made it without some form of revolution. You could call it political, social or industrial or whatever. Or haven’t you heard of American war of independence.? Haven’t you heard of Boston Tea Party which was a rebellion of the colonised enslaved people of the US against imperialism across the Atlantic Ocean. So, if you are saying that Nigerians are not ready for a revolution, then, you got it wrong.

Most revolutions are bloody and in Nigeria, you can’t have that kind of political revolution without shedding blood and I’m saying Nigerians aren’t ready for that?

It is not for me to say what form the revolution will take. It is the circumstances on ground that would determine the tools and the outcome of such revolution.

You as a media person represent the defeated average Nigerian man who would not want a revolution but I hope that we can change your mind because what you expressed is sentiment and that shows that this sort of backwardness, this sort of oppression of the elites is taking its toll on Nigerians. The people are terribly oppressed.

They are entitled to have electricity, they are entitled to have water and better roads but they do not have them because they have allowed themselves to be exploited. It is their right to have electricity, good roads and water but they do not have them because they have allowed themselves to be enslaved by nonentities who did not even win elections.

These nonentities steal elections and then, they steal all your money and they lord it over you and then you say God will help you. No, God will not help you for a thousand years until you are ready to break the yoke.

That is why I don’t talk anymore. When you called me to book for this interview, I was skeptical because I don’t like to talk for the sake of talking. I am a man of action. I am working assiduously towards a revolution in this country because I know that is the only way out.

You said earlier that there is no opposition in Nigeria and you are right. There is no official opposition in Nigeria’s so-called democracy and the truth is that democracy does not function unless there is a vibrant opposition.

People criticise Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe but Mugabee’s opposition has been able to gain up to 25 % – 30% of seats in the Zimbabwean legislature. You find them agitating to win 100%, you find a genuine agitation in the face of hindrance and of course, you know that people like that have never been afraid of death.

Zimbabwe’s opposition is one opposition that is not afraid to break the yoke of the people but unfortunately you cannot say so of Nigeria. The Nigerian masses have been fooled.

As I say, even the so-called union leaders that are supposed to champion your cause don’t do so. They compromise the cause of the follower ship for their selfish ends because of their mind set on gathering titles, positions, acquisitions of wealth and that is why you find non-entities, the moment they enter government, they become billionaires.

They steal money. People without any useful means of livelihood become billionaires when they enter government and the oppressed Nigerians bow before them because you believe in your mind set that they have made ‘it. No, they haven’t made anything. They are rogues and they continue to oppress and exploit you.

I told my own children, the members of my own party that ‘look, you can’t go on tolerating this thing. So, get it into your mind that only a revolution can put this country on proper footing and I don’t talk for the sake of talking.

I want action and God willing, there will be a revolution in this country sooner than we think.

But who will bell the cat?

People are already doing something. Or is this the first time you hear people talk about a revolution?
People like Wole Soyinka talk about Nigeria becoming a failed state…

But I am not talking about a failed state. I am talking about a revolution. There is an organisation, Nigeria’s United For Democracy which is tested. We are not talking about belling the cats. A long time ago, I did say that we are going to sweep out the rats and the cockroaches and mosquitoes in our political system. We will do that and it takes a revolution to do so.

That was in 1983 when you contested presidential election but nothing has happened since then.
You say nothing has happened but a lot has been happening since then. This latest bank tsunami did not just happen. We have been working and this is one of the results.

I want to tell you something. I want you to know that this government which was validated by the Supreme Court by 3–4 votes was a disgrace. The judgement that validated this government was a disgrace. This government said it is going to conduct election in this country in 2011.

Elections in this country never have legitimacy, never have integrity, they are always being stolen. Those who are responsible for this know what they are doing. They reckon on your first remark in this interview that Nigerians are so docile, so they continue riding them rough-shod. But are Nigerians docile? Maybe. But there are some of us who cannot be ridden rough-shod and we are the ones that say no. You don’t expect me to take their nonsense.

But the best way to fight a system is to be in that system…

Thank you very much but that is not true. It is another nonsense for you to think that if you join a system, you can change it from within. We have been hearing this and that is what the educated elites are using to deceive people.

How do you expect me to join them so that I may have the opportunity to change them from within. We will continue to resist them as we have been doing and nobody can take that away from us. We are working.We have been growing converts to our way of thinking. All these people we have in leadership are just opportunists and I will like to see how these opportunists are going to conduct elections in this country.

There is so much looting going on in thishould not keep saying that God will help. God doesn’t help cowards.

Can revolution come about without a formidable political opposition?

I do not belong to Mega Party. Mega Party does not have the calling. Everybody knows I belong to the school of thought that says that only a revolution in action can save the people of this country. I have been consistent on this.

I don’t see any future for Nigerians until we put a stop to all these over-exploitation. Corruption has virtually destroyed this nation. It is on record that combating corruption has been our mantra. We are not human rights activists.

We are political revolutionaries. From day one, we said all we need to do in this country is to sweep away the rats, the cockroaches and the mosquitoes in government so that the elites will begin to understand what we were saying. But is country and the people should brace up to them. The people t is on record that up till today, we never joined them.

We will not join them. We have follower ship. Revolution is not planned on the pages of newspapers, we understand that. And that is why I keep telling you that lets see, how they are gong to conduct the next elections.

The military pride itself for having intervened in the affairs of this country. I won’t score Nigeria’s military as all that patriotic in their intervention. Most of the mess which we have now was committed by the military.

How many of their retired generals are not millionaires?

At what time in our political history did things go wrong? You were around in 1960 when we got our independence. I believe your Chambers should have documents to this effect?

I trained abroad as a lawyer because in my time, there was no university that taught Law. Now, when I came back to Nigeria, I was disappointed. My chambers was existing at the time Nigeria got her independence but what we got was a dashed hope.

The imperialists departing government was partly to blame for Nigeria’s woes. Let us put that aside and talk about us. I have spoken about our mentality as copy-cats, the mentality of Nigerian elites wanting to feel superior to Nigerians.

That should not be. People should have concern for their countrymen if they are in privileged positions.

They should begin to help Nigerians and create a level-playing field so that more Nigerians would be uplifted to the overall benefit of the people of this country. I don’t like speaking about myself but since you raised that question I will answer it.

From day one in 1960, I started championing the cause of the oppressed and those who suffer injustice. When Chief Awolowo was being persecuted, I was one of the youngest lawyers who stepped out to defend that man, not for politics but for injustice.

If I shared Chief Awolowo’s political view at that time, I would not form the National Advanced Party. I told Chief Awolowo at that time that from the things we were seeing in this country as far back as 1978, that we could not do politics the way they were doing it before then.

There has to be a drastic departure from the Nigeria mind set. I told him that ethnic rivalry, religious jingoism and all kinds of primordial thinking could be exploited by foreigners and that it would bring chaos among our people and so, we needed to depart to that path even at that stage. Chief Awolowo was very close to me.

He was closer to me than most of his so-called followers. Awolowo once said that if I was interested in politics, I could become a Governor but the point is that I was not interested in politics for politics sake. I wanted to jettison the backward mind set of Nigerians, their attachment to titles, their attachment to all manner of worthlessness.

The present constitution is not a constitution that would make this country progress.


Now, why should anybody be granted immunity for crime? Yesterday, that was 6th of October 2009, in Italy, they were saying that they must remove immunity from Balusconi so as to prosecute the man for the crimes he committed.

But here, I cannot understand how anybody can grant immunity to a thief but that’s what we do . We grant immunity to robbers who take your money to build sky scrappers, even though these edifices are all dangerous .

There is no water. The place is full of bore-holes. There’s no transportation. No light. No good roads. They steal your money and build personal things and you bow down to them. Then, you are now afraid to confront them.

Okay, it is understandable. You are afraid to confront them because the law enforcement agencies have become their personal support and protectors. It should not be. The law enforcement agencies should be concerned about honesty, about protecting the rights of the average Nigerians so that we will have blanket development, blanket infrastructure.

Everybody has to make arrangement for his drinking water. We should have light but we don’t. The 6,000 Mega Watts of electicity is one big lie and then, you go and call them Mr. Governor, Mr. President, Mr. Senator and so on, even local government chairmen want to lord it over you.

It is wrong. That’s why even children want to get away from this country. I don’t want revolution just for the sake of shedding blood. You talked about peace. I’m basically a peaceful person but very angry at injustice and oppression.

When you contested presidential election under your National Advanced Party, Nigerians didn’t vote for you. Gani Fawehinmi also tried and failed…

Let me stop you there. If we were contesting election in another country other than Nigeria, we would win seats but in Nigeria, they don’t understand. It’s politics of exclusion here. Thieves grab levers of government and they keep every other person out.

This is the situation and this goes on and on and then, they attempt to legitimize themselves. We see through this by virtue of our enlightenment. We see this and we speak out and we are not going to be guilty of conspiracy of silence.

We will continue to talk, to organize and to enlighten people to see what is good not only for them but for the generation next. Those who have been occupying government knows what is good and what we are doing. They know.

But the point is this: we have an objective and we will fulfil that objective because what we live for will even survive us. We live for an idealism that will survive us.

One would think you are tired and retired!

Retire ke! Me, retire. We are in a state of war for the soul of Nigeria. I cannot retire. What I did recently was to hand over to somebody else to take care of the day-to-day running of the party so that I can see to other things.

But what I told you without any fear of contradiction is that what we are doing is yielding results.
So, are the people you handed over to as capable as to drive this revolution because like you said, Nigerians want to see action. I remember Gani Fawehinmi, he had the fire inside him.

Gani has done his part. We thank God for his life. But let me tell you, there are a lot of people in this country who would carry the fire. You asked whether the people I handed over to has the same fire. You will be surprised. They have been brought up by us and to think they will not be able to carry on is a great miscalculation.

You remember a story in the Bible where one of the big prophets who had done exploits told God, ‘ah, I’m the only one remaining and I’m tired, take me home’. You know what God told him? There are 7,000 others.

So, there are so many Nigerians that have the fire and we don’t even hear about them. The need for a revolution in this country is so strong and there are people available to see it through.

What Major Nzeogwu and his colleagues tried to do in 1966 was a revolution but it didn’t work.

It was like that because they allowed the reactionaries to intervene. The reactionaries in the military intervened with active help and support from abroad. But the situation of the world is changing now that oppression and injustice in different parts of the world is no longer the business of that country. So, don’t worry about that.

Nzeogwu and his colleagues failed because there were reactionaries in the military as well as corrupt elements. And these hijacked their revolution. But like I said, the consideration of world politics has changed.

There is an international court of justice for trying injustice committed against humanity. People who appeared to have gotten away with the injustice they committed have not really gotten away. They would be brought to justice.

If you can’t see the handwriting on the wall yet, I will not blame you. In Nigeria, the best is a tool in the hands of the corrupt elements. Sooner than you can imagine, the best will be in the vanguard of a revolution. There is no alternative.

In the past ten years, we have had uninterrupted democracy…

I don’t accept that. It is because we have contrived some bogus election. That does not necessarily mean we have had democracy. I don’t accept that. It has not been a successful transition. The truth is that Nigerians have been sleeping on their rights.

But they are going to wake up. This is not a democracy. Didn’t you hear what Hilary Clinton said? This is not democracy. This is the Nigerian brand when you have 100% landslide victory by people who are not even popular.

President Yar’Adua is working on our electoral reforms and constitution amendment.

There will be no general elections in 2011. The purported constitution amendment being planned is term elongation for the President and the Governors.

There is plan to give the President and Governors three more years and the only way they plan to do it is to entrench it in the Constitution so that elected office holders will have a single term of seven years.

It is what former President Obasanjo tried to do and didn’t succeed that they want to modify. Already, gubernatorial elections would not hold in some states and they are going to use that as a basis to negotiate for uniformity

You know, the tenure of some of the governors didn’t start counting from May 29 2007. That is where they planned to start. There will be no elections in 2011.

I want to ask some questions outside politics.

Yes. If I can, I will answer them.

You used to be Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s lawyer.

Yes.

Why do you dress like Fela?

Me, dress like Fela ? You have gotten the whole thing lopsided. My designs were chosen in 1978 during Fela’s trial for Kalakuta Republic and I was his lawyer. The Kalakuta trial was one of my biggest cases. NAP conceived this design for that trial and it has stuck. No, I don’t dress like Fela. It should be the other way round.

But you are the run-away lawyer in Fela’s song?

It’s not me.

Maybe it was the lawyer before the destruction of Kalakuta Republic. He wasn’t seriously mentioned in the song but it was just a one-line yabis but it was not me. I represented him during his Kalakuta Republic trial. That trial was one of my biggest cases.

But you quarreled with him?

We didn’t quarrel. Fela was amenable to my guidance up to a point and we parted ways over his marrying 27 wives and I advised him against that. Outside that ,he was an authentic revolutionary and we have similarity of ideology.

Did you advise against his marrying 27 wives on grounds of morality?

Partially.

Africa is a polygamous society.

Really. So, how many wives has your husband?

This interview is about you.

Answer that first.

My grandfather had wives.

I didn’t ask about your grandfather. I said your husband. You see, 27 wives is hazardous to a man’s health and Fela married them in one day!

I advised him not to but he did. It was because of his health. Its a health hazard to sleep with so many women. How would you satisfy them?It is not easy to satisfy one wife not to talk of 27 ! Well, in the final analysis, I was proven right .

Are you close to his children?

They are like my own children and I love them. I was equally close to Professor Olikoye.

Outside Fela, would you say the amnesty granted militants will be the panacea for peace in the Delta region?

I don’t have panacea for peace in the midst of oppression. How can you expect to have peace when there is injustice ? If you want peace, you do justice.

But when there is no justice, all you can attempt is some kind of hodgepodge, a kind of temporal lull in a turbulence. That will not last. Let there be justice first.

Reported By Chioma Gabriel

The story behind Kaduna SSG kidnap and release

For about four hours last Wednesday reporters and workers waited at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, seat of the Kaduna state government as the news filtered in that the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Waje Yayok, who was abducted over a week earlier had been released.

At exactly 12.58 pm, an ash coloured Peugeot 406 saloon car, accompanied by another vehicle dropped the SSG at the Government House. Thus ended 10 days of apprehension and tension for the embattled man whose kidnappers had initially demanded N40 million for his release. Just as the abduction of the SSG was controversial due to the apparent mysterious circumstances under which he disappeared, his release can best be described as even more scandalous.

When the family announced that it had sufficient evidence to show that its breadwinner had been kidnapped, the Kaduna state Government had refuted the claim arguing that the SSG was indeed on a special assignment to the southern part of the state where he hails from. Although government did not state the nature of the assignment, competent Government House sources indicated that Yayok was given N10 million cash to deliver to some prominent traditional rulers and leaders of thought in that area, for the Sallah celebration marking the end of the Muslim Ramadan fast.

According to the Special Adviser (Media and Public Affairs) to the Governor, Alhaji Umar Sani, “we have been inundated with inquiries as to the whereabouts of the Secretary to the state government, Mr. Woje Yayok over a case of abduction.

These inquiries necessitated that we respond appropriately to these rumours in order to set the record straight. While it is true that the SSG was on official assignment to the Southern part of Kaduna State, we are yet to get in contact with him over his supposed location. We believe he will get in contact with us.

However, the gravity and the intensity of the rumour require us to take steps to ensure that everything is in order.

The security agencies have been given the details of the place, the nature of the assignment and all other contacts to enable them trace his whereabouts and douse the tension created by such rumour. Members of the press, in line with the international accepted standards that a person cannot be declared missing until after 48 hours and because this rumour started this morning, we shall address you properly very soon on the matter.”

Answering questions from newsmen later, Sani had explained further that, “we are aware that he is supposed to go on an official assignment this morning to the southern part of Kaduna state and we believe that there was no cause for alarm for us to be searching for him because he had already been excused and we are sure that he’s on his official assignment.

No contact has been made by any person or any group of persons to tell us that that person is missing or that he has been declared missing by any other group and no request has been made and no declaration has been issued by any group saying that so person is missing or that he’s in their custody.

As far as we are concerned, these are rumours which are subsisting and because they are intense and they are spreading, we have to take appropriate step that these rumours are doused. And that’s why we have informed the security agencies to ensure that these rumours do not further worsen the already bad situation.

So we now asked them to facilitate his immediate contact so that the issue will be permanently laid to rest.We have made efforts to contact him on the telephone. However, we believe that he’s in a no-service area and that if he gets to a service area, we shall soon get him. In the first instance we do not even believe that such rumours have any ground.

That is why we are going about with our normal activities. If the man is missing and we are sure that he is missing, and it has been confirmed to us that he is missing, then we would have suspended all programmes. However, because we know he has already taken permission to go on that assignment and there is nothing to the contrary to justify that the man is missing, we cannot suspend anything that we are doing.”

However, addressing newsmen after about two and a half hours meeting with the freed SSG, Sani said that, “gentlemen of the press, you will recall that sometimes ago to be precise on Tuesday 22nd September 2009, after much inquiries about the whereabouts of the SSG , we issued a statement stating that the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) was on official assignment to the southern part of the State.

Subsequently, the next day after fruitless effort to locate his whereabouts, he was declared missing by the Kaduna State Police Command. Thereafter, the security agencies intensified efforts to locate him and his whereabouts.

Their efforts paid off after frustrating the assailants who were later to be identified as abductors of the SSG for ransom. The fact that no ransom was paid and the toll was telling on them frustrated their efforts and led them to the release of the SSG.

The SSG was taken to Warri in Delta State where he was held hostage. The combined efforts of the SSS and the Police gave the abductors sleepless nights and they felt that the security agencies were closing in on them and that soon the noose will be tightened around their necks. The only option left was for the immediate release of the SSG who is currently in our warm embrace.

“At this juncture, it is pertinent for us to dispel the rumours making the rounds that the SSG was abducted in open places and to state that the incidence took place at the junction of Studio 40-40 along Barnawa-Narayi junction very close to the residence of the SSG.

He was to proceed on official assignment the next morning to the southern part of the State when some uniformed men fully clad in Army camouflage numbering about 10 abducted himself and four other vehicles including a Toyota Camry, a Jeep, the vehicle of the SSG an End-of- Discussion and a Mercedez Benz that were forced on a convoy to drive and proceed straight to Delta State that night. It should also be noted that the SSG was a victim of circumstance and that the operation was not targeted at him or any agent of the State Government.

He was only discovered to be an SSG along the way courtesy of his identification card. He was abducted and was headed straight to Delta State where he was until his release. He was received in Benin and returned to Kaduna by our security operatives notably members of the SSS hale and hearty.”Government’s statement on the matter raises more questions than answers.

The government did not allow the SSG to answer questions from reporters after he had been tutored on what to say.

“I thank the Almighty God, the government and the good people of Kaduna sate more especially the press who put pressure on my kidnappers,” Yayok said and refused to answer questions although the Deputy Governor, Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, had assured earlier that Yayok would make clarifications where necessary.

While negotiations were on-going for the release of the SSG, reports said that the abductors had lowered the ransom to N20 million, an amount which sources hinted that government gave the family to deliver to the kidnappers which led to his release.

The Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Tambari Yabo Mohammed, had promised to rescue Yayok within 24 hours after government officially declared him missing but he avoided the press when Yayok arrived the
Government House. The Kaduna state government has a security outfit tagged Operation Yaki designed to check security in the area, in collaboration with the police and other agencies.

Equipped with various modern gadgets including two helicopters, reports say government expends huge resources to maintain the outfit. This is apart from an additional N14 million which the state government says it gives the Kaduna state Police Command monthly as incentive and logistics.

In spite of this elaborate security measures from the government, Kaduna appears to have become a den for kidnappers to operate. Barely six months ago, was a Canadian woman, Mrs. Julie Mulligan, who was in Kaduna on a Rotary International exchange programme kidnapped.

Due to the sensitive and diplomatic nature of the abduction, it took the intervention of the Presidency for the State Security Service (SSS) to rescue her after several days in captivity. And, three days after the abduction of Yayok, another kidnap incident took place in Zaria where some gunmen pounced on a businessman, Alhaji Bello and demanded N20 million ransom. The man was said to have negotiated his way to freedom.

The SSG kidnap saga may have apparently come to an end but while the the number four citizen of the state was held in captivity, neither the Governor, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, nor the official spokesman of government, the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Saidu Adamu, made any pronouncements on the matter even as Sambo left the country unannounced, hours after the SSG was kidnapped.

50% Nigerians are muslims? PFN disagrees

NATIONAL President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor yesterday faulted figures published by an American research forum which claimed that about 50 per cent of Nigerians are Muslims, challenging the group to tell the world the source of such statistics.

Pastor Oritsejafor also commended the House of Representatives for summoning the Borno State governor, Alhaji Modu Sheriff and the Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier-Gen. Yusuf Bomoi to explain their efforts at investigating the murder of a female youth corps member in the Borno State capital, Maiduguri by persons yet to be identified.

Reacting to the October 2009 report by Pew Forum which gave the number of Muslims living in Nigeria as over 78 million, representing five per cent of Islamic adherents in the world, Pastor Oritsejafor said the figures are not acceptable because they do not represent the reality on ground in the country. The report says there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world.

According to him, the 2006 census exercise which put the population of Nigeria at 140 million deliberately avoided statistics on religion because then President Olusegun Obasanjo prevailed on the Christian community to hearken to the pleas of their Muslim counterparts to exclude the religious clause from the census data.

“So, if the Nigerian government cannot say specifically the number of Christians and Muslims in the country, how then did an American forum come up with such unsubstantiated figures of a particular religious group in the country?” he asked, stressing that despite “the nation’s imperfections, there are certain things we should not accept hook line and sinker.

“I can contest the figures because I am aware of what happened just before the last census when the Christians initially insisted that the religious clause should be included in the census data, so that leaders on both sides can plan well for their adherents,” he added “but the president bowed to pressure from Islamic leaders who insisted that the clause was not necessary.”

Oritsejafor therefore argued that if the recent census figures could not ascertain the number of Christians and Muslims in the country, “what then is the source of the figures Pew Forum is currently parading in its report titled ‘Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A report on the size and distribution of the world’s Muslim population?’”

Not wanting to say that the published figures could have been sponsored for reasons know only to the people behind it, Pastor Oritsejafor also queried some part of the report which says that one in every three Muslims in Sub_Sahara Africa live in Nigeria, saying that there is no basis for the conclusions because the recent Nigerian census had not said.

Also reacting to the recent murder of a member of the National Youth Service Corps, Miss Grace Ushang in Maiduguri, Borno State by persons yet to be identified, the cleric expressed gratitude that the House of Representatives has summoned the state governor over the matter.

According to him, oftentimes when these things happen in the North there is always a conspiracy of silence which has not helped the leadership of the two dominant religions who had been seeking ways of arresting religious uprising in that region.

“It is gratifying that politicians have now seen the need to intervene in incessant crisis in the North,” the PFN helmsman said, adding “hitherto, people have seen such crises as purely religious matters that should be addressed by religious leaders, but now one can heave a sigh of relief that politicians are appreciating the need to consider the political implications of such crises.”

He urged members of the House of Representatives to get to the very bottom of this particular incident because the NYSC is one of the few institutions that has held this nation as one indivisible country.

“Not too long ago a number of them were killed in a religious crisis in Jos and now this. We must bring to book the culprits before parents will begin withdraw their children from the scheme for security reasons,” Oritsejafor cautioned.

Miss Grace Ushang, a member of the Catholic Church was allegedly raped and murdered by yet unknown persons in Maiduguri on September 26, 2009.

Reported By Sam EYOBOKA

Dokpesi: I don't believe in censorship

It took an involvement in the presidential campaign of Alhaji Buba Tukuru in 1990/91 for him to realise the extent of information lapse in the country.

In the course of going round the country to solicit support for his candidate, this engineer-turned media mogul identified the vaccum and immediately swung into action, the result which was birth in 1993 as Ray Power FM. With time Daar Communications became the pioneer of private television and radio broadcasting in Nigeria. Today Daar Comms is a satellite phenomenum.

The Nigerian Music Industry in the last fifteen years

When we started private radio broadcasting in Nigeria with Ray Power on the1st of Dec 1993. The music industry was in comatose with no recording companies, the transition from the big record playing was just transiting to CD production at that time, we had no place to record our Nigerian Artistes.

Those that needed to record had to go to South Africa or other countries abroad to record. At that time most Nigerians appreciated foreign music without giving our talents- our ghetto music later called the Ajegunle music, the stars that were up coming didn’t have an opportunity of expression.

But the arrival of private radio on the scene, the determination and support of National Broadcasting Commission and its leadership that insisted that we must increase local content, got our Nigerian artistes back on board. This gave an avalanche of opportunities to young stars although there is still the need to improve all sectors.

By and large, one can definitely say that the Nigerian music industry has grown very very rapidly in the last fifteen years and that, one is quite proud of. Now, our quality of production is comparable to anyone’s in the world.

There is no way you’ll look at a Nigerian produced video now and you won’t want to conclude that it was produced in America, South Africa or Europe. The truth of the matter is that it is not only the artistes themselves that have developed, it is the entire industry. All the supporting groups have given tremendous support to the music industry and I believe that is good for Nigeria .

National Broadcasting Commission has also gone further to say that on TV, certain time belts especially between 7 and 10pm should be reserved exclusively for Nigerian contents including Nigerian music. And I think that as time goes on, it will be possible to have close to 24hrs of the Nigerian content and Nigerian music will be the best for it because that is the readily available content.

The benefit of indigenous satellite television to the music industry

On the terrestrial TV, what we have is music forming a part of other packages or as a programme on its own. With the arrival of satellite TV, we can have a dedicated musical channel and Nigerian artistes or Africans all over can now have 24hrs dedicated music channels. DAAR SAT has 128 channels.

32 of them are in high definition (HD) and 96 standard definition (SD). I think at present, we are running about 55 channels. It is only the satellite space capacity that is a limiting factor. By and large, if things go well we should soon be talking about how Nigerians will be able to enjoy full exposure, so that Nigerian artistes and musicians will be able to have dedicated channels and indigenous music for that matter.

Quality control measures for reckless lyrical contents aired on Tv and radio

Let me start up by saying the issue you are raising is something that is generational. The time we were growing up, there was a lot of inspirational songs from Sunny Ade, Obey, Victor Uwaifor.

You could aspire to achieve just going by what they were saying which is quite different from what this generation is singing. I have asked myself many times: Is it my age that is affecting my perception of their music?

But I also remember that my parents did not so much appreciate the type of music that we enjoyed at that time too. I was a very strong Don Williams man and very strong King Sunny Ade’s man. It is in my older age now, that on listening more to Obey that I begin to understand and even interpret some of the things he said in proverbs.

I don’t believe in censorship. This thing they call talent, you see, is something you can’t regulate or legislate. You should allow the evolution of content and talent. People should continue to record themselves but not everything that are recorded should go on air immediately other wise, it (the songs) will meet immediate failure.

But most of these younger artistes are in so much haste, that they want to have their songs on air immediately.

Before a Sunny Ade will record in the studio he must have rehearsed over and over and over again, cross-checked the lyrics very carefully and the message whether it is properly carried but today… One more thing. As at the time King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey where playing music actively, Nigerian population was about 35 to 50 million.

Today the population is said to be 140million so there are more people that are struggling to be heard. Although the probability of success should be higher because you have more people (a larger population) but unfortunately, within this population you will find a lot of unacceptable music that cannot be managed so not many are successful.

What I think every broadcast house should really do is to have a team that would preview songs and advice the artiste and the producer of the video on what areas they really need to work on to make it broadcast worthy.

There is need for consultation but in most cases the cost of production is so high and when you don’t consult before producing, the song or video is aired like that with every mistake that has been made.

In most cases, you will see that artistes in the US don’t release their videos very often because a lot of input coupled with necessary amendments are made before a video is released.

But in Nigeria, you will find that anybody who thinks he or she has a good voice will either run to a studio to sing or want to produce a music video without thinking properly on the message the lyrics should pass across.

NBC’s banning of music videos and songs

Femi Kuti came up with ‘Bang Bang’ and it was banned by NBC. I did not think it was proper to have done so at that time because it was contemporary. But that music video won awards in South Africa and across the continent of Africa and Europe.

In other words, a total ban was not the answer. It was maybe a line or two that was offensive and needed to have been re-edited and it would have been good enough to run on air. What our elders did was that they controlled and supervised artistes in those days but we don’t have the patience to do so.

We must go back to that; We must create that time to look at the quality of the things (musical works) that we are coming out. We saw that Sunny Ade and Obe were not vulgar in music. But that is to the ordinary ears. They packaged their lyrics well such that it won’t be offensive or abusive to anybody.

On his involvement with the NMVA.

I want to identify myself with the theme of the music video award of this year I want to associate myself with the excellence that music is suppose to bring into the life of people. Music for me is the tonic of life must carry all the positive value in making life meaningful for people and is that type of music I think we should promote and celebrate this year.

Any hidden love for the arts especially music…

My daughter is there smiling. I have been encouraging her (his daughter, Halima) to sing for quite some time now. But for me, let’s see; I’‘m an engineer, a science oriented person, but I had the opportunity in my younger years to act so I took a little bit of art from acting some drama shows even up to University levels. I was inspired by quite a lot of artistes especially the late Ogunde.

When he was still alive, he used to act and sing for us in primary school. And when I was at Loyola college Ibadan, I had the opportunity to watch the shows regularly between ‘63 and ’65 and others (shows) involving all the actors around Ibadan axis that time. So it was compulsory I developed interest in it (the arts) and I think that (the interest) still remains with me till today.

AGN: Segun Arinze vs KOK

The politics that has engulfed the leadership of the Actors Guild of Nigeria(AGN) since 2007 is far from over. Earlier, it was the battle to remove Ejike Asiegbu the erstwhile president of the guild from office, and also, to put the guild back on the track, but today, the story has changed.

Asiegbu is completely out of the way, while Segun Arinze emerge the uneasy head that wears the troubled crown. While the care-taker committee, set up by the Board of Trustees, BOT, of the guild and chaired by actor Kanayo .O. Kanayo fine-tune plans to hold a general election that will usher in a new breed of leadership for the guide come this December, embattled Asiegbu, allegedly, penultimate Wednesday in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, organized an election that produced Arinze as president, thus diving the AGN, the Anayo- led interim administration has disowned the election, describing it as “ a sham and unconstitutional’.

He was supported by the chair of actors group in Lagos, Mr. Ernest Obi, who said the election was “null, void and of no effect… a breach of AGN constitution” and that Arinze is not a member of AGN Lagos chapter. But Arinze says he was legitimately elected as the new president of AGN.

As the fire rages on, HVP, which has followed the development keenly, gives you the latest on the matter on who controls the AGN.

Do I say congratulations Mr. President or what?

Anyhow you want to put it is okay by me. If you wish to say congratulations, fine. But if you don’t wish to, it’s all well and good. For everything, I give thanks to God.

You were elected on the platform of Ejike Asiegbu faction as AGN president …..
I was elected constitutionally. I vied for the post constitutionally and as God will have it, I won. That’s the way to look at it.

Who are the people that witnessed this election?
Segun Arinze

Segun Arinze

Sam Loco was there as the chairman. He conducted the election. We had the presence of the police, 22 delegates and all the state chairmen and excos were all there. And all these people make up the congress of the Actors Guild of Nigeria.

Was Lagos State represented?

Yes, Lagos State had a representative in the person of Mr. Wisdom. Mr. Ernest Obi was expected but I guess he chose not to come. Kogi and Sokoto states didn’t come also. Akwa Ibom state took permission that they weren’t coming.

Before the election, I thought there was some kind of litigation against Ejike Asiegbu by his former executive?

I must say that you’ve known me since 1992 – 93 till date and you know that I’ll never do anything against the law. Everything I do is within the confines of the constitution. The suit you’re talking about was the one by Steve Eboh, alongside other members of trustees asking the court to grant Ejike leave to step aside and also not to expel him from the guild. And that’s the only suit that I’m aware of.

But you also collected forms to contest from both sides (Ejike’s platform and the caretaker committee’s headed by KOK)?

I did not collect forms from both sides.

But you told us you’re contesting on both sides.

I never did. I said I would like to bring the house together. I have contested under the constitution of AGN and that’s how it will remain..

I thought you also have a relationship with KOK?

This has nothing to do with relationship or no relationship. I’m a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria. I’m not party to any committee and I told Ejike to his face that I’m not on his side. I’ve also told KOK that I’m not on anybody’s side and nobody will use me to pursue any war.

I’m a man of my own. I came into AGN on my own and I took the decision to run for the position of the president of AGN on my own and bring about change. That is what I have said and I’m still standing by that.

So it’s not a question of being on KOK or BOT on Ejike side. As far as I am concerned, we’re all making fools of ourselves before the entire world.

Lagos AGN says you’re not a card carrying member…

I see. If they say so, then they should prove it. If they look for my file and don’t find it then, I’ll know what to do.

There’s a saying in Igbo language that says what a man will do is buried in his heart. So, I’m just keeping quiet and watching them.

Are you suspecting that somebody might toy with it?

I don’t want to suspect anything. I’ve no business suspecting anybody. I see all those things they say as political bullshit. I like it when people talk with correct facts. I am a bonafide member of AGN.

The Actors Guild of Nigeria, Abuja chapter ,gave an award of recognition in 2007 to Segun Arinze. I’m an AGN member from the onset. I contested alongside Emmanuel Ogugua and he won. We shook hands and he promised that we’d work together then.

This same Emmanuel Ogugua campaigned for me to become vice president and today he turns around to say I’m not a member of AGN. I laughed because it’s laughable. I’m too mature for those kinds of dirty politics.

I’ve always said one thing and I’m saying it again-it is the Actors Guild of Nigeria and if we agree to that, we should have a national outlook. The AGN is an association. It’s nobody’s property. It’s above me or any other person.

In fact, no member of AGN is above the guild. And this is a guild that is supposed to help propagate the cause of the Nigerian actor, look into their welfare and sort out the problems facing it. Because we’ve come from diverse backgrounds under one umbrella, which is this guild.

You have a hectic task ahead of you. First, there’s the secretariat unused for months. How do you hope to go about it? Are you going to collapse AGN into one?

We’re not collapsing… (laughing). We will surely come back as one. All these things will soon pass away.
What if they go ahead and hold their election?

Forget, it will pass. Those things are all distractions which will fail. It is only natural for people to have their own grievances. Of course, everybody has a right to be aggrieved. What matters is how you go about telling people of your grief. It is not unusual to see people argue over elections and things like that.

Nearly every association has gone through that. I’m sure you know that the Nigerian Medical Association and even the Nigerian Bar Association went through all that. Even the Nigerian Labour Congress went through things like this.

But you must also put your house in order because if your house is not in order, then who will you follow?
I’d rather fight wars and win without bullets than fight with bullets and everybody is dead and I’m left alone.

Yes, but there is a BOT…

Within the constitution that brought me in, when Mr. Asiegbu, the former president was leaving office, he dissolved all that. So, right now, I’m not going to say anything about BOT because I’ve not had any meetings with the former BOT yet.

I’m afraid because the other body was set up and empowered by the BOT.

I also want you to understand that the role of the BOT is that of advisory and not administrative. They also have their own grievances like anyone else and whether we like it or not, we can’t wish them away. Definitely, we will all sit on a round table and fashion out a way to move this association forward.

What are the things you want to begin with?

I’m not going to start fighting any wars because that energy can be saved to better this association. But I’m not going to stand as a coward. But I’ll stand my ground. All we need now is to sit down and fashion out new ways to move the guild forward because we’ve been so stagnated.

Now that you’re coming in, what are those things you intend to do to fight those who showcase our home movies on cable TV and then piracy?

Now you’re beginning to speak my language. We know there are anomalies but there are other ways of going about these things instead of fighting and those are some of the things I have on my agenda to deal with. If we are a united house, we should come out to say we detest what has happened.

When Enebeli had a recent attack and we tried to get him treated, nobody was ready to support. It was like ‘to your tent O-Isreal’ which should not be because it could have happened to any otherperson.

As a guild we should always think of everybody. I have a lot of things on my agenda which I hope to accomplish. I also have on my agenda, building new state chapters, looking into the welfare of actors, listening to all their cases and opening up more channels of discussion. Talking seriously, ethics conducts and disciplinary issues and contracts so many things that borders on the profession and creating a guild that has quality.

What about the cultural exchange thing?

Yes we are working on the cultural exchange thing with different countries. That is why I think that this industry is actually under the wrong ministry. We should be under the ministry of culture and tourism not information so that we can achieved all these.

There’s nothing wrong with a Nigerian producer going to Burkina Fasso with all his actors and they go there to make all the noise about Nollywood. At the end we benefit.

We’re also going to look at the fact that foreigners come here to make money and go without paying anything to the guild nor are they paying to the government. I don’t have anything against foreigners coming to work here, but I expect that they pay some respect to the king. You don’t walk into a king’s palace and just sit down or stroll around. You must give the king some kind of homage and that’s how it should be.

I think the movie industry hasn’t got the kind of fraternity it should have with the government and that’s why it hasn’t got the kind of support it should get.

Let me also tell you that the AGN is just one of the necleus part that make up the motion picture industry. We have the directors guild, designers guild, script writers guild, the cinematographers guild and so on. We the actors are like the bride of the industry that attracts corporate bodies to come in.

You are a journalist and people respect you because you respect yourself but if you don’t, nobody will. You are addressed by what you call yourself.

Right now we have made ourselves so unattractive that nobody wants to talk to us. We don’t want a situation where people will continue to look at us as a bunch of irresponsible people. Lets stop fighting. You know sometimes I ask myself what are we fighting for? Is it that AGN is so rich that everybody wants to suck from it?

Reported By Ogbonna AMADI & Benjamin NJOKU

Anambra 2010: INEC accepts Obi as APGA’s Consensus Candidate

The lingering crisis rocking the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has been resolved. This followed acceptance yesterday of the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as the consensus gubernatorial candidate of the party. The governorship election is scheduled to hold on February 6, 2010 .

APGA has been embroiled in a leadership crisis which led to the factionalisation of the party. While one of the factions led by the former chairman of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, is recognized by the INEC, Obi identifies himself with the second faction led by Chief Victor Umeh.

Source close to the INEC Chairman said, the Commission handed over the original copies of Forms CF001 and CF002B meant for the nomination of candidates for the 2010 Governorship election to Okorie, a move some interpreted as an attempt to exclude Obi from the race.

However, the Umeh-led faction held its congress on Wednesday at the Ekwueme Square in Awka after securing a court injunction which stopped Okorie who had also slated the congress of his faction the same day.

Obi was elected unanimously, garnering all the 1,115 valid votes cast in the primaries, and was handed the party’s flag by the APGA National Leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. But there were fears that INEC may not recognize him as the party’s candidate because his emergence was said to have breached the 2006 Electoral Act.

But in a surprise move last night, INEC recognized the embattled governor as the consensus candidate of the party, thereby laying the building blocks for a lasting

Constitution amendment: Lawmakers to stop misdeed-makers

Senate President David Mark has said that the National Assembly will resist any attempts by persons or groups who insist that their views must go into the proposed amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

Mark said that the Legislature will yield to the yearnings of Nigerians in the process of amending the Constitution, instead of listening to those he described as mischief – makers who “want to fix their own ideas and their own positions in the Constitution.”

He spoke even as the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review, said the resolve of the Senate to lead the quest for review of the constitution remains unwavering.

The two leaders of the Senate were at a retreat for the members of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in Kaduna yesterday. The retreat was attended by the Kaduna State Governor and his deputy, Namadi Sambo and Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa respectively, speakers of state Houses of Assembly, former Chief Justice of the Federation and chairman of the National Electoral Reform Committee, Justice Mohammed Uwais, as well as the chairman of Ghana Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwado Afari-Gyan, among others.

Mark said, “We will yield to the yearning of Nigerians. The constitutional review is not for senators alone. There has been a lot of insinuation that we in the National Assembly are out to put one thing or remove another thing from the constitution. “That is wrong. Those are the views of mischief makers and they are people who really want to fix their own ideas and their own positions in the constitution.

“Let me also say empathically that we would resist any attempt by any small group of people, be they high or low. If they want to insist that their own positions must go into the constitution simply because they are vocal enough.

It is the will and the determination of majority of Nigerians that would be reflected in the constitutional amendment. The Nigerian media space has been rife with reports that tend to create the impression that the Senate appears to be working at crossroads with the Presidency or the Justice Uwais report.

This is not correct… Let me also state outright that although the Senate and the House of Representatives are conducting separate processes on the issue of constitutional reform, the goal is the same.

We are in discussions on how to harmonize our positions as we work.”

Reported By Emeka Mamah and Emma Aziken