Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
President Jonathan the Lap Dog of Corruption- In the Era of Boko Haram
In the 1980’s Port-Harcourt (The Garden City) was a dynamic place with a characteristic tranquil and restive edge. I remember going to the Saint Mary’s Catholic Church with my siblings by a taxi on those weekends when my parents would drive to the Imo State country side en-route to my father’s village. After church we would cross Aggrey road near the Lagos
Interestingly, those days when my younger ones and I took the cab (a drop) once or twice a month to the Catholic Church soon came to an end, after I discovered the corruption and hypocrisy within organized religion. Thankfully, I did not have to wait for contemporary times to discern the multilayered ongoing worldwide scandals in the church. As a teenager, I opted for the Pentecostal and evangelical churches that unbeknownst to me came out of the so-called Bible belt in the United States otherwise known as the Deep South. Most present day Nigerians and Africans are still ignorant of the fact that some of the same folks from the West that want them to be born-again have placed policies and structures to impede African American development through mass incarceration, structural inequality, and disenfranchisement in the United States. Indeed the hypocrisy in the church is not unlike what we experience in other religions and politics. Nigerian superstar Majek Fashek informed us back in the day that Religion is Politics.
Subsequently we have an emission of religion, ethnic intolerance, nepotism, and corruption in today’s’ political dispensation that threatens to untangle the United Nations of Nigeria. On the right corner we have President Goodluck Jonathan and his corrupt lieutenants who sold Nigerians the mannequin bill of transformation. The President and the likes of Okonjo-Iweala, Sanusi, Madueke, Aganga, and Onwuliri do not remember or just do not care that close to 1000 fellow Nigerians gave their lives for the introduction and realization of a new political democratic era. In Jonathan, we thought we saw an individual from the academy that could rise above the dictates of the Northern Military Industrial Complex NMIC. We were under the impression that he could resist the trappings of authoritarianism and corruption of former government officials. But our aspirations (luck) is been tarnished as this administration goes about desecrating the memories and labours of our contemporary heroes of democracy. The young men and women of the National Youth Service Corp NYSC who were murdered during and after the elections are treated as though they died in vain.
Meanwhile President Jonathan has becomes a lap dog of corruption for international and national syndicates. President Christine Largade of the International Monetary Fund IMF, who wants to use discredited neo-liberalism economic theories to increase the number of poor individuals on the African continent, is an example of such corrupt international principles. She visited Nigeria to reinforce the inside lobbying efforts of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the Nigerian Finance minister and former vice president of the World Bank. After meeting Ms. Largade on December 19th, 2011 and notwithstanding the horrendous Christmas day church bombing that killed nearly 50 people; the call for religious and ethnic repatriations; the call to arms by the various tribes; massive displacement and hysteria, we received the New Year’s gift from President Jonathan that increased petroleum prices by more than 100%. These were the rude awakening that became a catalyst for the Occupy Nigeria Movement in our country and in the Diaspora.
Rather than focusing on the cabal of Nigerian petroleum importers and bunkery organizers the government decided to punish the same regular and poor people who elected them. Under the guise of deregulation and privatization the previous military and civilian administrations had conveniently lined up their cronies as venture capitalist in the petroleum sectors to the disadvantage of the less privileged people. In a classical example of double speak these fat cats increase the cost of petroleum production in the nation through various direct federal government sanctioned subsidies/fleecing of the treasury.
Instead of competition, efficiency, and price decrease we became saddled with monopolies and wastes in the highest levels. As a result there emerged millionaires and billionaires who could careless about the wellbeing of other Nigerians. According to Dictator Babangida some of those folks took record time to criminally amass the wealth that he painstakingly took 8years to steal. They became more interested in maintaining the status quo and placed some of their ill gotten loots as hedges towards the realization of the peoples backed Jonathan’s presidency. The names of these culprits were miraculously released by representatives of our National Assembly of disrepute and pimps. Our so-called representatives wanted to shift the criticism from the public on account of the earth shaking salaries, allowances, bonuses they steal for doing next to nothing.
Additionally, these developments have not slowly down our race to the bottom and the corruption in Abuja. Nigerians have become tennis balls in the hands of the 1% uber rich on the left corner, who insist on draining us until the last blood and/or oil. At the national level corruption is manifested in the economic and security purviews, while President Jonathan continues in the lap dog status. Boko Haram suspects are disappearing from law enforcement custody as fast as dollars and naira are milked from our coffers. In the likes of Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim we see a level of malfeasances and coalition with the elements that are killing innocent law enforcement officers, Christians, and Muslims, whereas the Northern elites who promised us these mayhem are protected in their posh mansions with a combination of their private security details and the national security apparatus.
Coincidentally Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke wants Nigerians that cannot afford three balanced meals, lack stable electricity, and basic healthcare to sacrifice for the nation when her children are frolicking worldwide. She appeared in front of the Nigerian National Assembly and did not know how much oil is produced and/or consumed in the country. The Minister of Petroleum Mrs. Madueke does not know the whereabouts of nearly $2billion petroleum funds. In the National Assembly hearing Mrs. Madueke pointed the finger at the Minister of Finance Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who reciprocated the gesture. Despite these systematic fraudulent anomalies, both ministers are not in danger of loosing their jobs. We have the emergence of a Southern Delta Industrial Complex SDIC, with all the surviving ex-governors of Rivers State and Bayelsa State residing in Abuja.
Despondently, the similarities between the SDIC and the NMIC Northern Military have not gone unnoticed by the masses. The SDIC political authority and economic realignment is devoid of pursuing policies for the betterment of the Nigerian people. This is reflected in the combined difficulties of increasing fuel prices on people and the ineptitude in combating the constant Boko Haram massacres. Our so-called officials in positions of trust do not exude confidence in the general public. This was exemplified by the reports of Ms. Vera Ezimora about the outing of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Viola Onwuliri in the Washington DC and Maryland area. Her callous remarks were “We have one hundred and sixty million people. If 2million are on the streets, then that means one hundred and fifty-eight million are in their homes.” Professor Onwuliri could not reckon the significance of 2million people on the streets of Nigeria who were demanding for a new discourse and the rescinding of the fuel taxation on the poor. These were the same people that President Goodluck Jonathan shamefully intimidated with the deployment of the Nigerian Army, ironically when northern Nigeria is awash with Boko Haram operatives.
Consequently, this incompetence has quickening an unexpected awakening in the Nigerian people who have yearned for a transparent and just government since the evolution of the fourth democratic republic. Nigerians are now asking about the much acclaimed transformational governance which is nowhere in site. Some of us in the Diaspora have made a resolution to standup from the sidelines, and others have recommitted their energies to the actualization of peoples’ influenced changes in Nigeria. We plan to convene a civil society; social and economic justice led Sovereign National Conference in the United States
Nnamdi Frank Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Executive Director African Diaspora Institute and US African Cultural Festival
Member- Occupy Nigeria Movement Washington DC
Washington DC Coordinator: Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigeria Million March
Reference:
Occupy Nigeria Movement Washington DC- Call to Action
On January 1st 2012, the Nigerian people at home and in the Diaspora awoke to the unitary imposition of Petroleum Taxes on the citizens of the United Nations of Nigeria. This precipitous decision by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration occurred on the same week that Nigerians were slaughtered in Niger State during a Christmas Day service by the regional northern Nigerian organization Boko Haram. In evoking the memories of the Nigerian and Biafra genocidal war the erstwhile organization also called on all Christians in the north to head back to the south irrespective of their years of residency and ethnic affiliations. Boko Haram statements also encouraged northerners in the south to come back to the north. However President Jonathan and his officials decided to apply shock doctrine tactics on regular and poor Nigerians with the so-called removal of fuel subsidy in the height of these unresolved national chaos. These nonchalant actions have precipitated a people’s popular movement against the actions of the government which the labour unions came around to join and against the continued pogrom of Boko Haram.
Consequently Nigerians at home and abroad have been on the streets since January 9th in protest against said tax hikes. At the Washington DC Occupy Nigeria Movement the current developments in Nigeria on January 16, 2012 have not weakening our convictions to keep fighting for less privileged Nigerians. President Jonathan has pegged the taxes at 97 naira per liter and simultaneously ordered the Nigerian Army into the streets of Lagos to intimidate peaceful protesters. On the other hand the NLC and TUC have betrayed the Nigerian people that started the peaceful protest. The labour unions have conducted Nicodemus style negotiations with government officials who seem devoid of conscience and should have reduced their own bonuses, allowances, and salaries by 50% before inflicting more hardships on ordinary people. These so-called negotiations were missing members of the social and economic justice activism communities in Nigeria.
After throughout consultations and deliberations the Occupy Nigerian Movement in Washington DC calls on President Jonathan to immediately redeploy our troops from the streets of Lagos and into those enclaves of Boko Haram. The Lagos State governor Mr. Babatunde Fashola should immediately assign the police in Lagos to protect peaceful protesters and properties instead of offering non-denials. Nigerians have the right to assembly and petition their government and those inalienable rights should not be infringed upon. We call on fellow compatriots to go back to the streets in demonstrations against the fuel taxes and the Boko Haram menace.
Nigerians need to get back on the streets to force our government to actually rescind the price of fuel back to 65 naira per liter, stop the carnage of Boko Haram, and address officially sanctioned corruption. Nigerians in the Diaspora understand that the quandary for President Goodluck Jonathan is if he should support the people who voted for him or the people that sponsored his elections. We realize that the clever by a dime so-called elites and fund hedgers have also activated their trump card of Boko Haram to place our president on a tight leash just in case he has any cute ideas. These strategies can be juxtaposed against those of the Republicans and Wall Street executives in the United States. After the so-called change elections and knowing that President Barack Obama might comply with the people’s desire for change, the conservatives came up with their game plan. Wall Street had funded our Community Organizer's election but also knew that their financial crimes (mortgage fraud, credit swaps, hedging, derivatives etc.) were enormous. So that decided to cooperate with the Conservatives, the free market guys that provide subsidies to themselves and their business partners. They joined forces to use Astroturf groups to attack Mr. Obama. President Jonathan occupies a similar dilemma and needs to decide what constituencies to serve.
Thus, the Occupy Nigeria Movement Washington DC will be protesting at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC, from 12pm -2pm on Wednesday January 18, 2012. We pray on fellow Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to continue their peaceful protest until we eventually get a transformational and representative government that listens to the aspirations of the people with regards to fuel taxation on the poor, corruption, and effectively deals with the Boko Haram situation. We also call on protesters to remain peaceful and orderly during these demonstrations.
Date: Wednesday January 16th, 2012
Location: 3519 International Court NW Washington DC
Arrival Time: 11:30am
Rally Time: 12:00pm
Dispersal Time: 2:00pm
For More Information Contact:
Estella Ogbonna DC Activist
Harrison “Harry Baba” Nwozo, Executive Director, TribeX International
Emilia Jones Esq. Activist
Ifeanyi Nwoko, DMV Activist
Nkeiru Ogbuokiri-Ojo, Washington DC Activist
Seun Akinsanya, Activist
Vera Ezimora, Writer, Blogger, Host
William Bikia Idoniboye
Oby Nwaogbe, Director, Producer
Oby234@gmail.com, www.oboneproductions.com
Chika Uwazie, Youth Activist
Nnamdi F. Akwada, Social Justice Activist
Executive Director, US African Cultural Festival/ African Diaspora Institute
Washington DC Coordinator: Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March and African Diaspora Institute Press Release- On the Pseudo Fuel Subsidy Removal
The Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March and the African Diaspora Institute members in the Diaspora and in Nigeria declare our solidarity and fraternity with all peace loving Nigerians that have occupied the Nigerian streets from Lagos to Port-Harcourt, Ilorin to Kebbi, Abuja to Kano, and Bauchi to Warri, to say no to the removal of the pseudo fuel subsidies. We support the actions of social activists, human rights organizations, labour unions, students, and other regular Nigerians who have asserted their rights to peacefully assemble and petition their government. Law enforcement officers should resist all commands to intimidate, punish, and assault their fellow compatriots. The death of the heroic fuel hike protester Mr. Muyideen Mustapha in Illorin Kwara state should be immediately investigated and the culprits brought to justice.
The African Diaspora Institute and the Let There Be Light In Nigeria organizations also rebuke the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration for introducing shock doctrine strategies on the Nigerian people. It is unseemly, unconscionable, and sadistic that few days after the Christmas Day Boko Haram bombings in Niger
Instead Dr. Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and the rest of their economic team should go after the petroleum cabals that have frustrated our efforts to refine oil at home and have reliable electricity. Why is this administration hell bent on rubbishing the constituents that voted for them less than a year ago? They ought to realize that the days of passivity and apathy when they could remain invincible to the yearnings of the United Nations of Nigeria citizens are over. We urge the government to listen to the demands of our people and not the so-called experts from the International Monetary Fund IMF and World Bank, which have been monetizing European governments and banks for close to 24months.
Consequently we demand the immediate rescinding of the fuel and energy taxes. The cabal-like individuals and families that are hamstringing the government should be confronted soonest and our policies should be structured for the betterment of the regular Nigerian. We insist that the President Jonathan’s administration should tackle corruption, insecurity, impunity, injustice, unemployment while increasing transparency and accountability. Members of our organizations ask the Trade Union Congress TUC, Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, and Nigerians in general to press on with the credible ultimatum. The Let There Be Light In Nigeria-Nigerian Million March and the African Diaspora Institute organizations also calls for the resignation of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke the Minister of Petroleum Resources. Mallam Lamido Sanusi and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s resignations should also be gladly received by the president if they are adamant about this wrongheaded fuel hike policies.
Nigerians in the Diaspora intend to consolidate our energies with the Occupy Nigeria Movement by holding support rallies in the United States and around the world. We know that if the current administration is serious they will tackle the subsidies and monopolies that the oil barons enjoy from manipulating the petroleum production chains rather than taxing regular and poor Nigerians. What about the fight against terrorism, insecurity, and unemployment?
Signed by
Nnamdi F. Akwada
Executive Director African Diaspora Institute
Doyin Olagbeji
Founder and Convener Let There Be Light In Nigeria- Nigerian Million March
Monday, January 9, 2012
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