Sincerity: A scarce commodity in Nigeria politics

Sincerity: A scarce commodity in Nigeria politics

By Samson Adejoro

We have all heard and we are still hearing and still going to be hearing of shocking revelations of how our leaders have milked us dry in this nation, destabilized institutions, thrown the polity into disarray, depleted foreign reserves,bled the treasury,wasted innocent blood and all I cannot mention.

Recently the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed a residential building on the 7th floor of a four-bedroom apartment at Osborne Towers located at 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, where a humongous fund of foreign currencies and naira notes to the tune of $43.4m, £27,800 and N23.2m was uncovered.

But the surprising aspect is that the owner of this humongous funds have not been found, in an article I wrote sometimes ago titled "What really works in this country?" I made a conclusion to the fact that nothing works here because sincerity and truth are scarce products in our polity, what takes center stage is insincerity and malaise.

When you study the semantics of Nigerian leaders, they are not sincere, in everywhere they found themselves, they found it as an avenue to tell lies and may i say to you that if you are still banking on this set of unscrupulous elements you are only travelling on a journey infinitesimal, a journey that will never come to an end.

Politics is never a game of deceit as opined by people, it is an instrument that can be used to better lives, it can be used to forestall unimaginable milestone. I believe through politics a lot of lifes around the world have been given a soft ride, when you get to Singapore, Malaysia, you will know politics is a life changing instrument in which God himself have supported, coming back to Nigeria you see the opposite, in Nigeria, politics is an instrument used  to better a few elite, the issue is not only our leaders are corrupt, go to our universities, main aim of those vying for post is MONEY, an aspirant vying for the post of a welfare director in one of the universities in the south-west had told me sometimes ago that if eventually he emerged, he would work 30% and embezzle 70% and you ask why are we HERE?

When leaders seem not to be honest in their dealings with those who elect them into offices then you can only begin to imagine why we are in this mess. Nigerian politicians believe in piling up large amount of money for future sake owing to the fact that after they leave office, they believe those money will owe up to them but the fact about life which has been proven to be true is that those large of money that are being embezzled by this political office holders are money they dont really need, in life how much money do we really need? I had an experience with this fact, when I gained admission sometimes ago, you know that type of feeling when you just gained admission and you begin buying things, even things you dont really need and at the end, if you are not careful you might end up dashing people or they get spoilt.

The experience also reminded me of Lev Tolstoy’s popular story, How Much Land Does a Man Need? It is about a man who kept adding more and more land to his already large purchase until, out of exhaustion, he suddenly dropped dead. With the tool he used in demarcating his acquisition, his assistants dug a six-foot grave and buried him. All the land he needed in the end was no more than the six footer.

Those funds our leaders pile and store in dungeons can better citizen lifes, the money our leaders siphon, some nations don't have up to that as their national budget and their citizens still enjoy dividends of democracy. When you also look at the payrolls of our leaders, they earn more than any political office holder in the world and you wonder why we are still in this mess, and I ask myself will this nation ever grow?

 Taking a digression towards the anti-corruption fight of this administration, what has happened? why has EFCC lost top cases against big thieves and corrupt entities like Justice Ademola, Patience Faka Jonathan and the rest? Has the judiciary been compromised, this anti-corruption fight is fast losing it's ground, let government invest in this judiciary, let them make it fast, you might be surprised UK spent up to $20 million dollars to convict James Ibori, this government will only continue to lose cases if it doesn't strengthen our institutions, let them train those lawyers and make them second to none among world jurist.

And as I conclude I leave you with this quote

"In business, in relationships, in life, sincerity matters a lot, when you are not sincere, people begin to run away from you, be sincere its a moral value you have to posses to get to top places in life"-Samson Adejoro.

Samson Adejoro is a writer cum a political analyst and he is currently undergoing his Bsc programme in the Department Of Computer science, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-iwoye,Lagos.
You can reach him on 09031827815.

ON NIGERIANS AND THE "CULTURE OF EVERYONE FOR HIMSELF"

ON NIGERIANS AND THE "CULTURE OF EVERYONE FOR HIMSELF"

By Adejoro Samson B.

We are sons and daughters of love, let love lead---- Prophet T.B Joshua, Lead Pastor, Synagogue Church of all Nations.

When Lai Mohammed the Honorable minister of information and culture launched the campaign "Change begins with me" sometimes last year, lot of views spurred out, whether it should truly began with the citizens or from the people who are custodians of our common patrimony, observers carefully observed, public affairs analyst analysed the initiative, some welcomed it with disdain, some with an open heart,adverts on the television, social media were organized, celebrities like King Sunny Ade got endorsement to champion the campaign, the most fascinating was the skit that appeared on TV stations across the country titled "Not in my country".  After you might have finished reading this op-ed, I leave you to judge.

What prompted this treatise was as a result of a little chat I had with a friend and a course mate.  It was time for lectures, the lecture we were about to have was a faculty course and as such we have to walk down from our department (which is were we receive every lectures apart from this particular faculty course) to the faculty to attend the lectures and my friend looked around when the set time for the lecture had come and he said to me " There is no love in our country " and I asked him the reason for his submission, his reply was "Imagine, everybody are going for lectures one by one, nobody even considered calling others."

He further lamented, "Some would have resourses and course materials that will be of immense help to the class as a whole and the person would decide to cling unto it as if having "A" in a course guarantees life success." and as a result of that, others won't be privileged to that resources the other fellow had. It is advisable that when you have what can be beneficial to others, don't hold it to yourself alone, let every other people around you be successful as you are, it's not a crime if millionaires come out of you rather it should be a sense of joy and that of a fulfilment, be like the lepers in the Bible whom during the time of famine in the land of Samaria had by accident bumped into the tent of the Syrians and they saw a lot of goodies and suddenly they started packing and one out of them said "We won't be doing any good by keeping all this to our selves let's reach out to the city and tell the king about this great news." That was how famine ended in the city of Samaria.

We are our problem, Wahab AR Olalekan surmised, the problem beffudling us as a nation is caused partly by our leaders but what accounts mostly for the non workability of our nation is the selfishness and hatred amongst every citizens of this nation.

The fact is underdevelopment and retrogression won't leave the borders and shores of our nations if hate takes the drivers seat in the ways and manner in which we treat our fellow citizens, love trumps hate. In this country everybody thinks of only how to feather his own nest, he thinks less of his fellow citizens, little wonder why politicians milk us blue and black. There is no love in every strata of our society, no one is for the country everyone is for himself. Nations who had made significant progress were able to achieve that, just because they shelved behind hate and embraced magnanimity.

Some would say there is no love because we are of diverse extractions, I strongly object to that view, take as a case study Tanzania, Tanzania is a country that consists of diverse ethnic groups as ours and they spoke different language and then came Julius Nyerere who sensitized them on the need for love as love is a recipe for development and since then, they began to speak only one language which is Swahili even though they have their individual ethnic language they have suppressed it, a Tanzanian will never tell you he is from a part of Tanzania, they all belong to one nation called the "REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA".

Owing to the unifying power of love, American president, President Donald Trump had during his victory speech called on all Republicans, Democrats and the independents to come as one all in the spirit of sportsmanship so as to " Make America Great Again". President Trump during the electioneering period ran a campaign full of divisiveness and hate but one would have thought he would continued in that clime even after he came in, but instead he called for love and now the American dream under his regime is getting fulfilled, unemployment rate is plumetting and veterans are enjoying.

Samson Adejoro is a public affair analyst and a writer and he tweets from @Samsss_A, you can reach him on 09031827815.

BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE: THE NIGERIA STORY

BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE: THE NIGERIA STORY

By Adejoro T.S

An event happened this week, the event signaled the end of the FIFA U-20 world cup, England emerged winner of the competition. The most interesting point that prompted this article is that Nigerian players are the ones that constitute part of the team that won the competition. Most of the times as history would have it, our athletes constitute larger part of the  teams winning laurels in various sports outside our borders and beyond our shores e.g Boxing: Anthony Joshua, Football: Gabriel Agbonlahor and many more we can't mention.

Moving from sport to the finance sector  President Donald Trump had just appointed our own Tolu Ogunlesi to the economic team he was building in order to achieve the aim of "Making America Great Again". We heard of the brilliant Nigeria young girl who got admissions into the 5 ivy league schools in the US simultaneously, Isn't that magnificent? a feat that has never occurred, the other time CNN published a story of a lady who was the first to become the president of the Harvard Law Review Committee and guess what she is a Nigerian, just recently in the last concluded UK June 8 elections, we saw how  7 Nigerians got elected into the House of Commons, getting elected into the House of Commons is not a mere feat in the UK, it means they must have been tested and trusted in terms of leadership qualities and exemplary qualities, another recent example is Anthony Joshua who had just won a WBA title in the heavyweight division, instead of covering and bowing their heads in shame, the governor of his state deem it fit to send delegates to congratulate him, What a country!!!

Go outside and see Nigerians in diaspora excelling in various field, many milestone have been attained by Nigerians, many records have been broken by our people, but they can't come home just because their home is no more "home" for them. Somebody had told me sometimes around last year that if only I could go to the embassy I would see massive influx of Nigerians hoping to run out of the country, the country is not encouraging, our leaders have turned the country into a place that is not okay to live in.

We breed excellence, we emit incandescent luminous rays of unimaginable altitudes.In every areas of excellence we can't be shelved aside. Those people pledged their allegiance to foreign country  because they know their home country has nothing to offer. Nigeria is not worth dying for, that I indeed believe in

Nigeria blessed with men and means, God has blessed this country with so many things, we are blessed beyond measures, but why are we still underdeveloped?

Everybody wants a level playing field in everything he or she partakes in but when the level playing field  they desire is not given, they go out of the country and they excel and what we do next is issue out an appreciation message congratulating them, why haven't we given them a level playing field to exercise their prowess and prove their God given mettle in their father's land? the economy is not encouraging, the atmosphere is not conducive, we are blessed with people of tremendous and outstanding qualities, we have been endowed with what is enough for us to have 24 hours uninterruptible power supply, low unemployment rate, low poverty rate and a very encouraging GDP but reverse is the case.

Nigeria's problem are not caused by these sets of people excelling outside her borders, Nigerians problem is caused by our leaders, let our leaders create a level playing field devoid of ethnic and religious bigotry and diligently rewards those who have made her proud in every areas, let the health sector be revived so that Ben Carson's can be developed and raised in our nations,  we can be anything we want to be but government has a role to play in making this dreams come true, I believe no nation is better than OURS, we are at this state because the environment is not enabling for self development and goal attainment.

When you take your time to explore our  grassroots areas, you will marvel at how young and creative guys are making waves but because of no support,those young dreams extinguish like flame into thin air, there is a place I take my time to watch local boxing every Sunday around my area, you wonder whether these are Nigerians or not, but my brother they are all Nigerians. They make waves but no sponsorship even when they want to represent their countries outside the world they are asked to bring exorbitant fees to process, what are they processing?
Corruption will kill us if we don't kill it. If government can just create an enabling field for all to participate in, our country will not only stand among mere nations but it will rub shoulders with countries who supposedly call themselves "world powers".

Samson Adejoro is a writer and he tweets from @Samsss_A.

ON BUHARI, FRC AND THE CHURCH: A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Religion is the strongest tool on earth. It can be used for wonderful actions that touch lives--Azuka Onwuka on "Why FRC should not allow its new law thwarted", The Punch(11-01-2017)

Last week Saturday, the General overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God Pastor E.A Adeboye, a revered man of God, a father to many, daddy G.O as he is fondly called by his church faithful’s made a shocking announcement  at the annual RCCG ministers conference that took place on Saturday at the newly completed 3 by 3 km ultramodern worship centre in Shimawa,Ogun state, annual ministers thanksgiving is a program that takes place every first Saturday of the year, its a  day set apart in the RCCG calendar to thank God for his unflinching mercies over the people of God, the monthly programs held, the yearly programs held, the leaders, ministers of God, workers, et al.

On this gracious day, ministers of God who for 52 Sundays have been wearing suit, T-shirt and tie will be seen wearing their various tribal wears like agbada, lace, babariga, atiku, etc as RCCG is a church with various ethnic groups, suffice to say anyone who is seen wearing an English dress on that day might be punished by the authorities of the church.
Daddy G.O as he is fondly called had gave out the watchword of the year as a year of “pleasant surprises” nobody in their imaginations would have had an inkling of what was going to happen, but at this shocking moment everywhere was silent like the graveyard as Baba announced he would be stepping aside, thereby handling over the affairs of the church to an Assistant General Overseer(Finance),Pastor J.O Obayemi, a man he said was "appointed by God".

After he made the resignation, he gave reasons for his actions citing the Financial Reporting Council stipulations called the corporate governance code which was signed into law in 2011, compelling all religious organisation heads to hand over the affairs of their various organisation at a compulsory age of 70 years or must have served for 20 years or pay tax.

The FRC is a unified independent regulatory body for accounting, auditing, actuarial, valuation and corporate governance. As such, compliance monitoring in these areas will hence be addressed from the platform of professionalism and legislation.
Quoting the law that forced Pastor E.A Adeboye to resign inter alia: “The founder or leader shall cease to occupy these three governance positions simultaneously. This is to ensure the separation of powers and avoid possible concentration of powers in one individual.

“The founder or leader may however choose – subject to the agreement of the organisation’s apex authority as expressed in the annual general assembly, annual meeting, annual stakeholder engagement, annual conference, annual synod, annual fellowship assembly or their equivalents – only one of these three governance positions subject to his current tenure. This is to ensure a clear division of responsibilities at the head of the organisation between the running of the governing body and the executive responsibility for the management and fulfilment of the organisation’s mission.

“Where the founder or leader has occupied all or any of these three governance positions for more than 20 years, or is aged 70 years or above, the choice in the section above should only relate to the board of trustees as in section below, except the constitution of the organisation otherwise provides.’’

In response to the new law and in response to the resignation of Pastor E.A Adeboye resignation, various Pentecostal churches have all risen up to say, we are not accountable to the government, why should they dictate the number of years we are to use as leaders of our churches to us, we are only accountable to God, but wait a second didn't Jesus said give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar? Jesus himself at a time when the roman emperor asked him for tax, he dutifully complied , when this men of God go about in an attempt to launder huge amount of money to purchase goodies, whose approval was taken? Is it God's approval? Is it not men's approval, when they go about building private universities their members can't afford whose approval was taken?, isn't that religious hypocrisy of the highest order, we have been blindfolded by religion, pastors will go about doing things that are not meant to be done, shouldn't there be an organization created to checkmate this excesses?, in the USA an inventory is taken into the account of every churches so why should our churches be different is,  a country that wants to progress will look beyond religiosity and embrace accountability.

The law came at the right timing as it is obvious and palpable everyday as shocking revelations are tripping in about how this not-for-profit-organisations have digressed from their core values and what they they stand for, they are now known to be self-seeking all in the name of God, money has now become their main interest not the people who they are meant to lead, welfarism of members has become what they least cherish, as leaders of this organisations are now seen flying around in private jets at the expense of their member who still wear  slippers to church, money meant to be spent on awarding scholarships to brilliant but indigent members are being used in building schools that their parents can't afford.
In my own view, I believe the government can't do everything, there is a need for an helping hands from the religious organisation thereby making the number of poverty decimate, citizens would not really feel the heat of governments inactions if religious organizations can make sure they provide foods to members at least in one of their worship days, there should be day set aside for welfarism, that day should be a day of giving back to the members afterwards the members have been the one contributing.

Suddenly after 72  hours of the resignation of Pastor E.A Adeboye, the enforcer-in-chief of the bill Mr Jim Osayande Obazee, FCA was sacked in what came as a shocking news to me as I could not fathom a tangible reason why a  presidency whose sole aim as clearly stipulated  at various times is to make sure corruption is totally eradicated from the country.

According to the mainstream media, the case of the law being dropped was agitated by the church and it was taken to court but the FRC won the case, knowing that Buhari still went on to sack the CEO of FRC, isn't that cluelessness?

This administration is clueless as I have always said, inside his kitchen cabinet are SGF Babachir Lawal who used 270 million naira to cut grass in IDP camps, Aisha Buhari and  Abba Kyari who are currently in connivance with the high commissioner of Nigeria in UK lavishing our common patrimony on pleasurable things at the expense of an average Nigerian who has not eaten for some days and Rotimi Amaechi who is allegedly reported to have bribed a judge are still seen holding up to their jobs, people who should have automatically resigned.
Why has Buhari not ordered the immediate removal of this people aforementioned even with glaring evidences of clear incompetence and corruption? Is he (Buhari ) such in a hurry to react to religious matters(that has to do with Christians) in a way of getting there votes in 2019?

This is a clear case of chasing rats when one house is on fire, at a point when recession is biting harder, hardship has not even gone away, poverty is still stretching its harms and gripping citizens of this country but issues which have least interest are the ones this clueless administration is looking at, issues that need serious attentions like that of the Chibok girls, the ethno religious killings happening at southern Kaduna, what he only knows to do is to sign on the dotted lines of sack letters.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

God Bless Nigeria

EMBRACING MORALITY OVER RELIGIOSITY: A PATH TOWARDS BUILDING A VIRILE NATION

By Samson Adejoro

Lets not be a divided country, people who are divided are very easy to rule- Sean Hannity

Religion is the opium of the people- Karl Marx

As the topic reads, religion has now become a DO-OR-DIE affair in this country, it has become the basis on which politicians now capitalize on to win elections, it has now serve as an instrument of division instead of an instrument to foster unity, it has now become the basis on which terrorism has its base.

Religion should not be a basis on which people are appointed to major posts, credibility should be. The gullible masses are the one at the receiving end, it is so sad that our politicians play politics with  virtually everything including religion all because of wielding what will one day become vanity called POWER, they prey on the weakness of the unsuspecting masses. The president being a Muslim or a Christian isn't what matters, what really counts is SOUND and EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP.

Religion should not be a yardstick on which our fate is determined as a nation.

Not only the politician prey on this misnomer their various "FATHER IN THE LORDS" have chosen  also to throe in path of  capitalizing on the weakness of their members, we see men of God flying on private jets worth billions of naira that is capable of feeding almost all the members of his church, building universities that well to do members of his church can't afford, IS THAT NOT ROBBERY ALL IN THE NAME OF RELIGION? We now see fake prophets everywhere because they know our people can be cajoled with a mere prophecy that has ceased to exist. In the city of Lagos churches and mosques are springing up in every nooks and crannies all in a bid to indoctrinate  people with false doctrines and dupe people who are looking for quick and overnight success.

The problem with our people is that they are becoming fanatics all in the name of religion, Nigeria is the most religious nation but still underdeveloped, Religion has taken us nowhere because instead of channelling our beliefs in the right path we have chosen to imbibe on ourselves self-acclaimed belief which never exist anywhere, I was reading a lady's post on Facebook that says "Muslims should not greet Christians on Christmas day" when I pressed further by asking for her reasons she told me  because a cleric told her that the Christians are unclean. Really! On what basis did the cleric draw the inference that  he himself making the comment is pure. We are all Nigerians we are one, when politicians make useless propaganda all in the name of religion we should be able to critically look at it, think about it and make the right decisions. Or what is the essence of voting for a CHRISTIAN that knows next to nothing about how to lead? I have found out that a nation like ours love the popular saying thus; "HE IS FROM MY RELIGION" then you make your assertions because he  attends the same church with you and you fail to look at his wherewithal, you fail to remove the religious blinder that has been kept on your eyes that makes you see nothing other than RELIGIOSITY.

Philosophy of religion emphasizes on abstaining from religious intolerance and fanaticism. Hence, regardless of what we might believe in, we should encourage unity in our religious diversity; that is the essence of humanity. A country hinged on religiosity will never progress as it will surely be dogmatic in its approach to some situations. A nation HIGH on religion cannot possess the requisite sanity of mind to reason a way out of mess when it presents itself. Nigeria has everything that can make it  a better nation but religion has continued to divide us. I have always insisted that our colonial masters never wanted any good for us, there is nothing they gave us that has bettered our nation, I strongly believe our colonial masters knows the effect of what religion will do to our country.

Religion has done more harm than good, it is good to embrace morality and not hinged on one opium that any spiritual father tells you somewhere else, you are the owner of your mind and the captain of your soul, if you can think critically and reason, you would observe that MORALITY pay. Is there anything bad in greeting your fellow Nigerian be it a christian or a muslim, but that won't happen in a nation that has been deeply enmeshed in the razzmatazz of RELIGIOSITY. Is it not when we came to world that we heard what we call religion? That is why in the university when taking a course in philosophy, you will be asked by your lecturer to keep your religious beliefs outside and come in with a mind willing to think in a moral, rational and sane way. God will never answer to the yearnings of a country who embraces fanaticism at the expense of wisdom, that is why some people have been fooled into believing that without requisite hardworking and sound leadership if we pray to God, he would answer, my readers it doesn’t work like  that. That is typical of our nations problem.

The writer of this treatise is not an atheist or someone who doesn't believe God, all I am saying in essence is that different religion carries different beliefs and can two walk together except they agree? (Amos 3:3). Absolutely NO, we the citizens of this nation should not be fooled into believing one religion is better than the other for we are all equal in the face of God, God is not asking for an advocate, if he needs one he wouldn't hire you.

The main reason terrorism has ceased to never stop existing is because none of us will shelve our religiosity nature and embrace peace. Terrorism doesn't start in a day, it starts gradually from mere arguments like JESUS IS THE MESSENGER OF GOD and the other  person will say no MOHAMMED IS THE MESSENGER OF GOD, from there argument will sprawl up and terrorism will start, churches will start being burnt, people would start being murdered in the pool of their blood and thoughts of how to start fixing and countering the terrorism that has been caused will then arise thereby resulting in waste of resources to equip the army, rebuild damaged properties, feed those whom have been left homeless by these terrorist sects.

Moneys that should have been spent on ailing our dying economy, rebuilding our already collapsed tertiary institutions, building schools, equipping our deteriorating health care systems, rebuilding our roads full of potholes are being spent on some useless problems caused by the inability of us to embrace morality over religiosity.

God bless Nigeria.

Samson Adejoro writes in from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-iwoye, Ogun state.