Anytime we decide to go lacklustre, there is this penchant to throw to the public a deliberate diversion which in most cases, serves the intended purpose as Nigerians especially those cringing for government attention jump in and over-echo the diversion.

The government on its part, after initially savouring some relief from public pressure, soon assumes far worse public image of incompetence or indecisiveness.
Obviously, hopes were raised when eventually the Niger Delta summit took off. In a way, it helped in curbing the excesses of the militants. The hopes even rose higher when the report of the summit (containing far-reaching recommendations) was submitted to President Umaru Yar’Adua. He might have, perhaps had prior knowledge of some of the recommendations. But like the historic Aburi agreement before the outbreak of the civil war, did Yar’Adua, in the case of the Niger Delta Summit, realize the implications of the recommendations?

When receiving the report of Niger Delta Summit, the standard practice in a brief response, (and the only sensible thing to promise) is that government would study the recommendations. Instead, Yar’Adua seemed to issue a blank cheque to the Niger Deltans that the government would “implement” the recommendations. So assertive and unqualified was the commitment on implementing the summit report.

Many months after, either owing to other pressing problems or because the recommendations are too far reaching to be implemented in totality with the risk of modifying if not dropping very hot aspects and thereby upset Niger Deltans, today, government is under pressure to honour its promise.
While the waiting goes on, the same Federal Government has now offered amnesty to the militants in Niger Delta, which by the way should be seen as a good development. Unfortunately, instead of embracing the amnesty, the supposed beneficiaries rebuffed the gesture and made it conditional on implementation of the Niger Delta Summit report.

Such vacillation and diversionary tactics were also noticed under the Olusegun Obasanjo regime. When plotting his abortive third term regime, he declared on the country the bogus war on corruption. Today, Nigerians know who really are corrupt. When the same Obasanjo plotted the rigging of 2007 elections, he sold the dummy of first successful civilian to civilian hand-over. The chorus was deafening.

Right now, Nigerians are choked every time on television screens with echoes of seven-point agenda. While the agenda is yet to take off or the substance understood, there is the sudden conscious effort to assuage Nigerians on the seemingly permanent national power blackout with the promise of six thousand megawatts by December this year.

The government is obviously trying its best but it is wrong, very very wrong and potentially self-discrediting to reduce the power problem to ordinary arithmetic of multiplication.

When Yar’Adua came two years ago, without any prompting, he promised to declare state of emergency in the power sector. Nigerians never knew what that involved and today, nobody knows if the emergency was declared. Whichever is the case, most parts of Nigeria today have less than four hours’ power supply in a day.

There, therefore, might be a case to be seen or heard to be doing something. Even, that will not justify this unqualified commitment to provide six thousand megawatts within six months. If, however, the commitment is aimed as a tick on the seven-point agenda, that is fine.
Does Yar’Adua know Nigeria, its problems or even Nigerians as a people? Does Yar’Adua know what powerful cartel is firmly entrenched against ordinary improved power supply in Nigeria?

If he knows, how prepared is he to take on that cartel? If Yar’Adua is prepared for the showdown, then, it is poor war tactics to openly display his preparations. Does he think the cartel of importers of generators would fold their arms and allow him to increase power supply by some five thousand megawatts from the present bare one thousand?

It is of course arguable if he should not be seen to be doing something but Umaru Yar’Adua should have learnt the lesson from Obasanjo’s experience. The late Bola Ige, as Power Minister promised regular supply within two years. Instead, saboteurs within and outside defunct NEPA frustrated him.
Almighty Obasanjo misassessed Bola Ige as incompetent and therefore commandeered the power ministry to his personal control at Aso Rock for the next six or seven years. Still, Obasanjo could not attain four thousand megawatts or whatever he achieved could not last six months uninterrupted.
And now Nigerians are being assured of six-thousand megawatts within eight months? Of course, Yar’Adua may know what we don’t know. If only he can succeed because we would be happier than himself.

What is very important is not just the figure of six thousand megawatts but sustaining that level of power supply. And that is where his enemies are formidable – importers of power generators. How many of them? There are also the manufacturers and assemblers of power generators. How many different brands are imported? Nigeria is about the major dumping ground for this essential commodity.

Time there was when ownership of a power generating set was a status symbol. With virtually no power supply, almost every poor home (not just house) has one. With millions of such homes, there are millions of power generators almost next to oxygen for survival in this country.
It is pointless quantifying the cost in cash. With the drastic fall in oil revenue, it is not clear which is higher between our oil revenue dependence and the huge amount on generator imports. Those assumed to be the wretched these days boast of their mobile generating set to show that “I am better my than my neighbour.” A capacity of under two Kvs guarantee that status to supply light and blow the fan.

When the cost of such imports is assessed at billions of dollars, power generating business, next to oil, is the leading thriving business. Government’s task is to confront those involved in the business. Their tactics is to sabotage government effort by com-promising government agencies – power holding or not even at port or border control. There are also the vandals employed to destroy cables, or collaborators disrupting supply of gas to thermal stations for one convenient reason or another.

For the moment, out of the seven-point agenda, the promise of six-thousand megawatts in the next few months is the cheapest slogan for sychophants.
And why should President Yar’Adua unnecessarily attract public ridicule by moaning his absence from the recent G-20 summit of world leaders. That summit was not just for any country. What had ever been Nigeria’s contributions or gains at such previous international conferences?
Here was a gathering of civilised, developed, democratic and serious nations. Where did or indeed does Nigeria fit into such group? The 2007 sham elections completely discredited and disqualified Nigeria from associating with such nations.

Are we a serious nation? Can we organise ordinary elections without earning the condemnation of the entire world? Clearly, Nigeria was waiting all along to be invited on the illusion of being the giant of Africa.

Imagine, when serious business was being discussed in London, Nigerian leadership completely relocated to Ekiti as if that was even PDP’s jugular. If on the other hand Nigeria was invited to the G-20 summit in London, would Umaru Yar’Adua have rushed back to lead the campaigns for local governments’ wards elections in Ekiti?

Not long ago, the governor of the state of Illinois in United States was removed from office. If there were to be fresh elections to fill the vacancy, would President Barrack Obama have bothered himself to move virtually the entire American administration from Washington to Chicago as Yar’Adua moved to Ekiti?
Must the PDP control all state governments in Nigeria to warrant the campaigns at Aso Rock level? With the Nigerian administration so trivialising governance, how could such a regime expect to be invited to the G-20 Summit in London?
We are talking of a gathering of world leaders less concerned with their hold on governance and more with developing their countries and people.
Nigeria does not belong.

Police boss in politics?

Far too long, we have always allowed abuse of office in various forms in Nigeria. Only last week, thee were two of such abuses, all in the name of campaigns for the re-run of Ekiti governorship race.

The first of such abuse was a supposed Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State, Chris Ola. Almost since his assumption of office, this officer had been accused by opposition parties of bias in favour of PDP. It all seemed cheap blackmail or unconscious cover up for their failure. That was until last week.
In advance of the arrival of the PDP leader, Umaru Yar’Adua for his few hours’ campaign tour for his party’s candidate in the re-run of the governorship race, Ekiti State Police Commissioner, Chris Ola, openly canvassed for Ekiti people to come out and welcome Umaru Yar’Adua. When did it become the duty of Nigeria police, specifically a state Commissioner of Police to mobilize public support for welcoming visiting politician on campaign tour?

That is the job of politicians and not security personnel who are supposed to be neutral. Why must non-PDP supporters be canvassed to turn out to welcome a PDP leader? Rather dishonestly, Police Commissioner Chris Ola pretended not to know Umaru Yar’Adua was in Ekiti as PDP leader and not elected president of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Accordingly, the Police Commissioner deliberately misinformed Ekiti indigenes that Yar’Adua was visiting as president.
Yes, Yar’Adua came to exercise his political right of campaigning for the PDP.

But even if Umaru Yar’Adua was on tour of Ekiti State as President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, it was not the role of Commissioner of Police, Chris Ola to mobilize the people to come out and welcome Umaru Yar’Adua. That should be the work of the governor of the state concerned.

And if Umaru Yar’Adua should be visiting as leader, especially to campaign for his party; a non-PDP host governor of the state is not bound to even welcome him.
That was why it was ridiculous that Labour Party governor of Ondo State, Segun Mimiko attended the PDP rally in Ekiti. Should PDP leader Umaru Yar’Adua, with Ondo governor Mimiko at the Ekiti rally, legitimately run down rival Labour Party regime in Ondo State, would Segun Mimiko be chanced to respond or he would just turn the other cheek?

An emergency administrator, as in Plateau and Ekiti States last time, would even be better placed to follow Yar’Adua to the campaign rally since they would have been appointed by him in the first place, unlike governors elected on the platform of rival political parties. Such governors owe their mandate to their supporters, and might not be on the same political campaign platform with the leader of a rival party, even if Nigeria’s elected president.

Would a police chief in the American state of Texas mobilize the people to welcome Barrack Obama even when visiting as President of United States of America?
The campaign at Ekiti also raised other issues. In office, an elected president has the right to official facilities as long as he is on tour of state duties. But it is gross abuse of office to use presidential jet and official cars for political campaign rally as was in Ekiti.

However, if President Umaru Yar’Adua and Vice President Jonathan Goodluck paid appropriate charges for their private political trip to Ekiti to cover the costs of their flight in the presidential jets, everything should be okay. This is a very important controversy that should attract the attention of members of the National Assembly who are ever obsessed with self-glorifying oversight functions. Otherwise, when seeking re-election in 2011, Umaru Yar’Adua would feel free to cover the campaigns with presidential jets without paying a kobo - an advantage over other rival candidates.

How do we define corruption? When does it start and when is corruption no corruption? National Assembly members should initiate serious debates on these two issues. (a) Was it within the official schedule of a state Commissioner of Police to mobilize residents to welcome a visiting political leader on a campaign tour? (b) Does a Commissioner of Police have the duty to mobilize citizens for even an elected president on official visit? (c) Should an elected president on a campaign tour for his party use official jets, cars, etc, without paying for such? The political party concerned, after all, has campaign expenses.
The chances are that, as part of this abuse of office, ministers and National Assembly members on the entourage, would have collected out-of-station allowances for attending their party’s campaign rallies.

Mr. Auditor-General of the Federation, what is the situation?
If in Ekiti State, the Commissioner of Police assumed the posture of a campaign manager for a political party, his counterpart in Ogun State even abdicated his official responsibility.

In the on-going row on the alleged insecurity of state House Assembly members to resume their sitting, it is no special favour if police authorities stepped in and made sure the state House of Assembly does not malfunction. It was therefore unbelievable to read reports of Ogun Police requesting not to be dragged into politics. How? Ogun State Assembly requested police to provide necessary security to enable members resume their sitting.
If Police cannot provide such security, which other state outfit will do that and what do we pay the Police for?
This Nigeria Police!