Lost to We

                 Ogbonnia Chisom John
                 ogbonniachisom@yahoo.com


Moving World
Beyond any reach
Dare to meet up
Your joy, abridged


Calm Usurped by Fear
Year after year
A quiet ponder
What is in life
Or in the next


Existence in Crisis
Where is my time piece
When does it halt
What do I make of it
What does it make of me
What could it be?


A tide too many
A cross too heavy
Worried in Surplus
Threatened by less
Can I own the world
Or a piece for less


Your message,  my peace
Your voice, my tranquility
Reason for me - You
You alone,  I grasp
My Life, my Gift.

MELODRAMA IN THE MIDDLE EAST: USA FOREIGN POLICY OR DOMINATION POLICY

A few days ago, the United States of America (USA) designated the most elite unit of the Iranian Army, ‘the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’ as a terrorist organization (recall that the USA imposed heavy sanctions on Iran that have devastated the economy of the State). In its report, the USA claims that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were involved in financing and assisting terrorist organizations across the globe therefore, by implication impeding on the success of anti-terrorism campaigns. In retaliation, the Iranian Government designated the US Army as a terrorist organization. 

According to the media, this is the first time the USA would declare a sovereign nations army as a terrorist organization. I beg to differ. In my opinion, this is the first time two sovereign nations would declare their opposing Armies as “terrorist organizations”. Let us take a microcosmic analysis of the Foreign policy saga of the United States Vs the Islamic Republic of Iran with exacting focus on the USA.
Basically, the United States Government Foreign Policy evolves around their Military might and their claims to foster “democracy”. The United States Army and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard both have troops stationed in Iraq to restore order in the society and provide support to the government of the day. However, due to the faux nature of all United States interventions in sovereign nations till date, the underlying tone, hidden personal beneficial agenda and their inability to work with Iraqis great neighbor ‘Iran’ to bring about a desirable social change to the parties involved, the USA is trying to use its might to bully Iran out of any involvement in Iraq.

In 2001, the USA invaded Afghanistan post 9/11 and till this day, the war in Afghanistan is still on with no end in sight and a total destabilization of the state. The human toll? the financial toll? Unimaginable! 2003, USA and allied forces invaded Iraq under the guise of a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the country. Till this day, no WMD has been unearth and no stability restored in the nation either. In 2011 the United States Army had a covert op in Pakistan that lead to the killing of the most wanted man in the world, Osama Bin Laden. As Laudable as that may be, due process was overridden (the Pakistani Government was never consulted and the operation can be deemed as an illicit act and a slap on the territorial integrity of Pakistan) and the spate of terrorism in the world blossomed nonetheless.

During the Arab spring of 2011, the USA invaded Libya and toppled Mummar Al Gaddafi. One of the great visionary African leader (a crusader for a one united Africa with a single currency) of both the 20th and 21st centuries was captured and killed on the streets of Libya in the most inhumane way ever. Today’s Libya are in a shambolic state of perplexing ruins eight years on and the fight in Libya getting bigger by the day. Last week, USA pulled out some of its troops in Tripoli and a few days after, forces loyal to Warlord Khalifa Haftar carried out airstrikes (see Aljazeera for videos of the fighting) at a Libyan airport in Tripoli. Yes, air strikes! Forces loyal to Warlord Khalifa Haftar are fighting a United Nations (UN) backed Libyan interim government and its forces. USA Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and the UN have called for an end to the fighting. On the 9th of April 2019, Warlord Khalifa Haftar forces targeted another airport in Tripoli with air strikes. Is the USA playing Chess with people’s lives in Libya? Connect the dots. Without a doubt, that the Syrian President Bashir Al Assad is still in power today even after years of civil war in Syria is because of the support of Russia. Remember that a MOAB (Mother Of All Bombs) was dropped in Syria by the USA and just recently, the USA also claims to have completely annihilated ISIL (ISIS) in Syria.

From the foregoing, it can be noted that the intervention of the USA in sovereign nations under the guise of fostering world peace and democracy is Ludicrous to say the least. A big hoax! To paraphrase, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely and world power corrupts inestimably.

In the words of Fela Anikulapo Kuti “hear another animal talk…They call the place United Nations, who and who unite for inside United Nations? One veto vote is equals to 96 or more! Wetin united for inside United Nations?” (from his “beast of no nation” song). Obviously, with the carnage in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Mali, DR Congo, Nigeria, Gaza Strip, Cameroon, India Vs Pakistan, North Korea Vs the rest of the World, North Korea US relations or lack, it is endless. The rhetoric of a United Nations (formally The League of Nations) to foster World Peace post World War II is a mere cosmetic work by Western nations to continually dominate other nations of the World.
Written by: Chisom John O

ogbonniachisom@yahoo.com

IMAGINE LAGOS

IMAGINE LAGOS
By
Chiso John Ogbonnia
ogbonniachisom@yahoo.com

Imagine
Imagine waking up to utter negligence of a Zombie Apocalypse at your door step. Imagine the peace and quiet in your house, you step outside and it is a whole different level of chaos. Imagine the weather so hot like the sun is on patrol on the streets, the wind? Hidden. Imagine a commercial bus struggling to kick start, imagine the horror of watching same bus get hit by another from the rear and magically, the once ill-fated bus moves with aplomb! Imagine taking a walk to a ‘Bus Stop’, imagine the bus never stops and you jump in while it is in motion. Imagine the sound of footsteps giving hot chase to the bus you are in to issue a paper worth 100 Naira. Imagine looking to the other interchange in a bid to avoid the Driver Vs Tax Collector (Alaye) exchange only to witness Police brutality of citizens in their private vehicle. Imagine being distraught, alight from the commercial bus and board a bike (Okada) nearby. Imagine the look on your face when you expect the journey to your desired destination to kick start then, the bike rider (OkadaMan) beckons on an extra passenger to join you on the bike, disbelief! Imagine being told that driven alone is First Class and attracts ‘First Class Fees’. In your bemusement, imagine being called a brother by a passerby only to be told the most “it never happened” story ever about his dire need for financial assistance to complete the fare for a personal trip from Earth to Mars. Imagine seeing a convoy of Law Enforcers with goods and sellers locked in with the inscription “Environmental Sanitation Corps” on the vehicle. Imagine the joy on the faces of the Sanitation Corps Law Enforcers, not for a job well done but, for their own personal benefits attainable from victims of the law. Imagine a trip to the market and everyone signs up to be Amateur Anthony Joshuas. Imagine another trip to the market and it is ‘Akpororo’ season for traders and buyers. Imagine 20+ million people in the smallest state by size in Nigeria.
Done? Imagine LAGOS!

DISENFRANCHISEMENT BY LOCATION: AN ANALYSIS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STRUCTURES

DISENFRANCHISEMENT BY LOCATION: AN ANALYSIS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STRUCTURES
By
Chisom, JOHN O.
ogbonniachisom@yahoo.com

In a few days, the most populous black Country in the world would head to the polls to decide the path of their future for the next four years and beyond.
Nigeria and Nigerians rewrote the history books during the 2015 general elections as a sitting President was ousted from Office for the first time in the history of the country’s fragile democracy. With a much more fragile democracy and weakened democratic institutions post 2015, the 2019 elections cannot be any more pertinent.
The most controversial decision of the 2015 general election was the Six weeks’ postponement of the General Elections by INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) under the guise of ‘security reasons’. This decision flared up the polity and was considered by the then opposition party the APC (All Progressives Congress) to be a last ditch attempt by the Goodluck Jonathan Administration to manipulate the election, stretch the campaign finances of their party (APC) and submerge the will of the Nigerian people. As ‘politically motivated’ and controversial the decision of INEC may be at that time, painfully so, it was a step in the right direction as the issue of ‘disenfranchisement’ due to security challenges is a threat to a free, fair and credible election in itself and as such, should not be overlooked except of course one is disinterested in credible polls.  A lot of observers at that time were chasing shadows to the utter neglect of substance as regards the decision by INEC to postpone the Election. Many questions were raised and a lot answered by that sole decision: Was insecurity rife in the North East as at 2015? Yes; Would that insecurity mean that by implication voters would be disenfranchised in the said region? Yes; Were there genuine efforts by security agencies to tackle the situation? Yes; Did the security agencies gain positive grounds against insurgents in the specified weeks? Yes, former President HE Goodluck Ebele Jonathan visited a once regarded stronghold of the insurgents Bama himself; Did this Lead to voter confidence and increased participation in the North East? Absolutely YES.
Elections are key in any democratic setting and the ability for citizens to exercise their franchise unconstrained, a prerequisite for any election to be considered free, fair and credible. This work looks at how the actions and inactions of the security agencies in the State and INEC would inadvertently lead to disenfranchisement as a result of the location of electorates in the 2019 general election.
The security situation of the country is worrisome and cataclysmic to say the least. According to Amnesty International Report 2017/18: the state of the world’s human right “there remained at least 1.7 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North Eastern States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa; 39% lived in camps or similar settings and 61% in host communities”. Also in an Amnesty International Nigeria Publication titled ‘Harvest of Death: Three years of Bloody clashes between farmers and Herders in Nigeria’, the total number of people killed from January 2016- October 2018 in the select States (22 States, FCT inclusive) affected by the Farmers Vs Herders Clashes alone was three thousand six hundred and fourty one (3641) persons “Benue 726 deaths, Adamawa 540, Plateau 492, Zamfara 489, Taraba 453, Kaduna 414, Nasarawa 196, Enugu 46…” among others.  The Boko Haram menace has intensified over the past year and a new deadlier faction ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) has emerged in the decade long battle. In an article titled ‘Islamic State seeking next chapter, makes inroads into West Africa’ by Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw published on the 3rd of February 2019 on Wall Street Journal it estimated that ISWAP has the Strength of About five thousand (5000) men and “seasoned fighters from Libya and the Middle East have returned to augment ISWAP ranks”.
From the foregoing, it can be noted that the security situation is bleak, the military is overstretched by the increasing guerrilla warfare across states in the North and with the recent reports of people fleeing the menace of armed bandits in Zamfara State to Katsina and to border countries (Chad and Niger) any talk of positives from the current situation have been dealt a heavy blow. Due to the debacle, disenfranchisement of citizens in the affected states would be rife as the fear for lives and properties would overwhelm the zeal to exercise ones’ franchise and therefore lead to political apathy on the one hand and the massive movement of people due to violence or the fear of it (typically plaguing Nigeria elections) on the other hand would contribute to a situation whereby eligible voters are unable to express themselves in the polls.
INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) for all its ‘Laudable’ effort in some states have been unable to satisfactorily distribute PVCs (Permanent Voters Card) in others. This particular problem has continued to plague elections and become a reoccurring experience for electorates who admittedly would find it easier “crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe than getting their PVC”. The deplorable experience of some voters begs the questions: What Lessons did INEC learn from the 2015 exercise? What strategic plan was put in place to ameliorate the PVC distribution problems? How and at what level is the implementation of the said plan? A society that fails to plan lacks vision and mission (a chart Nigeria should rank top worldwide). While those questions are yet unanswered, the continuous postponement of the deadline day for PVC collection is an indicator of what line the answers would tilt towards regarding the questions. Geroge Edem described his attempts to collect his PVC in Lagos state as futile and frustrating. In his words “INEC do not have a permanent location just mere transit camps as they stay at private and public school premises and my PVC transfer request till this day has not be met.  My right to vote has been trampled on”. In another interview, Utazi John also expressed his displeasure with INEC, “I registered for PVC in June 2017 at Nsukka LGA of Enugu State. The day I went for collection of PVC I was given a contact to call. I called and the man directed that I submit my TVC for easy location of my PVC. Till this day I have not been able to get my PVC and TVC. I have been disenfranchised and my fundamental rights denied. No thanks to INEC”. On a more positive outlook, Mr Abubakar stated unequivocally that he did not face any challenges in the collection of his PVC he said “I registered at Tunga Maje, Abuja in 2011 and I did transfer of PVC to Bwari area of Abuja as at October 2018 and was able to successfully collect my PVC by January 2019”. It would be a big plus if INEC could adopt the processes for PVC collection that worked seamlessly in some states to others or adjust the PVC collection procedure to suit the circumstances of different states as they arise.
On the issue of PVC transfer, the publicity of the process is below par. Already existing voters can only cast their votes in their wards of registration and any desire to cast a vote elsewhere can only be possible after a PVC transfer is done. In the words of Albert Einstein “A clever person solves a problem, a wise person avoids it”. The issue of PVC transfer in particular is needless and should have been avoided in the first instance with a PVC that is not location bound thereby making it useable wherever one may find oneself.
No country in the world can boast of a 100% foolproof electoral process not even the United States of America (with recent accusations of Russia meddling in their election) therefore it would be unfair to demand a 100% foolproof electoral process from INEC and even worse, not to demand for the basics of freedom and ease to exercise ones’ right to vote.

CLOSE BUT BEYOND REACH (Episode 2)

Life became kaleidoscopic immediately as they had to pass through the needle to reach Wang-liao- the scourging sun, the hunger trip and stings from Androctonus australis- a sahara flat-tailed scorpions. 

The trip from Maradi to Wang-Liao is like a coin of two sides- good and bad, the good thing is that he made it through Wang-Liao and finally to Libya, the bad news being that they lost a fellow, Isah from Mali who decided to take a walk from their makeshift camp in the middle of the desert and couldn’t trace his way back.
“Don’t bother looking for him, Ikoh” said the desert master,
“But why?”, Ikoh blurted,
“Because we can never find him, you see, in this journey, when you lose the track you can’t retrace it", the desert master retorted.

Libya, located in the northern part of Africa, predominantly Muslim and densely Arab speaking.  The city was buzzing with activities, given the fact that the country is just waking up from months old political turmoil that ravaged the country, though the environment still smells of smoke and the citizens wearing stern faces, Ikoh boarded a private transport so as to make it to Tripoli unseen and unseeing and that he achieved.  Tripoli was the most wrecked city with soot in most of the buildings and some stores looks like it has never been opened for God-knows-how-long.
For the. past three days, Ikoh has been impecunious and afraid of going out there in the dreaded streets of Tripoli to find a part time job. On the fifth day, he left the boarding house and went wandering hither tither looking for a job that would put meal on his table and save some money to link up with uncle Josh in Erfurt, finally he got a job that will pay him 15 Dinar per night in a restaurant, Ikoh accepted the Job without any objection simply because most expatriate in Tripoli patronizes the restaurant which means he could find someone that could help him out, and again, he could also live on tips from the customers and save the wages for his travels, so he thought.  Ikoh was amazed by the influx of expats on his first day of work and he seize the opportunity, his tip for the night was triple of his wage for the night, the third day was slow as tensions was high in Tripoli, though it is not unusual given the fact that the country was swept by the Arab spring, it didn’t bug him but diverted his interest- a Maître d’ name Fatia, he made advances to Fatia and promised to come for her when he gets to Germany- a big, fat lie- but she laughed it out and promised to pay him a visit in his boarding house when the birds have gone to their roost because it is haram to have premarital sex in Islam, so she claimed. That night was like a Christmas for him, he went to his friend, Jeff an apothecary to buy a nitrous oxide known popularly as laughing gas so as he can shag Fatia in ecstasy without a flinch of his super ego interfering.

Ikoh woke up the next morning with his door widely open, the bottle of nitrous oxide sealed and his bed still freshly made, Fatia didn’t make it.  The boarding house was quiet and shots from rifles could be heard from earshot, Ikoh leaped from the ground and saw the owner of the boarding house gazing down at him from the door, a tidal wave of emotions ran through his vein, "I think you should leave, Libya is at war again."

To be cont'd...
Written by Ejioffor Ikechukwu alias Lionet

CLOSE BUT BEYOND REACH

At the dawn of the twenty-sixth day of December, Ikoh summoned his mum and siblings into his late father’s hut to break the current development that has been bothering him.  Ikoh is the first son in a family of five, 23 years old but can be passed for 17 due to his miniature physique and a trace of childish exuberance in his behavior.
“mama, I called yáll here to tell you that I will be traveling out of the country by the first week of next month,” his sibling let out a loud guffaw when he mentioned traveling but Ikoh’s mum was perturbed as to what has gotten into her son’s head, “my son, you said you are traveling, but what about your father’s farm, how about the money or are you going to travel by foot, who do you know there?”
“Ah ah mama! Which one should I answer first? Well I have some money that will take me there, I met Chief Osai and he helped me with some soft loans, I want to link up with Uncle Joshua in Erfurt, Germany, he agreed that I should come stay with him.”

January 6th, 2013, Ikoh, accompanied by his mother and siblings off to the train station in Enugu where he would board a train that will leave for Kaduna in the next hour.  The train arrived in less than the stipulated time and he climbed onto the train, his mother’s whimper can be heard from the waiting room, the train glided and he bade them goodbye with his eyes doused with water.

As a mysophobia, nausea was setting in, the stench from the train was thick, the smell of roasted fish and fufu blanketed the coach.  A man who is believed to be hausa from the robe he was wearing was seating just before him, from the rear was a woman with her two daughters who might be 5 and 8 years old, flanked by a florid man who is around 40-year-old, he smells of sweat in his tattered fabric with a Business magazine clenched in his hand, they chattered over a can of maltina all the way through. Ikoh was marveled by the man’s ubiquitousness in knowing a thing about all parts of Nigeria. 

After spending about seventeen hours in the train they alighted at the Kaduna train station, Ikoh unfolded his atlas and located the next point of destination, Jibiya, Katsina State, a state populated by mostly hausa-fulani tribe with different culture from his.  He went to a local motor park and paid for a ticket to Jibiya.  Jibiya- with a high temperature and low humidity- he gulped almost two sachets of water under five minutes, the environment was welcoming with tarred road and other infrastructures.  He met his first challenge, a trans-national challenge, crossing the border to an unknown country, Niger Republic. 
With no passport he managed to hide himself inside a truck loaded with cattles heading for Tarna, Maradi- a thirty miles journey from Jibiya.  In Tarna, Ikoh met other explorers and travelers who wanted to travel to other countries through the sahara desert. They were ushered into a mud house where they met a desert master who knew all the routes in the desert, the house has only three occupants- the desert master and his two wives, the children as the desert master later explained with gusto, took the step of their father as desert masters too, “it is an old profession”, the desert masters told Ikoh when he became askance.

He haggled over the fare and finally settled on CFA 50,000, they spent two nights in the desert master’s house before they began the laborious journey to Wang-liao on camel’s back with little foods and much water that will sustain them through the journey to Wang-liao, 769 miles away from Maradi.
….To be continued

Written by: Ejioffor Ikechukwu alias Lionet

Nigeria's worst enemy since independence is: Tribalism

THE NIGERIA'S 56TH INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY

Following the facade of independence and the euphoria that greeted the new Nigeria in 1960, tribalism is and still is Nigeria's worst enemy.  Tribalism is an aberration to any country that dreams of being among the said 'developed nations' of the world.   Tribalism is a feeling of belonging to a particular tribe.  It determines who gets what, when, how and even why.

It is always important to dive home this proposition with historical backup because in the words of Professor Esedebe "…a man who loses memory of what went before will be a man adrift."

Nigeria before the invasion of the British in the 1860s and the formalization of colonialism in 1900 never knew any atom of differences among its dwellers until they stamped their feet on Nigeria's soil.   What the British colonial rule did in Nigeria through her various policies was to stir up primordial sentiments among the people, where such have not existed before now.  Through the colonial policy of did and rule the British succeeded in sowing seeds of division and hatred within the emerging nation; this colonial policy guided the British in subjugating and balkanizing Nigerians and Nigeria.  Having internalized these differences, the idea of nation building changed as we could only utter "one Nigeria" from the side of our mouth.
Tribalism has resulted in innumerable upheavals that took away the lives of innocuous citizenry.   Tribalism also play a role when it comes to who gets what, when and how. Nigerians today cannot pass a clear-cut judgment on someone without viewing it from tribal perspective, allocation of scarce resources is also base on tribal lines.

It is noteworthy to state clearly without any equivocation nor ambiguity, that the Nigeria constitution has also helped in exacerbating the cankerworm called tribalism.   The Federal character and the principles of quota system in the constitution can be seen as the engravement of tribalism in government agencies and institutions.  Employment, promotion and whatnot in public offices must be done from the angle of where you come from and not who you are, what this connotes is that there is no 'Nigerian' as an individual but rather as a tribal group.  This practice has displaced the weberian principle of meritocracy because the best is not considered but whose turn, this principles had had a dismal effect on performance and productivity of public officials.

As this day marks the 56th independence anniversary of this great country Nigeria, a country still full of hopes and dreams, it is high time we thought of the way forward.

There is need for the adoption of an efficacious integration and sensitization programs that would be geared towards uniting the people of Nigeria, when this is done, it would no longer be a case of favouritism because there is a feeling on brotherhood in the air, only then can we all join our hands and strengths to roll the stumbling stone that has bedevil this country.  This is in line with what Appadorai said, he opined that "the sense of belonging together creates a readiness on the part of the members of a state to subordinate their differences to the common good".  Hence the mantra, society above self.

The principles of Federal character and the quota system need to be jettisoned from the constitution so as to give room for meritocracy, this would ensure that only credible and qualified Nigerians take up the mantle of governance and administration.  Our tertiary institutions would no longer undergo the onerous task of tutoring vegetables and producing unemployable graduates.

When these recommendations are being undertaken by the appropriate authorities, I believe that it would reduce the problem of Nigeria to its ebb, this would quell the incessant uprising of militancy and terrorism, hate and ethnic chauvinism amongst others.

By: Ejioffor Ikechukwu