| Sliding down the slope |
| According to conventional wisdom, the order of precedence in Nigeria is Prez, Veep, Big Gavel, Little Gavel, then Big Wig. Asides Big Wig, all these chaps are elected fellows, and Big Wig is well, the custodian of all that is legal. Nowhere in this order of affairs does it mention Big Khaki. So when some unknown khakis decide that it is prudent to hold Little Gavel to ransom, you have to ask three questions: “Is it Prez, Veep or Big Gavel that gave the order?” Second question, “If neither one of these three gave the order, then what the [snip – language] is happening? Final question: “if the nation’s number four citizen can have his authority questioned so, and his person, and by extension office harassed in so brutal terms, what prevents someone from going further up the food chain?”
From one slope, we swing over to another, and today, the High Wigs will let us know if the nonsenseof party defection will finally come to a stop. What we all know though is that whatever decision they make, will be rapidly sent up the chain until the Supreme Wigs are forced to take a long look at the whole thing. Maybe then, and only then, will we finally start having political parties that are built on ideology, rather than as game shows. And speaking of game shows, the fun and games that have been organised by #BokoHaram have led to a further 650k people emulating the Isrealites in the Sinai Desert. What the story did not tell you is that Nigeria, as of May, had 3.3 million members of the lost tribes of Israel, the third largest in the world after Syria (brutal civil war for four years now), and Colombia (FARC insurgency for five decades), and more Israelites than Iraq (country about to disintegrate). What the story also failed to say, is whether these 650k are an addition to the 3.3 millions. Meanwhile, this video of a so-called customer service person for Arik Air at the Calabar Airport tells us just how far we have to go in our service culture in this land of ours. Arik Air sadly, is a major culprit. A quote from a friend: “I was in the car with one of my ogas the other day and he was complaining about his driver, who acquiescently allowed “big cars” to pass at a pothole or a traffic hotspot but will oppressively deny pedestrians who wish to take advantage of the slow traffic at such spots to cross the road. He concludes: the biggest oppressor of the masses are the masses. We live in a class crazy society.” |
| Bits and Bobs |
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| Right of Reply |
| Joy Owomhanre wrote,
I am still trying to understand Abdur-Rahman Aderinoye’s stance. He kept saying you should verify and authenticate your facts. I indeed was expecting him to tell us if the loan was less than N7B or maybe more. But the only thing he added was that it wasn’t only GTB but then Intercontinental bank and others that jointly sued Alj Alao. ‘to somebody like YOU that could recall a bit of the issues’ I though you would have had much more relevant information to add to show that Alj Alao, contrary to popular perception, was in fact a saint. Besides, if a man has gone to great extremes to reduce your quality of life by directly or indirectly thieving while alive, he should be known as what he is even in death. A THIEF Geoffrey Njoku wrote, I am a bit ambivalent about what happened in Ekiti. On the positive side, the more a party in power is defeated by another party shows that we are gradually maturing. PDP though in power at the State and Federal levels was thrown out of Imo in 2011. Gradually, gradually, just maybe in time we will get there. On the negative side, a policy may hurt people in the short run but has long term sustainable benefits. I do not know the depth of the people’s ire against Fayemi but to hold it against a governor because he asked school teachers to write a test is taking it too far. Some teachers are known to have failed primary 4 test. Any wonder why we breed educated but illiterate children? |